by Lily Luchesi
Danny regarded the gun, testing its weight. “I used to have one fourteen-round Glock and I’d never once needed to reload during one standoff. So sixteen bullets should be plenty.”
She regarded the gun. “I never liked these things. On one hand, they make the job easier because you can get more monsters that way. In the same breath, it also allows for too many innocent casualties. And on the other hand, it is so impersonal to kill with a gun. The truly evil ones deserve to feel your very own blade slicing into their flesh, the killing blow delivered by your own hand.”
Danny chuckled.
“What?”
He shrugged, still chuckling. “You just went from ‘I don’t like hurting people’ to ‘I want them to really feel it as I murder them’ in one breath.”
Angelica couldn’t help but laugh as well. “To paraphrase Churchill, I am a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, and bound up in an enigma.”
Danny kept laughing. “More like a psychopath with multiple personalities.”
She sidled up to him, her breath on his ear. She could feel his warmth through his suit. “You know you love it.”
Had Angelica been a normal person or even a vamplet still, she would have had a sleepless day, but thanks to being turned, she was able to get the rest she needed. When she rose at sunset, it was all she could do to check the infernal app and be sure that she wasn’t too late and Fiona hadn’t come in the daylight hours. She sighed with relief. Powers like Fiona’s usually needed the moonlight to be fully amplified. At best, they had about four hours before she showed up. Angelica just hoped it wouldn’t be a populated area.
She found Danny already doing something on the map of the city when she entered her office. “Hey. What are you up to?” she asked, bending over and kissing him quickly.
“Look at this: I managed to narrow down the list of possible places Fiona could show up tonight. She needs nature as much as she needs Hell’s powers to access her full potential, so anywhere too urban would be ruled out. That’s over seventy percent of the city. I’ve narrowed down the most possible places as one of Lake Michigan’s beaches, the forest where we faced her and Miranda, or the Willow Creek Woods, where she appeared to those shifters before. Great natural forces to enhance her powers.” He showed her the map and she couldn’t help her smile.
“My boyfriend is a genius. Now, if only there was a way we could narrow it down further.” She sat in her chair, sipping the blood she warmed in her thermos. She wished it was fresh, but she couldn’t bite Danny now: he needed his strength.
She wondered if she was wrong in considering this her and Danny’s fight alone. Maybe she should bring backup. Bart would surely get his underlings to follow them into battle, and she knew a couple of other vampires would assist her. She had saved them from murdering innocents, and they all owed their lives to her. However, that didn’t mean she wanted them to actually give their lives.
Sure, help would make this easier. Help would also hinder her pride and involve innocents into her battle. She was the one that Fiona had decided to hate, for whatever twisted reason. Somehow, she had started this thing, and she needed to finish it. Hopefully, not at the cost of any other lives…especially not Danny’s again.
As she was about to say something else, the main detector started going wild with flashing lights and a noise that vaguely resembled a tornado siren. Danny was covering his ears, and Angelica’s enhanced hearing was doing her no favors at this moment. Brighton had said he had installed a special alarm if Fiona showed up, but this was a little over the top! It was just like Brighton.
The map showed that the energy was gathering at Montrose Harbor. Angelica did an automatic weapons check and reached for Danny’s hand.
“It’s close by, so hold on tight so I don’t lose you.” If he fell away from her, it would certainly mean his death.
She felt him grip her hand and her waist before she took off running. It was only five miles away, and she made the distance in less than fifteen seconds. Hopefully they were in time.
She stopped running right in the middle of the park adjacent to the harbor. The skyline was beautifully lit, reflecting on the water. The three-quarter-full moon shone brightly, as did the streetlamps. The park was open, with few trees, walking paths, and a lot of grass. They had stopped on a patch of grass that was in the center of a sidewalk that looped round in a little circle.
“I can feel the energy, it’s gathering nearby, but I can’t tell where,” Danny said, barely fazed over the high speeds at which he had just traveled. He pulled his gun from its holster.
“It’s a portal opening. She’s coming here straight from Hell, just as I suspected,” Angelica commented, her gun also at the ready. She couldn’t believe that they had actually managed to get there first, to have the upper hand. Usually things like that never happened, even in the movies.
“There.” Danny pointed, and she wondered what he saw that she could not till she noticed the telltale reddish shimmer in the air, like looking at the air around a wildfire.
Wind began to pick up. Trees swayed, and she could hear the water thrashing against the rocks in the harbor. Boats were creaking. It was a calm night for November in Chicago, but the dark energy was causing Nature to react badly.
The shape of a person started to take form, slowly coming closer and more solid. Angelica wanted to start shooting, but if Fiona was still in the veil, not only would the bullets not hit her, the shots would alert the witch and all their planning would have been for nothing.
Fiona finally came through the void, and Angelica thought again at how normal she looked. Her hair was pretty, blonde, with highlights and lowlights. Her lips were glossed pink, and her green eyes were wide. She wore a brown leather jacket over a tight white tank top and jeans that must have been sewn to her skin. Everything was designer. She could have been any girl shopping on Michigan Avenue. A girl no one would look at twice except to comment on her beauty.
No one would ever guess at the evil that hid below that beautiful surface, even before she had become a demon.
Angelica registered a small look of shock on her face, but it was gone before a second had passed. That careful smile was back in place, the very smile that Angelica despised.
She and Danny both brandished their guns, but Fiona was faster than a bullet as she used a large force of magic to knock Danny backwards, sending him skidding on the concrete. Angelica could smell his blood already where his skin had been scraped.
Danny, however, was not to be beaten so easily. Without a word spoken, he fired the gun from the ground hitting her in the chest and making her scream. It might’ve hurt, but the one bullet did not do the trick. Danny was thrust up against the nearest tree, held there by a powerful, invisible force. The gun was thrown away from him and he could not reach for another one.
Angelica fired her weapon twice, but the bullets landed in Fiona’s arm and side. Nowhere near their intended targets.
Fiona laughed. “Oh, you stupid little girl. Did you honestly think you could defeat me? And tonight of all nights?”
As Angelica went to cock her weapon again, Fiona tightened the magic surrounding Danny and Angelica could just hear his ribs creaking.
“You won’t kill him,” she taunted Fiona. “He’s your intended prize, isn’t he?”
Fiona kept smiling. “Oh, trust me, he is what I want, but to be honest, I’d sacrifice him again if it meant seeing you in misery, Cross. I told you, this is war. And it won’t end until one of us is dead. If I can torment you first, the more entertaining it is for me.”
“You’re quite right,” Angelica replied. “This is between us. Danny just found himself mixed up in it by accident. So leave him be and focus on me.”
Fiona scoffed. “Like I don’t know that he has another gun on him? I let him go, and he’ll shoot me. I wasn’t born yesterday, halfling.”
Angelica had forgotten that Fiona and Leander had no idea that she was no longer a vamplet. This was her secret weapon. This was
how she’d defeat Fiona once and for all.
“I never once thought you were an idiot, Fiona. Hold him immobile if you must, but don’t hurt him. This is our fight. Don’t let him be a casualty again. I don’t think you want that.” Angelica stared the demon down. Her eyes had not blackened, and for a second she looked human. “By the way, didn’t anyone ever tell you beauty is only skin deep? I wonder how pretty you’ll look once I’ve cut your face off.”
“Angie, are you insane?” Danny cried, but Fiona took his voice away. He was completely immobile, except for his brain, heart, and lungs.
While she was distracted with Danny, Angelica managed to fire off another round, this one settling next to Danny’s first shot. Angelica saw the flames of purification lick around it at the point of entry before it simply leaked blood slowly, staining her white shirt.
She shot a purple ball of pure energy at Angelica, which the vampire dodged easily.
“That the best you can do, witch?” she asked.
“Claíomh chruthú!” she said, and five swords appeared out of thin air, launching at Angelica. She had to take a stab in the hip, but the other four she dodged as well. The pain bit, and the metal of the sword chipped the bone. She momentarily doubled over, but the extra blood she had drunk managed to jump start her healing. The wound might stay open, but at least the bone would be repaired.
Fiona did not stop her assault. With no restraints, her power was incredible. Vampires usually couldn’t sense that kind of energy like Danny could, but it was so strong that Angelica could feel it thickening the air and making her skin tingle.
More swords came, and there were far too many for one person (or vamp) to escape. Angelica felt the silver bite into her arms and calves. She knew there had to be a chunk of flesh missing somewhere about her left bicep. The pain brought her to her knees, giving Fiona time to advance.
Angelica jumped out of her way, shooting again. She had no idea if she hit or not, because Fiona’s attacks were not stopping. Angelica felt the same telekinetic force that held Danny in place beginning to trap her.
Her arms and legs felt as if they were bound in silver chains, and the pressure increased. She could not breathe properly. How could Fiona be this strong? How could she lose? After all these years, this was what it was coming down to: her miserable demise to a demon witch. She was ashamed of herself. How could she be so weak?
A mental voice inside of her head spoke up, one she hadn’t heard in a long time. Her father.
“Angelica Cross, you are still behaving as if you were a vamplet with human limitations,” he scolded her. “Stand up and embrace your power!”
I can’t fight her magic. Not tonight. She’s preeminent, she thought.
“Your destiny is not to die at the hands of a monster like her. You can fight this. I taught you tactical procedure, but your mother gave you a much bigger gift with your bloodline. Use it.”
What? Angelica understood none of that, but before he had turned, her father had been her biggest influence and teacher. She trusted his opinion on all things paranormal. If he thought she could win this (even if that voice was just in her head), chances are she really was her own hindrance.
This force surrounding her was the first thing to get rid of. Fiona was not attacking. Instead, she was gloating over what she was calling “an easy and humiliating defeat”.
Angelica felt her blood boil as she watched her, so arrogant and cruel. With all the energy she possessed, she pictured herself breaking chains around her body, and as she did so the energy holding her down shattered, and Fiona gasped.
Getting off the ground, ignoring the fact that she was still bleeding from multiple, serious wounds, she faced the witch. “You should know by now that I am not so easily defeated.”
Fiona hissed and her eyes turned black. She raised her arms, but before she could fire off some magic, Angelica launched a sharp iron knife at her and it hit its mark: the center of her abdomen, causing Fiona to cough. That cough brought blood up her throat and it dripped from her lips as if she were the vampire. She spat the blood out and dropped to one knee on the ground, grimacing.
Angelica didn’t give her a moment to rest as she threw a small open vial of holy water at the wound with one hand, twisting the knife with the other. Some missed, but a lot of it got into the wound, making it smoke. She was thankful to have remembered her gloves.
Fiona shrieked, stumbling backwards at an awkward angle. Angelica had felt the burn of holy water in a wound before: it was possibly the worst, burning pain anyone could endure. She looked up at Angelica and the vampire wondered if what was coming in retaliation might be more than she could handle.
The air crackled and goosebumps rose on her skin as she felt the magic being gathered. In the space of less than five seconds, Angelica could feel the immense power she never would have guessed Fiona possessed being gathered. She could bat away a small energy blast or escape some swords, but even she was not fast enough to avoid a blast as big as the blue ball of energy now heading straight toward her.
She put her arms up instinctively in a defensive position when she felt the magic sting her skin through her jacket, the thick black leather shredding at its power. Her skin burned as if it had carpet rash. And then there was naught but air hitting her bare skin. She looked up in surprise, and saw that Fiona was standing there, dumbfounded. Somehow, someway, she stood her ground against a blast that would have killed any other creature.
“How the fuck did you do that?” Fiona cried.
Angelica smirked. She had no clue, but she wasn’t about to question it.
“Because I’m better than you. Always have been.” She cocked her gun and a third bullet hit Fiona in the chest. And then a fourth. Blood poured forward like a fountain, but the wounds alone would not kill her.
Fiona used her magic to whip the gun away from Angelica, but she reached for her second weapon quickly. However, Fiona had launched herself at Angelica, physically tackling the vamp to the hard ground. Angelica felt her skull bounce off the pavement, and she knew she was bleeding. Hopefully it would heal.
At the moment, however, she’d been stunned, as many who receive head wounds are, and that allowed Fiona to stand before her, primed to unleash another magic blast. Angelica watched as the blast came for her, but she held up both arms and made a sweeping gesture, sending the magic breaking apart into two halves. Each half went in the opposite direction, slicing apart trees and causing boats marooned there for the winter to sink.
Angelica leapt up, slicing at Fiona’s pretty face with a hidden blade, cutting away a flap of skin on her cheek. It revealed rotting muscle and a yellowing cheekbone.
“Not so pretty on the inside,” Angelica commented. She was dizzy, but well enough to aim.
“You are dead, Cross! Your time as the hero of this fucking place is over! The day my kin rule the peoples of Earth has dawned, and all the iron bullets in the world can’t stop it!” Fiona said, shooting more blasts at Angelica.
Instead of turning her to a pile of bloody flesh as they should have, she batted them away, one of them flying back at Fiona, catching her in the face, and burning it a bit.
Angelica leapt up, watching Fiona scream. Her face was smoking, but not as badly damaged as her cheek was from Angie’s knife.
Angelica fired the fifth and final bullet at the screaming, smoking figure of Fiona, and watched as the magic did its job. The bullet hit her directly in the center of the forehead. Bullseye.
The witch straightened up, rigid. There was a huge bluish-purple light coming from within her. Her magic. It was being expelled. Angelica had not known this would happen. Could she block it? It rose up out of her body like a living thing, as big as a thundercloud and a million times as deadly as lightning.
“Angie!” Danny called. Apparently the spell was wearing off on him.
There was no way to escape. At least I’ve stopped her before I die, Angelica thought wearily. In death, it looked like Fiona was going to get what she
wanted. The magic went straight for Angelica, and something inside of her seemed to click. She could beat this. This paltry magic could not hurt her, no matter what day it was. She was above and beyond all magic. How she knew that, she didn’t have a clue. That didn’t matter at all, not now.
“You cannot destroy me!” she cried, pushing the magic aside as if she were sweeping crumbs off of a table. It took a lot of force out of her, and it felt like pushing against the tide in an ocean when you were not used to the current. The magic crashed into the lake, causing waves to partially sink boats and thunder to crash from the evaporation of the water. Waves were so high, they hit the rock wall and water sloshed over the grass and walkway like in a disaster movie.
The lake and the sky were representative of Angelica’s turbulent emotions. They were singing at her long overdue triumph. Something inside of her had broken open, and she felt her power surging through her veins, healing her wounds and spurring her on.
She heard Danny plop to the ground at the same moment Fiona’s prone body fell down. She was still living. The demonic essence her soul had become was keeping her alive. Angelica drew a longer iron knife than the one she had used earlier as she approached Fiona. It was time to finish this.
Fiona’s eyes were still black as she stared at Angelica.
“You’ve not won yet. Cac ar oineach!” the witch spat. She could not move, but she could still talk. And that was all she was now: talk.
Angelica realized that, for the first time, she could finally tell her enemy off. It was childish, but she needed to get it off of her chest after all the destruction Fiona had caused. All the heartache. All the pain. All the doubt.
