I return to our rooms and sit with the cello. I play idly for a while, without going into a trance, then set the cello aside and sit cross-legged on the floor, adopting a traditional meditation pose.
There is someone I need to get on side. I reach out to find Dillon. He is there waiting. He can see into my mind as clearly as I can see into his, and he knows what I have done in an instant. He sees that I intend to stay, and is alarmed.
‘No, Maxi, it’s too dangerous. You were supposed to be coming to me. I wouldn’t have suggested getting them to leave if I knew you were going to stay. There’s still time to catch up to the convoy if you leave now. I think the humans can be trusted to honour the safe passage agreement.’
‘Not if they realise I’m there. They’ll have trackers. Besides, I have to stay. I can’t leave without getting my family out first.’
‘Your family? You mean Howard?’
‘Not just Howard.’ I show him an image of Alaric preparing to kill me, and of how Quidel and Tilda saved me from death. I’m trying to show him an image of Faruk defending me from the Ebner clan, but his mind is filled with pure hatred and a wish to obliterate Alaric.
‘I have to stay. There is no other way and we both know it.’
I feel his despair as he says, ‘There has to be, Maxi.’
‘How have you been doing your end anyway?’ I’m anxious to know the size of the force we are faced with, and if Dillon has been able to dissuade any of them like we planned.
‘Not so good. I managed to convince the chain of command not to send too many reinforcements. Thankfully, Russia and China have problems of their own, and the Italians are trying to distance themselves from the whole sorry mess. But Sam put out a call to his own network, and I’m sure you can imagine the kind of slayers that’s brought in.’
My chest feel tight. ‘So what we’re looking at is a bunch of cannibals?’
‘Pretty much. Except Jax, who hasn’t forgotten about Howard, and Nell, who’s just following Sam.’
‘And you? Can’t you just duck out?’ I’d like to see at least one of us survive, and the thought of Dillon dying needlessly makes my breath catch in my throat.
‘No.’ Dillon’s voice has a hard edge to it I’m not used to. ‘I’m going to rip the German bastard’s head off.’
I don’t have time to question his enmity with Alaric because he changes the subject.
‘And the humans Sam has with him are a bunch of religious nuts.’
‘Bearded nuts with pointed orthodox crosses on their chests?’
‘Yes. How did you know? I wouldn’t be surprised if they turned on us once they’ve finished off the vampires.’
‘Neither would I. They’re called Calugari, apparently, and they are bent on destroying all vampires, so I’m told. Don’t trust them Dillon, they’re no more friends of The breed than they are The Coven.’
‘I think The Breed command is just hoping we all get wiped out, using this as a way to purge the ranks of rotten apples.’
‘We might be.’ I show him what The Coven has planned. ‘It’s not going to be pretty.’
‘Be careful, Maxi. I can’t lose you. I can’t bear to be without you.’
The implication doesn’t sink in at first. I think he means I’m too important to the cause, which seems a bit of a stretch. My few days here in The Coven have shown me I’m nowhere near as strong as I thought. Then I remember the image of Sam’s warning to Dillon, the threat in his tone, and the warning in his eyes, and understanding dawns.
‘Oh.’ I think, and then, ‘Oh. Really?’
Dillon’s not worried about losing an asset, he’s worried about me. He cares about me. I realise from the rush of excitement and relief that I feel the same way too.
‘So glad,’ Dillon laughs. ‘So, you see why there has to be another way?’
But he is disappointed when all I can answer is, ‘I wish there was, but there isn’t.’
I know my path and I am sure of one ally at least. I just hope we will live to be reunited.
WHEN DILLON SEVERS the connection with me to return to his work within The Breed, I go back to the cello, but my heart isn’t in it. Shortly after, Howard sticks his head round the door.
“How did it go?” I ask.
“Well, Princess Lilleth had already returned to the sanctuary, and she won’t risk returning before the battle, so you will be spared her wrath at least. Ruth has gone, but she would never have stayed anyway. She has taken both of her sons with her, though, so Falk is not too happy with you. A few of the others seem to be wavering. If your plan is to weaken the coven, it seems to be working.”
He looks like he wants to say more, but he doesn’t. He sits down in the chair beside the bed, looking at me.
“I hope you know what you are doing Maxi.”
“Do you trust me, Howard?”
“Of course, I am just worried.”
“Good. I’m trying to save their lives. When they come, the numbers won’t matter. The humans will just get wiped out, and the Strigoi won’t fare much better. There are maybe a dozen good fighters here, and they would last about as long without the others here.”
Howard shakes his head, but doesn’t argue.
“I want you to stay here, this side of the mountain, and keep Tilda and anyone else you can with you.”
“That’s not going to happen,” he stands, and walks to the window. He nods across at the mountains. “The sanctuary cannot be exposed.”
I join him, and look out over the valley, taking the details in for the first time. It is deep, but quite narrow. There are four castles, one in the valley, near the village toward the head, where a single winding road leads out through a narrow pass, and three ranged up the mountain on the other side. The road tapers and snakes up the mountain to the highest castle. Around half way up a dirt track forks from it and leads through grassy banks to a kidney-shaped lake. Beyond the lake are the rocky foothills of a third mountain.
“Why couldn’t the coven just move to another valley?”
“The humans do not even know that village exists,” Howard points to it, and then up to the castles. “And those are over a thousand years older than the oldest known architecture in the region. If we give this up, it is not only the Romanian coven that falls. There will be no more hiding our existence, no more sanctuary. You see, within the valley, we are sustained, the thirst subdued. We still have to feed, of course, but our needs are minimal, easily managed. When we leave, without that sustenance, we become the monsters the humans believe us to be.”
We look out at the valley in silence. I want to ask what it is about it that makes it so special, but Howard continues.
“There is some ancient magic I do not understand, cast by Maxim Dragomir, the Princess’s father, protecting the whole valley. There are over two thousand Strigoi living in it, Maxi. Can you even begin to imagine what would happen if they were let loose on the world?”
I don’t need to imagine, I’ve seen it. I have a flash of the images of packs of starving vampires feeding on mounds of corpses, and the grey factories stocked with human cattle.
“How is it protected from the humans?” I ask. Couldn’t those of you who do not fight defend it from here, if we fail?”
He shakes his head. “That is the job of the elders.”
“But the elders will not stay here, will they?”
His silence tells me everything I need to know.
I leave him staring out of the window, intending to find the elders and try to convince them to remain within the sanctuary but at each of the castles I am informed its occupants have retired for the day in preparation for the battle to come.
I MAKE MY way back through the mountain into the lab. The cages where the red-eyed human experiments were housed are empty, and most of the equipment has been removed. As I pass through the lab, I come face-to-face with the skinny scientist who was in charge before Howard agreed to help The Coven with their research. He freezes on the spot. I remember, I t
hreatened to kill him if he didn’t keep out of my way.
“What are you still doing here?” I feel no desire to carry out my threat and no pleasure in the peppery scent of his fear.
“S-someone has to be. To ensure the labs are destroyed if we f-fail.”
“Go,” I gesture towards the mountain with my head. “I’ll make sure it’s done.”
“But what if you’re ...”
“Dead?” I screw my nose up and hunch my shoulders. “I’m not going to die.”
I don’t feel anything like the confidence I’m projecting, but he seems to believe me. Gathering a few of the remaining pieces of equipment, he heads off the way I came.
The rest of the building is deserted, and when I emerge into the cold autumn sun in the courtyard, I can see why.
At least half of the trucks that arrived last night, the ones with human soldiers in them, are loading back up and leaving again. The humans who remain have a different uniform: black tunics over slim-legged black trousers. They have the cross of the Credinciosi emblazoned on their chests. The Romanian military are pulling out, leaving two sects within the Orthodox church to battle it out. At least that is what it will look like to the outside world.
By my reckoning, the Credinciosi number around three hundred, maybe three-fifty at a push. Their faces have the grim determination of men prepared to die for what they believe in. They move around efficiently, with little conversation. They are under no illusions.
The first of the Strigoi start to reappear around five p.m. By seven, there are almost as many of them as there are Credinciosi, all dressed in black cargo pants and flak jackets. They make even less noise than the humans as they make their final preparations. Then the Moroi start to reappear, dressed identically to the Strigoi. I see the two young ones who sparred with me before Alaric’s sons attacked, and walk over to them.
“We’re not going back,” The shorter one tells me as I approach.
I nod. To refuse them their opportunity would be a grave insult, and they are probably three times my age despite their youthful appearances.
“I know. I have a very important job for you.”
“What’s that?”
“The lab. I need you to hang back, and make sure its destroyed in case we have to retreat.”
They look vaguely disappointed, but agree to the assignment, turning and making their way back to the lab. With any luck, they’ll be alive to resent me tomorrow. I’m beginning to wish I’d kept my mouth shut, as I leave the courtyard myself to join the elders in the control room.
“I TOLD YOU she would betray us,” Alaric glares at me. All signs of the smugness he felt earlier are gone. I’m guessing the satisfaction he expected to feel at being able to gloat over the others is overwhelmed by the fear of being so heavily outnumbered.
Falk looks livid, probably wishing he had not listened to Quidel, and even Quidel seems a little glum as I try to explain.
“I’m trying to protect you.”
“How? By decimating our forces, before we even go into battle?” Alaric steps towards me, and I fight the urge to back away from him.
“No, you idiot,” I can’t believe I just said that, but it’s out now, there’s no sense in trying to back-peddle, “By stopping you from throwing everything you have into a battle you can’t possibly win. At least this way you will have time to prepare properly, to regroup your forces, and perfect your weapons.”
I can’t believe I’m actually doing this. All I wanted to do was get anyone who didn’t want to go to war out of the way, but it’s true that if this goes as badly as we all expect, it could prompt the survivors into drastic action. I have a flash of one of the images in Dillon’s premonitions, of piled up bodies and newspaper headlines about ethnic cleansing and gene warfare. I just hope I haven’t made a terrible mistake.
“Look,” I try to adopt a placating tone, “you wanted me to lead your armies. Why don’t you let me do that? I know about the sanctuary. I know it needs the three of you to prevent the humans discovering it. The coven needs you, all of you, alive. Why don’t you just go back, and defend what’s important, instead of risking it all out here?”
“An eldar of the coven does not run away,” Falk informs me. “How would that look to the others? We are not cowards.”
“Of course you’re not, but if you fall, it’s all for nothing.”
The three stare back at me as if I’m speaking in an alien tongue. I try another tack.
“Fine, then if you insist on committing suicide, at least send your heirs back, give the coven, the sanctuary, a chance to survive.”
“Like hell,” Faruk chimes in, handing me a set of black pants and jacket like the others are all wearing. “Anything happens to me, my replacement’s taken care of,” he grins, the only one in the room whose mood doesn’t seem to be dampened by the prospect of imminent death.
“And it seems you have taken care of mine,” Falk adds with a wan smile. “Both of my sons have remained in the sanctuary with their mother, and I believe you have assigned young Rodic to the lab, where he should be out of harm’s way.”
“My oldest two will take care of their brother,” Alaric states, and that settles the matter.
They’re all insane.
A contingent of Strigoi guards appears, and the four leave me to change as they head out into the courtyard. I discard the pants and pull the jacket on over my t-shirt. I don’t think much of their strategy, which seems to be to all congregate in the courtyard and wait to be slaughtered, but they are not interested in anything I have to say. They don’t want to be cornered in the building, preferring to have room to move when they fight, so there’s no talking to them.
I follow them out into the dusk. I’m gratified to see the humans at least seem to have the good sense to take up positions inside the buildings. I see the barrels of guns sticking out from various windows, and teams of men in the lower rooms. Even most of the Strigoi have taken up strategic positions. Only the elders and their entourage, which includes Howard and Tilda, seem not to have the sense to seek some form of cover.
I approach them, feeling the anger rising, and shaking my head in disbelief. “What are you doing out here?” I demand.
“We are their leaders,” Alaric says. “We must be seen to lead.”
“Yeah? Well with leadership like that, I’m amazed the sanctuary still exists. Trust me, you’ve been seen to lead, now lead your stupid arses into that building,” I point at the huge concrete gym, “before I drag you there myself.”
The Strigoi look to Faruk, who nods, before setting off.
“What were you thinking, letting them stand around out here? Anyone would think you wanted to be the elder of the coven by morning.”
“Relax,” he grins, “I’d have moved them before things got too heated.”
I close my eyes, take a breath, and adopt my most mature tone.
“You may think you’re indestructible, Faruk, but those humans out there, they have weapons that will wipe even you out.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he tells me, sounding bored, “I’ve heard it all before.”
We enter the gym and join Howard, Tilda and Quidel.
“It’s not too late you know, to return to the sanctuary.”
Howard shakes his head.
“Then when the fighting gets too bad, I want you to sneak out, and go to Libby.”
“No, Maxi, my place is here with you,” he says, grim and determined.
I have to try, though.
“Howard, if you stay you will most likely die. I don’t want that. Libby wouldn’t want that. She needs you; she will need you in the aftermath. They will all need you. You must show them how to change.”
“She speaks well,” Quidel nods. “They will need new leaders. Vampires of strength and integrity, not power mongers.”
“I would have you leave, too,” I turn to Quidel and Faruk. “But I know better than to ask that of you. Instead might I ask that you stay by me, when the time comes?”
Quidel smiles and nods his head. “It will be my honour.”
Faruk is silent, but when I turn to him, he smiles and nods, too. “And mine.”
I turn back to Howard.
“Please?”
“No, Maxi, I must first correct my mistakes if I can ever hope to repair the damage I have done.”
“Can’t you command him?” I turn my attention to Tilda, aware of the pleading tone in my voice. Surely she doesn’t want to see him die?
“I wish I could,” she sighs.
“And I suppose that means you’re staying too?”
She nods.
I know it is useless; Howard will stay and face his fate.
“Then you will stay by me too.”
It is an order, and they will obey it.
Traitor
THE ELDERS EACH have their jobs to do. Quidel is focused on defending the sanctuary, preventing any of the invaders from locating the entrance, and coordinating the Moroi. Despite my continued arguments that he could do that as effectively from the other side of the mountain, he insists on remaining with the others. Falk is to coordinate the Strigoi, while Alaric commands the Credinciosi.
Faruk and I leave Howard, Tilda and the Strigoi guard with them and move out onto the rooftops. It’s not long before the night silence is broken by the whine of an incoming mortar shell, followed by the loud crack and puff of dust as it falls harmlessly into the courtyard, creating a small pothole in the concrete. Three more rounds whistle into the ground, as the enemy soldiers find their mark.
The next one hits one of the smaller buildings, smashing through a second floor window before it explodes. One of the Credinciosi snipers falls through the broken glass and lays bleeding in the ground, a huge shard protruding from his stomach. The first casualty. An image of Father Patrick springs to my mind.
Breed: Slayer Page 19