“What kind of weapons?” asked Jonathan?
“Swords! These swords were forged thousands of years ago by powerful witches. When our kind emerged, there were many who feared us so they developed these weapons to kill those who would harm others, not knowing that our nature is peaceful.” answered Henry.
“If I remember the stories about you correctly, you were anything but peaceful.” added Masaru.
“I have many flaws and I have made many mistakes, I admit to that. But I have tried for hundreds of years to make amends and in this form I have not turned into a werewolf, I am fully human, that is why Rene can perform spells on me, but she cannot perform spells directly on the wolves. Every member of my kind, after it turns, it taps into the moral compass of our breed. Once we connect to it, we will not hurt anyone unless we are in danger. It can be said that a werewolf is the only being born with a moral compass as it is passed on from parents to children. But in this life of mine, I was not born as a werewolf, but as a human.” replied Henry a bit irritated by Masaru’s words.
“Henry, get back to what’s important: the weapons!” urged Jonathan.
“The weapons we need are under the Black Church, but I am afraid that is where Constantine is also. However, I do not think he knows about their existence, or at least I hope he does not know. The Black Church is built over a large complex of rooms and hallways. It is so intricate anyone can easily get lost in it. My boys know where they are.”
“So now we have to find a way to transport wolves into Romania and we must get under the same place where the beasts live.” said Jonathan. “Great! Henry, we need your private plane to take the wolves there. We will only take the two who hid them.”
As the draco finished his phrase, the wolves all howled loudly.
“What’s happening here?” asked Alex.
“I think they don’t agree with separating.” said Henry.
“We can’t take that many wolves there!” added Alex.
“Money buys everything, Alex. We will pay to get them there in safety. More wolves will actually be of help to us. Who knows how many of the monsters will be there. The more wolves we have with us, the more our odds increase to kill the bastards.” said Henry
“Good, then it is settled!” added Jonathan.
The dracos, the witch, Henry, and Ava, arranged their trip. Jonathan, Mark, and Ria took care of the papers needed to take the wolves across the borders of France. While the wolves were perfectly capable of running through the forests and the mountains from Paris to Brasov, it would have taken too long for them to reach the city. However, arranging to fly out a pack of wolves was not too easy. And making it so that no one would mark the plane as carrying wolves was even more difficult, but with the help of a few dracos working in airports, they managed to pull it off. On the 2nd of January, in the evening, the whole crew was in Brasov. While the dracos and the humans got rooms to local hotels, the wolves were left to roam the forests in search of any other werewolf movement.
The black and the white wolves were out hunting for food, they came across a rabbit and they intended to eat it, but another creature was lurking behind the trees. This one, was tall, dark, with over-developed muscles, large claws, and teeth reeking of blood. This was not a natural werewolf; it was one of the monsters of Constantine.
“My brothers, they are in danger!” said Ava feeling all that the white and the black felt, but not being able to see through their eyes.
“I feel it too!” said Henry.
The beast jumped in front of the wolves howling and showing its large teeth which smelled of death. The two wolves also showed their teeth and, as the monster threw his claw in the air to strike the white, the black jumped to his neck, not giving him enough time to react, and then the white gave him the final blow. The monster collapsed in a small spring and turned to ash.
“They are alright.” breathed Ava like something heavy got lifted off her chest.
The dracos spent the night deciphering the city and the Black Church, but they did not get inside of it. They tried not to raise any suspicion.
“We are quiet, but this place seems awfully silent. It seems like no werewolf is here.” said Jonathan. “Something is not right!”
“We should be thankful for the quietude. We do not need any of those monsters here.” said Alex.
“Shht!” said Jonathan with all his senses heightened. “Listen!”
The dracos all listened carefully, standing in front of the Black Church. They could even listen to a nocturnal butterfly landing on a tree. Suddenly, Jonathan yelled “Move!”, but it was too late as the ground beneath them crashed and everybody fell a hundred meters into a tunnel.
“What the hell happened?” asked Ria while trying to get out of the pile of dust.
“The bastard knew we were here!” replied Jonathan.
“So if he knows we are here…” added Mark.
“Then he is prepared to kill us!” said Jonathan.
The dracos, without Aiko, Henry, Ava, Rene, or any wolf, were in a tunnel and, above them, a platform moved to replace the one which collapsed.
“Jonathan!” said Ava. “They are in danger. Something happened to them!”
“You can feel that too?” asked Henry noticing more and more strange signs in his daughter.
“I will go after them!” added Aiko not hearing the monsters closing in on the small hotel they were at.
“No! If they are in danger then it is because they fell into a trap.” continued Rene, but before she could open her mouth to let a new idea out, five werewolf monsters entered the room grabbing them all and taking them to the Black Church. No matter how much the four of them tried to escape the pull of the beasts, they could not free themselves. They entered the tall church and, inside, standing in front of the altar, was Constantine, in his human form.
“My love, we meet again!” he said. “My werewolves took the scent of dracos, they sensed them even before they arrived here. And you, my dear, I have been waiting for over 300 years to see again.”
“Has it been that long? I did not notice!” replied Ava.
Constantine then started to turn into a monster. “Tell me, do you like what I have become?” he asked in a changed, beastly voice, while touching the woman’s face with one of his claws and closing in his face to sniff her hair. “Ah, the same smell of cherry blossom, the same long copper and golden locks, the same soft skin, and the same eyes filled with hate for me. Do not worry, soon, you will see it all my way! But before that, you shall witness the death of your beloved Jonathan, your father, friends, and your siblings.”
“You’ve lived for 300 years here and all you thought of was revenge? You are a weak man with a weak mind and a weak soul.” replied Ava.
“No, my dear, revenge is not all that I thought of, but you shall find out the rest of my plans after their deaths. I fought for you once, I had to withstand more than 300 years of pain, now let’s see how much he is able to withstand.” Then, looking at one of his sires he added “Throw the draco in the tunnels! And chain the rest! They will be spectators to the show.”
The werewolves did as they were told. Aiko was thrown into the tunnels while Rene, Henry, and Ava were chained to the wall. Huge screens covered the opposing wall and they began to show images from all the tunnels and rooms in the complex behind the church. The complex was vast and intricate and Constantine knew of it since 1718 when Cristian discovered it. In the 21st century, Constantine added cameras which could monitor it all. He planned this moment for a long time and now he was about to relish in it.
“Jonathan is over 300 years old, he is the strongest creature that exists!” said Ava enraged.
“No, my dear, he is not! He might be the strongest of dracos, but not the strongest of creatures. And he is now losing his abilities.” Then he stared intensely into Ava’s eyes while saying “I know, I have been informed of your latest deed! You are all weak now. And the witch can’t harm me in any way, I am a werewolf and her magic i
s limited to humans, dracos and other witches of her kind.”
“You are unnatural. How is it that I could not detect you? How is it that my magic is still going away?” asked Rene.
“You belong to a special breed of witches, that that developed after the equilibrium of nature was disturbed. But before you, there were others, those that appeared at the same time with werewolves. Those witches are only connected to the existence of the wolves.”
“So, you have a witch?” asked Rene, but Constantine ignored her and turned his attention to the tunnels. “Let the hunt begin!”
Chapter 5
Let the hunt begin!
Twenty werewolves were set loose in different regions of the complex of tunnels. The monsters were all hungry and, while the dracos were together, Aiko was alone.
“You’ve escaped captivity for two hundred years, you will get out of this alive.” said Aiko to herself. The draco began to walk. She was in a tunnel and she could not see its end. She walked for over fifteen seconds when she heard a noise. She knew that the walk of a werewolf is silent, so this noise was made for her, as a warning: the monster was ahead. “Show yourself, beast!” she said. The light was dim where she was, but darkness completely enveloped the monster.
The creature obeyed and showed himself to her. First he showed his claw as he pushed it into the wall grabbing a piece of the brick and throwing it at her, but she ducked. The woman remembered that the only was a draco can escape is to use her agility as dracos are better endowed in that department. Henry told her about this and she listened very carefully. Then the monster started to run toward her and Aiko jumped to the wall on the left, then to the wall on her right and landed on the head of the beast. She bit the creature and sucked part of its blood to leave it weakened for a few moments and then she left. Aiko ran as fast as she could.
“Run Aiko, run!” screamed Rene as she was watching the whole scene on one of the screens of Constantine. “Run!” And Aiko did just that. She ran and then she saw a door, opened it and entered the room, locking it.
Jonathan and the rest were walking through a tunnel as well. They came to the end of it and saw a door. “Shhht!” signed Jonathan. “Do you hear it?” he asked whispering.
“No! There is just silence!” answered Mark. “Why? Do you hear something that we don’t?”
“Behind that door, behind that room, werewolves are hidden. If we go in, we will encounter danger. I can hear five of them. Are you ready for that?” asked Jonathan.
“The tunnel is too tight. If we stand here and they attack, we do not have a lot of chances to survive. We would be too many and we would not have enough space to move. In that room we might actually get more of an upper hand to get passed them.” whispered Masaru.
“Good, well then it is settled!” added Jonathan. He looked at those next to him and whispered something more “My friends, we have fallen in this trap, but we survived some of the worst things anyone could go through. We will survive this also! Imagine the end, imagine the accomplishment of the goal. Feel it, taste it, smell it! And we will fulfill it!” Then he put his hand on the knob and opened the door. Right then, werewolves also entered the room.
The monsters raced toward the dracos. Jonathan, being in the middle of the others, jumped on the head of a beast and ripped its head off, while Masaru tore the hand of one, Mark pushed his hand through the neck of a werewolf pulling its arteries out, Ria plucked one’s eyes. But Alex was grabbed by a monster and was bitten.
“No, Alex!” screamed his sister while rushing to his aid. Alex was hurt and now his blood was flowing from his arm. Ria tried to kick the beast that hurt her brother, but the monster punched her in the stomach. As the other dracos were busy with their werewolves, Jonathan had already ripped and squashed the head of his beast and jumped to Alex and Ria’s aid. He caught the bastard’s punch with his hand and turned it to his back. Next, Ria grabbed the tongue of the beast pulling it out. Jonathan pushed his hand inside of the chest cavity of the monster and pulled his heart out causing the monster to turn to ash. But, as the other werewolves were now regenerating, the dracos had to run. They left the room and locked the metal door behind them.
“You managed to pierce the chest cavity of the monster. I tried to do it also, but I could not.” said Mark. “It must be because you are passed the age of 300. We know that with that age, more power comes.”
“I feel my powers growing back to what they were before we destroyed the Order!” said Jonathan while he was walking fast ahead.
“Let’s just hope this power surge of yours lasts until we get out of here!” added Mark.
“No!” said Masaru as he stopped.
“What is it man? We need to move!” asked Mark.
“Aiko, she is here, close, I can feel her!” said Masaru.
“How is that possible?” asked Alex.
“When you live that long with a person, you develop a bond that’s very strong.” replied Jonathan.
“So, I guess I have to get out of here alive and find a lady friend and spend that much time with her to have this bond…” continued Alex as his wound was healing.
“No, it’s not like that! You develop a bond with anyone who is so involved in your life, no matter if that is your friend, your lover, or your child. In this case, if you and your sister, would have been this old, you would have been able to feel her presence.” replied Jonathan.
“So, is it the same for you and Ava?” the youngest draco, asked.
“They were not together during all this time. They spent most part of the 300 plus years apart.” answered Mark, implying the connection between Aiko and Masaru does not exist between Ava and Jonathan. This saddened Jonathan and Ava too, as she could watch the conversation on the screen.
Meanwhile, Rene tried to push her hand toward Henry’s and he noticed it. The witch stood in the middle, Ava to her right, and Henry to her left. Henry also tried to push his hand toward Rene, but it was difficult to touch her fingers, still he continued trying until he felt her fingertip. Rene was feeling a surge of energy and, by touching the man’s fingers, she tried to send him into the conscience of the wolves running in the forest, but what Henry saw through their eyes, he did not like.
The wolves were running, fighting with other beasts. The pack of wolves, with the exception of the two cubs, who were inside of a cave, was being hunted by monsters. The hungry creatures moved toward the cave when the two parents of the cubs heard them came outside, and tried to distract the monsters from their children. The mother of the cubs was the oldest sister of Henry, or Iosiph, as that was the first name given to him.
The white wolf jumped to the neck of a monster and turned it to ash. The black did the same. The natural werewolves were fearless. Even as their numbers were greatly exceeded by the sired, they faced them and fought. They bit, they scratched, they got wounded also, but they fought in blood and snow. Then, the two brothers were surrounded by a pack of monsters and Henry, seeing this, was frightened.
The man also kept remembering actions of his past, of his life as a land owner in Transylvania. Now he was even more filled with regret than before. He realized that all that was happening now was of his own making. His first wife was dead, his second also, his two sons could not shift back into human form and were on the run for hundreds of years, his other relatives were desperate for their lives, and his daughter could not even have a day of rest as every time she was born, she was killed by the hands of a Constantine. Even the dracos were created as a result of his actions. A world of fear and pain was the consequence of not listening, of being blinded by the desire for power and riches in 1698.
His sons, surrounded, knew that there were too monsters for them to kill and Henry felt them being scared. The old man was filled with regret, but then he tried something he did not know it would work. His heart was beginning to slow and his skin lost moisture while his body became flat. “I do not deserve to live!” said Henry into the minds of his two sons. “But you do! Take all m
y remaining energy and use it to kill the bastards!” Henry’s plan worked. He sent most of his spirit into the two wolves and they attacked the beasts, now stronger than ever, and left behind piles of ash. The black and the white then ran after the rest of the monsters, hunting them one by one. The tables turned: now the hunted became the hunters.
Henry’s left eye gave out a tear and Constantine, as well as the two women noticed Henry grow weaker. Constantine became angry as he did not want the old man to die before he could witness the destruction of all he cared for. “You will not die now, old man! There’s still much for you to see!” said Constantine enraged. “Cristian, give him a shot! Make him live until the end of this!”
The doctor did as he was told. He returned to his human shape, went into a room and came back with a syringe half filled with a red liquid. It was his own blood. Cristian struck it into the heart of the man and Henry’s body rejuvenated; he now looked ten years younger. But what Constantine did not know, was that the reason why Henry looked like he was dying, was because a large part of his spirit was not in him anymore. Even the genius doctor could not bring it back; still, he bought him some time.
As Constantine’s attention turned back to the screens, Rene tried to touch Ava’s hand. When their fingertips met, the witch tried to lift the shield covering her mind. Rene, with the help of Henry and his connection to the wolves, knew now something more. The woman standing next to her, was not just a wolf, but, in order for Ava to unleash her full powers, she had to lift her mind shield. The woman then went back into 1687, when she was still too young to turn into a wolf.
“Mommy, I keep dreaming the wolves. Last night I felt one hunt. It caught a man into the forest. But I am glad it did, as the man was bad.” said the girl.
“Why do you think he was a bad man?” asked the mother.
“I think he took the life of a child just like me.” answered the little girl.
Age of Extinction (300 Years of Sin Book 2) Page 5