Martin Millar - Lonely Werewolf Girl (47 page)

"Don't do that, find Moonglow," he demanded.

"I'm thinking," retorted Thrix.

"Why would Dominil let herself be kidnapped?" wondered
Malve-ria, aloud. "Even confronted by Sarapen I would have expected her
to repel him for long enough for help to arrive."

No one could answer this.

"And why has he kidnapped her anyway?" continued the Fire
Queen. "A swift killing at the doorstep I could understand. But kidnap?
For what?"

"Malveria, I'm going home. I'll use a spell to find her."

"That werewolf can work spells?" said Vex to Kalix. "That's
really unusual. Can you do it?"

Kalix shook her head.

"It's quite thrilling really," said Vex. "A kidnapping. Did
you ever kidnap anyone, Aunt Malvie?"

"Yes," responded Malveria. "And have I not instructed you not
to call me Aunt Malvie? But my kidnappings were usually for sound
strategic reasons. Maybe once or twice just as humorous escapades. And
once for passion, when that handsome air elemental - "

She paused, and looked towards Thrix.

"Does the werewolf Sarapen have a passion for Dominil?"

"Sarapen has no passion for anything except the Thaneship,"
said Thrix.

Malveria looked thoughtful, but kept her own counsel. Daniel
was not satisfied. Surely no one was taking Moonglow's disappearance
seriously enough.

"She's probably not involved," repeated Thrix. "If she is,
I'll find her and let you know."

"What will I do?" asked Vex, as the Queen made to leave.

"You? You will return home and continue your studies. I
believe you have several lessons in history today."

Vex looked aghast, then outraged.

"You can't send me to lessons. Not when everything is so
interesting here."

Malveria eyed her pointedly.

"The werewolves do not want another Hiyasta poking her nose
into their affairs. Particularly one so dramatically incompetent as
you. Now go to your lessons. If I hear from your tutor that you have
not spent the day studying assiduously I will be most displeased,
dismal niece."

With that, Malveria waved her hand and both she and Thrix
disappeared from view.

"I'm not going to school," said Vex. "It's a ridiculous idea.
What's for breakfast?"

"I have to find Moonglow!" blurted Daniel.

So far Kalix had remained unaffected by the uproar, not caring
one way or the other for Dominil, but at Daniel's distress she felt a
twinge of sympathy.

"I'll help you look," she said.

"Excellent," said Vex. "I'll come too."

"The MacRinnalchs don't need more Hiyastas interfering in
their affairs," retorted Kalix, rather grandly.

Vex chortled merrily. "You werewolves are so funny," she said.
"So, where will we look first?"

Kalix was baffled and defeated by Vex's good humour. She
couldn't think of a suitable response.

"Can you teleport us like Malveria?" asked Daniel.

"Teleportation is the speciality of the Hiyastas," replied Vex.

"But can you do it?"

"Well not very well actually."

"Then we'll have to drive," muttered Daniel. "I'm going to
college to find out if anyone's seen Moonglow."

Daniel dressed very quickly then hurried to his car, pursued
by Kalix and Vex. Kalix and Vex struggled over who was to sit in the
front, an argument over which neither would back down, and they ended
up sharing the seat as Daniel headed north of the river as fast as he
could.

126

Dominil was now Sarapen's prisoner, locked in a cell in the
basement of his London mansion. Her rage against Sarapen was immense
and her rage against herself was worse. Sarapen had fallen upon her as
she opened her front door, struck her unconscious and carried her off.
As simple as that. She hadn't even detected his approach. Dominil's
senses had let her down because last night she'd overindulged in
laudanum. After arriving home with a fresh bottle she'd been unable to
resist taking more than her normal dose, even though she knew that now
was not a good time to do so. Dominil sat on the bench in the cell and
cursed herself for her weakness.

She'd already tried breaking out. Her great strength had made
no impression on the door but come tonight, when the moon rose and she
could transform, she would rip the door from its frame, then find
Sara-pen, and tear him to pieces. Dominil wiped a bead of sweat from
her forehead. Already she was missing her laudanum. It was many years
since she'd been forcibly separated from her supply. She didn't know
exactly what the effect of an enforced abstinence would be, but feared
it would be severe.

Several floors above, Sarapen sat alone, brooding, and
wondering at his actions. He was surprised at the ease with which it
had been accomplished. Dominil had grown careless since leaving the
castle. Either that or she'd been indulging too freely in the
MacRinnalch malt, something to which Sarapen knew she was occasionally
prone.

Since bringing Dominil to his mansion, he hadn't spoken to
her. When the moon rose the white-haired werewolf would try to tear her
way to freedom. Let her. The cell was of stronger construction than
even her werewolf jaws could break. 'She can languish in that cell for
a long time,' thought Sarapen. 'She can stay there till she decides
it's not such a good idea to nominate Markus as Thane.' He felt some
satisfaction at the image of Dominil languishing. His satisfaction
faded as unwelcome memories of his passion for Dominil flooded into his
mind. Again he wondered whether he'd kidnapped Dominil as a strategic
move in the war for the Thaneship, or simply because he couldn't bear
to be separated from her. He rose to his feet, determined to rush
downstairs and tell Dominil he loved her. He sat down, angry with
himself, then rose to his feet once more, determined to go and tell her
he despised her and she could stay in the cell forever. He sat down,
rose again, and then wondered what he, Sarapen MacRinnalch, was doing
bobbing up and down like a child at a funfair. It was a relief when
Andris MacAndris interrupted him with news that Verasa was on the phone.

"I won't talk to her," said Sarapen. "Tell her you don't know
where I am, or when I'll be back."

127

Moonglow didn't know what to think when she woke up naked in
bed with Markus. It surely hadn't been a good idea to sleep with him
but she couldn't convince herself that she regretted it. She was
strongly attracted to Markus and had been since she first laid eyes on
him. When she'd taken him home for the second time she'd refused point
blank to relinquish him into the care of his fellow werewolves. She
didn't trust them to look after him properly. Obviously he was
trauma-tised and needed someone to care for him.

Markus had indicated to his werewolf companions that it was
all right for her to enter the house. Moonglow had stayed with Markus
for the rest of the evening. She sat on the couch beside him,
comforting him, and finally soothed him sufficiently for him to drift
off to sleep. She sat like that for a long time and when Markus woke
up, deep into the night, she kissed him, without even thinking about
it. It was she who suggested that she stayed the night.

Now, with the morning light barely penetrating the heavy
curtains in the bedroom of Markus's London hideout, they lay in each
other's arms with no one to disturb them. There were werewolves in the
apartment next door, but here there were just Moonglow and Markus, and
Moonglow felt satisfied. She thought of Jay, and didn't feel guilty.
She was too passionately attracted to Markus to feel any guilt. He
turned over in bed, moving a little uneasily in his sleep. Moonglow
stroked his arm, and he became quieter, then Moonglow fell asleep
again, still content.

128

No one at College had seen Moonglow. Daniel
feared the worst, and despaired.

"She's been eaten by a werewolf."

Kalix and Vex remained silent.

"Well?" demanded Daniel, angrily.

"Were we meant to contradict you?" asked Vex.

"Yes."

"Okay," said Vex, brightly. "I'm sure she's still alive.
Sarapen would probably kill any friend of Kalix's without a second
thought. But that doesn't mean Moonglow's dead. She may just have had a
bad accident and be in hospital. What's that machine that makes noises?"

Vex was gazing at the pinball machine in the student's union.
Daniel, normally not adverse to a few hours on the pinball machine,
ignored both it and the young Hiyasta. He spoke urgently to Kalix.

"Can you pick up Moonglow's scent?"

"It's difficult in the city, with all the traffic and people."

Kalix sniffed the air.

"Markus has been here," she announced. "Maybe yesterday or the
day before."

"Markus? Are you sure?"

Now even more worried, Daniel hurried back to his car which
he'd left in a garage in Holborn. Agrivex bounded after him but Kalix
followed on less enthusiastically. She'd suddenly started to wonder
what she was doing here. She still didn't care that much for Moonglow,
who was always ordering her about, and telling her to eat. It struck
her how much more Daniel liked Moonglow than herself and she felt some
resentment. No one ever liked Kalix best, so it seemed. There was
always someone they liked better.

By the time Kalix reached the car she had started to sulk. The
young werewolf looked bored while Daniel negotiated the ramp back onto
the street.

"Where are we going?" asked Vex.

"To see Thrix," replied Daniel.

"Why?"

"To find out where Markus lives."

"That's a stupid plan," said Kalix. "Thrix won't be there."

"Then we'll ask her secretary where she is."

"She won't know," said Kalix.

"Well do you have any better ideas?" demanded Daniel, rather
harshly.

Kalix's lip curled. People always ended up speaking harshly to
her. She didn't like being here. She didn't like being ordered around
by Daniel and she didn't like being in the same car as the ridiculously
bubbly Vex. It seemed to her that Daniel already liked Vex better than
her. Kalix wished that she could go home and take laudanum.

They drove off, with Kalix now in a bad mood. Outside the cold
rain was starting to fall. The heater in the old car took a long time
to warm up and Kalix shivered as they crawled through the busy
afternoon traffic towards Soho. Daniel swore in frustration as they
became tangled up in a great jam of buses and taxis as they inched
their way through Piccadilly. Kalix looked at the small statue of Eros
in the centre of Piccadilly. When the weather was better crowds of
people would sit around the statue: tourists, or just young people with
nothing better to do. Kalix had sat there herself, when she had nothing
better to do. It didn't hold any good memories for her.

Daniel's language became worse. He shouted abuse as a bus
trundled so slowly through the traffic lights that they changed back to
red before they could make it through.

"Stop shouting," muttered Kalix. "It's annoying."

"What do you mean?" demanded Daniel. "I'm trying to get to
Thrix's to find Moonglow."

"Shouting isn't going to get us there any quicker," said Kalix.

"Stop complaining," said Daniel, now frustrated at everything,
because he was frightened for Moonglow.

"You stop complaining," echoed Kalix, like a child.

Daniel turned in his seat and looked at Kalix angrily.

"This wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for your crazy
family."

Kalix snarled, and felt a wolf-like anger descending on her.

"So it's my fault," she said. "Fine."

Kalix got out of the car. She hopped nimbly through the lines
of traffic, pleased to be away from them. Daniel was so annoying. She
decided to walk home, pick up her bag and journal, and leave the house.
It had been a mistake to ever become involved with humans. She put on
her sunglasses, pulled her coat tight against the rain, and set off
towards Kennington.

129

Even as a werewolf, Dominil could make no impression on the
cell door. The metal was strong and the cell had been cunningly
engineered so that there was nowhere for a werewolf's claws or jaws to
grip. Dominil couldn't get out. When Sarapen arrived in the basement
she was still pounding on the door.

"You won't escape," said Sarapen, calmly. "This cell is
specially constructed to hold werewolves and it's a good deal more
sophisticated than anything at the castle."

Dominil glared through the small window at her captor.

"How dare you kidnap me. I'll kill you for this!"

Sarapen looked at her in silence for a moment. He still hadn't
been able to make up his mind exactly what to say to Dominil. He tried
to reason with her.

"I will be Thane, Dominil. The Mistress of the Werewolves
can't prevent me. Withdraw your nomination of Markus and I'll let you
go."

Dominil refused to even answer this.

"Why side with Markus anyway? He's weak. You know he's weak.
Everybody knows, except the Mistress of the Werewolves. Do you really
think he'd make a better Thane than me?"

"Any half bred dog-wolf would make a better Thane than you."

As always, Sarapen could not argue without becoming angry.

"I will be Thane. And you can rot in this cell if you like!"

"I'd rather rot here than vote for you."

"Why is that?" yelled Sarapen. "You have no reason to hate me.
Is this all because of what happened to your human lover?"

Dominil's eyes burned at the memory.

"You killed him."

"I did not."

"You're a liar."

Sarapen put his snout close to the small window.

"No one can call me a liar and live."

"Open the door then, liar, and let's see who lives."

But as Dominil said this, her voice faltered and for a second
she seemed to sag. She recovered quickly but not before Sarapen
noticed. He was puzzled. Perhaps Dominil was not as strong as she used
to be. Perhaps living with the twins had corrupted her. He felt
contempt for her, and then sympathy. Sarapen shook his head furiously.
Every time he felt something about Dominil the opposite feeling seemed
to arrive at the same time. It was a relief when his phone rang,
informing him of a visitor upstairs. Sarapen looked balefully at
Dominil then hurried off. Much longer in her company and he'd have been
telling her he loved her.