Narrigil, Present TimeThey had been waiting so long that Lyric’s legs had begun to get pins and needles. The Mer around her were so still and attentive that she had not felt that she could squirm or fidget in order to relieve it. She recalled reading about soldiers on ceremonial guard duty doing small muscle flexes and wriggling their toes in order to maintain circulation, and wondered if the Mer used such tricks.When the order came, it was out of the blue. A single word was spoken, heard in her helmet. She didn’t need translation – it was obvious. “Go.”Her group of Mer surged towards the wall. Some moved so quickly that Lyric was treated to a view of blood spraying as they carved up the guards on duty – the card players taken by such surprise that they had not even dropped their hands to the ground, and the cards drifted from lifeless fingers.The guards above were slow to respond, uncertain as to what they were seeing – a liquid-like ripple across the ground, until that splatter
Trayrock, Present TimeThe double doors into the hallway of the main hospital were closed and guarded by two stern-looking guards who were already having a bad day. A crowd of locals were facing off against them, their faces angry and their words getting heated.“Hang back a moment,” Heath murmured to them before drifting over to where a volunteer tea and coffee station was set up, the elderly volunteers with their striped aprons hanging on every word spoken at the entrance. “Coffee?” He asked the lady holding the pot, taking out a paper cup.“Of course, dear,” she poured without looking at him, her attention locked on the argument at the door. “Would you like cream and sugar with that?”“No thanks,” Heath couldn’t drink it anyway, but he mimed doing so, watching the doorway.“Our staff have been on duty for weeks without respite in there,” a man jabbed his finger towards the door. “That is illegal and inhumane. They are running short of medication, scrubs, and linens, basic supplies,
Trayrock, Present TimeTalen’s phone vibrated in his pocket a second before it began to ring, the sound cheerfully chirping out into the tenseness of the confrontation. “Excuse me,” Talen grimaced as he slid his phone out and checked the display. Sigrid. “I’m afraid I must take this,” he said to his mates as he side-stepped back in the direction they had come.He trusted his mates had the situation under control for the time being, but he would at least guard their back whilst he spoke with Sigrid, who would not have called him unless it was necessary.“Sigrid?” He answered the phone.“Thaelen,” she slipped into Concordian. “I am sorry to interrupt you. Are you in a position to speak?”“I am in the middle of a raid on the Trayrock hospital, but it is currently peaceful,” he replied. As much as the situation could be, he acknowledged to himself. “Speak.”“I am assuming you have seen the news reports of the invaders?”“Yes. It has been a very busy twenty-four hours, and I have not had t
Trayrock, Present Time“You know your mum didn’t come to the pub to have breakfast and gossip, don’t you?” Cameron told Aislen as they took the stairs up to the second level. He kept his voice low so that it didn’t echo off the concrete of the stairwell, though the shuffle of feet behind them as the humans who followed them came to a standstill watching as Heath creaked open the door all but muffled his words.“All clear,” Heath decided. “But keep them back here while I check the hallway.” He slipped through the opening and Cameron caught the door with his hand, holding it open while they watched as Heath crept from door to door. He paused at one, looked back at them, and pointed to the door indicating someone inside before moving on.“I know what you’re thinking,” Aislen was amused she told herself, although there was an underlying pain beneath the humour. “Literally. That she came because she wants to see me. I doubt it. You know, I was in Rideten for years, and she never came and s
Narrigil, Present TimeThe sports field was an open-air version of the cages in which the Van Helsings had placed Lyric and Niarthen in Havermouth. The only shelter the occupants received from the sun and the weather was a thin sheet of tarpaulin spread as a roof above them. Some had managed to tear and pull the sheet into their cage and used it as a blanket, or privacy shield. And from that, and the general stench, Lyric knew that they had been there for some time.The occupants of the cages were werewolves and vampires in the majority, but also humans. As they made their way through the walkways between the rows of cages, one of the Mer spoke sharply to Niarthen, who stopped and turned to Lyric.“We are told to be wary of those in the cages. They are not right.”“Not right,” Lyric repeated. “Do they mean zombie?” She ran her eye over a woman who watched her through the bar. The woman looked normal, except for the way she stared at them. There were no obvious wounds to show that she
Narrigil, Present TimeThe Mer had placed Father Isaiah in one of his own cages, between a pair of very angry werewolves. As they approached, with Father Isaiah distracted, the werewolf behind him whipped out his cock, took aim, and pissed on the Van Helsing. As soon as he felt and smelt the piss, Father Isaiah danced back and narrowly avoided the reaching grasp of the werewolf on the other side.“Fuck! Fuck!” Father Isaiah cursed angrily. “Fucking animals.”“Oh dear,” Lyric pouted her bottom lip at him. “That sucks. Poor you.”“Hmm,” he narrowed his eyes at her. “You are every bit your father’s daughter.”“I suspect that you were the reason my father was the way he was,” she replied. “Therefore, you’re responsible for how I am as well. You scared the shit out of him, you and this organization of yours, the Order of the Nexsis, the Van Helsings.”“He had no reason to fear us,” Father Isaiah replied. “He was human.”“And you just want to kill and enslave everyone else?” She arched an e
Havermouth, Present TimeStella was not answering. The phone rang and rang and rang into a void of inaction.Sigrid sighed in irritation as she strode along the street towards the railway station that disguised the werewolf bunker. Her Triquetra had not made it to meet her at the hospital, diverted instead by the “situation” at the bunker – an urgent conference called by the pack leaders of the local area.There was a telephone meeting taking place with the werewolf pack leaders of several towns, and she had agreed with Greg when he’d called her to explain, that letting Abigail, Rohan, and the Triquetra break the ice first would make the pack leaders more receptive to her joining.She had yet to find an opportunity to speak to her Triquetra regarding her pregnancy. It needed to be the right place and time for such a conversation and life was refusing to provide her with that opportunity.The looks she received as she made her way through the bunker were decidedly less hostile, she tho
Trayrock, Present TimeTalen watched as the reporter spoke with the woman in the bed. The conversation was paced by the beeping of the machines – a drip of antibiotics or pain relief. He thought the former rather than the latter, as he doubted that the Van Helsings cared whether their test subjects were in pain.The covers hid the fact that this woman was missing both legs.“It’s an experiment,” the woman said, her face contorted around the constant flow of tears. “They are working on transplanting limbs. They say there is too little donation of organs and body parts, and many soldiers that need them. It’s only fair that we give to those in service. They took my legs,” she sobbed the words. “They took my legs.”“I’m so sorry,” Jacinta was weeping. “I am so very sorry.”The Medical Director made adjustments to the equipment. “You’ll be more comfortable now,” he told the woman.“Please don’t leave me here,” the woman pleaded. “My legs are just the start. They’re coming back for my arms,
Havermouth, Present TimeAislen was looking down at a chessboard. She was holding a little statuette of Verina in her hand. She shook as she set it down on her side of the board and looked up at the woman who sat across from her. This time, the handmaiden or goddess, whatever she was, wore gold. Not some cheap and tacky replica, or some misleading named yellow, but true gold.An elaborate metal headdress began on her forehead, framing her face and covering her hair, continuing from just below her chin to spread over her shoulders and down her chest. The dress was made of fine chain link that draped like material, clinging to her curvaceous body, before dripping away into the aether that crept around their feet. Her lips were painted gold, and so were her eyelids and eyebrows. Golden rings encircled her fingers, and her wrists and arms were heavy with bracelets and cuffs. The tips of her fingers were dipped in gold.She was magnificent and regal and there was a formality to the way tha
Havermouth, Present TimeThe room stank. They could smell it the moment they started down the hallway. Old blood, rotten flesh, and rodents. Connery made a noise in the back of his throat and fished in his pockets producing a handkerchief and stuffing it full of herbs from a pouch. He held it out to Meguitte who smiled and shook her head ruefully. She had smelled this particular scent before, many times over the centuries, during plagues and in the dungeons where people were tortured and left to rot.“I guess it’s a good thing that no one has been here to clean up after Leighton, as the ward will be untouched,” Connery commented, his voice muffled by the handkerchief.Blow flies greeted them. The cages were empty, but no one had scrubbed the room, and there were buckets sticky with congealed blood, stains of it on the floors and walls, and other biological matter in the corners of the cages where the prisoners had relieved themselves. The room rustled with bugs as a result.“Hmm,” Meg
Havermouth, Present Time“You’re doing great,” Heath was breathless. He and Rhett had run, dragging with them several screaming witches. They had been pursued, by Mer, by zombies, by the few Van Helsing soldiers who had survived, but they’d been able to put some distance between them with help from the dragons in the sky. It had been very weird to see the dragons sending bolts of lighting and fire to hold off pursuit. One of them had done something that had made the earth beneath Heath’s feet tremble with a clap of thunder that had his ears still ringing.The timing had been perfect. They’d headed towards Leighton’s warehouse, and just as he’d started to debate which warehouse was likely, the door of the Stock Feed and Animal Supplies warehouse had opened revealing Phillip Salem. When he’d entered and seen Aislen on her hands and knees in a clearing within the filthy warehouse, he had not known whether to be relieved or despairing. The warehouse was so precarious a place for his mate
Havermouth, Present Time“Stella was anticipating that your mates would attack the ward,” Phillip commented mildly as he riffled through the cupboards. “I am curious to see what happened when she found Leighton instead of them. He did not seem happy.”“Leighton was there? Shit,” Aislen’s heart picked up pace. “We really don’t want him to find us, Phillip. We tried to turn him over to the Mer, but it failed. Verina died though, and Leighton’s pissed in a big way. He came to kill me.”“Possibly, or to steal the baby,” Phillip agreed indifferently inspecting a steak knife before returning it to the drawer. “I think you over value yourself, Aislen, and undervalue what you’re carrying.”“Gee, thanks. Hopefully, Stella took Leighton out,” Aislen added thoughtfully. “She was well set up there, with a massive coven behind her. However powerful Leighton is, I doubt he’s as powerful as them.”“That is true. But then, Stella will have discovered that you are not there, and will know that I betra
Havermouth, Present Time“I’m fine, my darling, truly, cross my heart,” Connery pressed the heel of his hand to his chest earnestly. Meguitte narrowed her eyes at him with suspicion. He was still paler than normally, with shadows pressed deep into his under eyes.“Have a sandwich and a cup of tea,” the werewolf Diana insisted offering both from a tray. She was going around the lower floor exchanging food and drinks for blood, and Meguitte sent her a side-eye. “I won’t take his blood,” Diana added hastily. “I can see that he can’t spare it. Perhaps you could, though?”“Me?” Meguitte was astonished by the suggestion.“It won’t take more than ten minutes, and I’m very gentle, I promise.”“It’s not that,” Meguitte explained. “I’m just… not an ordinary vampire. I have none of their normal powers.”“All blood is good blood at the moment,” Diana had sensed surrender and was preparing the kit.Meguitte sat next to Connery and rolled up her sleeve.He smiled at her. “How generous you are my be
Havermouth, Present TimeRhett and Heath did not speak as they wound their way through the streets of Havermouth. There was little opportunity to talk, slinking through the shadows, down the little alleyways between houses, and cutting through back gardens, but there was also a heavy sense of silence between them so that Rhett knew that even if they had been able, they both would have been too lost in their thoughts. Or lost in their worries, would be more accurate.They had searched the area around the smoke thoroughly, even venturing into the still-burning buildings. There had been no sign of Aislen. And no response to their mental calls for their mate. An icy fist of dread had a tight grip on Rhett’s heart. Why was she not answering? She had to be unconscious or…They would know if she had died. He refused to believe otherwise.Had Leighton found her first? What would Leighton do if he had found Aislen? He still struggled to see Leighton as dangerous, whatever mental voodoo the man
Havermouth, Present TimeThere were some languages that were universal, Sigrid thought grimly as she examined the Mer weaponry and made sure that she was familiar with its function. She could tell from the way the Mer moved, from the set of their shoulders, that they were uneasy with the alliance between herself and Niarthen. Their tolerance was thin, and only their respect for Niarthen, and the other two Mer generals, Benethin and Aeylira, kept them obedient. The moment word was received from above that Havermouth was to be destroyed, her life was forfeit.“Do not fear,” Niarthen said quietly. “Aeylira, Benethin, Lyric, and I will ensure that you reach your mates. There is a building which has been declared sacred. Lyric thinks it’s the hospital. That is where your mates are, yes? You should be safe there.”“I am with child,” she told him. “Triplets. The life of four rests on your promise.”“I understand,” he was grim. “Lyric also carries our child.”“If the tide turns,” she regarded
Havermouth, Present TimeMagic was in its very nature an invisible thing. You did not see a spell cast, but rather the effects of the spell once it found its victim. Therefore, the warlock Leighton appeared to do very little other than stand with his hands pressed to the surface of the ward, the energy blowing back his hair and causing sweat to break out on his forehead, but Samuel could FEEL the power, and see the reaction of the ward, its opaque surface shifting like water, areas clearing so that the dragons caught brief glimpses of the witches below scurrying about like ants as they tried to reinforce their magic by scattering herbs and arcane objects, and drawing runes on the bitumen.Samuel’s memories of the gloves were still fragmented, but he could recall the power they had given him – not just increased speed, strength, and stamina, but also a magic that was unnatural to him. He could feel a similar magic burning through his veins towards his heart and brain, poisoning as it b
Havermouth, Present TimeIn the front yard of the witch’s house, Jules caught Harry’s hand, pulling them to a stop. “I should shift,” he explained as he released Harry’s hand and began to strip off his clothing. “We can fly over the trouble.”“Aren’t you the clever one, my beloved,” Harry reached out and began to collect Jules’s clothes as Jules undressed. Jules looked up from stripping off his jeans to find Harry’s eyes hot and his smirk smoldering, and laughed, pulled from the seriousness of the war around them into a moment of pure joy as they celebrated what existed between them.“Okay,” Jules blushed as he finished undressing. “A moment.”Harry stepped back onto the porch and Jules focused on his shift. It was still a foreign experience, one that his body and mind told him shouldn’t be possible despite his entire life as a werewolf. Becoming a werewolf was a redistribution of his body – what existed simply moved to a position more appropriate for the shape that he wished to posses