Into the Darkness
Chapter 2
As we walked down the street, I felt a temptation to utilise my gift and look across the gauntlet once more. Even from a few hundred yards down the road, I could see the brightly lit beacon of the bookshop, as some sort of supernatural activity within the Hisil seemed to resonate from this point. I had never encountered this type of strange power before and as a result, was relatively confident that we were not walking into a gathering of the Pure.
Entering through the small doorway of this antique looking shop, we were greeted by a modern, cozy, well lit little shop. The only thing that gave away the age of the building was the low ceilings, the maze like nature of the walls and the antiquated tinkling of the shop's bell as the door opened. Judging by the looks on the faces of the clientele sitting here reading books, it was as if four Goths had just stumbled into a Hippie love-in. Tanith tapped Harvey on the side and pointed him in the direction of the history book section, which he nodded at. As we were looking around the shop, a relatively old woman bustled up towards us and started to address us in a 'grandmother knows best' tone of voice.
"What are you doing here? People of your sort don't just wander into places like this uninvited, you know. Who is your Alpha? Come on, speak up."
"Our Alpha? Now, whatever is that supposed to mean, madam?" Nadia looked the old woman straight in the eye. This seemed to annoy her and she moved closer to Nadia, meeting the stare head on.
"Come now, child. We all know what you are. Indeed, what the four of you are. Now, why does a pack of Uratha come walking into my bookshop, when we haven't arranged for it?" Surprised that someone would know so much about us from what appeared a first impression, Nadia rallied magnificently:
"We have come to find some information on the hospital at Powick. Would you be able to help us find out why the area seems to have a negative energy about it, that sort of thing?"
"Energy?" She snorted with a certain degree of contempt. "You're all the same – always striving to find balance in all things. If only you would open your eyes to it." Nadia raised her eyebrows at the cryptic message from the old woman. "Speak to Alice, she will help you with your search." As the old woman turned about, she called into the back room and a young girl, perhaps in her early twenties pushed through the beaded curtain to the staff area. She was blonde and had a pleasant, but somewhat distant smile upon her face and she didn't so much walk over to us, as glide across the space between.
"Hello there, can I get you a drink at all?" Relieved that finally someone was talking some sense, I breathed a small sigh of relief.
"I could murder a cup of tea. Milk and two, please."
"That's an awful thing to do to a cup of tea – what has it ever done to you?" Queried Alice, as her smile left her face temporarily. As she glided back out of the room, she offered the same to Harvey and Tanith. Harvey smiled at her, as she walked out – there was a look on his face that she had just ticked a few boxes for him.
Shortly after, Alice returned, with a cup of tea for me and a glass of water for Harvey. It was a little sweet, but I still managed to drink it. We discussed what was going on at the hospital and that the spirits seemed to have been upset and corrupted by the goings on there. Alice produced numerous books, detailing some of the deeds that had allegedly taken place there over the dark past of this facility. Tanith hurriedly scribbled notes in her book and as I drank the strange concoction, I became less interested in what was happening in the conversation.
Staring at the cup, as if there were something wrong with it, I tried to focus my attention, but to no avail. As I looked around the room, I noticed various spirits sitting idly by on the bookshelves. Some of them were like little leprechauns, leaning back as if they were novelty bookends themselves, while another was an ancient looking tome, that snapped and snarled at all and sundry, yanking at a ghostly chain which kept it bound to the shelf. In a rare moment of clarity, I covered my right eye and allowed myself to look beyond the gauntlet. While I saw the world in the darker blue tones, I looked at where the spirits were and I saw them, still acting the same, with no real difference from how I had seen them just. I pulled my hand from my face and looked in confusion from one packmate to the next. Harvey seemed to be talking to Alice, while laughing gaily. Nadia was leafing through books, while Tanith looked worriedly at me.
"Gareth… are you alright? You've gone pale. Well, paler." The words came to me as if they were from some great distance. Strange visions danced across my mind, good, bad and downright bizarre. The spirit that we had battled last night walked past, calmly munching on an infant spirit, while I saw the four of us packmates, talking to a teenager and a middle aged man, though I could not work out about what. I saw images of my packmates clutching grievous wounds and reeling back from whatever had caused them.
The sounds distorted in my mind, as much as my vision. From time to time, the voices of the pack would fade in and out, questioning me, though I could not summon up the control to hold a conversation with them.
Bouncing around various abstract visions, I found myself in my room, back on the farm. It was a cold morning and the fog just seemed to linger, regardless of the sun's power. I was reading, to stay out of the way of my parents, lest they find me some work. I stood up and stretched, grabbing myself a drink off the bedside table, when I looked out of the window and saw a black car pull up in the yard. It looked very official and two uniformed officers got out of the car, placing their hats on their head. I knew why they had arrived, yet I did not want to believe it. Suddenly, one of them knocked on the door.
I awoke with a start to the sound of my wristwatch bleeping at me. Wrestling with the covers, I shut the annoying thing off and checked the time. Quarter to five on Wednesday – it was a work morning, so I needed to get ready. I took a quick shower and as I shaved, I realised that there was only me in the bedroom – no sign of Tanith, Nadia or Harvey. Quickly running a comb through my hair, I wondered if my headache was the result of the goings on of late. Maybe it had been a dream and Michael was still about to introduce me to the pack. In spite of this, I found myself creeping down the stairs of my own house. I grabbed a bowl of cereal and a strong mug of coffee.
It was quite funny, looking back at this, that while I ate, I never even considered opening the lounge door, for fear of what I might find. I never usually shut it, so when I'd finished eating, I put my bowl in the sink, grabbed my boots and quietly opened the door.
Gazing into the darkness of my lounge, I was again gripped by a sense of foreboding, but I couldn't say why. The great hulking figure of Harvey's Urshul form was draped inelegantly across the sofa, snoring gently. To my right, the lupine figure of Tanith was curled up, next to a pile of blankets, presumable containing our Alpha. I picked my way across the room, trying to avoid a few boxes from the takeaway that they had indulged in. Loosing myself out through the front door, I sat on the step to get my boots sorted.
"Leaving so soon? It's not even half past five and you probably needed more sleep than the rest of us put together." Harvey had appeared in the doorway, now back in his human form, lest someone see him. For such a big guy, he moved incredibly lightly on his feet.
"Well, I've still got a job to do. Those letters won't deliver themselves." The cool morning air finished the job of waking me up and I stood, turning to Harvey.
"You're being ridiculous. What do you possibly owe humanity?" He leant against the wall, still looking down at me from within the doorway.
"It's not a case of owing humanity anything. Think of it like this – The Iron Masters helped me to move from my original job with the Royal Mail after I found myself. They got me this house and they don't come cheap, look you. I need money to keep a roof over my head and pay back the Masters. They bought this place when I moved here and I contribute towards the mortgage, effectively renting from them."
"A sound argument," Harvey stepped out through the door, pulling it to. "But I think that you're not seeing my point of view. Look at it – we help to preserve what's here by risking our god-damned lives for them. We don't get any thanks, no-one really knows what we do, because if they did, it would drive them crazy."
"So what you're saying is that you have a problem with me doing this as a job?" I tilted my head slightly at Harvey, trying to work out his motives.
"I'm saying that you already have a job in being who you are and being a part of this pack. Where one goes, we all must go." Harvey had drawn himself up to his full height and he was starting to loom over me. I pulled my key out of my pocket and opened the door
"Even Superman has a day job, because saving the world won't put a roof over your head. If you think this is a pack issue, perhaps we should all discuss it." I offered the door to Harvey, to allow him passage first. It crossed my mind to slam the door shut and go to work, but it wouldn't have been many steps before he caught me and dragged me back. This needed sorting out now.
Firmly, but fairly, Harvey woke both of the ladies and plonked himself down on the sofa. I remained standing by the door. "Morning ladies, we all need to talk." As Harvey set about trying to sort out a court to air his grievances, I glanced at my watch. In ten minutes, Steve would be waiting for me in his car, so I needed to make this brief.
"Gareth still has a human job – he's a postman. What point is there that he does that, anymore? We're werewolves and putting our lives on the line is enough, without having to worry about money as well." Harvey's argument was well presented, but I was in no mood to debate this point, as I had to get going.
"I've basically stated that it still remains that my debt to the Iron Masters on this house must be repaid, it helps with keeping the neighbours sweet that I am a normal person and it doesn't make me forget just why I do what I do."
"What do you mean, why you do what you do?" Harvey maintained his strong, hard level of questioning.
"With some of the people that you meet when you're on the rounds, you realise that they lead entirely normal lives. Would any of us have known about the Mages yesterday, had we not gone in there? Possibly only me, but that's beside the point. I may deliver post to Mages, Vampires and all other sorts of supernatural beings, however unlikely that sounds, but I still want to do my bit, to keep up the pretence, to remember that I was still born a human. What about you three?"
"I don't see the problem, Harvey." Nadia had sat herself down on the easy chair, still wrapped in the blankets. "I mean, Gareth still has a human life. Both you and Tanith can still have one. I gave mine up when I became famous."
"I can't have a life of my own, not with what I've become. I was an up and coming young runner, but now my body has changed and I can't compete with humans any more. The first change destroyed that dream." Opening up a little to us all, Harvey seemed ever so slightly smaller, as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
"So, because you aren't able to have that aspect of a life, you think that Gareth shouldn't have one either? That hardly seems fair." Nadia thought aloud, reasoning, but in a relatively firm tone of voice.
"But what if something happens? If we're all there, we can watch out for each other." Harvey protested
"You make it sound like you're trying to cover every eventuality, Harvey. I could walk out of this house and get run over by a car, for all we know. I'll admit, I'm not the soldier that my brother once was, but I'm not a coward either. I have this responsibility and I want to carry on with it." I stood there in silence for a few seconds, as Harvey and Nadia both looked in my direction. Tanith was rooting around in the kitchen, presumably for some breakfast.
"Tanith, do you have anything to add?" Nadia turned her attention to the young woman in the kitchen, who was pouring a glass of milk
"Not really – I can keep an eye on where you are, if you're close enough, but you're all big enough to look after one another, without constant surveillance."
"In that case, I see no issue with Gareth continuing his employment. I get royalties from my music and Tanith makes money through her journalism. That leaves you free for more things, during the day."
"I just want to make sure that you know what our pack means. To the rest of us." Harvey stopped looming and his shoulders sagged, almost in defeat at what Nadia had declared.
"I know what it means. We have to help one another to get through whatever gets thrown at us. When I go out on the rounds, I have a chance to think. This time is my own and it is paid for, so I win both ways. I can consider things that we might have missed and when I come back and you guys are properly awake, maybe we can carry on with our other duties?" As I saw Nadia nod to me, I turned on my heel and opened the door. "I'll see you guys in a few hours." Leaving the three of them to discuss things might be beneficial for all involved, I reasoned with myself, heading to work.
Quickening my pace, I jogged down to the corner of the road, where Steve was waiting. The shift passed quickly, with me brooding over the mood I was now in. During my walks through the suburbs, I could have sworn that I saw a large dog just on the edge of my vision at a few points. Perhaps Harvey cared more about me than he was letting on. I tried to spot the source of this 'vision' but I was unsuccessful, so did my best to appear that I had not noticed.
When I returned home, it was pretty quiet when I entered through the front door. Tanith was sat in front of her computer, typing away. I greeted her as I walked in and she smiled at me.
"Hey there, any news?"
"Nothing much, Gareth. We might have a few more leads, when Nadia gets back. She's not far away, but she's still driving." It was like she'd flicked a switch internally. Gone was the playful exterior that she showed us a few nights ago on the Malvern Hills and here was a business-like attitude. Perhaps she was writing an article and needed her space.
"Do you fancy a drink? I'm just about to put the kettle on." Tanith nodded and I started preparing two cups of tea, as we continued to talk. Harvey had gone for a run about an hour ago, while Nadia was just grabbing a few bits and pieces from the supermarket. As I came back into the lounge and sat on the sofa, she pushed her laptop to one side, so that she could pay me some attention.
"How do you do that? You seem to know where everyone is at the exact moment."
"It's a skill. Kind of similar to how you look across the gauntlet, I just concentrate on thinking about you guys and I know where you are and what you're doing. Not something that I enjoy all of the time, that much I've learned." Tanith rolled her eyes at the sentiment of catching some of her packmates in scenarios that were best reserved for the viewing of only the person in question.
"It's the same for me. Yesterday wasn't fun when we walked past the bookshop. It was like looking into a torch, just before you turn it on."
"Yeah, Nadia mentioned you had a bit of a turn, before we went in there. You didn't seem yourself yesterday – you even seemed a little more confrontational this morning." As Tanith sipped her tea, it almost seemed like she was interviewing me for a journalistic piece. I couldn't shake the thought from my mind that she was taking notes on what I was really up to.
"I never sought a confrontation; I just wanted to go to work." I indicated my uniform that I still wore – navy blue trousers and jumper, with a light blue cotton shirt underneath, the badge of Royal Mail visible on my left breast pocket. "It just seemed that Harvey didn't want me doing this."
"I followed you today, Gareth. You seem to enjoy delivering the post to people. I cannot fault it. Perhaps your ideals are just something that Harvey is going to have to get used to." The idea that Tanith as a wolf was following me seemed more comforting, as she'd already seemed to strike up a rapport with me.
"What, when I was working? So it was you that was keeping tabs on me. Now who's being risky?" Tanith smiled and drained the last from her mug, wandering off in the kitchen for a refill. She offered me a cup of tea, with a gesture of the mug and I nodded, apologising for forgetting to finish making the tea the first time around.
"I just don't want to see you getting hurt. I think Harvey is concerned about you as well, but he has trouble showing his true feelings. It's common with most males." Standing in the kitchen, making gestures with the spoon, she looked sidelong at me, knowingly. I tried my best to ignore it.
"So, what happened yesterday, after the Mage's bookshop? I don't really remember what went on after we left." My face was a picture of confusion and I removed my walking boots, glad to take the weight off my feet.
"Well, I went back and did some research with Harvey at the Library, while you and Nadia came back here. You were in no fit state for anything and you looked really pale. Mind you, that girl Alice did say that she'd never seen anyone neck a whole cup of that stuff as fast as you did."
"I was thirsty and to be honest, it didn't taste that bad. Who's Alice, again?" I tried to focus my mind and an image of a little blonde thing danced its way across my recollection of the day's events.
"She was the assistant in the shop. I think she's a mage as well. Harvey got her number and will likely go on a date with her."
"I'm sure they'll be very happy together."
"Do I detect a spark of jealousy in your voice, Gareth?" Tanith leaned forward and grinned at me, playfully patting me on the shoulder, before returning to the kitchen for the drinks.
"It doesn't matter. It's like with friends. When I was at school, I became good friends with one lad in my class. I went to his house once for tea and met his family. I was introduced to them all and I found that his sister was a stunner. Not just pretty, but she was incredibly attractive. It was all I could do to pull my jaw off the floor, that's what I mean." I sighed, recalling the memory of that girl's face. "The thing is she's the sister of one of my best friends, so the unwritten rule is that she is not fair game."
"Everybody has one that they call 'The one that got away', haven't they?" I shrugged and she smiled at me. "You can't waste your life sitting around wondering what could have been, can you?"
"I suppose you're right, but if you've no regrets, your life is a little dull. What about you then, did you ever have one that got away?"
"I might have, what's really to talk about there, can we talk about something more cheery? What happened to you yesterday, after you drank that stuff?"
"Stuff? Oh, you mean the revenge for wanting to murder a cuppa? Oh, I'm not really sure. I started getting a headache and it was as if my skill at seeing through the gauntlet was switched on all the time. I could see things that were really there, just over the top of the stuff in this world. You know what it's like if you've got vertigo?"
"Yeah, you were pretty unstable, as you kept wobbling about and I was afraid you'd be sick in the car."
"Thinking back about it, I'll have to check, when we get to places that I saw when I was under the influence... If you were worried about me, I'd be more concerned about Harvey, if he's going on a date with this Alice woman..."
"You do ramble a lot, don't you, Gareth?"
"Yeah. I don't really know why, either. I guess I've not had anyone major to talk to for most of my life. Only my brother, when we were growing up and then there was Karen, when I was living in Monmouth."
"Karen?"
"My ex-girlfriend. We were together for a few years, after I came to Monmouth, getting away from home." I sighed.
"Did you break up because of what happened to you?" Tanith passed a mug of tea to me and sat down in front of her computer, getting comfy again.
I chuckled at the memories, as they came back to me. "No, we'd broken up before then. She was into the spiritual side of things. She kept telling me that Iwan was with us, which kind of freaked me out and upset me." I shifted position on the sofa, awkwardly.
"Who's Iwan?"
"He was my older brother. He served with the UN peacekeepers in Kosovo, back in the late '90s. He was 19 when the vehicle he was in hit a land mine. The driver lost a leg as the explosion tore through the armour. A piece of shrapnel severed his aorta and he died from blood loss." My eyes glazed over as I recalled the report that was read to the family by the officers, who turned up at our door, bearing the Welsh flag, some thirteen years ago.
"I'm sorry to hear that." Tanith gave me her condolences and I raised a brave smile. For the first time in a long time, it felt like someone was actually concerned for me and wanted to hear what I had to say. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, fine. It's just that some wounds take longer to heal than others." My voice cracked a little and Tanith placed her hand on mine, giving it a quick squeeze. I responded, squeezing hers back and I smiled through tear-stained eyes, feeling slightly embarrassed about allowing my emotions to get the better of me. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be like this in front of you. The burden isn't yours to bear."
"If you want to talk about it, you know that I'll gladly talk to you at any time about this, or anything."
"Thanks Tanith, I've never known anyone that I can make such a connection with so easily."
I ran the back of my sleeve along my face, wiping away the tears at the still painful recollection of my late brother.
"Sometimes, you just find someone that you're totally at ease with talking to. You seem like you've had it tough and you need a friend. I'm not offering my friendship out of sympathy, but because I feel we've got more of a connection than just being brought together as packmates."
"Alright then, we've known each other for less than a week and you already know pretty much the 'This Is Your Life' story of Gareth Dempsey. I don't know much about you, except that you're a journalist and that you're American."
"Wow, two facts about me and one is right. Impressive work, Sherlock."
"What, you're not a journalist? I thought that was how you made your living, by selling stories to the press agencies."
"I am a journalist, but I was born north of the border in Canada. Just outside of Toronto. We moved to Buffalo, when I was young. Technically, I'm an American citizen, but I still fly the maple leaf, as opposed to the star spangled banner." Tanith's mitigating circumstances drew a smile, as she sat back in sarcastic triumph.
"I said American – I meant 'North America', as in the continent.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. If I had a nickel for every time I heard that one, I would never have to work again. What more did you want to know?"
"Well, what brings you here would be a good start. Surely the elders didn't ship you all the way to Worcester from Buffalo, because we were putting a pack together. Looking at it, the four of us have come from quite a way away. I just seemed to actually live here for a while before we met one another."
"I guess I always wanted to travel – I'd been in Buffalo for a while after the first change and somehow, it didn't feel right. I talked to my mentor and he encouraged me to travel."
"So, why did you choose Worcester? Not that I have anything against the place, it's a start, after all." I ran my hand across my face, stroking back the stubble, irritably.
"It was somewhere different – An English city, but not somewhere huge and overly-urban. Kind of like home, but not actually home."
"It seems strange that you'd end up so close to the rest of us without outside influence. Do you believe in fate?"
"I've never really thought about it, although I'm starting to." Tanith hugged her mug of tea and curled up on the sofa. "Anyway, you're not exactly local, are you?"
"No, but I've kind of made my way over here in stages. I have too many ties with home just to let go."
"I still stay in touch with my parents – we speak and write quite frequently." Tanith's eyes glazed a little, as she remembered home for a brief moment, her mind travelling from the comfort of my living room.
"I haven't spoken to my parents for nearly ten years." I stood up and walked to a cupboard at the side of the room, before rooting around in there. I walked back across the room with a photo and passed it to Tanith. "That's my mum, dad and Iwan, my brother."
"I can tell he's your brother, you two look so alike." Tanith smiled at the youthful appearance of my brother in the photo.
"He was eighteen then. One of the few days that it stopped raining on the farm." Tanith giggled at the sentiment.
"I can see that you two were close – it really shows from the photo." I smiled sheepishly, as Tanith handed me back the photo.
"I'm not sure how I've gone this long without him. When are we, 2009? Thirteen years I've been without him and yet, it feels like yesterday." I sighed, gently caressing my brother's face on the photo, before putting it away.
"I know that you've heard this before, but if you need to talk about it, I've always got a friendly ear to listen. I've got a lot of time for you, Gareth, you know?"
"Hmm?" I snapped back out of my little daydream of being on the farm again, climbing high bank and looking out across the village, the occasional sheep adding its voice to the wind.
"Sorry, I was lost for a moment there." The vision intensified for a split second and Iwan stood next to me, two boys, kings of all they could see. "It comes to something when your older brother is your only real friend."
"Were there not many people around where you lived, or can you just not get close to people?"
"We lived on a farm in the hills, so there was never really anyone around, who I could be friends with… well, except Iwan."
"It's hard to find decent friends, no matter where you are. Believe me, I know, I've tried."
"I had a few friends in Monmouth, but after the first change, I haven't been back there, so I've literally just disappeared from there. I'm not sure I'll see them again."
"I wonder sometimes if I'll ever go back home. My parents don't know about my change and they have no idea what I am."
"Mine neither, it seems like we have something in common then… other than the obvious."
"Makes sense. My parents would never cope with what I am – it would ruin the family name, for example and everything else could just stir things up."
"I'm not sure anyone can actually take this properly, even you or I."
"It is a bit different to what we're used to – after all, we're not exactly human any more. We've become the things that we were told stories about when we were just kids. Then this happens and good god, we're knee deep in it." She stood up, grabbed the cups and deposited them in the sink, before filling the kettle up again and switched it on. Returning to the lounge, she cleared the arm of the sofa in a jump and plonked herself back on the sofa next to me. "So, what happened this morning with Harvey?"
"It was a lot of fuss about nothing. He didn't think I should be doing my job, because of what I am now. He said it was because we're a pack, we need to look out for one another and that you three can't look out for me if I'm delivering post." I sagged on the sofa, despite the fact that I'd effectively won the argument.
"He cares. That's what it sounds like from what I heard and what you've shown me. Don't be too hard on him, as you've both got talents that we need."
"Maybe it's just that I feel I'm the only target. I mean, he wouldn't do anything like this to Nadia, because she's the boss. Would he try something like this with you? Perhaps he's too noble to try."
"Perhaps. Don't worry about it – you can still do this and I'm behind you on it. So is Nadia." As I lay back on the sofa, Tanith walked past and tussled my hair, playfully and walked off into the kitchen, preparing the tea for us both.
"I'm glad that someone's got my back, it means a lot to me. So come on then, I've given you a lot about me, you've told me how you came to be here, but what about your family? How come you became a journalist? There's so many questions that I've got and it seems like we've got a chance to get to know one another."
"I suppose you're right. The pure and simple answer is that I enjoy writing. I've been writing since I was at high school – I joined the school newspaper and it just spiralled from there."
"So when you left high school, you got a job with a paper?"
"Pretty much. Reading and writing go hand in hand and they've both been a big part of my life."
"So, what sort of books do you read?" Stretching myself out a little across the sofa, I looked behind me, through the kitchen door. I couldn't be bothered to get up and walk all the way to the kitchen, it just seemed too far.
"You're gonna laugh at this – mostly supernatural stuff, particularly ones with werewolves in them. And now here I am right smack bang in the middle of one of them. From what I've read, I wonder if the people that write them have gone through the same stuff that we have."
"I'm not so sure they would have – surely it would raise too much awareness amongst sad individuals that might want to stalk their own pack of werewolves, no matter the danger."
"Hmm, a good point, though it does sound a little like they are lucky coincidences. Perhaps they're blooded and know a little about what they write, but just not enough to blow our cover?"
"Maybe we just think too much about this and they really are just ignorant mortals?"
The front door opened and the conversation ended, with some questions still to be answered. Tanith moved around seamlessly to face her computer as Nadia came walking in through the door.
"Ah, you're back. Now all we need is Harvey and we can get started again." Nadia put down a few shopping bags and I stood up, walking through to the kitchen.
"I'll grab a quick shower, so I'm out of his way. If he's gone for a run, he'll probably be in need of some hot water."
"Take your time, Gareth. He's not sprinting, so I think he's about 10 minutes away at the moment." Tanith shouted after me as I ran up the stairs.
When I returned, I saw that Harvey had returned from his run. He was barely sweating and his breathing was almost normal. We all sat down and started to discuss the findings of yesterday, which came as a surprise to me, since I hadn't really taken much in after the bookshop. Tanith and Harvey had discovered a few addresses, where former employees of the hospital lived. One of the doctors was in a local nursing home and a former nurse lived in Blackpole, a suburb on the other side of the river. It was agreed that I would accompany Nadia, due to my spiritual talents and that we would see the doctor. Hopefully someone who was in authority there would have a better chance to know what we wanted to know.
The four of us got into Tanith's more practical car – her Lamborghini had been put in a secure garage out of town and her more practical family saloon had taken its place. She drove us to the nursing home in a very comfortable journey, compared to the way she drove the Italian sports car. As we were driving along, I couldn't help but think we were being followed by someone… or something. I tried to distract myself, by listening to the radio, but it wasn't really my type of music. I spent the time trying to consider what questions this old man would need to be asked… and what sort of things would be prowling on the other side of the gauntlet.
We drove through the gates of a modern care facility, called Willow Grange. It lacked the style of the more traditional converted stately homes that some care homes were these days and for my liking, it looked a little too clinical and modern. Nadia and I got out of the car, leaving Tanith and Harvey to their own devices. Crunching our way across the gravel path, we made our way to the main entrance. Overall, the facility smelt particularly of cleanliness, as opposed to the more traditional smells associated with old people – urine and medicinal creams. Nadia approached the main desk and asked to see the retired doctor. Nadia gave the nurse a skilfully told tale of how her old uncle was this old man that we had come to see. I was playing the part of "close personal friend". The nurse fell for it and we were allowed in to see him.
Walking down the corridor towards Doctor Yashichev's room, I felt a deep sense of apprehension. Nadia's stride was matched by mine, yet where hers appeared confident, I could not share that feeling. Still, I tried my best to hide any sign of weakness, calming my breathing and wiping the sweat from the palms of my hands. Was it an act, or did she just not know what to expect. The hairs on the back of my neck bristled, as my hand stopped just short of the door handle. Looking at my alpha, she nodded her head and knocked the door, before I opened it and we both stepped in.
The room was decorated with typical decor straight out of the 1970s. The walls were covered in some sort of disgusting brown, intermingled with a sun-faded orange. The scent of decades of incontinence reached my nostrils here and I covered my nose, trying to stop my eyes from watering. A frail looking old man was staring out of the window, while sitting in his wheelchair. Two oxygen tanks strapped to the back of the chair fed a tube to his nose. Clearly, this man was unwell, for what sympathy it provoked.
Nadia approached the chair, nodding her head and smiling sweetly at a nurse, who smiled and nodded as she went about her business in the room. As Nadia knelt down, a rasping voice crackled out to her, barely audible to me, as I stood by.
"I know why you've come. It was only a matter of time." The Doctor turned his gaze upon Nadia, his tiny pupils intently focused on her, as if holding her with his sheer force of will. "Ask what you want, I have nothing to hide."
"Very well then, I wish to speak to you about your time at Powick Hospital." Upon the mention of the hospital, my mind was drawn back to the events of a few nights hence, where we had fought spirits and I had stood at the bottom of the stairs, helpless, as the soldier tumbled down the staircase, seemingly pushed by a nurse, charged with his care. Snapping myself out of that flashback, I noticed that a wry smile had crept across the face of the elderly doctor.
"Ah yes. Some good work was done there. Much too little, as not all of the patients were saved." His gaze turned wistfully over across the verdant fields that his room was afforded a view of.
"How do you mean, Doctor? Your patients were subject to appalling conditions and many of them succumbed during their stays there." Nadia stepped back a little from the chair, slightly aghast, as I passed her a chair, choosing to stand next to her.
"I completely succeeded in curing a delusional boy of believing that he was a wolf. He was much like you, you know..." he stated, turning his gaze upon me. "Quiet, understated, but he liked to run around on all fours and he acted like an animal, if the mood took him. That was quite intolerable behaviour for someone that wishes to live in modern society. He survived the treatment."
"May I ask what became of him?" I asked, as the thought of a brother Uratha being harmed in such a way was caused feelings of vengeance to simmer in my mind.
"I believe he lived a calm life. Quieter than he was before, but that has to be expected of lobotomy patients, I suppose." As I suppressed a shudder, Nadia laid a hand on my wrist and looked at me. Upon seeing her eyes, I knew that this was not the time, nor the place to let out my feelings. I took half a pace backwards, feverishly jotting notes on a pad that I had brought along.
"I suppose that this would mean that he was incapable of leaving the institute after the treatment, then?" Nadia asked, wary of my reaction, while I wrestled for control over my emotions, my mind throwing up images of electro-shock treatment, or even a lobotomy for the poor kid. I could barely contain my contempt.
"Yes, but as he was before the treatment, he was a danger to society." The doctor grinned at Nadia, knowingly.
"What of this young man here?" She opened her bag and pulled out a file, selecting a black and white picture of the young soldier that I had witnessed being pushed down the stairs. "According to our records, you signed his death certificate."
"I may well have. The photograph is not of anyone I recognize."
"Are you a GP? Did you have the authority to do that? It says that your major talent is psychiatry and psychoanalysis."
"Ha ha! My dear, you can hardly quote laws that came in after I retired and say that I broke those over sixty years ago. Your accusations are baseless and totally preposterous!" He guffawed, as I cast my mind back to the incident, watching as the young man's body bounced off the marble staircase and I flailed uselessly, trying to prevent it from happening.
"I am not accusing you of anything, merely checking to see that the facts are right, Doctor." Nadia opened the file and produced a piece of paper, which she read from: "It says that his name was Sergeant Roger Young and he was back from the front, where he had served during the Second World War He showed symptoms of shell shock. His date of death was the eleventh of June, 1952, making him a forgotten soldier, you might say. His cause of death was labelled as a broken neck, caused by a fall down the stairs. Does the young man ring any bells with you now?"
The doctor clicked his false teeth in his mouth, before jamming them back into place, clenching his jaw. "Yes, I remember this case. Quite sad, really."
"Were the stairs not blocked for just such a purpose? Had he not been confined to a ground floor room, to prevent such a thing from happening?" The old man let out a wheezing laugh, which developed into a cough and the nurse hurried forward, helping him with the oxygen mask. After a short while, his coughing subsided and he waved the nurse away, to return to her other duties.
"This was before the days of health and safety getting in the way of everything, for the fat lot of good they do!" A glint of malice twinkled in his eye and he pointed at me. "Perhaps you would agree that some of those souls were better off dead than living like that?" Considering the gravity of the doctor's proposition, I wanted just to step forward and finish him there and then, snapping his brittle neck with my bare hands. Fortunately, I managed to keep my feelings within and merely answered his question with another:
"Is that a confession, doctor? Did people in your care that you deemed too far gone just have 'accidents', allowing you to free up the time for you to practice on other patients? I note that you hardly had a glowing record of success."
"That is absolutely untrue – we had one like you in there in the 60s, but I've already told you about him and how I cured him." I stepped back, allowing Nadia to take control, once more. If anything, I was getting more and more frustrated with the situation and it seemed as if I had given the frail doctor a way to pull my strings.
"What makes you think that people like us are wrong?" I walked away from the wheelchair and leant against the wall, trying to keep my emotions in check. The old man chuckled as he stared through Nadia's steely gaze.
"I know that you have suffered – I'm not saying that I could make everything right, but I could cure your urges for the beast that you delude yourself about." I moved back to Nadia's side and squeezed her shoulder, in case she was about to do something rash. Closing my right eye, I glanced across the Gauntlet and spied a worrying sight. Standing behind the wheelchair, with spectral hands interwoven with the back of the doctor's neck was a spirit. It looked horribly menacing – a tall figure, lean and angular, with sharp tendrils for fingers and a wicked grin, like a jack-o-lantern, but outlined in ghostly translucent white. The grin it wore seemed to spread almost completely around the area that had to be its face
"You know little then, Doctor. I have not felt any pain or suffering from this and would not willingly submit to any treatment that you prescribe."
"The patient seems delusional. Nurse, bring us 4cc of Ketamine and send in the orderlies. I believe that she will resist." The Doctor's voice turned away from the rattle of the dying old man and sounded like a matter-of-fact doctor, who was giving orders to his staff. As Nadia visibly bristled and stood bolt upright, I cast my glance over at the nurse, who was fiddling with a tray of what looked like medicines. I moved over to her and kept myself ready to intercept something which could shift the balance of the conversation, such as a nurse armed with a syringe of drugs.
The nurse smiled, carrying on her tasks and I cast a quick glance over at Nadia. Instead of turning on her heel and preparing to leave, she moved her head next to the doctor's and whispered into his ear. Then she stood up and walked to the door. I calmly followed her out, shutting the door behind me, glad to be away from that place and the smell.
The conversation with the Doctor had left a bad taste in the mouth and I considered the parasitic spirit that was bound to him that I saw across the gauntlet. This problem that we had was far deeper routed than I had previously thought. Walking back through the corridors to the reception desk to sign out, Nadia said little, but kept bunching her hands up into fists. It looked as if she was ready to punch through a wall. She did rally magnificently when we reached the desk to sign out.
"Are you alright? You look a little tense." Asked a nurse, concernedly.
"I'm alright - I just can't bear to see him like this, that's all." Nadia forced a smile
"Don't worry, we'll take good care of him." She accepted the clipboard and the visitor badges back off both of us.
"Thank you." Nadia managed and we walked out of the building,
"So, what did you tell him?" I asked Nadia, as we walked out of the main entrance.
"I made him a promise: Rest assured, we will return for you. Once the hospital has been cleansed, we will come here and you will be judged, in this life, or the next." She carried on walking to the car, her expression cold and unmoving.
"I'm glad we're out of there – the smell was terrible, don't you think?" We grabbed at the door handles and hopped into Tanith's waiting car. She turned the key as we got in and the four of us left the grounds of the care home.
"I didn't notice a smell – except the cleaning chemicals, almost like in a hospital."
"Hmm, that's strange. I smelled old people, urine, a trace of blood and something else which was overwhelming. I'm not sure what it was, but it was strong enough to drown that clean smell out for me." Nadia looked confused by this and I shrugged my shoulders at the revelation.
"So come on, what did you find out?" Tanith looked at the pair of us in the rear view mirror, as Harvey listened in.
"That man is pure evil. When we are done at the hospital, we are coming back here to give him what he deserves."
"I'm not so sure that it is entirely his fault, Nadia. Something else influences him, though I cannot tell whether he was evil before it got to him and it is making him worse, or if he was borderline and that makes him how he is. Clearly, he is not repentant."
"How do you mean?" Nadia turned to me, allowing me to go on with my description.
"When I stood there in the room with you, he was not such a frail old man, that might drop dead tomorrow, despite his advancing years. His mind is still as sharp as anything, though his body may be dying. I looked across the gauntlet and saw something very disturbing. Something stood behind his shoulder, with great big ethereal claws poking through the back of his neck. It was really tall and gangly, as if it wouldn't be able to move properly.
I have spoken to my guide about spirits before at some length. From what he has told me and what I have retained, this may well be a vengeance spirit. The only thing that wouldn't fit is the nickname he gave them. Little balls of hate, he called them. I suspect that it may be using its own essence to keep the doctor alive for one reason or another.
The nurse had some sort of spirit associated with her as well, though I'm not sure it is the same as the one involved with the doctor."
"I'm so glad we have you here, Gareth. Without you, we'd have only found that out when we went into the Hisil." Tanith chimed in, almost cheerfully.
"Thanks, Tanith… I guess. If, and I don't mean to overstep the mark here, any of us were to try to strike this doctor down, the spirit could use that as an opening to try and bond to any of us. My suggestion would be to go in as before, but with backup." The only sound was the purr of the engine, as my pack listened intently to my suggestion, car pulled over at the side of the road. Satisfied that she had heard enough, she put the car back in gear and drove in the direction of my house, the impromptu base of operations for the pack.
"How do you mean, backup?"
"When myself and Nadia get out of the car, Harvey, you and Tanith cross to the Hisil and follow us from there. I can keep a track of you both, as you're across the gauntlet. It may be a ruse, but I suspect that the spirit is keeping him alive, so we eliminate the suspicion first. If you wish to kill him, I will not stop you, merely act as protection, as we're going to have to run like hell once he's dead."
"As our Ithaeur, I'd suggest you were across the gauntlet, Gareth. After all, you know spirits better than us." Harvey pointed out
"I believe so, but there's two factors why I've not suggested that: The cover of myself and Nadia being there once before would need no explanation, provided they don't suspect anything. I can see across the gauntlet, while I'm here in the material realm. I can keep Nadia abreast of what is going on there, while we wait for you two." Sitting back in the seat, I took in the fact that both Nadia and Harvey were completely focused on me. Tanith's attention was probably there as well, but as she was driving, her eyes were on the road.
"What do you think, Tanith?" Asked Harvey, after a long pause and no response from Nadia.
"I don't know which way the events happened. If he has to die, then so be it." As Tanith swung the car onto a main road back towards Worcester, Nadia seemed to exit a phase of deep contemplation.
"We will talk about this at some other point. Right now, I need to cleanse my thoughts, as I do not feel good after visiting that place." Acknowledging the wishes of my alpha, I silently chastised myself for overstepping the mark, as we headed back into the village of Rushwick
A few days passed and we slowly progressed though the transition from a group of loosely associated individuals toward a pack. Tanith arranged for internet access at my house and the calm serenity of the solitude that had been afforded to me when no-one was around was now completely destroyed. Nadia had brought a small, but rather loud stereo, which pumped out music to her taste during the day and while Harvey kept himself to himself with the lengthy runs he took, we still found time to bond as a group. Daily trips to the Malvern Hills kept us in touch with the tranquillity that we were pursuing at Powick and Nadia dispatched us in pairs to survey the area around the Hospital, which allowed us to get to know one another better.
That afternoon, I was asked to accompany Tanith to the cottages and check them out a little more. We drove to a spot a few miles from the site, where we would not be noticed so much, parked the car and shifted to our wolfen forms, before running across the countryside to our destination. The boarded up cottages were within a short walk of the main hospital building, which loomed over the local area, almost menacing, even in its disused state. Fortunately, Harvey had only propped the boards up against the doorway, otherwise we would not have shifted them.
The musty smell within reminded me a little of my parent's farm cottage, though this was stronger - a massive hint of disuse contributing to it all. Except for the pack's incursion a few days ago, no-one else seems to have been in here for quite a while. A little sunlight illuminated small parts of the hallway, through cracks in the boards and I decided to change to my form to cope with the conditions. As I stood about a foot taller and grew more muscular and hairy, Tanith calmly stood there and pulled a torch out of her handbag.
"That could work as well, I suppose." Tanith passed me the Maglite, which looked tiny in my oversized hand. She continued to root around and produced a note pad and pen.
"Come on, Gareth." She said, stifling a laugh. "Let's just get this done." She had me point the torch at various articles and jotted down notes in some language I couldn't understand.
"Alright, so where had we left it the other morning. Tanith's tale, chapter two?"
"What do you mean? We're just here finding out if we can make this place liveable, or if we have to use a favour or two from a few blooded tradesmen."
"I know that, but remember when we had that chat the other morning? You were telling me a little about you and I'd told you a lot about me. I thought that you Cahaliths liked to share stories. I tell you one and you tell me one, isn't that it?"
"So what do you want to know?" Tanith shrugged her question at me, peering into the gloom
"That's a good question, what do I want to know? How about the fact that you've joined us in a sporty little car and now you're in a 'less flashy' vehicle? How's that happen?"
"I was waiting for someone to notice that. Simply put, my family is extremely wealthy, hence why I can afford two cars. I don't really like to shout about it, save for the fact I'm in the Lamborghini. When you've got that kind of money available, your friends aren't really friends."
"They're friends with your bank balance."
"Precisely. My dad is a very successful businessman and my mother was a model. Now that she's a bit older, she runs an agency, instead of posing in front of the camera so much, but what dad didn't bring into the family income, mum managed to do."
"Ah, so you lived a bit of a jet set lifestyle early in your life. Any brothers and sisters to share that with?"
"Just me. I wouldn't say that we had expensive holidays all the time around the world, but it was more of an education – visiting ruins of Machu Pichu, Greece, Rome, Japan - a lot of cultural things, but the only difference was that we went back to a fancy hotel at the end of the day."
"Compared to my occasional wet weekend on Barry Island, that seems a joy."
"We never went on that many, because my parents worked so hard. When we did go away, we made it for a couple of weeks at a time and kept it family orientated, with my parent's wants to see the world in mind."
"I can see why you keep in contact with them – they need to hear from you that you're ok, as much as you need to hear they are alright. It's kind of like your grounding, isn't it."
"Even though they're working all the time, we are pretty close. Any time they do get off, they try to make some time for each other, or even for me. They throw themselves into family life as hard as they throw themselves into their work." She opened a door under the stairs and pointed at the far wall. "Here, shine that torch over there." She indicated the gas and electricity meter. I pointed the torch, as directed, allowing Tanith to jot down further details.
"How do you cope now, with the journalism? I mean, it's a case that you can't travel to all that far away, if you're chasing up a scoop, after all, with the commitments to the pack. Doesn't it cramp your style?"
"Well, instead of doing investigative journalism, I just do things that don't require me travelling. I can always make contact with people through the phone and internet and I can send my stories all over the world, as required."
"But your style has changed. You go on about the internet, which I'm afraid is something I do not understand all that much." Tanith shut the door and replaced her pen and paper in her bag. She pulled out a metal bar, approximately two feet long, with a cross-bar at the top and I raised an eyebrow. "Is that what you use to fend off muggers?"
"Well, if the mood takes me. But we need to look outside now." We walked outside and found a small inspection cover, which I flipped open. From there, Tanith located the socket of the bar on the stopcock. "Watch the meter and if it starts to count up, we've got a problem. If it doesn't move, everything is well."
"And if it starts to count down?"
"Then we get paid by the water board for the water we use, I guess." We both laughed as she turned the screw, checking that the meter didn't move.
"Did you ever think of writing our adventures down? I mean, it wouldn't be very good reading to someone not in the know, but as a Cahalith, you could tell the stories at gatherings, which would really earn you some brownie points."
"You know, I've never really thought about it." She smiled at the concept, wondering if it could work out. "It might be something that I could try, but would anyone other than us ever read them?" She packed away the tool and kicked the cover shut, making another note in her book.
"Maybe it would help for your grounding, to make sure that you remember who you are. Kind of like me with the post, Harvey with his running and Nadia with her singing."
"Maybe it would be, but perhaps the grounding would come from other stories, as opposed to tying both parts in together?" We replaced the boards over the door and made it look like we'd not been in there, before hopping over the back fence and making our way back toward where Tanith had parked the car.
"Of course, that would be a problem – there isn't anywhere to park the cars around here. We'll have to do something about that, if we're going to have this place as our own."
"Cars? Well, that's if both of your cars are going to be parked there. Nadia has a motorbike, but I wouldn't know where to start if I tried to drive."
"Harvey might have a car, I've not asked him. I just want to make sure that there's enough space, should we need it. I wouldn't be parking both of my cars there all the time, it's quite exposed."
"That's one of the things I've never considered. Perhaps the spirits would keep unsavoury types away. They were keeping their distance from the cottages, but I might have the have a word with the old woman on the upper floor at some point."
"Old woman? You mean that someone is living there?"
"No, she's a spirit. For now, it seems that she's a little old lady that sits in a rocking chair in one of the bedrooms. I'll have to talk to her at some point, particularly if we'll be changing that room. Perhaps with the windows boarded up, she feels trapped, these things can get delicate."
"Just a thought, Gareth – don't try sorting it out on your own. Not after last time." As we walked across the fields, Tanith playfully bumped into me with her shoulder, sending me off balance.
"What? That spirit was a lot more complex than I've ever dealt with. As far as trial and error goes, it was a big error, but we got away with it, didn't we?" The images of the mother spirit grabbing baby spirits and engulfing them haunted my vision as we walked. "You took a nasty smack from that thing, didn't you? Why did you jump in front of me?"
"I'll be alright, it was barely a scratch. Besides, in that scenario, we needed your skills more than mine." She smiled and hopped over a gate, walking off up the road, toward her car. I climbed over the gate and as I descended the other side, I looked up at the outline of the main building of the hospital, where I knew we would have to return before much longer. Our business was unfinished and something would need to be done.
"Any idea how long it would be before we'd be able to use the cottages?"
"I'm not sure, but I can ask a few questions of people that might know." Tanith got in the car and we drove back home, a little closer to moving into a proper home for the pack.