Page 58 of The Vampire's Thirst
Her beautiful orchid eyes glistened with moisture as she stared into his. “I love you, Dax.”
He lunged off her, fisting her gown, yanking it down to her ankles. “No, you don’t. I’m fucked up. Besides, the feeling’s not reciprocated.”
Wide-eyed, she stared at him. “That’s mean.”
“Do you want me to lie? I’ll keep you safe until Scath. There, we part ways.” When she scooted back to lean against the headboard, he tucked himself into his pants, groaned, and zipped up. Springing off the bed, he paused at the door. “I’m outta here.”
Chiara’s hands twisted in her lap. “What are you going to do?”
“I can shadowflash from one dark location to another. Any place I can see. If I take it a step at a time, I’ll keep tracing until I’m close to the portal. See what’s going on.”
Chiara’s fingers tugged on a long strand of dark curls. Dax wanted to touch her. He’d like to…Damn. Don’t go there.
“Be careful, won’t you? I mean, I don’t want to be left alone.”
He rushed outside before he did something stupid. Using vampire speed, he reached the first barricade they’d encountered earlier today. When he saw an empty alleyway two blocks away, he popped into the shadows there. Next, he hid in another unlighted spot. After about five more stops, he was alongside a brick building near the portal. This was no carnival, terrorists, bioweapons, nor movie shoot.
No military war-game maneuver either. Heavily armed men in US Army uniforms gathered on the street, scrutinizing the storefront which housed the portal.
Hidden in the dark, Dax observed the scene for hours. During one of his mandatory stays on Earth, he’d been in a Special Forces unit. He knew enough about warfare to recognize the military’s positional advantage.
Off to one side, men sparred and exercised. Their speed, agility, and power demonstrated they were well-trained and physically fit but not jacked up on Dante’s superhuman shit. Good news.
Tents were pitched in the streets. Two medical vans waited with personnel standing alongside chatting. Three Apache helicopters sat on the ground. One section held troop carriers.
The army had cordoned off a large area, evacuated the neighborhood, and waited for Aeternals. Having broken into the storefront housing the portal, they could fire on anyone exiting a gateway. He wondered if they were armed with bullets or tranqs.
Just then, shots rang out. Two men exited the storefront with a slumped body between them. Another two soldiers dragged a dazed but struggling Aeternal out. Dax couldn’t make out the breed. Both were males. They were loaded into one of the medical vehicles. Armed escorts stepped inside with them, closing the back end. The vans sped off, probably headed to a nearby larger base of operation.
If Dax tried to help the Aeternals, the military would capture him. Chiara would be alone. But the helplessness rankled.
Two men who looked like high-ranking officers chatted under a bright streetlamp. Each held a confiscated portal jumper. One soldier turned the device over to study it. Scratching his head, he shrugged when the guy next to him asked a question. If the human soldiers figured out how to work the things or how to replicate them, the news was not good. Dax sure could use a device right now, but he was not likely to snag one.
The whole situation was FUBAR. He and Chiara were not going home from a gateway in Missoula. Where now? He had another idea. If it panned out, he could notify the Firebrands as to the clusterfuck Earthside.
Chapter Thirteen
Beforedaybreak, Lort craned his neck to watch a striker team of harpies fly overhead in combat-box formation. The black-winged creatures flaunted deadly beaks, poisonous claws, and ruby-red lips which curled into sinister smiles as their long hair fanned out in the wind. While the wildings rode prevailing air currents, their thickly lashed eyes scanned the ground, unable to see the Arisen Dawn garrison hidden beneath a cloaking spell. The perfect sentinels, they kept visitors away from the headquarters while they provided an early warning system with their shrieks and cries.
The harpies’ nests to the north made them frequent fly-bys. Roaming the area to the west were questing beasts, and gagans hunted in the mountains. All kept Arisen Dawn soldiers close and unwelcome guests distant. The garrison was in an ideal site.
Cerberus called Lort’s attention back toterra firma. “Continue to concentrate on infiltrating North America through the western portion of the United States. How go the early forays?”
“Excellent. Soldiers are slipping through portals in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Portland and will next move into Montana, Washington, and Idaho.”
“Have you run into heavy opposition yet?” Cerberus paced on the overlook as he questioned his general.
“None, but we’re avoiding locations we think Dante shared with the Earth armies before he died. Nevertheless, we could find the military waiting for us at future invasion sites, not knowing exactly what he told them. That’s why I send in the drug-compelled Gold Dusters first. We can afford to lose them. If all goes well, I then dispatch our loyalists. I directed both groups to cause as much havoc as possible. In the wake of dead bodies and Aeternals roving the West, human civilian populations are screaming for information and protection. Since the armies have not yet shared intel about us, the people haven’t figured out who we are or where we are coming from.”
Cerberus stopped with the back and forth to preach his usual message. “The time will come when they can no longer keep us a secret. Arisen Dawn will bathe in human blood and fear. Once we have tested North America, we move to the rest of the world.”
“I prefer to think about the current battleground. One victory at a time. Besides, we can only slip a limited number of our soldiers through at a time with handheld portal jumpers. This fact hampers a quick resolution to our war.”
“Is Boden making any progress on creating better devices where we can send more fighters through the portals?”
“Yes. We are up to ten, but the director says that’s as much juice as he can get out of the handheld gadgets.”
Cerberus paused to stroke his jaw. “Boden was tasked by Firebrands to add gateways. Has he done so?”
