Silver Stake (The Werewolf Hunter Chronicles Book 1) (4 page)

Back in the
candlelit church the half-transformed werewolf, who’d been giving his blood for the ritual, watched the pile of bones, now stained a deep red.  Around the edges the bones were starting to shimmer, and it was getting harder to focus while he watched, satisfied his plan would work.  The shimmer turned darker and darker, until it was a pool of deep red twirling behind a veil of black smoke.  The candles nearby gave a final flicker and then went out. 

A fluid snakelike body uncurled from the altar.  The first thing that was clear was the head, as it widened, becoming flesh and skin and fur.  The second thing that was clear was that this head possessed the longest fangs any of the wolves had yet seen.  The fangs were gleaming in the remaining light, and the pure black fur shined brightly.  The wolf continued to unfurl until standing on two feet.  Its eyes snapped open, and shone like a cavern full of golden treasure.

The werewolf leaped down off the altar and howled.  

The wolf who had raised him knelt at his feet.  “Lord Alpha,” he said, bowing, and then raising his eyes to look at The Lord Alpha’s face.

The Lord Alpha looked down and smiled.  “You have done well.  The sacrifice—is it ready?”

“The time is not right.  Tomorrow night, when the full moon is at its peak, then we will complete the ritual.”

“Blood.”

“An offering is being collected as we speak.”

“I can sense the wards that still stand.  They are strong.  Do you think the sacrifice will be enough?  Do you think I will be free?”

“Yes, we have been careful.  I am sure the spell will be broken.”

“Good.  I will return this place to the world before men and we werewolves will RULE.”  The Lord Alpha howled again, and each and every werewolf there looked on in awe.

∞

“Kate, is everything OK?” Will asked.

Kate looked from him to Ollie, unsure of what to say.

“What is it Kate?” Ollie asked.

“It’s Maya, well, Lewis, well, Maya.  She was acting weird.  She was really freaked, and said that Lewis was in danger.  She took off looking for him.”

“Which way did she go?” asked Will.

Kate pointed to the main doors.

Will started to go that way.

“What are you doing?” Kate said, grabbing his arm.

“Following.  You game?”

∞

“It’s dark,” said Lewis.  “Why don’t we just stay here?”

“A little further,” said his companion.

“I have a great idea.  How about we find a bench, somewhere nearby, and we could talk, or...”  He wanted to kick himself—why couldn’t he just talk like a normal person.  Instead he yammered.  “Have we met before?  I thought maybe I’d seen you at college—”

She gave him a funny look but didn’t answer, and Lewis was starting to feel that something wasn’t right.  Surely if this girl wanted to make-out with him she’d be a touch friendlier?  He stopped.  “There’s a bench there.  Let’s sit.”

“Just a little bit further,” she said, grabbing his hand.

∞

Maya let go of her normal senses and opened herself up to her sixth sense: her werewolf radar.  The problem was, as soon as she did this she realised there wasn’t just one wolf out here, there were at least two close by.

“Bother,” she muttered, pausing.

She looked over her shoulder, back at the club.  If there were more werewolves in there…  She shook her head, and turned to go after the one getting further away.  The one she was sure had Lewis.  If it killed him it would be almost her fault.  She had left him on the dance floor.  But what about Kate and Ollie, and Will?

“Don’t worry about them,” she muttered again.  “They’re not the one’s already in the clutches of a wolf.”

Decision made, she tore off in pursuit of Lewis’s captor.

∞

“There she is!” Ollie said.  “What’s she doing?”

“She looks confused,” Kate said.

“Get back,” said Will, as Maya looked in their direction.  But it almost looked as though she was looking beyond them.

“I don’t think she saw us,” said Kate.

“She’s off,” said Will.  “Come on!”

∞

“I get it,” Lewis said, as the girl holding his hand led him into a cemetery.  “You like to be—”

She stopped and turned to face him, putting a finger to her lips, her eyes twinkling. She glanced toward some steps leading down to a metal gate.  “Have you ever been down there?” she said.

“No, but I’d like to.  Are you sure we can get in?” he said, suddenly feeling that things were going to get a whole lot better.

“I reckon we can manage it,” she said, tugging him after her down the stairs.  “Come on, you try it first.”

The door wasn’t locked so he undid the catch and pushed it open.  It creaked loudly.  He stood staring into the darkness, when the girl gave him a firm push, he tripped over his own feet and rolled down some stone steps, coming to a crashing halt against a cold wall.

“Hey, that hurt,” he said.  “What’s your game?”

She didn’t answer though.  She bounded lightly down the stairs and brushed against him, but what he felt freaked him out.  Fur.  She hadn’t been wearing fur, had she?  No, he was sure she hadn’t.  The moon came out from behind a cloud and he caught a glimpse of glowing amber eyes, at which point his heart starting running a marathon in his chest.

“I’m outa here,” he said, scrambling to his feet.  “You aren’t the girl I thought you were.”

“You think I’d let you leave?” she said, her glowing eyes leering at him.  “I have plans for you, whether you like it or not.”

Lewis took one step closer to the stairs, only just realising someone else stood in the doorway, someone who looked familiar.

“Lewis, come this way,” the girl in the entrance said.

“Maya, is that you?” said Lewis.

“I think not,” said the wolf girl, stepping in front of him.

Maya stepped down, her footsteps echoing.  The girl snarled and pushed Lewis out of the way.  His head cracked as it hit the hard wall, and he grunted in pain.

A torch beam appeared in the doorway, behind Maya.

“Lewis!  Are you all right?” said Kate. 

Behind her were Ollie and Will.  They rushed past Maya, to Lewis’s side, as he practically passed out.  Kate grabbed him so he didn’t fall.

“She’s, there’s … something weird about her,” he said, turning to the wolf-girl.

“No kidding,” said Maya, as she was lunged at by the girl who was now fully wolf. 

The torch beam danced around the space as Maya met the attack full on, her silver stake in her hand in an instant.  She caught a glimpse of bared fangs and sleek black fur, bristled in anger.

“You shouldn’t have come here!” shouted Maya, as she ducked low and rammed her shoulder into the werewolf, using her weight to drive it away from the others. 

“Lewis, come on, we’ve got to leave,” Kate said.

But at that point the door to the passage was blocked by another figure.  “I’m not going to let you go anywhere,” a male voice said.

Maya’s werewolf sense tingled and panic roared inside her.

∞

“Don’t come near us!” shouted Kate.

Will and Ollie stood in front of her, so Kate couldn’t see the man.  Her heart hammered in her chest, and she felt like it would leap out of her mouth at any moment.  She could hear grunts and snarls coming from further down the passageway where Maya was fighting, fighting something…

“You will be perfect for The Lord Alpha,” said the male, who started to change shape, so close to Will and Ollie.

As his muzzle grew, fangs appearing, fur sprouting, back contorting, Ollie and Will took a step back, closer to Kate.  Will shone his torch in the monster’s face and Kate caught a glimpse.  She screamed.

“You deserve this!  You should never have come here,” shouted Maya.  And then she was at their side, launching herself in front of the male wolf as it lunged toward Ollie.  “Run!” she said to the others.

“We can’t leave you,” said Will, hovering in the doorway.

“Go!  I can take care of myself,” said Maya, as she jumped at the werewolf, kicking it in the side of the head.

Will made up his mind and the three of them left, pulling Lewis with them.

∞

“Get somewhere safe,” Maya shouted, but a growl cut her off and she sensed movement behind her.

Maya brought up her arms to protect herself as the wolf half transformed back into a man, and threw a punch at her head. She took the brunt of the force on her forearm, and used that moment to get a good knee in his stomach, and when he crippled over she hit her elbow into his back.  She grappled with him and then kicked him into the wall, where he fell to his knees.

“I don’t want you wolves following me anymore, or whatever you’re doing here.  I just wanted to be left alone!  Can you leave me alone?  Do you think?  Maybe for, like, a month?  So I can have a break, settle in, make some friends…”

“You will never settle anywhere.  Not with that charm making you practically glow to our kind.”

“What do you know?”

Suddenly she felt another presence sneaking towards her, but too late.  A hand grabbed the back of her jacket and threw her against the wall.  She fell to the ground in a heap.  As she lay there, her body hurting so bad she could barely move, this new man pulled the half-transformed werewolf to him.

“Where is the offering?  Where is the sacrifice?” the new presence bellowed.

Maya squinted, dizzy, trying to see what was going on, but the others had taken the torch with them, and the only light came from the moon outside.

“Escaped,” he gasped, “but let me go and I’ll catch them.”

“Do it,” he said, pushing the wolf-man away.  “While I see what I can make of this hunter child.”

The male werewolf ran out of the tunnel as Maya clambered to her feet.  As soon as she was standing the new werewolf was in front of her.  He’s strong, Maya thought, I had better fight well.  And from the way the other werewolf spoke to him, he’s clearly the leader.

He snarled. 

She squinted and finally managed to make out his face.  He was permanently disfigured, she noticed, his nose and jaw extended into the shape of a muzzle, even when still in human form.  That must make him so old, she thought.  She couldn’t comprehend it. 

He hit her in the chest, and she had trouble staying on her feet.

“You have power,” he said, and wacked her around the face.  She fell to the ground with the impact.  “But you are of no concern to me,” he said, growling and approaching her.

With a fierce movement the werewolf pulled a brick out of the wall and threw it towards Maya.  Maya dodged and leaped further down the tunnel, feinting a trip and fall.  As the old werewolf leaped down to grab her, she summersaulted over him, scraping her feet against the ceiling.  She started to run, but he lunged after her, catching her around the waist and tackling her to the ground.  He grabbed her wrist and squeezed so hard it hurt, and she couldn’t help but drop the silver stake.  With his sleeve he pushed the silver away.

“If you plan to stop the ritual you are too late.  The Lord Alpha has returned.  The Sacrifice will set him free.”

“What are you talking about?” she gasped, her face pressed against the dirty ground.

“You can’t fight me,” he said, with his gravelly voice, as his free hand got a grip of the collar of her jacket, pulling it down and exposing her neck.

Maya struggled beneath him, but he had her fully pinned to the floor.  He was the strongest creature she had ever met.  “You want a bet?” she said.

He laughed, deep and mocking, the sound echoing around the small space.

“I don’t think that will be necessary,” he said, baring his fangs and leaning towards her neck.

∞

Silver Stake

∞

Maya struggled against
the old werewolf.  She pushed and gasped, trying to keep his fangs from getting nearer her neck.  He opened his mouth wide, leaning in, his weight pinning Maya in place.

“Get off!” Maya shouted.

With her face against the ground she couldn’t see his face, but she could imagine it behind her, wrinkled and old, his eyes yellow and radiating evil.  She could feel his saliva dripping on her skin.  She struggled again, desperate to get him away.  This couldn’t be the end, not so soon, she had a whole life ahead of her earlier, and she wasn’t about to let this creep take it from her. 

As his teeth were about to touch her neck she used all her effort to make a sudden jerk to the side, then she thrust back, using the back of her head as a weapon, bashing him in the nose.  He recoiled, grunting, angry, and she used that moment to reach for the stake.  She knew she couldn’t reach his heart, so she did what she could, just thrust it backward, and it penetrated his clothes, then sank through flesh into his stomach.

He shrieked and pulled away, clasping his side in horror as Maya smelled the acrid burning the silver had caused.  She jumped to her feet and ran at him with the stake, but he sprang away before she could reach him, and disappeared into the darkness.  For a second Maya considered taking pursuit, but then she remembered the others.  She ran along the tunnel and up the stairs, into the shining moonlight and the eerie, shadowy graveyard, running to find Kate, Ollie, Will and Lewis.

She ran further, looking in every direction, listening hard for any sign of them, when she heard a deep growl.

“Stop!” Maya ordered, running towards the sound as the growling continued and she heard Kate squeal. 

She ran around a tomb and saw Kate pinned down by a werewolf, a werewolf with brown and white patches, which would have looked like a regular wolf, if it hadn’t been for the glowing yellow eyes and too long fangs, bared, ready to bite. 

“Oi, you,” Maya said, and the werewolf looked up from Kate and snarled, giving Maya the opportunity to give it a kick in the face. 

Kate looked up with wide eyes as the werewolf tumbled to the side, then sprang onto its four paws, blood dripping from its gums.  Maya could tell this was a new wolf, free of the extreme distortion that comes with age, not as gruesome as the wolf she’d been fighting in the tunnel, with none of the disturbing half-man half-wolf features going on.  The advantage of this, for her and Kate at least, was that meant this wolf wouldn’t be as strong.  Maya stood in a fighting stance, ready to inflict more wounds, holding the silver stake tightly in her hands.  The wolf’s yellow eyes fixed on the silver and then he bolted into the darkness. 

Maya didn’t even stop to ask how Kate was, but immediately started looking for Ollie, Will and Lewis.  She heard Kate jump to her feet behind and follow her.

Mist rolled between the gravestones, and Maya and Kate could hear a cawing in the distance, but their ears immediately picked up a dragging sound.  Two large naked men came into sight, dragging Ollie over the grass.  He had a red mark on the side of his forehead and looked unconscious.  The men were each pulling one of his legs, and he was on his back, his damaged head bouncing against the ground.

“No!” Kate shouted.  “Let him go!”

The men looked up and their eyes flared a bright yellow.  One man, dark skinned with short spiky hair, let go of Ollie’s leg and jumped forward, starting to transform.  The other man was older, his hair receding, his face contorted in anger.  He started to pull Ollie further away now he was protected by his snarling friend.  Maya jumped forward, brandishing her sharp weapon, and she was pleased to see both of the werewolves looked scared.

Kate started forward, heading for Ollie, but the wolf jumped in her way.

“Stay back!” shouted Maya, as she lunged at the wolf.

She punched it with her left hand and Kate squealed, shouting ‘Ollie’ again.

Maya brought up her right knee and thrust it into the underside of the wolf’s neck, then whipped around and thrust the stake into his chest.  Without a pause she and Kate ran in the direction Ollie had been dragged, and soon caught up.  Maya leaped over Ollie and kicked the naked man directly in the chest, causing him to stumble back, and let go of Ollie.  He jumped to his feet, snarling, transforming before her eyes.  She lunged for him, but he turned tail and sprinted into the night.

“Ollie, wake up,” Kate said, coming to his side and cradling his head in her arms.

“Yikes, my head hurts,” he said, lifting his hand up to his head, but keeping his eyes closed.

“Phew, I’m glad you’re not dead,” she said, hugging him tightly.  “Where does it hurt?”

“Where’s Lewis and Will?” said Maya.

Kate looked up, panic in her eyes.  “I have no clue!  Those wolves—” she shuddered “—surrounded us and they started attacking.  I couldn’t tell what was going on.”

“Four wolves caught them and dragged them away,” Ollie said.

“Did you see where they went?” Maya said.

“No,” Ollie said, squeezing his eyes shut, “someone hit me with a stone.  I can’t remember!”

Maya stood up straight and looked around the graveyard in dismay.  She had no idea which way to look, and couldn’t hear even a peep out of place.  She tuned into her special werewolf radar, but her signals were confused—there seemed to be wolves everywhere! 

“We need to get you two safe,” she muttered.  “We should go talk to Cole.  He might be able to help.”

  ∞

Maya, Kate and Ollie were crammed onto a sofa in Cole’s living room, embers dying in the fire, providing a subtle warmth.  Kate had her arms around Ollie, who kept rubbing the back of his head.

Cole walked in carrying a pile of books and stood by the fire place.  “Unbeknown to most people on this planet, before the rule of man, before the establishment of civilisation, another species ruled this world: the werewolves,” said Cole, while depositing the books onto a coffee table and getting down on his knees to leaf through the one at the top.  “And the werewolves were not alone.  Alongside them were the vampires, the witches and the demons.  Together these species made the Earth their own, and it would have been a place of living hell to us.  But gradually the numbers of humans increased, some of whom could tap into magic themselves, and they fought a war against the old creatures.  It took centuries, but eventually the humans won.  The demons were either killed or took to hiding and the path was open for our history to unfold.  Now all that is left is those who have continued on…” 

“The werewolves,” said Maya.

“Pinch me,” said Ollie, and he turned from Kate, to Maya, to Cole, his eyes pleading.  “This must be a dream.  Please tell me it is a dream and that our friends have not been taken by werewolves.”

“It’s no dream Ollie.  I saw them too.  And Maya … she’s seen them before.  Right?” said Kate, stroking Ollie’s head.

“That’s right,” said Maya, standing up and leaning against the mantle-piece, her legs absorbing the heat from the smouldering logs.  “Werewolves.  I’ve been followed by them for this last year.  That’s why I came here.  I wanted it to end, I wanted to get away from them.”

“Did they follow you here?” said Kate.

“Well, that’s what I thought at first, but it doesn’t make sense,” she said, turning to Cole.  “There’s something bigger going on here.  You were right.  Werewolves aren’t tracking me and … they seem to be avoiding me, and that powerful one, something he said…”

“What was it?” asked Cole.

“He said some really strange stuff.  Something about The Lord Alpha coming back, or that he’s returned.  How I won’t be able to stop the sacrifice.  It’s a bit of a blur.”

“I knew it,” muttered Cole.  “The signs have been here all along—”

“What signs?” said Maya, starting to pace.

“It’s been getting so much worse,” he practically hissed.

“What has?” said Kate.

“The killings, the murders, the presence of demons.  I can feel the darkness, it’s being drawn here, and it has been for years.  But recently it has been much worse, and the killings have been happening more often.  More werewolves are here now than since before civilisation.  They are breeding. I’m sure of it.  And they are planning something big.”

“Something to do with a Lord Alpha?” said Ollie.

“Yes!  Or at least, I think so.  That would fit with my research.  If the werewolves have brought him back…”

“But who is he?” said Maya.

Cole flicked through the book and opened it on a page bearing a sketch of a half transformed werewolf baring his teeth.  “According to legend The Lord Alpha was the leader of all werewolves, his bones held in an ancient tomb preserved for millennia.  But if they found a way…”  Cole stood and took Maya’s place with the pacing.  Suddenly he turned to her.  “What do you know about werewolves?”

Maya shrugged.  “I know they are evil bastards who won’t leave me alone.”

“Be specific.”

“Well, they, err, have fangs.  They drink blood, like vampires are supposed to.  They can appear as humans, but it only takes seconds for them to transform into a wolf.  Also, the full moon thing is a myth—they can transform whenever they like.  And the older they are, the worse they look, when they are in their human form, I mean.  When they are a wolf I can’t tell who’s old or not.  They have venom too.  If they bite someone and that person doesn’t die, they turn into a werewolf.”

“Good, that’s right.  They can also have werewolf offspring, by mating with another werewolf, or a human, and they can’t come out in the day.”

“Does that mean they are demons?” said Ollie.

“They are half-demon, half-human.  Early human lines, before we had evolved into what we are today, were infected with the bite of a demon wolf.  They bred and bit and multiplied, and like a virus they spread over the globe.  Killing.  Drinking the blood of humans.  And when they died out, or went into hiding, they fortified themselves with the legend that when The Lord Alpha should return that werewolves would once more rule the Earth.”