Lupine Howl: The Complete First Series (All 8 books) Page 2

  She walks along the banks of the river for a while. She doesn't seem to have anywhere to go, and I feel sorry for her. There's not much that I can do, but I wonder why she has no home. Her scent is complex and indicates the sustained presence of other people. I have a feeling that she was recently somewhere very different, somewhere like a home. But now she is here, and she is alone on a cold night.

  The truth is, I protected her once but I cannot be there to protect her again. I'm no-one's guardian angel, and I have no interest in making friends. Far too many young people die in this city every night, I have no chance of doing anything about that. The only reason I saved this girl was that I happened to stumble across what was happening to her. There have been many times since I came to London that I have seen such things and simply turned away, allowing the victim to die at the hands of a tormentor. So why did I choose to save this girl?

  The bells of Big Ben ring nearby. I stop following the girl and watch as she walks off into the dark distance. Part of me would like to follow her all night, to protect her, to help her. But I do not have that freedom. I have to get back, my master will be wondering where I am and I do not want to anger him. His mood of late has not been good, and I do not need more scars.

  3.

  Soho, London, 3 months later.

  “How old are you?” I ask, staring at her across the cafe table. It's a Tuesday afternoon and somehow we've managed to scrape together enough money for a couple of cups of hot tea in styrofoam cups. With cold rain falling outside, we have to make these drinks last as long as possible, even though the cafe owner is already eyeing us suspiciously.

  “Old enough,” she says, eyeing me suspiciously. She reminds me of myself, back when I first arrived in London. I didn't know anyone, didn't know where to go, didn't know who to trust. I made plenty of mistakes, and paid for them too. Things could have been very different if only there had been someone to help me back then. Maybe I can help this girl avoid making the same mistakes I made.

  “What's your name?” I ask.

  “What's yours?” she shoots back.

  Good. She's already pretty smart, already aware of the need to keep her guard up.

  “Jess,” I say. “Jessica. Whatever”.

  The girl stares at me. She's clearly trying to work me out, trying to decide whether she can trust me. She probably wants to trust me very much, but there's an edge to her, an edge that suggests she's learned the hard way that trusting strangers can get you into a whole lot of trouble. “Sam,” she says eventually, with a non-committal voice that suggests she might be lying.

  “You've got to be careful on the streets, Sam,” I say. “You've got to be really careful”.

  She smiles. “Lots of murderers and cannibals out there, are there?”

  The mention of the word 'cannibal' unnerves me. “I'm just telling you to be careful,” I say. “There's bad stuff out there. Bad people. Dangerous people. And... weird things, things you can't explain. I'm gonna tell you a story”. I take a deep breath. “When I first came to London, at the start of the year, I ended up in this room with these three guys. And they were ready to cut my throat. They'd already killed one girl, and I was next. And then -”

  “Shut up,” says Sam, glancing at something behind me. “There's a guy watching us”.

  “What?” I ask, carefully not turning to look.

  “Sorry,” Sam continues, “I didn't mean to sound so abrupt. But there's a guy a few tables away, and he's totally watching us. In a creepy way”.

  “Relax,” I say. “We're in a cafe. What's he gonna do? He's probably just perving. Can you see both his hands? Are they on the table, or under it?”

  Sam shrugs. “I don't think he cares that I've spotted him. He's just staring at us. I should lure him into the toilets and cut his balls off”.

  “Yeah, maybe,” I say, turning to look at the guy. Jesus, he really is just staring straight at us, without caring whether we notice. He's older than I expected, looks like he's in his 50s and though he's dressed fairly casually, in what appears to be a hunting jacket, I don't think he's 'one of us'. I don't think he's homeless. I wink at him and turn back to Sam. The truth is, whenever I find someone acting strangely around me, there's a part of me that wonders if it's 'him', the guy from the building, the guy who was eating the dead body of that girl. I just feel like he must be around still, somewhere. He's definitely not the kind of guy I ever want to see again.

  “Can we go?” Sam says. “I don't like having some guy mentally masturbating over me”.

  We stand up, grab our cups of tea and head out the door into the busy Soho street. People are rushing past in the rain, and there's nowhere in particular for Sam and me to go.

  “What now?” I say, shrugging. “You got any plans?”

  She stares at me blankly, then she seems to get an idea. “I know a guy,” she says. “Come on”. As the rain gets heavier, she leads me along the street and down into an alley. “Wait here,” she says, heading off towards a gate that seems to lead into a small yard.

  “Fuck this,” I mutter under my breath. I'm already soaking wet.

  “I need to talk to you,” says a voice from behind. I turn to find the guy from the cafe is standing there. Up close, it's clear to see that he's an older man, with a big dark grey beard and worry lines all over his face. As he talks, it becomes clear that he has a thick Scottish accent. “Will you let me buy you a drink so I can ask you about something?”

  I back away. “No thanks,” I say. “Leave me alone”.

  “It's important,” he says, almost pleading with me.

  “Go away,” I say. “Fuck off or I'll scream”.

  “I'm trying to track someone down,” he says, a sense of urgency in his voice. “Someone dangerous, someone I have good reason to believe you've seen”.

  “I don't know what you're talking about,” I say, trying to turn away, but he grabs my arm and pulls me back with surprising strength.

  “He's a killer,” the man insists. “You've seen him. I...” He looks around to see if anyone's listening in on our conversation. “I can smell him on you. You've definitely seen him. Not recently, maybe, but you've seen him. You have to take me to him”.

  I think about it for a moment. “If I did see this guy you're after,” I say slowly, “it was months ago, and I have no idea where he is now”.

  “Where was it?” he asks. “You have to take me there”.

  “It was a black building near Dean Street,” I say. “But I'm not going back”.

  “Who did he kill?” the man asks.

  I sigh. “He killed this guy who was threatening me. And there was another girl there, she was dead when I arrived but I don't think he killed her, I think the other guy killed her”.

  “Maybe, maybe not,” the man says. “But this isn't a game, this isn't a joke. He's dangerous. When he's hungry, he kills to eat”.

  “I know,” I say. “I saw”.

  He stares at me. “What did you see?”

  “He started...” I pause. It gives me a shiver just to think about it. “He started eating the girl's body. Just bits of it, but I saw him eating from it”.

  The man nods. “You see why I have to track him down? The idea of a creature like that loose in London. Can you imagine how many other people he's killed in the three months since you saw him? You have to help me”.

  “Jess!” shouts Sam. I turn to see that she has emerged from the gate and is waving me over. She looks concerned at the sight of the man who's bothering me.

  “I have to go,” I tell the man, but he grabs my arm.

  “You can't avoid him. I can smell him on you. He'll be back for you”.

  “Don't follow me,” I say, pulling my arm away from him. “My friends in there wouldn't like it”. With that, I turn and walk away, and I'm relieved when I realise I can't hear him pursuing me.

  “What did he want?” Sam hisses when I reach her.

  “Nothing. Keep moving,” I say, and we head through the gate i
nto a small yard. I turn and push the gate shut, making sure to slide the bolt across. I've spent enough time on the streets to know that men don't pursue you down alleys because they're worried about your well-being.

  4.

  Frank Marshall, you old fool.

  I knew you would come to London eventually. I knew you would pick up on my scent, and you would try to track me down. Perhaps I thought it would take you a little longer, though. I have to admit, I am quite impressed that you seem to be so close. Then again, your family have always been good at capturing werewolves. Capturing, torturing, killing...

  I recognise the girl instantly, of course. Her scent reminds me of that night down by the river, when I longed to follow her. I have thought of her often since then, and I do not know why. I encounter many humans every day, and most of them are forgettable. But this girl seems different. There is something very beautiful about her face, her eyes, her skin, her lips, the way she walks and the way she talks...

  Beautiful for a human, I mean.

  Frank Marshall is a dangerous man, and I don't like the fact that he is sniffing around. I should have killed him when I had the chance, but I was persuaded to hold back. I thought that I could warn him off, that he would not need to die the same way that his father died. I guess I was wrong. Like a zombie, he continues on his quest to capture me. I don't think it has ever occurred to him to turn to his employer and announce that he no longer wishes to do this job.

  Ah, well. He has a tough master. I know how that feels.

  I follow Frank as he walks away down the street. Eventually he goes into a pub, and I decide not to follow him inside. Those places stink to high heaven, and I swear they dull my senses. Last time I went into a pub, I ended up almost losing my sense of smell for a week. No, I don't need to follow him inside. I know full well what he will be doing, and I can wait outside until he emerges.

  I know Frank Marshall too well. He's planning something, and he seems to have fixated on this one particular girl for some reason. I'll have to watch out for her, but at the same time I think this is something I should not discuss with my master. He would undoubtedly tell me to simply kill Frank and either forget the girl or rip her throat out. I prefer taking a more subtle approach, holding back and waiting to see what others do before I make my move. So I'll just keep an eye on Frank and try to make sure he doesn't do anything too stupid. If things get bad, I can always step in and tidy up. I'm sure my master wouldn't mind me doing a little work in my own personal time.

  As I turn to walk away, a couple of humans approach. One of them, a woman who has clearly been drinking, gives a shriek of delight, rushes over, kneels down and strokes my head. I let her, mainly because I can see that her companion – an equally drunk male – doesn't particularly like me. He's suspicious and, to be fair, he has every right to wonder why a wolf is out alone on the streets of London.

  “Watch our for fleas,” he says to the woman as she continues to pet me.

  “He hasn't got fleas!” she shouts back at him. “He's lovely, aren't you?” She grins at me. “Yes you are!”

  I turn and run off. There's no point getting used to humans. They're strange, dangerous creatures and if they knew the truth about me, they would try to kill me or worse. As my master reminds me every day, I am destined to be alone, and there is no point in pretending otherwise.

  5.

  Sam's friends turn out to be okay. There are half a dozen of them, all male, living in a squat in a little building nestled well away from the street in Soho. Everyone's pretty young, no-one seems keen to talk too much and Sam and I move about without anyone bothering us.

  “Where's your friend?” I ask.

  “I thought he'd be here,” she says, staring into the darkness.

  “Can we stay?”

  “Yeah,” she says. “It's okay. It's cool here”. She leads me over to a small fire that has been left burning in a metal bin near a window. “Everyone's friendly”.

  “I doubt that,” I say, warming my hands.

  “Trust me,” she says, smiling. “Tom'll be here”.

  “Who's Tom?” I ask.

  She almost seems to blush for a moment. “He's this guy, I kind of came to London to look for him. He's living on the streets, but I can't find him. I was sure he'd be here”.

  I smile for a moment. “Keep looking,” I say.

  “I'll go and see if he's here”.

  I take off my coat and give it to her. “I'll stay by the fire,” I say.

  She nods, grinning. “Thanks,” she says, putting my coat on. “Hey, back in a moment”. And with that, she heads off out of the room. She seems so keen, almost desperate. It's fun to remember, just for a moment, a time when I was like that.

  I sit and warm my hands by the fire for a few minutes, and eventually a guy comes and sits next to me. “New around here?” he asks.

  I nod. I'm not in the mood to be chatted up, but I don't mind the company. “You?”

  “No,” he replies. “I've been here a while. Just getting my shit together, you know?”

  “Yeah,” I say. “Me too. I won't be here too long”.

  “Don't be,” he says. “There's some fucked up shit round here”.

  I take my socks off and put my feet next to the fire to warm them up. “Like what?” I ask.

  He coughs. He doesn't sound particularly healthy. “I'm just warning you, that's all,” he says. “While you're here, don't go out alone. There's things out there, things most people don't see”.

  I feel my feet finally starting to warm up. “What if I said I've seen something,” I say.

  He seems interested. “Like what?”

  “No,” I say. “You tell me first, then I'll tell you”.

  He nods, apparently amused by my refusal to play the game according to his rules. “I've seen something that eats people,” he says.

  I think about this for a moment. “Me too,” I say.

  He looks deadly serious now. “It chews the meat straight off their bones. If you don't disturb it, there's nothing left inside of about half an hour. Just bones”. He squeezes his eyes tight shut. “Fuck, girl, I've seen some crazy shit around here. There's no way you'll get me walking these streets alone at night. No way. Fair warning to you, don't do it”.

  We shake hands. “Jess,” I say.

  “Andrew,” he replies. “I saw you were here with a friend”.

  “Yeah, Sam,” I say. “She's just stepped outside. I think she smokes”.

  “Better not leave her out there too long,” Andrew says. “Remember what I said”.

  “What is it?” I ask, staring at him. “I saw it, but it looked human even though... Do you know what it is?”

  Andrew shrugs. “Don't know. Don't want to know, not of it means getting close to the damn thing. I'm just passing through here, I'll be gone in a few days. Whatever that thing is, I don't really care if it stays here. Just as long as it doesn't follow me”.

  I stand up slowly. “Why doesn't everyone know about it?” I ask.

  Andrew stays seated, looking up at me. “Fear,” he says. “They know about it, alright. But they don't want to admit it”.

  “Makes sense,” I say. “I'm going to go and find my friend”.

  “Be careful,” he says. “Sometimes it comes into the buildings to hunt”.

  I look around. “Then why don't you go somewhere else? Why don't you hide?”

  He shrugs. “There's nowhere to hide. It's fucking everywhere. Just have to make sure you don't get caught alone”.

  I go and look for Sam. She's not in any of the other rooms, and eventually I find myself down on the ground floor of the building. It's fairly well lit, but still... I'd rather not be down here alone, not after some of the things I've seen and heard recently. At the same time, I've met this creature – whatever he is – and he didn't hurt me. So I'm not convinced he's quite as dangerous as Andrew suggested. Besides, it's all crap anyway. Sure, I sure a guy eating flesh from a dead body, that doesn't mean there's
a killer running around. It just means there's some crazy guy who's probably long gone by now.

  “Sam!” I call out, but there's no reply. I'm sure I saw her coming this way. “Sam!” Damn it, I hate when people do this. We were supposed to stick together. Has she just split completely? That'd be pretty shit, it'd make her a bad friend. Then again, is she even my friend? I only met her this morning...

  I spot an open door and head over. It's raining outside, and dark, but I peer out into the night. At first, I don't see nothing. I step out into the yard. It's dark, but there's enough moonlight to allow me to see Sam on the ground. She's rolled onto her side, facing away from me.

  “Sam, get up,” I say nervously.

  She doesn't respond.

  “Sam,” I say. “Stop fucking about”.

  She stays where she is, not moving. I look around. There doesn't seem to be anyone here, though I can hear distant revellers in and around the local bars.

  “Sam!” I hiss. “What are you doing?”

  Suddenly her stillness becomes ominous. She's not sleeping, she's not resting. This is something else. A kind of stillness I've only ever seen once before. I step towards her, keeping an eye on the rest of the yard, just in case it turns out that there's someone else here.

  When I reach Sam, I kneel down and prod her back. She's still rolled up on her side, facing away from me.

  “Sam,” I say. “Sam, what's wrong?”

  No response.

  Nothing.

  Slowly, I roll her onto her back, and I immediately fall back when I see what has happened to her. Her face is fixed in a deathly, shocked gasp, a single trickle of blood running from her mouth. Further down, her entire chest has been ripped apart into a bloody mess, and her twisted ribs are jutting out into the moonlit night. It looks like her guts have been gouged out, and rain is falling into the cavity.