Jake Van Guard...

In the air outside the hospital, more of the strangely sweet chemical lingered. I first smelled it last night before I went dark. The smell made my wolf snap and growl, I could feel my canines and claws trying to poke out. We wanted to kill, we wanted to eat, we wanted to mate, we wanted to be a beast. Primal needs that were almost overwhelming as I pulled him back. A glance told me, Will was having the same battle.

"I said, leave or die, Wolves!" The vampiress repeated as she took an aggressive step forward.

The humans held the guns steady.

I held out my hands, they were shaking, "Please, we have humans who need medical help. We're okay, we're not sick. Or just give us blankets and some supplies and we'll go."

She eyed me carefully for a moment then I was surprised as Becky stepped in front of us, "Put the guns away, cain't you see they are trying to help us. They been protecting us and finding more survivors."

The Vampiress appraised the pregnant woman, then nodded. "Help them."

Becky smiled at me over her shoulder as the humans rushed to help those on the bus.

The Vampiresses came straight to Will and I. One in a sheriff's department hoodie asked, "You sure you're not sick, wolf? You're shaking pretty bad."

"Need oxygen," I couldn't help my gagging.

My body wanting to accept the sickly, sweetest smell, as darkness threatened. My mind and my wolf were fighting it. Will was actually vomiting on the snow as the vampiress held him up. I tried not to breathe until we were inside. The taller one placed the O2 mask over my face, the filtered air helped calm my wolf. It was almost like I could feel myself exhaling whatever the poison in the air was.

The vampiress stood just out of arm's reach, sword ready. "I'm Sam."

Finally, I felt calm enough to speak. "Jake. It's that strange sweet smell, it's on the bodies outside, in the snow. It makes my wolf want to go feral."

"How were you able to resist it? To help the ones you rescued? All of the other males just went crazy." Sam looked curious but cold, as if she didn't trust my ability to stay in control or her ability to kill me.

"It isn't as strong southeast of here. My brother and I need to leave, we're Alphas of the Monarchy. If we lose it like the others we've encountered..." I didn't finish when her eyes widen for a moment, then she shrugged.

"I'm protecting my child. I've killed a lot of wolves and vampires since last night, wolf, what's one or two more." There was a note of pain in her voice that made my wolf whine, a shared pain. Mate-loss.

"You lost your beloved last night." It was a statement I knew to be true.

She didn't wipe the tears that leaked from her eyes, "It was him or our daughter, I chose for our child to live. My Covenant sisters and I barely made it here with our children. We killed so many, the humans would wound them, and we would kill them." She took several quick, deep breaths, then laughed ironically, "I always thought the training was stupid, we didn't have wars anymore. But... but now... I am glad I had it."

"Sisters? I saw one. Where's the others?"

"Only three of us made it out with the children, while the rest fought the males and died... Cherise... She went thirsty. She drank the blood of one who was attacking us, then when we came back inside, she turned on us. We had to kill her too. Beth made them throw her body into the incinerator to be sure." Sam leaned against the wall, her shoulders slumped.

I could only nod, thirsty was vampire slang for blood-lust. They couldn't control the need to feed and couldn't stop once they started.

Suddenly, she shook her head and stood up. "There are Fae working with the humans to rescue survivors, they aren't affected by whatever this is. We have helicopters coming to get the worst of the wounded. The rest, we are driving out. They have a command center just across the state line, we are going to go there. I think you need to go on the choppers. I told them that us females are being affected too, not like you males, but I can feel it every time I take a breath outside. It is like inhaling hunger. I've drained 18 bags of blood, trying to control my thirst. It is also affecting some of the human males, making them more aggressive too. Whatever this is, it's mixed with the snow."

I agreed. "We need to leave, all of us. Whatever was in the snow killed more than I could count last night." The sweet smell was like a shewolf's heat, it made me want to inhale it. I wondered what it smelled like to Sam.

So, I asked, "To us wolves, it smells like a female in heat, only sickly sweet. What does it smell like to you vampires?"

She frowned, trying to identify it. "It smells like... like the blood of a queen or king vampire, like one would do anything for just a drop on the tongue. And no matter how much blood I drink, it isn't enough because it isn't the right blood. Bethany and I have been doing what you and your brother did when we got you in here, sucking clean air. It helps, but we need to get away. The only good thing is that it doesn't seem to affect children."

I could only nod, Chelsey wasn't affected either. I realized I needed to do somethings before I left. "We need to get blood and tissue samples from the dead and samples of the snow."

Sam smirked and revealed, "Bethany works night shift in the Sheriff's criminal evidence unit. She already has samples, pictures, videos, witness statements, every possible thing a forensic investigator would want to look at."

"I'll see that my brother gives your king a message and he rewards you both."

Sam narrowed her eyes at me, "You said you were a Monarchy alpha, which one?"

"Alpha Commander Jacob Van Guard, at your service," I bowed with a flourish, causing the sleeve of my too tight tee shirt to rip. Humans never seemed to have clothes in werewolf sizes.

Sam laughed at me. "You wolves just like to show skin."

Before I could respond, there was a shout from Bethany. There were five more feral wolves and three starving vampires outside, and they were coming toward the doors. I was surprised to see the sprinklers on, spraying the snow with a yellow, chemical-smelling liquid that was melting it. The bodies were gone. Outside the air reeked of pavement de-icing solution, it burned to breathe, but at least the sickly-sweet scent was faded.

"Sam, tell Bethany to call those helicopters, we need them here now. Hold your fire," I ordered.

"Yes, Commander," Sam answered.

Everyone shifted nervously as they got closer, their wild white eyes and insane expressions were clearly visible. The cloudy sky was the only thing keeping the vampires from suffering in the sunlight.

"Commander?" The Sergeant by his uniform, looked me up and down.

"Alpha Commander Van Guard. In the werewolf military, I am the commanding general of our special forces."

We waited and watched. I turned to the human army Sergeant; a man named Baker. "The one just left of center, concentrate your fire on him, until I get to him, he's the leader. They are packing up, which is a bad sign for us. Start shooting when I shift. Sam, Bethany, hang just back and let us take down the wolves."

"Shift?" the man asked, uncertainty in his tone.

"You'll see, just don't shoot him or his brother," Sam smirked from under her sunglasses. The heavy cloud cover and clothing protected her from direct sunlight.

Sam and Bethany stood, behind us, swords ready. Will yanked off his shirt and the jeans and boots he took from a house. I copied him.

"Whenever you're ready, big brother."

We shifted and ran at the enemy as 45 caliber rounds flew above us. We made quick work of the attackers, but I knew more would come, drawn by the noise. We needed to get everyone out of here now.

VvvvV

Hours later, I was on the last helicopter away from the hospital. Sunset was coming fast, and I did not want to be there when it got dark again. Two more groups of survivors were brought in, one group by two werewolves, and the other by a werewolf, vampire, and vampiress. All report the same feelings of aggression, rage, and blood-lust. The majority of the survivors from the city were from that single hospital. Will evacuated with the land convoy, taking the uninjured to Kansas. The most critical were taken to the trauma hospital in Oklahoma City. Exoduses, just like this one, were occurring all along the front range, nearly a million living souls were fleeing for their lives.

Two days later, the sun was melting the snow and those in the rescue area reported the scent of the snow was fading. The Fae and human rescuers still working in the contamination zone reported several attacks by contaminated wolves and vampires. They reported the sick ones just kept attacking until they had to be killed.

In the melted samples of the snow, the strange, sweet scent vanished.

VvvvV

A week passed, and fewer survivors were being found each week, and none in the areas where the sweet-smelling snow was heaviest. Fae reported that it appeared some of the remaining wolves were turning on each other, while others were staggering out of the contamination zone, confused and injured with no clear memory of what they had done or what happened to them. Vampires were staying out in the sun until they died, not even seeking shelter as their skin was blistering off.

One vampire victim from Sam's Coven was found curled under a stairwell, barely alive and blind. He confessed that his last memory was killing his beloved, then all he remembered was thirsting, but he could never find the blood he was thirsting for. He was taken to a nonhuman only hospital. Sam took his toddler son to see him to try to encourage him, but three days later, he tore his own heart out.

I wished I had taken that picture of my mate; the one where she was looking down at her daughter, my brother's mate. We didn't even know their names. My wolf grieved like she was marked and mated as ours; we waited a century for her, only to lose her on the worst night in our species' history. I buried myself in work, Will followed suit. He spent day and night, working tirelessly on the edges of the contamination area. He was no longer the carefree young man who laughingly told me about dating both Candy and Brandy just a week ago.

Ten days later, it was gone. But the chemical detected in the melted snow and blood of the contaminated, remained in the water and on all outdoor surfaces. The area was declared a quarantine zone until spring rains cleansed the toxin from the cities. The dead were left to lay. The worst part was no one heard from our home pack. A helicopter flew over taking thermals, but there was no movement, no heat sources, nothing. Our family was probably dead. The Monarch Mountain Pack was no more.

Soon, the werewolves who survived began killing themselves too. I couldn't blame them, if my nightmares of the six hours I was affected were anything to go by, then for those affected for days, it must be unbearable.

My waking self couldn't make sense of the images my sleeping-self saw. In them, I saw enemies everywhere, always fighting, always killing. Even fleeting images of my mate's face appeared in my dreams, bloodied and terrified. My mind kept imagining that she died like so many, I couldn't make it stop. It was like I could see her last moments, being bitten and shaken, mauled to death. I remembered how the wolves challenged us even though we were more than they. It was like none of the rules of our natures applied anymore. I often wondered how I had not killed Will while we were under the influence of the sweet-smelling toxin as many of the recovered ones claimed they killed their loved ones.

Our scientists were trying to duplicate the toxin, but the chemical they found was some kind of low-level hormone inhibitor. It should have made everyone calmer. Will even volunteered to be a test subject. Nothing happened when they injected him. Whatever made the male werewolves and vampires go crazy was lost as the snow melted. The governments kept the area quarantined, just to be safe.

Many of the adult human males that were rescued suffered side effects too. Hallucinations, rage, aggression, gluttony, and lust. Assaults and sexual attacks were abnormally high among the survivors of what the media was colorfully calling the Revelation Night. We finally separated all males who had any traces of nonhuman DNA from the few who didn't. Whomever made the toxin, it was obviously a chemical weapon designed to harm supernatural nonhumans, and those who shared their traits.

It was an act of terrorism.

It was an act meant to start a war.

VvvvV

In the days, weeks, and months after the Revelation Night. The survivors told many amazing stories to the media about wolves and vampires fighting the toxin's effects to save them, but what was kept from the media was the stuff that would give even monsters nightmares. Thousands of hours of surveillance video from traffic cameras, stores, banks, private residences, and public buildings told the horrifying chronicle of two species gone mad.

What Chelsey told us as we drove to the hospital proved true over and over, vampire and werewolf males first attacked their own, then turned their aggression on the community around them. All behaving in ways completely contrary to their natures. Mates and beloveds were to be protected above all in both groups, but for some reason during that storm, the males betrayed everything they were.

As I sat in my office, I stared out the window at the approaching storm. I thought about how I felt, how my wolf's most basic and darkest needs overwhelmed us. My wolf was just as confused as I. Whatever the sweet scent in the snow had been, it had been designed to lure us like bait and poison us like wolfsbane into madness. I would have answers. I would find out who did this and why. I would avenge my mate, and to a mate-lost wolf, revenge was the sweetest scent of all, even sweeter than the smell of the snow of that night.