by R. Mason
“I just-” She considered her words carefully- “If Kamini is more powerful than the average werewolf, and if she has been killing people for years, then why didn’t she kill me? Why turn me?”
“Often,” Volkov looked at Amethyst with such a scrutinising gaze that it felt like she was being stripped bare, “Wolves do not know what they are doing when turned.”
“Surely that would mean she’d want to kill her more.” Harper’s eyes flicked to Amethyst, “No offence.”
“None taken.” Amethyst shook her head, “You’ve got a point. It doesn’t make sense. Do you think she’s turned anyone else?”
“What is your name?” Volkov asked her, ignoring her questions completely, as if she hadn’t even spoken. It seemed he had just been staring at her since he’d spoken.
“Amethyst,” She answered, swallowing, “Amethyst Dunn.”
“Of course,” Volkov went back to his book and flicked a few more pages, landing on one and curling a finger to beckon Amethyst closer.
12/6/15 22:40
Another pulse. A wolf. Young, younger than most. Painful. Oh, my love, she was in so much pain. You would’ve run to her rescue. She seemed closer than most, so I got her gender as well as age and name. Amethyst. Poor girl, in so much pain, just around the corner. I would go help her my love if only you were here. Her pulse was weak, so so weak, she is barely surviving. But there is something deeper there, I do not know what. I shall
The words trailed off and Amethyst stared at the page, disturbed. He knew. Volkov knew how much pain Amethyst was in, how much she was struggling, that she nearly died, and did nothing. Then again, Amethyst was planning to do the exact same not an hour ago.
“You stopped,” She said, instead of criticising his lack of humanity, “Why did you stop?”
“I fainted.” Volkov answered simply.
“You fainted?”
“I fainted.” Volkov repeated, looking unperturbed.
“Why?”
“Residue pulse.” He smiled then, almost curious, reminiscent of the Cheshire Cat, “You were stronger than I thought.”
“Probably because of Kamini.” Amethyst spat, turning away from the book, rubbing a hand over her face, “She has taken everything from me.”
“Just because she is a monster-” Volkov said, as if reading Amethyst’s mind- “Doesn’t not mean you are.”
“I’m a werewolf. I’m the definition of monster.” Her fingernails were digging into her palms, her neck was itching, and the room was suddenly smaller than before, the walls closing in around, “She made me. She made me this.”
“Come on,” Dylan took a hold of her shoulder and led Amethyst out of the room, out into the front of the shop.
“I’m a monster.” Amethyst stared at a spot just past Dylan’s shoulder and shook, golden eyes haunting the back of her eyelids when she closed her eyes, “Just a monster.”
“No,” Dylan sighed, “You’re not,”
“I’m the wolf child of a serial killer!” Amethyst yelled, and didn’t care when Dylan glanced at the doorway as if making sure no one was there, “What the hell else can I be?”
“Better,” Dylan held her shoulders still, even as Amethyst shook with rage and fear, her heart hammering, “You can be better,”
“How?”
“Help us,” Dylan smiled slightly, his gaze calm and reassuring, unlike the bundle of energy he usually seemed to be, “We bring her down, you’ve got nothing tying you to this- this hatred you have of who you are.”
“I don’t hate myself.”
“Of course not.” Dylan removed his hands, then shrugged. Amethyst realised they were sat on the floor behind the counter, Dylan having manoeuvred them there when she wasn’t paying attention. He was sat cross legged in front of her, looking at his hands where they lay interlocked in his lap.
“I don’t.”
“I know.” He took in a breath, then let it out sharply in a huff, “I think we can let Harper finish here. Want me to take you home?”
No, Amethyst wanted to say, I need to stay here, and I can look after myself.
“Yes,” Is what came out, “Please.”
◆◆◆
The walk home was silent, almost companionable. Amethyst kept her hands in her pockets, and stared at her feet as they scuffed across the pavement. It was embarrassing, really, how easily affected she was by everything Kamini did. One day she would get used to the idea of being the creation of a psychopath, but clearly today was not that day.
Dylan whistled as he walked. He had a skip in his step that irritated Amethyst for some reason. After the conclusion that Kamini was much worse than they thought, he seemed so subdued, but now he was wandering down the road without a care in the world. He must’ve had some skill Amethyst didn’t. Most of the time she was great at compartmentalising, mainly with Faye. This was different. Amethyst couldn’t separate herself from the monstrous things Kamini had done, couldn’t see herself as any different to the woman just because she hadn’t committed the acts herself.
One wrong word, one bad full moon, and Amethyst could kill someone. No, she would kill someone. If she wasn’t a monster that wouldn’t be a problem. But she was, and she had to get used to that fact. There was no such thing as a pure werewolf. They do bad things, hurt people, kill innocent passers-by. How could that not be monstrous? Amethyst had no idea what Harper was like as a person, and for all she knew he had done just as bad things in his past.
To distract herself, Amethyst decided to interrogate Dylan about Volkov. At least that information would be vaguely useful.
“So, what’s this Volkov guy’s deal?” She asked idly, kicking a stone a few feet in front of them.
“What do you mean?” Dylan stopped whistling, and bumped his shoulder against Amethyst’s, “You feel nosy?”
“Yes,” Amethyst shrugged, “Why was he so stand-off-ish when we got there? What happened to him?”
“He used to help with things like this all the time,” Dylan said, frowning, “Whenever someone bad rolled into town, Harper’s parents would go to him for help, and he’d give it. He was usually the information guy, with his whole psychic thing. I have no idea what he’s capable of, truly, because he can access the earth’s raw power, or whatever that means.
“One time, there was someone really bad here. They weren’t like Kamini, but they had killed a turned a lot of people. He tried to help, but they knew who he was, and how to find him,” Dylan pursed his lips, and his gaze dropped to the ground, “They killed his wife.”
“Grace,” Amethyst breathed, “He mentioned her in one of those passages.”
“It ruined him,” Dylan said, “He swore off any magic, and didn’t help anymore. Thankfully, nothing too bad came around. Until now.”
Amethyst couldn’t imagine what that must’ve been like. If she had someone whom she’d agreed to spend the rest of her life with, and they were killed, it would kill a part of her too. She wondered if Volkov died that day too, in a way.
“We shouldn’t force him to help us,” Amethyst said, stuffing her hands in her pockets, “It’s not fair.”
“Harper thinks it’s what we need to do, and he’s probably right.”
In moments like these, Amethyst hated being reminded of how cruel the world could be. She didn’t know what she would do if something like that happened to her. If she lost someone dear.
Stopping her thoughts for a moment, Amethyst tried to clear her head. Then she remembered: her phone.
She quickly pulled it out of her pocket and unlocked it so she could see the notifications, and her breath caught in her throat.
Three texts, two missed calls, and one voicemail, all from Faye.
Ignoring the texts for now, Amethyst called her voicemail and heard a small crackle before Faye’s voice came down the line.
“Hey, I- uh- I have something to show you that I found and I think it could really help. I’ve been researching literally all day and-” She laughed- “Yeah. I came t
o your house earlier and spoke to your mum about the attacks. I found something interesting. I’m coming back from the library now. Call me.” She paused for a moment, and Amethyst thought that she had finished until she started speaking again a moment later, “I’m still glad you told me, by the way. And don’t storm out on me again or I’ll beat your werewolf ass.”
The message ended with a beep.
Amethyst checked the texts.
FAYE
I’ve got something to show you
Hello?
Just as she was about to tap out a reply, another text came through.
FAYE
A gift on your doorstep, little one
“Oh God,” Amethyst whispered, and quickened her pace, “No, no, no.”
“What?” Dylan quickly caught up with her, and kept by her side as she started running, sprinting, pelting towards her house with all her might, “What happened?”
“Kamini has Faye!”
CHAPTER TEN
It only took a few minutes to run the rest of the way to her house, and Dylan caught up with her a few seconds later, red, and sweaty, breathing heavily.
“What do you mean?” He gasped, “How do you know?”
“I just know.” Little one. Only one person had called her that, and she couldn’t get the way that Kamini said it like a seduction out of her head. It made her skin crawl just thinking about it.
Without another moment’s hesitation, Amethyst ran up the driveway.
“Do you see anything?” Amethyst shouted to Dylan, who was scanning around the front garden while she was on the porch.
“No. Maybe whatever texts you got were just from Faye.”
“I know Faye,” Amethyst took in her surroundings, looking for anything Kamini could’ve left, “And I know- just- it wasn’t her, okay?”
“Okay,” Dylan was suddenly by her side, and put a hand on her shoulder, “Where else can we look?”
“The text said doorstep,” Amethyst shook thoughts of a dead body out of her head, “It said she left something on my doorstep. Look under that bench, the plant pots, anywhere. Just- just look!”
Without another word, Dylan moved over to the porch bench, dropping to his knees to look under and around it. Amethyst was frantic. She kicked plant pots over, looked in the lanterns that hung from the shelter, and was close to ripping up the boards in the decking before Dylan shouted out.
“Over here!”
Heart in her throat, Amethyst ran over to him and looked at what was in his hand. It was papers, folded and tied with a loose blue bow. It was neat, meticulous, apart from the jagged edges of the ribbon where it looked as if it had been ripped from something else.
“What are they?”
“You do the honours,” Dylan bit his lip, and handed over the package. Even holding it made Amethyst want to throw up. This wasn’t Faye.
Carefully, she pulled on the end of the bow and it unravelled, falling to the floor, and leaving just the papers. It felt like something. A cool feeling ran through Amethyst as she unfolded the papers, and she knew that once she had seen this, she could not unsee it.
YOUNG BOY ATTACKED IN THE WOODS
“It’s- it’s a newspaper.”
“No,” Dylan corrected her, “It’s just a printout, Look, there’s more.”
TEENAGER SAVAGED BY WOLF
VILLAGE PASTOR FOUND NEAR DEAD
“They’re attacks,” Amethyst flicked through more pages.
TWO GIRLS BRUTALLY ATTACKED
MOTHER OF THREE MAULED IN FOREST
BELOVED PASTOR MISSING
“Wait, go back,” Dylan waved his hand, “That’s different. The rest of them are attacks, but this one, this is someone who’s missing.”
“It’s the pastor,” Amethyst flicked back to the title that mentioned them, “They were attacked a year before.”
“So, what does that mean?”
“I don’t know.”
It didn’t make sense. Why would Kamini have left this? This was information that could help them put some of the pieces together, so it would be stupid of Kamini to send it to her in a neatly tied bow. Unless-
“Faye said she had something to show me,” Amethyst scanned over the words in the missing article, “Maybe this was it.”
“Go through the rest.”
She did. There were four other articles about missing people, and all of them matched up with those that were attacked before.
“This is what Faye wanted to show me,” Amethyst turned over to the next page, and pursed her lips, “Oh my god.”
“A note.”
Amethyst,
Meet me at our special spot.
She cries for you.
“This may be Faye’s research,” Dylan said, “But that’s from Kamini.”
Rage boiled in Amethyst’s gut. Of all the things she could have done, of all the people she could’ve taken, Kamini chose Faye. Past the anger and worry of her being taken in the first place, there was a layer of regret. If only she hadn’t been so transparent. Anyone from a mile off could see her love for Faye was more than she had for most other people, and Kamini had seen that. That was why she had taken Faye, because Amethyst wasn’t strong enough to hide how much she needed her.
“This is all my fault,” Amethyst rubbed a hand on her forehead, her hand holding the papers shaking. Before Dylan could reply, Rida’s car pulled up in the drive with a screech of tires. If she were in her right mind, Amethyst would have told her off for being so reckless. Instead, she closed her eyes, stuffed the papers in her pocket and mustered up a smile.
“Hey!” She shouted when her mum climbed out of the car. Rida held a hand up to shade her eyes from the sun and grinned.
“Afternoon. Who’s this stranger on my doorstep?”
“Hi,” Dylan waved awkwardly, “I’m Dylan. We’ve met.”
“Dylan, of course,” Rida held a hand out when she reached them, “I’m Amethyst’s mum, Rida. Now we’re properly introduced,” She smiled, then wiggled her eyebrows, “So, are you two-?”
“No,” Amethyst tried to keep her smile in place, “And we have to go.”
“Go-?” Dylan widened his eyes meaningfully.
“I won’t be home for tea,” Amethyst shuffled slightly, trying to think of an excuse, “We’re going for a meal. With a few other friends.”
“Okay, hun, have fun,” She unlocked the door, then noticed the knocked over plant pots. She gave Amethyst an odd look, then moved her gaze to Dylan, “Be safe, guys.”
“Oh God,” Dylan groaned when the door closed behind her, “Does she do that whenever you have a boy over?”
“Yep.” Amethyst rolled her eyes, “But we have bigger things to worry about.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The setting felt almost too bright for why they were there. As the midday sun beat down on Amethyst and Dylan, they waited. They were just on the outskirts of the forest, counting the seconds until Harper showed up, until they could go to the spot Amethyst was bitten and see Kamini for the second time. It was two too many.
She didn’t even know how she would react when she saw that face again. Kamini had something about her, something malicious. It wouldn’t have surprised Amethyst if Kamini was a business woman before she was turned.
“Where is he?” Dylan muttered to himself, rubbing his hands together.
“You know, Harper seems to have a habit of not turning up,” Amethyst pushed through gritted teeth, “Faye’s missing, I’m meant to be meeting Kamini, and I don’t even know the guy. Why are we waiting for him?”
“Because you need all the backup you can get,” Dylan replied calmly, “I’ve seen movies. People like this never leave without a fight.”
“This isn’t a movie.”
A car pulled up in front of them and Harper grinned at them from the driver’s seat.
“You have a car?” Dylan gaped, stepping forward and stroking the hood in reverence. It wasn’t an impressive car. Small, smooth, a nice silver colour.
Amethyst didn’t know much about cars, so didn’t have any patience for this conversation.
“Yeah, man,” Harper hopped out and punched Dylan’s shoulder, “Borrowed it from Volkov. He’s surprisingly accommodating if you sweet talk him.”
“You could sweet talk anything out of anyone,” Dylan rolled his eyes.
“Can we go?” Amethyst tried to bite her tongue, not wanting to lose the support of the only two other people who knew what was going on. Dylan and Harper snapped out of their little conversation about the car and turned to her, looking appropriately chastised. Without another word, Amethyst started walking into the woods, praying that her gut feeling was right, and Faye was still alive.
The further they walked, the colder it became. It was like a sheet of ice had swept across the wood, covering it in frost that shouldn’t be there during June. Silence settled over them as Amethyst tried to retrace her steps from that night a week ago. Every time there was the slightest shadow, her head flipped towards it. It felt as if they were being followed. She as probably just being paranoid, though.
A chill ran down her spine when they neared the spot. She could see the engravings on the tree, of ‘CH + TL’. They came all this way just to deface nature. That was what Kamini said. Amethyst didn’t see it that way. Two people had loved each other so much that they wanted to make it permanent, on one of the sturdiest living things on the planet. It was beautiful, in a way. But Amethyst would never do that now.
“Is this it?” Dylan asked, looking around with his hands on his hips.
“This is where we met,” Amethyst ran her fingers over the engraving, “And where I was turned, I think.”
“I thought that was on the edge of the forest?” Harper raised his eyebrows.
“No,” Amethyst shook her head, “I ran into here.”
“Isn’t this a fun gathering!” A voice came from their right, and Amethyst jumped away from the tree. Her shoulders sagged with relief when she realised it wasn’t Kamini.
“Leon?” Dylan frowned at the newcomer, whose attention was drawn to him. It was a boy, looking just a bit older than Dylan himself. His brown hair was spiked in all directions, and Amethyst couldn’t tell if it was on purpose or not. The smirk that pulled at his lips was knowing and smug, almost flirtatious as he looked at the other boy. He was only wearing a dark Henley and blue jeans, looking as if he had just fallen out of a Tayler Swift music video.