by Cate Farren
I’m really sorry about this, Valko, but if I don’t kill, then I’m going to die myself. I hope you can forgive me.
“Right,” she said as she marched over to the gun cabinet. She yanked open the lock with her hand, opened the door, and pulled out a shotgun. She loaded it and shoved plenty more pellets into her pockets. “Hmm. A Browning Auto-5 semi-automatic shotgun. I love these.” She locked four pellets in the cartridge, one in the chamber. This lethal baby would make a real mess of anyone who messed with her. “This is what we’re going to do; we’re going to give them the option of fleeing, or we’re going to blow their fucking heads off.”
“Valko said no killing,” Coy reminded her.
“It’s either them or us,” she stated. “Valko would understand.”
If he’s still alive.
She shook her head. Even thinking about Valko being dead made her angry and blood hungry and vengeful.
All that blood, ready to devour, ready to be mine…
“Protect yourself,” she ordered Coy. “Please. You’re doing yourself no favors here.”
Coy sighed and picked up another Browning, almost identical to hers. He loaded it up quickly, efficiently. He definitely knew how to use it. She grimaced as he pointed the muzzle towards the door.
“Are you ready?” she asked him.
He nodded. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
The entryway cut into the door by the chainsaw fell to the ground amid a whirlwind of dust. Growling wolves shoved their way through, fighting each other for the first to draw blood, slipping and sliding over the piles of splinters and ash. They stopped when they saw the two shotguns aimed at them.
“Go back now or you’re dead,” Alanna warned them.
The five wolves growled malevolently, but they stayed still.
“I know it may have seemed a good idea at the time,” she told them, gun still pointed forward. “But you betrayed the Green family. You have to know that that was wrong, no matter what Rian told you. The Green family protected you. They helped you. You were family.”
The five wolves turned to look at each other. Some looked guilty, and whined pathetically to prove it. One of them, a huge creamy white wolf with large shaggy paw, growled and pounced.
Alanna blew its head off with the shotgun. Brain matter, splinters of bone and blood-soaked fur sprayed across the floor, and covered the cowering wolves. They skidded on the offal and ran, terrified.
She lowered her shotgun, surprised she’d actually shot the wolf. She hadn’t wanted to. It had been him or her.
“You actually did it,” said Coy, surprised.
Alanna turned away from the carnage. “I had to. Damn it, I had to.”
“It’s okay. He was going to kill you. Valko will understand.”
She ignored his words, not sure what to believe. She didn’t know who this werewolf was. He could’ve been Valko’s friend, or a friend of the family, or just someone he nodded to on the street.
Please forgive me.
They were about to leave when shadows darkened the doorway. It was people. She didn’t recognize them, but by the way Coy turned his nose up, she had a feeling that they were the werewolves that had just attacked them.
“Take one more step,” she threatened.
One of them, a man in his late thirties, said, “Please. We mean you no harm. Not any more.”
“Where are the others?” Coy demanded.
“We went along with Rian to stop the bloodshed,” the man protested. He looked so guilty that Alanna believed his every word. “We didn’t want to betray the Greens. You have to believe us.”
Alanna did believe him. It didn’t take away the fact that they’d betrayed everything that they held dear, but it was a start. Perhaps they could make amends?
“Follow me,” she commanded. “We’re going to find the Green elders and end this.”
The man looked at the others surreptitiously. Something was wrong.
“What’s happened?” Coy demanded.
The man said, “The Greens were executed in secret yesterday morning. They’re both dead.”
***
“Wake up, son! Wake up!”
Valko pulled himself awake. He could have sworn he hadn’t been dreaming.
I really did hear Dad’s voice. Right?
He was hanging upside down from a ceiling beam in the attic of the main house. His legs were manacled together, as were his hands. He’d been stripped shirtless, his torso sweating with the strain. He tried to pull against his bonds, but they were far too tight.
Rian knew how to tie a good knot. My father taught him that.
“How was the sleep?” Rian asked.
Valko looked around as best he could. Sitting between boxes of Christmas tree decorations, old clothes, and chests full of letters was Rian. He grinned wickedly, crossing his legs, acting as if he was king of the world. His smugness was sickening.
“What did you do to my sister?” Valko demanded.
He could smell her scent. She was in the room somewhere, though he couldn’t see her. She was probably too ashamed to face him.
“He didn’t do anything to me,” said Vasilka. “All he did was love me.”
“You… you helped him,” Valko said. His voice trembled. The truth made him feel ill. “You helped him take over.”
He heard Vasilka walking about, pacing. She still refused to enter his line of sight.
“I knew what he was planning, but I loved him,” Vasilka explained. “We even married in secret! If it wasn’t for me, everything would have been so much bloodier. I tempered him.”
“People died!” Valko roared. “I nearly died!”
“And I saved you,” she reminded him.
Rian stood up and walked over to Valko. His former friend smiled down at him.
“Vasilka and I are the new alphas,” Rian explained.
Valko laughed. “You’re about as much an alpha as she is an honorable woman.”
Rian slapped him.
“Your sister risked everything to make sure you stayed alive, to make sure that your parents stayed alive!” Rian shouted. He smiled across the room to where Valko presumed Vasilka was standing. “She’s my love. She’s my everything. We are the new alphas. You have to accept that.”
“And you’re just going to keep me locked up?” Valko asked. “Keep me locked up like a crazed animal for the rest of my life?”
Vasilka swept into view, and took Valko’s hand. The sight of him touching her was sickening.
“I can’t see you dead,” Vasilka insisted. “It will be hard to get used to being a prisoner but it’s the best thing for you. I hope you understand that.”
The two of them kissed. Valko twisted and turned, straining to break free and strangle the both of them.
No, not Vasilka…
He didn’t know what to do with Vasilka. The time for that would come later. All he knew now was he had to kill Rian. It was the only way to get his family and his pack back. Before that, though, there were some facts he needed to know. Maybe the answers would shatter him, just as Vasilka’s had done, but he preferred the truth.
“Were you ever my friend?” Valko asked.
Something flickered in Rian’s eyes. “Yes. You were my blood brother.”
“This is not something you do to a blood brother. Was it because my father exiled your father? Is this about revenge?”
“My father was a piece of garbage. He deserved everything that was coming to him. Drowning in his own vomit was too clean a death for filth like that. But he was right about one thing: our family deserved more. He was too weak to take what he deserved, but I wasn’t.” Rian shook his head regretfully. “I’m only sad that I had to hurt you. We were blood brothers. I hated it. I really hated it. But you had to die.”
Valko hated to admit it, but he believed him. It didn’t mean much, not after everything that had happened, but it made him cherish all the good times that they’d had a little bit more.
“I want
to see my parents,” Valko demanded.
“You can’t do that,” said Vasilka sadly.
He could tell by the pained expression on her face that something terrible had happened. He turned away, refusing to focus on it.
No…
“They tried to escape,” said Vasilka. Her words were hollow. “Rian had no choice but to kill them.”
No…
“Valko, you have to believe me,” Vasilka begged. “We had no choice.”
He screamed his rage and grief, and pulled at the ceiling beam with all his might. The wood cracked, started to split in two. He tugged at it with such titanic strength, fuelled by hate and betrayal, that the ceiling itself started to tremble.
Vasilka stepped back, scared. “Rian…”
“Go,” he ordered her. “I’ll handle this.”
“Don’t kill him. Don’t…”
He grabbed her head, and brought her face close to his. She was weeping.
“It’s either him or us,” said Rian. “You know I love Valko like a brother. It’s just…”
She nodded. “Just… make it quick.”
Valko yelled as Vasilka walked away. Rian turned back to him, ready to kill him, just as the beam broke with a groaning, wrenching snap.
Free at last!
Valko landed on his back just as Rian reached him. He flipped onto his feet, fists ready, before he realized that he didn’t need to rely on his human instincts any more. He could change into a wolf.
I’d been without it for so long I stopped relying on it.
“You can’t beat me,” said Rian. “I’ve brought your family down. I’ve ruined you.”
Valko shook his head. “Not yet you haven’t.”
Valko strained for the wolf inside him. He connected with it easily, reached for that animal part of him that had been blocked for so many days.
I feel you now. Come to me.
The change was instantaneous, though painful. He leaped upon Rian’s human body instantly, dragged him to the floor, wrapped his mouth around his mortal enemy’s throat. He could change into a wolf, but it wouldn’t do Rian any good. He was still at Valko’s mercy either way.
And it feels so good to have hold of him like this.
“You kill me and your sister will never forgive you!” Rian shouted.
He wasn’t struggling. He was counting on Valko not having the guts to kill his childhood friend, his brother, the man who his sister loved more than her own flesh and blood.
“Please, Valko, you’re my brother,” sobbed Rian.
Valko bit down hard, shredded the carotid artery. His teeth ripped into Rian’s throat down to the spine. He spun around, tore the head off the body, and blood flowed all over and splashed onto his fur.
He dumped the head several feet away from the rest of the body. He stared down at what he’d done, scenes of their boyhood adventures replaying over and over in his head.
You will always be my brother, Rian, and I will always hate myself that it had to come to this –but I won’t for a single moment regret killing you.
He changed back into his human form just as Vasilka appeared in the doorway. She screamed in grief, a wail so loud and rending, it tore at his heart.
“You didn’t have to do that to him,” she spat.
He turned to his beloved sister with venom. The words that were about to come out of his mouth would haunt him forever. But she had to pay for her treachery. He had to show the rest of the tribe, as well as to the supernatural world at large and in Chapel Green, that she couldn’t get away with her murderous actions.
This is going to hurt me a lot more than it hurts you.
“As the new head of the werewolves of Chapel Green I hereby exile you,” he announced stoically.
She shook her head, disbelieving. “No. No.”
“You brought this on yourself,” he said angrily. “You teamed up with that piece of scum. You betrayed the family, and the tribe, and every supernatural person in this town.”
She screamed and threw herself at him, changing into a wolf as she did so. She was about to collide with him when Alanna charged in, and put herself between them. The vampire fanged out and punched the wolf in the face. Vasilka went straight into the fallen ceiling beam.
Vasilka looked up as she faded back into a human. She seemed to be half unconscious.
“You can’t do this to me,” she begged. “Please.”
Valko walked up to her and helped his sister to his feet. She smiled, obviously thinking that he had taken pity on her.
“You can take exile from me, or you can take exile from the council,” he told her, his tone straight. “But do you want the embarrassment of a trial in front of every supernatural being in Chapel Green?”
She tried to slap him, but he grabbed her wrist and twisted it. He would love nothing better than to break her neck for the vile things that she’d done. Yet she was still his little sister. He could never kill her, not like this.
“But if you ever come back, or if you do anything to this family or this town ever again…” He squeezed her wrist, hard. He heard several bones splinter, though he didn’t press hard enough to break any. “I will kill you. Do you understand?”
“I understand that Rian was right to take over.” She spat in his face and laughed. “Our family is weak. You’re weak.” She looked over at Alanna, and at Coy, who was standing by the door. “If you let me go I won’t come back, but I will find a way destroy you all for this. That’s a promise from me, Rian and our baby.”
Valko thought she was being dramatic at first, but he thought himself a fool for not noticing sooner. The reason she’s smelled different was because she was carrying another life inside her. It had mixed up the way her scent was presented.
She’s carrying Rian’s child…
“We have to kill her,” Coy announced. “She’s too much of a threat.”
He looked towards Alanna, who said, “He’s right, but… but she’s pregnant. You have to exile her.”
Valko wasn’t torn over what to do. He could never murder his sister, no matter what she did. There was only one choice.
“Go,” Valko ordered. “Leave town now.”
“I need to get my things,” she protested.
He shook his head. “Go now before I decide to ignore my own orders and take you down.”
He let go of her. She caressed her aching wrist and shot him a lethal look before heading for the door. She stopped and turned back to survey them all.
“One day we’ll see you all dead,” she promised.
***
Alanna cursed herself for her stupidity as the car drove away. Three other werewolves had gone with Vasilka. Some of the others had debated going, but were too content with where they lived now. She suspected that they might be trouble in the future.
“Do you think she means what she said?” Alanna asked.
Valko stood by her, arms around her shoulders. It was snowing again, adding another layer to what was already there. Several wolf corpses were still in the snow, their blood turning the ground around them red. It was an odd, though beautiful, scene.
“She has my family tenacity, and she has the ferocity of a woman who’s been scorned,” said Valko. He sighed. “We’re going to have to watch out for her one day. She’ll be back.”
“Will you be able to kill her then?”
He nodded, though she didn’t believe him. Valko was too good of a person to kill his sister, no matter what atrocious acts that she’d committed.
I’ll just have to kill her myself when she returns.
She was about to suggest they go and find his parents when she saw Adrian exiting the house. Alanna ran to him, and pulled him into a hug.
“You did great,” she declared. “You’re a real witch now.”
Adrian blushed. “It was hard work. It exhausted me. I think I’m ready to go back into retirement.”
Valko clapped him on the shoulder. “You’re an honorary member of this clan now. You�
��re welcome any time.”
They stood around talking for a while before Adrian headed inside to call his family. He’d lied to them, telling them he’d gone on a road trip to Graceland, to see where his idol, Elvis Presley, had once lived.
She looked around the grounds. The Green estate was large, but it was perfect. She liked it. It felt homely.
Valko sniffed the air. He seemed tense.
“What is it?” she asked. “Is Vasilka coming back?”
“No,” he said grimly. “I can smell demon.”
***
The sheriff’s patrol car pulled to a stop in front of the house. Valko waited with Alanna by the porch, and nervously tapped his fingers against his leg. He was angry. The local council should’ve sent somebody up here long ago.
The door to the car opened and an elderly Hispanic woman climbed out. She looked gloomily around the estate, and noted the dead bodies. She was Carla, the vampire representative of the Chapel Green supernatural town council.
“What happened here?” she asked.
Valko stalked up to her, furious. “Something which the council could have rectified weeks ago if…”
Carla cut him off by shaking her head. “We couldn’t put the lives of Leonard and Sarah in jeopardy. But we were working on a plan, I promise you.”
There was someone else sitting in the car, a young boy of about eight or nine. He was staring intently at them, observing. He freaked Valko out because that was no ordinary boy.
“My parents are dead,” he informed Carla bitterly.
Carla shook her head. “No.”
“Looks like your plans were too late.”
Carla turned away, processing her grief. Valko felt like shit for being angry with her, but at the moment, he didn’t care. The council had been slow and neglectful.
The boy got out of the car and walked up to them. He looked like any normal boy, with an innocent face, black hair and a pair of sneakers that were double knotted. He was anything but normal. He was called Gable Trent, and he was the world’s only remaining Prime Demon.