The Wolves of London Book 2: The House of Striker

(Chapter song ‘Can You Feel My Heart’ by Bring Me The Horizon)

AVERY

Zen was led away somewhere in the facility that is now my worst nightmare. Any progress I made with her is now destroyed in one single agreement.

I sink into an office chair in the back of the room and lean on the arm. My wolf is attacking me on the inside and as I rub my forehead, I kick my own ass.

This wasn’t what I planned. All I wanted to do is get her away from this place. Now, it’s too late.

“You shouldn’t be upset.”

I drop my arm and look into the evil eyes of the woman who should have been dead a long time ago.

“I think I have more than enough reasons to be upset.” I sneer.

She pulls up a chair and sits. She crosses her legs and leans back, lacing her fingers above her lap. “Avery.” She smiles. “This isn’t a bad thing. Zen is fine and your fine.”

“Why are you doing this?” I sit up.

She looks me over. “I'm human.” She ticks her brow up and walks to the observation window.

I stand up and stride to her. “Do you not get that by doing this you’re no better than the lycans, vampires or even my father for that matter.” I grit under my breathe.

She turns and smiles. “The difference is we have a purpose. You don’t. This was our planet. Our project to grow. The Supernaturals tainted it. I have been preparing for this day since I first realized the ultimate outcome.”

I cross my arms. “What outcome is that?”

She turns to the painting. “I watched the last human on earth… die.”

“What do you mean watched?” I scrunch my brow as she walks to a computer

“We helped William. We gave him the tech and the building blocks. And do you know what he did?” She turns and clasps her hands under her chest.

“No.” I walk slowly to her.

She clicks a button and strings of triple, quadruple and quintuple helix spin in the screen. “He made then stick.” She eyes me.

I lean down to the DNA and furrow my brow more. “What did he do?”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out for centuries.”

I whip head to her and give her a questioning look.

“The answer, my dear Avery. Is in that painting.” She nods to the window.

“This isn’t human, Miranda.” I state as she walks away.

“No. Its not.” She clasps her hands behind her back and lifts her chin. “It’s the preverbal fire.”

I step up to her and stare at the side of her face. “They’re monsters.”

“They’re weapons. Weapons can be destroyed.” She side eyes me.

I point to the window. “There’s God knows what in there and you want to control it?”

“I don’t want to, Avery.” She turns to me and her face is stone. “I will.”

I point to her nose. “You’re insane. There is no guarantee you can control them.”

“I can.” She turns. “Zayden is proof.”

“Zayden Maximus?! Are you kidding?” I watch her walk away.

“Zayden was the final step. For years we tried to combine the basics. But, we were missing one crucial element.” She turns back to me. “Zeta blood.”

I flick my head to the window then back to her. “Are you telling me that painting is filled with Zeta mutants?”

She folds her arms. “Essentially, yes. William left sporadic instructions. We had to fill in a lot ourselves. This resulted in many failures. When we determined that Williams gold nugget was a Zeta, we had only one choice.”

“Use a necromancer to dig up Zayden.” I conclude.

“Precisely.” She smiles. “When we brought Zayden back to life, we suppressed his memories and began the process. His blood opened the flood gates to all kinds of new hybrid research. Monsters that will serve us, not eat us. Once the mission is complete, a tiny gene in their DNA chain will end it.”

“What do you mean?” I narrow my eyes.

Without saying a word she turns to the computer, pushes some keys and hits enter. The DNA on the screen spins, zooms in and focuses on a gene. This gene pulses green and explodes. The picture zooms out and all the DNA chains rip apart and disintegrate.

My eyes widen. “A self destruct?”

She grins. “And we have your father to thank for that. The chemical in his blood that produced the a bomb gene fit nicely with our program. Once the army is freed, each will be injected. When the last supernatural falls, they’ll die.”

I’m practically speechless. “You can’t believe that will work.”

“Every simulation ran showed 100% success. I stake my life on it.” She taps my chest then walks to a soldier. “Bring her to the floor.”

“Yes, ma'am.” He nods then leaves.

“Simulations can be wrong, Miranda. Hundreds of scientific experiments have gone tits up due to your thinking. You’re not God!” I glare as she walks up to me and smirks.

“I’m the closest thing to God this planet has.” She says low.

“Do you even hear yourself?” I whisper.

“Yes.” She smiles. “And I sound wonderful. Now… Shall we?” She motions for the door.

****

ZEN

I’m led to a room with a table, couple of chairs and a florescent light. It looks like some sort of interrogation room, though I don’t think there’s going to be much talking.

Pushing my family’s shit aside, I, now, need to deal with the fact that the man I almost fell for again, sold me up the river.

‘I'll finish your little story.’

Miranda’s threat to him has been occupying my mind since she brought me here. What’s Avery not telling me?

I thought him dying was the secret, but if Miranda is threatening him with it, it has to be bigger than that.

I cross my arms and walk circles around the room. I try the door and it’s locked.

I look up and down the walls, looking for a way out, but see nothing.

‘Are you having fun?’

I spin around to table and Nova's watery image dissolves into a solid girl. She’s bigger. She looks like a preteen almost.

My eyes widen. I scowl and rush her. “This is your fault!” I point in her face and she giggles.

“No. I didn’t do it. But it’s fun, right?” She smiles.

“NO, NOVA!” I throw my hands up. “If you haven’t noticed… I’M A PRISONER!”

She looks around the room, then back at me. “Nathaniel was a prisoner, too. I helped him.”

I lean on the table with my hands on either side of her legs that are swinging. “Then get me and Avery out of here.”

“I can’t.” She shrugs.

I press my lips together and stare into the child’s brow eyes. “Why not?”

“You haven’t found the truth yet. And there’s a problem.” She says.

“What problem?” I clench.

She pushes me and jumps off the table. She walks to the door and turns around. “He knows.”

“Who knows?” I cross my arms and scrunch my brow.

“Him. He knows about you and your family. He wants the army. If he gets them, everyone will die.” She replies.

“Who, Nova?” I ask again.

“You need to trust him, Zen. You need to find the truth. But you need to trust him. If you don’t… the games will be over. For all of us.” Her lips fall.

“Trust who? Avery?” I turn my head slightly just as the door opens.

It hits Nova and she disappears in a shimmering ripple. A guard looks into the room. “Who were you talking to?”

“No one. What do you want?” I scowl.

“Miranda requests you join her.” He stands at attention.

“Fine.” I grumble and head to the door.

If I’m to believe what Nova is saying I can’t fight this. If I’m going to find out the truth, I need to see this play out. Not only that, but I need to find out who Nova was talking about.

I’m led down a hall, then through a set of doors. The room I walk into is gray with piping across rhe walls and ceiling. It’s as big as a bunker for a plane. There’s military vehicles and military men standing guard around the painting while scientist examine it.

“Zen.”

I spin around and Miranda walks my way with Avery behind her. My eyes meet with his and he looks apologetic. I look away and focus on the redheaded bitch.

“Let me go.” I grit.

She smirks. “For obvious reasons, I'm not doing that."

She motions to the painting and I follow. We walk across the floor and the painting is much larger then it was from the window.

I crane my neck to see the top and look at both sides. I tilt my head then I see a scrolled, decorative ‘S' on the side almost at the corner. It’s definitely not part of the overall scene.

“What exactly is this?” I ask as I analyze.

“This is your family’s legacy, Zen. The liberation of human existence sits in that stretched canvas.”

I side eye her. “I don’t get it.”

She walks up to the gold solider that looks like he could just rip out of the painting and touches his gold armor. “In the late 1800s, your great grandfather, Lord William Striker, the 2nd, took it upon himself to ensure the prolonged existence of human life.” She turns around and walks to me.

Her white stilettos click across the lab floor. “This insurance policy was prepared in the event that the creatures who occupy this planet started to take over. As we monitored, registered, and studied, we concluded the time to… right the biological wrongs… was now. It's time to wipe the slate clean. And we need your blood to let your great grandfather’s legacy out of its prison.”

“And kill us all in the process.” Avery mutters and I side eye him.

I look at the painting and try to piece this together. “What if I say no?” I watch Miranda as she begins to pace.

She smirks as she side eyes me. “I don’t believe I asked for you opinion.”

“I won’t help you kill people.” I grumble.

She stops and walks up to me. “Sweetheart. You’re family swims in murder. No need to grow a conscience now.”

“That’s different.” I tick.

“You’re people are dying daily by monsters. This is your chance to save them. Now do the right thing, put your blood to the S, and unlock the door.”

She reaches behind her and holds out a knife to me. I glance at the knife, then the painting, then Avery. I flick my eyes to the knife and stare. This feels all wrong.

“I’ll do it.” Avery growls. He snatches the knife and grabs my hand.

“AVERY!!” I try to pull my hand back. Guns cock and aim at my head. I stop struggling and glance at the barrels.

He flips the knife and hovers it over my open hand. “Trust me.” He says quietly.

I meet his eyes and they’re clouded over. He’s getting a link. He subtly mouths the word ‘run’ and I look at him with concerned curiosity.

Yelling came from the observation room as the facility quakes and we all hit the floor. The ceiling splits, bubbles, then explodes. Chunks of concrete, dirt and equipment land all around us and Avery covers my head. Miranda screams and soldiers pull her to safety. The painting shakes and threatens to topple as the room shakes violently. The dust settles as the sound of helicopters come from a giant hole. On the other side is a bright blue sky.

I sit up and cough with Avery. He pats himself down and lifts up his shirt. He turns the hem around and rips the seam. Inside is a blinking locator. He holds it up to me and I laugh. I look up to see Razor on a rope.

“Eh! Ya wanna lift?” Razor slides down a rope as two more fall.

“NO! DON’T LET HER ESCAPE!!” Miranda orders as she tries to stand amongst the debris.

Avery grabs me and we run to the ropes. Soldiers fire at us as we run. The bullets hit all around us as we duck for cover. Once on ropes, Razor motions up. The floor starts to move farther away as the helicopter brings up. I hang onto Avery for dear life. He holds the rope and my body. We both watch Miranda freak out as her soldiers run into the room and take aim.

“SHOOT THEM!!” Miranda yells as the room fills with the wind from helicopter. The soldiers fire and Avery covers me.

“THEY'RE CLEAR! GO!GO!GO!” Razor yells.

The helicopter turns and bullets ricochet off its body as it carries us away. We look down at the giant hole that sits in the middle of small town. I don’t see anyone leaving houses which leaves me to believe the town was fake.

“WE NEED THAT PAINTING!” Avery yells to Razor.

“LATER! LET’S SAVE YOUR ASS FIRST!” She yells back.

He looks down at me and the wind whips our hair. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah. But. We need to talk.” I blink at him as I try to keep my hair out of my face.

“I know.” He says and looks out to the town in the distance. I rest my head on his chest as they start to pull us up to the chopper.

‘Trust him, Zen.’

I'll try.