He was already waking up from the sudden banging, but Sullivan rolled out of bed even faster as someone bellowed the words directly into his ears. 'What?' he shouted.
Delilah was already up and moving, throwing her clothes on. 'Gunfire.'
'Who was yelling?'
'What?'
Sullivan's sleep-filled head realized that it had been Browning's voice, but of course, Delilah didn't have a Grimnoir ring, so she wouldn't have heard. He had put Pershing's ring on his pinky, the only one of his massive digits it would fit. 'Never mind.' He grabbed the thick.45 from the nightstand.
There was enough light coming through the window that Sullivan could see her throwing her dress over her head in a terrible hurry. It reminded him of when he'd had to flee New Orleans just ahead of the law. Delilah looked at him, eyes wide. 'Just like old times, huh?'
He drew back the slide of the automatic and let the oiled steel fly forward under spring pressure, chambering a round. 'Yeah, just like old times.' Only I ain't running this time.
Madi's improved hearing easily picked up the gunshots. Three hundred yards away lights started coming on inside the house. The scout he'd sent to disable their alarm spells had failed, but it was a worthwhile sacrifice. He'd been surprised that his men had made it this close to the property before alerting the Grimmys, and he was thankful for the fog coming off the ocean. The Imperium men around him tensed, ready for action.
He'd gathered nearly thirty men for this operation, most of them were new recruits from San Francisco or Los Angeles, desperate suckers willing to risk their lives in exchange for gold or a touch of magic. He'd given them a big pep talk, a gun, and promises of the Chairman's eternal gratitude. He figured they'd take terrible casualties, but they were expendable. He planned on letting the Grimnoir use up their Power on the chumps first so he wouldn't endanger any of his more valuable assets. If any lived, that would prove they were strong, and therefore worthy of further training.
'Get 'em, boys,' he whispered.
To their credit, most of them didn't hesitate. They rose from the bushes, some screaming as they charged the house, in a terrible impersonation of a proper Imperium battle cry, naively believing that the single kanji of vitality he and Yutaka had carved on them would make them bulletproof. It would make them tougher, but that wasn't near the same thing. The smarter ones actually took the time to use cover and aim their guns at the lighted windows as they approached.
He turned to his second wave. He'd kept two Shadow Guards, both Travelers, for himself and sent the rest with Toshiko for the raid on the Peace Ray. He didn't like splitting his forces, but he'd promised the Chairman something epic, and he always kept his promises. Now it looked like he was down to just one. He glared at the little Jap Traveler.
'Get in there. Find Pershing. I want him alive. Then report back.'
'Hai!' His black hood dipped in a quick bow and he disappeared.
Madi turned to Yutaka. 'Send your scouts. I want that Tesla device.' His companion was already working, channeling his Power to Summon creatures. If it wasn't for the possibility that Pershing had that device, he'd just use the Peace Ray to melt this whole peninsula into molten lava and save the men. If it wasn't there, he'd pull back and then blast them. If he killed all the Grimmys first, he'd burn the place down the old-fashioned way, then have Toshiko use the Peace Ray on the Presidio and San Francisco. She had both sets of coordinates, just in case.
Another pair of Iron Guards had arrived that morning. He'd kept Hiroyasu, figuring that his particular scary- ass Power might come in handy, but he'd decided to send his partner along with the larger group attacking the Peace Ray. He didn't trust that Shadow Guard dame to not fuck up his mission. Everyone knew the Iron Guard were the best of the best. Hell, he could probably take all of these Grimnoir by himself.
Except for Jake, he's strong, like me… he caught himself thinking, and then quickly dismissed that as a weak thought. He still hadn't decided what he was gonna do with him yet, but Madi found that he was kinda looking forward to the challenge. It had been awhile since he'd squared off against anyone he'd considered a challenge. They'd never been real tight. Jake had always been the know-it-all, always telling him that they weren't no better than regular folks. He'd put up with Jake always defending the normals, and all he'd gotten for it was a mangled face.
Some little part in the back of his mind kept saying the idea of burning his brother with a Peace Ray should have been troubling, but the more he thought on it, he didn't find that the idea of killing Jake upset him at all. In fact, Jake was the last vestige of his old, weak life. Taking him out would be like cutting that last chain that was keeping him down.
He checked his pocket watch. He'd enchanted the glass surface with a direct link to Toshiko. From the view he could tell they were eliminating the soldiers in complete silence. Beneath the glass he saw the ticking hands, and knew that they were well ahead of schedule.
'Impys in the treeline to the south. I took an owl over them!' Lance bellowed as he limped down the second floor balcony, now thankfully fully clothed, with bandoleers of ammunition crossing his torso. 'Kill the lights.' Then he jerked back as the window across from him shattered. He calmly went to one knee to avoid any more stray rounds.
Someone turned the lights off as Faye crouched down next to Lance. The big man, Mr. Sullivan, came walking up behind her, surprisingly quiet, with an enormous funny looking rifle in his hands. He'd put on a brown canvas vest with lots of pockets, and had a huge backpack over one shoulder. It looked like it weighed a ton, but she had to remind herself that weight didn't matter to someone like him. Delilah was right behind him, holding a short gun with a drum magazine on it.
'How many?' Sullivan asked, squinting into the patchy fog. Faye had to remind herself that most folks couldn't see in the dark like she could.
'At least two dozen, maybe more,' Lance answered. He closed his eyes and took back control of the owl. 'They're charging.'
Sullivan just grunted in response, moved up next to the broken window, leaned around, and started shooting. The rifle was loud as he cranked off two or three rounds at a time, shell casings flying out right under his cheek. Lance popped up, shouldered his Winchester and fired. There were more gunshots coming from downstairs as the other Grimnoir piled it on.
Holes appeared in the walls around them. Plaster flew past Faye's face as she crawled down the landing. Lance rolled away, swearing up a storm, as Sullivan calmly drew back, yanking a new magazine out of his vest. Delilah reached down, grabbed Faye by the back of her nightshirt and dragged her down the carpet like she was a naughty puppy. 'Get behind something solid,' Delilah ordered as she hurled Faye down the hallway. 'Now!'
She scrambled behind a marble statue of a fat man holding a blimp, but it exploded into dust and she yelped as the fragments pelted her. Faye crawled further down the hall, and fell through a doorway. Everything was breaking or shattering, and she decided that the second floor was definitely not the place to be.
Faye thought ahead, realized that the hundreds of glaring bits of danger were bullets, picked an empty spot, and appeared in the entryway. Mr. Browning and Mr. Garrett were both at the front door, shooting into the night. She got behind the piano.
'Out of the way!' Heinrich bellowed as he charged past her, green metal can in each hand. He dropped the cans next to a piece of furniture covered in a lace cloth and potted plants. The plants crashed to the floor as he ripped the cloth away, revealing a huge metal object on three legs. It was so big that at first Faye wondered why that mean German would be messing with a piece of farm equipment at a time like this, and then she realized that the huge thing was a gun. Francis caught up a second later, his rifle bouncing around on a sling over his back. He opened a cover on top of the big gun as Heinrich opened one of the metal cans and pulled out a linked belt of the biggest gleaming brass cartridges she'd ever seen.
A second later Francis yanked a huge handle back and forth and grabbed onto the spade grips on the back end. He swiveled it toward the window. The barrel was as big around as the pipes that fed the Vierras' milk tank, and covered in a metal shroud with holes in it, and Faye instinctively knew to cover her ears. This was gonna be loud.
There was a brilliant strobe of fire coming from the front of the house and a sound like thunder. Madi cursed.
