Becoming the Enigma (The Loup-Garou Series Book 2)

by Sheritta Bitikofer

  Katey snapped out of the trance and wiped her lips against the back of her arm in repulsion. She glared after him, willing to hate him for such an invasion of her privacy and free will.

  “I’ll send Helga up with you if she’s not the main course tonight,” Martel called across the foyer as he disappeared into the dining hall without a second look back at her.

  His words made Katey stop and turn. “She wouldn’t...” Katey mumbled as she raised her hand to her throat, hoping Helga’s blood wasn’t what she smelled wafting from the hall.

  25

  She heard the soft tap of footsteps coming down the hallway from the foyer and looked to see Helga. The maid was safe and all her blood still in her body. Her eyes were swollen red and downcast as if she had been crying for hours.

  Katey held out her hand for her to follow quickly. Helga obeyed and ran as fast as her little black loafers could carry her, holding back the urge to sniffle and whimper.

  Katey grabbed her hand and almost dragged her upstairs. When they had finally dodged into the room she had awoken in earlier, poor Helga burst into sobs, tears rolling down her face once more.

  “Helga, what’s wrong?” Katey asked, placing her hands on the girl’s shuddering shoulders.

  “It’s just terrible, miss! Now I really have no one!” she cried, covering her babyface in her hands as she wept.

  “What do you mean? What happened?”

  Helga flung her arms out and wrapped them around Katey’s waist, crying even harder. “They’ve killed my uncle!”

  It took a minute for Katey to understand, and then she bowed her head and returned Helga’s embrace. She patted Helga’s convulsing back and tried to hush her sobs. She didn’t even care if Helga’s tears and snot stained the fur shawl around her shoulders.

  Katey had never been one to get along with kids younger than herself. She often found them too bratty and immature to carry on a conversation but Helga was different. They were orphans together and the wolf within her wanted to console the girl.

  Such eagerness to defend those weaker than her, made Katey open up and accept the child as if she were a younger sibling, or even one of her own pack. There was no reason for such protective impulses or possessiveness, but she couldn’t ignore what her wolf wanted her to do.

  Even though this girl didn’t know what Katey was, she trusted her enough to express herself so freely. Katey had to do something for her; she just didn’t know what. She stroked her pretty dark braids until the girl began to calm down. Helga pulled back to look up into Katey’s empathetic eyes.

  “I’m sorry, miss... He was all I had,” she whimpered as Katey could hear more sobs threatening to bubble up from her heaving chest.

  Helga’s tears held the last shred of her childhood. The girl was alone now, with no family or friends to help her continue in life. She had to grow up quickly, just like Katey did, to cope with her new situation, and heaven knew it wouldn’t be easy.

  “I know, I know. It’ll all be okay,” Katey said softly as she pulled out the handkerchief she spotted hanging from the girl’s pocket. It had been used many times, judging by how worn the fabric looked. Helga used it to wipe away the tears from her eyes and she blew her nose rather loudly.

  “You’ve been so kind to me, miss. Is there anything I could do for you while I’m here?” she asked as she straightened out her wrinkled skirt and stuffed her hanky away.

  Katey told her that she would first like to get out of the dress and into something a little more comfortable. Helga nodded and moved over to the wardrobe to pull out a white nightgown and robe from one of the drawers. Katey struggled to twist her arms around her back to pluck at the ties that kept her corset in place until the maid came to assist her.

  The nightgown she donned in place of the evening dress was soft and silky. The modest cut of the fabric and ruffles reminded her of the gowns worn by the ladies from the old civil war days, the kind that had lace around the cuffs and collar. She completed the ensemble by wrapping the robe tightly around her body and kicked off the treacherous heels.

  “I’d like you to help me with something very important,” Katey asked, her quick mind hard at work and developing a new plan. “Can you show me where the kitchen is?”

  Helga nodded and led her out the door, down a few twisting and turning halls, passing by several other vampires who were on their way to the dining hall, giggling and laughing like drunkards. They took no notice of the two humans, two high from their meal to care.

  Soon enough they came to a darker hallway with a humble wooden door with no carvings or ornamentation like the others. “The guests of the castle don’t use this kitchen, but the servants do. This is our kitchen. It has real food. They use another kitchen that has refrigerators with blood bags hanging in them.” Helga opened the door to a primitive style kitchen and dining area.

  In the middle of the room was a chipped and scarred wooden table with half a dozen rickety chairs pushed underneath it. The counters along the wall were clean, but aged by the pitted grooves and many stains from past spills. Some of the cabinet doors were either missing or hanging by a single hinge. The wooden floor planks weren’t polished and smooth like one might expect, but rough and uneven. As they made their way through, the boards creaked and popped under their weight.

  Despite the medieval accommodations, Katey spotted a few modern appliances like a coffee maker, toaster, and microwave that looked as if they should have been retired a decade or two ago. A refrigerator sat in the far corner and seemed to be the newest appliance in the room, with a shiny stainless steel finish on the two massive doors. The oven underneath a section of the counter looked to be half a century old, if not more, and required gas to heat.

  Katey immediately went to the fridge and peaked inside. She saw a few packages of meager lunchmeat portions, cheese, eggs, some vegetables and bread loafs, but nothing substantial for a loup-garou to eat.

  “Do you have anything meatier like a whole chicken or ham or lamb legs or something?” she asked Helga who stood patiently in the doorway.

  She tilted her head at the question. “We might have a chicken in the freezer, miss. But the lords don’t provide us with much food.”

  “Frozen is better than nothing,” Katey muttered, opening the door to the freezer. Sure enough there was fat frozen chicken sitting on the middle shelf, wrapped in plastic like it had just come from the store. “Will you be using this?” Katey pointed to the chicken.

  “That’s a question for the cook. I wouldn’t think we would and the lords sure wouldn’t be using it, so I don’t think anyone will miss it.”

  “I’ll pay you back for this, I promise,” Katey said as she took the chicken out of the freezer and fiddled with the oven settings.

  “Miss, what are you doing?”

  “Don’t tell anyone,” she replied as she rummaged through the cupboards to find a dish to set the chicken in. “I’m going to feed the loups-garous.”

  “They were just fed this past evening, miss. Ralph took a bucket of raw beef down to them.”

  Katey shook her head in dismay, knowing there were over a hundred loups-garous down in the cellar who needed a bigger meal than the small portion they must have been given. “That’s not near enough for them to survive on. This chicken may not be near enough to fill them, but it’s better than nothing.”

  As Katey slid the chicken into the preheating oven, Helga hurriedly walked across the kitchen and pushed on a small stone in the wall that blended in with the other stones seamlessly. Like a scene from a mystery movie, a hidden door swung outwards into the kitchen. A florescent light flickered to life inside and Helga disappeared into it. Katey’s senses went wild as she detected the hint of red meat that drifted out from the room.

  The maid returned with a five-gallon bucket full of raw meat. Katey wanted to kiss the girl as she waddled over carrying the bucket in her two little hands.

  “Will this help, miss?” she asked with a big smile.

  �
��Yes, it will help tons! How much more is left in there?” Katey motioned to the secret storeroom as she took the bucket.

  “At least three more buckets worth,” she replied proudly.

  But, how much would the pack need between now and when they finally escaped? It wasn’t near enough to sustain them efficiently, if Katey couldn’t come up with a plan quick enough. Some may even lose themselves in the hunger before they had a chance to flee.

  Katey leaned against the counter and thought hard. The three buckets would feed them for just one day, one bucket per meal – if that at all. She would have to figure out something quick or pray they could make it long enough.

  “Do they get fed every evening?” Katey asked.

  “That’s the plan, miss... If I may ask, why are you feeding them?”

  Katey looked to her innocent eyes and smiled. “They’re my friends... I care about them. I want to help them as much as I can.” She didn’t think it wise to reveal that she was a loup-garou. She had just earned the human’s trust and it was likely that the little girl wouldn’t take nicely to any supernatural creature after what the vampires did to her uncle.

  Helga smiled and nodded in understanding. “You’re a good friend, miss.”

  “You can call me Katey.”

  “Okay... Katey.”

  When the chicken was thawed just enough so that the meat could be torn from the bone, Katey pulled the chicken out and placed in inside a covered basket for Helga to carry. Since Katey could handle the weight, she took the bucket of meat. Her mouth watered, despite the big meal she had earlier that night.

  By the time they were making their way to the basement, some of the vampires were leaving the feast in the dining hall. Katey and Helga slipped around corners and took servant passages to make their way across the castle without notice.

  They came to a thick metal door, securely fastened shut by a padlock. The sensation that traveled along her spine affirmed that the pack was not far away.

  Katey cursed when she saw the lock and examined it. “Do you know where the key is?”

  “Only Ralph and the lords have a key and all of them are indisposed. Ralph is the head care taker of the castle and he sleeps at night to avoid the guests and cleans up after them during the day.”

  Katey sighed and thought she could perhaps break the lock or dent the door in such a way that would weaken it just enough to let her inside. “Do you have another padlock?”

  “I’m sure Ralph does.”

  “When you see Ralph next, let him know that the basement door will need a new lock by the time the vamps wake up tomorrow evening. Tell Martel not to disturb me. Make up some excuse like I had a headache from all that opera singing or something.”

  “What will you do?” the girl asked, looking between her new friend and the impassable door.

  “Don’t worry about that. I’m going to find a way in but I need you to cover for me.”

  The little girl nodded and smiled sweetly as she turned to leave the corridor, though Katey sensed the wealth of questions that she refused to ask. Katey whispered a thank you just before she walked out of earshot.

  She took deep breaths and tried to focus all her energy into destroying the steel lock. Katey cupped her hands around it and used her loup-garou strength to break it in half. There was a low metallic pop as it unlocked the basement door and she quietly set the pieces on the floor.

  Katey readied herself for what might lay waiting. She wasn’t sure if they would all be in their loup-garou forms or their human forms, naked or clothed, happy to see her or spiteful. But making an appearance with the food would hopefully brighten their spirits.

  She kicked open the door, her hands full with the bucket and basket. The room was nearly pitch black with the exception of a narrow window at the very top of the far wall that allowed in just enough moonlight to illuminate bits of the room. Chains and torture devices hung on the walls to intimidate the prisoners.

  She descended the slick stone stairs, the moisture chilling the bottoms of her bare feet. The vast chamber at the bottom of the stairs reeked of the odor of mold, sweat, and blood. It filled the muggy air, suffocating Katey at first.

  The rapid heartbeats of her pack and the other loups-garous pounded in her ears. Their slight movements and coughs echoed against the high stone ceiling.

  When her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she found that Martel had been lying. The loups-garous weren’t in cages. They were in prison cells, locked away like criminals.

  The three spacious holding cells were carved into the rock of the mountain. Thinly set apart bars that glinted in the bluish gray moonlight, kept the prisoners at bay.

  The loups-garous were trapped behind the bars, packed together so close that if it weren’t for the glow of their golden eyes, she wouldn’t have been able to tell one body apart from another. Such beautiful eyes full of hunger and despair. She noticed they were all dressed in loincloths that the vamps must have given them to wear after they had changed.

  Most appeared to be sleeping, but some were sitting and watching her entrance into the dungeon with mixed expressions. Some appeared hopeful. Others shot her accusing looks, probably bitter that she was outside of the cell while they wasted away in hunger. She wanted to hate herself for not taking part in their suffering. There was no reason that she should have been saved from their fate, if she was truly one of them.

  Katey looked around hastily for a guard and saw none. The vampires must have had a high level of confidence that these simple metal bars would be enough to keep the wolves in their cages. And it seemed to work because no loup-garou jumped up to greet her or were within three feet of the bars themselves.

  “Logan!” Katey called out as she set down the meat bucket and chicken basket onto the stone floor. She heard a bit of stirring, but didn’t see Logan yet. None of the others spoke a word to her, but as her eyes searched for a familiar face, she saw none. She couldn’t see Darren, John, or even Forrest amongst the miserable captives.

  She scooped a handful of meat into her palm and approached one of the cells, calling his name again as her heart rose in her throat. She couldn’t have been too late. There was no way any of them could have perished from hunger so soon.

  “Katey?”

  The voice was faint, but unmistakable.

  She looked to her left and saw Logan pushing through some other tired loups-garous to get near the bars. Katey ran to him, tears of relief welling up in her eyes.

  Dirt stains covered his smooth skin and his hair glinted with natural oils and sweat. Otherwise, Logan looked to be in good health. The closer she came to the masses of bodies, she could feel a heat radiating from the cells that fought against the bone numbing cold of the northern winter that seeped through the stones.

  “Logan!” Katey cried out, rushing toward him.

  “Don’t touch the bars!” he warned. But it was too late.

  In her eagerness, Katey had wrapped her free hand around the icy metal. But, nothing happened. Katey recoiled her hand and touched it again with her fingertips to test it. Still nothing.

  Logan stared in bitter awe. “It’s silver,” he mumbled. “It should burn you.”

  Katey bit her lips together and now understood why the loups-garous kept their distance from the bars. The vampires were clever, but that was not why more tears spilled down Katey’s cheeks.

  This was even more proof that she might not be a full loup-garou like she so desired to be. The evidence was mounting against her and she wondered what John and Darren would think. She couldn’t change, there was a possibility that her abilities would fade, and now she was immune to the effects of silver.

  Katey let out a shrill whine and looked up to Logan with sad, pleading eyes.

  He edged closer to the bars, but would not risk a touch. “Darren told me how you weren’t able to change.”

  “I’m so sorry, Logan,” she whimpered. “I wanted to. I wanted to so bad. I’ll try again once we get out of here,”

>   Her words did nothing to sooth his dejected countenance. His golden eyes brimmed with so much emotion that she couldn’t begin to comprehend it fully. “How is everyone? Is everyone okay?” Katey asked as she offered out the meat to him through the silver bars. If there was one advantage to her handicap, it was that she could get close so no one else would have to risk a burn.

  Other loups-garous began to walk up and joined him at the sight of food. Like the true gentleman that he was, Logan took the meat and began passing it out to the others in rations. They would quickly take what they could and hurry back deeper into the cell to devour it before anyone else had a chance to steal it. Despite their animalistic instincts, they behaved well under the pressures of hunger and depravity, though she could hear a few bitter words exchanged between two loups-garous in the back who quarreled over their shares.

  “The guys are fine... Ben isn’t doing too well. He has a harder time controlling his hunger than the others do.”

  “What are you doing for him?”

  “He’s changed to his wolf form a few hours ago in response to his hunger. Being changed takes the edge off a bit so he’s managing fine now.”

  “What about Darren?”

  “He’s fine. He and John have been counseling with the younger ones how to last without the food.”

  Soon, Logan ran out of meat from her hand so she hurried back to the bucket and dragged it over. “No, go to the other cells. Give some to them,” he told her.

  Katey nodded and went to the cell next to his and began handing out food to those that came to her a little bit at a time. She made sure she reached all the way through the bars, pressing her body against the silver.

  She spotted a shock of red hair moving from the back of the cell. “Forrest!”

  He staggered forward and took a bit of food from her, his body hunched and shivering. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  Parker, the flirty Devian loup-garou that she met at school, came forward and took his packmate by the shoulders. “The tranquilizer darts hit him hard. I think he took three. He’s still a bit shaken up from it, but he’ll live.”