INCURSION: Faeblade (Knight's Bane Trilogy Book 2) Read online

  As the second vampire turned away from the sniper and walked toward the back edge, the agent placed the crosshairs over the head of the first creature. Letting out his breath halfway, he paused, then his finger twitched slightly. The muffled "thump" of the high-powered round exiting the suppressed barrel was lost as the supersonic bullet crossed the street in a fraction of a second and slammed into the head of the vampire. The head disappeared in a fine spray of ichor.

  As the sniper cycled the bolt, the second creature turned around and looked to where its partner was crumpled and starting to melt away. Realization dawned for the creature as Little G's finger twitched again, and the head of the second vampire exploded. The sniper waited for a few more seconds for any signs of movement or any additional roof targets.

  The sniper keyed his mic to report in, "Ghost, this is Little G. Two critters on the roof. Both neutralized. Holding position." The sniper heard his boss reply with, "Copy."

  Inside the nest area, Doc and Ghost had begun the process of cleaning up the aftermath of their attack. Vampire heads were collected and bagged. Human familiars were tagged and recorded for later. And any trace of the unusual or illicit nature of the creatures was vigorously scrubbed from the scene.

  Ghost told Do-Right to guard the door into the office area and sent Heavy to collect the heads and clean up the outer offices. Boomer glanced through paperwork and office decor, making sure that the nature of the creatures could not be found. She also spent a few moments opening each computer and ripping its drive right out of the casings. She knew that Spooky would enjoy digging through the information.

  In the nest, Ghost reached the raised bed in the center. He gently searched the victim's body for identification and then looked at the master vampire. Puzzled, he looked closer, as it still seemed to sparkle. As he picked the head up, the tall fed started chuckling. After the stress and tension of the operation, the emotional trickle quickly became a flood, and the chuckles turned into laughs, and the laughs soon became great guffaws, only eventually running out of steam as the adrenaline dissipated.

  Ghost looked up to see Doc staring at him. He wiped a tear from his eyes and grinned. As he held up the head of the vampire, he said, "Now we know why it sparkled."

  Boomer and Heavy walked in to find the two agents trying to suppress another round of raucous laughter.

  4

  DEBRIEF

  SECTION 28 HEADQUARTERS, LANGLEY, VIRGINIA

  "And why was the vampire sparkling, Mister Vanhof?"

  The speaker sat at a nondescript desk in a sparsely furnished office. The man was likely around forty years old and of Native American descent and had close-cropped black hair and black eyes hidden behind small reading glasses. His dark gray pinstripe suit, white shirt, and black tie marked him as a middle manager, while his office, battle-scarred surplus desk, and less-than-comfortable visitors' chairs revealed that he was a government functionary.

  Supervising Agent James Smith looked at the tall, lanky man and the middle-aged woman sitting in the visitors chairs in front of him. Smith noticed a slight smile play over the lips of his senior agent. The man looked at the woman next to him and they both chuckled.

  Ghost sat sprawled in one of the visitor's chairs. "Glitter. Plain old glitter." His grin hinted at the outright laughter inside him, and he continued, "It was a damn rave, after all. The master's victim had glitter all over her body, and the stuff must have rubbed off on its face."

  Agent Smith let out a dry chuckle, "I'm sure Heavy had a few words to say about that."

  Doc spoke up, her smile reaching her eyes, "He apologized afterward. I think he actually blushed when he realized I was there."

  Smith nodded, then looked down at the file in front of him. He looked back at the duo in front of him, and his expression became serious. "What about Miss Callahan? How did she do? Was she able to maintain control?"

  Doc answered him, reading from some notes as she did. "Yes, sir. Boomer kept it under control, with little sign of stress at all. She was just as efficient with her shotgun as she has been in the past. Frankly, I expected she would have trouble once we hit the nest. She kept it together the entire mission."

  Smith changed subjects, "What about the follow-up? Any fallout from the locals or media?"

  Ghost shook his head. "The locals are telling the media that the raid was an effort to take down one of the largest suppliers in Ecstasy in the area." The Knightmare team leader continued, "Any videos of us have been scrubbed or corrupted by Spooky, and even the conspiracy sites are silent on this one so far.

  "On the plus side, this master actually was one of the biggest suppliers of 'Ex', so that worked out. We also helped expose two very dirty vice cops, and they should head to trial shortly. As far as we can tell, we were able to stop this master before she could spawn any more vamps that night, and only two victims were lost to the vamps before we arrived. The whole Norfolk area should be much safer now that she is gone."

  Smith looked thoughtful. He nodded, as if deciding an important question. He looked at the file again and asked, "Anything else?" The two agents in front of him shook their heads, and Smith continued, "Good. We'll consider the mission successfully closed. If I or the Auditors have questions, I'll let you know."

  The supervising agent steepled his fingers in front of his chest, a move that Ghost recognized meant that he was about to send them into harms way again. The team leader waited for his boss to brief him.

  Smith set aside the previous mission file and picked up another one sitting in front of him. He opened it up and looked at the first page. He looked directly at Ghost and spoke, "We have just received word of another incursion-class event. This one is not something that your team has dealt with before, but we have to send someone to handle the incursion, and you guys are currently the only team available for active deployment. Is your team up for another one so soon?"

  Ghost looked at Doc, his second-in-command. He turned back to his boss and cleared his throat, "I don't know boss. We haven't had time to really debrief from this mission, and I wanted Doc to work with Boomer some more before things got dicey. What about the other teams?"

  "They are unavailable." Smith's tone was flat, and brooked no argument. "Mister Cassiday just brought Knightsdawn back from San Antonio, and they are down with four agents in the hospital and one in the morgue. Apparently this Chupacabra had pups. Knightfall is still in training. While Miss Watkins is bringing them along quite rapidly, they are not ready for a full mission yet. When you consider their rather unique makeup, I cannot afford to send them out on this mission. Frankly, you are the only agents I have available.

  "I would love to give you time to debrief and decompress, but a situation has developed that will require Section 28 presence, and I trust your team will be able to accomplish the mission."

  Ghost frowned and grew quiet. Doc spoke up, "What color is this mission classified as? Is there any way to postpone it?"

  Smith shook his head as he answered, "I'm afraid not. This is currently classified as a Priority: Red mission, with the potential to bump to Ultra-Red if we wait too long. We are not in control over the timetable on this one. Certain... external forces control the timing. I need your team ready for briefing tomorrow morning at oh-eight-hundred. I've reserved Briefing Room E-1. You will have time after the brief to pack and prep."

  Ghost frowned, but acquiesced. "We'll have them ready. I'll debrief them informally tonight. If there is anything raised, we'll get it sorted tomorrow." He and Doc stood to leave.

  As they were leaving, Smith said, "Tell your team I said, 'Great job.' See you in the morning."

  As Ghost and Doc walked back to the team's apartment block, they prepared a list of their discussion topics at debrief around the dinner table that night.

  AT EIGHT O'CLOCK the next morning, team Knightmare walked into the briefing room. Ten plush chairs were arranged in rows of five, with the back row sitting higher than the front so those seated there could see the raised da
is and large video screen behind the presenter. Each chair was a soft leather recliner with comfortable padding and a swivel out desk available for taking notes. Attached to the side of each chair were small stands with drink holders. In the front of the room, on the dais stood a clear lectern, with audio and video hookups in abundance. Two dark leather chairs sat off to the side of the dais, out of the way so they did not interfere with the presentation.

  Sitting in the chairs were two men, only one of whom was familiar to the team. Agent Smith sat conversing with the man on his right. The other man was dressed in an olive green uniform with unfamiliar buttons and insignia adorning it. The man had a pale face that only hard living kept from being round. Alert emerald eyes tracked the team as they took their seats. His close-cropped military hair cut did nothing to hide the gray spread through the dark red hair, and his clean-shaven face was pale.

  At precisely one minute after eight, Smith stood up and approached the lectern. He smiled and began, "Ladies and gentlemen, congratulations on a successful mission. We have received a thank-you note from the police chief of Newport News for our assistance in the overall mission. I really wish I could give you some time off, but we have a new mission you will begin this afternoon.

  "At approximately ten o'clock last Friday night, a private club in Grand Rapids, Michigan, was attacked. The vicious attack lasted precisely six minutes and forty-three seconds and, despite a heavily armed response, killed everyone in the club. There were thirty-five victims in this attack, and the media has yet to be told about it."

  Smith could tell that he had everyone's attention. He continued, "The victims in this brutal slaughter were shot or stabbed multiple times. The attackers were captured on video, and used automatic weapons and swords. They were dressed in full tactical gear with the word 'police' stenciled across the back, and the uniforms looked remarkably like ours."

  By this time the murmurs were becoming audible. Smith raised his hands for silence. "Someone is pretending to be us, and that pisses me off. They are trying to set us up, and we need to find out why."

  Spooky raised his hand slightly. "How has a slaughter like this not been in the media? It's not even on the usual conspiracy websites." The electronics specialist was pointing to the screen on his wrist computer as he spoke.

  "Because the victims weren't human." Smith paused a moment to let that sink. "Yes. I said they were not human. None of the victims were human, strictly speaking. You are going in because the victims were aes sídhe." The DHS agent pronounced it as "ace sheeth-uh." He continued, "Better known as fairies, or the fae. This private club was one of their local hangouts, and someone slaughtered every last fae in the club. Whoever it was, knew that regular weapons aren't effective. The fae are susceptible to cold-forged iron or steel weapons. All the rounds recovered were specialized steel bullets, each inscribed with a special script of banishment. Each cut showed evidence of a cold-forged iron burn."

  Heavy had been trying to listen to the briefing, but his mind was wandering, going back to how he joined the team. Arthur "Heavy" Murphy grew up in the Washington D.C. area and had been a gangbanger from his early years. Busted with a stolen vehicle at age eighteen, he had been given the choice of enlistment or jail.

  Arthur had excelled at Army life, and had applied for airborne training. Once completed, he had been posted to the 82nd Airborne, and had quickly risen to squad leader, then eventually to Staff Sergeant. His natural leadership and easygoing demeanor had endeared him to his platoon, and to his CO.

  On leave, he had returned home to discover a vampire attack in progress. The creatures were eating his older parents. Without thinking, he had grabbed a pair of khukuris that he had been given by a Nepalese tribal shaman and had attacked the creatures. The police had found him covered in blood, with his parents murdered and two more severed heads nearby.

  It was only a swift intervention from Agent Smith that forestalled the investigation. Arthur was given a choice: join the agency or go to death row. It did not take him long to agree to join the team, and he was given the call sign "Heavy" for his affinity for heavier, belt-fed armaments.

  What Agent Smith had said caused the big man to stop listening for a moment, and Heavy's voice boomed out, "Wait a second. Now there are fairies living here on earth? Sounds like these guys cleaned up the monsters for us."

  Ghost shook his head as Smith spoke to Heavy. "I assure you, Mister Murphy, the fair folk are not the only incursion-related creatures to walk among humanity. In this case, we have a treaty with the aes sídhe courts that allows them, under certain circumstances, to live among us. These fae were living under the treaty and should not have been targeted."

  Ghost raised his hand to get Smith's attention. "Was this club Seelie or Unseelie?"

  Smith paused, a look of surprise flickered across his face. He gave a slight shake of his head and answered the question, "Sometimes Mister Vanhof, I forget what you did before we found you. To answer your question, this was a Seelie-aligned club."

  He looked at the rest of the room and continued, "The aes sídhe are divided into three courts, or groups. The Seelie court is often considered the 'light' court, and traditionally have gotten along best with humanity. The Unseelie are the darker fae, and are often associated with the more malicious of the fairies. Keeping the peace and balancing the courts are the Seanachaidh, the gray court. Strictly speaking, none of the courts are truly an ally to humanity, but the Seelie are more overtly loyal to the treaty.

  "Because the attack happened at one of her clubs, the Queen of the Seelie is requesting a delegation from humanity to answer for the attack. Because the attack happened on US soil, it is our mandate to come up with a delegation. To help you through the intricacies of the fae courts, we have brought in a consultant from another organization that works with the fair folk more often."

  Smith gestured and the man he was sitting with earlier rose and walked toward the lectern. Smith continued his briefing, "On loan to us from the Directorate of Military Intelligence in Ireland is Captaen Callum O'Beirne. Not only is Captain O'Beirne an Army Ranger Wing commando, but he is also one of the team leaders for Foireann Gníomh Domhan i Bhfolach, or FGDiB. The FGDiB is the covert agency, like Section 28, that deals with incursions in Ireland.

  "Captaen O'Beirne will be our liaison for this mission, in a strict Observer capacity. Our mutual charter with his agency does not permit any direct action without prior authorization, and we do not have that authorization. This man is one of their most experienced team leaders. Learn from him." Smith gestured to the gentleman, "Captaen O'Beirne, they're all yours."

  O'Beirne was short, around five and a half feet tall, but his presence filled the room. He began his briefing by turning to Smith, his thick Irish brogue marking his origins. "Thank you, Agent Smith."

  The Irish Army Captaen turned back to the group and smiled, a twinkle in his eye. "I read the report about your recent mission. Great job killing the beasties. Unfortunately, this mission will not be quite so easy. You may be great at dealing with vampires, but you have not seen anything until you come face to face with a leprechaun who thinks you stole his gold."

  5

  FAE

  SECTION 28 HEADQUARTERS, LANGLEY, VIRGINIA

  Captaen Callum O'Beirne of the Irish FGDiB stood in the front of the briefing room and watched the rookie DHS team respond to his statement. He raised an eyebrow as a young man in the back sputtered around a mouthful of coffee. The sputtering turned into a hacking coughing fit as the young man tried to inhale the caffeinated beverage. When the coughing had subsided, the young man raised his hand.

  "Yes, and you are?" The Irish intelligence agent asked.

  "John Smith, sir. But you can call me 'Spooky.' Did you just say, 'leprechaun?' As in little guy with a green suit and bowler, always hiding his pot of gold?"

  The Irish Captaen had a wry grin on his face. "Yes, Spooky. I said leprechaun. As in small faerie that is known for hiding gold and valuables and playing nasty litt
le tricks. They don't typically wear perfect little green suits and bowlers, but they do often have patchwork green clothing on. It helps them blend into the forests better. And don't underestimate them. Those wee beasties caused the Great Famine in 1845, all because one got knackered and lost his pot o' gold. They got vindictive and introduced the potato blight to the crops. Millions starved because of one of these little arseholes."

  The Irish agent gathered his thoughts and forged ahead, "But lets's not get too caught up on leprechauns. As far as we know, they aren't involved in this caper — on either side. In fact, they tend to stay more neutral. They don't like court politics. And they really don't like traveling across the pond because it's too far away from their gold. Instead, let's talk about this particular attack, and why you are being summoned to the Seelie court.

  "The Seelie court is held by the Queen of the Fae. This is both a title of nobility and a position of rank in the fae realm. This queen is an álfr, an elf, who has held her throne for over three hundred years. As Agent Smith pointed out earlier, she tends toward the helpful side for humanity, as long as we don't make too much hassle for her. Her court is the same way."

  O'Beirne paused to catch the eye of those in front of him. "You have been summoned to attend to Her Majesty Lishe ta Merunaré, the Queen of the Seelie. Because this attack happened on US soil, and because it appears the attackers were humans with faerie knowledge, your agency has been called to provide an explanation."

  Agent Smith stepped up to the lectern again and addressed the team, "Your new mission is to go see the Queen and her court. Your job is to find out what happened in the attack. You will find out who initiated the attack, and if human, eliminate the problem. If the attack was coordinated by other fae, you are to help determine who those fae are, and then let the internal matter be solved by the court. Let me make this clear — you will be representing Section 28, and all of humanity by proxy to the fae. Act accordingly."