Chapter 126 – Punishment II

Matt's heart was beating faster and faster.

The alarm was still blaring.

And through the noise, Matt could hear the footsteps of the approaching humans.

There were more voices, more orders, more presences gathering around him.

He couldn't stay there.

If he gave them time to organize, they would surround him completely. Then would come more spells, more restraints, and, with a bit of bad luck, handcuffs like the ones Diana was wearing.

He had to act.

The rank-eight mage raised a hand. Mana began gathering around her fingers, but Matt moved before she could finish.

WHAM!

Her head jerked from the impact. The magic dispersed, and the woman's legs gave out.

Matt's teeth were still clenched as he stepped behind her and grabbed the back of her jacket, keeping her from hitting the ground.

He wasn't going to give her another chance to attack him.

The mage's head fell forward.

She was still breathing.

Matt held her with his left hand and extended his right. Before summoning Aurora, he sent her an instruction.

He needed her entrance to draw attention.

A lot of attention.

The answer came in a flash of gold.

The light spread through the area, illuminating the walls and forcing several of the approaching mages to squint.

It wasn't just the light.

The energy that accompanied the weapon's appearance made some of them slow their steps.

One of them stood with his mouth hanging open.

Another raised his arm on instinct, though it took him a few moments to gather the mana he intended to use.

Aurora was following his instructions.

The golden shape stretched out in front of Matt, taking its final form in his hand. The aura continued swirling around the weapon, intense enough to draw the eyes of everyone arriving.

Matt closed his fingers around the shaft.

He only needed a few seconds.

Diana was still on the ground, stunned by what she had just seen.

So the vampire really had been holding back when she'd fought her and Alfred. If she'd used that weapon from the start, they would both be dead right now.

Seeing the vampire approach with the unconscious mage and that spear in hand, Diana pleaded:

"P-Please... leave me alone... I did everything I could," Diana insisted in a low, frightened voice. "Seriously. If you force me to keep going, I'm going to be in very serious trouble..."

Matt lowered his gaze to her wrists.

The handcuffs were still locked, as were the restraints around her ankles.

Diana raised her hands a little, trying to get his attention.

"Are you listening to me...?"

Matt brought Aurora's blade closer.

Diana went still.

The first movement was short.

Snap!

One of the clasps broke.

A rank-eight mage's spell, sliced through like butter. Matt changed the angle and finished freeing her wrists without nicking her skin. Then he lowered the tip toward the restraints around her ankles.

Diana followed the movement with her eyes...

Two more snaps.

The fragments fell to the ground.

She pulled her hands apart and moved one leg, still staring at the remains of the cuffs.

She didn't have time to do much else.

Matt lowered the unconscious mage beside her and crouched down. He brought the two close enough to bunch up both their jackets at the shoulders in his left fist. Then he stood.

'Is she kidnapping us...?!'

Diana let out a small sound of surprise as he pulled her to her feet. The other woman hung by her clothes, her arms dangling.

Matt kept them in front of him. Aurora remained in his right hand.

One of the mages who had just gotten close enough raised both hands.

His spell began taking shape. Then he saw Diana and the unconscious woman beside the vampire.

His expression changed.

He couldn't attack. If he did, he would hit his comrades.

Matt adjusted his position, keeping the two mages between him and the approaching humans.

Those coming up behind them understood too.

Both women were alive, and any attack aimed at the vampire could kill them.

"Coward!"

Matt looked toward the entrance Diana had tried to go through earlier.

"You despicable, goddamn vampire!"

All the mage needed was for the vampire to leave an opening so he could attack her and free the hostages.

Diana grabbed the fabric Matt was holding bunched up behind her back. She tried to turn her head to look at him, but he was already moving.

He didn't answer the mages' insults.

As long as they kept talking instead of attacking, they could call him whatever they wanted.

One of the mages tried to move to the side.

Matt turned slightly, keeping the hostages in front of him.

The man stopped.

Diana squeezed her eyes shut in fear.

The other mage showed no signs of waking up.

The alarm kept blaring.

Matt reached the entrance and raised Aurora.

The golden aura followed the blade's movement.

CRAAASH!

The barrier gave way.

The slash cut through whatever still blocked the entrance, opening a gap wide enough for him to pass through.

On the other side, the humans were already getting to their feet.

Some had gathered their things. Others were heading toward the back of the room.

They all turned at the crash and saw a half-naked vampire with a spear, holding two hostages in one hand as though they were a sack of potatoes.

"Nobody move!" Matt declared loudly.

One of the men still had one foot forward.

Matt raised Aurora slightly.

"If anyone attacks, tries to run, or does anything stupid, I'll start with these two."

Diana went rigid.

Matt swept his gaze over everyone present.

"Then I'll come for the rest of you."

The mages behind him were still ready to cast their spells.

He could sense them.

He wasn't about to forget about them just because he'd reached the people in charge.

"And if you attack me, they'll die first. My regeneration makes me immortal."

A bold claim that none of the humans could ignore.

None of the reports said vampires were immortal.

The humans knew about their regeneration, but the fact that one of them was now alone deep inside their base made one thing clear:

She wasn't afraid to die.

Not to mention the monstrous weapon in her hands.

No one answered immediately.

A man standing near the table lowered his gaze to the unconscious mage.

Another kept watching Diana, who looked nervous.

The alarm filled the silence.

The officer who seemed to hold the most authority clenched his jaw and looked at the ruined entrance. Then at the mages who had stopped on the other side.

Months of preparation.

Personnel, resources, and security measures.

And yet the vampire had made it all the way to the meeting room with two of his mages in her hand.

His expression hardened. He was angry.

Was this species really that full of itself?

The officer raised his arm and looked toward the mages who still had their spells ready.

He was about to give the order to attack.

"What do you want?"

Mara Velasco's voice interrupted him.

The analyst remained beside the table, her notebook in one hand.

Matt turned his eyes toward her.

"I came to negotiate."

A short laugh came from the other end of the room.

The man from the lab was staring at him in disbelief.

"Negotiate?"

His gaze passed over the ruined entrance and the two hostages. Then he moved a little closer to the officer and lowered his voice.

"Attack. We can obviously capture her."

For a few seconds, the officer studied the two mages Matt was holding in one hand. Then he looked at the weapon.

At first glance, it looked like a spear. But its edges curved in ways that didn't quite fit that shape. The golden light made some details hard to make out, but it was clearly no ordinary weapon.

The entrance had just proven that.

He didn't know what else it could do.

Nor did he know how long they could keep the vampire occupied without getting both hostages killed, or whether fighting her would lead to a massacre.

The man from the lab leaned toward him again.

The officer raised a hand to silence him, then addressed Matt.

"I'll agree to talk if you release at least one of them..."

An almost equally bold statement, but the officer wanted to see whether a being that powerful was actually capable of listening to someone she considered inferior.

His expectations were low. He expected insults and contempt, but instead, the vampire adjusted her grip on the unconscious woman's jacket. Then she let go of Diana's.

"Ow!"

The mage dropped to her knees. She braced her hands against the ground to keep from falling on her face and immediately moved away.

She didn't wait for another instruction.

She got up as best she could and headed toward the nearest mages. One stepped forward to meet her while another kept his eyes fixed on Matt.

Diana moved behind them both. Only then did she look back at him.

Matt was already focused on the people in charge.

He still had one hostage.

The officer watching all this couldn't believe his eyes. There was none of the violence or contempt the reports had led him to expect...

Could the species standing before them really be capable of negotiation?

"Now let the other one go too."

Another human, not the officer, had taken a step forward.

The vampire ignored him. The alarm let out another wail that seemed to pierce straight into Matt's head.

Matt tightened his grip on Aurora's shaft.

"Turn off that damn alarm. I want to speak to your leader."

The man who had demanded the second hostage's release opened his mouth, but another voice spoke first.

"How did you get a weapon like that?"

Matt turned his head.

The mage inside the room hadn't stopped staring at Aurora.

His eyes traced the weapon's curves. Then they lingered on its aura before returning to the shaft, as though he were trying to confirm something he didn't quite understand.

Matt looked at him.

He was holding an unconscious woman in one hand.

He'd threatened to kill several people in the room.

And this guy wanted to talk about his weapon.

"Are you the boss?"

The mage finally looked up.

"I'm in charge of all the mages at this base."

"That's not what I asked."

The man frowned slightly.

Matt turned back toward the others.

"I want to speak to whoever's in charge of this entire operation."

The alarm was still blaring.

His patience was very close to running out.

"Whoever's in charge has ten seconds to step forward. Otherwise, you're all going to regret it."

His grip tightened a little more around the fabric of the mage's jacket.

The humans near the entrance tensed.

Matt didn't start counting out loud.

He didn't need to.

The same officer who had demanded that he release Diana stepped forward.

"I'm in charge of this operation."

Matt looked at him.

The man held his gaze and pointed to the head of the mages.

"If you want to negotiate in private, he'll have to be present. That's not negotiable."

Matt glanced briefly at the mage again.

The man was still watching Aurora, though this time he also seemed to be paying attention to the conversation.

He could work with that.

"All right."

The officer nodded once.

For a moment, neither said anything else.

The alarm filled the silence.

Matt looked up at the nearest device.

The mage followed his gaze. Then he finally took his eyes off Aurora and concentrated.

Mana stirred around him.

Crash!

There was a cracking sound.

The casing of the nearest alarm split apart.

The sound cut off in the middle of a wail.

Matt blinked.

Another crash came from the hallway.

Crack!

Then another.

Crash!

The alarms blaring from different parts of the base fell silent, one after another. The small thuds and cracks continued farther and farther away until the last of those relentless noises disappeared.

A fragment of the casing fell to the floor near the entrance.

Several people looked at it. Then at the mage.

The man lowered his hand.

"I'm just complying with the vampire's request."