She closed his eyelids gently and knelt by Tomas’s side. No dark creature dared say anything.
The first tear kissed Tomas’s cheek, then a second. Yasmin wasn’t sure how long she knelt there, under the art deco arch of the Lincoln Center Station, but she could only let her grief have its way.
“On it,” Yasmin said quietly, picking herself up and signaling to her people. The night creatures moved down Broadway, a gallery of dark rebellion searching for trouble.
10
New York City, USA
Florence looked out over the wreckage of Canal Street. Just three hours ago there had been a civilian riot here, and a number of cars had been flipped over and burned. The sight of a clutch of werewolves at the forefront of a swarm of spiders was more than enough to send the street gangs running. Gustav set a defensive perimeter around the main entrance to the Canal Street subway station. It was quite a sight to see so many spiders forming a defensive line at what was usually a busy New York intersection. One could be forgiven for thinking that the world had been taken over by night creatures. Florence was still nervous about exposing the spiders to attack from the general public, but for the moment they were being left well alone. A police captain was organizing quite a few officers into a ragged line behind the spiders. The valiant cops had probably been dealing with civil unrest all day and now they were expected to fight a torrent of ghouls by night. Florence didn’t expect much of them and vowed to protect the brave men and women at every opportunity.
She paced up and down at the rear of the entire formation, glancing down Canal Street every few seconds. She sensed that was where the attack would come. The subway behind her was one of the few known entry points to the chapter house. Right now it was only lightly guarded, which was why it was so important for Jack, Yasmin and herself to hold their positions on the street. She couldn’t bear to consider the possibility that the chapter house might be attacked a second time. Not only was their last remaining dark tissue housed there, but both diviners, Mischa and Emmaline, were waiting nervously in one of the living cells. Florence and Yasmin had been relieved to find that the girls got on very well and were already firm friends. Diviners seemed to share a special understanding, keeping each other anchored to the real world.
The city was too quiet. The gangs were long gone and there was now no sign of milling crowds further north down the street.
“What’s your status, Jack?” she said into a small mouthpiece. Her tawny fur was bristling and she knew battle was imminent.
Florence suppressed a wave of anxiety. “She was attacked?”
“What’s happening, Jack?”
The radio crackled out. Florence exchanged glances with Wilson and Miss Garvey. Not for the first time she marveled at how quickly they’d responded to arachne healing techniques. Lycans really were among the most hardy of flux creatures. All three of them had received grievous injuries in the jungle battle against the aquila. Florence was certain that she was going to bleed to death after Hector attacked her. Worse still, she had been forced to watch as Julian sacrificed himself to save her. She shoved the agonizing image from her mind, unable to process it at the current time.
The rest of the jungle battle was hazy in her memory. She had passed in and out of consciousness but was aware that once Hector was dead, the aquila had lost their nerve for the fight. The big aquilan had been a spiritual leader as well as a military one, and the remaining aquilan troops had lost all cohesion after his demise. The spiders regrouped and drove them from the jungle mercilessly. Florence doubted the aquila would be a force for a decade at least. They had been well and truly decimated. Despite their resounding victory, Gustav was smart enough to know that the war wasn’t over. Once the lycans were healed using ancient arachne essences, he agreed to bring his best warriors with Florence to New York.
The tawny werewolf was extremely happy and relieved to see Jack and Yasmin again, but she carried a heavy heart filled with grief. She knew she wasn’t her normal self and might never be again.
All that mattered at this moment was the defense of the old lycan chapter house. It represented a new beginning for everyone. The Fellowship was something she knew would provide the direction and guidance she needed.
First, there would be battle. Thanks to arachne healing, her powerful lycan body was almost at full strength.
A commotion down Canal Street drew her gaze. Water seemed to be rising from the drains in the gutters. No, it wasn’t water - ghouls were crawling through the impossibly small spaces and creeping into the street. They kept coming without pause. There must have been hundreds of them. The hideous grey creatures formed into loose ranks and appeared to be awaiting orders. The spiders had spotted the formation but held their line with excellent discipline. Gustav scuttled up and down the front line, cajoling his troops to remain calm and vigilant. Cool-headed, wise and brave, he was an excellent ally to have in this situation.
A rhythmic boom echoed down the street. Florence couldn’t believe her eyes when four huge figures emerged to join the ghoul ranks. They must have been fifteen feet tall with arms and legs like tree trunks. Their faces were lined and craggy. All four of them sported long grey beards and carried wooden clubs that probably were tree trunks.
“Forest giants,” Gustav said in a raised voice. “Prepare for action, spiders.”
“Forest giants?” Florence repeated softly. Wilson and Miss Garvey looked at her in confusion. Of course, Florence had read about giants in her studies. They had played a part in some of the far eastern battles during the last Flux Age. She knew that some had been known to exist on the subcontinent, in India and Pakistan. These giants had paler skin and were probably from somewhere in northern Europe, perhaps Scandinavia. She felt panic rising when she realized she had no plan for these huge creatures.
“Keep your distance,” she said to Wilson and Garvey. “A weakness might reveal itself.”
Lead by the giants, the ghoul battalion advanced. Their objective was clear - they were going to smash their way through to the subway.
“Steady!” Gustav yelled above the rising ghoul hiss. “Hold your line!”
Once the enemy was around fifty yards away the giants grunted in unison and the ghouls broke free, bolting toward the spiders at a fearsome pace.
“Fire!” Gustav commanded. A synchronized volley of corrosive venom was lobbed at the ghoul pack. Several of the creatures fell, clutching at fizzing wounds. Huge balls of silk crashed through the enemy ranks, sticking fast to any ghoul unlucky enough to be in their path. One of the giants roared into the night as he was slowed down by a thick tangle of silk.
The ghouls that made it through the spider barrage hit the front line of defenders with a full head of steam. Florence watched on helplessly as the ghouls tore several spiders to shreds with their long claws and lightning movement. As ever, they were most effective in large numbers. There were so many of the grotesque creatures that Florence was certain the Fellowship forces must be overwhelmed.
An opening in the defensive line allowed the police troopers to fire into the rampaging ghoul horde. Their incendiary ammo cut through the attackers but a forest giant decided to barge his way through the opening, his thick skin repelling the bullet storm. Florence’s heart lurched as the giant’s club swept through the police ranks and sent bodies flying. She heard the sickening crunch of broken bones and knew it was time to intervene. She had arranged with Gustav to hold a final defensive line to ensure no one entered the subway, but that giant had to be dealt with.
“Come with me,” she said to her werewolf companions. The three of them circled the marauding giant warily.
“How do
you kill a fucking giant?” Wilson asked.
“Let’s improvise,” Florence returned, rushing forward to draw the giant’s attack. The big brute obliged, swinging the club with deceptive speed, but Florence rolled under it and clambered up its right leg. She felt powerful fingers at her back and the next thing she knew she was flying through the air. She landed awkwardly on the asphalt and needed a moment to clear the cobwebs from her mind. How on earth were they supposed to kill those things? The giant had picked her off its leg far more dexterously than she had anticipated. Right now it was swinging wildly at Wilson and Miss Garvey, pressing them against the wall adjoining the subway entrance. A second giant was busily crushing spiders with its club. Arachne ichor was spreading rapidly across the asphalt.
Florence’s heart hammered in her chest. She needed to think this through clearly but all she felt was white anger. Gustav threw her a worried glance as he dispatched a ghoul. Evidently he was also out of ideas. The four giants closed in on the subway entrance, the surviving ghouls massing behind them. Florence estimated there were still around a hundred of the creatures.
“I think we’re in trouble,” Florence said, panting.
“Forest giants,” she replied, as if that explained everything. “And you?”
Florence couldn’t help but feel a wave of envy. “Who attacked you?”
Jack actually laughed. The sound was more than welcome in her current situation.
“What do you mean?”
“Thanks Jack,” Florence said with immense relief. “See you soon.”
The spiders along Gustav’s defensive line were getting slaughtered. The giants were moving amongst the corpses with immovable menace. Their craggy faces betrayed no emotion as they went about their murderous work. Gustav himself was darting in and out of a giant’s range of attack, trying to find an opening. Florence didn’t think there was one. The giants’ skin was too thick for conventional slashing attacks or most ammunition types. Their agility was much, much better than one might expect. And finally, those wooden clubs could wipe out several attackers at once.
“Pull back!” Florence yelled above the din of battle. “All defenders pull back!”
“Do it!” Gustav boomed, removing any doubt about the order. The remaining spiders scuttled into the darkness of the subway entrance. The giants weren’t quite quick enough to follow and push home their advantage, but they would soon have the retreating spiders on the run.
Florence waved the other two werewolves through the entrance and risked one more glance down Canal Street. What she saw there filled her with terror initially. A swarm of wraiths, fades and succubi soared down the thoroughfare and wheeled in and around the clustered giants. The succubi didn’t appear to do much damage but certainly gave the giants reason to pause. As Florence watched one succubus was smashed into the asphalt and did not rise.
Apparently night wraiths could be disintegrated by direct light. It was quite a significant vulnerability, but their powers in the shadows more than made up for it.
A surging night wraith passed right through the body of an unsuspecting giant. The enemy’s skin began to shrivel immediately. It became so desiccated that the giant actually decreased in size. That was the least of its problems, however, as blood gushed from the gaping holes where its eyes had been. The giant sank to its knees and tumbled forward, scattering the ghouls beneath it. From there its muscles twitched fitfully, but Florence got the distinct impression it was dead.
Wise to the new threat, the other three giants began backing away from the subway entrance. An enterprising posse of police officers took the chance to rake the vulnerable ghouls with incendiary fire. The swirling night wraiths swooped and dived at the giants, finding ample opportunity to pass through them. The remaining ghouls looked at each other in alarm as the giants fell. Florence rushed into the shattered ghoul ranks, eviscerating as many as she could with her lethal claws.
“Fire!” exclaimed a familiar, and very welcome, voice. “We need fire over here!”
Yasmin Silver stepped through the corpses and gave Florence the most tender of hugs.
“Thought I was too late for a while there,” she said with genuine emotion. Florence recognized something in the vampire queen’s eye. Something she knew flooded her own heart.
“Tomas?” she asked softly.
Yasmin shook her head sadly. “Herr X is dead,” she said, clearly needing to put a positive spin on it.
Florence looked into Yasmin’s eyes, hardly daring to believe the tremendous news.
“Then our job is almost done,” she said.
“X wasn’t at the top of the tree,” Yasmin said. “There’s something else out there. Her name is One.”
The women stood back and allowed spiders and night creatures a chance to mop up the ghouls. Already there were bonfires dotted around the intersection. Florence wrinkled her nose in disgust.
“Jack mentioned there was something under the city,” she said. “Could be this ‘One’ character.”
Yasmin nodded, looking over Florence’s shoulder at something. The tawny werewolf followed her gaze - Gustav had shifted into human form and was marching toward them. He carried a long object swathed in a soft cloth.
“You remembered,” Yasmin said with an air of wonder. “Gustav, you’re my hero.”
“Anything for the vampire queen,” he said with a smile. “Mother Aurora was a good judge of character I believe.”
The arachne leader looked meaningfully at Yasmin and Florence.
Yasmin turned to a tall, gaunt man hanging back behind her.
“Stanley, come here and meet Florence,” she said warmly.
Stanley stepped forward and tried to smile at Florence but it came out as some kind of grimace.
“Stanley is an expert on the Flux,” Yasmin explained. “I meet him at the Public Library before all this started.”
Florence nodded politely at the man but wondered what the purpose of this strange meeting was. She was still in werewolf form and had just survived an intense battle. She was about to excuse herself when Gustav looked at her intently and unwrapped the package he held.
The item was a sword. It glowed gold in the washed out gloom of the street. Florence couldn’t take her eyes off it, but the effect wasn’t positive. It was Hector Caliri’s sword, the same sword that had cut Julian down. She didn’t want to relive that painful memory so she looked away. To fill the silence Stanley began talking.
“This sword is mentioned in memoirs of the last Flux Age,” he said. “Apparently it was forged specifically to counteract Flux energy. If my research is correct, it is lethal against any Flux creature.”
Florence blinked. Such a weapon would be incredibly useful. But it would forever be tainted with Julian’s blood.
“What does it do to the wielder?” Florence asked. It was a reasonable question. If the thing was kryptonite to other flux creatures, then surely the owner would be affected over time?
“We haven’t had enough time to test it,” Gustav said. “Hector Caliri didn’t seem to have suffered a great deal.”
Florence flinched at the name.
“The sword was retained by the Vevestri family after the last Flux Age,” Stanley went on. “That was how Hector inherited it.”
“We think you should wield it,” Gustav said with a searching look at Florence.
“Vampires aren’t suited,” Yasmin said. “And Jack would be unbearable with that.”
Florence had to smile. It was true. She reluctantly accepted the sword. It was snugly housed in a black scabbard engraved with the lycan wolf’s head.
“You knew I would accept, didn’t you?” Florence said to Gustav. S
he pretty much had no choice. She hated the idea of carrying the weapon that had killed Julian but she found herself drawn to the idea of learning sword-craft. It had always been in the background but never acted upon. Lycans weren’t really weapon-masters, preferring unarmed combat.
Feeling uneasy in the spotlight, Florence strapped the sword to her waist.
“We need to plan for the ‘One’,” Yasmin said, scanning the streets to the north. “Anyone heard from Jack?”
“He said he was on his way,” Florence said. “But that was a while ago.”
“Must have been waylaid,” Yasmin murmured. Florence could tell she was deeply worried. She laid a hand on her friend’s shoulder.
“He’s as tough as they come,” she said. “But don’t tell him I said that.”
Yasmin’s smile faded quickly when a low boom scudded through Manhattan.
“Over here,” Ralph Odessa called, staring intently down Canal Street. The asphalt three intersections down was rupturing badly. Something big was pushing through from underneath. Florence and the other leaders rushed through the ghoul bonfires to have a closer look. Something shaped like a long black snake penetrated the street and began whipping aggressively. There was an elongated head on the end of it that snapped and pulled at horrified bystanders. But the snake-like creature was only the tip of the iceberg. More snakes appeared, thick, long and powerful. Florence had a sinking feeling she knew what this immense creature was. Sure enough, the monster revealed itself. A massive torso wrenched itself through the rip in the street. It was jet black and glistening with scales. All the ‘snakes’ were attached to the upper chest area.
“Hydra,” Florence said into the shocked silence. It was all that needed to be said.
“Hasn’t been seen for two, maybe three Flux Ages,” Stanley said. “We’re talking real ancient creature.”
The Lycan Rebirth (The Flux Age Book 3) Page 11
