Shining Fury: from the Tome of Bill Series

by Rick Gualtieri

  “I can help.”

  Kelly strolled over, having obviously caught the last few moments of our conversation. “Anyone bitten?”

  “No.”

  “They should be fine then.”

  “Really?” Bernadette snapped. “You’ll forgive my skepticism in your opinion since the creatures we fought were not dispatched as easily as you had led us to believe.”

  “Sorry. I’m just going by what I know from the movies. This sort of magic, it’s not something any Magi I know of has delved all too deeply in.”

  “Then how can you possibly give advice on the care of their victims?”

  “Well, it sounds logical to me.”

  Bernadette opened her mouth, no doubt to say something scathing to Kelly. However, at that moment, Meg joined us. “I don’t think we have anything to worry about.”

  “So are you going to give me a lesson in logic, too?” Bernadette asked.

  “Nope. Just fact. Christy told me that her fiancé was bitten by a zombie last year.”

  “I didn’t see a ring on her finger.”

  Meg shot Kelly a withering look. “As I was saying, she found out about it several days after the fact. She put him through an entire cleansing ritual to be safe, but said she was pretty sure it was unnecessary.”

  “A full cleansing ritual?” Kelly replied. “Ouch.”

  “Bad?” I asked.

  “Think of yourself as a dinner plate and it as a dishwasher set to scalding.”

  “More or less,” Meg acknowledged. “Anyway, nothing came of it. I don’t know what these things actually are ... maybe some kind of flesh golems or vampires that didn’t take, but whatever the case, I’m thinking we can toss out the Night of the Living Dead rulebook.”

  Bernadette appeared to consider this. “I won’t let you touch my brothers with dark magic.”

  “Trust me, the feeling is mutual,” Meg replied, her tone tinged with acid. “It would kill the better part of a day anyway and I don’t feel like wasting the effort.”

  “How about this?” I offered. “I’ll mend their wounds. It’ll only take me a few minutes. After that, we’ll keep an eye on them. If anything starts to look weird, we can discuss our options.”

  “I will not allow my brethren to be bewitched.”

  “Nor am I suggesting it,” I said. “I’m asking that we keep an open mind just in case. It’s only a precaution.”

  Bernadette didn’t look pleased, but she replied, “Very well.”

  “Good. Now let’s divert some more men to burying the remains. We need to get moving before someone notices we’re h...”

  The hum of engines rumbling in the distance caught my ear, and I spun to see multiple sets of headlights turn onto the street from several blocks down.

  “Oh crap,” Kelly said. “I’m pretty sure it’s too late for that.”

  A moment later, any questions as to their identity were answered as red and blue flashing lights lit up the pre-dawn street.

  Considering we’d all driven up in stolen cars and had recently set the street ablaze as we fought off a small horde of the undead, I had a feeling the next few minutes were going to be quite interesting.

  CHAPTER 10

  “Need us to dissuade them?” Meg asked, her hand igniting in a pale blue glow.

  “I will not be party to your wanton murder,” Bernadette snapped.

  “Do I look like Jeffrey Dahmer to you? This is a stun spell.”

  I hated to admit it, but that didn’t sound like a particularly bad idea. We really couldn’t afford to start the day waiting to post bail.

  “We do not harm humans, especially fellow brothers in peace keeping.”

  At that moment, I almost wouldn’t have minded Meg unloading that spell in Bernadette’s direction. However, as the police drew nearer, I was able to make out their number in more detail. I counted what looked to be five cruisers and, if my eyes weren’t deceiving me in the darkness, an armored SWAT van. “Um, I think we’re going to need more than a few stun spells.”

  Kelly whistled appreciatively. “I guess we made an impression.”

  “Swords, zombies, and magical flames ... go figure,” I replied before quickly switching gears and taking stock of the situation.

  The fires were out, thankfully, although smoke was still rising from several spots. The smoldering piles that had been zombie parts were no longer recognizable. Though they didn’t turn to dust like vampires, once they started burning, their bodies seemed to break down pretty quickly. That was a small plus in our favor.

  Thankfully, Brent’s body had likewise been removed from the scene.

  Now all that was left to do was somehow hide the fact that we were essentially an armed mob.

  “Weapons away!” I shouted, quickly unstrapping the sword from my side and tossing it into a pile of trash along the side of the road. Not the most respectful way to treat the weapon, but desperate times and all that.

  Though the cruisers’ flashers were on, their sirens weren’t. I didn’t know what that meant. If it were a lone police car, I wouldn’t have worried much, but what was rapidly approaching us was more what I’d expect to see at a hostage crisis or maybe a standoff against a riot. Maybe they’d been headed elsewhere when they turned onto this block and we were simply the victims of bad circumstance.

  Hah, that was a good one. It seemed my life had become nothing but one big uncanny coincidence after another.

  A voice spoke up behind me. “Everyone act natural. Let me handle this.”

  I spun to find Vincent approaching. “What are you talking about?”

  “My father and siblings were all troopers. I was going to become one, too, but then I got my ... higher calling.”

  “Really?” Kelly asked. “And here I thought you just graduated straight from altar boy.”

  I shot her a glare that could have melted steel, but Vincent ignored her. “With any luck it’s just a case of us being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  “No doubt about that,” Kelly groused.

  “If they pass us by, good. If not, let me do the talking.” This time, he fixed Kelly with his gaze. “Is that clear, witch?”

  “Crystal as my ball,” she replied icily.

  It looked like maybe we wouldn’t need to rely on lying our way out of this, because as the cars approached, they didn’t slow down. Even if they noted our presence, we’d be long gone by the time they got back.

  Then, just as I was about to conclude that maybe they were headed elsewhere, came the squeal of multiple sets of brakes. The cars in front swerved to block the road, length-wise, as the rest skidded to a halt right behind them.

  “Oh, this is not good,” Vincent said. “This is not good at all.”

  That was perhaps the understatement of the year.

  Vincent immediately raised his hands. “Everyone, hands behind your heads and on your knees!”

  He was trying to avoid any chance of this situation escalating. According to everything we’d heard, Boston had fallen under dark times as of late. If that was truly the case, then the local authorities were bound to be on edge. Even if the so-called Destroyer had kept a low profile, the weirdness affecting the rest of the world had to be noticed here.

  Still, we did not need this right now. We had people counting on us. I glanced around to find confusion evident on many faces. Some were following Vincent’s lead, while others appeared to be waiting for either myself or Bernadette to make the call.

  I quickly considered our options. The Templar were unlikely to want to get into a standoff with the police. They were here to help people, so the last thing they’d want to do is start off the mission potentially hurting them. I couldn’t blame them. I’d long since resolved myself to the fact that I couldn’t save everyone. There would be casualties before this was all over, some of them possibly even my fault. However, that didn’t mean I was going to take a cavalier attitude toward human life as a means to an end.

  Nevertheless, we couldn’
t allow them to stop us.

  I slowly raised my hands and placed them behind my head, turning toward Kelly and Meg as I did so. The look on both of their faces indicated disbelief at what I was doing.

  “Be ready,” I mouthed.

  A small smile graced Meg’s lips, and she began to follow my lead. Kelly, on the other hand, hesitated.

  “I need to get over to…”

  I shushed her with a quick hiss. This wasn’t the time to voice objections. I just had to hope Meg was sincere when she said her spell was meant to stun only.

  My attention was quickly diverted back to the police as the sound of numerous doors slamming shut caught my ear. I expected to be told to freeze, followed by orders to get down on the ground. Several of the Templar up ahead, bathed in the glow of the flashing lights before them, had already done so.

  Thus I was caught completely off guard when, in a moment of horror, the police – without uttering so much as a word – opened fire on us.

  CHAPTER 11

  Kelly screamed out something, almost certainly laced with profanities, but it was lost in the sound of gunfire.

  The few at the forefront of our group, already on their knees, never stood a chance. Those who’d still been standing reacted quickly, trying to dive for cover that wasn’t there. However, it was a wasted effort for several. They were soon covered with their own blood, a cruel mockery of the red robes of their order.

  All of this took place in the space of a second or two, but that was all I needed to mentally re-categorize these men as monsters – for surely that’s what they were, every bit as much as the zombies we’d faced. My eyes narrowed and my aura flared to life around me.

  Sureness of purpose flooded my senses. Though I’d thrown down my sword and didn’t dare take the time to retrieve it, I didn’t need it. I debated between helping the wounded and stopping the assault. Some of the downed men were probably still alive. They could be saved. However, it would be for naught if the gunfire couldn’t be stopped.

  No. This needed to end. I called upon the primal energies stored within me. The white fire surrounding me flared ever brighter and wider, an almost living shield against harm.

  I’d been told by the Templar, in those early days when I was still learning what I was, that the white light was meant to be a shining beacon of hope for the powerless.

  What they didn’t mention was that it also acted as a convenient target for our enemies to home in on. Our assailants – I couldn’t bring myself to think of them as police anymore, for their actions surely had nothing to do with preserving law and order – ceased their fire for a moment, allowing many of the Templar to scramble for cover. Then, almost as one, they all turned in my direction and aimed their weapons.

  And that’s when I faltered.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  Though there was at least fifty feet between me and the armed blockade, the distance seemed to melt away. All at once, I was staring down the barrel of Remington’s gun again, in that awful split second before he pulled the trigger. This time, though, instead of one, there were dozens of him.

  Memories raced through my head – thinking the battle was over, dropping my guard, taking Bill’s hand in mine, the smile upon his face. Then, he was there raising the massive weapon at us.

  Time seemed to slow. A small splash of blood flew from Bill’s ear as the bullet nicked it – impossible to notice, yet somehow remembered – then, simultaneously, an impossibly loud roar of sound and pain unlike anything I’d ever felt. It was like a dull nail had been hammered into my forehead. After that came a darkness so deep I thought I’d never climb out of it.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  The aura of faith around me, stretching out over a dozen feet in all directions moments before, suddenly seemed to sputter until it was barely radiating beyond my fingertips.

  The sureness I’d felt collapsed as my old self, the weak one, the one who’d once accepted without protest a backhand across the mouth upon expressing simple displeasure with the traffic on the road, took control again.

  A hand grabbed hold of mine and for a moment, lost in the memory as I’d been, I was sure I’d look up and see Bill’s spectacled face grinning back at me, radiating a warmth that I didn’t deserve. But it was Kelly. Despite looking as if she was in the grip of panic herself, she was still trying to drag me out of the field of fire.

  Dozens of muzzle flashes lit up the street and, thankfully, my power reflexively flared up against the assault. It was both blessing and curse that sometimes it almost had a mind of its own. This time, however, it was definitely the former as the protective aura expanded around me and the witch.

  Though I felt nothing, tiny sparks could be seen all around us as the bullets were either deflected or flat-out vaporized. Faith was a powerful thing indeed.

  “Come on, you too!” Kelly shouted to someone, continuing to drag me along, my power protecting but thankfully not hampering her.

  Another barrage of shots were fired, all ineffectual against the wall of pure faith magic between us and them. Nevertheless, a cold sweat broke out all over my body. Again and again, I felt the phantom pain of the fatal shot fired by Remington. Much like a scared little girl, I closed my eyes and allowed Kelly to lead me away, trusting her.

  Some Blessed One I was.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  I’d awoken in darkness following my encounter with Remington. Though in incredible pain, I had been amazed to be alive. However, then a cold fear struck me. Part of that had been the darkness. In a panic, unable to see anything, I’d tried to sit up only to realize I was trapped in something – a body bag. Worse, gone was the surety that had propelled me until then. Raw, naked fear, a feeling I’d nearly forgotten, took hold.

  I felt like me again, the old me before any of this had happened, but in the worst possible situation imaginable. I’d heard the shouts of surprise from the ambulance driver, felt the swerving of the vehicle.

  Then, despite my despair, the power had erupted out of me, an almost palpable force behind it as it shredded the body bag and freed me.

  Frightened, alone, and as far from confident as I’d ever been, I somehow still had my power.

  It was then I realized that becoming an Icon was a one way street. Unworthy as I’d become, once a prospective Icon’s full sense of worth was realized, there seemed no going back.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  “Come on!”

  I stumbled and forced myself to open my eyes again, feeling ashamed as well as a little bit stupid. We were in an alleyway between buildings. I heard footsteps behind us and turned to see Vincent following us a few paces back.

  “Where are the others?” I asked.

  “Hopefully running in the opposite direction,” Kelly said.

  “They were,” Vincent panted from his place in the rear of our little parade. “Sister Bernadette used your distraction, Blessed One, to rally the others into a strategic retreat. You saved them.”

  If he heard the derisive sound I made in response, he made no mention of it. Kelly, however, definitely noticed it. “What the hell happened back there?”

  “I’m ... not sure,” I said, uncertain if she was referring to my power or the police taking a proactive stance on bringing us in dead, not alive.

  “Well, whatever the case, douse the light show. They can’t see us in here, but the second we emerge I’d just as soon not paint a giant glowing bullseye on us.”

  She let go of my hand, but I kept pace, extinguishing my power until we could barely see the ground in front of us.

  “We need to get off the street,” Vincent said.

  “No shit,” I replied acidly.

  If Vincent was shocked by my language, he thankfully kept it to himself, instead changing tactics in a surprising way. “I don’t suppose you can mask us somehow, witch ... Kelly.”

  “Well, will you look at that, he does know my name,” she replied, skidding to a halt as we ran out of alleyway. “Will miracles never cease?”

  “Do w
e really need to do this now?” I hissed.

  “Sorry.”

  “How’s it look?” Vincent asked.

  “Empty for now. There’s a couple of dumpsters to our left, should provide a little cover. Let’s head across the back lot and see if we can find someplace better than this.”

  Vincent pushed his way forward to take a look. “I think I see a fence back there. The neighborhood looks like it turns residential. Maybe we can find a place to hide.”

  More gunfire erupted from somewhere behind, causing all of us to jump.

  “Did they find us?” Kelly asked.

  “No,” Vincent said. “Listen.”

  He was right. The sounds were more sporadic than they’d been and were echoing from different places. “They’re fighting back.”

  “Or providing cover fire as the rest regroup,” he replied.

  I nodded. Either way, that was good. Not that the Templar were in a firefight with the Boston PD, but that they’d managed to form some semblance of defense.

  “Maybe we can circle back to them?” Kelly asked.

  Fear once more gripped me at the thought of walking back into the fray. Damn Remington for what he’d done to me. Though, physically, all the trauma from that night was long gone, deep down inside, I could still see his cold eyes glittering. “I don’t know.”

  “We should wait until it’s over,” Vincent said, sparing me from the indignity I felt. He turned to Kelly. “Unless your magic can perhaps help.”

  “Lesser of two evils, eh?” She had a sarcastic edge to her voice, but then her demeanor changed. Though it was hard to tell in the darkness, an apologetic, almost embarrassed look appeared upon her face. “Err, this sort of thing is really not my specialty. I’m thinking your idea is best. Let’s wait this out and then head back.”

  There came a noise from behind us, a can or something else rattling along the ground. All of us spun back, thinking perhaps we’d been found, but there was nothing there.

  “Probably just a raccoon,” I said unconvincingly.