Kitty's House of Horrors

Chapter 21

I wrapped the blanket around my naked self and stood in the middle of the living room, assessing. I clamped my mouth shut because I was afraid I might throw up. If ever I had a right to spontaneously vomit, this was it.

I didn’t want to have to take care of Provost. I’d rather shoot him.

Conrad was asleep on the sofa. Grant sat on a chair in the middle of the living room, like he could hold us together with his presence. He sat nearest the injured Provost but didn’t seem to be looking at him. Tina sat on the floor, near the window but not looking out. At first I thought she was asleep, the way she held her head propped on her hand. Her other hand rested on a Ouija board sitting next to her. She looked at me. She’d been crying.

I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t open my mouth or I would scream. I wished I had stayed Wolf. The world was simpler when I was Wolf.

“Kitty?” Grant said.

Now I was looking at Provost. He lay on a blanket, covered by another blanket. His shirt had been stripped. He panted, tossed in a delirium, his arms clenched, hands clawing.

I stepped to him, knelt beside him.

“There’s something wrong with him,” Grant said softly.

Besides being infected with lycanthropy? The words stalled in my throat. If I opened my mouth I’d throw up, so I kept my mouth shut.

I put my hand on Provost’s forehead—he was burning with fever. Normal, for a recent victim of a werewolf bite. He’d thrash in a haze for a few days while his wounds healed and while his body transformed itself from the inside out. He smelled ill, injured. Under all that, though, I caught a new scent, musky, animal. Wolfish. Fur, just under the skin. I’d promised myself I would never do this to anyone, I never wanted to, he should be dead—

“Kitty,” Grant said. I shook my head, bringing myself back. Rubbed sleep and tears from my eyes. I needed clothes. I pulled the blanket tighter around myself.

I saw what Grant was talking about, about there being something wrong. He had enough arcane lore, he must have had some idea what a bite from a werewolf did. Provost’s wounds, shredded flesh across his neck and shoulder, were healing: scabs had formed, blood seeped from surface wounds. That was normal. However, where the bullet I fired had hit him, a chunk of flesh taken out of his bicep, wasn’t healing. Here, the wound was black, oozing pus along with blood.

I swallowed and managed to scratch out, “Did the bullet go all the way through?”

“Yes,” Grant said. “It’s a flesh wound.”

Then I laughed. I sounded ridiculous, hysterical. I curled up, hugged my knees, and laughed. This was so fucked up, I ought to be taking notes.

Patiently, Grant waited for me.

I got myself back under control. “Silver allergy. The silver bullet went through him before he was infected. But there must be a trace of it that’s reacting to the lycanthropy. Not enough to kill him. If the bullet had stayed in him, though, he’d have the full-blown allergy. He’d be dead. I wish he were dead.” I laughed again, then covered my face to try to stop the tears. Copious, hysterical tears.

Tina had moved closer to us, studying Provost along with us. She reached out to me, but I leaned away from her. “Don’t touch me,” I whispered. I wanted to Change again. I wanted to get out of here, to bite someone.

“Kitty—” Grant said.

“Any sign of Cabe?”

“No. Maybe he’ll cut his losses and leave us alone.”

“Not likely,” I said. Before he could respond, I stood, tightening the blanket yet again. “I need some clothes.”

I went upstairs.

The face in the bedroom mirror was the face of a monster. I studied it, the crazy blond hair that hadn’t been brushed in two days, the bloodshot eyes, the ragged frown. I wanted to see my friends, my pack, my mate. I wanted to go home.

“Tell me, Cormac. What am I supposed to do now?” I muttered.

You just keep going. He’d say, you just keep on keeping on until you’re dead. But don’t make it easy on the bastards by rolling over for them.

I wasn’t dead yet. We still had a lodge full of people who weren’t dead yet, and the bad guys were down to one man standing.

When I came downstairs, I was dressed in fresh clothes, hair brushed and pi

Tina was sitting at the dining room table now, a blank sheet of paper in front of her, holding a pen over it. This was an old mediumistic talent—automatic writing. Some people believed spirits could communicate by causing the hand of a psychic to write out messages. Most of it was fake, but it really worked for Tina. She expected to receive a message. It wasn’t happening.

I sat next to her. Didn’t have to say a word. Our hearts—our grief—showed all over our faces. She fell into my arms, sobbing. I hugged her as tight as I could. Didn’t say a word, because there was nothing I could say. I held her until she pulled away, scrubbing her eyes, lips tight with a sad smile.

She glanced at the pad of paper. “I don’t know why I think he’ll talk to me. He has no reason to—”

“Maybe he needs time. Maybe you need time.”

She nodded, almost frantically. “Yeah, maybe that’s it.”

Grant joined us, standing on the other side of the table, looking down on us. He also had a scruffy beard started. His gaze was as alert and stony as ever.

“Kitty. Provost is waking up,” he said.

I didn’t want that to have anything to do with me, but I went over to where the hunter lay. We had words to exchange, him and me.

Provost was rubbing his face, trying to sit up, and falling back, weakened. He groaned and seemed uncertain, looking around in confusion. When he saw me, he let out a scream and tried to scramble away. A chair and his own weakness stopped him.

“Hi there,” I said, frowning.

His face showed blank terror. He knew what was happening to him. He groaned, and his words came out slurred. “Why—why did you do this to me?”

“Not my fault. You were supposed to die.”

His wounds were looking better, the scabs more established, ringed with healing pink flesh. Even the silver-tainted one looked better. It had stopped oozing. It would heal, but it might leave a scar. Moaning in denial, Provost writhed, like he could burrow through the floor to get away from me. “Damn you, damn you, damn you…”

“Now let me ask you a question,” I said. “Why did you think you could get away with this?”

“Fuck you,” he said.

“Aw, isn’t that sweet? The thing is, Joey, you’re one of us now. You’re one of me. A bloodthirsty monster. And that wasn’t part of the plan at all, was it? Did you really think you were going to get out of this in one piece?” I was feeling vicious. All of my sympathy was for myself, having to deal with this guy.

Provost shook his head. He squeezed his eyes shut, like he could block out the world. “You were a bunch of dumb celebrities. Suckered in. It’d be like fish in a barrel.”

“Well,” I said flatly. “That’s nice.”

“Monsters like you—you’re not that tough. We’ll get you in the end.”

Us and them. It always came down to us and them. But it wasn’t so black and white. Us and them broke down into interlacing Ve

“Here’s what’s going to happen,” I said. “You’re going to be sick for a few more days, but your wounds will heal, and you’ll come out of this good as new. Better than new. The next full moon, you’ll Change. And I’ll tell you right now, it’s fucking hell. You’ll either learn to live with it, or you won’t. Either way, you’re going to learn to live with it or not in a silver-lined prison cell. Got it?”