The Curse of the Wolf Girl (7 page)

Moonglow shrugged. “Oh well. They’re better than they used to be.”

“Do you think she’s still upset about college?”

While Vex had professed to having a wonderful time at the remedial institution, they were both aware Kalix had still not shown any enthusiasm.

“I’m sure she’ll like it when she gets used to it.”

“I’m sure she won’t,” said Daniel. “I still expect her to eat her teachers. We’d better use the Mistress of the Werewolves’ money to pay the rent quickly before Kalix gets expelled. Verasa won’t send us any more after that.” He rose from the table. “Time for tea. I’ll put the kettle on.”

He wandered through to the kitchen. Though it had been rude of Kalix to barely acknowledge them, Daniel had already forgotten about it. Kalix’s emotions could be so extreme that a little rudeness was hardly noticeable. Mainly, he was preoccupied by Moonglow. It was time she started going out with him. It should have happened by now, and it could only be willful unreasonableness on her part that prevented it.

Suddenly moody, Daniel deliberately made a lot of noise washing cups, as if banging some crockery around might repay Moonglow for her lack of reasonableness. When he took the teapot back into the living room, he thumped it down quite violently on the table. Moonglow was immersed in a book and didn’t notice. Daniel glared at her then took a cup of tea towards Kalix’s room. He found Kalix sitting on the bed in her small, bare room.

“Cup of tea?” he asked, pleasantly. “Very refreshing for werewolves.”

Kalix smiled. Only a few months ago, Daniel had found Kalix’s werewolf nature terrifying. Now he could be lighthearted about it. Neither he nor Moonglow regarded it as very strange anymore.

Kalix had never regarded it as strange. She’d been born a werewolf and was proud of it.

“Moonglow is being completely unreasonable,” said Daniel, sitting down.

“Why?”

“She won’t be my girlfriend. Isn’t that the most unreasonable thing you’ve ever heard? I mean, we’re obviously well suited. I’m a far better alternative than the useless string of boyfriends she’s had. And you know, it was close to happening. Did you notice that? I definitely noticed it. There was a moment when Moonglow was right on the verge of being my girlfriend. And then something happened. I can’t understand it. It was like…”

Daniel stopped. He couldn’t describe what had happened, but something had. After the MacRinnalch werewolf feud ended, Moonglow had become very close to him. It seemed like any moment she would take Daniel in her arms and tell him he was the boyfriend she’d always yearned for. Perhaps not yearned, admitted Daniel. But they’d definitely been getting there. Then, abruptly, she’d backed away. Since then, Daniel had been unable to rectify the situation.

Daniel flicked his hair back from his face. At nineteen, he was finding life and romance increasingly frustrating.

“Seriously, how am I supposed to study for exams when Moonglow just refuses to acknowledge that I’m the boyfriend she needs?” he said, warming to the theme.

Kalix, not really interested in any of this, sat on the bed, staring at the letter in her hand.

“You’d think Moonglow would show a little human sympathy, and—”

Daniel stopped abruptly. Kalix had changed into her werewolf shape. Kalix didn’t have to transform—the change only came on automatically on the three nights around the full moon—but as a full-blooded MacRinnalch, she was able to take on her werewolf form any night she chose. Having changed earlier in the evening, confronting the hunter, she had a lingering werewolf appetite, which now needed to be satisfied. Kalix, who was never concerned with food when she was human, became very concerned with it when she was a werewolf.

“Need meat,” she said. In her transformed state, Kalix was half-wolf, half-girl, walking on two legs, but with a covering of shaggy fur, a wolf’s face, quite alarming jaws, and sharp-taloned paws. She brushed past Daniel, heading for the kitchen, where Moonglow had thoughtfully provided several joints of beef for her, all of which Kalix would now devour with enthusiasm, along with anything else she came across.

Daniel watched her go and felt hard done by. He was sharing a flat with a girl he loved who wouldn’t go out with him and an unsympathetic werewolf. He wished that Vex was around to listen to his problems. She wasn’t the best listener, but she was better than no one. Vex however, had been whisked back to the imperial palace by Malveria for interrogation about her first days at college. Suddenly depressed, Daniel retreated upstairs to his room to lie on his bed, play music loudly, and stare at the ceiling. He put on his new We Slaughtered Them and Laughed CD, in which he found some consolation.

* * *

Downstairs in the living room, Moonglow smiled as the young werewolf trotted by on her way to the kitchen. Kalix had such a poor appetite that it was a relief for Moonglow when she made the change into werewolf form and gorged herself on meat. As a vegetarian, Moonglow didn’t relish the sight of Kalix chomping her way enthusiastically through a side of raw beef and licking the blood off of her fangs, but it was certainly good for her health.

Kalix arrived back in the living room, still moving gracefully despite her cargo of meat. She was as agile as a cat and capable of extremely swift movement. “Meat,” she said, sitting down at the table and licking her lips before taking a huge bite out of the joint.

“Is it good?” asked Moonglow.

“Mmm…good meat,” muttered Kalix, devouring it eagerly.

There had been a time when Kalix, on regaining her human form after the werewolf change, had been so upset at the thought of the food she’d consumed that she’d fall ill, vomit, and dissolve in waves of anxiety. After some months with Moonglow and Daniel, she seemed to have calmed down.

“Is there pizza?” asked Kalix, finishing the beef. Moonglow smiled again. When they’d first met Kalix, they’d had some trouble understanding her while she was a werewolf. Her strong Scottish accent, transmitted via her wolf jaws, could be difficult to comprehend. They were used to it now.

“I was just about to phone them,” replied Moonglow. “I’ll ask Daniel what he wants.”

“He wants you,” said Kalix.

Moonglow blushed and suddenly regretted Kalix’s less complicated werewolf emotions.

“That’s why he’s sulking in his room. Because you won’t go out with him. Why won’t you go out with him?”

Moonglow was flustered and didn’t know how to reply. Even if she’d wanted to be Daniel’s girlfriend, something of which she wasn’t sure, she couldn’t. It would be complicated to explain though, particularly to Kalix.

“How was Dominil?” she asked, to change the subject.

“Okay,” said Kalix. Her face fell. She pawed at the string that had wrapped her joint of beef. “Gawain sent me a letter,” she said, suddenly, then looked down at her plate.

Moonglow nodded. It wasn’t a surprise that the letter had come from Gawain. Kalix had loved him dearly. He’d loved her too, apparently. Enough to be banished from the clan. Though not enough to stop himself from having an affair with her sister, something of which Moonglow heartily disapproved. It had driven Kalix mad when she’d learned of it; later she’d settled into a dull depression and refused to speak about it.

“He wants to see me,” said Kalix, quietly. “Dominil thinks I should go.”

“Do you want to?”

Kalix didn’t know if she wanted to or not. She’d been separated from Gawain for three years. When they’d been reunited, they’d had one day of happiness. Then everything had gone drastically wrong. It had all been too painful to bear. She didn’t know if she could stand opening the wound again.

“Do you still love him?” asked Moonglow.

“I’ll call Daniel and tell him it’s pizza time,” said Kalix, and she hurried from the room.

The Douglas-MacPhees, Duncan and his sister Rhona, were waiting in the pub when Decembrius arrived. They were with a man Decembrius didn’t recognize, and although the bar was full with a lunchtime crowd, there was space around them. Even as humans, the Douglas-MacPhees looked tough: people who should be avoided. Douglas’s long hair was held in place by a black bandana. He wore a leather waistcoat that showed the wolf tattoo on his shoulder, and he was unshaven for several days. Rhona wore a battered leather jacket. Neither smiled as he approached. Decembrius glanced at their companion.

“Our cousin William.”

“He’s almost as big as Fergus,” said Decembrius.

Rhona scowled at the mention of her late brother’s name. It was a touchy subject. Decembrius had once fired a silver bullet into Fergus’s shoulder. Though it had been accidental, it was a taboo action that might have gotten him expelled from the clan had other, weightier matters not been occupying them at the time.

“Poor Fergus,” said Duncan. “Never seen a werewolf in such pain.” He laughed and didn’t seem particularly annoyed at the memory. He leaned forward. “At least you didn’t kill him.”

There was an intense silence.

Rhona was the first to break it. “We’re looking for Kalix.”

“We thought you might know where she was,” added Duncan.

Decembrius eyed each of them in turn and sipped at the beer William brought to the table. William, he noted, was cast from the same mold as his cousins. No doubt he was just as vicious and unlawful as they were.

“Why do you want to find her?”

“She killed Fergus,” said Rhona.

“There were a lot of werewolves killed that day,” said Decembrius, “but the clan’s at peace now.”

Rhona leaned forward. Her hair, spilling from her bandana, was thick and black. When she spoke her Scottish accent was very strong, like her brother’s.

“I thought you’d be keen to help us. She killed Sarapen too.”

“They’ve all made peace in Scotland,” repeated Decembrius.

The Douglas-MacPhees laughed. Their newest associate, cousin William, had a deep bellowing voice, matching his frame, and his laughter made the table vibrate.

“You think so?” growled Duncan. “Marwanis MacRinnalch hasn’t made peace. Nor Red Ruraich MacAndris and his clan.”

“And the new Baron MacPhee isn’t a peaceful sort of werewolf,” added Rhona. “There’s quite a lot of people don’t like Markus as Thane.”

“I don’t like him myself,” countered Decembrius. “That doesn’t mean there’s anything to be done about it. The Great Council supports him. No one’s going to start another war over it.”

“Who said anything about starting a war?” growled Duncan. “We don’t care who leads the MacRinnalchs. A plague on the Thane, whoever he is. We’re talking about revenge on Kalix. No one can find her since the enchantress gave her the pendant that hides her. She has no scent to track. But that doesn’t mean she can’t be found. We could use Gawain to lead us to her.”

The Douglas-MacPhees stared at Decembrius.

“So what about it?”

Decembrius took a while to reply. He’d been thinking much the same himself. Gawain might well lead an inquiring werewolf to Kalix. “I don’t know where Gawain is,” he said, finally.

“But you’ve got powers of seeing, have you not?”

Decembrius gave a slight nod. Though his powers had all but disappeared, he didn’t intend to let the Douglas-MacPhees know about it.

There was a burst of raucous laughter from the table by their side, where a group of office workers were having some refreshment before heading back to work. Duncan scowled in their direction. The last time he’d been in this bar, it had been an old establishment, dilapidated and comfortable. Now it had been modernized, smartened up, and he didn’t feel at ease. “I don’t know why they can’t just leave these pubs the way they were,” he muttered.

“So can you find Gawain or not?” demanded Rhona, impatiently.

“Maybe,” replied Decembrius. “If I wanted to. But I don’t know that I want to.”

“Why not?”

“I’m a member of the Great Council now. I’m not going to be the one who starts trouble again.”

“He’s a member of the Great Council,” said Rhona, mockingly. “He’s important.”

Duncan and William laughed, though their laughter was drowned out by the increasing hilarity at the next table, where the office workers seemed to be celebrating someone’s birthday. Duncan pulled out a wallet and opened it to reveal a think wad of banknotes. “I don’t imagine you’re so well off these days, not being on Sarapen’s payroll any longer.”

Decembrius didn’t care one way or the other about Gawain, but he had no intention of doing anything that might lead the Douglas-MacPhees to Kalix. He’d once witnessed the Douglas-MacPhees trying to kill the young werewolf, and it wasn’t something he wanted to see again. “I can’t help you,” he said abruptly.

William glared at him scornfully. “I don’t believe he’s got any seeing powers at all,” he said to the others.

The atmosphere soured. Decembrius prepared himself in case there was violence. Intimidating as the Douglas-MacPhees were, he didn’t intend to back down.

“Never mind,” said Duncan, and he grinned, showing a set of teeth that were very white and rather large and sharp. “We’ll find Gawain ourselves. He’s probably still wandering around south of the river.” Duncan picked up his wallet again. “There’s something else you could do for us, if you’re not too scared of offending the Great Council. We need someone to visit the merchant.”

“MacDoig?” Decembrius knew Merchant MacDoig. All the MacRinnalchs did.

“We’ve got some goods the merchant might like to buy. Unfortunately—” Duncan paused for a second. “It’s a little awkward for us to visit him these days.”

“A small misunderstanding,” added Rhona, “when he got the impression we were trying to make off with some of his belongings.”

The Douglas-MacPhees laughed.

Decembrius could imagine that they’d have been interested in the merchant’s belongings. He tended to have valuable items around. The merchant was well protected, however. He’d lived long enough and dealt with powerful entities in his time, and he was generally believed to own various spells, or talismans, which kept him safe, even from the likes of the Douglas-MacPhees.

“So, if you could see your way to visiting the merchant’s shop in Limehouse and offering him certain items, we’d cut you in,” offered Duncan.