The City of Fire and Shadows

Chapter 5

After that meeting in the Hall of Heroes, preparations immediately began for an expedition to Anne Blythe Secondary School. By the following morning, Brendan, Cailey, the Shirley twins, Maddox, and I were piled into a van - the same type used to rescue me from Canada's Wonderland, and headed straight to Bolton. The plan was simple. We'd drive straight to the school, and fight our way to the courtyard. The twins will go to the roof to run cover, so what happened to Rebecca wouldn't be repeated with us. Maddox, armed with an assault rifle would run point, while Brendan, Cailey, and I would follow close behind with our swords.

"Sounds simple enough," I said aloud to myself as we all stood in front of the school. The school itself looked very quiet. I couldn't help but think to myself how I hadn't seen a school building since the Eternal Night began. In those early days, schools were shut down, and I remember being holed up at home watching the news on the TV, as the world around us crumbled in the face of the vampire onslaught. But this school looked different. It had been a safehouse for Raven's Keep. The fencing around the school had been fortified with metal sheets to form an imposing wall of defence for the school. The top of the wall was further reinforced with barbed wire. The whole defence structure was set up in a way as to force you to go through the school building in order to get to the school courtyard in the back.

Brendan turned to me and pulled out a phone. It was the Wisteria Azure. "I noticed that you have this particularly phone model when you first came to Raven's Keep. Do you know the significance of it?"

"Yeah," I replied. "It can be used like a walkie talkie and send short text messages."

"Good," said Brendan. "That saves me the time to explain it. We all have this phone. Keep them on everyone. In case we get separated, we can communicate with each other."

"But why do these phones have such abilities? What's so special about the Wisteria Azure?"

"It's a long story, but in essence, Wisteria manufactures all the equipment the paladins use. Stuff that isn't for the general public - only paladins, and those that are have hidden features like the Azure phone." Brendan pointed to his canvas jacket. "Even this jacket is made by Wisteria. It's brigandine. That means there are hundreds of small metal plates woven into the fabric of this jacket. It can cushion damage from blunt weapons and make it hard for blade weapons to cut through. Under the right circumstances, it can even block a bullet."

Maddox loaded a magazine into his assault rifle. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that. Vampires rarely carry guns, and guns like these are useless against them. Just tickles 'em."

"Then why bring it along?" I asked.

"For the human lackeys that follow them. Now quit talking, and let's get to work!"

Maddox took the lead and opened the door and we all entered into the building. He turned on the light attachment on his rifle and slowly advanced forward. The twins drew their bows, while Cailey and I drew our swords. Brendan pulled something out of a holster on his belt. It looked like a folded metal bar.

"Some insurance for us," said Brendan as pulled on the metal bar and it instantly transformed into a crossbow in a quick motion, very much like a retractable umbrella. He pulled out a bolt and loaded in. "A portable palladium crossbow. With palladium bolts."

I nodded. "Smart."

Our group advanced slowly, passing the school's front office, the cafeteria, and ground floor classrooms. It felt so surreal to be in a school after such a long time. Posters and flyers advertising dances and bake sales gave the school a frozen in time feel as we moved through the hallways. Based on Maddox's lead, it seemed like we were heading in the direction of the gym, which opened directly into the courtyard. Just before we reached the gym, the twins broke away to find the roof access.