All of these were armed to the teeth, too; I saw weapons of all kinds, as well as armored vehicles (somebody had raided the army, looked like). And the humans? They'd all been given a little extra. I smelled vampire blood taint on all of them. Xenides had a disposable army of humans around him—they would all die—if not tonight then soon, from a terrible disease with no ready cure.
Lissa, take us to that hill toward the north. Merrill's mindspeech came through loud and clear when I hesitated over the battle in the ballroom below. We will decide there what to do about this attack, he added. Well, if we lived over this, Merrill and I might have a little chat. I'd tried to reach him before with mindspeech, and as he hadn't responded, I didn't think he could. Seems he had it all along, he'd just ignored me. There wasn't time to be more furious than I already was with him; there was a job to do and Xenides had stacked the deck in his favor.
Surprisingly enough, not a peep came from any Council member when I set them down on the designated hill. Located half a mile from the chateau, it was still within hearing distance as Xenides' army fought the Aristocracy and pounded away at the building; nearly half of it had been destroyed in their initial assault. Screams filled the air—if anyone attempted to escape, they were taken down swiftly. Xenides' army was herding all vampires toward the ballroom; two outside walls were completely down and the room was visible to all of us from our hilltop perch. Wlodek cursed.
"We are formidable, but even our strength is no match for that many," Oluwa muttered. He was right—at least two thousand lay siege against the chateau.
"Agreed," Montrose sighed. "We might take out the perimeter, but we will perish if we attempt to make our way past that."
"We don't have enough here to properly surround them, or to fight our way out if Lissa returns us to the chateau," Flavio pointed out.
"And we still have no guarantee that Xenides is among them," Susila added. I jerked toward her—that statement frightened me. We all stood there, atop a grassy hillside, dressed for a ball while humans and vampires died below us. A horrified giggle threatened at the incongruity of the situation, even as my mind operated on another level, desperately searching for a solution to this problem.
"The humans have all been given vampire blood," I muttered. "What will that do for them?" I turned my eyes toward Wlodek. I wasn't speaking to Merrill.
"They will have enhanced strength—for perhaps half an hour. It depends upon how fresh the blood was when it was given," Wlodek growled. Great. Just what we needed—an army of super-strong humans.
"Honored One, command us," Montrose said softly, bowing slightly to Wlodek.
"We cannot leave the others like this—I choose to die with them, if that is to be their fate," Wlodek stripped off his jacket and let it fall to the ground. Radomir, Montrose and Flavio followed his example quickly.
"Wait," I held up a hand. "I have an idea." Would they listen to me? I was about to find out.
"What do you have, cara?" Gavin hadn't said a word until now.
"Gavin, how much of my blood did you take before, when we were checking to see if you had my talents after drinking from me?"
"No more than a mouthful, cara." Gavin's eyebrows were lifting. He knew where I was going with this.
"His temporary talents lasted an hour," I said. "All of you, take a little of my blood. That will allow you to hold every talent I do, for an hour." I searched every face there—they were blinking at me in shock. Wlodek hadn't been forthcoming, looked like. Merrill might have plenty of compulsion to lay after this was over. If we survived, that is. "You'll be able to mist instantly, and only have your hands materialize," I began. "I suggest you fly through the army as mist, with only your hands and claws visible. Do a sweep and take heads. Bullets and bombs will go right through your mist." I watched all of them—Susila's eyes held interest and Oluwa's now held a bit of hope.
"You'll have mindspeech, too, so use it if you need it. Let the others know if you need help," I went on. "Fly swiftly. Cut quickly. Leave the dying behind you. If it is needed, gather friends away inside your mist. We can do this," I said.
"Lissa, this may weaken you," Merrill pointed out the obvious.
"I'll take that chance," I jerked my head, acknowledging his words. "Charles," Charles's head snapped up at the mention of his name, "will you gather up the human companions and take them to safety? You can gather them inside your mist and bring them here," I suggested. Charles nodded at me, his eyes wide. He hadn't thought to be included in the onslaught, and he appreciated being included. "Gavin, make sure they only take what they should," I said, preparing to be bitten.
"Come. We will do this," Wlodek stepped forward. He was the first to take my blood.
* * *
"What is that?" Xenides' spy trembled as he watched his new master. Xenides held a small vial in his hands and worked to remove the cap.
"The last of its kind, until we capture our little princess," Xenides drank the contents of the vial quickly. He'd swallowed both doses of Lissa's blood and had perhaps an hour to search her out while his army worked to contain the others. They would all die—Xenides wanted that more than anything. He smiled grimly at his latest conscript before turning to mist and flying away.
* * *
I could see them all as we flew rapidly toward the chateau—a sea of attackers surged forward as they continued to bombard the building with rifles, rockets and bombs. I was terrified that none inside the ballroom might survive as we prepared for our attack. Wlodek suggested we stay close together and destroy the attackers in swaths. I didn't care; I just wanted all of them dead. Russell was still inside the chateau, as was Will, Stephan, Brock and many others. And it infuriated me that human men and women were being targeted, when they had no defense against those coming against them. Yes, some of the human companions were males, and there wasn't any way they could fight off vampires, Dark Elemaiya or enhanced humans armed with rifles or rocket launchers. I hoped Charles reached them soon; I continued to hear screams emanating from the chateau.
Following Wlodek's suggestion, we descended upon the occupying army like a bomber squadron. Wlodek flew in the center, his mist a shining silver, Merrill to his right, Flavio and Radomir to his left. Gavin and I flew next to Merrill, with the others spread out on either side. Claws formed swiftly as we approached, and a hundred-foot swath of the enemy died in that first sweep alone.