Wolf House (Potter's Story) (8 page)

“Keep away from me,” I spat, raising the palm of my hand out towards her.

“What?” she asked, sounding confused.

“Just keep away from me,” I told her again, shifting my position against the tree so I didn’t have to look at her.

Then I felt her hand gently squeeze my shoulder, as she turned me around to face her. She looked into my eyes and said, “What’s wrong?”

“I just want to be left alone,” I told her.

“That’s no fun,” she smiled.

“I haven’t come here to have fun,” I told her. “I’ve come to catch a killer.”

Leaning in close to me, she whispered, “Something is happening here -”

“I know, children are being murdered…” I started.

“No, I didn’t mean that,” she whispered, brushing herself close against me. “Something is happening between you and me – you feel it too, I know you do.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I lied as she looked into my eyes, her lips hovering over mine.

“I’ve never met a man like you before, Potter,” she whispered. “a man who has such a dark side. You could take me away from all of this.”

“From all of what?” I said, fighting the desire to kiss her.

“All this death,” she whispered, then pressed her lips against mine.

As if drowning, I felt smothered by a wave of intense feelings and emotions, like nothing I had felt before, and I was kissing her back. Her tongue felt like velvet in my mouth as she hungrily pulled at me. Then I was falling backwards as she pushed me down onto the ground. I fell onto the carpet of leaves and pine needles that covered the floor of the woods. She sprang on top of me, pulling open my coat and nipping the skin of my neck with her teeth. The trees seemed to close in all around us, shielding us from view, like we were in our own world.

Her soft hair fell across my face, and it felt so good. I ran my hands down her back and scratched at her with my claws. Leaning up, she threw aside her shirt, and the chain with the cross shone just inches from my face. She lowered herself onto me and her skin felt warm and soft. As I looked into her eyes, they were no longer that luminous yellow, but green – the colour of emeralds. I entwined my fingers in her hair, but it was no longer white-blond but dark brown, thick and curly. I looked at her face, but Madison had gone, it was Sophie I was making love to. I rolled her over onto the soft cushion of leaves and her breath felt hot against my neck as she said, “I find your dark side irresistible.”

To hear those words made my heart race as it was filled with joy. Sophie had finally accepted me for who I truly was, she had fallen in love with the real me – the monster – the vampire bat – the Vampyrus. I made love to her and it felt like nothing I had experienced with her before. It was as if everyone and everything had disappeared. There was nothing left but only us.

How long we spent together shielded by those trees I do not know. We finally collapsed in each other’s arms lying breathless together. However long it had been, the day had now turned into night and I could see the light of the full moon spinning through the treetops high above us.

The silence was broken by the sound of shouting. I recognised the voice. It belonged to Drake.

“There’s been another one!” he roared. “Oh my god, there’s been another one!”

“Another what?” I whispered against her chest, not wanting those stolen moments with Sophie to end just yet.

“Oh no!” she said, pushing me off her. But it wasn’t Sophie’s voice, it was different. It was Madison who was talking to me. “Potter!” she shouted. “Hurry up and get dressed. I think the wolf has been back!”

“What?” I mumbled, rubbing my eyes as she hurriedly pulled her clothes back on. “What’s going on here? I thought you were…?”

“What?” she said, tucking her shirt into the waistband of her trousers.

I wanted to say,
I thought you were someone else – I thought you were Sophie.
But I couldn’t. How had this happened? How had I ended up making love to Madison?

“I can’t believe it,” I breathed, looking at her.

“Neither can I,” she smiled down at me. “I guessed you had a dark side, Potter, but you were something else!”

Then she was gone, racing back towards the house.

15

I pulled on my boots and trousers.
How had this happened?
I wondered. I’d made love to a Lycanthrope! Had I really believed she had been Sophie? Or had the love I still kept hidden for Sophie blinded me? But Madison was beautiful, right? Maybe I had wanted her, and my feelings of guilt for this had tricked my mind into believing that really I had been with Sophie. Whatever the reason – whatever had happened – Drake was yelling from the house that there had been another murder. Now wasn’t the time to analyse my feelings of love, lust, or guilt.

Throwing my coat on, I raced back through the woods towards the house. By the time I got there, Madison was standing by the open front door and talking frantically to Drake who had a flashlight in his hands.

“What’s happened?” She asked him.

“Where have you two been?” he asked her, looking at the both of us.

“Never mind that now,” she said. “What happened here? What have you found?”

Stepping aside in the doorway and handing Madison his flashlight, Drake said, “See for yourselves.”

Brushing past him, Madison stepped into the house and I followed close behind. As if knowing what to expect, she shone the cone of white light directly at the child’s chair which was in the centre of the living room. She gasped and dropped the flashlight. It rolled away from her and I snatched it up. Aiming the light at the chair, I moved forward.

Just like the night before, there was a child sitting slumped in the chair. Clenching my jaw tight, and the sound of my heart racing in my ears, I reached out and lifted the child’s head. The face of a girl looked back at me, her eyes blank but open. In them I could see the fear that had been captured. Red curls of hair spilt across her brow and down onto her shoulder in ringlets. She wore a Bratz nightdress which was covered in little purple stars. I lowered her head and took my hand from the base of her neck. It felt damp and clammy. Using the flashlight, I could see that it was coloured red with blood. Smearing my hand against my trouser leg, I realised that her hair wasn’t red at all; her blond hair was stained with blood. Hunkering down, I could see she had something in her tiny clenched fist. Very gently, I unfolded her fingers and took the item from her hand. Holding it up in the light, I could see that it was a tiny pink shoe, and I guessed it had probably come from one of her Bratz dolls as she had been stolen from her bed by the wolf.

Placing it along with the growing collection of toys by the chair, I stood up and turned on Drake who was standing by the open doorway.

“Where were you when this happened?” I asked him.

“I could ask you the same question,” he shot back, his eyes never leaving mine.

Glancing sideways, I looked at Madison and then back at Drake. “I was with Madison.”

“Oh yeah?” he smirked. “Doing what exactly?”

“We were checking out the woods for any clues that might have been left by the wolf from last night,” Madison lied, and for the first time since meeting her, I saw her pale face flush red. I felt her embarrassment and shame too; not because we didn’t want Drake to know what happened between us in the woods, but that we had been making out while another dead child had been brought to the Wolf House. But it was more than that. Murphy and Luke were depending on me to find this killer – Murphy had put his trust in me and I could hear myself saying to him as he lay bleeding,
“I won’t let you down.”

But I had let him down; I let Luke down and the children the wolf had brought here. Perhaps my father was right. Maybe I was useless and would never amount to anything.

“Checking for clues?” Drake asked, and I could hear the disbelief in his voice.

“It’s got fuck-all to do with you what we were doing in that wood,” I scowled at him. “But what is important is that we were both together – we have alibis.”

“What’s that s’posed to mean?” Drake asked, puffing out his chest.

“It means, numb-nuts, that it couldn’t have been either one of us who brought that dead little girl in here,” I snapped, “But you, on the other hand? We only have your word that you were out searching for us!”

“What are you trying to say?” Drake blustered. “That I killed that little girl and brought her here?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” I spat, moving closer towards him.

Shaking his head, Drake looked at Madison and said, “Are you just gonna stand there and let him say that about me? I’m your friend! I’m a Lycanthrope, just like you.”

Staring back at him, Madison said, “I hate to say this, but Potter’s got a point.”

“Well he can shove his point up his freaking arse!” Drake shouted. “I ain’t a child killer!”

“Sorry but I thought all you Lycanthrope had been child killers at some time or another!” I growled.

“Ancient freaking history!” Drake shouted and spit flew from his lips. “I’m not going to stand here and listen to this shit!”

I saw him turn as if to leave, but before he’d even had the chance to reach for the door handle, I’d flitted across the room in a spray of shadows and barred his exit from the house.

“What were you
really
doing in the woods yesterday?” I hissed. “You weren’t taking a piss!”

“And you and Madison weren’t looking for clues,” he half-smiled. “Now get out of my way.”

Placing my hand firmly against his chest, I looked in his bright yellow eyes and said, “How come you were in the woods last night when I was chasing down that wolf?”

“I heard the howling and came after you,” he said. “I wish now that I’d left you to die.” Then, shoving me aside, he yanked open the front door and stormed out.

The door slammed shut with such force that the whole house trembled on its ancient foundation. “I’m watching you!” I shouted after him, but he was gone. Turning, I flinched backwards to find Madison standing directly behind me.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” she smiled.

“We both stopped killing years ago,” she told me. “I don’t want to live like this anymore. I don’t want to be trapped by this curse. I want to be human again, not a werewolf.”

Looking back over my shoulder, I said, “I don’t trust him and to be honest, I don’t know if I trust you.”

Hearing me say this, the glow in her eyes faded and I was surprised to see that she looked hurt by what I said. “But what about what happened between us in the woods?” she whispered. “Didn’t that mean anything to you?”

“And you like me because of mine!” she shouted, screwing her hands into fists by her sides. “I could see it in your eyes the first time you saw me. There was a connection and you know it!”

“Dream on!” I barked back.

“I’ve seen you checking me out with all of your little side glances,” she said. “I’ve seen you staring at my butt. Your eyes nearly fell out of your head earlier when I unbuttoned my shirt to show you my necklace. And when I was dressing your wounds, I could feel your heart racing. I could see your body tensing every time I came near you. So don’t give me all this crap that you’re not attracted to me like I am to you. You need to let go, Potter!”

“Let go of what?” I sneered.

“Whoever it was that broke your heart!” she snapped back. “If she’d really wanted you, she’d be here right now, so stop chasing ghosts!”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about!” I said angrily, scooping up the little girl in my arms. But she was right. I did need to let go of Sophie – but not yet – not now.

I carried the little girl towards the door and as I went, Madison said, “Where are you going?”

“To lay this little girl to rest,” I said. “That’s what Harker wants us to do isn’t it?”

16

I carried the little girl in to the woods. I found the prettiest spot I could find, where the moonlight cut through an opening in the trees and bathed the ground in a pool of milky light. Laying her down on a pile of leaves, I set about digging her grave with my claws.

As I worked, I tried to free my mind of everything, but it was impossible. No wonder the wolf hadn’t been caught; this place was messed up. It was like a world within a world where rules didn’t apply and your sanity was pushed to the limits. How had I missed this little girl being brought to the house? Why had I let myself be seduced by Madison? But had she really seduced me? Could I really blame her? I had a mind of my own, didn’t I? And however much I hated to admit it to myself, Madison had been right. I had been checking her out. I did find her attractive – there was something about her that kind of drove me crazy. But maybe that was good. Madison had said I needed to let go – let go of Sophie – and maybe I had already started to. After all, if my love for Sophie was as strong as it had once been, would I have found Madison so attractive? Would I have slept with her? No, I wouldn’t have.

But I
had
imagined that I’d been making love to Sophie, when really it had been Madison who I’d wanted. Wasn’t that just the last fragment of guilt taking over as I let go of Sophie? Now that I had given myself to Madison, I could never look back at Sophie. That part of my life was now over.