The Wereling 2: Prey by Stephen Cole

Author:Stephen Cole
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi

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CHAPTER TEN

‘I guessed you would get here early,’ said Marcie Folan. Her smile was cold and bleak as the moon above as she looked at Kate. ‘Sweetie, what has Mommy told you about dyeing your hair? Am I going to have to punish you?’

Kate said nothing. Tom stared at the scrawny woman facing them; her face pale and gaunt, thin bloodless lips stretched tight over her teeth. The reek of death hung about her. Marcie Folan, the woman who had ripped his life apart, made him half-animal, driven him into the darkness. She had wanted him dead since he’d first crossed her by accidentally killing Wesley, her ’wolf son, in a life-or-death struggle. But Takapa had stayed Tom’s execution. He wanted Tom taken apart first. Cell by cell.

So what was Marcie’s agenda now?

Tom thought of his parents, thought of Ramone, of all the people this woman had tainted or killed. It was all he could do not to throw himself at her, let the wolf inside him tear into her desiccated hide. But Kate must’ve seen the way he was tensing because she grabbed hold of his arm, held him back.

‘No,’ she whispered. ‘We have to stay calm. Keep control. She wants to goad us into making mistakes.’

Tom nodded slowly. Kate didn’t sound very calm herself, but he knew she was right. ‘Where is my family?’ he demanded.

Marcie’s mocking laughter taunted him. ‘Why, here in New York, of course, while the manhunt for their murdering son continues.’

‘If you’ve hurt them—’

‘They are safe for now,’ Marcie told him, voice smooth as honey. ‘How long they remain that way depends on your co-operation, naturally.’

‘Co-operate? With you?’

Her eyes gleamed faint yellow. ‘It’s to be advised, Tom. You’ve seen what happens to those who don’t.’

The photo he’d dropped was caught in a wintry gust and flapped about his feet. He clenched his fists. ‘Why Ramone? Why kill him?’

‘I wanted him to call his friend, the girl, to summon you here. So much less suspicious than using that monosyllabic little freak.’ She tutted. ‘But Ramone simply wouldn’t betray you, whatever I did to him. Isn’t that touching?’

‘He swore he wouldn’t let us down,’ Kate said softly.

‘I knew you’d suspect this was a trap,’ Marcie went on, as two more dark figures advanced from out of the night behind her. ‘But then I realised it really didn’t matter. With the carrot of Jicaque dangled in front of your faces, like two dim donkeys you’d follow it anywhere.’

‘The carrot of Jicaque,’ echoed Tom, playing for time, trying to think through some way of escape. ‘That’s some voodoo charm thing, right?’

Marcie smiled without humour. ‘Yes, your friend Ramone acted brave, too. Joking till the last. You should’ve heard the way he laughed when I opened his throat …’

As she spoke, Tom glanced behind him. Polar was still hovering wraith-like beneath the streetlamp. And from out of the shadows on the far side of the bridge, two more people were advancing on them, hemming them in.

‘And to

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