The Lycan Collapse (The Flux Age Book 2) (9 page)

“The lycans have been our shield for an eternity,” Hector continued. “Our flame in the darkness.”

The burly, imposing aquilan locked his hooded eyes on Mother Aurora.

“Surely that weight of responsibility needs to be shared. Now that a Flux Age has begun we must all band together to protect humans from destroying each other.”

This time the murmurs became claps. It had always been Yasmin’s hope that lasting alliances could be formed here in New York. But Hector had more to say.

“The aquila believe that the last Flux Age lasted no longer than a century,” he said. “If that is the case this time round, we can all expect to die out like we did a thousand years ago. Except the lycans.”

Yasmin’s heart was hammering in her chest. The silence that greeted Hector’s words was menacing. No one around the table dared say a word.

“We don’t think that’s equitable,” Hector eventually said. “I propose that the lycans be relieved of the horrible burden they have been carrying. I propose that their dark tissue, the substance that keeps them alive after the Flux has faded, be shared between the key members of a New Alliance.”

Yasmin felt a chill run down her spine and settle in her gut. What Hector was proposing was nothing that she hadn’t considered many times over the last few weeks. She had always wondered why the lycans would hoard all the dark tissue to themselves.

No doubt they saw themselves as humanity’s one true savior, or perhaps they simply didn’t trust any other species to do the job properly. She had to admit that the prospect of eternal ghouls, for instance, made her kin crawl. What would happen to the human race then? It would tear itself apart and civilization would collapse. For the first time she saw how crucial the coming Flux period was going to be. Humanity’s future depended on a lasting peace between all the Flux species.

“What Hector says makes sense,” Yasmin found herself saying. She wasn’t sure if it was born from genuine agreement or plain spite. The Mother opened her eyes for the first time in a while, and she looked at Yasmin with sorrowful, wounded eyes.

“I’m sure the vampyra would welcome the opportunity to live out their lives in the service of humanity,” she said quietly. Yasmin couldn’t tell whether there was sarcasm in there or not.

“Will the lycans consider sharing their dark tissue?” Hector asked firmly, clearly buoyed by Yasmin’s support. “Without it, none of us can continue to live beyond the Flux event.”

The silence in the room suggested that the mood had now changed. All the representatives stood to gain from pressuring the lycans into relinquishing their prized dark tissue. The room reminded Yasmin of a pack of hyenas circling a wounded lion. She wasn’t particularly proud of herself for standing alongside Hector but she couldn’t bring herself to side with the lycans. Not when she had been made to feel like such an outsider.

Everyone waited to hear what the Mother had to say.

“I thank the aquilan leader for his concern,” Aurora began acidly. “But the Lycan Society has never been stronger. Unlike
any
of the communities represented tonight at this table, the lycans have an international presence and established bases all over the world. We will
not
yield to demands for our dark tissue. The Lycan Society does just fine on its own. That is all.”

Her chilling oratory finished, Aurora glared at everyone in turn. She reserved a particularly withering gaze for Yasmin.
So. That’s the way it’s going to be
.

A quiet voice filled the shocked silence. It was Hector, who sounded sad and defiant all at once.

“Then, Aurora, you leave me no choice.”

The aquilan leader stood to his full height and drew a silver magnum pistol from a hidden holster by his side. He directed it straight at Aurora’s head and fired.

Yasmin was splattered with thick blood as half of the Mother’s head disappeared. The lycan leader’s body toppled backwards.

Yasmin couldn’t shift her gaze from where the Mother had been sitting. A scream erupted from the grand ballroom and her first thought was for Jack.

6 - Jack

New York City, USA

Jack heard the gun shot in the Gershwin Room and starting germing immediately. Something about the whole occasion had set his nerves on edge right from the start. Of course, there had been his interlude with Yasmin, but that hadn’t dispelled the tension completely.

He
knew
there was something going on behind the scenes. The security detail, headed by that man Barker, seemed nervous and fidgety. They were constantly looking out the ornate windows as if they were expecting something.

When all the Flux leaders retired to the Gershwin Room the security staff kept looking at their watches as if they were counting down to something.

The Mother Aurora had been devastated by the news of the dead lycans in the sewers. Not wanting to risk any more personnel, she had imposed a curfew on all werewolf operatives, who were now holed up at the lycan chapter house. Jack and Florence were the only lycans permitted to accompany the Mother to the Ball. They had protested, of course - two lycans seemed inadequate in the face of so much danger. But the Mother would not be swayed. And now violence had erupted in the Gershwin Room and Jack was separated from the Mother. He looked across at Florence, who had been standing close to that fucking bird man Julian all night. They clearly had something going on and Jack found it all a little unprofessional. Wasn’t Florence mourning the friends they’d lost to the sewer wights?
He
certainly was. He was carrying a heavy lump around in his heart. His friends and comrades were dropping like flies and no one seemed able to do anything about it.

Jack was relieved to see that Florence had started germing too. The assembled guests had fallen into a panic, sensing danger and either scrambling for the exits or trying to gain access to the Gershwin Room. Only problem was, there were no security staff to speak of. All the men that Jack had committed to memory had simply walked away. In their place was an entirely new set of individuals dressed in black utility suits. They covered the exits and ensured the doors to the Gershwin Room were blocked.

As Jack’s body heaved and shuddered with the germing process, he forced himself to focus on the suits the new arrivals were wearing. They looked flexible and tough. The crucial feature was the slit across the shoulders. The intruders were wearing suits that allowed for wings.

They were all aquilans.

“Motherfuckers,” Jack muttered as his germing completed. He crouched low and snarled viciously. There were so many potential targets he didn’t know where to begin.

A number of guests had begun their own shifting process. He could see the hideous transformation of a man turning into a large, bulbous spider. Beyond him a woman was shifting into a snow leopard. The aquilan sentries produced sub-machine guns and began firing indiscriminately into the throng. Jack stood horrified as bullets tore through the crowd. Several guests who hadn’t been able to complete their germing process were riddled with bullets and killed immediately. It didn’t matter what a person’s spirit beast was - if he or she was unshifted they were as vulnerable as any human. One or two of the spirit beasts that had been able to form were now fighting back. Jack saw the snow leopard go for the throat of one of the aquilans and tear at it savagely.
That
seemed like a good idea. Picking his target, Jack leaped across the ballroom and brought down a standing aquilan before he could bring his machine gun to bear. A single, well-placed bite at the aquilan’s neck was enough to open his carotid artery and bring forth a gush of blood. It occurred to Jack that he didn’t know anything about the aquilans - their strengths, weaknesses, preferred mode of combat. He cursed himself for being such a distracted fool lately. All this time he’d been moping around thinking about Yasmin when there’d been work to do.

Leaving the prone aquilan to deal with his potentially fatal wound, Jack swiped at the next aquilan, shredding his expensive utility suit. Such things were no match for three inches of werewolf claw. The aquilan’s wings extended briefly, perhaps in shock or some self-defense mechanism. Jack realized that this ballroom wasn’t the ideal location for these eagles. Just as Julian had found it difficult to fight in the sewers, these guys would find it cramped in the Hadfield Pavilion. Perhaps there was a way he could use that to his advantage.

He looked through the panicked throng for Florence - she was following Julian out to one of the balconies. He felt fury rise within him. Had Florence been working with the aquila this whole time? Jack pictured himself throttling Florence with his bare hands. Then he checked himself.

The ballroom made for a very bleak scene. The aquilans had now slaughtered the guests who hadn’t shifted quick enough. There were several battles taking place against the remaining creatures. Jack even saw the purple glow of a wraith somewhere down the far end of the room.

Perhaps Florence had simply made the practical decision to retreat while she still could? But then why was Julian with her? None of it made sense. Jack shook all these frenzied thoughts from his head as two aquilans turned their guns on him. Bracing himself, Jack launched his powerful frame across the smooth floor, hoping to slide underneath the hail of bullets. It was a forlorn hope - both aquilan gunmen hit him from point blank range.

Just because werewolves were immune to regular lead bullets didn’t mean they caused no pain. Several parts of Jack’s body erupted with lancing pain as he neared his assailants. Ignoring the agony and feeding off the feral adrenalin of battle, Jack stood to his feet and crushed the first aquilan’s throat with his forearm. The bird man sank to his knees, momentarily unable to breathe. Jack landed a roundhouse kick to the second aquilan’s midriff and he bounced against the Gershwin doors and fell forward awkwardly. On impulse Jack grabbed his left wing and wrenched it with all his might. It tore free with a sickening crunch, sending gobs of clear fluid into the air. The aquilan howled with pain as his life drained from his eyes almost immediately.

Jack filed the death away in his mind - it was very interesting data indeed. For now he had to get those doors open to save Yasmin and Mother Aurora.

He kicked hard at one of the doors and it flew open in splinters of wood. A steel lock had been placed on the other side but that wasn’t going to stop an enraged lycan.

The Gershwin Room was awash with blood. Hector was brandishing a silver longsword in one hand, a silver magnum revolver in the other. Several corpses lay still on the ground. Only two other leaders remained in the room. A huge brown spider was spinning a protective web around itself. The other was an eight foot tall wraith, hovering over the round table in a sheath of violet fire.

Jack was frozen to the spot, all his training momentarily forgotten. He had never seen such exotic creatures fighting before. The wraith and the spider seemed to be teaming together against the imposing aquilan. Hector’s sword glowed in white luminscence and Jack wondered if it had been imbued with some kind of special power. It sliced through the spider’s silk strands as if it was tissue paper. Just as Hector primed himself to skewer the huge spider, the wraith descended and enveloped the aquilan in a purple haze. Hector bellowed in terror, clutching at his face with an anguished expression. He found enough resolve to raise his sword. The light from the longsword seemed to dispel the wraith’s sheath and it retreated to the ceiling again.

Panic flowered in Jack’s mind as he searched for Yasmin. Was she among the corpses? He wasn’t sure what he’d do if she was dead. Crawling underneath the table, Jack found Mother Aurora’s body at the far end. He laid a hand on her shoulder in a final gesture of respect. Biting back tears, he crawled into the corner of the room where a bear’s huge corpse lay. With a start he spotted a pale hand underneath the bear’s bulk. He dragged the carcass away and found Yasmin barely conscious against the wall.

“Get us out of here, Jack,” she said groggily, unable to focus on him. “The eagles will kill us all.”

“I’m going to kill him,” Jack said darkly. “I’ll tear his fucking wings off.”

“No,” Yasmin said firmly. “He’s carrying two silver weapons. You won’t get close enough.”

Jack snarled, but Yasmin was right. This was no time for stupid heroics.

“Hold on to me,” he said. “Don’t let go.”

Yasmin climbed onto Jack’s back and he launched himself across the room. There was no time to pick the right moment. Hector spotted them immediately and raised his pistol.

“There’s no escape,” the aquilan said in a chilling voice.

Jack had no intention of responding. Instead he made straight for one of the small balconies that overlooked a small side street to the Hadfield Pavilion. Bullets thudded into the wall to either side.

Yasmin screamed as they smashed through a glass door and free fell three storeys to the street.

Jack softened the landing for Yasmin’s sake and then tumbled several yards. The vampire queen spilled free but recovered herself quickly. Though Jack didn’t break any bones, his powerful lycan body screamed at him for falling so far.

Panting, the pair looked up at the third floor. Hector must’ve re-engaged with the spider and the wraith because he did not appear.

Jack helped Yasmin to her feet. “You OK?”