Mithias crawled out of the backyard pool he had conveniently landed in. The lawn was overgrown, and it appeared that the residents of that house had moved out several weeks ago. As far as Mithias could tell, the little neighborhood had been abandoned. Landing in water had several advantages, Mithias found, and not just providing a softer landing. The pervasive holy vapor no longer stung him, as its holiness seemed to become muted by contact with the regular water that sopped him hair and clothes. The water also cooled him from the sun and heat of he fires he had to run past to get back to the bunker.

Eluding the helicopters with his speed, Mithias made his way back toward the others. There were no human ground troops, none still alive anyway, and the few armed vampires here and there were still trying to take out the choppers. Fire was everywhere, and the smoke made it difficult to see for both sides to see each other. Why hadn't Lady Mohowauuk cleared the air of these damned vapors and rained on the fires? Mithias feared the worst, but at the same time, couldn't imagine how blood-drinking druidess could have possibly been killed. She was simply too powerful. A terrible curiosity quickened his feet. 

The front entrance to the bunker had been blown up. The rock that had formerly obscured the door had fallen into a landslide of boulders. There was no getting in or out there. The hangar bay door however was still gapingly open, fires and mayhem inside. With such a huge entrance, the bunker was vulnerable to invasion. It wouldn't have been left open intentionally. Before he could get any closer, Mithias walked up on the remains of an exploded vehicle. The smell of vampire blood was thick. A chrome hubcap on a still-rotating car tire in a pile of burning wreckage made clear that The Beast didn't make it far from launch. 

what Mithias saw next stopped him in his tracks. He didn't need to check to know Lady Mo was dead. He had yet to realize the extent of the vampires' losses.