Winter Spire: Den of Desire

by Anya Merchant

  He held up the thermos Sister Catherine had left, though it was mostly empty. Shane shook his head slowly and waved his hand.

  “She’s a bitch, Felix,” he said. “Everybody in the tower thinks so. I’m not the only one.”

  “You’re calling a nun, a sister of the church, a bitch?” asked Felix. “Are you for real?”

  Shane started to answer, but before he could, an unfamiliar noise came through the last of the open windows. He and Felix both turned to look out over the frozen, snowy horizon. Far in the distance, a small object approached on the air. After a few seconds, Felix could make out the details of what looked like a helicopter on its way toward the tower.

  “Wow,” said Felix. “Does North Spire get copter visits on the regular?”

  Shane shook his head, and then seemed to think about the question for a moment.

  “There’s only one guy that I know of that visits by air,” he said. “And he usually doesn’t announce his arrival ahead of time.”

  Felix and Shane had just enough time to pop in the last few windows as the helicopter approached. More work would need to be done cleaning out the broken glass and festival trash, and the windows still needed to be weather proofed, but it was a good start toward restoring a sense of normality to the tower’s bottom floor.

  Several other townspeople, including the Mayor, Sheriff Burke, and Stella and Dani, made their way downstairs. Sheriff Burke shot a glare at Felix and waved Shane, his son, over to him. Shane hesitated, frowning at Felix.

  “Why does your dad hate me so much?” asked Felix.

  “He’s old fashioned,” said Shane, as though that should explain everything. He left Felix’s side and joined the small crowd huddled in the center of the lobby.

  The helicopter slowly descended, kicking up a small flurry of snow as it touched down on a stretch of flat tundra directly outside of the tower. The pilot took a moment to pull off what looked like some kind of headset before slipping out through the helicopter’s sliding door.

  He was tall, taller than Felix, in fact. His hair was sandy blonde in color, and he had the type of jawline that gave off a sense of strength even in silence. He wore a thick scarf around his neck along with a bomber jacket and jeans, clothes about as suited to the weather as an umbrella in the desert.

  The Mayor waited by the door, opening it for the man and letting out a welcoming laugh as he stepped inside. Oddly enough, Stella, Dani, and even Sheriff Burke were also gathered near the entrance, waiting their turns to say hello.

  “Trent!” exclaimed the Mayor. “It’s good to see you again, friend!”

  “Likewise.” The man, Trent, smiled a perfect white smile and shook the Mayor’s hand enthusiastically. “It looks to me like I arrived at just the right time.”

  Trent glanced around the lobby, his eyes scanning the damage done to the space. Felix felt an odd stab of possessiveness over the mess. He’d been the one fighting against the Ice Dancer with Stella and the wolves. And he was here now, fixing up.

  “Sheriff Burke.” Trent grinned and moved to the town’s sole enforcer, the quasi-keeper of law.

  “Trent,” said Sheriff Burke. He nodded with more respect than Felix had seen him muster in all the other times he’d seen the man, combined.

  Trent’s eyes turned toward Stella and Dani. Stella had changed into jeans and a tight, stretchy long sleeve shirt. She was wearing her jacket, but had left it open, and the lingering chill of the lobby was evident in the tips of her breasts.

  “Stella,” said Trent. Stella smiled and nodded.

  “Hello, Trent,” said Stella. “I take it that you have business in the area.”

  Trent smiled and pulled her into a hug.

  “I do,” he said. “Though you shouldn’t hold it past me just to stop in and say hi. It’s been far too long.”

  “True enough,” said Stella.

  The hug went on for several seconds, long enough for Felix to feel oddly protective of the older woman. Dani was waiting next to the two of them like a child waiting to be handed a present to open on Christmas morning.

  “And Danica!” Trent pulled back, grinning and looking Dani up and down. “You… I mean, wow. You’ve certainly grown up.”

  “Thank you for noticing, Trent,” said Dani. She batted her eyes at him and pushed out her chest slightly.

  “I’ve never trusted this guy with Dani,” whispered Shane, from Felix’s right.

  “What?” Felix frowned and shook his head. “That’s ridiculous. He’s twice her age.”

  “Dani and Stella both,” said Shane. “He tries to come across as a nice guy, but Trent is a sleazeball underneath. He has to be.”

  Trent had just finished saying something to Stella and Dani in a hushed tone, and both of them burst out into guilty sounding laughter. Dani grabbed Trent’s hand and tried to pull him over toward the stairs, but he shook his head, still smiling.

  “And Shane,” said Trent. “Still here, I see?”

  “Your eyes are working as well as ever,” said Shane, sarcasm dripping from the words.

  Trent walked over to Felix, frowning and looking him up and down.

  “You must be the newest transient,” said Trent. “There’s usually one or two here when I visit. So how’d you end up here? Get lost hiking? Truck break down?”

  Felix shook his head.

  “I’m a photographer,” he said. “I came here by choice.”

  It was true enough, but it didn’t preclude Trent’s main assumption. Dani walked over to them, standing a little closer to Trent than she did to Felix.

  “Trent gives tours of the local area, and does surveying work for the mining companies,” said Dani. “You should ask him to give you a ride around the area, maybe snap some aerial photographs.”

  Felix winced, turning his reaction into a smile as best as he could. Something about Trent rubbed him the wrong way, and he wasn’t all that interested in nipping at the man’s heels for help.

  But, on the other hand, it would be a chance for him to take a few shots that could sell for a bundle if he found the right buyer. That was money that he could use to get himself home, he realized. Felix could back to his normal life, maybe within a day or two if he was lucky. Back to his van, back to traveling wherever he pleased, and not having to contend with supernatural entities.

  “That’s a good idea, Dani,” he said. “Would you do that for me, Trent?”

  Trent looked over at Stella, who had an odd expression on her face that Felix had trouble interpreting. She looked hesitant and concerned, and also like she was trying to keep her emotions under wraps.

  “Maybe,” said Trent. “If you tell me how you ended up getting slapped.”

  Felix ran a hand through his hair, swallowing frustration.

  “It was… an accident,” he said. It sounded lame, even to him.

  “Is that right?” Trent looked over at Stella, waiting for her to confirm or deny. She didn’t say anything. Most of the rest of the crowd had wandered back up to the tower’s higher, warmer floors. Felix didn’t see Shane anywhere, and took it to mean that their work was done for the day.

  “Well?” asked Felix. “You’d be doing me a favor.”

  Trent nodded, an almost wolfish smile spreading across his face.

  “Yeah,” he said. “Sure. In fact, I’m heading out right now for a quick survey. Why don’t you head out to the chopper.”

  “Just let me grab my camera,” said Felix. He met Trent’s eye for a moment, each man sizing the other up. The wind outside the tower screeched as it blew against the new windows.

  CHAPTER 7

  Felix made a quick trip upstairs to grab his camera, and then headed back down to the lobby. Trent and Stella were in the middle of a whispered conversation, the sorceress frowning deeply at whatever Trent was saying.

  “Is everything okay?” asked Felix.

  Stella nodded, relaxing her expression visibly.

  “Yes,” she said. “Felix… Are you sure that you want
to do this?”

  Felix nodded, raising an eyebrow.

  “Uh, yeah,” he said. “Are you scared of helicopters, or something? They’re relatively safe, especially when the weather is clear.”

  Stella sighed and waved a hand through the air in a gesture that could have meant any number of things.

  “Alright,” she said. “Trent… Take care of Felix. He has good intentions.”

  Trent didn’t say anything, and instead pushed the tower’s metal front door open and started walking. Felix followed after him, feeling as though he’d missed something important.

  The helicopter was an impressive technological marvel with a gleaming coat of silver paint. It had two doors on either side that opened to the two front seats, along with a sliding door for the back bay pod area. Felix was half expecting to see machine guns or missiles hanging underneath it, but it was clear of weapons.

  “Hop in,” said Trent. “You can sit in the seat until we get to cruising altitude, and then I’ll open the bay door so you can get an unobstructed view to photograph from.”

  “Thanks,” said Felix. He opened the door on the passenger side and climbed in. The seat was leather, and heavily padded. A number of knobs and control buttons, along with a digital touch screen, composed the instrument panel in front of the pilot’s seat.

  Trent was silent as he flicked a few of the switches, glancing side to side before whirling up the blades overhead. The sound was far, far louder than what Felix had been expecting. Trent gestured to a set of noise canceling earmuffs in a compartment under the seat.

  “Can you hear me?” Trent’s voice came from a speaker inside the earmuffs that Felix hadn’t noticed. He fumbled to find the button for his own microphone, which curved around in front of his mouth.

  “Yes,” he said, feeling his voice more than hearing it.

  “Perfect,” said Trent. “Hang tight. We’ll be flying fast for the first few minutes.”

  Felix nodded, looking over at Trent. The other man’s body language was secretive. Something felt off about their little expedition, and how easily Trent had agreed to bring him along.

  Felix took a look out the window, watching as the tower went from being a massive feature of the local area, to a small stick amongst the snow, and then finally, to what looked to be little more than a tiny, grey dot against a whitish blue expanse of nothing.

  A couple of mountains stood out on the horizon. Trent pushed the helicopter passed what Felix would have thought was its limit, rising in height until there was enough space in between them to pass over. Felix eyed one that stood out from the rest, the peak of it slightly hollowed and broken volcanic caldera, blackened and charred.

  “Huh,” he said. “I didn’t realize this area had any volcanoes.”

  Trent nodded, and Felix realized that his microphone was still on. He reached his hand up to flick it off, when Trent motioned for him not to.

  “I wanted to ask you a few things,” said Trent.

  “…Such as?” asked Felix, eyeing the other man. Trent kept his eyes focused through the windshield.

  “Did you know Stella or Danica before arriving in North Spire?”

  Felix shook his head.

  “No,” he said. “We’ve only been acquainted for a couple of days. Why?”

  Trent smiled.

  “I’m a little protective of them,” he said. “Danica is like the little sister I never had.”

  Felix frowned at that, feeling a bit put off by their apparently shared sentiment toward the girl.

  “And Stella?” asked Felix, feeling his curiosity take over. “Have you and her… known each other, for long?”

  “Stella is brilliant,” said Trent. “She’s probably the most dangerous woman I’ve ever met. And certainly the most beautiful.”

  Felix was silent. He shifted out of his seat, freeing his camera from under his jacket and getting into position back by the bay door. Each step he took gave him a small stab of vertigo, even though he was within the closed confines of the craft.

  “Stella told me about what happened,” said Trent. “With the Ice Dancer.”

  “You aren’t skeptical of that kind of thing?” asked Felix. Trent looked over his shoulder at him.

  “No,” he said. “Hold on. I’m going to open the bay doors.”

  He hit a switch and hidden motors inside the helicopter’s frame began whirring, sliding the large door open and revealing the open air behind it, along with the frozen landscape below.

  “Isn’t there like a line, or strap, or something for me to attach to myself?” Felix had to yell now, even with the headset radio, to be heard over the helicopter’s blades.

  “Just be careful and you’ll be fine,” said Trent. “Now… Tell me about the white wolves.”

  “What?”

  “The white wolves,” repeated Trent. “Stella said that they’ve taken somewhat of… an affinity to you.”

  Felix shrugged.

  “I guess,” he said. “Look, I don’t know anything about it. And I don’t plan on finding out. As soon as I’m done getting the photos I need I’m paying for passage back to civilization.”

  He focused his camera’s lens, setting up a shot of the mountains in the distance, and the snow covered trees below. They were at least a dozen miles out from the North Spire, and it was little more than a smudge on the horizon.

  “Have you considered the possibility of the wolves attacking the tower?” asked Trent.

  “No,” said Felix. “I somehow doubt they’d do something like that.”

  “And why is that?”

  Felix shrugged.

  “They’ve had opportunities to already,” he said. “Besides, the one I spoke with didn’t seem like a bad… uh, werewolf. They helped us against the Ice Dancer.”

  “Would you fight against them?” asked Trent. “Would you be willing to use the trust they apparently place in you to lure them into a trap?”

  “No,” said Felix. “They saved my life. I’m not just going to betray a group of people because they happen to-“

  Trent had apparently left his position in the pilot’s chair without Felix noticing, distracted by the conversation and his camera. He clamped an arm around Felix’s neck, holding him in a headlock and catching him completely off guard.

  “They aren’t human, Felix,” said Trent. “And if what Stella tells me is true, you aren’t either, wolfbound.”

  Felix acted purely out of reflex, slamming his head backward and leaning away from the open helicopter door. The back of his skull struck Trent in the face, and the choke hold loosened enough for Felix to break loose.

  “What the fuck?” Felix lifted an arm as Trent advanced on him, throwing a punch. Felix managed to shield his face, but dropped his camera in the process. It fell out of the helicopter, and vertigo twisted at Felix’s insides as he thought about what that meant.

  Trent took a step back and tensed his body, lifting a foot into a kick. Felix slammed his hand against the frame of the helicopter, feeling his fingers close around a nearby backpack. He tried to swing it and knock Trent’s attack away from him, but the pad of the other man’s foot made direct contact with his chest, knocking him off balance. Felix put his freehand out to steady himself and found open air, the rest of his body following as he stared, wide eyed and terrified, at the ground below.

  CHAPTER 8

  Felix screamed.

  The sound left him like air escaping into a vacuum, pulled from deep within his lungs, a force of nature. He felt the air whipping across his face, pushing against his eyes hard enough to make them tear up. He saw the trees below him, their branches and pointed tips looking like barbed spears, waiting to greet him with traumatic violence.

  Time seemed to slow down, each second drawing out into a horrifying frame of eternity. He was high in the air, high enough that the impact wouldn’t come for seconds, maybe half a minute. Felix screamed and screamed, and rolled through the air, fumbling blindly as though there would be something for h
im to grab onto, swinging the backpack in his hand…

  The backpack. He stared at it blankly for a second, noticing the oddly well-formed stitches on it, and the pull string hanging from one end. It took him another second to connect the facts to context in his head, and then Felix began to scream again, pulling arm straps over his shoulders and praying that it wasn’t too late.

  There was more to the harness than just the straps, but he had no time. He could see detail in the ground below, enough of it to make it seem like a fools dream to even hope. Felix made sure the parachute was on as close to correctly as he could get it in the time he had, and then pulled hard at the rip cord.

  The parachute extended out above him, and Felix felt the moment of glorious salvation in the form of very nearly having both shoulders pulled out of their sockets. He screamed again out of pain, and then began to laugh as his freefall became a gentle glide toward the ground.

  Trent and the helicopter were at least a half mile out and headed away from him. Felix felt a surge of relief at that, but only for a few seconds as he began to contemplate his new, only slightly less fucked, situation.

  He was a dozen miles or more out from North Spire, in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness, with no survival supplies. No knife, no granola bars, no nothing. The parachute fluttered slightly as a freezing cold gust of wind also served to remind Felix of his lack of a tent, sleeping bag, or fire starting kit.

  “Fuck,” he muttered. “Fuck!”

  It took him several more minutes of parachuting to reach the tops of the trees. He wasn’t sure how to control the parachute, but there weren’t any nearby clearings to aim for, regardless. Pine branches poked at his arms and legs as he tumbled down through the thick forest canopy. A branch whipped across his forehead, scratching open skin.

  His parachute proved to be more of a hindrance than help after his initial touchdown, tangling itself into the trees and holding him in place a few feet above the snowy ground. He hung there for a minute, wondering if it was worth making the effort to try to save himself.

  “I’m a dozen miles away from any hope,” he said, speaking out loud. “But… I know the landmarks in the direction that I came in.”