Red Skies

by Jan Stryvant

  "Peg and Sheila, with me. The rest of you watch from here. Once we're inside, follow at staggered intervals in ones and twos. Got it?"

  Everyone nodded.

  Putting on a cap emblazoned with the company logo, Sean got out of the van and strolled right up to the front door.

  "You're on, Sheila," Sean said while looking around nonchalantly. It was almost eleven, and nobody was paying them any attention. In fact, the few people walking by were far to wrapped up, either talking or texting on their cellphones, to notice anything.

  "It's open," Sheila whispered after playing with the door lock for a few seconds and turning the knob. She gave it a little push.

  "Thanks," Sean said and stepped inside, his defensive framework engaged as he shifted into his hybrid form in case of any unexpected surprises. Sheila followed him in and immediately went to the beeping panel on the wall. She popped it off, did something to the wires, and then hooked something she took out of her pocket to it.

  Several seconds later it stopped beeping. With the distraction of the alarm gone, Sean noticed the faint stench that filled the room.

  "Peg, stay with Sheila and keep your spells up. I'm going to investigate."

  "Just be careful," Peg said softly while looking around.

  "You know me," Sean said while drawing his sword.

  Moving carefully, Sean stepped out of the short hallway and noticed immediately that the place was a mess. Obviously no one had cleaned up here in months. Peeking into the kitchen, he saw garbage bags piled in the corner, and the sink was full of dirty dishes that had been sitting there for so long, everything on them was hardened. Evidently once they possessed you, they didn't give a damn about housework.

  Turning back, Sean made his way carefully into the living room. There was a stack of takeout pizza boxes that went to the ceiling, and sitting on the desk was a laptop! It was off, but that didn't matter to Sean. Unplugging it, he carried it back to Peg.

  "Don't lose this," Sean said, and then went to check the downstairs bathroom. It was filthy, but at least the possessed still knew how to flush a toilet. He didn't see anything of interest there, so he carefully walked up the stairs to the second floor.

  Once there, his nose picked up the scent of something dead. There were two bedrooms here, so he looked in on the master bedroom first, which was where he found the body. It was a woman, or at least he suspected it was. She'd been dead for weeks at least, probably longer. The whole body had been wrapped with what looked like plastic wrap, and the only way Sean knew it was a woman was from the shoes. The rest of the body was in a pretty advanced stage of decomposition, and the many air fresheners placed on the body weren't cutting it.

  A quick search of the room didn't turn up anything beyond the usual clothing, though from the pile of it, Sean suspected the demon was just buying new clothing constantly and tossing the dirties here. It didn't look like anything had been washed.

  Leaving the master bedroom, Sean looked into the other bedroom. Inside, there was what looked like a casting circle on the floor. Bending down and sniffing, Sean immediately discovered it was made from dried blood.

  'I thought they couldn't do magic on their own?'

  'That's not magical. Well, not in the way you understand magic. Demons sent here have no way to communicate with those in the underworld. They're not telepathic or linked in anyway. In this world, they can only communicate like humans do. So in order to get their orders, they create this circle using blood and some simple rituals. They then meditate in the circle, and the more powerful demons can reach them.'

  'Why didn't we see this at the Vestibulum?'

  'Because they were opening up a much more direct portal using the ritual magic circle so they could send souls back to feed the others.'

  Sean nodded; it made sense. Leaving the room, he went downstairs to the others. Clifford was in the room with one of his team members.

  "Peg, take Sheila and go back out to the van. Clifford, cycle everyone through so they can smell it for themselves, then pull down to the end of the block and keep an eye on things."

  "What are you going to do?" Peg asked.

  "Wait for him to come home and kill him."

  "That could be a while!"

  "I'm going to call his cellphone from his phone here, then hang up. I'm sure he'll come home to investigate."

  "That almost sounds too easy," Peg said, looking at him.

  "Yeah, but it should work. There's a dead body upstairs and a satanic circle painted on the floor. He can't risk that getting out. Now go!"

  Peg gave him one of 'those' looks that probably meant Roxy would be yelling at him later. So Sean kissed her, patted her on the ass, and pushed her out the front door.

  Ten minutes later they were gone, and he closed the front door behind them.

  'Do these things have a language, Dad?' Sean asked and sent the First a thought about what he wanted to do.

  'Of course, why...oh! Yes, that would work very well, Son!'

  Sean smiled and pulled out his phone to look through his notes for the right number. Finding it, he then picked up the wall phone, dialed the manager's number, and waited for a response.

  "Who is this?"

  Sean let the First have control, and a series of strange sounds came out of his mouth. Sean then hung up.

  'I told him something important had happened and we needed to talk, now.'

  "Almost too easy," Sean said with a smile.

  It took about twenty minutes for him to show up. Sean heard the footsteps as the man walked up the sidewalk, then put the keys in the door. He waited until the man had stepped inside, then he quickly stepped around the corner, grabbed him, pulled him inside hard enough to send him flying, and kicked the door closed so there wouldn't be any witnesses to what happened next.

  The moment Sean turned around, the man was on him; apparently this demon's human host was quicker and fitter than most. Sean punched him in the face, rocking his head back as the demon pulled out a taser of some sort and tried to shoot Sean with it.

  Sean deflected the barbs and hit the man in the face again. Sean could see he was taking damage from the hits, but unlike a human, the attacks weren't stunning him.

  The demon then backpedaled away from Sean and turned to run just as Sean drew his sword and gave chase. Unsurprisingly, the demon ran for the stairs, and he was fast for a human, but Sean had a cheetah for a wife and he knew all about fast. Catching up with the man halfway up the staircase, Sean ran him through from behind with the sword, driving it into the stairs and stopping him there.

  The demon screeched loudly then, and started to yell something in an unintelligible language. So tightening his grip, Sean ripped his sword out of the stairs and the demon's body, brought it around and up, then quickly back down, cleaving the demon's head in two, killing it immediately.

  Sean took a moment to catch his breath as he wiped his sword off on the demon's clothing. Heading back towards the doorway, he grabbed Sheila's device, ripping it away from the alarm board, all of the jumpers letting go of the wires she'd clipped them to. He then shifted back into human form, pulled his hat down low, and just walked out the front door, closing it behind him. He could see the van down the street, so walking down to it, he climbed in the front seat and they drove off.

  "Here, Sheila." Sean passed her device back.

  "Taking that set the alarm off, you know," Sheila said, looking at him.

  "Yup, and I suspect by tomorrow the news of what happened will be all over the place. Now, let's go find the other one. Do we know who he is yet?"

  "Yeah, we do," said Star, the one who'd found him. "He's a lobbyist from a small firm."

  "How small?"

  "He's the only one in it. He's close acquaintances with Senator Conway from Maryland. Lobbies for a lot of small town local stuff for the area they both grew up in. But lately it seems he's been expanding a bit. It looks like he might be the one lobbying Congressman Janks, and Malone from Maryland as well."
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br />   Sean nodded. "Well, that's a start. Where's he live?"

  "About a two hour drive out of town," Star said with a sigh. "That's where his office is as well; he works out of his house."

  "Damn. Let's stop by our office first so we can leave this laptop for John to play with and grab some lunch. Then I guess we can drive over there."

  "Do you think these are the only two?" Star asked as they drove back to the office.

  Sean shook his head. "I'm sure we'll turn up more; we still have three Senators we suspect are being swayed."

  "You don't think it's the Vestibulum?"

  Sean shrugged and looked out the window. "I'm no longer sure the Vestibulum was behind any of this recent resistance. I'm starting to wonder if maybe they were just the patsies set up to take the fall. So much of what they've done in the last few weeks really doesn't make any sense."

  Peg shook her head. "Sorry, Hon, you're wrong. Maybe there are Vestis who sold out or got possessed and pushed for it, but the others went along willingly. Look at my father; look at where I came from. There wasn't anyone holding their hands and forcing them to do the things they did.

  "Eruditio said no. Sapientia even said no. The Ascendance, of all people, has been coming around and starting to say 'no'! The Ascendance, for cryin' out loud!"

  "You can't cheat an honest man, right?" Clifford spoke up, from the back now that Star was driving.

  "How's that?" Sean asked, turning around and looking at him.

  "Something my dad taught me. If you're honest and deal honestly with other people, it's a lot harder for anyone to cheat you, because cheating always plays on a person's innate greed. All these demons were doing were playing on the Vestis' innate need for power, their egos. They weren't led down any path or forced into doing the things they did. They did them willingly, with their eyes wide open."

  "Do you think that's the same case with these Senators and Congressmen?"

  "Hell, yeah. These people will do anything for power; most of them sold out any principles they may have had years ago. Oh, I doubt any of them know we exist, but you can believe they're being offered something, and that something, be it money, sex, drugs, or power, is all they really care about. Hell, even if we get rid of all these demons buying them off, they'll probably still keep pushing to overturn the president's order.

  "What we need is a law, and we need one of these bastards to be the ones pushing it. Maybe we'll find out what they're being bribed with and we can use that to get their vote."

  "Better yet," Sheila piped up, "maybe we can find some juicy blackmail material on them. If you hadn't set the alarm off, we might have been able to use the dead body in that man's house to pressure the Senator into doing what we wanted."

  Sean chuckled. "I think I've just been schooled. Thank you, Sheila, I'll be sure to think about that next time."

  It was after three when they finally made it to the next place. This one was a nice house in the middle of a fairly average suburban neighborhood. There was absolutely nothing to set it apart from the other houses.

  "I think someone's home," Sheila said.

  "How can you tell?"

  "The car in the driveway; when I look at it with my infrared detector, I can see that the hood is still very hot. That car pulled in the driveway in the last half hour or so. Either he's home, or he has company. In either case, someone is there."

  "If I try to kick in the front door, someone is bound to see me and call the police," Sean said, looking up and down the street. "If I try to bluff my way in, the moment they open the door, they're probably going to know what I am."

  "How?"

  "They won't be able to influence me the way they can influence humans."

  "Are you sure they'll even try?" Star asked.

  "We can't take the chance," Sheila said, "the moment they find out, they'll attack, and from everyone's point of view, Sean will be the bad guy."

  "Let's just sneak in the back," Peg said. "We can stop on the next block over after the sun sets and cut through a few yards."

  "Sunset is a few hours away yet. I'd rather not wait that long," Sean said, thinking about what he'd seen as they drove around the block.

  "If you try to sneak in the back in broad daylight, chances are good people will see you around here. This isn't the city, where everyone is busy minding their own business."

  Sean grumbled, but Peg had a point. There were kids out on the street and people doing things in their yards.

  "Fine, let's go find a place to kill some time, and we'll see if we can't keep an eye on the place, at least, while we wait."

  "That's like five hours from now, Sean."

  "Yeah, I know, but it'll take longer than that to run back to the office and then drive back here. This way, at least, we can try and keep an eye on the place, and if they leave, or someone else shows up, we'll know it."

  "You hope," Peg said.

  "There's seven of us in the van now, after dropping Clifford and his crew off. I think that's enough to set up some kind of watch. If nothing else, it'll keep us from getting bored."

  "I was thinking we could find a short-stay hotel and you, me, and Sheila spend the next five hours doing something a lot more enjoyable," Peg said with a grin.

  "Oh? And what about Star and the others?"

  "They can get their own room!" Peg said with a giggle.

  Sean shook his head and sighed. "Maybe next time."

  "Aww..."

  Six hours later, Sean was thinking he should have let Peg talk him into the hotel. Nobody had seen anyone approach or leave the house. Walking back to the van, he got in and took the burger one of the wolves handed him. Someone at least had taken the time to walk down to the local Roy Rogers restaurant. Sean had never been to one before; apparently they were an east coast chain, but they weren't bad, so he wasn't complaining.

  "So now what?" Star asked.

  "Now you drop me, Sheila, and one of your crew off on the street behind our target's house. We'll sneak in the back way while you park in front of the house. Make it look like you just stopped to do some paperwork, and I'm sure everyone will ignore you. When I'm done, I'll ping you or something. Peg can handle any illusions or magical problems that arise."

  "What do you need Sheila for?" Peg asked.

  "I want her to check for alarms, and once I've dealt with things inside the house, she can tell me if we can use it or not to blackmail Conway."

  Peg nodded, mollified.

  Star put the van in gear and pulled out of the parking lot they'd been waiting in.

  "Time to get the show on the road," she said.

  When they turned down the road behind the house, they checked to make sure no one was out. Star slowed down to a crawl in the dark spot between two streetlights, and Sean quickly hopped out, with Sheila and Bryan, the wolf Sean had drafted, following.

  It only took a moment for them to disappear between the houses. There was a fair deal of manicured shrubbery and trees on the property of the homes here, so staying out of sight was easy. Shifting into their hybrid forms to take advantage of their heightened senses as well as stronger bodies, they came to the fence around the back yard of the targeted house.

  "It's clear," Sheila told them after a brief examination, so Sean went over first. He was in a back yard with a pool and a lot of nice lawn furniture. The pool was running, and it looked like it had some sort of automated cleaner in it. But other than that, it didn't really look like anyone had been out here in a while. There was just a general 'unused' feel to the place, even if the lawn was still well cut.

  Sean waved the others over as he carefully approached the house. All the shades were drawn, but he didn't want to get too close, lest he trip any alarms. When Sheila caught up with him, he waited while she checked the windows and then the doors.

  "Nothing," she whispered to him. "I guess this is a good neighborhood? I picked the lock on the back door while I was checking it. You can go in whenever you want."

  Sean nodded and,
creeping up to the windows, he carefully peeked inside each one. Only one light was on, on the ground floor; the rest were all out, and he didn't see anybody in any of the rooms.

  "I think they're upstairs," he whispered to the others. "Wait here while I check it out."

  Opening the door, Sean drew his sword and carefully stepped inside.

  The scent of the demon hit him immediately, but there was also a faint smell of decay in the air. Slowly prowling around the downstairs, Sean found both a laptop and a desktop computer, both of which were on.

  The kitchen was obviously unused, but it wasn't a mess like the other demon's had been. Either they weren't eating here, or they were at least taking the time to clean up.

  Going to the stairway, Sean started up slowly, putting his feet toward the sides of the steps where they met the wall to cut down on creaking, a trick Steve had taught him years ago. Thankfully it worked.

  At the top of the stairs was a hallway with one door to the left and three to the right. The farthest one on the right was open, and it was a bathroom. Turning to the left, Sean moved forward slowly until he was outside the door with his hand on the knob. Turning it slowly, he held his breath as he pushed the door open and looked into the room.

  It was the master bedroom, and it was huge. The lobbyist he was after was sitting on the floor, eyes closed and mouth open, in the middle of another one of those circles, this one obviously made of blood like the previous one.

  'The second you break that circle, they're going to know you're there.'

  'Any advice?'

  'If you can take his head off without stepping into the circle, and without your arm breaking the imaginary boundary-line, they won't know what happened. He'll just suddenly go away.'

  'You sure?'

  'Reasonably sure.'

  Sean nodded once to himself and, readying his sword, he slowly crept into the room, carefully putting one foot in front of the other. He called up his offensive framework and readied an ice spell to freeze the demon solid, just in case he heard Sean and started to move.