‘Damn,’ Andrea muttered, ‘he’s worse. We had a bit of trouble before you got here and no one’s checked him this morning.’
‘Ceri,’ Alexandra said, her voice taking on an urgent authority, ‘get him back under the blankets.’ As Ceri rushed forward to do as instructed, the old wolf pulled a leather roll from the rucksack, placing it on a table beside the bed and opening it out to reveal a lot of fairly old, but spotlessly clean, stainless steel tools. The boy tried, weakly, to stop Ceri covering him up, but he was no match for her. He was not even able to stop an old woman grasping his wounded hand and cutting the bandage away.
Ceri winced and swallowed down bile at the site of the wound in Charley’s palm. It had not been stitched, the skin around it probably already too badly degraded for that to be possible when he had come into the shelter. The flesh was puffy and black in places.
‘What did this then, Charley?’ Alexandra asked, not expecting an answer. All she did get was some flickering eyelids and a groan. ‘Broken glass, perhaps? Digging around in waste bins?’ She glanced at Ceri. ‘Are you going to be okay, dear? If you need to step out I’ll not think less of you.’
‘I’ll be okay,’ Ceri said. She managed a weak grin and added, ‘I’ve eaten meals in the uni refectory.’
‘And you survived?’ Andrea asked and then went on without waiting for the reply. ‘Can you help him, Alexandra?’
‘Septicaemia is setting in,’ Alexandra replied. ‘You’re people did the best they could do, I think, but he was probably infected before he arrived. I can fix him…’ She sighed and addressed the boy. ‘It would have been a lot easier if you’d sought help before the bacteria got a proper hold.’ She pulled a chair over and sat down, taking Charley’s undamaged hand in hers. ‘This will take a little while,’ she said. ‘Andrea, would you like to take Ceri to make an initial survey of your mystery case?’ She closed her eyes and began murmuring under her breath. Ceri thought she heard Luperca mentioned.
‘Coming?’ Andrea asked and led the way out of the room and across a couple. ‘Billie?’ the supervisor said as she walked into the room, ‘I’ve got a visitor for you. This is Ceri. She’s going to take a look at your leg.’
At first, Ceri could see nothing wrong with the girl sitting at a dressing table brushing long, blonde hair. The platinum highlights were looking like they needed renewing, but she appeared fairly shapely from the back and, as she turned on the little stool, the impression continued with a pretty face and a substantial bosom wedged into a bra which was maybe a size too small. Then Ceri’s gaze fell to Billie’s legs. The left one was shapely, the muscle-tone suggesting the girl had danced, or been a gymnast. Her right leg, however, appeared to have a badly healed break about mid-thigh and the muscles were horribly wasted.
Ceri gasped, and then blushed. ‘Sorry, it’s just…’
‘Not pretty, is it?’ Billie said.
‘Well, no,’ Ceri replied. ‘What happened to it?’
‘That’s the weird thing,’ the girl replied. ‘I was in Soho, y’know, it’s a good place to pick up customers. It wasn’t going too well and I wandered over into Mayfair, just near the border. I think I was near the south end of Saville Row, actually.’ Ceri’s face darkened. ‘I was leaning against one of the railings down there, trying to look available, y’know? This man walked past, stopped. I thought he was going to pick me up, but he told me to get lost. I said it was a free country and I was just standing there… Turned out to be a dumb move, I guess. He gave me a slap on the leg with this cane he was carrying and said, “You can’t stand so easily on one leg.” Next thing I knew I was lying on the pavement and my leg hurt like hell.’
Ceri nodded. ‘Withering spell,’ she said.
‘That’s a bit vicious for a girl giving a bit of lip,’ Andrea commented.
‘Knowing what’s in that neighbourhood,’ Ceri replied, ‘he was probably a necromancer and she got off lightly. Some advice, stay away from that bit of Mayfair.’ Billie’s attacker had probably been one of the Dubh Linn’s patrons; Lily had been right to say they were the really dangerous kind of supernatural. ‘Okay,’ she said, ‘let’s get you on the bed and take a proper look at this.’
Billie grinned and used the dresser to leaver herself up onto her good leg. Ceri was amazed at the girl’s good humour, considering her condition. A sort of hopping motion got her to the corner of the bed; the withered leg was obviously completely useless. ‘Do I need to get undressed?’ Billie asked.
Ceri raised an eyebrow. The girl was in her underwear as it was. ‘Only if you want to,’ Ceri said, ‘I’m supposed to be looking at your leg.’
Billie gave a little giggle and more or less jumped onto the bed, pulling herself up to rest her head on the pillow. ‘I’m all yours, Doc.’
Smirking, Ceri summoned up her power and concentrated, letting her mind roam over Billie’s body, analysing every detail as she scanned over her from head to withered foot. Slowly, an image formed in Ceri’s mind. Billie was healthy as a horse, aside from the damaged leg. The femur looked like it had been hit by a truck and then reset by an idiot. The muscles from the hip down were badly atrophied; the Sartorius muscle was even ripped away from the bone at the bottom.
Ceri grimaced. ‘You look like you’ve been put through a shredder,’ she said, opening her eyes.
Billie was looking up at her with a hopeful expression. There was the vulnerability Ceri was expecting. ‘After it happened,’ Billie said, ‘one of the girls told me about this place. Said there was an old lady came here to help. Said she could do magic…’
Ceri nodded. ‘Alexandra’s busy saving someone’s life in one of the other rooms…’ She glanced at Andrea. ‘Could you check on her, please? I’m supposed to be watching her back as well as helping.’ Andrea nodded, turning to leave, and Ceri turned back to Billie, chewing on her lip.
‘Can you do anything?’ Billie asked. There was a slight catch in her throat, a hint of desperation.
‘I’ve never tried this before,’ Ceri said, and then grinned weakly, ‘but then I say that a lot. This might sting a bit.’
‘Can’t be worse than when it happened,’ Billie replied as Ceri raised her hands and closed her eyes. There was a gasp from the girl on the bed as energy began to build in both of Ceri’s palms.
Opening her eyes again, Ceri leaned forward and laid her hands on Billie’s thigh and shin. The crippled girl stiffened as energy poured into her. It was partially a matter of just accelerating natural healing processes, but the damage was so bad that Ceri also had to restructure some of the bone and muscle as well. Under her hands, the bone straightened and reformed, and Billie let out a groan of pain which faded as the reconstruction completed. Ceri reattached the torn muscle, and then it was just a matter of providing the power Billie’s body needed to rapidly restore the tissues.
Finally satisfied, Ceri straightened up and examined her work. Billie looked down to do the same, lifting her leg straight up from the bed. She let out a whoop of delight and looked over to the door. Ceri followed her gaze to find Andrea, supporting a very tired looking Alexandra. Andrea raised an eyebrow. ‘You can definitely come back here again,’ she said.
‘Are you all right, Alexandra?’ Ceri asked, her worry diverted from her patient to her Alpha.
‘Clearing the infection and then the toxins in his blood stream…’ Alexandra said. ‘Takes a lot of power.’ She smiled weakly. ‘Not nearly as much as what you just used though. A nice cup of tea and I’ll be fine.’
Ceri looked down at her forearms, her Sight revealing the flickers of silver light still showing in her body. ‘Yeah,’ she said, ‘it’ll take me a couple of days to shift the residue from that.’ She had done a few experiments to find out how long it took for the residual energy her magic left behind to drain away and she thought she had a fairly good handle on the process now.
Suddenly there were arms wrapping around her. ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you!’ Billie was saying in a rush. Ceri hugged the girl
back, laughing.
‘Were you a dancer?’ Ceri asked when she was finally released.
‘I did some ballet and modern at college,’ Billie replied. ‘I pretty much thought that was a waste of time when this happened. Why?’
‘Well, I know a guy who runs a few night clubs,’ Ceri said. ‘I’m not saying he can definitely give you a job, and it’d be stripping, but…’
‘It’s better than screwing for money,’ Billie finished.
‘I’ll give Andrea the details,’ Ceri said, grinning. ‘Let’s get you that cup of tea,’ she added to Alexandra.
As they walked out of the room, Ceri noticed a man standing in the door of one of the rooms. His expression was blank, disinterested, and he looked as though his lack of care extended to himself from the slumping belly and the half-grown beard. It was his eyes that Ceri noticed most, however. They were empty, like Wren’s girlfriend’s, and Ceri blinked on her Sight to look at him more carefully. He just looked at her as she stared at him, though his expression began to grow more irritated. Ceri gave him a brief smile which he did not return, and then followed Andrea and Alexandra down the stairs.
‘Who was the other guy up there?’ she asked when they were on the ground floor.
‘Oh, he was the reason Charley didn’t get checked earlier,’ Andrea said. ‘He says his name is Gerald and he was some important guy in the Ministry for Supernatural Affairs until he got sacked for some reason. We think he’s been on drugs, but he claims he hasn’t. We’re trying to clean him up, but he gets violent at times.’
They headed into the staff room with its scruffy, cigarette-burned chairs and its one, very well organised desk. Andrea helped Alexandra to one of the chairs. ‘Well,’ Ceri said, spotting the kettle and starting off toward it, ‘I don’t know about the drugs he may have taken, but that’s not what his problem is now.’
‘Oh?’ Andrea said, straightening up from lowering Alexandra into the seat; the supervisor was a good bit stronger than she looked.
‘His soul is gone,’ Ceri said. ‘I don’t know how it happens, but he’s the second person I’ve seen recently who’s like that.’
‘I thought you’d be dead if you lost your soul,’ Andrea said.
‘Honestly?’ Ceri replied. ‘I’d have said you were right, but that’s two living, soulless people I’ve seen. I’ll have to look into it if I get the chance.’
Alexandra chuckled softly. ‘Ceridwyn got her PhD in thaumatology recently. She can’t stand having a metaphysical puzzle unresolved.’
Luckily, the kettle clicked off at that moment and Ceri was able to cover her embarrassment by turning around to make the tea.
~~~
‘I wasn’t going to say anything inside,’ Alexandra said as the door closed behind them and they started back toward Battersea, ‘but I couldn’t have helped the girl anyway.’
‘Oh, I’m sure…’ Ceri began.
‘No, dear,’ Alexandra interrupted. ‘I don’t have the surgical training and I’ve only the barest idea how you did it magically. And if I had I couldn’t have mustered that much power.’
‘Are you okay walking back? It’s a couple of miles.’ Alexandra looked much rested, but she had exerted herself heavily healing Charley.
‘I’ll be fine, dear. I’m not fully rested, but I know a few tricks to speed up the process. I’m better off than a typical person my age would be.’
‘Well, yeah,’ Ceri said, laughing, ‘a typical human your age would be dead by now.’
Alexandra joined in the laughter. ‘True enough,’ she said. ‘My apparent age then?’
‘Have you any idea how long you’ll actually live?’
‘Not really. Black-furs tend to be longer lived than humans, or other werewolves, but we’re not immortal.’ The Alpha smiled. ‘And we do age, obviously.’
‘You’re aging very gracefully.’
Alexandra had a beautiful, melodious laugh. ‘Flattery will get you everywhere, dear, but I am getting on a bit. I’ve been Alpha here for decades now. I won’t last forever.’
‘This seems kind of morbid, but how does the succession work?’
‘Traditionally, when an Alpha male dies the stronger males in the pack will fight it out, but that kind of thing is becoming less common.’
‘Well, yes, I mean you aren’t…’
‘I’m a black-fur, dear,’ Alexandra interrupted. ‘The rules don’t apply. Catherine, however, is a different matter. No one went up against her when Joshua was killed. Oh, when Dolf goes in the Dog Boys…’
Ceri giggled. ‘Dolf? Seriously?’
‘His real name is Earnest. He thought Dolf sounded macho.’ Alexandra was obviously having to suppress her own amusement. ‘When he goes, there’ll be fighting, but when I do… Well, there are a few likely successors.’
‘Anita.’
‘Yes, Anita is one. If I last long enough, Michael will be another.’ She glanced at the surprised look on Ceri’s face. ‘He is mated to a Black-fur, dear, and he’s shaping up quite nicely under Anita’s tutelage and your and Lily’s influence.’
‘But I’m not even…’
‘A proper werewolf?’ Alexandra patted her indulgently on the shoulder. ‘We all have our little self-delusions. Michael believes he’s not good enough, Lily believes she’s a demon.’
‘And me? What’s my delusion of choice?’
‘Well, you believe you’re a human, dear.’
Part Three: The Ties that Bind
Kennington, London, April 29th, 2011
There was a big, black car parked in front of High Towers when Ceri got home. It looked like one of Carter’s cars and that was just the icing on the cake. Ceri had tried to get Alexandra to explain what she meant, but the old werewolf was an absolute genius at evading discussion of things she did not want to talk about. Someday, Ceri wanted to see an enigmatic-off between Alexandra and Twill; there was every chance the world would implode.
The door opened as she walked toward it and Alec’s worried face peered out. He was not wasting times on pleasantries. ‘Lily’s missing.’ He stepped aside as Ceri bolted for the door. ‘Carter’s here, trying to scry for her, but he’s not having much luck.’
Twill and the playboy wizard were in the study, bent over a hair brush. He looked up as Ceri stormed in. ‘Ceridwyn, we’ve been trying to find her…’
‘She didn’t come home last night,’ Twill broke in. ‘I thought it was odd, but you weren’t home, I thought she might have stayed out…’
‘But she didn’t come into work either,’ Alec added.
‘Something’s blocking my searches,’ Carter said. ‘I can’t…’
Ceri held her hand out and Carter handed her the brush without further comment. There were several long, chestnut hairs stuck in the bristles and Ceri pulled a few of them out before putting the brush down on her desk. She twisted the strands of hair around her finger and closed her eyes. As Carter had suggested, there was resistance. Her fists clenched, her nails digging into her palms as she focussed harder on getting an image of where Lily was. It was like looking through fog, but she pushed harder. Something deep within her seemed to shift, something ancient and primal. Her power flared lancing upward through her body with a sensation almost like pain… Then she saw, brief flickers of image, but enough. Bare bricks, a ceiling of wooden boards, smoke and dim lighting.
‘She’s at the Dubh Linn,’ Ceri said, opening her eyes. Carter was shielding his own eyes and Alec turned back toward her from looking away. Twill emerged from behind Carter’s shoulder. She blinked at them.
‘You were… rather bright,’ Carter explained. He was blinking too, as though trying to shift the kind of black spots you got looking into the sun. The strands of hair were falling away from Ceri’s hand as dust.
‘You’re going after her?’ Twill asked.
‘Yes,’ Ceri replied.
‘Be careful in that place, Ceridwyn,’ the fairy said, ‘it’s dangerous.’
Ceri strode over to the fi
replace and lifted the five-foot staff down from where it was mounted on the mantle. She planted the heel of it down on the floor with a thud which resonated through the room. ‘So am I,’ she said.
Mayfair
If anything, the attention Ceri got as she stepped into the dimly lit bar was more intent than when she had gone in with Lily. It would be sunrise in less than twenty minutes, but the place was fuller than before; it’s customers were night people and they were likely to consider leaving for their beds in the next hour. Many of them were looking to take a willing victim along for the ride. She ignored the looks and strode into the middle of the room, the heel of her staff sounding on the floorboards with each step.
Lily was in one of the booths at the side of the room. She was alone, a full glass of red wine on the table in front of her. As Ceri walked up to the table, the half-succubus made no move, did not even look up.
‘Lily, what are you doing here?’
That got a reaction at least. Dark eyes lifted upward to look at Ceri. ‘I don’t know. Because I should be? It’s where I belong? I can’t stay with you. I’ll hurt you too.’
Ceri frowned. ‘Who have you hurt?’
‘I don’t know. I didn’t get their names… his name.’ Lily’s brow creased. ‘I don’t know. I woke up with him. He was dead.’
‘You’re head’s been messed with, Lil,’ Ceri said. She kept her voice as level as she could manage. ‘You need to come with me.’ Carter and Alec were waiting outside. It had taken a fair bit of persuasion to get them to stay there, but Ceri wanted to keep things as quiet as possible. Once outside, the three of them could deal with Lily, but right now Ceri really needed her to start behaving like herself. She hissed out the command, ‘Now, pet!’
Lily flinched. ‘I can’t be that anymore. I thought I could, but I can’t. I can’t keep myself… I’m a demon, Ceri, that’s all there is…’
Thaumatology 03 - Legacy Page 11