by Carly Hansen
“This can’t be happening,” she said as fresh tears came streaming down.
Gaius turned to Fenix. “There’s one thing you can try to get your strength back.”
“I’ll do anything.”
“The ring. Call on the power of the ring to make you whole again.”
Fenix looked down at the blue gems on her right index finger.
“Remember, intention and will are everything,” Gaius said.
Fenix cupped the ring with her left hand and closed her eyes.
She pictured Catelyn, shivering and scared, hiding under fur blankets. The vision broke her heart and caused her blood to boil. She then saw the girl from Birstall, on the ground outside her tent. Fenix exhaled sharply in anger.
In her mind, she saw herself, stronger than she ever was before, marching into that cavern where Catelyn was being held. She was fierce, and she was powerful. She mowed down vampires, right, left, and center as she marched on, heading straight for the bastard who’d kidnapped her sister and killed the Birstall girls.
Instinctively, she drew her right hand up and jabbed the ring against her heart.
A burst of light flashed as a powerful force knocked Fenix onto her back.
Her body stiffened and her eyes shut themselves. She lay like that, with her arms glued to her sides, as heat engulfed her and blazing lights danced before her eyelids.
She inhaled, and it was as if her lungs expanded ten times their normal size, drawing in all the air there ever was.
Thunder clapped in her ears. The sound got louder and louder, booming, rolling, and exploding.
Then, suddenly, there was absolute silence.
Fenix felt her body loosen. The lights vanished, and the heat was no more.
“Fenix.”
She recognized Gaius’ voice.
“Fenix, are you all right?”
She sat up, opened her eyes, and looked at the concerned lines on Gaius’ face.
She smiled.
“Never been better,” she said.
********
Fenix and Gaius caught up with the others, and they continued their climb. Near the top of the mountain, they saw a narrow clearing protected by a high wall that seemed at least twenty feet tall.
“You said this is a former vampire refuge?” Fenix said to Micha as she joined him after he’d left the group to survey the wall.
“Built to keep vampire hunters and other covens out. The fence has sensors that trigger an alarm if it’s breeched by a vampire.”
“What chance is there that Baldwin is in there alone with Catelyn?”
“Zero. He wouldn’t have even thought of coming here if he didn’t have a small army. It takes a lot of hands to run this place.”
Micha walked over to Twain and Java, who had gathered in a circle with Gaius and the others of the SZR Force.
“Behind that wall are guard stations that act as the first line of defense,” Micha said to Twain and Java. “One of them controls the gate, and we need to get in there and take it over.”
“How many stations are we talking about?” Fenix asked.
“Can’t say. They’re mobile units. Could be three or more in use, and they could be parked anywhere behind this wall.”
“I’ll be right back,” Java said.
He took off through the trees and disappeared. Soon, the soft wafting of air sounded as large wings flapped overhead.
Shelly widened her eyes. “Falcon shifter?”
Fenix nodded. “They do come in handy.”
Before long, Java came running through the woods toward them. “I spotted two trailers,” he said, panting. “Seems to be two guards, one at each trailer.”
Micha closed his eyes, as if in deep thought. He turned to Twain and Java, then held both at the shoulders. “As Alda might say, this is just the job for you, boys,” he said.
Twain stuck out his chest, his eyes ablaze with excitement. “What you want us to do?”
“Take down the guards and take over the trailers. Inside one of them, you’ll find a black control console with a red switch. You need to push that red switch up as far as it’ll go to let the rest of us in through the gate.”
Shelly looked at Twain, from his peg legs up, then looked at Micha with a quizzical expression. Twain seemed to have caught on to her thoughts.
“No problem,” he said. “I can get over that fence in one leap.”
“Come,” Java said to Twain. “I’ll show you where to find that trailer.”
They disappeared into the woods.
Shelly frowned at Micha.
“What?” he said.
“Why do you send boys to do a man’s job?” She tilted her head toward her crew. “Razor’s packing enough firepower to blast our way through.”
Micha shook his head. “This isn’t the time to try to intimidate our opponent with our might. We don’t know how many fighters Baldwin has on his side. We need the element of surprise. It’ll serve us better.”
After a short while, a section of the seemingly solid wall slid to the left, opening a passageway.
Twain and Java were standing, smiling, on the inside.
“Quick,” Micha said to Fenix and the others. “Let’s get inside before Baldwin and his crew detect the gate’s been opened.”
As soon as they were through, the section of wall that had moved slid back into place.
“Good work,” Micha said to Twain and Java when they were through.
The two beamed.
“Now, you guys stay here,” Micha said. “The rest of us will go in.”
Shelly and her crew lost no time in pressing on toward the entrance of the hideout.
“Wait.” Twain stepped forward and blocked Micha’s way. “You can’t keep us away from all the action.”
“This is the most important job of all,” Micha said.
Twain had a far-off look in his eyes.
“You’re our first line of defense and our only hope to make it out of here,” Micha said. “You have to ensure that no one else gets in to reinforce the fighters already in there. And you have to be right here to help us escape.”
Twain nodded somewhat hesitantly. “Yeah, sure,” he said as he stepped aside to let Micha pass
Micha, Fenix, and Gaius left the two behind and joined Shelly and her crew. They all crouched behind a pile of boulders.
Ahead was an opening in the mountain guarded by two sentries.
Micha broke a branch and drew a diagram in the soft dirt. “The hideout is made up of a complex system of tunnels,” he said. “All of them connect to here.”
Fenix looked at the diagram. All the way to the back was a large, circular shape. Everything else looked like narrow tubes crisscrossing each other.
She knelt and stabbed the circle with her finger. “This must be where Catelyn is.”
Based on the vision she’d had, she figured that had to be the place with the platform where Catelyn lay crouched under the furs.
“The general council room,” Micha said. “The most secure area in the hideout. It’s where the heads of the coven met in normal times and was the last stand in case of attack.”
Shelly scrunched up her lips. “If it’s properly defended, as I suspect it is, it’s gonna to take a whole lot of firepower to get in that deep.”
She swung her rifle off her back and looked at her companions’ arms and ammunition belts. “We might just have enough to cover us. But it’s going to be tight.”
Micha shook his head. “I’m sure they have the numbers advantage, but they have no clue we’re here and don’t know our numbers. We need to capitalize on the shock they’ll feel from suddenly being under attack so that we can heighten their disorganization.”
“How do you propose to do that?” Fenix asked.
“We need to split up and spread out.” Micha pointed his stick at the tunnels he had drawn. “Shelly, Zack, and Razor, you must each take one of these passageways and blaze your way through. That should send their fighters str
eaming down this way, clearing up a path for Fenix, Gaius, and me to get to the girl.”
“The danger always increases when you split up a crew like that,” Razor said.
“The SZR force usually acts as a single unit, Micha,” Shelly added.
“As you would have been trained,” Micha said. “But here’s one instance where the parts will be stronger apart than whole.”
Shelly studied the diagram.
Finally, she nudged her companions with her elbows. “You’ve got your marching orders. Let’s do this.”
Shelly, Zack, and Razor held their weapons at the ready and charged toward the sentries. The vampires in the guard huts came running out with fangs bared. Their vicious snarls were cut short when a hail of silver bullets ripped through them.
As their bodies fell and disappeared in clouds of smoke, Shelly, Zack, and Razor ran past them and entered the opening.
After more gunfire, Shelly appeared at the opening and beckoned Micha, Fenix, and Gaius.
“We each let a wounded one get away,” Shelly said when they reached her. “They should be carrying back a report of the attack.”
“Won’t be long before they are down on you guys,” Micha said.
“Don’t worry,” Shelly said. “We can handle our end. Just be extra careful. Looks like a bunch of Newones so far. And there’s something else down here with them. I think I caught a glimpse of it. It’s a huge, gray thing. Maybe eight feet tall, with red eyes.”
She disappeared down the tunnel with her rifle pointed in the air. Soon after she turned a corner, shots rang out. In the distance, two other guns raged.
“Would Baldwin’s fighters be armed?” Fenix asked.
“Not sure, but it’s not likely to be necessary if Shelly’s right about the Newones,” Micha said.
“Why not?”
“Newones are vampires that have just been turned. They’re very dangerous. They have three times the speed and strength of older vampires, and they’re rabid.”
Chapter 37
Shelly’s warning was not for nothing.
They didn’t get more than fifty paces when a troop of Newones came barreling down the tunnel toward them.
“Quick,” Micha said, shoving Gaius forward. “Lead them down this passage. Fenix and I will hide in the tunnels to the right and left and get them from behind.”
When Gaius looked back at Fenix, she saw the terror in his eyes.
He opened his mouth and was about to say something, but Micha thumped him on the back. “Go now. There’s no time to waste.”
Gaius turned and took off.
“And make some noise,” Micha whispered after him.
Gaius didn’t need much more prompting. He hurtled down the tunnel, waving his hands and screaming.
Fenix bent down and grabbed the knife in her boot. As she straightened back up again, she pulled out the knife from her waistband. Holding both blades, she envisioned two hawthorn stakes.
The bigger knife transformed into the stake, as expected. But the wonkiness of the smaller one was definitely at play. Instead of a stake, she found a lasso in her hand.
Micha stared at her, bewildered.
She shrugged. “Alda’s magic is a bit imperfect.”
“I’m not surprised.”
Micha thrust his chin toward the tunnel branching off behind her. “Hide in there and don’t come out until you see me again.”
Fenix turned to head off in the direction Micha had indicated, but she was stopped by what felt like electricity zapping her shoulder. She glanced to the side and saw Micha’s hand there.
She lifted her gaze, and her eyes locked with his.
He stood close, towering over her. Fenix felt a tremor ripple through her body.
His face was full of emotion. What was it? Concern, yes, and, maybe something more.
“Fenix,” Micha whispered. “Fight strong.”
As they prepared to go into battle to confront the danger and uncertainty the next few moments would bring, Fenix felt an intense desire to throw her arms around Micha’s broad shoulders, press her body against his, and kiss him deeply.
Her breathing quickened. She let her gaze fall to his lips. She ached to taste their sweetness.
She looked into Micha’s eyes again. He smiled and shifted his gaze to her quivering lips.
He bent lower, bringing his face close to hers, and Fenix’s heart pounded in her chest.
Just then, shouting erupted nearby.
Micha straightened up and looked around. “They’re upon us,” he said. “Go now.”
He took off in one direction, and Fenix went in another.
Not long after she settled into a nook, seven young strapping vampires blazed past her. Micha followed close on their heels.
Fenix dashed out behind them. As she gave chase, she was about to stuff the lasso in her jacket pocket and charge with the stake held aloft. She quickly reversed the idea. She rammed the stake into the sheath in which she usually carried her knife. Crossing the lasso into her right hand, she twirled the rope as she made off.
She ran lightly, making almost no noise. Micha moved like lightning.
Between Fenix’s stealth and Micha’s speed, and with the riot Gaius was making, the cluster of vampires seemed totally unaware that they were about to be attacked from behind.
Micha struck first. His hands came down on the shoulders of the slowest of the lot. He was a burly one, with muscles bulging all over and just an inch or two shorter than Micha.
Micha dragged him down to the ground, but the brute didn’t go easily. From the corner of her eye, Fenix saw the enemy vampire spin on his heel and bare sharp fangs.
She was in striking distance of three others. Giving the lasso a twirl, she then released it. The rope hit one on the head and slid off, but fell around two.
Not perfect, but good enough for Fenix.
As the lasso fell to their waists, she dug her heels in and yanked on the rope as hard as she could. But the vampires were so powerful that the rope slid through Fenix’ hands as they pulled away, burning a line across her palms.
Her body jerked forward, and she slammed into the vampires. With their arms constricted, they had no way to rebalance themselves. They came crashing down upon Fenix.
She was buried under the cold, writhing bodies of two vampires who threw sharp elbows into her back and neck as they struggled to break free of the rope. She could hardly breathe. Her fingers took on the telltale tingling.
She never wanted that magic to take over, and this was especially not the place or time to have it happen. Not with Micha Angelo on the ground, just a few feet away from her, snarling and wrestling with another vampire.
Fenix reached for the stake in its sheath, but a powerful blow from one of the vampires on top of her pounded pain into her skull. She tried to worm her way from under the two, but she was pinned and there was no getting away from them. As she twisted her body, she got an elbow slammed into her eyeball.
Blinded, she had to go by the last glimpse of the vampires she’d had.
She rammed her hands upward, hoping and praying that she’d found a sweet spot in between a couple of ribs.
Her hopes and prayers were not in vain.
The vampire let out a bloodcurdling screech as the stake passed through his flesh and sank into his heart.
Immediately, his body became lighter and Fenix wasted no time. She pushed away what was left of his smoking mass and rolled out from under the other two.
Just in time too, because the vampire she’d pierced burst into a bright orange flame that quickly turned to ash. When the dust settled, the stake lay on the ground.
Fenix crawled over and reached for it.
As she did, a tight hand curled around her wrist. With the first vampire gone, the lasso had come loose around the second. He was now on his knees, snarling as he attacked her.
Tingling all over, Fenix fought the urge to fall back on her magic.
She swung her arm up and bro
ke free of the vampire’s hold. Rolling away from him, she caught up the rope from the lasso and drew it with her as she went. She stopped and looked back. The lasso had tightened around the remaining vampire again.
Fenix threw her body on the ground toward the stake and grabbed it.
The vampire widened his eyes and seemed to gather all his strength to burst free of the lasso. With an open mouth and fangs dripping with saliva, he came at Fenix. Holding the stake tightly in front of her, she flung herself at the vampire. The stake plunged into the vampire’s heart with deadly effect.
Fenix bent one knee and was pressing on it to raise herself to her feet when a Newone clobbered her at the side of the head with his massive fist. She was thrown flat on her stomach.
She became aware of something warm and wet at the side of her face. She touched the area. It felt numb. Her fingers were streaked with red.
She had barely raised herself off the ground when she saw ugly, heavy boots coming at her face.
Then, shiny leather shoes came up right behind the boots so fast that the Newone had no chance to react.
Within seconds, the vampire with the ugly boots fell like a log at Fenix’s side.
A hand pulled her off the ground. Sparks burst through her, starting from the spot where she’d been touched.
“You okay?”
Micha Angelo looked her deep in the eyes. Concern was written all over his face. Fenix’s heart thumped, and she felt giddy with happiness to see him. She told herself it was simply because he’d just saved her hide.
His eyes shifted to the red trickle at the side of her face, and his expression grew dimmer. Her head was throbbing, but she wasn’t looking for sympathy.
She gathered up her things. “Let’s go,” she said.
“No, let me help you.”
“We have no time for this.”
“Just a second. I’ll let you have some of my blood.”
“I’ll be fine.”
She ran down the tunnel after the remaining vampires, pressing her hand to the side of her face to stop the bleeding. She couldn’t fight like that though. She needed both hands.
She pulled her flat cap down to the side. The band of the cap grated the wound, and pain ripped through her head as the accumulated sweat from the band stung the raw flesh. She tightened the strap of the cap, and it did the trick in stopping the bleeding.
