Chapter 3           

Jason tapped the side of his collar. “What’re we going to do?”

“Don’t bother.” Lionel said aloud as he saw Jason’s questioning look. “Comms are down.”

“How?!”

Lionel pointed his chin at Greywolf. Jason turned to the monster as he retreated backwards to where the rest of his team was. “A werewolf that can do magic?”

“He’s not just a werewolf. He’s an Animus.”

“You seem to know a lot about me, but I know nothing about you.” Greywolf said.

“You don’t remember me?!” Lionel snarled as he dashed forward. The man moved so fast Jason only saw after images.

But Lionel’s speed was nothing compared to when Greywolf moved. The monster seemed to disappear at the same time as Lionel but in less than a second he was ten feet closer, and Lionel was launched across the room.

Lionel’s body crashed into the back wall then fell to the floor where he lie still. Jason felt his stomach turn on itself. Is that what’s waiting for me? I don’t want to die.

As if reading his thought Aiden spoke. “Don’t worry, he’s not dead.”

Jason turned back to the monster with hope-filled eyes, but Greywolf disappeared again and the world grew dark.

…

The sound of Nigel’s voice broke through as Jason roused from sleep. He lifted his eyes, seeing a blur standing over him. He blinked a few times until his vision cleared and looked into the eyes of Nigel.

“Took you long enough.” Nigel smiled, although the smile didn’t reach his eyes.

“What happened?” Jason asked as he looked around. He saw the girls, Addy and Rose, were already up. Lionel was awake and brooding in a corner of the store.

“Greywolf knocked us out.” Nigel said.

“Just knocked us out? Why didn’t he kill us?” Jason said in a hysterical voice.

Nigel shrugged. But it was Lionel who answered. “He thinks of us as ants.”

Lionel’s voice drew the attention of the two girls. Everyone focused on him as he got up and walked towards them. “Killing us ‘grunts’ would be like stomping ants. He could’ve done it if he wished, but he didn’t feel like it.” Lionel scoffed. He turned his head to the side and began to mutter to himself.

“If we’re like ants then why’d he wipe your whole team?” Jason asked. Nigel thumped him on the shoulders and gave him a ‘Why would you ask that?’ look.

Jason thought Lionel would get angry but surprisingly the man didn’t. “My team spotted him. We were told not to engage, but we were arrogant. We thought our enhanced bodies made us invincible, and we’d killed so many other vampires and werewolves that we thought we could handle one more. We were wrong.

Greywolf took care of us in a few seconds, left us broken and bleeding on the ground. But he didn’t kill us. That’s when Milo, the leader of our team asked him why. And you know what he said? He said we were just ants. He could kill us anytime he wished but would rather not expend the effort.”

Lionel’s face screwed up in anger as his eyes became un-focused. “Milo couldn’t accept such a hard truth. A week later when we were patched up and ready to start accepting missions again, Milo had changed. He became cruel. Any monster we came across, instead of killing it outright, Milo would focus on incapacitating it, then torturing it. He was obsessed, he wanted to prove to himself, and to the world that he wasn’t an ant so he took it out on the monsters.”

And that’s when Greywolf found us. The anger on his face was otherworldly. He killed Milo and the others.” Lionel grew silent.

Jason and the others wanted to ask the obvious questions. If the others had died how did he survive, but seeing the look on Lionel’s face, they didn’t ask. They remained in respectful silence.

Ten minutes later Nigel spoke. “The air’s cleared of magic. Communication is back up.”

Lionel nodded. “Let’s report back to the compound.”

…

Aiden was on a rooftop, miles away from the Whole Foods market. He was lying comfortably on his back, staring up into the sky. The night was fading away as the sun began to rise. He’d have to get up soon and find somewhere to hole up for the day.

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“I’m so sick of this life.” Aiden complained aloud. “Ten years. Ten whole years being on the run, when will he freaking wake up?”

I’ve told you before, you can’t rush these things. All will come in due time. A deep raspy voice spoke within Aiden’s head.

“I didn’t sign up for this Ubel.”

Then abandon him.

“As if it’s that easy.” Aiden grit his teeth. He thought about doing just that several times over during the past decade, but every time he tried he just couldn’t let go.

Then prepare yourself. The next move is in a week.

“Has it been two years already?” Aiden wondered aloud, but Ubel didn’t bother answering.

Aiden sighed again. “This is the last time. If he doesn’t wake up this time… I’ll plant him somewhere else and never look back. I can’t be his keeper forever.”

You’ve made that promise before.

“This time I mean it! If he hasn’t woken in ten years, then chances are he’ll never wake up. It’s time to let go. I have to let go.”

Ubel didn’t respond but Aiden could tell the wolf doubted his resolve. Aiden doubted it himself. The more he thought about it, the more likely he felt he wouldn’t abandon his friend. That thought stirred the anger in his heart.

“Fuck you for doing this to me! I’m bound to a fucking corpse!” he yelled aloud into the early morning sky.

…

“Sir! Sir I must speak with you!” Walsh shouted over the sound of the band. He was in the White House, at a formal gathering for all the big wigs of society.

The man Walsh was calling to didn’t hear him, or if he did he didn’t bother turning to acknowledge his presence. Walsh moved through the crowd urgently, forcing aside the people in his way until finally he was beside the man in question.

“Sir.”

The man turned to Walsh, fixing him with a glare that could pin him to the wall. Walsh gulped nervously, he’d heard that Dr. Mendell, the director of Homeland security appointed by the President almost a decade ago, was an intense man. But that was an understatement.

“Well?” Mendell snapped at Walsh who froze where he stood.

Walsh gulped again to clear his throat. “S-sir, you’re going to want to look at this.” Walsh held up a manila folder. He tried to relax when he noticed his hands were shaking, but the pressure coming off Mendell made it hard to relax.

Mendell took the folder and briefly glanced at it. Then he turned to the aristocrats he was talking with before Walsh interrupted. “Excuse me, there’s something I have to deal with.” He began to walk off as the aristocrats fared him goodbye. A few steps later, Mendell turned to Walsh. “Well? Do you need me to hold your hand?”

Walsh ran after the man who began walking towards the door on the far side of the hall. As Mendell moved, the people in front abruptly moved to the side like Moses parting the Red Sea, creating an aisle for the two to walk down. Those in attendance threw questioning glances at Walsh but overall nobody paid him as much attention as the man he was following.

Thirty minutes later, Walsh was standing in front of a projector. He’d been placed in a conference hall and told he’d have to present to some people. Walsh was nervous but he was ready. Taking out the flash drive he’d prepared, he stuck it into his computer and connected it to the projector.

The room began to fill up with dozens of people. Walsh thought he knew the important people of society but the people filling the room now were people he’d never even heard of before. There were men in suits, others wearing black and grey camouflage uniforms, and others who were dressed casually.

“Ladies and Gentleman, this is Chief Science Officer Walsh Freedman, he has some very important intel to report. Walsh.”

The man who introduced him was the Vice President of the United States. He was the only person who remained standing in the room, the rest of them were all seated, including the President. Walsh thought it strange that the Vice President wasn’t given a seat amongst these individuals. It just showed him how powerful these people were.

Walsh cleared those thoughts and turned to the screen. “I’ve noticed irregularities of the topography of Southern California for the past decade.” Walsh showed images of forests that were decayed and empty of life.

“The first time I saw these images, I found them strange but didn’t pay much attention to it. It was only after several more incidents like this did I realize there was a pattern.” The images on the screen now showed healthy forests teeming with life, these images were split-screened with the image of decaying forests.

“The places you see here are the same exact place. The image on the left, the healthy forest is the before image, and the image on the right is the after. After two years, these forests die and the trees and animal life is completely eradicated.

“When I expanded the pattern, I’ve found that each of these forests have all been places where the biggest battles have taken place.”

“Battles?” One of the members in the audience spoke. The man was dressed in plain clothes.

“Yes, the battles that took place between Greywolf and the Guardians.”

“Those were the incidents where we noticed a change in the weather system. Areas where purple lightning would condense in the sky. We’d send elite Guardians there because we didn’t want a repeat of what happened ten years ago, when a demon wreaked havoc on our soldiers.” The man in plain clothes spoke again.

He turned to Mendell giving him a knowing glance. Mendell turned to Walsh. “Where does your pattern lead?”

“Well, following the same pattern I looked for any forest that fit the pattern and found one.” Walsh went to the last slide of his presentation. “Golden Trout Wilderness. There is a circle of death in this wilderness that can be easily seen from satellite. By my best estimates, this is where Greywolf will be next if he hasn’t been already.”

Mendell leaned back on his seat and crossed his fingers. “If this is accurate, we can prepare for Greywolf when he approaches that location. Whatever he has buried there is obviously of great import. The fact that it creates a circle of death shows it is something magical in nature and this item must be what causes the condensation of purple lightning. We will set up an ambush and wait until he digs out whatever’s hidden there. Once the magical item is revealed we’ll move in on Greywolf.”

Mendell then turned to the man in plain clothes. “I want you to send out teams Alpha and Bravo, along with a hundred of the failed ones.”

“Right away sir.” The man stood and bowed respectfully to Mendell before leaving the room.

Mendell smiled. “Soon we’ll have Greywolf in our hands, and we’ll discover what makes him so special. Why an Animus is so much more powerful than regular werewolves?”

The people in the room felt a cold shiver down their backs. Even the President looked as if he would be sick, but no one dared speak out against Mendell. The man had un-paralleled power. Even though he was only the Director of Homeland Security, it was acknowledged amongst the upper brass that he was practically the man in charge.