In this romantic werewolf adventure, war looms once again between the United States and the British Empire. Edward Grubb, whose ship was lost to American fire in the last war, visits the dockyards at Chatham on the river Medway to see the launch of the Royal Navy’s latest dreadnought, Steadfast.
But monsters are stalking the dockyard streets. Half man, half wolf creatures are wreaking their blood lust across the Medway town. Edward is drawn into deadly battle with these fearful creatures and learns of their plan to destroy the empire and even threaten Queen Victoria herself.
Edward soon makes common cause with handsome rent boy Aaron. But Aaron is hiding a terrible secret of his own, and Edward must decide who he can trust if he is to save Queen and empire from destruction.
Unlike the ferals, Aaron transformed was a thing of beauty. I had only seen him in his wolf-like state once before, under the yellow glow of the gas lamps. But in daylight, I could appreciate his glossy red fur coat. His head now ended in a long snout, but with his swept-back ears and glowing amber eyes, there was something proud and captivating about him, so unlike the mismatch of human and animal of the ferals, who, in contrast, even the most human-looking of them looked like nothing more than a rabid dog.
Aaron ran ahead. Screams rang out as the last of the marines were brought down, and the blood-maddened ferals piled on top of them. There was no way I was leaving Aaron to face this alone, so I ran after him, clutching my ridiculous cricket bat, not quite knowing what I would do with it. Aaron leapt into the group of ferals still tearing at the body of a fallen marine.
Aaron clamped his massive jaws onto the neck of one of the beasts, producing a hideous, inhuman squeal, and with a sudden shake of his head, the creature was thrown from the fray. Its bloody remains rolled across the jetty before disappearing from view off the stone edge.
He locked onto another feral and grasped it by the throat. The two opponents rose up together as the beast tried desperately to shake loose of Aaron’s bite. But it was not all going Aaron’s way; another feral seized Aaron’s leg, its red eyes rolling back into its head as it clamped down hard on Aaron’s flesh.
I had sensed the deep fury that lay buried within Aaron, and now that it was unleashed, the ferals were no match for him. With a bloody gurgling sound, Aaron ripped out the throat of his opponent and spat gore onto the ground.
By now, I had caught up with him. The creature still worrying at Aaron’s leg was nearest to me. I smashed the cricket bat down on its spine, and there was a satisfying crack of bone. It released its bite in a silent gasp.
Aaron snapped around to face me, his fangs dripping red. I feared that he might no longer recognise me, but then I saw the grin of bloody exultation for what it was, as if this is what he had been born for. An instant later, he turned away to deal with the two remaining creatures left alive that still harried at him. I readied my bat again, but as the melee of fur and fangs rolled about the jetty, it was almost impossible to secure a hit.
Other ferals were now climbing, almost unnoticed, up the tiers of seating. Her Majesty looked down in terror at the horror approaching. Unable to leave the balcony from the rear and either unwilling or unable to climb down to the seating below, she and Karim watched as half a dozen of the beasts steadily approached her.
The first climbed easily over the balcony, expecting easy meat, but met instead with a champagne bottle-side swipe from Her Majesty. The creature fell back in a daze to the tier below while one of its fellows, more wary than its comrade, took a flying leap upward to land on the balcony.
I was torn between trying to help Aaron and wanting to watch the events unfolding above me. I caught a flash of lilac bloomers as the creature’s landing knocked both queen and servant backwards. I had thought Karim was no more than an idle functionary, but he recovered quickly and launched an attack with his ceremonial dagger every bit as frenzied as any feral.
Moments later, Karim stood up alongside Her Majesty. She was obviously shaken, and both of them were spattered with blood. He threw up both hands in the air in triumph. In one was the curved dagger, dripping blood, and in the other, was the severed head of the feral itself, its jaws gaping as if in surprise at its decapitation. The other ferals on the pavilion let out a howl of disbelief before Karim flung down the head amongst them.
