The Complete Vampire Project Series: (Books 1 - 5)

by Jonathan Yanez

  “Oh, you know. I’m a smart cookie. Saw some weird men in the woods one day and followed them here. Crazy, right?”

  Jack nodded.

  “What till you see all the fancy stuff inside.”

  “Elizabeth, wait.” Marcus moved to stand next to her and cautiously peered into the darkness. “We don’t know what’s in there—let Jack and I go first.”

  “Are you okay? First you think a mountain is a laboratory, now you’re worried about an empty place? The men left weeks ago.” Elizabeth looked over at Jack, pointing to Marcus. “You’re a saint to have to deal with this guy.”

  Jack had to chuckle, and even Marcus smiled at the girl’s comment.

  “Well, come on, guys; we have a lot to see.” Elizabeth skipped into the cave’s inky darkness.

  “Well, what do you think?” Jack drew his wand, letting a green flame dance on its tip. “Into the belly of the beast?”

  “Son, we are on the verge of something much bigger than either one of us. Mysterious laboratories in cave walls don’t just happen. Very powerful people are spending a lot of money to make this possible. We have to be ready for anything and stay unwavering in our values, no matter what happens.”

  “I know, Dad. Money, machines, weapons, and technology are useless and even dangerous without the right people to wield them.”

  “Glad we’re on the same page.” Marcus’s staff also came alive with a green flame sprouting from the top of the stick. “Well, as you said, ‘Into the belly of the beast.’”

  Jack took a step inside and then another, and very soon, he was swallowed by the darkness.

  Chapter Forty

  Sloan

  “It was a few months ago, right before the first attacks started.” Benjamin told the story as if he were reliving the event itself. “It was just turning dark. I was working in my shop. Mrs. Jansen was having me fix a pair of her husband’s favorite shoes. The heels were worn through. I heard a thick snapping sound coming from the trees behind my house. Curious as to what could be making such a loud noise, I walked from my shop, out to the woods directly behind my home.

  “Like I said, it was getting dark, so I had to squint into the light of the fading sun. Through the trees, I could see something large moving. At first, I thought it was unicorn. They are the largest animals in these parts of the woods, but it didn’t move like any unicorn I had ever seen. I’m no hero and I won’t pretend to be, even as I’m telling you this story. I was scared. Still, for some reason, my curiosity outweighed my fear and I stayed rooted to that same spot, trying to get a better look at whatever it was that was slowly making its way through the forest.

  “There was a patch of ground the creature traveled through that was free from any tree or bush blocking my view. The light shone down at a perfect angle and I was finally able to get a look.”

  Benjamin stopped his story to take another long drink from his mug. Sloan was beginning to wonder how coherent their storyteller was as he closed his eyes and steadied himself on his stool. Wiping his mouth with the back of his left sleeve, he picked up the story again. “Listen, I know that there are no dogs or wolves or bears in the forest. What I saw looked like a kind of large canine. It was as big as a bear but long and slender like a wolf. The strangest thing wasn’t just that. It was so unnatural looking. I mean, it looked like a—a creature more made than born. It had a huge upper body and a much smaller lower body. Its mouth was gigantic and its dark short hair made it blend into the forest, almost like camouflage. I was even close enough to see thick muscles ripple beneath the creature’s fur.

  “Everything I’m telling you now I saw in a few seconds before the creature moved on into the forest. I’m not sure if it didn’t see me, or maybe it did, and for whatever reason wasn’t interested in me. Whatever the case, it disappeared. I was so shaken trying to figure out what I saw that I kept the information to myself that night. I was going to tell everyone in the morning, but that night is when the first attack happened. I was afraid if I came with information after the murder had taken place, I would be blamed for not saying anything sooner or labeled a lunatic. I mean, after all, what was it that I saw anyway?”

  Neither Sloan nor Aareth could answer Benjamin’s question.

  “The largest canines that roam this part of the Outland are wolves and they’re no more than sixty to seventy pounds at the largest,” Aareth mused.

  “That’s the answer I explored,” Benjamin agreed after another long drink. “But this thing was gigantic. I’ve seen wolves before—they’re no bigger than a large size dog. This thing was massive. Easily four to five times the size of a wolf, and the way it was shaped—I’ve never seen that much muscle on an animal, not to mention the size of its jaws or the way it was colored to blend right into the forest.”

  “It’s like it was born to hunt,” Sloan said under her breath. “An apex predator; hard to see, built to kill.”

  Benjamin and Aareth looked at Sloan for a further explanation.

  “I don’t know,” she said to their questioning glances. “I don’t know if we’re dealing with a new species or something much darker than that. With any luck, Jack and Marcus will have found something that can help us.”

  “And if they haven’t?” Aareth asked.

  “Either way, this thing needs to be killed,” Sloan said. “I’ve never met an enemy, human or animal, that can’t be dealt with by cold hard steel.”

  Benjamin mumbled something to himself as he stared out the bar window.

  “What was that?” Sloan asked.

  “Oh nothing. I’m sorry. I think I’ve had a bit too much to drink. I agree with your plan and comment about blades being able to kill, but what if it’s not of this earth?”

  Sloan’s rational mind refused to believe that the animal was either a demon or spirit; still, the possibility was there. “Then God help us all.”

  Chapter Forty-One

  Jack

  The cave was unlike any Jack had ever seen before. Living the life of a tracking sorcerer, he had been inside his fair share of caves and dens. There was no denying that this one was definitely different. The cave walls had been smoothed on all sides. It was like a machine had come and bored a hall through the mountain. Jack’s right hand caressed the wall as he walked deeper and deeper into the abyss. His left hand held the handle of his wand that illuminated the dark passage with green light.

  Even when his eyes did adjust to the darkness, the visibility was slim at best. Come on, don’t be a baby, Jack said to himself. Elizabeth already went in before you and she doesn’t even have a weapon.

  Jack continued down the path for a few dozen yards, the light from his wand feeling smaller and smaller by the second. Then his hand hit something metallic. He stopped in his tracks, with Marcus nearly running into him from behind.

  “What is it, Jack? Do you see something?”

  “There—there’s something here on this wall.”

  Jack examined the smooth rock wall, able to make out a square box with a lever in place. Jack gripped the handle and flipped the switch. There was a spark and bright light flooded the cave.

  Jack threw his arms over his eyes as the inhuman light blinded him. Not knowing what to expect, Jack blinked as fast as he could, willing his eyes to adjust and examine the scene in front of him.

  Jack looked in disbelief at what was causing the light and what the light illuminated. The hall they were in opened into a large room. There were mage lights everywhere; strung up on hanging stalactites, mounted on holders and even strung up along the walls like Jack had seen in the Queen’s palace—what felt like weeks ago.

  Jack had only a moment to take in and appreciate the mage light because the room the cave opened up into was far more interesting. The room reminded Jack of Edison’s lab in New Hope. This one, however, was set up with beakers and tubes of all shapes and sizes.

  “See, I told you guys. Cool, right?”

  Jack saw Elizabeth lounging on top of one of the tables, twirling
her hair.

  “It’s very cool, Elizabeth. Good job. We wouldn’t have found this place without you.”

  “Thanks, Jack.” Elizabeth’s face turned red and then a huge smile split her lips. “You can probably imagine with everyone thinking I’m crazy, I don’t receive words of affirmation often.”

  “Are you saying you’re not crazy?” Jack stopped in his tracks and looked at Elizabeth.

  “No, I’m definitely loony, but it’s nice to hear praise from someone other than my sister.”

  Jack walked down a few steps and into the large room to his right. It was a scene straight out of any mad scientist book Jack had ever read. Ninety percent of the equipment in the room Jack had never seen; others, he had only heard about. Glass tubes, burners, magnifying glasses—they were all there—and as Jack traveled deeper and deeper into the room, something else was becoming clear.

  Whoever had been in the lab and whatever had been happening didn’t end well. Broken glass began to show up and blood spattering on the floor and walls begged a dozen questions at once.

  “Dad, are you seeing this?”

  “Yes. It looks like whoever was here took off in a hurry and left almost everything behind. Jack, take a look at this.”

  Jack walked to the opposite side of the room, where his father was examining a large cage and two tables with straps. The table was covered in gore and the cage looked like it had been bent from the inside out. Memories of the strange unicorn they came across as well as the super human assassin they encountered on the mage locomotive forced themselves to the front of Jack’s mind.

  “Do you think—do you think they were doing experiments here?”

  “I don’t know.” Marcus took in a deep breath and let it out slowly as he tugged at his thick brown beard. “What we can tell from all the blood is that whatever happened here, it didn’t end well.”

  Marcus crouched on the floor and reached a hand to a blood spattering. “It’s dry. Between the color of the blood and the thin layer of dust on everything, I’m guessing the place was abandoned a few months ago.”

  “A few months ago is when the attacks started,” Jack added.

  “Hey, you guys, look at this.”

  Jack and Marcus turned and headed over to Elizabeth, who stood staring at a huge pile of books.

  What once had been a bookcase full of volumes of scientific research was now a splintered mass of paper and wood.

  “Maybe your answers are in there?” Elizabeth pointed to the pile.

  “Well,” Marcus said with as little enthusiasm as Jack ever heard in his voice. “There’s only one way to find out. Dig in.”

  For the next few hours, the unlikely trio of explorers examined book after book. It seemed improbable to Jack that they would find anything. However, other than the condition of the room, the books were the only thing to go on.

  Volume after volume was nothing more than textbooks or generic manuals on scientific studies, such as genetic engineering and human anatomy. Jack hated complaining, but he felt like he needed to voice his opinion as he tossed yet another book to the side.

  “So what exactly are we looking for? We know this is a laboratory. They were obviously doing some kind of secret testing here that didn’t end well.”

  “A journal, some kind of record of their findings.” Marcus tossed another book to the side. “There should be something here to tell us what they were doing. Something to put all of these puzzle pieces together.”

  “This is like looking for a needle in a haystack of needles,” Jack said.

  “Wait! Look at this. Is this something?” Elizabeth lifted a book into the air.

  The book she held in her hand was worn and brown. At first, Jack thought it was dirty, but as he got closer, he could see it too was covered in dried blood.

  “Looks like a journal.” Elizabeth handed the book to Jack. “Or a diary if it was a girl. That’s funny, right? How if it’s a boy’s book it’s a journal, but if it belongs to a member of the opposite sex, it’s a diary. Why can’t they just have one word for both?”

  “Fair point, Elizabeth.” Jack accepted the offered book. “Let’s see what’s inside.”

  Marcus continued to rummage over the rest of the books while Jack flipped through the blood-crusted pages of the journal. Jack couldn’t believe his eyes. It looked like a day by day account that a scientist made during his stay at the cave laboratory. Jack flipped to the last page, which was almost entirely covered by black, dried blood. The entry’s date was covered by the bloodstain, but the few sentences that Jack could make out read:

  Subject A21 has shown impressive resilience to the treatment. The specimen is both larger than those before and has shown a level of aggression not noted in previous subjects. However, we have been ordered to shut down the cave laboratory and head back to New Hope. It seems like what little progress we have made has been too late.

  Our plan is to exterminate any current test subjects in this facility. Whatever our sister laboratory in New Hope has been working on must have been accomplished—that is the only way our assignment would be shut down. This will be our last entry as today we take A21 out of its holding container and…

  That was it. The rest of the page was impossible to read. Jack was dumbfounded and at the same time shuffling to the front of the book to start from the beginning.

  “Son, I think we found out who’s behind all of this.”

  Jack looked up at his father, who held a particularly large glass beaker. His father turned it upside down and pointed to a small emblem nearly invisible to the naked eye.

  Jack squinted then looked at his father, wide-eyed. Stamped into the glass was the same emblem found on the mage-powered bicycles, a small gear surrounding an “LI” in the shape of smokestacks, Dr. Oliver Livingston’s crest.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Sloan

  “So demon sent from the Divine, wild canine creature on the loose, or none of the above?” Aareth stared without really seeing anything, too deep in thought.

  Sloan and Aareth had thanked Benjamin for his information and left the bar.

  They were now walking back to the mayor’s house, hoping to find Jack and Marcus and compare notes.

  “I wish I knew. Whatever it is, I think Benjamin was telling the truth. He seemed too scared to be lying.”

  “I agree. Whether he has accurate information or not, I feel like he was telling us what he believed the truth was. I think the key to this is finding out who would want those people killed. If it is coordinated attacks, who has the most to gain from having those people out of the picture?”

  Sloan shook her head as images of Elijah came to mind. While they walked the town’s main road, people passed with nods and friendly smiles. Sloan was beginning to feel a burden, a burden that rested on her shoulders with each passing hour. These people were looking to her now to help them. They were looking to her to save them from whatever this monster was. Even with the information from Benjamin, they were no closer to discovering the truth.

  “Oh, there you two are.” Sloan was interrupted from her thoughts by Elijah Ahab’s familiar voice. “I saw you two enter the bar and thought that it would be best to let you finish indulging yourselves. Besides, as a man of the Divine, I wouldn’t set foot inside of that establishment. Was Benjamin a helpful interview for you?”

  “How did you know we were speaking with Benjamin?” Sloan asked, ignoring the other comments the preacher made.

  “Oh, I noticed him walk out, so I imagined you had a chat with him.”

  “Yes, it was great,” Aareth chimed in. “Thanks for the list you left for us. We missed you at dinner last night and breakfast today. Out trying to help track down the beast as well, huh?”

  “Not at all.” Elijah was one of the few men who matched Aareth for height and now he used that ability to look Aareth directly in the eyes. “That creature has been a holy angel from the Divine, cleaning up our town and disposing of the evils of men. I have been out cari
ng for the worried and fearful, and you can imagine without a mayor or sheriff, the town needs someone to turn to.”

  “Oh, I can imagine, all right,” Sloan said.

  A stressed moment passed between the three before Elijah found his voice again.

  “Well, I must be off. We’re having a special meeting at the church this afternoon to pray. You’re more than welcome to join if you’d like.”

  “Thank you for the offer,” Sloan said. “But we still have a killer on the loose.”

  Elijah nodded a goodbye and walked past them. Sloan and Aareth continued on their path back to the recently deceased mayor’s house.

  Aareth bit his bottom lip and sucked in air, making a low whistling noise. “It seems like he has motive, but does he have the ability? He doesn’t strike me as a person capable of unleashing the dogs of hell on someone. And all the reports have been of an animal, not a man.”

  Sloan was about to offer an alternate hypothesis, when the two rounded a corner and she saw a horse and rider waiting at the steps to the mayor’s house. Even from this distance, she could see the Queen’s colors worn by the soldier.

  Sloan quickened her pace, with Aareth right behind her. When the soldier saw the two approaching, he stood with a respectful salute. “Ma’am, messenger from New Hope directly from the Queen.”

  “At ease, Sergeant.” Sloan returned the salute. “What is this all about?”

  The sergeant was young and fit, but from the long ride, Sloan could tell he was spent. He was dirty from the top of his head to the bottom of his boots.

  “I have a note, ma’am, from Queen Eckert. I was instructed to ride here as fast as I could and deliver this note only to you.”

  Sloan took the offered envelope from the soldier and broke the seal shaped in the royal sigil. Her eyes flew over the words as worry slowly inked its way through her veins like a spreading disease.