CHAPTER 17

With unsteady hands, Shogun lifted Amy’s veil. But before he could lean down to kiss her, the dungeon doors blew off. Screeching Erinyes nightmares billowed up from the depths of the castle, dropping dead Fae dungeon guards like bloody refuse from high above the ceremony.

“Look away!” Garth shouted. “Lest ye turn to stone.” He spun around and blinded the Chens and then wielding his wand yelled out, “Mirrors!”

Erinyes flew upward and closed their eyes, screaming to avoid their own images. Mrs. Chen fainted into her blind husband’s arms, and he quickly covered her body, huddled against the ground, calling out for his daughter in sheer panic. Wand blasts exploded furniture as Fae castle staff screamed and took cover while palace guards stormed the room.

“Battle stations!” Sir Rodney shouted, leaping over a table and calling a wand into his hand.

Queen Cerridwen materialized a mirrored shield in her fist for Sir Rodney to look at and then tossed it to him. “Fight with this, milord!”

Archers instantly broke through the windows, aiming at the Erinyes who circled above the chandeliers in the vaulted ceiling. Every wolf shed their human form and Amy was now a deadly feline force.

“Return what is ours by right, Cerridwen of Hecate!” one of the Erinyes yelled, and then dove toward Amy, avoiding the queen’s icy wand blast.

But the Erinyes obviously didn’t expect to have to drag a Were Snow Leopard to Hell with a pack of wolves on their heels. The demon chasing Amy reached out and received a brutal rake to her face as Amy gracefully leaped behind an overturned table. Shogun caught the beast’s spaded tail in his massive jaws, flipped her over, and tackled her to the ground just in time for Amy to slash in and disembowel the creature. Hunter jumped up from behind another table and ripped off the wing of another attacker coming in on an assist as Sasha scored the throat of one who made the mistake of looking over her shoulder when Silver Shadow leaped onto her back. Sir Rodney worked in tandem with Garth, blowing Erinyes away from Amy and shielding castle staff.

Both Amy and Shogun flipped out of the way of the first maimed beast’s talons, and before she could get up Queen Cerridwen flash froze the Erinyes in a permafrost tomb.

“I owe you nothing!” Queen Cerridwen yelled. “You made a deal with a member of my court who was executed for treason! I gained nothing from his unsanctioned bargain with you and was none the wiser of the deal he cast!”

“Liar!” another of the Erinyes screeched, going to her dead sister in fury. She stood and pointed toward the queen. “So says the Vampire Vlad! He claims you and he had a deal and you reneged upon him. You killed your own man in open court after he killed his own in an act of loyalty to you!”

“Then let Elder Vlad bring proof of his duplicitous claims!” Queen Cerridwen shouted back, looking into a mirror as Hunter, Sasha, and Silver Hawk—now the wolf Silver Shadow—held a line around the queen, snarling.

“Be gone from my castle, demons!” Sir Rodney shouted. “You dare breach a Fae sidhe on spurious charges, your next attempt will be your last!”

“We had right to follow the trail of the Unseelie whom we bargained with into your dungeon!” the lead she-demon screeched. “We can enter anywhere there has been a bargain made between us and the damned!”

Sir Rodney and Garth gave each other a look.

“But you cannot enter again once barred by the righteous—and Kiagehul was executed by my own hand! I have joined forces with the Seelie!” Queen Cerridwen shielded her sight with her forearm as she lowered her wand toward the she-demon. “Look around, Erinyes. The proof is before your very eyes. The Unseelie and Seelie houses stand united. The wolves stand with us. If I wanted that bargain that was struck by Kiagehul with Vampire Vlad, why am I not in his lair plotting to give you the girl you seek?”

The Erinyes passed uncertain glances between them, their red eyes blazing in the mirrors with unbridled rage.

“You best pray, ice queen, that my sister thaws out in Hell,” the demon crouching above the fallen one hissed.

“Take the virgin and only give her back if this lie bears out as truth, Megaera!” another called out as the leader lifted off holding her frozen sister. “We must give the master his due!”

“There is no virgin in this room,” the one identified as Megaera replied, glaring at the snow leopard. “Our payment is not only late, but the package is damaged. We will seek recompense. Know that, Unseelie!”

Just as quickly as they’d flooded the main dining hall, the Erinyes took flight in a massive dark flock of screeching anger and disappeared down the dungeon steps.

Garth immediately sealed the dungeon door. Fae staff began quickly collecting the dead. The castle became a frantic hotbed of guards and wizards rushing about. Amy transformed into her human body, grabbed up her human gown, and raced over to kneel by her distraught, blind parents. The wolves came back into their human forms and dressed slowly and silently, numbed by fury.

“How the hell did they breach my dungeon?” Sir Rodney bellowed, going over to the now-sealed door and lobbing a punch at it. “Tell me whot in ’eaven’s name must we do to seal the sidhe from demon invasions, man!”

“You held Kiagehul the traitor there,” Queen Cerridwen said in a dangerously low tone. “We were lucky, this time. But the demon spoke the truth—they had barrier rights to come search the location of where the last deal was obviously made.   and it was in your dungeon, Rodney.”

“And no one thought to properly seal the dirt floor to a possible demon breach?”

“We didn’t realize he’d had time to spell-cast during his short internment,” Garth said quietly, and bowed his head. “Silver Hawk.   if we might avail you of your services to put down a prayer made by a righteous man.”

“Gladly,” Silver Hawk said in a quiet tone. “They will not get through again.”

“My brother was down there with his wife,” Hunter said between his teeth, pacing. “An hour earlier, Shogun would be dead and Amy would be missing.”

“And where are my Griffin Dragons? Where was the aerial support!” Sir Rodney shouted, now walking in an agitated circle.

“Pure stone, sire,” an injured palace guard rasped. “Broken into a thousand pieces in the courtyard where they fell the moment they stared at the beasts through the window. Killed two good men from the falling rubble.”

“Aye,” another guard said in disgust.

Sir Rodney closed his eyes. “On the morrow, the Vampires will know what a breached sanctuary feels like.” He turned to Garth and gave him orders in a low, deadly tone: “Prepare all missives with my queen for immediate delivery. Add this to the list of offenses once you tally the dead and injured. A pox on Vlad Tempesh!”

A whimper from Amy’s mother drew attention to the Chens. Amy looked up with tears streaming down her cheeks. “Is there any way to allow them to sleep and to only remember the beautiful wedding, the feast, and all that was good before it was ruined?”

“Of course, child,” Garth said with tenderness in his gaze. He waved his wand and Amy’s parents slumped. Two guards rushed over and lifted them as Rupert hurried behind them. “When they awaken, they will remember all that was good and having too much wine and rich food..   Should any memories ever invade, they will be thought to be the dreams of the overfed.”

“Thank you,” Amy murmured, and Shogun went to her.

“We’re going to make this right. I promise you.”

“Brother, if you have never heeded my words before, please heed them now—stay with your new wife. If the castle comes under siege again while Sasha and I are gone, you and Silver Hawk must be here.”

Shogun gave Hunter a nod, but Sir Rodney’s eye held a question.

“Surely you’re not going out into the night, now, after such an attack?”

Silver Hawk captured Sir Rodney’s gaze as he stepped forward. “They must. Sasha’s family and Hunter’s pack brothers are on a human military base that is ill prepared for a supernatural onslaught.”

“Get down!” Woods yelled, spraying the windows with an M16.

Glass and wood became a hail of shrapnel. Two Vampires bust into flames as hallowed-earth-packed shells riddled their bodies. Crow Shadow sailed through the second-floor window, tackling a Vampire on the ground, brutally savaging him. Fisher pulled a pin on a grenade and lobbed it out of an adjacent window, creating a diversion so that Crow Shadow could get away unharmed as two more Vamps touched down to assist their comrade.

Base sirens screamed. Pandemonium was in full effect. Clarissa and Winters hunkered down under a lab table as Bradley quickly created a brick-dust circle against possible demon incursion. Doc was pure motion, sealing the doors and vents with holy water and prayers. MPs kicked in the door, poised to burst into the room, but never even got to lodge their complaints. Vampire mercenaries led by Caleb yanked the men off their feet, snapping their necks. But the moment the Vampire tried to enter the room, a blue-white holy water and prayer barrier scorched his leg.

Caleb drew back with a furious howl and fastened his hatred-hardened gaze on Doc Holland. “Smoke them out! I don’t care if you have to burn down the entire base to get to these rats, do it! But I want them alive. An exchange for the girl—Sasha Trudeau’s entire family for one Amy Chen.”

Instantly the Vampires disappeared and took up a position outside the windows, staring up, waiting. Fire roared into the room and soldiers, airmen, base staff, and commanding officers moved at a frenetic pace outside, yelling at the Vampires to get out of the way while desperately trying to extinguish the supernatural blaze that was impervious to human efforts.

“We’ve gotta bail out, Doc,” Woods yelled over the din coughing, “or we’re gonna burn alive!”

Bradley pulled Winters and Clarissa from beneath the lab table and headed toward the windows. Smiling Vampires waited patiently, their toothy smirks a promise of cruelty.

“If you jump,” Fisher said, coughing, “I’ll cover you. I’ll try to scatter ’em so maybe you can get through that vamp front line to the guys on the base working the hoses.”

“Then what?” Doc yelled, shielding his face from the heat with his arm. “They’ll kill every man that tries to keep them away from us.”

“Fish, put the rifle down before a sniper thinks you’re their biggest problem!” Woods yelled, and then grabbed Clarissa’s hand to pull her closer to the fresh air.

The trapped team looked up as the fire roared across the tiled ceiling.

“We’ve gotta go, now!” Woods said, pulling Clarissa by the waist as she doubled over, gagging from the billowing smoke.

Woods hoisted Clarissa over the window’s edge with Bradley as Fisher helped Winters hang and then prepare to drop. Vampires leered up, making gestures with their hands to let Clarissa and Winters go. Several brave servicemen ran over, only to get murdered outright for their trouble. Base personnel stopped dead in their tracks for a moment. Colonel Madison leveled a revolver at the Vampire line.

“PCU! Those are supernatural hostiles! Cover those civilians with silver shells now!”

Several Vampires turned back toward the direction of Colonel Madison as Clarissa fell to the ground with Winters. Bradley bailed over the edge of the window to try to put his body between hers and certain danger as Doc came down with a thud right behind him.

Vampires rushed in, but a black blur leaped out of the shadows, savaging the Vampires that moved toward members of the team. Doc flung out a burning spray of holy water as Bradley blinded a Vamp with a fistful of hallowed earth.

“Do not shoot that wolf!” Colonel Madison yelled. “Those two men in the building are mine!”

Fisher picked up his M16 and went over the wall with Woods, shooting at airborne Vamps. The two soldiers hit the ground, and watched in horror as Vampires turned on Colonel Madison’s men. The team was trapped against the wall of the burning building; Madison and his men wouldn’t be able to hold off the onslaught for long. Then suddenly the moon went dark.

“Hold your fire!” Bradley called out.

Vampires scattered as white lightning bolts exploded asphalt behind them. The team flattened their bodies to the ground. Military personnel took cover, watching in awe and not sure what to fire on as huge Dragons dive-bombed out of the sky. It was as though a supernatural cavalry had arrived with what seemed like knights in medieval armor riding them and casting white light charges from the tips of strange blades.

M16s, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, Humvees, and tanks sat poised, still, while servicemen looked up and gaped. A huge fire-breathing Dragon touched down in front of the civilian team, pawing the earth and snorting, daring a Vampire to come near its protected charges.

Then just as quickly a funnel cloud opened in the center of the base yard, spewing up concrete, gravel, and asphalt with what seemed like a thousand gargoyles. Two more wolves leaped out of the shadows, one massive black beast and a slightly smaller one of exquisite silver.

“Trudeau, Hunter, over here!” Woods cried out.

The Dragon guard looked up, snorted fire, and then scorched several gargoyles as it lunged into the air. Sasha and Hunter immediately went on the offensive, attacking a downed gargoyle that was still alive before it could rejoin its funnel cloud. They gave the team a glance. Crow Shadow exited a shadow and joined them, and then the three wolves fanned out to take a protective stance in front of their family members.

Above their heads the skies were filled with an aerial dogfight that left the humans on the ground gaping. Gargoyles dive-bombed Dragon riders, attacking each Dragon ten at a time, grasping onto the massive beasts’ backs, legs, and tails in an attempt to scurry up close enough to kill the Fae riders. But the Dragons scorched the incoming danger as though burning locust swarms while swatting away some with slices from their deadly tails.

Standing, and held to the Dragon by the sheer force of magick, gallant Fae riders hacked at interloping gargoyles that tormented the Foe’s mounts with demon teeth and vicious claw slashes. Soon the military ground forces were able to make out sides and, with Colonel Madison’s commands, sent mortar fire into clouds of gargoyles to help the dragons even the score.

But not to be outdone, the Vampires made another run at the human soldiers on the ground to stop their assists. Torn, Hunter peeled off with Woods, leaving Fisher, Sasha, and Crow Shadow to protect the team. A Vampire blur that was headed toward Madison was knocked out of the air. Both Hunter and the Vampire hit the ground with a thud. Madison’s men leveled weapons, but Madison shouted, “Wait!” Hunter stood up with the Vampire’s esophagus in his jaws and then leaped into a base shadow to return to Sasha’s side.

Dragons roared as gargoyles screeched a retreat and headed toward the wide cavern in the middle of the base yard. Sasha looked at Hunter, and as the last gargoyle tried to dive into the pit they both jumped at it in unison, tackling the screeching, fighting-mad creature to the ground. Dragons landed. Several Fae riders dismounted and ran over to the captured demon.

“Let it go and we’ll fry this bastard back to livin’ hell,” a Fae air commander said, pointing his sword toward it as his men shouted a collective, “Aye!”

Hunter transformed, using all the strength within him to hold the creature down and then getting help from Crow Shadow. “No,” Hunter panted. “Sir Rodney wants to send one back to Transylvania with a message tagged on it.”

Colonel Madison came over with his men, gingerly passing snapping dragons. “What the fuck..  ”

“Aye,” the Fae commander said, and then spit. “Oh, we’ll tag the little bastard all right. Anybody need a lift back to the sidhe?”