THE VROL TRILOGY (91 page)

"Why Max? He's just a normal guy. Well, ok, I
take that back - not so normal, but why him?"

"No, my dear, he is not
normal
, as you say. He is the son of
the Taxiarch, and that makes him…"

###

"An angel? Huh? I'm an angel? How does that
work? I turn into a raging wolf on the full moon! That's not very
angelic now, is it?" Max cried out at the revelation given to him
by his father, as they sat in the new coffee shop area of Hotel
California. Jennie, Bagatelle, Draagh, Dons and Pandy were also
there, as well as Liliana, who was playing with a blender and
making what appeared to be smoothies.

"Max, you have not yet completed your
journey, but as you do you will find that those supposed
disabilities that have vexed you will soon be under your control,"
replied Michael.

"Yes my boy, I dare say it is true. It is for
this reason I have slowly trained you in very specific skills,"
added Draagh.

"Wow, I'm married to an angel. Well, I always
thought he was one anyway, metaphorically speaking," cooed
Jennie.

"Not when we first met, love," Max laughed,
remembering how she nearly killed him in Peru.

"Max, my boy, there is a celestial
order of beings. Ancient manuscripts made by man have detailed the
order in a fashion much more complex than it actually is. There is
Jah. That is his preferred nickname. He is The Creator, The Supreme
Being. He is also known as God, Dios, Yahweh, Adonai, etc. But a
name is simply a name. We are the Prīmulī, or the
first ones
, while below us are the
rank of your father and uncle, the archangels. Your father is the
Taxiarch, their leader. Basically, the only difference between the
archangels and the Prīmulī is the job description. Well, except for
me - I am different, as Jah created me for a specific purpose.
Anyway, further down the list there are other, lower angels, the
lowest being the Ishim, but those are men risen, not born of the
blood," explained Draagh in the most basic manner he possibly
could.

"And what about the demons? And I don't mean
the demons here - the Vrol," asked Jennie.

"Myths of man, I dare say," added Michael,
"leaders of men, with their perverse desires to manipulate the
masses, invented the concept of Hell and demons in order to scare
all into submission."

"So then, there are no bad extra dimensional
beings?" asked Pandy.

"Oh, but there are, my inquisitive young
friend," Draagh responded emphatically, "as well as those who would
ally themselves with them. My own brother, Marnn, was an ally of
Vladros, a very wicked and evil lover of death."

"Ooo, and what happened to them?" she
asked.

"I banished my brother from the universe,
which is partly how Max got sent here. Max killed Vladros in
battle."

Pandy lightly punched Max in the arm as she
giggled. "Maxie, I didn't know you were such a beast!"

"It was a sad necessity, Pandy. Jennie was
there with me. We nearly died that day, so it's something we rarely
celebrate," Max said in a tone that completely lacked any sort of
pride in what he had done, even though he had a rather good time
killing the vampire king.

"And that, my son, is what defines you from
all that which is evil. You kill out of necessity, not out of a
wanton lust for violence," added Michael, who was completely
unaware that Max had casually tossed Vladros into a shark filled
moat.

Liliana walked up to the group while carrying
a tray of small glasses, all filled with a thick red liquid. After
handing everyone a glass she stood and smiled with a look of
expectation, waiting for everyone to try her breakfast
concoction.

"After T
í
o G taught me how to use a blender I
thought I would make what is called a
smoothie
, for proper breakfast nourishment!" The
little girl looked quite proud of her achievement, crossing her
arms while wearing a great smile.

"Um, sweetie, what is in it? Is it some sort
of fruit?" asked Jennie.

"No, Mami, there is no fruit here. It is
standard lycan nutrition."

"Such as?" asked Max.

"Well, when everyone was busy drinking
coffee, I went and caught some rabbits and…"

"Oh my… God, this is blended rabbit?" Dons
asked, completely mortified.

"Why yes… Oh my, I am so sorry, Mr. Dons. I
forgot that you are not lycan. I shall prepare you a proper, normal
breakfast," she replied.

"Liliana, how do you propose to do that?"
asked Max.

"I shall cook the liquefied remains of the
rabbits, of course!" the little lycan exclaimed, as she cheerfully
turned to go back to the kitchen. Draagh acted quickly, getting up
and going with his great-granddaughter.

"Liliana, my dear. You care so much for those
around you. Why do you not allow me to assist? You see, Mr. Dons
has a very particular palate and needs to be fed only certain
things. Come, little one. Let us create something marvelous in the
kitchen of this new establishment," he said, while leading Liliana
out of the coffee shop area. As soon as they were out of view,
everyone ran over and dumped their smoothies down the bar sink, all
while wearing guilty expressions.

"I think I saw her catch some rats, too,"
said Jennie, "Sorry, guys, I didn't know what she was up to. She
really does mean well."

"Are you kidding, Jennie? She's adorable! And
her backpack! I love it! She has a lot of talent, you know," said
Pandy.

"Thanks, Pandy, Yes, she has talent, although
it's a bit on the morbid side."

"Morbid? Only slightly," Michael added
sarcastically. "While most children have a puppy or a kitten for a
pet, she plays with great white sharks."

"Cool! I like her even more already!" Pandy
squealed.

"I do believe our new friends here could use
a trip to Krynos' castle one day in the future," said
Bagatelle.

"Agreed. Most definitely agreed," added Max,
"and then to Azul, once we have defeated the Vrol."

"Jennie, you're a non-mage like us, right?"
asked Pandy.

"Yup - a regular, old lycan. Why do you
ask?"

"Well, I figure as your husband,
father-in-law and grandfather-in-law are power-mages you probably
got set up with some pretty outrageous magic-enabled objects,
eh?"

"Well," she giggled, "my katana is embedded
with magic, as well as my gauntlet."

"Gauntlet?" asked Pandy.

"Yeah, a spiked, metal glove that I once used
to decimate a…"

"Heya! Jennie! Would you like another drink?"
asked Max, trying to steer the conversation away from what was
going to be his wife's description of how she killed a vampire.
Lennie and Jelly were close by outside, had excellent hearing, and
he only sought to keep anyone from having any uncomfortable
feelings.

"
Jen, please,
nothing about how we kill vamps, ok? At least not here, right
now.
"

"
Oh yeah,
right. Got it, sweetie.
"

"Um, yeah, sure hun. That would be
great."

Pandy, being sharper than she let on, noticed
that some sort of communication had gone on between Max and Jennie.
Figuring it was something similar to the bracelets that Feral had,
thanks to Max, she just let it go.

Everyone seated kept themselves busy with
light conversation as Draagh and Liliana prepared food. Roughly 20
minutes later the two exited the kitchen, both levitating large
plates of meats, fruits and cooked eggs, and then setting them down
at the large table where everyone was seated. Pandy watched Liliana
with great interest, noting how to little girl naturally handled
magical skills. She observed, not out of envy, but with pure,
innocent admiration. She was also an orphan, without siblings, and
although she loved Jessica very much, she started to wish that she
could have a little sister like Liliana.

"Wow, that
is
quite a layout, eh?" exclaimed Dons, totally
happy that there was decent food to eat, and not the noxious
substance that the well-meaning Liliana had earlier
created.

"Grandfather and I prepared this for
everyone. Oh, did you all drink your nutritious smoothies?" asked
the smiling little girl, prompting everyone to nod their heads.

"Oh yeah!"

"Mmhmmm, good stuff!"

"Wow, liquefied yumminess!"

"Um… no. Absolutely not." (Dons)

They all dug into the food, mixing eating
with conversation of various sorts. Liliana sat up on the counter
top, nibbling on some bacon strips and watching as the adults were
engaged in telling jokes and stories. The little lycan was the only
one to notice when Gabriel and Jessica entered the room, preceded
by a light, popping sound.

"Mornin', all!" Jessica said brightly,
causing everyone to look up.

"Heya, Jess! Come and have some foodies. Mr.
Draagh and little Lili made some awesome breakfast," Pandy said
invitingly.

"Brother, it is good to see you. Did you rest
well?" asked Michael.

Looking at Jessica, and then back at Michael,
Gabriel said, "Yes. We went to a place where we could rest and
watch the sunrise. You know, throughout the eons we have visited
countless numbers of worlds, but I still find the sunrises on Earth
to be among the most beautiful."

Jessica plopped down next to Pandy, grabbed
some food and started to tell her about her evening in modest
tones- giving special detail to the beautiful tropical island they
had visited.

"Oh wow! Did you see any sharks? I want to
see a shark," said Pandy.

"Um, I don't… think… so. Why?"

"Liliana has sharks as pets. How cool is
that?"

Jessica gave her best friend a blank
expression, wondering if Pandy even knew what a shark was, and then
cracked a smile and went back to eating some of the expertly
prepared breakfast.

After breakfast, Draagh pulled Max aside,
wanting to work with him for a bit.

"My boy, yesterday we discussed your new
phase between battle and death form. I would like to see it now, as
it seems you have loaded up with proper nutrition. Could you show
me, please?

Max took a deep breath and dropped to his
knees. He started to go into what looked like a phase 3
transformation, but after less than sixty seconds, stopped short
while maintaining his full bipedal form. The transition was indeed
painful, and there were decent amounts of shredded flesh and some
bodily liquids on the ground, but it wasn't quite as messy as a
full phase 3 shift. Max was breathing heavily, so Draagh approached
him cautiously, as Max was never previously able to maintain
sapience during his death form transformations. He truly looked
like his change had stopped between phase 2 and phase 3.

"
Max, are you
with me?"
Draagh thought to his grandson.

"
You bet,
pops
!
I look pretty handsome,
don't I?
"

Draagh procured a modified version of his
infopanel, forming a 360 degree display that slowly circled Max,
taking in every bit of data, genetic or otherwise, that he could
get. After having Max perform a number of tasks, such as jumping,
rolling, howling, talking and lifting some heavy objects, he
allowed his grandson to revert back to his phase 1 form.
Fortunately, Jennie and Liliana were there to watch, along with
Bagatelle, Michael, Gabriel and the Feral clan.

"So pops, what do you think? Will I be able
to do this off-world?" asked Max, as he ate a sandwich.

"That and much more so, I believe, my son,"
stated Draagh. It seems that there was a protein inhibitor in your
system that had previously negated your extra-normal capabilities.
In fact, if that inhibitor had never existed you would have started
to experience phase transformations upon reaching puberty while
living on Azul. Thanks to the nullification of the protein
inhibitor, you are now immune to frequency shifts, so theoretically
you could perform any sort of skill on your home world if you were
there today. And now that we have identified the protocols, we
shall see about facilitating this phase level with other lycans -
kind of like a vaccine. It very well could save your species, as
well as save me an enormous amount of time reprogramming all of the
particles on your world. This very well could be the dawn of the
next stage in human evolution."

"Um, save my species? Evolution?"

"Yes, my boy, lycans are dying out due to a
low birthrate and lack of normal-to-lycan turning. Aside from
living in Krynos' kingdom, and even living for a very long time,
what benefits would a normal see in becoming lycan? Families are
never turned, only individuals, so the newly-turned watches his
family for decades as they die off, and to make it worse, the
turned get to experience a massively painful phase 3 transformation
every full moon. No my boy, the time of voluntary turning needs to
come to an end."

"But Pops, aren't there other kingdoms and
settlements? There have to be other lycan clans elsewhere," Max
said with no small amount of distress in his voice.

"Yes my son, there are, but they are
suffering the same fate as Krynos' kingdom. Perhaps we can make a
change, what say you?"

"I'll turn some normals!" Jennie
interjected.

"Against their will?" asked Max

"If it means the survival of our species,
then yes. Max, great leaders have had to do horrible things for the
betterment of mankind in our storied past," she said.

Max thought for a moment, and looked over at
his grandfather while asking a very logical question.

"My entire planet is full of inactive lycans.
Well, also inactive vampires, but they kinda come with the whole
enchilada, right?"