Someone was humming. It was soft and sweet. The melody was one Jack had never heard before but he knew he was safe. Opening his eyes, he found himself in the bed he slept in the past few nights in the mayor’s mansion. Light streamed through the open window. His body felt like he was hit by a mage-powered locomotive. Wincing, he reached a hand to his head, where most of the throbbing originated.
“Careful, Abigail took a long time cleaning you up and dressing your wounds.”
Jack looked to the foot of the bed where Elizabeth sat slowly rocking herself in a chair.
“Elizabeth, what—what happened?”
“After Abigail killed our father, you passed out.”
“Elizabeth, I’m so sorry about your father. I—”
“He was a bad man, Jack. Of course I’m sad, but the end of his life meant that other innocent people would be spared. Hopefully with the mental abilities I have from the experiments done on me in the laboratory, I can do some good to right his wrongs.”
“You’re the subject that they wrote about in the journal?” He looked at the fiery haired girl in disbelief. “The girl they found?”
“Yeah, it’s hazy and comes and goes, but it would mean a lot if we can keep this between us for now. There are a lot of crazy people out there. Who knows what they would do if they knew.”
“Sure,” Jack’s head pounded now not only from the injury sustained but with the realization of who and what Elizabeth really was. “Aareth and Sloan— are they?”
“They’re in as bad a shape as you, but they’re alive,” Elizabeth rose from her chair. “Come on now, let’s not be lazy. Get out of bed and get ready. I’m sure my sister would like to see you.”
Elizabeth left the room and Jack slowly got out of bed and maneuvered into his clothes. His garments were clean and folded for him at the edge of the bed. With every step his body ached, with time Jack managed to dress and head down stairs. Aareth was waiting for him. The tall man wore a sling around his shoulder and right arm. Multiple bruises and cuts ran across his smiling face as he saw Jack come down the stairs.
“Glad to see you walking.”
“Glad to be able to walk. How’s the arm?”
“Don’t know. The town doctor said he’s never seen a bite like this. It came with a raging fever for the first few hours. I thought I was going to burn from the inside out, but now it’s healing strangely fast.”
“Sloan, is she—”
“Sloan’s already out meeting with the town and appointing new officials to get the city back on track. You would think a knife wound in her thigh, one deep enough to put her in crutches, would stop that woman. She’s still at it. She wants to leave for New Hope tomorrow, crutches and all.”
Jack nodded immediately regretting the actions as the throbbing in his head worsened.
“Jack,” Aareth said in a low tone. “I wanted to say that you did the right thing when you let Elijah live. That’s something I wouldn’t have been strong enough to do. Your father was a great man and I know he’s proud.”
“Thanks, Aareth. It wasn’t easy.”
Aareth was about to open his mouth when the door opened and Abigail let Sloan inside. The captain was wearing her uniform with a wrapped left leg and a nasty bruise on her right temple.
“Jack, glad to see you’re up and ready. We’re leaving tomorrow bright and early. The sooner we get to New Hope, the better. I have a feeling the events here are the beginning of something much larger.”
“How are you feeling?” Abigail made her way to Jack’s side. “Your head doesn’t hurt too much, does it?”
“Oh, he’s fine,” Elizabeth chimed in as she walked down the spiral staircase with a suitcase in hand. “Are we ready? I packed up Aareth and Sloan’s stuff.”
“Well Elizabeth, we’re not leaving until tomorrow,” Sloan noticed Jack’s bewildered expression. “I should probably let you know, Jack, that Abigail and Elizabeth are coming with us to New Hope.”
Jack was about to ask how that had come to pass when Sloan addressed the inspector. “Come on, Aareth, I can use your help getting the town back to running properly. We have a lot of work still to do this afternoon. We have to make sure Burrow Den is in the hands of the right people.”
“Come on, Red,” Aareth massaged his shoulder with a wince. “Let’s leave these two alone. You can help us talk crazy to some people.”
“My name is not ‘red’ and I’m not crazy. I’m eccentric.” Even with the exchange between the two, Elizabeth dropped the bags and skipped out of the room, following Sloan and Aareth.
The door closed behind them, Jack and Abigail were left alone.
“Thank you,” Jack turned to Abigail, searching for the right words. “I’m sure there are better words to fit the moment. All I have is thank you. Thank you for saving me at the cost to your own family.”
“I cried all last night and even some this morning,” Abigail swallowed hard. “I know the hurting will be there, but I have a peace that I did the right thing. Sure, I have some wonderful memories with my father, but over the last few years and especially the last few months, he hasn’t been the same man I knew and loved. I’m not sure if that makes any sense at all.”
“It does make sense” Jack placed a hand on her slender shoulder. “I’m going to have to come to grips with my own father’s death soon. It still doesn’t seem real. In the next few days, weeks, months, I’m sure it will.”
“Well, we’ll have each other now,” Abigail took Jack by surprise as she stepped forward and nestled against his chest.
Jack let himself relax in her embrace as he rested a cheek on the top of her head. Her hair smelt like vanilla and spice.
“How did you manage to talk Sloan into you coming with us, anyway?” Jack couldn’t help ask. “I mean, not that I’m anything but happy to hear the news. Sloan isn’t the easiest person to befriend.”
Abigail pulled away from Jack’s embrace. She gave him a smile warming him from the inside out. “I think the captain has a heart in there somewhere. After everything that has happened here, I talked her into taking my sister and I to New Hope. I told her we could help during the travel process—I mean, with the three of you barely standing and all.”
“Smart. Playing the helpful card, I mean.”
“I can’t wait to go, Jack, to see the world outside of Burrow Den and to leave all of this behind.”
“Ahhheeemm,” Jack coughed.
“And to be able to go with you, of course,” Abigail grinned.
“I’m glad you’re coming. Maybe dealing with our fathers’ deaths will be easier with someone to talk to, who can relate.”
“I know it will, Jack. Besides, I made a promise to your father that I plan on keeping.”
Jack
That night Jack couldn’t sleep. Somewhere between tears and questions of what the future would bring in New Hope, sleep escaped him. Deciding against spending the next few hours in bed searching for slumber, Jack threw on his shirt and walked downstairs. Candles were lit in the large entry room.
The disaster the creature made the previous night was cleared away, the broken window boarded and the glass shards swept. Marcus’ body was cleaned and wrapped and prepared for transport to New Hope, where Sloan assured him he would receive a hero’s burial.
“Can’t sleep either, huh?” Aareth coughed from Sloan’s side as they looked down at an open book together.
“No, too much has happened over the past few days. My mind won’t stop thinking.”
“I know what you mean, Jack,” Sloan glanced up from the table where the journal that was found in the cave laboratory lay open. “This log isn’t making things any easier.”
“There’s more?” Jack stood next to Sloan and Aareth. “More than we already know?”
“Not necessarily,” Sloan stretched with a grimace, “just more questions about who this order that Dr. Livingston belongs to is and why they would be performing these experiments.”
“And what experim
ents were successful in New Hope to have shut the cave laboratory down. I feel like this is all connected with the assassination attempt on the Queen’s life,” Aareth coughed into his fist. “I’m fine just something in my throat.”
Jack thought back to Elizabeth’s confession about being the girl mentioned in the journal but decided to keep her secret. Instead, he asked what they were wondering. “What do you think is waiting for us back in New Hope?”
“I don’t know,” Aareth frowned, “but there’s a real possibility Burrow Den is just the start to all of this.”
“The crisis in Burrow Den is over,” Sloan agreed. “But I’m afraid the battle for New Hope is just beginning.”
End Book One
Author’s Note
Hello friends,
I wanted to send a quick thank you for reading my work. I hope you enjoyed reading the novel as much as I did writing it.
I also want to let you know I’ve included a sneak peek at book two in The Vampire Project below, along with a personal invitation to join my Wolf Pack.
Finally, if you can spare a few minutes of your day leaving a review for the book would mean a lot. It helps other likeminded readers decide if they want to invest the time in my story or not. I know it’s just a review to you but to me it means more visibility for my novels.
You’re the best. I hope you decide to join my Wolf Pack below so we can stay in touch,
Jonathan
Here’s a sneak peek at the second book in The Vampire Project.
House of Blood
“Aareth, Aareth what’s happening to you?” Sloan couldn’t chance even a glance at her friend. The dark figures advancing on them moved too quickly. “Are you hurt?”
Screams, no howls of pain ripped from Aareth’s throat. His body heaved on all fours as if he was being torn from the inside out.
“He’s the first of his kind,” the lead figure drew back his hood revealing a pale face with a long scar on the right side. “Just like I was the first of mine.”
“What are you talking about?” Sloan drew her saber. She flipped the switch to begin heating the weapon’s blade, gripping the pommel so tight her hand shook. The light of the full moon gave her enough illumination to count her enemies. There were seven of them wrapped in dark clothing. The shadows cast by the buildings on either side of the wide ally clung to the figures as if darkness itself welcomed them. “I know who you are, you’re the assassin.”
“I was, an assassin,” the man spread his arms wide calling a halt to the advancing figures on either side. Without so much as a look in his direction, they stopped in their tracks. “Now, thanks to the experiments done to me I am something so much more.”
Sloan slowed her breathing. She steadied the grip on her blade. It was shaking before not because she was frightened but at the flow of adrenaline that proceeded every battle.
Aareth pounded the pavement still screaming his rage. The thuds of his fists making contact with the ground soon came with an accompanying splash.
“Go ahead, look,” the man in front of her said. “We won’t kill you yet. To miss the transformation of such a wondrous beast would be a shame.”
A mix of concern for her friend and pure horrific intrigue made Sloan look to Aareth. What she saw chilled her to the bone.
The knuckles on both of Aareth’s hands were bloody. Ripped flesh hung off his hands in red ribbons. This wasn’t even the worst part. The iris’ of his eyes had gone yellow. Her heart seized in her chest as she witnessed the impossible.
Dark fur rippled across his body, hands and feet transformed into paws in front of her eyes. A snout sprouted out of his mouth and salivating teeth snapped an angry staccato.
In seconds Aareth was gone. In front of her was a half man, half wolf of a creature. It swung its head to Sloan then to the robed men and back again. There was no sign of recollection in its hungry eyes, only madness. It transitioned its weight onto its muscular hind legs ready to spring. At who was anyone’s guess.
“Truly exceptional,” Sloan’s advisory breathed. He took a step closer. The moon caught his eyes briefly showing blood red iris’. “Both born from experiments, both similar yet so different. Well, that’s enough of that. Kill them both.”
Sloan took a step away from the monster Aareth had become to focus on the immediate threat. The six figures that had remained still up until streaked towards Sloan. They moved so fast she could only see one thing against their dark clothing, wide open mouths with long knife-like fangs.
Aareth was a wild card now it was up to her and the steel she wielded to see this encounter through to the end. Her saber hummed with heat. The sound gave her courage. Never the shy type, Sloan charged forward to meet the attack.
Sloan, Jack and Aareth will be back in the second installment of the The Vampire Project, House of Blood, available for pre-order on Amazon now!
Please feel free to join my Wolf Pack by visiting http://www.jonathan-yanez.com or just
Jonathan Yanez is also the author of The Elite Series, The DeCadia Series, The Dread Novels, The Archangel Wars, Thrive and Bad Land. His books have been optioned for film and are available in ebook, print and audio book. He would love you to leave a review after you finish reading House of Wolves. You can find out more about him and his work by visiting http://www.jonathan-yanez.com
House of Wolves: (A Paranormal Urban Fantasy) (The Vampire Project Book 1) Page 19