Wolf Island (20 page)

“What happened to you?” he gasps.

“Teenage angst,” I chuckle. I whistle at the werewolves and they spread out. Meera, Timas, and Prae are directly behind me.

Antoine shrieks when he spots the werewolves. Turns and races for the edge, to leap into the sea below. Drawing from the faint
traces of magic in the air, I halt him, exerting an invisible hold over the fallen executive. He struggles wildly, then sees
that it’s hopeless. Giving up, he faces me.

“I’m going to kill you,” I growl, advancing menacingly. “Juni got away, so I’m going to take out all my frustration on you.
It will be slow and painful. Suitable payback for the lives you’ve ruined, the friends of mine you’ve killed.”

“I didn’t kill anyone!” he squeals.

“No, your kind never do,” I sneer. “You leave it to others. You just set things up and give the orders.”

“Please,” Antoine sobs, throwing himself to his knees. “Don’t do this. It serves no purpose. Put me on trial. Let the proper
authorities deal with me. You’re not a killer. There’s no evil in your soul. Don’t —”

“Look at me!” I roar. “Do you think you’ll be the first I’ve killed today? I wasn’t a murderer, but you changed me. I’m a
monster now. And I’m hungry.”

“Meera!” Antoine whines. “Prae! Please, I beg you. You’re civilized people. Help me.”

“We can’t,” Prae says coldly. “Even if we wanted to — and personally I have no problem with him gutting you — we couldn’t.
He’s not ours to control. He’s one of your
specimens.
You helped create him — now you have to deal with him.”

Antoine stares at Prae in disbelief. I draw closer, growling softly in anticipation of the kill. Antoine’s eyes harden. “Don’t
be so hasty, my hairy friend,” he murmurs, sounding more like his old self. “There are others to consider.”

“Like who?”

“Your uncle,” he says smoothly, and I come to an abrupt halt.

Antoine rises, brushing dirt from his shirt and pants. He frowns at his untidy condition, then runs a hand through his hair
and shrugs. “I suppose this means an expensive trip to my tailor when I get back.”

“You’ve got five seconds to tell me what you know about Dervish,” I snarl.

“Oh, I have more time than that.” Antoine grins. “Your uncle’s in a perilous situation. There are forces moving against him
even as we speak. It will take more than five seconds to —”

“Tell me!” I shout. “Now. Or I’ll torture it out of you.”

“I’m sure you could,” Antoine says slickly, “but how long would it take? I’ll hold out as long as I can, just to spite you.
After all, you’ve already vowed to torment me. I don’t know how long I can stand the pain, but minutes are precious. Do you
dare waste them?”

I want to throttle him so badly it hurts. But he knows how important Dervish is to me. I don’t want to cut a deal with this
treacherous viper, but time’s against me.

“What do you want?” I growl.

“My life,” Antoine replies.

I think about it, then curse. “OK. I won’t kill you. Now talk.”

“Not so fast,” Antoine says. “I want to add a few conditions before I divulge all that I know. Such as a boat without a hole
in it, a compass, and map, some —”

“Time’s all you have to bargain with!” I snap. “If you don’t tell me what you know immediately, I might as well torture you.”

Antoine licks his lips nervously, then decides he has no choice but to play out the hand and hope for the best.

“A trap was laid for your uncle and some others,” he says. “The girl called Bec was the one they wanted, but your uncle and
Beranabus were important to them too. Juni didn’t reveal all the details, but from what I gathered, the trap was partially
successful. Beranabus was killed, but the —”

“No!” Meera cries, taking a step in front of me. “Beranabus can’t be dead.”

“According to Juni, he is,” Antoine says calmly.

“But —” Meera starts to exclaim.

“Leave it,” I cut in. “If Beranabus is dead, he’s dead. Let this worm finish telling us what he knows about Dervish.”

Meera doesn’t like it, but she pulls back.

“Bec and your uncle escaped,” Antoine continues. “The attack took place at sea, on a giant cruiser. They got off before it
sank and are adrift in a lifeboat. Juni was furious. When she calmed down, she told me to send a crew to intercept the lifeboat
and finish the job. They have instructions to kill Dervish and bring Bec back alive. Taking no chances, I roused three separate
units and dispatched them from different locations. The first should be upon your uncle —” He checks his watch. “— in sixteen
minutes.”

“Call them off,” I hiss.

“I can’t from here,” he smirks. “But if you would kindly accompany me to my temporary office…”

I tremble with rage and hatred. If only I could rip the tongue from his mouth and swallow it whole — that would wipe the smirk
from his face. But he has the upper hand, at least until I know that Dervish is safe. I’ll have to allow him his smugness
for a while. I start to agree to take him to his office, but Timas speaks before me.

“There’s no need to relocate. I can see a radio unit in one of the boats. There are telephones and computer terminals set
in the walls. We can communicate with the outside world from here.”

“No,” Antoine snaps. “There are things in my office that I need.”

“Such as?” Timas asks with a little smile.

Antoine glowers. I see in his features that he had a plan in mind. The office was an excuse. He thought he could trick us
and escape some other way.

“Don’t play games,” I say softly. “Your only hope is to prove that Dervish is alive and that we need you to protect him. If
I think you’re trying to weasel out, all bets are off and all promises are revoked.”

“Come with me,” Timas says commandingly, taking Antoine by the elbow and leading him to one side. “We’ll work on it together.
Tell me everything you did and how to undo it. I’ll see to the rest.”

“But… my equipment…,” Antoine says weakly.

“We have all the equipment we need,” Timas says, taking a radio unit from a boat and fiddling with the dials.

With a bitter sigh, Antoine casts aside whatever plan he had in mind, sits beside Timas, and talks.

The minutes pass quickly. Part of me is sure we’ll be too late. Antoine’s Lambs will have caught a strong wind and picked
up Bec sooner than anticipated. Gunned Dervish down and dumped him in the sea for the fishes to feast on. I’m prepared for
the worst and ready to rip Antoine to pieces when he breaks the bad news. My wolfen half is looking forward to that. It doesn’t
care about Dervish or anything except slaughter and feeding.

Dimly aware of Timas and Antoine talking on the radio, Antoine issuing codes and commands. Meera and Prae are listening in,
but I’m too agitated to follow it all. I have very little patience since I changed.

Thinking about Juni’s prediction again. I want to dismiss it. Me? Destroy the world? Ridiculous!

Except… it isn’t. I’ve known since that night in the cave outside Carcery Vale that I have the power to annihilate not just
a world, but a universe. Beranabus believed the Kah-Gash could be used against the Demonata, but it’s a demonic weapon. Why
should it work for us against those who created it?

I wish the contrary old magician was here. I need advice and guidance. But according to Antoine he’s dead, killed on a ship,
lost at sea. I should be in shock. I never liked the old buzzard, but he’s protected this world for more than a thousand years
and he’s been my mentor for the last several months. His death should have hit me hard. But I only feel annoyed — why did
he let himself fall into a trap now, of all times, when he was most needed?

“There we go,” Antoine says, turning away from the radio. He salutes me with a sneer.

“What’s the story?” I bark at Timas.

“We converted the assassination squad into a rescue crew,” Timas says. “I was going to send Disciples, but it was simpler
to use those already close to the scene. They’ve taken the survivors onboard and are flying back, but not to the city where
Juni had arranged to meet them.”

“Dervish?” I mutter, dreading the response.

“Alive,” Timas says. “In bad shape — all three of them are — but breathing.”

“Three?” Meera echoes.

“Dervish, Bec, and a Disciple called Kirilli Kovacs. You know him?” Meera shakes her head. “Apparently he was onboard when
they went to the ship.”

“What about Sharmila?” Meera asks.

“Dead,” Timas says simply. “Along with Beranabus. Maybe Kernel too, but they weren’t sure about that. A few thousand passengers
and crew were murdered also.”

“A good day’s work,” Meera snaps at Antoine.

“You can’t blame me for what happened on the ship,” he huffs. “I had nothing to do with that.” He smiles thinly at me. “Those
onboard the helicopter have orders to release the hostages only in
my
presence. A little insurance policy.”

I stare at Antoine without blinking. “Dervish is safe?” I ask Timas.

“Yes.”

“Then we’re finished here.”

I still haven’t blinked. Antoine’s fidgeting now.

“You haven’t forgotten your promise, have you?” he laughs, trying but failing to sound lighthearted.

I shake my head slowly. And grin wolfishly.

“I assume you’re a man of your word?” Antoine says stiffly.

“I’m not a man,” I answer quietly. “But yes,” I add as he turns an even paler shade of white beneath his tan. “I said I wouldn’t
kill you, and I won’t.”

Antoine breaks into a smile. All his confidence and arrogance come flooding back. He takes a step forward, eager to establish
control of the situation. I raise a gnarled, semi-human hand to stop him.

“I said
I
wouldn’t kill you,” I repeat slowly. “But I said nothing about
them.
” I gesture at the five werewolves.

Antoine laughs feebly. He thinks I’m joking. Then he looks deeper into my eyes and realizes I’m as serious as death.

“No!” he croaks. “You can’t. Your uncle — they’ll kill him if I’m not there.”

“I’ll take that chance,” I chuckle, then click my tongue. Five pairs of wolfen ears prick to attention and the room fills
with growls of grisly delight.

“Please,” Antoine sobs, backing up. “I did what you asked. I cooperated.”

I turn my back on him and nod at Meera, Timas, and Prae.

“Are you certain you want to do this?” Meera asks as the werewolves advance and Antoine whimpers and begs for mercy.

“Yes,” I say flatly.

“It’s a callous act,” she warns. “This will stain your soul forever. You might regret it when —”

“When what?” I snap. “When I turn back into a human? When we defeat the Demonata and skip off into the sunset, holding hands?
That isn’t going to happen. This is what I am. Get used to it.”

I step out of the room, feeling nothing but a dim sense of pleasure that Dervish is alive. “I don’t think I have a soul any
longer, if I ever had one to begin with,” I tell Meera softly. “And my only regret is that there aren’t more like Antoine
to kill.”

Then the air fills with Antoine’s screams. I march ahead without looking back, smiling savagely as the scent of the traitor’s
blood reaches my nostrils. I lift my nose and breathe in deep. My eyes narrow. My mouth waters. My stomach growls.

Delicious.

I
WANT
to leave the island immediately, take a boat and sail for civilization, to be reunited with Dervish. But there are details
to sort out first. As anxious as I am to press on, I don’t want to leave a job half-done.

First, with Timas leading the way, we sweep the compound in search of any survivors. I’m not sure if I’d take them captive
or kill them, but there aren’t any, so that’s a question that ultimately doesn’t require answering. Werewolves howl gratefully
as I pass. Their previous leader never treated them to anything like this. They think it’s going to be like this all the time,
dozens of soldiers to feast on every day. I’m sorry that I’ll have to disappoint them. Maybe I can round up more of Antoine’s
collaborators and send them over — home delivery, Grubbs Grady style!