by Michael Todd
She tried to sound comforting. “Right, well, good luck to her. I know she must be terrified out of her mind. If you guys need anything else from me, let me know. I’ll keep the search open, and if I see any last-minute stuff, I’ll send it to you.”
“Thanks, Maps. I’ll get the money to you ASAP.” Damian hung up.
Abraham walked nonchalantly into the room as he stuffed the last of a donut into his mouth. He glanced at the rolled-up blueprint on the table. “Is that for us?”
Damian unrolled the sheet and stood to study it. “Sure is. It’s the full blueprint of the place where they are holding your wife.”
The older man dusted the powdered sugar from his hands and hurried to join him. “Excellent. Let’s get down to business.”
The priest glanced at him for a moment, nodded, and grabbed a tablet of paper. “So, we want to plan the best route for entry. Looking at this for the first time, two places jump out at me— the back entrance and this side entrance. The side leads you into where the offices are and the waiting area for the school. The back enters into the hallway to the gym and the janitorial areas.”
Abraham tapped his finger on the side door. “I think this is where we should go in. I want to have space if there are tons of demons waiting for us. If we go into these halls not knowing what is stacked or blocking the area, we could put ourselves in a corner.”
Damian rubbed his chin and focused hard. “I think you might be right. If we take the side entrance, it leads through into what looks like a lobby, a stairwell, and finally, a door that opens into the gym. We can access virtually any point in the place and won’t have to walk through the main entrance with our balls out.”
His companion pointed to the gym. “If they are set up in the school, this will most likely be their main area, although we can’t be sure if they will hold Elizabeth there or in one of the classrooms upstairs. We’ll have to figure that out once we get into the building and tackle some of the offensive reactions from the cult.”
He looked at him, impressed. “I didn’t think you had the ability to look ahead at things like this.”
Abraham shrugged. “When you said you wanted to be prepared, I changed my mindset. I can’t roll in with my wang out and shoot the place up like I want to. I need your help, so I do it your way, which means mental preparation is key.”
Damian nodded astutely. “Precisely. And this looks like a good deal. If all else fails, there is an emergency exit at the rear of the gym, but I want to try to stay away from that. Walking into the gym almost ensures that we will be attacked hard.”
His companion chuckled. “The looks on their faces will be priceless, though. We’ll need some weapons. Can your girl Maps get us what we need?”
He thought about it for a second and shook his head as he gestured toward the garage. “I don’t think we’ll need that. Come with me.”
The priest led Abraham through the house and into the garage. He removed the key from around his neck and inserted it into the large lock on the metal cabinet in the corner, then slid it to the side and opened both doors to display the weapons he had on hand. Handguns rested on the lower shelf, a crossbow to the right, several automatic weapons up front, and a plethora of knives and swords hung on the doors. In small compartments in the middle were hand grenades, multiple boxes of bullets, and tactical gear.
The man’s mouth dropped open, and he stepped forward to pull a Beretta pistol from the side. “Wow, I did not expect this. I mean, you’re a priest with an arsenal like RoboCop, for fuck’s sake. Do they even allow you to have this shit?”’
Damian winced. “To have it? Yes. To use it? No. Then again, this is our battle, so the church won’t be involved. Go ahead and pick out what you want and set it on the tables over there.”
They went through the arsenal and chose their weapons carefully. This was the only part of the ordeal that Damian didn’t mind. It reminded him of working with the mercs and gearing up before a battle. When they were done, he grabbed two duffel bags and threw one to the other man. “Go ahead and load up. We might as well be prepared for this. At this point, we have all the information we’ll get, I think, so we’d better not wait any longer. We’ll leave when the sun starts to go down and get there at the perfect time.”
Abraham’s expression became almost giddy. The adrenaline hit him like a freight train. “That’s what I’m talking about. My girl has waited too long for me to come to rescue her.”
They loaded everything into the SUV and added extra weapons and ammo in case they needed them, not that Damian imagined they would be able to get back to the vehicle. If they needed everything they could carry on their bodies, they would be facing an incursion of massive proportions. That was something he assumed neither of them would come out of alive, so additional weaponry was pointless. But he wouldn’t call in backup. Damian had promised his colleague to do it his way to the best of his ability. He wanted to be safe, so he did his prep, but part of him wished he could make a call to Katie and have her meet him there.
He threw the last bag in the back and closed the door. “Well, that’s everything. Now we get some rest in before we head on over there. I’ll get the maps ready and addresses down, so we don’t get lost anywhere along the way.”
As he stepped out from behind the vehicle, he saw Abraham standing there motionless. The man stared into the distance and rubbed his stomach. Damian laughed and, tongue in cheek, asked, “So, how did that pie come out for you?”
The older man scowled. He was still pissed about the whole thing. “I don’t think you want to know how the pie came out. What I do have to say is, don’t ever eat anything that woman makes. You’re a better man than me because that bitch would be ash if I lived here. There would be a pile of dust in the courtyard with her broom lying on top of it. Pretty convenient—simply pick it up and sweep her into the drain before a rainstorm. No proof.”
The priest sighed. “We don’t do things like that around here. I’m pretty sure that with the way my bosses work, they’d know you had done it before you actually did it. You sure you’ll be good to fight tonight? We can wait until tomorrow if you’re not up to snuff.”
Abraham scoffed and waved his hands before he grabbed a sword from the cabinet. “Please, I’m as nimble and ready as I ever was. Even more so than when I was a young lad fighting next to a young priest in Las Vegas.”
He reached toward the blade, and Damian put his hand out hastily. “I wouldn’t—”
His warning came too late. The rogue fighter rubbed his finger sideways across the metal to test the blade. Almost as soon as he touched it, he winced and dropped the sword, which clanged loudly on the floor. He hunched over in pain and grabbed his chest and stomach, his face red and his eyes wide. The priest tried hard not to laugh, but he simply had to.
He picked the sword up by the handle and hung it back in the cabinet. Still smiling, he turned and patted Abraham on the back. “I told you everything in this closet is made of special metal. If you even get your hand too close, it will send you into a tizzy. Why don’t you head to your room and rest until the pain passes? I’ll clean up out here, and when it’s time to go, I’ll call you. You didn’t cut yourself, so it shouldn’t take long for you to straighten out. Just remember that tonight when you’re fighting. Don’t touch the blade, and don’t shoot yourself by accident.”
“Maybe…I’ll shoot…you,” he growled as saliva dripped from his lip.
Damian chuckled and shook his head. “Go. Lie down. I don’t want to have to leave you out here on the floor. And try to relax. It helps soothe the pain a bit.”
Abraham turned and hobbled toward the door. Ravi burst into uncontrollable laughter, unable to hold it back anymore. Oh, holy hell, that’s the funniest thing I’ve seen in a century. Did he piss himself? I think he fucking pissed himself. That man is the biggest mess I’ve ever seen. No lie. It serves him right, the way he came rolling into your house with his bullshit.
Damian tried desperately to cont
ain himself. You gotta cut him some slack—they stole his wife. But shit, he can’t seem to stop kicking himself in the balls.
The demon laughed even harder. I wouldn’t be surprised if the bitch surrendered herself to them to get the hell out of Dodge. She had to be either as bad as him or woke up feeling like she’d slept with the ugly dude at the bar and regretted it the next day.
He tried to glare through his laughter. Aww, she’s not like that, although I’m still baffled by the fact that she ran off with him. I don’t understand people. He had to be a pain in the ass. At the same time, I’ve seen some serious change in that man. He’s not the same person I used to know, no matter how hard he tries to pretend he is.
Well, whatever kind of man he was, he needed some serious help in the clothing department. Did you see what he wore when he arrived? He looked like a cross between a hobo and an olden-day Viking. She needs to tame that beast right away.
Damian sighed, his stomach tight from the laughter. At least he found happiness amidst all the bullshit. I have to say that any Damned would give them both credit for that.
Ravi wasn’t impressed. I guess. All I know is that we’re about to face some serious opponents, and dumbass is over there eating poisoned pie and rubbing special metal. If he wasn’t already kicking himself in the dick right now, I would volunteer my services to do it for him. I won’t roll in there on my own with him limping in the background. Bro better be on and ready when it’s time, or we’ll sit our asses right there in the SUV.
The priest couldn’t help but feel the same way, but he wouldn’t admit it. He finished repacking the cabinet and locked it, hoping he’d remembered everything. When nothing came to mind, he headed into the house and sat on his bed, then laid back and linked his fingers over his stomach. He stared at the ceiling and tried to create a mental image of success as he imagined the fight in his head. Unfortunately, he still didn’t know what to expect. Would there be guns? Would there be mass hand-to-hand combat? Would he be forced to break his vow to the church?
Chapter Seventeen
In the driver’s seat, Damian looked at Abraham, who stared silently out the window. The man looked calm and collected, and luckily, was no longer in pain. Still, the withdrawn demeanor was unlike him, and it made the priest uneasy. Shrugging it off, he shifted in his seat and looked at the road ahead. They were finally on their way to the school, where they would find out not only Elizabeth’s fate but their own as well. Most people would call what they were doing a suicide mission, but he wouldn’t let that happen. He had to remember who he was, though, and his companion had to understand that as well.
“I want to talk to you about something,” he said into the silence.
The other man cleared his throat and looked at him. “What’s up?”
He checked his rearview mirror quickly, and focused on the road ahead as he spoke. “You came to me for help to get your wife back, and I accept that you are the way you are. I need you to do the same for me. I need you to remember that regardless of how you feel about demons, my job is to exorcise as many of the infected in that building as I can. I can’t turn that responsibility aside. It was a promise to my church, which makes it a promise to God.”
Abraham winced. “Yeah, I don’t know about all that.”
Damian slowed the SUV. “I’m not fucking playing here. If I stand with you on this, you have to let me do my duty and not simply roll in there and mow down everything in sight. I’ve respected your beliefs and the way you worked all these years. If you can’t even give me that when I’m possibly walking to my death to save you and yours, then I’ll let you walk from here.”
The older man sighed heavily. “Calm the fuck down, Damian. Have I ever stood in the way of your duties? In fact, I remember many times when I helped collect the bastards to exorcise. I don’t like it, that’s no secret. I think they should all be killed. Infected or not, they are bad people, and they deserve to get it. I don’t understand why you protect them.”
The priest put his foot on the brake and drifted to the side of the road. His companion waved his hands in irritation. “All right, all right. Fuck, Mom, don’t pull over. You win. I want my wife out safely. I couldn’t give two shits about the rest of it—unless someone hurt her. I can promise you, though, that if one attacks me, I won’t hold back. I’ll blow those bastards’ brains all over the wall.”
Damian pulled back onto the road, increased speed, and turned his windshield wipers on as it began to rain. It wasn’t exactly agreement from Abraham, but he figured it was the best he would get. He was a stubborn man, and in a way, he was right. The humans who were infected in this group were mostly there by choice. The cult wasn’t known to turn people against their will. They were white supremacists, hateful people who attacked others based on their background, nationality, sex, or the color of their skin. At the same time, though, Damian knew it wasn’t his choice who was saved. Only God could make that choice, whether the people involved understood it or not.
The rogue fighter leaned behind the seat and grabbed the rolled-up blueprint. He spread it out on the dashboard and ran his finger over their point of attack. “I’ll go over this one more time. We’ll park away from the building, do a little recon, and enter through these doors. As soon as we are in, we look for any sign of these bastards, because we know they will be in there. From there, we’ll move through the cafeteria area and the gym. We’ll have to improvise if we don’t see Elizabeth by this point.”
The priest nodded. “Right, but remember, we take care of as many as we can. It won’t do Elizabeth any good if you get killed before you can find her.”
Abraham rolled the blueprint and smiled. “This should be fun. The whole reason I became a mercenary in the first place was to kill demon scum. Now, I get to kill my second most favorite thing, Nazis. It’s like a fucking blue-light special tonight—two for the price of one.”
“Let’s hope that’s the only price we have to pay,” Damian mumbled.
He glanced at his companion. The words from his mouth told a big story of courage and excitement, but that wasn’t where he was. Beneath the blown-up ego, the priest could see the fear. He was terrified he would lose his wife, and that was what his mind was focused on. Even with the big talk, his eyes would shift to look out the window as he thought about her and what might happen.
Damian knew that everyone had to have one focal point of motivation going into a fight. It was what kept you going when things got rough and really exhausting. This, though? This was different. He didn’t have a clear mind going in, something that was almost imperative. He had never seen Abraham like this before, and he worried about his volatility. A rogue fighter not only put their own life in danger, but the lives of everyone around them. Fighters needed to be a team, on point for each other, but they definitely were not that. Abraham was locked onto his own personal wavelength.
The priest didn’t reveal his reservations. He simply pressed the gas pedal and sped down the road to finish the three-hour drive. They approached the school along a small road that led to the top of a hill, and he turned his headlights off and parked at the last turn-off. They couldn’t risk a heads-up to the demons that they were on their way.
The two men exited the SUV and ducked behind the hedge that lined the edge of the property. Damian glanced at his companion, who had a look of determination on his face. “What do you see?”
Abraham squinted. “I see two at our door but nothing else. They must all be inside at this point.”
He nodded, crouched, and headed toward the truck. He opened the back door and grabbed his duffel bag. The rogue fighter stopped beside him. “You ready for this? Once we’re in, it’s on. We have no idea what we’ll find in there.”
The older man readied his gun and shoved it into a holster on his side. “I’ll find my wife, that’s what I’ll find. It’s the most important thing to me right now.”
Damian pushed his knives into their sheaths and pulled his gloves from his pocket. He sli
pped them on and drew a deep breath. He was nervous for the first time in a long while, and it occurred to him that he hadn’t realized how comfortable he was fighting with Max beside him until the young priest wasn’t there.
Abraham put his empty bag in the vehicle. “Can your demon give us any kind of readout? I tried coaxing mine out of hiding last night, but he’s not only pissed about being pushed down for so long, he’s angry about the pie, too.”
The priest chuckled. “And probably also about the metal you touched. Let me talk to her and see what’s up.”
He grabbed his arm. “You have a she for a demon? I knew it.”
“Not now. It’s not the time,” he retorted with a hard look
The other man smirked and put his hands up. Damian cleared his anxiety. Ravi, can you do a sweep and see what you can sense?
She sniffed hard. Already on it, Pops. Let’s see. Huh. Interesting. I would say there are either two dozen lesser demons lurking around in there or a dozen stronger ones, but I can’t tell. I can feel the energy and smell their horrid stench, which suggests smaller ones, because those bugs do not understand personal hygiene at all.
He wrinkled his nose. Wonderful. Smelly assholes. Exactly what I love to do with my evenings.
Damian turned back to Abraham. “Either two dozen smaller demons or a dozen larger ones, but she thinks it’s more likely to be the first.”
The older man looked doubtfully at the building. “And you trust this bitch? I mean, she won’t roll us into an army of assholes, will she?”
