Martin Millar - Lonely Werewolf Girl (39 page)

"What's this?"

"Nothing," mumbled Kalix again, now feeling very embarrassed.

"You have to get the kitten back into the basket?" said
Daniel, picking up the idea the moment he looked at it. "Let me try."

Daniel sat beside her and typed in the right
words, soon succeeding in taking the kitten safely home.

"What's next?"

They clicked on the link for the next page. This page,
containing some words of four letters, looked very challenging to Kalix.

"Okay, lets get that buffalo safely across the prairie," said
Daniel.

"It looks hard," said Kalix, doubtfully.

"Hard? To a smart werewolf like you? Definitely not. You
better make a start, the buffalo's looking anxious."

Kalix smiled a very small smile, and made a start.

Downstairs Moonglow was feeling happy. Life had been stressful
but now she was settling into her new house and her boyfriend was
visiting for the first time. She'd cooked a meal and Jay had eaten it
appreciatively, as he always did. They were sitting on the couch
listening to Kate Bush and Jay was telling her about the astrological
chart he'd drawn up for a friend of his which had several interesting
insights. Moonglow listened attentively, and twined her fingers in
Jay's long black hair.

Upstairs, Kalix, with a little help from Daniel, had now led
the buffalo safely across the prairie. In addition she'd helped a baby
kangaroo back to its mother's pouch and a lion cub back to its den. In
the process she had learned to spell several new words and was feeling
pleased with herself. Daniel was a good companion for this sort of
thing. He enjoyed all computer games, from the simplest to the most
complex, and for some reason it didn't make her feel stupid that he was
sitting beside her when she was struggling to spell
lion
.

After the lion cub adventure, Kalix felt fatigued.

"I can't do any more."

Daniel nodded in agreement.

"You shouldn't do too much at once, it's a bad idea. I follow
much the same philosophy at university."

"Is Jay here?" asked Kalix.

"He's currently eating every scrap of food in the house and
droning on about the time he went to the Dracula Festival in Whitby,"
said Daniel, morosely. "You'd think Moonglow would have better taste."

"Should I say hello?"

"Probably. Moonglow told him you were my young cousin come to
London for a visit."

Daniel went off to his room to listen to music and lie on the
bed being unhappy about Jay and Moonglow. Kalix shut down the computer.
So Daniel said she should say hello to Jay. In that case it must be the
right thing to do. Maybe if she didn't say hello, it would be rude.
Kalix suddenly remembered all the things Moonglow had instructed her
not to do. Now she felt nervous. What if she did something weird and
upset Jay? Moonglow would be annoyed. Just thinking about going
downstairs began to make her anxious. She was bound to do something
weird.

'No matter what I do,' thought Kalix, 'It'll be wrong.
Everyone will hate me.'

She decided she'd better just stay in her room where she was
safe. But Daniel had said she really should go and say hello. Kalix
growled. Living with humans was too stressful. To quell the rising tide
of panic Kalix took her bottle of laudanum from her bag. She took a
large swig and waited for it to calm her nerves. A memory of life at
Castle MacRinnalch floated into her mind. Once, when she was twelve or
so, guests had been gathered round the banqueting table. Kalix had by
this time developed her aversion to food and wouldn't eat. Verasa later
berated Kalix about embarrassing her in front of her guests. She'd been
banished to her room in disgrace. Thinking of this now, Kalix had the
confused notion that if she went downstairs, Moonglow would offer her
food and then berate her if she refused to eat in front of Jay. The
thought made her anxious so she drank some more laudanum.

In the living room Moonglow and Jay were studying an
astrological chart. The door opened and Kalix walked in.

"Hello," said Moonglow brightly. "Jay, this is Kalix."

Kalix advanced with a smile on her face. Unfortunately, as she
was now under the influence of a huge dose of laudanum, she was unable
to stop. She stumbled over Jay's outstretched legs, bounced off the
couch and plummeted to the floor.

"It's okay I'm fine," said Kalix, quite gamely, attempting to
rise. Her legs gave way and she fell again, this time onto the table
where she tore the astrological chart in half and took the remnants
with her onto the floor, along with two glasses, a bottle of wine, and
several dishes. Jay seemed rather shocked. At that moment the doorbell
rang. Moonglow shouted for Daniel to answer it but he was listening to
music in his room and didn't hear.

"I'll be back in a minute," said Moonglow, and hurried off.

At the door she found the Fire Queen and the Enchantress with
their arms round each other's shoulders.

"Oh… hello…" said Moonglow.

"We've come to…" began the Enchantress, then stopped. She
turned her head towards Malveria.

"Why have we come here?"

"To enquire after the health of Kalix."

"Of course. We've come to enquire after the health of Kalix."

"It's not really a very good - " began Moonglow, but the
Enchantress and the Fire Queen were already brushing past her and
climbing the stairs. Moonglow caught the powerful aroma of whisky. As
she watched their unsteady progress up the stairs she realised, rather
desperately, that they were both under the influence of alcohol.
Moonglow gritted her teeth and set off in pursuit. The evening had
taken an unexpectedly bad turn.

The Fire Queen snapped her fingers as she walked up the
stairs, causing the light to come on.

"I have a visitor," said Moonglow, urgently. "Please don't use
any magic, it's - "

She broke off as they entered the living room. Thrix and
Malveria were bemused at the sight of Kalix, who was sprawled on the
floor in the midst of a great mess of plates, cutlery, and glasses.

"Is this the best you could look after her?" said Thrix.

"Has there been a fight?" asked the Fire Queen.

"No, Kalix is just…" Moonglow stopped. She wasn't sure what
Kalix was. Drunk? Collapsing from lack of food?

The Fire Queen sniffed the air.

"Ah," she said, knowingly. "Laudanum."

"Laudanum?" said Jay, who up till now had been too busy
brushing food scraps from his clothes to pay attention their visitors.
"There isn't any laudanum any more."

"No laudanum?" said the Fire Queen, immediately displeased at
being contradicted. "What a strange thing to say."

"It hasn't been made for a century or more," said Jay,
knowledge-ably. "Not since morphine and heroin arrived."

"You are quite mistaken," said Malveria.

Daniel, having now heard the commotion, arrived in the room to
see what was happening.

"Daniel!" cried Malveria. "How well you are looking! Very like
a young man who would attract girls. You are a young man who wishes to
attract girls, yes?"

Kalix tried to stand, gave up the attempt, and slumped heavily
on the couch. The Fire Queen wondered if there might be a pop-tart in
the toaster, waiting to be eaten. Thrix apologised for troubling them
but wondered if it might be possible for her to have a cup of coffee as
she was feeling rather tired. When Malveria noticed the TV guide on the
floor she asked if they subscribed to the Japanese fashion show and was
surprised to learn that they did not.

"No cable? My dears, how do you manage?"

106

When Sarapen heard of Markus's savage attack he immediately
flew to London. Sarapen was incensed by the destruction of his property
and the killing of his counsellor Mirasen. He was furious that Markus
had so easily invaded his house in London. Of the four werewolves who
had been there, two were now dead, and Decembrius was badly injured. It
was unfortunate that Andris MacAndris had not been at the house.
Andris, the head of Sarapen's household, was a fierce warrior, almost
as strong as the mighty Wallace MacGregor, son of the Baron. If Andris
had been there he might have ridded Sarapen of Markus for good, and
Verasa could not have held Sarapen responsible. It would have been
ideal.

Sarapen was baffled as to Markus's motives. It was a far more
adventurous exploit than he would have expected from his young brother.
Despite his fury, Sarapen realised that he could turn the situation to
his advantage. Markus had killed Sarapen's advisor. Sarapen was now
free to kill Markus. The clan could not protest because the revenge
would be justified.

Now that Sarapen was free to seek out Markus, he knew he'd
have less time to hunt for Kalix. Decembrius, his chief hope of finding
her, lay wounded, so Sarapen called ahead to instruct Andris MacAndris
to summon the Douglas-MacPhees.

At Castle MacRinnalch Verasa was agitated. She had just
learned from her informants in Sarapen's camp of events in London. She
cursed Markus for flying off in a rage. Talixia's death had been a
severe shock but really, it was no time to lose control of one's
emotions. She didn't think Markus could defeat Sarapen in combat and
was relieved that Sarapen had not been at his house when Markus
attacked. She urged Thrix to find Markus and take him to safety. Not
entirely trusting Thrix to do this, she sent more of her werewolves to
London.

"This is all very bad," said Verasa Rainal, in her chambers.
"Particularly the assault on Decembrius."

Rainal nodded. Verasa's sister Lucia was not going to be
pleased. Lucia had voted for Markus and would be furious to learn that
he'd subsequently attacked her son.

"It's fortunate Decembrius wasn't killed but even so it might
cost Markus her vote."

"Sarapen is to blame for this outbreak of violence," Rainal
pointed out. "He was behind the murder of Baron MacAllister and he
seems to be responsible for Talixia's murder."

Verasa pursed her lips. She wasn't certain that Sarapen had
been responsible for Talixia's death.

"Although now that Markus has acted so rashly, it hardly
matters."

Verasa clenched her fists. All Markus had to do was stay out
of the way till Verasa had collected enough votes. Now he'd put himself
in danger and quite probably alienated Lucia. It was all very
aggravating.

"Most irritating," agreed Rainal. "Particularly as Dominil has
been making such good progress. Do we have news of Kalix?"

"She's safe, according to Thrix. Though I don't believe Thrix
is putting as much effort as she should into protecting her. I don't
believe she doesn't know exactly where she is, either."

107

Sarapen's werewolves had done what they could to clear up the
mess but Sarapen could still smell the blood. He asked for news of
Decembrius and was told that the young werewolf was being cared for in
another apartment nearby. He was not in danger. His injuries had been
serious but his inborn werewolf vitality would allow him to recover.
Sarapen was eager to search for Markus and take vengeance but there was
another task to attend to first.

"Bring in the Douglas-MacPhees."

The door opened and three sullen werewolves were shepherded
into the room. Duncan, Rhona, and the huge, lumbering Fergus. Duncan
was the eldest, around forty, the others a few years his junior. They
were thieves and quite probably murderers. Baron MacPhee had banished
them from his keep and all surrounding lands. After being run out of
Scotland they'd established themselves in London and were busy with
various criminal enterprises of their own. They gazed sullenly at
Sarapen. They had no respect for any other werewolf, member of the
ruling family or not. Duncan, Rhona and Fergus had little regard for
clan tradition, and no regard at all for humans.

Sarapen stared at them with open dislike. They were almost as
objectionable as the cousins about whom the family did not speak. The
Douglas-MacPhees were all dark, heavy browed, and dressed in black. Not
well dressed like Markus, or formally dressed like Sarapen, but
shabbily and aggressively dressed, with leather jackets and bandanas,
and tattoos.

"I sent you to capture Kalix MacRinnalch. You failed."

Duncan shrugged.

"We went back for her next day. But the humans had moved."

"I want you to find her again."

"We're busy."

"You will do this for me."

"We've got other things to do."

Sarapen strode forward and took Duncan by the throat, lifting
him from the floor so he couldn't move. Duncan stared straight back
into his eyes, refusing to show fear. Sarapen wrinkled his nose. The
Dou-glas-MacPhee wore a leather jacket that reeked of age, blood and
death.

"You have no other things to do," said Sarapen, raising his
voice. "You're a vicious little gang and if I didn't want your help I'd
snap your necks now. Baron MacPhee would thank me. But I do want your
help. Find Kalix MacRinnalch."

"What if we don't want to?" said Rhona, defiantly.

"Then I'll run you out of London. And if you annoy me any more
I'll kill you."

Sarapen released Duncan.

"Andris MacAndris will arrange for you to be paid. Now get out
of my sight."

After they'd gone Andris looked questioningly at Sarapen.

"They're a vicious trio, Sarapen. Not trustworthy."

"I know. But they fear me and they'll do as I tell them."

Andris nodded. It made sense. But he shuddered inside at the
thought of Sarapen setting such a gang on the trail of his sister Kalix.

They weren't the sort of werewolves to show mercy.

Sarapen selected four strong MacAndris werewolves from his
entourage.

"Now," he told them. "It's time to attend to Markus."

108

Dominil made ready to drive the sisters to the rehearsal
studio. It was no easier to get them out of bed than it had been
before. They seemed to have a great disinclination to rise before three
o'clock in the afternoon, something which Dominil found very
frustrating. Werewolves did have a tendency to nocturnal living but
there was no need to take it to ridiculous extremes. Not when there was
work to be done. She dragged the pair from their beds, ignoring their
protests.