Vampire Down (Blood Skies, Book 7) (38 page)

“
They
need
the Breach to exist, and that’s why they’ve been searching so desperately for Bloodhollow.  They don’t want it opened further – that would spell their doom – but they don’t want it sealed.”

“
What would happen?” Cross asked, hearing the anxiousness in his own voice.  “What would become of the vampires if the Breach was sealed?”

“
They would cease to exist,” Lucan said.  “They would fall to the ground, corpses again.”

They all stood in stunned silence.  It seemed there was a way to win the war after all.  They all felt it – that desperate sense of hope they’d been clinging to for so long, suddenly building up with pressure like a dam about to burst – but they couldn’t move, didn’t dare move for fear of disturbing it, for breaking the silence.

“No,” Danica said at last.  “This is bullshit.”

“
Dani...” Cross started, but she cut him off.

“
No,” she said again.  “This is too much...too much...”  She turned to Lucan.  “Assuming we even believe you, your plan depends on something we don’t have, that we
can’t
have, and can’t provide.  Shiv is
gone
,” she said, and there was pain in her voice, raw pain the likes of which he hadn’t heard there in a long time, “and Ronan is
gone
, and there’s not a God damn thing we can do about that.  So even if we could believe you...and I
want
to, trust me, I do...”             

“
Danica is right,” Maur echoed.  He’d been quiet for so long Cross had nearly forgotten he was there.  “Maur wishes this was possible, but...”

“
Nothing is impossible,” Cross said.  “After all we’ve been there...all we’ve
seen
...you guys have to believe this can be done.”  He tried to control the pain in his tone, tried to keep all of the fear and terror from spilling out, because that was what he did, what he
had
to do, for their sake, for his, had to keep himself together, to keep going, keep fighting, keep pushing his way through all of the hurt.  That was the only way to deal with it all: to carry on.  “If there’s a chance...even a
chance
...this can be done...”

“
There’s more than a chance,” Lucan said calmly.  “Bloodhollow stands over the Breach.  It’s difficult, but we can reach through to other places...other times.”

“
What are you saying?” Danica asked.

“
Ronan and Shiv died in this timeline,” Lucan said, “but they are alive in another.  Another where
you
died...all of you.  They’ve carried on, just like you have.  I wish I could find a time more closely aligned with ours, but the only one we can reach safely is ten years from now, where they’re alive, and capable of helping us...but we have to hurry.  Because now that Bloodhollow’s location has been revealed, they’re coming...they’re
all
coming here...”

“
Who?” Maur asked.

“
The Ebon Kingdoms,” Lucan said.  “New Koth.  The East Claw Coalition.  The Maloj.  From the present and the future, all forces will converge on Bloodhollow.” 

“
How can we find them?” Cross asked.  “How can we find Shiv and Ronan?”

“
We go get them,” Lucan said.  “But for now you need to rest, and eat.  You'’ll need your strength.  We have a lot of work to do.”

TWENTY-ONE

BRIDGE

They ate breakfast in silence there on the floor of the strange temple: crusty bread, smoked bacon, mushrooms that had cooked and cooled in butter, all served with flasks of water.  It was one of the most delicious meals Danica had ever had.

She sat near Cross, enjoying his nearness in spite of the damp chill which gripped Bloodhollow.  They didn’t speak, but the silence between them was comfortable.  She felt like she was dreaming – half a dream, half a nightmare.  That he was back with her, returned after she’d thought him dead and gone, was nothing short of a miracle.  She hadn’t even realized until she’d seen him just how deeply his loss had affected her, even more than that of Cole, which had nearly drove her to the brink of madness.  Having him close reminded her how important it was that she never lose him again.

Maur watched them both, nodding to himself as he gnawed on the bacon.

“
Didn’t you used to be a vegetarian?” she asked him.

“
Maur doesn’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, with just enough humor in his voice to indicate he knew
exactly
what she was talking about, and had likely fallen off whatever proverbial wagon it was that had put him off from meat.  She’d wondered for a time if it wasn’t something about the Gol physiology, but judging by how he tore the crusty meal apart with his oddly blunted teeth she could only surmise it was a lifestyle choice.

Cross ate quietly.  His eyes were on the mural.  She leaned in and with her flesh and blood hand squeezed his knee, which brought his eyes to her and seemed to snap him from his disturbed reverie.

“Sorry,” he said.

“
Don’t be,” she answered.  “I love you.”

He looked at her with a mixture of joy and fear, and she understood.  They both had so much to lose now, more than ever before.

“I love you,” he answered back.

“
Please,” Maur said.  “Maur is eating.”

Lucan was standing still, watching the mural as though he expected it to jump out at him.  He kept his arms folded, his back straight.  He was so much more confident than the Lucan Keth she’d known, the reclusive warlock who’d barely had control over his own primal spirit, though it made sense – that version from before had been just a shell of who he was, of
what
he was.

“
What do they look like?” she asked Cross quietly.  “The Soulweavers?”

Cross thought for a minute. 

“Do you know what a couatl is?”

“
I think so...from Native American lore, right?”

“
Yes,” he said hesitantly.  “Actually, I was thinking
Dungeons & Dragons
...”

“
Giant winged snakes,” she said with a small laugh.  “I got it.”

“
That’s a form we prefer,” Lucan said, still looking straight ahead.  “It may be our natural form.  I’m not sure.  I can no longer remember.”

“
Maur wonders,” the Gol said, and he stood up and walked closer to Lucan.  Danica and Cross watched with trepidation.  “Do you know the truth of his people?”

Lucan turned then, and regarded Maur with a quizzical look. 

“The Gol?”

“
Yes, the Gol,” Maur said with a bit of a sigh.

“
Of course.”

“
Do something for Maur,” Maur said after a moment.  Danica hadn’t noticed before, but their diminutive companion shook as he stood there.  They couldn’t see his face, as he had his hood drawn, and his crimson clothing was baggy and hung loose around his dwarf’s body, but the crack in his voice and the way he carried himself told them Maur was wracked with anxiety.  “Something for
all
Gol,” he said.

“
Of course,” Lucan answered.

“
Don’t tell them.  Any of them.”

“
Maur...” Cross started, but the Gol put a hand up.

“
It’s better this way,” he said.  “The Gol have survived their time on this world without knowledge of who they are, or where they came from.  They’ve forged a new identity for themselves, but years were wasted trying to find out who they
were
, where they came from.  Those precious years are lost now – there was in-fighting, plots.  There was madness and pain.”

Danica watched him, dumbfounded.  They’d never heard anything of this, but then it was known that the denizens of Meldoar kept to themselves – it wasn’t until A.B. 10 that humans and Gol even made contact, and before the Ebon Kingdoms had conquered the human lands outsiders had never even been allowed in Meldoar. 

“Are you sure?” she said. 

It took a moment, but Maur nodded. 

“Maur thinks it is best they don’t know,” he said.  “It might be they find they don’t like the answer.  It might be they discover they did this to themselves, to forget.  In any case, the society, the people, are better off the way they are now.”  They heard tears in his voice, even if they couldn’t see his face.  He looked up at Lucan.  “Please.  Can you do that for Maur?”

Lucan watched him carefully. 

“Yes,” he said.  “Yes, Maur, I can do that.  And I’ll have you know, you’re not the first Gol to make that request of me.”

“
Good,” Maur said after a moment, sounding more like his old self.  “Maur would hate to think he is the only member of his race with any brains.”

They all laughed over that, albeit briefly.

“Lucan,” Cross said.  “You said we have to go and get Shiv...what did you mean?”

“
The walls are weak here,” he said.  “Remember the glimpse of the barrier to The Black you and I saw before?”

Danica looked at Cross with an alarmed expression.

“Don’t worry about it...” he said.

“
Like hell,” she answered.

“
There are ways through,” Lucan continued, ignoring them.  “But we have to tread carefully.  Push too hard and we risk tearing the other weak points in the fold, where the barriers between realities are already tenuous, like fabric drawn too taut.  We can’t just pass through and wander into other times or realities without doing significant damage – we can go only short distances, or else allow things on the other side to come to
us
.  So long as they don’t venture beyond Bloodhollow, the damage will be minimal.”

“
Ok...” Cross said with a nod.

“
Translation?” Danica demanded.

“
We have to wait,” Lucan said.  “But not for long.  And I was misleading you when I said we had to go and get them, because in reality we only have to go and fetch Shiv.  Ronan will come to us.”

“
Wait, what...?” Danica began, but a sudden clamor rose outside as Bloodhollow’s citizens rushed to their posts.  A general alarm went up, a clanging bell that echoed through the massive cavern.  They heard the sound of gunfire off in the distance, followed by small explosions and the groan of vehicles.

“
Shit,” Cross said.  “Is that...?”

“
The Coalition,” Lucan said.  “They’re early.”

“
Well, we need to get out there...”

“
Ronan is almost here,” Lucan said.  “Cross, I’ll need you to help me with him.  If the rest of you would be kind enough to go and repel the borders.”

Without another word Lucan moved past them and left the room.  Cross looked at her.  Danica watched Lucan go, then grabbed Cross by the collar and pulled his close, pushing their lips together.

“Come back,” she said.

“
You, too,” he answered.

“
Tell Ronan Maur says 'Hello',” the Gol said. 

“
Danica...” Cross said.

“
I know,” she said.  “Me, too.”  She grabbed him and pulled him close.  “We’ll have a life after this,” she said, fighting the tears she felt in her eyes, hating herself for feeling weak.  “There’s a place for us, you know,” she said.  “Somewhere without blood skies and vampires.  A place where we can be together.”             

“
You’re everything to me,” he said. 

She held him a moment longer, and turned away.  They both went without looking back, Cross following Lucan deeper into the underground city, Danica following Maur to a wide bridge that was under attack.

Bloodhollow’s size and breadth continued to dizzy her as they raced across what felt like miles of red stone road.  The structures shifted because of a tremor, and each gunshot and blast echoed loud in the caves.  Everywhere they turned the ragged citizens of Bloodhollow readied weapons and dug in, taking position in the ruined cracks of tall crimson spires or behind sandbags, in the clefts of buildings or natural rips in the road where some past subterranean calamity had separated the floor. 

They came to the bridge, which was as wide as a city block and two hundred yards across, thick red stone with crumbling rails.  The ceiling was taller there, and beneath the bridge lay a distant gorge filled with crystalline waters and edged stones aimed up like stakes.  The roar of the underground river was suddenly deafening; Danica hadn’t even heard it until she and Maur drew to within a dozen feet of the edge of the bridge. 

Thick curls of smoke followed three vehicles as they rolled across the bridge: bastard things, part truck and part tank, with turrets weighed down by 20mm cannons and miniguns, razored battering rams and spiked wheels.  Gargoyles, Troj and human soldiers followed behind the mechanized armor, accompanied by a single Raza witch drifting up high on underground winds, her body sheathed in a corona of black fire.