Baddies are people too.. (a Burke and Hare chapter)

Third Person POV
The night had been cold wet stormy and very dark. Josh, or Burke as Emma had named him, and Brian, also know as Hare, had spent hours looking for ‘that mutt’s bitch’ (Emma).

Eventually they had given up and made their way back to the van and the bikes.

‘Shall we torch the van,’ Brian suggested with an evil smirk. ‘It would mean she has nowhere to come back to, if you know what I mean.’

Josh thinks about it, with the broken glass and blood inside it does look like a scene of foul play, but they will need to go and get an accelerant if they want to do a proper job… otherwise the flames will just go out, especially as the storm is still raging… making the whole thing look more suspicious.

‘Maybe we should just push the van further off the road… into the treeline,’ Josh countered. ‘Let nature destroy the evidence, and I doubt the girl is in any state to look for the van by now.’

They decide to do that, when they see the bright head lights of a couple of large vehicles approaching through the forest from a few miles away. LThe high beams cutting through the dark.

‘Shit Brian grab your bike. We need to hide…’ Josh says through gritted teeth, grabbing his own bike and heading for a break in the trees and a stone wall, in the opposite direction to that taken by Emma hours ago. ‘I have a bad feeling about this.’

Brian quickly follows Josh. They have barely made it to cover when two big black Range Rovers pull onto the gravel area by the van, churning up the surface.

Big burly men pour out of the vehicles. They look like a half a rugby team.

Josh goes pale, his mouth is dry, his heart is thundering in his chest. He mouths ‘Dogs’ at Brian.

They wonder how the hell werewolves got here so quickly. Josh looks at his watch, it is just approaching midnight, not even four hours since they first grabbed the dog snogger. Fucking bitch slut is a traitor to her own species, he thinks.

Although the wind is blowing in their direction, Josh and Brian can’t hear the men’s conversations as they are regular humans, but their scent is not blown towards the werewolves either.

They watch Peter enter the van. Then there is a loud cracking of bones, which carries even through the storm to where Josh and Brian are huddled.

A massive black wolf leaps from the van, its eyes flashing purple. It throws back it’s head and howls. Around it with a sound louder than thunder the other men transform into wolves. Beautiful creatures in browns, greys, russets, white and black; each unique from the others.

The pack looked round. Josh and Brian froze, trying to be invisible. The wolves take off flanking the large black beast who had his nose to the ground. Braon stopped whimpering at the edge of the wood. As the wolves disappeared into the woods Josh let out a shaky breath.

‘Fuck,’ he said. ‘Let’s get out of here before those mutts comeback, and they will. Shit if they find that dog whore’s body I want to be long gone.’

The two men dragged their bikes through the woods, following the wall until they hit a trail on the far side. Both are cold and wet despite the thick leathers they are wearing. Quickly they mount up and start their engines, roaring away into the night.
…
The Slaughter Lamb is an old-fashioned pub, with stone floors and functional wooden tables and chairs. It is a spit and sawdust establishment, and bar fights are a nightly occurrence. Technically it should have already closed when Josh and Brian pull up into the carpark, but due to the secluded location and the fact that the local police liked to continue living, it operated opening and closing hours that suited the owner and his clientele.

The two bikers entered the bar, with hardly any notice taken. They were both regulars. As they walked through the door the barman looked up and moved to the optics, he poured two doubles and placed them bar.

Josh downed his amber coloured drink, and shudders.

‘Call this whiskey,’ he complained. ‘Tastes like coloured moonshine if you ask me.’

Brian and the barman ignore his grumbling. It feels as if this is a ritual complaint, and once completed they can get down to business.

Brian down his drink. ‘Another please barman’ he grunted. ‘Then we need passage to see the boss.’

Two more doubles are placed on the counter. Brian pulls out a silver coin and hands it to the barman… both payment and a message.

The rough alcohol is again downed in one. Both men pull a face at it’s harshness, then follow the barman as he leads them to a set of stairs going down to the cellar.

As the three men pass the head of the staircase it sets off a localised scent neutraliser, making it impossible for anyone to track them beyond that point.

Once they reached the cellar, the silent barman led them to a room right at the back. The room was empty to the casual observer, but when their guide flipped a second light switch hidden runes and sigils started to glow in the ultraviolet light.

This wasn’t their first rodeo. Josh and Brian walked into the centre of the now visible circle and puff they were elsewhere.

The barman meanwhile switched off the UV light source and headed back to the bar to finish covering their passage.
…
‘Urgh,’ Brian complained. ‘I fucking hate travelling by portal…’

Josh nodded, his face pale. They both felt that magic was an unnatural thing and shouldn’t be used on them.

They were now in a circular room with grey stone walls.

They exited the room and made their way down a corridor to a booklined office.

A figure sat at the desk, shrouded in shadows.

‘Yes,’ the figure said, both question and statement. ‘Where is the… errr… package?’

Josh stepped forward slightly, clearly the duo’s spokesman.

‘Presumed dead your lordship.’ He stated. ‘She ran off into the storm, she will be dead of exposure by now.’

‘Presumed…’ his lordship echoed, his voice like fingernails down a blackboard. ‘Why have you not brought her body? Had she been… marked?’

‘We couldn’t find the body, and the mutts turned up master.’ Josh whined. ‘We checked her neck and shoulders carefully, there wasn’t a blemish on them.’

His lordship steepled his fingers, light from the fire in the grate reflected off his skin, which was as white as porcelain, with the long nails like talons. Red fire glinted for a moment in his eyes.

‘Boys…’ he tutted at them. ‘You have failed to please me…. Please report to the dungeons for your punishments…. Then I want you to find that Alpha whelp and report to me how he is fairing with the loss of his mate… My guess is he will return to his pack via the closest public gateway…. So you should be able to pick him up in Brigadoon.’

‘Yes master,’ the two said in unison.

They turned to the door and made their way to dungeon rooms with their names on the doors. Each gagged himself and chained himself to the wall facing it.
They heard the chittering of the imps, the sounds of their leathery wings. The contract was clear. Punishment came in the form of flesh, but no blood. The imps were experts at their craft.

Josh shut his eyes and prayed. Brian started laughing manically. The imps moved in to mete out the master’s punishment and take the pound of flesh required.
…
Two days later Josh had recovered and was standing outside The Speak Inn in Brigadoon, waiting for Brian. He could hear the sound of rock music coming from inside, and thought that the troll band playing sounded worth checking out.

The music ended, so he peered in through the bay window to see if Brian was already inside.

Maybe the cunt finished his errand early, Josh thought to himself. And was now enjoying a drink. I need a fucking drink after the last couple of days.

He knew he wouldn’t drink until he had completed his master’s task. He wanted to please his master, and the longer he was in service as a familiar the stronger this imperative became. He knew one day their master would test their loyalty against each other, and while once that would have appalled him, now he was slightly excited by the prospect of being his masters only familiar.

The glass was slightly misty, but he managed to get a clear view. He looked around the room, when his eye met two blue eyes he had never expected to see again. There was Emma, looking back at him, shock, and fear on her face.

He took in the rest of her party in a moment. Dread filled him, she was with the mutts, and she wasn’t dead.

He turned and started running, straight into Brian.

‘Run,’ he yelled at his compatriot. ‘That bitch is still alive and the pack will be here in moments.’