Contractor (55 page)

hadn’t let up at all. A part of her was proud

he was so determined to stand with them. To

protect her.

"Something wrong?"

Rachel glanced up. It was Eleanor.

Rachel was lucky Eleanor had taken her side

in the debate over the contractors; otherwise,

she’d have no voice at all. "Fine. Tired."

"Mmm." Eleanor yawned, then

reworked her bun to pick up the stray bits of

hair that had come loose. Not even she could

keep up appearances in the middle of a war.

"It’s contagious."

Henry and Rothschild were interrupted

by the arrival of a Nightmare. Rachel

shivered as the skeletal demon rose up

through the floor. "Master Rothschild. A

report."

Rothschild looked up from the table.

"Good news?"

"Unfortunately, no." The demon

considered its words for a moment. "We’ve

ambushed the armored one several times, but

he’s too quick to catch, and he takes his rest

outside our search area. As for the other, her

powers easily protect her on all sides." The

Nightmare rubbed its pointed chin. "They

hardly seem to need sleep. It will be difficult

to kill either of them."

"But no other contractors?"

"Not that we’ve discovered."

"Two, then." Rothschild nodded. "You

may go. Continue your efforts." The

Nightmare vanished back into the

floorboards. "Two is good," Rothschild said.

"We can handle two."

"We don’t need to handle anyone,"

Eleanor said.

Rothschild sighed. "We don’t have time

for this."

"Lenhard," Henry said, "be careful with those things. You know that demons are

fickle. Especially that sort."

"I have them under control."

"Listen to reason." Eleanor rested a

hand on the edge of the table. "I wasn’t

convinced at first either, but the only thing

either of the two contractors have put in

danger are Vorid. The one with the armor

has repeatedly shielded our troops from the

extractor beam attacks. He even brought back

soldiers that were left behind in the retreat.

We’d have another fifty casualties if it

wasn’t for him, at least. The woman isn’t

going out of her way to help us, but she

hasn’t attacked us, either. They should be

recruited, not hunted."

"What part of your argument was the

reason I was supposed to be listening to?"

Rothschild folded his arms. He was of Dutch

origin, but his English was precisely fluent.

"You realize that, in terms of sheer power,

they’re already stronger than any one normal

magician in the world? We can’t entrust that

kind of responsibility to wild dogs that don’t

know our laws. Half the contractors we’ve

caught so far are proof enough of that. You

captured one yourself. He was gone mad,

was he not? That much power is too much

for anyone. It isolates and unbalances the

user. It tempts them just by being available

for use. I said this before, and I’ll say it

again: I won’t have another Elizabeth

Bathory on my hands. Or a Satan."

"They are our allies," Eleanor insisted.

"We can work with them."

"They’re as dangerous as the Vorid lord,

and they need to be nipped in the bud as soon

as possible. What do you think will happen

when the war is over? They’ll want to

change the status quo." He raised an

eyebrow. "I’m surprised. I should not have to

lecture you, of all people, Miss Astor.

Wasn’t it you that spoke out against Xik, and

against the vampiric enchantment, back at the

congress?"

"It was," Eleanor allowed, "but seeing all this firsthand has changed my mind. I

didn’t say we had to become best friends.

We can use them to drive off the Vorid, then

deal with them after. I’d rather spend my life

rebuilding than underestimate our enemy and

not have anything left to rebuild."

"You’re a fool if you think it would be

that easy. You can’t control them. They’ll

devour your leash as soon as you tug too

hard. And then you." Rothschild looked back

to Henry. "Henry, your daughter is entitled to

her opinion, but the Order will interpret any

allegiance with contractors as -"

"Relax, Lenhard," Henry said.

"Then you’ll allow me to take a team

and -"

"I will say this," Henry said. "It’s not in our interest to waste resources chasing after

them while they’re not actively hostile.

We’ve got enough on our plate."

"Fine. But after this is over, they’re our

first priority."

"Understood." Henry poked a finger at

the map. "We’re breaking through their last

battalion as we speak. They can’t produce

the extractors fast enough anymore. It’s time

for the offensive."

"What about the fortress?" Matthew

asked. He stepped forward from where he’d

been waiting next to Flemmet. "Our attacks

haven’t had any effect. We haven’t even seen

the lord yet."

"We’re not going to wait for him to hit

us," Eleanor said. "We’ll take the ground

underneath the fortress. Once we’ve

eliminated the rest of the Vorid in the city,

we’ll assault the building directly."

"They’re dense around the square,"

Rothschild said. "What do you have

planned?"

"The same strategy," Henry said. "We’ll balance our attack from three sides to open

up multiple fronts. I’ll lead one third our

attack force with Eleanor and Rachel.

Matthew, you’ll be in charge of the second

third. Lenhard, you’ll pick up the last side of

the triangle with the Order. We’ll push in

and meet in the center. Times Square."

Rothschild shrugged. "I suppose there’s

not much else to do. We’ve got them

cornered."

"We’ll need to continue our use of the

demons," Henry said. "I doubt we’ve seen

all their tricks. You should dismiss the

Nightmares and summon the dragons again.

They’re better in a straight fight."

Rothschild’s lips formed a thin line.

"I’ll expect your support with the contractors

once the dome falls."

"Count on it," Henry said. Rachel

winced at Henry’s firm answer, but there

was nothing she could say.

They hammered out a few more

logistical details. Madame Flemmet went

with Matthew to coordinate their side of the

force. Rothschild marched away to gather the

Order together. Rachel heaved a sigh. "You

tried," she said to Eleanor.

"I did." Eleanor looked at her. "You’re quite passionate in your defense of the

contractors."

"…this is their first real attack," Rachel

said. "One strike on New York, and it’s been

a long, hard fight. What happens if they

attack two, three places at once like this? We

need them." Rachel gave Henry a plaintiff

look.

"I know Rothschild," Henry said. "We’ll never change his mind inside this room. It’s

cruel to say, but once his people have died

because of his stubbornness, he’ll see the

situation differently." Henry fixed her with

his steely president’s gaze, the one Rachel

saw on Eleanor so often. "But he’s right. The

contractors are abnormal, and they have to

be dealt with. A good record might merit a

little leniency, but if the rest of the magical

world would abandon us for showing mercy,

we simply won’t have the luxury of doing

so."

Rachel swallowed. That was probably

as good as she was going to get. "I

understand."

"Then let’s get moving."

Rachel trailed behind Eleanor as they

left the room. Maybe Rothschild was right.

Maybe the contractors were too dangerous.

But Daniel Fitzgerald, bane of the

Earth? She felt a smile grow on her face as

she pictured him with a cape and a scepter,

installed as an evil overlord. The masses

kneeled before him. Her imaginary Daniel

threw his royal trappings on the floor, gave

them all the finger, then walked out of the

room.

That would be just like him. He was

live and let live to his core. He did what he

had to, then went back to playing video

games. He was the type to do someone a

favor and wish they’d forget it had ever

happened—because to him, it wasn’t worth

remembering.

It was hard, and cold, but incredibly

kind. That was it. He had a cold kindness. A

harsh generosity that scoffed at gratitude.

But Rachel knew differently. With her,

he let his guard down. He was so warm, and

so sensitive, that when his mother died, he

cut himself off to save himself the pain. The

compassion that rested beneath his blunt

exterior was the real him, buried and numbed

under a shell of a self.

That’s why he was here. He probably

didn’t admit it to himself, but it was as much

for her as it was for his own peace of mind.

He was afraid of another loss, of another

empty hole in his life.

Rachel stopped with a hand on a

doorframe. Her eyes squeezed shut.

"Rachel?" Eleanor asked.

"…coming."

****

Daniel fought for two more days while

being tracked by the Nightmares. He decided

to take a break before the tension snapped

him in half. He ran back to his safe house.

Waiting for him were several CDs he’d

appropriated from the electronics store. He

listened to them while feasting on yet more

canned food. His two hour respite felt short,

but he didn’t dare rest any longer than that.

He stretched, then loped back toward

the center of the city. Powerful flashes of

magic blinked at him, more than usual.

They’d probably summoned another wave of

demons. Part of him was glad. The other part

of him wanted to turn around and ball up in a

corner.

He kept his scrying sight peeled,

stopping to use it every few moments like the

ping of a radar. He didn’t sense any

Nightmares; he couldn’t, not until they were

extremely close. As they could rise up

directly through the pavement, his proximity

alarm had been the only thing that kept him

from getting stabbed in the foot on several

occasions.

From the air, he scanned for a target,

then dove down into Manhattan. Sheer walls

of glass and concrete rose up on either side

of him. He was a tiny ant in a canyon made

out of skyscrapers.

He turned on the speed as he grew

close, kicking off his glowing sigils to build

momentum. His bat swatted an overseer

before it could react. It smashed through a

window and rolled to a stop, dead. A group

of extractors in the street below collapsed

like puppets with their strings cut.

That was new. Maybe, if he took out all

the overseers in an area, they couldn’t

control the extractors properly. He was

making a dent in their forces.

His attack stopped the Vorid from

circling the block to attack the Dawn from

behind. Daniel skipped up to the top of a

skyscraper to check out the action. He clung

to the top of a TV antenna like a gargoyle.

The magicians were busy chewing

through a flood of extractors. Half their

forces were on the ground, exchanging blows

with the robots directly. They were joined by

a battalion of several types of demons. The

other half were climbing on the towering

buildings, inside and outside, blasting birds

from the sky to protect those below. It was

like a twisted Thanksgiving Special: the

Macy’s Day parade goes to Hell.

Daniel jumped. He floated in the air for

a moment, and then gravity took over. He

dropped like a stone over the edge of the

skyscraper. Wind whistled in his ears and

whipped around his armor.

He came down in the middle of the

extractors, leading with his bat. He hit the

ground like a superheated stalagmite having

a bad day. The force of the blast cleared a

space around him.

The Vorid had learned to identify him as

a threat. He felt a flock of birds pouring from

around a steel office tower, all diving right

for him. Daniel got in another nasty blow,

knocking down a line of extractors, then

sprinted down the street, jumping over the

heads of the machines with his sigils.

The birds kept on him. He took right

angles at the intersections, trying to throw

them off his tail. Blue lasers shattered glass

and melted steel where he’d been only

moments before.

Daniel created a sigil in front of him and

pinged off it like a rubber ball, doing a 180.

He raised his shield and focused. Metal

drummed off metal as he plunged through the

flock, taking down a dozen of the constructs.

A second later, he was clear.

The birds wheeled to follow. He kept

running. Everywhere he went was in total

chaos. The Dawn was fighting on every

street. Minotaurs charged through the