"How the hell is this still standing?" Winkler breathed, looking up at the still-intact statue.
"Honey, we bent time," Lissa informed him. "Now get to work; we have vamps and wolves to kill."
Ilya
The moment Zaria turned us loose against those who were laying hidden charges throughout the statue, I fired the rifle at the first one I saw. Unfortunately, that one was a vampire and not a werewolf.
I didn't have the nose to tell the difference, although I kept firing as he rushed me. Lissa half-materialized to remove his head before he could reach me.
Keep firing—it slows them down, she informed me mentally.
I kept firing, taking down the next one, who was werewolf. Had Zaria known there were others, waiting below the water line in scuba gear? They flung off masks and such to rush toward the statue's base and joined the fight.
Some of them were human—a single bullet brought one of them down. I kept firing until my magazine ran out, then shoved another clip in and started again.
Elsewhere, Winkler had become wolf to fight others who'd done the same; the werewolves had turned to attack us. I killed one who had difficulty coming out of his clothing. He lay in a tangle of black jeans, still caught up in them while bleeding out.
Charles was now down by the water, removing heads from anything I hadn't had time to fire at yet. That turned out to be a very good system—he knew the vampires from the others, and was going after them so I'd not target the wrong ones.
Bill and Anthony Hancock were running up the steps after the ones who'd gone higher to lay charges; I heard bullets flying and ricocheting inside the metal statue. I hadn't realized a boat had pulled up and emptied itself of twenty more until one of their bullets smacked against the shield Zaria built around me.
Had I recalled that, I'd never have worried about the first vampire. "Die, excrement," I hissed as the twenty came at Charles and me at a run, firing their weapons as they came.
Lissa
I'm here with you, I informed Bill. Tony, somewhere behind Bill, could take care of himself. Bill was first up the stairs, heading for the werewolves who'd gone to lay charges near the top of the statue. With all the bombs they'd planted, no wonder there wasn't a single, recognizable piece of Lady Liberty remaining afterward.
I'm removing the bombs, Zaria informed me.
What are you doing with them?
I thought I'd save them for a special occasion.
Good idea, I grunted, half-materializing to remove the head of a wolf who'd leapt down from the steps above to avoid Bill and his nine-millimeter.
Charles and Ilya have their hands full outside, Tony sent. A bunch of new ones came out of the water, and then a boat landed, carrying about twenty more.
Great, and here I thought we were making headway.
The harbor patrol is sending a boat and a helicopter—they've seen flashes of gunfire from a distance, Charles reported.
Will that be a problem?
It won't if you get Tony and Bill out here pretty quick, he replied.
I'll see to it, Zaria said. I'll even give them some of my bomb stash as evidence.
Good plan.
Are there any more inside the statue? Tony asked.
One more. Hang on, I'll get him.
Oh, lord.
Ohlordohlordohlord.
Phil.
Fucking-backstabbing-asshole-of-a-fucking-former-second-Phil. I didn't bother getting him. Still in human form, Phil held a detonator in his hand. He grinned as he prepared to push the button.
I didn't wait around to ask him how he'd been reincarnated; I took his head without a qualm while turning his hand to mist so he couldn't press the button. Then, releasing the hand and letting it drop (along with the rest of him) down the stairwell, I gripped the detonator close to my chest and shielded it—just in case.
Bill
"Here's the cache of bombs we recovered from the mission," I handed two crates of explosives to the harbor police, along with the detonator Lissa found on the last werewolf she destroyed.
From the look on her face, she'd recognized the werewolf, too. We'd have a talk after we cleared things with the NYPD and the Mayor, while Tony talked to the President on the phone.
"The intel we received didn't give us time to notify anyone," I told the lieutenant. "We had to put a team together and go before they blew the whole thing to kingdom come."
"I see that," Lieutenant Killebrew studied the crate of explosives warily. "We'll hand this over to our bomb squad," he said, nodding to a subordinate nearby, who pulled out a cell phone to make the call. "We owe you," he added. "This would have been a fiasco. Do you have identification on any of these?" He jerked his head toward a long line of covered bodies, many of them headless.
"Unconfirmed," I said. "We'll keep you updated if that changes."
"I'd appreciate that. I assume you'll keep the Mayor in the loop?"
"I'll have the President call him," I said. "Just to touch base and tell him he'll be informed of new developments."
"Who'd do this?" Killebrew shook his head.
"I can think of too many to count," I said. "The guards were overpowered here; this isn't their fault."
"We'll still question them, to see what they know."
"Understood."
Their compulsion has been removed and replaced, Lissa informed me. It'll be just like you said—overpowered and taken hostage.
I wanted to allow my shoulders to sag in relief. I didn't. "Let me know if you need assistance with any of this going forward," I told Killebrew. He nodded before turning to his men and barking orders.
"We're done, here," I turned to Lissa. "We'll have to get a boat here to take us back to shore."
"It's on the way," Tony walked back toward us, pocketing his cell phone. "The President's sending a Coast Guard cutter for us."
The eighty-seven-footer arrived in twenty minutes. We loaded in and were taken back to the harbor. Tony and I thanked the Captain before transferring into waiting SUVs. "The President wants a debriefing, so we'll be flying to D.C. Arrangements are already made," Tony said.
I wanted Zaria to take us, but that would give too much away. Besides, we had time to get our story straight during the flight. What I really wanted to know was this; how was Baikov going to take this? We'd pulled a victory out of his grasp, and now, the whole thing would look as if it never happened.
I'd checked the date on my phone and my watch; it showed the night before—and I hoped reliving this day would prevent the news being filled with deaths and destruction, as my first experience of the date had been.
Lissa
"We overheard some chatter at the last minute," Tony explained to the President, as we sat inside a White House meeting room later. It wasn't far from the one where we'd met to question the former Chief of Staff, and the scent of freshly-cut boards, paint and plaster was everywhere.
"I'm glad you overheard it," the President blew out a breath. "If you hadn't gone as quickly as you did, Lady Liberty would be blown to hell by now."
"I'm happy we arrived in time," Bill added. "We worried we wouldn't."
"I'd like to keep our names and the department out of this if possible," Tony said. "If you could put out a press release, saying the Harbor Patrol Division of NYPD took care of this, I'd be grateful."
"Reeling in an enemy?" One of the President's eyebrows lifted in speculation.
"Something like that."
"Good enough. I'll see to it and advise the Press Secretary. He's gearing up for a meeting in a few minutes anyway."
"Thank you, Mr. President," Tony nodded.
"Thank you, Director Hancock, Vice Director," he nodded at Tony and Bill.
Let's get out of here before he asks more questions, Tony sent.
I was all for that; I needed to tell Winkler I'd offed Phil a second time, and to put up his guard; I felt worse was coming.
Zaria
"We remember, although we've lived this day twice. Wil
l they recall it, too?" Ilya asked me.
"You mean Baikov squared and their henchpersons?"
"Yes."
"They'll only remember that their plan was thwarted, and they won't know how. I'm aiming at the biggest fish in this—the one holding both Baikovs' strings. He'll know, and he'll be pissed."
"Won't that make us a target?"
"Honey, we're already a target."
"I suppose that's true. Will he be able to find us?"
"Nope. Not after tonight, anyway."
"How can you be sure of this?"
"I have something for all of us that'll make sure of it. I really want pancakes right now. Are you hungry?"
"And thirsty."
"Where do you want to eat?" Lissa turned in her seat in front of us to ask. The SUVs that delivered us to the White House were now driving us toward our hotel.
"A twenty-four-hour breakfast joint?" I asked.
"Sounds good. Bill," Lissa said.
"Lissa?" Bill sat in the front passenger seat and turned to look at Lissa in the dim interior of the vehicle.
"Know of a good, twenty-four-hour breakfast place?"
"Yep." He gave instructions to our driver and we were rerouted to Oh, That's Waffle, a twenty-four-hour place not far from our hotel.
"I love pancakes," I sighed. There was only a wedge left of a stack of three on my plate when I was too full to move.
Winkler had eaten a stack of six, with sides of bacon and sausage. He'd frowned while he ate as Lissa told him she'd killed Phil again before he could press the detonator.
"Who is Phil?" Ilya asked softly.
"Winkler's former Second, who tried to kill him for the software," I replied. "I think that's how he got reproduced—he had a buyer set up back then, and I figure they got his DNA or something—enough to recreate him for future use."
Winkler set his fork down; his plate was empty, but if it hadn't been, he'd still have stopped at this point.
"This—it's why they wanted parts of my father, isn't it?" He raised his eyes to meet Lissa's.
"We think so, yes. I'm sorry, honey. They're not holding anything back. They want to hit us every way they can, just to get whatever they want."
"I want them dead. Any way we can do it. I don't care what it takes or how much it costs."
"We have to find them, first," I cautioned. "They're not making it easy."
Refizan, Past
Breanne
Lissa was here—the past Lissa, before she became a member of the Hierarchy. The future Lissa was on Earth taking care of the wrinkles Liron was creating in that timeline. What she didn't know was that he'd also arranged to cause wrinkles here.
It wasn't hard for him to pinpoint her activities—her fight against the Ra'Ak had been recorded and distributed from one end of the universes to the other. Frankly, it was better that she handle the problems on Earth while I worked on the kinks Refizan was experiencing.
I'd brought help with me, too.
Zaria was helping Lissa, because I wanted someone who could Change What Was in both places, if Liron's plans proved successful in any way.
The General should have paid closer attention to Liron; he was the best strategist I'd ever seen, and was now attempting to reverse his own death in the future. Somehow, he'd planned for every contingency, including his death.
Randl even said he'd make his crew available, should they be needed in either place. I disliked pulling them away from their search for V'dar, but this past timeline balanced on the width of a single hair.
"What are we dealing with today?" Drake came to stand beside me. I held a copy of Lissa's old journal, given to me by Nefrigar. The original was held in the Larentii Archives and had a place of honor, there.
"This is supposed to be the day that Solar Red destroys the vampire caves beneath the city, in an attempt to kill the vampire population."
"How is Liron going to interfere with that?"
"Remember, the current Lissa doesn't have the power she does in the future. All a rogue god has to do is place a shield around the cave where they're gathering, and she won't be able to get herself or the other vampires out."
"What are we going to do to prevent that?" Drew now stood on my other side.
"I have an idea," Erland folded in, holding a tray of coffee and donuts. "Fresh from Le-Ath Veronis," he grinned.
"What's that?" I frowned at him.
"Quin loaned me some empty spheres." He let go of the tray of food and drinks, allowing it to float in midair while he Pulled in a wooden crate. It held more than two dozen spheres of varying sizes, most of which would fit easily in my palm.
"How did you come up with that?" I blinked at him.
"Quin. She told Ry that rogue gods had been inside spheres before. We can try stuffing more into spheres. She even placed the call in them, aimed specifically for rogue gods."
"Seriously?" I lifted one of the spheres out of the crate, which, like the tray, now floated in the air between us. The moment I touched it, I felt the tingle—and the pull it exerted.
"I'm going to add to her spell," I said, lifting the sphere to my lips and breathing ancient words against it.
Quin knew all those words. As did I.
"We'll have to get close enough to the rogues so they can't fight the call," I sighed, setting that sphere back and lifting another. "These aren't mindless, poisonous organisms. These are sentient, powerful beings and the farther away they are, the more capable they'll be of ignoring the call."
"So we have to trap them?" Drew asked.
"They'll have to understand that we're here to prevent whatever it is they're doing. We just have to hide behind Erland, here, because the Ra'Ak believed that Lissa's deeds were those of Karathian warlocks or wizards, at first. They had no idea that a Vampire Queen could give them so much grief."
"We should have brought more warlocks," Drake teased Erland.
"I did," he grinned. "Ilya Ironsmith is on the way."
"You know the original Ilya is working with Zaria on Earth?" I smiled at Erland.
"He said he has memories that he didn't before," Erland chuckled. "He's ready to do whatever he can for you, Lissa and Zaria."
"We're here," Randl appeared with Ilya beside him. "Are you sure you don't need me to stay?"
"I think Zaria would like you to keep searching for V'dar. We know he is Liron's child, and Liron is causing all of this. We can't bring all our forces into one place or another—it makes us too convenient a target. I'll send a message if you and the others are needed."
"Good luck, then." Randl lifted a hand in a half-wave and disappeared, leaving Ilya behind.
"Whose ass are we kicking today?" Ilya asked.
"We need to lay a shield that will force other shields away," Erland replied. "Feel up to that?"
"Show me where," Ilya shrugged.
I know Lissa can see in the dark, but this is really dark, Drake sent as we set down outside the meeting chamber. Shielded heavily, we were invisible to the vampires filing in through the heavy doors.
Those same doors were set to collapse in less than half an hour, once most of the vampire population was inside. Since a part of me was also vampire, I could see as well as they could. Erland and Ilya had already taken measures to enhance their sight with a spell.
I'll cover for you, so the rogues building the shield won't know we're doing the same, I informed Erland and Ilya.
Are those spheres in your pocket?
I have four with me.
Good Let's hope we go home with trapped rogue gods after this is over, Erland said. I knew, although he'd never twitch a facial muscle to let on, that he was worried about this Lissa. The vid recordings of her fighting Ra'Ak had been his first vision of her, and he'd loved her from that moment on.
Erland would give his life to protect her in this timeline, he loved her so much. While Erland held the power of the En'nurifi, Ilya's power was that of a Sixth-level Karathian warlock, combined with the spirit of an entire planet
. The representative gold coin lay on his chest as proof of it. I didn't ask the name of the planet—it was his information to divulge or not.
Those two, working on a sloughing spell together, probably didn't need to hide behind my shield because of Ilya's protective planetary spirit. Neither gods nor the Ra'Ak paid attention to elements of the natural worlds—it was like singling out a blade of grass from trillions of other blades of grass.
That was the power Ilya now wielded. Randl had joked that he and his crew were now one with the universe. His statement held more truth than most people suspected or understood.
As for the gold medallion around Ilya's neck—Zaria had provided additional protection for all of Randl's crew, including Ilya. I had yet to determine what it was or how it worked, exactly; I only knew that it was protection of the best kind.
Enhancing my sight with power, I watched the sloughing spell form and grow until it encompassed the entire rock chamber where the vampires gathered. Drake and Drew, at my back, guarded us while the spell formed and took hold.
It's done, Erland sent. Are we watching this from a distance, so we'll know whether it worked or not?
Of course. I have the spheres, remember? Wouldn't want to pass up the chance to catch a rogue god or two.
I hear you. Let's just hope they don't get suspicious, or discover that we're here.
There's a side cave not far behind us, Drew sent.
We'll go there, then.
Drake
When the first cave imploded not far away, it shook the cavern around us, bringing dust and rock raining onto the shield Breanne held around us.
Do they suspect we're here? Drew sent. It was the same thing I was wondering—if I wanted to destroy the chamber the vampires were in, I'd have gone to it, first thing.
I don't know, Ilya replied to our mindspeech. Maybe they're just covering all the bases, in case there is someone else down here. Never hurts to be cautious.
My shield will hold, and this cave hasn't collapsed yet, Bree pointed out. To punctuate her statement, another chamber, closer, this time, imploded, bringing more shaking and the subsequent deluge of rock and dust. My hands were against the inside of Bree's shield as I struggled to keep my balance. The shaking continued and worsened with another explosion.
Blood Recall Page 12
