“Isaac, this is Nicola Pallas. What the hell did you do?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard her swear,” I commented.

“That’s because you’ve never started a war before,” said Pallas’ voice.

I glanced at Lena, who shrugged. “It says she left this message almost forty minutes ago.”

“Can you hear us?” I asked.

“Don’t be absurd. I just split a part of my consciousness and transferred it into your voice mail so it could talk to you and report back to me once you tell it what you’ve done.”

“Sweet,” I whispered. “You have got to teach me that trick.”

Lena cleared her throat and gave the phone a meaningful look.

“Sorry. Charles Hubert is possessed by Gutenberg. He sent an automaton to kill us, but Lena destroyed it. We’ve got Gutenberg’s location. It looks like he’s near the town of Mecosta. I’ll send you the coordinates, and—”

“Send them, but don’t expect help any time soon,” Pallas interrupted. “We’ve pulled every field agent in the Midwest into Detroit. I’ll try to send someone to assist you, but I can’t make any promises.”

Lena tensed and jerked the phone closer. “What happened?”

“At six twenty-one tonight, four automatons smashed their way into the Detroit nest. Twelve city blocks have lost power, and Dolingen Daycare is nothing but a crater.”

My gut turned to ice. “What happened to the kids?”

“Most had gone home. One of the vampires hauled the rest away. The automatons weren’t interested in humans. They’re killing every vampire they can find. Most of the vampires are trapped underground. The rest have fled.”

“Meaning we have angry, frightened vampires running through the city,” Lena said.

“We did this,” I said. The timing couldn’t be an accident. “When we found Hubert’s cabin and destroyed his automaton. He panicked. We pushed him into launching this attack.”

“How long will it take you to reach Gutenberg?” asked Pallas.

I bit my lip, visualizing the highways and calculating speed. “Twenty minutes if I go all out.”

“Do it.”

“Hubert isn’t stupid,” I said. “He’ll have kept at least one automaton back to protect him. Maybe more.” Four were currently attacking Detroit. We had destroyed a fifth, and Johann Fust was a wild card, meaning there could be a half-dozen automatons waiting for us.

“You said you defeated one,” said Pallas. “Do it again. We’re doing our best to contain the scene, but we’re outnumbered and outpowered.”

“I thought you didn’t trust me.”

“I don’t,” Pallas said flatly. “However, at this point in time, I need every Porter I can find. Besides, you’d be hard-pressed to make things worse.”

“Was that . . . was that a joke?”

The phone went dead. I shifted into fourth gear and gunned the engine, engaging the overdrive. The car surged ahead, magic holding us to the road as we sped down 66 toward Mecosta.