Beast

by Kate Harre

  ‘Sydney,’ he cried urgently, looking up at the woman hovering over them. ‘I need your help… please.’

  ‘Let me look.’ Gently rolling Annie’s body off him, she pulled away the makeshift bandage, hurriedly replacing it and pressing down when she saw what was underneath. Gravely, she met Alex’s anguished eyes. ‘It’s a fatal wound. She’s almost gone.’

  He raised himself on one elbow, so he could watch over Annie. ‘Please, Sydney. She’s a good person… not like me. I’m begging you.’ He swallowed back the sob forcing its way up his throat. ‘Can you do something…anything?’

  Silently, she studied him. ‘Magic costs, Alex. You know that. Are you prepared to pay the price?’

  ‘Absolutely. Whatever you want,’ he rasped. Reaching out a trembling hand, he tenderly brushed away a blood-stained strand of hair that was sticking to Annie’s mouth.

  ‘What if it means you will remain forever as you are? The curse will never be able to be broken.’ She watched him keenly.

  Alex didn’t even hesitate. ‘I don’t care. Just save her.’

  She nodded and his head fell back to the floor, eyes closing in relief.

  ‘Thank you.’

  ‘Press on the wound,’ she instructed.

  Quickly sitting up, he took over from her. Sydney disappeared into another room, returning almost immediately with a small earthen pot. Kneeling beside Annie, she swatted Alex’s hand away and deftly removed the bloodied clothing and, without even bothering to clean the wound, spread a pungent poultice directly over it. Placing a gauze pad on top of the poultice, she tied a long strip of linen around Annie’s neck and chest. As she tied, a soft yellow light glowed from her fingertips, seeping out to envelope Annie completely.

  Alex clutched Annie’s limp hand in both of his, his ravaged face drawn with strain. As he watched Sydney work, he felt the thready pulse in Annie’s wrist grow in strength and steadiness.

  ‘I can feel her getting stronger,’ he whispered in awe, his emerald eyes damp with emotion.

  Sydney finished what she was doing and sat back on her heels. ‘It will take a while for the magic to work completely. You can lift her onto the couch so she’s more comfortable.’

  Gently gathering her into his arms, Alex forced his aching muscles to work one last time. He carried her carefully to the couch, smoothing her hair back with a shaking hand once he’d settled her. She’d been so pale, her skin almost translucent, but he was relieved to see her natural colour returning to her face. ‘It’s going to be okay, Princess,’ he whispered tenderly, running his thumb over her bottom lip.

  ‘You really care about her, don’t you?’ Sydney observed with surprised satisfaction.

  ‘I love her,’ Alex corrected quietly, his eyes not leaving Annie’s face. Lifting her legs, he sank wearily on the other end of the couch with a grateful sigh and placed her feet in his lap, curling his big hands around her slender ankles. After what he’d just lived through, he needed to be able to touch her.

  ‘Enough to sacrifice your own happiness – you’ve surprised me.’

  He shrugged. ‘How could I be happy without her? It was a no-brainer.’

  Sydney nodded and disappeared through another doorway, leaving Alex to his thoughts. It was true what he’d said to Sydney and he didn’t regret his decision for a second. But it did mean all those things he’d been dreaming about only a couple of hours ago were now permanently out the window. He was stuck with his face now, no matter how Annie felt about him. Somehow he’d have to find a way to still be with her. Maybe he could buy a house in whatever town she decided to go to college in – he could drive during the night to move there and he’d live pretty much the way he did now. At least then they’d be able to continue seeing each other… if that was what she wanted.

  But he couldn’t stop a little sliver of fear creeping in, the feeling that he was on borrowed time… that the dream which had felt so tantalisingly close was drifting further away from him.

  Sydney returned with a steaming mug, which she handed to Alex. ‘You look like you could use this.’

  Studying the mug warily, he raised an enquiring brow.

  ‘It’s just good old English Breakfast tea – there’s no need to get your knickers in a knot,’ Sydney assured him with a roll of her eyes. Sitting in the chair opposite the couch, her gaze flicked between the two of them. ‘So what happened?’

  ‘It seems you’re not the only supernatural force to reckon with in Ridgeville,’ Alex said wryly. He explained in detail the background of the two murders, leading up to the events of that night.

  ‘I was aware there was some kind of force moving around the area, but I didn’t know what it was.’ Sydney curled her feet underneath her on the chair, a frown marring her smooth forehead. ‘A shape shifter out of control is problematic.’

  ‘I don’t suppose there’s anything you can do?’ Alex asked hopefully. ‘Two girls have died already.’

  Sydney pursed her lips. ‘I don’t know. It’s not my role here, but I’ll see what I can come up with.’

  Alex was about to ask her what her role here was, when Annie stirred. Her eyelids fluttered open and she gazed at him with perplexed brown eyes. ‘What happened?’ she mumbled, her voice hoarse.

  She moved, trying to drag herself upright, until Alex put a restraining hand on her shoulder. ‘Lie still for a second, Princess. Let Sydney check you out first.’

  Sydney had already appeared at Annie’s side. As she untied the linen bandage, Annie’s eyes flew from her to Alex in surprise. He nodded in confirmation at her questioning look. Annie bit her lip and he had to hold back a laugh, because he knew it was killing her not to ask a whole host of questions. Curiosity was definitely one of her more endearing characteristics.

  Sydney left the room for a moment and Annie seized on the opportunity. ‘I’m not sure how I’m supposed to feel about her,’ she whispered urgently, gesturing at his face. ‘She did that to you.’

  Alex smiled in tender amusement, pushing the hair back from her face simply because he wanted to touch her. ‘She also saved your life, which as far as I’m concerned far outweighs what she did to me. You’re allowed to like her.’

  ‘Thanks, I guess.’

  ‘And remember, if she wasn’t immortal or whatever, I would have killed her when my car hit her through no fault of her own.’

  Sydney returned with a bowl of warm water and a soft cloth and began cleaning Annie’s throat and upper chest. As the poultice was wiped away, Alex could see only perfectly smooth skin.

  ‘There’s not even a scar,’ he breathed in wonder, glad she wouldn’t have to endure the trauma of disfigurement.

  ‘Ha. What kind of magic would it be if it left a scar?’ Sydney scoffed.

  Alex flushed, his lips kicking up in a crooked, self-mocking smile. ‘True.’

  As soon as Sydney moved out of the way, Annie sat upright and launched herself into Alex’s waiting arms. He held her tightly, one hand cradling the back of her head, and buried his face in her hair, not even caring it was still sticky with blood. He shuddered, the tension of the past couple of hours finally easing out of his body.

  ‘Promise me you won’t put me through that ever again,’ he said feelingly.

  Sydney cleared her throat loudly and they moved guiltily apart, although Alex still kept one arm around Annie’s shoulders. ‘How do you feel?’

  ‘Actually I feel completely normal,’ Annie answered, fingering her throat where there should have been a nasty scar.

  ‘That’s good.’ Sydney nodded matter-of-factly. ‘You’re young, so your body has healed well.’

  ‘Thank you, Sydney. That sounds ridiculously inadequate but I honestly don’t know what else to say.’ Annie paused and tilted her head to one side, studying the other girl. ‘Do you think maybe I could come and visit you sometime?’

  Blinking slowly, Sydney’s brows drew together in puzzlement. ‘Are you suggesting you want to be my friend?’

  Smiling lazily, A
lex squeezed Annie’s shoulder. ‘Annie likes to collect strays like us.’

  Annie elbowed him in the ribs. ‘I do not! I just don’t like people to be on their own. Everybody should have someone who cares about them.’

  A rare smile crossed Sydney’s face. ‘I have a feeling I won’t be here for much longer, but while I am, you’re welcome any time.’

  Annie grinned and then her gaze shot to Alex. ‘What time is it? My parents will freak out if I’m not home at a reasonable hour.’

  Glancing at his watch, Alex rose reluctantly to his feet, lifting Annie alongside him. ‘It’s a little after nine. We’ve got enough time to get you home before your Dad comes hammering on my door looking for you.’

  Sydney saw them to the door, handing Alex a torch to help them find their way.

  ‘After everything that has happened between us, I can’t seem to find the right words to thank you, Syd,’ he murmured gravely. ‘But if there’s ever anything I can do for you…’

  ‘Seeing the change in you is thanks enough.’

  Annie impulsively reached out and hugged Sydney, who stiffened and then relaxed, tentatively returning the friendly embrace. ‘This may seem strange, but you’ve indirectly made my life better than I thought was possible. I really will come and visit… just as soon as I’m allowed back in the woods again,’ she said with a rueful grin, already anticipating the reaction from her parents.

  ‘That would be nice.’

  Alex led her away from Sydney’s cottage, back into the trees. Looking around her, Annie didn’t recognise a thing. ‘Exactly how far did you carry me?’

  He flashed her a boyish grin. ‘It was a fair way. You’re light as a feather though, so it was no big deal.’

  ‘Is that why you keep rubbing your biceps like they’re on fire?’

  Caught in the act, Alex dropped his hand from where he’d been surreptitiously massaging his arm. ‘Nothing gets past you, does it?’ he muttered.

  ‘Nope,’ she said with a grin, which faded as quickly as it had emerged. ‘Sydney may have used her magic, but it’s you who really saved my life. My guardian angel swoops in to save me again!’

  Groaning, he glanced at her sideways. ‘Don’t go thinking I’m some hero, because I’m not. The need to keep you alive is as much for me as it is for you.’

  Annie nodded, knowing it would be the same for her. They needed each other. ‘What happened to Adrian?’

  ‘I don’t know. I hurt him badly enough to give me time to get you away from there safely, but I don’t think he would have been down for long.’

  She scanned the forest fearfully, none too keen to face Adrian again. ‘I hope he’s not still out here somewhere.’

  ‘It’s a possibility. But if I was him I would have taken myself a long way from here by now. We know what he is now.’

  ‘I’m going to have to tell the Sherriff,’ she said quietly. ‘We can’t leave Adrian out there free to prey on someone else.’

  Alex nodded and held back a stray branch that was blocking their path.

  ‘Not that she’s likely to believe me and I’m going to have to leave out quite a few details.’

  ‘We’ll work out your story with your parents first. Just stick as close to the truth as possible.’

  As she brushed past him, Annie noticed for the first time that Alex was still shirtless. Snagging the torch off him, she beamed it directly at his sculpted chest, letting out an admiring sigh. ‘Not that I’m complaining since the view is spectacular, but what happened to your t-shirt and jacket?’

  Alex grinned and pulled her head against his shoulder, kissing her forehead. ‘Spectacular, huh? I used them to try and staunch the blood from your wound.’ He shuddered. ‘There was so much blood. If I hadn’t got you to Sydney’s place in time…’

  Annie wrapped her arm around his waist, enjoying the feel of his smooth skin beneath her hand. ‘But you did. Was it hard seeing her again with everything she did to you?’

  He looked down at her in surprise. ‘I thought you knew. Maybe I didn’t tell you.’

  ‘Tell me what?’

  His lips twisted into a wry smile. ‘I’ve seen Sydney quite a few times since that night. I used to bang on her door for hours, demanding, pleading and finally begging her to undo the curse, but she was unbending. That’s when I started looking for cures on my own.’

  ‘Oh right, you mentioned something about that when we first met.’

  He nodded. ‘I researched every possible antidote, cure, anything that I could find. I used to periodically show up at her place with my findings – she’d laugh at my efforts. Finally she took pity on me and told me the kind of magic she’d used couldn’t be undone.’ Alex left out what Sydney had told him about the only possible way to break the curse. It was a moot point now and he didn’t want Annie feeling guilty that she lived at the cost of his face.

  ‘Oh. So you know her quite well then?’

  ‘Not really. I only saw her once after that day – when I finally got over myself, the guilt set in about what I’d done to everybody in my life. I couldn’t apologise to anyone else without revealing what had happened to me, but I could to her. So I went to see her and told her how sorry I was for the way I’d treated her.’

  ‘And she forgave you,’ Annie finished in satisfaction.

  ‘You’re such an optimist, Princess,’ he said ruefully, his smile gentle. ‘Sydney thought I was just trying to soften her up to break the curse. I didn’t bother going back again to convince her otherwise. But today when I knew you were dying, I knew she was my only hope of saving you and this time… well, I think she could see that I really have changed.’

  They had reached the edge of the car park and Annie switched off the torch, since there was plenty of street lighting. Adrian’s car was gone, she noted with considerable relief. They went to Alex’s house first and he quickly raced up the stairs to pull on a jumper, before they got in Annie’s car and drove back to her house. The bright lights spilling from the house into the front yard suggested her parents were back from their coffee date.

  The date had clearly gone well. When she and Alex walked into the living room, they found Jake and Karen snuggled together on the couch.

  Karen took one look at Annie’s torn, blood spattered jumper and went white. ‘What happened?’

  ‘Before you start panicking – I’m fine.’ With help from Alex, she filled her parents in on the events of the past couple of hours. ‘We kind of have to tell the Sherriff, don’t we?’ she concluded.

  Jake, who had initially blown his stack that Annie had gone into the forest alone, was pacing the living room floor. ‘Yeah, we do,’ he finally agreed, his reluctance evident.

  ‘So what angle do we take? Since we have to leave Alex out of it, I need a reason why I went into the forest alone. And I’m pretty sure she’s not going to believe that Adrian has a wolf alter ego.’

  ‘You can tell her about me,’ Alex said quietly, more concerned about keeping Annie safe than protecting his secret. His hand went to his face, unconsciously fingering the scars.

  ‘No. I won’t do that to you,’ Annie contradicted firmly.

  Karen had been silent throughout their story, her fingers restlessly plucking at the cushion she was holding in her lap. ‘We’ll tell the Sherriff you saw Adrian’s car in the forest car park when you were on your way to meet us for coffee. He’s your friend and you were worried, so you foolishly decided to find him. You never thought he could be the killer, until he started acting strangely. Maybe you thought you saw a knife.’

  ‘That’s good, Mum.’ Annie tapped her chin thoughtfully. ‘How did I get away unharmed?’

  Jake shrugged. ‘When you didn’t turn up at the coffee shop, we went looking for you, saw your car and followed you into the forest. Adrian heard us approaching before he could harm you and knowing he was outnumbered, ran off.’

  ‘That sounds plausible enough,’ Alex commented. ‘You’d better go now or the Sherriff will wonder why you waited.
’

  Annie nodded, stood on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek and raced for the stairs. ‘I’ll just change my top.’

  *

  Due to the lateness of the hour, the police station was unmanned and they were forced to go to Sherriff Denton’s house. She opened the door dressed in a fluffy blue dressing gown and slippers, her eyebrows nearly hitting her hairline at the sight of Annie and her parents on her doorstep.

  ‘You must be Mr Archer,’ she said to Jake, extending her hand to the one member of the party she wasn’t familiar with.

  ‘I am,’ he confirmed, shaking her hand. ‘We apologise for the late night visit, but what we have to tell you can’t wait.’

  Sherriff Denton stepped back and waved them into the house, gesturing them through to her lounge room. ‘What’s happened?’

  ‘We believe we know who murdered those two girls,’ Jake informed her quietly, as he took a seat on the couch. Karen and Annie sank down beside him.

  The Sherriff grabbed a note pad and pen off an overflowing desk and sat opposite them, all business. ‘Start from the beginning and tell me everything you know.’

  Annie hastily retold the events of the night, sticking to the story they’d come up with earlier in the evening. Jake added in his and Karen’s fictional part in the story, while the Sherriff scribbled frantically on her pad, asking the odd question.

  She looked up and fixed Annie with a piercing stare. ‘You said it was dark – are you sure you got a good look at the man? How can you be certain it was Adrian Maloney?’

  ‘Adrian was my Prom date and we work on the school paper together. I know him well… or at least I thought I did,’ she muttered, her eyes shadowing. ‘And he recognised me – he called me by name.’

  The Sherriff nodded. ‘Did he say he killed the other two girls?’

  Annie hesitated, reflecting on her exact exchange with Adrian. ‘No,’ she admitted. ‘But his behaviour was threatening and completely out of character. He actually seemed to be enjoying the anticipation of hurting me. If my parents hadn’t arrived and scared him off, I honestly believe I would be dead right now.’