by Steve Feasey
‘Is this where you wanted to bring me?’ Trey said, looking out at the derelict old building, the walls of which were made of corroded corrugated steel. It sat in a weed-strewn yard, and it was clear just from looking at it that the place had not been used for a number of years. The two main doors through which the cars must once have been driven were padlocked shut with a rusty chain and the windows were grimy with dust and dirt.
He gave Ella a puzzled look, but she only smiled enigmatically as she climbed out of the cab, which pulled away and left them. She headed for the small door to one side of the building, taking out a key from her bag and unlocking it. She nodded for him to go in ahead of her.
Trey walked into the place, which was surprisingly cool despite the hot sun outside. It was a small reception area – little more than a dilapidated old counter behind which a door led into the main body of the building. He half turned to look at Ella with a frown, but she nodded encouragingly for him to go round and through. He did so, pushing against the door which groaned in protest.
His eyes had already begun to adapt to the darkness inside the building, and as he stepped through he took in the large space. In the centre of the garage were two hydraulic platforms, both of which were raised up over the sunken bays beneath them. On one of these an old car still stood, the original paintwork obscured by the dust and grime that had accumulated on it over the years. Tools lay here and there, so that the general impression was of a place that had simply been abandoned by its former owners mid-use. But it was the strange array of manacles and chains on the floor between the two hydraulic platforms that caught Trey’s eye. Two chains were secured to metal rings bolted into the ground. Trey thought it strange that, although the rings were clearly as old as the rest of the place, the chains threaded through them appeared to be brand new, the clean galvanized metal looking completely out of place against the forsaken, rusting equipment on display elsewhere in the workshop. He was about to comment on this when he noticed the small table to his left. Lying alone in the centre of the table was a hypodermic syringe filled with a clear liquid. Something about those chains and the syringe set every alarm bell ringing inside Trey, and he’d half turned to look at what Ella was doing behind him when he felt a sharp stabbing pain between his shoulders. He gasped, his hand flying back to seek out the source of the pain. He was too late.
Ella depressed the trigger of the Taser and watched as Trey flew forward on to the ground. The long wires leading to the barbed metal darts she’d fired into him snaked out from the front of the weapon, bouncing and twitching in response to the boy’s convulsions as the electric current passed through him. She reached out with her other hand, calmly taking the syringe from the table. She’d practised this moment many times in her head, going over it again and again to ensure that she’d be able to react when it came to it. She released the trigger, stopping Trey’s paroxysmal seizures long enough for her to step forward and jab the needle into his leg while depressing the plunger. The whole thing, from firing the Taser at him to injecting the drugs, was done in a matter of seconds.
Trey swore at her. He groaned and tried to get up, only to be floored again when Ella momentarily depressed the trigger for a second time.
‘Stay there and behave,’ she said coldly. ‘I’m assured by the man I bought them from that the drugs won’t take long to work.’ Then she added in a softer voice, ‘Please, Trey, this is for your own good.’
‘Let me ub, you bitsh,’ Trey said, his lips and tongue not syncing with his brain. He tried to get to his knees again, but his vision swam, and he collapsed to the cold, hard floor.
Ella looked down at the figure. She puffed out her cheeks and nodded to herself, pleased with her work. She still had a number of things to do, but the hard part was over. Now it was just a matter of making Trey see sense.
10
Trey Laporte was trapped with the disembodied head of a demon floating in the air before him. Each and every time he tried to move – his arms and legs felt as if they were pinned to his sides – he sank deeper into the stuff all about him. The creature’s face was a mass of ugly scars, which criss-crossed and overlapped each other in every direction as if they had been inflicted time and again over a long period – scars on top of scars on top of scars. One eye was milky and unseeing, but the other leered at the teenager as the creature opened its mouth and roared into the boy’s face. As it did so, the demon transformed before Trey’s eyes, morphing, twisting and compressing until it was Alexa’s visage that loomed over him, her eyes rolling wildly with fear as she screamed over and over. Trey tried to call out to her, but found he could make no sound of his own in this place. Then, just as the nether-creature’s face had melted away, so too did Alexa’s, this time to be replaced with that of the vampire Caliban, who laughed at Trey’s attempts to struggle free from whatever was holding him down. A huge throng of nether-creatures appeared behind the vampire, their bodies merging and coalescing into one great beast with hundreds of heads, which nodded and leered in unison as they stared down at him. Trey struggled again and felt himself sucked further down into the bubbling quicksand-like stuff all about him, his inevitable consumption by the mire eliciting a chorus of delighted shrieks from the crowd.
None of this is real.
Even in his terrified state, Trey was aware that he was hallucinating and that whatever Ella had injected into him was responsible for these terrible visions. On another level he knew that in reality he was chained and lying on the floor of the garage Ella had taken him to. But knowing that the nightmarish images weren’t really there, and controlling the terror that resulted from them, were two different things.
He was up to his chin in the quicksand now, the ghastly smell that came from the stuff filling his head. ‘You’re not real!’ he tried to shout, but again no sound came. He wanted to close his eyes, but this too proved impossible, and he was caught between the fear of the phantasmagoria before him and the even greater dread of slipping beneath the surface of the mire. The floating countenance of the vampire suddenly shot forward, lips peeled back over deadly fangs, ready to tear the boy’s throat out. Instinctively, Trey threw himself backwards out of harm’s way, the sudden movement submerging him for the last time beneath the sucking morass.
And then there was nothing but blackness, a complete lack of any light or sound. Trey willingly gave in to the dark, embracing the peace and calm that it provided, content to float in the womb-like void of unconsciousness.
When his eyes flickered open, the acrid stench of vomit filled Trey’s nose and made his stomach clench in response. Even this tiny, involuntary movement elicited a low groan from the teenager whose head was pounding and whose tongue felt way too large for his mouth. He was lying on his side and could see the source of the stink on the floor in front of his face. He tried to get up but found that he could not. His legs were secured together at the ankles with some kind of manacles, and a band of metal, like a waist belt, was fastened around his abdomen, and it was to this that his wrists were handcuffed. Bound in this way, he was forced to shuffle on his side away from the pool of filth, every movement resulting in a knifing pain in his head that caused him to groan and whimper. Trey wished he were back in that black void. He wanted nothing more than to curl up into a small, tight ball and allow the darkness to return, but he resisted the urge, taking a deep breath and tipping his head backwards instead, straining to see what he could. The workshop was dark, but Trey thought he could sense somebody in the shadows watching him. He shifted his weight, throwing his hips up and over – the terrible, harsh racket of the chains crashing into each other and the floor filled the place for a moment – so he was lying face down. The concrete floor beneath him was black with car oil that had been spilt over it through the years, and the smell of it filled his nostrils. At least it was better than the puke. He bucked his body and somehow succeeded in getting his knees beneath him. The metal girdle about his waist had two chains snaking out from either side of it, and these were
fixed on short chains to the hoops in the floor he’d seen when he first entered this place. The set-up meant there was no way that he could get fully to his feet, and he was forced to kneel with his arms by his sides.
‘I’d try and stay still for a while yet if I were you,’ Ella said, stepping out of the gloom and approaching him. ‘I might have got the dosage of that sedative a bit wrong.’ She was swapping something between her hands, pouring it from one to the other like grains of sand. Except it wasn’t sand. The dull silver colour of the chain caught Trey’s eye, and he knew without needing to look down towards his own chest that she’d removed the amulet he wore round his neck.
Ella followed the direction of his gaze and smiled. ‘I didn’t want you just morphing into that wolf-man creature you become with this thing on and undoing all of my efforts to get you here.’
‘What’s going on?’ Trey said, swallowing hard to try and moisten his dry and sore throat. ‘Why have you brought me here like this?’
‘Would you like some water?’
Trey glared back at her.
‘It’s for your own safety, Trey. You’ll thank me for this one day.’
Trey lowered his head and studied the floor between his knees, trying to make some sense of what she was saying. ‘I don’t know what’s up with you, Ella, but you’d better unlock me from these chains and let me out of here. You have no idea what is going on in this world right now, because if you did, you’d know that I can’t be here. I need to get back to Lucien and—’
‘And what, Trey? Hmm? What is so important about your vampire friend that you’re willing to sacrifice your life for him? The fight between him and his lunatic brother is not your fight, Trey. Let the vampires tear each other apart. Let Caliban take over the human realm and subjugate everyone on it. What does that have to do with you and me and our kind?’ She looked down at him, shaking her head. ‘You’re not human. You’re a lycanthrope just like me. And whatever they’ve told you about your duty or your … destiny, well, it’s all lies!’
Trey struggled to take in everything he was hearing. The waves of pain and nausea made it difficult for him to concentrate, and he frowned as he tried to put together what he’d just heard. Ella knew about the forthcoming attack by Caliban. It occurred to him that she might be working for the vampire, but he quickly dismissed the idea. He would already be dead if that were the case. No, she must have found out about it from another source – perhaps she had a contact inside Lucien’s organization, somebody she’d befriended so that she could find things out about Trey. He shook his head, realizing that it didn’t matter how she’d found out. What did matter was that she’d captured him to stop him taking any role in defending against it. But why?
‘What am I doing here?’
‘You’re my… guest, albeit a reluctant one at the moment, but that will change, Trey, you’ll see. We have your best interests at heart?’
‘We?’
‘Marcus and me.’
‘Marcus?’
‘He’s joining us soon. In fact, he should be boarding a plane in the next few days. I called him and told him to come.’
‘Does he know that you’ve kidnapped me?’
‘That’s a rather emotive expression.’ She snorted and shook her head. ‘Kidnap indeed!’
‘He doesn’t, does he? If he did, he’d be here right now.’
‘Like I said, I have your very best interests at heart.’
‘Really?’ Trey let out a short derisive laugh. ‘Is that why I’m in chains? Is that why you injected me with goodness knows what drugs? Forgive me, Ella, but I think I preferred it when I didn’t have you looking out for me!’
‘You’re wrong. You need us as much as we need you. You just don’t know it yet. And when I say we, I mean lycanthropes – your own kind. We need you with us, not gallivanting around with some bloodsucking freak trying to save the world.’ She took a deep breath. ‘Let the vamps war against each other. And when they’re done, we’ll emerge as the strongest force that this world has ever seen.’
Trey looked up at her then, his face a mask of incredulity. This was not the Ella he’d met and befriended in Canada. And this certainly was not the girl who’d saved his life. She was like a different person, as if possessed by some evil spirit who spoke and acted through her, and for a moment Trey wondered if this were the case, if some denizen of the Netherworld were controlling her, because there was no way that the caring, giving person he had left not that long ago in Canada could be this thing before him now.
She nodded as though reading his thoughts. ‘You don’t like the new me, do you? Well, that’s too bad because the meek and pathetic Ella you once knew has gone … forever.’
‘What’s happened to you?’
‘I woke up.’ She snorted and twisted her face into a sneer. ‘That’s right, I woke up to the reality of what I really was. After you left Canada I went back to Norway to try and start my life again. But I didn’t know what it was like to be without the Pack, Trey. I had no idea how much I would miss it – miss the power and the … the sense of belonging. And then I had a full-moon Change. You know, one of those “turn-into-a-savage-murderous-beast-and-not-remember-anything-about-it” Changes?’ She shook her head. ‘I was too late getting to my lock-down. I changed before I could make myself secure.’ When she looked at Trey again, there was a terrible expression on her face. ‘You know I told you that my parents didn’t want anything to do with me?’
Trey nodded.
‘They’re dead. They died that night.’
A long and terrible silence hung between them as Trey took this in.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said in a low voice.
‘I need the Pack, Trey.’ Ella’s voice matched Trey’s and he had to strain to hear her. ‘I was the female Alpha, for heaven’s sake. I was at the centre of that beautiful living thing of power, and I can’t just give it up.’
‘You don’t need me though. It only takes three lycos to get together to make the controlled Change without the moon possible. There’s you, and Marcus and Lawrence. Lawrence loved the Pack. I’m sure he’d—’
‘Lawrence is dead.’
‘Dead?’ Trey thought about the gangly ginger-headed youth he’d met during his time in Canada with the Wolfen pack members. It wasn’t possible he could be dead.
‘It seems Marcus and I are not alone in needing the Pack. When we disbanded following Jurgen’s death, we all went our separate ways. But the bond we’d formed between us was too strong. Lawrence left a note saying he couldn’t go on any longer, and that he’d rather be dead than suffer a life alone. They found his body floating in a river.’ During this explanation Ella had stared out into nothingness, lost in her own memories, but now her eyes snapped back to her captive. ‘No. You have to become our third member, Trey. You’re all we have left.’
‘You’ve lost your mind.’
She paused, as if considering this. ‘You’ve never felt it, have you? Never felt the keening wrench of separation. And do you know why? Because of this.’ She hoisted the silver amulet in her hand, letting the chain play out between her fingers until it hung down, swinging gently to and fro. ‘This makes you into the lone wolf that you’ve become, Trey. It keeps you away from your own kind. It keeps you bound to the likes of Lucien Charron.’ She looked down at the thing and shook her head, before adding, ‘At least it did.’ She gathered up the chain in her hand again and placed it in her pocket before turning to walk away.
‘Wait, Ella, please. You have no idea what you’re doing. My friends! They’re in terrible danger. We all are!’
‘I’ll bring you some food and water,’ she called over her shoulder as she disappeared through the door leading out of the workshop. ‘And then you and I need to have a little chat about your friends.’
11
Tom was emerging from the armoury on the first floor when he saw Lucien walking through the office. It was unusual to see the vampire up and about so early in the morning, and there was some
thing about the look on his friend’s face that told Tom something was seriously wrong.
‘Mrs Magilton has just informed me that Trey did not sleep in his bed last night.’ Lucien said.
Tom reached for the mobile phone in his pocket.
‘I’ve tried that. His phone is dead.’
The two friends shared a look, neither wishing to voice the thoughts they were both having at that moment. Both were reminded of their recent conversations with the teenager, and how he’d hinted at a desire to run away from everything. Tom was the first to break away, giving Lucien one brief nod before striding off in the direction of his office, already barking instructions into the communications earpiece he wore. Before he entered, he turned and called across to his boss, ‘Find Hag and Alexa, especially Alexa. One of them may have an idea where he is.’
The three of them, Lucien, Tom and Alexa, sat around the large table in the kitchen eyeing each other nervously. Hag had already told Lucien that she would not be joining them, pointing out that she had no idea where the boy was, and that her time would be better spent by trying to locate him using sorcery.