Claimed By Honor

by Justin Sloan

  If Michael was back, with them at his side, and one day Bethany Anne returned too… None of this hell would exist anymore; she was sure of it.

  A new world order was coming, and she just had to ensure her part of the world was ready for its arrival.

  "Come on," she said to the others. "Let’s head back to HQ to rest up and be prepared for what’s next."

  She was finally starting to feel the need for sleep, after all, so imagined the others were needing it even more.

  Enforcer HQ

  Back at Headquarters, Valerie walked in to find Wallace looking around frantic.

  "Have you seen Ella?" he asked.

  She shook her head. Yuko had told her about what happened, so she wasn't exactly looking forward to confronting her top man's girlfriend.

  "I'm going back out there," he said. "I gotta find her."

  "Take a team of Weres," she said, and then continued to the elevator.

  The elevator doors dinged open, and there was Sandra with a worried expression.

  "Perfect timing," Sandra said. "Things are getting dirty with Jackson and the other city leaders."

  Valerie realized she had completely forgotten about the city leaders and the situation with Jackson.

  "Merde," she said, massaging her temples in frustration. "No rest for the weary, huh?"

  Sandra just gave her a can-we-hurry look, and Valerie sighed, then led the way back up to the conference room.

  A couple of the larger Weres were in there, doing their best to keep everyone separated, but the situation was clearly about to explode.

  "All of you, shut up!" Valerie said, stepping in between them. She was relieved to see Jackson immediately back off. Then she turned to the others and saw there were only four of them remaining—the Alligator, Nancy the Neuterer, and two more. "Where are the others?"

  "Ran off when the fighting started," Nancy said, her voice full of venom.

  "These ones tried to leave too," one of the Weres said. "We arrived in time to stop them, but couldn’t find the other three."

  "You have no right to keep us here while this piece of shit," the Alligator motioned to Jackson, "slaughters our people."

  Jackson opened his mouth to say something, but stopped at a look from Valerie.

  "Here’s the situation," Valerie said, making eye contact with each of them. "Our city is under siege from outside and within. I need warriors, soldiers. Not squabbling rats biting each other over spilled crumbs. Do you understand? What I’m talking about is all of us working together for the full loaf of bread. We work together to defend this city, not fight each other and watch it crumble beneath us."

  "That’s your fucking speech?" Nancy said, hands on her hips and a look of disgust on her face. "We were here long before your pretty ass," and with a nod of her head, the other three moved to attack Valerie. The Alligator even managed to snatch a pistol before Valerie processed what was happening.

  These fuckers were trying to make a move on her!

  She shook her head, let down. Trusting in these people had been a mistake.

  "Have it your way," she said, watching the wicked smile slowly spread across Nancy’s face as the Alligator’s finger squeezed the trigger.

  Valerie moved faster than the others could process, moving out of the way of the bullet’s trajectory and bringing her sword up and through the Alligator’s rib-cage before pushing him off and turning to remove Nancy’s head from her body.

  The other two backed up, but she wasn’t in a forgiving mood at the moment. The Weres and Jackson stared, wide-eyed, while she fell upon the first with a sword blow that split his body down the middle, and then pulling back the second’s head so she could sink her fangs into his exposed neck and drink.

  A yelp came from the door, and Valerie looked up from her feeding to see Sandra there, wide-eyed.

  Valerie finished and dropped the body to the floor, "Diplomacy had its day," she said. "It lost. Get some vials filled from this bastard, and the others if they’re still at all alive," she added with a glance toward the twitching form of the Alligator.

  "And this one?" one of the Weres asked, holding Jackson by the back of his shirt.

  She wanted to trust Jackson, but all of this was just too much to process right now.

  "Throw him in a cell until I’ve made up my mind," she said, and then walked to the door.

  "And you?" Sandra asked as Valerie passed.

  Without even stopping, Valerie said, "I’m going to take a long shower, get some rest, and then Justice will be kicking some more ass."

  She went to the elevator and rode it to the floor where she’d seen the showers earlier and, not even waiting for the few Weres who were in there showering after the fight, stripped, found a free shower head, and let the hot water pour over her.

  It wasn’t that she didn’t notice their eyes following her, it was just she didn’t have the energy to care.

  She found a bar of soap and began scrubbing the blood that’d splattered on her hands and face, and then cleaned the rest of her body. At her breasts she paused, realizing that, damn, not only had they grown like she’d suspected earlier on the rooftop, they had grown a lot. Luckily she had that vampire strength and healing, because she imagined that a normal woman fighting and running around with breasts like that would suffer from constant back pain.

  Finally, she was clean and turned to see two of the Weres still watching, mouths open with stupid looks of awe.

  "One of you grab me a towel, or I’ll tear out your eyes," she said, walking toward them. "I’m too tired for this shit."

  "Sorry," they both said, and one went to the far wall to grab a towel while the other quickly went to dry himself off and get dressed.

  She took the towel the first one offered her, then glanced over him, his chiseled abs and rock hard pecks, not failing to notice his aroused state. This was entertaining, but the old Enforcer style open showers wouldn’t do, not like this—animal instincts being what they were and all.

  "Can I help in any other way?" the Were offered, and there was no doubt in Valerie’s mind of what else he was hoping he could help with. Part of her was damn tempted too, after the day she’d had.

  With a sigh, she shook her head and walked off to get dressed, but called over her shoulder. "Yeah, get some workers in here to put up a wall. I want the male and female sections separated."

  "Um, they already are," the Were said.

  "What?" She turned around; towel clutched in front of her.

  The Were smiled sheepishly. "There’s a women’s shower on the next floor up."

  "Next time, maybe say something," she said. Then laughed, "I guess I owe you two an apology then."

  "Not at all," the first said.

  "Anytime," the second added with a grin. "Ma’am."

  "Shut up." She wrapped the towel around herself, suddenly feeling quite silly. "If I hear you told anyone about this—"

  "Our lips our sealed," the first Were said, and the other nodded in agreement.

  She dressed and laughed to herself the whole way to her office. Inside, she found the side room with her bed and lay there, imagining that Were’s strong body pressed against hers, on this bed, and then she laughed again. Maybe asking questions about such simple things as where the female showers were was something she should start doing.

  The bed was comfortable enough, but with everything going on, she found herself not able to sleep.

  Turning didn’t help, and neither did counting sheep. Not that it ever had. Figuring she might as well not waste her time, she stood and started exploring the office.

  The room was a nice one,

  Something didn’t look right about the space next to the door, and when she stood at the doorway, it was clear the wall was thicker than it needed to be.

  Maybe the smart thing to do here would be look for a secret entrance or opening or something, but she didn’t have time for that, so instead she pulled her foot back and kicked it through the wall.

&nbs
p; She pulled back and took half the wall with her, revealing hinges on the opposite side. If she’d ever found the secret door on that side, it would have led to this, but she already had it open now, so didn’t think twice about it.

  What she did focus on was a small box at the base of the wall. She picked it up and carried it to the desk that overlooked the city and the smoldering remains of buildings that had taken the brunt of the most recent attack.

  Right now she was focused on this package and what could be within.

  Opening it, she found several memos, similar to the one she’d found earlier from Commander Strake.

  The first she read said they had a dirigible captain from Europe who’d come through Asia, and that rumors told of others like Bethany Anne, and of zombies in a town on the outskirts of France.

  Valerie was pretty sure that referred to the Nosferatu her brother had controlled, before his demise.

  Another letter spoke of TQB Enterprises, speculating on technology they had apparently had in their possession, and even spoke about possible exploration into space… followed by another letter that said Commander Strake suspected aliens were involved in the downfall of civilization. Or maybe, alien technology, he speculated.

  Valerie wondered if he knew how close to the truth he actually was. Or, the truth according to Yuko and Akio, at any rate. Since Valerie knew no other sources of truth, she’d have to assume theirs was accurate.

  What she really wanted to read about, though, was Bethany Anne. More and more this lady, or the Queen Bitch, was looking like someone Valerie would have loved to spend some time with.

  So the letter speculating on Bethany Anne and her powers was especially interesting, and it even mentioned Michael—not by name, but as the father of vampires, one who could become myst at will, even hear thoughts and control others with his mind.

  Valerie read on, totally caught up in this, wondering if she too could somehow be trained to do these great feats.

  But soon she found her eyelids growing heavy, and the words all began to blur.

  A pounding on the door woke Valerie. She was still in the chair, the letters spread before her, and her head pressed against them. Her exhaustion must have won out, and she’d fallen asleep on the letters.

  "Coming, coming!" she shouted. She groggily went to the door and when she opened it, was surprised to see Diego standing there.

  A glance back to the window showed the sun hadn’t come up yet.

  "What the hell?" she asked, then did a double take at the humongous man standing behind Diego. "And… you traded Cammie for this?"

  The man frowned, and Diego introduced him as Felix.

  "He’s defected," Diego said. "And Cammie…"

  "Better not have defected." Valerie felt the impatience growing. "Spit it out, Diego."

  "They’re hunting her," Felix interjected. "She left the Golden City a while back, the sentence for that being death."

  "Then why not simply kill her and be done with it?" Valerie asked.

  Felix shrugged. "Adrien likes to play with his food."

  The thought of Cammie as someone’s food made Valerie want to tear this whole building down in her anger. Instead, she focused that anger into a ball in her stomach that she’d unleash when the time came.

  For now, she simply said, "Point me in the right direction. I’ll take care of the rest."

  Sleep be damned. She had the blood vials, and those would get her through for just a bit longer. Long enough, anyway…

  …she hoped.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Enforcer HQ

  Sandra woke to the sound of her door clicking shut. She was in a room in Enforcer HQ that had been converted for her to feel cozy and safe.

  Yet, someone had just managed to pick the lock and enter.

  She lay there, considering her options. The sniper rifle was at the foot of her bed, and she could certainly leap for it and maybe have it in time—but that didn’t do super well in close combat like this. Plus, she didn’t know who it was or if she really wanted their brains splattered all over her new room.

  She could barely make out the shape of the person by the door. Just standing there, not moving, not saying a word.

  Maybe the sniper rifle was the way to go, she thought, and prepared to move for it when she heard a male voice in a whisper—

  "Sandra, are you awake?" he asked.

  "Diego?"

  She leapt out of bed and into his arms, and he was kissing her, running his hands through her hair and saying how excited he was to see her—but something was off.

  With a hand on each side of his face, she pulled him to stare into his eyes. "What is it?" Her mind began racing with possibilities, and as much as she hated the words as they came out of her mouth, she asked, "Did something happen with Cammie?"

  He turned away from her, lowering her hands with his own, and said, "Yes."

  She wanted to get angry, but really she was just let down. In this world, could she really have expected more from him?

  "Just… go." She pulled her hands away. "Get out."

  He turned to her in confusion, and then actually laughed—a sad laugh, but a laugh. "No, God no, I didn’t mean like that! Not like, between me and Cammie, no…" He took her hands again, and in her confusion, she let him. His expression returned to serious. "But Cammie has been taken, and they’re hunting her down for sport."

  "Oh my God," Sandra said, squeezing his hands tight.

  "Valerie’s gone after her."

  "Where?" she turned and slammed on the button for the light. "Where has Valerie gone?"

  "One of the Weres that helped me escape, he gave her directions… Somewhere in the Fallen Lands."

  She just stared at him, dumbfounded. Finally, she walked to the window, hands against it as she controlled her breathing, and then said, "Let me get this straight. You let her go off, by herself, into the Fallen Lands, based on the directions from some Were that helped you escape from the Golden City. Is that about right?"

  "Yes, I don’t see—"

  She spun on him. "Did it ever occur to you that this could be a trap?"

  He stood there, mouth open.

  "DID IT?"!

  "Shit…" He snapped out of it. "I mean, no, how was I supposed to stop her? The guy really did help me escape, and now—"

  "Where is he?" She had been wearing just her panties and a t-shirt, but now began to dress.

  "Sandra, can we just be happy to see each other, not all like this?"

  "I’ll be happier to see you when I find out whether or not you just sent Val to her fucking grave!"

  Sandra threw open the door and paused there, both of them thinking the same thing, she was sure—could Valerie take on a city of Weres? She didn’t want to have to find out.

  "I’m going to have a little talk with this new friend of yours," she said, then motioned for him to follow. "Since you know what he looks like, it might be a good idea for you to come to."

  The Fallen Lands

  Cammie had practically blocked the entryways to her little hideout with the dead at this point, but it wasn’t a true win—the smell of blood was overwhelming. She slipped in it, and it stuck to her wolf fur.

  Her heart was thudding overtime, echoing in her skull. The ground seemed to be moving to the left and then the right, and more than anything she wanted out of there.

  That’s when she heard his voice, deep and melodic as he spoke in a sing-song voice—Jordan.

  "I doubt you’re enjoying yourself in there much, Cammie," he said, his voice muffled by the walls of this old truck. "Come on out, let’s talk."

  She hesitated, considering her next move. But the stench was too much; it didn’t let her think straight.

  "It’s just me out here," he said. "At least, for now, none of the others have arrived."

  She focused on the sound of his voice and went to that entrance. Instead of trying to pull the bodies aside with her teeth, she transformed back to her woman form and quickly lugged t
hem aside. She was certainly glad at times like this for her Were strength.

  When the entrance was cleared, she transformed back long enough to make it outside. A sniff confirmed that Jordan was indeed nearby and, seemingly, alone, so she transformed back to her woman form.

  "Show yourself," she said.

  "Gladly," he said, stepping out from the darkness. He wore a robe that hung loosely around him and a smile. "It’s good to see you again, Cammie. Given the circumstances, I’d even say real good."

  His eyes roamed across her body, and she almost felt it, like unwelcome hands caressing her skin. At least it was a warm night, so she had less reason to complain.

  "What the fuck?!" she shouted, letting it all out.

  He tilted his head, then laughed. "You betrayed our kind, Cam. Did you really think there’d be no consequences?"

  "So you’re with them then?" She gestured back to the dead wolves and the mound she’d hidden. "You’ll die like all the rest! If not at my hand, at Valerie’s."

  "Oh you and that stupid vampire," he said in disgust. "I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s lost the city at this point."

  Cammie stared at him, wondering how she could’ve even had feelings for this ass. The twinkle in his eye let on that he knew something he wasn’t saying, but she wasn’t going to give him the pleasure of asking.

  The wind shifted, and she smelled more Weres, close. He must’ve smelled them too, because his smile faltered.

  "I’m not here to fight you, though," he said, then held a hand out toward her, inviting. "In fact, I’ve missed you. Come with me, leave all of this behind."

  "You can’t be serious." She scoffed. "Just where in this hell-hole of a continent would we go?"

  "We’d go off on our own; it doesn’t matter where," he said. "We’d start our own family, create a tribe. Maybe, one day, a city."