Lamar pulled up to the side street the guys were parked on, they were just a few blocks away from the duke’s mansion. He got out of his truck and grabbed his satchel from the back seat.

  “How did the meeting with Roberto’s mother go?” Mycal asked as Lamar walked up.

  “It went fine for the most part, she made a plan to help us kill the king. I’m honestly surprised that she was so willing to help a bunch of duskers. I still don’t trust her though, she is kind of scary if I’m being honest. She owns that skating rink on Opportunity Dr. It was full of regular people and vampires.”

  “So like a nest?” Daniel asked.

  “I’m really not sure, all I know is she snapped her fingers and the entire rink stopped and stared at us, or at me.”

  “Woah.”

  “Yeah, it was really creepy, so I knocked everyone unconscious before I left.”

  “Why?” Sean asked annoyed.

  “Because I had to show a little bit of my own power, I don’t want her to get any ideas that we are scared of her.” Lamar said even though he felt like he didn’t need to explain himself.

  “Do we need to do this now?” Daniel asked getting in between the two of them. Daniel was right they thought, they were about to go into another crazy fight, and they needed to be in a clear head. The sun was slowly rising, it was going to give them their best shot, they know none of the vampires could escape by running out. They checked their weapons to make sure they were in good condition. Lamar handed them some of the grenades he used at Crystal’s and Roberto’s and some healing potions. The sun was high enough in the air they felt comfortable enough to go in. They went over the plan one last time, gave each other a fist bump and headed towards the mansion.

  As they rounded the corner to the street the duke’s mansion was on they were met with flashing lights, it was the police and a lot of them.

  "What the hell!" Mycal exclaimed.

  "They called the police." Daniel said.

  They had an army of police and swat in front of them. This isn’t the first time a dusker has had a run in with the law, but it is a first of this magnitude. Normally it’s some bystander that called the police because they heard fighting or loud noises. There was this one time where there was a call from a realtor about a bunch of clothes scattered around one of the properties he was showing, it was a nest that they took out. The police had no way of explaining all the clothes, so the police just chalked it up to a group of nudists who never came back for their belongings. There are a few duskers who have been strategically placed in key parts of the government to help keep their secret's secret. So it was easy for this to become fact in the eyes of the law.

  “Drop your weapons and let me see your hands!” A large potbelly officer with a bullhorn shouted.

  “What do we do?” Sean asked.

  “I won’t ask again, drop your weapons and let me see your hands or we are going to light your asses up.” The officer shouted through the bullhorn.

  “Get ready to run,” Lamar said as he pulled one of the grenades he made from his bag and tossed it in the direction of the police.

  “GRENADE!” One of the officers yelled as they took cover behind their vehicles.

  The guys took off running back the way they came.

  “Get into my truck!” They did as Lamar said and all piled into his truck. Lamar placed his hands on the steering wheel but he didn’t start the truck.

  “What are you doing, we need to get the hell out of here.” Mycal told him.

  But Lamar just closed his eyes so he can concentrate. The other guys were all yelling at him to go, but he just sat there. They can here sirens blaring as they rounded the corner to the street they were on. Engines roared as the officers mashed the gas, this was it they thought they were going to get caught. But to their surprise the police kept going, zooming passed them like they weren’t even there.

  “What’s going on? Why didn’t they stop?” Sean was confused, so was Mycal and Daniel. Lamar remained silent; his eyes still closed. Beads of sweat formed on his brow and cascade down his face like tears.

  “How are you doing this?” Daniel asked Lamar.

  “I think he needs to concentrate, just give him a moment.” Mycal said.

  As the last police car flew by Lamar remained still and quiet for a few more minutes he wanted to make sure they were all clear. When he released the enchantment he took a deep breath, he was exhausted, he never done that before with that many people or that large of an object. He took some time to catch his breath. His hands tremble as he let go of the steering wheel. He wiped the sweat from his face with the bottom of his t-shirt.

  “Are you okay?” Mycal asked.

  “Yeah just a bit drained, that took a lot out of me.”

  “What did you do?” Sean asked.

  “It was a glamour, similar to a veil but a lot stronger and harder to detect. Can you do me a favor and drive?” He asked Mycal.

  “Of course man.” Mycal got out the passenger seat and walked around to the driver side as Lamar slide over to the passenger’s seat. Lamar rested his head on the passenger’s side window. Mycal got in and started the truck. They decided it would be best to leave the other cars behind and just take one, they’ll come back later to get them later on when they feel like the coast is clear. Mycal drove the opposite direction then the police. They drove in silence until they reached one of their safe houses. Lamar stepped out of the truck a bit shaky, Daniel helped him into the safe house. Lamar laid down on the living room couch and asked Daniel to bring him a water out the fridge.

  “How did the police know?” Sean said, it was what all of them were thinking.

  “The king did overhear us talking about the plan to take the Eastside, he probably warned them.” Daniel said as he handed Lamar a water.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “Even still there is no way they would have known the day or the time. The only people that knew was us…”

  “And Chris.” Lamar interrupted.

  “What?” Mycal said.

  “I told Chris about our plan so he could be ready to take over once we took out the duke.”

  “Your werewolf boyfriend sold us out!” Mycal was pissed. How could Lamar be so dumb he thought.

  “He wouldn’t do that, but there is a lot of contention in his pack, so I wouldn’t put it pass one of the betas that tried to make a deal with the king by given us up.”

  “It doesn’t matter at this point, you shouldn’t have said anything at all. That was dumb of you.” Mycal said as he paced the living room in anger.

  Daniel and Sean both agreed with Mycal, they weren’t as anger as he was, but they were still annoyed with Lamar none the less. Lamar knew that they were right, even though he trusted Chris he shouldn’t have told him anything until it was over. Lamar and Chris have been in a good place, and he let his feelings blind his judgement. He knew he needed to fix this, but he didn’t know how or where to start.

  “So what do we do now?” Lamar asked.

  “First off don’t tell your pet shit else.” Heat rose in Lamar’s chest. He was getting angry, he told Mycal time and time again not to refer to Chris in that way, but he knew Mycal was saying it to piss him off. He knew it would be best for him to stay calm in this moment. He was still recovering from the spell at the skating rink and the one he just did; he used a lot of mana. He has grown much stronger but even he had his limits and getting into a fight with a warrior class was not a good idea.

  “Okay how about we take a breath, gets some food and figure this out after emotions aren’t as high.” Sean suggested. Mycal went to the back room to video chat with his wife. Daniel and Lamar fired up the grill and threw a couple of steaks on. Lamar sat on the couch in a lotus position and meditated. He had to figure out a way to fix this he thought. It’s obvious that the vampires influence goes deeper than the duskers. Lamar meditation was interrupted by a text from Serenity that just said turn on the news.

  Lamar did as instructed and found the local news station. His jaw dropped and his eyes widen.

  “GUYS! GET IN HERE NOW!

  Startled from the yelling, they all came running in from different parts of the house. Lamar just pointed at the television. They all looked in silence, mouth a gapped as a newscaster reported about a police officer standoff with four unknown suspects. There on the 60-inch tv, were the four of them on an officer’s bodycam footage, showing Lamar tossing a grenade as the words considered armed and dangerous scrolling across the bottom when the video suddenly went blank, the newscaster said they were having technical difficulties, but what they didn’t know was that there was a very capable and smart M.I.T student that just hacked their feed and pulled the video off the air.

  “Thank you, Serenity.” Lamar said under his breath.

  “This is bad.” Sean said.

  “How long was that up for?” Daniel asked Lamar.

  “I’m not sure, I got the text a couple minutes ago and called you guys in here when I saw what was on tv.”

  “This is bad, if the council sees this we are done for, I mean an unsanctioned attack on a royal. We might have had some kind of a bargaining chip if we were able to take the duke out.” Mycal said, as all their phones started buzzing and ringing.

  “Crap!” Exclaimed Lamar.

  “No one answer their phones, we need to get this figured out before we do anything else.” Mycal said ignoring a call.

  “We have a problem,” Daniel was peeking out the living room window where they all were standing. “We got company.”

  “Who is it?” Asked Sean.

  “Enforcers.” Daniel said dryly.

  Enforcers were the elite of the duskers, they were the ones who were sent when the job required a certain level of care so to speak. If the enforcers were sent after you, you were good as caught or even dead.

  “How did they find us so fast?” Mycal wondered out loud.

  “They probably used a seer or two.” Answered Lamar.

  “I thought you were blocking stuff like that.” Sean said.

  “I usually am, but I’m still a bit weak from before so some of my safety measures aren’t active right now.”

  “Great so basically we are SOL.” Sean said in a accusatory tone.

  “Appears that way, there is no way we are going to be able to fight our way out of here, I count ten enforcers and a council member.” Daniel said surprised, he wasn’t expecting a council member.

  “Which council member?” Lamar asked, if it was one of the ones that were trying to get him to join, they might just have a chance of getting out of this unscathed he thought.

  “Truman.” Daniel replied.

  Councilman Truman was one of the oldest council members and the strongest of the duskers in the Toledo area. He was a warrior class, and the founder of the enforcers. The 6’4” Samoan was not the council member they wanted to hear was out there. Truman hated their parents, so naturally he hated them. He jumped at the chance to be the one to bring them in by any means. Councilman Truman and his old school thinking made him more dangerous than the supernatural beings they fought on a nightly bases. His cold demeanor and no-nonsense attitude made everyone he met uneasy.

  “Yeah we are don for, there is no way we are getting out of this one.” Mycal was ashamed to admit. He always wanted to go up against Truman, he wanted to see what all the hype was about, but after his run in with the king, his confidence of his skills has wavered a bit.

  “What are they doing?” Sean asked Daniel who was still peeking out the window.

  “They are just standing there in a holding pattern. I’m sure they have the house surrounded.”

  “I wonder why thewy haven’t rushed in yet?”

  “Because of me, they don’t know how weak I am right now.” Lamar replied to Sean’s question.

  “You think so?” Asked Mycal.

  “I’m sure Truman knows or has an idea I’m a 5th class, he always been weird around me, I assumed it was because he hated our parents, but I found out he was asking other duskers a bunch of questions about me.”

  “What kind of questions?”

  “Just stuff about me using my powers and have they seen anything other than me being a mage.”

  “And you are telling us this just now.” Sean was irritated with Lamar.

  “I didn’t think it was a big deal. No one told him anything so what would have been the point of getting you guys all worried.”

  “The point is we could be better prepared then what we are now. You always do this shit,”

  “Do what shit?”

  “We get it, you are all powerful, but not all knowing, we don’t need your protection. Because of you we are in this mess, Mycal might not never get to see his wife again.”

  “If it wasn’t for me, he wouldn’t be seeing his wife at all, I brought him back, I am all powerful and you might want to remember that the next time you feel the need to pop off on me.” Lamar stood up; his eyes flashed black. There was a tinge of electricity in air.

  “Really, you’re going to threaten me like that,” Sean had his hand on his gun.

  “Whoa, both of you calm down and take a breath, we don’t have time for this bull. We got bigger problems right now, so whatever this is put it on the back burner and we will deal with it later. Mycal said standing in the middle of the two of them. Neither one was willing to be the first one to back down. They stood there starring each other down when a familiar voice broke the tension.

  “Grow up, the both of you,” Elle’s voice boomed from the speaker of Daniel’s phone. “You’re going to have to work together if you’re going to get out of this, one thing I know about Truman is he is cautious, with out knowing all the variables he isn’t going to make a move.”

  “So what do you suggest we do?” Daniel asked.

  “You’re going to wait him out for a few hours and then you’re going to turn yourselves in.”

  “What? No way!” Lamar protested.

  “I don’t remember me asking you for your opinion, this isn’t up for discussion, you’re going to wait for a few hours and then turn yourselves in.” Elle repeated.

  “Why would he wait a few hours, wouldn’t it make more sense to just come after us now?” Mycal asked.

  “Yeah but you’re going to give him a reason to wait, Lamar are you strong enough to make a veil?”

  “Yeah I think so, not a big one though and I don’t know how strong it’s going to be though.” Lamar admitted.

  “It doesn’t need to be a big one, just big enough to cover the safe house so they can’t see in, not even a seer. He wont move in until he can get it down, and by that time your powers should be fully restored.”

  “Why does that matter if we are just going to turn ourselves in anyways.” Lamar was confused.

  “Just put up the damn veil.”

  “Alright,” Lamar did as he was told, Daniel watched as Truman and his enforcers started to back away from the house and regroup.

  “It worked; they are backing off.” Daniel said just then the window shattered, and he fell to the ground as blood begun to pool around his head.