by Eden, Seth
They needed weapons if they could manage it.
And then they needed to run.
21
Danton
Danton heard the rumors as facts. He was still one of the golden warriors, praised for bringing down the number of female rebels that he had.
"You'll have your pick at the fete tonight," the commander said. He looked tired and dispirited as Danton felt.
Neither of them would ever admit it.
Danton would never admit that the idea of slaughtering the women, the ones with the spirit and the daring, sickened him.
"Maybe even that little one you kept," the commander added and now Danton thought he was being watched. Tested. Golden warrior or not.
"I've been trying to get information from her," he said in turn. There wasn't a Vampyren among them who didn't jockey for power and position; getting info from her would have netted him a promotion.
"She's no longer with you," the commander said and that was a question.
"No. I should have said I was trying to get information."
"Did you?" the commander asked with suspicion.
"She didn't talk." He hadn't asked. "And besides – " might as well go for veracity – "It wasn't all talking."
The commander smirked. "If she know something, we should question her."
"She hasn't talked before." To you, he added, not letting his face reveal his thoughts. "But she might to me. If I bring her friend out. She was picked up in the raid."
That got the commander's attention. It was a gamble, one that might pay off and might get her killed and might get him killed.
It had to be worth it. Things were starting to spin out of control.
He had to do something and Cassi would never leave without Brecca.
"We'll set it up."
That sounded bloody. If Brecca got killed, Cassi would never forgive him.
"Bring them both here." He tapped his phone and Danton's photo went out to every soldier, every guard: Allowed in to the pens to bring out more than one of the women. "And then we'll question them and – "
But the far door to the office opened and one of the guards came in, talking fast, something about an insurrection in the tank farm nearest the school and the commander bolted, following the soldier, leaving Danton with permission to enter the pens.
The commander's keys.
And a lot of panic.
He ran for the breeding pools.
22
Cassi
Some of them might be lost.
She hated those odds.
Sitting side by side with Brecca, Cassi cut into her wrists, pulling the mic´s free of her skin, cleaning the blood off them, and then she and Brecca at the same time sent their code names and their locations and what was happening.
There was no more need for stealth. There were enough women here to pinpoint every Vampyren location anyone could want.
The time for pretense and sneaking was over. Time for the Calvary to ride in.
They sent their messages and hoped.
They didn't have to overpower the guards.
Because when the guard showed unexpectedly at the cell doors and simply opened them, then stepped back, they didn't waste time but surged for the exit.
The guards' faces were livid with rage. The instant she was through the doors Cassi understood. Danton stood there, with weapons, and with some of the women who had orchestrated the killing attacks.
Free. And armed.
Guns were spread through the group to the best markswomen. Those without guns were herded to the center of the group.
They moved fast and silent and they swarmed up the stairs and into the sunlight, making their way to the same vehicles that had brought them here and would now deliver them into the beleaguered rural communities in California and Nevada. Maybe their resources were being overwhelmed, but the women themselves were resources, and resourceful, and coming together to change the world.
Cassi had already seen a change in her own part of it. She reached out for Danton's hand, not knowing if that was a custom on his world. He looked puzzled, briefly, then took her hand.
The first of any change is hard. The world had a long way to go, and humanity wasn't guaranteed to survive the journey, though neither were the Vampyren invaders.
"I need to find the tank farms," she told Danton as they ran for the vehicles they'd take. Already the resistance was arriving, spreading out with their weapons, driving back the Vampyren that came pouring up out of the school, turning the prison they'd used for humans to a prison to hold the alien invaders themselves.
"I'll see you there," he told her. "Then you can take your family and run."
She stopped in her tracks. "I'm not going anywhere without you."
"He won't be welcome in the rurals," Brecca said, coming up behind them. She carried a semi-automatic with complete assurance, covering them as they stood, inadvisably taking the time to argue.
"They'll have to learn," Cassi said. "We all will." She gave Danton a long look. "We don't have to go where there are others. We can run into the Mojave. There's a lot of empty space there." She looked at all the women moving to the vehicles, looked at her best friend and thought about what they'd both learned from the resistance and about not pooling their resources where they could all be trapped at the same time.
Brecca said it before she did. "Might not be a bad idea to start a splinter group."
Cassi high fived her and turned to Danton. "And we could use insight into how the Vampyren military is formed and how they think."
She thought she was holding her breath, waiting for his answer.
His gaze was distant for a second before he turned and looked at her and answered. "The Mojave. That's desert?"
"Very hot, very dry, very desert," she said, and thought she saw him smile.
"Then let's go," he said, and held out his hand.
The first step of any new venture is difficult. Without it, though, nothing ever changes.
End of Book One
Join The Tribe
Want to be among the first to receive copies of Seth’s latest books of the Vampyren Series? If so, then become part of Seth Eden’s Reader Group! Just click on the following link to find it on Facebook:
http://bit.ly/SethEdenGroup
Connect With Seth
Want to know what Seth is up to? Like his Facebook Page:
http://bit.ly/SethEdenPage
Also by Seth Eden
Download the Prequel - Arrival of The Vampyren now!
The Vampyren invaded Earth, coming from the places between the stars. They came to slake their most brutal appetites: For blood. For sex. For conquest. Within weeks their superior strength, technology and weapons turned Earth into a fallen battleground.
But love can blossom in the most unlikely places.
Stephanie was looking for food, for safety, and for her brother when the Vampyren patrol caught her on the blown-up streets of Las Vegas.
Dray Fierro was one of the Vampyren, a hero who could take his pick of women to claim as his war prize. He wasn't looking for more than a woman to satisfy his needs for sex and blood.
Neither was prepared for what they got.
