This time, she and Marcel practiced for six months in secret. In the end, Lilliana had beaten Marcel most of the time, but she had to agree that without her superior strength and knowledge of him, having fought since they were both young, she might not have been so successful.

  He encouraged her to come and witness the fight. When Marcel raised his neck in surrender to Clement, both wolves were torn and bloody, and Lilliana felt proud of the display Marcel had managed. There was respect for him, and she could tell that the pack expected him to become the Second, behind Clement.

  Until Clement snapped Marcel’s exposed throat.

  “I challenge!” Lilliana had demanded before the light in her brother’s eyes had even faded.

  Clement, smug in his ability, merely changed back to human form. He kicked her dead brother to the side and told her, “Give me fifteen minutes.”

  Lilliana nodded, her face grim.

  Fifteen minutes later, Clement changed and the fight was on.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The storm wasn’t large for this time of the year, but it was active. As the weather moved across the countryside, the hot moist air from the ground rose into the cool atmosphere, and the clouds turned darker.

  Lilliana remembered the fight with Clement. Only a few minutes into the challenge she had ripped a chunk out of his left hind leg.

  There was no mercy in her eyes when he realized his mistake: he had taken down two of her family, and he thought she was the weak one.

  He never realized she was the strongest.

  She cared about her family, and for this asshole to have taken them out so cavalierly was not acceptable. She never let him have enough time to get his wind back. When someone gave his throat to the leader in submission, the leader shouldn’t kill him.

  Which is why she hated what she was doing now and running toward Paris.

  The Duke had made it abundantly clear he was willing to kill indiscriminately until he was accorded the acceptance he required. She would give up her own life, but she wouldn’t give up the lives of her pack. It was either do this with the Saberhall Pack, or the Duke was going to start gutting children tonight and they would never be free from him.

  May God have mercy on her soul for what she was about to lead her pack into.

  Michael could feel the vibrations in the ground and through the air. They were as discordant as the sound made by a bow being pulled across the strings of an out of tune violin.

  “Wait right here,” he told them, then disappeared.

  “The hell?” Kirk asked, binoculars to his face. “Did Michael just disappear?”

  Timothy, scope affixed to his rifle again, aimed where Kirk was looking for just the shortest amount of time, then agreed, “Yup.”

  James had nothing to say at all.

  “Where do you think he went?” Kirk asked.

  “If I had to guess,” Timothy answered, scope a few inches from his eye as he adjusted it and looked around the space below, “I’d have to say I don’t have one fucking clue.’

  “He went to go check on those werewolves,” James said.

  The two guys turned to look at him. “Seriously?” Kirk asked. When James nodded and touched his head, Kirk mouthed, “The hell…”

  James popped Kirk on the chest and laughed. “No! I’m bullshitting you.” Kirk flipped his friend off and turned back around. “Asshole.”

  “But,” James continued, “it makes sense. Where else does he have to go? You both should know he isn’t going to leave his friends down there. Do any of them seem bothered?”

  “Only the young American girl. She seems all sorts of annoyed.”

  Kirk turned his binoculars towards Jacqueline, who was walking in a circle looking generally displeased. He tried to read her lips and relayed to the others, “I… can’t… believe… something something… that… asshole… left me… something else… Prick.”

  Timothy snickered. “She’s not happy to be left behind.”

  “Damn!” James shrugged. “Pretty or not, she’s too much work. Good thing that guy is a vampire. Putting up with her mouth all the time would be a pain in the ass.”

  “Are you going to tell her?” Kirk asked.

  “Hell no,” James replied. “You going to tell her you think she has a nice rack?”

  “Hell no.”

  Rayane enjoyed the feel of the fertile soil as his clawed feet scraped the ground. He continued his run towards the city.

  When he had commanded his pack to follow most had agreed, showing the same amount of bloodlust in their eyes as he had in his own. He had known that useless excuse for an Alpha, Adorjan, wouldn’t be able to pull off killing the humans.

  Rayane didn’t believe the humans could hold out against all of the Weres, but he should have figured that Adorjan’s pack wouldn’t have been able to take them. Now it would just be his pack and Lilliana’s, and while she could keep her own pack in line, they were a bunch of live-and-let-live believers in supporting everyone, no matter how superior someone was.

  To hell with that.

  His pack was now almost twelve hundred strong since he had taken in the survivors of two other packs, their Alphas dead due to mouthing off around the Duke.

  Rayane didn’t care any more for the Duke than did any other Wechselbalg, but he wasn’t stupid either. His hot head and loud mouth were muzzled any time any vampire was around. That way his own pack was increased by over five hundred members without having to fight.

  He had considered challenging Lilliana, but first he would need to finish getting rid of the troublemakers in his own pack. That’s why he personally chose those hotheads to be in the front with him. At the very end he would slow down, howl his command to strike, and let those idiots be cannon fodder. His mission would be accomplished. Then, he would continue the attack, and dinner would be served.

  Well, not dinner exactly, he wasn’t one of those who ate humans.

  Rayane missed a step when his mind wandered for just a moment, recent events flashing through his mind. A second later his mind cleared, and he streaked towards the city.

  Lilliana, running ahead of her pack, wasn’t pushing as hard as she could, and with good reason. What was she rushing towards?

  Better for that jerk Rayane and his bloodthirsty crew to get there first, it would save her people some of the atrocities they would have to perform.

  As long as she got to the city, the Duke wouldn’t treat them ill, even if he chose to punish her for failing to join the attack at the same time as the other pack.

  Whatever happened, she wouldn’t lead her pack like that useless Clement had.

  Though her mind wandered a moment thinking about her past, her feet knew where to step and her pack continued their advance.

  Jacqueline kept pacing. “I’m telling you, he could have at least told us where he was going!” She threw her right arm into the air. “Is it too much to ask, really?”

  “Yes,” Michael replied.

  Jacqueline stopped and turned around.

  Akio noticed that she was both annoyed and relieved. She is bitching because you scared her.

  Life is scary, and I don’t need a mother, Michael responded

  “Would it be too much to ask that you let us know what’s going on?” she got out. “We’re out here in the middle of a goddamned grass plain next to the city of never-being-lit anymore, and you up and disappear!” She walked up to him, then slowly and gently pounded on his chest. She looked up into his eyes and said softly, “You are the only connection I have to my father, Michael. You’re the only one I can come to and ask questions.”

  Michael’s annoyance softened. He reached out, and Jacqueline leaned into his arms. “I’m sorry, Jacqueline, I didn’t think about how it would be for you. You’re always such a strong woman, and I am very accustomed to doing whatever I like, because who’s going to tell me I can’t?”

  From Michael’s chest, a muffled voice answered, “Bethany Anne?”

  Michael grinned. “She isn’t here at the moment, so I can only get in trouble one time for everything I do before she gets back.”

  “No, that’s not true.” Jacqueline replied with a slight laugh. “I can save up all the little things and then tell her over many months. Each time I’ll tell a worse story than the one before.”

  “She isn’t going to buy that kind of shit.”

  Jacqueline pulled away, and wiped a tear from her eyes. “Why not?”

  “She doesn’t believe in drawing out emotional angst. Say it, get it done and move on would be her motto. She would see right through your attempt to get me in trouble, and teach you how inappropriate it is.”

  “And that,” Akio interjected, “would not be a wise path, young one.”

  Jacqueline turned to Akio. “Why not?”

  Yuko answered, causing Jacqueline to swivel her gaze again. “Because Bethany Anne holds her remedial classes on the sparring mat.”

  “She believes that the best lesson,” Eve finished, causing Jacqueline to complete her rotation, “is one where pain drives the learning process.”

  “Ooohhh.” Jacqueline finally understood and turned back to Michael. “How about you promise to remember that inside this grown-up woman is still a young girl?”

  Michael pulled her close one more time. “That’s true for every woman, Jacqueline.” He looked to the west, where he could sense the first pack getting closer.

  “Even Bethany Anne.”

  Kirk lowered the binoculars. “If I hadn’t seen it with my own two eyes,” he handed the binoculars to James, “I would never have believed that a vampire could have a family.”

  “Why?” James asked as he dialed in on the group in front of them. “What’s… Oh. Was she crying?”

  “Yup,” Timothy answered. “The whole group was telling her something. I think she was just scared that Michael left.”

  “She knows how badass the others are, right?” James asked.

  “Dude, maybe he’s like her dad or something. It doesn’t matter what happens if your dad disappears and you aren’t expecting it. Kiss everything else goodbye.”

  “Fuck.” Kirk laughed. “If that’s her father figure, imagine the size of the pair Mark must have to have asked her on a date.”

  Timothy chimed in, “Yeah, I’ve got to give him credit. That guy could be in for a world of hurt. He’s taking one for the team, there.”

  “Yeah, but nobody is going to mess with him or his girl.”

  Everyone on top of the building looked out at the horizon, where a huge number of wolves were starting to bear down on them.

  Kirk said, “I hope the Magnificent Seven are up to this.”

  A rifle cocked behind Kirk. “Let’s get our own as well,” a voice added behind the trio.

  “Akio?” Michael said.

  “Hai.”

  “What say we use both pucks this time?”

  “Hai,” Akio agreed and looked over at Eve. She nodded and moments later, the ground rumbled as dirt and wolves flew into the air. Yips, growls, howls, and keens of pain could be heard as hundreds of bodies sailed through the air to scatter among the shrubs and trees.

  “Those with pistols!” Michael pulled his coat back, exposing his twin pair of Jean Dukes. “It’s time we truly use our Kurtherian enhancements.” Michael looked towards the coming storm, a smile on his face. “Don’t hold back.”

  “I’m getting some damned pistols or something next time,” Jacqueline muttered as Mark rubbed her back.

  “Fire.”

  Rayane felt the second explosion before the first registered in his brain. He turned his head, and his eyes widened in shock as he saw many of his pack flying through the air. Pieces of wolves raining down around him told him that he had lost countless pack members already.

  So this was how Adorjan had failed. It wasn’t because they were as pitiful as he suspected, but rather that the humans had weapons the Duke didn’t know about.

  Rayane’s eyes narrowed. Or didn’t share.

  It would be just like that self-absorbed prick not to tell them about weapons that could hurt his pack. He would expect them to succeed regardless of the cost. It didn’t matter that it wasn’t the pack’s way of doing things.

  But it was a vampire’s.

  Rayane briefly considered turning his pack around, then reality hit. He knew if he did that he wouldn’t last a month before the Duke came calling. He turned back towards the city and howled, ordering his pack forward.

  Lilliana heard the explosions to the north. She glanced over and saw the thunderstorm, but what she had felt didn’t seem like thunder. Rather, it was as if the Earth itself had trembled.

  It certainly didn’t feel right. She howled a command and they slowed down just a little bit more.

  “That,” Akio agreed as the wolves came into view, “is a very target-rich environment.”

  Michael had been the only one firing so far. When he began shooting, he’d been taking out a wolf at the rate of one every two seconds. Now he was up to approximately one wolf per second. Then Akio started firing. A couple of moments later, Yuko’s pistol joined in.

  They had about a minute before the line hit them.

  Eve walked a little way forward and turned so that her left shoulder was slightly forward. She raised her leg and slammed it into the ground. She looked behind her. “Shame, no Alan this time.”

  Mark walked over and started making a hole for his own foot. “I got your back, Eve. This time, you aren’t flying anywhere.”

  “Big words for a…” Eve looked Mark up and down, “big vampire. You are bigger up close.”

  “Yes, he’s bigger than he looks.” Jacqueline winked at the AI as she got behind Mark and braced his back. “Let’s rip them up, Eve.”

  Eve turned around and activated her guidance system. She watched wolves dropping from the massed fire that Michael, Akio, and Yuko were bombarding them with. She wondered when Sabine would join in.

  “Remember, this kicks hard!” she told them as she unholstered her micro rocket gun and aimed it at the approaching horde. No one so far was targeting the Weres off to the right, so she put her reticules on them—a total of twenty-five—and counted down. “Three, two, one, pull!” She locked her arm and squeezed the trigger. The twenty-five little missiles kicked like a mule, but this time Mark had relocated his arms quickly enough that not only didn’t she fly backwards, she didn’t fall to the ground either. At the very end, she could feel him letting her fall backward into his open arms and chest.

  “Owww, cracked rib!” He coughed as Eve stepped out of his protective hold. They watched twenty-five… no, twenty-four Weres explode, peripherally causing a few additional Weres to fall over. “Dog pile!” Mark laughed as they noticed two or three places where the Weres tripped and fell over each other.

  They turned as they heard Sabine’s guns kick in.

  “Now,” Michael said, “we make them pay!”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Almighty God! Rayane looked around as Were after Were died. Who the hell were these seven people in front of them?

  And why was he feeling so hot?

  “Michael!” Jacqueline called out. “There’s still a shitload of Weres on the way!”

  They had to be killing between fifteen and twenty Weres a second, but the Weres kept coming.

  “They are a bit hard-headed,” Michael agreed. “This pack isn’t worth saving, so I’m not going to try.”

  “There’s another pack that is worth saving?” Akio asked.

  Mark piped up, “You’d try saving them?”

  “Yes. The second pack will be arriving perhaps ten minutes after the first,” Michael said, his rhythmic shooting continuing faster and faster. “Dammit! I missed.”

  “You did?” Akio asked. “I didn’t see a miss.”

  “That’s because I aim low so if I miss my target, I still get a chance at one behind them.” In a flash, Michael swung his hands down and holstered his pistols. “It’s time to take this old-school.”

  “You’re going to use a sword on them?” Sabine asked, her pistols firing methodically left, right, left, right.

  “Who said anything about a sword?” Michael responded, smiling. “I’m talking about bringing a little mad and angry back into the equation.”

  First, their Alpha went up in flames, his yelp of pain sharp before he died. Then, the man in the front started walking towards the pack.

  Those in front yipped in fear when his eyes flared red.

  “Uh oh…” Kirk mumbled, his eyes glued to the binoculars.

  “What?” Timothy asked. He had given his gun to James, who had taken a few shots at the Weres. The shots were more annoying than damaging, as the team didn’t have nearly enough silver ammunition.

  “Michael’s moving,” James answered Timothy.

  “Where?” he asked.

  “Walking towards the Weres.” Kirk lowered the binoculars and turned to James. “Does it look like he walks super-fast? Does he walk as fast as most people run?”

  “No fucking clue,” James replied over the constant firing from their rooftop and the many windows below, as the team continued shooting at the Weres.

  “You guys need to step back a bit,” Michael called over his shoulder. “I don’t need you to get randomly electrocuted.”

  “Ooohhhh, shit.” Jacqueline grabbed Eve’s shoulder. “C’mon little lady, it isn’t a good idea to be close.”

  “Why?” she asked.

  “Because,” Mark answered, “it’s about to get scary as hell down here.”

  Akio heard Mark’s answer and told Yuko to back up. He grabbed Sabine, who was still shooting, and carried her away. Michael’s hands were slowly starting to glow a bluish-white.