Bloodlord (Soulguard Book 3) (14 page)

Chapter 26

              Kil'Sin'Deres had been fairly close in his estimate. He had said within three months. The first attack happened three months and six days after we had gotten word from the other world.

              It happened on the day I made my mother a Mageguard.

              "Ya finally decided to do it?" I asked.

              "Yeah," she said, "The lure of being able to throw Kharl through a wall is just too much. I have to."

              "I don't blame ya," I said, "Sadly, I can't throw him through a wall. We could always enlist Paige."

              "Now wouldn't that be something to see," she said, "That tiny little thing shaking him like a rag doll."

              "I'd pay real money to see that," I said with a laugh.

              "I know this isn't a scheduled day for this," she said, "Do you want to wait until Sunday?"

              "Now's fine, Mom," I said, "We told the ones on duty that we would be doin this. That should be fine."

              "Maybe you would like to do two," a voice behind me said.

              I turned to find Dietrich. With him were Kharl, Prada, Lyrica, Mattie, Trent, and Rostov.

              "I figured with just one, I wouldn't need supports," I said.

              "You probably will need support to Pull hard enough to stretch his Stream, though," Lyrica said, pointing at Dietrich.

              "You're probably right," I said.

              Dietrich was six hundred and fifty years old and his Soulstream was already big enough to Pull through. Age strengthens the Stream and six centuries had made his look like steel cable. What I would have to Pull through that to make it grow would be extreme.

              "Ok, we'll do Mom's first then the geezer."

              "Geezer?" Dietrich rumbled.

              "Anyone as old as you is automatically in the geezer category," Trent said, "No way to escape that."

              "What happened to the term, 'respect your elders'?"

              "Oh, don't get me wrong," Trent said, "I respect anyone that reaches geezer status. But, if there's a doubt, there's one person who can't even be denied as 'Geezer'. It would have to be the father of a guy that has reached geezer status, himself. There's no way to argue the point that this father we are speaking of could be anything less than an 'Old Geezer'."

              "May even be considered ancient," I said, "I mean, you're old enough to have passed any sort of regular Geezer status."

              "Maybe he needs a Title," Lyrica said, "First Geezer, or something like that."

              "All in capital letters," Rostov added.

              "I at least expected the Russian to be on my side."

              "We set great store in our ancestry," Rostov said, "We honor our eldest with Titles. FIRST GEEZER should be worn with pride."

              "We can get a t-shirt for him and everything," Trent said.

              "They'll have to make it out of a tent," I said.

              "Probably cost a fortune," Prada said, "Lucky we got an international arms dealer who can afford it."

              "You've been looking for a reason to use that term in a conversation for a week," Mattie said.

              "How often do ya get to say that in regular conversation? Really?"

              "True enough," I said, "And I'll gladly pay for a t-shirt for the FIRST GEEZER."

              "Dear God," Dietrich said, "Can we just get this done before I have to shoot myself in the head."

              "Alright, alright," I said.

              "First we'll work with..."

              "If you call me Geezer, I'll stab you."

              "...the beautiful young lady," I continued.

              Much like most of the others, Mom's ascension went just fine. She ended up with a stream about the same size as Kharl's.

              Dietrich's was a different story.

              He formed the tube for the power to flow from and, with several supports, I Pulled through it. After seeing that he steered it out the tube into the sky, I Pulled harder.

              Fire poured through his stream into the sky, but the stream remained the same. I Pulled with more will and I felt power begin to flow from my supporters. His Stream may have grown an inch.

              Lyrica stepped up beside me and our hands joined. We Pulled together and there was a massive explosion of power into the sky. As we Pulled, his stream grew little by little. I looked down into the Source. I could see something deep down inside there and I started to reach for it.

              "Don't even think about it," Lyrica said, "We aren't touching that. Ever."

              I stopped myself from reaching for it and we just kept Pulling until Dietrich's Soulstream had grown to about the size of mine. The amount of power it would take to swell it further would be immense. It took ten minutes of steady Pulling from both of us to do that much.

              "Damnit, man!" I said when we stopped and released the residual power into the sky, "What the hell is that thing made of?"

              "The despair of my enemies and the lamentations of their women," he said.

              "He is your father," Kyra said to Kharl.

              "We don't call him the First Geezer for nothing," Kharl answered.

              I laughed and turned to see a great deal of excitement going on back toward the base. People were running all over the place.

              "That doesn't look good," I said.

              "Not in the least," Kharl said, "Let's go see what's goin on."

              "Sorry, you two," I said, "No time to get you acclimated. I think the war may be starting."

              "Go," Kyra said, "We'll be along, shortly once we get used to the power levels."

              I nodded and launched myself toward the base with a crunch as the ground cracked where I had jumped from.

              As I landed, Kharl passed me, "Damn grasshopper."

              I stopped the first person I came across, a National Guardsman.

              "What's happened?"

              "They're hittin all over Europe, Sir," he said, "London, Berlin, Paris, Prague, And a bunch more. It's on the news and we're getting ready in case they come here."

              I didn't think they would be comin through our Gate again any time soon but we would have to prepare for it just in case.

              "Alright, get back to it, then," I said, "We need to get to Paige's office or Marco and Polo's. Kharl, get your Jaeghernauts together and ready if the Gate opens."

              "Will do, I got some new guys after Daphne took off to Edinburgh, last month. She's building another squadron of Juggs over there."

              "Good, we need all of em we can get."

              "The rest of ya," I said, "Gather your squads. More than likely, we're airborne within the next couple of hours. We gotta get over there before they open one of those Great Gates if we can."

              "Got it Boss," Prada said, "We'll be ready."

              "Do you intend to leave me behind again?" Lyrica asked.

              "Hell no," I said, "You guys get ready to go, too."

              Mattie had what I think most would consider a feral grin on her face. She wasn't out in the middle of the last two major actions and she looked forward to this one."

              "Bloodthirsty women," I muttered.

              "You can say that again," Trent said before following behind the two of them.

              I headed for Marco and Polo's building, it was closer than Paige's office. Turns out it was just as well. Paige and Gregor were both there too.

              "They're all over Europe," Paige said, "The response is good from our Academy but the death toll is going to be enormous."

              "They did one city at a time here," Gregor said, "It looks like these are on blitz runs. Regular Kresh and soldiers, mostly."

              "Still, it's ugly," Polo said.

              "I need to get over there," I said.

              "Can we risk them not coming here and send our primary weapon over there?" Marco asked.

              "They're not comin here," I said, "And if they do we have so many weapons waitin for em, it would be a slaughter. I need to be where they come out. And it's gonna be over there somewhere."

              "Ok," Paige said, "How many do you want to take with you?"

              "I'll take my whole squad," I said, "and two others. Should take three planes. If you wanna send some AC130s along with us, I think we could spare a few here. I know we can use em over there. Once the Gate opens and they give us a target, we can bring more of em."

              "Done and done," Marco said, "Go get em, Colin. We'll hold the Gate. Nothin will get through here."

              "Alright," I said, "I'm headin out as soon as we can get our team ready."

              "The Paris attack has been put down," Came a voice from the hallway.

              "That's some good news. That was quick, too."

              "Find out what they did to end it so quickly," I said, "Maybe we can use it in some of the others."

              I strode out the door and as soon as I was clear of the office, took off at seventy miles per hour toward the Armory. I needed to suit up.

              I stopped by my office to tell my staff what was happening and found a present sitting on my desk.

              I looked around quickly and opened it. Inside a wooden box was a pair of swords. They were modeled after our short swords we used in the Guard. But they were of a quality that blew ours away.

              Under them was a note.

              I love you.

              She knows me so well.

Chapter 27

              The plane was loud but the video on Brighton's tablet didn't have any sound anyway. We watched a quiet day in Paris turn into a vision of Hell.

              The video taker had been facing directly toward the spot where the Gate opened. Kresh poured through in a flood.

              The guy turned and ran so we lost sight of the Kresh for a few minutes as he sprinted down the street.

              Suddenly, something caught his eye and he faced the camera toward a restaurant where a woman had exited the door with flames rolling across her body. She wore a form fitting black dress and high heels.

              "Isn't that..."

              "Yep, Daphne Cavanaugh," I said.

              "Oh," Prada said, "They definitely shouldn't have interrupted her date. Now they're in trouble."

              She strode past the man with the camera and the camera shook as she began firing discs of Soulfire into the packed throngs of Kresh pouring down the street.

              We saw her discs clear the running Humans and ripped holes in the ranks of the pursuing Kresh. I could see the intensity of the fire rolling across Daphne growing.

              "She can't keep doing that," Adaya said, "She'll burn out."

              As if she had heard the words, Daphne stopped firing her launcher. She reached down and removed her heels and buckled them together and laid them across her shoulder.

              "Never just throw away a set of five inch stilettos," Mattie said, "Those are beautiful."

              "Sure Mattie," Trent said.

              Daphne charged into the horde of Soldiers and they seemed to explode as anything that came within reach of her was ripped apart.

              The guy with the camera had lost all interest in running away. He was mesmerized by the sight in front of him.

              Daphne went down under a pile of soldiers.

              "Oh God," Prada said.

              "Nope," I said, "wait for it."

              The pile exploded in every direction as Daphne burst out of it like some Greek goddess. She was bloody and wounded, not to mention nearly naked. She still had her shoes.

              "Perhaps, not the time to have worn a thong," Prada said.

              The camera was pointed at her but the gate was plainly visible in front of her. She continued her rampage through the soldiers and literally went through a Wraith that had come out of the Gate.

              She was right up against the Gate when a Kresh'Ma'Nar strode through the portal. It was moving fast and was past her in an instant. But Daphne is a Mage with a twenty inch Soulstream. She was on it before it even knew she was there.

              She was up its back with her shoes in her hand. They glowed with Soulfire as she imbued her five inch heels.

              "Ohhh!" I heard Mattie as Daphne slammed her fiery heels into both of the Demon Mage's ears.

The heels pierced its brain and it fell forward onto its face. What Kresh were left turned from their victims and you could see the roars as they charged back toward her.

She screamed something I expect was rather mean at them and met them half way.

She tore them apart. The gate closed.

The camera stayed on her as she limped over to the fallen Mage and bent down. She calmly pulled her shoes from its ears and buckled them back together.

Someone came out of the crowd with a long jacket which he handed to her. She put it on and thanked the man.

"Don't look so disappointed," Prada said.

"Men," Adaya said.

"She saved the shoes," Mattie said.

"She saved a lot of people," Brighton said.

"Well, that too," Mattie said.

***

We landed in England and refueled again. The flight seemed to take forever but it was necessary. We needed the planes over here to use. Everything we had over here was already in use. The Great Gate had opened in Kenya, Africa. Before we could take off again there was a man brought to me from the African Academy.

"Sir I was ordered to report directly to you."

I could see the bitterness inside of him. Something had happened that had been rough for him.

"Just think about what happened and I'll watch it."

His thoughts returned to the previous days. His thoughts returned to his posting at Nanyuki. To his Mage Captain, Malcolm Hendrix. I remembered Malcolm. I had made him a Mage some time back. A powerful Mage at that.

"Sir, there's no way you can stop that with thirty Mages. We all have to go!"

"No, Sovas, your job is to get as many women and children in the planes and get them out of here. You, personally will be on the first plane. You will report directly to Colin Rourke. Tell him what happened here. You tell him we held them as long as we could. Most importantly, you tell him where this Gate is so he can drop Hell on it. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Sir," Sovas answered.

I could feel the misery as this man had watched thirty Mages run South toward what he could feel as the most Demons he had ever felt in the same spot before. The pictures had just come in from the drones that were sent South. They had been disheartening. There were hundreds of thousands of Kresh already out and running. They poured through in rivers.

Sovas followed orders and gave the commands to remove all women and children from the city that they could fit in any plane available. He was on the first and he looked back with tears in his eyes as he saw the massive explosion to the south. He knew he was watching the deaths of many of his brothers. He longed to be there with them.

I placed my hand on his shoulder, "You'll be with me when we get there, Sovas. I swear it."

"They held them long enough to get ten planes out of Nanyuki."

"We'll make them pay," I said with a fire burning inside me that would not be pushed down. Those men had ran straight into that Hell to save as many as they could and I would not let them die in vain.

"Change of plans," I said, "We're goin for the Gate and we're goin to close it, one way or another."

"Yes Sir," said our pilot, "I'll call it in."             

              I went back to my seat alongside the right wall of the plane. My rage was clawing to get free and I needed to center myself. What had happened in Nanyuki is what I would expect of any Mage Captain. I hated that we had lost those men, but they died as Soulguards die. With honor and protecting those that cannot protect themselves. The problem with that situation was that we would all die piecemeal if we couldn't get our forces together. None of the garrison in Nanyuki had survived except Sovas. It would haunt him, I'm sure but we would give the man a chance to see his brothers avenged. It's the best I can do for him.

              "We have com signal from the Academy in Africa, Sir," the pilot said over my coms.

              "Patch me in," I said.

              "This is Rourke," I said after I heard the click in my coms.

              "We've loaded all the civilians from the Academy, Sir," Ekene Dakarai said.

              Dakarai was the Dean of the African Academy and a powerful Mage in his own right but I knew they couldn't stand up to the wave of Kresh coming up through Kenya straight toward them.

              We couldn't face them piecemeal or they would roll across us and destroy our world. The Source weapons weren't plentiful enough in one place yet.

              "I need you to pull out, Dakarai," I said, "We have to hit em on a unified front. Forces are buildin up in Cairo to meet the bastards."

              "It's too late for that, Sir," he said with a shake of his head, "We've sent all the civilians out with the planes and they're too close."

              "Then you hit the hills," I said, "don't waste men on a frontal assault. Guerilla tactics, Dakarai. We'll send planes down to get you as soon as we can. But you have to stay alive so we can fight these bastards together. You hear me?"

              "Yes Sir, we'll do our best," he said.

              "I know you will," I said, "You're Soulguard."

              "Yes Sir, Dakarai out."

              "Good luck and Godspeed, Dakarai."

              I turned to Rostov, "Get word back to base, we need planes to go after those men. As soon as we hit that gate, we go join them in Cairo, as well."

              He nodded and headed for the cockpit.

              The rage was clawing its way out again as I thought of all the people dying down there. Several of the Mageguards were staring at me. My rage was leaking and they could all feel it. Some of these men had only fought in training alongside me and they didn't know the depths of the rage.

              What I had just ordered Dakarai to do would not sit well with them but we have to pull everything together for a unified attack. If there's one thing I have learned in the last few days, I can't be everywhere I'm needed and it eats at me. I need to be at the Gate, I need to be in Cairo, I needed to be in Berlin, London, Prague, Rome and a dozen other cities in Europe.

              The small gates were opening all over Europe to spread our forces and they were doing a swell job of it. The forces that were on their way to Cairo consisted of military units from ten different countries.

              So far, the Kresh had followed a fairly straight line up through Kenya, straight toward Egypt and the small land bridge that allowed access to the Middle Eastern countries and Europe.

              Europe seemed to be the main target, though. The gates seemed focused there. But the death toll in North Eastern Africa was going to be horrendous. Evacuation of the countries between Kenya and Egypt were underway but that was a lot of damn people.

              The problem was that the gate kept spewing Kresh even as the others poured through the country.

              We had three planes full of Mages and Mageguards and we would close the gate. If we could get to a place where we could reload on the plane, we would. Otherwise, we fight our way out of Africa.

              It was scary to know that my desire to use the second option was far stronger than the desire to use the first. Unfettered, the beast inside me could bath in the blood of our enemies.

              I looked up to find some disturbing expressions around me and I sensed the feelings behind them. They feared what they were seeing and feeling as my emotions were projecting outward.

              It might have had something to do with the vicious grin that was on my face as I thought of the slaughter to come.