"Good. Let's go."
Curtis smiled as this one took the lead.
* * *
Frank Dodd, Star Cove's werewolf History teacher, had volunteered to staff the guard shack while the shapeshifter meetings were held in the school auditorium. He'd spoken with Greta Rocklin twice already; she'd given him updates on how the meetings were going. So far, most agreed that the shifters needed to band together, but not many could agree on how that might be accomplished or who might serve on the first council. He was still on the phone with Greta when he noticed a leaf, blowing in the wind, stop in midair for several seconds before flying away again.
"Greta, I have to go. Something doesn't look right."
"Let me know if you need help, Frank. We don't need problems when there are this many shifters with us."
"Agreed." Frank ended the call and stepped out of the small building. The werewolf history teacher's eyes widened as six invisible assault rifles fired and multiple bullets pierced his body. His attempt to shout a warning to the community died with him.
* * *
"Bombing strikes, Grand Master. In less than ten minutes." A government-employed werewolf informed Weldon Harper over the phone. "I just found out about this. There isn't any time and probably no way to get anyone out of there—I hear there are tanks, armored vehicles and police cruisers surrounding the community."
The Grand Master cursed. He wanted to destroy his study, too, but that would accomplish nothing. Every werewolf, shifter and vampire in Star Cove would be obliterated by bombers within minutes, and there was nothing he could do about it.
* * *
"Randy, a part of me is sorry your mother is dead. Another part of me is glad she's gone. You weren't there. You didn't see her." Sara held the cell phone to her ear as she spoke with Randy. "Why don't you meet me here for dinner? We can talk about this."
"Sara, I can't believe you said that—that you're glad she's dead."
"Randy, I see this is going nowhere. Look, the break in the meeting is over. I have to get back."
"You're just like the rest of them. I'm only an insignificant human. I won't ever be a werewolf or a shapeshifter and belong to that special clique."
"Randy, being either of those things carries its own stigma. You know that. I have to go." Sara hung up.
Randy cursed. Cursed the werewolves, shifters and finally, himself.
* * *
"Traje, I know you can't get them out in five minutes. Hell, I can't get you out in five minutes," Winkler moaned into his cell. "The Grand Master says that all the streets outside Star Cove are blocked by police and armored vehicles. Nobody can get out."
"They're aiming for the kid, and he's not even here. Are we expendable?" Trajan growled.
"I guess. Traje, you've been the best Second any Packmaster could ask for. Tell Trace, Marco and Ace they were the best. I'll go see your parents and try to explain."
"Thanks." Trajan ended the call and brushed tears away.
* * *
Sali sat on the concrete floor of the Evans' garage, staring at the Cadillac. As yet, he had no idea that his death was flying swiftly toward him. "Ashe, you were supposed to drive me down the highway in this," Sali wiped tears away. "We were supposed to be together, dude."
* * *
"Kill all of them," Curtis Roberts hissed as he and five of his six disguised criminals followed him into the school. The sixth had been sent to the back, to kill anyone escaping through the back door. "Auditorium is on the east side. Just stay with me. Once we're inside, open fire."
"With pleasure."
* * *
"I know you don't feel safe," Bear Wright agreed. He, Kerry Slater, Thurmon Novak and Opal Tadewi stood on the stage and spoke before the shapeshifter crowd as they discussed the future of their race. "I'm hoping that with a joint council, we can improve relations with the werewolves and the vampires."
"They have nothing but contempt for us," someone in the crowd stood and baldly stated. "I'll never trust them."
"I'm sorry for the interruption, Mr. Wright," Trajan strode inside the school auditorium, Trace, Ace and Marco close behind him. "The government has sent bombers to Star Cove, and they have tanks, police cars and who knows what else surrounding the community. They intend to kill all of us."
"What are you saying, son?" Bear jumped off the stage and strode toward Trajan. He, Trajan, Trace and Marco were the first to fall as bullets sprayed through the crowd.
* * *
"Gunshots?" Sali stood as the sound of assault rifles firing rapidly reached his ears, followed by panicked screams. "What the hell?" He hit the button to open the garage door and raced outside.
Only a few shapeshifters had managed to escape, and they were running through the streets in panic as an invisible force fired rifles. Sali turned to werewolf, ripping his clothing as he raced toward the sound of weapons firing. He died in the street, his werewolf's paws jerking after a bullet pierced his brain.
* * *
"Oh, no." Ashe appeared inside the school auditorium, and then slid down the wall, his fingers gripping his hair in grief and dismay. Trajan lay dead beside his brother. Cori and her mother were nearby, blood sluggishly leaking from a multitude of bullet wounds. Marco had died not far away, reaching for Cori. Dori had managed to get a little farther before falling and dying. Ace died while attempting to shield Wynn and her mother. Then, Ashe's eyes settled on his mother's body. She'd died near Cori and Lavonna Anderson, her body crumpled and bloody. He wanted to weep. Hundreds of shifters and werewolves, some Ashe knew, many he didn't, lay amid thick pools of blood. All of them dead. What had kept him from arriving sooner? He was too grief-stricken to sort it out. Ashe moaned as the hum of jet engines reached his sensitive ears. He rose, his eyes going as dark as midnight while stars burst in their depths. Ashe misted away.
* * *
"Did that boy turn to this?" One of Curtis' hired criminals kicked Sali's wolf.
"He did," Curtis smiled gleefully. "That was easy. We wiped out the whole community."
"Easy except for that one guy, who had a gun," a second criminal spoke up. He frowned while examining the bullet hole in his left arm. "Took him down, though, after he hit me. Good thing he couldn't see us. He might have done more damage. The woman who was with him turned into a swan and hissed in my direction. Do you believe that? Shot her, too." He laughed.
"You shot Mrs. Thompson. And my mother and Sali," Ashe appeared before Curtis and his thugs, his arms crossed angrily over his chest. Power vibrated from his body in dangerous waves, clouding and turning a purplish-black once it escaped his personal shields.
"He can see us," one of Curtis' gunmen pointed out.
"I can see you." Ashe's eyes were turning red.
"Well, well, well. Our target finally shows up," Curtis chuckled. "Get out of this, if you can." Six criminals fired their guns at Ashe.
* * *
"We only have one target, now? I thought there were two," the lead pilot sounded confused.
"I only show one target—that new addition in Star Cove. The rest of the community has been evacuated."
"This is so confusing," the pilot replied.
"One target. Bomb the hell out of it." The command came.
* * *
"We can't get through whatever is around him," Curtis snapped, after telling his thugs to stand down. A shield lay about their target, who continued to stare at all of them angrily, his eyes completely strange, the air about him vibrating dangerously.
"You won't get through to me, either," Ashe rumbled. The ground shook beneath Curtis' feet; Ashe's voice had gone as deep as any ocean.
"What's going on?" The lead gunman struggled to keep his feet when the ground shook harder.
"You're hopeless," Ashe roared. "All of you. Do you think you're going to get away with this? I can destroy everything!" He flung out his hands while lightning crackled and flew from his fingers.
"Those bombers are coming," one of the gunmen shouted, poin
ting eastward. "I can see them. We need to get out of here. Now!"
"You're not going anywhere. Go ahead and try," Ashe's words had become soft and deadly.
"I can't move," one of the gunmen wailed. His feet were stuck to the pavement beneath him.
"What are you doing?" Curtis only then thought to be afraid. He couldn't move his feet or legs, and the bombers were almost upon them. Star Cove was about to be obliterated, and him with it.
"Trying to decide how to torture you, so you'll suffer the most," Ashe growled. "I can keep you alive forever. Torture you forever," he added. "Is that what you wanted, when you did this?" Ashe swept an arm out, encompassing all of Star Cove's dead. "But before I do that," Ashe continued, "the Earth will fly apart. It will give me a great deal of pleasure to kill the planet that spawned you."
* * *
Winkler couldn't help himself; he stared at the television screen. News crews couldn't get close to Star Cove, but they stood behind barriers while tanks, armored vehicles and military personnel crowded the distance. What frightened him the most, however, was that the ground was shaking and thunder rumbled overhead. The sky outside the beach house was turning purple.
"Trajan, I'm so sorry," Winkler muttered, as bombs dropped on Star Cove in the distance.
Chapter 20
"I can't help you if you go rogue," her voice came. "Get yourself in hand and get rid of that trash quick, so I can do this."
Ashe turned and stared. The power he'd expended had been drawn back inside his body and his thoughts cleared, whereas only moments before, his anger had taken over and he'd been prepared to destroy everything. Now, he was blinking in shock as the realization came that he'd almost destroyed something that wasn't meant to be destroyed. The shining woman had given him respite and clarity, before he could take a step that could never be reversed. The woman—the one who'd stood at a gate in his past—was standing at his side and shining brighter than he remembered.
"Who are you?" he stammered, suddenly feeling sixteen again. He hadn't been sixteen for a very long while.
"Somebody from the future. Put a shield over this place and get with it. All seven of these need to die."
"Yeah. They need to die, all right." Ashe turned back to Curtis Roberts, who was quaking where he stood. Ashe lifted his hands and all seven turned to sparks, beginning with Curtis Roberts.
* * *
"The bombs aren't hitting the streets. Something is stopping them," a microphone-wielding journalist reported as the ground shook beneath his feet. "Unfortunately, the repercussions of this seem to be affecting everything else around the target."
"What the hell?" Winkler stood and stared. The television camera showed bombs bursting in mid-air—as if a huge, transparent dome had been placed over that section of Star Cove.
* * *
"What now?" Ashe stared at the woman, who continued to shine brightly, preventing him from seeing her features.
"Now, I Change What Was." Ashe held an arm over his eyes as a sun seemed to burst around him.
* * *
Sali sat on the concrete floor of the Evans' garage, staring at the Cadillac. "Ashe, you were supposed to drive me down the highway in this," Sali wiped tears away. "We were supposed to be together, dude."
"Sal, get up." Ashe deposited Aedan's sleeping body on the back seat of the Cadillac. "I have to get Nathan and Casimir, and then we'll get out of here."
"What the?" Sali stared at Ashe. Ashe was older, that was easy enough to see. The short sleeve of Ashe's shirt pulled back, revealing a gold crown resting over the gold medallions circling his left arm. "Dude, what the hell is happening?"
"It was the only way, Sal." Ashe placed his father in an upright position as he spoke. "I had to take the crowns and send the Elemaiya away. I closed the gate in Kansas City against them. They'll never be able to come back here. If they don't have these, they can't do this shit again." Ashe pulled back his right sleeve, showing Sali the second crown. "As long as my body is between the crowns, they can't destroy anything."
Sali lifted himself off the garage floor as Ashe disappeared and the first bombs hit.
* * *
Trajan, followed by Trace, Ace and Marco, rushed inside the school auditorium and stopped in front of the stage. The tall werewolf was about to inform the school Principal that the community was under attack when the first bombs could be heard hitting the gulf water on the community's eastern edge.
"Star Cove is under attack," Ashe appeared beside Trajan and patted Trajan's shoulder affectionately. "Mr. Wright, I'm offering a way to escape and a safe place to live, but it means that nobody who goes with me can come back to Earth."
"What?" Bear breathed as more bombs exploded overhead.
"I have Star Cove shielded, but the shield goes when I go. Anybody left behind will die." Ashe's eyes had darkened.
"Son, somebody has to carry the message to the other shifters across the globe—that the shapeshifters need to unite and form their own council." Kerry Slater's voice held wonder as he stared at Ashe's eyes. Somehow, he wanted to trust that. To believe in it.
"I will allow one to go through my shield," Ashe's voice had turned deeper, his eyes darker while stars filled their depths.
"I'll go. Tell me how to get out." Bear nodded to Kerry and squared his shoulders.
"No." Opal touched Bear's hand with her own. "I can get past the others. My last name means wind, remember." She offered a trembling smile to Bear.
"Opal," Bear breathed a troubled sigh.
"I will go," Opal turned to Ashe.
"Ashe?" Cori had come to stand beside Marco, who'd gripped her hand and squeezed it. The bombing increased overhead, and the strafing of bullets joined the muted noise, making the crowd of shapeshifters gasp and stand in alarm.
"Cori, I'm taking the vampires, since they're asleep and can't make a decision for themselves," Ashe nodded at Cori's unspoken question. "I have a safe place for all of you, if you'll trust me and go to the street."
"Son, what are you planning?" Bear asked.
"I'll open a gate," Ashe replied softly. "Opal Tadewi, are you ready?" he turned to Opal.
"Yes."
"I will set you down outside my shield. Once you are on firm ground, run."
"I will," Opal promised.
Ashe's body glowed with power and Opal disappeared.
Go to the street and pass through the gate when it opens, Ashe spoke into every mind.
* * *
"Mom, Dad, we love you," Trace wiped tears away as he spoke to his parents on his cell. At least the call had gone through—the signal hadn't been lost.
"You think I'd forget your parents?" Ashe appeared and lifted the cell from Trace's hand. Trajan stood beside his brother—he'd heard his mother weeping when Trace made the call. "Mrs. Gibson, Mr. Gibson, come." An undeniable command lay in Ashe's voice, and Titus and Patricia Gibson appeared beside their sons.
"Mom," Trace embraced his weeping mother while Trajan hugged his father.
"Trajan, I'll need a Second where we're going," Ashe said softly. "And a Third. I want you and Trace to do that for me, if you're willing."
"Kid, for this, I'll do anything you want." Trajan let his father go and nodded to Ashe.
"It won't be a hardship, man," Ashe grinned.
* * *
"I guess you can fit three vampires in the back seat of a Cadillac," Sali muttered as Casimir's sleeping body was placed between Aedan and Nathan's. "Dang, how many bombs do they have?" More muted bomb blasts sounded overhead, making Sali duck instinctively. Ashe had appeared again, just as suddenly as he'd disappeared earlier, only this time he'd brought Casimir with him.
"Sal, get in the passenger seat. I told Mom to meet us out front."
"Where are we going, dude?"
"A long way from here." Ashe gripped the steering wheel, blew out the garage door with power and backed out quickly.
* * *
"Randy, this may be the last conversation we have," Sara said over
her cell. "I get the idea we're going somewhere. Too bad you didn't pick up." Sara ended the call. She and every shapeshifter and werewolf in Star Cove stood in the streets as bombs hit an invisible shield over their heads and rocked the ground beneath their feet. Many gasped and cried out as the bombing increased. A few screamed in terror as the end of the world seemed imminent.
* * *
"Flossie, I'm trusting the boy," Amos pulled Florence Thompson against his side. "He's never done anything to make me believe he'll hurt us. Those folks who sent those bombers," he lifted his eyes, "well, they're the ones who want to hurt us."
"I know." Flossie stood on her toes and kissed her husband's cheek. Amos reached out and wiped tears from his wife's face.
* * *
"Mom, Ashe says he's taking Daddy, Mr. Evans and Mr. Casimir," Cori's smile trembled as she gazed at her mother. "He can shield them, so they'll be safe."
"I hope so," Lavonna hugged her oldest daughter. "Did he say where he's taking us?"
"He only said we'll be safe. If we stay behind, we'll die." Cori had to raise her voice; the noise of the bombs was getting louder.
"Then we'll go," Lavonna nodded determinedly, although her eyes were filled with tears.
* * *
"Well, Lewis, I hope you're not leaving anything important behind," Bear clapped Lewis Sharpe on the back.
"No. I'm glad I came," Lewis said. "The kid saved my life. I'm willing to trust him, now."
"Me, too," Bear agreed. "I wish they'd stop dropping those blasted bombs." Heavier bombing was taking place as Bear and Lewis walked out of the Star Cove auditorium together.
* * *
"Ace?" Wynn touched Ace's face. He grasped her fingers and kissed the palm of her hand.
"Baby, we have to trust Ashe."
"I know."
Turn and go through the gate quickly when it opens, the voice commanded inside their heads.
Wynn gasped. She, Ace and her parents stood at the rear of a large crowd of werewolves and shapeshifters, who became their animals in a tremendous ripple.
"Baby, it'll be the first time we've run together," Ace offered Wynn a lopsided smile.
"Yeah. Let's go." In seconds, a white werewolf stood beside the only unicorn shapeshifter on Earth.
Legend of the Ir'Indicti 5 - Destroyer Page 23
