Chapter 5

Rythern stands calmly with his hands at the small of his back facing the stone circle before him. It is known to the humans as Castlerigg, near Keswick in England. Standing around the entirety of the circle are the soldiers of the Black Dragon. Each is armed with the latest and greatest in assault rifles. The entire Black Dragon has been equipped with such weapons, all stolen from a train shipment that left Germany a week ago. What makes the weapons even more dangerous are the rounds of ammunition that contain a synthetic Mythril that causes far greater damage against the Goji than anything created before.

“Commander, the time please,” Rythern says without taking his eyes off the center of the circle.

“Thirty seconds, sir,” the commander answers back with a thick Russian accent.

Rythern slowly counts down the seconds to himself. When his countdown reaches zero, for just the briefest second when nothing happens, he thinks it might have failed. Then a bright, near blinding light drops down from the sky and into the center of the stone circle. It is a small, tight beam at first. As it descends, it expands. Slowly, a figure begins to materialize in the center, and once it becomes apparent that Sterope is there physically, he gives the order to fire at will.

The Black Dragon soldiers open up without so much as a second’s hesitation. The hollow point Mythril rounds tears through the air and into the awaiting ancient without giving her the opportunity for any thought. Sterope’s body drops to the ground. Black blood oozes ad soaks the ground. A cease fire falls upon the soldiers along with the light from the sky now fading. They stand silently as Sterope breathes her last few breaths. Her body hardens to stone and then crumbles to dust.

Jonathan and Melissa drop their thermal sleeping bags when he dish in the crater abruptly and unexpectedly flares. Heats pours from the facility, radiating outward to engulf the area briefly before everything returns to silence.

“What the hell just happened?” Melissa asks. Surprise is written all over her face. Jonathan’s face matches hers, but he doesn’t have a clue.

The intense light fills the sky over London, reaching into the shadows of the city, and for a few moments, gives it the appearance of day. The light shoots through the room, interrupting Spencer and Julie to bath them in light.

“Another one,” he comments before bolting from the couch to the window.

Julie grabs the remote and turns up the volume on the television. They have been letting the news run quietly in the background, now she wants to know what they are saying about this.

The light from Sterope’s summoning slowly fades in the night sky over the horizon. Natalya sits quietly with her men, watching and waiting. She dreads having to play run around assassin for the Sura, but it is something that has to be done. She has plans, and even though the Ternion promises power, she doubts it will come. Regardless, they are a means to an end. In the end it will be her that comes out on top. Underlying her dread is worry. The Ternion is playing with fire and if they get burned, so will she. The Sura are bringing to Earth creatures of considerable power—power that not only surpass her, but the Ternion themselves.

“It is time, mistress,” her second on command says softly. He is aware that she has drifted into her thought and believes it wise to not make it aware to any of the other men.

Natalya doesn’t really like humans too much. It may be their arrogance or their petty complaints about everything another human does. Whatever the reason, she does like a select few that have proved their loyalty and usefulness more than once. “Thank you, Rolan,” she says, casting him a pleasurable smile. “Let us get this over with so we can do something more productive.”

“Ma’am,” he says with a curt nod and coy grin before turning and giving the signal to the rest of the men.

Human males are so easy to control. Goji males aren’t much different, especially when it comes to the quest for power. Both think with the head between their legs though, and if coaxed just right, they will follow that head venerably to do whatever they are told.

She watches him until he jumps up onto the fifty caliber machine gun mounted atop an American Humvee. It is one of six the Black Dragon has in its possession. In fact, she has all six sitting along the shore. Natalya is not taking any chances. This may be one of the weakest of the sisters, but Natalya has always lived by the rule: regardless if someone is stronger or weaker than you, never underestimate them as an opponent.

Each gun is loaded with cartridges made of solid synthetic Mythril. It has enough stopping power to put anything in its place, killing any Goji stupid enough to step in the way. It is a costly expenditure, but with the amount of black market goods they have stolen and sold, cost is not a worry at all. Natalya takes her eyes off Rolan and then looks to each of her men. By the time her gaze sweeps back to Seahenge, the sky opens up to spew down light from the heavens.

The thin beam hits the upside down tree stump without a sound. Then it rushes out, expanding. Within a few short seconds, she can see the form of a woman beginning to take shape. As soon as that shape becomes solid all six of the machine guns open up. Thirty seconds later, the guns stop. Natalya had given orders before it all began to fire nonstop for thirty seconds and then quit. Now there is nothing of a trace to ever suggest something was ever there. And no sooner is Celaeno gone that the light disappears altogether ironically leaving no trace of her behind either.

Within minutes of the first sighting, another springs up—this time in the opposite direction. The news is reporting what is happening, but not really giving any useful information. Julie gives a huff then pulls out her phone and quickly dials. It is answered on the second ring. “It’s me,” she says. Her uncle will know that it is her simply because she is the only one with this particular number.

“I’m still working on getting agents out there,” he says urgently and guessing as to why she is calling.

“I know that, but I need a direction to go with,” she counters just as quickly, trying to ignore the agitation building up inside her.

“From what we can analyze, the primary light hit somewhere near Keswick,” he tells her.

“And the second?” she asks impatiently.

“Never one for patience,” Sternigan berates. When a silence follows, he smiles to himself before continuing. “The secondary was in Norfolk.”

“Is there any idea of where the targets are headed?”

“They either never came or they have already been destroyed,” he says. “My guess is because there were two beams instead of one, the first failed and they attempted a second. It must have failed as well.”

Julie can hear the uncertainty in his voice, yet she doesn’t believe for a minute that both attempts failed. “Then why not try summoning again in the same place?”

“Maybe because of drawing too much attention to one place,” he assumes. “Authorities are already headed out to both places.”

“Fuck...” Julie mutters. “What the hell are we supposed to do then?”

“Sit tight,” Sternigan instructs.

“Sit tight?” she repeats, not really certain herself that she heard correctly. “We’re not getting anything done just sitting around here.”

“Not true,” he says smiling, even though she cannot see it, though she can tell that he is just by the way he is speaking. It always irritates her. He continues, “Lucius Magnus, the head of True Energy, is making an appearance in London to make a statement.”

“About?”

“True Group is falling under attack, more specifically, True Solar,” he informs.

“And they are under True Energy,” Julie surmises.

“So everyone’s suspicions are falling to them.”

“They will just slither out of it,” she says nastily.

“Probably, but I have you in London,” he says with the smiles that she can almost see. “So go find something.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” Julie hangs up and looks up to see Spencer looking at her. She is about to open her mouth to say something when he begins instead.

“There’s still no contact from Stone or Dupree, but we do have a lead on Baldur Flosadottir.”

“The head of True Merchants?”

“The one and only,” he confirms. “He’s supposed to be in Australia in a couple of days.”

“Makes sense,” she comments, flopping down onto the couch. “There is a facility there. He’ll need to represent True Group.”

“Grines is going to send both there provided they make contact. In the meantime... ?”

“In the meantime, we’re going to stay in London,” she says, picking up the subtle hint. “Tomorrow Magnus is giving a statement, so we’re going to check it out.”

“Sounds good,” Spencer says. “You want the couch or the bed?”

Julie looks at him for a few seconds before reaching up to grab his hand. “How about we start her on the couch,” she says, pulling hard on him.

Spencer, caught off balance, falls onto her. He braces himself at the last second to keep from dropping his weight fully onto her. “I can’t,” he says a moment later when their eyes lock.

“I won’t say anything if you won’t,” she says with a smile. Before Spencer can protest, Julie has her lips locked onto his. She has no interest in Spencer other than to lull him in for when the time comes to save his lover, Samantha. Spencer pulls away, wanting to plead against what is happening. Julie sees the look in his eyes and quickly reaches down to grab his cock through his pants. Immediately, it begins to swell at her touch. “Come on, Spencer,” she moans. “I have been in need of a man for some time.”