Chapter 4 Will #3
“Down,” Mike sang, and Will had no choice but to obey.
Eyes wide with terror, Will watched as the impossible happened.
Ed jumped, but he jumped over them. Hitting a window, he broke through the glass and met nothing but a steep fall on the other side.
With Mike’s singing to lure them, the rest of the pack followed, and Will watched them jump right out of that window, like lemmings, following their asshole of a leader. Three jumps, and then they were gone.
“Wow,” Will said. It took him a good half a minute to fully realize that he wasn’t going to die that night. That a siren, not an alpha, had done the impossible and kept him safe.
Peter showed up like mysterious, malicious fog to make all the loups-garous vanish. Their kind were sturdy, so the fall hadn’t killed them all, but Peter was not as forgiving as gravity.
With adrenaline still buzzing in Will’s blood, he could barely comprehend what was going on, and before he knew it, he was watching as Mike went back to check on his lover. Then they left, holding on to each other. In love.
I didn’t know jealousy made you sad, but watching them makes me sad.
Before long, Mike’s and Corvin’s footsteps were faint echoes in the large, empty factory.
“You are all right, I take it?” Peter said when Corvin and Mike were out of earshot.
“Yeah. Peachy.” Will took a shaky breath. “Ed’s dead.”
“Yes, all of them are. Good riddance and all that.” Peter showed off a positively wicked smile. “Hmm. I’ll have to ask Pryce for another favor. Oh, the bother. One used to be able to sell corpses to the anatomists, and that was that. Modernity is wonderful, but it has its downsides.”
Will didn’t know who Pryce was or what exactly an anatomist was, but he wasn’t sure it mattered. Or that he really wanted to know.
“I’m sorry. Everyone’s human cover is blown. I…didn’t mean for that to happen.”
“No one’s cover is blown, pup. Be quiet, and watch.” Peter pulled Will along to a balcony that overlooked the ground floor. “He’s going to pop the question. This is so much better than a Valentine’s Day proposal, and this way, I get to watch!”
“Huh?”
“Hush, pup. I want to see this.”
Will followed Peter’s line of sight. Below them, Mike and Corvin stood in the middle of the floor.
Specks of dust and dirt caught the faint light, making the abandoned place look almost magical.
Mike bluntly asked for Corvin’s hand, and Corvin pretty much jumped into Mike’s arms, giving himself fully.
Something inside of Will tensed. This was not a magical place, and yet, for Mike and Corvin, something magical had just happened. They seem so happy. How can anyone be this happy?
“That’s…nice,” Will said.
Peter rubbed his hands together. “It is perfect. They are like a perfect set of adorable china cups. Or two paintings you must hang together to make their respective colors shine brighter.”
Will shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Corvin invited me to movie night.”
“And you may go if you behave.”
Will stiffened. He’d allowed himself to be numb, now that Ed was dead—dead finally!—but he’d have to start paying Peter back.
“Are you… Do I have a curfew? You want me to stay with you now and—” Will wasn’t sure how to phrase the question.
He knew what he wanted to ask, what he wanted to know.
What do you want from me? Do you want more than company, more than someone cleaning your house?
You haven’t even asked me to clean your house yet, but that is what you want, right?
Downstairs, Mike and Corvin were walking out of the factory arm in arm, surrounded by a bubble of happiness Will could only dream of.
“Whyever would I want you to stay with me, William?” Peter asked. He sounded more shocked than anything. “I own no pets for a reason, and I am not about to change that.”
“Uhm, I just…” Will looked around. He’d be okay now. He’d make do somehow, find a job, maybe learn a skill. No one’s after me now, and it’ll be fine. “Do you…I don’t know. Do you want me to—”
“Please, stop.” Peter headed toward the stairs.
“I need to make a phone call. Just follow along.” Peter fished his phone out of his pocket and dialed.
Will followed. “Pryce, hi there. Yes, I’m aware of the time.
Well, death doesn’t keep regular hours, Pryce, which is to say, there is meat for you at the old cotton mill.
I’m sending you the location, and you’re welcome. ”
Will wanted to ask who Pryce was, and also…meat? But he didn’t dare. He didn’t dare say a single thing when Peter motioned him to get into his car or when he drove them away from the factory. Will kept his eyes down and his mouth shut. Waiting. Hoping whatever came next was…better.
When Peter stopped the car, they were in a different neighborhood again. Peter turned in his seat and fixed Will with a look he couldn’t meet for more than two seconds.
“Here is what will happen,” Peter said. “I found a witch who will take you as an apprentice. You will finish your apprenticeship with him. You will behave and not cause unnecessary trouble. I can have your name changed if you prefer.”
Will glanced up at Peter before looking down again. Peter found me a witch? So I can learn about magic? That’s…too good to be true.
“Why would I want to change my name?” Will shifted in his seat. “Or do I…do I take on a witch name? Like Merlin?”
“Like Merlin? Pup, Merlin is not an artist’s name—never mind. I meant would you like to change your name in case someone from your old pack comes looking for you. In case you don’t want to be found. In case you want to have a fresh start.”
Will snorted. “No one is coming for me. My grandfather—the alpha—he forbade that. I told my sister to stop making a fuss. But Will’s my name.
My mom picked it.” But…is that why he gave Mike a false name for me?
Because he wanted to give me that option?
Because he would have let me be John forever if I’d wanted?
Will was tempted, he really was, but he had his memories to consider. His mom and dad, his sister, they had called him Will. Those memories were too precious to give away or dull with a new name.
Peter shrugged. “Fair enough. I lack the skill to deliver a certain type of news in the way it should be delivered, so allow me to be blunt for the next bit. Your grandfather died a year ago.”
Will’s jaw dropped. “He died? Are you kidding me? He fucking died? What a cosmic fucking joke.”
“Hmm. Not the reaction I expected. I rather thought it was karmic, not a cosmic joke.”
Will licked his lips. “He sold me. I almost died tonight. And now I can’t even go back and tell him I came out the other side. I can’t watch his face when he sees me alive. He probably thought they’d killed me already.” Did he grieve me? Did he let my sister grieve me?
“Why would you want to tell him that? Evidence would suggest he wasn’t concerned about your survival in the first place.
If you’d like my professional opinion, the thing to do to really stick it to someone is unmake their life, starting with taking all their assets from them, then the habits they enjoy, then the people they are fond of.
Ah, it’s the most satisfying thing, pup, you have no idea. ”
Peter sounded dreamy.
“I just…I just wanted to show him they hadn’t broken me.”
Peter clicked his tongue. “To each their own. As I see it then, you should focus on your apprenticeship now. I expect you to complete it.”
“You never said how you want to be paid back,” Will mumbled.
Silence filled the car. Then, the comforting weight of Peter’s hand settled on Will’s neck. “You owe me nothing, William Albright, but you will promise to finish this apprenticeship. Yes?”
“I promise.” Will’s eyes were stinging.
“Good.” Peter left his hand on Will’s neck. “You also will not ever breathe a word of what you saw in my basement. Not to anyone.”
“I saw nothing in your basement,” Will said, his suspicions confirmed. There was some weird, obsessively stalkery thing going on there, and also, Peter was likely very lonely. Maybe he’s jealous too? But he deals with it differently.
“Excellent. You’re such a teachable pup.” Peter took his hand off Will’s neck. “Let’s just hope Sage can use that to introduce you to manners and things.”
Will followed Peter out of the car. The sun was just about to crest the horizon as they walked up a garden path to a cute little house, nestled in a garden whose vegetation was sort of viciously flowering and growing all over the place, looking almost like it wanted to swallow the house whole.
Will smelled roses on the air, sweet like summer’s promise.