The Caitlin Chronicles Boxed Set

by Michael Anderle

  Trisk addressed the crowd again, his arms wide. As he moved about the space and drew nearer to the crowd, Caitlin couldn’t help but notice that they withdrew in total awe of the man—but also in total fear of going anywhere near him. He boomed verses, talked of the brighter future, and had them all riled up and ready for the great burning of the traitor.

  “Without further ado, let us sacrifice the harlot,” he finished. He withdrew the orb from his pocket and tossed it once more between his hands. “And let us introduce the new world with a new technology, in a style which would make our Lord clap his hands.”

  He clicked his fingers, and the Firestarter nearest to him offered a torch. The governor reached out with his free hand and took it.

  Which was when the explosion came.

  A scream echoed through the crowd as he reared back in pain. A blinding flash of light startled him as the orb fell from his hand to the ground. He looked in disbelief at the hand with which he had reached for the torch. It was no longer there, and in its place was the blackened stump of his wrist with flames licking up his sleeve.

  Trisk held up his other hand, noting the trails of powder coating his palm.

  “Idiot!” he scolded himself aloud, then muttered, “So much for safe and watertight. That Stump is going to get it—”

  “Governor, are you all right?” several voices asked from the crowd. One of the Firestarters leaned down to gather up the orb, the torch in his other hand dangerously close to the powder.

  “Stop. Fool,” the governor said, kicking the Firestarter to drive him back. The torch fell to the floor, extinguishing itself on the night dew of the grass.

  The Firestarter leered back at him.

  “Aw, don’t you hate it when that happens,” Caitlin teased. “Always sad when the explosion comes too early.”

  “Enough of this shit,” Trisk said, wiped his hand on the grass, and took a new orb from the box the brothers had carried out and placed beside him. “Let’s light this bitch up.”

  He nodded to his henchmen who each touched their torches to the base of the pyre. Immediately, Caitlin began to cough, her skin already sweating from the flare of heat.

  If you’re thinking of jumping in and saving me, now would be a good time, Ma…

  Trisk started to laugh, a hollow chuckle which disintegrated into a splutter. He reared his hand back for the throw, muttered, “Payback is a bitch,” then launched the orb into the flames.

  In the split second before the orb landed, a streak of red light appeared through the crowd.

  Not that anyone saw it though, Caitlin realized as if removed from her conscious self. They were too busy clapping their hands over their faces. In the space of a heartbeat, the people were pushed back into each other from the force of the explosion. The gunpowder drank the fire greedily. Several screams resounded and, above it all, the maniacal laugh of a governor gone mad dancing in triumph.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Ashdale Pond, Old Ontario

  The screeches of surprise went on for some time after the explosion died down. Townsfolk held their hands to their ears, and some cried. Many fell onto their asses and watched in wonder as the fire burned.

  Yes… Burn motherfucker… Burn… Soon, they will all burn…

  The twisted smile remained on the governor’s face as he waited for Caitlin’s screams. He waited for the desecration and destruction of the bitch who had torn it all apart, the one who had invaded his safe space and toppled his tower. She’d made the fire rain down on the world he had known and forced him through the woods on that fateful night.

  He remembered it so clearly, that moment when Hank, his captain of the guards, had informed him of Caitlin’s arrival with her mini-battalion as they stormed the gates. Fear had ripped through his chest, the same feeling he resented her so much for. How dare that bitch make me feel this? How dare she force me into a corner?

  The survival instinct had kicked in. He knew when to run and when to fight. Halrod wasn’t a stupid man, after all, and he had fled through the secret passages of his quarters and out into the wild without a whisper.

  The darkness had greeted him. Leaves and twigs had clawed at his face as he ran, guided by the position of the stars and the moon, towards a place where he could regroup and feel safe. Another bundle of fuckwads with malleable minds waited, those who would cower before him and do his bidding. It would be a refuge, a place to build toward a larger destiny in which he would band his towns together and lead a revolt against the revolters. Against Caitlin, and the fuckers she had brought to her cause.

  He would watch the whole damn world burn before he’d allow her to take it from him.

  And it was there, in the thick of the forest, when the eyes had appeared. They had no doubt been drawn by the trample of his feet, heavy with panic, and the gasping of his breath as his lungs screamed for oxygen. It was there that they came.

  A couple at first, then infinitely more. They were fast but clumsy, and he was faster, but his stamina ran thin.

  He had torn through the brush, batting away the hands that reached for his shoulders, doing his best to block out the screams and the grunts and the cries of the Mad who wanted nothing more than the skin off his back. The delicious satisfaction they would derive from digesting and drinking the blood which surged within him drove him on in desperation.

  “Back, scum!” he had cried as he turned to see most of them fall behind.

  All but one.

  That fateful one.

  One scratch, that was all it took. One small break in his skin and there it was. The discharge from the Mad’s sores mixed with his own blood and began to take hold.

  The governor had bowed his head, doubled his concentration as fear and adrenaline shot through his body, and somehow, managed to lose them. Anger and terror rose from within as he blocked the scratch from his mind and careened toward Ashdale. That was the place where he would begin again as he rebuilt his empire and fought back against the bitch.

  All of this and more flashed through Trisk’s mind as he watched the fire burn, burn, burn Caitlin Harrison in its pyre. With patience born of Madness, he waited for those screams to erupt.

  Waited.

  And waited.

  But nothing came.

  “Talk about cutting it close to the wire,” Caitlin said the second Mary-Anne put her down. “Any longer, and I’d be burning more than Kain’s pecker when he pees.”

  “Unnecessary,” a voice said through the smoke.

  Caitlin’s face lit up when she saw Kain emerge. She ran and hugged him, taking him by surprise.

  “Woah, easy now. Didn’t think you’d miss me that much,” he said, relaxing into the hug. Jaxon sprinted towards them and jumped up at Caitlin.

  “Jax!” Caitlin said, bending down to tussle his head.

  “Shhh,” Mary-Anne urged.

  “What are you doing here, Cornswaggle? What have you done with Christy’s parents?”

  “We’re here,” Felix said as he and Patricia came nearer. “And we’re here to fight.”

  Caitlin looked up, and her mouth dropped. They were all there. Several dozen figures came into sight with smiles on their faces and weapons in their hands. She beamed as she spotted Dylan, Ash, Alice, Vex, Belle, and the rest of the Revolutionaries, as well as two others she hadn’t seen before—a grizzly man with an eyepatch and a woman she would easily reconsider her heterosexual tendencies for. She was one of the most beautiful women Caitlin had ever seen.

  “Hey, sis,” Dylan said, holding out his arms.

  Caitlin ran to him and kissed him on the cheek. “What are you doing here?”

  “We couldn’t let you go out into the wild and take all the ass-kicking for yourself, could we?” He grinned.

  “What about Silver Creek?” Caitlin asked.

  “It’s in safe hands,” he said, winking at Ash beside him. “Sully’s got it covered.”

  She couldn’t believe it. Just a few minutes ago, she had been alone, surroun
ded by an angry mob while tied to a pole, and now…

  “Joe?” Caitlin said suddenly, not quite believing her eyes.

  “Keep it down,” Mary-Anne insisted, but Caitlin wasn’t listening.

  Joe stepped out from behind Belle, his shotgun held loosely in one hand. “Yous wants helps, so heres we comes.”

  “What about Violet?” Caitlin asked.

  “She’s nots be going anywheres for some time. I cans help yous, yes, I can, and makes the worlds a touch safer, then that’s what Joe’s going to dos.”

  A tear came to Caitlin’s eyes. All along, the plan had been to operate in secrecy, but even now, they had all somehow known that she would need them. It would be the group of them who helped bring some sort of order and justice into the world, not her alone.

  “I don’t mean to be a limp dick, but we need to get a move on. We won’t have long until the governor notices that there’s no—”

  Mary-Anne stopped as a cry of anguish roared into the air. The haunting sound resembled the shriek of a gutted pig mixed with a ghoul. “Noooo! Where is she? Where is she?”

  There was a rumble of distant chatter as the townsfolk joined the governor’s confusion. Then, seconds later, Trisk roared, “To hell with that bitch. To hell with them all.” The sounds of several more explosions filled the air, mixed with the mingled cries, gasps, and tears of the crowd.

  “I think that’s our cue,” Mary-Anne said.

  “Hey, that’s my line.” Caitlin frowned.

  The vampire motioned for Caitlin to go ahead. “I think that’s our cue,” she said. “Revolutionaries. Let’s roll.”

  Caitlin sped through the smoke with renewed confidence, knowing that she had her team on her side. This was it. It might not have totally gone to plan, but this was what she had been waiting for.

  Before she could reach the front of the church, she saw figures appear in the smoke. Dark, ill-defined silhouettes of Ashdale citizens fought with each other, fear taking them in its grasp as they panicked and their survival instinct kicked in.

  It was a far cry from the herd mentality they had displayed when Caitlin had led the horde of Mad to them.

  “Watch out,” Kain cried as a large man charged at Caitlin, panic written all over his face. He raised a fist and threatened to clobber her in the face, but she ducked the blow easily.

  The man was thrown off-balance, and Kain sent him to the floor with a tap on his head.

  “Bop!” Kain exclaimed, then was instantly distracted by another group of townsfolk swinging their arms in aimless defense.

  Caitlin sped through, listening the whole time for Trisk. She dodged and evaded several more townsfolk, drew her sword, and parried the blows of a Firestarter as he stumbled through the smoke, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. With little effort, she took him down and managed to find her way to the front of the church.

  Or what was left of it.

  The building was engulfed in flames. The wooden structures which had held it together were nothing more than crackling fire. Smoke streamed thick and black into the air as she pulled her collar over her mouth like a mask and squinted for any sign of her target.

  “Couldn’t keep away, could you?” a voice came from behind her.

  Caitlin turned, her eyes stinging, and could make out the shape of the Firestarter brothers. Their skin was dark and ashen and their clothes tattered where flames had caught and wood had flown and cut from the bombs the governor had tossed in all directions.

  “You know me, lover boys.” She winked at them. “I’ve somehow always been attracted to the biggest pricks.”

  “She’s funny.” One of the twins chuckled before falling into a fit of coughing.

  “She’ll be funnier when she’s dead,” the other exclaimed. “Hand her body to the governor, and we’ll be laughing right into paradise.”

  “Even after this, you’re still on his side?” Caitlin asked, stunned.

  “’Til death do us part,” the second brother said.

  They ran at her, their sneers turning to determined grimaces. The first brother held a mace in his hands and swung it hard at Caitlin, who blocked the attack but was forced off-balance. The second followed up with his bare fists, one of them connecting with her cheek.

  White light bloomed in her vision, and she could hear a whine in one ear.

  “Sons of bitches,” she said.

  “Harlot,” they replied.

  Caitlin held her sword in both hands, swung it wide, and went for the fucker who’d punched her. He jumped back but the blade connected, opening up the skin on his arm and unleashing a faucet of blood which sprayed in all directions.

  She was sure she could hear some of it hiss as it sprayed into the flames.

  The brother with the mace looked in horror at his twin’s arm and charged, grabbing her around the hips and forcing her backward into the fire. They landed with a heavy thud, the heat of the flames instantly scorching. Caitlin summoned all her strength and twisted around, turning the brother onto his back. She straddled him.

  “I always did like it hot and heavy in the bedroom,” she said.

  He screamed as the flames bit into his clothes, licking his skin. Caitlin scrambled off, feeling the skin on her knees begin to burn, and turned in time to see the other coming for her, a large, jagged piece of wood in his hands.

  His eyes were devoid of anything else but anger as he drew his arm back to throw the wood like a javelin.

  That was when Kain appeared.

  “Kitty-Cat, we thought we’d lost…” He trailed off, noticing her attacker. “Hey!”

  Kain, followed by Jaxon, sprinted at him, his eyes a dull amber as his mind seemed to focus on nothing else but taking him down. He struck the man in the side, the javelin falling to the floor beside them. Kain reared a fist back and smacked him in the face. “Save that shit for the vampires,” he said, nodding at the wooden plank.

  Jaxon chomped into the fucker’s leg.

  “Hey,” Mary-Anne shouted from somewhere nearby. “I heard that.”

  The brother behind Caitlin rose suddenly, half his skin stuck to the floor. He took one look at Caitlin, Kain, and his brother and sprinted off into the smoke. His mouth seemed frozen open around the screams.

  The noise around them was deafening. Caitlin heard several more explosions from somewhere in the smoke, followed by more screams. The smoke caught in their lungs, and the fire raged on in the church. Caitlin could hear her Revolutionaries as they battled the Firestarters and subdued the townsfolk—or those that they could, at least.

  Kain threw a final punch at the remaining brother, who fell unconscious, then stepped up to Caitlin’s side.

  “Shall we check the church?” he asked.

  Another explosion rang in the distance.

  “No point,” Caitlin said. “He’s this way, come on.”

  Kain tugged Caitlin back. “Are you crazy? We need to regroup. We can’t run through that ourselves and find the governor before he chucks a bomb at us.”

  Caitlin thought about this a moment. He was right. If they charged straight at Trisk, who knew what would happen? He was clearly on edge, tearing down everything around him because there was little left of him before the Madness took hold. He wouldn’t think twice about sending a bomb their way, taking himself with it. Then what would they do?

  “Okay, I’ve got an idea. But you’re not going to like it.”

  “Shoot,” Kain said.

  “I need you to transform.”

  “What? No.”

  Caitlin sighed. “We need to get to the governor fast before he realizes that we’re there and takes the chance to blast us into tiny little pieces. I’ve read about the speed of the Weres. We need you to transform.”

  “Can’t the vamp do it?” Kain moaned, looking at the thick tufts of hair on the backs of his hands, lasting evidence of his slowly fading ability to switch between forms.

  “I’m a little busy!” Mary-Anne called again. There was the sound
of metal on metal, then a scream.

  “I need you both. We’ll flank him from both sides. Whoever gets there first, wins.”

  Mary-Anne appeared from the smoke and sped towards them. She stopped as she reached their side. “Ooh, sounds like some fun. Come on, Pooch. Let’s see the puppy bark.”

  Kain looked at them both as if he couldn’t believe what they had suggested. His shoulders sagged as he gave in to the idea.

  “Fine. But if I can’t change back into a human after this, I’m dropping a deuce in your shoes every morning for the rest of your life.”

  “Sounds like a fair trade,” Caitlin said.

  They both stood back and watched as Kain concentrated, his eyes bursting with amber as his body began to warp and twist.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Ashdale Pond, Old Ontario

  Caitlin wasn’t sure what she had expected, but the end result was damned impressive.

  In the place where Kain stood moments before was one of the largest wolves she had ever seen. His back reached the middle of Caitlin’s stomach, and with a body covered in fur of golds and browns, Kain was flawless.

  Well, almost. There were small bald patches around his paws, and his tail was crooked. Caitlin put that down to the difficulties he had explained in transforming and how, since the Madness had come, Weres struggled to keep the transition smooth.

  “Ready to go?” she breathed.

  Kain nodded and nudged at her legs.

  “You want me to ride?”

  “Maybe when this is all over, you two should get a room,” Mary-Anne jibed.

  Kain growled a response. Jaxon sniffed around him before bursting into his own barks.

  “Come on, then,” Caitlin said and climbed cautiously onto Kain. “What about Jaxon?”

  “He’ll slow us down,” Mary-Anne said as she sped off into the smoke.

  “Jax, go find Dylan, okay?”

  Jaxon cocked his head, one ear raised as if he listening, but he did not move.