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

by Morris, Steve

  ‘I just think we should go to Hereford.’

  ‘Well,’ said Josh, ‘that is where you are wrong. ‘Do you want me to explain why?’

  Chris didn’t. But he suspected he had no choice.

  ‘Hereford is boring. Whereas, Glastonbury, apart from being the location of the world’s greatest music festival, is also the site of King Arthur’s grave and the Holy Grail.’

  ‘Wow,’ said Seth. ‘Like, amazeballs.’

  ‘Incredible,’ said Chris. ‘You do realize that there won’t actually be a music festival when you get there? And that King Arthur and the Holy Grail are pure myth?’

  Josh came over to him and prodded him in the chest with his finger. ‘And you do realize that no one enjoys your smart-arse comments? And that you look ridiculous dressed in those old clothes you’re wearing? None of which seem to actually fit you, by the way.’

  Chris looked down at his clothes in surprise. The old coat and boots had been given to him by a vicar at a church where they’d stayed in London. He’d picked up the various other items at homeless shelters on the way out of the city. Josh was the first person to criticize his dress sense since the world had ended. Seth’s outfit was the same mix of cast-offs and hand-me-downs, but Josh didn’t seem to have a problem with the way Seth dressed.

  Seth laughed. ‘You should have seen Chris the night we escaped from the hospital,’ he said. ‘He was wearing hospital pyjamas and slippers, and a white coat he took from one of the dead doctors.’

  ‘Wait. What?’ Josh grew suddenly still. Chris could see him processing the new information. ‘You two escaped from a hospital? Which one?’

  ‘Don’t tell him, Seth,’ warned Chris.

  But Seth took no notice. ‘The quarantine hospital in London, where they kept all the werewolves. We escaped with them on the night of the full moon.’

  ‘You two were locked in the quarantine hospital?’ said Josh. ‘With the other werewolves?’

  ‘Yeah,’ said Seth. ‘That was a real bummer, like, totally craptacular.’

  ‘But you two aren’t actually werewolves, are you? It was all just a big mistake, yeah?’

  ‘The soldiers gave us a good going over with their sniffer dogs,’ said Seth, laughing again. ‘And the dogs decided that Chris was a werewolf. So the soldiers locked us up.’

  Chris felt the blood draining from his face. ‘Shut up, Seth. Stop talking.’

  But it was already too late. ‘Put him down,’ commanded Josh to the guys who were carrying Seth.

  ‘Why? What?’ asked Seth, bewildered. ‘What for?’

  ‘You idiot, Seth,’ said Chris. ‘Now they think we’re werewolves.’

  ‘Duh,’ said Seth. ‘Come on, Josh. Is this for real? Did you think we were waiting until the full moon to come so that we could eat you?’

  Josh grinned. ‘That wouldn’t be cool, would it?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Right. So I don’t think we’ll risk it.’ He lifted his walking stick high and cracked it hard against Chris’ forehead.

  Chris wobbled for a moment, and actually thought he saw stars. Then the ground rushed up to meet his face and all the stars went out.

  Chapter Fifty-Nine

  Rose watched in horror as Chris collapsed to the ground, blood streaming from a gash in his head. She ran to him and kneeled down, examining the wound. It didn’t look deep, but Chris had been completely knocked out by the blow from Josh’s stick.

  Nutmeg barked and leapt forward, hurling herself at Josh, her jaws parted, ready to bite.

  ‘Nutmeg, no!’ called Rose, but it was too late.

  Josh brought the wooden walking stick down and swept the dog to one side. She tumbled onto the grass and Josh delivered a sharp kick to her belly. She rolled over, whining.

  Rose ran to her and cradled her in her arms.

  ‘Hey!’ shouted Ryan furiously. ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’

  Josh raised the heavy stick again and stood ready with it. ‘Stand back, Ryan, unless you want a taste of this yourself.’

  Ryan’s fists were clenched tight and he advanced on Josh. He was as tall as Josh and more muscular. ‘You think you can take me?’

  Josh snarled. ‘Give it a try.’ His friends had picked up sticks and rocks and were bunched behind him, looking mean.

  ‘No, Ryan,’ called Rose. ‘Enough, already. Don’t you get hurt too.’ Nutmeg whimpered in her arms, quivering gently as Rose held her tight.

  ‘Listen to Rose, Ryan,’ said Josh. ‘No need for you to get the same treatment as Chris.’

  Ryan stood his ground, his fists balled. ‘You drop that stick now!’

  ‘No way. Not while you’re giving me that angry look. And not while there are two werewolves right here.’

  ‘You must be even stupider than I thought if you believe that Chris and Seth really are werewolves,’ said Ryan.

  Josh lifted his branch higher. ‘Choose your words more carefully, Ryan. Or someone else is going to get a face full of this.’ He spoke to Brittany. ‘Babes, put your foot on Seth’s ankle, yeah?’

  ‘What?’ said Seth. ‘No!’

  But Brittany seemed happy to oblige. She placed her foot against the broken joint and pushed down.

  Seth screamed.

  ‘That’s enough for now, babes,’ said Josh. To Ryan, he said, ‘Or shall I tell her to do it again?’

  ‘No.’

  Chris was coming round again after losing consciousness. ‘What? Who?’ He blinked. ‘Why?’

  Rose laid a hand on his arm. ‘Just lie still.’

  ‘Tie him up,’ said Josh to one of his friends. The guy pulled out some rope and began to bind Chris’ hands behind his back. Chris was too dazed to resist. When it was done, Josh relaxed a little. ‘That’s better. Now we can talk.’

  ‘You have got to be insane,’ said Ryan. ‘Chris and Seth are not werewolves.’

  ‘How can you prove it?’ asked Josh.

  ‘Prove it? That is such a dumb question.’

  ‘Brittany? The ankle again, please, babes.’

  Seth’s screams drowned out Ryan’s protests.

  ‘Let’s get this totally out in the open,’ said Josh, ‘so there won’t be any more misunderstandings. Chris stays tied up until the next full moon. If he doesn’t turn into a big bad wolf, then happy days. Everyone walks. Apart from Seth, that is.’ He giggled. ‘Until then, any hassle from you, and Seth gets his ankle twisted again. Maybe we’ll have some fun with Chris too. The bastard deserves a good kicking, werewolf or not.’

  ‘Please, why don’t you just let us go?’ begged Rose.

  Josh shook his head. ‘You must really think I’m stupid. You might come after us. You know we’re travelling to Glastonbury. The full moon isn’t far away now, so we don’t have long to wait. In the meantime, I suggest that you and Ryan go and find some more food. If you don’t return, or if you try any funny stuff, I’ll let Brittany play with Seth some more.’

  Chapter Sixty

  Gatwick Airport, West Sussex, waxing moon

  Liz was now almost completely nocturnal. It made perfect sense. Sunlight hurt her eyes and burned her skin, and if she was going to catch a killer, her best chance was during the hours of darkness. Besides, since Samantha’s baby had been born – a boy, called Leo – it hardly made any difference what time of day or night she tried to get some sleep.

  She was returning to the hotel room just after sunrise when she spotted Drake, Vijay, Mihai and Aasha slinking back too. Where could they possibly have been at this time?

  ‘Hey!’ she called.

  They jumped guiltily at the sound of her voice, telling her more than any words would have done.

  ‘All right,’ she said, catching up with them. ‘Tell me where you’ve been and what you’ve been up to.’

  A sudden hissing noise made her start.

  She looked down and saw a black cat entwined around Drake’s legs. The animal had its teeth bared and its back arched. It hissed again and spat in
her direction, before running up the stairs.

  ‘Oh,’ said Drake. ‘I don’t think Shadow likes you very much.’

  ‘Shadow?’

  ‘My cat.’

  Liz waited for an explanation.

  ‘It’s not really my cat,’ said Drake. ‘But we’re kind of friends.’

  ‘Looks like Shadow doesn’t want to be your friend, Liz,’ said Aasha.

  ‘No.’ Shadow wasn’t the first cat to hiss at her. Cats seemed much better than dogs at recognizing vampires, and there was no doubt that they hated her on sight.

  ‘That’s exactly what Shadow did when it saw the para,’ said Drake.

  ‘Huh? What para?’

  The kids shuffled their feet and looked at each other awkwardly.

  ‘Right,’ said Liz. ‘Come and tell me exactly what you’ve been up to.’

  The sat together on an outdoor table round the back of the hotel. The sun had hardly risen, and wasn’t strong enough to cause Liz any bother, even with her sunglasses off. The kids avoided her gaze, unwilling to tell her what they’d been doing.

  It was Aasha who broke the silence. ‘So, the boys had this, like totally stupid idea.’

  ‘How stupid?’ asked Liz dubiously.

  ‘You wouldn’t believe. But don’t worry, I talked them out of it. Instead we went vampire hunting.’

  ‘You did what?’

  ‘Not hunting, really,’ blurted Vijay. ‘Just looking. More like watching. Just casually.’

  Liz made her voice as stern as she could. ‘Do you have any idea how dangerous that might have been?’

  Drake exchanged glances with Vijay. ‘Yeah, we do now.’

  ‘But we found vampir,’ said Mihai. ‘So is all good.’

  Liz stared at the boy. ‘No,’ she said slowly. ‘That is not all good. Now tell me exactly what happened.’

  Drake told her his story. ‘So that’s how I found Shadow,’ he concluded. ‘And when I saw how Shadow behaved with you, that just proved it.’

  ‘Proved what, exactly?’

  ‘That the para I saw was the vampire. The cat did exactly the same when it saw him.’

  ‘It’s not proof, Drake,’ she told him. ‘That’s not the kind of proof that would stand up in a court of law.’

  ‘No, but –’

  ‘There are all kinds of possible explanations for what you saw. The soldier you saw wasn’t necessarily looking for a victim. He might simply have been on patrol, checking for danger. He might have been looking for the vampire himself.’

  ‘He wasn’t,’ insisted Drake. ‘When he heard Shadow, he was worried that someone had seen him. Shadow hated him. There’s no other word to describe it.’

  ‘Maybe. Did you get a clear view of him?’

  ‘It was dark. But I’m sure that he was one of the commanders working under Major Hall.’

  ‘Would you recognize him if you saw him again?’

  ‘I’m not sure.’

  ‘Okay,’ said Liz. ‘Well, we’ve got a possible lead, so well done. But promise me that you’ll never do anything like that again without telling me first.’

  ‘Promise,’ said Vijay.

  Liz glared at the others in turn. Aasha was the last one to promise.

  When they returned to the hotel room, Kevin was keen to have a word with her. ‘You got a minute, love? I might have some info.’

  She took him back downstairs to the outdoor table. She was too tired to stop the kids trooping downstairs to join them. After all, they were supposed to be helping her solve the investigation.

  ‘So what is it?’ she asked.

  ‘I been talking to Jones and the boys.’

  ‘Oh. Great. Did they threaten to kill me again?’

  ‘No. Well, not in so many words. But they told me that people have been going missing.’

  ‘Missing?’

  ‘Yeah. Just disappearing. Women and children mainly.’

  This was the first that Liz had heard about vanishing people. But if the killer had changed tactics, it would explain why there had been no bodies discovered since before the last full moon. ‘Dad, are you thinking what I think you’re thinking?’

  ‘If you’re thinking these missing people are lying dead somewhere with bite marks on their necks, then yeah.’

  ‘You think the killer’s been hiding the bodies?’

  ‘Sounds that way to me.’

  ‘The para!’ said Drake. ‘You gotta make an arrest!’

  ‘But we don’t know which one,’ said Vijay.

  ‘One of the paras is the vampire?’ said Kevin, raising his eyebrows.

  Mihai raised a hand. ‘I saw para go into building.’

  ‘When?’ asked Liz. ‘What building?’

  ‘Was yesterday. I see him from rooftop. Is big building like shed, but next to runway.’

  ‘You mean a hangar?’

  ‘Why would he be going in there?’ asked Kevin.

  ‘Any number of reasons,’ said Liz. ‘You all have to stop jumping to conclusions. This is not how the police work. We need evidence.’

  ‘But we should defo check it out, yeah?’ said Drake. ‘How else are we gonna find any evidence?’

  Chapter Sixty-One

  The hangar was huge and grey, just like all the others at the airport. Liz regarded its double doors suspiciously. ‘Are you certain this is the right one?’ she asked Mihai.

  ‘Is this one, yes,’ confirmed the Romanian boy. ‘But para not go in through this door. He use small door in side.’

  She and the others followed him around to the side of the building. They had all come – Kevin, Mihai, Vijay, Drake and Aasha. She couldn’t complain about her team being under-resourced. Lacking in equipment perhaps, inadequately trained and shockingly unprofessional, but not short of numbers, nor enthusiasm. Well, you just had to make the best of what you had.

  She slid her hand over the holster containing the Glock. The cold steel felt reassuringly solid to the touch. She’d been carrying the gun around for months now, and one of these days she was surely going to use it. Hopefully not today. But it was good knowing it was there.

  Mihai led them to the small side door and turned the handle. The door was locked and secured with a heavy padlock.

  ‘What we gonna do?’ asked Drake, kicking the metal door in frustration.

  ‘This ain’t a problem,’ said Kevin. ‘I can get this open in a jiffy.’

  Liz turned to him. ‘You know how to pick locks? Where did you learn to do that?’

  He opened his mouth to speak but Liz held up a hand.

  ‘Stop! On second thoughts, I don’t want to know. But are you certain you can unlock it?’

  ‘A simple padlock? Even the kid could unlock this,’ said Kevin.

  ‘Sure,’ said Mihai. ‘Is no big deal.’

  ‘Don’t tell me,’ said Liz to her father through gritted teeth, ‘that you’ve taught Mihai how to pick locks?’

  ‘Course I did,’ said Kevin. ‘It’s a valuable life skill. Especially these days.’

  Liz nodded, beaten by Kevin’s logic. ‘Go on then, Mihai. Let’s see what you can do.’

  He brought out a set of tools and began to work on the lock. Liz looked over her shoulder anxiously, but for the moment there was no one around. She turned back to watch the boy. She had to admit, Mihai had dexterous fingers and seemed to have a knack for lock picking. Kevin offered the boy encouraging noises, but never once had to make any suggestions. In less than a minute the door was open.

  ‘Right,’ said Liz. ‘Now don’t all rush inside. We have no idea what to expect. Stay close behind me.’

  She pulled the door open and entered quietly.

  The hangar looked smaller inside than out. But that was an optical illusion caused by the enormous aircraft that were stored here. They seemed to completely fill the space, the tips of their wings almost touching the curving walls of the building. Each of the huge fuselages must have measured well over a hundred feet in length, with a wingspan to match. They loomed
high above her.

  The building was dim and she drew out a flashlight and began to shine it around. The light threw spotlights on the glossy surface of the planes, picking out the Union Jack logo of British Airways, but it was too weak to penetrate into the furthest depths of the hangar.

  The others followed close behind, adding their own lights. Kevin was the last to enter. He closed the door with a clang, and the sound reverberated around the massive space like thunder, bouncing off the metal walls and smooth concrete floor. If anyone else was in here, they would certainly know they were no longer alone. Perhaps it was safer that way. Liz had no desire to stumble upon an unwary vampire feeding on its prey. Especially not with the kids in tow. She felt her fingers slide once again over the Glock.

  ‘Look,’ said Kevin, shining his light into the far recesses of the building. ‘What’s that over there?’

  Liz followed the beam of his light and swallowed hard. It was too far to see clearly under the feeble beam of light, but she didn’t like what she saw. ‘Wait here,’ she said, but as soon as she started to walk she heard the others following in her wake.

  ‘Jesus,’ said Drake. ‘Is that what I think it is?’

  Liz was pretty sure that what she was seeing was exactly what Drake thought it was. But she kept her mind open until she was right up close. Eventually there was no room for doubt, only for horror.

  ‘I think we’ve found our missing persons,’ said Kevin grimly.

  He shone his light up toward the roof of the hangar. Hanging on long metal wires suspended from the ceiling were bodies. They were upside down, like bats, the metal wires tied around their feet. Their arms hung down in lifeless slumber. Their faces were pale.

  There were not one or two corpses here, or even three.

  ‘There must be thirty or forty bodies up there,’ said Kevin.

  Liz stepped forward to examine the nearest. The cadaver was cold and rigid to the touch. She reached up to the victim’s neck, and her fingers found two holes, spaced two inches apart. The corpse began to swing gently and a cloud of flies rose into the air.

  ‘Why hang them from the ceiling?’ asked Aasha.