Hunter's Moon

Chapter 15

            “Miss . . . miss . . .” she felt herself being shaken. “Can you wake up now?”

            Juli woke up and saw a nurse standing over her., Juli saw another nurse preparing to change Tony's dressings.

            “Visiting hours are over. I'm sorry, unless you’re family you can't stay. We'll tell your boyfriend that you were here for so long though.”

            “Ex-boyfriend.” Juli corrected, as she groggily stood up.

            “Okay . . .” the nurse said, apparently not believing her, “your ex-boyfriend.”

            “No, really. He was cheating on me. We broke up and I told him to stuff his genitals in a blender.” Juli blurted out as she was becoming fully awake. Something she achieved a split second after that last syllable left her lips. She decided that was the best time to leave.

            The nurses looked at each other and then at Juli as she exited the room quickly. They quietly went about their work. They pulled all the gauze and packing material away from his wound, and then stopped short. One raced out of the room calling for a doctor.

            The sun dropped below the horizon. The house stirred as a group of minions started to wake up. Their minds were nothing better than instinct and reaction, bestial constructs. The Hunger called to them. The strongest of them, the pack alpha, started sniffing the air, trying to determine where to search first for food. There was none in the immediate surroundings. They would have to venture forth. The alpha headed toward the exit, he would find food for the pack.

            "Stop."

Pack-mates that had begun to follow the alpha across to the exit fled back into the shadows in the corner underneath the staircase. The alpha turned its head toward the voice, and then dropped into a subservient position. The Stramos had come, and no one defied the Stramos.

            The Stramos walked down the stairs and smiled at his pet. "Oh, I know you're hungry. You'll be fed soon. We just can't have you out and about quite yet." The Stramos tousled the hair on the alpha's head.

            The Stramos had exchanged his tattered rags for a finely tailored suit. Eric and the Stramos had hunted enough sustenance to let the Stramos's body stop cannibalizing itself. The Stramos looked practically like a human now, rather than that gnarled husk of a body that had first pulled itself out of the earth. He could have passed as a runway model for any of the top fashion designers, with black hair, captivating dark brown eyes, and impeccable if slightly pale skin. Eric had also been instrumental in helping him establish a position within the mortal culture. The Stramos had discovered some older accounts with various banks were still listed as open and accruing interest. Once establishing his identity as the heir to the holdings, money was of little consequence.

            Where Eric had truly shined, the Stramos thought, was in finding new recruits to bolster his army. The surrounding area had changed so drastically in the time he had been asleep in the ground. The Stramos knew that once the full moon came, there would be no stopping him, but he needed enough soldiers to form the proverbial beachhead once the ritual was complete. Eric had been able to raid the surrounding populace and bring in those that would not be missed. At least, would not be noticed as missing until after the full moon. Homeless were the best option. They'd already fallen through the cracks of society and were missed by no one. But due to their nature, whatever had led to the homeless person to become well, homeless, also usually left them unsuitable as lieutenants.

            The Stramos had plenty of shock troops. The neighboring cities were empty of homeless. But regular troops can only get you so far in a war. He needed commanders and leaders. Eric had said he had an idea where to get them. Eric's knowledge of how the college operated and, more importantly, how the college students went about their days had been vastly beneficial. There were plenty of students that would fall through the cracks there as well. Students that had what it took to be admitted to the school yet had not yet fully destroyed their lives with drugs and alcohol. Due to that they could be trained to lead the hounds.

            He also needed to find a way to channel the energy of the Great Conjunction without killing himself. It would do no good to perform the ritual and have it kill him. There was a good chance he could survive, but he knew that his vampire nature dampened the access to the focusing energies that wizards and other magic practitioners wielded. Eric had explained that practitioners were few and far between these days. He would make do if necessary, but it would be ultimately easier with someone else standing at the center of the maelstrom he was to create.

            There was movement from the doorway. Eric was returning with the other lieutenants. They all walked into the grand hall of the mansion, each carrying an unconscious college student over one shoulder.

            “Excellent,” the Stramos said. “They'll become either soldiers or food.”