Warlock's Son

by D. R. Rosier

  She impressed me, she didn’t look scared at all, just determined to somehow see her pride through it.

  “Fair enough, let’s assume from inside the house, with me feeding the physical protective wards, and the sleep traps, I can stop all but the alphas from breaking in, and put them to sleep. So, then we have two assholes, and one victim to deal with? What then, any ideas?”

  Lilith asked dubiously, “Is that a good assumption to make?”

  I shook my head, “Probably not, that many powerful shifters could break through quickly if they attack in concert. The wards were meant to hold one or two sadistic rapists at bay long enough to spell them to sleep and have Gina to go deal with them, not hold back an army. But if I’m fast enough with the attack wards, I can put a lot down quickly I think. Wards definitely make the fight lopsided in our favor, it’s a much better chance than fighting out here, plus I still have eight demons I can call in to help.”

  It helped that I wasn’t facing mages, they’d tear my wards to pieces in seconds, but shifters couldn’t.

  Julia said, “If it fails, I can evacuate us, but only three or four at a time.”

  Gina sighed, “Fine, if it comes to that, we’ll head to the basement for you to pull us out, but let’s assume Joseph and the alphas won’t be in the vanguard, and Andrew can knock them out fast enough, what happens then?”

  “That was my question.”

  She grinned at me impudently.

  I suppressed rolling my eyes, “Can the alphas pull power from unconscious shifters?”

  Gina nodded, and I suppressed a curse. Of course, that would have been too easy.

  “Alright, what can we do? Joseph is already short one alpha, you. We attack with the four of us, eight demons, and your six shifters? Go for the snake alpha and Carmine first, if we can kill them we’ll cut his power almost in half, he’ll only have the aquatic shifters and his bears to pull from. Then Julia can kick his ass, and I’m putting a physical shield on her to increase her chances, and I’ll help with spells.”

  I still had enough free concentration to add one more spell in the mix, and I casted it on her right then. It should work better for her than it would for me, her body as a hybrid shifter-vampire would take abrupt inertia changes a lot better than my soft human one. At least it would prevent him from clawing her to pieces, or caving in her chest again.

  Gina nodded slowly, “Alright, that might work, the snakes and wolves are more numerous than the other shifter groups, so we might be cutting more than half the power he’ll be able to draw.”

  Her phone rang, and Gina answered it. It wasn’t a very long conversation, but she’d described the challenge and what Joseph had done and talked a little longer before she hung up.

  Gina smiled happily, and it reached her eyes, “That was Damon, the snake shifter alpha. He called up for my version of what the hell was going on, his words, because he’d just been called in to attack us by Joseph. He’s going to switch sides, and cut off his power feed to the head alpha mid-battle, so only go after Carmine.”

  Julia asked, “Can we trust him?”

  Gina nodded, “He’s a dick, but he’s an honest one, and he hates Joseph.”

  “Sounds like our plan just got better, but I’m going to get started on beefing up the wards now. Any idea how long I have?”

  Gina said, “The wolves and bears are fairly close, they’re here on the north side with us, but the snake shifter pack is south of Seattle, so maybe an hour, ninety minutes at most?”

  That didn’t give me much time, I headed inside and got started…

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Outside of giving my demons orders to protect the house, I focused on adding as many sleep attack wards I could add, and also added a few more physical protection wards to prevent them from breaching the house at the start of the battle.

  The demons would help there as well, and try to disrupt physical attacks with distractions and sneak attacks, I had no illusions that the low-level demons I could summon and control could prevail against larger numbers of shifters in a straight fight. After all, my mother and I had taken one out, and only with our physical strength as humans.

  Then again, that was a setup, they were only supposed to scare me and then throw the fight.

  Julia said, “You should stay down here in the basement.”

  I frowned, “I will during the initial attack, when I knock out the attackers, but when you go outside to face the head alpha and Carmine with the others I’m going to help. I plan to levitate up in the air, he won’t be able to reach me.”

  Julia kissed me, but looked worried.

  “I know you’re here to protect me, but I can’t always hide either. I know you’ve got my back.”

  She nodded, “You should have made an heir last night, but I’ll do my best. Just don’t let any shifters close to you, except Gina.”

  I nodded, “I’ll be cautious, but I won’t hide.”

  Truthfully, I was afraid, and I was sure she knew it. That wasn’t the measure of bravery though, anyone sane would be afraid, I just wouldn’t let that stop me.

  She gave me one more kiss and headed upstairs, we didn’t have all that much time left.

  I looked over at Lilith, “Anything to add?”

  Lilith shook her head, “Nothing you haven’t already thought of, or that Julia hasn’t said. Just… be careful. You’re growing on me, I didn’t think we’d be this neck deep in shit so quickly. Hopefully the risks pay off.”

  I couldn’t argue with that, I was connected to the wards and ready. It wasn’t perfect, but we had our plan, and our avenue of retreat if we needed it, what else could we do?

  I wondered what Katia was up to, and if she’d still be there when we got back, if we got back that is.

  Katia stared at the elevator doors, her duffel bag in her hands. She was frozen, tired of crying, tired of waiting, and tired of denying her love.

  “Would you like something for lunch?” asked a pleasant male voice.

  She spun and turned, her hand on her chest. She closed her eyes and breathed out a sigh.

  “It’s you.”

  The demon, from the elevator, the one that let her up here.

  She asked, “What are you doing here?”

  He shrugged, “Keeping watch. I got curious, this is the third time you’ve almost left.”

  She dropped the duffel bag and stormed past him, the last thing she wanted to do was air her dirty laundry to a demon, no matter how cute or nice he seemed. She went into the kitchen where there was soup simmering on the stove, and a sandwich prepared at the table.

  “You did this?”

  He nodded, “I’m not supposed to reveal myself, and I’m only here until you leave, or decide to stay. I’m watching out for you. This world is rather dangerous for a human.”

  She frowned, “So why did you… reveal yourself I mean.”

  He shrugged, “Demon, we’re always breaking the rules. Plus, I was curious.”

  Somehow, she doubted this demon would go against his mistress’s orders, which meant Lilith had probably arranged this conversation. Why?

  “Curious?”

  He nodded, “Yes, why are you still here when you so clearly want to leave.”

  She frowned, “It’s complicated.”

  He gestured at the table, “Sit, eat,” and then walked over to scoop out a bowl of soup, and carry it over to her.

  This was so weird, she was being served lunch by a demon, and most likely a purely evil one. She didn’t buy the suave butler act, Lilith had explained to her why she was different, which meant he probably wasn’t, different that is. It was all giving her a headache and she pushed it out of her mind, did it really matter why he was here?

  She took a bite of the sandwich, it was delicious, and as she took a sip of the soup, she decided they complimented one another quite well.

  “Andrew, I love him, but I don’t think I can share him. Really, it’s that simple, and that complicated.”

>   He nodded thoughtfully.

  “Humans are strange that way, all that jealousy and insecurity I imagine?”

  She glared at him, “I am not insecure.”

  He nodded slowly, “Of course not, having to share the man you love with two beautiful women, who will most likely live forever if not killed, and never age a day. How silly of me.”

  She ignored him, and ate her sandwich. Maybe she was a little insecure about that, even if he did manage to slow her aging rate down to his, there’d always be two gorgeous sexy nubile supple bodies to choose from over her older sagging one, even if that did take centuries to happen. But mostly, it was about the jealousy. She didn’t want to share him. She still didn’t want to lose him either, but she was afraid that had already happened.

  He frowned at her, “I may have a solution for your problems. A way for you to share your love, and still keep him without… things getting poisoned.”

  She ignored him again, or tried to. She was definitely not interested in the least. What would a demon possibly know about how she felt, she wouldn’t even acknowledge what he’d said. Nope. Never going to happen.

  She ate some more of the soup.

  Damn it!

  She glared at him, “How? And I’m not making any damned deals with you.”

  He smiled, and he told her.

  She frowned. That… was far too easy, wasn’t it? Impossible, but the idea of it started to work in the back of her mind, as she finished her meal. She went back to her room, deep in thought…

  Joseph looked around and growled.

  “Fifty?” he asked menacingly. That’s the pitiful number that responded to his call. Ten bears, twenty-five wolves including Carmine, and fifteen snakes including Damon.

  Damon said, “Head alpha, be reasonable. It was short notice, and it’s the middle of the work day. These were the ones who could get out of work on short notice without causing suspicion or waves in the human world. You did say there was only a fifth that number at the house, right?”

  He growled, “Yes, the seven sluts, Julia who is some kind of vampire abomination now, and the warlock and his succubus.”

  He took a deep breath, he couldn’t afford to act erratic and Damon was right. He regretted not staying to finish it earlier, but Julia had taken him by surprised when she’d hit him, hard. He was pretty sure she was more powerful than the master vampire of Seattle, the warlock had made her into some kind of abomination. He was stronger than her, but only because of his ability to receive power from his bears, and the other packs through the alphas.

  Carmine said, “So let’s go teach them a lesson they’ll never forget, and end the interfering warlock. Was the succubus hot, I could use a new plaything.”

  He frowned at Carmine, “Don’t be stupid, she’d suck your soul out of your dick if you tried.”

  They weren’t very far from the sluts’ mansion, parked just off the main rode.

  “The plan is simple, we shift here, and charge in. Us three will take the back, and move to support any problem areas that come up, but I don’t expect any major ones outside of Julia. She’s mine. I want the succubus and the warlock dead quickly, we can’t afford to let him stand off and hit us with spells. The rest are to be beaten and wounded until they pass out, then we can teach them proper lessons when they’re tied up and helpless. Any questions?” he growled out the last.

  There better well not be any stupid questions.

  Carmine and Damon shook their heads.

  “Good, brief your people on the plan, we leave in ten minutes…

  That was interesting.

  Samantha shook her head, not quite believing what she’d heard. Shifters were crazy. She was holding several spells to make herself virtually undetectable to the eyes and ears, and was using her air affinity to prevent any scents from reaching the shifters and betraying her presence.

  She floated above the three small packs, and considered what to do next, she couldn’t interfere, but after hearing that asshole she’d love to cut him in half. An experiment of course, to see if he could regenerate from the damage.

  That wasn’t why she was here though, she was here to track down the warlock, and figure out if he was a threat to the mage community, and find out what he was up to. She’d heard that warlocks could create powerful vampires, but she’d never thought it would be possible to do that to a shifter.

  She flew off toward the house to find her quarry, and to her surprise the cat shifter house was lit up to her mage sight, and covered with wards. She figured out in about five seconds she could collapse the whole network easily, but that wasn’t her function either. Plus, she admitted to herself she’d rather see the defenders prevail, and those wards were probably their only chance.

  With a thought, she released a gossamer spell of her own making at the house, and it laid over the wards like an invisible weightless blanket. The anti-magic ward didn’t react to it, because it didn’t try to penetrate. It was harmless and wouldn’t harm the wards, but was an important part of her investigation. The spell was so diaphanous in nature, that it would be extremely hard to sense even with detect magic or mage sight, the tiny magical signature would be hidden and washed out by the powerful thrumming of the wards.

  She actually considered the idea of helping them, but rejected it. She’d unbalance the city’s power structure if she did that, quite possibly embroiling the mages in the constant war between the shifters and vampires. Even she wasn’t that flighty, even if she did believe the mages holding themselves aloof all the time was a mistake.

  Still, she felt guilty about it though, it was a hard decision. She had compassion for the cat shifters’ situation, she’d been uncomfortable with the idea of ignoring their plight for a long time now, ever since she’d heard of it. This… bold warlock had apparently stepped in to champion them for some reason or another, maybe related to his shifter vampire? She imagined it would take something large that way for a shifter to transfer their loyalty from pack to him, even with great power being offered. It also made him a bit foolish, he should have picked someone not so politically divisive. Either way, it would be interesting to watch what happened here. At least she could root for who she wanted, even if she had to stay her hand.

  Either the warlock would die, and the point of the investigation would be rendered moot, or she’d have a hell of an interesting report for the council, on the newest member of the Seattle paranormal community...

  “Report,” Arthur snapped out to his head of security.

  Jason replied, “Sire, the shifters are moving, against themselves. I have two of my spies watching from several miles away, we were tipped off by their movements. Also, the warlock seems to be involved somehow, though we didn’t sense him through any of the usual routes we have watched. It’s like he just appeared in their yard this morning.”

  Helen said, “His lair is probably out there somewhere then, and not in the city.”

  Jason nodded, “That is a possibility, after the battle they’re instructed to follow the warlock home as they report in.”

  Arthur’s mind spun, “I want the report as soon as possible, this might be an opportunity to thin the animals out a bit, especially if Joseph falls and they have no solid leadership. Start preparing now, just in case.”

  Jason said, “Yes sire, targets?”

  Arthur said, “All of their packs, but concentrate the largest attacks on the wolves and snakes, small raids on the smaller shifter packs will suffice. I want their numbers devastated enough that it will take generations before they’re willing to stick their paws anywhere near Seattle again. But hold the attack for the report and my word, I doubt that a nascent warlock and a handful of cats will succeed enough to make it viable.”

  “Right away, sire,” Jason said, and left the room quickly.

  Helen asked, “What about the warlock?”

  Arthur said, “I’m holding back on deciding for now. It is a little disturbing that he’d ally himself with the pride, arguably the
most useless of the shifters, or really, any of those rabid animals at all. We’ll wait and see what he does next. Right now, his actions are still in our favor.”

  That could change of course, the warlock was disturbing the status quo, which might work in his favor, but he was old enough to appreciate stability and maintaining surety. Even if that surety included the occasional skirmish with the shifters, change could be disastrous. He may need to end the interference, but not yet…

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  I sat in the corner of the basement, against the two cement walls.

  Shifters were fast. Yes, Julia was faster, but it was all relative to a slow person like me, and it drove in the lesson that Julia taught me in the kitchen last night. Through the wards and my detect magic, it took them just a handful of seconds to cross the large field. There rush was long enough that I’d be able to handle one or two out in the open before they struck, but no more.

  I started to hit them with the sleep spells, I doubted the spell would be powerful enough to overcome the shifter magic of an alpha, or Joseph as the head alpha, but I was putting several to sleep every second or two by directing the wards, as I used all the infernal power I could funnel to maintain the physical wards.

  The eight demons were helping, distracting the shifters, but only eight at a time, and there were around fifty of them out there trying to break in.

  The pressure lessened as time went on and more of the shifters were knocked out.

  Then I heard the tick of claws on the stairs and the cement, and my heart sank. Was one of them here to betray us? Sure enough, the great cat lunged, and I felt a powerful strike against my own physical protection spell. But, that’s why I was in the corner, on the ground and sitting on my ass. I didn’t move, or get jarred, because all of that force was absorbed around the shield and by the stone foundation of the house. I didn’t even feel it, safely cocooned within my spell.

  I passed a quick thought to my partitioned mind which held the levitation spell, and the great cat started to spit as it rose to the ceiling. I ignored it for now, and went back knocking out shifters. Almost all of them were down, when I felt the strong magical signature of Joseph, and two smaller but still powerful ones which must have been the two alphas.