Nick suddenly found himself with Nightingale’s legs around his neck. He was so tall he had wrapped them around and brought Nick down to his back, constricting like a snake. Nick couldn’t move. He was done for. He had nothing left. His wolf powers hadn’t returned, and he didn’t have enough to win. Yet, after all that damage, Nightingale was laughing. Seconds away from death, Nick felt Nightingale release him. He pointed to Nick as he rose. “You settle the fuck down now, cunty.”
“What are you doing?” the call came finally. It probably wasn’t the first time they had been yelled at, but only heard it now. “Stop! We need you both alive.”
“Listen here ya slippery gypsy,” Nightingale said, spitting out globs of blood as his jaw again began reattaching. “I ain’t your bitch. You got my money? This cunt is your problem not mine. I want my money…or all yas can grease my hubcaps with your assholes. So what’s it gonna be?”
Nick rolled over to see the scene around him phasing in and out. “You drive a hard bargain, Mr Nightingale. Very well. We will take him off your hands, and you will be handsomely rewarded.”
“Mutha fucker, you think I’m waitin’ for a cheque? I want my money, right here, right fucking now.”
“I do not have it. But…if you wish, you can accompany us to where it is.”
“Uh huh…right. Big vault or some shit? Who the fuck do you think you’re talkin’ to son?”
“On the contrary, I intend to introduce you to the man responsible for both bounties. Therefore, the one with the money to pay you. The Vampire King of Sydney.”
“No fucking way,” Nightingale replied delightedly. “Donkey Douglas? That prick? Well then let’s vamoose and gets me some cash.”
Nick’s limbs wouldn’t cooperate. He couldn’t move. Instead, he had to be picked up by Nightingale and flung over his shoulder. “And just what do you think you’re doin’? You ain’t touchin’ my lil’ bud. He’s worth more than it would take to kill yas but don’t think it ain’t on my mind. You just get to drivin’ and we’ll be fine.” And still with Nick on his shoulder, Nightingale performed a jig as he walked to their van singing, “We’re off to see the wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz…and if he fucks with me, I’m gonna take him out…because because becauuuuussse…because he’s a pharkin’ cunt…”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Wall of Flames
“Breaking news, this just in, a plane bound for London has crashed moments after taking off from Sydney Airport. The wreckage of the craft has sprawled across Qantas Drive....”
Alex and Michelle looked at each other with shock. “Oh my God...”
“Fucking hell...”
“...there are grave fears there are no survivors. Several witnesses have rung the station from their cars as traffic is blocked for several kilometres. Emergency services have been dispatched but there are massive delays in getting there. To any drivers on the road, a reminder to please move aside and let them through as it is an offence not to do so. We will bring you any updates as they come along, but in the meantime, please keep the passengers and their loved ones in your thoughts and prayers.”
Alex pointed out the window as the radio reverted back to music. “Mish...look.”
Michelle gasped at the huge haze of orange seen just over the trees to their right. From there, the airport wasn’t all that far away, but it still looked closer than it was. The sky was so dense the dust and smoke rose only to be absorbed into the black and disappear. It was as if the smoke was feeding the darkness which seemed to be sucking it up from the wreck as if needing more and ravenous with its hunger.
Alex got out as soon as the car stopped. The street was quiet and not a soul was in sight. She looked out over the trees at the haze, staring at it, imagining what those poor people must’ve gone through. The loss of life. The tragedy of it all. People died all the time; it was true. Dying was a part of life but so many people? So horribly? Alex longed for hope in her own world. And despite the dark things that crept through it, she trusted that good would always overcome. Situations like this though, shook her to her core.
“You can’t do anything for them,” Michelle said softly, standing beside her, putting her hand on Alex’s back.
“It’s not that. Well...”
“I can tell on your face. You get a look.”
“I guess I just wish I could help,” Alex replied, shaking her head to clear it before walking back to the car. “But what can I do? It’s stupid. I’m just one person.”
“You still would try. It’s one of the things I love about you.”
“But what good is that?” Alex replied. “A lot of people have good intentions. Doesn’t mean they can or will do anything.”
“Alex don’t do this to yourself. You’re acting like this was somehow your fault.”
“It’s not that...” Alex said, placing her hand on the door. “I guess with all this...” she said, waving her hand around her at the pitch blackness. “I’m looking for hope.”
Michelle was about to respond but screamed instead, and both women jumped back as a car sped directly into their trunk, crushing it. Alex took a few seconds to process the near miss before running ahead. The car that hit them had someone clinging to its hood: someone with fangs. Alex got close to the vehicle and stopped. The driver of the car was a woman, screaming out of sheer panic. The vampire snarled and snapped its jaws together, trying desperately to break the windscreen. The sound of an infant crying reached Alex’s ears. A baby in the back seat.
“Hey!” Alex yelled, getting its attention. Luckily the headlights of both hers and the woman’s car were on or she wouldn’t have been able to see the thing. The vampire looked up and Alex stilled for a moment. The vampire had pulsing veins visible from its forehead. The eyes were glazed over with a white film. It looked sick.
“Alex!” Michelle yelled. “It’s starving! Come away. It’s feral!”
Alex backed away but with her hands outstretched. “Come on...come and get me...you don’t want anything in there. I’m right here...come on...”
The vampire crawled off the car and along the dirt towards her, sneering so a glob of bloodied bile descended from its mouth. Creeping forward on its hands and knees. Alex held up a hand to Michelle, stopping her from pulling out her gun. “Get them out of the car…”
Michelle did just that, slowly backing around the vampire as it continued closing in on Alex when suddenly it leapt up. Alex hit the deck as it sailed over her head. Within a second, Alex felt her ankle grabbed and she was dragged away towards the snarling fiend. She screamed and looked up to call to Michelle, who, on the other side of the car, was firing down the road. More of them were coming.
Alex wriggled free and made to get up but was grabbed yet again. The dust around her was picking up due to her frantic movements. She coughed and wheezed. The only reason she could see anything was due to the headlights, but she was basically blind. She twisted to her back and flung her free foot around, hoping it would startle the beast. What it did, Alex couldn’t believe.
With one hit, Alex heard a crunch and splatter as her foot struck its jaw. The grip on her slackened instantly and the vampire fell back, not moving. Alex scrambled to her feet and ran towards the car, something warm splashing against her leg as she went. Michelle was reloading a clip, the woman inside was frozen with fear in the back seat with her infant.
“Is the baby ok?” Alex yelled into the back window.
“I…I think so…”
Alex pivoted as the barest of oncoming shapes came in to her visual range. “Alex, we’ve gotta get out of here. Get in the car.”
“Can’t. This is leaking fuel. I stepped in some.”
“Ours then!”
“We have to move now. I’ve only got four bullets left.”
Two now, as Michelle fired into the night. Alex opened the door and held her hands out for the baby. “Here!”
The baby’s screaming only made the vampires hurry, keen for young, fresh blood. The mother launched herself out of t
he car and joined Alex who returned her child to her.
“Thank you!” the mother said through terrified tears.
“Go! Get in.”
Michelle bolted forward, firing behind her as she reached Alex. The shot ignited the fuel on the ground and the car itself exploded, destroying the two lead vampires that had chased them. Yet in the seconds when the area around them was illuminated with orange and red before it descended back to darkness, Michelle saw the same as Alex. Vampires. Just as feral. They were surrounded.
Alex stood staring. Not at the horde of vampires around them. But at the flames. Something about them seemed familiar. A strange sensation of warmth welled inside but not from them.
There was no time to scream. Not even time to panic. Michelle gripped Alex just as tightly as she gripped her and ran as hard as they could to their measly hope of salvation. The SUV with a smashed back left-hand side.
Michelle gunned the car into gear and floored it, leaving the wreckage behind but not the danger. They felt the car sporadically bump and heard the screeching caused by claw slashes as they raced along. The vampires were right on their heels.
*
“Dammit! It’s the sky…” Michelle said, shifting gears just as the car wobbled from a strike. “It’s done something to them, or they haven’t got as good a food source. We can’t do this forever.”
Michelle looked to see Alex looking straight ahead as if nothing had been said. It was only after Michelle said her name that Alex turned, slowly exposing her face and her eyes to Michelle. Eyes that flashed a brilliant glowing gold. “Keep going…” Alex said in a voice that sounded like hers, but with a sheen of power to the tone, as if she were speaking into the grate of a fan on full blast. Michelle was struck dumb before another shudder of the car caused her to check the rear-view mirror. The car was heading a pair of fire trails, racing after them. For a moment, Michelle imagined this car too was leaking fuel but she looked back and the flames were not directly behind the vehicle. They were to the side of it. Vampires were crumbling under the flames, their screams almost as loud as the engine.
Alex slapped her hand on the dashboard and held it there as the flames behind them skewed off and past the back end of the car, reaching the side of Michelle’s door. It formed a shield around them.
Not having seen Alex’s eyes, having no idea what was going on, the woman in the back screamed at the sight of the flames.
“Keep your head down! This is going to get rough!” Michelle yelled.
She did as she was told, covering her baby as well. Finally, the flames lowered and died down. And all the world around them returned to pitch black.
“It’s ok! We’re ok…” Michelle called to the back, lowering her speed and then her voice. “We are ok…right?”
Alex’s eyes had returned to normal and looked at her hands. “I don’t know…”
“You’re doing this, aren’t you?” Michelle asked softly.
“I…I think so…”
Though Alex, like Michelle it seemed, wasn’t so sure.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Desperation
Nick felt his feet dragged across a tiled floor, the ripples on the toes of his shoe roused him. He was being held by the back of his neck alone, dragged by Nightingale and then flung forward to the ground.
“What is this?” a familiar voice asked. Nick opened his eyes to find Dante Delavega staring down at him from a desk. Nightingale spread his arms wide. “I’ve come to collect the bounty.”
“You?” Dante asked, looking down yet again at Nick. “So you are still alive.”
“Yep and perfect…” Lee flipped him over to his stomach with a foot. “Meh. Semi perfect health. So….got my money?”
“Why isn’t he healing?” Dante asked.
“Who gives a shit?”
“Do you know what he is? An Alpha wolf could never be disposed of so easily. How do I know this is really him?”
Nightingale pressed his hands to his chest, pretending to act shocked. “You would doubt my veracity, sir?”
“There are plenty of things I doubt about you, Nightingale. Veracity is one.”
“Well…I never.”
“Would you believe just your word?”
Nightingale clicked his fingers. “Fair point that.” He lifted Nick to a semi standing position. “C’mon Fido. Speak up now or no one will ever hold your piece.”
Nick coughed and spat blood on the floor as he tried to speak, “Dante…”
Nick spotted something that Nightingale missed. A look of disappointment on Dante’s face. Why? Nick had no idea, but he couldn’t worry about that. “Dante please…let me go. I have to get out of here.”
“You’re not exactly in a position to make demands, Nicholas. Or requests. As you can see, we have other guests among us. All with a particular interest in you. The thing I was worried about, should your identity be discovered, has happened. The government has gotten involved in the paranormal of Sydney and they want you.”
“S’cuse…I don’t give a fuck about this,” Nightingale said. “You two can have your mother’s meeting after I get paid.”
Dante reached for a briefcase on his desk and tossed it to Nightingale. “There. You have half your bounty. Sovereign has the rest. Now do something useful. Shut your mouth and go with them, you parasitic snake.”
“Sticks and stones, El Capitano Cunt,” Nightingale whistled as he headed for the door, presumably to the motorcade.
“Dammit, Dante, Nicole’s pregnant!” Nick blurted. The Vampire King regarded this so it seemed. His eyes flicked to Nightingale, who had stopped to listen. “You knew her. You may hate wolves, you may hate me, but she’s done nothing to you. Please, I have to get out of Sydney. She’s in trouble in England, and I have to find her. She’s innocent in all of this.”
“Nicholas, I can’t help you. All flights have been grounded out of the city. Nothing is taking off anywhere. They are blaming the crash on electrical interference with the instruments but we know better.”
“Delavega.” Gavin had entered the room, hanging up a phone call. “That was an analyst. Something is happening with the cloud. We have to move to the weapon now.”
So, now was the time for Dante to make his move. Could he? Would he? It would solve so many problems, maybe even the sky. Gavin had both his supposed players in the prophecy. Dante had Nightingale, who Julian wanted. The seconds seemed to tick over into hours, until finally Dante made his choice.
Dante flicked his eyes down for a moment and pressed a hand over his mouth momentarily. “Melina…go with him.”
“What?” the redhead asked.
“Sovereign put up the money for the reward,” he said, addressing Nick. “I was only a point of contact. But if you hand yourself over willingly, I’m sure they will hear you out; perhaps they will grant you an exit out of the city.”
“You’re handing him over to them?” Melina scoffed, as Nick had rough hands heave him up and half drag him out of the room. Dante pulled her in and gave her a passionate kiss, presumably, to keep her from making anymore statements or asking any more questions. If Melina was offended by this, she certainly didn’t show it. After the initial surprise she wrapped her arms around his neck and engaged with feverish abandon, giving soft little moans against his mouth. When they broke apart, Melina looked highly satisfied if not a little giddy.
“We must maintain our new-found friendship with Sovereign for the sake of the city,” he said, before turning to Nick. “Sovereign has decreed you must answer for the lives you took. They assured me no harm would come to you as long as you cooperate.”
“Cooperate with what?”
But no answer came. Nick didn’t know what else to say as he was placed into the back seat of a Hummer, and Melina slinked in beside him. They were the only two passengers in the vehicle. No one else wanted to be around ‘the beast’ that he was. A wave of depression hit him. Dante was his last hope for help. Without him, there was no way Nick could get to
England.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Help From Unexpected Places
Nick felt the car move, and the jolt did nothing to move the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. It couldn’t end like this. He couldn’t just give up, but what else could he do?
“Ok,” said Melina suddenly, looking out the window, straining her neck left and right. “I think we are far enough away now. Turn around.”
“Huh?”
“Give me those cuffs.”
Nick turned as he asked, “But what-”
“Did you really think we were just going to give you over to these arseholes?” Melina stuck her tongue out and there lay a small key.
“The kiss?” Nick said as she put the key in the cuffs but didn’t turn it.
“Was totally different to this…”
Before Nick could move, Melina pressed her soft mouth against his. Within a second, she had peeled his lips apart with her tongue and had given him the softest, most tender kiss. It lasted for a few seconds before she leant back and uncuffed him. “Thanks…” she said, brushing his chin with her fingers.
“Why?”
Melina gave an almost childlike shrug. “I just wanted to remember what it was like to be with one of the good guys. I miss it…” she replied with a thick voice and wiped at her eyes. “She’s a very lucky girl. I hope you find her.” She brushed the lipstick from his mouth.
“Now look. I can help you escape, but you’ve gotta get to the airport on your own. That way it can look like you overpowered me, but you know there is no way you can get on a plane. It’s impossible.”
“Nothing is impossible. Thank you very-”
The car slammed to a halt so fast Nick was flung forward on his knees. Nick heard shouts and gunfire just before the driver of the car scrambled out, pistol ready, and began firing off rounds at something further down the road. Something Nick couldn’t see. Melina broke the window closest to her with an elbow and leaned out.
“Oh, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me. I knew he wouldn’t take just half!” she cried.
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