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Cross asked Black, ignoring the sparring contest as best he could.
    The vampire hovered just a few feet away. It watched them malevolently, unmoving, utterly silent save for the crackle of arcane flames that surrounded it. Cross saw the reflection of pale fire in its glassy eyes.
    “ None of your business. Now let me ask you something, Cross,” Black said. She was a full head shorter than he, but her presence lent to her height. She had a slight accent, something inner-city. Her people had probably descended from New Yorkers, from the time Before The Black. “What are you doing out here?”
    “ None of your business,” Cross said after a moment. He leaned against a tree and folded his arms. “Well, that was productive.”
    “ At least we know where we stand,” Black smiled.
    “ True,” Cross said. “But it’s going to be difficult to help each other if we don’t share some information.”
    “ Help?” Black laughed. “Who said anything about needing your help?”
    Before Cross could answer, a howl echoed from somewhere in the distance. It was followed in short order by another, and then a third, and then there was a choir of howls, a dirge that rattled the trees. That sound cut like cold blades through the air.
    “ Oh, God, what the hell is that ?” Kane moaned.
    “ Wolves!” Vos said, but Dillon shook his head.
    The voices behind the howls were deep and broken. The creatures that made them were inhuman, and a legion.
    Not wolves , Cross realized. Gorgoloth .

 
     
     
     
     
    THREE
    BURN
     
     
    They quickly made their way back to the Dreadnaught. Though the air was caustic, the smoke from the burning fuel provided them with some cover. The dead forest was mostly barren, and while there were plenty of trees to be found, they were all naked and needle thin.
    The Dreadnaught’s wreckage had spread over a quarter-mile area. The aft end was the only piece of the ship that was still even relatively intact. Everything else had pulled apart into splinters. Wood, metal and machinery parts lay like industrial snowdrops on the soiled forest floor.
    Dillon and Vos took position in opposite ends of the aft wreckage. Each man stood just inside of the now-sideways staircases that led below-deck. Black, in the meantime, took Cross and the prisoners behind what looked like part of a wrecked turbine engine that had fallen about a hundred feet away from the aft section. Between the four of them, they covered most of the clearing.
    Wreckage and felled trees littered the ground. The skeletal forest was all that stood between them and the advancing Gorgoloth. Mist froze in the air near the tree line and blocked any clear line of sight. Ethereal light lit the air like soft fire. The air was gray and cold. White mist and dark smoke obscured the pale sky.
    By the time they’d taken up position, the Gorgoloth’s battle cries had drawn noticeably closer, as the volume of those cries had tripled in their intensity. The brutes possessed a talent for placing their calls from distances and directions that made it all but impossible for an enemy to determine their numbers.
    Black pushed Kane to his knees, then waited for the other prisoners to follow suit. Ekko hesitated before she knelt down. Lucan didn’t move, but it didn’t seem to be out of protest. The glazed look in his eyes and the manner in which he rocked on his heels told Cross that Lucan wasn’t entirely aware of what was happening.
    “ Lucan,” Kane said from his knees. “Come on, buddy, snap to.”
    “ Now ,” Black said, insistent, but she didn’t shout. “On your knees.”
    “ Yes,” Lucan said with a tired nod. “Of course.”
    The vampire growled quietly. It hovered in the air a few feet behind them. The dark flames of its prison crackled and hummed with magical force.
    “ Is that thing secure?” Cross asked.
    “ Yes,” Black said impatiently. “Feel free to not ask again.”
    “ Careful, big guy,” Kane said to Cross from his kneeling