Apotheosis, page 10
Janek’s eyes misted with emotion, and he found himself wishing he could volunteer to help her himself. He had to catch himself to avoid blurting an offer to stay and fight, as he knew that he was duty-bound to follow Ana’s orders alone. He looked toward Ana for her answer, willing her to agree to stay.
Ana’s face was set in a sardonic expression. As if suddenly drenched with cold water, Janek snapped out of the spell of the mesmerising cobra, and once again breathed an internal sigh of relief that Ana was the one in command of the squad. He marvelled at how quickly he had been hypnotised by Maia’s big, beautiful eyes and sensuous voice, and was impressed by Ana’s ability to think clearly despite being subjected to the same. The gloom of the forest at midnight was infinitely easier to navigate than a conversation with a Seducer or Manipulator.
“From the information you have shared, I agree that it appears that Chișinău is under threat, and that Chișinău furthermore forms the lynchpin in defending our interests here as well as the corridor to our new allies the Matoušek. We must defend it,” Ana confirmed. “However, the Matoušek are hard pressed by the von Runstedts, and we promised to deliver substantial matériel to them without delay. We cannot delay the convoy indefinitely while we wait for an attack that might not come until next year, nor can we send the convoy without strong protection, lest it be captured by a Karpati raid.”
The coven leader had abandoned her performative expression of anguish and was once again smiling a small smile of amusement, this time tempered by some small sourness of irritation that her wiles had not worked on Ana. “Your strategic discernment is impressive,” Maia declared. “Do you see any way we can achieve both objectives with the forces we have available to us?”
Ana paused to throw a glance at Tomaz. Janek wasn’t sure what silent question she had asked him, but they had been together for so long that he knew they shared an almost telepathic connection. Tomaz gave a short nod, his face stained with worry.
“Tomaz and I will stay here in the south, to take over the preparation of defences in Chișinău, while the rest of my squad will guard the convoy on its way north. We brought two more squads of less experienced vampires back with us, who were to guard the convoy with us, but they will have to come with me to Chișinău.” Ana gave Janek a brief but intent stare, before shifting it to Marianna and then Zsolt in turn. “You must not lose the convoy to our enemies.”
Janek shrugged slightly and then nodded. The three of them were being required to guard the same convoy that Ana had previously believed would require three entire squads to guard properly. He knew that he, Marianna and Zsolt were among the best soldiers the Ardisi had, but still he found himself fervently hoping that the Karpati were indeed focusing all of their attention on Chișinău, which would be under Ana’s supremely talented care, and that the appearance of Karpati military might nearby wasn’t merely an elaborate ruse to allow unimpeded access to Kyiv for their death squads. Even after the short and bloody war against the Yuskevites, Janek didn’t trust the inexperienced Ardisi vampire squads holding positions along the convoy route to be able to detect – let alone stop – a Karpati death squad led by someone like the feared commander Katalin Székely. He exchanged glances with Marianna, who shrugged an identical shrug. They would do whatever was necessary to make sure that the Ardisi promise to Ondřej Matoušek was kept.
Maia leaned back in her throne once again, relaxed and satisfied. “Thank you, Ana,” she smiled. After a brief pause, her expression became earnest. “Despite what you may think, my fear about the current Karpati threat was and is genuine. You know the art of war better than I, and I know that you will not underestimate the Karpati out of misplaced scorn for my attempt at persuasion, which is why I am overjoyed to place the forces of the Odesa and Chișinău covens under your command until the immediate Karpati threat has been neutralised. Nonetheless, I beseech you: prepare for the worst, and plan accordingly.”
Ana nodded. “I know that you only have the will of Tamar Ardisi in mind, Maia. Your methods may differ from my own, but I do not question your sincerity nor your analysis and ability.” She left unspoken the fact that as a coven leader, Maia Vachnadze outranked Ana in the Ardisi hierarchy by a significant margin, and so any questions that Ana might possibly have had would be of no consequence, in any case. “Have there been any sightings of tanks, artillery or other heavy matériel amongst the intel we’ve gathered? I assumed they would need all their big hardware at their northern border to repel attacks by the von Runstedt clan, but perhaps I am wrong,” she said.
“Our scouts have reported no such vehicles, and our analysts agree with your assessment,” Maia confirmed. “Of course, given that we have extremely limited intel about enemy movements in the north-west, our analysts may be wrong.”
Nodding, a thoughtful expression spread over Ana’s face. “Perhaps we could steal a vehicle from the convoy to aid us in our defence? Even a single tank should, combined with a squad of snipers, be able to hold off any assault from across the Prut River, simply by bombarding the few fords around the long-destroyed Leuseni-Albita bridge, should any brigade of human soldiers attempt to cross.” She paused. “Of course, guarding the tank from vampire squads who have crossed over the river in stealth will be difficult, but should be more manageable than defending the river crossing with small arms alone.”
Maia nodded her enthusiastic agreement. “I was going to suggest the same myself. The convoy currently includes a whole company of human soldiers equipped with rifles and some RPGs that you recently liberated from our friends the Karpati, as well as two T-84 main battle tanks, two BMP-2 infantry vehicles, two Kozak-2 4x4s, and two KrAZ-63221 fuel tanker trucks – one filled with diesel, and the other with aviation kerosene for the final element of the convoy: a Mil Mi-24 helicopter perched on top of a flatbed towed by a KrAZ-6446 truck,” she smiled conspiratorially.
Janek barely suppressed a gasp. Every military airfield had been bombed or destroyed within the first few years of the Upheaval, as first governments, then gangs, then the vampire clans had struggled to achieve air superiority. In the end, almost every military aircraft had been destroyed, along with any hangars and warehouses that might have once harboured spare parts to repair or rebuild one. The ability to move a squad of infiltrators far behind enemy lines or respond to threats with unmatchable swiftness afforded operational capability of the highest impact, so destroying planes and helicopters of enemy clans was always a high priority. This fact, combined with the relative abundance of surface-to-air missiles, had led to a situation where aircraft were rarer than unicorns, let alone high-tech military helicopters like the Mi-24. It was generally assumed that each of the major vampire houses had managed to save or acquire some aircraft, squirrelling them away to secret underground bunkers until they could be used in a decisive manner, but the fact that his House was sending one as a gift to the Matoušek was an enormous surprise to Janek. Even without the helicopter, the convoy was impressive, certainly accounting for the majority of the heavy military hardware controlled by the Ardisi in this region. Janek realised that Luka must have ordered Maia to send almost all her hardware to the Matoušek, with the expectation that she would – eventually – receive reinforcements from the south or the east across the sea. He also realised that by placing Ana in command of the armed forces and then acquiescing to Ana’s request to commandeer part of the convoy, Maia would be able to transfer any blame for that decision directly onto Ana should it cause negative repercussions, while benefiting from the wisdom of the decision should it achieve the desired outcome.
Ana’s face had resumed its sardonic cast, as she obviously did similar mental arithmetic and arrived at the same result. Whatever reservations Ana had, she responded, “Good. In that case, Tomaz will take one of the tanks to guard the river crossing between Leuseni and Albita, and I will take one of the BMP-2 vehicles to transport the two squads of vampires I brought back with me. I’ll take one platoon of human soldiers with us to Chișinău, also. The rest of the convoy will immediately head toward Minsk. I fervently hope that we are not spreading ourselves too thinly,” she finished, softly.
The convoy rolled toward Minsk as the sun began to set. The journey had been uneventful but tense, taking four whole days and three nights to cover the thousand-kilometre distance, delayed by several mechanical issues that had to be repaired on the fly, along with poor or destroyed roads. Finally they had arrived, and no Karpati had been seen, fortunately, but the Ardisi vampires who met them at the outskirts of the city had mentioned that there was some kind of trouble afoot, although they didn’t say precisely what; clearly they had been ordered to keep quiet until the leaders of the convoy had been properly debriefed. Janek could feel the oppressive tension in the air as the convoy made its way toward the command post the Matoušek had set up in the city. Once there, Janek, Marianna and Zsolt jumped out of the Kozak-2 they were driving and exchanged glances before heading toward the door of the command tent. Janek’s nostrils twitched as he sniffed: only the scent of Ardisi vampires and bonded human soldiers filled the air. He shared an alarmed glance with Marianna as they went inside. The tent was filled with the hum of computers and screens that flickered with situational information, along with military analysts, both human and vampire. To the left was a large map pinned to a wheeled corkboard, in front of which stood a young vampire and a grizzled human soldier awaiting their arrival: clearly the camp commanders.
“Welcome back to Minsk,” the young vampire said, snapping a crisp salute. The human soldier saluted similarly, his face grim.
Marianna impaled them both with a hard stare before ordering, “Tell us what has happened.”
The vampire gestured to the human to respond.
“Ma’am, the von Runstedts overran the Matoušek positions at Brest and Bialystok and swept northward,” he explained. “They smashed through Vilnius and Kaunas and have sent multiple squads to every coven of the Matoušek. The last word we had was that Ondřej Matoušek has retreated to Rundāle Palace with the last of his clan. He will most likely be dead by this time tomorrow.”
Zsolt hissed and Janek’s eyes widened in horror. All their effort and bloodshed would be for naught. Marianna, though, had caught some hint in the old general’s expression; there was more bad news to come. “What else?” she demanded.
The young vampire spoke up. “We radioed the information to Luka Sidamoni, and he ordered me to pass on his orders to you three: fly the helicopter to Rundāle Palace and bring Ondřej and any of his surviving clan members back to Minsk. Then turn the convoy back around for Odesa, collecting all our soldiers on the way back to Kyiv. We are to relinquish our positions north of Kyiv, maintaining control of the iron mines but otherwise leaving the Yuskevites and von Runstedts to each other’s devices.”
Marianna blinked, her eyes wide with shock, before turning toward Janek for advice, although she must have known that there was none he could give. The dagger that had been at the throat of the von Runstedts had been slapped down with nonchalant ease; death would take Ondřej Matoušek unless Janek and his companions could get there in time to save him. They all knew that their chances of returning without being shot out of the sky were infinitesimally small – but orders were orders. The fuel pods on the helicopter were full, and it was ready to go – ready to fly into the maw of the dragon.
TEN
Deus Ex Machina
The sound of gunfire hammered incessantly through the mansion. The screams of the dying filled the night, rising in crescendo before being chopped off with wet punctuation as fangs found throats. A von Runstedt Captain strode calmly down the blood-soaked carpet of the grand hall, flanked by soldiers. He was quite short, pristine in black leather embossed with silver griffins under a black coat, with blond, curling hair and striking blue eyes that set off his attractive, smiling face. He was no doubt a warrior of great power, but the intensity and charisma of his gaze suggested that the vampiric virus that infected him had several strong mutations for seduction in it too. Blood drizzled from the heart he held in his left hand, splashing and spotting his immaculately polished boots. Reaching the magnificent staircase at the end of the hall, he gestured upward to his minions with the hand holding the heart. The soldiers leapt up the stairs eagerly, already sweeping the corridors with fire from their MP5 submachine guns. The Captain waited patiently, a slightly bored expression on his smiling face. One of his soldiers caught a barrage of fire from the doorway of the main bedroom suite with his lungs and head, pushing him back over the railing to thump on the floor near his Captain, who looked vaguely irritated at having to move his coat out of the way of splashing brain matter. More von Runstedt soldiers reached the grand hall, and he waved them up the stairs with an imperious gesture.
Ondřej Matoušek waited in the far bedroom. He was surrounded by a small coterie: the surviving members of his House. Anton Horak, as implacable as ever, stood at the doorway, methodically killing any von Runstedt soldier who made it to the top of the stairs. The remnants of his squad were with him: Maksim Zarins and Anita Nemekova both sported light injuries, but Pekka Hämäläinen was no longer breathing, and Ondřej was certain he would never breathe again. The man had slain dozens of von Runstedt soldiers this night, as had the others; he well deserved his peaceful rest. Tomas Černý, his oldest friend, the fixer who had stood by his side through everything, lay gasping his last, bubbling breaths with a ruined chest – he would die within moments, overcome by his wounds. Sofija Balodis stood at Ondřej’s side, a silenced Beretta in her hand, and Eliska stood fingering the triggers of her twin Steyr TMPs with tears running down her alabaster cheeks in anguish over her sister’s death. They were all that remained of his once-mighty House. Ordinarily, Ondřej would have faced his fate with implacable fatalism, but this time he seethed with anger. It was the second time that he’d watched that vile Apollo of a von Runstedt, Otto von Manstein, desecrate the sanctity of his home and murder his children, and it seemed that this time, at least, Ondřej would not live beyond it. He was determined that Otto would not either. At the end, Ondřej decided, his fangs would wipe the incessant smile off that cherubic face.
A fresh cacophony of gunfire signalled a new wave of soldiers broaching the staircase. A bullet struck Anton’s shoulder, spinning him back and into the room. Maksim pulled the pin from a grenade and tossed it into the hall while Anita provided covering fire before flinging the door closed. All three stumbled back toward the posts of the bed, weapons facing the door, which suddenly shredded with gunfire and then shrapnel as the grenade exploded beyond. A strangely rhythmic throbbing sound suddenly rose over the cacophony as their hearing returned after the explosion.
Otto heard the unmistakable thump of a heavy oak door slamming shut, scarcely discernible above the roar of machine gun fire, followed by an explosion, and his smile widened. He started up the staircase himself, slowly pulsing the heart in his left hand like a grotesque stress ball. The fingers of his right hand were hooked into the mouth of the corpse from which the heart had come, which he dragged behind him as he ascended the stairs. He stepped slowly over the bodies of some dead soldiers, toward the now completely shredded door, as more soldiers streamed past him toward the bedroom. The smile on his face had grown impossibly rapturous.
The windows in the bedroom exploded inward as the Mi-24 helicopter unleashed ordinance from its gatling gun through them toward the doorway. Everyone else in the room and hallway beyond threw themselves down as 12.7 mm tracer rounds thundered through the opening. Two von Runstedt soldiers were caught in the stream of destruction as they attempted to lunge through the doorway, and their jerking bodies were held aloft for several seconds as eruptions of crimson mist exploded from them. The Mi-24 swung around, exposing the troop compartment’s open cabin door. Ondřej saw that Janek and Zsolt had braced themselves against either side of the door and were methodically laying down covering fire through the doorway at the far end of the room with their near-identical Turkish-made rifles. The pilot, Marianna, edged the massive helicopter as near to the mansion as she dared. Ondřej Matoušek and the remaining members of his House sprang to their feet and leapt into the waiting maw of the craft one by one. Ondřej was the last in, following Eliska, and both of them turned toward the door as the Mi-24 started to lift and spin slowly away from the shattered mansion. Small-arms fire pinged off the heavily armoured fuselage as Otto trudged into the room with vicious glee in his eyes and his morbid trophies in hand. Eliska stiffened as she recognised the body of her sister trailing from his hand, even ruined as it was by gunfire and flames, with a horrible, purple, gaping rent between her exposed, blood-smeared breasts. Otto grinned insanely as he lifted Adela’s heart to his mouth; as he bit deeply, the last remaining blood held in its cavities spilled down his chin and chest. The terrible vision disappeared as the Mi-24 completed its swaying spin away from the mansion, but the image was apparently too much for Eliska. She screamed in anguish and hate, head thrown back in agony, before suddenly leaping out of the still-open cabin door and falling swiftly to the ground, already some distance from the mansion.
“No!” Ondřej shouted helplessly after her, knowing full well how unlikely she was to survive. There were still upward of twenty-five von Runstedt soldiers swarming through that mansion or nearby, not to mention Otto himself. On the other hand, he wasn’t sure just how much she wanted to survive.
