Changeling (20 page)

‘He’s barely breathing,’ he said in a small voice. ‘And look at all this blood. My God, what are we going to do? He might die.’

Jurgen was staring out of the window, his eyes gazing off into the distance.

‘Let’s go and find the nephew,’ Jurgen said. And turning on his heel, he walked out of the room.

Marcus climbed in behind the wheel of the Range Rover, relieved to find that the keys were still hanging from the ignition. He paused for a second, glancing through the
windscreen at the house at the bottom of the hill. He told himself that there was nothing he could do, trying not to imagine what might still be going on in there, but the terrible mix of guilt and
shame that he felt stopped him from turning the key to start the engine straight away.

It’s not my problem,
he told himself.
And pretty soon I’ll leave this mess behind me for good.

He blew out his cheeks and started the engine, crashing the car into reverse gear and pulling away from the clearing and the house, heading back to the cabins. As he rounded the first bend, the
merest hint of a smile briefly touched his features when thought about how Jurgen would react when he came out to find that the was car gone.

Let the psycho and his weak-willed sidekick walk back to the lake,
he thought.

He had no intention of being around by the time they got back anyway. He’d had enough of this place and the pack leader who seemed to have lost whatever grip on reality he might once have
had. It was time to get out now while he still could. Get out and stay out.

The car bounced around on the uneven ground even more than it had before when it had had the additional weight of the other passengers, and he had to take it slower than he would have liked to
avoid the risk of a puncture or worse.

His thoughts once again turned to Frank, back there with that maniac. He hoped to God that Frank had wised up and told Jurgen what he wanted to hear. He didn’t want to imagine the
alternative.

He swung between two trees, bounced through a drainage ditch, and came out on to the road that led to the lakes. He relaxed a little, putting his foot on the accelerator and speeding up,
blinking against the sun that dappled the windscreen now that he was out from under the thick overhead canopy.

He turned a bend and pressed his foot down on the brake, bringing the car to a skidding halt. He was at the top of the road that wound its way around the basin in which the lake and its
community of little wooden cabins sat. The sunlight washed the scene with a wonderful golden hue, and Marcus reflected on how they had all stopped at this point when they’d first come here,
looking down on the same scene, full of hopes and dreams about the adventure that they were about to start out on together.

They’d met via the Internet; Jurgen had traced some of them through his father’s contacts, and they’d set up a private forum where they could talk to each other. It was Jurgen
who had told them about the ability to enforce a Change in a group, and he’d suggested that they should try and meet up. His father’s wealth made it easy for him to facilitate this
meeting – he’d even paid for their airfares to Russia where they’d been transported to a huge villa. Jurgen was a different person then – laughing and joking the whole time,
full of enthusiastic plans for the group. It was such a relief for the young men to be able to speak openly of the curse that had blighted them all since the beginning of their teenage life, when
puberty had revealed to each of them what they were to expect for the rest of their lives. Most of them had led a nomadic life, moving from place to place to keep out of reach of the vampire
Caliban and his spies. So many of their fathers’ generation had been hunted down and killed by the vampire lord that their sons had learned to keep hidden, especially during the full moon. So
when Jurgen had suggested they travel out to a wood on the outskirts of the town to try and make that first group Change they’d initially baulked at the idea. But Jurgen had been so
persuasive, so adamant that they should try it, that eventually they’d all agreed.

None of the group was comfortable with the idea of going through a Change out in the open. They were always scared of being detected by creatures that monitored for signs of nether-creatures in
the human realm; the notion of transforming into a werewolf in daylight was something that none of them had ever dreamed about. To do it outside was unimaginable. But again Jurgen had taken the
lead, assuring them that they would be safe, and that they could outrun, and if necessary outfight, anything that might be sent to confront them during daylight hours. Most of the lycanthropes that
had been killed through the years had been dispatched at night, when Caliban and his minions were free to roam and hunt within the human realm.

They’d gathered in the wood, all very embarrassed when Jurgen had told them that they should strip down to their underwear and hold hands. That first Change had been amazing. The five male
werewolves had roamed the woods, hunting together and sharing the joys of the kill. They all felt alive for the first time – alive and free. And by the end of the week, having Changed on
three of the seven days they were together, an inseparable bond had been forged between them. In particular, Jurgen and Marcus had become very close, and Marcus felt like he’d found the
brother that he’d always wanted as a child.

At the end of their time together Jurgen had sat them down and told them about the land in Canada, and how his father had informed him that the man who owned it, Frank Laporte, had somehow
arranged for the place to be protected against vampires so that it could be a haven for a werewolf pack. He told them of his plans to go there and how he wanted them to join him.

They’d agreed, and two months later they’d all flown out to Canada.

Things went well at first. They spruced up the cabins, Jurgen paying for any work that was needed to make them habitable again. Those first four weeks in Canada had been wonderful. They’d
revelled in the freedom that they were afforded by the place, Changing whenever the fancy took them and roaming far and wide through the forests that made up the land. But it all went terribly
wrong when Jurgen invited his girlfriend, Ella, to visit for a weekend. Childhood sweethearts, they’d been going out, off and on, for years, and Jurgen believed that they were meant for each
other.

They’d all met Ella at the airport. She hugged them each in turn as Jurgen had made the introductions, and then she’d fallen into her boyfriend’s embrace, holding him close to
her for what seemed an age. That night they’d had a small party. They’d sat round a large open fire by the lake. It was night time, and everyone had drunk too much. Ella asked Jurgen
when he was going to come back home – when he was going to stop playing frontiersman in the woods and come back to his friends, family and the playboy lifestyle that he’d always
enjoyed. He’d reacted angrily, telling her that he’d brought her out here to show her what was important to him now. How his old life and his father’s money wasn’t what he
wanted any more. And then he told her that he wanted her to stay with him, to make a new life here together.

The rest of the group watched in astonishment as he told her what they were – a werewolf pack.

She’d laughed at him, telling him that he was clearly drunk and possibly more than a little delusional. Then he’d demanded that Marcus and the other members join hands with him in a
circle around Ella, telling her that he’d show her just how delusional he was. Reluctantly the others obeyed, and they Changed in front of her.

She’d screamed and tried to run, but the pack had kept her hemmed in, backing her up towards the lake like a sheep being herded by a farmer’s dogs. When there was nowhere left for
her to go, Jurgen had stepped forward. The great wolf looked up at her, its eyes blazing in the firelight. Ella raised her hands, pleading with the nether-creature not to kill her. Then it bit her.
It lunged forward and bit into her arm, opening up a large wound that painted the surrounding grass a deep red.

It was part of a plan that Jurgen had not revealed to the others. That had been five months ago, and it was the beginning of the end for the Alpha. Ella stayed – she had little choice now
– but she never forgave Jurgen for what he had done to her. The love that she once felt for him began to slowly turn into resentment, and this seemed to tip the pack leader over the edge.

A crow cawed loudly in a tree to his right, and Marcus shook his head, clearing it of the memories. He couldn’t afford to idle around daydreaming. He put the car into gear and sped down
the hill towards his cabin, eager to be gone from this place as soon as he could.

Ella looked up from the book that she was reading at the sounds of a car’s tyres skidding to a halt somewhere outside. Getting up from her chair, she crossed the room to
the window beside the door to see Marcus climbing out of the Range Rover. Something about his demeanour bothered her – he seemed agitated, looking back behind him at the woods before hurrying
over to his cabin and disappearing inside.

She frowned. She’d heard the Range Rover leaving a little over an hour ago, peering outside to see the back of the vehicle disappearing off up the road. She’d thought it odd at the
time that anyone should be going out. Usually on the morning after a Change the members of the pack were very subdued, lounging around by the lake all day or simply taking to, and staying in, their
beds. It was unusual for anyone to be seen out and about, let alone getting in the car and driving off into the forest.

Her interest piqued, she placed her book face down on the table and went outside.

The cool air outside the cabin made her shiver involuntarily and she folded her arms in front of her. She stared into the woods, wondering what it was that Marcus had been looking for there. A
duck came flying in at an oblique angle, skidded to a less than graceful halt in the middle of the lake and caused an uproar of disgruntled quacking from those residents already present. Ella
turned to her left and walked the short distance to Marcus’s cabin. She gave the door a cursory knock, pushing against it as she did so. She blinked in surprise, and shoved a little harder
when it refused to give way – nobody locked their doors during the day; everyone came and went between each other’s cabins freely, without announcement. She frowned and knocked again,
louder this time.

‘Who is it?’

‘It’s me, Ella. Are you OK, Marcus?’

When there was no reply, she tried again, ‘Marcus, are you all right?’

She started to move away towards the window, when she heard the sound of a bolt sliding free of the lock on the door. Marcus opened the door a fraction, peering out at her through the gap.

‘I’m busy,’ he said with a glance over her shoulder.

‘Busy doing what?’ She waited, noting the anxious look on his face. ‘Look, I’m not going to go away until you tell me what’s going on, so you might as well open the
door and let me in.’

He stared at her, willing her to leave, but she met his eyes with a look of determination. Eventually he sighed, shook his head in exasperation, and stood back, opening the door to let her
in.

The suitcase on the couch was already half full with clothes that appeared to have been tipped straight into it from the drawers stacked on the floor. Another, smaller, holdall containing
Marcus’s personal items was just inside the door.

‘Where are you going?’

‘Away. I’m leaving, Ella. Today.’

‘What brought this on? Why would you suddenly decide to pack your stuff and leave like this?’ She waited for a response. ‘If it’s about that silly argument that you and
Jurgen had last week, I’m sure that—’

‘The silly argument in which he threatened to take me over to the lake and drown me if I didn’t shut up, you mean?’

‘He was just kidding, Marcus. You can’t possibly think that he meant anything by that.’

Marcus stood perfectly still, studying her. He stared at the scar on her forearm and when she realized what he was looking at, she let the arm drop down by her side, hiding the ugly pink
flesh.

He shook his head, his jaw set determinedly. ‘Perhaps his breaking Lawrence’s jaw for disagreeing with him about the shopping rota doesn’t mean anything. Because it sure as
hell means something to Lawrence – it means that he’ll sound like he’s speaking with a mouth full of marbles for the rest of his life.’

‘What is all this?’

Marcus turned his back on her and continued to throw clothes into the case. ‘He’s lost it, Ella. He’s so far gone that I doubt there is any way back for him. He’s
dangerous. Paranoid. It’s only a matter of time before he does something else that will end up in somebody – probably one of us – losing their life.’

‘He’s made some mistakes, I grant you—’

‘Mistakes?’ Marcus turned to face her, an incredulous look on his face. ‘Of all the people that should be able to see him for what he really is . . .’ He stopped, trying
to calm himself before carrying on. ‘Ella, he’s like a rabid dog, and right now he’s got it into his head that this new boy, Trey, is some kind of impostor; that he’s here
to try and take over as the pack Alpha. That’s why he is, at this very moment, beating the hell out of a blind old man to try and find out what is going on.’

Ella stared at him, looking for some sign that he was joking. ‘He’s doing what?’ she finally said.

Marcus looked down at the crumpled shirt in his hand. He put it in on top of the other clothes and began to close the suitcase. ‘You heard me.’

Ella turned and headed for the door.

‘You’re not taking the car,’ Marcus shouted after her, his voice a mixture of malice and fear.

She stopped, outlined in the rectangle of the doorway against the bright sunshine outside. She spun round and faced him, her face a mask of fury.

‘Oh yes I am, Marcus,’ she said. ‘And
you
are going to help me stop this. If you want to leave afterwards, fine. But you are going to come with me to Frank’s
house.’ She looked down at the case on the settee and then back at Marcus, her piercing blue eyes never wavering from his.