I nodded again.
“They’ve got my daughter. Hell, she’s a little older than you. They’ll kill her.”
“Growing up with the Empress, how much of ‘your daughter’ is she still?” I asked.
His eyes went wide, and he started flushing from his neck to his ears. I realized then for the first time, even more so when I shot him in the groin, I’d hurt him. I’d hurt him in a way in which I hadn’t realized he was vulnerable.
“I would do anything to keep her safe,” he hissed leaning closer to me.
“Then work with us, help us,” I told him.
“What? Protect your precious council of mages? Bah. Half of them work for us anyway.”
“You’re lying,” I told him.
“Hm…” he said, leaning forward and putting his chin on his hands, “Just recently, you intervened on Vivian’s behalf. She had a death sentence hanging over her head, but somehow you worked your way with the Were council, and a favor was brokered. The Weres owe the council one in the future, but in a way, it was paid off by your actions and forgiveness. You know how close you came to having her be a kindergarten teacher? You know what her parents would have thought of that? A disgraced mage thrown out of the council for high treason and having to teach mundane children?”
I suspected there was a puddle of drool on the felt from how long my jaw had been left dropped open.
“Yes, this is why your council of mages means so little to me. They are not really a power. Most of the membership can be bought or persuaded. Those who can’t, like me, have leverage used against them. Admit it, you’ve already lost, you just don’t know it yet. Or better still, you’ve been playing our game. I convinced Khrystiana that you were no worry, so I wouldn’t have to kill you though. That was a kindness I was able to convey.”
“You tried to kill me in the Arches,” I hissed, my temper barely controlled.
“I was only going to knock you out. It’s a spell a simpleton ten-year-old life mage can do. Let me guess, you checked your sight and saw when I touched you… darkness?”
I nodded.
“Because you were in a coma-like sleep if I would have gotten you, for at least a day.”
“Cindy and her mother?” I asked him.
“I never harmed the daughter. I did weaken her so I could control her. Otherwise, that Spitfire would have beat me senseless. Bloody redheads.”
I grinned and remembered how hard Cindy had fallen asleep that night. Plus, he had done something like that but a little stronger and healed her mother.
“What about her mother?” I asked him.
“A gift. She’ll have many more years than she did before, and her mind will be clear more days than not now.”
“Thank you,” I told him, hating the words and who they were going to.
“You and I,” Vassago said, pulling his gloves off one hand at a time and pointing to his chest, “we do not need to be enemies.”
“You killed my parents. That’s kind of automatically reason enough for me to splatter your guts with a four-pound trigger pull.”
“And I truly appreciate you not doing that. I actually thought you were going to be making a rather large scene here.”
“Like your… group sending the undead, what… twice now?”
“That is beyond my capabilities. Sebastian is rather gifted. Have you met him?”
With my free hand, I pulled the necklace out of my pocket and put it on the table in the middle. Vassago looked at that for a long moment then back up at me.
“I really wish you wouldn’t have done that,” he said softly.
“He summoned two… flesh golems. They weren’t undead, but they were almost unkillable. He didn’t leave me a choice.”
“You have no clue what you’ve done, do you? And Brandon?”
I didn’t say anything, and I saw something in him harden.
“I cannot help you. I must leave before Khrystiana sends in the heavies. I can’t be seen with you.”
“You’ll sit right there,” I said, my voice hard.
“You killed her sons,” he hissed back.
“One last question, then we’re both walking out of here,” I said, jabbing the gun closer to him under the table.
“Yes?” he asked, his eyes scanning the crowd.
“Why the meeting; why didn’t you try to kill me when you had the chance?”
“Because… I knew your father, and for a time, I knew your mother.”
“You’re… no.”
“No, she never realized my feelings for her. I hid them deeply. I had to after Khrystiana killed my wife and took my daughter away. You blame me for your mother's death, but on my wife’s grave, it was not me. I couldn’t. I will, however, admit it was I who got your father. It was in his sleep, with his feet propped up on his desk. He never felt a thing.”
“And you’re okay with that?” I snarled, my voice rising.
“I am not bloody okay with any of it!” he screamed.
People around us stopped walking and talking, and eyes turned to us. I holstered the gun I held under the table and made a motion with my left hand over my shoulder. Vivian was there within seconds.
“We’re heading out the front,” I told Vassago. “You aren’t armored, so I’d appreciate your cooperation, so Vivian here doesn’t have to zap you. I know it can stun you, but I doubt somebody as strong as you would remain stunned long. Because if she does have to stun you, I’m going to have to make a scene and I’m tired of changing clothes today.”
“Very well, but when her heavies show up, you’d do well to run.”
“You keep saying heavies, what are you talking about?” I asked him.
There was a loud thumping sound from outside, and then the lights went out.
“It’s already too late. They’re here,” his voice came out of the darkness, then the emergency lighting kicked on.
I grinned and looked at him. “Away from the cufflinks,” I told him, my hand going to my Gerber hooked on my front pocket of my pants.
I looked into the futures and saw that he was going to hesitate, waiting to see if I was going to hit him with something. Other than his hands, he’d come unarmed. As a council enforcer, I’d come in packed for war, with my backpack full of more toys. Still, when I turned my sight on the front door—
People started screaming outside, and a demonic shriek filled the air. Suddenly the tables and slot machines were being abandoned, and people fled for the nearest available exits.
“What’s that?” Vivian asked Vassago, a black glow coming from her hand.
“Mass and Effect, her heavies. Her son named her pets.”
“Pets?” I asked him.
“She’s a summoner,” he told me. “Best to remember that. You can vanquish them to have them summoned again in a week’s time, maybe less.”
“Mass and Effect,” I said softly.
“What are they?” I asked softly.
“Daemons,” he said, the pronunciation different.
There was more screaming outside and then the sound of breaking glass. I turned to look as something large moved outside, each footstep making the ground tremble. There were screams, and I knew this was about to go sideways in a way I couldn’t keep a secret. I touched my pentacle and activated the charm alerting the council, and when I looked back, Vassago was gone.
“Dammit,” I cursed.
“Where did… oh…. Rose?!” Vivian screamed.
When Rose didn’t appear, she turned and looked at me. “Where is Rose? She was supposed to keep an eye on him!”
“She is,” I told her softly. “We have to get out of here; if these things are after me, there are too many innocents between them and me.”
“What do you want to do?” she asked, almost panting as the sound of more screams and breaking glass almost overshadowed her words.
“Head for the side exit where Kiersten and Zania are. I’m getting my pack and gating to the Arches.”
“Will they follow
us?” she asked, buffeted by somebody rushing by in a hurry.
“If she sent them after me, we can only hope,” I told her. “Have Kiersten gate the rest of you to where we first fought Vassago as a team.”
Vivian put a hand up and touched her throat, shuddering at the memory.
“It’s all I’ve got on short notice. I need the pack’s strength so I can gate. Hurry!”
We split up and went running for the side exit. Right away I could see a bottleneck of people forcing their way out, bodies seemingly twenty deep and twenty wide trying to get through a double door emergency exit. I jumped up and could just make out JJ’s broad shoulders and head waiting outside, pulling people through who were getting stuck trying to get out. I felt a little relieved and got into the crowd, shooting glances behind me.
Something deep red filled the doorway to the main entrance, and people waiting to get out there turned our way screaming. I looked into the future.
The crush of bodies almost takes the breath out of me, if I trip, I’ll be trampled to death in at least thirty dozen futures, maybe more. If I stay more to the left, behind the mountain of a black man in the loud Hawaiian shirt, he acts as a sort of human buffer.
I shoved my way in the direction where I knew the man was going to be and found a quick opening in the crowd. There! The man! I risked a glance behind me and saw Steven standing in front of a creature that looked to be painted in blood, his suit jacket gone, his sleeves rolled up. Then the crush of bodies hit and I was pushed into the man in the loud shirt. I fought to stay on my feet, but my foot stumbled over something I couldn’t see on the floor, and I started to go down. A big hand grabbed me by the shoulder and hauled me nearly off my feet.
“Fucking retards,” the man said, his nose peeling from a bad sunburn. “Something bad is coming, I can feel it,” he said softly, looking over his shoulder.
What could he see? He couldn’t see the almost eight-foot tall horned demon fighting the security guards and Steven? I turned and saw Steven throw a mighty punch but then I was pulled forward by the man.
“Don’t turn around, keep your mass centered, body forward or you're going down. You go down, you might trip me up, and that would ruin my time here in Vegas. My wife would kill me if I came back dead and don’t get me started on the receipts on the credit card once she decides to get nosy.”
“Tom,” I told him.
“King,” he said his voice oddly deep, reminding me of Rasmussen.
“Thank you,” I told him, “for…” the air was pushed out of my lungs as somebody stumbled into my back, but I kept moving, kept right behind the space King was making, pushing his way forward.
King reached back and grabbed my hand and put it on his belt. I held on, and the big man moved. I was almost pulled off my feet, and suddenly I was past the doorjamb. I stumbled off to the side, almost falling as King wandered off, then he took off in a jog, throwing me a half salute. I started to go to a knee when strong hands picked me up like I was a baby.
“You’re never going to live this down,” Dana said, then spun me around.
I wrapped my arms around her neck so I wouldn’t fall and she grabbed my legs, so I was piggybacking her. She took off at a lope, calling for JJ.
He leaped over several people who’d sprawled in front of the door, and was moving fast. I pointed to a dead end section between two buildings.
“Put me down,” I said after twenty feet.
“Wasn’t sure how hurt you were. What are we doing?” Dana asked as I slid off her back.
“We’re gating. The others are meeting us,” I said getting the charm between my thumb and fingers and pushing my will into it.
The gate shimmered in front of us, and I took one look back. Something flew overhead, and we instinctively ducked, and then JJ was pushing us all through.
I hit the dusty ground hard, Dana falling atop of me and then JJ fell over her and onto me. I let the gate collapse and got untangled from the bodies and crawled over to the sleeping bag that Cindy had been on when we’d found her.
“Oh shit, not here again,” Dana said grumpily.
“We may not have had much time,” I told her touching the pentacle again. “Get the rock off the opening, we might have to move fast, and I don’t know how much time we got.”
“On it,” JJ said, all business. “How serious is this?” he asked over his shoulder.
“Vassago said Khrystiana sent her pet demons after us.”
“Demons, as in the devil’s minions, fallen angels?” Dana asked as I heard rock scraping and JJ grunt.
“Yes, I said walking down the stone path until I was standing underneath the opening.
I jumped and caught the edges with my hands, and JJ grabbed my wrists and hauled me up. Dana leaped up by herself while JJ was rolling the rock back in place. I looked around and thought about pulling my phone out, but who would I call? I touched the pentacle on my necklace again, praying the repetitive calls would convey how utterly screwed we were. Dana started shedding clothing, and JJ pulled off his shirt, throwing it at the base of the large rock that capped the hidden room. JJ’s shift was almost instantaneous with Dana finishing her change a few seconds later. She lifted her head in her wolf form and howled.
Off in the distance, a wolf answered, and then another and another. I pulled off my backpack and ran down the slope. I could see a gateway opening in the distance and three figures stepping out. Good, Vivian had gotten there, and they’d gotten the message. Kiersten immediately looked around and grabbed a large stick.
“What is she doing?” Dana asked, panting.
“I don’t know, but I have an idea,” I said.
16
Kiersten was drawing a large circle in the dirt. I almost asked her why she didn’t use her fire magic to burn a glass circle, but she knew more about this than I did.
“Get inside the circle,” she told all of us.
“Wait, the pack is coming,” I told her as I could hear hunting howls in the distance.
“That’s the rest of them?” she asked.
Dana made a barking sound, and JJ made a largely exaggerated nod with his wolfly head. I’d have to ask them when things weren’t so crazy why they chose one form over another when they transformed. JJ put his head back and howled back just as three shapes came out of the darkness, running like the hounds of hell. Zania backed up hard until she almost knocked over Vivian, and Vivian put her arm around the young mage and gave her a squeeze getting her attention.
“This is Thomas’s pack, this is his territory,” Vivian told her, “The pack will not hurt you, so long as you don’t attack him.”
“Attack him, why would I attack…”
Something large flew overhead as three more wolves joined us in the circle.
“I need your help,” Kiersten said, throwing the stick inside the circle and kneeling down, “You know how to do circle traps?” she asked.
“Yes,” I told her, joining her.
“Good, same concept. Force your will into it until you feel it snap in place. I made it big, so I don’t know if I have enough juice to power it myself.”
“I’m not really—”
“I’ll help,” Zania said pushing away from Vivian.
“Me too,” Vivian said and we all knelt as something inhuman screeched overhead.
I let go of my fears and concentrated. I pushed my will into the depression, and I felt my magic intermingle with the others, and suddenly the circle snapped closed as a large shape hit the outside and bounced off at an angle, tumbling on the ground.
“What was that?” Zania asked, falling backward.
“Demons,” I told them.
“Thought she was kidding, there are no demons, that means that—”
“Hush child,” Kiersten said sternly, and for once, the spunky teenager did.
I stood up, struggling to see in the dark, and did a headcount. I had my five Weres, and there was Vivian, Zania, and Kiersten. Rose was still gone. A large shadow droppe
d from the sky near the creature that hit the wall of the circle. Wall? It was a nearly invisible barrier, and I reached for it to have Vivian yank my hand back.
“Don’t break the circle. These demons are not from this world, they cannot break this barrier unless we do.”
“So we’re stuck inside here?” I asked.
“At least until morning when the sun comes up.”
“Or somebody from the outside breaks it,” a feminine voice said.
“Oh shit,” Kiersten said, backing up a step, into me.
I almost stumbled but put my arm around her, JJ’s wolf form brushing against my arm. I let her go when we both got our feet under us as a woman muttered a word and a lighted orb flew up and hovered in the air. Behind her… two demons. They were everything the comic books described and more. They were so indescribable it was hard to put into words. They were naked, their skin a deep dark red. Open sores on their bodies wept clear fluid, and the smell that came off them was like sulfurous ass. If burned gunpowder was heaven, their smell was hell. Each creature, now at full height, seemed to be nearly ten feet tall. One threw its arms back and roared, and a second later the other did as well.
They turned to start approaching the circle, and when they did, I saw black wings folded tight against their backs. Their fingers ended in claws, as did their toes. Now I understood why Khrystiana had let her kids name these guys Mass and Effect. Each creature was almost six feet wide at the shoulders, and together they probably weighed as much as a small box truck. Despite their skin and smell, they seemed to exude power and absolute domination—
“You like?” the woman asked, finally stepping closer.
“Khrystiana,” I said, bowing, being careful not to break the circle.
“My reputation precedes me,” she said, not quite smiling.
She was awe-inspiringly beautiful. Her hair was a deep auburn and fell nearly to her waist in loose curls. Where Kiersten looked like a middle-aged soccer mom, Khrystiana looked like she had stepped out of a fashion magazine, with a figure that made Vivian almost seem plain by comparison. Cindy was tall, lithe and strong, Vivian was shorter, curvier, but Khrystiana was just… evil. Evil. I had to remember that. I started scanning the futures to see what she was going to say and when she opened her mouth, she closed it again, waiting.
Second Sight: The Rune Sight Chronicles Page 15
