Xairin nodded. "Oh yeah, Aywren really went over that, a lot…"
Griffin's trigger finger went into action.
Griffin slung his laser pistols like it was the old west. For Xairin, it was like watching one of the rare black and white western movies that had John Wayne in them. It was an art form, and watching Griffin gun the first two down, was just that, it was art, living art.
Another was approaching from Xairin's flank. It wasn't quite like watching Griffin, but something a bit rawer. The beast coming at him dodged four shots as Xairin used both pistols. His shooting at first was a little aimlessly as the laser bolts whizzed through the air. Once he collected himself, he took a breath and aimed as Griffin and Aywren had suggested. He relied on his biosonar, the trajectory path of the black striped wolf was easy to predict once he took a deep breath and let it happen. His wolf's head vanished.
Joanie smiled and danced in the forest as she pulled her scythe from her back. The axe shaped blade was curved, having a hilt in the center, and a curved blade that came down like a scimitar. She spun gracefully, cutting off one wolf's front right leg while going into a front flip and beheading the second. Griffin had to admit he misjudged her as she backtracked to jabbing the pointed end of her scythe into the eye socket of the one missing the leg.
The last wolf coming stopped right where it was when it realized that one vampire had gunned down the two coming from the direction of the split shaped tree, another vampire gunning down the one coming from the side, and the two in the rear falling to a woman with something twirling like a baton in her hands.
Xairin, Griffin, and Joanie could hear the damn thing whimper in fear.
Griffin looked over his shoulder than at the wolf standing twenty yards out. "Okay, maybe this won't be a total waste of time."
He was casual about it. He had the time to be. The wolf was standing there, whimpering and confused. Griffin had a glove on his right hand that had a node right above the knuckles. He opened the node, and reached into his utility belt, taking out what looked like capsules with flickering blue lights in them. Xairin hadn't seen those before, to him they looked like something you would swallow, they looked like large vitamin capsules.
"What are those?"
"You'll see," Griffin said as he loaded them into the node.
He closed the compartment on the top of his glove until it clicked. He pointed his fist at the wolf. "Damn, this is too easy." It was still whimpering.
With a gentle squeeze of his fist, the node above his knuckles fired one of the capsules. Xairin watched in awe as a shimmering electrified net sprung outward. It was large, more than fifteen feet wide, and twenty feet high, made of some sort of alloy Xairin had never seen yet. It looked like a fishing line it was so thin. If it wasn't for the electrified current, even for a vampire, he might have missed it. He watched as it covered the wolf, pulling together at the ends automatically. The beast fell over, fully netted, whimpering, and yelping from the sedative shocks being delivered.
"Dostrin nets. Strong enough to hold an Alpha of most Immortium species." Griffin announced.
"Really? I mean, that looks like fishing line to me?" Xairin asked.
Griffin shrugged. His Brazilian accent perking. "The Dostrin alloy is strong, and easy to make into these nice compact little pellets for wrist launchers. Comes in quite handy when taking down a target that we need to bring back alive. Speaking of…" He pressed his commlink. "Ash, you there?"
"Officer Brandon?" He asked again.
"Yes, Lieutenant Giovanni."
"You still need one of those wolves alive, right?"
"Yes, Lieutenant."
"I have one tied up in dostrin netting, send a collection droid to the same location as the body we found."
"Are you serious?" her voice said curiously.
"Officer Brandon, I'm typically not the type to kid around, over."
"Launching a collection droid now."
Another voice came in over the airwaves, it was Alex Fifer, "Are you saying that we can start killing indiscriminately now or what?"
Commander Dolenigan announced. "Kill everything you see except for the big one, I'm quite sure given some of the Aeon Strain's predictability, that the largest one you see is the one we really want alive."
Joanie jumped and clapped her hands. "YAY!"
Griffin took a deep breath, looked at Xairin, and pointed his finger at him. "I like you Xairin, I do, and so far good job, but when we get back to the mansion, I swear I am keeping you up all night long with my next thrall if you don't heed my orders… Understand?"
Xairin looked at him with a broad eyed expression.
"I am talking, an all-nighter Xairin. I will wait till I know you are home and asleep, and I promise you will be blushing by dawn…"
Xairin put both of his hands up as if he was backing back. "Hey, I get it, no more heroics."
Joanie looked confused. "What are you guys talking about?"
Xairin dipped his head down and shook it. "You don't want to know."
"I might want to know, the way you're blushing right now, it has to be something funny?"
Griffin used two fingers, pointing at his own eyes, then at Xairin. "Helicopter Xairin, I will do the helicopter until your biosonar has it ingrained."
Joanie still looked clueless.
Xairin looked like he was eating his lips.
Griffin took off into a sprint while expecting Xairin and Joanie to keep up the rear. They ran about two miles in until they heard blaster fire. It looked like the fourth of July in the middle of the forest only the lights were staying near the ground. Griffin stopped moving, put his arms out with his palms open. Joanie and Xairin stopped moving.
Xairin put his blaster pistols in his holsters and reached behind for the blaster rifle. He set it to maximum pulse. Joanie had her scythe ready.
Xairin had known Griffin to be a playboy and an exhibitionist. Seeing this side of Griffin was something to get used to. Part of him had issued taking the man seriously after seeing the way he conducted himself back at the manner, and at the club, they went to together. Griffin had no issues from switching from the suave heartthrob, to a hardened militant.
"You two get ready. It seems Fifer has already engaged the enemy." He looked at the number of blue blasts being exchanged. "Likely two other pairs had arrived given the amount of laser blasts we're seeing. Be ready."
One of the Thylan wolves came darting at Griffin in all of the creature's bipedal glory. Griffin was savage as he took it down. Aiming for the knees first, the head second right as it slid past him.
He darted off, leaving Joanie and Xairin to keep up. They reached a clearing where Alex had his blaster rifle aimed at a creature's head, exterminating it right as Xairin arrived. Hammond was against a large rock having trouble breathing. Given the way he was standing, Xairin had a clue as to what was going on. He recognized that stance. It was almost the same stance Xairin took when the white bat tried to dominate him. Alex was keeping his distance from Hammond at that moment.
Marylou Summers was there. He watched the redheaded beauty firing in all directions as she anticipated her prey's movements. Richard Adams was playing clean up as he walked around the coyotes that were lying on the ground, still transforming. He made sure they never evolved past the embryonic phase. A distraction came in the form of Irena Kinski yelling out. "ADAMS WATCH OUT!"
Adams looked up to see the towering monster responsible for the Den. It grabbed the rifle right out of his hand, and followed through with a mighty swipe, gutting the werewolf in such a manner that his chest was exposed. It nearly took his head with that ferocious swipe.
Kinski came rushing to help him before the behemoth could finish him off. It turned around quickly and swatted her against the rock.
Cullen Pattinson was showing off with his dual Bersa Thunder-380s. He was firing silver bullets all around him as the remaining creatures leaped from tree to tree, to the top of the rock running around like a circle that enc
losed the Den. He managed two headshots. Noticing the giant monster going after Kinski, he fired. The bullets went right through the creature's shoulder, hitting the stone in front of it. Cullen had to reload.
Six growing creatures in their white pulsating sacks ripped through them like a knife through warm butter. The six quickly sprang into action, actions being willed by their maker. As for Hammond Smith, he was stunned and unable to move.
The drooling lord of the Den approached Hammond, sniffed him. His eyes began to widen. The creature growled, forcing Hammond's gear to start to burst off his body. His face started changing, catching the attention of the others. The monster was forcing Hammond to transform and help the Den.
Griffin prepared his net launcher. He aimed it at Hammond and missed.
Xairin watched Joanie go in for a kill. She assaulted a creature with a combination of frontal flips, taekwondo kicks, and lastly a clean slice to the neck, severing the head. That left a large creature heading at Xairin. It had two others coming alongside it.
The others were too busy trying to avoid killing their controlled teammate to notice that the primary target and two underlings had left the battle and were heading right at Xairin. It was all up to him to keep them from escaping.
He fired his laser rifle, he missed with all three blasts. The creatures approaching began picking up speed. He fired again, these three were fast, very vast. No matter how well he tried to anticipate where they would be, his blasts missed them. One he almost got, but the shot was just enough to smolder the fur on the thing's back.
The Den Father swiped at Xairin, causing the young vampire to bend backward like a reed in the wind. He went into a left spin to avoid the second swipe. When he came out of it, one of the underlings grabbed his rifle and before his eyes, broke it in half, tossing the pieces to the side. "OH SHIT."
Xairin reached for his blades, they dislodged quickly and evenly from the magnetic holster. He performed an upward thrust through the creature's chin, killing the monster that destroyed his rifle.
The second underling swatted at Xairin from the side, knocking him in a spinning motion against a tree in the foreground.
At the Den, Fifer managed to get a Dostrin net on Hammond. They still had nine other creatures to deal with. Griffin was taking on three at once. So far, his aim was doing little good.
The Den Father was coming at Xairin. Xairin was partially stunned from being spun around and tossed against a large tree. His back was hurting. His teeth were exposed as he grunted while trying to get up. He went to reach for his pistols, but the toss had disarmed him of his second blade and his utility belt. Xairin had nothing to fight with but his claws.
Xairin's breathing hastened. He wanted so badly to be on the other side of the incoming attack. The towering twelve-foot monster and his eight-foot sidekick were approaching quickly. For Xairin it was like slow motion. All he could think about was being on the other side and out of the way. He saw a tree a hundred yards away. He wished he was there right now.
His stomach felt odd like he was nauseated. That nausea was becoming debilitating. His cells were firing within him in an attempt to thwart it. They went into a rage. A red burst of energy flowed from cell to cell as if red lightning had just struck him. The Den Father's incoming swipe was perfectly aimed at mauling Xairin's head clean from his shoulders; it was destined. He closed his eyes. This was it. Xairin knew he was about to be ripped to shreds. He put his hands out in front of him out of instinct. Xairin continued to feel odd. He didn't feel the furry wrath coming at him. He felt something rough instead, bark…
Xairin opened his eyes. Xairin felt ill, his body trembling. He even started to throw up. When he stood up, he wasn't where he was. He was across the battlefield, a hundred yards away standing right in front of the tree he was looking at a second ago.
Turning around, he saw claw marks along the other tree he was near, the marks were right where his head would have been. The Den Father had turned around along with his disciple and were coming at Xairin again.
The young vampire threw up again and tried his best to get a handle on whatever it was that just happened. Deep down, his blood was already telling him. Xairin knew that his cells had vibrated in such a way, that it allowed him to slip, teleport to the tree he had focused on.
The slip had left his body shaken. It was the first time he had ever performed such a feat.
Xairin fell to the ground, his right hand pressing him upward. His left arm dangling while his knees imprinted into the soil. He felt scared, terrified, in fact. His heart pounded so loudly that it was like a beating drum that his attackers could have danced to. He panicked.
The creatures were but ten feet away. Xairin couldn't think of anything to do but scream. His cells reacted once more. This time violently. Again, a power surge erupted between the spaces of every cell in his body. His red eyes glowed again as the veins within them lit up like his blood was on fire.
The scream Xairin let out wasn't that of a man yelling in fear or rage, but something else entirely. It was high pitched, it sounded like a bat's cry only far louder and deeper. Both wolves were stunned instantaneously in their tracks. The Den Father reached for his head with his clawed hands and began yelping like an injured dog. His loyal den mate doing the same, both creatures heads began to pulsate. Both beasts fell to the ground, yelping loudly like injured dogs. Xairin kept screaming.
His eyes were watering, tears were flowing down his face, while the red glow light that lit up veins in his already red eyes grew brighter. Xairin kept screaming as his right hand held him up. His fangs glistening, his ears elongated and his claws at the ready. None of that mattered, a deeper instinct was at play, possessing the young vampire in his moment of distress.
Back at the Den, the remaining wolves began yelping. Even Alex Fifer, Marylou, Joanie, and the injured Richard Adams began holding their ears. Poor Hammond Smith was already in pain being shocked by the Dostrin netting. Now his head felt like it was going to explode on top of being electrocuted. Griffin looked around him as every canine based creature was paralyzed by the bat cry. But who was making it? He turned around and saw Xairin as his black eyes zoomed in on Xairin. "Oh my god…" Griffin said under his breath.
It was easy targets now. Griffin killed every stunned creature spawned by the Thylacine with a precise headshot and darted as fast as he could over to Xairin. He fired a Dostrin net at the Den Father, but before he could kill the Den Father's pack mate, he watched as the wolf's head pulsated until it exploded. Griffin stood there in shock.
Back at the Den, every wolf was having severe head pain. Alex's head was starting to pulsate. Irena being a werecat, seemed less phased. She noticed that it was coming from the recruit and yelled at Griffin. "HE'S KILLING OUR TEAMMATES! STOP HIM GRIFF!"
Xairin was still letting out the bat-like wail. His breathing was hastened. Griffin yelled at Xairin. "YOU'RE KILLING OUR TEAM MEMBERS XAIRIN STOP IT NOW!"
Griffin had to lean down and smack Xairin across the face to snap him out of it. The wailing stopped.
Griffin had only ever seen a display of power like that once before, and it came from a Grand Alpha. Seeing Xairin perform this as being a Delta, caused the vampire to gulp. If Xairin could let out a bat cry like that while being a delta, then it dawned on Griffin that Xairin's powers could truly have no limits. It made the vampire fearful of his ward.
Xairin was out of it. He laid there on the ground. Between his cells reacting and forcing his first teleportation, and then a bat cry, Xairin was exhausted.
Chapter 9
Lucifer was pulling at his chin hairs, twisting his dark goatee until it came to a point. While doing so, he smirked at the thoughts of how he had been portrayed in mortal comedies, then realized what he was doing and stopped. The smashingly distinguished man was sitting in a large rocky room filled with medical equipment. The chamber he was sitting in, was once a cavern, later converted to suit his whim. The walls in the room had vents in the floor that shot fl
ames into a room above. It looked as if an unseen dragon was breathing fire up through the vent every so many seconds, heating the room.
Many thoughts went through his head. The villainous man was deep in thought. Aside from his vain self-acknowledgment, he knew it would be a matter of time until The Society made an attempt to rescue them. He had to admit he was disappointed that this new order was straying from traditional Immortium ways. They should have elected a new leader, and instead, opted to appoint an Adjudicator. Surprised he was.
His sister's latest details had him on edge. Due to potential leaks of information, only the Adjudicator knew where the strike teams were going. Lucifer realized with that last phone call he had received from her just two nights ago that this new Adjudicator was either being overly cautious or already suspected a mole in their ranks high up enough to foil his current plot.
If Lucifer was going to overthrow this growing regime of human loving immortals, he was having to come to terms with failing away from the old dogmas or at least modifying them. The old laws were keeping The Conclave from advancing. They still saw themselves as divine beings, and not oddities of nature. Lucifer had to admit, he delighted in being likened to being the devil himself, but if he were going to lead The Conclave forward, evolution would be required.
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