Chapter 19

Behind the Museum, Copper Summit, 14:00

The museum was the most remote and shielded location in the town where the Skins hid. When behind the building, no one could see or hear what was happening nearby. It was there that several of the higher ranking Skins decided to meet, if they tried to gather in the lab beneath the museum then every word would be recorded.

“I don’t like this,” one Skin said as he continued to look around corners. “If we get caught...”

“We won’t,” another said.

“Would you both stop? We all know why we’re here. We’ve all seen the same things. Kivar is hiding away, we hardly ever see him at meetings. He’s fortified his room; its walls are now stronger than the husk lab,” a third Skin said.

“And every full moon he’s locked himself in there.”

“Not to mention that he’s more aggressive. He’s broken the seals on three of our Husks in the last two weeks. At this rate we won’t have to wait for our husks to deteriorate.”

“Are you people listening to yourselves. You are accusing the greatest of us, the saviour of our race from the animals of being ... being what? One of them?”

“We all know lunar cycle affects the animals.”

“Kivar cannot be a Lycanthrope. Why would he lead a crusade against his own race the way he did? Besides, when we rose up against Zan he demanded genetic testing to weed out Lycanthropic spies. He took those tests, we all saw the results.”

“Then how do you explain what we’ve been seeing?”

“I can’t. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to accuse him of being an animal.”

“Our replacement husks are gone and our ship doesn’t have enough power to sustain our life support for our population size in this planet’s atmosphere. I fought against Zan and those things back on Antar. I’ll be damned if I’m going to spend my final weeks following an animal.”

“So what now?”

“Now you all go back to your stations,” Nicholas said as he came around the corner.

“Sir...”

“No, I don’t want to hear it. Have you ever considered that Kivar may just like his privacy and that our inability to track Zan is causing him stress? Besides how would it happen? The ancient gods of the animals reaching down with an outstretched finger and anointing the greatest enemy they’ve ever had?” Nicholas said, holding back laughter.

The others smiled, each finding humour in the arcane myths of their enemies.

“Right now, each of you leave. If you stay, I’ll execute you myself for treason,” Nicholas said.

All of the others looked around at each other. There was nothing they could do and Nicholas was Kivar’s most devoted follower, they knew he would kill them in a heartbeat before going against their leader. With that information firmly lodged in their minds, the Skin leadership scattered from their hiding place.

Kivar’s Quarters...

In his room, Kivar sat in his room across town. Despite the best efforts of his followers, he heard every word. Ever since his return from the Himalayas his senses had increased tenfold. He knew what had been done to him, he didn’t know how but he knew what. He had become the thing he hated most and after hearing what he just had, he knew he couldn’t keep hiding.

His animalistic side was coming through more and more. Unlike Liz and the others, Kivar he wasn’t given his teenage years to adapt to this. He was lumped with it, fully developed and the result was a distinct lack of control. No matter how much he tried, Kivar couldn’t find away to stop. Each passing day he felt more out of it - if he could rip into himself and tear it out, he would.

As he moved around the room Kivar knew he didn’t have much time. He needed to have a plan of escape; he was alone here, against troops he himself trained to fight Lycanthropes on Antar, he didn’t stand a chance until he could control himself. Kivar knew that Nicholas wouldn’t turn a blind eye forever - no matter how much his second in command wanted to deny it.

The Temple, Himalayan Mountains, Immediately Following

In his room in the temple, Anu’bis watched in his pool of water the events in Copper Summit. He liked watching Kivar squirm, even more when the Antarian was in pain and that happened often as he continued to change. Now, he was watching as Kivar’s own people began to conspire against him – his eyes were gleaming. It was the perfect revenge for the massacre of the Antarian Lycanthrope races.

However, soon the jackal-headed being had to turn his attention back to more pressing matters. “Ah, my child ... you’ve been an excellent distraction and actually you might be even more useful in that role later but...” Anu’bis said as he waved his hand over the pool of water.

The liquid rippled and the images of Kivar faded away, however nothing replaced them. Anu’bis scrunched his eyes and waved again and again over the water but nothing appeared.

“What the ... Ho’rus,” he said with realisation. “You’re playing a very difficult game.”

He knew that the only reason he wouldn’t be able to see her was if one of his own race was shielding her. As he tried to shift his view to some of the others at the school in the hope of catching a glimpse of her, he soon found he couldn’t get anything. The whole school had been blocked; the only way through was the communication device in the position of David Flanagan but that wouldn’t let him view anything but the boy.

“I didn’t actually think you had it in you to go against the leadership,” he said.

“Oh I’m not alone in this,” Ho’rus said as he appeared behind the god.

Anu’bis turned around and saw Bas’tet standing next to his adversary. “Hahahaa ... you’re kidding. Do you two really think you can honestly stand against me? Of all the harmless allies you could have picked Ho’rus...”

Bas’tet lowered her eyelids so that they were only open slightly and both others growled. “I’ll show you harmless.”

“Elara,” Ho’rus warned as he held up his hand and then looked back at Anu’bis. “I wouldn’t make her angry. Things have changed since you last met.”

“And I will not allow you to manipulate Liz Parker’s destiny for your own ends. She has the right to live her own life,” Bas’tet said.

“She is a means to an end. I don’t care about what she could do; I know what she can do. She is the means to eradicate all those who are not our children,” Anu’bis said.

“She is a bringer of life, not death. She was meant to save lives from the cataclysm on this planet,” Bas’tet said.

“A cataclysm that the humans will bring on themselves,” Anu’bis said.

“Liz can save them. And if our work is correct she will be saving a lot more,” Ho’rus said.

“Insufficient. The humans, along with all other races, deserve to die for what they have done. Now get out of here ... there is nothing the two of you can do against me,” Anu’bis said as he walked out of the room.

The two other gods looked at each other. They knew he was partially right; there wasn’t much they could do against him, not with his level of power. If they wanted to get anywhere they needed help. Their leaders wouldn’t do it, they would refuse to interfere but they knew of some who might. However, getting them to help would be far easier than getting them to meet in the first place ... they were spread all over the universe.

Living Room, Pride Room, Moonvale School, 2 Weeks Later

In their room Isabel and Liz had both approached Max. In the last little while they had been having a nice little fantasy that they could only get through by dragging each other into the nearest room and loosing themselves in each other. When Max heard it, he smiled, and it wasn’t from just the gleam in the eyes of the women. He didn’t have to consider it for a second before we went to speak to Alex and Kyle. Of course he knew that when it was over, he and the others would be fair game for Michael’s playful revenge.

When Michael entered Max then decided to initiate things. He moved over to his friend and kissed him while pressing his body close to his fellow alien. Michael was caught off guard, Alex and Kyle were feeling hot as they watched and decided to join the fun and came out from behind the sofa. Michael was stunned as two other male bodies pressed against him and kissed him just as Max was. Then Kyle took hold of Michael’s robe and ripped it from his body leaving him naked just as Isabel and Liz brought Maria and Tess in and sat on the chairs to watch. All four of them were naked and eager to pleasure themselves as three of their men sought their pleasure from Michael ... whether he wanted to or not.

Max put his hand on Michael’s ass and gripped him as Kyle reached out and pumped their alien’s cock until it was painfully hard. Then they all backed away enough to give a little room and then forced Michael down onto his knees before feeding Alex’s dick into his mouth. Alex closed his eyes as he thrust his hips, fucking Michael’s mouth as he worked his magic but Alex couldn’t remain standing. He groaned over and over again as Kyle kept Michael’s head in place but he was soon released and they moved to the centre of the room.

Kyle bent down and kissed Michael and as their tongues battled for dominance, they started to enjoy themselves. Michael was becoming harder and Max licked his lips as he stared at his oldest friend’s dick but he wanted to fuck him. Alex looked over all his lovers and smiled, both aliens were aroused. That was when they parted, Max looked at his two human friends and they smiled as each of them moved Michael. The grabbed his arms and he complained and groaned slightly in pain as they forced him onto his front. They held him securely as Max moved behind Michael.

Max then ran the head up and down Michael’s butt cleavage. Michael closed his eyes as Kyle grabbed hold to kiss him; whether Michael was ready or not, Max didn’t care and he eased the head of his dick into Michael.

“Urgnnnnnnnnn,” Michael groaned into Kyle’s mouth.

Max rammed his cock in and out of his friend’s body, both of them grunting at the depth of each thrust. Alex and Kyle watched with a gleam in their eyes as their hands glided over Michael’s skin.

“Uhnnn ... ohhh ... Aghhhh ... Oh god yes,” Michael groaned.

“AHMMMM ... MUFMMMMM. Ugh ... god ... guys...” Max moaned, telling the other two that it was time.

Alex and Kyle smiled. Alex reached under Michael and vigorously stroked his dick up and down. Max propped his hands on Michael’s waist, his cock had never felt harder and he found himself groaning, almost desperately, as he quickly thrust in and out. He wanted nothing more than to just fuck Michael until he exploded in a geyser of cum, and he moved even harder as Kyle bent Michael’s head and put his cock into his mouth. At the same time Alex took hold of Michael’s hand and wrapped it around his own dick. As Michael started to suck his other hand started to stroke up and down. Michael was in a frenzy, he had no idea how he ended here but what he sensed emotions from Maria and they were turning him on, and she was only watching.

The feel of three warm bodies against him was intoxicating to Michael. His nerves were on fire and his dick was throbbing with a mixture of pain and pleasure. He never felt Alex grip this tightly onto his dick before and if the human wasn’t careful then he was going to blow soon.

“Oh, God!” Michael started to groan. He was thrusting his hips upward, and further into Alex’s grip with the additional purpose of grinding his ass against Max.

“OH GODDDDDDDDDDDDD,” Max said with a shout as his seed was released. All throughout his orgasm he kept shaking, his nerves fired and his skin and face flushed. Until finally his cock stopped shooting, and what felt like the longest orgasm of his life ended.

The sensations of Max’s seed hitting inside his body felt incredible and Michael knew that he couldn’t hold back any longer. “UGNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN,” he yelled out and shot his own seed over Alex’s hand. Just as Kyle held Michael’s head in place and he spurted into his mouth.

They had completely wiped each other out and Michael was a quivering mass of flesh. Off to the side, their mates were moaning and groaning themselves. Each of them had a hand between their legs, the other was playing with a nipple and their heads were cast backward. Their skin gleamed with sweat. What they had just seen had them hot; their blood was boiling and couldn’t wait for next time. They knew Michael would want a little turn about; the question was whom was he going to focus in on.

Dining Area, Pride Room, 19:00

In the past fortnight everyone had come to know the school quite well. They learned where their classes were, the shortcuts through the halls and soon they knew a large number of the students. They had spent time in the Dining Hall and the Common Rooms speaking with anyone who was there, it was the first time Max, Isabel, Michael and Tess were this open with such a large number of people.

As the week began, the Oceanics started posting flyers everywhere throughout the school. Their full moon party before the start of term was planned and ready for the next moon in three days. It came to the point where there wasn’t a wall covered with paper inviting the entire student body down to the lakeshore for the party. Everyone was buzzed about it; they all knew just how the party ended and were looking very forward to it.

Tonight the Pride was having fun, talking about what Michael had the pleasure of being a part of as they sat at their table having dinner. They all took a share in the cooking and cleaning up. In the days since Liz’s problems started to get the best of her, she decided not to let them influence her. She would fight to stay where she was, no Vampire, psychotic pack or alien would pull her from Max. She wouldn’t let it happen, no matter how difficult it was she was going to fight. Soon, as they ate their meal, a sound suddenly rang out. The bell rang with two pitches, one high and the other low like the fire alarm but it was distinctly different. Also the alarm light that was connected to the fire alarm system wasn’t lit up but a blue one next to it was.

“What is going on?” Michael asked.

Tess moved over to the window, hoping to see down into the courtyard to see if anything. She did. Every room in the school was shutting off their lights. “Guys,” she called out and everyone joined her in time to look over to the town and watch as their lights went out.

“I don’t get it,” Liz said.

Just then the elevator doors opened and Kelly came in. She looked around and immediately moved for the light switch, “Are you guys nuts?” she said as she turned off their lights.

“What?” Maria asked.

“You have looked up the red file in your computer? Right?” Kelly asked.

“We’re about half way through it. It’s a big file,” Max said.

“Oh ... crap. Next time ... read it, all of it,” Kelly said as she moved to the window.

“Kelly, what the hell is going on?” Isabel asked.

“Nightmares,” Kelly said as she stared out the window, almost trembling.

Everyone just looked at each other and then at Kelly.

“You guys must really hate having bad dreams,” Michael said.

“What? Who mentioned dreams ... oh yeah ... right. I didn’t mean nightmares ... its Night-Mares. Mares as in female horses,” Kelly said as she pointed out the window.

Everyone looked on as an ethereal blue glow came tearing out of mountain passes - a stampede of horses. They were black in colour with eyes that were almost red and it would have been impossible to see them if it wasn’t for the glow that surrounded the herd. The horses ran through the town, people closed their windows and shied away from them. They looked like the devil possessed them as they tore up the ground beneath them.

“What the hell are they?” Kyle asked.

“For the third time, Night-Mares,” Kelly said. “There was a solar flare tonight ... look up at the moon.”

They did and saw that while it wasn’t full it was very bright, much brighter than usual.

“On a few nights of the year when the moon is that bright, the Mares run and won’t stop until dawn. Their coats have a luminous chemical in them ... put in enough light and you get the glow. They’re normally pretty calm, nocturnal, they stay in caves during the day and roam the valley after sundown, but on a night as bright as this one ... stampede,” Kelly said.

“Yeah, that’s very interesting. But what the hell are they? I certainly don’t remember seeing them on any horse ranch I’ve been to,” Maria said

“Many of our towns protect species that humans don’t know about. It’s one of the duties all tribes take seriously ... we took it up after the slaughter of the Winged Stallions in ancient Greece,” Kelly said.

“Pegasus? They were real?” Max asked.

“Yes, once,” Kelly said. “Moonvale looks after the Night-Mares. There’s a community in Southern Egypt that looks after a species of reptiles ... dragons, just don’t let the myths about them get to you, they only grow to be about the size of a football. Actually they’re pretty harmless and cute ... and like their meals very well cooked. Anyway, that herd is the last, it always has a population of twenty.”

“Yeah about that, how does an all female population stay that way ... unless they are kind of immortal?” Max asked.

“Actually they’re hermaphrodites. When one gives birth, it dies and the foal is genetically identical to the mare that birthed it. The legend is that they were once Centaurs. As their tribe was driven into the mountains, they lacked food and shelter. Their children soon started to become stillborn and as the mothers wept, their tears called out to Chiron the great horse god. In his pain he struck down his fury and a local volcano erupted upon the humans, then he went to the Centaurs and remade them. They entered their horse bodies and never changed back, they hid away in caves until they could no longer stand the light, their eyes went red from their tears, always crying for their lost children,” Kelly said, her own eyes watering up from reciting the story she learned as a fairytale when she was six years old. “At least, that’s the legend. Scientifically, they evolved like everything else.”

“Like us?” Liz asked. “Remember what Bas’tet said in the part of the message we saw, we exist because of her kind. Chiron was probably the one who created the Centaurs like Rakas were made by Bas’tet.”

“Anything’s possible. Anyway, next time that alarm goes - switch off your lights. Weak light attract them, makes them crazy, and they try to destroy the source. When the sun starts to come up, that light will be too much for them and then they’ll return to their cave in the mountains,” Kelly said.

“They won’t stop when the flare ends?” Max asked.

“No. The flares sets them off, gets them all riled up but it’ll take sunlight to force them back into the dark for them to calm down. Since the area we live in is enclosed, they can’t get out ... we have an automatic fence in the forest that rises up when the alarm goes off,” Kelly said.

“So they aren’t dangerous?” Michael asked.

“So long as you don’t have a light or stand in their way, no,” Kelly said.

“Then I say we sit down and finish dinner before it gets cold,” Alex said.

“Care to join us?” Max asked.

“Thanks but I have my boyfriend handcuffed to my bed ... kind of told him I would be a few minutes ... I’m taking a little too much time here. I just didn’t want you guys freaking out if you saw them ... the first time can be scary, even this high up,” Kelly said.

With that Kelly went back to the elevator while the others returned to their table. With their heightened senses they didn’t need the lights on to see what they were doing to finish their meal.

New York, Same Time

The trip to New York was uneventful. The pets of the vampires arrived, touched down at JFK and took a taxi to the site where their Vampire master, Andrei, told them they could find the entrance to their old shrine. The vampire’s ancestors had built the structure as a place of remembrance while serving as a fortified home in case humans ever attacked them. That was long before Europeans ever discovered the America’s, but it had become buried and forgotten about when the plague hit that turned them into blood sucking monsters. Will and Stacey didn’t need to lead the other pets far, just to a manhole in an alley to the side of the Empire State Building.

They opened it and climbed down, the smell was almost overpowering but they were on a mission from their masters. They travelled into a small offshoot of sewer tunnels and started to dig away with pickaxes against the brickwork. The structure had been undiscovered throughout the history of the city above it, even through all the construction but there had been times when city engineers came close to finding what the teenagers were now exposing – a wall of pale yellow brick.

The panel had been just as Tanya and Katrina described to them and Will found the hidden switch that would unlock and open the wall. Everything worked as designed and the eight teenagers moved inside. From that moment on it was a matter of cleaning it all out, after they installed some lights and tapping into the city’s power grid. It took a great deal of time to make everything worthy of their masters. In between the cleaning and the scrubbing, the eight of them were completely insatiable. They screwed their brains out all over their new home; with Will taking great care of his pregnant lover. He made sure Stacey didn’t work too hard.

On occasion they would slip up to the surface. They had practiced and now they were very fast with their hands, fast enough to pick the pockets of passer-bys who didn’t even notice until they went for their purses and wallets. They used the money to buy some food for themselves and equipment, most notably was a medical freezer used for transporting blood. After that it was a simple matter of finding one or two hapless victims they could completely drain and store their blood for the vampire’s arrival.

Through it all the vampire’s work on the minds of the teenagers held up, although it did waver from time to time. There were occasions that some of them broke through the mental forces that the Vampires had bombarded their minds with. They doubted their mission and for a split second they were free from the corruptive impulses but that didn’t last too long, especially since the Vampires drew closer.

One night, the coastguard was called out when an inbound cargo ship failed to respond to repeated hails. Minutes after they boarded the ship, the police were called and they massed on the docks. The pets arrived and acted like interested onlookers as the ship was pulled in. It was reported that the crew were all dead, the boat was littered with their bodies and each one was drained of blood. It was sealed off; investigators poured over it as each of the cargo containers were offloaded into a secured location for others to go over.

The pets found the containers and sneaked in passed the police. They opened the metal box and found the Vampires inside, just waking up. Their food source on their little cruise didn’t last as long as they hoped and their pets brought them a little snack to keep them going until they returned home.

“Well done William,” Andrei said as he sucked on the blood-bag Will handed to him, “I assume everything is okay?”

“Yes my lord, although the police are everywhere here. Your belongings will have to wait,” Will said as he and the others bowed.

“No need,” Andrei said as he closed his eyes and then opened them again.

Just then a police officer walked by and shined his torch around the area yet he never saw them. Will looked around and realised that Andrei’s powers had grown, he was hiding everything from the eyes of the humans around them. Will smiled and soon the officer moved on. They waited, and waited, but soon the problems came when someone checked the manifest and noticed the containers weren’t where they should be. The area erupted in chaos as everyone thought something bad was about to go down – if they only knew.

Soon enough, police were cleared out to a sufficient level for the vampires to leave. On such a cloudy, foggy, night it was very easy for the Vampires to change into their animan bodies and carry the container with their belongings toward the Empire State Building. They quickly emptied the container and carried it all, including the vampire chronicles, into their new home before they lifted the container and dropped it in the middle of Central Park. Everything was soon on the news but there were no leads or clues left, and the container in the middle of the park baffled everyone, especially given that it looked like it had dropped out of the sky.

It didn’t take long for the Vampires to become settled and with a population of millions above their citadel, they started to hunt for their food. They stuck with the homeless and the indigent; people who they thought wouldn’t be missed. They built up strength and were waiting until it was time.

Subway Tunnels, Under New York City, A Little Later

In a nice out of the way chamber off the subway, just under a mile from the Vampires, four teenagers sat in what became their home – after they were born there. Long ago, Nacedo had a partner who also survived the Roswell crash. He carried four duplicate pods from the site, initially created by a random quirk of the Lycanthropic suppression process, they were kept as a backup set should the primary four fail to survive. He hid them in the subway and, after they hatched and passed on some information for them to survive, he left them. Zan, Lonnie (short for Vilandra), Ava and Rath may have been physically identical to their Roswellian counterparts, but genetically and psychologically they were more alien.

Rarely did they venture to the surface during the day, making the night their playground. On this night Zan was sitting in the sofa with Ava and Lonnie on his lap.

They didn’t feel like going out tonight. The only one who wasn’t having any fun was Rath, he was tied up or rather it was more like chained up. The four kept some strong chains around just in case they ever needed them but they still ended up being continually used, “just for fun” as Lonnie would say. At any rate Rath had the chains wrapped around his body, pinning him to the wall so that all he could do was watch. He couldn’t even speak thanks to the piece of duct tape over his mouth.

It was his punishment for failing to get Ava off with his tongue. In truth he did, but she was able to keep it in. She just wanted a little fun with him and she knew it would be even more fun when he figured it out. Zan’s left hand was gliding over her thigh while his other hand was gently massaging Lonnie’s breast. He kissed between the two girls, sharing equally, just as equally as Lonnie when she kissed Ava. They liked sharing the love.

“Hmmm ... you’s two got me like a rock. Take ya clothes off so we can start this party,” Zan said.

Both girls smiled and slid off his lap. They stood before Zan and then came together; Lonnie and Ava kissed each other as they started to strip each other of their clothes. Off came the tight tops, then the skin-tight shorts they were wearing. Bra’s were never worn by the two so after their shoes were kicked off, Ava sank to her knees and pulled Lonnie’s panties down her legs. When she stood up Lonnie did the same thing and soon they were both naked.

Then they moved to the couch so that they could reach over and begin to work on Zan’s clothes. Lonnie moved closer to Zan and sat on his lap before she plastered her lips to his. Ava wanted him naked and that was now a difficult task Lonnie wasn’t making a lot of room available to work. However, with what space she had she started and got Zan’s shirt off him. It resulted in Lonnie and Zan breaking their kiss for a minute but the second they could they were back at it once more.

Lonnie finally relented and she moved off his lap, both girls reached down for his pants. Zan smiled as they undid the belt, then button and the zipper. Ava took hold of his jeans and tugged them down his hips; Zan lifted his hips to help them come off easier. Lonnie quickly grabbed his briefs and they went with his jeans. Both girls smiled wickedly as Zan’s fully erect cock sprang into view. When his sneakers flicked off, one far enough to hit Rath, the girls threw his jeans and underwear away to the side.

Ava just turned away for a second to get a better position but when she looked back up she saw Lonnie sucking on Zan’s dick. His eyes were closed as he bit his lower lip and Ava watched as Lonnie’s mouth worked over him. Ava bit her own lip as she watched, eager to feel his body against hers for even the slightest amount of contact. She moved up and returned to kissing him; her tongue forced its way into his mouth.

Lonnie felt the change in Zan as Ava started kissing him again; he relaxed more than just having her mouth on his cock but what she was doing to him was getting to him. She always, always knew just what to do and when to do it to get her reward quickly. Soon his body tensed and his hand gripped into Ava’s butt, he was on the verge of orgasm. Lonnie continued to suck him; she fondled his balls, teasing and coaxing his cum up out of them. She could almost feel it travelling up his hard cock as he groaned into Ava’s mouth and came into Lonnie’s mouth. She continued to suck on him, swallowing every drop of his seed that filled her mouth, not one drop was lost. The groan from Rath behind his makeshift gag was filled with need as his own pants tented.