He heard that strange whine and scream again, this time much closer. It lasted for a few seconds then stopped. Everything was silent.
“Go!” Acharya screamed at Aiman.
The two Shape Shifters jumped out of the building and onto the rooftops. He felt Mary and ran toward her. There were no vampires in sight. Standing next to Mary was Ares and two Elders.
“Mary, are you alright?” Acharya asked.
She nodded. “Yes, I’m fine, thanks to Ares. He took out twelve vampires by himself with that thing.” She nodded at the weapon Ares was carrying.
“I don’t know how many you killed this time around but you definitely saved us. We wouldn’t have lasted too much longer.”
“Unfortunately, I think I may have only killed a few this time, three or four at most. They learn quickly and they all dove for the street as soon as I pressed the trigger,” Ares replied.
“Malikah. She’s hurt. We have to go get her,” Mary said suddenly as if just remembering her pack, Tracker.
“Ares,” Huan Li said. “Go and retrieve the injured Tracker. We will set up position here. We will fall back in an easterly route that will take us in the general direction of the Tower. Efraim will finish his work to the north and hopefully we can link up somewhere in the middle.”
Ares nodded. He let Aiman and Mary lead him down onto the street level and toward their injured Tracker.
“Acharya, you have done well but there is still so much left to do.” Huan Li looked back east over the whole of the city and the black smoke that was slowly beginning to cover it. The fires that raged to the north and southeast were getting bigger. He could still make out bright orange and red flames lick up the trees even through the thick smoke. He stroked his chin in thought.
“Huan? What is it?” Eustace asked the aged Asian.
The man had a faraway look in his eyes. He blinked and said, “Acharya, we need to set up our retreat and some kind of defense as we do so. You need to gather the rest of your pack and I understand that Helios and his pack are with you as well?” Acharya nodded. “Very well, Bring him back to this point. From there I want your pack to cover our left and Helios will cover our right, with Ares, myself, and Eustace in the middle.”
Acharya masked his emotions well, just not well enough to fool the Elders.
“You don’t like the idea of two old Shape Shifters in the middle of the formation, do you?” Huan Li asked with a smile.
“No Elder I would never suggest…”
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“It’s alright, maybe I am getting a little older than I want to admit. And that is partly the reason for it.”
He regarded the Elder and nodded slowly, “You are going to use yourselves as bait,” he stated matter of factly.
“Exactly, the vampires should know who we are. And if they don’t, they have already been introduced to Ares and his weapon, that should be enough to draw their attention. Meanwhile you and Helios can harass them from the flanks, whittling down their forces.”
Acharya nodded, “It’s a good plan, Elder. I’ll go find Helios.”
Huan Li quickly raised his rifle and popped out three rounds. Seconds later a crunching sound met his ears.
The young Alpha hadn’t even had time to duck. He looked back at the Elder as he lowered his weapon. “I’m not completely useless in my old age,” Huan Li said with a wink.
Acharya bowed to the Elder and jumped off the building. He needed to find Helios and fast. He could feel that Mary was very close to Malikah. Hopefully she could be healed and be ready to fight again and soon. Ares may have surprised them with his mini gun but they wouldn’t stay down forever. Soon, probably within minutes they would be just as hard pressed as they had been a few minutes ago.
* * * * *
Amanda Miller followed Mr. Davis toward the south east end of the cavern toward the forest.
“Amanda, I want you to stay close to me,” Mr. Davis said. “These are vampires, they can move ten times faster than you, they have twenty times better eyesight then you, and they’re ten times stronger than you.”
“Are you trying to scare me?” Amanda asked grimly.
The large black werewolf shook his head, “I’m sorry, kid. I just need you to know what you’re going up against. So, keep your head on a swivel and don’t leave my side, not for anything. Do you understand?” Amanda nodded and they kept running down the street.
Mr. Davis slowed down as Hermes jumped down from a building. The grey and brown calico werewolf was shorter than Mr. Davis and slenderer.
He reported, “I saw their group near the forest. That fire they started is already almost too big to fight. The forest is lost, even if we could get over there to fight it. It would take a massive amount of Sages to redirect the nearby streams.”
Mr. Davis nodded, “Ok, so what’s the bad news?” he asked dryly.
Hermes replied, “The vampires don’t seem to be moving, at all. It’s like they’re waiting for something.”
“How many?”
“Forty, exactly forty, I counted twice just to be sure,” Hermes answered quickly.
“Forty against the six of us? Maybe we should give them the chance to surrender?” Mr. Davis asked. He wasn’t smiling. “Physis, I want you and Thoosa to take up positions on our right, Tyche, you and Hermes move to my left, I’ll keep Amanda with me at the center. Don’t move too fast and don’t think the rooftops are completely safe. Hermes, can you get a closer look at what they may be up to, weapons, formations, anything?”
“I may be able to move closer using the city for cover. They could spot me if I get too close,” the Scout replied.
“That’s a risk we’ll have to take.” He looked at the Shape shifters around him. “Stay out of sight. If they aren’t moving, then all we need to do is keep an eye on them. Efraim will take care of his part and Acharya will have some help as well.” Looking down at Amanda he added, “With any luck you won’t have to try to use that thing.” The black-haired girl nodded but she didn’t look either relieved or afraid. The only thing Mr. Davis smelled from her was iron determination. She was indeed Jacob Miller’s daughter.
“All right go, and stay close. If need be, we pull back here and move in toward the center of the city.” The other four Shape shifters nodded and then moved out to their positions, flanking Mr. Davis and Amanda as they moved farther out from the center of the city toward the south eastern forest, and the raging forest fire therein.