03 - Evolution (31 page)

He plunged toward the ruined castle, clutching the
rappelling line with one hand.

Selene slowly backed into a corner. The three
proto-lycans closed in on her. Her eyes shifted from one to another,
trying to anticipate which of the beasts would make the first move. As
their transformations progressed, it was getting harder and harder to
tell them apart. Not that it mattered. Their human identities were no
longer relevant. They were nothing but bloodthirsty beasts now.

She waved her silver blade back and forth in front of
them.
Come and get me,
she dared them. In
her heart, she had always intended to go down fighting against one lycan
or another. That was how a Death Dealer died.

The lycan on the right—she thought it used to be
Levin—gave away its intentions by peeling his lips back away from his
fangs. Tapered ears tilted forward, another sure sign that he was about
ready to attack. Selene watched him carefully, while still trying to
keep track of the other two lycans. That pair had evolved completely
into werewolves by now. The shredded remnants of their uniforms lay
discarded upon the snow, replaced by the shaggy black fur covering them
from head to toe. Wolfen snouts drooled and snapped at her.

With a hostile growl, the third lycan lunged at her, but
Selene was ready for him. She feinted with the silver blade, then
punched the monster square in the face, nearly breaking its jaw. The
startled lycan yowled in pain, but did not retreat. Blood gushed from
its nostrils as it came at her again, even as the other two werewolves
joined in for the kill.

This is it,
she thought.
Even with Alexander Corvinus’ blood flowing through her, she doubted
that she could fight off three werewolves single-handedly. She would be
dead before the sun rose.
Who knows? Perhaps it’s
better this way.
She had nothing to live for anymore.
Wait for me, Michael. I will be with you soon.

Then, without warning, an unexpected figure crashed to
earth right behind the advancing beasts. Claws extended, he pounced on
the werewolf in the rear, slashing away at him before he ripped out the
beast’s spine with his bare hands. The monster crumpled to the ground in
a bloody heap.

That still left two lycans for Selene to deal with.
Barely aware of what was happening a few yards away, she ducked beneath
Levin’s flailing claws and drove her silver knife into her assailant’s
shoulder. The lycan howled in pain. Smoke rose from where the toxic
silver came in contact with his flesh and bone. Taking advantage of his
agony and confusion, she slipped behind him and grabbed on to the Uzi
dangling from his shoulder. She took aim at the second werewolf and
squeezed the trigger. Red-hot silver brought down the advancing beast
even as she slashed her knife across Levin’s throat. A death rattle
escaped his muzzle, and Selene callously shoved the dead body away from
her, so that it smacked down onto the floor.

Only then did she look up to see who had come to her
rescue. Her stoic expression melted instantly, like an ice castle in the
sun.

“Michael?”

She couldn’t believe her eyes. It was impossible, and
yet there he was, standing before her in all his hybrid glory. She ran
forward and smothered him in a tight embrace, all but dissolving him
into her arms. Tears of joy streamed down her face. She couldn’t
remember the last time she had been so happy.

He was alive!

A furious roar shattered the moment. William lunged out
of the snowy haze, snapping at them like a rabid dog. Selene dived out
of the way of the monster’s flashing claws, then watched in astonishment
as Michael moved to defend her. One of them growled angrily, but she
couldn’t tell who.

The original, primal werewolf confronted his hybrid
nephew. William reared back on his hind legs and slashed out at
Michael’s throat. Michael grabbed William’s arm in mid-swing, and the two
combatants went spinning across the floor, locked in a battle to the
death. They slammed into the ancient stone staircase, which crumbled
beneath the impact. Centuries-old steps broke apart in a matter of
seconds.

Michael and William barely noticed. They grappled with
each other like wolves competing for control of the pack. In a sense,
William was the established alpha wolf, confident in his power and
dominance, while Michael was the upstart challenger only recently come
into his full strength. The past battled the future… with the safety of
the entire world at stake.

In the flooded crypt, Marcus could hear the
battles raging outside. His claws were thrust deeply into the freezing
water as they dug into the narrow crack left behind when the hidden door
had closed on top of the granite debris. His wings flapped impatiently
as, grunting in exertion, he strained with all his might to lift the
door back open. He cursed Selene’s name with every breath.

William needed him! He could not tarry here any longer.

Slowly, the door began to give way.

Avoiding the stairs, Selene sprang up onto the second level and sprinted over to
the bridge. As she’d hoped, Greenway’s gun was still lying on the wooden
planks, not far from where he had died the first time. She ran out onto
the bridge and scooped up the gun.
Please let it
still have some ammo in it,
she prayed.
We’re going to need plenty of firepower before this is over.

She was in luck. Not only was the Uzi not empty, but it
was loaded with ultraviolet rounds. Not quite as good as silver nitrate
when it came to killing werewolves, but beggars couldn’t be choosers.
She hefted the weapon and took aim at William, being careful not to
catch Michael in her sights. She waited for her shot, then fired down at
William from the bridge.

Blam!
William took a hit to
his chest. A bloody wound blossomed beneath his snowy pelt. He roared
furiously, and Selene squeezed hard on the trigger. Michael wisely
backed off as she blasted away at the freakish albino werewolf.

Die already!
she thought.
Why don’t you just die?

A thumping noise came from above. Selene looked up to
see the Lynx helicopter hovering over the breach. She remembered the
gunner posted aboard the chopper and realized that this was their chance
to exterminate William once and for all. “Stand clear!” she shouted to
Michael, hoping that she and the helicopter crew were on the same
wavelength. “Get back!”

The airborne Cleaners came through for them. With
Michael and Selene both safely clear of the frothing werewolf, the
gunship opened fire on William with its heavy artillery. Fifty-caliber
shells strafed the ruins as they zeroed in on the monstrous lycanthrope.

Selene glanced nervously up at the sky, which was
starting to lighten. Dawn was not far away, but she wasn’t ready to
panic just yet. With the advent of the helicopter, the battle seemed to
be turning in their favor. She had every reason to hope that it was
William who would be dead by sunrise.

Unless something went terribly wrong.

Marcus came rushing out into the open dungeon.
Water dripped from his wings and satin trousers. The battered overcoat
had been left behind in the deserted crypt. He no longer felt any need
to conceal his hybrid nature.

He glared up at the helicopter attacking his brother.
Although he had never laid eyes on such a craft before, the blood
memories of Kraven and his other victims allowed him to recognize the
threat posed by the armed chopper. He looked around for a weapon he
could use against the gunship and its arrogant mortal crew, and his gaze
fell upon the rappelling line still dangling from the copter. His black
eyes narrowed in thought.

Aboard the Lynx, the gunner kept firing at the
huge white beast below.

“Keep it up!” the pilot urged him. He recognized the
albino monster from their mission briefing; that had to be the infamous
William. He wondered what had become of the werewolf’s hybrid brother.
Marcus was the one who had attacked the
Sancta
Helena
and killed Macaro and the others. The pilot wouldn’t be
happy until they had nailed the renegade Elder as well.
That’s the bastard I really want,
he thought
vengefully.

Suddenly, the chopper rocked violently. “What the hell?”
the pilot blurted. He fought with the controls, trying to stabilize
their flight. He worked the pedals and pulled back on the stick, while
frantically scanning the monitors on the control panel. All systems were
in order, so why did it feel as if they were being tossed around by a
hurricane?

“What’s happening?” the gunner hollered at him.

“You tell me!”

Down on the ground, Marcus held on to the
rappelling line with both fists. He gritted his fangs as he physically
dragged the copter down toward the gutted castle. Struggling against the
lift generated by the chopper’s spinning blades, he laboriously pulled
on the cable, hand over fist, in a frightening display of superhuman
strength.

Marcus knew he had his new hybrid nature to thank for
the power he now possessed. Even as an Elder, and the primordial
ancestor of the entire vampire race, he doubted that he could ever have
performed such a feat before. Could Viktor have pulled down a military
helicopter with his bare hands?

I think not,
he thought
smugly.

Already he had succeeded in disrupting the gunship’s
presumptuous assault upon his brother. The foolish mortals aboard the
aircraft could hardly aim their weapons while being yanked out of the
sky, but that was just the beginning. He wasn’t finished with the copter
yet.

The sky belongs to those with
wings,
he mused. It was time to teach this noisy, graceless
vessel the folly of defying that obvious truism.
Down you come!

The captured line snapped taut against the side of the
bridge. Marcus gave the rope another tug and the Lynx crashed through
the breach in the ground floor of the castle. Sparks ignited, and shards
of broken debris turned into deadly shrapnel as the spinning rotor
blades were sheared in half by the jagged stone edges of the gap.

The bridge was right below it.

Upon the bridge, Selene looked up in horror,
barely able to believe what she was seeing. The Lynx was coming down
straight at her!

She somersaulted out of the way with only a second to
spare. The plunging helicopter crashed to a stop only a few inches away
from her, caught upon one of the sturdy stone ledges supporting the
bridge. Scrambling to her feet, she gaped in amazement at the mangled
wreckage of the copter right before her eyes. Blood painted the inside
of the windshield red, and she severely doubted that either the pilot or
the gunner had survived the earthshaking crash. To her surprise,
however, she saw that the turboshaft engine had somehow remained intact,
so that the truncated rotor blades continued to spin like mad, tearing
up the wormy timber planks nearest the crash site. Selene backed away
warily as slivers of shredded wood went flying like dozens of miniature
wooden stakes.

I don’t understand,
she
thought, shaking her head in confusion. One minute the gunship had been
leading the fight against William; the next, it had come plummeting out
of the sky like a piece of space debris.
How could
this happen?

The answer came winging out of the night. Marcus swooped
down and rammed her with his fists. The blow knocked the breath from her
and sent the carbine rifle clattering onto what remained of the bridge.

The Elder didn’t give her a second to catch her breath.
Grabbing her arm, his sharpened claws digging into her flesh even
through the skintight leather, he hurled her across the length of the
bridge. She staggered backward upon the creaking wooden planks, coming
perilously close to the spinning blades. The wash from the blades blew
against her back and caused her dark hair to whip about wildly.

Marcus was in the hybrid form she recognized from their
previous battles. She glared at him in disgust. Where she found
Michael’s hybrid guise strangely attractive, the Elder’s batlike
countenance was nothing but repulsive. He advanced toward her, forcing
her back toward the spinning blades. Greenway’s rifle lay on the bridge
between them, frustratingly out of reach. There was no way she could go
for the rifle and its lethal UV cartridges, not without Marcus
descending on her first.

Michael!
she thought
desperately. Although she wasn’t sure how he had done so, she knew that
the demented Elder must have brought the helicopter down. His unwanted
return filled her with dread. She was terrified that Marcus would murder
Michael all over again.
Watch out! He’s free!

Down on the floor, Michael and William had
resumed their epic clash. Michael wasn’t entirely sure what had happened
to the gunship, and at the moment he was too busy to care. Instinct had
taken over and all that mattered was the enemy right in front of him. A
blood-red haze descended over his vision as he fought tooth and nail
against the fearsome werewolf. William’s claws raked his skin, digging
deep gouges in his flesh, but the pain only increased the atavistic fury
raging inside him. He gave as good as he got, ripping into the leathery
hide beneath the werewolf’s furry coat with his own bloody talons. His
Hippocratic oath had vanished completely from his fevered brain. He
wasn’t a doctor right now. He was a killer.

William had the weight advantage, though, which he
pressed by knocking Michael onto his back. The werewolf pounced on top
of Michael, pinning him to the floor as his jaws zoomed in on the
younger monster’s throat.

Michael saw William’s fangs coming at him. For a split
second, he flashed back to Lucian taking a bite out of him a few nights
ago. That was when his life had changed irrevocably, beginning the
process that had turned him into this unnatural thing he had become.
Now, it seemed, William intended to destroy what Lucian had created.