In the name of the family.
The woman ran faster then she had ever run in her life.
She ran as if the devil himself had unleashed his soul hounds just to capture her. Her arms pumped madly, her eyes were like saucers, daring not to look behind her in case she saw them.
Her lungs hurt as they struggled to find the breath to keep going. Her legs began to ache and some place deep inside she cursed herself for not keeping fit.
She stumbled off the road and sprawled into the dry mud of the moor. She pulled herself to her feet wishing, willing herself onwards.
Her knees stung and blood trickled down them where she had cut herself. She paused to wipe the blood hoping they were far enough behind her not to catch the scent. As she rounded a corner she saw two cottages standing solitary. Relief began to wash over her, sanctuary at last.
She ran to them, a last adrenalin burst giving her weary limbs the extra power boost she needed.
Her joy was short lived.
Both cottages were shrouded in darkness and no amount of her banging and bellowing made any difference. She groaned in despair and glanced up the long hill. She made out some light n the distance and wearily began to run again.
However, now her legs refused to move. They needed to rest and she found herself stumbling again. This time she couldn't will her body to move. She heaved great lungful of air, her chest hurt and a stitch made its way viciously along her left side. Sobbing, she crawled to the steps and sat against the great stone needle that jutted into the sky.
She pulled a battered pack of Lambert and Butler cigarettes from her pocket but her hands were shaking that much that couldn't get her lighter to spark. Defeated, she put her head in her hands and wept.
"There now" A voice whispered beside her "No need to cry because your lighter won't work"
She almost jumped out of her skin and looked wildly around. They had found her and now they were going to do to her what they had done to all those poor people in the house.
She began to fumble for the crucifix around her neck and then cried as she realised it was gone, lost in her flight from that place and its ocean of blood.
The stranger cocked their head a little and leant forward. She braced herself for the impact of teeth on flesh and the pain that came with a throat being ripped from its nest.
It never came.
Instead, a cigarette was passed to her and the stranger leant back against the stone needle.
"Do you know where you are?" the stranger asked.
"What? No" The woman replied incredulous that this stranger would want to talk like a normal civilised human when there were psychopaths out there after her.
"This is Marston Moor and here one of the most vicious battles of the English Civil war was fought. To your left is where the Royalist army was waiting, ready for the Roundheads who were battle lined on your right. See that clump of trees on the crest of the hill?" She nodded dumbly wondering when her companion would just shut the hell up and allow her to get her breath and run away again, before they came "that's where Cromwell was stationed, they call it Cromwell's Clump because a little way behind it was his wagon and all his supplies and maps and the like. From there the roundheads came hurtling down and in one night the royalists were killed. Had Prince Rupert and his army arrived earlier who knows, maybe Cromwell would be dead and this land would be so different." She rapped her knuckles against the stone needle "The locals here re-in-act it every year. Quite a show it is too. Hog roast, ale. Yup the villagers of Long Marston, Hessay and Rufforth head to Tockwith and fill themselves on ale, hog and fun in the sun. when it doesn't rain that is" she heaved a sigh "but the dead lay uneasy in this place"
"Wh-what do you mean?" she asked, finally calming her breathing enough for the stranger to hand her a bottle of water.
"Thousands of men died here Elouise"
the woman started. Oh god, its one of them, how else would they know my name?
"Their bodies were left to rot here, no burial so this was no consecrated burial. So the dead lay uneasy in the ground they have to call their home. This is one of the most haunted places in this region" She fell silent then looked at the ashen faced woman "You just run seven miles like the devil himself was on your tail now I'm telling you to run some more"
She shook her head "No, please I do not want to die"
"Did I say anything about killing you?" The stranger looked past to a distant point and sniffed the air a few times "You go back to that cottage and hide behind the hedge, leave your coat here for a moment. You do not come out until I tell you" She ripped the woman's shirt sleeve twice and tied it round her knees to cover the blood "You do not move and no matter what you hear or see you stay where you are. Do you understand me?" She nodded "Now hurry, I'll come for you in a while"
"Why don't I just head into the village?"
The strangers calm and polite tone vanished "because you will be dead before you reach the first farmhouse" She pointed again to the cottages that had denied the young woman entry at first "Go!"
She took the water and half limped, half walked back to the cottages she had so desperately tried to gain access too a short while ago. Now though she just ducked down behind the hedge and made her way to the fence where she could see. Despite her fear a morbid curiosity took over and peering through the hedge she began to watch.
What she would see would change her forever.
The three figures descended out of seemingly nowhere. The sky had been their cover, their cloaks of darkness but now, with the moon starting to peer through the clouds once more that cover was gone.
The figure remained where they were, lighting another cigarette and watched the new arrivals with all the boredom of someone who had done this a thousand times before.
As the hunters came nearer she lay her had back and blew smoke rings into the air. They were dressed similar, all in black, all tall and slender looking and very good looking. However their beauty was marred by the mat of red that coated their lower jaws.
"My, my" The stranger sighed "I guess someone forgot to clean up after dinner"
One of the new arrivals moved towards them and hissed in their face. Her canines sharp and flesh matted. The figure wafted their hand in front of their nose "Eww someone needs to see a dentist! Didn't your mother ever tell you to brush your teeth after every meal. Goddess you got breath as bad as one of my dogs farts"
"You will feel my breath human" The creature assured "When I give you a death that will send you crying to hell!"
"I'd rather not, in future just breath on your victims that'll be enough to keel them over!"
The creature raised its taloned hand, ready to strike at the impudent human when the prey punched her hand through her chest and grasped her heart.
"It's really impolite to attack without first introducing ones self. Now I am Lycan" The other two Vampires stepped back at the mention of the ancient name of the ancient enemy "You would be Dagos!" She pulled her hand out and looked at the dead heart then allowed herself a wry smile at the expression of horror on the woman's face before her would-be attacker vanished into ash and dust then the heart exploded in her hand and she dropped the burning remnants to the ground "I would eat it but I prefer my food medium rare – not worm ridden" She got to her feet and stretched her neck a little the cracks ringing out "Hmm, I see you have all been on a hunting raid" She made a disapproving sound and pulled her long cattleman's coat off and lay it on the ground and as the moon came fully out of her cloud cover the hiding human finally saw her saviour for the first time.
She was tall, about 5'10 with long dark brown hair. Her build was well defined. Muscles that seemed to flow in perfect flux and synchronicity. By the light of the moon she caught a glimpse of a face that was almost wolfish. Her voice rang out and this time there was no humour just cold matter of fact determination. "You would hunt children? You would hunt in my domain?"
"Just give us the human Lycan, our quarrel is not with you" The remaining woman of the two warily said.
"Oh Mecara" Lycan quietly yet forcefully spoke "Your quarrel is with me and by my most sacred lady of us all you will feel her justice. You have trespassed in my domain. You have killed and feasted which means I am going to have to go there and torch the remains. By the goddess all I wanted was a quiet night watching CSI and because of you I'm going to miss what happened to Sara Siddel!" The male launched at her. She caught him by the throat and held him aloft "and I've been following that storyline…" her arms began to bulge becoming larger, longer and more muscular, hair covered the arms pushing through the pores like wired worms and rushing over the human skin like a hoard of hairy caterpillars. "all the way and now I'm going to have to watch it another day when all my friends would have seen it!" Her nose elongated into a powerful snout that opened to reveal a deep maw and a set of teeth so sharpe they could rip limb from socket in one powerful bite, her ears moved to points and to all intense and purposes she looked like a large hairy Vulcan but they soon changed position as her head fully formed into its lupine form her ears came to rest at the side and the top.
Her voice became a growl and as she tore the throat of the vampire out and her triumphant howl echoed across the ancient moor.
Her transformation was complete, the human was gone to be replaced by a creature that was over ten feet tall. Perfectly balanced, the perfect killing machine that mother nature had in her arsenal .
She dropped the body to the floor then with a huge powerful fist ripped the heart out dropped it to the floor "You Mecara run!"
"I never run from your bastard kind!" Mecara stood firm "They were weak I am not! The Garou are dying whereas we are not! We live!"
The Garou cocked her head in a move that might have been amusement or to the watching, hiding woman consideration of her next move.
"We are rare because we chose our mates carefully. We do not interbreed like you renegade scum!" She moved closer "Vampires attack all they can whenever they can their bloodlust is their downfall! The children of the goddess are more choosy about their progeny! We nurture our young while you let them go before they are even ready!"
"You hate us all Lycan, even the ones that are your allies!" Mecara smirked
"No. I hate you, for over 300 years you have been a thorn in my side – well child this is one fight you cannot win!"
The Vampire moved into the light of the moon. Her black hair made her pale features more ascetic. Her eyes burned red and from the folds of her coat she threw a silver blade straight into the Garous arm.
The creature roared with pain and fell to her knees. The Vampire merely looked around confident her weapon would finish her enemy off.
"The great and mighty Lycan – dead!" She focused her gaze on the cottages ready to go and find her prey and feeling pretty good about her triumph over her sires ancient enemy.
"Don't be so sure about that" She frowned and turned at the deep animalistic growl "I'm not like the younger packs!"
Lycan ripped the knife that by all the laws of the Garou should have killed her out of her arm and threw it with such force that it imbedded in the concrete below her feet.
The vampire hissed in fury and flew at her. Her porcelain beauty was gone to be replaced by the face that all humans saw before they died or were given the dark kiss. The Hunter face as the Kindred called it, the true nature of the horror that was within the outside beauty of the Vampire.
She sank her teeth into the shoulder of the Garou who roared in pain and ripped her head out bringing her own flesh and a large flow of blood with it. Mecara was thrown through the air and impacted against a lone oak tree cracking it with such force that it almost collapsed under the attack.
The Vampire got to her feet undaunted by the attack and launched herself at the wounded Garou ready to truly finish the ancient off.
Lycan ducked at the last moment and brought her rear foot up hitting the flying Kindred in the stomach, her claws imbedded and lofted her high into the air, sailing over the top of the memorial and landing in the dry field of the dead.
Lycan got to her feet, her wounded shoulder sagging. It would hurt for a few days but it would heal. Yet another battle scar to the collection. The Vampire landed on her back faster then a limpet and pounded the wound with her own talons.
The Garou roared in new agony, lancing barbs of hurt ripped through her shoulder and she was in serious danger of blacking out. Mecara had been a woman of the eastern lands. She had been given the dark kiss by Erebus, one of the Kindred ancients. The Greeks had called him their god of chaos. He was a Vampire god and his children had a small portion of his power.
Lycan cursed herself. She should have known better. Still with all that in mind she was still stronger, faster and more powerful and with primal survival instinct she reached over her shoulder, ignoring the pain and grabbed the vampire by the back of her head and pulled.
The head came clean from its spinal column with a slight snap. She held the head before her as the death mask showed, blood caked mouth open in astonishment. She tossed it to one side as the body fell to the floor and crumbled into nothing.
She staggered and allowed herself to fall back to the floor. Allowing the change to come over her and revert herself back to her human form. Her clothes reappeared as if by magic, not torn or ripped. Wearily she picked her coat up and put it on then sat against the needle.
She glanced up until her gaze hit the point. It jutted skywards like a dagger, pointing into the sky like an accusing finger at the gods of war. The deaths here four or five hundred years ago may have been the cause of two madmen who had decided that they knew best for their country.
Tonight it had been to protect those who had no inkling of the worlds true powers and she was content to let it remain that way. She made her way to a parked motorbike, got on and with a solemn bow both sides of her, honouring the long term dead, she made her way to the cottages.
"You had better show me where those bodies are"
Elouise stood up and refused to move "you'll kill me too"
"If I was going to kill you child I would have done so by now. Now get on and show me where you were"
Elouise took the jacket she was given and climbed on the back of the bike she slowly pointed in the direction and went quiet.
Elouise watched as the house and all who had been killed by the Vampires burnt to the ground. She glanced at her companion "Why did you do that?"
Lycan met her gaze and in the embers of the flames she made out her appearance. Long dark red hair that now sported a grey streak up the centre of her hair and bright green eyes that now seemed a little less bright. She almost felt sorry for her. She was a good looking woman despite the blood and mud caked on her face and body.
"If I didn't then Hessay would be over run by Vampires come tomorrow night and that won't be good" She got back on her bike "You better come with me"
"Why?"
"Her master will know of you and you won't be safe. Besides I have a proposition for you"
"What kind of proposition?"
"Come with me and you'll find out"
Elouise stared back at the burning house that would forever be remembered in her mind as a blood bath and then climbed on the back of the motorbike and as it roared away she wondered what was going to happen now.
The apartment overlooked the River Ouse.
It was larger then anything Elouise had ever seen and the view of the ancient waterway was strangely calming. The moon was now clear of its cloud dress and it shimmered in staggering lines across the water. It looked quite beautiful.
She turned a little as the woman known as Lycan flicked the lights on.
"bathrooms through there. There is some spare clothes in the bathroom and clean towels. You'll have to give me what you are wearing"
"Why?"
"Because the Kindred of your attackers clan will smell it a mile off and they'll find you so I'll have to burn them" She said it with no more passion then she would show watching a dreary film.
Elouise found her lack of compassion a little disconcerting but she did want to get clean again, or sleep properly for that matter.
She went into the shower and almost tore her clothes off eager to be out of them. As she stood under the water letting it cascade down her body she closed her eyes and wept. The exhaustion giving way to fear and relief in equal measures. Still the images of those killed assaulted her mind like a freight train.
It had been a barbecue, just a small village barbeque. The children had been sent on a trip to the coast as a treat from the parish council. The adults that were left behind had decided to make the most of their freedom.
She wasn't from York, she was from Newcastle but she was studying at York University. Ironically she was studying paranormal mythology and studies and was training to be a Paranormal Psychologist. It had been a passion of hers for longer then she could remember. Now after tonight and what she had seen she was not so sire of anything anymore.
The Vampires had come from nowhere. Just the three of them but their strength was phenomenal and they had lain into the screaming villagers like hungered beasts.
She had been in the bathroom and when she looked out to see what the screaming was all about she had seen a woman jerking like an orgasmic dummy having her throat drained.
She had climbed out the bathroom window and begun her flight but the attackers had seen her however they were content with finishing their meal first. She was only human and they would sport with her.
She dried herself off and looked in the mirror. She barely recognised the weary features of the reflection that stared back at her. She looked around herself and found the change of clothes ironically the right size. She changed and went back into the main apartment. Her host had gone leaving her alone so she took a look around.
There was a large pool table and she ran her hand along the baize almost as if she feel of something tangible could reassure her that she was living in the real world and not some horror movie script.
There were Gothic type carvings on the walls and statues on the shelves. She glanced up then stepped sideways as a wood carving of a wolfs head seemed to come out the wall and right at her.
Gargoyles and other demonic entities carved in grey stone peered down from the ceiling and other varying places. It was like walking through some ancient castle for want of a better word.
As she walked around she noticed some pictures on the shelves, framed and kept dust free the faces she did not know nor recognise but they obviously meant something to her host.
She stood in front of the fireplace and looked up, gasping at the huge painting that dominated the breast wall. It was Stonehenge, that most recognisable of British icons beautifully rendered almost as if the person that had painted it had been there when it was first built. It was Stonehenge as she had looked 10,000 years ago and the people in the paintings were wearing the robes of the ancient Druids.
"Summer solstice"
The voice behind her made her jump and she cursed her nerves for still being on a knife edge, then again she couldn't blame the feeling. It had been a nerve shredder of a night.
"I didn't know if you took sugar. The sugar bowls there" she pointed to the table.
"It is wonderful how the artist has captured the whole beauty of Summer Solstice. I love going to Stonehenge on Solstice days, no other place like it on earth its almost as if the artist was there on the first Solstice"
"Hmm that's why I brought it" Lycan sat on the leather sofa and put her feet up on the coffee table.
Elouise sat in the armchair and sipped her coffee. There was silence for a while then she asked.
"What's your proposition?"
Lycan rubbed her lower jaw and ran her blue grey eyes over the human woman. Elouise could almost hear the ticking over of the Garous mind as she thought about what she was going to say. She pulled a face as if to say she had made her mind up and the grim tone began her tale.
"You were attacked by three Kindred of The Children of Erebus"
"The Greek god of Chaos?" Elouise frowned.
"Good you know your mythos but you are slightly wrong. Erebus was the son of the Greek primordial god Khaos and he represented the personification of shadow and darkness that fills all corners of the world he is also the father of Charon, the ferryman of the Styx. He is also the third Vampire ancient after Lilith and Cain but he is also the cruellest.
The thought was not promising and Elouise broke eye contact and stared into her coffee thankful that she had no relatives. She continued listening as Lycan filled her in on the history of the Vampires and she found herself imagining the events as if she had been there herself.
Witness to such events.
About 500 years ago the most powerful Vampire clans came together in a bid to find some way of not only living in peace with the humans but to stop them from making the ancient race almost extinct with the Inquisition and Vampire hunters from the Holy Roman Emperor himself then they had to find a way of conserving their peace.
The Sons of Cain were the most powerful as they descended from Cain himself., the third Mortal. The Daughters of Lilith were next as they were descended from the Mesopotamian storm demon.. Lilith was not only a demoness who ruled the storms and commanded the winds but she was the harbinger of death, illness and disease who not only kidnapped children but feasted on blood. And to the Jews she was the demon of the night.
Lilith was as secretive about her nature as anyone else and thus her daughters were the greatest warriors in the Kindred realm, they were a female only clan who associated with males and fought with them but never initiated them into their clan such was the strength of their convictions. Any male vampire sired by a Daughter of Lilith was handed over to the Sons of Cain. The Children of Erebus were the most vicious, the other end of the scale and were seen as the most vicious who thoroughly believed that no act was heinous enough to get the result they desired.
The Scions of Chaos were a clan begun by the ancient Roman Emperor Caligula who's sire had been supposedly the Spartan King Leonidas who was so disgusted at what he had had done that he abandoned his child and sought release. How much truth there was in that no one really knew. More then likely it was an ancient who took the identity of the famous Spartan King but then again the truth would never be fully known.
Caligula was well known for his sexual perversions as well as being cruel, sick and twisted and that was how his children procreated through incest, torture and orgies indeed one of Caligula's prized Praetorian Guard Mandeaus Granteaus not only served as his masters advisor but his bodyguard too. If their grandsire had indeed been that most noble of warriors then all that he was had been perverted and twisted into nothing more then vile abhorrence of all that he had stood for.
The Warriors of Babylon were ancient and traced their line back to the Persian kings and it was rumoured that Xerxes the son of Darius was their lord and master. Seeing as how some of their members were horribly deformed and mutated into things more nightmarish then the everyday humans worst nightmares. There were also rumours of that the clan used magic in its most diabolical form, blood magic.
The Children of Tepesche were descended from Vlad Tepesche himself the most famous of all the Vampires and were the tactical genius's of the Kindred. If there was a battle to be fought then these Kindred were usually the ones that led from the front.
The Covern of Mandora took their name from a warrior of the Inquisition and firmly believed to this day that they were doing gods work and gods work alone. They are the great Arbiters of the Vampires, if one of them was on your tail then there truly was no escape. The Law of the Vampires and a religious zealotry tended to make a rather unholy concoction.
There were 6 lesser clans. The Sons of Setti, The Followers of Blood, The Zion's, the Vikings of Scandos and the Daughters of Pandora. These clans were no less in prowess or skill, however as they were not as old as the others their power was not quite on a par with the older generations of the Vampire hierarchy.
The Council had observed all treaties and respects and honour due to each lord or lady of the clan, whatever their problems might have been. In the Great Hall of Night there was no animosity and all quarrels were left at the door.
All that changed when the high lord spoke and told them all that the culling of humans was to stop. As a result those of the darker blood rebelled and vampiric civil war ensued that lasted for over two centuries. Eventually the Clans that had joined forces for power and seeing the real advantage to working with the high lord and his powerful allies pushed them all back.
Terova, who had witnessed his lord and master Cain killed by Erebus and had taken his role as Patriarch of the Sons of Cain had approached the Garou and other shapeshifters to make a lasting peace.
The Shapeshifters had gone through their own civil war and were low in numbers, looking after their human kin to ensure that when the gene appeared again then they would be there to help that child through the time of change.
The great Warlords gathered and agreed that perhaps humans as a whole were not altogether bad and the most ancient of their kind agreed to the pact. Over the centuries they were joined by ghosts, mages and others creatures of the other world and they called themselves The Night Creature Alliance sworn to protect each other and human kind
All the old enmities were set aside and they fought to keep humans safe from the evil that had corrupted their other kin. As Elouise listened she imagined herself in that world. Living it as if she was almost one of them. The feeling was so overwhelming it almost shook her to her core.
She nodded as the Werewolf finished her story "So what do I call you? I can't very well call you Lycan all the time can I?"
"You can call me Jo" Jo replied and scratched her head.
"Is that your name?"
"In this lifetime"
Elouise frowned "You not immortal in that body then?"
"I am until it gets harmed then my soul will be reborn until I hit adolescence and then I will remember." She sat back and locked her wolfish eyes with her guest "When you are done here you are to go to this address and ask for Saul Jeffries you will be helping him and me"
"Am I? And if I don't?"
Jo shrugged "Your choice but like I said you owe me as you put it earlier. This is the way you repay that debt. Besides you might like what they do. They need all the help they can get at the moment" There was an underlying urgency in the Garous voice and Elouise agreed. Jo nodded and nodded in the general direction of the spare room, "Get some sleep you're going to need it by the time I'm done with you"
Elouise lay in the dark staring at the ceiling and shaking her head to get rid of those memories she turned on her side and for one horrible moment the full moon, outside her window turned into the face of something else.
Something more primal then mankind and a laughter filled her head. She buried her head under the pillow and shut her eyes, whispering a prayer that she had been told at childhood then opened her eyes again the moon was its normal well known face.
Somehow she knew that whoever that face had been she was going to be seeing it at some point and it was not going to be pretty.
Saul stretched and laid his hand on the empty space beside him. He heaved a sigh, his wife was not there, left early again or simply not returned from the office again. It was getting a lot like that of late.
He lit a cigarette and swung himself out of bed then headed for the bathroom emerging half an hour later feeling more refreshed but in urgent need of coffee. He heard the door bang and frowning he moved to the door and opened it to see a still terrified Elouise standing there.
"Lycan sent me" She muttered casting a fearful glance over her shoulder.
Saul heaved a sigh and stepped to one side "You better come in then" He let her in and looked behind her then shut the door.
He had the feeling that his first meeting with the enigmatic immortal Werewolf was going to change his life….