A Chill in the Heat of the Night Ch.8 (Wednesday) - Early Access (Patreon)

All characters in this story are over the age of 18.

Enid sat on the bed with her arms folded around her knees. All of her senses were on edge as she tried to keep her mind occupied, fearing that she would go mad if she thought too much about what Abraham Van Sloan said. She tightened her hold as she shivered. It hadn’t dawned on her until she returned to her room how cold this place was. The drab, lifeless interior did not help. She wished that Wednesday was here to comfort her. The goth girl’s coldness was different. It was intimate. It somehow brought warmth to Enid. Her mind was still plagued with worry over Wednesday’s condition.

If Wednesday wasn’t here, was she somewhere out there looking for her?

Enid held onto that hope.

The door unlocked, causing Enid to bolt upright onto her feet. Two men walked into the room with similar attire to what Isadora wore. The person on the right was a short man with a stocky build, bald head and trimmed beard. He had a pleasant grin plastered across his face. However, unlike Isadora, Enid felt that this smile was more genuine. ‘’Hello, Number Thirteen.’’

Enid gulped, eyes flickering between the two individuals. ‘’Who are you?’’

‘’Don’t be afraid, we’re not here to hurt you,’’ the short man replied softly. ‘’My name is Pietro, and this gentleman is Thomas…’’

The second man was the complete opposite of Pietro in every single way possible. Tall and lanky, with messy brown hair and a glum expression. Enid felt zapped of energy just looking at him. Thomas groaned in frustration. ‘’Can we speed this along? My shift ends in half an hour. I want to get this one over with before the game starts.’’

‘’What are you planning to do to me?’’ Enid questioned, retreating from them slowly.

Pietro offered a kind smile. ‘’We’re here to save you. You’re about to be prepped for your first session. It’s a joyous occasion.’’

Enid shook her head. ‘’No! I’m not going!’’

‘’Alright, this is taking too long,’’ Thomas advanced.

Instinctively, Enid extended her nails and snarled at Thomas, causing him to stop in his tracks. ‘’Try it! I scratch! And I bite!’’

Before things escalated, Pietro grabbed Thomas’s arm and pulled him back. ‘’Thomas, we aren’t setting a good example…’’

‘’My paycheck doesn’t go up by setting a good example.’’ Thomas snapped.

‘’This isn’t supposed to be about making money. It’s about saving lost souls,’’ Pietro’s voice never went above normal volume. Despite his best efforts to be intimidating, he resembled a giant teddy bear. Enid was unsure if that made this situation scarier or not. When Thomas waved his hand dismissively, Pietro turned back to Enid and smiled. ‘’You’ll have to forgive us, we’re new at this establishment. We don’t want to come across as bumbling normies…’’

‘’I don’t care what you say! I’m not going with you!’’ Enid said. ‘’Do you even have any idea what this session is?’’

Thomas shrugged. ‘’I don’t care. I’m not a werewolf. Now, be a good girl and come along.’’

Pietro sighed and turned to his companion. ‘’I know that you’re frustrated. Clearly, being aggressive is not helping anyone. We’re told to make the patients calm before the procedure begins.’’

‘’You want me to be calm?’’ Enid shouted. ‘’We’re going to have our wolf side stripped from us.’’

‘’Exactly! Isn’t it exciting?’’

Enid was sickened to see him act so joyful. ‘’No, it’s not! It’s who I am! Ripping the werewolf out of me is like crushing my heart. It’ll kill me!’’

Almost immediately, Pietro’s smile dropped. He turned to Thomas, who also seemed shocked by the outburst, but kept his emotions in check by offering nothing more than a raised eyebrow. Enid stared at them quizzingly. Their confused faces were the last thing she expected to see. Pietro rubbed the back of his neck and pulled out a notepad that was strapped to his belt. He flipped through the instructional pages, looking for something that would help. ‘’They didn’t mention any of this during initiation.’’

Feeling that she might be getting somewhere, Enid retracted her claws. ‘’I don’t know what Abraham has told you. But, being a werewolf isn’t something that needs to be cured. It’s who we are. Destroying that will destroy us completely. If what he’s saying is true, then every werewolf in this place is going to die. You have to let us go.’’

There was a moment of contemplative silence as Thomas and Pietro exchanged a curious look with each other.

‘’Is there a problem?’’

Hearing Abraham’s voice felt like a knife was being stabbed into Enid’s back. She tensed as she saw Thomas and Pietro jump aside, allowing the old man to hobble inside. The sound of his cane drumming against the floor echoed throughout the room. Enid felt a chill claw down her spine. Now that the mysterious leader was here, she could detect a few details that she hadn’t noticed in the assembly hall. There were faint scratch marks on the sides of his face, showcasing a possibly unpleasant past with werewolves. His hand were bandaged in old rags, covering his skin from the wrists all the way to the tips of his elongated fingers. From the moment he entered the room, his piercing eyes never looked away from Enid.

‘’There’s no problem at all, Mr Van Sloan, sir!’’ Pietro stammered.

‘’Yes, there is,’’ Thomas followed up. ‘’This multi-colored twerp isn’t cooperating.’’

Enid turned sharply to glare at him.

Abraham exhaled. ‘’Leave us for a moment. I will speak with her.’’

Thomas and Pietro seemed hesitant. But, they followed their leader’s orders, shuffling out of the room before closing the door behind them. A deathly quietness encompassed the room once more. Despite Abraham’s old and fragile state, Enid felt less safe with him than she did with the two men carrying silver batons. There was something about him that made her nerves ignite with fright.

‘’You seem troubled, Number Thirteen.’’ He said.

‘’I have a name! It’s Enid!’’

A slight grin crawled across his wrinkled face. ‘’Enid, I want to personally assure you that everything will be alright. You have nothing to fear…’’

‘’Nothing to fear? You kidnapped me! You’re kidnapping other werewolves! When people find out…’’

‘’People will turn a blind eye as they always have.’’

Enid shook her head. ‘’My parents are probably looking for me right now.’’

‘’I doubt that,’’ Abraham coughed harshly before continuing. ‘’There was an incident with Number Six. They became violent. I did not want there to be any loss of life, but it was necessary. I am told that what remained of the body was used to cover your tracks.’’

Enid’s face began to turn green. This felt like a nightmare that was never going to end. Did people really think she was dead? A sudden thought came to her. ‘’There was a girl with me. What happened to her?’’

‘’Someone had to take the fall for your murder. She was unfortunately in the wrong place at the wrong time.’’

His tone was frosty and unflinching. He spoke of the matter so casually. It almost didn’t register in Enid’s mind that Wednesday was being framed for her apparent murder. She refused to believe that anyone would suspect her roommate of doing such a thing. Although, with Wednesday’s morbid personality, there was a slim possibility that people would accuse her of murder. She shook her head in disbelief and sat on the edge of her bed. Her eyes became glazed as she tried to hold back the tears.

Abraham took one step forward. ‘’No one will come to save you. Your kind are outcasts. Monsters. You would all be put down if the chance came. But, I want to help all of you.’’

Enid looked up at him. ‘’Help us?’’

He nodded. ‘’I pity werewolves. Cursed creatures of the night. Neither man nor beast. The hopelessness…the dread…it feels like walking through a fog that never ends. And when you do find people, your first instinct is to kill because you were made to kill. I have seen it. So much carnage. So much death. All those people I could have saved if I’d known how to prevent the werewolf disease sooner. It doesn’t have to be that way. That is why I have built all of this. This is your salvation.’’

His conviction was on full display. Enid could see that he truly meant every word. She didn’t know his history, and at this point, she didn’t want to know. All that mattered to her now was escaping. ‘’There is no salvation to be had!’’ She said.

‘’There is. I have seen it first-hand. With my help, you will be cured. You can live a normal life.’’

‘’I already do live a normal life. My life! You’re going to take that away,’’ Enid’s heart raced. She could see that she wasn’t getting through to Abraham. He was dead set on making her go through with whatever he had planned. She gulped. ‘’This procedure of yours…how many have you done it on?’’

‘’Many.’’

‘’How many have died?’’

Abraham was quiet at first. His expression remained stoic. ‘’Those who did not find the path to salvation held themselves back. I gave them all that was needed to free their souls, but they rejected every chance that was given.’’

‘’So, if this doesn’t work, then it’s not your fault? That’s convenient!’’ Enid rose to her feet. ‘’You’re not fixing anything. You’re just going to kill us and make it seem like you’re the good guys. The werewolves that you captured are not the monsters…you are!’’

Their eyes remained locked as Enid proved her point. She didn’t back down, even as Abraham clicked his tongue and advanced towards her. The wolf girl was ready to defend herself if necessary. Although, it looked like the old man would topple over if she sneezed. When the gap between them had closed, an unrecognizable look flashed across Abraham’s face. ‘’I tried.’’

Abraham pulled off the top of his cane. A thinner metal rode was unsheathed from the black encasement. It glinted under the intense light hanging from the ceiling. Before Enid could react, Abraham jabbed the bottom end of the metal rod against Enid’s stomach. The staff didn’t pierce her skin. However, Enid’s erupted with burning pain. Silver. Enid couldn’t cry out as she was overwhelmed by the excruciating sensation. Her legs buckled and she fell to the floor, clutching her stomach. She had never known such agony. The pain she felt when she transformed for the first time paled in comparison to this. All the while, Abraham hardly seemed concerned with Enid’s broken state. He sheathed the silver back into his cane and strolled over to the door, knocking on it a few times. Instantly, Pietro and Thomas stepped back inside, accompanied by half a dozen guards.

Pietro flinched when he saw Enid writing on the floor. ‘’What happened?’’

Abraham sighed in disappointment. ‘’I’m afraid you were right; this one will not listen to reason. I offered her my hand in peace, and she resorted to attacking me. I had no choice but to incapacitate her. Take her to The Room. Number Thirteen must be saved immediately.’’

A flurry of sharp gasps came out of Enid’s mouth as she was hauled to her feet and dragged away by the guards. As they left the room and rounded the corner, she finally found strength in her voice. ‘’No! Stop! You’re going to kill us!’’

Her hoarse cries fell on uncaring ears. Once she and the guards disappeared out of sight, Abraham turned away and walked in the other direction. Business as usual. Pietro and Thomas were left standing in the wake of the madness they had witnessed. They couldn’t deny that the indifferent tone of their leader left them both shocked and confused.

Pietro turned to his companion. ‘’We are doing the right thing…right?’’

For a fleeting moment, Thomas’s expression was troubled. However, he quickly waved away Pietro’s distress. ‘’It doesn’t matter. No one can save her now anyway.’’

XXX

Wednesday admired castles in the modern age. They were relics from an old time. The gothic architecture was something to behold. But, this wasn’t a construct she held any positive regard for. If the map was correct, this was the place she was looking for. She gazed through the binoculars to inspect the castle’s surroundings. The stone building was settled on the edge of a hilltop which overlooked a river embankment. She noticed a few guards positioned along the road that led to the castle's entrance.

It was nothing that she couldn’t handle.

Her eyes flickered back down to the map once more. She compared the layouts. ‘’There it is.’’

Thing was by her side, crackling his knuckles in preparation.

Wednesday fixed her intense stare on the castle. ‘’We go in and find Enid, and then we burn this place to the ground.’’