by John Conroe
The space in the middle of our big, round table filled with a slowly spinning holograph of Earth.
“Emergent kraykenast specimens are being observed at all four of the predicted regions. Thanks to the actionable intelligence gathered by this group, preparations have prevented an immediate catastrophe. Second-stage krays have made it ashore, and there have been several thousand casualties, mostly among individuals who were either unable to evacuate to shelters or chose not to. Various military measures are proving somewhat effective in slowing the spread, but not completely. I have disseminated informational videos, emails, and text messages to every country on Earth. Graphic videos of the dangers krays represent have been included, yet some humans dismiss this as fake news. I cannot be responsible for their choices. Targeting information and species-specific information has been released everywhere on Earth.”
The map showed reddish highlights along the western coast of South America, the entire Caribbean, New Zealand, and the eastern coast of Australia, and all along Japan’s coastline. The degree of red varied from almost a pinkish color in New Zealand to a bright magenta near Japan.
“As you might surmise, the biggest issue appears to be Japan and surrounding regions.”
“Why do you think that is, Omega,” Tanya asked.
“A number of factors are at play but based upon my observations from both aerial and submerged drones, it appears that the overfishing of the Pacific region around Japan is the cause. While conversely, New Zealand has healthy fish stocks. Direct observation by drones indicates that the stage one kraykenast are fully susceptible to predation by tuna, multiple species of shark, squid, and other large species of fish.”
“Do you have a recommendation for what to do?” I asked.
“More sustainable fishing, perhaps?” the computer said.
Declan smiled. “Nice timing,” he said to the tablet. “I suspect we should pop over to Japan and see what can be done?”
“That would be advisable. Also, Father, I have finished sequencing the DNA of the kraykenast specimen you harvested in Puerto Rico. It has been downloaded to your nano bracelets.”
Declan instantly lifted his right arm up to his face, the bracelet around his wrist melting and reforming around his right eye. He stared into space for a few seconds. “Please highlight the unique sequences,” he said, followed immediately by “Wow. That many?”
“There are six nucleobases in its DNA,” Omega said, “similar to the structure of the Black Frost organism on Fairie and the infectious agent the Vorsook derived from it.”
“Hmm,” Declan said, studying whatever Omega was showing him. “Gotcha,” he said with a little nod to himself.
The eyepiece retreated as he turned to the rest of us, smiling.
“Oh, I know that grin,” Lydia said. Most of us did, from the endless training we conducted. It usually preceded particularly vicious witchery by the inventive kid.
“Who’s coming?” he asked, jumping to his feet. Despite his energetic surge, Stacia beat him by a full half second. The rest of us glanced around the table, then there was a mad rush to follow the other two.
“We can’t all go,” Tanya said. “At least one person has to stay and watch the kids.”
“Bring them,” Declan suggested.
“To the coast of Japan, where the biggest concentration of space monsters is waiting to eat them?” Tanya asked, a dangerous edge to her voice.
He frowned, holding her hard eyes with his own. “No. To Mount Fuji. And I promise you that none of those little fuckers will get anywhere near us.”
She looked at me and read my response on my face and through our bond. He never promised what he couldn’t deliver. He had some major trick up his witchy sleeve.
Chapter 46
It took longer to figure out the final group then it did to get there. When all was said and done, Tanya, the twins, Gramps, Stacia, her pack of wolves, Deckert, Chet, and me all found ourselves on the crater’s rim, looking on as Declan cleared snow from a big flat area. The time zone difference had precluded the other vampires from coming, as the mountain was fully bathed in daylight. Lydia had been particularly vocal about her dismay. Both were back home, watching via Omega drone video.
With two waves of his hand, Declan cleared a three-meter square piece of mountaintop. It was just suddenly bare rock, the snow and ice simply gone. He immediately started to sketch a circle on his new rock surface with a thick stick of chalk.
“Hey Dec, we got babies here,” Stacia reminded him. The wind was blowing fast and cold, not dangerous to the weres, myself or Tanya, but clearly bothersome to the humans. Cora and Wulf were ducking into the shelter of Tanya and my arms.
“What? Oh,” he said. The wind around us abruptly died, and the air became a comfortable seventy degrees Fahrenheit, although I could see snow whipping off the crater’s edge twenty yards away. He put his head down and got busy with the chalk. After about fifteen minutes of staring out at the cloudy valleys below us, listening to the wind and the click of chalk on stone Holly got antsy.
“Kinda hoping for something flashier,” she whispered to Kristin.
“Patience Hell Hound,” Declan said without looking up.
“Hell Hound?” Gramps asked.
“I got bit by a demon wolf,” Holly said. “Not a bad nickname, I kinda like it. Better than Wicked Wolf, like old Bruce here.”
Gramps raised his eyebrows. “I’m from Maine,” Devaney said with a shrug.
My grandfather turned to Kristin, the newest werewolf. She frowned. “I don’t have a nickname yet.”
“You’ve got your choice: Kraybait or Ice Wolf,” Declan said, sitting back on his heels to study the drawing. “Maybe both, depending on circumstances.”
“I much prefer Ice Wolf,” Kristin said, “if I get a choice.”
“You don’t,” Declan, Holly and Devaney said almost in unison.
“What’s yours?” Gramps asked Stacia.
“Boss,” Declan said, leaning on one hand and both knees as he corrected some rune or symbol farther out in the diagram.
“Her Majestic Apha-ness,” Holly said.
“Kicker of Wiseasses,” Stacia said. “How’s it coming, Dec?”
“It’s been mostly done for five minutes,” he said. “Just some final tweaks while Fuji wakes up,” he said.
“The volcano is waking up?” Chet asked, alarmed.
“Yeah, I need a lot of power for this,” Declan said. “Fuji’s gonna give me the equivalent of a three.”
Before I could ask what a three was, Chet jumped in. “A three on the VEI?” he asked, alarm replaced by flat-out fear.
“Yes, but it’s not going to erupt, Chet. I’m gonna channel it,” Declan said in a don’t be silly tone of voice.
“What’s VEI?” Gramps asked.
“Volcanic Explosivity Index,” Chet said. “It’s a logarithmic scale based upon the amount of ejecta expelled during an eruption. Each increase of one on the index is ten times larger than the previous number. A three is ten to the seventh power, or ten million cubic meters of rock and magma exploded out of the volcano.”
“That’s pretty big,” Gramps said, looking into the caldera.
“It would be, but I’m taking it,” Declan said. “And I’m doing it now. Hang on.”
The ground suddenly started to shake, ice and snow avalanching down both the outside and inside of the volcano. I locked my feet to the rock with a Post technique, as did Tanya. The others crouched but remained upright. The rumbling and shaking grew, but Declan just sat with his legs folded under him like a martial arts student in class, eyes closed, body relaxed.
The shaking reached a crescendo and the witch opened his eyes, the blue of his irises glowing brighter than I have ever seen it. His right hand tapped his right knee and the chalk diagram flared with red light, lava red, illuminated from below as if the volcano was coming up through the rock underneath us.
The glowing spell flared so bright, I had to close my eyes
and turn my head, the afterimage burning right through my eyelids. Then it was gone and the mountain stopped shaking. Full earthquake one moment and then… nothing.
I opened my eyes, the spell symbols still glowing on my retinas. No, not my eyes. It was glowing in the sky above us. Then it too faded.
“Maybe a warning about eye-searing light next time?” Holly grouched, rubbing her eyes.
“You want flashy one moment, kid glove treatment the next,” Declan said right back.
“What just happened?” Tanya asked.
“It appears, based upon drone coverage and multiple military and civilian reports, that the krays just died,” Omega reported.
“What krays? How many?” Deckert asked.
“So far, all of them. At least along the Japanese coastline.”
“What did you do?” Stacia asked, her tone almost academic.
“I used their DNA to put a little burst of volcanic heat into each of their central nervous systems,” Declan said.
“You fried their brains?” I asked.
“Yeah. They have a different DNA structure than Earth-based lifeforms. Because of that and because Omega could show me the sequences related to brain structure and growth, I was able to send the power to just them.”
“And skip every human?” Gramps asked.
Our witch nodded. “Every human, animal, fish, bird, plant, and microbe.”
“You killed them all?” Lydia’s voice came from a floating drone near Declan’s shoulder.
“As far as I could reach with that much power,” he said. “It didn’t kill all of them everywhere.”
“Omega’s map is showing increasing red around the Caribbean, western South America, and New Zealand,” Lydia said.
“But you happen to have friendly volcanic elementals near each of those other outbreaks, right?” Chet asked.
“Yes. That was the purpose of our gallivanting all over the world,” he said. “I’ll bump up the power a bit next time. Not quite a four, but more than this one. Gotta work up to the big stuff,” he said.
“The big stuff?” Gramps asked with a snort. “What exactly would be big… in your mind?”
The kid shrugged, getting to his feet and brushing off his knees without answering.
“The power needed to damage Vorsook forces in other galaxies will be considerable,” Omega said. “Possibly a five VEI or greater.”
“That would be a billion cubic meters according to your scale?” Gramps asked.
“Or twenty-seven thousand Hiroshima-sized bombs… approximately.”
We had been picking up the few items we’d brought with us, generally getting ready to leave. Now virtually everyone froze and either stared at the floating orb or at Declan.
“Not like I’m doing it today,” the witch said. “And before anyone says anything about the submarine earthquake thing, remember that was spur of the moment, caught off guard. This will be done with a careful spell array much bigger than that one,” he said, pointing at the rock that now wore the formerly temporary chalk array as a permanent brand.
We were still silent, each of us trying to process 27,000 atomic bombs.
He crossed his arms over his chest and looked around the group. “Come on—we’ve been talking about intergalactic warfare for months now,” he said.
“We’ve been talking about defending Earth for months, not extinction-level eruptions,” Lydia said.
“A five isn’t extinction-level,” Declan said. “Mount Saint Helens was a five. Extinction would take maybe an eight from Yellowstone, Long Valley, or Taupo in New Zealand. But that seems pretty drastic, even to me.”
“You’re seriously talking about power at that level like it’s no big deal?” Gramps wondered.
“Oh, it’s a huge deal. If you asked me about channeling volcanic power a year ago, I’d have asked for some of what you were smoking. But this is what you all wanted me to train for: intergalactic warfare.”
“Yeah, but who knew you could actually do it?” Lydia snarked.
“I was confident, Father,” Omega said.
“Suck up,” Lydia shot back. “And our troubles have really just started—the Elders found out you were doing fireworks with volcanoes and are all wondering why they weren’t invited.”
“I may have sent them a video feed,” Omega admitted.
“Shit. Are they all together or am I going to have to open portals to each of them?” Declan asked.
“Rome, Beijing, and Moscow,” Omega answered.
“Well, nothing for it then,” Declan said, ripping reality apart to get us back to the Tower.
Chapter 47
It was an even bigger group that emerged from a portal onto the shoreline of Lake Taupo, New Zealand. It was night and almost nine hours after our trip to Fuji. Stacia had pretty much demanded Declan sleep for at least five hours after he opened portals to get us home and then to get the three Elders to the Tower. The world had dealt with the infestation as best it could, using the military might of the big three countries as well as the sonic codes Omega had deciphered from General Creek’s personal anti-kray device. The latter had been dispersed to every cell phone on Earth and when played at volume would freeze any kraykenast within audible range. The spell lasted for twenty seconds, which made the nasty carnivores sitting ducks for rifle, shotgun, and heavy weapons fire.
Still, human efforts alone, even aided by Omega’s onplanet drone forces, couldn’t stop the invasive killers from spreading, killing, and growing. Omega reported world casualties topped nine thousand people, military and civilian.
Like normal, Declan was the last one to step out of the wormhole-like portal, but as soon as his foot touched soil, the ground started to shake.
“Taupo is a pretty active volcano compared to some,” Declan said as if that explained the odd timing.
“Yes, but it’s also one of the elementals that likes you,” Stacia said. “I can hear it calling you.”
I tilted my head and listened, concentrating on the low end. Sure enough, ultra-low-pitched infrasound was rumbling up through the ground under our feet.
“You better hurry; I think it’s raring to go,” Stacia said. “But first, armor up,” she said, reaching into his messenger bag and pulling out a sack. A lump of what looked like funny gray clay came out of the bag and she just unceremoniously plunked it against his upper back. The lump stuck and then melted, sliding through the cotton weave of his t-shirt and jeans. It quickly coated his exposed neck, emerged from his shirt sleeves to cover his forearms and hands, even sliding over his head.
“Experimental nano-armor,” the young Alpha wolf explained to anyone who didn’t know. “He puts up such a fuss about standard body armor, so Omega came up with this.”
“It is superior to current offerings in every way,” the supercomputer said. “Lighter, thinner, soft and flexible, yet hardening under impact or energy beam.”
“What’s the rating?” Deckert asked.
“It exceeds all current levels of armor. It is proof against .50 Browning machine gun rounds.”
“So are my shields,” Declan muttered.
“Which you have absentmindedly dropped twice during big spells,” Stacia said.
Declan frowned, looking down and around at the rocks and ground on the lake’s edge. She’d embarrassed him in front of our much larger group.
“I personally think armor is a great idea,” a new voice said. Levi Guildersleeve, dressed in hiking gear and wearing well-broken-in boots, stood casually, looking around at the vista. “Pretty standard for combat operations these days.”
Declan looked up from his hunt for spellwriting surfaces, slightly surprised. The world’s most powerful witch had been very happy to see his family friend and martial arts instructor when he’d woken from his rest. Omega had transported him and Declan’s two aunts to the Tower, all three now part of our group.
“Tis jest good sense,” Ashling O’Carroll said. She too was looking for suitable crafting space. “Here, lad. Th
is looks promising.”
Declan joined his aunt, nodding in agreement as he took in the big patch of bare rock she’d found. “Perfect.” He reached into his messenger bag, pausing as he caught sight of his gray nano-covered arm and hand. He shrugged and continued reaching into his bag. When he pulled his hand out, he held a bright red stick of sidewalk chalk. Under his aunt’s watchful eyes, he started to construct his spell array.
“Might I suggest ye make it a touch bigger, lad,” she offered. He sat back on his heels, looked over the scale of his initial drawing, and then looked at his aunt.
“Would you set an outside circle, Aunt Ash?” he asked.
She nodded, reaching into her own bag for string and stake, her eyes suspiciously bright.
The rest of the group started to wander around, looking at the terrain, watching the birds take flight when the ground shook at intermittent intervals. The three Elders of the Coven stood stock still, watching every move the witches made with fascination.
Stacia’s wolfpack had spread out in a defensive perimeter with Declan at its center. My grandfather had moved to the edge of the line with Lydia, either consciously or unconsciously taking part in the sentry line, positioned between Devaney and Kristin. We hadn’t had time to talk about packs, but he would make his first Change under Stacia’s supervision if I could help it and who knows… he might just find a place in her pack as well.
Nika and Tanya were talking with Chet and Arkady about the Taupo volcano, the two males holding Wulf and Cora while Awasos sniffed the vegetation nearby. Darci and Levi were watching Ashling and Declan, talking quietly. Despite their care, it was impossible for me not to overhear them.
“Weird to see it actually happening,” he said. “I mean, I know how good she is at foretelling but to witness it, in person, just surreal, like something out of a fantasy novel.”
“I know, right?” Darci answered. “Lord of the Rings meets Star Wars.”
“Makes me second-guess everything I did and said. Did I do enough? What more could I have done?”