The Anxiety of Kalix the Werewolf
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Authors: Martin Millar
THE ANXIETY OF
KALIX THE WEREWOLF
Copyright © 2014 by Martin Millar
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ISBN 978-1-61902-361-1
SOFT SKULL PRESS
An imprint of COUNTERPOINT
1919 Fifth Street
Berkeley, CA 94710
Distributed by Publishers Group West
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CONTENTS
THE ANXIETY OF
KALIX THE WEREWOLF
Eighteen years in the past.
Markus MacRinnalch was used to being treated with respect. As the son of the Thane, he was an important figure in the werewolf clan, and he was popular at the castle. Women in particular were always fond of him.
Apart from Dominil, thought Markus. For a nine-year-old, she's certainly mastered the art of withering contempt.
His young cousin regarded him with scorn. “Don't you know
anything
?” she said. “I'm not an
albino
. I'm
leucistic
. It's a completely different condition.”
“All right,” said Markus, raising his voice against the wind. “You're leucistic. Now could you put some clothes on and get back to the castle?”
Dominil, standing in her underwear, in a snowdrift that reached up to her waist, showed no inclination of putting her clothes on.
“It's really a foolish mistake,” she continued as the snow fell. “Albinism is a result of the reduction of melanin only. Leucism refers to the absence of all pigments. Hence my white hair and pale skin. But if I were an albino I'd have pink eyes. Clearly, my eyes are not pink. They're dark. Eye pigmentation derives from a different source.”
Faced by this barrage of biology, Markus struggled for an answer. He attempted to steer the conversation away from Dominil's unusual genetic makeup.
“Why are you standing in the snow in your underwear?”
Dominil's long white hair perfectly matched the snowflakes that were settling all over her; her skin was hardly any darker.
“To see how it affects me.”
“And?”
“It has very little effect.”
Markus shook his head. The whole MacRinnalch Clan already knew that cousin Dominil was an odd character, and this only served as further evidence. He felt himself starting to shiver but stopped it by an effort of
will, not wanting to show weakness in front of the nine-year-old werewolf who was apparently determined to prove that she was unaffected by the elements.
“Did he send you to look for me?” asked Dominil.
