Four more vampires fell similarly before the clan paused only a quarter of a mile from the building center lair of Cyrus.
“We’ll spread ourselves west,” Marek’s voice came over the com. “The breeze is carrying from the lake tonight. If we take south and west, we’ll know their coming even without Nick to warn us. Nick do you think you can pick off any heading east?”
“I’ll see what I can do,” the voran agreed.
As he moved east and two of the teams headed west to form a semi circle perimeter, Nick lost contact with the furthest two teams. They would have to use their senses to spot their own prey, which would be aided by a good breeze from the lake pushing their enemy’s scents their way.
As Nick took up his new position, things became quiet. He was just out of range to sense anything more than the perimeter guards that Cyrus had set up on the east side. If no one came to him, Nick would try and remove the guards. Losing competent men, which were most likely their guards, would hinder Cyrus when the final battle came around. Any little advantage they could get would be attempted.
Hours passed before Nick sensed someone coming from behind him. It was a scout returning most likely. With less than two blocks between him and the vampire, Nick used the night and a few obstacles on the roof for cover. One building away, the creature veered north for some reason. It couldn’t have spotted him. There was no way without a sense like his that the vampire could know he was waiting.
Moving in a blur, Nick launched himself in a run towards the building that would block the vampire’s path. Even as the vampire jogged casually towards the jump to the next roof, it spotted movement from the voran. His speed was unusual so it paused in wonder.
Making the leap across the street, Nick prepared for battle. His eyes flicked between his landing and the vampire as it held up on the next roof.
Hitting the tarred roof in stride, the voran turned towards the vampire. Noting the change in direction directed towards it, the vampire fumbled at its back for a sword. Nick pulled his from its sheath just before he made the final leap.
The clang of swords rang in the night as Nick fended off an attack with his own sword. More massive than the vampire, the voran’s momentum drove the creature back. They turned and met each other blow for blow. The metal ringing out in the night was a signal to others in hearing range of a duel. Nick knew it was a battle he had to win quickly. He could disappear back into the darkness as long as he wasn’t caught fighting the man in front of him when they came to find out what was happening.
Nick pulled out a surprise to end the fight quickly. As he fended off the vampire with the sword in the right hand, an aura blade formed off of his left. The glow caused the vampire to start, but it never had enough time to adjust for the second weapon. The aura blade stabbed through the vampire’s right side ribcage stabbing into its heart.
A small gurgling cry came from its throat before it erupted in flame and turned to ash in a near instant.
Two more vampires came from the west to find the source of the noise. After swiftly sheathing his sword and letting the aura blade wink out of sight, Nick ran across the roof and leaped to the south building. They were getting close very fast.
Taking shelter behind a raised roof vent, Nick felt the vampires closing the distance. They weren’t taking too many chances as they each approached from a different roof. If one were attacked, the other could assist quickly from across the way.
It was the military training as much as anything, he thought. Soldiers worked cautiously and protected their own. At least that part of them hadn’t been corrupted by Cyrus. Unfortunately for Nick and the others, it meant they were more dangerous because of it.
The vampire finding the kill stalled and held up a hand to his shadow. Nick tried to make sure he was hidden by his cover. He was going on his sixth sense now for their movement. Several minutes passed and the vampires seemed unwilling to risk their perimeter more than they had to even if it meant finding a killer.
The man raised a two-way to his head and spoke into it. Nick couldn’t hear from that distance, but he could tell a report when he saw it.
Knowing they were on borrowed time, Nick used his own radio and spoke quietly. “Pull back. They’re onto us.”
Three confirmed and Nick knew he wasn’t the only one involved with the guards. If the clan didn’t get away quickly, they would be dealing with reinforcements in numbers that they couldn’t hope to beat.
He was debating on risking another suicide leap after these guards when they finally chose to move out. Watching for a good time to move, Nick bolted over the south side of the roof using his ability to slow his fall. Though he hated giving up the advantage of the roofs, the voran could move without getting sighted jumping from one to the next. Since vampires could see better in the dark than the average human, he had to risk the ground for now.
The vampires never wavered from their path before Nick could no longer sense them. Cutting west, Nick found the first two pairs of the clan heading south. They would only pull back a few blocks and hope to catch a few more of the enemy straying from their main headquarters.
Only a block south of the lair, Nick moved west and found group three. As he moved closer, a vampire essence winked out as the duo of Jake and Audrey took care of their problem. He noted two new vampires moving in from the north, however, and they were heading this way.
“Jake, Audrey, you’ve got more coming your way. Move south quickly.”
“Rodger,” the second in command answered even as Nick felt them retreat.
The fourth group was already south of his position as Nick hurried towards the last group on the west side. It was Mike and Nicola. Two vampires were nearly on him from above and Nick slowed to a simple walk before sliding into a doorway. The two dark forms leaped across the street only thirty feet ahead of him. They never bothered to look down at a human on the street. If they had been hunting for a meal, he might have had to face them, but they were searching for whoever had killed members of their clan. Humans were the least likely candidates for those deaths and he was ignored.
It didn’t take much longer to sense Nicola and Mike. He also felt them fighting two vampires with two more closing in from the lair.
As he approached their rooftop, Nick heard the sounds of fighting. Swords were in use. Vampires had their own claws and fangs but the reach of a sword was still better in most cases. Leaping up to the height of the second story, Nick had to leap back to the opposite building gaining enough height to finish with his last bound to the roof. His jump put him only one building away, but his senses told him that the reinforcements were just about to catch up as well.
Changing direction and hoping that Mike and Nicola could beat their one on one match ups, Nick turned to cut off the two pursuers. He had to make the jump to the building north of his position first. His movement was noticed by the pair running across the roof directly across from them. Swords came out as the vampires launched themselves over the gap.
Nick’s own sword flashed out of its sheath and the three were soon in a heated exchange of steel. The men didn’t take him for granted. They had seen his ability to jump the two lane wide gap and knew that he couldn’t be a mere human like his scent said.
Using a two hand grip against twice as many blades wasn’t easy. Nick tried to maneuver in a way that he could try and put one of the vampires in between him and the second as much as possible. The problem was these were vampires and, as fast as Nick was, their speed was greater.
Switching to a single hand grip in his right, Nick broke out his aura blade on the left. Manifesting it as a solid to take the contact of a metal sword blade, the voran surprised the vampires as he had hoped. His sword blocked the vampire he had maneuvered between him and the other. With the metal blades engaged, Nick jabbed the aura blade into his gut. Forcing the blade through the body he managed to catch the second vampire with its edge.
The first vampire was wounded, but it wasn’t a deathblow. Nick u
sed his sword to hack off its head in a single blow that exploded the upper part of its body. Flame engulfed the rest freeing Nick’s aura blade and eliminating the obstacle between them. The second vampire drew back looking like he was in pain from the gash to its side. He wanted a way out of this fight, but Nick was too quick and wielding two blades he had the advantage.
In a flurry of blows, the aura blade cut first one leg and then the other. Debilitating from not only the gashes but the sting of his aura, the vampire fell to its knees leaving its head open for the final blow.
Catching his breath, which was coming in gasps from all the running and fighting, Nick surveyed the area with his sixth sense. Nicola and Mike were down to one opponent and no more reinforcements from the lair had been sent out yet.
Moving to his allies’ rooftop, Nick arrived in time to see Mike rip open the vampire’s stomach. Nicola followed up by cutting off its head leaving the area in a cloud of dust.
“Nick?” the girl said in surprise. “What are you doing here?”
“Freeing you two up to get out of here before more reinforcements come. Now let’s get moving. The others have already retreated to our primary fallback sites.”
The three used the break in the wave of vampires to cross the rooftops heading south to where the others waited.
Only one more straggler was found before the clan had to begin their trip back home. A total of fifteen of Cyrus’s clan had been killed and with no losses. At the Lair, they had reviewed the kills and he noted a few of the clan’s eyes looking at him with wary respect.
Marek caught it as well. “Thankfully you are on our side. Whether it’s nature or God that makes your kind, you’re definitely made for killing vampires.”
Nick nodded with a slight smile noting the tension. “I only kill the ones that deserve it. My family here are cursed but not animals that need to be put down. Stop looking so worried. You all have known me for decades. Don’t give me those goofy looks.
“Now back to the matter at hand. We’ve done some damage, but they have to have more than three times this number. I would guess that Cyrus is an older vampire with a few lieutenants that are more powerful than what we’ve faced so far. Until we manage to whittle them down some more, we can’t go head to head. That is unless we hear from Eric that he’ll join us.”
Jake looked unimpressed. “You really think those wolves will want to join us? We’ve made them enemies more likely.”
The others agreed.
“True enough, but circumstances have often brought enemies together as allies against a stronger foe,” Nick replied.
He felt Nicola at his side. The girl placed a hand on his shoulder and said quietly, “Well, until the werewolves actually say they will join us, we must assume that we’ll have to go it alone.”
Nodding in understanding, Nick stated, “We’ll keep trying to hit them until they figure out that they need to send larger forces against us. If we don’t break them quick enough, I’m afraid Cyrus won’t hold his people back. Then we’ll be the ones forced to defend the Lair against them, if we get that far.”
Marek started up the steps towards the bedrooms. “Well, they won’t be doing anything by day and we need our rest if we’re going to do it all over again. Later, Nicholas, I’ll see you on the other side of the sun.”
As the others retreated, Nicola turned to him and gave him a kiss. “Maybe your two werewolves will want to come next time as well. We can use all the help we can get, right?”
He shrugged and answered, “I can ask them. Sleep well, Nicola.”
After a last quick hug and a kiss, the vampire retreated to bed as Nick exited for the drive back home.
Chapter 28- The New Alliance
The TV was turned to the news as Nick ate a late breakfast. When a report mentioned a commotion near Cyrus’ hideout, he quickly returned to catch what was being said.
“Is that about you?” Logan asked with a raised eyebrow. He sat eating a toaster tart with a cup of coffee.
Nick nodded. “Yeah, we killed fifteen of them last night.”
The werewolf’s eyes widened slightly with surprise. “Vampires are that territorial?”
“They tend to be. It’s also part of keeping strays from exposing them all.”
“Were there any injuries to your vampires?”
Shaking his head as he sat with his breakfast, Nick said, “No, we used our numbers for the most part to get the quickest kills we could. Ambushing their strays looks like the only way to reduce their numbers enough to have a chance against this Cyrus. If they can’t get their recruiters out, then they can’t make more either.”
“What if they aren’t all staying where you think they are?”
It was a casual question, but it had been covered before with Marek. “Then we’re dead, which is why we’ll need Eric and his wolves to help even things out.”
After swallowing another bite, Logan asked, “Any word from my old leader?”
“Not so far.” Nick noticed that Charlotte wasn’t in the apartment. The siblings had been laying low since they had arrived, so it was a mild surprise. “Where’s Charlotte?”
“She went out for a jog. Being cooped up in here for two days was starting to wear on her. I’m getting close to that for myself as well,” the wolf confided.
“You don’t have to remain in here on my account. I took you here to keep you safe from Eric’s retaliation, but I doubt any of the pack will come looking for you around here. You should get out a bit just to stretch your legs. I would assume staying inside for too long would be against your natures.
“In fact, if you two want to come with us tonight, the extra help would be appreciated.”
Logan winced slightly at the idea, but he smoothed out the look as he replied, “I’ll ask Charlotte, but we were never from the more violent part of the pack. We can fight a bit, but fighting really isn’t our style.”
“Werewolves that don’t want to fight vampires? That does seem unusual.”
The larger man chuckled. “Well, you said that you don’t kill indiscriminately because not everyone is a monster because of their curse. Since we’re alive and you’ve taken us in, I would guess that we fit at least partially into that mold.”
Nick leaned onto his hand looking into the man’s eyes and noted the gentle demeanor mirrored there. “What were you in another life, Logan?”
“Before I became a werewolf, you mean? I was an intern training to become a doctor. I was working in an emergency room when one of my pack mates was brought in with her wounds. Kate had been attacked by another werewolf, who ran off. As far as we know it wasn’t one of Eric’s, which was a much smaller pack back then.
“When I was helping her, she accidentally scratched me spreading the curse by drawing blood. I don’t blame her, because the woman didn’t know what had happened to her. As far as she knew, a large dog or wolf had been out of control and attacked her. That it was a werewolf out of control on a full moon was beyond her understanding back then. Unfortunately, since neither of us knew of the werewolf’s curse, when the next full moon came about I was home with my parents and sister.”
“And you turned into a werewolf and lost control?”
Logan nodded looking sad as he looked back in his mind to that day. “I killed both our parents and slashed Charlotte, who tried to run for her room. I clawed her hip as she closed the door. Luckily, the door was enough to make me forget about her. I had two kills already after all.” The man looked truly sick to his stomach as he ended that chapter of his story. What he left unsaid made Nick nearly ill himself.
“Anyway, by the next full moon we didn’t take any chances and went to a nearby forest where we turned into werewolves together as we feared. We did that for several months realizing that we weren’t a hazard to anyone around us until the full moon, but it began to affect my mood more and more. Emergency medicine was too much pressure to be someone like me. The wolf inside would get agitated from the blood and often there were peo
ple so afraid. Their fear would just egg the monster on and I could barely contain him.
“When Eric and his pack showed up in town, they went to the same woods Charlotte and I had been using. Even as a wolf, neither of us likes to fight, so when the more powerful werewolf appeared we gave in easily.
“The next morning when we turned back into ourselves, Eric offered us a place in his pack. Having little to look forward to after becoming werewolves, we followed him gladly. It gave us a place to be protected and safe.
“It was only after joining them that we found we could change at will during the entire month. If I hadn’t found them when I did, it’s possible we could have accidentally turned during the regular days and hurt even more people. Though maybe it wasn’t a total accident, since they found Kate first,” he added with a shrug.
“So what was Charlotte doing while you were becoming a doctor?”
Looking like a proud parent, he answered, “She was finishing college and getting ready to go on to law school.”
With a low whistle, Nick said, “Wow, you two weren’t over achievers at all were you?”
The man laughed. “Don’t let her quietness throw you. She’s a bit shy until she gets to know people, but let me let you in on a little secret. Charlotte always loved to argue and debate. She was a natural and really good at it, since she rarely gets mad or loses her head.”
“Nice. Have you two worked since joining the pack?”
With a big sigh, Logan shook his head. “We’ve been afraid to actually. Though I guess by now we’ve got a pretty good amount of control over our other sides.”
“If you want, we could check into something for you two. Once we take care of Cyrus, we can take a look into getting you back into society and maybe even your field.”
Logan nodded, “That would probably be good. It’s about time we stopped hiding from the world.”
Charlotte returned awhile later. The men had moved onto other interests by then. Nick was on his laptop checking out the missing person’s part of the websites he had special access to and trying to figure out how bad Cyrus’s influence was on the city. Logan was reading one of Nick’s books from the bookshelf in the living room.
Vorans and Vampires (Book 1): Voran the Night Guardian Page 23