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,
Trayrock, Present TimeIt was bad. Cameron could tell from the looks on everyone’s faces. Whatever Rhett and Talen had seen on the level below had shaken Rhett up a lot, and whatever was in the rooms here, had Heath’s face blanched of color, and had the reporters green at the gills.“Fill me in,” Phillip Salem ordered curtly as the reporters disappeared into the third room.“Torture,” Aislen summarized. “In the name of medical science. The first two rooms have victims, the third… well, no one’s sure what to call them. Van Helsing soldiers who were the recipients of medical treatment at the cost of the victims. Don’t ask,” she added when Phillip’s mouth opened. “I’m not getting into it. It’s bad enough being in Heath and Talen’s heads and experiencing it secondhand. They’re coming back. You and the two local werewolves are to stay on this floor.”“No,” Phillip shook his head. “I’m not staying here.”Aislen searched his face for a long moment and then sighed heavily. Her eyes lost focus
Trayrock, Present TimeNiarthen was deep in another conference call with the Mer hierarchy and Seyvil. Tying up loose ends before leaving for Havermouth, Lyric thought as she watched Father Isaiah and the Mer woman, Sapphire, were brought up the stairs to the meeting inside.Lyric sat on the balcony seats and sucked down two of the Mer sweet water orbs, her eyes on the cages below. She still felt thirsty. Her skin felt dried out and itchy, and her hair like straw. She wanted to find a shower and soak herself from head to toe.She heard a yell below and leaned over the balustrade to look. Someone had turned on the sports field’s sprinkler system, dousing all the cages and causing the occupants to cry out in protest. The Mer soldiers not on active duty all stood helmetless under the falling water with expressions of relief.They were all suffering from dehydration, Lyric realized. But she stood up, holding onto the handrail. Was the sprinkler system fed from the river? She wondered. Wer