Wicked Hungry

There is another scream from outside, and a crash as something hits the walls.

Nye swallows, and opens his mouth. “Milady, we have spies in the Seelie court. We have heard that they hope to make the gate stay open... forever.”

“But why?” Blaine asks. “Are they mad?”

“Eleanor was against the idea. It is a rash plan of her son, Gilroy’s, who has come to power — or perhaps seized it — while she has been unwell. They hope to go back to having human servants, and to making sacrifices to the old ones.”

“To bring back the old ones and blood sacrifice?” Blaine looks at Morgaine. “Could that be the reason for all of this?”

She nods. “It’s possible.”

“Hold on,” I say. “What’s blood sacrifice? Like when Frumberg killed that dog for the demon?”

Blaine sighs. “Lesser demons take animal sacrifices. The older ones, the only ones capable of keeping the gate open when it is due to be closed — by me, by the way — are unmoved, unless they sacrifice something else. Something bigger.”

“You mean they plan—”

“Human sacrifice,” Blaine says with a nod. “Especially of a child, or a cub of my kind.”

Suddenly I remember what Zach said to me. “The old ones?” I say. “Could they be used to cleanse the forest here? Zach talked about cleansing the forest and the community. He’s a really extreme vegan.”

“Vegan?” Blaine asks.

“He won’t eat anything that comes from animals.”

“Neither would I, or any of the folk,” Nye says.

“You don’t think?” I ask.

Blaine shakes his head. “He sounds just like a messed up kid to me. But this cleansing—I don’t like the sound of that. If someone is using Zach to get to the old ones, they could do a lot of cleansing. Or killing, to put it more simply.”

“I agree with Blaine,” says Nye. “We have too little information, and the stakes are very high.”

“Is that why you’re here?” Morgaine asks.

“I am here, Milady, because I cannot go outside and help my people battle those ghouls,” he says. Although the room is cold, he wipes sweat from his pale white brow. “By your leave, Lady Morgaine.”

“You may go,” she says. “We will be there shortly.”

There is a tremendous roar, then, from outside. A single word. “GATEKEEPER!”

“Oh my,” says Morgaine. “That is no ghoul.”

“Look, Stanley needs to go,” Blaine says. “I’ll accompany him out.”

“Are you sure it’s safe?” Morgaine asks.

“I’m sure it’s dangerous,” Blaine says. “But no one said my job was easy.”

“Protect him, please,” Morgaine asks Nye, her eyes entreating.

“Morgaine, I’m a werewolf,” Blaine says. “I can protect myself. And Connor and Rowan are out there, along with Stanley’s capable friends.”

“Be careful,” Morgaine says. “And bring us back our daughter.”

“If need be, I’ll call the whole clan. But we’ll find them.”

“GATEKEEPER!”