He looks back, gauging how much further he has to go. His arms relax and his shoulders slump when he realises he can’t make it. He turns his desolate gaze on me and his eyes widen as he takes in my monstrous form, my blood-soaked body and limbs, my fangs and wolfen face.
“What happened to you?” he gasps.
“Teenage angst,” I chuckle. I whistle at the werewolves and they spread out. Meera, Timas and Prae are directly behind me.
Antoine shrieks when he spots the werewolves. Turns and races for the edge, to leap into the sea below. Drawing from the faint traces of magic in the air, I halt him, exerting an invisible hold over the fallen executive. He struggles wildly, then sees that it’s hopeless. Giving up, he faces me.
“I’m going to kill you,” I growl, advancing menacingly. “Juni got away, so I’m going to take out all my frustration on you. It will be slow and painful. Suitable payback for the lives you’ve ruined, the friends of mine you’ve killed.”
“I didn’t kill anyone!” he squeals.
“No, your kind never do,” I sneer. “You leave it to others. You just set things up and give the orders.”
“Please,” Antoine sobs, throwing himself to his knees. “Don’t do this. It serves no purpose. Put me on trial. Let the proper authorities deal with me. You’re not a killer. There’s no evil in your soul. Don’t—”
“Look at me!” I roar. “Do you think you’ll be the first I’ve killed today? I wasn’t a murderer, but you changed me. I’m a monster now. And I’m hungry.”
“Meera!” Antoine whines. “Prae! Please, I beg you. You’re civilised people. Help me.”
“We can’t,” Prae says coldly. “Even if we wanted to—and personally I have no problem with him gutting you—we couldn’t. He’s not ours to control. He’s one of your
Antoine stares at Prae in disbelief. I draw closer, growling softly in anticipation of the kill. Antoine’s eyes harden. “Don’t be so hasty, my hairy friend,” he murmurs, sounding more like his old self. “There are others to consider.”
“Like who?”
“Your uncle,” he says smoothly, and I come to an abrupt halt.
Antoine rises, brushing dirt from his shirt and trousers. He frowns at his untidy condition, then runs a hand through his hair and shrugs. “I suppose this means an expensive trip to my tailor when I get back.”
“You’ve got five seconds to tell me what you know about Dervish,” I snarl.
“Oh, I have more time than that,” Antoine grins. “Your uncle’s in a perilous situation. There are forces moving against him even as we speak. It will take more than five seconds to—”
“Tell me!” I shout. “Now. Or I’ll torture it out of you.
“I’m sure you could,” Antoine says slickly, “but how long would it take? I’ll hold out as long as I can, just to spite you. After all, you’ve already vowed to torment me. I don’t know how long I can stand the pain, but minutes are precious. Do you dare waste them?”
I want to throttle him so badly it hurts. But he knows how important Dervish is to me. I don’t want to cut a deal with this treacherous viper, but time’s against me.
“What do you want?” I growl.
“My life,” Antoine replies.
I think about it, then curse. “OK. I won’t kill you. Now talk.”
“Not so fast,” Antoine says. “I want to add a few conditions before I divulge all that I know. Such as a boat without a hole in it, a compass and map, some—”
“Time’s all you have to bargain with!” I snap. “If you don’t tell me what you know immediately, I might as well torture you.”
Antoine licks his lips nervously, then decides he has no choice but to play out the hand and hope for the best.
“A trap was laid for your uncle and some others,” he says. “The girl called Bec was the one they wanted, but your uncle and Beranabus were important to them too. Juni didn’t reveal all the details, but from what I gathered, the trap was partially successful. Beranabus was killed, but the—”
“No!” Meera cries, taking a step in front of me. “Beranabus can’t be dead.”
“According to Juni, he is,” Antoine says calmly.
“But—” Meera starts to exclaim.
“Leave it,” I cut in. “If Beranabus is dead, he’s dead. Let this worm finish telling us what he knows about Dervish.”
Meera doesn’t like it, but she pulls back.
“Bec and your uncle escaped,” Antoine continues. “The attack took place at sea, on a giant cruiser. They got off before it sank and are adrift in a lifeboat. Juni was furious. When she calmed down, she told me to send a crew to intercept the lifeboat and finish the job. They have instructions to kill Dervish and bring Bec back alive. Taking no chances, I roused three separate units and dispatched them from different locations. The first should be upon your uncle—” He checks his watch. “in sixteen minutes.”
“Call them off,” I hiss.
“I can’t from here,” he smirks. “But if you would kindly accompany me to my temporary office…”
I tremble with rage and hatred. If only I could rip the tongue from his mouth and swallow it whole—that would wipe the smirk from his face. But he has the upper hand, at least until I know that Dervish is safe. I’ll have to allow him his smugness for a while. I start to agree to take him to his office, but Timas speaks before me.
“There’s no need to relocate. I can see a radio unit in one of the boats. There are telephones and computer terminals set in the walls. We can communicate with the outside world from here.”
“No,” Antoine snaps. “There are things in my office which I need.”
“Such as?” Timas asks with a little smile.
Antoine glowers. I see in his features that he had a plan in mind. The office was an excuse. He thought he could trick us and escape some other way.
“Don’t play games,” I say softly. “Your only hope is to prove that Dervish is alive and that we need you to protect him. If I think you’re trying to weasel out, all bets are off and all promises are revoked.”
“Come with me,” Timas says commandingly, taking Antoine by the elbow and leading him to one side. “We’ll work on it together. Tell me everything you did and how to undo it. I’ll see to the rest.”
“But… my equipment…” Antoine says weakly.
“We have all the equipment we need,” Timas says, taking a radio unit from a boat and fiddling with the dials.
With a bitter sigh, Antoine casts aside whatever plan he had in mind, sits beside Timas and talks.
The minutes pass quickly. Part of me is sure we’ll be too late. Antoine’s Lambs will have caught a strong wind and picked up Bec sooner than anticipated. Gunned Dervish down and dumped him in the sea for the fishes to feast on. I’m prepared for the worst and ready to rip Antoine to pieces when he breaks the bad news. My wolfen half is looking forward to that. It doesn’t care about Dervish or anything except slaughter and feeding. Dimly aware of Timas and Antoine talking on the radio, Antoine issuing codes and commands. Meera and Prae are listening in, but I’m too agitated to follow it all. I have very little patience since I changed.
Thinking about Juni’s prediction again. I want to dismiss it. Me? Destroy the world? Ridiculous!
Except… it isn’t. I’ve known since that night in the cave outside Carcery Vale that I have the power to annihilate not just a world, but a universe. Beranabus believed the Kah-Gash could be used against the Demonata, but it’s a demonic weapon. Why should it work for us against those who created it?
I wish the contrary old magician was here. I need advice and guidance. But according to Antoine he’s dead, killed on a ship, lost at sea. I should be in shock. I never liked the old buzzard, but he’s protected this world for more than a thousand years and he’s been my mentor for the last several months. His death should have hit me hard. But I only feel annoyed—why did he let himself fall into a trap now, of all times, when he was most needed?
“There we go,” Antoine says, turning away from the radio. He salutes me with a sneer.
“What’s the story?” I bark at Timas.
“We converted the assassination squad into a rescue crew,” Timas says. “I was going to send Disciples, but it was simpler to use those already close to the scene. They’ve taken the survivors on board and are flying back,
