A Werewolf's Saga Books 4, 5, & 6 (A Werewolf's Saga Boxed Sets Book 2)

by Michael Lampman

  “And what was his response?” Wayne never believed in the black wolf as the others had. He didn’t believe what he meant to them. He never cared for such things. It was not his place to believe. He wasn’t there for that.

  “He accepted the offer and the message.” James simply nodded. “He was injured.” He bowed his head.

  “He lives?” Wayne felt somewhat shocked by this. He might not care about such things but he did understand that the others did. He did know about the black wolf’s strength. Listening to this, he couldn’t believe that an all-powerful creature such as he would ever suffer from such a thing. It just didn’t feel or sound real.

  Hearing his voice moan some made the boy look back up. “He does.” He couldn’t believe that Wayne cared about this. He never did before.

  “Good.” Wayne shrugged. He looked back to Falara behind him. “We need to get moving. We have to get back to the den before sunrise.” He nodded to her. Her tan colored halo blazed around her looking as bright as the sun. Only the boy showed the color red.

  James heard Wayne’s voice turn calm. He smiled to himself because of it. He kept the smile for Wayne.

  Falara nodded back but remained quiet. She stepped out into the light. She stepped to Wayne’s right.

  Feeling both of their strengths dwelling around him, James turned with them.

  They left the building.

  Falara stayed behind them and together the three of them headed to the trees. They headed southeast. They had a long way to go before they made it back to the city.

  They almost reached the first tree but something quickly caught Falara’s attention. Being a wolf made the smell come strong. Smelling it, tasting it on the wind, she knew what it meant.

  Instantly she stopped. Instantly she turned back. Fear instantly gripped her heart.

  The heavy stench of a Nightshade swung heavily on the air. It reeked of a sweet smell. It burned with a charcoal blaze.

  She looked left.

  She looked right.

  She looked up.

  The smell came down directly above her head.

  Unfortunately something came down with the smell. It came fast. She couldn’t react to it until it ripped through her throat.

  3

  Samantha watched everything beneath her with a strong sense of calmness. For her being a Nightshade, staying in bat-form, felt far more natural than being a human. It felt freeing. It felt almost like keeping in a breeze on a hot summer day. It felt like being young again. She loved the feeling but it also gave her something else that she loved even more than that. It gave her the chance to watch the boy without him catching her scent. It gave her the freedom to stay out of sight.

  She watched the boy. She followed him as he left the small town of Redford New York and watched as he made his way back south. She knew where he was going. She still had to wait.

  The four other shades with her did as well.

  The three Nightwalkers in her group kept to the trees. They stayed in the dark, trying to keep downwind as they followed him. They all waited for the right time to strike.

  When the boy reached the small Rest Area, just off the highway, she circled him from high overhead. Seeing the boy with two wolves only made her grimace. She flew higher up. She hated wolves. She hated them even more than she hated humans. She didn’t trust their viciousness. She didn’t trust their irrational strength. She hated their incredible sense of smell even more than that.

  The other shades with her followed her lead and lifted themselves up as well.

  From there she watched them talk. She watched them move. When they left the building and headed to the trees, she saw her chance to strike.

  She swooped down and headed for the female wolf first. She knew that she would be the easiest to take. She wasn’t looking above her. She wasn’t watching her flank.

  She let her clawed feet strike her first.

  The female wolf never saw her until it was too late.

  All she felt were those two-clawed feet as they plunged into her shoulders with a sharp and agonizing pain. She felt the claws grip her collarbone and gnash her flesh. Falara screamed, sounding hoarse and rather unforgiving. Before she knew anything she then felt her feet leave the ground. The pain raced up her neck and continued until she felt those claws flare up through her throat. When her head came off, thankfully, she felt nothing after that.

  Samantha felt the body drop. She looked down and watched her hit the ground. She screeched out but kept the head gripped within her feet. Somehow, for some reason, it gave her strength to keep it. She didn’t know why, but quite frankly, she didn’t really care.

  Wayne heard the screams. He heard the screech. He turned fast, looked back to the building behind him and instantly realized that Falara was gone. With the sounds fresh on his mind, he knew what it meant. “We’re under attack!” He grabbed the boy’s left arm and pulled him behind him. He pushed him back towards a large tree just to his right. With the boy somewhat protected, as protected as he was ever going to be, he looked back to the building.

  Nothing was there.

  He looked right, and again nothing was there.

  He looked left, and now felt worried. Now he felt scared. He couldn’t fight something that he couldn’t see. “Move deeper into the trees.” He turned. He moved. He pushed the boy ahead of him as they ran.

  When they reached another large tree, a loud thudding sound behind them made them stop.

  Wayne turned first to the sound. As he did, he saw something there, just by his feet. He looked down, saw it and gasped. “Falara?”

  Her head rolled. Her blonde hair bobbed.

  He turned back to the boy, realizing that his friend’s head had just come down from the sky above them. “Shades?” He growled. “Move into the trees now!” A heavy roar burned through his voice. He looked up and scanned the sky. Now more than ever he was scared beyond words. He hated shades. He hated their stench. He hated them to their very core.

  James only saw a few things. He of course heard the screams. He of course saw something fall in front of Wayne just by his feet. When Wayne turned back to him and shouted for him to get to the trees, he didn’t need to see anything more. He turned and ran around one tree and then another. He kept going until he came to another large tree, and once there, he turned back.

  Wayne followed the boy, and after a few moments, maybe a minute, maybe only a few seconds, he stopped. Something or someone was now there between him and the boy. Seeing the red glow emanating around him, he realized what it was.

  The Nightwalker smiled.

  “Kristoff, you son of a bitch.” Wayne knew who he was. He’s one of Vincent’s pets. His lady warned him that they might be following them. Even knowing this, it didn’t help. He still couldn’t believe that they would come at them like this. He couldn’t believe that other walkers would hunt down their own kind. It didn’t feel natural. It didn’t feel right. But here they were doing just that.

  Kristoff laughed as he let his eyes flare to a deep bright red. His fangs protruded from his upper lip. “Nice to see you again dog. It’s been a long time hasn’t it?”

  Wayne growled. “You blood lovers are all the same? You’re weak and not worth the gift you carry.”

  Hearing this Kristoff laughed again. “Oh come now Wayne. There’s no reason to fight the inevitable. Your clan is dying. Your lady will also die soon enough.”

  To his right another vampire came up to him.

  Wayne could smell him come up behind him. He now knew how dangerous this was. They surrounded them. He and the boy had no escape. “You are all welcome to try and kill my family Kristoff. You are welcome to try and kill me, if you think you can.” He smiled. He was ready for the fight.

  “We plan to.” The vampire on his left, Shawna, also allowed her eyes to flare to a bright ruby red.

  Being this close to all of them made Wayne’s nose curl up. Their stench was beyond disgusting, so much so, it nearly made him gag. “Then by all
means blood lovers let’s get to it.”

  With this Wayne let the eyes at the back of his mind to come forward with a fast and heavy ease. If he was going to die he was now determined to put up one hell of a fight before he did.

  Samantha landed behind all of them, still outside from the tree line, and turned back to her human form. Seeing Wayne beginning the change, and more importantly the boy behind him, she smiled.

  She walked up behind Marcus, one of the vampires with her, and stopped. “Take care of the wolf will you but leave me the boy. He’s very important to me and my master.” She watched Wayne’s shirt tear. She watched his hair flaring out from his pale white skin, which turned to a deep dark brown. She then watched him fall to the ground onto his hands and knees.

  The three vampires charged him fast, so fast that they looked like nothing but a blur, as they flew at him fast.

  The wolf, large, brown, and powerful looking, tried to fight all of them at once. He even managed to bite one of them on the arm as they grabbed him. However, it wasn’t enough. They overpowered him too fast.

  Marcus grabbed his back, Anthony took his neck, and Kristoff took his head. In one huge, yet graceful motion, they each tore him in half.

  He let out a strong and powerful wail as he died.

  They watched as both halves then instantly slide back into his human looking form.

  With him gone, Samantha stepped beside what was left of him, looked down at him, and admired the sight. His intestines were now lying between both halves. With the blood on the ground all around him, his organs looked rather neat and clean. “He looks so clean on the inside, doesn’t he my friends?” She reached into his chest, went behind the ribs, found his heart, and tore it out with both hands. She then held it up to the others. “He did have a heart after all.” She laughed.

  James watched everything happen but didn’t move. He had trouble even breathing. He had never seen death like this before. He had never seen a walker kill another of their kind like this before and now seeing it, it made him wince. Fear flared through his soul right along with it.

  Samantha now looked up to the boy. She stood back up and faced him. She showed him the heart. “They all look the same, don’t they my boy? The human heart, the walker heart—they’re all the same.” She brought it up to her mouth and with a giant sweep of her tongue, she licked it clean. She then dropped it to the ground at his feet. “The only difference is that I took his heart. I took his life.”

  James gasped.

  Watching his face she loved the look, but it was time to get back to what she needed to do. After all, he was the one that she needed to find. “You have been busy, haven’t you boy?”

  James felt his fear rake through his body like a cold shiver tearing through your flesh. It felt like agony. He knew what was coming.

  Samantha saw the fear. She loved it all. “Death is an odd thing isn’t it boy?” She continued her smile. “Especially for ones like us. It’s easy to die. It’s so much harder to live.”

  James blinked several times. “What do you want with me?” He had nothing else left to say. As far as he was concerned about all of this, he understood nothing. It made no sense to him. Why would they do something like this? Why did they hate him? Why would they kill one of their own kinds?

  “You saw someone up north. You came from someone that you met with up there. You gave someone a message.” Samantha bowed her eyes, keeping playful. “Who might that be?” She walked up to the boy until she now stood right in front of him. They were now only inches apart. Seeing him this closely she couldn’t believe how young he looked. She admired some of it, but hated the rest. She loved his youth, but yet despised him for it too.

  James now had tears in his eyes, both for his friends, but also for himself. “You were the ones that did that to him weren’t you?” He was young. He was weaker than most of them but he did understand what it meant. “You were the ones that hurt him. You tried to kill him didn’t you?”

  “And who would you be talking about?” She reached with her right hand and caressed the left side of his face. He even felt young. She even wiped the blood on her fingers until if colored his face with a dull ruby red glow.

  He looked her directly in the eyes. He could see the contempt that she had for him. Hell, she reeked of it. “You will have to kill me. I will not help you. I will never help you hurt my family.” He meant every word. He did have courage, maybe not strength like the others did, but he did have something. His strength was his convictions. It was all that he had, and he would never give that up.

  “The black wolf is alive then.” She smiled. “I can see it in your eyes.”

  His eyes widened. He gave her the answer that she wanted and realizing it now, his heart clenched his chest. He didn’t mean to do it, but he did.

  Seeing his eyes, she nodded. She let go of his face and turned to the others. “Kill him. I have the answers that I needed.”

  She left back out through the trees as the sounds of a deep and splattering ooze came behind her. A slight thudding sound followed it as the boy obviously died.

  Standing within the clearing of the parking lot, she let the bat within her come out again. When she fully formed, she pushed off, flapping her hands into the night sky.

  She now had to get back to Vincent. She had to tell him about everything that she now knew. In fact, they should already be home.

  4

  Rachel had no idea where she now was. They kept her hooded. They kept her blind. All she knew was the darkness of the hood. All she heard were the sounds of an engine running and the several people, or whatever they were, roaming around inside the van with her. After what felt like hours, they finally stopped. When they forced her back outside, the smells around her seemed familiar. She could smell the scent of an ocean’s breeze. Off in the distance she could hear what sounded like cars running. When they led her up a small set of stairs she knew that she was back inside. After a rather long walk she heard a door open and felt someone push her to a cool flat wall. Then thankfully, the hood came off.

  Three people were now with her. One woman stayed at the only doorway in this room and another man stood on her left. She never saw those two before, but the second man, the one on her right, she had. She knew him as the one named Vincent, the leader of this group.

  He smiled at her when her eyes focused on him. “You will be safe here Rana.” He looked back to the others behind him and nodded to them. He then turned back to her.

  She watched the others leave the room.

  “You can’t keep me here forever.” She tried hard to focus her thoughts. Since hearing about Jimmy’s death, she felt lost. Hell, if it was true, and he was gone, she now knew that she was on her own. With this said, she knew that she had to find a way out of this. She was going to have to free herself. She had to be the one to fight back. Now knowing this, and understanding it, she had to pull herself back together again. She had to focus. She had to stay calm. She had to pay attention to everything. It seemed harder to do than not.

  Hearing her, Vincent laughed, sounding subtle and non-caring. “After a day or two it will not matter anymore. You will be you again and you will not care about anything else.” He turned and headed back to the door. He stopped standing in the doorway and turned back to her. He kept the doorknob in his right hand as he turned. “Rest now Rana. My master will come and see you soon, and perhaps, he will be ready to give back your life. In the meantime stay rested. It will make it easier for you if you are.” He left and closed the door.

  She heard the door then click. He locked me in here. With this, being alone again, she also knew that she now had to think. Better yet, she had the time to think about her escape. Robert is a Wanderer. That means that I’m one too. If that’s right than he and I must have the same abilities. He can move objects with just a thought so I must also be able to do that too. If I can then all I have to do is just figure out how to do it.

  She looked around the room. The white walls
looked bare but well painted. The room looked like a bedroom, but just seemed to lack a bed.

  There’s nothing in here that I can use if I can get out. She looked back to the door. Robert was able to unlock a door.

  She walked to the door and found just a simple doorknob with a deadbolt above the knob. She didn’t see a keyway on either lock.

  It must have the latch on the other side of the door. If I’m right, and if I think hard enough, I can just turn it. She nodded. It sounds easy. She looked back to the room. Without having anything to use if they try and stop me I might get killed. She thought about the three she saw. There might be more of them out there to get by. She truly didn’t know how many there were. They will try and stop me. She thought about the one that called his self Devish, and remembered the wounds covering his entire body. He’s obviously different from the others, but he’s also injured. He might not be able to stop me. She nodded and looked back to the door. He also needs me for something important. He needs me alive and for his plans, so he won’t kill me. He might try to stop me but I don’t think he’ll hurt me. She nodded again. That’s it then. I might have to take the chance. She looked at the knob. She looked at the deadbolt above it. Seeing it, concentrating on it, she closed her eyes.

  She pictured the lock in her mind. She fought the image, trying hard to see it clearly, but suddenly, she saw nothing there. Frustrated, she opened her eyes.

  The sounds of the lock clicking again came next.

  Hearing it, she gasped. I’m doing it. My God, if I didn’t hear it, I wouldn’t have believed it myself. Hope raced through her chest, but when the door opened, and the smell of rotted flesh coursed through the now opening door, her hope vanished all too fast.

  Devish walked into the room. The sounds of his heavy weight thudded along the floor. The heavy clawed toenails on his doglike paws tapped on the floor with him.

  Seeing him, Rachel took several steps back. Only the wall behind her prevented her from taking any more than four.