by Justin Sloan
It took everyone a few more moments to process this, but then Gregor said, “We stick together. We find a new place to live, we carry on with the mission. We are the Hounds of God, we—”
“No,” Katherine said. Everyone turned to her, confused, but she didn’t care. “After what I saw in there… Aldrick and his so-called Hounds and what they were up to.” She turned an accusing glare Gregor’s direction. “How many of you knew?”
“We teach lessons to sinners,” Gregor said, stepping closer and leaning down over her. “That's the point.”
“Not anymore.”
His nostrils flared and she knew he was sizing her up. He was bigger, but that didn’t mean much at night, when she had command of her powers.
“Guys, we have to get out of here,” Danny said. The sirens grew louder.
“Not the old way,” Katherine said, driving her point home. “We're getting out of here, yeah, but to look for a cure. There has to be another way.”
“You don't make the decisions,” Gregor said.
“If no one else has the guts to make the right ones, I kinda have to.”
Without as much as a growl, he was on her, pinning her to a tree and pulling back to strike. She refused to let that happen, instead pulling on her powers to swipe first his arm aside and then his legs from beneath him, so that he landed with a thud.
He lay there, gasping for the air that had been knocked out of him. Katherine turned to the others, the flames roaring behind them. For effect, she let her pointed teeth show and brandished her claws.
“We have a choice,” she said. “Every one of us.”
Several stepped back, eyeing her with hatred. Babur and Danny joined her.
“You best run,” Gregor said, his voice raspy. “We’ll find you on a full moon, and when we do—”
“If you do,” Katherine kicked him back to the ground and leaned over him, claws at his throat, “you’ll wish you hadn’t.”
Chapter 1: Night Born
You are the Hounds of God. Through your deeds, all sins will be corrected, all wrongs righted, and the evildoers of the world will cower in fear at your feet.
- The Way of Light, A Manifesto, Page 259: Section C.
Katherine pulled at her dusty leather jacket to fend off the cold wind’s bite, mind racing at the possibilities of what they’d find in these mountains. A cure? More clues? As long as it wasn’t simply another dead end, she’d accept anything.
With each leap over rocks and along the mountain path, she became increasingly annoyed at the bounce of her ponytail. One of these days, she’d just shave it all off and be done with it. She liked to tell herself it didn’t matter what Danny would think if she did, but she often found herself taking the extra minute each morning to look her best, even if she knew they’d be searching freezing mountains for hidden caverns—as they were this day.
Searching, and probably ending up disappointed—again.
The years had been a mixture of hope and defeat. Nine years of looking for answers as to why she’d become a werewolf. Nine years of hoping to find a cure, but always coming up empty-handed.
She had only two companions—Babur and Danny. During their search, they’d found myths of wolf spirits taking over one’s body, and of Native Americans who had called upon these spirits for help. So far, they’d dismissed the European stories of villagers transforming in the night to fight off the evil witches, or going into Hell to keep the demons at bay—they had to draw the line somewhere between plausible and ridiculous.
In these days of the internet, there was no shortage of stories and theories. Yet, in all their searches, they hadn’t come across anything regarding the cure she longed for. The myths were their best bet, and they had led them to the mountains of Washington State.
She slowed at a fallen tree she’d noted earlier as a marker, smiling to see Danny crouching nearby and inspecting the area. His tan leather jacket was covered with dust, and a layer of sweat shone from his forehead.
When he turned to grin up at her, his white teeth gleamed in the dim light of dusk.
“You found it?” he asked.
“I found something.”
She motioned for him to keep up as she led him back to the small cave she had discovered. This could be it, she thought, as he knelt down and kicked at the clods of dirt that blocked the entrance. They broke apart to reveal stone steps leading down, chipped and worn.
“You think it’s down there?” he asked. She could tell he was trying to keep the hope out of his voice. Like her, he’d been disappointed many times, too.
“There’s only one way to find out.”
She tested the first step, gingerly putting her weight on it until she was sure it wouldn’t give way. The steps were sturdy, carved directly into the large rock surface below them. They each pulled flashlights from their packs, and she led the way as they descended.
At the bottom of the stairs, they found a large room. Shelves were carved into the walls, holding clay pots and dried herbs.
“Nice work,” Danny said, looking up at a faded mural on the wall.
Katherine came over, shining her light to better see the mural. It appeared to be a man cowering before a giant wolf. Her hands felt suddenly clammy, her heart thumping so loudly it seemed to echo off the walls.
“Don’t get your hopes up,” Danny said with a glance her way. “You always do.”
“And one of these days, it’ll be for the right reason,” she said, her finger brushing the stone wall of the mural. “There’s got to be something here.”
The rest of the room held more stone walls and murals in a small circle. The familiar frustration of this being only one more dead end of many was rising, and she began wondering if she would ever find the answers she needed.
Danny’s voice broke through her dismal thoughts. “Over here.”
He was kneeling next to one of the ledges. At its base, he had moved aside a large stone to reveal a tunnel just wide enough for a person to crawl through.
“You’ve gotta be kidding,” Katherine said. “I’m not crawling through that.”
“Well, I’ll holler back when I’ve found the cure, then,” Danny said as he dropped to his belly. He pushed his pack ahead of him and scooted forward, soon disappearing into the tunnel.
Katherine stood there, thinking how stupid she would have to be to go in there, but also how much she’d regret not going. With a silent curse, she dropped to her belly and scooted in after him. Darkness surrounded her, except for the dim light of his flashlight bobbing ahead. She held hers in front of her, and the sight of the stone tunnel so close around her was almost worse than the darkness. It reminded her of an MRI machine, or maybe a casket.
She pushed that thought aside as quickly as possible.
Darkness didn’t usually make her uneasy. When the sun set, she could see better than others, move faster, and have an advantage on any opponent out there—man or werewolf. Trapped in the dark of the tunnel, her memories came rushing back: horrible images flashing across her mind of that morning long ago when she’d found her parents dead. That had been her first transformation. She’d wanted to throw her life away, but then Danny had come along with the rest of Aldrick’s pack, and Aldrick had taught her that her curse could be a blessing. She had a duty, as they all did, to use their powers to stop evil in the world.
And then a man they called “Hunter” had attacked Aldrick and shattered everything Katherine had begun to believe in. The house had caught fire during the fight, and Aldrick had died in the flames. Aldrick’s werewolves had parted ways that wet, cold morning, and she was glad Danny had sided with her instead of the Gregor and his pack.
Danny’s light vanished ahead.
“Danny?” she asked.
“You’re almost there,” he said, his face appearing not far off, the light aimed at himself. “Come on, you got it.”
She reached him, and he helped her down the small drop-off. When she was back on her feet, she gathered her nerv
es and breathed deeply, reminding herself she wasn’t trapped, she was going to find the cure. She hoped.
It appeared they were now in some sort of inner chamber. They walked its perimeter, the circle of wall reaching up to form a dome over their heads. Immense marble columns loomed at six points along the walls.
Danny was at a large, crumbled rock that may have once been a throne. He dropped his pack and looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “It’s like the New Mexico caverns, the crypts of Louisiana….”
“Don’t say it,” she said, desperately searching for any sign that they were in the right place.
“It’s all dead ends, Kat.” He approached the center of the room, holding his light up to better see the dome above, and nearly tripped on something at his feet.
“What’s that?” she asked, walking over to take a look. She knelt beside a low circle of rocks. It was shaped like a well, but the stone surface of its floor wasn’t far down. Curious, she traced it with her fingers, then noticed a layer of dust covering an engraving beneath. She brushed aside the dust with the palm of her hand, and her heart skipped a beat. “The star.”
“It could be any star,” Danny said, but his voice betrayed his hope.
“This time, it’s different.”
He knelt next to her, putting a hand on hers. She felt a chill run up her arm. “And if it’s not?”
“Let’s just see,” she said.
She put her hand on the star in the center of the stone well, then pushed. It wasn’t solid, not completely. She knocked—hollow.
Even Danny’s eyes were shining with excitement now.
“Should we get back to Babur?” he asked.
“Not until we know it’s actually something.”
She stood and kicked at the star. It broke away, nearly taking her with it, but Danny caught her. They looked into the darkness below, hearing the rocks clatter at the bottom.
“The rope,” Danny said, going to his pack.
He secured the rope to one of the marble pillars, and they lowered themselves through the hole. Below, the hole expanded into a room of darkness that, when they shone their flashlights around, appeared to be a vast chamber.
“The natives worshiped here?” she said, thinking how horrible it would be to come down into this darkness more than once.
Danny reached the bottom and held the rope steady for her to dismount, then turned with his light to take a look around. Something ahead glistened in its beam. As they approached, they saw a glow, rippling and reflecting on the cave ceiling. An underground pool of water.
For a moment they stood, staring at the water.
“So much for your cure,” Danny said. “Sometimes, you have to know when to quit.”
He turned to head back, but stopped. She glanced over her shoulder to see something moving in the darkness. She held up her light, and then froze at the sight.
Soldiers.
They wore Special Forces gear, all black, with pistols strapped to their thighs and rifles in their hands. One stood before them on the ground, and two more were climbing down the rope.
Chapter 2: Taking Action
The closer soldier lunged for Katherine, but Danny kicked him off as the other two rushed forward to join in the struggle. His flashlight clanked against the rocks, casting bursts of light through the room as it was jostled about during the scuffle.
“Go!” Danny shouted.
Katherine hesitated, then ran and leaped for the rope. She pulled herself up as fast as she could, grateful for that aspect of Aldrick’s training, and was glad to see Danny following.
She was up and out when Danny yelped, barely hanging onto the rope as one of the soldiers pulled at his leg. Danny kicked and was free, but his hand came off the rope, and for a moment he was hanging in open air. Moving almost on instinct, Katherine reached out and caught him. With a great heave, she had him up and in the chamber, then slammed her boot hard into the face of a soldier about to climb up after them.
Danny was already pulling the rope free as he yelled, “Go!”
Throwing herself forward, she made for the small passage they’d crawled through to get here. A shout from behind told her Danny had met more trouble, and a quick glance showed two soldiers, one putting him in a chokehold, the other coming towards her.
She couldn’t leave Danny.
Rage flared, fueling her with the strength needed to tackle the soldier and slam his head into one of the stone pillars. Without hesitation, she spun and kicked out the legs of the soldier holding Danny, freeing Danny to attack a third that had partially emerged from the well.
A bullet shattered the stone wall beside Katherine’s head. She turned to see a soldier holding a pistol up, aimed at her. He shook his head in a don’t do it way. Whether he had missed her on purpose, or by accident, it was a mistake.
Danny appeared behind him, knife at the man’s throat, and ended it. He picked up the pistol and aimed it at the one remaining soldier, motioning back to Katherine.
“I said go!” he said. With a clunk, he pistol-whipped the soldier, knocking him out cold, and then was following her into the passage.
They shimmied through the darkness and then sprinted up the stairs, adrenaline rushing.
A bright light welcomed them as they burst into the woods, even though it was near dusk. Out here felt peaceful compared to the cramped chaos they’d just escaped from, but they weren’t yet in the clear.
Danny held a finger to his mouth for silence, and the two ran at a crouch, eyes searching for signs of any more soldiers. The direction they had chosen led to a descent, allowing them to better stay out of sight. A river raged beside them, and Katherine was glad for it—whatever noise they might make would be drowned out.
They ducked around a point where the rapids were especially wild, to hide behind the roots of an overturned tree.
With a quick glance back, Danny finally relaxed and squatted next to the river, washing his hands of the blood.
“They found us,” he said as he looked her over for wounds. “So they might’ve found Babur.”
“He’ll stay out of sight,” Katherine said. “And when they’re gone, we can continue searching, we—”
“Are you kidding me right now?” He ducked down into their hiding spot, drying his hands on his jeans. “Not with them on our trail.”
They stared at each other, a look of determination on his face that she wondered if she could push back against. She’d tried in the past, and almost always failed. Finally, she squatted down beside him and wrapped her arms around her knees.
“They couldn’t have tracked us,” she said. “Not without Hunter.”
Danny shook his head. “No, he works alone. This... it’s the pack.” He spat in disgust. “Gregor’d be the type to send others to do his dirty work.”
“But he wouldn’t…?”
“Give them the curse?” Danny looked at her with wide, hopeless eyes. “I’ve wondered if he would do it… if he has it in him. Imagine, an army of werewolves.”
“Aldrick’s Hounds of God.” She shuddered at the thought.
“They were just normal soldiers, back there,” Danny said, sounding like he was trying to convince himself. “No bite marks or anything.”
“That we saw,” she said.
He considered her, and his eyes betrayed his doubt. With a jolt, he turned, then stood straight, eyes moving to tree branches that shook not far off. The two moved deeper into the shadows, but Katherine turned her attention to the setting sun past the waterfall. If Gregor was raising an army of werewolves, searching for a cure would be the least of her worries. For now.
“Wait for me, right?” he said. “Back with Babur.”
“No, we stick together.”
He pulled her in close enough to make her blush, but his attention was on the distant trees. A moment, and then he had turned to the river and the trees beyond. The sun glistened on the water before disappearing past the hills, leaving behind a sky streaked in blood-red clouds.
“Maybe you’re right,” Danny said, catching her off guard. “This ends now. Every dead end we find here tells me our answers might lie in Europe.”
“I thought you said those were pure myths,” she said. “Legends only the foolish give any credence to?”
“I did,” he admitted. “But here we’re out of options. And getting away from the pack would be a nice bonus.”
A nearby branch moved, and then a voice said, “Over here!”
Danny put a hand on her shoulder, the other against her cheek. “Head to the town, find Babur, and tell him to get ready. I’ll get the supplies to the car.”
And with that he was gone, skipping across the stones in the river until he reached the other side. A gunshot blasted through the air, and Danny slipped. For a moment, Katherine thought they’d gotten him, but he recovered and made it to the far side, disappearing into the trees.
She forced herself to breathe. He’d be okay. After a moment, she darted into the trees opposite the direction of the river. A glance back showed her that the soldiers were making their way into the river in pursuit of Danny.
Chapter 3: Escape
Danny ignored the burning in his leg, pushing on through the woods. The bullet had merely grazed him, tearing a line in his pants and drawing a sliver of blood. Nothing worth whining over.
The soldiers or whatever they were—Gregor’s men, most likely—were drawing close, he could tell by the flutter of a bird one moment, a not-so-distant curse the next. They might have been wearing special operations gear, but they certainly weren’t military trained, that much was clear.
Still, if they caught him or Kat, who knows what would happen.
At a clearing, Danny side-stepped and changed direction. If he continued straight, they wouldn’t even have to track him, but just keep running. This way, he’d be able to test his theory about them being untrained.
He found a rocky ledge and darted around to a slope that led him up, then at the top threw himself flat on the ground and watched, waiting.