by C T Scribe
As if the night hadn’t been strange enough, the tall man now watched another human sprinting towards the bar. He was faster than any human he’d seen before, but he was human by scent. Stranger still the aura from the den of beast had disappeared just before the boy appeared. Perhaps the beast had peacefully left on their own. However, they left no trail. It was as if they disappeared from the bar all together. The running human was at the bar already. Such speed he thought. The tall man leaned his neck side to side before he stuffed and holstered his weapon. This teenage drama seemed beneath him. He would give them an earful back at base when he returned. Interrupting his line of thought, his earpiece cracked to life. The words hit him hard as they flowed into his ear. “They have a chameleon. We confirmed it from another prophecy we’ve been exploring. We advise you to kill anything that’s not human. Exterminate them all.” Everything made sense to him now. How he kept losing his target. How he was ambushed as he walked into a den he couldn’t sense. Finally, how the den of beast in the bar suddenly vanished. They were there, but their presence was masked. The tall man thought about the running human. Running into a certain death. A slight rage spread throughout him as he leapt into the air. Jumping along the rooftops in the shadows, he made his way undetected towards the bar. The roofs in this town were flat, and provided easy footing for him. Even in tough terrain the tall man was an expert at leaping and climbing. His legs allowed him to jump higher and farther than a regular man. With each bound he jumped from one building to the next. Now across the street from the bar he could take in the scene fully. Nothing. The bar looked completely empty. He got no reading on the beast or the boy who ran inside. It wasn’t until a woman ran out of the bar that his senses flickered. That woman who had been on his mind so much lately. Of all the bars in all the town’s he thought, as he watched M make a hasty exit. The mixologist of legend was deathly afraid of whatever was inside. Whether she was caught up in this or not, the tall man let her leave. He was in debt to her for the elixir she gave him during their first encounter. As she pulled away in a small car, she glanced in his direction. Those peculiar eyes had spotted him. Even still she took no time to explain as she sped off into the night. With guns drawn he jumped from the roof, a broad smile on his face, and walked with murderous intent towards the bar.
As Tye leapt through the bar door his eyes were filled with a hellish visage. Men and wolves consumed the bar. Although he heard no shrieks as he approached, upon entering his ears were flooded with the howls of the group. Easily drowning out the music which he knew was playing from the vibration, the sound was strong enough to stagger his steps. Before him stood a monster he could scarcely imagine. A wolfman like from the old movies mere feet from him blocking his path. The difference is these monsters were real. Their solid frames were daunting. Their razor sharp claws and teeth glinting in his direction. Their stench was overpowering. This was not a movie. Ten or so monsters blocked his vision from the rest of the bar. These half men half wolf beast weren’t like anything he’d seen on campus or the woods. They weren’t in their natural habitat ignoring humans as they walked by. No these monsters came into his habitat for some bloody purpose. The thick scent of blood filled the air. “Tye.” He barely heard her voice as it whimpered out in the rear of the bar. “Where’s Tye?” The sound of her voice scared him more than the beast before him. She sounded so weak. She was in danger. Regaining the strength in his legs Tye ran towards the group of beast in front of him. Using a nearby table as a launch pad he catapulted himself into the air. His arm cocked back for a massive punch to the nearest beast in his path. Swinging down with all his strength his fist landed in the snout of the first beast. There was satisfaction in hitting his mark. As his feet touched the ground he slung is leg in a sweeping motion to trip the beast. Another solid contact, but in his frenzy Tye didn’t notice his blows having no effect on the monster facing him. As if swatting a gnat the beast backhanded Tye, sending him flying into the jukebox. The music stopped instantly as sparks flew from the box upon impact. The blow hurt, but he had more left. Staying low he decided to rush the beast and tackle him. The beast who had already lost interest in Tye was looking away as he struck him. There was a small howl of annoyance as a clawed hand dug into his shoulder hoisting him high in the air. Tye didn’t recognize his own scream as he tried to wrestle free. He felt blood pour from his body drizzling down the beast claw then forearm, before it pooled beneath him. He heard Mari’s cry again. She wasn’t crying for help. Instead she spent her last breaths calling for him. From his position in the air he could see her. Terror twisted at his stomach as he witnessed Mari, stripped naked, held between 7 beast in the air. Each beast attached to her flesh with its mouth. One biting into each thigh, one biting into each arm, another pair biting her on each side, and 7th mouth sank its teeth into her neck. Blood streamed from every puncture. A river of blood at their feet Tye wondered how she could not be dead. Her skin took on a bluish hue. The life literally draining from her feet away from him, as he struggled in a beast grasp. Desperately he began kicking. He struck the beast in the head over and over, but again it had no effect. In reply the wolf sank its teeth into his side ripping out flesh in the motion. More than blood spilled from Tye as his sight faltered. He wanted to call for Mari, but his lips failed him. He wanted to kick this damn beast in front of him, but his legs hung limp. All he could do was look to Mari as they both died separately, together. Peace settled on him as the blood continued to ooze from his wound. He had all but given into his death until he saw them together. The man who drank the blood outside the dorms and the dark haired women who attacked him earlier stood by Maris near lifeless body. A spark of anger formed in his mind, but his body wouldn’t respond. The acceptance of death replaced by turmoil. He couldn’t die yet. He needed to save Mari. The focus kept him alive for a few more moments. He was losing far too much blood. Finally, the anger flowed out with the rest of the blood, and Tye returned to darkness. His unheard whisper never reaching the ears of the one he loved
25
Chapter 25
Bursting through the door, the tall man took in the scene instantaneously. Hunting beast for centuries had dangerously honed this particularly lethal set of skills. Wasting no time he fired on the beast directly in front of him. Blood and flesh falling from its mouth as the shot knocked his chest inward leaving him to tumble over. The running human he spotted moments before was set free to drop to the ground. His torso impaled on the freshly executed beast claw left him as near to death as could be. As the beast flew back from the blast it slammed into a nearby table with such speed the thud was nearly indistinguishable from the kill shot. The nine other beast in the front of the bar reacted too slowly as the tall man let off a barrage of rapid fire. The amount of shots at odds with the six shooter pistols, but the steady stream of bullets flying in the air, chambers spinning open and shut, and shells and bodies dropping to the ground explained the immediate carnage. The tall man grinning since before coming through the bar doors seemed to relish in the massacre as he executed beast after beast. In the rear of the bar a group of beast were in the process of draining a girl. That wouldn’t do the tall man thought, swinging his barrels towards them with immediate gunfire. With supernatural quickness the other beast littered throughout the bar leapt in front of the guns absorbing the shots intended for those draining the human. The group at the rear, protected, in unison ripped away from the girl shredding her flesh. Parts of her body flew in all directions as they scurried away after the dismemberment. One man among them did not move. As if playing chess he pointed, and the beast followed his commands to attack. Beside him a dark haired woman with wild eyes stood combat ready. For a second the tall man was over run, but he felt more strength within him than he’d been able to muster recently. He would never ease his debt to the famed mixologist M after all. Grabbing the closest beast by the neck he pointed his gun under its chin before squeezing the trigger. Spinning he let off shots in every direction creating some distance.
Kicking the closest beast in the air he managed the shot while it floated in front of him. Pointing the barrels straight ahead he shot his left first sending a bullet into the head of a beast, then shot his right sending the next bullet directly behind the first and into the head of another beast. Looking up he realized the man and woman were gone. The girl in pieces was dead, but the boy scarcely clenched to life. Near the girl lay a pendant and a ring. He assumed there was more to the items. He would have the team collect them when they cleaned up this place. The tall man took in the scene. Every detail for his report to HQ. He looked at the boy near death, and for the first time since entering the bar his grin faded. Grabbing a syringe from his pocket he injected the medicine into the humans arm. If he was lucky this would keep him alive long enough. The tall man wondered if he wasted the shot considering how unlucky this boy must be. It all made sense now. The girl wasn’t a familiar at all. She was the target. The human boy risked his life to save her. He stupidly attacked a wolf beat. The tall man thought back to the first time he saw the boy. At the stadium wearing the number seven on his jersey. The way magic was used to injure him still made no sense, but somehow the boy maintained focus to complete his past. He was for damned sure cursed, but against supernatural odds he refused to back down. The tall man found himself liking the human once more. He remembered his screams on the field that rainy day last year. From his bottomless pockets he pulled a gel like goo out. Stretching it with his hands he slapped the sticky slime onto the boys mouth. There would be no screaming tonight. Slinging him over his shoulder he left the bar and bloodshed behind them, and jumped into the darkness.
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Chapter 26
Part 2- The Spiral of Darkness
“For these dark days are the last days. The world only continues by the grace and balance of The Seven.”
-the lost books
The tall man hated this kind of mission. So many pieces were clicking into place, but not in a way he desired. There was a chameleon, a legendary shape shifter with aura masking abilities, on the enemies side. M was there too. Was she on their side, or was that coincidence? She had told him in their first meeting that she was led from place to place and from drink to drink. Next there was the ritualistic murder of that girl. She being one of two children who stood out in his investigation. The tall man had no problem digesting the murder, but the amount of beast in that bar combined with the way they were draining her he couldn’t yet make sense of. The general would be better at fitting the pieces together he thought to himself. All the while he allowed his mind to mull over the pieces and connections for awhile longer. And the last piece was this unconscious boy slung over his shoulder near death himself. Without the emergency aid given to him by the tall man, he would certainly be dead as well. This boy had appeared twice now in his investigations over the last year. First he was the victim of magic during a high school football game, and now he was a witness to that murder. He would need the boy alive to fill in the blanks. In that moment the tall man decided he would take him back to base. He would make him his first recruit.
Leaping from building to building grew tiresome as the tall man gained distance from the bar. Initially fearing an all out attack from the remaining beast he quickly fled with the boy. However, no one followed. It appeared the girl was the true target. In one giant leap the tall man bound from the roof of a house to the street below. He began walking in a normal human pace. He holstered one gun, but kept the other off safety as he walked along the road. With his free hand he slid his fingers into his bottomless pocket pushing a hidden button inside. The button activated his GPS tracker which signaled for an extraction. HQ had teams set up near every active mission. A car would be arriving shortly for his debrief. The tall man reached out with his senses one more time before he chose to sit and wait. Nothing had pursued them. At least nothing he could sense. He found himself less certain in that answer than he had come accustomed to over his long life. Even if the beast aura was masked, on this still moonlit night the tall man should hear anything approaching. He had been tracking senses in the traditional way as well. So he sat there waiting for extraction with a mind full of questions, and an unconscious human boy beside him. A part of him wished he didn’t have to take the boy back to base. He remembered watching him on that football field a year before. He remembered the poise he had as an athlete. He remembered how the crowd cheered him on. He also remembered the way he screamed in pain. Shaking his head he settled on one fact. This boy’s life was doomed since the first day he laid eyes on him. Two headlights appeared in the distance. As the glow of the car lights grew larger and brighter, the tall man slowly raised himself from the squatting position he held for the past twenty minutes. He had expected the extraction to take a little more time. Effortlessly hoisting the unconscious boy over his shoulders like a lightweight duffel bag he watched as the car approached. A standard SUV drove quickly towards them. It looked perfectly ordinary except for the near black tinted windows. The SUV however was far from standard as it sported bulletproof glass, armoured plating, and reinforced rear and front bumper, run flat tires, and an extra gas tank. It also sported some weapon upgrades that the tall man hoped would not be needed for this getaway. The smell of missiles launching from a secret compartment in the trunk wasn’t something he felt like enduring tonight. This assignment had been longer than anticipated. Although he would never admit it, the tall man missed base. He longed to find his bunk, and hang around HQ for awhile. Gently he placed the boy in the back seat. He secured him in what was more a harness than seat belt, before rounding the car and sitting in the other back seat. Securing his own harness he looked to the driver and signaled to go ahead. The eyes signalling an understanding were foreign to him. The team had many drivers stationed all over the world, but he knew most of them. The tall man was an advanced operative. He logged more missions than anyone else back at base. He had the same driver for his last 3 extractions, and a part of him expected to see Morris tonight. In his place the tall man found a pair of dark eyes belonging to a rounded face with a dark complexion. She was American he assumed by her graphic t-shirt and choice of jewelry. She drove instantly upon command. A faster take off than was needed during this extraction, the tall man found himself with a rookie driver. As she careened around the bends and twist of the road a hip hop station played low on the radio. She hummed along with the beat. The music was rather low, but for the tall man’s senses it played clearly as if at normal volume. Still it had a good beat, and she was a focused driver. Leaning back for a moment, closing his eyes he found a voice for the question in the back of his mind. “Morris is dead I assume.”
She, the new driver, squirmed a little before answering. Making brief eye contact in the rear view mirror she nodded to him. She turned the radio off, feeling the need to show respect to her predecessor.
“No, keep it on. Focus on the road as best you can. I feel like we’ll be working together a lot.” As if on cue he noticed the beast lining the woods along the road. As countless pairs of gleaming eyes appeared in the dark, the tall man cursed aloud at not being able to sense them. Mentally he was done fighting for the day, but instinct and experience jolted his body to action. Rolling down the window he climbed atop the SUV. In a feat of strength no mortal could manage he moved in the wind keeping firm footing on the vehicle with ease. As he pulled out his guns, the six shooter now morphed into set of automatic pistols with extended clips. With no pause the tall man filled the dark air with his own fireworks, as he squeezed the trigger letting off round after round. He heard the sound of the beast chasing in the woods. He heard every shot zoom through the air and, followed the trajectories as they hit beast and tree alike. In this mode his weapons would not get many kill shots. It would give them the much needed space to get away instead. Inside the SUV his new driver had cranked the music. She was driving fast, too fast he thought. As each curve of the road appeared she handled it with smooth precision. She was good. He kept shooting. Up ahead flying through t
he sky a large oak tree hurled into the road. The tall man pulled his guns from shooting sideways, and redirected the stream of bullets ahead. His new driver anticipated the move and floored it as she drove right underneath the freshly destroyed wood. Another tree struck the ground. In a quick maneuver she swerved to avoid the contact. As more trees appeared the duo of driver and roof cannon destroyed or evaded every obstacle thrown their way. This obstacle course of trees was slowing them down. The thought occurred to the tall man as he briefly sensed something further down the road. The flicker of power vanished near instantly, but the tall man knew they were driving towards it. The gleaming eyes lessened as they continued to drive ahead. Another clear sign they were being steered towards a greater threat. The forest now black and still as far as he could see with those perceptive eyes. Trees had stopped falling from the sky for several minutes when he spotted the two people ahead. “Stop, but be ready to drive. You’ll know the time,” he shouted to his new driver. The bond between these two growing stronger by the instant. She was no rookie. And he found himself trusting her skills and instincts.