Four Moons: The Complete Collection: (Books 1 - 4)

by Amos, Richard

  Poor John. It was supposed to have been a controlled experiment, one that would lead to a drug to completely eradicate the effects of silver on wolves and remove the vulnerability. Just because silver was illegal, it didn’t mean anything. It wasn’t stamped out—impossible to do so. There had to be a way to stop this one weakness the wolves had. One had yet to be found, and John had paid the price for that research, as did his wife Lizzie, their three daughters and twin sons. What a cute family, broken apart by one random tragedy.

  I’d never forget Lizzie’s face at the funeral. It haunted me to this day.

  As we joined another main road, we stopped. Junto pointed out the apartment block just up ahead. “We’re here.”

  Then I noticed two men standing in the street.

  Stupid to be outside, wasn’t it?

  I took slight point, leading the guys forward. We’d ignore them, let them go about their business. They were just people.

  Except, humanity hadn’t lessened my vigilance.

  Dressed in gray raincoats, hoods pulled up, they made to cut us off.

  Up to no good.

  I stopped. “Hi. Nice night for it,” I said in Japanese.

  “What are you doing out here?” the man on the left asked.

  “I could ask the same of you,” I retorted.

  “You should be inside unless you’re one of us.” He examined Junto. “You’re SCU.”

  Junto didn’t say anything.

  “One of you?” I asked.

  “With the elves. We’re going to join the revolution.”

  Seems The Chief had got through to two knuckleheads. Really, I should take them down, drag them off and lock their asses up for being, well, a pair of douches.

  Not time to deal with stupidity.

  “Are you wolf or elf?” the guy on the right said.

  “Sorry, we don’t really have time to talk.” Cool politeness is sometimes the best weapon to defuse a situation. Just enough ‘don’t mess with me’ in the tone to really deliver the message.

  “You’re wolf then,” the right guy said.

  “The enemy,” his comrade added.

  “Part of the problem.” Mr. Right again. “Don’t you understand what’s going on in the world, what we’re on the edge of?”

  “Utter destruction,” I responded.

  Mr. Left smirked. “Only a wolf-lover would say something like that. Unless you are a wolf, like we said.”

  “He can’t be.” Mr. Right whacked his friend on the arm. “He’s outside.”

  “Oh, yes. The moon.”

  “Come on,” I said to Zach and Junto. “Good evening to you both.”

  As I started to move, the men got back in my face.

  Junto lifted his gun. “Enough.”

  The guys backed off but didn’t move away. “You’ll always be rooted in the past, stuck in the brutal regime that suppresses as all.” That was Mr. Left.

  Mr. Right added, “The elves can save us. They can bring us to a new hope.”

  There were people coming over—three men, two women. Friends of these guys?

  They joined the group. “What’s going on?” one of the women asked.

  “We’re talking to these dusty people.”

  Dusty? “We really need to be going.” I tried to move around them. All of them closed in.

  “Stay back!” Junto warned. “I will shoot.”

  “This is what we mean,” Mr. Left said. “Brutal. SCU and the werewolves are intertwined, the same in my eyes.”

  The group nodded in agreement.

  “You really need to get out of the way,” I said. No more cool politeness. The menace dialed up. “We have business to attend to.”

  “What business?” Mr. Right Left was on his way to get a broken jaw. “What kind of business does an SCU agent and two, from what I can tell, humans, have being out on the streets right now? Sneaking?”

  And so it begins.

  “We’re passing through,” I said through a jaw clenched.

  “Is that so?” a woman asked. “I think you’re a spy for the wolves.”

  Muttering responses among them.

  “Trying to stop us,” a guy in a blue jacket said, stepping between Mr. Right and Left. “We won’t let you. We won’t—”

  I was bored with this. I grabbed him by the scuff of the neck and lifted him off the ground. He squeaked, struggling and kicking, missing every time.

  I loved that I still had most of my strength, even it was through Formula GX. It also meant I had a goal. I’d have to put in a lot more gym time than usual for the rest of my life to maintain it when I was properly back to normal. Why not start with bench pressing this idiot?

  His crew made to advance, but Zach pulled his pistol, joining Junto with the gun pointing.

  “Now,” I said, “make sure you listen to this really carefully? Are your ears open?”

  They tried to protest, throw some indignance at me. Pointless. It bounced off. A few of them even pulled out knives.

  “Good, I’m glad I have your attention,” I carried on, ignoring their actions. Those puny blades were nothing to worry about. I’d have their wrists broken, knives clattering on the road before they could so much as blink. “You’re going to go about your business, and we’re going to go about ours. That’s it. No fighting. No drama. That’s not what we’re here for.” Not with them anyway. “Go and do whatever you need to do.” There would be more of them, sure, but I had one focus, and it wasn’t dealing with these idiots. “Okay? We can all walk away without broken bones.”

  Silence.

  “Did you hear me? Because if you didn’t, I’m more than willing to start breaking faces if that’s the way you want to play.” They should be locked up, but time was passing quickly.

  “Fine,” Mr. Right finally responded. “Just put our friend down.”

  I obliged, dropping him. He skulked backward, swallowed by his army.

  This wasn’t going to go the way we’d just discussed.

  Mr. Left was first to take a shot at me, slicing at me with his knife. I dodged it with no effort at all, then grabbed his wrist on his second attempt with my left hand, snapping his bone. He screamed, dropping the knife, and I punched him in the side of his head. He went down cold as I took out Mr. Right with a kick to the stomach. The idiot flew back into one of the women, the two of them tumbling with a grunt.

  Zach and Junto had sprung into action. No bullets, but kicks and punches and a quick disarmament of the others. Excellent work. I was impressed.

  I grabbed the same guy I had before, twisted him around, and held him by the neck. “Now. Do we need to have another talk?”

  Silence.

  “Answer me!” I boomed. Call it frustration, maybe the overkill of adrenaline, but I was seriously losing my cool. This was wasting time, and I’d reached my kill point. If I had to snap this guy’s neck, I wouldn’t hesitate to do so. All of them. They were keeping me from my Aki.

  No one fucked with Aki. No one got in my way.

  I tightened my grip on the asshole, choking him. “I won’t ask you again.” So easy to snap that bone, to leave him a corpse in the rain. The bloodlust was as real as it ever had been. If I needed to kill, then I’d kill. There is a fierceness we hold within us. We’re all capable of slaughter, no matter the species, when we feel like we’ve been backed into a corner, or when those we love are threatened.

  I took my heart seriously.

  I took Aki seriously.

  They were all one step away from death. I could still tear them apart, wolf or not, the desire vibrating in my fingertips.

  Just give me that push…

  A woman stepped forward, her nose bloody, her hands in the air. “We don’t need to talk. We’ll go. We’re sorry.”

  You’re not sorry. “Good.” I shoved the guy to the ground. He coughed and spluttered, the same woman helping him up. “Now get the fuck out of here.”

  They ran, staggered, down the street behind me.

  I�
�d already forgotten them, staring at that apartment block.

  “He’s moving deeper inside,” Junto said.

  I broke into a run, not needing to say or think about what’d happened, about anything that wasn’t getting to Aki.

  A shadow moved across the apartment block, casting red eyes on me as I reached the crossroads the building sat on.

  Mazoku.

  A hiss drifted through the rain.

  Chapter Eleven

  I went up a level to meet my enemy, getting more nostril-assault from the nasty stench of this place.

  On the second floor, there were lights on, circles in the ceiling, really putting a spotlight on all the decay.

  I waited. Let the spider come to the fly.

  There were two stairwells. The one I’d just come up on, and one on the opposite side which Sean was using. Meeting halfway seemed like a good idea to me. He seemed to be a lot thinner than before, his pale face sunken, and his dark hair had been buzzed off. Looked as sickly as Bitch Face did.

  Rather than let him get some sort of drop on me, my babies tracked him, following him as he came to the second-floor corridor.

  It didn’t take long for him to arrive, dressed in black like me, a mazoku hissing behind him.

  “Everyone’s wearing black these days,” I said, pointing a katana at him as he made his way down the hall. “Shall we add some red to it?”

  “You shouldn’t have come here,” he warned, hands igniting purple. “I’ll blow your head off.” The energy started to form into a ball. But it shrunk every time it grew, not getting to the right stage.

  Ha ha! Dickhead was shaking like a million leaves, and Bob and Rose were enjoying his stinky fear as they padded around him.

  “What’s that matter, Seany Boy? Can’t get it up.”

  He narrowed his eyes, magic ball shrinking to the point of almost vanishing. Oh, wait. Nope. It was back. Little bit bigger.

  “You’re a piece of work, do you know that?” he seethed.

  Really scary. Not. “Likewise, bruv.”

  “You stand there like you’ve been wronged, but you’re alive. You didn’t die. But all the lives you took in The Serpentine are ended, aren’t they? Those witches and warlocks don’t get to have a second chance.”

  “Anyone got a violin?”

  “What?”

  “Sarcasm, bruv. Ever heard of it? No? Okay, let me put this a different way.” I cleared my throat. “Ready?”

  His ball was growing again. “You don’t even care.”

  “Ah, you answered for me. You’re right. I don’t give a shit about you or any of those wankers I cut down. Why would I? Huh? You’re all a sneaky bunch of bastards. Okay, not fair. You’re not all bad, I guess. Some good eggs. But not many. What a bad rep you lot have. Warlocks and witches. You need some damage control.” I stepped forward, his ball shrinking as he stepped back. “You,” I pointed the blade back at him again, “were in league with Mama Rita. You wanted to destroy, to kill me, to bring chaos. I… What…what am I doing here?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous!” Sean barked.

  Sean? I blinked at the warlock. Warlock? Yes. Warlock. Sean the warlock. Where was I? Wy was I feeling so weird?

  “You’re here for revenge.” It was Caramel Man. “Don’t let him take that away from you. Remember what he did, who he is.”

  Sean… Part of Mama Rita’s crew…

  End Mama Rita…

  Give her death…

  “Yes,” Caramel Man whispered.

  Everything clicked back into place as more ice filled my veins, a fresh burst to chill me down. It was kinda nice having it there, like it made sense, like it was easy. My mind had never felt like an easy place, but it did now. A simple space. Kill Mama Rita, and this prick, then let the world get on with it.

  Sean sent a bolt of purple energy at me.

  Dickhead. Hadn’t he been given the memo? It met my blades and became mine.

  I did my arm-crossing thing, sent his power back at him as a crackling white and red bolt that got him right in the head.

  “What a shot! Oh, and mess. Gonna be a bitch to get that out of the carpet.”

  His body crumbled, and I stepped over it, soldiering on up to floor number three via the stairwell of grime. The mazoku buddy of Sean’s recoiled and vanished, sounding irritated. Ha! They always sounded irritated. Part of their genes, init?

  “Hissy, wissy, woo,” I sang.

  Caramel Man laughed warmly at me.

  I wasn’t intending to pause, my plan to go all the way up. But, it turned out, I had a little surprise waiting for me further up, just around the bend.

  He’d been hidden before, but there he was, crouched with a sword, Bob and Rose growling their invisible anger at him.

  Elf. The man elf who hung around with Mama Rita, who’d helped her cause pandemonium with his magic, who’d been there at the pagoda when G and me had been taken down.

  “Liam,” Caramel Man said, not happy that this Liam wanker was here.

  “Friend of yours?”

  He didn’t answer.

  Liam stirred on his spot at the sound of my voice, slowly rising.

  Bring it.

  What was wrong with Caramel Man, though? Why did he know Liam?

  Fuck it. People knew people. Didn’t matter. Liam was screwed.

  “Alright, Liam?” That’d freak him out. Hadn’t known his name before.

  “I’ll end you right here,” the elf replied.

  “That so?”

  He held his sword, ready for action. A broadsword fit for a bulky guy like him, tanned and silver-eyed, the birthmark of the elf goddess on his forehead.

  “Kill him.” Caramel Man was back.

  “Already ahead of you, bruv.”

  Liam didn’t move, waiting for me. Normally that was me doing the waiting, but I fancied switching it up some. Plus, a bit of a sword fight would be good for me, good for the limbs, really get the blood pumping.

  He parried the strike I made with one katana, then managed to avoid the next.

  “Almost got your leg, wank stain.”

  He grunted, pushing me back and doing his own, sluggish swing. I mean, it was okay. He’d had some training. But sluggish was sluggish and not much of a scrap really.

  How disappointing.

  Never mind. We could still have a minute of grunting, of him thinking he actually stood a chance.

  “Kill him,” Caramel Man said again. “Don’t delay. Get upstairs.”

  I rolled my eyes, jumping back down a step to avoid a stab.

  Yeah, this was a crappy waste of him really. “Fine.”

  Liam got one katana in the belly, his elven power robbed, then one through the forehead.

  “There. Dead,” I said, pulling my blades free.

  “Good. Now keep going.”

  I took the steps two at a time, charging my way up to the twelfth floor as the shadowy demons hissed their indignation.

  Chapter Twelve

  Gabriel

  Two mazoku, the other bursting from a cracked window. They teamed up, rushing at us.

  “Get ready!” I yelled, holding up my torch. “Form a line.”

  We stood shoulder to shoulder, a beacon of light against the shadows. They came at us, swooping low.

  “Hold your nerve.” I knew Zach wouldn’t hear me, but he didn’t have to. He was holding it together because he wanted to save Aki from this elvish poison as much as I did. He wanted his own future with his brother.

  Soldiers against the night. The trick was not to kill the demons and let them respawn into more. We didn’t want to tackle more than we could handle.

  The shadow creature flinched at my deflector torch and recoiled as twirling smoke, retreating to the apartment block.

  Figures moved ahead, dashing around the edges of the building. Quick. Not human quick.

  Banshees.

  Well, well, well. Here they were again, the constant pain in everyone’s ass. Lana and her male sidekick. Their hair
white, eyes white too, and their hands, vicious talons.

  Lana released her wail, the air rippling from the force it. I dove out of the way, drew the pistol and fired.

  Missed by inches.

  Banshees were fast—often too fast when you wanted to nail them down. The male was next to scream, Zach caught in the trajectory. He flew back, hit the asphalt, and tumbled into an awkward backward roll.

  He’d dropped his mazoku deflector.

  I burst into a run, leaping into the path of a mazoku as it plunged downward, clawed shadow hands extended. It turned on a hairpin at the last moment, spinning and darting off to the side away from my protective light.

  Taking Zach by the hand, I hefted him to his feet, and we both jumped back into action.

  “Give it up!” the male banshee cried, wrapped around a lamppost halfway up as if he were a pole dancer.

  Another scream, striking Junto as he fired his pistol at the same time.

  Direct hit from both sides, the one to the banshee fatal.

  The banshee yelped, falling from the lamppost onto his back as Junto rolled past me. I didn’t have time to help him up as Lana was after me, tearing across the road with her furious speed.

  I held the gun up, finger ready to squeeze the trigger.

  From the corner of my eye, I saw Zach dashing for the male banshee, then a mazoku swirling its way toward me, which then zipped upward.

  Lana cackled and lowered her body to run even faster. I fired and rolled, the bullet going wide.

  Dammit!

  Back on my feet, I spun to face her. A hissing from above tore my attention away.

  The mazoku rushed me—a hawk to a mouse.

  I was no mouse. I holstered the gun, not wasting anymore bullets.

  I leaped to the side, swung my deflector, and got caught in the scream of the banshee just like I’d wanted, holding the mazoku-repelling light as I went down. My core strength was strong and helped with my landing and the fakery I was presenting as truth.

  A victim on the ground, open and ready to kill.