Just for good measure, Marius had Shayna flip the switch once more. He was glad he did, because a new set of vampires flew back into the cavern, probably on Quill’s orders. But each headed straight back out when the vibrations hit the air.
Marius let the weapon run for a full minute, then with Shayna in one arm and his hand gripping the hook on the top of the weapon with the other, he signaled for her to shut it down.
As soon as she flipped the switch, he hauled both Shayna and the weapon into altered flight and headed west, back to Egypt.
* * *
As Marius approached the Pharaoh Cavern system, he sensed that Gabriel, who owned the system, had added a new layer of security disguises. Despite his increased level of power, Marius could barely feel the presence of the caves below even though at least five thousand vampires lived there.
The weapon was heavy and he needed to set the damn thing on the ground, but he wasn’t about to do that outside a well-protected cave. Daniel would no doubt have sent his men in pursuit; they could easily be following by only a minute o
r so.
Still in altered flight, he levitated above the system and pushed hard to reach Gabriel telepathically. Can you hear me, Gabriel?
Marius! Where are you?
Above the Pharaoh system. I’ve got the last extinction weapon with me, and Shayna.
A split second later an inbound path opened up and he slipped through. He could feel the disguise close up behind him equally fast. Gabriel, his surrogate father and the primary reason Marius had even one brain cell intact, was an Ancestral of tremendous power.
Marius penetrated a partially cleared-out cavern of immense size and a few remaining stalactites. As he set the weapon down, he saw the charred, melted remains of several pieces of machinery, no doubt the detritus of several similar weapons.
He released Shayna and she stepped off his foot, glancing around. “Are these what I think they are?”
“Yep.”
The next moment Gabriel arrived with a security team of a couple dozen men. The latter spread out around the perimeter, daggers and chains drawn.
Gabriel grabbed his shoulders and hauled him into a quick, hard embrace. “How the hell are you, son?”
Gabriel represented everything good in this world as well as the hoped-for future of the race.
“I’m better now that we got the weapon. But listen, we left behind about two hundred women in the Dark Cave system. Is there any chance you have a security team that could try to get them out?” He then outlined how the battle had gone and that, in addition to the women, they’d find fifty dead vampires.
He glanced at Shayna for a penetrating moment, then back to Marius. “I’ll take care of this right now.” He drew his phone from the depths of the long, woven robe he wore and made a call. He spoke quietly and when he was done he nodded to Marius. “They’re on the way.”
“How? Don’t you need the location?”
Gabriel glanced at Shayna. “I picked it up from your woman, sort of an afterimage of the entire journey. I’ll keep you informed.”
Marius stared at him for a long moment. Gabriel had always kept his cards close to the vest and he suspected that the man he called his surrogate father had a number of quiet ways he’d been working to undermine Daniel. That he had the power to simply order one of his teams, over the phone, back to the Dark Dave system, and to be so confident of success, gave Marius a hope he hadn’t had in a long time.
He nodded to Gabriel, then gestured to the weapon. “I’m hoping this is it, the last of the experiments from the 1950s.
“But let me introduce you to the woman who made this possible. Gabriel, this is Shayna Prentiss from Seattle. Shayna, this is Gabriel, one of the leaders of our world, though currently lying low.”
Shayna extended her hand and Gabriel took it in both of his. “Welcome to the Pharaoh system. From the depths of my soul, thank you for your willingness to help us. My people will sing songs about your sacrifice for years to come.”
“That’s very kind, but it hardly feels like a sacrifice. More like a mission.”
Gabriel smiled. “Yes, it was that. Whatever brought you here and gave you the courage to face so much horror, I’m grateful. And this last one, gaining control of the weapon, has saved our people an enormous amount of suffering.”
“I saw it in operation, in a vision. It was horrible.”
Marius saw the shadow cross over Shayna’s face and knew she was thinking about the female vampires in the cage who had perished. He quickly slid an arm around her waist.
Gabriel grew very solemn, his lips pressed into a grim line. “Visions of any kind can be a difficult burden to bear. I hope in time that what you saw will be eased from your memories.”