Melly blocked out the noise. She followed Xavier as he pushed his way through the crowd, and Shane joined them. When they reached the office area, Tess stood so fast, she knocked the chair back. She and Xavier came together in a tight clench.
Tess pulled back almost immediately. “Gavin didn’t disconnect the server from Evenfall’s internal network,” she told them. Her face and voice were full of some kind of emotion that Melly didn’t know how to identify. She met Melly’s gaze. “He and I have been talking, and I have a visual feed from several cameras. I have to warn you, the feeds are hard to watch. I saw everything that happened in the great hall.”
For Melly, everything else fell away. She rushed to kneel in front of the computer and gripped the edge of the desk with both hands. Xavier, Tess and Shane joined her.
At first, Melly struggled to sort all the information. There were six camera feeds on the screen, and all of them showed different scenes.
The bottom right camera feed focused on Gavin and two other people. They huddled together, their expressions tense. The scene behind them looked like a typical busy office, with cubicles, workstations and electronics parts laid out on a nearby table. The trio appeared to be looking right out Julian’s computer screen.
Gavin’s voice sounded clearly over Julian’s speakers. “Xavier, there you are – thank the gods.”
Xavier said something in reply. Melly didn’t pay attention. She tuned out their conversation as she searched the other camera feeds. The two others in the bottom row of images were of main thoroughfares in the castle. One was of the great hall, now standing silent and empty.
The top three feeds showed different scenes of a battle. Or maybe they were different battles.
The left feed focused on an image of an industrial-sized, reinforced steel door. The door looked battered and scarred with scorch marks. Two people knelt on the floor on either side of the door, using blowtorches along the edges. Others surrounded them, facing outward with weapons poised.
The middle feed showed the giant underground parking lot, but instead of peaceful rows of parked vehicles, Vampyres fought and shot at each other. A few cars burned. Billows of black smoke made it difficult to see details, and when she could, several of the Vampyres moved so fast, they were blurs.
The third feed focused on a wide stone stairwell and more fighting. She caught sight of a few Light Fae guards, along with Julian’s salt-and-pepper hair and distinctive, powerful form in the middle of the undulating wave of people.
“These aren’t all the same place, are they?” She clenched her hands into fists. “That stairwell is the one that leads into the parking garage, right?”
“Yes,” Xavier said. He sounded as tense as she felt.
Someone took hold of her shoulder in a hard, steady grip. She jumped violently and whirled, but it was only Shane. His gaze was sober, even compassionate.
He said, “With your permission, I’ll put together a small team to send after councilman Leopold. Annis hasn’t left yet. Maybe she’ll agree to go with the team to convince Leopold it’s safe. Then they can evacuate together. You don’t need to be involved.”
“Good thinking. Thank you.”
She had already turned back to the battle scenes before his hand left her shoulder.
Xavier told her, “There are several layers of barriers that were built into the lower levels. The first set of locked doors is at the head of the stairwell, where Julian and his team are fighting right now.” He pointed to the feed on the battered door. “This is the munitions area. There’s a door on the other side of the garage that leads down a hallway to this place. Both of those doors are made of reinforced steel.”
“If this is a visual of the second door, you’re saying they’ve already broken through the first,” she said.
“Yes. Rocket launchers and other distance weapons are kept in there. If they break through and get into the munitions area, Julian will have no choice. He’ll have to retreat.”
Gavin leaned forward, until his worried face looked distorted in the feed, his forehead large and domelike. “Yolanthe and her group are just outside our doors. They were trapped, but now Julian’s attacking from the rear. Justine and Dominic have to deal with a fight on two sides now.”
Melly began to make sense of the feeds. Searching each scene, she muttered, “Where are they?”
Xavier knew exactly who she meant. He pointed to the top middle feed, showing the parking garage. “There’s Dominic.”
Despite the chaos of the battle, Dominic’s tall, athletic form, scarred features and blond hair were unmistakable. He wielded two swords with terrifying expertise. As Melly’s attention focused on him, he staked one Vampyre in the chest and slashed at another.
Xavier asked Tess, “Can we get sound on this feed?”
Tess leaned forward to tap on the keyboard. The tumultuous sounds of battle blared over the speakers, and quickly she adjusted the volume.