Chapter 8 Kal
I’m going to be a father, Kal thought. It was all he could think about when he woke up the next morning, naked in Tess’s bed with his arms around her.
For a moment, he wondered if that had only been a dream.
He had plenty to drink at the party. Mindy insisted on a drinking contest among the Vampyren men to test their constitutions.
Kal had only been too happy to oblige, hard liquor still being a novelty among his kind.
But then he remembered how Tess hadn’t had a thing to drink which was definitely a trait among pregnant human women. He knew that much by now.
He felt Tess stir and kissed her hair. “Are you having a baby?” He said softly. “Or did I dream that?”
“No,” she said, and for a moment his stomach sank to the floor. Then she rolled over to face him, looking very sly. “ We’rehaving a baby.”
He snorted at that and kissed her forehead before climbing over her to get to the bathroom and brush his teeth.
He was feeling optimistic about things. In the bleary haze of the morning, the idea of some big battle for the very soul of, perhaps, the whole planet seemed like a distant dream.
It felt as if everything would be fine just because he was in love with a good woman, finding his way among the humans, and he would soon be a father.
He cleaned up and dressed and tied up his hair and found himself humming as he walked out of the bathroom to find Tess still in her pajamas and at work at her laptop on the bed.
“I’m going to get breakfast,” he declared. He had managed to get the jump on her that morning. He wondered if she was rubbing off on him.
“Can you bring me breakfast?” She asked, looking hopeful. “I don’t feel like going down…”
“Sure,” he said. “What do you want?”
“You know what I like?” She said with a wave of her hand.
Kal nodded and left her with a kiss. Again, he was humming.
Vampyren actually did hum sometimes. It wasn’t an entirely human habit although there was seldom a melody to it when they did and now Kal found himself humming a song he’d heard at the party the night before which had playedseveraltimes and which all the humans had been very excited about and sung along to, especially once they were a bit drunk.
“Just a small-town girl,” Kal sang softly under his breath, as he jogged down the stairs and outside. “Livin’ in a lonely world…”
Outside, things seemed very quiet, and maybe even a little eerie.
But it was early yet and Kal suspected most people on campus had slept in after their big party.
The cafeteria had not been totally put back together yet but breakfast was being served anyway and Kal grabbed himself a blood pack and loaded up a plate with eggs, toast, and whatever else he saw that Tess would like although there was no meat that morning.
He was heading back to the dorm when he heard the squeal of tires and squinted, seeing the truck that had parked haphazardly in the closest parking lot.
A young human man who looked too thin, and a bit rung out, jumped out of the truck and took off running across campus, though he did not seem like he quite knew where to go and when he saw Kal, he came tearing towards him.
Kal braced himself, standing there awkwardly with his blood pack and breakfast for his girlfriend, and the boy ran straight to him, stopping short once he was close and then catching his breath. “Are you… are you with…” He seemed pained. “I’m a messenger um… from Loren? I have news from Loren!”
“Tell me what it is,” Kal said, in a tone that brooked no argument.
The courier looked around as if searching for permission from a second source and finally stepped closer to Kal, speaking quietly.
“His man on the inside, with the military leadership… Word is they’re attackinghereas soon as tonight.
He said you’ve got to evacuate or… ready yourselves.
Whatever you can do. They’ve got over a thousand men!
Loren said he’s coming here in...” The kid checked his watch and said, “Two hours. He’s bringing men to join you. ”
Kal took it in. It was not surprising, but he’d hoped to have just a little more time before he had to fight again. “Is there anything else?” He said.
“No,” the courier said. He looked terrified himself.
Kal slapped the kid’s shoulder and said, “Thank you. Why don’t you go to the cafeteria and get some breakfast before you go back? You look like you haven’t eaten in a year.”
“Yes, sir,” the kid mumbled and trotted off to the cafeteria behind him.
Kal took a deep breath, absorbing the information.
He did not know exactly what the plan would be, only that they needed to move fast. Loren was bringing more men, and that was good.
They should have a strategy by the time he arrived.
Kal picked up his feet and marched back to the dorm, still carrying the blood and food.
He walked into Tess’s room and shut her door. She looked up with a smile as he handed her the plate but her expression darkened when she saw his grim face. “What is it?”
“Messenger just arrived from Loren,” Kal said. He bit through the perforated hole in his blood bag and took a long drink. “Military is attacking tonight with a thousand men. Loren’s going to be here in a couple of hours.”
“Fuck,” Tess said simply.
Kal pointed behind him and said, “Do you think Mark’s in Crystal’s room?”
Tess nodded and Kal took another drink and ended up draining the bag in one go.
He was hungrier than he thought, but it was also the prospect of a battle that was perhaps subconsciously giving him the old bloodlust, though it had never been as strong within him like most men he’d known.
He tossed the empty bag in the waste bin and glanced at Tess, a little uncertain, before he stalked out of the room.
Tess jumped up, and he heard her scrambling to change clothes and ready herself for a very serious day as he went out and marched down the hall to Crystal’s dorm.
He pounded on the door and a slightly hungover looking Crystal answered, but seeing Kal’s face she raised her eyebrows. “Kal?”
“The attack is coming tonight,” Kal said calmly. “Where’s Mark?”
Mark was in the bathroom and when Crystal called for him, he came hopping out in jeans and no shirt, his hair loose about his shoulders.
He looked more human than Kal had ever seen him.
He was a father himself and he had a child out there that he and his mate never got to see.
Kal’s hearts swelled in his chest. He wanted that future he’d talked about with Tess and he wanted his brother and Crystal to be there too, maybe living close by.
Their kids could play together. All they had to do wassurviveand then put together a world their kids could live in.
“What is it?” Mark said.
“It’s happening tonight,” Kal said simply. “They’re attacking tonight and Loren is on his way now.”
Mark stared at him, still buttoning his jeans. “We should take the fight there,” Mark said as if it were obvious. Perhaps it was. “Council headquarters. It’s downtown. More places to hide. We’ll need that. It’s to our advantage. We’re going to have to be sneaky as hell.”
“Guerilla warfare,” Crystal said.
“Yes,” Mark said nodding. To Kal, he said, “We’ll meet in the cafeteria.
Gather our kind and any of the humans with military experience.
Crystal has a list…” He waved his hand and Crystal dashed to the pile of papers, digging out a piece of notebook paper with names on it and handing it to Kal.
“I planned that far, anyway. Ten minutes.”
“Good thinking,” Kal said with a nod. “I’ll round them up.”
Crystal was hopping toward him on one foot as she pulled on a shoe and said, “I’ll help you!”
* * *
Danton had detailedmaps of downtown and they ended up spread out on one of the big tables in the cafeteria as they all gathered around.
The residents of Urbana with less military experience sat nearby watching the meeting on military strategy go down.
Everyone had known the fight was coming.
It was what they’d all signed up for at the Council meeting that had formed a new government.
But it was real now. Kal could see the slight panic written on their faces; the humans because maybe they hadn’t experienced battle before and the Vampyrens because they’d be fighting their own kind. Kal felt for all of them.
“I think we should go straight to the Council HQ,” Danton said. “Base everything from there. The place is a fortress.”
“But we hide around the city,” Mark said quickly.
“Guerilla warfare, like Crystal said. It may not be what we’re used to.
Vampyren don’t fight that way. But that’s good.
We’ll take them by surprise. This campus would be a more traditional battlefield but in the middle of downtown, it will be chaos. ”
Kal chewed his lip and thought of what the messenger had said.
The military was counting on attackingthemtonight, here on the campus.
“They’re going to come here first,” Kal said.
“It will give us more time. But also, we should set up some traps. Make it seem as if we’re here.
Set some bombs or something similar. Do some damage before we’ve begun. ”
A slow smile spread on Mark’s face and he thumped his brother on the back. “That’s a great idea.”
“I can set that up for you,” Mara said, appearing between Danton and Alek. She had been on the list of humans with military service. She didn’t look concerned about the upcoming battle, standing there casually, drinking her coffee. “Explosives are my specialty.”
“Job is yours,” Mark said. Mara looked a little too excited about that, Kal thought. But that was probably for the best.