Chapter 26
Mitchell sipped his coffee, given to him by Annie. He was, as of yet, unaware of Emiline's absence.
"Toast?" Annie asked, desperate to put off the moment at which he would begin to ask after the other ghost.
"Umm, yeah, thanks," He replied, picking up his mug again "what's all this in aid of?"
"Mitchell! Can't I just make you breakfast? I thought you boys had got used to my tea-making habits." Mitchell shrugged
"S'pose. Bit late for breakfast though isn't it? It's half two in the afternoon Annie."
"You over-slept."
They waited in silent monotony until the 'phone made them both jump.
"What with all the calls we've had recently… well." Annie said, implying that Mitchell should pick it up, not only because he was the only official member of the house present, but because she feared what she might be told.
Mitchell nodded and trudged over, irritated and confused; he'd woken to find Emiline gone from his room and not immediately obvious around the house, and Annie was acting strangely.
"Hello?"
"Mitchell, it's George. Are you free today?"
"Err, yeah, I am as a matter of fact."
"Can you meet me the old disused warehouse at 5:30? You know the one."
"Sure." Mitchell replied, to a dead line; George had already hung up. Yes, he knew the warehouse; it was the place he had originally arranged for George to transform in, before the saving grace which was the solitary cell at the hospital. George had been nervous about transforming in it, in case anyone used it as a den or hideout of any kind. 'They might be criminals and druggies Mitchell, but I can't just go around killing them… and what if the door doesn't hold and I get out?' The problem had soon been solved though by their new employment.
"Who was that?" asked Annie, still nervous.
"George. Funny conversation actually, he sounded a bit… tense. He wants me to meet him later today."
"Why?"
"No idea, maybe about his transformation; it is about now isn't it?" Mitchell asked, running his hand through his hair. Annie nodded a response.
"It's tonight."
"Well, there you go then… Where's Em by the way?"
~X~
The girl went unnoticed by the pedestrians, in spite of her unusual clothing, and – more to the point – in spite of her ability to travel from one street corner to the next whilst ignoring the air in-between. So nobody saw her pained expression, her longing eyes and her bleeding wrists. She arrived, finally at the house she recognised as Nina's, and – forgetting to knock – walked through the door. She found herself in a small hall, next to a wet umbrella and a coat stand, looking sad at its lack of coats. She heard talking from within the flat, and started towards the door, but stopped herself, noticing that the voices were raised. She put her head to the wall, but was unable to make out any words. Feeling like a criminal, she let herself fall through the wall, to be faced by George's back within very close proximity. Suddenly furtive again, she disappeared behind the full length curtain she spotted hanging inside the window. She had not been seen.
"George, there must be some other way to work this out!" Emiline recognised the voice as Nina's and, peering round the curtain, saw that she had been standing the other side of George, shielded from view by his height, just as Emiline had been behind his back. Still unsure of what she was doing and why, Emiline pressed her back to the window and listened, an intense feeling of guilt spreading through her. Perhaps it was just that she was envious of the couple's seemingly perfect relationship, or perhaps it was some strange premonition, but either way, she hung on every word they said.
"Nina," began George "you don't seem to be hearing me; I can't run the risk of loosing you. It almost happened the other night, don't you see? I can't… I won't have anything like that happening again." He ended at a near shout.
"You don't have to loose me. And stop talking like you own me; you don't; I haven't even agreed to marry you yet, and you won't own me even then. There must be some other way to work this out." Nina shouted back.
"Maybe, but it's too dangerous, this is the only way to be sure that we're safe."
"But it isn't… who knows what Vial might ask you to do after this? It could just be one more favour after one more favour. I don't see how killing him is going to work." Emiline could hear something like a sulk in Nina's voice as she said this.
"We just have to trust Vial on this one. If it comes to it, well, I'll have to confront him, or better still, run. Look Nina, it isn't just one werewolf against us both on this; there're loads… hundreds possibly, by what Vial said, and it sounds like they're all completely loyal to him."
"He's bluffing." Nina replied, sure of herself.
"And if he's not? Fancy being rented out to 3 werewolves at a time Nina? Fancy being taken away from me?" George was answered by silence. "I have to do it."
"And after all he's done for you. He set you and me up together, you said he saved your life… and now you're going to kill him." Nina sounded desperate now, clearly loosing her case.
"I don't want to Nina, but I'm going to have to. He was willing to sacrifice himself for us before, I'm sure he'd do it again."
Emiline was utterly confused by the conversation and was contemplating leaving and then coming back in, announced, in order to say her goodbye's, when Nina said something she couldn't ignore. She'd been disturbed enough by what she'd already heard, but assumed that there was some at least partially reasonable explanation for it, but what she heard next was so much worse:
"So you've arranged a time and a place to… murder your best friend. You're going to murder Mitchell!"
~X~
"Annie, what have you done?!" Mitchell yelled, but it was the forecast result, and she took it unflinchingly.
"I haven't done anything." Even as Annie said the words, she knew that she was lying; she was the instigator of Emiline's departure, though Mitchell may have provoked her to do it. "We talked, Mitchell, and we both decided she'd be better off leaving."
"Oh yeah; then why did she just leave? If she wanted to go so much then she would have had the decency to say goodbye. If she wanted to go then she would have known that nothing I could have said would have changed her mind!" He had a point. Annie wished she'd put up with Emiline, thinking that it was more trouble to have sent her away.
Mitchell fingered the note she'd left 'Mitchell' it read 'I'm sorry I had to leave, and I'm sorry I couldn't tell you; Annie thought it would be best.' It said it all. He checked his watch, and cursed.
"We'll continue this later," he hissed, picking up his jacket from off the back of a chair "I've got to meet George in 3 quarters of an hour, and the warehouse isn't all that close." He stormed out, cursing again followed by Annie pleading him to be careful.
As soon as the door was slammed, the 'phone rang again. Assuming it would only be George calling, Annie picked up. She was greeted not, however, by George's friendly voice, but by a strange hissing sound. Confused, Annie was about to put down the line, when the hissing seemed to say her name.
"H-hello?" she whispered back.
"Annie? Or is it Mitchell?" The hissing sounded strangely hopeful upon saying Mitchell's name.
"It's Annie… who's calling?" she asked, hoping that it was just a bad line or interference with a mobile communication.
"Emiline… your voice sounds strange." The crackling on the other end of the line replied. The answer surprised Annie, but she continued.
"Yours too, but…"
"Yes: Annie, you must stop Mitchell going out to meet George. I don't care what you say to him, but you have to stop him leaving the house." The noises were becoming clearer, more distinctly a voice, and more distinctly Emiline's.
"What? Why?"
"Can you do it or not?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"He's already left."
"Damn." The line went dead, deaf to Annie's questioning
~X~
Emiline heard George leave, with Nina shouting after him not to do it. She stepped out from behind the curtain.
"Nina," she said, making the nurse spin round "where's he going?"
"Where did you come from?" Nina screeched, panicked and confused.
"I was behind the curtain, listening. Yes, I heard everything, but that's not the point… where's George going?"
"You were listening? You listened to, to… all that?" Nina stammered.
"Look," Emiline said, frustrated "I'm sorry, but we can take this up again later. I realise that you don't know me very well but you've got to help me; where the hell is George meeting Mitchell?!"
Nina didn't answer for a while, but Emiline continued to stare, her gaze getting more and more desperate.
"I don't know… alright, he arranged to meet at some old warehouse, but I don't know where that is. This is all George's doing, don't you see?"
"You really don't know?" Emiline asked, grabbing Nina by the arm and looking desperate.
"No! Wait, I think I might know the one. It's a gamble, but… I guess you won't leave unless I help you. Look, what's it to you anyway?"
"Well, do you want to see Mitchell dead? Your dealings with him may have been limited, but I'm fairly sure you don't want to have a part in him being torn limb from limb by your… boyfriend."
"Look, I know the way," said Nina, relenting "I'll take you. Maybe we could get a taxi, I don't know." Nina felt the return of the horrid sickness that she'd felt when George had first told her what he was going to do to Mitchell, and she knew that Emiline was right – they could not simply do nothing.
"No time. Do you have a map?"
"Yes, but…"
"Bring it here," Nina did as she was told "and find the place."
"I don't know where…"
"Do it!"
"Right, it's there I think," said Nina quietly, circling the spot with a pencil "quite close actually. Well, close to here, not so close to the pink house." But Nina found that she was talking to thin air, as Emiline had already disappeared.
~X~
Mitchell was still furious, but he vowed to keep it under control for George; it wasn't his fault after all. Walking fast, the warehouse finally came into sight, albeit at the top of an imposing looking hill that Mitchell had just come to. He had taken the bus ('the bloody BUS!' he thought'Vampires aren't supposed to use public transport; they're meant to turn into bats and fly around, or run so fast you can't see them, like in 'Starlight' and 'Full Moon' or whatever. JESUS.'), the car having refused to start, and he didn't have a lot of time to spare. Being winter night was coming early and Mitchell knew that, if it really was George's time of the month, he was going to have to hurry if he wanted to catch him before he transformed. Looking at his watch, he swore under his breath; it was now a quarter to six.
~X~
Emiline blinked in the darkness, unable to see her surroundings. As her vision adjusted, she began to make out the forms of different sized wooden crates and a figure pacing around behind some of them.
"George?!" she called out, making the silhouette jump.
"Wha… Emiline?" He said, stumbling around and then blinding the ghost by turning on an electric torch.
"Oh, sorry," He said, moving the beam from out of her eyes "what are you doing here?" he asked shiftily.
"I know what you're planning; you can't do it, George."
"Don't be ridiculous. Look, I'm going to transform any minute and, well, it's something that's better if I do it in private. I'm sure Nina will be making her way down to isolation any time now, ready for her… thing. It's not something we share, with anybody. So you'd better…" his sentence was cut short by the first part of the cripplingly painful transformation.
"George!" In spite of her better judgement, Emiline rushed to him. "What's wrong?"
"What's wrong? What's bloody wrong? All my bones and muscles are resizing, that's what's wr-Arrg." His whole body shuddered and convulsed with the pain.
"George, I know there's not much time, but please, you can't kill him."
"I have to."
"No!" Emiline fell to her knees "Please, oh god, no! Don't do this George, don't; you can't, you won't, you…" she lost her power of speech, simply wailing. George's own voice joined her cries, another spasm of pain taking hold of him, but even that could not block out the ghost's own personal agony. George's eyes flickered to lupine yellow, the pupils changing shape. He looked down at her whilst she gripped at his trousers, pleading with him all the while. He quickly removed his shirt and unbuckled his belt, but left his jeans on, even now self-conscious of standing unclothed with anyone else there.
He visibly sagged, and dropped down to his knees, next to Emiline. His spine rippled, making sickening cracking noises as it reshaped.
"You're right," he said "I can't do it."
"Oh, George. I knew you wouldn't." she flung her hands to the side of his head and quickly kissed his forehead as he shook with pain.
"Yes you can," It was another voice, coming from behind Emiline. She spun on her knees, though George seemed oblivious, his transformation taking over. "And you will."
"Vial." George whispered. The man laughed.
"You didn't think I'd just trust you to do this all by yourself? You need supervision, boy. I've been following you since you left hospital. Look at it this way; whatever you do, the vampire dies, but if you make me do it for you… well let's just say that I don't take kindly to those who force me do things I'd rather not." The man, too, began to transform, and his smug laughter was cut short by howls of pain. Emiline looked around, desperate, as the heavy iron door of the warehouse began to creak open.
~X~
"Nina!" cried Annie. The semi-werewolf, semi-woman looked up, and spoke through elongated teeth.
"Annie? What the hell?" Nina began to shake with pain "Whatever you're doing here, you'd better leave quickly." Annie cast a glance around the isolation cell, remembering how she'd followed George there, only to watch through the tiny window, as he dismembered Herrick.
"Where are they?" Annie asked urgently.
"Who?"
"All of them!"
"Not you too? Look, they're all at this warehouse," Nina said, but was met by a blank look "Garafell's? It used to belong to Garafell's hardware store, but the chain collapsed a few years ago." Annie shook her head.
"I don't remember it." Annie said
"God, I would have brought the map from the house if I'd known; the place is marked on in pencil."
"Right." Said Annie, popping into thin air, leaving Nina writhing in agony.
~X~
"What the fuck?!" It was Mitchell. Emiline started towards him, running from the rapidly transforming George and Vial. She smacked into him and pushed against him her feet moving, but slipping on the concrete floor.
"Mitchell, you've got to leave, quickly!" she said, still pushing against him, her arms outstretched.
"What the fuck?!" Mitchell repeated.
"Please; they're going to kill you."
"What, no slow down. What do you mean? Who's 'they'?" Mitchell said, looking around bemusedly. His vision came to George. "Oh shit, he's transforming."
"It's not just him. Mitchell you have to run, now, quickly." She said, throwing her weight against him again.
"Em… wait, who the fuck is that? Is that Nina?"
"No, it's, well, I don't know who…" Emiline's sentence was cut short by a growl, as the wolf just recognisable as George came leaping towards them. "Mitchell!" she cried, but was thrown clear of him by George's head. He advanced slowly upon Mitchell.
"Fuck, the door!" he said, pushing it closed, but it was too late; George was already pelting at him, head long. He broke through. "George!" Mitchell was left unharmed, but his friend had escaped, and there was no end to the havoc he might wreak in his animal form. Mitchell stared after him, unsure of what to do.
"Close the door, bloodsucker; he'll be alright by himself for a while." Vial said, chuckling.
"Who are you?" asked Mitchell, closing the door reluctantly. Vial laughed.
"You think I'm going to unveil my master plan to you now do you? A little cliché don't you think? As to my name; I am Mayor Vial."
"Mayor?"
"Yes, yes, but that's not the point, is it bloodsucker?"
"Mitchell, Mitchell; you see now, you've got to leave," Emiline cried "he's going to kill you."
"Leave now, girl, and… wait, you're a ghost!" Vial laughed nastily "Wouldn't want a silly little girl like you to see all this messy business. Go on home now, that's right."
Vial began to walk towards Mitchell, but was stopped short; the last stages of the transformation took hold, revealing a wolf far larger than George, with silver fur.
"Let's go!" Mitchell shouted, but too late; Vial rushed him, throwing him clean of his feet.
"Mitchell!" Emiline began running to him, skipping various patches of space and time. She was at his side.
"I'm okay." Mitchell said, pushing himself up. They stood as if waiting for Vial to attack, but he did not; he merely stood, grimacing at them. "He wants to do this properly."
"What?" Emiline asked, but Vial was nodding back at Mitchell as if he understood every word. Mitchell turned, his eyes going pitch black, his fangs unveiling themselves. "Mitchell, no!"
He launched himself at Vial, not with the animal agility of a werewolf, but with a strange grace. Vial batted him away with ease, Mitchell flying head first into a pile of crates. He righted himself, staggering a little, and went for the kill again. This time, Vial let him take a hold round his neck before shaking him off and sending him hurtling into the air. Mitchell landed on the floor with a crunch and lay unmoving for a couple of seconds.
"Oh no," Emiline whispered to herself, but once again Mitchell got back up "there must be some other way." He flung himself at the wolf, this time getting the mark and digging his teeth into the neck. Vial roared and smashed his side against the wall of the warehouse, crushing Mitchell in-between. This time, he did not get up from the ground, though he tried. He pushed himself up on his hands, but his elbows buckled and he fell back down, bleeding profusely. Vial raised his head and howled. He dashed around the warehouse with sadistic glee, returning panting. He stared at Mitchell.
"Alright then; stop playing with your food and finish the job!" Mitchell spluttered at Vial, who seemed to make a decision. His eyes went dead as he began to advance slowly upon the vampire.