The Savage War (The Vampire World Saga Book 5)

by P. T. Hylton

  He pointed toward the packets. “Do you mind if I…”

  “Be my guest,” Toby said. “But we quick about it. We need to get these out.”

  Frank wasted no time in grabbing a packet and tearing the spout open, carefully slurping to avoid spilling a single precious drop.

  Toby finished loading the cart with packets and set a tablet on top of them. “Seems the human delivery guy’s wife had a kid today. Somehow, wires got crossed and...” He shrugged. “All I know is, we need to get this blood delivered posthaste. Things are screwed up enough without us vamps getting paranoid about our blood supply. Your delivery manifest is on the tablet. Get to work.”

  After he’d finished drinking, Frank picked up the tablet and began pushing the cart on his rounds. He understood what Toby had meant about things being messed up in Agartha lately. Jaden being gone was stressful enough for most people. The humans saw him as their almighty protector, and the vampires knew him as their leader. Without him, the city seemed like a rudderless ship.

  Still, they’d managed to get by with Natalie filling in. And then they’d received the very troubling report from Ambassador McCready. A virus that killed vampires had been loosed upon the world, and it was only a matter of time before it reached them. The vampires couldn’t leave the city. In fact, no one could leave the city. If a human left and came into contact with the virus, they could unwittingly bring it back with them and kill every vampire in Agartha.

  So far, it seemed clear that the virus had yet to reach their part of the world. The Ferals kept coming night after night, endlessly searching for a way into the city. And the automated defense system kept taking them down. But the virus was coming. It was only a matter of time.

  And with each passing night, it seemed that the vampires of Agartha were growing more discontent. They grumbled among themselves, wondering why Jaden hadn’t been able to stop this from happening, and asking why he’d abandoned them.

  So far, they were just words, but Frank knew that this type of situation could go from bad to worse, very quickly. Right now, they had no hope. That needed to change, and fast.

  He spent the majority of the night pushing his cart through the city, looking for the forty-seven vampires on his list and giving them their blood packets. A half hour before sunrise, there was only one name left: Natalie.

  After following a few false leads, he finally managed to locate her in a conference room. She was meeting with Cynthia—the human leader of Agartha—and George. The table at which they were seated was covered in charts and graphs, and they looked beyond stressed, though the stress in Natalie’s eyes faded when she saw what was in Frank’s cart.

  “Oh, thank God,” she said. “Took you long enough.”

  He gave her a sheepish grin. “Sorry. My list said you’d be in the strategic planning center. I went there, and they told me you’d gone to security. Security told me you’d left to train, and—"

  “Forget it,” she said, waving her hand. “Just give me one of those.”

  He tossed her a packet and she wasted no time diving in.

  As she drank, George turned the Cynthia. “Here’s a crazy idea. Frank used to live on New Haven. Maybe he could provide some insight into our problem.”

  Cynthia thought for a moment, then shrugged. “Couldn’t hurt. You mind joining us, Frank?”

  Frank glanced at his now-empty cart. Toby would be waiting for him to return it, and he would be pissed if he didn’t have it back by sunrise. On the other hand, three of the most important people in the city were asking for his help, so he had a good excuse.

  “Sure,” he said. “I mean, most of my time on New Haven was spent in a steel cage, but I’ll do what I can.”

  “Good.” George gestured to an empty chair and Frank took a seat. “The three of us have spent the better part of the last couple of days holed up in this room, trying to figure out how the hell Agartha is going to survive, when we can’t go outside.”

  Cynthia nodded. “We have the food, the water. But if anything breaks, we are royally screwed. We have some backup supplies, but it was always so easy to send the vampires out to get replacement parts that it never seemed important to have a huge stock on hand. Now, we’re left just hoping no major systems break. If they do, we’ll have some hard decisions to make.”

  “I’m sorry, but what’s this have to do with New Haven?” Frank asked.

  “We’re just illustrating how bad our situation is here,” George said. “What’s worse is, we don’t have any way to improve it. New Haven has all the information on the virus, and they haven’t been keen on sharing so far. Any hope of finding a cure is in their hands. I’m not sure if they don’t understand how dire our situation is, or if they just don’t care.” He paused and pointed at the radio. “In just a few minutes, they are going to fly into radio range, and we’ll be able to communicate with them. We just have to figure out what to say.”

  Natalie tossed the empty blood packet into the cart. “What George is saying is that we need you to help us come up with the words to say. What’s going to change New Haven’s mind?”

  Frank thought about that for a moment. The past couple of years had been pleasant ones for him. He hadn’t found happiness, exactly, but he’d found a sort of peace. Agartha felt like a safe place.

  But George’s words were starting to make him feel differently. Living under a mountain didn’t feel safe; it felt like a trap. He wasn’t scared of dying of some virus, but he wasn’t anxious to watch all these vampires he’d come to care about suffer that fate.

  “Well?” George said. “What do you think?”

  Frank took a deep breath. “Honestly? I don’t think there’s anything you can say that’ll change their minds.”

  George’s brow furrowed and his eyes narrowed in a pained expression. “Not the answer I was hoping for. There’s nothing we can do to get them to trust us?”

  Frank thought for a moment before continuing. “It’s not about trust. New Haven… You have to understand that they’ve spent the last one hundred and fifty years thinking they were the last city on Earth. Their own survival has been their one and only concern, and the number one threat to their survival is vampires. Now, they have a chance to have every vampire on the planet die. Well, every vampire except Jaden, apparently. They view this virus as the cure to vampirism. Why would they want to risk stopping it just to save less than a hundred lives?”

  Natalie stared at Frank. Clearly that hadn’t been what she wanted to hear. “Well, let’s just hope you’re wrong.”

  They waited in silence for another three minutes before a burst of static came through the radio, followed by a deep voice.

  “New Haven for Agartha.”

  Cynthia quickly grabbed the handset. “McCready, it’s Cynthia. How are you?”

  “I’m fine,” Ambassador McCready said. “Listen, I don’t have a lot of time. I need to send a transmission, and it contains quite a bit of data, so we need to get started.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Transmission? What is it?”

  “It’s every piece of data New Haven has on the virus.”

  George, Cynthia, Frank, and Natalie stared at the radio, dumbstruck.

  George took the handset. “I’m surprised they’re willing to share that information.”

  “They’re not,” McCready said. “Let’s just hope this is worth whatever they’re going to do to me when they find out I stole it.”

  23

  Owl flew the transport ship low and slowly over Puerto Rico. Alex stared out the window in the passenger hold, scanning the ground for any sight of the away ship. Chuck, Ed, and Felix were doing the same, but Jaden sat on the floor with his legs crossed and his eyes closed, much to Alex’s annoyance.

  The biggest surprise was Felix. The Council had given him the option of leaving the team, but he’d elected to stay. It was clear that the rest of the team still considered him a burden, but Alex believed that they were beginning to grudgingly respect him. Not many people
would come back after that intense encounter with Maryana.

  After the first pass over the island with no sign of the away ship, Alex was unable to hide her annoyance with Jaden’s seeming unwillingness to assist them. “Hey, Jaden, maybe you want to lend us a hand looking for the away ship?”

  Jaden stayed in his cross-legged position, his eyes still shut. “I am, in a way.”

  Alex frowned. “Tough to see out the window with your eyes closed. Help us look for the away ship. That was the order.”

  “That order is a fool's errand. Maryana may be insane, but she’s not stupid. If the ship is still on this island, which I highly doubt, it would be well hidden. Not to mention the size of the island. We’d have to be very lucky indeed to spot it from the air.” Jaden spoke softly, as if trying to calm a child. “I am trying to sense Maryana’s presence. She can’t hide that.”

  Alex pushed down a wave of anger she felt at his condescending tone. “So, how’s the sensing going? Can you feel if she is down there?”

  “No. I believe we’re too far up. It’s possible that she is gone, but I think I just need to be closer to sense her.”

  “Well, your eyes work if you open them. I hear that your vampire vision is much better than our human sight, and I can see the ground just fine. Why don’t you give that a shot?”

  Jaden stood up in one fluid motion using only his legs, making it appear he almost floated to his feet. He looked Alex directly in the eyes. “Of course, Captain.” He walked over to the window next to Felix and looked down at the island.

  Alex was aware that the entire team had watched the exchange. She knew that she needed to have a conversation with Jaden about chain of command, but not in front of everyone. Having an ancient vampire on the team was proving more difficult than she had imagined it would.

  As the ship completed its second pass over the island, they saw a plume of smoke rising from an area not far from the warehouse where they’d had their confrontation with Maryana. The smoke quickly intensified; the fire seemed to be spreading.

  “This is a trap, Alex,” Jaden said.

  Alex stared at the smoke a moment before answering. “I know, but she did just give up her location. Last time, she caught us off guard. We had no idea that she could survive in sunlight. This time, we’re going in with our eyes open and two vampires on our team.”

  Owl set the ship down a quarter of a mile from the burning building. The team geared up and opened the cargo door.

  The sun was almost directly overhead as the GMT stepped off the ship. Alex felt the strangest sensation, one it took her a moment to identify: this was the first time she’d felt endangered under direct sunlight. Until this moment, sunlight had meant safety. There was no need to watch an area if it wasn’t covered in darkness. Now, the enemy could come from any location at any time. The one thing that had protected them on the surface no longer worked.

  “Stay in formation and keep your eyes and ears sharp,” she ordered. “Chuck, I want you to have charges ready. We are going to cover our backs with some surprises for them. Felix, I want you in the rear between Chuck and Ed. Owl and Jaden, you are up front with me.” The team headed toward the smoke.

  “I can sense them.” Jaden drew both of his blades as he spoke.

  “Them?” Owl asked, hesitation in her voice. “How many are we talking?”

  “More than two.” He paused. “Less than ten, I think. And they’re close.”

  Up ahead, the tallest building on the block was engulfed in flames. Smoke billowed from the windows, spiraling up to the sky. As far as traps went, this one wasn’t exactly subtle. Alex scanned the structures and spotted a three-story, brick building with the clearest view of both the north and the east sides of the fire. If Alex were setting a trap, that was where she would wait to spring it.

  Staying low and moving carefully from cover to cover, they approached the brick building, keeping an eye out for movement on the rooftops of the surrounding buildings. The Ferals hadn’t used firearms, but the new enemy could pose another danger that she now had to consider.

  They made it to the back of the building without incident. Alex tried the handle, but the door was locked.

  Ed spoke up. “Are we trying to be sneaky, here?”

  “They are well aware of our presence,” Jaden said. “I’m sure they smelled you the moment you stepped off the ship.”

  Alex nodded at Ed. He shot two rounds into the lock and kicked the door open.

  The team crept through the entrance and stepped into a hallway lined with doors on either side. The hall went straight through the building, and Alex could see another exit on the far end.

  “Chuck, put some charges on this door frame, then do the one across the hall. I want all the entry points rigged. We’ll do a sweep of the building, and then set up a defensive position. Jaden, I want you…” Alex trailed off as she realized he was no longer standing next to her. “Where the hell did he go?”

  Even Owl looked perplexed. “He was here a second ago. I didn’t see him leave.”

  “Damn it.” She sighed. “Okay, the plan stays the same. Chuck, get to work.”

  Alex and the rest of the team waited at the ready, covering Chuck as he set the charges. After the first set of charges were prepped, they moved the far end of the building. Halfway across, they came to another hallway perpendicular to the first. There was no sign of movement, so they continued to the other door.

  Chuck was just starting to work on the second door when a shot rang out, and the small window at the top of the door shattered. He let out a yelp and staggered backward as the shooter fired again and a bullet hole appeared in the door, inches from where Chuck had just been standing.

  Alex thought of the surrounding buildings, trying to remember how many there were and where the sniper could be hiding. She needed to get to a higher vantage point, but she didn’t want them coming in behind her and catching her off guard either. She silently cursed Jaden for leaving them.

  “Chuck, Ed and Felix, you three stay down here. Take out anything that comes in, and keep in contact with me. Let me know if anyone tries to breech the building. Owl, come with me to the third floor. We’ll try to get a visual on the sniper. Everyone, watch yourselves around the windows.”

  “Got it, Captain,” Ed said. “We’ll keep it locked down.”

  Ed, Chuck, and Felix stared gathering desks and shelves from the offices, building a makeshift barricade to hide behind, while Alex and Owl started up the stairs.

  When they were halfway to the second floor, Owl glanced back at Alex. “Uh, do you want me to go at your speed, or…”

  It took Alex a moment to understand what she was saying. Even with Owl’s strange appearance, Alex had a hard time thinking of her as a vampire. “No, don’t wait for me! Go!”

  Owl raced up the stairs with inhuman speed, leaving Alex far behind.

  Another shot rang out when Alex was almost at the third floor.

  “I have a visual, Captain,” Owl said in Alex’s earpiece. “He’s on the roof just west of us.”

  “Hang tight a sec. Almost there.” Alex burst through the doorway and ran down the hall to where her friend was waiting, her rifle trained on a spot to the west.

  “There,” Owl said, pointing.

  Alex squinted in that direction, but she didn’t see anyone until the sniper fired again and a rifle’s muzzle flashed. Suddenly, a spray of blood erupted from the sniper’s chest as a sword pierced his heart. As the vampire fell, Alex saw Jaden standing behind him, sword in hand.

  Alex didn’t have long to consider that before she spotted a flash from another muzzle out of the corner of her eye. There was another sniper on the next roof over.

  “I got him,” Owl said as she took aim.

  Alex glanced down at her friend’s strange, misshapen hands, wondering if she could even fire a rifle properly, but she said nothing.

  Owl fired, and the vampire sniper staggered, but the bullet had struck his shoulder, not his heart. He r
aised his rifle, training it on their position. Before he could fire, the sun glinted off something metal behind him, and his head slid off his neck, neatly removed by Jaden’s sword.

  The sound of breaking glass came from behind them, and Alex whirled around, pistol raised. Seeing nothing, she spoke into her whisper mic. “We’ve got at least one enemy on the third level.”

  “Want us to head up?” Chuck asked.

  “No, hold your position. We’ve got this. Just watch the stairs in case they come down.”

  Alex moved in a crouch toward the broken window, a pistol in each hand. Owl stayed close behind her, covering her position.

  The sound of gunshots rang from the first floor, and an explosion shook the building. Either someone had shot Chuck’s charges, or he’d set them off himself. Either way, it wasn’t a great sign. She crept toward the hallway that crossed perpendicular to hers. Just before she reached it, she saw the barrel of a rifle protruding from a doorway ahead. More of the barrel became visible as the vampire inched forward, still protected inside the office. The angle of the barrel changed as the vampire pointed it toward Owl’s position.

  Alex didn’t have a clear shot, but she wasn’t about to wait until she did. She trained her pistol on the doorframe at eye level to the shooter and fired. Wood splintered, and the vampire screamed in pain. Alex held steady, covering the entry. Owl, however, was already in motion. She took two quick steps and dove through the wall, her vampire strength easily smashing through the drywall and studs and carrying her into the room beyond.

  The shooter fired wildly as Owl burst through the wall. Alex quickly followed through the hole her friend had made, staying low. She was in position just in time to see Owl put a bullet through the vampire’s knee and three more through his heart.

  As the vampire fell, another shot rang out, and Owl jerked her head to the right, just avoiding a bullet to the brain. The shooter, a female vampire, stepped forward, taking more careful aim this time, but Owl grabbed the barrel of her rifle and tore it from her hand. The woman let the rifle go and kicked Owl in the chest.