Emma and the Werewolves (29 page)

The charming Augusta
Hawkins, in addition to all the usual advantages of perfect beauty
and merit, was in possession of an independent fortune, of so many
thousands as would always be called ten; a point of some dignity,
as well as some convenience: the story told well; he had not thrown
himself away—he had gained a woman of 10,000 l. or thereabouts; and
he had gained her with such delightful rapidity—the first hour of
introduction had been so very soon followed by distinguishing
notice; the history which he had to give Mrs. Cole of the rise and
progress of the affair was so glorious—the steps so quick, from the
accidental rencontre, to the dinner at Mr. Green’s, and the party
at Mrs. Brown’s—smiles and blushes rising in importance—with
consciousness and agitation richly scattered—the lady had been so
easily impressed—so sweetly disposed—had in short, to use a most
intelligible phrase, been so very ready to have him, that vanity
and prudence were equally contented.

He had caught both
substance and shadow—both fortune and affection, and was just the
happy man he ought to be; talking only of himself and his own
concerns—expecting to be congratulated—ready to be laughed at—and,
with cordial, fearless smiles, now addressing all the young ladies
of the place, to whom, a few weeks ago, he would have been more
cautiously gallant.

The wedding was no distant
event, as the parties had only themselves to please, and the only
obstacles that stood in its way were Mr. Elton’s mission and the
necessary preparations.

Mr. Elton and his men set
about at the task to find and kill the pack of wolves—or “monster”
as it were, opinions were split on this—most promptly. With them
they had brought a case of Baker rifles and the ammo for them as
well as an assortment of pistols and traps. The group armed itself
well and under Mr. Harold’s lead, they ventured off into the woods
with Mr. Elton accompanying them.

The weather was not kind.
It was dreadfully cold and they were forced to light a fire in
order to stay warm as they camped their first night in the forest.
Mr. Harold said if the predator of Highbury was hungry or bold
enough, the fire might not keep it at bay and they could at least
hope that it would come to them. No such luck presented itself and
the next day their hike continued. Reggie discovered a series of
bizarre tracks and the group decided to follow them. Whatever had
left them was huge. The tracks were deep and of a kind none of them
had ever seen the likes of before. The prints looked to be a cross
between that of a wolf’s paw and a bare human foot. Marcus began
talking of legends he’d heard in his travels of creatures that
walked the day as men and at night, under the moon, transformed
into beasts. Harold and Mr. Elton dismissed this quickly as
supernatural hogwash. There were no such things as were-beasts in a
world created by God. Such things were merely the fever dreams of
pagans and fools. The tracks led them deeper into the woods than
Mr. Elton had ever been before and finally ended outside a cave,
buried in the side of a small hill. A rotten stench of blood and
decay flowed from the place and Harold informed them this had to be
the home of the beast (or beasts) that they sought. None of them
except Harold wanted to brave the cave. Even Mr. Elton balked at
the idea when Harold suggested charging straight in it with their
guns primed and torches in their hands. It was decided they would
wait in the woods to the side of the cave’s entrance and catch
their prey as it came out of its own accord. They opted to keep a
vigilant watch for there was no certainty that what they searched
for wasn’t already out and about and they would be catching it on
its way in rather than out. No one wanted to be caught off guard by
the source of all the deaths they’d heard tales of in this village.
The wait proved long and tiring. They ate cold biscuits from their
pockets and passed the time trading insults and stories of other
hunts.

As the sun settled itself
behind the distant mountains, they heard movement from inside the
cave. Harold snatched up his rifle and the others followed suit.
None of them were prepared for the thing that came swaggering out
of the cave into view. It stood ten feet tall with muscles that
appeared thicker than a bear’s rippling beneath its flesh and fur.
The thing was part man and part wolf but not in the way Reggie had
described to them. It looked like a jumbled collection of bits of
both. One of its arms was more human in nature and the other more
bestial one had brown, matted fur covering its length. Two heads
topped its body, one human and one wolf. Twins pairs of eyes that
glowed in the dimness of the twilight turned on them, looking them
over.

“
Kill it!” Mr. Elton roared
and jerked his rifle to his shoulder, taking aim. A chorus of
rifles thundered. The thing staggered from the close range assault.
Its chest was riddled with holes but only ooze leaked from its
wounds, not blood. It howled so loudly the ground seemed to shake
under their feet as Mr. Elton and the others struggled to reload
their weapons. It came looping towards them. Reggie knew they would
not have time to be ready for another volley if something wasn’t
done. He dropped his rifle, pulling twin pistols from his belt, and
rushed to meet the abomination. Reggie threw himself into the
thing’s path and smiled as he hoisted his pistols in front of him,
aiming at the thing’s face. Laughter came out of him, cold and
demented, as he squeezed the triggers. The shots struck the
creature on its lower human face, blowing deep groves in its flesh.
Still, the monster came on, utterly undeterred. It grabbed Reggie
and lifted him into the air. With a single motion it ripped him
clean in two as Reggie’s blood and entrails spilt over it. It cast
his pieces, one to each side, from its hands and picked up its pace
towards the rest of Mr. Elton’s group. Harold and the others were
ready again now. Everyone took careful aim, picking targets on the
thing’s body they hoped would bring it down. A fresh round of
gunfire echoed in the trees as they took their shots. Again, the
creature staggered but did not fall. Marcus was the next to die. He
was closest to the thing when it reached their firing line. With a
single, fast blow, it put its hand through his skull. “Eye” flew
into a rage at the death of his friends. He was the only one of
them to carry a sword and he pulled it from its scabbard, charging
the monster. Eye swung and cleaved a massive gash into the thing’s
left leg. He followed this with a return swing that slashed the
nose off its human face. Finally, the thing showed some reaction;
unfortunately it was one of anger. The monster caught Eye’s blade
on his next attack and broke it effortlessly. It knocked Eye to the
forest floor and stepped upon his chest. Mr. Elton and Harold heard
the sound of Eye’s ribcage shattering under the thing’s weight.
Blood spurted from Eye’s mouth like vomit and he lay still with the
white of bone protruding through the cloth of his shirt. Harold had
lost his courage and turned on his heels, fleeing into the growing
darkness of the early night. Mr. Elton took a last look at the
monster and knew death was upon him as it drew nearer. Warm liquid
trickled down the leg of his pants. The creature closed to within
inches of him and sniffed at him with its wolf face, then darted
away in pursuit of Harold. Mr. Elton collapsed to the ground as he
fainted from the overwhelming fear that filled his entire
soul.

As Mr. Elton and his hired
fellows fought the Half-form many miles away, Emma stirred in her
sleep. A feeling that she was not alone swept over her. She
groggily sat up, shoving her sheets off in the process. Something
moved in the corner of her vision. She turned to see a woman
perched on her window sill like an animal, her arms between her
naked thighs. “Hello Emma.” The woman’s voice was like a sad piece
of music, both beautiful and dark. Memories of their last meeting
broke free inside Emma’s mind and poured into her thoughts.
“Selena,” Emma gasped. “You’re real! I believed you to be only a
dream.”

Selena hoped onto the floor
of the room. “No, my dear, I am much, much more than that.” Selena
approached Emma’s bed and sat on its corner.

Emma’s continence was one of awkwardness.
“Who are you Selena?”

Selena smiled. “I am the queen of the moon,
blood, and trees. I am she who howls in the night. The mother of
all and ruler of the Wandering Tribe.”

Emma blinked. “If you are a
queen, why then do you not wear clothes? Your indecency is more
than a bit striking. Mind you, I can tolerate when you come to me
alone like this but if you were to ever meet my father and friends,
I am afraid I would have to reprimand you for it.”

Selena laughed long and
loud. “Oh child, you truly have no idea to whom you
speak.”

“
Selena, how did we meet?”
Emma asked. “I feel as if I have known you an eternity and yet, I
cannot fully place how I know you.”

“
I came to you in the
snow.”

“
That I do remember and you
asked me of someone. I do not recall who or why.”

“
We spoke of Mr. Knightley
and it is him who brings me here again this night. I know you love
him, and he you.”

“
Never!” Emma exclaimed.
“How came you to such a foolish notion? That is a most absurd
statement.”

“
I can smell it on the two
of you whether you admit it or even know it yourself. His heart is
yours. I need you to speak to him for me.”

Emma was still put off by Selena suggestion
of Knightley’s and her own feelings, trapped in a sort of state of
shock. “You’re wrong.”

“
Forget that, Emma, and
focus. I need you to speak to him for me. A terrible demon has been
awakened and returned to plague my tribe. We are at risk, child.
Your own folk are no exception. In the end, it will kill us all if
we do not act fast to stop it.”

“
I do not understand what
you are talking about,” Emma pointed out, her fists clenching the
covers of her bed in frustration. “Why can you not talk to Mr.
Knightley yourself? Do you live in the woods and have no clothes to
wear? I can loan you some if you have need.”

Selena stared at Emma in
disbelief. Finally, Selena took action to awaken Emma to the danger
she was in. Her eyes glowed a bright and supernatural yellow in the
darkness of the room. Emma shrieked and jumped back on her bed,
yanking her covers to her throat. Selena bared a mouthful of
razor-like teeth at her. “You must tell Knightley that only
holiness can harm the Half-form. Only good can vanquish its evil.
If my people die at its hand, I want to do so knowing I will be
avenged even it is by the murderer of my children. Do you
understand, Emma?”

“
No,” she said in a
trembling voice.

“
Tell him light destroys
dark, Emma. He can guess the rest.”

With that, Selena whirled
with the grace of a cat and threw herself out the window to the
courtyard below. Emma darted from her bed to the window and saw
Selena change into a large gray wolf as she ran towards the trees,
her body twisting and reshaping until she ran on all fours and
disappeared in the blackness of the night. Emma backed away from
the window and stumbled onto her bed. She sat for a very long time,
trying to understand what had just transpired in her
room.

With the dawn came the
discovery of Mr. Elton and the remains of his men in the woods. A
hunter chanced upon them and was given quite a start. A quick check
revealed Mr. Elton to be alive and the hunter hurriedly helped him
back to Highbury. Word spread quickly of Mr. Elton’s encounter with
the beast and his failure to defeat it.

Mr. Elton recovered and
told all of Highbury it was indeed a demon loosed from Hell that
stalked Highbury’s woods. His features were pale as he addressed
the village in an emergency meeting that was held at the general
store. Not everyone could attend due to the short notice but those
who did said that Mr. Elton was more determined than ever to slay
the monster. This time he promised those gathered he would bring
the actual Queen’s army and not a band of mercenaries. “Good and
godly men,” he said. “It will take them to see this thing back to
the flames!” Soon after the meeting, Mr. Elton set out for Bath
again.

Amid the hope and fear
surrounding Mr. Elton’s departure, there was also a general
expectation, which a certain glance of Mrs. Cole’s did not seem to
contradict, that when he next entered Highbury he would bring his
bride. The poor man had suffered much at the hands of the monster
in spirit, but his will was far from broken and everyone agreed it
would do him well to return with his bride beside him. No one truly
believed he would be able to summon the army to Highbury to resolve
their plight and many believed even if he did manage it, it would
matter not at all. If this monster was as Mr. Elton described,
their only hope lay in God and not in the strength of man and his
arms.

During his present short stay, Emma had
barely seen him because of his preoccupation with the monster; but
just enough to feel that the first meeting was over, and to give
her the impression of his not being improved by the mixture of
pique and pretension, now spread over his air. She was, in fact,
beginning very much to wonder that she had ever thought him
pleasing at all; and his sight was so inseparably connected with
some very disagreeable feelings, that, except in a moral light, as
a penance, a lesson, a source of profitable humiliation to her own
mind, she would have been thankful to be assured of never seeing
him again. She wished him very well; but he gave her pain, and his
welfare twenty miles off would administer most satisfaction.