Interlude: Henri Part 2His dad smiled. His old man didn't pay the slightest bit of attention to his bloody shirt or the bleeding wound on his neck. "Henri, it's rude to ignore our guest.""Guest? What, dad?"His father gestured to the girl standing beside him. "This is... One of your friends, right?" he spoke unnaturally slowly.Henri looked at her for a second, long enough to realize he didn't know her before he looked back at his dad. "I have no idea who she is, dad. What happened?""Nothing... Happened... Henri. Your friend is here to speak with you."Of course, he was speaking slowly. He was losing blood. He wasn't in his right head."We have to get you to the hospital, dad. I'll call an ambulance.""An ambulance? Henri, I don't need an ambulance. I need you to talk with your friend.""Dad, I have no idea who she is!""Of course you do, Henri. She's your... Friend."The girl giggled. "That will be all, sir. Go and take care of your neck.""Right... Right." His father walked away
Interlude: Henri Part 3"Who... Who are you?""I go by many names, but right now I'm going by Alice. I have a game to play and that's the name I've chosen.""Game? Chosen? What are you talking about?"The girl shrugged. "The truth is, you don't need to know, Henri. The only thing you need to know is that I need you.""You need me?" Henri asked, trying to take deep breaths."Yes. I need you for my game. You're going to be an important pawn in my game, Henri."Strixes were monsters that haunted the streets. Why was one here? What did she want with him?"You have a friend name Alaric, don't you?""What about Alaric?""He's the reason I'm here, boy. It's not his fault, but all the same, I need you to spy on him. I've arranged for you to go to that party of yours for a reason.""Bianca's party? My parents-""Have already agreed. I'm dominating your father and I'll make him forget, but I've planted the idea in his mind. As well as your mother, but enough about them. Forgive me, I'll have to
Alaric XVIII"What would he do if he found out what we did.""He'd kill both of us," Bianca said without hesitation. "Then he'd go find my older sister and drag her back. It's a good thing he isn't home.""He's not?""No. He's in Victoria for work. He's dealing with another pack. We're trying to set up trade relationships. Probably.""Probably," I agreed. I didn't know lycans I had seen Roger Lock before and that man was huge. I'm surprised he wasn't the alpha of her pack.Bianca wrung the leaves out of her head and tied it back into a long ponytail. "I'm going to need to take a shower when I get home. If my dad comes back and smells me like this, he's going to freak out. I'm sorry he'll just your name out of me before he puts me out of my misery.""I guess it's a good thing I have knight friends.""Oh no. He'll wait until your alone."We looked at each other... And then we started to laugh. "Okay. Seriously though, my dad cannot find out about this. He threatened to put my last boyfr
On my Webnovel Account, the Wandering Wolves is a story I'm currently posting I'll post the first four here (and chapter five, maybe six here tomorrow), hopefully to drump up some interest. But the rest of the chapters (after five or six) will only be going up on Webnovel! If you're interested, please head over and read them! It'd mean the world to me!Chapter I: RebirthFor a long time, my vision was white after the light blinded me. My ears were ringing after they popped. The ringing was so loud I couldn't hear anything over it. Oh God, I felt nauseous. I wanted to puke.What the hell happened to me? Was I dead? Was this hell? Or did those paramedics save my life? According to the voice, I think I was dead, but that was probably some near-death hallucination. It felt like it was some scene out of an anime.Anime. When was the last time I watched an anime or read a manga? I was kicked out of the house in 2030. It had been fifteen years since I watched one. Back in those days, anime a
Chapter V: Teacher DamianoWhen Pierce came out of the back room, he was laughing with Nile. Only it wasn't just the two of them; he had his arms around a girl a little bit younger than he was. She was clinging to him and wrapping her hair around her finger.Nile was looking at her the same way Pierce was. She must be playing for the same team as us. Which was strange. Everything I read about the amazons said they were biologically programmed to be on the men-loving side. Hell, they even had a sex drive that could rival a teenage boy. The book I read theorized that it was because amazons didn't get pregnant easily, so they mated more to give themselves more chances.When they got back over to us, Pierce hauled me up on his shoulders. "It's official, the Lamplighters have become an Association! The Guild Master approved it. Drinks are on me today!"Everyone in the guild hall cheered and the booze started flowing. Given that I was two years old, I didn't stick around very much longer. W
Interlude: AliceWhen they pulled into the city, the progenitor watched the building flash by in remembrance. When was the last time she had set foot in this city of sin? Back when she was duking it out with Damien before he decided he wanted to be someone else.She was going to drag Damien out of his masquerade, kicking and screaming if she had to. She couldn't do it without him. Her needs came first, rather he liked it or not. And according to one of her titans, they found him. Of course, they didn't appear to be the only ones who did, but she was confident her court would get to him first.That was in the future, though. For now, she had something she needed in this city. The last time she was in this city, one of her toys had been killed. He failed to kill his family, but he did what she needed him to do.It was a shame that Evelyn Lescheres survived, but she could use the hunter. If only to alleviate some of her boredom."Miss?"Alice turned to the driver. "Yes?""Where do you wa
Interlude: YayoiOne of the benefits of agelessness was the experience. Yayoi had been alive longer than most other people on Artemis and in her time serving Damien's court, she picked up a large set of skills.One such skill was the ability to sniff out the underworld. The criminal elements had a certain smell about them and they were easy enough to find when she caught their scent. Not in a literal manner.When they arrived in Neptune, they planned to keep everything in-house. They didn't need to make connections with the underworld. They were firmly hidden and Damien could have the life he wanted. Even if it was only for one lifetime.Yet things changed. They had been discovered. Yayoi still didn't know how, but she would find out.As for right now, she needed to make contact with the criminal underworld and one of her contacts had set up the meeting. Brandon Durden was a made man in the Arel family. He wasn't one of the bosses, but he was high enough that he could go to meetings.
Evelyn XVIWhat did those visions mean? What message had Alice hidden in them? She wanted to channel me. A battle of the minds? To see if I could uncover the clues she laid out for me before she completed her little game. Did she have no faith that I'd be able to?Or did Alice just not care? Was this just a game to her? A way for some age-old progenitor to relieve her boredom? Either way, innocent likes were at stake. Whatever she was doing, innocent people weren't going to be spared. That wasn't how she operated. Game or not, she'd play hard."I'm leaving this message for you hunter, a challenge if you will. You see, I think people only have true value when acting on their own individual impulses and desires." No fucking shit. "I've asked a lot of people about their suppressed free will and I've come to facilitate them. In return, the ones I've freed are willing to help me. This message comes to you from a young titan girl who was born laboring in the chains of certain criminals. By
In the fullness of time, we would come to find that the bandits were the foolish ones. No one in their right mind would call that place home.There was something worse than bandits in those mountains and we were front and center to see it.We had just gotten near the bottom of the mountains after a week of walking. All around the mountain was what looked like an African savanna. There was one long dirt road that ran straight through the tall grass and scattered trees. I imagined a lion laying in wait for us in that tall grass. Yep, we would be taking the dirt path.Euphy was groaning about lunch, and Gwen was all smiles."How about we make camp here? We can cook those rabbits."I'm glad we had Gwen with us. She wasn't just a top-class magician, she could create magic traps. Traps designed for catching something to eat.I looked at the sky. The sun was still high. "I think we should keep moving. We want to find civilization, don't we.""We already have," Euphy reminded me."Civilization
The Girl with Auburn HairIn the early morning light, the valley was beautiful. As the sun got higher in the sky, mist rose from the trees and covered the mountains. It wasn't the color-changing fog of Attea's creation, but a common, white mist. As the sun climber further into the sky, the mist burned away. The lake shimmered in the sunlight as a breeze gently rocked through the valley.There was something ethereal about this place. It felt out of an anime or fantasy book, untouched by human hands. I lived my whole life in San Francisco. When I was younger, my parents took me to see the Redwoods, but that was the only time I left the city. It was a very long time ago. To me, the world had become a concrete jungle.Wind Port was a lot better to look at, but it was still a city. Where ever we were, there wasn't a single sign of civilization. And it was beautiful. This place looked like it was out of a dream.I couldn't get the boar out of my head. Through the night, it haunted me. A dum
When the wolves began to surround her, the Knight expected attack. Instead the wolves turned tail and sprinted up the stairs.In the direction of one of the evacuations. The Knight had started to regard the wolves as young. Gifted, talented, but young. Head strong. Not the kind of beasts that she would have to worry about being clever. At least, not yet. The Knight didn't have any intention of letting them live that long.She underestimated them. She she flew up the stairs after them, desperate to make sure the evacuation wasn't interrupted.The wolve nearest her, the male, turned on her like a dime. He jumped off the wall and tackled her, it's mouth ripping into her shoulder.He tour a chunk out of her skin.
The Knight was starting to feel a little bad about it. It was like taking candy fro. a baby. These wolves were the babies and she was the mean and she was the frightening old hag in this children's story. It wasn't that the wolves were bad. In fact, for being so young (and they were young, if their scents told her anything), they fought extremely well. They had trained to fight as a pack anf there was nothing to critique.It was just a shame they ran into her, a monster so old. One who had feed on so much blood it might as well fill an ocean.Still, she wouldn't underestimate them. As the three wolves positioned themselves around her, she prepared to end their lives.
Her office was in ruins and now she was pissed. She shouldn't be. She would have to abandon the office regardless, because the wolves decided to come.It all looped back again to the wolves. The Knight was going to have to destroy her office before Sword got here, so she was going to take her agression out on the mutts that caused all of this.The two wolves divided, coming at her from different sides. The Knight kept her eyes on the female, listening intently to the male behind her.When he moved, she heard it and he jumped over the charging beast.The Knight raked her claws across its back, drawing blood.
The office was a clean and polished white. It looked even more professional than than the government offices she used to work in. From the office, you had a great view of the arra called the quad. There was a creepy bronze statue of Nathaniel Gilbert, the founder of the city. The Gilbert family were apparently rich as all hell and still contributed so much to the school. And now her office was in pieces. Granted, she was the one who propelled the wolf through, but she wasn't about to admit that.At least she heard a resounding CRACK!The other two hesitated. "Well? Come at me, mutts."
When she saw the woman on the stairs, Bianca growled. The scene of the dead radiated off of her. Not the blood of her victims, no. The deep, decaying scent of death that a rotting body produces.There were only two thinga that made that scent: the aforementioned rotting bodies and the strix.Not a strigo ot a striges, but a true creature of the night. Either a knight or a progenitor. The woman smirked as her fingernails extended into claws. She leaped down the stairs and attacked them head on, despite being out numbered.Bianca barked, the sign to scatter, but it was too late. The strix jump tackled her.
"Where are the wolves?" she asked."They have entered the tunnels, commander," one of her officers replied."When will they breach the lower levels?""Less than five minutes.""Very well. It's been a long time since I've skinned a mutt. Maybe I'll make a pelt. Continue the evacuation. I want everything out by lunch time.""You think the mutts will make it down here?""I'm not worried about the animals, but Sword is coming. For us and the mutts. This facility is compromised. We're leaving.""Understood, commander.""Alert security. I don't want any of them up there with us. Have them on guard while we evacuate."
It came to an end when The Guard was cornered by one of the wolf mutts. In that moment, he thought his life was over.He had chased the female to one of the old board rooms the humans used. The room was small and he was sure it would restrict her movements. With his strength and the pistol, he'd be able to overpower her.That was his original plan. And it semed to work, for a second. He ran straight in after the female bitch in the leg.The only problem was how close to the door she was. She rammed him through the room. She sank her teeth in his skin and ripped off his arm. She would have taken his head off if he hadn't fallen through a window.