Immortal Coil: A Novel (Immortal Trilogy Book 1) (24 page)

Maggie called for a gathering the next evening when the vampires awoke. She sat down next to Dylan and took his hands. She knew what she had to say was bound to upset him.

She started talking when everyone was present. “I know I’ve been aloof lately, and now you know why. I didn’t want to say anything until I was able to put all the pieces together, and I couldn’t do that until I actually turned. I didn’t mean to surprise anyone, not really. I just felt this was best.” She turned her attention to Dylan. “I can now safely say I have complete control over my wolf. I also have control of yours, as well.”

“You have control over my wolf?” Dylan stared in disbelief. “How?”

“Don’t think of me as the wolf; instead think of me as a trainer for the wolf. As a witch with the ability to project, and can send my consciousness into the wolf. I can see what the wolf is doing. I can tell the wolf what I want from it and it listens. I can control both wolves in this way.”

Dylan said, “Why can’t I know what I am doing as a wolf? Why can’t I control my own wolf?”

“Your human self is dormant when you are the wolf. You are a man dreaming you are a wolf. When you awaken, you lose the dream. You have to train yourself to take control of the dream.” She sighed. “If you can. I do it with my ability. Without the ability to astral project, you may never have complete control over your werewolf side.”

Dylan’s shoulders slumped.

“There’s more. I believe I can even control the time and duration of the transformation.”

“What do you mean?” Randal asked, almost as if he had plucked the question right out of Dylan’s head.

“Yeah,” Dylan said. “What do you mean?”

“What I mean is, I think I can turn anytime I want, and even turn
back
anytime I want as well. I can show almost complete control over the wolf.”

“Does that mean you can keep from turning into the wolf at all?” He was thinking of the cycle. “Like, indefinitely?”

“Right now, no. I don’t think I can control it to that extent. If I do not force the transformation, I am still at the mercy of the 28-day cycle. I tried to stop it but I couldn’t.” Maggie could tell Dylan had many more questions he wasn’t asking. She would get together with him later and explain what she knew in more detail, but right now there was so much the others wouldn’t understand. If she continued she would just be confusing them. She resolved to finish the discussion with Dylan in private.

“I have one other question,” Dylan said.

“What is it,” Maggie said.

Dylan thought a moment then said in a small, halting voice, “Can you control
my
transformation?”

Maggie looked at the others standing around. Strangely, everyone seemed to be curious to know the answer to the question. She smiled at their eager faces.

“I think I can force your change when I am in your immediate proximity. If this is the case, you will no longer be at the mercy of your cycle. But this depends on how close you are to me. If you move out of range—and I haven’t tested this range, so don’t ask—I will not be able to affect your change.”

“In that case,” Dylan said. “I am never leaving your side.”

Maggie laughed.

As the discussion tapered off, and everyone began to disburse, Maggie and Dylan entered into a more one-on-one conversation.

Randal headed out in search of his nightly meal.

David played with Gardner for a while, but when the hunger began to set in, he too headed out. Antony went with David.

A few hours passed, and the group slowly began to merge again. Randal had been the first to return, and he played with Gardner, giving Maggie a break. But the day approached, Maggie took Gardner back from Randal so he could hide from the sun.

When the vampires were all safe for the daylight hours, Dylan sought out Maggie. She was in the nursery with Gardner, cleaning up the toys Randal had left out.

“He may be a vampire, but he’s still nothing but a kid.” She smiled. Dylan smiled, too; but she could see there was something else on his mind. “What is it?”

“Will you go for a ride with me—you and Gardner?”

“Okay.” She was intrigued.

Dylan wouldn’t tell her what he had planned, but he drove the RAV4 out of Philadelphia. He took her back to Delaware—back to the group home where he had been living when Antony had first found him. He took her to the room where he had been staying.

The people in the group home, residents and worker alike, showed their surprise at seeing him again.

The social worker in charge of his care, Mary Butler, actually cried with tears of happiness when she saw him.

“Dill, you’ve come back to us.”

“Only temporarily, I’m afraid.” Dylan opened the door to his room. “I’ve found friends who are willing to take me in. I’m homeless no more.”

Mary hugged him. She then turned to Maggie. She cooed at Gardner, making the baby laugh. Dylan introduced his new friends to Mary.

Mary returned her attention back to Dylan. “I’m so happy for you. I have some paperwork for you to fill out before you.”

“Sure,” Dylan said.

Mary made one last face to get Gardner laughing and then walked away. Maggie followed Dylan into the room.

She looked around in shock and surprise. One whole wall of the room was covered in newspaper clippings and sticky notes with messages scrawled on them. There were maps as well, with red pushpins stuck to them and red yarn that seemed to depict pathways. Maggie studied it carefully.

“What is all this?” she asked.

“It’s everything I know about the movements and habits of the werewolves that killed my friends. The beasts that did this to me, to us. I’ve been hunting them for years, and I think I have finally tracked them back to their den.”

“Where are they?” she asked.

“I think they are in New Mexico. I haven’t quite pinpointed them down to an actual address, but I’m sure that’s where they return when they aren’t killing innocent campers.”

Maggie turned away from the wall and looked at him. “We’ll help you with all this. If that’s what you want.”

“It is. And I’ll be eternally grateful for any help you can give, thank you.”

She helped him collect all the material from the wall. They were careful not to disrupt the flow of the information. He had no names, but he had in-depth descriptions of all the werewolves in their human forms. He also knew that there was another werewolf that had not been at the sight of the attack on his friends. She was the allusive alpha She-wolf—a silver haired old woman.

Once all Dylan’s belongings were boxed up, he headed to the office to sign the paperwork Mary had requested of him. Maggie waited in the car. When he came back out to the car, they drove home.

Dylan took his boxes to his new room inside the house on Lansdowne Drive and Maggie took Gardner to the nursery.

When he was finished putting his things away, there was a knock on his door. He opened it and let Maggie into the room. She held a baby monitor in her hand.

“I’ve just put Gar down for a nap and now I’m bored.” She said tis in explanation of her presence there.

Dylan started to say, “I was thinking about what you said…” But he was forced to stop mid-sentence when Maggie began to kiss him. She led him to the bed.

“I said I was bored,” Maggie said. “And talk is boring.”

Dylan needed no convincing to get undressed, and he climbed into bed with her. He mounted her roughly, suddenly wanting to be inside her as quickly as possible. Maggie spoke softly into his ear and she calmed him down just a little. But quelling his eagerness was a losing battle, and she gave in to his harsh techniques, deciding that his painful nips and bites were quite arousing. She gasped as he bit into her shoulder. The sex was hot and frantic, and although it did not last long, the coupling was satisfying for both. They fell asleep entwined in each other’s arms, sweaty and panting.

Maggie woke when the baby monitor began to emit the sounds of Gardner stirring in his crib. Maggie pulled herself out from under Dylan’s sleeping form and found her clothes. Before dressing she examined the teeth marks all over her body. They were healing quickly. She picked up the monitor from the bedside table and carried it with her to the nursery.

Gardner played in his crib. She picked him up and carried him downstairs.

Night came and the vampires rose.

The minute David spotted Maggie he knew something was different about her. He asked her why she wouldn’t meet his gaze.

“It’s nothing,” she said. “Drop it.” Her tone was annoyed but she was smiling.

David sat down next to her. He played with Gardner even as he spoke to her. He spoke softly, so only she could hear him. “I take it you and Dylan had an interesting day together. I might even have to believe it was an exciting, energetic day. Did something happen that I might need to know about?”

Maggie blushed, looked at Dylan, and then back at David. “I don’t know what you mean.”

David’s voice became slightly louder. He might have been trying to allow Dylan to overhear. “I’m not saying there’s something wrong with the two of you getting friendly. I’m actually glad to hear it. I think you know I have strong feelings for you, but we also both know I can’t give you what you want. If he can, I’m happy for you both. That’s all I’m trying to say.”

“Thank you for that.” Maggie smiled and kissed his cheek. She then stood and walked out of the room, carrying Gardner with her.

David stood and walked over to Dylan. He smiled down at the cowering man.

Dylan started to speak. “Listen, I—”

“Don’t look so worried,” David said, interrupting him. “I approve.”

Dylan let out a long, sighing breath as David walked away.

His name had been Milo Curtis once upon a time. But then the monster had come along and drained him of blood, allowed him to rise again as another blood drinking monster, and now he no longer carried the name Milo. He was now known as the Dark Master’s Number Seven. He didn’t complain about losing his name and becoming a number; he had seen firsthand what happened if he had.

And Seven understood the dangers of his new life. The creature that had created him was a tricky and volatile fellow, to say the least. Actually, he was a complete nut case. Number Seven had to tread very lightly around him, or else end up like the last fool who dared to challenge the Dark Master’s authority.

There had also been the mysterious deaths of those who would never wake again. A rash of unexplained deaths had rocketed through the Dark Master’s numbers like wildfire. Those deaths seemed to have stopped after the death of the female known as Number Four, however. And with any luck they would not start up again.

Number Seven stood in his designated place in line as the Dark Master inspected the troops.

“The time to attack is drawing near. We have not yet located their lair; so tonight, and every night henceforth, we must go out into the night and search for their whereabouts. We know who they feed on, and we know how they do it. We just don’t know where. We must be diligent in our hunt. We must find out where they are hunting and how to track them. We will keep our vampire eyes and ears tuned to every bit of information we can wean from the townsfolk. Who is talking about killers and pedophiles going missing? Where are the stories most concentrated? Once we pin down their location we will close in and strike. Before heading out for the night, I would like to see you all working on your formation. We must first dazzle them with our footwork, and then we will close in for the kill when they least expect. I must go out now and find a lowly hobo to feed from, thanks to those interlopers. I so despise hobos. I long to return to the families I love, so let’s get this conflict resolved quickly.”

              The group broke up to do what had been demanded of them, and the Master headed out in search of his own meal.

The minions dispersed. Underling Seven, in particular, knew something the others didn’t. He had been monitoring police reports for missing persons and unidentified murder victims that had been drained of blood and decapitated. Number Seven had originally looking for his own contribution to the list, but instead what he had found was a distinct and obvious pattern that led him to the steps of the Philadelphia Police Department. The FBI was investigating as rash of disappearances involving pedophiles. This made Number Seven curious. No one cared about the missing sex offenders, and even the FBI’s investigation stank of disinterest, but this investigation was unquestionably due to the work of the group his Dark Master hunted. The perpetrators of this serial crime were in no danger of being discovered, though. The FBI placed this investigation at their lowest priority rating.

              For Number Seven, however; this was priority Number One.

              Number Seven was using the authority’s information to track the pedophile hunters right back to their lair. He already knew they had been hunting heavily in the Allentown area. But the data suggested the group had moved on from there, heading south. He had tracked the group to western Philadelphia. Unfortunately, Philadelphia took him much too far from his own lair, and put him in danger. This limited his tracking time drastically. But being the quick thinker he was, Number Seven devised a plan. He raced to Philadelphia, hunted quickly, and took three homeless men who had been living in the sewer. Having satisfied the hunger, he then located an alternate lair. He found a hole in the ground that would do nicely. He used a cement slab to cover the hole, sealing him in.

Upon waking, he removed the slab. With the extra time the makeshift lair provided, Number Seven located an internet café and searched the FBI database for the required information. Once he was sure he had what he needed, Number Seven headed out to track his prey. Along the way he fed. The Master would possibly punish him for not returning as per regulations, but if Number Seven succeeded in locating the enemy, he was sure the Master would forgive his momentary lapse of protocol.

Number Seven began hunting the very pedophiles his enemy seemed to cherish as a favorite food source. His plan was to hunt what they hunted and thus bring him into their orbit. This was decidedly dangerous, but it was worth the risk.

And the risk paid off.

He spotted three of the monsters just in time to keep from being spotted by them. He concealed himself in the shadows and watched. The vampires were very good at what they did. He recalled hearing the Master tell the group about the small roped boy he had lost. And now he was seeing the boy with his own eyes. But this boy was no wild child the master had described. This boy had obviously perfected the craft of killing. He continued to stay well out of sight as he followed the monsters back to their lair.

Seven smiled devilishly. He had them.

Seven returned to the makeshift lair and slept. When he woke, he fed quickly and raced back to The Master. He was not greeted with the pleasantries of a returning friend.

The Master gripped him by the throat as he entered the nest. The others watched with interest. They enjoyed a good execution.

“Tell me why I shouldn’t just bend your neck right here and end you for disobeying my direct order to always return to the nest at dawn?” the Master asked.

“Because if you do, you won’t know what I know about those you seek,” Number Seven replied.

The Master released him unharmed.

“Tell me,” The Master said.

“First promise me that you will allow me to be the first to attack.”

“Done.” He said. “Now tell me.”

Number Seven relayed what he knew, then walked away, to be questioned by the others. They were curious to know how he had done what they could not.

The Master turned to his Number One. “Poor sap,” the Master said and laughed.

“What do you know?” Number One asked.

“I know that the first one through that door is going to be the first to die.”

Number One smiled, and nodded in agreement.