Reluctant to let his meal escape, the werewolf swung down from the fire escape and stood over the prone man. The last thing the victim saw was the beast pick him up and bite into his chest as he died screaming.
***
Witchfinder Grindle and Deirdre were standing at a Pie and Mash van. They had wondered the streets fruitlessly for several hours. They were both getting bored, tired and hungry so they stopped at the van to eat something to cheer themselves up. Grindle was disappointed by their lack of success but Deirdre was only too happy not to have seen the werewolf. Besides, it wasn’t exactly a restaurant but eating at a Pie and Mash van did count as her and Roderick dining out and that was a start, which was good enough for Deirdre. Perhaps next time she could persuade him to take her to a quiet little place she knew that served good food and was small and intimate.
‘What do you think, Deirdre?’ asked the Witchfinder.
‘Yes, I’d love to,’ she replied, dreamily.
‘What?’
‘I … I’m sorry, what were you saying,’ she asked, jolted back to reality.
‘I was asking you, what do you think our chances are of seeing the werewolf tonight?’
‘Not very good, I’d imagine. I would say the odds are probably about one in-’ A loud, terrified, male scream echoed through the night, somewhere close to them. ‘er … one,’ she concluded. ‘Roderick … ?’
‘I heard.’ The Witchfinder dropped his food, ‘Quick, where did that come from?’
‘Over there I think,’ she said pointing to an alleyway.
He grabbed her arm and pulling her behind him he ran towards the alleyway. Once they were in it they slowed down and advanced cautiously. They arrived at the end of the alleyway and as they emerged into an open space they saw it! It stood there, not noticing them as it gnawed on the open chest of its latest victim.
Grindle reached into his pocket and withdrew his pistol. Shakily he held it out in front of him and pointed it at the werewolf. ‘I am the Witchfinder and in the name of all that is decent, die you fiend!’ He fired a round off which caught the beast in the shoulder.
Normally the thing would have shrugged it off but the silver bullet caused it to scream in agony. The wound itself was slight but the silver embedded in it caused it indescribable pain. It dropped the dead man and clutched at its shoulder, but unfortunately the site of the wound was nowhere near anything vital and it wasn’t a serious wound. It dug into the wound with its vicious claws and groped around until it found the bullet and pulled it out, throwing it at the Witchfinder in defiance.
Grindle raised the gun again and after roaring at them, spraying them with spittle, the beast turned and ran, unwilling to face the silver bullets again. After a moment’s hesitation where they looked into each other’s eyes, the Witchfinder and Deirdre ran after it.
They had trouble keeping up with the beast as it ran through the alley but they were able to keep it in sight due to the clear, moonlit night. They ran the length of alley after alley but it kept elusively just ahead of them.
Finally they reached an open space between alleys. It intersected with another alley, and where it crossed with the other alley, one way led to the street and the other was blocked off with a brick wall.
‘I can’t go on,’ gasped Deirdre. ‘I’m worn out. We should stop, we’ll never catch it.’
‘I have to track this thing and kill it Deirdre, I’m the Witchfinder, Londum is relying on me! You wait here and catch your breath.’ He raised his gun, ‘I’m going on alone.’
She nodded breathlessly and watched him go into the next alley along the route. She staggered slightly and leant against the wall to support herself. That was when the werewolf stepped out of the shadows and calmly and deliberately walked towards her. The beast had been laying quietly in wait for them to arrive. It had planned to pounce on them once it had them cornered in the alley but then it saw them split up, so it determined to take Deirdre while she was on her own and then track down the Witchfinder. It would amuse it to take the very people who were trying to hunt it down, back to the rest of the pack for them to feast on.
‘Roderick!’ she called, ‘Roderick!’ as the werewolf stood in front of her and raised its arm, ready to slash her with its claws. Suddenly Witchfinder Grindle appeared from the alley and bravely positioned himself in front of her. Shakily he raised his gun and fired at the animal, missing it completely in his panic. The beast roared and swept its arm down, claws ripping through Grindle’s chest. He slumped to the floor and Deirdre let rip a real bloodcurdling scream that echoed throughout the neighbourhood.
***
After Big Mick McGarry came out of the toilet, he left the pub accompanied by his cronies and there was no further unpleasantness, so Jim, Adele and Cobb spent a good night at The Golden Gryphon. Adele was agog at all the things that went on in the pub, the rich mix of people that lived in the East End. She was absolutely fascinated and thoroughly enjoyed her evening. All too soon however it was time to go.
Jim had one of the bar staff go out and bring back a Hansom cab for them. Jim escorted them out to the street when it arrived.
‘Jim, thank you for a wonderful evening,’ she told him. She was slightly tipsy and kissed him on the cheek.
‘See, it’s not the den of iniquity that Cobb led you to believe, is it? It’s just a bunch of poor people trying to survive and have a bit of fun while they do it.’
Cobb replied, ‘The East End is not quite as picturesque as you paint it Jim, filled with loveable cockney rogues, I’ve seen too-’ he was interrupted by the sound of a gunshot, then as Jim and Cobb looked at each other it was followed by a high, female scream.
‘By the Gods! That came from just over there, quick Cobb, come with me!’ cried Jim.
‘Adele, get in the cab and stay there,’ said Cobb. ‘Cabbie, look after her.’ With that he ran off after Jim. About half way down the street there was an alleyway and he followed Jim into it. The alley was a dead end blocked off by a high wall but there were narrow walkways splitting off to either side. Near the end of the alley a young women knelt, cradling the head of a wounded man. Jim had just knelt by her when Cobb arrived.
‘Good Gods! It’s Deirdre isn’t it?’ said Cobb, astonished. ‘And the Witchfinder. What’s happened to him?’ Cobb asked her. He recognised them from some time ago when he had called at the Witchfinder’s office to obtain a list of registered diviners, to help him track down Adele when she had gone missing.
Deirdre looked up tearfully, her eyes huge and watery behind her big glasses. ‘It’s the Witchfinder, Roderick, we’ve been down here hunting the werewolf, it’s his duty you know. Tonight we happened to be near where there was an attack and we tracked the creature but it cornered us in this alley. The Witchfinder shot at it with this gun, its got silver bullets in it, but he missed.
‘Then it attacked us. Roderick got in front of me to protect me, he’s so brave Roderick, if it wasn’t for him I’d be dead now.’ She hung her head and sobbed.
Cobb took a look at the Witchfinder, he was still breathing but his pulse was weak. He had several nasty gashes across his chest, it looked like he had been swiped with a claw. He had to stop the bleeding.
As Cobb looked around him for something to use as a bandage he heard running feet behind him. Adele skidded to a halt beside him. ‘What’s going on? Is he all right?’
‘He needs medical attention, can you help him?’ Cobb knew that Adele was no doctor but she had enough anatomy and biology training to make a better effort at it than he could.
She pulled up her skirt and tore strips off her petticoat then used them to staunch the flow of blood from the Witchfinder’s wounds.
While all this was going on, Jim had picked up the gun and was examining it. It was a standard revolver with six chambers. He opened it up and only two of the silver bullets had been fired … there were still four that he could use. He touched Deirdre on the shoulder.
‘Which way did it go?’ he asked her.
>
She held up a trembling finger and pointed at one of the side alleys. ‘It went that way, down there.’
‘Come on Cobb, it can’t be far away.’
Cobb said to Adele, ‘Look after him, we won’t be long.’ She gave him an encouraging smile and went back to tending to the Witchfinder.
Cobb and Jim ran down the alley. It wasn’t a thoroughfare; it was only wide enough for one man to walk down and was only supposed to give access to the rear of the buildings. Eventually they came to a courtyard, there were several stable type doors belonging to various businesses but they were all intact and the walls were too high to climb, so they carried on. They ran through several such openings, they were narrow confined alleyways, like rat-runs with no way up to the roofs so they knew that their prey was still on the move ahead of them.
After five minutes or so Cobb was beginning to doubt they would find the creature when they ran into another courtyard. One of the barn doors of a warehouse had been smashed open. Jim pointed at the door. Cobb pointed at the gun that Jim was holding then held out his hand towards the door, indicating that Jim should go first. Jim smiled and went ahead.
The warehouse was full of packing crates and bales of cotton. They crept slowly down the centre of the room to the stairs leading up to the second floor. Cobb pulled a fire-axe from a supporting column. There was no way he was going to face this thing empty handed.
They made their way up to the second floor, which was also full of crates and bales. The moonlight coming through the skylight was the only illumination. It was a clear night but Cobb noticed that it wasn’t a full moon. That’s odd, he thought, it’s not a full moon, so why is there a werewolf on the loose? I thought they only came out on full moons?
He didn’t have time to ponder it longer as there was a grunt and a pile of packing cases came crashing down around them. Jim cursed and scrambled over the cases closely followed by Cobb.
A long dark shadow reached out of the darkness and swept Jim’s legs away from under him. He crashed onto his back and rolled onto the floor losing his grip on the revolver. ‘Cobb, help me!’ he shouted as a huge shape reared up and towered over him. Cobb ran forward and as he passed the shape, he swung the fire-axe with all his might into the creature’s chest. It staggered back with a cry of pain, giving Jim the chance to scrabble out from underneath it.
As Jim searched frantically in the darkness for the gun, Cobb watched fascinated as the creature collapsed to its knees. We’ve got it! thought Cobb but he had underestimated the creature’s regenerative powers. It reached down and pulled the axe out of its chest, flinging it aside. It knelt there for a moment, on all fours, as if recovering its breath.
Cobb looked around for Jim, convinced they had beaten the thing, when he heard movement behind him. He turned back to the creature, and then as Cobb watched, it raised itself to its feet, threw its arms wide and roared at them. In the moonlight Cobb could see that it had somehow healed itself. The wound had closed and the werewolf appeared to have regained its earlier strength.
Oh shhhhhhhhooot! thought Cobb.
‘OUT OF THE WAY!’ shouted Jim as he fired off a shot over Cobb’s shoulder. It missed but the creature flinched and backed away as if it could sense the silver in the bullets and the danger it was in. It turned and ran. Jim let off another shot at the dark shape as it moved quickly across the warehouse away from them. It ran down to the other end of the floor and leapt through the closed window as Jim’s next shot narrowly missed it, taking a chunk out of the window frame.
‘Quick, it’s outside again!’ shouted Cobb and they both ran back down the stairs and out into the courtyard. They hunted around for a sign of which way it had gone when they heard the clatter of dustbins and a scream back in the direction of the alley they had come from.
‘It’s doubling back,’ said Jim. Oh no, thought Cobb … Adele! Both men set off back down the alleyway as fast as their feet could carry them.
***
Adele was doing the best she could with the Witchfinder. She had stopped the bleeding with wadded up petticoat and with Deirdre’s help was winding a long strip around his chest to hold it in place. But he would have to be taken to a hospital soon. She’d examined the wounds; they were deep scratches from sharp claws, not a bite. She didn’t know if that was a good thing or not where werewolves were concerned.
Adele finished tying the knot and lowered him to the ground. Suddenly Deirdre gasped, Adele looked up … the werewolf had come back to the alley.
They both got to their feet and began backing away. The creature ignored the Witchfinder, casually stepping over his inert body and advanced slowly towards them. Deirdre reached into her dress and pulled out a wand. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll protect you,’ she declared bravely, ‘I’m a witch!’
Adele, who could clearly sense that Deirdre wasn’t a witch (it takes one to know one) tried to argue with her but Deirdre kept pushing her back, unintentionally keeping her off balance until they finished up at the end of the alley with Adele pinned against the wall.
‘Deirdre stop it, let me handle it, you’ll be killed,’ she pleaded with the girl.
‘It’s the duty of the Witchfinder’s office to protect the public and that’s me!’
The werewolf stopped several feet away and roared at them, spraying them with saliva, for no other reason than to terrify them, it seemed to Adele. It did the trick for Deirdre froze, her wand upraised. Oh Gods … we are going to die any second, thought Adele, unless she could do something quickly but Deirdre’s dead weight was pinning her in the corner of the wall.
Adele reached around Deirdre and grasped her hand that held the wand. She took a deep breath and mustered all her strength and her courage … NOW! A bright blue flame about twelve feet long jetted out of the end of the wand, past the creature’s head, scorching some of its fur. With a howl of pain and surprise the werewolf leapt back several feet and then turned and fled down the alley.
Adele finally managed to push Deirdre away from her, who turned and looked back at Adele, then down at the wand, then back at Adele. In a shocked voice she said, ‘It’s never done that before,’ and then promptly fainted.
Adele bent over and put her hands on her knees, trying to get her breath and not follow Deirdre to the floor in a dead faint. Next thing she knew Cobb was hugging her and kissing her. ‘Thank the Gods you’re safe. I don’t know what I’d do if I’d lost you.’
‘Where did it go, Adele?’ interrupted Jim urgently.
‘Towards the street,’ she managed to gasp. ‘I’m all right Cobb, don’t worry about me.’
Cobb and Jim ran down the alley and up the street to the Golden Gryphon to where Adele’s cab was still waiting. ‘Did you see it?’ they asked the cabbie.
‘Yes I did guvnor, great, big, hairy thing, it was. Came past me like a runaway horse, I swear. Went up that fire escape to the roof it did.’
‘We’re going to need your cab to chase it, I’m afraid,’ said Jim.
‘You take it with my blessing Mr. Darby and May the Gods go with you sir.’
‘Go down that alley, there’s some women who need help,’ instructed Jim.
Jim climbed up into the driver’s position, high up at the rear of the cab and Cobb climbed into the passenger compartment. It faced out towards the front of the cab so Cobb could see clearly the way ahead including the rooftops. ‘There it goes Jim, down that way.’
Jim whipped up the horse and they were away. As they reached the end of the street another cab came into view. Jim swerved his cab in front of it causing it to stop suddenly.
‘Whatever’s the matter Mr. Darby?’ asked the cabbie.
‘There are two women and an injured man in that alleyway back there,’ he said pointing back the way they had come. ‘See that he gets to hospital; I’ll square it with you later. Now, out of my way.’
‘Righto Mr. Darby leave it to me,’ said the cabbie backing his rig off.
Jim cracked the whip and they were off again. ‘Sti
ll see him Cobb?’ he asked after a few minutes.
‘He’s heading west. Looks like he’s going into the City.’
They followed him as he leapt from rooftop to rooftop. He seemed to heading out of Whitechapel, towards Tower Hill. Jim knew that they were following the course of the river as it fed its way into the heart of Londum.
The werewolf went across the rooftops along Lower then Upper Isis St. Jim could see the Tower of Londum in the distance. Eventually it reached Cannon St. Rail Station and the houses began to thin out, so the beast was forced to come down to ground level. When it reached the street it broke out to King Victor’s Embankment, the broad road that ran alongside the river. It made better time on the open road and Jim had to push the horse harder to keep up with it.
The creature pounded its way along the Embankment on all fours, forcing its way past isolated pedestrians. Jim had a hard time keeping the cab heading in the right direction as he was forced to swerve around slower moving traffic.
The werewolf followed the Embankment as it curved around the river and headed south towards the Houses of Parliament. Then it broke away and headed west again towards the Old Admiralty Building.
‘It’s heading for King James’ Park,’ Jim yelled down to Cobb. They followed it as it ran across Horse Guards Parade and then into the park. They lost sight of it as it ran into the trees, so Jim brought the cab to a halt and he and Cobb dismounted.
Jim held up the pistol, ‘I’ve only one bullet left so we have to draw it out into the open so I can get a nice clear shot.’
Cobb grabbed the long cabbies horsewhip as the only available weapon. He wasn’t going to be caught unarmed if he was to be the bait. The horse was getting nervous and becoming skittish, so they knew it was still around somewhere. They tethered the horse and crept cautiously out into the park.
They cleared the tree line and walked out into the open park. The beast was nowhere to be seen but then they heard a low growl behind them. They whirled around and saw the dark shape partly covered by the shadow of the trees. ‘Bring it out in the open, bring it out and give me a clear shot,’ instructed Jim.
The Londum Omnibus Volume One (The Londum Series Book 4) Page 30
