In the distance, flowing around the city, coming straight toward the forest were a large group of vampires. Their speed belied their true identity and their smell was confirmation. His sharp eyes could make out forty-two, maybe forty-three, it was tough to be sure they were moving at vampire speeds.
He felt Physis come up behind him, just as alert and aware of what she was looking at as he was. Simultaneously they turned and ran back through the forest, away from the large group of invading vampires.
Ares and Physis had both been around a while and they knew that the first thing they needed to do was warn the city, without alerting their attackers. They would need to draw them into the city and then when they couldn’t escape, they could use the city to trap them and kill them, whoever they were.
Mid stride, both of the wolves shifted to their werewolf forms and threw themselves forward, urging each other to run faster.
They crashed through the tree line and shot out into the city. Physis broke away from her mate and ran straight towards Huan Li’s apartment.
Ares ran headlong and directly toward Billy’s place. He would need to get the city prepared and weapons would be needed. He skidded to a halt outside of the weapon smith’s shop and looked inside. Thankfully, the short brown haired man was in the back working on, whatever it was the odd human was working on.
Ares had had a very hard time with the concept of guns when he was first reborn. His wolf mind could not wrap itself around the fact that it was possible to kill something with a weapon that ‘shot’ out projectiles that he couldn’t see. His teeth and claws had always been more than enough to kill his prey in his northern forests.
Since then, he had learned to use guns and other weapons. His enemies didn’t hold to what he knew as a wolf, and he had had to rethink many things after he was reborn. Sometimes he wondered if he was more human now than wolf.
“Billy!” Ares said as he stood up on his hind legs and stormed into the shop.
Billy looked up from his work bench, large darkened goggles covered his eyes as the acetylene blow torch in his hand was pulled away from the piece of metal he had been working on. “Jesus, Ares you scared the crap outta me!”
“We don’t have time, Billy,” Ares said calming down. “There are vampires in the northern forest.”
“What do you mean? That can’t be right. If there was, the scout pack would have reported something by now, you probably just saw…” The look of death in Ares’ eyes stopped the weapon smith from saying more.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“I need to alert the rest of the city, Billy. You need to get as many of your weapons into the hands of our people as possible.” Ares turned to leave.
“Ares, wait!” Billy yelled before the werewolf could bolt out into the street. Ares turned back around to face him.
Billy threw off his goggles and started rummaging through his pile of junk, throwing things all over the place. Ares had to duck as an errant tin can sailed next to his head. Billy pushed his way through his, ‘equipment’ stumbling a few times.
“Just wait a minute…I know I put it here somewhere…if now isn’t the time I don’t know what is,” Billy was half muttering, half calling out to nobody in particular. Ares watched him dig deeper and deeper into his storage area. “Come on…come on! Where the hell did you go?!” Billy screamed in frustration. Ares folded his arms across his chest. Then he heard a loud pop and a clanging noise, off in the distance.
Without a word he ran outside and just caught sight of what looked like a falling star, disappearing beneath the cityscape. “Billy, I have to go, now.” Ares turned toward the Tower at the heart of the city.
“WAIT!!” Billy stumbled out of his shop, pointing to something that Ares couldn’t quite make out, being half buried as it was by who knows what. “I told you I’d find it!” Billy beamed up at Ares, “You might want to take that with you.”
* * * * *
Mr. Davis saw the flare go up in the western part of the city. He had felt Ares and Physis move at speed back into the city. He knew that he had to get the six members of his pack together. The city was being attacked. He knew this instinctively, even though it had never happened in his lifetime.
He shifted and moved through the city picking up his pack members as he went. He went straight toward Physis and Huan Li’s apartment. He led Hermes, Tyche, and Thoosa up the ramp toward the Elders’ home.
The four werewolves came in on Physis speaking, “There were forty-three vampires headed toward the northern forest. What they plan to do, I don’t know.”
“Did any of you see that flare in the west?” Mr. Davis asked the two.
Huan Li turned toward the new comers and nodded, “We have grown complacent thinking that this city would stay hidden forever,” he rubbed his chin in thought. “Mr. Davis, you will take your pack and prepare our defenses. I will gather all the El…I will gather the Elders and direct our defenses. We would be foolish to think that there are only forty-three vampires attempting to besiege us.”
He shifted to his werewolf form, his long silver fur almost shone in the soft light of the paper lanterns that hung inside the Elder’s apartment. “Set up teams of at least two packs each along the roof and position added defense on the streets. Vampires like having the high ground, we must force them down onto the street level. The city herself was built to disorient those not familiar to her. Use that advantage to separate them and destroy them.” Mr. Davis nodded and without another word he and the other four members of his pack ran out the door and bolted down the street.
The first person Mr. Davis saw was the one he had most hoped to find. “Efraim!” Mr. Davis called.
The tall black-haired man pulled up short and turned toward the approaching werewolves. The Krav Maga instructor stood ready with a relaxed looking pose. His brown eyes darting away to look at the nearby rooftops as if trying to figure out some deep question he had been asked.