Veronica sat on a ledge on the mountain that she and Eliza often climbed together, but at the moment she was alone. Things had gotten scary for her . . . scarier than they had ever been. And she had been in some bad situations, the most recent of which was being captured and tortured to within an inch of her life, only to be saved at the last moment by her half-dead lover and a Living Jewel. Kelik had used The Alchemist’s Dream to mystically combine the two women, allowing them to share each other’s strengths and minimizing their weaknesses until both women “evolved” into new life-forms entirely. They called themselves Hybrids, and they were faster, stronger and more efficient than either humans or vampires. Veronica had been human once. Eliza had been a vampire. Now, both women had only one other person like them in the world, and that had been enough.
But while her body had changed, she found that her loyalties had remained stubbornly consistent. A month earlier, they had recovered The Dragon’s Breath, a Living Gem that was supposed to allow them to open a dimensional bridge back to Terra and reunite the two worlds that had been separated by the radical pro-human group known as the Purity. But the Purity had launched a fevered and almost desperate attack on the U. S. military base known as Fort Crass to steal some of the Living Gems, particularly The Dead Man’s World, which was supposed to be able to be used in the casting of doomsday magic. And in the process, they had killed the venerated and respected Ambassador Kelik. The same vampire who had saved the lives of Veronica and Eliza . . . Veronica’s friend and Eliza’s mentor. Eliza and her normal nemesis Valar had sent out messages to all the Terrans remaining on Earth, letting them know what happened and calling them to arms.
Eliza was bound and determined to declare a Radotanida, or a Blood War, on the Purity. It was a feud that required the total annihilation of your enemies . . . until every last drop of blood they had was spilled on the ground. Veronica knew her lover had almost completely snapped. She had been attacked, her lover tortured with Eliza sharing the pain, her friend and comrade Wyrm had been disfigured and was missing an arm, and one of her truest friends had been killed by the Purity just because he was Terran. Her heart was coated in hatred, and Veronica could feel the vileness beating within the chest of the woman she loved.
But the World Council and United States government, once they learned of what Eliza was planning, refused to condone it and were in the process of making sure it didn’t happen. They refused to help contact or move Terrans who wished to participate in the war. They warned Eliza against taking any type of independent military action. They refused to allow Eliza or Valar back into Fort Crass until they called everything off. They warned and screamed and threatened until their faces turned blue. Eliza didn’t care. But Veronica did. She felt her lover’s anger and even understood it, but she had lived her life by a set of rules. What Eliza was proposing was effectively genocide, even if the Purity tried to surrender. And Veronica couldn’t condone that, however justified Eliza felt. She had tried to reason with her lover, but Eliza would have none of it. And as a direct result of her conflict with the government, she had refused to yield possession of The Dragon’s Breath.
Due to government interference, the number of people who had made their way to Eliza’s compound numbered only about a hundred, but they were a scary hundred or so. Everyone who had arrived had military training or combat experience. There were sixty vampires, twelve lycanthropes (In earth legend, these were known as werewolves, werebears, etc.), fifteen gargoyles, ten succubae, and six trolls, not including Thug. It was this last group that scared even their own allies.
Veronica had gotten to know Thug reasonably well in the last year, and had grown to respect his power and his mind. She had seen that particular troll beat up a state-of-the-art attack helicopter by himself. But trolls were normally solitary, and the only time you saw more than one at a time was when they met to mate (trolls had the capacity to be both male and female, so it was not uncommon for both creatures to be pregnant after such an encounter). Neither the information contained in the Arcanum or the history in Valar’s brain had ANY recollection of this many trolls coming together to make war. Actually, there was no precedent for trolls going to war at all, and Veronica was somewhat terrified of what the seven-to-ten-foot, half-ton-plus regenerating trolls would be able to do as a single fighting unit.
She smelled the air and could tell that someone familiar was approached.
“Hello Allyson,” she said, trying to take comfort in the warmth of the setting sun.
“I thought I’d find you here,” the human woman said. Allyson and Dennis Murgo were members of Eliza’s security team. They had all worked together for years before the recent unpleasantness, and they also felt their loyalties being tugged in opposite directions. They had liked Kelik, and they were boiling under the skin at the thought of what had been done to their friend Wyrm, who was still breathing through a tube while being outfitted with a state-of-the-art prosthetic arm. They wanted revenge, but they weren’t sure if they were ready for the total annihilation of a group, particularly if it involved violating as many international treaties and conventions as Eliza intended.
“So, is this as awkward for you as it is for me?”
Allyson sat down next the former-human and wrapped her arms around her knees, looking thoughtfully towards the sunset. “I’m sorry Veronica. I’m sorry you have to go through this. But Dennis and I made our decision. We’re staying with Eliza.”
“I couldn’t imagine you not at her side,” Veronica said.
“I could say the same for you. Maybe she’ll come to her senses . . .”
Veronica let out a nervous laugh. “Sense has got nothing to do with this anymore. An army barely more than a hundred strong may very well be the scariest force I’ve ever seen. They’re certainly strong enough to take the Purity in a straight fight, but they’ll polarize the planet if they commit the type of violence that they’re threatening, and they don’t stand a chance against the World Council. Eliza may be able to create the social divide that the Purity have been hoping for, but she’s so . . . God, and I want to fight with her!” Veronica said exasperatedly. “I feel her rage every second I’m awake! I understand exactly why she feels the way she does, but somehow I’m supposed to stop her!”
“Right now, the only thing that’s stopping her from moving is that over half the group down there doesn’t feel they should follow a lesbian half-breed. No offense. Valar is actually trying to get them to unite behind Eliza, but the rest of the vampires want to follow him instead. The lycanthropes don’t care as long as they get to bite someone, the succubae are torn between Valar and Eliza, and the trolls . . . well, no one is sure. I think they prefer Eliza. That’s her big trump card . . . those fuckin’ trolls.”
“But regardless of who they follow, they’re planning on a massacre of biblical proportions,” Veronica stated. “And the World Council won’t allow that! She has every reason to hate them! You all do! So how do I justify telling her not to go through with this?”
“I know it’s wrong. But Eliza and Wyrm . . . they’re our teammates. They’re our friends and they’re the closest things to family that Dennis or I have. One is barely hanging on and the other has been hurt by these fuckers so many times . . .” Allyson stopped. The woman she was talking to knew all to well what kind of damage the enemy was capable of inflicting. “I’m sorry . . . I didn’t mean . . .”
“Don’t worry,” Veronica said. “I survived it. Now I have to survive this. Sometimes, surviving sucks.” Veronica raised her head, almost as if she was listening to the wind. “She’s coming,” Veronica said, her voice subdued. “She wants to talk to me.”
Most of the time, Allyson thought the telepathic connection the two women shared was cool. But sometimes, it was just creepy. “Should I leave?”
“That’s probably a good idea. Thanks for the talk though,” Veronica said. She watched Allyson disappear back down the mountain. As soon as the woman was out of sight, Veronica sensed someone standing just behind her and could feel hot breath on her neck. “How much did you hear?” she asked.
“All of it. You aren’t talking to me, so I find eavesdropping to somewhat effective.” Eliza sat down in the spot Allyson had recently vacated.
“And you stayed downwind so I couldn’t smell you. You’re still better at this than I am.” Veronica sighed. “It’s not too late to stop this, you know.”