Page 7 of Claim the Twilight
His face drops, and his skin goes pale. “You…you haven’t heard? We sent a message when it happened.”
“What happened?”
“The fire at the training headquarters. Two days ago. Every blessed operative was in attendance. No one survived.”
A chill rushes through me. “They’realldead?”
“Yes.” He swallows hard. “And from what we’ve been told by the white wings, they are unable to bless any more.”
Our carefully constructed plan is falling apart. The only part of it that seems to be working are the wards around Dracul, but even those won’t last forever, and then…Then we’re fucked.
A bellow rises to my far right as someone tries to smash through the barrier. Two Order operatives block his path,pushing him back. The crowd surges, voices rising as one in indignation.
“Just tell us what’s going on!” a woman screams at them.
“We have family in there!” someone else cries.
Tensions are rising; the humans are getting riled up. It’s obvious no real answers have been provided. If someone doesn’t act fast to defuse this situation, then things will get ugly.
I turn to Charles. “What have the people been told?”
He shakes his head, his cheeks paling. “Nothing. Yet.”
“It’s been almost two days, and you’ve told themnothing?”
“What should we say?” Charles demands. “No one expected this scenario to actually occur.”
The commotion increases in volume, more accusations and demands joining the first few as the crowd gets angrier. More operatives rush forward to try and calm them down.
“We need to tell them the truth.” I yell to be heard over the cacophony of voices. “Do you have a megaphone?”
“Garret?” Charles calls out. “Get the speaker.”
I hurry toward the surge of people, and a young operative joins me a moment later, handing me a megaphone.
I bring it to my lips. “Enough!”
My voice booms and crackles, a shock that gives some of the people pause, and the raging sound drops a little. I take advantage of the drop in decibels and forge on quickly. “You want to know what’s happening, and I’m here to tell you, but you need to calm down.” I wait a few seconds to allow that to happen, noting the anger and confusion on faces, emotions that will be heightened once I tell them the truth. But hopefully they’ll understand why this barrier is necessary and why they cannot cross it. “An otherworldly threat has broken free in Dracul territory. One that must be contained if we are to protect our world. The wards are a cage to hold it, and we are doing everything in our power to eliminate the threat.”
“What is it?” someone asks.
“Who are you?” someone else calls out.
“What about my family?”
“Are they in danger?”
The questions come at me like darts, the sound level rising once more. “Calm down! Listen to me! We are going to do everything in our power to protect your loved ones and?—”
“How can you?” a man at the front demands. He’s short, stocky, and red in the face. “You’re out here. How do you know what’s happening in there?”
“Because we had a plan and?—”
“Youknewthis was going to happen?” the woman beside him says. She’s small and thin with sharp black eyes and a trembling mouth. “Youknewand you didn’t warn anyone?”
Fuck. “It’s not like that. This has been a possibility for centuries, but we’ve been managing it, and?—”
My words are drowned out by a surge of rage from the crowd. They push against the barriers, toppling them as they rush toward me.
