by Tim O'Rourke
Staring back at her, his face locked in a painful grimace, Calix slowly lowered his gun so it rested at his side.
“You need to go and cool off, Calix,” Rea said, her gun still raised. She stepped over Rush who still lay propped in the doorway. Blood gushed from his nose and over his top lip. “I thought you two were brothers?”
“That’s what I thought,” Calix said, turning away and heading down the cobbled street in the direction of the hill and the wood where he had shot dead the wolf.
As I watched him walk away, I couldn’t help but feel that spike of pity for him again. But I guessed that’s the last thing a man like Calix would ever want a girl like me to feel for him – that’s why he had attacked his brother.
Dusting dirt from the seat of my jeans, I got to my feet. Rea holstered her gun as Rush pulled himself up. He spat a thick wad of blood from the corner of his mouth into the gutter. I went to him, unable to shake off the feeling that what had just happened was my fault.
“I’m so sorry,” I said, taking one of his hands in mine. “If I’d known – then I wouldn’t have said anything to Calix.”
“This wasn’t your fault,” he said, his bottom lip split in two places. “Calix was right. I had no right to tell you about his past – that is his business.”
“I didn’t mean to cause a fight…” I said, still reeling at what had happened between the both of them.
Taking the cigar from the corner of her mouth and flicking it into the gutter, Rea said, “Mila, just go back to your house.”
Without saying any more, she led Rush back into The Weeping Wolf, closing the door shut behind them, leaving me alone in the street again.
I looked back along the street in the direction of the hill and the wood, the way I had come when first entering the village of Shade. The temptation to put one foot in front of the other and head back to that wood and the gap in the fence was overwhelming. But I couldn’t leave – not yet. I had to stay. I’d come to Shade to find out the truth about my parents and the beautiful young witch they had gone missing searching for. It was like I was fighting an invisible enemy deep inside me. Whenever I tried to do the right thing, it turned out to be a mistake. It was like I tripped myself up with every step I took. Perhaps my uncle and Flint were right about me. Perhaps I did need them around to save me? Was I really as useless as I felt? But if I never tripped over and fell down how would I ever learn to pick myself up again?
Making fists at my sides, I turned my back on the cobbled street that led out of Shade and faced the alley again. Taking a deep breath, I focused on that pinprick of light in the distance. I raised my foot and stepped out onto the street at the opposite end of the alleyway. I looked back into the slice of darkness. How had I got from one end to the other in what seemed like nothing more than a single step? Was the light some kind of optical illusion? Did the light really play tricks on the eye like Morten said it did? Was the alley as long as I’d first thought it to be? As I stood alone on the village street and pondered the possibilities, the dark clouds that now skidded across the sky opened, releasing a torrent of rain. Pulling up the collar of my jacket, I headed away from the alleyway and toward home – toward the house I had occupied on the opposite side of the park. Reaching the edges of it, I stopped as if hitting an invisible wall. A child sat in the rain and swung slowly back and forth on the swing in the centre of the park. Knowing that it must have been one of the children from the school, I headed across the park toward the swing. As I drew near I could see that the child was dressed all in black. Had he or she just returned from Annabel’s funeral? Was this child too distraught to go home and sought some kind of comfort by visiting the place where they had once played with their friend? As I drew closer, I could hear the sound of the creaking chains of the swing as the child swept slowly back and forth on it. Within touching distance, I stopped just behind the child.
“Hey, you really shouldn’t be out in the rain,” I said. “You’ll catch the flu.”
As if heeding my warning, the child slowed the swing by dragging its bare feet through the dirt. When the swing had come to a stop, the child slowly turned their head and looked back at me.
“Stay for a while, Miss Watson, and give me a push on the swing,” Annabel smiled.
To be continued…
‘Werewolves of Shade’ (Part Four)
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More books by Tim O’Rourke
Kiera Hudson Series One
Vampire Shift (Kiera Hudson Series 1) Book 1
Vampire Wake (Kiera Hudson Series 1) Book 2
Vampire Hunt (Kiera Hudson Series 1) Book 3
Vampire Breed (Kiera Hudson Series 1) Book 4
Wolf House (Kiera Hudson Series 1) Book 5
Vampire Hollows (Kiera Hudson Series 1) Book 6
Kiera Hudson Series Two
Dead Flesh (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 1
Dead Night (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 2
Dead Angels (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 3
Dead Statues (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 4
Dead Seth (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 5
Dead Wolf (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 6
Dead Water (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 7
Dead Push (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 8
Dead Lost (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 9
Dead End (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 10
Kiera Hudson Series Three
The Creeping Men (Kiera Hudson Series Three) Book 1
The Lethal Infected (Kiera Hudson Series Three) Book 2
The Adoring Artist (Kiera Hudson Series Three) Book 3
The Secret Identity (Kiera Hudson Series Three) Book 4
Werewolves of Shade
Werewolves of Shade (Part One)
Werewolves of Shade (Part Two)
Werewolves of Shade (Part Three)
Werewolves of Shade (Part Four)
Werewolves of Shade (Part Five)
Werewolves of Shade (Part Six)
Moon Trilogy
Moonlight (Moon Trilogy) Book 1
Moonbeam (Moon Trilogy) Book 2
Moonshine (Moon Trilogy) Book 3
The Jack Seth Novellas
Hollow Pit (Book One)
Seeking Cara (Book Two) Coming Soon!
Black Hill Farm (Books 1 & 2)
Black Hill Farm (Book 1)
Black Hill Farm: Andy’s Diary (Book 2)
Sydney Hart Novels
Witch (A Sydney Hart Novel) Book 1
Yellow (A Sydney Hart Novel) Book 2
The Doorways Saga
Doorways (Doorways Saga Book 1)
The League of Doorways (Doorways Saga Book 2)
The Queen of Doorways (Doorways Saga Book 3)
The Tessa Dark Trilogy
Stilts (Book 1)
Zip (Book 2)
The Mechanic
The Mechanic
The Dark Side of Nightfall
Book One
Unscathed
Written by Tim O’Rourke & C.J. Pinard
You can contact Tim O’Rourke at
www.kierahudson.com or by email at [email protected]