Blood trickled down the inside of her arm where Kalix had put a cut through the letter she’d inscribed there. Though the people around her couldn’t smell the blood the way a werewolf would have, they could sense that something was deeply wrong.
Halfway through the journey, the child in the facing seat abruptly started crying, unnerved by Kalix’s disturbing presence. The child’s mother shot a hostile glance at Kalix then took her child, her luggage, and herself off to another carriage, so that in the crowded train, Kalix now sat completely alone. People no longer stared at her but shrank from even acknowledging the presence of the crazed young girl who’d sat for hours, unmoving, grim-faced, dirty, occasionally muttering to herself under her breath. On one occasion, Kalix bared her teeth, and that was disturbing too. When she twisted her face in an expression of rage, people wondered if it was time to call the guard or perhaps leave the carriage altogether to get away from her unsettling presence.
Chapter 150
Vex felt dissatisfied. More than dissatisfied, she felt agitated. She took a can of beer from the fridge, opened it, and sat down to watch an episode of Doctor Who. But even that didn’t soothe her mind, though she was a fan of the show. “Kalix shouldn’t have gone off to Edinburgh. Something bad will happen. And she’ll miss her exam.”
Vex wondered if she should be doing something. What that might be, she had no idea. Daniel and Moonglow weren’t around. They’d gone to the movies last night and still hadn’t returned. Vex sipped her beer and puzzled over what she might do. She couldn’t ask her aunt for help; Malveria was in Edinburgh. Besides, she’d forbidden Agrivex to go anywhere till she’d taken her exam, on pain of being thrown into the Great Volcano.
“I can’t follow Kalix to Edinburgh,” thought the young Fire Elemental. “I’ll miss my exam, and then I’ll be dragged back to the palace in disgrace.”
Vex looked round at her surroundings. The small living room, like the rest of the flat, was cheaply furnished and showing its age. But it was comfy too, and hospitable. It felt like home. Vex didn’t want to be dragged back to the palace. She liked living with Daniel and Moonglow and Kalix.
“But Kalix will probably be killed by her clan or a hunter or something.”
The program started again, and Vex managed not to think about anything till the next commercial break.
“Even if I did want to follow Kalix, I can’t,” she told herself. “I don’t know where Edinburgh is, and I couldn’t get there if I did. Kalix took every penny from the house, so I can’t get a train ticket. It’s too far for me to travel through space. Aunt Malvie’s right; I am the worst teleporter in the Hiyasta nation.”
Vex felt slightly depressed and wished she’d worked a bit harder on improving her traveling skills. She sank in the couch rather gloomily and felt hopeless in the face of adversity. It was a new feeling for her, and one she didn’t like. She picked up the control and flicked through the channels, hoping for a new episode of Tokyo Top Pop Boom-Boom Girl to divert her attention. There weren’t any new episodes, only repeats. However, as the theme music started to play, a strange feeling stirred her spirit.
“Tokyo Top Pop Boom-Boom Girl wouldn’t just give up like this,” she thought. “She’d do something heroic.”
Vex finished her beer and hurried upstairs to her room where she put on her favorite Tokyo Top Pop Boom-Boom Girl T-shirt, a trusty pair of boots, and her mittens.
“What else would I need for a journey?” she wondered. “I’ve never packed for a journey before.”
Vex filled up a carrier bag with some underwear, another pair of boots, and two more T-shirts. “That should do it. Now, where is Edinburgh?”
Vex hurried from her attic downstairs to Daniel’s room. She had a vague idea she’d seen Daniel looking at a map when he’d been about to drive home to his parents’ house. It was hard to find anything in Daniel’s room, it being almost as chaotic as Vex’s. Fortunately Daniel had left his road map of the British Isles on the table next to his computer. Vex tucked it in her bag, went back to the living room, and wrote a note.
“Kalix has gone to Edinburgh to kill Dominil. I’ve gone to Edinburgh to save Kalix. Vex”
After some consideration, she drew a gold star underneath, reasoning that it was a well-presented note. With that, she concentrated as hard as she could and dematerialized, off on her journey to Scotland.
Chapter 151
Decembrius woke up feeling less depressed than he had for a long time. His desire for Kalix had been so strong it had been affecting his moods and behavior. In the first dim seconds of consciousness, he turned over in bed to put his arm round her, but as he came awake, he realized she’d gone. Decembrius was disappointed. He’d wanted to wake up and find Kalix beside him. He rose and walked naked into the small living room. The first thing he saw was his wallet lying open on the table. He checked it and found that it was empty. Kalix had stolen his money. Beside the empty wallet was his bottle of MacRinnalch whisky, which Kalix appeared to have finished. Decembrius stared at the empty wallet and bottle for a few moments then burst out laughing. “She sleeps with me, probably only to get information, then leaves in the middle of the night, robbing me in the process. You have to admire her for being single-minded.”
Decembrius laughed again and felt that he liked Kalix more than ever. There was no one else like her in the clan. No one so spirited or so beautiful. Would she have reached her home yet? Probably. Decembrius wanted to talk to her and wondered if he should phone. Kalix had never actually given him her phone number, but Decembrius had craftily taken a note of it when he’d visited to help her study.
He hesitated. If he phoned now, he might seem needy. Cloying, even. Suddenly, his head was filled with a vision of blood flowing down an old staircase. Decembrius slumped onto the couch, holding his head till the vision departed. Though he’d been having this sort of experience most of his life, it was always draining.
“What did that mean?” he wondered. “Blood flowing down an old staircase?”
The phone rang.
“Is Kalix there?” a girl asked.
“No, who’s this?”
“Moonglow. Who lives with Kalix. I’m worried.” Moonglow told Decembrius about Vex’s note.
“You just let her go off to Edinburgh? I thought you were supposed to be looking after her?”
“We weren’t here,” protested Moonglow, though she did feel guilty about letting Kalix leave. It had been a mistake to visit friends and stay over at their house. They shouldn’t have left Kalix on her own.
“Can you help?”
“I’ll try,” replied Decembrius, and he put the phone down.
Decembrius cursed. He should have realized that this was going to happen and taken care to prevent Kalix from leaving, but their lovemaking had sent him into a deep sleep. He grinned at the memory of their time together. “Kalix was keen enough, even if she didn’t want to admit it.” He stopped grinning. “Now she’s going to Scotland, and the clan will most probably kill her.”
He hurried to get ready. Decembrius was too vain to rush out of the house entirely unprepared and brushed his hair in front of a mirror and cleaned his teeth. He put on the radio, rejected the first pre-set station and the second, found the Sex Pistols on a third, and let it play while he dressed.
“‘Pretty Vacant,’” he mused. “Would that be me or Kalix?”
Inspecting himself in the mirror, he was satisfied with his appearance. There was a tiny smear of eyeliner at the corner of his eye. He could fix it on the way to Edinburgh. He threw a few clothes in a bag and then hurried out of the flat, ready to drive to London.
As soon as he got through his front door, he was grabbed roughly by the throat. William Douglas-MacPhee held him in an iron grip. Duncan sneered at him.
“Careless, Decembrius. Did you not smell us?”
“He looks like he’s in a hurry,” said Rhona. She sniffed the air. “Have a nice time with Kalix?”
“Kalix isn’t here anymo
re,” said Decembrius.
“We weren’t looking for her. We were looking for you.” William rammed Decembrius’s head against the wall.
Decembrius tried to stay on his feet, but Rhona kicked the back of his legs, and he tumbled to the floor. The three Douglas-MacPhees began kicking him savagely. Decembrius was a strong wolf but no match for the combined ferocity of the Douglas-MacPhees. He attempted to rise but made it only onto one knee before a tremendous blow from William sent him crashing to the ground again. Rhona kicked him in the face, and Duncan stamped on his ribs before leaning down to drag his head roughly off the floor.
“Don’t annoy us again or we’ll kill you,” Duncan snarled then slammed his head down. William kicked him again. The Douglas-MacPhees took a step back, looking at their work. Decembrius had been very badly beaten and was bleeding both from his mouth and his nose. “Tell Kalix we’ll be seeing her soon.”
The Douglas-MacPhees turned and clattered their way heavily down the stairs. Decembrius tried to rise, but failed, and had to crawl back into his flat where he lay on the floor, his face contorted with pain from the savage beating.
Chapter 152
Are you sober?” asked Dominil.
“No,” admitted the twins.
“Are you ready to play?”
“No.”
“Can you remember your songs?”
“No.”
“Can you at least remember the name of your band?”
Beauty and Delicious looked downcast. A few hours before they were due to play, stage fright had once again overwhelmed them. They were sitting in the largest room of the tenement in Leith Walk, staring blankly at the television.
“We thought we wouldn’t bother doing the gig,” said Beauty, and her sister grunted in agreement.
Dominil breathed heavily. “It’s time for us to leave.”
“We’re not going.”
“You see a pattern of behavior here?” demanded Dominil. “A gig is proposed. You are excited and keen. I organize everything. Then, at the last minute, you get stage fright and won’t go on.”
“Pattern? No, I don’t think there’s a pattern. Delicious, do you see any pattern?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Stand up,” said Dominil.
“We’re not going.”
Dominil picked up one sister in each hand, lifting them off their feet.
“If we weren’t so fashionably skinny, you wouldn’t be able to do that,” protested Beauty.
“It’s time to play. The rest of the band is waiting. Let’s go.” Dominil hustled the unwilling twins downstairs and into the band’s van.
Pete, Adam, and Hamil greeted them all enthusiastically. They were in a strange city, playing a small gig, and they were looking forward to it. They knew that they might be playing in front of a small audience that might not like them. They knew that they’d have to set up their equipment themselves and afterwards carry it all back into their van, probably receiving only a token payment. It didn’t trouble them. They’d enjoy the gig anyway. So might the twins, eventually, though at this moment they were slumped motionless in the back of the van, looking anything but enthusiastic.
“Stage fright again?” asked Pete. “Or just drunk?”
“Both,” replied Dominil. “They’ll be fine when they get there.”
* * *
As they drove through the Georgian streets towards the venue, the fog started to become thicker.
“I never knew Edinburgh was so foggy,” observed Pete.
“They call the fog haar,” said Dominil. “A cold mist from the North Sea. It’s quite common on the east coast of Scotland. The word comes either from Middle Dutch hare, a biting wind, or Frisian harig, meaning damp.”
“Someone make her stop talking,” groaned Beauty from the back of the van.
They arrived at the venue and began to unload their equipment. Dominil hefted a large amplifier cabinet onto her shoulder.
“Let me help you with that,” said Pete.
“I’m fine.”
“But it’s heavy.”
Dominil was irritated. “I don’t need your help.”
“I’m sorry I got drunk and told everyone we slept together.”
“Fine.”
“I didn’t mean to announce it to the whole warehouse.”
“Could we concentrate on getting our equipment inside?”
“I’ve never met anyone like you, Dominil. How about we give it a try?”
“I don’t think that would be a good idea.”
“I do.” Pete smiled at her and started to look besotted again.
Dominil tried to ignore him. Her phone vibrated in her pocket. She read the message.
“hope the preparations for the gig are going well. albermarle”
Dominil was tempted to text back, telling Albermarle she was going to kill him the first chance she got. Tormenting her with unwanted text messages while she was already being tormented by a love-sick guitarist was surely the last straw. She restrained her urge.
“Who was that from?” asked Pete.
“No one.”
“Oh. Do you have a boyfriend?”
“No.”
They carried some more equipment inside.
“So who was the text from?”
“It’s really not your business.”
“Could we go out together sometime?”
Dominil turned to shout at the rest of the band. “Are you going to hang around out there all day? Get that equipment indoors, and be quick about it!”
Chapter 153
Decembrius regained consciousness, crawled back into his flat, washed the blood off his face, then set out for Edinburgh. He had no money for a train or plane ticket, but he had petrol in his tank so he drove. The journey through North London was frustratingly slow, but when he reached the freeway the traffic was less, and he made reasonably good time up the M1. He knew he could cover the distance in eight or nine hours if there were no serious delays. His inner werewolf strength and his desire to save Kalix carried him through the start of his journey, but by the time he’d reached Northampton, he was starting to flag. The Douglas-MacPhees had beaten him badly, and he ached all over. He had a raging thirst, and his head pounded unpleasantly. He tried to keep a steady pace, ignoring his discomfort, but by the time he neared Leeds, he knew he couldn’t carry on. No matter how urgently Decembrius wanted to reach the capital of Scotland, he wasn’t going to get there like this. He was more likely to lose control of his car and crash.
As the sun went down, Decembrius pulled into a service station. He used the change in his pockets to put a small amount of petrol into the engine and bought a bottle of water from the store. The clerk looked at the livid bruises on his face but didn’t comment.
Decembrius returned to his parked car, drank the water, and then decided that he had to take something of a risk. It was ingrained into all MacRinnalch werewolves from the earliest age that they were never to transform while there was a chance that they might be seen, but this was an emergency. He moved his car to the furthest part of the compound, locked the doors, took off his coat, draped it over his head, curled up in the seat, and changed into his werewolf form. As the familiar shape descended on him, he immediately felt his strength returning. He closed his eyes to sleep for a little while as a werewolf and regain his strength.
* * *
Decembrius was not the only one having a difficult time reaching Edinburgh. Vex, with a bag of T-shirts in one hand and a map in the other, was attempting to negotiate the British Isles, despite her poor teleporting skills and her complete lack of any sense of direction.
“Is this Edinburgh?” she asked a stranger, hopefully, after materializing in an alleyway and wandering out onto the main street.
“Edinburgh? This is Southampton.”
“Is that near Edinburgh?”
“It’s about as far away as you can get.”
“Oh.”
Vex realized she’d traveled i
n the wrong direction. It was very confusing. Her aunt had made a path for her from the palace, through the dimensions, to Moonglow’s flat, but everywhere else all looked the same. Vex attempted to point herself in the right direction, slipped back into the space between dimensions, and teleported again. She popped back into existence several hundred feet in the air and began plummeting towards the ground.
“This is troubling,” she thought, and dived back into nether space. Some minutes later, she managed to land by the road side in an unknown town. She approached an elderly lady at a bus stop.
“Is this Edinburgh?”
“This if Cardiff,” replied the elderly lady. “You’re in Wales.”
Agrivex walked off glumly.
“This is difficult,” she thought. “Maybe I should give up.”
She remembered Kalix rescuing her from the bullies at college and how much she didn’t want Kalix to be arrested and thrown into a dungeon at the castle and then probably killed and eaten by her savage clan. Vex resolved to keep on going. Not bothering to check if anyone could see her, she popped out of existence again, clutching her map, and hoping for the best.
Chapter 154
The enchantress was despondent.
“Don’t worry about the shoes,” said Captain Easterly. “So what if that woman Kabachetka gets her picture in Vogue? Soon you’ll be dominating the magazine when your collection hits the high streets.”
“My collection is never going to hit the high streets.”
“People are going to buy your clothes if I have to bully the entire staff at my magazine to write about you in every issue for the next six months.”
Curse of the Wolf Girl Page 49