The Wolf Witch: The Ingenious Mechanical Devices, #6

By Kara Jorgensen

Since returning to England from abroad, Emmeline Jardine has managed to get a place of her own, maintain a tenuous truce with her guardians, and celebrate her new found freedom by attending as many parties as she can manage. That is until a man claiming to be her father shows up.

Her father has a problem. Her half-brother, Wesley, has disappeared while investigating possible werewolf sightings, and he needs Emmeline's help finding him. Emmeline reluctantly agrees only to find there are others interested in Wesley's plight. When she receives a mysterious invitation to a country estate deep in the woods, Emmeline is shocked to find a familiar face there.

Nadir Talbot, Decadent, writer, and all around nuisance, infuriates her to no end, but Emmeline soon finds he is the only she can turn to as they are thrust into a world of werewolves, monsters, and secrets from her family's past that threaten to bring the empire to its knees.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fox Collie Publishing
• Release date: Jul 12, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393722007

Book preview

To the girls who feared they would grow up to be evil queens.

Act One

SHE LAUGHED AND DANCED with the thought of death in her heart.

Hans Christian Anderson

Chapter One

A Wolf and a Pinkerton

WESLEY BISCLAVRET DIDN’T believe in coincidences. The fact that three gruesome murders had gone unreported in a city like London was the first clue that something was amiss. After Ripper, the press should have been all over it, yet no paper he picked up even mentioned the killings. The second was that they appeared to have been caused by a wolf, and to Wesley’s knowledge, he was the only werewolf in all of Britain and he certainly hadn’t done it. It didn’t take a Pinkerton to realize that someone with some clout had something to hide.

Snuffling along the cobbles, Wesley’s wolf lifted its head at the sound of a steamer chugging down the lane. Its ears flattened in annoyance as it pushed into the hedges again. This is why Wesley never took city assignments. The stench of so much garbage on top of thousands of bodies made it nearly impossible to track anyone, and the racket of banging and thrumming from streets over gave him a headache. Dogs could do it, but he was part man and that made things more difficult. He should have told Les Meutes to shove their assignment, but he needed to prove that he was more than just his father’s son.

The moment the cab passed, the wolf slunk out and shook the grime from its back. At least England didn’t have so many horses. The damn things seemed to know a werewolf from a dog and made a god-awful racket when they got too close. Most of his work took him to the West or up the Mississippi. At least there, he could blend into the shadows even if wolves had long since abandoned those parts for fear of running into humans. In Louisiana, he had grown up stalking bandits with his father and the rest of the local packs, moving through the trees on silent paws as one. Wolves lived in those parts, bobcats too, but here... Here, there was nothing but the occasional scraggly stray dog and rats that looked as if they ate better than he did. Even their parks were barely more than manicured lawns. It was depressing.

When the streets fell silent, Wesley’s wolf padded down the cobbles and sniffed the air. Cologne. Expensive cologne and fancy food. French, if he wasn’t mistaken. His mouth watered at the heady perfume of beef hanging in the air, but with a shake of its head, the wolf continued on, following the familiar smell lurking beneath it. Its tail flicked as its lips curled into a semblance of a smile. They had him now. Shifting its eyes between the pavement and the road ahead, the wolf followed the smell through the city, ducking into parks or behind iron fences and trees like some feral creature whenever a human shape cut through the nighttime fog.  Trotting across the road to a row of neat red brick houses choked in ivy and with fences sharp as iron pikes, Wesley could taste the slick of paint on his tongue and the stench of flowers that had no business being concentrated into perfume. Dandies, he huffed, curling his lip as the wolf sneezed out the irritating odor.

Wesley’s wolf darted past a house alight with the clamor of a party in full swing, hoping no one spotted him through the window as he picked up the scent in the next shadow. Trailing down the alley between the two houses, his wolf lifted its head. The other wolf was here or had been recently. He was certain of it. As his wolf lifted its leg on the corner of the house, Wesley figured out his next move. Even in his human form, he could smell his way back to the house and confront the man. Squeezing past the garbage littering the back alley, Wesley’s wolf froze. Its mouth watered at the scent, and it instinctively licked its teeth as if it could taste it.

The primal part of the wolf stirred within. Blood, and where there’s blood, there’s flesh.

Shit, Wesley thought as he pushed past the mottled brown and black wolf.

Pain ripped through him as his bones broke with a sickening crunch, stretching until every ligament tore only to reform the moment he feared they would sever. Claws sunk beneath the flesh of his digits as they lengthened to form pink fingers and toes that curled against the war of natures. Fur flattened into skin, which grew and darkened to accommodate his new but all too familiar form. Keeping his head low, he bit back a scream as his face and jaw caved in before rebuilding into a human skull. Wesley staggered forward with his hand on his throat to brace against the bile that rose where a cry should have been. Leaning against the garden wall, Wesley rested his forehead against the cool brick and panted as the final reverberations of the curse passed. It never seemed to get easier. Rain pattered against the skin of his bare back, cooling the crescendo of aggravated nerve endings until he could think again. A shiver passed through him that took his breath away as the wolf curled deep within him. It was times like this that he understood why his brother refused to shift anymore. It hurt like hell even at the best of times.

He rubbed his arms and passed a hand through his chestnut hair until it brushed against the bundle of fabric draped around his neck like a yolk. Pulling the makeshift collar from his throat, he unfurled a pair of trousers and a wrinkled shirt. Somehow seeing a collar around a wolf’s neck gave people pause. The line between pet and predator was thin, and thankfully a collar led to more awkward head pats than gunshots. Quickly dressing and pocketing the leather kit he had hidden within the bundle, Wesley peered into the darkened windows at the back of the house. Through the part in the curtains, he couldn’t see a soul, but the tang of cooling blood was unmistakable. He choked down the saliva pooling in his mouth and focused on the back door. Pulling the picks from the leather pouch, he worked them through each tumbler despite his trembling hands. With a soft snick, the door yielded.

Standing on the threshold, Wesley listened for footsteps but when none came, he closed the door and crept through the back parlor. The servants must have the night off, he thought as he inhaled the familiar scent of furniture polish and something herbaceous. He didn’t know enough to differentiate the plants, but memories of following Grand-père into New Orleans to consult Madam Laveau and the other knowing queens surfaced in the gloom. Their parlors had made his nose itch with the pungent aroma of ground herbs and smoke, but what clung to his senses were the tenuous stirrings of magic. Not quite a smell or a feeling, each remnant was unique to its owner. It’s why the priestesses rarely crossed the werewolves; they could sniff out who had done them wrong. Copper, flesh, and the underlying smell of magic hung heavy as he crossed the dining room. Upstairs, the wolf nudged. Turning the corner, Wesley jolted, a growl rising in his throat at the flash of motion at the end of the hall. His shoulders sagged as he realized it was only his reflection staring back from a gilt mirror.

As he reached the base of the steps, the stench of the other wolf trailed from the door to the shadows of the second floor. It didn’t smell like the wolves back home. They smelled like nature, like leaves and sap clinging to fur. The refuse of the city clung to the other crime scenes: slobber and wet fur overlain with waste and ash. Something was wrong with this one, horribly wrong if the crime scenes were any indication of its character. Thankful for his bare feet, Wesley silently walked up the steps, pushing back the wolf inside him as it rose to flick its tongue out to taste the blood in the air. We’re on duty, he reminded the wolf as the scent grew so powerful he could barely register the other wolf anymore. At the end of the hall, a door stood ajar. Even without the lights on, he could make out papers standing starkly against the carpet and the bookcase tipped over in the struggle, its contents dumped unceremoniously on the floor atop a misshapen, bloody heap. Keeping his eyes on the shelves littering the study, he searched among the clay seals etched with cartouches and the mummies of long-dead creatures. Had it been a thief? The other crime scenes had been ransacked too, but nothing ever appeared to be taken. Not one item on the workbench across the room, littered with jars of dried spices and things so pickled he couldn’t tell if they were plant or animal, seemed out of place.

Glass littered the floor where the victim had dropped a jar of blue powder. Apart from the shelf of books that had overturned in the struggle, nothing appeared to be amiss. Collecting himself, Wesley turned to face the body. Blood soaked into the carpet, spreading away from the broken body where a pale, lined hand peeked out. Wesley tried not to breathe as he pulled the shelf back, cringing as the last of the books clinging to the shelves clattered to the floor. The carpet squished beneath his feet and stained his soles red as he looked down at the white-haired gentleman who lay twisted on the rug. He stared up at nothing, his spectacles cracked and askew, his mouth open in an anguished cry. Wesley made the sign of the cross and shook his head.

Lowering his gaze to the man’s chest, Wesley carefully lifted the lapel of his bloody tweed jacket. The gorge rose in his throat at the sight of his half-eaten liver and the rope of his intestines hanging loose from his body. Bite and claw marks scored his ribs and left what remained of his pink, wiry flesh in shreds. Wesley closed his eyes. It had been the same with the other murders. All the victims had lived in decent neighborhoods, had enough money to be comfortable without attracting attention, and all had been eviscerated. Even the most moon-sick wolf wouldn’t resort to something so abhorrent. This wasn’t simply some mutant hybrid or hot-housed wolf. This was something far more sinister, something without rules or a shred of human decency left. Perhaps the human part was the problem.

Cocking his head, Wesley noticed that between the dead man’s outstretched fingers was a clump of rough black fur. He squatted down and plucked it from his hand, turning it over in the light as he rubbed his fingers over the coarse strands. At home, he could have gone to his father or the other families for help, but here it was just him. There had to be some way he could tip off the authorities without exposing himself. Holding the wad of black fur to his nose, Wesley drew in a deep breath to commit the smell to memory. The wolf rubbed across his mind in agitation, but Wesley ignored it. There had to be some clue as to how the victims were linked. As he rose to his feet, his attention twitched to the door. For a second, he could have sworn he heard—

At the sound of a board whining in the foyer, Wesley sprang over the desk. Standing before it, he yanked at his shirt, sending a button flying, but there was no time. He called to the wolf, and the beast rose within him, bringing forth the stillness of eons past, the scent of wet earth, and the agony of evolution. Wesley’s bones tore and fur shot through his skin like hot needles, but there was no time to recover. Shaking his head, he struggled to free himself from the cloth tangled around his neck. He kicked and shook, glancing toward the door as the muffled tread approached. How stupid could he be? As he pawed the shirt over his nose, a blow hit him squarely in the side. He stumbled into the heavy oaken desk, teeth bared as two men in worn, rough uniforms loomed over him. In their hands were long poles ending in blunt metal spears with a loop dangling beneath them. The closest man pushed the tip of the pole against the flesh of his neck where the fabric collar had once been while the other pinned him by pressing his weapon into the soft flesh of his belly. The wolf snarled, but when the men didn’t retreat, it bit at the pole. As the wolf snapped, the second man lunged forward, hooking a burning chain around his neck.

Spots flashed in their vision as the chain tightened around their throat until they gagged. Wesley wanted to transform, the wolf wanted to escape, but they couldn’t. In that moment, he could see himself as man and wolf, but the fluid bridge between them had been hopelessly tangled. His paws slid against the carpet as he staggered back. Before he could try to slip from the makeshift noose, a woman appeared, her fine features silhouetted in the library’s golden glow. Her silver hair had been pulled back in a tight bun, and while her face had lined with time, her bearing gave no hint of infirmity.

You are hereby under arrest by order of Her Majesty’s Interceptors for murder and for violating the sovereign laws governing extranormal creatures and for the murder of Alexander Lockwood, she said, her eyes staring past the wolf to speak to the man within.

Without looking away, she raised a tube the length of a flute to her lips and blew. A hot prick of pain jolted through Wesley’s flank as the first man let go. The metal pole disappeared only to be replaced by the weight of a net. The wolf took a step forward, but before Wesley could attempt to pull the wolf back, a wave of fatigue washed over them. Their legs slid out from under them, and they tipped headfirst into the rug. All thoughts fled from their mind, except the smell of blood and the chain burning deep into their neck. Their eyes flickered and their tongue lolled under the weight of their binds, but before they could muster the strength to rise again, the world teetered and went black.

Chapter Two

Pretension

SHE would do this. She would do this even if it ended in a splitting headache or took all bloody night. Drawing in a measured breath, Emmeline stared at the unlit candle before her and willed the wick to light. Her jaw clenched and her open hands shook as she pushed her energy forward. It had to work. She had done it on the Continent, but by herself, any attempt at precision felt like forcing a biscuit through the eye of a needle.

Light, you good for nothing piece of wax, Emmeline whispered through clenched teeth to the heat rising in her breast. It burned through her veins and capillaries, traveling along the razor’s edge of her nerves before leaping from her fingertips like lightning. With a click of her fingers, the fire zipped across the gap and caught the wick. A triumphant hiss escaped her lips, but as she moved to push back from the table, a film of flame hovered above her palm.

Damn, she huffed, dunking her hand into the basin of water on the table. The fire extinguished with a ghost of smoke.

She could try to mentally throw the flame to a candle or piece of paper, but a bit always remained on her hands. No matter what she did, the flame refused to completely leave her body. After the first mishap with the tablecloth, it had seemed prudent to keep water on hand, but now, it merely put her hands out. Rubbing her palm where the flame had been, Emmeline inspected her skin for damage. The spot was hot and perhaps a little shinier than it had been before, but it remained unblemished. She could have tried to suck her magic back in like she learned in Paris to extinguish it, but it probably would have taken the candle flame with it.

As Emmeline dried her hands, she watched the light sway on the wick. It shrunk and widened in time with the ebb and flow of energy inside her. It was peaceful. It was a concept she had yet to grow accustomed to, but in her modest Brook Street flat, away from the prying eyes of her guardians, she could feel the beginnings of something akin to peace again.

Three soft raps broke the quiet, and in the seconds before Price entered the room, Emmeline snuffed the candle. Grimacing at the twinge of pain in her scalp, she watched Silvie Price cautiously part the door, relief evident on her face as she spotted her mistress at the study table. When Emmeline looked at her expectantly, her lady’s maid straightened and brushed a brown curl behind her ear before clapping her hands in front of her.

You told me to fetch you when it was time to prepare for the party. I have the Pingat pressed and the curling irons hot.

Emmeline glanced at the clock perched on the shelf. Her new maid didn’t quite seem to grasp the concept of being fashionably late. Crossing the hall, Emmeline sat before the vanity mirror as Price set her locks free from their pins and ran her deft fingers through them until they hung about her face like a black mane. A small smile played on Emmeline’s lips as she eyed the arrangement of flowers that had been delivered earlier, a bouquet of Indian jasmine and witch hazel. She gently stroked the astral white flowers, frowning as the edge browned. The ache in her temple dulled a fraction.

Your friend certainly sends some strange bouquets, if I may say so, miss, Price said, gesturing toward the scraggly witch hazel with a hair pin.

Perhaps, but I like them far better than saccharine notes. Don’t you?

Price shrugged. I like a bit of poetry from the heart, even if it isn’t Keats.

Emmeline twirled a stem between her fingers and stifled a grin. Her bedroom, her flat, her lady’s maid. Her independence hung as fragile as a petal. All it would take is one misstep for her carefully curated world to come crashing down. Price’s fingers pulled through Emmeline’s hair, forcing her to look up. The Emmeline staring back at her didn’t feel like a child anymore. She had loved and lost so many times, and she was done. She would keep her peace any way she knew how; rules be damned.

EMMELINE CAUGHT HER third glass of champagne as a servant with a tray skirted past. Downing it in two gulps, she suppressed a belch and left the empty glass on David Elsworth’s mantle. He was a prig of the highest order in their close world of artistes and dandies, and that was saying something, but at least he knew how to throw a great party. All around her the greatest artists and intellectuals London could offer gathered in their best finery, milling with those whose wallets could carry a talented brain or brush. For most of the night, she had hovered on the edge of their arguments on art and philosophy, wishing her companion would arrive.

The living art was an even better treat. Several men wore the customary black dinner jacket or tailcoat, but most had come in rich velvet waistcoats and trousers that complimented the shape of their backsides. That was one thing Emmeline loved about aesthete men, they were far from shy when it came to their vanity, and the women were no different. They swept between guests, all nymphs with toothy smiles and elaborately coiffed hair. She couldn’t imagine what they did, but somehow she doubted it was sitting at home with a brood or a husband who expected them to keep house. They were women of charms or means, most of which required skirting the knife’s edge of propriety. Before everything that happened with her mother and Lord Rose, she never would have imagined how close she came to ruin every day.

As Emmeline stepped into the drawing room, gooseflesh rose on her arm, pulling every hair to attention and sending a shiver through her. She didn’t dare look. With several glasses of champagne loosening her walls, the spirits stood out among the party guests as pale imitations of life. Sometimes they appeared on the street as bright as the living, and she would apologize for nearly bumping into them only to find her elbow passed right through them. She didn’t want to see them here, not in a house so full of vitality she could feel the energy resonating inside her. It was probably why the hollow-eyed souls flocked to her there, especially now that they knew she could see them. Jerking her arm away, Emmeline strolled through the drawing room, keeping her head erect and her eyes down until she stood at the edge of the parlor where a handful of couples danced to a lively waltz.

What a charming dress. Whoever suggested you wear it has exquisite taste, a familiar voice whispered low enough at her ear only she could hear.

Emmeline’s lips quirked into a smile at the sardonic edge in his voice. Without looking at him, she knew his dark amber eyes were already cutting through the crowd, sharp as flint. The sensation of a match striking within her echoing through her form at the touch of his hand against the small of her back as he came to her side. From the corner of her eye, she traced the waves of his hair from crown to collar where it dusted the fabric of his peacock blue coat. The notes of gold in his brown skin glowed in the lamp light, but what she loved most were the lines of kohl ringing his eyes. A dramatic popinjay, she told herself, but she enjoyed the spectacle as much as anybody. Nadir Talbot, a writer of some note and an Aesthete of the highest caliber, could hardly be missed at any party, let alone one he hadn’t been invited to.

And a good evening to you, too, Mr. Talbot. I’m surprised you made it inside the door.

Oh, old Elsy hasn’t seen me yet. He flashed her a toothy grin and offered her his hand. Shall we spoil his fun?

Only if it won’t result in my gossip partner being expelled from the premises. We have far too much to discuss.

He wouldn’t dare make a scene in front of everyone. Kicking a beloved author out of your salon is in poor taste.

As the musicians paused to begin a fresh melody, Nadir gave her hand a gentle squeeze and she followed him onto the floor. His arm swept around her, comfortable and sure against her spine. Despite his reputation as a cad, his touch had never been possessive or groping. With the trill of a violin, they stepped in harmony, bodies no more than a hand’s breadth apart. Mr. Talbot had a dancer’s physique and the skill to match. In his grasp, she always felt out of practice, yet he turned into her idiosyncrasies and managed to make them look like flourishes. Circling the dance floor, guests on the sidelines watched them with looks of envy and admiration. If only the girls she debuted with could see her now. They would be horribly jealous or appalled, though not as much as their dear mothers. A year ago, she never would have pictured herself happily moving in the same circles as the people she met when she and Cassandra ate at the Dorothy. Aesthetes, artists, philosophers, writers. All her life she had dreamed of balls where she could waltz with lords but stepping from lords to aesthetes had been as simply as changing petticoats.

Emmeline’s chest tightened as she turned. Through the haze of cheroot cigarettes, Emmeline thought she saw a familiar pair of eyes, but as soon as they appeared, they were replaced by David Elsworth’s glower. His gaze cut through the other revelers as they spun away. When his fine features contorted into a sneer, Emmeline bit her lip before a laugh could escape. Once upon a time, she would have fallen for a man like Elsworth; all judgment, pomp, and pomade. But life had taught her well that love was not meant for those who walked hand in hand with death.

Do you think we have sufficiently tortured him? Nadir whispered, the words zipping past her ear making her shiver.

I wouldn’t mind another turn to drive the point home. Uh oh.

Roderick Douglas leaned against the wall, watching them beneath long blonde lashes. Beautiful and cold, he was the sort of man who only need raise his gaze to get what he required. Emmeline felt the cut she had given other women dozens of times before as he raked his eyes over her from the flowers woven into her hair to her slippered feet. She swallowed against the knot in her throat before meeting Mr. Talbot’s gaze.

He arched a black brow. Uh oh?

Roddy’s here.

So?

He hates me.

He hates everyone.

Roddy’s softened focus lingered on Nadir’s back. He certainly doesn’t hate you. He ignores me like I’m dead, and I should like to know why.

You probably don’t.

Emmeline’s hand tightened a fraction on Mr. Talbot’s as they slowed into the final steps of their dance. Beyond the confines of the tight dance floor, reality waited for them. Hollow-eyed creatures stared back between the revelers, but it was the living she feared. The dead never lied or asked for much. The living sat in judgment. Tonight, she had no escort, no husband or fiancé, but she clung to the arm of a man whose company she had been in at nearly every gathering they had attended together. Rumors would start to fly once the season got going, and she hoped they wouldn’t make their way back to her aunt.

Catching the quickening of her breath as they crossed the floor to clear the way for a new group of couples, Nadir steered her to a chair. "Are you all right? You look pale— well, paler than usual."

Just tired.

Mr. Talbot shook his head. Miss Jardine, what will we do with you once the season gets under way? How will you survive a ball?

I doubt I shall be invited to any balls.

You’ve given up on the Ton?

Yes. As they approached, Emmeline pretended not to notice a woman shepherd her daughter away. And they on me.

All the better for the rest of us, he replied with a playful wink. I’ll go find you something to drink.

She whispered her thanks and tried to sink into the stiff chair without looking like a deflated cake. After all that champagne, she had hoped her thoughts would fuzz into something pleasant. Instead, she found herself staring into a gulf where her old life should have been. Wasn’t that why she left? Wasn’t that what she had tried so hard to escape from? And yet... And yet she yearned for its predictable restrictions even though those bounds chafed and left her with angry wounds.

A swath of dove grey appeared on her left, but Emmeline refused to acknowledge him. He loomed beside her, the charge of his energy prickling the side of her face like a dull itch. The man could smell weakness like a predator.

"If you’re looking for