“Between me and your extra—sized hellhound”—she rubbed Peaches’ head—“we managed to slow it down. I don’t think we can stop it entirely. I knocked car—sized chunks off of it, only to have them reassemble into the golem. Even Peaches’ laser eye beams only punched temporary holes in it.”
“I see,” Monty said. “We will need to take measures.”
“No kidding,” I said. “Maybe we need the entire Council on this one.”
“They won’t be of assistance,” Monty said, and Ursula shook her head. “Not this or any time, I’m afraid. At least, not until your vampire is back in control.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked. “I’ll call Ken. I’m sure he’ll agree to give us a hand. The city is in danger, they’ll have to help.”
“Feel free,” Monty said. “I don’t think you will enjoy the outcome, but don’t let me stop you. By all means, please give them a call.”
I pulled out my phone and dialed Ken.
“Strong,” Ken’s clipped voice answered when the call connected. “Where’s my sister?”
“The last time I saw her, we were in Japan.”
“I know that,” he answered. “I meant after you met. Why isn’t she back here? You’re back, but she isn’t.”
“Have you met your sister? No one tells her what to do or when.”
I heard a string of Japanese words and realized he was cursing. It was surprising that curses sounded like curses in almost every language.
“Why are you calling me?” Ken asked. “I’m trying to keep the Council from imploding—in case you were wondering. I’m a little busy.”
“I’m calling because we have a situation.”
“You have a situation, not we.”
“This concerns the city, Ken. Get your head out of your—”
“You don’t get it, Strong,” Ken said, cutting me off. “You and your agency aren’t part of the Council. We owe you no allegiance. You don’t work for us, and we don’t work for you.”
“This situation concerns the city—the one you live in. We may not work for each other, but—”
“Our goals may have aligned in the past. That ended when your mage tried to destroy the city with Hades. If you have a situation, it didn’t start because of the Dark Council, which means you can solve it without our assistance.”
“Are you being serious right now?”
“Like a sword to the heart, Strong,” Ken said. “You’ve only been alive this long because Michiko cares for you. Right now, that’s the only thing holding back a full-out attack on you and your agency. They fear her—more than they hate you.”
“Well, fuck you very much, Ken. You and the Dark Council.”
“I can’t help you, Strong. The Dark Council has unofficially put you and your people on the KOS list. Do you know what that is?”
“Yes,” I said, surprised, but not really. “Kill on sight.”
“Good, then I don’t have to explain it to you. I shouldn’t even be taking your call. You have some extremely angry Council members who want you dead, repeatedly. Starting with the Weres in the DCE.”
I didn’t bother trying to explain what happened or how there were extenuating circumstances. The bottom line was that we had been headed in this direction for a while now. I just hoped I didn’t have to face Ken on a dark street one night. Only one of us would be walking away from that meeting.
“Thanks for the heads up, Ken,” I said, and meant it. “You’ve always been solid.”
“Listen,” he said, his voice softening slightly. “You want to help your cause and keep the Council in check? Find my sister and get her back here. Until that happens—watch your six.”
He ended the call.
TWENTY-SEVEN
“Kill on sight,” I said as we headed back to the Command Vehicle. “After all the times we helped them?”
“No, after all the times we helped your vampire,” Monty said. “Don’t conflate the two. There are factions within the Council that don’t like you.”
“Don’t…like…me?” I asked, incredulously. “What are you talking about?”
“One second,” Monty said, raising a finger. “Ursula, where is the strongest hub in the network?”
“That would have to be NP-11. It’s the central hub where several points overlap. That would be a beast to take, though. It’s incredibly fortified.”
“Where is it?” Monty asked. “In order to be an appealing target, it would need an immense amount of energy.”
“It’s one of the most visited places in the city and gets nearly one hundred thousand people every New Year’s Eve,” Ursula said. “The hub underneath Times is entered by the police station right in the center of the Square.”
“Times Square? I thought that number was closer to one million?”
“Not unless each of those people were only an inch high. They aren’t getting near one million—don’t believe the hype.”
“You need to inform your people and fortify that position,” Monty said. “That will be Toson’s next target.”
“Only if he wants to die,” Ursula said. “He tries to take that hub, he unleashes all of the city’s defenses. They will come down on him so damn hard his head will spin.”
“Tell me again how you stopped the golem tonight?” Monty asked. “How would you rate the effectiveness of your deterrence?”
“Well, damn. Not effective at all.”
“That was with you, as a null, unleashing your power. The golem is a siphon. What do you think will happen when the city’s ‘defenses’ are unleashed? Those who aren’t nulls will—?”
“Feed that thing,” Ursula said. “This is not good.”
“Not in the least,” Monty agreed. “Please have your people prepare as many fortifications as possible.”
“I’ll get right on it,” Ursula said. “Do you have a timetable?”
“I placed a limiter on the artifact he’s using to control the golem,” Monty said, rubbing his chin. “It will take him a few days to unravel it. Three days. By then, he will be ready to move against the central hub. You have that long to shore up the defenses.”
“That’s not much time. How do you know he won’t try to attack before then?”
“Because Toson isn’t strong enough to do this without the golem. He’s counting on the city sending defenses to feed the creature—”
“Which will siphon
