by Jamie Davis
The demon voice snarled, “You have no concept of what I’m capable of, girl.”
The blob drifted closer as it circled her. She had to keep him talking.
“So educate me. What’s a big, bad demon like you doing stuck down here with a bunch of dead humans? You practically laughed when I killed Jared and freed you. You said I couldn’t stop you that easily.”
“And I was right.” The blob pulsed, taking on a sickly, translucent white appearance instead of remaining transparent. “You can’t stop me. I’ll prove it to you, then make you one of my pets, just like these others.”
The two zombies closest to her lurched at Quinn but stopped about five feet from the base of the pedestal.
Quinn grinned. “Is that the best you can do? Just the two of them? They can’t even get all the way to me. You’re all talk and no action.”
Jared snarled, filling the cavern with the buzzing of a million insects. The other newly animated corpses, six in all, shuffled toward the pedestal to join the other two. They also stopped short of reaching Quinn.
A chill ran down her spine. Clark glared at her from across the cavern, and she could feel Taylor’s and Miranda’s eyes on her back, too. A trickle of sweat dripped down her face, but she resisted wiping it away. It might tip off the spirit about how nervous she was with her plan and how much strain it was to hold onto the pedestal’s magic tendrils. That would be bad.
She had to end this before the demon called her bluff.
Quinn pulled her feet up and placed her heels on the edge of the pedestal, then balanced as she stood up, raising her hands over her head.
“I’m tired of your crap, Jared or whoever you are. You’re just a powerless crybaby trying to scare us. Maybe we’ll stick around and play with you for a little while.”
Quinn brought one hand down and pressed her palm against the amulet, embracing the biting cold of the silver while she waited. A little bit longer, and…
The blob that was the demon spirit drifted closer and pressed against the backs of the nearest zombies, forcing them closer to the pedestal. With each step, Quinn gauged their progress against the potential reach of the magical tendrils she kept under the control of her iron will.
Almost there.
Almost there.
Now!
Quinn released the pedestal’s magic.
The intangible tendrils of magic snapped out as if fired from a slingshot, flinging themselves past the zombies to clutch the milky white blob.
“Nooooo!” The voice echoed through the cavern. The blob turned darker, almost black now as the tendrils wrapped around it and drew it closer.
Quinn hopped down and stepped back from the short column of rock. The zombies were frozen in place now. She passed the circle of undead as the tendrils drew the blob all the way back to rest atop the stone outcropping. The pedestal’s magic pulsed in tempo with the now-screamed protestations of the demon. The zombies still standing dropped to the floor, whatever magic that had reanimated them now cut off.
“You tricked me, girl. I will get you for this.”
Quinn laughed. “How? I trapped you and cut off your power. You can’t hurt anyone now.”
The voice choked and gasped, and the bubble of energy over the pedestal shrank as the translucent tendrils squeezed it to the flat surface of the stand.
“I know…because you’ll be back. I know something you need.”
Quinn started to ask about what the demon knew but stopped as the voice screeched. Everyone covered their ears, and then the bubble, the tendrils, and everything magical she’d seen shrank down to nothing and disappeared.
She spun to look at Clark. “What? What does it think I need?”
Clark shook his head. “Don’t listen to it. It’s a demon. Its power is built on lies.”
Quinn glanced back at the now-empty pedestal. The cackling that had filled the room for the last ten minutes was gone, leaving an eerie silence. She shook her head and walked over to where the others stood by the tunnel entrance.
Clark gestured to the corridor with the tip of his sword. “We need to get going. The car is still sitting up there, and the company might still have security patrols come by to check on this place.”
Quinn nodded and followed Miranda. Taylor and Clark brought up the rear.
“I’m still holding out to get my own sword, Clark,” Taylor said. “You must have a stash around somewhere back at home. I want to take a look.”
“You don’t need a sword, Taylor. We protected you just fine.”
“This time. What about the next time when you all aren’t around. I’m an independent and powerful woman, just like Quinn. I deserve a weapon.”
“I’ll take it under advisement.”
“Don’t you patronize me!”
Quinn smiled as Taylor went off on a feminist rant.
Clark glanced over his shoulder at Quinn and scowled when he saw the grin on her face. She knew Clark saw her, and she didn’t care. Sure, it would mean extra-hard training, but right now, it was so worth it.
It almost took her mind off what demon-Jared’s voice had said. What did it know?
Chapter Seven
Back at the farmhouse, Quinn stared at the water-stained ceiling as she lay in bed. Another night of restless sleep. Two days had passed since the desperate battle in the cavern. She couldn’t stop thinking about the final words demon-Jared had said before he was swallowed by whatever inhabited the pedestal.
What had he meant?
A corner of her mind wanted to talk to Clark about it, but she pushed the idea away. He’d only repeat what he’d said in the cavern and tell her it was a taunt and nothing more. She didn’t need him using it against her as some sort of training lesson in dealing with evil spirits. She’d be fine on her own in that department, at least for now.
Besides, the team had more on their minds now that they’d discovered VirSync’s mysterious disappearance. They’d all tried to come up with a reason for the company’s relocation—or perhaps dissolution.
Quinn’s stomach growled, and she rolled over and sat up. Her feet hung over the side of the bed as she ran her fingers through her hair, scratching an itch behind her ear as she tried to wake up. The murmur of voices downstairs told her at least two of the others were already awake.
Pulling on a pair of sweatpants, Quinn padded in bare feet into the hallway and down the stairs to the main floor. The cold wooden floorboards reminded her it was getting into the fall season. The house didn’t have any heat since the fuel oil tank had been emptied by the previous owners before they moved out. Getting a company to come out and fill it would draw unwanted attention to the fact they were squatting there.
Before it got too cold, they’d have to move to somewhere with more than just a well and hijacked electric.
Quinn entered the kitchen and headed straight for the smell of coffee.
Taylor and Miranda chatted over their breakfast. Both looked up as she entered.
“Hey, Quinn,” Taylor said. “Girl, you look like crap. You know that?”
Miranda shushed Taylor and smiled at Quinn. “Still having trouble sleeping?”
“Yeah, but I’ll be all right. I think I just need to get back in a groove and into a routine.” Quinn poured some coffee into a mug and dropped in three spoonfuls of sugar, stirring as she stared out the kitchen window at the farmyard. Clark’s car wasn’t parked in its usual spot. “He’s up and out early. Where’d he go this time? He’s barely been around.”
Taylor chuckled. “I’m surprised you’re complaining. If he was here, he’d be working you to the bone on training routines down in the cellar.”
Miranda laughed. “She’s not wrong, Quinn. You can’t have it both ways.”
“Where did he go?”
Miranda replied, “He was leaving when I came down this morning. He said he needed to follow up with an informant who might know what VirSync is up to.”
Quinn walked to the table and sat down.
&nbs
p; Taylor slid a clean bowl and a box of cereal over. “Here. Eat something. You’ll feel better with some food in you.”
Quinn filled the bowl and poured some milk from the carton. “What’s on the agenda for you two today?”
“I’m almost ready to start testing the new computer system with Miranda,” Taylor said. “I’ve got a crude VR headset worked out, so we just need to make sure the software is loaded properly alongside the magical code to make it all work. Once that’s finished, we can get you into the VR world. Then it’s up to you to figure out what you need to do next.”
“Yeah, like I have a clue about that,” Quinn muttered around a mouthful of cereal.
Miranda asked, “How did you do it before? You gained the skills you have somehow.”
“I don’t know. I just sort of guessed they were there, and they were. You know, like in a new video game where you learn what all the buttons in the interface do a little at a time. I would comment aloud that I wanted to go faster, and the stamina boost thing showed up.”
“Well,” Miranda said, “There you go. Treat it like a game and try out some of the things you can do in a game but not in the real world. See if they pop up inside the VR system.”
“I guess so. Of course, first, you need to get the thing up and running and make sure it doesn’t melt my brain or something.”
Taylor shrugged. “Like I said. We’re close. Miranda has the spell work dialed in…”
“I said I think I have it dialed in. There’s a difference.”
Taylor nodded in Miranda’s direction. “What she said. Anyway, my guess is you’ll be ready to get in there soon.”
“I know Clark is tracking down leads on his end, but you haven’t had any luck on your end tracking VirSync down, T?” Quinn asked.
“Miranda and I were chatting about that when you came down. It’s weird for any company to just up and move like that. There are no news stories about it, even locally. I’ve got a search bot looking for any sign of them. It’ll alert me if anything pops up on the news sites.
Miranda pressed her lips together and shook her head. “VirSync was a popular gaming company, but they weren’t that large, compared to other Baltimore-area businesses. That could explain why no one noticed. Also, no one in a position to report it might know they’ve moved.”
“Where did they go, though?” Quinn asked. “It’s been two days since we found out. Could they have moved to another state?”
“Clark says no,” Miranda said. “He thinks they just went underground. They picked this location to hatch their plans for a reason. There must be something here they need or were preparing for. I agree with him. There’s a reason they’re here in Baltimore.”
Quinn gestured with her spoon after a few seconds of thinking and said, “What could they be doing? They killed all the remaining candidates. There isn’t training going on anymore unless they’ve got another group of candidates somewhere.”
“That’s not a bad idea, Quinn,” Taylor said. “What if they’re recruiting more slayers for their system? If they are, I might be able to track them down that way.”
“How?” Quinn asked.
“You both can help me. I think we can use a magical component in the search if I understand some of what Miranda explained about how her magic works.”
Miranda shrugged. “If it means I don’t have to memorize lines of computer code for a while, I’m in.”
Taylor stood and started clearing the breakfast dishes. “Let’s clean this up and then we can get started.”
Quinn picked up her cereal bowl and drank down the rest of the milk and soggy cereal in it then stood to take it to the sink. On the way back, she grabbed her half-finished coffee and followed the other two into the dining room.
Taylor sat down behind the computer workstation she’d set up at the end of the dining room table. She tapped a few commands into a wireless keyboard and then leaned back in the ladder-back chair and crossed her legs so she could type on the keyboard as it sat in her lap.
On the table in front of her sat a row of three monitors. As Taylor tapped, Quinn and Miranda moved around to stand behind her and watch the screens.
The one on the left made no sense to Quinn. Random characters and numbers scrolled by at a speed that seemed impossible to read. Taylor seemed to be able to parse it, though, because as she stared at the code, she nodded and typed in new information, which caused the lines on the screen to scroll even faster.
“What’s all that mean?” Quinn asked.
“It’s the programming language they used to write the code at VirSync.”
“You taught yourself a new programming language in what, a few weeks?”
“It wasn’t hard.”
Quinn laughed. Taylor always downplayed her abilities. This was just another one of those times.
Miranda didn’t let it drop, though. “That is precisely why Clark’s calling you our tech witch is more than just a clever turn of phrase. It’s destiny.”
When both Quinn and Taylor turned to answer her words with blank stares, Miranda pressed onward. “Ladies, none of this is an accident. There’s no such thing, really. There are forces at work here to restore balance in the universe.”
“But Clark said…” Quinn began.
“Clark said what? That Earth is the battleground between good and evil?”
“Something like that.”
“Well, he’s biased, and I believe he’s wrong.”
Quinn shook her head. “You were there two days ago when we fought a disembodied demon and a horde of zombies, right?”
“I’m not saying evil doesn’t exist. Believe me, it does, and what VirSync did was evil with a capital E, but this isn’t only about good versus evil. That will always be there. This is about the Balance.”
“Balance?” Taylor asked. “What does that even mean?”
“No, not ‘balance.’ The Balance. The thing that keeps the whole universe from simultaneously imploding and exploding when antimatter and matter mix without some sort of stabilizer.”
“So, I’m…we’re that stabilizer?” Quinn asked.
“In a way,” Miranda said. “But it’s more than that. This was what my coven was working on when you and the other slayers started hunting us. Remember the city councilman who was killed in your first VR trip? It was that upset in the Balance he called us here to study.”
“I thought you were working with Clark.”
“Quinn, you were there when I was forced to start working with Clark, but that doesn’t mean I’m working for Clark. I’m working alongside him.”
“Does he know that?” Taylor asked. “Because I’m pretty sure he’s under the assumption that he’s in charge. He is the last living hunter, after all.”
“That’s the point, I think,” Miranda explained. “This is a course correction by the universe before something bad happens.”
“The universe, really?” Quinn asked. This was too metaphysical for her.
“Yes. It’s Nature, or Gaia, or whatever you want to call it. Many of us believe it’s not the battle between light and dark that keeps us safe, it’s the Balance—the natural checks against one side being more powerful than the other. Twenty years ago, the purges began. Before anyone knew it, the hunters, who were the protectors of everyone against the forces of Evil with a capital E, were gone. I remember my parents worrying about it. They feared that with the hunters out of the picture, the netherworlders would take over the next day.”
Quinn nodded. “I wondered about that when Clark first told me about it. If I was them, I would have swooped in and filled the void. But they didn’t.”
“Because some humans and supernaturals of all sorts saw the danger. They worked together to stem the tide, at least for a time.” Miranda pointed to Quinn. “But now you’re here. A month ago, you declared a new sort of hunter clan, one composed not just of hunters, but of other supernaturals, and even mundanes. That may be the key to staving off the advent of a new dark age the world ha
sn’t seen for over a thousand years.”
Taylor scowled and said, “Who’s the ‘mundane?’ Me? I prefer ‘tech witch’ if you don’t mind. That word is so…”
“Mundane?” Quinn quipped, then laughed. “We appreciate you, I promise. You deserve a better title to describe your place on our team.”
Taylor smiled and turned to look at Miranda.
“Hey, I meant no offense. It’s what we call non-magical people. You have demonstrated you’re way more capable than most humans would be.”
“So what does this have to do with Clark? Does it mean he’s wrong in what he’s doing?” Quinn asked. “He doesn’t want this new dark age you’re warning us about any more than you do.”
Miranda shook her head. “No, he’s working toward the same purpose, although he’s on a parallel path. I only wanted to point out that his way isn’t the only way. I like what he’s done so far. He’s shown he’s flexible with the way he’s training you. I think he understands a change is afoot; that something new is coming, at least deep down.”
“So,” Quinn began, “we’re here to represent nature’s new counter to a resurgence of evil, manifesting now using magic and technology together. We just have to find out where they are. They took the VR rigs with them. We have to assume they are going to use them again to send out more slayers.”
Taylor snapped her fingers. “Maybe we should have started looking at that from the beginning.”
Quinn raised an eyebrow in question.
“Think about it, Quinn. If they’re still using the VR rigs to assassinate people or commit other crimes, that means they have to be connected to the web somehow. I’m convinced they’re using the interconnectivity of everything electronic to help transmit them to their target’s vicinity, so we might be able to track them down.”
When neither Quinn or Miranda said anything, Taylor reached over and picked up the crude VR headset on which she’d been working. “This uses the scrapped tech we recovered from the VirSync storerooms. It came from the same source as their existing tech. That means they use related components. All I have to do is figure out which ones and I should be able to localize their presence when they’re plugged in.”
