Cohen looked over at the entrance to the passageway at hearing a frantic scrambling sound from it. Then a tousled head was poking out. Quickly he reached out to take the breeder's outstretched hand.
"Follow me, little sister," he said with a reassuring smile as he pulled her to her feet. "Let's get you to safety!"
Last one out some twenty minutes later, Lash smoothly came to his feet in time to watch the m'tada trooper run out of sight beside Faust. Then, instinctively, he was stepping to the side to let a pair of sundogs slam into his kevlar vest, and doing so, blocked them from reaching Ellie.
"Ell!" he barked, sending a burst towards several moving shapes moving through the space towards them using a broken field advance to take advantage of the crates of supplies and materials liberally strewn throughout as cover.
"Go with Jensen. He'll get you to the door! I'll be right behind you!"
"Promise?" she asked nervously as bullets began to hum more frequently around them.
"Blood vow, Ell, remember?"
"I'm holding you to that!" Then she was scampering off with Jensen, a broad-shouldered vampire from Ventru's Danish enclaves.
"Wedge formation," Lash tautly directed as the incoming fire increased by an order of magnitude.
"Copy," Morel replied, sliding into Lash's left and just behind to add her firepower to his.
"Coming in, Wolf," said Kazza, another North African Ventru, his Arabic face intent as he sent tight, short bursts at the enemy from Lash's right. "Picking up angled fire from the right, your one o'clock."
"Copy, Kazz. Tighten up," Lash directed as his remaining nestari moved in front to kneel in a v-shape to complete the wedge. "Aim for legs or arms, anywhere not covered by armor. We don't necessarily need to kill them here, just stop them from following us."
Abruptly he grinned.
"But it'll be a welcome bonus if you can!"
For several long minutes the two sides exchanged furious fire, much as they had done in the courtyard outside the puzzle door. As they pounded away, Lash could feel both Morel and Kazza reach out with their knives to fulcrum out sundog rounds that stuck to his vest, knowing he wasn't wearing his neuron armor.
"Mind your heads," he directed as a round buzzed by his ear, close enough that he could feel the warmth from its radioactive payload. "Sundogs mean nobody's coming back from a head shot!"
Abruptly one of the White Flames was getting dropped from a shot to his right side. Then Ballan's team appeared behind stacks of boxes to add their weapons to the firefight, effectively creating a crossfire-filled kill box.
The resulting firestorm raged for only a handful of minutes more, the skilled but now outnumbered White Flames fighting to the bitter end. An eyeblink and it was over, the last enhanced human dropping with his armor nearly torn from his body.
"I'm guessing we found the breeders," Ballan said as his team jogged towards Lash's small company. Nodding as he dug out a stubborn sundog round, it biting deep enough into the kevlar that he could feel it burning his skin, Lash flicked it free and away from his comrades.
"We sent them to the door with Cohen and Absinthe in a straight line exfil. Faust and a surviving Blood Guard trooper brought up the rear."
"How many?" Truk wanted to know.
"At least two hundred," Morel revealed. "Maybe more."
"Let's not keep them waiting," Lash suggested heavily. Then, as one, the Ventru warriors were turning and running full tilt back the way they had come into the building.
They found the breeders already outside, shifting uneasily as they looked fearfully at the buildings around them.
"Which way, boss?" Fordricht asked as they poured out of the building.
Before he could answer, Lash had Ellie in his arms squeezing him tightly. He returned the embrace for probably a moment longer than he should have. Then he was gently pulling away from her.
"Okay, Ell, you're now our guide out of here," he said, intently looking into her face. Returning his gaze with equal fervor and resolve, she nodded.
"Okay," She said, then, looking at the others. "Follow me!"
Letting the two hundred or so breeders stay inside a loose cordon of nestari, Lash also stretched them out a bit so they wouldn't present as big a target. Either way, unfortunately, they were still the biggest target in the city. Which was why he had them run as fast as they could, a speed that, though it wasn't as fast as the nestari could run, was a great deal faster than any human could run, even the enhanced humans of the White Flames.
"Down Dershiv Way, then across that plaza there," Ellie directed as Lash ran smoothly beside her, his weapon in the ready position as he scanned their forward path. While the breeders ran as best they could, they were slow enough that his rapid tactical advance pace was more than enough to keep up with them while remaining ready to fire.
"The door is in that building," she said, pointing to a squat block painted in dark gray. "A descent to the basement then up a ramp to the hidden door in the city!"
"Secret doors in a secret city," Lash said, appreciating the irony with a shake of his head as he made note of the building and began to angle their company towards it.
"Even those allowed here bargain for your services can't be allowed to see how you come and go!"
"The creche mistresses say it's the best way to keep us safe," Ellie said somewhat breathlessly.
That prompted Lash to look over at her and do a quick assessment. While it was difficult not to be fit as a vampire, their powers of regeneration enough to run their internal systems efficiently and effectively, not all vampires were in the peak of conditioning. As a Breeder, Ellie would've been required to maintain an above average fitness level to make carrying a child to term easier, and with fewer complications.
But nothing in their fitness regimen prepared them to run at full speed through a dangerous battlefield for an extended period of time. Not like a nestari could. And Lash was several tiers above them with his fitness!
"You okay over there?" he asked with concern. Hearing that concern, Ellie flashed him a quick smile.
"I am Ventru," she replied. "I can hold on to the entry building."
Lash nodded then looked over his shoulder into the heart of the Night Market. Just on the very edge of his hearing, he could make out the sound: White Flames quickly rallying to advance points in an effort to intercept them. He knew it wouldn't take them long, especially since he shot up that squad on their way in without actually executing any of them to keep them silent. And while they took out the fragment that had penetrated the Exchange in an effort to take out the breeders, they didn't go quietly. He was pretty sure the entire cave echoed with their running gun battles.
Finally they were within a minute or two of the building Ellie had marked as the breeder entrance to the Night Market. Peeling off, he ran back along the side of the company to the first intersection. There he quickly took a knee, doing a quick scan with his eyes over his rifle's sights. It wasn't long before he had company.
Dropping beside him, Truk held his Shiva out in front of him, eyes narrowed as he read its readout.
"Two klicks and closing," he reported. Then Ballan and Fordricht were beside them, weapons up.
"This is our hold point to cover the evacuation," Lash indicated. Then, a bit louder as other nestari made to stop and join them: "Absinthe! Lead the breeders out and hold immediately outside the exit point!"
"Copy, Wolf," the nestari with the scar tattoo acknowledged before speeding up to head towards the front of their column, just now curving towards the gray building.
"Morel, Van Klant, back her up. Narcist, I need your Shiva here. The rest of you, continue the escort. We'll fall back as soon as the column finishes entering the entry building!"
He then looked to either side. With the column curving away to their left, it would be good to, as the tail end tracked out of visual range, move to the left to see if they could pick up some cover from any of the buildings that would be in the White Flame line of sight.
"Stay ready," he directed. "The White Flames possess a considerable arsenal. I wouldn't be surprised ..."
Then they were all ducking as a mortar round exploded not twenty meters to their right.
"Didn't speak soon enough!" he growled as dust and rock chips rained down all around them.
"They won't take long to range in on us," Ballan warned.
"No, they won't," Lash agreed then they were all ducking again as another mortar went off only fifteen meters away. Thankfully the rear of the column was now moving past them, the front already to the entry building and making their way quickly inside. He just wished he knew where the human spotter was so he could blind their eyes and give them more time.
"Truk?"
"Twelve hundred meters and closing fast," Truk indicated after a quick look at his readout.
"Not quite within the Shiva's operational range," Lash grimly noted out loud. Then he was standing.
"We need to get their attention in the opposite direction of the breeders. Follow me!" Then he was running to the right at a forty-five degree angle, the nestari that joined him in the rear guard, hard on his heels.
"As soon as we're within a thousand meters, pull the biometrics from your Shiva's memory and open fire with smart rounds, Truk and Narcist!"
"You got it, Wolf." "Copy that, Wolf."
A handful more running steps, then the two Shiva-equipped nestari were lifting their weapons to send a stream of hypersonic ceramic hissing through the air. One burst, then another, followed by a third. Then they were crouching as several mortar rounds went off just behind them.
"There," Lash said, pointing at what appeared to be a low victuals building where food, both mundane and blood-sourced, could be purchased for consumption. Only to watch it get ripped apart by another round of multiple mortar rounds.
Skidding to a halt, Lash quickly scanned for another building to take shelter behind when, as the sound of the building's destruction began to fade, he heard another one that filled him with a great deal more satisfaction. The cursing and cries of pain coming from the White Flames getting hammered by the first wave of Truk and Narcist's smart weapon fire.
"Shift left," he tautly directed, his smile disappearing. "They've got rounds in the air."
The small rear guard barely cleared their previous position when the next cluster of mortar fire dropped right onto it, ripping chunks of stone out of the cobblestoned street. Then again Lash heard the humans crying out in pain and anger as the second wave of smart-targeted munitions slammed into their secondary targets.
"That's pissing them off," Ballan noted with a tight grin as he too caught the sound of the humans screaming. A grin that only grew as more screaming lifted into the air when the third and final round of smart weapons fire slammed into the distant human company.
"Scans indicate they've stopped about six hundred meters from this position," Truk reported.
"And they're down to half strength," Narcist added, keeping an eye on her own readout.
"As much as I want to stay and put the rest into a shallow grave, we need to fall back and take care of the breeders," Lash indicated, peering through the dust at where he imagined the humans were now writhing on the ground, cut up by the unerring Shiva fire, the ceramic rounds guided to their targets by discrete magnetic fields.
"They should be softened up enough that the Silver Legion can take the rest out with those gauss guns of theirs when they come to retake the city," Fordricht indicated. "Wolf is right: our job here is done."
"Tactical regroup at the entry building," Lash directed as the rear guard spun around and began running back the way they came. "And use broken field advance. We didn't kill their spotter or destroy those mortar batteries. They can still drop hell right onto our heads!"
As it turned out, Lash was more than prophetic. Even before they went to full speed to effect their withdrawal with as much alacrity as they could manage, they were dodging active splash downs from mortars firing in rapid sequence in an attempt to outpace their tactical regrouping action. Staying as low as possible while going full out, Lash and the rearguard stayed determined and resolved as they dodged no less than five separate waves of incoming fire before they were even in sight of the entry building.
"Truk!" the big vampire said even as the latest hail of mortar fire was exploding all around them. "Can the Shiva's sensors detect the back trail of those damn mortars?"
"Asking the AI now," the blocky nestari replied, bringing the futuristic machine pistol close to his mouth to do just that. "It says affirmative. The mortar emplacements have just moved into effective maximum range."
Lash smiled tightly. Outstanding.
"Feed them hot ceramic, you two."
Skidding to a halt, both Truk and Narcist held their weapons close to their mouths for a moment, feeding instructions to the AI's. Then they were sending bursts back along their back trail, twisting around when they were done and sprinting to catch up with the rest of the rearguard.
"AI's say a couple minutes flight time," Narcist reported as she drew up just behind Lash.
"So we'll be ducking ..." Their heads went down as another wave of mortar fire washed over them, narrowly missing them as each explosion sent razor sharp pieces of stone hissing in every direction.
"For a little bit longer," Lash finished before looking around at the rest of the rear guard. "That one was close. Everybody hole free?"
"Extra holes, yes," Truk said, earning himself a snort of disgust from Narcist and a barked laugh from Ballan. Then they were all sprinting for the entry building.
The gray painted structure was now within a hundred meters, the front completely empty with the breeder column having successfully transitioned inside. Lash stared at it as he ran. Hopefully the humans hadn't figured out yet that it was their final destination. Because, as soon as they did, he was certain they'd turn it into rubble.
Then they were at the doors. Pulling one side of the double portal out of the way, Truk glanced at his readout.
"Targets neutralized," he reported with a grin as the others tumbled past him and inside.
"Good timing," Ballan said with a grin of his own. Then they were staggering to a halt at seeing a series of staircases curving away from the entrance.
"Dark Father's hairy nutsack, which one do we take?" the French Ventru wondered out loud.
That was when Lash caught it: the delicate scent of breeders. Pheromonally active like their more powerful sisters, the liliths, breeders lacked the ability to control their pheromones, and control others with those pheromones. But it did give them a delicate, beautiful scent that made them instantly attractive to prospective partners, a vital function to help them in their duties.
"I've got breeder track, here," Narcist, who as a female would naturally have a sharper sense of smell than the males, indicated. She then pointed to a staircase on the right.
"Strongest from that staircase there."
"Then that's our way out," Lash said, leading the way towards the staircase at a run.
With the breeder scent becoming stronger with each step down, Lash started to relax a little, knowing they were almost there. Only to instinctively duck as the building was rocked by multiple explosions.
"I'd say they figured out where we went to," Truk grimly pointed out.
"I thought those fancy guns took out the mortars," Ballan said as they went around another corner and onto the next flight down as the walls shuddered around them, showering the rear guard with dust and debris.
"They took out the humans firing the mortars." It was Narcist who answered. "Not the mortars themselves. The ceramic rounds don't have the hitting power from a kilometer away to destroy artillery. Even basic artillery like the mortars. The humans just needed to man the mortars once more to get them active again."
"We just need to get out of here before those meatbags bring this place down around our ears!" Truk growled.
Thankfully the last flight of stairs spilled out into a relatively broad space dominated by a massive door at the far end, big enough to drive a vehicle through.
"Double time it, nestari!" Lash barked, churning forward even as they heard the ceiling above them crack, impacted by pieces of the building above falling in on it.
Running at full speed, they barely crossed the door's threshold before the ceiling collapsed behind them, filling the space with multiple tons of stone. A quick glance back at the dust now billowing into the passageway through the stone-clogged door then they were sprinting up the broad, curved passageway as quickly as their vampire strength and speed could take them.
Even at full speed, it still took them almost five minutes to finish the climb up the snaking passageway into what appeared to be some sort of underground parking garage at its top end, currently filled with vehicles of all kinds. And two hundred relieved but still panicky breeders.
"There you are!" Absinthe said with naked relief as they came running out of the passageway into the space itself. "We felt rumbling."
Lash nodded as they slowed to a jog to approach the knot of Ventru nestari waiting for them in front of the group of breeders.
"The humans used artillery in an attempt to take us out," he tersely explained. "They managed to destroy the entry building behind us almost before we could get out."
"Night Father's mercy," Absinthe said with a shake of her head, a sentiment that was echoed by the other soldiers Lash had sent ahead as she and they shook hands or hugged the rear guard in greeting, happy to see them again.
Lash, however, wasn't ready to relax just yet. A quick scan along the rows of vehicles that were parked in the garage yielded several large transports. With two hundred plus breeders that needed transport to the Legion's private air strip to get them to safety, he needed to get those transports up and running.
A quick glance at the passageway, which now was filled with dust and smoke from the building's collapse at its far end, let him nod in satisfaction. At least the White Flames wouldn't be following them up the damn thing. But that didn't preclude the possibility that they still had units active in the city, looking for something to kill.
"Narcist! I need ..." he began to say before a warm body pressed against him in a close embrace momentarily interrupted him.
"True to your vow," Ellie said into his chest, squeezing him tight.
"You doubted?" Lash replied with a smile.
"Never," she said in a hoarse whisper, sounding as if she was about to cry.
"Shhh, it's okay, Ell," he quietly said in as calming a voice as he could muster. "We're out now. And you're safe from those humans in the Market."
Ellie nodded as she did indeed begin to cry, a gentle sound filled with emotion and relief instead of the painful sound she had made when he first rescued them. Not that Lash blamed her. The turmoil of the last few hours had put not only her, but every vampire in the Night Market, through had been harrowing at the least, horrifying and life changing at its worst. He kissed the top of her head as he held her close for a long moment, the alternatives to a successful evacuation flashing through his head for a moment.
"Narcist," he finally said a little louder to recapture the tech specialist's attention. "I need those transports operational in the next five."
"You'll have them in three, boss man," the lithe nestari replied. "Truk, Jensen, Faust, come and give me a hand."
As the nestari moved off, Lash once again found himself surrounded by the breeders, each getting as close as they could to him to hug or touch, if they were in range.
"What about us, my lord," one of them with the distinct accent of the Vorinov Clan, in Russia, asked. "What will become of us now that we are free of the Night Market?" She was quickly echoed by several others.
"We've got transport planes waiting at a small airport outside of the city," he said. "They are large enough to carry you all out of Salzburg and Austria. Unfortunately they won't be carrying you to any Ventru holdings, as my clan is currently under attack by her enemies on the Council of the Night. But I'm sure we can get you to sanctuaries in Nosferatu, Toreador, or even Vorinov territory where you will be far away from the fighting here."
"And far away from you?" the Vorinov breeder asked in a plaintive voice.
"I'm afraid so," Lash said with a smile, his answer making Ellie squeeze him more tightly in response. "I am the focus of many of the efforts to destroy Clan Ventru. My company is likely the least safe place in Europe to be!"
"Despite that, you got us all to safety," another breeder, this one with the accents of the Spanish Houses of the Toreador, deftly pointed out. "I think being with you is the safest place to be!"
That triggered an avalanche of agreeing voices from the other breeders. And an agreeing if silent nod from Ellie.
Again Lash smiled, this time a bit sadly.
"I appreciate your kind words, little sisters," he said. "And if there was any other way, I would continue to act along with my fellow Ventru nestari to make sure each and every one of you was completely safe."
His expression sobered.
"But now, my soldiers and I must go on the hunt. A hunt to find and rescue a lilith of my clan. And to track down the murderers who have betrayed us all and bring them to the Night Father's final justice. And I must be free to do what I have to, to accomplish that grim and dark deed. My apologies, little sisters, but that means I must do so without your company."
They were silent after that, obviously digesting what he had said. Then the Vorinov breeder was speaking.
"Good hunting, my Lord Lash," she clearly said. "Strength to Ventru."
"Strength to Ventru," the rest of the breeders said with one voice. And Lash smiled.
"And strength to you all, little sisters," he replied. "Strength to you all!"
Just then Narcist called out from the nearest transport as its engine roared to life.
"We have transportation, boss man!"
Lash nodded in satisfaction even as he looked back one last time at the dust-filled corridor. It was time to leave this place!
"Alright, little sisters. You heard the nestari. Let's get into those transports!"
****