The Greater Darkness

  Imastious looked the plan over for several minutes and then looked up with what appeared to be eagerness. "Very good. By positioning small groups along the periphery of the trap, you've created the perfect bait."

  Nodding, Geoffrey pointed at the four perimeter groups. "The werewolves appear to have the advantage in that they choose the time of any attacks, and they have been quite careful to make sure they only attack in numbers sufficient to kill whatever concentration of vampires they encounter. Whether this is an instinctive response or effected by some level of intelligence shouldn't really matter for our purposes."

  Withered hands turned to the next sketch. "Once engaged, you'll have them pull back towards the main body of vampires, which should be beyond the beast's ability to initially sense."

  Indicating groups positioned between the main force and the perimeter groups, Geoffrey nodded again. "The other thing that struck me about these creatures is that they don't appear to view humans as a legitimate threat, so these intermediate groups will consist of humans who shouldn't serve to scare away the werewolves, but who can change the balance of force relatively quickly once the engagement starts."

  Imastious stacked the diagrams and turned his gaze back to Geoffrey. "What do you view as being the biggest risk with this plan?"

  The younger vampire remained silent for a moment and then pointed to the main reserve still showing on the top sketch. "This represents your reserve against unexpected numbers of werewolves. If we misjudge the distance at which they can sense us, if they're actually smarter than we think, or if there just happens to be too many werewolves in a close proximity, the defenders might be swamped, resulting in substantial casualties."

  Imastious shrugged. "That is a very real chance, but we can offset the latter risk, at least, by including most of the surviving Elders in that main group. They will dramatically increase the strength of the reserve. Convincing them will prove difficult, but should be doable if they are provided sufficient assurances against treachery."

  Pausing for a moment in thought, Imastious looked at the top diagram again. "Do you have any set plans regarding which vampires are to be placed where?"

  **

  The shock and numbness had started to give way, and a black rage had settled over Geoffrey in the two days that had been required to make all of the arrangements for the trap. Venice had tried multiple times to convince Geoffrey to open up, but he didn't dare tell her the cause of his increased hatred towards the werewolves.

  His mood wasn't helped by the way that even Venice seemed more than half convinced that he had indeed allowed Scorch's people to be butchered as some kind of Machiavellian plot. It had further cemented his hold over Alexander and the other vampires, who'd started looking at him like he was some kind of hero general. Alexander had actually looked at him with more respect rather than less once he'd had a chance to fully process the implications of what had happened.

  Geoffrey had spent the early hours of the night wandering the industrial park, going from station to station ensuring that the various vampires or heavily-armed humans waiting at each were fully briefed on their various roles.

  Everyone had seemed more or less up to speed, but Geoffrey was more and more convinced that he shouldn't have let Imastious convince him to put the vampires who'd been involved in the failed trap out on the perimeter. There was an undercurrent of something in those groups that he didn't like.

  Putting the most battle-hardened veterans out on the edge had seemed smart at the time, but they all seemed convinced that Geoffrey had left them out there to die.

  Venice, Alexander, and Brit had all followed Geoffrey, serving as bodyguards and a tangible sign of his authority over the various groups. Thankfully they'd all sensed enough of his mood to leave him more or less alone with his demons.

  Somewhere along the way in the last forty-eight hours, it had been suggested that the humans be given crossbows rather than firearms, a suggestion Geoffrey had wholeheartedly approved. He'd picked the most deserted area of the city that anyone had been able to suggest and then Imastious had paid hefty bribes to make sure there would be a substantial delay to any police response. Changing the humans over to crossbows meant that there shouldn't be any gunshots to draw the kind of attention that would result in the dispatch being called in the first place.

  Training the bruisers the vampires had turned up had been more difficult than Geoffrey had expected it to be. None of them had been particularly excited to learn how to use the ancient weapons but hopefully they would prove the equalizer his plan needed to succeed.

  Once Geoffrey was satisfied with all the arrangements, he'd returned to the main group and tried to relax, but the presence of the Elders made that impossible. The host of cold, emotionless, dead eyes staring at him was almost enough to drive him back out to the perimeter, but that was one thing he couldn't do.

  He couldn't let them think they'd run him off or the whole plan might come crashing down. In many ways it was built on the bluff that he was nearly an Elder in power and ability, one who had no real history of rivalry with anyone present. If that were to be taken away there was a very real risk that some of the Elders would quietly start defecting.

  Geoffrey had just about decided that nothing was going to happen when the lights to the east started flickering. The vampires and humans around Geoffrey sprang to their feet and looked to Imastious who was currently assigned to run mental overwatch. The Elder's cold eyes swept the group and then nodded. "They're coming."

  Waving everyone forward, Geoffrey broke into a trot that would quickly eat up the four blocks to the perimeter group without leaving him exhausted once he got there. A few seconds later, the group rounded a corner and was welcomed by a vista that made it seem as though hell had temporarily annexed the intersection.

  He'd never in his worst dreams thought there might be so many werewolves in the city.

  Werewolves seemed to be rushing in from everywhere, appearing as if from magic in the looming shadows cast by lights far enough away not to be disabled by such a large gathering of the creatures. Geoffrey had a split second to hope none of the humans or vampires would run, and then the battle caught him up.

  Luckily, Venice, Alexander, and Brit had followed Geoffrey, or the first beast he encountered would have killed him. It was that much faster than any of the others they'd encountered so far. The werewolf charged Venice, who rolled out of the way taking a minor wound. Brit connected with a shallow slash as it went past.

  An incredible sense of heat and the crackling of flames told Geoffrey that some team of vampires working with a pyromancer had managed to overcome the werewolf's ability to absorb their attack, and that he no longer had to worry about it attacking him from behind.

  The next creature stopped to engage Geoffrey's team, and for several seconds it was all the vampires could do to avoid being torn apart by the beast. It was simply too powerful for them to overload its abilities.

  A vicious hissing filled the air and a flight of crossbow quarrels sprouted from the beast at the same time that its absorption collapsed under pressure from another team of vampires, or possibly a single Elder.

  Geoffrey's thoughts slipped into the werewolf's mind, and he acted on barely understood whispers of thought to score a number of strikes on its arms and legs.

  Brit and Venice had their powers in play, and the creature moved slower now as it turned to concentrate on Geoffrey, who'd hurt it severely in just a matter of seconds.

  Even being able to half sense the creature's plans, it was all Geoffrey could do to survive its full attention while Venice and Brit harassed it from the sides.

  A backhand knocked Geoffrey to the ground and for a heartbeat he thought he was dead. Just before the killing blow landed, the creature collapsed to the ground, roaring in pain with Alexander's ax jutting out of the center of its back.

  All of the werewolves seemed to be engaged by teams of vampires now. Many of them were falling to the beasts' superior speed and power
, only to be replaced by the surviving members of teams that had managed to kill their original opponents.

  As Geoffrey and the others ran to aid another team, a werewolf that had just managed to dispatch its opponents burst into flame, burning with the white-hot intensity of a blast furnace. It was welcome evidence that at least some of the Elders had survived the initial rush.

  Here and there, flights of quarrels sliced through the night. The humans weren't skilled with the archaic weapons, but there were enough of them that a respectable number of hits were being accomplished with the needle-tipped projectiles that had been designed hundreds of years before to pierce armor. The sheer size of the werewolves served to protect their vitals as much as their amazingly durable flesh, but a few of them had fallen to the deadly weapons, and even when the humans didn't manage to kill a werewolf outright, the wounds helped slow the beasts.

  The next werewolf Geoffrey's team faced off against had killed all but two of its vampire opponents. It managed to kill another before the five of them drove it back to a defensive stance.

  It couldn't have taken more than another minute before the cumulative effect of all the small wounds the vampires were inflicting finally slowed the creature enough for Venice to hamstring it, but the nightmarish combination of dodging blows that could easily kill him, alternated with desperate strikes to score only slight wounds made the battle seem to stretch on for hours.

  When the second werewolf was dispatched, Geoffrey looked up and realized the significance of the new set of flickering lights moving their way. For a second time Geoffrey was shocked. He'd been sure they must have the entire force of werewolves in the entire city engaged already, but instead there was a second force headed towards them.

  The Elders were in the center of the melee now, presumably to reduce the range at which they had to use their powers. The fight shifted and surged around them, and occasionally the dark figures had to use physical force to defend themselves. Even so, they remained a cohesive group, and each time the leading figure pointed at a werewolf, it would suddenly burst into flame, or slow drastically enough for vengeful vampires to swarm it under.

  It appeared, even with their considerable losses, that the vampires were in firm control of the battle until the second wave of werewolves arrived.

  Geoffrey's team went from one opponent to the next, often gaining a member or two, only to lose them or others to the razor-sharp claws that struck home with increasing frequently as exhaustion slowed the vampires. As Geoffrey's physical body became more and more tired, he pushed his mind harder in an attempt to make up for his weakness. Alien thoughts began to make more sense, and in one instance he was even able to momentarily overwhelm the mind of the creature before him, causing a brief pause that was all his companions needed to mortally wound the confused werewolf.

  Brit, slowed by exhaustion, was struck down by their next opponent just before her remaining teammates were able to bring the beast down.

  Their number reduced to four once again, Alexander proceeded to take insane risks in an effort to take out the next werewolf that attacked them. The massive vampire darted in and out with a speed that seemed to defy belief, providing the rest of the group with opportunity after opportunity to wound their adversary.

  The odds finally caught up with Alexander, and as he sank his ax into the creature's arm, it brought its other hand around and slashed him across the chest. The rage which had given way to exhaustion flared again inside Geoffrey and he poured his hatred and anger into one alien mind after another, slowing the werewolves as he burned up what remained of his strength. When Geoffrey finally came back to himself, he saw that a knot of vampires surrounded the last two werewolves, which were quickly cut down.

  Exhaustion nearly robbed him of his ability to stand, but Geoffrey maintained his feet, mindful of the need to appear strong. A terrible scene of death and wreckage surrounded him, but Geoffrey forced it from his mind as he walked towards the knot of Elders.

  A mind stressed beyond its capabilities was more than capable of hallucinating, of seeing things that were nothing less than impossible. For a split second, Geoffrey was convinced his mind had snapped. It wasn't his senses, though, that were doing the betraying, and he watched in astonishment as two-thirds of the dark figures turned on some unknown signal and cut the other masters down without warning.

  Some of the minions of the fallen masters looked as though they might protest the treachery that had just occurred, but their numbers, already reduced by the failed trap from a few days before, had been further decimated in the battle. They quickly threw down their weapons and fell to their knees.

  Geoffrey's mind seemed to shut down in disbelief, but his feet carried him the rest of the way to the surviving Elders, to Imastious, whom he somehow knew had orchestrated the betrayal.

  Imastious looked Geoffrey over with the same cold eyes that had promised to release him a few days previously. "It looks as though your plan was a complete success. We've eliminated the backbone of the beasts."

  As simply as that he'd delivered a powerful message. Imastious had promised to release Geoffrey just like he'd promised a truce between all of the Elders. Geoffrey was smart enough to know that Imastious had just told him precisely how far he could trust the promise he'd been given.

  The dead gaze left Geoffrey for a second. "Well, General, I suppose you should probably see to our troops, don't you think?"

  Chapter 31

  Geoffrey packed the last of his meager possessions into a duffel bag he'd used when he'd changed apartments weeks ago, and then his heartbeat soared nervously as the locks on his door rattled. He turned just in time to see them rotate open, seemingly moving of their own accord.

  The vampire wasn't sure if he was relieved it was Venice who had discovered his flight, rather than Imastious. It made no sense, but he almost would have preferred Imastious.

  "Changing apartments?" Venice's tone was casual, but the glitter in her eyes revealed she was completely aware of what Geoffrey had in mind.

  "You know that isn't the case."

  The slender vampire nodded and then folded her arms over her snow-white blouse. "I figured that you'd be contemplating something like this. Good thing I arrived in time to talk you out of it before you pissed away the goodwill you've just accrued with Imastious. He's really quite ecstatic about the coup he pulled off."

  "You knew that his promise to let me go was worthless?"

  Anger made Venice's pale cheeks flush for the first time Geoffrey could remember. "Of course I did. You would have known too if you'd stopped to think for half a second about what kind of a person he is. I thought about telling you, but you were focused on exactly what you needed to be focused on. We couldn't risk distracting you when it could mean the destruction of us all."

  "Alexander knew too?"

  Venice started pacing, apparently frustrated with his naivety. "Not all the details, but he saw the change come over you. We both knew anything less than your best effort might not be sufficient to save everyone."

  Geoffrey was still glad Alexander's wounds hadn't been severe enough to kill him, but somehow it hurt as much as anything that the stocky vampire hadn't told him. He'd known the other man was a vampire and therefore subject to all of the normal darkness inside each of them, but he'd almost thought they were friends.

  Shrugging, Geoffrey zipped up the duffel bag. "None of that matters now; you all did what you felt you had to, now it's my turn to do the same. I'm leaving."

  Shaking her head, Venice positioned herself in front of the door. "Geoffrey, Imastious owns you. Haven't you wondered about your memory loss? He did it to you. He destroyed or suppressed everything to stop you from plotting to take his position. While he was in there, he conditioned you to make sure he could maintain control. How do you think we knew to find you in the church? It was a programmed response to your trying to run away. You can't trust your impulses; they'll just lead you back to him again and again."

  It made perf
ect sense now that it had been pointed out to him. He idly wondered if his lack of ability to see it himself was also part of the conditioning.

  Seeing that her words had hit Geoffrey with an almost physical impact, Venice continued on. "If Imastious knew that I'd told you that he'd kill me, but there's another way. Alexander is the key. You and I aren't strong enough to take Imastious by ourselves, but now you're stronger even than you were before he wiped your memories. With Alexander's help I think we can do it."

  Geoffrey shook his head, but Venice didn't give him a chance. "I know. Alexander could sell us out to Imastious, but he won't. After last week he all but worships the ground you walk on. Think about it, Geoffrey, we'd be free. No more Imastious to make you do things you don't want to do."

  "How long would it be until another Elder pulled us into his snare? Or until Alexander needed our help with something that was wrong? No, Melody was right. Fighting evil in the service of evil is still evil. The only true way to achieve good is to do it when you aren't under evil's thrall."

  Venice's eyes became unreadable. "Who is…never mind, it isn't important. I can't let you go. He'll kill me for not trying to stop you."

  "He doesn't have to know."

  "He'll know. For something like this he'll drag me in and rape my mind. I won't be subject to that again. There's too much at risk now."

  Tears started to gather in Geoffrey's eyes. "You could run away too."

  Venice's laugh was a bitter thing. "You won't let me come with you, I can see that in your eyes, and I can't make it on my own. I don't have your ability to alter people's thoughts and memories to protect myself."

  She was right. If he let her accompany him eventually he'd be party to another murder. The darkness inside her was just too strong to allow any other outcome.

  Geoffrey had come to the realization Venice had known all along. Eyes bright with unshed tears, she drew her katana from the sheath hidden by her leather trench coat.

  "There has to be another way."

  "No, Geoffrey, there isn't any other way."

  Part of Geoffrey wanted to argue, wanted to find a way that didn't involve someone dying, but the rest of him seemed to act of its own accord. Before he knew it, his weapon was unsheathed and ready, his thoughts trickling out to probe Venice's defenses.