Council of Magic

by J. L. Hendricks

  12

  Damien

  “I can’t wait for the sun to come up. That, that, thing in the cage is driving me crazy! Can I knock him out? Do we have a tranq gun we can use on it?” Luke covered his ears as the beast inside the cage began its howling, yet again.

  It was a deep, baritone sound which made me wish I couldn’t hear a thing. My bones rattled each time it screamed. Which was something it had been doing off and on all night long. I really didn’t know how it still had a voice.

  “We should only have a few more minutes before it starts to change back. I can feel the sun coming up already.” I looked to the east and could just barely make out the tip of what could be the sun’s rays coming over the tops of the trees in the swamp.

  All of a sudden the sound inside of the steel cage changed. It went from a howling call to a scream of pain. I had heard it was extremely painful for the human when they began their shift. A werewolf was an abomination. We weren’t exactly sure how they came to be. There is a rumor they were created by witches to be their slaves. Apparently, the spell backfired.

  When a human shifted to its werewolf form, or back to human, the bones broke, and the skin stretched in ways which should tear a human apart. No magic could help the victim get through their shifts without going crazy. I always assumed they were feral because of the pain. It had to be so intense it took their conscious mind and stuffed it in a box.

  Of course, I had no proof. Other than screams of bloody murder when a werewolf shifted. This guy in our midst, he sounded as though he was being torn apart piece by piece as he shifted back to a human.

  Shifters felt no pain. We shifted from pure magic. We also kept our minds intact no matter what form we took. I really did feel bad for the werewolves, who had zero control or memory from the shift.

  I felt the sun on my back as I watched and listened for the stranger to stop his cries of pain before I opened the door to his cage.

  Huddled on the ground before me was a young man with his back to the door. I watched the body of this poor soul as it heaved and wondered if they always puked after their change.

  The young man in front of me had sandy blonde hair which was greasy, and he obviously needed a bath. The smell coming from the container was worse than the puke sitting next to him.

  His naked body slowly turned when I took one step inside. He trembled, and I sensed his fear.

  Did he know what was happening to him?

  “Hello there. Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. I just want to talk to you.” I tried to speak in as soft and calm a voice as I could.

  His body jerked and twisted the rest of the way to see me. Just a fraction of a second before realization hit his eyes, I knew who he was.

  Brad.

  The college kid I saw in Kat’s store last night. He wasn’t an acolyte, but he was working with the vampires somehow.

  “Do you remember me?” I queried.

  “Y…yes. You were in the store. Where am I?” Brad looked around at the walls serving as his prison.

  “I found you on the streets last night in the city. We had to capture you and keep you away from anyone until you changed back.” I narrowed my eyes at him, studying him to see if he would lie or tell me the truth. “Do you know what you are?”

  “Yes, the vampires told me I’m a monster. They normally keep me locked up during the full moon. Honestly, I don’t know how I got out last night.” He looked down at his hands, and when he jerked his head back up to me, he screamed, “Oh! NO! Please tell me I didn’t hurt Mandy!”

  “Is she your girlfriend?”

  “Yes, last thing I remember is leaving the store with her. I don’t know what happened after we left.” Poor thing rubbed his eyes and I noticed moisture pooling at the edges.

  “I don’t know if you harmed anyone last night, and there wasn’t a body near you. Let’s stay hopeful. Maybe she got away before you changed.” If he killed his girlfriend, or worse, bit her, he’d have to be put down.

  He was probably still going to be put down. At least for now, we could keep him safe and decide what to do with him before the next full moon. Maybe there was a way we could work with him to chain him up during the full moon instead of destroying him.

  There was nothing worse than killing a human. I don’t think I could handle killing him with this face. Maybe once he changes again I could do it, but not now.

  I looked back over my shoulder. “Jose, run and get Rico. He’s gonna want to be here for this.”

  “Be right back.” Jose shifted to his wolf form and bolted out of here.

  Brad’s eyes widened, and he pointed. “How…how’d he shift like that? Can I learn to control it like him?”

  Stupid vampires! They didn’t even explain to him what, exactly, he was. I’m sure they didn’t expect him to live long enough once we caught up to him.

  “I hate to be the one to tell you. We aren’t werewolves. We are wolf shifters. You are a werewolf. They are very different species. Our shift has no pain, and it comes from an ancient magic. There are no popping of bones or anything like that. We can shift anytime we want, and we maintain our personalities and memories when in the wolf form.” I stopped to let this sink in for him.

  When Brad nodded his understanding, I continued, “You are an abomination. Something created by dark magic, or witches who had no clue what they were doing.”

  I stopped when his eyes practically bulged out of their sockets.

  “Wait, you mean I will never have control?”

  “What did the vampires tell you?” I sure hope they didn’t lie to him.

  “They said I was powerful, but it would take months to learn control. Once I had shifted enough I could control it and live a normal life again.” His head fell when realization dawned on him. “That’s not going to happen, is it? I’ll be a monster forever won’t I?”

  “I’m afraid so. No werewolf ever learns control. They are all controlled by the moon’s cycle. Once the shift begins you have zero control over yourself. Anyone around is in danger.” I wanted to ask more questions, but I knew I needed to wait for Rico to show up before getting to the good stuff. Besides, he needed to know his fate.

  “What happens now? You chain me up every full moon? Is there any way I can ever live a normal life?” His face fell and tears pooled again in the corners of his eyes.

  “I don’t really know. I think it all depends on what my alpha has to say.” I turned my head when I heard footsteps approach.

  I sensed more than heard Rico approaching us.

  “Damien. I understand you know this guy?” Rico’s hard expression told me he wasn’t happy with this twist.

  “Yes, I met him earlier last night when he was at The Voodoo Doll’s House with his girlfriend. Jenna seemed to be friendly with her.” I turned to look at Brad. “Mandy? Is that her name?”

  Brad sat there quiet as a mouse and just nodded.

  Rico scrubbed his chin full of stubble. Looked like we dragged him out of bed for this. “I’ll call Jenna in a few hours and see if we can’t locate the girl.”

  Nodding, I continued my questioning of the werewolf. “What did the vampires want in return for their help? I would imagine they wanted something from you.”

  “Yes, they told me I could help them defend their king. They said something about a woman who was trying to take the vampire crown away from their king. She was going around and killing innocent people, draining them of blood and creating an army.”

  “I couldn’t sit by and let vampires kill everyone. Especially not Mandy. We were supposed to get married after we graduated from college. She and I have been together since high school. I’ve never loved anyone else. I can’t marry her now, can I?” This time tears did streak down Brad’s face when he realized his situation.

  “Did the vampires make you think you could marry her?” Rico asked.

  “Yes, they told me once I got control of the beast within it would be safe. We could live a normal life and even have kids someda
y. When we were ready. Is it possible?” The hope in the kid’s eyes killed me.

  I wanted to cry along with him. His entire future was gone in the blink of an eye. There was no way he could live a life with Mandy. They certainly couldn’t have kids. Even if it was possible, it would be too dangerous. What if he got out of his chains one night and killed his family? No, he couldn’t marry the girl.

  “Well, they lied. About everything. They are the ones trying to take control away from the rightful vampire queen. She’s been in control for centuries. This vampire who calls himself king, have you seen him?” Rico paced at the opening of the container.

  Brad’s stomach rumbled before he could answer. “Sorry, guess I’m hungry. It’s pretty normal. I usually come out of this with a voracious appetite. Do you have any steaks? For some reason, I always crave rare steak when I wake up.”

  “Sure thing.” I hollered for Luke to get the guy some steak. It was the least we could do before putting him out of his misery.

  Rico took over the questioning. “Do you know where this group of vampires is holding up?”

  “Yes, they’re in an abandoned factory on the edge of town. It’s where I went every night for training.”

  “Training? What were they training you for?” If he was not able to control his shift, why train him to fight?

  “They wanted me to be able to help protect them in case I couldn’t control my shift before the enemy attacked. They were confident we had time. Plus, I had to feed them on a regular basis.” His face turned pink as he said this.

  “Ah, you have experienced an acolyte’s life. Except they let you keep going to school? Why was that?” Rico stopped his pacing and looked at the boy.

  “In exchange for keeping Mandy safe, and training me, they wanted info on students who might be persuaded to join them. College is full of people who hate life. Not all would want to leave school, but enough wanted something more than a boring degree to go with an unfulfilled life.”

  “Did you help them kidnap people?” I couldn’t believe he would do that, plus there weren’t any more reports of missing students.

  “No, these students were invited to parties. They served as feeding bags for the vampires and went back to class the next day. I think when the term was over the vamps were planning to invite a select few to be their new acolytes.” Brad shook his head. He was probably wondering how stupid he really was.

  Those students would become acolytes or else be turned, no matter what they wanted. The vampires were just waiting for the term to end. At least we had until the end of the year before they attacked. They would wait until they had enough numbers on their side before starting the war.

  “The vamps actually learned from the hurricane. When it was discovered how many students were missing, we launched an investigation and found the vampires at fault. Or, at least, most of them. Now they’re going to wait until the students are expected to leave. Smart.” We were going to have to really up our game if we had any chance at stopping them.

  “They told you they were planning to defend against an attack? They never said anything about attacking?” Rico went back to questioning the guy about the vamps plans.

  “Well, they did seem to have a timetable. I thought they just had some inside info or something. The attack is planned for January, or so they said. It could be earlier I guess or even later.” He shrugged.

  “I just overheard them planning for a quiet Christmas, and then all hell was going to break lose. Does this mean they are the ones planning the date to attack? Are you sure? They’ve been really good to me, so far.”

  “Really? They’ve been good to you? Sucking your blood nightly, getting you to involve your classmates in a life or death situation is good?” Rico shook his head. He must have thought Brad was dense, I know I did.

  “When you put it that way, no.” Brad hung his head and sighed.

  “Brad, when did you get bitten? Do you remember coming across a werewolf one full moon?” This was something that had been bugging me since he shifted back. How long had he been going through this?

  “It was right before school started back up. Mandy and I were still home in Kentucky. I just dropped her off after a date. Walking back to my truck, I heard a wolf howl. It was odd, since there weren’t many wolves in our town. So I kept going and got in my truck. I’m not sure how, but it followed me home. When I got out of my truck, it attacked and bit me. Someone stopped it from eating me alive.” Brad’s eyes glossed over like he was in another world.

  I nudged his shoulder and asked, “What happened next?”

  “Oh, um…some stranger grabbed the wolf, who was standing tall on two legs, and dragged it away. I should have offered to help. My shoulder was killing me, so I ran inside and cleaned the wound. Once it healed, I didn’t think much of it.”

  “I’m so stupid. It was a vampire, wasn’t it? Did they do this to me on purpose?” Brad stood up and walked to the back of the container and began to pace within the small confines of his make-shift cell.

  “Don’t think like that. You couldn’t have known. They must have targeted you since you attended UNO.” Poor kid. How could I help him out?

  “When you shifted for the first time, where were you?” Rico seemed a bit cold, or maybe he was just calculating in his questions. Either way, he wasn’t too concerned about the welfare of this poor guy. Which wasn’t like him at all. He hated having to kill werewolves, especially in their human form.

  “It was here, in NOLA. I remember being out on a date with Mandy. I started to get sick and ran to the bathroom. The pain was like nothing I’ve ever experienced. I thought for sure I was going to die. The last thing I remember thinking was how would Mandy get home. I woke up the next day in the middle of vampires.” Brad’s nostrils flared, and he punched the side of the metal container.

  The noise wasn’t too loud, but I knew he was going to have a sore hand after his display of anger.

  “They were most likely watching you. Waiting for you to change before they grabbed you. I bet they told you they stopped you from harming Mandy and helped you out by taking you, right?” I knew I hit the nail on the head when Brad nodded.

  “Then they suggested to keep helping you, and it all just got worse from there?” Rico’s question made me realize how truly bad this situation was.

  The vampires basically controlled the guy. I wondered how many others he has bitten since this happened to him.

  “Do you know if you bit anyone else? Are there more werewolves like you?” I had a bad feeling he was just the tip of the iceberg.

  All color drained from his face. “Yes. The vamp king told me my first month with them I got out, and they found several victims. After that, I didn’t doubt them one bit. Whatever they told me to do, I did. I needed them to keep me locked up on the full moon. There was no way I was going to be responsible for creating any more monsters or even killing anyone.”

  “It’s not your fault. They probably pushed people in your path. Once you shift, it’s all animal instincts until you’re in your human form again. The vamps are to blame for this, not you.” I patted Brad’s shoulder as he folded in on himself.

  I wouldn’t be surprised if the vamps pushed a lot of humans into his cell over the past few months, creating an army of werewolves. While they couldn’t be controlled, if they were let loose on the Big Easy, the city would fold in one night.

  All of the witches, shifters, and even the vampire hunters in town would be fighting the werewolves, trying to save the humans. It would be mass panic and a blood bath. This would keep us all away from the real target, the vampire queen. Rogues would have the ability to attack the vampire coven, and no one would come to help the queen.

  This gave us two, maybe three months to find and destroy all of the werewolves before the vamps could attack.

  “Damien, I want you to take Kat and Jenna to the university to get Mandy and all of her things. Drop by Brad’s dorm and take his stuff as well. We can’t protect them on cam
pus. They will both need to stay here.” Rico motioned for Luke to give him a bag.

  Rico threw the bag inside and Brad caught it. “Put these on and follow me. You need a shower. Then I’ll get you set up somewhere safe here.”

  Brad did as he was told. Then followed behind Rico as we all went back to main building in the center of our compound.

  “Wow, this is a really nice set up. Much better than the vamps. They have power but not TV or video games. Most of them didn’t seem to understand the concept of playing games on a television.” Brad continued to walk around our game room and stopped in front of the pinball machine.

  “No way! You have a Red Alert pinball machine? How’d you get this? I thought there were only two left outside of museums?” The smile on Brad’s face was priceless.

  Since I opened the door to his cell this morning, all I saw on his face was fear, pain, and agony. It was nice to be able to put a smile on such a sad face.

  “My dad bought it when it was only about ten years old. It’s been here ever since. We take good care of our games. Come on, I’ll show you where the communal showers are.” Rico waved a hand in front of his face while he led Brad down the hall.

  “I’ll be back later, Rico.” I yelled to his back before turning to leave.

  It was going to be a tough day. A gentleman never showed up unannounced on a lady’s doorstep so early in the morning. It’s a good thing we’ve done this before. I hoped Kat got a good night’s sleep.

  13

  Kat

  “Calm down! I’m coming, I’m coming.” Geesh, you’d think the world was ending the way some idiot was knocking on my door at only seven something in the morning.

  At least, I think it was seven something. I still had sleep in my eyes, and I was attempting to wipe it all away before I opened the door and killed whoever stood on the other side.

  It certainly wasn’t what I was expecting. I thought maybe a salesman was at the door. Last time Damien came over this early he almost got a fist in his face. He probably deserved it this time too.