The specialized troops scattered, training overwhelmed by primal fear.Those who maintained composure enough to aim their weapons found their bolts missing the creature that moved like a liquid shadow among them.The wolf attacked with savage instinct, targeting commanders and weapon specialists with uncanny intelligence.
“Lycanthrope,” Desiderius whispered, his voice carrying equal measures of awe and terror.“A werewolf.No friend of our kind.We need to run.”
Catherine collapsed to her knees beside me, her entire body shaking violently as the scent of fresh blood saturated the air.Her fangs descended involuntarily, her eyes darkening to obsidian pools as the predatory nature she fought to control surged forward.
“Catherine,” I gripped her shoulders, positioning myself to block her view of the carnage.“Focus on my voice.Remember your prayers.Remember who you are.”
But my words barely registered as she struggled against the hunger.Blood splashed across the forest floor as the wolf continued its systematic destruction of the ambush force.Men screamed, fired wildly, fell in sprays of crimson that called to the predator in all of us.
I held Catherine firmly, reciting prayers from Bishop Harkins’ manual while watching the wolf with a mixture of horror and gratitude.This was no mindless beast.It attacked with purpose, with strategy—eliminating the greatest threats first, disabling rather than killing when possible, always moving too quickly for human reflexes to track.
As the last soldier fell, the massive creature paused in the center of the clearing.Its chest heaved with exertion, steam rising from its muzzle in the cool night air.Slowly, deliberately, it turned toward us.
I tensed, positioning myself between the wolf and my companions.Our eyes met across the blood-soaked clearing—amber animal irises locking with mine.In that gaze, I found not the mindless hunger of a beast, but something impossibly knowing.Recognition flowed between us, though I could not understand its source or meaning.
For one extended moment, we regarded each other in perfect stillness—predator to predator, immortal to immortal.Then something shifted in those amber depths—a decision made, a message conveyed without words.
The wolf turned and bounded away, its massive form disappearing into the forest as suddenly as it had appeared.The sound of its passage faded quickly, leaving only the cooling bodies of our would-be executioners and the cloying scent of blood that threatened to overwhelm Catherine’s fragile control.
“We need to move,” Desiderius urged, his voice tight with strain.Even his centuries of discipline were tested by the blood saturating the clearing.“Before she loses control completely.Before others come.”
I nodded, helping Catherine to her feet as she fought against her nature.The depot still awaited us, our mission incomplete despite this unexpected intervention.But as we moved away from the killing ground, I could not shake the sensation of those amber eyes studying me, watching me.
Chapter 27
Wemovedthroughtheforest with inhuman speed, following the sounds of battle that echoed from the direction of the ammunition depot.Gunfire stuttered in irregular bursts, punctuated by screams that carried clearly to vampire hearing.Catherine still trembled beside me, the bloodshed we’d witnessed in the clearing having awakened hungers she struggled to control.Desiderius ran slightly ahead with a discipline that younger vampires could only aspire to.I caught the sharp tang of explosives on the night air, followed by a deeper, more ominous scent—the distinctive odor of artillery shells cooking off in their casings.Whatever was happening at the depot, it was rapidly spiraling beyond anyone’s control.
“Something’s wrong,” I called to Desiderius.“The assault pattern is chaotic.There’s no coordination.”
He slowed his pace marginally, allowing me to draw alongside him.“Mercer’s team should have secured the outer perimeter by now.This sounds like...”
“A trap,” I finished for him.“Just like the one set for us.”
We crested a small rise in the terrain that provided our first clear view of the depot—and what we saw stripped away any remaining hope that this night would end without catastrophe.The outer buildings had been reduced to skeletal frames, flames licking hungrily at their exposed supports.German soldiers ran in frantic patterns, some firing wildly into the darkness, others attempting to contain fires that threatened the major storage facilities.And moving among them with supernatural speed were the dark shapes of my flock—Ruth and Rebecca foremost among them, tearing through human defenses with a fury that matched that I’d seen exhibited by the werewolf just minutes before.
But there was something chaotic in their attack, as if Mercer had lost control.A desperate quality, as though they operated without the tactical direction they had been conditioned to follow.They were killing, yes, but without restraint, without purpose beyond bloodshed.And the Germans, despite their panic, were managing to funnel them toward the central compound.
“It’s a trap,” Desiderius observed, his voice tight with dawning comprehension.“The Germans must know more about what we are than even we realized.They’re being herded into a killing field.”
I clenched my fists.“Mercer sent them to die.”
I started forward, but Desiderius caught my arm with unexpected strength.“Too late,” he warned.“Look.”
On the western edge of the compound, German soldiers were hastily withdrawing, abandoning defensive positions as they retreated from the central storage buildings.Even at this distance, my vampire sight detected the telltale wires strung between structures—detonation lines, hastily laid but effective.The entire depot had been rigged to explode, with my flock inside.
“No!”I tore free of Desiderius’s grip and ran toward the compound, knowing even as I did I could not possibly reach them in time.“Ruth!Rebecca!Get out!It’s a trap!”
My voice was lost in the cacophony of battle.Through the gaps in the flames and smoke, I caught glimpses of my flock, still pursuing Germans who fled with theatrical terror, drawing them deeper into the labyrinth of storage buildings.The Germans weren’t fighting to win; they were sacrificing themselves to ensure our destruction.
Then, through a momentary parting of smoke and flame, I saw Ruth.She stood at the entrance to the main storage facility, blood streaking her uniform, her expression still blank with the emptiness Gallow’s serum had induced.Rebecca appeared beside her, equally blood-soaked, equally hollow.
They had been my first success stories—souls I had guided from predatory emptiness toward the possibility of redemption.Seeing them reduced to weapons, to disposable assets, tore at something deep within me.
For a second, our eyes met across the inferno.Recognition flickered in Ruth’s gaze—a moment of clarity breaking through the chemical fog that had enslaved her.Her lips parted as if to speak.Rebecca turned toward her, confusion replacing her vacant expression for the first time since Gallow’s treatments had begun.
The joined hands and fell to their knees, making the sign of the cross.
In that fragile moment of reclaimed humanity, the world erupted.
