The Anxiety of Kalix the Werewolf (84 page)

“The fire must be getting worse,” said Carmichael. “The werewolves won't know where the fire exits are and I doubt they can reach them anyway. If you can block off the foyer, we can trap them inside.”

He looked at Axelsen, who carried one of the small machine guns recently modified by the Guild, but not yet fully tested. “Does it work?”

“I'll tell you soon.”

Group Sixteen raced through the hotel and into Gloucester Place to retake the foyer from the front. Carmichael sped around the hotel, gathering the hunters he'd positioned there in reserve. The ambush had not gone as planned, but he was still confident they could wipe out every werewolf who'd entered the building.

CHAPTER 166

In their own dimension, a clash between two elemental rulers would have caused such destruction that towns would have burned to the ground, mountains turned to lava and lakes evaporated. It was fortunate for the inhabitants of London that neither the Fire Queen nor the Empress could exert their full power as they fought in an alien dimension. The struggle was still titanic. Each of them reached back through the void, dragging as much energy as they could from their volcanoes to power their weapons. Malveria's grandmother Malgravane had carried the Fire Queen's Sword of the Exploding Sun when she turned back an invasion of the Ice Elementals in a battle that had turned the once fertile Plains of Warmth into a barren wasteland. The Fire Queen wielded it now with all her might. She was a far more experienced warrior than the Empress but as the battle raged on, Malveria was forced to admit to herself something she would never have acknowledged in public: Kabachetka had become an extremely powerful Fire Elemental. Since the death of the old Empress, she'd apparently not spent all of her time at fashionable parties. She'd learned to use the Great Flaming Spear, which was also renowned for its power.

The Empress cursed the Fire Queen, and slashed at her with her spear, sending a great wave of flame toward her. The Fire Queen deflected the flame but the Empress sent another fire bolt directly after it and this one caught Malveria squarely in the chest. The Fire Queen was thrown backwards. Her adversary yelled in triumph and advanced through the air,
brandishing her spear. Their weapons met, and locked, and they pressed together in a final trial of strength and will.

Down below, Agrivex looked on. She knew if she came between the Fire Queen and the Empress she would be killed. She also knew her aunt was in trouble, and she had to assist her. Vex wondered exactly how she was going to get there. A really powerful elemental like the Fire Queen could levitate so freely, and drift through dimensions so effectively, as to appear to be flying, but Vex lacked her aunt's skill.

I'll probably plummet to my death, she thought. And just when I have a boyfriend too. It's so unfair.

Vex took off, attempting to project herself up to the clouds where the battle raged. She judged the distance quite well, materializing close to the Fire Queen and the Empress. White flames poured from their weapons, enveloping them in a blazing sphere of light. As Vex arrived, the sphere grew larger, expanding rapidly till there was an explosion more deafening than all the rest, and a flash of light so intense that the clouds became momentarily transparent. Vex had a glimpse of the Empress soaring upwards, screaming in pain and rage before abruptly disappearing from sight.

“Go back to your palace!” yelled Queen Malveria at the departing Empress. “Face me again when you've learned how to fight.”

Vex noticed her aunt's aura was imbued with flames of triumph. They lasted only a few seconds before fading to nothingness. The Fire Queen's body went limp, hanging motionless in the air. Vex caught her, and they began to fall from the sky together.

“Are you all right, Aunty?”

“I am triumphant. But my strength has gone.”

“I came to rescue you.”

“I appreciate it. Do you have a plan for preventing us from plummeting onto the concrete below?”

“Not really,” admitted Agrivex.

“Splendid,” said the Fire Queen. “We can meet our ancestors together. You'll like my mother.”

“I can save us!” said Vex. The ground was approaching alarmingly fast. Vex, who was bad at teleporting herself, had never before tried carrying anyone with her. Needing a point of reference, Vex saw the store they'd been in earlier. She kept a tight grip on her aunt, and desperately attempted to fling herself through the dimensions. There was a second of freezing cold, and then a gentle thud as she and Malveria materialized in
a deserted room, just one foot from the ground.

“I did it!” cried Vex, springing to her feet. She looked at her aunt, who lay on the floor, making no attempt to rise. “You're all bleeding and burned. Are you all right?”

“I will be fine. I need to rest, and heal. Where are we?”

“Back in the big store with the fashion show. In a stationery cupboard. Maybe it's not stationery. Some sort of big cupboard anyway. It could be other office supplies.”

“We will just accept that it's a cupboard,” said Malveria. “Now I must rest before I can heal myself.”

“Let me help,” said Vex.

“I doubt that you are able, niece.”

“I am! I've been practicing. I healed flowers!”

“Well done. I am impressed. But I can heal myself, and I have another task for you. Find Thrix and her companions. If you can really help with healing, they'll appreciate it.”

“I don't want to leave you in this cupboard.”

“I will be fine. I want you to help Thrix. Kalix too, if you can find her. The building is in Gloucester Place, not far. Travel there and you may sense their presence.”

The Fire Queen lay back on the floor to rest. If she could gather a little strength, she could open a tiny portal to her volcano at home, and restore her powers.

“OK, Aunty,” said Vex. “Look after my bag.” She dematerialized quickly. The Fire Queen gave Agrivex's green plastic handbag a disapproving glance, and then closed her eyes to concentrate on healing.

CHAPTER 167

Thrix knelt in an office on the top floor of the Guild's headquarters, alone, knowing that unless she could overcome the building's dampening field that was suppressing her sorcery, she might soon die. She had four silver bullets inside her. The pain was excruciating. The bullets had missed her heart but they'd fragmented inside her, and now the shards of silver were tearing her insides apart.

“I'm not giving up while there are hunters left alive.”

The werewolf Enchantress made the change back to human. She closed her eyes and placed her hands on her lap. If her own sorcery wouldn't work, perhaps she could coax a response from one of Minerva's most powerful spells.

“Minerva's Healing of Last Resort,” she said. “
Cneasaich
.”

Thrix felt a disturbance in the sorcerous field that surrounded her, as Minerva's spell struggled to take effect. For a few moments, she felt calm, and then she yelled in pain. Her eyes opened wide and she saw fragments of silver emerging from her skin. Some came from her bullet wounds, but other fragments made new holes in her flesh, tearing their way out of her body. Thrix screamed and collapsed in agony on the carpet. The pain became too much to bear and she passed out for several seconds. When she awoke she'd been sick all over herself and there were shards of silver everywhere. She wiped the tears from her eyes.

“Good spell,” muttered Thrix. “Apart from the unbearable agony.”

Thrix could still feel damage inside her. Suppressed by the power of the Guild's headquarters, Minerva's spell had not fully worked. But it had helped, partially renewing her strength, and allowing her to carry on.

She left the office and headed for the stairs. The sprinklers were still operating, washing away the blood and vomit from her body. Thrix changed back into her werewolf form. She was about to run down the stairs and rejoin the battle when she paused, and went back. Wallace MacGregor, in death, had changed back to human. Thrix picked him up with ease, with the thought that if she survived the battle, she'd take him back to the castle for a proper burial. Then she hurried on through the smoke, downstairs, toward the sounds of werewolves howling and guns firing.

Dominil had located the Guild's main computer room. Unlike most other parts of the building, this area had been modernized, with several offices converted into one large space, separated by glass partitions.

“I need a few minutes,” she said, ignoring the smoke, flames and gunfire.

“Won't everything get burned anyway?” asked Morag.

“Their files won't only all be stored on these computers,” said Dominil. She changed into her human shape and sat down at a terminal.

“Protect me while I erase their files.”

Morag grinned. “You're an odd werewolf, Dominil. I like you more than I—”

Her words were cut off by a shot. Morag looked surprised, then fell down dead. Dominil swiftly took a terminal from its desk and crouched on the floor. Sarapen joined her, using the desk as cover. He touched Morag's neck, checking for a pulse.

“She's dead,” he said.

“Try to keep me alive till I'm finished here.”

Dominil sat on the ground, loading software into the computer with a flash drive. Sarapen crawled from the booth, looking for whoever had shot Morag. There was a flurry of gunfire nearby, and some screaming. Dominil kept her eyes on the screen, attempting to locate all of the Guild's files, wherever they were stored. Morag lay beside her, face down, with a gaping wound in her back where the silver bullet had exited from her body. Dominil ignored her. Her fingers flew swiftly over the keyboard. She left a program running and carefully reached up to the next desk, taking hold of another terminal. She began another program, finding and erasing all the locally held files. She barely noticed the gunfire that erupted nearby, though she was obliged to put her sleeve over her mouth to protect her from the smoke, which was now making it difficult to breathe.

Sarapen appeared back in the cubicle with blood on his fur. “I got rid of them,” he said.

Dominil remained silent, still working at the keyboard.

“Are you going to be much longer?”

“A few more minutes. I'm erasing their cloud files in Arizona.”

“I've been shot,” said Sarapen.

“Will you survive?”

“Yes. But the ceiling's about to come down.”

Dominil glanced upwards. “We have a few minutes. I'm almost done.”

CHAPTER 168

Thrix came across two more hunters as she descended the stairs, falling on them savagely and killing them instantly. A wave of elation swept over her. She'd killed many hunters, and the Guild's headquarters would soon be consumed by flames. It was time to leave. She arrived on the ground floor to meet Eskandor and Feargan, limping toward the foyer. Both were wounded, and they were carrying the body of Barra. The foyer
was blackened and charred, with several smoldering holes in the walls and debris from the ceiling scattered around everywhere.

“We have to leave,” said Eskandor. The smoke had temporarily cleared from the foyer but it was thickening again as the flames on the floor above intensified.

“We're not all here yet,” said Thrix.

Decembrius and Kalix appeared, their faces blackened from smoke. Decembrius looked unharmed but Kalix was bleeding in several places.

“More hunters,” she snarled.

“I think we're finished,” said Thrix.

Eskandor fell to the ground, more badly wounded than Thrix had realized. Feargan looked at him anxiously. “We need to get him out of here.”

“We can't leave without Dominil,” said Decembrius.

There was an anxious wait. The werewolves had loosely arranged to meet in the foyer after their attack, but the chaos caused by the ambush, and Sarapen's explosive device, seemed to have wiped out their planning.

“I'll look for her,” said Decembrius.

“How? The whole place is on fire,” said Eskandor.

Suddenly the wall at the end of the corridor caved in. There stood Sarapen and Dominil. Unable to reach the door because of the heat, they'd smashed down the wall. They were both soaked from the sprinklers, which had helped to protect them from the flames. Sarapen carried Morag MacAllister's body in his arms.

“Well?” said Thrix.

“The Guild's computer records are erased,” said Dominil. “We can assume their library has been incinerated too. It's time to leave.”

The werewolves took a step toward the inner of the two doors that led to the street outside. At that moment the door burst open and Group Sixteen appeared. The tallest of the hunters was pointing a machine gun. He pulled the trigger and emptied the whole magazine of thirty silver bullets into the werewolves. At the same time the hunters behind him opened fire with their pistols.

Dominil, Decembrius, Thrix and Feargan fell to the ground. Kalix and Sarapen were thrown backwards, slamming into the smoldering wall of the ruined foyer. The hunter with the machine gun rapidly took another magazine from his belt and loaded it while the others kept firing. Kalix, blood pouring from every limb, flung herself toward them. Sarapen, only a fraction of a second slower, did the same. The machine gun was
reloaded just as Kalix reached them. She snarled, and leaped upwards, fastening her jaws around the tall hunter's neck. The gun was firing as Kalix dragged him to the ground. Sarapen slammed into the other hunters, and there was a terrible sound of snarling and screaming as the werewolves and hunters fought for their lives.