Tanya snapped her fingers. “Those reports of fire tornadoes around the Pacific Rim!”
“Exactly. Volcanic beings direct intense plumes of superheated gas from vents, and nearby Air elementals spin it up into what has been observed as twisters of fire,” Omega said. “What hasn’t been observed are the undersea combinations of Water and Earth or Water and Fire. The Vorsook will definitely seek to hide in the oceans. They will be unhappy with the results. The power of an undersea seismic event focused into a cone of ultra-dense water is devastating, even to vehicles that can survive deep space. And then there are our experiments with gravity.”
“When were you going to tell us about this?” Lydia asked.
“When we had perfected it. The idea came from your twins, Tanya and Chris. Vorsook technology works with gravity for flight. By observing what your children do with gravity, we’re figuring out ways to disrupt a Vorsook aircraft in flight, using elemental power.”
“That would seem to be a game changer,” I said.
“When fully realized, it very well may be. One thing the Vorsook don’t seem to do is work with a planet’s elementals. They just drain the planet of resources outright. We are finding that Earth elementals can alter gravity around themselves, something that almost none of them were aware of.”
“You are booby-trapping the entire planet,” I said.
“And anti-booby-trapping,” Omega noted. “One of the greatest threats to any planet is off-world bombardment by kinetic weapons from space, as you demonstrated in New Hampshire, Chris. A strong elemental, or several combined, can likely deflect or repel objects launched at Earth from space.”
“You and the kid came up with all of this?” Lydia asked.
“I have handled most of the work and all of the calculations, but Father has an unexpected talent, genius-level really, for thinking up elegant solutions using energy. At times, so does Stacia. I would call it cunning, but that doesn’t quite do it justice. It’s a bit like Chris’s alter persona’s ability to modify tactics on the fly.”
“Do you even need us?” Lydia asked.
“Absolutely. The quality, number, and power of the forces that will be brought to bear on this world is almost unfathomable. Training Coven forces as hunter-seekers will be enormously helpful in disrupting Vorsook ground and ocean forces. Each Vorsook typically controls the actions of up to a hundred combat units, similar to those you have faced in China and Philadelphia. When leadership is stripped away, those same units become much less effective. Vorsook are not fans of free will among their troops.”
“What about us specifically?” Tanya asked, looking around at the rest of us.
“You fought the Ancient as a group and overcame her. The Vorsook are aware of Declan O’Carroll. He will be heavily engaged in coordinating elemental forces. Stacia and her pack will need to monitor him and keep him from failing from exhaustion and hunger. They will need extensive protection from the forces directed at them. Also, it is not out of the question that one or both of the Queens of Fairie will seek to capitalize on Father’s distraction in the middle of combat to abduct or kill him. I will need as many combat drones as I can field. And Father is, for all his almost unfathomable power, only human. If he is sufficiently distracted, he could be taken out by a kid with a rock. And he will require rest, which will leave him defenseless.”
“You see us as a glorified praetorian guard?” Senka asked in a frosty tone.
“I see you as the penultimate close quarters combat force on this planet, the only ones who can protect our vital and irreplaceable witchborne weapons system. Additionally, as both Tatiana and Chris have been learning to communicate with elementals, having that capability available when Declan is resting is vital.”
“Hmm, when phrased that way, computer, it appears to be a key role,” Senka allowed.
“Will it be as challenging as fighting the Ancient?” Hosakawa asked.
“Oh, I predict it will be much, much harder,” Omega said.
“Excellent,” was the uber warrior’s response.
We decided to take a meal break. Okay, actually I was the only one to take a meal break, but the others had administrative things to do—running an organization of hundreds of thousands of vampires the world over requires not a small amount of work.
When I came back from grabbing four sandwiches at a local sub shop, I found a group of vampires I didn’t know already in the grain terminal. There were ten of them and they all stopped what they were doing, froze like mannequins, and watched me move toward Tanya, Nika, and Lydia.
“That was fast,” I said with a glance at the still-watching vampires.
“There is a large contingent of Guardians here in New York,” Lydia said without an ounce of snark. That put me on edge instantly.
“We’re going to run them in groups of five,” Tanya said, looking at a tablet. “Another ten is en route. By tomorrow night, groups will begin to come in from all over the world. We’re going to be running this drill for the foreseeable future.”
“How’re we running it?” I asked.
“Tanya and I are the judges,” Lydia said. “Nika does her thing. You and Hosakawa are the boogey men in the dark.”
“Sounds like fun,” I said. It did. I love playing the opposing force.
“Yeah well, keep your guard up,” Tanya said. “These fighters are all old, experienced, and will be hopped up and jumpy.”
“Why jumpy?” I asked.
“Because you and Hosakawa are the boogey men,” Lydia said as if I was slow witted. “The Duelist and the Queen’s Chosen who is deadly to all Darkkin, especially the oldest vampires. Rumors have been circulating about a certain fight in China and the oldest vampire ever.”
“Like we all didn’t get our asses kicked,” I said.
“Like all rumors, they miss out on the full truth,” Lydia replied. “The part that is getting the most attention is that
