Age of Extinction (300 Years of Sin Book 2)

by Cristina M. Sburlea

  “What?” asked Jonathan.

  “They are twins, they are bound!” replied Vladimir.

  “So, what you truly meant was that if she kills Aron, she will die with him.” said Rene. “You knew that all along, but you did not say a word. Why, why would you not tell us?”

  “She knows! We exchanged thoughts. She knew what she was getting into!” he added, but Jonathan was so angered that he quickly threw the man into a wall.

  The hybrid then wanted to hit Vladimir, but Mark stopped him before he could inflict more harm. “Stop it man!” said Mark. “Don’t let this bastard get the best of you! We’ve been through difficult situations before. We’ll get through this also! We are survivors, if nothing else and so is she.”

  “Can you find her thoughts? Can you locate her? You might have lost all the energy you got from those mind benders that were hunted, but you could not have lost your own, did you?” asked Jonathan. “Find her, now! Or I will make sure your last days on this Earth will be the ones you most regret!”

  “I am not even half of the mind bender I was when I was a child. I am dying. I am the first mind bender in the world who will die because of the weakness of my own mind. I won’t be able to find her!” said Vladimir.

  “Find her!” added Jonathan while grabbing the man’s collar.

  After midnight, on the other side of the city, Ava was regaining consciousness. As she opened her eyes, she saw Constantine sitting on a chair, next to the bed she was in. The werewolf took her out of the cave. They were now in an apartment, far above the ground. The woman woke and got out of the bed without saying a word to the man. She headed straight to the glass wall and looked outside. Ava looked down at the lighted street and at the cars passing by. “It’s busy even at night!” she said. “1698 was a lot more peaceful. Then again, it was also dreadfully boring!”

  Constantine got out of his chair and moved closer to her, but stopped a few feet away, staring at her, not really knowing how to react and what kind of memories she truly had.

  “Do you ever want to go back there? Do you ever think of how things would have been if we would never have met?” she asked.

  “I’ve given it thought a few times over the years.” he answered.

  “I’ve never looked back since we left. I like it here. I don’t ever want to leave. Can we stay here forever?” inquired Ava.

  Constantine sighed in relief. Her memories were indeed changed. “I had hopes we would, one day, go back there, but if this is your wish, we will do as you ask.”

  “Good!” she added smiling. They spent the next two hours talking and then Ava asked “How many werewolves do you have now?”

  “Why do you want to know?” asked Constantine.

  “I am your wife, I have the right to know. And I thought there are no secrets between us.” she said showing signs of being bothered by his reaction.

  “Forgive me, you are right. I now have four hundred and fifty seven. The conversion process is quite simple and it lasts only a few minutes so I, along with other werewolves, managed to turn this many.”

  “Aren’t they too few? You and Aron have always showed signs of having too big of a heart. They are complete morons. The best thing that happened to a human was to be turned into a werewolf. We are far better as a species, a lot more resilient. And those bastard dracos are also clever and agile enough. If you are not careful they can escape your grasp.”

  “I agree with you, love, and I assure you the number will increase. Right now there are more werewolves with the explicit mission of turning more humans.”

  “Where are these werewolves of yours now? Show me!” she urged smiling while grabbing his hand. “Come on Constantine, I am bored to death now. You’ve just talked with Aron on the phone, you know there still is an hour until my brother arrives and we have nothing to do. Entertain me!”

  He started naming the countries where they were sent, but she wanted to know more so he turned on his computer and showed her on a map, she told him of different memories of her of cities they went to along the years and she also inserted in the conversation questions about what werewolves were doing in those cities, if they were there to hunt or if they were on a mission to turn humans into beasts. Constantine answered all questions without giving them much thought. And, an hour later, Aron arrived.

  “Brother!” said Ava while her face enlightened with happiness at the sight of her twin.

  “Constantine, am I interrupting anything?” asked Aron.

  “Nonsense, Aron, you’re never interrupting anything.” added Ava.

  “Well then is it safe to assume we can now proceed to solving that little problem of mine?” asked Aron.

  “What little problem?” asked the woman.

  “Well, it is…” went on Aron, but Ava interrupted him and said “Does it have anything to do with the fact that my birthday is approaching?”

  “Yes, it is exactly that!” said Aron. “You like surprises, so how about Constantine and I go to the other room and talk for a while?”

  “You know I will find out quite soon what the surprise is. You can never keep a secret. So you might just tell me now!”

  “This time, it will really be a surprise, I promise!” said Aron smiling.

  “Ok!” she added.

  Aron and Constantine went in the room at the end of the hallway while Ava decided it was time to grab a bite to eat in the kitchen.

  “I told you everything would be fine.” said Aron.

  “It’s perfect. We talked about all the cities and countries we supposedly visited, we talked about our feelings and apparently we even have inside jokes about you. It’s all I desired and more.” replied Constantine.

  “Now respect your side of the bargain!” urged Aron.

  “Right!” said Constantine as he pierced his palm with a claw letting blood flow out. Aron took a few sips of it and then he felt his whole body starts to reconfigure but he did not fully turn into a beast. “Why aren’t you turning?” asked Constantine.

  “I can control my body more than your sires can. I will only turn if I specifically desire it even while I become a werewolf. Everybody else turns the first time without their will, but this does not happen to me.”

  Chapter 10

  War between the species

  “Paris!” said Rene.

  “Paris what?” asked Jonathan.

  “London, Brazil, Paris, Tokyo, these are the cities that come to mind. I keep getting the names of these cities in my mind. These are not my thoughts. It is almost like someone is seeding them in my mind.”

  “It might be Ava.” said Aiko. “When I felt that rush of energy through my body I thought things which did not seem to come from my mind, they seemed to come from somewhere else.”

  “It was the same with me after the werewolves almost killed me.” added Jonathan.

  “This is not a dialogue, it is not a connection, it is nothing like whatever else I experienced before with her. I have no way of knowing if this is her or not, but I get this weird feeling that it indeed is her.” added Rene

  “We have no better lead.” added Mark.

  “We are hybrids, and dracos are on high alert, if this is some sort of trick of Aron, we can try to counterattack. We will split from here. Aiko, Masaru, you go back to Tokyo. Two hybrids turned from the wolf pack must also go with you. Ria and Alex take two more hybrids of the wolf pack with you and go to Brazil. Mark and Rene you better head to Paris with two others and check out what is happening there.”

  “You can’t be left here alone!” said Mark.

  “He is not alone, he has us!” said Stefan.

  “The rest of the wolf pack will stay here.” added Radu.

  “You have no idea what it is that you are getting yourselves into.” said Vladimir.

  “Does anybody ever know exactly what it is they are getting into?” asked Jonathan.

  Mark, Rene, and two more hybrids arrived in Paris at noon.

  “Here! This is where I am bein
g guided to!” said Rene. “This is nothing but an old building! It looks abandoned and empty.” she added, not really understanding why she walked toward it.

  “Do you sense it?” asked Mark.

  “I do!” answered another hybrid, Petru.

  “What is it?” whispered the witch.

  “Fresh werewolf scent!” replied Mark. “This is where they turn humans into werewolves. And they can sense us! Go into the shop on the other side of the road. If you see anything not right, run Rene.”

  Mark, then, tried to open the door, but it was locked. He broke the handle and entered the dwelling. There, six werewolves were expecting them, in their human form.

  “You are three: a draco and two werewolves. We are six. You are outnumbered and you do not stand a chance.” said one of the monsters inside, still in his human form. “Other werewolves will arrive in a little under a minute. You should have never come here.”

  “Actually, you are the only werewolves here. We are hybrids.” said Mark, grinning, as everybody was shape shifting. Fighting ensued shortly after. The hybrids bit the necks of the werewolves and turned them into piles of ash, quite fast. They then waited for the other werewolves to enter the building. Another six arrived and they were also turned into piles of ash. Unfortunately for the hybrids, when the fight ended, the clothes they had on them were all torn to pieces so Mark called Rene and asked to buy clothes before coming back to the building.

  The witch returned with bags of pants and shirts. “Next time, strip first!” she said as they all laughed.

  “So it really was Ava!” added Mark while getting dressed. “Why is this shirt so large?”

  “I really can’t figure out who is the person sending me these thoughts. I am blocked from seeing its identity. And yes the shirt is large. Did you see many shops close by? This is all I could find.”

  Aiko and Masaru with two more hybrids arrived in Tokyo during the next morning. Aiko was guided toward a warehouse.

  “Is this it?” asked Masaru.

  “Yes, but I don’t know why I am here or how exactly I thought of this place.”

  “Do you feel that?” asked Maya, one of the hybrids of the wolf pack.

  “It smells like werewolf.” replied Masaru.

  “It fell the scent of eleven of them old and three newly turned.” added Vlad, the other hybrid.

  “So, it just might be Ava, after all” replied Aiko.

  They all entered the warehouse and made sure none of the werewolves survived their bite. The beasts felt like their numbers will give them no problems in killing the uninvited guests, but, by the time they realized they were dealing with hybrids, it was too late for them.

  Around the same time, four hybrids arrived in Sao Paolo. Ria, Alex, and the other two were soon busy with hunting some werewolves.

  It became clear to all the hybrids: someone was directing them to the hiding places of the werewolves. Now, the dracos were not the only ones being hunted, werewolves themselves became the prey.

  Two days passed since Jonathan arrived in London, but, even though he urged Vladimir to find Ava, he still knew nothing of where she was. While werewolves were being hunted in silence, Ava was sensing her twin brother was still not comfortable enough around her.

  “Is there something on your mind, Aron?” she asked.

  “No, everything is fine. It soon is going to be just as it should be.” he replied.

  “So is it or it will be? Make up your mind brother, is it present tense or future tense?” inquired the woman.

  “Don’t mind me now, I am just tired and a little hungry, I think. Why don’t you go see what Constantine is doing?”

  “We have been in this house for the past two days. There is nothing to do.”

  “Right, yes! Sometimes I forget just how fast you get bored of everything. I will leave now, but, when I come back we will leave this place.”

  “Where will we go?” asked the woman.

  “You and Constantine will move into a new home and I will do the same. I found more fitting accommodations for us.”

  “Constantine, my brother is leaving now. It would be a good opportunity for us to spend some time alone. Please send the two mutts away.” she said referring to the two other werewolves there, Cristian being one of them.

  Constantine asked the two to leave them alone and, when they were gone, Ava began acting a bit more comfortable around him.

  “You still seem a bit stiff! In the past two days, it seemed like you and my brother had a lot on your minds.” said the woman. “Come on, let’s loosen you up a bit.”

  “What do you have in mind?” asked Constantine as he was being pulled into a bedroom by Ava.

  “What I have in mind will surprise you.” she replied, smiling. “Relax and let me take control.”

  The man felt his entire body being engulfed in desire. He always wanted the woman, he loved her, and he waited for over three hundred years to hear such words. He lay on the bed while Ava got on top of him, kissing him. Constantine was finally lying his guard down.

  “Are you happy?” she asked.

  “I am, I truly am!” he answered. Constantine’s joy was unlocking all of his defenses. His werewolf side was not on high alert anymore and the protective shield around his mind was loosening for Ava. He let himself kissed by her and then, when he least expected, voices started running through his head.

  “Liar, killer, monster, murderer, betrayer, putrid soul, nothingness, the scum of the Earth.” the voices went on. The voices in his head multiplied and kept yelling louder and louder.

  Ava moved away and Constantine’s ears began to bleed. “What is happening to me? What is this?”

  “What is the matter, dear husband?” asked Ava calmly. “Is there something on your mind? Is there something screaming in your head?”

  “You! What have you done to me?” asked Constantine as his ears started to bleed.

  “The voices that you hear are those of all the people you wronged. This is not my doing, you just have not heard them before as your mind was shielded from them. But now, Constantine, now you can hear them. Try to live with that from now on! Do you think you can do it?”

  “Stop this, stop this at once!” he urged.

  “I have asked you once to stop, but you did not. I begged for the lives of those I loved. Do you remember your answer, Constantine? You said that they would all burn in hell! Now is time for you to burn in your own, personal hell.” she said as the voices kept growing inside of his mind. The ghosts of all his victims flooded his consciousness: women, children, men, dracos, and werewolves of all sorts. Thousands of voices were running through and stumping his mind. The duke felt his whole head being hit by a thousand boomerangs at once. He lay on his knees with hands to his ears and blood flowing through his fingers.

  “You did this to me. Aron…” he tried to speak, but Ava interrupted him.

  “Aron and you believe only what you want, you are so blinded by greed and hatred that you cannot see the truth right in front of you. While I would love to kill you, for now, you will lay in the pool of your own sorrow. Be careful, for you might drown in it.” she said.

  “I…” he tried to speak again, but he could not make another sound. The pain took his voice away and even his sight. All he could see were the faces in his mind. He collapsed to the floor as he could not bear to sustain his own weight. Constantine was on the floor numb in his body, but with burning soul in the hell that was now his own mind.

  Ava left the man in the bedroom and went out, closing the door behind her. She knew that she did not have much time left. The mind bender gathered all the information about the werewolves whose task was to hunt dracos. It took her two days, but she gathered all the information she needed. And now she had to find Aron before he would turn back into his human shape. Her twin brother was out, hunting. While he could control when he would turn into a werewolf, he could not control the hunger he felt. He needed to hunt, but he was not out for rabbits or any other smal
l animals, like natural werewolves. He was out, hunting for human flesh.

  The city was sparkling with night lights, but some back alleys were not as luminous as the main roads and Aron wanted to take advantage of this. He turned into a monster and waited in the shadows for prey. He saw a woman approaching his hiding place. She looked enticing and his appetite grew. As she got close, Aron got ready to jump, grab, and bite. Right when the beast was about to jump out of darkness, the woman turned around and headed back. This seemed strange to Aron, but he decided it would not be wise to show himself in light and go after her. He believed it would be best to just wait for new prey. It could not take that long until someone would come for the city was as alive during the night as during daytime.

  “Hello brother!” heard the monster and turned around only to find Ava next to him with a hammer. She swiftly threw it on her brother’s mouth. He moved to the back, disoriented, but she came right after him, hitting him again and then again. His fangs shattered into pieces and his whole jaw was bleeding. He was forced to run, but now, he could not feed. Even though he wanted to feed, he could not, and it would take a while until he would heal while his hunger would grow even more, leaving him somewhat weak. And Ava knew exactly where he was running toward.

  “I know where she is!” said Jonathan. “We need to go there now!”

  “She got into your thoughts?” asked Stefan.

  “Yes, she did! So it is her who guided all hybrids to werewolves! I am sure of it!” he replied.

  Jonathan, the two twins and the mother hybrid jumped in a taxi and they headed toward where Ava was guiding them.

  Aron headed straight back to the underground chambers where his gold was. There were hybrids there, lots of them who would keep the gates closed at all costs. He would make sure of it! He went deep underground and took a cloth to wipe the blood off his face, turned back human, and changed.

  “That dreadful creature!” he thought. “How could she do this to me?”

  “You thought you could actually change my memories! You silly, little bastard, I may not have as much experience with this energy as you do, but I am a natural werewolf. I may not be able to turn now, but I still have the same spirit. I am much more powerful than Vladimir was. And you needed to feed sooner. Hasn’t Constantine told you? You need to feed shortly after you turn into a werewolf, otherwise you grow weak and when you get as hungry as you are now, you become even weaker. But, to his defense, he did not know it either.”