Night Kings: The Complete Anthology

by Gregory Blackman

  Lukas hadn’t the strength to combat the vampires hand to hand; hadn’t the speed to meet them on equal ground. Not while more blood had spilled from him than still resided in his body. But for what he lacked in ability he made up for in tenacity and vehemence. He struck at the vampires that approached, and when one of them moved to intercept his blows, he found the man in black there to pick up where he left off.

  The two of them worked side by side on the front yard while all around the cries of werewolf and vampire rang out in the distance. It was a massacre on both sides that saw vampires bite the dust and werewolves drained of their blood. There was no honor here, only the carnage brought on by a war older than any of the tonight’s participants.

  It was Bernhard Wendish’s worst fears come alive; to watch those under his tutelage become lost in the wind; dishonorable deaths from a dishonorable opponent. He saw brothers and sisters fall to the ground. He saw them devoured by the fiends that toppled them; and he saw a future that rapidly spun out of his control.

  A pair of wolves, one of them ebony, the other auburn, made their way through vampire after vampire on route to the farm. They used tactics honed in many battles over the years—battles almost exclusively between the two of them.

  Kaleb and Leanne Ramsey had spent years together, whether or not they wished it so, and over time developed a unique bond that allowed them to understand each other without the need for words. It was a bond they used to great effect on approach to the farm, but it was a bond that would not prove indomitable to the overconfident pair.

  Several vampires banded together to bring the two of them down. It was an attack they didn’t see coming. Not when things had been going so well in the moments before. Brother and sister were brought down, side by side, with vampires upon every inch of their blood-matted frames.

  The vampires and their many rows of fangs dug deep into their hides, through muscle and bone, until all that was left was the slight twitch from snapped tendons. They’d downed many of their fated enemies, but now their fight was over. Bernhard’s had only just begun. He pounced on the vampires and tore through as many of them he could before they realized what happened. Despite the odds against him, the pack master more than held his ground; he gained it against the vampire horde.

  The war waged on with neither side ready to concede defeat. For every vampire that was felled, another was there to take its place. Through the fields that surrounded to the front door of the Wendish home it was chaos incarnate for the beleaguered Elsa Dukane. She was lost in the skirmish as more vampires emerged from the tree line in an endless wave. She was afraid to run; afraid to hide. Wherever she went these monsters would find her. They would always find her. She stayed on the porch of the country home and watched it all play out in front of her. If she were to fall here beside her friends she would do so with eyes open.

  For Remus Castalon human eyes weren’t necessary to see wave after wave of kindred dispatched. He had his third eye, the vampire eye, the one concealed to all but the supernatural, and the only eye that mattered. That eye allowed him to see past the darkness and take the world for what it was, not what it wanted to be. It allowed him to fight like the monster he was born to be.

  More than just the benefits of perception, the man in black had the shroud at his command. And when two arms wouldn’t do he added a third, and a fourth. He added as many shadowy arms as he needed to ash the vampires that approached him.

  “Forgive me,” whispered a familiar voice behind Remus. “We do what we must to survive…”

  A stabbing pain shot through the back of Remus that forced him to the ground in submission. It twisted closer until Remus could feel the claws of another wrap around his non-beating heart. He knew there was little time before his heart was to be ripped from its place. He had only once chance to save himself.

  An ethereal hand jetted out from Remus’ back and sent the vampire behind him to the gravel driveway. With a gaped hole still in his back, Remus threw himself into the air and came down upon the vampire that’d nearly taken everything from him.

  “What you do,” hissed Remus as he drove down onto the vampire, “is the reason you’ll not survive.”

  That’s when Remus realized the vampire that had him moments from the second death. The man in black had no friends, held no allegiances, but there were a few people on this planet he respected. This vampire was one of those people.

  “Whether it was by your hand or your maker,” Akil Fayed said softly, “my fate was etched in stone the moment you defied the vampire queen. Whether I die at the hands of red or black it makes no difference. Dead is dead; even for us kindred.”

  Remus could show no weakness, yet he couldn’t bring himself to harm one with so much wasted potential. It wasn’t the Egyptian’s will to come here tonight. Still, he came, as did all others that now exist only as piles of ash.

  The lady in red got her way in the end. She always got her way.

  Remus knew that if he allowed Akil to leave he would no doubt find himself in the lady’s path once more. Akil would return to this home and kill any that stood in his way. Next time that could be Elsa. Remus couldn’t allow that to happen.

  Akil’s entire existence had been predicated on taking orders. There wasn’t a day in his life he had known otherwise, human or vampire. A Mamluk during his human years, Akil was a slave soldier without the free will to make his own decisions. He was born into his caste and to remain there for the rest of his human life. Luckily it wasn’t all that long. He was born into blood, reborn into blood, and now he lay soaked in that blood once more.

  Remus placed his boot on the chest of Akil. He pushed downward until he could hear the crack of the vampire’s ribs. It was then the weight of such action revealed the truth of Remus’ nature. He could no more be the man in black the vampire queen created. He could not end this man. Not here. Not like this. Remus looked into the eyes of the bronzed vampire, and in a moment of weakness, released Akil from underneath his boot.

  Akil gave him nothing in response. He understood well what Remus had done by sparing his life. It would be an act not easily forgotten. He disappeared into the night, amidst the carnage, without a word said to his embattled brethren.

  The battle raged on in the forests, in the fields, and the front yard of the Wendish home. The throngs of vampires that descended thought they would come and take what the lady wanted to be taken. They thought wrong and found a pack of werewolves chomping at the bit to take back what was already theirs.

  Remus stood there and watched as kindred died all around him. Those with some sense turned to flee into the forests they’d emerged from. Little did these vampires know their actions would only delay the inevitable. There was only one thing the lady in red loathed more than failure. That was desertion and those vampires would come to learn firsthand how their queen dealt with such disregard for the crown.

  “We walk together,” said a husky voice from behind. “Words I never thought I would extend to one of your kind.”

  Remus turned to greet the recently turned Bernhard. He had flecks of wolf hide still adorned on his body and a larger than life grin plastered on his face. He extended a hand to the man in black; a hand that was reciprocated in kind.

  “You saved the life of one of our own,” said Aubrey as she joined her husband and son on the grass, “and you did so against the wishes of your queen.”

  “I did,” Remus replied.

  “You know what she’ll do to you,” Aubrey said.

  “The same thing she desires for all of us. She’ll not stop until the boy is under her domain.”

  “Then she will perish,” said Bernhard, “as have all others that threatened our livelihood.”

  “You’re too wise to play the fool, councilor,” seethed Remus, cracks in his stoic foundation starting to show. “Even with our combined strength there’s little that can be done against the queen of the vampires. She’ll kill everyone.”

  “What do you expect us to do?”
Lukas asked.

  “I expect you to run,” Remus said coolly.

  “Unconceivable!” Bernhard bellowed with nostrils flared and arms flailed around him. “We run from no one! Not a reaper. Not a vampire. Not even a goddamn archdemon could force us from our land!”

  Remus couldn’t help but cut a wide-set smirk across his pale face in admiration of the werewolf’s doggedness. He looked the pack master dead in the eyes and saw no waver in his heart. This was a man that would die to protect his land, his family, and his pack. It was a respectable quality, whether it was from the man or the wolf, and one not often seen in monsters of the night. It was at that moment Remus decided that if these wolves were prepared to die then he’d see his fate tied with theirs.

  “She comes!” a bloodied Kaleb shouted from the fields afar. “The vampire queen comes for us!”

  Along the landscape of trees there stood a lone speck of red that pierced through the blackness. Before Bernhard Wendish could command his pack otherwise, many of the wolves took to the offensive against their most hated adversary. The lady in red brushed off their attacks with ease, and as each werewolf approached, they were sent to the ground, awash in their own blood.

  “Run,” said Remus to the pack master and his family. “I shall hold the lady at bay until you’re far from this place.”

  “Never,” Bernhard barked. He turned from the undead man in black and towards his wife and son. “Not while there is still so much to fight for…”

  The werewolves that survived the vampire onslaught did so only to fall at the hands of the vampire queen, now halfway across the open field and unlikely to halt her advance. It was then Bernhard Wendish separated himself from wife and son and took towards the field where the lady in red lay.

  “You mustn’t,” said Remus with hands extended in the pack master’s direction. “She will tear you apart!”

  Aubrey Wendish placed a hand on Remus Castalon before he could use the shroud to bring the defiant wolf back. With a glint of sadness in her eyes that Lukas only witnessed once before she stopped the man in black so that he couldn’t interfere in the decisions of the pack.

  Bernhard charged towards the vampire queen. His speed picked up until he couldn’t force his human legs any faster, and he called out to the wolf for aid.

  Bernhard changed into the werewolf while in full stride. It was a task difficult and strenuous for even the strongest of their kind and done only in times of great need. Such a need presented itself tonight for Bernhard, who couldn’t bear to witness one more of his pack fall.

  The monster inside him came out with a vengeance and tore the earth underneath his claws to shreds on his way to the lady in red. Bernhard lunged at her teeth bared, intent to deliver a fatal blow, but he would find no such blow available to him. Not while the vampire queen held him by the throat.

  “Father!” cried Lukas, but it was already too late for words to save one so determined to sacrifice himself for the greater good. He tried to chase after his father, but Aubrey held him close and refused to let son chase father to the edge of reason.

  “Whether you agree with his actions or not,” Aubrey whispered into his ear, “this is your father’s battle.”

  “No,” Remus interjected. “This battle should be mine.”

  Bernhard Wendish thrashed around in front of the lady in red to not avail. He was firmly within her grip and not likely to be released any time soon. There was a glimmer in her eyes that he couldn’t place, a curiosity, and yet one of utter disillusionment.

  “You disappoint me, councilor,” said the lady in red. “I was assured you wouldn’t interfere. That miscalculation shall be corrected by my hand.”

  The vampire queen had the werewolf right where she wanted. What she didn’t have was the wolf she wanted. With the flick of her wrist Xenia snapped the neck of the red wolf and let his limp body fall to the ground. Now the lady would have the wolf she wanted.

  Chapter Twenty Eight

  Night Kings: Dayside

  Gregory Blackman

  Demonic Retribution

  Elsa Dukane looked on as werewolves threw themselves into the lady’s fire. She was helpless to stop them, and when she saw Bernard Wendish chase after the women responsible for such needless bloodshed, she truly believed this dreamlike state she was in to be over. She would soon find it had only just begun.

  With the snap of Bernhard’s neck a collective cry broke out amongst the werewolves that remained. The pack was defeated, their pack master the latest casualty, the most meaningful. There was nothing left to lose. Nothing left to gain. It was their worst fears come alive. They were now a pack without a master.

  Elsa watched it all unfold from the porch for she had little choice in the matter. Her knees were locked and her feet planted; there wasn’t a place she could go. Elsa would die here if the lady in red wished it so and there wasn’t a thing she could do to stop it.

  She didn’t belong anywhere near this madness. That’s what she continued to tell herself as she watched it all go down.

  For Lukas the events passed by in a blur of emotion. He watched his friends and elders get torn to shreds at the vampire queen’s hand. Then he watched the same of his father. A small piece of him died in that instant and he broke out in similar stride as his father had done just moments before.

  “Lukas!” cried Aubrey as she reached out for her son. “You have to come back to me!”

  It was too late for Aubrey Wendish, too late for her wayward son, but not so for the vampire that stood with werewolves. Remus could save Lukas and yet he didn’t budge one inch. He didn’t fear the queen of the vampires. She was but a myth. He feared the woman behind the crown. He feared Xenia’s retribution above all else in this world; second death included.

  It was one thing to defy her orders and open dialogue with her enemies. It was something entirely different to raise a hand against her. Remus wanted to believe he was capable of such a feat. That when the moment called he would step up and take his maker’s life. He lied to himself. That moment came and passed and it was all because Remus feared reprisal from the lady that brought him into the supernatural world.

  Remus watched the young, determined werewolf charge toward the same inevitable fate as his father. Elsa watched. The remnants of Bernhard’s pack watched. The only one not to do so was Aubrey, mother of the pack, and none more important to her than the one headed to an early grave. She couldn’t bear to witness the events that were to unfold.

  Unlike his father before him, Lukas kept the monster inside while he passed through the open field. The black vines still ran underneath his skin, traces of the lady’s possession that haunted him to this night. His friends and family risked their lives to see those dark veins recede. What his father started his mother finished until the vampire queen’s command over him had been lifted. It didn’t come without cost to Lukas and all those around him. Their lives would forever be tainted by the lady’s presence inside his head, affected in the minutest ways, yet affected all the same. He would repay them the only way possible. He would repay his brethren with blood.

  Bernhard tried to teach Lukas in his ways, but they were lessons that fell on deaf ears until too late in life. The ways of the pack were ancient and mired in dark history. It was that history Lukas could not accept. For a man in the modern world those traditions no longer held relevance. That’s what Lukas believed until the moment he saw his father sacrificed for those very traditions. It was the only thing that separated them from the monsters they fought.

  Bernhard Wendish wanted the next pack master to be his son, but if Lukas had come to realize anything on this fateful night, it was that one doesn’t always get what they want in life. Lukas could not be that man. He could not be that monster.

  Despite all his reasons, Lukas didn’t rush through the fields with revenge on his mind. It was to his father’s side Lukas went with his face flush with tears. He scooped the lifeless body of Bernhard into his arms, oblivious to the lady in red’s p
resence, now a mere ten yards away.

  Everything Xenia wanted was there for her to attain. All she need do is walk a few paces and claim her reward. He stood a shadow of his former self, so caught up in his emotions that it subverted the warrior inside. He was a broken man. The kind that was perfect for the taking.

  Lukas’ present state of mind did little to curb the lady’s appetite. She would build Lukas back up as she’d done to all others of worth that dared to disobey her in the past. That’s the way it had to be if she was to call the werewolves hers.

  He would resist. He would fight. Still, he would fail as all others before him had. Only Lukas wasn’t like any of those before him. He was different, special, of that the lady was certain. Within his lanky frame lurked a monster not even Lukas could see.

  That monster could sway the pendulum of power against the vampire queen, but it could also secure her position for another five hundred years. Xenia would control the beast inside or none would. Not even the young man that brought that monster into this world.

  “I knew you’d come back to me,” Xenia said.

  Lukas gave the vampire queen no attention. His eyes stayed locked on the corpse in his arms.

  “I have much planned for you,” continued the lady, “and those plans begin tonight.”

  A low rumble overtook the fields they found themselves. It came from deep within Lukas Wendish and reverberated outward to pierce the hide of all the wolves the remained. They joined him in this war cry, as did his mother, a pack together until the end. That war cry saw him lower his father to the ground and ball his fists up in rage.

  Lukas lunged at the lady in red with everything he had left to give. Like his father before him it was an assault that would prove fruitless and he was halted by the hand of the vampire queen, but unlike his father he was released by that hand and forced to the ground in submission.

  “Long have I sought a wolf I could call equal,” Xenia said softly. “For many years I aspired for peace with your kind; a united front against the reapers, against mankind. Yet, your barbaric race wasn’t ready to heed the words I had to offer. They chose war over peace. That war has continued for centuries. That is until tonight.”