by H B Lyne
Her phone buzzed in her pocket, distracting her from her thoughts. She had two messages from Rhys.
28/11. 16.04: Hi. Are you OK?
29/11. 10.37: Hi. Are you free today? I'd really like to see you. R xx
'Shit,' she muttered. She was angry with herself for forgetting Rhys and the weird nature of their last meeting, though she knew she had a very good reason for Rhys slipping her mind. She was surprised to hear from him and doubly so at the invitation to meet up. When they had parted last time she had felt sure she wouldn't see him again.
Hi. I'm fine, thanks. Had a great night with mates last night, bit worse for wear today. How about you? I'd like to meet up. We could go see a film or something.
She didn't want to expend too much energy and she really didn't think she could spend too much time talking with him, with so much that she couldn't tell him racing through her mind. Going to the cinema was just the thing. It allowed them to be together without having to work hard at conversation. She didn't care what they saw, she just wanted to chill out and be with him.
Sounds good. Meet me at the cinema at 1.30?
Came the reply. She sighed with relief and sent a message agreeing.
She decided to take some of her things back to her flat, as a first, tentative, step towards trying to return to her old life. She just had a few clothes and her dha, so she gathered them together and got ready to go out.
Wind Talker and Lily were working in the betting shop when it came time for her to leave. Stalker went into the back room of the shop and greeted them.
'Hey you,' Lily said warmly. 'Well done last night. I hear it was amazing.'
'Thanks. That might be you one day,' Stalker replied, grinning at her young friend.
'I hope so,' Lily said, returning her grin.
'I'm going out for the afternoon. Catch you both tonight for dinner, yeah?'
Wind Talker nodded, a small smile on his lips and Lily nodded enthusiastically.
Stalker left through the shop and walked briskly to her flat, where she showered and put her things away. With a quick once over in the mirror, she left to meet Rhys.
He was waiting for her outside the cinema in the city centre, wrapped up warm against the cold wind that had picked up but he pulled her into a tight hug and kissed the top of her head, catching her completely off guard.
'Hi,' her voice was muffled against his thick coat and it made her chuckle.
He released her and gave her a long look. Stalker tried to read him, he seemed sad and hopeful at the same time.
'I'm so glad you came,' he said at last.
'Me too, though I have to admit to being a bit confused.'
'Me too,' he said quietly, looking down at his feet. 'Let's just say that I don't think I can keep away from you and leave it at that.'
'Okay,' she said, feeling confused and relieved all at once.
They went inside, picked a film and bought popcorn. After a few minutes, Stalker felt warm and comfortable with him, she hoped that she would be able to get used to what she could and couldn't tell him about her life given a little time and for now was very grateful to have a normal day after what she had endured the day before.
During the film Rhys draped his arm around her shoulders and she rested a hand on his thigh. The close contact sent her heart racing and a deep yearning for more gnawed at her throughout the two hour film. When it finished they left, talking animatedly about the action in the film, but as they stepped out into the cold, grey late afternoon the conversation quickly dried up. Rhys took her hand and smiled like a nervous schoolboy.
'Do you want to come and hang out at my place for a bit?'
Stalker checked the time on her phone, it wasn't even 5pm yet, so she had some time before she needed to get back to the betting shop for the pack celebration. His thumb was stroking the back of her hand, sending sparks right through her. She was desperate to be with him and felt sure he was thinking the same thing, there were no mixed signals now. She grinned and nodded and they set off walking at a quick pace against the cold wind.
He led her through the city centre and out the south side, it had gotten dark already and the orange street lights lit their way. As they walked in easy silence she had a brief moment of hesitation, unsure where they were going and whether she might be encroaching on somebody's territory. Before they had really left the outer edges of what was considered the centre, he led her up a side street in a nice area of newly built apartment buildings and onto a narrow street of older terraced houses. She breathed a sigh of relief as they came to a halt outside one of the houses in the middle of the terrace, she knew they were still on unclaimed territory.
The door was black and reflected the orange light from a nearby street lamp. It was a narrow house, just one room wide, but was three storeys tall and was made from sandstone, every house on the street was identical and it looked very neat and clean.
When her eyes finished assessing the surroundings they settled back on Rhys, who was watching her with a small smile on his handsome face.
Rhys took her hand, drawing her back to the moment. He pulled her gently towards him, pressing her body against his and he looked down into her eyes with distinct longing. Their noses brushed together and Stalker closed her eyes as their lips met. The kiss was soft at first, but quickly deepened and became urgent and passionate.
She pushed him hard against the door and snaked her hands inside his coat, trying to find his hard body to grasp onto. His hands held her face tenderly, his fingers entwined in her hair.
Something tugged at her subconscious as they kissed, she ignored it, her mind lost in the moment. Strange images began to intrude, first smoke, then fire. She started to hear screams and she could ignore it no longer. She broke the kiss and stumbled backwards. A sudden pain shot through her entire body. She leaped backwards and stifled a scream. Rhys's face crumpled and he stepped forward, reaching out for her.
'What's wrong?' His voice was full of panic and she tried to focus on him, but the pain was so intense that she found herself doubled up in the street, clutching her stomach. Visions flashed through her mind of fire and bestial shifters locked in vicious combat, she felt fear and rage coursing through her but they weren't her emotions, they were coming from her pack.
'No!' she screamed and Rhys took a frightened step back from her.
She twisted around, afraid and confused, trying to focus on what was real in front of her and what was coming through the pack telepathy. It was a confusing jumble and she felt hot tears on her face.
Then there was nothing. Just as suddenly as it had started it was gone. She was crouched in the middle of the road, her face wet with fresh tears and she was trembling all over. She reached out with all of her senses, like grasping for straws. But there was nothing there, they were all gone. She tried desperately to touch the minds of her packmates, but it was like running in the pitch black. They were all gone. The telepathy was gone, not one soul to make contact with.
She stood upright slowly and tried to breathe, she was hyperventilating but she closed her eyes and called silently on the purification fae to calm her. Everything went still. When she opened her eyes Rhys was standing on the pavement nearby, watching her with a look of mingled worry and fear.
'I'm sorry,' she mumbled. 'I had a panic attack. I'm really sorry. But I'm fine now.'
He nodded and kept watching her, wordlessly.
'Do you want to come in and have a glass of water?' he asked hesitantly.
'No,' she answered, a little too quickly. 'No, I think I'd better go home.'
'Of course. Shall I drive you?' He took another hesitant step towards her and she reflexively stepped away, feeling tender all over from shock and deeply afraid. She didn't think it had anything to do with Rhys, but she couldn't stand to have him touch her.
'No. Thank you. But no.'
She turned and walked quickly up the road without another word. She turned the corner and looked around, the street was dark and empty, so
she shifted silently into her fox form and set off at a sprint. Stalker had never covered ground more quickly, she raced up dark, secluded side streets and around the bustling city centre to avoid being seen. She tore north through the dark back streets of China Town, and within fifteen minutes of feeling the pack bond break, she was streaking across St. Mark's towards the betting shop.
She smelled the fire before she saw it. As she rounded the corner and rushed down her street the flames were flickering out of the hole in the terrace ahead and she skidded to a halt a few meters from where the betting shop should be. The street was filled with people, horrified onlookers pointed and cried. The fire had touched the neighbouring buildings, blackening the brickwork, but it didn't look like the fire had spread inside.
A scarlet fire engine sat in front of the shop, fire fighters were working furiously to contain the blaze, their hoses going flat out. Two police cars blocked the road either side of the blaze and officers were interviewing bystanders and setting up their blue and white tape. The blue lights on top of the vehicles cast eerie, moving shadows across the scene.
Carefully, Stalker edged around the crowd, hoping for a better look, but there was no way to get closer without being spotted.
She sniffed the air. Shifters had been here, their stink was all over the place and it had been recent. She didn't recognise the scents, but there were too many of them jumbled up to make much sense out of it. She felt rage pounding in her ears, one-word questions punctuated each beat of her heart. Who? Why? How?
Through the legs of the assembled crowd, she was just able to see glimpses of the rubble. This had been a sudden and fast-burning fire leaving nothing in its wake. A great gaping hole in the middle of the terrace was all that was left, mirroring the hole inside her that her pack had filled.
She could contain it no longer, the feelings welled up and she turned her nose to the sky and howled, it was the haunting cry of anguish and despair, but also honour. She didn't care about the people all around her.
The terrifying sound ripped through the night and echoed off the buildings all around, covering the sound of her howl. An explosion shook the city and her head whipped towards the source. A great plume of fire and smoke billowed up into the night sky, followed by screams and sirens. The petrol station.
All around her people were screaming and running, some towards the explosion, but most away from it. Stalker felt panic rise in her chest and looked back at the remains as the crowd scattered. One police car pulled away, firing up its siren, which was deafening to her in this form and she ducked into the small front garden of the house she was standing closest to.
The fire fighters continued to work and the other police officers seemed unsure whether they should stay or go, but they stayed to direct the terrified public as they fled the scene.
Stalker watched from the shadows. Her home was in ruins, there was nothing left and strange shapes moved among the ashes and dying flames. Her first instinct was to run into the remains of the building and hunt for survivors, but the place was crawling with emergency service workers and it suddenly occurred to her that whoever did this might still be nearby.
She had to make a run for it, find shelter and figure out her next step. She was out of time so she ran, with no plan or direction, just the unbearable instinct to run for her life. She was afraid and confused. She didn't know what had happened but she did know that her pack was gone. She was alone.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Stalker's paws pounded on the pavement as she ran. The blind panic was subsiding, now she was mostly just feeling lost and shocked. The Blue Moon, her pack, was gone. Her home in the betting shop had been destroyed and her telepathic connection to her packmates was severed. She skidded to a halt and slipped up an alley at the southern edge of her pack's territory. She paced the alley, her red fur was damp from the drizzle that was falling from the black, November evening sky above.
She couldn't think clearly, her head was still ringing with the sound of the explosion and in her fox form it was always harder to think like a human, so she shifted silently. Her fingers went straight to the necklace resting on her chest, the small piece of clay, inlaid with a feather was safe and secure, but touching it sent her thoughts cascading into despair. Shadow's Step was gone. She fell to the floor of the alley and began to cry uncontrollably.
The bond with her pack had broken so suddenly and completely that she knew Grins-Too-Widely was gone forever. She knew that the Blue Moon's patron was dead, that was the only way for the pack bond to sever like that. If one or more members of her pack had been killed then they would have disappeared from her thoughts, but the others would have remained. But no, all of the voices went silent at once. Grins-Too-Widely held them together and now he was gone they were no longer connected the same way.
With a sudden spark of hope she wiped the tears from her face. The ancient shifter was gone, but the rest of the pack might not be. She had seen the rubble remains of the betting shop that was their headquarters and home. There were dead buried in there; the fire had been a flashpoint, an extremely hot and fast burning one, probably started by mystical means. There was no way that everyone got out of there alive. But she couldn't abandon all hope, it was rare for everyone to be in the building at 5pm. The petrol station had gone up too, the fight had obviously spilled to there and it was possible that there were other survivors there too.
Stalker leaped up from the ground and shifted swiftly into her fox form then set off at a sprint for the petrol station. She knew it would be crawling with emergency services, but she had to try to get as close as she could. She sprinted back the way she had come, then veered west towards the petrol station.
She soon reached a road block, a police van stood sentinel and tape had been strung across the road but she slipped silently and unseen into an alley and up a back street, slinking her way closer to the scene. The air hung heavy with smoke and it took some effort not to let it claw her throat. She could hear the shouts of command and the booming spray of the fire hoses and there was a red glow permeating the smoky air.
Stalker put her nose to the ground and inched her way through the smoke and the crowd of on-lookers, under the police tape and around the back of the fire engine. It was so hot, the blaze was like nothing she had ever seen before. She couldn't smell anything except the fire and smoke and frustration pounded through her temples. She managed to get close enough to see through the smoke and chaos to the hole that had been left in place of the petrol station, rubble was strewn everywhere and the tarmac was cracked and melted in places.
'Hey! Get out of it!' the shout caught Stalker off guard. A nearby fire fighter took an aggressive step towards her and shooed her away with his arms. She snarled briefly, this was her territory and it was a surprise to be ordered away from it. But she had her cover to maintain, so she turned tail and jogged back up the alley she had approached from.
She needed to find any survivors, she tried to think where to begin. Without the pack telepathy she had no idea where to start looking. A shadow twitched just ahead of her and her eyes went straight to it, searching the alley ahead, but the movement was gone. She knew what it was though, it must be Pursuit-of-Midnight-Solitude.
The darkness moved again, teasing her. It continued to flicker, giving her a much longer look at it than normal. The demon's normal behaviour was to tease and taunt her, appear and disappear to get her to pursue it. With a frown, Stalker padded forward. The demon didn't retreat, it stayed where it was, a shimmering shadow against the wall of the alley right in line of the glow from a street lamp, where there shouldn't really be any shadow.
Pursuit-of-Midnight-Solitude really wanted her attention, Stalker realised, this was no ordinary night of questing, the demon wanted to help. Pursuit-of-Midnight-Solitude twitched and then slunk out of the alley and out of view. With no hesitation, Stalker jogged from the alley and looked up the street. Her eyes locked onto the demon and she set off after it, chasing it up dark side streets and
small alleyways, away from the prying eyes of Caerton's human inhabitants.
The demon led Stalker all the way to the north boundary of the Blue Moon's territory, towards Redfield park. As she approached the park, Stalker slowed down, something wasn't right. She smelled the ground, there had been a shifter here very recently and it wasn't one of her pack. She traced the scent carefully towards the park, where her nose was suddenly assaulted by four other scents. Boundary markings. The Wrecking Crew had clearly made a grab for Blue Moon turf. They must have heard about the attack and seized the opportunity to expand their own territory. Stalker growled. She wanted to beat them back and retake what she felt was hers. But she was alone and had no way to know how many of her packmates had survived. She knew she would have to let this go, for now at least.
Carefully she followed the new boundary marking, The Wrecking Crew hadn't taken much, they hadn't pushed their luck, but they had taken the park and a portion of the streets west of it. She picked out the scent of Fury, still fresh in her memory from their initiation combat only the night before, and now Stalker felt a violent surge of rage at discovering her scent on what should be Blue Moon territory.
Pursuit-of-Midnight-Solitude moved before Stalker's eyes and urged her to follow. They ran south, the demon weaving in and out of the natural shadows and taking the fox via the darkest, quietest route across St. Mark's and straight to the self-defence dojo where Stalker worked.
A familiar scent caught the air and she immediately focussed on it, tracking it for a few blocks, to the doorway she had collapsed in on the night of her first change. This was the first time she had been back here and a confusing mash of emotions flooded her fox senses. She tried to focus on the familiar scent, it was Fights-Eyes-Open, she was sure of it, he had been here. Was he looking for her?
She followed the trail and soon picked up another scent, Wind Talker! The two of them had been here together. The trail turned suddenly east, towards the human home that Eyes kept, where his human family lived. He must have gone there to check that they were safe. Stalker picked up her pace and ran into Crossway. The scents grew stronger and a third was added to their mix. Weaver, her dear pack-sister was with them too. Her heart pounded and elation filled her as she approached the right place. She rounded a corner and ran along the pavement, ahead she could see the place that she, Weaver and Eyes had hidden to guard his family and right there, in the same spot, she saw her fellow youngsters, stood talking in hurried and hushed voices.