Romanov’s wings and whip struck again and again at Riley, new ones flickering into existence as the Lord parried, balls of black fire appearing from nowhere to try and take the Elfin down.
Riley’s sword seemed to be everywhere, the azure glow of the enchanted blade intercepting whips and wings and fireballs alike. Some made it past, only to disintegrate against the growing pure white glow around the Elfin Mage.
For a few seconds, it looked like Romanov was no match for Riley, then a whip, two wings, and three fireballs slammed home at once. The white aura flickered…and failed, the Elfin Lord falling from the sky like a homesick stone.
The light flared back into existence, halting Riley mere feet from the ground—and he’d somehow sustained his shield the entire time—but now the vampire was swooping down on him with terrifying speed.
Even David almost missed what happened next. A single shot, fired from outside the shields, charged with the azure blue aura of powerful magic, smashed through everything and collided with Petrov Romanov, sending the vampire Patriarch reeling backward at the impact of the heavy silver bullet.
Brianna Young might be Lord Riley’s apprentice, but she was also his bodyguard. And no one had said this was going to be a one-on-one duel.
The vampire stabilized himself in the air, only for a second charged bullet to smash into him. The injuries, likely enough to kill even most high-class regenerators, were barely slowing him down—but they were enough to allow Riley to recover and rise back into the air as more shots punched through Romanov’s shield.
A wordless howl cut through the air, loud enough that David could hear it inside the bunker—and the vampire charged Riley again, flame and darkness surrounding him as he threw all of his power into the strike.
His power focused on the attack, the Patriarch’s shield collapsed, with the remaining Elfin firing rocket launchers before the vampires even realized they were defenseless. The last three Bradleys detonated simultaneously and the marksmen set to their lethal work as their Lord met the vampire Patriarch in the air once more.
White and black fire lit up the sky as a corona of pure power surrounded each Mage, both of them wounded and giving up subtlety for hammering magic into each other as hard as they could. Riley was maintaining the shield over his people and Romanov continued to slowly, inexorably push towards the Elfin Lord.
And then Riley calmly and perfectly dropped his shield. Unresisted, Romanov shot forward with mind-boggling speed—and met the Lord’s elf-blade coming the other way.
The corona of black fire vanished as Petrov Romanov, Patriarch of the once-most powerful vampire Familias in the United States, hit the ground.
In pieces.
29
The remaining hours before dawn passed in surprising calm, leaving the sun to rise over a mountainside that had been reduced to a war zone.
Three Pendragon attack helicopters were debris scattered along the main road along with their pilots. Four of Riley’s Elfin Warriors were gone, their shattered remains covered by white sheets in a cold room the Keepers had offered them to use as a morgue.
Seven of the defenders were dead, but David’s best estimate was that over two hundred vampires had already died assaulting the Mountain. He’d expected probing raids but ended up facing an all-out mechanized infantry assault.
He, Mason and Riley sat in what had been the base cafeteria and served a similar function for the Keepers. Vats of “stabilized blood,” as the odd vampires called it, were stacked along one wall, keeping the animal blood at a constant temperature to feed the occupants of the Mountain.
There was also regular food. Vampires didn’t need to eat, but it made it easier for them to go extended periods without drinking blood. The Keepers appeared to have adopted a mix of the magically stabilized animal blood and ordinary food as their main diet.
They freely shared the normal food with the Omicron and Elfin, though most of the Keepers refused to spend any actual time in the same room as their conquerors.
Exhausted after the night, David missed the Arbiter entering the room, the old vampire disturbingly soft on his feet as he approached and laid a tray with three steaming fresh coffee cups in front of David and his companions.
“You will need to sleep,” the Arbiter told them in a calm, clinically assessing, tone, “but not yet. There remain preparation to be done and warnings to be given.”
“Thank you,” David told the vampire, drinking the coffee carefully. “I don’t suppose killing Romanov changes anything?” he asked after a moment. “I thought he was leading the attack.”
“He was, and now the Familias Romanov is no more,” the Arbiter said sadly. “There will be a handful, at most, who didn’t participate in last night’s attack. You have destroyed one of America’s eight vampire families, Commanders, my Lord.”
“I’m surprised they had that much left,” Mason admitted. “We’ve been smashing their operations across the continent for weeks.”
“They were the most powerful single Familias when this civil war began,” the old vampire pointed out. “In both numbers and resources, they were unmatched; that is why Petrov challenged Caleb Dresden for leadership. Those resources are now expended, those numbers only of the dead.”
“What happens to the survivors?” Riley asked. “Not all of them would have been here; many of them are basically administrative staff with teeth.”
“Tradition says they would become Keepers,” the Arbiter told them. “The invitation will be extended when this is over, but we will see if they accept. Being a Keeper in North America is about to become a far different calling than before. More of a government job now.”
David shook his head with a half-chuckle.
“But Romanov was leading this mess,” he repeated. “So, what happens now?”
“Either Sakura or Reginald takes over,” the old vampire explained. “Sakura has stood at Romanov’s right hand the entire time, and many of her Familias now lie dead on these slopes. Reginald was Dresden’s man but joined Romanov in this assault.
“Every family except Dresden’s own did so,” he continued. “If they fail to retake the Mountain, their betrayal will weigh heavy on them. They now must stand together, or Dresden will destroy them individually.
“So, they will keep coming, Commander, and you will see the true fury of the Familias still. Romanov’s death bought you today—but tonight…tonight they will come with fire.”
“Then we’ll need to be ready,” David told him. “How many attackers are we talking here? I wouldn’t have thought Romanov could put two hundred soldiers into the field!”
“Half of those were Sakura’s,” the Arbiter replied. “But yes, it seems you continue to underestimate the numbers of the vampire Familias.” He shrugged. “Not all are warriors. Not all will answer the call—self-preservation is a strong instinct for our race—but enough will.”
“How many is enough?” David demanded.
“Perhaps a thousand, and as many again Thralls. Perhaps half the living vampires in North America.”
“THEY WIPED THEM OUT,” Warner reported over the radio. “Every member of the National Guard company those Bradleys came from is dead, Commander White. It looks like a poison gas attack, which means it was probably magic.”
“Damn. I was hoping he’d have just put them to sleep or something,” David admitted.
“About the only good news is that it does look like poison gas, and they were sufficiently out of the way that we can call it an accident,” she told him. “I hate lying to the families, but the truth isn’t going to help anyone here.”
“Ma’am, if the Familias repeats that assault on a broader scale, we could be in serious trouble,” he pointed out.
“I know,” Warner said. “The Committee has outright refused deploying any additional conventional troops to your support. You’ve got your artillery and your standby air support, but that’s all they’re willing to sign off on.”
“It might not be enough.�
�
“I know,” the Major repeated. “We’ve managed to get our hands on a few containers of gear courtesy of friends in the Army, but they’re purely conventional. No silver ammo, no special payloads. Just rockets and claymores.”
“We’ll take everything we can get,” he told her. “What about reinforcements from our own people?”
“As usual, it never rains but it pours,” she admitted. “We’ve had a new flare-up of minor dimensional portals, and we’re playing firefighter. I’ve got nothing to spare, Commander White; it’s going to be up to you.”
“Two thousand vampires and Thralls,” he said quietly. “That’s not a few rifles and Mages, Major. That’s a goddamn army. You’re asking for a miracle.”
Warner was silent for several long seconds.
“The problem, David, is that the Committee doesn’t see any value in saving the Mountain,” she told him. “I’ve been authorized—ordered—to provide you with a fifteen-kiloton nuke that you are to embed in the facility. If you no longer feel you can hold, you are to withdraw your people, lure as many vampires into the bunker as possible, and then detonate the nuke.”
David was shocked to silence.
“We have a chance for peace here, ma’am. For a solution to the vampire problem.”
“I know you think so,” Warner said calmly. “And I’m willing to throw resources at the chance, but I’ve been overruled. Standing Order Twenty-one remains in effect, David. You have a specific exemption for the Keepers and their charges, but the Colonel and the Committee would rather see them destroyed than lose your teams.
“Do you understand me, Commander?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I understand, Major,” David repeated. “But I suggest you don’t bother sending the nuke. We both know damn well I won’t use it.”
THEY’D TAKEN over a block of guest quarters to catch up on their sleep, since David knew they were going to have to be awake all the next night as well, facing down the coming of hell and everything the vampires could bring with them
He knew he needed to sleep. With what was coming, he wasn’t going to be coordinating from the surveillance room this time. Leitz would have to do that by remote, because he was going to need everyone outside, holding as long as they could, as hard as they could.
Despite his brave words to Warner, he knew that he’d need to be awake when the cargo containers arrived later that day. There was no way they weren’t going to send the nuke, and much as he hated the very idea of it, he had to conceal it from the Arbiter’s people.
He didn’t have to arm it, but he wouldn’t be doing anyone any favors if he proved to the Keepers that the Committee was perfectly willing to blow them all to hell if it was remotely convenient.
Instead, however, he found himself sitting on the bed, staring at the wall. There was an army coming his way, and instead of helping, his superior’s orders were to abandon the Keepers and blow the whole facility.
The Arbiter was giving them a chance, an opportunity to make peace even at the cost of hundreds of his fellow vampires—and they wanted to respond to the old vampire’s olive branch by burning it up with nuclear fire.
There was a knock on the door. He stared blankly at it for a moment, until the knock repeated.
“Come in,” he ordered.
He wasn’t surprised to see Kate Mason open the door and step through. She was still wearing most of her Omicron wargear, the black bodysuit with its computer-containing webbing.
“Your radio was turned off,” she told him quietly. “Riley said you were going to sleep, but…I doubted that.”
“Been a rough night,” he replied carefully, but Kate closed the door behind her and dropped her own helmet on the ground.
“Yeah,” she agreed. “My own radio is off too. Riley’s holding down the fort. He knows where I’m supposed to be.”
“And?”
“And where I actually am,” Kate admitted. “He suggested I check on you, though I don’t think he knows anything.”
“Ah.”
The next thing David knew, Kate had her arms wrapped around him, holding his head against her.
“I’m not as skilled at aura reading as you are,” she murmured, “but I can See and you aren’t shielding. What happened?”
“We’re not getting reinforcements,” he told her. “Instead, they’re sending us a nuke. For ‘if we no longer feel we can hold.’”
“Fuck. And the Keepers?”
“We’re to blow them to hell with the facility,” David confirmed. “I won’t do it. I can’t.”
“You know I hate vampires,” his lover said quietly.
“More than I do, and I was bitten by one,” he agreed.
“Yeah. Well, I hate vampires,” Kate repeated. “But the Arbiter, the Keepers…they understand that what has been cannot continue. They realize things have to change and have accepted the sacrifices that have to be made to get there.”
She rested her head on his.
“I have to respect that,” she told him. “I have to honor that. They showed this much courage; how can we betray them?”
“I won’t.”
“No,” Kate agreed, then kissed him. “Because you’ve got an iron stick up your ass.” She shook her head, then kissed him again.
“That isn’t a particularly nice descriptor,” he pointed out.
“No, David, it isn’t,” Kate confirmed. “But it’s an accurate one for your sense of justice. And this time, I’m with you. Whatever it takes.”
“Whatever it takes,” he echoed. “We hold.”
“We do,” she agreed, and he realized she’d taken hold of his hands and guided them somewhere specific. She smiled down at him as he realized what she’d done.
“First, however, we both need to sleep—and I have a brilliant idea how to make that happen.”
30
The heavy transport helicopters came in from the northwest, skirting Mount Scott as they carried their cargos around to drop them onto the concrete parking lot outside the central bunker. Four containers, each the same size as anyone would see on a truck or a freighter, were carefully lowered onto the concrete, and then the four helicopters took off again.
“It almost feels like they didn’t want to say hello,” Riley quipped as they approached the containers.
“Those are Army helicopters,” David pointed out. “I’m not entirely sure they were even supposed to be here.”
“Politics.” The Elfin Lord shook his head, wincing slightly as he pulled the bruises from his clash with Romanov. “I live them these days, but that doesn’t mean I like them.”
“Yeah, well.” David glanced around. “There’s a reason we’re opening these first. I’m looking for a specific crate, should be labelled W-80 with no further descriptors.”
Riley stopped, his hand on the lever to open the closest cargo container.
“That’s a nuke, Commander. Why the fuck is there a nuke in these containers?”
“Because my orders are to blow the crèche if we can’t hold it,” David told him. “Orders I have no intention of fulfilling, which means I need to make sure no one else realizes it ever arrived.”
“Why are you telling me this?” the Elfin Lord asked.
“Because most of the people I trust in this place right now are too damned junior to carry that weight, and I needed Mason to go over the perimeter positions,” David replied, then pointed at one of the containers. “Come on, I’m Seeing something in that container I’ve never seen before, so I’m going to guess that’s the nuke.”
Opening the container revealed neatly stacked sets of boxes with various labels. Stepping in, David gestured to the ones right next to the door. The crates were labelled M19 (4).
“There’s your anti-vehicle mines,” he told Riley. “Looks like you got quite a few.”
“I’m happier about those than I am about the nuke.”
“Here.” David stopped at a tall box that gl
owed in a strange purplish-green he’d never seen with his Sight before. He checked the label. Four stenciled characters, that was it.
They could have at least labelled the damn thing as radioactive.
He pulled the crate out from the wall, his Empowered strength easily handling the three-hundred-pound weight of the box as he lifted it and carried it out of the container.
“So, what do we do with this thing?” Riley asked.
“Hide it,” David told him. “Somewhere away from the compound. I’ll take care of it.”
The Elfin hesitated.
“I hate to say it, David,” he began, “but if they’re not going to reinforce us, that thing might not be a bad idea if it all goes to hell. I’d rather get a damn truce, but given a choice between dying and changing nothing, and blowing the compound to hell and destroying the vampires’ ability to produce reinforcements…”
“I’m not prepared to nuke innocents, Jamie,” David replied. “And I think at this point, we’re all agreed that while the fledglings are dangerous, they are also innocent.”
“Criminally insane, but it passes,” the Elfin Lord agreed with a sigh. “Look, all I’m saying is that damn thing is a hell of an ace in the hole. Remote-detonated, I assume?”
“That’s what Warner implied,” he said reluctantly.
“Then I find myself compelled to point out that this complex was built to withstand a nuclear strike,” Riley told him. “That bomb will only take out the crèche if you detonate it inside the Mountain.”
David looked at him with realization.
“You’re insane, you know that?” he finally told the Elfin Lord.
“I spent last night quoting Tolkien while fighting a vampiric Mage Lord,” Riley replied with a chuckle. “Why is this news?”
MOST OF THE contents of the containers were mines of one sort or another, though there were replacement shells for the ones Wilbur’s artillery had shot off the night before. There were also more sandbags, stockpiles of grenades—something ONSET didn’t issue in quantity—and crates of 7.62 ammunition for when they ran out.
ONSET: Blood of the Innocent Page 21