Chapter Twenty-Three: Verona

A short briefing of where we are heading was given to us from one of the wolves that Romulus gave as support. To my understanding, it’s just outside the wolves’ border in the forest with the vampires’ perimeter forming just on the other side. Find and destroy a tunnel. Not the most glamorous work but it seems that this is how Romulus spurred up this big battle between himself and Daffyd in the first place. Blowing tunnels and taking resting grounds. Blowing tunnels and supplies. Blowing tunnels and killing vampires. I don’t really know what else to say about it. The only thing I can think of are the stupid tunnels.

“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Atticus asks. His concerns are more than just about this war. He thinks about my mental state. The state of decay that causing such chaos brings. Death is never easy to face, but being on the end of the trigger that causes it has never before fallen in my cards. Atticus is the one who usually stands as protector. Even so, I don’t believe he’s done anything like this either. A simple minded, good-hearted man.

So, I don’t find it too terribly inconvenient that he’s looking out for me. He wants to be sure that we can walk away from this without any harm, and that’s something I don’t know if I can promise. We are sacrificing the lives of many wolves here for a battle that has nothing to do with us. Atticus has made that point very clear; however, it’s one that we…I agreed to be in, and I can’t go back on that now.

“So, who are these White Elephants that Romulus mentioned?” I picture a large troop of shifters with their leader as a white elephant. I don’t want to say that in case it’s wrong. Ignorance is not something I enjoy openly demonstrating to the world, but at the same time, I need to know what we might be facing. There are three vans worth of us. Twenty wolves and five from my coven. Enough for support and emergency evacuations if necessary.

“The White Elephant Organization is a band of thugs that have come together to create a private army service. The private army service that has been working for whoever would throw the most money into their pockets. Daffyd knows he can’t do much during the day, so we believe that he’s hired the White Elephants to make sure that they can still fight during the day. Another unnecessary mass of deaths caused by a war that should have ended years ago,” the same man who gave us our briefing says. I don’t know his name or how he looks. He wears a black knit balaclava, holding some machine gun. Why you would rely on human weapons in a battle where you can be a wolf I don’t understand. He obviously knows what he’s doing and so do the rest of them. They’ve been doing this for years now. Half my life, in fact…

The car falls silent for a second. We’re not far from the border breach now. When we pass it, things may get a little more exciting. Now? The butterflies just explode. The first thing we’ve actually done as a coven that means something. Striking back at our oppressors who have long ago faced multiple defeats, and now we’re working to give them their biggest one. It’s all very exciting.

“Don’t move on original course,” a message comes through a radio. “Repeat, don’t move on original course. White Elephants surrounding the perimeter en route to the tunnel.”

That’s not good news.

“Further down, breaking the barrier is clear,”

“Everyone stop!” the hidden commander says into the radio, and all the vans come to a complete stop. He takes his cell phone out his pocket and makes a phone call.

“Right. Got it. What are the coordinates?” he asks, breaking in between when the man on the other end speaks. “Stay safe out there. I’ll catch up with you later.” He kills the line and looks over his seat to us. He holds the button down on the radio in his hand so that everyone can hear what he’s about to say.

“The scouts are still unseen. That doesn’t mean we can move on the direct path. We were going to strike higher up, giving our wolves in the city a bit of a gap between where the charge is blown and they are, minimizing casualties. With the Elephants hovering over that part, we’re going to move away from their perimeter and head closer to the town. There’s a stretch of land about five hundred meters or so that will give us a good enough blow, keeping the wolves deeper in the tunnels safe as well as shattering operations for the vampires out of Torrine,” I cock a brow.

“We were never going to kill wolves?”

“That’s not what I said and not what Rom meant. There was always the possibility. We’ve lost contact with them, but we believe they would have pushed up and deeper into the city rather than toward the Torrine Castle. He wanted you to be prepared for whatever eventuality. For your own peace of mind, you know?”

I can’t help but feel a bit angered by this. Stressing about killing innocent members of my adopted troop. Atticus just chuckles beside me, shaking his head. The car begins moving again, the commander carrying on the line to give the new coordinates of where we’re hitting: a piece of land close to the city, far from the wolves, out of vampire control.

“Why didn’t we go straight there instead of risking it in the vampire territory?” I ask.

“Because risking a strike this close to the city could cause future problems in terms of the Agency. Staying out of the city is important. We don’t bother them; they don’t bother us. So, your margin of error is tiny now,” he adds.

“Got it.”

The rest of the drive goes by relatively quietly, apart from back and forth between the radio and those on each end. A bit of banter and a few fun words with no news of an attack, making it what’s to come seem a little easier. Still, when we drive off road and onto a plain, with the city out in the distance and the overwhelming force of vampire energy striking me, I can’t help but feel a little nervous.

“You’re up, gang,” the wolf commander says, hopping out the front seat. The rest of the wolves, equally dressed with guns and the like, begin to patrol the area. Nothing. No sign of any organization that isn’t part of the wolves or the witches.

Good. This gives me more motivation to strike. There won’t be any danger. Seven hundred meters out from the city limits.

“We’re in the outer city limits,” he speaks to us one last time. “Their perimeter ends about a kilometer up. Otherwise, it’s too close to town, and that could become dangerous for either party. This is going to require tact and precision. Do what you’ve gotta do.”

Atticus, myself and the three others find the precise location of the tunnel and sit around it – Atticus and I on one end, the other three opponents.

“Are you ready?” This is basic destruction magic and shouldn’t be above any of the five here. We have done this kind of magic in the past or practiced it. This is just on a grander scale.

“Ready,” They all say, just off of unison.

“Then let’s begin,” We place our hands on the ground. Our magic starting to pool between us. Only one of us can do the spell. The rest here are just a source of magic to make sure it’s enough. I lift my hands bringing them together and parting them in different fashions until a glowing orb of purple floats before us. I say nothing, forcing the orb into the ground and it extends and expands, running the length of the tunnel in opposite directions and then it is gone. The wolf commander comes and stands beside us after it is done.

“Now what?” he asks, but before he even finished the two-word phrase, the earth in front us begins to crack, shift, and move before starting to collapse into itself. Vampires from beneath can be heard shouting and screaming along the tunnel. I try not to listen in case there are any wolves that howl out. Nothing will survive this strike.

The commander watches as it runs along, “Right, you can stop now,” he says when it’s moved about three quarters the length of the city.

“It doesn’t work like that,” I reply. “It goes as far as the initial orb did.”

“And where’s that?” he shouts.

“I don’t know.”

And sadly, I didn’t. We watch as the earth crumbles all along the line devised. Further and further, nearing the city limits. My heart beings to break. The line hits the city and stops. Everything is okay for a second and then not. Buildings and roads begin crumbling down. I hear screaming from beneath the earth and now across from me.

“What have I done?”