War Hammer: A Nate Temple Supernatural Thriller Book 8 (The Temple Chronicles)

by Shayne Silvers

  Alucard was studying me. “It’s still you, right Nate? You have those blue tattoos again…”

  I nodded. “Yep. We had that bro-out a few hours ago, where I told you—”

  “Okay, got it,” he interrupted quickly, shooting wary glances at the others. They each shared considering looks, their curiosity peaked at his obvious desire to change topics.

  I grinned at his scowl. “Yahn, have you tried shifting into dragon form yet?”

  He shook his head. “Didn’t know if that would mess with something here. Maybe prevent me from doing…” his eyes drifted towards Gunnar, and he shrugged, “that.”

  I sighed. “Possibly. Let’s get moving. I want you two to really try.” I shot a look at the others. “Which means you guys need to hold your horses if we’re attacked again.” Pegasus sniggered at the bad pun. “Share in the bloodlust,” I added, ignoring them.

  Without further ado, Talon began walking beside Gunnar. They spoke quietly back and forth, likely trading knowledge since they both believed they could track our friends. Maybe they were triangulating the scent, or something super cool.

  Me? I just walked behind them with Yahn and Alucard. The horses walked a few dozen paces off to the side, talking lightly back and forth and keeping an eye out for any signs of attack.

  A thick forest stood between us and our destination, making me think it would be wisest to fly over it rather than waste days breaking through underbrush – and likely encountering a dozen different flavors of murdering things that called the woods home. Still, we would have to walk until we reached them, saving our flyers’ energy.

  Because two horses weren’t going to be much help with five riders. I needed Yahn to change, hoping he had a shining set of wings, so he could carry Talon. I had Grimm, and Gunnar had Pegasus. There was the very likely chance – judging by what I had seen Alucard do – that he had his own set of wings, too. But if not, one of the flyers would need to carry two riders.

  And someone might need to carry Ashley and Pan, depending on how fast we needed to get out, and if I couldn’t simply take us home the moment we found them.

  I really wanted to track down Oberon, to see if he was able to help somehow, maybe prevent a major time-shift, or lend me aid, but the problem with that was that I didn’t really want to risk him saying no or worse, starting a fight. And I didn’t know exactly where he was, because I didn’t have a map. Also, it would cost time. Something I didn’t want to waste.

  So, I let the idea of visiting Oberon go, assuming that all of Fae probably knew we were here, thanks to the alarms that had sounded upon our arrival.

  Which all pointed back to finding Ashley and Pan fast.

  My army of savages marched forth into Fae, and all was right with the world…

  Chapter 30

  We had reached the woods faster than expected, and had decided to take a quick rest while Pegasus scouted the area from above. He had just returned, letting me know that flying over the forest would be easy and fast. I had hoped so, because we had been able to see the purple fields Gunnar had indicated from our original arrival point.

  Gunnar and Talon had both confirmed that the purple fields were our destination.

  A faint tune emanated from within the woods, but I couldn’t tell if it was from a person, or simply the wind whistling through the trees. This was Fae, so maybe the wind sounded like singing. Or maybe there were wind chimes in the woods, from whoever lived there. Or, maybe there was a band of cannibals who held singing contests. Regardless, we weren’t planning on going into them, and it sounded far away, faint, so I let it go.

  “You didn’t see any signs of danger?” I asked Pegasus. “I’m not fond of an aerial battle.”

  He shook his head, mane whipping back and forth. “Not saying there isn’t, but I didn’t see anything on the horizon. Then again, those trees are where I would nest if I lived here.”

  I grunted, reaching out to Wylde, seeing if he knew anything.

  Do I look like I fly? He muttered.

  So helpful.

  The distant melody sounded closer as the wind picked up. Or at least louder. But that wasn’t our problem. Talon was scratching his neck absently, staring into the woods with a frown, no doubt curious about the sound as well.

  But flying left us with one concern. We needed more flyers to get us over the woods.

  I turned to Alucard, frustrated to see that he still hadn’t changed yet. Then again, our trip had been pretty mellow. He had spent some time walking with the others, likely trying to get an understanding of what to expect. But no one had given him any answers – per my rules. No forewarning. It just needed to happen.

  Wylde had been adamant about that.

  Learning first could change things.

  To get the powers, you needed to let go of yourself. Let it happen naturally.

  Not clinically, organized, and methodical. A spark of passion. Rage. Fear. Something. Whatever it was that made you change needed to be authentic, not premeditated.

  I almost wanted to go pick a fight with something.

  I was slowly walking towards the woods. Maybe that stupid fucking song—

  “Yahn! What the fuck are you doing?” Alucard shouted suddenly, snapping me out of my thoughts.

  I flinched, noticing that Yahn had torn ahead of me into the woods, ripping off his clothes in the process. I blinked. The song was on full stereo now, and I saw Gunnar and Talon shambling closer to the woods, shaking their heads stubbornly, but still moving forward. Just like I had been.

  Grimm and Pegasus exchanged a look, shrugged their shoulders, and turned to me. “You might want to go check that out,” Pegasus offered helpfully. “Or just leave them to die.”

  I reached down inside me, already running towards the singing. Wylde, what the hell is going on? I asked him. He grew very silent.

  Plug your ears. They’re already dead…

  Alucard burst ahead of me, and right past Gunnar and Talon, who were now holding tree trunks with their claws sunk deep into the bark, as if trying to fight something I couldn’t see. Like… they were being assaulted, mentally.

  I shivered at a sudden thought. Sirens? Some kind of siren call luring us to our deaths? I scoured Wylde’s brain, but he just kept encouraging me to run. I ignored that, commanding him to tell me how to plug my ears. I hadn’t brought fucking ear plugs to Fae.

  Fairy wings, he finally said, showing me something strange with my Fae magic.

  Without questioning it, I duplicated it, pulling out the sound of flapping fairy wings and creating a bubble of sound right inside my ears, muting everything else around me but the rapid thump-thump-thump. My vision wavered as the song faded, replaced by the steady beat.

  I hadn’t even noticed it affecting me, but I had been walking that way, too.

  Branches whipped at me as I bolted after them, pursuing Alucard and Yahn. “Stop Talon and Gunnar, horses!” I shouted. I heard the swoop of wings, and Gunnar and Talon were scooped up from the ground and into the air, shouting at their mounts in protest.

  Alucard and Yahn were so fucking fast! How had the pudgy Swede dragon learned how to sprint faster than a vampire? Or me, for that matter. I dove over roots, small bushes, and rocks, trailing what I could see of Alucard’s back.

  The ground where he ran flashed golden, as if he had run through wet light.

  Which was entirely possible, here. I glanced back, but didn’t see it behind me. Just where Alucard ran. I huffed as I ran harder, faster, not knowing if I was too late or if I was simply racing to my own death. Then again, I had my Mask. Maybe that would save me.

  Alucard suddenly disappeared from sight around a bend up ahead, and even with my fairy wings earmuffs, I could practically feel the song pulsing and throbbing around me. I dove through the branches, and skidded to a halt, almost too late.

  I came to a stop at the very edge of a small cliff that overlooked a swanky pond.

  You know the type.

  One of those ones you see
in movies. Waterfall, crystal-blue water, birds singing, rays of sunlight peeking through. Picturesque.

  Except when you looked for them in real life you typically found trash, or an army of bugs, or a whole lot more mud and gunk than the picture led you to believe.

  Not this place, though.

  And in the center of the pond, maybe twenty feet away, was a grass covered island with several naked, blazingly hot females surrounding Yahn, ready to eat him alive, and…

  I blinked. They were feeding him grapes. He was bare-chested, and several of the women were drawing things on his pudgy belly, tickling him.

  He made the Pillsbury Doughboy sound. I shit you not.

  And he had the brightest smile I had ever seen, totally calm and serene.

  “They’re going to kill him. Eat him. Sex him,” a voice muttered beside me. I flinched to see Alucard, pacing back and forth, muttering furiously under his breath, his dark hair whipping back and forth as he argued with himself. “The little bastard likes the Reds. They’ll kill me if I don’t help him. But why should I help him? They’re my girls!” I shook my head in disbelief.

  “Are you really going to let him die out of trying to keep the Reds from something they want?” I asked, turning back to Yahn, who seemed to be in absolutely no danger at all.

  The pudgy swede noticed me, and waved, motioning me to join him.

  Was he in danger? I could bet that he was, but what did I do? If I tried to get closer, the stunning women would have ample time to kill him before I made it to the island. Right now, with me a safe distance away, he was unharmed.

  The women giggled at me, and several dove down into the water, with barely a ripple as the water rolled over their breasts. They came up out of the water right beside the river bank before me, impossibly close for such a quick submersion. Their hair was perfectly slicked back, not a hair out of place, and they were able to float high enough that their breasts rested atop the water as if the pond was simply holding their chesticles as a polite courtesy.

  I was already walking closer to make sure the water didn’t need any help.

  “Goddamn it to fucking hell!” Alucard roared, and the world exploded with golden light, incinerating the ground around us to ashes, and hurling me back into the trees. I landed with a grunt, shaking my head, realizing that the fairy wing earmuffs were simply gone, and the sirens’ song had almost taken me.

  Wylde struggled against it, shaking his head angrily as I climbed to my feet. I began humming loudly, not wanting to waste time using magic I didn’t fully understand, but I still had a hard time focusing as I ran back to the edge of the water. Two dead bodies floated before me, and they were… utterly grotesque. Scaled mermaids of some sort, with crimson fangs and horned fins on their backs. Their breasts were sagging, misshapen hunks of flesh, and they stared back at me through the glaze of dead fish eyes.

  The pond-bank was ashes, and a film of that soot coated the dead bodies and the perfectly blue water, turning it into a brackish-looking swamp.

  I looked up to see a golden light racing towards the island, but it was struck down at the last second, and Alucard fell into the water with a splash before I could do anything. Two sets of fins zipped after him, hungry for their new meal.

  Yahn stood up from his harem of still-beautiful women, and gripped one by the face, still smiling at her. Then his eyes flashed to glass, and I stared in horror as the woman he held did, too. A perfect, glass statue.

  “No,” he commanded, and the force of that single word rippled out into the pond in a perfect circle, slamming into the two sirens swimming after Alucard’s thrashing body, which kept pulsing with golden light before he sunk back into the water as if doused – like the water was hampering his ability – whatever that was.

  The shark-like siren mermaids turned to glass and disappeared under the water, no doubt sinking. I scooted back from the edge of the pond in case his power wanted to make a Nate ice-sculpture, but it struck the bank with barely a splash, halting.

  I frantically searched for Alucard only to find a comet of golden light launch up from the water, growing and building until a hulking angel of fire in tattered, stained robes hovered in the air, rotating circles of gold spinning around him in a slow spin. His eyes were fire as he stared down at the island with an entirely blank face.

  I turned back to see the sirens at Yahn’s feet, holding up their hands adoringly, pleadingly, but no longer trying to seduce him. They were… begging.

  My eyes followed their hands to see a walking being of glass staring back at them, glistening and reflecting in the light. But his skin was covered in scales – also of glass. But it was most definitely Yahn, but no longer pudgy. He was smiling, utterly calm. I shook my head in wonder.

  “Who wants to experience all that is Yahn? Just the tip?” he asked in a lower voice than usual.

  They begged and pleaded yes, we would. He grunted, and then clapped his hands. They turned to glass statues, forever frozen in those forms of worship, and forever beautiful. He stepped back, and a perfect replica remained where he had stood, as if he had also made a statue of himself.

  Then he sprinted at me. Right before he hit the edge of his island, he exploded into shards of glass, and a glass dragon exploded from within the cloud, hurtling at me. Alucard swooped down to land beside me, and right before Yahn impaled me, he shifted, doing a perfect flip in the air, and landing directly before me on one knee as if bowing, but his fist pounded into the earth with another sound of breaking glass, which created a small crater before me.

  He lifted his head to reveal a perfectly muscled Yahn, with absolutely no man-meat, thank god. Like a glass Ken doll. No glass phallus to speak of, which suited me just fine.

  “At your service, Wylde,” he said in a low, smooth tone, entirely unlike Yahn.

  Alucard did the same, now a creature that looked to have fallen from Heaven, hitting every stair on the way down, but still maintaining a golden light that shone from his skin.

  He, as a person, was beautiful and majestic, with a set of ruthless eyes. But he wore tattered canvas robes, like an old priest, and the hem was coated liberally with dried blood.

  “Master Wylde,” he said, lowering his head so that his dark hair swung freely before him. Then the two stood, staring at me.

  “Totem,” I said gruffly, not letting any emotion show on my face.

  They blinked, and then turned to each other, considering.

  “The Reds,” they said in unison, and then shot each other considering looks. Not aggressive, but just… highly aware.

  “Right. Well, if you need to work any shit out over that, do it here. Just don’t kill each other.” I folded my arms, waiting. I glanced over Yahn’s shoulder, staring at the sculpture garden he had made – like his very own glass menagerie. Several beautiful naked women worshipping Yahn, the glass super-stud. I really wished I had my phone to take a picture, but alas.

  I turned back to them to see that they were shaking hands. I squinted suspiciously. Alucard had feared for Yahn, so had tried to save him, activating his inner savage, even though the thought of Yahn being with the Reds deeply bothered him. But now he was calm as can be.

  Yahn, in return, had no problem flirting with murdering sirens, almost seeming to control them, but fearing for Alucard, he had saved the vampire, waking up his inner Fairy. Good chances that this was a positive development, but one never knew over here.

  Any ideas, Wylde? I thought to myself.

  I could feel him looking through my eyes, studying the two curiously. I think you need to stop bringing your friends here. It can’t be good for the world, he finally replied. But I don’t think you have any reason to fear. They are all much more stable than the first time you came…

  I nodded to myself. Which was an interesting development. Everyone had changed to their savage, Fae form, but hadn’t gone postal like we had last time. But why? I just didn’t know.

  They watched me with deep, wise eyes. Which was downright creepy
on Yahn, since I was used to seeing the Swedish cheerleader scared of female nudity. Well, any nudity, really. But he sure as hell looked in his element with those sirens.

  “What gives, Yahn? Naked chicks are your kryptonite,” I said, waving a hand at the island.

  He glanced over a shoulder. “Sex is just a weapon. To win at sex, you have to serve better than you take,” he said distantly, as if considering it for the first time. “And I guess I know how to use that weapon well.” He burst out laughing at the words, shaking his head and holding up a hand to Alucard. “Before you get angry, no, I don’t get it. I just… they were very easy to control.” He shrugged.

  “Aren’t you a virgin?” I asked incredulously.

  He shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot, reminding me of the old Yahn. “If I was, perhaps that would give me a unique perspective on the matter…” he said, not meeting Alucard’s eyes.

  Alucard studied him with both surprise and concern, the familiar vampire showing through. Because Yahn had admitted to being very interested in the Reds – one in particular or both, we didn’t yet know – and here he was telling us he was the Fae version of Dirk Diggler. I realized he hadn’t answered whether he was a virgin or not. Had he and the Reds played under the blankets?

  Ho’ boy. I wasn’t going to touch that.

  I had always assumed Alucard would be the sex monster, if it had been anyone.

  “Let’s go, unless you two need to out-macho each other on your sexy-time magic.”

  Judging from the sounds of their footsteps behind me, they didn’t. I glanced back at the sound of crunching glass, shooting Yahn a scowl. He nodded, and the sound ceased as he glanced down at his feet. As if simply making it so.

  I glanced at Alucard who was leaving golden footprints and arched a brow.

  “Ummm…” he said, his golden-skinned face scrunching as if thinking. He took a tentative step, leaving no trail, then smiled up at me.

  I rolled my eyes. This was going to be a long trip. I just knew it.

  Chapter 31