Dead Water (2 page)

“
And Eloisa?” I pushed.

“
I’ve explained that,” Potter sighed out loud. “She tricked
me...”

“
Another wolf who messed with your brains,” I sneered. Then
turning to look at him, I added, “I was wrong about you. I don’t
think you hate wolves at all. It’s all just been an act. You can’t
get enough of them.”

“
I hate them,” Potter said, fixing his dead black eyes on mine.
“I hate every last one of them.”

“
Then you hate me, too,” I said, turning away.

Silence
fell between us, as if both of us had run out of words to say. I
smelt the scent of a freshly lit cigarette, then the sound of
Potter crossing back towards the bedroom door. He
paused.

“
I do love you, Kiera Hudson, but I just don’t know how to get
you to believe me,” he said. “But one thing I do know is that no
one could hate you as much as you hate yourself.”

Potter
left me standing alone in the room. I watched Murphy through the
window as he readied the police van for our journey to the Dead
Waters.

Chapter Two

Potter

Why did
she have to be so impossible? I roared inside, heading back down
the stairs. I only lied about not having any bottles of the red
stuff so I could have a kiss. Is that so fucking bad? But I knew it
was more than just the lie about the red stuff. It was all of the
shit I had managed to get myself into. Shit that Kiera didn’t
deserve. Did she really think I would hate her because she was part
wolf? I couldn’t give a monkey’s toss if she was half chimpanzee –
I loved her regardless. But what was the point? I might as well
give up. I was only going to have my heart ripped out, stomped all
over. That had happened once before. Sophie had taken out my heart
and walked all over it. But that was going to feel like nothing
compared to how hurt I would feel if I lost Kiera. Sophie would
have merely tiptoed all over my heart, whereas losing Kiera would
feel like it had been torn out and trampled over by a fucking army.
That was gonna hurt real bad when it came. But what could I do to
stop that fast-approaching army? I’d tried to tell her how things
had happened. I’d tried to tell her how much I loved her. How come
it had been easier talking to Kayla about my feelings for Kiera,
than it was in person?

“
What the fuck’s wrong with you?” I heard Murphy suddenly bark.
“You look suicidal.”

I
glanced up to find myself outside and in the cold. Murphy was
standing by the police van.

“
Nothing’s wrong,” I lied, flicking the cigarette end into the
snow.

“
Bollocks,” Murphy grunted, brushing the last of the snow from
the van’s windscreen. “I heard you and Kiera shouting at each
other. It sounded like an episode of the freaking Jeremy Kyle
show.”

“
Just keep your nose out of it,” I told him. “It has nothing to
do with you.”

“
Wrong,” Murphy said, his back to me. “It has everything to do
with me, I’m Kiera’s uncle.”

“
So you’ll be buying her Christmas presents next and taking her
to the park to play on the fucking swings?” I snapped, taking
another cigarette from the crumpled packet in my pocket.

“
What’s that s’posed to mean?” Murphy shot back, looking over
his shoulder at me.

“
Well, it’s a bit late in the day for all this overprotective
bullshit, don’t you think?” I came back, cigarette dangling from
the corner of my mouth. “We’re only in this mess because of
you.”

“
Are you taking drugs?” Murphy said, coming from around the
side of the van in the snow. “You’re in the crapper because you
can’t keep your dick in your pants. It’s not me who has been waving
it around like it’s going out of fashion! To be honest, I’ve never
understood how you’ve ever managed to get so much
action.”

“
I’m not talking about my sex life,” I growled. Then quickly
added, “Besides, why shouldn’t I have had lots of woman action?
What’s wrong with me?”

“
What’s wrong with you?” Murphy coughed, lighting his pipe.
“Just take a good, hard look at yourself. You’re untidy-looking.
Your attitude stinks. You’re violent. Your hatred for wolves
borders on the psychotic, you’re foul-mouthed, you chain
smoke...”

“
I’m not untidy-looking,” I cut in, unable to believe he could
think such a thing of me. “You take that back. That’s a freaking
lie if I ever heard one.”

“
Don’t even get me started on the whole lying thing,” Murphy
snapped, taking the pipe from the corner of his mouth and pointing
it at me.

“
I don’t lie,” I shot at him.

“
Yeah, you do,” he grunted.

“
When?” I demanded.

“
Every time your lips move,” he said.

“
Yeah, very funny, you miserable old fart,” I said. “You lied
to Kiera, too. You’ve known for years the truth about her,
but...”

“
I was trying to protect her,” Murphy interrupted.

“
And so was I!” I snapped at him.

“
You have a funny way of showing it!” Murphy barked.

“
It wasn’t me who got Kiera involved in this,” I said, blowing
smoke from my nostrils. “If you hadn’t had arranged for her to come
to the Ragged Cove, then none of this would have ever
happened.”

“
Do you really believe that?” Murphy said, almost choking on a
throat full of pipe smoke. “Kiera is special. She is unlike my
daughters, who withered away, even though they were mixed with me –
a Vampyrus – and a wolf. For some reason, Kiera survived – grew
strong. Ravenwood, Hunt, and the Elders might not have known the
true reason why, but all of them knew that there is something
extraordinary about her. I arranged for Kiera to come to the Ragged
Cove so I could keep an eye on her...to protect...”

“
To protect you,” I said in anger. “Once your brother had died,
and with Kiera’s adoptive mother gone missing in the Ragged Cove,
you knew she was vulnerable on her own. You feared that the Elders
might find out about your lies. You were shit-scared they would
discover the truth about you and this wolf, Pen, about your brother
and Kathy Seth...”

“
And Kiera!” Murphy barked at me. “If they had discovered the
truth, Kiera could have been in mortal danger. I needed to keep her
close. That’s the only reason I got into this. Besides, not even in
my wildest fantasies did I ever think things would turn out this
bad.”

“
How else did you think it would turn out, knowing the secrets
you were keeping from everyone?” I came back at him.

“
What do you mean,
everyone
? Who’s everyone?” Murphy
growled, sounding confused.

”
You never told
me
the truth about what Kiera really is,” I said.

“
And why should I have done that?” Murphy frowned.

“
Because you knew I’d fallen in love with her...” I
started.

“
So, knowing that Kiera was half-wolf would’ve made a
difference, would it?” Murphy shouted.

I looked
at him silently.

“
Well, would it?” A voice said before I’d the chance to answer.
I span around to find Kiera standing in the open cottage doorway.
“Well?”

“
No,” I said. Knowing that one word sounded weak and
insignificant, I quickly added, “If I’d known, I would have been
able to protect you.”

“
I can take care of myself,” she said, looking at both me and
Murphy.

We both
fell silent.

“
Where did you last see Kayla and Sam?” she asked, diverting
the conversation away from her.

“
About five miles from here,” Murphy said softly, placing the
pipe back into the corner of his mouth.

“
Over there,” I added, pointing into the distance, which really
wasn’t of great help, but I wanted to say something –
anything.
Kiera had
caught us off guard discussing her, and I wanted to move on from
that as quickly as possible. I didn’t want her to dwell on the fact
that knowing she was a half-wolf would somehow change my feelings
for her.

Looking
at us, Kiera said, “If you’ve both quit bitching, I say we go and
find our friends, don’t you?”

Without
saying another word, and pulling her coat tight, Kiera headed over
to the van and climbed into the back. I watched her go, her black
hair, which shone almost navy blue in the winter sun, billowing out
behind her in the wind. Her face was pale, but way more than just
beautiful, and I regretted the situation I now found myself in with
her. I silently wished we could at last find some peace between us.
I didn’t want to fight anymore with Kiera. I just wanted to be with
her. I wanted that day to come where I could take her on the date
I’d always promised her. Were we ever going to catch a break? I
wondered.

“
Now look what you’ve gone and done,” Murphy hissed under his
breath at me.

“
What?” I glared at him.

“
You’ve gone and upset Kiera again,” he said.

“
Piss off, Sarge,” I snapped back.

Scowling
at me, Murphy grunted and hoisted himself up into the van. “You
heard what Kiera said, numb-nuts, let’s go and find Kayla and
Sam.”

I
ignored his comment and clambered into the passenger seat. As
Murphy started the van, the engine rumbling into life, I peered
over my shoulder. Kiera sat alone in the back. She was hidden in
shadow. If it hadn’t have been for the glow of her bright hazel
eyes, I would’ve never known she was there. I wanted to go and be
with her, but I knew now wasn’t the right time. I should give her
some space. I faced front again, as Murphy rolled the police van
slowly forward in the snow. The giant tyres crunched over the fresh
white powder. We headed down the path, away from the cottage, the
snow making it look like it had been showered with a million shards
of twinkling glass.

“
Take me to the exact spot where you last saw Kayla and Sam,”
Kiera said from the darkness behind us. “I want to know what I
can
see
.”

Chapter Three

Kiera

I sat in
the back of the police van as it made its way through the snow and
ice. Murphy struggled at times to keep the vehicle on the road. It
had stopped snowing hours ago, but the twisty tracks and roads
which spiralled away from my father’s house where covered in drifts
of powdery snow and slush. Not one of us spoke as we made our way
across the bleak-looking country towards the place where Murphy and
Potter had last seen our friends. What had happened to them? I
wondered. Although everything I had learnt in the last twenty-four
hours kept fogging my mind, I tried to force it away. What was the
point on dwelling on it now? I couldn’t let my own pain and hurt
blind me from finding Sam and Kayla. Sam, I didn’t know well, but
he had proved himself useful in a fight, and if nothing more, I
could tell Kayla was fond of him. She had already lost her brother,
Isidor, and I didn’t want her to suffer any more loss if I could
help it.

I loved Kayla like a sister and I wasn’t going to give up on
her. With what little Murphy and Potter had told me about Kayla and
Sam’s disappearance, I suspected something bad had happened to
them. Kayla wouldn’t have just gone, leaving her friends behind. As
I sat in the back of the van and watched the white-coated world
drift slowly past, I knew I could have pressed both Murphy and
Potter for more information, but I didn’t want to. Not because I
was angry with them; I could push my feelings aside to keep focused
on the mission before me. I didn’t ask them for any more
information because I didn’t want to be tainted by it. I would go
to the scene of Kayla and Sam’s disappearance with an open mind. I
didn’t need any preconceived ideas to cloud my judgement. I wanted
to visit the scene fresh and
see
it for the first time.

So closing my eyes, I settled back in my seat. Resting my
hands on my knees, I took a deep breath and tried to clear my mind.
But however much I tried to focus on nothing, Jack Seth appeared
before me. I couldn’t help but see him as a small boy. I couldn’t
help but feel his pain. Where was he now? I wondered. He was out
there, somewhere in the snow. But doing what, exactly? What did he
have planned? Jack always had a plan. Should I have set him free?
Should I have let Potter and Murphy kill him? They would have done
it. No, I couldn’t have done that. Not just because Jack was my
half-brother; there was more to it than that. Jack was a bad man –
of that, there was no doubt. If I had handed him over to Murphy and
Potter to deal with, he wouldn’t have received a fair hearing.
Didn’t everyone deserve that at least? To have given him up, I
might as well have killed him myself. I didn’t want Jack dead –
there was good in him, I was sure of it. I felt it. I saw it in his
eyes and heard it in his voice as he had told me his story. That
little boy was still inside of him somewhere. And he knew more than
any of us did about this world. He said he knew the photographer.
Jack had talked about layers – different levels – worlds that had
been
pushed
. He
had told me to find the wolf named Lilly Blu – who had once been
known by another name. She had been the wolf Murphy had risked so
much for. Penelope Flack had been the woman he had loved. She was a
part of this. Jack had hinted that she might know how to
push
this world back. Did
Murphy know that she was here in this world? No, I didn’t think so.
Should I tell him? Didn’t he have a right to know? If I didn’t tell
him, then I was keeping a secret like the secret he had kept from
me. I would tell him, but not now. When we were alone next. How
would he feel knowing that the woman he loved – the mother of his
two daughters, Meren and Nessa, was alive in this world – and that
she possibly knew the identity of the photographer, and how we
might
push
the
world back?