Immortal Coil: A Novel (Immortal Trilogy Book 1) (23 page)

              “You have friends now,” David said.

              “You have a
family
now,” Maggie said, correcting him.

              “What about your first change, Dylan?” Antony asked. “When did that take place?”

              “The following night I started my cycle. I killed. I was horrified at what I had become and struggled to control it. Years later, for a brief time, I met up with another werewolf, an old man who had been a wolf for much longer than me. He told me that normally the change happens instantly, the same night as when you are bitten, but because I was bitten so close to the point when the change reverts back to human, I didn’t change until my next cycle. I had no help that first night, twenty-eight days later, when I turned again, I had no clue what was happening to me, and only dimly realized what I was when I woke up in the bushes outside my house wearing no clothes. I watched the news and discovered that a couple walking their dog the previous night had been mauled by a bear or some other large wild animal. The dog was found several blocks away, exhausted. It had run from the attack and hadn’t stopped running until it collapsed. The dog lived. Its owners, I’m afraid, were my first two victims, and hopefully my last. I knew now what I was. I built a heavy shed in my back yard and locked myself in whenever I felt the change coming on. I learned to trust my cycle, and it never let me down.”

“What ever happened to the old wolf?” Maggie asked.

“He moved on. He had no interest in teaching me how to control the wolf. He gave me what little information I have, but it’s not much. The rest I’ve learned on my own. I’ve had a lot of odd jobs since becoming a werewolf, but I think my favorite was when I worked for a freak show. My preternatural ability to heal gave me the perfect performance.”

“It has been a busy night,” Antony said. “And the sun is coming up quickly. One last bit of business must be handled before the night ends. Vampires are extremely vulnerable during the day. I do not think it prudent to have a person who has not yet proven himself trustworthy having free run of the house while the vampires slumber. I’m going to ask you to indulge me a little while longer and spend the day inside the panic room.”

“Is that completely necessary?” Maggie asked.

“I’m afraid it is.”

“It’s fine,” Dylan said. “I’ll do whatever is necessary to prove I’m worthy.”

“Good it is settled.”

Dylan entered the panic room without a fight and they locked him in. The vampires settled in for the night and Maggie and Gardner spent the daylight hours doing what they did when the boys were asleep. She thought about Dylan, though. She thought how nice it would be to have someone there with her during the day. She also thought how strange it would be. She was so used to being alone during the day. She would enjoy having adult company for a change, if Dylan truly was going to stay with them.

The next night came and the vampires emerged, one after another. They opened the panic room and let Dylan out.

Antony, Randal and David went off in search of the hunt. Randal returned first, needing only one victim to satisfy his need. David and Antony hunted together for a time, but David filled his blood requirement first. He offered to stay and complete the hunt with Antony, but was dismissed. David returned home.

Antony needed one last victim for the night, and thanks to Maggie’s shelter, he believed he had found one. He raced to the house of the man on which he planned to feed. He waited for the perfect time to strike. Peering into the window, Antony saw the object of his blood lust: the abusive husband and in rare form tonight. He saw the woman lying on the floor, the man Antony planned to feed on that night was on top of her, choking her. There was a boy there, too. He was a young boy. Antony did not know the boy’s name, but the man was Howard Klein and the woman was Hilary. The child was beating on the man’s back trying to get him off the woman. The man swung out with his right hand and swatted the boy halfway across the room. Perhaps it was time for Antony to intervene on their behalf. Before Antony could make his move; however, the boy found a new way to protect them from the abuser. The boy picked up a high heel shoe and threw it at the man. The shoe tumbled through space in slow motion from Antony’s point of view, and then hit its mark. The man looked up to see where the boy had gone just as the shoe was thrown. Its steel tipped, six-inch heel hit the man just above the eye.

              Blood flowed immediately in that way head wounds had of looking worse than they were. But this got the man off the woman.

              But now the focus of the man’s anger was on the boy. If a human’s eyes could turn red in the throes of a bloodlust, this man’s eyes would have done so.

              But now the woman was on her feet, and she was using her cell phone. She had dialed 911 and was talking to the dispatch. An ambulance was on the way; and within minutes, Antony had lost his chance to feed.

              But he decided not to give up. He followed the ambulance to the hospital and even walked inside the waiting room of the ER. He watched as the doctors stitched the man’s forehead. The woman had managed to defuse the situation for the moment, but Antony was sure she knew what was in store for her when they returned home.

              Antony never lost sight of the man. He planned to ensure this man did not get the opportunity to finish what he had started at the house.

              When the man was out of earshot, Antony heard the doctors asking the woman and the boy if there was anything they needed to know. In other words: did they need call the police? The woman grew visibly paler at the thought of the police getting involved. They couldn’t get the boy to talk either; the man had quite a hold over them.

              Antony had an idea. He made a phone call.

              Minutes later someone walked up to the reception desk, spoke to the receptionist, and then stepped back. The receptionist then spoke into the intercom for the whole of the ER to hear, “Hilary Spragg, your taxi is here; Hilary Spragg, your taxi is waiting. Thank you.”

              There was some confusion as to who had called the taxi. She emphatically denied she had called. The man decided it was fine if she and the boy went home, but he assured her he would be home soon. She spoke to the taxi driver and explained she had no money, and that she hadn’t made the call. The driver smiled at her and told her she need not worry about that. As it turned out, the fair was already paid, and with a sizable tip. The woman was suspicious but she and the boy went with the taxi driver to the waiting cab.

              When she and the boy were safely on their way home, Antony was able to focus all his attention on the man. He waited patiently for the man to finish getting bandaged. The man demanded that the receptionist call him a taxi. She kindly refused, and pointed to the pay phone for just such occasions. He called for his own taxi. He complained about the service, and that the bill was too high, but left without making too big a scene. He had other matters to attend to, anyway. It was in the parking lot that Antony finally found the chance to make his move.

              As the man started digging through his pocket for taxi fare, Antony dropped down and stood silently behind him. He cupped a hand around the man’s mouth and lifted him off the ground. Tucking him securely under his arm, Antony raced home with his prize.

              The man passed out during the trip back to the house. Antony asked Maggie to confirm that the man truly was worthy to be chosen.

Maggie looked into the panic room at the man handcuffed inside. “Yes,” she said. “I don’t know what he has done, but his aura is red. He is guilty of something horrific.”

Dylan was morbidly curious and asked if he could watch Antony feed. Antony allowed it.

              The man sitting in the panic room didn’t seem scared, only annoyed. He hissed at Dylan, but otherwise ignored him. The cuffed man’s main focus was on the one standing directly in front of him. How had he been spirited away so easily?

              “What the hell is this?” Howard asked. “Are you going to show me what will happen in a prison shower if I don’t shape up?”

              “No,” Antony said, and his eyes turned red. “I am going to prevent you from killing anyone ever again.”

              There was no time for further discussion as Antony stepped forward and bit down on Howard’s neck. Dylan tried to watch but he felt his stomach hitch when the drained body slumped to the floor. When it came time to decapitate Howard’s corpse, Dylan threw up on the cement floor. The smell of the corpse burning in the incinerator caused Dylan to pass out completely.

              “Bizarre,” Antony stated in an amazed tone.

              “What is?” Dylan croaked after being revived. His throat was raw from the stomach acid.

              “A werewolf sick at the sight of death,” Antony said.

              After a moment, Dylan responded, “Trust me, I’m the least bizarre being in this household.”

Antony agreed, and laughed.

Maggie still distrusted Dylan, even though he had officially been brought into the fold (he didn’t have to spend his days in the panic room anymore), and she kept her distance from him. She didn’t let him anywhere near Gardner.

She also began to do something abnormal to her personality—she withdrew from the group. Slowly at first, and then to the point where she was nothing more than a recluse. The others ask questions, but she would not answer them. She continued to provide names and locations of killers and rapists, and the like, on which the vampires could feed; but she interacted very little with the rest of the group in any other way. She was waiting on a certain time of the month before she could confess to the others why she had become so secretive.

              On the twenty-fourth day after her encounter with Dylan in the basement, Maggie had a dream. The dream helped her to understand what it was that had caused her to withdraw. When the vampires woke on the twenty-eighth night since the bite, Maggie was ready to tell the others why she had been so antisocial lately.

              Maggie led David and Antony to the basement. Dylan had been locked in the panic room, but she needed him present. She unlocked the panic room door and Dylan, naked and confused, stood in the doorway of the panic room staring dumbly out at them.

“You’re going to want to be present for what I have to say,” she said. “I’ve been hiding something from everyone that I am only now willing to share. There is a key component to controlling the wolf and it has to do with the pack mentality. Every wolf needs an alpha.”

              “Maggie, what are you saying? This is not safe. Dylan cannot be allowed out tonight of all nights.” David was in a panic.

              Maggie began unbuttoning her blouse. It slid off her muscular arms to the floor. Next she stepped out of her slacks; she pulled off her panties.

              “Do not interfere with what you are about to see. I have envisioned this and know what is to be done. That night Dylan escaped, I was bitten.”

              David was about to protest again, but was interrupted when Maggie clutched her stomach; at the same time, Dylan did the same. As Antony and David watched, Dylan and Maggie changed. It was a fluid transformation; there were no bones being broken and reformed, this was more like putty being reshaped. Flesh and bone and blood became unsolidified and changed its shape, and the animal emerged from the mound of flesh. Hair grew out and covered the hide of the creatures that had been Maggie and Dylan. Maggie’s coat was a glossy black and Dylan’s beast was a reddish-brown hue.

              The Maggie-creature turned to David and calmly lowered her head. The Dylan-beast emerged from the panic room snarling and slavering, snapping its jaws as if it would eviscerate everything around it. As the Dylan thing tramped forward, Maggie turned away from David and stepped up to meet Dylan. She growled and snapped at the brown wolf with a ferocity that cowed the male werewolf, and forced him down on his belly. Maggie’s snarl was relentless, and her muzzle pulled back to reveal her razor teeth. If Dylan tried to get up, she snapped at him and drove him back to the floor. She didn’t relent until Dylan rolled over onto his back in a show of deference to the black she-wolf. As Maggie backed off Dylan slowly regained his footing. Keeping his head lowered he strode up to her and lay at her feet. She walked away from Dylan and lay down at David’s feet.

              Dylan took his place at Antony’s feet. David and Antony looked at each other in confusion. David backed toward the stairway leading out of the basement not wanting to turn his back on the werewolves and Maggie followed. When Antony walked toward the stairs, Dylan followed. The group headed up the stairs and entered the parlor where Randal waited. He was startled to see two werewolves. Randal was about to speak, but was silenced by David. Randal’s fanged teeth clicked together, frustrated and confused.

              As Dylan entered the room and spotted Randal, he snarled; but Maggie was there to snap and growl at the male wolf, forcing him to remember who was in charge. Dylan lowered his gaze and fell silent.

              Maggie used her power and influence to drive Dylan to the front door. She turned to David and glared at him with those eerie human eyes set into that wolf’s face. She looked toward the door, then back at David. Reluctantly, David stepped over to the door and opened it. Maggie raced out into the night, with Dylan on her heals.

              After a moment, Randal said, “Was that a good idea? Letting them go out into the world like that, I mean.”

              “I don’t know, but are you going to argue with a werewolf?” David asked.

              “What happened?” Randal asked.

              “Apparently, Maggie was bitten during that first encounter,” Antony said.

              “She seems to have better control over the transformation than Dylan. She definitely has control over Dylan. I don’t think we are in any danger from them. Maggie will keep Dylan and his wolf under control.”

              They gathered at the window and watched as the wolves disappeared into the forested area behind the house.

              The wolves raced through the night. Maggie used her ability to control the she-wolf. The She-wolf controlled Dylan’s wolf form. They raced and frolicked together. After sniffing Maggie’s rear, Dylan mounted her. She protested but didn’t stop him. When the act was done, and Dylan had moved off her, Maggie led Dylan farther into the forest. As they moved through the trees and weeds, Dylan playfully snapped at the fireflies lighting up the dark forest. When they smelled a pack of wolves, Maggie gave the signal to follow the pack. They tracked the other wolves for several miles, but tired of the game and headed off in search of prey. Dylan craved human prey, but Maggie’s she-wolf refused to allow him that option. She led him to an open field where a family of deer was grazing. Staying down wind, Maggie prowled forward. Dylan followed her example, staying low. The pair of wolves came within feet of the doe and pounced. Dylan held the deer to the ground as Maggie gripped the struggling, desperate doe by the throat with her fangs. Maggie’s human eyes stared into the doe’s wild-eyed gaze. Maggie’s soothing voice echoed inside the doe’s frantic brain. She tried to sooth the animal’s fear. Soon the animal was dead.

              Dylan bit at the deer’s tender underbelly, but Maggie’s she-wolf snapped and drove him off. She gripped the carcass by a leg and proceeded to drag the prize back to the house. Dylan’s beast learned what his new mate was doing and helped to carry the food back to their lair.

              Later in the night Maggie and Dylan returned. They had brought down a deer and sat in the yard eating it.

David said, “Look at that; Maggie is teaching Dylan to control the hunt. She’s teaching him to hunt animals instead of people.”

When the wolves had their fill of deer, they entered the house, Maggie in the lead.

              The werewolves moved through the house, walking in circles around the vampires. Dylan seemed leery of the bipeds around him, but did not show any aggression. Maggie looked at David as though she knew him. Even as a wolf, she knew who he was.

              Upstairs, Gar woke, crying. Maggie’s ears perked up at the sound. Dylan made an irritated growling sound deep in his throat. He was on the move before anyone knew his intentions. He bolted for the stairs. Maggie followed close behind.

David moved with vampire speed to assist if needed, but Maggie had placed herself between the Dylan-wolf and the crib. She was crouched down, growling and matching Dylan move for move. Dylan flinched, testing Maggie’s speed. It was a mistake. Maggie was on him at once, her teeth biting into his neck, pinning the male werewolf to the floor. David walked past the werewolves, picked Gardner out of the crib and carried him downstairs, leaving the werewolves to work out their dominance over one another.

              Gar quieted down as he entered the living room and saw Antony and Randal. Randal began a game of Peek-A-Boo that got Gardner giggling hysterically. Randal didn’t like being around the werewolves, and strived for the distraction. As David watched Randal and Gardner playing together, he smiled. “You’re a natural with him.”

Randal glanced up briefly. “I feel like he makes me real. I don’t know how to explain it. Playing with Gar helps me to forget I’m a monster.”

              David frowned. “Is that how you see yourself? As a monster?”

Randal Picked up Gardner and bounced him in the air. “Don’t you?”

David shook his head. “I don’t. I guess I am, but I don’t feel like I am. To be honest, I haven’t given my vampire existence much thought. I guess that’s because of Gardner. I have no time to think about anything other than him. Even Maggie helps in that regard, I guess. I don’t have to worry about my hunt because she does it for me.”

Randal set Gardner down and the boy ran toward Antony.

“I know you have the baby to keep you grounded, and I get that, but I’ll never know that joy and connection, of being a father. I get to be this stunted child-thing for as long as I exist. I feel like a monster, plain and simple.”

“Randal, I’m sorry.” David reached out to touch Randal, but thought better of it and pulled back. “I never gave your situation much thought. I can see how that could make you think you are less than whole, but I assure you that’s not the case. You are a part of this family and that makes you special. Your presence here means a lot to me, and I’m sure Antony feels the same way. I know you’re important to Maggie, and Gardner just adores you. Whatever you think of yourself, at least know how important you are to us.”

Randal nodded, but said nothing.

“There is another issue that I haven’t given much thought, but it’s something Maggie and I have to come to terms with soon.” David turned toward Gardner, who was begging for Antony to pick him up, but Uncle Antony—though thoroughly in love with the boy—did not hold babies.

“What is that?” Randal asked.

David turned back to Randal. “Gardner is human. And now that she has been turned into a werewolf, she’s immortal like us. Gardner is going to grow up, grow old, and die. Do we let that happen, or do we do something to make him immortal?”

Randal collapsed into a chair. His face took on a stunned expression. “I never thought of that.” He glanced up at David. “what are you going to do?”

David shrugged. “I want to turn him immortal, maybe when he’s old enough to understand what we are. And what the situation is. Maybe he will choose to become immortal. If he does, could I kill my son, just to watch him be born again, into the immortal life? I don’t know. What if he chooses not to become immortal? I guess I would have to live with the decision, but still; I can’t bear the thought of living an eternity beyond his mortal years.”

“You have to make the decision for him.” Randal spoke with the confidence of someone who has made up their mind on a subject.

“Okay, but what if Gardner met a girl, fell in love and had a child of his own, would I still be doing the right thing by making this decision for him? Then, an immortal Gar would have to watch as his own family aged and rotted away right in front of his eyes.”

“You can’t worry about that tonight. He’s still a baby, and there is still time to sort all this out.” Randal yawned.

              David glanced toward the window. His eyes widened in surprised. “The night has gotten away from us.” He pointed at the orange breaking through the trees in the distance. “The sun will be up soon.”

Randal glanced out the window and made a surprised gasp. He hastened up the stairs to his room.

David rescued Antony from Gardner and headed up the stairs with the baby. Antony followed. They walked past the nursery and the sleeping werewolves. David left Antony at his room and walked to his own, dark room. He entered the darkness and carried Gardner over to the bed. David undressed and climbed into bed next to his son. Gardner yawned and fell asleep wrapped up in his father’s arms.

David, sleeping the sleep of the dead, did not feel Gardner being taken out of his arms when Maggie, after having transformed back, took the baby from him.