Page 4 of New Blood

It felt like an eternity before Hendrick looked back at him and Austin. “Alright. That’s good enough for me. And given William Gallagher’s involvement in this, I authorize you to do what’s necessary. Assemble your team. I’ll arrange for the helicopter to take all of you to the airfield. Wheels up in thirty. Once you’ve landed in San Rafael, a helicopter will take you all to the Gallagher estate.”

“Thank you, Hendrick.”

“Don’t screw this up. It’s in your hands now. You know what to do.”

Jude nodded, then tapped his fist to his chest. “In nomine Lupinotuum Societatem.”

“In nomine Lupinotuum Societatem,” Hendrick replied with their customary vow, In the name of the Werewolf Alliance.

Jude turned, and with Austin by his side, he left the office.

“Whom do you wanna take?” Austin asked almost instantly.

Jude had to grin. His brother was eager for some action, and to tell the truth, so was he.

“Grab your go-bag. We’ll go in with a team of eight. I’ll send a message to everybody. Whoever is at the chopper first will get to go. We don’t have much time to make it to California.”

“When are the vampires set to attack?”

“At sundown in California.” Jude looked at his wristwatch. “That’s in just three hours. We’d better hope for some good tailwind.”

“See you at the chopper!” Austin said and breezed into his office.

Jude headed for his own. Like everybody who was on active duty at the Werewolf Alliance, he kept a travel bag packed with everything he needed in his office closet. He hadn’t been on a mission in a few months. In fact, things had been rather quiet, and it had felt like the calm before the storm. It appeared that the storm was finally here, though he hadn’t expected this storm to come in the form of a bunch of vampires. Dealing with his own kind was dangerous enough. Having a whole gang of vampires in the mix made everything much more unpredictable.

It was vital that he and his team arrive in time to prevent major loss of lives, both on their side as well as on the vampires’. He couldn’t allow this dispute, which really only concerned two people—Cameron and William Gallagher—to draw them all into an outright war with the vampires. Nobody wanted that. At least Striker had assured him that the vampires from Scanguards were honorable and were only seeking justice, not revenge directed at the entire pack. He hoped that Striker was right. And that they would arrive in time to prevent a massacre.

3

Several Hours Later – Marin County, California

The private jet, one of many owned by the Werewolf Alliance, touched down on a private airfield near San Rafael. During the flight, Jude had briefed his team on what to expect in California and what they needed to accomplish.

His team was made up of himself and his brother Austin, as well as six werewolves he’d worked with for a long time and had known even longer. His cousin Mason Storm Beaumont, or just Storm as almost everybody called him, was one of them. They were accompanied by Wendell Loveland, a black werewolf of massive proportions both in his humanoid as well as his animal form, Ransom Howe, an Asian man originally from San Francisco, and Francisco Ramirez, who was Hispanic. Parker Monroe and Grant Decker, two werewolves from Montana, had also made it to the jet in time to join them on this mission.

Each of the seven men accompanying him was fiercely loyal to the Werewolf Alliance and their mission to protect their way of life. This meant protecting their secrets so humans never found out that werewolves existed and jeopardized said existence. Their discovery would only cause fear and chaos among the human population, resulting in many unnecessary deaths.

When the jet came to a halt on the tarmac, Jude unbuckled his seatbelt and rose from his seat. As he walked to the front of the plane, the door to the cockpit opened, and Clive, one of the pilots who worked exclusively for the Werewolf Alliance—and a werewolf himself—appeared.

“The chopper is already waiting across the tarmac,” Clive announced. “Good luck, guys! Wish I could join you.”

While his team members hurried past him with their small travel bags and backpacks, Jude stopped for a word with Clive.

“How far by helicopter?”

“Seven minutes. He’ll put you down in a clearing about a half mile from the Gallagher mansion. You’ll have to run the remainder of the distance. Sorry.”

Jude nodded. “Not a problem. It’s best they don’t see us coming too soon anyway. Thanks for the ride.”

He followed his men out of the jet and sprinted across the runway. He could already see the helicopter. It was a Sikorsky S-76, which carried up to eight passengers in addition to the pilot. It too belonged to the Werewolf Alliance and was operated by one of the many Werewolf Alliance members stationed at various hubs throughout the United States, from where they could be deployed at a moment’s notice. They called these members lone wolves because they didn’t live with a pack. It took a special kind of werewolf to apply for this kind of job within the Alliance, because not everybody was suited for a solitary life away from the pack. Because werewolves were pack animals, the lone wolves only operated in this position for a few years in their youth, before returning to a pack and turning their helicopter over to a younger wolf.

The helicopter blades were turning, churning up the air around it, whirling up dry vegetation and dust. Jude hopped into the chopper, let himself fall into the last available seat, and slid the door shut. A second later, the chopper took off.

The sun had set in the meantime, which meant the vampires were probably already attacking the Gallagher estate. Despite the tailwind they’d had all the way from Bozeman, they hadn’t been able to get here any faster. He could only hope that they weren’t too late.

He glanced at his team and noticed their grim expressions. They, too, were worried that they would be too late. He looked out through a window to get his bearings. It didn’t take long before he saw a dense forested area in the distance and a small clearing just beyond it.

“Get ready,” the pilot said through the headphones. “I’ll set you down in about ninety seconds. Get out as fast as you can, so I can lift off right away. I can’t stay here for long. They probably have security cameras everywhere.”