Nocturnal (2 page)

“Can't this thing go any faster?” Salvatore shouted. He could smell the sisters. They were only a few miles away.

Rathbone gave Salvatore a quick, sidelong glance. “About time you grew back your spine. Listen, I never really blamed you, boy. I was just mad. I might have been confused, too.”

Salvatore nodded, knowing it was the closest thing he'd ever get to an apology from the man.

“You picking up their scent?”

Salvatore nodded again. “We're only a few miles off.” But as soon as the words left his lips, he caught a new scent lingering in the air. “I smell blood. It's Abby's. We may be too late!”

“Mangus,” Rathbone shouted over his shoulder to the soldier behind them. “Yank the automatic and load the electric net launcher. If that girl is still alive, we may have to net her.”

Rathbone glanced at Salvatore. “You ever shoot an automatic?”

Salvatore shook his head.

“No problem. Best way to learn is to shoot one. Mangus, show him how to fire it.”

“I won't need it, I can morph and attack.”

“You keep your butt in this Jeep until I say otherwise. You morphing and killing a few ferals won't get your girlfriend back. That machine gun will blow away dozens of those monsters before you could claw the life out of one. You just fire the gun and help carve us a path. Now hop in the back and man that weapon!”

Salvatore climbed into the back. Mangus smiled and handed him the machine gun.

“Abby, no, we don't have to do this!” Nothing Pippa could say would matter. Abby was mad, and her rabid mind wouldn't let her see the truth. Yet Pippa pleaded with her. “You're my sister. We're family!”

“Family? This is my family,” Abby hissed, cocking her head toward the growing pack of ferals surrounding the pit. They were gurgling and gnashing their teeth, awaiting the kill.

“You lied to me,” Abby said. “You took Salvatore from me! Uncle Alex told me!” She looked over her shoulder at nothing, nodded, and then turned back to Pippa. “He told me everything. About how you knew all along that we were sisters. That our mother was still alive, but you killed her only a few months ago when you discovered your werecat side. Now you're going to pay for it all.”

Pippa prepared to defend herself. She knew Abby was seeing ghosts, just as she had seen Keenan, who had prodded her to kill. “Abby, don't listen to him, he's not real. Alex is a figment of your imagination!”

Abby laughed. “He told me you'd say that!”

Pippa's heart sank as she watched her rabid sister begin to morph. Abby screamed out her hatred as her body grew and twisted, stretching nearly to the breaking point. Abby meant to fight to the death, but Pippa would do everything she could to keep from killing her own sister—which gave Abby a big advantage.

Pippa called her rabid side. Her muscles and tendons grew and stretched, and she cried out with the pain of it. She had to control herself, even while in a maddened state. Abby was snarling, and the horde of creatures peering down at her from above growled in response. But now Pippa heard another noise, off in the distance, beyond the growls.

The sound of speeding four-wheelers caught the ears of the ferals. They turned and howled into the night. Pippa felt a brief surge of hope at the thought that Rathbone was coming, but that split-second lapse in concentration gave Abby her chance. She leaped and pinned Pippa to the bottom of the pit and sank her teeth into Pippa's shoulder.

“Abby,” Pippa cried out in pain. Blood poured from her wound, staining her shirt. The ferals shrieked in glee. Pippa had never experienced such pain. She nearly blacked out, but her agony quickly turned to rage. Her senses heightened, and she morphed deeper into the rabid state. She pushed and clawed and heaved herself up and wrenched her sister's jaw from her shoulder. The advantage had switched. Pippa hurled Abby toward the side of the pit and heard the breath squeezed from her sister's lungs as she slammed into it. Abby sank to the ground, unconscious.

Ferals above screamed in fury, but they were screaming at the humans and werecats who had come to save Pippa. She tried to claw her way out of the pit, but even in her cat form the pain in her shoulder was nearly too much to bear. When she stopped to rest only a few feet from the top, she felt a crushing grip around her ankles and was yanked back into the pit.

Abby swung Pippa by her feet and sent her flying. Pippa hit the side of the pit and felt bones crunch and ribs break. Every breath sent pain shooting through her. She looked up and saw Abby coming in for the kill. Overhead, gunfire filled the air, but her friends were too late. Abby was in the air, only feet away.
As she waited for death, she saw a vision of light wrap itself around her sister. Then everything went black.

It is time,
the three beings announced.
Glide, our children, find the bloodline that holds your father's retribution. Protect the doctor and return to us when it is done.

Dr. Jack Tanner nodded to the three creatures who had given him life and then turned and ran from their nocturnal safehaven. As the other nocturnals followed their new leader, Aiden stood still, watching them fade into the night, unsure how he would keep up. He felt the cold touch of a wing on his right arm. It sent a shiver of fear through him. He turned toward the three creatures. They nodded and pierced his mind with their eyes.

Don't fear us. We mean you no harm. You can run with our children. You must become the true hybrid that lives within you. Call forth your werecat and reptilian forms.

Aiden was confused.

See them joining together. Feel them becoming one.

Aiden closed his eyes and concentrated. He saw both forms in his mind's eye and called for them. As they came forward, he watched them combine into one. He opened his eyes and saw his reflection in the water. He was now a true hybrid, the only one of its kind. He had morphed and not realized it. No pain had expressed itself as he changed. The sight was exhilarating. He was the perfect union of reptile and mammal. He was spotted green and hairy, with the teeth of a cat and the claws of a reptile. He stood over eight feet tall, and his arms and legs were well muscled. He breathed the air as if for the first time. Energy filled his body, and he crouched like a runner ready to race. His legs uncoiled, and he sprang forward. In an instant, he was gone.

The three beings returned to the cold darkness of their home and morphed back into their human forms, revealing three men, weathered and aged. They sent their thoughts outward.
By the Ancients, may you succeed, Jack Tanner.

Rathbone and his men had been prepared for battle and unleashed a killing spree against the ferals, wiping out most of them. A group of men descended into the pit and tended to Pippa, who was barely alive. When she was stable, they used ropes and pulleys to pull her and Abby out of the pit.

“Good thing you sniffed them out,” Rathbone said to Salvatore. “They would've
killed each other.”

Salvatore and Rathbone watched as Abby fought against the electric net that bound her. She screamed and clawed like a rabid animal. Any regular human would have been rendered unconscious from the jolt.

“Tranq her,” Rathbone yelled. “That's the only way we'll be able to subdue her.” A man jabbed a needle into Abby's leg, and she screamed in protest.

Mangus appeared beside Rathbone and Salvatore. “We've heard from the Tar Pits, sir.”

“And?”

“They've barricaded themselves in the safehold. They're surrounded by hundreds of ferals. The entire city is overrun. They don't know where they're coming from or why.”

“I do,” Rathbone said. “They've been breeding like animals for decades, especially down south. Their numbers have grown, and they're searching for food. Something is drawing them north. Maybe they sense the safehold in the mountains. Regardless, we need to wipe them out before they devour every human and werecat in their path. Have you heard from Rebecka?”

“Yes, sir. She radioed in a few minutes ago. She's only an hour behind us.”

“Radio her back. Give her our coordinates and tell her we'll wait for her team. Then radio the Tar Pits. Tell them we're coming for them.” It would take three or four hours to reach the Pits. Rathbone hoped they wouldn't be too late.

Salvatore stared at Abby as she finally succumbed to the tranquilizer. Pippa looked as if she'd been snapped in two. It had taken eight men, four in the pit, four out, to remove her on a gurney.

“Thought your kind healed quickly,” Rathbone said to Salvatore. “Even from a feral attack.”

“We usually do,” Salvatore replied. “But these girls aren't normal werecats. They're rabid. Who's to say what kind of damage they've done to each other.”

Salvatore turned away so Rathbone wouldn't see the tears sliding down his face. The thought of losing Abby was too much to bear. And if she did survive, how could he tell her he was a traitor?

Rebecka arrived with her news.

“They survived?” Salvatore said after she told Rathbone and him about finding Jack and Aiden.

“Where are they?” Rathbone asked. He was as surprised as Salvatore, but he was determined to remain the crusty, no-nonsense boss.

“They'll catch up,” she replied.

Rathbone frowned. “What do you mean,
they'll catch up?”

“The doctor—he survived, but not exactly intact.”

“What do you mean?” Salvatore asked.

She looked quickly at Rathbone, then at Salvatore. “The doctor died and was brought back to life.”

Rathbone's face went ashen. “No. Don't say it.”

She said it anyway. “Nocturnals.”

Rathbone stared at her. “How did you and your crew make it out alive?”

“Wait, what are nocturnals?” Salvatore asked.

“Every mother's nightmare,” Rathbone said. “An abomination, like the ferals, an almost human creature with black eyes and gray skin. A creature that can ride on the wind and steal your children and bite them and turn them into nocturnals, too.”

“They sound like something out of an old vampire tale,” Salvatore said.

Rathbone nodded. “Anyone who's wandered into a known area of nocturnals has never returned—except, apparently, for Rebecka here.”

“I'm as shocked as you are,” she said. “The doctor told us to leave, said he would catch up, that he had to travel at night because he—because he's now a nocturnal. Aiden stayed behind to protect him.”

“As if a nocturnal would need protection,” Rathbone said. “I guess we'll have to leave some men behind to wait for them. We can't waste any more time here, we have to get to the next safehold. They're under attack.”

“You don't need to leave anyone behind. Jack and Aiden will find us.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“Because the doctor and Aiden are leading dozens of nocturnals toward us at this very moment.”

Rathbone glared at her, but his eyes betrayed a hint of confusion as well.

“You know I couldn't stop them,” Rebecka said. “And if we had tried, we might've killed the doctor. They're coming to help us get the girls back, and to protect the doctor so he can find the cure.”

“If they don't kill us all first,”
Rathbone said.

“Jack won't kill us,” Rebecka said. “He's still … he's still Jack.”

“You sure about that?”

But Rebecka had already turned away to gather her troops and head out.

Aiden ran like a bolt of lightning slashing through the sky, keeping pace with Dr. Tanner and his family of nocturnals. After several hours of nonstop running, his body was as full of energy as when he started. He realized that the three beings must have released something within him, something that allowed him to conquer his cat and reptilian sides, a feat he didn't believe he could have accomplished by himself.

Soon he detected a familiar scent—Pippa and Abby. He ran faster. The nocturnals kept pace. He looked up and found Jack's perfect black eyes, knew that Jack had also picked up the scent. Pippa and Abby were still alive, and they were going to find them.

Aiden was shocked when he realized that the doctor could communicate with him mentally, just as the three beings had. The link between them could span distances, enabling Aiden to better protect the doctor if they were separated.

The group of winged beings arrived at the deserted site of what looked like a recent bloody battle. Dead ferals littered the ground around a large pit. Aiden ran to it, and the doctor hovered over it and then lowered himself down. Jack dipped a finger into a small puddle of blood and licked it. “They're still alive,” he said.

Aiden sniffed at the air. “They've gone northwest.”

The nocturnals were hovering nervously, anxious to continue the search. Jack rose out of the pit and headed out to follow the scents of Pippa and Abby. The nocturnals followed, and Aiden took off in the same direction. This time he took the lead.

Salvatore rode in the back of a tarp-covered truck with Abby and Pippa. Abby was chained to a metal ring and was shrieking at the five men who sat on metal seats just out of her reach. Pippa lay unconscious on the floor, and Salvatore knelt beside her and took her hand. Dark bruises covered her face and arms, and blood was seeping through her bandages.

When Abby saw him next to Pippa, she began to scream profanities at him, claiming he had left her for Pippa. She stopped once and turned her head to converse with the empty air beside her. She was acting as Pippa had weeks earlier, speaking nonsense, speaking to people who weren't there.

Salvatore crawled toward Abby, and her cries grew louder. As the guards looked on impassively, he reached out and touched her face. “Until I found you, I didn't know love existed.”

A hint of recognition mixed with confusion crossed her face. “Salvatore?”

He smiled and nodded. “I love you, Abby. I need you. Pippa needs you.”

He crawled forward and kissed her. As he wrapped his arms around her, she kissed him back. Love and hope filled his heart as she reached her chained arms toward him.

A guard called out as Abby morphed and dug her claws into his neck. Three guards began to strike her as the other two pulled him away from her. Blood trickled down his neck.

He locked eyes with Abby, who was sneering at him. “You're right, Uncle Alex,” she said to the air. “He is a fool.”

“You try that again, I'll choke you myself,” Rathbone told Salvatore.

Salvatore knew the big man was right.

“Now pay attention,” Rathbone said to Salvatore, Rebecka, and a few other officers. “We're less than five miles from the city, which is why I halted the convoy. But even when we reach it, we've got many more miles to go to reach the safehold. Everyone needs to understand that this safehold is extremely important. It's where we get our tar for some of our feral traps. The Pits have been fully blockaded by a high wall that was put up more than twenty years ago. But if what they say is true, and the whole city is overrun now, it's gonna be a beast to make it there alive.”

A commander named Perkins spoke up. “I worry about these two girls. If they're as important as you say, shouldn't they stay behind? If they get caught in the middle of the attack, it could prove fatal in more ways than one.”

“Perkins has a point,” Rathbone said. “Tell you what, Perkins, you come with me. Rebecka, you take another dozen men and stay behind with the truck that's carrying the girls. Salvatore, you should stay, too, in case they need your special services.”

“I can't just sit here, Rathbone, you know better than that,” Rebecka said.

“You're right,” Rathbone replied. “So on second thought, head to the coast and take Highway 1 all the way to Highway 101. We'll stay in touch via radio. If you haven't heard from me in an hour, head north and work your way to the Olympic Mountains. Get those girls to the safehaven. And take these.” Rathbone reached into his Jeep and removed a small box that contained Jack's blood samples and microscope. “It's up to your team now, so don't screw it up!”

Rebecka nodded and they shook hands, then she was on her way.

Rathbone looked at Salvatore. “Do you think Jack will find us?”

Salvatore sniffed the air. “He already has.”