Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 91636 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 458(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91636 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 458(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
“We’re going to prepare ourselves for the incursion,” Conroy says, dragging me away from Alexander.
“I feel bad for the people who are dying,” I murmur.
“Don’t worry about them. Worry about yourself. And listen to me. I want you to follow my instructions to the letter,” Conroy says. “When those gates open, you go.”
“Shouldn’t I go now, so I’m there before the gates open? Then I can zip right in when I can.”
“No. Wait until there is a clear path.”
I am eager to run. I want this over with as soon as possible.
“I’m going now.”
Conroy grabs me by the arm, swings me around, and smacks my ass hard. My yelp seems to satisfy him.
“We are going to have a long, hard, painful conversation when this is over,” he promises me. “You have not been taught the lesson yet. You are still thinking that you get to make decisions, you get to get yourself hurt, you get to be reckless and…”
“So we’re just going to lose the advantage the vampires are currently giving us by bickering? Okay. That’s fine. I can’t see why we’d press this advantage now.”
Creeeeeakkkkkkkkkk!
That’s the sound of a city gate being opened against its will, big mechanical hinges screaming in pain as they are wrenched forcefully.
“Alright. Go. Go.” He releases me reluctantly, and with some level of annoyance and fear. I know he hates this. I know there’s more at play here than a tactical squabble. I’m making him watch terrible things again. This could go badly. We could get hurt. We…
Fuck, I cannot keep thinking.
I strip and shift, then grab my clothes in my teeth and run for the city wall. The vampires have gotten the gate open, and the humans will be trying to shut it, and there will be a lot of heat there. I have to trust that Alexander has instructed the vampires to keep me safe.
I sprint as fast as I can, outrunning my mates. I am smaller than them, but I am also lighter and therefore actually faster. I bolt for the truck while bullets fly and people scream and blood sprays. There’s silver in the air, fogging every breath. It burns to breathe.
I get to the truck yard, drop my shift, pull my clothes on, and start getting into the truck. I don’t know what Tailor and Conroy are doing. I am just making sure that I get done what I need to get done.
Out of the corner of my eye, I think I see large wolf shapes throwing themselves at the throats of those in the way.
First I check the truck over quick, making sure nobody got into it and fucked with the material. It doesn’t look like it. The truck looks like shit, which is a good way to ensure nobody fucks with it. All around me, death is happening. Over and over, in the most brutal and pointless of ways and it is all orbiting this truck, and this decision I made a while ago.
Ka-Boom!
A sudden detonation shakes the entirety of the city, making the ground beneath our wheels rumble. A light brighter than the sun emanates from the explosion, forcing me to close my eyes and then shield them with my hands because the brightness still feels too bright.
After a few seconds, the light fades. When I open my eyes, the vampires, almost all of them, are dust in the wake of the deployment of the world’s largest UV weapon. Even the stronger ones who can take a little sunlight can’t take that much of it.
There is deep gray everywhere, a near total haze made of vampire dust, a fog so thick I can taste it. The flavor is blood and ash. Wind blows, ever so slightly and the great choking haze washes over me. I see the shadows of my mates moving in the dust, almost completely obscured.
The lack of visibility is accompanied by a raucous cheering from the humans who are thrilled that they’ve managed to vanquish all their enemies in one big explosion. Hundreds of vampires evaporated. Probably thousands of retinas ruined, but blindness is a small price to pay for not being drained to death, I suppose.
For a brief moment, I celebrate with everyone else, but then I remember we are wolves and we are not wanted. The three of us are the last remaining supernatural creatures in a besieged city full of furious people who are ready to kill and to die. We need to get out of here. Now.
“Come on!”
I call to Tailor and Conroy as I jump into the driver’s seat, gun the truck, throw the doors open for my mates to pile in if they want to, and head out through the busted gate.
They don’t come into the truck, but I think I see them running behind me, choosing to use the ash and fog of war as cover rather than the truck.