Chapter 38

Aunt Cass looked pissed. In Jo’s experience, her expression was never particularly friendly. She always wore a scowl on her face, as if it had been part of the Vampire curse that had afflicted her when she was a teenager. But when she got out of the passenger side of the vehicle and started walking through the snow to join Jo and the rest of the team, Brandon and the others who had gone along with Cass to see Eliza also filing out of the SUV, Cassidy looked like she was ready to explode someone’s head.
“Where the hell are we?” Cassidy asked, looking around. “I thought the X was in a mountain. We’re in the middle of a fucking forest.”
“The X is that way,” Jo said, thumbing over her shoulder. “I didn’t think we should get together right in front of the place we’ll be raiding in a few hours.”
Cassidy didn’t argue, as if that explanation was good enough for her. She was clearly upset at having failed in her mission. She didn’t like to fail. No one in their family did.
Brandon looked relieved. Jo imagined he was happy to have someone else for his wife to take her anger out on. A glance at Lucy and Scott let her know the two of them were happy to see other faces as well. Lucy headed straight for Emma, who had her arms open in anticipation.
Scott headed over toward Cadon, not even looking in Jo’s direction. Her brother was sitting at a campfire with several other members of the team, mostly male, exchanging stories. Jo was content to let them be until Cass’s team got back. Now, the real work would need to begin. This raid wouldn’t be like the last one. This time, they’d be expected.
“Well, we’re glad you’re back,” she said, forcing a smile. Cassidy raised an eyebrow, as if she didn’t buy it. She was right to be skeptical. Jo wasn’t good at sounding like she was enthusiastic when she was really just trying her best to say things leaders were supposed to say. She was too cynical to be able to pull it off.
“What’s the plan?” Brandon asked, sounding slightly more fervent than was necessary. “We going in tonight?”
“Yeah, may as well. They know we’re coming. Why not get in there before they have too much of a chance to get a plan in place?”
“Probably too late for that.” Brandon sounded a little bit too much like his dad with that comment, biting off her eagerness. “But we still need to get in there and find out what we can from this location.”
“I hate that I can’t get into their heads.” Cassidy crossed her arms. “It’s like… having a gun with no bullets.”
“I wish you could read their minds, too,” Jo admitted. Everyone else was over by the campfire now. They didn’t need the warmth or the light, but a few of the girls had thought it would be fun to roast marshmallows, so they’d decided to build a fire. And Ryker could’ve used it. Except he was inside one of the tents, still angry that he’d been forced to come. Jo had thought long and hard about her decision. She probably should’ve left him behind, but the fact that he didn’t want to come made her even more determined to make sure that he went along with them. She’d have to leave a couple of Guardians behind when they went into the cave to make sure nothing snuck up on him from the forest, which sucked, but seeing him so pissed off would make it worth losing a couple of her numbers.
Jo led the way over to the fire, not exactly sure how to stop the idle chatter and get them ready to talk about the upcoming hunt. Whether it was luck or the fact that they were all ready to get into the fray, as soon as she found a spot next to Mikali and sank down onto one of the logs they’d gathered as seats, everyone went quiet, their attention focused on her.
Taking a deep breath, Jo said, “Okay. Unlike our last hunt, there’s a good chance these Vampires know we’re coming.”
“Could that be because you sent one off to tell them we were?” Cadon snorted as he spoke, but no one laughed.
“Possibly. They would’ve known anyway. Just because Cass can’t pick up on their thoughts at the moment, that doesn’t mean they aren’t using telepathy to communicate. Chances are, there were some signals sent out before the last group was killed off.”
“That’s a good point,” Brandon chimed in. Whether it hadn’t occurred to him before, or he was just trying to ease the tension, she appreciated his vote of confidence.
Jo gave him a nod of thanks and then went on. “We can’t assume that they’ll only be covering the front entryway. There are a ton of rocks and trees around the cave opening, as you can see in the Google Earth images I sent you earlier.” Google Earth was no longer operating, thanks to President Crimson shutting down most of the larger industries in the US, but they still had archives, and she’d been able to find a fairly clear picture of the exact location, according to the coordinates, from overhead. While it didn’t tell them exactly where the opening was from the perspective they’d have moving in, at least they could see how well it blended with the surrounding landscape. “It’ll be a lot harder to make entry this time than last time.”
“Do we have any special weapons to blast our way in?” Scott wanted to know.
Jo nodded. “We have several silver nitrate grenades. We’ll use three or four of those to toss into the entry once we are close enough to do so. Hopefully, that will create enough of an opening that we can pour in before they can recover, but since we’ll have no idea what sort of defenses they’ll have inside, other than what we can see with our X-ray vision, which isn’t always clear, we’ll have to act quickly. For all we know, there are layers of protection in there, and since we don’t have any idea how many Vampires we’re facing, we’ll have to assume any that we blow out with the silver nitrate will be replaced almost immediately.”
“Sounds fun,” Leo muttered under his breath.
Ignoring him, Jo continued, shifting her weight from one boot to the other as smoke from the campfire blew into her face. She didn’t feel like moving to the other side. “We’re going to forego the tradition of Hunters being the primary attackers under these circumstances. I want a fresh wall of Guardians going in first, since the Vampires have no weapons that can take them out. Hunters will follow, with Healers at the rear. That way, we’ll still have some Guardians batting clean-up, but we aren’t sending our Hunters in there to get shot up without anyone to keep them safe. Does that make sense to everyone?”
Nods all around the circle let her know she’d made herself clear. Jo took her time looking at each of them, meeting their eyes. From the old pros like Mikali and Mila to newbies like Ping and Sun, every one of them looked determined, ready to go in there and meet their opponents head on. She just hoped that enthusiasm held and the numbers they were fighting were not overwhelming. A sensation in the pit of her stomach told her this wouldn’t be easy, and she had to assume it was because she had no idea of the opposing force, no clear picture of what lay beyond the cave entryway, and no idea how many snipers they might have on the mountainside.
But that wasn’t all. There was something else bothering her, something she couldn’t quite put her finger on. In times like this, it would’ve been great to have her parents there, especially her dad. He could puzzle through anything so much faster than anyone else. He’d know exactly what it was that had her worried without even needing to think about it.
He wasn’t there, though. It was just her in charge. Jo shook it off and went about giving assignments. It was pretty cut and dry. The Guardians would lead, Hunters would come in next, and anyone with any Healing power would stay in the rear, which was mainly Scott and Cale. Simple enough. She made sure the silver nitrate grenades she had available were handed off to people who would know how to use them, keeping one for herself just in case she needed it, and then headed out.
At the last minute, she’d decided to pull Ryker’s guards. He was in the tent, not sleeping. She stuck her head in to give him the news. “You’re expected to be here when we get back,” she said with as much authority as she could gather. “If you decide to leave, there’s a good chance a Vampire will get you. If they don’t, well, you already know you can’t hide from us. So… don’t do anything stupid.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be here. There’s enough stupid going on right now, I don’t need to contribute.”
Jo was bent over talking to him, and he had leaned up on one elbow to meet her eyes. It was uncomfortable to stare at him in such a position, and she just wanted to leave, but she had to ask, “You think what we’re doing is stupid?”
“No. I think what you’re doing is suicidal. I think what you’re ordering them to do is stupid. Maybe you don’t see a difference, but you will. Good luck, kid.”
Her mouth dropped open as he fell back onto the sleeping bag. No words formed. What was the point? Why would she care what he had to say anyway? More angry than she’d been in a long time, and hell bent on proving him wrong, Jo pulled her head out, zipped the tent, and went off to find some Vampires to desecrate.