Chronicles of the Uprising (Trilogy 1): Trilogy 1 (40 page)

Chapter 16

Filled with victorious energy, the Otherkin army proudly marched through the Iron Gate of New Haven. Niko and Katerina took the lead, dragging the Magistrate, chained and gagged, through the city streets.

Behind them Mira, Stryker, and Lucian walked.

They in turn were followed by a mix of vampires, Otherkin, and Shifters, with the remainder of the Council. All together they were a formidable conquering army that anyone would be afraid to challenge.

Humans looked on from their homes, behind curtained windows, afraid to come out and see their new leaders. Mira could see the tiny faces of scared children peeking out though the windows. She remembered back to her first fight, seeing children sitting in the arena, watching and waiting for the battle to begin. Watching another’s death had held no meaning then; but now, she could see the worry in their not-so innocent eyes.

Her resolve waivered. Peace. Could it really be? These children had been brought up on the blood sport and lies told by their parents. Their parents had left to fight a war and never returned. Retribution would be what sustained them, not compassion. They’d grow up to be the next group of haters and warmongers.

“You all right?” George’s hand came down on her shoulder.

She almost jumped at the unfamiliar touch.

“Careful, killer.” He laughed nervously. “I’ve seen that look on you before. Those forlorn eyes.”

“I’m good. Just a fleeting thought,” Mira lied. The deeper they walked into the city, the more foreboding her thoughts became. They were an invading army. And this was only one city. There were many more human strongholds out there.

“You’ve always been a terrible liar. Just speak your mind.” George knew her best. There was no point hiding anything from him.

“You know my mind. I don’t want to be here. I don’t think we should be here. Any of us. Peace will not come from occupying the human city, nor from the inevitable retribution from both sides.” Mira looked out again at the buildings as they passed. It was like a ghost town, only she knew the inhabitants were still there, alive and scared.

“Have some faith. Things look ominous, but I’ll be willing to bet these Otherkin and humans will surprise us.”

 “People of New Haven.” Niko’s voice boomed through the near silent streets. “The human reign of terror is over. We, the Otherkin, have control. This is our city now!”

Mira’s shoulders slumped. Hundreds of years of life and experience, and that was the best Niko could say to the war-torn city dwellers? She turned a wary eye on George. “Surprised yet?”

George smiled weakly and shrugged.

Niko continued addressing the empty street. “Your presence is requested this evening in the arena where you have watched thousands of my brethren slaughter each other.”    

Mira nudged Niko. “Maybe we should try to kill them with kindness, rather than actually...”

“Any human who does not attend will be rounded up and brought to the arena by force.”

“Never mind.”

The Shifter leader regarded Mira sternly. “Thank you for your service, but now it is time to get to the business of running this city as our own. We need to make it quite clear to the humans who they belong to.”

That was the last thing Mira wanted to hear. The cycle was starting again. Masters and slaves – only the positions had been changed. “No one belongs to anyone; that was the point of this.” She tried to keep her tone even, but the more she had to endure, the harder it became. Images flashed before her of a time in the not-too-distant future where another rebellion would happen, and again, and again. Never-ending battles for supremacy.

“Don’t be so literal,” Niko scoffed.

A snippy reply was on the tip of her tongue, but before she could utter a word, Stryker grasped hold of her arm. Instinct more than anything else had her pivoting, trying to escape his grip while her other hand cocked back for a punch.

“Mira, wait.” Stryker released her arm. “For the moment, we must remain unified. Let’s settle this in closed quarters.” 

She met his eyes with rage at first, but those amber eyes were soft and filled with compassion, unlike the others. She lowered her arm. “You’re right.”

“Wait… did you just listen to me?” He smiled playfully, and didn’t dodge when she smacked his shoulder.

Niko made his announcement again as they turned the corner and the arena in all its terrible glory came into view. Jutting up from the ground, a proud testament to human architecture, it was the largest building in the city.

She’d seen it so many times from the inside, but to see the exterior of the massive building with its domed roof in the light of the moon was devastatingly captivating. Memories flashed before her eyes. Countless deaths had come from that foul place. Cold dead stares, milky-white eyes, former friends and allies, all gone. And too many of them killed by her own hands.

She wasn’t the only one feeling the building rage. Though he’d never admit to it, she could see it behind George’s eyes. And others, still more vampires, upon seeing that building were overcome with emotion. Anger, rage, hatred… all because of the humans.

“Do I have to go in there?” Mira tried to keep her voice calm.

“Yes,” Stryker answered. “But we’ll be with you, and no one has to fight.”

“That’s not entirely true,” Niko responded. “No one will be forced to fight… But I’m sure I’ll have volunteers lined up.”

Mira almost stopped dead in her tracks. If not for the hundreds behind her marching onward in the morbid parade, she would have. Fighting in the arena? That was how the Otherkin leaders were going to start their occupation of the city? That was how they planned on easing the humans into being okay under Otherkin rule?

No. This was not how it was supposed to be!

As they marched on toward the arena, Mira could hear the screams and cries of people being dragged from their houses, further confirming what she had already assumed. This was only the beginning, and fighting would continue. But, though she wanted to lash out, she knew Stryker was right – it was best to wait until they were out of the public view to settle things. She looked left to George and right where Lucian was standing. Behind her, Stryker was there too. Her three closest allies. Having them close gave her confidence that she could make a difference.

Chapter 17

The arena was packed, but instead of the sounds of cheering and drunken masses, there was silence. Eerie and disturbing, it was as if Death himself had taken up residence. Mira looked on from the Elite box where the rest of the Otherkin Council had set themselves up to view their games.

Stripped of her allies, Mira had to deal with the Council alone. Though it was slightly unnerving, Mira was certain she could either make them see reason or force her hand, if need be. What was one more death at that point? “End this madness,” she sighed, watching a human dragged out to the center of the arena below.

“We must show them who is in charge here,” Niko said, settling into a cushiony chair, looking out at the arena through the large glass window, ready to watch the carnage.

“By doing to them what they did to my people?” Mira asked indignantly. “Eye for an eye, eh?”

“It’s what they understand.” Natasha stood at the window, eagerly looking down at the humans seated below her. “We’re only showing them the same courtesy they gave our kind.”

“All you’re doing is proving that we are no better than the savages they believed us to be.” Mira hoped her calm approach would work. She already knew from a lifetime of personal experience that brute force wasn’t the answer.

“We’re doing them a service, showing them in this manner. We could just round the lot of them up and feed them to the troops. No humans, no more problem.” Her words were as sharp as her fangs. Natasha glared at Mira in a way that a wolf would have taken as a challenge. But they were not pack animals, they were vampires. There was more to that stare than simple dominance. And Mira retuned it in kind.

“Peace was never in your game plan, was it?” It was all becoming painfully clear now.

“Peace comes in the end… when we have finished with the humans.”

“You were human once…”

“I’m not anymore. I am better than them.”

That was the final straw. She clenched her fist tight, sizing up the Council members in the room, mentally figuring out who best to take down first.

The door opened, startling her from her thoughts. She turned and came face to face with Tegan. Behind him, Otherkin soldiers entered brandishing swords. Mira knew from the moment Tegan stepped up to her that thing were going to get complicated.

“Let’s make this easy, Mira,” Tegan said hesitantly.

She’d fought the hulking vampire before. She knew she could take him, but there were too many others in the room. Out of the corner of her eye she caught the glint of light on metal, then came the click. Blinding light hit her square in the face. She wasn’t sure what hurt worse – the sting of the light, or the betrayal of her own people, using the weapons of their captors on vampire kind!

She ducked low and swept Tegan’s feet, hoping to knock him to the ground and maybe use his massive form as a shield, but before she could, others dove on top of her. Squirming as best she could, Mira wasn’t able to stop them from pinning her arms and legs. Shrieking like a banshee, she fought hard to move her limbs, but it was no use. There were too many on her, and that damned light was blocking her vision.

“Let’s take her to the prison and put her in her old cell.” Mira didn’t see Tegan’s face, but it was he who uttered the words.

It took four soldiers and Tegan to get her downstairs and into the prison level. She fought and squirmed and cursed the whole way. But as soon as she saw what awaited her, Mira’s voice fell silent.

George and Stryker were bent over a limp Lucian lying on the floor. Blood was in the air, and she knew exactly whom it belonged too.

Tegan pressed a few buttons on the keypad to her cell. She listened to the pattern, remembering the sounds she’d heard so many times.

Once the door was open, Tegan threw Mira hard onto the concrete floor in the cell. She almost trampled the others as she came crashing down.

“How could you turn your back on your people?” Mira shrieked after Tegan.

He turned around and faced her. “You betrayed us by being a human-lover. How many years have we been forced into killing our own kind? How much blood is on your hands? It’s time for payback. Time to show the humans why we’re the top of the food chain.”

 “What then? Killing, killing, and more killing? When does it end?”

“When the humans are dead.”

“We were human once, Tegan.”

“Well, we aren’t anymore.”

“Exactly. People can change.”

“Spare me.”

“Spare them. Teach them rather than kill them. Nothing good will come from mass extermination in the name of revenge.”

“When did you become a peacekeeper?”

“I’m sick of killing, Tegan. Peace means no more killing. That’s all I want, an end to violence. I’ve had my fill, and so have you. Look deep inside. Do you really want to continue blindly killing for whatever master you serve?”

“I serve no one!”

“Really? Then why are you at the Council’s beck and call?”

“Our desires are aligned at the moment.”

“And when they’re not, what then? You’ll end up in a cell just like me, just like when the humans turned on our kind years ago.”

“Stop it. I don’t need to listen to any of your nonsense. I have a fight coming up.” Tegan turned his back on her and left with the rest of the soldiers.