by Lee Taylor
“The Summers’ are here,” the man mumbled in a deep vibrato tone, before proceeding back up the stairs. Arkham let out an odd ticking-noise, rasping in breaths as he fought with himself and turned to pull something from one of the racks on the wall. It was a small, stone sphere; he whispered to it and placed it at Lycaon’s feet.
“I will leave you for now, child, don’t go anywhere,” Arkham spoke in a slow camber tone, he was looking forward to coming back, to finish where we left off, that much I knew for damn sure. He glided out the room, and a dry cackle moved his throat slightly as he departed, giving off another award winning smile as he did so.
“Guys, guys, can you hear me?” I asked in a muted voice. There wasn’t a response.
Kitty clenched her fists and had closed eyes, still mumbling something to herself. It was clear she was concentrating on something, and so I wasn’t going to bug her. Hey it wasn’t as if we were going anywhere anyway. Ivan caught my attention, he was muttering to himself as well. To be honest, I thought that he had completely lost the plot.
How long had he been here? I wondered to myself. Like I said, I couldn’t exactly do much else otherwise. The odd sphere by Lycaon’s feet looked harmless enough; it was as big as a basketball and made of polished stone with runic engravings etched into its surface. I had no idea what it meant, but I can tell you that it looked pretty funky.
Lycaon was covered in cuts and bruises; none of them seemed to be healing, and that was a very bad sign for a lycan, in my experience anyway.
With a disgruntled groan I tried to rock myself free, hoping that the momentum would be enough to carry me forward. Instead all I got was severe, razor-slicing pain cutting up my spine. My shoulders popped and cramped in that one failed motion, and I almost made myself more useless... if that were possible. It looked like I was going to be hanging around for a while, like one of the mounted trophies that Lycaon kept in his cabin.
Everything that was happening now was my fault, from Mike lying unconscious in a puddle of his own bloody saliva, Kitty bound, bruised and muzzled, Ivan and his apparent loss of sanity, Lycaon... God only knows what they had done to him; and Tessa... My mom... My dad... I think that that right there was the lowest I had felt in my life.
“Ivan... Ivan, can you hear me?” Ivan continued to cradle himself. Not even pausing to answer as he gently rocked backward and forward. He looked up at me, his whimpering stopping, raised his hands he pointed to the artefact by Lycaon’s feet.
Hang on, was Ivan putting the whole broken-man act on? That crafty Russian... I found myself growing fond of Ivan, even though he looked battered and slashed. There was a deep routed intelligence in his eyes that sent more sparks of hope through my battered body. To my relief, Mike began to stir as well, sniffling, he propped himself up and looked over to Ivan, he hadn’t noticed me hanging across the room from him yet.
“I-Ivan, they... They did as you said; they’re still trying to figure out why a human is hanging around with a bunch of shifters and mystics. I... I didn’t hear anything about Ursine...” Mike spat on his top and began to dab at his face, wincing as he cleaned off the specks of blood. Ivan nodded sombrely. Pointing toward me, he was still mute for some odd reason. Mike’s eyes followed to where Ivan pointed and saw me. His eyes widened with relief, tears welling up, I could hear him catch his breath.
“Ursine!?” I could hear the shock in his voice. Before I had a chance to mutter a response, he turned back to Ivan.
“Now?” Mike asked. Ivan nodded in response. Standing up, Ivan began to brush himself off. Mike’s eyes began to glow the rich, emerald shade, and in an instant his shackles dropped to the ground. He rubbed his wrists for a moment, and ran up to Kitty. Putting his hand on her foot, she dropped to the floor, landing on all fours like a cat, muttering an unintelligible word. Flinching in discomfort, worry caught hold of me as I gazed helplessly at her. Mike was to her side in a flash, supporting her as she stood.
“It’s okay, Mike, and Ursine... that was a bit bloody risky, don’t you think? That wraith Arkham is seriously bad news, and you managed to piss him off something proper. She flexed and clicked her joints, freezing in her place and slowly walked to the back of her cell, something had her worried. Ivan called out.
“Mike, the sphere!” Mike turned to face the artefact, it was glowing, and the runic symbols were shaking and illuminating the room. An arc of energy exploded from its form and pinned Kitty against the wall. She called out in agony. Mike stepped in front of the arc, attempting to shield her. With the momentary pause in the attack, Kitty dropped forward from the wall, slumping on her knees. A scorch blazed on her stomach, smoke slowly drifted into the air. As soon as Mike blocked the arc of energy, it cut through his clothes, the smell of cooked meat wafted toward me, and my nostrils flared. Mike only managed to withstand a moment of its power before being forced away, spiralling into the hard stoned wall, with a dull, wet thud he slid to the floor. I was kicking out, wriggling. It was infuriating that I was still just as useless; the noise that the sphere was producing was drowning out Kitty’s shriek as it continued its assault on her, ignoring me and Ivan for the time being. Kitty was pinned back against the wall; the bolt prying at her chest, its power seemed to be unrelenting. And I was forced to watch until it burned through her, drilling into the wall.
“What the hell is that thing, a medieval Taser?” The sound it emitted was deafening and the whole room vibrated with its energy. Kitty was thrashing backwards and forwards as she tried to break free from its awesome, powerful grip. Ivan was calling out in Russian, and I had no idea what he was saying, but from the snarl that gripped his face, it couldn’t have been good. Lycaon’s eyes pinged open, and he struggled on the table kicking out at the sphere. My guess the aroma of cooked meat had also ignited his hunger, and he was now fully aware. The force Lycaon used trying to break free made the table camber, causing the sphere to roll off the edge. With a crack, the noise and lightning vanished into the ether as it shattered on the floor. I thought it was over. Ivan was still screaming; his gaze now fixed on the remains on the floor, which I didn’t understand as the lightning had stopped. Kitty was smoking. Not just smoking hot this time. Her body was badly burned, and looked near death. I had a perfect view of her cleavage from my vantage point, and so immediately averted my wandering gaze, glowing red in the cheeks with the vision. How could I look at them in a time like this...The Tesla orbs vicious attack was astounding. In a few seconds it had disabled two of my friends...Kitty’s blonde bonnet of hair had added silvery streaks into her do, reaching back into her high ponytail which hung loosely by her hips. I thought she was done for... Until she stood up and seemed to shake it all off. Her hair lifted slightly with what looked like static energy as her wounds began to heal. Her breathing regulated and she began to approach Mike who was lying motionless on the flagstone floor.
She looked at her shredded garments, and swept an idol hand over them in similar fashion to dusting herself off, and instantly, they resealed and re-stitched themselves. I was going to have to ask how the hell she did that when I got the chance; it could save me a fortune. The scattered remains of the orb began to shake in their place, dust that was settling vanished. Kitty was oblivious to this and knelt by Mike’s chest.
“Mike, wake up, mate... What have I told you about that bloody hero complex of yours?” Mike wasn’t moving as Kitty checked his pulse.
“Oh bollocks, his heart has stopped.” My eyes widened and stomach dropped. As if on command, I renewed my efforts to break free. Kitty began to press her hands on his chest, rhythmically beating him back to life.
“1...2...3,” she counted out as she massaged his heart. Lycaon looked at me, a weak smile spread across his face as I jerked around while suspended. I had to have looked like a fool. I was calling out for him to breathe, to live. I even threatened hopelessly that if he was dead, that when I died, I was going to kick his ass for checking out early.
“Oh for fuck sake,” Kitty protested. She
leaned in closer to his head, muttering another word under her breath; again too quiet for me to pick up, especially after the noise the Orb had let off, topped with the acoustics of this room. Kitty could have been speaking normally, and there was no way to tell with the white noise and ringing that was drowning everything else out. She stooped lower, apparently about to try mouth to mouth. Mike was going to love this. Mike had blind luck like this quite often... like when he got paired up in science for a lab partner, it was a brainy kid; so all Mike had to do was sit back and relax and panic about any midterms that might crop up.. I know saying he was lucky was bad, seeing as he was dead’n’all, but if our situations were reversed, and I was lying on the floor, I knew for a fact that it would probably be Ivan performing the action.
As soon as her lips touched his, a pulse of energy flowed into him like a jolt from a defibrillator. Mike began to choke and cough. Kitty drew her head back and patted him on the shoulder.
“I ain’t going to kiss you every time you go and die on us.” Mike rubbed his head, apparently woozy and glanced around.
“Wha... what happened?” Mike asked, looking around their cell. His voice was drowned out by Ivan’s continuous yelling.
How long had he been yelling? I thought to myself. It was difficult to tell, thanks to the tinnitus, that I was pretty sure I was suffering from. All that I could hear was like waves crashing constantly upon a cliff face. The white after-wash foaming and bubbling on the jagged rocks beneath, and that was all between my ears... Yeah I know a big and empty place that was my brain... I really wished I could hear my dark passenger again. I wouldn’t say that I was a religious person. Even though the last week had shown me that there is a good and an evil counterpart. In any case, I was thanking God and angels, and all things good for letting my friend come back to us. But we had more problems to face. Whatever had triggered the orb into life was doing so again. From the chipped fragmented body of the sphere, legs began to unfurl themselves, forming hundreds of tiny stone-spiders, which began scurrying across the floor toward Ivan.
They moved with the same alien grace as regular arachnids, slinking along effortlessly with incredible speed. Ivan’s hands were still cuffed, and he now gripped the bars in front of him. The stone arachnids split into groups and headed in several directions. Some began to climb their way up to Lycaon, who still lay as helpless as me.
“Um, guys... FREAKING SPIDERS ARE COMING!” I shouted, not really knowing how loud I was being.
Kitty turned and eyed me, absently helping Mike to his feet. He stumbled around like a lush. If it hadn’t been for Kitty being there to aid him, he would probably have remained sprawled on the floor at the creature’s mercy like Lycaon, Ivan and... Well... Me.
The arachnids scuttled up onto the bars where Ivan had been leaning and began to make odd gritty popping sounds. They were excreting some kind of paste from their bodies onto the bars, and in seconds, the fluid had eaten though the metal... I dreaded to think what they could do to skin. I stared wide-eyed at Lycaon as the first scout approached him, and to my surprise, Lycaon was not struggling. He simply lay there, excepting his fate. I closed my eyes and turned my head, hoping that his death would be quick, but his scream never came. Gradually I opened my eyes and saw the creatures on my restraints... they weren’t trying to harm me... They were freeing me, and I didn’t get a chance to ask what the hell was going on before my chains gave way, and I fell flat onto the floor. I was no way near as gracious as Kitty had been landing on all fours... Nope that would be too much to ask for. My face bounced off the concrete, blurring my vision with the impact.
I looked up to see Lycaon standing with his hand outreached toward me. His lips curled into a wolfish smile, so I took Lycaon up on his offer, rising to my feet and grinned back at him.
“What’s the deal with the dribbling spiders?” I asked Lycaon, stretching myself out. My arms were killing me. I was more than baffled at the time. Lycaon pulled me close to him and embraced me in a full-armed bear hug. His display of affection had me a bit more on guard. Since when did Lycaon have a personality, let alone a friendly demeanour?
“Hey, Lycaon, you’re kind of hurting me, buddy... Seriously” My joints clicked and cracked before he finally released me; the sudden return of un-aided gravity had me stumbling backwards.
“We thought you were dead, Ursine... Mike and I saw you get shot,” Lycaon said, frowning at me... turning back to normal as we spoke. Now that was a relief. Mike ran over from his cage, and wrapped his arms around me too... so I sighed and pushed him away.
“Well... I’m still alive and well so no worries there, Con.” Mike was whimpering something that was utterly unintelligible, like when he used to smoke so much he thought that the Kool-Aid man was going to break in and get him. Yeah Mike was really... Umm, special.
“I didn’t think... It worked. I saw you get... get....” Mike was on his top hygienic form again, wiping his streaming eyes and nose on his top that he lifted and turned inside out before releasing back down to cover his stomach.
“The word I think is shot, dude, and aren’t you listening? I said don’t worry about it. I’m fine.” I smiled reassuringly at Mike and Lycaon and tried to wave away their worries. Now Kitty rounded in on me, draping one arm across my shoulders, she pressed herself up to me and gave me a little peck on the cheek. To my dismay, I blushed. She smelled like she had been a cook at a barbecue. The scent on her of her own burnt skin... and yet she looked untouched. She whispered softly into my ear.
“I thought you would be alright. After all, you ain’t got just a normal Lycan in ya, have you? But it was hopeless trying to tell these ninnies not to worry after they thought they saw you die. They’d convinced themselves well and truly. “Kitty took a step back and glanced at the bloody palm-print on my stomach.
“Well it looks to me like you are shit out of luck; what do you think, Ivan, Lycaon?” Ivan slowly paced across the room. I could see him wipe some of his blood from the edge of his mouth and toy with it, rubbing it into his fingers like I a kindergartener would be fascinated with poster paint.
“J’es, it looks like a blood-binding... George has sealed your soul in fragments,” Ivan said, with a frown spreading across his stoic features he turned from me and walked to the rubble of the sphere and nudged at them with his feet.
“You know, these orbs are supposed to have vanished millennia ago... I am jealous... George has an impressive collection.” Ivan ran his hand through his hair and pulled out a cigarette.
Hang on; did he just perform a magic trick?
“Uh... Ivan did you..?”
“What is it my friend?” Ivan asked with a hint of amusement in his eyes.
“You know what... Don’t worry about it,” I said.
Unperturbed Ivan stroked his hand over his tattered garments, as kitty had before; they corrected, mended and became clean. It was like he had just put on new clothes...
Wow I really needed to find out how to do that.
After briefly studying his garments he pursed his lips together touching his face, rubbing some of the dried-on-blood. Furrowing his brow further, he perched the cigarette on the side of his mouth and spat into his hands, wiping at his face.
I was mortified that he could produce a cigarette out of thin air, but not a flannel? I didn’t think that he was the type to spit in his hands and clean with it. He un-cupped his hands from his face where he revealed that he had not only managed to clean his face, but he had also healed all his wounds in the region. He winked at me, and with a slow tired sigh, he raised his arms and his cigarette flicked to life.
“You don’t think that I got to this advanced age without learning a trick or two?” Ivan jested; I smiled and shook my head.
Kitty and Lycaon’s discussion grew louder as they both had conflicting ideas on how they could help me. Ivan shrugged and perched himself on the table where Lycaon had been strewn across.
“I am glad it is so simple for you, but this is new to him. So if
he ever wants to be able to voluntarily shift again, he needs to learn its name the same time getting unbound. I don’t know if you noticed, mate, but he is slightly more than, just a Lycan. You saw what happened at the motel; I could sense it from hundreds of miles away.” Tessa prodded Lycaon in the chest; defeated, he nodded in agreement.
Mike was leaning against the wall, rubbing at his temples.
“Hey, Mike, what’s up?” I asked concerned for my friend’s well-being. Mike opened his eyes and lowered his hands down to his side.
“It’s nothing, just... Using like I have had to takes a shit-load out of me. I almost freaking died trying to save your ass. It makes my brain... Well it just twitches every now and then... You know?” Mike finished, the colour had gone from his face and dark tired circles now clung under his eyes. He looked like he had been through hell and back. I answered honestly.
“No, not really, man... I’m sorry for you getting dragged into this.” I felt like such a douche getting Mike involved.
“Don’t, Si, I am glad that I could help. And hey, I am finding out new things about myself every day and Kitty...” Mike leaned in closer and whispered to me, knowing full well she could hear us if she wanted to and continued.
“She’s incredible.” Mike looked toward Kitty adoringly.
“Besides, I’m a tough cookie, and I can take whatever I get thrown at me... you know, unless it’s algebra... Or trigonometry... Or-”
“Yeah I know what you mean,” I interjected, and we laughed for what felt like the first time in decades. Ivan snickered, and I saw him pop another cigarette out of thin air into his mouth. Someone was really going to have to address his chain smoking habits.