The Living Night (Book 2) by Jack Conner Page B

from my cloud, drinking wine and screwing
virgins."
    Ruegger used his telekinetic abilities to
enliven the vines that had grown up the nearest tree. Under his power, the
vines wrapped themselves tightly around the human and held the poor man down
while Ruegger drank blood out of the wound on his broken leg. The human screamed,
but Ruegger did not relent until the mortal had passed out. The Darkling stood,
wiping the blood from his mouth, and dismissed the aid of the vines. His anger
faded, though he wasn’t sure whom the anger was reserved for.
    True to his word, Ruegger hefted the mortal up
and began making his way back toward the Lodge.
    Something moved overhead. He glanced up to see a
shape fluttering against the night sky, its outline obscured against the trees.
    "Who are you?" he shouted.
    No answer came.
    Slowly, forms began to resolve into discernable
figures. There wasn't just one outline, but four, all human-shaped and flying
in circles above him, their dark and leathery wings beating a wind through his
hair. Jandrows, from the look of them, and something else, something they were
carrying that glinted metallically in the moonlight—guns. Large
and bulbous, with wolfish barrels and glittering belts of ammunition. Machine guns, weapons so heavy that they would normally be mounted. The shades trained the weapons at him as the circle of jandrows descended towards
him.
    "Who are you?" he called again.
    "Don't worry about who we are,
Darkling," one of them shouted back. "Just freeze where you are.
We’ll take care of the rest."
    "Like hell.”
    He gestured, and the arms of the nearest trees
snaked out and clutched at the quartet of winged beings. They squealed as the
rough limbs seized them, but Ruegger knew that this was only a temporary
solution.
    A fifth winged creature dropped from the sky
through the ring of imprisoned jandrows and flew straight at him. Ruegger noted
a long, massive jaw extending from a flat, sinister head. It was, of all
things, the head of crocodile, with the thick body and powerful tail to match.
Its enormous, bat-like wings billowed behind it as it drove at the Darkling.
    Ruegger dove. He struck the ground and rolled
fast, feeling the creature's presence close above him. He threw himself to his
feet and swiveled.
    The beast landed not ten feet away. As if about
to pounce, it crouched menacingly, lashing its heavy tail with force. Though its body was very like that of a crocodile, its legs were
longer and seemingly more agile, although they were thick, meaty and covered
with scales. It was a jandrow, he thought uncertainly, and must be one
of the few of their kind that could shapeshift. Not only this, but it appeared
relatively old and quite able to match or exceed him in strength.
    "Who the hell are you?" he asked,
setting down the human that still slumbered in his arms. The man stirred and
opened his eyes.
    "Captain Raulf D'Aguila," the creature
said through its enormous, smiling mouth, evil red eyes squinting at Ruegger in
what he thought of as an authoritative manner. "I have come to take you
in."
    Retrieving the knife from its holster, Ruegger
spat. “Then come and get me."
    The creature raised itself to its full height
and tucked its large wings carefully above its ridged back, all the while swiveling
its head about playfully on a thick neck that seemed too long for the crocodile
it otherwise resembled. In fact, Ruegger thought, it seemed very much like a
dragon at the moment—an obese dwarf of a dragon that had spent too much time in
the mud, bursting at the seams with puss and venom. It exuded an air of
corruption.
    Overhead, the other jandrows freed themselves
from the wooden prisons Ruegger had created for them, but they made no move
against him. Perhaps they were enjoying the show.
    Captain Raulf D'Aguila launched itself high into
the air, its great dark-green wings spreading out behind it. Its legs stood out
from its body in postures meant to ensnare Ruegger. The legs were swift