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The siren-like noise preceded the truck’s freefall. Once they landed, Slade blinked and refocused. They were back at the manor, as promised.

A tear in the air remained and an army of angels and harpies emptied out, Davenport at the helm.

“Take their heads,” he ordered.

“No. That won’t be necessary.” Manny jumped from the truck, baby harpy in hand. “We have an audience. You are welcomed to join.”

Davenport’s eyes burned with fury. “I won’t stand for this.” He looked at the ground, speaking to himself, “We don’t need to negotiate with—”

A wince had him falling to his knees.

“Wait,” he begged. “Wait. I can fix this. Give me only a moment. He will offer up the human and the angel. I promise. I can fix this.”

The first harpy to land was massive. She was followed by a smaller and yet another. Six women as far as Slade could count, two of them angels, all heavily armed and none happy to be there. Even more harpies flocked above, circling them like vultures.

While Slade scrutinized them, they stared at Trixie.

“Leave her,” said the harpy in the lead, looking back to her people. “She’s made her choice. This is what happens to birds who can’t keep their mouths shut. Nobody interfere. This transaction is set, and is valid.” She gave Trixie a fleeting glance filled with disappointment and disgust before taking off. “Give them room. Secure the altar.” She called to Davenport, “So this is what serving Legion leads to?”

Still kneeling with his eyes fixed on the ground, Davenport seethed. “She interfered. It’s got nothing to do with me and my choices. I was tasked with securing an infinite covenant. And I could have done it with a bit more support! They gave me a dwarf and a shop!”

Barbra hurried around the truck but hesitated to help Trixie out.

“I’m real sorry,” the dwarf said. “I—”

“Save it.” Trixie was heavy cargo but Slade persevered. “Brother, you will not sacrifice her. I will not allow it. I’ll take her place before I allow that.”

Trixie’s movements were shaky when she touched the ground. “You never had any say in what he does,” she muttered. “You never have.”

Lomos, holding his child in his right arm, greeted them at the top of the steps, face scratched up, wearing a miserable frown. “Sovereign. Welcome. We were confident you would make it back.”

Manny glanced at him and scoffed. “Glad to see you still in human form.”

The brigade captain bowed his head and gave him room to pass.

Eli helped with Trixie, looking over her wings to ask Slade, “What do we do?”

Slade shook her head. “I don’t know. I don’t know what we can do.” From the harpies in the sky to the werewolves on the ground, she felt helpless. “What do you think if we...?”

They closed in on the courtyard but Eli watched her, nodding. “I was thinking something like that. With how much runes you’ve got, maybe...maybe it can be enough. I go first.”

Mouth tasting stale, Slade looked away from him. “I can’t ask this of you.”

“Both of you are foolish,” Trixie muttered. “There are only three things powerful enough to be sacrificed right now. Me, my offspring, or the human.” She dragged in a deep breath and brushed them off as she spread her wings and walked on her own.

Slade paused in her stride to watch her. “E....”

Eli took her hand; he had nothing to offer beyond an empty promise. “A sovereign is still a sovereign. There’s power in that title. It’s probably a sound sacrifice.”

“But I’m not a powerful sovereign,” Slade protested. “What if it’s not enough?”

“It’ll be enough,” Eli promised. “And I’ll honor my loyalty rune and go with you. That’ll make mine a bountiful sacrifice when he’s reforming a covenant. It’ll be enough. You have to believe that.”

They exited the manor to the sight of Margarite, flanked by two men in kilts, watching the ground. She no longer had the will to protest.

Judging from the scratch marks on Lomos’s face, maybe she’d already said her piece.

Davenport stood in the center, miserable and enraged as he chanted to conjure up the blue fire of the altar.

Two angels landed in harpy garb. Their less-than-pleased expressions were enough for everyone to understand who they were.

“We are Legion,” one said, “and we’d like to entreat you to consider what you are doing—”

“You starved us,” Manny said, “intentionally. I’m breaking the covenant.”

Both angels traded a glance. When they focused on Davenport in anger, the man stepped back.

“How can you argue this when you yourself are fully powered?” She gestured at Lomos and the child. “In the presence of a human no less. It is not in our agreement to feed you. You can feed yourselves. Overfeeding—”

“That’s not why the humans are dead,” Manny countered. “They’re dead because you got greedy and tried to poach other Children of Runes from their gods. Then you robbed us of our werewolves and those gods gave the word to eliminate the humans. And they did. And they were able to because you depowered us.” Manny smiled wide though it held no humor. “On purpose.”

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This time when the two angels glanced at Davenport, the man’s breath caught.

After trading a glance with one another, communicating without speaking, the angels turned their attention to Manny once more.

“We’re listening.”

“So you’ll break our covenant,” Manny demanded. “And you’ll do it with no consequences. Leave us undead, that’s fine. We’ll find another god who can work around it.”

Davenport stepped forward. “There’s none more generous than Legion. Think of what you’d throw away.”

“Silence,” the two angels bellowed in unison.

Save for the harpies above, a hush fell over the crowd.

The first angel to speak hove a sigh. “Not all vampires need break it—”

“All vampires,” Manny insisted. “Every one of them. You can give some the option to go back to you, but I think you’ll find all of us are fed up. We get to walk freely with no repercussions and no interference when we choose another deity.” He waved at Lomos and his son. “And look on the bright side, without vampires feeding, the human population might come back. That’s something, right?”

The displeased looks on their faces said it wasn’t something they relished.

“It requires a great sacrifice to break the covenant,” the angel reminded him. “One that is difficult to pay.”

“Oh. No worries there.” Manny held the baby harpy. “I’ve got sacrifices in spades. Are we agreed?”

An eerie calm of hopelessness washed over the courtyard, broken only with the two angels who glanced at one another again.

“Very well,” the second angel said. “Give us the human.”

“No!” Margarite darted forward but the two werewolves caught her. Lomos didn’t look back as she thrashed and wailed. Instead, he watched the ground, cradling his baby close.

Everyone waited but he didn’t move.

When his body trembled, Eli gasped. “He’s defying his rune!” He leapt in time to catch the child when Lomos shifted to a wolf. Each attempt he made at standing returned him to the wolf form. Teeth bare, he snarled.

“No need for that,” Manny drawled. “I wasn’t going to sacrifice your baby anyway.” He approached the animal and crouched down, boasting, “I just wanted to see you suffer with the decision day in and day out.” He grinned. “For my own amusement, of course.”

Slade gasped. “Brother.”

Manny dismissed her with a wave of the hand. “Again with the sanctimony. What vampire wants a werewolf that’s disloyal? I noticed yours didn’t change.”

Eli’s breathing grew ragged as he watched Manny’s every move. “Is it all a game to you?”

“Would you rather I take the baby?” Manny asked him.

At those words, Eli held his peace. Still keeping a close watch on Manny, Eli approached Margarite and handed the child to her. She cradled him, eyes shut tight.

Manny studied her. He then glanced down at the wolf at her side. The kilt had fallen away but that hardly mattered.

“You’ve made your choice, Lomos. So I free you of our oath to me.” Manny asked the angels, “Is this an acceptable outcome?”

The second angel glanced from Margarite to Manny, confused. “There is no sacrifice of human blood? Then how do you plan to break this covenant?”

“I intend to break it,” Manny explained, “by sacrificing the sovereign. Is that acceptable?”

Both angels focused on Slade who took a step back. Her heart pounded, stronger than it ever had, but she was unafraid. She wanted a way to save her people—this was that way, perhaps the only way.

“I accept those terms,” Slade said, advancing instead of retreating.

The first angel scowled. “You will not find a better master than Legion. If—”

“Is it acceptable?” Manny demanded.

For a long moment, both angels said nothing. When they spoke in unison, their voices were hollow. “Acceptable.”

Fire danced before the angels then formed into daggers. With a wave of their hands, they shot forward.

Lomos leapt before Slade and a gasp tore through the night.

Instead of a wolf, a man formed, holding Slade close.

“Lo!” Margarite raced to them.

“No.” Slade moaned because there was no pain she could distinguish. She shoved Lomos back and waited for him to fall.

He didn’t. Instead, he looked down at his bare body then at Margarite then Slade again.

“I don’t understand,” Lomos said. “What has happened?”

“Harpy,” Manny trembled when he helped Trixie sit. The dagger she’d taken on his behalf tore through her wing, lodging itself squarely into her back and came out her stomach. “Foolish harpy. What have you done?”

The bird-creature in his grip stirred and he stood, looking down at the dying angel before him.

“Trixie.” Slade shoved Manny aside and held her hand. “Oh no. Oh no. I don’t understand. I don’t understand! What’s happened?” She searched the Legion angels’ uncaring faces for help. “We agreed to sacrifice the sovereign! Isn’t that what you agreed?”

“You’re only sovereign,” Manny told her, “because I was incapacitated. There was no need for two at one time. It was my title—it’s still my title. But she...she....” He wore a scowl of disgust and said, “I knew what I was doing.”

Tears in her eyes, Trixie told him, “As did I.”

Manny turned his back to her and told the two angels before him. “This is not part of the agreement. I said all I care about would come out unharmed.”

“Oh?” The two angels traded a glance. One said, “Seems your Legion did report back to us something about that, but...” she scoffed. “Seeing is believing I suppose.”

“You’re breaking the agreement.”

“Are we?” The second angel teased, “You do not go to her. You do not touch her. How are we to know you care for her?” At Manny’s silent defiance, she said, “Now that you’ve lost your angel to sacrifice to a new covenant, why not discuss the current one? Let us extend it. Say...another hundred years? We’ll be willing to extend it and pretend this all never happened. Otherwise, if we break it now, you’ll never be more than ghouls walking the earth. You would not like that, would you?”

Manny held his baby harpy in both hands, staring them down.

Trixie’s grip on Slade’s hand grew weaker.

“Trix.”

“It’s okay, boss,” Trixie told her. “It was my choice.”

Slade shook her head, biting back a sob, “You moron. You said you hated him.”

A tear ran down Trixie’s cheek as she smiled. “A lied. Not very good at ‘em, hey boss?” She trembled. “But I’s okay. He can still get out.”

“You think I care about being a ghoul?” Manny demanded.

The smug expression on both angels’ faces vanished.

Davenport risked stepping forward. “Think about what they’re offering. Besides, these angels control life and death now, but once they leave, your intended sacrifice to the new deity is useless. Hindsight tells me you will try to sacrifice your infant harpy, but its power level is incomplete without the second egg to feed it. You have no means to make a new covenant. It’s best to keep the one you’ve got now!”

At the silence, the angels turned to Davenport. “Do something,” they demanded together.

“I’m—I’m, I’m trying! You’re trying to play emotional chess with a vampire. There’s no emotion to exploit! I’ve told you this. Not unless you drop his power and that takes him out of the equation yet again mentally. I—”

The angels waved their hands and Davenport’s throat split open.

Gasping and shocked, he held his neck but didn’t dare utter another word. Once they left, his own fate was sealed.

And just like that, Manny’d won. He’d break the covenant. Slade brought Trixie’s hand to her cheek, squeezing it despite the frailty of it.

“Trix.”

“He’s done it,” Trixie gasped. “Look at him. They have to break it now. I’m powerful enough. He could use my runes as the sacrifice.” In a sick way, she sounded proud. “He’s always able to play such a safe gamble to get his way.”

“Save her.” It came out of nowhere at first but then Manny picked his head up and told the angels, “Save her.”

Eli gasped. Even Lomos took a step back in surprise.

Davenport’s eyes lit up.

Both angels exchanged glances then perked up.

“You are willing to deal?” One asked.

The second one stepped forward, “We’ll save her, but it comes at a price. She’s gone against the Fates. She’s chosen this moment. This is her end.”

Manny picked his head up and stared them down. “I’ll renew the vampire contract indefinitely. Save her!”