Two Interviews

Rose struggled back to wakefulness, trying to decide whether the strange memories she had - of changing into a werewolf, of seeing other werewolves, of being chloroformed by one of them - could possibly be real, or whether they were no more than an amazingly vivid dream.

She opened her eyes. She was lying on a couch in a comfortable room, a sheet covering her. Looking down at her was a girl who looked no more than fifteen or sixteen, with her dark hair tied in pigtails. "You!" Rose gasped. The girl grinned, looking if anything even younger when she did so. "I'm not surprised you recognised me. You don't get too many werewolves with pigtails," she said. "Please don't be frightened. We mean you no harm and, whether you realise it yet or not, you are one of our Sisterhood now. My name's Erin O'Grady by the way." To Rose's surprise, the girl proferred her hand. Feeling that this was rather surreal, Rose nevertheless shook hands. "I'm Rose Flaherty," she said. "It seems that we may have more than the one thing in common, then," Erin said. "Now, would you like some breakfast?" Rose realised that she was ravenously hungry again, and said: "Yes, please." "After breakfast, there are some other people who would like to talk to you. There's a lot we have to discuss."

Professor Henry Stanton has been dreading this interview and has had a restless night. Once again he stands in the office of the masked man he knows only as the Magus. The Magus speaks: "I find it hard to credit your incompetence, Stanton. Or I would do, were it not for your recent record of failures. The girl's shackles were clearly completely inadequate. And as for leaving her unobserved once she had changed..." "It was only for a moment, whilst I went to get myself a cup of coffee from the machine," Stanton says, aware of how inadequate that sounds. "And she was being videoed the whole time." "You should have had Myers to help you, to ensure that one of you was always guarding her." "But how could I imagine that the Sisterhood would know of her or, even if they knew, that they would dare to try to grab her? Even if the girl could break her bonds, there was no way that she could have got out of the cell without their help. In any case, even had I been there, they would have overpowered me." "Not if you had prepared properly. Now I suppose you had better show me your video."

The video only lasts for about fifteen minutes. It show Rose's change, her breaking of one of her chains, the door being broken down, the werewolves rushing into the cell, the sleeping poultice being applied, Rose's remaining chains being broken, and finally the girl being carried out. After it has finished, Stanton says: "I recognised Anastasia and the witch. I don't know who the others are." "We are supposed to be adepts at magic, are we not? It may be possible to find out. Better yet, it may be possible to trace them to their hide-out. It would be almost impossible for a group of werewolves not to shed at least a little hair. I want you to get down on your hands and knees if necessary, and search every square inch of the cell and of the surrounding area." "Yes, Magus." "Oh, and go to where your student lived, and see if you can find any nail clippings or anything like that." "Yes, Magus."

"Now, I assume that you still have some more of the witch's blood? Surely not even you would have been so stupid as to use it all?" "I have enough left for at least one more injection, Magus. But the last of the three nights of the full moon is now past. It will be nearly a month before we can try again." "That will not matter if we can trace your student or her abductors by another means. You may go now, Stanton. Were it not for your good work in finding and reviving the Frenchwoman in the first place, I would not be so forgiving. But be aware that my patience is not infinite."

1. Stanton staggers out of the room.
2. Meanwhile, Rose is talking to Erin, Irene, Anastasia and Natalia.

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