The Lycan Collapse (The Flux Age Book 2)

by Steven J Shelley

  Luckily, Tomas had brought weapons for that kind of fight. He shot one of the guards between the eyes and clubbed the other with the pistol butt. It was brutal, but Yasmin had to remind herself that they were dealing with the Berlin Club here. Violent thugs who were holding Jack somewhere under this mausoleum.

  The sentries dealt with, Yasmin talked with Tomas urgently, debating how to proceed. Without their vampire spirit beasts they were extremely vulnerable.

  As it turned out, Tomas was just as good at stealth as he was direct brutality. He found a descending stairwell at the back of the mausoleum and led Yasmin through a series of stone tunnels. Some of the tunnels were stuffed with ancient crypts. Twice they needed to double back due to patrolling thugs. When two muffled gun shots could be heard Tomas simply bolted to the source of the sound, bowling over Herr X as he charged into the room that held Jack.

  And now the doktor was busily removing silver bullets from Jack’s chest. Her off-sider seemed to think that he would survive, and that was enough for her. Her anxiety and concern had now become anger.

  Now that Mischa and the intriguing boy Boris had gone back to their room, she could feel her spirit beast champing at the bit to get involved in the action. It was almost midnight and she felt extremely powerful. Outside the mausoleum above them, deep within the cemetery, her three succubi were ready to pounce. She would take the battle there if she could.

  Breathing hard, Jack stood before her. His bullets had been removed and the wounds didn’t look too bad. Because they had been caused by silver, it would take a while to heal, but Jack would live.

  “Let’s torch this place,” he said to Yasmin. “Every last tunnel.”

  “I love it when you talk dirty,” Yasmin said with a grin. She stood close to him, feeling her own spirit beast take over. He watched her with an awestruck expression.

  “I’ve never seen you shift before,” he said. “Remind me never to cross you.”

  Yasmin smiled wickedly. “Oh, I think you’ll remember.”

  “Let’s go,” Tomas said, gliding across the room to the door. He had shifted so quickly Yasmin hadn’t even noticed. His skin was pale and he looked hungry for blood. The last time they had both had a fresh kill was when they had come across the hapless hunters in the Carpathian mountains. It seemed like a long time ago.

  “One more thing,” Jack said, grabbing Yasmin by the arm. His werewolf grip was incredibly strong. “I’ll never forget this, Yasmin. How you hunted me down like this. Saved my sorry ass. You’re my heroine. Really.”

  Yasmin nodded, looking into Jack’s eyes and seeing a world of love there. It was reassuring, it was supportive, it was wonderful. It gave her strength.

  “Now,” she hissed. “Let’s go do what we were born to do.”

  Jack grinned. The pair followed Tomas out into the tunnel. Two thugs rushed toward them from the tunnel’s north end. They were germing as they ran, shifting into something hideously fast.

  “Ghouls,” Tomas said in disgust. He swept down the tunnel at a fearsome pace, collecting the ghouls as he went. The creatures ricocheted off the vampire and fell backwards several yards. The ghouls were up in an instant and scrabbling at Tomas’s eyes. The doktor held them down with incredible strength and threw one of them against the wall, breaking several bones. He lifted the other by the neck and crushed its windpipe with a long, pale hand. The thing’s neck cracked loudly and its head fell limp. Tomas completed the job by ripping its head clean from its neck. He did the same to the groggy ghoul writhing on the ground.

  “Decapitation and fire,” he muttered to an awestruck Yasmin and Jack. “The only ways to kill a ghoul.”

  Tomas dashed down the empty tunnel, determined to lead them back to the mausoleum. Jack glanced at Yasmin as the pair followed in his wake.

  “A capable assistant,” he said dryly.

  “He is,” Yasmin agreed. “He would do anything for me.”

  Jack looked like he wanted to pursue that notion but there wasn’t any time. Tomas led them up the staircase into the mausoleum where they were greeted by cold night air.

  Below them hundreds of footfalls could be heard. It conjured images of a ghoul horde scrambling desperately through a small tunnel, eager for live flesh.

  “They’ll be here any second,” Yasmin said. “We’ll take them in the cemetery.”

  Jack nodded and they all rushed out to the open air of the graveyard. A silvery moon shone down over them as they waited for the inevitable attack.

  Yasmin could see her succubi flitting among the headstones. They made for a fearsome sight when in attack mode. They were quick and elusive, probably even quicker than Yasmin herself.

  Jack snarled at the sight of the alluring succubi, instinctively drawn to attack them.

  “Steady, Jack,” Yasmin warned, laying a hand on his furry shoulder.

  “Guess you’ve been busy recruiting,” he grunted.

  “Nowhere near enough,” Yasmin lamented. “I’m interested in talking to Mischa again.”

  “You and me both,” Jack said with a grin.

  “Here they come,” Tomas said as a nerve-shredding howl floating across the gravestones. A swarm of ghouls poured from the mausoleum. They were so quick Yasmin struggled to pick them out in the silvery light, even with her enhanced vampire senses.

  Tomas edged closer to Yasmin, no doubt intending to protect her at all costs.

  “Hey,” Jack growled. “Back off.”

  Tomas looked at Jack through hooded, bloodless eyes. With the hint of a leer he moved away. Yasmin could see she was going to have problems with those two.

  “I can take care of myself,” she said, and rushed forward to prove it.

  “Yasmin, wait!” Jack called after her but she just howled with glee as she entered the ranks of marauding ghouls. A multitude of clawed arms grasped at her body but they may has well have been trying to tug at the air. Yasmin seemed to drift over the bloodthirsty pack, spreading her mass instantaneously.

  Her mist enveloped the ghouls as she landed on the far side, near the mausoleum. From there she began attacking the ghouls from behind. Unlike Tomas, Yasmin found she could manipulate objects remotely, and began tossing ghouls into the air simply with a flourish of her hand. She laughed out loud as she shoved and hurled ghouls left and right. She figured being the vampire queen meant she had special abilities.

  Tomas came charging through the ghoul pack like a man possessed. He’d drawn the weapons he’d purchased at a special dealer in Bucharest. Twin silver swords glinted in the moonlight, sharpened to a fine edge. Yasmin had warned him that buying silver weapons was a provocative move and might offend Jack, but Tomas was adamant that silver be his preferred metal. She had to admit that her swordsman was making short work of the ghouls, lopping heads with almost every stroke. He didn’t know much about sword craft but had been endeavouring to teach himself. Tonight there were so many ghouls it really didn’t matter. Tomas cleared a path through the throng and made his way to Yasmin.

  “We can hold them off, but what about Mischa and Boris?” Yasmin yelled. “I’d hate for Herr X to get to them.”

  “I think that old coward is long gone,” Tomas said. “But yes, we need to end this quickly.”

  Jack came thundering through the ghoul pack, biting and ripping with unbridled fury. Yasmin found she was holding her breath as she witnessed Jack in full flight. The werewolf was assailed on all sides but not one ghoul could get a decent purchase on him. With a simple twist of his powerful hips he was shaking his attackers free so he could concentrate on those in his field of attack. Yasmin and Tomas were witnessing what an enraged werewolf could truly do in this kind of desperate situation. The rank smell of guts filled the air as Jack used his long claws to spill the intestines of any ghoul stupid enough to get close to him. “He’s a killing machine,” Yasmin breathed, fully understanding why the lycans had been so revered by humans for centuries.

  “I could do better,” Tomas said, but smiled when Yasmin l
ooked at him incredulously. The doktor had a very dry sense of humor that expressed itself randomly.

  Jack rolled to Yasmin’s other side. She could see he was breathing hard. His berserker attack had killed several ghouls but the pack was reforming. The succubi flew over them, picking off the odd ghoul with devastating efficiency. One second a ghoul was standing free, then a succubus seemed to pass right through it, removing the head with ease. Despite the frenzied bloodshed, more than fifty ghouls remained on the battlefield.

  “They’ll rush us again” Jack warned. “Only this time we’re more depleted.”

  “Common ghoul strategy,” Tomas snorted. “We don’t have time for this.”

  And with that, Tomas lifted one of the lanterns that had been sitting at the mausoleum entrance and hurled it at the nearest succubus. The ethereal figure engulfed in flames that wouldn’t burn out. The beautiful brunette shrieked and moved faster through the air.

  “Tomas!” Yasmin exclaimed in shock. “What are you doing?”

  The doktor didn’t answer, instead watching the ailing succubus with a gleeful smile. He lifted a second lantern and tossed it into the path of a blond succubus. Two of the creatures were now wreathed in flame and going crazy. The third succubus crashed into one of her sisters, the flame spreading to her also. She ricocheted into the ghoul pack, where she smashed into several of the hideous creatures. The flames ate at the sickly ghoul skin like it would dry paper. A mind-splitting cry rose as half the ghouls went down in flames. The other succubus cottoned on and nose-dived the remaining enemy, setting them alight on contact. Before long the stony ground was covered in green-black ash and the air smelt of charred meat. The succubi rolled in the ash to put themselves out. Still alive and with no visible signs of damage, the creatures hissed at Tomas before climbing to a safer altitude.

  “How did you know how to do that?” Yasmin asked.

  “I didn’t,” Tomas said. “I was testing a theory.”

  Yasmin gaped at her off-sider. “Fine,” she eventually said. “But you owe them an apology.”

  Tomas shrugged. Jack glowered at him, unhappy that the doktor had claimed most of the glory.

  “We gotta get back to those kids,” he reminded Yasmin.

  “Let’s go,” she said without hesitation. They made their way back through the mausoleum and down into the tunnels. She was glad they didn’t decide to fight the ghouls down here. It might’ve have been a very close thing.

  Mischa and Boris were still in his room. The dampener was cowering in the box that contained his abilities. The young pair were more than happy to follow Yasmin, Tomas and Jack. It was either that or continue to work for the hated Herr X.

  Yasmin felt herself shift back into human form along with Tomas and Jack. Boris’s dampening effect was swift.

  Yasmin cleared her throat. Jack looked at her inquisitively. She gestured at his… dangly bits. Ever since he’d germed into a werewolf he’d been stark naked.

  “Here,” Boris said, tossing Jack a pair of jeans. They were ridiculously small on him but they would do for now.

  Yasmin looked him up and down and pursed her lips. He was positively bulging from those jeans. Tomas looked like he wanted to laugh.

  “Where’s your family?” Yasmin asked Boris.

  “Two levels below us,” the young man said worriedly.

  “I’ll get them,” Tomas said, and before Yasmin could stop him, he was gone.

  “We’ll rejoin them up top,” Jack said as they headed back up to the mausoleum.

  “Where would Herr X have gone?” Jack asked Mischa, referring to the hatch the old German had used to escape.

  “The Prague underground is a network of tunnels,” came the reply. “The Berlin Club controls most of them.”

  “Do you think he has more ghouls in reserve?” Yasmin asked.

  Mischa winced. “I was forced to divine hundreds and hundreds,” she said, clearly reliving a painful memory.

  The party reached the mausoleum without incident. They waited outside, listening carefully for the telltale sound of ghouls. After a tense minute Tomas appeared with Boris’s family in tow. The young man rushed to embrace them.

  “I’m touched,” Jack said with a scowl. “But we gotta move.”

  Yasmin could only agree. She felt completely naked without her vampiric abilities. They’d all reached the open cemetery when Yasmin threw one last look over her shoulder. She couldn’t hear any ghouls and thought they must be in the clear. How wrong she was.

  A figure had emerged from the stone stairwell at the back of the mausoleum. It slithered to a stop and didn’t pursue, perhaps because of Boris’s dampening ability. Yasmin squinted so she could focus on the creature’s head … and was tackled to the ground roughly.

  “What the fuck, Jack?” she said angrily as she picked herself up.

  “Shasta,” the lycan said urgently. “She’s a medusa. Trust me, I learned the hard way.”

  Yasmin threw a glance at Tomas, who looked incredibly interested in the new development.

  “I think she’ll follow us,” the scientist said. “We need to try and lose her.”

  Everyone hurried down a tree-lined avenue through the center of the cemetery. It was now around two in the morning and the moon had disappeared behind a bank of cloud. Yasmin hoped the pitch black conditions would conceal their escape.

  At the cemetery gates Tomas led the way, opting for a southern route through the Seberov district.

  At the first opportunity Boris and his family piled into a cab. His father wanted to retreat to extended family in the countryside.

  Yasmin saw no problem with that, but was sorry to see a boy with such powerful abilities vanish under her nose.

  “Call on me if you need anything,” she said quickly, handing the young man instructions on how to reach her. Rapid goodbyes were expressed and then the Radovich family had gone.

  “Shame,” Tomas said.

  Yasmin looked at Mischa. “Please tell me you’re coming with us, Mischa. I let you get away in Berlin. I don’t want to make the same mistake twice.”

  Mischa looked at Yasmin, Tomas and Jack in turn. She seemed to be a little more functional than she was back in Berlin. Her eyes were clearer and she seemed a little happier, more focused.

  “I have unfinished business with Herr X,” she said finally. “If you can eventually give me a chance to kill him, I would appreciate it.”

  Yasmin nodded understandingly. Who knew what the despicable German had done to the poor girl. The full story would come out in due course. In the meantime, Yasmin would have access to a diviner. She hadn’t dared to think it could be possible. If they survived the trip back to Romania, an incredible array of options would be open to them.

  The first thing was to survive. Yasmin looked at Jack and Tomas, her knights in shining armor.

  “Any chance this Shasta character will find us?” she asked. “Now that Boris has gone she can germ.”

  “From what I can tell, she’s very smart,” Jack said. “I’d say planes are a no-go. She could corner us in the cabin.”

  “Then what?” Yasmin asked, wondering if she was going to be able to return to her castle any time soon.

  “A train,” Tomas said. “The Orient Express runs through Prague quite regularly.”

  “The Orient Express?” Jack retorted. “This isn’t 1929.”

  “No,” Tomas said with barely concealed contempt. “But nevertheless it still runs. The original carriages offer better protection from the likes of Shasta. We’ll have more scope to erect barriers between us and the enemy.”

  Yasmin considered Tomas’s proposal. It seemed crazy in theory, but it might actually provide them with a better chance of survival than a regular train. She shivered all of a sudden, cursing the fact that Herr X had a medusa in his service. The creatures were clearly the most dangerous they had come across. Look at Shasta and they were dead. Turn their backs and they would also be dead. There was no obvious way of taking down such a m
onster. She would need to consult with Tomas on the train.

  “Let’s do it,” she said firmly. “Lead the way, Tomas. The sun will arrive soon.”

  The four of them rode a cab to Prague Railway Station where they made their way to a platform allocated to the Orient Express.

  The conductor informed them that the next Istanbul-bound train was due at dawn. The party made themselves as comfortable as possible and tried to snatch a little sleep. Mischa seemed calm enough. Yasmin was glad to see a certain quiet determination to her actions. Perhaps she really did want to kill Herr X by her own hand. If she got that chance, Yasmin wouldn’t stop her. But they would need to be incredibly patient before they risked such an attack.

  The train duly arrived as the orange sun filtered through the eastern shutters near the roof of the old terminal. Despite her fatigue, Yasmin marveled at the original carriages and was glad to find they could book a cabin for themselves. They only held two people but Jack gallantly proposed that he and Tomas keep watch from the central corridor.

  Yasmin and Mischa made the darkened cabin their own. Yasmin wasted no time in reclining on her bunk, too tired to even exchange pleasantries with Mischa.

  For some time she listened to the various sounds of the train. The sounds of people loading luggage at the next stop, the old school whistles and hoots, the hissing rhythm of the coal-fed engine.

  She let her mind drift, paying only scant attention as Mischa brushed her teeth in the little ensuite bathroom. She knew Tomas and Jack would be sitting somewhere in the restaurant car keeping a watchful eye on the comings and goings of passengers. Their cabin was the rearmost on the train, which meant any attacker would need to come through the men first.

  She wondered if Jack was right to be jealous of Tomas. She had to admit she often favored the scientist with intimate conversation. She wanted to explain to the lycan that it was because Tomas was the only other vampire she knew. More importantly than that, it was Tomas who had lit the beacon and made the call of the vampyra. Their relationship would always be charged with something. And as Yasmin was slowly discovering, the vampire mind was essentially a sensual one. Tomas understood her on a hormonal level that Jack never could. And she knew that he would walk the ends of the earth for her.