Loved Up

by A. A. Albright

  Just as I was asking myself that terrible question, I saw the shadows in the corners of the dining room begin to move, creeping towards the sleeping bodies at the table. Next, I heard the sudden snapping of jaws. I moved madly in my chair, pulling at my cuffs, grunting and shrieking in frustration.

  ‘What are you doing to them?’ I growled. ‘You’d better not hurt a hair on their heads, or I swear to the goddess …’

  ‘The goddess!’ Gabriel Godbody the Twentieth appeared behind his son, laughing his weirdo head off. ‘There is no goddess. We’re the only gods you need concern yourself with, Wayfarer.’

  I clenched my jaw. ‘Can we leave the delusional ramblings for another time? What have you done to them? And where’s Max?’

  ‘Your friends and family are perfectly fine,’ he replied with a roll of his eyes. ‘They’re under a sleeping spell. Nothing to worry about.’

  ‘But where’s Max? You’d better tell me where he is, and you’d better tell me now!’

  ‘Or what?’ Gabriel’s father grinned. ‘What will you do, Wayfarer?’ He neared the chair and brought his face close to mine. ‘Don’t bother with the bluster, Wanda. I know exactly how scared you are. I can read your mind. I always could. Just like I know that right now, you’re looking at that microwave, and you’re thinking ... why does a man who hates electronics have a microwave in his kitchen? You had me pegged for having links to the Dark Team, I know. But now you’re thinking: is the microwave a teleportation device? Does he use it to collect payments from clients, payments that are cleverly disguised as fried chicken and sent directly to this place? Why yes. Yes, that’s it in a nutshell. Or in a fried chicken wrapper, I suppose.’ He steepled his fingers beneath his chin. ‘No, I’m not the mere affable empath you believed me to be.’

  I shrugged my shoulders. ‘None of this is a shocker, is it? No one actually believed you were an empath. And forget about affable. The thing about empaths is that they tend to be caring. They don’t feel your pain and complain about it. They feel your pain and try to help.’

  He laughed. ‘Whatever you say. After all, you’re the clever one. You’re the one who knows everything. Well, except when her boyfriend has been dosing her and her family and friends for months.’

  I stared at Gabriel junior. I’d suspected that the wine wasn’t the first time he tried to sneak me a potion, but he’d been spiking the others all this time, too?

  My very-ex boyfriend gave a casual shrug. His hair was slicked back, and he was dressed in black slacks and a waistcoat, with a ruffled white shirt beneath. I knew he was trying to convey a vampire vibe, but really he looked more like he should be in a mariachi band.

  ‘I barely had to give your coven a thing,’ he said. ‘Most of it was just suggestion, a bit of mild mind-altering hypnosis. But you? You took the biscuit, Wanda. I started off the way I would with any idiot I was trying to make fall in love with me, but you just kept needing more. I ended up having to dose everything. My cologne. My clothes. Every present I ever gave you. Every drink I ever brought you. And yet you never completely fell for my charms. I mean, what is it with you?’

  My heart was beginning to beat even faster, but I needed to ignore it, overcome it – I needed to get out of this kitchen and help everyone. I could still see those damned shadows moving in the dining room on the screen. I could still hear them snarling and snapping.

  Gabriel and his father let out a laugh in perfect unison.

  ‘Oh, it was hilarious to listen to your thoughts over our dinners together,’ his father said. ‘Every time you tried to ask me about the invisible animals, I reached inside your mind and took the question away. But the days of making fun of you are over. So I’ll tell you – they’re my pets. The few werewolves and weredogs who survived our little hunts longer than a week get the pleasure of living in the house, with me – under my strict control, of course. And confined to their animal forms for eternity.’ He looked at the screen, mumbled some words and waved a hand. Before my eyes, the invisible animals took form. And I really wished they would have stayed invisible. I’d seen my fair share of werewolves and weredogs, but I’d never seen any like this. The poor things looked feral. He made them disappear once again, and then turned back to me. ‘I forgot to feed them today, unfortunately. Still, I’m sure they’ll behave.’

  I swallowed. I hadn’t been given long enough to look at them before they became invisible again. Was Max one of the weredogs in that room? Or worse. I thought of the photo on Heber Montrose’s desk. His foot on top of a wolf’s head. I knew he wasn’t in America in that picture. They held their sick hunts here, in the forest surrounding this very house. I thought of the emergency coordinates Barry had keyed into his microwave: Six thousand dead werewolves by eight thousand dead weredogs.

  Those were the dark coordinates for the Godbody woodland. They’d told Barry to key them in in case of an emergency – and when he couldn’t get Justine’s latest instructions, that’s exactly what he did. Barry had no idea that he was on his way to be murdered. And I still couldn’t shake one very disturbing question – were the numbers in those Dark Road coordinates a tally, or a goal? Either way, it didn’t bode well for Max.

  ‘Max ...’ I tried to speak, but my voice was wheezy, and my chest began to hurt even more. ‘He ... where is ...’ I tried to clutch my chest, but realised that the shackles were chained about the back of the chair, restricting my movement. ‘I ... my heart. Gabe ... where’s Max?’

  He let out a disgruntled sigh. ‘Fine!’ He came towards me, pulled my hair roughly back and tipped a vial of clear liquid down my neck. Clamping my mouth shut he said, ‘Swallow – unless you want to have a heart attack right now.’

  I swallowed. Almost instantly, I could feel my heart begin to calm down. But I could feel so much more than that. As the antidote chased the Château Toff de Toff out of my system, it was as if every memory I had of Gabriel came into sharper focus – and in each one, I saw him as he really was. Looking at him now, I felt just the same as I had the first time I saw him on TV – thoroughly grossed-out. My dad once told Gabriel that my gut was never wrong. Maybe not – but it sure could be overridden by a powerful-enough potion.

  On top of the churning Gabriel was setting off in my stomach, I also felt groggy. I couldn’t tell whether it was from the after effects of the potion or whether it was caused by the bang on the back of the head I’d received at Wayfarers’ Rest.

  ‘Good girl. And don’t worry. Your natural state of loathing towards me won’t last too much longer. We’ll feed you some more love potion and get to work on that annoying brain of yours in a little while.’

  I tugged at the cuffs. ‘My behind, you will. That potion killed Agatha! Why give me an antidote if you’re just going to poison me all over again?’

  ‘Oh, Wanda.’ Gabriel shook his head. ‘I would never do anything to hurt you. Every potion I used to try and make you fall in love with me was thoroughly tested. We have a wide network of potion pushers who carefully record the effects on all of their customers. Of course, we’d have an even wider network if you didn’t keep arresting them. Yeah, Johnny Goode was one of ours. But the thing about you, Wanda, is that you’re a bit of a freak.’

  Lindsey came into view once again, laughing. ‘A fat freak, I might add.’

  ‘Hey!’ I glared at her. ‘I happen to like my figure, thanks very much.’ Okay, so I sometimes wished I didn’t have so much trouble finding shirts that would accommodate my boobs without being too wide at the waist, but she didn’t need to know that. I switched my glare to Gabriel. ‘If you could just get on with the rest of your mad monologue without interruptions from your girlfriend, that’d be great. I believe you left off by telling me I was a freak.’

  He sent a pointed look in Lindsey’s direction, and with a murderous glance at me, she retreated to a dark corner of the room.

  ‘Look, what happened to Agatha is actually your fault,’ he said. ‘You never had quite the expected reaction to anything I tried on you. And
I worked so hard, too. I made sure that the potion-infused colognes I used smelled like cinnamon, because you seem to have an unhealthy obsession with apple tart made with that spice. I read your thoughts for ages before I made a move. It was Max this, Max that. Oh, Max looks like he’s had a hard day at work, I think I might grab him a chocolate soymilk and make him some spaghetti hoops on toast. Or: oh, Max is sooo sweet and lovely, I just love these slippers he bought me. Or: I can’t wait to get home so I can snuggle up on the couch with Max. I mean, give me a break. With thoughts like that, no wonder I figured you were in love with him. But you had me dressing like that scruffy runt for nothing. Because it wasn’t him you were in love with after all, was it? Except you keep those thoughts to a minimum. Quite right too. It’s not as if you have a chance in hell with a guy like Will Berry.’

  I looked away from him, wishing to the goddess that I could shut him out of my head. Shut him up, full stop. I also wished I had a headache pill, but I wasn’t about to ask for one. Never take a pill from a stranger – and Gabriel was definitely strange.

  He gritted his teeth. ‘Your mind is ringing because I’m trying to read your thoughts. It’s a recent development. An original Wayfarer talent, according to my father. But don’t worry – we’re working hard to find a solution.’

  My eyes widened. If I was beginning to gain another of the original Wayfarer’s talents, then there was no way I was going to let them take it from me. I thought back to the stories I’d read. The way she fought against vampires was legendary. She’d never once succumbed to hypnosis, the way so many other witches had. Yeah, maybe she could fight mind control. Maybe I could, too.

  Gabriel’s lips formed a grin. How had I kissed those lips? Ugh. They looked both slimy and dry at the same time. What was with that?

  ‘You’re not quite on par with the original Wayfarer, Wanda. Maybe in time, and with training, you’d be able to shield your mind. But the fact that you were beginning to show signs of shutting us out, and you were responding even less enthusiastically to my advances than usual … that’s why we had to act fast. You should have drunk that bottle of Château Toff de Toff alone, Wanda, and then fallen into my arms. Instead, you’ve put your whole coven at risk.’ He smiled at me. It had all the depth of a flat line. ‘But I can see that you’re getting a bit tired of me, so why don’t I let my father fill in the rest of the gaps?’

  ‘Oh, dear goddess, no,’ I muttered, as Gabriel’s father pulled a chair over and sat in front of me.

  His bony hand reached out and patted my knee. I shook him off, and struggled to get out of the hard chair, not caring that I was making the cuffs around my ankles chafe. Sure, there was a lot I was still curious about, but I wished they’d found someone more personable to do the talking. Even Barry Plimpton would have been preferable.

  ‘Where to start?’ he pondered. ‘Let’s see. What’s been making you most curious just lately? Yes, I was behind Mr Rundt killing my neighbour, Winnie Wywood, a short while ago. But you knew that, didn’t you? Just like you knew that I did it for no other reason than I wanted her land. I don’t like neighbours. Neighbours are nosey. I set Mr Rundt up to take the fall for that one, though. Because ... well ... you met the man. Oh, yes, we killed the former Minister and her secretary. She was behind on her payments, and she was just days away from telling you what little she knew. Not that she knew much, despite all her big talk but ... she could have led us to you. Same for her secretary. Hmm ... what else? Oh, yes – your flying teacher, Amelia. Technically, the credit for almost murdering her goes to my son.’

  I felt as though a ball of lead had hit me in the stomach. ‘Amelia?’ I stared in horror at Gabriel. ‘You sabotaged her broom during that race? You could have killed her.’

  He looked so nonchalant that I wanted to smack him in the face. ‘I wanted to win,’ he said. ‘And even though I was already cheating by riding a hybrid broom, I still wasn’t going to come any better than third. If she didn’t beat me, it would have been Will Berry. But I’m good at reading people. I knew good old Will would save the day. He always has to play the hero. He’s such a twat.’

  The shock was leaving my system, quickly being replaced by a cold, hard anger. I should have known. All the clues had been there. I’d just had a mental block where Gabriel was concerned, all these months. Of course he was riding a hybrid broom. Will and Amelia put in so much training for flying competitions, but people really believed Gabriel could just turn up and win the race? Of course he cheated. But he’d gone even further than that, sabotaging Amelia’s broom and almost killing her at Chaos Chasm.

  I could see him smiling, waiting for me to ask more, to shout at him, to cry. I could see that the guy was just as messed up as his father was. I could see him. I didn’t want to give him the pleasure of a reaction, but I couldn’t just up and leave, either, what with the small matter of being constrained in witch irons. So I turned my attention back to his father.

  ‘Nancy Berry,’ I spat. ‘You killed her.’

  Gabriel senior gave me an amiable smile. ‘Ah yes, Nancy Berry. Goodness, I’d almost forgotten about her. Heber?’ He looked into a dark corner, and the fat manager of Mutual Magic stepped forward. ‘I know you have places to be, but perhaps you could field this one before you go.’

  Heber Montrose looked at his watch. ‘Yes, I killed Nancy,’ he said impatiently. ‘Yes, I’m a member of the Dark Team. Yes, I make some extra money for us by charging people extortionate interest on the loans they need to pay for our services. They think I’m a mere go-between.’

  He paused to pick at something between his teeth with a sharp fingernail. ‘I give them the money, disguised as fried chicken, and a set of coordinates to send it to via a teleportation microwave. I killed Nancy because, well, what else would you expect me to do with a snoop?’ He gave me a leering smile. ‘I recall you thinking I was a little on the large side. But I’m as fit as the rest of the team. I moved from Swanks to Three Witches Brew in the blink of an eye. Gabriel senior is older than the rest of us – he remembered the switch down below the tavern that disempowers the town of Riddler’s Cove, so I pulled that first, just in case anything went wrong and one of you Wayfair idiots tried to step in. Killed Nancy, turned the power back on, kept myself vaporized the whole time and got myself back to the party at Swanks before anyone noticed I was missing.’ He puffed up his chest. ‘How do you like me now?’

  I gritted my teeth. ‘About the same.’

  He trundled out of the room, casting a sneer in my direction as he went. I sneered right back, and then decided that I might as well continue with the Q and A session. I mean, sure, it was slightly disconcerting that they were telling me everything so freely. That was the kind of information psychos only shared when they were about to kill you. But it was taking up time. Time I could use to think – well, time I could use to try and think without having my thoughts read.

  ‘So how many of them are you? This Dark Team? Just Heber and the rest of you sad sacks in this room, is it?’

  ‘Well, of course that’s what you’d be most interested in knowing,’ said the man who would never be my father-in-law. ‘There are thirteen of us.’ He looked into the shadows. ‘Well, come out, gang. Show yourselves.’

  More people moved into my eye line. Including Gabriel, his father and his girlfriend, there were ten of them. He’d said there were thirteen, though, which meant that Heber wasn’t the only one with things to do. I recognised only two others. I had seen them both at the Everest Climb, when I was searching for Facility B. Sven the Speedster, a tall guy with bleached blond hair, had been a host at the competition. His uncle, the man who was standing beside him now, had been the race organiser. Sven was well known in the sporting world, and it was no secret that he was a vampire.

  The rest of them? They could have been anyone. But even though I might not remember seeing them before, I knew that they’d seen me. Because as they looked at me right now, I had the same feeling that had been haunting me for weeks: the wigginess
. The only difference was that now, I could see who was creepily staring my way.

  They stepped back out of my sight, and Gabriel senior continued to speak. ‘We’re the most elite, most powerful assassins in the world, so naturally I’m the leader. Hmm ... what else?’ He smiled. ‘I’m old, of course. I’ve seen rises and falls. I’ve been the one who made the risers rise and the fallers fall. I use the usual techniques to make people forget how old I am, and so on and so forth. Such manoeuvres are simple for those with vampire blood. We are, after all, descendants of those angelic creatures known as watchers. But my family have relatives from all sides of the heavenly wars. Hence the name Gabriel.’ His sharp-toothed smile widened. ‘I keep it as a bit of a laugh, I suppose. The angel Gabriel, you see, was sent to destroy the children of the watchers and the humans. But for generations now, my line has been a new kind of hybrid. Witches and vampires, some of us living in our vampire state, using our powers to hide the witch part of our nature, and others living as witches, keeping our vampire abilities hidden from the world. We’re more powerful than the original watchers. We are as gods on earth. We are–’

  ‘Wait.’ I held a hand up and rolled my eyes. ‘The watchers were angels who mated with humans, right? So of all the vampire creation myths there are, you’re choosing to believe the one which makes you descendants of some kind of angel? Isn’t there another version of that story that says that vampires were sent by God? Sent to kill the children of the watchers and humans? And while we’re at it, aren’t there like a hundred more versions of how vampires came to be. You don’t know. Nobody knows. You’ve just chosen the story that strokes your ego the most. So can you just get on with telling me what any of this has to do with me?’