Nicole was about to answer when Rykard held a hand up. He had heard something and that something happened to be Tynan re-entering the room. But, Nicole noticed, without the others. So did Rykard.
“They having some tea or something?”
“There was no need for them to return. They have agreed to my terms. Which, as luck would have it, means you, the strongest family of the three, are left. So what do you say?”
“You will have my complete cooperation,” Rykard said. “If you hand over the girl.”
Tynan chuckled. “Is that so? And what could you possibly want with her?”
“That is none of your concern.”
“Oh, but it is. She is very valuable as you no doubt know.”
“So is the strength of my armed forces.”
“True. But still no match for mine.”
“I have no interest in a dick measuring contest with you. You drone on about your grand plans and a world of peace. You say you’re an Alpha. So, be an Alpha. You offered a proposal. I have accepted in principal. You are asking for too much, yet I have agreed with only one proviso. The girl and her child.”
Tynan drummed his fingers on the desk. “The girl. Not the child.”
“Offer that one more time, I walk. You should know, as well as I do, the mother needs to be with her child at that age. He is the last of his line. His mother is human and his father is dead. You can lay claim to many things, but an infant is not property. These are my terms. Take it or leave it.”
Tynan stopped drumming his fingers, and folded his fingers into the other hand. “Your entire arsenal?”
“Every last shell.”
Tynan huffed. “To gain your family would certainly give an amount of credibility my cause would take years to achieve otherwise. If we make the transition official, I will agree to your terms.”
“Official? You want all that hoopla? Are you that egotistical?”
“I want your family to witness the exchange of power. It is very important in the early going for them to see their leader handing over the reins officially. It minimises anger and resentment. And I want the invite to go to all members of your house, bar none. This truly will be a memorable day. I want to greet them all collectively if not personally. I want them to understand this is a joint venture, not a takeover. I want them under no illusions about my intent.”
“It seems we are circling an agreement.”
“So it does. Unless of course you have any objections?” Tynan replied, looking towards Nicole.
Nicole frowned. This seemed really easy. Too easy. Was this a test for her? Was Rykard in on it? “No, I don’t.”
“Very well. Why don’t you pack your things and come back down.”
“Really?”
“Yes, of course. I do what is best for my people. And my vision. Non-compliance is not an option. This is what’s best.”
Nicole didn’t wait for him to change his mind, leaving the room with her bundle in a hurry.
*
“So,” Rykard said. “Are you going to tell her about her lover? Or should I?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Oh come on, don’t play dumb. I can smell her scent. She’s longing for him. How long has he been gone now? No one still feels it for a dead wolf. He’s alive isn’t he?”
“It hasn’t been confirmed. So…that’s why you want her. You hope for a true love reunion? I didn’t think you the romantic type, Rykard.”
“She isn’t a wolf. She’s innocent in this. Using her as a pawn for your own gain. It’s wrong. Play the game with the correct pieces.”
“You seriously are going to tell me you won’t use the child? You know what he is. How rare.”
“How ridiculous. Even as an eleventh. He’s a fucking baby. An infant. What is he going to do besides stink out the place for years?”
Tynan smiled as he heard the sound of gas filling the room. Rykard gave a short cough. Then another, more pronounced.
“If only you knew…”
*
Nicole returned and stood in a state of shock after getting into the room. A fine pink haze of vapour was in the room, but it was only seconds before it cleared. Both men sat in their places as if they hadn’t moved. Nicole couldn’t stop staring at Rykard or what was left of him. The skin of his face was peeling off. Copious amounts of blood poured out of his mouth, and his eyes had sunken back into the skull, decomposing years before her eyes. Dead.
Tynan turned to face her, deadly serious. “I’m afraid your travel plans have been cancelled.”
He rose slowly, glancing over at Rykard’s body before turning back as Nicole moved as slowly away from him as possible. “Let this be a lesson. Yet another. You entered into an agreement with me. You and your child are going nowhere. Whatever flights of fancy may enter your head or whatever hero you think can save you. This is what happens to those that defy me.”
“My son will never be used to fight for you.”
“Oh no? What do you think caused this? His blood. Mixed with silver and wolfbane. So simple. So effective. Yet no effect on humans. Or the inoculated…” he said, smiling and holding a small shining circular ball. “In a few days, I’ll have a great deal of these things. Ready for any enemy that comes my way.”
“You…” Monster wasn’t even the word. “His family…they will fight now.”
“Ah yes…his family.” He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a phone, pressing a number, and held it to his ear quickly. “Field of gold.”
Tynan hung up and grabbed Rykard by the shirt. Both his corpse and Nicole were pulled to the window. The baby in her arms woke from his sleep and started to stir. Outside, the view of his grounds was magnificent, it was true. She faced the spacious area, roughly the size of four football fields pressed together in a square. Beyond that was the guard towers which the exit road led out between toward the vast English countryside.
The window in front of them slowly slid up, revealing the stiff breeze of winter. Tynan lifted Rykard’s body and flung him out the window. Tynan grabbed Nicole and held her bent over the rail, holding her baby tight, making her watch what was to happen. As Rykard’s body hit the field, the area exploded in a shower of dirt and fire.
“Mines. All through this field. Hundreds of them. Armed whenever I say. Let his family come. They have no access to aircraft. They will have to break down my defences. His family. Alicia. Talia. Let them come. And when they do…” He swept his hand slowly over the grounds, throwing and catching the ball for good measure. “I’ll be ready.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Follow The Leader
“Turn right…” Alex said.
“What, where?”
“Turn right!”
Michelle swerved the car to the right, heading down another long, thin road surrounded by bushland.
“Alex what the hell is going on?” Michelle waited for a reply, but Alex was staring into the distance with a stone-faced expression. “Alex?”
Michelle slammed on the breaks. To their right was a pathway to Janolan Caves. Hail was falling on to the windscreen. More and more of it. And Michelle noticed some was slamming through the glass and into the car. Piercing the glass in drops and slits. “What the...” A few drops fell straight into the car through a previous hole in the glass.
“Ok, we’ve gotta get out. Alex, can you get the baby...Alex?”
Alex had vacated her seat to start walking towards the pathway, moving stiff as a board, as if not hearing a word Michelle said. Michelle screamed after her again but gave up just for a moment as another droplet fell, this time on her thigh, causing her to yell in pain. Michelle got out of the car and helped the mother and child from the back seat. They bent over the child, and offering some protection, followed the path. Firstly, the caves were the only sure protection but secondly to get to Alex, who still refused to even acknowledge her cries. Michelle hissed and hurried as the rain grew heavier. Not every drop that fell burnt, but it all fe
lt hot and caused their clothes to smoke. Strangely Alex did not seem affected, moving casually, if briskly, towards the entrance to one cave. Michelle, through a wincing gaze, saw Alex walk up to the chained gate and pull the chain away. It snapped with a single gesture, and she tossed it away with indifference before disappearing into the cold black opening. Michelle screamed for her, but again, it made no difference. Alex either didn’t hear or didn’t care to notice. Michelle reached the area just beyond the fence, but Alex was nowhere to be found. She sat the mother down inside the mouth of the cave and ventured after Alex, using her torch to light the way. But Alex was gone. Michelle kept looking back at the mother and baby, currently being fed, just to check on them and her distance from the entrance. It was here she walked straight into a solid rock wall she didn’t even know was there.
She swore and rubbed her forehead. Flashing her phone light over the surface she stopped as she came to a particularly strange etching. A rather precise formation within the rock. Michelle ran her fingers along a drawing, a carving really, of a letter. The letter V.
Chapter Thirty
Meet Thy Enemy
Nick taxied out, almost blind. The navigation system flickered without power, and the runway was nearly dark. The only speck of light was the small drabs he could see from the reflectors.
“Which way to Pommyland?”
“I don’t know.”
“Is this gunna work?”
“I don’t know.”
“Can you really fly this thing?”
“Fuck! I don’t know.”
“Testy lil’ bastard ain’t ya…”
“Just lemme concentrate.”
Lee rolled his eyes. “Since when do you have to concentrate to fly? These things practically fly ‘emselves, aye. What’s this do?”
“DON’T!”
“Unidentified aircraft…please respond…”
The radio crackled but the message got through. Both Nick and Lee stopped and looked at each other.
“Unidentified aircraft…you do not have clearance to depart. I repeat, you do not have clearance…”
Lee snatched the receiver from its holster, clearing his throat. “A duel was fought between Alexander Shott and John Nott. Nott was shot and Shott was not. In this case it is better to be Shott than Nott. Some said that Nott was not shot. But Shott says that he shot Nott.
It may be that the shot Shott shot, shot Nott, or it may be possible that the shot Shott shot, shot Shott himself. I reckon, however, that the shot that cunt Shott shot, shot not Shott, but Nott. Anyway, it’s pretty fuckin’ hard to tell which was shot and which was not…”
“Unidentified aircraft…you do not have clearance…I repeat, you do not have clearance. You are in direct violation of Australian aviation law…”
Lee peered across at Nick, whispering loudly as the outside of the plane was thumped with steady, heavy hail. “I can only stall them for so long. Might wanna hurry the fuck up and get in the air…”
*
Alex stalked through the tight, constricting caverns, and finally coming to an opening, tripped. How long she had been walking, she couldn’t tell. As she steadied herself, she took in the space around her. The walls with sharp ridges she had passed had given way to walls that had been smoothed. She recognised these walls and formations, she had seen them in her dreams. Sharp and intimidating had become warm and welcoming. Blacks and browns had become reds and oranges. A huge pool of crystal clear, blue water lay in front of her.
How it was such a bright, almost luminance like, blue when all around was like different shades of the sun she didn’t know.
“Hello, Alexandra,” a voice flowed through the cave. Alex looked up and several feet in front of her lay a small shadowed area where she saw a small movement. She heard the swish of what sounded like a cloak coming closer, but the figure remained in shadow. She heard a tap as well, like a walking stick…or staff.
Finally, the figure came into the light, tapping a long white staff as he moved, stopping just outside the shadow area. He looked a few inches taller than Alex, wearing a red cloak that held a hood over his face.
“Who are you?”
“Don’t be afraid,” he replied, slowly peeling the hood back. He was handsome in the way Alex would describe as ‘pretty’. His cheekbones were gorgeously developed, and he had a pale tinge to his skin with long, silky black hair. She would’ve thought him a vampire, but his eyes told her a different story. Icy, almost electric blue. They sparkled and shone as if lightning existed in his irises. “I mean you no harm. My name is Masonian.” He gave her a tight, yet warm smile that cut through her frustration, her fear and her mistrust. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
“You…I’ve heard that name somewhere…” Alex tipped her head sideways. “Seriously, waiting for me?”
“You have been through so much, Alexandra.”
“Yeah, I guess you could say that. Does that mean you can explain all of it?”
“I can explain a lot, but I fear it will bring you little comfort. I wish I could tell you your journey has ended and you could lay your arms down. I cannot. Truthfully, you have only now come face to face with your destiny. At a time when the fate of millions depends upon you.”
“Yeah, you see that, right there?” Alex pointed to Masonian. “That explaining thing? Let’s start there.”
“Would you like to ask anything specific?”
“How long have you been here?”
“It is difficult to gauge. But something akin to several thousands of your years.”
“How are you still so young?”
“I am an echo from my time. A memory stored within these walls by my actual physical body. I do not exist outside this very space.”
“How are you here, talking to me?”
“In simple terms…magic. In my time, I was known as one of the most powerful wizards alive. A Master of Magic. Though over the years I have taken on other titles. The God of Thunder, or the Lord of Lighting.”
“Wait! I’ve…I’ve heard that name. My aunt, she used to tell me stories about…yeah. Lord of Lightning. I thought it was bedtime stories.”
“Did she tell you anything about yourself?”
“Just that I was special. But what half decent person wouldn’t say that to a scared, lonely kid? She was also talking to me about you and what was it…Scorpious? The power of…um-”
“The Power of Two,” Masonian replied sadly. “The cornerstone of The Draco Knights belief system. Where the V symbol came from. Two entities meeting and continuing forward. The symbol existed as a means for people to rally behind.”
“That’s great, but what does it have to do with me?”
“I was once very much real. As was the meaning behind the V symbol.” Masonian raised his index fingers. “You and your destiny…” He moved his fingers down and closer together as he went. “As you’ve gone through your life, you were moving closer together.”
“But how? I haven’t done anything.”
“You have. You have saved lives Alexandra. Touched many. And you can touch so many more.”
“Why? How? What am I?”
“I must confess that when forming and guiding these women, I never thought to name them. However, over so many years, they have been moulded, shaped and translated into various forms and given many names. One though, has stood out.”
“Which is?”
Masonian gave a hint of a smile as if his pride couldn’t be held in. “Valkyrie.”
*
Nick made his way to the beginning of the runway. There was nothing but a stretch of darkness in front of the plane. Nick powered up and launched the craft forward, ignoring Lee’s delighted “Yeeha” at the take off.
The wheels trembled slightly but they were in the air. Nick had turned off the radio. He didn’t want to hear anything except his own pre-flight checks. The higher they rose, and the more the black mist swirled around them, the more shaking occurred in the plane, more so than usual clim
bing turbulence, but Nick kept her steady. Minute after minute, it seemed to thin out. It was still nearly impossible to make anything out, but it was getting slightly easier.
Nick was tapping his navigation screen when a thunderous rumble caused him to look back up. They had found their way into a vast pocket at the centre of the cloud it seemed. Where once they were surrounded by black, they now faced ashen grey all around.
“Kinda weird…” Lee said.
Nick didn’t reply, focusing straight ahead where the cloud swirled fiercely and this time with a purpose. A huge formation moved forward to meet them. The same formation Nick had seen in the doomed aircraft. A face, only this time gargantuan. Looking directly at them. Challenging them to keep coming. As if it recognised Nick from their previous encounter several hours ago. Maybe, whatever this thing was, it was angered it had been robbed of another dead body. And here Nick was, back, to cheat death a second time. The great mouth opened, and the wind around the plane bellowed like a beast.
“I seen some shit in my day…but never like this…” Lee said.
Nick lurched the plane sideways and just dodged the tendrils of smoke shooting out at them to try to grip the plane just as they had the previous doomed airliner. “Hang on!” Nick yelled.
*
“I don’t understand. How?” Alex asked.
“You are the last of a lost line of maidens entrusted with extraordinary powers in order to provide hope to the innocent people that would look up to you.”
“But that’s just it. I haven’t. Who did I save? The girl and the car was a freak accident. I was lucky. Hell, I tried to save Lauren from Ryan and I couldn’t even do that. She suffered because of him. If it wasn’t for Nick, I would’ve lost Michelle. And Nick…” Alex shook her head. “Some hero I am. I’m sorry, but you’ve got the wrong girl.”
“I haven’t. Your powers have been inside you for your entire life. It is only recently they have begun to surface. Just as those long before you.”
“I have powers?”
“Only some of which you have yet discovered.”
Alex glanced down, absorbing the information. “So…what can I do?”
Pack Master (Undeadly Secrets Book 4) Page 18