by Lee Taylor
Chapter 27
I couldn’t remember the next two hours that passed me by as I was still phasing in and out of consciousness. I was carried a majority of the way by Lycaon and Mike. They weren’t speaking, simply stalking through the large expanse of the woodland. Ivan regaled them with stories of his old country and how he was used to walking everywhere, and that “us” new millennia of people don’t know how easily we have it exactly.
Dawn began to break, shifting the mist and suddenly in a flurry of lights there was a burst of colours and smells. I was still out of it, too weak to talk or even open my eyes fully, and so I remained limp and broken. They finally found another sign of civilization and breathed a hefty gust of relief; it was some kind of junk yard with loads of serviceable cars and trucks, and Ivan made a mental note to where they were so that he could return a favour to them some point later on. They carefully placed Kitty and I in the back of one of the pickups; Lycaon set about hot wiring it when Ivan, still performing his “materialising tobacco” trick, clicked his fingers, and the engine groaned to life. Ivan was at the helm, driving with Lycaon up front for navigation; Mike sat happily in the back, glad to have gotten out of George’s twisted estate in one piece. The atmosphere in the car was uneasy. They were all grateful to be out of there, too, but it seemed like it was a little too easy. Helicopters had begun to close in for the last few hours, and so Ivan, who was already exhausted, had apparently sent off some heat-shimmers in all kinds of directions and speeds, so that if whoever was searching had thermal imaging would be led astray. Even though I was still mute, and unable to communicate, I had a fairly good feeling that it was the Helsing group. How the government had found that place in the literal middle of nowhere, I had no idea, and neither did the others. Mike was the only one who theorized publicly, stating that it could be the same branch that monitored UFO’s. He thought that it was a great explanation as it explained their odd technology. As much as Lycaon and Ivan would have loved to have disagreed, they really were in no place to argue.
It took Kitty waking up and telling him to stop being such an idiot to shut him up. She slunk back down and fell asleep.
It took all day driving, but Ivan and Lycaon finally pulled over at a roadside motel, thinking that they were enough out of harm’s way. I had been teetering on waking up, but it never happened. I could hear Ivan and Lycaon mumbling something about me to each other... and George. Every time Lycaon broached the subject of George, his voice became shaky and brittle.
Ivan left the group there and went into the town, coming back with food and medical supplies. Days went by before Kitty and Ivan were up to full strength; Lycaon had been out running the perimeter at night, keeping on constant guard in case the Venetians or anyone else turned up. He slept in the day when he could. The dagger had been safely extracted from my chest. I had lost a lot of blood, and I was pretty sure I saw myself hooked up to a coconut, at one point, saying that I had also been seeing fairies and elves floating around in the back seat of the truck with me. All the events since Drogan skewered me were hazy... It felt like half of me was missing, and it aggravated me. When I eventually regained the ability to move and speak, I felt weak and burnt out. After all that I had been through, every time I tried to change what was happening, I only made things worse. Worse for my mom, worse for Tessa, even my dad... I was scared that if I tried to help or fight or whatever, that I would get another one of my friends hurt. It had been the same thoughts broiling over in my head for a week.
It wasn’t until I thought about breaking away from my friends, and disappearing in the hopes that none of them would get hurt, when Lycaon finally let on that he had been listening in on my thoughts for some time, and so had Kitty.
“I don’t give a shit what you say... I’m poison, Lyc... Whenever I try to help, I only make things worse.”
“Baby.”
“What?” I asked.
“You are nothing but a baby,” Lycaon sneered.
“Tell me what I should do then? I killed my mom, my dad, Tessa... your pack.”
“Don’t you dare!” Lycaon shouted, storming toward me. He picked me up as if I were a child and held me against the wall.
“Ursine, Kitty’s going in search for Kaitlyn. We can correct all of this.” Lycaon calmed down as he spoke, his eyes still flickered to their ambient, amber shade though.
“I’m not going. I just want to go home. It’s what my mom would of wanted; she’d want me to finish school,” I said. I was bitter and depressed; if I had simply been... I don’t know, better, or stronger even faster... Maybe I could have made a difference, but I wasn’t. People still got hurt, and where was I? I was unconscious for the majority... or making stupid decisions after stupid decisions.
“Ursine, don’t be such a colossal fool. If it wasn’t for you.”
“If it wasn’t for me... None of you would be in this mess to begin with... It was because of me that most of your pack is dead or worse.” Lycaon sneered and bashed my head against the wall. Dropping me to the floor, he turned and paced from the room, slamming the door behind him.
“You know, Ursine, we don’t blame you. Most of the shit was going to happen regardless of what you think,” Kitty said, emerging from the adjacent room.
“Yeah... Well-”
“Well nothing. You know your mom is still alive. She is at home now... You can ask her what she thinks if it will help.”
“What?” I asked, completely speechless.
“I said your mom is alive. She’s at your house right now, carrying on with life as if she had been never taken.”
“I... I need to see her,” I said. Kitty scoffed and rolled her eyes.
“Yeah, I gathered that, you sodding doughnut. You can say your goodbyes then, and then we can go sort our fucking lives out. What do you say?”
I thought about it, for a moment or two; I had said from the beginning, that as soon as I had got my parents back, I would just try and forget everything. Forget the friends I had made, the enemies, and I thought about just leaving everyone. Kitty, Ivan, Jessica, Alastair, Lycaon… Maybe even Mike. Then there was Tessa... Impossible. I couldn’t give up now, not until she knew what she meant to me. Not until I had cleaned up the mess that I had made, maybe then, I would earn some peace and quiet. I could worry about it then. Heck, maybe if I was really lucky I would die, then I could probably get all the peace I wanted. With the realization dawning on me that I was in it for the long haul, I rubbed at my head where Lycaon had just bounced off the wall. He must have knocked some sense into me, or out of me.
“I haven’t really got much of a choice, do I?”
“No, young one. No you haven’t,” Ivan added as he entered my room with a cigarette and a smile.
“You still have much to learn... and much we can teach you,” Ivan drawled.
* * *
I started to make my way back to my house in Kingston, and Lycaon insisted on accompanying me. I didn’t know what to say to him. I was just going to be heading back to collect a few things. It was about a two-day journey to get home from where we were. So we were racing through the wilderness in our shifted states; Arktos was treasuring every moment, and I was more balanced than the last time, so I wasn’t swathed in shadow. I was still nowhere near as graceful as Lycaon was, but hopefully in time, I would pick up a few things.
You know we’re going to have to train more than ever to make sure we have a few tricks down for our next encounter... because I don’t know about you, Lyc, but I am sick to death of getting knocked out all of the time. It’s going to have lasting effects; I know it.
You being knocked out doesn’t bother me. The simple fact is the more you are knocked out, the less you think about sex, Lycaon retorted, sending me into hysterics. It was the first comment we had made to each other in days. Even in his wolf form his brows pinched together, his snout closed exhaling a mist of warm air from his moist nose. We were approaching a residential area, and the smell of the populous was overloading my s
enses, the sweat, the fear, the excitement all mixing together, making me feel queasy.
When we finally reached Kingston, it was night time. So we crept through the busy city street, leaping from roof to roof as we approached my house. I was apprehensive about going inside and seeing my mom; I didn’t know what she was going to say. Hell, I didn’t know what I was going to say. So we shifted back to our restraining human forms, bare in the evening air... It was odd... All the other wounds I had received had sealed and healed without even leaving a blemish on my skin... But the dagger wound had left a pink and fleshy mottled scar where it had been.
My eyes widened and heart stopped as I saw my mom. She was how I had last seen her, sitting in her armchair reading a book. She looked really ill. Picture albums were cluttering the usually neat coffee table, and she was holding a picture of me when I was three years old, smiling on a blanket with a really bad hair-do... I couldn’t stop myself from running over to her, even in my naked state, I didn’t care; I had missed her too much. And if it was a trap, then I would have to deal with the consequences. She woke up the instant I put my arms around her, startled with the spontaneous hug.
“I missed you, mom,” I said with tears streaming down my face.
“Oh... Uhm... Thanks, Ursine... Have you and Mike been drinking again?” She asked, and it was understandable that she was a little shocked. With a sigh I breathed in the deep scent of her lavender shampoo, I never thought that I would smell that again. I didn’t care if Lycaon thought I was a momma’s boy. I was too happy to see her alive and well.
“Ursine... Who is that friend of yours standing over ... Oh dear lord, Ursine, you’re both naked!” My mom blurted. Now that had me loosen my hug and back away sheepishly.
“This is Lycaon, mom... It’s a funny story.” I was blushing. I was so humiliated; I thought my mom would be happy to see me, but apparently she never even knew I had gone.
“Is he..? Is he your boyfriend?” My mom asked, her face gently creasing as her critical frown-lines appeared. My jaw hit the floor, and Lycaon gaped at her wide-eyed, shaking his head in rejection to her theory.
“Well in any case, Ursine, I am quite tired, and so I will be going to bed. Please remember to use protection, dear.” Stifling a yawn she affectionately stroked my face, standing up she studied the mess and decided to leave it till morning, pausing as she got to the doorway where Lycaon stood and addressed him, too.
“A pleasure to meet you, Lycaon, is it? Be nice to my son; he is very impressionable.” She looked him up and down and smiled to herself, taking in the full scale of Lycaon. She shook her head and hummed as she went up to bed. Mortified that my mom thought that I was gay; I looked to Lycaon and smiled timidly.
“You mind waiting here while I go grab some clothes? I think we should stay here tonight and talk to her about it in the morning,” I said. Lycaon snorted indignantly and lifted his head.
My bedroom was as I had left it... a complete mess. Rummaging through the drawers for handfuls of clothes, I looked at my bed longingly, recalling memories of my dream with Tessa.
My mobile was precariously placed on my pillow. I walked across the room and sat on my bed as I flicked it on. There was only one message, and it was sent at eleven- thirty-three p.m. About five minutes ago.
*Welcome back, lover. I can’t wait till we meet. I simply know you’re going to like me; you totally loved my sister.*
“Seriously?” I challenged my phone.
“What is it?” Lycaon asked; he had joined me and was putting on some clothes that I had set aside for us.
“Oh, nothing. I was just thinking to myself, how can my life get any worse and voila! As if by magic...”
“You really are a blessed individual,” Lycaon retorted, walking downstairs. I looked back at my phone and sighed.
“I don’t think blessed is a word I would use.”
Firefly & Wisp Publishing
Other books by Firefly & Wisp
Power of the Moon: Tina Carreiro
Supernova: Crystal Ward
Paranormal Anthology
Her Last Chance, The Art of Seduction: Danielle Lee Zwissler
Joseph Rubas: Pocketful of Fear
Dawn Jayne: Uprising
J.S. Wilsoncroft: The Unfaithful Widow
Brenda Hastings: Our Forbidden Love
Theresa Oliver: Cambria
Earl Duncan: The Sea of the Dead
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Book II
The moon was at its peak, lighting the streets below with its ambient hue. Street light after street light had burnt out in all the confusion leaving several city blocks in the near vicinity purged into darkness. Dogs barked and mewled at the moon, unchallenged by their owners, and distant sirens sounded off into the abysmal town. I knew they weren’t headed to my aid.
I had been led to an old, dilapidated apartment building; it stretched up into the clear night sky with the first few floors boarded up in one fashion or the other. I didn’t really have any idea what to expect, things had been quiet on the preternatural front after the events that had unfolded three months before. I was still only seventeen; I was still at high school, and I was now married… Yeah that’s right I am seventeen years old and married. If it makes you feel any better, some douche tried to forcibly annul it… and me. Why he failed I don’t know; heck he all but cut my heart out, then left me for dead and took my wife.
A sudden snap and crackle sounded from one of the side alleys; it almost made me jump out of my skin. Looking closer at it I couldn’t make out anything of interest. Part of my mind tried to tell the rest of me that it was definitely gunfire. I quickly dismissed the notion, mainly because in my experience, (three months’ worth ;) if someone fires a round and misses, they would empty their entire clip to ensure at least a few connected… Especially with those prattling government agents from the Helsing group, they were more trigger-happy than a stunt crew in a spaghetti western.
Arktos growled again, this time at something else lurking in the shadows across from the alley where I stood. The vibrato burst of noise from his growl was like an elephant coughing up phlegm… And I don’t even know if that’s possible.
What is it? What can you see that you aren’t saying? I asked, timidly. I pushed my hand through my mane of hair.
Arktos’s growl continued, drawing out to a crescendo of wet, crackling gurgles. I was pretty sure if a pin dropped I was going to phase on the spot.
There are many things I can see that you are unable to mortal. Arktos said, temporarily filling the vacuum in the air.
Thank you for your observation, oh wise one, could you be a little more specific? The one problem with having a conversation with yourself was that any onlookers would just see me standing there with my expression shifting from one to another looking into space; it wasn’t a good way to make friends.
At this moment I can only see what you see, you annoying child. Arktos retorted, he had a point; after all, he was taking residence inside my body. When I first realised I had an entity in me I thought that it was fighting for control, trying to take the reins of my body and force me into oblivion. My friend Lycaon had told me this to put me on edge... And hopefully make me more careful. Unfortunately what he actually accomplished was making me practically bipolar. Yeah Lycaon is a real douche. The mass shifted, splitting forth a deafening, rasping screech. I bowed my head and covered my ears till it came to a stop.
“What is your intention, mortal?” Its voice was almost palpable; each syllable was forced out in croaky huffs.
“What the hell does it…” I was cut off mid-sentence by a nagging bark in my head.
Manners, Ursine. We do not know what threat it could possess.
“Fine!” I huffed to myself.
“I am off to see the wizard, what about you? Thinking of trying out for X Factor?” I s
tood up, stretching and flexing my muscles. I wasn’t impressed with the idea of having a discussion out in the open like I was, anyone could have been listening.
“Do not test my patience child!” It rasped.
“I have been sent to guide you to my lord and Summoner.”
“Brilliant, so do you want to hold hands, or are you just going to point and nod?” I wasn’t serious about the handholding, but what can I say I was feeling somewhat facetious.
The creature stepped out of the shadows, revealing the form it had taken. He was that of an old man, with unwashed skin and clothes, and a long scraggly beard; its lips parted in a sneer, showing to me its teeth that were dark and rank. Pinching its eyes together trying to read my expression, It gritted its teeth and spat; the saliva made contact with a discarded bin lid and began to fizzle, slowly eroding away at the metal. Its beard was smoke stained around the lips, and his already grubby skin was dark, like he had been sleeping rough for years. He snorted and brushed his tongue over his darkened teeth. Veins bulged and throbbed on his face, turning black and spread out to his eyes which rolled to the back of his head. He smiled.
Note to self, do not French kiss the homeless dude... I shuddered and received a response instantaneously.
You disgust me you, repugnant child.
I rolled my eyes at Arktos’s comment and slapped the palm of my hand to my forehead. This was going to be one of those long days where I get a headache, and my attempts at humour are left hanging high and dry.
“You do not amuse me, Theria-morph,” It said, clicking its teeth together.
“Yeah, well you’re not the only one.” I sighed and looked at the surroundings plaintively.
The old man turned and began to walk away; looking over his shoulder encouraging me to follow. Wow, he could really scowl. The veins shifted again on its brow like the creature lurking inside of him was trying to break free from its host. I knew that feeling all too well.