The Lycan Collapse (The Flux Age Book 2) Read online

  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. T
he 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?”

  “Just in shock,” Yasmin said, her voice shaking a little. “I froze in there, Jack. I didn’t know what to do.”

  Jack nodded, glancing up and down the street. Satisfied it was safe, he held Yasmin in his arms.

  “I’m just glad you’re alive. I love you so much.”

  Jack’s stomach lurched as he was lifted into the air. He was held in a vice-like grip by a female aquilan. She must have swooped him from the roof of the pavilion. He still hadn’t learned to check the air as well as the ground.

  “Jack!” Yasmin screamed from the ground.

  But there was nothing that could be done. Jack flailed helplessly as the aquilan climbed high above the New York skyline.

  “Where are you taking me?” he gasped.

  “Nowhere,” the aquilan said casually. “I just wanna see you fall.”

  And with that, she let go of him.

  Jack tried to keep panic at bay as he free fell through the frigid night air. He wasn’t sure if his werewolf form could survive such a long drop. The roof of a grey building rushed up to meet him. His legs took the brunt of the fall, snapping immediately. A wave of pain flooded him and he almost lost consciousness. He tumbled several yards and lay motionless on the concrete. For a few seconds he simply looked up at the stars, which seemed to throb along with his pain. With a quick glance he confirmed he didn’t have a compound fracture, but both his legs were definitely broken.

  Instinctively Jack dragged his shaggy body across the roof to the balustrade at the edge. He found a dirty old tarpaulin and hauled himself underneath it. For several minutes all he could hear was his own ragged breathing. At length he heard the faint sound of a swear word high somewhere above him. The aquilan had been toying with him and was now searching for him. She probably had orders to take him back to Hector where he could be finished off for good. Thankfully the aquilan had underestimated a lycan’s strength and resilience. Jack would wait under cover until his legs healed. For a werewolf, such injuries took hours to right themselves.

  Jack hated the idea of cowering under a tarpaulin while his friends were attacked but there was nothing else he could do. Gritting his teeth against the pain in his legs, he used the time to think through this unbelievable, blood-filled night. It was quite clear that the aquilans were after the lycans’ dark tissue, which would allow them to survive beyond the Flux Age just beginning. Jack couldn’t begrudge the old, proud species from looking to safeguard their future, but the way they’d gone about things tonight was an abject disgrace. Clearly they intended to ask the Mother one last time whether she would freely part with some dark tissue. Judging from the devastating attack on the ballroom, probably with all the forces at their disposal, they never for one moment expected the Mother to agree to their demand. So they planned to take what they wanted by force.

  There was one thing Jack didn’t quite understand. The aquilans rightly judged that they would need all their forces on hand if they wanted to subdue the other Flux leaders, some of which were clearly powerful. If all the aquilans were tied up at the Hadfield Pavilion, then how did they plan to assault the lycan chapter house under the city? Especially since Mother Aurora had insisted that most lycan operatives remained confined to their home quarters? One thing was certain - Jack had to get back home quickly. His heart screamed at him to go back to where he left Yasmin, but logic told him she had surely gone underground to evade the rampaging aquila. It was anyone’s guess when he would get to see her again. Now that war had begun, things were about to become very chaotic. It didn’t bode well for the several million people still living innocently in New York City.

  After a while Jack threw the tarpaulin off his body to get some fresh air. Adrenalin still pumped through his wolf veins, as well as antibodies and healing cells working furiously to repair his broken bones and tissue. Over the next hour the pain in his legs dropped from agonizing to something very close to tolerable. Satisfied there were no aquilans in the sky above him, Jack took to the external fire escape and gingerly made his way down to the street. He wasn’t confident enough in his body yet to be leaping from building to building.

  Jack tried to focus on his mission as he located a secret subterranean hatch deep in central park. The tunnel eventually terminated in a drop ladder that saw him into a network of tunnels that ultimately reached the ocean tunnel. He felt a sharp pang of anxiety when he saw that the entrance down here had been penetrated. The thick wooden door was in splinters.

  Boris, Jack’s homeless friend who often found shelter in the ocean tunnel, call out from the darkness.

  “They came in numbers,” was all he said. “Wave after wave, Jack. Like the apocalypse.”

  Jack frowned and ventured inside the chapter house. The lower halls were quiet and undamaged. Barely able to breathe, Jack made his way through the spartan hab cells. The rooms which were usually at the very least alive with music, snoring and laughter. Right now they were deathly quiet.

  Choosing a cautious approach, Jack took a back passage that led to the mezzanine level of the Assembly Hall. Silently he crept to the rail of a balcony that overlooked the cavernous space. The same balcony from which his tutors looked sternly down at him for so many years.

  The Hall was dark save for the flickering light of a few open fires. The power must have been cut at some p
oint earlier in the night. Jack’s eyes adjusted quickly to the darkness, and what he saw unfolded like a horrific dream.

  There were several creatures on the Hall floor, split into a number of small groups. The way they carried themselves and moved around was quite distinct. Yes, there was no doubt about it. He had never seen one in the flesh but had learned about them from his lycan masters. Disgusting creatures that… no, they couldn’t possibly be.

  Jack held a hand to his mouth when he realized what the ghouls were doing. They were tearing flesh from the several corpses on the Hall floor. His friends, the lycans he called his family, had been eaten alive.

  There weren’t many ways you could kill a lycan. Silver bullets and blades were one way. Overpowering them through sheer force and consuming them was another. It would’ve taken hundreds of ghouls to overpower all the lycans present here at the chapter house. There was nothing more ferocious than a lycan protecting his home. The foul stench arising from the Hall suggested that many, many ghouls had died in their ultimately successful attack on the lycans. Jack knew that fire and decapitation was the only way you could kill a ghoul. That would explain the charred nature of the stench rising up to meet him. His home would’ve been a raging inferno just hours earlier. And now, with the irrepressible ghouls victorious, they were dining out on their victims. Ghouls were actually one of the few creatures who matched up well against werewolves due to their preference for live, raw meat.

  Feeling sick to the stomach and fighting back tears, Jack considered his next move. He had never felt so powerless in his centuries of existence. It was foolhardy to attempt revenge on the ghouls down below. They would overwhelm him eventually and he would suffer the same torturous fate as his brethren. There was still the issue of dark tissue.

  Jack backed away from the balcony, resolving to check the cercarium. He crept through dark, shadowy tunnels and reached the cercarium without incident. What transpired there made him wish he’d left immediately.