“Not until you finish your meal, lover,” she chided in a sing-song voice. “Waste not, want not.”
“I want,” he growled, “now!” His hands grabbed at her like an inexperienced teenager. She grabbed his hands and held them together.
“Not yet,” she said sternly. “You need to eat and gain your strength.” He glared at her in the darkness and watched as her face went from stern to playful to sultry. “Make a happy-plate and you can have this for dessert…” She raised her dress to flash him her silky soft thighs.
He stared at her with glassy eyes and nodded. His hands groped along the sides until they found the body lying next to him. He ripped a large chunk of flesh from the vampire’s muscular back and slipped it into his mouth, swallowing it down without chewing.
Rachel patted his cheek and smiled at him. “That’s my good boy,” she praised. “Keep eating and getting stronger. Maybe if you’re really good, I’ll let you eat Foster, too, before this is all over.”
Damien’s eyes glazed again and he smiled at her. She reached next to him and rent another strip of flesh from the vampire and fed it to him. “That’s my good boy. Who’s my big lover?” she teased.
*****
“Maintain that satellite uplink. We’re getting too close to zero hour and I don’t want to have to worry about any problems between now and then.” Mitchell turned to the other technician, “Any reports of attacks along their route?”
“None, sir, they’re too busy trying to make it here, I think. The train doesn’t move as quick as the trucks can, but the trucks are having to take all kinds of side highways and byways to stay parallel to the train. It doesn’t run along any one stretch of road.”
“Very well. Keep me updated.” He turned to Captain Roberts, “How about our incoming visitors? Any new ones lately?”
“Negative, sir, I think whoever is here is what we have to work with.”
“Do we have a head count?”
“Not an accurate one, Colonel. A lot of the vampires that arrived at night came in large vehicles that carried multiple passengers. Some arrived during daylight hours in blacked out vehicles driven by familiars,” Roberts reported. “As for the wolves, well…”
“Yes, Captain? Spit it out,” Mitchell barked. The effects of the full moon were starting to take its toll on him as well and his nerves were almost shot.
“Colonel, we’ve had them show up in all manners. From singles on motorcycles, to busloads. We have no idea how many we’re working with.”
Mitchell nodded. “Fine. Get somebody to each of the two facilities and have their people get us a head count. Even if it’s a ballpark number.”
“Yes, sir.” Roberts turned and headed out of the command center.
“Excuse me, Colonel?” Dr. Peters interrupted.
Mitchell spun around and saw the doctor standing in the shadows of the corner with his hand raised. “Yeah, doc?” Matt stepped that way, but noticed that Evan made no effort to meet him. It was just then that Matt realized that daylight was shining in through the upper windows. He glanced around and pointed to the side door where Evan immediately slipped through.
“Sorry to bother you, Colonel, I know that you’re busy and things are starting to come to a head.”
“Yeah, things are definitely starting to come down to the wire, but, there’s always time for you, Doc. What’s up?”
“I’m not exactly sure how to broach this subject…” he said slowly.
“Just spit it out, Doc. I don’t have time for pussy-footing around.”
Evan studied him a moment then nodded. “You’re right, of course.” He cleared his throat. “Well, Colonel, Chief Thompson brought something to my attention that made me wonder,” he began. “He said that the leader of the Greater Elves had recruited some of the ‘others’ to assist us in our struggle here.”
“Yeah, we aren’t sure who exactly yet, but I guess whoever shows up will be an ally.”
“And that’s my point, actually.”
Matt gave him a confused look. “What’s your point, Doc?”
“Well, it seems we will have a bit of a conundrum on our hands, won’t we?”
“How do you figure that?”
“Well, consider, if you will, that you are the leader of the Monster Squads. And now we are enlisting the help of the very supernatural creatures that you hunt down and kill? Doesn’t that seem a bit…odd to you?”
Matt leaned back a bit and studied Evan. “What are you saying, Doc?”
Evan placed his hand under his chin and gave Matt a studious stare. “It really wouldn’t give one much ambition to throw themselves into battle if you know that your ally intends to turn right around and hunt you down at a later date. Wouldn’t you think?”
Matt sighed and glanced around. “What do you propose?”
“Me? Oh, I propose nothing, Colonel. It’s not my place.” He smiled sheepishly. “I just thought that perhaps you might say something to those who are willing to place their lives on the line to save the human race and let them know that you appreciate their efforts and possible sacrifice, that’s all.”
Matt chuckled and shook his head. “Leave it to you to be my moral compass.”
Evan smiled at him. “Somebody needs to be, Colonel. Miss Youngblood is no longer with us.”
Matt’s face went slack as he realized exactly what he meant. “I know. I miss her too.”
Evan patted Matt on the shoulder. “I know you’ll do the right thing, Colonel.”
“Thanks to you and your foresight, I will.” Matt nodded. “Tell ya what, Evan, do me a favor, if you have time.”
“Of course, Colonel, anything.”
“Write me up a nice speech. Something along those lines. Something that sounds nice, but not too stuffy. To let them know that as long as they are not hunting humans, then they have nothing to fear from the human hunters, and that words cannot express the gratitude we feel for them coming to our aide in this time of need, yada, yada…that sort of thing.” Matt shrugged. “Think you could do that for me?”
Evan nodded. “Eloquent, but still passable as yours, got it.”
Matt snorted. “You know me all too well.”
20
“And so you just quit?” Barbara asked.
“Everybody has a breaking point. I guess I reached mine,” Laura replied. “But when I came back and you and Bobby were here, I couldn’t just walk away, you know? I mean, I recruited Bob so I felt responsible in a way.”
Barbara nodded as she continued to pack Laura’s office into boxes. “I think I do. You were with the program for a long time. You may quit, but it’s still a part of you, right?”
“Yeah…something like that. Besides, once I got here, I realized, this place is more my home than home is.” She taped up the box she was working on and watched Barbara a moment.
“You know, the reports I got from Bob’s unit commander told me that you two were over,” she said quietly. “That it was a messy divorce and…”
“Yeah, well it’s a love-hate relationship.” She smiled sadly. “I love him, but hate the Army.”
“Oh, then you must really love the squads,” Laura quipped.
Barbara set down the plaques she was wrapping with newspaper and sighed. “No, it’s not like that,” she reflected. “I mean, with the Army, I never knew what Bob was up to. Special Operations are like that. Send him off to god knows where to do god knows what. But with the squads…I know what he’s doing, and why.” She looked at Laura and they shared an unspoken moment.
The two women finished packing the office into boxes. Laura looked around at the empty space and shook her head. “I really appreciate you giving me a hand with all of this. I hadn’t realized I had brought this much stuff with me.”
“Who else was going to help you? Miller? He’s too busy playing cowboy with his buddies.” She wiped her hands on a rag. “Besides, have you ever seen a guy pack something before? They’d throw a bowling ball on top of fine china and call it done.”
> Laura nodded. “I have older brothers. I know exactly what you mean.” She sat on the edge of her desk and fondled a trophy she had been wrapping. “I helped them all go off to college and I remember how little of their things survived the trip.”
Barbara started to pick up a box but Laura stopped her. “There’s an advantage to being a woman on a military base, my dear.” She gave her a sly smile. “Lots and lots of big strong men who are just dying to show off how strong they are.”
Barbara laughed and tossed the rag on the desk. “Well, by all means! Show me how it’s done!” She gestured to the door as Laura stood.
The two made their way topside and Laura found George Walker checking in from his rounds. “George, I need a favor, please?” she asked sweetly.
“Of course, Ms. Youngblood. What can I do for you?”
“We just got through packing up my office and there are all these big, heavy boxes down there. Do you think you and some of the boys could bring them up for me please?” She made a pouty face.
George smiled and avoided her eyes. “Aw, I’m sure we could get them for you, ma’am.” He blushed. “Would you like us to pack them in your Jeep?”
“Oh, would you?” she cooed, “That would be so sweet.”
“Wouldn’t be a problem at all.” He went to gather a couple of the guys.
Sergeant Miller approached her from behind and shook his head. “That was the most flagrantly blatant display of female behavior I’ve ever seen,” he stated. “And from you of all people.”
Laura turned and saw the smirk on his face. “I was trying to show Barbara how it’s done.”
“She’s married to Bob Mueller, ma’am. I think she knows how it’s done.”
Laura turned to look at Barbara who was grinning at her like she had just got caught with her pants down. “He’s right. I’ve had that man wrapped around my little finger for years. I just wanted to see if you still knew how to use it.”
Laura blushed and fumed at the same time. “I am SO embarrassed.” She covered her face.
“Maybe so, but you made Walker’s day.” Miller turned and headed to his little office.
Barbara patted her shoulder. “Don’t worry, sweetie. I thought you did just fine.”
“Not too over the top?”
“Naw. Just the right amount.” She patted her shoulder.
Just as George and the other two men came out of the elevator, the lights flickered and went out. The three men stood around and looked at the ceiling, expecting them to come back on. Sergeant Miller came out of his office, mad as hell. “Who turned off the lights?”
Laura shrugged. “Nobody touched anything that I know of.”
Walker looked back at the elevator with its emergency lighting glowing and let out an audible ‘whew’. “We could have been trapped in there.”
“I’m going to find out what the hell is going on here.” Miller marched into his office but returned a moment later. “Phones are dead, too.”
Laura gave him a blank expression. “Why haven’t the emergency generators kicked on?”
“Beats the hell out of me,” Miller said.
Barbara began to panic. “They’re here aren’t they?” She grabbed Laura’s arm, then started to make a break for the stairwell to get Bobby.
“Hold on! Barbara! They’re not here,” Laura cried. “I’ll bet money that the base just cut the power.” She turned back to Miller, “Take the Humvee, go to the base commander’s office, talk to whoever it was that’s been bugging you guys and find out what the hell is going on.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He bolted for the door.
“Go ahead and stuff that crap in a corner. We can load it later,” she told Walker. She turned to Barbara, “Get a flashlight and very carefully go downstairs and bring Bobby up here. Be careful because it’s dark down there.”
“Where are the torches?” she asked, using a military term for flashlight.
“There are some in a box mounted to the wall right there next to the stairwell door. Just please be careful.”
“I will,” she yelled back as she ran for the stairwell.
“George, go with her.” Walker nodded and grabbed a flashlight and fell into step with Barbara in the stairwell.
Laura took charge of the situation as best she could, but she knew, if this had been an attack, cutting the power wouldn’t be necessary and vampires wouldn’t attack during the day.
She paced the hangar until she saw the black Humvee come roaring back and Miller got out, madder than when he left.
“Sitrep?”
“They cut the damned power, all right,” he reported through clenched teeth. “Said that since the operations had moved out, they didn’t need to supply power to the hangar any more. Said that our consumption didn’t justify keeping the lights on.”
“Son of a bitch.” She kicked at the gravel in the yard. “Did you tell them that we still had minor support ops going on here?”
“Yes, ma’am, I tried. They wouldn’t hear of it. Said that the Pentagon reported to them that we moved so as far as they were concerned, all MS4 activities were shut down.”
“What about the generators?”
“They’re off site.” He swiped a hand across his face in frustration. “We get most of our power from the grid, but if the grid goes down, we have a power plant here on the base. The steam plant over there…” he pointed to the northeast of their position, “provides power to some of the base operations and emergency power to the rest of us.”
“So we go over there and tell them to throw a damned switch or something!”
He shook his head. “Order has to come from the base CO’s office, and they’re the sons of bitches that shut us down.”
“Great,” she huffed. “So what now sergeant?”
Miller shook his head. He grunted and looked at her with a crooked smile. “We work in the dark?”
*****
The moment the power went out at the hangar, in Colonel Mitchell’s old office, an alarm sounded. His PC automatically shut down all non-essential functions as the battery backup underneath his desk took over supplying power to the computer. A red LED indicator flashed beside his keyboard and a single window was present on his flat screen.
A beautiful young girl, trapped in ice, four stories below his office was shown on his screen with a countdown timer below. Once the timer hit zero, the battery backup for the refrigeration unit would run out and the subject would begin to thaw.
The numbers indicated less than twenty minutes before the batteries were dead…
*****
“Witches?” Viktor repeated. “You expect me to believe that witches had anything to do with your behavior?”
“Not my behavior, Viktor. The threats to the family,” she whispered, trying to keep her voice low. She continued to glance toward the stairwell. “What do you know of them?”
“They’re a farce,” he growled. “Nonsense. It isn’t real.”
Victoria sighed and shook her head. “My son, you were born a werewolf and serve as the second to a vampire and you claim that witches can’t be real?” Her eyes pleaded with him. “Have you listened to yourself lately? You sound worse than your father.”
“Do not start with me…” he warned.
“Then do not behave like him,” she barked. “I’m still your mother.”
“Barely.”
She reached up and grabbed his ear and pulled him down to her eye level. “I’m tired of trying to apologize for keeping your ungrateful backside safe,” she hissed. “You will listen to me now before your reign as pack master becomes the shortest in history, do you understand me, young man?”
Suddenly Viktor felt five years old again and he simply nodded as she made his ear burn. She let it go and reached out to straighten his collar. “Jesus, mother. Not in front of the other wolves.”
“Viktor, the other wolves have mothers, too,” she chided. “Now, you will listen.”
“Fine. But speak truly.” His anger
tried to return.
“When your father left, you weren’t ready to lead. Even you knew that. You had much left to learn,” she began. “Antoni stepped up and led the pack for many years until his death.”
“And I was out of the country. I should have been allowed to…”
“Shut up and listen, Viktor, or so help me…” she warned, a slender finger in his face.
“Yes, mother.”
“The other wolves were adamant that we should wait until you returned, but I was visited by a gypsy witch shortly after Antoni’s death. She told me that should you be allowed to challenge for master of the pack, that all of the line of Veranus would be killed.”
“My God, mother! You knew? All this time you knew and you never told me?” Viktor’s feelings of betrayal rose to the surface at once.
She looked at him as if he had lost his mind, then realized what she had said and lowered her eyes. “Yes, Viktor, I knew. It was not my decision not to inform you.” She looked back up and stared into his eyes. “I love your father dearly and would surely die for him. If he tells me that Claudius Veranus is dead, then so be it. Maxwell Verissimo shall rise from his ashes and his name shall be your surname.”
Viktor shook his head and fought not to scream. “Why didn’t somebody tell me as a child?”
“To what end?” She grasped his face in her hands. “Would you have become somebody you aren’t now?”
“I would know who I am!” He fought back his emotions as he faced her.
“Viktor, you know who you are. You are your own wolf.” She reached up and touched his brow, turning his gaze back to her. “Allow me to finish now.”
Viktor nodded, his head hung low. “This witch tells me that the only way to save you and your family is to send you away and allow you to become the man you need to become. She tells me that is the only way that you can successfully become the master of the pack and your family not be lost.”
“Who is this lying bitch?”
“She is no liar, Viktor,” his mother pleaded. “I swear to you, she is not.”
“Reveal her to me so that I may rip her heart from her chest.”
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