Obsessions: A Monster Squad Novel 7 (31 page)

“Shot him in the foot and crippled him. But somehow he worked it out so that Sheridan’s family could be shipped over here, put into Witness Protection and disappeared. Sheridan was supposed to be a part of it, but something inside him snapped.”

“And he’s the guy who recruited Apollo.” John was nodding, the pieces finally falling into place. “And what? This Bigby was jealous or…”

“We think he recruited Bigby to work with him the same way he recruited Apollo.” Spalding shrugged and stuffed the file into the stack with the others. “The thing is…I can’t figure out
how
he got into Apollo’s head like that.”

John leaned against the wall and remained silent. He really didn’t know Apollo well enough to hazard a guess. His eyes scanned the small office and eventually fell on the pile of file folders. “Are all of those tied to Apollo?”

“Yeah, most of them.” Spalding leaned back and bit at the end of his thumbnail. “His briefings, field notes, the evidence that was found on scene. What we have on Sheridan and the guys from his team that went ‘missing’. Bigby is the only one that really could be our missing shooter.”

“It couldn’t have been one of Simmons’ guys?”

Spalding shrugged. “I suppose it could have been, but from what little we’ve gathered and from what others have said, he only trusts wolves.”

Little John grunted, “With wolves like this Sheridan and Bigby, I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.”

*****

“This will not be an easy task.” Rufus walked through the warehouse and looked about, his eyes taking in everything. “They will need to run cabling from the roof and there will be much equipment that goes with this.”

Lilith followed closely behind him, her eyes scanning the areas where he looked, unsure what he was looking for. “What do you search for?”

“My lady, we will need to run many wires and cables down from the roof to your office. These cables are heavy, and they will need to be secured.” He patted one of the concrete columns. “I may be wrong, but I believe we can use these to run them down to those steel reinforcements up there, then along to that column beside your office and then down and into the area where they can set up the monitors.”

“Very well.” She turned to leave then noticed that he was still standing out in the warehouse, studying the ceiling. “What else?”

“Well, there are also the power supplies, the relays and…just very much equipment that we don’t want lying about. They need to stay cooled and I’m curious if it would be better to mount them up and out of the way or…” His voice trailed off.

Lilith turned to Samael for guidance but the angel was disinterested. He was studying the Centurions still packing crates for their departure. “What are your thoughts, my love?”

“My thoughts do not matter.” Samael turned his back to her and slowly made his way to the stack of crates along the wall. She ignored Thorn and followed the fallen angel.

“What bothers you?” She tugged at his shoulder, but he still continued to watch the workers.

“I think we should kill this vampire at first opportunity. Instead you are welcoming him into the fold.” He turned a careful glance toward Thorn then eyed her again. “And he brings more of his people here. How do we know they are who they say they are?”

Lilith chuckled and moved around to the front of him. She wrapped her arms around his thick neck and pulled herself up to kiss him. “What can a handful of vampires do to us? You are an angel and I am Lilith, Demon Queen.”

Samael’s eyes widened. “You truly do not understand, do you? You
are
the queen. If anything happens to you, we are lost!” His whispered voice threatened to echo across the warehouse. “Your resurrection was what allowed us to return. It was the only spell I was allowed to cast when they…” He paused, his voice quivering, his eyes avoiding her.

She reached up and cupped his chiseled face. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that if anything happens to you, your demons and myself will be damned back to Hell. There is no coming back unless
he
permits it. And he won’t permit it if we fail.”

She nodded slowly, her eyes peering into his own. “What spell did you speak of?”

Samael sighed, his eyes darting to the side. “He wouldn’t allow me to give you your demons when you first needed them. He said the timing wasn’t right. The religion was too strong then. But now, people are losing their faith. They place their hope and belief in themselves…in science or in
things
. He made me wait until you were caught and being tried. Then he would only this spell be cast.”

“A spell?”

“That once you were made whole, I could return to you. Your demons could be culled from Hell and allowed to take bodies for your bidding.” Samael ground his teeth as he stared at her. “It was not my doing, my love.”

Lilith inhaled deeply and steadied herself. She closed her eyes and turned from him. “Could you have saved me when they were torturing me?”

“No, he wouldn’t allow it,” Samael’s voice cracked as he spoke. “He said you
needed
to experience that. That it would fuel your hatred toward the created ones. Toward the One who created them. That without that, your spirit couldn’t
ripen
.”

She exhaled hard and felt her hand tremble as her anger spread. “He said that I needed to be drawn and quartered. To have my organs ripped from my body and scattered to the four corners of the earth?” She ground her teeth so hard that she feared she would crack a tooth. “He thought that I needed that experience? To feel that kind of pain to hate even more?”

“Yes, my love.” Samael brushed her neck with the back of his hand and felt her pull away. “I swear to you, it wasn’t me. It was Satan. He knows that you are his loophole to the Armageddon.”

“His what?” She spun and glared at him, shock painted across her features.

Samael groaned, his shoulders slumping. “He fears that the prophet’s predictions of the battle of Armageddon are true. That he will lose. You are to be his loophole to destroy this creation.”

An evil and defiant smile crossed her features. “Well, let’s not dare disappoint your master, shall we?”

16

“Perimeter set and motion sensors active,” the disembodied voice crackled over the speakers as the crew within the OPCOM observed their heat signatures from the satellite feed. “Distance to tangos?”

Mitchell did a quick calculation based on movement and trajectory. “Approximately half a click, Sierra One. At their current speed you should make contact in a few minutes. Stay sharp out there.”

“Copy that,” Dominic’s voice dropped to a low whisper and his heat profile darkened as he slipped into a creek bed and began crawling up the other side. He laid out along the bank, his .308 caliber SCAR resting on its bipod. “Eyes open, ladies. Contact imminent.”

A series of clicks responded as his team replied, their individual heat signatures spread in a semi-circle between the oncoming vampires and the small town to their back.

Jericho broke onto the channel with a report. “Drone is away and at the ready. Call sign Vulture. Establishing a high altitude circular orbit. At your command, Sierra One.”

“Roger that. Stand by.” Dom switched his optics from thermal to night vision. Vampires wouldn’t give off heat, and the soft green glow of the night vision amplified the ambient light, turning night into an ethereal day. He shifted the stock against his shoulder slightly and reapplied his cheek weld, his eye adjusting to the optics once more. He caught motion in the corner of his field of vision and realized it was just a rabbit, scampering away and into a small stand of thickets. Dom strained his hearing, listening for the slightest sound. The snap of a twig, the rustling of a limb against a moving object, anything that would signify something large, moving quickly through the stand of trees.

“Movement,” Sierra Five called out quietly. Neils ‘Hammer’ Erikson was placed near the top of the arch, his field of view towards a clearing roughly half the size of a football field.

Dom tried not to turn his head in the general direction, his curiosity piqued. “How many?”

“Two,” Sierra Five responded, his whispered voice hesitant. “They’ve stopped…almost as if they expect something.”

“Let them close on us, Five.” Dom continued staring through his night vision optic, waiting for something to break through the tree line.

“They’re just sniffing at the air, One.” Neils studied the pair at the opening of the clearing.

Major Tufo keyed the coms. “Check your wind.”

“Wind is good, OPCOM. Our position is downwind,” Sierra Five reported, his eyes studying the pair who were slowly backing away and into the trees. “They’re breaking back, One. Orders?”

Dom cursed under his breath. He keyed his coms, “Vulture, do you have eyes on the rest of the party?”

“Affirmative, One. They’ve slowed their approach, but are still closing.”

“Orders, One?” Neils flipped the safety off his carbine and centered the crosshairs on the rearward vampire.

Dom sighed. “Drop them.” He offered up a silent prayer that they weren’t about to give away their position.

Suppressed silver jacketed rounds exited the barrel of the Colt M4, striking the first vampire square in the chest, the second in the temple as he turned to see what caused his friend to suddenly turn to orange ash. “Two tangos down.”

“Report.” Dom waited for each operator to report that nothing in their area had changed. Jericho continued to scan the area below with the drone.

“Tangos still on approach, but moving much, much slower.” His voice hesitated then he continued, “The lead vampire has stopped, One. Two more are breaking away and heading toward the clearing.”

“Shit!” Dom whispered into the mic. “We may have dropped two scouts. Prepare to pull up stakes. We may have to chase these rabbits down.” He continued to stare through the optics then keyed his mic again, “Vulture, I need real time live feeds.”

Inside the OPCOM Mitchell noted another group breaking away and swinging wide to the south. If they continued on their path, they’d either flank the operators or pass by them well beyond their effective range. “Dammit! Mark, flag those runners and feed the intel to Second Squad.”

Major Tufo brought up the screen and placed designators on the group of six that had broken away from the main group. He keyed the commands that sent the intel to the squad. “Done and done.”

A moment later Dom had read the incoming message and keyed his mic. “Sierra Two and Three, break south and stop these asshats before they get past us. Double-time.”

“Copy that.”

Dom couldn’t see or hear the two operators as they broke from the group, but he knew they were on the move, their intercept course set at a sharp angle as they cut along the edge of the creek to cut off the small group of vampires. “Vulture, sitrep.”

“They’re still working their way toward you, but very slowly, One. It’s almost as if they waiting to hear back from the group sent to the clearing.”

“Check for radio traffic. Scan all frequencies.” Dom ground his teeth as he considered the possibilities. If these ‘baby vamps’ were using radios and flanking maneuvers before hitting a town? That didn’t sound like any baby vamp attack he’d ever heard of before.

“Bingo on the radio traffic, One. We have civilian two-ways being utilized in your area.” Jericho switched the coms over so that they could hear the conversation.

“…come in. Dale, are you there?” A moment later the radio crackled to life again. “Will, if you find Dale and he’s okay, give him your radio. We need to know that the coast is clear before we move closer.”

“Will do. We’re almost to the clearing now.”

Dom groaned. He keyed his coms. “Five, if they poke their heads out of that clearing, drop ‘em.”

“Copy that.” Neils scanned the tree line and waited for anything to break through. As soon as the two vampires stepped into the clearing, the first one only took a couple of steps before spotting the charred remains of their compatriots. He turned to run when he burst into orange flames, the silver jacketed round slicing through his midsection. The second vampire stood in shock, his mouth open and eyes wide as his friend fell to the ground in silent hellfire. He didn’t have a chance to blink before he met a similar fate, his heart ruptured by the silver round that shredded through his chest. “Two tangos down.”

“Second Squad, advance.” Dom stood from the edge of the creek and brought the SCAR to his eye, scanning the area before him as he made a tactical advance into the trees.

*****

Jack stepped through the boulder and watched as the last of his team exited, the glowing light fading as Kalen closed the portal. “Kid, one of these days you’re going to have to show me how to do that.”

“You must be a Gatekeeper in order to—”

“Yeah, I’m sure it’s really interesting, but not now.” Jack stepped past him and approached his disapproving father-in-law. “As promised.”

Viktor stared at the ‘team’ that Jack brought with him. “These are your warriors?” He raised a questioning brow.

Jack refused to take offense. “The best there are for kicking Lilith’s ass. At least, that’s what the head elf lady tells me.” He waved Viktor onward. “Lead the way.”

Viktor turned and escorted the crew inside. Paul immediately came to his feet and stared wide eyed at Jack, his feet stumbling as he stepped back and away from him. “H-how did…where did you find
him
at?”

Viktor rolled his eyes at the bumbling vampire. “He answers when called.”

“Only for a chance at Lilith,” Jack corrected. “She’s my main priority here.”

“Well, she thinks we’re going there to install a computer system so that she can watch…something.” Foster kept his distance but tried to explain. “You can’t just kick in the doors, guns blazing.”

“No shit.” Jack stared the vampire down. “Well there goes Plan A.”

Foster paled and turned wide eyed to Viktor. “Surely he wasn’t…”

“No, he wasn’t.” Viktor pushed past the vampire and to a makeshift table. “Foster gave me a rough layout of the place.”

“As best as I could see it, anyway.” Paul hurried to Viktor’s side, putting as much distance as he could between himself and Jack.

“How did you get a look inside?” Jack closed the distance, putting Foster into a decidedly more uncomfortable state.

“I was on the roof with Rufus before he was captured.”

“Tell me everything.” Jack stared the vampire down and Foster swallowed hard.

Viktor placed a firm hand on Jack’s shoulder. “We are all on the same side here.”

“For now.” Jack raised a brow at Paul. “Spill it. Everything.”

Paul nodded and opened his mouth to speak but Viktor cut him off. “No. We are all on the same team. Not just for now. Not just until we get Rufus back. Not just until Lilith is dead. We are all on the same team. Period.”

Jack turned slowly to Viktor, his eyes narrowed. “Apparently you’ve never been betrayed.”

“Apparently you do not realize what it means to be somebody’s Second.”

Jack squared his shoulders. “I’ll only Second somebody who proves themselves honorable and worthy of my being their Second.”

“And you still do not know the whole story. Have you spoken to Rufus? Have you heard his side of this?” Viktor would not be intimidated.

“I don’t need to. I know the facts. He took the trust I gave him and he used it against me. He stole from my people and tried to build a Doomsday weapon. He tried to
use
it against wolves at the island.” Jack pointed at Viktor. “Don’t you get it Viktor? If that damned thing had worked, he could have killed ALL of the wolves there, including me…including Nadia and our baby. Perhaps even you and Natashia.”

“But it did not.” Viktor crossed his arms and glared at him.

“Only because it backfired on him.”

“If I may?” Paul raised his hand like a school boy. “He only had that damnable thing built to battle Lilith.”

Jack turned on him so fast that it spooked him. “Yet Lilith wasn’t at the island, was she?” Foster shook his head, swallowing nervously. “No, it was only wolves at the island.”

“Wolves who had you outnumbered and outgunned,” Viktor added. “You surely would have lost had he not…”

“We beat them back without his Doomsday weapon!” Jack yelled. “Face it, Viktor, he’s not the same man you once worked with. He’s become paranoid and obsessed to the point that he’ll lie and steal to meet his own agenda.”

Viktor nodded. “And wouldn’t you? If it meant staying alive? He’s facing the Council, Lilith, and now you. You, who were supposed to be his Second.”

“Don’t you dare try to turn this around to make him the victim.” Jack turned to face his warriors who simply watched the two going at it. “I can take my team and leave you standing here with nothing but your dick in your hand.”

“If it means that you’ll do nothing to save Rufus, I’d rather you did.” Viktor’s voice was low and soft, much more effective than if he had yelled.

Jack had to force himself to slow his breathing, his anger trying to get the better of him. “I told you that we’d help you. But Lilith is our primary goal. If we can stop her, then Rufus isn’t in any more danger.”

Viktor studied him for a moment then turned to Paul. “What do you say? You are his Second now.”

Foster sighed heavily, his head slowly shaking. “I say that it’s better than nothing.” He faced Viktor and as much as he hated to admit it… “There are few people in this world who scare me as much as he does. I’d rather get what I can from him.”

*****

Laura and Derek stayed up into the wee hours of the night talking of dragons and elves and vampires and anything else that Derek could think of to ask her about. As the clock ticked on and the stories unfolded, headlights reflected across the living room windows. Derek picked himself up from the floor and walked to the curtains, pulling them back and staring into the yard. “Looks like James finally pulled himself away from his family.” He turned and gave her a lopsided grin. “Somebody must have told him you were in town.”

Laura stretched and lifted herself from the couch. “Great. Just remember, don’t say anything to him about what we talked about, okay?”

“Like what? That you turned Dad into a werewolf? Or that you’re dating a vampire? Or that everything we were ever taught wasn’t real really
is
real?”

“Yeah, all that.” Laura pulled open the front door and stepped out onto the porch. “Damn they stack it tall out here.”

“You kiss your daddy with that mouth, little missy?” James jumped onto the porch and lifted her into a bear hug. “Good to see you again, sis.”

“I’d say the same, but I think you cracked a few ribs.” She pushed away from him and patted his midsection. “I see married life has made you soft.”

“What can I say? I like to eat!” He chuckled as he pushed past her and walked inside. James plopped onto the couch and pulled Laura down beside him. “So tell me all about how things are in D.C. or wherever the hell you’re working now. Got a boyfriend yet?” he teased as he pulled her close and tickled her.