Wolf Omega: The Lykanos Chronicles 2

Chapter Forty-Six

Maximo stared in wonderment at the gruesome sight.

"The baron is still alive. He cannot be more than a mile from here," I confirmed.

"You're certain?"

"This one was galloping on his horse before he realized how I pursued him. That means the others must be two miles away, at most, somewhere in this direction," I nodded down the road.

"There are others?"

Not hearing Maximo's question, I remembered the horse's flight and took off after it. Far down the road, I found the animal lightly trotting. I slowed and maintained my distance, allowing it to continue.

The animal's mind was not complex, but it smelled the world before it, seeing it in a blaze of colors, much as I did. When the tapestry became more familiar to the beast, it slowed and veered off the road.

In a few more moments, it arrived at a sizable outcrop of trees. There it meandered for some time before slipping into the wood and disappearing from sight.

I knew at once the old oak and alder trees perfectly masked the horse's destination. It seemed impossible that a wolf den could have lain so close to the Roussade fortress without my sensing it. But as we approached in stealth, I knew there were several lycan ahead of me waiting somewhere in the thick.

I signaled Maximo to where I thought they lay and sent him around the perimeter to meet me from the side. When he was out of sight, I stepped forward into the outcrop with the most silent advance I was capable of. I hadn't moved a hundred feet before I heard their minds and saw flashes of imagery.

There were five lycan, and each was male. Naked, they each kneeled around a crude wooden plate set upon a blanket laid out on the ground near the clearing's center. They prayed together in unison. Their words were French and different from the Latin I knew, but they unquestionably meant the same.

"Our Father, who lives in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven."

One of them lifted the plate above his head.

"Take this, all of you, and eat of it: for this is my body, which will be given up for you."

Upon the plate were large slices of red flesh, carved only moments earlier from the body of one of their human victims. When he lowered the plate, the lycan lifted a separate slice for each of them and placed it reverently in their mouths. When he'd swallowed the last piece, he continued.

From beside the plate, he lifted a small wooden cup above his head in the same fashion.

"Take this, all of you, and drink from it: for this is the chalice of my blood—the blood of the new and eternal covenant. I will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in memory of me."

To his fellow lycan, the man brought the cup to their lips. They each took a sip and made the sign of the cross. Instead of wine, just as the body had been flesh instead of bread, they each drank the blood of their victims.

I felt the cool, coagulating fluid pass over their tongues with revulsion.

They ended the ritual and returned to their feet. From their minds, I saw two carts, each strapped behind an enormous horse and filled with the cadavers of my household. These corpses were freshly butchered and wrapped carefully for the journey home—each man expected to be there in two days' ride.

They awaited the return of their captain soon, and some thought to dress before they stopped, alerted to someone who advanced from the wrong direction. Shifting into their werewolf forms, they each raced to set upon the intruder. In no time, they located and surrounded Maximo before attacking him without a word.