Dawn's End

She could have danced at the warmth. After being so cold, the heat washing over her from overhead vents was a welcome sensation. "Are we going to see Drew now?"

Carter's eyes flicked to the cameras. They were on video, every breath under constant supervision from endless feeds scattered throughout the compound. His presence here wasn't cause for alarm. Hers might be. He could only hope that Bianca had done her job and bought him a few minutes. "Stay here. Don't move."

"Why?"

Carter leaned close to Megan, so close his lips made contact with her ear. The compound was also wired for sound. He didn't want anyone to overhear what he was about to say. He cupped his hand over her cheek, hiding the movement of his mouth from the video feed. Taking no chances that someone, whoever was monitoring the compound's many feeds would read his lips. "I'm going to get Eric."

Megan stiffened. Carter's breath was a cool breeze tickling her cheek. Eric was a prisoner. From the way he was chained, guarded so heavily, he was a dangerous one. Carter, just one guy, was going to take him out for a walk? "Is that safe?" she whispered back, catching the way his eyes drifted over to a camera mounted to the ceiling, careful that her face was blocked from the lens.

"No."

"Then why...?" She hoped to at least catch a glimpse of Eric once more before he died. If Drew agreed, she'd be there when it happened. Her mouth formed a little O and her eyes widened in realization. Eric wasn't scheduled for execution for two more days. With Carter's stooped position, so close to her face, she saw the hilt of a sword peeking over his shoulder. Carter wasn't taking Eric out for a nature walk. He was springing him out of his cell to kill him. "Why..."

"He is my father," Carter answered.

Megan watched Carter disappear beyond a second steel door. He'd taken an edge of her blanket, ripping through the thick material with a wicked looking fang, jamming it into the door's locking mechanism to hold it open. Nervously, she rubbed her cool hands together. The heat should have thawed her chilled limbs out by now. She was freezing, not from lack of warmth, but from a deep internal cold, as if her heart refused to send blood to her fingers and toes in protest, or in shock.

She understood what was about to happen and how dangerous it was. Carter might be next, if he got caught. He'd said Eric was his father. Eric's death was very personal to Carter. She could see the reluctance and regret in Carter's eyes. He didn't want to kill him. He had no choice. Either way, Eric was going to die. Better death by at the hand of someone who loved him than public execution with strangers as witnesses.

Chapter 82

Bianca felt Carter's power like a whisper on her skin. He moved through the dim, tunnels to appear at her side and not a moment too soon. They had less than ten minutes to get O'Sullivan out of the compound and separate him from his head. Her guards tensed at Carter's arrival. Their twitchy palms rested on hilts of swords, ready to draw. She called them off with a hiss and flash of fang. The guards could enter the cell without raising suspicion. With a nod, she motioned to the palm reader on the wall and received no argument and no hesitation from her men.

With access granted, the electric current infusing the cell door ceased its infernal humming and the door whispered open with a soft click of disengaged magnetic locks. "Now!" she huffed, pushing Carter forward. Her tech man had hacked into the brotherhood's video feeds, but that only bought them a matter of minutes before Toby figured it out and shut them down.

O'Sullivan glanced up curiously at the opening of the door. All day, he'd been antsy. Tempted to peel the skin from his body out of sheer anticipation of ...something. He'd figured on some subconscious level his mind had kept track of he passing of days and nights and today was the day of his execution. Seeing the urgent expression on Carter's face and the graceful frenzy in which he and Bianca worked to free him from his bindings. Eric knew he was right. His children had not disappointed him after all.

Carter carried Eric in his arms as Bianca pressed ahead through the dim tunnels. The Sons had weakened her father to the point where he could not stand on his own. Sickened with the cruel treatment, Bianca didn't mind depriving the Sons of the festivities planned for his death. "We've got five minutes to get out of here."

"Go on ahead, I'll catch up," she said. Bianca pushed Carter, loaded down with the burden of carrying Eric into the dim passageway. The guards, two of her best Guardians watched the procession in dumbfounded amazement. She would not drag her men into the mess that was sure to follow once the Sons realized O'Sullivan had slipped from their grasp. "Sorry boys," she said. Pulling a taser from her belt she shocked them into submission with a bolt. They dropped like stones in a pond. They'd hurt. Curse her name when the effects wore off. At least no blame could be placed on them.

Carter barreled through the network of tunnels. Eric's weight greatly slowed him down. Too weak to stand from weeks of starvation, Carter had been forced to carry him. If they were captured before they reached the exit. He would have to fight their way out. And very likely, in the process of defending the man he meant to kill, they would be slaughtered.

"Hurry!" Bianca shouted to Carter as he moved through the tunnels ahead of her. She had easily managed to track his scent and catch up. With Eric's additional weight, Carter was too slow. They were fifty yards from the magnetic doors that made the east exit when the alarms sounded. "Shit!" Pushing at Carter's back, she shoved him and his burden into the alcove just before the door ground to a halt. Carter had thought of this beforehand and had jammed the locks with a piece of something to prevent the doors from trapping them inside of the compound. Trapped in the alcove wasn't much better, but at least they only had one door to worry about.

"What the hell!" Bianca exclaimed at the presence of a human girl huddled against the far wall of the alcove.

"Never mind her. Get us the hell out of here!" Carter huffed, adjusting Eric's weight in his arms.

O'Sullivan awoke from his hunger dazed state by the jarring of his body in Carter's arms and Bianca's panicked voice, shouting into her cell phone. The girl's scent was maddening. Too bad he didn't have time to enjoy one last morsel before he met the Grim Reaper. He knew his children would come through for him. He admired their bravery in this, the final moments of his...and probably, their lives.

He was amazed that their careful planning had gotten them as far as it had. Nobody ever had escaped the Sons and survived to tell the tale. He should have spared their lives and ordered them not to bother with him. He was a dead man either way. It was a small consolation that he would have company in hell. No doubt Carter would find it a fitting and ironic fate for the three of them.

"Need that power outage NOW!" Bianca shouted into her cell phone. Luckily, the Sons hadn't managed to jam her signal yet. They were effectively pinned in an alcove, trapped between going back into the compound to find another way out and a steel door, effectively sealed shut, blocking their escape to the outside. "You'll have about fifteen seconds once the power goes out to get that door open and get us the hell out of here before the generators kick in." She didn't bother with telling Carter what would happen if he failed or if her Guardians didn't manage to knock out the power. They were dead.

There was a soft hum and flickering of light before darkness engulfed the alcove. Carter dropped Eric onto the floor and wrestled with the door. His fingers scraped against the slick metal surface grappling to slide the door open wide enough for them to escape. The door moved slowly, inching free. With a space to slide his fingers through, Carter pushed with all his strength. Bianca crouched beneath him, adding the force of her muscles to pushing the door open.

Megan bit her bottom lip. In the darkness, she couldn't see a thing except for the outline of Carter and the woman's heads silhouetted by a faint sliver of moonlight from the gap in the door. She was afraid. Eric was on the floor in a heap, unbound. With the two vampires occupied with their escape, she might as well be ringing the dinner bell. Carter had said Eric was dangerous and untrustworthy. He might look weak and helpless. But, appearances were deceiving. "God, hurry!"

The door gave with a sickening whine of gears and metal grating against metal. Eric lay in a heap exactly where Carter had put him. His eyes were wide with the temptation of human flesh so close at hand and with realization of the danger his escape had placed them all in.

Finally, Bianca and he managed to force the door open wide enough for them to pass. Carter scooped Eric up into his arms, balancing the weight over his right shoulder. "Grab the girl!" He shouted at Bianca as he wiggled through the narrow space between the door and the unyielding encasement of rock.

Bianca rolled her eyes at Carter's demand and snatched up the girl, tossing her over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Maybe the girl was take out, one last meal before dying? "Shut up," she barked at the girl's protesting gasp. Gracefully, she slid through the narrow space and followed Carter into the snow.

Given the narrow path and sloping terrain, she knew exactly where he was going. At this point, she had no doubts that this was where things were headed. With her Guardians in the woods and the Sons on their heels, the bluffs were a perfect location for first blood to be drawn and final blows to be delivered.

Megan's cheek bounced against the woman's perfect butt cheek. The snow-covered ground was a rush of uneven white. Flying past at a dizzying speed that left her nauseated. The woman wore designer boots with spiked heels. Not exactly made for the rough terrain, but more for the urban combat arena of a shopping mall. It would be a shame to puke all over them. She hazarded a glance up, straining to lift her head against the bumping of the woman's rapid footfalls. Her eyes met Eric's. He dangled from Carter's shoulder, bouncing every bit as wildly from as she did. A tentative hand reached out, extending his fingers to her. She stretched her arm, her fingertips brushing Eric's for a brief second, before Carter sped ahead of them.

Chapter 83

At the sounding of the alarm, Cole tucked Maggie away in a safe place. She was too newly born to go out without close supervision. He suited up in his black leathers, bladed and ready for a fight. Rachael's cross gleamed in the dim light from its leather thong around his neck. "What the fuck happened?" he asked John Mark. Striding in wide paces beside his mentor they rushed down the corridor to join the warriors.

"O'Sullivan is out." John Mark spat between curses, filling Cole in on the details. The dazed but alive guards at O'Sullivan's cell and the efficient way the video feeds had been manipulated and the sudden power outage meant one thing, Carter hadn't acted alone. He'd had help. Bianca's act of treason could bring the Sons to war against the Guardians.

"Son of a bitch," Cole cursed, tightening his hold on the hilt strapped to his hip. He had been itching to get into a fight with the enemy. He spent months training and thought he was prepared to prove himself. He was wrong. He didn't want to kill anybody. At zero hour with the enemy in the camp was not the time for self-doubt. He'd have to do what he had to do.

Toby's fingers flew over the keyboard as he rerouted power from the generators to the compound's critical operating systems. Video and audio feeds were down. Right now, he had enough trying to get emergency lighting and computer control back on line to worry about what had happened to AV surveillance systems. The Guardians knew the lay out of critical ops systems well enough to sabotage the complicated circuitry. Bianca's men had done a nice job of it too. As well they should. He had trained them. But, he hadn't taught them all that he knew.

Drew suited up for battle. He had fostered the aching suspicion in his bones long before O'Sullivan ever came into his care that one day, this fight would come. The Guardians didn't come over into this life voluntarily. Yet, he'd expected, no demanded, the same commitment from them that he did from the Sons. It was unfair, maybe, but necessary. The brief rap of knuckles on his doorframe interrupted his train of thought. "Patrick has a lead on them." Dane, said with a grim expression that matched his own.

"The bluffs," Drew said. Dane confirmed with a sharp nod of his head. The two exchanged a meaningful glance. Drew hoped to keep both the Guardians and the Brothers out of war. But, if he couldn't, the brothers had one another's backs.

Shayla awoke to the jostling of the bed. "What's going on?" she asked sleepily. Tracker was on his feet, prickling with the power of his wolf.

Tracker answered. His voice was gruff with his wolf so close to the surface. "Nothing. Go back to sleep." He bent to press a gentle kiss to Shayla's forehead. Not bothering to dress, he pulled the door closed behind him.

Awake, she blinked at the darkness. Shivering at the prickles of energy that ran along her arms from her mate's power. The haunting echo of wolf song pierced the stillness of the night. The howl was a call of summoning. Warnings of danger crept into the corners of her mind. "Carter," she whispered. She had no link to him. The bond had been broken. But, she sensed he was the cause for the summoning cry of the wolves. She threw back the covers and pulled on a pair of jeans crumpled at the foot of the bed. Determined, Shayla had no intention of letting Carter face danger alone.

Make up sex was the best. After Cindy's shift at the bar, they went straight back to her place and got down to business. Robert couldn't believe that he'd managed to get a whole day to himself without his son suddenly popping up on the wings of some crisis or some damned vision filling his head. This was as close to normal as he'd been in a long, long time. He stretched out on the bed, arms folded under his head and feet crossed at the ankles in a position of utter relaxation and wondered how much longer his luck would hold out. The buzzing of the cell phone, the ring tone one he hoped he never heard, told him, his period of grace had just run out.

He fumbled along the nightstand and grabbed the buzzing phone. The digital display lit up in a hazy greenish electronic glow. 911 flashed across the screen. Not good. Grating his teeth and clenching his jaw, he threw the covers back and felt along the floor for his clothes.

Cindy rolled over in the bed. The incessant buzzing of a cell phone and Robert's muttered curse jarred her out of a most pleasant dream. So much for wake up sex in the morning, she thought, sighing heavily. "What's up?"

Robert buttoned his jeans. He hadn't bothered to find his boxers and carefully zipped up. His buddy was just getting some action and he wasn't about to get put out of commission by a careless tug on his zipper. "Something is going on at the compound." Fishing through the covers, he found his t-shirt buried in a heap of blankets. "I've gotta go," he said.

"Not good," Cindy replied. She didn't bother trying to find her abandoned clothes from yesterday. Blinking at the sudden infusion of light from the lamp she turned on, she went to the closet. "I'll drive you."

"No, you don't have to get up. I don't want to drag you out in the snow. Stay here where it's warm." Robert hopped on one foot, tugging on his boots. His socks were a lost cause and he didn't have time to search for them. Besides, forgotten boxers and socks gave him an excuse to come back later.

Cindy snorted at Robert's chivalry. "I know every shortcut and back road to the compound. It'll be faster if I drive."

Robert admired Cindy's tenacity. She was already in the kitchen, turning lights on as she went, gathering up her purse, coat, and keys. Her truck rumbled to life with a flick of the automatic starter. If he were in her position and somebody offered him a pass to stay home out of the cold and out of trouble's path. He would have taken it.

He gave her ponytail a gentle tug as he sidled behind her. She was calm, cool, and collected. He probably looked like an unmade bed, rumpled and disheveled. Shaking off the last bit of sleepiness, bracing for the cold, he gave her an appreciative squeeze. He had wondered how well she would accept his life, steeped in the abnormal as it was. If her actions tonight were a sign of things to come, they were going to be just fine. "Let's go."

Chapter 84

Megan dropped to her knees, landing with an unceremonious plop in the snow at the woman's feet. Guessing now was not the time for introductions, considering the woman looked like she'd rather eat her than learn the name of her passenger, Megan let it go. The wind was much more violent without the trees to tame the wild gusts. Cold bit through her coat. Snow swirled, tousled by the howling gale, across the flat plane. She couldn't help shivering and her teeth chattering from the freezing winds.

O'Sullivan sucked in a deep breath of air. The frosty, minted smell of snow mingled with thick essence of pine and musky scent of wild swirling in his nostrils. This was the first fresh breath of air he had taken in weeks. Too bad, it was meant to be his last. He gazed in wonder, face pointed up to the sky, at the world. Soft spatters of snow fell down from the hazy, black winter sky onto his parched lips. He licked the cold wetness with the tip of his tongue. The taste was bitter and harsh, tainted by chemicals, and polluted from the byproducts of humanity. The tang of progress reminded him of how much time had passed and how little was left. Weakened even more by the urgency of his escape, he rolled to his knees and struggled to remain erect.

Carter looked around the bluffs. His vision burned through the darkness. The woods were silent and still. He couldn't see anyone in the dark cover of the trees. But, bolts of otherworldly energy danced across his skin from the proximity of the brothers. They weren't here yet, but they were close. He was out of time. The blade hissed against its leather sheath strapped to his back as he drew it free. "Stand. Look me in the eye one last time, Father."

"Do it and be done!" Eric hissed. His skin crawled at the sound of the metallic whisper of steel across leather as Carter drew his blade. The cold of snow bit through the tattered remnants of his slacks. A shiver ripped through his body, as if the grave had blown its frozen breath over his flesh in eagerness for its prize. Out of all the ways he had imagined his end. Even entertaining thoughts that Carter would be the one to send him to hell, he had never envisioned that he'd go down willingly, on bent knee, and too weak to bear his own weight.

Bianca's eyes scanned the tree line. There was nothing visible in the distance, but the black of night and the dizzying fall of snow driven by arctic gusts of wind. She shivered, not from the cold, but from the force of energy, drawing nearer on silent, unseen feet. She could feel Michael's presence and the press of the combined power from the Guardians, drawing close, and so much closer by the second. "We haven't got time for this!" she hissed.

Carter gripped the carved obsidian hilt of his sword with his fist. The blade had been a gift. Many centuries ago when he was much more innocent and times were very different Eric had presented him with the sword. The engraved blade gleamed with the wet flakes of snow, falling from the heavens. The dampness might as well have been his tears for all the anguish he felt.