Entering a fairly decent townhouse used for temporary military housing behind Mateo, Rachel followed him up the stairs to the second level. Her ears tilted to continue following Scarlet’s vampire introduction at some random diner. Things were taking a turn that she hadn’t expected, and the subtle emotional changes in Scarlet’s voice made her a tad unsure if the girl was ready for this.
Nia and a few of Mateo’s men followed them up to the front room, where they began setting up their communication equipment. Rachel opened the sliding glass door to step out onto the covered balcony, glaring at the rainy night. Crossing her arms, she left it open for Mateo and Nia to join her.
“Dammit,” she mumbled, tapping her side and listening intently to the vampire girl and man that engaged Scarlet.
Her less curvy and ear-endowed twin leaned against the wall, studying the downpour and city park view. “She’s floundering. Aren’t we a bit too far away to do anything to help her?”
“I said I’d trust her judgment.” Rachel unfolded her arms to sweep back her loose hair over her shoulders, groaning as her phone began to vibrate in the purse she’d brought.
Mateo lit a cigarette while stepping onto the patio and shifted the rifle strap around his body. Dragging on it once, he stuck the lighter back into a pouch before turning his cautious brown eyes to her. “Your mom again? I don’t think you’ll be able to dodge her much longer; they’ve been sitting at the grave site for an hour now.”
“I know,” she sighed, taking it out to rub her thumb over the glass; her mother’s smiling face was on the screen. “I think it’s safe to say we’re not having the funeral at this point… And Scarlet isn’t being careful to hide her nature as a vampire; the people at the diner she’s at are getting anxious.”
She closed her eyes and took a deep, relaxing breath; not being inside the situation to curb things in Scarlet’s favor was giving her a shocking amount of anxiety. It was probably her control freak nature rearing its ugly head. Still, she had to give Scarlet room to grow, or she would become totally dependent on her.
Naturally, Mateo was already following them, and she couldn’t hide what they were doing from Barbara since he reported to her. Luckily, she’d garnered enough trust from the saint that she’d kept her distance and let Mateo control things so far. It wouldn’t have done them any good to try to hide this OP from the military anyway. The drones that had been flying around the graveyard had instantly spotted Scarlet climbing into an old truck, which would have raised questions regardless.
Scarlet got the police called on her; Illa was going to be trouble. Those eating had already been mumbling to one another, worried that the pair were vampires before Scarlet even arrived. This was a carefully laid scenario to spark a specific response from Scarlet.
The girl was too perfect at manipulating Scarlet’s empathy and fragile emotional state, building an attachment between them; if Scarlet had gone in without her warning her to be skeptical of those getting near her, the girl’s defenses would have melted like butter.
Answering the phone, she held it up to her mouth, ears twitching at what was happening in the diner.
“Hey, Mom.”
“Hey! Uh…is this too much for Scarlet? Should we go somewhere to eat first or help her calm down? I told her I’d try to make some blood dishes for her. I’m excited to try and figure out some recipes that she can enjoy!”
Rubbing between her eyes, Rachel looked to her right at Nia, who was using her ears to scan in a broader range to perceive threats in their vicinity. She was focused on Scarlet, allowing them to cover all angles. “We found out that the body in the box isn’t Scarlet’s dad and are on the hunt for his real corpse. You can get the details from the Green Berets.”
Her mom was quiet for a few seconds, pulling the tapping rain against the roof into focus before she puffed out a tired sigh. “So…you’ve let us believe Scarlet was going through a panic attack and needed support for over an hour in the rain? I guess it is like you…”
Ouch. Rachel gulped, shivering a little at her mom’s tone. She’s mad.
Her ears lifted straight up as Scarlet teleported the girl away from her guardian and slammed her against a wall, becoming aggressive.
No, Scarlet, you’re coming on too strong; you’re giving her all the ammunition to strike back at your weak point! What if Terry goes on a rampage because you’ve separated them?! She’s not thinking!
“Mom, I’ll call you back. Barb will have the—”
“Don’t bother! Just make sure Scarlet is okay,” she heatedly interrupted. “I expect you’re in some kind of operation or whatever, so I’ll take Alexa, Zoe, and Felix back to our place; it’s two hours away, but it will probably be safe because of that.”
“Eh-hehe. Thanks, Mom, and can you tell Jeanne that I’d appreciate it if she went with you?”
“Haaa. Yes, we’d love to have her. Now, focus on Scarlet!”
It’s a bit bigger than that now, Rachel thought, hanging up and playing with her phone as Mateo puffed out a long stream of smoke. Scarlet, you’re walking a really fine line.
“Trouble?”
Rachel hugged herself again, trying to keep her thumping heart from beating out of control. “My first guess is someone was able to get their hands on Scarlet’s psychological profile from when we had our evaluation in the hospital, or the vampire with Scarlet now is just that good at understanding her target’s emotional triggers.”
Mateo snapped his fingers at the men in the room, who began relaying the information to SOCOM.
“She’s holding out from what I’ve heard,” Nia commented, continuing the line of thought. “Dracula’s concubine being in the area, though… Do you think she is the one who turned Illa, and all this is a ploy by the Scarlet Hand? Also, are you hearing those dead spots near where all the ships are to our east? Suspicious. Do you think Illa could be sincere? She sounds sincere to me, at least from this distance.”
Shaking her head, Rachel half-turned to look at the soldiers inside, where multiple laptops were open, and they communicated to Barbara’s personally selected team. “Were there any vampires in Miami Beach during the Relica incident?”
“Pulling up the sheet now, Ma’am,” one of the men stated. “Give me a moment…”
Mateo took a drag of his cigarette and sighed. “I haven’t seen you this worked up since you took those toad attacks for us. How bad is it looking for Scarlet? We have teams ready to move across Miami if needed.”
Rachel shook her head. “Scarlet is doing…well enough. The National Guard and Police are scrambling to get ahead of what they see as a potential second Seattle Incident, which is fair, considering the casualties and how strong Scarlet came on in the diner…
“Dracula’s concubine’s name is Lady Selene San Felice. The girl manipulating Scarlet claims to be a Noble Vampire, who was turned by a Progenitor, like Scarlet… Shit, she’s starting to push Scarlet’s moral code and boundaries, looking for weak points to attack. Mmgm. And yes, Nia, I heard the blank spots at the docks; it’s worth checking out.”
Nia nodded. “I hear a few other groups discussing vampires and hunting them, as well. I can mark it on a map,” she said, going inside to study a sheet of the city that the soldiers unfolded.
Frustration gnawing on her tail, Rachel shoved her phone back into her purse; the situation was looking more and more like a far bigger thing than what they’d initially thought. What grapevine did Illa get her information from? Who was she with? Why target Scarlet at this very moment?
“She’s letting things slide with this vampire because she’s playing nice and acting like a vulnerable teenage girl made into a monster. She says she wants to help Scarlet get her dad’s corpse back… I just wish Scarlet would ask stronger questions, but Illa knows exactly how to shut Scarlet down and make her feel like the villain. She’s toying with Scarlet’s desire to be seen as a normal girl, trapped in the body of a monster while sneaking close to fluster her.”
Nia returned after marking the locations on the map, tapping her shoulder. “Trust her a little more, Hops. Scarlet may not be you, but she’s making her choices; she wants to be like you, not you.”
Snorting and shooting a glare at her smug, wise captain, Rachel shook her head. “Don’t think you’re some sort of sage; you got that from an anime or something you watched with Alexa and Selvaria, didn’t you?”
“Maybe. Hehe. Am I wrong, though?” she asked with a wink. “You’re flustered right now, yourself, Hops. Chill and communicate. I swear, you’re like an overprotective big sister, seeing her sister off to her first day in school.”
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
Rachel rolled her eyes and took out her phone. “I need to put a restriction on dramas and anime for you.”
“You couldn’t handle me; I dare you,” Nia snickered, retaking her position on the wall. “My younger self would drive you up the wall if you didn’t distract me with fun things or let others spoil me.”
“Not wrong… Not wrong… Hmm.”
One of the soldiers piped up from inside. “Ma’am, I just scanned the list of changed people in Miami Beach, and there were a few vampires listed—no, never mind, they weren’t a part of those changed during The Oscillation—they were turned. All of them were discovered after the incident and quickly put down by units clearing the zone.”
Mateo grimaced, hard eyes shifting to his man. “Apparently, there are different ranks; you’re not suggesting they killed sentient vampires that weren’t hostile? Highlight the more detailed report.”
“Manic…unresponsive to warnings—similar to those found during the Seattle Incident that retained little to no intelligence—mostly teenage girls or children, and they’d been bitten on their breasts. All were terminated.”
“Shit,” one of the soldiers snarled, scratching his scalp, “children and teenage girls turned into Thralls. Hell, that would be rough… Bastards.”
Rachel returned her gaze to the downpour as Nia continued to track multiple parties that had the subject of vampires on their tongues. With every action Illa took, Rachel grew more suspicious and anxious. Illa pushed lightly to feed on a guard, and once Scarlet flatly rejected it, the girl went for the High Vampire, which forced Scarlet into a position to accept it, pulling her further down the slope as the next best alternative.
At the same time, Rachel wasn’t entirely against what Illa was doing. It was stretching Scarlet in ways that needed to be done if she was going to be an effective part of Omen. Perhaps she could use the vampire to help Scarlet overcome her traumas; it couldn’t be done from the sidelines for long, though.
Her hesitation vanished the moment a new player entered Scarlet’s circle, her gut-punching details making Rachel want to kick something. The girls were about to ride to the docks and hitch a ride with a bunch of dangerous Legends and Myths to a vampire masquerade.
One of the Green Berets snapped his fingers to get their attention. “Information just came through SOCOM from the White House. General Dallas says one of Fable’s agents, codename RED, went AWOL from her post in Montana and may be heading to Miami.”
Rachel’s cold eyes shifted to Mateo, now sitting and looking like he was about to go on his fourth tour in active combat from what she’d been sharing.
“Send word to Captain Barbara; we’re looking at an active mission.” Activating a number she really shouldn’t be dialing since Barbara was the commanding officer, Rachel motioned for Nia to go on ahead; she was about to get yelled at. “I’m calling the general…”
The bunny got a two-fingered salute from Mateo before giving her a smirk and jumping over the edge of the rail, becoming a blur through the downpour. “I’ll fill Scarlet in.”
“Good luck,” Mateo groaned, rolling around his neck before entering the room to get on the radio with his superior. “The damn Countess of Blood is having a party and has already contacted Scarlet. Son of a bitch. Ready for combat, boys!” he snarled, flicking his cigarette butt into a clean tray. “We’re staying behind to handle the assault on the city.”
“Hooah!”
Rachel felt the strings of destiny strongly pushing them in this direction. Tom’s voice held more vigor than when she’d last talked to him; the man’s deep voice held a sharper tone than what she’d become accustomed to.
“Make it quick.”
“I’m guessing you’ve got the report at this point… You’ve listened to the message Scarlet’s dad left for her—the Scarlet Hand, a Scottish fairy spreading fog for the impending vampire attack, multiple top-tier vampire Legends and Myths gathering for a Legend Quest, and an assault on Miami to kick it off. Good thing you have forces stationed and ready.”
Tom slid right past her lighthearted tone. “Be straight with me, Rachel. Are you manipulating yourself into this kind of position because of the Scarlet Hand’s part in killing your cousin or because you feel Montana is a lost cause? It’s like you’re doing everything in your power not to go. I can’t ignore this, and you know it, but I can’t ignore Montana either. Now, two groups that I was relying on are on the opposite side of the country!”
Closing her eyes and leaning against the balcony guard, Rachel held her arm against her stomach. “I’m not trying to run from Montana; I want to go and check it out for myself. That being said, I strongly feel this will help us against whatever is behind that Crystal, even if we’re a few days late to the party. Your info suggested reinforcements are an option on the flight over, and we will be there, and we will win.
“As for this Countess business, I don’t know what will happen inside the masquerade, but I do know that crashing this Legend Quest and getting the corpse of Scarlet’s dad back is pivotal for the future. Plus, it’s always good for the Scarlet Hand to take another L. Ugh. Now that is taken care of… Sadly, I’ll probably miss the Congress speech; Erica will have to do it for me as a representative of Omen.”
She waited with bated breath, hearing the stress in Tom’s grinding teeth. After all, Montana was a very public and ominous event that had all the citizens of the United States glued to their TVs while this wasn’t anywhere near the public eye. It didn’t help that her public image had been blowing up in the media recently.
Videos of her in DC and leaked info in Miami that the President had chosen to go public on had sparked a lot of buzz. Reporters and journalists were all looking for info on her; luckily, her true identity or family hadn’t been discovered due to her being cautious of her surroundings in DC, where she could be recorded, but it also introduced a problem for Tom. The ‘Heroine of Miami Beach’ was expected to be at the Crystal, and she wouldn’t be there on the go.
Sure, this Countess of Blood’s party was a big deal, along with the imminent attack on Miami, but the latter could be resolved tonight. She could even be named in it, which would further Omen’s reputation. However, realistically, the timing was off; they knew the Crystal would open tomorrow, and a lot could happen on an operation like this with the unknowns revolving around Legend Quests.
If they just thwarted another attack in Miami, then it was a win, but also a headache if the public started asking questions as to why the leaders of it weren’t handled, striking more dread and giving Dracula what he wanted. If taken care of in private and she wasn’t in Montana when things kicked off, then it could hurt her reputation and risk blowback on Tom and the President if things went south.
The real problem was an operation that involved a Legend Quest could take minutes on the outside, depending on the time dilation, or weeks for all they knew. And, to be honest, it was a big opportunity to gain some needed EXP for the Montana Crystal if they played their cards right.
The band around her chest snapped as Tom growled, “Coordinate with Captain Barbara. Try to make it back in one piece, not hanging on to life by a sliver like last time, Rachel. You were the one that told me that even Izanami—a literal fallen creation goddess—fears what is coming from that gateway.”
“I think my mom might kill me if I come back like that again,” she laughed in return.
“Sure…” Tom’s voice lowered. “From what you’ve laid out and what I’ve seen from the video Scarlet’s father left for her, I’m seeing a dangerous secret that you’ve kept. I know we’ve talked a little about it, but we’ll discuss this Twilight later, who I assume has some hand in this event for Scarlet’s benefit.”
She felt a hint of dread at that conversation with the President, but hopefully, this operation would build Scarlet up enough to be open about it. “Got it. Anything else?”
The general paused while receiving a report from an aide.
“Sir, White is here to see you regarding Red’s disappearance.”
“Tell her I’ll be in my office in a moment… Rachel, Fable’s CEO is here to discuss two of her agents… Now, it’s not only Red but Black that has left her post, which White says isn’t surprising since they operate in pairs.”
“Great!” Rachel sarcastically chimed, flipping around to lean against the cold rail and listen to Scarlet trying to find a place where they could legally buy clothes that were outside the police net; that would be solved soon enough. “I’ve wanted to meet these Fable agents for a while now. Any details you can give me?”
“Hmm.” He signed a few papers before getting up to change rooms across the Pentagon. “I can forward over some things, but first, I want you to know explicitly where we are…”
“I’m listening,” Rachel said, stomach fluttering a little and wanting to get on the move already as he paused to listen to another report that turned out to be quite relevant.
“…As you no doubt just heard, we’ve gained the support of The Crow Native Americans of Montana, and they have their own Myths and Legends that will be added to our roster. Other factions look like they will be joining, as well, and Mexico is offering some support, which is a good sign from their government. We’ve also learned more about this Type of Crystal.”
“Uh-huh. I’m following,” Rachel mumbled, shifting to see the Green Berets getting ready to make this their staging ground and coordinate with other teams around Miami. “So, you’re saying you should be able to handle the initial recon at least while we handle this vampire business? What’s the new info?”
“Haaa. We can never be too prepared,” he grumbled. “This is looking like it will be a battle royal type of conflict at a neutral site between multiple worlds. Surprisingly, Russia was the one who gave the rest of the world this information with the video and proof to back it up… It was hard on them, and it looks like the Anastasia Faction is gaining popularity from it. Still, I don’t like what Mei told you about this Power of Conquest that scared off a lot of the gods.”
“Understood,” she said with a forced chuckle, hearing Nia jumping over houses to reach the vehicle Scarlet was in. “You want my misfortune senses there to spot any big threats before they grow out of proportion and give us a gut feel of where to put our focus on. I hear you loud and clear, General.”
“Good.” Tom groaned and scratched his neck. “We should be able to have the field scoped and ready for when you arrive, if we can manage to swing you as reinforcements. You better be sure about this, Rachel, because if it doesn’t pay off, we might as well announce to the world that we can’t defend ourselves.
“As for what White told me about her agents… Red has a deep grudge against Dracula, so she may be emotionally compromised. She suspects the woman is looking for revenge after Black uncovered Selene’s whereabouts in Florida with a vampire attack that you confirmed.
“I’ll send over their files… They’re dangerous—both of them. Red was the one who eliminated the Seattle Vampire, and they’ve had an extensive assassination and spy history in Fable against US adversaries across the globe.”
“Got it. Thanks, General.”
Hanging up, she swapped to Barbara’s phone to give further instructions as Scarlet and Illa were guided into Cássia’s car. There was a lot to organize, and her blood was beginning to pump for action with the forces Nia was tracking; it was time to jump back into the field.
“Hey, Barb! I just got confirmation from General Dallas: we have a new mission objective.”
Hold on, Scarlet, the cavalry is coming.
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