Vampires Don't Sparkle: Deathless Book 3 (36 page)

Their instructions were simple. Keep the enemy away until everyone could fall back, then use the teleporter to invade the First Ark. Only, Trevor doubted it would be simple. Heavy footfalls sounded in the distance. Far too heavy to be human, and the stampede was growing closer.

“Incoming,” Trevor roared, sprinting down the tunnel back into the narrow hallway. He dove behind a stack of crates, rolling to his feet next to the machine gun emplacement. The woman manning the weapon wasn’t anyone he knew, which might be just as well. It was unlikely she’d survive the next few hours.

“How many?” Blair asked, crouched in werewolf form across the hall, behind another stack of crates. There was no sign of Liz, but Trevor knew she was there somewhere, in the shadows.

“At least a dozen, the big bruiser types,” Trevor answered, slipping into the shadows himself. “You want to fall back to Object 3?”

“Not yet,” Blair said, shaking his furry head. “We need to make this believable, or they’ll know something’s up. That means making them pay for every inch they take.”

The first lumbering figure emerged from the room beyond, pausing to bellow a challenge as it entered the narrow hallway. It was a little over eight feet tall, and had to stoop to enter. Both broad horns carved furrows in the ceiling, dusting its shoulders with white plaster.

The woman next to Trevor opened up with the machine gun, ringing Trevor’s ears like gongs. The vibrations shook the floor as a sea of spent cartridges clattered to the ground around them. The stream of rounds punched into the demon’s chest and face, driving it backward. Most of the rounds ricocheted off, which showed just how tough these things were. A few punched through, sending out gouts of black blood. The demon answered with an angry roar, and tried to force its way up the corridor.

The machine gun kept firing, until the creature finally collapsed in a pool of its own black blood. There was a moment of blessed silence, then a second demon tried to crawl past the body of the first. The machine gun howled death again, and Trevor covered his ears. The floor was thick with spent shell casings now, and the room reeked of gunpowder.
 

The second demon stopped moving. A third tried clawing its way past, but was having a hard time managing the bodies of its companions. Then the demon disappeared back the way it had come. Trevor waited for long moments, praying for the ringing in his ears to fade. Nothing. No further attempts by the demons to gain the corridor.

“Where do you think they went?” Liz called from behind him, her deep voice confirming that she was in wolf form, despite the fact that Trevor couldn’t see her.

“Regrouping, maybe?” Blair asked, peering over the crates on the other side of the all.

“I doubt it,” Trevor said. “We only killed two of them, and they have a whole hell of a lot more fodder.”

“Then why did they—” Blair began, but a wall of flame and shrapnel erupted up the hallway. Trevor blurred, ducking behind the machine gun emplacement. The soldier wasn’t quite fast enough to get her head down, and took a face full of flame and pain.

The rapid staccato of automatic weapons fire came from the far end of the corridor, and the crates that had survived the missile blast crumbled under a withering hail of high caliber bullets. Blair crouched across from Trevor, his fur singed, but seemingly unharmed otherwise.

“Fall back,” Trevor roared, unsure if anyone could hear him beneath the deafening weight of the gun fire.

Either Blair heard him, or had the same idea. He blurred up the corridor, disappearing into the room beyond. Trevor did the same, rolling through the doorway and scrambling to one side of it. A moment later, Liz emerged from the shadows. She swung the heavy iron door shut, dropping the kind of crossbar he’d expect in a medieval dungeon.
 

“That’s not going to hold them for long,” she roared, spinning to face Trevor. “Did you get a look at whatever was firing?”

“No,” Trevor said, shaking his head. The muffled roar of bullets finally ceased, but they still had to shout to be heard over the ringing in their ears.

I did.
Blair’s voice echoed in Trevor’s head.
Or I felt the person, anyway. It was Jordan. He wasn’t alone either. Steve is out there too.

“That will mean Irakesh. Maybe Wepwawet too,” Trevor yelled back. “All working for Set, you think?”

Definitely. It doesn’t surprise me about Steve or Irakesh, and we already knew Jordan was compromised.
Blair’s voice rang through Trevor’s mind again.
That means we’re outnumbered, and likely outgunned. That might change the plan.

Trevor looked at the platform dominating the room. Object 3, Osiris had called it. A triangle of black stone sloped up to a golden disk about six feet across. “Should we use that thing, then?”

“We can’t,” Liz called back, shaking her auburn-furred head. “Not yet, anyway. We have to wait for Isis. There’s no point in going to the Ark without her, Osiris, and Ra.”

“How long will it take you to warm that thing up, Blair?”

“I don’t know,” Blair said, turning to face Object 3. “Osiris says it works just like a light bridge, but it feels a little different.”

“He said this thing was built by the progeny of the Builders, right?” Trevor said, eyeing the thing uneasily.

“Yeah, that explains the difference. It’s a more modern version of the light bridges. Let’s just hope it works like we expect,” Blair said, trotting toward the disk at the top. “I’ll see if I can get a feel for how it works. Just keep them from getting through that doorway.”

“Will do,” Trevor said. He put his back to the wall on one side of the door, while Liz did the same on the other. They had to hold, whatever it took.

Chapter 66- Distraction

Isis seized one of the bulkier demon shock troops by its leg, then blurred as she swung it toward a neighbor. Bodies crunched together, slamming into a pile of large, wooden crates in an explosion of wood. She flinched as she was drenched with black ichor.
 

Something flashed by on her right, and she rolled into the shadows before realizing it was Sekhmet. The fiery-haired goddess bounced between a half dozen more brutes, her golden spear piercing an eye on each target.
 
She vaulted off the last one, hooking a leg on the metal shelving that held an array of smaller crates. Sekhmet flipped up toward the warehouse’s high ceiling, then she too disappeared into the shadows, each of her victims collapsing bonelessly to the ground.

“Show off,” Osiris yelled, striding through the warehouse with his blade held casually in one hand. The ancient sunsteel contrasted with the thoroughly modern high-tech communications device he wore hooked over one ear. “You could have left one for me.”

“It’s not my fault you’re slow,” Sekhmet shot back, stepping from the shadows to join Osiris. She wore a familiar smile, one that warmed Isis. It was almost like a journey back in time, back to when they’d been a real tribe. A family that fought together, no matter what.

“I’m just saving myself for the real fight,” Osiris said, clapping her on the shoulder. He turned to the shadows. “Isis?”

“I’m here,” she said, stepping into the light. She shifted back to human form as she did so, wiping ichor from her face. “Those things stink abominably.”

“Just another way for Set to make himself feel superior,” Osiris said, rolling his eyes. He turned to the far side of the warehouse. The wall had several demon-sized holes in it, and most of the dirty windows had been shattered during the assault. “They’ll come again soon, I’m sure. Set is nothing if not cautious. He’ll probe our defenses at every point, then mass and hit where he thinks we’re weakest.”

“Not here, certainly. He must sense us,” Sekhmet said, frowning.

“Likely,” Osiris replied. He tapped the mouthpiece he wore, whispering into it. “Mark, give us a status update.” He was silent for several moments, listening. Then Osiris turned to them. “Set’s forces have hit us from below, as we expected.”

“How do the whelps fare?” Isis asked, concern bubbling up. She hadn’t liked the plan. Leaving Trevor, Liz, and Blair on their own was dangerous.

“They’re fine, for now,” Osiris said. Roars sounded in the distance, then perhaps two dozen demons rushed through the hole in the warehouse wall. “More fodder. Husband your strength. This is Set’s attempt to bleed us, so we’re weaker when he faces us himself.”

Chapter 67- Sacrifice

Mark wished, for the millionth time, that he was back in Syracuse. The London Ops center was cramped, understaffed, and under geared. Not the best place to orchestrate a battle, particularly one as violent as that about to take place.

“Sir, falcon one and three are down,” one of the techs called. Mark watched the readout impassively, hands clasped behind his back.

“We’ve lost warehouse six, sir. They’ve breached the perimeter on level two,” another tech called. Mark didn’t answer this one either. This was expected. Most of it had been his plan, in fact. They didn’t know that, of course. Didn’t know he’d agreed to sacrifice them all.

“Benson,” he barked, glancing in her direction. She looked up, brushing her dark bangs from her face. “What’s the situation on level four?”

“They’ve breached the loading dock,” Benson said, showing uncharacteristic concern. “Your, uh, team has fallen back to Object 3. If they breach the door, we lose the Object.”

“Noted,” Mark said, fishing his smartphone out of his pocket. He tapped the button on the top of his ear piece, speaking in a low voice. “The situation has changed, sir. Object 3 is in trouble. If you don’t get down there in the next two minutes we’ve lost.”

“Understood,” Osiris shot back. The words were clipped, as if he were distracted. In the background came the sounds of combat. Demons were dying noisily.

Mark turned back to the monitor. A large group of demons had entered the facility, directly above this room. That, too, had been expected. All command signals were being broadcast from this room, and Mark had theorized that Set would have a way to listen to them.
 

The infernal god would have no choice but to crush Ops. It was too tempting a target. Doing so would cost Set time, time the other gods would use to reach Object 3. Then they’d spring the trap Mark had left, the reason they’d lured Set here.

“Sir,” Benson called, clearly alarmed. “They’ve breached the elevator shaft. They’re on their way here. We should get out. Now.”

“Take the techs and go,” Mark said, gesturing toward a metal cabinet that had been pulled away from the wall. Behind that cabinet lay a tunnel Mohn corp had dug for just such an occasion. He didn’t bother telling her there was no escape, that she couldn’t hope to outrun death.

Benson didn’t wait for further instructions. She didn’t even try to convince him to go with her. Professional to the very end. “Move, people. In the tunnel, NOW.”

Then she leapt through. The others followed her.
 

Mark was left alone in the room. He pushed the cabinet back in front of the hole, then sat in his chair. He propped his feet up on the desk, interlocking his fingers behind his head as he waited.

A few moments later, the heavy metal door exploded into the room, crashing into the wall with a deafening clatter. A figure in midnight armor strode through, six feet tall with a horned helm. His black eyes scanned the room, narrowing as they landed on Mark.

“Where is he?” Set snarled. Mark didn’t answer as several demons ducked into the room. There was no sign of Nephthys. Unfortunate, but also expected. It was unlikely Set would have left the Ark entirely undefended.

“Who?” Mark asked, giving Set an innocent smile. He knew it would show off his fangs, reminding Set that Mark was a child of Osiris.

“My brother,” Set spat, taking a threatening step toward the desk. “He’s too proud to give command to another. So where is he?”

“See for yourself,” Mark said, nodding at the monitor. It flickered to life, showing a dim view of warehouse five. Osiris stepped into the light, smiling broadly at the camera.

“Hello, brother,” Osiris said, grinning wickedly. “As stupid as always, I see. Rushing forward without any understanding of the cliff before you, just like the mammoths we used to kill.”

 
“I will tear out your heart, brother. I will turn your life to ashes. I will—” Set roared.

By that time Mark had gotten his hand into his pocket and wrapped it around the detonator.
 

Chapter 68- Cutting it Close

Blair closed his eyes, feeling the platform beneath him. Object 3 was unlike anything he’d ever encountered, more advanced than even the Nexus had been. Unlike the light bridge in the Ark, this thing seemed to possess its own primitive intelligence.

It enjoyed being used, and was happiest when it served the needs of others. That manifested in sending them wherever they wanted to go. Doing so drew partially on the strength of whatever power source Object 3 was connected to, and partially on the person powering it.

“Better make this fast, Blair,” Liz roared, an edge of panic to her tone. Blair opened his eyes.

Deep booms sounded as demons pounded on the thick steel door. Dent after dent appeared, and the frame anchoring it to the concrete was beginning to give. Liz had her back to the door in an attempt to reinforce it, but wasn’t having much luck. Trevor struggled to assist her, looking comically small next to a nine foot werewolf.
 

“I can make it work,” Blair finally called, certain he could do so even as he said the words. “I think things are going to go south pretty damn quickly if we do this without Isis, though.”

Your survival depends on your escape, Ka-Dun. The Mother will have to fend for herself.

Blair refused to heed the beast, even if it was right. They had to give Isis as long as possible to reach them, right down to the very last second.

The door exploded inward, fragments of metal bouncing from the walls. Liz rolled out of the way, vanishing into shadows. Trevor took a large section of door to the face. It knocked him to the concrete, and he was still struggling to rise when enemies began pouring through.