Age of Extinction (300 Years of Sin Book 2) Read online

  “How about we talk about something a bit more joyful? At least for a few moments, let’s get our minds off this!” continued Aiko. “I am very excited to go to Paris. I have never been there.”

  “Rene and Mark are waiting for us there. You will get along with them very well.”

  “Ria and Alex notified us that they will also come. Ria is sure that, by Christmas, her Constantine uncle, the same man who turned her, will be buried in a Nigerian prison. She is now waiting for the verdict of the Court. And Alex will arrive from Brazil just in time for celebrations.” said Aiko.

  “It’s been two hundred years since we did not have to worry about being discovered by the Order, it feels good to live like this again.” added Masaru.

  Chapter 3

  Christmas and a wedding

  It had been two weeks since the last kill, but the inhabitants of the small city of Brasov were not about to let Christmas go by without the usual party in the town square. Huge Christmas trees were lit by thousands of lights and the fire burned bright, right into the sky. However, there were more patrols than ever in an attempt to keep the copycat of the Black Murderer away. Constantine got the nickname in 1735 when he mutilated the bodies of army soldiers near the piles of dead in the center of the city.

  “Is everything ready?” asked the duke.

  “Everything is set. Tonight, during the full moon, the process will be completed.” replied Cristian. “You took three lives already, but tonight you have to hunt seven at once. It is going to be more difficult as the city is dotted with police officers. Your senses are enhanced so you will be able to do it. Use them to the best of your abilities.”

  As night set, the city was sparkling with colored lights. Christmas was a happy time in the city. Visitors traveled for hundreds and even thousands of kilometers to see the splendor. Carolers walked from street to street and kids were talking to Santa Claus wherever they could find him. But, deep beneath the shadows, a monster lay in wait. Hideous claws, hairy body, overdeveloped muscles, and big teeth were waiting for prey to be spotted.

  “Adam, where are you?” asked a father looking for his twelve year old son. They were around the fire when the boy decided to hide and play a trick on his father. So he walked away from the crowd. He walked toward the Black Church and, being right next to it, the claws grabbed him, snatched him from the spot, and ripped his torso into pieces. The father was left looking, being sure his son was alright, somewhere hiding, as he always did.

  Five minutes after the kill, Constantine murdered a full grown man, the father of the boy, and left his body right next to that of his son. Another five minutes passed and two sisters were snatched from the front of their house. The next three kills took place at the same time, as Constantine attacked three friends who were going to the town square to take a better look at the fireworks. And then panic spread on the foreheads of all people as two police officers noticed the beast and screamed the word danger to alarm everyone else. They wanted to shoot, but, as they were taking their guns out, the beast increased in size, now towering over them, his claws and fangs got thicker and longer, and his fur completely covered the entire beastly body. One of the two shot him, while the other was too panicked to react. The werewolf then snapped the guns out of their hands and grabbed them by their heads lifting them. He then swirled them until he was left with nothing but their heads and their bodies were on the ground. The beast then went into the square and showed himself to those still there. People were scared and he pointed his finger at them. Police began to shoot, but the bullets kept ricocheting. The beast pointed his finger at every officer and then howled at them, scaring them into running. Constantine then left, hid, and, when nobody was looking, he turned human and went back in the basement of the Black Church.

  Cristian was inside of his home. He told his wife he was not feeling well so as to have a good enough pretext to not go out. But once Constantine ended his hunt, Cristian told her he received an emergency call from the hospital and he was needed there. However, the man went to his laboratory where the duke was waiting.

  “Let me show you what we have created!” said Constantine as he was turning into a werewolf. He stood at two and half meters tall and Cristian was fascinated by his creation.

  “How do you feel?”

  “Invincible! I can change my shape whenever I want. I can do whatever I desire. Bullets won’t even touch me!” answered the duke.

  “Now change me!” said Cristian.

  “Very well!” added the duke. He then took Cristian’s hand and with one of his claws he slit his skin causing a vein to burst. Next, Constantine pierced his own palm and let his blood flow onto the doctor’s hand.

  Cristian healed in a matter of seconds and then he screamed as he fell to the werewolf’s knees. His clothes tore from his body as his muscles were growing. His bones broke and reconfigured and soon he was a monster himself, though not as tall as the duke. He could stand on two or all his paws, he felt adrenaline rush through his body and a desire to feed on human flesh stronger than himself.

  “Now go eat!” said Constantine.

  The beast ran into the city, but where could he find his food? Nobody was outside anymore. He walked a bit further and saw the lights on in one of the houses. Constantine was behind him. He rushed into the house and killed three people. He devoured them all. Constantine witnessed it all and he was pleased with his partner. After that, both creatures went back into the basement, exhilarated.

  “It is unlike anything I felt. It is remarkable!” said Cristian as he turned back into a human, taking clothes out of a drawer. “You knew it would feel like this. This is why you managed to withstand so much time in this basement.”

  “When I took her blood and I turned I felt it for the first time. I have not felt this way since 1699. I drank the blood of the natural werewolf and for a week I was like this. It is true that I did not know I would have this exact shape and I resemble more a monster that parents tell their children about, than the natural werewolves, but the abilities are the same.” said Constantine.

  “If you hadn’t drunk the blood of the natural werewolf, we would never have managed to do this.”

  “I thought I would be a werewolf forever, so you can imagine how disappointed I was when I turned back human and when I realized I could not shape shift again. But then, when I found out about Mihail’s research, and then about yours, I hoped that I could one day be this again.”

  “My father wanted to create werewolves out of humans. He did not understand that he needed to first give a person werewolf blood and then try to turn him into one. When you drunk that blood, it somehow got attached to your cells and it did not die, it regenerated itself, but it was not enough to completely turn you into one.”

  “And you found a way to enhance its action on my body.” added the duke.

  “We truly are extraordinary partners!” said the doctor.

  “Actually, no we are not!” said Constantine.

  “What?”

  “You see, my dear doctor. I haven’t been entirely honest with you. When a werewolf turns a human into one, one who is not naturally also werewolf, that person loses part of its free will.”

  “What?” asked the doctor.

  “I’ll give you an example. Go out, get into the police building and hunt a man, then hide and, when it is safe, come back here again.”

  Cristian found himself doing what the duke had asked, even though it was not something he wanted. He returned a few hours later and asked “What have you done to me?”

  “I have simply accomplished your wish, I turned you into a superior being. And now doctor, it is time for us to create an army for I have waited way too long!”

  In January 1698, Duke Constantine Burke was thirty four years old. He got married to a woman whom he loved very much. But she did not get into the marriage of her own free will. Her family arranged it. Constantine Burke was the owner of large businesses and the Gregorian family was a large land owner in Tran
sylvania. Iosiph Gregorian discovered gold on his land and he wanted to get in the business of exporting, but it was not something he had done before and export was dangerous business.

  Constantine Burke was visiting Transylvania with his right hand in business, Jonathan Tudor, and he fell in love with Iosiph’s daughter and asked for her hand in marriage. The duke also offered to help Iosiph in developing his new business. Jonathan did not meet the Gregorian family as he was sent to a different city. While the girl blatantly refused, she was forced to marry the duke. She did not like Constantine. She tried to convince her father that he was not a good man, that he was not to be trusted, but nobody wanted to hear it.

  The marriage was arranged to take place inside of the Black Church as it was the only one deemed fit for such an event by both Burke and Gregorian families. But the wedding could not take place without Constantine’s best man: Jonathan. However, Lord Tudor was late to the event as a storm stopped him from traveling. He only arrived when the priest was already declaring the wedding ceremony over. When he entered the tall church, the bride and groom turned and started walking toward the door. In that moment, his eyes locked in on the woman’s eyes. She was beautiful, big brown eyes, hair in large curls of copper and gold and pink cheeks. Her eyes stared at him and, for a moment, she could not breathe. She kept walking toward the door in her princess gown with a bouquet of flowers in her hands and when the newlyweds reached the door, the bouquet dropped from her hands. Jonathan picked it up and gave it to her. They both stopped breathing again, for a brief moment, and then everybody got out of the church.

  There was a small party during the evening and then the newlyweds were expected to spend the night together. But, before they could head toward their room, loud noises came from outside the house. The swords were heard and flames engulfed a wooden barrack. A large band of criminals, notorious in those times attacked the city. There were two hundred of them and they came with fire. They had the element of surprise and burned down entire buildings while people ran scared out of their way.

  Constantine and Jonathan prepared themselves to fight the danger and told women and children to get to safety in a different room, but the woman, her two brothers, and her father stayed with them.

  “You need to go now!” said Constantine.

  “We do not need you to protect us.” stated Iosiph as men were approaching his home with fire. Iosiph then began to shape shift into a grey werewolf, his two sons grew white and black fur, while the woman, Constantine’s wife, turned into a majestic red-golden. The two creatures went in front of the attackers and began to bite and scratch. Constantine, Jonathan, and other armed men followed them, not really believing their eyes.

  More men came armed to fight against the band of criminals notorious for sacking entire cities. And when they were all dead, the werewolves ran into the house, each to their room and came out a few minutes later, dressed and in their human form. The Gregorian family gathered in the living room along with Constantine, his father, sister, and Jonathan.

  “What are you people?” asked Constantine not noticing his wife was hurt.

  “We are werewolves. Our family is one of the oldest clans of werewolves in the world and, while the rest have gone extinct, we still live.” replied Iosiph.

  Meanwhile, Jonathan noticed blood coming out of the woman’s palm and he took a piece of cloth and wrapped it around her hand.

  “Thank you!” she said. While in her werewolf shape, her paw was pierced, from one side to the other, by a blade. “I need the night to heal.” she announced to the others. “I will spend it as a werewolf for I will heal faster that way. Husband, is that alright with you?”

  “Sure, there’s nothing more important than your wellbeing.” answered Constantine.

  “Thank you!” she said while heading in another part of the house. She took a bath and her hand healed even though she was not a werewolf. She only said she needed to shape shift because she dreaded to spend the night with a man she did not care for. But then Constantine knocked to her door and she had to become a werewolf again.

  “Are you alright?” he asked.

  And then he opened the door to see a wolf standing in the room. She moved, looked at him, and went out of the house to wander about. “Why did this have to happen?” she was thinking to herself while entering an empty barn. There were only some old things of the family there, but the wooden floor and the wooden walls kept the cold out. She took some pillows and some blankets and put them on a bed that nobody was using anymore and which needed to be tossed. She then curled under the blankets.

  Everybody was asleep with the exception of one: Lord Jonathan Tudor who went for a walk to clear his thoughts. He could not fall asleep as he could not get the woman out of his head. “Stop thinking about it man, she is the wife of your friend! Stop!” he said to himself while noticing the barn. Jonathan opened the door and got inside and what he saw was unexpected. The large curls of gold and copper, red lips and shiny skin were in between the blankets. The woman quickly opened her eyes, but she had heard him long before he entered. And, though she thought she should turn back into a wolf, she did against her better judgement. However, unlike regular people, her senses were heightened just like her instincts and she could not deny them. She got down from the bed wrapped in a white sheet.

  “I did not know you were here.” said the lord while standing, not being able to move, even though his mind was telling him to go.

  “Your friend is evil.” she then said.

  “I do not kn…” he could not finish the sentence as he moved closer to her.

  “You should be careful, I bite.” she said.

  “In this moment, I do not care for anything in this world. You are just so beautiful.” he added while lifting his hand toward her face, but hesitating to touch it.

  “I am also wolf so I have the instincts of an animal, however what do you have to say in your defense?” she asked referencing to what was about to happen.

  “I love you.” said the lord.

  “Love can be controlled.” continued the woman.

  “Not this kind of love for I felt like my heart was torn into pieces when I saw you at that altar.” replied Jonathan while grabbing her by the waist. He pulled her close and kissed her with such passion, the whole barn would have burned out if they were fire.

  The two spent the night together and, when morning was close, the two decided it was time to get back into the mansion.

  “What are we going to do?” she asked.

  “This marriage needs to end for, if it does not, I swear I will kill him myself.” answered Jonathan.

  “No you will not.” laughed the woman. “You are a good man. You won’t do such a thing.”

  “Run away with me! I have enough gold to last us a lifetime anywhere we would go.”

  “If I do this, Constantine will kill my family or at least he will try to do it, he will hunt them.”

  “You do not know what he will do. He is not as evil as you think him to be.”

  “He is, you just do not know it yet and I hope you never get to see that.”

  “Why are you telling me this?”

  “Unlike the rest of my family, I can do more. I can pierce through the conscience of those I see. Yours is clear, but Constantine has many secrets buried in the closet. While I cannot see it all as my ability to do so is still developing, I can see some, and what I’ve witnessed in his thoughts is ugly. My father is blinded by the idea of developing his own empire and he won’t believe anything bad about him and my brothers are too young to disobey him. So I have to find a way to protect my family while pushing away Constantine. So, for now, let’s see where this road takes us and abandon any plans for the two of us.”

  It was soon that Jonathan realized of the true character of Constantine. He witnessed him turn from his friend into a man blinded by power. Both the lord and the woman tried to save as many as they could from the duke’s ruthlessness, but their plans failed. And things only got
a turn for the worse when Constantine realized of the love between the two. In 1699, he took the two as his prisoners and locked them in dungeons buried deep beneath the ground, in London. And, with the help of a witch, he drank his wife’s blood in an attempt to become a werewolf. He then told Jonathan he burned her body and ordered the priest to turn him into a draco, causing him to lose all memories of the past year. When he woke up, he was in pain. Constantine came and told him he will forever be tortured for negating his plans, for betraying him. The lord had no memory of the woman and thought he was being punished by Constantine for not agreeing to his plans. But hatred was buried deep into his soul for the duke and it came out. Constantine, hid any evidence of the existence of the family of werewolves.

  Right after that, the blood Constantine drank started to affect his body and he turned into a werewolf, but he was unlike his wife. He grew larger and he was hideous. While the new shape gave him an extraordinary feeling of power, of excitement, and of invincibility, those around him came to deeply fear him. Constantine ravaged the city during the week he was a monster. It was the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve and London was terrified. Constantine murdered the witch, but not before she did one last spell and he murdered all those who knew he drank the wolf blood. When he turned back into a human he did not return to Transylvania and Jonathan had escaped and was lost in the wilderness, trying to cope with his new situation, while the duke longed for more werewolf blood.

  Back in the 21st century, in Paris, Mark and Rene were joined by Ava, Jonathan, Aiko, Masaru, Ria, and Alex. They spent Christmas having fun and strolling around the splendid city, but then, on the 26th of December, mass media was filled with the news of the gruesome murders in Brasov. On the 27th of December, news of two CEOs was also presented by the media. These were actually encountered with joy by the dracos as the two were Constantines. During the next few days, more Constantines were killed and even five dracos and a witch. Now, things were getting clear: the deaths were connected.