Defiance at Werewolf Keep (Werewolf Keep Trilogy) (14 page)

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Lily rubbed at her tired eyes. She had been reading letter
s all morning by lamplight because the overcast day was so dark, it was impossible to see the fine, elegant handwriting any other way. It was almost time for luncheon and Will would soon return from Harrogate, where he was picking up their latest resident who was coming in by train from Scotland.

‘All right
, Mrs McManners?’ Professor James asked, looking up at her through his thick glasses. It still seemed odd to answer to her new name. Odd, but wonderful. In the last month she had settled in to her new role and her new life eagerly and with much joy. Her health continued to improve; she had put on weight, no longer looking like a sickly skeleton, and with each passing day, Will seemed to love her even more.

He was
a different man from the one she had first met at the Keep. The guarded, moody man who kept everyone at arm’s length was gone. Now he laughed often and loudly, and had taken to playing practical jokes on people to loosen them up.

‘I’m fine, Professor.
My eyes are sore, that’s all. This last letter was more like spider tracks than writing and the light is not good.’

‘
Would you prefer some candles? I personally prefer to read by candlelight than lamplight. Somehow, it seems more ambient.’

‘No, it is fine. I have finished with that letter now. And luncheon will be served shortly.’

She filed the offending missive in under ‘O’ in the Italian file. There had been nothing new to add to their data. The rambling account of the wolf attack and subsequent death was not new. The upsetting aspect, that the victim had killed himself before he turned for the first time, so sure of his fate, was unfortunately not note-worthy. Nothing was gained by ending a life, even if it meant assuring the survival of others. Would she have ever considered suicide had she not been found so quickly and brought to Breckenhill Keep? Only if she had killed someone. That was still her greatest fear.

Selecting the next letter on the pile, she qu
ickly slit the top open with a letter opener and removed the high quality linen paper inside. The handwriting was dark, large and easy to read in English. With a sigh of relief, she settled down to digest it.

St Aloise Monastry

Orleons

5th Day of July 1865

Dear Sirs
,

We have been led to you by His Eminence, Jean Paul Cardinal Rautier, Archbishop of Mausier, who has kept abreast of the Devil’s Handiwork as regards werewolves. The Church has a long history of monitoring the resurgence of this plague since its inception.

Several months ago, a werewolf entered our city and began attacking our citizens. Those injured were brought to us for care. One particular individual, although his arm had been mauled by the monster, did not turn at the full moon. More interesting still, the other injured man who did turn on the first night of the full moon attacked the unturned victim before we managed to pull him from the cell they shared.

On the second night of the full moon that man did not turn again. In human form, he was likewise bitten by his new cellmate. On the third night of the full moon, that woman cellmate did not again turn.

We have carefully monitored this occurrence over several months, and none of the victims have again turned. His Eminence assures us that this is a startling new phenomenon. An Act of God.

We are of the opinion that the first victim was healed by an Angel and that his blood, sanctified by Angelic Intervention, is now capable of healing others.

For safety, we have quarantined those who have been healed, as well as the man who was Divinely touched.

We invite members of your fraternity to visit us at your earliest convenience to study this phenomenon. If we have discovered the means to defeat the Devil in this regard, we wish to spread word of it across the world.

Yours in Our Lord,

Father Dominic

Lily’s han
d was shaking so hard by the time she reached the end of the letter that she had trouble reading the last lines.

‘Lily, what is wrong?’ Jasper demanded, looking up from his own studies.

‘I… I do believe the cure has been found,’ she managed to get out as she handed over the letter to Jasper.

‘Cure? How so?’ Professor James stood up and hastened over to stand behind Jasper as he read.

Lily didn’t say any more, knowing that all they needed to know was written there in big, clear words. An Act of God? Possibly. But certainly the answer to the prayers of all who lived at the Keep.

Excited, overwhelmed, Lily stood up and hurried for the door. ‘I will get Byron and Phil.’

No one replied.

By the time she returned with
Byron, Phil and Dee, Jasper and Prof James were sitting in silence, staring into space.

‘Well, man, what do you make of it? Lily says it’s a cure,’ Byron said gruffly, brought up short by the odd
ly stunned expressions of the other men’s faces.

‘Lily is quite correct. It would seem that
a person who was immune to the contagion has been discovered and his blood not only protects him, but cures those already infected.’ Jasper said slowly, as if in a dream. ‘Of course, we do not know if the blood only works when the werewolf is in human form. It might prove problematic getting a wolf to ingest blood without a victim…’

‘A cure? Oh
, Good Heavens, this is…This is unbelievable!’ exclaimed Dee, rushing over to wrap her arms around her husband’s neck. Absently, Jasper kissed her cheek, still too stunned to register much of anything.

Byron reached for the letter and read through it quickly. ‘It would seem we will need to leave fo
r the Continent as soon as the full moon is over. If the cure is passed on, much as the initial contagion was passed on, we might not need access to the original source.’

‘I would volunteer to undergo the process and then my blood could be used on the rest here,’ Jasper said slowly.

‘You are not going into a cage with a human, nor are you going into a cage with wolves when you are human. That process is unacceptably risky,’ Dee said with fierce determination.

‘But if it is the only way.
’

‘No, I will not have it,’ Dee stomped her foot and crossed her arms.

‘Let us not get ahead of ourselves. We have much research to do before we start experimenting. But we must act quickly, as we do not know how long the immunity stays in the blood,’ Prof James put in, finally coming back to life, his face flushed with uncharacteristic excitement.

Lily left them to their discussion and headed for the front door. Any time now, Will would be arriving. She wanted to be the one to tell him the good news. She wanted to be the one to see his face light up with excitement and hope.

As she hurried down the curved staircase to the entry hall, she met several other denizens of the Keep who had caught wind of the news. She hastily filled them in as she continued to make her way to the large oak door.

Even though it was overcast and looked ready to pour, the temperature was mild. As Lily stood on the top step awaiting sight of the carriage, she did a little dancing step, unable to contain her joy any longer.

Healed, they were all going to be healed! It was a Miracle. Maybe not an Act of God in the way the monks might see it, but certainly a gift of Divine significance to them all.

As she stood, staring into the distance, waiting for the first sight of the carriage, the first prickles of unease began. What would a cure mean to her? The werewolf contagion had healed her of her other illnesses, just as it had Ellen. If she was no longer a werewolf
, would she go back to being an invalid?

Giving herself a shake, she tried to drive away the thought.
Of course she would stay healthy. She’d been cured, hadn’t she? Her old illnesses couldn’t come back. Could they?

At that moment
, the black Phaeton with two bay horses pulling it drove up the drive. Will had the reins and the newest resident was the passenger, a middle-aged man with a receding hairline and long beak-like nose. As the carriage pulled up at the stairs, Will looked her over in consternation.

‘What fashes you Lily, l
ove?’ he demanded, jumping down from the seat and racing up the stairs to her side. He took her arms in his big hands and held her tight, keeping her from falling. Suddenly, she was feeling light-headed and her ears were buzzing.

‘There’s a cure,’ she managed to get out hoarsely as she leaned in to feel the solid strength of her husband. He was the rock she needed to cling to in this moment. Without him, she was sure she’d be washed away by her fears.

‘What? What do you mean a cure? A cure for what?’ Will blustered as he allowed her to lean in to him.

‘For the werewolf contagion.’

‘No, it’s not possible. Someone is lying to us. Or it’s a mistake.’

‘No. The letter came from a monastery in France. You will need to read it for yourself. But I have no doubt it
’s true. There
is
a cure.’ She heard her voice waver.

‘This is…
wonderful!’ Will swooped her up and swung her around. ‘Think of it, Lily. We can leave here, go anywhere we choose. If you wanted, we could move near your parents. I could find work. I donna ken what I’d do, it’s been so long. Not pugilism. I’m too old for that now, but there’s bound to be work for a man like me in London.’

She watched his face
light up as the idea sank in. The possibilities were running riot through his mind, each one bigger and better than the last.

He was so happy.

When he put her down and looked back at the gentleman who was clambering down from the Phaeton, he grinned madly. ‘You may have arrived at the perfect time, Mr Brown. You may not have to deal with the rigors of werewolfdom for very much longer. A cure, they’ve found a cure!’

Will swept her under his arm
and joyfully strode off into the Keep. ‘Where is everybody?’

‘In the l
ibrary.’

He almost carried her up the stairs, so anxious was he to find out more and to share the good news with the others.

* * *

Later that evening, Will lay back on the bed he now shared with Lily and watched her undressing. It was his favourite part of any day. Wat
ching her was like watching a gift being slowly unwrapped. And with each passing day, he was sure he saw a little more flesh on her bones. She certainly ate enough to be putting on weight.

But thoughts of her body were not pivotal at that moment. For him, the dream of returning to the world as purely
human played in the back of his mind like a haunting refrain that wouldn’t be forgotten. Every thought circled back to that one idea – he was going to be human again! The years as a monster would be put behind him. He would be able to embrace his life with the woman he loved, as any man would.

The timing
of this discovery didn’t pass him by, nor who had been the first to uncover the news. Lily had already given him back his humanity, even before this monumental news. The rest was just extra delightful garnish to his meal.

‘I wish I was going, but I understand Byron’s perspective. If it takes a few weeks to examine and experiment with what the
Monastery has discovered, we would be cutting it close getting back for the next full moon. I just hate the idea that I canna be in on the moment. So much of my life has been tied to this condition. I want to be part of the cure.’

Lily brushed her long golden brown hair back over her shoulder and smiled at him sadly. For the first time
, he realised that she was sad. Not overtly. It was almost as if she was trying to share in his excitement, and yet she was anything but happy about what she’d found. How could that be possible? She could go home to her parents. She could have a life of freedom, unconstrained by the necessity of being locked in a cell three nights of every month. She would be free of the fear that she might hurt someone.

Maybe she
thought he would leave her once he had his freedom. Maybe she wanted him to leave so she could choose someone more suitable. Her choices had certainly been limited by her condition. As a werewolf, she would be limited to finding a partner who was a werewolf or was willing to bury himself in the wilds of the Yorkshire Moors for her. No such limits would apply once she was human again.

Fear ate at him. He couldn’t face her rejection, not after what he had done to allow himself to love her.

‘Lily, come here,’ he demanded, hearing the fear in his voice that he hid beneath anger.

Dutifully, his new wife came to his side and sat on the edge of the bed. Her eyes,
when they met his gaze, were guarded. She was hiding something. Fear spiked higher and harder and he swallowed it down. He was not a coward. Even when he was at his most vulnerable, he was not a coward. If she rejected him, he would not plead with her to stay. In his long life he was well acquainted with being alone. It would be easy to go back to that again.