19
Integra had never been so happy to be sitting in her chair again. After a week, it didn't bother her that the edge of the right armrest was too sharp, or that the straight back wasn't ergonomic. It felt like home. She let her fingers play over the wood grain as she listened to Robin's story. She knew Solomon. She stayed out of their way mostly and they stayed out of hers. If they found out she was harboring their fugitives, there would be trouble. But the chances were slim that the news would reach them tonight.
"I always thought that witches only existed in faerie stories," Integra said teasingly as she lit up a cigar.
"I seem to be getting that a lot," Robin replied.
"You know those things will kill you," Amon commented, eyeing the wisp of cigar smoke that curled up to the ceiling.
"I am fully aware of that," Integra said, staring Amon down.
A dark patch grew on the wall and Alucard stepped out of it.
"The Eve of witches?" he mused as he drifted over to the corner. "And what does that make him? Adam? And I suppose I'm the snake. Humans never cease to amaze me with their delusions of grandeur." He pulled a blood packet out of his pocket and stood there sipping at it like a juice box.
Amon glared at him and then turned away, paling slightly. Robin just frowned and narrowed her eyes. Integra wondered again at the old vampire's taste for nasty mischief. He never seemed to get tired of torturing people. Someday all that bad karma will catch up to him, she thought. She might have made a comment to that effect, but the door opened and Seras Victoria came rushing in. Integra's gun belt slipped from her hand onto the floor as she stopped to catch her breath.
"Sir Integra," she gasped. "There's an army outside."
"What?"
20
Everyone rushed to the window behind the desk. All except Alucard who stayed in the corner smiling a rye smile. The scene outside the window looked grim indeed. Just beyond the gate, about two dozen men stood watching the house. They were all dressed in black, almost blending with the dark of night. They were pretty far away, but Amon could just make out the seals on their coats.
"Impossible," he said.
Robin looked at him with fear in her eyes.
"Do you think it's…?"
"Solomon," Integra confirmed.
Amon nodded.
The men moved aside from the gate and an armored van came barreling forward. There was no telling how fast it was going when it hit the gate. But the old wrought iron flew across the lawn as if a giant had thrown it.
"Is there a back exit?" Amon asked.
"Of course," Integra replied, slightly exasperated.
"We have to move quickly," Amon said. "They'll secure all the exits before they infiltrate."
"How could they have found us so quickly?" Robin asked.
"Someone must have tipped them off," Seras answered.
"The same person who's trying to have me killed," Integra growled. She backed off from the window and picked up her gun belt from the floor. "I swear I'll destroy that swine, whoever he is."
"We have to survive this first," Amon said.