A Ritual of Fire

by J. L. Hendricks

  For the moment, it was all clear.

  22

  Alyson

  As we exited the room, Vlad’s left fist went up, indicating I needed to stop. I couldn’t hear anything so he must have seen something when I was looking behind us.

  “What?” I whispered so low only Vlad could hear.

  “Movement up ahead and to the right.” My partner took a step forward and I followed, scanning the area to the right.

  I stopped and took in a deep breath. A familiar scent filled the air around us.

  “Werewolves.” Vlad’s face changed back into his fighting form.

  He was right. It smelled of death and sewer, just like when we went up against them before. These were no ordinary werewolves, they were the Shadow Walkers. Here, at our base. I had to stomp down on my dragon’s desire to come out and attack.

  “My captors must have contacted their leader while I was knocked out. Why else would they be here?” I wondered if they knew I was a dragon shifter. I really hoped that wasn’t true, that they just needed Mara so badly they came to interrogate me in person.

  “I don’t know but we need to follow their scent and see what they’re up to.” My partner ran ahead before I could respond, and I had to hurry to catch up to him.

  Instead of heading to the exit which was only two right turns away, we headed left and back toward the offices where I was originally trying to go when I was captured.

  While I was less worried about getting tranquilized with Vlad here, I still didn’t like this. These magic-wielding werewolves were tough to fight. I had to shift to my dragon form for us to beat them last time, and that was with a contingent of trained witches. Worse, even if I wanted to shift, there wasn’t enough room inside the building to allow it.

  Gripping my M16, I took a step forward, and as I did, the smell and taste of magic, like warm earth on a spring day, hit me. I swallowed. Hard. Mara’s magic.

  I pulled on Vlad’s shirt to stop him from barging ahead, and as he turned around and looked at me with furrowed brow, I put my finger up to my lips.

  “Shh.” I pointed to my nose and mouth and mouthed “Mara” and I could see the anger spread over Vlad’s face. His eyes turned their freaky red and his fangs elongated.

  A growl that made my fight or flight senses kick in rippled from his lips, and I had to wrangle my dragon under control. Vlad hadn’t set off a need to shift since we first met.

  Vlad had an inner demon he never wanted me to see, but I had seen it once. It was something I kept from him, but on a previous case involving children, he let lose in order to save a little girl. I was grateful she had passed out before Vlad showed up.

  In his demon form, he grew in size, almost like a shifter, and he was exceptionally vicious. It dawned on me that this was how he saved me. He took that form and killed the men holding me. That was why he was so vague on how he killed so many humans.

  “Vlad, I’m right behind you,” I whispered, hoping none of the other paranormals could hear me. That was all Vlad needed to know. It was go time.

  Without responding, Vlad kicked the door inward, ripping it off its frame and sending it flying into the room. He followed it, leaping on the closest werewolf and tearing into him with all the strength his vampiric muscles could bring to bear.

  As his claws tore outward in a vicious arc that ripped open the werewolf’s stomach and spilled his entrails across the linoleum, the few werewolves who hadn’t been in their wolf man form, shifted and charged him.

  I took the opening to try to get to Mara. Darting into the room, I raised my M16, putting a three second burst into the brainpan of the werewolf holding her prisoner. As his life evaporated into a red mist and his body collapsed to the floor, I sighted on his buddy. The other werewolf was already moving, already charging, and as he leapt for me, I emptied the weapon into his chest. Blood sprayed out his back right before his body crashed into me, knocking me to the ground beneath his bulk.

  He wasn’t dead, but he was hurt bad. Unfortunately, he didn’t seem to care. As blood gushed from his torn open chest, he snapped at me. I dodged and drove my forehead into his snout. The sound of cracking bone filled the air, and as the werewolf slumped toward me dazed, I shoved him off.

  I scrambled to my feet as Vlad flung one of the other werewolves through the air. It hit the wall between me and Mara with enough force to crack the drywall, and as it slid to the ground, shaking its head, it saw me.

  A howl erupted from its throat as it leapt at me. This time, I sidestepped and used my now empty M16 as an improvised club. The butt of the weapon smashed into the underside of the creatures chin with enough force to knock him on his back, and as he crashed to the ground, I drew my Glock and put two into his skull.

  As I stepped over the dead wolf, two burly men, the last of the wolves who hadn’t shifted, grabbed hold of Mara. I smelled her magic in the air, but it didn’t seem to matter. Golden bands began to glow on her wrists and ankles, and even though they flared like star fire, they somehow suppressed whatever spell she was trying to do.

  Without her magic, there was nothing she could do, and the two quickly pulled her through the emergency exit.

  I ran forward, trying to get to her. “Mara!”

  A werewolf slammed into me, tackling me to the ground. Using our momentum, I managed to roll on top of the thing as we tumbled across the floor. The beast swiped at my legs with his claws. They ripped clean through my pants and sliced through my flesh.

  Biting back the pain, I pointed the Glock at him and pulled the trigger. He slumped to the ground as blood blasted out of the freshly-minted hole in his head.

  I rolled off the giant bag of bones to find that one of the men had remained behind. Worse, he’d shifted now. He lunged to bite my head off but I kept low, under his attack as I pulled the trigger. My bullet hit its mark right into the soft spot of the jaw.

  I was already past him as his body collapsed to the ground. I ran to the emergency exit where they had taken Mara. Busting out into the parking lot, I watched in horror as an unmarked helicopter was already taking off with Mara and her captor inside. I couldn’t shoot it down, even if it was close enough, not without endangering Mara in the process.

  I sprinted for the helicopter, and was about to shift and try and take it that way, when the loud report of two gunshots brought me back to the present, reminding me that Vlad was still fighting off six Shadow Walkers. I threw one last glance at the helicopter as it disappeared into the horizon before turning around to help my partner. We might still be able to save Mara, but if I didn’t help Vlad now, he might not live past the next few minutes.

  I burst back through the emergency exit to find Vlad facing off with the only two remaining Shadow Walkers. His fist lashed out, moving so quickly I could barely even follow the movement. His fist slammed into the right werewolf’s stomach before bursting through the creature’s back in a spray of crimson gobbets.

  The werewolf’s mouth opened and closed like a dying fish, right before Vlad jerked his arm sideways, using his claws to practically tear the creature in two.

  As its body hit the ground, he spun, lashing out with his heel at its partner as the werewolf leapt at him. The upward arc of heel of his foot didn’t catch the creature on the underside of its snout so much as it shattered its entire skull into a gooey mist.

  Flames and Cauldrons! What kind of power did my partner have in his demon form and why didn’t he bring it out more often?

  As the Shadow Walker’s corpse fell to the ground, Vlad turned his demonic eyes on me. “Mara?”

  “They took her,” and as I spoke the words, the look he gave me made me feel guilty even though it wasn’t really my fault.

  23

  Vlad

  I hadn’t wanted Alyson to see me like this, but I needed the strength this form afforded me. After all, after she’d risked her life by shifting to her dragon in front of everyone, the least I could do was to shift into my demonic form. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t d
eserve to call her partner or friend.

  A soft hand touched my shoulder. “Vlad, you’re awesome in this form. Why have you hidden it from me all this time?”

  In a guttural and deep voice, I responded, “Because I’m a monster like this. I never wanted you to see me lose control.”

  “Hey, turn around,” Alyson demanded.

  “Alyson, we don’t have time for this. We have to get Mara.” I complied while keeping my head down, trying to hide my face as much as possible. When my demon came out, my face had sharper features and small one-inch horns protruded on my forehead. Veins popped out alongside them and my fangs grew longer and thicker.

  “Mara’s gone, Vlad, a few more seconds won’t hurt.” She nodded to me as she stepped up to me. “You’re a super warrior like this. Please don’t hide from me.” Alyson cupped my face in her hand and ran her thumb along one of my fangs. “And as far as I can tell, you haven’t lost control.” She smiled at me.

  “Please, not like this. Don’t touch my demon face.” It hurt my heart to know she saw this face, the real me, but to have her touch me like this was too much.

  “Vlad, you’re handsome, inside and out. I wouldn’t be a very good friend if I couldn’t handle the way you look right now. Trust me, this doesn’t bother me at all.” She ran the tips of her fingers up along my horns and my blood pulsed with the sudden desire to take her. Alyson couldn’t have known that the horns are an erogenous zone for most demons and vampires. “And you’ll need this kind of power if we’re going to save Mara.”

  * * *

  My eyes rolled to the back of my head and a growl came up from my chest of its own accord.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you.” She pulled her hand back from my face and part of me wished she hadn’t. Still, this was no time for foreplay. I had to focus on the case and ensuring the safety of our planet.

  “What happened to Mara?” I asked, trying to get myself back under control.

  “I’m sorry.” She sucked in a breath and met my eyes. “They took her away in a helicopter. It was all my fault. I should have been faster.” The look on my partner’s face almost broke my heart.

  “No, don’t blame yourself. You did what you could. We have to trust that Mara knows what she’s doing. There’s no way they found her where I left her. She must have followed me here and turned herself in to them. After all, her original plan was to be captured by them for us to follow. I just hope that it works.”

  My face shifted back to its normal, human form. Even though Alyson said she was fine with my demon face, I wasn’t fine with it. Guess, I was just broken that way.

  “If they sacrifice her, we’re done for.” Alyson gestured at the mess of werewolf bodies littering the floor. “I don’t know how many they have killed in their ritual so far, but they must be close by now. What do we do?”

  “We find Mara.” I gave my partner a sly smile. “The thing with Mara is you can never quite trust her to listen so I planted a tracker on her.”

  “You’re a genius, if a bit of a jerk.” She gave me a determined smile as she scooped up a new M16. “Come on, we can leave through the emergency exit.”

  Alyson ran to the door with me following close on her heels after I’d picked up my own rifle.

  “I’ll drive while you track her,” Alyson suggested as she looked around for my car. “Um… which one is it.” She paused. “No…”

  “Yes.” I nodded to the canary yellow 1970 Ford Mustang Boss 302 I had borrowed from my friends. “So much yes.”

  “Well, I’m still driving.” She shook her head. “Should have gotten an SUV.”

  “Well, next time you pick out the car then.” I smirked. “And I’m not sure you should drive. Every time you do, we end up crashing or blowing up.” As Alyson gave me a faint scowl, my smirk turned into a smile. “Have at it.”

  I threw her the keys before sitting in the passenger seat. After buckling up, I pulled out my phone and opened the satellite app. A few taps as Alyson revved the engine and I had the signal for the tracker not currently on my body.

  Alyson and I both wore multiple trackers with the idea that a search might find one or two but not all of them. When I was searching for her while she was captured, I noticed one of her beacons was in a different part of our base. They must have found it and moved it, hoping to put any rescuers off the trail. It didn’t help them. All I had to do was find the blip with the most transponders in one place and voila! It was easy.

  “Got a lock on Mara,” I announced. “She’s stopped now. They must have just landed somewhere not far from us. Over in the valley? Who uses the valley for a secret base?” The valley was full of homes and small businesses. A helicopter landing would stand out there.

  “Well, that’s just great,” Alyson said as she got onto the 134 freeway and headed to Sherman Oaks. “Fighting a contingent of Shadow Walkers right in the middle of suburbia is definitely less than ideal.”

  24

  Alyson

  We drove to our destination in silence. I hoped Vlad wasn’t worried about me seeing his demon face. It was so powerful. Yes, a bit scary, but exciting too. To be honest, it was kind of a turn on.

  “Am I still on the right track?” I had been driving for almost thirty minutes without any changes to direction. Sherman Oaks wasn’t exactly a supervillain hotspot. It seemed like a really odd place to have a lair. There were a lot of paranormal creatures who lived there in harmony with each other and the humans, but none of the ones I knew about had ever tried to jumpstart the apocalypse.

  “Yes, we’re almost there,” Vlad responded. “I find it difficult to imagine their lair here in the middle of the valley. It must be another ritual site.”

  I hadn’t considered their need for another ritual. Mara couldn’t be the one they intended to sacrifice here. As far as I knew, she had no close ties to anything in the valley, but she could be forced to watch as they sacrificed other beings or possibly even witches. If she was having another senior moment, they might even be able to persuade her to give over some lost information regarding the spell. She did have knowledge of it, after all.

  “Take a right up here, and we should drive right past where her beacon is located.” Vlad put his phone away and began scanning the area.

  I slowed down after I made the turn and tried to see if I could find anything looking like a ritual killing site. “There!”

  I pointed to the left at an old abandoned restaurant. It matched up with Vlad’s description and would have been a perfect place for a deadly ritual.

  “Drive around the block and see if anything else pops out. Her beacon is coming from here, but I want to make sure we aren’t heading into a trap. If they found my beacon on her, it’s possible Mara isn’t even here.” As he spoke, Vlad shifted into his vampire form, but kept from going full demon, presumably for the enhanced senses.

  “You know, I’m glad you’re using your vampire side, but if you need to go full demon again, go ahead and do it. I don’t want you to feel the need to hide who you are. I know, I have to do it, and it sucks.” I looked over at him. “You don’t have to do it. Not with me anyway.”

  Vlad growled but didn’t say anything as he began to scan the area with his bright red eyes. I guess that was my answer.

  “Fine, just know I’m cool with him. Better you bring out your demon than I shift into a dragon.” I turned left to head back around the block, checking for anything out of the ordinary, like that helicopter they’d used to escape.

  “I’ll do whatever is necessary to keep you safe but that doesn’t mean I like my demon form. I much prefer to fight with this face.” He touched his cheek. “It’s a good compromise.”

  “Understood.” I couldn’t really blame him. If he didn’t want to show that part of himself to others, it was his choice. “Wait, do you feel that?”

  All of a sudden my chest felt like a ton of bricks had landed on it, and my breathing became difficult. Worse, the air started to taste of ozone and sulfur.
>
  “The smell,” I mumbled, gesturing toward the building. “It’s as though a thousand corpses were rotting right here. The acrid scent actually hurts my nose.”

  “Yes.” Vlad scrunched his nose. He had never done so before, at least not in front of me. It added a level of humanity to his vampire face, in an odd sort of way. His red eyes crinkled and when his nose scrunched, his mouth opened further to reveal even more of his fangs. Even with his vampire eyes and fangs, his face showed a human emotion I didn’t normally see coming from Vlad - disgust. Something about it made him seem more human than he had since I’d met him.

  I waved my hand in front of my face, trying to fan the stench of rotting meat away from me as we moved even closer to whatever was causing the smell and creepy feeling. If this wasn’t the right place, well, I almost wasn’t sure I wanted to know what that would feel like because this felt like Grade A evil.

  “Could it be they’re in the middle of another ritual?” It was all I could come up with. Never had I experienced something like this before. “Is your head pounding? Mine is.” My eyes were starting to water as fear traveled up my arms and spine. I was smothered by fear, death, and evil. It was a devastating feeling. All I wanted to do was take a hot shower and clean off the filth I could feel coming from the restaurant.

  Without warning, Vlad’s demon form emerged. “Yes, in addition to a general feeling of disgust and a need to kill.” He inhaled sharply through his nose. “Be careful, I can smell many Shadow Walkers.”

  I caught it out of the corner of my eye. He must have instinctually shifted to combat the surrounding evil. In a way, it helped to calm my nerves. Knowing he brought his deadliest form to the battle was comforting.

  Still, it was probably a good idea if I kept my mouth shut in regards to his current form. I wasn’t sure if he knew he had shifted, and I needed him to focus on the fight, not his insecurities.