by Leji Albano
The final words were spoken as he firmly shoved both of them on their way. The vampire was clearly angry as he glared back at Alexander, but the shifter seemed uncertain. Arms crossed over his chest, Alexander continued to watch them as they slunk away.
He pasted a pleasant smile on his face as he spun and approached Tina.
“I’m sorry about that.”
“Don’t be. Apparently, asshattery crosses national boundaries,” she replied. Suddenly a brilliant smile lit her face. “You called me your date.”
“Did I? Hmmm, I wonder how that happened.” Then he leaned down and gently kissed her lips.
“Is Caterina interrupting anything important? If so, Caterina apologizes.” The dark-haired beauty stepped into proximity and beamed at both of them as she pinched Alexander’s behind. She was wearing a blood-red gown that hugged her slim figure in all the right places.
Tina laughed out loud. “I’m so glad you’re here, you look wonderful.”
The designer waved her hand, nonchalantly. “Perhaps.”
“Caterina wonders, will the princess allow her prince to have the first dance with Caterina?”
Tina beamed at Alexander and instructed him to fulfill the request. She watched as the raven-haired goddess and the man-candy she worked for gracefully swirled across the dance floor. It was readily apparent that both were accomplished dancers, and she couldn’t help a small spike of jealousy.
After the dance ended, and Alexander had escorted Caterina back to where Tina stood, he took her hand and led her straight to the center, where they waited for the orchestra to begin the next waltz.
Tina bit her lip as he gazed down at her. The palms of her hands were damp, and she felt light-headed.
He whispered for her ears alone, “Relax, kiddo. You’ve got this.”
The music started, and he smoothly led her around the dance floor. Once the butterflies in her stomach had settled down, she found that she was actually enjoying herself. She lost track of how many dances they shared, but Tina realized she was slightly out of breath and needed to take a break.
Standing by the wall once again, Alexander entertained her by pointing out various people and telling scandalous secrets about each that any tabloid would give their right arm for. She laughed at his outrageous stories until he glanced at his watch and asked, “Do you want to stay? Or should we go have that chat?”
“I’m ready to leave when you are, but I need to use the restroom first.”
He nodded. “I’ll meet you outside then. It’s sweltering and my shirt is sticking to my back.”
Tina luxuriated in the cool evening breeze that fluttered around her as she waited for Alexander. She had seen him trying to extricate himself from a particularly insistent couple, and rather than interrupt, she had made her way outside to the steps leading up to the museum entrance. He’d be along sooner or later, and in the meantime, she would soak up some of the ambiance that made up Naples.
“Well, well. What have we here?” a familiar voice cooed unctuously from her left side.
Tina’s head snapped in that direction, and she saw one of the boys who had rather amateurishly tried to pick her up earlier in the evening. If anything, he seemed even more intoxicated than he had been.
“You should know that my date will be out any moment now,” she warned him.
His leer widened at her words. “Oh, I think not. I made sure that he will be detained for the foreseeable future.”
Tina attempted to step past him and make her way back into the museum foyer, but his hand latched onto her bicep painfully, forcing her to an abrupt stop. “And where do you think you are going?” he asked menacingly.
“Back inside. I’ve decided that the air smells better there than it does out here.”
He pulled her close, rank breath washing over her face. “No, I’ll not allow it. You and I have a rendezvous to conclude.”
She struggled briefly, then felt a sharp impact, followed by a white light flashing behind her eyes, before everything faded to black.
The valet apparently thought nothing of two men, one on either side of an apparently drunk woman, walking across the street and disappearing into the shadows.
Alexander finally managed to disengage from one of his regular customers, and had barely made it outside when the ferric smell of blood hit his nostrils. A lot of blood. His head swiveled to follow the scent trail, and he realized he was looking at an alleyway perhaps one hundred yards away and slightly to his left.
He had a bad feeling about this, especially as he looked around for Tina and couldn’t find her. His feet led him closer, and he burst into a sprint when he realized that he could smell her distinctive scent coming from that blood-soaked alley. The sight that greeted his eyes when he made the turn was one that would haunt him forever. A form crouched over Tina’s body, her torn neck sluggishly pumping blood, as the vampire hissed through gore-covered lips with displeasure at being interrupted. Just behind them was a wolf, snarling loudly as it bared its fangs at him.
Alexander did not hesitate as he charged forward, grabbing the vampire and throwing him directly at the werewolf. Bones broke when the bloodsucker impacted the wolf, and a loud yelp and slurred cursing broke the relative silence of the alleyway.
He knelt next to Tina and raised her just enough that he could brace her shoulders against his thigh. Blood soaked the entire front of her dress and continued to surge out of the large hole that had been ripped into her neck. She reached for his face with one hand as she struggled to speak, bloody foam trailing out one corner of her mouth as a horrible gurgling sounded from where her trachea had been torn open by the bite of the vampire.
Alexander quickly took off his jacket and tried to use it to apply pressure to her wound, but he was losing the battle to keep her alive. “Just hang in there, kiddo, I’ll get you some help.”
The look of anguish on his face was almost more than Tina could bear. She tried to tell him it was ‘OK’ but couldn’t get the words out. Her body arched and shuddered as she tried to cough, and her vision was starting to fade when he told her he was sorry, tears streaming down his cheeks.
He knew he was losing her, and at that moment, Alexander decided to do something he had sworn he would never allow. Tearing open his shirt, he grasped the amulet that hung from the chain around his neck and began a partial shift to his hybrid form. He placed the amulet just below her collar bone and bit down on her upper arm, willing with full intent that she be infected as he was. The amulet flared with an internal green light, and the interlocking parts moved of their own accord, forming a new pattern. Four small pinpricks were revealed as Alexander lifted the device away from her body, allowing it to swing freely on the chain.
Even as he watched, the artery and the tissues surrounding the wound began to knit back together. Alexander hoped he had not been too late, but it was out of his hands now. Using the cell phone he had taken from his jacket pocket, he placed a call.
“Cat, I need you. Now.”
“Of course. Where are you?” she asked, hearing the desperation in his voice.
“Are you still at the gala?”
“Yes.”
“Go out the front door and follow the scent of blood.” He ended the call and looked down at the helpless figure in his arms, her eyes closed and chest rising and falling in shallow, rapid breaths.
After what seemed like days, but in reality, couldn’t have been longer than two or three minutes, he could hear Cat approaching. She had her hand over her mouth in horror as she walked over to Alexander.
“Oh God, Alexander, I’m so sorry. What can I do to help?”
He rolled his ruined jacket up and gently eased Tina’s head down onto it, then handed Caterina a house key. “I need you to take care of her for me, Cat. Can you take her back to my rental and stay with her until I finish what I need to do?”
She nodded her head. “There’s no need to worry. She’ll be safe with me.”
“I know, and I appreciate
that. You are the only person in this town I trust right now.” He gazed up at her with pain-filled eyes. “When she wakes up, try to explain it to her, please. If she hates me for what I’ve done to her, I’ll understand.”
A sob escaped her as she asked, “What will you do now, Alexander?”
When he looked at her, all she saw was death. “I’m going to kill them all.”
Without a backward glance, he strode down the alley, following the trail of the two animals who had taken something very precious from him.
Caterina’s gaze followed his shadowy figure until it disappeared, then she whispered, “What have you fools done?”
15
“…Once I had made up my mind that I was going to settle down and live permanently in the Lilac City, I decided that something needed to be done about the Vampires, Weres, and other races that had been treating the ordinary human citizens as their open-air larder. It took three years of constant and bloody vigilante action on a nightly basis to chase the vermin out. From that point forward, I was known as the Master of the city, and my rules were law….”
An excerpt from the diary of Alexander Matthews
December 1954, Somewhere along the waterfront, Palermo, Sicily
The barrel of the revolver was pressed firmly into his temple, the barrel cold against his skin. Alexander stood very still as two more men approached from the front, obviously confident that they had this situation under control. The world is full of retards, he thought, fighting hard not to roll his eyes at the stupidity of it all.
The goon with the revolver stood to the left of him and was trying very hard to look menacing…. He failed. He was little more than a teenager, and if Alexander had to guess, related to the older man who seemed to be in charge. All I wanted to do was take a pleasant stroll late at night, he thought ruefully.
The leader barked, “Give me your wallet, and any other valuables you have,” in the local dialect. Alexander briefly considered pretending he didn’t understand, but decided that he was getting pissed about being on the receiving end of a poorly executed shakedown.
“Fuck off,” he said, sounding bored.
The boy jabbed the barrel of the gun harder into his temple. The American slowly turned his head to look at him. Cold eyes bored into the goon. “You should reconsider your chosen line of work,” he said quietly. “This one is likely to end up with you being dead.”
A hard punch rocked his head, and the third goon was shaking his hand as he backed away from Alexander. The predatory smile that greeted this assault was not what any of the Sicilians expected. “You die first” ground out between gritted teeth.
The two men standing in front of him shared a startled glance, then the leader found his courage. “Shoot him.”
Before the words had even left his mouth, the American made his move. Claws sprouted from his fingertips and he reached up to where the gun rested against his head; he crushed the hand that held the weapon. The sounds of bone splintering and the accompanying shriek of agony echoed along the waterfront.
Alexander released the hand and leapt to where the goon who had punched him stood. His left hand went behind the man’s head and grasped him firmly, and the strike from his other fist crunched through the nasal cavity and the pars orbitalis. His fist destroyed the entire front portion of his skull and buried itself up to the wrist in the brain behind these structures. A loud squelching slurp was heard as he withdrew the fist and turned his furious eyes on the leader.
A knife appeared in his shaking hand—it looked like a cheap switchblade to Alexander—and he weaved it in front of himself as a sort of defense while backing away. The laugh that greeted his actions was derogatory, and when the American opened the hand that had just killed one of the trio, brains and bone oozed off and dropped to the ground, steaming in the frigid air. The man’s eyes darted to the long claws that shone wetly in the moonlight, and he tossed the knife at Alexander and tried to run. Two long steps brought the American within striking distance, and the claws of his hand tore into the man’s back, spanning the spinal column, and with a jerk, ripped out several inches of the spine. The body dropped face-first onto the cobblestones and continued to twitch for a few moments.
Alexander heard the hammer of the revolver being pulled back, and he spun to face the teenager. A single shot rang out and the bullet slammed into his left pectoral muscle. Judging by the lack of penetration, he surmised it was a smaller caliber, like a .38 maybe. He grunted and began to advance on the boy who lay on the ground, revolver held in his off-hand, terrified eyes looking at what was surely his death.
The claws on his right hand searched for the bullet that was buried in his chest. Alexander pulled the round out and looked at it curiously before dropping it, the dull clank as it hit the cobblestones the only sound other than the labored breathing coming from the goon who had shot him.
He stopped and considered the teenager for a second. “How old are you, boy?” he asked.
“Eigh…eighteen.”
Alexander grunted noncommittally. “Does your mother know where you are and what you are doing?”
“No, Signore, she would not approve.”
“Good. If you want to live, you will need to follow my instructions to the letter…and don’t think I won’t know. I will, and things will go very badly for you. Understand?” he said menacingly.
The boy's head jerked in a nod as he cradled his mangled hand.
“You will go home and tell your mother everything. Recount every bad deed you have performed and leave nothing out.” He paused meaningfully. “And you will find an honest way to make a living. This one is hazardous to your health.”
Even as he loped down alleys and backstreets, his heartbeat thundering in his ears, staying on the trail of his prey, Alexander felt nothing but rage. Tina’s lifeblood was drying on his hands, turning tacky as the minutes went by. He kept flexing his fingers impotently, knowing that her fate was now out of his hands. What was still in his control, however, was the reckoning that the murderers had earned, and he had every intention of seeing that bill paid in full.
Impotent feelings of loss and sadness threatened to drown out the anger, and he could not afford to give in to them. Instead, he stoked the fires, relishing the rage and hatred that flooded his body with a heady chemical cocktail. His wolf howled deep within the confines of his mind, demanding vengeance, and Alexander fully intended to give his internal companion precisely what he wanted. He cared little about his personal safety. In fact, it didn’t even enter into the equation. If he went down under a sea of enemies, it would all be worth it just as long as he could kill those who had wronged the woman he loved.
This situation shouldn’t even be possible. There were rules, laws even, that had been put in place to prevent just such a scenario. And these laws had stringent and inflexible consequences attached that were to be meted out to any who would ignore them. Justice would be served, and if he took great enjoyment in being the instrument who delivered the punishment, then all the better. Alexander had spent the better part of his life preventing this very thing from happening in Spokane, and he would be damned if it would be allowed here.
Slowing to a halt, Alexander had a decision to make. The trail he had been following split: the wolf going left, and the vampire to the right. Which to pursue first? There was little doubt that both would die this night, but which should he take down now? He shook his head having decided that the vampire would die last, knowing that his doom was soon to call.
Alexander was standing in the darkness just across the street from the building where he had tracked the wolf. It was a sizeable multi-level villa, occupying the entire city block, but somewhat isolated. A double gate that was currently open controlled access to the semi-circular drive. There were other buildings nearby, but nothing that directly abutted the property. His entire body trembled with barely contained rage, hands clenching and unclenching with nervous energy. Eyeing the lone sentry guarding the entryway, he decided to m
ake his move.
Streaking across the intervening distance took a fraction of a second, and the guard did not even feel it as his neck was snapped like a twig. Tossing the body aside, Alexander opened one of the massive doors that led into the grand foyer of the residence. His nose tested the air and determined that most of the Pack that was present were located at the back of the building and upstairs. He ignored the semi-spiral staircases that rose on either side of the foyer, and made his way to the doors that closed off the back of the house. He paused there, listening carefully for any sounds on the other side.
He nodded as he detected the presence of two more guards. Nearly ripping the doors off their moorings, he rushed the sentry on the left and tore his throat out with his bare hand, and before the body could hit the floor, he had struck the second man hard enough that he was unconscious when Alexander caught him mid-collapse. He laid the man on the floor, not taking a great deal of care with how gently he did so, then began stripping out of his blood-soaked clothes.
Once he was completely naked, he grasped the unconscious man with both hands and launched him head-first at the doors he had been guarding. The body exploded through the heavy-oak panels as if they were tissue paper, sending splinters flying in a destructive fan toward the long table currently hosting a large dinner party. The broken body of the guard tumbled down the single flight of stairs and came to an untidy stop about fifteen feet from the last step.
The shocked diners looked up to see a three-hundred-pound black wolf stalk down the stairway, a snarl on its face and a deep rumbling growl emanating from its chest. It paused at the body, pushing it with its nose as if waiting for a reaction, then hoisted its hind leg, urinating on the corpse, clearly showing its disdain. The wolf was the largest any of them had ever seen, easily out-massing any competitor by perhaps thirty percent.
It continued to advance on the table, head lowered and tucked into its chest, nails clicking on the marble tiles, until it was just a few feet from the end closest the doors, then leapt into the air. In the span of less than two seconds, it had transformed into a seven-hundred-pound hybrid form that almost caused the table to collapse as the hind feet slammed down.
