“Sounds like we should have waited awhile,” I said as we walked along the base of the mountain.

“It looks as if they have been planning this for years. Some of the parchment didn’t look like it had been touched in some time. Although, the one of Inara’s estate room lay open on a small table in a room concealed just off of this room that I think she kept hidden from her twin,” Jacob explained.

“I showed him without his asking, My Lady,” Alex immediately added. “I also told him that my mistress has been planning the death of her sister for some time.”

              Bernard took in a sharp breath, and Alex slapped him in the back of the head. “How long do you wish to lick her boots? I tire of running when she snaps, and doing everything she says. They come to offer freedom. How many times have we spoken of running away?” We continued on, crossing the marsh with Bernard complaining that his feet hurt, spreading a huge smile across my face because I had already lost his shoes in the depths some twenty feet back. We bypassed the pile of bodies from Lord Cheree’s dump at the end of the tunnels and continued at a swift pace, making our way around the outside of the tall wall that enclosed the graveyard. All of us that had seen the Specters first hand and looked for them diligently as we moved.

We were almost to the edge of the front wall when a strange clicking started in the distances. Fala yelled, “run” and we did just that. Bernard tripped and fell face first in the damp earth as the sound got closer. “Javelinas!” Fala yelled, yanking Bernard up by the back of his pants and pushing Alex. “Run!” he demanded, making sure we were in front of him moving as fast as we could. He tossed Bernard over the wall by the gate, then reached down and grabbed Alex who was shaking his head after seeing Bernard hit the ground on the other side after his body went airborne. But it didn’t stop Fala from tossing him to the top where he too would have gone over had he not grabbed the wall. “Climb now!” he yelled, pushing my backside up, as he reached over with the other hand lifting Derek up to the side of the gate. Jacob was up and over in seconds, taking my waist as I descended. Fala reached the top of the side post and turned to look back as the clicking began to die down, as if it were sinking back into the woods surrounding the graveyard and our estate.

“What the hell was that?” Derek asked as Fala jumped down.

“Javelinas, they are the wildest of the pig family and hunt in packs. The difference is that they have been infected with the were-curse and are far worse than their four legged kin,” he explained, taking in several deep breaths.

“You got that excited over a bunch of pigs?” Derek asked, then burst out laughing.

“I tell you now my young friend that one can kill a grown man, and that is one without the curse of the were-blood running through its veins. They are not like the domesticated pig or the wild boar, they are small and trim in build, weighing no more than fifty, maybe sixty, pounds. Their heads are much smaller, but their teeth are like the sharpest of our blades and they use them with precise measure. We found one of our men torn to shreds, there was little left to tell that he was even a man when they had finished with him, and to take down a werewolf in such a manner is a creature to be reckoned with.”

“I wanna know what that sound was?” I asked, bending down to see why Bernard was still on the ground. “I think his leg’s broken.”

“It was them snapping their teeth together,” Fala replied, getting my attention.

“That sound was them snapping their teeth together?” I stood as Alex came to Bernard’s side. “And they're how small?”

“I have only seen them in their were-form once, and even then they are a small creature. Slim bodies, long snouts, but the teeth are twice as long and there is no sign of them having ever been human, just a breed that was somehow infected by the curse,” Fala explained. “Not even a breeder has the speed to escape the rush of the were-javelina.”

“These things are new to London since I was last here. I have not heard of this creature around here before but I knew of them in the southern parts of your country.” Cates’ cleared his throat.

“The were-kind?” Derek asked, as we made our way to the front porch.

“No, that must be a trick of the one who chose to infect them,” Jacob replied, dropping Bernard down into one of the chairs, with Alex kneeling down beside him like a concerned lover. “Where did you see this one, Fala?”

“It was on a ship that passed the village a few years back. They had stopped close to the one they called the ‘Doctor’ and it was led by chain by one of the breeders that came off the ship.”

“Well, that explains how they got here,” I said, knocking three times on the door.

“Who goes there?” Cates said from the other side.

“Three blind mice,” I replied, and knocked three times again, then he opened the thick wooden door.

“Welcome home blind mice, we have been waiting,” he smiled down with Tammy and Tanda coming up behind him.

Tammy, even though she wanted to cut the testicles off of both Alex and Bernard, made a splint for Bernard’s broken leg, which was shattered at the femur, and doctored the scrapes on the side of Alex’s face and arm where he landed, before we locked them in one of the rooms upstairs. That is, after Garvin and Sydney removed all of the sharp objects. It was the only places left in the house with chains still firmly attached to the wall, so that we could make sure they wouldn’t try to escape. After they were secure, we all went back down to the family room to relax and explain to the others what we had done and what we had discovered running in the forest. The javelinas were just one more thing to watch out for when we were out in the cover of night. London was proving to be more than I had ever thought it would be, and nothing that I had imagined from the stories that I had heard or read about as a younger normal.

I wished so badly that I could be a small fly on the wall when Inara returned home and found the note that Sydney had written. We had had him doing the penmanship before we had left, since he had a way with the art of making it look professional.

Lady Inara,

The time has come that you lay your head to the true feet of the leader of this land. If you wish to see your precious pets again you well heed the word of your Queen, Lady Angelica. All the houses will fall including your own, if her wishes are not met. Three prisoners grace the highest power, and many more will be added, for the seed of he who comes is now in favor of the one. Do not darken the halls until you are summoned.

I could see her screaming out in rage as she read the letter that was left laying open on her bed pillow, thinking it was left by those from her sister’s house who came in after she drove away, taking her pets and giving her an order. We were hoping she would think Angelica’s pet was part of it and this was an order that hopefully drove her in the direction that we could use her. Jacob, being through this sort of thing many times, said she would use the gala to get close enough to her sister to try and kill her herself. And by doing so, show her own power and take all that her sister had, which was the very thing that we were wanting. If we could get them to fight amongst themselves, then we could take down the leaders of power and show those who follow them that the same would happen to them if they did not leave the ways of old and step into the light of the new.

As it stood now, there was no way we could fight our way out of London, not if they all came together and fought against us. My thoughts fell to Martin and what was happening to him, making me leave the others in conversation and go upstairs and have a talk with the two that we had captured. When I moved the chair that was stuck under the door knob, I could hear them consoling one another. I found them sitting on the floor across the room from one another, bound to the wall and unable to reach the other, with tears streaking down their faces. Bernard saw me and began crying out loud, as Alex did his best to sooth him.