Rocking Out

by A. A. Albright

  He looked irritable for a moment, but then he sat casually into one of the dining chairs and said, ‘Well, you haven’t changed much. Still prattling on in the same way. Hoping for some thinking time, eh Wanda?’

  Well, duh. Of course I needed time to think. I just wished that there was something to think of.

  I realise I can come across as a little bit flippant sometimes. But despite my dumb jokes and my too-stubborn-to-know-when-to-shut-it attitude, there are times when I’m terrified. And this was one of those times. I could plot and plan and scheme until the world ended, and I’d still have no idea how to get out of this predicament.

  Sure, I’d managed to get the better of some of his buddies in the past – but Sven had made himself immune to any spells I could use against him. It didn’t matter how fast I forced my mental cogs to turn, because none of that mental machinery was even beginning to power up a light-bulb moment. I didn’t have a single bright idea.

  Sven seemed to believe I might come up with something, though. He was doing his best not to look at me. He picked up a bottle of wine, poured some and began to drink in an oh-so-casual manner. But despite his efforts to appear like he hadn’t a care in the world, I could sense him needling away in my mind.

  The first time I encountered the Dark Team, I was only just beginning to sense when vampires were intruding in my mind. But thanks to my training with Melissa, I not only knew when it was happening – I knew how to block it, too. I glanced at Melissa. The small smile on her face told me she could go one further than me – she could enter Sven’s mind.

  ‘Why don’t you invite the rest of your gang in?’ she asked. ‘I mean, they are just in the other room.’

  His casual expression faltered and he slammed his wine to the table. He shouted towards the door through which he’d entered and said, ‘Melissa Wayfair knows you’re there. You might as well come in.’

  One by one, the remaining members of the Dark Team strolled in and took their seats at the table. First came Sven’s uncle, Ivan Sorenson. He was followed by Ignatius and Ella Fairfax, the bankers. Next came Byron and Tiffany Vogel, the couple who had run an insurance company. They all looked just as they had when I’d encountered them in Godbody House, but that was probably for my benefit. I had no idea what they really looked like – nor of who they had been living as for the past weeks.

  ‘Wow,’ said Finn. ‘This seems incredibly stupid even for all of you. Shouldn’t at least a few of you stay behind? Y’know, so that when we kill whoever’s here this evening, there’ll be some more of you left to spring another surprise on us sometime in the future.’

  Sven laughed. ‘Sorry, I can’t take you seriously when you look like a teenage girl, Finn. It’s the way the curls bobble when you put your hands on your hips – oh, and speaking of hips, the way you’re jutting yours out is almost as adorable as the way you’ve styled your lovely curls.’ He picked up his wine and took another sip. ‘And Wanda, might I say you look much better now that you’ve lost a few hundred pounds.’

  His uncle Ivan strode in front of us. He looked a little more jaded than when I last saw him. I guess even vampire-witch hybrids can age. ‘Let’s not resort to name calling. We’re here for a simple exchange.’ He spied the bottle of Château Toff de Toff on the table. ‘Really, Sven? The same brand of wine we used to administer our last love potion to Miss Wayfair? How very crass. I knew I shouldn’t have left you in charge of tonight’s meal.’ He gave me an apologetic look. ‘So sorry, Miss Wayfair. My nephew is only three hundred, you see. I’m sure he’ll grow up eventually. But I assure you, I want to do this much more amicably.’

  I looked at Melissa and Finn and saw that they were just as dumbfounded as I was. ‘Amicably?’ I said eventually. ‘Amicably? And what about the way you dealt with Caitlyn and Alicia? You killed them, yeah? To frame the Call of the Wild?’

  He sank into a seat and sighed. ‘Yes. Well, there were some unfortunate – but necessary – losses along the way. We couldn’t risk you suspecting that we had any involvement. We had to design a way to get you here in the course of one of your usual macabre investigations. And to do that we had to create an investigation. Tiff over there knew the boys from her gap year.’

  I glanced at Tiffany Vogel, and saw her change in front of my eyes. The neat chignon style of her hair disappeared, to be replaced by long black locks. Her blue eyes became a deep brown. Even her outfit changed while I watched. What once was a smart black cocktail dress was now a pair of tight jeans with high-top running shoes and a casual T-shirt. She looked around twenty-five or twenty-six, but she could be a thousand for all I knew.

  Melissa narrowed her eyes, giving Tiffany the once-over. ‘You are just twenty-six, aren’t you?’

  Tiffany clapped her hands. ‘I knew you were clever when we spoke online.’

  Melissa gasped. When trying to track down the Dark Team, she had almost wound up recruited to their ranks. ‘You were the one who sent me all of those psychic skills tests!’

  ‘And some Dark Road coordinates in case you fancied meeting up sometime. But you never did show up. I thought maybe it was because you hadn’t figured out how to access our very special network. But now I’m starting to think you just didn’t like me.’ She poked her lower lip out, pouting. ‘I feel so very rejected. Anyway, yes, I knew Alpha from my gap year. I met them when I was travelling around India. Don’t you just love their music?’ She gave us a boastful smile. ‘I was there when they wrote most of the album, y’know. And I was the one who secured their record deal. They might not want to work at their father’s companies anymore, but seeing as I’m pretending to be the daughter of a music mogul, I’m quite enjoying working for Daddy.’

  Byron Vogel stood up and draped an arm over Tiffany’s shoulder. ‘It’s a bit strange for me, I must admit. A few months ago I was pretending to be her loving husband, now I’m pretending to be her loving father.’ He waved a hand over his face. Suddenly his tailored suit was replaced by a casual outfit of jeans and a T-shirt with Alpha emblazoned across the chest. ‘But these days I’m Tiff’s dad, owner of Weresome Records. The plan was Ivan’s idea. Tiff and I recruited Alpha. Sven came on as their manager. And Iggy and Ella, well …’ He glanced at the couple known as Ignatius and Ella Fairfax. ‘Well, I suppose they had their place, too.’

  The woman called Ella narrowed her eyes. ‘You really are a twat, Byron. Iggy and I are the ones who did all the dirty work, as usual. We were the ones who performed the doppelganger spell. I’d like to see you try and keep werewolf hair down, Byron. Never mind pretend to be them.’ She shuddered. ‘I thought I couldn’t hate werewolves any more than I already do. Turns out, I was wrong.’

  So Shane’s theory was correct. The real killers had used doppelganger spells so that their teeth-marks would match Mack’s and Bryce’s. I wasn’t surprised that Shane was right, but I was really annoyed with myself for not figuring out the rest of the case sooner. I should have seen this one coming. When those two familiars were poisoned like that, I should have known it was the Dark Team. Gabriel Godbody the Twentieth had gleefully informed me that he knew about my gift. Of course his son had told them all.

  I’ve heard people say that the simplest plans are the best. I’m guessing those people have never met the Dark Team. This plan was about as complicated as it gets. If I hadn’t been standing here right now, at the wrong end of the Dark Team’s surprise revelation, I’m not sure I would ever have figured out what was really going on. And considering the fact that they all seemed to hate each other’s guts, I was impressed that they’d managed to pull it off.

  Ella continued to argue with Byron, and then Sven and Ivan started bickering, too. After a few minutes of politely asking the others to stop, Ignatius held his hands up. ‘Now, now, children,’ he said. ‘Let’s not argue in front of our guests. Has anyone even offered them a bite to eat?’

  I felt myself eyeing the apple tart. A conversation this irritating really required calories, but Finn was right – we couldn’
t trust a thing on the table.

  Either way, no one was offering us any food. They had all started to argue again.

  ‘Y’know, I thought your old boss rambled on,’ I cried out above the noise. ‘But at least he eventually got to the point. Maybe he was your daddy figure? Stopped you all going at each other like vultures? Look, either way, could you all just be quiet for a while? And maybe I could try and summarise, and you guys can add in anything I missed?’

  Without waiting for them to agree, I went on. ‘So, you probably have some unreasonable and – no doubt – evil demands. And to make sure we actually listened to those demands, you needed to trap us here. To do that without pointing suspicion at yourselves, you decided to create a case. You catapulted Alpha to mediocre-dom, then dropped some clues our way so we’d come to the conclusion that Alpha were doing the killing in order to frame the Call of the Wild.’

  I paused for a breath. ‘Meanwhile, at the legion of dumb,’ I continued, ‘the girls who took up Alpha’s invitation were transported here, by all of you. You guys got all doppelgangered up as Mack McAdams and Bryce Blue, and murdered Caitlyn and Alicia. You then extended three further invitations, because you knew we’d take the bait. You predicted that, instead of letting three more murders happen, we’d come here in the place of the girls and … well, be trapped by you.’

  Sven smirked. Oh, good Gretel, that smirk got smugger by the second. ‘Gabriel used to tell us you liked to bumble in and play the heroine whenever the chance arose. So yes – we knew you’d take the bait. Although I must point out – Alicia came willingly, thinking she was about to enjoy a nice romantic night with Frenton. Caitlyn on the other hand … we had to take her here by force. Silly girl – it wound up being so much worse for her, in the end.’

  Tiffany held up a hand. ‘Ooh, Sven, she also missed the bit where we invited Melissa instead of one of the Call of the Wild’s actual fans. Any guess as to why we did that?’

  Melissa glared at Tiffany. ‘You know perfectly well that I can read your mind. You invited me because you wanted to show me what I was missing. All of your awesome evilness. Your riches. The fact that you guys are so powerful that you can shape the world to how you want it. Well, big deal. I didn’t follow your little trail of breadcrumbs down the Dark Road before for a reason, and that reason still stands – I think you’re a bunch of monsters.’

  Tiffany smirked. ‘Monsters, are we? Oh, Melissa, Melissa, Melissa … we’re not monsters. As our leader once explained to your stupid friend, we are descendants of angels. You, too. You’re but a distant descendant, same as me, and even so your power is awesome. You could have been one of us. Now … well, now you’ll finally understand what you missed out on. And it’s such a shame, too – because you get but one chance to join the Dark Team. And you threw yours away. So, let’s get down to brass tacks, shall we? You all know how you came to be here. But do you know why?’

  Finn wrinkled his nose. ‘You want us to help you get the rest of your team out of prison, I assume. And I have to tell you – that is not going to happen.’

  ‘Oh, pish!’ Tiffany waved a hand dismissively. ‘Of course it’s going to happen. The freedom of a few assassins in return for the lives of some ever-so-worthy do-gooders like yourselves? It’s a shoo-in.’

  She picked up a remote control and a screen appeared on the far wall. On that screen we could see the inside of our headquarters. Paul was rushing around with Sixteen, his face a picture of panic. I guessed he was trying to find a way to bring our communications devices back on line. Considering he was our resident cheese wizard and genius, I hoped he’d figure something out.

  Tiffany pressed another button. The video feed from our headquarters disappeared, and we were looking, instead, at the inside of Moony’s. The bar was full of Wayfarers, and Gretel was questioning the staff as to where the heck we – and Alpha – were.

  ‘You haven’t sensed us looking over your shoulders for a while,’ said Sven. ‘But that’s because we haven’t been using our usual methods. We have been watching you all very closely, though, via the wonders of modern technology. Right now, all of your communications devices are cut off. But in a few minutes, once you’ve proved you can learn a few lines, you’ll be able to speak to Gretel again.’

  As Sven handed me a piece of paper, he said, ‘You might as well just do as we say. You must know by now that we’ve covered every angle. There’s nothing you can do to escape – not until the rest of our team is freed from Witchfield.’

  I looked down at the page. It was a script that I couldn’t imagine myself ever reading. It said:

  Release the imprisoned members of the Dark Team from Witchfield by midnight. If you don’t, then myself, Finn and Melissa will be murdered by the rest of their team. We have no way of beating them. Their power is too great. I realise now that I’m not the hotshot Wayfarer I thought I was. I’m nothing compared to the Dark Team. The Dark Team are an awesome power that I could never hope to defeat. Please agree to their demands, because we have no way to beat them.

  I arched an eyebrow. ‘Really?’

  The whole of the team stood in front of me, arms crossed. ‘Really,’ they said in unison.

  Finn peeped over my shoulder, snorting as he read the words. ‘There’s something I don’t get,’ he said. ‘If you’ve kidnapped us just so you can get your buddies back, then what’s with all the food?’

  Sven grinned. ‘The food is what happens if you don’t comply. Because as Tiffany told you – we’re not monsters. We treat all of our prisoners humanely.’ He held his arms wide in front of the dining table. ‘So if you refuse to do as we say, then all of this, my dear, stupid witches, could quite likely be your last meal.’ He picked up a strand of my hair, letting it run through his fingers. ‘I wonder at what point you’ll change back into Wanda,’ he said. ‘For Gabriel’s sake, I hope it’s quite a while.’

  I resisted the urge to slap him. His words were icky, sure, but there was something far more worrisome about this whole deal. The Dark Team had wanted me just a few weeks ago. Now that they had me in their evil, scheming clutches, I doubted they’d ever let me go again. I’d escaped the terrifying prospect of being married to Gabriel once. What if, this time, I couldn’t get away?

  Just as I was feeling about as low as I could, I felt another presence pushing into my mind. But it was one I recognised and welcomed. In all of my training with Melissa, I’d been able to shut her out. This time, I let her in.

  I looked down at the page again. ‘Fine,’ I said. ‘We’ll do what you want. I’ll memorise your stupid speech.’ I kept my eyes on the words on the page, while my mind focused on what Melissa was saying telepathically.

  ‘There is a way out of this mess,’ she said. ‘The function room. It brought us here, we can make it bring us back. Tiffany’s mind is strong, but Sven’s not so much. I’ve been able to find out that the operational panel is on the other side of the door they all came in through, on the right side of the wall. All we have to do is get in to the function room and get their attention distracted, then we set the coordinates for Get the Heck Out of Here, and we’re on our way.’

  I pretended to chortle at the wording of my lines, while I focused on transmitting my thoughts to Melissa. ‘Sure,’ I said to her. ‘That’s a brilliant plan, but there’s just one problem. Whoever is at the control panel will get left behind. Who knows what the Dark Team would do to them?’

  I was doing my best not to look at Melissa while we secretly spoke, but I couldn’t help but notice the little grin of satisfaction on her face. ‘Ah, but whilst you have been honing up on your telepathic skills,’ she said, ‘I have been honing up on my telekinetic ones. I don’t need to be anywhere near that panel to input the coordinates. I can do it with the power of my mind. The only thing I can’t figure out is how to distract the Dark Team long enough.’

  I bit my lip, thinking. ‘Leave that part to me,’ I said. ‘You just let Finn know what we’re up to. And tell him to watch out for the great
big obvious distraction.’

  23. The Great Big Obvious Distraction

  Telling Gretel that she needed to set the Dark Team free was no easy task. I hoped to the goddess that she could see I had another plan in mind. She was still in Moony’s as I spoke to her, and I could see dozens of Wayfarers milling around, working anxiously to find out where we were. Paul was with her now, which worried me. If he had stopped looking for answers back at our headquarters, did that mean he’d given up on being able to rescue us?

  Just behind where Gretel stood, I could see another function room, exactly where ours had been. Alpha weren’t destroying anyone’s ears in that one, seeing as they were busy doing that to us. But otherwise, it looked exactly the same – right down to the sweaty T-shirt Roy the keyboard player had thrown in my face.

  ‘I’ll get onto your mother, Wanda,’ said Gretel, after I’d finished the stupid speech. ‘As Minister for Magical Law, she has to be the one to make this decision.’

  Sven stood in front of me. ‘Yes, well tell her to make it quick – or her daughter bites the dust, along with Melissa and Finn.’

  ‘But y’know,’ I added, ‘she does have until midnight, as I said. So … no rush.’

  Gretel looked about to say something more, but the screen went blank.

  In our version of the function room, the music came to a halt, and Frenton and the band finally seemed to notice that we were no longer watching.

  ‘Wow, I dunno what happened there,’ said Frenton over the microphone. ‘We can get so lost in our own music sometimes, girls. We didn’t even notice you’d already been introduced to our management team. It is a shame to say goodbye to three such lovely ladies, but it is what it is. Weresome Records promised us they’d make us the most famous werewolf rockers in the world and, unfortunately, that means saying goodbye to the Call of the Wild. And we can’t make that happen until we kill a few more of their gorgeous fans.’