“I was travelling through the city when I scented a werewolf in trouble. It turned out to be you.”
“An odd co-incidence,” said Thrix, suspiciously.
“Perhaps,” admitted Gawain.
The Enchantress realised that she was being ungrateful. It had been quite gallant of him to pick her up off the street and carry her to safety. She thanked him, a little stiffly, then brought out her MacRinnalch whisky from her cabinet. She poured herself a very large drink and offered a glass to Gawain which he accepted. Gawain did not ask what had happened to the Enchantress, regarding it as not his business. He did look pointedly at her.
“I was intending to visit you again.”
“About Kalix, I suppose?”
After the aggravation which Thrix had suffered this night, she was not pleased to find herself once more subject to interrogation. It occurred to her to blast Gawain with a spell. That would teach him to annoy her with questions. But then she felt tired of it all. ‘To hell with it,’ she thought. ‘I don’t care if he knows where Kalix is or not. Mother can sort it out, she’s the one that cares about all this.’ She finished her whisky and poured herself another. Her supply of the MacRinnalch malt was running low, a result of the stress she’d been feeling recently. She’d either have to stop feeling so stressed or, more likely, ask her mother to send another crate.
“Gawain. There is nothing in the world that you could do to force information out of me. Apart from maybe bore me to death, which is possible. If I wanted to I’d send you out my office as a small pile of ashes. But to tell you the truth, I can’t be bothered. And, I suppose, I owe you for the rescue. If you want to see Kalix, fine, go and see her. No doubt disaster will ensue but that’s not my problem.”
The Enchantress told Gawain the address in Kennington.
“She’s living with two students. Don’t harm them, they’ve been looking after her well.”
Gawain nodded. As he was leaving the office he paused, and looked over to the sketches on her desk.
“You’re a fine artist, Thrix MacRinnalch,” he said, then disappeared.
‘A rather incongruous time for a compliment,’ thought Thrix. Perhaps it was Gawain’s way of thanking her for her help. He did have something of the gentleman about him, though he was still young and rough round the edges.
Thrix felt too tired to go home. She removed her wet outer garments, took a coat from the clothes rack and lay down on the couch, using the coat as a blanket and a cushion as a pillow. It wasn’t the first time she’d spent the night in her office. At least it would allow her to make an early start in the morning. Before she fell asleep she wondered what her old teacher Minerva MacRinnalch would have had to say about the night’s events. Thrix had originally learned her sorcery from Minerva, studying with her for almost six years. Since then Thrix had learned a good deal more, but the foundation of everything she knew came from Minerva. Including, Thrix now recalled, the advice never to take petty revenge by means of sorcery. Followed by the advice that if you were unable to resist taking petty revenge, then make sure you did it right. Thrix shuddered to think what old Minerva would have to say about her student ending up unconscious in a puddle. Fortunately Minerva had retired to a very remote mountain top and rarely ventured into the world these days.
The Enchantress transformed into her werewolf shape. It would renew her strength. By morning she would be fine. She drifted off to sleep, comforted by thoughts of her old teacher, whom she had liked a good deal more than any member of her family.
115
Delicious drove back to Camden. By the time they reached their house the twins were in good spirits. The danger was over, they were safe, and no werewolf would dwell for too long on an attack by the Avenaris Guild.
Dominil was thoughtful, and remained silent all the way home. Kalix was intrigued to meet them all, though nervous. It was strange, meeting werewolves from her family who weren’t trying to drag her back to Scotland. It was still a surprise to find Dominil associating with the twins. They were outcasts from the family. Not hated perhaps, and not hunted like Kalix, but outcasts all the same.
From their conversation she gathered that they were in a band. They played guitar and sang and they were soon going to be stars. They were cheerful and confident. Kalix felt some admiration, and some jealousy. The twins were free, and doing what they wanted. The family wasn’t chasing them and they had their own house to live in. They never had to hide in alleyways. They talked about going out and drinking with friends. Kalix could tell just by looking at their brightly coloured hair that their lives were good. Suddenly she felt much younger than them, and quite inferior. When Kalix asked what their band was called, her voice came out surprisingly weak, and the sisters didn’t hear her over the traffic. Kalix felt stupid to have spoken and not received an answer. She was too shy to repeat the question.
By the time they reached Camden Kalix was regretting that she’d come. She dreaded them asking her what she did with her life. The fact that she’d fought savagely to save them only an hour ago was quite forgotten by Kalix, because the sisters weren’t talking about fighting. They were talking about lyrics, amplifiers and shiny new clothes to wear onstage. It sounded a lot more interesting than Kalix’s life. When they arrived at their house, Beauty and Delicious tumbled out of the car and headed inside. Kalix remained where she was.
“Do you want to come in?” asked Dominil.
“I don’t know,” mumbled Kalix.
“What do you mean you don’t know?”
“All right,” said Kalix, and followed her from the car.
Dominil had not mentioned the fight. Nor had she commented on the odd fact that the sisters hadn’t transformed into werewolves when they were under attack. Kalix was curious about this. She couldn’t imagine why the sisters had chosen to face the hunters in human form. They would have been much stronger as werewolves.
The house was now tidy. The cleaners had done an efficient job and Beauty and Delicious were surprisingly hesitant about messing the place up again. Dominil would nag at them if they did. This was the down side to their involvement with her. In revenge, they were writing songs about her. Evil White-Haired Slut was already completed, and Stupid Werewolf Bitch was coming along well.
“What’s your band called?” asked Kalix, again.
“Yum Yum Sugary Snacks.”
“That’s a good name,” said Kalix. “It suits you.”
The twins didn’t seem interested in her opinion. Kalix sat quietly and looked round at the array of guitars neatly stored on racks, and the huge collection of CDs on the walls, and music magazines and papers on shelves.
Dominil was already getting down to business.
“I’ll find another rehearsal studio. Do you have any preferences?”
Beauty and Delicious began a long conversation about all the rehearsal studios they’d been in; which ones they liked and which ones they were banned from. After that they all moved on to a discussion about venues. By the time they started discussing the new software Dominil was installing on their sampler, Kalix was feeling thoroughly left out of things. Dominil acted like she wasn’t there. Even though Kalix was a werewolf like them, and a member of the family, the musicians and their manager seemed to have no time for her. Kalix felt like a young and very boring werewolf with nothing interesting to say. She wanted to leave but she couldn’t seem to find an opportunity even to say goodbye. Finally, when Beauty and Delicious went to the kitchen to make coffee and Dominil followed them in, Kalix just slipped quietly out of the house and headed for home.
She felt depressed. It hadn’t been that much fun meeting the twins, and she didn’t like Dominil at all.
116
Verasa studied her new Perugino with little pleasure. She’d bought it last month, intending to have a copy made before loaning the original to the National Gallery of Scotland. Normally this would have brought Verasa a good deal of satisfaction. Two years ago the Scottish Arts Council had held a dinne
r for her, honouring her contribution to the Scottish arts. It remained a very pleasurable memory. Unfortunately the news from England was too bad to allow her to indulge herself in any form of artistic pleasure at the moment.
Her sister Lucia was furious at Markus’s attack on her son Decembrius. Verasa pointed out that Markus had been maddened by the death of Talixia but it had not mollified Lucia. She doted on her son. And, as she forcefully reminded the Mistress of the Werewolves, Decembrius had not been responsible for Talixia’s death.
Verasa herself had been extremely concerned when Markus had gone missing after the attack. She’d spent a few very anxious days till news arrived that he’d been brought home by a young woman who no one knew. Again she felt a flicker of annoyance at her younger son. He owed it to her to keep her informed. She understood that Markus was upset about Talixia but that was no reason to lose control.
Dominil had reported the events at the rehearsal studio. That was a strange story. An attack by a large group of hunters followed by a rescue by Sarapen and Kalix. Dominil believed they had met by chance outside the studio. Sarapen, having encountered Kalix, would now pursue her, of that Verasa was sure. She consulted with Rainal and they sat deep into the night, sipping whisky and eating from a dish of venison from a stag that had been killed that day.
“What will Sarapen do now?” wondered Rainal. “Now that Markus has killed Mirasen?”
“He’ll try to kill Markus of course. Sarapen will regard it as justifiable revenge, and he might be right, by clan tradition.
“Not if he started the violence by killing Talixia.”
“True. But we can’t prove he did.”
Verasa had sent more werewolves from her estates down to London to stay by Markus’s side.
“Only two weeks till the next meeting of the Great Council,” said Rainal. “It will certainly be an interesting affair.”
“Too interesting, possibly. I’m thinking of postponing it.”
Rainal protested. “The meeting cannot be postponed.”
“I am the acting head of the clan. In exceptional circumstances the head of the clan may delay the meeting. There are precedents.”
“Only in time of war.”
“This is now war.”
Rainal didn’t like it but Verasa was adamant.
“I need more time. Dominil needs more time. And I don’t want to risk Lucia changing her vote. Far better to let her forget her anger at the attack on Decembrius.”
117
Kalix trudged home in the rain. She had no money so she faced a long walk from Camden to Kennington, all the way through town and over the river. She wondered if she should try to take the underground without buying a ticket but decided against it. She didn’t feel like fleeing from a ticket inspector.
Kalix had felt some elation after the fight but it had now faded, leaving her depressed. The meeting with Beauty, Delicious and Dominil had left her feeling inadequate. She wasn’t looking forward to arriving home. The young werewolf had now convinced herself that Moonglow hated her for crashing into Jay. Probably she would be thrown out the house. If it wasn’t for her journal and her walkman she wouldn’t even go back. She cursed Moonglow for being so unreasonable, and cursed herself for ever getting involved with humans. But she didn’t seem to get on much better with werewolves. Dominil had hardly spoken a word to her and the twins obviously regarded her as an idiot.
Kalix tried to cheer herself up with the thought that she might never eat again. It worked for a while but by the time she reached the river her depression was turning into anxiety and she wished she had her laudanum with her. Kalix plodded on through the rain. When she finally arrived in Kennington she took out the shiny new key Daniel had cut for her and opened the door as quietly as she could. Moonglow wasn’t in. Daniel was slumped on the couch in front of the TV.
“Kalix. I’m glad you’ve come home.”
This took Kalix by surprise.
“Are you?”
“Of course. I’ve had a terrible day.”
“Is Moonglow throwing me out?” said Kalix.
“What?” Daniel laughed. “Of course not. She wasn’t that mad. Moonglow can’t stay in a bad mood for long. She’s gone over to Jay’s to have a better evening, that’ll cheer her up.”
“Oh.”
“You better dry your hair,” said Daniel.
Kalix went up to her room and hastily drank some laudanum. Because Daniel had suggested it, she dried her hair with a towel before going back downstairs.
“Are you sure Moonglow doesn’t want me to leave?” she asked.
Daniel almost laughed again but when he saw Kalix was very concerned about this he reassured her.
“It was really nothing. Moonglow likes you.”
“Does she?”
“Of course. How could you think she didn’t?”
“No one likes me.”
“We like you a lot.”
Kalix had difficulty accepting this.
“Why?”
Daniel shrugged.
“Why would anyone not like a bouncy young werewolf like you?”
The word bouncy was so unexpected and so inappropriate that Kalix laughed. She wanted to tell Daniel that she liked him but it felt like an awkward thing to say.
“Did you have a good time at college today?” was the best she could manage.
Daniel looked glum, and sank further into the couch.
“No. It was a bad day.”
“Were the lectures hard?”
“The lectures? I didn’t really notice, to be honest. What made today an especially bad day was that I went and talked to Alicia after Moonglow practically forced me into it, and when I was talking to her she looked bored and said she had to go and do something else.”
“What did she have to do?”
“She didn’t specify.”
Daniel sighed.
“I am the number one loser when it comes to talking to girls, it has to be said.”
“Lots of girls must like you,” said Kalix, who didn’t like to see Daniel depressed.
“Well no. Not lots of girls. Very few girls. Actually no girls like me. Not Moonglow and not Alicia and not any of the hundreds who wander around King’s College every day.”
“What about the girl at the party?”
Remembering this sorry experience, Daniel became more depressed than ever.
“I’m going to eat everything in the fridge then drink the last of my wine.”
Daniel headed for the kitchen, looking sad. Kalix sat for a while, puzzled. She didn’t like it that Daniel was sad. He was always so nice to her. She couldn’t understand why no girls liked him. Kalix wished that she could cheer him up but she wasn’t sure how to go about it. Usually she was the one who was depressed. She had no experience of bringing cheer to anyone.
Kalix rose from her chair, a little unsteadily. The day had taken a lot out of her. The fight had been very violent and though turning into a werewolf had given her energy, this had now faded. She’d not eaten for several days. The laudanum she’d drunk when she came in was coursing through her system, making her drowsy and euphoric by turns. She followed Daniel into the kitchen.
“I like you,” she said, then took him in a tight embrace and kissed him.
Daniel was startled. So startled that he failed to move. He really didn’t think he should be kissing the young werewolf but he was too surprised to break away. Besides, Kalix’s embrace was very strong. Also, it was so long since anyone had kissed Daniel that he wasn’t finding it that unpleasant.
“Eh… hello…” came a voice from only a few feet away.
Daniel leapt backwards, banging himself quite painfully against the sink. To his horror he found Moonglow regarding them with a shocked expression.
“Hi!” said Daniel. He was grinning wildly in an attempt to appear unruffled, meanwhile wishing that he might be instantly teleported to another dimension.
“What’s going on?” said Moonglow.
“I think I’ll go to my room now,” said Kalix, and trotted off.
Moonglow watched her go then turned to Daniel.
“You kissed her?”
“Absolutely not.”
“What do you mean absolutely not? I saw you!”
“She just grabbed me and kissed me, it took me by surprise.”
Moonglow frowned.
“I didn’t see you fighting her off.”
“I didn’t mean it!” said Daniel. “It just happened!”
Moonglow emptied the contents of her shopping bag into the fridge. She didn’t know what to think about Daniel kissing Kalix. It was certainly an unexpected development. It surprised her so much that she forgot all about the suspicious looking young man she’d seen loitering outside their house. When she’d reached the front door and turned back to check, he’d disappeared.
“I mean, she’s been sick,” said Moonglow. “And she’s only seventeen.”
“Isn’t that older in werewolf years?” said Daniel. “You know, like cats?”
Daniel was mortified by the whole event. He was aware that he hadn’t exactly struggled to avoid it, though he tried to pretend he had.
“Just walked up and grabbed me. I was ending it right then when you came in, just about to push her away…”
“Stop babbling,” said Moonglow, and almost smiled. “Hey, you’re both adults, more or less.”
In the small back yard outside the kitchen, Gawain was watching. He had seen everything through the kitchen window. He’d seen Kalix kissing another man. The werewolf stood in silence for a long time. He’d yearned to see Kalix for three years.
‘Well now I’ve seen her,’ he thought, bitterly. He leapt over the fence and hurried away, with no destination in mind, but a desire to put as much distance as possible between himself and the unbearably painful sight of Kalix in someone else’s arms.
At her office in the centre of London, Thrix was sleeping on her couch. She woke suddenly. No matter how deep her sleep, the Enchantress could not be taken unawares. She awoke knowing that someone was nearby. She looked round the room, her werewolf eyes adjusting instantly to the dark. There was no one in her office but a slight scrabbling noise outside made he look round in alarm. She was four floors up and no one could possibly be outside her window.