Author's Note: I mentioned somewhere the Wolf Fell. I took that name from The Spook's Apprentice, it's one of the hills of Lancashire.
Chapter V
"It's not me who will lead all those people to their doom. It's you."
With these last words, Malkin transforms to a dragon and disappears on the horizon, leaving William alone inside her hideout. Her words are clouding every other thought in his mind because, simply, he knows very well what she meant by that... He can feel it in his bones...
His eyes become blurry and he feels anger and rage taking over him. "No, no... not... again..." he says as he struggles not to give in.
"Succumb, William... Fighting it is pointless... Darkness will eventually consume you, give in to it..." her voice speaks inside his mind and he feels everything else fade... Perhaps it's already too late...
He leaves Pendle Mountain and heads for the village immediately, imagining that would be the first place Malkin would attack. As he crosses the forest, he starts feeling a certain numbness overwhelm him. He falls on his knees. "No..." he sees the lake. He drags himself there, unable to get up, and glances at the water. Only now, he wishes that he hadn't. It's already too late. The wolf has reached the surface. "I'll kill you, Malkin!... I'll.. kill..."
And then, nothing. Darkness, everywhere.
When he regains his senses, he sees in front of him a sight very similar to the first attack. Only, now, everything that has happened, it did so under the light of day. He is in the village, though without knowledge of how he got there. He is in chains, as well. He sees Bartholomew.
"Wh-what happened?". Inside him, he can sense what has happened, however, he simply wants someone else to tell him, hoping he won't hear what he expects to hear...
Bartholomew approaches him, grabs him by the collar of his, now mainly torn, shirt and turns him around to see all the death and suffering. "Do you see? See what you have done? I told you to restrain yourself, but you didn't listen! You will now face the consequences." He hits him on his stomach, William falls on his knees and someone from behind knocks him unconscious.
He wakes up inside a prison cell in the dungeons. His limbs are sore and his throat is itchy. He notices guards outside of his cell. "Some... water, please..." he walks towards the bars of his cell.
One of the guards approaches the cell holding a flask and extends his hand through the bars. "Here you go, dog!" he mocks him and instead of giving the flask to him he just turns it around and lets the water fall down on the ground. Anger rises inside William as he hears the guards laughing at him. In one swift movement he grabs the guard who mocked him by his shirt through the cell bars. "Don't. You. Mock. Me." he says as he applies more and more pressure at the guard's neck.
"Do it, William. You have it in you, do it!" Her voice speaks inside him. He tries not to listen to her. He can't. He kills the guard with his bare hands.
The other guards stand there speechless for a moment, glancing both at the dead body in front of them and at William, who is heavily breathing. Everyone starts distancing himself from the cell, and William sits on the bed of his cell, looking at the guard he killed. His elbows rest on his knees and he buries his face in his hands. Is that it? Has he become a cold-blooded killer? Just like that?
He gets up and paces towards the window of the cell. "Malkin! Where are you?" he shouts in desperation. "I accept your offer! Just stop this madness, please...". He gazes at the sky, hoping to see her in her dragon form nearby, but nothing. He goes back at the bed and lies down, looking at the ceiling, until he hears footsteps. He notices Bartholomew at the end of the corridor, approaching his cell. He gets up from the bench and walks towards the bars as well.
Bartholomew looks down on the ground and notices the dead guard. "Just tell me one thing, William. What good did it do to you, killing that guard? Did it quench your thirst for blood?"
"You've known me for so long, Bartholomew. When have I ever given you reason to believe such things for me? Before Malkin appeared I-"
"That nonsense about Malkin again! Guards! Go fetch my cross and some silver dust! Clearly, this man has been possessed!"
William looks at him curiously. He can't really believe that.
After the guards leave, Bartholomew leans forward, towards William and whispers to him "I'm here to get you out, my friend. That's why I said this earlier, I needed to remove the guards." He unlocks the door of the cell.
"I have horses waiting outside, we must be quick!"
They manage to sneak out of the dungeons without being detected, and William sees Shadowless and one more horse waiting in the distance. For a moment, he wonders how did Bartholomew manage to bring Shadowless here, since the latter is bound only to William.
"Here are the horses, as I told you. Let's go!"
They ride the horses but when they start to leave, William halts. "We have to head to your home first. You confiscated my weapons and belongings while I was in the cell, didn't you?"
"Why, yes, of course. You are right, my friend. Let's head there first to take care of this."
And with this being said, they head for Bartholomew's home. William finds his belongings in a rack beside the front door. "I knew you'd finally believe what I told you about Malkin, my friend" he says as he gathers his weapons. "Now you know why I have to find Malkin, this madness has to stop. That's why I'm heading to Pendle Mountain. I'm going to find her and-"
"No, you don't have to go there."
"Of course I have to, my friend. I have to go there and find her because it's the only way-"
"You don't understand. You don't have to go there to find her."
At that moment, he notices the ancient red pendant on the shelf. He takes it in his hand, runs his thumb accross the runes on it and turns around, only to find Mother Malkin standing exactly where Bartholomew stood.
"You don't have to go find her, because she's already found you" she says to him and walks towards him.
He stands motionless and speechless for a moment. "Where is he?"
She chuckles. "Dead. And for quite a long time, I might add. Along with his best friend, the Spook" she says mockingly. "Do you remember when they left the Council to hunt those demons that supposed to be haunting the Wolf Fell? Well, let's say they encountered something far worse than that and, unfortunately, they never made it back here."
"That's why Gregory disappeared..." William thinks aloud. Everything seems to start making some sense now. There is one thing, though, that William still doesn't comprehend. "Why are you after me? What do you want that I can give you?"
"I've told you, already, my dear William." She gets closer to him, her tail coiling around his waist. "I want you to leave this place and join me, so that we can rule these lands together, you and me."
He looks inside her eyes, mesmerized once more by her excquisite beauty. He runs his hand through her long red hair and rests it onher collarbone, softly caressing it. They have locked eyes, and for him nothing else exists. Only this moment. But, for a moment, he diverts his eyes from her and feels as if he was hypnotized a moment ago. "Why me? Why not anyone else?"
"I've told you, William, because you have the darkness in you, and you've proven that more than once, especially today, even if you refuse to accept it. You will give in to me, eventually and you know it."
"What makes you think that I will follow you, of all people? You've been driving me mad since I met you, you killed all these innocent people, you killed my brothers, and you still believe that I will join you?"
"Yes, because even now that you know I killed the only person whom you trusted, you only think about me."
"No, that's... that's not true, Bartholomew, he-"
She puts one hand on his chest and the other around his neck and brings his face closer to hers. "Don't lie to me, William. I can see in your eyes how much you want me. And that lust for me would not cease to exist even if I told you I killed everyone to the very last person of this place. And I would do it, William, if that was what needed to be done to bring you to me."
"I'm not the kind of person you describe. You've corrupted my mind from the very moment I saw you in that lake!" He steps towards her and she has to step back until she hits the edge of the table. "You've made me kill innocent people, you always were there when all the attacks happened and-"
"I wasn't there, however, when you killed this guard tonight."
He stops there, for a moment, realizing she actually might be right about this. He didn't feel at all out of himself when he led that man to his death.
"You did that by your own will." She grins and looks deeply at him. "And do you remember the look on the other guards' faces? You know what they were all thinking."
"No, they-"
"How did we let this monster protect us all this time?"
He feels his rage rising inside him. He will kill her. He will...
"He is the nightmare that haunts our children at night, he is even worse than those witches he hunts. He is a monster."
He is trembling. He sees a silver knife at the table and with a swift movement he snatches it from behind her. He holds it right next to her heart. He has to kill her, to end his suffering. He can't. He lets the knife fall from his hand. He kisses her, long and hard, while pushing her towards the table.
He kisses her and his hands caress her neck, her shoulders, her waist... He even feels her shiver under his touch. His kisses are rough, filled with all his desire for her, longing... When she feels his touch getting more and more demanding she slightly pushes him away. "Not here, we have to leave."
With that, he takes his coat and effects and they get outside of the house. He goes for his horse but she stops him. "No, you won't need that." And with these words, she transforms into a dragon and waits for him to get on her back.
He is hesitant, but now it's already too late to be having second thoughts. He walks towards her and before getting on her back he halts.
"No. There's something I have to do first."
End of Chapter