The Wereling 3: Resurrection

by Stephen Cole

  ‘For you, Trolly,’ Blood called. ‘Some virologist or other …’

  ‘Stacy!’ Kate dashed from the bedroom into the spacious main living room and snatched the handset from him. She sprawled on a squashy cream leather sofa. ‘Hey! How’re things?’

  ‘Been better.’ Stacy’s usually brash and upbeat voice sounded tired. ‘I’m trying to arrange holiday cover so I can come visit you.’

  ‘You’re coming to Chicago?’ Kate cried.

  ‘Maybe. Jicaque insists we both need to be there.’

  ‘Jicaque is coming too?’ Kate felt excited but a little scared. ‘Oh God. Things are way bad, right?’

  ‘I don’t know, Kate,’ Stacy replied. ‘All the old buzzard’s said to me is, “Our beliefs are opposed, but as science and magic come together, so must we.” In Chicago, of all places. Which is fine for the old hippy medicine man with no ties, but kind of tricky for the medicine woman with a stack of them.’

  ‘Stacy … I don’t mean to lay a guilt trip on you, but right now we need all the friends we can get,’ Kate told her. ‘And I know Jicaque’s hot on magic, but it looks like Takapa’s got some weird sciencey stuff going down too. Kidnapping scientists and God knows what else. If you were here, maybe you could help us work out why.’

  ‘That’s me. Stacy Stein, expert in weird sciencey stuff.’ Kate heard her sigh loudly down the phone. ‘I guess I can leave Jasmine looking after the kids on my programs, but I still need someone to cover my shifts …’

  Kate smiled. ‘I’ll bet you’re a pro at emotional blackmail.’

  ‘Takes one to know one,’ replied Stacy. ‘Look, I’ll see what I can do, OK?’

  ‘Sure. Well, when you get here we’re good and easy to find – at the Drake Hotel in Streeterville.’

  ‘How’d you swing that?’ Stacy exclaimed.

  Kate grinned. ‘You know that guy who answered the phone …?’

  ‘Oh my God! He’s rich!’ cried Stacy. ‘He sounds cute, too – is he British?’

  Kate smiled over at Blood. ‘He is – to both those comments. He reckons if you have to make a stand, you may as well do it on a deep-pile carpet.’

  ‘Rich and cute. Screw this place, I’ll be with you as soon as I can,’ said Stacy, sounding just a little brighter. ‘Bye-bye.’

  Kate hung up and tossed the phone back to Blood.

  He smiled rakishly. ‘She’s crazy about me already, isn’t she?’

  Before Kate could compose a suitably devastating put-down, Tom emerged from the bathroom, a white fluffy towel around his waist, face flushed by the hot bath, and hair ruffled and spiky. ‘Was that Stacy?’ he asked. ‘What did she want?’

  Sunday poked her head out from the bedroom. ‘Who is Stacy, anyway?’

  ‘Enough of the recaps,’ Kate said briskly. ‘Sunday, get in here. Tom, go get dressed. I think it’s high time we all worked out what the hell we do next.’

  She knew she sounded bossy but she didn’t care. They needed to keep up the momentum. Because after what she’d seen this morning, Kate knew that time was running out, and that something truly malevolent was hatching in this freezing city.

  g

  ‘This is the mother of all long shots,’ Tom sighed, as he and Blood braved the crowds filing out from Lincoln Park Zoo. The zoo was closed already, and the park would soon follow. Tom just hoped that his heightened senses would help him and Blood evade security and get inside.

  ‘That stick insect Araminta at the gallery was very specific on the blower to Takapa,’ Blood reminded him. ‘She asked if his white wolves were ready to leave the zoo tonight, and it sounded to me like they were.’

  ‘I know, I know, and there are two white wolves on loan to Lincoln Park,’ Tom said. Kate had unearthed that little gem while flicking through the tourist information left in their room at the Drake. ‘But Takapa stealing a couple of wolves just seems stupid.’

  ‘Those wolves are incredibly rare, practically extinct outside of zoos,’ said Blood. ‘Maybe Takapa wants them stuffed as teddy bears, I don’t know. The point is, they seem to figure in his plans somehow.’

  ‘But white wolves could just be a codename for something,’ Tom grumbled.

  ‘Ah, yes, just like the König Man wasn’t,’ said Blood pointedly. ‘Even if it is a codename, activity in the zoo tonight would seem a likely possibility, don’t you think? With any luck we’ll overhear or see something that might give us a clue to whatever it is they’re planning.’

  ‘Sounds like something the Dark Chapter should know about,’ Tom observed.

  ‘Maybe they already do,’ said Blood sourly. ‘Shame they’re not listed in the phonebook, isn’t it? We could have called to check. Meantime, stop your whingeing and use that supersnout of yours to help us dodge security.’

  Tom nodded resignedly. Truth was, he’d rather have paired off with Kate and gone to check out Brook Mansion, the address promising accommodation on the invitation to the Private View. Chung had said the purebloods were due to arrive Christmas Eve – if they wanted to poke around for some clue as to what was going on, the sooner they moved the better.

  Kate had insisted that Tom should go with Blood so that she could do some female bonding with Sunday – check she was fully legit. That made perfect sense, but he couldn’t help feeling she was trying to avoid time alone with him.

  Tom and Blood waited for an hour or so, flitting between hiding places in the park grounds. The musty smell of the zoo animals was deadening Tom’s nostrils to the scent of any ’wolves that might be lurking. They tried scanning the snow for lupine tracks but the main pathways had been all but cleared by the tramping of visitors’ feet.

  Then Tom spotted a door ajar in an outbuilding near the zoo’s entrance. ‘Worth checking out?’ he whispered.

  Blood nodded. Silent as shadows, they swiftly crossed to it and sneaked inside. It was a small kitchen area for the staff.

  ‘Sloppy security,’ Tom observed.

  Blood cleared his throat. ‘Sloppier than you think. Seems we were too late in coming here.’

  He pointed down at a puddle of blood slowly seeping from beneath the table.

  Bracing himself, Tom stooped to find the mutilated body of a guard on the floor, huge claw marks scored in his uniform. ‘He’s still breathing,’ Tom reported. ‘We should get help.’

  ‘Er, I second that suggestion,’ murmured Blood, looking past him at the door they’d just come through.

  Tom swung around to find the dark brown bulk of a massive werewolf framed in the doorway, its eyes gleaming like white gold. A thick stream of drool splashed down on to the tiled floor from its huge jaws. With a low growl it stalked menacingly towards them.

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  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Kate and Sunday had gone to pick up Dr Walker’s car from where Sunday had left it outside a friend’s house in Bucktown. Night was starting to fall, but the streets were still busy. Festive carols floated out from cafés and bars, as well-heeled couples and groups of friends bustled about with bulging shopping bags, grabbing caffeine kicks and beers to help ease the Yuletide hassle.

  To pass the time as they walked, Kate told Sunday something of her lupine upbringing. Sunday listened in silence, wearing an expression that sat somewhere between shock and sympathy. When Kate finished Sunday still said nothing. Then she gave Kate’s fingers a squeeze, and the silence between them felt lighter.

  Finally, on a quiet street lined with cars, Kate spotted one that stood out from the rest – it was still carpeted with snow, clearly left unused for some time.

  Sunday produced an ignition key and pressed a button. The Chrysler’s hazard lights fluttered brightly as the doors unlocked. She gestured for Kate to get in on the passenger side. ‘There’s a scraper under the seat. Pass it to me?’

  Kate did so. She sat shivering in the cold car while Sunday scraped viciously at the thin ice on the windshield. When it was clear, Sunday clambered into the driver’s side and started the engine. It grow
led into life first time. Freezing air spewed from the vents, and Kate swiftly turned the heater to its highest.

  ‘Guess we should be going,’ Sunday murmured.

  ‘You don’t want to stop in and say hi to your friend?’ Kate asked. ‘You’ve been missing for days – won’t she be worried?’

  ‘Don’t think so.’ Sunday shook her head. ‘He got kind of freaked out by me running around like a lunatic and babbling about werewolves. He didn’t exactly tell me to hurry back soon.’

  ‘Was he anyone special?’

  ‘He had potential,’ said Sunday, smiling sadly. ‘Guys, huh? Can’t live with them, can’t tell them your dad’s been abducted by mythical creatures with a grudge against humanity.’

  As the car began to warm, Kate’s nostrils twitched with a sweet, cloying scent.

  ‘Cherry tobacco,’ said Sunday softly. ‘Dad’s smell. Jeez, I miss him.’

  ‘I miss mine, too,’ Kate told her. ‘Despite knowing what he is, and all that he’s done … how he stands by and lets my mom run wild no matter who gets hurt … I hate him for it – but he’s still my dad.’ She looked away, her vision misting with tears. ‘When I was a kid, I loved him so totally. So absolutely. I thought he was the strongest man in the world. But I know he doesn’t believe in the dream my mom and Takapa are chasing. He’s just too weak to stand up to them.’

  ‘Maybe he just loves your mom,’ shrugged Sunday. ‘Loves her too much.’

  ‘Loves her more than me,’ Kate said. The words tasted like puke in her mouth. ‘Whatever. I still miss him.’

  Sunday gave Kate’s arm a light squeeze. ‘I never knew my mom,’ she said, starting up the car. ‘She died when I was three. If something happens to Dad too, I …’ She looked at Kate. ‘Life’s so fragile, isn’t it? You just kind of go through life thinking everything’s cool, and that it’s all for ever. But then …’

  ‘I know,’ Kate said. ‘But we’ll find him, Sunday. We’ll get him back.’

  Sunday nodded, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. ‘OK. I’m cool. Here we go,’ she said, nudging Kate’s arm. ‘Sunday driver on the loose.’

  Kate smiled faintly as Sunday swung the big car out into the evening traffic.

  They took the Eisenhower right to the end of the expressway, then Roosevelt Road out into the snaking side streets of exclusive Oak Brook. Kate looked out of the window, surveying the neighbourhood through the evening gloom. The huge houses were set so far back from the road behind walls, trees and railings that you could only glimpse their ornate glory. There were no sidewalks; Kate didn’t imagine the residents walked anywhere, and they were too far from town or even the nearest mall for curious tourists to come looking. She imagined the fat cats of this neighbourhood reclining in leather armchairs in their sumptuous living rooms, or maybe looking out over their estate, at the Jags and Porsches and Mercedes sedans that poked their elegant noses out of multiple garages, entirely mindless of the world outside. Never dreaming that monsters had set up shop in their perfect neighbourhood.

  ‘How’s the navigation going, co-pilot?’ prompted Sunday.

  ‘Sorry,’ said Kate, peering at the map. ‘I think our turning is coming up. Third left.’

  Once she’d taken the turn on to a snaking, leafy driveway, Sunday slowed the car. ‘Maybe we should park here and go in on foot,’ she said.

  Kate agreed, and soon they were making their way by flashlight up the deserted drive. Five minutes later, large wrought-iron gates loomed ahead of them, fashioned with serpentine spirals. An impressive sign set into the high perimeter wall proclaimed the entrance to: BROOK MANSION – LUXURY ACCOMMODATION.

  ‘Takapa’s really pushing the boat out,’ Kate observed.

  ‘A flashy front to pull in the people he needs – while his real lair is a crumbling slum,’ said Sunday sourly.

  ‘But of course, the people he’s aiming to impress won’t see that,’ Kate murmured. She peered through the gates, and listened hard for any sound of movement. ‘It seems deserted, anyway,’ she muttered. ‘And there are no lights on in the building.’ She took a deep breath. ‘Let’s try to get inside – climb over the gates.’

  ‘What about security?’ Sunday queried nervously. ‘Alarms …’

  ‘This place is laid on for ’wolves, right?’ Kate mused. ‘A lupine is not going to be able to punch in security codes with a delicate paw, is it? It’s just going to come skulking up, scale the wall and drop down out of sight. They wouldn’t want alarms set off every time that happened. Burglar alarms sounding off might bring the police snooping around. Takapa wouldn’t want that either.’

  Kate looked up at the gate – then at Sunday. ‘You don’t have to come with me, you know,’ she said quietly. ‘I mean, if we meet someone – or something—’

  ‘I need to know what happened to my dad,’ said Sunday quietly. ‘I’ll risk it.’

  Kate gave her a rueful smile. ‘Then let’s get going.’

  g

  Tom backed away as the massive ’wolf entered the zoo kitchen, its eyes narrowed, preparing to attack.

  Blood dashed behind the heavy kitchen table. He shoved it forwards just as the ’wolf pounced, teeth bared. The table’s sharp edge cracked into the beast’s enormous jaw, stunning it for a second.

  ‘Leg it!’ Blood shouted. He pushed past the animal’s bulk and raced out of the door.

  Tom went to follow, skidded in the security guard’s blood and fell on his butt. He pushed himself up, hands covered in gore. His gut twisted as his mouth began to water.

  Senses reeling, he knew he had to get out, had to lead the ’wolf away from the wounded man. He ran blindly into the freezing night, scenting the air for Blood. But all he could smell was the blood on his palms.

  Behind him he could hear the heavy footfalls of the angry ’wolf as it pelted after him.

  Tom knew he didn’t stand a chance on open ground. He jumped a low wall and started scaling the chain-link fence that stood behind it. He almost lost his grip on the wire as the lupine hurled its bulk into the fence, trying to bring him crashing back down to earth.

  Gritting his teeth, Tom kept climbing. Heart pounding, he swung himself over the top of the fence and clung there, panting for breath, trying to collect his thoughts. But the smell of the blood was blotting out his other senses. He spat out a thick mouthful of drool and tried to wipe his bloody hands clean on his jacket.

  His desperation made him careless. The ’wolf below slung itself against the fence with incredible force. The metal mesh jolted and shook, and Tom lost his tenuous foothold. He fell, and landed heavily on the other side, the breath knocked out of him.

  The ’wolf snapped its jaws at him, teeth scraping at the wire links like it wanted to tear its way through to him. But then the sound of lupine howling carried to Tom’s ears. It kept breaking off at odd intervals, as if Takapa’s agents were signalling to each other – but saying what?

  The ’wolf stopped snarling at him, turned and bolted into the shadows.

  Tom breathed a shaky sigh of relief. But then there came a deeper, more savage growl from behind him.

  He turned to find an enormous brown bear looming over him, its ivory teeth bared in ferocious warning.

  As he shrank away from the animal’s massive bulk, Tom knew there was no escape. The beast was enraged by the intrusion on its territory. Now, in the dim lighting of the enclosure, Tom saw it screw up its black eyes in hatred and flare its enormous nostrils. Roaring, slavering, it stretched its jaws wide open and lunged for him.

  Desperately, Tom tried to roll clear of the great animal’s reach. Too late. The hump of muscle on its shoulders rippled as its heavy paw swiped at Tom’s shoulder, claws scraping his flesh and bruising him down to the bone. He shouted out, realised he was rolling down a concrete slope.

  The cold water slapped into his face; it was like coming up against a brick wall. He’d fallen into the bear’s bathing and drinking pool. Already the beast was hulking towards him.

 
Tom backed away further into the water. A jolt of fury flared through him.

  A bear. What kind of sick joke was fate playing on him now? A goddamned bear had started all of this.

  Back in Seattle, on holiday with his folks, Tom had gone bathing in a river and come up against a brown bear. It had scared him out into the rapids and he’d been swept away. He’d survived – only to be found by Kate’s family, and bitten. Then the nightmare had really begun.

  So now it was going to end as it had begun – with some stupid, freakin’ bear? The poor innocent kid he’d been last summer hadn’t stood a chance against a grizzly twice his size.

  Things were different now …

  As the bear waded into the water, ready to tear its quarry apart, Tom felt the ’wolf inside him storm out of the shadows. His body grew fever-hot. His chest expanded, sodden clothes tearing away. Bones popped and cracked like blazing wood. Muscle thickened on his every limb. Water churned about him as his limbs thrashed in the excitement of change.

  The bear paused upright, sniffing the air, suddenly uncertain.

  Metamorphosis complete, Tom lunged forward, heavy paws raking the bear’s chest, knocking it backwards. They crashed down beneath the churning waters, where it was black as pitch. The bear gripped him tightly, hooking its claws into his back, tearing at the skin. Tom choked on water and blood, tore himself free of the bear’s deadly embrace and swam for the side of the pool. The thrashing in the water told him the bear was close behind.

  Tom turned, roaring as he swung a heavy paw into the bear’s snout. He knocked the animal back into the water with an explosive splash.

  This time when the bear surfaced it was on the other side of the pool, skulking away into the dim corner of the enclosure, its battle lost.

  Tom growled at the retreating bear, fighting his instincts to chase after it and rip out its hairy throat. Then he heard the distant, ululating howls of the werewolf pack, signalling to each other once again. And this time, he caught a higher, more mournful note – the keening cry of a real wolf.