Craig had figured that the first was merely a fluke, someone like himself, who lived outside of the stifling ways of the clans and their stupid belief of hiding away in the mountains. Humans were weak, he was powerful! Might makes right! It always had, and always would, the weak, the losers, no one cared about them and no one made exceptions for them.
Craig looked at the gas gauge, there was still half a tank, they'd filled up before leaving, but best to fill up again before they went up into the hills. It might be a while before they could chance going into town again.
"Hmm?" Ursula said, waking up as he pulled into a gas station.
"We're almost there, I wanted to fill up again." he told her and pulled up to one of the pumps. Looking around there was an attendant behind what looked like bulletproof glass on the other side of the station. He had his eyes down and was reading a book, not really paying any attention to what was going on.
On the other side of the aisle he'd pulled into, was a large gray pickup truck, a four-by-four. The front door was open, so the guy pumping gas could listen to the rather loud and obnoxious music that was blaring.
Craig rolled up a little further so the larger truck blocked the car from the view of the man in the booth, not that Craig thought he'd hear them over that racket.
Getting out of the car, he stretched and then winced at the loud music as it started to boom deep enough to cause everything to vibrate.
"Why don't you turn that crap down," Craig yelled at the guy pumping gas. He was a pretty big guy, probably six-four, and easily three hundred pounds. He had on some sort of security guard shirt, a shaved head and was wearing some old jeans.
"Screw you! Mind your own business, asshole!" He said and flipped Craig off.
"I am, you made it my business when you turned that shit up loud enough to hurt my ears," Craig growled. "Don't they teach curs like you manners around here?"
"Who you calling a cur? You better shut your mouth, or I'll mess you up!"
Craig looked at the truck again, there was even a girl in the passengers seat, of course she was ignoring everything, probably couldn't even hear it over the noise. A nice big truck like this? No one would be looking for it, and it would fit in around here a lot better than Ursula's car would.
Craig smiled slowly and walked over to the guy, "Go ahead and try."
The guy let go of the pump and took a swing at Craig, who stepped aside, grabbed his wrist, and then pulled the guy off balance towards him.
"Shouldn't mess with your betters, asshole," Craig growled and punched him hard in the throat, smiling as the guy's eyes went wide and he suddenly found he couldn't breathe anymore.
Craig knocked him down to the ground then, and pulled the guy's arms behind his back and just held him down on the ground with a knee in his back, until he suffocated. He was surprised at how long the guy actually lasted.
He looked up at the gas pump as it clicked off, so he took it out of the truck's tank, put it away and put the gas cap back on. The truck was still running, and the music was still blaring, and the girl inside was still oblivious.
"Pull out into the street, and follow me," He told Ursula, who quickly shifted over into the driver's seat.
Walking back to the dead body on the ground he looked up at the attendant who was still reading his book. So picking up the dead guy he tossed him into the back of the truck, then hopped into the front seat and closed the door.
"Hey! You're not ..." was all that the girl in the passenger's seat got out before he backhanded her, knocking her unconscious. He checked to make sure she wasn't dead, then tied her hands behind her back with her belt, tore a piece of her shirt off to gag her, so he wouldn't have to listen to her when she did come around, then belted her in, put the truck in gear, and drove out of the station.
As soon as he was out, he turned the radio off, and sighed happily, he now had a fitting sacrifice for the sage, and he wouldn't have to give up Ursula right away after all. He looked in the mirror at the body in the bed of the truck. He'd have to do something about that, it would be getting light out soon, and he sure didn't want anyone to see it. But in these woods, that wouldn't be all that much of a problem.
"So, where are we going?" Ursula asked him, as he turned onto an old forestry road. They'd left her car parked on a side street in the last small town they'd gone through. Odds were good no one would think twice about it. The body they'd dumped off an embankment and into a copse of trees not long after that.
The girl was hogtied and gagged now, and stuck behind the seats in the cab. Craig had bit her after they'd dumped her boyfriend. He wanted to be sure she was fully turned when they got there; the sage had made his preferences for lycan blood clear to Craig when they first met, and as long as Craig kept him fed, he'd keep granting Craig his powers.
"There is an old Russian sage who lives in a cave here. The cave is some sort of a place of power, which the old man uses to stay alive. He's very old, hundreds of years he told me."
"Is he the one you bring the girls too?" Ursula asked.
Craig nodded, "He feeds off of their blood. It's really quite a lot of fun to watch, he says their adrenaline adds flavor, so he likes to play with them first, before he drains them."
"So, he's a vampire?" Ursula asked, a little unsure.
Craig laughed, "No, he's alive, like you or me. But he has unlocked the power of blood; he's told me that there is a lot of power in the blood of even the most normal and mortal of all humans.
"So I bring him these girls, and he grants me wealth, strength, power," Craig smiled at her, "but that's not the best part."
"It isn't?"
"No," Craig said shaking his head, "he's promised to teach me the secret of the blood, how to take the power for myself. He's almost powerful enough to do so, and once he has I have promised to help him kill his old enemies here in the mountains, the ones that tried to drive him out years ago. Then I will return home and deal with my own enemies!"
Ursula nodded slowly and smiled, he had such anger in him, she'd enjoyed watching him kill that man at the gas station, the idea of watching him kill many more was intoxicating. "Can I help?"
Craig glanced over and smiled at Ursula, he could smell the lust coming off of her, she really had been a good choice, "Of course you can."
A few minutes later he pulled up under a lean-to he had built here last year. He didn't come this way often; normally he had parked by the cabin a ways from here and then walked in. But there were times he'd had to come this way instead, and he didn't want to chance someone spotting his car. The cave was only a hundred yards from here.
"Come," he said getting out of the truck, stopping only to reach behind the seats and drag the struggling girl out of the back. He stopped a moment to take a better look at the girl in the light of day. She stunk of fear of course, and the look of it in her eyes was rather sweet.
"She looks a bit young to be running around at night with a guy like that," Ursula laughed.
"No doubt," Craig said and tossing her over his shoulder he led the way to the cave. The way was well hidden, the sage said that various magics helped to hide it from those who he did not want finding him here. Craig was still rather surprised he'd been able to find it himself, but the sage had told him that Craig's anger had led him there, as they both shared an anger, the same anger, and that the time would come when he would cleanse Craig of the curse that he hated so passionately, so that they might both have their revenge on those that had wronged them.
"Watch your head," Craig warned as he ducked into a cave that was well concealed by a bush on the hillside just over the entrance, and several trees that were gathered around it.
The cave went in about a dozen feet, then turned sharply to the left and opened up into a rather large cavern, one that was well lit by several glowing spheres that resembled modern-day light bulbs; for all that they hung motionless in the air.
The rest of the cavern was rather well appointed, the ground was covered with thick ric
h looking rugs, there was a large bed to one side, a table, chairs, and a whole wall covered with bookshelves full of what Craig guessed where magical texts.
But the most important thing was the altar. The altar sat in the exact center of the room, and a pale red fire hovered a half dozen feet above it. The altar itself was made from the bare rock of the floor, shaped by either magic or processes that Craig could only guess at. The rock was stained heavily with blood; some of those stains were from the many women Craig had brought here, to feed his ally. The rest of them had been here long before he had ever found the sage and this place. Craig sometimes wondered if there had been any stains here when the Sage had found this place, if he had been the first to use it so, or if others had used it even before then.
And on the other side of the altar stood the Sage, he looked to be a middle-aged man, bald, but with a handsome face, on which he wore a small van dyke beard, he dressed in a style that Craig himself wasn't familiar with, a dark blue jacket with a wide white collar that looked something like he'd seen on a box of Dutch Masters cigars, just without the funny hat.
"Ah, Gregory, it is good to see you once more, I see you have done me a kindness yet again and brought me a treat?" The Sage said smiling at Craig as he held his arms open in welcome.
"Yes, Sir," Craig said and dropped the bound girl onto the altar.
"Ah, I thank you yet again. You are an ally most kind. Who is your friend?"
Craig smiled and gave a small bow, to acknowledge the Sage's thanks. He had learned that the man appreciated such small gestures.
He turned to Ursula, "This is Ursula, she has been very helpful to me in selecting and gathering all of the women who I have brought here before."
"Ah, why I must thank you, milady. You have a wonderful eye for the delectable."
Ursula blushed and ducked her head to acknowledge his compliment, the feeling of his praise sending a warm feeling through her.
The Sage looked down at the young woman lying on the altar; she was struggling against her bounds, her eyes filled with terror.
"Well, why don't I deal with this little morsel, and then we can discuss other things," He looked up at Ursula, "Would you care to watch?"
Ursula smiled and shivered in delight. "I would love to."
17: Interview at Zeke's
It was after nine and the sun had already set when Mark finally pulled into Zeke's driveway. They'd had to go to the sheriff's office to get directions, which Sheriff Clayton wouldn't give to him until after he'd called Zeke and asked him if it was okay for Mark to visit.
Annoying as that might have been, Mark couldn't blame Sheriff Clayton, Zeke was one of the clan leaders, and Clayton depended on him and had to live here.
"Mark, Agent Sikes, and ..." Zeke said standing by the front door as they walked up.
Mark motioned to Helena, "This is my wife, Helena. Helena, this is Zeke, he's one of the wolf clan heads."
"Pleasure," Zeke said and shook hands with Helena who smiled.
"Come on in, I've got two of them here, Karen, who's the girl I re-bit, and Claudia, who was there the longest."
"Where are the other girls?" Mark asked.
"Spread out among a couple of the other older alphas," Zeke said and led them inside the house, "We're still evaluating them, they've all been beaten down pretty harshly, he really did a number on them."
"What about the girl he just bit?" Michael asked as they came to a closed door in the back of the house.
"She's under my influence now and is doing pretty well. Sherry likes her, think we might keep her."
"Keep her?" Michael said looking shocked.
"She's a wolf now, Michael," Mark told him, "She needs to belong to a pack."
"Oh, just the way he said it, I thought he meant as a girlfriend or something," Michael said.
"Wife actually," Zeke said putting his hand on the door and holding it closed for a moment as he turned to face Michael who was visibly bristling.
"Something you need to understand here, Agent Sikes: that girl is no longer human. Neither is the one on the other side of this door. They're wolves like me and my wife Sherry, like my kids, like my parents, like my neighbors, and they need a place to belong now. Someone has to take them in, give them a life, and give them a place in the world.
"When I bit Karen, she became my responsibility, and yes, mine as well. Now she's not as submissive and beat down like the others are so she could turn me down if she wanted to, but," Zeke smiled, showing a lot of teeth, "she'd rather be sleeping with the alpha than someone else in the pack.
"Besides, it isn't any of your business."
"What do you mean it isn't any of my business? What'll I tell my boss? His boss?"
"Nothing, it isn't any of their business either," Zeke said.
"But ..."
Mark put his hand on Michael's arm, "Michael, are you still serious about meeting my daughters?"
Michael stopped and turned to face him, "What does that have to do with this?"
"Everything. As I told you on the drive back up here, if you become one of us, you're going to quickly realize that the rules are different for us and for you. That there are things better left unsaid and unknown. Things that it's not any human's business to know, because most humans aren't going to understand. We're all monsters here, Mike."
"I wouldn't exactly call you monsters," Michael protested.
"No, but everyone else does, Son," Zeke said. "They'll be calling you one too. This ain't like changing church congregations, or joining the Elk's club. You will change, and your life will change, and you're gonna have a wife and children who will be depending on you for their safety."
Michael looked at Mark.
"It changes your whole perspective on life," Mark said to Michael. "Lycan adults may be tougher than humans, but lycan cubs are not. Infant mortality can be high, and you'll never quite fit in with humans ever again, eventually they'll notice something is different about you.
"And you won't want to go to the trouble of fitting in, either. You'll start to find them annoying at times, even insufferable on occasions, because they won't understand you anymore, even if you still manage to understand them."
Michael looked at Mark, then at Zeke, who nodded, and then turned back to look at Helena who looked surprised.
"Was biting him really worth it?" Michael asked.
Helena laughed, "Every minute."
Michael looked down at the floor and sighed heavily. "Okay, consider me rebuffed and educated. You're all right, I really don't know about lycans or what being one means."
"At least your willin' to listen," Zeke said and opened the door and led them inside.
The room was fairly small, Mark noticed, it had a dresser, two chairs, and a bed, and not much else would have fit. It was painted in a dark green, and there was only a dim lamp on the table. The single window wasn't very large, and probably didn't let much light in.
But it wasn't confining or claustrophobic, it felt comfortable and secure.
Lying under the covers of the bed was a young woman, she was pale and had circles under her eyes and looked a little gaunt. But even so it was obviously apparent that she was a striking young lady, most likely not yet twenty. Her eyes had a bit of a wild look as she glanced around at each of them as they entered the room.
"Claudia," Zeke said sitting down on the bed near the foot, and putting a hand on her legs giving them a pat, "these two gentlemen are Agents Mark Levin, and Mike Sikes of the FBI, they had a part in your rescue the other night. Mark's a werecougar, Mike's a human. The woman back there by the door is Mark's wife, she's also a werecougar."
Claudia nodded slowly, "Thank you," she said in a voice that was barely more than a whisper.
"Mark here wants to ask you some questions about the pretender. You don't have to answer if you don't want to, and no one will be upset with you, no matter what you say."
"Okay, Sir," Claudia said.
Mark went over and kneeled down besid
es the bed, putting his head on the same level as hers.
"Claudia, how long were you with," Mark looked up at Zeke.
"He wasn't a real alpha, a real alpha doesn't treat his women like that, that's why I call him the pretender."
"Amen to that," Michael replied and sat down in one of the chairs.
Mark nodded and looked back at Claudia, "with the pretender," he finished.
"About three months," she whispered.
"In all that time, did you ever see Cr... , I mean the pretender, turn into a wolf?"
Claudia shook her head.
"Did he ever show you how to turn into a wolf?"
She shook her head again.
"Have you shown her yet, Zeke?" Helena asked from the doorway, where she was still standing.
"No, not yet. I wanted her to have a couple of good meals and some rest first."
Helena nodded.
Mark gave Helena a cross look for interrupting him, she just smiled back at him.
Mark turned back to the girl on the bed, assuming a more comforting expression, "When was the last time the pretender slept with you?"
"Oh, he never slept with us. He said we were too filthy, that we were animals and not pure like he was."
"When did that start?"
"After he changed me. He led me down to the kennel in the basement and told me that was my home now," Claudia sniffed a few times after she said that.
"Did he stop having sex with you too?"
"No, well, not at first. At first I was his 'good dog' and he'd have sex with me all the time, but eventually he got Dianne and it got less and less," Claudia looked sad when she said that. "When he stopped having sex with you, that was when he took you to your new home."
"Your new home?" Mark asked.
"We, none of us, knew for sure where he would be taking us. I'd heard him once say to one of the older girls that he was taking her someplace she didn't deserve to go, that it was too good for her. Another girl said she heard him say to a girl that he was taking her to a new master, the great one, even though she didn't deserve the honor because she was just a filthy bitch."
Wolf Killer (The Hammer Commission) Page 14