The City Revolts: Age Of Madness - A Kurtherian Gambit Series (The Caitlin Chronicles Book 4)

by Daniel Willcocks

  He turned and stormed back to his men. “I hope you’re ready to face your makers,” he called over his shoulder.

  Bryce grinned. Gasps issued from both sides of the crowd as he transformed.

  He turned back to his own kin and heard a sudden, “Oops,” as an arrow whistled past him to land in the ground some five feet away.

  He amber eyes blazed as he turned and charged.

  Miriam ducked around the corner farther down the street and watched from afar.

  “Oh, Felicia. Where are you?” she asked and hated herself for wishing that her mistress was there beside her. She whispered into the night but heard no reply.

  “What do I do? What do I do?”

  A sudden flash of inspiration came to her and she fumbled in her dress and retrieved a small dagger. She closed her eyes as she placed the blade on her wrist and sliced along the flesh. Blood oozed immediately.

  The woman waved her arm in the air to spread the scent, although she soon felt woozy and slumped against the building. “Felicia…” she blubbered. “It’s happening.”

  By the time Caitlin made it out through the doors and onto the street, it was too late.

  She watched in horror as the great bear surged through the crowd, leapt over the pikes, and now engaged in combat with the dozens of men and women circled around him. The Weres followed suit with cries and howls of war and barely paid attention to the people who now emerged from the building. The only distinction between the two lay in their weapons and the scars on the Weres’ bodies.

  “What do we do?” Joe asked. He cocked his shotgun and held it steady in his hands.

  “We need to reach Triston and Bryce. If we can stop them, the rest should follow.”

  “Are you sure that’ll work?”

  Caitlin shrugged. “Do you have a better idea?”

  Joe shook his head.

  With a wave of her hand and a rallying cry, Caitlin leapt into the fray and worked her way through the crowd. She heard Kain and several of the others not far behind her.

  If fighting off dozens of Mad or taking on the governor’s men in thick smoke were difficult, or even defeating one of the largest Weres she was sure the world had ever seen, these were nothing compared to her present challenge.

  In the months in which Caitlin had inherited her sword from Mary-Anne, she had trained both her mind and her body for battle. Her purpose was always clear—to eliminate any enemy prepared to kill her before they actually could. But now, as she waded through the fierce battle, she had to hold back from the kill and still incapacitate anyone who chose to attack her.

  A Were with a ripped shirt and her breasts bare smiled as she neared and lunged for her with nothing more than her nails as weapons. Caitlin tried to duck, but the blow caught her in the side and knocked her off-balance.

  The woman poised to strike again but stopped as Joe aimed his shotgun at her face. “On your way,” he said.

  As the Were turned, someone lurched into Joe and he fell awkwardly.

  Caitlin spared a glance at her group of Weres who, at this point, didn’t actually fight but simply tried to blend in with their kind.

  Smart move. She increased speed and wove past stunned Weres toward the humans.

  The action began to build in cries of pain, gunshots, and howls in the night. Several of the animal Weres growled and leapt from person to person like stepping stones and wreaked as much damage as they could.

  Caitlin climbed on top of the husk of a car, saw Bryce, and clambered off. She prepared to sprint toward him when she was suddenly pulled back by the arm.

  Her attacker dragged her to the car and smacked her head on the door. They both ended up on their asses and ducked low to avoid the Weres now more focused on reaching the humans than what was happening on the other side of the car.

  “You’re a fucking nightmare, you are,” a familiar voice whispered.

  “Izzy? What are you—”

  “We need to talk,” the woman said sternly.

  “About what?”

  “What’s all this about you keeping Alicia captive? Are you really an enemy of the city? Please, tell me it’s not so.”

  Caitlin sighed. “Is that what Triston’s told everyone? Believe me, if I was an enemy, the city wouldn’t be standing.”

  Izzy indicated the battle around them. “I’d hardly say it’s standing on two legs at the moment, would you?”

  The Revolutionary shrugged.

  “Caitlin,” Izzy continued. “What’s going on?”

  She rolled her eyes in frustration, torn between the desire to tell Izzy the truth and the need to reach the two people who might be able to finally put a stop to the senseless violence.

  Caitlin decided to give Izzy the short version as quickly as she could. She could use another ally.

  “You’re kidding? Alicia went voluntarily to try and stop the war?”

  “Mmhmm. It turned out well for everyone involved, wouldn’t you agree?”

  Izzy ducked as a Were leaped over the car and ran onwards. She suddenly stood and pulled Caitlin up by the arm. “Go. Now. I’ll cover you. We’ll convince him together.”

  Kain and Jaxon appeared beside them. “I wondered where you were,” he said. “Look who I found!”

  “Kain? Jax!” Caitlin said cheerfully and managed to hastily dodge an incoming arrow. The missile slapped into someone behind her, but she chose not to look. “Perfect timing.”

  “As usual.”

  “Look, we need you to get to Bryce. We need to hold this shitshow up and get them talking. We’ll tackle Triston.”

  “Right you are.” Kain nodded but paused and added, “Who’s Triston?”

  “Not important. Go!”

  “What do you mean, it’s not important?” Izzy asked. She yelped suddenly and smacked a Were’s face. Her attacker sprawled on the ground and shook her head dazedly.

  “You haven’t met Kain properly. Let’s just say if you get him talking, he doesn’t shut up.”

  They continued but made painfully slow progress the closer they came to Bryce and Triston. They could feel the bear’s rage from afar, although at this point, Caitlin couldn’t tell if it was from fear as well or only anger. The great beast roared, and his voice carried far down the streets as wave after wave of city citizens attacked halfheartedly. It soon became clear to her that these were not real warriors.

  They were no more than twenty feet away from where Triston now fought several Weres. His gun hung limply in his hand through fear of accidentally shooting his own men in the heat of battle. Caitlin drew her sword and shouted as loud as she could.

  “Triston. Cut this shit. We need to talk.”

  His gaze flashed in her direction. It flicked from her to Izzy, then returned to the Were he was currently engaged in battle with. Jaxon growled menacingly.

  Caitlin drew her sword, and her anger flashed across her face as she advanced on him.

  Kain felt the exhilaration surge through his body. He hadn’t realized the impact of his incarceration in the sewers on his body. Now that he was free to play in the outside world again, it felt like he’d drunk four cups of coffee and chased them down with vodka.

  His mouth salivated at the thought of that.

  He waded through Weres and humans, ducked several blows, and wove through the crowd, making slow, painful progress toward Bryce. In all honesty, his body tried to go in the other direction; only his mind pushed him forward. With each monstrous roar and every human cry that resounded from Bryce’s direction, it took more willpower to continue.

  “Come on, Sudeikis,” he growled to spur himself on. “You can do this. Do it for Kitty-Cat. Do it for the whole damn bunch of them.”

  Kain could feel the Alpha’s power now. Men and women leapt at the great bear and did their best to penetrate his thick skin with weapons, but he moved too quickly to allow them a proper target. They washed off him like water off a rock.

  On one level, Kain felt admiration surge to the fore. It had been
years since he had seen Weres demonstrate any kind of real power against a large number of attackers. He had seen Geralt against Ma, Kitty-Cat and the Revolutionaries, but this was something else entirely, a flashback to the old days when Weres enjoyed true power.

  Someone crashed into Kain’s side. He toppled to the ground and groaned, shoved the lifeless body off him, and stood to resume his quest. As he neared the epicenter of the mighty battle, he shouted Bryce’s name and hoped the enormous bear would stop.

  A part of him already knew that was unlikely, not while the humans maintained their attack.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  The Broken City, Old Ontario

  “Now’s not the time, traitor,” Triston shouted as he drove his sword into the chest of his next attacker. “Get involved or get the fuck out of my way.”

  “Triston, you have to listen. Call your men off. This whole fight is pointless.” Caitlin dodged one attack and parried another. Beside her, Izzy fought on but tried to use Caitlin’s strategy and defend without hurting her adversaries.

  “Bullshit. This is what we need. One way or another, this ends tonight,” he grunted between attacks.

  Caitlin’s anger increased. She scowled, screamed her frustration, and ran at Triston. Using the element of surprise, she dived forward and brought him to the ground.

  “Get the fuck off me, crazy bitch,” he rasped and struggled to wriggle free. “My people need me. I won’t have them die because of you.”

  “They’re dying because of you,” she retorted, so close to him now that her heart beat double time. As much as she hated to admit it, she had wanted to feel his body against hers since she had met him. Some crazy part of her brain acknowledged that she had felt the pull that only biology could bring. But now, she was disgusted at the meager man who could bring this kind of pain upon an entire town. He was like a child who would not listen.

  Caitlin drew her sword and placed it against his throat.

  “You won’t kill me. If you wanted to, you would have done it already. You had every chance when you held my pistol to my throat.”

  “True,” she said. “But I could make it a lot easier for the Weres by cutting your arms off.”

  Behind her, she could hear Joe and Belle step in to help Izzy drive the Weres back. Caitlin looked up for a second and saw the determined faces of Tom, Laurie, and Vex as they sprinted through the crowd. They paused only when they saw who she straddled.

  No words were necessary. They nodded, Belle cut their bonds, and the group gathered around Caitlin with nothing more than their fists to defend themselves against any attack.

  “End it. Now,” Caitlin ordered.

  Triston frowned, struggled, and seemed to concede. He looked at Caitlin, leaned closer, and whispered. “You’ll have to kill me first.”

  She felt the gun pressed against her hip. Her body moved by instinct as she shoved herself sideways and the gunshot narrowly missed her. Triston jumped to his feet, but Joe aimed his shotgun at his face.

  “Trys that one more time and I’ll send your brains sky-high. Yes, I will.”

  Caitlin grinned. Her smile slipped, however, when she heard a sudden flurry of screams from the other side of the battlefield.

  “Bryce! Come on, man, dial it back!”

  Kain wasn’t sure the great bear heard him or even that the Alpha cared. He seemed swept up in the rush that came from the transformation. The power surged to your head as your animal instincts took over and blinded you to your human feelings. Despite the terrifying sight of the raging Were, Kain still pitied him.

  “Bryce!” He ran forward and recalled Mary-Anne’s movements when she had battled Geralt. She had managed to at least get his attention by leaping onto his back. He emulated that now and launched off the back of a woman who was doubled over to clutch her stomach.

  He landed with a thump on Bryce’s back, but the bear hardly seemed to notice. Using all his strength, Kain gripped tightly into the fur and scrambled upward until he was on his broad shoulders. After a moment’s hesitation, he grabbed Bryce’s ears and pulled hard.

  “Oi! Slow down, kid. Mother wants to speak to you!” he shouted at the top of his voice directly into Bryce’s ear canal.

  The Alpha roared in rage and turned his head sharply in an attempt to snap at him.

  For a terrifying second, Kain looked into the depths of the bear’s mouth at the razor-sharp teeth and the saliva strung like moist spider webs between each fang. With a grunt of effort, he hoisted himself away to hang off Bryce’s shoulder by one hand clenched into the fur. The massive Were tossed his head and bucked, and his rider clung desperately to avoid being thrown off.

  “Shit!” Kain’s legs swung wide and his feet slammed into a man’s face. The human immediately crumpled.

  The son of a bitch is using me as a weapon, he thought and took the opportunity of the return swing to climb back onto Bryce. He managed to make his way to the ears, grabbed them again, and was about to shout when he suddenly felt himself drop.

  “What the—”

  He landed with a thud on something without fur or teeth. He lifted his head carefully and realized he now lay on top of Bryce. The great Were glared at him as he punched Kain in the face.

  “This is all your fault, Sudeikis,” he growled as he pushed to his feet and barked orders at his fellow Weres to hold the humans back. “If you could only keep your stinking nose out of other people’s business and stay loyal to the pack, none of this shit would be happening.”

  Bryce threw another punch and Kain saw stars. Blood trickled from his eyebrow.

  As the Alpha poised for another blow, he ducked down, slid between his legs, and rolled onto the other side. He found his feet as quickly as possible although he wobbled slightly from the dizzying blows.

  “It’s not my fault,” Kain said and truly believed the words for the first time. “And my beef isn’t with you, Bryce. Come on, man. We were friends once.”

  Bryce growled and his sweat-soaked hulk tensed as he lurched forward to throw punch after punch.

  Somehow, Kain managed to avoid them all. Finally, he shoved his attacker aside and used his own weight to throw him off-balance.

  “I want all this to end,” Kain said. “I’ve seen the other side. I have human friends and vampire friends. There’s good in the world, Bryce. Call this shit off and let’s speak with the humans to see if we can find a way to make all this work. No one else needs to die.”

  The Alpha’s eyes softened for barely a moment. He cast his gaze across the battlefield as both Weres and humans fell around them. The screams raged through the city.

  “It’s too late,” he said with the first note of regret in his voice. “It’s too fucking late. We must see this through.”

  “Bryce, no!”

  He looked at the ground, transformed once more, and was about to hurtle into the fray when several gunshots were fired and a woman screamed in horror. The sound turned Kain’s blood to ice.

  “Will you stand still for one second,” Jimmy said softly. “You’re making me nervous.”

  “How can I possibly stand still when I can hear my people dying out there?” Alicia said, biting her nails as she paced. She looked toward the window but immediately turned away.

  “Why don’t you come and watch?” Brett asked. He sat at the large glass window with his knees drawn to his chest. “It’s actually quite entertaining.”

  “Sicko,” Alicia spat.

  “What? You’ll appreciate it a whole lot better if you sit here with me. Or I could describe it to you.”

  Alicia considered this. “Try that.”

  Brett described the waves of men and Were moving against one another and highlighted Bryce’s bulk as he roared and fought. He revealed the little he could see of Caitlin’s progress in talking to Triston and the rising body count in the heat of the battle.

  “It feels like I’m watching tv again. How I wish we still had tv,” Brett reminisced and rested his head against the window.<
br />
  “What’s tv?” Alicia asked.

  Jimmy looked at her, stunned. “You don’t know what tv is? It’s a magical box that shows you different forms of entertainment.”

  “Sport, news, movies, it was all there on a sexy little glass screen,” Brett added.

  “Mmmm,” Jimmy agreed.

  Alicia looked from one to the other and wondered if it was her imagination or whether Jimmy might have looked at Brett with that last utterance of affection.

  “Well, it’d be no use now, would it?”

  “I don’t know,” Brett said. “We could live stream the event from all different angles, and maybe you’d be able to watch the best bits as they happened.”

  “What use is that?”

  Brett shrugged. “Probably more use than you are if you stay over there.”

  Alicia rolled her eyes. “Fine.” She stormed to the window and pressed her nose against the glass. “Fuck,” she said, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears.

  “I know, right.” Brett smiled. “There’s something relaxing about watching it all from afar and not being in the throes of battle.”

  “That’s the shit we ran away from to start with.”

  “It’s good to know you two would be useful if the battle made its way here,” Alicia scolded. “Wait, what’s happening down there? Where’s the bear gone?”

  “Can’t you see him?” Brett pointed to the circle now enveloping two bodies caught in a fight.

  “That’s him?”

  For a moment, Brett looked at Alicia with concern. When the penny dropped. He said, “Ah, that’s right. Humans don’t have great eyesight.”

  She glared at him. “Tell me what’s happening.”

  They barely noticed when Jimmy joined them.

  “I don’t know what they’re fighting about, but I can tell you it’s Kain and Bryce.”

  “I wouldn’t like to be Kain in that fight,” Jimmy breathed.

  “What do you mean? Getting to fondle Bryce’s rippling abs? Sounds like a fun fight to me.”