Pendulum (Kingdom of Night Book 1)

by L. C. Davis

I smiled, glad he was too far away to notice my watering eyes. “Thanks, Arthur.”

  He left and I finally crossed underneath the canopy of trees that welcomed me into the forest. The cool Pacific air rustled through the leaves, providing the perfect soundtrack to the isolated path. It wasn't enough to drown out my whirling thoughts, though, so I took out my MP3 player and popped in my earbuds.

  I turned the volume up and let my brain drift off with the melancholic indie duet that played. It was easy to fall into stride with the heavy tribal drums. The lyrics were a bit cliché, some guy who was trying to become part of the earth again with lots of references to the spirit of the wind, but it was still a good song.

  That song faded into the next and I got deeper and deeper into the woods. I barely noticed that twilight was setting in. I hadn't been running in so long, I became lackadaisical about my surroundings. Jeff would have thrown a fit, among, if I had dared to stay out so late.

  As foolish as I knew I was being, it was freeing, too. After all, I hadn't left the trail. I had barely passed the next marker when something huge flashed across it up ahead.

  At least, it looked huge. And dark.

  I recalled the biologist's assurances that there were no large predators in these woods and relaxed. It was just a deer, I told myself. The moon was high overhead even though the sun had just gone down. It was only a trick of the light that had made it look so much bigger.

  I resumed my run but decided to keep my music off, just in case. No sense in being reckless.

  Once I had settled into a steady rhythm again, I focused on increasing it steadily. I could go all out if I had to in order to reach the edge of campus. No matter how much I reassured myself, something told me it was time to head back to campus.

  My left had was burning again, like I had burned it on something. Maybe it really was a nerve issue. It seemed to flare up whenever I felt threatened or scared.

  I decided to start keeping a log of when the flare-ups happened. Sebastian might not be willing to give me the answers I needed, but I could still find them on my own. I had an unsettling feeling the strange pain was related to his stamp, or mark, as the Alpha had put it.

  A rustling sound in the bushes just off the path interrupted my thoughts. I whirled around to discover the source and heard the same noise behind me not a second later.

  Soon it was no longer just rustling. Something much larger than a deer was making its way through the trees and brush and as soon as I thought I had pinpointed its location, it moved somewhere else.

  I froze in the middle of the track. I was completely exposed and knew that if I didn't get out of the open soon, I was going to be the first person to get attacked by one of those nonexistent predators in the woods.

  I looked in all directions and struggled to make a choice with seconds I didn't have. Doubling back the way I had come would technically be shorter, but the creature seemed to be circling in that area now. If I kept straight a head and cut through the forest, I would make it to the road in a few minutes.

  If I had a few minutes. There was also no guarantee that I would be able to find my way out of the woods.

  A low rumbling sound in the woods from only a few yards away pushed me to make a decision. I started back down the pathway that led to the school and the pain in my hand surged up my arm, so so strong I cried out.

  The pain intensified and brought me to my knees. I clasped my arm as waves of agony shot from my fingertips to my chest. I thought I was having a heart attack from sheer terror.

  Rustling turned into a full-on gallop through the trees and the creature appeared right on the trail. I was partially blind from my own tears, but I could see through them enough to recognize the vague outline of what had to be a bear. Its long arms and hunched over stance didn't look like a bear, though.

  It stood towering over the path as it looked at me. I opened my mouth to scream but no sound would come out. Whether my voice was seized from fear or the pain, it didn't matter. Tears finally fell, allowing me to see clearly.

  It was a wolf. A horrible, monstrous wolf with gnarled claws and hands more than paws, but a wolf nonetheless. Its eyes glowed golden just like the wolf in my dream, and its fur was so black the moonlight didn't even glint off of it. It was absorbed.

  The beast stood at least ten feet tall and half as wide. With every ragged breath it snarled through bared white teeth and its shoulders heaved.

  The pain I had wanted to die in order to escape a moment ago took a backseat to my survival instincts. I scrambled to my feet and wasted no more time gawking at the beast in front of me.

  I found my voice, even if a horrified gasp was all the use I could make of it. I dove into the forest with greater desperation than I had ever run in my life.

  Silence behind me sought to lure me into a false sense of security, but I refused to be fooled. My feet hit the ground with such force my entire body ached, but I couldn't go fast enough. Like a dream, it was as if I were in quicksand. Unlike a dream, I knew Sebastian wouldn't be there to save me.

  Not this time.

  It didn't stop me trying. I called out for him again as I had done in the dream.

  Please. Sebastian, help me.

  It became a chant, something to time my footfalls to. I heard the creature running behind me and knew it would overtake me again if my prayers weren't answered. The horrible sounds seemed to get closer with each step I took.

  I ran down a small hill into an area that looked promising enough and ran with all my might. Just before I came to the bottom, I heard twigs snapping and branches rustling. I was forced to stop as the sound was right in front of me. A second later, it was far to the right.

  As fast as it was, it had to be a human. The pattern of footsteps was too familiar. The only human who would be out here was either a park ranger or a psycho. Considering what was pursuing me, I decided to take my chances.

  “Help!” I screamed, stumbling through the particularly thick brush. The entire area was impossible to move in, although it had looked deceptively clear from the top of the hill. “Please!” I begged when I was met with verbal silence and footsteps that seemed calm now.

  The creature's sounds had faded away and one thing became increasingly clear. Whoever it was was circling me.

  “Th-there's something horrible in the woods,” I said, knowing well that this person was close enough to hear me. There was no sense calling the creature again. Maybe I really had lost it.

  Or maybe it was afraid of whoever I had found.

  I slowly made my way through the brush and struggled to climb the small but more challenging hill on the other side. I grabbed hold of a thick seeming rock cluster sticking out of the ground in an attempt to pull myself up. It was a struggle, but I made it to the top, panting.

  My body wanted to quit from exhaustion and a prolonged state of panic, but I forced it to stand. The pain had worn away to a dull hum, but so had the adrenaline rush.

  I gave up on my hopeful rescuer, choosing to heed the warning that burned deep in the pit of my stomach. I ran again without even consciously choosing a direction.

  I made it barely a quarter of a mile I didn't have in me when I hit a wall. The impact flung me to the ground, causing my head to snap back. I turned mid-air in an attempt to break my fall with my hands, but I only succeeded enough that my forehead met with one of the many jagged stones waiting for me in the dirt.

  Everything was black for a moment. I reached out in an attempt to pull myself up, or at least forward. Even an inch away from the snarling monster behind me.

  My vision was blurred but I recognized the movement of someone coming through the trees. The shape that appeared was definitely human. Why wasn't I relieved?

  It was a man wearing a long leather jacket and clothing that didn't lend itself to a walk in the woods.

  “R-run,” I said in a voice far weaker than I had hoped. I couldn't imagine why he was standing there with such a serene smile on his face. Couldn't he see the creat
ure behind him?

  I tried to push off the ground and collapsed. Reality flickered again and when I opened my eyes, the man was much closer. He seemed halfway through a conversation with someone behind me.

  “-just told me to bring him back. He didn't say anything nothin' about no werewolves,” he drawled in a thick Southern accent.

  Werewolves?

  “Now, I ain't a racist, not like the boss. You hand over the boy and we can go our separate ways. Whad'ya say?” His hands were outstretched invitingly, as if reasoning with an old friend.

  The beast – the werewolf, if I were to take this recklessly bold stranger at his word – snarled behind me, reaffirming his presence.

  I sobbed and tried to pull myself towards the stranger who seemed my only hope of escaping alive, even if he was an unlikely one.

  “No?” The man asked pleasantly. “I'm gonna take that as a no.”

  He unclipped a knife from a holster on his belt and drew it from its sheath. He held it under the moonlight and squinted as he examined the tip of the blade. He sliced the side of his finger and then sucked on it. He twirled the blade and clenched the handle, letting the blade point downwards.

  “That's a shame. Oh well. Bet I can fetch a good price for your hide, bein' the Alpha's next in line and all that.” He grinned, revealing a set of two unnaturally sharp golden canines. “I bet you I could get a real good price for him period. After you're dead, might just bail out on the job and take you both to the market.”

  The roar that followed shook the ground. I covered my ears and screwed my eyes shut, bracing to feel those awful, jagged teeth sink into me.

  The sound of ripping flesh was so distinct it took me a moment to realize it wasn't mine. For now.

  It took all the will I had to look through trembling hands at the scene in front of me. The creature had ripped off the strange man's entire forearm.

  He screamed bloody murder and swung at the monster with the same knife he had used to cut himself. The blade dug into the creature's chest and he roared in pain.

  While they were both hurt, I dragged myself into a crawling position, then finally what would have to pass for a standing one. My head throbbed as I limped through the tangle of leaves and vines and tried to ignore the ghastly sounds of the struggle behind me.

  Werewolf. Monster. Demon. Whatever that thing was, it had just ripped a man's arm off, and I wasn't going to wait around and see what it would do to me.

  I seemed to collapse every ten steps I managed to take, but I kept pushing myself beyond what should have been possible. It wasn't strength, because I had none left. There was simply no other option.

  The sounds of a battle too awful to even imagine eventually faded behind me. I staggered for what seemed like miles before I caught sight of a break in the woods. It was just open enough to see the outline of the Lodge on top of the hill.

  I collapsed. I had truly reached the point where I couldn't go on. No amount of adrenaline or inspiration would be enough to get my body up and running again. It was bruised and cut all over from tripping and falling. I had stopped blacking out, but my head wasn't throbbing anymore. Pain had been replaced by fullness and it felt like I was experiencing the world in a thick layer of fog. I knew enough about the brain to know that both sensations were more concerning than pain.

  A scream pierced the deceptive calm of the forest. A human scream.

  I huddled up in a ball and covered my ears. It wasn't enough to drown out the shrieks of agony that followed.

  As suddenly as the screams had begun, they stopped. I knew what that meant. If I did somehow survive to tell, I doubted the park rangers would find a trace of the man with the golden fangs.

  It was a joke to think I would survive, though, and I knew it. The wolf would surely find me. It was only a matter of time. A bloodthirsty creature that size wouldn't be satisfied by a single meal.

  The question wasn't whether I would die, that was settled. The question was whether anyone would notice.

  Sure, Arthur would probably miss me. We had forged a connection, however new it may be, but he would get over it. He had other friends. Plenty. He would go to my funeral, but he wouldn't grieve me.

  Who would?

  Surely not my mother, wherever she was. Or my father, if he was even still alive. I destined to be just another rock in the ground with a generic line of text carved in. Barely a step above a John Doe. I wouldn't be any more of a permanent figure in death than I had been in life.

  “You walk out that door, you remember no one else gives a shit whether you live or die.” Jeff's voice warred with the ringing in my ears. “This is as good as it gets.”

  He was right. His words had come true with prophetic accuracy.

  Something rustled in the trees.

  He was here.

  I struggled again with one last surge of energy. It wasn't to run. I didn't have enough in me for that, and the will to survive that had driven me through the forests had vanished a long time ago. I just wanted to see the moon again.

  I managed to roll over onto my back. The pain was worth it. The waning crescent hung directly overhead, offering the promise of a full moon in a couple weeks' time. I tried to remember the last one and wished I had paid more attention. Strange how I'd never noticed how beautiful it was up there.

  The creature was getting closer. His steps weren't as aggressive as they had been. Like vultures circling above dying prey, he knew his meal was certain.

  The soft glow of the moon drew me, keeping my eyes fixed on her. Her cool rays caressed my face like the motherly touch I had never known. I had never really been one for gods or angels, but she seemed like something I could believe in. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. With all the certainty of the devout, I knew in that moment that she would guide me to whatever else there was when this all came to its unexpectedly abrupt end.

  Something eclipsed her light and I flinched. The peace that had seemed so certain moments ago was wearing dangerously thin. It took all my resolve not to look. I didn't want that demonic hound to be the last thing I saw.

  14

  “Remus?”

  A strangely familiar voice called me out of my trance-like state. I opened my eyes to find Victor standing over me instead of the beast. He looked terrified.

  “He knelt down and lifted me into his arms without effort. “Oh god, you're bleeding all over. I have to get you back to the Lodge.”

  I tried to speak, but my voice came out as a ragged sob. I hated myself for failing at such a crucial moment.

  “R-run,” I finally managed to croak. I couldn't take a decent breath through the sobs or the searing pain in my side whenever I tried. “H-he's coming.”

  “What?” He leaned in. “Who's coming?”

  “M-m-monster.” If I could stop shaking enough, maybe I could inform him of the danger.

  “Monster?” He frowned, looking around. “What did you see?”

  He placed me down and I was terrified he was going to leave me and run. Instead, he removed his Jacket and wrapped it around me before taking me into his arms again.

  “W-wolf,” I choked. Why couldn't I form a sentence? “His- his teeth...” So much was hinging on me being able to do the one thing I was supposedly good at, which was stringing a few words together, and that was all I could manage.

  His confusion melted into something strangely resembling hurt.

  “He won't come for you, Remus,” he said with a certainty that didn't seem justified. He couldn't possibly know what I had seen. If he could only look into those horrible glowing eyes for a second, then he might understand.

  It was certainly a sight I would never be able to forget.

  “You're in shock.” He stood and started towards the Lodge, to my relief. Whether he understood the threat or not, at least we were moving in the right direction. “I have to get you to Clara.”

  I didn't understand why he wasn't calling the ambulance, but I was too tired to protest. I rested my head against
his chest, comforted by his steady heartbeat. The night before, I would have said Victor was the thing that scared me most, perhaps tied with Jeff. Now his arms felt like the safest place in the world.

  I bobbed in and out of consciousness. I would surface for a few minutes, only to get pulled under again. When I finally opened my eyes, I was in a room I recognized as Victor's.

  “Are you sure he'll be alright?”

  He was standing at the door with his back turned to me, talking to someone. I recognized the smooth cadence of his voice and the almost black hair that barely brushed his shoulders and curled slightly at the ends.

  “I can't say anything for sure until we can get him to an MRI machine.” It was Clara's voice. “Under the circumstances, going to a hospital could prove even more dangerous. The best we can do is keep an eye on him and hope Sebastian comes back soon.”

  I strained to lift my head, but my vision turned into a dangerous haze. I let my head fall back onto the pillow and settled for listening.

  “He'd better. At least I pick convenient times to disappear.”

  “Let's hope this isn't like one of your trips.” Clara gave an exhausted sigh. “There already isn't enough time. He deserves to know what's going to happen to him.”

  That didn't sound good. Maybe I really was dying.

  “I know. I'll take care of it.”

  “But he's Sebastian's-”

  “Do you see Sebastian anywhere around here?” he snapped. The next instant, he sighed apologetically. “I'm sorry, Clara. I know you're just as exhausted as I am.”

  “It's alright, Victor. Just be careful. He needs to be eased into this as much as possible before the harvest moon. If Sebastian isn't here to do it, at least go slowly.”

  “I will. After what he saw in the woods the other day, I'm sure it's not going to be an easy conversation.”

  The other day?

  She lowered her voice. “How much do you think he saw? I heard from the cleanup team that the scene was pretty grisly.”

  “Always is with him,” he muttered. “Whatever he saw, it was bad.”