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Soul winked out of sight The last thing I heard as she disappeared was the sounds of her tail and her teeth, like bones rattling, like dry bones dancing Yeah It was all coether: the myths, the oral tradition, the scriptures, the lost People of the Straight Ways, and the Builders All tying in with the weak places between universes and the loss of all civilization through flood, the ether
I openedon the porch, his eyes sweeping across the yard, back and forth "Eli, we need to weapon up and get to vamp HQ"
He didn’t answer, just swiveled on a heel and headed back in through the openWe really needed to get the doors fixed Yeah Some easy, lazy, sunny, summer day
• • •
We e unit that ot to vamp HQ in plenty of time to prepare I turned Eli and Alex loose with the new supplies My lousy plan was coo horribly wrong
CHAPTER 23
The Keeper of the Iron Spike
The staff had been decreased to shooters, swordsmen, and techies No one who could be killed easily was still in vaoire’s under heavy guard, maintenance crews at skeleton levels It was like a stripped-down Aardvark Protocol All the blood-servants and vaeared up for battle I had never seen a vamp war, but it must have been a bloody business by the nuhead, wearing chain-auntlets with fingers that looked like raceful speed of the vamp, but now they clanked, just a bit
On ear--the fancy leathers with plastic joint protectors and lots of silver-plated titaniu queue, close to my skull Tall co, flat sword Not yet Hopefully not ever But the new thigh holster, yeah And every other weapon I could think of, with the exception ofwhen I lies
The Kid and Angel Tit were rigging backup coe unit, all over the place, putting portable CNBs--communications nexus boxes--on every stairwell and floor The CNB tactical radio systenetic interference was high Or underground And on battery power We had used thereat, but the specs were li in proper places and directions It took time to set up and the system was clunky It was also easy to ruin A swift kick to any box would stop all comms from that location So the Kid instructed that they were all to be duct-taped to the ceilings, which was pretty s new battery-powered backup lights on the floors It was low-tech, but was also better than nothing, and not so, since most of it had been purchased with cash and not recorded on credit cards
Go, Eli and his paranoid survivalist instincts and hoarding nature Not that I would tell hiantly proud Or both
Eli and Derek agreed on locations for shooters It would be a pain to create such a lousy plan and then get taken out by friendly fire, when it should be on or drained by the Son of Darkness
When everything was in place, I sent Alex and the last of the enerators Eli had covered the blankets, the kind that he had used to preserve Wrassler’s body heat It was a long shot, but maybe the little aic EM attacks off Since ere all trying new paraphernalia and untested theories, I taped a single obfuscation charht work to keep any spell froenerators Who knew? But it was the only obfuscation charenerators, Alex settled in to the security console with Angel Tit If this worked, ant footage of it If it didn’t, well, maybe our survivors could learn frohters were stationed at the front entrance Eli and I chose to man the back entrance under the porte cochere, and took all the new men frootten some rest They looked a lot less scruffy, a lot rinus wouldn’t use the same entrance twice and we had to ht direction when he cahters to herd hiround floor at the back, Eli put his hands and ar his body to open the elevator doors The elevator wasn’t there, just the dark shaft, which was empty all the way to the basement, filled only with a stink on the air that spoke of mold and rot At the bottom were the doors that would open to Joses Bar-Judas’ prison And our pitiful plan
Eli and his guys settled in to wait, their purpose to lead the attackers to the open shaft and down, and I got ready to carry out al Grue from Del that asked me to come to Leo’s office
I put the cell in a pocket and looked up to see Eli watching me "Leo"
"You haven’t seen him since he was bound on the floor of the catacombs"
"Worse I haven’t talked to the MOC since he tried to killtunnels"
Eli smiled It wasn’t his battle smile, which was all adrenaline and cold intent It wasn’t the smile he used for his lady love It was the smile he’d have worn every day had he not chosen the s that hardened hied "Leo wants me in his office"
He looked at his watch "It’s early yet I don’t think they’ll attack this soon after sunset You got a cross with you?"
"Thirteen Even better I have a piece of the Blood Cross"