by Hunter Blain
Approaching the last one as it began to smolder, I stabbed it through the heart and then lunged forward, bringing the blade straight up the monster’s torso and bisecting its head.
Brain matter spilled out but was quickly engulfed in the flames my own sword had left behind.
Looking up, I saw Locke gracefully dodging and deflecting the enormous wolf’s attacks. I noticed my friend staying well within a tight range of the much larger opponent, never giving him full leverage to swing his weapon.
The wolf seemed to sense this as well and dropped his Aztec sword, opting to use his effective claws instead. This put Locke on the defensive, and I raised my sword with the intention of coating him in heavenfire, only to be met with a wall of blackness that swallowed my vision.
My celestial batteries were still on empty. Guess I learned that my preternatural well couldn’t be somehow siphoned over. Then again, it made complete sense that a demonic-powered ability wouldn’t fuel celestial batteries.
Coming to, I noticed my sword was gone and wouldn’t come when called anymore.
Looking up with unfocused eyes, I saw a large blur hit a smaller blur and send him flying for several feet.
Meli was sitting up, confusion evident on her face.
“Take care of her!” I drunkenly shouted as I pointed at Hayley.
Meli followed my finger to where I was indicating and shuffled the few feet on her hands and knees to where Hayley remained unmoving.
My eyes came back into full focus, and I looked over to see Depweg now had one leg and one arm injured. But Stripe also had some noticeable wounds that weren’t healing. Several sections of his fur had also been burned away, leaving puckering flesh beneath.
Locke cried out, snatching my attention, and I turned to see the wolf readying the kill. My heart sank as I saw Locke didn’t have his sword anymore.
On instinct, I willed Mjolnir to my grip and summoned a slipstream right in the path of the were-pire.
I was yanked through the air and slammed into and then through the wolf, exploding him into a shower of meat that flew for hundreds of feet.
Then the office building was coming up quickly, and I dropped the slipstream right as the brick did me a solid and caught me. Only problem was, I think I was traveling at Mach Jesus, and just like with the were-pire, I went through the sturdy construction.
Bones broke, flesh was rent, and I freaking bit my tongue, but eventually, I rolled to a stop.
“Systems check,” I mumbled drunkenly, but Mr. Sulu didn’t respond. Instead, my body throbbed all over.
“Um, you okay?” a voice asked. Lifting my wobbly head, I looked over to see a man of average height that I knew to be a scientist, judging by his nifty white coat. He had on glasses that walked the fine line between fashionable and functional, like a professional nerd might. I gave him props for pulling them off.
“I’m fine,” I said like a drunk about to be kicked from the bar.
“You don’t look fine,” he responded, setting down his clipboard and walking over to me. My bones were beginning to knit back together with audible pops that made me jerk in uncomfortable pain.
The scientist had a name tag hanging from his chest pocket that read Dr. Wales Brown.
“What an odd name,” I helpfully said as I took the man’s extended hand and pulled myself to a seated position.
Wales brought over a rolling chair and helped me into it.
“It’s Scottish,” Wales informed me in an American accent.
“You’re a damn Scot? Now we can’t be friends,” I mumbled as I cupped my face in my hands.
“I’m American, actually,” Wales corrected with a super sneaky amount of sarcasm. I had to actually do a mental double take to make sure it had been intentional.
“Wales Brown, the American who happens to be working for Hell while in a German facility,” I drawled as I looked around. There was a familiar Nazi flag, but it had been altered. Fourth Reich was printed across everything; the clock on the wall, the clipboard Wales had been holding, and even his name tag. Heck, even the damn rolling chairs had it embroidered. “And you’re working for freakin’ Nazis?”
“They had really convincing brochures,” Wales countered, trying to stifle a smile.
I looked at him with a deadpan expression, my face scrunching further into disbelief and wonderment.
Wales looked around before leaning in and whispering, “I work for N.O.R.M.A.L. I was sent to monitor the situation. I had just told your interesting friends a few minutes before you got here that the warlocks had cleared out.”
“Minutes?! Bastards!” I grumbled, trying to get to my feet.
“Yeah, I think they knew you were coming.”
“You don’t say?” I facetiously threw out.
“Yeah, I really think they knew you were coming,” Wales corrected while trying to hide yet another smile.
“You’re fucking with me, aren’t you?”
“No. No. Of course not. Why would I do that, John?”
“Ah. Right,” I breathed before switching the topic of conversation. “Have you reached out to Collin?”
“No. But I did let my boss know.”
“Why the hell didn’t you tell Collin directly?” I asked, arching an eyebrow.
“I don’t think a manager of a McDonalds emails the CEO,” Wales retorted.
“Fine, fine, fine. I need to get back out there,” I moaned, stepping forward. The last of my bones were knitting together, further draining the precious energy I had, um, borrowed from Meli.
“Here, take this,” Wales said, holding up a vial that looked like it belonged in a Resident Evil movie.
“Da fook is dat?” I asked, letting my Irish slip out. I wasn’t sure if it was on purpose or not when talking to the man with the Scottish name. Maybe I was just really banged up.
“It’s what they used to make the vamp-wolves.”
“Were-pires, you mean?”
“Right, that’s what I said. Vamp-wolves.”
“Yo...you!” I let out tiredly, taking the vial and pocketing it. “Wait. Why the Frito-Lay are you giving it to me?”
“I don’t know. Seemed like the thing to do, seeing as how you know Director Baker.”
“Ah,” I nodded in agreement.
“Plus I have another,” he quickly said, holding up an identical vial.
“Did you freaking take improv classes or something?” I asked with frustration leaking into my words.
“I have a YouTube channel,” he responded with complete seriousness.
“Really?”
“No!” he let out a chuckle he tried to stifle. “They wouldn’t let me have one...you know...being a spy and all.”
“Oh, Lilith damn it!” I drawled, rubbing my eyes. “Thanks for the vial of sci-fi juice. I’ll tell Collin to give you a raise.”
“That’d be nice,” Wales said, once again making me doubt my ability to detect sarcasm. This dude was on another level.
“Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe!” Wales called out as I stepped through the busted wall.
Apparently, I had gone through several rooms before landing in Mr. Funnypants.
“Wait a sec. How the Trident gum did he know I was going to be in there?” I asked myself as I turned my torso to stare back the way I had come. The room was empty except for a white lab coat that was resting on the chair I had sat on.
Shrugging, I returned to the outside world and hobbled forward.
40
The night was still cool from the sudden and violent storm I had forced on top of Ulric. A light purple squeezed between the blackness of the sky, and I looked over toward the east to see the sun was getting ready to start the morning.
Hope attempted to push through the barren bedrock that getting my ass handed to me over and over had created, but I quickly stomped out the budding sapling when I remembered dawn was somewhere between thirty minutes and a full hour away at this point.
I glanced down at my phone and
saw there was a black line outlined in purple running up the hologram screen.
“The hell...?” I drawled as I brought my wrist up to my face and examined the new collection of scratches along the metal surface. “Oope...shit. Collin’s not gonna like that.”
I heard the singing clang of swords in the distance, bringing me back to the now.
“Shit! Right!” I said, shaking my head to clear the cobwebs. I had been slammed through several not soft walls, and was feeling every injury from tonight. Oh, right, I had also been inside of a damn slipstream when I’d collided with the building. Physics was a bitch.
Hobbling forward as fast as I could, I focused on the fighting that had moved closer to the giant portal.
Sirens blared in the distance, and I mentally palmed my face at not thinking about how my superawesome and impressive attacks might draw the attention of the mortals. Why couldn’t first responders act like extras in Michael Bay movies, just staring at the action with wide eyes and not doing anything about it.
As I drew near to the fighting, I saw Locke and Depweg doing a delicate dance in tandem that sort of made me jealous. I mean, I wouldn’t admit that to anyone who hadn’t signed an NDA or who wasn’t a reader with impeccable taste in books...I forgot where I was going with this.
Blue lights flickered in the distance, drawing a brief moment of confusion as to where the red was before remembering where I was.
Staring as a pair of German police cars came speeding toward where the warehouse complex used to be, I summoned Mjolnir and offhandedly let loose with multiple forks of electricity. The lightning danced all around the road in front of the cars, which responded by screeching to a halt. I chuckled a little as the vehicles were thrown into reverse and sped backward, the drivers apparently having trouble staying on the road with how fast they were accelerating.
Mortals taken care of for the time being, I shifted my attention back to Stripe, who was now dual-wielding obsidian swords.
One of Depweg’s arms continued to hang limply at his side, while Locke seemed to be clutching at his stomach with his free hand.
Stripe was favoring one leg, but seemed to be mostly intact. Lilith, was this what it was like when my opponents faced me and I just, like, healed all up in their face? That’s annoying AF!
Walking up between Locke and Depweg, I pointed Mjolnir at Stripe in challenge.
The were-pire seemed to consider the situation as his eyes flicked between the three of us, calculating his next move.
“Enough!” screamed an annoyingly familiar voice from the direction of the portal.
Locke and I turned, but I was aware that Depweg merely pivoted his ears in the direction of the noise.
Ulric was standing at the top of the ramp. His arm had been reattached, but I got the distinct impression that it wasn’t fully healed, judging by how he only used his other hand as he spoke.
“This game is over. We have won, fools,” Ulric growled with a snarling smile.
Behind him, the shimmering portal went still, and we could clearly see what was beyond the door.
There stood a sterile laboratory with at least eight more fresh were-pires that seemed to be rustling against one another, eager to rush forward and into battle. Behind them, there appeared to be row after row of battle-ready warlocks.
“Shit,” Locke and I said in unison. Even Depweg pulled his eyes off of Stripe to see what the fuss was about.
“Shit,” he echoed.
A portal appeared next to Ulric, and Stripe limped through.
For whatever reason, I turned to where he had just been and verified that he was, in fact, no longer standing where he had been. Not sure why I felt the desire to do so, considering I had seen him with my own eyes, but here we were.
Jerking my head and awkwardly pivoting my entire body to face the new threat, I audibly gulped as the sound of ferocious growls rang out like an approaching stampede of buffalo. They were growing more eager as the seconds ticked by.
“What’s...” Depweg began, and I could see from the corner of my vision that he was craning his neck forward in an effort to see better.
My eyes zipped to Ulric’s shoulders, and horror exploded inside my mind as I realized Depweg was piecing the puzzle together with alarming efficiency.
“Depweg...” I whispered without taking my eyes off of Ulric. “Please. Keep it together, brother. We can’t afford for you to go off the deep end right now. Okay, man?”
The twelve-foot-tall wolf began taking heaving breaths that billowed out from his snout in a cloud of steam. His stance straightened, no longer caring about the pain that had to be screaming at him from his damaged leg.
“What’s going on?” Locke whispered at me, sensing the sudden change in the beast standing next to us.
“Joey...Dawson...” Depweg grumbled with a voice that was shifting toward feral.
Locke leaned forward, narrowing his eyes in search of what we were talking about.
“I-I-I don’t see them,” Locke said, urgency giving strength to his words and no longer allowing him to maintain a controlled whisper.
“They are here, wizard,” Ulric announced, shrugging his shoulders dramatically. I could hear the disdain in his voice when he called Locke a wizard.
Locke took a moment to dissect what Ulric was claiming before taking a step back, covering his mouth, and gasping in shock.
“N-No...” he let out in disbelief.
“Don’t worry. I’ve saved room for all of you. I think I’ll make a codpiece from your skull, John.”
“Yeah, I bet you’d like that,” I returned, taking a stiff step forward.
Depweg was shaking now, rage visibly filling his body and spilling over like dumping an ocean of water into a kiddy pool. I could feel the air growing hotter around him. Apparently, Locke could as well because he unconsciously took a small step to the side while slightly pivoting his body away from the increasingly furious werewolf.
“That’s it, dog. Get angry,” Ulric challenged.
Without warning, without preamble, Depweg did something that took me completely by surprise.
“No,” he said flatly in his human voice. Then he pivoted around and extended his hand out to Meli before crying out, “Bomb!”
To her credit, Meli didn’t even flinch or take a second to process; she simply acted, reaching into the admin pouch on her plate carrier and pulling out the cube. She tossed it to Depweg, who expertly snatched it from the air.
Taking a step forward while turning at the hips, Depweg lobbed the small cube through the air as hard as he freaking could, aiming toward the top of the portal.
Ulric and Stripe both followed the object even though it was traveling at a speed that was somewhere between a Nolan Ryan pitch and a bullet.
A feeling of dread crept into my gut as I saw how efficiently Ulric’s eyes were tracking the bomb, and the very real concern that he might catch the weapon and turn it on us flooded my mind.
The one-eyed Locke must have realized the same thing, as he thrust his wand toward the cube and shouted; a line of invisible, wavering energy shot forward.
Ulric saw the energy and scowled, a look of determination on his face, just before the air around him rippled. I knew in an instant what he had done.
Silently praying to God, I willed my armor to dip me into the fourth dimension one last time.
Ulric began reaching for the cube that was moving at a considerably slower pace. It was then I understood Locke had freaking sent the bomb into the higher dimension to get past Ulric while simultaneously multiplying the impact of the assumable already horrific explosion Taylor had prepared.
On instinct, I brought Mjolnir up and focused on the earth beneath the portal.
The cube was only feet from where Ulric was set to intercept it.
With a sheer focus of will, I shifted the ground beneath him to the right, and almost blacked out from using more of my focus while already on the brink of pure exhaustion. Ulric danced to maintain his balanc
e and completely missed the cube as it passed overhead.
I dropped from the higher dimension right as the huge were-pire landed on top of Ulric, who had lost his focus and returned too.
“NO!” Ulric screamed before the wolf’s bulk smothered the considerably smaller man, choking off his cry.
For a split second, nothing happened, prompting me to ask, “How do you kno—”
BOOM! The very sky cracked as if made of glass, as did the area all around us.
A shock wave erupted from the portal, disintegrating Stripe as it threw him and Ulric through the air.
Ulric’s cry of surprise sounded like a person screaming from a speeding train while I still sat on the platform.
As I slowly turned my head to try and follow the runaway Ulric, the blast of the shock wave struck me with enough force to steal my breath and ripple my eyeballs like slapping a half-filled water balloon.
The bones vibrated in my body as I was sent flying backward, tumbling through the air. It was just lucky for me that we had been set slight askew from the portal opening and hadn’t taken the full brunt of the explosion, unlike a certain dickbag I knew whose name rhymed with FOOLric.
I spread out my wings, arresting my momentum now that the shock wave had passed, and was relieved to see Hayley, Meli, and Ben being shielded by Locke, who had summoned a sphere of pure energy over the trio.
Something beyond them caught my attention, and I looked up with widening eyes to see a jagged void where the portal had been.
The ground beneath the crack was a smoking crater with small, glowing pools where rocks had melted. Above, clouds were rippling away as if a stone had been thrown into a smooth lake.
Blackened, jagged edges of air jerked like glitches in the matrix where time and space had been literally torn apart by the explosion, drawing a heavy concern to constrict my heart and guts. I couldn’t explain how I knew what I was looking at; suffice to say, my celestial armor had whispered inside my mind. That, and it resembled the holes I had personally cut through the fabric of reality using my gladius. Only mine had been almost surgical, like a scalpel dancing across flesh. This...this was like amputating a limb by using only a cinder block; tearing instead of cutting.
