Matt Archer: Bloodlines (Matt Archer #4) (10 page)

Colonel Black’s team hadn’t been on the ground with wielders
before. They’d been acting uppity with everybody—not just me and Will—like
being hand-picked by the colonel was some big thing. Never mind that
all
of us had been selected through Colonel Black, or that we’d seen paranormal
combat and they hadn’t. I didn’t like it, not one bit. What would they do when
we were attacked? Would they panic at the first sight of monsters? Or would
they back down so Will and I could call the shots, then follow through with our
orders like they were supposed to?

Doubtful, which is why we had to put a stop to this
stupidity now, when it didn’t matter.

I locked eyes with Will. He was nodding. “Then bring it on.”

Johnson relayed the message the next evening at dinner, and
word got out there was going to be an old-fashioned brawl. Every soldier not on
duty crowded around the patch of ground we used as a sparring area; a few
officers even turned up. Lanningham was standing in back with his massive arms
crossed, a tiny smile twitching at the corners of his mouth.

Someone came up and whispered something to him. With raised
eyebrows, he pointed at me, then held up two fingers.

Crap, they were taking bets.

“I didn’t expect an audience,” Will said.

“What else do they have to do? We’re just killing time until
the eclipse.”

He shook his head. “All right, then, let’s give ‘em a show.”

Our opponents strutted into the ring, smirking. I’d seen
expressions like that before—on a gang of bullies looking to beat me down, four
on one. In the end, they were bleeding in the snow with me standing over them.
I didn’t need Tink, or my knife, to fight. Johnson had made sure of that.

“Rules,” Johnson bellowed over the crowd’s chatter. “Nothing
below the belt, no punches to the head or face. Take down your opponent, you
win. It’s that simple.”

Will bounced on his toes, loosening up. I wondered if
Johnson told these guys that my best friend was an all-American linebacker. He
planted quarterbacks in the dirt on a routine basis.

“Go!” Johnson shouted, and Will took off like a raging bull.
Before I’d even gotten my bearings, he had one of the guys on the ground.

After sitting on his opponent for a second, he stood and
said, “Captain Johnson, sir. I believe I downed my man.”

Johnson was laughing so hard he had tears in his eyes. “I do
believe you did, Cruessan. Go have a seat.”

The other guy, my guy, shot dark looks at me as his friend
crawled to his feet and slipped into the crowd. “Don’t think you’ll get off
that easy.”

“You’re no pansy,” I said. “Understood.”

The guy paced back and forth. I didn’t even bother to check
out his name patch. From now on, his name was “Enemy.” And I took care of my
enemies.

I could feel Tink stirring in the back of my head. My
bloodlust fed hers, and vice versa. I pushed back, knowing I had to fight
fair…and knowing she wouldn’t let me. No, she’d have me grind this guy into
cornmeal and serve him up as tortillas if I gave her half a chance.

Enemy was giving me his best cold, hard stare. After looking
into the eyes of a ten-foot-tall Dingo, this didn’t do much for me. Colonel
Black had come out here with a bunch of green beans who had no clue what they
were up against.

It was time to school them.

I waited, patient, easy, while he wound himself up, stalking
me around the circle. Make him come to you, Johnson would say. Make your
opponent do all the work, and when he’s tired, strike once and strike hard.

After we circled for a good minute, the crowd started
getting bored. “Come on!” someone yelled. “Quit dancing and get to work!”

“Yancy, what’s wrong? You scared that kid will put you on
your back?” Laughter and catcalls followed. I knew my team’s voices well enough
to recognize that they weren’t the ones taunting us. In fact, I caught Dorland
watching and he didn’t look the least bit amused. Instead, he was angry. When I
met his eyes, he mouthed, “Make it fast.”

Yancy’s face was locked in a teeth-gritting scowl. His
pacing had gotten faster, but I didn’t watch his feet, knowing he’d feint to
try to fake me out. Instead, I watched his torso. He’d telegraph his real
movement without even realizing it.

He darted right and I tensed up, ready for the attack. Like
I expected, his body didn’t follow through to the right with his feet and he
swung left at the last second. He looked really surprised when I dodged him
easily. He turned faster than I expected, though, and I had to throw my arms up
to ward off a blow to my stomach. That’s when Nguyen’s training kicked in;
flexibility didn’t seem as important as power, but I finally saw how it could
win a fight. When Yancy swung again, I squatted so low my butt brushed the
ground and grabbed his legs. Twisting as I stood, I lifted him off his feet and
dropped him on his back.

The crowd erupted in yells, some jeers, some cheers. Yancy
lay still, making guppy faces. Crap, I hadn’t meant to knock the wind out of
him. I held out a hand to help him up, but he rolled away and clambered to his
knees on his own.

The noise suddenly stopped, like someone had punched a mute
button. I turned and there was Colonel Black.

He didn’t look happy.

“Archer, Cruessan,” the colonel barked. “With me. Now.”

Uncle Mike appeared and followed up that command with,
“Everyone else not on duty, hit your racks.”

The soldiers scattered as I trudged over to the colonel.
Will met me and we stood shoulder to shoulder.

Colonel Black let out a disgusted sigh and said, “Go to HQ.”

We headed for his tent, Mike breathing down our necks the
whole way. “What were you two thinking? Cruessan, you were blind, what, two
weeks ago? And is that shoulder of yours even a hundred percent yet?”

“It is, sir, and that little exercise didn’t even tax it,”
Will said, a little more defiantly than I would have. Then again, he had more
to prove than I did.

“Exercise?” Mike muttered. “You two are going to send me
into early retirement. Which may not be by choice if General Richardson finds
out what you keep getting up to.”

“It wasn’t their idea,” a deep voice rumbled behind us as we
reached Command. “It was mine, sir, and I had good reason.”

Uncle Mike didn’t even bother to look back at Johnson.
“Captain, you better.”

“Everyone inside,” the colonel snapped.

We scurried into the tent, Mike and Johnson included. Once
he cleared the threshold, Colonel Black gave Davis one look and he disappeared
out the back. Then the glare was turned on us. “Explain why there was a
reenactment of
Fight Club
going on in my training yard.”

Johnson told them about the trash talking and how he thought
this would be a good idea to show everyone what we could do. “Sir, your men
don’t respect Cruessan or Archer. They haven’t been out on a mission like this
and have no clue what we’re about to face. Unless they have a healthy respect
for the wielders, they’re going to get my men killed.”

I wanted to jump up and down, shouting, “what he said!” but
I stayed cool. That turned out to be a good call, because it gave Uncle Mike
time to think about the situation.

“They’re calling the wielders ‘toy soldiers?’ Really?” he
asked.

Johnson nodded. “And worse, sir.”

Mike’s face went stone cold. “That has to stop, Colonel, or
your men
will
get somebody killed. And it’ll likely be themselves.”

Colonel Black, who looked like he’d been primed to ream us
all out, stood there with his mouth open and a hand in the air, pointing his
finger at us. Slowly he lowered his hand. “So you thought having our wielders
shame two of my better ordinance specialists would be a good way to change
hearts and minds?”

“Whatever works, sir,” Johnson said quietly.

The colonel paced over to the table he used as a desk and
sat. While he’d gotten noticeably older since I joined the program, tonight he
looked especially worn down. I had a feeling there was something he wasn’t
telling us, but I knew better than to ask nosy questions when we were
this
close
to getting into—or out of—trouble.

“Tomorrow I’m ordering a new training program. Every man not
on duty or sleeping after night shift will turn out for Nguyen’s morning
sessions with Cruessan and Archer. In the evenings the four of you will teach
them tactics for fighting during the eclipse. I’ll make sure my people
understand the wielders are in charge the second the moon goes into totality.
And I’ll make doubly sure they understand who the two most valuable resources
in camp are.”

“Yes, sir,” Uncle Mike said. “I’ll relay the orders myself.
And I’ll join the first few training sessions to make sure everyone is taking
it seriously.”

“In exchange, I expect Archer and Cruessan to behave for the
remainder of this mission,” Colonel Black said in warning. “You two have
overstepped your bounds enough.”

That rubbed me the wrong way. He had
no
idea what it
was like to be a wielder. None. I’d suck it up, but to do that, I had to get
out of here before I blew entirely.

“Permission to be dismissed, sir.”

“Ditto, sir,” Will muttered, shooting me a dark look.
Whether he was mad at me, the colonel or the world in general wasn’t clear.

The colonel tossed his glasses on the table and rubbed his
eyes. “Yes, go to your racks and try to stay out of trouble.”

“One of us needs to stand watch,” I said, not sure if I
could be a nice guy and volunteer to go first tonight.

Uncle Mike’s expression wasn’t angry; he looked worried
about us. “We have more than enough men on duty to watch over this place for
one night. If we need you, follow the screams.”

Johnson coughed out a startled laugh, but I didn’t find
anything funny right now. “Sir, yes sir.”

Will and I stalked outside, not talking. No one was around
except the night shift; everyone must’ve taken Uncle Mike’s orders to heart.
When we reached Will’s tent, he gave me a quick fist bump and disappeared
inside, too, leaving me on my own.

The moon was waxing, shining a soft white light that cast
dim shadows on the ground. It would be full for the eclipse, and totality would
last sixty-three minutes. A long time when monsters roamed.

Frustrated and tired, I reached into my pocket for the St.
Christopher medal. I missed Ella so much it felt like a hole burned straight
through my chest. I knew from emails she and Penn were doing fine, but it
wasn’t the same as seeing her smile, catching her lips for a kiss, hearing her
laugh as Penn gave Will hell for doing something asinine. But what I missed
most was having her as my guiding star. Mamie always wanted to give advice when
I mulled over a problem; Ella just sat back and listened,
really
listened. If I ever wanted proof I existed, it was in the way she heard me.

From your body language and your heart rate fluctuations,
you either didn’t have enough to eat for dinner, or you’re thinking about the
girl,
Tink said.

My fists clenched at my sides. “Let’s be clear about this.
You nearly drove Ella out of my life once. You interfere again, and I’ll go sit
in the middle of all those pentagrams in the desert and cut myself off from you
for good.”

Peace,
Tink said, sounding cross.
I was merely
commenting on your state of being. This topic is too important to you, and not
important enough to me, to continue fighting over. And whether you believe me
or not, I do wish you happiness.

I wasn’t sure I
could
believe her, but she was right;
we had bigger things to worry about than an old argument. “Thanks.”

Perhaps you should rest. Based on the stress coming from
the colonel’s tent, I have a feeling the next week is going to be pretty hard
on everyone.

I groaned and wandered toward my tent. “Not surprising.”

Tink chuckled.
Well, if they get too rough, one—or
more—of them might find a few extra fleas in his blankets.

“Now that’s just plain mean.” But I laughed. “I’m going to
bed.”

She wandered to a corner of my mind singing, of all things,
a really awful song she picked up from Johnson by this old band called Air
Supply. “Tink, I said I was going to bed.”

She made a sound suspiciously like a raspberry, then quieted
down.

I hit my rack, too. And for once, I didn’t dream.

The afternoon of the eclipse was raw and windy. Everyone had
gathered in the center of camp for our final briefing. The breeze kicked up
grit and sand and blew it into my eyes, which were already twitching from the
steady stream of “small” magic Tink was using to search for dark brothers. The
urge to pound something into paste grew by the minute and the nonplussed,
so-what looks on the new guys’ faces only made it worse. Based on my reaction
to Tink, we were in for real trouble tonight…and none of them seemed to believe
it.

But soon, they would have to—and it might be too late.

“The eclipse will begin shortly after sunset, and we’ll
enter totality at approximately twelve-twenty,” Colonel Black said. “The moon
will not leave totality until around one-twenty-three. During that period, our
entire job revolves around providing whatever cover and support the wielders
need.” He paused. “If we do not eliminate the threat tonight, our intel states
these things will ravage every small town between here and Perth, then tear
through the city like a cyclone. Make no mistake—if news of these creatures
hits public awareness there will be a global panic. We’re here to ensure that
does not happen. Every man here will fight hard, because the world depends on
us.”

“Hooah!” we answered.

Uncle Mike took a step forward. “Wielder teams, you’ll be on
point with Archer and Cruessan. Everyone else is on ordinance…whether the
ordinance works or is just a distraction is anyone’s guess, but no one—
no
one
—engages these things head on. Keep them corralled until a wielder can
take care of the problem.”

“And one more thing.” Colonel Black paused. “You will see
things tonight that you’ve never seen. Not just the creatures, but also how
Cruessan and Archer work. Undoubtedly, you’ve heard some rumors.” He shot an
annoyed look at Blakeney, who shrank back a little. “Even if they do something
strange, just trust everything’s operating as it should.”

A murmur ran through the crowd and I caught the guy I’d
knocked down, Yancy, watching me. His eyes narrowed and he nudged his buddy. Their
expressions told me what they thought: Freak. Damned. Possessed.

I could live with that.

Will came over to stand next to me. “You ready?”

“As ready as I can be, knowing Tink’s going to hit me with a
jolt of spectral Red Bull in a few hours.” No matter how much I anticipated
being spun up, it was like being struck by lightning every time.

He shook his head, wary. “I’ll never forget the rush when
Coach Shaw took me over the first time. Felt like someone was trying to split
my skull with a sledgehammer afterwards, too.”

“It’ll be that bad or worse tonight,” I said. “Something
about the eclipse makes everything…more intense.”

“Think my eyes will glow in the dark like yours did last
time?”

“Probably.” And wouldn’t
that
go over well with the
new guys? They already looked like they planned to burn me at the stake later.
When I came at them with Day-glo eyes after mainlining power from spirit-land
through Tink, they’d be shouting for an exorcist.

“It’s all good.” Will smiled like a mad scientist. “Last one
to kill a monster has to deliver the winner’s MREs to his tent for a week.”

And this was why it was so much better to have Will around
as a wielder rather than as my bodyguard. “Deal.”

The colonel had wrapped up his remarks and Johnson stood in
front of the crowd. “Attention!”

Everyone stood up tall and he bellowed, “Not many men in
this company have witnessed an eclipse. It’s no joke. Eyes and ears the whole
time, understand?”

“Hooah!” everyone shouted.

“Dismissed!”

We scattered, heading off to prepare. The colonel
intercepted Will and me and pointed us toward Command. Davis was inside
securing all his precious computers. Yeah, because some plastic zip ties would
stop a rampaging Dingo from smashing its fist through the screen. Davis’s face
was kind of pasty, though, and it occurred to me he was cleaning because he was
gut-punch terrified.

“Davis, need help with that?” I asked.

“You’d probably break something.”

I held up my hands and backed away. He could handle things
on his own, then.

Colonel Black and Uncle Mike came inside, talking about
staging. “Given what Carrie said about drawing a trail for the monsters,” the
colonel was saying, “do you think any of the small towns out here are in
danger? Or will they be coming straight for us first?”

“So far, none of patrols have turned up so much as a track.
In all this time, the monsters have only attacked us. It doesn’t seem likely
that’ll change now.” Uncle Mike glanced at me. “I think the knives will draw
them here. If we’re prepared to strike hard, maybe we can kill them off in one
big drive before they can cross anyone else’s path.”

Sounded like a plan to me. But I had a bigger concern—there
was a real chance we had some kind of fire-breathing lizard in the mix. Carrie
said they called them all—and that probably meant a boss battle. Each time we’d
faced a major baddie, it’d taken plenty of room to fight it off, and I didn’t
want to risk anyone getting caught and flamed.

“We should move onto more open ground,” I said. “Davis had
an issue with us backing up to the bluff, and I agree with him, at least for
tonight.”

Davis looked up from his zip-tying. “You agree with me?”

I bit back a smirk. “Don’t get used to it.”

He muttered under his breath and hunched over his laptop.
Ten seconds later, a map of the area popped up on the screen. “Sir, there’s a
good area not half a mile from here. Not much vegetation, flat ground. We could
see them coming for miles.”

“I don’t think we should go that far out, since we don’t
know for sure how far each of the coven’s pentagrams can reach,” I said. “But
even a couple hundred yards from the bluff would be better.”

“We’ve already got a plan. Trust us,” Uncle Mike said. “You
two should go rest for a few hours.”

“Sir, yes sir. We’ll be in Cruessan’s tent.” I jerked my
head at Will and led him outside before they could object about us hanging out
together.

“So, we need to be ready for Fire to show up,” I told him.

“I’ve been thinking about that,” he said. “And I don’t like
what it says about Montana during the last eclipse.”

“Me, neither, but we take care of tonight first, then we
worry about home. We’ll have four months to get ready.”

“Think they’ll come to separate us?” he asked as we jogged
across camp. “For security?”

“I won’t let them. You’ve never been spun up on an eclipse
night, and I’m the only one who knows what it’s like. We need to hang together
until the moon goes back to normal.”

“You’re starting to freak me out about this.” He ducked
inside the tent and I followed. “Is it really that bad?”

“Whatever the spirits do, just roll with it. I’ve figured
out that the more I fight, the more it hurts.” I settled down on Nguyen’s cot
and lay with my fingers laced behind my head. “Try to sleep. They’ll come get
us when they’re ready.”

“The major said sunset,” Will murmured.

He sounded half-asleep and I wondered if he realized the
process was already starting. “I wasn’t talking about the major.”

My eyelids grew heavy as Tink moved about in my mind,
singing softly in the spirits’ language. Someone started humming a similar tune
nearby. Will.

“Soon,” I whispered, and my eyes fell shut.

It’s dark. So dark. “I can’t see!”

“That’s because I don’t want you to.”

The voice…I know it. The Shadow Man. Breath on my neck,
tendrils of cold wrapping around my waist.

My sister screams my name in the distance. When I try to
run to her, the tendrils snap me back in place.

Lost, we’re lost.

“Lost!” I cried, jolting awake in a heartbeat. My pulse
hammered in my temples and I was sweating despite the cool air. I turned to
Will; he was deep in sleep, but twitching and muttering words that made no
sense.

We pulled you back from that place in time,
Tink
said.

“From where?”

Best we don’t speak of it. You know enough to understand.
His power grows.

That’s when I noticed the tent walls were dim and the light
slipping inside the cracks was a blue twilight. “The eclipse is starting.”

Yes. We must prepare. Lie down.

“I really wanted to be unconscious for this part.” But I did
what she said and took a slow breath. “Okay, I’m ready.”

Like a magazine being jammed into a rifle, power slammed
into the base of my skull. My back arched off the bed and I gritted my teeth to
avoid biting through my tongue. Through the haze of my agony, I heard Will cry
out, too. Then the spirits really hit me, and I lost all sense of time and
space.

Everything, from the hairs on my head, to the cells making
up my skin, was electrified. I wrestled with the power, forgetting my own
advice in my fear. I clutched at the blankets, and the cloth tore in my grip.
The flood of magic would rip me apart the same way, I just knew it.

Let go.
Tink whispered, her voice the sound of the
ages of the universe, stronger and older than I’d ever heard.
You’re safe
here, in this place.

I unlocked my jaw enough to gasp, “Where are we?”

Here and there. One more to go. Ready?

I couldn’t answer her this time because a last wave of
lightning cut through my chest, turning me to ashes, sending the real Matt out
the window and leaving a steel-boned, acid-blooded fighting machine in his
place.

My body sat up in one fluid motion. “Damn, Tink. That one
stung a little.”

The tent glowed blue-white despite the failing light, and I
could identify nearly every soldier in camp by his scent, carried over the wind
to tell me where each man was. There was another scent, too, a tinge of magic,
a hint of a sneeze teasing my nose.

It was coming from Will.

He shot off the cot and fell on the floor, panting. “Mon
Dieu! Vais-je mourir?”

I knelt next to him and put a hand on his back. “Breathe.
It’ll fade in a minute.”

“Mais la douleur me tue.”

“Will, listen…I don’t speak French. I can’t help you when I
don’t know what you’re saying, okay?”

He took a heaving gulp of air. “I said the pain’s killing
me.”

Help him hang on. We’re almost done
, Tink said.

“Tink says it’s almost over. Just breathe.”

Will muttered more French, but lay still and breathed deep
and even. I could tell he was still in real pain by the way his fists were
clenched, but he was dealing with it now.

We sat there for a few minutes, just resting, until he
finally sat up. When he saw me, he jumped. “Your eyes are bright yellow.”

I grinned, and I was pretty sure some of that was Tink
bleeding her glee off through me. “So are yours.”

He held up a hand. “Does it give us crazy vision? Because I
can count all my knuckle hairs in the dark.”

“Sounds about right.” Pride swelled up in my
chest—definitely Tink. She was pleased with our progress and didn’t bother to
hide it from me. “What do you hear?”

He cocked his head like a golden retriever listening at a
door. “The major and the colonel are sending Johnson to come get us.”

We stood and I refastened my jacket while Will retied his
boots. Sixty seconds later, Johnson appeared. He gave us both a long look, not
seeming bothered by our eyes or the fact that we were standing at parade rest,
waiting for him. “Huh. I’d say this means it’s time to go. You two want
sunglasses?”

We weren’t working with civilians tonight, so why bother?
“No. I think Yancy needs to see what he called a ‘toy soldier’ last week.”

Johnson chuckled. “Just don’t give him a seizure. He’s our
best grenade man.”

“Better than Dorland?” I asked as I followed him outside.

“I didn’t think it was possible, but yes. Dorland’s really
good, but this guy is scary-good.”

“Learn something new every day,” I said, stretching my arms
over my head until my back popped. I felt good. Strong, fast, ready. Based on
the sly smirk tugging at Will’s mouth, I’d have to say he found the
post-effects of the power surge just as badass as I did.

As we headed to the Humvees lined up ready to go, every one
of Colonel Black’s men stopped what they were doing to stare. I stood up tall,
shoulders back, and didn’t spare them a glance. Already my blood was humming,
and Tink was urging me to fight, fight, fight. I didn’t need to catch one of
them looking at me cross-eyed; I might inadvertently go into wrecker mode and
beat up one of my own crew.

“Is this always how it is?” Will asked. He kept turning his
head this way and that, sniffing the air. “I mean, I can tell Davis uses Crest
toothpaste…and he’s forty yards away.”

“It’s only this bad at eclipse time. The drive’s gonna suck,
just warning you. Being cooped up in this state isn’t much fun.”

Uncle Mike was directing men to various vehicles, but pulled
me aside. “We’re only going upwind three hundred yards. You and Cruessan and
your teams will hoof it since there aren’t enough seats in the trucks.”

I nodded and paced around, waiting to get started. Had the
dead witches conjured up something more terrible than we’d seen so far? Or
would this just be a routine smash and grab?

I turned to ask Will and found him flat on the ground,
stretching his hamstrings. Seemed like a good idea, so I plopped down next to
him.

“The air’s better down here,” he said. “Less confusing.”

I took a deep breath and understood what he meant. Closer to
the ground, the dusty smell of the earth covered up some of the barrage of
scents punching me in the nose. I grabbed hold of my knee and pulled my leg into
my chest. It felt good to be still for a bit. Then the ground started vibrating
under my back.