Read THE VROL TRILOGY Online

Authors: SK Benton

Tags: #vampire, #magic, #violence, #lycan, #immortality, #alien invaders, #werewolf adult fantasy

THE VROL TRILOGY (95 page)

BOOK: THE VROL TRILOGY
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"King Krynos, with all due respect, leave my
grandfather alone!" yelled Max with a tone of authority, as he
revealed his wings in a very loud and flamboyant fashion.

It worked. Krynos shut up.

"I consider you family, sir. And family cares
for one another. That also means that sometimes we must make
decisions that are for the greater good. Not risking the kingdom
losing you for six months or more was one of those decisions. I
stand with my grandfather."

Jennie elbowed her brother and whispered, "My
husband is sooo hot."

Max had a look on his face that no one
had ever seen before. He was staring down a very old and powerful
lycan king. He was standing up to a being nearly twice his size and
much, much older than him (even though technically Max was from the
29
th
century, making him 1,400
years old, give or take a decade).

Before Max could say another word, Krynos
broke out into his characteristic smile, and holding his arms out
bellowed, "My boy! Of course you are right! And what impressive
wings you have… grown. Did you grow them? Anyway! I was merely
upset at having been denied a bit of adventure. As king I am never
denied my desires, but like you said - we are family, and I believe
your grandfather did indeed make the correct decision."

"Excellent, my good friend!" Draagh
interjected. "Now that we have resolved this matter, I should like
to introduce you to a traveler who has come to assist us. Her name
is…"

"Jessica. Her names is Jessica, and she is
my… friend," said Gabriel, uncharacteristically interrupting his
father.

"Of course, of course!" Krynos answered
sharply.

"My Lord, Jessica was the first person I met
when I was stranded in Hollywood," said Max.

"Holly… wood? What is this Hollywood of which
you speak, my dear boy?" asked Krynos.

"Well, how would you like to hear a really
cool story?"

 

Four hours later Max was still telling his
tale, as he intermixed what he had experienced with what he had
learned about himself during his few days (for him) away. Krynos
enjoyed Max's tale of melting Sally's head, although he was a bit
saddened to learn that many lycans of that timeline were not noble,
like those of the Rhönen Dominion (and especially that vampires
were friendly sorts). But Krynos was a king who saw much more than
his own kingdom - he saw a galaxy that was to soon cry out in pain,
while the Vrol stripped, and then melted another planet.

It was late in the Dominion, but the team
felt it was only early evening. Still, they all found it necessary
to get their schedules synced with their current location, so all
bid the king a good night, as a castle servant showed Gabriel and
Jessica to their own quarters.

 

Liliana woke up and gently knocked on her
parents' door, trying not to make too much noise, but to let them
know that she intended to enter.

"Yeah Lili, come on in. We're decent,"
groaned Jennie, prompting the little lycan to push the door open
and jump up into her parents' massive four-poster bed, handing her
mother a gourd of steaming yerba mate.

"It is so good to be home, Mami. Are we soon
to depart for your homeworld?"

"Yeah, sweetie. We'll be going back and
forth. You, however, have to study."

"Awwwwwwww, but I am needed! I killed a Vrol!
How many people have done that, hmmm?"

"School comes first, love. But don't worry.
You'll have plenty of travel opportunities. Things are going to get
pretty exciting, but you need to pack that little brain of yours
with knowledge, because knowledge is the key to survival."

"Ok, that is fine. Anyway, I am off to
classes. We are to learn smelting techniques for extracting
quadrinium today."

"Have a great day, sweetie, and careful with
the heat sources. Meet us for lunch?"

Liliana nodded her head and kissed Jennie on
the cheek, before racing out of the room.

"She loves waking us up, doesn't she?"
murmured Max from underneath a large goose down pillow.

"You love it, Gunnarsson. Admit it."

"Yeah, I have lots to love."

Jennie slid out of bed, not having been
nearly as
decent
as she told
her daughter, while Max eyed her appraisingly. He struck the
jackpot with her, and wasn't going to take off again, no matter the
occasion. Throwing a tank top over her head, she turned around and
gave her husband a sly grin as she sipped a bit of mate from the
bombilla in her gourd.

"Max, do you wonder what ever happened to
them? The people in Hollywood?" Jennie asked, with a touch of
concern in her voice.

"What do you mean,
what happened
?"

"I mean, we are here in the
43
rd
century. Technically they
have all been dead for over 1,000 years, haven't they?"

"Jen, if you look at time in linear fashion,
then yes. They are all gone, but time doesn't work that way. It's
weird, I know, but they are probably decorating the hotel right
now."

"And are we going to bring any of them along
with us?"

"If they choose to help, we'll go get them.
But first we have a ton of stuff to do. You need to get back to
your troops and I have a crapload of stuff to learn now that I have
a ghanlo. I'll be able to 4D slip and not get lost and…"

"You'd better not, brat! I'm going with you
everywhere!" squealed the gorgeous dega, as she dove back into her
bed, quickly ditching her tank top in the process and wrapping
herself around her husband.

Max looked over at their door as it made a
clicking sound, signifying it was secured and locked by a
non-verbal cantus.

 

Michael, Gabriel and Jessica were in the main
dining hall nibbling on some grouse and potatoes when Max and
Jennie finally showed up. The three had been attempting to surmise
the nature of their next mission, offering up various scenarios,
but were actually waiting for Max and Draagh to lead the charge in
the decision making process.

"Morning, ya'll. Has Draagh been here yet?"
asked Max.

"Good morning, son," said Michael
welcomingly. "He was here briefly, but he took Bagatelle for some
training. He said it had something to do with protein synthesis
inhibitors."

"That's not training!" cried Max, "that's
human experimentation! Jennie, come with me!"

The two darted out of the dining hall and
made for Draagh's study. As they arrived at the room they stopped
outside the massive, oaken doors. Listening, they heard laughter
from both Draagh and Jennie's brother inside the room. Max calmly
opened the door to find the two watching some molecules float
around in a hologram. Relieved, but still concerned, Jennie went up
to her brother and asked, "Hey bro, watcha doin' here? You don't
plan on trying anything crazy now, do you?"

Bagatelle looked at her whimsically, and then
back at Draagh - and then back at Jennie.

"If you mean trying anything, such as letting
Draagh inject me with a serum that would bypass protein inhibitors
and facilitate my conscious phasing to 2.5… ummm, sorta. Why?"

"Why the hell would you do that? Aren't there
other, less-important lycans you can experiment on, you old fool?"
she cried out.

"My dear young lady, please
define
less-important lycan
,"
commanded Draagh, with the opposite of an amused voice. His harsh
reaction caused Jennie to immediately shut her mouth, as she looked
at the floor, shuffling her feet.

"Sis, I volunteered. I want to make a
contribution, and probably would have been executed by Johnson
anyway had you not rescued me from house arrest. It's only logical
I be the one to assist. Besides, I trust this old guy." Bagatelle
winked at his sister's grandfather-in-law.

"Well, at least have Michael or Gabriel in
here helping to monitor your efforts. Pops, you're too reckless
sometimes," said Max with a scolding tone.

"
What makes
you think we are not aware of the situation, Max
?"
asked Gabriel via their comms.

"
But, you
acted like Draagh had just taken G to do something you weren't
quite sure of!
" responded the young lycan
commander.

"
As Bagatelle
is the brother of your wife, and you are my nephew - the son of my
brother, we consider him family. We would not be so careless in
allowing our father to wantonly experiment on a lesser being,
especially as he has a penchant for the herb
," Gabriel
stated, hoping to calm Max down completely.

"
Ok, pops, can
you quit, please? G, let's go get some breakfast. We need to start
planning, because what we're doing next isn't playing with swords,
or impressing ignorant locals with feats of strength and magic -
we're going up, initially, against an entire solar system's
military armada, and then against the Vrol. If we don't get our act
together we'll have our asses handed to us in a box. We'll meet you
all in the dining hall."

Max led his wife, grandfather and
brother-in-law back to the expansive dining chamber, where everyone
was seated at a long table. Jessica had been the most quiet out of
everyone, probably because she felt so out of her element. She
didn't know what to expect and Jennie could feel it.

"Hey Jessica, now that you're here, why don't
we see what you can do physically, how much of a difference there
is between us as lycans and what we can do to bring you up to speed
with what we do - and maybe learn a thing or two from you," Jennie
said, finishing with a kind wink to the cute lycan foreigner.

"Um, yeah, I'd really appreciate that. I'm
kinda lost. I mean, Gabriel showed me around, but I am so used to
taking care of myself."

"We all care for each other, here, Jessica,"
Bagatelle added quickly.

"Yes we do, my dear young lady, yes we do
indeed. Gabriel, have you done a full DNA scan on your young friend
here?" asked Draagh.

"I did, indeed, Father. While she slept,"
responded the archangel.

"Hey! With my permission, please!" cried out
Jessica, half-joking.

"It was for your safety, Jessica. I needed to
be sure that you would not suffer any adverse effects in this
world, but what I found was indeed interesting."

"What did you find, my son," asked
Draagh.

"Her system started to regenerate immediately
upon arrival. It was almost as if it had rebooted. It now basically
functions exactly as any other lycan's here in the Rhönen
Dominion," Gabriel said cheerfully.

"What does that mean, Gabriel?" asked
Bagatelle.

"Well, it means that as long as she is on a
world attuned to the proper magical frequencies, she will basically
be immortal."

"Wow, that's a long time, but I've been
around for a long while anyway. Can't say I don't like the present
company… you're all really great people," said Jessica
graciously.

"Long while? Like, how long have you been
around?" asked Jennie.

Jessica rolled her eyes and looked at Max,
saying, "At least you didn't blab it off to everyone, Max." Then
looking at the rest of the group she said, "I'm seventy-five years
old."

"You are but a child, my dear," said
Michael.

"Wow, you look great for your age!" exclaimed
Jennie.

"Be prepared, young lady, for you shall find
yourself completely rejuvenated to your absolute prime very
quickly. I believe young Jennie here can tutor you in the
particular ways of the sword, and I would very much like to assist
you with your magical object. It appears that Max here did a fine
job in modifying your device. However, it will need some
enhancements if you are to assist with the tasks we have ahead."
Draagh then took Jessica's wrist into his hand and visually
examined the device. Setting her arm down gently, he looked at his
younger son and said, "I am sure you will be eager to assist, am I
not correct?"

"It would be my pleasure, Father," said
Gabriel, as he slipped his hand under the table, clasping
Jessica's.

Draagh then stood up, and, picking up a
turkey leg, started to walk around and talk, swinging the leg in
his hand, almost as if it were a laser pointer.

"Very well, then. Now that we have determined
what our new companion is going to do, we must start to plan
diligently regarding our base of operations. We were discussing a
moon base earlier, and I believe Max had suggested Vera. My boy,
can you detail why you think Vera would be a good location?"

"Sir," interrupted Bagatelle, "no insult
meant towards Max, and I believe his choice is best, but I believe
I am more qualified to answer that, being as I have had months of
experience on that moon itself."

Max looked at Bagatelle and nodded in
agreement, as the former rear admiral continued.

"Vera orbits the gas giant, Vesuvius. The
moon itself is unremarkable, but we were able to terraform an
atmosphere on it. As it is so far out, it is the least popular of
the habitable celestial bodies in our system. It is cold, but not
frozen, as some might think. It is always bathed in sunlight by
either of our twin stars and has a 32 digital hour rotation period.
Now the thing about Vera that is advantageous to our cause it that
it is sparsely populated by miners. There are no fancy resort
destinations, and the only recreational activities there are geared
toward extreme skiers."

"What is an extreme skier?" asked Jessica,
obviously confused, which prompted Draagh to dramatically point his
turkey leg into the air and produce a hologram of an alpine skier
barreling down a snow-covered mountain.

BOOK: THE VROL TRILOGY
3.77Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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