Extinction (The Divine Book 7) (4 page)

I waved back as Alyx lurched forward. It took her a few strides for her gait to even out, but when it did it was the best mode of ground transportation around. She flew across the landscape, the grass below her a blur as she pounded across the landscape. She loved to run, and I could feel her excitement as she did, along with the joy she got from the freedom. Was she feeling the same joy in being free of Espanto and free to make her own choices? I hoped so.

We covered the distance within ten minutes, the open ground giving her a chance to hit full speed. She slowed when we reached a small picket fence lined with chicken wire. A large herd of goats was behind it, and their heads all perked up at once at her approach, as they began baying to one another in fear.

The noise drew the attention of their keeper, a slight Asian man in a simple cotton shirt and jeans. He had been resting in the flatbed of his pickup, and he sat up and stared at us only moments after Alyx returned to her human form.

"Where did you come from?" he asked, his eyes narrowing as he tried to figure out how we had gotten so close without being noticed.
 

I looked over at Alyx. Weres didn't like the sun much more than vampires did, although they could survive in it.
 

She shook her head. This one wasn't a were. A fiend, maybe a turned? Not a threat, for sure.

"We're looking for someone," I said. "Multiple someones, actually. Do you know if this farm belongs to them?"

He looked at us suspiciously. His eyes stopped on Alyx. "It might."

"Do you know me?" Alyx said.

"There's something familiar about you," he replied. "You remind me of Onyx."

"Is Onyx in charge?" I asked.

"Yeah. She won't like it if I let you onto the property, though. Not without her permission."

"Can you call her? I'm sure she'll talk to me."

He hesitated. "What is this about?"

"I'm trying to get to Italy in a hurry," I said.
 

"Have you tried the airport?"

"Faster than that."

His expression turned more suspicious.
 

"And why would Onyx help you with that?" he asked. "We're not looking for trouble, or to draw attention. We don't want to get involved."

"Like it or not, you're involved," I said.

He heaved a resigned sigh and jumped down from the truck. He was even shorter on the ground. He walked toward me, putting his hand out as he did. It started to burn with hellfire. Hard to control hellfire that was usually only found in the hands of serious demons. Who was this guy?

"I don't like it," he said. "Not at all. And we don't want to be involved. I don't know who you are or who you serve, but I think you should go."

"I can't," I said. "I really need to get to Italy, and there's only one way that's fast enough to suit. We don't have to fight. Just call Onyx for me, and I'll take care of it. I'm sure she'll want to help."

"Last warning," he said, raising his hand.
 

I was running out of patience. So was Alyx.
 

"Landon," she said.

"Go ahead," I said to the fiend. "Give it your best shot."

He smiled, thinking I underestimated him. And maybe I had a little. The hellfire burst from his entire hand, not just his fingers, a stream of heat that I could feel from across the distance.

I didn't fight back. I let it wash over me, accepting it. It didn't burn. It didn't destroy. It fell apart as it hit me, my power negating it, turning it into pure energy that would return to the universe.

"What?" he said when he saw it had no effect. "That's not possible."

"Surprise," I said. Alyx tapped me on the shoulder and pointed back the way we had come. I turned and saw the Bentley off in the distance, heading our way along a narrow dirt road. "My name is Landon."

His head tilted to the side. "The diuscrucis?"

I nodded.

He smiled. "Why didn't you say so in the first place? That car with you?"

I nodded again.

"Come on. We better get to the house ahead of it. I'm Francois, and you are?"
 

"Alyx."

He put his finger up and then leaned in a little closer. "My vision isn't what it used to be. You're one of them, aren't you? Do you know Onyx?"

"I'm not sure," Alyx said.
 

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I was taken when I was a pup," she said. "But I had a sister named Onyx."

We met Obi in the driveway of the cottage where the werewolf pack was living. It was a relatively small building, at least one hundred years old, though it was kept in impeccable condition. A brick face, a thatched roof, and thick shades were all that could be seen from the outside. There was a minivan sitting in the driveway already, and it almost made me crack a smile to think of a van full of weres driving into Rouen for groceries.

It turned out that Francois was a fiend of no small power, a secret gem of a demon who had decided he preferred the company of Onyx to the trappings of power that so many of his like-kind were enamored with. In a weird turn of events, he had accepted her as his master, even though his control of hellfire proved he could have easily claimed that control for himself. He wasn't like other fiends, and he said that Onyx wasn't like other weres, either. She didn't eat human flesh or blood except to stay alive, and that blood was typically stolen from hospitals or purchased on the black market from others who had stolen it from hospitals.
 

Why?

Because Ulynx had dedicated the Delta Pack to the Diuscrucis, and the Diuscrucis wasn't in favor of it. Onyx and her followers were all that was left of the Great Were's once powerful pack.
 

That was my fault, too.

"This looks like something right out of Little Red Riding Hood," Obi said as he climbed out of the Bentley. "How many big bad wolves do we have?"

"Eight," I said, quoting Francois. "All that's left of Ulnyx's original pack."

"How many did there used to be?"

"Four hundred," Alyx said. "At least when I was with them."

We still weren't sure if this Onyx was Alyx's sister. The name was common enough among weres that it wasn't guaranteed. I could tell by the look on her face that she was eager to find out.

"Obi-Wan Sampson," Obi said, holding out his hand to Francois.

"Francois," the fiend replied, not taking the hand. "No offense, but my touch is caustic to humans." He turned his hands over, showing off the demonic runes tattooed into them.
 

"Yeah, no problem," Obi replied.

Francois led us up a few steps to the front door, knocking three times, pausing, and then knocking six times. He waited a few more seconds before opening the door.

"Onyx, my love, we have visitors," he announced.

It was dark inside the home, but the smell of the weres was unmistakeable, even to me. I immediately heard motion upstairs, following the sound to the corner of the house and down.

She appeared in front of us a moment later. She wasn't a spitting image of Alyx, but she was close. Similar height, similar build, similar facial features. Her mouth dropped open when she saw the Great Were.

"Alyx?" she whispered in a soft growl. "Is that you?"

Alyx's face changed as well, a smile spreading across it. "Onyx?"

"It is you," Onyx said, rushing toward her. The two sisters embraced, whining to one another as they hugged.
 

"I thought you were dead," Alyx said.

"I thought the same of you. Who? How?"

Alyx separated herself from her sister. "I want you to meet Landon Hamilton. The Diuscrucis."

Onyx turned to me and then fell to her knees. "My Lord," she said, bowing her head.

Alyx looked at me with pride. I was embarrassed.

"Please, you don't have to kneel to me."

"You are the leader of the pack," she said. "It is my honor."

I had gotten a similar reception from Alyx when we met. All because Ulnyx had tried to steal my body after I destroyed him the first time.

"Man, I wish a woman would do that for me sometime," Obi said.

"Shut up," I replied. "Please, get up."

She listened this time, getting back to her feet.

"What are you doing here in France?" she asked, returning her attention to Alyx. "Where have you been all of this time?"

"A prisoner," Alyx said. "Landon set me free."

"Truly?"

"Yes. Whatever you have heard, the Diuscrucis is more powerful than that."

"I have heard that you have been to Hell," Onyx said.

"You heard that already?" I replied. "How?"

"We are here to hide from the war, Diuscrucis," she said. "How can we if we don't keep tabs on it?"

"Hide? I don't understand."

"There are so few of us left and only one male to mate with. Ulysyx. He is almost beyond breeding age, and so far has delivered only one pup. If we are dragged into the fight, we will be extinct before long."

"Then I'm sorry to say; I'm here because I need your help."

"You need us to fight?" she asked, her face falling. "I will do as you command, but the pack-"

"Not to fight," I interrupted. I could see the relief. "I need to get to Italy within the next four hours."

"You need a rift?" Francois said.

"Yes. Can you make one?"

"No. I can power it, but I don't have the materials to build it."

"I thought you just needed some rocks?" Obi said.

"Riftstones are more than rocks. They must have a minimum sulfurous component, or they can't make the proper connection. Stones like that are not easy to come by on the French countryside."

"We need a rift," I said. "I was hoping you would know where we could find one, and a demon to power it."

"As Francois said, he can power it," Onyx said. She put her hand on his shoulder. "You will need to go into Rouen with them. Talk with Gerard."

"Gerard?" Francois said. "I-"

"Do not talk back to me," Onyx growled, baring her human teeth at the fiend. The message was received.

"Yes, Master," Francois said. "I will take them to Gerard."

"Who is Gerard?" I asked.

"A fiend," Francois replied. "One of many who have wished to recover the area in the aftermath of Gervais' demise. He has a rift you can use."

"We'll leave immediately," Onyx said. "Let me alert the others." She opened her mouth, emitting out a series of shrill barks.

"You're coming with us?" Alyx asked, pleased.

"Of course," Onyx replied. "I haven't seen you in ages, sister. I still remember the night you were taken. So many of us were killed that night." She lost some of her enthusiasm to the memory. "It still wounds me to think about. But you're here, now. I never thought it would come to pass. If you have business with the Diuscrucis, you will be leaving again. I want to know you once more before you go."

"Me, too," Alyx said. "I never believed I would see anyone from my pack again, let alone my direct family. I'm thankful to God for the opportunity."

"God?" Onyx said, confused "What does He have to do with it?"

"Everything," Alyx said, leaving me as surprised as her sister was.
 

It was one thing to say a prayer for the deceased, another to openly embrace His name. It was a new development and had come out of nowhere. Barely three hours had passed since we had nearly spent the afternoon having passionate, lustful sex. Did she regret her actions as much as I regretted mine? Was that why she had been so willing to accept my decision, or would she have come to the same conclusion regardless?

It didn't matter. It was where she was right now. It was to be expected that once she embraced her freedom, she would begin testing it.

I was proud of her for that, even if I didn't completely agree with her assessment. I had been upset with my moral compromise, not because of the judgment of an absent father.

Onyx responded with laughter. "I don't know where you got that idea, sister. We are creatures of Satan. God cares nothing for us or our kind."

"I don't believe that," Alyx said. "Landon says we are free to choose our own path. We don't have to be evil."

"No, but we do need to partake of human blood to survive. Does God agree with that?"

Alyx was silent.
 

"Believe me, sister; he doesn't," Onyx said. "That is why we must beware of the angels in Rouen. They have hunted us before, and they will continue to hunt us until the end of days. That is the way of things."

"Things can change," Alyx said softly. "Right, Landon? I don't have to hate the angels."

She was looking to me for affirmation. For comfort. For all of the things she was, experienced with the world wasn't one of them.
 

"It's something you have to live with," I said. "But remember that the angels don't always know the will of God. Keep in mind where we're headed and why. They seem to be speaking for God less and less these days."

"Man, I don't know what this war is coming to if a Great Were becomes more devout than the Heavenly Host themselves," Obi said.
 

Or a fiend serves a were who doesn't eat human flesh. Or a spirit is trapped in a magic suit of armor.