The Beasts of Baye Road

Secrets & Keys

The house was eerily quiet, Blanca didn’t like it. The sun was gone and the stars twinkled in the sky. Still Gianna and the other guardians weren’t back yet. Matteo had been gone all day too. It was just her and the sound of her footsteps bouncing off the walls.

The new house maid arrived after Matteo left. She was busy frying the meat for dinner. She didn’t have to hide her abilities not from anyone, she didn’t care what her mother thought she felt free. Blanca could smell the creek miles away, the dirt outside and feel the magic lingering in the mansion.

There was a particularly strong surge of power under the staircase. She traced her fingers along the wooden wall. She oddly had never noticed the wall. A tiny stool with a lamp that didn’t work was placed in front of it.

‘What’s behind you?’ Blanca whispered.

Her palm hit the wooden wall, harder than she expected. The brown wall cracked open. Blanca gasped, looking left from right.

She set the stool aside and cracked the door the rest of the way in. She slid herself through and coughed when dirt filled her nostrils.

Blanca contemplated for a split second about backing out, but she shoved herself through. It was dark, though specks of golden brown sparkled in the corners.

‘What is this?’ Blanca said to herself.

She traced her fingers along the way to find a switch. When she didn’t find one she pulled out her phone and turned on her torch. The first thing she saw was a rope dangling close to her. It was like on of those old lights switches she saw in the movies. She yanked on it and the room flickered to life.

‘My goodness…’ She couldn’t believe her eyes.

She pulled the door close so no one would be drawn by the light.

‘It’s a shrine.’ She gawked at the massive oil painting of a silver haired wolf with eyes so blue they could freeze a soul to death, teeth so sharp they cut like a blade.

The painting took over the entire left wall. A tiny bookcase was stationed at the end of the narrow room. A desk and chair sat pined against for who knows how long collecting dusk.

Every which way she turned her head she was met with the burning eyes of a different wolf. She traced her fingers along a painting of a black wolf, one of Matteo's ancestors. How many nights had she fantasized about her wolf self. All she could be was part of something she wanted so much. Not many nights did she rattle her brain about what her other half was. All she wanted was the power the moon denied her.

It was an old room with dozens of old tales. Did Matteo know about this room? She thought. There had to be dozens of other secret rooms. Blanca couldn’t help herself despite all the dust that crawled up her throat. She sat at the desk and as gently as she could pulled out scroll after scroll and one thick book after the other.

‘The cat sacrifice…’ Blanca squinted her eyes at the words probably written well before her mother was born.

She thought instantly of the cat people that arrived yesterday.

‘Five people from a small tribe in Baye Road were brought to justice for crimes of human sacrifice. The werewolf guardians came together with a group shamans and lined together to punish the said assailants. The tribe’s people believed in a lioness spirit that supposedly protected them. To save her people from punishment and to continue their sacrifices to her the lioness spirit turned her people into cat-like people and share the same DNA as a cat itself and to be bound to the moon forever.’ Blanca finished, her heart slammed against her ribcage.

After hours of flipping through pages and learning about the many different wolves many of which were extremely rare like Gianna she came across a something that didn’t seem like it belonged. Whatever it was it caught her attention. The picture present had been torn in half, leaving only a disfigured face that would crawl into her nightmares.

‘Saykei Wolf…’

***

‘It’s about time. I swear it felt like you were taking me around in circles.’ Matteo slammed the car door.

It was already dark out. In whatever town Franz had driven him to the streets were deserted, not a car in sight or a body scampering across the street.

‘Uh huh! Here we go. Ops, I forgot the blood.’

Matteo froze and turned to his with a murderous glare. ‘Franz!’

Franz laughed and turned to the first door his eyes landed on. He yanked the knob and shoved the door in. He didn’t want the meeting to take long, he was tired and he knew his guardians were waiting with a report on the cat people for him. He really didn’t want to find out anything evil about Blanca. He wasn’t prepared to let her go.

‘Marie! We’ve arrived at last.’ Franz pulled down his jacket.

A light came on behind the counter illuminating part of the store.

‘It took you long enough.’

Their eyes darted to the young woman rubbing her eyes behind the counter.

‘Where’s your grandmother?’ Franz asked.

‘I’m Millie. She had to leave because my cousin went into early labor. So, you’re stuck with me instead.’ She yawned.

Matteo took the tube of blood from Franz and placed it in front of Millie. ‘Can you do what we want?’

She scrutinized the tube with red liquid and nodded.

The men gathered in front of the counter. Millie placed a single drop of blood on a black tray. A candle blew about by the force of an invisible wind. Millie's mouth moved slowly the spot of blood took off in different directions on the tray.

‘Whoa,’ she stumbled back. ‘That’s some power you have there.’

‘What did you see?’ Matteo pressed.

Millie rubbed her forehead. ‘A lot. There’s a lot I didn’t see too. There’s a protection spell around this person, but not just her. This spell has been cast on her ancestors too.’

Franz and Matteo shared a glance. ‘What is it that they’re protecting so desperately? Do you know? Did you see?’ Franz asked.

‘No that I didn’t. Gosh, I bet grandma would have. I saw traps, rituals and centuries of bloodlines in Baye Road. What I know is it took powerful witches to cast protection spells like these. I saw generations of wolves or part wolves and a dark shadow under lock and key. It’s so cool.’

Matteo raked a hand through his hair. It didn’t feel cool to him.

‘Blanca isn’t from Baye Road. She never told me she was.’ Matteo said.

‘There’s obviously certain things she hasn’t told you.’ Franz said and Matteo wanted to punch him. Blanca promised him no more secrets.

‘Is there a way to find out what the spell is protecting?’

Millie shrugged, ‘Bring the person here.’

‘I don’t think it’s a good idea.’ Franz said quickly.

‘Come on Franz she deserves to know!’

‘And what if she already does? Is spell has been cast by someone and surely someone else knows about it. If they discover we’ve began digging into their past we could well be invoking danger.’