His former apprentice let out a wicked laugh. “Go home? She has no home. After we murder her pack, she will have nowhere to go. Besides, aren’t you the least bit curious why she’s a werewolf? Have you ever seen a female of their species?”
The elder let out a long breath and shook his head. He could not reveal his suspicions to anyone, least of all to his failed pupil. If Yaverik knew what Katey meant to the world, she would not be allowed to live past the solstice. “No, but that doesn’t give you the right to dissect her.”
Yaverik stepped closer, his voice dropping. “Our kind should have wiped out all the females during the war. She shouldn’t even exist. If we failed somewhere, we should correct our error, should we not?”
Yet Michael wanted to reach him. He had to make his apprentice understand. They had spent centuries together, learning from one another, and the last decade alone had brought a change in Yaverik that was unpleasant. His ruthless character had emerged, unrestrained by the limits of authority. He was free to do and say as he wished now, but Michael couldn’t abide by it.
He stepped closer. “But, you also know that she could be the key to ending this feud,” he whispered. “You remember what we found in the ruins. You were there when the spirit came to us. It’s our responsibility to make sure she completes her mission.”
Yaverik’s face twisted into a devilish grin. The mentor’s words had fallen on ears that had become deaf to reason. “And that’s another reason to kill her.”
Michael was incredulous to his blind cruelty. “What could this possibly resolve for you? To what end?”
A maddening look came in Yaverik’s eye, a glimmer of insanity shining through. “I will not rest until every piece is in perfect place. The Beast shall rise again, mark my words.”
He knew exactly what Yaverik spoke of. The Beast from the days of the war, the indestructible monster more powerful than vampires and werewolves combined. It was put down once before, but legend said it took more than a legion of their army to contain him. The spirit of such a beast still roamed the earth, looking for a host to possess and bring about a reign of terror and destruction for vampires, werewolves, and humans alike. There would be no stopping it a second time, unless Katey could be given the chance.
“You’ve lost your mind,” Michael mumbled.
“No,” Yaverik uttered softly. “I have a vision.”
The younger vampire turned and walked away, leaving a horror-stricken Michael behind to mull over all his young apprentice had said.
Darkness engulfed Katey’s room, but with her loup-garou vision she could still make out silhouettes of her surroundings. She pushed herself up off the floor and staggered toward the door. She could hear them arguing all the way down the hall and listened until their voices faded away into silence. She couldn’t believe she was so close to setting them all free.
Katey shrieked in anger, picked up a vase that sat on the end table by the fire, and pitched it across the room, making it shatter against the far wall. Pieces scattered across the room, some shards stuck in the wall.
She took a deep breath to simmer down and shimmied out of the dress to change into the clothes she was wearing the other night when she first arrived. The clothes had been washed, pressed and mended since then. She wanted to be ready to leave and hoped that her pack would come to rescue her when they attempted their escape.
She threw back the thick crimson curtains so she could see when the sun came up. Outside, snow swirled around the mountain, sputtering against her windowpane.
Katey stood and gazed out into the black night, unable to see the majestic moon through the dense storm clouds. Even the stars refused to shine and give her solace on this horrible night.
Katey dragged herself over to the bed and collapsed on her back. She stared up at the canopy as she tried to clear her head of all the thoughts that pressed in and threatened to devour her. She had to believe that they would make it through. With the knowledge that they had the hairpin and that it was totally possible for them to escape, she could see the silver lining in the distance.
Despite this, Katey hated to feel so helpless, trapped in the room with nowhere to go. She heard and smelled the approach of two vampires that took sentry posts just outside her door, making escape for her even more difficult.
Even if the pack did manage to escape, there was no guarantee that they would come and get her, or if they would make it out of the castle alive. The vampires had enough ammunition and firepower to take down the pack, and many of the loups-garous - especially the young ones - would be far too weak to change and defend themselves. She cringed to think that perhaps some of them would not survive their captivity, even if there were a chance of escape.
Katey’s future was unsure still, and with so many uncertainties about what would happen come morning light, she wondered how she would get any sleep.
Her thoughts turned to Logan and how angry he was before she left the dungeon. She wondered if they would ever be reconciled and if he would forgive her once he had food in his stomach. She was convinced that he hadn’t eaten hardly anything, even when it was given. Katey also conjectured what the pack must have thought of her now. Sure, they growled in her defense just moments ago, but did they mean it? In essence, she had rejected them, rejected the pack, and all that she was by dancing with Martel and letting herself be taken under the vampire’s wing. And the worst part was that they knew it.
She rolled over and grabbed the pillow nearest her, squeezing it between her arms and legs, wishing it could have hugged back. Katey buried her nose in the silky fabric and tried to fight back the tears that were caught in her throat. She let sleep overwhelm her, hoping it would help to make this whole disaster seem farther away.
Down in the dungeon, Darren stood staring intently upon the silver cell door, the hairpin clutched in his hand. He was hesitant. Everything in him told him to stay clear of the bars, but he knew that the survival of the pack depended on this. The sun was just about ready to rise and their window of opportunity was fast approaching.
Not far behind him, Logan paced back and forth, a snarl seemed to be permanently fixed on his face. He was furious at everything and everyone, just as the others were. The effects of the hunger were taking a tighter hold than anyone else was comfortable with.
The other loups-garous fought amongst one another, quarreling bitterly over nothing. John and his sons tried their best to coach them to control their fiery impulses, but many were in too much pain to listen. The older alphas could curb their tempers, but the younger wolves were irrepressible.
The alpha took a preparatory breath, reached out and touched the bars. All he needed to do was exert enough force to open the cage door so he could get to the other cells and unlock them.
He quickly withdrew his hand with a growl as his fingertips were seared and burnt. He looked down to them and saw the flesh blackened and crusted. A drop of blood oozed out. A few second passed and the wound was healed, but they were still no closer to getting out.
In the next cell over, Dustin had pressed himself against the joining stone wall, willing Darren to succeed. “You got it yet?” he called out.
“No, damn it!” he exclaimed, shaking his hand in frustration. “This bloody hurts!”
“Just feckin’ push through it!”
“I’m trying!” Darren roared. To any outside perspective, it may have seemed that he wasn’t trying very hard at all. However, the instinctive nature of self-preservation was so instilled in every loup-garou. It was comparable to the human reflex to hold their breath while being dunked underwater. Only until the last possible moment, would they open their mouth. Darren wouldn’t let himself get that desperate.
Logan could take it no longer and charged at the cell door with a resounding roar that startled everyone, even Darren. The young loup-garou barreled over out of the cell, his whole body shivering from the pain of the silver making contact with his unprotected flesh.
Darren hurried out first to tend
to his ward. Patches of his skin were charred, but began to steadily heal. Logan crumbled to the floor, snarling at the intense anguish of his burns.
The alpha first made sure that he was all right, then rushed to the second cell with the hairpin. Loups-garous from the first cell, including Ben and John, began to pour out, but stayed in the dungeon, waiting for orders to move out. Many dropped to all fours and stretched out their limbs in the extra space.
He pinched the hairpin as close to its end as he could while still keeping a firm hold on it enough to try and jimmy the lock. His knuckles occasionally grazed the silver lock and he winced in pain. “What I wouldn’t give for a pair of gloves right now,” he muttered.
Dustin bounced on the balls of his feet and watched him fiddle with the lock and pin.
Suddenly, the dungeon door opened again and many of the loups-garous braced themselves for a battle, expecting a vampire to enter. However, it was Ralph and Helga, the two who had come looking for Katey the evening before. The loups-garous recognized them as the givers of food and gradually backed off, though Darren could sense the primal hunger urging them to attack instead.
The young girl gasped and gripped Ralph’s arm for security at the sight of the beasts out of their cages.
The two humans stood at the top of the stairs, nonplussed at the sight of the loose prisoners. Darren saw them and jostled his way through the throng to approach them with his hands up in surrender. John came to his side, watching them intently.
“We’re not going to hurt you,” Darren assured them.
Logan stepped forward, healed completely from his wounds. “It’s Helga, right?” he asked, his tone and manner still a little coarse.
Helga nodded and managed to stutter, “Yes, sir.”
“Can you help us?”
She summoned all the courage she could and nodded before she made her way down to the dungeon floor. The loups-garous respectfully parted ways for her and Ralph as they approached the second cell that was still locked. Helga did her best to hide her shaking, but her hands still trembled at her sides.
Darren followed them close behind and offered the hairpin out to her. “Do you know how to unlock with one of these?” he asked.
She looked down to the pin and gave a weak smile. “I do,” she replied, taking the pin from him. “I’ve had lots of practice with this.”
“You don’t have a key?” Dustin asked behind the bars with a note of impatience.
Ralph shook his head. “Only Lord Yaverik has a key.”
“Then, take it away, lass. We don’t have much time,” Dustin said with a wave of his hand.
Helga stepped up to the lock and inhaled a calming breath before setting to work to pick the lock.
It must not have been more than a couple of hours before Katey heard a great force slam into her bedroom door.
She jerked awake and scuttled to her feet, acutely alert. Another bang. She turned her head to the window and saw that dawn had finally come. The snowstorm had passed and the brilliant sun peaked over the snowcapped mountains, melting the ice that had formed around her window frame. The scene outside was one of pristine snowy mountains and Katey could see the small town below. It was a good day to escape.
One more bang did the trick and the door splintered under the weight of a loup-garou’s shoulder. The fully changed beast crashed into the room and dropped to all fours. Katey recognized it as Ben with his pure golden eyes and black fur mixed with patches of silver on his chest and paws.
Katey cried for joy, ran up to him and hugged around his thick mane, never happier to see him. Ben let her embrace him for a second, then used his humanlike paw to push her toward the door where she saw the other loups-garous, some in their human forms and some in their wolf, or full forms, running down the hall at a slower speed than she would have expected. Logan was standing by the door, waving for them to hurry up. There wasn’t a hint of anger in his eyes as he hastily ushered her out of the bed chamber.
Just outside the door, Helga stood grinning with her slim shoulders squared in pride. Katey ran up and hugged her, suspecting that she had the maidservant to thank somehow.
“Come on, we don’t have much time,” Logan said. “The vamps are sleeping, but with all this noise they won’t be asleep for long.”
He shepherded Katey into the hall and into the stream of fleeing loups-garous. Ben followed, but rushed on ahead of them, while Helga stayed close by Katey and Logan as they hustled toward the main foyer.
“What’s the plan or do you have one?” Katey asked Logan as they met up with both Forrest and Erik’s pack that were slowly making their way among the rest.
“Darren and John are taking the elders and their packs out first. Ben, Dustin, and I are leading out the Devians. Gregory has already started to lead out many of the others. You’re going with Darren and John out first.”
Katey turned to him with a profound determination. “I’m not leaving until every last one of the loups-garous are out of this castle.”
Logan pulled her aside and glared, but his dominance wouldn’t change her mind. “No, I won’t have you stay here when you can leave.”
Hardly knowing what possessed her to say it, she replied, “I feel responsible for all of this. If I had never refreshed this old rivalry between you and Erik, he would never have gone to the vampire lords and we wouldn’t be trapped here. I’m not leaving until I know that everyone is out safe.”
Katey wasn’t sure whether Logan finally nodded in relent to her argument out of agreement or a need to avoid a full-blown fight when he was still starving. Either way, they hustled back into the traffic of bolting loups-garous and it was settled that she would stay.
They came to the stairs that led down to the grand foyer and continued to conduct the loups-garous to move faster. Many changed on their way out the door, knowing that it would be a lot faster and warmer to travel in the snow in their fur coats than on bare human feet.
Some who were too weak to change rode upon the backs of stronger loups-garous. The two massive oak doors remained propped open as more and more of the pack took off and some snow drifted into the foyer.
Katey found Noah out of the hordes and grabbed him before he could make his way down the stairs. Helga was still by her side, assisting where she could.
“Noah, take this girl with you and your pack back to the lodge. She needs a good home. Find her one!” Katey ordered, guiding Helga into Noah’s arms. He nodded and began to take her hand, but Helga shied away to run back to Katey.
The young girl wrapped her skinny, frail arms around Katey’s torso and embraced her friend one last time. “Thank you, Miss Katey,” she heard the little girl whisper.
Katey returned the hug, and then let her hurry with Noah out into the snow. It was the least she could do for her. She saw many other servants had caught wind of what was going on and they, too, were escaping with what they could carry on their backs. She saw that even Ralph was staggering out into the wilderness with a small pack thrown over his shoulder.
While they were helping the weak ones down the stairs, Katey turned to Logan with repentant eyes. “Logan, I’m sorry for the way I behaved last night... Do you forgive me?”
He turned to her as he helped a stumbling teenager down the steps and gave her a weak, but genuine smile. This was hardly the time for making up, but if things went sour, Katey knew she needed this absolution.
“Yes,” he replied. “I forgive you... Forgive me for being so angry and overreacting?”
“I don’t think you were over reacting, but yes, I forgive you.”
“No, I did overreact. There was no reason to get as angry as I did.”
“So, we’re okay?” Katey asked, hope laced in her words.
He grinned and quickly leaned over to kiss her lips. “Yes, we’re perfect.”
Katey felt relief wash over her like a cool, refreshing breeze. It had seemed like an eternity since she felt his lips on hers, and if they had the time, she would have held hi
m close and never let him go. Their mating bond ringed to life once more and revitalized the part of her that she thought might have been lost in the madness. She should have known that their love would transcend anything the world threw at them.
“Are you guys going to stand there all day making goo-goo eyes or are you going to help?” Erik shouted from across the stairwell.
Ben soon joined them just below the stairs. He, even in his loup-garou form, managed to catch anyone who happened to slip on the ice as they made their way out the door. Dustin appeared from upstairs and was carrying a sack over his shoulder. Katey had thought he left long before.
“What is all that?” she asked as he slid down the banister with his heavy load.
“All the silver bullets their armory had in stock!” Dustin shouted as he ran out the doors and slung the sack down the side of the mountain and well out of reach of the vamps. He returned inside, wringing his hands together evilly before standing by the door with Ben to make sure everyone was exiting safely.
It almost seemed too easy, until the first of the Devians were about to make their way out. The two oak doors closed by themselves, throwing the foyer into pitch black darkness. By now, the remaining loups-garous were gathered in the expansive foyer, none remained upstairs or in the dungeons. A chill fell upon the room that sent shockwaves up Katey’s spine. Something was terribly wrong.
30
Ben and Dustin tried to open the doors, but they wouldn’t budge, no matter how hard they pushed their shoulders against the thick wood. Katey and Logan, as well as the others, rushed upon the doors and all joined in the effort to force them open, but no amount of inhuman strength even made them creak under their power.
“What happened?” she asked Logan, looking around in the dim hall toward all the entrances, trying to find an answer. Logan snarled toward the stairs, along with all the other loups-garous that could smell the vamps approaching.
Becoming the Enigma (The Loup-Garou Series Book 2) Page 43