Martin Millar - Lonely Werewolf Girl (5 page)

"Poor Kalix," sighed the Mistress of the Werewolves. "How did
she manage to make such a mess of her life in only seventeen years?"

"I never thought it was wise to have another child when you
were two hundred and thirty years old," said Markus.

"A little older, actually. But it was your father's idea,
dear. He wanted another child. At the time he had just agreed to cede
the estates in Argyll to my side of the family so I did not wish to
start an argument. Unwise perhaps, in retrospect. Kalix has been a
terrible burden."

"We have to find her before Sarapen does."

The Mistress of the Werewolves frowned at the mention of her
eldest son.

"Quite why your father favours him so much I can't imagine."

"He always has," said Markus, with something approaching
loathing.

"I do so regret that. You've always been a much nicer son.
More wine?"

Markus accepted the goblet.

"Great Mother Dulupina has been baying for Kalix's blood ever
since she attacked the Thane. Nothing will satisfy her but that someone
brings her back to the castle."

Dulupina was the Thane's mother. As Mistress of the
Werewolves, Verasa outranked her, but Dulupina was very important to
the clan and couldn't be ignored. She was aged, venerable and
influential, and had a seat on the Great Council.

"If only Kalix could have stayed hidden."

Kalix had been found guilty of assaulting the Thane. She'd
fled from the castle while awaiting sentence. By the traditions of the
clan it was now legal for another werewolf to kill her, and bring back
her heart. Verasa suspected that Sarapen intended to do just that. At
least if Verasa herself were to find Kalix, she could be taken back to
the castle and incarcerated, till another solution was found.

"You should bring her back," she said to Markus.

13

When the two frightening strangers invaded her house Moonglow
shrank back against the wall, too terrified even to scream. Duncan
Douglas-MacPhee and his sister Rhona ignored her. They headed straight
towards Kalix, and there began a violent scene the like of which
neither Moonglow nor Daniel had ever seen.

Rhona wore a leather waistcoat which showed off the tattoo of
a snarling wolf on her shoulder, and she was very strong. Werewolves
always were, even in their human form. She tried to grab hold of Kalix.
Kalix lashed out with her foot, catching Rhona on the chest with a kick
which flung her clear across the table. It seemed to Moonglow that no
one could really perform such a kick. It belonged in a kung fu film,
not here in her living room. Yet Kalix immediately did it again,
sending Duncan flying backwards into one of Moonglow's carefully packed
boxes of plates, which crashed to the floor with a great noise of
smashing crockery.

Rising swiftly, Rhona leapt at Kalix. Kalix spun round but not
quite quickly enough. Rhona smashed her fist into the side of her head
sending the young werewolf stumbling across the floor. Duncan had now
recovered and managed to grab hold of Kalix. They thudded against the
table, knocking Kalix's bag flying. It landed beside Daniel, who, like
Moonglow, shrank back from the violence. Kalix bit her attacker's
wrist, forcing him to let go. Immediately she was free of his grasp.
She used her forehead to butt him brutally in the face. He reeled
backwards with blood spurting from his nose. Rhona moved in to attack
but before she could land a blow Kalix caught her on the side of her
neck with her open palm and she went down as if struck by a bullet.

Just for a second, Kalix sagged. Her energy was fading fast.
She made an effort to pull herself together but it was too late. The
Dou-glas-MacPhees were a savage family and Duncan was not put off by
his bloodied nose. He stepped up behind Kalix and rammed his forearm
into the back of her head. She fell at his feet. Duncan kicked her,
then took his machete from under his coat. Daniel tried to wail in
terror but nothing came out. Moonglow then did something she had never
done in her life before, which was to offer violence to a fellow living
creature. As Duncan Douglas-MacPhee bent over Kalix, she picked up a
chair, rushed up behind him and hit him over the head with it as hard
as she could. The heavy blow sent him crumpling to the floor. There was
a long pause. Daniel looked at Moonglow.

"I can't believe you did that," he said.

Kalix hauled herself to her feet. She was tired and sore,
trembling from the exertion of the fight. Moonglow and Daniel stared at
her, waited for her to offer some words of explanation but nothing was
forthcoming. Moonglow wondered who this strange girl was, with her
skinny frame, her long dirty hair, and her incredible fighting skills.

"You want to eh… tell us what this is about?"

"My brother's werewolves are after me," said Kalix.

Daniel and Moonglow looked at each other again.

"Maybe you're taking this werewolf thing too far," said
Moonglow, trying not to sound unfriendly.

Outside the moon had risen and the moment it did Duncan opened
his eyes and began to transform.

"I mean, people call me a hippy," continued Moonglow. "Well
some people call me a Goth, what with the black clothes and black nail
varnish - a bit of a Goth hippy I suppose - but I know it's no good
living in a fantasy world."

Behind Moonglow, Duncan, in werewolf form, was rising from the
floor. Daniel tried to warn his friend but was too startled to speak.

"And it's no use blaming your problems on so-called
werewolves," said Moonglow, and gave Kalix a supportive smile, to show
that she wasn't being harsh. Duncan, now a large werewolf, strode past
her. Moonglow screamed.

Night had now fallen. Kalix could transform, which she did
instantly. As a werewolf she remained the same height. She still walked
on two legs. But she was shaggy, bestial, and savage. She was covered
in long hair and while her body still resembled something human, her
face was fully animal and her hands were great taloned claws.

Strength flowed back into her fatigued muscles. As a werewolf,
she was stronger than Duncan Douglas-MacPhee. As a werewolf, Kalix
feared no one. It wasn't just Kalix's strength that made her such a
fearsome opponent. It was her battle-madness. It made her ferocious and
brutal, uncaring of pain, oblivious to danger. When Kalix's
battle-madness took over her werewolf form, she became insane. She
could not be stopped other than by death, and no one had ever come
close to killing her.

She leapt at Duncan and overwhelmed him. Duncan knew he was
defeated and retreated swiftly, fending off his wild opponent as best
as he could, trying to prevent her from fastening her jaws round his
neck. His sister Rhona hauled herself off the floor but when she saw
that her brother was beaten she made for the door. The Douglas-MacPhees
fled, blood dripping from their wounds.

Kalix stopped. Daniel and Moonglow looked at her wide eyed
with amazement, and terror, and wondered if she was about to kill them.

"You really are a…"

Kalix's form seemed to flicker and she slowly transformed back
into her human shape. The contents of Kalix's bag had spilled out on
the floor. Daniel tried to gather up her belongings.

"You dropped this," he said, picking up a dark, old-fashioned
bottle.

"Give me!" yelled Kalix, and frantically snatched it from him.

Moonglow picked up a packet from the floor. She read the label.

"You take diazepam?"

Kalix became angry. "Stop looking at everything!"

"Well it's just a bit weird you know," said Moonglow.
"Werewolf… anti-depressants."

"Aren't you focusing on the wrong thing here?" said Daniel.
"Remember the terrible violence."

"I have to go," said Kalix, but she was too worn-out to leave.
Her head swam and she slumped heavily into the chair.

Daniel was nervous. "Is there going to be more violence? I'm
really not keen on - "

"They won't come back," replied Kalix. "Not tonight."

Moonglow was overcome by sympathy for the young werewolf with
her thin little body and ragged clothes, probably homeless, pursued by
killers.

"Do you want some food? We don't have any meat… we have
pop-tarts."

Kalix shook her head wearily. She put her arms round her
meagre possessions and her head drooped. Against her will, she fell
asleep in a house of strangers.

14

The cousins about whom the family did not speak were something
of a disgrace to the MacRinnalchs. Quite possibly a disgrace to
werewolves everywhere. Beauty's lip-piercing alone was enough to make
her Aunt Verasa shudder. As for Delicious, her blue hair dye had
scandalised the family and almost got her expelled from her expensive
private school.

Beauty and Delicious were twins, the only children of Marwis,
the Thane's youngest brother who had died some years ago in a plane
crash. As Marwis's wife was also long dead, the twins were left
par-entless. They coped with this bravely, and some years later arrived
in London a pair of cheerful, drunken, drug-taking degenerates who had
started abusing their bodies when they were young and carried on
happily ever since. After accidentally burning down the family home in
Scotland they had decided it was time to seek new challenges and had
moved south to start a band and see what fun they could have. Now
twenty-two, the twins spent most of their time in an alcohol-induced
haze in their house in Camden in North London, listening to music and
practising guitar. Although full-blooded members of the MacRin-nalch
ruling family, it was years since either of them had voluntarily turned
into a werewolf. They had long forgotten how to do it, though they
still enjoyed the monthly full moon transformation which came on
automatically. Then, for three nights they would get hideously
intoxicated and run through the streets howling and laughing.

To the family's great displeasure, the twin sisters had a
large private income, the inheritance from their father's estate.
Bolstered by this, they flatly refused to move back to Scotland. Much
as the Thane and Verasa might like to drag them back to the family
estates, there was no way to do it short of kidnapping. The family had
considered this. The disgrace of Beauty and Delicious could not be
allowed to continue indefinitely.

The state of the werewolf younger generation had caused the
Thane and Verasa some distress. Although, in truth, there were a great
many of the MacRinnalch Clan still upholding the traditional ways.
There were many who lived on the family lands as upright citizens,
turning into werewolf form only occasionally, mainly to hunt deer. If
the occasional human was killed on their lands, it was only to be
expected. Tourists were notoriously careless.

Verasa's younger sister Lucia, who also lived in the castle,
still defended the cousins on occasion.

"At least they're only drunks," she pointed out to Verasa,
more than once. "They've never really harmed anyone."

By which Lucia meant that the cousins about whom they did not
speak weren't criminally insane like Kalix. Verasa refused to go along
with this. Beauty and Delicious were a disgrace to the family. The
Mistress of the Werewolves regretted that they had been so frequently
at Castle MacRinnalch in their childhood. Verasa always suspected that
they had been a very bad influence on her youngest daughter.

15

Kalix slept in the chair. She appeared peaceful. Occasionally
she would mutter a few inaudible words. Daniel and Moonglow looked at
her from the far side of the room. Having seen her astonishing powers
they were wary of getting too close.

"She looks so small. Sort of pathetic," said Moonglow.

"And yet only recently she was kung fu-ing opponents round the
room."

Daniel shuddered. He'd been stunned by the viciousness of
Kalix's fighting. The head-butt to her opponent's face had been
particularly brutal.

"I really don't want to meet any more werewolves."

"Lucky we're moving tonight."

"Are we going to let her stay?" asked Daniel.

"Of course. We can't throw her out," said Moonglow.

Moonglow was such a kind soul. It was one of the things Daniel
liked about her. That and her pretty face, her long black hair and the
really attractive nose stud. It was a much more discreet piece of
facial jewellery than Kalix's large nose ring. Though Daniel was keen
to agree with Moonglow about most things, he couldn't help being
nervous about having a savage werewolf slumbering in his favourite
chair.

"It might be best to… you know… encourage her to leave."

"Certainly not." Moonglow was indignant. "Imagine you were a
homeless young werewolf and other werewolves were trying to kill you.
How would you like it?"

"I guess it might drive me to diazepam."

"I still think that's weird," said Moonglow. "If I ever met an
otherworldly creature, I wasn't expecting it to be having treatment for
depression."

"Where would she get the pills?" wondered Daniel. "Do you
think they have werewolf psychiatrists?"

Daniel mused about this for a while, then wondered why he was
talking about werewolves as if they were an everyday occurrence. Kalix
murmured in her sleep again, slightly louder this time.

"Gawain… banished…"

With that she woke up, and looked at them suspiciously.
Without speaking, she leapt from the chair and headed for the door.

"You don't have to go - " said Moonglow, and stretched out a
friendly arm. Kalix growled fiercely at her. Startled, Moonglow stepped
back. Kalix departed.

"Personal space issues," said Daniel. "It's probably a
werewolf thing."

Moonglow gazed out the window at the rain, rather hoping that
the werewolf might change her mind, and come back, but there was no
sign of her. Eventually they got back to packing up their belongings.

Kalix spent the rest of the night in an alleyway, cold and
wet. As the long minutes ticked past, she fell into a great pit of
unhappiness. The depression with which she always struggled took hold
of her. Kalix sipped some laudanum. Her supply was almost gone, and she
didn't have enough money to buy more.