Once Luke recovered from the news, his mind whirled into action. He’d gotten enough information from Sylvie for the evening; he didn’t need to squeeze more from her. Sam and Delilah escorted her upstairs to her room, staying with her for a while and leaving Pablo and Luke in the sitting room.
“I think it’s time to send Pieter an update,” Pablo said.
“Maybe. I’m thinking we might have confirmation on where his father is being held, although I’m not sure what we can do about it right now. We don’t have enough power to go after a nest of vampires that large and concentrated, especially not with werewolves as muscle.” Luke reached for his glass, finding it empty.
“I’ll go refill us,” Pablo said, picking up his glass. Pablo returned with two fresh glasses a couple minutes later.
Luke’s eyebrows furrowed in speculative concentration as he held his glass. “Pablo. How hard is it to kill a werewolf?”
“I’m glad you waited until we were good friends to ask that question. It’s pretty hard, especially the more powerful werewolves. Old guys like me who can do the bipedal form are tough as old nails. We can take a lot of damage and heal our way out of it, eventually. You can blow up a werewolf, but you’ve got to get them right in the blast. If you do enough damage that the body can’t keep up, you can overwhelm a werewolf’s healing ability. The sure way to do it, though, is silver to the heart. In lieu of that, taking out both the heart and brain usually works.”
“We’re running a bit short on silver weapons right now,” Luke said.
“Yeah. As far as I know, your swords are the only things guaranteed to work. I’m not sure if there’s enough silver in the one you had made for Delilah.”
“Is there a way to test it? Short of stabbing a volunteer in the heart?” Luke leaned forward.
“I don’t know. I guess I could touch myself with the blades and see how bad they burn.” Pablo looked like the idea was unappealing.
“I think we can forgo that for now.” Luke, lips pursed, tried to come up with ways to acquire weapons that might help when he remembered something from earlier in the year. “Shit! I know where we can get a couple more silver weapons.”
“Will there be quests and maidens fair?” Pablo asked, sitting back in his chair and stretching out his legs.
“There definitely will be a maiden fair. I’ll have to ask Maggie to find them in my basement.”
“Wait. You have spare powerful magic weapons, and you didn’t bring them with you?” Pablo shook his head. “You’re slipping, old man.”
Luke snorted. “To be fair, they’re new to my collection. Do you remember that bar we raided in Northeast earlier this year? The one where I had the sword fight with that vampire?”
Pablo stretched out his legs before taking a sniff of his beer. “The famous artist vampire?”
“Yeah. Guillaume Geefs. I took the rapier home. It was the same one The Mistress had used to attack Amiata last year when I rescued her for the Flanders Pack,” Luke replied.
“Yeah. I remember you telling us about that when we picked up Pieter from the airport.”
Luke took a sip of his beer, then a second. “It’s got silver in it. I also picked up a dagger from The Mistress. I’m not sure if it's killing levels of silver, but it’ll sure give a werewolf a hell of a bad day.”
“Yeah, especially if you put it in their heart. If it doesn’t kill them outright, it’ll take them out of commission for a long time, which will serve just as well in a fight.” Pablo got serious for a moment, moving his jaw back and forth as if he were chewing over an idea. “Another thought, and you can tell me if this is stupid or not, but have you thought about asking your…benefactor? Mithras? If he can make some more, or maybe supercharge Delilah’s or even Sam’s swords?”
“I don’t know…” Luke replied, looking away from Pablo. “I don’t know what kind of contract would be asked for in exchange for that kind of favor. It might put you guys on the hook to a god you don’t understand and don’t want to stand in the path of. It’s a dangerous business crossing paths with a deity. I’ll have to think about it.”
“Fair enough.” Pablo took a deep drink of his beer, sighing happily. “You know how to treat your friends. The beer choices are tops. Four stars—manager is a bit grumpy though…”
“Hush you. I’m going to call Maggie. There’s still time to get the weapons to a courier.” Luke stood up, went into the small office, and grabbed the caretaker’s address from the desk. Looking at the door, he shut it and sank into the chair behind the desk. A smile on his face, he called Maggie.
“Hi, Luke!”
“Hey, Maggie.”
“You just can’t get enough of my voice, can you?” Maggie teased.
“It’s such a lovely voice.” Luke’s smile broadened into a grin.
“Oh, you’re such a nice man.”
“It is good to talk to you, but I need to ask a big favor, or more accurately, one that I need done right now, if it’s possible. We’ve got a bit of an emergency here, and we need some special weapons I have in my collection.”
“Of course. I can call in one of the other doctors to handle this afternoon’s appointments. Everyone knows I’m your contact, so they’re on call to help me if needed.”
Luke gave her the description of the weapons and where to find them along with a shipping address. “Gwen can help you find them. Take them to a courier. The pack accountants will reimburse you; they know the accounts.”
“OK. That’s an easy favor to execute. I’ll call my replacement and gather up the little one.” Maggie had picked up Luke’s habit of calling Gwen “little one.”
“Oh, be careful with the weapons, the blades contain silver,” Luke warned.
Maggie chuckled. “I’d guessed as much since you’re doing what you’re doing.”
“Thank you, Maggie.”
“Of course, Luke. Take care.”
“You too. Give Gwen a hug for me.” Luke sighed as he hung up then rejoined Pablo.
“Why so forlorn, buddy?” Pablo asked.
“I miss Maggie.”
Pablo chuckled. “You really like her, don’t you?”
Luke nodded.
“Good. She really likes you too. She’s good for you.” Pablo stood up. “I think I want another beer. You good for another?”
“Sure. I’ll take a blanche,” Luke replied.
“Me too,” Sam said, reentering the room.
“Delilah coming down too?” Pablo asked.
Sam shook her head, returning to her chair. “Delilah is staying with Sylvie for a little longer. I think she needs the company of someone closer to her own age. I think her pack was very hierarchical and even though I think she likes me, I’m still an ‘elder,’ especially since we all hold rank in our pack.”
Luke nodded. “That’s understandable, for sure.”
Pablo returned with their beers. Together, they chatted, sipping their drinks. When Sam finished hers, she took herself to bed, leaving Pablo and Luke. Enjoying the quiet time with his friend, Luke stayed up late talking.
* * *
Luke slept late. When he woke, he dressed in workout clothes, figuring he’d get in some exercise. He found Sam with a book and a cup of coffee.
“Where’s everyone else this morning?” Luke asked.
“Delilah and Sylvie are outside doing some training. I think Pablo went with them,” Sam replied without looking up.
“So the old dog is still wanting to learn new tricks?”
She laughed. “Yeah. He wants to be a kung fu werewolf. Last I saw him, he was singing that ridiculous theme song he’s been creating for the anime-style cartoon someone’s going to make about him and he’s going to star in.”
Shaking his head and smiling, Luke laughed with Sam. “He’s a goofball, that’s for sure. I think I’ll go join them. I could use a bit of a sweat.” He set down the burner phone. “Mind monitoring this in case we get a message from Pieter?
“Not at all. Have fun. I could use another coffee.”
Luke waved to Sam as he left out the side door then followed the sound of voices. When he found them, he hung back watching. Delilah, a natural teacher, walked around Pablo and Sylvie as she guided them through some basic drills. Pablo was quite a ways ahead of Sylvie, but to Luke’s surprise, Sylvie wasn’t entirely unskilled. As Luke watched them, Sylvie had trouble keeping to the forms Delilah was teaching, often falling back on something else.
After a few minutes, he stepped forward and greeted everyone. “Delilah, I’m curious about something.” He gestured toward Sylvie and Pablo. “Do you mind?”
Delilah shook her head and stepped back.
“Sylvie, I want you to forget, just for now, about the moves Delilah is teaching you and use what you already know.”
Sylvie nodded.
“Pablo, attack with any sequence you want. Let’s not go full speed, though. Keep it under control,” Luke instructed.
“Got it,” Pablo replied.
When Pablo checked with Sylvie to see if she was ready, he got a nod, then launched a punch at her. Sylvie knocked it aside and easily moved out of the way of the slow jab. Pablo paid for his ill-conceived punch. As she moved out of the way, she planted and spun a roundhouse kick, catching Pablo in the ass, and knocked him off balance. As he lumbered toward her trying to reorient, she shot into grappling range and used Pablo’s momentum to take him to the ground, wrapping him up.
With a grunt, Pablo tapped out. Sylvie let him go, her eyes wary as she backed away, probably worried he might lose his temper. Delilah laughed as Pablo picked himself off the ground, grumbling.
“That’ll teach you to be patronizing, Pablo,” Delilah said.
Luke chuckled. “Very good, Sylvie. That was an interesting combination of moves. What were you doing?”
“It’s…uh…it’s a combination of savate and laamb ji.” She avoided making eye contact with Luke.
“I’m familiar with savate, a bit, but what’s laamb ji?” Luke asked.
“It’s Senegalese wrestling.” Her back stiffened as she held her head high.
“It was an effective combination, very impressive. How much training do you have in each?” Luke stepped forward into the circle the three had formed.
“My father taught me and… We started when I was young, seven or eight, maybe? I learned savate at university. Me and a girl from Senegal taught ourselves how to combine them. I’ve been doing savate since I was eighteen.” Sylvie shuffled nervously while standing next to Luke.
“What’s savate?” Pablo asked.
“French kick boxing,” Luke replied.
As he moved next to Sylvie, she stood a half foot shorter than his and Delilah’s six feet. She was closer to Pablo’s height. She also lacked Delilah’s broad shoulders and hips, having a slighter frame. She’d used her werewolf speed and strength to make up for her size.
“Sylvie, how confident do you feel with your savate?” Luke asked.
Before Sylvie could answer, Delilah held up her hand to interrupt. “Luke, she prefers Simone. Sylvie was just the name she gave us at first.”
“Ah,” Luke said.
Simone slouched. “I’m sorry—”
“Don’t worry about it. We’ve all used aliases before. Do you think my name is Luke? It’s one I’ve used over the centuries, and it’s close to my original name, but it’s not. Pablo?”
“Nope. Not even close to my original name. Not even the same language,” he replied. “Nice take down, by the way. Sorry for not taking you more seriously.”
Simone nodded.
“I think Delilah is the only one still using her original name,” Luke said.
“That’s not true,” Delilah interjected. “Johnson is my mom’s last name. Oyelakin is my last name.”
“You’re African?” Simone asked.
Delilah smiled warmly at Simone. “American. My father immigrated from Nigeria. My mom was American.”
Luke and Pablo exchanged a look, learning something new about their often reticent friend.
“Delilah, I’m feeling like a little sparring. You feeling up for it? I’m thinking some pure kung fu might be fun instead of going more free form fighting.” Luke locked eyes with Delilah as she thought about it, her eyes briefly flicking to Simone before returning to Luke.
“Let’s do it. I could let off some steam.” Delilah turned and walked a few steps away from Luke before turning around, her feet set shoulder width apart.
“Sylv… Simone, let’s get out of their way. This will be fun to watch. It’ll be one of the few times you’ll see Luke evenly matched or maybe even outmatched.” Pablo gestured toward the nearby patio with its chairs.
“Is Delilah good at kung fu?” Simone asked, looking Delilah over.
“Just wait and see.” Pablo’s grin made him look eager.
“Mind if we start slow? I need to warm up these muscles before we go full tilt.” Luke rotated his shoulders, loosening up.
“Same.” Delilah bowed, then stepped into her starting position.
Luke bowed in return and readied himself. Together, they sparred lightly, more executing moves and blocks to get the blood flowing and to get in sync with each other. After a few minutes, they picked up the speed slightly until Delilah decided it was time and unleashed a blindingly fast flurry of kicks and punches that put Luke back on his heel. He barely kept up with her until she stumbled a bit on the uneven ground.
Luke responded immediately, setting up his own intense series of moves, including some more elaborate and showy ones he rarely got to break out in combat. A small smile pulled the corner of Delilah’s lips upward as she dipped into her vault to bring out some of her favorite combinations. While both of them were still trying to land blows, the main objective became to use more elaborate and beautiful moves to achieve their strikes.
Lost to the world around them, their violent dance ranged around the grounds while keeping in view of their audience until Luke overextended a kick a fraction too much and Delilah pounced, using his mistake to toss him to the ground. Air whooshed from his lungs as he landed on his back. He lay there for a minute, catching his breath. Delilah flopped down next to him, breathing hard.
“You OK, Luke?” Delilah asked.
“Yeah. That was spectacular, Dee. A truly amazing display of skill.” Luke rolled over and stood, helping Delilah to rise.
They bowed to each other, bookending their sparring match. When they turned to Simone and Pablo, Sam had joined them, and the three of them clapped. Luke pulled his shirt up and wiped his face off before pulling it back down. He followed Delilah over to their friends.
“That was… That was magnifique!” Simone declared.
Luke smiled, seeing Delilah’s awkward response to the young woman’s praise. Sam pulled a chair out from the table and set it out for Luke, then moved one toward Delilah. Luke sank into it, wiping more sweat from his brow. Once Delilah finished accepting her praise from everyone, she took the chair, slumping into it.
“Since we’re all here, let’s figure out our next moves,” Luke said.
“Actually, that’s why I popped out. I mean, besides wanting to watch Delilah beat you.” Sam pulled the phone out of her pocket and handed it to Luke. “We received a message from Pieter.”
“He’s got news. I’m going to call him.” Luke dialed and waited for Pieter to pick up.
“Hello, Luke. How are you?”
“Good, Pieter. You?”
“Eh. You know,” Pieter replied. “I got news.”
“Me too.”
“You go first,” Pieter said.
“Well, I’m pretty sure we’ve found where they might be holding your father,” Luke said.
Pieter exhaled explosively. “Really? Already? Where?”
“We think he’s in Cambrai. I even think we’ve got it narrowed down to a few buildings near the train station.” Luke stretched out his legs. “But keep that strictly between you and me. No one else.”
“Not even Jan?” Pieter replied.
“No. Let’s keep it just to you for now,” Luke replied.
“OK. I’ll tell no one. Can you get him out?” Pieter sounded eager.
“Well, there’s a problem. It’s three to five buildings, and a lot of vampires. Not sure how many. But here’s the kicker. They’ve got a whole pack of werewolves providing muscle.”
Pieter let off a string of curses in Flemish. “A whole pack? Are you sure?”
“Yeah. We ran into a former pack member who filled us in on the details,” Luke replied.
“Which pack?”
“She says the Bordeaux pack…” He looked over at Simone, checking in on her. Seeing the look on her face, he nodded toward her. Delilah nodded and whispered into Simone’s ear. Together they walked away. “Sorry about that. I’m not sure if you’re familiar with them. But she says they went through a leadership change recently and the new pack leaders purged anyone who wasn’t ‘pure French’ and probably anyone who disagreed with them. She thinks the local vampires were involved—Le Mousquetaire.”
“Son of a…” Pieter let out another string of Flemish curses. “Are you sure this information is accurate?”
“Yeah. We’re pretty confident about her news. Her parents were one of the families purged…” He looked around to make sure Simone wasn’t near. “She didn’t get into details, but it sounds like they were murdered pretty brutally.”
Pieter sighed. “You always seem to pick up the orphans, my friend. Well, if you vouch for her, she’ll have a home with us if she wants it—assuming we still have one when this all done.”
“What’s your half of the equation?” Luke asked.
“We received our first round of demands. They want Liege back, specifically The Mistress’s mansion, but the rest of the city as well.”
“What are they offering in exchange?”
“Nothing. They want to call it a gesture of good faith on our part,” Pieter spat out.
Luke groaned, hearing the disgust in Pieter’s voice. “That’s a shit offer. Have they given you any proof he’s alive?
“Just a video with no sound with them holding up a newspaper next to them like some fucking movie they saw once.” The anger was plain in his voice.
“Tell them you want to video chat with your father first. If you can, record the conversation. Mind sending me the video they sent you? I want to see it. Any word from Jamaal on who your leak might be?”
“Not yet. He’s splitting time between that and helping track down my father,” Pieter replied.
Luke nodded. “OK. How are the decoys doing?”
“Good. I’m sure we’re being watched, so Will pretends to be you most of the time.”
“Alright. Here’s what I want to do. Agree to cede Liege. Set the time and date and make them send witnesses so they can’t say you’re double-crossing them. Once you’ve got your date, we’ll set up surveillance on our suspected houses and monitor the flow in and out. If this is their main force, we’ll be able to watch the force flow out. If it looks like we can use their assault on Liege to our advantage, we’ll go in and see if we can rescue your father.”
“OK. I think that’s workable. Is there anything we can do to aid you?” Pieter sounded mildly optimistic.
“No. I can handle it on this end. I don’t want your leak getting wind of anything. My caretaker can source the bit of equipment we might need.” Luke made a mental list so he could let Émile know.
“Keep me apprised of your situation. I’ll let you know if anything changes,” Pieter said.
“We’ll get your father back, my friend.”
“I know. Good luck.”
“And to you.” Luke hung up.
When he looked up, Sam was sitting next to him with her phone and a smile on her face. “I took pictures when we drove by yesterday. Looks like this building next door is either for sale or rent. Not sure what the French sign in the window is.”
Luke took her phone, looking over the images. “Nice.” He punched the phone number from the sign into his phone. As the plan formed in his head, he looked around the circle of his friends, old and new, before settling on Simone. “I’m not sure if you’ll like this plan, but I think it’s the right one for now.” He turned to Delilah. “Delilah, I’d like you to stay here with Simone and keep training with her.”
“But—” Simone sat forward, a pleading look in her eyes.
Luke held his hand up to stall her. “You won’t be staying here long. I’m going to take Sam and Pablo, and we’re going to secure us a place to set up our little operation. I’m guessing you’d be recognized by any of your pack members?”
Simone nodded.
“Once we have a place set up, we’ll fetch you two and get you secured so you don’t accidentally give our operation away, that way you can be on hand to help us.” Luke gave her a soft smile.
Delilah reached over and took her hand, squeezing it. “Simone, this is the best plan. Luke’s right, if they saw you while they’re trying to secure a place, it would give us away. Once they get an apartment, we’ll be on site and ready to go in.”
Simone locked eyes with Delilah. As understanding passed between them, Simone finally nodded.
Delilah, still holding Simone’s hand, turned to Luke. “You got a place to pop off some guns? I’m guessing Simone has never handled any firearms, beyond her handgun.”
Simone shook her head. “No. I haven’t.”
Luke nodded, liking his friend’s thinking. “Yeah. I have a range in the cliff. You can run her through some shotgun training. Use the standard shot since we don’t have an easy way to get reload right now for the special shot.”
“Right.” Delilah turned back to Simone and gave her a smile. “We’ll use the time before they come collect us.”
Luke, finger tapping the table, picked up the bottle of water he’d brought out earlier. “Actually, I’ll just give you the keys to the Volvo. It’ll probably be good to have a second car on hand if we need to split up for any reason. Plus with only three of us in Cambrai to make arrangements and keep watch, this seems like the best solution. I’ll ask Émile to keep you fed until it’s time to rejoin us. Enjoy anything in the wine cellar. You know how to pour a draft beer.”
“When do you want to move bases?” Pablo asked.
“Let’s get everything ready today. I have to show Delilah the shooting range, and we need to make sure we have all the equipment we need sorted out. Showers, then lunch, then let’s get organized. Tomorrow morning, we move to Cambrai for a while.”