by John Corwin
"Yes. That's how you infuse it with soul essence." The professor rested his chin on a hand. "It's not difficult, but there is a catch."
"Of course there is." Victoria folded her hands on the table. "Well, what is it?"
Zuba bit his lower lip. "The book isn't very clear on this, but when you infuse the counter pattern and break the circuit, the infusion of soul essence must equal that within the demonicus."
My father's face grew grim. "In other words, whoever infuses it will probably die and perhaps lose their soul in the process."
"That would be my educated guess." He sounded pretty certain for someone making a guess.
I looked imploringly at the professor. "There must be some other way."
He sighed. "Perhaps, but I'll need to research." Zuba held up the book to display its thickness. "As you can see, the text is rather dense."
"We'll let you get to it," George said. "Please notify me the moment you find something."
"Of course, Mr. Walker." Professor Zuba nodded and his image flickered away.
George stood. "It appears there's only one way to stave off the inevitable."
"Choosing someone to sacrifice themselves?" Victoria said dryly.
"We must kill the anointed." He checked the time. "That might delay them long enough for the Templars to spare more soldiers."
Patrick nodded. "I agree. George and I will infiltrate the construction site and find a way to take out the anointed."
"You certainly aren't leaving me out," Victoria said. "Patrick, be a dear and fetch our weapons."
I jolted from my seat. "You're going into a demon hideout guns blazing?"
"Guns?" She pshawed. "I would never resort to something so vulgar."
"Your mother favors a bow," my father informed me.
I was too shocked to reply. By the time I recovered my wits, they were heading toward the elevator.
"You are not leaving us behind this time," I announced.
"As much as I'd like to baby you and tell you to stay here, I won't." Victoria punched the button for the lift and turned to face me. "You led a sheltered life growing up, dear. I think it's time you gained more experience."
Heat radiated in my face. "Are you bloody serious? I sneaked into your little Exorcist church and rescued Tyler! I've helped George apprehend rogue vampires. How could you possibly think I have no experience?"
"You've had a spot of beginner's luck." The lift dinged and my mother boarded it. "Don't worry, child, it takes time. In a year or two, your inexperience won't endanger everyone around you."
I looked to my father for support, but the smirk on his face told me he found this amusing.
"I'll make sure she doesn't get anyone killed," Tyler said.
I blew out an exasperated breath and resisted the urge to kick him in the shin. It suddenly occurred to me that my mother was probably using sarcasm to make me realize I wasn't fit to accompany them. She might be right. I had no formal field training. I relied on others to protect me.
On the other hand, I had an ability that could help them sneak into the construction site and navigate it safely. In a way, glimpsing was rather like having supernatural radar.
I stiffened my spine and turned to my mother. "As it so happens, I can detect the possessed through solid walls. That ability might come in handy."
"True, it might." She didn't sound convinced. "If all goes well, I should be able to pierce the anointed through the heart with an arrow, after which we will make a hasty retreat."
"Why not use a rifle?" Tyler formed a pistol with his fingers and pretended to fire.
"Firearms are prohibited by the Overworld Conclave," Victoria replied.
He frowned. "Well, I hope the demons aren't using guns."
"Will they be able to detect that we're not possessed?" I asked.
Patrick shook his head. "Most demons can't detect if a person is possessed, but we have obfuscation charms we took from the Exorcists just in case."
When we exited the lift into the parking deck, Patrick walked to a black SUV and retrieved an ebony bow and two leather scabbards with sword hilts protruding from the top. George pulled a sheathed sword from the trunk of his car and strapped it over his back.
I rolled my eyes. "Do you plan to walk through the streets with swords and a bow?"
Patrick ran a hand along the leather. "The sheaths are charmed so most people won't even notice them."
Victoria sighed. "I look forward to you completing the Overworld Orientation, Emily."
"Good to see the Exorcists still recognize standard Templar protocols," George said. He looked at me. "The only reason you noticed the weapons is because you know about them. For those without direct knowledge, the charm encourages them to filter the weapons from their perception."
"Any way I could charm my hair on a bad hair day?" I hadn't really meant it seriously, but it gave me a better idea. "What if we use such a charm on ourselves?"
"You wouldn't want to charm a living being." George looked back in his trunk. "That's why we have camouflage armor." I expected him to produce said armor for all of us. Instead, he closed the trunk. "Unfortunately, I don't carry any with me."
I sighed loudly enough for all to hear. "Perhaps you could have flown away in your magical car and requisitioned some."
"I'll remember that for future engagements." He looked around at the group. "We should go."
"Do you have any weapons for us?" I motioned to Tyler and me.
George put a hand to his chin. "Do you have sword training?"
"I have martial arts training," Tyler said. "Nothing formal with a sword."
"What about one of those fancy dart shooters?" I asked.
George opened his trunk again, removed a short three-pronged sword, and gave it to Tyler. "This sai sword is all I have, I'm afraid. If our luck holds, we won't have to actually fight anyone." He took out a lancer and turned to me. "Hold out your wrist."
I did so. He strapped the leather armlet to it and slipped a band across my hand.
"How do trigger it?" I asked.
"Squeeze your hand and flick your wrist down." George pantomimed the movement. "Just be careful not to aim it at any of us." He held up my arm and pointed it toward a wall. "Give it a try."
I followed his example and was rewarded with a flash of silver and a zing as a dart streaked out and pinged off the wall. "Easy enough." I just hope I have good aim.
Victoria cleared her throat. "Are we quite ready?"
"Yes," I replied in my most imperious British tone. "Quite."
We set off down the street toward the fence. As the first few pedestrians passed us, I held my breath, fully expecting to hear a shout when someone spotted a sword, or the bow slung over my mother's back. Instead, everyone who looked our way seemed to feel an urge to look to the side or down at their shoes. One couple nearly fell over each other when the man glanced at Victoria and abruptly looked straight up. His feet tangled with his companion's and they stumbled forward, much to Tyler's amusement.
It occurred to me that with only half a block to go to the fence, I should probably scan the area for hostiles. I opened my senses fully. The muted heat from Tyler's presence washed over me, overwhelming everything else. I pressed my lips together to keep them from forming a scowl. If I don't figure out how to filter Tyler, I'll be useless. Another heat source pinged my mental radar.
I stopped and concentrated on it. Despite Tyler's vicinity, this new signal felt quite different. The emanations from Tyler felt comforting, like a wool blanket on a cold day. The new one felt hot and stifling, but didn't sicken me as Vatna and Xasha's presences had.
"I suppose," Victoria said. "Though it would be helpful if she'd say something."
It suddenly occurred to me that she was talking about me, and I'd missed most of the conversation. "I glimpsed a demonic presence." I pointed a finger south. "It feels like he or she will cross our path in a minute or two."
"Anything else?" George asked.
I shook
my head. "Nothing in range."
"Perhaps we should take out their sentry," Patrick suggested.
"All of them," Victoria added. "It will make for an easier egress."
"Agreed." George tapped the lancer strapped to my arm. "It will be best if you incapacitate them, Miss Glass."
Tyler smirked. "Yeah, might look a little suspicious if we start conking people on the head."
"Won't it look strange if they drop unconscious to the sidewalk?" I nodded toward the other pedestrians.
"We'll do the old drunk friend routine," Patrick said.
"Drunk friend?" I asked.
Victoria nodded. "It's a very effective way to apprehend subjects in plain view."
"Sounds self-explanatory." Tyler looked up and down the sidewalk. "Where's our perp?"
I closed my eyes and detected the presence not far to my right. It took a matter of seconds for me to spot Astra on approach. "The short brunette in the dark red dress and knee-high boots."
"Use the bus stop as cover." Victoria leaned against the side of the small shelter. Patrick stood in front of her and gestured as if they were engaged in small talk. "When the possessed passes, Patrick and I will take positions on either side of her. You must knock her out quickly."
I gulped and nodded. No pressure.
Astra walked past the bus stop, eyes dull with boredom. She no longer exhibited the alertness I'd noticed earlier and barely seemed to notice us. Patrick and Victoria stepped out from the bus stop and paced just behind the possessed. Without really thinking about it, I walked behind them, aimed the lancer, and flicked my wrist.
A dart zinged. Astra slumped immediately, but my parents caught her. A couple walking in the opposite direction gave them an alarmed look.
"She really needs to stop drinking so much," I said in a loud voice. "I hope she doesn't puke again."
The woman gave me a knowing look, hugged her man's arm, and, most importantly, minded her own business. No one else seemed to have noticed the abduction and continued on past us, sparing only a brief glance for the drunk woman in the care of her friends.
"Let's take her back to my car," George said. "I can put her in sleep binders."
I nodded my head toward the bus shelter. "Tyler and I will wait here so I can detect the other sentries."
Victoria narrowed her eyes. "Do not engage anyone under any circumstance. Are we clear?"
"Yes." I failed to keep the exasperation out of my tone. Does she think I'm an idiot?
A bus pulled up to the curb and a stream of people disembarked. George and my parents went to the crosswalk and began to traverse the street. The bus pulled away, revealing a police car in the other lane. The officer stared at my parents and the unconscious Astra, his eyes full of suspicion. He gunned the engine and turned on his lights, screeching to a halt right next to the group.
Using the patrol car door as cover, he stepped out of the car and called to them. "Stop!"
Chapter 19
I stepped away from the bus shelter, but Tyler stopped me.
"Hang on. Don't let him see you." He tapped the lancer. "Get ready to use it."
"On an officer of the law?" I asked.
He chuckled. "Yep. It'll be fun."
"You're incorrigible." I took a few steps back and positioned myself where I could get an unobstructed angle on the officer.
George was the first to respond to the cop's demands. "May I help you, officer?"
"Not you." The policeman motioned George back toward the other side of the road. "I'm talking to the pair with the unconscious woman."
"Oh, of course." George backed away.
"Our friend had too much to drink," Victoria said in a twangy southern accent. "We're takin' her home."
"Identify yourselves," the officer said.
"I'm Terry Lee and this is Billy Joe." Victoria looked at the officer with wide innocent eyes. "I'm real sorry, sir. Jenny cain't hold her liquor worth a damn."
The cop frowned, and relaxed ever so slightly, though I noticed his hand on a stun gun. "I'll need to see some identification."
"Shore thang!" Victoria turned to Patrick. "Now, don't let her fall, Billy!"
"A'ight," my father said in a perfect imitation of a brain dead good old boy.
I felt warm hand press up on my chin and close my gaping mouth.
Tyler chuckled. "Never realized your parents were Broadway actors, huh?"
I was too enthralled with the scene to reply. Victoria leaned on the officer's car door, smiled at him, and carried on a conversation too quiet for us to hear. The cop burst into laughter at one point then looked into his hand as if he were examining an ID card. He made the motion of handing the invisible card back to my mother, laughed again, and drove off.
"Look at George," Tyler said.
I flicked my gaze toward the Custodian and caught a genuinely puzzled look on his face. "It appears my mother can surprise anyone."
George quickly recovered and rejoined Patrick. My mother caught my gaze and smiled knowingly.
"Mum can be annoying, but she's still impressive." I let my eyes wander to Tyler. "Now, if only she'd respect me."
"I think she just wants to keep you safe." Tyler wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "Give it some time to let her adjust to the idea of your new side job."
"Perhaps." I stiffened. "Good lord, I haven't been paying attention." Don't bollox this, you ninny!
"To more sentries?"
"Yes." Thankfully, there were no other nearby blips to be found. Somewhere on the other side of the fence, I felt the distant pressure of more demons. I closed my eyes and tried to differentiate the individuals from the crowd, but it was like trying to isolate a single, faraway voice in a roar of conversations.
Tyler squeezed my hand. "Anything?"
I shook my head. "Nothing nearby."
The others returned a few minutes later. "Welcome back Terry Lee and Billy Joe." My southern accent fell short of the excellent ones employed by my parents, but I tried anyway.
"Not bad," my mother said.
"How did you get the cop to think he had your ID card?" Tyler asked.
Victoria pointed to a ruby ring on her pinky. "This has a compulsion enchantment. It works best on noms."
"Handy." Tyler motioned to her other rings. "Are any of those enchanted?"
My mother offered him a sly smile. "Perhaps."
George held out a hand. "May I see the ring?"
Victoria raised an eyebrow but no objections and slipped off the ring.
"How does it work?" he asked.
"It's attuned to specific individuals," Victoria replied. "It would be of no use to you."
"I see." He handed it back to her. "I don't typically condone compulsion, but in this case, it was effectively used."
"Why, thank you, Agent Walker."
"You're most welcome, Mrs. Glass." George turned to me. "Are there other possessed patrolling the perimeter?"
"Not that I can detect." I waved toward the fence. "I sense about a dozen demons at least a hundred yards in that direction."
"I was hoping to thin the herd a little before we go inside," Patrick said.
Victoria pursed her lips and looked toward the fence. "Perhaps they have other sentries inside."
"Stay low and keep to cover," George said. "Let's move in." He went to the nearby gate and eased it open. Balling a fist, he peered inside before opening his hand and flicking it forward.
Concrete pylons offered concealment inside. Keeping my senses open, I followed George and the others behind piles of steel beams, mounds of dirt, and so forth until we reached the stairwell on the south side. George seemed to know where he was going, presumably because of the earlier recon mission with my parents.
He was just about to make for the stairs when I sensed movement and gripped his arm. I held up a finger and pointed it to the east. George nodded and my parents tensed. The possessed had been on the far side of the concrete skeleton towering in the middle of the site, so I hadn't fel
t him coming right away. Now it was obvious he was headed straight for us.
At the last minute, I felt inexplicably courageous and jumped out in front of the possessed. The startled face of Astra's male companion from earlier greeted me. My dart pierced his nose and his wide eyes fluttered shut.
George withdrew a strap and cuffed the man. "He'll sleep until these are removed." His eyes moved to mine. "That was a rather bold move, Miss Glass."
"It seemed the most expedient way to take him down." I knew it wasn't true, nor could I explain what precisely had possessed me to leap in front of so dangerous a being instead of simply standing to the side and hitting him in the shoulder when he passed.
"Perhaps you should let us be the bold ones, dear." Victoria focused me with her steely gaze. "We're lucky the chap didn't knock you senseless by sheer reflex."
"Apologies, Victoria." I reflected her glare right back at her. "I knew exactly where he was when I surprised him. If he'd tried anything, you and the others could have stopped him."
George put a finger to his mouth and spoke in a whisper. "Quiet, please. Let's move on." Without waiting for acknowledgement, he went down the stairs to the door. Bracing his hand on the frame, he gently tugged it open.
Concrete corridors ran in three directions from our location. Now within a close proximity, I glimpsed individual presences. "Ten possessed, two Arcanes," I whispered. I assumed the Arcanes were the battle mages, Kassus and Drang. Concentrating hard, I was able to sense the differences in the various demons.
"Locations?" George asked.
"One moment." I squeezed shut my eyes and let my senses do the wandering. "Two possessed to the left, maybe a hundred feet. Three to the right. Four of them are scattered more than a hundred feet away." I really had no idea how far they were, but my range wasn't much more than a couple hundred feet, and they felt far away. One throbbing presence grated against my senses as it had earlier when I'd first encountered Karak. "Karak is straight ahead near the two Arcanes."
"Looks like the left corridor is the safest," Patrick said.
"I hope Kassus and Drang didn't setup another crawler trap," Tyler said.
"What's the layout of this place?" I asked.
"The outer hallway runs the perimeter," George said. "The middle hall leads to a wide, open room about sixty feet away."
