Every attempt at the mental wall was accompanied by a sharp, spiking pain. My cries of frustration were useless and the ghostly world I viewed was slowly changing colors. Reds, oranges, swirling crimson and touches of white flared across everything. The wall remained unmoved, the limit on what I could track. No matter what things my body managed to do while enraged over protecting my stuff, even my abilities had a finite range.
“Gone…” The mumbling sounded familiar, my voice coming from miles back.
Among the sea of energy that spun over all the living things near where my mind hovered, there were two more cords. One rainbow of colors went to Evan. A purple lacing blotched with blood lead to Kahina. They were mine just as surely as the inanimate objects in my basement. I wouldn’t fail again. If they were all that remained, then they would get everything I had.
I recalled my mind with a shudder. The extra sensations of arms barely settled from agitation. A moment later and the feedback from everything surrounding hit me. Dirt grated against the skin where my face was planted. Arrows burrowed holes in the air as they flew out. Teeth tore into padded armor designed to prevent purchase. Screams, so many screams intermingled with burning bits of forest.
It was difficult to stand up. The woodlands surrounding me felt realer than my own skin. Bullets chipped portions of trees in the distance. Fire licked at the ground and steadily climbed higher. Trees were being reduced to cinders as an inferno swept across them.
Hell.
I stumbled towards the camp. Evan was that way. Kahina was close. Evan’s grandfather had taken off into the distance, likely putting his arrows to good use. The sensation of zips in the air had started to dim, but never actually lost pace. Only my extra awareness was starting to fade. Muddy thoughts came up with an action plan. Find Kahina and Evan, make sure no one got to them. Get Daniel the hell out of here, quickly, before he felt the need to call in more friends to play. Other concerns started pelting my mind, growling from alien thoughts. It felt like something huge in the back of my mind was uttering warnings. I had to focus.
The sensations from my surroundings finally ceased. The lack of extra sensation caused me to gasp and take one giant breath of air. The last detached sensation was one of feet thumping across the landscape in my direction. They felt too artificial for wolves. These were more like rubber.
“Jay!” A female shouted.
I turned to see Julianne and gave a weak wave. My other hand was pressed into my forehead to relieve the pressure of a budding headache. Throwing my mind at that white haze had been a bad idea.
“Jay, we’ve got to go help,” She said.
“That man blew it all up.” Now perhaps wasn’t the best time for bad news but I was exactly thinking straight. The loss of home still pulled at my mind.
“What?!” Julianne halted her run nearby and shouted.
Her voice and lingering gunfire didn’t help my headache. I tried to recall the weight with those footsteps. They weren’t Julianne’s.
“That man,” I gestured where he had been before I launched him. There were just splatters of blood left to show a human had been present. “Pressed a button to blow up the whole apartment place.”
“God damn it, Jay! God fucking damn it.” She was kicking now. Gunshots seemed to accent each swing of her short legs. “A newly turned pup would have more sense than you.” She paused and I swear her ears perked up. “Wait, what the hell is that…”
Another gunshot went off, much closer this time. I heard Julianne cry out and looked over in time to see her fall while clutching her side. Blood was seeping out. A nightmare, this was all unreal. No one’s life fell apart this quickly. Not my life. Not again.
“We’ll blame that one on you, eh big guy?” A voice I had never heard came out from the shadows near Julianne’s felled body. “Oops. Bad guys got too close. Casualties of war being what they are.”
The voice was a whisper of noise belonging to a figure that was difficult to make out. Black clothes laced with a thread that felt purple. A third dead Sector agent was thrown onto the ground.
I felt lost while looking around for anyone who could help a bleeding woman. Where was Evan’s grandfather? Where was Julianne’s grandfather, or Thomas, or anyone who could help her? I’d never laid claim on Julianne, never tried to or wanted to. She was my boss and a friend. The short bartender was also a confidante when I got too drunk.
But none of those things would send me into a rage. Julianne wasn’t someone I had laid claim over so my mental switch just sat there doing nothing. No amount of anger would prevent her from dying.
“I think we’ll clear up another little problem as well.” The whispering voice leveled a gun in my direction. For the third time in one day, I was going to be shot.
Options ran through my muddled head and came up with a useless response. I had nothing. No tools, cross, silver, bullet proof vest or heavy mesh, only cloth and skin.
Another click barely proceeded the force of bullets slamming into me. They were imperfect and lodged into the outskirts of my chest. The person shooting couldn’t seem to aim right. There should have been pain, but all I felt was an uncomfortable pressure. My eyes were trying to focus on Julianne’s slumping body.
I stood there stupidly instead of falling down. This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t happen.
“Julianne?” Sound croaked out of me.
Lungs coughed and liquid leapt up. One arm jerked up slowly to swipe it away. A dark blot smeared across my ruined shirt. Part of my mind absently analyzed it. I was bleeding. Years of experience with fist to face connections taught me all about blood.
I looked down at Julianne. Her eyelids barely twitched as more shots rang out and impacts slammed into me. One skimmed off the side of my head, a fresh trail of pain and bone flaking with it.
Everything hurt, but in a passively detached manner that almost put my body and mind in completely different locations. The other man cursed about how I hadn’t keeled over. Instead of responding to him I sluggishly moved one foot forward towards Julianne.
“Added proof that you’re a foul Hidden abomination. I’ve known it since the first time I saw you.” He said. My head slowly turned to look at the other figure.
My face tried to scrunch up in confusion, but all the muscles were screaming in pain. His face was visible but didn’t make much sense. There was a single pair of almost milk-white eyes. Hair was completely gone. The left side of his face seemed to be branded by a small cross.
“And you should all have been killed.” He sneered.
What was he saying about an abomination? I stared at the ground that seemed too far away for someone who had been shot so many times. That sounded like a monster, but no more than this vampire was. He had shot Julianne so easily. My mind was trying to flip that internal switch and fight for her, to press him back, but was coming up empty.
“I wonder what your weakness is.” The other man said. I struggled to remember his name. Janns? Mister Janns?
“Why?” I croaked out the question and wiped away another bubble of blood.
“I’ll tell you after your last bit of life bleeds out.” He spoke with an arrogance I could do nothing about.
The next few bullets hit my legs. They buckled and everything took on a new level of pain. This was worse than the fight against Francis, worse than my first against Janns and the other partial vampire.
All I could properly focus on as gravity and a broken body pulled me downward was Julianne’s bewildered face. Maybe I wore the same look she had. We shared a disbelief that things had turned out so horribly wrong. Hadn’t she planned to run her bar, to go wolf sooner or later and share her time with Stacy?
There were snarls further out that sounded too far away. No one was close enough to do anything. Julianne’s eyes shook from the loss of blood.
“I’ll never know what she saw in you. Pathetic. You could never be a Second.” The male kept ranting and nothing made sense. There were more shots, but they were o
ff the mark. I slowly followed Julianne’s eyes across the dirt. She stared at the dead humans dressed in Western Sector armor.
“First I’ll kill you, then I’ll leave your desecrated remains as a present to her. She’s dead anyway, you’re both dead.” There was a sound of metal being tossed into bark. “The Tribunal can’t let her survive the change.”
Julianne’s lips were moving and her eyes slowly honed in on mine. The wound to my head was leaking blood all over. Droplets splashed across the view of our crumpled bodies. I unfurled a tiny bit of my mind, trying desperately to reach out and hear her. My boss, my bartender, my landlord. Just thirty feet away. Such a small stretch.
“No, that’s too good. I’ll have to tear you into smaller pieces and ship them to her for holidays. I’ll even C.O.D them! Hah, she can pay for the pieces of her dead lover.” He kept babbling. His hatred was the kind that built up over months, years even, but I had only seen him once before.
Julianne’s lips still moved slowly. Light cast from the looming forest fire made it seem like her entire body was turning red. Tactile feedback reached across to sense the vibrations from her broken words. It was difficult to make out her words from among Mister Janns’ ranting.
“Protect Kahina. Protect her.” Julianne tried hard to stop shaking and focus on me. Her words were broken mumbles. “If you break my girl’s heart again I’ll put your balls in a jar myself.”
The last part came out muted, but it sounded like something she would say. I was probably filling in a lot of the blanks myself. Julianne was barely hanging onto life. She had given me a mission, though. Things were always so much simpler when someone gave me a goal.
My left hand moved to the ground, struggling for leverage. The arm quivered with weakness and there wasn’t enough strength to force myself up on that alone. The problem didn’t stop me completely. Mister Janns give an uneasy laugh at my efforts.
“I don’t think so.” He emphasized his statement by flickering with vampiric speed and kicking me in the side. The impact flipped me further away from Julianne. “I should never have bothered with human weapons, they’re pathetic.”
I groaned and tried to roll back over. My senses retreated from Julianne, and for a moment I felt each footstep he took. Each one compressing dirt on the ground as his weight shifted from side to side.
“Still hanging on are you? I should have done this from the start.” Janns came over and lifted me upwards by the head. His strength was incredible. Dead weight pulled at my body. Feet weakly spun, trying to touch down on firm ground. Another groan escaped me and my arms weakly tried to lift up. A freshly formed scab at my side ripped. I was healing faster than expected, but not enough.
“Ready to die? You promise to tell God I was a good boy, right?” Mister Janns started to lift one arm up and away. “Goodbye, abomination.”
While he was speaking, my arms struggled to reach his face. As his reached back to an apex I lunged to plant both my thumbs into his eye sockets. From there it was a simple effort to squeeze with what little strength remained. It was impossible to feel my face, but I hoped it was terrifying.
“How, HOW are you still alive?” The partial vampire dropped me and yanked away. His eyes were pulps from my brief contact.
I fell to the ground with a fresh wave of pain and started laughing. It came out more like a choked sob.
“Bleed to death then, I’ll still win.” Then with another limping rush of incredible speed Mister Janns was gone.
I was alive which was another sign of being inhuman. Bullets had ripped through me, luckily none had been explosive tips or there would be chunks missing. No one answered my cries for help. Julianne’s face was rapidly losing her remaining color.
Huffing, I attempted to traverse the distance. Both arms burned with strain from pulling. My abs clenched painfully. Babyish crawling barely helped me close the gap. Gunfire still spilled out in dying bursts. Flames had slowly succumbed to intense rainfall. The ground was cold, and Julianne’s eyes were fluttering. Each time they opened I found the strength to pull myself another yard.
The last few feet towards her were the hardest. Her eyes had a distant glazed look about them. Every so often they would come together and focus. I almost slipped in the puddled blood forming under her.
“Janny.” Speaking was much easier. In that short distance, my body had already started healing. This was unfair. I was getting better while she died in front of me.
“Janny, stay with me.” I reached out and patted lightly on the side of her cheek. Her eyes swung back into focus for a moment and she smiled.
“I was wrong you know.” Her words stuttered.
“About what?” Nearly all the other noises had vanished, even the crackling of burning trees was gone. My voice felt like a violation of the growing silence.“Not all men are assholes.”
“I think I’m an asshole.” I tried to laugh but ended up blubbering myself.
She gave a weak laugh. The quick motion of her chest brought a moment of pain to her eyes. “Jay.”
“I’m here.” I said slowly.
“Kahina’s worth it.” Hell. This woman was dying and the only thought on her mind was making sure Kahina and I stayed together.
“We were good together. Remember, Janny? You told me that.” I hung my head.
Julianne didn’t respond and her eyes completely lost focus. My fingers were unsteady as I put them to her neck. The only pulse I could feel was the pounding of my own blood in my ears. A moment later my hand shifted to hover over her mouth, checking for a breath of air.
I couldn’t tell. My body was numb, completely and utterly numb. There should be shooting pain, but there wasn’t. That couldn’t be a good sign, but at least there was still movement. Julianne couldn’t say the same.
“Janny.” My voice was louder than I expected, sadder. Not something I was used to feeling. “Janny, you can’t be dead.”
I reached out, trying to find a connection, a purchase with my powers, to feel if she still had her soul. My senses wouldn’t respond. Any abilities I had were overtaxed trying to keep me alive and mending.
Never once had I tried to locate Julianne like other people. Never once had I thought of her as being so important to me, but she had always been there. Before Kahina, before I left, and without question after I returned. Ready to help, lending an ear, a place to stay. How had I repaid her?
With failure.
Chapter 22 – Almost According To Plan
A single car engine rumbled in the distance.
Everything surrounding me tingled with raindrops. A heavy storm had started during the battle. It was only coincidence, but I wanted to think it was the world’s way of sharing my grief.
“Jay? What’s going on? There was gunfire over here.” It felt easier to move now, less stiff. Just in time for someone to find us. “Did you get shot?”
If only I could share the healing with Julianne. A brief moment of whatever I was would help her survive. I would plead and happily say here are my freakish abilities, be better.
“Please don’t be dead. Please.” There were no better words to say.
“Whose smell is that? It smells like…” The newest visitor said.
“I think Julianne’s…” My voice trailed off. I wasn’t even sure who I was talking to. Turning my head a little revealed Thomas, Julianne’s brother. Hell. This would be worse on him than it was on me.
“Oh no,” He said. Thomas shoved me out of the way in his hurry to get to Julianne. He cradled her to his chest.
Other faces had started showing up in the trees, golden eyes that started out distant and closed in. They were nearby but not intrusive as if allowing Thomas room to grieve.
“Come on, sis, you’re saposta be pack soon. You can’t die before that. We’re family. Don’t leave me too.” Thomas said.
I didn’t know what to do. Thomas was blood, the pack would have been her family in a very real sense. Me? I was a drunk who spent way too much time at her bar.
“Don’t leave. Hold on, just a little longer.” He muttered.
“Is she still alive?” My voice sounded foreign.
Thomas didn’t hear me, but someone else did.
“Perhaps. We will try to save her.” Their grandfather stood past me, naked again, but I couldn’t bring myself to care right now. “Put her down, Thomas.” His voice was hard, and even though he was directly related, there wasn’t a hint of the emotion he should be feeling.
Thomas’ head looked back up at his grandfather for a moment, then tilted and he almost whimpered.
“Yes. I will try.” The older Alpha said before sighing heavily as if bracing for what he must say next. “At worst, she’ll die pack, we will hold her spirit with us.”
Thomas nodded then set Julianne down to the ground reverently. The gathering of wolves padded forward. Most bore wounds of different degrees. One was missing chunks of hair, another had long rivers of skin torn apart. More than a few seemed to be cradling a paw. A fourth no longer had a tail along with patches of heavily matted fur. Julianne’s body was lost in a jumble of fur.
“Jay, what happened?” Another voice that barely preceded the scent of peppermint. I looked at Kahina, she glared at the three dead Sector agents. “Who did this to her? Was it them?”
“No,” I answered.
“Who did it, Jay? Did you make them pay?” Normally she played it cool or eager, sometimes angry, but this was beyond all those things. Kahina’s face was thirsting for vengeance.
“Not yet,” I said.
“Tell me who it was, I’ll find them, and we can settle this together.” Kahina reached out towards me with one hand. She seemed torn between the desire to be soft towards me and a need to make someone pay.
“Don’t think he’ll be worth much more tonight.” Another voice closed in. Evan’s grandfather and his western drawl had found the rest of us.
“Why? He seems perfectly fine.” Kahina’s sounded affronted. My blurring vision could barely make out her turn towards the elf. I felt unsteady and woozy.
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