Enclave

by Brandon Varnell

  It was just logical.

  The first thing Christian showed her was how to load and unload ammo from the gun. It was a straightforward process. Use your palm to push the clip of ammo into the butt of the gun. Grab the slide. Pull it, and let it shift into place. To unload, just push the magazine release. Easy. It was after he taught her how to load and unload magazine clips that the lessons became interesting.

  “Now that you know at least the basics, let’s actually get to shooting it. Here.” He moved behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders. “The first part about shooting is that you need to get into the proper stance. Put your dominate leg to the rear. This way you have it acting as a support. That’s it. Now shift your torso, not fully facing forward, but at a sort of candid angle. There. Just like that. Now, hold the gun and extend your dominant hand and then put your non-dominant hand over your dominant hand. Excellent. Remember to keep your non-dominant arm bent. There you go. Good.”

  While he spoke to her, Christian pressed his chest against her back. The hard muscles of his pectorals and abs as they pressed into her were impossible to ignore. His arms and even his legs were taking her limbs and directing them as he talked her through the process. Lilith could feel his hot breath hitting her ear. His voice was a sweat whisper filled with promises, or so it seemed to her, and it was driving her crazy.

  If he didn’t let up soon, she was going to jump him right there in the shooting range.

  “Think you’ve got the hang of it?”

  Christian’s question snapped Lilith out of her thoughts on how she wished they were back in their bedroom, where she could tear off his clothes and...

  “Lilith?”

  “Y-yes?”

  Christian looked at her with an odd inflection on his face. Could he see how hot and bothered she was? Probably. Lilith wondered if he knew that the reason for it was him. Most likely. There wasn’t anything aside from Christian that made her so hot under the collar.

  “Try not to get too distracted now,” he teased. Lilith would have pouted at him, but she couldn’t really find the necessary strength. Just thinking about something other than how nice his arms felt around her, or his chest pressing into her, was taking up more brain capacity than she thought possible. He must have seen this too because he stepped away, just a little, much to her disappointment. “Why don’t we try having you fire the gun? I’ll watch and correct you whenever you make a mistake. Sound good?”

  “I guess.”

  Was it wrong that she was beginning to regret asking Christian for lessons? She loved spending time with him, but dammit, she wanted to spend time with him, not spent time learning how to shoot guns.

  Just then, as Lilith was about to try and remember everything Christian had told her, the alarms suddenly began blaring.

  “W-what is...?”

  “It looks like something has breached the perimeter of the enclave,” Christian said to Lilith’s unfinished question. He looked over at her, then at the gun in her hand. “It looks like we’ll have to continue this some other time.”

  The two of them left the shooting range to search for Clarissa, or someone who could tell them what was going on. Lilith, on impulse, stashed the still loaded gun into the back pocket of her jeans. It would have still been noticeable because her jeans fit her so well, but she managed to hide the bulge in her back pocket by covering it with the hem of her white shirt.

  It took some doing, and Christian had to ask more than one person, but they eventually found Clarissa. She was in the command room, a centralized hub that controlled all the security measures they had put in place to protect the enclave. Built almost like a war room, it had a large table in the middle with a built-in map of the entire underground, including all the tunnels they had discovered. Along the walls were monitors and screens flashing with information and video feeds from cameras installed inside of the cavern tunnels. Most of the monitors were in shades of green, night vision, because the caves interior was so dark that it was impossible to see with normal cameras.

  Clarissa was standing behind a young woman working at a monitor. She looked worried. Anxious even. Lilith could see how tense her shoulders were. Something was definitely unsettling her.

  “Christian, Lilith,” Clarissa noticed their presence and greeted them. Her eyes flickered to Lilith for a second, making the young woman remember that she was supposed to have met with Clarissa to practice her transformations that morning. Oops. “It’s good that you are here,” she said to Christian. “I was just about to send someone to get you. I’ve already sent someone to fetch Andrew.”

  “I’m guessing from the alarms that we have some kind of problem?” Christian asked.

  “It’s more than just ‘some kind of problem.’” Clarissa looked grave, graver even than the last time they had been attacked. “The goblins have gathered in mass and are launching a two-point assault. One in the northern quadrant of the tunnels. The other in the southern quadrant. We have been unable to determine their full numbers, but so far we count at least five hundred in each group.”

  Lilith balked at the size of the attack groups. The enclave consisted of exactly 215 succubi. That meant the force coming to attack them was five times larger than their own forces.

  “A pincer attack with one thousand strong?” Christian asked, frowning. “I didn’t know they had those kinds of numbers.”

  “They shouldn’t, and that’s what’s worrying.” Clarissa worried her lower lip, drawing just a little bit of blood. “The goblins have not been here as long as we have. While we have been living in this enclave for nearly thirty years, they arrived roughly eight months ago, burrowing their way in on the opposite side of the lake and going deeper than even we dared to do when we built this enclave. Our rough estimate of their numbers put them at a couple hundred, maybe five hundred at most. Not enough to launch a full-scale assault, especially as their numbers have dwindled since we began fighting them. This sudden rise in numbers is troubling.”

  “Then something has changed,” Christian determined.

  Clarissa gave him a grim nod. “Either they were concealing the numbers they had, or the number of goblins has expanded since then.” She paused. “That said, even if they had this many goblins, it doesn’t make sense for them to launch a full-scale assault now. Something else must have changed. Perhaps they have a secret weapon they plan on bringing out.”

  “But what about that attack the other day?” asked Christian after Clarissa finished listing off possible reasons for this new, two-pronged attack. “If they had a weapon, why use it now and not two days ago? If they had manpower, why send a force of what was probably two-hundred strong and not do this the day before? They would have had a larger advantage.”

  “I don’t know.” Clarissa’s expression, already quite pensive, grew steadily more concerned. “It could be this is a weapon they only discovered last night, or maybe some reinforcement arrived after the battle, or perhaps they are just growing impatient and have decided to go for an all-out push. We have been fighting against the goblins for nearly six months now, ever since our first contact with them ended in bloodshed.”

  Lilith stood there, listening as Clarissa and Christian conversed, not even paying attention to her. It was like they had completely forgotten she was even there.

  Anger welled up inside of her. And jealousy. This wasn’t the first time such a thing had happened. Every time they were confronted with a serious problem, Christian would go into this strange battle mode of his and start talking to the other people involved, ignoring her. She didn’t like it. Not one bit. She especially didn’t like it because almost every single person in charge when their life hung in the balance seemed to be a woman.

  “What if that last attack was just a probe?” asked Lilith. She needed to speak up so they would stop ignoring her.

  Her words caused both Christian and Clarissa to freeze. Their heads swiveled to look at her, and Lilith suddenly began to think that maybe speaking out as she jus
t did was not one of her best ideas. The look in their eyes was so intense that she actually thought she could feel heat radiating from them.

  “A probe, you say?” Clarissa inquired, her dark eyes boring into Lilith. The potency of the older woman’s gaze had her nearly freezing in place.

  Swallowing the sudden lump that welled up in her throat, Lilith nodded. “Yes, a probe. This last attack could have simply been designed to see how strong you were, how quick your response time was, how well you responded to their attack, things like that. They could have been testing you in order to plan for their real attack.”

  “A feint designed to analyze our fighters’ prowess and plan accordingly,” Clarissa murmured, a hand reaching up to cup her chin. “Yes, that is certainly a possibility. One that I had not thought of.” She brought herself out of her reverie, and then smiled at Lilith. “You have a very analytical mind, to be capable of developing a theory like that on the spot so quickly.”

  Lilith felt heat rising to her cheeks. “Thank you,” she mumbled before noticing something out of place. Christian. He was staring at her with an odd look, one that she couldn’t quite place. It felt almost like he was looking at her as if she was some kind of foreign entity that he had never seen before. “Christian? Is something wrong?”

  Christian’s eyes blinked rapidly. He shook his head.

  “No, nothing’s wrong. I was just thinking about something.”

  Lilith frowned, but she didn’t have time to question Christian as he turned to back to Clarissa.

  “If the attack two days ago was indeed merely some kind of test to see how our defenses hold up, then that means this next attack is going to be with the purpose of wiping the enclave out.”

  “Yes. Those are my thoughts exactly,” Clarissa said. “That is why I want you to lead one of the two groups we will be sending out.”

  Both Christian and Lilith stared at the woman in shock.

  “Me?” asked Christian.

  “Yes. You will be heading the group with Heather Locklear. Your task will be to defend the southern quadrant. The south is one of our most important locations. It is where the exit to our enclave is, as well as the location where we have stored all of our larger equipment, such as vehicles and spare parts.” Clarissa frowned. “I do not know how they managed to get all the way over there without tripping one of our detectors, but it matters not. That location must be defended at all costs.”

  “I understand.” Christian nodded toward the woman, his expression solemn and determined. Lilith could see the way he set his jaw, the narrowed angle of his lips. He only got that look a few times since they had met. It had been most prevalent during the disaster with the No Life King, Damien, right before the battle that had nearly ended in his death.

  Lilith felt something unpleasant settling in her stomach.

  “Good,” Clarissa said. “In that case, go meet up with Heather. She will likely be in the weapons room in the southern quadrant. Chances are good she is already rounding up the rest of our forces. Just relay the orders I have given you. Unlike some of the other succubus here, she will follow your lead.”

  “Right.”

  Christian nodded, then turned to her. Lilith looked up at him, her mind struggling. She wanted to tell him not to go. She wanted to say he didn’t have to do this, that he should just stay with her, where she could keep an eye on him and make sure he didn’t do something reckless. She wanted to say that, but she couldn’t, because Christian didn’t give her the chance.

  Leaning in, he pushed his mouth against hers in a brief but fiery kiss. It caused her lips to tingle pleasantly. When he pulled back, he gave her a smile, and said, “I’ll show you how to use that gun later, okay?”

  Lilith didn’t get the chance to respond before he was running out of the door and down the hall. She stared at the slowly closing door, her eyes wide as she tried to determine what she should do. Did she go after him? Did she stay there and wait?

  She really had no desire to stand there, waiting around for him to return. Lilith had been forced to wait for him the last time he’d gone off to fight the goblins and had detested it. She disliked the feeling of helplessness that had come to her while she sat around with nothing to do but twiddle her thumbs. She despised how her mind had been kept in a constant state of distress, as apprehension clawed at her nerves, mangling her senses and making it impossible to think positively as dread welled up in her chest. She did not want to feel like that again. Not now. Not ever.

  “Excuse me, but I have something I need to do,” Lilith said, nodding to the leader of the enclave before spinning on her heels and making for the door.

  “You are going after Christian, aren’t you?”

  Lilith stopped but did not turn around.

  “If you wish to go with him, I will not stop you,” Clarissa continued. “But if it is truly you’re desire to follow him, then know this: as of right now, you have neither the skills necessary to defend yourself nor the will that is required to take the life of another. You will be, for all intents and purposes, a sitting duck. Following Christian right now could very well end in your death, or Christian’s death because of the distraction your presence will bring him. If you are willing to risk both your life and his, then you may follow him.”

  Lilith stared at the door, incertitude filling her, making her hesitant as she became unsure of her course. Was what Clarissa said true? Would she really be putting Christian in danger by going after him?

  She didn’t want that. She didn’t want him to get injured or die because of her, but she couldn’t just stand there, waiting for him in silent worry, hoping that he would return to her. She couldn’t bear the thought of him going out there and possibly dying, while she sat safe and sound inside the enclave.

  In the end, it all came down to a choice. What did she want to do? Did she want to go after him, regardless of the consequences, simply to satisfy her need to be by his side, regardless of how powerless she was? Or did she stay there, anxious and worried and powerless?

  Lilith hesitated for a second longer, and then she rushed out of the door, following Christian.

  CHAPTER 11

  Tristin woke up to the feeling of someone lightly kicking his side. It didn’t hurt, not really, but it did cause his body to jerk. Whoever was doing the kicking knew where to kick. They managed to hit a cluster of nerves, the ones just below his ribs, and the jolt to his body’s nervous system had him awake before he could even make the typical “just five more minutes” response that most teenagers gave their parents.

  That was probably a good thing. He wasn’t a teenager. Not to mention the person who did the kicking had violent tendencies when she was ignored, at least regarding him.

  He wondered why that was, but then he pushed the thought aside as he sat up, blinking and groaning. Last night had not been the most pleasant of nights. There were cramps in his back from the hard wood floor. He had a creak in his neck from where he slept wrong. And that wasn’t even mention how sore his ass cheek was. It felt like someone had shot him in the butt, and then someone else had taken a pair of pliers and pulled the bullet out of his aforementioned glutei.

  Which was closer to the truth than he would have liked.

  “Stop sitting there like some kind of idiot, Tristin,” Samantha scolded him. He looked up to see the woman looming over him, her eyes penetrating deeper his than any steel blade could ever hope to do. “I need you to get up.”

  “Ugh,” Tristin groaned but nonetheless stood as commanded. Samantha had been getting more violent as time passed. He supposed a part of that was his fault, what with the teasing and the complaining and the whole keeping a dark secret from her for several long years bit. That sort of thing didn’t endear him to people.

  In his defense, teasing was a part of his nature, he really wasn’t suited to this kind of work, so it was his right to complain when tasked with doing it, and that secret would have gotten him killed if she’d discovered it before the Executioners had be
en betrayed by the Catholic Church. She could stand to be a little more understanding.

  “Come on,” Samantha commanded as they walked out of the small closet space they had taken up residence for the night. Raven hair swishing about, she peeked around the corner of the church to see if there were any enemies. Tristin stood behind her, blinking, too tired to even stare at her ass, which was an admittedly appealing prospect.

  Samantha might be an uptight bitch―at least to him—but she was one of the hottest women he had ever met.

  And he had met a lot of women.

  “Wh-what time is it?” he asked, yawning as he followed Samantha into the church proper. Despite the place being a church in appearance only, it did look sort of like a place where people might come to worship God. There was an isle between two rows of long, wooden benches, the thick red carpet giving away its purpose. A statue of Jesus Christ nailed to the cross was situated in the back of the church, pressed up against the wall. The room also had a podium, just like a regular church would have. If it weren’t one of nearly six dozen located on this city block alone, Tristin would have almost believed it was a normal church.

  “It’s a little past five,” Samantha answered, her dispassionate voice echoing a little due to the room’s acoustics.

  “Just a little past five.” Tristin balked. “You mean to tell me that we grabbed less than four hours of sleep?”

  “Yes.”

  Who the hell runs on four hours of sleep? Tristin could hardly function without a full eight hours. Didn’t Samantha know that? How did she expect him to keep up with her when he’d gotten so little rest?

  “Couldn’t we have slept for at least a few more hours? You know, like at least four?”

  Standing by the back door, Samantha turned around to glower at him. “You obviously do not understand the situation we are in right now, Tristin, so allow me to spell it out for you. We are trapped inside a barrier, the enemy is searching for us, and if we do not leave this place soon, they will find us and then it will be all over. You’ll get your rest, but it’ll be an eternal rest.”