Marcus Verrico stood over his desk, looking down at an intricate diagram. His finger traced the locations he planned to position his men, who were significantly fewer in numbers since the loss of one hundred soldiers in the attack on Hartley House.
While they had failed in their primary objective of recapturing Doctor Owen, they had undoubtedly succeeded in telling the humans they meant business. They had shown the humans that everything they thought they knew about vampires was wrong. Their numbers would continue to grow in spite of their failure the night before.
This strike will be our first against the human race. It will be our first strike in the battle for our supremacy and they won’t even know it was us until it’s too late.
A knock on the door signalled Roxy’s entrance and he turned round to face her.
‘How’s the leg?’ he asked as she limped towards him.
‘Nearly there,’ she said, ‘I’m having another treatment in a few minutes’ time. After that I should be fighting fit.’
‘I’m glad to hear it,’ he said.
Roxy looked over his shoulder at the plans on his desk.
‘Do you think we have enough men?’
‘Yes. I think we can do it with fewer than twenty men but they’ll have to work quickly. When we complete this attack successfully, we will have a force to be reckoned with once again.’
Their thoughts were interrupted by the ring of the telephone on Marcus’ desk. Marcus reached over the plans and picked up the receiver. He answered the call and heard a strange voice utter the phrase he had been both expecting and dreading. As soon as the caller had finished what he wanted to say, he hung up, leaving Marcus no time to reply.
Roxy could tell he was shaken by the call. “Who was it?’
‘That was one of the Lord Chancellor’s advisors. He’s coming here.’
‘When?’
‘He didn’t say. The sun will be up soon so we should probably expect him at sunset.’
They contemplated their fates in silence. After they had killed the Lord Chancellor’s deputy to save their clan, they knew it would only be a matter of time until he came calling.
To save their skins, Marcus knew he had to pull out all the stops to impress the Lord Chancellor. His attention turned to the diagrams on his desk once again.
This plan must not fail. Our lives depend on it.
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