by D.J. Bodden
CHAPTER 21
Jonas was back in Grand Central, after Kieran pushed him out of his mind. It had been gentle, and Jonas didn’t fight it. The young werewolf was now looking down at Amelia. “Hi. I’m Kieran. You smell nice, but you should probably let go of me.”
Amelia squeaked and took a step back, clasping her hands and looking at Jonas.
“Kieran, are you alright?” Jonas said.
“No. There are too many people here, and I’m very hungry.”
“Okay,” Jonas said. “Let’s get you out of here.”
Kieran shook his head. “I don’t think I’ll make it.” He was standing with his hands at his sides, breathing fast, his eyes unfocused. Jonas looked up, and saw the moon rising in one of the windows.
They’re closing in on you, Jonas, Madoc said.
“Can you walk?” Jonas said.
“Yes.”
“Okay, both of you follow me.”
How is he? Madoc asked.
Not good. Can you get in touch with his father?
Not during a full moon. Besides, I only touch werewolves if I’ve trained with them and they’re expecting me. Otherwise, you’d be short one specter during your attack. I can lead you to him, though. He’s moving around with the other adults in the family, looking for Bert. I don’t think they know Kieran’s missing.
Jonas thought about it. Once Kieran was aboveground, they’d have a very short time to get him to an isolated spot where he wouldn’t hurt anybody. Central park. Can you get us there?
Yes.
Jonas followed Madoc’s directions, exiting the Main Concourse with Kieran and Amelia following single file. He projected a small amount of discomfort into the crowd around them, so people subconsciously moved aside. Kieran was barely hanging in there, and could do little else but follow. Jonas just didn’t want anyone accidentally bumping into him. He hated to think what might happen.
Call the elevator, Madoc said.
Jonas frowned. The only places the elevator would take them was the dining concourse or the balcony. He’d never actually used it; they were mostly there for people in wheelchairs or parents with baby strollers. Otherwise, there were stairs and ramps to pretty much anywhere in the terminal. He pressed the call button — no use second guessing Madoc, he’d been doing this for longer than any of them had been alive.
“Jonas, someone’s coming,” Amelia said, her voice tight.
Jonas looked back. Two men in dark suits were moving through the crowd. One was thin and had the smooth, airbrushed grace of a vampire. The other was twice as wide, towering over everyone around him. Jonas started pushing the elevator call button repeatedly.
Madoc?
The elevator doors slid open, and the three of them piled in.
Down, Madoc said, and Jonas hit the button. The doors were almost shut when the Order werewolf’s meaty hand caught them and they opened again.
“End of the line, kid. Come quietly, and no one gets hurt,” the vampire said, smiling as he and the werewolf stepped inside. Amelia backed into the far right corner, and Kieran started to bristle. “None of that,” the vampire said, suppressing him. Jonas wanted to fight back, but didn’t interfere; there was no telling what would happen if Kieran lost it in the cramped space.
Stun the Order werewolf, Madoc told him.
Jonas threw his mind at the werewolf. The man stumbled, like he’d taken a solid blow to the head. The Order vampire smirked, as the elevator doors started to open. “That’s not going to—”
Frank stepped in with a right cross that audibly cracked the werewolf’s skull and toppled him into the vampire. Kieran growled. The vampire struggled to get out from under his partners’ weight.
“Say cheese!” Frank said. He pointed a small black device at the two tangled men and pressed the red button on top. It flashed, and the vampire immediately fell back, his head and neck missing, showering Jonas with a thin layer of fine, gray ash. He flashed back to his father’s funeral. Mom was right, vampire ashes are different, he thought.
Then Frank was grabbing him, shoving him through the open doors. “Come on, everyone out.” As they walked into the dining concourse, Jonas noticed people staring back at the elevator – pointing and talking in hushed tones – as the doors slid shut.
“Jonas, that’s a hunter,” Kieran growled.
“I know, but he’s on our side,” Jonas said. They took a left into the Whispering Gallery, then a right, and moved up the slope. The whole time, Amelia was frantically trying to brush the ash from her clothes and hair.
Where are we going, Madoc? Jonas asked.
The specter gave him a glimpse of the entire terminal. Three of the Order’s teams were converging on the elevator, another was running toward it across the dining concourse. That left one team at the top of the ramp, closing fast, and heading right for them.
Frank took a right, toward the ramp that led outside.
We can’t take him outside—
Trying to thread a needle, here, Jonas, Madoc said impatiently.
Jonas looked over his shoulder and saw the closest vampire and werewolf team shoving its way through the crowd.
“That flash thing still work?”
Frank shook his head. “Battery’s dead. Someone told me it wouldn’t be dangerous, so I didn’t bring the fancy toys.” Jonas thought Frank was being funny, but the hunter wasn’t smiling. He followed Frank to the left and onto the escalators down to the subway.
Get your metro card out, Madoc said.
They pushed their way past people on the escalator, and Jonas continued to keep people out of Kieran’s way. But it was starting to take its toll, giving him a serious headache. Moving ahead, he quickly swiped Frank, Kieran, and Amelia through the turnstile. When he swiped it for himself, all he got was a beep. Insufficient fare.
He looked at the card dumbly, then at Frank, and said, “I’m out of—”
“Kieran, pull him over,” Amelia said.
The young werewolf reached over the turnstile, grabbed Jonas by the shoulder, and dragged him over the bars, as onlookers stopped and stared.
“Thanks,” Jonas said, scowling. Frank started to comment, but held his tongue. Amelia seemed pleased with herself.
Move! Madoc said.
They hurried down to the platform. The “6” express train was already there, and all four of them managed to slip through the doors just as they were closing. Jonas watched their pursuers run onto the platform as the train pulled away.
“Is everyone okay?” Frank asked.
Amelia seemed dazed and out of breath, but she nodded.
The car was mostly empty, and the dozen people riding it subconsciously moved away from Kieran, giving them some breathing space.
Kieran was staring at Frank. “I told you he’s a hunter, didn’t I, Jonas?” he said, balling his hands into fists.
Frank didn’t acknowledge the remark, but turned slightly and shifted his weight, his right hand going to his hip.
You’ve got to be kidding me. I’m trapped in a metal box with a hunter and a half-mad werewolf, going 30 mph, underground, Jonas thought.
“Look, can we call a truce? I mean, it’s only one station,” Jonas whispered. They both looked at him, as if to say, I can, but what about this guy?
Jonas sighed. It would have to be good enough. He pulled one of the blood packs out of his jacket, pulled the tab, and poked the straw in.
“What’s that?” Amelia asked.
“Juice,” Jonas said, without thinking, then corrected himself. “Actually, it’s blood.”
Frank looked disgusted.
“He’s a vampire,” Kieran added. Then his stomach growled, loud enough for Jonas and the others to hear it.
“Sorry, only brought enough for me,” Jonas said.
“It’s not very filling, anyway,” Kieran grumbled.
Amelia kept staring at him. “So you’re a… but you…”
“I’m the same person I was a week ago. Kind of.” He turned to Frank and
said, “How’d you do that, in the elevator? He must have outweighed you by eighty pounds.”
“What, the wolf?” He grinned. “Years of training, good foot-placement, and these,” he said, fishing something out of his pocket. It was a pair of brass knuckles, only they weren’t brass — they were silver.
Kieran’s lips peeled back at the sight of them.
“Uh, tell you what, Jonas. Why don’t you hang on to these for me?” Frank said, holding them gently with two fingers.
Kieran seemed to calm down once the weapon was safely in Jonas’ pocket. Jonas didn’t mention the silver dagger on Frank’s hip.
The train pulled into the station, and the four of them got off.
“Where are we going, Jonas?” Kieran said. He was sweating, and Jonas could hear his pulse beating faster and stronger.
“To the forest; I thought you’d feel safer there. Can you make it two blocks in the open?”
“I think so,” Kieran said, nodding.
Amelia walked up the stairs next to Jonas. “What’s wrong with him? Is he sick?” she whispered.
“That time of the month,” Jonas said, and Amelia looked at him like he was crazy.
As Kieran stepped from the shadows into the moonlight, his whole body shook. He hunched, grabbing his stomach, and whimpered.
Frank looked at the pedestrians around them, then at Kieran, then at Jonas. His hand was under his coat. “I can take care of this,” he said.
“No. He’s fine,” Jonas said. “Come on, Kieran, this way.” He just needed to get Kieran to the park. Then he, Frank, and Amelia, could make their way back to his apartment where they would be relatively safe. The four of them moved west, crossing with the lights. The last light was red, and Kieran’s shaking was getting worse, so Jonas hijacked a cop’s mind and had him stop traffic while they crossed. Within seconds, they were in Central Park: grass, bushes, trees, and a pond with a bridge over it. There were very few people out now that night had fallen.
“We did it!” Amelia said, as they walked deeper into the park.
“Not quite,” Jonas said, looking around. He didn’t know why Madoc hadn’t warned them, but the vampire and werewolf pairs they’d seen at the station were now moving toward them along every path. He glanced back and saw four more sealing the trap behind them. Some of the vampires had silver daggers in their hands.
“It’s too bad, kid,” the lead vampire said. “If you’d let us take you back there, in the station, we could have locked your friend away before he turned. Now we’ll have to put him down.”
Stay calm, don’t move, Madoc said.
Jonas ground his teeth and stayed still.
There were nine of them, four vampires and five werewolves. One of the werewolves had a spider web of black lines radiating from his right temple. “Where’s your partner?” Frank said, with a sneer.
“Dead, thanks to you,” the werewolf replied, “I’ll pay for that, you know, not being able to protect him.”
Jonas felt his stomach churn. He’d stunned the werewolf so Frank could knock him out and use the flash on his partner. He’d killed someone.
“You don’t look too upset about it,” Frank said.
The werewolf with the damaged face shrugged. “Never said I liked him. The bloodsuckers treat us like cannon fodder, most of the-"
The werewolf’s complaint was interrupted by a ripple of sharp cracks and flashes from the bushes around them. Jonas and Amelia hit the ground, and Frank drew one of his pistols, firing several times. When the shooting was over, all the Order vampires and werewolves were dead – turned to ash or riddled with silver bullets. Then Edwards and the other four hunters that Jonas had left at his apartment stepped out from the bushes.
“Get away from him, he’s changing!” Edwards said.
Frank immediately grabbed Amelia and pulled her toward the hunters.
Jonas spun around. Kieran was on his hands and knees, his body convulsing, as white fur sprouted from his skin. Edwards raised his weapon.
“Don’t!” Jonas yelled, stepping between them.
Edwards moved sideways, weapon still raised, trying to regain his line of sight. “Get out of the way, kid!”
There was a sudden tearing sound, and Kieran howled. It sounded like a wolf’s howl, but had a deeper note that made Jonas’ bones ache. Some of the hunters clutched their ears, and Edwards stumbled back.
There are twenty-three werewolves heading this way at top speed, Madoc broadcasted to them all. I suggest you put your weapons away and try not to look threatening.
Eugene shrugged and let his gun hang from the sling. Frank holstered his pistol. Billy and Steve still had their guns pointed at Kieran.
“Put ’em away,” Edwards snapped, tucking his own weapon under his coat. Reluctantly, they did as they were told.
Kieran stared at them calmly. His eyes were glowing bright blue. He looked like a tall, muscular man — like a Greek statue — but covered with white fur instead of bare skin. He had the head of a wolf, double-jointed legs — or just really long feet, Jonas thought — and a white tail that hung from his lower back to a few inches above the ground. His claws gleamed silver in the moonlight.
Amelia gasped and partially hid behind Jonas, clutching his arm in a death-grip. Not that he could blame her. She’d seen nine people killed in the space of a few seconds, her ex-boyfriend was a vampire, and her new friend had just turned into a six-foot-tall white wolf.
“I never thought…” Frank’s voice trailed off. Then he looked over at Jonas, swallowed, and said, “Never thought I’d see one of those and live to tell about it.”
There was rustling in the bushes and trees, as if the wind was blowing, yet the pond was so still that Jonas could see the moon reflecting off the water like a mirror. Gleaming yellow eyes stared at them from the darkness, then Phillip and Leticia Macready dropped from the trees branches and walked toward them, fully-clothed and in human form.
“Jonas,” Phillip said. It was a statement, not a greeting. “Director Fangston warned me that you and your mother had gone dark, but this? You kidnapped Kieran, and you’re working with hunters…” He knelt near one of the werewolf bodies. “I don’t know how many of your own kind you killed tonight, but these were juveniles, Jonas. They should be home with their families.”
Jonas opened his mouth to protest, but Kieran spoke first. His voice was low and guttural. “You’re mistaken.”
There was a palpable silence, and Jonas thought the yellow eyes of Phillip’s pack flared brighter. Leticia looked horrified. Phillip froze in place, muscles tense, and turned toward his son.
“You understand what you’re doing?” Phillip said. “You’ve been away from your family for some time, I would understand if you—”
“I know what I’m doing, Phillip,” Kieran said.
Jonas heard Frank inhale sharply, and the trees rustled, as the other werewolves moved closer. Then two stepped out of the shadows and another three dropped from a nearby tree. They were all in wolf form, walking upright, covered in brown or black fur. Each had four-inch-long, jet-black claws, and their eyes glowed yellow. Moving forward in a slight crouch, like wrestlers, their lips lifted into snarls, revealing mouths full of sharp teeth. One was significantly larger than Kieran.
“Get behind me, kid,” Frank whispered, “and when I say run, you grab Amelia and high-tail it out of here as fast as you can.”
The biggest werewolf growled and shoved two of its siblings out of the way.
“Are all the males this aggressive?” Jonas whispered.
“The big one isn’t a male,” Frank replied.
The big female — Jonas didn’t know how Frank could tell — snapped at the others, and they halted in their tracks, leaving her to face Kieran alone.
“Stay back, you idiots! Did you not listen to me as children? He’s a winter wolf!” Phillip snarled. All five werewolves whined and retreated several steps.
Seeing the members of his pack — his children,
if Jonas understood correctly — back down, Phillip hung his head and sighed.
“Husband, you can’t possibly intend to—”
“That’ll do, Lettie. We had an agreement, remember? I raise Kieran the way I choose.”
“He’s a child!”
“He’s the man you and I made him,” Phillip said with a chuckle. He looked at Kieran; the white werewolf was looking at his hand, fingers curled inward, like a woman admiring her manicure. His claws gleamed silver in the moonlight.
“What’s happening?” Jonas said quietly, feeling his pulse pounding in his chest.
Frank leaned toward him. “Junior pack-members don’t contradict the alpha. Your friend just challenged Phillip Macready for leadership of his pack.”
Phillip heard Frank’s comment, and said. “You’re well educated for a hunter.” Then he turned back to Kieran. “I knew this day would come, you know? Groomed you for it. I just thought it would happen when I was done teaching you, surrounded by your family. Not in front of strangers.”
“You’re stalling, father,” Kieran said, speaking softly.
Phillip nodded. “So be it.”
“Get ready to run,” Frank whispered to Jonas, and reached for his pistols.
