Dead Water (15 page)

I looked
down at the sand, which was now covered with so much blood, that
for a moment, I thought the lake had completely washed over the
shore. Meren raced out of the sky, her claws out before her. In the
light of the moon they glistened like a set of blades. A wolf
lunged up at Alice as she swooped through the air. Unbeknown to the
wolf, Meren was approaching on him fast. Just as the wolf’s mighty
paw was about to knock Alice out of the air, Meren had sliced open
its back and was soaring away with its spine dangling from her
claws. The wolf collapsed into the sand like a pile of fur-covered
jelly.

Behind
me I heard screaming. Spinning around in the air, I saw a wolf
standing up on its back legs. Its jaws were fixed tight around the
ankle of one of the girls. She beat her wings furiously as she
desperately fought to stay airborne. The wolf was strong, heavy,
and he was yanking her back down towards the ground. With the claws
opening and closing on each of my wings, I raced forwards, the wind
rippling against my face. Dropping low so my stomach was just
millimetres above the sand, I raced towards the wolf. With my arms
tucked in against my sides to give me as much speed and propulsion
as possible, I rocketed towards the wolf that had now almost pulled
the girl out of the sky.

As I
skimmed past, the claws at the tips of my wings sliced through the
back legs of the wolf. With a bewildering yelp, it released its
crushing bite on the girl and collapsed. She shot free into the
sky, blood trailing from her mauled ankle. The wolf tried to stand,
but without any back legs, it rolled over onto its side, where it
lay panting, its giant tongue lolling from its wide jaws.
Spiralling upwards, I back-flipped, and then raced towards the
ground. With my lips pulled back and fangs out, I tore the wolf’s
head free from its neck. Fur and blood oozed between my fangs. I
let the wolf’s head fall from my mouth and into the Dead Waters,
where I spat a wad of fur and blood from my mouth. With my wings
thrumming as fast as my heart, I hovered in the sky and surveyed
the carnage below me. The shore was littered with disregarded wolf
body parts. The last of them were losing their fight with two of
the half and half’s.

Murphy
swooped in and hovered beside me. He grunted with satisfaction at
the sight below him.

“
They did good,” Murphy said. Then, looking at me, he added,
“Now we go and get Potter, Kayla, and Sam back from whoever has
them. And when we find out who has our friends, we rip him a new
arsehole, right?”

“
Right,” I said.

Murphy
then swooped away from me, and back towards the shore.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Potter

“
I might have known you’d be behind this,” I said, Seth
dragging me to my feet. “And to think that Kiera nearly had me
believing that there was a chance there might be some good in
you.”

“
She told you about me then?” Seth asked, shoving me towards
the open cell doorway. “She told you I was her brother?”

“
Yeah, she did,” I spat. “I think she took the news quite well,
considering.”

“
Considering what?” he asked.

“
If I’d found out I was even remotely related to you, I
would’ve slit my own fucking throat,” I sneered at him.

“
Nice,” Seth said, forcing me out of the cell.

I
staggered into a narrow corridor and finally realised where I was
being held. It was the police station in Wasp Water. I’d had a row
with Kiera in this cell block. Although she would never have
admitted it, she had been jealous over Eloisa. She’d had no reason
to be. Eloisa had been a lying, cheating, murdering
wolf.

Lola’s
paws click-clacked over the stone corridor as she sauntered along
beside me and Jack. Just like my cell, the whole place stank of
piss and shit. But then it would, wouldn’t it? The place was
overrun with wolves.

“
So where are you taking me?” I asked Seth, as he led me out of
the cell block and through the police station. My hands were still
secured behind my back.

“
You’ll soon find out,” Jack said.

“
So what have you done with Kayla and Sam?” I
hissed.

“
Nothing,” Seth smiled at me.

“
Don’t fucking lie, the wolf looked like Kayla,” I
said.

“
Lola can shape-shift, just like me,” Jack
explained.

“
Stop treating me like a retard, Seth,” I groaned. “I know the
wolf would need a drop of Kayla’s blood to shift like her. Just
like you needed some of McCain’s back at Ravenwood
School.”

“
I matched with her once,” Lola barked. “Not completely, but
enough so as I can shift to look like her.”

“
I couldn’t give a monkey’s toss if you matched with her or
not,” I said, stumbling forward up the narrow corridor. “But I
promise you, if either of you have so much as harmed one single
hair on Kayla’s head, I’m gonna rip your fucking lungs
out.”

“
More threats you can’t possibly keep,” Seth smiled, his thin
lips twisting in a crescent moon shape.

“
I’m guessing you’re the brains behind this whole thing. You’re
the person they call Wolf Man, aren’t you?”

“
Me?” Jack laughed. “Not me, Potter. I’m not the Wolf
Man.”

Lola
made a woofing noise beside me as if she, too, were amused by what
I’d said.

“
So who is then?” I asked as Seth pushed me up a spiralling
staircase. We stopped outside a wide wooden door.

“
You mean you haven’t figured it all out yet?” Seth grinned.
“You mean Kiera hasn’t been able to
see
who it is?”

“
Leave Kiera out of this,” I said, reaching the top of the
stairs.

“
I plan to,” he said, his eyes bright and boring into mine.
“But the Wolf Man has a different plan altogether.”

“
Well why don’t you just take me to this Wolf and let me...” I
started, then stopped as Seth pushed open the door before us to
reveal a room. There was a desk with someone sitting behind
it.

“
Hello, my old friend,” the man behind the desk said. “It’s
good to see you again.”

“
Luke?” I whispered, as Seth closed the door behind
us.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Potter

“
You!” I roared. “You’re this Wolf Man? It’s been you the whole
time!” Despite having my arms secured at my back, I lunged across
the table at him. “You’re not even a fucking wolf!”

Seth
took hold of me, and placing his hands on my shoulders, he forced
me down onto a chair at the opposite side of the table from
Luke.

“
Still the hothead,” Luke said, his bright blue eyes twinkling
back at me. “And as for not being a wolf, the wolves just want to
be led. After all, you’ve tried to dominate them for two lifetimes
and you’re a Vampyrus, just like me. But unlike you, Murphy, and
the Black Coats, I’ve given the wolves their freedom.”

Luke
looked just as I remembered him to be, his thick black hair was
swept back off his brow, the lower half of his face was covered in
a black shadow of stubble, the deep cleft in his chin looking like
a puncture mark. He wore a white shirt open at the throat and faded
blue jeans.

“
You were meant to be my friend!” I bellowed at him. “You were
meant to be Murphy’s friend, Kiera’s friend. We trusted
you.”

“
No, it was I who trusted you,” Luke said softly. “It was you
who betrayed me.”

“
Betrayed you?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “How did
I betray you?”

“
You knew I was in love with Kiera, but you took her for
yourself,” he said.

“
So that’s what this is all about?” I stammered. “Because you
lost the girl to me?”

“
Not just any girl,” Luke said matter-of-factly. “A rather
special girl, as you have probably now discovered.”

“
Kiera has always been special to me,” I barked at
him.

“
Touching,” Luke smiled, getting up from his seat. The office
was small, and lit with a lamp on the desk. Blinds had been pulled
down at the windows, and I couldn’t tell if it were day or night
outside.

“
So why have you come back?” I asked. “I thought you were
dead.”

“
I wouldn’t have had to come back if you hadn’t have ruined my
plans,” Luke said. “If you had just left me and Kiera alone, none
of us would’ve died, I would be ruling the world that we had once
known...”

“
And we would’ve all lived happily ever after,” I smiled at
him. “What a load of old bollocks. You just wanted to use Kiera.
You only wanted her to love you so when it came to Kiera making her
choice between the humans and the Vampyrus, she would’ve chosen the
Vampyrus. She would have chosen you.”

“
And would that have been so bad?” Luke snapped. For the first
time since entering the room, Luke now sounded rattled. He was
starting to get angry. “The Vampyrus could have ruled the
Earth.”

“
No,
you
would
have ruled the Earth,” I cut in.

“
With Kiera at my side,” he said. “I would have made her a
queen. What have you made her?”

“
Happy,” I smiled.

Springing from the table, Luke smashed his fist into the side
of my head. I flew from the chair and onto the floor. Fuck, that
really hurt! Seth hoisted me back onto the chair. With the side of
my head feeling as if it had been struck by a train, I raised my
head in defiance and looked Luke in the eyes.

“
You will never ever get Kiera to be with you,” I
whispered.

“
I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Luke said.

“
Kiera is in love with me,” I said. “You’ll never get her to
look twice at you with me in her life.”

“
Exactly,” Luke said. “That’s why you’re going to have to die.
And then I will slowly take those who mean anything to her and kill
them. In the end, she will be begging to get into bed with me to
save those she loves. I already have Kayla,” he smiled.

I looked
into his eyes, and I wasn’t sure that he did have Kayla. If he did,
then Luke would have already used her as pawn in his sick game. He
wouldn’t have been using this wolf Lola to masquerade as her. He
was bluffing. I didn’t know where Kayla was, but something was
telling me that Luke didn’t know either.

“
If Kiera won’t marry me, perhaps Kayla will,” Luke smiled.
“After all, I got her to fall in love with me once before. And boy
was she sweet.”

“
You fucking pervert,” I spat at him.

“
Fucking Kayla, that’s what I’ll be doing,” Luke grinned at me.
“I’m sure Kiera will happily swap places to save her friend.” Then,
leaning in close so our cheeks were almost touching, Luke whispered
in my eyes, “It’s a shame you won‘t be around, I could have invited
you to our wedding. You could have been my best man. I might have
even let you
watch
.”

The
thought of Luke with Kiera made my stomach knot. Hot bile rushed up
into my mouth, and my heart raced. If only I could get my hands
free.

“
Tell me, Potter, is Kiera a
screamer
?” Luke laughed in my
ear.

I
couldn’t listen to him anymore, so snapping my face quickly to the
right, I smashed the side of my head into his. Luke staggered
sideways, clutching his head in his hands. A thin line of blood
trickled from his ear.

Luke
twisted his head to look at me, and I could see the hate in his
eyes. He wanted to kill me.

“
If you want to kill me, why don’t you just do it right now!” I
roared at him. “Go on, kill me while I’m chained up. That’s what a
coward like you would do.”

Rubbing
the side of his face with his hand, Luke forced a smile and said,
“This place is way too private. I want your execution to be very
public. I want everyone to see what I do to people who betray me. I
want everyone to know what I do to traitors. I want Kiera to
understand my threats aren’t idle. Jack could have taken her as
simply as he took you. But I want Kiera to come to me. I want her
to come into this town, crawling on her hands and knees, begging me
to make her my queen. Only then will I know she is
mine.”

“
She’ll never be yours,” I said stubbornly.

“
It’s a shame you won’t be around to see how wrong you are,”
Luke said, heading for the door. “But perhaps in another time – in
another when – you’ll see.”

Keeping
my head held high, wanting to show him he could never beat me, Luke
stared at me from the doorway. I looked at him with utter
defiance.

Turning
to look at both Seth and Lola, Luke said, “Get his execution ready.
I want him dead already.”

Without
another word, Luke left the room, leaving me alone with Lola and
Jack Seth.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Kiera

We
swooped over the hills and mountains in the direction of Wasp
Water. Murphy took the lead. No longer fearing that we might turn
to stone at any time and drop from the sky, we raced towards Wasp
Water. Although Murphy’s sole purpose for heading straight there
was to rescue Potter, in the back of my mind, I had another reason,
too. In my recent nightmares, I had seen Jack Seth being executed
in the town square. He had been accused of being a traitor. But I
had seen him in those flashbulbs inside my mind. He had confessed
to setting a trap for me and my friends. Which premonition was
true? I sensed that I would find out in the town of Wasp
Water.