The Wolves of London Book 2: The House of Striker

(Chapter song ‘Anarchy’ by KMFDM)

ZEN

“We're having long discussions when this is over, Oliver.” Zander warns as we walk in door.

“Sure. Have your people call my people. I’m sure I can book you in sometime never.” Oliver chuckles.

“We'll see.” Zander snarls.

Finally, a room I'm used to. The morgue has three slabs in the middle of the floor, and a wall full of drawers. On the right wall is a sink with a counter. It’s covered in various instruments for forensics.

“They broke out into a fight before they could finish her off. Ezra managed to save the upper half and drag her inside.” He walks to a drawer in the second row. He pops the handle and opens the door. He grabs the sliding bed and looks at us. “Hope you all had a light lunch.” He pulls the table out and rips the sheet off.

“Oh… God!” I cover my nose.

“Jesus.” Avery does, too.

“Fuck.” Krestin and Dorian gag.

“Do humans always smell this bad?” Dorian chokes.

“I don’t smell a thing.” Demetri stands unaffected by the putrid smell of decay.

“Must be nice.” I gag. “Zander.” I walk to the table and Zander does too.

The face with four deep slices in the pasty skin lays facing the ceiling. The wrinkles. The sunken eyes. The thin skin. The white hair.

“Crap.” I place my hands on my hips.

“Who is it?” Cora asks.

Avery steps forward. “It’s Miranda…”

“It’s just the wrong fucking one.” I cross my arms as I clench my teeth.

“Which one?”

Zander nods. “She’s from the Mirror world. She was the Dark Shaman. We granted her asylum when Sawyer Dawn closed the doors. She was helping Jake Wallace’s mother, who’s the Shaman on this side. This Miranda disappeared shortly after my father escaped. What was she doing here?”

“Don’t know. She tried to bust in and my Dires took care of it. She took a big risk. She knew what I had. Whatever she was after, it was important.” Oliver confirms.

“Is there anything in here that she could be after?” Dorian asks.

“She could've been after the whole thing for all I know. I certainly haven’t found anything. Either way, she’s kibble.” Oliver says.

“Wait. This is good, right? She shouldn’t have even been here.” Quaid says.

“Yes, but this woman wasn’t the threat.” I reply.

“No. The younger version is.” Avery supplies.

“So, what do we do?” Cora looks us over.

“We look for her . If her counterpart was here, the original won’t be far behind.” Zander instructs.

“At least, we only have to worry about one, now. I’ll inform Falcon and Phoenix.” I pull out my phone and bring up my contacts.

Sounds of dark growls, crashing, and claws on steel came from the halls.

“What’s that?” Zander moves to the door.

The lights snap off making me jump as everything goes pitch black. Nathaniel lights up his hands.

“Nice flashlights.” Oliver snorts.

“Thanks.” Nathaniel grins.

Alarms start to blare, and red security lights click on as we make our way toward the door.

Sounds of loud panting and distance howls fill the corridor.

We almost get to the door when the sounds of something tearing through drywall comes barreling to the door. Some of us yelp and jump back when a huge dark shadow runs in front the door – on the freaking ceiling - with a deep, panting growls.

“What the hell?! Was that….” Quaid ask as he grips my arms.

Oliver leans out the door. “GET OFF THE GODDAMN ROOF!!” He shakes his head and grumbles as he walks to us. “Fucking things have no pride. I swear.”

Sounds barking and a heavy thud fade into the main part of the lab.

“What’s going on?”

“Another visitor.” Oliver sneers as he turns and rushes out the door.

We follow and run through the lab to the small room. Oliver closes the door and we run into the basement. He locks that door. He runs to a gun cabinet and opens it. “Cecil! How many got out?”

The man standing behind the desk slowly counts his fingers on one hand. He holds up both hands. “Five.” He looks nervous.

“Shit. 10.” Oliver tosses out guns.

“He said 5.” Krestin corrects.

“He held up two hands. He meant 10.” Oliver pushes through us and starts up the stairs as we all arm our weapons.

“10 of your monsters? Is that bad?” Avery asks as we get to the main hall.

“3 maybe 4, I can handle. 10 or more gets messy.” He strides to the front door and we can already hear the demonic growling.

“You said you could control these things.” I bark.

“I can! But not when they’re feeding each other. They get… possessive… and greedy.” He stands on his front step and we all groups behind him.

The wolves as big as Clysdale horses stand in a row. Their tails sway and their heads are lowered. Their growls could be felt in our chests.

“What the hell?” Oliver mutters as he jumps three steps to the driveway.

Zanders eyes widen. “Shit! OLIVER STOP!”

“Is that…” I look between the dires.

“The lion king.” Cora mutters.

“Something tells me he ain’t here to sing hakuna matata.” Krestin says low.

“Most likely not. Let’s go.” Dorian grabs his arm and we all jump down to the pavement.

“OLIVER! GET OUT OF THERE!” Zander is chases Oliver.

Oliver squeezes between the bodies of two dires. “WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!”

The man, who’s dark skinned with a golden tone, looks around the dires. “I’m looking for a lab.” His yellow gold eyes land on Oliver.

“There’s no lab here.” Oliver grinds.

The man crosses his large muscular arms. “Really. Right. Then I guess. We just break every bone in your pathetic body.”

He's joined by the two women and three men. They all take defensive stances and eye Oliver as his dires bare their teeth. They snap and drool as they target the shifters.

“Oliver. If you really are smart, you’ll turn your pets around and go away. Don’t fuck with these people.” I say quietly.

“Fuck that.” He growls.

“Listen to her.” Avery barks under his breath.

“Why? What’s so special about them they look like food to me.” He throws a hand out to the six people in his driveway.

“TAKE ME TO THE LAB!”

We all cringe back and the dires whine as they look around in confusion. They take a couple of steps back.

Oliver looks over his dires in confusion. “What the…”

“Cosmic titans.” Zander states.

“Excuse me?” Oliver looks at him like he’s crazy.

Zander holds his hand out. “Meet William Strikers army. Cosmic titans made by Alliance labs.”

“You’re shitting me.” His brows stitch up as shock fills his face.

“Nope. LEON!” Zander steps closer.

“That’s close enough, wolf.” He raises his hand. His hand falls to a sword on his hip hanging off his fur pelt skirt. His wavy golden brown hair is pulled up into a man bun. He glances back at Oliver. “That man. Bring him to me.”

“Man, fuck you.” Oliver barks.

“Fuck me.” He points to his chest. He looks to Zander. “Seems the ants need to be stepped on.” He juts out his chin, pulls his sword, and rushes Oliver. Oliver raises his weapon as his dires stand in front and drop so Oliver can rest his gun on its back and use him as a shield.

“Another step and I’m dropping you!!”

“LEON!” Zander slams a hand on Leon’s chest.

Leon looks at Zander’s hand and back up into his eyes. You can see his anger rise. A weird growl comes from his chest. “How dare you touch me.” His lip curls and he shoves Zander back. He crouches, opens his mouth wide and like something breaking out of the top of a cocoon, an oversized male lion rips out is mouth and his human skin shreds like clothes. The lion roars as it jumps out of Leon’s body and lands on its white paws.

“WHOA!”

“OH, SHIT!”

We push back and Zander runs to us, pushing us back farther.

“A FUCKING LION?! SINCE WHEN?!” Oliver throws his hand out to Leon who shakes his thick mane. He licks his lips then flashes his canines. The dire in front of him, scrambles to his feet and steps back.

I watch Leon start to pace as the others stand tall behind him.

“Since now. Stand the fuck down.” Zander glares.

“Fuck that! It’s a fucking cat!” He snarls.

A wave of nervousness floats over the dires as they shift in their spots and start to whine.

Oliver whips his head to the dire closest to him. “What the hell you whining for? Kill it!” He grabs the muzzle of the wolf and points to the cat.

The dire rips his nose out of Oliver’s hand and let’s out a muffled growl with the shake of its head.

“What do you mean, no? What the hell…”

Leon interrupts him with a loud roar and lowers himself in a prowl stance. His ears flip back and his claws crumble the road.

Four of the dires yelp and turn tail. They run away yapping and crying like the lion touched them. We all stand there and watch them leave, then turn back to Oliver who’s fuming.

“IDIOTS!” He turns to the others. “GET THEM!” He throws a hand to the lion.

“Why are dogs so afraid of cats? My fairy dog was terrified.” Quaid asks.

“It’s because cats are aliens.” Krestin says.

“No. They’re crazy.” Dorian corrects.

“Cats eat souls.” Demetri side eyes them.

“I love cats.” I grin.

“Figures you would.” Avery smirks.

“Shut up! My dires aren’t scared of cats!” Oliver growls.

“You sure about that, mate?” Dorian points to the wolves and they seem to be shivering and looking at each other in confusion.

Oliver turns to them. “Eh! Man up!” He barks and they whine.

The ladies jump up, spin diagonally, shred their skin and land on the driveway as a black panther and leopard. The cats hiss and swipe as the lion rises puffs his chest and their tails twitch.

We here more soft whining. Oliver stares them down. “Don’t you fucking dare.”

The three beside him, look at each other, look at Oliver, bark, then run off in the direction of the others.

“WHAT THE FU…”

The air booms with monstrous growls which causes Oliver and the rest of us to cringe. We look, and now, there’s a very large grizzly bear, silverback gorilla, and black dragon standing behind the cats.

“Zander?!” Oliver turns to him.

“I told you.” He crosses his arms and ticks his head.

“I said…”

We turn back and the lion splits into Leon. “Step aside!” He yells as he lands on human feet.

“Dude. You were threatening before, but now your naked and just plain silly.” Dorian motions to him.

Leon raises his fingers and snaps.

The dragon takes a quick breath and blows fire at us.

“SHIT!!!” We all hit the ground and the last of the dires run screaming from the place.

Oliver is on his stomach and looks behind him. “IT'S A FUCKING FROG! COME ON, GUYS!!” He turns back. “Damn it!” He narrows his eyes. “You’re going to pay for that.”

The dragon narrows his eyes and licks his teeth.

Leon stands in front of us. “If you don’t want to die this day, you will give us access to the lab.”

“Krestin?” Dorian motions his head to the dragon.

“Uh… That’s my granddad. No fucking way, man.” Krestin puts a hand in his face.

“Coward.” Dorian grits.

“Damn right.”

We all look up at Leon as the others shift and stand behind him.

Oliver looks at Zander, then up to Leon. “What do you need?”

“Access to section 12.” He says.

“There is no section 12.” Oliver raises his brow.

“There is. I need you to open it.” He stands firm and we rise to our feet.

“What’s in it?” Zander asks.

“A weapon.” He eyes us all. “A cosmic… weapon.”

Our eyes widen as we stare at each other.

Zander closes the gap. “What weapon?”