Standing Before Monsters (Vorans and Vampires) (47 page)

Frowning Raina asked shaking her head, “We can’t control it even that much?”

The other three shook their heads. Charlotte explained, “We’re just along for the ride on a full moon. It’s almost like we’re sleeping and the moon controls our bodies. If it stays overcast, we’ll have some control until about midnight, and then the wolf will fully take over the reins.”

Moments later Logan and Kate started to take their clothing off making bundles on the front passenger seat. Charlotte waited with Nick making Raina hesitate. “I’m going to stay with Nick a little longer, Raina. Just go with my brother and Kate and I’ll catch up to you all in a little while.”

The dark haired ranger looked a little embarrassed as she finished taking her clothes off to put them in her car before walking over to the other two waiting for her. Logan glanced to the sky and shook his head before forcing his turn. Kate was right behind him.

Hearing their grunts and groans as they changed made Raina wince and look over at Nick and Charlotte. By the time, she looked back at the other two they were wolves. With a big sigh, the naked woman forced her change like Nick had managed to get her to master. Joining the other two to lope off into the forest, the wolves were quickly out of sight.

Charlotte took off her top revealing her bare breasts after wearing no bra. Becoming a wolf meant extra clothing was just an extra waste of time before the change. She kissed him on the lips pulling at his shirt. “We have some time before I need to change,” the pretty brunette said between passionate kisses. “I feel a bit bad for Nicola though. You two need to figure out more ways to get alone now that Sami’s around.

“At least this is one night I know that I can get you to myself for awhile.”

Nick let her remove the shirt and they tossed both into the car. Quickly putting down the back seats and throwing the hatch up to get in from the back, the couple soon had the rest of their clothing off and were lying inside of the Escape. It wasn’t a necessary act as it had been for the last moon so after a little more than an hour Charlotte left him to transform without any problems in her change.

Baying into the air, three howls echoed her sending the wolf off in the direction of her small pack.

Nick shook his head. His life was anything but ordinary he thought as the voran prepared to get a little sleep. It had also been over a week since his last rest, so after putting on his jeans; the voran drifted off to nap.

The rains over the past couple weeks had led to frustration for the kasha and vampire search teams. Shedu had been surprised at how quickly he had come to appreciate Marek’s coven. A supposed enemy at first, the hunters had come to realize that these vampires were a valuable set of allies thanks to Nick and his blood. Their spirits were clean of the evil that killing humans brought on most of their kind.

Still Alad didn’t approve, but even he had to admit that these vampires were different from the others. More resigned than happy, the other man proceeded to get along and Shedu had a feeling that he only did so figuring that they could always betray their allies in the end. It wasn’t Shedu’s decision in that regard. Only Barong could make that call and for now, the kasha team leader refused to call him to be told otherwise.

“There,” Alad pointed to a figure moving across the rooftops. Even for a kasha, running across the roofs was difficult and a bit frightening at the best of times, and there was still water setting in puddles on many of them where they could get their feet wet causing one to slip while running and jumping.

The tiger led the way. Their masks didn’t hide what they were, but a reaper was unlikely to know what they were for sure. They also used the breezes to try and keep their scent from carrying to the vampire.

Their quarry paused and the three of them hunched down behind vents and the edge of the wall to avoid being spotted.

Once the vampire was on the move again, the kasha followed trying to cut into its lead. While he didn’t seem to be hurrying to a particular destination, the vampire kept up his speed only stopping on occasion to look around him for trouble before glancing to the streets below. It was on the prowl for its next meal, Shedu thought of the creature’s perceived intent.

As they waited for the vampire to make a move, Shedu caught more movement in the distance and pointed.

Lam asked quietly, “Marek’s people?”

“I don’t know, but they’re closing on him fast.”

Alad stated, “He hasn’t spotted them yet.”

With the wind blowing from the lake conflicting with a natural flow from the west, being south of their quarry was the only safe place to avoid their scent being caught or his sight spotting them as he seemed most intent on heading north. The trio of movement came from west of their position and that of the vampire. They were moving fast and seemed to assume speed would overcome any reaction from their quarry. It wasn’t the usual attack of the more cautious coven, and when a whiff of the strange mix of blood and undead came to them on the air Shedu picked up his cell phone to call Marek.

Having traded numbers through Nick originally, the different factions had begun coordinating efforts to catch these reapers, a larger threat than normal vampires. Now it came in handy as he said,
“Marek, we’ve found a trio of reapers, we’re... just north of Randolf and east of Ogden. There’s a vampire we were following that seems to be their target.”

“On our way, Jake and I
are a mile west of you.”

Even with vampire speed, it would take a few minutes trying to cover that kind of ground. Not every block would have straight access to their position. They had chosen the area partly for the lower heights of the buildings in the area and partly because there were several restaurants and bars in the neighborhood.

The sound of a train coming on the elevated tracks over Lake Street presented another problem.

The first vampire spotted the movement of the three vampires rushing his position. Understanding that he was outnumbered and that such aggression was unlikely to be good for the single vampire, he ran to the north and the rail system. Undeterred, the reapers managed to increase their staggering pace attempting to catch up to the man.

Shedu waited until the pursuers had their backs to his team before leaving their concealment. As they watched the four vampires racing down the train tracks, the temptation to follow was great. When there was too much of a gap between buildings, the kasha would leap onto the straight path and jump back to the roofs. Using the little concealment they could find, the hunters hoped to catch the reapers when they were paying attention to their quarry.

Trying to press redial on his phone as they ran, Shedu gasped into the phone as Marek answered, “Heading east on Lake’s train tracks, fast.”

If the reapers didn’t catch the vampire quickly, he would make it to the closest train stop. Shedu wondered how many people might be using the train at this point in the evening. It was only around 10 PM and the area often saw visitors to the restaurants and clubs. While it was only a Tuesday and would avoid the bigger weekend crowds, there was still likely to be humans around.

Perhaps the vampire thought the same thing as he bailed from the tracks trying to head north before the station. Shedu was wrong about the vampire’s intended destination, however, and had to hold his people back as he watched the three chasing the vampire give pause on the last roof top facing a large structure. Looming around one hundred feet high, the building was much taller than those around it. It nearly spanned the entire square between the streets surrounding it. It was a massive building that was under construction, though it looked like progress had been halted in the economic slowdown.

Whether the vampire was just hiding in the massive open building or trying to use to confuse his pursuers, it seemed to work in either case.

Peering around a roof air conditioner, Shedu watched to see what the three vampires would do.

“I can’t catch enough of a scent from here to know if there are more vampires hidden in that monstrosity,” Alad said as he hunkered down behind a brick chimney. “If I had to guess, this seems similar to the trap we walked into in the alley.”

Shedu nodded feeling the same and glad that he didn’t have to make the choice that these reapers had to now. If they gave up, his team could return in the day light and scope out the place. It was much too large to assume that it was empty of other vampires.

Noting one of the pursuers on a cell phone, Shedu wished that he knew what they spoke of and to whom. They knew that there were more than three reapers and if this was indeed a nest of vampires, the reapers might call in their own reinforcements. Splitting up, two of the reapers moved off to either side. They would check to make sure that their quarry didn’t simply escape through the building.

Alad started to move, but Shedu put up his hand halting him.

“He’s alone now,”Alad complained. “We can take him.”

“If I were him, I would call in the other reapers from wherever they might be now. They cleared out the last nest and that building was a fraction of the size of this building. If they used eight or nine there, then I certainly don’t think that they’ll just rush into this massive site with just three.”

Lam nodded as she watched the only vampire they could see.

Shedu added pointing towards the reaper who was on a building to their left. He was in sight of the closest remaining man. “That one maintains line of site with the center, so will the other even if we can’t see him from our
position. This group is using solid tactics and won’t just run in blindly until they have better numbers.”

He pulled out his phone to warn Marek. This night was turning out to be more hazardous than he had originally thought when they had picked up the trail of the first vampire.

Nick’s cell phone rang waking the voran. If his body had been forced to sleep because of exhaustion, even the ringer on full blast in his ear wouldn’t wake him, but he was early in his window for resting. Checking the time as he picked up the phone as well as seeing Marek’s name, the voran took a deep breath wondering what had happened. The vampire knew that he was with the werewolves for the full moon tonight.

“What’s up, Marek?” he questioned without the preliminary pleasantries.

“The kasha stumbled across the reapers and a probable huge nest of vampires. Shedu thinks the three reapers they found have called in their numbers and I am doing the same. I know this is the full moon, but we may need you. Lenora’s group is in the city and not much of a fighting unit anyway; so we are short handed even with the kasha, if things get out of hand, Nick.”

Taking a breath, the voran replied, “I’ll be there as soon as I can. Where is it?”

Marek and his team of Jake and Audrey moved in behind the kasha, though the latter had spotted them coming from Lake Street as they swung south avoiding a direct approach that might give them away to the reapers. The vampires wore basic surgical masks over their mouths and noses to prevent sneezing accidentally as they crouched near the kasha.

“Have the other reapers arrived yet or have they moved on the nest at all?” Marek asked Shedu.

The black panther’s eyes looked at the vampire and spoke amazingly clear English. “You can see the center reaper on the roof across from the large, unfinished building. His compatriots are on either side keeping watch for the first vampire’s escape, but apparently he hasn’t run either.”

Wishing he had Nick’s radar like ability to pick out vampires, an ability that he knew the voran must possess, though his friend had never disclosed how it actually worked; Marek tried to sense the air. It whirled and carried confusing scents. There was that of the reaper and vampire, but he couldn’t tell if it came from their trail or ahead of him.

“I called Nick and he’s coming, plus I have five more of my people on the way,” Marek informed the kasha. The numbers sounded miniscule if these reapers were as powerful as they feared. His one hope was that the nest would be fighting them first and could kill a few.

Shedu nodded and waited. Alad eventually tapped his shoulder pointing towards the west. Movement across the roofs told the kasha leader that support was coming, but from that direction it wasn’t theirs. They counted seven new figures. Three split off to stand on the street to the north of the structure. On the north side, there was bared earth looking like a rough parking lot. Surrounding chain link with plywood attached painted green prevented an easy view from the street. The roofs were certainly easier to keep watch from, but the reapers chose the street choosing to let those on the roofs warn them if they needed it to be closer to an attack.

Two stayed on the west roof while the remaining two joined on the south and east. With only ten, it might not seem like a strong containment perimeter, but Shedu could guess that nothing would escape before the fight could begin.

Marek was on his phone and after the call went through, he warned his second team, “Use Lake and come up Carpenter just half a block until I tell you. They’ve come from the west and I don’t want you getting caught from behind if there are more of them.”

Derek’s voice replied, “Yes, sir.”

Marek explained to Shedu, “We’ll wait for the reapers to attack the nest. Hopefully they’ll take each other out and we’ll just mop up what’s left. They’ll do our work for us for once.”