“She was brought back to the main facility. She was one of us.”
“Why did you want her? She is a vampire now.”
“Why do you think?” he snaps. “She was out in the world, working with him,” he flings an arm out at Smithson, “for a very long time.”
“You knew?” Smithson asks, his tone holding a touch of… respect.
“Of course we knew,” Paul says. “You think we let anybody out of our grip? And she was always loyal to us, Smithson, sending reports and—”
“You lie,” he snarls, cutting him off. “Sylvia was true to the Order.”
“Really?” Paul asks. “Then how is it that I know Cierra destroyed one of your most secret locations and nearly killed you and her in the process? How do I know that the only reason Sylvia still lived is because she was made into a vampire by your blood?” Paul steps up to Smithson, eyes shining. “How do I know that you housed Cierra in your facilities for years, along with a cohort of other witches, all of whom died when she awakened?”
“Enough,” I say, breaking between the two men. “Sylvia crossed you, Smithson. But she was made into a vampire in the end—the very thing she hates most, having been born into the Crusaders. What I want to know—” I turn to Paul and look over him, “--is where she is now, and who gave the order to kill all our vampires?”
“Sylvia asked for an extraction,” Paul says. “Of course, the final call was up to me. I authorized it. But I did not authorize the deaths of the others.”
Smithson snorts. “Plausible deniability,” he says. “You didn’t authorize the killings, but you sure as hell didn’t forbid them, either.”
Paul gives a nonchalant shrug. “I cannot control every action of my men in the field.”
“BULLSHIT!” I roar. I grab him by the shirt and hurl him down. “You have full control of every single person in the Crusaders.” I step on his chest and flare my influence at him to keep him down. “I should throw you into the fire your men set and be done with it.”
A glimmer of fear shows in his eyes.
I lean down and bend in close. “But Victoria and the others are right. You are more use to us alive than dead.”
I turn away and stalk back to the vehicles. “Get up,” I say. “You’re going to take us to your outpost. And from there, I will exert full command of the Crusaders… through you.”
Chapter Ten
James
Near the Crusaders’ Facility.
A tense, hour-long drive later, we reach what looks like an abandoned farm.
I know well enough from our last experience that this is just a facade.
Paul leads the way in. I see April is just dying to get a word in with me—she drove in Victoria’s truck.
I give her a quick, acknowledging look, good enough for her to know I will find time after.
We go through the main doors. Inside is filled with all sorts of rusted junk. Paul steps through the minefield and sweeps clean a rectangular area on the floor.
I see the edges around it, denoting it as a trapdoor.
Paul lifts it. A long, circular column shoots far down. There are metal steps protruding from one wall.
“After you,” he tells me.
“No, no,” I laugh. “You go first.”
He gives a rotten smile. “As you command.”
He climbs down. I herd all the other vampires through, ensuring I’m last. Then, when there’s nobody else left, I duck down, closing the hatch behind me.
The stairs go a very long way down. By the time I’m through, I can still feel Paul climbing down, in the lead.
His slow pace irritates me. I have half a mind to simply leap down, using my claws to slow my descent against the opposite wall. But that would look try-hard, so I bite down my impatience and make the slow descent instead.
Eventually, we reach the bottom. An enormous tunnel stretches out two ways.
“That way leads back to the fortress,” he says, gesturing to his left. “We go the other way.”
He turns right and leads us through the tunnel.
We end up at a large sealed door, like a bank vault. Paul presses his hand against a scanner on the wall. It registers him, and a little keyboard, along with a small screen, is revealed.
He punches in a password, followed by some obscure command I don’t recognize. The door slowly folds back on itself, revealing the other side.
“Whoa,” April mutters.
Inside is an open space at least as big as a football field. Probably as big as a whole stadium. The floor is lined with vehicles, tanks, weapons. There is a helicopter on the far side. Among it are various workstations, all with screens scanning through the world’s news streams.
“Welcome to our playground,” Paul says.
I go in first. I’m fascinated by the rows and rows of weapons sheltered here. Some of them I recognize… but the majority, I’ve never seen before.
On one rack is a row of those awful cuffs that steal the vampire gifts.
I shudder and look away. Thank the gods that I never experienced their effect, thanks to my cloaking.
Once the last of us is through, Paul closes the door.
“From here,” he announces, “I have full authority over my men. None of them will know what I am.” He looks at me. “Tell me what you want to do.”
I glance around at the other vampires.
“All right,” I say. “First, you tell them to release Sylvia.”
“Are you insane?” Paul explodes. “You don’t think an order like that would raise suspicions? Especially given that I was the one who ordered her extraction so recently?”
“James,” Smithson says to me. “If Sylvia has been reporting to the Crusaders, she has no place with us.”
“You didn’t have her loyalty,” I snarl. “But I do. She is a vampire sworn to me, of my coven!”
“Give it up, James,” Victoria says. “There is no coven.”
“Just because we’re small,” I growl, “does not mean we cannot grow!”
“It has nothing to do with that,” she says. “A coven requires a home base. Land of its own. It cannot be a pack of wandering vampires.”
“We’re building on that,” I remind her. “These are just the early days.”
“Well, until you have land of your own, the coven is just a fiction,” she says. “And frankly, if Sylvia betrayed us, I do not want her back.”
“She needs to be back,” I say under my breath, “so that she can answer for what she’s done!”
“Then let it come at a later time,” Smithson says. “Trust me. I want answers from her, too. But we must not jeopardize our position.”
“Fine,” I say. “Then what would you have me do?”
“We need to decide what is our biggest concern. We sought out the Crusaders so that you may learn magic, so that you can protect yourself against Cierra. But magic was just a means to an end. The true purpose here is Cierra.”
I look around at the others and take a deep breath.
“I agree,” I say, finally.
“We have two options, then,” Smithson says. It feels like he is on the verge of taking command. Normally, I would put him in his place—but here, he truly is senior in knowledge.
I decide not to interfere and to continue allowing him to voice his suggestions.
“The first option is to seek out the man I told you about. It is pinning our hopes on a tiny possibility. The second, of course, is to start preparing for Cierra’s reappearance… and targeting all our combined might to destroy her.”
Smithson puts on a good show, but something about the way his conviction wavers when announcing the second choice, just a tiny bit, makes me suspicious.
“Remind me again,” I say softly, “why you had Cierra in your facility?”
He bristles and puffs his chest out. “Isn’t it obvious? Here was a great witch—I had hoped to work with her!”
“But you knew about her powers,” I continue. “You knew about how strong she was. About all she’d done. What do you think you could offer her in return for her allegiance?”