Page 34 of Werewolves Don't Howl
“I don’t—” I stopped abruptly as he put the phone to my face and I got to see a video of Senator Silverton behind a desk filled with papers, white shirt-sleeves rolled up, showing some pretty curlicue silver tattoos in his skin, magical runes like my father had.
He smiled slightly, but he looked tired. “Miss Era. I appreciate your caution, but I trust Henrick with my life.”
“But do you trust him with mine? I mean, just because he doesn’t want to assassinate you doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to assassinate me.”
He frowned through the screen. “You’re nervous. What happened?”
“Not much. I just lost my computer to a nasty virus while I was doing some research.”
He raised a brow. “Sounds like you found something. If you’re going to do more investigating tonight, be sure to take the elixir first. Also, take Henrick with you.”
I took a shaky breath and nodded. “Thanks. I’ll do that. It’s probably not much, just the Lynx constellation written in the basement of the Union Station, but I might as well check it out. I’ll also need to get a new computer before the stores close.”
He smiled. “It sounds as though your evening plans are complete. Don’t forget to get dinner while you’re out. Henrick is terrible company, but your charm will more than make up for it.”
I smiled at him and then Henrick took the phone away from me and put it to his ear, turning away to talk in a low voice.
I had extremely keen hearing, so I picked up a few words, “No, not injured… No sign of an intruder…” and then I stopped listening because it was rude.
Instead, I sat on a lounge chair next to the pool I loved so much with my kitten on my lap, and unscrewed the lid. When I sniffed, it smelled green and rich, with a slight tang of bitterness, so similar to the tonics my father made for us. I took one dropper, and it tasted much better than my father’s.
I missed him. He hated werewolves so much, and my mother feared werewolves so much, but if they got to see me how I was, surely they would get over their prejudice and I’d have my family back again. Or I’d lose them for good. How long could I use Silverton to hide what I was?
I leaned back in the chair, heart aching beneath the warm ball of fluff, watching the evening shadows play over everything. I needed to hurry to the store before it closed, and then quickly check out the Union Station, but I was so tired, and the evening was so peaceful.
Henrick took the bottle out of my hand before I dropped it, capped it, then drew a throw over my shoulder. “Cross will tuck you in once he gets home. Rest well, Miss Delphi.”
I let my eyes drift closed, only vaguely bothered by the fact that I was resting instead of going shopping and checking out the station. I could take care of it tomorrow. There was no hurry. Not for anything.
I came awake in the middle of the night when I heard a crash of shattering glass. Lynx meowed adorably while I blinked into the darkness, the moon shining on the silver water, the tree branches rustling around the edges of the yard. Where was I? By the pool. Why was I sleeping outside? The elixir. Henrick had drugged me. Why would he drug me? Why wouldn’t a goblin randomly drug someone? No, it was an elven potion. Silverton had drugged me. I sat up, but I was still shaking off the lethargy. That potion was strong, and I’d only had a third the recommended dose. He’d wanted to knock me out for a long time. I held Lynx carefully while I stood. My whole body felt so much better. Fine, Silverton was right that I needed more rest, and it was sweet of him to want me to feel better, but at the same time, you didn’t just drug people.
Another sound came from the house. Was it Silverton? The windows were dark, but who else would it be? I crept quickly and quietly towards the house and then, when I reached the kitchen door, slipped inside, blinking in the shadows, trying to pick out what it had been. A dark shadow draped over the island, pale silver elf skin glittering in the moonlight in the middle of that gleaming dark hair and the scent of fresh blood.
I turned on the light and saw Silverton on the counter, his bare back raw and bleeding. I dropped Lynx and ran across the room. There was a medic bag with some bottles and needles spilled on the counter and floor in a pile of broken glass.
He was holding a syringe in an awkward position, like he’d been trying to inject himself over his shoulder before he passed out. There was so much blood, and the jagged wounds in his back took me right back to Ridley’s death photos. Silverton had found the monster, but how, and why, and…
I stopped when I saw the black mask and hood on the white counter. I knew the patterns of eye screens, as well as mouth and nose. That was the mask of the monster who had forced me to turn, had tortured me for two months, keeping me alive when I begged every day for him to end it.
Silverton couldn’t be that psychopath. I picked up the mask with trembling fingers and felt the dampness from his blood. The monster that I hated more than anyone else in the world was lying here, unconscious, at my mercy. He hadn’t given me a drop of mercy, no matter how I begged.
I picked up a scalpel and with my heart beating in my throat, I pressed it into his skin, releasing a flow of dark red elixir that made my beast rumble. I pressed harder until I hit something metallic. Were his bones made of metal? No. There was shrapnel or something else in him.
I bit my lip so hard that I tasted blood before I pressed into him with more focus, pulling back the skin to reveal a bar that had skewered him from the front and was coming out of his back. I stared at it for a beat and a half before I exhaled and grabbed him around the chest, lifting up and pushing down on the end of the bar until it came out of the underside of his shoulder, falling to the floor with a clatter.
He was in such bad shape. He might actually die. Except he didn’t get to die if I didn’t get to die. He didn’t get to escape before I finally faced the monster and demanded to know why he did that to me.
I stabbed him hard with his syringe. The bleeding stopped almost instantly, then I cleaned out the wounds, the vicious claw and teeth marks as well as the puncture wounds. It had gotten him by the jaws. It was a miracle Silverton had made it home. No, not a miracle. He really belonged to one of those secret orders, only nothing so innocent as a science guild.
When I finished his back, I rolled him over and found his eyes open, watching me with those violet orbs, curious, clear, no pain or concern in them as he calculated a myriad of things like quicksilver.
I pulled back, crossing my arms.
“You’re getting blood on your clothing,” he said in a frustratingly delicious voice.
I was shaking with anger, with rage, with absolute fury. “You! How could you do that to me?”
He glanced over at the mask and then slowly pushed up on his elbows, so his brawny muscles pulled where it wasn’t torn from the beast’s claws. He was so beautiful. How dare he be beautiful, even like this?
