“But they all know this is training, right?” I asked.
“Yes, but it’s training with the individuals who are deadliest to vampires,” Tanya said.
“Shouldn’t they be concentrating on Nika’s mind powers?” I asked, nodding toward the powerful telepath.
“Yes, so this will be an education for them,” Nika said, smiling a slightly wicked smile.
“The point is,” Tanya said, “don’t let your guard down for an instant.”
“Got it.”
I almost did get it—like five times over the next two days. When Lydia said they were jumpy about facing the Duelist and myself, she was sugarcoating it. I almost got stabbed twice, slashed on each leg, and just barely blocked a sword strike that would have decapitated me if it had landed. Hosakawa even came close to injury two times, both uncontrolled strikes by overanxious fighters.
The Guardians paid for that fear, as Nika was able to push past the protective wards on the Declan-supplied amulets we issued and take control of those fighters who let their fear of the so-called boogeymen get the best of them. She then turned them against their teammates.
We decided we needed to run each team through at least two times and even three if they had particular issues. It made for long nights, but I’m not going to lie… it was a blast. Hunting experienced vampire warriors in the massive grain terminal while trying to make sure no one ended up dead or horrifically injured was a challenge for even the deadly Grim. It would have been easier to fight them to the death as opposed to holding back to avoid injury to them and protect against injury to me. My already sky-high calorie intake shot through the stratosphere. Remy calculated that at the end of the first week, I had consumed close to one hundred and fifty thousand calories, or the equivalent daily consumption of about seventy people. But our people learned to deal with both the awful mind pressure of a super telepath and their fear of the two scariest fighters in the Coven.
Each team was critiqued by Tanya, Lydia, and at least one of the Elders, sometimes two. With every team going through two or three times, they all learned a ton, especially as Nika became more adept at copying the tremendous mind powers of the Vorsook. I learned a lot too, as Grim honed our skills at hunting skillful, well-trained vampires in enclosed spaces in absolute darkness. And because Declan was still in Vermont, it was up to Tanya and me to coordinate the elemental help that recharged Nika’s special amulet, which in turn allowed her to ratchet up her formidable powers night after night. And as both of Declan’s elementals were with him in Vermont, we needed to use the locals. With Declan’s help on a conference call, Tanya and I were able to convince the smaller of the two Big Apple elementals to give the Fairie-grown Rowan wood necklace a boost. Interestingly, it was Mack who oversaw the actual recharge spell.
“Much of witchcraft is simply setting up a method of focusing magic energy,” Mack explained as he drew runes around the arc of a chalked circle enclosing a pentagram. Nika’s amulet sat at the exact center of the drawing.
We were in the lowest basement of the Tower, the chalked diagrams on the smooth concrete floor. All three Elders, Tanya, Nika, Lydia, Jetta, and I all watched as Mack confidently set up what he called a charging array.
“There, now one or both of you just need to ask the elemental underneath us to direct its thoughts at the array,” he said, like it was as easy as plugging in a cell phone.
“How do we convey where and what the diagram is?” I asked after a quick glance at Tanya, who looked equally mystified.
“You don’t have to. The diagram will be the easiest thing for the elemental to sense in this whole building. Think of it like a glowing neon sign in an otherwise dark bar window,” he replied. “Just ask it to direct its attention up here and send a small tendril of power to energize it.”
“Easy for you to say,” I muttered. I glanced again at Tanya, but she waved for me to do it. She was far less comfortable than I was with elementals.
“Here goes nothing?” I said, closing my eyes and trying to open my mind to the elementals underneath us.
It took a few moments to sink into the right frame of mind, or rather I should say, mindlessness. But I suddenly became aware of a deep, deep humming, more vibration than sound. As I concentrated on it, the feeling split into two, one deeper, slower, and more powerful than the other. I moved my attention to the lesser of the two and suddenly sensed something focusing back my way, like a pair of giant eyes had just opened and blinked at me. I pictured Declan and Stacia in my mind, interacting with me, talking about the elementals under the city. I thought about the feelings I had had interacting with Robbie, the exact sensation of his particular infrasound vibrations and the communications I had practiced with him.
The presence directed more attention my way and the power of its sendings gave me an instant headache. Then I opened my eyes and looked at the arcane diagram that Mack had drawn, picturing Declan asking it for help.
The searchlight of its will flicked away from me and then back. I got an impression of mild confusion. I replayed my mental image of Declan, the diagram, and of a pulse of power rising from the deep earth to energize the array. Comprehension flooded my mind. Then agreement.
“Oh shit!” I said. “Back up!”
The vampires moved instantly, Lydia pulling Jetta and Tanya grabbing Mack. Their speed was none too fast, as the array suddenly flared like it was being backlit by a welding torch.
Every hair on our heads stood up like all
