Moonlight Medicine: Inoculation (13 page)

Not long after they entered the concert hall, Roberto excused himself from David and went to speak with Zachary and Caroline. David thought it inappropriate to follow, so he wandered over to a cluster of Wolfkin that included Bill and Madeline. Upon noticing him Madeline gave a tiny jerk of her head in recognition, but Bill greeted him warmly.

“Long time no see! David right?”

David shook the man’s hand. “That’s right, and you’re Bill?”

“Sure am. I wish I could say that it’s good to see you, but it always seems to be troubled times when I do.”

“We need to fix that.”

Bill’s smile melted away. “Aye.”

“So what do you make of all this?”

“Bad times, friend, bad times. I don’t think that most of us have ever even been in a real fight in our furs. Not to mention the nice shield of strays they have themselves.”

David nodded grimly. “But you’re still willing to fight?”

“I’ll tell you something. My gran pare was the first Wolfkin in my family and he turned because there was a man who had murdered three children with a slippery lawyer who’d gotten him off on some technicality. He met a man who asked him if he had the resolve to see that justice was done. Now a lynch mob was forming, and my gran pare knew that those innocent, but enraged, people in that lynch mob would suffer horribly for the rest of their lives if he let them kill the murderer. So he told the man that he did have the resolve, and the man turned my gran pare Wolfkin to get the job done before the lynch mob got to the murderer. Now my pa never had to do anything like that in his lifetime, though he did scare more than one sinner into mending his or her ways, but he sat me down before I let him turn me and told me something important. He told me that there would come a time when I would have to use the beast inside to save lives, and that was the only reason that he would turn me. Well, by my reckoning that time has come.”

David didn’t know what to say. His own infection had been stupid and pointless, and he had never even considered how he could make things better as a Wolfkin and use the power to benefit others; he’d only ever thought about how to cure himself. He felt horrible and selfish next to Bill. Fortunately, Zachary then strutted up to the podium and called for the assembled Wolfkin to quiet and sit down so that the meeting could officially start. David nodded at Bill, and they sat next to each other, with Madeline on Bill’s other side.

“Welcome all. For those who may not know, I am Zachary Harchem, the recently appointed Wahya Alpha. It has been a long time since the Wahya have gathered together and I’m fairly certain that none of us alive today remember a time when the Wahya and the Amaruq shared a common room. It is only in this most dire time that we come together. The mutual threat posed by the Vulke has led us to this desperate measure and it is time to talk about cooperation, strategy, and sacrifice in order to preserve our collective beliefs. Please allow me to introduce Wolfkin Council member Roberto Antonio Rivest to discuss the plain facts of the daunting task before us, and then we shall open the floor to general questions, comments, and suggestions.”

Roberto walked purposefully over to the podium and wasted no time on eloquent acknowledgements. “The Vulke and the North American leadership have narrowed down the choices of fighting arenas to two locales: one in the northeastern part of the Lower Peninsula, and one in the Upper Peninsula. Both are heavily forested areas that should be relatively isolated from humans, particularly at night. They have requested a strictly Wolfkin challenge with no weapons of any kind, under threat that they will infect thousands of innocent people if we do not comply. I will tell you now that we have no way of knowing if they are able to follow through on this threat, but it is a risk that I have spoken to the leadership of most of the packs on and that has been universally considered unacceptable. Additional intelligence regarding the Vulke suggests that once more the Anubis pack and the Chon have sided with them in so much as they have refused communication with other packs since the meeting of the Betas that revealed the Vulke threat. Also, we have discovered that as many as four ships from Russia that made port in the United States, two in Michigan and two on the East Coast, were likely used to transport large numbers of Vulke, and that one of the ships was followed by a freighter carrying werewolf hunters who were tracking the Vulke. Efforts to track the Vulke members’ activities after they reached shore have been less successful, but we are doing our best. Unfortunately, we think that most of the dealings that the Vulke have done since entering the United States were illegal in nature, so we are in the process of exploring leads into the Russian and Serbian mafia. That is all we know, unless someone here has more information, which they should disclose at this time, please.”

Roberto took a step back and to the side of the podium and raised his hands to indicate that it was open for others to use. For a couple of seconds no one moved or spoke, then a voice from the audience rang out. “What do we know about the strays? Are they contagious? Are they dangerous? How many do the Vulke have?”

Roberto stepped back to the podium. “I believe that there is someone who can answer your questions better than I. David Jenner, would you mind?”

At the mention of David’s name, a murmur rumbled through the general audience. Bill gave him an encouraging wink as David tried to get to the stage as quickly as possible without running or stepping on people’s feet. When he got up onto the stage, Roberto inclined his head and stepped away from the podium again. Suddenly sweating, David reached the podium and cleared his throat.

“We know of eleven strays total, seven men and four women, not including strays that are under the Vulke’s control. We strongly suspect that the infection was oral in nature, and are currently trying to track a common food between the strays that might be the source of the infection. From there we hope to trace the product back to a manufacturer or specific factory, and from there to the Vulke. Evelyn…um…Dr. Eisenhart, can neither confirm nor discredit the Vulke’s claim to be able to infect another several thousand people all at once, but in that the infection is likely from eating contaminated food, the strays are not contagious in a different way than we are.”

David couldn’t think of anything more to say, so he stopped talking and thought about the other things that he wanted to say about strategy in fighting the Vulke. But before he could start a new topic, another query was put forth.

“How do we know that the strays aren’t Vulke plants?”

“There isn’t any evidence to support that. I am very close to one of the strays, and she would have actually died had Evelyn and I not stumbled upon her, so that, in my mind, makes it very unlikely that she’s a plant.”

Bill spoke up then. “How are we going to deal with unfriendly strays in battle?”

David looked to Roberto, but he gave no indication of wanting to accept the podium from David, so he answered as best as he could with his own opinions. “I personally feel that we should try very hard to develop a strategy to draw off the strays or otherwise take them out of the fight without using lethal force. They were innocents before all this, and are probably just Vulke pawns now, and to slaughter them indiscriminately would make us just as bad as the Vulke.”

“I have to say I like your idea, son, but that might not be possible. What then?”

Roberto responded to this for David, stepping up quickly to the podium and nudging David aside. “We will do what we must in order to assure a victory, of course. Failure and a world where the Vulke are free to indulge in their cruelty, insanity, and delusions of world domination is not an option. Please let David explain his idea so that we all may contemplate its value, strengths, and weaknesses together to come up with the best possible strategy.”

Again, just as David had heard at the meeting of the Betas, there was an almost imperceptible quality to Roberto’s voice that made argument feel impossible. David continued with his idea in more detail. “I’m sure that most of you know that I once defeated the Vulke Alpha, Christoff, in a challenge to protect Dr. Eisenhart, but I’m not sure how many of you know the details of that challenge and my narrow victory. I’m not too proud to say that I used a trick in the form of a distraction to give myself an advantage. I managed to run from Christoff and kill a deer, then hide in ambush and attack him while he fed on its carcass. I propose that we do something similar to help draw the strays away from the fighting. If we could somehow put deer carcasses out close enough to the battlefield for the strays to smell, it might distract them from the battle like it did with Christoff.”

Again a murmur rose and echoed around the concert hall, then a single clear voice came out of the crowd. “Wouldn’t it be risky to put them out before the fight? What if the Vulke found them? They could burn them or claim we were using weapons.”

David had his reply ready. “That’s true, so we would have to somehow bring the deer in after the fight began. The problem is that I’ve been told that both areas are several miles from a road, so the carcasses would have to come in via ATV’s or something similar…or by helicopter? Which also means that we would be involving a non-Wolfkin. Does anyone have any suggestions or know anyone right off who would be willing to risk their lives?” David was amazed by the number of people who raised their hands. Apparently being a Wolfkin wasn’t quite as big a secret as he thought it was. “Wow, okay. Of those with friends or family willing to help, do any of them have access to an ATV or know how to pilot a helicopter?”

Five hands remained raised, including those of Bill and Madeline. Madeline’s eyes flashed to Bill then she stood proudly. The rest of the people lowered their hands. “My couzin iz a helicopter pilot. She drops supplies to zee rangers in remote stations in Canada. She could do eet.”

Having said her piece Madeline sat again. David scanned the faces of the audience members that he could see around the lights aimed at the stage; most looked interested, some hopeful, and a few doubtful. David felt he could live with that.

“Unless someone has an alternative idea, Roberto and I will coordinate with Madeline and the other Wahya and Amaruq leaders to put this plan into action, and with Roberto’s permission, I would like to make other packs aware of our plans and encourage them to do something similar.”

David turned to look at Roberto, who nodded. No one else had anything to add, so Roberto once again took control of the podium. “If David’s idea for drawing off the strays is successful, then we should have a much better chance to defeat the Vulke. It is likely that they will be counting on using the strays as a shield and attack us only after the strays have weakened us and thinned our numbers. With luck, they will be unprepared for the strays to be drawn off and some of their younger, less disciplined members may also be distracted. This could give us just the advantage that we need. Now I could give you a St. Crispin’s Day speech, band of brothers and all that, but all of us dying gloriously in battle will not stop the Vulke. Instead we will need to use all of our collective cunning to triumph over brawn and brutality. This will not be a bloodless fight, but every drop shed will be a worthy sacrifice to make the world safe from our enemies. We alone stand between the Vulke and humanity, and make no mistake, by uniting our packs and keeping the Vulke from controlling our actions through intimidation and fear, we will prevail!”

The crowd roared in response, many of the assembled Wolfkin standing with raised fists as they shouted. David felt a strong desire to cheer as well, but also an odd stubbornness that prevented him from vocalizing at Roberto’s anti-St. Crispin’s Day speech. He did allow himself to nod his head in a forceful and approving way. Once the crowd had quietened down once more, Roberto motioned for Zachary to replace him at the podium, and although Zachary’s face remained neutral, his slouched posture in the shadows of the stage edge betrayed his reluctance to follow Roberto’s last moving sentiments.

“I thank you all in advance for your support, bravery, and sacrifice. Caroline and I and Louis and Madeline have prepared lists of teams and appointed team leaders for each who should get together after this general meeting to discuss individual team strategies. We have several conference rooms set aside for you for this purpose with complementary food and beverages provided by the hotel, so please see your Alpha, Beta, or Gamma after this meeting to receive a list of your team members and where you should meet next. Team leaders will determine the necessary length of these individual meetings, and all Wolfkin are welcome to stay at the hotel free of charge should that be their desire. Team leaders should e-mail a report of their meeting outcome to Caroline within 24 hours so that we can coordinate our side of the battle. We have Wahya and Amaruq members discussing the benefits and drawbacks of each battle site, but if anyone has any strong knowledge or opinions on either site please let us know. Thank you again. We may not have the numbers, but we have strength nonetheless.”

David wasn’t sure if Zachary was expecting to elicit another cheer from the audience, but he only received polite applause as those not already standing rose and stretched, and all crowded around the leadership of the two packs. David noted that Zachary remained on stage near Roberto and let Caroline and Clem’s Gamma stand-in, deal with the swarm of Wolfkin ready for action.

22

Melissa’s blood sample did have virions in it, but all of the tested sample segments of her DNA were clear of viral entwinement. The news was bad, but not unexpected and Evelyn felt a tiny surge of excitement that they would be able to test the antivirals. She just prayed that Melissa would take the medication religiously. It took Evelyn and Kim most of the night to work through Melissa’s samples, and Kim seemed much quieter than usual even though they both tried not to talk much while working to cut down on possible contamination via aerosolized saliva. Evelyn wondered if Kim was upset about the student’s infection, or if she was worrying about the upcoming fight. The truth was, Evelyn was very worried about the fast-approaching full moon, and was torn.