Ahead, Jessica kept watch on Fiona. Fiona’s shadow arms still held Crispin at bay, but Julian could see the way they trembled. Crispin’s monstrous eyes were glazed, his mind away wherever Fiona had taken him. But his teeth drew closer and closer to Fiona’s face. Jessica fiddled with the settings of her electro-gauntlet and chewed her lip.
He should probably help her assist Fiona.
Instead he made his way towards the sarcophagus. Following Jacob’s footsteps.
Jacob rested his left hand on the black metal edge. He bent forward, reached in with his right.
Julian lifted his gun.
His vision blurred. Fatigue pulled so hard at him that he almost fumbled his grip. The magic that had supported him against Zoe had withdrawn and he felt burned out inside. The power still crackling in the ghost machine should have thrummed to his senses. The presence of the titan corpse should have rattled his teeth. All he felt was grey exhaustion.
But he focused, overrode his weariness. Magic was the application of will on reality. With what little concentration he had left, he willed himself to steadiness and aimed at Jacob’s back.
“Stop.”
Jacob turned his head. That sharp-edged smile of his cut his face. “You know mate, I thought you’d need a few more minutes before you could get up.”
“Step away from the titan.”
Jacob straightened. He adjusted his jacket and slid his gloved hands into the pockets of his trousers. “I won’t ask if you’d really shoot me. You took two pretty good cracks at killing Mitch, after all.”
“Not to mention put you in a coma. Now step away from the titan.”
Jacob didn’t move. “I saw the ring Mitch had in Bromley. It’s made from one of these bastards, isn’t it?” Victory lit his features. “Is it the same with your Blackwood rings? Are they made from titan bones?”
Julian didn’t reply. His finger tightened on the trigger.
Jacob raised his hands and stepped away. “Fine. Keep your fucking secrets.”
Julian lowered his gun, though not all the way. “Get Jessica. We’ve got something to do.”
“What?”
“Don’t worry, you’re going to like this.”
Fiona shivered. “He didn’t shoot.”
“Because Jacob backed down.” Crispin had changed again. He was almost human in shape, but his features were fierce and birdlike. His fingers were talons. “You see? One side has to win, the other side has to lose. And they used to be friends.”
She was angry. Julian had scared her. She’d seen the look on his face. He really would have fired if Jacob hadn’t moved away from the sarcophagus. “If that’s the way you want to see the world, then that’s all you’re going to see. But there are other ways. All we have to do is stop fighting.”
“It’s our nature.” Crispin sneered at her and raised his hand, fingers curled, talons ready to tear. Fiona brandished the ping-pong ball at him and prepared to twist it.
Crispin swept his arm down. His talons tore through the white fabric of the sphere.
Fiona cried out as she fell into formless dream.
Rob and Alice cut one of the werewolves off from the group. Rob slashed across his Achilles tendons. Alice slammed him back against the side of the van, sending the whole vehicle skidding sideways. Rob lunged for the werewolf’s throat.
But one of the others hit him from the side. Rob ripped open the werewolf’s shoulder. It wasn’t enough.
He and Alice fell back. They retreated until their backs were to the hangar door, still half open.
“They heal too fast,” Alice said. “They aren’t like any werewolves I’ve fought before.” She was not out of breath, but some of the fire had gone from her amber eyes.
“You’re telling me.” Rob was breathing hard. His narrow chest rose and fell as he sucked in blood-tanged air.
The werewolves came together again and readied themselves for another attack. So far Rob and Alice had only managed to kill two of them. As they watched, the last werewolf they’d attacked stopped limping as his Achilles tendons knitted back together.
The werewolf with the two grey stripes down his nose was named Garry. Rob knew most of their names – he’d landed bites on several of them. “The longer this goes on the more that Garry bloke gets his head together.” They’d all been berserkers to begin with. Most of them still were, but Garry had grown sneaky. “You’ve killed hundreds of them, right? What do we do?”
“Don’t let them into the moonlight,” Alice replied. “It’s not a full moon, but it’ll still help them more than us.”
Half an idea nagged at Rob, but he couldn’t tease it out. “All right, I’ll run interference, you shred one of them.”
He changed. The pain of transformation ripped through him, wiping away the throbbing pain of his many injuries. He grew heavier, darker. In less than three heartbeats he’d changed from leopard to wolf.
He launched himself forward. Two steps on all fours, then he leapt. Garry snarled and met his charge. Rob had the momentum – they crashed backwards together in a rolling, snapping tangle.
They hit the back of the van. Rob pulled free, kicked Garry once to give himself a second. He tore one of the doors off the back of the van. With an overhead swing, he brought it down on Garry’s head.
The glass window smashed. Rob had a second while Garry squeezed his eyes shut against the glass.
He’d hoped the door would go down over Garry’s shoulders, but the window wasn’t wide enough. Before Garry could recover, Rob yanked him to the side. The edge of the window caught against the side of Garry’s neck. Jags of broken glass cut into him.
Rob pulled Garry off his feet. With a roar, he spun Garry around, bounced him off two of the others who had followed to help.
He glimpsed Alice, locked in combat with one of the werewolves. Colin – the name floated up through the haze of blood and anger.
Before he could see what became of them, Garry twisted. Rob shifted his feet, but he’d already lost momentum. Garry got a foot on the ground and shoved himself at Rob.
Then all three of them were on him.
He swiped and dodged, bit and jumped. Garry nearly cracked him on the skull with the van door. Rob saw an opening, sank his teeth into the hamstring of a werewolf. He bit for all he was worth. When his teeth closed on bone, he bit harder.
Finlay. The werewolf’s name was Finlay.
Finlay’s femur shattered between Rob’s teeth as Garry and the other one landed on him. A blow to the side of Rob’s head broke Rob’s grip on Finlay’s leg. He was pulled away before he could tear right through.
That’ll heal in a couple of minutes. Finlay would be up again. Frustration almost made him snap. But he pulled himself into line and barrelled free of Garry and the other werewolf, bloodier than before but still alive.
He and Alice bumped into each other as they came together again. Rob thought nothing of touching a vampire – and that surprised him. Even stranger, it seemed like nothing to her too.
“Get him?” Rob asked, wheezing.
“Yeah.” Her talons twitched and quivered. Rob realised she was, like him, coming to the end of her strength.
Rob tried to tease that nagging thought out. Something to do with learning the werewolves’ names from their blood. Where did he find that out?
The other werewolf held Finlay’s arm while the leg Rob had savaged crunched back into its proper shape. Garry stood by them, glaring at Rob and Alice. He grinned at their exhaustion.
Come on, Rob thought. What am I missing?
It took some of Julian’s concentration to stop his legs from trembling. “What do you think?”
Jessica said, “Ummm.” She prodded the ghost machine, flicked open one of its panels and frowned at the circuitry inside. “Well.”
“What’s this in aid of, Julian?” Jacob asked.
Julian kept Jacob in the corner of his vision. “Somewhere in here is at least one psychographic plate. It’s what they used to collect and concentrate the
imprints of Savraith’s ghost. Step one is find it. Step two is make sure it’s wiped clean.”
Jacob shook his head. “You’re a paranoid fucker in your old age, aren’t you? Can’t this wait?”
“Step three,” Julian said, glaring at him, “is that you use this to whip up one of your electro-daemons. A big one, like that one you tried to kill Rob and me with.”
That got Jacob’s attention. He examined the ghost machine properly for the first time. “Creating a daemon like Axrillax takes time.”
“You’ll find it goes a lot faster with the right equipment. Jessica? What do you think?”
She looked over her shoulder at him. Her expression was a lot like ones Fiona had given him. “Figure out the full workings of a machine I’ve never seen before, that does something I’ve never tried before, using what looks like some seriously old technology from Soviet Russia combined with modern electronics?” She grinned. “Two minutes.”
Jacob crouched down beside her. “Talk me through what you see.”
Julian stepped back as they began. On the far side of the hangar, he could see Alice and Rob at bay against three werewolves. At a glance he could see it would be close. Crashing the ritual had blown back more than just regular lycanthropy into Crispin’s men. He gripped his pistol in both hands, but his gaze went back to Jacob.
Can I trust him?
He knew he couldn’t. But Alice and Rob needed help. Mr Shell still guarded Fiona’s back and it was important he stay there, in case the werewolf fight went in that direction. Fiona couldn’t be disturbed from containing Crispin.
A flash of light on glass caught his eye. Mr Beak winged into the warehouse and landed on top of the ghost machine.
“What’s happening?” Julian asked.
“Company on the way,” Mr Beak said. “Dunno who, but they’re driving sports cars.”
“Vampires,” Jacob said. “They love their status displays.”
“The werewolves won’t be far behind.” Julian shifted his grip on his pistol. He had to make a decision. There were so many variables and he was so tired and–
Vertigo pulled him off his feet. And then he was on his knees in a grey and broken landscape. The stars above rippled through a scar in the sky. Wind blew stinging dust against his skin.
“Julian?” Fiona stood above him, her black coat wrapped tight around her. “I’m not going to be able to hold him for much longer.”
He looked around, but he didn’t see Crispin. Then the broken landscape was gone, replaced by a maelstrom of chaotic thoughts that shifted and battered against each other. He glimpsed Fiona at the heart of it, battling with a thing flickering through different forms – Crispin.
Then he was back on the dust-covered plain. “What can I do?”
She told him.
“What? But that’s the power that burned the–”
She shoved him back out of the dream.
Julian rocked backwards and would have fallen if Jacob hadn’t caught his shoulder. “You all right? You switched off on us for a second there.”
“I’m fine,” Julian replied, though he knew Jacob would be able to feel him shaking. “It was Fiona.”
They all turned. Fiona and Crispin were still locked together. She had begun to bend backwards. Crispin’s maw was much too close to her throat.
“Keep on here,” Julian said. “We need whatever you can conjure up for us.”
“What about you?” Jacob asked. “What are you going to do?”
“What she asked me to do.” Julian holstered his pistol and drew his sword.
With a trembling breath, he turned to face the black sarcophagus and its cargo of steel bones.
Chapter 33 – Rule
Rob hit the half-closed hangar door at high speed, back first. With a tortured screech, the door tore apart. Sharp metal edges ripped across his back. He tumbled onto the hard-packed surface outside.
Alice hauled him to his feet. She was too exhausted to speak. Rob tottered, but didn’t fall.
Garry and the other two werewolves followed them out into the night. Their teeth were bared. Their eyes glowed yellow.
Rob’s injuries weren’t healing any more. Neither were Alice’s, to look at the bloody mess of her. Garry and his friends had hardly slowed down.
That thing he was sure he’d missed floated towards the front of his mind again. But it drifted away before he could catch it.
He and Alice backed further away. “Moonlight,” Rob said. The only warning he could muster. He could barely puff out even that one word.
“No choice,” Alice replied. “We have to buy the others time.”
He knew what she was thinking. That the others would deal with Crispin then come to help. But if Crispin was the biggest of the bad, Rob didn’t like their chances.
“Thought I might die many times fighting werewolves,” Alice said, “back before the treaty. Never thought I’d die fighting beside one.”
“We aren’t done yet,” he replied.
If he could just find that idea floating around in his stupid skull.
The moon appeared through a hole in the clouds. It was just a crescent, not even a quarter full, but when the silver light touched Rob’s skin he felt stronger. It warmed him inside like the sun showing itself on a cloudy day. It wasn’t much, but he felt the edges of his wounds tingle.
Problem was, it would do more for Garry and his werewolves.
Garry snarled and all three of them charged together. He and Alice had each other’s’ moves down by then. Rob went in hard, using his weight against them. Alice cut out to one side, flickered back in. Rob tried to pin one of Garry’s men – Finlay again – and Alice went for his jugular.
Garry’s fist connected with Rob’s jaw. He flipped over onto his back. Garry and the other werewolf – went by the name of Spud, Rob had learned after biting him – jumped him. Rob thrashed and snapped and clawed his way free. He dislocated Spud’s shoulder in the process, making the werewolf squeal.
Alice limped over to him. While Rob fought to catch his breath, Alice clutched one twisted knee as though willing it back into shape.
“The moon,” Garry growled. He lifted his bloody muzzle towards it and howled. Finlay did the same, holding his ribs where Alice had peeled them half open. With a crack, Spud pulled his shoulder back into place.
Alice’s voice was a hiss. “If we lead them into the woods behind the tower, we can–”
“Chadang!” Rob lurched straight, injuries momentarily forgotten. “Fuck me, his name was Chadang!” They all stared at him. “First guy whose name I ever found out from biting him. That’s what I’ve been forgetting.”
Alice’s hideous features twisted. “You’re thinking about that now?”
“Yeah, see, Chadang nearly beat me.” Rob grinned at her. “And I remember how.” He closed his eyes and unclenched his fists. “I’ve done this before. Come on, where are you?”
He heard Garry snarl out words. He and the other werewolves charged. He sensed rather than saw Alice throw herself in front of him, use her sharp teeth and claws to buy him a bare few seconds.
Rob listened to the moon. He listened to his heartbeat. He remembered Julian tapping out the beat on the train that morning. To calm him. To centre him. To give him control.
He found it.
His exhausted flesh rippled. Fire rushed across his skin as his fur became scales. His skull shattered along its sutures, remade itself in a new, flatter shape. His arms pulled against his side and melded into his body.
Rob opened slitted eyes. He bared his fangs, long and dripping with poison. His hood flared, his limbless body coiled.
Garry and his werewolves stared at him in horror. Alice too had pulled back a cautious distance.
Rob snapped forward.
His fangs punched through Finlay’s shoulder. Rob’s venom glands pulsed. He pulled back before Finlay could even react.
Garry and Spud stumbled away from him.
Finlay screamed. Beneath his f
ur, the skin of his shoulder turned black and bubbled. Alice reacted next. She grabbed Finlay’s head, twisted, ripped it clear from his neck.
Garry and Spud lunged at her.
Rob snapped forward again. He caught Spud in the thigh. Venom caused Spud to stumble and Rob bit him once more. Spud’s roar tumbled from rage into agony.
Garry hit Alice with the full force of his greater weight. They crashed into the fence line, smashed the old wooden beams, flattened the long grass. Garry brought his teeth closer and closer to Alice’s throat. She hissed at him as her strength failed.
Rob struck Garry from the side. They rolled and Rob wrapped Garry in his coils, pinning his arms. Garry writhed and howled. He snapped his teeth against Rob’s scales. Some tore off, others cracked into pieces.
Rob squeezed.
Garry’s ribs popped. One, two, then many at once, like a packet of popcorn in a microwave. Garry’s howl became a gurgle. Rob sank his fangs into Garry’s shoulder and pumped him full of venom. Garry’s whole body convulsed. His feet kicked against the ground and he tossed his head from side to side.
Rob kept squeezing until Garry’s torso was nothing but bloody paste.
He slithered free and coiled on himself while Garry’s body – like Finlay and Spud’s – shrank back into its human form. Exhaustion weighed Rob down. He wanted nothing more than to gorge himself and sleep.
A bell-like tone rang in the air, shattering the night. Rob smelled the tang of magic, stronger than he’d ever smelled it before. Lights appeared in the sky again.
“What? Crispin started again?”
“Maybe.” Alice knelt nearby, covered in thick blood. “Or the others are trying something.”
“We need to get in there.” Rob started to uncoil when movement in the trees on the other side of the hangar caught his eye.
Vampires.
They slid out from between the trees as though congealing from the night shadows. Half a dozen of them, claws out, teeth bared. They stared at Rob with confused revulsion, at Alice with hate.
He sighed. “Don’t suppose they’d be willing to just talk?”
“I hope not,” Alice said. She pulled herself to her feet.
Immortal Make Page 35
