20

ord of mouth traveled at different speeds depending on social class, innovation, and the weight of the subject in tow. And in the case of Lori’s planned assault against The Brotherhood, word traveled through the havens like fire over a dry field. By the end of the second night a few vampires answered the call. They gathered in the haven’s conference room, a place set aside for other matters of business, and worked on the broader strokes outlining the assault.
Entering the underground parking lot, a 1975 GTO, painted in a shifting hue of violet and green, rumbled along in at a prowling pace. It glided into a parking spot and, with one last rev as if announcing its arrival, the engine turned off. Those few who stood by their cars chatting, stopped to watch the driver exit his car. Blending in was one of the basic skills a vampire learned early on in their new life. This vampire, however, loved the attention his appearance garnered. He looked like a long-lost drummer from a Heavy Metal band. His head was shaved clean and had a tribal tattoo that began at the back of his neck, intertwining on itself as it disappeared under his sleeveless black shirt, reappearing down the length of his muscular arms. He wore black leather pants and chains around his neck, including his combat boots sporting similar chains. He even wore black nail polish, kindly painted on by a girl he met on his last adventure.
The vampire entered the haven, ignoring the judging stares from others, and was greeted by a cheerful human.
“Good evening, sir. My name is Mark. I am the nighttime liaison. Will you be staying long?”
“Well, aren’t you an eager beaver,” the tall vampire said as he looked over Mark’s head and down the hall.
Mark picked up on the faint Australian accent. “Are you new in town?”
The vampire let out a single laugh. “To Redding, yes. I got word of some fun looking to take place really soon, and I was wanting in on some of the action. This is the place, right?”
Mark’s face dropped. “Follow me.”
The once eager liaison led the vampire down to the lowest level and into the conference room where six other vampires were casually talking. The stopped talking as Mark and the new recruit stepped inside.
“I have another one for you,” said Mark. The vampire at his side glanced at the faces of the six sitting and standing around the table. His eyes landed on the only female and smiled.
“So,” he said, “who do you want me to kill?”
Lori stood straight, arms crossed, and replied, “As many as you want.”
The vampire turned to Mark and finally answered his first question. “I think I’ll be staying for a while. Go note that in your little book.” He waved his hand at him, shooing him away.
Mark pursed his lips in disgust but said nothing as he left the room.
Lori stepped away from the table and the guardian at her side to approach the intimidating vampire. Her own short stature was exaggerated as she stood before the new vampire, just as she felt standing next to Arden. But this vampire outclassed Arden in muscle mass, but not too bulky.
“What is your name?” Lori asked.
“Mikolas.”
“Kind of young, aren’t you?”
“Everyone has to be born sometime. Not my fault when.”
She smiled. “I like you. Honesty of one’s faults is a rare thing.” Pivoting onto the balls of her feet, she raised herself up to gather a full breath of his scent. Her strength was returning, and with it came her own parlor trick. “Mehdar’s bloodline, I believe.” She lowered herself back down. “I hope you’re nothing like the stereotype.”
“I don’t align myself with any bloodline. I am who I am.”
Lori raised an eyebrow. “And who is that?”
“Right now, I’m whoever you want me to be.”
A smaller, scheming smile escaped onto her lips. “I need a hundred more like you, but right now, you are my fifth. Welcome to the team.”
“So what’s the job?”
Lori returned to her place at the table where Arden stood and glanced over the scattered papers. “We’re going to break into an ex-government facility and free its prisoners, then destroy everyone and everything in our path.”
Mikolas stared at her, eyes wide. “You just gave me biggest hard-on I’ve had in a while. This may be a bit too early to say but… I love you.”
Feeding off of his enthusiasm, Lori allowed herself to laugh. “You might want to reserve that until you hear the rest of the details.”
The three vampires sitting at the table, though older than Mikolas by a few decades, were still considered young by Lori’s standards. But by their own standards, they were as feared as the guardian at her side, and equally turned their noses up at the newest member, Mikolas.
“Here’s what we have so far,” Lori began, unfolding a map and laying it on the table. “There is a building forty miles east of Seattle here”—she placed her index finger on a previously marked spot—“not far from the interstate. The public satellite images we’ve pulled show nothing there but forest, a national forest, but we have solid proof that it’s there.”
“What proof?”
“We have someone who use to work for them.”
Mikolas crossed his arms. “Them?”
“The Brotherhood.”
“—of Osiris,” he finished for her.
Lori gave him a look of interest. “You’ve heard of them?”
“I travel a lot. I hear different stories. I just thought it was a conspiracy invented by some bored vamps with nothing else better to do than to watch humans age.”
“Well, they’re real and we’re gonna be gunnin’ hard for them.”
Mikolas stretched his arms over his head, ready to jump into the planning. “Alright! I’m all up for a nice war.”
“No war. Just one battle. Wherever it goes from there, not my concern.”
Mikolas made himself at home by taking a seat at the far end of the table, casually relaxing in the wood chair. “I love a good challenge. Let’s just hope this one has a better payoff than my last job.”
Lori glanced at him as she sorted through the papers. “You make it a habit to seek out jobs like these?”
“If the fun is worth it, yeah. My last job had me breaking into the Fortress of Eden.”
“You went after Ingram?” Lori’s mouth almost dropped. Eden was the unofficial title of the estate where Alexander Ingram lived. He was the head of the all-powerful organization of hunters called SEVEN. If the snake of SEVEN had a heart, Eden would be the prime target to cripple the organization.
“It was a small job,” Mikolas explained.
One of the other vampires at the table stared at him in disbelief. “That was you who helped pull of that attack?”
“Nah,” he said, waving away from assumption. “Not the first one.”
“Wait a minute,” Lori interrupted. “What happened?”
Another vampire answered. “Last year, a group of werewolves and vampires stormed into Eden. Their plan was to clean out that place; more of a shock-and-awe deal. They failed, of course, but Eden took a heavy loss, too.”
Mikolas spoke up. “My involvement was much later and not as grand. You don’t need a lot of muscle to get the job done. My small team were hired to get in, get the girl, and get out. Ingram didn’t know what hit him. For such a well-guarded place, we were able breach security without a hitch.”
Lori shook her head, confused. “What girl?”
“Ingram’s daughter, Evonne. She wanted out and we obliged.”
The other vampire spoke once more. “But Eden’s security is like a padlock and chain compared to this Crifton place, which is like a six inch steel safe guarded by its own army.”
“Not quite,” said Lori. “I was able to get out with the help of a cleaning lady. We just need to find a weakness.”
“Or create one,” added Mikolas.
A new smile found Lori. “Now we’re thinking. In the old days, the quickest way to sack a city was to breach its walls. If we can focus our strength on one area, we can pierce its shell in no time.” She shuffled through the papers and retrieved a drawing of a building’s layout, then pointed at the structure’s western side. “This here is the loading bay for new arrivals…”