Nigel Thornton hadn’t been the first person on Earth to hit gold rank, or even the first to do it without cores. The US had non-core training programs long before Farrah Hurin arrived, so that title went to some unnamed yank. Nigel’s claim to fame was being the first outside of the US to hit the milestone core-free.

The rest of his team were core users, and still only silver rank. There were only so many places on Earth that spawned gold rank monsters, and the cores taken from them were arguably the most precious commodity on Earth. They certainly didn’t find their way into the hands of a squad of mercenaries.

Nigel’s team was the same nine-person unit it had been almost two decades earlier. Back then, magic was still a secret and they were part of the Network’s secret paramilitary wing. His team had stayed together when the Network fractured, surviving through years of upheavals. From the reveal of magic to the vampire war, they had weathered countless storms.

When the Network schismed into different factions, Nigel and his team had gotten out. Sickened by the infighting and the actions of the Australian government, they had decided to go it alone. The world had no shortage of work for people with a specific set of skills, and a gold ranker for hire was a rare commodity.

Although they had done jobs for a variety of employers, they were most frequently contracted by United Nations official Anna Tilden. They had worked for her in their Network days and now they were her first call for black bag operations. That included their current assignment. They were embedded in France, deep inside vampire territory. It was a region they knew well, having been hired to extract people from vampire blood farms many times. They had been there for almost two months, watching the former Asano Clan land for changes.

The first priority when embedded in hostile territory was to avoid being discovered. Fortunately for the team, vampires were prone to murdering one another. If the occasional one stumbled onto the team and went missing, its absence didn’t alert the rest. The vampires weren’t wary towards humans in the area as the only value it held was symbolic. Without the protection of the domain aura, the former Asano territory held no strategic or tactical value. That lack was not lost on certain members of the team.

“I don’t know what we’re still doing here,” Orange complained. “Sitting in a building every day, watching the edge of a city? We can’t see a damn thing from the outside, and if we tried going in, we’d be lunch inside of an hour.”

“We’re here because we’re being paid to be here,” Darcy told him.

They were in an underground room that Woolzy had made with magic, sealing the hard-packed earthen walls until they felt like smooth porcelain. One concealed entrance above them led to a section of woodland not too far from Saint Étienne. The room was loaded up with camping gear, but there was no getting around that they were nine people living in a hole in the ground. Even if three were always off on observation duty, it was starting to feel — and smell — like living in an old fried chicken box.

“You’re both right,” Higgy said. “Yes, this is the job, and we’re being paid well. But he’s not wrong to wonder what all this is in aid of, or how much longer we’ll be out here.”

“It’s obvious we’re waiting for something,” Digit said. “Something big enough that we don’t need to get close to see it.”

“Then let them watch on bloody satellites,” Orange said. “Why does the UN need us out here on the quiet? I thought the UN’s job was to ask people to stop violating human rights, and then get sad when they say no.”

“Anna knows something,” Digit said. “She knows something is going to happen, and she wants an eyes-on report the moment it does.”

The others all turned to look at Nigel, sitting silently.

“Yep,” he said, and left it at that.

“Honestly, the why of all this isn’t even the problem,” Orange said. “My question is, why are we spending our lives living in holes in the ground? We’ve been doing this long enough that I’m richer than mud cake. Between the nine of us, we have family connections in every Network faction. This work has brought us contacts across the whole damn planet. Why are we crating ourselves in a dirt box instead of sitting on a beach?”

“I find that hard to argue with,” Higgy said. “If we’ve got enough money to live like kings…”

He nodded at Darcy.

“…and one Queen, then why are we living in caves and digging bunkers out in the woods?”

Of the six in the bunker, five again turned to look at their leader.

“You want to retire?” Nigel asked them.

“Don’t you?” Higgy asked.

“As a matter of fact,” Nigel said, “I do. Maybe not completely, though. Semi-retire. Live the high life, but if the right job comes along—”

“Or the right payday,” Darcy cut in.

“Or the right payday,” Nigel conceded. “Then, maybe we saddle up again. If that’s what we want to do, then that’s what we’ll do. Together, like always. You’re right, Orange; we have accumulated a lot of wealth. And the connections we’ve built up are probably worth more than the money. But how much is enough? Where is safe? The United States and China are fairly safe for most people, but we aren’t most people. What happens when someone in charge wants something from us that we don’t want to give?”

“Thorny,” Higgy said to Nigel, “let’s not pretend like you can’t write your own ticket. You hit gold rank outside of any of the big groups and they all want to recruit you.”

“Or kill you before someone else does,” Orange added.

“They won’t try,” Nigel said. “No one has managed to kill a gold ranker yet, even with other gold rankers. As far as I’m aware, the only ones to die followed Jason Asano into the sealed transformation zone in Slovakia. One didn’t come out again and another one did, then turned into a monster.”

“Which one was that?” Orange asked.

“Vietnamese guy,” Darcy said. “Worked for the Chinese. Followed Asano into a transformation zone and turned into a tentacle monster when he came out. Every major magical faction had people there and they still barely managed to kill it.”

“There was Jack Gerling, too,” Higgy said.

“I thought he went to work for the vampires,” Darcy said.

“No, he’s right,” Nigel said. “I forgot about him because he’s still around. He died in the transformation zone here in France. The vampire queen brought him back as some kind of blood clone slave.”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“I guess the moral is to avoid following Jason Asano into big magic domes,” Orange said. “Makes me think about those astral proto-spaces we went into with him. We might have been lucky to get out without turning into wombat snakes or something.”

“Wombat snakes?” Nigel asked.

“We have officially veered too far off topic,” Higgy said. “Thorny, I can tell you’ve got some kind of retirement plan in mind. But for some reason, you haven’t told us yet.”

“Yeah,” Nigel admitted. “I have a plan. And no, I haven’t told any of you yet.”

“Why not?” Darcy asked.

“It’s too unreliable. Too many unknown factors. On a basic level, the plan is simple: we find a safe place to land. Somewhere the people in charge will value us without trying to bend us over.”

“And where do you expect to find that?” Orange asked. “Some little island in the Pacific with white beaches and blue water? That’s big enough to import beer, but too small for the Network to set up shop? We all get bungalows and clean up any monsters that turn up?”

“That actually sounds pretty good,” Higgy said.

“It does,” Nigel said. “Maybe that’s what we’ll do.”

“But you have something else in mind, don’t you?” Digit asked. “Something more ambitious, meaning a huge pain in the arse for us.”

“I do,” Nigel said.

“Out with it then,” Orange said.

“It’s going to sound like a terrible idea if I say it now,” Nigel said.

“Say it anyway,” Darcy told him. “We’re all stuck in a hole, Nige. It’s not like you can run off.”

Nigel sighed.

“Fine,” he said. “I want to join the Asano Clan.”

“Are you out of your frigging gourd?” Orange asked. “The whole reason we’re here is that the Asano Clan vanished. Everything they had now belongs to the biggest, nastiest pack of ravening vampires on the face of the Earth. Jason Asano hasn’t been seen in a squillion bloody years. His magic town probably lost its power because he cacked it and his family’s most likely dead too. And we’re here for what? To check if all these dead pricks are going to magically reappear?”

“In fairness,” Woolzy said. “If they’re going to reappear, then magically is how it’s going to happen.”

“You weren’t wrong about it being an unreliable plan,” Darcy told Nigel. “Why is that where you’re putting your hopes? What do you know that we don’t? Is that why Anna sent us here, watching this place after years without change? She thinks the Asanos are coming back?”

Nigel rubbed his chin thoughtfully for a moment.

“Yes,” he said. “She thinks they’re coming back.”

“Why?” Orange asked. “The vampires have been sitting on the holes the Asano Clan vanished into for years. We don’t know if those astral spaces are even still there. Or if the vampires figured out how to crack them open and ate everyone inside. Or if the clan all starved to death in there.”

“They didn’t starve to death,” Higgy said. “Thorny and I went into one once, playing bodyguard for Anna. They had full-blown farms in there, growing magic food like you’ve never seen.”

“What very few people know,” Nigel said, “is that right before we were sent out here, the Asano clan reached out.”

“How?” Higgy asked.

“Rufus Remore. He left the place the Asano clan are hiding and made his way though vampire territory, completely unnoticed.”

“Well, damn,” Digit said. “We don’t get any closer than the edge of the old clan territory, and that magic door the Asanos keep locked is right in the middle of it.”

“But he’s alive,” Darcy said. “And the rest of them too?”

“Yes,” Nigel said. “And they’re getting ready to make a move. Remore reached out to certain people. Anna Tilden and Boris Ketland, for sure. I don’t know who else, if anyone. For all I know, telling you just doubled the number of people who know about it.”

“So, the Asano Clan is coming back?” Higgy asked. “Properly back? Magic domain, the whole lot?”

“Remore certainly thinks so.”

“Let’s assume he’s right,” Higgy said. “The Asano Clan comes back out and reclaims their territory. Who is to say they keep it? They lost it once before.”

“According to Remore, it was some kind of ruse by Jason Asano,” Nigel said. “A ‘fool your friends to fool your enemies’ scenario.”

“He’s alive too, then?” Darcy asked. “Is he coming back as well?”

“Yes. And supposedly with a dozen gold rankers as strong as Remore himself. And you’ve seen that guy fight.”

“I haven’t,” Orange said. “There’s just a flash of light and every prick’s dead. I wouldn’t cross that bloke for quids.”

“Okay,” Higgy said. “Let’s say all that’s true. Asano and his clan come back, stronger than ever and rock solid. What makes you think that the clan is a good place for us to land, and that they’ll even take us?”

“They’ll take us because they know us,” Nigel said. “They know who we are, what we’ve done, and what we haven’t.”

“Sure,” Orange said. “That’s why they take us. Why should we take them?”

“Because they’re loyal,” Nigel said. “The one thing they’ve consistently done is take care of their own. Not just themselves, but everyone who has helped them or gotten caught up in their mess. They took them in and shielded them. The only ones who they cut ties with was the Network, who screwed Asano time and again. And I’ll remind you that we cut ties with them too. I’m not saying the Asano Clan is perfect, or that I like every choice they’ve made. But their leadership has demonstrated some actual integrity. That’s a hard thing to find.”

“You say this based on what?” Orange asked. “Rumours and second-hand stories? A few visits to clan territory when we were operating out of the military bases they hosted? That’s without even thinking about Jason Asano himself? What changes when he shows up? That guy was a lit fuse when he sodded off.”

“I did tell you this was unreliable” Nigel said. “That’s why I didn’t say anything until you all pushed. I want more information before we do a single bloody thing. That’s why we’re here. I want to see what the Asano Clan does when they’re under the gun and not ready to put on a show for visitors. I don’t want to make any promises to you all that I can’t keep.”

He checked his watch. “It’s time to relieve the others. Orange, Darce; you come with me.”

***

The most dangerous time for Nigel and his team was when they were swapping out observers. This happened three times per day; twice during daylight and once at night, when the vampires were more active. Fortunately, Farrah Hurin had given them proper aura training, which they had been practising for well over a decade. They weren’t sloppy at all with their aura control, and vampires were better at manipulating auras than detecting them.

The major threat was a gold-rank vampire in the wrong place when the team made a move. The city had several, so even if Nigel could take on one, more would be on them before the fight was done. Accordingly, the team were always diligent. Each time they swapped out people at their observation post, they moved slowly and carefully.

The observation post itself was on the outskirts of Saint Étienne, still in ruins from the original vampire occupation. Just outside of the area claimed by Jason Asano, it was a section of city not replaced with a replica made from Asano’s weird magic clouds. Best of all, the vampires ignored it in favour of the luxurious cloud buildings of the city proper.

The post itself was on the third floor of a mostly collapsed building. With the area around it surrounded by overgrown rubble, it was easy to approach from their bunker in the woods without needing to move into the open. As most of the other buildings had been toppled entirely, the sightlines from the upper floor were good.

The area had been largely reclaimed by nature in the years since Jason turned a transformation zone into a domain under his control. Grass grew up through shattered streets while bushes, vines and moss grew over the rubble. Only a handful of buildings were even partially standing, and they too were covered in the encroaching green.

Nigel, Orange and Darcy picked their way carefully through the overgrown ruins. The sky was clear, giving them enough moonlight to see. That also made them more visible to the vampires, or anything else roaming about. The magic level had been reduced since the clan domain went away, but even a silent kill on a bronze-rank monster could be a problem. The senses of a vampire were sharp already, but especially so when it came to smelling blood.

They reached the right building without incident and slipped inside, joining Cobbo, Jonno and Green. What remained of the third floor was set up as their observation post. The handful of intact rooms offered views in multiple directions, including the Asano territory. They couldn’t see deep into the city, but it was enough that any major events wouldn’t be missed. The biggest problem was that the roof was not intact and none of the windows had any glass, making rainy days bad and windy, rainy days completely miserable.

The inside of the room was etched with sigils that would mask their presence, from their auras to their body heat. Woolzy had learned them from Farrah back in their Network days and was now an old hand at them. Even a gold ranker would have to pay direct attention to the building to sense them. Despite requests from the team, Nigel had not allowed any rain-shielding magic.

Nigel didn’t ask if anything had changed. They had been in place for months, and if anything happened, the others would have mentioned it immediately. The trio being replaced got up to leave and their replacements prepared to settle in. It was a bright night, with a clear sky and a gibbous moon, so they noticed immediately when the change came. The silver moonlight spilling through the window was suddenly replaced with blue and orange.