past that.
Earl tried to find some part of his body that was not covered in blood to wipe the safety glasses on but finally gave up and tossed the glasses out the window. Aino shut off the engine, and the tractor gurgled its last. After the mechanical noise and the gunfire, the night seemed abnormally quiet. The only sound was the hissing of air escaping from their punctured tires. Even the snow had stopped falling.
“You know, I’ve been doing this kind of thing a long time…” Earl pulled out a cigarette and lit up. Thankfully, at least it wasn’t red. “I’ve got to say that this is the single nastiest thing I’ve ever seen. And trust me, brother, I’ve seen some crazy shit in my day. Smoke?”
“Yup.” Aino surveyed the carnage. Earl was impressed that the old man didn’t need to puke. They built them tough up here in the frozen north. “So, this is what saving the day feels like, eh?”
“Something like that. Welcome to the exciting world of professional monster hunting. Usually not quite so… messy. Well, it’s always messy, but we’ve reached a whole ’nother level on this one.”
It would be dawn soon. The storm was wearing off. The energy used to disrupt local communications was weakening. It was only a matter of time before the MCB found out what they’d done here, and there would be hell to pay. It had been nearly twenty years since this level of supernatural carnage had been inflicted on American soil. The MCB would surely react with overwhelming force.
Yet, the Alpha wasn’t even slightly worried.
Lucinda Hood had mustered her courage and descended into Shaft Six. The Alpha had been surprised to see her come down into the dark. The witch stank with fear, and it wasn’t the nervous anxiety of earlier: it was actual terror, and it was because of him. “Somehow they’ve killed most of your bloody vulkodlak. It’s stupid to stick around,” she shouted. “This is madness!”
“Fulfilling a destiny isn’t madness,” the Alpha corrected. There was no way he could be upset with her. Her pathetic senses couldn’t see what his could. Even her new god was less than what he was becoming. “We’ll leave in plenty of time, but there’s one last thing to do. He’s coming for me.”
“Who?” Lucinda asked, confused. “Who’s coming for you?”
The amulet had whispered that there was one last challenge to be faced before he was complete. It had become more aware as he’d fed it souls, until it had begun to communicate freely. The spirit of the forerunner was restless, but after being kept dormant by Koshei for so long, it had to know that he was worthy of all its gifts. “I don’t know,” he said simply. “But he’ll be here soon. I’ll prove myself worthy. Then we’ll go.”
“Worthy? Harbinger killed Petrov. You killed Harbinger. Who else is there? There are only a handful of other werewolves of their caliber, and none anywhere near here.”
“Petrov is alive. I can smell him. Maybe he’s the one, maybe not.” Despite the fact that his senses were ridiculously acute, the clues were more confusing about Harbinger. He would surely know if there was another Alpha out there, and he’d seen Harbinger die, the spirit ripped right out of his body, and used to feed the amulet… Yet there was a strangeness in the air, almost like a shadow of Harbinger was lingering.
There was only one other werewolf in range that didn’t belong to the pack, but created by one of his line just this very night, an anomaly caused by the mad fluctuations of the amulet. A woman, and she had the blood of the thieving Finn, but also something else, something odd about her scent. Could it be her? The idea was absurd; she was too inexperienced to be a threat.
At this very moment the female was watching this place from the shelter of the forest, thinking that her presence was unknown. The Alpha had assumed that she had been driven by instinct to come begging for a place in the pack, but instead she’d just stayed there, observing. Perhaps she was frightened to come down. Maybe she understood how he’d fed on his own pack earlier, but he was satisfied now. With the bloodlust past, she would have been safe enough. He was feeling merciful. Yet, though there was a hint of fear on the mystery woman, there was far more resolve.
Lucinda continued to plead with him, but the witch could never hope to comprehend what the amulet wanted. Since putting it on, his understanding had continually increased. He knew now for sure that this was the item used to create the very first of his kind. It was not alive, it was not intelligent, but it had been programmed to search for someone worthy. Now it was telling him all that remained was to confirm he was truly the one. That meant facing one last unknown challenger.
The Alpha had learned about the amulet from intel gathered by the original Operation Unicorn during the Second World War. It had been far before his time, but he had read the OSS reports detailing the mysterious Koschei and his mysterious abilities. It wasn’t until archeologists had uncovered the bones of the forerunner that he’d come to understand his mission in life. The MCB had seized the forerunner’s remains, but not before word had spread to his own organization. The first time he’d touched the bones, he’d known. The spirit of the forerunner had filled his mind with images. The dreams had begun shortly after, and finding the lost amulet had become his sole purpose in life.
Of course it was fate. He was a werewolf, but he’d also started as so much more than a human. It was obvious why the forerunner had chosen him. It was still far beyond his comprehension how or why the amulet had been fashioned through human alchemy and the Old Ones’ lore, and then used to rip the spirit from the fiercest of all monsters to be bonded to a man, but he knew with all his heart that he was the one they had built it for. He was the true Alpha, the one who would prepare the way.
As the Alpha listened to the witch’s protests, the unknown female werewolf left the tree line and loped back toward town. Running her down would have been easy, but the amulet told him to let her go. Apparently, it thought she had some part to play.
Chapter 27
The good people of Copper Lake came out of the gym to check for survivors, then promptly took an ax to any vulkodlak that was still moving.
“I’ll be damned, Mr. Harbinger. I do believe you’ve made an unholy mess of things out here,” Nancy Randall said after she climbed through the barricade. She looked down at the organic slurry under her boots in disgust and then back at Earl with only slightly less disgust. Earl stood his ground. His armor was still dripping blood. She cracked a smile. “If you weren’t so damn gross, I’d give you a hug.”
“Thank you kindly, ma’am,” Earl said as Aino approached. “But the wood-chipper on wheels was Aino’s idea. I do believe the county owes him one hell of a Christmas bonus.”
Nancy looked over Aino, who wasn’t much cleaner than Earl. “I’ll make sure he gets a parade and the keys to the city.”
“Forget the keys. I’ll take paid vacation,” Aino said. “Someplace with no werewolves.”
There was cheering and shouting from inside the gym as word spread about the vulkodlak. “Don’t get too excited just yet,” Earl warned. “They’ll be back. This isn’t enough to account for every dead body in town. The ones I hurt ran, but they’ll be back. The tractor’s toast, but we can use it to shore up your barricade, which should make it tougher to break in. But we’ve still got bigger problems.”
“You’ve got no idea,” Nancy muttered as a large figure ducked under the barricade to join them outside.
Earl frowned. “Agent Stork?”
“Stark,” the MCB man corrected automatically before launching into a spittle-flecked tirade. “Damn you, Harbinger. The only reason I don’t shoot you on the spot is because of all the rednecks with guns in there who think you’re some sort of…” He searched for the word.
“Hero?” Earl pointedly looked at the splattered walls and spread his hands. “Well…duh.”
Stark’s face was flushed and angry. “Let me tell you something. When we get back to civilization, you’re going down. I’ll make sure-”
“Cram it, fatty,” Nancy said. “Come on inside, boys. It really stinks out here.” She led the way back through the hole.
It was obvious Stark wasn’t used to being told what to do by civilians. He just glared as Earl casually bumped into him, staining Stark’s armor red, but the agent held his tongue. The original doors had been torn to splinters and then replaced with the boards from the bleachers, bathroom stalls, and everything short of the kitchen sink. Judging
