Blood Beast

thousands could cross in a matter of days, masters and all.”

“Couldn’t you force them back again, close it like before?” I ask.

Dervish pulls a face. “Humans are far less magical than they were the last time it was open. And back then they only had to deal with weaker demons. We could stop it happening if we caught wind of it in advance, but if they opened it without our knowing…”

He trails off into silence. It’s hotter than normal in here. Dervish doesn’t usually have the heating on this late. The temperature reminds me of the time we fought Lord Loss in the cellar, the unnatural heat of the Demonata’s universe. I feel highly uncomfortable and shift around edgily on my seat.

“What happens now?” I ask quietly.

“The cave will need to be hidden again. Fresh spells will have to be cast and we’ll try to find out why those in place before didn’t work. But that’s a job for a magician. I’ll put out the call and we’ll wait.”

“I thought there weren’t magicians anymore, only mages.”

Dervish shakes his head. “There’s one. He’s the head of the Disciples, though we don’t have much to do with him personally—he fights most of his battles in the Demonata’s universe. I fought alongside him once, a long time ago. He set me the task of guarding this area a few years later. I don’t know how long it will take him to come, but hopefully it won’t be more than a month or two.”

“Are we safe while we wait?” I ask edgily. “What if an evil mage finds the cave and makes a sacrifice?”

“It’s not that simple,” Dervish says. “The tunnel can’t be opened instantly. A sacrifice would have to be made to start the process, then over the next few weeks the entrances would fuse with the core. At that point someone would need to conduct a lengthy, complicated ritual in the cave. I’d feel that magic at work—it would be impossible to mask—and I’d move heaven and hell to stop it. But I don’t think we’ve anything to fear. Since I wasn’t warned by the spells when you broke through to the cave, nobody else can have been. The Demonata don’t know the entrance to the cave has been cleared, so they have no reason to move on it.”

“Then we’re safe?” I watch his face closely in case he tries to lie.

“As safe as we’ve ever been,” Dervish says calmly and there’s no hint of deception in his features. I start to relax slightly. He raises a finger. “But regardless of how safe it is, I don’t want you going back to the cave.”

“As if!” I lick my lips. “What happens when you block it off again?”

Dervish shrugs. “Life will go on as normal. I’ll stay here, keeping watch, and another Disciple will replace me when I’m old and grey and of no use anymore.”

“What about Bill-E? Are you going to tell him what you told me?”

“Yes. As soon as Ma and Pa Spleen let him out of the house—which might not be any time soon.” Dervish stands and stretches. “What a night. I’ll be glad to see dawn.”

“Loch won’t ever see dawn again,” I mumble. It’s not fair, that I’m having to think about the cave, demons and magic, when I should only be thinking about my poor dead friend.

Dervish smiles helplessly and comes around the desk. Lays a comforting hand on my shoulder. “You can talk with me about him if you want. I know what it’s like to lose a friend. I can help.”

“Yeah. Maybe. Thanks.” I take a deep breath and look up. The fear grows in my chest. It tries to grab my tongue and hold it still. It whispers caution. Screams for silence. But I have to tell him. I can’t keep it secret any longer.

“There’s more than Loch and the cave that we need to discuss.”

“Oh?” A puzzled little smile, not expecting anything major.

“I think I have the family curse.” His smile freezes. I push the fear down deep and spit out the words I never wanted to voice. “I think I’m turning into a werewolf.”

I tell Dervish everything—the sickness, the party, the bottle, the magic that’s been growing within me since Slawter. Waking to find myself at the entrance of the cave, digging as if my life depended on it. The whispers, the face in the rock, splitting the wall with my scream.

Dervish listens silently for the most part, eyes dark, chewing his nails or stroking his beard. Occasionally he’ll ask me to elaborate, to describe the sickness and whispers in more detail. But most of the time he just watches me, his expression impossible to read, head cocked slightly, like a priest hearing confession.

A long pause when I finish. Then Dervish tuts like a teacher. “You should have called me back on Saturday or told me as soon as I got home.”

“I know what I should have done,” I snap. “But I didn’t. I was afraid you’d make me become a Disciple if you knew about the magic. And I hoped I was wrong about turning into a werewolf. Keeping quiet was dumb, but I never claimed to be an Einstein. So cut me some slack.” I glare at him but he only stares back calmly. “Well?” I grunt when he doesn’t say anything. “Am I turning or not?”

“I don’t know. The signs you describe suggest it, but…”

“What?” I hiss.

“Victims don’t realise,” he says quietly. “Nobody turns into a werewolf overnight. It’s a gradual process, spread out over three or four months. The kids often know things aren’t right—if they wake covered in blood, or lying naked outdoors—but I’ve never heard of anyone being conscious of the change or actively fighting it. When they start to turn, their minds blank out. They can’t remember changing or do anything to stop it. What you describe is unlike anything any other member of the family has ever reported. And we’ve been dealing with this for a long time.”

“You’re saying maybe it isn’t…?” I feel hope blossom in my chest.

“I don’t know,” Dervish says again. “The signs all point to lycanthropy—the distorted face, the hands clenching, the howling. If somebody else had seen it happening to you, I’d say you were definitely damned. But you shouldn’t be able to note these things yourself. It…”

He goes quiet again. His forehead’s a landscape of worry lines. I’ve thrown him big time. He looks even more perturbed than he did in the cave. At least he knew where he stood with that and what he had to deal with.

“Tell me about the magic again,” Dervish says. “Everything you can recall.”

I go through the weirdness one chunk at a time. Waking to find myself levitating above the bed. Reversing the flow of water down the sink. Moving things with my mind. Making the bottle rise, explode and transform into flowers and butterflies.

“Everybody saw that?” Dervish asks. “Bill-E will confirm it?”

“Of course.” I frown. “Why?”

Dervish grunts. “If we’re lucky, you’re losing your mind, imagining the magic and the change. You’ve had a hard few years, been through a lot—more than just about any kid in the world. Maybe it’s caught up with you. Maybe you’re going…” He twirls a finger around in the air at the side of his head.

“Know what I like most about you, uncle?” I ask waspishly. “Your subtle tact.”

“Stuff that! This is no time to be soft. If you were going mad, I’d be delighted, because we could deal with it, seek help, fix what’s wrong. Nobody’s seen most of this magic you say you’ve been working. It could all be in your head. But if you really did those tricks with the bottle and there are witnesses…”

“There are,” I say stiffly. “And there’s the cave. We found it on Sunday. We only dug down a small bit, but when we returned yesterday it had been excavated. Rocks and earth everywhere. Bill-E will confirm that too. I did it, Dervish. I went there, not entirely human, and burrowed down.”

“Any idea why?” Dervish asks.

“No. Unless it was the whispers… the face…”

Dervish makes a long humming sound. “If you’re not mad—and much as I hate to admit it, I don’t think you are—I’ve no idea what the face means. Unless some spell was cast upon the cave long ago, one I don’t know about.” He scratches his left ear, then the right. “You couldn’t recognise anything the girl was saying?”

“No.”

“Did the whispers seem to be drawing you to the cave or warning you off?”

I think about it. “Warning me off. But if that was the case, why was I there? What made me return and dig? Could it have been the Demonata? Calling to the beast I’m becoming? Using me to open a tunnel between universes, so they could cross?”