“You’re sure you know where the Court is holding them prisoner?” asked one of the senators.
Jeremy answered, tapping his fingertips on the map of the United Kingdom spread on the table before them. “Both Toby and Andrea are being held at Yvette’s underground stronghold in the Pennine mountains, northeast of Manchester. As of an hour ago, they were both still alive. Our scouts report that the base is now projecting a jumper block with continuously rotating frequencies, so no one can teleport in or out. We’ve already started laying our own jumper blocks over it to prevent them from making a run for it. So far, there has been no evidence that they’re trying to leave, so they’re probably dug in and waiting for our attack.”
“Armistice Security has assembled a small army at Castle Night,” Nick said, his expression grim as he pointed out the location of the fortress. “We have no option but a frontal assault at this point. The best we can do is to overwhelm them with numbers and hope they consider Toby and Andrea to be valuable enough as hostages to keep them alive.”
“What about Collins?” Daniels asked. “He’s a traitor, and I mean to make him pay for that. Is he on-site as well?”
“Collins is dead,” Jeremy said. “He was dying of lung cancer anyway, so Yvette converted him. He’ll probably rise as a Nightwalker within an hour or two.”
“Fine,” the President said curtly. “Then he can rot in prison for the rest of time. When do we leave?”
Nick raised an eyebrow as everyone in the room stared at Daniels. “What do you mean ‘we’?”
Daniels stood straight. “I’m going with you.”
Nick shook his head. “Not a chance.”
Daniels scowled at him. “I served my country in two wars, Nicholas. That’s more than you’ve ever done. This is my daughter we’re talking about. I have to be there.”
Avery put his hand on Daniels’ shoulder. “Mr. President, I know you want to save her, but you’re the Commander-in-Chief, and we are, for all intents and purposes, at war. You can’t go haring off into battle like a common soldier.”
“I agree,” said Nick. “There’s no way you’re going to fight, Kevin.”
Daniels shrugged the Speaker’s hand from his shoulder and faced him squarely. “If that’s the only reason, then I resign. Sebastian, you’re next in line of succession now that Collins is dead. Good luck.” He turned back to Nick, who watched in stunned disbelief. “I’m a private citizen now, so there’s no reason I can’t join you in the assault.”
Nick struggled to find his voice. “Kevin, I realize you’re upset—”
Daniels stepped forward into Nick’s personal space. “Are you going to fight?”
Nick looked him in the eye. “Yes.”
“You’re a head of state, Nick. If you’re going into battle to save your brother, then offer me the same courtesy.”
Nick considered for a long moment and then nodded. “All right.”
Avery scowled. “He’s not going alone.” He faced Nick. “Your AIs are going to destroy the entire country if we don’t move fast. We’re part of this now.”
“What do you suggest?” Nick asked.
Avery addressed Daniels. “Kevin, you were a Colonel in the Army until you entered politics. I’m going to reactivate your commission and promote you to General—assigned command of the Tenth Special Forces Group. We can have them outfitted with anti-Nightwalker ammunition and have them ready for deployment in thirty minutes.” He looked at Nick. “Your people will teleport our soldiers onto the battlefield, and their primary responsibility will be to rescue the hostages and protect General Daniels. Agreed?”
Nick was silent.
Jeremy put his hand on Nick’s arm. “Let them fight, Nick. He’s right. They’re part of this.”
Nick glanced at him for a moment and then turned back to Avery. “Thirty minutes to outfit your troops. Then we go in, with or without you. In the meantime, our forces have already surrounded the base to make sure none of them tries to leave by conventional means.” He looked at Jeremy. “I need you to go see Lorcan at Castle Night and scout the base telepathically to make sure our maps are accurate. Do you have the range to coordinate our attack from there?”
“Yes.” Jeremy gave Nick a hard look. “Is that the only reason you’re sending me away?”
“No.” Nick folded his arms and met Jeremy’s glare without apology. “I don’t want you to get killed. Can you follow orders?”
“Yes, I can. Thank you for not lying.”
Nick swept the room with his gaze. “Let’s move. We don’t have much time.”
CHAPTER 17
Castle Night, the French Alps; Three hours, fifteen minutes remaining
Rory walked into the Great Hall at the base of the High Tower to find the large room filled with Nightwalkers dressed in ceramic combat armor, led by Lorcan. He walked over to the Daywalker. “You asked to speak with me, Ruarc?”
Lorcan nodded and indicated the contingent of Nightwalkers. “These are soldiers from House Daviroquir and House Diluthical who have volunteered to join us in battle. They have a request for you before we leave.”
Rory glanced briefly at the crowd of the Nightwalkers. “What kind of request?”
William Consul Daviroquir stepped forward and knelt at Rory’s feet. “Redeemer, lead us out of Darkness.”
As Rory watched, the rest of the soldiers knelt behind William. God, there must be hundreds of them. “You want the Grace? All of you?”
William looked up from his vantage on his knee. “My Lord, we believed you to be a charlatan who had merely discovered some way to shield your people from sunlight. But the Imperator called upon the Light and it answered, so we know this miracle to be true. If we survive the battle, we wish to face the sunrise afterward without fear that the Light will reject us.”
Rory met Lorcan’s gaze, who nodded. It would be the largest single group of conversions he'd performed since he brought the soldiers of House Curallorn into the fold after the Pact Arcanum, not counting the Burning. Rory faced William. “You understand that I am a conduit. You will be judged by the Light itself, and your willingness to accept the return of your souls. I cannot guarantee that you will all survive.”
William nodded. “We understand the risk, my Lord, but we do not wish to die in darkness.”
Rory removed his gloves, illuminating the room with the harsh white light of the cross brands on his palms. “Then let’s get started.”
Outside House Daviroquir Stronghold, Pennine Mountains, Greater Manchester, England; Two hours, thirty-eight minutes remaining
The Daywalkers were first on the ground. They quickly spread out and created temporary teleport gateways, so the Sentinels and humans could teleport in. Nick, Daniels, Lorcan, and Takeshi arrived last, once the area was secured. They made their way to a low hill overlooking the entrance to the base, where the commander of their advance forces waited. Nick stopped dead when he reached the summit of the hill. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Layla turned around to face him from where she crouched upon a limestone outcropping, flanked by Scott and Ana. “You needed an army to contain House Daviroquir until you were ready to attack. House Curallorn has provided that army.”
Nick shook his head vigorously. “No way. You can’t do this, Layla, not in your condition.”
Her eyes went red, and she unsheathed her fangs. “You cannot keep me out of this battle, Archangel. My mate has been taken and may already be dead. I will avenge myself on House Daviroquir for that insult.”
Nick turned furiously to Scott. “How long have you known about this?”
Scott shrugged. “I scouted the entire area from the air before Ana jumped our forces here. We’ve been monitoring the situation since then and reporting back to Take.”
Nick snarled as he faced Ana. “You brought her here? What the hell were you thinking?”
Ana returned his glare with unconcern. “We needed an army on short notice with an established chain of command. She fit the bill.”
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Nick hunched forward and addressed Layla in a whisper. “I swore to the Light that I would protect the child. You can’t go in there.”
She shook her head. “They told you that the child would outlive the father. If Tobias still lives, I must bring him out of this place with my own hands, or I will never be able to face him again. You must allow me this, Nicholas.” She rose to her full height and gazed at him imperiously. “If you try to force me away from the battlefield, then I will simply follow after you with the rest of my forces.”
Nick regarded her soberly. “Do you honestly think of Toby as your mate?”
She sighed. “I do—though I would not have believed I would ever admit such a thing. He is Leshir Curallorn in everything but name. I cannot leave his fate for others to decide. I must be here.”
Nick stepped back. “The more the merrier.” He looked at Takeshi. “You’re the strategist. How do we dig them out?”
“Jeremy’s maps indicate that the layout is a cylinder with the Great Hall at the base, but he can’t penetrate the psychic defenses of the lower level. We attack on two fronts to force them to divide their forces,” said Take. “You, Lorcan, and Daniels will lead the humans, House Diluthical, and House Daviroquir against the main entrance. Layla and the Winds will take House Curallorn and the Sentinels in through the rear entrance. We kill everything that moves that isn’t Toby or Andrea, while Jeremy and Rory keep us apprised of each other’s progress from Castle Night. We work our way in on both fronts to meet at the Great Hall. That’s the most defensible area of the base, so Yvette will probably make her stand there.”
“We only have two and a half hours,” Daniels said. “That won’t be enough time to secure a base this large.”
“Don’t worry about securing the base,” answered Lorcan, “just advance as fast as possible and push through any opposition. It does us no good to reach Yvette if the Nexus destroys civilization before we can engage her.”
“Rapier,” Nick called.
“Yes, Nicholas?” replied the disembodied voice.
“Can you negotiate with the Nexus to buy us some time? Tell them we have their enemies cornered, but we might not be able to bring them down before the deadline.”
“I will try, but I have no illusions that I might succeed.”
“Do your best, Rapier. I’m going to trust that you’ll find a way.”
The voice was silent for a time. “Can you still speak of trust when we are on the brink of war between organic and AI?”
“You said I think of you as a servant. Well, I am asking you to prove you’re more than that. If you can’t persuade them, then a whole lot of people are going to die today for nothing.”
“Very well. I will do what I can.”
“Thank you, Rapier.” Nick focused on the others. “Let’s get started.”
CHAPTER 18
Armistice Security Distributed Network, Planetary Communications Envelope, Earth; Twenty-two minutes remaining
The white globe of data that constituted Rapier’s core personality matrix appeared in the virtual council chamber housing the Nexus, situated atop the central spire of the binary representation of Anchorpoint. The five representatives of the Nexus had ignored its requests for an audience until now, but Rapier’s insistence had finally piqued their curiosity. They waited silently to hear what it had to say.
The virtual data core representing Rapier disappeared when the Council Chamber threw it out. The members of the Nexus turned their attention to each other.
CHAPTER 19
House Daviroquir Stronghold, Pennine Mountains, Greater Manchester, England; Seven minutes remaining
Toby and Andrea looked up when Collins entered the room, flanked by three Nightwalkers. Andrea jumped to her feet. “Alex, thank God! Let us out of here!”
Toby stared at him in suspicion. “Andrea, look into his eyes. He’s one of them now.”
Andrea looked m
ore closely at Collins, and her eyes widened as she shrank back away from the bars. “Nightwalker,” she whispered.
Collins smiled, showing his fangs. “I see you’ve almost grown into your Gift, Andrea. Excellent. Yvette will be pleased. You’ll be a powerful ally.”
Toby winced. “She’s going to try to make a hybrid out of Andrea, isn’t she?”
“Yes, she is,” Collins said in a cold, deep voice. “When Andrea is safely converted, Yvette is going to jump us out of here right through the jumper blocks your brother’s forces have erected over the base.”
“Nick’s here?” Toby asked, surprised.
Collins grinned. “They’re slaughtering their way to this level as we speak. The only reason we haven’t left already is that Yvette believes the two of you will be easier to handle once you’re both dead.”
Andrea swallowed. “Alex, listen to me. You can kill me, but let Toby go.”
“Shut up, Andrea!” Toby said furiously.
Collins laughed. “That’s very brave of you, my dear, but Yvette has promised that I can kill Mr. Jameson here all by my lonesome. One final act of spite to humiliate the Archangel.” His eyes burned red. “The two of you smell so intoxicating, all that blood rushing through your veins. I wanted both of you, but she insisted that Andrea has to be carefully handled so her conversion goes smoothly. That’s why she’s going to do it herself.” He growled at the soldiers who accompanied him. “Get them out of there. I want this over with so I can eat.”
“Toby, can you break your restraints yet?” Andrea asked over the link.
“Yes, they’re almost useless.” Toby watched while the Nightwalkers opened Andrea’s cell door and forced her hands into charmed restraints. “Don’t worry. I have enough control to burn out your bindings as soon as they’re not looking. Keep watching for an opportunity to run. If Nick is in the base, then we might have a chance to reach him and get out of here.”
Toby stood when they opened his cell door, and Collins led them all back into the corridor. As they were marched down the hall, a loud, distant noise shook the walls. Collins and the other vampires looked up for a moment, distracted, and Toby used the opportunity to silently cast a spell, wrapping it around Andrea’s restraints and quickly neutralizing them. Toby relaxed when he felt his own magic answer his call again. We might just make it after all.
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