▪︎ Chapter 109 ▪︎ “We don’t talk about that.”

Violetta descended toward the command center with her wings spread wide behind her.

Calling it a command center was generous. 

What had existed here that morning had been expanded hastily into a sprawling collection of tents, vehicles, portable communications equipment, ammunition crates and folding tables. 

Soldiers hurried between positions while officers leaned over maps beneath large canvas coverings. 

Radios chattered almost continuously, occasionally drowned out by the distant concussion of artillery.

She touched down outside the largest covered area and folded her wings away.

Her halberd made entering somewhat less graceful.

At nearly fourteen feet long, the weapon was absurd indoors. 

Its black-metal head combined an enormous axe blade with a long thrusting point and rear hook, each surface decorated by deep-red gems that seemed to darken toward their centers. 

Violetta had already become comfortable with its weight.

Its dimensions were another matter entirely.

She angled it through the opening, stepped beneath the canvas and finally placed the halberd against a support where it wouldn't obstruct anyone.

Colonel Richard Bennett stood over a table covered in maps and handwritten reports. 

Major Ellis was nearby, speaking into a radio while another officer marked positions on a map.

Violetta approached.

"Colonel Bennett."

Bennett looked up.

"General."

"How are the defensive lines looking?"

Richard stared at her for a moment, then exhaled through his nose.

"Better."

That single word carried considerably more relief than Violetta expected.

"Your vampires started showing up a few minutes ago," Bennett continued. "Not together. They seem to have picked positions and gone to work."

Violetta smiled faintly. "That sounds like them."

"The strain on the troops has lightened substantially wherever they've appeared. Ammunition expenditure is dropping too."

That was even better.

Violetta glanced toward the map.

Several of the defensive positions had been crossed out. Others had arrows marking fallback routes toward Oakridge. 

A handful had fresh markings beside them, though she couldn't immediately determine what all of Bennett's notation meant.

Major Ellis finished speaking into his radio and walked over.

"General, we had some werewolves come in earlier too."

Violetta looked at him. "How many?"

"Several. Came in on their own. Asked where they could help, so we directed them toward two of the worst positions."

"And?"

"They helped." Ellis gave a tired smile. "A lot, actually. Problem was they eventually ran themselves into the ground."

Violetta nodded.

Of course.

Werewolves possessed physical capabilities far beyond humans, but they remained living creatures. Their muscles consumed energy. 

Their bodies required oxygen. They could recover quickly and endure workloads that would incapacitate a human, but they couldn't maintain maximum exertion indefinitely.

Vampires could.

"I certainly wouldn't turn down their assistance under present circumstances," Violetta said. She looked toward Bennett. "Though the management of this battle falls into Colonel Bennett's capable hands."

Bennett's eyes briefly moved toward her.

He seemed to understand what she was saying.

Violetta had no intention of arriving, invoking her rank and rearranging an entire defensive operation she hadn't planned.

These were Bennett's troops. His ammunition. His vehicles. His artillery. His defensive positions. His staff had been receiving reports for hours and understood the battlefield far better than Violetta did.

If Bennett wanted her assessment, she'd give it.

If something went catastrophically wrong and required her intervention, she'd intervene.

Until then, she had no interest in taking authority merely because she technically possessed it.

"The wolves lasted longer than the human troops could have at that intensity," Bennett said. "But after about an hour and a half, they'd had enough. Most pulled back to rest."

"Any deaths?"

"Not that I've heard."

"Good."

A radio crackled nearby.

One of the communications soldiers pressed his headset closer.

"Sir! Ninth defensive point reports they've stabilized!"

Several heads turned.

"Repeat?" Bennett asked.

"Point Nine has stabilized its position. Tide's still making contact, but they're holding." The soldier listened for several seconds. "Losses heavy. They're low on ammunition and equipment. Requesting resupply as soon as possible."

Bennett's expression brightened slightly.

"Tell them to conserve what they can. We'll get them something."

"Yes, sir."

Bennett looked down at the map.

Violetta watched some of the tension leave his shoulders.

Not much.

But enough.

"That's the third position to report stabilization in the last fifteen minutes," Ellis said.

Bennett nodded.

Then he looked at Violetta.

"General, I have to ask."

"Go ahead."

"How long can they keep doing this?"

Violetta tilted her head.

Bennett gestured vaguely toward the battlefield.

"The reports we're getting are strange. Your people aren't using firearms. They're carrying swords, polearms, chains—someone reported a scythe. They're physically pushing the animals backward."

"Yes."

"That's what concerns me. How long before they're exhausted?"

Violetta laughed softly.

Bennett frowned.

"I'm sorry." Violetta composed herself. "You don't need to worry about that."

"They don't get tired?"

"No."

"At all?"

"Not physically."

Ellis stared at her.

Violetta continued, "We can sometimes appear tired. We can become mentally drained, frustrated, bored, overwhelmed, irritated. We may even behave as though we're exhausted out of habit. But physical fatigue isn't something our bodies experience anymore."

Bennett looked back at the map.

"So if they've cleared ground..."

"They can keep it cleared," Violetta said. "Provided nothing forces them back."

For the first time since she'd arrived, Bennett actually smiled.

"That's the best thing anyone's told me all day."

"I suspected it might be."

Violetta stepped closer to the map.

"Do we have aerial drones over the forest? I'd like to know whether the Tide itself has begun thinning."

Bennett's smile disappeared.

"No."

"Communications?"

"Birds."

Violetta blinked. "Birds?"

"Every time I send up one of the smaller drones, something attacks it. Sometimes several things."

He pointed toward the forest.

"I watched one go down myself. Whatever hit it had a wingspan close to twenty feet. Maybe more."

Violetta stared at him.

"Twenty feet."

"Exception, not the rule," Bennett said. "Thank God. Most aren't anything close to that size."

Ellis gave a humorless laugh. "Never thought I'd be requesting anti-air coverage for birds."

Violetta looked toward the open side of the command area.

Gunfire continued in the distance.

"This Tide is happening elsewhere too?"

"From what communications we still have," Bennett replied, "globally."

Violetta's expression hardened.

Bennett folded his arms.

"Oakridge has something most places don't."

"Us."

"And the werewolves," Bennett said. "Anywhere without either..."

He didn't finish.

He didn't need to.

Violetta looked back toward the battlefield.

"I wouldn't be surprised if nuclear weapons are used."

Ellis looked at her.

Violetta continued quietly, "Particularly in countries that succeeded in driving their supernatural populations away."

No one contradicted her.

───

Ants crawled over Lavinia's boots.

"No."

She jumped.

Her wings tore outward from her back, lifting her several yards above the battlefield as she furiously brushed at her legs.

"There are too many of you!"

Several ants remained attached to her dress.

Lavinia slapped them away.

She could cut things.

She was becoming exceptionally enthusiastic about cutting things.

Ants were different.

Even at roughly twice their ordinary size, they weren't remotely large enough for Lavinia to justify individually swinging a nine-foot greatsword at them. 

She'd spend more time aiming than killing anything.

So she had developed a sophisticated strategy.

Avoid them.

Below, the swarm flowed across the blood-soaked ground.

"Nope."

Valerie darted through the Tide several dozen feet away. Her chain curved around her like an enormous black ribbon before snapping through a cluster of animals.

She glanced upward.

Lavinia was hovering with an expression of profound offense.

Valerie laughed.

Lavinia glared down at her.

Then folded her wings.

She dropped.

Her boots touched the ground first, and she immediately brought the greatsword down.

The weapon struck among the rushing creatures with enough force to tear a long gouge through the mire. Animals caught beneath the blade were crushed or cleaved apart.

Lavinia tore it free.

Valerie wiped blood from her cheek.

She wasn't entirely sure how many things she'd killed anymore.

Hundreds?

That seemed possible.

Tens of giant spiders certainly.

Deer. Wolves. Bears. Boars. Birds. Creatures she hadn't gotten a good enough look at to identify before the chain passed through them.

Yet the Tide hadn't thinned.

That was bothering her.

They were advancing into it now. Not merely holding their original positions.

And still animals came.

Valerie's chain flicked outward and wrapped around a wolf. She pulled, dragging it off its feet, then redirected the weapon into another creature.

Something huge emerged ahead.

Valerie's eyes widened.

"Lavinia!"

Lavinia turned.

The stag hit her.

It stood nearly ten feet tall, an absolute monster of an animal, with antlers broad enough that Lavinia barely processed what she was seeing before it crashed into her.

She managed to bring her greatsword across her body.

It didn't matter.

The impact launched her backward.

Several antler points drove through her torso as she left the ground. Lavinia and the stag remained connected for an instant before her body tore free.

She flew through the air.

Hit the ground.

Bounced.

Then slid through mud and blood.

Valerie stared.

"Oh!"

The stag turned.

Valerie's chain lashed outward.

It wrapped around the animal's antlers and neck.

Valerie planted both feet and pulled.

The stag jerked sideways.

It fought her immediately, hooves gouging trenches through the mud.

Lavinia sat up.

Her dress was drenched in blood.

Several enormous punctures remained visible across her stomach and chest, though they were already closing.

She looked down.

Then at the stag.

"You."

Lavinia stood.

She grabbed her greatsword.

Valerie tightened the chain.

The stag twisted toward her.

Lavinia disappeared.

She leapt.

The greatsword rose above her head.

Then descended.

The stag came apart.

The blade passed through its body, bisecting the enormous animal before burying itself beneath it.

Lavinia landed beside the remains.

She looked at Valerie.

"We don't talk about that."

Valerie's lips trembled.

"We don't."

A giggle escaped.

Lavinia narrowed her eyes.

Valerie covered her mouth.

"I'll definitely keep quiet."

"You'd better."

Valerie looked upward.

A flock of enormous birds descended through the smoke.

Her chain moved.

She snapped it upward in a broad arc.

The bladed links tore through the flock.

Feathers and pieces of birds rained around them.

Valerie smiled innocently.

Lavinia yanked her sword free.

"Not one word about me getting bowled over by a giant deer."

"Never."

"Stag."

"Of course."

"There's a difference."

"I know."

"You don't sound sincere."

"I'm extremely sincere."

Lavinia grumbled and charged back into the Tide.

Several thousand meters away, Ophelia's scythe passed through three bodies in a single sweep.

The weapon was enormous.

Nearly twelve feet from end to end, its long black shaft terminated in a sweeping blade approaching five feet along its curve. 

Smaller blood-red gems followed the base of the blade, while a larger one sat where blade and shaft joined.

Ophelia liked it.

A lot.

She twisted.

The scythe hooked around a charging animal's torso.

Ophelia pulled.

The creature changed direction violently and crashed into another.

She released it, rotated the weapon and drove the butt of the shaft into a wolf's skull.

Bone collapsed.

Ophelia continued moving.

Four spiders rushed from different angles.

She jumped.

The first sweep removed several legs from one.

Ophelia rotated in midair, her body following the scythe rather than fighting its momentum. The curved blade passed through a second spider, then a third.

She touched the ground behind them.

The fourth spider turned.

Its body separated.

Ophelia smiled.

"Beautiful."

A lynx nearly the size of a horse lunged.

Ophelia reversed the scythe.

She didn't bother with the blade.

The black shaft struck the animal's head.

Its skull shattered.

The body collapsed at her feet.

Diana stared at the mess.

"You're enjoying this."

"Yes."

"I noticed."

Diana ducked beneath something flying overhead.

Her dagger came up.

Calling it a dagger still irritated her.

It was a sword.

She didn't care what vampires thought.

The dark blade punched into an animal's chest. Diana twisted, pulled it free and stepped aside as the creature collapsed.

She wasn't moving anywhere near Ophelia's pace.

None of the humans nearby could have maintained Diana's pace either.

Her body was stronger now. Faster. Harder to injure. She had been fighting far longer than an ordinary human could have while remaining capable of continuing.

Diana glanced toward Ophelia.

The vampire's scythe swept through another creature.

For a moment, Diana remembered the alley.

How weak she'd been.

How much blood she'd lost.

How certain the end had seemed.

If Ophelia hadn't found her...

Diana looked around.

Bodies covered the ground.

A soldier lay dead nearby.

Another was being dragged away by two others.

If she'd remained human, perhaps she'd have been somewhere right now, hiding and hoping these creatures never reached the city.

Or she'd have been caught somewhere worse.

If Ophelia hadn't saved her, if Diana hadn't followed that strange vampire afterward, her ending might have been remarkably miserable.

Something shrieked overhead.

Diana looked up.

A bird dove directly toward her.

She flipped the dagger into a reverse grip.

The bird reached her.

Diana slashed.

The blade passed across its chest and wing.

The creature crashed beside her.

She kicked it away.

Then she saw something else.

Diana froze.

"Oh, absolutely not."

A praying mantis stood nearly six feet tall.

Its enormous forelimbs lifted.

Diana drew her arm back.

She threw the dagger.

The black blade crossed the distance almost instantly.

It passed completely through the mantis's neck.

The head separated.

The body did not seem to notice.

It began thrashing wildly, enormous limbs cutting through the air as Diana stared.

"My dagger."

Ophelia looked over.

The headless mantis staggered around with Diana's weapon somewhere behind it.

Diana pointed.

"I need that back."

Ophelia laughed.

"It's not funny!"

The mantis swung one bladed forelimb.

Diana jumped backward.

Ophelia blurred past her.

Her scythe hooked around the creature's torso.

One pull cut halfway through it.

A second movement finished the job.

The mantis collapsed.

Ophelia rested the enormous scythe against her shoulder.

"Go get your dagger."

Diana stared at her.

"You could get it."

"You threw it."

"You're faster."

"Consequences."

Diana gave her a flat look.

Ophelia smiled.

Behind them, the Tide continued forward.

Diana sighed and ran to retrieve her weapon.