by Cate Farren
Something crashed outside. Alanna and Valko both tensed.
“What the hell was that?” Valko asked, rushing for the window.
Did that werewolf follow me back? Are we in danger?
Alanna crept for the front door, and checked the locks. She pushed Valko aside so that she could peer through the window. Through the frosty glass she could see that the boughs of a nearby tree had collapsed from the weight of the snow. She explained this to Valko.
“It sounded like an avalanche,” he said, clearly rattled.
“Don’t worry,” she said. “If there’s an avalanche, you’ll know it.”
She closed the curtains, which blocked the view outside. She felt uneasy, like a metaphorical storm was on the way.
Chapter 9
As Alanna led him into the barn, all Valko could think about was their almost kiss and the way that she’d touched his beard. She was obviously fighting very hard not to give in to temptation. He understood. She was lonely and didn’t want to be hurt.
And when I’m healed, I’m leaving. I’ll probably never see her again.
The thought of never seeing her again actually pained him. Not only had she saved his life, she’d come to mean a lot to him. Her secrets annoyed the shit out of him, but he could cope with that. He didn’t think he could cope without her in his life.
Maybe I’m just developing feelings for her because she saved me life and nursed me. It’s called Florence Nightingale syndrome, or something like that.
He told himself that must be the case. He didn’t have real feelings for her. He only thought he did.
“This is Bella,” Alanna introduced.
The cow appeared to smile at him. She came up to Alanna, rubbing her large nose against her arm like a cat marking its scent. If the poor animal didn’t have those wicked looking scars on her neck, he’d find it adorable.
“Who am I to reprimand you?” he said as he stroked Bella. “As long as you’re not running around massacring humans…”
“I was once tempted,” she admitted darkly. She looked at him, her hand idly stroking the soft fur on top of the cow’s head. “When I was exiled from my town, all I felt was rage. I wanted to kill them all. I wanted to bathe in their blood.”
He could see violent lust creeping upon her face, her teeth slowly elongating, her eyes burning bright crimson. He didn’t back away. She’d never hurt him.
She shook her head, the blood lust fading. “But I got over it. It took me a long time, but I got over it.”
Valko had this overwhelming urge to hug her, to press his warmth against her body. He knew she hadn’t been hugged in a long time.
She picked up her bucket and tube. He watched with disgust and fascination as she bit into Bella’s neck. The cow thrashed a little, but Alanna stroked her soothingly and told the animal she loved her and that she would never hurt her. She inserted the end of the tube into the vein and allowed the blood to drip slowly into the bucket.
“She’s fine,” said Alanna, and gave Bella a kiss on the head, her hand still stroking her gently. The cow was content, almost purring. “Aren’t you, my darling?”
When the bucket was half full, Alanna pulled out the tube and wiped away any excess blood with a towel. The cow walked away and began drinking water from a small wooden trough.
“She’s over fifty years old,” Alanna revealed.
Valko nearly choked. “Are you kidding me?”
“No,” she said, obviously enjoying his amazement. “It’s my cadou. I can… give extended life to living things.”
Every vampire had a special ability, or a cadou. Some could read minds or turn into bats or control the weather, though most vampires mainly had mundane mind abilities. Only Dracula himself possessed a plethora of special abilities, mainly due to his advanced age, though his children were rumored to have multiple abilities of their own.
“That’s quite a powerful ability,” he said, impressed. “I’ve never heard of anything like it, even among vampires.”
“I’m unique,” she said.
“Who sired you?”
She looked uncomfortable for a moment. “It doesn’t matter who sired me. Bella has been with me for a long time. She’s my best friend.” She stared at the cow sadly before continuing, “She doesn’t have long left. I can’t make anything live forever.”
He thought about his great-great-grandfather. The man had died when Valko was only ten, but at the time he’d seemed a robust and healthy man when the cancer took him, even though he must’ve been over a hundred years old. Had she used her cadou on him?
Do I ask her, or is it a personal thing between just the two of them?
“Have you used your ability on me?” he asked.
She seemed highly offended. “No! I’d never do that without your consent. What kind of person do you take me for?”
“But if I asked…”
She drank some of the blood, wincing with distaste as she did so. He’d never considered that blood from different animals had different tastes. He’d just assumed all blood would taste the same.
She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “I could probably extend your life by about double. Werewolves live a little longer than normal humans anyway, due to their advanced healing powers. With my help you could live to two-hundred.”
The concept was difficult to comprehend. What could he do during that time? He could see humans go to Mars and live on the moon; cure cancer; see new cancers invade. He could see so much. A few weeks ago, he would’ve been alive with possibilities. Now he felt hollow.
“What are you thinking about?” she asked him. She placed the bucket back where it was. It was empty now. She’d drank a couple of liters of blood in less than a minute. “Talk to me.”
“I need to know,” he said.
“You’ll have to be more specific.”
By the scared look in her eyes she knew what he was talking about.
“I need to know whether my family are alive,” he stated.
“If you go there, they’ll smell you and they’ll kill you. You’re one person, and one that isn’t fully healed yet. Don’t go and throw your life away on a suicide mission.”
He growled. He wanted to hit something. More than anything, he wanted to change into a wolf and run and run until his legs gave out.
“I have to know!” he shouted. He scared her with his fury, but didn’t really care at the moment. “It’s driving me insane.”
She stared hard at him for a moment before saying, “Fine. I’ll go.”
“This wasn’t my intention,” he told her.
“Let me do this.”
He was about to agree when a whiff of something dangerous and familiar hit him like a punch to the face. He tensed, and noticed Alanna had felt something too.
“What is it?” she asked. She searched the barn with her eyes.
Valko growled. “Coy.”
The doors from the outside exploded inwards. Valko’s father’s best friend, his godfather, came crashing in, his full wolf form snarling at the two of them. For the first time in his life, Valko felt afraid.
Chapter 10
Coy’s wolf form was huge, almost the size of his own. His fur was a mottle grey, ageing but distinguished with a distinct lack of battle scars. His snout took a sniff of the cow before he padded along the ground, and stepped over what was left of the barn door.
“What are you doing here, Coy?” Valko demanded with his hands out. “How did you find me?”
“I saw him in town,” Alanna confessed. “He must have followed me home. Sorry.”
He gave her a filthy look before he tried to turn into his wolf form. At the moment, all Coy was doing was sizing him up, waiting for the perfect opportunity to go for this throat. He hoped Alanna could keep him busy while he summoned the wolf.
Come on, wolf! I need you!
It was almost the full moon. His wolf form was more powerful then, brimming with primal urges. He would even be able to commune with hi
s ancestors if he wished. All he wanted was to change.
Concentrate!
Coy came forward, growling, his sharp canines dripping with saliva. As Valko concentrated, furiously calling forth the wolf, Alanna pounced on their enemy.
The wolf screamed as she tried to bit his neck. He knocked her aside with his powerful paws and snapped his jaw at her, and tried to catch her arm in its mouth. She kicked the animal in the face and he yelped and spat blood out all over the barn floor.
“Hurry up!” Alanna shouted.
Valko couldn’t summon the wolf. Alanna was right. He was either having severe psychological problems, or his healing hadn’t finished, or maybe it was a brutal combination of both of them. Either way, he wasn’t going to change into a wolf today.
I’m still strong as a human, though.
Valko screamed and grabbed the piece of hose that Alanna had used to pump blood from the cow. He charged at the wolf, jumped on his back, and wrapped the thick coil of rubber around Coy’s neck. He squeezed, hard.
“You piece of shit!” Valko cried. He grinned, enjoying taking the life of this man. “Treacherous piece of scum.”
Coy had been family to him, and he’d betrayed them all. Nothing would give Valko greater pleasure than to take this traitor’s life.
Coy fell to the floor, and used one paw to lash out at Valko’s leg. Valko roared in pain and let go, just as the wolf untangled himself from the hose and pounced on him.
“Are you just going to kill me? Valko demanded.
Coy stared into him with deep, mournful eyes. He could see the man who’d been there all his life looking back at him.
“You have me at your mercy!” Valko shouted. “Go on! Kill me!”
The wolf seemed hesitant, even though all he had to do was bite down and end Valko’s life.
He doesn’t want to kill me.
Alanna whacked the wolf over the head with a shovel. Coy crashed onto the floor.
“Is he dead?” she asked.
Valko shook his head. “I can still hear him breathing.”
“Damn,” she said. “So can I.”
He got up, and ignored the deep gouges on his ankle that Coy’s claws had made. It didn’t pain him, not as much as the fact that his godfather had tried to kill him had.
Valko kicked the unconscious wolf in the stomach, wanting to snuff out Coy’s life. The old wolf deserved it, and more.
“You don’t have to go,” he said. “We can learn what we want from him.”
“Do you think he’ll talk to you?” asked Alanna.
Valko kicked the wolf again. “He will when I’ve finished with him.”
***
Valko threw a bucket of snow, partly melted, over Coy’s head. The old man jolted awake with a cry, and shivered from the cold. Valko slapped him across the face with the back of his hand, just to make sure he was totally conscious.
His old friend looked tired. Really tired. Coy seemed to have aged a decade since the last time he’d seen him, the night he’d betrayed everyone. Was it guilt, or was his many new duties taking its toll on the old man? Either way Valko didn’t care, or tried to tell himself that he didn’t care.
You were my family, and you destroyed everything.
“Coy, you look terrible,” he said emotionlessly.
How could you do this, you bastard…
Coy looked up, eyes squinting from the bruises that were forming. “I thought you were dead.” He coughed, and spat up blood all over his shirt – a shirt that Valko had bought him for his sixtieth birthday. “How did you survive?”
“Beats me,” said Valko. “Maybe the wolf in me didn’t want to go just yet.”
How could you do this to your best friend…
Coy gave a pained smile. “You’ve healed good. I’m actually glad.”
He wasn’t even straining against his bonds: a thick rope that was tied too tight, and obviously caused him pain. Did he not want to escape? Or did he fear Rian’s wrath at his failure to complete his mission?
Valko brought his face up close to Coy’s. He knew how to intimidate people. You didn’t grow up as a wolf, one with a great height and strength, and not know how to make people scared of you, even if you didn’t particularly like confrontations.
“Not glad enough to track me down like a dog and try to kill me,” Valko spat. “That’s so nice of you.”
Coy turned away. “I had to do it.”
Valko grabbed his enemy’s face, and twisted it around to face him. “Is someone holding your family at gunpoint? Are you being blackmailed?”
“No.”
“Then you didn’t have to do shit.”
The hot, pulsing anger boiled through him again. He thought of his sister’s pained cries, the panicked voices of his parents, and the sense of pure, horrific betrayal. He punched Coy in the face over and over again. It was savage. It was deserved. It was glorious.
When he saw his fingers transforming into hairy claws, he pulled back. The wolf was coming out. If he wasn’t careful, he’d murder Coy in cold blood. He didn’t have the information he needed just yet.
And what then? Would I turn into a wolf and kill him?
He pushed aside the wolf, which faded quickly. It was just a gut reaction to his rage. He knew it wasn’t changing, not fully. He wasn’t ready yet.
He took a deep breath to calm himself. Most weres, or shifters, had to learn to control their animal selves, usually through breathing exercises or meditation. Turning into a wolf at the bank because the manager refused you a loan would end badly for everyone.
Breathe in…
Breathe out…
“I find yoga helps,” Coy whispered. His face was a mangled, bloody mess. His grey hair was going pink from the dried up blood. “I tried to teach it you.”
Valko stared daggers at Coy, who looked down at his knees, shamefaced.
He should be shamefaced. I hope our ancestors are haunting your dreams and making you terrified to sleep, old man.
Valko kneeled down in front of him. He placed his hands on Coy’s knees, and pressed down hard. “Is my family still alive?”
“You don’t want to know,” said Coy.
He pressed down harder, which elicited a moan of pain from the old man. Valko tried to remain calm as he inflicted this torture upon his former friend. It wouldn’t do him any good to think of all the good times.
Valko said, “I know my sister’s dead. I know most of the people who work for us are most likely dead, taken down during the coup. But what about my parents? What about the people loyal to my family?”
“Your parents are alive,” Coy said.
“I don’t believe you.”
“Some loyal to your family ran. Others joined with Rian. The rest…”
“You butchered them. You butchered members of your own pack. You filthy sack of shit.”
Valko restrained from hitting him again. Coy may have the advanced healing of a wolf, but he was still an old man. He could beat him the elderly werewolf to death without even trying.
“Why did you do it?” Valko demanded as he stood up and started to pace. He felt confused and weak. “Why did you help Rian?”
“It was time for a change,” Coy replied, though he didn’t sound too sure of his answer. “Your family have been lording it up over the rest of us for too long.”
Now Valko was confused. “Lording it up? Since when have we ever done that? No. We never thought ourselves better than the other wolves. Never. You know that. You grew up with my parents. This is about something else, at least for you. Rian was always jealous of my status, but I ignored it because we were friends. I thought he could look past it out of respect for our bond as friends, brothers. But I was wrong.”
Valko thought that he and Rian could work past anything. They were bond brothers. They’d done everything together since they were toddlers. They’d gone on their first hunt as wolves together. They’d gone through the ups and downs of adolescence. They’d even gone to Vietnam toget
her, fighting side by side, even if their tour of duty had only been six months before the end of the war. Heck, their first kiss was with the same girl at school. Women and footballs teams, wars and family members, would come and go, but they’d had a pact. They promised to be blood brothers, to be best friends, forever.
Had it all been a lie? Had Rian only pretended to be his friend? He knew Rian had sometimes shown that he was a little resentful of Valko’s family’s alpha status, but he assumed they’d worked past it. Had all their nights out drinking and hunting and looking for women in bars merely been a pretense? Had Rian been waiting for an opportunity to stick a knife in his back all along?
“Rian was always a seething mass of jealousy,” said Coy, which interrupted Valko’s thoughts. “He just gave the rest of us something to fight for.”
“Why did you do it?” Valko asked.
“Like I said…”
Valko sighed with frustration. “I want the real reason. You’re my family. My godfather. I love you like an uncle. I deserve the truth.”
What appeared to be panic settled on Coy’s face.
“I can’t tell you,” the older werewolf cried. “I…I just can’t tell you.”
Valko was starting to lose patience again. He would love nothing better than to tear this man to shreds and roll in his blood. He’d feel guilty about it afterwards, but that would fade.
The man is a traitor. He doesn’t deserve my guilt.
Yet it was true. Traitor or not, Valko would hate himself if he killed Coy in cold blood.
“Perhaps my friend can make you talk,” said Valko. He grinned wickedly, and made sure that Coy saw the cunning sneer on his face. “Come on in, Alanna. Time to feed. Drain him dry.”
“Please, stop!” Coy protested. He was actively struggling against his bonds now, terrified. “I love him!”
“Love who?” Valko asked.
“Your father. I love him.”
This wasn’t quite the answer he was looking for. It made no sense.
“I know you do,” said Valko. “You’re like brothers. He loves you too, which is why I find it hard to…”
Coy shook his head. “No. You don’t understand. I love him. Not like a brother, but…”