The Wolf Society (Book of Shadows 3) by Michael Penning

Author:Michael Penning [Penning, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-05-24T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

ABIGAIL SAT HUNKERED on an overturned log and reloaded her pistol. “A secret society of werewolf women,” she mused incredulously as she packed the powder in both barrels and primed the pistol’s twin flashpans.

They had taken refuge in the blackened skeleton of a large barn that had caught fire some weeks earlier. The hulking remains of the scorched beams and planks stood at crooked angles like the black bones of some massive rib cage splayed open beneath the night sky. The rain had ceased and a stiff breeze was now rising. It rustled across the vast and open pasture surrounding the barn’s ruins and whistled eerily through the splits and cracks of its ravaged walls. Through the gaping hole the fire had eaten through the roof, the corpse-white face of the full moon flitted between the remnants of clouds the storm had left behind.

The acrid stench of wet ashes and charred wood still tainted the night air and assaulted their noses, but it was exactly what Abigail was counting on to mask their scents from the werewolves. All three of them were cut and bleeding. If the beasts were still hunting them down, they would be able to detect the smell from miles away.

“The Lupamatri,” Abigail ruminated to herself as she set the pistol down on a fallen plank and returned her powder pouch to a coat pocket. She had wrapped her cloak over Anna’s thin cotton chemise to help keep her warm, but her daughter still lacked something for her feet. Nathaniel had offered his boots but Anna had refused with a withering glare.

“’Tis Latin,” Nathaniel offered. He sat on the remains of a toppled beam on the opposite side of the barn. “Roughly translated, it means wolf mother.”

“My, my,” Anna grumbled sarcastically. Illuminated in the cold and bloodless moonlight, her blue eyes were sharp points as she glowered at him with her arms folded across her chest. “Exactly what must you have offered up to your demon to have learned Latin? Dash the brains of an infant or two upon your altar?”

A guilt-ridden look crossed Nathaniel’s face and he stared into the dirt at his feet. “I was foolish to have joined the Crucible. I know that now, but I cannot undo what I have done. When I started at the university, I… I wasn’t like the others. Mine wasn’t a privileged family. After a time, Stroud approached me with promises of enlightenment and I…” Nathaniel shook his head and frowned. “I had no idea what horrors they were capable of. I admit I failed you in my moment of weakness back at the Tomb and it will forever be my shame. But I swear to you that I came back for you. Only I was too late; you were already gone and that is when…” his Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, “that is when those beasts attacked.”

“How very convenient for you that anyone who could attest to your story is now dead,” Anna remarked caustically.

Nathaniel raised his gaze to meet hers.

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