“I can’t make you leave, but it would be for the best for you to go,” Croft said, hating every word. As a mother, it wasn’t about her any more. From the beginning of her journey it was never about her, and it could never be about her ever again. “You and your sister have to make your own choice.”
“Yeah, and right now, I choose to take a shower, unless you two want to smell a sweaty magic-bracelet-wearing witch for the foreseeable future.” Elizabeth took a tentative step out of her cell, expecting that she might be shocked, or somehow this had all been an elaborate trick. When nothing happened, she let out a deep sigh.
Theo rushed into the room a moment later. The large shifter’s eyes were wide as he nearly tripped over his crutch. “Scouts are reporting that despite Sloan’s attack, the New Hope army is pushing forward. They’ll be here by nightfall.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Leah
“She’s a stupid girl who thinks that a night raid that kills a fraction of our army will stop us.” Leah lounged in her seat, rolling her eyes at Commander Steel. “She’s banking on the fact that I care about the lives of our soldiers. I, unlike her, understand that in war, casualties are inevitable.”
“She destroyed most of our blood supply and took out two hundred and forty nine soldiers in the process.” Commander Steel had said the words as if they should have meant something to Leah. “Yes, that is a drop in the bucket of our army, but the morale of the men is low.”
Leah studied Commander Steel. Had she made a mistake promoting him to a place of such power? Had she been blinded by his good looks and toned physique from the beginning?
“Well then, it’s your job to make sure that our army sees this night ambush against them as an act of cowardice. Spin it as a trap against us from weak, spineless enemies who attack in the dark and run in the day.”
“I have. Your army will take Azra as soon as we get to the city, as you’ve commanded. However, may I recommend a rest before we begin the assault?”
“Why? My vampire soldiers don’t need rest. They don’t require sleep.”
“Sleep no, but after running two days all day and all night, giving them a moment to prepare before the invasion may be helpful.”
“No, push them forward. You know the plan. The assault has to last long enough for the slaves to finish building the track for the mage engine. We have to get the tracks laid all the way to the gates, or else we’ll have to go with Plan B.”
“Understood.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be there, and so will Dominic, to inspire and lead.”
“He was reported injured.” Commander Steel cocked his head to the side. “I don’t see him here now.”
“He’ll be fine.” Leah waved away the question with an open hand. “I want my armor prepared for the attack. Let the weapon smith know.”
“Already done.”
“Good. When we’re within sight of Azra, notify me. You are dismissed.”
Commander Steel bowed, then left the compartment, leaving Leah alone to think.
Leah let out a heavy sigh. She looked around the compartment, giving her eyes something to do while her brain worked on the attack strategy. The compartment she was in was just behind the mage engine and in front of the cars holding the slaves. Very soon, the mage engine would need to slow to allow the slaves off to begin work on progressing the track to Azra.
Her compartment was plain, made up of grey carpet, black walls, and sparse furnishings. A painting of a broken city was the only thing on the walls, minus the windows that lined the sides of the cart.
Right now, the most important thing was to rest her mind for the fight that would come against her sister. The battle with Croft would be the deciding factor in the war. There was no doubt she would be able to defeat her sister, no matter how powerful she had become.
Dominic Drencher was the ace up her sleeve. If, for any reason, there was the slightest chance she could fail, Dominic would be there to support her.
Leah forced herself to relax. She envisioned victory in her mind, the walls of Azra broken by her mage engine, a pile of broken bodies beneath her feet, starting with Charlotte Sloan and ending with Croft.
The night would be a bloodbath on both sides, but there was no doubt in her mind they would prevail.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Jack
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The door to Amber’s house rattled so hard, it looked like it was going to break down. Jack ran to the door, already lifting the wand from the holster at his side. It glowed a dull green at the tip.
The lupine snarls on the other side of the door told Jack he didn’t have anything to worry about, but he had to be sure. Jack cracked the door open. Marcus was on all fours. Blood dripped off his white coat, too much of it to be his own and still be standing.
“You’re going to let that monster in?” Amber looked up from Aareth’s body, past Jack, toward Marcus’ massive frame.
“He’s a puppy when you get to know him.” Aareth smiled with a wince. “Ugh … I need a drink.”
Marcus shifted in front of Jack. His impressive height shrank, his shoulders narrowed, and his canines disappeared. Blood now dripped off his skin instead of off his fur.
Jack took off his brown coat and wrapped it around his father’s shoulders.
“The city is clear,” Marcus reported. “The last of the vampires holding Term ran. I let them go. I lost two wolves and have another six injured. Enough blood has been spilled for one day.”
“Did he just turn from a monster to a man?” Amber looked over Jack’s shoulder to Marcus. “What the hell is going on? Why is he naked? Better yet, why did you cover him up?”
Kimberly came from the back of the room, carrying the medical bag Jack had been on his way to retrieve when the knock had come at the door.
Amber accepted her bag from Kimberly. Her eyes never left Marcus.
“I’m going to tend to the pack.” Marcus ignored Amber’s words, but couldn’t help letting a smile play at his lips. “They need to rest and prepare for what comes next.”
“I’ll go with you,” Jack offered. More than anything, he wanted to spend time with the father he had lost and found, then lost and found again. “If you want, I mean.”
A loud crash reverberated from inside the house. Everyone looked to where Kimberly lay on the ground. The gargoyle had been strong and hidden the true extent of her wounds for as long as she could.
“Kimberly!” Jack raced to her side and knelt down next to the gargoyle, cradling her giant frame as best he could. “Are you all right?”
“What the heck is going on here?” Amber was elbows-deep in Aareth’s wound as she looked over to Kimberly. “Why are all of you people so injured?”
“What do you mean ‘you people’?” Kimberly coughed from her position on the floor.
“Oh, you know what I meant.” Amber pressed a white gauze pad to Aareth’s side. “I didn’t mean to be racist. Stop giving me a hard time. I’m saving your friend over here.”
“She needs to take the stone sleep.” Marcus lifted one of Kimberly’s arms and motioned for Jack to take the other. “We need to get her outside.”
“If my ancestors could see me now.…” Kimberly winced in pain as the werewolf and the wizard helped her to her feet and led her outside into the sun. “Aided by a beast creature and a wizard child. They’re rolling in their graves right now.”
Jack and Marcus led Kimberly outside. The morning sun was just up. As soon as they exited the house, Kimberly looked over to Jack. “I’ll be powerless while I sleep.”
Jack understood this was the best the gargoyle could do when faced with asking a favor.
“I’ll make sure nothing happens to you.” Jack smiled with a wink. “I mean, I can’t help if a bird or two lands on you, but I’ll make sure you’re not too bothered.”
Kimberly’s skin was already changing, her body transitioning from dark grey to a lighter stone color. Her body went from toned muscle
to rock in a matter of seconds.
“I swear, if you let even one bird poop on me, just one bird…” Kimberly glared at Jack even as her eyes turned to stone. “I’m going to—”
“Aaaaaand she’s out.” Marcus smiled at the stone gargoyle and patted her on the shoulder. “Rest well.”
“I guess I’d better stay here, then.” Jack looked at his father for consensus. “Just in case anything could happen to her while she sleeps.”
“I won’t take long,” Marcus encouraged his son. “I’ll be back just as soon as I can with the pack.”
“I know.” Then Jack remembered something his father had said earlier about losing his ability over magic. “Is it really gone? I mean, your magic. You can’t feel it at all?”
“It’s gone, but in its place is the beast.” Marcus pushed back his long, greyish white hair as he thought. “I do miss it, but it’s been replaced in a different way. It’s like being emptied and refilled. I don’t know if that makes sense.”
“Do you miss it?”
“It was a part of me that I’ll always miss.”
“I’m sorry. We’ll make Leah pay. She’s coming with an army against New Hope now. They might even be there already. As soon as Aareth is able to travel, when Kimberly wakes up, we’ll have to go back.”
Marcus nodded along with his son’s words. “We’ll go with you. Most of the members in the pack—in fact, all of the members in the pack, minus the brown female you saw—have no love for the queen. She wasn’t honest with them. Instead, she gave them an ability that turned them into monsters and chained them with magic.”
“Good.” Jack thought about what it would mean for an entire pack of werewolves to join Azra’s side. “We’ll have to find a way to heal them along with Aareth. If we can bring them all back to fighting condition, it could mean the difference between victory and defeat.”
“Werewolves heal fast, but not that fast.” Marcus pursed his lips. “See what you can find out from Amber. Perhaps she has a way to accelerate their healing.”
“I will, and Dad? … The brown female who challenged you for power over the pack … she saved us while we were carrying Aareth. If it wasn’t for her, we wouldn’t have made it.”
“I understand.” Marcus reached out and squeezed his son’s shoulder. “I’ll bring the wolves here. Find out what you can from Amber.”
With that, Marcus walked away, barefoot in Jack’s long, brown coat. His feet made indentions in the dirt roads of Term. Now that the fighting was over, the few residents of the town were peeking out of their doors or windows with fearful intrigue.
Jack spotted an elderly woman who saw him looking at her. He waved, but she shut her window the next instant and drew the blinds.
Really, what could Jack expect? Term was a town that had been attacked by New Hope soldiers when Sloan arrived. Since then, the bulk of the citizens had migrated to Azra while the city was occupied by vampire soldiers, only to be the site of another battle between werewolves and vampires.
Sadness for those forced to leave their homes mixed with the need to take action and find a cure for Aareth and the wounded werewolves in his father’s pack.
“Amber,” Jack called into the house. “What do you know about accelerated healing techniques?”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Sloan
“To the gates! To the gates!”
The shouting started from a dozen different throats, then multiplied as the warning was picked up from the rest of the guards inside the Azra walls.
“Wait just a moment longer.” Edison fitted a fabric breastplate over Sloan’s chest. He brushed against her body, slightly looking at her with fear in his eyes. “Sorry, I didn’t meant to touch your— I mean, I’m not trying to be inappropriate—”
“You’re fine.” Sloan looked over to the three other members in her vampire squad who strapped the heavier armor over the skin-tight compression suits Edison had already made for them. “We need to get going soon. Hurry.”
Sloan looked down at her suit, admiring the body armor Edison had come up with. The black scales they wore as a first layer allowed them to move any way they wanted to, while still offering protection. Over this, Edison had fitted a new type of cloth armor he had weaved into breastplates, shoulder pads, shin and knee guards and gauntlets.
Their uniforms were still black, but now a blood-red bat stood front and center in the middle of their breastplates.
“Don’t forget your helmets.” Edison looked around the room, searching for his assistant. “Elwood? Elwood, where are you?”
There was a loud crash from somewhere deep in the room, and a moment later, Elwood came from around a corner, carrying three black helmets with pointed bat ears on the top. He wore the fourth one on his head, a huge smile plastered across his lips as he stumbled forward.
He chattered away in his native gnome tongue, looking at Edison with a silly smile.
“No, you don’t look like a superhero. That would be ridiculous. What kind of a hero goes around dressing like a bat?” Edison shook his head, motioning from Elwood to the four members of the vampire unit who stood ready. “Give them their helmets. They have to be going.”
Elwood obeyed, going around doling out the helmets.
“As for weapons, you have your mage sword.” Edison looked over to Sloan. He drummed the finger on his right hand over the top of his chin as he took in the three other vampire warriors. “Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to fashion weapons for the three of you, but perhaps a more traditional approach will do?”
Edison walked over to the side of his laboratory where he opened up a huge wardrobe, displaying a variety of weapons from maces to sabers and crossbows.
“Harrison would have chosen this one.” Doyle walked over and lifted the largest mace off the wall. It was more of a metal club than anything else. “This is for him.”
Pia picked up a pair of knives and placed them in a holder that rested on her lower back. She lifted the crossbow and a quiver full of bolts, as well.
Babs was next. She immediately went to a silver shield and an axe that sported a menacing half-moon blade on one end and a hammer point on the other.
Bells were clanging in the distance as the alarms went off all around the city. Shouts were being drowned out by the noise.
“We need to go—now,” Sloan ordered before she looked over to Edison and Elwood. “Thank you both for all the work you’ve put into our armor.”
Elwood beamed, chirping away in a high-speed tongue that sounded like a squirrel hyped up on caffeine.
“Let’s move ou—”
The door to Edison’s laboratory banged open, and Jaxon, the young werewolf, walked into the room. Just recently having learned how to change into his human form, he was a wild card, to say the least.
“I want to go,” he shouted over the clanging of the bells. He looked at Sloan for her answer. “I have a stake in this, just like all of you. I have a family to protect. I have more to lose than any of you.”
He’s young and ready to fight and die. He’s so young. Sloan breathed out through her teeth. So young.
Jaxon was young enough to be in his early twenties, tall with dark hair and brown eyes. His muscular physique was tense and ready.
“You have a family, you said?” Sloan asked.
“A wife, Debbie, and a son named Kadryn. I have a responsibility, now that I have the werewolf DNA inside of me. I can help. I’m going to help. Edison even made me armor to wear in my werewolf form.”
“Wow, wow, wow.” Edison ducked around Sloan’s vicious glare. “You have to get the okay from Sloan first. Don’t put me in the middle of this.”
Sloan rolled her eyes. “You would get along great with a shifter I know named Kade. Gear up, and meet us at the wall.”
“Thank you!” A huge grin spread over Jaxon’s lips. “You won’t regret this!”
“I’m already regretting this,” Sloan walked past him and out the door, followed by her squad. “
Let’s go. We have a war to fight.”
Sloan turned her walk into a jog. Pia, Babs, and Doyle followed close behind. The city of Azra was in turmoil. The streets were packed with citizens who were instructed by Croft and the city officials to move into the capitol building and the back side of Azra where the guards’ barracks were normally found.
The sun was just beginning to rest behind the ocean to Sloan’s right. Leah had pushed her army even harder after the attack the night before. She had made better time than anyone expected.
Sloan ran down the hill with her squad and found the bulk of the Azra guards at the front gate. Cherub was there, barking out orders to the men and women under her command.
“We’re ready for this. Our city is ready for this. Our bodies are ready for this. Do your jobs and we will not be broken!”
A massive roar of approval erupted from the throats of the Azra guards around them. Shifters, humans, gargoyles, and even the few gnome guards, all shouted in unison.
“You all know your jobs,” Cherub continued. “Now do your job!”
At once, the courtyard was a maelstrom of churning boots and running bodies. The Azra guards with their silver under-armor and the white-and-gold tunics that swirled around their bodies ran to obey their commander.
“Croft and Theo?” Sloan went up to Cherub as she finished instructing a small group of gargoyles. “What’s the latest report?”
“Theo’s still too injured to fight. He’s taken a unit of shifters to guard the rear door to Azra. It’s small and easily defended by a handful of warriors. Croft is on the wall.” Cherub threw a thumb behind her to a wall that had been raised in preparation for the invasion. “Last report has Leah and her army only a few miles out. You should be able to see them now.”
Sloan nodded. She extended her right arm forward to shake Cherub’s. The gargoyle caught her forearm in her hand, leaving Sloan to do the same.
The Complete Vampire Project Series: (Books 1 - 5) Page 76