Unnaturals

by Dean J. Anderson

`Nobody move!' he yelled, safety switch flicked off. `Nobody fuckin' move! Ralph, down on the ground, hands behind your head.' He stepped forward. No one moved.

  `You, girl. Do the same!' He waved his pistol at the red-haired girl. Nothing happened. `I said—'

  `Put down your weapon.' A cultured voice came from behind him. Pete froze. He felt a pressure across the back of his legs. `Put down your weapon, officer.'

  He felt sweat cooling on his face. The darkness and the creature filling the end of the alley had vanished. He could see no flash of red hair. How the hell had that happened?

  He widened his peripheral vision, trying to see everything at once.

  `Put it away.'

  It was above him. His focus snapped up. The voice had been calm. A normal sort of voice, but far from the truth. Darkness clung to the walls and the scaled man watched from above.

  `No closer.' Pete squeezed the trigger, ready.

  `We wish you no harm,' the man said. `But if you do not lower your weapon—'

  `You will die.' The redhead stepped out of the darkness. She smiled, revealing pointed teeth.

  His mind wandered off again. He didn't remember Renee having pointed teeth.

  Again he came back to the present. `Bullshit. Too many witnesses, and 000 calls about this carnage.' He held his weapon steady, bluffing it out. What the hell was he doing here?

  `Incorrect,' the voice from behind stated. `The instant Mistress Renee was attacked this alleyway and building were cloaked from human eyes. Other than your eyes it seems, curiously. No one has seen or heard anything worthy of a 000 call.'

  `Human eyes?' Was he dreaming? Was he locked in his recurring nightmare? Would he wake up, or was he deeper than usual, and talking to it, trying to find a rational answer? As he'd tried to do so many years ago.

  `Put the gun down, Pete,' Ralph said, joining the redhead.

  Pete blinked. Ralph had never been part of the nightmare. He had been so normal.

  `What the fuck are you do—?'

  Darkness slammed into him. Pain flashed.

  Pete fell, ever deeper into his darkness.

  Mason frowned at the ugly purple bruise spreading across Pete's face.

  `You hit him too hard,' Ralph snapped, kneeling beside the police officer and checking his pulse. `He's a good bloke but you have to remember he's not like us, Mason. He's going to need medical help.'

  `Inside now.' Renee brushed past him. `Syrus, you too. We're at risk the longer we're out here.'

  `Yes, Mistress.'

  Ralph picked Pete up. Mason called the darkness back into him and stood unmoving as the others acted around him. He had nearly killed an innocent.

  `Lose the Wolf coats, boys, and get this shit into a pile.' Renee kicked at a lump of bloody flesh. `We get to see if Mother was right about something. And you,' she grabbed Mason's arm, pulling him along, `you need to fix Pete's face fast.'

  Mason followed Ralph, wondering if he could heal again. Renee seemed to think he could, but maybe it only worked for Renee. Was he capable of more than dealing out death?

  Renee flicked off cushions. `Put him on the lounge.'

  `I just do what I did with you, then?' Maybe he could do it. He found himself eager to try. He touched Pete's damaged face. To heal, if he could do it—

  `Pretty much. But don't overdo it,' Renee said, heading outside.

  `Yeah, don't screw this up as well,' Ralph muttered.

  Mason looked up, irritated. `Shut it.' He held Ralph's gaze until he looked away. `Right, let's see how this works.'

  The energy came to his call easier than before and, to his relief, he did not need Renee present. Mason let the energy move down his arm in short bursts.

  Ralph moved closer as Pete's face began to heal.

  Mason focused, letting a fine stream of energy into Pete. He had to make this right. The bruising disappeared and his jaw clicked into place. He'd done it. Healed. Mason swallowed.

  `Respect,' Ralph said, touching Pete's face. `You really can heal.'

  `Apparently so.' Mason stood up, satisfaction at his healing strong within him.

  `You finished?' Renee called from the doorway. `Then come here.'

  Ralph shrugged at him and they went to her.

  `This you need to see,' she said, standing beside the bloody pile.

  `See what?'

  She flicked a silver liquid across the pile of body parts, its touch creating an instant reaction. The bodies broke down, the reaction spreading out following the blood on the footpath and up the walls.

  `Dust.' Mason touched the fine red dust in the air. A breeze shifted it. `That's one hell of a reaction. Magic?'

  `No.' She grinned at him, handing him a small glass vial. `Liquid silver nitrate. The reaction is something Mother discovered.'

  `That would have been handy to know a year ago.' Mason stood, remembering the huge effort and manpower it took the Fund to dispose of bodies.

  `Thought you'd like that,' she said, taking the vial from his hand. `It only works when they're dead, and has no effect on Darkells, see?' Mason flinched as she tipped a drop onto her hand. `Mother thinks it has something to do with how Bloodells' chemistry changes once they're dead. Their blood and organic matter attracts the silver nitrate and the chemical reaction dies out once there is no more.' She flicked some onto Ralph. `Plus, wolves are not affected by silver at all.'

  `Thanks.' Ralph wiped the liquid off him. `Hollywood is to blame for that bullshit.' He screwed his nose up. `We need to clean up. You still got our stuff upstairs?'

  Renee didn't look at him. `You know where everything is.'

  Ralph led the pack inside.

  `We need to clean up as well,' Mason said, rolling fingers thickening with congealing blood.

  `We could join Ralph in the showers,' she said with a smile that made him pause.

  He thought about it and nodded. `If we have to.'

  She shook her head, tongue pressed against the inside of her cheek. `Give me your hand and relax.'

  He did so, not sure why had to relax. Skin tingled as red flakes fell off him, the blood gone. `Oh shit, what's that?'

  `Me. It's like a cleansing energy.' Renee brushed dust off him. `Something to do with Huntress I think. Cleansing blood from my skin would be a practical thing.' She pulled a chair out from a table as she shook the last of the dust off.

  `I can see how that would work. Makes it easy to stay inconspicuous.' Mason brushed himself off, listening to the showers running upstairs. `Ralph and his lads. They seem very close.'

  `They are. And, yes, they do stay here sometimes. That's why they have clothes here.'

  `Wasn't concerned about that.' Mason pulled up a chair for himself. `But they are very much connected to Ralph. Is it a Wolf thing?'

  `Maybe. I haven't had much to do with Wolves other than Ralph.'

  `There are more?'

  `All through Australia. It's a big country with plenty of room to run. And it has always been Bloodells-free, until today.'

  `No thanks to him.' Ralph stood at the bottom of the steps looking at Mason. `Since you showed up, everything has changed for the worse.' Arms crossed, he leant against the wall. `Yet everyone seems to like you.'

  `Probably because Mason hasn't made a real dick out of himself, like you have.' Renee crossed her arms and Mason felt the mood darken.

  `Ralph has a point, though,' Mason said thinking about the last few days. `Two days ago something started pushing all of us together. We're in the middle of events that seem to keep us moving towards each other.'

  `You're saying this isn't all your fault?' Ralph scowled at him.

  `You're being a dick again.' Renee glared at Ralph.

  `Yeah, well. Two days ago I thought there was a chance you and I could be something,' Ralph snapped back. `All this time we've been around each other, dodging the curse. You've been training with us and running with us as a pack at night. I thought I meant something to you.' Ralph set his jaw at her. `Obviously I was wrong. He shows up an
d we're nothing. Do you know what it feels like?'

  Ralph's anger rode across Mason's senses thick and fast.

  `Listen, you idiot!' Renee moved fast to face Ralph. Mason stood up. The room was hot. He could see Ralph's Wolf shift under his skin. `You knew we could never be a couple! You know what would have happened if we had tried anything.'

  Mason went to her. Ralph tensed.

  `Enough.' Mason had not wanted it to sound like a command but it did.

  Ralph yelled in his face. `You. Don't. Tell me what to do.'

  All control vanished. Mason drove Ralph into the wall, hand around his throat. `Shut up.' Scales covered him. `Stop it!'

  Ralph drove his fist into Mason's side and bones shattered in his hand. Ralph howled in agony.

  Ricco appeared beside him, eyes wide and hands up, palms out. `I thought we came here to talk, not fight.'

  `Wasn't much of a fight last time,' Mason growled, holding Ralph tight. `The boy needs to calm down.'

  `Screw this.' Ralph began to change. Wolf hair bristled across him. Claws raked against scaled arms.

  `No Wolf.' Mason let his gift come. The Wolf must not come. Not here not now.

  Ricco froze as Ralph's Wolf retreated and his life was held in one hand. Mason's.

  `Easy,' Renee said, touching his arm. `He needs to breathe.'

  `How did you do that?' Ricco's face was pale.

  `No idea,' Mason said, not sure whether he should discuss it just yet. He did know that Ralph needed to listen and that there was something that felt slightly off about him. `But since Ralph will not be reasonable, you can answer some questions for him.'

  `I don't take orders from you.' Ricco's tone sharpened and Mason caught his aggressive change in stance.

  `Loyal and stubborn.' Mason shook his head and lifted Ralph off the floor by the throat. Ralph thrashed as oxygen leached out of his body but Mason did not flinch. `Your choice, Ricco.'

  Renee's hand tightened on his arm but he did not look at her.

  `Renee, please?' Ricco begged.

  Mason did not stop. The more he held Ralph, the more he felt something was off about him.

  `Mason,' she said, panic edging her tone. `He's suffocating.'

  `It's up to Ricco,' Mason said. `All he has to do is talk.'

  Ralph was going purple. `Okay, okay.' Ricco held up his hands. `Treaty it is. Let him go.'

  Mason eased Ralph down so he could stand and relaxed the pressure on his throat, but did not let go. Air whistled as Ralph gasped and spluttered. `Just so you understand, boy, if Renee didn't care for you, a lot, you would not be here. Understand?'

  `Yes,' he rasped.

  `Good.' Mason turned back to Ricco. `I know your name. Who are the others?'

  `Jon and Justin,' Ricco said, still tight-lipped and tense.

  In the darkness within, Mason felt the other part of him awaken, uncoil. `You're all here because of Ralph,' Mason said, trying to understand the whispers in his mind. `Jon and you are brothers. That's easy to see and the kid, Justin, needs a family.'

  A sense of wrongness persisted. `How is it you all come to be here, with Ralph?'

  `Punishment.' Ricco almost spat the word and Mason could feel the anger. `The other Wolf packs didn't want us.'

  He focused on Ricco. The boy was strong, proud. He could see nothing that would cause him to be set aside. Jon's face changed and Mason understood. `You're here with your brother. Misplaced loyalty is your problem.'

  `I'm seen as weak,' Jon said, moving closer.

  He was taller and broader than his brother and Mason wondered how that equated to weak.

  `I freeze in fight. The Wolves tried to kill me because of it. Ricco killed two of them. He saved me.'

  `So we were both cast out,' Ricco growled, bitter. `Ralph found us and took us in.'

  `And the boy?' Mason asked, aware of Justin fidgeting behind them. `He's younger but faster. I saw that last night.'

  `Justin was abandoned.' Ricco straightened, protective. `His father was a Wolf but his mother didn't have the gene. A wolfling half-blood is not always accepted. His mother died at birth and his father didn't want him.'

  `Wolfling?'

  `Not all of us are born into the Wolf. Some find our Wolf late in life. A wolfling can be any age. Some are adults when they find their Wolf.'

  `You happy now?' Ralph grated under his hand. `You know we're all screw-ups.'

  `What about you?' Mason focused on him, Renee close beside him. `You're big, strong, a bit rash and a dick, but capable.'

  Renee moved closer to Ralph. `He was cast out because of me. I met him when he was still a child. We clicked. It was like we knew each other. Ever since we've been friends. The elders do not approve of me and our relationship.'

  Ralph's aura flared. Images flooded Mason's mind. The darkness in him whispered, `See him.'

  `You saw her down by the beach,' Mason said, voice changing under knowledge and the power it built. `On her old green push bike. You were with the Irish girl, eating ice cream.'

  He blinked. Scales crept across his body. He began to see differently. Ralph's face went white.

  `You followed her.' Someone else's memories settled in him. `Everywhere she went you did.'

  `Mason?' Renee joined him. `How can you know this?'

  `You could not stop thinking about her, could you?'

  Ralph leant against the wall, trying to force a space between them.

  `Every moment you could slip away, you did. You'd find her, stay close by. In case she needed you.' Mason heard his voice continue to deepen as understanding grew. Energy around Ralph revealed itself, flaring to resonate with his own internal energy, his Song. It seemed impossible, but Ralph was connected to him.

  `What are you doing?' Renee whispered.

  Mason's body hummed with energy. He willed Ralph towards his own energy field. Behind him came the sound of Ralph's pack brothers shuffling closer.

  `You've needed to be with her since you were a child. Drawn to her, compelled.' His voice had deepened so far he no longer recognised it.

  Ralph stared back at him, eyes white with shock.

  `Save him,' whispered the darkness filling Mason. `Free the Wolf.'

  Long-dormant instincts awoke. He drove his hand into Ralph's chest, impaling him, raising him, turning to the pack.

  `Are you true to your alpha?' The voice Mason didn't recognise filled the room with the question. Wolves buckled under its weight. Blood seeped from their noses.

  `Answer,' the voice lashed them. But they were prepared. Ricco struggled to stand. Mason saw the colours each carried, the colours of their alpha, red and purple. Anger. And passion.

  `Our bond to the alpha is true. Any who would call it into question shall suffer retribution of the pack, four-strong.'

  Mason recognised the words deep inside. Ricco's response carried an ancient call to battle. Imbued with the boy's passion the words found their own substance, filling the silence. Mason smiled.

  `Well spoken, lad.' It was Mason's voice again, but the energy persisted. Ralph was gasping against the pain of his impalement, gripping his black-scaled arm, but wearing only defiance on his face. He was strong. `Brace yourself,' Mason said, making sure Ralph saw his eyes. `Anything to do with this stuff always hurts, a lot. I know this.'

  He made eye contact with each member of the pack. `Close in. Touch him. This needs to be done.'

  Static raced across his skin and into Ralph. Renee moved in behind him, hands on his arms. The boys circled around Ralph, their hands on his shoulders. Fear filled the air. Ralph's grip tightened.

  `What's happening?' Renee whispered.

  `A correction.' Mason looked into Ralph's eyes. `You've dark energy all through you, but it's not in synch with whatever makes a Wolf tick.' Mason didn't know what he drew the truth from, but it felt as if he'd known it forever.

  `Not possible,' Ralph managed. `Wolves are Earthbound. Not magic.' Bloody foam dribbled down his chin.

  `Guess you're differ
ent from other wolves then.' Dark energy raced towards his fingers, his hand twisted in Ralph's chest and the Wolf screamed like no man should.

  CHAPTER 25

  Ralph tried to scream.

  White hot pain tore through him as his Wolf howled within, trapped. His nails tore away as he clawed at Mason's arm, hard like steel.

  Screams filled his mind, the pack link wide open as they shared his agony. Through the noise and blood he glimpsed Ricco twisting in pain.

  Energy uncoiled in his chest, rippling outward, flickers of it racing across and through him, converting the pain into exhilaration as it unlocked a part buried deep in him, silencing the pain. He understood then. He wasn't being punished.

  The pack shared his realisation. Screams of pain fell silent.

  `You feel that?' Slivers of dark energy danced across Ricco.

  Ralph's Wolf roared, stopping any reply. Muscle rippled up his arms and across his chest. His hands, still gripping Mason's arm, changed, bones creaking, strengthening.

  Ricco grabbed him. `What the hell?'

  He stared at Ricco's hand, changed. He barely felt Mason's fingers slip out of his chest.

  `Awesome.' Justin stepped close to peer at the healing wound in his chest. `What just happened to us?'

  Ralph swallowed. How could he explain what he saw? His pack brothers were no longer awkward wolflings but lethal weapons of tooth and claw barely contained in human form. They were more than mere Wolf.

  `Just unlocked your cage,' Mason said in his voice. `Things will be very different from now on.'

  Jon held out a towel. Ralph took it, wondering if he wanted to know what Mason meant. `How so?'

  `You're stronger.' Renee said, struggling to sound normal. The vibe shifted. Danger screamed at Ralph as Huntress pushed into her. A wildness he had never felt seeped out of her.

  `Your connection with Renee—' Mason stopped. Hunter seeped into his face. `Your connection with Huntress has been forged. Your desire for Renee had been built on her unlocked energies and your unlocked Wolf, both fighting within you.'

  `I do feel differently.' Ralph tried to sound controlled but his Wolf fought to be free. Then Huntress stood before him and his control faded.

  `We will hunt together, my alpha.' She touched his face and released the Wolf. He howled with new-found delight as his coat formed.