A Ritual of Fire

by J. L. Hendricks

  I pulled over to the side of the street where the power was the strongest. Might as well get as close as I could before leaving the safety of our car. When I stepped out, I couldn’t help but rub my arms, trying to get an invisible layer of filth off of me.

  Vlad checked his weapons, and I did the same.

  “Should we try calling for backup again?” Vlad asked in his deep, demon voice. “I know I just tried a few minutes ago, but maybe it will work.”

  “I doubt we’re going to get through.” I shook my head, wishing it wasn’t true. “Something tells me no one will get through to anyone before this spell has been cast and after that, I doubt it will matter.” It had to be a magical curse keeping the phones out of commission, otherwise they’d already be working.

  “Ready? I don’t know how much help Mara will be but we need to try and free her. Hopefully, she can provide some degree of magical cover and stop whatever they’re doing inside.” Vlad pulled a foot long Becker BK7 knife from a sheath on his waist in addition to unholstering his Glock. Part of me didn’t understand since he had razor sharp claws, but then again, maybe he was going to throw it or something.

  “Ready as I’ll ever be. Let’s burn this place down.” I took point and led the way. In one hand, I held a fully loaded M-16 I picked up on our way out of our base. In my pockets were two full ammo magazines for the assault rifle as well as a sheathed KA-BAR USMC fighting knife I’d pulled off one of the enemy combatants for close combat.

  The building in front of us had at one time been a Chinese restaurant. It looked like a little pagoda with crumbling red tiles on the roof. We entered from the back, past two large rolling dumpsters overflowing with rotten food and who knew what else. Flies were all over the place. My skin crawled with the thought of what might be in those trash bins.

  I looked to Vlad who seemed to be on the verge of getting sick, just like me. His nostrils flared, and he grimaced while shooing flies away from his face. If only his natural scent was strong enough to cover what was coming from this place, I would have had my nose in his chest, or neck, just to get rid of the stench. Vlad probably would have welcomed my scent as well. He told me once I smelled like a winter wonderland, whatever that meant.

  I felt his body heat along my back before he spoke softly in my ear. “You open the door, and I’ll go in first.”

  I nodded twice, taking a deep breath to clear my head before pulling the door open.

  Vlad burst in the second it was wide enough, and his entrance was followed almost immediately by the screech of an alarm going off. So much for surprise.

  25

  Alyson

  “Vlad, to the right. The magic feels the darkest coming from there.” I pointed with the muzzle of my weapon while trying to ignore the effect the alarm was having on my heightened hearing.

  He moved silently, even though we didn’t need to be silent anymore. Everyone within a two block radius had to hear the alarm bells going off. The sound was so loud and grating, it gave me a headache.

  Thankfully, it seemed to be having the same effect on the inhabitants. A few agonizing howls split the air as the wolves within attempted to get away from the high pitched frequency of the alarm. I was actually surprised the Shadow Wolves hadn’t turned it off yet, but then again, maybe they were planning on killing us first.

  The taste and smell of evil magic snaked through the corridor we were in. It felt like black vines weaving their way along my body and strangling every inch of me. We were barely inside the place and I was already having a tough time moving forward.

  Something was constricting against my chest and when I brought my hand up to see what it was, I only felt my shirt. It had to be a spell or enchantment over this place, but it felt real nonetheless.

  We came to the end of the corridor, and the only way to go was left. I followed the path and it opened into what I think used to be the kitchens, now filled to the brim with Shadow Walkers. The room had been gutted. Even though the ceiling was only ten feet tall, all of the interior walls save one had been removed to make this one giant room.

  No one seemed to notice us as we approached, or if they did, they didn’t care, which was good because there were almost two dozen Shadow Wolves within. Most of them were crowded inside a massive crimson circle painted on the floor, and the alarm only seemed to be bothering the few standing outside it. Was it some sort of sound blocking spell? It certainly seemed like it, and as I watched them move, the rest of the Shadow Wolves crowded inside it.

  As the Shadow Walkers crowded around a large pentagram painted on the floor, I gulped. There was no way we’d be able to take this many out, especially since this place was too small for me to shift.

  Worse, the largest werewolf I had ever seen stood in the center. He must have been close to ten feet tall and even on all fours, his back had to be as high as I was tall. His fur was a deep charcoal gray, almost black, with a silver stripe down its back.

  Turning my attention from them, I spied Mara sitting on a chair in a corner of the room with three furry guards. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her face was pinched, but otherwise she seemed fine. Another circle had been painted around them, making me think it was definitely some kind of sound deafening ritual. Probably to keep anyone from hearing Mara if she decided to scream for help.

  There were six regular werewolves in another corner, all bound and gagged with three Shadow Walkers guarding them. That combined with the fear in their eyes, made me think they were innocent prisoners.

  Shifting my gaze back to the pentagram, I saw a man move next to the huge Shadow Walker. He held an old leather book which appeared to be falling apart at the seams. With the alarms going off, I couldn’t hear what he was saying but I did see his mouth moving.

  The moment he stopped speaking, the alarms stopped as well. There were a few seconds where the entire room was devoid of any sounds at all, almost as though I had gone deaf. A feeling of vertigo rushed through me, and when I had to put my hands out to stop myself from falling over, Vlad put a hand on my shoulder helping to stabilize me.

  All eyes in the room turned to Vlad and me in unison. It was such an eerie feeling to have everyone looking at me with blank expressions. I got the impression they were all under a spell and doing as someone bid them to do. No one moved on their own, except the man in the middle of the pentagram.

  His smarmy smile was unsettling to say the least. “Ah, just the guest I was waiting for. Thank you, Alyson, for joining us. We couldn’t finish this ritual without you.”

  “Well, it seems my invitation to the party was lost. Sorry, didn’t mean to be late.” I shrugged, trying to play it off even though I was suddenly very worried. While I could always shift and fight my way through this, doing so might kill my friends. “Since you know who I am, care to tell me who you are?”

  “Please forgive my rudeness. My name is Quincy Silverton. I’m a Halfling, and this is my coven.” He lifted his arms indicating the Shadow Walkers.

  “Ah, so you’re what? Pissed at your mom? Dad? Because they didn’t bring you into their coven? Is that what this is all about?” I snorted. “Seems a little extreme to me.”

  From what Mara had told me about halflings, it would make sense for this guy to find some other outcasts to bond with but this was just over the top crazy. Who works so hard to destroy the world just because their parents sucked?

  Quincy chuckled. “No, it’s nothing so mundane as a family squabble. This is about power.” He looked me up and down. “Now that I have you, I will be the most powerful being in all of the universes.”

  “Multiverse theory?” I myself had thought it possible at one time. “Not that again.”

  His beady little eyes scanned me from head to foot. “So smart. It’s too bad the spell will kill you. You would have made for a wonderful associate.” He sighed. “Ah well. Can’t have an omelet without breaking a few eggs.”

  I almost gagged as my body shivered from disgust. “Sorry, gonna have to take a rainc
heck on that.” I thumbed over my left shoulder to indicate where I had last felt Vlad. “My partner and I are here to stop you.”

  As Quincy’s gaze flicked behind me, he laughed. “Your partner was smarter than you gave him credit for. It seems he has decided to abandon you to your fate. He couldn’t have helped anyway. We are too strong now. We’ve already completed ninety-nine sacrifices. Once the final one is cast, there is no stopping the spell.”

  While his words rattled me, I trusted Vlad to have my back, no matter what. He must have found a way to get to Mara or to do something else to stop this madman.

  Quincy must have known I was a dragon shifter. That was why they chose this confined place. It would be almost impossible for me to shift in here safely. Those two Shadow Wolves who escaped from Mara’s lair obviously made it back to tell their boss about me, after all.

  “I hate to burst your bubble but you won’t be sacrificing me. My fate is to stop you and your furry little band of misfits.” At least, I hoped that was my fate. ‘Fake it ‘til you make it’ that was my motto that day. Besides, he was not going to have the pleasure of seeing my fear or any lack of confidence in beating him.

  If Vlad could get Mara out, I would shift and burn this place to the ground. If I was meant to be the final sacrifice, I had to do whatever I could to keep them from killing me, even it meant hurting some innocents in the process. If I didn’t, they would die no matter what. All the same, I would do everything I could to save everyone.

  Unfortunately, it seemed like my choices were to save either the Earth or my friends. That was unacceptable, especially since I didn’t know what Vlad was up to. For all I knew, he has a way out of this mess, and despite what Quincy had said, I knew Vlad hadn’t abandoned me.

  He was too honorable to do so. Plus, Mara was still here. No matter how my partner felt about me, Vlad would never leave his old girlfriend to die here. I had to trust that he was working out a plan to save Mara and me.

  The Shadow Walkers around the circle began to growl while the guards stood still. It was the first time since I entered they hadn’t acted as one unit. Was it intentional or did Vlad do something to distract the others?

  “Like the other dragons, no one can save you.” Quincy nodded at me and the three Shadow Walkers closest to me broke the circle and came after me. “It’s time for your kind to be exterminated. Once and for all.”

  “Wait, do you mean to tell me you know what happened to the others?” I swallowed, leaving the rest of the question unsaid, my family?

  “Of course.” Quincy smiled at me right as three Shadow Walkers leapt at me. “I’m responsible for their deaths.” His grin widened. “Well, mostly.”

  “You what?!” I cried. Rage exploded through me as I raised my M16 and shot the first two in the head, ending their lives in sprays of blood and bone.

  The third landed a few feet from me, and as he stood up on his hind quarters, I blasted him in the chest. My rounds ripped through the monster’s chest, turning it into a mishmash of bloody hamburger, but they didn’t slow him down.

  Aiming for his head, I got off one more shot before he swiped his oversized paw at my weapon, knocking my shot wide and causing the burst to tear into the Shadow Walkers on the outside of the circle. They didn’t even flinch as the bullets tore into them.

  Barely keeping a grip on the rifle, I drew my knife in my off hand and aimed for the underside of the massive maw on the Shadow Walker in front of me. He deflected the thrust to one side with a painful swipe across my forearm, causing my blade to scrape along his muzzle.

  I ducked his next swipe and twisted to one side of the wolf, managing to plunge my knife into his rear hip. He howled, more in surprise than pain, as two more of his buddies came at me. Before they made it to me, I put a round into the head of the monster I had been fighting.

  “Don’t kill her, just subdue her,” Quincy ordered as the werewolf collapsed to the ground. “We need her for the ritual!”

  Spinning back to my new friends, I squeezed off another few rounds, hitting one of the attacking wolves in the eye. As it dropped lifelessly, the other one grabbed me by the throat. My M16 slipped from my hands, catching on the strap around my shoulder.

  As he lifted me up, his clawed fingers squeezing around my neck, I pulled my Glock from its holster and shoved it under his snout with one swift motion. Before the Walker could realize his error, I pulled the trigger. Warm blood and thicker bits splattered across my face.

  The Shadow Wolf dropped me, on account of having most of his head removed by force, and even though my legs were a little rubbery from lack of oxygen, I scrambled away. Holstering my Glock, I brought my M16 up, intent on firing at them if they came at me again.

  “Enough!” Quincy bellowed. “The rest of you, grab her but don’t kill her yet. It must be me who drains her blood inside the circle.”

  I had only made a dent in the number of evil wolves so I needed Vlad to jump in soon and help. If they all rushed me together, there was no way to fight them all off without shifting, and if it came to that, I’d do it, consequences be damned.

  “Drain this,” I snarled, unloading the M16 at Quincy. The bullets just bounced off his shield in a spray of lavender sparks. Flames and cauldrons, he was going to be difficult to kill if he had a shield strong enough to repel gunfire. Then again, bullets were one thing, and dragon fire was another.

  As the wolves charged, I decided to spray and pray. I wasn’t sure if I killed the ones I hit or not but I would take what injuries I could. With the limited ammunition I had, there was almost no chance I could kill them all with bullets alone.

  I scanned the room and still didn’t see Vlad anywhere. At least I finally caught sight of Mara, sitting in the corner opposite of the imprisoned werewolves, not moving. Had Quincy bound her somehow?

  Retreat was my only option so I turned around and ran back the way I came hoping to see Vlad.

  He was nowhere in sight so, for the moment, I was on my own. Once I was next to the exit door, I turned around and emptied my M16 at the wolves as they came. They were so large, only one at a time could come down the hallway. It was a bottleneck for them and a win for me.

  Shooting at each head when it made its way around the corner, I managed to down a few more before they finally grew wise to my tactics. Even still, there had to be over a dozen left and that didn’t even count Quincy.

  While they weren’t the smartest creatures, they did seem to learn from their mistakes. So far, they seemed to mainly rely on their strength and numbers. I hoped that brains would win out in the end if I could just last long enough to outsmart them.

  In front of me was a pile of dead oversized wolf shifters. It would be difficult for me to get back inside through them and I had to assume the Walkers would be coming for me either through the pile or around through the front. My only choice was to go around the building and see if there was another door I could get into before I was caught.

  Sure, I could have fled. I could have run outside, shifted, and flew off. Maybe that would have been the smart move to save the world from Hell, but I had a job to do and a duty to protect the innocent. I couldn’t abandon those wolves and Mara to Quincy and his cult.

  26

  Vlad

  I hated not being able to tell Alyson my plan. Normally, I would have texted what I was up to. With the phones out, there was no way I could tell her that wouldn’t clue in the Walkers.

  As we entered the back of the restaurant, I had noticed a ladder leading up to the roof. This building was old enough and in bad enough shape that I thought I might be able to make a hole or two through the roof and get Mara out of the way.

  Something wasn’t right with her. She would never sit so still, looking mad at the world like that. I could only assume Quincy had bound her in some way with his magic. If his magic was able to hold her so long, he had to be just as strong or stronger than the great witch.

  Still, he was only a halfling. There was no way he had enough magic on
his own to best the greatest witch alive. The only possibility was if her growing senility had overwhelmed her rational mind. In such a moment of weakness, he could have struck.

  I would find out, one way or the other.

  So, as soon as I got a glimpse of the room layout and where the prisoners were, I ghosted back to the ladder. While I hated leaving Alyson alone without a word as to why, Alyson was stronger than she realized. I knew she would be able to protect herself against those wolves.

  Once I was on the roof, I looked for a weak spot over the area where Mara and the other innocent victims were. There was evidence of water damage in the front corner and that would make it possible for me to make a hole large enough to get inside and get Mara out, but it would be loud. If only I could contact Alyson and have her make some sort of distraction.

  I should have realized that all I had to do was wait. I heard gunfire erupt downstairs. Lots of gunfire. Alyson was using her M16, good. I worked fast, pulling off the tile and ripping away at the wood underneath me. It came off faster than I expected. Thankfully, the wood was rotted all the way through.

  Looking down through the opening in the roof I was stumped. The image below me was very different from the image of Mara I saw when inside of the room just a few moments ago.

  This view showed me Mara standing and moving her hands around as though she was weaving an intricate spell. Could it be she used a glamour to make it look like she was frozen in the corner? Glamours were pretty low-level stuff. I would have expected Quincy to pick up on it, even if it was the most powerful glamour in the world.

  “Pst,” I whispered, hoping to catch Mara’s attention.

  Mara looked up and smiled. She nodded and kept going with whatever she was doing. I knew from my previous time with Mara that I needed to stay where I was until she was done. The radius of the glamour was too confining to accommodate me. When I jumped down there, the glamour would break and everyone would know Mara was free.