Vampires Dead Ahead

THIRTY-SIX



Traffic was so bad that evening that I could have run to Jenny Jump State Park in New Jersey faster than we traveled by vehicle. Literally. Two traffic accidents slowed progress. Of course a radar gun could clock me running faster than the speed limit.

I was just thankful that Olivia wasn’t at the wheel. No, she was likely scaring Dave to death as she drove the vehicle they were in. Colin was driving our SUV, and there were three others in our little convoy from the city.

It was three days after my return. A recon team had been dispatched to find Volod almost immediately after our visit to the brownstone. They were due back today.

Now it was time for us to reconvene and get ready to go on the offensive against Volod and his forces. We wanted to catch them off guard before they returned to New York City. I only hoped we’d be in time.

When we’d last been in the hardwood forest of the state park it had been late fall, the trees naked. Now it was spring and despite the darkness I could see that everything was alive and green.

Our SUV traveled down the two-lane dirt road into the forest, the headlights cutting through the night.

Shivers ran over my body as we reached the almost invisible mirrored pyramid in an isolated part of the forest, and I ran my fingers along my collar. This was where Volod had injected me with a deadly serum. This was where we’d battled him, where we thought we’d taken down his empire.

When we arrived at the great stone fence that surrounded the property, the huge iron gate creaked open as if someone had been waiting for our arrival.

Mirrored glass covered the imposing pyramid, yet the surface didn’t reflect the surroundings. Instead it seemed to absorb the light.

An imposing stone fence around the perimeter was about twelve feet high. Rows of razor wire curled along the top. The sharp barbs gleamed in our headlights.

It didn’t look at all like a Vampire lair. It looked more like an Egyptian pyramid—modern style.

As we neared the structure, the ground rumbled and shook, then started to rise in front of us. A great door—about the length of two buses—slowly opened the earth. We drove into the cavernous opening, which slanted down to a concrete parking garage.

The last time I’d been here the garage had been filled with the Vampires’ luxury vehicles. Well, those plus an old truck and a Prius. The concept of environmentally conscious Vampires was hard to wrap my mind around.

We entered the pyramid through the garage. Lead seemed to line my belly as we walked to a great foyer that was all too familiar.

The enormous chandelier overhead was still brilliant even though its hundreds of teardrop crystals were dusty. To the right a black marble staircase swept up to where a huge ballroom had held the giant nest of Vampires.

Now voices floated down to us from that direction. I recognized some of the paranorms talking. It was good to hear something familiar coming from what had been one of the worst places I’d ever been to.

Our eight-member team went up the sweeping staircase to a ballroom where about ninety paranorms were gathered.

Armand had told me that he had called ahead and informed the paranorms that they would be working with a Drow-human-Vampire, and he expected no problems.

Some approached and shook my hand while others stared at me in confusion, wariness, or mistrust. I couldn’t blame them. It was certainly a unique situation.

I made my way through the crowd until I reached my brother.

“Tristan.” I smiled as he hugged me.

A ringing sound came from a pocket in his leather pants. I raised my eyebrows. “Since when did you start carrying a phone?”

Tristan fumbled with it but managed to get the flip phone open. “Olivia gave it to me while you were gone.”

Trust Olivia to give a Drow warrior from Otherworld a phone.

“Yes?” Tristan said when he brought the phone to his ear. He had it upside down so I helped him turn it back. “Hello, hello?”

He listened for a moment, said “Yes, sir,” then handed the phone to me. “It is for you.”

I blinked in surprise. My brother had a call for me?

“This is Nyx,” I said.

“Nyx!” My father’s voice boomed over the phone line.

“Father?” My jaw dropped. “How are you calling me?”

“Tristan gave me this damn contraption to reach you when we arrived.” He yelled into the phone as if he thought the sound had to carry across the miles.

I winced and pulled the phone away from my ear. “Where are you?”

“I sense we are perhaps five furlongs from you. I transferred my warriors into this—this … do you call this a forest?” he said. “It is nothing that compares to Otherworld. I had bad information and didn’t make it to our target, so I need someone to come collect us.”

“No, the forest doesn’t compare.” I had to smile at that. When it came to nature, nothing was as pure as Otherworld. “Tristan and I will go out and meet you.”

“I shall wait for your arrival,” Father said, and then the connection was severed.

“You gave Father a phone?” I handed the device back to Tristan.

He shrugged. “Convenient, is it not?”

I just shook my head at the thought of the warrior king of the Dark Elves having a cell phone.

After making our way out of the pyramid, Tristan and I ran to meet my father.

The evening was cool as we cut through the night. It was impossible to hear or see Elves—Dark or Light—if they didn’t want you to. But as Drow, Tristan and I could both sense them.

When we came upon the warriors in the forest, just off the road, they let us by without speaking. Tristan nodded to the warriors we passed. I was aware of their gazes. I wondered what they were thinking now that I was a Vampire.

I was not actually certain they’d all even heard of Vampires before they joined my father’s special force.

Father stepped out into the forest, and emotion surged through me. I threw myself into his arms. I didn’t care that his warriors were watching. I needed my father.

He embraced me. “Nyx.” His voice was thick as he squeezed me tight to him. “You tempt me to take you back to Otherworld and lock you away.” He drew away and held my face in his palms. “I have almost lost you too many times.”

“I know, Father.” I hugged him again and rested my cheek against the cool metal of his breastplate. “I think I need a vacation.”

Tristan and I walked with my father and his warriors back to the pyramid. The warriors did not change their bearing, but I could sense the wonder and wariness they all felt at being escorted into this bizarre world.

It made me think of when Rodán had brought me to New York City. The surprise, excitement, and even fear I’d felt in such a strange place. Almost three years later I was a changed person.

We escorted them through the foyer of the pyramid, up the staircase, and to the ballroom. The paranorms had been told to expect a contingent of Dark Elves but there was still a sense of wary interest on both sides.

Colin and my father greeted each other like longtime friends.

There was barely any room to move now. There had to be over a hundred of us packed into the enormous ballroom. When daylight came we would have the Drow warriors sleep inside the pyramid or down in the catacombs.

I left my father and Tristan, and I squeezed through the crowd with Colin to the head of the room where Armand waited. Desmond was there, too.

Armand raised his hands and made a motion for everyone to quiet down and listen.

When the room was silent, he spoke. “Thanks to the Sorcerer Desmond, we have learned where the Vampires are gathered.”

A murmur traveled through the crowd of paranorms.

“Based on what Desmond told us, a recon team was sent in. They have just returned,” Armand continued, “bringing valuable information.”

He gestured for a paranorm to come forward. I recognized a Tracker from upstate New York, a Shifter named John.

Armand clapped a hand on his shoulder. “John, share with everyone what you and your recon team learned.”

“By shifting into one of my smaller animal forms, I was able to enter Volod’s mansion. I found this.” John raised a piece of paper. “This is a list of all Vampires and Vampire paranorms who are or will be at the Vampires’ lair shortly. It’s a much shorter list than we expected. There are fewer than a hundred names on it.”

“How do you know that number is correct?” Dave asked as a murmur traveled through the room.

“It appears very accurate based on the numbers of Vampires I saw.” He went on to explain that the compound had human guards on the perimeter while the vampires were asleep, much as when they had controlled the pyramid.

“The guards are replaced by Vampires about ten o’clock. We will need to take care of the guards,” John said with a smile. “Which shouldn’t be hard being they are human.”

He held up the paper again. “This also has an agenda for the next two days. It has times listed down to the quarter hour. From what we observed, they are following that agenda.”

We made plans to penetrate the perimeter forest to just outside the main mansion, where there was a huge assembly building. It was just north of the mansion with two huge outdoor fireplaces and chairs set up. A large roll-up door in the rear was unlocked. Not that a lock kept me from getting into anything.

According to John, there was a huge back room that was used for storage, but it had plenty of empty space for our fighters to lie in wait. A drape separated the storage room from the main room. We had to get into place with a large team before the Vampires assembled. Apparently the Vampires generally didn’t come out until at least an hour or so after sundown.

“That hour will give our fighters time to set up for the attack,” Armand said. “Many of them will be inside. We will plan on having twenty to twenty-five there. The rest will be on the perimeter and will attack the building on signal as well as going after any Vampires who run out of the assembly hall or remain outside or in the mansion.”

“Last night,” John said, “Volod talked to the Vampires about who they are, what they are entitled to, how they are superior to everyone now. According to their agenda, he’s now about to lay out the next step in his plan. He likes to get his troops excited, practically in a frenzy.”

“Yeah, I’ve been to a couple of these meetings,” Olivia said. “It was called Amway.”

A little laughter was sprinkled around the room. I knew a Shifter who was an Amway distributor and I’d bought soap from him. Still, I doubted that most paranorms had heard of the company.

“We thought we would have to take the Vampires down in tight quarters,” Armand said. “This will work out perfectly. We will go through what we know about the Vampire paranorms; we have a dossier on each one, and we know their respective skills. I believe that we have more than enough firepower to take them all out.”

It was difficult still to think of destroying these beings, these Vampire paranorms. If they only understood that Volod would ultimately destroy all of them after he was done with them.

Not long ago, we were on the same side fighting Volod. To think we had been so close to destroying him less than a year ago. And now he was on the brink of taking over New York City. I couldn’t imagine a more cunning or evil being.

“We have the element of surprise in our favor,” Armand said, drawing my attention back to him. “And we have numbers. A numbers advantage was not what we expected. Adding the Drow warriors will help ensure victory.”

“Why don’t we go in daylight when the Vampires are in coffins or catacombs or wherever the hell they are?” Olivia asked.

Armand turned to her, resting his hand on the hilt of the sword sheathed at his side. “Good question. The mansion is virtually impenetrable when it is locked down. There are also tunnels belowground, so some could escape.

“And there is one we want to look in the eye when he dies.” Armand’s jaw tightened. “Volod. We don’t want him slipping away. Also, a good number of our fighters cannot be out in the daylight.”

Armand moved his gaze around the room. “As it is an isolated area with no airport available, we will go by tour bus.”

“You’re kidding. Tell me you’re kidding.” Olivia’s voice rang out, a hint of laughter in her tone. “A bunch of powerful paranorms have to go to a battle in tour buses?”

Armand managed to look matter-of-fact. “Due to a shield that we believe a Vampire-Sorcerer has put up, we cannot use transference reliably. The shield seems to mess with the transfers. It is just not accurate. We could end up in the middle of the mansion with our entire team, or half of us might land ten miles away. Our recon team had problems with it and had to walk a few miles in. They did not have problems transferring out, however.”

There were a few groans mixed with some snickers. I was one of those who wanted to laugh. I looked up at Colin. “Please tell me you can get us up there without taking a bus.”

Colin rested his hand on my shoulder. “Unfortunately, no.”

This time I groaned. A tour bus?

“What about the Dark Elves?” I asked. “They can’t be out when it’s daylight.”

“We are specially outfitting one of the buses,” Armand said. “We are certain it won’t be a problem.”

After Armand quieted everyone again, Desmond created a three-dimensional map of the upstate location where Volod’s lair was hidden. Armand used the tip of his sword to point out the topography and the layout of the buildings.

Desmond’s magic showed us areas we would never have been able to map out otherwise. Still, the recon team had also done a great job gathering information that Desmond could not.

Desmond would be able to use his magic to jam any modern weapons like guns, eliminating that concern.

Armand spent time going over the specifics of our planned attack. He assigned me to lead a team of nine, counting Desmond.

Not all of our Trackers would be able to go, which was one reason why we numbered little over 120, even including the Dark Elves.

“Let me make something very clear.” Armand moved his gaze around the room. “You are to kill all Vampires and Vampire paranorms in your paths. Do not allow yourself to feel pity for these beings.”

“What about her?” an out-of-town Tracker said. Everyone looked at me.

“Nyx is half Drow, which made her less susceptible to the infection of Vampirism,” Armand said. “I have seen for myself her loyalty to our cause and our people. Those of you who know me … Do you really believe that if I sensed a threat, she would be here right now? I hope you trust me more than that. She is one of us.”

That seemed to stop the questions, but I still sensed lingering distrust.

Armand concluded, “The buses are outside and waiting. Let’s clear out of here and ensure that Vampires never harm paranorms again.”

The paranorm Trackers in the ballroom cheered and shouted. I could feel the enthusiasm of the crowd sweeping us on to victory.

Armand clenched his jaw as he added, “We know our enemy is formidable, but we have an excellent plan in place. We have great fighters. We outnumber them. We have the element of surprise. This will be the night that Volod will go down. We will not lose.”

Cheers erupted in the room from the teams. I felt goose bumps. Yes, this night, Volod would go down.