Steve and Sav landed softly on the side of a wooded hill outside Sheffield. They could tell Lyra had stopped flying already, but there was no sign of her anywhere on the dewy hillside. Steve looked at Sav and said quietly, “It feels like she should be standing right over there, mate. But where is she?”

“I don’t know, but we’ve got to find someplace to go,” Sav answered quickly. “We don’t have, what, maybe an hour til daybreak?”

“I know, but I just don’t want to lose track of her,” Steve replied. “She can got out into the sunlight, so she could move again while we’re sleeping.”

“I don’t think she’s going to,” Sav said softly. “I get the feeling she’s waiting for us. Somewhere.” Looking around the hillside, Sav saw a small opening into the rock and said, “Maybe we can hide out inside there until tomorrow night. Then we’ll look for her again.”

“How the bleeding hell did you spot that?” Steve asked quietly. “I didn’t even see it!”

“I’m not sure,” Sav answered uncertainly. “I just think I knew it was there. Maybe I played here when I was a kid and just don’t remember it...”

“Doesn’t matter,” Steve sighed. “Let’s just get inside before the sun dusts us, okay?”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Sav said distractedly. But inside, he wondered just how he had noticed the tiny opening there in the dark of the forest. Maybe Brian or John had taken him there sometime when he was a child, but no memory surfaced no matter how he tried.

As they made their way to the small mouth of the cave, Steve saw a notice posted that read, “Danger, Unstable, Do not Enter.”

“Well, mate, what do ya think?” Steve asked softly. “Keep looking or go inside?”

“What’s the worst that could happen?” Sav answered with a laugh. “Even if the roof came down on us, we’d just have to dig ourselves out. Can’t kill us now, can it?”

Steve chuckled. “Guess you’re right about that! Let’s go and we’ll find Lyra tomorrow night.” He stooped down and walked through the tiny entrance, then tried to look around. It was pitch black inside, so he pulled out his lighter and flicked it on. The cave was very small, with numerous outcroppings of fallen rock laying about. Steve made his way across it, making room for Sav to come in behind him.

“Make sure we get in far enough that the sun can’t catch us,” Sav murmured.

“Only way to do that, really, is to move some of these rocks out of the way,” Steve answered, picking up the largest rock right in front of him. As soon as he moved it, he noticed that it was part of a wall covering a hole in the wall. Clambering over the rock wall, he peered down into the hole and saw a small bit of light shining below them. “Jesus, mate, there’s light down here!”

“Can you make it down there?” Sav asked in concern.

“Yeah, this hole is pretty big, actually.” With that, Steve crawled through the opening. It lead through a tunnel nearly fifteen foot long, but as Steve crawled onward, the light got brighter. Suddenly worried, Steve paused and said, “Wait, what if we’re heading back out into sunlight?”

“Fuck all,” Sav sighed. “Here, let me get in front and I’ll check it out.”

“HOW?”

“I’ll just stick a hand out into the light and if it burns, we’ll hide back at the mouth of the tunnel,” Sav answered patiently. Without another word, he slid past Steve and closed his eyes, putting a nervous hand out into the light ahead of them. He prepared himself for the blinding pain of sunlight, but was relieved when it didn’t happen. “I think we’re safe.”

They crawled further, into the large open area at the end of the tunnel. Two kerosene lamps burned brightly, nearly shutting out all sight of the room they’d entered. Once their eyes adjusted, they realized they actually WERE in a room, not just a hole in the wall. The walls were made of stone from the hillside, obviously smoothed by the hand of a human. And they stood on a floor of hard packed earth. To one side, there was a small fireplace and both of them wondered for a second how it was vented. Sav crossed the room and ran his hand over a chair that set against one with, flanked by three chairs. As he looked it over, Steve was checking out a large trunk that sat opposite it. Though both men were curious about this obvious hide out, the sun outside was close to breaching the horizon. For a moment, they considered merely laying down on the earthen floor. Then Steve saw a leather curtain hanging in a small alcove of the room. Pulling the curtain aside, he could just make out the dark cascade of Lyra’s hair against the piles of pillows and blankets. He turned to Sav and said quietly, “I found her, mate.”

Sav dashed across the room, throwing himself down beside her as he whispered, “Lyra, luv?”

There was no answer from her mute form. She simply stared off at the hard stone wall, not even really seeing anything anymore. Kissing her gently, Sav pulled her into his arms and murmured, “I’m here, baby. Don’t leave me, please?” Yet she lay still and silent, refusing to even acknowledge that he was there. Desperate, Sav looked to Steve and said, “Talk to her, mate. Let her know you’re here too.”

Steve sat down next to Sav and ran his hand over Lyra’s hair, saying softly, “Lyra, honey, you can’t let this pull you away from us. We need you, luv!” Yet Steve knew better than Sav that they didn’t have much longer to plead with her. The sun was breaking outside and he could feel the life leaving his body slowly. “Lay her back down, Sav,” Steve said sluggishly. “Maybe if she wakes up and we’re both here, it’ll break through to her that she’s still loved and needed.”

With slow, careful movements, Sav laid Lyra out on the bed and the men lay down on either side of her. They each wrapped her in their protective embrace just as the last of their energy drained from their bodies and they fell into the coma of daytime slumber.

When Sav awoke, something didn’t feel quite right. He could feel a body against his in the darkness of their cavernous room, but it didn’t feel like Lyra’s. His hand ran up the person’s chest, which was completely flat. With a groan, Sav pulled away as he realized that the person he’d been holding was Steve. Then he heard Steve chuckle as he said, “Not quite the body you wanted to be up against, huh, mate?”

“No,” Sav answered stiffly. Then it hit him and he said quickly, “Where the hell is Lyra?”

“I don’t know,” Steve said quietly, peering into the darkness around them. A moment later, both men sprang out of the bed and Sav called out, “Lyra?”

There was no answer as Steve opened his lighter and clicked it on. The room was empty, so Sav closed his eyes and focused on Lyra, trying desperately to find her. He could sense her not far off, so he pulled Steve out of the cave and into the night to search for her.

Lyra was on the hunt. The pain around her heart had stripped away most of her remaining humanity and left her a bare animal in her core. Yet even with that, she still couldn’t hunt a human being. She ran through the forest until she scented the stag drinking quietly from a nearby stream. But all around her, she could feel the presence of the wolf pack all around her. The stag hadn’t sensed them yet, but Lyra knew they were there. The alpha female was moving in quickly but patiently, trying to take down the larger stag before it realized what hit it.

Before the wolf could make its move, Lyra shot across the clearing and grabbed the stag by its antlers. It kicked out at her, the hoof connecting with her shin as it realized it was in a desperate fight for its life. Despite the pain in her leg, Lyra hung on and twisted the beast’s neck to an impossible angle. With one vicious movement, her fangs tore into the stag’s neck and set it to bleeding furiously. Her mouth closed over the wound as the animal tried to kick away from her, the pain driving the beast mad. But Lyra’s hunger couldn’t be turned and she clung to the stag with all her might as she fed.

The lead wolf was bewildered. Where had this creature come from? And what was it? There was no human scent, even though it wore a human form. This thing smelled, well, DEAD. The wolf was puzzled. Worst of all, this thing had taken their kill, infuriating the entire pack. They circled Lyra, wondering if perhaps they should simply attack her now that the stag was dead. Yet the feeling from this thing wasn’t one of something defending a kill. The killer seemed to welcome the pack. Its golden eyes shone as the thing looked up at the alpha female and whispered, “Join me, little sister!”

Carefully, the lead wolf stalked up to the hind quarter of the stag and sniffed at it. The thing at its neck simply watched her as her sharp canines tore into the flesh of the beast. Then it turned back to the neck and lowered its head once more. The rest of the pack made its cautious way to the stag, unsure of Lyra’s intentions. Then the lead wolf’s head snapped up as she sensed two more of the beings coming into the clearing. Her steely eyes studied them while the rest of the pack continued to feed. Then the thing at the neck of the stag rose and took off into the forest, leaving behind the body of the kill for the wolves to consume. A second later, the other two creatures followed the first one, leaving the stag solely to the wolves for their meal.

Bewildered, Sav and Steve walked slowly behind Lyra. Neither of them knew what to make of her actions. It was almost like she’d been part of that wolf pack and not a separate being. Their thoughts were shattered by the sound of a high feminine scream a couple of hundred yards away. Lyra was off like a shot, tearing through the brush without thought.

The two men broke out of the forest just in time to see Lyra pull a heavy set man off a young girl he’d pinned to the roadside. The girl was in shock as the man turned on Lyra with his knife drawn. Slashing at her with wild swipes, Sav felt the burning pain as he scored a cut on Lyra’s abdomen. But it didn’t stop her in the least. She laughed at him as he stared at her in disbelief. Steve heard her murmur to the man, “Ever heard the legend of the Ronalyr?”

The man burst out laughing. “Of course I have, you stupid cunt! What the bleeding hell does that have to do with the fact that I’m going to kill you?”

“Because I AM the Ronalyr,” Lyra hissed. “And you’ve just made your last mistake!” She launched herself at him and pinned him against a nearby tree. Not giving up the fight yet, the man pushed his knife deep into Lyra’s back, then stared in disbelief as she just laughed at him.

“Sorry, mate, you can’t kill a legend with a knife,” Lyra chuckled, then bit savagely into the man’s neck. He tried to let out a scream, but her bite had crushed his windpipe. The hideous gurgling from his throat turned Sav’s stomach as he watched her kill the man with vicious efficiency. As his dead body fell to the ground, Lyra slumped down weakly. The knife wounds had indeed taken something of a toll on her body and she turned on the young girl, intent on killing her as well. Steve saw the glint in her eye and put himself between them, whispering, “No, Lyra, you don’t want this. She’s an innocent.”

Lyra cocked her head at him, as though she didn’t quite understand what he was saying. Starting past him, she felt Steve grab her arms roughly and hold her back. Sav knelt beside the girl and said, “Can you drive?”

“Yeah, I think so...”

“Then get the hell out of here,” Sav said quickly. “Go to the police station and just tell them a wolf pack attacked the man who was trying to rape you.”

“But...but...he doesn’t look like a wolf pack got him,” the girl said uncertainly. “There’s barely a mark on him!”

“Let me take care of that,” Sav answered, looking up to make sure Steve was still holding Lyra back. “No one will believe any of this talk of the Ronalyr or whatever, so just tell them what I said. Now go!”

Stumbling, the girl made her way into the pickup truck and started the engine. When Sav turned back to Steve and Lyra, he could see Lyra’s fangs sinking into Steve’s throat, taking the healing blood from his body. As she broke away from him, she peered into the bushes around them and saw the glowing eyes of the female wolf. With one small gesture, Lyra left the dead man to the wolves and walked away, never looking back. Her hunger quelled, she went back to her hillside lair and laid down on the pile of pillows and blankets to sleep.

Sav and Steve took turns sitting with her as they each went out to feed. Since they’d both grown up in Sheffield, they knew where the roughest parts of town were and found their prey easily enough.

Glutted from the two kills in one night, the entire wolf pack laid down in the soft grass of the forest and drifted off into satisfied sleep. There would be time later to wonder who or what their mysterious benefactor had been.