by Steve McHugh
Chloe stopped walking when she reached the black railing that separated the footpath from the water below. She turned around to face Elias.
“So, how long have you worked for Tommy?” Elias asked. “I only mention it because he put a security detail on your friend Harry, and I know for a fact there’s one at the General Hospital. That is where Layla is, right?”
Chloe said nothing.
“Anyway,” Elias continued, “I wondered why Tommy hadn’t put anyone to keep an eye on you, but after the way you behaved in the shop, I’m guessing they think you don’t need protecting. Their mistake. Also, you knew who I was, and you shouldn’t have. Not unless someone showed you a picture.”
“What do you think is going to happen here, Elias?” Chloe asked. “You’re going to kill me?”
“Actually, no. You’re going to come with me, and together we’re going to convince Layla to help me. Or I’ll start skinning you in front of her. That should get her attention. Does she know you work for Tommy? I imagine not. Which does leave one question: were you sent here to keep an eye on her because of who her father is? Or is this all a happy coincidence?”
“Are you going to try to kidnap me, or talk to me until I fall into a coma?”
Elias removed his hat and placed it on the nearby bench. “Don’t want to get it dirty.”
He turned and rushed toward Chloe, channeling his power into speed and strength. He threw a punch at Chloe, who dodged aside, striking out with one of her own. Elias easily avoided the blow and moved back a few paces. She was faster than he’d anticipated, and if she was working with Tommy, it was unlikely that she was human.
He darted back toward her, feinting with a right hand, and then kicking out with his left leg. She blocked both blows, but Elias stepped in and punched her in the kidney, making her gasp in pain. He grabbed the back of her head and drove his knee into her stomach, once, twice, and a third time, before letting go of her and kicking her in the chest, sending her sprawling on the concrete path.
“Not as good as you think you are,” Elias said, walking toward her.
The second he was within reach, Chloe grabbed hold of his legs, lifted him up off the ground, and dumped him on the floor, bouncing the back of Elias’s head off the concrete.
She grabbed his arm and locked the elbow, wrenching back on it, trying to break the joint. Elias rolled toward Chloe, and punched her in the face with his free hand, but Chloe didn’t release the hold until a second punch. She head-butted Elias on the nose and kicked him away, rolling over and getting back to her feet. Blood streamed from her broken nose, and a cut on her lip caused her to spit blood onto the pavement.
Elias cradled his arm. It hurt like hell, and he hadn’t expected Chloe to be so proficient at defending herself. He used some of his power to heal his wounds and was back to full health a few seconds later. He knew he didn’t have enough reserves of power to continue that course of action, though. He needed to end this.
“I expected more of you,” Chloe told him. “Elias Wells was a name people told me in whispers. You scared people. Humans, I’ll grant you, but still, I expected better.”
“Not up to my full strength, I’m afraid. Instead, I brought help.”
Chloe glanced behind her, before looking back at Elias. “Three blood elves and, I assume, Dara. All for little old me? I’m flattered.”
Elias watched Dara and the elves continue their steady walk toward Chloe. There was no point in hurrying it, it wasn’t like she could escape anywhere. “Just make this easier on yourself. You might actually survive the experience.”
Chloe laughed. “That’s your sell? I might survive?”
“Might is better than won’t. Which is what will happen if we have to take you by force.”
“Please, Elias. Come take me by force.”
She turned toward the nearest blood elf, who’d started to run toward her, and raised one hand. A blast of yellow power left her palm, slamming into the blood elf and throwing it back against the wall.
The remaining blood elves continued toward Chloe, their curved swords out, as they screamed a battle cry.
Chloe turned back to Elias and aimed a blast at him too, but he dodged aside, rolling across the ground as the blast removed a portion of the railing beside him.
The blood elves were on Chloe a second later, although both were soon blasted back as more power left Chloe’s hands. She turned to face Elias again and began walking toward him.
“Not human after all,” Elias said, waiting for his chance. He needed Chloe to be closer, and there was no more doubt in his mind that he needed to put every ounce of power he had into his attack. He’d be nearly drained of his power, but he had to risk it.
“Umbra,” Chloe told him, and raised her hand—palm out—toward Elias. “Good-bye.”
The railing beside Chloe leaped free, smashing into her, and knocking her into the wall of the coffee shop.
Dara released her grip on the railing, but only after wrapping her hands in steel. “Always did need me to save you,” she told Elias.
Elias walked over to Chloe as she got back to her feet and punched her in the stomach hard enough to lift her off the ground. Another punch to the jaw spun her around, and she dropped to her knees.
“We could have done this the easy way,” he told her. He hadn’t used all of his power in the blow—he didn’t want her dead—but he’d used enough to subdue her.
At least he thought he had, right up until the moment that Chloe began laughing. “My power, Elias, is to absorb and redirect kinetic energy.” She leapt up faster than he could react, and blasted him in the chest, sending him into, and over, the bench.
Dara hit Chloe in the side of the jaw, knocking her aside, but Chloe spun away and blasted her with more kinetic energy. The steel around Dara’s hands formed a shield in front of her, blocking the power. A second later the same steel struck out, changed into a battering ram, hitting Chloe in the chest, throwing her to the floor.
“You can absorb it, but the blow still hurts,” Dara said. “Interesting. I’m going to enjoy finding out the limitations of your powers.”
“Alchemist, yes?” Chloe asked as she stood, rubbing her shoulder. “And a redcap. Interesting group you’ve got here.”
Dara walked over to the railing, placing her hand on it. It snaked up, lashing out at Chloe, who tried to dodge aside as it coiled around her, a metal python capturing its prey.
Elias was back on his feet walking toward the pair when Dara changed the steel into a sword, drawing a dagger from the sheath on her hip. “It’s silver,” she told Chloe. “It’ll kill even you. If we can’t take you alive, I’d rather not take you at all.”
Chloe had been forced to her knees, unable to move, barely able to breath. “You’re welcome to try.”
Dara took a step forward and the whole thing turned to shit.
20
Elias saw Chloe’s face change as the demon inside of her emerged. Her face mostly stayed the same, but orange and red power glowed under her skin, which began to crack, although there was no blood to be seen. Her eyes changed shape, narrowing, as the white sclera turned blood red. Chloe’s hands became claw-like, the fingernails growing as if unsheathing talons.
It all happened in the blink of an eye, but before Elias could yell a warning, power exploded out of Chloe. Pieces of metal, torn from the railings that had held her in place, pinged around the footpath like shrapnel. One of them struck Elias in the stomach, just below the ribs. He dropped to his knees as his power began healing him.
Dara was thrown back ten feet, impacting with the same piece of wall that Chloe had hit only moments earlier.
The first of the three blood elves reached Demon-Chloe as she stepped out of the remains of the railing. She hit the elf in the chest with a blast of power, sending it flying into the railing and then into the cold water with a splash.
The second elf swung the blade at her head, but she ducked and punched it in the stomach. It lurched fo
rward, and Demon-Chloe snapped its neck, dropping the body to the floor with nonchalance.
The third elf screamed as she blasted its face, tearing away the flesh only a second before she ran its sword through its skull.
Elias had healed by the time the last elf died, and he charged at her, knocking her aside before she could use her energy blasts. He pummeled her about the head and back, trying to put as much strength into each blow as possible. Demon-Chloe attempted to fend them off, eventually grabbing his arm. Her other hand shot out, blasting him in the chest and sending him flying back over the railing and into the side of the hull of one of the boats in the marina.
Before he hit the water, Elias managed to grab hold of the boat’s railing and pull himself up onto the deck. Pain wracked his body, and he turned back to Chloe, only to be hit by a second blast that propelled him into the side of the cabin.
Elias dropped to his knees, blood flowing from a dozen wounds. He’d used a lot of power, but he hadn’t expected Chloe not to be human. In hindsight, he should have brought the ogre.
He looked out over the water, where Dara had engaged Demon-Chloe in combat, using the sword and dagger to try to get inside her defense. Dara cut across Demon-Chloe’s arm, causing her to scream and dart away, putting distance between the two of them.
Dara didn’t give an inch, using her alchemy to change the sword to a whip, lashing it against Demon-Chloe’s other arm and forcing it to wrap around her limb. Dara stepped toward her and swiped the dagger up toward her face, but her opponent was fast and moved aside, trying to use her blasts to knock Dara back.
Dara dropped to the floor, and the concrete exploded around Demon-Chloe, knocking her back, but the whip still wrapped around her arm tugged her back toward Dara and the waiting dagger.
Demon-Chloe grabbed hold of Dara’s wrist as the metal whip snaked up around her neck and began to choke her.
Dara avoided another blast of energy and kept the pressure on, tightening the metal around Demon-Chloe’s neck. Elias had managed to drag himself back to his feet and watched with glee as a thin trickle of red dripped down her neck.
Dara took a step toward Demon-Chloe and easily avoided a weak punch, kicking her in the chest and sending her to the floor. Demon-Chloe’s hands clawed at the whip as it tightened, a futile attempt to stop the inevitable. She swung another punch toward Dara, who avoided it again and laughed at the weakness of her enemy. Elias couldn’t hear what Dara said, but she raised the dagger to plunge down into Demon-Chloe.
But before she could hit the target, Demon-Chloe grabbed hold of Dara’s arm, twisted the dagger around, and drove it up into Dara’s chest. Elias could see the look of shock on Dara’s face as it cut into her, and the world slowed for him. He jumped over the side of the boat and began swimming to the nearest pontoon. Dragging himself out of the water, he ran as quickly as he could toward Dara, who had dropped to her knees, the dagger in her heart.
By this time, Chloe had disappeared, presumably so she could run off to report to Tommy. Getting Layla would be a lot more complicated now. But that could wait; Dara’s injury was of more immediate concern.
He hurried to her side, but Dara was already gone. The dagger had punctured her heart and killed her almost instantly. He picked up her body and carried her back to the car. He didn’t notice anyone watching until a man came up to him while he was trying to put Dara in the rear seat of the Range Rover.
“I think she needs an ambulance,” the man said.
Elias exploded with rage, grabbing hold of the man and repeatedly smashing his head into the corner of the open car door until the metal was slick with blood. He dropped the dead man onto the ground and stomped on his head over and over, until the rage was spent. Only then did he climb into the front seat and set off, driving over the corpse he’d just created.
He didn’t look at the back seat during the drive toward the abandoned farm that he’d had his people go to after they’d left the compound. Once there, Elias stopped the car and carried Dara’s body into the main building. The farmhouse was two stories high and contained over a dozen rooms, not to mention the stables and pens.
Elias ignored the stares from the blood elves standing guard around the property as he took Dara through the farmhouse to the living room.
Shane and Reyes were both in the room when Elias walked in carrying their dead comrade. Neither of them said anything; they just stood and stared at Dara.
Elias laid the body on the nearest sofa and, his hands still covered in blood, walked over to the sink and started washing them. Only when he was done, and his hands were clean and dry, did he speak. “We need to bury her.”
“What happened?” Shane asked.
“Chloe is an umbra. We were unprepared. She was more formidable than I’d anticipated, and we paid for that mistake. It won’t happen again. Layla is at the General Hospital. No doubt in a secure ward. We’re going to need more blood elves; Chloe killed three of them. I’ll talk to Nergal. In the meantime, I want you both there watching the hospital. They’ll either try to move Layla to safety, or they’ll shore up the security. Either way, find out, and get back to me.”
“Are we to engage?” Reyes asked.
“No. But take note of where Chloe is and where she goes. I need to feed—I haven’t done it in so long that I’m getting weak; at full strength I might have been able to kill her. I need to go back to my home to do it, though, so it’ll have to wait for a few days. In the meantime, bring me someone from outside. Someone who won’t be missed in a hurry. Do you happen to have anyone in the compound you’ve taken for yourself, Shane?”
Shane’s grin would have normally made Elias feel dirty, but right now he needed sustenance more than he needed to worry about Shane’s recreational activities.
“I picked one up the other night. I don’t think she’s even made the news yet. I can give her to you, if you like. She’s barely hurt.”
Elias nodded reluctantly. “You have your jobs. Go do them.”
Reyes paused. “Sorry about Dara.”
Elias nodded absentmindedly. “I’m going to hurt her killer. I’m going to prolong her agony until I feel the debt has been settled.”
When Elias was alone, he opened the laptop and contacted Nergal, who appeared on screen a moment later. Elias gave his report, leaving nothing out. Nergal sat in his office without comment. Eventually Elias finished and sat back, waiting for Nergal’s reply, waiting for his boss to tell him that Dara’s death was his fault and he was clearly incompetent.
“I’m sorry for Dara’s passing,” Nergal said. “She was good at her job.”
Elias nodded.
“And for the loss of three blood elves. They are not an unlimited resource, Elias. Please be more careful with them.”
Elias nodded again.
“I will send you another six. That’ll put your total at twenty?”
Another nod.
“I’m also going to ask an associate of mine to join you. Her name is Masako. She’s a jikininki. She knows Thomas Carpenter quite well and should be an asset for you should an attack on him become necessary. She will answer to you and only you, but warn your people to stay away from her. The human-flesh-eating aspect of her kind extends to anything humanoid. She won’t differentiate between her need and your team.”
Elias made a mental note to keep her separate from the others. Jikininki were humans who had died and come back. They fed on human flesh to keep themselves alive, but unlike mindless zombies, they kept all of their mental faculties. They were also incredibly strong and hard to kill. Having one nearby wasn’t something Elias was happy about, but she would be of great benefit if Tommy and his people ever needed to be stopped. “Thank you, Lord Nergal.”
“Find this Layla woman before she becomes too much trouble and I’m forced to interject myself. And, Elias, do not let your need for vengeance cloud your judgment. Killing the person responsible for Dara’s death is important, and it sends a message to those who would oppose us, but
Layla is the target. Do not forget that. We need her father’s help.
“As for Thomas Carpenter, I do so wish I could just kill him and be done with it, but let’s not bait that particular jackal until necessary. As much as I’m sure Masako would be more than capable of destroying the man, I’d rather not have to unless we have no other options. Try to avoid the man, which I understand is like trying to avoid a cold, but do so anyway. His people are afforded no such protection. Kill as many as you need to.”
Elias bowed his head in thanks.
“You’ll need to go home soon, Elias.”
The change of topic almost caught Elias off guard. “Yes. I’m taking measures to ensure my power is topped up and will be adding another victim to the hat, but it won’t be long before I’ll have to empty it. I’ll need to feed properly. The small amount of power I gain from each person added to the hat is nothing compared to the power I gain from feeding properly. Once Layla is in our grasp, I will go back to my home and feed. I will be away for a few days until my power fully recharges.”
“You have already put it off too many times. See that you fulfil your end of the bargain. A redcap who forgets what he gave up to become one is of no use to anyone.”
“I always remember, my lord.” Elias was unlikely to forget what he had to give up for the chance to gain the power in his possession. It was a decision he’d made quickly, despite the heavy consequences. And a decision he would continue to accept without pause until the day he died.
Nergal ended the call as Shane entered the room. “I’ve put your meal in your room.”
Elias stood. “You’ll take no one else while we’re here. There’s too much at stake now. When we’re back home, you can do as you wish.”
