by John Corwin
Mitch gave me a thumbs-up. "You're the ones risking your lives for the rest of us normal joes. I was happy to lend a hand however I could."
I rotated to the thin brunette. By the time I finished feeding from her, I felt flush with energy. I stood. "Thank you, everyone. I believe I'm full."
The blonde looked disappointed. "Aw, I really wanted to see what it felt like."
I forced a smile. "I fed my incubus side from you."
Her eyes widened. "Oh, maybe that's why my nipples got so hard all of a sudden."
The others burst into laughter. The short man seemed confused and looked at Mitch who seemed all too happy to translate.
I thanked them again and left. Once outside, I ran to the doors leading from the pocket dimension and back into the way station. Even though I felt ready to take on the world, exhaustion still gnawed me around the edges. I found Christian. "What's the ETA on Daelissa's army reaching Thomas?"
"Perhaps forty minutes," he said. "They're moving quite rapidly since there are very few humans in the path the Custodians cleared." My heart pounded painfully as I asked the next question. "How is Elyssa?"
His lips pressed tight. "Perhaps you should speak with the healers."
My legs went weak. "Is she okay?"
"She's alive." He gave me directions to the healing ward inside La Casona itself.
I rushed back through the doors into the pocket dimension and raced just down the street from the volunteer house. The two-story building was attached to two others just like it in the fashion of row houses. I entered without knocking.
A petite young woman in blue Arcane healer robes looked up from a desk. "Can I help you?"
"I'm here to see Elyssa."
Her forehead pinched. "Oh." She stood and walked around the desk. "Are you family?"
I nodded. "How is she?" I couldn't hide the pain in my voice.
"Come with me." She led me upstairs to a long wide hall. Other healers, obvious by their blue robes, rushed to and fro, as did people dressed in tight, white robes. She turned into a room with a single bed in the middle. A dimly glowing barrier shaped like a glass lid covered the lone occupant.
I rushed forward and looked down on my love. She lay on her back, eyes closed, face at peace. Only a blanket lay over her. A neatly cut hole in the cover revealed the grievous wound. Hot tears burned my eyes. "Why is there a shield around her?"
"It's a preservation spell," she said. "The damage to her heart is severe, I'm afraid."
"She needs blood." My voice trembled. "She can heal herself."
"Even a dhampyr needs a beating heart to assist the healing process."
I spun on her. "Her heart isn't beating?"
"Please, sir, calm down." She took a step back.
"Commander Salazar told me she was alive!" My voice broke.
"Only by the barest thread," the healer replied. "She is beyond our help."
Chapter 28
I gripped the healer by the shoulders. "She's not beyond help. Do something. Heal her! You have magic, damn it!"
Her brown eyes flared with pain. "Please, sir, you're hurting me."
I released her and took a step back. Tears blinded me. I couldn't live without Elyssa. What good was all the world without my true love in it? One of the last things Jeremiah had told me echoed in my mind. You and Elyssa remind me of me and my Thesha. Daelissa had killed his wife. Had she done the same to Elyssa?
We're supposed to get married. We're supposed to have kids one day. What about our lifetime of adventures? Oh my god, it's all gone. She's going to die and I'll be alone in this miserable world.
Someone rubbed my arm. I looked up in confusion and saw the healer trying to comfort me. "What?"
"We think a Darkling can heal her," the healer said. "We'll find one and everything will be okay."
"Nothing is okay." I looked at Elyssa and wished more than anything I could touch her. Instead, all I could do was press my hands to the barrier keeping her alive.
"I've already spoken to the Clarion," the woman said. "She's still healing from the battle, but has promised to help when she's recovered."
"Nightliss said she could help?" I asked.
The woman narrowed her eyes. "You're Justin Slade, aren't you?"
I nodded.
"Oh." She took a step back. "Sir, we'll do everything in our power to heal her."
My eyes locked onto the burnt skin on Elyssa's chest. Daelissa did this. The sight fueled my rage. My inner demon awoke. Kill. Destroy! I was tempted to completely free it and loose my rage on Daelissa's Seraphim army. I would surely die, but I might have my revenge.
My fists clenched tight. I turned to the healer, uttered a hoarse word of thanks, and left. Marching down the street, I thought of all the ways I could kill Daelissa. I had plenty of power, but she had more and an army at her back. Even worse, she had revived Seraphim who'd been feeding from humans for some time now and could counter me.
I went back to the way station and walked into the control room. Stepping up to an omniarch, I told the nearby operator to open a portal to the Ranch. He saluted and complied with my request. I stepped through the gateway and into the underground hangar. Aside from the Templar standing near the marked off arrival zones, no one else was there.
"Where is Commander Borathen?" I asked him.
He touched his communicator pendant. "Mr. Slade requests the location of the commander."
"One moment," a voice replied. After a brief silence, the voice spoke again. "Inform Mr. Slade the commander is in the war room."
The Templar looked at me. "Sir, the commander—"
I slashed a hand through the air. "I heard." It took me two minutes to get to the war room. Thomas was inside with Taylor and Olson. Their faces looked grimmer than usual.
Taylor's face brightened when she saw me. "Mr. Slade, what are you doing here?"
I jumped straight to the point. "I'm here to help."
Thomas looked at the other commanders. "A moment, if you please."
They left the room.
"What's wrong?" I said.
His serious blue eyes bore into mine. "How is she?"
"Alive." My voice trembled. "They think Nightliss can heal her."
He nodded. "Why are you here?"
"I'm ready to put a hurting on Daelissa."
"Are you really?" He leaned back against the table and folded his arms. "You're probably seething with rage right now. You probably want to kill Daelissa no matter the cost."
"You're probably right." I felt a volcano of hatred burning in my chest. "She needs to die for everything she's done."
"What about you?" he asked.
I raised an eyebrow. "What about me?"
"Do you need to die?"
"I don't need to, but I'm willing."
Thomas stood and paced a short distance before turning to me. "I love Elyssa with all my heart. The fatherly side of me is beyond anger. If it controlled me, I wouldn't hesitate to do everything I could to wrap my hands around Daelissa's throat and choke the life out of her." He took a deep breath. "I'm a commander. I'm responsible for hundreds of lives." His eyes met mine. "If I lose sight of the ultimate goal, all of us might lose our lives."
"Clear a path to Daelissa for me," I said. "That's all I need."
"We'll be lucky to hold out for an hour before we have to retreat," he said. "Clearing a path to Daelissa is out of the question."
It took everything I had not to slam my fists against the table hard enough to reduce it to splinters. "You don't even think you can save the Ranch?"
He shook his head. "All of our Seraphim forces are out of commission." Thomas pointed at me. "You shouldn't be here either."
"I fed," I said. "I'm topped off and ready to go."
"You might be powerful, Justin, but even you need sleep and rest to be back to full strength." He looked at the strands of my torn Nightingale armor. "Your armor looks like it's ready to fall apart."
"I'll change into fresh armor."
Thomas w
alked over to me, gripped my shoulders and looked me directly in the eye. "Without more Seraphim, holding onto the Ranch is impossible. Engineers are already setting up a new base in a secret location. It'll take time, but in the long run, it's for the best."
"Elyssa grew up in that house." I pointed straight up. "Daelissa took our home from us in Queens Gate. She took Jeremiah. She took Vallaena." I choked on my aunt's name. "What if she's taken Elyssa from us?"
"The decision is yours." Thomas released me and stood back. "You think long and hard about what Elyssa would want. If you don't know the answer, then maybe you don't love her as much as you think you do."
His words stabbed me in the heart like a dagger of ice. Elyssa would want me to fight, but she'd also want me to stay alive and save lives. Daelissa wanted me dead. I would have to live just to spite the bitch. "I'll stay and help. Tell me how I can best serve."
Thomas looked satisfied. "With the time you bought us, we started evacuating all non-essential personnel and equipment to El Dorado."
I looked at the floor. "If only we could get the dragons to help."
"You asked, but they obviously don't see it in their interests to help." He picked up an arctablet and looked at blueprint of the compound. Red blips blinked in various locations. "We've laced everything with nom explosives and destructive spells. If the Seraphim take this place, we should be able to take a few of them down with it." He sighed. "I don't like to lose the place I call home, but sometimes a step back is a step forward."
"If you're going to destroy the Ranch, why not use a malaether crucible on the enemy?" I asked.
He shook his head. "Unleashing a magical nuke so close to nom populations would be a terrible mistake. Besides, we don't have any at our disposal."
Thomas's communicator buzzed and a voice spoke. "Sir, enemy forces are at five miles and closing."
"Thank you, lieutenant." He looked at me. "Let's inspect the final preparations."
We stepped into the hallway. Taylor and Olson were examining a blueprint on an arctablet.
Taylor looked up. "The armory has been emptied except for the practice equipment. It would take too long to move it all.
"Practice equipment?" I asked. "Do you have icers and soggers?"
"Tons of them," Olson said. "Why?"
"Turn the pastures into bogs with the soggers," I said. "It won't stop the Seraphim, but it'll slow them down."
"Good idea," Taylor said. "I recall you using a similar technique to defeat the battle mages at our compound."
I shrugged. "It worked the first time. At least we'll make the bastards get dirty."
Taylor spoke into her pendant and told her people my plan.
"I'll go to the armory and help," I said. "Maybe I'll hold onto an icer and nail Daelissa in the face with it."
Olson chuckled. "In that case, grab a scorcher for me."
I left the commanders and took the levitator down to the armory level. The diamond fiber shield guarding the area was gone as was the guard. I followed the signs to the practice equipment. Along the way, I heard voices and detoured toward them.
Leanne and Phoebe were examining a piece of Seraphim armor.
"Don't you think I tried that?" Leanne said in a disgusted voice. "It sucks up normal spells like a sponge."
"Shouldn't you two have evacuated by now?" I asked.
Phoebe jerked her head toward me. Her eyes instantly saddened. "Justin, are you okay?"
Looking at someone who could have passed for Elyssa's twin punched me in the gut like a sledgehammer. She looks like her, but to me, she's still a stranger. It took a moment before I could safely speak without bursting into tears. "I'm doing okay."
"Elyssa is still alive, right?" Leanne asked.
I nodded. "Look, we can talk about her condition later." I told them about my plan with the soggers.
"Yeah, I remember hearing about that tactic against the battle mages during our assault on the castle." Phoebe grimaced. "I'm sorry. I know it must make you angry to think about my role in those battles."
It did, but I shook it off. Now was not the time. I'd take out my burning rage on Daelissa. "We're allies now. I need you to put that superior intellect to good use." I motioned toward the Seraphim armor. "No luck with that, I take it?"
Leanne shook her head. "We figured out why the Seraphim keep such tight formation."
Phoebe put two sets of the armor next to each other. "If a spell hit this armor, this second set absorbs a portion of the spell as well."
"They act like a circuit," Leanne said. "As long as they're within a couple of feet of another armored soldier, they can absorb all sorts of spells and disperse the energy among them."
"It's not like they need the extra protection," I said. "One set of armor seems to absorb most spells without a problem."
"We talked about how channeling Murk weakens the armor," Leanne said. "If you could channel enough, it would flow from one set of armor to the other since they're all interconnected."
I shook my head. "There's no way I could channel that much power. I'd need a small army of Darklings to help."
Her shoulders slumped. "I know. Maybe once we revive more Darklings it'll be an option."
"They won't need their armor by the time we have enough Darklings," Phoebe said. She groaned and gave me a wondering look. "How you've kept her at bay as long as you have is amazing."
I ignored her praise. "Would nom weaponry harm the armor?"
"I tried a blowtorch and a gun on it," Leanne said. "It soaked up the heat and repelled the bullets."
"We'd have to saturate the armor with enough kinetic energy to cause it to shatter from the inside." Phoebe bit her lower lip and instantly reminded me of the way Elyssa looked when focusing on a tough problem. I swallowed against the lump in my throat. "Even though Nightliss removed her sister's negative influence from my mind, I still have the 'blessings'"—she made air quotes—"she gave me."
I ran a hand across the cold translucent armor. "How did you concoct the plan to assault the Australian Templar compound?"
"I ran simulations about how the Templars would respond to a split assault." She shrugged. "It stood to reason they'd commit their normal soldiers to defend against vampires, and split their Arcanes to defend against magical attacks from the front. My only limitation was the small number of battle mages at my disposal." Phoebe pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "I used the Templars' own battle tactics to make them weaker. Without all of their Arcanes fighting the vampires, it gave that assault a better chance of succeeding. Once the magic interdictors were in place, it would have crippled the Arcanes and our superior numbers might have won out."
"What kind of simulations?" I asked.
"They're kind of like the video games the noms like to play." She slid a finger across an arctablet and showed me a program with an overhead view of virtual soldiers fighting each other. "Sometimes I pick up on patterns by staring at the simulations."
"You have the overhead videos of the Seraphim army from the Grand Nexus, right?"
She nodded. "Their pattern is fairly predictable. They adhere to a tight trapezoidal formation to maximize the benefits of their armor. The side of the formation under attack spreads out to allow the soldiers to swing their swords."
I drew upon my LARP days, thinking about the various weapons different players used. "Do they all use swords or do they have pike men and other units?"
"This particular army is comprised only of swordsmen." She projected the image of a Seraphim soldier. "Since their swords can also discharge Brilliance and other absorbed energy, it gives them a unique battlefield presence."
"They're arrogant in the superiority," I said. "It's no wonder the Darklings in Seraphina managed to break the yoke of Brightling oppression."
"The Darklings may very well use similar battle tactics." She placed a hand to her chin. "While Brightlings can use their abilities to heal, the Darklings are far superior in that capacity. It probably gave them an edge."
&
nbsp; I backhanded the air. "None of this helps us defeat the Brightlings."
"We simply have to find a way to use their advantage against them just as I did with the Templars." Phoebe sighed. "It's harder than I thought it would be."
I heard the sounds of crates being moved and looked down an aisle. I saw Templars carrying boxes of soggers toward the exit. "I need to go help."
Phoebe snapped her fingers. "Since the Seraphim keep such a tight formation, turning the ground to a bog should have a good chance of slowing their advance."
"It's not much, but I guess it's all we have." I touched the armor one more time. "Will this fit me?"
"We can try," Leanne said. She took the first breastplate. It was far too short for me. The other one didn't fit any better.
I took the sword and swung it. I knew I'd do much better having my hands free to sling magic and set it down. "You two should get what you need to the evacuation point. Things are about to get ugly." I gave them the number to my arcphone. "Call me if you think of anything."
Phoebe hesitantly touched my shoulder. "Be safe, Justin. I think Elyssa would want that."
I closed my eyes and pictured Elyssa's still form. "I know." I stepped back, turned and walked away.
On the way to the levitator, I grabbed a box of soggers. I followed a line of other Templars carrying the sogger crates and rode the levitator to ground level with them. Once we reached the top, the Templars broke into groups.
A man with a tablet shouted orders for each group and sent them to a different pasture to soak the earth with the soggers. After the last group left, I walked to him. "Which direction is the Seraphim army coming from?"
He did a double-take when he saw me. "Oh, Mr. Slade. I didn't expect you to be helping us."
I took a deep breath. "Direction, please?"
He showed me a diagram of the compound. "According to our scouts, they're coming straight up this highway as the most direct route."
I felt my eyes stretch wide. "That's Ponce de Leon Avenue."
"With the various tactics employed by the Custodians to evacuate the area, we're hoping there won't be many noms in the way." He switched to a live-video feed from a remote ASE.
The Seraphim army marched six abreast down the four-lane highway. I instantly recognized where they were. "They're less than a mile away." At the speed they were marching, it wouldn't take them long to reach us. "May I?" I gripped the tablet.