Fangs of Fate (Untish #1)

Chapter 45

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

CHANCE

Shit. Holy shit. The Eastern Outpost had another attack. This one was, of course, classified and details were on a need-to-know basis. Apparently, leadership worried that any information about the attack would sway our search here.

“It doesn’t sit right with my gut. Information is power, why withhold it?” Holland asked, massaging her temples. We’d been sent away hours ago once the meeting had been adjourned by my father and Anax Graf.

“I don’t have an answer.” I sucked on my fang. Exhaustion was beginning to set in. That combined with concern for the arches at the EO I had worked with last spring. How many had been killed in this most recent attack? Was it by those creatures? Were they evolving further than we’d seen?

“It smells. That’s what I think.” Holland stretched out her back. She’d been hunched over the desk poring through files while I combed through surveillance footage—footage that was suddenly destroyed or missing, go figure—from the week leading up to the attack.

“Meaning?” I was too tired to have this fight again. My father was many things, but a dark magic wielder? That, he was not.

“Meaning there is information leadership is intentionally withholding. I don’t like it.”

“I don’t either, but it is technically within the realm of protocol. I mean, when searching for a mole or suspected traitor, it is standard procedure to withhold new evidence from a separate outpost if it is suspected to contaminate the existing evidence or sway the opinion of the council.” It was weak reasoning. Even I knew that we weren’t councilmen, and we were working on an attack that had simultaneously occurred at the Eastern Outpost—not to mention, dealing with an enemy we didn’t understand. That information should be shared with us.

“Really?” Holland leveled a stare at me. “We both know that doesn’t really apply here. I know you want to believe that everything is on the up and up, and maybe it is, but there are several red flags here.”

“Red flags? Did you guys make progress?” Shae’s voice was a welcome interruption. I did not feel like arguing this point with Holland—again. Maybe I was willfully ignorant or naive, but I wasn’t willing to part with my firm belief in the good of the guara based on a few mishandled events and classified files.

“No, it’s above your pay grade,” I responded.

“It’s above all our pay grades,” Holland muttered under her breath.

“What is?” Shae asked circling around with a completed roster. “I’ve finished filling out the first few sections, but you know it would be helpful if you told me what to look for in a little more detail—and if I could dig in digital files, you know the modern way we store, collect, and access information.”

“Shae,” I reprimanded.

“I know, we’re not at that point yet,” Shae mimicked my voice from earlier. “But a little more detail would be helpful.”

“It goes against protocol and?—”

“We’re searching for a mole,” Holland interrupted me.

“Holland,” I snapped. Was she being serious?

“Look, we’re in over our heads and have limited resources, if the Eastern Outpost is under attack, it’s only a matter of time before this outpost may be attacked again. And since you don’t want to let Shae do her thing...” Holland’s reasoning was out of line.

“I thought better of you,” I couldn’t stop the words from spilling out or the widening of Holland’s eyes. Shit. I was too tired for this, all of it.

“The Eastern Outpost is under attack? Are we at war?” Shae’s grey-blue eyes nearly popped out of her head.

“We don’t know.” Holland closed her eyes. We were both mentally exhausted and it had been too long since our last feed. The blood bags we’d received three hours ago had worn off and, in reality, it was really just a snack.

“How do you not know?” Shae circled the desk and put a hand on my shoulder. “Chance, what’s going on?” Her eyes were pleading. I wanted to answer, but what could I safely tell her?

“Oh for fuck’s sake, Dale, she’s a brand-new dokimos and your oldest friend. If you can’t trust her with a few details that could help us speed up our investigation, then who can you trust?” Holland’s meaning was clear. This wasn’t about Shae.

“Look, Shae, you know I trust you. It’s why I brought you in to help in the first place. It’s just, involving you and your expertise can have consequences.”

“As if I haven’t been taking risks my whole life. Besides, I know how to cover my tracks. Put me in coach.” Shae puffed up her chest and tilted her chin back. Sometimes I swear she’s still that seventeen-year-old kid who hacked into the high school mainframe to change her grades. “Chance, I can handle myself. I want to help. Let me.”

I sighed and threw up my hands. “I guess you could help comb through the surveillance and look for?—”

“Shit,” Holland interrupted, disk in hand. “The council is ready to meet with us in twenty minutes. And Dale, the stretch of the circuit that was compromised has been identified. It’s the eastern track, the one the new recruits were on. The entire circuit has been cited as destroyed just two clicks north of the last settlement to the EO.”

Time slowed as I pieced together what she was saying. If the circuit was compromised, then there would be casualties. Dozens. One in particular had my blood running cold. How had I not thought of this before?

“Tate,” Shae and Holland said at the same time, the first a plea, the second a curse word.

“What do we know?” I asked, yanking my disk out of my pocket.

“The file is remarkably short. It lists the stretch as unusable, unknown casualties, and that coms are down with the duxes and anaxes leading the new recruits,” Holland’s voice was monotone. I could see the conflict warring on her face.

“Was Tate on that circuit?” Shae’s questions mirrored my internal one.

“Looking at the roster now.” I scrolled quickly, thank blood her last name started with an ‘A’. I froze. There was her name, clear as day: Tatealia Kaitlyn Aaralyn. “Shit.”

“You have to help her! We have to do something! Send a convoy to intercept or something!” Shae was beginning to shake. “Chance, she deserves your help, you can’t just leave her. She needs you.”

Those three words shook my core. I could see Tate’s mahogany eyes, all-consuming, the wrinkle between her brows when she scrunched her nose, her honey lily scent that always left a haunting feeling. I swallowed. Tate could very well be dead.

“We have to wait for the council meeting. They’ll inform us of any new plans,” Holland spoke slowly as she approached Shae. “But we’ll do everything we can to help all remaining dokimoses.” She rested her tiny hands on Shae’s broad shoulders.

I stood there frozen as images of those monsters on four legs charging Tate and gutting her flooded my mind. Their black saliva dripping all over her, around her; four sets of fangs sinking into her flesh, tearing, sucking, devouring. The leader of those beasts on two legs howling before ripping Tate’s limbs from her one by one. I could hear her cries, see her tears as her eyes slowly faded until the fire in them was gone and just mere shells remained.

We didn’t know nearly enough about those things to defeat them, I barely escaped alive; the wound at my stomach was freshly healed and still twinged with pain from time to time. I had years of combat experience, personal military training even before I joined the guara; I was an excellent shot and decent swordsman.

Tate was not.

Fear gripped me as the possibilities continued to assault my mind. There was a very good chance Tate didn’t make it. I needed to do more, know more, to stop these things. I should have already made progress in understanding their origins. I knew shamefully little about dark magic.

“Meeting starts soon, Holland let’s go. Shae, dig and dig deep. Search the database and research archives for anything on ‘dark magic’. Cover your tracks. And…check the research lab here on base for ongoing projects. I want to know what leadership does about those things.” I clenched my jaw. “And Shae, you better damn well be as good as you boast. Getting caught can lead to a Disciplinary Hearing and execution. You don’t have to?—”

“Stop. I said I want to help, and you’re insulting my intellect.”

“This isn’t high school, and I won’t be able to?—”

“I said I’ll be fine. Now go.” Shae swatted at me to leave as she pulled out a coder’s disk I didn’t even see her carrying.

“Shae,” I started as I grabbed my coat from the chair back. “Get Arche Damaris in here and have him start combing through the rest of the surveillance. Have him look for anything out of the ordinary, unauthorized personnel entries, patterns of workflow and any changes, arches going where they shouldn’t, more visits to the research center by the wrong personnel, you get the point. Fuck protocol.” I never thought I’d hear those words from my own mouth, but time was more precious than ever before. “And Shae, this goes without saying, but don’t tell him why or what you’re doing.”

I followed Holland through the door and into the large arched hallway. I could see the smirk on her face even from this angle. Holland and I may disagree as to who is manufacturing those things, but I was certain we had data on dark magic and historical references which could help us better understand these things that were infesting our borders.

“So, this has you skipping protocol, boy scout?” Holland whispered.

“Not now, Holland. Lives are at stake.” With that I brushed past her, heading for the conference room. I had more on my mind than Holland’s ego. I had lives on the line. I could ignore the wrath of a female for now. Right now, I needed to try to hold on to all the pieces before my entire world imploded.