Martin Millar - Lonely Werewolf Girl (16 page)

Markus was surprised.

"Mother, none of these three are going to come to Scotland.
Kalix can't, she's under sentence of arrest."

"True. But as for Butix and Delix, who knows? I understand
that Decembrius went to visit them on Sarapen's behalf. But Sarapen
wouldn't know what to offer the twins."

Verasa stubbed out her cigarette.

"Whatever Butix and Delix are up to in London, there's no
doubt something they need. Perhaps I can provide it. Do you know
anything about their music band?"

Markus did not.

"Well you must learn. Look it up on the internet. Find out
whatever you can about them while I visit Dulupina. And be ready to be
charming to Thrix."

46

Of all the various werewolf hunters that existed around the
world, The Avenaris Guild were by far the most proficient. They had
hunted werewolves for more than a thousand years. To them it was a holy
mission. The leaders of the Avenaris Guild were keenly aware of the
importance of Castle MacRinnalch. For now, it remained too strong to
attack, but they kept an attentive eye on everything that went on
around the estates. Informants across the world had already notified
them of a general movement of MacRinnalch werewolves back towards
Scotland and that could only mean one thing.

"The Thane is dead," said Albert Carmichael, chairman of the
Guild. "And now the werewolves are going home to bury him."

Guild members were even now undergoing the dangerous work of
trying to intercept werewolves on their way to the castle. It was
always a risk confronting a werewolf. Their strength and savagery were
so great that no man could defeat one in combat. Not in wolf form,
certainly. During the day, when the werewolf could not transform, it
was a different matter. However the Guild hesitated to attack a
werewolf in human form. One had to be very sure of one's target. If the
victim turned out to be not wolf but human, the hunter had no excuse in
court. Thinking that a person was a werewolf was no defence against a
charge of murder. So it was more customary to attack the werewolf at
night, though this meant dealing with the wolf's dreadful power. Firing
a silver bullet through the werewolf's heart was the only sure way of
killing it but this was not easy. Missing the heart by even a fraction
was likely to be the last mistake a hunter ever made. The bullet would
injure the werewolf but not kill it and the
enraged beast would then tear its
attacker to pieces.

Werewolves had great powers of recovery. There were many of
them around the world who had felt the bite of a silver bullet but
survived to tell the tale.

At their headquarters in London, Albert Carmichael sat with
the six other members of the board of directors of the Avenaris Guild.

"The MacRinnalch Princess?" asked Carmichael, referring to
Kalix by a title that was not really accurate.

"The trail has gone cold."

"Cold? How?"

The reason was unknown. Hunters from the Guild had come close
to apprehending her but now they'd let her slip out of their grasp. She
had somehow managed to hide herself again.

"Instruct our men to keep looking," said Carmichael. "We have
a unique opportunity to kill a member of the royal family and I don't
intend to let it slip."

Another member of the board reported that a werewolf had been
killed after landing on a flight from Toronto. This was excellent news.
On the negative side, one of their hunters had been killed in an
abortive attack on a family of werewolves who'd flown in from Australia
the previous day. It was to be expected. At a time like this, there
would be more casualties to come, on both sides.

"Perhaps," suggested another member of the board. "In the
matter of the werewolf princess, it might be time to call on the
services of Mr Mikulanec?"

Mr Carmichael thought for a few moments.

"Perhaps. Mr Mikulanec has travelled a long way to be with us.
"

Mikulanec was a native of Croatia. It was a region of central
Europe where werewolves had once been very common. Mikulanec had grown
up hunting werewolves. His father had done so, and his father before
him. The Guild, though aware of his reputation, had nonetheless been
hesitant about working with him. They preferred to use their own men.
However, it seemed a shame to waste the Croatian's obvious talents,
particularly at a time like this.

"I'll mention it to him," said Mr Carmichael.

47

Kalix didn't like being in a house of humans but she couldn't
muster enough energy to leave. She could hardly move. The young
werewolf had been so close to death that she had no right to be alive.
The Fire Queen had intervened at the very last second, wrenching her
back from the forests of the werewolf dead even as the inhabitants of
the forest came to greet her. Now she lay in front of the warm gas
fire, staring into space and trying to ignore Moonglow's offers of
soup. Kalix seemed to have no enthusiasm for life. Moonglow was
concerned.

"Isn't it great you're still alive?" she said, by way of
opening a conversation. Kalix didn't reply.

"And you have a new pendant," added Moonglow, brightly. "The
Fire Queen brought it. We met her at your sister's fashion house. Now
you're safe here with a new pendant I'm sure you'll be back to full
strength in no time."

Even the disturbing news that Moonglow had been to visit Thrix
was not enough to rouse Kalix. She turned her face to the fire and
tried to block out Moonglow's voice. Moonglow, undeterred, kept at her
task.

"I can see you fitting in really well here. You won't have to
do anything. I mean, it's not like me and Daniel are bothered about
keeping the place tidy. If you want to spread a few werewolf items
around the living room it's fine with us. Did you bring your journal
with you? Have you been writing in it much?"

Kalix rose on one elbow.

"Be quiet!" she growled.

Moonglow thought this was progress. Better to be angry than
just to lie there hopelessly and die.

"You know it's the full moon tomorrow?"

"So?"

"So you'll turn into a werewolf."

Kalix would also turn into a werewolf tonight but she could
not be bothered to explain this to the irritating Moonglow.

"Is there anything special we should get you? Meat, for
instance? We can always phone for a pizza but I sort of thought you
might want to eat steaks. I'm a vegetarian, I don't know much about
meat. Should I go to the butcher's?"

"Be quiet," said Kalix, who was starting to feel desperate.

Moonglow smiled.

"I'll get you a joint of beef. Isn't it good to have friends?"

"No," replied Kalix.

"Of course it is. Everybody needs friends. I'm sure werewolves
are no different. Everyone thought I was weird at primary school but
later when I started going to Goth clubs I made a lot of friends. Have
you ever been to a Goth club? No? I thought you might have, being a
werewolf. I'm sure you'd be popular."

Kalix looked despairingly at Moonglow.

"Why won't you be quiet?"

"Because I want you to live."

"I don't want to live," said Kalix.

"That's what you think now," countered Moonglow. "But who
knows what you'll think in a few days time? Would you like some soup?"

"No," said Kalix, and turned her face back to the fire.

"I expect Daniel will be home soon," continued Moonglow. "He
went to a lecture. We're doing the same course. You'll like Daniel."

"No I won't."

"You will, really. Everyone likes Daniel, he's a really good
friend. I think I'll ask him to go to the butcher's shop, he probably
knows more about meat than me. He eats burgers sometimes."

Kalix pulled her quilt over head and wished that she was dead.
Moonglow's continual conversation was unbearable. She longed to knock
herself out with laudanum but her supply was so low she daren't risk
finishing it, not when she was too weak to visit the Young Mac-Doig.

"Do you dislike all Hiyastas?"

The question took Kalix by surprise. She'd never heard a human
utter the word
Hiyasta
before. She half-turned
her head.

"What?"

"Malveria said that Hiyastas and werewolves are never friends."

"She's right," muttered Kalix. "Stupid Hiyastas."

"What's wrong with them?"

"They're stupid," repeated Kalix, who lacked the vocabulary to
construct a really telling insult.

"The Fire Queen saved your life," pointed out Moonglow.

"That just shows how stupid she is," replied Kalix, and hid
under the quilt.

48

Daniel was fatigued when he arrived home.

"I'm in shock," he reported. "I never realised how difficult
university was without you to tell me what was going on."

"Did you get the notes?"

"Extensive notes. Apparently Timon wasn't very happy in
Athens. No doubt you can explain why. How's our werewolf?"

"Sleeping. I've been aggravating her."

"Pardon?"

"She's just lying there refusing to eat or make any effort to
get
well
. I thought if I talked to her enough it
might produce some reaction. You know, improve her spirit."

"Or just get her so annoyed she attacks us," suggested Daniel.
"You know Moonglow, I think you're taking a far too relaxed attitude
about this whole werewolf thing. First you insist they come and live
with us and now you've taken up a deliberate policy of werewolf
aggravating. It's dangerous."

They looked at Kalix, asleep in front of the fire.

"She does look sort of pathetic," admitted Daniel. "All right,
I suppose you'd better annoy her some more if you think it'll help."

Moonglow made tea for both of them and put bread in the
toaster.

"Alicia was sitting close to me in the lecture today," said
Daniel. "I was going to talk to her but I lost my nerve."

Moonglow was sympathetic. She knew all about Daniel's shyness
with girls. She'd given him as much encouragement as she could, so far
without results.

"You should have spoken to her. Alicia is really nice and she
just broke up with her boyfriend. It's the ideal time."

"Could you break the ice for me?"

"I already introduced you."

"What if she's forgotten?"

"We're at university," said Moonglow. "It's okay to speak to
other students. Think of it as personal growth."

"I think of it as potential huge embarrassment," said Daniel,
and looked gloomy while buttering his toast. "I never know what to say
to girls."

Moonglow smiled. Poor Daniel. He really could do with a
girlfriend.

"You think she likes music?" wondered Daniel.

"Wouldn't that have been a good thing to ask her?"

"Not if she said no. Which is possible. I have encountered
girls who don't like music. It always leaves me struggling for
conversation."

Though Daniel's taste for heavy metal was well removed from
Moonglow's liking for Kate Bush, they did share an enthusiasm for
progressive rock from the 1970s, which was a great help to their
friendship. Late at night they could always agree to listen to some
favourite album from thirty years ago: Yes or Jethro Tull. The times
he'd spent lying in the living room with Moonglow listening to
Close
to the Edge
were already some of Daniel's happiest memories.

"Will you be all right looking after Kalix tonight?" asked
Moon-glow.

"Me? Why, where are you going?"

"To Jay's house. I don't want him to come over, not with Kalix
here. We should keep it quiet for a while, at least till she gets
better."

As ever, Daniel was disgruntled at the thought of Moonglow
visiting her boyfriend.

"How did he get on at Stonehenge? Make any important new
discoveries? Maybe do some repairs?"

"No, he just camped there and looked at the stars. He sounded
really inspired on the phone."

Daniel swallowed the numerous caustic things he could think of
to say about Jay receiving inspiration from the stars. He thought it
was probably best to hide his huge dislike of Jay from Moonglow,
something which, of course, he had completely failed to do.

Moonglow went off to take a bath leaving Kalix sleeping
uneasily in front of the fire. As Moonglow lit some of her favourite
scented candles in the bathroom, she wondered what exactly was the
source of Kalix's misery. If Kalix had been the only werewolf Moonglow
had met she might have assumed that just being a werewolf was enough to
make a person unhappy. Obviously it wasn't. Thrix hadn't seemed to be
suffering from internal torment. Quite the opposite. If Thrix was
anything to go by, it was quite possible to be a werewolf and not be
miserable.

49

It was a long time since the huge, dark walls of Castle
MacRinnalch had housed so much activity. The grey morning light ushered
in a day of talking, plotting, threats, and bribery as the two sides
each considered how best to improve their position. There was not much
time; the Great Council would meet again at midnight. The night that
followed would be taken up by the Thane's funeral. If the council had
not reached a decision by then, the funeral would be presided over by
the Mistress of the Werewolves. Once that happened it would be clear to
everyone that the Great Council had failed to elect a new Thane. There
would be a delay of at least a month, till the next council meeting.
This would not go down well with the clan.

"The clan will just have to wait," said Verasa. "I've already
breached tradition once and I'm quite prepared to do it again."

Verasa sat in her chambers with her son Markus as the daylight
crept in. The thirteenth century castle had been built without much in
the way of window space. Verasa, tiring of the gloom, had once planned
to have the windows of her chambers enlarged, but the Thane would not
agree to it, fearing that any such alteration would weaken the castle's
defences. Verasa pointed out that in the modern world, it was unlikely
there would ever be an armed assault on the castle, but the windows
remained unaltered, just in case.