Luke Irontree & the Last Vampire War (Books 8-10), page 29
“How you doing, Rox?” Luke said, breathing hard.
“Alive for now.”
Delilah staggered up to them and bent over, her hands on her knees, as she tried to catch her breath. “They’re…massing. A lot.”
Luke struggled up and helped Roxi to stand, pulling her into a tight embrace and a brief kiss. He mouthed, “I love you” to her. “Where at, Dee?”
“North side. Looks like all of them.” Delilah stood straight, placing her hands on top of her head.
“Take everyone. Roxi, you go with her, then report back. I’m going to check the other side…” He staggered toward the south wall with its tipped over trailer to find Jung-sook still on top, taking shots. He’d almost forgotten about her, the constant noise turning her shots into white noise. “How you looking on ammo?”
“Not good. Down to seventeen rounds.” She tracked some movement and squeezed off another shot. “Sixteen.”
“What’s going on here?”
“Not sure, everyone seems to be heading north along either side,” Jung-sook answered without taking her eye away from her scope.
“Shit. They’re massing on the north side. Keep an eye out here, but don’t get caught. I’ll send someone if I need you to move, or if you feel you need to meet up with us.”
“Got it. Leave me a spotter if you can.”
Luke pointed to one of the werewolves taking a breather and tossed him the scope from his pocket. “Your Jung-sook’s spotter. Make sure no one sneaks up on you.”
Luke stopped by Owen at the mortar station. They hadn’t had the opportunity to use the remaining rounds, but Luke had him hold ready if needed.
“Owen, you can throw a mortar round, can’t you?”
Owen nodded. “Yeah. If we’re desperate.”
“I think it’s now desperate o'clock. Grab the rounds you have and let’s get to the north wall.”
Owen grabbed a bag and tossed it to Luke. “Last few grenades.” Then, he grabbed the tubes of the three remaining mortar rounds and followed Luke as they dashed to the north side.
“Jung-sook says everyone is filtering around to the north,” Luke said.
“Yeah, I think they’re going to try one massive push to overwhelm us,” Roxi replied as she squinted out into the dark, her sword hanging naked and ready in her hand.
“Everyone, spread out. Ready your spears along the walls. Remaining guns, spread out evenly. Owen, you and I will be in the middle. Stay down so they don’t hit you with a pot shot.” Luke moved toward the front barrier and crouched down low, laying out the grenades where he could reach them easily.
Owen sat next to him, handing Luke tubes. He held the tube as Owen pulled them out, setting them carefully on the ground.
“You know how to arm these with a mortar?” Owen asked.
Luke nodded. “Set the explosion setting, pull the pin, strike the firing mechanism on the bottom and chuck them hard.”
“Right. Be careful because it’s armed. If you hit the nose, you’ll set it off.”
Luke’s eyes went wide. “I’ll be sure to handle them with care.”
“Please do. I want to get home to my sister and my nephew.” He crouched down next to Luke. “I’ll handle them for now, but if I call for it, you arm them and hand them to me. I can probably throw them further.”
“Sounds good.” Luke peeked over the log. “Damn. Gave my scope to someone.”
Delilah dug into her backpack and pulled out some binoculars, handing them to Luke.
“Thanks.” He examined the woods to the north.
All he could see were shadows moving about in the trees about a hundred yards out. They’d adapted, learning the hard way the effective range of the weapons inside the fort.
“How far do you think you can throw those things?” Luke asked.
“I’m not sure. It’s not like they’re footballs and I’m a quarterback, but far enough, I guess,” Owen replied, squinting into the woods. “Not that far, though.”
“Let’s wait until they get in to about fifty yards. That work?”
Owen nodded. Luke ducked back down behind the log, looking around at the nervous and scared faces of his friends. They all looked stretched past their point of resilience, yet they held on and fought. He was proud of every one of them. They just wanted to survive the night and win the possibility of going home. That’s all he wanted, too. He’d fight until his body failed to give it to them.
“Looks like they’re getting ready,” Owen said. “Yeah. They’re moving through the trees. Spread out wide.”
“Stay down until the last minute everyone,” Luke called out as he popped back up to watch, Delilah’s binoculars over his eyes.
The massed vampires and werewolves let out a ragged yell, some howls mixed in, and surged forward.
“Steady…” Luke called as he reached down and grabbed a grenade, pulling the pin.
Owen grabbed a mortar and got it ready to go.
“Owen, you and me… Now!” Luke popped up and hurled the grenade into the center, bending to grab another.
Owen slammed the bottom of the mortar shell onto the top of the log and threw his toward the left of the line.
Gunshots rang out at the two people popping up behind the fort’s walls. Luke had the second grenade in the air when the first went off. The mortar shell joined it with a louder explosion. The screams of downed wolves and vamps rang out into the night, the sound raising a small cheer from Luke’s friends. Grabbing the last two grenades, Luke hurled one, then the other, dropping to the ground. Owen lobbed the last of the mortars and joined him behind the log.
The speed of the charge necessitated the last throws be much closer than Luke liked, but the thick log against their back provided a good defense, though his ears still rang from the concussive detonations. When the last explosion mowed down anyone near it, Luke poked his head over the log to watch.
“Now!” Luke yelled.
They all yelled as they stood up holding their weapons in place. The wall suddenly looked like a hedgehog that spit out occasional bursts of machine gun fire or shotgun blasts, taking down more vampires and wolves, yet they still came, too many to be deterred.
Luke stood up and pulled his gladius and his rudis, readying for the first surge to hit their wall. Letting out a primal scream that was equal parts terror and aggression, the vampires and werewolves hit the line, an occasional shot answering their own.
Luke’s sword blazed into action, stabbing and slashing. Taking limbs and heads if he couldn’t kill. Near him, Brutus’s vicious snarls buoyed those around him as he tore into any vampire in range. With each swing, his arms burned, and his lungs heaved for oxygen to feed his body, yet the flow kept sweeping over the barrier, pushing Luke and his people back until the enemy had established a beachhead inside their wall.
Seeing a group of angry vamps and wolves surge toward the right side of their thin line, Luke feared it would collapse if they were cut off from the rest of their line. “Delilah! Swing your wing back toward the center.”
He worked his way down the line to help cover their movement backward. The beachhead was quickly growing. They couldn’t hold their line anymore.
“Roxi! Delilah! Fall back,” Luke yelled, carving with his weapons as they backed up.
The sound of the Steyr entered the fray, a vampire or wolf dropping with each shot fired. Spears snapped as they bent beyond their tolerance and in their place, the jagged ends were thrust forward as his people backed up steadily, fighting desperately.
With each step backward they took, the deeper Luke’s anger grew until he stopped backing up. Tapping into the well of his power, he cut into the front line of his enemy, felling anyone brave or stupid enough to get within reach. A shot rang out and a line of pain burned in Luke’s arm, but he kept cutting. Another hit him in the chest, knocking him back a few steps as the air fled from his lungs, but he straightened up and moved forward, forcing his lungs open to pull in air.
Next to him, he heard the grunts and low screams of Roxi as she joined him. Together, they stemmed the advance of the vampires and werewolves with their sheer will and the brutal speed of their swords.
“Luke! Roxi! Fall back. Now!”
Delilah’s voice filtered through to his mind despite the fog of action. Instead of halting the tide, he moved backward, step-by-step, blades still flying with deadly precision. Risking a quick glance to his left to ensure Roxi was still by his side, he continued his steady retreat.
“Roxi, now!” Luke yelled, turning and sprinting as fast as his legs would carry him.
He slid to a halt in front of the doors to the main building and stood to face the advancing line of their enemies as Roxi darted past him into the doorway.
“Luke, get in here!” Delilah yelled.
Luke turned, his eyes going wide as he dove through the doors and slid forward on his stomach, the remaining spears thrusting over him to form a barrier of death at the doorway. Luke slid his swords away from himself, crawled back to the doors on his hands and knees, and pulled them shut, barring them and chaining them quickly.
Placing his hand along the wall of the entryway, he staggered the rest of the way into the main room, his legs and arms trembling as he tried to keep upright. Someone darted forward and slid a hairy arm around his back to hold him up as they guided him to a chair. He sank into it, gasping for air, sweat and blood running down his face. He wiped at it, pulling back a red-stained hand.
Roxi sank to the floor next to him and wiped his face gently with a damp cloth. Panting hard, Brutus shuffled over and flopped down onto his side, his sides working like bellows.
“Here. Let me.” Pablo took the rag from Roxi. “Your hands are trembling. Someone get a chair for Roxi, please?”
Pablo dabbed at Luke’s head. A chair clunked to the ground next to Luke, then Simone helped Roxi into it. Luke took the time to catch his breath and let his lungs fill his body with much needed oxygen.
“Looks like you got a pretty good cut on your forehead. Shit. You’re bleeding from several spots. Did you get shot?” Pablo shook his head. “For fuck’s sake, buddy. You’d give the battery bunny a run for his money.”
Luke laughed weakly. “I’m the human Timex. I take a licking and keep on ticking.”
“Sorry, dude. I may be a werewolf, but I’m not grooming you with my tongue.” Pablo stuck his tongue at Luke, then grinned.
The sound of something heavy bashing into the door choked Luke’s laugh, killing it before it could be released. Luke hoped the doors would hold for a while. The building was built strong. This was grizzly country, and the building was built to accommodate that fact.
“Everyone accounted for?” Luke asked. “Team leaders, report in.”
Simone looked around frantically. “Has anyone seen Delilah? Delilah!”
Groaning in pain, Luke forced himself onto his feet, steadying himself on the arm of the chair. “Someone, find something for me to wrap around my head.” He took the cloth from Pablo and held it over his forehead, allowing the sting to mark the spot.
Delilah would be standing here if she were in the building. He sighed, dread filling his heart and opening a pit in his stomach. Beyond all hope, he prayed she was alive and not another victim of the vampires he’d led to their death.
Simone, tears running down her cheeks, checked everywhere in case Delilah had stepped into one of the rooms. “I can’t find Delilah.”
Each of Simone’s tears was like a dagger in his heart.
“We’re also missing Gabe and Charlie,” Jung-sook said.
“Did anyone see what happened to them?” Luke called out.
He whipped his head toward the sound of breaking glass as a stone shattered it, slamming into the wood covering it. The quick motion made him wobble on his feet. He closed his eyes for a moment to let his head stop spinning. Taking his hand off his forehead, someone wrapped a bandanna around his forehead and over his cut.
“That should hold you,” Jung-sook said.
“Hey! You, in the main house! We have your friends,” someone shouted.
Simone rushed to the door, but Jung-sook stepped in front of her and held her back.
Luke walked slowly toward the door, stopping before the entry way. “Are they alive?”
“For now.”
“What are your terms?” Luke yelled back.
“Open the doors and we promise a quick death. Keep fighting, and we’ll make it long and painful.”
“That’s not much of an offer.” Luke spat blood out onto the ground.
“Is it though? You’re all supernaturals. Your lives can be extended for a long time, and you can endure a lot. A quick, merciful death is all you can hope for right now.”
“Let me talk it over with everyone.”
“I’ll be magnanimous. You may have five minutes.”
Luke flipped off the door and stumbled before catching himself as he turned to talk back to his friends.
“We’re not going to surrender, are we?” Pablo asked, his arms crossed over his bare chest. “I’d rather die taking as many of them with me as possible.”
Looking at his friends, he received near unanimous nods and affirmative grumbles. He knew they wouldn’t take the offer, but it was their lives to spend how they saw fit.
“How long can we hold in here?” Roxi asked. “Can we hold it long enough to get us to sunrise?”
“What time is it?” Luke asked as he patted his pockets, looking for a cell phone that wasn’t there.
“Almost three a.m.”
“Fuck. Three hours. They’ll tear this place down around our ears in three hours.”
“Can you…uh…ask for some divine intervention?” Pablo asked. “I know you don’t like doing that all the time, but this seems like a time that you should.”
“He’s right, Luke. Call to Selene.” Roxi squeezed his hand.
Luke nodded, holding Roxi’s gaze with his. All these years of doing Mithras’s bidding and it was Selene they were calling, and Selene who always responded. Someday soon, there would be a reckoning between the god and him.
“Everyone who is willing, join hands,” Luke said.
Luke closed his eyes and held out his other hand. A large, strong hand slid into his and squeezed it. He gave everyone a few moments to join in and grab a hand.
“Selene, My Mistress. I and my friends are in danger, surrounded and outnumbered with too much time until the rays of your brother once again bathe the land. We need your aid, anything to help us hold out. Help is coming, but we may not make it until then.”
“I see you, my brave soldier.”
Selene’s words sounded in his head and heart, reducing his bone weariness and returning a bit of steel to his spine.
“Help does come, but so does the darkness,” Selene said.
Luke slumped. “We have even more trouble. The dark entity is coming.” He returned his focus to Selene. “Is there anything you can do to aid us?”
“I cannot shield you all. My strength has yet to recover to that point, but I can be your shield. I can strengthen your arm. And that of your beloved. Together, you can buy the time you need.”
Selene sparked an ember of hope inside him. Opening his eyes, he made eye contact with Roxi. She nodded once. Selene had included her in their conversation.
“Selene has an option, but you probably won’t like it,” Luke said, preparing protests. “She can aid Roxi and I enough to create a distraction so the rest of you can flee. She says aid is coming, but she gave no details.”
“Please don’t argue,” Roxi rested her hand on Luke’s shoulder. “Thus far, they’ve wanted us alive to give to their masters. It’ll buy us time if we’re captured.”
Several people looked like they wanted to argue, but the determination on Luke’s and Roxi’s faces stalled them.
Pablo straightened his spine and caught the eyes of their friends. “OK, Luke. Where do we go?”
“South. I think their camp is nearly abandoned. Get over the wall and go wolf.”
“What about Granny Pearl?” Jung-sook asked. “She can’t go wolf.”
“I’ll carry her,” Pablo said.
“I’m not leaving without Delilah.” It was the first time Pearl had spoken up since they’d been forced to retreat into the camp’s main building.
“Pearl. We need you free and clear,” Luke said. “Roxi and I will free her, but she’ll need to know you’re safe and getting away. It’s the best option of all the bad options we have right now. Pablo can carry you whether you go willingly or not, but it’ll be easier for everyone if you cooperate.”
Pearl opened her mouth, then snapped it closed and gave a reluctant nod.
Nodding back, Luke turned his eye to Brutus, who still lay on his side panting. “Someone is going to have to carry Brutus. I think he’s reached the end of his strength.”
“I’ll take him,” Simone said.
“It is done. What next, My Mistress?”
“Your friends will need to stand back. The light I will infuse you with will be harmful to Tutyr’s children as well. Form it how you will. Fight hard and hold out as long as you can. I will be with you, my children.”
Chapter
Twenty-Seven
Selene’s power thrummed through Luke. Standing by the door, he formed a scutum and helmet in his mind, letting Selene’s light solidify into a giant rectangular shield and a helmet that was the match to the one he’d left in Portland. His gladius, in his hand and ready, lengthened as he formed a silvery blade around its blade. Giving it a couple swishes through the air, the addition to his weapon left a blurry trail but handled like it was nearly weightless.
Roxi, like Luke, used her power to bring a shield to hand, though hers was an oval type with notches in the middle of both long sides that were favored by the Persians and Parthians. Her helmet had a pointed top and silver hair streaming out of it along with cheek guards.
Their lupine friends stayed clear, watching Luke and Roxi with a broad sense of caution. As they readied to flee, all of their friends stood back, though they had their spears ready to thrust out after Luke and Roxi engaged the awaiting enemies. Luke knew they were ready; he could always rely on them. Looking over at Roxi, he gave her a wan smile. He reached out and tapped his glowing sword against hers, igniting it with the silver light.
