Wolfdark

by Isobel Robertson

"I don't understand," Marcus croaked, his voice still hoarse. The silencing powder had, no doubt, only just worn off.

  "How much do you remember of our mother?" Delilah asked.

  Marcus looked confused for a second, then horrified understanding dawned on his face.

  "But she was a witch hunter," he said. "She and Father hunted witches."

  Delilah shrugged.

  "Some witches deserve to be hunted. Mother had her own reasons for doing what she did. There are rogue witches everywhere, manipulating humans for their own ends. They need to be stopped."

  I was beginning to suspect that witches were everywhere in our society. Perhaps it was only the evil ones who attracted notice. Perhaps everyone lived alongside a witch, never knowing.

  "But Father didn't know the truth when he married her," Delilah said. Her face was still calm, but her voice shook. "And that's how... that's why she's dead."

  "No," Marcus whispered. "She fell. It was an accident. He tried to save her."

  Delilah just shook her head. Tears welled in the corner of her eye, but she held them back.

  Marcus turned to look at me directly.

  "I'm sorry, Lily, for what I said and did. I was brought up to hate witches. Perhaps I can never change. But I don't want hate like that in my life. When it came to it, I couldn't even let you die. I always liked and admired you. I can't believe that none of our friendship was real."

  "I forgive you," I said softly. I tried to smile at him, but Delilah's story had caught at me deep inside. Had my father known? Had my mother told him the truth? I bit my lip, hoping the pain would bring me back to my senses, but I couldn't stop the sudden welling of tears. They burst from my eyes, trickling down my cheeks and growing into a flood.

  Then a drop landed on my head, then another. As I cried harder, it poured with rain. I looked up in amazement to see water tumbling down from nowhere, matching the rhythm of my tears.

  Beside me, Gwyneth began to laugh.

  "You've done it, Lily! You've mastered your powers!"

  The warmth of her smile burned away my sadness and sparked a flush of excitement that blossomed and grew within me. And as a flare of hope burst into life, the most dazzling bright light filled the room, and gentle warmth dried away the rain and my tears.

  Hope. I almost laughed for the joy of it, and my joy became more light as glittering spirals of ever colour shot from my skin. They swirled around me, filling the room with light in every shade of the rainbow. I threw back my head and laughed as my friends laughed with me, and I realised I had never felt so alive.

  Violation

  It was late by the time we arrived home. My street was shrouded in darkness, with only the circles of lamplight to illuminate our way. The air was damp and chill, but it did nothing to dim my enthusiasm. I could barely keep the smile from my face, even as I shivered. Theo wrapped his arm around my shoulders, pulling me close against him, and then I did smile. He kissed the side of my head softly as we approached the house, and my shivers became altogether more pleasant.

  To my surprise, there was a light on, high up in my house. Alexandra's room. With a low pulse of guilt, I realised I'd almost completely forgotten about my offer to let her stay. I'd hardly seen her, but that was no excuse. I should have been a better hostess - a better friend. Although, the more I thought about her, the more my discomfort grew. What if she'd heard our little fight earlier in the day - everything that happened with Marcus and Delilah? I would need to have an excellent excuse ready.

  But first, it was time to relax and rest. We'd had a long, difficult day.

  We climbed the steps, my footsteps a little slow and tired, and Theo reached out to open the front door for me. But it swung open before he touched the handle. My butler stood there, eyes wide and staring, his face deathly white, and his usually pristine shirt drenched in blood. For a second, I stared back at him in horror. Then he collapsed.

  Theo crouched down beside before I'd even registered what happened.

  "It's only a faint," he said, checking the man's pulse and gently testing his eyelid. "He's still breathing. And it doesn't seem like this blood is his."

  "That's good," I said automatically. Then I paused. "So, whose blood is it?"

  The panic hit me. My butler, my house, so much blood. What had happened?

  I raced in through the door, leaping over my fallen butler.

  "Alexandra!" I shouted. "Mrs Scott, Deborah! Can you hear me?"

  "Quiet," Theo hissed. "We have no idea if the house is safe."

  But I wasn't listening to him. I was too busy staring at the bloody pawprints that marched all the way along my hallway. As if in a dream, I followed them. Through the breakfast room, through the small parlour, into the kitchen, and out through the back door into the garden, where they reached a hedge and vanished. Each pawprint was huge, bigger than any dog's paws.

  "They end here," I told Theo faintly as he came to stand beside me. I gripped the door frame hard, staring out into the back garden.

  "But where did they begin?" Theo asked softly.

  Part of me desperately wanted to never find out. But this was my own home. There was nowhere else to hide.

  "Let's follow them," I said. Theo took my hand, and we set off on the trail of the bloody footprints.

  We walked silently back into the hallway. I took another moment to gather my courage as I faced the stairs. There was so much blood.

  How had this happened? This was my house. People should be safe here. But my butler, who still lay prone beside the front door, was covered in so much blood. I felt sick at the thought, not to mention the overpowering metallic smell that filled my nostrils and set my gut churning.

  Theo and I ascended the stairs hand in hand, my heart beating so hard that the world span around me.

  "Alexandra?" I called. "Alexandra, are you there?"

  No answer. Only silence in the upstairs hallway.

  We tried Alexandra's room first; the room I'd seen from the street. The fire and the lamps still burned merrily, but Alexandra was nowhere to be seen.

  Then I pulled open my own bedroom door, the wood sticking a little on the carpet, my stomach already preparing to force its way from my mouth.

  There was so much blood.

  Alexandra and Deborah lay crumpled on the floor, their hands reaching out for each other. Their faces were almost indistinguishable through the blood that clung to every inch of them. I didn't need to look closer to know that they were dead; the terrible wounds that criss-crossed their bodies told me enough.

  I tore my eyes away. But I only saw more horror. Even Hemlock's little bed, placed neatly beside the fireplace, was filled with blood.

  I screamed.

  Feet skidding on all the blood, I tumbled down the stairs, still screaming. I was almost out of the door, barely aware of what was happening, when Theo grabbed my arm. I lurched to a halt, almost treading on the blood-soaked form of my butler.

  "It has to pay!" I screamed at Theo, fighting to free my arm. "Let me go!"

  "Lily, you can't go anywhere yet," Theo said, his voice low and urgent. "You can't face the wolf like this. You need to be prepared. We need to be prepared."

  "It has to pay," I said again, my voice dropping to a whisper.

  "It will," Theo promised. His expression held a grim darkness I had never seen on him before.

  But promises meant nothing.

  "I'm ready now," I said, trying to pull my arm free again, struggling against him with all my force.

  "No," he said sharply. "You're not."

  I couldn't cope any longer. I swung my hand up, cracking against Theo's jaw with a loud slap. He flinched, jerking his head back, but he did not let go of me. All my anger drained from me in a moment. Its absence left me with an aching void; a space that I knew should be filled with sadness, but that seemed utterly empty.

  "They're dead," I said. "Even Hemlock. My little cat."

  I wanted to cry. I wanted to grieve at the thought of the tiny little
kitten that I should have kept safe. But how could the loss of a cat hurt so much when two of my closest friends lay dead? The guilt tickled at me, threatening to rip open the well of emotion that built inside me.

  Most of all, I felt violated. The wolf had won. Nowhere was safe any more, not even my own bedrom, the place where I'd hidden from all my childhood nightmares. Two of the people I was closest to in the world - not that it was a long list - were dead. And still I had no idea what this wolf wanted. Or how to stop it.

  "Let's find out where everyone else is," Theo said softly, leading me back into the house. "Then we can get help."

  I had a sudden vivid memory of the terrible fate that had befallen the servants of Killston Hall, and I shivered. I couldn't always remember my own servants' names, but I would still have tried harder to protect them if I'd ever imagined that something like this might happen.

  We crept back through the rooms. I'd never felt so uncertain and unsteady in my own home.

  "Anyone there?" Theo called. "It's Lord Amberson and Lady Lily. You're safe now."

  "Get the butler in and lock all the doors," I muttered.

  Theo nodded, but seemed reluctant to leave me alone.

  As he stepped away and our fingertips almost parted, a head poked around the door that led to the kitchen.

  "Lady Lily?" she asked, her voice soft and subdued.

  I gasped, hand flying to my heart, then recognised the face of one of the kitchen maids. Alas, I still could not remember her name.

  She slipped through into the dining room, the other servants crowding in behind her. I almost cried in relief to see all their familiar faces.

  "Are you all here? Are you all unharmed?" I asked.

  "All except Mr Turnball," the maid said, looking at her feet.

  Mr Turnball? I realised that was the butler's name. Goodness, he was the one staff member whose name I should absolutely know. He just had such a talent for fading into the furniture.

  "He's fine," I said quicky. "Just a little overwhelmed."

  Thankfully, Mr Turnball chose that moment to stagger back into the room, a little wild-eyed, but otherwise apparently unharmed. I was touched to see the expressions of relief on the faces of every staff member. I was vaguely aware that not all households enjoyed good relationships between the butler and the under-staff, but it seemed I had nothing to worry about on that count.

  To my utter astonishment and undying relief, Hemlock's tiny head appeared from behind one of the maid's skirts. I squealed in delight, crouching down low so that my cat could run to me. I cradled her close to my chest, her soft head brushing my cheek. The first of my tears at last began to fall.

  "What happened?" Theo asked. "Where have you been? We didn't see anyone in the kitchen."

  "We were in the cellar," Mrs Scott said, pushing her way to the front of the crowd. "And it was that little cat that led us there. It was the strangest thing, my lord. And my lady," she added, nodding to me as I crouched on the floor, Hemlock in my arms.

  "Hemlock led you there?" I asked, straightening up.

  The woman nodded vigorously.

  "We heard a crash from the front door, ma'am, then there was screaming upstairs. Turnball was determined to investigate, but we were all in the kitchen having our dinner, and the rest of us were too afraid to move. We knew that something was in the house, you see."

  The maids on either side of her nodded vigorously. The footmen as well. Had they all been in the cellar?

  "And then this little cat came racing into the kitchen," Mrs Scott continued. "She made a right fuss and scratched at the cellar door. Of course, we realised straight away that it would be the safest place for us, if something was in the house. So we all squeezed in and barred the door. Although, now I think about it, it's strange that we all decided to trust a cat."

  "It's lucky you did," Theo said, frowning. "It looks as if the beast came straight through the kitchen on its way out. None of you would have stood a chance."

  "Is everyone else alright?" the maid asked anxiously.

  The room fell silent. For a second, I looked towards Theo, but this was not his responsibility. These were my people to care for, and I had left them vulnerable and afraid.

  "Deborah and Miss Alexandra are dead," I said. There was no kinder way to say it. But as the faces in front of me crumpled in fear and shock, I would have given anything to take those words back.

  "If only I'd reached them sooner-" Mr Turnball said, but Theo cut him off quickly.

  "There was nothing you could have done against a beast like this," he said. "It was a wolf, and a vicious one at that."

  The servants all began to scream, but Theo calmed them, and set everyone to the task of securing the house - and doing what we could with the bodies upstairs.

  I sank onto the settee, Hemlock on my lap, and let the bustle and noise spread all around me.

  Yes, there was nothing Turnball could have done. But what about me? What could I have done?

  If only I'd done something.

  Uneasy Peace

  I sat on the bed in the second-best guest bedroom, my arms wrapped tightly around me, clutching the embroidered quilt to my shoulders. I still could not stop shivering or stop my teeth from chattering. Two glasses of whiskey seemed to have achieved nothing.

  At least the bodies were gone from my bedroom - not that I had checked. I hadn't even been able to face seeing the undertaker when he came to remove them. Servants were still in there, cleaning the blood, but it didn't much matter to me. How could I ever sleep in there again? Just being in the same house was agony.

  The single bright spot in this entire disaster was Hemlock, who lay curled up on my lap, purring gently. A tear splashed onto her soft fur, but she didn't flinch. I wiped my eyes, but another tear slipped out.

  "Lily?" Theo peered around the door, his expression as concerned as his voice. His eyes fixed on my face, and I saw them widen slightly. He must have noticed my tears.

  He let himself into the room and came to stand awkwardly in front of me.

  "Perhaps this isn't a good time," he said. "But Delilah, Marcus and Jules are here. They want to talk to you about the wolf."

  I stared at him. Was he mad? Perhaps not a good time? There had never been a worse time.

  My tears, so carefully controlled yet so close to the surface, exploded.

  "Get rid of them, Theo," I said, trying to talk through my sobs. "I don't want to see anyone. And they're too late. Alexandra and Deborah are already dead. Nothing can fix that."

  Theo backed away silently. He tried to smile, but it was forced and awkward. Unsurprising, given how little remained to smile about. He left the room and trudged back down the stairs. A few moments later, my front door opened with a creak and slammed shut again. I sighed, although the feeling was not quite relief. A sense of uneasy peace, perhaps.

  Then the door opened to reveal Marcus and Delilah. It must have been Jules I had heard leaving the house.

  For a second, we all stood frozen, as they no doubt fumbled for some inane words of comfort. I could take no more.

  "Get out!" I screamed, lurching to my feet with Hemlock in my arms. "How dare you walk into my house like this, with no invitation! And how dare you barge straight into my room, especially after the way you treated me on your last visit. Get out! I want you both gone from my house - and my life."

  I stood there, glaring at them, my knees slightly trembling, and I waited for the fight to begin.

  But, to my surprise, neither of them responded. Instead, they looked at each other and said nothing.

  "Get out!" I shouted again.

  Delilah turned to Theo.

  "Contact us when you need us," she said quietly.

  And then the two of them turned and left the room. I stood poised, waiting, until the front door closed yet again. They had finally left.

  I stared at the door, suddenly unsure what to do. My body still felt ready for a fight, but my anger was already draining away, replaced by a growing
emptiness that ate at my bones and slowed my blood.

  Theo moved slowly towards me, his expression wary. He reached out his arms, giving me a moment to react, then he pulled me tightly against him, letting little Hemlock snuggle into his shirt. I sank against him and let the long-controlled sobs rip free with such force that they shook my body and tore through my throat. Hemlock wriggled from my arms, but Theo held me even tighter, letting me scream against him and clutch his shoulders for support.

  When the sobs were finished, he lowered me to the bed and lay behind me, wrapping me in his arms once again. He stroked my hair gently as my shaking subsided. In his arms, I felt a little safer. But not normal - not now, and perhaps not ever again.

  Who could guarantee that the wolf would not return? Nowhere was safe, least of all the place I called home.

  As I lay in Theo's arms, I heard voices outside and the rattle of wheels on the cobbles. A lot of the servants were leaving, Mrs Scott had told me; some without even bothering to give notice and collect references. I did not blame them. Who would want to stay in a place touched by this kind of dark violence? Soon, there would only be a few people left in this house. Emptier than ever. It was hard to believe that I had been so hopeful just a few hours earlier.

  Liliana

  I woke up to a room that was only just filled with the first slivers of sunlight. The light should have comforted me, but it felt somehow cold. I lay in Theo's bed, the white sheets oddly chill. Beside me, Theo breathed the gentle rhythms of sleep.

  Usually, Theo's presence brought me comfort. Today, though, I was glad that he still slept. I needed some time that was all mine.

  I could not quite believe what had happened, as if some layer of my mind tried to protect me from the truth. It seemed too cruel, too vicious to be true. Surely I had not seen such terrible sights - and in my own house, no less? But I could not deny the harsh reality of the memories. Part of me wanted to curl up in Theo's bed, seeking his warmth beneath these cold sheets. If only I could hide here forever. But there was another part of me that would hide no longer. This wolf must be stopped once and for all, and I knew that the responsibility was mine alone.