The bear cocked its head as if to say, “or what?”
“Or we kill you all, here and now.”
With a final surge of brute strength, the creature stood on its hind legs and roared into the night sky. Caitlin held her ground, goosebumps rising on her flesh.
The bear slammed down on all fours and leaped for her. With its size and mass, she wondered what strength the beast possessed to gain so much height and distance.
“So be it,” she murmured.
With a final evasive roll, Caitlin ducked out the way. As he made contact with the ground, she gritted her teeth, screamed, and drove the blade straight into the flesh at the side of the bear’s body.
He bellowed his rage and bucked furiously.
Mary-Anne toppled off, driving her blade into the other side of the bear.
For a moment, the Were panicked. As the pain set in, he thrashed and sprinted away. The swords were still stuck in his side as he crashed into buildings and smashed cars. At one point, the baby bear had to move out of the way, limping as he did so, to avoid a collision with the larger beast.
Until, finally, with one last roar of pain, the bear fell still.
A tense silence fell over the battlefield. The Weres looked at their leader in disbelief.
Caitlin walked towards the bear and climbed his body. She stood on his back and spoke to the Weres. “This fight was one that we did not want to have. We offered negotiations. We offered talk. I extend one final offer to you all. Transform back into your human states. Talk to us. Help us find a path to peace in this city, and I promise you, we can all flourish and make the Broken City something the world hasn’t seen in years.”
A pause, long and tense, followed her words.
Baby bear advanced slowly, transforming back into his human form. Caitlin waited for the others to follow suit, but they did not follow suit.
“You offer peace after slaughtering our leader,” the man growled.
“In self-defense,” she clarified.
The man spat on the ground, his eyes blazing. Blood poured down his leg as he limped closer. “There is no peace to be had between humans and Weres.”
With that, he spat on the ground, transformed, and sprinted back down the street. The panther and wolf joined him, and they disappeared around the corner. The heavy padding of feet seemed to echo through the city.
“Well…there goes that plan,” Mary-Anne said, wiping the blood off her face with her sleeve. “We may have taken down the Alpha, but we’ve angered the hive.”
Caitlin’s heart sank. Mary-Anne was right. In one way, progress had been made. But what would happen next once the bear made its way back to the lair? If they wanted to heal this city and make it hospitable for everyone, there was a lot of work to be done. And much of that would involve getting the humans on their side before a full-scale war broke out.
They had but one hope. And that hope took the form of the Were now emerging from behind the wreckage of a car, a sheepish grin on his face as he waved and called down the street. “So…what did I miss?”
Felicia watched them from high up in the tower. Her hunch had proven right. The newcomers were already making something of a nuisance of themselves.
She waited a moment before peeking back around the old metallic filing cabinet of the office building and watched them walk back down the street.
“Quite the battle,” she muttered, her lips still slick from the blood that stained her lips. “Impressive to see another vamp fight after all these years. And to take down the Alpha, too…now that is admirable.”
From behind her came the squeaking voice of a woman who looked similar enough to be her twin, the collar of her top speckled in blood. “She doesn’t hold a candle to you, ma’am.”
Felicia smiled, licking her tongue across her fangs. “Shucks, Miriam. You know all the right things to say.”
“What are you going to do with them, ma’am?” Miriam cowered in the corner.
Felicia thought for a long while before replying. “We toy with them. Play them. Use them to show us the way to the lair of the Were scum.” She thought back to the moment when the Were and the human girl hid in the alcove and talked. They clearly had no intention of killing each other. “One of the Weres is with them, I’m sure. If we play this right, we could flush out the filth in no time. It’s already made easier now that Geralt is destroyed.”
“And then?” Miriam asked.
Felicia grinned. “Well, there’s only room enough in this city for one vampire. Don’t you think?”
FINIS
More from Dan Willcocks
THEY FIGHT. THEY LIVE. THEY ROT.
Eight years ago, an infection hit London, before spreading outwards. 90% of the population was either contained by the military, trampled during the riots, or infected by the disease.
A disease that came to be known as The Rot.
Colin Bolton survived the incident but not without losing everything he held dear to him – his life, his love, and his humanity.
Now, he’s living at a farmhouse, acting as a bodyguard for a new surrogate family. Life is stable. He’s making do. He’s surviving. That is… until a vagrant scavenger comes knocking at the door, desperate for food and water.
An encounter that will spin Colin’s life into chaos once more, bringing him face to face with a murderous family, the dead and the dying, and the failures of his past.
THEY ROT is the first book in a brutal new series of post-apocalyptia set in Great Britain. It’s brought to you by Willcocks and Kondor, two of the groundbreaking authors behind the iTunes chart-busting podcast, The Other Stories, and the story studio, Hawk & Cleaver - A digital story studio bringing you the best new stories to watch, read, sniff, and absorb.
Available at Amazon
Author’s Notes - Dan Willcocks
September 3, 2018
Wow, things are really starting to heat up…
To jump in ahead of Mr Anderle, thanks again for not only reading this book, but staying for the author notes (sorry Michael)! Keep tuned and I may just stick in a Marvel-style additional line or two at the end to whet your appetite for book 4…
This series has been such a blast to write so far. Usually I’m in at the deep end of the swimming pool, up to my neck in monsters, blood, and guts. Now I’m… well… pretty much the same, but who knew writing a kickass heroine could be so much fun?! Caitlin, Mary-Anne, Kain and Co are incredibly fun to play with, and there’s so much more story to tell.
Werewolves, vampires, zombies. What Michael has created is an elegant tie to bring all these creatures together. If you’re a long-standing fan of the Kurtherian Universe, you’ll definitely know what I mean, and hopefully this series is delivering a nice feeling of satisfaction in your stomach as we work to bridge the Second Dark Ages and the Age of Magic together. If this is your first investment in the epic, then what are you waiting for?! Check out Michael’s other works with some of the industry’s finest talented authors to keep your imagination fed for a good few years to come.
Seriously, even Nana’s Christmas pudding won’t fill you up like this.
To say that I had been excited to get this series started would be an understatement. And now, just a few months later, I can’t believe I’m writing the author notes to book 3. It’s a tepid evening in England, the nights are getting darker, and I’m sat in a darkened room with only the light of the screen to keep me company. It’s bliss. My son is snoring next door, and there’s a coffee by my side (milk, one sugar—if anyone wanted to know). Not only that, but I’m looking at the amazing reviews you guys have given, and it all makes it worth it. I can’t count the total hours poured into these books, but to know it’s being picked up and enjoyed by so many people is pretty incredible.
So, what’s to come from the rest of the series? Well… the majority of that is well under wraps by now but suffice to say that we’re definitely going to see more of Caitlin as she grows and liberates the world. With Hayley paving the w
ay in the Age of Madness, there’s so much that can be done in this new wave of monsters on Earth, so I’ll just say this for now… Fans of older series will get some kicks over what’s to come.
Oh, and for fans of Mabel—Jamie’s geriatric grandmother—don’t worry. I’ve already made a start on book 4, and rest assured that I’ve heard your reviews of book 2, and Miss Mabel will definitely be making a comeback.
If you’re hungry for more work from myself, then be sure to head on over to www.danielwillcocks.com and check out my other stories written with my Hawk & Cleaver brothers. We’ve got horror, sci-fi, thrillers and more.
And if you’re a fan of audio fiction, make sure to check out our hugely successful short fiction podcast, ‘The Other Stories’, which has recently celebrated over 2 million downloads since April 2016 (20 minute horror in your ears every Monday).
And, finally, once again a huge thank you to everyone involved in the making of this book. The guys at LMBPN could not be more helpful, inspirational, encouraging, accommodating, and forgiving.
No authors were harmed in the making of this book.
Some Mad died though.
Poor Mad…
Until next time,
Daniel Willcocks
Author Notes - Michael Anderle
September 3, 2018
THANK YOU for not only reading this story, but these Author Notes as well!
I’m typing this author note having just sat down on my desk at home about an hour ago from a ‘world wind’ tour. For once, I’m not taking literary license with that phrase.
August 15th, I left Vegas to go to San Jose, California for my first Worldcon. Five days later, hit the airport and went to Beijing, China for the Beijing Book Fair (walked a little bit of the Great wall of China while there… WAY too many steps for this keg-pack writer) and then Shanghai and Shen-Zhen.
Global Ignorance
Now, when I went to China, I feared I wouldn’t be able to find food to eat. The ironic part is I think I gained weight because of the good food, and easy availability of Coke (the drink, not the drug.) Pepsi can apparently suck it in China.
(Except in the Pizza Hut… You bastards.)
Our third city to visit (as a stepping off point to visit JED Toy Manufacturing a train trip away) was Shen-Zhen. We didn’t look at a map, or read up on the city at all, so imagine my surprise to visit one of the most interesting HUGE cities in the world with skyscraper architecture that boggles the mind.
I had thought Beijing had amazing buildings – it just kept getting better.
I grew up near Houston and have visited Los Angeles and New York a lot of times. I’ve visited Rio, London, Paris, Roma, Venice, Barcelona, Madrid, Dallas, Chicago and other cities that I’ve forgotten to mention.
None of them prepared me for my sheer ignorance of Chinese cities. I watched (and saw) the buildings that seemed vacant so I know there are issues with the building in China but my hat's off to them for Shen-Zhen.
That light show running across HUGE buildings was jaw-dropping.
(If you are ever in Shanghai, check out Lost Heaven or Lost Heavan Bar for Chinese food – BOTH are delicious. Lost Heaven is in the old French Quarter area and has a small-neighborhood feel. Lost Heaven Bar is in the city near one of the rivers and feels like a very cosmopolitan crowd.
Mardi Gras For Geeks
I have just had a damn near religious experience at Dragoncon 2018 in Atlanta Georgia. Pull together 80,000 to 100,000 people within about eight city blocks, all focused on having fun and celebrating comics, games, books, movies and tv. I never expected to find myself in the MOST inclusive group I’ve ever witnessed. It didn’t matter if you were a corporate-looking person (which I had to be seen as with my LMBPN UA collared shirt and jeans) or one of the many, many unique cosplayers I witnessed, everyone was polite, kind, inclusive, and giving.
I went there for the Dragon Awards (Craig Martelle and I lost to David Weber, Timothy Zhan and Thomas Pope – which is as fine a group to lose to if one is going to go away in second place.) However, I came out of it wanting to go back.
If you get a chance, check it out.
Ad Aeternitatem,
Michael Anderle
Other Books by Daniel Willcocks
They Rot (Book 1 of ‘The Rot’ series)
They Remain (Book 2 of ‘The Rot’ series)
Lazarus: Enter the Deadspace
Twisted: A collection of dark shorts
Sins of Smoke
The Caitlin Chronicles
Dawn of Chaos (1)
Into The Fire (2)
Broken City (3)
Dan’s Facebook Group
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Books by Michael Anderle
For a complete list of books by Michael Anderle, please visit
www.lmbpn.com/ma-books/
All LMBPN Audiobooks are Available at Audible.com and iTunes. To see the complete listing at Audible please visit
www.lmbpn.com/audible
Connect with the authors
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Social media: @willcocksauthor
www.danielwillcocks.com
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Hunting The Broken: Age Of Madness - A Kurtherian Gambit Series (The Caitlin Chronicles Book 3) Page 23
