Carpathian (60 page)

“Stanus will become Carl’s eyes and ears as he remains here with us. The captain will be able to assert some direction to Stanus, but never, ever depend on his following your every request. And he will not follow orders. As you can see by my grandmother’s ankle there are inherent dangers to the spell. You will receive the same wounds, the same pleasures, and the same pain the Golia will feel. And I must warn you, Carl, you will find the mind of the Golia vast and disturbing. The species has been mistreated since the dawn of time. Men have hunted them, driven them from the beautiful parts of the world until they have been pushed to the very edge of the map by mankind.”

Suddenly the doorway was filled. The light from the outside torches had been blocked off. Charlie and Carl turned their heads to see Stanus standing in the small doorway. It was so tall that it had to lean forward to see into the room. The beast growled and that sent cold chills down Charlie Ellenshaw’s back and arms. He took an involuntary step back.

“Don’t move, Professor, please,” Anya said as she placed the empty mixing bowl on the small wooden table. She turned and faced Stanus, who was breathing hard and looking at Everett.

“Do the Golia like being joined with men?” Charlie asked.

“They love it. Well … sometimes they love it, sometimes not.” Anya finally approached Stanus and then slowly raised a hand to its massively large head and rubbed. The beast leaned closer so Anya could scratch deeper. Then the wolf slowly slid down onto all fours as it entered the room, forcing Anya to step inside. “Stanus is allowing this only because he is curious about not only the captain and his intentions toward me and Grandmamma, but because it wants to know if you are here for the purposes of deceit. That would not be good. Your mind has to be open, Carl. Do not try to hide anything. Stanus will tear down any barrier you have to get at the information he wants. That was where I believe Marko made his mistake in his attempted fooling of Stanus and his lies about the encroachment of the Russian investor; the wolf knew it was being lied to.”

Charlie squeezed up against the rough wall as Stanus went to all four legs and then came into the room and filled it with its bulk. While on all fours it was still face-to-face with Ellenshaw as the beast sniffed and then huffed. Then Stanus moved on to Anya and sat before her. Anya without any extra movement placed the remaining potion from the bowl in front of the wolf. The beast lapped up the foul-tasting liquid.

Anya was breathing hard and wondering how Stanus would accept the stranger into its mind. The beast walked around the table on four legs as it continued to examine Carl. For Everett’s part he lay as still as he could as the fuzzy effects of the homemade hallucinogen took hold of his mind as the wolf stopped and then licked the remainder of the liquid from its muzzle using its wide tongue. Suddenly Stanus raised a right paw to the cot and used its anchored weight to lift itself from the floor until it was standing on two powerful legs as it looked down upon Carl. The ears lay down and then sprang back up as the beast was starting to get glimpses of the man’s mind.

Anya motioned for Charlie Ellenshaw to slowly back away from the scene played out before them. As he watched and slid down the wall at the same moment, Charlie saw the large hand with extended, claw-tipped fingers as it settled onto the head of the large Navy SEAL. The beast closed its eyes as he felt the pulse of Carl’s beating heart for the first time. Its breathing became steady and the grip on the captain’s head intensified, eliciting a small gasp from Everett, who now looked to be in a deep dream state.

Everett felt the beast inside him. He felt himself inside the beast. Carl was confused as he felt his eyes roam over his own prone body. He could actually feel the touch of his two-day-old beard as the hand of Stanus felt the minute pores and flaws of Carl’s skin. On several instances the hand would pause over a few of the deeper scars from his time as a SEAL. The beast would whine as the fingers felt the pain from Carl’s past. Then Stanus hit upon Everett’s sadness in regard to the loss of Lisa Willing, then the beast moved past that and into Carl’s present. It was if the animal were getting a feel for who and what Everett was. The hand would settle on a new spot on Carl’s skull, linger for a moment, and then move off to another spot. Finally the beast opened its eyes and then without warning it leaped over the cot and stood before Ellenshaw. Charlie felt his bladder partially let go. After all of the amazing things he had seen in his many years as a cryptozoologist he had never beheld a more frightening, purely beautiful sight as he was witnessing at that moment. The beast sniffed.

“Don’t be frightened,” Anya said. “I think that is the captain. Stanus is there but he is allowing Carl to take over for the moment. I think he wants you to know that he’s all right and inside Stanus.”

“You have got to be kidding me,” Charlie said as he half turned away from Stanus as the muzzle of the animal came within inches of Ellenshaw’s face. The hot breath of the beast was washing over him as a waterfall would.

“Chaaaaarlllllieeeee,” the sound came out more as a jumbled cacophony of baritone mumbling, but the name was clearly understood.

“Now that is something, never has a Golia spoken before with a man they didn’t know. Stanus must feel comfortable with your Mr. Everett,” Anya said as she slowly and cautiously approached Stanus from behind. “Carl is exhibiting amazing strength in controlling him.”

Charlie’s eyes widened as the beast raised a large hand and with just the long claws turned Ellenshaw’s head toward its yellow eyes. Then the beast took Charlie by the collar and lifted him off the stone floor. Ellenshaw felt his feet dangling as the animal secured its viselike grip on Charlie’s throat.

“Oh, oh, that’s not the captain.” Anya moved quickly and placed both hands on the back of the giant wolf. She could feel the muscles underneath the black fur working as the beast was slowly getting its blood up. “Captain, if you can hear me reassert your influence and tell Stanus that Professor Ellenshaw is a friend, it hasn’t connected that part of your memory yet. He wrested control away from you when his part of the mind didn’t recognize your friend. Introduce them to each other.”

Suddenly the beast relaxed its grip, but the hand was still there around Charlie’s throat. The strange thing was Charlie wasn’t trying to breathe at all. Stanus sniffed Charlie once more. Then an amazing thing happened and Ellenshaw was lowered to the ground as Stanus lowered its large frame so it could look into Charlie’s eyes and then without warning he went to all fours and sprang not through the open doorway, but through one of the larger window openings and was gone. Charlie heard Dr. Denise Gilliam scream as Stanus leaped from the window.

*   *   *

Carl found out that he was just a passenger on the ride of his life. He could actually feel the earth beneath his paws as he ran. Stanus he found out had a favorite pastime and that was running. The Golia felt free when its legs were stretched to their limit. Stanus, Carl knew, hated the life he led with having to stay on the mountain and never venturing forth. But Everett also felt that the beast was content as long as its clan was safe. That was the foremost vibe Carl was picking up from Stanus.

Everett felt the beast stop and then rise to his hind legs as it gripped a large pine tree and examined the world around it. Carl could actually smell the odors of the woods and mountain. He could smell birds high up in their nesting places. He could see better in the dark than he could ever see in the daylight with his own eyes. Everything stood out in grays and green contrast and he could see anything that moved or broke its cover. And it seemed every animal that was lying in its burrow or nest knew that the werewolf was roaming the mountain this night. Everett had never felt the power he was feeling at that moment. And the amazing thing he felt was the fact that he knew Stanus was enjoying showing off.

Carl felt the attention of Stanus drawn to something below. As Everett focused his mind along with the mind of the wolf, he could see the swirling purples and blues of Castle Dracula.

Carl felt free and for the first time he felt Stanus grip the tree he was leaning against for support and then the howl let loose and it actually exhilarated Everett. It was like he was proclaiming to the world that something special was coming their way—one of God’s greatest creations was on the move.

Stanus lowered himself to all fours and with his fingers curled inward made his hands into the running pads of the animal. Stanus shot off down the mountain at a full run at breakneck speed. Carl felt as though Stanus was about to make an example of just how powerful the werewolf really was.

Its direction—Castle Dracula.

*   *   *

Will Mendenhall woke and was very confused regarding where he was. He had been far more exhausted than he had realized and went right to sleep after he had laid his head on the air mattress and sleeping bag supplied by the Airborne boys. He had been told they would only run a 10 percent watch of their small three-tent camp.

As he struggled in his sleep his eyes came wide and he realized finally where he was at and what had awakened him. It was no animal noise or strange bumps in the night for Mendenhall, it was his bladder. If he didn’t get up at that exact moment there would be incident he would never live down—especially from Ryan. Will thanked the heavens he had been too tired to even unlace his boots before he had zonked out. He stood and bounced off the air mattress and crawled and ran quickly through the tent flap barely missing the two men who were just changing watch.

“Hey, Lieutenant, it looks like the party settled down about an hour ago and we were—”

Will ran right past the two men, who watched him vanish into the small stand of trees beside the old barn and just below the craggy face of the mountain.

“Can’t talk now, emergency,” he said as he sped past.

Mendenhall finally made it into the trees and had his jeans already unzipped. He started to relieve himself against the lower, very rough face of the mountain. He closed his eyes and whistled.

“Lord Almighty!” he hissed, “that was close to—”

Will froze when he looked up after the initial relief of making it to the trees and saw the two yellow almond-shaped eyes as they gazed down at him. The beast was upside down and because of the darkness of the morning hours Will could not see anything else because of the black fur. He was looking at a perfectly camouflaged Golia. And he realized as his relief dried up on him that it was Stanus who had all four sets of claws buried into the rough rock wall of the mountain. Will realized he was seeing what the beast did best of all—it was a climber just as Alice had said these animals had developed into. Stanus was hanging upside down and Will saw the Golia slowly open its mouth and start to lean forward while the teeth grew ever closer.

Will thought he could at least swallow when the first attempt at screaming went afoul, but he couldn’t muster enough saliva for that. He felt the dryness of his throat as the beast was now only inches from Will’s upturned face. Suddenly Stanus released the hand closest to Will’s head and then the giant wolf slapped him playfully against the right side of his head, knocking him to the ground. When Mendenhall rolled over he saw that Stanus was gone. Will just lay there staring up at the now empty facing of the mountain as a breeze sprang up and moved the trees.

*   *   *

Inside the temple in a room that sat only twenty-five feet from the greatest rumored treasure in biblical history, Captain Carl Everett stunned Anya and Charlie by snickering in his sleep at something that happened with Stanus. His eyes were moving rapidly and they knew Carl had just enjoyed something in his very unusual ride.

CASTLE DRACULA

Drake Andrews stood on the front section of the enormous stage and winced at the loudness of the sound system. He glanced at his agent and gave him a dirty look. The Russian musical troupe had all lined the front and back part of the stage just to witness Drake sing a few bars from an old standard of his for a sound check. Even with the deep booming sound system an engineer had managed a bad connection someplace and a piercing screech sounded through the nearly empty nightclub. Drake placed two hands to his ears and the Russians did the complete opposite, they actually clapped and cheered at just the opening refrain of a hit he had back in 1967.

Right at that moment several of the Dracula props they had arranged mechanically around the gothic-laced dressing of the stage popped free of their ancient-looking coffins and one even fell all the way forward and crashed into the front row of the arranged tables. The mechanical dummy hit the table, rolled off, and then something inside fizzled and smoke rose into the air. Again Drake looked at his agent and without a word, and as the Russian musicians were still applauding at three-thirty in the morning, Drake Andrews stormed off the stage and headed for the large stone balcony that looked up and onto the mountain. His agent followed as one more mechanical Dracula dummy half opened its casket door and an arm broke off and fell free much to the delight of the long-haired Russians.

The American entertainer looked out across the expansive outdoor patio and knew that this gig would be a disaster and once word of this got out he would be lucky to get Knott’s Berry Farm.

His eyes roamed to the mountain rising above the club.
Well, at least if he was going out he would go out in relative obscurity
, he thought. His anger spent at the screwups, he turned and bumped his face directly into a wall that hadn’t been there just a second before when he walked out onto the patio.

“What the—” His voice caught in his throat as he saw nothing but pure black, and his nose, although pressed against something warm, could smell a heavy animalistic musk. His eyes traveled upward and then widened as they saw the yellow glowing orbs with the ring of black around the pupils. Drake took a step back and his eyes grew even wider.

Stanus stood before the failed crooner and watched as if he was nothing more than a mild curiosity. The large head tilted first right, and then left as its ears stayed upright and long. The wolf stood over six and half feet and Drake had to strain his neck to get in the full extent of the creature before him.