by Mary Hughes
His eyes cut toward me, listening.
“You want them to fight their best, right? Confidently? They need to have full confidence in their leader. That’s you. There isn’t anyone else, not at this late date. But to believe in you, first you must believe in yourself.” I paused for emphasis. “I believe in you.”
“Thanks.” He sighed and looked away. “It was easier alone.”
“Maybe. You’re wise and strong. You certainly don’t need other people. But you have more choices with them.”
“I really hate it when you’re right.” He gave me a wry smile.
“This is why you only had one friend before. They’re too annoying.”
A smile curled his lips. “For you, I’ll suffer.” His hand found mine. We held hands and watched for Nosferatu together.
Elwood returned some time later, carrying some SMAWs and wearing a grin. “Madison’s got access to National Guard weapons. Brought you a couple.”
“Nice. Thanks.” Aiden pointed to the table in front of the south window. “Put one there and distribute the rest evenly. News?”
“Nosferatu’s convoy has been sighted twenty minutes away. Milwaukee and Madison are here. Where do you want the troops, Chief?”
Chief. That made me smile. “Told you so.”
Aiden gave me such a look. But he stood straighter when he said, “Gather them in front of the bridge. I’ll speak to them before Nosferatu arrives.”
Aiden stood on the brown grass in front of the small building. Dead grass, but he could feel the new sprouts curling under the soil through his feet. Spring was coming. He had to believe there was hope for his forces too. For him.
He’d once said to Ric it would be a relief to finally fight Nosferatu head-on. For himself, he was glad. Too bad this wasn’t about just him and Ric anymore.
But Sunny was right, as she usually was. While not easier, this way was ultimately better.
He looked over the amassed troops, trying to slow his heart rate. He had exquisite control over his body and could regulate everything from temperature to chemical balance, but in this case he only managed to slow his respiration from hummingbird to Chihuahua.
Then Sunny stepped up beside him. Her warmth ate through the last vestiges of nerves. He looked out at Milwaukee’s and Madison’s troops—
No. His troops. Time to let them know it.
He lifted Sunny in his arms and leaped onto the building’s flat roof. It was a cloudy night but Elwood helpfully lit emergency flares and set them on the roof’s edge, so even the humans could see. With Sunny securely at his side, he faced his troops and pitched his voice to carry to the back of the crowd.
“Today we face an enemy. One of our own kind, yet coming unlawfully into our territory. Coming, not with peace in his heart, but with war.
“This enemy must have no doubt that we are bringing his rightful destruction.
“It is always a big step to take another’s life, and not to be done lightly. If any surrender, let them go. But those who want a fight, well, as British Lieutenant Colonel Tim Collins said, we aim to please.
“This enemy would crush us all under his will. We must not let that happen. We do this, not for ourselves, but for our kin and households, so they will live free from oppression. We must win. We will win. We have already won in our hearts and minds.
“Go out and make it history.”
Silence. All eyes on him.
He swallowed dry fear.
Then Sunny cried, “Blackthorne!”
Elwood, Kitty and the truckers echoed, “Blackthorne!” The cheer swept through the troops. “Blackthorne! Blackthorne!”
Aiden let them shout until he saw the specks of Nosferatu’s approaching convoy. He raised his fist in victory then swept Sunny into his arms and leaped down. After setting her on her feet, he strode briskly to where Elwood waited. “Nosferatu is here. Douse the flares and turn on the truck’s headlights to blind his troops. Deploy Milwaukee on our east flank, Madison on our west. Damn it, where’s Minneapolis? When they get here, tell them to take the middle.”
“Smart,” Sunny said as the trucker went to relay the commands. “Each protecting his or her home direction. They’ll fight harder.”
She understood. He draped his arm around her. “Let’s go back inside.”
“Shouldn’t you stay with the troops?”
“I need to be able to radio commands without shouting.”
Inside, Eloise spat at them. They ignored her to stand in front of the south window, with its clear view of the bridge.
That bridge was key.
Trucks appeared on the horizon, a hilltop crest about a half-mile away. Aiden extracted a pair of field glasses from his jacket and raised them to his eyes. “He’s here.”
“How many?” Sunny craned her neck beside him, then snatched the glasses from him. “Five…ten…that looks like a couple dozen. Holding maybe fifty each, Nosferatu could easily have his thousand troops, or more.”
The glasses fell from her hands. He caught them midair. He could smell her worried perspiration break out and sympathized—their troops were a third Nosferatu’s number, and not all of Aiden’s were vampires. He put a gentle, reassuring hand on her shoulder. “The key to fighting a larger force is establishing local superiority. See that?” He pointed out the window and swept his finger along the river.
“How does a river stop hundreds of vampires?”
“It doesn’t. But it does funnel them. To get to us, Nosferatu has to cross the river, but the only viable way is the bridge, and that’s blocked by the truck. Like pouring sand into an hourglass, only a few grains get through at a time. All his numbers will narrow down to a thread.”
“Can’t they just ford the river?”
“They’re vampires. Running water distracts and slows them, and the steep slope makes it a death trap. Like shooting fish in a barrel for us. So they’ll use the choked bridge, and we’ll only fight a few dozen at a time, at least to start.”
She gave him a tremulous smile. “Good.”
Sure enough, the enemy transports stopped on the south side of the bridge. Aiden relaxed marginally. Even good theory was only that until the choices were actually made.
It took a while for the trucks to gather. The Lestats spilled out of the transports, undisciplined, but they made up for it by spreading across the land. He had to admit, the numbers were impressive. Probably closer to the two thousand mark.
Nosferatu’s open car stopped at the head of the bridge. The old vampire sat in the back seat like a general, straight and confident.
Sunny grabbed the field glasses again. “Smug bastard.” She tossed the glasses onto the table and snatched up Madison’s SMAW. “Let me out there. I’ll shoot the bastard and that’ll be the end of it.”
“Satisfying, but his lieutenants would simply take him home to heal and we’d have to do this again.”
“Phooey.” She set the SMAW back with a reluctance he found endearing. “What’s the plan?”
“We hand him defeat—and rub his nose in it.” Now that the battle was underway Aiden’s nerves had disappeared. He picked up his field radio. “Report ready.”
The radio crackled. “Lake Team ready.” Milwaukee.
“Capitol Team ready.” Madison.
“Hold,” Aiden said into his comm.
Nosferatu stood—and pointed at their building.
The enemy mob swarmed the bridge, the two lanes forcing them into a narrow phalanx.
“Now!”
Madison, in a black jumpsuit, led vampires and humans flooding around the sides of the tractor-trailer. Using it for cover, Aiden’s troops shot light artillery into the oncoming vampires.
Masses fell in a single volley.
More Lestats climbed over the fallen, like a blanket of ants. They tried to fire back but Nosferat
u’s stinginess hadn’t changed since the 1800s. Aiden’s intel said the average Lestat had to supply his own weapons and binoculars confirmed that only Nosferatu’s personal guard carried heavy armaments.
Sunny pumped air. “Yeah. We’ve got them now.”
“For a while, at any rate.” He rubbed her arm, keeping his gaze riveted to the battle.
“What do you mean? The bad vamps are falling like snow.”
“And like snow, they’re piling up. There. See?”
The heaped bodies became a bulwark. Now Nosferatu’s Lestats had cover too. They gained ground until they spilled past the truck, first a few at a time, then by the dozen.
Nosferatu gestured at the truck, roaring, “Get that thing out of the way!”
“Capitol Team—fall back,” Aiden said into his comm. “Terrace maneuver.”
Sunny said, “But won’t that leave the truck vulnerable?”
“It has served its purpose.”
The troops fell back into a predetermined formation on the west side of the road, four lines girdling the slight incline, prone, kneeling, short humans, tall vampires. Aiden waited until Nosferatu’s troops pounded toward the building. “Capitol Team commence firing!”
Madison relayed the order. Each row fired over the heads of the line in front of them. Death blew into the oncoming mob like a vicious hail storm, a steady whoosh of arrows and rat-a-tat of bullets punctuated by the toohmp of grenade launchers. Another quarter of Nosferatu’s troops fell.
But Nosferatu still had nearly a thousand troops while Aiden had just shy of five hundred on the field. Timing his next move was critical. He focused his entire being through the field glasses, ready to pounce at the exact right instant.
He was only aware Eloise had gotten loose when Sunny started choking. “A-Aid…”
He spun. The comm dropped from his hand. Impressions crowded on him, thick and fast.
Eloise, bloody fangs tearing into Sunny’s throat.
Sunny’s fist jammed to Eloise’s side.
A blond man next to Eloise’s vacant chair, blowing into mist and escaping under the door.
The spit of electricity from Sunny’s fist, the Viper biting into Eloise. The stink of singed cloth and flesh.
Sunny and Eloise falling. Sunny bleeding. Eloise twitching. Sunny’s pale luminous face.
He misted to his knees, snapping solid with his tongue already stemming the flow of Sunny’s blood, pressure and saliva to heal her wound. The bite was in front, away from major blood vessels. He breathed a prayer of thanks.
The instant the cartilage of her windpipe closed she rasped, “Cuff her.”
Aiden stifled a laugh of relief and snatched the comm from the floor. “Elwood, assist.” The door banged open and Eloise’s twitching body disappeared. Aiden licked until Sunny’s flesh was completely knit.
She tried to sit but wobbled. He caught her and lay her back down. “Rest. I have to see what’s happening. Elwood, assign someone to stay on Eloise. Then get back out there.” He sprang to his feet, hoping he wasn’t too late.
The bridge was covered in Lestats, pouring across by the hundreds, running up the incline—and two rows of artillery had already broken.
Chapter Thirty-One
He clutched the comm. He’d held Milwaukee in reserve for this. He hoped the maneuver still worked. It had to or they were dead. “Lake Team, fold in. Big Bear, engage at will.”
Milwaukee’s troops, on the east side of the road, swept forward in a wedge, fighting with knives and metal knuckles and even bare fists. Pushing hard into the mass of Lestats, they cut through, dividing them, cutting half off from the other half.
Sunny staggered to her feet. “What’s happening?” Her voice still rasped.
“Lie down!”
“No.”
“Damn, you’re stubborn.”
She snorted. “Then we’re a matched set. What’s going on? Never mind, I’ll see for myself.” She braced next to him and frowned out the window. “Milwaukee is pushing Lestats directly toward us!”
“Half. They’re also forcing half the enemy north, ripe for…well, watch.”
Out of the night, dozens of teams swept down on the funneled Lestats, silver sabers flashing. Heads rolled.
“An ambush?” Sunny jerked back, overbalanced and nearly fell. He steadied her with an arm around her waist. She gave him a wan smile. “Where’d they come from?”
“Minnesota.” He caught up the field glasses with his free hand and zeroed in on Nosferatu’s face, white in the moonlight. The master vampire had been overconfident enough to come across the bridge to gloat. Now Nosy was alarmed; the ambush had surprised him. Intense satisfaction drilled Aiden.
Sunny said, “I thought they hadn’t arrived yet.”
“That’s what I wanted everyone to think. Especially Nosferatu. It worked.”
Nosferatu’s offense fizzled and dissolved into hurried defense. His lieutenants punched a small retreat hole in the combined ranks. A narrow stream of vampires slipped through, including the master himself. He jumped into his open car which immediately lumbered into a three-point turn, preparatory to escape.
Sunny wiggled out of his arm to press her nose to the window. “He’s fleeing!”
“Fuck. What kind of general is he? He was supposed to stay with them.” Aiden snatched up the SMAW.
Sunny stumbled after him. “What are you doing? You have to guide your troops.”
“I need to stop him. I don’t want to fight this battle again. We need to slap him down so hard he can’t sit for a week.” He barred the doorway with his body, chest heaving, and fought the impulse to bark, Stay here. She deserved better.
“Mist?”
“No.” He champed, considering the field. “Not with all those random explosions.” This too was why he didn’t simply order her back. He needed her too much. “Damn it, if I don’t hit his ego hard, he’ll be back, but I don’t stand a chance of fighting through the battleground fast enough to catch him…hell, what’s that?”
A black sedan zoomed up behind Nosferatu’s convoy. The scree of its tail kicking out in a handbrake turn cut through.
Before it stopped, a half dozen vampires deployed, a big blond Viking visibly in the lead.
“Strongwell?” Aiden wasn’t surprised by much, but that did.
As Strongwell’s team closed in on Nosferatu, they fit rocket launchers to their shoulders and fired into the retreating Lestats.
Nosferatu’s car went up in a fireball.
“Woo hoo!” Sunny crowed.
Aiden hugged her tight. “You’re a woman of simple needs, aren’t you?”
“You bet.”
As Strongwell’s vampires entered the fray, the Coterie master hopped out of his car like a cricket, clothes flaming and bits of his face gone. Lestats shoved him to the ground, rolling him, smothering the flames. Nosferatu indiscriminately beheaded his helpers for their troubles.
Then he sneaked off again.
Aiden snatched up the radio with a snarl. “Elwood. Nosferatu’s running. Take the spare unit and stop him.”
“We’re on it.”
“He’s running,” Sunny said. “Isn’t that enough?”
“He’ll just hypnotize his troops into thinking he was here.” Aiden pressed the field glasses to his eyes. Elwood led a charge of Dawn truckers cutting through Lestats. Vampire parts flew. Aiden cheered silently. They were almost to the bridge.
Mace and five heavily armed pals stepped through, firing semiautomatics.
Elwood jumped in front of his team. His body shuddered as the bullets hit him. A wiry trucker tried to pull him away but Elwood pushed him off. He shouted at the truckers, throwing a hand toward the back lines. Aiden knew he was ordering a retreat. When Mace launched a rocket into the Dawn team, they scattered. Elwood took the rocket in his chest.
The big trucker fell.
“Elwood!” Aiden gripped the radio hard. “Come in.”
The radio crackled. A raspy tenor said, “Elwood’s down, Chief.”
“Damn it!” Aiden spun away. “Damn it.”
Sunny put a gentle hand on his arm. “It’s not your fault.”
“Of course it’s my fault,” he snarled. “I’m the leader. My call, my responsibility. And I’m going to fix this.” He spun back and barked into the radio, “Who is this?”
“Mac, sir.”
“Mac, fall back. Take as many of the injured with you as you can. Capitol Team, Lake Team. New orders. Every second soldier, hands up, got it?”
A pause. Then Madison said, “We’re surrendering?”
“Not while I have breath.” Aiden stowed his radio and snatched up the SMAW.
“The bastard is strolling now. Strolling!” Sunny had the field glasses trained on Nosferatu.
“Not for long.” Aiden stared at the SMAW…then set it down and turned to Sunny. “But I can only carry one thing.” He presented his back to her and knelt.
She didn’t hesitate. She jumped on. He wrapped her arms around his neck, she wrapped thighs around his hips, and he ran outside.
A tremendous leap took him into the air.
“You can’t jump over the whole battle—shit!”
He landed on a pair of upturned hands. Leaped nimbly to the next. And the next. He crossed the entire battlefield on his troops’ palms. Showy, but that was the point.
And then he was across the bridge, on the ground, running after Nosferatu.
“Blackthorne!” Milwaukee and Madison led the rallying cry.
Sunny twisted on his back. “They’re charging into the Lestats. Fighting with everything they have. I can’t watch.” She buried her face in his neck.
He knew what she must be seeing. Fighting with knife and tooth and claw. It was messy and ugly. There’d be no clear, easy victory for either side. Only one way he could stop this.
Stop Nosferatu.
The Coterie leader was ahead of him, strolling along the rising road. Aiden targeted where the road crested half a mile ahead and kicked it.
