by Tanith Frost
Miranda’s shoulders relax, and I realize that the waiting was the worst of it for her—the terrible uncertainty. “Thank you, Ryder. Is everyone ready?”
“Ready as we can be. Hiding out in the old church like a pack of frightened rats at the moment, but ready to take the battle to the field. Armed with the weapons we had on hand. Talismans on us. Everyone’s aware of your orders regarding retreat and prepared to stand and fight unless ordered to do otherwise.”
“Good. Aviva, do you have anything else to take care of here?”
“I do. I’ll be right behind you,” I tell her, and they leave me.
“Gideon,” I whisper. “Where are you?”
The air shimmers in front of me, then a familiar shape appears, fading slowly in and out. I reach for it, but my hand passes through Gideon’s chest.
“I can’t leave the building,” he says, his voice clear but strained. “Can’t even hold this projection for long.”
“What’s going on?”
He gestures toward the church. “Your friend has done a bang-up job of spreading the word. By mid-morning he’d notified his entire congregation of the miracle—quite enthusiastically, I might add—and they’d told their family and friends… You should have seen this place earlier today. Absolute zoo.”
“Impressive.”
He gives me a wry smile. “Humans around here tend to be more open to these things at this time of year. Even if they don’t believe, some of them are willing to experience it. And I may have helped things along a little. Nothing overt, but—” His image flickers out, then returns. “It’s stronger than I’d anticipated. I’ll contain it for as long as I can, but… You have protections in place?”
I pull my talisman from my pocket and hold it out for him to inspect. “Odette’s done her best.”
“Step forward.”
I do, following his projection as it walks backward towards the parking lot. “Should I feel something?”
“You would if she’d lied about the protection. The light is strong where you’re standing. I can’t keep it in the building.” He flickers again. “I won’t be able to communicate with you when you’re farther away. When do you want this released?”
“I don’t know. The light won’t do us any good if we don’t have the enemy out of their cars and onto the field before you let it go.”
Gideon disappears again for half a minute—long enough that I worry he’s not coming back. When he does, he’s fainter. “I’ll give you as long as I can, but you’ll need to hurry. My grip is weakening.” He glances down at the talisman in my hand. “Those will help, but it’s…” His next few words fade out, lost as his image flickers. “I’ll give you a signal when I need to let go… sky. Two minute warning. If you can’t get your enemies in position by then, you’re…”
And he’s gone. I wait a full minute, but he doesn’t return.
Signal in the sky, though I’m not sure exactly what to watch for. One hundred and twenty seconds to get Lachlan and as many of his vampires as possible onto church property so they’ll be caught in the light.
No problem.
I race back toward the other church. Daniel locks the front doors behind me after I enter. “Where’s Miranda?” I ask.
“Steeple tower. There’s a view of the road.”
I start toward the stairs, then turn back. “Daniel? If I don’t see you again before things get going—”
He smiles, but it does nothing to lighten the seriousness of his face. “Go on. I think she’s waiting for a report.”
I throw open the little door at the right of the doors and run up the tower’s steep staircase until I reach Miranda. She’s standing with her hands braced against the window ledge, looking out, but moves aside to let me look.
“Holy fuck,” I whisper.
“Exactly the words I was searching for,” she says, her voice flat. “Thank you.”
Five vehicles have become twenty, and all of them are currently spilling out their occupants far up the road—dozens of vampires dressed in black tactical gear, armed and armoured better than the ones who came after us at the rift a few nights ago. More are coming up the road. There must be over a hundred vampires in total.
Lachlan didn’t just come to fight. He came to crush us.
One way or another, all of this ends tonight.
“Are we ready?” Miranda asks.
“Maybe a little too ready. Gideon’s doing his best, but it’s getting hard for him to contain the light. He’s going to give us a sign two minutes before he has to release it. That’s all the time we’ve got to get these assholes in place. He said Odette’s protections seem sound, though.”
“Good.” Miranda starts down the stairs.
“Wait.” I feel as if there’s a bowling ball in my stomach, but I force myself to keep talking when she turns back. “Earlier, outside, you said that we needed to hope someone had betrayed us.”
“And it seems they have. What of it?”
I take my next breath slowly. Daniel’s eyes flash through my mind. His smile. The feel of his lips against mine, the reluctant sincerity in his voice when he told me he loved me. I trust him. But this is bigger than what I feel for him.
I would risk my own existence for him without a second thought, but I can’t risk my entire clan.
“It’s just… earlier I overheard Daniel on the phone with someone. He gave away our position, and I sort of assumed it was because you’d told him to.”
She steps closer and rests a hand on my shoulder. “Thank you, Aviva. I know that telling me this can’t have been easy for you.”
I swallow back the lump in my throat. “I don’t believe it’s him, though. My gut still tells me to trust him. I just don’t know whether I can trust my instincts when it comes to him.”
“That’s understandable and probably wise.” She gives me a little smile, one that reveals nothing and offers no reassurance. “I need you to focus on your role in this as we move forward, do you understand me?”
I nod.
“We’re outnumbered and outgunned,” she says as she turns away again. “I certainly hope you’re right about your secret weapon.”
I linger for a moment at the window, watching as a familiar form emerges from the back seat of a black car that’s just pulled up. He’s walking with a limp, favouring his left leg, but there’s no mistaking the broad shoulders, or the undeniable power still evident in every step. My chest tightens as the passenger side door opens and Bethany steps out.
Miranda’s gone. She doesn’t hear my answer.
“I hope so, too.”
29
Miranda stands outside the open doors to the sanctuary. Everyone else is gathered inside.
“There’s still time,” someone says. He has to speak over the muttering of the others. “They’re coming, but they don’t have the building surrounded yet. We could run. They outnumber us, but—”
“But nothing.”
I expected Miranda to speak up, but it’s Daniel’s cold, clear voice that fills the room, echoing slightly in the rafters. I look to our leader, but she’s not moving.
Daniel steps up to the front. He’s not hiding his power right now, and though they might not understand why, he instantly has everyone’s full attention.
“I know you’re afraid,” he says. “Fear is entirely reasonable. They outnumber us. They won’t show mercy when they come. And you all have reasons for wanting to survive this night.” He nods to someone at the front of the crowd. “You have research you should be finishing now. Homes to return to. Patients to care for.” He makes eye contact with someone farther back, and his lips quirk in a half-smile. “Paperwork that absolutely cannot be ignored for one more night.”
“Forms aren’t going to file themselves,” calls a male voice, and a few others turn and smile nervously.
“Bigger things, maybe,” Daniel says. “You want to survive to see the moon rise on another night. To taste blood again and feel the void filling you. To use
incredible gifts that don’t belong on a battlefield. To feel desire, pain, anger… just to be. Of course you want to run. But if we do, all of the things we want to survive for will be destroyed. Our enemy will never give up the hunt or forgive us for the crime of daring to exist in a clan that defies his will, even if his will is to tear down everything we’ve worked so hard to build.” He looks over the crowd. “Lachlan wants to slaughter every one of us. He wants to torture our clan-mates he currently holds imprisoned. He wants our land. Our resources. Do you know why?”
No one answers.
A hard light comes into Daniel’s eyes. “Lachlan would have you believe it’s because we’re an easy target. That we’re weak because our elders have done things differently from other clans. But I’ve been to Tempest. I’ve felt their power, seen what they value—and what they fear. And he fears you. Maelstrom is unique among vampire clans. That’s not a flaw as some would have you believe. It is our strength. Lachlan can’t stand to see something so powerful existing outside of his control. He’s decided that if he can’t control us, he’ll eliminate us.”
Miranda is still listening, a faint smile on her lips. It seems it should be her up there.
She glances at me. “This is far better,” she whispers. “He’s one of them. His words will stir them as mine never could.”
The hard knot of tension that I’ve been carrying in my chest since I caught Daniel on the phone relaxes. “He’s not the traitor, is he?”
“I still don’t know who betrayed us.” She looks back at Daniel. “But I’d say there’s a good chance your instincts continue to serve you well.”
Daniel picks up a heavy axe that was leaning against the pulpit.
“Lachlan wants you to be afraid,” he says. “That’s how he commands his clan—with fear and mistrust. But know that though your enemy is ruthless, cruel, and powerful, he’s also a coward.” His eyes shine in the faint glow of the emergency lights, and his upper lip curls, baring his fangs. “He’s trying to destroy us because we’re the monsters he fears when he lies awake in his coffin. Let the void carry you tonight.” He tightens his grip on the axe handle. “Let its darkness fill you and strengthen you as you spill the blood of your enemies, as they turn to dust at your feet.”
The crowd is stirring again, reaching for the odd collection of weapons they were using to fight zombies not so long ago, when Miranda enters. Her power flows freely around her as she strides down the aisle, and the vampires turn to her, eager, bloodthirsty, ready for battle even if a few of them look more grimly determined than enthusiastic.
Daniel steps back down to join the crowd. Miranda takes his place at the front—not up on the steps, but on the floor, at the same level as the rest of us.
“Time grows short,” she says. “The enemy is almost upon us. They are many, but we are stronger. They fight because they fear their leader’s wrath if they fail him.” She laughs softly under her breath as the void that she carries in her washes over the crowd like a tidal wave. My own power stirs, responding to it, awakening my own desire to bash some fucking skulls. In the presence of radiant darkness like this, there’s no room for uncertainty. Miranda grins. “Let’s show them what real fear is.”
She stalks up the aisle and passes me, leading the way as planned down the stairs so we can exit through the back door instead of leaving ourselves vulnerable at the front.
I wait for Daniel before I follow, grabbing a long, sharp dagger from a box beside the front door on my way by.
I’m not ready to admit yet that I ratted him out, but I can’t leave things the way they were this morning. Not when the end might be so close. “How come Trixie and I never got such rousing speeches during training?” I ask him.
He lets me go ahead of him as we file down the stairs. “Because I was expending all of my energy on maintaining my pleasant and caring demeanour.”
“Right. I’d forgotten how easy you went on us.” During training, I lost count of the number of times I called him a heartless bastard even as I tried desperately to please him.
“Are you complaining?” he asks as we reach the steps that lead back up to the door. This time, he takes the lead.
“Not in the least.” I grab hold of his sleeve. “You were a good fucking trainer, Daniel. I don’t know whether I ever thanked you for being such an asshole.”
“Thank me by surviving,” he says.
We join the crowd outside. Tempest’s vampires have reached the edge of the property and stand gathered on the road. Miranda leads us closer, but leaves a good distance between Maelstrom and Tempest. She knows Lachlan will hear her.
“Shall we negotiate now?” she asks.
Lachlan laughs and steps to the front of the group. We’re outnumbered four to one. I don’t see many guns on them—I guess if he thinks this will be his territory by the end of the night, he doesn’t want to be responsible for humans stumbling onto our battle. But they carry knives, stakes, axes, even swords.
“I’m afraid the time for negotiation is over,” he says.
“Are you afraid, Lachlan?” she asks, a hint of a smile in her voice. “We’ll let you leave if you go now. Fly home. This is your last chance.”
He laughs again. “A generous offer, indeed. But I’m going to have to decline.”
“Very well.”
The enemy approaches, their fangs bared, their eyes bright, every movement betraying their hunger for victory.
I want to rush at them, to claw and stab and fight, to relish the strength of my muscles and the power of the void as I destroy them.
But tonight I’m following orders. As the enemy draws near, we turn and run.
30
We flee until the enemy has followed us onto church property. None of us need to make that judgement for ourselves; a shrill whistle pierces the air from the roof of the old church as our lookout makes the call. At that signal, we turn, those in the rear of the retreat becoming the front line in our battle.
It’s confusing at first. Though the battlefield is lit by the light of a million stars, and our sharp senses allow us to see as clearly as a human would in daylight, each of us is surrounded by a sea of vampires, all dressed in black. Our enemies wear body armour, but at first glance, it’s hard to tell the difference. The two groups become entangled as they push slowly forward and we fight back.
It’s all strangely quiet. Grunts of effort or pain sound ahead of me, weapons slamming into flesh, but neither side wants to draw attention to what’s happening here tonight. No battle cries. No taunts or threats. Just pure, focused aggression expressed through action as we tear into each other.
I’m making my way toward our enemies, searching their faces for Lachlan or Bethany, when Edwin spins into view beside me. One of Tempest’s vampires drives a short-bladed dagger into his arm—probably no worse than a pinprick to someone as experienced with pain as Edwin is, but an Agonite is careful not to let the sensation lose its bite; in an instant, he’s moving faster, breaking bones and slicing with the sword he’s liberated from an enemy, blazing a path through the crowd around us.
It’s thanks to this protective shield of frenzied activity that I have time to notice another thing that sets Tempest apart from us: Edwin is literally cutting them down where they stand. Tempest’s vampires are fighting competently, but their legs move as if they’re walking through waist-deep water while we remain free to shift and dart and run.
I risk a downward glance. The dead grass beneath our feet is marked with brown paint that’s nearly invisible unless you know it’s there. It forms massive symbols enclosed in circles. Odette hasn’t just protected us. She’s slowed them. It won’t be enough to hold them forever; they’re still pressing forward, if at a vastly reduced pace. But this will keep them from retreating before the light hits them even if it doesn’t come in the explosive flash I’m hoping for.
A massive vampire forces his way toward me, blocking my view around him. I try to dart to his left, but his meaty arm swings around far faste
r than his legs are moving. I avoid the blade in his hand, but his forearm catches me in the ribs, sending me flying backward.
My fault. I let myself get distracted.
He’s thrown me to the edge of the fight, and as I stand and ready myself to race around and attack him from behind, I catch sight of Odette. She should be with Imogen and Taggryn now, but I guess she couldn’t resist coming to make sure everything was working as she intended. I’m trying to imagine what this must look like to human eyes, so unattuned to darkness. I hope she’s pleased with what she sees.
A single gunshot rings out from somewhere on the battlefield. I spin to see where it came from, but no others follow.
I look back. Odette no longer paces, a darker shadow against the hills. It takes me a second to spot the crumpled heap on the ground.
“No!” I run to her, though I know it’s too late to stop what’s happened. She’s lying face-up on the frozen ground, trembling, hands clutched to her upper abdomen. The hot, decadent scent of human blood saturates the air around her, and it doesn’t take long for me to locate the source. Her leather gloves are soaked in it.
“Let me see,” I tell her, but she doesn’t seem to be listening. Her wide, strained eyes stare up at the stars though I’m not convinced she’s really seeing them. But there’s still strength in her, and she’s instinctively protecting the wound.
“Odette.”
Her eyes shift toward me, showing no sign of recognition. “I’m here to help you,” I tell her. “Do you understand?”
Her fingers clench into claws as I pry them away and unzip her coat, revealing the damage. The wound itself is small, but well placed. A bullet to the head would have been faster, but they aimed for a larger target. The shot caught her below her breastbone, releasing a torrent of blood.
“I’m dying,” she says, her voice full of wonder rather than fear.
“No. You must have placed protections on yourself. Like you did for Helena?”
“Only so much I—” she says, then gasps, cutting herself off. “Didn’t want…” Her body stiffens, then relaxes.