“It is.” Kimberly looked to the east where the sky had not changed from its dark, blackish grey to hazy orange, but soon would. “Another hour or so will see the sun in the sky.”
A deep rumbling growl reached Jack. Aareth stood stock still, the hair on his back rigid. He squinted into the forest’s depth.
“That’s the second thing I wanted to tell you.” Kimberly nodded toward the forest. “I think we’ve found your father. I saw motion, a lot of motion, from my vantage point.”
Jack craned his neck forward, willing his eyes to see what he knew was there. There it was, so quick, he wasn’t sure if he had seen anything at all. Something large moving across the tree line. Whatever it was, it wasn’t his father.
Chapter Twelve
Jack
Aareth was moving forward slowly. The muscles under his ebony coat twitched with anticipation.
“Remember, we don’t want to hurt him.” Jack moved forward on his cramping legs. “Let me try to talk to him first. I think I can get him to—”
The air around the group was filled with a solitary howl. The noise was so deep, so mournful, it saddened Jack to such an extent, he was surprised by himself. He had heard numerous animals while acting as a tracker in the Outland, wolves included, and this was no ordinary creature. The cry it made was so human, it almost sounded like someone mourning in great torment.
Jack and Kimberly continued to move forward. Aareth did the same, getting lower and lower to the ground as they approached the tree line.
Chills raced up and down Jack’s spine. He reached for his wand, already summoning the magical ability within himself. The tip of his wand glowed a dull green as the instrument held and channeled the power.
Soon, the single howl was joined by another, and another, and another. There were too many now to tell exactly how many werewolves lifted their throats to the sky. One thing was for certain: they weren’t just tracking Jack’s father; they had been tracking an entire pack.
“How could this be?” Kimberly didn’t take her eyes off the tree in front of them. “You didn’t mention seeing more than a single pair of tracks.”
“I didn’t, there weren’t.” Jack swallowed hard as realization hit. “They met here somehow, all coming from different directions. He must have called them, or they knew to meet him here.”
Aareth’s growling was low and deep compared to the army of howls that still lifted into the air. The trinity of trackers were now only a few hundred yards from the forest’s edge. More and more shapes were becoming visible through the dense foliage of the trees, shapes close enough to make out their colors: brown and grey werewolves loped here and there, all still lifting mournful cries into the sky.
“Perhaps we should rethink our strategy,” Kimberly cautioned. “If things go bad, I can lift you into the air and escape, but there’s no way I’m going to be able to lift the beast man in his current form. Too much can go wrong here.”
“I know. And you can turn back, I don’t blame you.” Jack bottled his fear, urging himself to take Kimberly’s advice, but for his father’s sake, he couldn’t. “I have to try.”
It seemed Aareth had already made up his mind. His eyes still not leaving the tree line, he continued forward.
Kimberly didn’t say a word, but she continued to keep pace with Jack. The wizard, the werewolf, and the gargoyle reached the tree line now. Jack tapped the button on his wand that extended it into a staff. Green light blazed across the instrument’s surface.
Jack went first, raising the weapon high into the air to cast as much illumination as possible into the forest’s interior.
At once, the howls of the werewolves in the forest stopped, as if someone or something had given the order to cease their manic bellows.
The entire time the wolves had blared their howls into the air, Jack wanted nothing more for them but to end. Now that they had stopped and only silence filled the air, Jack was rethinking his wishes.
“Caution,” Kimberly warned as they entered the forest. She leaned down to pick up a thick, fallen tree limb from the ground. “It’s only a matter of time before they strike.”
Jack’s heart was beating out of his chest. The flow of adrenaline made his hands quake with anticipation. His senses were on overdrive. It was difficult to see much through the thick trees, but Jack could hear the heavy panting of those watching him.
“I’ve come for my father,” Jack said to the nothing out in front of him. “I know you’re here. I know you’re fighting this new part of you you’re just beginning to understand. Fight, Dad, I’m here with you. Come back to me—fight!”
Through the dark trees and silver light coming down from the sky, two yellow orbs peered out at Jack.
Jack felt a rush of joy that gave strength to his weakened state, but the joy was short-lived. The beast that stalked forward was not the white wolf, but rather a slightly smaller brown wolf.
A fresh cut reddened its muzzle. It opened its massive maw and barked. Saliva flew from its mouth as it eyed Jack, coming ever closer.
Before Jack could decide what to do, Aareth moved in front of him. He was larger than the brown werewolf, and the way he bristled his hair and arched his back made him look even bigger.
Aareth’s show of force may have been enough to make the initial werewolf rethink her actions, but she wasn’t alone. Barks and yips filled the air once more as the entire pack materialized on all sides from the forest. Various shades of brown and grey wolves hedged them in.
“I should have stayed in Azra,” Kimberly said out loud. She placed her back to Jack’s to shield him from any attack to his rear. “What was I thinking?”
For the first moment since the party left Azra, Jack allowed himself to consider that he had been wrong, that Elizabeth had been lying to him the entire time, and that his father was still dead. He had been holding on to the wish of a stupid little boy, a childlike faith that told him there was still hope. Well, there was no hope now, and Jack had not only led himself into this mess, but he had also brought along Aareth and Kimberly.
“I’m sorry,” Jack whispered. Even as the words left his lips, anger replaced his sadness. “I’m sorry I dragged you two into this.”
Aareth didn’t turn around.
“If the monster that we call Aareth still had his tongue, he would tell you to shut up.” Kimberly pressed her back harder against Jack’s. “He’d tell you to shut up and fight.”
As if on cue, the werewolves circling them attacked. Jack witnessed Aareth and the brown wolf in front of him collide in a thrashing mess of claws and teeth. He couldn’t see Kimberly, but he heard a roar behind him and a echoing whack from her club.
Jack didn’t have time to process any more as a grey wolf leapt at him from his right. The creature was horrifying in the daylight, and given the dark atmosphere, it was something out of a nightmare. Jack struck out with the magical power shimmering around his staff. The steel pole caught the werewolf in the chest. The combined effort of the actual blow as well as the magic slammed into the beast and knocked it backwards.
CRACK! CRACK!
Jack kept his staff charged with magic as he swirled it around and threw himself into the fight. Every time his weapon came in contact with a werewolf, it sent a blast of magical energy through their bodies, sending them flying back in a spasm of pain or rendering them useless for a few moments.
Jack called on his years of experience with the staff. Coupled with this, he used the new spells he had learned while in New Hope. Whenever he could, he caught a werewolf in midair with a thought and threw them to the side. The ability to move things with his mind and magic was still new to him and required too much energy to use lightly.
Aareth was lost to his view. He could see Kimberly’s large frame striking out with her wings and tail as well as her club. There were just too many. These powerhouses of muscle and teeth could take a beating. Jack had already thrown down and struck the same werewolf multiple times, and they just kept getting back u
p.
Then it happened. Kimberly screamed in pain as one of the werewolves found a hold on her right forearm. Jack moved to help her, but it had all been part of a trap the pack had planned. As soon as Jack’s concentration was broken, a grey wolf with wicked yellow eyes blindsided him.
It felt like the same collision that Jack had experienced with Kimberly earlier that day, but this one came with fresh claw marks to his chest. The wolf barreled into him, sending his staff flying into the forest.
Jack’s vision went blurry as the wolf landed on top of him. Pain exploded in his head. Breathing was impossible with the werewolf leaning on his chest. Lancing pain came from the area that had been ripped open. Through all of this, Jack looked for his hold on magic. He just needed to stay conscious enough to channel and use it.
He couldn’t; it was too much. Darkness hedged in on his eyesight. With a final thought of how sorry he was that he had led his friends into this slaughterhouse, Jack gave in to his body’s limitations.
Chapter Thirteen
Sloan
“Do you really think this is the best thing for your daughter?” Sloan wouldn’t let Croft’s domineering attitude intimidate her from asking the question. “She’s in a cage.”
“And what would you have me do?” Croft looked over at Sloan with a glare. “She’s too dangerous to just let out and allow to run wild through Azra. The body count would be horrific.”
“I understand that, but there has to be another option than this.”
Sloan and Croft stood on the opposite side of Croft’s long room, the same room Sloan had woken up in when Croft had entered her dreams and given her the blood to quench her thirst.
Vampire and witch stood on one side near Croft’s large bed at the opposite side of the room of Elizabeth’s steel cell. Abigail had brought a stool and sat with her sister on the opposite side of the bars.
Sloan’s heightened hearing allowed her to listen to the one-sided conversation.
“I don’t know how this darkness took hold of you so fast,” Abigail said in a soft calm voice, “but I’m here now. Whatever you think happened, whatever wrongs you feel I’d committed against you, I’m sorry, Liz. Please, forgive me, and give me a chance to make it up to you.”
Elizabeth sat quietly in her cell, staring up at the ceiling. She looked horrible. A red head full of tangles, baggy eyes as though she hadn’t slept in days, and dark clothes so crumpled it was obvious she hadn’t changed for as long as she had been in Azra.
“Do you remember when we were kids in Burrow Den?” Abigail chuckled to herself and shook her head. Her laughter was sad. “What I’m saying is we’re still kids. Do you remember when we were younger? You found that kitten in the woods. Dad hated cats and would have made you put it back where you found it, so you hid it in your room?”
Elizabeth’s eyes drifted toward her sister for the first time. She still didn’t speak.
“It smelled so bad in your room.” Abigail laughed again, but this time there was actual joy behind her words. “Every time it made a mew, you would cough or sneeze to hide the sound. You had Dad convinced you were coming down with a flu.”
“He made me go to the doctor’s.” Elizabeth smiled against all odds. “I had to convince the doctor I was fine, but Dad was convinced I was coming down with black lung disease. And my room reeked of cat poop and piss.”
Both girls talked in low whispers as they continued sharing their memories.
“She’s close,” Croft interrupted Sloan’s eavesdropping. “She won’t be ready to fight with us for the war that’s knocking on our door, but a few more days with Abigail and I think we can take her out of her cell, under supervision, of course, and with restraints that will hamper her magic.”
“Of course she’s not going to be ready to fight in this war.” Sloan looked over at Croft in disgust. “She’s a child and she’s been through more than both you or I. Give her a break. Let her take her time.”
“I don’t need advice on how to raise my daughters.” Croft looked menacing in the morning light that shown through her wall-sized windows. “And you can’t tell me the thought hadn’t crossed your mind of how much of an asset she could be if she were ready to fight on our side.”
Sloan remained quiet. The possibility had come to her, but she’d remained silent about it; as soon as the thought came about using Elizabeth as a weapon, she had silenced it. The youngest Ahab had been through enough.
“I see.” Croft read Sloan’s silence like a book. “When Leah comes, she will be beyond any of you, even Jack. I’ll deal with her. We’ll keep Jack in reserve if I falter. He’ll be the only one with a chance of taking her down if I fail.”
“You won’t fail.” Sloan shook her head. More than anything she understood warfare. There would be no room for doubt. “Have you heard back from the riders you sent to the other cities in the Outland?”
“I have. They’ve taken word to the cities that Azra will soon be under siege. We sent out the call for aid to everyone we can. The message has to travel in whispers, though. Leah already has her vampire soldiers controlling Term to Burrow Den. If we can convince any of those people to come, they will have to escape their own occupied city to come to ours.”
“And you’re still convinced that allowing them to besiege Azra is the right move?”
“They’ll have the numbers and the weapons. We have to keep the high ground.” Croft hesitated for a moment. “What do you think? You’re the former captain. How will they come?”
Sloan remained quiet for a moment, thinking on everything she knew of Leah Eckert. The woman was swift and decisive. She would use her new vampire army as such.
“They’ll come quickly. Once we see them, they’ll attack at once.” Sloan remembered the mage engine and the yellow eyes of the wolf head on the front of the machine. “She still hasn’t showed us what her engine can do. I think she’ll use that against our gates first. If she breaks them down. I don’t know how long we’ll be able to survive inside the walls.”
“Agreed. Cherub has ordered the gates reinforced and the walls raised. Still, that may not be enough, and we might not be able to get all of the work done in time.”
A harsh knock came on the door closest to Sloan and Croft.
“Come in.” Croft directed her attention to the door.
“Excuse me, but you asked to be informed of any troop movements.” Sasha walked in dressed in the Azra colors of white-and-gold. Steel plating that looked like dragon scales hugged her body, with a white tunic showing off the Azra symbol in gold. “We have reports that the vampire army left New Hope this morning. They’re traveling quickly with Leah. They have the mage engine carrying a line of cars behind it this time. We guess it’s full of supplies and weapons.”
“How many days does that give us before they’re at our walls?” Croft looked to Sasha and Sloan for the answer. “How much time do we have left?”
While worry etched into the lines around Croft’s eyes, Sloan saw her glance at her two daughters on the opposite side of the long room. As much as this woman wanted to act like a hard case, it was clear her first concern were her daughters.
“The vampire soldiers are capable of covering miles in minutes.” Sasha looked at Sloan for a consensus. “Two, maybe three days?”
“I think you’re right.” Sloan shared the information she had been thinking about since she understood the attack was coming. “I’d say two days. Leah will push them hard. They’ll attack during the night when their soldiers are their strongest.”
“How many soldiers is she bringing?” Croft had asked the question as if she actually didn’t want to know the answer at all. “Scouts say nearly ten thousand.”
Sloan’s heart dropped in her chest. She knew Leah had been turning humans into vampires day and night; still, to turn so many in such a short amount of time was mind-boggling.
“We’ll be outnumbered nearly three, maybe four to one.” Croft took a moment to look each woman in the eyes before sh
e continued. “It’ll be up to us as leaders to inspire courage. Two days. Two days left to prepare for a war the likes this world has never seen. Let’s make them count.”
Chapter Fourteen
Sloan
“Are you sure we should be outside the city?” Babs looked back at the walls of Azra as they grew smaller and smaller in the distance. “I know the New Hope Army is still two days away, but still.”
“We’ll be fine.” Sloan walked in the lead of her vampire unit made of four. “We can use the time we have left to train, become comfortable with your new abilities, and above all, hunt.”
“Hunt?” Pia repeated the word as if she had never heard it before. “You mean drink the blood of animals?”
“If you haven’t felt the urge yet, you will soon,” Sloan said without room for question. “I’d rather you feed now and understand what it feels like before the battle starts. Trust me, I’m speaking from experience. The last thing you want on your conscience is tearing apart someone on the battlefield and feeding on a person like he’s a juice box.”
Talking about it made Sloan think back to the fight at Term when she had lost control of her desire to feed and cost a young soldier his life. She could still see his pale eyes, the way she drank his blood and stole the very life from him drink by drink would haunt her forever.
“I am feeling a little thirsty, now that you mention it.” Harrison massaged his throat. “Hey, these new uniforms Edison fashioned are awesome, by the way. Remind me to thank him once we get back.”
Sloan looked down at her own uniform. Edison and Elwood had been busy at work not only helping Jaxon through his transition, but also creating a new kind of Azra guard uniform that felt amazing.
The Complete Vampire Project Series: (Books 1 - 5) Page 71
