The Darkest Night (The Second Dark Ages Book 2)

by Michael Anderle

  “She believes that the best lesson,” Eve finished, causing Jacqueline complete her rotation, “is one where pain drives the learning process.”

  “Ooohhh.” Jacqueline finally understood and turned back to Michael. “How about you promise to remember that inside this grown-up woman is still a young girl?”

  Michael pulled her close one more time. “That is true for every woman, Jacqueline.” He looked to the west, where he could sense the first pack getting closer.

  “Even Bethany Anne.”

  ---

  Kirk lowered down the binoculars. “If I hadn’t seen it with my own two eyes,” he handed the binoculars to James, “I would never have believed that a vampire could have a family.”

  “Why?” James asked as he dialed in on the group in front of them. “What’s… Oh. Was she crying?”

  “Yup,” Timothy answered. “The whole group was telling her something. I think she was just scared that Michael left.”

  “She knows how badass the others are, right?” James asked.

  “Dude, maybe he’s like her dad or something. It doesn’t matter what happens if your dad disappears and you aren’t expecting it. Kiss everything else goodbye.”

  “Fuck.” Kirk chuckled. “If that’s her father figure, imagine the size of the pair Mark must have to have asked her on a date.”

  Timothy chimed in. “Yeah, I’ve got to give him credit. That guy could be in for a world of hurt. He’s taking one for the team, there.”

  “Yeah, but nobody is going to mess with him or his girl.”

  Everyone on top of the building looked at the horizon, where a huge number of wolves were starting to bear down on them.

  Kirk looked over the group. “I hope the Magnificent Seven are up to this.”

  A rifle cocked behind Kirk. “Let’s get our own as well,” a voice added behind the trio.

  ---

  “Akio?” Michael spoke aloud.

  “Hai.”

  “What say we use both pucks this time?”

  “Hai,” Akio agreed and looked over to Eve. She nodded and moments later, the ground rumbled as dirt and wolves flew into the air. Yips, growls, howls, and keens of pain could be heard as hundreds of bodies sailed through the air to scatter among the shrubs and trees.

  “Those with pistols!” Michael pulled his coat back, exposing his twin set of Jean Dukes. “It’s time we truly use our Kurtherian enhancements.” Michael looked towards the coming storm, a smile on his face. “Don’t hold back.”

  “I’m getting some damned pistols or something next time,” Jacqueline muttered as Mark rubbed her back.

  “Fire.”

  ---

  Rayane felt the second explosion before the first registered in his brain. He turned his head, and his eyes opened in shock as he saw many of his pack flying through the air. Pieces of wolves raining down around him told him that he had lost countless pack members already.

  So this was how Adorjan had failed. It wasn’t because they were as pitiful as he suspected, but rather that the humans had weapons the Duke didn’t know about.

  Rayane’s eyes narrowed, Or didn’t share.

  It would be just like that self-absorbed prick not to tell them about weapons that could hurt his pack. He would expect them to succeed regardless of the cost. It didn’t matter that it wasn’t the pack’s way of doing things.

  But it was a vampire’s.

  Rayane briefly considered turning his pack around, then reality hit. He knew if he did that he wouldn’t last a month before The Duke came calling. He turned back towards the city and howled, ordering his pack forward.

  ---

  Lilliana heard the explosions to the north. She glanced over and saw the thunderstorm, but what she had felt didn’t seem like thunder. Rather, it was as if the earth itself had trembled.

  It certainly didn’t feel right. She howled a command and they slowed down just a little bit more.

  ---

  “That,” Akio agreed as the wolves came into view, “is a very target-rich environment.”

  Michael had been the only one firing so far. When he began shooting, he’d been taking out a wolf at the rate of one every two seconds. Now he was up to approximately one wolf per second. Then Akio started firing. A couple of moments later, Yuko’s pistol joined in.

  They had about a minute before the line hit them.

  Eve walked a little way forward and turned so that her left shoulder was slightly forward. She raised her leg and slammed it into the ground. She looked behind her. “Shame, no Alan this time.”

  Mark walked over and started making a hole for his own foot. “I got your back, Eve. This time, you aren’t flying anywhere.”

  “Big words for a…” Eve looked Mark up and down, “big vampire. You are bigger up close.”

  “Yes, he is bigger than he looks.” Jacqueline winked at the AI as she got behind Mark and braced his back. “Let’s rip them up, Eve.”

  Eve turned around and activated her guidance system. She watched wolves dropping from the massed fire that Michael, Akio, and Yuko were bombarding them with. She wondered when Sabine would join in.

  “Remember, this kicks hard!” she told them as she unholstered her micro rocket gun and aimed it at the approaching horde. None of the group so far were targeting the Weres off to the side, so she put her reticules on them—a total of twenty-five—and counted down. “Three, two, one, pull!” She locked her arm and squeezed the trigger. The twenty-five little missiles kicked like a mule, but this time Mark had relocated his arms quickly enough that not only didn’t she fly backwards, she didn’t fall to the ground either. At the very end, she could feel him letting her fall backward into his open arms and chest.

  “Owww, cracked rib!” He coughed as Eve stepped out of his protective hold. The three of them watched twenty-five…no, twenty-four Weres explode, peripherally causing a few additional Weres to fall over. “Dog pile!” Mark laughed as they noticed two or three places where the Weres tripped and fell over each other.

  The three of them turned as they heard Sabine’s guns kick in.

  “Now,” Michael told them, “we make them pay!”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Almighty God! Rayane looked around as Were after Were died. Who the hell were these seven people in front of them?

  And why was he feeling so hot?

  ---

  “Michael!” Jacqueline called out. “There is still a shitload of Weres on the way!”

  They had to be killing between fifteen and twenty Weres a second, but the Weres kept coming.

  “They are a bit hard-headed,” Michael agreed. “This pack isn’t worth saving, so I’m not going to try.”

  “There is another pack that is worth saving?” Akio asked.

  Mark piped up, “You’d try saving them?”

  “Yes. The second pack will be arriving perhaps ten minutes after the first,” Michael told them, his rhythmic shooting continuing faster and faster. “Dammit! I missed.”

  “You did?” Akio asked. “I didn’t see a miss.”

  “That’s because I aim low so if I miss my target, I still get a chance at one behind them.” In a flash, Michael swung his hands down and holstered his pistols. “It’s time to take this old-school.”

  “You’re going to use a sword on them?” Sabine asked, her pistols firing methodically left, right, left, right.

  “Who said anything about a sword?” Michael responded, smiling. “I’m talking about bringing a little mad and angry back into the equation.”

  ---

  First, their Alpha went up in flames, his yelp of pain sharp before he died. Then, the man in the front started walking from his group towards the pack.

  Those in front yipped in fear when his eyes flared red.

  ---

  “Uh oh…” Kirk mumbled, his eyes glued to the binoculars.

  “What?” Timothy asked. He had given his gun to James, who had taken a few shots at the Weres. The shots where more annoying than
damaging, as the team didn’t have nearly enough silver ammunition.

  “Michael’s moving,” James answered Timothy.

  “Where?” he asked.

  “Walking towards the Weres.” Kirk lowered the binoculars and turned to James. “Does it look like he walks super-fast? Does he walk as fast as most people run?”

  “No fucking clue,” James replied over the constant firing from their rooftop and the many windows below, as the team continued shooting at the Weres.

  ----

  “You guys need to step back a bit,” Michael called over his shoulder. “I don’t need you to get randomly electrocuted.”

  “Ooohhhh, shit.” Jacqueline grabbed Eve’s shoulder. “C’mon little lady, it isn’t a good idea to be close.”

  “Why?” she asked.

  “Because,” Mark answered, “it’s about to get scary as hell down here.”

  Akio heard Mark’s answer and told Yuko to back up. He grabbed Sabine, who was still shooting, and carried her away. Michael’s hands were slowly starting to glow a bluish-white.

  ---

  The thunder hurt Lilliana's ears, and the sudden lightning near the city surprised her. It was too much; too fast and too consistent to be natural.

  And if it wasn't natural, then who was pulling lightning from the sky?

  Lilliana howled another command, and the pack slowed to a simple jog.

  The Duke could kiss her furry ass; she wasn't running into an unnatural storm.

  ---

  A woman’s voice spoke from the rooftop. "Oh. My. God!"

  Kirk looked to his right to see Greta standing next to him. She was a short woman with sandy brown hair and freckles. Her blue eyes pierced the dark afternoon sky as the lightning flashed down to a central location in front of them all.

  The bolts of fire reflected from those blue orbs. The sharp light cast shadows all around them, the thunder deafening.

  The power humbling.

  The screams of those who had changed from wolf form back to human. A keening in the dark of the day. The cries for mercy, for compassion, for help. All ignored by the man in the coat.

  "Michael the ArchAngel," Kirk whispered. “No one should ignore the power he wields, since God sent him to Earth."

  “He," Greta assured him, “is no angel.”

  ---

  "Shit, fucking shit!" Jacqueline said as Mark grabbed her and Eve in an embrace, their hair standing up in the ionized air. “My damned ears are bleeding!"

  Mark sniffed. “No, they aren't!"

  Eve made a noise. “She's trying to make a point." Eve turned to look up at him. "You need some help understanding women!"

  Mark snorted. “I am going to need a lot of help to understand women," he agreed. "But she knew I was a geek when she met me.”

  "And he was so skinny!" Jacqueline added over the booming of the thunder.

  ---

  "He really gets his mad on, doesn't he?" Sabine asked from the shelter of Akio's arms around her and Yuko.

  "Now I see why Bethany Anne likes him so much," Yuko agreed.

  "Whhhhaaatttt?" Sabine asked. "What kind of crazy lady wants a man that throws lightning around?"

  Akio chuckled. “One that throws fireballs."

  There was a pause as the thunder rolled over them.

  Sabine responded with a quiet, “Oh.”

  ---

  This time Michael was a bit better at pulling the ionized energy out of the clouds and redirecting it into the Wechselbalg. His first bolts were haphazard, only vaguely aimed towards the group of wolves coming at them.

  That's when he figured out he could simply direct Etheric energy in streams towards his targets, and the lightning would follow its paths.

  Now he was killing by the score. Most of the Wechselbalg had stopped trying to make it to the city as more and more, both wolf and human, died. Multiple wolves had changed, screaming in fear, hands over their ears as they rolled on the ground in anguish.

  Their pleas for mercy went unanswered.

  ---

  “Well, fuck.” Kirk looked around the group, noticing that the darkness of the clouds was lifting.

  "What, fuck?” Greta asked, comforted by Kirk's arm on her shoulder. She looked up, following his eyes. “The storm is tapering off?"

  "Yeah, I think so," Kirk agreed. He looked down at the group below. “Not that many left, but Wechselbalg are a hardy group."

  James heard the two of them talking. “That's the Magnificent Seven down there. Don't count them out just yet!"

  "Guns forward!" Kirk yelled. "It's time we helped a little!"

  ---

  The two hundred semi-healthy Wechselbalg who still had their wits about them all heard the same speech in their ears.

  My name is Michael... I am the first, and if any of you continue to fight me and my friends, I will be the last vampire you ever see. I am the darkness. I am the ArchAngel. Continue on pain of death.

  ---

  Lilliana slowed her jogging then stopped and howled her orders to the pack. She changed back to her human form and looked at her Second. “Guy, take the pack back three miles." She looked toward the city. “I have been commanded to go forward."

  Guy transformed to human himself. His strong frame was imposing to most, but he had no desire for the top spot. "The Duke is not going to treat you well, Lilliana. At least let the pack support you."

  Lilliana had been looking at the city, but she tilted her head towards Guy. “I am not being called by the Duke, but rather by someone from myth and legend." She started walking towards the city. "I'm being called by the Patriarch, Guy!"

  Her Second's face scrunched in confusion for a few moments, trying to remember where he had heard that name before. "Oh, blessed Mother of Christ!" He made the sign of the cross over his chest before turning to the pack. “We follow our Alpha's command!" He changed back into a wolf and started running around the side of the throng to take the lead in the retreat.

  The Catacombs Under Paris

  The constant pounding of the earth above him caused small but consistent shockwaves, and William Renaud woke up. His internal clock told him the sun was still up, but the destruction above was pleasing to him.

  He slowly closed his eyes, a smile gracing his lips.

  Outside Paris

  The occasional pistol shot barked as light rains caressed the living and the dead. Michael allowed the pack, at least those who only sought to grab their friends or the wounded, to carry them from the battlefield. Five times, Michael asked a Wechselbalg a question, and twice Michael pulled his sword from its sheath, the Were beheaded and Michael’s blade back in its sheath before the body dropped to the ground.

  Michael? Akio sent.

  Hmmmm?

  I see a lone Wechselbalg female approaching from the south.

  Yes, that would be Lilliana. Allow her to approach; she will not be a problem. Have Jacqueline go and greet her.

  I understand.

  A moment later, Jacqueline started jogging away from the group in the direction of the lone, naked, woman. She called over her shoulder, “We have any extra clothes?”

  “I got ‘em’,” Mark called back.

  “Don’t worry,” Eve stopped him. “They will be delivered.”

  Mark looked over towards the city, seeing the Container coming across the rooftops and heading towards the lone woman.

  ---

  Lilliana smelled the death before she saw it. When she saw it, she was frightened by the utter devastation of Adorjan’s pack. She noticed a few dead among the corpses littering the ground who were from Rayane’s pack; that scared her to her core.

  When the Duke wanted to hurt the pack, he killed the leaders or a few of the children. Even he wouldn’t be able to kill so many so quickly.

  This was a killing field. Who would be able to stop those that killed so many?

  Lilliana stopped when she noticed the young woman in a body-hugging black suit trotting towards her. She watched her for
a moment before something else caught her eye, and she turned to look towards the city.

  There was a box floating in the air, heading towards them. She considered fleeing, but doubted she would be able to outrun something that flew.

  “You are from him?” Lilliana asked as Jacqueline came closer. “And that?” She nodded towards the Container coming down just twenty paces away from the two of them.

  “That,” Jacqueline answered as she turned to head to the Container, “was sent to provide you with clothes, I imagine. One second.” Jacqueline turned the locks and pulled on the handle. Nothing happened.

  “Password, Please.”

  “Dammit, Eve!”

  “Permission to enter approved,” a mechanical voice answered.

  “Who knew an AI had a sense of humor?” Jacqueline groused, and turned the handle to open the door. The lights turned on inside, and she walked in. She pulled on a drawer handle.

  Nothing.

  “Damn,” she muttered. She found the switch that unlocked them all, and opened drawers until she found a suit similar to her own. By then the naked woman was peeking inside the Container.

  “Do I come in?” Lilliana asked as she stuck her head in. She whistled in appreciation of the weapons on display. “What I couldn’t do with a few of these!”

  “You wouldn’t have time to find out,” Jacqueline answered.

  “Oh, I think I would,” Lilliana pushed back, asserting her Alpha status to intimidate the young woman. She might be here under duress, but she could smell the Wechselbalg on this girl, and there was no way she was taking any lip from her.

  “Accept the clothes, and don’t make me bitch-slap you into next week,” Jacqueline replied, her eyes dancing with yellow fire. “Michael will not be pleased to have to wait on your tardy ass.”

  Lilliana’s hackles went up. “That is no way to speak to your betters,” she argued. Vampires were one thing; you didn’t fuck with them. But Wechselbalg were another. She hadn’t taken any shit from Clement, may evil eat his soul, or Adorjan or Rayane. She wasn’t taking any from this young wannabe.

  ---

  “What do you think is happening?” Yuko asked Akio and Michael, who were discussing the fight. Mark, Eve and Sabine drifted closer, looking at the distant Container.