“Because I know which way they went!” the rat-man said with a hungry look in his eye, nodding as he spoke. “Please. I can take you to them. I promise. Please don’t kill me.”
“Excellent,” Hank said, turning sharply and slicing his sword across the necks of Petri and Ewan. Blood poured from their throats and waterfalled down their bodies. They slid down and flopped onto the floor.
A smile lingered on Hank’s face. If he could use the rat-man to find the rest of the crew, what need did he have for the two guards who had managed to get themselves captured?
Silver Creek Forest
Mary-Anne looked back over her shoulder at Kain as they marched through the forest. Truth be told, he was pissing her off. When she had taken refuge at her old manor last night, it had been with the intention of being able to speed back over to Caitlin and the ship the moment darkness fell.
Now, she had a werewolf trailing behind her, walking so slowly that it felt like her own feet were melting into the ground.
“Will you hurry the fuck up?” she said, trying her best not to go super vamp and simply rip his head off. “The last time I saw a Were move this slowly, it had no head and had painted my bedroom walls in blood.” She was exaggerating, of course.
Well, about the painting part.
That fucker was definitely left with no head.
Though she’d had many dealings with Weres in the past—whole packs defending their territories, single Weres sent on a mission, and at one point, a whole army of Weres and vamps battling together and clashing swords—it now felt like so long ago that she wondered if she truly remembered them properly. Surely even a human could walk faster than this shitbag?
“What’s the rush? It’s a beautiful night. Let’s take in the view.” He nodded to where the stars shone brightly in the black sky. “I can’t remember the last time I merely slowed down and enjoyed the world.”
Just like a Were to be difficult.
Mary-Anne stopped. “Okay, look. Here’s the deal. You shift your ass into whatever cute, fluffy animal you turn into, and we’ll both run on. If you don’t, I’ll run ahead without you. I’m doing you a favor here. You want to tag along with me. Not the other way around.”
“Don’t flatter yourself, sweet-fangs,” Kain said. “Besides, Weres can’t change as easily as that anymore. Not in today’s world. Don’t you know anything?”
Kain saw the blank expression on Mary-Anne’s face.
“Oh…you don’t know, do you?” Kain said.
Though it was only a small detail, Mary-Anne couldn’t help but feel a little pissed at the intimation that Kain currently had one up on her. She wanted to ask for more but didn’t want him to know she had actually been asleep and in hiding for so long that a lot of the world had slipped by her. All she knew was that vampire-kind were all either being hunted out or turned into zombies. She had no idea what was happening in the wider world with humans, much less with Weres.
“I might know.”
“No, you don’t. You know nothing.” Kain grinned, jogged to catch up with Mary-Anne, and they began walking.
He waited a moment as if thinking about where to start, then said, “The world has changed out there. I don’t know if you’re one of those ancient-ass vamps who roamed around centuries ago with the Queen Bitch or how much you know of the cities and life before the Madness hit, but since the arrival of the zombies, there have been changes everywhere across the world—or at least, as far as I have traveled and heard.”
As if to illustrate his point, through the shadows of the trees, they could see the rusted wreckage of what appeared to be an old vehicle. It could have been a car, or even a boat, at some point. With the wear of time and weather, it was difficult to tell.
“No shit, Springsteen. I’ve noticed.”
“At first the changes were subtle—at least in Weres,” Kain continued. “A human contracts the Madness and they go freakin’ wild in just a day or two. Zero to zombie, man. Crazy. But with Weres, it’s different. There’s something in the Were blood that the Madness can’t quite get into. Weres don’t go Mad. Weres just begin to struggle with their abilities. Something begins to break.”
Despite herself, Mary-Anne took an interest. “What do you mean? Like, in the nanocytes? You turn into birds and rabbits instead of ravenous beasties?”
Kain laughed. “I wish. My uncle was a Wererabbit, and let me tell you, stick him with a group of Werebears and wolves, and you’ve got yourself a tasty fucking meal. I was picking parts of Uncle Hethbert out of my teeth for weeks.”
Mary-Anne turned in shock. “You didn’t!”
Kain slapped his leg and doubled over laughing. “Of course not!” He struggled to talk between fits of laughter. “Could you imagine…a tiny little…rabbit… That would be…hysterical—”
“Are you going to finish your story?” Mary-Anne restrained the urge to yell or better yet, slap him silly. She felt herself grow red. She couldn’t decide if she was enjoying this asshole’s company. One minute, she was fascinated by his story, the next minute, he was setting her up as the butt of another joke. If she didn’t have so much patience, he’d be somewhere behind her, buried so far into the ground that it would take him a week to climb out.
“Okay…okay…” Kain said, wiping the tears from his eyes. “But seriously, no. It doesn’t so much affect what we change into, more just…how we change. It’s almost as if the transformations now are a gun with a limited number of bullets. Those who didn’t cotton on early enough got caught out in the trap, but myself and, sadly, a fair number of the assholes from my old pack learned quickly enough to keep our transformation in our reserve tank. Last thing we want is to have to make the choice.”
“What do you mean, ‘the choice?’”
“Put simply…with every transformation into and out of our animal forms, it gets harder and harder to go back.” Kain pulled the sleeve of his cloak up to reveal an arm covered in hair so thick and wiry that it didn’t look human. He showed the other arm and revealed the same.
Mary-Anne’s eyes widened. She grabbed his arm and pulled it towards her. “This is wolf hair?”
“You know it. Hair from my wolf form.” He pulled away suddenly and covered his arms back up. “At some point, all us Weres have got to make the choice. Do we stay as a human, or do we choose to stay as our animal counterparts?”
“And what will you choose?” Mary-Anne asked, trying to imagine which side of the coin she would prefer if she were given a choice: human or Were?
Ah, who was she kidding? Human every time. Who’d want to spend their life as a filthy animal?
“I don’t know yet. All I do know is that I need to buy more time. No more changes for me unless I can’t help it—or at least until I’ve made a decision.” Kain exhaled into the air with the weight of his burden.
“You best be goddamn handy with a blade, then, because you’re going to be a whole lot of useless compared to the Weres I’m used to dealing with.” Mary-Anne glanced up and down at the skinny guy walking next to her. His clothes hung so loose they looked like folds of old skin.
“Oh, don’t worry, sweet-fangs. You don’t get this far in a world turned Mad without learning a few tricks along the way,” he said with a cocky wink her way.
Mary-Anne turned her nose up and put her attention back on the forest in front of them. “Yeah. That’s exactly the response I’d expect for a guy who got captured by humans.”
Kain opened his mouth to retort, then obviously thought better of it and closed it.
Yeah, damn right, pooch. We’ll call that one-one.
They walked a little longer, exchanging idle chatter about their kinds. After a short distance, Mary-Anne found herself growing impatient, realizing they still had another mile or so to go before they arrived back at the airship. By that point, who knew what she’d return to. Things were changing so thick and fast these days that it was almost impossible to keep up.
But, fuck it. Caitlin was driving this roller
coaster, and she was strapped in for the ride.
Mary-Anne stopped. “Hop on.”
“What?” Kain said, taken aback. He looked at Mary-Anne doubled over and wondered what the hell was going on. “You might think twice about offering a stranger some booty in the forest. Trust me. Things crawl in holes that they shouldn’t, birds fly down and target your dangly things…truly, it’s a whole big mess—”
“Onto my back, wolf.” She couldn’t contain the annoyance in her voice. The idea that she, a vampire, would want to be mounted by a Were. She shuddered at the thought. “I’m tired of holding back at your pace because of your identity crisis. Either climb on or be left behind. You have three seconds. I won’t ask again.”
“You’re not serious—”
“One,” Mary-Anne began.
“Seriously? Why don’t we jog together? I don’t want to be piggybacked like a—”
“Two,” she continued.
“Ah, fuck!” Kain said, submitting at last and throwing his hands in the air. “I swear to cow that if you don’t put me down before we get to the camp, I’m going to…woooooah!”
Mary-Anne turned the throttle to eleven, her grin stretching from ear to ear at hearing the wind knock the air out of that smug bastard’s body.
It didn’t matter what day she woke up, it always paid to be a vamp.
Chapter Eighteen
Abandoned Airship, Silver Creek Forest, Ontario
Caitlin stood at the front of the ship and stared at the night sky. Thanks to the angle that the ship had landed in, the tip extended high enough that she could see above the canopy of trees. Constellations sparkled above her, and for the first time in as long as she could remember, she felt at peace.
Her crew slept below deck. A little way off on the grass was a small fire where Alice could be seen talking with two Revolutionaries. One or two volunteers had agreed to share their time, keeping watch alongside someone who had fast become one of her closest companions.
In all the days she had lived in Silver Creek, tucked tightly behind its walls and dreaming of what lay beyond, she had never really had any true friends.
Well, besides her dog and brother. And you couldn’t exactly count those, right?
Jaxon sat by her side. She reached down idly and stroked the dog’s head. He nuzzled into her leg, making sweet noises of affection.
She wondered how it could be that her reality had been so altered so fast. Not only had she learned that vampires were more than legends or myth, but also that Trisk ruled more than only Silver Creek from his golden throne in the town’s parapets. They had journeyed a short distance outside of what many rangers had called the “safe zone,” and there they had found a village. A village as oppressed as Silver Creek.
Well, maybe even more so.
How many more towns and villages lay out beyond the trees? Were any cities still standing now? It was nearly three hundred years since the fabled World’s Worst Day ever—a bedtime story of when the world exploded in a rain of fire and the population was decimated. How many more bedtime stories would turn out to be true?
Caitlin knelt beside Jaxon and looked up at the stars. “You know, boy, we’re on to something amazing here. If we play this right, we just might be able to make it so that no more Kiera’s may ever have to die. We might never cure the Madness or find a way to stop it from spreading, but if we can unite enough people to rebuild a society like the old days tell of, then that might be enough.”
Jaxon licked Caitlin’s cheek and placed his front paws on her knees. His tail wagged so madly that she wondered if he’d take off into the sky.
“As long as we’ve got each other—” Caitlin began. Jaxon let out a low bark and turned towards the three figures huddled by the fire. “Oh, of course.” She laughed. “Who could forget them? As long as we all stick together, we just might make it.”
Caitlin made her way down the ship’s slant and waited for a moment in the shadows beyond the fire’s reach, listening to the low sounds of voices. She made herself known at a natural break in the conversation and sat and spoke to Alice and her companions—a man with jet-black hair and a missing eye named Marvin, and the girl who had been the first to declare her allegiance at New Leaf, Belle. They both wore clothes that were now caked in mud and blood from their encounter with the Mad.
They spoke for an hour or so, exchanging stories and laughing.
It was as Ash emerged from the ship with his two companions for the watch, rubbing his eyes and yawning, that they heard the sound of a twig snapping somewhere in the forest. As one, the seven Revolutionaries drew their weapons and waited. They formed a near-perfect line of warriors with swords and daggers—one of Ash’s companions had even found a mace from somewhere in Mary-Anne’s pile of weapons—and watched the trees.
“What do we do?” Belle asked, her voice shaking but her hand steady.
“Let’s not be hasty, now. Let them come to us.” She looked from side-to-side with a smug grin, wondering at what moment they’d see the glow of red eyes.
Silver Creek Forest
“How much further?” Hank asked, feeling his tired feet beginning to drag. They had followed the rat-man for what seemed like hours now, and day had turned to night. In his head, Hank had envisioned traveling to New Leaf, killing Caitlin and any who stood in his way as an example to the rest of the town, then heading back to the safety of Silver Creek.
That did not happen.
Now, he looked around nervously, feeling like every shadow and rustle was someone out to get them. This was the whole goddamn reason he never became a ranger. How the hell did they put up with feeling like an attack could come every second?
But he wouldn’t show his fear to his men, not now.
No way, no how.
They paused rather abruptly when they saw firelight in the distance. The rat-man turned to Hank and waved an arm as if to present what he had found.
“Just ahead through the trees. Draw your weapons. Remain quiet until the last possible moment,” he said.
Hank looked down at the rat-man with contempt. “I give the orders here.” He turned to his men. “Draw your weapons. Remain quiet until the last possible moment. If you find the rebel bitch, leave her to me. My sword is more than ready to acquaint itself with her throat.”
The guards nodded, drawing their steel.
They ran ahead, emerging into the small clearing where a tiny campfire burned. Insects swarmed around its light, but there were no people to be seen.
Hank whirled around, looking in every direction. “What the—” He looked for the rat-man but found that he was nowhere to be seen.
Realization dawned, and he felt himself grow crimson. Rage burned hotter than the fire inside him and he clenched his fists, roaring to the stars. “Fuuuuuck! Shit, damn, balls, frick, shitty-twat-smack, fuuuuuuuuck!”
Somewhere far off in the trees, he heard the rat-man laughing.
“We’ve been tricked, haven’t we, sir?” an innocent-looking guard asked as he scratched his head.
Hank could almost see the rage etched onto every line of his own face. Without a word, he swung his sword and removed the guard’s head in one clean blow.
The head flew through the air, landing with a thump next to the fire. Some embers escaped and caught its hair on fire. Soon, the whole thing was alight, and the smell of cooked meat began to waft around them.
Hank stood with his shoulders rising and falling, his back hunched with anger. He spoke to the remainder of his men who stood patiently, awaiting their next orders.
“Anyone else here think we were tricked?” he asked through gritted teeth. Every guard shook their heads as one. “Good. And that’s how the story stays. If I hear anyone tell anybody about this, they’ll wake up with their head next to their body. Understood?”
They all nodded.
“What do we do now, sir?” another guard asked, looking nervously at the trees around them.
“We make our way back. We re-group, rest up
. Tomorrow morning, we double the Silver Creek defenses.”
“Double? But, sir, we’re already low on men as it is.” He looked at the melting face in the fire. “You really think the girl is that much of a threat—”
The guard stopped talking when his head was also removed.
“Any more questions?” Hank asked.
A round of heads shaking was the only response.
“That’s what I thought.”
Abandoned Airship, Silver Creek Forest, Ontario
“I was starting to get worried about you, Ma,” Caitlin said when they saw Mary-Anne appear through the trees. She wasn’t alone. Along the way, she had found another man, though this person was strange to look at.
Skinny as fuck with a cloak that swallowed him, when he lowered his hood and introduced himself, she saw that his skin was covered in scars. Whatever this guy’s story was, he had definitely been through some shit.
“Never worry about a vampire, Cat. We can hold our own,” Mary-Anne replied, glancing along the line up of men and women standing beside Caitlin. “Seems you’ve kept yourself busy today.”
“I’ll sleep when I’m dead,” Caitlin replied.
“That can be arranged.” Mary-Anne winked.
“And who is this?” Caitlin eyed the new guy up and down. “You look like a scrotum had sex with a tree trunk.”
“I guess that could be taken as a compliment.” The man’s voice was low and croaky. His eyes fixed on hers in a kind of mild amusement. “The name’s Kain. I’m an…acquaintance…of Mary-Anne’s. We encountered each other out in the forest, and when she spoke of a woman looking to overthrow the governor and exact revenge, I found it hard not to say that I wanted in.”
Caitlin cocked an eyebrow as they sat by the fire and offered around chunks of cooked deer that they had hunted earlier that night. “You know him?”
“I was a prisoner. It was only recently I made my escape,” Kain said between mouthfuls of meat. He didn’t worry about manners, tearing at the flesh and sucking every bit of juice off the bone he could manage.
Dawn of Chaos: Age Of Madness - A Kurtherian Gambit Series (The Caitlin Chronicles Book 1) Page 18