The Twilight Circus (26 page)

For centuries, French nobles had come to Salinas from as far as Versailles to sample the fine wines stored deep in the bowels of the Black Chateau.

But something else was stored there now. The doorway to the cellars was barred by a gross curtain of thick spiderwebs, thickened with the bodies of small unfortunate insects, rodents, and filthy dust. The stone walls were strewn with the same thick webby shroud. On first
inspection the cellar appeared empty, but if you were to look closely, you would see something you hoped you would never see again. But then if you had got this far, it was unlikely you would make it out alive to see anything again anyway.

Suspended within the walls were a dozen or more cigar-shaped cocoons. Each cocoon contained the body of a child, their noses and eyes just visible. The younger children had been stricken dumb, almost catatonic with blood loss and shock, for this was Madame Vampire's larder.

In her own uncomfortable cocoon, Saffi Besson still lived. While her own blood still flowed through her veins, while her heart kept beating, Saffi still hoped the boy she had seen at the lake would come back. Although her voice was fading, she sang the songs her mother had sung to her when she was little, hoping her muffled, off-key voice would give some comfort to the others.

Drifting in and out of consciousness, Saffi had no idea if it was day or night. The only way to tell was if the vampire came to feed. She closed her eyes again, hoping to fall asleep and dream of home.

An almost imperceptible sound made her eyes snap open and her frail body stiffen within its cocoon.
Something was coming
! The sound she had heard was the heavy door opening in the kitchens above. Saffi knew the layout of the lower floors from her brief moment of freedom. The door creaked and moonlight bathed the cellar floor as it opened.

She held her breath as the outline of a girlish figure stepped lightly into the room. Whoever it was had a flashlight in their mouth and spiky hair. Sharp sticks stuck out of their pockets and boots, and in each hand they carried two more. Saffi realized with mounting joy that the sharp sticks were stakes!
Stakes to kill vampires
! She couldn't see the person's face clearly because of the flashlight, but armed with the stakes, the mystery slayer looked like a cross between Van Helsing and a large hedgehog. Saffi opened her mouth and screamed. All that came out was a tiny rush of stale air. The spiky-haired person didn't hear, too busy pointing the flashlight into all the corners of the cellar. Saffi was terrified the person would leave. She struggled inside her cocoon, trying to break out, but she was too tightly wrapped in the disgusting web. She
thrashed inside her tight bonds.
Please, God
, she prayed.
If you can hear me, please help me
!

Saffi Besson was so dehydrated she couldn't even cry. What came out was a desperate, dry sob. But perhaps God had heard her at last, for it was enough to make the spiky-haired person stop and shine their precious light up toward Saffi's cocoon.

“
Aide-moi
. Help me.” Saffi managed one last cry for help. It was all she had. Blinded by the powerful beam of the flashlight, Saffi could hear the person exclaim in horror.

“Hello?” It
was
a girl's voice. She was shining her flashlight, searching around the cellar, suddenly seeing for the first time the extent of the vampire's greed and cruelty. Saffi watched as the girl put out her hand to steady herself and swallowed hard as though to stop herself from vomiting. Then she reached up and gently pulled away the threads covering Saffi's mouth.

“
Merci
,” whispered Saffi through swollen, parched lips.

“Saffi? Saffi Besson?” asked her rescuer.

Saffi managed to nod her head slightly.

“My name is Fish. Alex Fish,” said the girl with spiky
hair and a sharp little face. “Saffi, you must listen very carefully, I hope you can understand me.” She held Saffi by her shoulders and spoke very slowly to make sure the girl understood. “I'm going to get you all out of here, I promise.”

AAAAAAaaarooooooghhhhh!WOODYCOMEQUICKOHWOODYNEEDYOUPLEEEEEEEEEAASE Aooooooooowwwwwwww
!

The desperate mindhowl for help smashed through Woody's brain. He had been thinking about Nat, feeling guilty he had left without a word. He felt split between Nat and his clan—the two worlds they inhabited were so different that Woody didn't know where his true path led. Until he had met Nat, he would have said his place in the world was with his clan. Now he wasn't so sure. He had been running with them, getting used to being one of them, when Nat's mindhowl had blasted him, catching him right between the eyes at about ninety miles an hour and knocking him clean off his feet. He hit the snow tail-first and rolled backward, over and over, until he looked
like an enormous ball of snow with four legs and a head. Woody shook the snow from his fur and led his clan back to the frozen waterfall. Something huge had happened.
Nat needed him
!

Scale was still hiding in Crescent's body. He too had heard Nat Carver's mindhowl for help, and was glad. He was operating the she-wolf like a puppet, guiding her body and seeing through her eyes. He had made Crescent hide in the caves behind the curtain of ice, spying and listening to the Wolven's plans. This was better than perfect. The Wolven were going to fight and lead him straight to Nat Carver! He would see to it that they would die trying. He could read the vampire queen's mind like a well-thumbed book—he knew she had double-crossed him. No matter. He would see to it that she would pay the ultimate price. And so would Nat Carver.

While Scale was making his sick plans, the vampire queen scanned the snowy horizon from the top of the north tower. Her red eyes sought her hive in the darkness.
Two hours
until dawn
! Her search scouts had reported that the small band of Wolven were on the move at last. The Carver boy was safely out of action for now, and when the Wolven clan came to his rescue they would be wiped out by the hive.
All except the young one—the one they called Woody
. The vampire was grateful to the demon wolf creature, Scale, for awakening her from her long sleep after her own
husband
had put the stake through her heart all those years ago. But not so grateful that she had any qualms about double-crossing him. Let Scale think she had destroyed the boy and his pet Wolven; she had uses for them herself! She had enjoyed showing the boy how powerful she was just by the simple illusion, and his face had shown her better than any mirror could how her appearance was improving all the time thanks to her moonlit blood baths. And the future? She would bewitch humanity! She would create legions of vampires and be more powerful than any vampire in Europe. Then she would spread her wings farther across the world. She smiled to herself.
Things were working out beautifully
. She leaned over the top of the tower and called for her last remaining hive, listening keenly for the
THWACK THWACK
of their beautiful strong wings.

Somewhere deep inside the Black Chateau, Nat was dozing uneasily until a small, freezing cold hand was shoved roughly over his mouth.

“This is no time for a nap,” whispered Fish. “Let's get you out of here.”

Nat thought he was dreaming until the pain from the tight ropes sharpened his senses.

“Easy does it,” said Fish as she cut through the thick rope with her penknife, helping him to massage his limbs to get the blood flowing again.

“What's going on?” whispered Nat. “Wha—?”

“Tell you later,” said Fish. “You need to know two things for now: The good news is that Saffi Besson and the other missing kids are still alive. They're safe for now. The bad news is that the chateau is heaving with vampires.”

Nat stared at her in awe. “Crone was right about you,” he muttered, “you really
are
superhuman.”

Fish smiled modestly, although inside she agreed with every word. She pulled him to his feet and together they left the hateful room behind them, stepping out into the long passage.

“C'mon,” said Nat, feeling his strength return. “Something's about to happen. I can feel it.” It was true; familiar feelings were stirring in his body. His hairs—
hackles—
rose and stuck up like quills at the back of his neck, his eyes felt like they were bugging out, and his breath was coming in quick short pants, like a wolf. And then it came. Loud and clear. No mistake:

NATHOLDONAMCOMINGWILLHELPSOOOOOOOOOOONNN!!!
!

It was Woody.

Woody led the King's Wolven out from behind the ice curtain and onto the frozen plain. He had locked onto the echoes of Nat's scream for help and it still played like a movie in his brain. Pinpointing Nat's whereabouts had been easy, and the vision of the Black Chateau helped guide both his clan and his Wolven GPS. Woody ran tirelessly, his thoughts jumbled with the visions he had picked up from his friend.
VAMPIRES
!

The clan was willing to die in the fight for Woody's friend, and this made the choice Woody would have
to make all the harder to deal with.
If I'm still alive
, he thought grimly.

As the Black Chateau came into sight for the first time, Woody skidded to a halt and turned to face his clan. Then, placing their power, their loyalty, and their trust in him, the twelve Wolven—together for the first time in the new millennium—prepared to fight.

The twelve Wolven came, manes flowing, eyes glowing.

From the north tower of the Black Chateau, the vampire queen saw them arrive through the blizzard, her bloodred eyes narrowed against the sting of snow. For the first time she felt unease. The Wolven's white shimmering coats blended perfectly with the deep snow, and it was almost impossible for her to track them. She couldn't help feeling a grudging admiration at her first sight of them and the speed with which they traveled. Not even the frozen wasteland of the lake could slow them, their lithe bodies moving like soft white smoke.
Then, suddenly and impossibly, they had vanished
!

The vampire hovered a little above the parapet of the tower, a small cry of dismay escaping from her strange mouth.
They had disappeared
! She tried to calm herself. She could see her hive clearly, like big ugly ants as they
waited to attack, some in the trees, some on the ground at the bottom of her tower. She drew comfort from the fact that her army could attack from the air. The Wolven had no choice but to stay grounded. Her job was to see it all when it happened, to command the battle like a general, guiding and directing, but never endanger her own life.
But how could she do it if she couldn't see the enemy
?

Woody had led his Wolven clan across the ice. He remembered the layout of the Black Chateau and could feel that Nat was somewhere close. Burrowing under the deep snow, he tunneled out of sight, the others following eagerly. Their movements were so smooth that there was no evidence on the surface of anything traveling quickly beneath. Then Woody's nostrils were filled with the familiar stink of the vampires.
They were close now
.

The vampires at the bottom of the tower were ready to fight and were picking up on the queen's ugly mood. They were unsure from which side the Wolven enemy would approach. The vampire lieutenant had warned them that the Wolven had temporarily disappeared from sight, and
this made them very nervous. The survivors of the onion soup attacks had seen what a werewolf could do, let alone a Wolven. Wolven were rock hard, the stuff of legend and—

“
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WWWWWRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
!”

The nearest vampires were hit by a snow tsunami as the Wolven sprang out like demented jack-in-the-boxes. The noise of their howls was immense, so loud that some of the vampires tried to run away, their hands clamped awkwardly over their pointed ears. The vampire queen watched in horrified dismay as the Wolven paired off and repeatedly and tirelessly attacked the vampire hive, ripping and tearing at the blackened shapes. They bit easily through the vampires' scrawny necks, disconnecting their loathsome heads from their bodies, although some still ran around like headless chickens. The snow had turned black with their foul blood.

The queen looked feverishly toward the eastern sky, searching for signs of dawn. The Wolven had dispatched the vampires on the ground in minutes. Shrieking like a banshee, she called again and the sky became black with
dark angel wings as the rest of the hive flew down from the trees. With a last glance at the battle below, the queen crawled down the side of the tower like a monstrous spider.

“
They're here
,” said Nat.

Fish looked at him, thrilled. Nat's eyes were glowing a warm orange in the darkness.

“You mean,
he's
here,” said Fish, a little shiver running down her back.

Nat shook his head. “No, it … it's not just Woody. There's more.
I can sense more—more Wolven
!”

“Noooo!” said Fish, her excitement reaching fever pitch. “Are you sure?”

Nat was just about to reply when unearthly shrieks interrupted him.

“Something's happening,” said Fish. “Quick.”

They ran to the bridge and peered over the parapet.

“No way!” said Nat. “Oh, look at them!”

Nat knew they were witnessing something incredible.
The King's Wolven, just as his friend Iona had described them. Woody had found his clan! That was why he had disappeared
.

Fish strained her eyes. Hampered as she was by human eyesight, all she could see was the black sky and white snow. But then she caught a glimpse of an enormous white wolf, and then another and another. They glowed blueywhite in the darkness, their eyes shining with topaz colors. They were leaping up into the air, bringing down writhing black shapes, then shaking them like a dog shakes a rag. The Wolven were fighting the vampires!