Enclave

by Brandon Varnell

  Each outfit also had a pair of holsters strapped to their thighs, two handguns nestled snuggly inside. Some of the women were also carrying other weapons: submachine guns, AK-47s, one of them even had a SPAS-12 combat shotgun strapped to her back. While everyone had a long-range weapon, several also possessed close-range weapons such as swords, knives, daggers, and all manner of bladed paraphernalia.

  One thing Christian noticed about these women was that he did not recognize any of them from the battle against the goblins. The difference in dress code may have had something to do with it. Did that mean these females formed a different squad? Perhaps a special forces unit of some kind? They looked older, or at least more experienced, than the ones that had been led by Clarissa.

  As Christian entered the room, every single female turned to look at him. While he would never admit to being afraid when under the gaze of what appeared to be two dozen females, he would at least confess to feeling unnerved by their unblinking gaze. Unlike the other women he’d run into during his stay in this enclave, who looked at him with animosity, curiosity, or a combination of both, these ones seemed almost emotionless. Yes. It was definitely disturbing.

  “You must be Christian.”

  One of the women walked up to him. She was taller than most, and her long, silvery blond hair flowed behind her back, soft and shimmering, like a curtain of satin. That same hair framed a face that was lovingly carved out of alabaster, with high cheek bones and a long, straight nose. There was a scar going across her right eye, but it didn’t detract from her appearance in the least. It may have had something to do with her figure. The woman was all sensual curves and extraordinary elegance combined with incredible muscle tone and a lean, flat stomach. She reminded Christian of those Amazonian women he’d read about in stories.

  She was packing heat like an amazon warrior princess, too. Strapped to her thighs were two automatic pistols. Lying horizontally across her back was an M4 machine gun. She also had a pair of long daggers with curved blades strapped across her upper back in a cross formation to form an “x” similar to how Christian wore Rafael and Michael.

  Like the others, she was wearing the leather shorts, a sleeveless shirt, gloves, and boots that made up the other women’s ensemble. Unlike them, she had an added article to her costume: a long, flowing, dark gray shoulder cape that looked almost like a shroud. The bottom edges were frayed, and the fabric seemed to waver with a life of its own as she stood there, almost as if it had some form of sentience.

  After giving her a once over and determining that, out of all the succubi he’d met so far, this one was by far the most dangerous, he addressed her. “Yes. I’m Christian. You must be Heather Locklear. Clarissa told me that I was to report to you and help repel the goblins attacking the southern quadrant of the cavern.”

  “That’s right.” Heather smiled, though it was more of a dangerous smirk than an actual smile. Christian shifted from one foot to the other. He did not appreciate the look she gave me. “I love a man who gets right to the point. It makes things so much simpler.” She paused, perhaps to give him time to absorb her words before plunging on. “To make a long story short, the goblins have breached our southern perimeter near the entrance to the cavern mouth. We believe they used boats or some other form of transportation to move across the lake to reach the entrance, as that’s the only area we were unable to put up sensors. Our job is to eradicate every one of them.”

  “I understand,” Christian said, standing just a little bit straighter. “What would you have me do?”

  “You’ll be up front and center with me,” Heather told him. “I was told by Clarissa that your prowess with those guns and blades of yours are most impressive. You’re going to give me the chance to see those skills.”

  Christian felt a calm settle over him. He found himself falling back into his old habits. The familiarity of being ordered by a powerful woman reminded him of when Samantha had been his commanding officer. This woman had the same presence, the same commanding demeanor as Samantha, so it was easy to fall back into his old persona from before he betrayed the Executioners for Lilith.

  “Understood.”

  At Heather’s beckoning, all the women inside of the locker room departed. Christian found himself walking alongside Heather, who gave him a little information regarding the group of women he found himself surrounded by, as they made their way to their destination.

  “We’re what you would call the Special Forces of this enclave. While all the other girls know how to fight to some extent, the women you see here have been trained extensively for combat. We’re literally the best of the best, and we only take on the toughest assignments.”

  “Is that why your group wasn’t there during the last goblin attack?”

  “You mean is that why you didn’t see us during the attack, right? We were actually there, but we used several hidden passages to sneak around them and attack from behind. Why do you think there were so few goblins coming at you when their numbers were supposed to be in the hundreds?”

  Christian’s surprise must have been expressed on his face because Heather grinned at him. The grin would have been pleasant, sexy even, but when combined with that scar, it caused a thrill to run down his spine. There was something dangerous about her smile.

  Heather was heedless of this, or pretending to be, as she continued speaking. “We’re sort of like the black ops of this enclave. We attack in secret. At least when possible. The goblins don’t know we exist, and we like to keep it that way in order to add an element of surprise to our attacks. Most of our strikes are surgical and done long before our enemy even realizes we’re there.”

  “Then it looks like this battle is going to blow your cover.”

  “Not if we play our cards right. There are plenty of ways to attack someone without letting them realize you exist. We just need to come up with the right plan and get our timing right, so they can’t see who’s attacking them. So long as they suspect they’re being attacked by standard forces, we’ll be in the clear.” Christian nodded his head. that made sense. “We can’t use bombs, lest we end up causing the ceiling to collapse on us, but that doesn’t mean we’re helpless either.”

  They reached the door leading to the southern passage. Smooth flooring became rough, uneven, and rocky. The walls and ceiling, once looking almost like a regular room, turned craggy and cylindrical, with stalagmites and stalactites spaced around the jutting from the ground or hanging above their heads. Their footsteps echoed along the passage, sounding out several decibels louder than they should have.

  “Then you plan on using hit and run tactics?” asked Christian, his voice a whisper so as to ensure it didn’t echo far. “Will those be effective in a cavern?”

  “Not quite.” Heather looked at him, a strange, deadly gleam in her eye that spoke of nothing good for her enemies. Christian would have probably felt some form of pity for the goblins, but considering they were his enemies and had nearly killed him last time, he couldn’t find it in himself to care. “Don’t think on it too much. You’ll see exactly what I mean once the battle gets going. Here, take this.”

  As the woman, Heather, handed him what appeared to be a set of ear plugs, Christian decided not to ask any more questions. There wasn’t much point if they were just going to be deflected by cryptic answers anyway. Instead, he gave Heather a nod and followed her.

  Observing his surroundings as they moved, Christian made note of several aspects to this area that he thought would help him in the coming battle.

  The tunnel located within the southern quadrant was not much different from the one where the previous battle had taken place. The ground was a little flatter. There were a few less stalagmites. Unlike the other tunnel passage, this one offered a good deal of light. It was a bit dim, but certainly nothing compared to the northern passage. Christian theorized that the reason for the extra illumination was due to this passage being closer to the exit/entrance.

  As the group continued to move
through the cave, feet padding against the rock floor, the sound of pounding feet and the gurgled, ghoulish voices of goblins could be heard up ahead.

  Heather called her party to a stop by raising her hand in the air and making a fist. Everyone halted in their tracks. Christian gently eased the tension in his muscles as he stopped alongside Heather. His black, long-sleeved shirt rustled with subdued gentleness against his skin as he adjusted the angle of his swords. The straps that held his holsters to his thighs groaned and creaked, leather against cotton, as he leaned from one leg to the other.

  “Are you ready?” Heather asked, looking at him.

  Christian closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. He opened them again, feeling his gaze sharpen a bit as he allowed his mind to open. Everything that his mind had once shut out as inconsequential background noise became glaringly obvious to him, pounding in his ears with reckless abandon. He could hear the breathing of those around him, light and airy, almost silent. The dull drip of water hit his senses, echoing inside of his head. Even the soft draft that blew through the cavern was heard. Its haunting melody drifted through his ears like a gentle lullaby. His ears pricked at the sound of creaking leather and the scratching of metal guns as they scraped against the holsters keeping them in place. Up ahead, he picked out the reverberating sound of hundreds of feet pounding toward them, causing the ground beneath them to vibrate. Those were the goblins, he presumed.

  “I’m ready,” he murmured in a soft voice.

  “Good. Because here they come.”

  The woman was right. Up ahead, Christian could see the horde of goblins coming their way. Like the last time he’d seen them, there were many of them, and they were all dressed differently. He couldn’t spot an ounce of uniformity among them.

  He tried to pick out which among the group would be the leaders, but there were far too many goblins this time for him to be able to spot someone who looked like they might be in charge. They were jam packed together in the cavern space, marching shoulder to shoulder, nearly squashing each other, like sardines in a can.

  Heather made a gesture, waving her hand above her head in a circular motion, as if she were a cowgirl swinging a lasso. Christian had no clue what the gesticulation was for, but it must have been some kind of premeditated signal. The women around him suddenly reached into a small case attached to their backs.

  They all pulled out a long, cylindrical object made of reflective metal that had several holes running along its body. There was a small pin connected to them, which he knew was supposed to be pulled out in order to release the chemical compounds inside to create the effect. The effect, of course, being the production of a blinding flash of light that was emitted from the holes and a loud blast of concussive noise.

  So they were going to use flashbangs to blind and confuse the goblins? A sound plan, and at least now he knew why Heather gave him a set of ear plugs.

  He put the earplugs in his ears, making sure they were secure and blocked out all sounds. All the women pulled the pin on their flashbangs. They waited one, two, three seconds, and then tossed them into the semi-darkened cavern just several feet shy of the first line of the goblin horde.

  Christian closed his eyes. Several seconds later, the deafening boom of nearly a dozen flashbangs going off sounded out. Christian’s ears popped as the plugs stuck inside of them expanded to keep the noise out. Even then, he could still hear the blast, muffled thought it was, banging against his eardrums.

  Flashbangs, also known as a stun grenade, were a non-lethal explosive device used to temporarily disorient an enemy’s senses. Christian had used them to great effect in the past. Werewolves hated them due to their above average sense of sight and hearing.

  They appeared to work just as well against the goblins. After waiting for exactly one second, Christian opened his eyes to see that the first six rows of goblins had been completely disoriented. The ones in front were tripping over their own two feet, falling to the ground. Meanwhile, the ones in back were falling over the ones in front.

  Heather made some more hand motions, and all of the women around him pulled out their guns. Christian followed suit, unholstering Gabriel and Phaneul, then aiming at the mass of green skin in front of him. Another moment later, all of the women unleashed a barrage of gunfire, a hailstorm that filled the airspace of the cavern with bullets.

  The goblins didn’t stand a chance.

  Dispassionate eyes watched as goblins became perforated with dozens of bullet holes. Blood spurt from the open wounds with constant streams reminiscent of a faucet as they were mowed down. The ground was soon covered in bodies and ichor, which turned into a large pool of expanding crimson.

  As the goblins in back proceeded to scramble over their fallen brethren, the succubi holstered their weapons and pulled out more stun grenades. They repeated the process, pulling the pins and lobbing the grenades at their foes, stunning them again.

  Christian did not have any flashbangs on him, so he stuck with his guns. Each time he ran out of ammo, he would simply click open the release, let the cartridge fall to the ground, and smoothly slide more ammunition back into his guns, all within a few seconds of each other. After that, he would unleash another barrage of bullets into the horde of scraggly-haired, sharp-toothed creatures. This continued several more times, with more and more goblin corpse piling up on top of each other, before Heather made a gesture that even Christian knew. The sign for them to retreat.

  They fell back, moving into the darker regions of the tunnel. It would be a while before the goblins managed to reach this far. Thanks to the tactics that the group of succubi had utilized, there was a large mountain of bodies that needed to be climbed over before the goblins could even think about moving further. Christian had to admit that the idea was rather ingenious, forcing their enemies to climb over the corpses of their dead in order to continue onward. He didn’t know if it would leave any psychological trauma on a goblin, but it would have given any human some lasting mental scars. It would also buy them time.

  Christian kept a close eye on Heather as he moved, following directly behind her, which was good because he would have missed when the group deviated from the main tunnel, moving into a side passage that was hidden behind a tarp designed and layered to look like the rock walls of the cavern. A clever method of concealment, to be sure.

  It did present a bit of a problem, though. Because they were no longer in the main passage, and this tunnel was sealed off by a thick tarp, no light could penetrate the area. Christian found himself surrounded by darkness, unable to see, but more than capable of feeling his body being pressed against by several distinctly feminine bodies. While none of them were Lilith, they were still female, and he was still male. This created an inherent problem, one that he was just barely able to hide by crossing his legs.

  Thank God Lilith wasn’t present. Christian had no idea how she would react if she could see him now. Not very well, he’d wager.

  “Here,” Heather’s voice whispered in his ear as something was pressed into his left hand. It was too dark to see what it was, but from the general shape, he determined that it was a pair of goggles or something similar.

  It was indeed a pair of goggles that he’d been given. Night vision goggles, to be precise. When Christian placed them around his head, adjusting the straps and position of the eye lenses so they fit him, he turned the device on with the flip of a switch. His vision was given back to him, but instead of full range of color offered by a pair of normal eyes, everything was filmed over with a haze of different shades of green.

  “Okay, everyone,” Christian heard Heather’s voice to his immediate left. She must be the one pressing her breasts into his left arm because he could also feel her hot breath on his ear as she spoke. “You all know the plan. Once the goblins move past us, we’re going to ambush their flank, hit them hard, and then fade back into the darkness.”

  So they were now using standard hit and run tactics, then? That was... a pretty good idea, actuall
y. It wasn’t something that most people would think up when battling in a cave, but so long as you knew where you were going, then it could prove to be a very effective strategy. This was especially true if your enemy didn’t know the area as well as you did.

  Christian had never used hit and run tactics before. Most of his strategies relied on hitting the enemy first, running through them fast and hard with a surprise attack, and then taking out the remaining enemies by using his Fake Opening Style. It had proven to be a successful stratagem for him thus far. Too bad it only worked when he was fighting alone. It wouldn’t work when facing such a large number of enemies.

  The sound of tromping feet resounded just a few feet in front of him, not even moderately muffled by the tarp. It was loud and teeth-rattling, which may have also had a little something to do with knowing how close the enemy was. Christian tried to count how many goblins passed, but that proved to be an exercise in futility. He gave up almost as quickly as he started. He instead focused his mind on the coming fight. From the looks of everyone there, they planned on keeping the battle at long-range, likely so they would not find themselves stuck in a close-range battle that they were unable to break away from. Secrecy, as Heather had told him, was their best friend.

  He could live with that.

  A scream going up from the other side of the tarp had Christian’s eyes widening. Even though it was soft, Caspian could hear it, though no one else seemed to notice for some reason. It was feminine and familiar, belonging to a voice that he knew as well as his own.