Page 41 of Gates of Rapture
Leto withdrew his sword.The death vamp fell forward and Leto, also with the practice of millennia, took his head.
He leaned back, bent his knees, and roared into the air.
He pivoted and headed back to the main street on a run, his gaze strafing the sky above, then every shadow nearby.By now, a thousand militia warriors were swarming the town.There were bodies of death vampires everywhere, some moving slightly, others inert.
Gideon had the north end secured and Diallo had already arrived to begin repairing the mist that had been burned away.
The air smelled of smoke and blood and fear.
The fighting was thickest now at the southern end, but the battle was almost over.His warriors were steadily collecting death vampire bodies and moving them to Gideon’s position.
Standing off to the side, Leto watched Gideon direct traffic.He had his warrior phone to his ear, issuing removal orders either to the morgue at Apache Junction Two or to the one at Central Command.Headless bodies and the detached heads began disappearing as fast as they were collected.
The mission proceeded with great speed, all the warriors moving on lightning feet.Months of training had paid off.
Gideon kept sending repeat details to scour each house, each garden, each nearby ravine, and especially the underground cisterns, hunting for the enemy.There was no way they were leaving a single death vamp behind.
Leto approached Gideon, knowing that he would look strange to the warrior, but it couldn’t be helped.Besides, in this form, Leto had vanquished four Third Earth death vamps.Not half bad for a beast-man.
Gideon’s eyes widened a little, as did the eyes of a number of the Militia Warriors near him.
Leto shrugged.“Better get used to it.Apparently, this is my new look.”
Gideon glanced around and ordered everyone back to work.“We’re bringing in backup squads to patrol through the night.”
“How many?”
“Twenty.”
“Good.”That would put eighty warriors on the ground.“And the healers?”
“As soon as the fighting in the south is done, we’re bringing them in.Horace has forty ready to go.But, Leto, we have at least twenty dead colonists, and several of our warriors didn’t make it.”
It could have been worse.It could have been a disaster.That’s what he thought but that’s not what he said.“We’ll need counselors in here as well.”
Gideon nodded.“Mei-Amadi will take charge of that.”
“Do we know how the colony was identified by the enemy?Did any of your men find transmitters?”
“Yes,” Gideon said.“They’re everywhere.But we knew it was just a matter of time.”He looked up.“Diallo feels confident this renewed layer of mist will eradicate the position of the colony.If Greaves’s army wants to come back, they’ll have to work for it.”
Several hours later, the Nazca One Colony was well in hand.Gideon sent dozens of Militia Warriors to search out the last of the transmitters.
Leto folded back to the landing platforms.He was the only one at that location.The grounds were quiet, as they should be.The hour had to be near two in the morning.
He was about to fold when he sensed something behind him.He turned around and watched a large shimmering appear in the desert.He drew his sword into his hand and was about to sound the alarm all over again when Greaves appeared with a contingent of ten Third Earth death vampires.On top of that, Greaves held both hands out in front of him.Leto could feel the hand-blast gearing up.
He saw his death in this moment as sure as Greaves was standing there.He couldn’t legally kill Leto, but he could wound him as near to fatal as he could get, then order his death vamps to finish him off.
Leto had only one thought:But Grace just got back.
Like hell, however, he would take this lying down.He lowered his chin and built up his shields as fast as he could.He drew a dagger from his weapons harness.
Greaves just smiled.“I’ve been waiting for this moment for months now.”He let loose with a hand-blast that roared at Leto like a freight train.
Leto’s shields buckled, and he was thrown off the platform and rolled downhill.The whole time, he worked at rebuilding his shields, but it was as though they’d been melted.Still, he had to try.
He glanced in Gideon’s direction, but he couldn’t see him.Greaves had put a mist around the battle.Of course.
