by Tom Keller
"I hope you're right, Monsignor," I said. "Thank you for all that you have done for her." Then I took my leave. I left the room with more questions than I had come in with.
I stopped in the lobby to send a text to the other 55 team, asking them to pick me up out front. I was just heading for the front doors when the Monsignor called out.
"Mr. Jay," he yelled, as he walked out from the back.
"It's just Jay, Monsignor," I replied, turning back to see what he wanted. "That's my first name."
"Ah. Yes, I see. Jay, then," he said sounding a little flustered. "I don’t mean to sound callous, but there is the issue of the Sister's belongings. It's not much, you understand, but there were instructions to save certain things in her private drawer. Had you not arrived before the Sister… ahem… passed, I was to give them to when you arrived. If you want to give me an address, I can ship them to you; or if you'd prefer, I can pack them up now. It won’t take long. It's only the painting and a few loose items. Her Bible, things of that nature. If you're not interested, I'll understand."
"It's fine," I replied, knowing that I probably already had the most important thing she would have left for me. "I'm honored that she would want me to have them. I can wait."
"Wonderful," he said, turning back. "I'll be just a moment."
I texted the others to give me a few minutes, then took a seat, pondering the implications of what I had learned. Not just about fighting a new enemy, but also about what it meant to me personally.
"Here we are," he said, returning about five minutes later, carrying a small box and the painting. "As I said, it's not much. This was all she had in there, except for her garments. I didn't think you'd need those." He shrugged. "I took the liberty of wrapping the painting in newspaper. It's all we had." He placed the items on the table and opened the lid of the cardboard box. "Her Bible, rosary, and a brush and comb. I'm afraid that's all that was in her drawer. She did have a Vatican Identification Card, but I have to return that to the Diocese."
"I understand," I replied. "Thank you for all you have done. Please know that I will honor her memory."
That seemed to please him. I shook his hand and went out the front door.
Chapter 15
"I see you had better luck than I did," Dee said, eyeing the painting and box I carried.
"A bit," I replied, stepping up into the truck. "I'll tell you what I can before I go back. But we need to be careful. The place may have been watched."
"We haven't sensed any danger," Vicki said, as we pulled away from the curb.
"Nor have I," I said. "But the Sister said they'd know she had awakened. Pull in somewhere near the town square. It's right at dusk and there are still people moving around there. It should be a safe enough place to talk. "
We drove back through the square, went around the corner, and pulled into a parking lot behind a popular chicken restaurant. While it was late enough that most of the day time crowd had left, the dinner rush was just starting, so there were a few people in the area. I felt a familiar buzz in the air as Dee mumbled a privacy spell.
"We're good," she said, turning her head to face me. "What'd you find out? Was she responsive enough to talk to?"
I gave them a brief rundown of what had occurred, omitting only the part about the weapon I carried in my pocket. Dee was excited that the Sister had actually awakened, but that was curtailed when she learned of her death.
"That's all I got before she collapsed," I said, peeking into the box I'd been given by the Monsignor. Like he'd said, there were only a few things.
"This is different," Molly said, shaking her head. "I can’t remember facing Armageddon before."
"I can’t say I have, either," I replied, taking out the hairbrush. It was about 11" long and handcrafted out of a silver metal. It appeared to have once been highly polished, although parts of it were faded from use. Even so, the bristles seemed to be in good shape. I started to put it away, then felt the handle give. Looking closer, I twisted. There was click as the handle and part of the paddle disengaged from the brush head. Pulling out a leaf shaped blade, I held it up to examine it.
"Huh," I said, looking over the knife. "That was certainly unexpected." It was about 7 inches long, possibly made of iron; silver colored, except for a rib of a reddish-brown metal along its center.
"Looks like a Roman pugio," Molly said. "But it's small. What's that dark line along the blade?"
"I'm not sure," I replied, looking closer. "It's rectangular and runs along the spine and into the handle. I'm guessing it was forged with more than one kind of metal. I'll have to have it looked at when I get back."
"Interesting toy for a nun to carry," Molly remarked. "All right, let's get you back. There's no telling what's in the can of worms we've opened up here."
Dee put the car in gear as I slid the blade back into the paddle of the brush. She drove back to Pearl Street and took a left, putting us back on Highway 377, the way we'd come in.
"If it's any consolation," I replied. "She said the enemy was back in my turf. Any threat here should be minimized once I'm gone."
"Yeah," Vicki sighed. "Like we've never heard that before."
"Okay girls," Dee said. "It's not his fault. But we're all in deep crap if this Armageddon thing is real. What can we do to help?"
"For the moment," I replied. "Not much. It wouldn’t hurt to go back over everything you've found out about the order. We know something happened around the time the place here closed that killed their Pilgrims. If we knew what that was, maybe it would give us a clue to who, or what, we're dealing with. Other than that, just take me back to the HEB. I'll have Slater touch base with you when I get back to Vegas."
"I doubt we're going to find anything else," Dee said, continuing down the road. "We were pretty thorough."
"Just a thought," I replied. "But there's got to be some other information out there."
"Slow down a minute," Vicki said, rolling down the window as we turned left onto old 377 from the Highway.
"You smell something?" Molly asked, twisting her head to look back at the Were.
She started to answer, but there was a sudden crashing sound. The truck heaved upwards, slamming me against the seat belt as we skidded off the road. We were tossed up on two wheels and tilted over to settle on the truck's side. Seconds later, Vicki was out the window and Molly was kicking out the windshield.
Dee started to reach for me but I held up my hand.
"Get out of here," I said, trying to untangle myself. "Stay with your team."
The truck had settled on the passenger side, and I was struggling to release the seatbelt. I had my Fae sword on my back, but due to the confines of the cab, couldn’t reach it. The gun on my ankle wasn't an option either and I hadn’t been carrying a small blade on this trip. Fortunately, Sister Jeanette's box had fallen on top of me, so I reached in and grabbed the hairbrush, pulling the knife out to cut the belt. I scrambled around and crawled toward the front of the truck, barely noticing the deep red glow that emanated from the center of the blade.
Something registered with my senses and I twisted around the front seats just as a bar of metal pierced the roof of the car where I had been sitting. I dived out through the hole that had once held the windshield and rolled onto the ground, which was now covered in mist; twisting to face whatever had attacked us. I got to my feet as the creature tried to pull a long spear from the roof of the knocked over truck.
It was a female Demon of some sort. I wasn't sure what kind, but my gut feeling was a Siren. I'd ever run into one before, but it fit the description I'd read in some old documents back in training. This wasn't your typical, run of the mill, bat-wing beauty. She had almost human-like skin, mottled, with small, vestigial wings sprouting out of her upper back. They were feathered, but way too small to allow flight. Long, dirty hair hung down from her head and she sported a tail with a pointed tip. She twisted her head toward me as I stood up. Her eyes widened and her tail whipped side to side as she
stared at me. She gave a guttural howl, and pulled the spear the rest of the way out and lunged toward me.
I pulled my sword and batted away the spear thrust as I rolled around her side. What her attack lacked in finesse, she made up for in sheer power and speed. She twisted and spun as I did, then attacked again, clumps of matted hair flying in her wake. This time, as I avoided the spear, her tail connected. I was picked up and thrown to the side of the road. I jumped up and narrowly avoided her spear again, moving from side to side as she jabbed it toward me.
Tired of games, I went on the offensive; hammering her as I used my sword like a bat, pushing her back toward the road. She was fast, I'll give her that, and blocked most of my strikes with her spear. I did get a few good licks in, but even though she was bleeding dark blood from the cuts and gashes, she showed no sign of slowing down. That was the problem, of course. Nothing I did seemed to hurt her, and she was too fast to allow me to gain the advantage. I wasn’t unhurt either. My clothes were torn and body bruised from the pounding I was taking. This was getting me nowhere.
The mist was obviously a magical diversion, as my Fae eyes should have been able to pierce through it. I went over my options as we fought. I was carrying a Glock 26 on my ankle. That gave me 12 EAB issued rounds designed to fight magical beings. I could probably get to it before she reached me, but I hated to use my only true long distance weapon since the truck and mist obscured my view of what the Texas 55 team was facing. I couldn’t use the Sister's Breath of God. Even if I knew what it did, I wasn't going to waste it here. Then I remembered the blood red glow of the Sister's knife. I decided to get in close. Moving back, I hoped to force the creature to change her tactics.
I'd almost swear that she smiled, her stained teeth and fangs dripping, as she took a step back and positioned the spear to jab at me. I let her attack, moving along the side of the spear as I twisted to avoid it. I spun and got in close, almost hugging her as I took the once hidden blade and stabbed it upward into her chest as I collided with her body. She gave a hideous scream and pushed me away from her.
I landed on my ass, still facing the Demon, who dropped her spear as she clutched the wound. The area where I had thrust the knife was glowing. The creature's eyes gazed downward, her grim features now twisting into a look of surprise. She threw her head up and howled, then the ground around her blazed in fire and she was sucked into the earth; as if she was being pulled back into the Hell that spawned her. When she was gone, the ground gave a last sputter, and all that was left was a smoking circle of burnt earth. With the fight now over, I got up and ran back toward the road to see how the others were faring.
Dee was trading bursts of magic with someone in the trees. The mist was clearing and from her expression, it looked like she had the upper hand. I saw a wolf shape jumping toward her opponent so I figured her immediate needs were covered. Molly, on the other hand, was fighting another one of the Sirens. She was holding her own, but was having the same problem I had faced. The damn thing was fast, and its skill and speed with the spear made proper swordplay difficult.
Since I didn't know what other threats were out there, I decided to try and give her an edge before jumping in. We'd never worked together, so I had to be careful that she wouldn’t think I was one of the bad guys in her heightened state. I knelt and pulled my Glock; firing six rounds at the creature. It didn't stop it, but it did slow it down long enough for the Warrior to gain the advantage. I took that moment to scan for other threats, but there were none. With the Siren's head now rolling on the ground, Molly gave a nod, and we both turned our attention to her partners, a hundred feet away.
Vicki, still in wolf form, was hunched over Dee's opponent, who was still struggling as we ran toward them. Dee was on her knees when the man suddenly lurched forward, stabbing at her with a blade. The Were clamped down on his neck, and he was still, the knife falling from his hand.
"Damn it! I told you I wanted him alive," Dee yelled, getting to her feet.
"What was I supposed to do, let him stab you?" Vicki replied, angrily, after shifting back to human form.
I walked over to the dead Mage. He was older, in his 50's or 60's, with dark hair. The dagger he'd held was still lying next to his outstretched hand.
"Any idea who he was?" I asked, kicking the knife a few feet away.
"Unfortunately, I do," Dee said, staring down at the dead Mage. "He's the guy that had the paintings. Son of bitch! I knew there was something wrong with the guy, but I didn’t sense anything unusual. We did a complete profile on him. Not a single connection to magic. How the hell did we miss that?"
Vicki bent down to check his clothing for other weapons as Dee picked up the knife.
"Shit… car coming!" Molly shouted.
"I got it," Dee replied, pocketing the weapon and walking back toward the road. She raised her hands and cast a spell to obscure the scene and then gestured to me. "Help me with the truck."
"I'll call a clean-up team," Vicki said, turning to me. "Can one of you grab my bag?"
"I'll get it," I replied, and jogged to the other side of the road where the truck had landed. The car passed by without even looking. As I stepped onto the asphalt behind it, the scene changed, now looking as it did before we were attacked, at least from the road.
"Oh, great," she said as she saw the truck again.
"Let's get it turned over," I said. "Maybe we can salvage something."
We walked to the far side of the vehicle. Using her magic, we pushed it back onto its wheels. It bounced a few times before settling. I reached inside through a broken window and grabbed Vicki's bag. She made a shooing motion as I held it up, and then I walked to the other side of the road and tossed it to the Were.
"I loved this truck," she said when I got back. "My insurance company is gonna have a shit fit."
"This isn’t a company vehicle?" I asked.
"Hell, no!" she replied. "It was my POV. I just bought it a few months ago… only made three payments."
"Sorry," I said. "Tell you what. Let's get a handle on these things that attacked us, and I'll see if I can help with the truck."
"Right… sorry," she said, kicking at a tire in frustration.
The place where I'd stabbed the Siren that attacked me was still just a burned-out spot on the ground. Dee tagged it with the spear the Siren had dropped, and we went back to look at the one Molly had killed.
"What are those things?" Vicki asked, slipping on her boots.
"I think they're Sirens," I said, examining the body of the creature Molly had battled.
"Sirens?" Molly said. "First time we've ever run into those." She looked over in the direction of the truck. "Fast sons of bitches. Tough to kill. How'd you take out the other one?"
"Sister Jeanette's knife has a few secrets of its own," I said, holding the dagger up. "It is definitely not a toy." By now, the glow had faded, but the reddish-brown colored metal down the center still stood out.
"Well," Dee said, pointing back to the dead Mage. "At least we know how they found us. He probably had somebody watching the place."
"If that's the case, that somebody isn’t here," Molly said, turning to me. "Unless these Sirens were the ones watching."
"I would think, if nothing else, the local Dryads would have spotted them when they were in the area," I replied. "But I wouldn’t put anything past Demons; and who knows if these things can take human form."
"Wouldn’t have taken much to have somebody that was keeping an eye on the place let him know when we, or you, showed up," Molly remarked. "Either way, we need to know who else is involved."
"We'll have to call in some teams for a full search of the area," Dee said, glancing over at Vicki, who was already on her cell phone. "Just because no one else has attacked us yet, doesn’t mean the danger has passed."
"Clean-up's five away," Vicki said, putting down her cell phone a few minutes later. "I've got the Dallas 55 team headed over to this guy's house. Maybe there'll be something there that can giv
e us more information." She turned to Dee and sighed. "Oh, and I asked them to order up a tow truck for your POV. I'm sorry, honey, but it's not going anywhere on its own.
"I think if we were going to get hit again, it would have already happened," I said to Dee. "I'm betting all this was predicated on your first visit to look at the paintings, and my visit was what they were waiting for. That doesn't mean we shouldn't be cautious though. I'll ask the local Dryads to keep an eye out as well. They already know I was here, even if I didn't tell them what I was up to. With your permission, of course."
"Why not," she replied, glancing over at the wrecked truck. "I don’t see any reason to keep their presence a secret from the regular office. This area isn't known for it, but Demon sightings are a dime a dozen most places. We don’t need to give them the details, just alert them that these things have been seen in the area."
"Okay," I said, pulling out my own cell phone. "Let me make a few calls." As I was talking, Dee went to the road to meet the arriving team. Molly and Vicki stood by the bodies until the team made it out to them. I hung up and walked over to the truck. I wasn't needed at the moment as Dee had taken control of the scene. As a specialty unit, no one else was going to show up and ask questions, so I leaned against the truck and watched them work; almost feeling sorry for what I gotten them in to. Hey, I know it's part of the job, but I still felt guilty. Then I figured, what the hell, and put in a call to Slater.
"I wondered when you were going to call," he said as he answered. "I hear you're already making friends down there."
"I wouldn’t go that far," I replied. "Hey, we got any connects for trucks down here?"
"Trucks?" he repeated. "You mean truck dealers?"
"Yeah," I replied. "Seems we kind of trashed the Wizard's POV. I figured I'd make it up to her. Can you make arrangements to get her a new one? She's got insurance, but you've got my account info if you need it."
"You want to buy her a new truck?" he asked, chuckling. "What? Flowers aren't enough?"
