THE VROL TRILOGY (84 page)

"Hey mate," began Dons as he approached Max,
"what didja do to that bloke? Looks like you stuck a grenade in him
or something."

"Microwave cantus. I cooked him from the
inside out, but I waited too long. I didn't know he was going to
grab a random child and eat her. Crap, what kind of thing was
he?"

"Looked like a demon…erm, Vrol experiment.
Every now and then we see an odd fellow. Usually all gang up on it
and kill it quickly. Whatcha gonna do now, mate?"

"I'm gonna go up and visit that lycan clan.
No loose ends. If they sent this thing they'll send more. They have
forfeited their right to coexist peacefully. Now they die."

Walking back into the bar, Max checked on
Marko, who had recently regained consciousness. Not really liking
the lycan, but knowing he wasn't really dangerous anyway,
especially now that the girls had expanded abilities in their
bracelets, he just wanted to make sure he could be a possible ally
and no longer an enemy.

"Heya, I just wanted to thank you for being
so stand-up against that creature out there. You know, you could
have been killed."

"I woulda killed it too, if it didn't throw
me so far. I just landed wrong. So, you killed it?" Marko
asked.

"Yup. Cooked him alive, but not before he
killed a young neko. It's my fault. I should have…"

"No man, it's not your fault. You didn't kill
the kid - that creature did. But you got revenge. It's the lycan
way. I guess you're not such a freak after all."

Almost imperceptibly touching the lycan on
the shoulder, Max executed a time-release cantus of healing
particles which would fix the man up in a matter of hours instead
of days, and decided to let Marko believe that he was right, so he
merely nodded his head and made for the door, grabbing the burlap
sack that contained Kylen's severed head.

"Max, where are you going?" asked
Jessica.

"North, just for a quick trip. I'll be back
in a couple of hours."

Then, to everyone's surprise, Max rose into
the air and shot off, almost as if he had wings. He was headed
towards the remains of Lykanrol's encampment.

"Did Max seem unusually calm to you too?"
asked Pandy.

"Dons just nodded his head, and then said, "I
pity whoever he's going to visit. The boy had death in his
eyes."

###

Max touched down about 200 meters away from
Lykanrol's camp, and downwind, so he wouldn't be detected. Walking
quietly, he crept up to find Miles going through some supplies. As
he hid behind a thicket of trees, Max concentrated and accessed his
thermal readout of the immediate area, seeing Sheeva in a tent
while Indie was in an adjacent enclosure, looking at his lack of
reproductive organs. He didn't have long to worry about his lack of
testicles, however, as Max concentrated a cantus that basically
stripped all of the oxygen out of Indie's blood. The man died of
hypoxia within seconds. It was humane and quiet. One dead - two to
go.

The next thing Max did wasn't for the benefit
of anyone except for Miles' and Sheeva's unborn child. He
concentrated on the woman and used salubots in a manner that they
were never really intended for - performing a frontal lobotomy on
the unsuspecting woman. She sat in a chair in her tent, and merely
lost any capability for thought or reason. As Max had killed Indie
and incapacitated Sheeva, he was free to confront Miles. Still
remaining hidden, he tossed out the burlap bag that contained
Kylen's head. Miles jumped at the sight of the bag, not knowing
what was inside. Crouching low, he roared out, "Who's there? Show
yourself or I'll kill you!"

"Open the bag," Max said, disguising his
voice to sound oddly alien. It was actually a lame attempt at
imitating Kylen's metallic voice, but Max never really had great
skills at music or voice. Still, it was enough to fool Miles.

"Hah! I knew it, Kylen! You finished the baby
killer. Good work!"

Miles quickly opened the sack and let the
head roll out, and gasped when he saw it wasn't what he was
expecting. It was at that very moment that Max walked out of the
bushes and addressed his foe.

"I left you to raise a child. Instead you
sent a freak to kill me, and it killed an innocent little girl
before I terminated its existence. I am done with you, Miles."

"What the hell? Who do you think you are? You
murdered our children and you…"

"What? Whaaaaaat? You're such a
sociopath that you actually believe your own lies, you fool! You
had
no
children. You
killed
the children from that poor
encampment. It was all I could do to
save
the majority of them. You have nothing more
to contribute to this world, Miles. Goodbye."

"Wait! Wait! I'm sorry! I didn't mean
to-"

"You didn't mean to what? You didn't mean to
send someone to kill me? You didn't mean to kill those innocent
kids in that encampment?"

"Yeah, yeah, all that stuff! Really, please
don't kill me!"

Max could see Miles was reaching around
behind his back for a knife that was on the ground.

"Miles, you want to live, don't you?"'

"Oh yeah! Of course! That Kylen freak - he
threatened me and I…"

"Well, I've considered your plea for
lenience, and I've come to a decision."

"Oh great, thanks, man!"

Knowing what was going to happen, Max
perfectly timed his response, while Miles quickly produced his
knife and looked at the off-worlder with a victorious sneer on his
lips. The lycan actually believed for a millisecond that he was
going to emerge on top, but before he could thrust his knife
forward he heard Max speak in a low whisper.

"
Ahora
te mueres
, hijo de puta
."

Miles collapsed, dead. Max had prepared a
cantus to stop the lycan's heart with a mere gesture, and had
executed it with panache. Not even bothering to look at the man's
lifeless, already-rotting body, he turned, went to Sheeva's tent
and picked up her limp form. Holding the severely misguided woman
in his arms, he looked at her with a sincere concern and said, "You
can't understand anything I am saying, but I couldn't kill your
unborn child. I'm taking your baby somewhere safe."

Max set the woman down on a cot and,
performing a complex cantus that created a time bubble around the
woman's midsection, similar to the time bubble he had created
around Jessica's burnt breakfast. But this one was in the opposite
direction, and exacerbated the growth of the fetus inside her womb.
He brought the child to term in a matter of 20 minutes, and then
extracted it via a no-touch Caesarean section. Wrapping the newborn
baby, a female, in blankets, he consumed some of Lykanrol's food,
attempting to bring his stamina and magic timeout levels back up a
bit before taking off, but not before causing Sheeva to join her
clan mates in oblivion - much in the same manner as Indie. It was
quick and painless.

Max was now a messenger of death, even though
he cherished life.

###

Arriving at the encampment that Lykanrol had
earlier plundered, Max was recognized by the group leader. He
seemed to be a nice fellow, and Max smelled no ill-will, but the
man still looked at the newcomer with a bit of caution..

"Greetings, stranger. I remember your kind
actions the other night, and honestly never thought we would see
you again."

"Look, I'm sorry for what happened, but I did
at least seal the passageway that Lykanrol was using to raid your
camp. My name is Max, by the way."

"I am Jonathan, leader of our family. What is
that you carry in your arms?"

"It is a child. Lycan, female, left to die in
the wilderness. I am unable to care for her, but I was wondering if
you could…"

"Of course, of course. We have a lycan couple
that is barren, and I am certain they would welcome the child.
Would you stay for a meal with us? We would like to ask some
questions."

"Certainly, but then I must depart. I have a
number of people depending on my timely arrival."

Max walked with Jonathan to the center of the
encampment, which had been partially repaired. After meeting the
very gracious couple that would raise the baby, Max used some of
his unique skills and furthered their repairs, amazing everyone who
saw. Mages were not common in that world, and Max made a mental
note of finding out why there were magically-enabled objects, but
no mages. It was odd, but he was sure there was an explanation.

"So Max, what did you do to Lykanrol so that
they will no longer attack us?" asked Jonathan.

"I killed them, but only after they tried to
kill me. I do not take death lightly, and I value life above all
else, but they were bringers of destruction. They even paid a
mutant to find and murder me. I couldn't take any more
chances."

Jonathan nodded his head in understanding.
"Even though I abhor death, I do understand, and appreciate that
what you only kill in the defense of the innocent. May I ask - is
the child from their clan?"

"No," Max lied, "I found her in a burnt-out
building that had apparently been attacked by unknown forces."

"Then how do you know the child is lycan?"
asked Jonathan.

"
He
is lycan. A very powerful one, too," said Jake, the new
father of the orphaned child. "His scent is that of immense power.
I've never heard of a lycan-mage before. How did you come about
being as you are, sir?"

"My mother is lycan and my father is… a very
powerful mage, but I've never met him before. I didn't even know I
was either until about a year ago. You see, where I am from there
is no magic or enhanced genetics in humans. Our skills are
inhibited due to a frequency shift on my planet, and…"

"Planet? You are from a different planet? How
is this possible?" asked Jake.

"Jake, there are many worlds in the galaxy,
and there are even more timelines. This happens to be a fortunate
timeline, as mankind was allowed to live. The demons, in the skies,
are actually an alien race called the Vrol. In my timeline, they
destroyed all life on Earth. Here they apparently hunt humans, but
I've been helping those in the Hollywood area to avoid
detection."

"How is that? We cannot go to Hollywood -
when we get near we feel incredible pain," said Jonathan.

"That's because you have techno-organic
tracker devices in your bodies. The trackers enable the Vrol to
easily find you as a food source, plus keep you either in or out of
a specific zone. I can remove these trackers if you like."

Everyone looked at Max, dumbfounded, when one
of them, a small tabby-orange neko, asked, "No more hurtsh?"

"Nope, no more pain at all. In fact, my
process is quick and you won't even feel a thing."

"Nothing comes without a price, Max.
Especially after all you have done for us, I am certain you will
expect payment of some sort, am I correct?" asked Jonathan.

Never having intended on extracting any form
of payment from the innocent clan, Max did decide to just ask for
information.

"Well, how far are we from the ocean?" asked
Max.

"About 80 kilometers, south by southwest. Why
do you ask?"

"I need to find a boat. It would be great to
go up north, by sea."

Jonathan appeared to concentrate for a
moment, and then said, "I have a cousin with a number of boats.
He's in Ventura. His name is Stokey. Just ask for him by name at
the pier. Here, I shall give you a hand-written note so he'll know
you're a friend."

"Thanks, Jontahan - I really appreciate it.
So, who's first? Let's get the show going."

###

Max finished extracting every single tracker
from the camp's inhabitants in less than 40 minutes, and even took
a few over to an invisible boundary where they would have started
to feel pain, but to their surprise and relief none felt even a
smidgen of discomfort.

After having played with a small area
rug, giving the clan's children rides on a
magic carpet
, Max bid them all farewell, but not
before asking Jake and his wife, Rebecca, what they would name
their child.

"Lori - I always liked that name. It has a
nice sound to it, does it not, Max?"

Max nodded his head in the affirmative. Then,
smiling, he slowly lifted to the sky as he waved farewell to the
good people of the encampment.

###

Arriving back at Seven Sins, Max dropped down
onto the roof of the building and took the stairs down into the bar
area. Curiously, he found Marko being instructed in the preparation
of alcoholic beverages by the normal bartender, who was due to take
a vacation.

"Hey Marko, are you going to tend bar here
now?"

"Yes, and you had better enjoy my bevera… um,
I hope you like the drinks I make."

Max snickered and gave an approving smile.
Then motioning Marko over to the side of the bar, he prompted the
man to turn around.

"I am going to remove these trackers from
your back now. Hold still for a moment."

After roughly twelve seconds the trackers
were gone, laying on the bar and looking like transistorized organ
replacement parts.

"So those were in my back?" he asked.

"Yup, that was it."

"And why did you leave them in me?"

"Um, Marko, I not only left yours, I took
five more from other people and inserted them into you."

"Why did you do that?"

"To increase the Vrol's detectable range and
make sure you were chased."

"But why would you do that to a fellow
lycan?" inquired Marko.

"Marko, where I am from, lycans are the
protectors of humanity, and I have only seen you be abusive. I know
you have the capacity to be good, strong and brave. I just wanted
to see you shredded up a bit - call it a lesson learned."