Dead Water (11 page)

I looked
about, my eyes as keen as ever in the dark. I don’t know what I’d
been expecting, but it looked like any other part of the forest.
“How can you be sure this is the right place?” I asked. “It was
over twenty years ago.”

“
I will never forget that night, Kiera,” he said softly. “Your
mother was propped against that tree over there.” Murphy pointed to
a large Spruce with a moss-covered trunk.

I
stepped away from Murphy and Potter and made my way slowly towards
the tree. I tried to picture my mother there, but it was
impossible. I had never seen a picture of her – I only had to go on
what Jack had told me. She had long, thick, black hair like mine,
with pale skin and hazel eyes.

“
What was my real mother like?” I asked without turning to face
Murphy.

“
You look a lot like her,” Murphy said, staying back with
Potter.

“
I meant, what was she like as a person?” I asked again. “Jack
told me she was evil. He said she was a killer.”

“
He told you the truth,” Murphy said.

To hear
it from Murphy made my stomach clench. I now understood why I had
felt so fearful on my way here. I was scared I had been born from a
ruthless killer. A child killer, just how Jack had described
her.

“
So she killed children then?” I whispered.

“
She was a wolf, Kiera,” Murphy said, his voice soft. “That’s
what wolves do.”

“
And Pen?” I asked, looking back over my shoulder. “Did she
kill children, too?”

“
No,” Murphy said sombrely, with a shake of his
head.

“
Why not?” I pushed for an answer.

“
Because she refused to give in to the curse,” he
explained.

“
So my mother had a choice then?” I asked.

“
We all have a choice with how we live our lives,” Murphy said,
Potter standing silently beside him.

“
So why did my father love her then?” I shot back.

“
That was
his
choice,” Murphy said. “Like I said, Kiera, we all have
choices. Some we regret more than others.”

“
And what was your choice that night?” I asked, my bright hazel
eyes fixed on his.

“
To leave you to die or save you,” he said straight
back.

“
And do you regret the choice you made?” I
whispered.

“
Never,” he said.

“
Even though I was born from a wolf...a child killer?” I
asked.

“
None of us ask to be born,” Murphy said. “None of us choose
our parents. But we can choose not to be like them, Kiera. I know
that’s what you fear. You fear you might become like your mother –
you might turn out like your brother, Jack. Just because you are
part wolf doesn’t mean you have to be like one of them. You can
choose to be nothing like them – you can choose to be better than
them.”

I looked
back at the tree where my mother had pushed me into the world. I’d
had two mothers in my life and both had made bad choices. Both had
given in to a curse. Kathy Seth, the lust for killing, and Jessica
Hudson, the craving for the red stuff. Murphy was right; I hadn’t
chosen either of them. But I did have a choice now, and I chose not
to be like either of them. I just wanted to be me – Kiera
Hudson.

Slowly,
I turned away from the spot where I had been born. “I’ve seen
enough. Let’s get going,” I said without looking at either Murphy
or Potter. Silently, the three of us set off in the direction of
the red lake, which we had come to know as the Dead
Waters.

Chapter Eighteen

Kiera

The moon
seemed brighter than ever as we reached the lake. Its waters
sloshed against the shore in crimson waves. Sand covered my boots
like freckles as I stood on the shore and looked across the Dead
Waters. It stretched away before me, the trees surrounding the
other side looking like a vast black shadow. The lake stretched
away for as far as I could see to my right. To my left, and
although I couldn’t see it, I could hear the thunderous roar of the
Fountain of Souls as it raced upwards into the night sky, carrying
the souls of those the Lycanthrope had slaughtered since time had
begun. Hidden behind the fountain were the caves where the
Lycanthrope lived. Sam had said they were deserted now – that the
wolves had gone to Wasp Water – but were there some wolves still
hiding out behind the fountains?

White
shards of moonlight reflected off the red water like broken
slithers of glass. Apart from the distant roar of the fountain,
this world hidden behind the trees was deathly quiet. Potter and
Murphy stood on either side of me. Both of them looked at me, as if
I knew what to do next. Knowing that time was short, and we had yet
to find Kayla and Sam, I looked down at my hands. The blood I had
sucked from Potter’s neck was already losing its power. The backs
of my hands, wrists, and forearms were once again covered. Just as
before, a fine, white dust seeped from the ragged cracks. My skin
felt taut, my arms growing heavy.

Slowly,
I hunkered down and traced my fingertips over the surface of the
red water. At once I felt the strangest of sensations. It was like
my fingers were sucking up the red water, like they had become
straws. I watched the skin turn supple again as far as my knuckles.
Seeing this, I plunged both my hands beneath the water. It was
cold, and my fingers tingled. I pulled my hands from the lake.
Holding them up before me, I inspected them in the moonlight. The
cracks had faded.

Standing, I started to undress. Looking at both Murphy and
Potter, I said, “Look away.”

“
Even me?” Potter asked.

“
Definitely you!” I shot back.

Murphy
turned his back to me without any hesitation, while Potter
lingered.

“
Turn around,” I hissed.

“
But...” Potter started.

“
Just turn around, you freaking weirdo,” Murphy barked at him.
“We haven’t come here for you to get your rocks off.
Pervert!”

“
I’m not a pervert,” Potter started to argue, turning his back
to me.

I
stripped down to my panties and stepped into the water. With my
arms crisscrossed over my breasts, I looked back at Potter and
Murphy and said, “What are you waiting for? Get in.”

They
stripped naked. The white light from the moon made their bodies
look as if they had been carved from alabaster. I looked at
Murphy’s naked body and could see a network of cracks spreading out
from the centre of his firm chest like a spider’s web. Some were
deeper than others, but each of them bled a white dust-like powder
down the length of his stomach. Potter’s body looked the same,
although his flesh, unlike Murphy’s, was fractured around his
well-rounded shoulders and down his back.

I turned
away from them. The water rippled around my ankles, calf muscles,
then thighs as I headed out deeper into the lake. I looked over my
shoulder to see Potter and Murphy coming towards me. When the water
was deep enough to cover my breasts, I stopped and waited for them
to join me. Standing in a small circle, we looked at each other as
the red water lapped against our pale flesh.

“
So what happens now?” Potter asked.

Before
I’d had the chance to answer, I suddenly started to feel warmer. At
first I couldn’t be sure if it was the temperature of the water
which had changed, or my skin. The water fell suddenly still, not
even a ripple broke the surface. I looked past Murphy and Potter.
The lake now looked like a vast, red-tinted mirror. I began to feel
warmer still and I looked at my friends, realising that the heat
was, in fact, coming from my core somehow. It was like my soul was
being awakened.

“
Can you feel that?” Murphy whispered, his silver hair gleaming
beneath the moonlight.

“
Yes...” I started then grabbed my own chest, suddenly lurching
forward in the water. The red waters splashed up, some of it going
into my mouth. It tasted not like fresh spring water, but of blood.
It was hot in my mouth, and warmed the back of my throat as I
swallowed.

“
What’s wrong?” Potter asked, as I steadied myself, still
holding my chest beneath the water.

“
It feels like...” Before I could finish, I bolted forward
again, as if shoved violently from behind. I felt something I
hadn’t felt since before waking up on the mortuary slab. It felt
like my heart was struggling to start beating again.

“
My heart...” I gasped, pressing the palms of my hands between
my breasts.

Murphy
and Potter glanced at each other, then they, too, shot forward.
Each grabbed their own chest, shaking violently as if receiving
electric shocks from a defibrillator. I shook all over as my heart
started to race again. It was a feeling I had forgotten, but
welcomed. My heart raced like a trip hammer inside of me. I could
hear it in my ears. I could feel the blood surging through me
again.

“
My heart is racing,” I gasped. “My heart is beating
again!”

“
Mine too,” Potter said, as if trying to catch his
breath.

“
It hurts,” Murphy cried.

“
You’re probably having a fucking heart attack, you old fart,”
Potter said, steadying his friend.

“
The pain is going,” Murphy wheezed, straightening
up.

“
What does this mean?” Potter said, the water now lapping
beneath his chin.

“
One thing is for sure,” I breathed, “we aren’t dead anymore.
It’s like the water has brought us back to life.”

I lifted
my arms from beneath the water and studied my hands. The skin
covering them was pearly white and just as smooth looking. I had
never seen my skin looking so healthy and clear.

“
But I thought these were called the Dead Waters...” Potter
started but broke off suddenly. He twisted his head to the right,
then quickly to the left. He made a snarling noise in the back of
his throat. It echoed back off the surrounding trees like thunder.
Potter’s face started to change. His nose turned up, his ears
stretched into points on either side of his face. Black hair
bristled from every part of his body as he started to thrash about
in the water. His wings sprung from his back, sending up waves of
bright red water. It was then I remembered seeing such a creature
before. I had seen Luke look like this once, as he sat hidden away
in the forbidden wing. I was seeing Potter as his true self – in
his true Vampyrus form. With his body covered in gleaming black
fur, and his face contorted beyond recognition, Potter truly did
look like a vampire bat. He rolled back his head, his wings beating
rapidly, spraying water across the lake, where it fell from the sky
like rain. Then he was gone, soaring high up into the night sky. I
looked at Murphy, and just like Potter had, he began to change into
his true Vampyrus form. Clawing at the air with his fists, I
watched his hands stretch out of shape. His spine made a popping
sound as his wings shot from his back. He twisted and turned in the
water as his body oozed lengths of silver hair from beneath his
skin. Just like Luke hadn’t scared me, neither did Potter and
Murphy. In a perverse kind of way, they looked beautiful – like no
other creature seen before. It was like the Dead Waters had truly
brought them back to life again.

Then as
Murphy blasted up into the night, I started to change, too. Just
like I had back in the cramped bathroom in the caravan, I changed
into my true form. As I wasn’t a true Vampyrus, I was spared the
bristling hair and the whole pointy ears thing. But there was
something different now. It was like the Dead Waters were fully
drawing the true me to the surface. It was bringing both sides out
– the Vampyrus and the Lycanthrope. Jack had said I’d always had
keen sight because of the wolf that had been hiding inside of me.
Now just as the waters were red, so was my sight. The whole world
appeared to seethe around me. It looked as if it were on fire. I
could see the slightest movement in the trees, each leaf moving in
slow motion. I looked back towards the shore and could see
individual grains of sand, each one as clear as a shiny new pearl.
I looked up at the stars, and each one of them seemed to shoot
across the night sky like a blazing meteorite. I’d never seen the
world in such clarity before. It didn’t matter in which direction I
looked, my eyes would zoom in – focus on the smallest of details. I
saw a bird darting from the treeline. As I watched it soar just
inches above the surface of the lake, the bird seemed to slow down
so I could absorb every detail. I could see each individual feather
ruffled by the breeze. I looked away, then blinked. The redness had
gone. The world no longer looked as if it were on fire. My
eyesight, as keen as ever, no longer showed the detail I had seen
just moments before. Would it return? I didn’t know.

I looked
up to see Potter and Murphy swoop out of the sky, heading back
towards the lake. They dive-bombed beneath the surface and
disappeared from view. I stood in the water, the sudden waves
created by my friends’ impact breaking over me. I rubbed the water
from my eyes to see Potter and Murphy reappear from beneath the
water. Both looked like my old friends again.