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Best-case scenario, people had managed to force their way out of the cars early, before the gang had set up shop. If they’d gotten above ground and escaped, my worry was for nothing.
I could imagine few things in the world worse than being trapped in a subway car. And that was saying something considering the depth and breadth of my imagination.
I realized Holden and I hadn’t even done any recon on our target. We’d confirm there was a necromancer in the building we scouted, but we’d gotten so distracted we forgot to see how protected he was.
I wanted to blame all that on Morgan, but I also had to take our impromptu make-out session into consideration.
At least we’d found one of them, though.
Morgan hopped up onto one of the check-in desks and set her duffel bag beside her. She kicked her feet out cheekily like a bored schoolgirl. The only things missing were some pigtails and snapping pink bubble gum and the effect would be complete.
“Lucas isn’t going to be happy about this,” Bradley commented, speaking about Morgan like she wasn’t there.
That was how banishments worked in werewolf society. Once a member of the pack was exiled, the wolf was effectively dead to the pack. I suspected if Morgan spoke directly to Bradley, he would do his best to pretend he couldn’t hear her. It was going to make things both comical and depressing when the rest of the pack returned.
What was she thinking, coming back? If she tried to ask for solace from any of the other three kings, she’d have a better chance being welcomed. Though most would have turned her away out of respect to Lucas, she might at least have been treated like she was alive. Coming here was the absolute worst choice she could have made.
Not only would the pack not receive her with open arms, she’d also defied Lucas’s banishment order. At the time he’d considered it a kindness to send her away rather than kill her. Perhaps this time around he wouldn’t be so nice.
“There’s not a lot to be happy about right now,” I reminded the wolf.
Bradley gritted his teeth, clearly wanting to argue more about this but not able to disagree with me since I was his queen.
For the time being, Morgan was out of the way and not being a pest. If things changed and she ceased to be helpful—or proved to be a liar again—I’d have no problem putting her down myself. At least I’d be rid of her once and for all. My determination not to let any of the bad guys walk away would extend to her if she crossed me.
The old, gentle Secret was gone. I had often tended to look for ways to let people go. I made sure if it was possible for them to live, they did. Even those I should have killed when the opportunity presented itself had somehow gone on to see another day.
I’d learned my lesson, though.
If it seemed like someone shouldn’t go on breathing, they probably shouldn’t. And I would be all too happy to extend that courtesy to Morgan. But for now I was saving my bullets.
It took a couple hours for everyone to return, but eventually the lobby was full and rowdy with noise as people discussed everything they’d encountered and seen during their treks through the city. We had pinpointed all but one of the necromancers, which to me was a victory. If we were able to kill twenty of the twenty-one remaining necros, the final one wouldn’t be able to hold the spell all by himself. Once the bodies had fallen, it would be a simple matter of hunting him down and dispatching him once and for all.
“We leave the bar until last,” I said. “It has the highest concentration of them, and we’ll need everyone on hand. But we need to remember that as we kill these pricks, the others are going to figure out what’s going on. I don’t know how their magic works, but I know they’re working together, so when one goes down, the others are picking up the slack. They might not have noticed it when I killed the first one, but they’ll definitely figure out something is up when a dozen or more are dead. We have to strike all at once if we can, otherwise we give them the opportunity to get away.”
Most people nodded their agreement, while others waited for me to go on, already looking worn down and exhausted from the events of the night.
“We’re going to split up into four-person teams. At least two vampires and no more than one human per team.”
“Offensive,” Cedes interjected, but she was smirking, making it obvious she was pulling my leg. A little levity was a nice change from the gloom and doom hanging over everyone else.
“Who’d you rather go with? Tyler or that guy?” I pointed to a huge vampire sentry we’d enlisted. He was at least a head taller than all the others around him, and wore an expression of steely anger.
Cedes chuckled and let me go on.
“I want everyone to understand how serious what we’re about to do is. We are going into a fight against some very, very powerful people, and they will be expecting everything we might throw at them. I don’t know what other kind of magic they have. I do know some of their guards will be the risen, so try not to focus too much energy on the hired muscle. Some of it will go down once you’ve killed the necro. The rest seem to have been trained to commit suicide to evade capture, so things get significantly easier once the main necromancer goes down. Work together as a team. Trust the people you’re with.” I paced the room, radiating nervous energy, needing to hear these words myself as much as the others did. “There is no guarantee of safety. When you leave here, you might not come back. If you want out, this is your last chance to say so. I won’t hold it against you.”
Some of them glanced around to see if anyone else was volunteering, but no one budged an inch. They were serious and focused, and though none seemed pleased by the situation at hand, they also didn’t show any signs of running away.
“You all know what you have to do. We can’t coordinate a signal, so I want everyone to head to their targets. Ninety minutes should be enough time to get in place.” Checking the clock on the lobby wall, I added the appropriate amount of time. “At eleven thirty, we attack. Make sure at least one person on every team has a watch, and set them to lobby time, okay?”
A chorus of grim okays came back at me.
“Good luck.”
We were going to need it.
Being the coordinator of this whole shebang gave me the added benefit of selecting my own team. I didn’t want to bogart all the brains and muscle, but I did want to keep the people I cared about close to me.
