These people will stop at nothing.
Screams erupted as homes were raided, people being dragged outside and bitten before my very eyes.
I did what I could for a young man being attacked from just a few feet away from me—I slammed into the back of the offending Bloodless, causing him to lose balance, and knocked him away from the man. But it was clear that I had come too late. The man already had deep gash marks in his neck. And it would be only a matter of time before he turned too. There was hardly anything I could do to help these people. Not while I didn’t have the antidote with me.
Hurry up! I found myself urging the others to return. Then, as I caught the sound of distant roaring, I realized that they already had. It was the roaring of dragons. During the extended period of time that I’d taken to search for Atticus in the IBSI’s base, our group had arrived, even the slower-traveling firebreathers.
I spotted Xavier holding aloft two long, razor-sharp swords, beating back a group of three Bloodless who were encroaching on him. Then I spotted others: my sister, Caleb, Yuri, Kiev, and many more familiar faces mingling with the chaos and joining forces to fight the Bloodless back and prevent them from encroaching on the city even further.
“Hey, Rose,” I called, hurrying toward my sister, who was focusing on not getting bitten by two Bloodless who were hurling themselves at her. “Where’s Lawrence?” I asked.
She shrugged, not daring to take her eyes off the Bloodless, even as Caleb hurried to join her. “I don’t know,” she said. “Go look around.”
I passed more friends and family—including Aiden and Kailyn, as well as a large group of Hawks who were attempting to beat down a gang of ten Bloodless.
Our game plan now had to be to first get the Bloodless back on to the other side of the river, and then for the witches to put up another protective boundary. Only then could we think about moving to New York. We had no idea when exactly the IBSI would pull the trigger on the boundary there, but something told me that once they caught wind of our work here to regain control of the Bloodless, they would do it sooner rather than later, to overwhelm us. And then, after pulling the trigger on New York, there would likely be more.
We didn’t have a second to lose.
But I still had unfinished business with Atticus. I found Lawrence stalking a parallel street, carrying two long blades.
“Lawrence,” I called, relieved to find him, but hardly able to express it as I delivered the bad news. “I can’t find your father anywhere in the base. Do you have any idea where else he could be? I checked everywhere I could possibly think of. I fear he might not be in Chicago after all.”
Before he could answer, more Bloodless surrounded us—too many to hold a conversation in comfort. I grabbed Lawrence by the arms and then launched us upward into the air, setting us down on the roof of a nearby building.
Lawrence furrowed his brows. “Let me try calling his phone.”
Lawrence pulled out his phone that I had returned to him sometime back and dialed his father’s number. He pressed the device to his ear, biting on his lower lip hard as it began to ring.
Ring, ring. Ring, ring.
No answer.
He tried again.
Still no luck.
I doubted either of us had actually expected Atticus to answer. Lawrence was not exactly on the best of terms with his father right now. I doubted whether Atticus would ever take another call from him again.
“Damn,” Lawrence murmured, stowing the phone back into his pocket. “He could be anywhere.”
Atticus
After giving the order, I decided that I wanted to watch everything play out. I took my private helicopter and flew it away from the IBSI’s base, over the river, and landed it on one of the tallest buildings within Bloodless territory.
I watched as the Bloodless swarmed over the temporary bridges I had ordered be set up, and into the hapless residential quarters.
Could I honestly say that I didn’t feel even the slightest twinge at doing this? No. There were families living in that area. I knew that. But I had to remind myself why I was doing any of this to begin with. Many more lives would be claimed and ruined in the future if we didn’t make sacrifices now.
And besides, if it weren’t for Lawrence and The Shadow League, none of this would even be required. There would have been minimal damage to people. But this was an important lesson that we had to teach not only The Shadow League, but the entire world. I had been monitoring the news reports that were spreading across the Internet like a virus, and I couldn’t deny that many of the comments they were making about my organization stung. The vast majority of people already believed Lawrence, and the footage demonstrating the antidote in action. I still had no idea how they had actually managed to crack the antidotes and find all the right ingredients, since the first thing I’d done after Lawrence had betrayed me back in the lab was make sure the antidote ingredients were removed and transported somewhere where nobody would find them. Yes, they had managed to confiscate our stock of trees from Aviary, and it was possible that they had located the other plants from there, given that they were apparently now in alliance with the Hawks, but it still confused me as to how they could ever have gotten the blood that was required for the antidote.
But whatever the case, it was irrelevant now anyway. They had cracked the antidote and were apparently confident about creating enough of it to transform a significant number of Bloodless.
The screams and shouts piercing the night made my spine tingle.
The Shadow League had no clue. Absolutely no clue. I imagined they still thought that they could bring world peace by recruiting more of the supernaturals who were causing our problems in the first place. They probably still thought that they could trust them to turn into protectors. Well, now they had the perfect opportunity to test that theory, with the world as their audience.
After TSL’s failure, the IBSI’s position would only become stronger. Even if the world accused us of being duplicitous in our dealings, nobody could deny that we had kept people safe.
My phone was already exploding with phone calls. From representatives of the state, high government officials… even Lawrence’s phone number popped up. Maybe TSL was already having second thoughts about their actions.
But I would make this lesson long and hard, so that when we finally retook control, TSL would have been shown to have failed so thoroughly and so publicly that there could never be any doubt about our leadership again.
The feeling of keeping the calls on hold was almost cathartic. Ignoring them. Causing them anxiety. No doubt if I didn’t pick up soon, government officials would come flying over to look for me and beg me in person to resume our important work. I would not agree so easily. But when I did, I would have the upper hand to demand even more favorable terms for our organization.
The public themselves would also quickly change their minds about us. This constant slew of negative comments against the IBSI would quickly turn positive, out of desperation.
I waited a while longer before raising my phone to my ear and making the second most important call I would make that evening:
“Blow New York.”
Lawrence
After I failed to get through to my father, Ben lowered us to the ground, where we continued assisting the others in fighting back the Bloodless. The witches and jinn were doing an effective job of stunning many at once, but these creatures were like rats. They scurried away and hid, out of reach from the spells, and it required an entire team to go poring through the streets in search of all the strays.
This task was much less nerve-racking for me than it was for the vampires among us. The Bloodless could still fatally wound me, but at least I was not at risk of turning into one of them.
Still, this task was made more difficult now that we knew that these were still real people who had the potential to be saved. Our reluctance to kill them significantly slowed our efforts to save the humans.
As the witche
s and jinn stunned Bloodless, and the rest of us attempted to herd them toward the magic-wielders, teams of vampires hurried to the rigid bodies and injected them with the antidote. Dr. Finnegan had managed to create a large amount by the time we’d returned. We stored a large stock in sturdy bags wrapped around the dragons’ necks.
As I turned a corner, I was hit by a sudden blast of freezing cold air. A blue ice dragon named Lethe stood towering before me. He’d just blasted down shards of ice at a group of Bloodless in an attempt to drive them backward.
The fire dragons, so far, were being cautious about releasing their fire. I could see it was taking a lot of self-control to keep themselves in check, but releasing fire was far too dangerous when so many humans were still inside buildings, not to speak of the unnecessary loss of Bloodless lives.
I was just about to approach a trio of Bloodless I’d spotted running down an alleyway—attempt to use my knives to bully them toward the nearest witch—when I heard the sound of a helicopter slicing the air above me. My head panned upward. There was more than one. I expected them to be IBSI helicopters, immediately fearing that to add insult to injury, they were going to start bombing us… but I quickly realized that they did not belong to my father’s organization.
They were navy blue, and smaller than any IBSI helicopter I had ever laid eyes on. Two of them were soaring toward the direction of the river, across it, and then over Bloodless territory.
Those were government helicopters. I was sure of it. I had seen this type before when government officials had come to visit my father in the past.
I felt the urge to follow them. I raced forward, using my supernatural speed to my full advantage. Dozens of Bloodless hurtled at me as I raced toward the river, and I was forced to slash out with my blades to beat them back before surging onward. I wouldn’t have caused much harm—it was hard to cut off their limbs. The transformation did something to them that made dismembering them an arduous task.
My feet pounded over one of the wooden bridges, crossing the seething river and arriving on the other side. I continued to sprint, fearing that I would lose the helicopters, but I was able to keep up. They weren’t traveling very fast, I realized. If anything, they seemed to be slowing down. Were they looking for something? Someone?
I followed them for miles across the city, doing all that I could to avoid bumping into Bloodless to delay my journey. Sometimes I had nothing but the aircrafts’ noise to guide me as overhanging bridges or exceptionally tall buildings blocked my view. Then they stopped completely, hovering over what must have been one of the tallest skyscrapers in the area. They dipped down and appeared to land on its roof, the distant noise of their rotors dying down.
I stared at the smashed-up entrance of the dilapidated building. Entering such an enclosed space could be dangerous if there were Bloodless lurking inside. But I couldn’t shake my curiosity. What are government aircrafts doing on this side of the river, at a time like this?
And so I hurried inside, keeping my weapons at the ready in case I needed to defend myself. The elevators were of course out of order, so I was forced to take the winding stairwell. Climbing it wasn’t a fraction of the task it would’ve been had I still been a regular human. Fortunately, I met no Bloodless on the way. I scaled the steps swiftly, until I reached the top.
I crept to a grimy window that looked out onto the flat roof. Keeping close to the wall to avoid being seen, I peered out. There were three helicopters—the two blue ones that I had seen land, but also a third one… a black IBSI aircraft. Nearby stood two men. My breath hitched as I realized that one of them was my father, standing tall in a long gray trenchcoat, and the second one was a short man with slicked-back white hair wearing a beige overcoat. I didn’t recognize him, but he must’ve descended from one of the government helicopters. I moved closer to the door and pressed my ear against the crack, straining to hear what they were saying.
“Ask for what you will,” the official was saying, “But you’ve got to begin work to reinstate the barriers.”
My father slipped his hands into his deep pockets and kicked around some gravel. His eyes passed over the dark city surrounding them.
“I wonder if perhaps you would be better served by TSL,” he said calmly. “Have you not considered that they might indeed provide superior protection, as they are promising?”
“Atticus,” the official said, his voice tightening. “We don’t have time. You have heard our order.”
My father dallied a little longer—I could see that a part of him was enjoying keeping the old man on eggshells. Keeping the world on eggshells.
“You know that we can fix this situation swiftly,” he replied. “But in return I’m going to ask for measures to ensure that TSL cannot cause damage to our organization again.”
The old man’s brows rose, urging my father to go on.
“I need you to shut down everything. Put a hold on every news station. Call for a temporary closure of every major online news portal. I need there to be less noise, and I need full control.”
The man barely hesitated. “Understood. But for how long?”
“Until I tell you to allow them to resurface,” my father replied dryly.
“It will be done,” the man said. “What is your time estimate to fix this?”
My father ran a tongue over his lower lip. “I’ll keep you updated,” was all that he responded.
The men shook hands, and then the two of them retreated to their respective helicopters—the official into one of the blue ones, my father climbing into the black one, which, I guessed, he had piloted here on his own.
As the doors of the aircrafts began to close, I was faced with a dilemma. I was tempted to launch after my father—not allow him to get away—but something told me that that would only cause me to wind up getting trapped in the IBSI’s base again, and this time, I doubted I would ever reemerge. Especially since I didn’t know that my father’s chopper was empty; he could have armed men in there who could help overpower me, for all I knew.
Between the two, I figured that I would have a better chance of achieving something productive with the official.
My father’s chopper rose into the air before the blue ones. It swept away from the roof and began soaring back toward the IBSI’s headquarters. The government helicopters were slower, perhaps engaging in some discussion before their rotors sped up and they began to levitate off the ground.
I had to hurry.
Gripping the handle of the metal door, I tried to push it open. It was locked. Not having the patience to break through it, I opted for the easier target—the window. Taking a few steps back, I sent myself crashing through it, managing to land on my feet on the other side. As the distance increased between the ground and the helicopters’ skids, I darted toward the one I knew the old man was riding in and grabbed hold of the metal landing gear.
If the passengers noticed a sudden jolt, they didn’t show it. The helicopter continued rising, steadily, and then began to soar in the opposite direction of the IBSI’s HQ, a sheer drop of hundreds of feet suddenly appearing beneath me. I kept my gaze firmly upward on the aircraft’s underbelly, even as my palms felt sweaty against the metal. Swallowing hard, I glanced upward toward the closed door. Finding my balance on the skids, I pulled myself up into a standing position, even as I reached up and rapped loudly against the metal.
There was a beat, and then the door slid open. I slipped a hand through the crack and forced it open wider before thrusting myself upward and landing on the floor of the aircraft. Gasps of men swept around me, including from the white-haired man.
I shot to my feet as several guards around me clutched their guns.
I fixed my gaze on the old man’s. “You recognize me, don’t you?” I said steadily.
“How could we not?” he managed.
“I need you to discard everything that my father just told you,” I told him sternly. Somehow, I had to keep the major news portals open. The government operated all the
main news channels—both online and offline—and if they were shut down, it would cause confusion and panic among people, and it would hamper the speed at which the truth was currently being spread to the public.
“I am with TSL,” I said. “You need to give us a chance to fix this. If you give back full control to the IBSI so easily, then nothing will ever have a hope of changing. You watched my broadcast, didn’t you?”
The man nodded, as did every other man in the chopper. I couldn’t help but notice that their grip around their guns had loosened a touch.
“Then you’re fully aware of how the IBSI has been deceiving you and the world. You are desperate right now. But that’s exactly where the IBSI wants you—in a place of blind need and helplessness. If you don’t give TSL a chance, then nothing ever has a chance of changing, and the IBSI will only grow more and more corrupt.”
The man’s brows knotted. “Have you not heard what’s been going on?” he said. “Have you not seen? We are in a state of emergency! Lives are being—”
“I know,” I said heavily. “I know. I’ve just come from the epicenter of the Bloodless infestation in Chicago. If you glance down over the city, on the other side of the river, you will see members of TSL already there combating the situation. Albeit not as effectively as we would like to yet… We need more time to prove to you and the world that the IBSI are no longer needed.”
The man rubbed his temples, looking uncertainly to each of his colleagues. “Time is exactly what we don’t have, Mr. Conway.”
“Then buy some,” I said, glaring at him. “Even if it’s a few hours. Buy some.”
I knew that if the government hesitated in shutting down the news portals, my father, too, wouldn’t hesitate to wreak more havoc. It was vital that we stop them from regaining full control while keeping the news channels open, because if they were allowed to reassert their boundaries, once all the news feeds did flow freely again, the IBSI would only be considered even more of a necessity than they’d been before. Even though we had broadcast their corruption and downright inhumanity, all of it would get swept under the carpet in light of the threat of the Bloodless flooding their residential cities and suburbs. Everybody would be convinced once and for all that it was not possible to live without the IBSI, even if they wished that they could. There would be no more opening for TSL in the public’s minds after such a horrific and widespread failure. Everybody would be desperate for the boundaries to never fall again, regardless of what it meant giving up in return for their safety. There would be no room left for morals, truth, or dignity to play a part in anything.
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