Part Four: End - e

Drake stood at the window to his room and stared down at the ground far below. Distantly, he could hear the sounds of his vampires in the rest of the hotel. Most of them were sleeping. The daylight hours made them sluggish and lethargic, especially the younger, newly-born ones. Some of the older ones, ones like Gwen, had no trouble staying awake. He didn’t have that problem at all. In fact, he found he had no need for sleep which was just one more annoying thing about being a bloodsucker.

“When is your next attack?” Bendis asked.

He could feel her lurking behind him, a constant, irritating pressure on his mind. There was a moment when he thought about turning around and jumping on her, sinking his fangs deep into her throat and ripping it out. The thought was so intense, so vivid, he could see it in his mind. Could even feel her blood dripping down his chin and neck. Could smell its metallic tang. Then he snapped out of it and turned to her.

“Three days,” Drake replied. “Your vampires need to recuperate.”

Strategically speaking, attacking anyone was a bad idea. The wolves and the Order had been relentless in the pursuit of killing any vampire they found. He already knew Elijah was an excellent tactician but he quickly found that Kendra was also quite formidable. She was a quick thinker and her sheer power made her devastating on the field of battle. She personally slaughtered dozens of his vampires in the time since the dome came down over the Bane Pack’s mansion. His failures were starting to pile up and Bendis was getting increasingly furious with him because of it. When he came back from the meeting with Kendra after handing Conor’s daughter over to her some months ago, Bendis had tortured him with memories of the wendigo den again. Obviously, he didn’t tell her that he just gave the girl over. He concocted some bullshit lie about Kendra overpowering him but that didn’t matter to the goddess. Her anger was a palpable thing and despite the insane amount of pain she put him through, he was content in the knowledge that he pissed her off.

“And what is your plan of action this time,” Bendis purred. Her hand was suddenly on his shoulder and he had to stop himself from shuddering with revulsion.

“An ambush,” he told her. “I’ve sent several vampires out with specific instructions to let themselves get captured. When they get interrogated, they will all drop the same information. That we will be attacking one of the Order’s satellite buildings in Ashebrook in three days. All we have to do is wait for them to show up.”

“You are sure this will work?” Bendis asked, her voice crisp and sharp. “Your failures have been irritating. I don’t think I need to tell you what will happen if this plan of yours does not live up to your expectations.”

Drake had to fight to reign in his anger.

“Yes. I know. More pain,” he told her in clipped, guarded tones.

“Good,” she murmured, her hand lingering on his shoulder. “Because I want nothing more than our partnership to work. You are a strong soldier and an able leader, Drake. I know I chose right when I found you.”

She let her fingers almost slither down his back as she took her hand off him. That shudder rippled through his body again but he didn’t try to fight it this time. Bendis was gone. He knew without even turning around because he couldn't feel her anymore. That was a small mercy but overall, he couldn’t shake his growing apprehension.

The door to his room opened and he heard someone come in. His eyes stayed locked on the chaos of people walking down below as his visitor came up to him. There was a moment, a brief second really, where he felt like throwing himself through the window in front of him to plummet to his death. It was a weirdly unexpected impulse and so powerful that he almost took a step forward. Then he stopped himself. As enticing as finally finding some measure of peace sounded, he wouldn’t allow himself to take the easy way out.

There was still a lot of work left to do.

“What is it?” he asked.

“I’ve checked the hotel and Leo isn’t here,” Gwen said. “He’s been missing for a few days now. What do you want me to do about it?”

“Nothing at all,” Drake replied. His gaze shifted up now and over to the building across the street from the hotel. He lingered there for a few moments and then turned around and looked at Gwen.

“I will need you to run and get more blood bags. We’re getting low,” he commanded.

“When?” she asked him.

“Now. And, just to be on the safe side, get them from some hospital in Ashebrook. They’re far enough away. I think the continued raids on the supplies of our local hospitals might start raising a few eyebrows. Better to go a bit further out so we can continue to stay under the radar of regular people,” he explained.

Gwen nodded her head curtly and then left.

That’s good, he thought. One less person to worry about.

Then he stared at the building across the street again. He didn’t waver as he stood there, his jaw tightening. He felt his hands clenched into fists as anger swirled through him again. The emotion was becoming an unwelcome companion.

And where had that anger taken him?

Right into the arms of a psychopathic goddess to be turned into a monster.

Not long now, he thought to himself.

||| ||| ||| ||| |||

In a room of the New Haven Asylum, Helen Henner’s eyes suddenly opened. Quietly and with no fuss, she got out of her bed. Her movements were weak and shaky but over the last few months, she has gotten stronger. Her once atrophied muscles had gained enough strength for her to walk on her own now. She had to move slowly but eventually she got to the door of her room and opened it.

“Helen?” a nurse asked, confused. Seeing Helen out of bed was not something anyone thought they would have to deal with. The woman was so weak, she could barely do anything, let alone walk under her own power.

“Hello Sarah,” Helen said. Her voice was quiet but firm. Strong. Her eyes locked onto the nurse’s and held her there, pinned like a butterfly on a card. Sarah’s eyes abruptly lost focus and she seemed to sway gently on her feet. Back and forth. Back and forth.

“Helloooooo...ooo...ooo,” Sarah replied. Her voice was muddled and drifted off toward the end.

There was a spark that seemed to fill Helen. It made her look healthy. More alive. More alive than she has been for the last several decades.

“Helen Henner is still in her room but does not wish to be disturbed,” Helen said.

“Helen Henner is in her room.” The gentle swaying Sarah exhibited started to get faster. “She does not want to be disturbed.”

“Helen would like to be left alone for the rest of the evening,” Helen continued.

“Left alone,” Sarah murmured.

“Now go on. Make sure everyone else knows too.”

Sarah nodded her head dreamily. Then her eyes focused again. She blinked several times, her head feeling foggy. She shook it a little and then glanced around, trying to remember why she was standing in the hallway but no one was there. She was completely alone.

Helen Henner was gone.

She turned with a shrug and went back to her desk.

||| ||| ||| ||| |||

Kendra stood with her team, which consisted of three wolves and nine pairs of knights and mages, at the entrance to the hotel. Jenna was leading Bravo team while Elijah commanded Charlie team. Everyone was in position and all they were waiting on was for Kendra to begin her attack. She stood there, wondering if she was doing the right thing. She was a mother now. She had not only Cedric to think about but Casey too. What would happen if the poor girl was forced to be alone again? What would happen to her baby boy?

Despite the fact that she was about to go to war again, a tear slipped down her cheek. There was so much more to consider and the thought of leaving her children alone in a dark, unforgiving world made her truly sad. It stirred up memories of her own lonely nights and the depressing, crushing feelings of abandonment she had dealt with through most of her childhood.

She didn’t want that for Casey or Cedric. They deserved a mother that would be there for them. Always.

And forever.

“Are you ready?” Deirdre asked.

Kendra looked at her and could see the same fear in her friend’s eyes she was feeling. She didn’t have to read her mind to know she was thinking about her son, Pat.

“No time like the present,” Kendra replied. Her voice was quiet though it still held confidence and power. Briefly, she felt Conor lay a gentle hand on her left shoulder. It was a comforting touch. A loving touch.

"I'm going to do what I can to help," he whispered. His voice was filled with intense determination, love, and pride.

“We need to start,” Ian said, interrupting the unknown moment she was stealing with his son.

She took a breath and looked straight ahead.

“Let’s not disappoint then,” she replied. Her eyes suddenly flashed with amber fire and then her features elongated and began changing. Fur sprouted out of her skin in a rippling, tufted wave. Her nose and mouth stretched into a muzzle full of wickedly sharp fangs. In just a few minutes, she was a wolf the size of a polar bear.

The other wolves there, Deirdre, Ian, and Anya, had also shifted and stood in a neat but terrifying line. The knights held guns in steady, well-trained hands. The mages present had glowing auras surrounding their bodies in differing shades of red, blue, and green. There was so much power present that Kendra could feel it resonating through the very air. She just hoped it was enough to get the job done.

Whatever else may happen, she knew one thing for sure. The vampire threat was going to end here and now.

She turned back to the ornate, glass doors that led inside and then with a quick, sure run, she blasted straight through them. The shards of glass did absolutely nothing against her thick pelt and when she was in the lobby, she shook her massive body and sent bits of broken glass spraying off herself. The other three wolves did the same.

Inside, the lobby was ominously dark. Almost every light inside the building was turned off. There were a scant few that actually were on but they were dim and did little to actually illuminate anything. The front desk was empty and there was no one around. It made the whole place feel abandoned despite the fact that she knew there were around two hundred and fifty vampires holed up inside it.

“How long before they come?” one of the knights asked. She was a stout, muscular woman named Melena Ivanković. She was, if Kendra remembered, a former KGB agent from Russia that had defected to America after her family was killed by the Baba Yaga. After killing the thing, Elijah found her and recruited her.

The group stood there, waiting but there was just more...nothing.

“Maybe they know we planned to attack. Should we call this whole thing off?” a mage asked. He was a middle-aged man named Barry Aus. A faint, red-orange aura surrounded his rather portly body, marking him as a fire mage.

Kendra turned around to look at him, her glowing amber eyes narrowing somewhat. The message in them was clear, however.

The mission was a go. There was no backing out now.