The Lycan Chronicles

by Schroeder, Brent

  The battle between the Baron and JD raged on and Sebastian was still doing everything he could to bring Max down to his knees. They clawed, bit and chewed, but none of the group was backing down.

  Moonflower watched them fight, until she could take no more; she jumped to Sebastian’s aid, landing on Maximilian’s back, sinking her fangs deep into his neck, clawing away at him. She pulled Maximilian’s hair back, exposing his neck so she could get a better bite, when she saw Sebastian reaching back. She let go just as Sebastian’s claws came back into view, slicing through Max’s tender neck, severing his head with one swift blow. Maximilian’s head rolled to a stop in the grass and his eyes stared back up at Sebastian, until he delivered a kick, sending the head flying through the trees and finally splashing into the dark swamp waters.

  Nate had finished his business, helping the zombies take out most of the Baron’s remaining army and he finally came running to fight, side by side, with JD. The two Lycans both took a turn at the Baron, but he was much stronger, tossing them both aside, as they charged forward. Sebastian followed suit, taking a turn and the two exchanged blows, fur and blood flying high into the air.

  The Baron grabbed Sebastian and picked him up, throwing him across the compound. Moonflower took a shot as well, but the Baron snatched her up by the neck, throwing her to the ground. He reached down and picked up a gun that was laying in the dirt and he took aim, shooting Moonflower in both of her legs.

  Amelia and Whisper stood watching from the porch, praying and casting spells, but their efforts seemed to have little effect on the Baron. Both of them stood there with their eyes rolled back in their heads, so only the whites were showing, as they chanted. One of the Baron’s Vampires had managed to get through the zombies and tried to grab Amelia, but she was much too fast for him. Instead, the Vampire grabbed Whisper by her face and he bit deeply into her throat, before Amelia could do anything to stop him.

  As all of this was happening, the man in the dirty robe who Whisper had seen earlier, appeared from around back of Amelia’s house and he was using a walking staff to help him along. The staff looked very unusual, having a crystal skull for a handle. The man made his way over to where the Vampire was feeding upon Whisper and he suddenly stopped gnawing on her throat to see who this man was approaching him. As the Vampire curiously looked on, as the man in the robe came closer, suddenly whipping the crystal skull apart from the cane, revealing a sharpened, gleaming, silver dagger. The Vampire never saw the blade coming and the dagger disappeared straight through his chest and into his heart, as he burst into a ball of fire.

  The man in the robe stepped over and kneeled down next to Whisper, placing two of his fingers over the bite marks that the Vampire left in her bleeding neck. The young girl’s eyes suddenly opened and she jolted up, gasping for air, while the holes in her neck began to close up… a bit of light glimmered out, before they completely healed.

  The man turned his attention over to JD and Nate, who were both trying to take on the Baron. They took turns fighting, but they were no match for the Baron’s powers and the two Lycans were being thrown around like couple of small puppies.

  Finally, the Baron had had enough and he pinned JD to the ground, drawing his silver sword and poking it into his chest. “Give me the Book of Blood and I will let your children live!” he scowled. “But, either way… you’re dead, John Davidson!”

  The Baron started to laugh, as the seconds grew tense. “You thought you could take me….”

  As the Baron’s back was turned, Wendy and Sarah took the opportunity, both unloading an entire magazine on him but the bullets only melted, dripping to the ground and forming little silver puddles. The Vampire turned to recoil, but his words were cut short, when Chumlee came charging out of nowhere, tackling the Baron before he could plunge the sword through JD’s chest. But, Chumlee was nothing but a nuisance to the Baron, who was already up on his feet, swinging his sword and the sharp edge of the blade sliced right through, chopping off Chumlee’s head, right where he stood.

  Nanook was hidden away in Amelia’s house during the fight and he barked and growled at the windows, as the fight waged on. As Chumlee’s head went rolling across the yard, Nanook burst through a small side window of the house, snarling as he sped towards the Baron. He jumped and sailed through the air to attack the old English Vampire, but the Baron saw him coming and at the last second, he ducked down and raised his sword, slicing Nanook in half, killing him, before both halves hit the ground.

  The Baron stood up, grinning at a horrified JD, preparing himself to kill again, stepping forward with his silver sword high in the air.

  Suddenly, the man in the robe yelled out with a voice that made everything still. “Enough!” the voice boomed, banging his walking staff on the ground twice; a long rumble of thunder boomed and lightning streaked the sky, as the ground violently shook.

  The Baron stopped; dead in his tracks, not believing the sound that he’d just heard… it had been two thousand years, since he’d last heard that voice.

  JD and Nate seized the moment and they charged at the Baron from either side, but he stopped them both, clutching the two Lycans by their necks, lifting them into the air.

  The Baron laughed and turned to the robed man who was standing next to Amelia in front of her home, showing off his captured enemies. “You?” he asked between laughs. “So, you’re the one behind all of this? You must have been plotting against me for a very long time, Jesus! I’m just letting you know, ahead of time,” the Baron spit, as he gripped the two helpless Lycans tighter, “you will not win, as I am the most powerful being on this planet. I thought I’d already proved that to you, over two thousand years ago, when I made you one of my children of the night? And, this is how you repay me? I gave you eternal life, unlike your so called… father.”

  Jesus Christ stepped forward, taking off his hood, before he spoke. “You’re right,” he said to the Baron. “For two thousand years, I have been praying to my Father to save me and I’ve been begging Him for a way to rid the earth of your evil presence.”

  “So, Christ, how’s that working out for you?”

  The Baron snickered, thinking back to when Christ was hanging on the cross, wearing his crown of thorns. “Is it anything like the last time?”

  “Well, Baron, unfortunately for you, my Father has spoken,” Jesus said to him. “And, He has provided a way for me to enter the Kingdom of Heaven,” Christ informed. “But first, I must rid the world of you, Baron Valvasor… or should I call you by the name my father gave you, Lucifer.”

  JD and Nate had both passed out from the lack of oxygen and the Baron tossed their limp bodies aside.

  “Your father?” the Baron snarled. “I am your father! I was the one who brought you back, or have you forgot that?” he growled. “I found you hanging on that cross, all alone, with no father and no hope… I gave you both!”

  “And, I didn’t ask for that,” Christ calmly replied. “You turned me into something that I did not want to be. It was not of my own free will.”

  “You know… your father once loved me, as I was his most beautiful creature,” the Baron said to him. “So, then?” he asked, letting his hatred show. “What are you going to do about it? You’re hardly a match for me, either,”

  “Let me show you, Valvasor,” Jesus answered him, as he began waving the crystal skull on the end of his walking cane, the ground around beginning to quake, once more.

  The earth shook violently and the trees above them began to part, as the sky engaged, flashing its anger and hatred, with heavy bolts of lightning, while, thick, wooden poles topped with crystal skulls, began emerging from the ground, encircling the Baron.

  Wendy and Sarah, becoming conscious, just as the thirteen skulls were rising from the dirt, had revived JD and Nate. Everyone watched, as Jesus took a step towards the Baron, slamming his cane, as a bright bolt of lightning hit the ground next to him, shooting dirt into the aged Vampire’s satanic face.

  The
Baron brushed the dirt away, as he spoke, “You’ll have to do better than that, Christ!”

  Jesus looked him in the eye and replied, “I can see, that you will never repent for the curse that you have brought upon me, Baron.” He took a few more steps closer, asking him, “Do you have any last words?”

  The Baron smiled at the question and he gleefully answered him. “Yes, I do,” he said, his smile disappearing. “You are a fraud, just like your imaginary father!”

  After spitting in Christ’s face, the Baron spoke the following: “There is no God. If so, strike me down, right where I stand. He has no power on this planet… I rule this realm.”

  Jesus wiped the spit from his face and looked up, banging his walking cane, once more, causing lightning to strike a nearby tree, distracting the Baron. As he looked away, Jesus raised his wooden cane and shoved it straight through the Baron’s chest, pinning him to the ground.

  The Baron’s eyes became wide and his wings flapped wildly, as the wooden cane was slowly pushed through him… and ironically, his arms were now laying out to his sides, resembling how Christ looked when he was hanging on the cross, two thousand years earlier. As the cane was pushed deeper into the Baron, the crystal skull on the end began to brightly glow and a bolt of lightning reached down from the sky, hitting it with an amazing flash of light that separated and beamed to the thirteen skulls surrounding them. The crystal skulls lit up and the charge of lighting grew stronger as the beams moved from one skull to another, before finally firing back, creating a pentagram with the Baron laying directly in the center. Then a massive bolt shot down Christ’s cane and into the Baron, blowing him apart and as the original Vampire exploded, everyone ran for cover, trying to escape the raining blood and body parts that were littering Amelia’s property… Baron Valvasor had been destroyed and his reign of evil had finally come to an end.

  Amelia ran to the porch and picked up her special copper bowl, taking a mouthful of rum and spitting it back out. She set it on the ground and lit a match, throwing it in and the rum went up in a puff of green smoke. As the smoke disintegrated, hundreds of alligators began to emerge from the swamps, snatching the zombies up with their mouthful and dragging their decomposed bodies back into the dark swamp waters.

  Soon after the last alligator had disappeared, everything began to settle and the earth became still, once again. The lightning had reduced to a few flickers in the sky and everyone was coming out of hiding to gather around the man that had finally killed the Baron.

  “Come forward, my children,” Jesus called out. “The Baron’s legacy of evil has been defeated,” he assured, as they came closer. “This was not his world, to begin with and he needed to be reminded.”

  Jesus opened up his mouth and ran his fingers along his teeth, noticing that his fangs were no longer there.

  Moonflower and Sebastian saw him doing this and they both did the same; their fangs had disappeared, as well.

  “Is it really over?” JD asked Christ, as Wendy brought him some clothes.

  “Yes, my child,” the Holy One replied. “And, that means my work here on earth is finished.”

  Everyone smiled and let out a sigh of relief, all thanking him, giving him hugs and handshakes.

  Jesus spoke, while they celebrated. “But, there is one more thing that must be done before I leave you,” he went on to explain. “The Lycanthrope was brought upon this world, as a way to control the Vampire population… therefore, your powers and services will no longer be needed. My Father has given me the power to make you all mortals again. You will be able live out the rest of your lives and die, like the humans you once were… only if you want it. I can promise that there will be a better place waiting for you.”

  “I can’t speak for the other people, but I would love the cure and a chance to be human again,” JD said first.

  “I feel the same way,” added Nate. “I can’t go through and watch my lovely Sarah grown old, as I retain my age. I’ve been through that twice before,” he said, thinking back. “I would also be glad to be a mere human again.”

  “So be it, then,” Christ said.

  JD and his group all exchanged looks of surprise and joy at the news that they had just heard, as Jesus Christ picked up his walking cane, raised it up and pointed it at the full moon in the sky. He stepped over and placed his hand on JD’s head and the lightning in the sky began to charge up, once more. Jesus closed his eyes and he began to pray to his Father in heaven and as he did, a small flash of lighting broke through the clouds and struck the crystal skull on the end of his cane. The crystal skulls surrounding them all began to glow a bright, comforting illumination that was beaming back and forth from their eyes. Jesus Christ walked around the group of Lycans, placing his hand over their foreheads while they knelt and accepted his gift.

  “It is finished,” Christ said, as the light from crystal skulls began to fade away. “You are now all mortals, once again… the curse has been lifted. Now go and live long and happy lives.”

  “Thank you, for saving us!” Wendy expressed.

  “If you ever need me,” Jesus said to the group standing before him. “Just pray and I will return to you.”

  Jesus gave one last piece of instruction, as he turned to leave. “It is up to you and your families to never speak of these supernatural events that have taken place. In time, the world will forget any immortals ever existed… except for the one and only true God.”

  He turned to leave, but before he did, he removed his robe and threw it over the remains of Nanook and Chumlee. He knelt down and said a prayer over the dead bodies, as everyone watched. Once he finished, Jesus stood up and everyone waited to see what would happen. After a moment had passed, sadness began to fill the hearts of those who stood looking on, knowing that it was over for their friend and loyal companion.

  The group began to move towards the comforts of Amelia’s home, but Sebastian stayed behind to say goodbye to his good friend, Chumlee. He sat down next to the blood soaked robe that was covering the bodies.

  “Chumlee, you stupid fat bastard,” Sebastian said to the dead body. “Why couldn’t you move just a little faster, like you did on the basketball court… well, sometimes, anyway.” A couple of tears dripped down his cheek, as he spoke, “I love you, brother… I guess I’ll be seeing you on the other side, someday.”

  And with that, Sebastian got up to his feet, taking one last look before leaving. He shook his head in sadness and took a step to leave, when something under his foot suddenly moved… Nanook’s tail. Sebastian about jumped out of his skin, when the robe suddenly jumped up and attacked him. He screamed and began to fight, when the robe fell off and Nanook came out from underneath, licking and wagging his tail, whole once again.

  “Who are you calling a fat bastard, sissy boy?” a voice called out. “I heard you crying, you big baby. What a pussy.”

  “Chumlee!” Sebastian’s muffled voice said through Nanook’s thick fur.

  “In the flesh,” Chumlee said with a smile. “What the hell happened?”

  “I’ll tell you later!” Sebastian said, overflowing with excitement. “DAD! EVERYONE!”

  The front door of Amelia’s house flew open and people began to appear on the porch. It took a moment for the vision to translate into their minds, as their eyes took in what they were seeing.

  “Nanook!” JD exclaimed, as his dog came barreling towards him. “Come here, ole boy!”

  Nanook jumped into JD’s arms, furiously licking at his face.

  “I don’t even know how to thank you, Jesus,” JD said to him. “But, thank you, so much!”

  “It is my pleasure, John Davidson,” Jesus replied, speaking his last words. “You have seen enough death and destruction for one man… please, accept this free gift.”

  With his last words said, Christ moved out to Amelia’s yard, with his walking staff in his hand, as she joined him and stood at his side, holding the Book of Blood. The dark sky began to brighten with massive bolts of lightning
, while he stood and tilted his head back to the heavens above. The sky began to open up, as Christ and Amelia quickly ascended, everyone watching the miracle-taking place before them. The clouds began to roll away and the night sky became still, once they finally disappeared and the full moon was the only thing left shining down upon the mesmerized group.

  Chapter Seventy-Three

  “It’s finally over,” JD said in disbelief. “The curse has finally been lifted.”

  “I can’t believe the Baron is really dead,” Nate added, shaking JD’s hand. “Man, I thought we were finished, for sure. I never saw that one coming.”

  “I know, Nate, I’m with you on that one.”

  “Where are we going to go?” Sebastian asked, as he held his girl. “We can’t go back to Wolf Creek and that’s the only home I’ve ever known… I’ve lived there since birth!”

  Moonflower shot Sebastian a playful look and winked, “Speaking of birth… do you want to tell them, or should I?”

  Nate’s eyebrows wrinkled up, as he had to ask, “What you talking about? Tell us what?”

  “I’m pregnant,” Moonflower blurted out, “I’m having Sebastian’s baby.”

  Nate was speechless, but Sarah was not. “Okay, when were you planning on telling us?”

  “Never,” Sebastian chimed in, hoping that Nate wasn’t going to try to kill him, “since we didn’t think we were going to live through the night.”

  Everyone began to gather around to congratulate them… even Nate.

  In the middle of it all, Whisper placed her hand on Moonflower’s belly. “It’s a boy,” she said. “He’s going to be big and strong, just like his father and grandfather.”

  “Guess, you’re going to be a grand-daddy, after all,” Sebastian said to his father.

  “Wow,” JD said, as he put his arm around his son, “now I’m actually starting to feel like an old man.”