‘What do you mean “they’re on the border”?’ Sophia asked, struggling to keep up with Jask as they headed down to the communal area.
The network of underground tunnels, with its maze of steel doors and exposed pipework, reminded her of a cross between subterranean cellars and the lower levels of a cruise liner. The pack had nicknamed it the “bunker” – and never had the name seemed more apt.
‘That’s all Kane said: that the military are on the edge of Blackthorn right now.’
She marched alongside him as if in a surreal nightmare, Jask fastening his shirt along the way. The first time they’d been alone together in twenty-four hours and she’d barely had a chance to touch him before the call had come through.
It was the call they’d been dreading. Between keeping watch for any sign of an attack by Caleb Dehain and hunting down any remaining fourth species lurking in Blackthorn, the pack already had their hands full. The last thing they needed was news of an impending full-scale invasion added to the mix.
‘Shit,’ she hissed, her heart pounding. ‘Now? Already? When did they start moving in?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘How many? Can we handle it?’
Jask’s azure eyes remained fixed ahead as he folded back his sleeves. ‘I’m going to find out.’
‘Is it Sirius’s personal army?’
The head of the Global Council had been more than clear: hand over Kane Malloy or he would invade Blackthorn and end it once and for all.
Jask glanced at her again, his pace not appeasing. ‘More than likely.’
This was it: the war they had been working so hard to prevent, that they needed to prevent, had already started.
Caleb was still alive. Sirius Throme was closing in. And everything she had to care about was caught right in the middle – not least Jask.
‘But what about the file Caitlin sent to the Global Council?’ she asked, despite knowing the futility of denial. ‘What about exposing all the lies surrounding Kane? What about all the corruption instigated by Sirius?’
‘Depends if they got the file at all.’ His gaze met hers fleetingly. ‘Or if any of them give a shit in the first place.’
And that was the truth of what they were up against: none of them had any idea how deep the corruption ran in the authorities.
‘So do you think this is it, Jask? Has the invasion begun?’
‘I don’t know, Phia.’ He met her gaze again, the concern in his eyes exacerbating the leaden sensation in her legs. ‘But it isn’t sounding good.’
Her pulse thrummed in her ears, her chest constricting to the point she could barely breathe.
‘I’ll fill you in on everything when I get back,’ he said, catching the back of her neck to kiss her briefly on the temple as they reached the end of the corridor.
But she grabbed his shirt at his waist. ‘Can I come with you?’
He turned to face her, his eyes tellingly resolute. ‘You know you need to stay here.’
‘Please. I’m getting cabin fever.’
But she knew her plea was more about keeping Jask close than her getting out. It had been hard enough letting him go those past couple of days knowing the risks out there on the streets, let alone with them now escalating. And if she couldn’t keep him away from the threat, she had to at least stay by his side to protect him in any way she could.
He raised his eyebrows, a hint of a smile curling his lips. ‘It’s been twenty-four hours, Phia. That hardly warrants cabin fever.’
And he had enough to worry about without her panic attacks adding to it.
‘Yeah, well, twenty-four hours locked in a tin can with two sisters who think the Dehains are two undiscovered saints feels like a week. Come on, Jask. Everybody’s got a job to do around here except me. Caitlin, Jessie, Leila… Even Alisha’s making herb jewellery.’
‘Then join her,’ he suggested, reaching up to brush her hair back behind her ear before tenderly holding the nape of her neck. ‘Use it as a chance to try and get through to her and maybe get through to Leila that way.’
A task easier said than done.
‘There’s a potential war out there and you want me to sit making fucking daisy chains? Are you kidding me?’
‘Protective herb chains, according to Leila.’
‘Whatever. Please, Jask. You know I can fight. My training’s going really well. I won’t get in the way, I promise. I’ll be company for you – that’s all. I want to be there for you.’
‘You are there for me,’ he said, interlacing his fingers with hers as he held her hands up either side of her shoulders. ‘And I love you for it. Besides you do have a job to do: stay as far away as possible from Caleb Dehain so this prophecy doesn’t happen. That’s the most important job of all, right?’
Because although Caleb was the chosen one – the vampire destined to lead the uprising against the humans, against the system – he had yet to complete his transformation. To do so, he needed to kill a serryn – Sophia – in order to claim her soul and gain his Tryan status – the Tryan being the only guarantee, according to the prophecy, of vampires winning the war.
‘And that’s on top of persuading your sister to kill Caleb, as well as keeping that serrynity of yours in check so things don’t get fucked up in the interim,’ he added. ‘I think that’s more than enough work for anyone.’
‘Leila’s not going to budge, Jask. All she wants is out. Alisha’s the same.’
‘Maybe they’ll feel differently when I come back with news of what’s going on out there.’
He leaned forward to kiss her briefly on the lips. But as he moved to pull away again, she instinctively tightened her hold on his shirt as if her heart was being torn out.
She could barely believe he’d meant nothing to her a little over a week ago. Leaving the safety of Summerton a year ago, hell-bent on ending third-species corruption in Blackthorn, The Alliance further fuelling her misguided cause, now felt like another lifetime.
Less than a week ago, she’d planned to kill him. Now the thought of life without him was unbearable; not helped by knowing that every time she kissed him goodbye could be the last time she saw him – a prospect that had become increasingly real with every passing hour.
‘Jask, I feel sick. I don’t want you to go out there. It’s bad enough still not knowing how many more fourth species might be crawling the streets. Now Sirius’s army might be out there too?’
‘Hey,’ he said. The tenderness of his touch as he reached up to clasp her neck with both hands, to glide his thumbs along the edge of her jaw, made her heart skip a beat. ‘Where’s my feisty warrior gone, huh?’
‘For a bathroom break on account of a weak bladder in the face of adversity.’
He smiled, but it was as fleeting as the relief of seeing it. ‘Come on, darling – you know I can handle myself out there.’
Even that assurance did nothing to ease the sense of sickness deep in the pit of her stomach. ‘Maybe up against other members of the third species, even the fourth, but up against Sirius’s army? Jask, if these guys are superhuman… We’ve seen what angel tears have done to Eden. He can stand his ground against both you and Kane. If there are a tonne of them out there…’
‘They’ve got to find us first. And then they’ve got to catch us.’
‘I don’t even want to think about that.’
‘Then don’t.’ Dropping his hands to her hips, he pulled her closer so she could feel the reassuring strength of his body against hers. ‘Kane will handle Sirius. I’m just going to find out what’s happening so I can prepare the pack. You need to stay focused on our part of the plan – because we will get Caleb, whether he comes for us or we have to hunt him down. And Leila will kill him to protect you from this. If we take Sirius down in the interim, so be it.’
He held her gaze whilst she remained hesitant. Hesitant because she knew if there was a right time to mention it, it was then.
But she couldn’t. Instead she dropped her gaze in frustration – not at Jask, but at her stubborn sister continuing to choose her warped love affair with Caleb Dehain over her own family; something that hurt more than Sophia was ready to acknowledge.
Jask tilted his head to the side slightly, crouching a little to recapture her gaze. ‘Can I hear a “Yes, Jask”? Or better still a “Yes, Jask, sir”?’
She couldn’t help but reciprocate his smile as she dared to meet his gaze again, his eyes glinting playfully at her. ‘You wish.’
‘And she’s back,’ he declared, his smile broad, flashing her a hint of his canines. ‘I’ll return as soon as I can.’ He placed another tender kiss on her lips before smacking her lightly on the behind as he pulled away. ‘And we’ll finish what we started,’ he added, sending her a wink over his shoulder.
Her stomach twisted into a knot as she watched him head across the busy communal area to join Corbin.
Jask’s hands dropped low on his hips as he explained the situation to his beta, Corbin, who would take the helm in Jask’s absence, nodding as he listened intently.
There was a time when she would have followed him out of there regardless, refusing to take no for an answer. But she was learning to fight her impulses. For Jask, she was learning to control herself – even with the serryn simmering beneath the surface.
Because no matter how much it crushed her heart every time he left, no matter how much the palpitations hurt as she awaited his safe return, she knew she had to let Jask do what he needed to do out there in Blackthorn.
And he was right: she did have a job to do. Ultimately, she had to be the one to make sure they won. For that, she had to continue to work on talking Leila into killing Caleb.
She looked across to the far side of the room where her sisters were chatting, their heads bowed together conspiratorially.
She knew she was fighting a losing battle, even if Jask chose to believe otherwise. And right then her heart was too fragile, too busy aching, to deal with yet more conflict.
‘Fuck it,’ she hissed under her breath.
And made her way back down to her room alone.
Jask kept low as he headed across the top of the building. Kane and Eden were already lying side by side at the edge of the flat roof, binoculars held to their eyes.
‘What’s happening?’ Jask asked as he lay down on Kane’s left.
‘I think it’s safe to say the head of the Global Council is true to his threat.’ Kane handed him the binoculars. ‘They’ve spent the last couple of hours reinforcing the boundary. The whole lot is being heightened with coiled razor wire. They’ve already closed the border into Lowtown.’
Binoculars held to his eyes, Jask peered through the mist to where the military busied themselves atop the wall that had divided Blackthorn from Lowtown ever since the regulations had first been put in place eighty years before. Ever since the existence of the third species, as they were thereafter named, had been exposed.
The third species that had subsequently been relocated to the deprived cores of the newly formed locales, trapped in stratified society by walls that had been reinforced over time. Walls that had equally strengthened the social divide between Blackthorn and Lowtown residents and the privileged and exclusive Midtown beyond – not to mention the human-only Summerton on the outskirts of the locale.
‘They’ve increased security beyond at the Lowtown–Midtown border too,’ Kane added. ‘It seems Sirius is planning on penning them in as much as he has us.’
Sirius Throme – who was finally using the walls to his full advantage.
But Kane was never one to be restricted by walls.
Having known of the prophesied war for decades, the master vampire had spent the best part of fifty years focused below ground. With his most-trusted allies by his side, he’d been finding ways to join tunnels to more tunnels – knocking through to abandoned subways, cellars and defunct underground maintenance systems to create what eventually resembled a giant air-raid shelter. Because ultimately that’s what it was.
Kane may have been hell-bent on preventing the war, but the odds had always been strong that the Tryan, who they now knew to be Caleb, would rise to overthrow the human regime. According to the prophecy, the rest of the third species, as well as the humans, would be caught in the crossfire – not least when the vampire leader clashed with the catalyst to the war: Sirius Throme.
Subsequently, the priority had been offering protection to as many as possible when the time came, as well as creating a prime place from which to angle a defensive attack. As a result, a whole world had been created underground.
And now Jask’s pack had been allocated a part of that haven – a haven where Sophia was safely tucked away, along with her two sisters, as far away from Caleb as possible.
‘How’s your pack doing?’ Kane asked.
‘Still finding fourth species. Leila’s proving herself to be a real asset – there’s nothing that girl doesn’t know about those things or how to combat them.’ He scanned the length of the wall as far as he could before the mist finally obscured his vision. ‘Which is why you need to know she’s twitchy about the way this mist is intensifying, and I’m starting to feel the same.’
‘Yeah, well you’re not alone,’ Kane replied. ‘As commonplace as it is to see some mist leakage when there’s a breach in the dimensions, this isn’t looking good. How’s it going with her? Any progress?’
‘She’s still refusing her training, remaining adamant that she has no intention of killing Caleb. She won’t even pick up your sword. And she’s still insisting on the same thing she told us: that Caleb let her go so she could find the alternative to this prophecy, that one exists but that it’s not an option. I’ve left it to Phia to keep working on her.’
‘So still no clues as to what this alternative is?’
‘Not even an inkling. And I thought Phia was the stubborn one. It’s clearly a family trait. What about Caleb? Any news?’
‘He’s definitely back at the club, but he hasn’t attempted to leave as yet – not as far as my scouts can tell.’
‘What the fuck are they up to in there?’
‘I wish I knew.’
Jask homed in on the border again. There was no sign of the specialist army that had invaded his compound as yet. Possibly the same army he’d had to prevent taking Kane less than twenty-four hours before when Caitlin had lain dying in the vampire’s arms.
Instead, all he could see was standard military presence, aside from glimpses of Curfew Enforcement Officers mingling amongst them – the latter easily definable among the grey military uniforms by being clad head-to-foot in black leathers.
‘What do you think your boys are doing here?’ he asked Eden.
‘Navigating the lightweights’ arses safely around the dark corners of Lowtown and Blackthorn, I would imagine. Front line is the only purpose they ever have for us expendable grunts.’
‘And all of this for you, you pain in the arse,’ Jask declared as he handed Kane back his binoculars.
‘Yet not a red carpet in sight,’ Kane quipped.
Despite the vampire’s fleeting smirk, they all knew it was the last thing they needed: the military invading Blackthorn at the same time Caleb was coming for Sophia.
But Kane could look after himself against Sirius’s army. Jask needed to stay focused on making sure Caleb didn’t get his hands on Sophia. He needed to prevent Caleb having the power behind him that would bring him head-to-head with Sirius and lead to the downfall of all species.
And keeping Sophia from Caleb was the only way to stop that happening.
That and persuading Leila to kill Caleb: Leila being the only one who could do so without blowing the fourth dimension open and destroying them all anyway.
‘How the fuck is Throme getting away with this level of threat?’ Jask asked.
Kane swapped the binoculars for his phone. ‘You need to hear the official line.’
Jask accepted and pressed play on the stilled video footage.
The female reporter stood in front of a concrete wall amidst the milling military. ‘In an unprecedented move since these walls were first erected almost eighty years ago, the military has cordoned off Blackthorn and reinforced its boundaries – as well as those of Lowtown.
‘The reasoning behind it is equally unprecedented. Late last night, the remains of two victims were found in a back alley on the north-east border. One is, as yet, unidentified. The other is that of Vampire Control Unit Agent Meghan Yale, new to serving in this locale.’
As Meghan’s face flashed up on the screen, Jask stared across at Kane, who she had helped save less than a couple of days before.
The agent who had helped save Caitlin’s life in the process.
The agent they had last seen pointing a gun at Matt Morgan, the acting chief of the Third Species Control Division since Xavier Carter’s prosecution.
‘It gets better,’ Kane remarked.
‘It is believed by experts from the Lycan Control Unit that these victims were the prey of morphed lycans,’ the reporter added, holding her hand up towards Blackthorn’s name plaque on the concrete wall. ‘Morphed lycans within these very boundaries.’
Jask’s heart skipped a beat. All of his pack had been accounted for. He’d also put a stringent plan into play to ensure every lycan in Blackthorn had received the dose – even the rogues banished from his pack over the years.
‘I have with me Mathew Morgan, the TSCD’s acting chief,’ the reporter continued.
Jask watched the camera zoom out to bring the familiar face into view alongside the journalist.
‘Lycanthropic morphing within Blackthorn is an unprecedented event, Mr Morgan,’ the reporter said, holding the microphone out towards him. ‘How has this happened?’
‘We have no explanation at the moment. The lycan pack within Blackthorn were issued their meds as per protocol.’
‘Could it be to do with the fact we’re in the midst of a blue moon? And with it reaching its peak in the next twenty-four hours, are we to expect more of the same?’
‘We are aware that the seventh blue moon in the Metonic cycle is a particularly challenging time for the lycanthropes,’ Morgan replied, the edge of empathy in his tone a mockery with what Jask now knew of him, ‘something that was taken into account in the altered formulation of the meds we issued.’
‘So either the formula was inaccurate or there were members of the pack who refused to take the meds?’
The only four who needed the meds had taken them. The four for whom their own concoction didn’t work. The four who couldn’t risk morphing, the severity of the allergy that prevented their concoction from working in the first place meaning that they were equally unlikely to survive a morphing, especially under a blue moon.
‘As we all know, the Global Council has always respected the lycanthropes’ request to utilise their own version of the meds. It has always proved effective, but unfortunately on this occasion, there has evidently been a failure somewhere.’
The whole interview felt so contrived, so rehearsed, their expressionless exchange adding to Jask’s suspicion.
‘Jask Tao is the leader of the lycanthropes here in Blackthorn,’ the reporter added. ‘Surely it’s his responsibility to oversee this?’
Jask shook his head slightly at the accusation, his chest tightening.
‘And he always has done,’ Morgan said. ‘Tao is renowned for his authoritarian approach to managing his pack.’
‘“Authoritarian”, huh?’ Kane said. ‘They couldn’t resist getting that one in.’
‘That’s me,’ Jask quipped. ‘Hard bastard to the last.’
‘Yet this is not the first time there has been an issue,’ the reporter countered. ‘We know in the case of Arana Malloy that the lycans involved in her death had had their meds tampered with – thus allowing them to be targeted by the TSCD agents convicted of her murder.’
Targeted and used as scapegoats.
‘A one-off incident,’ Morgan replied.
‘So could this be the result of rogue lycans? Pack members refusing to comply?’
‘Like fuck it is,’ Jask hissed under his breath.
‘We are not able to ascertain at this time whether the lycans responsible are rogue or are current members of Tao’s pack,’ Morgan replied.
‘You’ve not yet spoken to him?’
‘The Lycan Control Unit visited the compound shortly after the discovery of the victims. The place was found vacant for reasons as yet unknown. We have put a call out for Tao to come forward and aid us with our enquiries.’
‘Whilst there, is it true that your team also discovered alarming evidence that the lycans’ version of the meds had been destroyed?’
‘The greenhouse was found to be damaged, yes.’
Jask glanced at Kane and read in his expression that he shared the same thought: that the media would never have gained access to that information unless someone had wanted them to know.
His skin crawled at the indicators of yet another set-up; that his pack still remained the scapegoat in Sirius’s unrelenting fight to get Kane.
‘Is there any indication as to why?’
‘We don’t know if the sabotage occurred after their departure or prior to their leaving the compound,’ Morgan responded. ‘And we can only speculate until we are able to talk to Tao or to a member of his pack.’
‘But you’re not ruling out that this was intentional?’
‘We are all aware there have been some fractions between the third species and the TSCD since the murder case of Arana Malloy. We have been working on bridging that gap.’
Jask exhaled tersely. ‘I don’t fucking believe this.’
‘Hard bastard and unreasonable,’ Kane teased.
‘Are you intimating that this could have been an act of rebellion on the part of the lycans?’ the reporter asked. ‘Is that the real reason the military presence is here?’
‘I’m not intimating anything, but we are treating it as suspicious considering the disappearance of Tao’s pack since. Until we know more, we urge the communities in Blackthorn to remain within their homes and to cooperate with the military in their questioning – and, of course, to report any sightings of Jask Tao or members of his pack. Again, we urge Jask Tao to come forward to assist us so we can bring this matter to a close quickly.’
They flashed up a photograph of him, one that was taken as he entered the courtroom in the Arana Malloy trial, his aggressive glower dominating the image.
Even more carefully selected propaganda.
‘Thank you, Mr Morgan.’ The journalist looked back down the camera. ‘Dr Sirius Throme, Head of the Global Council and overseer of this locale, also made this statement earlier today.’
The hairs on the back of Jask’s neck stood on end as the camera switched to Sirius, sitting behind a conference desk. More enraging was his feigned forlorn and concerned demeanour as he stared directly down the camera lens.
‘I want to reassure residents of Blackthorn and Lowtown, and indeed the rest of the locale, that safety measures have instantly been put in place in light of this recent news,’ Sirius stated. ‘We are already working closely with representatives of the Higher Order to manage this situation. Together with the cooperation of Blackthorn’s community, we will bring this under control quickly and effectively.
‘To do so, I have assigned my most efficient and highly trained team to deal with the situation. Blackthorn is now under martial law until further notice. I ask residents not to be alarmed. A safe evacuation strategy is already in hand should it be required. In the meantime, I would personally like to urge Jask Tao to come forward and work with us to see to a safe outcome. For us all.’
Irritation tightened Jask’s throat as he handed the phone back to Kane.
‘You accounted for every rogue?’ Kane asked.
‘And they all took the dose exactly like we did. I’m not sloppy, Kane – especially not around a blue moon. I’ll pull some of my pack off the fourth-species hunt and assign them to checking this out though. If something has gone wrong, I’ll find out. But you know as well as I do that this is just a convenient justification for invasion.’
‘And safe evacuation my arse,’ Eden piped up, his attention still down the binoculars. ‘Legalised interrogation camps more like.’
‘Or to reduce retaliating numbers for when the invasion really begins,’ Kane added, sharing a knowing look with Jask.
Jask pensively swept his tongue down his incisor as he glanced back across the mist-draped district. ‘Throme’s got everything on a schedule, hasn’t he? Credit where it’s due, that bastard is determined to stay one step ahead.’ He looked back to Kane. ‘Briefing?’
‘I couldn’t agree more. The bunker in a couple of hours?’
‘What the fuck are they doing now?’ Eden asked, flipping a mint in his mouth as he continued to observe the scene beyond.
Kane handed Jask his binoculars again as he borrowed Eden’s.
‘On top of the wall,’ Eden said. ‘Two o’clock.’
Jask veered his sights to the right until he saw what Eden was referring to.
They had craned the cylinder into place: a cylinder that stood about seven feet tall and maybe five feet in diameter. The metal shaft was nondescript aside from the reflective panels running down its centre.
Jask frowned as he peered down the lens. ‘I guess we’ll find out soon enough.’
Sophia leaned back against the wall in the communal area of the bunker, watching Leila converse with Caitlin and Jessie.
Caitlin’s knowledge of the demographics of Blackthorn from her years of working for the Vampire Control Unit had proved invaluable with the fourth-species operation – as had her strategic and logical mind when it came to targeted operations.
Of angelic origin, Jessie’s innate ability to sense the fourth species before anyone else was priceless out in the field. Her added skills also proved particularly advantageous in combat.
As for Leila, until she persuaded them to free her, she remained determined to undo the damage she saw herself as having caused by falling for Caleb. She may have temporarily closed off the dimension less than twenty-four hours previously, but they still had to account for any fourth species that could have slipped through in the interim.
So over the last day, Leila had assisted with armouring the lycans responsible for tracking and eliminating anything that was neither human nor third species in origin. Many of the pack had been out scavenging as a result, Leila specific about what to look for and bring back. Iron and copper had been top of the list. Wood was also particularly precious – especially ash and hawthorn.
Kane had been as big a part of the operation initially. Once Caitlin was back on her feet following her near fatal run-in with Rob Doyle – her ex and now seemingly Sirius’s number-one henchman – Kane had set about asking the witches on the east side as well as the north to share their supplies.
Leila had sifted through it all, allocating their finds into sections and guiding on usage beyond what the lycans already knew. She may never have been a practising witch, but Leila knew her resources and their functions inside out.
As a bonus, her day spent under lock and key in the TSCD researching the fourth species had proved particularly fruitful in refreshing her memory of what she had absorbed as a child. Leila being Leila, she’d made the most of her time whilst planning her escape and return to Blackthorn to meet with Caleb again.
Sophia pressed her palms to the wall at the small of her back as Leila began an animated conversation with Corbin. She was advising him on wards to help protect entry points into the bunker from non-corporeal fourth species. There were no guarantees the wards would be infallible, but attempts to safeguard were better than nothing.
‘She’s good at this, isn’t she?’ Alisha said, leaning back against the wall alongside her sister. ‘Who’d have thought it: our petition-signing, peaceful-protest big sister advising an entire lycan army. It’s a long way from her cooking us macaroni and cheese.’
‘Everything now is a long way from her cooking us macaroni and cheese.’
Sophia folded her arms and kept her gaze ahead, the motivation behind her little sister’s approach transparent.
‘I saw you looking over earlier,’ Alisha said, catching her gaze. ‘You don’t need to avoid us.’
The ‘us’ grated more than she would have liked.
Despite Leila and Alisha being rescued from the Third Species Control Division, the relief of the three sisters at being reunited after almost a year had been short-lived – not least when Leila and Alisha realised they were to be held with the pack against their will.
Since then, Leila and Alisha had melded into an infallible united front. Not only were they barely out of each other’s sight, they had even insisted on staying in the same room as each other, reinforcing Sophia’s sense of segregation from them. The angst had been further heightened amidst her two sisters’ exasperatingly united defence of Caleb and Jake Dehain.
‘What do you mean you have no intention of killing him?’ Sophia had demanded of Leila.
‘How many ways do you want me to say it, Sophie? This is not about killing Caleb – it’s about preventing the prophecy.’
Sophia had found it hard to curb her sarcasm amidst her frustration. ‘The last I heard the two were somewhat synony
We hope you are enjoying the book so far. To continue reading...
Copyright © 2024 All Rights Reserved
Please log in to recommend or discuss...
