The Complete Vampire Project Series: (Books 1 - 5)

by Jonathan Yanez

  “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he kept mumbling, seeing without really seeing as he stared at Sloan. “I’m better than that, I’m sorry.”

  Babs and Pia joined Sloan who cradled Harrison’s frame like a child. On her knees, she looked down at the man who had been her enemy before being her friend. In a strange way, this made his passing harder.

  “Shhh…” Sloan bottled her feelings by telling herself Harrison needed her to be strong. She could be strong for him. “You did great. You have nothing to be sorry for.”

  Pia and Babs cried softly, both laying their hands on Harrison to comfort him in his last moments of life.

  For a second, Sloan held out hope that their vampire DNA would save Harrison, but it seemed even that paranormal ability had its limits.

  “Go easy,” Pia whispered to her friend. “We’ll see you one day soon.”

  “Rest now.” Babs lowered her head as if saying a prayer. “Your fight is over now.”

  “You win this.” Harrison finally closed his eyes, his last words so faint, they were barely audible despite the quiet. “You win this for me, for each other.”

  His final breath escaped his lips. Already anger was building in Sloan’s heart. How many friends would she have to lose before this was all over?

  She understood then what she needed to do.

  “I’ll carry Harrison back to Azra.” Sloan stood, lifting Harrison’s body with her. “You two see to Doyle. If you can’t wake him up, then carry him back, as well. It’s time we took this fight to Leah. She thinks she’s safe behind her army and her magic? Let’s show her she will never be safe again.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Jack

  Witnessing the werewolves clash was like watching two mage-powered engines going full steam at one another. Every time the beasts struck out, the ground trembled with the impact. Trees cracked and fell as the behemoths crashed into each other with abandon.

  Blood matted Marcus’ back leg and neck. The brown female werewolf was limping as the two warriors circled one another again. Her eyes were still full of hate, but she was tiring. For all the impressive speed she could summon at a moment’s notice, it didn’t seem that endurance to sustain such acts were in her wheelhouse of abilities.

  Then, it happened. Just as soon as the fight had begun, it was over.

  Marcus pretended to lunge directly at his opponent. As he anticipated, she dodged to her right where he had already moved and landed right into his jaws. Marcus would never be as quick as the female werewolf he fought, but years of combat experience had taught him that it wasn’t always the fastest unicorn in the race that won.

  With strong jaws, Marcus clamped down around the female’s throat. They both understood it was over as Marcus took a dominating stance above her. She struggled for a moment, then decided better of it and lay still. The only thing that moved now were the chests of the two giant werewolves.

  Blood trickled down the area where Marcus’ jaws began to penetrate the female werewolf’s throat. She whimpered in pain.

  Jack had seen enough. “Don’t do it!” The insanity his father battled against, the monster within he was just beginning to understand, was winning. “She was wrong to challenge you, but you’ve won. It’s over now! Stop! Dad, you need to stop!”

  For a brief moment, Jack thought his words would not be enough. The other werewolves in the pack made room for Jack as he ran forward and placed his hands on his father’s face.

  A deep growl rumbled from Marcus’ throat.

  “You don’t need to kill her.” Jack felt his father’s hot breath on his hands. Under his fingers, he could even feel the muscles of his father’s jaw trembling. “Aareth needs you. This is over.”

  With extraordinary reluctance, Marcus finally let go of the other werewolf’s throat.

  The brown werewolf scrambled up on all fours and ran to take shelter amongst the bulk of the pack.

  Jack moved to stand by his father’s side as he whispered, “I’m proud of you.”

  The large white werewolf turned to his son and winked one yellow eye. In a moment, his attention was back on the rest of the pack. He lifted his head to the sky and let out a commanding howl.

  Each one of his pack members, including the female that had just been bested, followed his lead, and the sound melded into one as the pack showed its fealty to their leader.

  Marcus took the lead a moment later, bounding into the dark forest, headed toward Term with the world’s first united werewolf pack behind him. The sound they made as they galloped through the forest was like a cavalry unit heading toward the battlefield.

  “Let’s go.” Kimberly picked up the front of the stretcher. “With each passing moment, Aareth’s chance of life lessens.”

  “Oh, please.” Aareth coughed hard, and blood dripped down the sides of his lips. “Don’t hold back. Tell me how it really is.”

  Jack ran to obey, lifting the back of the makeshift stretcher. As one, they headed into the forest, following the pack.

  “You’re dying,” Kimberly said, missing the sarcasm in Aareth’s words. “Your wounds would have killed a mortal. Still, your werewolf DNA may not be enough to see you through the end of the night.”

  “I think he was being sarcastic,” Jack shouted from his spot behind Kimberly. “He was just teasing with you.”

  The wizard, the werewolf, and the gargoyle were going through the dark forest at a light run now. Kimberly was doing her best to hide her own limp, but Jack could see that every step she took was only barely touching the ground.

  “What is this sarcasm you speak of?” Kimberly asked from her lead position. “I’m not familiar with it.”

  “It’s like if I were to say ‘This has been a great night.’” Jack thought for a moment. He’d never had to teach anyone sarcasm before. “It really hasn’t been a great night, but I’m being sarcastic.”

  “Yeah, or if I say that you’re one hell of a stretcher maker and that I’m not in pain with every step you take.” Aareth groaned. “That’s sarcasm, because you’re bouncing me around like a freaking tennis ball on a racket back here.”

  “Hmm…” Kimberly didn’t look back and neither did she slow her pace. “Sarcasm, you say?”

  Jack could only see the gargoyle’s back, but he could imagine the look of concentration on her face as she mulled over the word.

  “I would like to try.” Kimberly ducked below a low-hanging branch. How she was finding a path in the forest through the dark was beyond Jack. “Aareth, the gift you’ve been given as a werewolf is a true blessing. You have a knack for safety, and you’re one hell of a fighter.”

  Jack couldn’t help grinning. Whether Kimberly was honestly trying to be sarcastic or not was anyone’s guess, but it was making the time go by faster and hopefully taking Aareth’s mind off his pain.

  Before anyone could say another word, screams filled the air somewhere in front of them as the sounds of battle drifted through the forest. Aggressive barks and growls were followed by shrieks of pain.

  Jack was no friend of New Hope or the new queen’s vampire soldiers, but a twinge of regret, even remorse, touched him now. He could only imagine what it would be like to wake up in the jaws of a werewolf.

  The shouts were still distant, but with every step, they got closer.

  “The doctor I know lives in the center of town,” Kimberly shouted over her shoulder. “If she’s still there, she’ll help us.”

  Jack’s heart was beating out of his chest and his legs screamed with fatigue. A new rush of adrenaline was now coursing through his veins.

  “If we get stopped, you’ll have to deal with the obstacle, Jack!” Kimberly had to shout louder now as the sounds of battle grew stronger. “You don’t know where the doctor lives.”

  “Don’t worry, I won’t let you get stopped!” Jack shouted past the cacophony of screams and roars coming from Term. “You just get Aareth to the doctor!”

  A moment later, the trio burst through the forest and i
nto the outskirts of the city, and what met Jack’s eyes was something he had never seen in his life.

  Chapter Twenty

  Jack

  With supernatural beings as fast as werewolves, and especially vampires, the fighting had quickly spread to every part of the small town. In front of Jack, a grey werewolf bent over a vampire dressed in a New Hope uniform, tearing out his throat. To the left, another vampire soldier and werewolf circled one another.

  As much as Jack wanted to stop and help fight, he understood their mission was to get Aareth help. First and foremost, their friend needed medical attention.

  Jack had been to Term numerous times while working with his father in the Outland. From what he was seeing now, the town hadn’t changed much. The wood buildings that made up the city’s infrastructure were lined one right next to the other, and the dirt roads cut through the town like they always had.

  As the sky began to lighten, heralding another day, the main thing that stuck out to Jack was the lack of civilians and the amount of blood in the street.

  It shouldn’t have come as too much of a surprise that people would be in their homes behind locked doors at the moment. But the chaos that ran through the city was anything but normal.

  Jack pounded behind Kimberly as she rounded corners and sprinted past numerous confrontations. Werewolves and vampires were everywhere in various stages of battle.

  Jack searched for his father as he ran, but there was no sign of the large white werewolf. Jack was so focused on looking for his father, as well as any potential threats to their sides or behind them, that he almost toppled over Aareth as Kimberly came to a halt.

  In front of them, two vampire soldiers stood over the carcass of a werewolf. Blood fell from their mouths, canvasing their faces with brutal war paint. They spotted Jack and his friends at the same time Jack made eye contact with them.

  Kimberly’s hesitation was short-lived. She turned a corner and began an all-out sprint.

  “We’re almost there!” she shouted over the chaos. “Next block down, on the left!”

  Jack told his legs to continue to run forward as he craned his neck behind them. Sure enough, the two vampire soldiers who had spotted them had given chase. By the second, they were gaining ground on their prey.

  “You have to take him the rest of the way.” Jack was about to drop his end of the litter and reach for his wand. “I’ll hold them—”

  Jack blinked, still trying to discern what he had just seen. One moment, the two vampire soldiers were chasing after him with blood red eyes; the next, they were gone in a flash of brown fur and teeth.

  The female werewolf Jack had saved from certain death at the hands of his father had come out of a side alley. She’d stricken the two vampires with the force of a battering ram, breaking the back of the first one that took the brunt of her vicious blow. She was now on top of the other, tearing at him with knife-like claws and teeth.

  “Here,” Kimberly stopped at a house on the corner of the street and pounded on the door. “Amber! Amber, open up! It’s Kimberly!”

  Nothing.

  BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

  Kimberly hit the door so hard this time, it shook like it would cave in at any moment. “Amber, if you’re in there, open up, or I’m going to break down this door.”

  More movement, this time from the corner of Jack’s eye. A female vampire covered by shadows lifted a rifle and drew a bead on Kimberly’s head.

  A dark figure leapt from the roof above her and crashed down on top of the vampire soldier, folding her in on herself. The werewolf wasn’t dark at all; it was Marcus.

  The door to the house swung open. A tall, middle-aged woman with long hair and a leather jacket had opened the door. With wide eyes, she took in the scene in the streets as she stood holding a frying pan the size of Jack’s torso in her right hand.

  “We need your help.” Kimberly pushed her way into the house, uninvited. “And for God’s sake, put down the frying pan. That’s not going to do you any good unless you plan to cook us to death.”

  Jack followed Kimberly’s lead as they bullied their way into the house. An elegantly decorated sitting room connected to a kitchen area with a long table. Kimberly and Jack placed the stretcher onto the wooden table, pushing off dishes and utensils.

  Amber locked the door behind them. “What’s happening out there?” She dropped her frying pan and ran to help. “Who is this?”

  “A war this world has never seen is happening.” Kimberly lifted Aareth’s jacket off his body. “Can you help him?”

  While Kimberly and Amber exchanged words, Jack realized that Aareth had been quiet for a long time. He looked down at his friend, and cold shock grabbed at his heart.

  Aareth wasn’t breathing.

  “No, no!” Jack ran to his still friend’s side. “Aareth, wake up! We’re here. Wake up!”

  Amber stopped asking her questions. Instead, she checked the pulse on Aareth’s neck with two fingers. She didn’t say a word to Kimberly or Jack as she cupped her hands and began administering compressions to Aareth’s chest in a steady rhythm.

  “You can save him, right?” Jack was trying to grab the Female doctor’s attention, but she was fixated on her work. “You can bring him back, right? Are you listening to me? You have to bring him back!”

  Jack felt Kimberly’s strong grip on his shoulder. She pulled him away from the table.

  “Let her work,” Kimberly said in a soft voice Jack had never heard the gargoyle use. “If it’s his time to go, there will be nothing anyone can do. If he is meant to live, he will.”

  Jack hated Kimberly’s logic. It was one he actually believed in, but hearing it while his friend lay dead on the table was something he couldn’t accept at the moment.

  Jack pushed away from Kimberly in a halfhearted attempt. His eyes never left Amber’s hands pumping up and down over Aareth’s chest. She was talking to him as she worked. “Come on, come on! This world is not done with you yet.”

  Aareth’s face was pale, his lips already turning blue. Then, out of nowhere, Aareth let out a huge gasp.

  “Aareth!” Jack wrestled himself from Kimberly’s grip and ran to the other side of the table opposite the doctor. “Aareth!”

  “I feel horrible.” Aareth swallowed hard, looking up at Jack and Amber. “I died, didn’t I? That would explain the taste in the back of my throat.”

  “You’re not out of the fight yet.” Amber winced as she lifted Aareth’s coat, examining his wound. “You two, let’s make yourselves useful. Kimberly, I’ll need hot water and towels.”

  Amber looked at Jack with an even stare.

  “The best way you can help your friend now is to do what I tell you.” She motioned with her chin to a door that led deeper into her home. “Down the hall, first door on your left is a closet. In the closet is a red medical bag. I need it—now.”

  The screaming from the battle outside was beginning to fade as Jack ran to obey. Exhaustion had started to set in, now that Aareth was in the capable hands of the doctor.

  BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

  Something hammered at the front door.

  “Just can’t catch a break,” Aareth mumbled from the kitchen table. He looked over to the door, trying his best at a yell. “Hey, can you give us some peace and quiet for a second? I’m trying to die over here!”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Sloan

  “I’m not waiting any longer,” Sloan said, raising her voice at Croft and Theo. “She’s taken enough from me. It’s time I take something, everything, from her!”

  “I understand you’re upset at losing your friend,” Theo said from his seat in the amphitheater. “I would be upset as we—”

  “Upset?” Sloan zeroed in on Theo with a scowl. “I get upset when we’re out of coffee. I get upset when the weather sucks. I get upset…”

  Sloan took a moment to control herself. She understood she was acting out of character, but she was done sitting back and letting the enemy dictate the w
ay things were. She was going to do something with or without Azra’s help.

  “I just buried another friend,” Sloan said as calmly as her racing heart would allow. “I’m not going to sit here and wait to bury another. I’m not asking you for your help. I’m telling you, out of respect, what I’m going to do.”

  The entire time Sloan spoke, it had only been Theo who dared to answer her wrath-laced words. Croft remained quiet. She stared at Sloan as if agreeing with her words at times.

  Finally, Croft broke her silence. “I can see that we’re not going to stop you. Part of me even agrees with you, although I understand the folly in that plan. I’m sorry for what happened to Harrison, but leaving to attack Leah in the battlefield is suicide.”

  “I’m done playing fair.” Sloan looked at Theo and Croft in turn. “She wants to ambush me and my squad, then we can do the same to her. I heard your gargoyles are yearning for a fight after being left out of the last one. Give me Cherub and her gargoyle unit. My squad and I can take care of the rest.”

  “If I say no, you’re just going to go by yourself anyway, aren’t you?” Croft asked with a look on her face that said she already knew the answer.

  “That’s right.” Sloan nodded along with Croft’s words. “This is a heads-up, not a request.”

  “We only have a day before she arrives anyway.” Theo threw his hands up in the air. “Not like talking sense into you is going to help. You can’t just wait a day to take your vengeance?”

  “Not another minute,” Sloan said.

  A wrath she hadn’t known she was capable of had built up in her chest; an anger that was her own, but had somehow been intensified with her loss. Harrison was one of her own. A soldier, a friend, and then bonded to her after she’d bitten him. This was personal on a level Sloan didn’t fully understand yet.