185
Dominil drove Kalix home after the young werewolf’s encounter with the twins. The sky over London was grey. Cold rain had been falling for most of the day, mixed with some light snow. Dominil hoped for a dry night for the gig. She was concerned that the event might be poorly attended. Several bands were playing but none of them were well known, and the gig was on a Wednesday, not the best night for attracting an audience.
“I need to give out more fliers,” she said.
“I’ll help,” said Kalix.
“Good. I appreciate your assistance.”
Kalix was pleased. She felt important. As they inched through the congested streets in the centre of town, heading towards Lambeth Bridge, she noticed that Dominil was examining her.
“You are thinner,” said Dominil.
“I don’t think so,” replied Kalix.
“You are. I can tell.”
“I really don’t think I’m any thinner,” protested Kalix, who had in fact been feeling fat, due to eating half a pizza yesterday.
“I have a photographic memory,” said Dominil. “You are thinner.”
“All right,” said Kalix, and felt uncomfortable.
“I want you to eat,” said Dominil.
Kalix squirmed at the unexpected assault. She didn’t reply.
“If you are to help me it’s necessary for you to be healthy,” continued Dominil. “So you’ll have to eat.”
“Okay I’ll eat,” said Kalix, keen to bring the subject to a close.
Dominil turned towards her.
“I agree that you may be better off dead,” she said.
“What?” said Kalix, startled.
“You may be better off dead. Which I presume is your ultimate aim in starving and cutting yourself. As you are so determinedly unhappy all the time, you may be right. There is little point hanging around just to be miserable.”
Kalix was offended and bewildered. One minute Dominil was telling her to eat, the next she was saying that she would be better off dead.
“Make your mind up,” she snarled. “Do you want me to be dead or healthy?”
“I want you to be healthy till the gig is over,” said Dominil, calmly. “Can you manage that?”
“I expect so,” muttered Kalix, scowling.
“Good. After that you can do whatever you please.”
They drove over Lambeth Bridge into the narrower South London streets that led to Kennington. The road was busy, as it generally was, and the car crawled along.
“There’s another reason why you should be healthy for the gig,” said Dominil. “I suspect that Sarapen may attend.”
This got Kalix’s full attention.
“It would be an ideal opportunity for him to attack. There will be four members of the Great Council there, five if Thrix comes.”
“Does Sarapen even know they’re playing?” asked Kalix.
“Decembrius is with him, and Decembrius usually learns things his master wants to know.”
Dominil advised Kalix not to mention her suspicions to anyone. There was no point in worrying Moonglow or Daniel unnecessarily, or the twins. They drove in silence for a while. Kalix watched the rain streaming down the windshield, and was amused when they splashed some pedestrians.
“Do you really think I might be better off dead?” she said, finally.
“I don’t care,” replied Dominil. “As long as it’s not till after the gig.”
Kalix scanned Dominil’s face for some trace of humour, or irony. There didn’t seem to be any.
When they reached their destination Dominil strode into the flat. There she managed to further appal Kalix by informing Moonglow that she had made an agreement with the young werewolf.
“Kalix agrees to eat regularly to preserve her health until the gig.”
Kalix thought that this was stretching things. Moonglow was surprised at the news, but pleased.
“I’ll feed her well,” she said, and smiled at Kalix. Kalix scowled. She was heartily sick of all this talk about food.
“Have you heard anything about Markus?” asked Moonglow, unexpectedly.
“He is back at the castle,” replied Dominil.
“Oh,” said Moonglow, and looked sad. Dominil regarded her without emotion.
“Make sure Kalix eats,” she said, and strode briskly from the house, ready for the next part of her campaign.
Moonglow’s misery over Markus had not diminished. As Dominil left she began to cry. She turned to Kalix for support but Kalix was gone. Kalix couldn’t understand why Moonglow had fallen in love with her hated brother Markus, and felt very little sympathy for her. In her room Kalix sipped laudanum, and took out her journal. She painstakingly wrote an account of the day’s events at the twins’ house. After recording her efforts to help them, Kalix wrote I like Dominil. The she wrote Dominil doesn’t care if I die.
She studied that for a while, but didn’t know what to think about it. She drew another thick line and made another entry in her poor, ill-formed handwriting. Moonglow is sad about Markus. Daniel is sad about Moonglow. Kalix is sad about Gawain.
Kalix put the journal away and crawled under her quilt, then stared at the ceiling till the laudanum made her drowsy enough to go to sleep.