Howl for Me (12 page)

“What we face, Damon, and, I suppose, Hunter – you’re in this now, I hope you realize—”

Hunter mumbled a very reverent, “Yes, Sir,” and nodded.

“Is nothing less than the oldest wolf that I know to have existed.” Poko continued. “Joram Blight, I’m sure you’ve heard the name before, is who we’re dealing with. This is a very hard tale to tell. There’s something else you need to know first.”

“What’s so complicated about it?” Damon asked. He squeezed his knuckles until they popped. “Old or not, silver hurts all of us. Just tell me where to go and I’ll make damn sure he doesn’t hurt anyone else.”

“Ah yes,” Poko said, smiling. “The young wolf is eager. But, I warn you – you won’t ever defeat him. Not by yourself, and very likely, not with help. You’ve heard of the cycles, yes?”

Damon’s eyes went back and forth, which he did, when he was searching for an answer.

“I... er...”

Poko shook his head.

“If only I’d raised you from a pup, as I should have.” The old man smiled longingly, for a moment before continuing.

“Anyway, our pack –
your
pack – has gone in three cycles. First came the ancient days, back before writing; before history. The first wolves were like gods, you see? They took on elements of nature, and ordered the universe. These were the times of legend.”

“Right,” Hunter said, eagerness evident in his voice. “I remember learning about that. And then, they were overthrown by—”

“Ah! This one knows his history,” Poko said. “By whom, young one?”

“The...” Hunter’s voice started wobbling.

It was, I’m not gonna lie, pretty adorable, the way he was acting.

“Hu... humans? Er, I mean, us, right? The great wolf spirits were overthrown by... were... I’m sorry,” he finally said, with a laugh. “I just can’t get over actually talking to
you
.”

“It’s fine, child,” Poko said, patting Hunter’s muscled arm. “But, you’re right. The great wolves were overthrown by us – we, who change our skin. They were ancient and powerful, but we were more cunning. We had tools and hands, and more importantly, we had...?”

He trailed off, obviously wanting someone to answer.

“Packs?” Damon guessed.

“Good!” Poko said, much to Damon’s evident delight, judging from the way his shoulders relaxed. “Yes, we had packs. We were many, instead of few. Where the wolf gods had pride and power, we had numbers and society. That was a thousand-thousand-thousand years ago, when the wolves were thrown to the heavens. There they remain, and here we remain.”

“Right,” Damon said. “But, what does that have to do with Devin being burned from head to toe? What does it have to do with this Blight guy?”

“You never did appreciate a circular story, did you? Always to the point.” Poko laughed, detaching himself from the two men flanking him. He shuffled in a circle that was punctuated by the clicks of his cane against the floor of his cave.

“That cycle, too, ended. After a hundred thousand years, perhaps more – we’ve lost that knowledge to the ages – the Age of Unity ended, as all things do.”

“Wait, wait!” Hunter excitedly cut in. “I know what’s next.”

Very patiently, Poko smiled.

“Go ahead, then.”

“Y – yeah,” Hunter said. “The Unity. When there was just the one pack. All the wolves were under one king, right? Yeah, well, there were a bunch of tyrants there at the end, instead of the benevolent kings. So they got overthrown, and then the packs all split.”

He grinned
really
wide. “Right?”

“Yes,” Poko said. “I think I’m going to have to hire you to teach the alpha his history lessons, as I’ve apparently failed.”

Damon lifted his hands defensively. Poko swatted him with his stick.

“I’m only joking. It’s important to laugh,” he said. “But, what I didn’t say, is that the one who sent the riders after you, the one who has driven your brother quite insane, and has covered him in burning silver dust?”

“Don’t tell me,” Hunter said. “The last tyrant?”

Poko’s Cheshire smile said everything for him.

“The history books call him Jacarth the Eighth. He was, as his name suggests, eighth in his line, and the most terrible ruler that the wolves had ever known. His cruelty was as legendary as the downfall of the gods. His depraved appetites are unrepeatable. And I’m afraid it’s up to you to stop him. I believe he has arisen to try and take back the clans.”

“But, why?” Damon asked. “Why now?”

“He feels my life force weaken, I think.” Poko’s mouth hardened into a line. “The spirits, you and me, and everyone on this entire planet, are connected. Humans may not realize it, and most wolves cannot feel it. When you are alone at night, Damon, and you hear whispers, and when you feel the howls chill your bones? Those are the spirits. I know you can speak with them, because you’re of my blood. We are the last of the spirit-speakers.”

Damon’s eyes went just about as wide as saucers, but before he could say anything, I piped up.

“Wait, wait, wait,” I said, finally speaking up. “This is the guy you warned me not to
look
at, because he could track my thoughts?”

Poko coughed lightly, and turned his sightless eyes to me. “The very same.”

“But if I can’t even look at him with my Fae sight, then what makes you think we can possibly win? Kill him, or contain him, or whatever it is we’re supposed to do?”

Poko began to speak, but I cut him off.

“Wait a sec,” I said. “What
are
we supposed to do, anyway? If he’s some million-year-old demigod, how are three, college-aged people supposed to deal with him? I’ve never even shot a gun before!”

“I’m not so sure a gun would do a great deal of damage to Jacarth, Lily,” Poko said, furrowing his brow. “Though it might be worth a shot. Get it?”

I groaned. Poko does love his puns.

“I’m just a little lost on the whole thing. Like, us three are supposed to stop an ancient evil?”

“Four,” Devin said, from the heap of blankets on the floor. “F...f...four of us? There’s for all the winning! We’re gonna whip his ass. We can? Do it. We can kill that wrestler!”

“What on earth is he talking about?” I asked Poko. “Has he been like this since Damon left him here?”

“More or less. He’s becoming more coherent as time goes on.” Poko’s shoulders sagged a little. “I treated his wounds. He should be coming back to his senses, sooner than later. For now, though, he’s suffering from the madness Jacarth put into him.”

I looked over at Devin, who still made my whole body just about seethe with hate. Looking at him got my stomach in a knot. As he alternated between thrashing around, clawing at his half-bald, scarred head, and then openly weeping, something about his complete helplessness touched a nerve.

“Is there anything we can do to help him?” I asked. “I mean...”

I shot a glance to Damon, and then to Hunter.

“Not because I really care what happens to him,” I said, quickly correcting myself. “But if we’re gonna have to take on this ancient wolf king, we should probably have all the help we can get. Even if it’s
him
.”

Right on cue, Devin started giggling. He rocked back and forth, and then, almost immediately afterward, started crying again. I guess as much as I hated him, I also hated that he hurt. Even if he’d made someone else feel like that, once.

“The only cure for him,” Poko said. “Is time. And time, is our most dangerous enemy. Aside from the tremendously powerful beast, I mean.”

Laughter shook his ancient body for a moment, and then he started coughing.

At first it was nothing, just his normal, habitual throat clearing. But then, it became deeper, louder, like air was fighting to escape. With his hand on the nearest wall, Poko shook, spat, and tried to stand.

When Damon grabbed him, Poko waved him off.

“It’s just a fit,” he said, gasping. “It’ll pass.”

Poko doubled over, hacking and sputtering for what seemed like eternity, before he finally accepted Damon’s help to sit down.

“You give me all sorts of speeches about pride, and then won’t take my hand when you need it?” Damon asked. “We all need help, sometimes.”

Nodding, Poko looked up at him.

“True enough. Very true,” he said, between dry, awful coughs. “I think I’m coming out of it. There we are. Much better.”

“Has that been happening a lot, recently?” I asked, rubbing the ancient wolf’s back, amazed at both how bony he was, and at how much he rattled when he breathed. “Do you need a doctor? I’ve never seen anything like that.”

Poko smiled, and wiped his lips on the back of his brown, sackcloth robe.

“I think that a doctor would be very surprised, if they happened to look inside me. But no. Thank you, but no. I feel better. It’s just age, I’m afraid.”

“I’ll say,” Hunter said, mouth and eyes both wide open. “How old
are
you?”

Damon elbowed him in the stomach, but Poko just grinned.

“No, it’s fine.” Poko said. “Asking is how we learn. He’s, I’m guessing, never happened across an elder before, in Scagg’s Valley. Is that right?”

“Yes, Sir,” Hunter said, looking down. “I didn’t mean to offend you, I’m just...”

“Nonsense!” Poko said. “Only the truly ridiculous would be offended by curiosity. “No, think nothing of it. As to your question, that’s hard to say. I, long ago, stopped thinking in terms of passing days or passing years. But... well past a thousand years.”

Damon and I exchanged a glance that said all we needed to say.

If I could have him for a thousand years, if we could both grow old like Poko, in his cave, I would give anything. Hell, I’d live in a
cave
.

“Damon will be the same. He will be an ancient elder. He will...”

Immediately, tears exploded down my face. I don’t know how I’d never realized it. I don’t know how I never thought about it, but... I’m just a human, no matter what sort of Fae blood I have. I’m just a normal girl.

A girl who will grow old and die.

I couldn’t be there. I just couldn’t. The whole world seemed to collapse on me at once.

“I have to go,” I said, turning spinning on my heel. “I’m sorry, I... I just, never...”

Then, just like Poko’s coughs, my whole body shook, trembled, quaked, as tears ran down my face, and sobs wracked me.

“Lily,” Damon said, tenderly. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m gonna get old and die. I’m going to have high blood pressure, and need heart surgery, and whatever the hell else, and you’re going to be just fine! You’re going to outlive me by, like, nine hundred years.” I caught my breath for about a half a second.

“I’m sorry,” I said again, between sobs. “I just can’t be here, right now. I... I’m sorry.”

“Go after her,” I heard Poko say, as I was already partway to the cave entrance. “I’ll be here, still, when you return. The pack’s business will be here, still, but—”

“It’s my duty, though, Poko,” Damon protested. “I have to deal with these things now.”

I could hear the tension in Damon’s voice. He was fighting to say the things he said. He hated it, but thought it was what Poko wanted.

“No,” Poko shot back.

His voice was cold steel.

“You have a mate. You have a fated one, to whom you are forever a part. You go to her now, child. Hunter will help me.”

“Yeah,” I heard Hunter say. “Go. Like, now, man. Get out of here. You need to do whatever you can for her.”

By the time I hit the sunlight, Damon was only a few steps behind me.

––––––––

“I
can’t do this anymore, Damon,” I said. “We’re gonna have a baby! And that baby’s going to get old and die, just like me.”

He grabbed my flailing arms. I lashed out, punching at him out of impotent frustration.

“Lily,” he said. “That’s not true. That’s not the way it is. Poko lived this long, because he
wanted
to live this long. You know that. He told you that. If that’s not what I want, then that’s not how it’ll go.”

I shook my head for a second, my mouth moving silently. I didn’t know what to say, or how to say it, but I knew I needed to say
something
.

“The pack, Damon,” I whispered, my eyes and cheeks burning. “The pack needs you. They all need you. I’m just one person, but they’re... they’re everything. And, without you... You heard what Poko said. This creature, whatever he is, could destroy the packs, and enslave everyone. And after this time, there will be another, and another, and another thing, that needs your attention.”

“But, Lily,” he said, grabbing my hands. “You’re what matters to me. You’re my heart, and my soul.”

“What about the pack
,
Damon? You have duties, responsibilities.” I squeezed his wrists. “You can’t just refuse them and die like a normal person. You’re not normal. I’m not normal. Nothing about us is normal no matter how badly I want it to be.”

Damon’s eyes went dark, stormy, and hard. I knew that look. It was the same one he got when he realized he and Devin were brothers.

“I don’t care about that, Lily. I’ll do my service, I’ll be the best leader I can, but I’m not damning myself to an eternity of pain without you.”

“It may not come to that,” Poko said, hobbling out of the cave, leaning heavily on Hunter’s arm.

“Poko,” Damon said. “I—”

“What you need to do desperately is that you need to listen to advice from an old man,” Poko interrupted. “My mate. She died when you were born. The two of you were the last thing she ever did.”

“I... Wait, what?” Damon shook his head. “What are you saying? My parents aren’t dead. They’re—”

“Not your parents. Or, not, in the crudest sense.” Poko corrected him. “They cared for you, very graciously, and they loved you as their own. And the truth is, they did it, because we weren’t sure which one of you was going to lead. If I’d had only one heir, it would have been a much easier decision. But, with two? There was no way to know.”

I could see the gears grinding away in Damon’s head. There were a million things running through his mind, none of which he was saying. He couldn’t find the words, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there. Instead, he just opened his mouth and shook his head.