Julius and his men hadn’t known what they’d find in this godforsaken place, and it was worse than anything they could have imagined. Vampires with cyberware.

Julius jammed his foot on the head of the vampire he’d just downed, just below the metal cranial cap, and rammed his shotgun up under the thing’s flat, rotten nose. He pulled the trigger and watched as the thing’s face came apart in a wet spray. Pushing the barrel of the shotgun further into the ruined flesh, he angled his shot upward and blew the cap right off the vampire’s head.

In the last thirty minutes, his men had learned a valuable lesson. The vampires might be undead, and might be able to take a lot of punishment, but if they were cybered, they were vulnerable. Screw with the cyber, and the vamp was hosed.

Looking up from his kill, Julius triggered the commlink in his helmet. “Biggs? Heads up. They’re flanking you. Team Two, lay down suppressive fire.”

Then he was running, the heavy combat suit making sweat stream down his body. Just behind him, the mage Killian managed to keep pace, despite his diminutive frame.

To his left, the earth elemental that Killian had summoned minutes before was heaving great mounds of dirt over a small group of vampires that had tried to attack it.

Out of the corner of his eye, Julius caught movement, and was turning to deal with it. when the night erupted in flame.

The vampire, a human female, turned into a glowing fireball in mid-air as she leapt for him. Julius used the heavy gloves of his combat suit to bat the burning woman aside as he continued running. “Thanks, Killian.”

The mage just nodded, sweat streaming down his face and blood coming from his nose. He’d been lighting up the night with his fire elementals, and the drain of summoning and casting was taking its toll.

On Julius’ right, Biggs was standing at the point of a wedge that made up Team Three. Ruby spears of coherent light lanced out into the darkness, cutting dark forms into pieces.

Julius cursed himself for not arming more of the men with lasers. They seemed to do more lasting damage than simple lead rounds.

When they’d discovered this, Julius had reformed his teams into straight vee-shapes, with a laser man walking point and the heavy guns playing backup. Each team had started out with a mage, though none as powerful as Killian. The vampires had caught on quickly, however, and only Killian and one other mage still lived.

Even with the reinforcements the vampires had received from inside the compound, the Fratellanza troops had managed to force them back again, until they’d almost reached the building.

Julius wasn’t about to leave this place without his son, but he hoped fervently that whoever was directing the defenses had committed everything to the exterior. If they hadn’t, and there were another forty or so of these bad boys lurking inside, it would be a running battle his men were sure to lose. Even with their superior speed and maneuverability, the vamps were proving manageable out in the open. Inside, the undead would have all the advantages.

Julius and Killian reached Team One just as Biggs finished bisecting a vampire. The thing screamed, though it tried to pull itself forward with just its hands, leaving still twitching legs behind.

“Die, you godless bastard!” screamed Biggs as he burned the vampire’s head from its shoulders.

“Report,” said Julius as he advanced with Biggs.

“I figure there are still about sixty of ’em total, with the reinforcements. It only seems like more ’cause they’re so hard to put down. We’re sitting at about thirty percent casualties, about eighteen men dead. Nobody still alive has been bitten, far as I know.” Biggs’ voice was tight with adrenaline and fear. “But I got some boys staking anybody who goes down, just to make sure our own dead don’t get back up.”

Above his head, Julius could hear the sounds of four airborne drones in the background. They’d started out with six, but somehow the vampires had managed to bring down two of them. It didn’t really matter, though. The drones were little more than a nuisance to the vampires. With their light guns, the drones couldn’t target the vampires long enough to do any lasting damage.

Julius spoke over the commlink. “We can’t take this prolonged fighting,” he said. “We’ve got to make a hard push for the loading dock there. Teams Three and Four will fortify the position, and One and Two will start ransacking the place. Once we find Warren, I want this place burned to the ground. Understand?”

Biggs turned to him, and Julius could see his wide grin beneath the visor covering the top of his face. “My pleasure.”

Julius spoke into his commlink again. “By the numbers, people. Team Four, take the left flank and advance to just below the loading dock. Team Three, back them. Team One and Two, provide cover. When Three and Four are in position. One and Two take the building.”

Just then the entire back of the loading dock lit up with a brilliant light, and the concussion was enough to make Julius stagger. In the afterglow, he could see the door to the loading dock buckle outward and finally fly upward.

“What the hell?” Biggs had turned to stare, and so did everyone else out there, vampires included.

Then forms spilled out of the ruined doorway. Julius counted five of them, one so huge it had to be a troll. Even from here, Julius could see that they were in bad shape.

“Damn, he’s going to be hard to take down,” said Biggs.

Suddenly, the whine of a Vindicator brought the battle back into focus as the huge troll started chewing up the nearest vampires. The group was running, hunched low, shooting up any vampire that came close.

Julius accelerated the visual field on his helmet and switched to night-vision enhancement and flare compensation. He brought the group into focus, the troll first, then a human with pale pale skin and white hair. There was a small elf, and another.

He recognized this one. Rachel. Warren’s girlfriend.

What’s she doing here? The sight of her was so incongruous that for a moment, he couldn’t believe it. Then the formation of the team struck home. Fratellanza, Inc. had earned millions of nuyen trying to keep teams exactly like this from penetrating their client’s defenses.

She hired a bunch of shadowrunners. Julius realized in a flash that she must have been trying to rescue Warren. But if that true, then where is any son? He scanned the entire area and saw no sign of him. The runners didn’t have him.

Julius caught sight of another face among the group coming out of the compound. It appeared for a second, then was gone from his magnified field of vision. But for Julius, it was a face he would never forget.

The face of Martin de Vries.

This man had killed Derek, and he had kidnapped Warren. Or so Julius had thought. But if that were true, then why was he killing these vampires? And why was he in the company of Warren’s girlfriend, a woman Julius knew would never work against the interests of his son?

Julius had questions and he needed answers. He was determined to get those answers. And his son.

“Team Two, give them cover fire!” he yelled.

The night was rocked by gunfire and lit up like New Year’s Eve. Team Two poured everything they had into the enemy.

A small group of eight vampires, led by a female who was more cyber than vampire, tried to cut the group off. The man Julius recognized as de Vries tore her limb from limb, and used one of her cybered legs to beat another vampire to the ground, then reached down to pull out the creature’s heart.

Suddenly, the doorway to the loading dock seemed to swell like the ocean, and forms started pouring out into the night.

“This is Recon to Mobmaster One. We got lots of company. I count at least forty more vampires chasing that little group.”