by Hunter Blain
“Oh, come on, man!” I whined as I dropped my arms and raised my face to the sky. “Uuuuuugh.”
“If you are done sulking, Charlie Brown, I’d like to continue this mission,” Depweg said as he closed the Maps app and looked at the time. “We only have a few hours before Hayley calls in reinforcements, and it’s going to take an hour to get back to her on foot.”
“So why don’t we just freaking call her once we’re done kicking ass?”
“Did you see a phone on her wrist?” Depweg asked softly.
Meli added, “All of her clothes were shredded and covered in blood. I didn’t see a phone, but it would have been small, and I honestly wasn’t looking for it. She...she was just so bad, almost dead.”
My head hung low as I remembered the obsidian chains piercing her flesh and ripping both her skin and clothes apart.
I gritted my teeth as I thought about that asshole, Ulric. Ludvig had been so close to bashing his brains in before Samael stabbed him in the back, which now I knew had been the plan all along.
A tooth audibly cracked under the pressure I was exerting, drawing everyone’s attention.
Closing my eyes, I took in a deep breath and forced the fire that was spreading just under my skin to halt. I didn’t want it to fade away, as I felt ready to violently murder an entire army at that moment; I only needed it to hold until it was time for action, otherwise I might make a mistake.
My tooth healed, and I tongued it out of reflex to confirm the job had been done.
Opening my eyes, I sternly looked at Depweg and nodded that I was ready. I was ready to spill warm blood and coat an entire city in crimson rain. I was ready to shatter bones like kindling before feeding them to the fire inside me that yearned to flare up and fuel my rage. Today, I would freely feed that hungry fire and smile as red eyes reflected my shrieking victims while they burned to ashes.
36
Depweg lay in a prone position covered by his sniper veil, reminding me why his plate carrier didn’t have any MOLLE attachments on the chest. I wanted to ask him why he didn’t just use a full ghillie suit, but then I remembered it was still early morning, and not even the moon cast anything but the faintest of illumination.
From just behind a large tree, Meli watched Ben disappear into the warehouse complex with her binoculars while I scanned the area using the Sight of the Gods provided by Mjolnir.
“Hmm,” I said aloud, peering from around the thick tree and just behind a shrub that came up to my chest.
Depweg, never removing his eye from the Lapua scope, asked, “What do you see?”
“The sentries are mortal. No supe aura.”
“Hmm,” Depweg mimicked.
“What does that mean?” Meli asked, lowering her binoculars.
“Don’t take your eyes off the rendezvous point,” Depweg instructed. I took note that his tone was softer than it would have been with me. Probably because I was a seasoned professional or something. What was truly impressive was that he didn’t have to look at her to know she had lowered the binoculars.
Meli quickly brought her Steiner back up to her face and zeroed in on where Ben was set to give the signal.
“To answer your question,” Depweg began, “It’s odd that they would hire mortals to act as guards.”
“Especially if they knew we were coming. I mean, this is the last base and all,” I added, letting my sight drop away before leaning my back against the tree. My coat gave a satisfying squeak as I crossed my arms. Though it was Fae silk, it still felt—for all intents and purposes—like leather, offering a feeling of protection that comforted me.
“What if they moved or something?” Meli inquired.
“Our intel has been good so far,” I reassured her. “Hayley has been working with the Council while I’ve been chatting with Collin.”
“Who’s Collin?” she asked.
“Friend of ours,” I answered.
“Quiet,” Depweg instructed slowly in a tone that suggested he was concentrating on something. I could see his rifle was swaying from left to right before moving up slightly. Looking back at the building, I understood he was checking to see what he could gather through the windows. “I’m seeing multiples.”
“Hostiles? Civvies?” I asked.
“Unknown targets, given the location. But they look like scientists and...and office staff.”
The image of the were-pire sprung forward in my mind.
“That might explain some things,” I mused mostly to myself.
“Why?” Meli asked simply.
“Oh, right. Um, there’s this, like, werewolf...vampire...god thing that really kicked my butt last time.”
“If there was one, I’m going to assume there could be more,” Depweg added.
“Safe bet,” I admitted, nodding my head as I narrowed my eyes at the building. I looked to the horizon, willing the sun to rise a few hours early. “We should have waited until dawn. The were-pire—or pires—are affected by sunlight.”
“With each passing minute, we lose more of the element of surprise. Dawn is at, what, 0800?”
“Yeah,” Meli confirmed, as I had no idea.
“We can’t afford to give them that much time to prep a defense or even a counterattack.”
“Then I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit.” Depweg actually pulled away from his rifle to glare at me. “It’s the only way to be sure.”
“So, do you just breathe movie quotes?” Meli asked without removing her binoculars.
“Yes. TV shows, too. I mean, I’d do books as well, but I doubt any of you plebeians even know who Skippy the Magnificent is.”
Depweg returned his eye to his high-powered scope without so much as a grunt.
Under my breath, I continued with, “And don’t get me started if I meet someone named Bob. Heh, the Baaaaab. Lilith bless you, Dennis E. Taylor.”
When neither Meli nor Depweg gave me any notice, I whispered, “Fucking Carl...”
“Did you seriously just quote three different book series in a row?” Meli asked, this time pulling away from her binoculars to arch an eyebrow at me.
“Fan service,” I answered while turning to the camera and winking.
“What—” Meli began before Depweg cut her off.
“Don’t. Just...just don’t,” he grumbled.
Bringing the binoculars back to her face, Meli gasped before excitedly calling out, “He-he’s there! There!” She was pointing with her free hand.
“I see him,” Depweg calmly stated before swinging the barrel of the Lapua toward the furthest outpost.
I couldn’t really see it clearly, but I gathered it was a portable guard shack. I think they even had air-conditioning in them for the summer months. Malls usually placed them around their parking lots during high-traffic times like Christmas. Or at least they used to. Apparently, malls weren’t really a thing anymore.
The enclosure could be transported around by attaching it to a pickup truck before being dropped off at a location. After that, hydraulics would lift the station into place to give the occupant a better field of vision.
A muffled pop sounded next to me, making me jump a tad, before the report of the bullet striking the target panged in the distance.
Moving the rifle with precision, Depweg aimed at the other tower and squeezed the trigger.
Another pop sounded before Depweg called out, “Clear.”
“Damn! How far was that?” I asked in amazement.
“It was only seven hundred yards,” Depweg informed flatly, as if what he had just done wasn’t cool as shit. “The Lapua has a maximum effective range of up to nineteen hundred yards. It’s why I brought it. It just so happened that this hill offered the best advantage at only seven hundred yards out.”
Though he was playing it cool, I knew Depweg was pleased with his success. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have explained all that.
For a reason I couldn’t explain, I glanced at Meli at that moment.
“Let’s mov
e up,” Depweg said, pushing himself up to his feet.
“You gonna take your rifle?” I asked just as Depweg began unfastening his clothes. It looked like they had been designed to be quickly removed in the field.
I was about to ask about it when I shut my mouth and said inwardly, Taylor.
Meli turned away from Depweg as she pretended to inspect her rifle, which hung in front of her.
Once naked, Depweg pulled a magic trick and almost instantaneously transformed into his twelve-foot-tall feral form.
“Holy shit!” I called out, dropping my jaw and slumping forward in amazement.
“Focus,” Depweg said clearly. It had an edge of feral to it, but was mostly just Depweg’s voice.
Before I could regain my composure, Depweg leaped into action, taking giant strides down the hill and toward where Ben awaited our arrival.
“Follow behind and administer first aid if we need it. Also, take out anyone we miss or that tries to flank us. K?” I instructed Meli before jumping into action.
It was glorious. I was as swift as a diving hawk, as nimble as a dolphin underwater, and as graceful as a ballerina as I made my way down that hill.
Once I purposefully landed on my stomach with an “Oof,” I picked myself off the ground and patted at my clothes. Depweg just stared with a cocked head.
“Meant to do that,” I said with an almost sigh of boredom as I broke eye contact with my friend.
I could hear a throaty chortle making its way up his core despite his best efforts.
“Hey! Focus!” I harshly whispered, aggressively waggling an index finger at him.
Depweg ceased his laughter before it evolved into a maniacal outburst that could give away our position.
We silently made our way to where Ben was waiting for us, moving with amazing speed. It was game time.
“Ben, climb up to the roof and make your way to the bottommost level. Let me know of anything interesting you find,” Depweg instructed. “Recon if you can. Engage if you must.”
Ben nodded in agreement before zipping away with incredible speed.
I peered around the corner and watched him run to and then up the wall of the building as if it were flat terrain.
“Whoa!” I let out in an exhale, trying to stay quiet.
Depweg extended his hand to me, and for some reason, I looked at his crystal, which seemed to be the proper length now.
The giant were shook his hand once to get my attention, and I quickly brought my open palm just below his closed grasp.
Opening his fingers, the cube Ba-Bomb dropped into my hand.
“Hold on to that,” he instructed. I was about to ask him why, when I figured it out; no pockets.
I put the cube inside of my breast pocket, and felt what was in there from Val’s.
“We’ll try to go in through a side or back entrance before making our way down,” Depweg said.
“Are we sure there’s even a basement, or whatever?” I asked, looking at the building again.
“Safe to assume. If not, we will still place the bomb on the bottommost level for maximum damage.”
“Ba-Bomb,” I corrected.
Depweg let out a low rumble of a growl in answer.
I did one back while glaring with one mean eye, “Arrrrr!” but I was pretty sure I sounded like a pirate.
After a moment of staring blankly at me, Depweg chuffed once, letting the point go, and began to move.
Looking over my shoulder, I could see Meli making her way down the hill at a pace that I would call slower than what I had done. Others might say it was “controlled” or some BS like that, but the truth was it was slow, damn it!
Seeing that she was near the bottom, I pointed toward the building with my hand, and saw her nod in confirmation.
Turning back to our target, I took in a deep breath before rushing forward, and ran right into a trap.
37
The hairs on my neck and arms stood on end as I sprinted forward at preter-speeds, causing me to slow as my senses smashed the alarm button.
My brain was paralyzed with indecision as everything in me screamed to run, jump, dodge, do anything but carry on the straightforward path I was on.
In slow motion, a twisted, violent glow of purple, green, and blue light arced through the air of my peripheral vision.
On instinct, I shot my wings out to full span and jumped backward with all my might while giving the most powerful flap in existence.
Concrete exploded into dust beneath my boots as a pair of cyclones burst into existence from the air displacement my wings had forced.
My momentum had been too great to completely cancel, but I had at least dodged the bulk of the surprise attack that was alarmingly accurate for how fast I had been moving.
A fork of hell-powered lightning lanced out to latch onto one of my extended wings, incinerating all of the feathers as if they had been coated in gunpowder.
The lightning traveled toward my body, forcing me to drop my manifestation and roll away.
A smaller fork jumped the distance and invaded my flesh, flooding my conscious thought with an overload of white-hot pain that made every muscle in my body spasm into the world’s most agonizing charley horse. My diaphragm wouldn’t even relax enough to let me scream. All that came out was a whimper. Did I say whimper? I meant super manly, death metal growl.
Wrangling control away from the nerves that bleated their alarm inside my mind, I opened one eye and saw a figure approaching from the darkness. I didn’t even need to fully see in order to know who had delivered such a precise, devastating attack.
“Ulric...” I growled as the anger built at my core, white-hot pain being swallowed by ravenous fury just under my skin.
“Surely you cannot possibly be surprised to see me, boy,” Ulric purred as he stepped under one of the spaced lights that hung on the warehouse walls.
I pushed myself to my feet, clenching my fists as I glowered at the man.
Ulric was covered in a black armor that I immediately recognized. Oberon had worn it before, the obsidian reflecting the darkness inside the wearer.
My own armor shimmered to life, bright ivory and glinting gold.
Something caught my attention, and I relented to my eyes’ request to further investigate.
Shifting my gaze to Ulric’s shoulder, I saw a white skull that had been fused with the pauldron. Hellfire wafted from the eyes, nose, and gaping mouth, which seemed to be perpetually in a scream.
“Little much, don’t ya think?” I asked Ulric as I shifted focus to the other skull. It was identical to the first in every way imaginable, almost as if they had been purchased from a line of mass-produced skeleton heads. But Ulric wouldn’t stoop so low. Everything he wore had meaning. In all our years together, I had known him to choose his wardrobe intentionally to convey a message to all those that would lay eyes upon him.
My eyes flicked between the identical skulls that seemed to be perfect mirrors of each another.
“Do you like them?” Ulric asked in a voice so cold that my gonads began to retreat toward my pelvis as my stomach clenched itself into one...big...knot.
“Identical,” I mouthed, feeling all the moisture in my mouth vanish. My head became light, and I had to use all my will to keep from collapsing to my knees.
“I didn’t think they would mind,” Ulric hissed with a grin that stretched from ear to ear. He tilted his head downward, which, in the light, created stark shadows that hid most of his face. Only his glowing eyes shone in the darkness, shifting between purple, green, and red like a kaleidoscope.
Realizing whose skulls rested on either of Ulric’s shoulders, I shot my face toward the building. Depweg was creeping through the shadows in hopes of flanking Ulric, just as we had discussed.
But that was then. Depweg couldn’t lay eyes on those skulls without the real possibility of losing his mind, or at least letting his militaristic control slip and be swallowed by rage. Ulric was counting on that. The son of a bitch ha
d always been excellent at creating opportunities and seizing the upper hand the very moment his opponent lost control, even if only for a second.
“Dep—” I tried to call out, but my mouth and throat were barren. I forced myself to swallow, and cried out again, “Depweg! Go! I got this!”
The twelve-foot-tall wolf froze where he was, just mere yards from the target.
With a malicious smile that gleamed in the darkness, Ulric began taking a step forward so that he might be seen by Depweg.
“DEPWEG! LISTEN TO ME!”
The light bounced off the identical ivory skulls which stood in stark contrast to the obsidian celestial armor. But of course, that had been intentional, I knew.
A muffled scream came from somewhere inside the building near the top floor, and that blessedly yanked at Depweg’s attention.
Looking back at me one more time, Depweg nodded once before taking off toward the building.
At that moment, Ulric was standing in the clearing between warehouses in perfect view of Depweg, at least had he been facing in our direction.
“Clever boy,” Ulric said above a whisper as he casually glanced toward the building in time to see Depweg disappear inside the main entrance.
Suppressed automatic fire pierced the silence of the night from somewhere to my right, and I shot my face to see Meli steadily moving forward as she sighted on Ulric.
The bullets smashed harmlessly against his armor and tinkled to the ground, making the Grand Master—clad in armor made from God—sigh in disappointment.
Raising a hand, Ulric turned toward where Meli was ejecting a magazine and expertly replacing it with a fresh one.
“No!” I screamed, sending an unseen blast of pure will out. It slammed into Ulric, who stumbled backward in surprise.
Turning to Melissa, I cried out, “Here!” I threw the Ba-Bomb toward her before finishing with, “Finish the mission! I got this!”
She caught it easily, surprising me, and took off into the darkness, going the long way around the warehouses.
