Lycanthropic (Book 4): Moon Rise [The Age of the Werewolf]

by Morris, Steve

  It wasn’t Seth’s fault that he had broken his ankle, of course. Chris was to blame. Chris often seemed to be responsible for the problems they encountered.

  But blaming Chris wouldn’t help Seth’s ankle to heal.

  Instead, she turned in on herself. The enforced wait was giving her plenty of time to think. Too much time. Her thoughts spiralled back to everything she had lost. Her home, her parents, her brother, and Vijay. And now she had even lost her dreams.

  She hadn’t realized it at the time, but she had grown to depend on her visions, almost like a drug. They had been terrifying, but they had brought their own logic and given her a solid reassurance, even though it had been built on fear. Now her third eye had closed and the future was once again a dark place, unknowable and terrifying.

  Ignorance brought its own kind of fear. Even though her journey was at a temporary halt, she felt that she was stumbling through a valley of shadows, her eyes closed, her hands clasped over her ears. All certainty was gone. For all she knew, even though she was going nowhere, she might be stepping towards a precipice – a figurative one at least. Perhaps a monster lumbered after her, teeth gnashing, tendrils and claws reaching out for her, gaining on her minute by minute. She could not know. Her visions were gone, and in their place, instead of finding the peace and calm she had hoped for, she was confronted with a new kind of nightmare. The nightmare of not knowing.

  It was enough to make her scream.

  It wasn’t just her. The others were being driven mad by the enforced stop too. They bickered constantly. She was worried that soon a fight would break out. Ryan or Chris might go off on their own, leaving her behind with Seth. If that happened, she might have to abandon Seth herself, simply to survive. She wouldn’t allow it to come to that.

  ‘We have to start moving again,’ she announced to the others one morning. ‘Even if we only walk a very short distance, we have to try to do a little each day.’

  ‘I can’t,’ moaned Seth. ‘My ankle is still all black and swollen. It hurts if I put any weight on it. It hurts even if I don’t.’

  ‘You have to learn to tolerate it, Seth,’ said Chris. ‘Otherwise you won’t be able to survive in the wilderness. Pain and hardship are the new normal. We all have to toughen up.’

  ‘Yeah?’ said Seth crossly. ‘That’s easy for you to say. Perhaps I should break your ankle too, to help you toughen up.’

  ‘That’s good, Seth,’ said Chris encouragingly. ‘Start to fight back. Don’t just lie down and take it.’

  ‘When I’m better, I promise you I won’t take any more from you.’

  Rose looked to Ryan for support. Ryan was the sensible one. He had bound Seth’s broken ankle with a bandage from their first-aid kit. He had quickly become the group’s resident medic and go-to survival expert. He shook his head at Rose’s suggestion. ‘The ankle will take another six to eight weeks to heal. Walking on it now would simply fracture the bone all over again. Better to keep it still and rest up.’

  ‘Good idea,’ said Seth. ‘Leave me in peace.’

  ‘But we’ve already been resting for weeks,’ protested Rose. ‘We can’t stay here any longer. It’s not safe to stay in one place, and we have to move on to find more food.’

  ‘I agree with Rose,’ said Chris. ‘We can’t simply wait for Seth’s ankle to get better. The fracture can’t be that serious, or else the bone would probably be sticking out through the skin.’

  ‘Aargh,’ said Seth, wincing. ‘Don’t say that.’

  ‘Any broken bone is serious,’ said Ryan. ‘Especially now that we don’t have access to an X-ray or a doctor. Seth might not be able to walk for a long time. He might never walk again.’

  Seth looked like he was going to faint. ‘Stop saying things like that! None of you have any idea what it’s like lying here all day, every day, in complete agony, with nothing to do.’

  ‘Then let’s at least try to move,’ said Rose. ‘What if we tie a splint to your leg to stop it moving? You could lean on Ryan and Chris.’

  ‘No way. It hurts too much.’

  ‘Well, what if we make a stretcher out of sticks and fabric? Then you don’t have to walk at all. Ryan and Chris could carry you. We only need to travel a short distance each day.’

  ‘That’s not such a bad idea,’ said Ryan. ‘I reckon we could manage that.’

  ‘Let’s do it, then,’ said Rose.

  ‘What do you say, Seth?’

  ‘Do I have a choice?’

  ‘No,’ said Chris.

  ‘I thought this was a democracy.’

  ‘It is, and you’re outvoted. That’s how democracy works.’

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Gatwick Airport, West Sussex, waxing moon

  Someone was going to be murdered, and the way things looked to Drake, odds-on it was going to be him.

  ‘You must think I’m stupid,’ said Aasha, tossing her black hair angrily. She had that look in her eye that made him worry for his personal safety. He had brought her up onto the hotel rooftop to make sure that their discussion stayed well out of Liz’s earshot. Now he was having doubts about the wisdom of that. It was a long way down to the ground, and no safety barrier to prevent him from toppling over the edge. Especially if someone pushed him.

  He was glad that Vijay and Mihai were up here with him. Although, of course, it was Mihai who had talked them into this crazy idea in the first place.

  ‘No, no, I don’t think you’re stupid,’ he said to Aasha. ‘Really.’

  ‘Well, someone on this rooftop is totally stupid,’ she informed him, her hands on her hips, her eyes blazing with fire, ‘and if it’s not me, who do you think it is?’ She took a step forward and jabbed at him with her finger, forcing him closer to the edge of the roof.

  He glanced behind him. It really was a long way down. He could picture one way this confrontation might go – with him down there, and Aasha looking down from the rooftop, still shouting at him, even though he was dead. But it was too late to back out now. He ducked away from the roof edge, skirting back toward the centre.

  Right on cue, Vijay stepped into the fray. ‘Drake, I can’t believe you even suggested such a ridiculous thing. What is wrong with you?’

  Aasha turned to Vijay with some surprise. ‘You don’t think I should do it? I thought you were in on this stupid idea too.’

  ‘No. Of course not. You’re my sister. I would never allow you to do this.’

  Drake watched Aasha closely. He could almost see the cogs turning inside her head.

  ‘You wouldn’t allow me?’ she demanded, her hands back on her hips, fixing Vijay with a gaze that held just as much indignation as the one she had used on Drake.

  ‘I meant –’

  ‘You have absolutely no say in what I choose to do.’

  ‘I know that,’ said Vijay. ‘I didn’t mean it like that. I meant that I wouldn’t allow Drake to tell you what to do.

  Aasha snorted. ‘As if that was ever going to happen.’

  ‘So you won’t do it, then? You won’t do what Drake suggested?’

  ‘Why? Don’t you think I’m up to it?’ she asked. ‘Just because you have no guts, it doesn’t mean I don’t.’

  This was exactly how they had planned it would go. It was like they were reading lines from a script. Aasha was also reading from the script they had prepared for her, even though she didn’t know it.

  The only way to persuade Aasha to do something was to suggest to her that she couldn’t.

  ‘I ain’t saying it would be easy,’ said Drake. ‘Cos it wouldn’t.’

  ‘Is not safe either,’ said Mihai. ‘Is very dangerous.’

  Aasha stared at him, as if she hadn’t noticed him before. ‘What did the kid say?’

  ‘Name is not kid,’ protested Mihai.

  ‘He said it might be risky,’ said Drake. ‘But it really wouldn’t be.’ He glared crossly at Mihai. They had discussed this plan carefully. They were pretty confident that the risk to Aasha would be mini
mal. They weren’t gonna let the vampire get anywhere close to her.

  ‘Why did the kid say it, then?’ asked Aasha. ‘Does he know something you haven’t told me?’

  Drake exchanged glances with Vijay. There was a lot they hadn’t told Aasha, but they had agreed not to mention the word “vampire” to her. As far as they knew, Aasha had no idea that Liz was a vampire, or that the murderer might be one too. As far as they knew, Aasha didn’t even know that vampires existed, and they wanted to keep it that way.

  ‘The kid don’t know nothing,’ said Drake quickly.

  ‘Name is Mihai,’ said Mihai indignantly.

  ‘You don’t need to tell me that it would be risky,’ said Aasha. ‘I already know that. The idea is totally insane. You’re asking me to act as bait to catch a serial killer.’

  ‘Not bait exactly,’ said Drake. There was a better word for it than bait. He looked to Vijay. Vijay was good with words.

  ‘More like a lure,’ said Vijay. ‘A decoy, that’s it.’

  Aasha threw back her long black hair. ‘Don’t you think it’s sexist to use a girl as a decoy?’

  Drake hadn’t anticipated this particular objection. He looked to Vijay for guidance.

  ‘Yeah, it is sexist. That’s so typical of Drake to suggest it. A boy would be just as good. Especially since it’s so dangerous. In fact it would be better if Drake did it.’

  Drake swallowed. Vijay had gone wildly off script. Another picture formed in his mind – himself with two small puncture holes in his neck, his skin pale and cold, his blood mysteriously drained from his lifeless corpse.

  Aasha laughed contemptuously. ‘Drake? What self-respecting serial killer is going to want to murder him?’

  ‘Cheers,’ said Drake.

  ‘The point is,’ said Aasha, ‘that you’ve assumed that the murderer would choose me, just because I’m a girl. Just because the first three victims were women. But we don’t know if the killer is a man or a woman, or how they choose their victims, or even why they kill them in the first place. Do we?’

  ‘Uh …’ said Drake. He could feel his cheeks turning pink.

  A look of suspicion grew on Aasha’s face. ‘Do we?’

  Drake looked to Vijay for rescue. The wheels were beginning to fall off the plan.

  ‘Do we?’ demanded Aasha more forcefully.

  ‘Uh …’ said Vijay.

  She folded her arms across her chest. ‘All right, tell me everything you know. Tell me whatever it is you’re hiding.’

  Vijay told her.

  Drake watched Aasha’s face grow steadily darker. Eventually she exploded in a fit of rage. ‘A vampire? This is even more stupid than everything you said already.’ She fell silent for a moment, thinking. ‘So not only were you planning to use me to catch a serial killer, you intended to trick me into being live bait for a vampire!’

  ‘It wasn’t a trick,’ protested Drake.

  Aasha marched toward him, and he ducked away again.

  She reached out and grabbed his arm. ‘Why didn’t you tell me that vampires are real?’

  ‘Because I thought …’ He trailed off. Why hadn’t he, exactly? ‘I didn’t think you’d believe me. Vijay didn’t at first. I thought you’d probably just laugh at me.’

  ‘You were scared that I’d think you were a moron?’

  ‘I guess.’

  ‘But not afraid that I might get bitten by a vampire?’

  ‘I –’

  ‘Shut up,’ said Aasha. ‘I’ve heard enough. Lying in wait for a vampire attack has got to be one of the worst ideas you’ve ever had.’ She raised a hand to stop him interrupting. ‘This is how we’re going to do it.’

  Once she had explained her idea to him, it seemed simple and obvious. ‘Why didn’t we think of that ourselves?’ he asked Vijay.

  Vijay shrugged. ‘We were totally dumb.’

  Drake nodded in agreement. It was the only possible explanation.

  ‘So,’ said Mihai. ‘Plan is this. No bait for vampir. Just hide in dark and wait for vampir to come creeping.’

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘Okay. Then what?’

  ‘Then nothing. We just need to see who the vampire is. Then we can report them to Liz.’

  ‘What if vampir sees us?’

  ‘Then,’ said Aasha, ‘we’ll find out just how brave you boys really are.’

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Stoke Park, Buckinghamshire, waxing moon

  Helen’s attempt to find a cure for the disease may have failed, but she had not given up all hope. Although her experiments had shown that the antibodies in Chanita’s blood had no effect on the test subject, who was already a fully-turned lycanthrope, there was still a possibility that she might be able to use Chanita’s natural immunity to develop an antitoxin.

  The basic principle of an antitoxin was simple. Take a blood sample from a donor – in this case, Chanita – containing antibodies capable of resisting a particular disease – in this case, lycanthropy – and inject it into a healthy patient. The antibodies from the donor should now provide the patient with immunity from infection by the disease. Antitoxins had been used for over a hundred years to treat acute infectious diseases.

  Helen’s lab equipment might be primitive, her working conditions cramped and basic, and all the odds stacked against her, but all she needed was the patience and persistence that Chanita so often talked about. Plus some luck. She could really use a healthy dose of good luck right now.

  ‘Here you go,’ she said, passing another glass slide to Sarah. ‘More blood cells for you to count.’

  ‘No problem,’ said Sarah, sliding the sample under her microscope.

  Sarah had settled into her job of lab assistant very well. Despite Helen’s severe misgivings about taking on the odd, awkward woman who had tugged at her sleeve and begged so passionately to let her help, her doubts had proved to be unfounded. Sarah had a natural aptitude for the work. She was steadily growing in confidence, and had become a highly capable and diligent helper. She showed no fear of the test subject, James, and she had learned very quickly to perform the tasks that Helen asked her to do. She seemed to have boundless patience, even for the most mundane activities. Counting blood cells was probably Helen’s least favourite job, especially now that Huntington’s was making it harder for her to do it accurately. In fact, now that Helen’s fingers could no longer be relied upon to remain steady, Sarah had become an indispensable helper.

  ‘What kind of blood is this?’ asked Sarah, when she’d completed the count.

  ‘It’s actually a sample of my own blood that’s been treated with a dose of immune antibodies from Chanita. I allowed some time for the antibodies to multiply, then added a drop of infected blood from James.’ She stopped, surprising herself that she had used her patient’s name. She mustn’t allow her guard to drop. But it was difficult, when the young man was so gentle and unassuming. So … human.

  ‘So you’re testing to see if you can make a sample of your own blood immune from the virus?’

  ‘Right,’ said Helen. Sarah was always quick to grasp the nature of the work. ‘Normally the virus would take hold very quickly and overwhelm the immune system of the blood sample. What I’m hoping is that in this case, the blood that has had the antibodies added to it will have succeeded in fighting off the infection.’

  ‘So is your plan to produce a vaccine?’

  Helen gave a nervous laugh. ‘Not a vaccine, but an antitoxin. Don’t worry about the difference – it’s just a medical detail. That’s my hope. I wouldn’t call it a plan. Not yet.’ She studied the latest batch of results with a mounting sense of excitement.

  ‘Good news?’ asked Sarah.

  ‘Definitely. These tests have worked exactly as I’d hoped. The antibodies from Chanita have made my blood sample completely immune from infection. We’ve run ten separate tests now, and each one has been successful.’

  ‘Great. So what next?’

  ‘Good question. All we’ve do
ne so far is make small samples of my blood immune to the disease. There’s still a huge question about whether we can actually confer immunity to a living person.’

  ‘So, what? Do you need a volunteer?’

  ‘I guess so.’

  ‘Look no further.’

  Helen shook her head. ‘I’m not sure you understand the implications, Sarah. To test the procedure, I would need to inject the antibodies into your bloodstream, wait for them to spread throughout your entire body, and then inject you with contaminated blood from James. It’s the only way to be sure the antitoxin works.’

  ‘Sure. I already understood that. So what are we waiting for?’

  ‘I’m not sure that this is ethical. If it fails, you would become lycanthropic.’

  ‘Well, I’m giving you my informed consent. Anyway, you had no ethical qualms about running experiments on James.’

  Helen blanched a little at Sarah’s accusatory tone. ‘That’s different.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because he’s –’

  ‘Not human? Do you still believe that?’

  Helen shifted awkwardly. She had been having doubts for some time about the way she was treating James. At first, she had found his presence repulsive. She had been glad of the metal cage that held him, the ropes and ties that bound his wrists and ankles, and of the presence of an armed guard whenever they needed to take a sample of his blood. But the armed guard had not been needed. James had complied fully with all requests, willingly offering up his blood for her tests, showing polite interest in her work, and generally behaving impeccably, despite the inhumane conditions he was subjected to. He was nothing like Leanna Lloyd. Unlike Leanna, his eyes were alive and kind, not dead and cold. It was hard to believe that he was a werewolf, and if it wasn’t for the evidence that only the microscope revealed, she would have had trouble believing he was lycanthropic.