CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
CHANCE
The conference room was stuffy. I took my seat toward the head of the table, across from Rusty. Only Anax Clark’s frame occupied the head of the table. Dux Carran stood against the wall, directly behind Rusty, the intensity of his gaze focused on Clark was unsettling. I definitely didn’t want to know what was going on in his mind.
“Alright, everyone, let’s begin,” Anax Clark spoke, her voice holding a definite exhaustion to it. She tapped on her disk and then a projection filled the second half of the table. Empty seats were now filled with blue holograms. HQ’s leadership. I could make out the definite profile of Anax Graf, her bun impeccable as ever. There were several other anaxes filling the seats, a head scientist for HQ, and to my utter shock, my father’s frame filled the seat at the opposite head of the table.
“Anax Clark, we were informed you have received the convoy of troops sent from HQ, among which Dux Dale and Dux Holland were a part of, yes?” President Dale spoke.
Anax Clark nodded in confirmation. Her face looked slacker than before. I wasn’t the only one surprised by my father’s presence.
“Dux Dale, it is my understanding that you requested this meeting citing high security threats. Does this have to do with the mole hunt?” My father’s voice was all president. Not a single note of any concern for what had occurred on our transport. Maybe he didn’t know, but my money was on the fact that he simply didn’t care. Not surprising.
“That is correct.”
“Then by all means, please fill us in on your intel,” Dux Graf spoke up, her voice soft but sharp as ever.
“Well,” I cleared my throat, “see for yourself.” I pulled out my disk and projected several photos I had snapped of the first incident, piles of goo, bloodied vampire bodies, total carnage. “As you can see, we encountered more than a mere rift in our transport at the Brookside and Bexley settlements. My entire team was cut in half and leadership barely escaped alive. At the first settlement, we were victorious and destroyed these creatures, but we had to evacuate the second. I fear they will continue to multiply and spread. They appeared highly intelligent and were lethal.” I paused, looking each hologram in the face. “We believe dark magic is at play.” A collective gasp gave me satisfaction. There, at least now maybe they’d take this threat seriously.
“What you speak of is highly criminal. How certain are you?” Anax Graf zoomed in on the images and then leveled a look at me.
“Certain.”
“What evidence have you boy of such an accusation?” Rusty spoke up, spit flying across the table and landing just short of my fingers. He was as gross as he was annoying.
“The things we’ve seen can only be explained by dark magic,” I responded, trying to keep calm.
“So you’ve said, but where I come from boy, we need more than just hearsay. What proof do you have?” Rusty pounded his fist on the table, glaring at me.
“Comatose humans. Hundreds of them. Unresponsive staff at the processing plant Dux Bole ran in the Brookside settlement. Creatures that are intelligent and yet, beastly,” Holland spoke up, projecting her own photos. I hadn’t even known she’d taken them. She projected pictures not only of the carnage but of the unresponsive humans, the staff looking at her but not focusing, and even a short video of me walking around trying to wake comatose vessels. “Not only was Dux Bole processing more than the allotted amount, but his settlement was also feeding on children. Several infractions occurred there; the least unsettling was Dux Bole’s indifference to the attack. I do not personally believe it was the first time.”
“This is all disturbing, but not enough to warrant an immediate meeting. I will further Rusty’s question, what evidence do you have that dark magic is responsible for this?” My father spoke up, eyes shooting daggers at Holland.
To her credit she lifted her chin and focused solely on my father. “What else could be responsible for this?” Holland projected a quick battle scene of the creatures attacking our men, sinking four sets of fangs into vampires, slicing with their claws, jumping so high they were practically flying before landing on dokimoses and devouring them. My stomach hollowed out at the sight. I had lived it, but seeing it replayed was nearly as traumatic.
“As you can see, they have a high level of intellect and furthermore, Dux Dale recognized one as a previous arche at the Eastern Outpost. One of the arches who was listed as dead and missing,” Holland voiced. Damn she was good.
“Doctor Worshah?” Anax Graf directed the question at the thin looking male wearing a lab coat and thick glasses.
“A number of things could have caused this. One of which, would be dark magic,” he spoke as he removed a piece of lint from his coat. “I’d have to run several tests on the remains and the areas of attack to determine if it was dark magic.”
“What else could create these things? What else could convert vampires into monsters?” Holland asked.
“Many things. You’re young, dux. But I’ve been studying science my entire life. You weren’t here for the great war, but there are weapons our neighbors have that we do not. Some manifested from dark magic and then changed, evolved. They are a new species that we do not any longer consider dark magic due to their distance from the original source of magic, even if it was dark. And yet, given our truce, we do not have intel to determine if they still play with dark magic. What you witnessed could be an enemy more evolved than us,” Doctor Worshah spoke as he swiped back his greasy black hair that was styled in a bad comb-over.
“But Dale recognized one as our own?” Holland pushed. I could see her point, but I could also feel the room’s temperature drop.
“Dux Dale?” President Dale leveled the question at me.
“It is true. I recognized Arche Damaris. It was unmistakably him.”
“Very well. Doctor Warshah, you will look into this and send a crew to extract samples from the settlements. Run your tests. In the meantime, what data do you have of the mole hunt?” Any relief from my father’s response vanished upon his redirection. Normal strategy for him. I don’t know why I’d expect anything less.
“Not much.” I gritted my teeth.
“ Boy , you called a meeting to tell us fairytales and share information about an attack from the enemy, but don’t have any vital information about the mole lurking within our borders?” Rusty spat, pounding his fists on the table.
I leveled a look at him. Dark veins spread out from his eyes, branding toward his hairline and ears. He looked wrong. But then again, he’d always looked wrong.
“We are reviewing data now, however, we believe these creatures are an attack from the enemy, as you stated, and therefore according to Article Two of the Glenn’s Wartime Conduct, a meeting was in order,” I spoke, smiling when I could see Rusty snarl. “But you don’t seem surprised by any of this, so tell me, why are you here Rusty and what do you know?”
Rusty narrowed his eyes. “How dare you?—”
“Answer the question, Dux Richards,” Anax Graf interrupted him.
“We were rerouted here due to the attacks Dux Holland filed about. We also encountered a few of these creatures ourselves and Dux Philips didn’t make it.”
What? I couldn’t believe he didn’t make that known before. Philips was a good male. Rusty spoke of his death like he was casually reciting the weather.
“Unlike these children, I don’t go crying dark magic. I do my damn job. It seemed the creatures were coming from the south, so we rerouted to this outpost in order to get a better understanding of our enemy’s position. From what I witnessed I’d say we’re under attack,” Rusty finished speaking.
“You’re suggesting we are in fact, at war?” Anax Graf asked, clarifying the situation.
“Yes. These attacks are not just happening with these kids. I too, was under attack on our way here. I’d say the enemy has landed and declared war with these weapons.”
“Anax Clark?” Anax Graf leveled a look at her. Declaring war was as serious an accusation as declaring dark magic. Both were punishable by death if they proved to be maliciously spoken, or if you took part in instigating either.
“From the videos and photos Dux Holland shared along with Dux Dale and Dux Richards testimony, it would appear that we may be under attack. Our base has not personally seen any of these creatures, and I have yet to witness any enemy activity apart from the attack a week ago. Dux Carran, what is your stance?” She turned and looked at the giant who was leaning, arms crossed, against the wall.
“I say something is goin’ on. Dark magic or not, we are under attack. So yes, I believe we are at war. Mother Blood help us,” he raised his voice and fist in the air.
“I see. I will take this information to the council. We will keep you appraised,” President Dale spoke, ready to end the meeting.
Shit, we could be officially at war and with an enemy we didn’t understand.
“President Dale,” Anax Graf spoke, voice tight. “I just received a transmission. Our Eastern Outpost is under attack and the circuit has been compromised.”