Cry Wolf

by Aurelia T. Evans

  “I didn’t realise you were that kind of woman, sneaking out before morning. Isn’t it more polite to buy breakfast?” Malcolm asked.

  “Look, Malcolm, I know you came here because of something that is crucial to your mental well-being. I know I promised to give him a chance. I did. I gave him a chance.”

  “You gave him several chances,” Malcolm said.

  “I— What?”

  “Kelly, your sleeping spell wore off.”

  She blinked, momentarily stunned. “Really?”

  “Well, actually, it didn’t wear off so much as break. It happened very suddenly. Both of you seemed busy at the time.”

  “When?”

  “He was undressing you. You said something about will-breaking.”

  Kelly tried to remember what had happened around that time. When Abraham had been manipulating her will, her memory got a little fuzzy between what she had wanted and what he had wanted from her. Then she nodded. “In my defence, I wasn’t exactly here at the time. I was having a vision. It snapped me out of his will-breaking spell, and I guess it snapped you out of the sleeping spell.”

  “Did he use that on me?” Malcolm asked. “I was doing things I wasn’t sure I wanted to do, but it’s hard to be sure…”

  “That would be will-breaking,” Kelly said.

  “Anyway, I woke up after that. I eventually went back to sleep after things stopped being so noisy.”

  Kelly didn’t blush often, but now her cheeks heated.

  “How much did you see?” she asked.

  Malcolm held up a finger. “No, see, the question is how much didn’t I see? That would take a lot less time to answer.”

  “Oh God.”

  She didn’t know why her face continued to be fuelled by a furnace. After all, it had been her decision, and it had served a purpose, even if the results had been quite a distance away from her original intention.

  “Yes, I remember that being said on at least one occasion,” Malcolm said. “Although I can’t really throw stones in disapproval.”

  “No?”

  “I guess the sound of your thunder drowned me out. You think I didn’t enjoy it?”

  And now she thought of all the things she had done. Fucking a murderer didn’t seem all that bad in private—a man’s skill in bed really had nothing to do with the blood sacrifices he was doing out of it. But having an audience… Kelly had put Malcolm to sleep not just to save him from Abraham playing his games, but also so she could do things that she normally didn’t share with others. She hadn’t wanted him to see her bring herself to a certain level, whether he had enjoyed it or not.

  “Okay, shame and guilt and mortification aside, we still need to get out of here,” Kelly said.

  “I thought shame and guilt and mortification were the reasons for leaving,” Malcolm said, grabbing one of the sheets from the couch and wrapping it around himself in a makeshift toga.

  “You think I’d do that?” Kelly said, shoving his shoulder. “You think I’d make you leave from what you want most in the world just so I can save face?”

  “What’s the rush then?”

  “Oh, I don’t know, he’s evil?” Kelly said.

  Malcolm shrugged. “I already gathered some of that, but I figured if the evil bastard changes me back…”

  “And why would an evil bastard change you back?”

  “For his amusement. To bolster his benevolent persona. To please you.”

  “He doesn’t change magical creatures back,” Kelly said quietly. “He only discovered that spell a few days ago, maybe a week. He doesn’t save people, at least not the way you want to be saved.”

  “I don’t follow.”

  “He’s cleansing and purging magical beings six feet under. He was going to kill you. Oh, he was still going to purify you like he promised, but he was going to take your magic for himself.”

  “So he’s a murderous evil bastard.” Malcolm didn’t sound surprised. Then his face went a little slack, as though it had taken time for the information to sink in. “And you didn’t tell me this at the beginning of the conversation? It strikes me as an introduction, not a closing remark.”

  “You startled me,” Kelly said.

  “While you were stroking the murderous evil bastard?”

  “Excuse me, I was looking in his head to find out his plans,” she said.

  “The whole ‘killing me’ part was vague?”

  “I wanted to know why,” Kelly said. “So sue me. He was asleep. And he’s going to stay asleep for a while.” She took Malcolm by the forearm and started leading him out. They could argue on the way. “And before you ask, yes, I slept with him knowing he was a bastard. I’ve slept with bastards before. But I didn’t know he planned to kill you.”

  “I wasn’t going to ask that,” Malcolm replied quietly.

  “The thought crossed your mind.”

  “Yeah, but I knew it was stupid the minute I thought of it.”

  Kelly turned the doorknob and couldn’t meet Malcolm’s eyes. “Why?”

  “Because you haven’t stopped helping me since you came to the sanctuary. I doubt you’d stop now just because you psychically knew the man was going to be a god in the sack.”

  Kelly almost ran into Ahmir, who stood in the middle of the hall outside Abraham’s room. He unfolded his arms as he took in Kelly’s and Malcolm’s respective states of completely clothed and naked but for a blanket. Ahmir raised an eyebrow.

  “I kind of thought it’d be the other way around,” Ahmir said.

  “Long story,” Kelly said. “We’re going back to our trailer now.”

  “If it’s still there,” Ahmir said.

  “What?” she asked.

  “A powerful wind storm came through this evening. The tent nearly got blown away. There was some car damage.”

  “No people,” she said, hoping that hadn’t been a lie.

  “Some injuries, but Salvation has healers. No need to look like you lined everyone up and shot them.”

  “Good.” Kelly sighed. “That’s good to hear.”

  She tugged Malcolm past Ahmir, but as they quickly continued down the hall, Ahmir called after them, “And where do you think you’re going?”

  Kelly stopped, schooled her expression and turned around, trying to look nonchalant with a mostly naked man next to her. “The trailer, remember?”

  “Father Abraham gave specific instructions,” Ahmir said. He took a few steps towards them, crossing his arms again. “No one leaves until he leaves.”

  Kelly peered at him then drew back in horror, pushing Malcolm behind her. “Oh God, you know. You know what he does.”

  “I know who does what?” Ahmir said.

  “You know he kills us,” Kelly said.

  Revelation dawned on Ahmir’s face. Then he looked sad. “Oh. Yeah.”

  Malcolm backed up, and Ahmir almost advanced, but Kelly put up a hand to stop him. While Ahmir should have believed he could barrel her over like a car over an aluminium can, he halted without her having to put up a shield.

  “And you’re okay with it. You agree with his philosophy that people like us—people like you—should be killed in order to be purified. You help him,” Kelly said, poking him in the chest.

  He grabbed her wrist, but he didn’t squeeze. “Look, lady, I can tell you don’t agree, but I believe werewolves and all those other things need to be eradicated.”

  “But you’re helping him,” Kelly said. “He’s not eradicating you.”

  “He wants people to ask,” Ahmir said. “He wants them to see their error, at least for now.”

  “That’s because sacrifice is more potent when it’s willing,” Kelly said, frustrated by his density.

  “That makes sense,” Ahmir said, nodding as though convincing people to voluntarily lay their head on a sacrificial slab was understandable.

  “Are you out of your fucking mind?” Kelly asked.

  “Abraham is right,” Ahmir said, putting his hands on her shoulde
rs. “He said to come to him when I was ready. I’m not ready yet, but at least I can help. An abomination must be exterminated. It’s like the immune system in our bodies, attacking the intruders that try to attack it. We attack human beings.”

  “But you don’t,” Kelly said. “You put on a good show as a bodyguard, but you’ve never killed anyone, not with your own teeth.”

  “Not yet,” Ahmir said darkly. He looked down. “I want to.”

  “But you haven’t,” she replied. “That’s the important part. It’s a choice, don’t you understand? Yes, maybe we’re more dangerous than most humans. We have some disadvantages. But so do some human beings. It all comes down to the choices you make, no matter how hard they are. You’re surrounded by humans all the time and you’ve never killed one of them. Abraham surrounds himself with werewolves, vampires and other magical beings, and he’s killed almost every one of them. He makes them think he’s going to make them human again, but he kills them. Who’s the beast now?”

  “He wasn’t going to kill you,” Ahmir said, but he looked troubled by what Kelly had said. “He said he found a way.”

  “A way he was going to share only with me,” Kelly said.

  “There’s a way?” Malcolm spoke up.

  “In his spell book, there was a new spell that wouldn’t kill…” Kelly trailed off, looking over her shoulder.

  Malcolm stood in partial shadow, wrapped in the blanket, so still that he could have been a Greek statue.

  Her own words came back to her, that if she had a way to take the werewolf out of Malcolm, she would do it in a heartbeat. Now hers seemed to stop. She forced herself to look away from Malcolm and back to Ahmir.

  “Somehow, it doesn’t make it okay that he was going to spare just me,” Kelly said. “Now, Abraham is sleeping, and Malcolm and I are leaving.”

  “Kelly,” Malcolm murmured.

  “With the spell book,” she said. Saying the words felt like swallowing needles. “I like you, Ahmir. You’re nuts, but you seem like a nice guy. Even so, I’ll hurt you if you try to stop me.”

  “Then you’ll have to hurt me,” Ahmir said mildly. “I owe him for the favour he’ll do for me when I’m a better man.”

  “You owe him nothing,” Kelly spat.

  Just as Ahmir began to squeeze down on her shoulders, he collapsed into a sizable heap on the ground. She had warned him.

  “Are you just going to leave him there?” Malcolm asked.

  “What do you recommend I do, Malcolm?” Kelly said. “I guess I can take him along with us, but it’s been my experience that people who don’t want to come with you make uncooperative hostages. Look, I don’t know if that spell was even going to work or whether it’s safe or…”

  Malcolm didn’t have to reply—his answer was written on his face. Kelly rubbed her eyes, hung her head and called the Book of Shadows to her. It floated into her hands, the bedroom door closing behind it.

  “What is it?” Malcolm asked when she just stood there, considering the book with suspicion.

  “Even if he did awaken all of my magic, that was way too easy. Someone like Abraham wouldn’t let his spell book be taken so easily. It should have more loyalty to its master.” She opened the book to the well-worn pages.

  The ivory paper was blank.

  “Damn it.” Kelly threw the book against Abraham’s door and squeezed past Malcolm towards the end of the hall. “The spells disappear when the book is out of his possession. I doubt he’s going to give us the secret when he wakes up and discovers I’m not exactly okay with him killing us. We need to go. Before someone wakes up.”

  “Killing me,” Malcolm corrected her through clenched teeth. He hadn’t moved.

  Kelly threw her hands up in the air. “Malcolm, if you think werewolves are so damn evil, then go back in there, hand him his knife and beg for him to put you out of your misery as though you were one of those violent dogs they put to sleep. You know? The kind of dogs that Renee and all the other shapeshifters try to save? You make your choice, Malcolm. Do you think you deserve to be murdered? You think that’s what you’re worth? Then go ahead. Get out of my sight and stop pulling me down with you.”

  Kelly hurried through the corridor. Even though she intended to return to settle the score with Abraham, she just wanted to leave and run the scent of Abraham and storm-drenched cornstalks from her body. She wanted to get the taste of wine and blood out of her mouth. And she needed to hunt before she came back for more human prey.

  If she was going to return, she had to keep a level head. The more frustrated she became with Abraham and his cult followers, with werewolves who insisted on telling themselves that they were scum of the earth when there were more terrible monsters in more pleasing skins, the more she thought that she might tear the farm apart and leave nothing but a sinkhole in the process.

  And all for a man who deserved nothing but a quick gutting—nothing too impressive, because he deserved much less than he believed he was worth.

  Malcolm didn’t run after her in the house, but he caught up with her halfway down the hill. He didn’t say a word. Kelly bit back a sarcastic remark that would not have been helpful. He just kept his eyes on the ground, gritting his teeth. His feet quickly became coated with wet grass.

  Most of the damage from the storm had been cleaned up. The bulk of the debris was natural—stirred-up soil, fallen and windblown branches, pieces of cornstalk strewn about, a section of fencing that had been broken. The dark night was quiet. Even the nocturnal creatures weren’t speaking. All she heard was the sprinkling of rain remnants from the trees to the grass.

  She climbed into her truck. Malcolm went into the trailer. She swallowed past a lump in her throat at being alone and switched her radio off. Eyes attuned to any movement that might interrupt their escape, Kelly manoeuvred out of the makeshift parking lot and onto the highway.

  She drove until the sun touched the clear horizon. Then she pulled over into a highway rest stop to use the facilities and stretch her legs. The magic had woken her up, but now she was antsy, as though she had drunk both too much and not enough coffee. There were a few trucks in the parking lot, but she couldn’t see any truck drivers, so she stripped and started running.

  Kelly didn’t go far. She ran over her own tracks along the length of the private fence lining the highway before doubling back again and again and again. There were trees blocking highway travellers from seeing her, so she wasn’t afraid of exposure, and she desperately needed the run. She wished she could just keep going, run wherever her feet took her and hopefully end up somewhere as hospitable as the sanctuary or Damien’s pack.

  She was afraid that not killing Abraham when she’d had the chance there in his bed was going to backfire on her. Once again, having to protect Malcolm had held her back. She had no patience for it anymore, especially if he couldn’t understand how much she’d sacrificed for him just these last two weeks.

  Kelly wasn’t his mate. She no longer had an obligation to take care of him or blow the horn in his pity party.

  She heard his footsteps before his scent crossed her path. She didn’t give any indication that she knew he was there. He fell into rhythm with her, his stride matching hers, and she let him follow as she headed back to the trailer. Before joining her, Malcolm had put out a bag with new clothes for both of them behind some trees close to the rest stop. Kelly pulled on the jersey dress, leggings and practical sandals. Malcolm came up behind her and groaned back into human form before putting on his own clean clothes.

  They still didn’t speak as they returned to the truck. This time Malcolm got in the passenger side. They stopped by a fast food restaurant for breakfast sandwiches and ate them in silence in a discount department store parking lot. Malcolm took their trash and threw it in a trash can then returned.

  As Kelly turned the key in the ignition, Malcolm put his hand over hers and pulled the key out.

  “I’ve had some time to think,” Malcolm said. “I think I fell asleep during p
art of it, but they say you do some of your best thinking in dreams. I’m not sure what rollercoaster freeways and marshmallows have to do with my dilemma. It seemed significant at the time.”

  He took a deep breath then let it out. Kelly clasped her hands in her lap and stared at the interlocked fingers.

  “I don’t suppose you remember what the spell is that Father Abraham wrote down,” he said.

  She shook her head.

  “All right. Then I’m going to stop looking,” Malcolm said with a note of finality. “I promised I’d stop after this. Even if there is a spell to turn me back or at least to turn me human, you don’t know what it is, and Father Abraham isn’t going to give it to me. So there might as well not be a spell at all.”

  He looked out of his passenger window, tightening his hand on his knee. “Ki and Max were just trying to help, but Ki has Max. She loves me and I love her, but it’s not the way she loves Max. He’s her mate. Even though I liked the way things were, it was stupid of me to think that it could be that way again. Mostly because it wasn’t as ideal as I remembered it. I used to come to her when I needed it, and she would accept me, but how many times did she come to me when she needed me? She never came to me.”

  He took one of Kelly’s hands then looked at her. “I accept being a werewolf. Maybe if another spell surfaces, I won’t even want you to use it. Maybe with enough time, I’ll love being this as much as you do. But no matter how long it takes for me to let myself be the beast, I want you to know that I will follow you into the pack.

  “I don’t know if I love you. But ever since you arrived at the sanctuary, even before you picked a fight, I was avoiding you as much as I was avoiding them because you inexplicably became the centre of my world. Everything else disappeared, and I couldn’t see anything but you. Then the way you make me feel. If it’s magic, unintentional magic, I don’t even care. I will make love to you and let you do whatever you want with me. I will hunt with you. And I will run with you. As disappointed as I am that a good part of my past is gone, you’ve shown me that the moon has light as well.”

  Something was choking her. She couldn’t swallow. All the muscles she wanted to be tense were too loose and the muscles she wanted to relax were too tight. Her body flashed cold then hot. For a second, she didn’t think she could even breathe.