Scarlet Dawn

by Megan J. Parker

  “New clan?” Zane frowned, “What do you mean ‘new clan’? We’re the clan here! What would they need to build another one for?”

  “A new clan moved into town while you were ‘indisposed’.” Zoey sighed, “And Serena feels there’s something not right about them.”

  “Fuckin’ A, I do! Because it’s the truth, Zoe! Let’s look at the fucking facts: they pop up the goddam moment Axle and his gang shows up to help Sierra with her orphanage and, despite a limited criminal history, his fucking file gets pushed up as though it were some sort of priority. However, what the fuck have they done since then? Ever since putting forth a massive effort to establish themselves in less than two days they suddenly go quiet and do precisely dick; I mean, they have made made zero contact with us nor have we seen any sort of activity from them. Then, though they’re doing nothing in the realm of patrolling to prevent such things, we see an unprecedented spike in not only illegal auric assignments to still-living subjects and an entire goddam nest of six-foot scaly, hissing cock-scabs that start ripping only a select group of not-so-bad ‘bad guys’ and a goddam orphanage to shreds. I’ve now visited the building on countless occasions, and I’ve yet to make it past the front desk because they insist that their leader who—unless you’re keeping something from me, Zoe—we don’t know the identity of? Aren’t clan leaders, y’know, a relevant nugget of ‘perhaps-I-should-fucking-know-that’-ness?” Serena sighed, “Not that I can do a goddam thing to prove it—or any of this, as far as you’re concerned—but I’m pretty damn sure that they’ve got something to do with what happened to Zane, too!”

  “To be fair, Zoey, she does have a point. The Council has trusted the Vail Clan for decades, but not one month after they suddenly decide to assign a second one and all this goes down? Not that I’ve ever been the political type, but shouldn’t more law equal less crime?” Zane sighed, “Plus, Serena hasn’t mentioned that all of this ALL happened exclusively when I was gone? For fuck’s sake, how long has it been?”

  “Four months…” Serena sighed, “And it’s not like I was just flicking the bean while you were gone, either! I did get the clan’s headquarters rebuilt and in great shape and!” She smirked, “I was able to get new members and keep the streets clean. UNTIL, that is, those fucking fuck-wads showed up and fucked it up!”

  Zane shook his head, “That’s not just fucking coincidence!”

  Zoey sighed, “I’m noticing an exponential increase in the use of the word ‘fuck’ since your return, Zane.”

  “That’s not just fucking coincidence either, Zoey,” he smirked.

  “Told you!” Serena smirked over at Zoey.

  “So what do we do about it?” Zoey frowned.

  “We go there in good, ol’ fashioned Serena style!”

  “That doesn’t sound good,” Zoey frowned.

  Isaac stepped inside and smirked widely, “I think it’ll be fun! I’ve been aching to get some fighting done!”

  “Of course you would be, Isaac!” Zoey sighed. “Isn’t there a more peaceful option?”

  Zane frowned, “We haven’t exactly had a peaceful few months, Zoey.”

  “We’ve tried peace, Zoey! They kicked my ass out the door and then things got worse!” Serena pouted, “Come on, Zoe, you remember how good it felt to put that parking meter through my brother’s shoulder? Remember how good it feels to kick some ass? There’s a neon-painted bitch in there with your name on her; she makes the whole dyed-hair thing look like a course at clown college!”

  Zoey sighed, “Okay. Okay! What’s the address again?”

  Serena frowned, “The address? It’s the only damn office building downtown that’s been renovated in less than a week! You can’t get a damn wheelchair ramp built fucking anywhere around here, but they get this place rebuilt in—”

  “Zane? You alright?” Zoey frowned.

  “That office building…” Zane bit his lip.

  “What about it?”

  “I… I think I remember being there,” Zane frowned.

  “Well, Axle did end up misplacing a lot of money on their roof shortly after you’d been put in his body,” Serena offered.

  “No. Not on or near. I was in that building! I’m not sure how, but I remember…” Zane shook his head.

  “Zane?” Serena frowned, “Do you know where you went after that Kristine bitch pulled your aura out of your body?"

  “Kristine…” His eyes suddenly went wide and Serena frowned as his body began to shake as his anger began to snake through him.

  “Zane! What is it? What’s wrong?” Serena placed her hand on his shoulder.

  “Kristine!” Zane growled, “That night when Kristine came to attack you…” He shook his head, “When she attacked and I was struck. My aura… It was her! I was stuck with her!” He looked at Serena, “Just like how Devon was bound to your aura! And she was constantly in that building with… with somebody else. Some partner in building that place…”

  “Which means she’s the one that put you inside Axle!” Serena narrowed her eyes. “That fucking bitch! Why in the fuck would The Council give her permission to start a clan?”

  Isaac frowned, “Did you ever hear that straight from anyone in The Council? Or was it just word-of-mouth? If they’re privately bankrolled and making claims to anybody of power that they’re acting as an extension of us because of our proximity, then they don’t really need to answer to anybody as long as nobody figures out their angle.”

  “Son of a bitch!” Serena growled, “That fucking cunt is going down!”

  “I’m with you!” Zoey announced.

  “Same here!” Isaac smirked.

  “You may need some extra magic and muscle in there!” Nikki stepped out with Raith at her side.

  “Serena…” Zoey frowned, biting her lip as she watched the scene as well, “We need to make a plan.”

  “You know what I’m planning already, Zoey.” Serena smirked, “We go in there and take those fuckers down!”

  “We attack tomorrow at dusk!”

  “Dusk, huh?” Zane smirked, “sounds like a good time to me!”

  The parting sun’s rays had finally past the horizon, leaving a smoky red sky as the hint of the moon hid behind the painted clouds. The skies scarlet hues had Serena ready for their attack.

  It was time…

  Time to end Kristine.

  Time to put the past to rest.

  As they filed into their cars, Serena hopped on her motorcycle and grinned as she revved the engine, signaling to the others before she started off, the others not far behind.

  Clackity clack clack clackityclack clack clack clack clackity.

  Tiffany sighed, already bored and feeling herself lulled by the rhythm of her nails working the keyboard as another day of work went by. The job had become a total drag since the bosses had come down on her for letting the Vailean girl get the drop on her so many times. To make matters worse, most of the security guards had quit after they’d seen what had happened to their friends, and, with the whole mess being blamed on her, Tiffany had been forced to actually start keeping up with her work.

  Which would have been so much easier if that bitch hadn’t broken her fingers!

  Just fifteen minutes.

  Just fifteen short minutes until the end of shift.

  Then she could just go home and…

  Seeing a flood of light fill the front window, she lifted her head to get a better view of what was beyond the recently-fixed door.

  Her eyes went wide.

  Fifteen minutes seemed so far away suddenly…

  Serena steered the motorcycle off the street and popped a wheelie before the first of the steps that led up to the office building’s front door. Throwing her aura in a makeshift slingshot, she pulled the bike’s wheels from the staircase and launched her and the bike at the front door.

  “Knock knock, assholes!”

  Wrapping herself in an auric shield, Serena crashed the bike through the glass—the others in the Hummer
following suit just behind her—and sent a hailstorm of broken glass spraying out across the interior of the lobby

  Letting her motorcycle fall to the floor, Serena pulled drew the katana that was sheathed at her side. Spotting the source of so many previous bad moods, she jumped into overdrive and appeared in front of the neon-painted nuisance with the tip of the blade pressed to her throat.

  “You crazy fucking bitch!” The secretary sneered, “Do you, like, know what The Council’s going to do to you when they find out abou—”

  “Tiffany, right?” Serena smirked and nodded, “Yea. See: while you were flapping your gums just now, I decided to take a swim in your head. Now, for starters: yuck; you are a whole new breed of worthless trash. But, more importantly, I just saw everything in your head about this place.” She made a note of giving a slight drag with the sword across the side of her neck, earning a small trickle of blood. “Now I don’t even want to hear your voice, so I’ll make you a deal: if you nod your head and agree that what I saw in your mind is true—that this entire ‘clan’ thing is a hoax and that you’re a worthless patsy who has never even seen the leaders or knows their names; just a bunch of emails from upstairs telling you to send anybody who comes in right back out again—and I’ll forgive all of it and not execute you for treason.”

  The secretary nodded.

  “Good,” Serena smiled, lowering the sword. “Now there’s just the matter of that eleven year old boy you kidnapped a month and a half ago to use as your own personal feeder. That’s a criminal offense”—Serena smirked—“punishable by, like, the death penalty!”

  “No, wait! Plea—”

  Serena let out a deep sigh of relief as the neon-painted head hit the floor.

  Zane stepped up behind her, looking down at it. “Yeesh!”

  Serena nodded, “You’re telling me.”

  The others gathered around Serena and braced themselves as the pounding sound of footsteps grew louder from beyond the door to the hallway ahead of them.

  “Here we go!”

  “About time!” Zane smirked, flexing his fists. “I’ve been aching for a good fight!”

  A wave of mythos in uniform burst from the doors and started towards them, the first three soon hitting the floor without their heads as Serena made a wide pass with her sword. As the fourth ducked under the attack, the next countered with their own blade; forcing Serena’s katana away from the other guards as they began to flood the room.

  “Zoey,” Serena glanced back, “I think the boys have had enough privacy.”

  An unnerving giggle issued from the blue-haired auric then and the auric veil that had been hiding Isaac and Raith—already waiting in their therion forms—lifted and revealed the two hulking creatures standing on either side of the doors. The first few guards made muffled sounds from under their helmets as they tried to flee, only to find that their feet were suddenly locked to the floor.

  Courtesy of a stealthy spell from Nikki, who’d melted the soles of the boots before flash-cooling them to the linoleum.

  Casting out her aura and warping the blade of the distracted guard who’d countered her, Serena drove a fist into his gut. As he keeled over, Serena met the face-plate of his helmet with her knee—shattering the fiberglass shielding in his face—and brought the butt of her sword’s handle down on the exposed nape of his neck.

  Zoey and Isaac had split to the left and were taking on a group of guards that had flocked around the back to try to close in on the group. Zoey’s aura whipped out—going in a wide arc from one end of the room to the other—and wrapped around the guards as she ducked and dipped under their attacks. When the bulk of their attackers were secured in her invisible grip, Isaac began to go to work. There was no need for weapons; the therion only needed half-a-minute and the assets nature had granted him.

  Serena frowned as she heard more footsteps approaching on the right and she swung around right Nikki and Raith rushed forward to help.

  “I got them!” Nikki called out as she pulled out her sais—the metal shimmering with the added magic of her magical tattoos—and began to charge through the crowd; a violent whirlwind of enchanted metal and well-cast spells leaving a trail of bodies as she passed.

  Raith, satisfied that his work in the lobby was finished, dropped to all fours and loped after Nikki before finally joining her at her side; rising to his complete height and making a note of bringing a massive fist down on the head of the nearest guard; forcing his skull and most of his helmet through the top of his chest.

  “Looks like they got this, babes. You ready to head up?” Zane smirked.

  “I’ve been ready!” Serena grinned.

  The two rushed into the elevators and Serena sighed, readying herself for what was to come. Adrenaline rushed through her veins, flooding her system with just the right sort of fuel. She frowned, trying to catch her breath and slow the growing sense of dread. So much had happened—so much to warrant this kill—and yet, she was suddenly afraid.

  “Serena…you okay?” Zane frowned, pressing his hand to her shoulder.

  “I’ll be fine,” she smiled. “Just pre-show jitters.”

  The elevator doors creaked open and Serena’s eyes widened as a caged-off region in the room was suddenly opened by several guards brandishing cattle prods, which they used to herd four ykalis towards them.

  “I knew she was weaponizing the ykalis!” Serena glared.

  “Are you fucking serious? They’re keeping these things as pets?” Zane growled.

  Serena looked over at Zane as he gave her a reassuring smile and Serena felt her anxieties ease instantly.

  “Let’s make this fast!” Zane growled out as he rushed forward, drawing a pair of pistols and beginning to fire at the charging monsters.

  Serena grinned, pausing to appreciate her man work before she rushed in to join him, wielding her auric “bow” and filling the room with bright purple “arrows”. Between Zane’s and Serena’s combined efforts, the four ykali had just below a minute of time to regret their existence before bits and pieces of themselves began to fall from their bodies.

  Two corpses filled with bullets and the aurically divided bits of the other two.

  And, at the end of the stretch of carnage, two sangsuigan guards who’d died with their buzzing cattle prods still firmly held in their hands.

  Starting for the staircase at the end of the room, the two began working their way up the building, using the narrow and Serena’s auric “view” of what was coming to their advantage. As they continued ever higher, more and more pieces of more and more guards began to rain down in their wake.

  Until they finally reached a floor with a familiar auric signature waiting on the other side.

  Welcome back, Serena! Kristine’s psychic voice called out and Serena growled, tearing the door off the hinges with her aura.

  Stay here, she paused to send a private message to Zane and mask his aura from detection. She probably doesn’t know that you’re back, let alone back in your own body. We can use that. Just wait…

  Stepping through the door, Serena spotted her target and bared her fangs as she squared off against Kristine.

  “I was wondering how long it would take you to show up here.”

  “You!” Serena cried out as she rushed forward towards Kristine.

  Kristine smirked and coiled her pale-green aura around Serena’s body as she threw her against the wall.

  “You’ve always been so rash, Serena,” she smirked, stepping forward slowly. “I didn’t have to worry about whether or not all this would work out; I just had to trust that, if it didn’t, you’d be predictable enough to do exactly what you’ve done. That’s the problem with always letting your emotions lead you.”

  “Shut up!” Serena glared, standing up and shaking debris off her as she stepped forward. “Don’t act like you know me! You’ve been a thorn in my side since you killed Devon, but you’ve never been able to figure out why you’re so obsessed with coming back! You want to play th
e ‘stupid emotional twat’ game? Try looking at yourself for a change!”

  “Ah, yes. Poor Devon” Kristine glared, “The man you claimed to love so much until Zane came into the picture.”

  “I did love Devon!” Serena growled and began to throw her aura out in jagged bursts, “I could never have been driven to kill him for any reason! You, you stupid jealous bitch, killed him because you were pissy that he hadn’t chosen you! You’re nothing but a spoiled little brat throwing a tantrum because her puppy liked somebody else more!”

  Kristine growled, “Shut up! It was your new psychotic pet that finally destroyed Devon!” She glared, dodging and blocking the auric spikes and shook her head, “You are going to have to be better than that!”

  Kristine lunged then and slammed her fist in Serena’s stomach, using her aura to propel the punch and grinned at Serena’s pained expression. Serena frowned, gasping as blood spilled from her lips and frowned.

  She couldn’t lose!

  Not now!

  Not ever!

  Not when everything was suddenly so clear.

  “Zane can’t be blamed for taking Devon from this world,” Serena hissed, spitting a wad of blood in Kristine’s face. “It was your carelessness—your fucking jealousy making you every bit the stupid bitch you’ve allowed yourself to become—that did that.” Kristine glared and tried to open her mouth to speak, but her auric shields were fractured—weakened by her emotions—and Serena wormed her aura into her mind and locked her jaw in a psychic bind. “No, Kristine. You’ve wasted your voice enough for one lifetime,” Serena started towards her letting her aura section off into three tendrils—two forming miniature crossbows in each hand while the third whipped back-and-forth from her chest—and started to march towards her. “And even after you fucked up and killed the man you claimed to love, he came back to me! You’re a special breed of loser, Kristine; the kind that would kill the puppy for playing with the neighbor boy, and then throw a tantrum when the puppy’s ghost didn’t bark outside her window.” Serena scoffed, “He didn’t even care enough about you to haunt you!”