by Greg Hair
Landon bench-pressed the car up, throwing it off. Nicholas had disappeared.
Landon knew, though, that he wanted to be found. Nicholas wanted the confrontation, but also wanted to throw innocent lives into the mix. A bus, a bus, my kingdom for a bus, he thought. What the hell does that mean? Then he zeroed in, not on the changed word, but the word that remained the same—kingdom. Kentucky Kingdom, he realized. Landon raced south, toward the abandoned amusement park.
Chapter 33
Reaching the premises of Kentucky Kingdom in a matter of minutes, Landon stood at the gated entrance way, listening and smelling the air for any tell-tale signs, and he found them—the sounds of panicked breathing and multiple heartbeats, almost too many to count, mixed with the scents of fear and diesel fuel. He immediately sensed a massive electrical charge, one that made him quiver slightly as it hit him repeatedly, in short bursts. Silently he slipped through the shadows and, without changing, jumped over the gate.
Landing on the other side, he immediately caught sight of innumerable blue eyes staring at him, dotted among the rides and attractions. The place was crawling with vampires. Then, the entire front section of the park began pulsating and vibrating, like the heavy wooden door in the Guzman cathedral. A high number of werewolves, too.
Over a loudspeaker came the voice of his son. “Welcome, Landon. It’s always nice when someone isn’t afraid to face death. I brought you some company.” The lights came on to reveal a school bus packed with high school students and one teacher. Their screams echoed around the park. “These are my former classmates. Do you think you can save yourself and them?”
“This is between us,” yelled Landon. “Let the students go.”
“Now, Landon,” said Nicholas, chiming in, “what kind of amusement park would this be without some amusement? You like saving kids.”
“Why don’t you come down here and face me?” said Landon. “Why hide behind Jamie?”
“Why get my hands dirty if I don’t have to?” the loudspeaker squawked.
“Oh, you’re going to realize that if you want me dead, you’ll have to do it yourself. I’m not going out that easily.”
“Hmm. Let’s see,” said Jamie.
Suddenly, the lights went out as the bus roared to life, the teens inside screaming.
Landon heard the door slowly open. Vampires swooped in as teenagers poured out.
Immediately, Landon sprang through the air toward the unloading students, taking out three vampires with one swipe as he landed, motioning and yelling for the students to get back on. The spurting blood covered those who took a running chance through the dark sea of vampires. He hadn’t even shifted, yet. Oh, shit, he thought, marveling at his increased strength. Boys and girls still came off the bus.
Damn, he thought , how do I get them back on, then to stay on? Then it occurred to him—if they ran off the bus, into a crowd of vampires, out of fear, then it was fear they needed to re-board. He changed, noticing immediately that the usual pain that occurred during a shift, which he’d gotten used to, was gone.
The red werewolf, tearing through the vampires that surrounded the vehicle, suddenly roared, sending the fleeing students back on the bus. Then, the lights came back on and he saw Nicholas standing on the ground beside the towering elevator ride. The twinkling lights of the attractions cast shadows that danced, intertwined, and faded across the path of carnage that Landon sowed. He wanted to move toward Nicholas, but knew he couldn’t leave the kids.
Vampires continued to flood the area when a new sensation hit. The feeling of dozens shifts taking place at the same time. He actually felt the dozens of werewolves there shift.
He steeled himself for further battle and continued on, wrangling students back onto the bus and fighting off the attackers, as the carnival lights and sounds overhead continued, coloring the screams in the dark.
Suddenly, Landon was surrounded by both species. Each group mingled, forming a circle around Landon and the bus. He quickly estimated his opponents to number somewhere between fifty and seventy. Most of the running students had made it back on the bus; a few others scattered among the shadows of the park, probably already dead. He listened to the teenagers trapped on the bus behind him. Some sobbed, others screamed.
All spoke two names as they waited to die: “God,” and “mommy.” He looked past the vampires and werewolves standing in front him, to Nicholas.
The oldest werewolf just smiled.
The bus rocked back and forth while teenagers screamed as numerous creatures tried to enter. Several jumped on top of the long, yellow vehicle, the roof beginning to cave in from the heavy weight of werewolves. The speed and ferocity with which Landon attacked was unparalleled. Vampires and werewolves flew in all directions. Some were able to get a few swipes in. What little damage was done, though, healed without Landon changing. No other creature matched his strength, but he was vastly outnumbered.
He stopped, however, sensing the addition of more vampires and werewolves behind him. The hulking red beast turned toward the gate, preparing for another onslaught, when he saw Ryker, Annelise, and LillyAnna take the field of battle. Catalina, Connor, and Jacinda followed close behind.
Landon quickly cleared a path for the bus.
“That’s it,” he yelled at the driver. “Go. Get outta here.” He watched the bus pull away, out of the park, then noticed the bus began pulsating. The escaping students weren’t truly safe at all—a vampire reared up from the center aisle as a werewolf guarded the rear door. The screams of the passengers pleading for help shot through his ears.
His friends closed in, circling the circle that surrounded him. Landon now stood within two rings of werewolves and vampires.
Quickly, the inner circle fluctuated, becoming misshapen and ripped apart by the outer ring. Landon changed to human form.
“Thought you could use some help,” said Ryker.
“Where do you need us?” asked Annelise.
Landon looked back toward Nicholas. The first werewolf, standing on one of the ride’s seats, claw outstretched, snapped a thick cable in two, catapulting him to the top of the towering elevator.
“Right now,” Landon said to Annelise, “find Jamie. Take Catalina with you.” Annelise and Catalina nodded in agreement and took off on their search.
“Connor and Jacinda, you two go after the bus that just left. It’s full of students and they’re in danger.” The teens were off like a shot. “LillyAnna and Ryker, let’s kill these fuckers. You ready?”
“Always ready,” LillyAnna said, bursting into her werewolf form.
“Ready,” Ryker responded, his eyes glowing blue, fangs extended. “Let’s show them the true meaning of terror.”
Chapter 34
Connor and Jacinda trailed the escaping bus as it approached the expressway.
Jacinda shifted, increasing speed, as Connor jumped on the rear bumper, holding onto the handle of the emergency door. Jacinda leaped onto the roof of the vehicle.
In seconds, Connor ripped the handle off and entered the back of the bus. Students climbed over seats, helping each other toward the front of the bus, as the invading vampire attacked the werewolf guarding the rear.
Suddenly, claws ripped through the metal roof as Jacinda, fur whipping in the speeding wind, clawed her way toward the front. Reaching her goal, she executed a bold maneuver. The werewolf, on all fours, used every muscle she had to propel herself like a rocket off the bus, ahead of the vehicle, then turned in midair to face the bus as it caught up to her. She plowed through the windshield, instantly decapitating the vampire behind the wheel.
Connor, struggling to gain the upper hand in his fight, looked to the front to see Jacinda move the decapitated body from the driver’s seat and take over. He felt the bus begin to slow down.
“No, keep your speed up!” he yelled. Suddenly, he reached down, ripping a massive hole in the floor, exposing the speeding pavement below. Then, like a blur, he moved behind the werewolf, pulled its legs
out from under it, and lowered the beast through the opening. Blood trailed behind the bus as the wheels ground the upper torso of the creature.
“You’re all safe now,” Connor told the students. “Someone take over the wheel for my friend up there, so we can get back to the park.”
“I can,” said a female student, rising from her seat and replacing Jacinda.
“What’s your name?” asked the werewolf.
“Leigh,” said the young blonde.
“Thank you, Leigh.”
Then, before the new driver could even think about slowing down the bus, Connor and Jacinda leaped out the back and raced toward Kentucky Kingdom.
Back in the park, Landon, now transformed into the great red werewolf, plowed through the sea of vampires and werewolves like a warship, leaving a wake of dead on the concrete. Various body parts—heads, limbs, torsos—littered the ground. The Consul Werewolf looked behind him, seeing a multitude of vampires and werewolves following him, then froze in his tracks.
Coming up behind LillyAnna, who was still in human form, was a large vampire, a hulking creature three times her size. The thing grabbed her by the forehead and pulled her head back, ready to rip it from its perch. Landon vaulted over two attacking werewolves, racing to his girlfriend. Suddenly, from behind the great vampire, Ryker approached, tossing enemies without touching them to clear a path, his telekinesis significantly heightened. He wrapped his arms around the other’s waist, then, incredibly, propelled himself skyward. This vampire, Ryker, the Consul Vampire, had been endowed with flight.
From the night sky, the hulking vampire so determined to decapitate LillyAnna, rained down in pieces, the cloudburst of blood drenching those below.
Landon, seeing Connor and Jacinda return to battle, ran, on all fours, toward the nearest roller coaster and bounded onto the structure. Using his powerful arms, he swung his way to the top, followed closely by dozens of werewolves and vampires. Reaching the top, he stood there, majestic, and waited for those coming after him to arrive. They swarmed the coaster, like ants charging an anthill to escape a flash flood. Once they made it to Landon, however, one after the other succumbed to death at his hands. Some lost various limbs. A few found themselves between his jaws, their blood pouring down his throat.
As various enemies fell around him, the red werewolf scanned the area for Annelise and Catalina, when something caught his eye—Jamie and Tsukiko, climbing the side of the ferris wheel. What the hell are they doing? he wondered, continuing his gaze to the top of the ride. There Landon saw Annelise and Catalina using the vantage point to search for Jamie.
A great howl bellowed out of him, all glass windows in the nearby vicinity shattering from the decibels. Any vampires and werewolves left on the roller coaster, near Landon, fell to the ground below, blood dripping from their ears. He watched Jacinda and Connor take advantage of the situation, assaulting those that lay around them.
Annelise and Catalina stood atop the ferris wheel. The Danish vampire looked desperately all around, searching for her friend’s son. She noticed Landon, standing atop the coaster, howling as he looked her way.
“I can’t find him,” she told Catalina. “We should split up and cover more ground.
What is Landon howling about?”
“Don’t know. Maybe it’s a victory howl.”
“Catalina, you go check it out. I’ll stay up here a few more minutes looking for Jamie.”
“I can’t just leave you here.”
“It’s okay. Go. See what Landon wants.”
Catalina did as she was instructed, leaping from the topmost car to the ground.
Annelise, preparing to make a jump to a different ride, was caught by surprise when Tsukiko emerged from the dark, standing in the swinging car behind hers.
“You,” Annelise said with surprise, looking past the Japanese vampire’s shoulders to see Jamie enter the scene. She looked down and saw Catalina, watching in horror from below.
“You and I have unfinished business,” said Tsukiko.
Tsukiko moved like lightning, knocking Annelise unconscious.
Leaping from the pinnacle of the coaster to the ground, Landon reached the ferris wheel in a matter of seconds, and raced up. Reaching the top, he found Catalina standing there, frozen. He changed to human form.
“Where is she?” he asked. “Where’s Annelise? Where’s Tsukiko and Jamie?”
“They got her,” she cried. “They got Annelise. They took her. I leapt down, but didn’t see them. I didn’t see them, Landon. Until it was too late. I’m so sorry.” Landon scanned the entire amusement park, but found no sign of the kidnappers or the kidnapped. He looked back toward the others, and realized their victory was a pyrrhic one. He and his friends had won the battle, but at a significant cost. He sighed and, taking hold of Catalina, jumped to the ground.
Making a path of destruction through the crowded enemy toward his team, Landon saw Ryker, Connor, and Jacinda continuing to fight the onslaught of Nicholas’
army. The final few combatants fell as Landon and Catalina reached the scene.
“Hey. Where’s my wife?” asked Ryker.
“I’m sorry,” said Landon. “Nicholas has her. I didn’t get there in time.”
“Didn’t get there in time?” Ryker’s eyes shimmered a bright blue.
“We’ll find her,” said Landon. “I promise.”
“I know who took her,” said Ryker. “It was that bitch, Tsukiko. Wasn’t it? I swear, if they hurt her, I will kill all of them. Slowly.” The bright blue of his eyes turned the darkest blue.
Focusing all of his anger and the power of his mind, he brought the towering elevator ride crashing down in a twisted heap of metal.
“We’ll get her back,” Landon said, taking several steps away from his friend. “We won’t stop searching. I promise.”
The loudspeaker came on again. “Landon, correct me if I’m wrong,” said Nicholas, “but you are a wanted man, are you not?” Sirens approached in the distance.
“We’ve gotta go, Ryker. We need to regroup. Live tonight so you can save her soon.”
Ryker followed Landon and the others out of the park. Quickly, they retreated into the darkness.
Chapter 35
Returning to Poveglia, Ryker stormed off the gondola, onto the island, and into the clock tower of the former seat of the Senate. Landon motioned for everyone to not pursue the vampire.
“Let him be,” he said, bending down to hug Liam and Mara who had run up to him.
All present on the island kept an eye on the tower, and listened to the slow build of a terrible scream. Seconds later, stretching out across both veins of the lagoon split by Poveglia, to Venice and Lido, the sound of horror made time stand still. All life stopped within a three mile radius and waited for the Four Horsemen to suddenly come riding out of the clouds, cutting a swath of death and destruction across Northern Italy.
On Poveglia, only Landon and Alessandro stood, watching the top of the clock tower; all others had dropped to the ground, holding their ears. Landon, hearing LillyAnna stand and walk toward the field, a solemn expression on her face, turned his attention away from the Dane and followed, leaving the children with Connor. Jacinda and Catalina walked with her.
“What’s the matter?” he asked, catching up to her.
“Nothing,” she said, quietly.
“Her monthly friend is visiting,” said Jacinda. “She’s just not really in the mood to talk. It’s a woman thing. You know—mood swings.”
“But she’s okay with having you and Catalina out here? Come on, what’s really going on?”
“Like Jacinda said,” remarked Catalina, “it’s a woman thing.”
“I need to be alone. With them, for a little bit.”
“This isn’t about your ‘friend’ visiting,” he said. He noticed she held her hands to her pelvic area. Landon grabbed her arm, stopping her. “What’s going on?” LillyAnna turned, dropping her hands. “Landon. We need to talk. Catalina and J
acinda were just explaining what happened to me.”
“So, what happened?”
“I was pregnant, Landon. But I lost it.” Catalina and Jacinda quietly left the field, giving the couple some alone time. “It happened when I changed, at the amusement park.
Apparently, if a female werewolf is pregnant, a shift will terminate the pregnancy. I never should have shifted.” Her hands automatically recovered her lower extremities. “I didn’t know I was. I’m sorry.”
“Hey, it’s okay. It’s not your fault,” he said, embracing her. “I’m sorry, too.”
“Landon!” screamed Ryker, approaching from behind with an expression of intense anger.
“Not now. Something’s happened and I need to take care of this.”
“Yeah, something’s happened alright. My wife is gone while your girlfriend is still here. Any idea why LillyAnna is safe, with us? Oh yeah, I saved her.” Landon released LillyAnna. “There was nothing I could do. I told you we would get her back. I’m sorry. I really am.” He then moved her behind him.
“Nothing you could do?” Ryker now stood toe to toe with Landon. “Catalina told me that you were trying to get her and Annelise’s attention. Apparently, we figured out, you saw Tsukiko and Jamie, your damn son, climbing the ferris wheel. Yet, you did nothing.”
“Did nothing?” Landon gently pushed LillyAnna further back. “You just said it yourself that I tried to get their attention. Yes, it’s true, I saw them coming for her, and I tried to warn her. When that didn’t work, I jumped down and headed in her direction. By the time I got there, though, it was too late. I’m sorry.”
“You mean you were too late. As fast as you are, I bet if it had been LillyAnna, you would’ve gotten there in time.” Ryker’s eyes turned blue.