Page 18 of Coven

“These are two of my betas, Ralph and George,” Ember said. “They’re going to work with us. That is…” he paused and turned to Kana. “Are you going to help us?”

Kana nodded. “We decided we can’t leave your wolves to suffer.”

Ember let out a relived breath. “Good. Let’s sit down, and I’ll tell you our plan.”

Everyone took seats, Mika and Sora on the coffee table and the others on the worn couches.

“Thanks to Kana, there are only three vampires left,” Ember began. “I can see two ways of getting rid of them. The first is hitting all three at the same time. If they see an attack coming, like they would if we attack them one by one, Octavius will run, then return when it’s most advantageous to him. He’ll have the chance to make more vampires, and then we’ll be the ones killed when his army attacks us in revenge. If we go after him first instead, there’s no telling what the other two will do. This means we need a force ready to take all three at exactly the same time, which we don’t have. Even with Kana’s help, we just don’t have the manpower.”

“Are the other two vampires strong like Octavius?” Kana asked.

Although he had never tried it, it was possible to write a spell circle on a piece of treated paper. If he sent Mika and Sora with one paper each after the two weaker vampires, they could light the spell on Kana’s behalf. Werewolves would serve as backup to keep them safe until the spell circles were lit.

Except Ember was already shaking his head. “Penelope was Octavius’s flavor of the week. He found her already turned just before he moved us here and has been using her for entertainment purposes only. He liked them dumb and simpering, which was why she didn’t know to check the reporter’s neck before trying to bite. Xavier was old, but he never developed any significant power, which was why Octavius let him stay. I believe Xavier was enamored with Penelope, and her death set him off. Had he been thinking, he could have avoided your circle.

“Lucas and Sophia, the two remaining vampires, are not so weak willed, unfortunately,” Ember finished.

“I still like option two better,” George said.

“That has its share of problems as well,” Ember replied. He looked at Kana. “The other idea we have is to kill Lucas or Sophia before our attack. We should then have enough forces to pin down the two remaining vampires in a coordinated attack.”

That sounded good to Kana, but he could tell there was a but coming. “Why won’t that idea work?” he asked.

Ember sighed. “We need to make it look like it was entirely their fault; like they tried to bite the wrong person, and it ended badly.”

“That’s really difficult,” Ralph said.

“Exactly.” Ember ran a hand through his hair. “If they die and fall into dust, we have no proof of how they were killed. Octavius will assume either we did it, or that I didn’t take care of the witch like he ordered. He’ll punish us. Which means we can’t stake them like you did to Xavier with the apple tree, and we can’t zap them with Hunter’s Bane like you did to Penelope.”

“Don’t vampires always turn to ash when they die?” Kana asked.

All three wolves shook their heads. “It only happens if their heart is destroyed or they are hit with magic that removes their vampire essence, which is what Bane does.”

“Sunlight turns them to ash too,” George added.

“Which is another problem,” Ember said with a nod to George. “The best way to kill a vampire without them turning to ash is to rip their bodies apart. I mean really rip them apart. If no piece larger than their hand is left, they can’t heal the extent of those injuries and will die. As long as whatever rips them apart doesn’t touch the heart, no ash. But, if their remains stay outside past sunrise, we lose our evidence.”

“And a werewolf can’t be implicated,” Ralph said, his voice sharp in warning. “If Octavius sees wolf marks on the body, we’re all done for.”

“Which also brings up the problem of finding a creature strong enough to rip a vampire to shreds, who also has the willpower to remain sentient enough amid a bloodbath not to touch the heart.” Ember flexed his fingers as if he were curling his claws in his wolf form and thinking about ripping the vampire apart himself.

Kana sat back in his seat, thinking. If Xavier would have had the ability to evade Kana’s hasty circle, had he been in his right mind, then Kana’s idea of sending Mika and Sora with a spelled piece of paper was useless. He had no connections to people who could help bolster their numbers, and he had no spells he could use to prevent any of the vampires from escaping. Unless they could get rid of one vampire before the big attack, they would be in trouble.

I want to play, Mika said.

Me too! Sora added. You know we can do it. All we need is someone to lure one of the vampires into a basement or something where the sun can’t reach, and we can do the ripping and shredding.

“How often do the vampires leave their house?” Kana asked.

“Once a week?” Ember asked George and Ralph.

“About that, yeah,” Ralph replied. “They get their fill of werewolf blood most days, but they like the chase. Sophia once told me it warms the human’s blood to the perfect temperature.”

Which meant they had to travel to the city where there were plenty of pickings, and also plenty of basements.

“If you guys can find someone able to lure one of the vampires into a basement or a windowless room, Mika and Sora volunteered to do the ripping and tearing,” Kana said. “Cat claws are shaped differently than a wolf’s, so Octavius won’t think a werewolf did it.”

The three wolves looked at Mika and Sora, who were lounging on the coffee table. They were a little over a foot long, not including their tails, and their claws were sized to match.

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