by Eddie Jakes
The wizard was doing a good job of keeping up his appearances as William. She guessed that the other werewolves would be watching and now would not be a good time for them to turn on him. He wasn't stupid by any means and knew that he would have limits to how many of them he could fight back before being overtaken.
By her own estimates, there was at least three dozen of them watching from the rooftops. Some would be from her pack, and therefore she would need to expose Krazek somehow to regain their favor. Even if a third of them were loyal to her, that would be a more favorable fight.
She just needed to provoke him somehow …
"William," said Tanya. "This is not how things are done among our kind. If you want to command my pack you have to challenge me for it!"
William knelt down by her head and yanked it back by the scruff of her neck. "Times have changed."
"Or maybe you have?"
The devil's grin spread across his face. "Perhaps I have."
Standing up, William-Krazek grabbed a gun that had fallen from Tara's belt and stared at it. He looked a little confused as to its operation but managed to pull the slide back and took aim at Tanya's head.
"I'm sorry, my dear, but I'm afraid we don't have time to stand on ceremony this evening. Godspeed to whatever hell you may be going to."
With all her focus, Tanya began to regress her transformation as quickly as possible. It would take a lot of her life force, but it would give her that split second advantage. Her small framed human form allowed her to slip out from under Craig's foot which stomped the ground with ferocity. He lost grip on Tara who fell backward, gasping for air.
Javier moved quickly and snatched up his pistol and opened fire at Krazek. With a flick of his wrist, Krazek blocked the shots with a powerful spell that caused the bullets to ricochet in all directions, missing everyone. A second blast of magic sent the two of them flying even farther back as he turned his attention to Craig and Tanya.
Her transformation back to human rapidly returned Tanya's severed spine into place. She quickly leapt up in the air, grabbing Craig by the neck and holding on tight. She attempted to crush his windpipe, but his body was too powerful and couldn't muster enough strength to penetrate it.
Like a wild animal, he tried to shake Tanya's naked from off his back, but his strength was nothing compared to her determination. Her anger was urging her to return to wolf form, but her brain was telling her that this was the only way to save her friends.
Her friends …
The thought of them dying filled her with a burst of energy so great that Craig's legs started to buckle from the force she was exerting. Her adrenaline pumped so hard that the wolf in her seemed to separate for an instant, and she could hear herself howling to the moon. Soon all her power flooded her soul, and she dropped the twisted man to the ground.
"Get the fuck off me, bitch!"
The nature of the wolf growled inside of Tanya, and she sank her teeth into Craig's neck. His blood sprayed out like a volcano, and he screamed in pain. She could feel her face and arms burning from the blood, but she refused to let go.
“I've seen enough of this," shouted Krazek, whose hand was ablaze with electrical magic that danced on his palm.
"Wait! Don't—" pleaded Craig.
He was too late. Krazek unleashed the blast into the both of them. The burning acid was replaced with involuntary reflex pain as the charge surged through her. She could hear Craig yelling on top of her as his body exploded, healed itself and then erupted again. When the magic stopped, she could barely move, and Craig was nothing more than a pile of charred flesh and bones struggling to stay alive.
Tanya couldn't see anything except for blurry outlines of Krazek and the surrounding cars. Her eyes had exploded into goo, and they were slow to heal. She tried to call out to Javier, but her voice was muffled by the damage caused by the blast.
"Well," said Krazek, "aren't you a resilient one."
"Get it over with," called out a familiar voice. It was Jurgen.
"Indeed. Make sure those two don't cause trouble."
Tanya's vision began to clear; they were surrounded by werewolves. Some of them were expressing discontent at the situation.
"Wait a minute! You're not William!"
"What's the deal here?"
"This isn't right!"
"Do it now, Krazek!" shouted Jurgen.
Tanya stared at him as he pointed the pistol at her face. Directing her gaze at Javier, she watched him with her one healed eye. He looked panicked and helpless, but he was alive. She was okay with that.
"Tanya!" a wolf called out to her from the crowd. She recognized the voice instantly; it was Galvin. "Forgive me, my lady."
Galvin charged at Krazek and knocked him over on his side, sending the gun flying toward Javier and Tara. The other wolves lunged after him and pulled him off the wizard.
"Kill them both!" shouted Jurgen.
Javier opened fire at Jurgen but only managed to hit his already wounded shoulder and hind legs.
Feeling that all wasn't lost, Tanya pushed the groaning blob that was Craig off of her. Once up she realized that she had become fused to him due to the blast and struggled to unstick herself. Layers of her skin peeled off in the process, and she fought to channel the pain into determination.
In the meantime, Galvin was giving his best fight against the other wolves. Soon those from Tanya's pack began to fight the others as well, and it became a rumble.
Krazek began to blast at wolves indiscriminately as they attempted to overtake him. Once free from the fight, he shouted an unfamiliar power-word and his entire body disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
After kicking the last of Craig's corpse from her body, Tanya gave into the transformation and allowed the wolf to take over. She fought beside her kinsmen until the lot of them began to run away like scared dogs.
Jurgen, who had been chewing the last bullet out of his leg, rose from the ground and unleashed an indignant growl at Tanya. She turned to face him and assumed a defensive posture.
"You're weak, Tanya! You will never be the leader that William or Eric was. They were strong!"
"They made a deal with the bloodsuckers. They got what they deserved, and so will you."
"And now you're making deals with the humans. I'll be damned before I let you make us slaves to those that imprisoned us."
Jurgen ran into a back alley and scaled up to the roofs with remarkable speed. The other wolves lurched to give chase, but Tanya stopped them.
"Leave him. Tend to the wounded."
Javier approached Tanya and placed his hand on the back of her neck to stroke her fur.
She eyeballed him with her yellowish eyes. "Are you petting me?"
Embarrassed, Javier pulled his hand away.
"Come on," said Tara. "We have to help Maddix."
"You two go. My pack will handle things out here."
Maddix could hear his friends struggling outside. He wanted so badly to be able to help them, but he kept himself out of sight and waiting. He knew that Tanya was smart and resourceful. She would figure out a way to fight back. If not, then it would be up to him to find some way to stop this thing that had shown up.
There was some more glass breaking from the front of the store followed by the sound of heavy footsteps. Someone was in the warehouse with him. Possibly looking for him.
Try as he might he couldn't get a solid look at whoever had just made their grand entrance. It was dark, and there were buckets of various plumbing materials stacked on pallets blocking most views. It was both a blessing and a curse that they equally served to both obstruct his view yet keep him hidden at the same time.
His new guest must have been equally annoyed by the obstacles and began to shove them out of the way as he walked deeper into the store. The crashing sound caused Maddix to duck down farther out of sight, tightening the grip of his pistol as he did.
"I know you're in here."
Ephrain? Maddix thought to himself. It ha
d to be.
"I just want to talk things out."
Not wanting to waste time with any back and forth, Maddix poked his head out and took aim at Ephrain's face. He fired three lucky shots that sent him reeling backward. Ephrain's wounds began to heal instantly so Maddix did a tuck and roll behind a display of drain opener.
"I am getting a little tired of you shooting at me every time we meet. Your manners haven't gotten any better since walking through the gate."
Maddix took two more shots that did less damage than the first three. He also followed up with another position change.
Stick and move.
Ephrain continued to wreck and topple displays trying to catch where Maddix would pop up next, but Maddix was quick and managed to squeeze off successful rounds each time. Ephrain grew more aggressive and more irritated with each encounter.
"Come out and settle this like a man or I'll rip your friends to pieces and feed them to the dogs!"
During Ephrain's angry ranting Maddix managed to sneak around some shelving and behind Ephrain. He tapped the gruesome looking apothecary on the shoulder gently. Ephrain turned around, and Maddix jammed his gun deep into his mouth.
"Let's see if that brain of yours grows back!"
Maddix pulled the trigger.
All he heard was a small click, but at that moment it was louder than any gunshot he'd ever heard.
After ripping the gun from his own mouth, Ephrain grabbed Maddix by the throat and lifted him up over his head.
"Forget how to count?" mocked Ephrain.
With all his force, Ephrain threw Maddix into a large display of buckets. Most of them toppled over while some broke open from the momentum. Coarse pebbles and powder spread everywhere and burned Maddix's nose when he inhaled. He was disoriented, but he was able to read the label indicating that he had just breathed in an irritating but non-lethal dose of, "PH NEUTRALIZER.”
Maddix barely had a second to reach for his other gun when Ephrain leapt on top of him and held him down by his throat.
"I'm really sorry it had to end this way. If it makes you feel any better, I cheated during all those card games."
Unable to speak, Maddix pushed his gun into Ephrain's chest and emptied his entire magazine. Sprays of blood burst from his back, and Maddix could hear it began to sizzle and eat through everything it came into contact with.
"Don't you ever give up?"
Maddix grabbed a fistful of the powdered neutralizer and slammed his hand into the open wounds before they could heal. At first, Ephrain just laughed at him, then the laughter stopped, and finally he stood up in pain.
"What did you do?" Ephrain cried out.
The injuries were no longer healing themselves. Instead, they began to clot and solidify into black scabs. The pain was obviously excruciating to Ephrain, and he could barely move his arm.
Maddix stood up and punched him in his gut, followed by several blows to the face. Ephrain was weakened by the neutralizer, and his blood wasn't offering any more protection.
"Monsieur!" shouted Javier, who was brandishing a shotgun.
Tara was with him, and she was already aiming her gun in their direction. Maddix took the cue and stepped to the side. His friends began to blast Ephrain with everything they had until he could no longer stand and he collapsed into the piles of broken pails of neutralizer that went to work on his body.
The smell was putrid as it caused his vascular system to clot up in every artery and vein. Ephrain called out for Krazek and Craig but he was alone, and soon died as a monstrous block of congealed black blood.
"Are you okay?" asked Tara.
Maddix just looked up at her and smiled.
By the time the three of them had left the store, Tanya had already cleared the streets of any evidence that a huge werewolf war had just occurred. Craig was still a heaping mess on the ground, groaning his displeasure while sucking in what little air he could in between. Javier proceeded to dump the neutralizer on top of him, and it immediately went to work just as it did with Ephrain. There were some cries of pain, but in the end he died quickly.
“Poor bastard was probably a victim, too. When you think about it anyway,” said Tara.
Javier agreed.
Tanya's ears perked up. "Someone is heading this way."
In the distance, Maddix could see several vans racing towards them. The tops of them all had elaborate antennas on the roofs.
"News reporters. We should go before we end up on T.V."
They all started to walk away, but Maddix hesitated. He couldn't just leave things alone. He had to at least leave a little message for the Statsnys who had missed all the fun. Something for the evening news.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
"Tonight the city fell victim to a series of brutal attacks leaving many police dead and several businesses destroyed. Eye witnesses report varying accounts from everything of gang violence, to satanic cults and even giant wolf attacks.
"The attackers left behind no clues other than a string of naked bodies and what appeared to be the word ‘Statsny’ written in blood in front of the burned remains of an unidentified male.
"So far we have no confirmation from the police about the origins of this word, and many are suspecting terrorism may have played a role. The city’s mayor is asking everyone to remain calm and stay in their homes until a determination can be made. Although scheduled to make a more definitive statement some time during the day tomorrow, the mayor has said that they have no reason to suspect that this is anything more than an isolated incident.
"More details to follow as they become available. Back to you—“
As the news continued, Dr. Himmelreich sat in his chair swirling around a glass of scotch. The more information that came out about the attack, the more frustrated he felt. Their entire operation would be compromised and their only source of income to carry out his experiments was now cut off.
They had some resources saved up, but that would not last them more than a year tops at the rate they were burning through it. The synthesis of the new bacteria would increase the rate of consumption exponentially. Not to mention the costs associated with the false flag viral strain he would have to concoct. Albeit he had some experience in that department.
Drahomira sat next to him sipping on a large glass of wine and rolling her eyes as her brother lost his temper in the master bedroom. He cursed and smashed everything in his sight out of frustration. Fortunately for the suite they were staying in, he was still quite weak from lack of blood to consume. The walls would remain intact at least.
"On the positive side, one less mouth to feed," said Drahomira, sarcastically.
"Overseer Benbrook being alive was not in the plans. This is serious, my dear."
The two of them were alerted by the main elevator bell. Stillwel pressed the release and spoke into the intercom.
"It's Krazek. Let me up now."
Stillwel buzzed him in and returned to his regular place by the bar area with his hands behind his back.
The doors slid open, and Krazek stepped out of the elevator in a panic. He was sweating and bruised.
"Doctor. Benbrook is alive. He—"
"We are aware," interrupted Havel.
"Yes," said Himmelreich, rising from his chair. "We have just been watching the news report. Quite exciting stuff actually. Perhaps you can explain to us what that was?"
Krazek paused.
"Speak, Wizard!"
"It was Ketter. He went insane and experimented on himself. He turned himself into a monster. He said he was going to kill all of us and take over."
"And just how did he plan to do that?" asked Himmelreich, skeptically.
"He didn't tell me. He was obsessed with killing Benbrook, so I played along and tried to help him. When the overseer killed William, I went undercover as one of the wolves. Now Tanya has split the packs up again."
"That werewolf bitch is alive as well?" asked Drahomira.
"They all are."
Th
e doctor clasped his hands together and began to pace.
"What about the plan, Deryck?"
"I am thinking, Havel."
The German scientist walked the length of the suite and back again. Himmelreich stared out into nothing, his mind racing through scenario after scenario. The Necromancers had also been unable to stop the overseer and his band of misfits. They were at their beck and call, and that would be helpful in the future. The vampires were not at their best yet, and vulnerable in their current state.
"If you feed, how long will your strength hold up?"
"Twelve hours to a day at the most," Drahomira replied.
"I know I had suggested that we avoid too much exposure, but I think it may be necessary to find you a clean source of blood that we could use sparingly."
"How?"
"There are those with fundamental religious beliefs that reject modern science. They would not be vaccinated. We should seek them out and perhaps farm some of them."
Havel laughed. "You would make an excellent vampire, Doctor."
The phone began to ring, and Stillwel picked it up. The whole room watched him as he spoke in affirmation and hung up.
"Mr. Ketter's shipment as arrived. They are being dropped off at your lab, Doctor Himmelreich."
"Excellent. At least it was not a total loss."
Everyone was too caught up in the moment to see the nervous expression on Krazek's face or the bead of sweat that suddenly dripped down the side of his temple.
EPILOGUE
There was a lot of talk on the news about rabid wolves and cultists roaming the woods, but that wouldn't stop Reggie from taking his son, Mitchell, hunting. Just like his dad before him and his grandpa, it had become something of a tradition and a rite of passage. They were a wilderness-loving family, and as such, they all made it a point to teach their kid the value of being able to live off the land.