Luke and Delilah followed their lupine friends into the cornfield, letting them range ahead, using their superior wolfy senses to take the lead in scouting, although Luke paid firm attention to his vamp senses. A cornfield was a good place to hide and sneak, but it was a double-edged sword. Using the machete, he continued knocking down periodic patches along the line they traversed.
Moving at a quick and steady pace, Luke and Delilah kept their faces down and their hoods up to prevent the stiff corn leaves from slapping their faces. When they reached the end of their row, the wolves were waiting for him, sitting neatly side by side, two facing out toward the hill, one looking back down the row to keep an eye on their humans.
Luke popped his head out of the corn to investigate the situation. A gentle breeze blew into his face. Delilah, moving up next to him, bumped him with her elbow and pointed over her shoulder to her backpack. Nodding, Luke unzipped the front pocket quietly and pulled out a set of night vision binoculars. He slowly scanned along the edge of the cornfield looking for any movement then down the other edge, sweeping out over the clearing between them and the hill. When he turned the binoculars toward the top of the hill, he saw movement and the heat signature of a vampire—lower than a human but slightly warmer than the ambient air. He watched for several seconds as the vampire patrolled around the lion statue on its plinth. He counted off several rotations of the vampire walking the circuit.
“Wolves, when I say go, sprint into that little grove of trees. The wind is in our favor, so we just have to avoid being seen. Once you’re across, we’ll follow,” Luke whispered.
The wolves nodded. Luke, looking back at the top of the hill, found his patrol, and waited until he turned so his back was toward them.
“Go!”
The wolves took off, bunching their muscles and stretching out, their paws eating up the open ground between the edge of the cornfield and the grove. Luke, holding his breath, let the air hiss between his clenched teeth as soon as the last tail disappeared into the shadows of the leafy trees.
He made eye contact with Delilah. “Alright, Dee, you ready?”
“Yeah.” She reached down and cinched the straps on the backpack so they were tighter.
“Go!”
Together, they darted out of the cover of the corn and dashed across the grassy strip, their arms pumping as they poured as much speed into their legs as they could without risking tripping. As soon as Luke drew near the tree line, he slowed so he wouldn’t slam into an unseen tree trunk hidden in the darkness, coming to a stop just inside the tree line. His lungs heaved in and out for air, as he turned and watched Delilah close the last few yards into the grove.
Once he caught his breath, he worked his way toward the bottom of the hill. Peeking out from behind a tree trunk, he watched the top, making sure they’d made it in unnoticed. So far, the vampire showed no signs of noticing the intruders as he maintained his steady circuit around the top of the hill. The next part, however, was going to be tricky.
The hill had no bushes, just grass. It might be tall enough to conceal a wolf crawling on their belly. He stepped back into the trees a few yards to provide some additional wood between him and the outside world. He gathered the wolves, then squatted down in front of them, going nose to snoot.
“Can you sneak up the backside of this hill without getting caught? Once you get to the top, you’ll need to take the patrol down on the backside of the plinth out of sight of the museum and restaurant below.”
The three wolves looked at each other. Pablo gave a quick nod, then led his wolves to the edge of the grove. Forming a line, they worked their way through the trees until they reached the end of the grove. Then, one by one, they crawled on their bellies up the hill. They kept their timing tight, flattening themselves when the patrol walked around the back of the plinth.
Luke’s eyes grew dry trying to keep them open so he wouldn’t miss a thing, eventually blinking to wet them and start over. He listened for any sound that might indicate someone was approaching or that one of the wolves had laid a paw in the wrong spot. The only sound was the beating of his own heart and the soft inhale and exhale of him and Delilah breathing.
He startled when Delilah’s hand slipped into his, gripping tight as they watched their friends approach the crown of the hill. Delilah squeezed even tighter when the wolves stopped just below the platform and its surrounding guardrails. Pablo, still in the lead, flattened out. As soon as the vampire at the top made his turn to head back around the front, Pablo transformed into his bipedal form. Grabbing the top of the handrail, he vaulted over and pushed his back against the side of the plinth just around the corner.
“Almost,” Luke whispered, squeezing Delilah’s hand.
They held their breath when the vampire came into sight around the back. Once the vamp turned the corner, Pablo reached out and covered the fanger’s mouth with his massive paw, secured the vampire’s head, and wrenched it off. Both he and Delilah twitched, their brains filling in the sound they’d heard so many times while hunting with Pablo. The body slumped to the ground.
“Let’s go.” Luke tugged Delilah’s hand, leading her to the end of the grove. “Slow and steady. You don’t want to slide back down.”
Luke let go of Delilah’s hand, then started up the hill, leaning forward and using his hands to keep his balance. As his feet slipped and he caught himself, he wished he had four legs and claws to aid his climbing. When he looked up, taking a moment to catch his breath, he saw Pablo in his human form patrolling around the plinth. He’d stripped the body of its jacket and pants, but was still barefoot and shirtless. He carried some sort of assault rifle; Luke couldn’t quite tell what it was.
When they reached the crown, Sam and Simone were still in wolf form, laying on their bellies in the grass. Luke crawled over the rails and hid in the back shadow of the plinth. He pulled out his phone and checked the time—eleven thirty. When Pablo made his next circuit, he smiled and handed the gun off to Luke. It was another Steyr SSG 69 sniper rifle like the one taken from the vampires during the freighter campaign. It made sense; the top of the hill was a prime sniper nest commanding the territory all around.
On the front side of the hill, Luke could see the roof of the restaurant and museum as well as the stairs and path leading down. Most of the parking area was blocked off in the shadow of the buildings. The large parking lot to his right buzzed with activity. Several cars were parked with their headlights shining toward the center of the lot. In the middle, surrounded by people who could be vampires or werewolves in human form, was a man tied to a chair, his legs and ankles bound with heavy chains. They’d wound ropes around his body and legs to keep him immobile. He had a bag over his head. It had to be Pieter van den Bergh, Pieter and Jan’s father and the packleader of Belgium and southern Netherlands.
When Luke circled back around, he stopped briefly. “If you want to come around front, you can watch, just stay low. There’s a lip that should cover you, but they won’t be able to see you with what’s going on.” He then continued around.
When he marched back around again, Delilah, sitting on the ledge on the back, raised her hand to stop Luke. “Hand me the binoculars next time you come around and I’ll keep watch. I don’t feel like crawling around front.”
Luke nodded and continued around, handing her the binoculars on his next circuit. When the calls went around asking for check ins, he made the check in for the south check point then changed his voice somewhat for the butte check in when it was called. So far, no one seemed to notice that two of the check ins were one person who wasn’t either of their vampires.
“Everything is under control. Situation normal,” Delilah mumbled.
Pablo chuffed quietly.
At five minutes to midnight, several cars pulled onto the Route du Lion. When Luke made his next trip around back, he let Delilah know the Flanders Pack had arrived.
The earpiece crackled, “Sniper, into position,” then went silent.
Luke walked around front and propped the rifle against the railing. The scope was already dialed in. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the radio connected to Pieter and set it down on the ground next to him. A moment later, it crackled to life.
“Luke. I’m here. I’ll be going silent in a moment,” Pieter said.
Luke picked up the radio. “We’re in place on top of the hill.”
“Understood, out,” Pieter replied.
Luke turned the radio down to a level he could still listen to but wouldn’t interfere with anything he might need to hear over the vampire’s earpiece. The Flanders Pack parked. A wolf Luke recognized as Jan stepped out along with four others Luke assumed were werewolves and had the bearing of bodyguards. Two of them flanked Jan, while the other two stood to the side. When Pieter stepped out of the rental, he walked between the other two, taking up position next to Jan.
Three men stepped out from the line of people opposite Jan and Pieter. They took up a position leaving the bound packleader in between the two groups.
“We’re here, vampire, as we agreed,” Jan said, his voice slightly muffled from the inside of Pieter’s pocket.
“Welcome, Jan, Pieter.” One of the men nodded at the two werewolves, stepping forward.
“Before we go any further, we need to make sure he’s alive,” Jan said.
The vampire’s spokesman stepped forward and pulled the bag from the prisoner’s head. With the light blaring around, the man rocked his head around. When he rolled his head to the side facing Luke, he was able to see who it was. Luke had hoped it was a fake, but it wasn’t; it was Pieter van den Bergh—the man who in his first life had been Pieter Bruegel the Elder.
“It’s him,” Luke whispered.
“Father!” Pieter called, taking a step forward.
“No, stay back.” Jan held his arm out, catching Pieter’s arm.
“Are you satisfied?” the spokesvamp said.
“I am.” Jan shifted his feet, moving his weight back and forth.
“Make the call,” the vamp’s representative said.
Jan turned toward their line of cars and yelled, “Send the evacuation order!”
“Yes, sir,” a voice yelled back.
“The evacuation order has been issued. Our armed forces will be out of Brussels before sunrise. We’ll have all families moved out by the end of the week,” Jan said.
“And the rest of the Walloon cities?” the spokesvamp asked.
“You’ve killed most all of them,” Pieter spat out. “The rest are out. You’ve got what you want. Now let my father go.”
“I’m sorry; this deal was not brokered with you.” The fanger turned to Jan. “Shut him up, or we will.”
Jan gestured with his head toward Pieter, while keeping his eyes on the vampire. The musclebound guys behind Pieter stepped forward and seized his arms, pulling him back.
“What? Jan? What’s going on here?” Pieter struggled against them, pulling forward. “What have you done, Jan?!”
“Shut him up,” Jan said.
One of bodyguards behind Pieter pulled out a pistol from his jacket and flipped it around so he held the barrel. He stepped behind the two men straining to hold Pieter back and brought the butt of the pistol down on the back of Pieter’s head. Luke winced at the sound of metal on skull translated through the radio in Pieter’s pocket. It didn’t knock him all the way out, but it got him to stop talking and struggling as he went limp in the two men’s arms.
“Fuck…” Luke whispered. “Pablo, get me all the magazines from that vampire. We’re going to need them.”
Pablo, in wolf form, crawled around behind the plinth. A moment later, he crawled back in his human form, pulling the jacket with him, in it, he’d laid out five more five round magazines. Luke had thirty rounds to work with. He was by no stretch of the imagination a sniper, but he could shoot. He wished they’d brought Jung-sook to Belgium, she was a crack shot.
“I need to lie down here,” he whispered. “Hurry.”
Simone and Sam scurried out of his way. Once he settled, he opened the gun’s bipod and set it on the concrete ledge running around the observation platform. He pulled the bolt lever up and back then pushed it forward and down to chamber the first round.
“Well, Jan van den Bergh. Are you going to fulfill your end of the agreement?” the vampire asked.
Jan pulled a semiautomatic pistol from inside his suit jacket and pulled back the slide. He took a deep breath then stepped toward his father.
“No, Jan. Papa…” Pieter said weakly, still unable to regain control of his body.
Their father looked Jan in the eyes and straightened his back. Jan placed the barrel of the gun in the middle of his father’s forehead and pulled back the hammer.
“Oh no…” Luke couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
The man who’d sent him on a mission to help find his father’s wife and child had just placed a loaded gun to his own father’s forehead. Luke moved the cross hairs of the scope onto Jan, but before he could bring his finger to the trigger, Jan lowered the gun, and Luke let out a small sigh of relief. Crack. Jan put a round into his father’s heart. Crack. A spray of red mist shot out from the back of Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s head as Jan put a second round through his forehead. Luke’s body trembled as he took aim at Jan’s chest and squeezed the trigger, sending Jan’s body sprawling to the ground.
The vampires scrambled back into the shadow of the visitor’s center. Luke took advantage of the confusion, took aim at the bodyguard still restraining Pieter, and put one through his head. Luke pulled back the bolt and chambered another round, placing it into the center of the second bodyguard’s torso. No longer restrained, Pieter slumped to the ground. While Luke looked for another target, Pieter crawled toward his father.
Luke returned the scope to Jan and his bodyguards as they leaned over their boss, shielding his body and pulling him away from the carnage. Luke fired, missing, then pulled the bolt back, loading the last round of the magazine. The sudden sound of a rumbling growl next to Luke caused him to twitch, missing his target but putting the round into the thigh of one of the bodyguards. During the chaos, the chair containing the slain packleader of the Flanders Pack had been knocked over. Pieter lay on the ground, cradling his father’s head in his lap.
Luke shoved a new magazine into the Steyr and loaded a round into the chamber. Sweeping the area below him, werewolves, who’d been waiting in the cars, scrambled out, shifting into bipedal forms. Luke took aim and put the first round in a wolf’s chest. He pulled the bolt back and took aim at another, missing but shattering a windshield. Luke’s random firing pattern caused the wolves to scramble for cover.
“Luke, coming up on your side,” Delilah said. “I’ll spot.”
“‘K,” he replied.
“Our wolves are heading down the stairs to get Pieter. Vampires on the left, coming out from the building.”
Luke swept the rifle left, pulling the trigger at the first movement he saw, but he missed. He found another target as a fanger darted out and ran across the open space toward the parking lot. Leading his target, Luke pulled the trigger, dropping the vampire. A werewolf ventured out from behind his car. Luke took aim, shooting the hood of the car, causing the wolf to drop for cover.
Someone on the vampire’s side must have been counting shots, knowing their sniper rifle only had five round magazines. Several sprinted out from behind the visitor’s center with all the vampiric speed they could muster. By the time Luke had the next magazine in place, several fangers had made it to the safety of some trees near the parking lot. A few moments later, a car fired up and sped out of the lot like a bat out of hell. Luke swung the rifle after it, shattering the rear window as the car sped away.
Bringing the scope back around to the center of the open space, Pieter still hadn’t moved as he cradled his dead father. As anger shoved aside shock, Luke went looking for Jan, figuring he owed the patricidal bastard another bullet. When he found the bodyguards, now joined by a couple more, he took aim and opened fire, operating the bolt action sniper rifle as fast as he could. He didn’t care what he shot, as long as it hit flesh. In quick succession, he emptied the magazine, putting four of the five bullets into one of the werewolves who’d betrayed his friend and murdered his other friend. He wasn’t sure if any of the bullets hit Jan or not. He hoped so.
“Luke.” Delilah shouted into Luke’s ear. “The vampires are trying to get Pieter. Pablo, Sam, and Simone are outnumbered! Forget Jan.”
Luke pulled the magazine and replaced it with a full one. He quickly marked the three wolves who were his friends, then took aim at anything that moved near them. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then opened them, focusing in on a vampire who wasn’t pulling all the way back after darting in to swat at the wolves.
Squeezing the trigger, Luke smiled as the vampire collapsed, a gaping hole in its head. Luke took aim at the next vampire, missing the chest shot he was aiming for but at least hitting it in the thigh, knocking the vamp to the ground. One of the wolves darted in and ripped out the fallen vampire’s throat before it could move away.
“Fuck, missed,” Luke mumbled on the third shot.
At least it had the effect of driving back the vampires. One wolf, it looked like Sam, was trying to pull Pieter away from his father. All Pieter did was swat lazily at the wolf tugging at his sleeve. Lost in his grief, Pieter ignored the danger around him. Blinking back tears, Luke swiped at his cheeks and placed the crosshairs on the dead body in Pieter’s arms. When Sam made another attempt to drag Pieter away, pulling him back, Luke pulled the trigger. The body shook as the bullet plowed into it. Pieter jerked his head around, finally focusing on what was happening around him. Pieter shoved his way backwards, looking around.
“Luke, someone’s coming up the stairs! We got to move before we’re trapped up here.” Delilah sounded slightly frantic.
Luke took aim at another vampire and fired, missing as the vampire scrambled out of the way. Luke pulled the magazine and shoved another in. Then he scooped the magazines lying in a pile next to him, empty and full, and shoved them into his hoodie pockets. Standing up, he folded in the bipod and extended the strap so it would go over his armor.
“Delilah, hold this for a second.” Luke handed her the Steyr and unslung the Winchester M12 from his back, then unzipped his hoodie so he could access the shotgun shells on the bandolier ammo belt. He took the Steyr and slung it around his chest. “Let’s go. I’ll lead.”
Maybe thinking they’d got the jump on Delilah and Luke, the vampire sprinted up the last half of the steps, a pistol in his hand. Luke stepped down onto the top step and chambered a shotgun shell. As soon as the vampire saw, he stood up, attempting to pull back. Luke unloaded the shell on the vampire, splattering it all over the stairs into a mess of reddish-black goo.
“Careful down the stairs, it’s a fucking young one.” Luke moved down the stairs swiftly, only slowing to find some dry patches until he passed the slick vampire remains, then he took off down the stairs.
As soon as he reached the bottom of the staircase, Luke sprinted over to a large tree and hid behind it, sweeping the barrel of his shotgun in front of him while he waited for Delilah. When a head poked out from behind the corner of the building to his left, Luke fired off a round, sending stone chips flying. Delilah finally made it down the stairs and sprinted over to the large round wall of the Panorama building.
Luke waved her forward as he kept an eye on his friends. Pieter, still moving slowly, had finally started shifting. Sprinting forward, Luke fired off the remaining shots in his shotgun, clearing the space around his friends.
“Dee, cover us while I reload,” Luke yelled.
“Got it,” she replied, stepping up to the fence separating them from their friends. She picked her shots, careful to not waste ammo.
Luke ducked down and grabbed shells out of the bandolier running across his chest, shoving them into the port at the bottom of the gun. When he’d put in six, he stood back up. Pieter had shifted to a full wolf, but he still looked unsteady on his feet; he’d never clear the fence.
“Get back!” he yelled and took aim at the lock on the gate. Luke pulled the trigger, then kicked out hard. The lock busted, and the gate swung open. “Dee, let’s clear a path.”
Delilah fired off her last round then slung the shotgun over her shoulder, pulling around another one. Between the two of them, they fired off shots left, right, and center, driving the vampires back. Jan’s werewolves were more concerned with getting their wounded leader out of there than engaging with Luke. Luke’s four werewolves ran through the gate, Pieter wobbling as he went by; Pablo brought up the rear. Taking a leaf from Delilah’s book, Luke grabbed Pablo’s shotgun from around his back and replaced it with the empty one. He backed up while Delilah fed shells into her empty shotgun. Once reloaded, she started backing up, gun pointed to cover their retreat.
“Delilah, Cover me for one second.” Luke grabbed the empty shotgun from his back and quickly reloaded it. Making sure the shotguns were ready to grab and fire, he pumped a shell into the firing chamber of the one he held. “Follow them. Around the base of the hill to that little grove, then make for the path we marked. I’ll catch up.”
“On it,” Delilah turned and ran after the wolves.
Luke backed up, keeping his eyes open. Anytime he saw movement, he fired off a round. Sometimes he’d hear a scream as the sliver burned into vampire flesh. Once he thought he saw a puff of dust. After the sixth round, he slung the gun over his shoulder, untangled one of the other loaded shotguns, and fired a shot to remind the vamps he was still there.
Taking one last look around, he turned and dashed after his friends, too many guns slapping on his back. He disappeared into the small grove of trees and ran as hard as he safely could. When he popped out the other side of the grove into the grassy space between the hill and the cornfield to the south. He looked around, but didn’t see anyone.
Sprinting across the open space, he aimed for the row where he’d cut down the stalks to guide their way. He turned quickly to check behind himself, thinking he heard shouting coming from the base of the butte. He ran as fast as he could, the stiff corn leaves slapping him in the face. He hissed as a leaf cut his cheek. Skidding to a halt, he pulled his hood up and drew the drawstrings tight to protect his face, then sprinted off again.
“Shit!” screamed a vampire in French, followed by the sound of bodies tumbling and corn stalks shaking.
The sound was too close for comfort. If Luke ran any faster, he was in serious danger of eating shit like the fangers. He kept going, wishing he didn’t have four guns dangling on his back. The weight and movement made running that much harder. Soon, a new noise broke the sound of his whistling breath already accompanied by the rustling and thwapping of leaves against his shoulders as he pelted down the row—footfalls and the occasional knock of a cornstalk.
When Luke thought his tail was nearly upon him, he spun around and fired blindly behind him, the momentum carrying Luke back. As he landed on his ass, he drew a quick aim and fired again. The vampire exploded into a mass of mist and goo, showering Luke on the ground. He spat and wiped his sleeve over his face to get as much of the sludge off his face as possible. Rolling over, he wiped his face with his hands then grabbed handfuls of dirt and rubbed them to get the goo off his palms and fingers. As the sound of feet and corn rustling reached his ears, he launched back onto his feet and took off, leaping over a section of cut stalks.
Finding a small gap he jumped over several rows and into one where he hadn’t cut the stalks and turned up the speed. Off to his side and a little behind, his pursuers went down, tripped up on the stalks. Luke would have chuckled, but he had no breath to spare as he pumped his arms. He had to be getting close to the end of the field.
Up ahead, he heard a car start up followed by tires spinning in dirt and gravel as it drove off, the sound heading toward the east. He broke through the last line of corn onto the farm road, a cloud of dust settling over the road. Along the other side, Pablo sat on his haunches, his tongue lolling out of his mouth as he panted. Everyone else was gone.
“They take that vamp’s car?” Luke asked, gasping for air as he stopped for a second.
Pablo nodded.
“OK. Good. Take off. Get to the Beamer. I’ll be right behind.” Luke walked across the road, picking a row near the patches he’d cut down.
Pablo tore off down a row, his fluffy tail disappearing into the darkness. Luke started with a jog, his heart slowing after the short break. As his tired legs adjusted to the terrain, he dug deep into his reserves and accelerated. One foot in front of the other. Don’t trip. He hoped the vampires thought all of them had taken off in the car. Whoever was driving hadn’t been quiet about it.
He couldn’t hear any noise behind him, but that didn’t mean anything with the intensity of the blood pumping through his ears. Even after draining two vampires earlier, Luke felt his legs turning to lead, his muscles burning as he asked more from them. When he saw something ahead, shiny and black, he smiled.
He yanked the rear passenger door open. Pulling the guns off his back, he flipped the safeties on and set them on the floor. With one loaded shotgun in his hands, he shut the door and climbed into the passenger seat. Pablo, nude, turned on the car and pulled onto the road, gunning it.
“We’re going to have to get the cabin detailed, buddy,” Pablo said, breaking the silence.
“I know. Bare ass on my leather seats…” Luke shook his head, untying the drawstrings of his hood and pulling it back.
“Bro, you’re covered in dirt and what looks and smells like dead vamp goo. My bare ass is the least of your car’s concerns.”
“Yeah. We still have to get out of here without being followed,” Luke said. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed Delilah.
“Hey Luke. You away?” Delilah asked.
“Yeah. Just about to pull onto the N5. How are you doing?” Luke looked left and right as Pablo stopped and pulled onto N5, heading south.
“Everyone’s pretty scraped up from the corn. Pieter’s probably got a pretty bad concussion. Shit. Looks like cops are headed that way.”
“We’ll keep an eye out. Let’s go quiet unless something comes up. See you back at base,” Luke replied.
“Good luck.”
“You too,” Luke said.