by John Corwin
"These things give me the runs," he said with an apologetic simper.
I declined a proffered cigar, and shook Ryland's hand. "Congrats, man. When is the baby due?"
He shrugged. "Few months, I guess. Stacey didn't get morning sickness. I figured out she was pregnant when I started hearing two heartbeats when we went to sleep at night."
"Wow, what a way to find out," Adam said with a nervous laugh. "I, for one, am nowhere near ready for kids." He looked at his girlfriend, Meghan. She produced a wand and began checking Stacey's vitals and those of the fetus.
I looked at Ryland. "I appreciate you offering to help out on the mission, but you kind of missed the briefing."
He chuckled. "Meghan told Stacey what was going down, so I already have an idea what to expect." His expression turned serious. "You goin' up against the Exorcists?"
"Yeah. Are you familiar with them?"
"Only 'cause I'm a Templar." He took a puff on his cigar. "I've been busy rounding up my old pack over the past few months. I brought a dozen friends with me. We'll patrol the church perimeter and take out any threats coming your way."
"That'd be awesome," I said. "Why have you been gathering your people? I thought there was bad blood between you and them."
"We've smoothed things out." Ryland dug into his pocket and withdrew a folded bit of parchment. He smoothed it out to display barely legible handwriting. "One of my old betas sent me this message. It appears our politicians on the Overworld Conclave are secretly working to create an alliance with Cyphanis Rax and the Templar Synod."
A cold spike nailed me in the stomach. "Are you telling me the lycans are looking to join Daelissa's side?"
He shook his head. "Not all—some. Blasted politicians. From what I've heard, she's guaranteeing each faction their own independent country if they join her."
Shelton grimaced. "This ain't good."
Ryland chuckled. "When is it ever good when lowlife, self-serving, political hacks get involved?"
Dad took a puff on his cigar and looked at the parchment. His eyes flicked between it and Mom. I could tell he was uneasy despite the easy smile he wore on his face. "I hope the bulk of the lycan packs realize Daelissa isn't going to keep her word."
Ryland grunted. "Your average ordinary lycan pays more attention to pack politics than what goes on at the top." He shrugged. "Even so, you put a powerful enough alpha in charge, and people obey."
"You really think there's an alpha the packs would unite under?" Dad said. "He'd have to be one hell of a guy."
"Ain't but one I can think of," Ryland said. "He went lone wolf a long time ago, and he hates politics, so I don't see him getting involved. I'm getting back into the game so I can bring him over to our side."
Elyssa appeared at my side. "It's time to suit up. The squads joining us for the church operation just arrived and are waiting in the arch room. They brought our camouflage armor."
Mom and the others had finished making a scene about Stacey's delicate condition and headed downstairs. Dad and I looked at each other, shrugged, and followed along with the other men.
The omniarch portal was open. Through it, I saw neat rows of Templars jogging from the Obsidian Arch at the Three Sisters and lining up in formation. Every soldier wore black Nightingale armor which covered them from head to toe. They looked like ninjas in skin-tight material, but a lot cooler. Each Templar also wore a red armband enchanted with a friend or foe spell, a precaution they took to differentiate themselves from Synod Templars.
Elyssa handed me a belt of dark gray cloth. I raised an eyebrow. "Isn't Nightingale armor usually black?"
"Camouflage isn't standard issue," she said.
I lifted my shirt and fastened the cloth around my bare waist. It felt light and silky to the touch. I pressed a finger to the lower seam and the cloth extended down my legs and over my feet beneath my jeans and shoes. Touching the top seam caused it to cover my torso, forming a crew neck at my throat.
Elyssa took off her civilian clothes, revealing toned curves beneath her armor.
"Nightingale armor is the next best thing to yoga pants." I leered and waggled my eyebrows.
She rolled her eyes and graced me with a kiss. "Keep your mind on the business at hand, Casanova."
I saluted. "You got it, hot stuff."
Mom and Dad put on their armor beneath their clothes.
"Lose the clothes," Elyssa said. "Otherwise the camouflage is pointless."
Mom smiled shyly and took off her dress. Dad dropped his slacks and unbuttoned his shirt. I felt my face grow warm even though I knew the armor concealed them beneath the clothes. There was something very uncomfortable about seeing the two of them in such form-fitting outfits. A lopsided smile slid over Dad's face, giving the impression none of this fazed him one little bit. Judging from all the sideways looks he gave Mom, I could tell she affected him in ways he didn't want to admit.
She looked up at him with demure eyes. "Thank you for helping us, David."
"Ah, it's no biggie," he said with a casual flick of the hand.
Elyssa stepped inside the silver ring surrounding the omniarch and closed the portal leading to the Three Sisters. She consulted an image on her phone. It showed the view of the Exorcist church from the roof of a nearby building. She closed her eyes for an instant, and a new portal flickered into place with the same view visible through it. My girlfriend motioned us through.
Ryland stepped in after us. "My people are already patrolling the streets around the church," he said, and headed toward the stairwell door on the roof. "I'm going to join them."
"Good luck, Ryland."
He winked. "You too, cowboy." He went through the door.
Adam and Shelton came through the portal a second later and joined our group.
A familiar Templar approached Elyssa. I realized he was the same one who'd led a special ops division and helped in the capture of Maulin Kassus. Hutchins nodded at me. "Good to see you again, Mr. Slade."
"Same to you." I shook his hand. "I feel better about the odds already, knowing you and your men are on the job."
"What's the sitrep?" Elyssa asked.
Hutchins pointed out the rooftops of several nearby buildings. "Every angle and approach is covered. We've been monitoring the building for the past twenty minutes and have detected no signs of Exorcists outside."
"Any occupants?" Elyssa asked.
"Unknown. The windows are covered from the inside, and the building is protected against thermal spells or infrared equipment." He cast an almost admiring look toward the church. "The Exorcists take their security very seriously."
"Has Beta reported in?"
He nodded. "The rear entrance is secure. No OPFOR vehicles present."
It took me a moment to remember that OPFOR stood for opposing force, a term the Templars used generically to indicate their adversaries.
"We should get started on the shield," Adam said. "I hope it won't take long, but, well, best laid plans and all that."
"Agreed," Elyssa said. "Carry on, Hutchins."
He nodded. "Good luck in the Gloom."
We made our way downstairs and took several side alleys to covertly make our way to a thin belt of trees at the rear of the Exorcist church. Elyssa greeted the Beta Squad leader for a brief report.
"We removed detection wards from the rear perimeter," a Templar Arcane said in answer to one of Elyssa's questions. "Everything is clear up to the back door. No resistance or signs of life."
Elyssa turned to Adam. "You may proceed."
We went to the edge of the trees and stepped through a neatly sliced hole in the iron fence around the parking lot. The group jogged to the rear door.
Adam took out his arcphone and held it close to the door. He whistled. "Wow, this is a nasty shield. It'll knock you out if you touch it. Looks like someone threw this spell together a few hours ago."
"Thank goodness I didn't touch it when I was here earlier," Elyssa said.
Shelton scanned th
e door with his arcphone and grunted. "Amateurs. The shield ain't bad, but they should've used separate wards instead of combining them all into one big messy spell."
"Will that make this easier?" I asked.
"It should. It's hard to optimize spell code when you combine several functions together." He shoved the arcphone back in his pocket. "Messy code means more exploits in the matrix."
"Here's hoping." Adam flicked through a list of spells programmed into his arcphone and activated one named Spell Cracker 5.2. A timer began counting the seconds while a wide beam of light swept up and down the door, revealing an azure glow in the spots it highlighted. He released the arcphone, leaving it hovering in the air just before the door. "Now, we wait."
Elyssa made a signal with her hands, and a squad—presumably Gamma—emerged from the trees bordering the iron fence around the parking lot and took positions near the door. I counted a dozen silent figures, each clad in standard-issue black Nightingale armor.
She looked up at the cross-shaped holes, as if expecting an attack at any minute. "I don't know why they haven't responded unless they abandoned the church."
"Do you really think they'd leave it?" I asked.
She shrugged. "I haven't been back since the first time. Maybe their guard is down."
"Or, it's an ambush."
"I've already considered the possibility. We'll have to be ready for anything."
Adam's phone beeped. He raised an eyebrow. "Wow, that was fast."
"Yeah, thanks to the contributions I made to your spell." Shelton flashed a self-assured smile.
Adam chuckled. "You go on thinking that, buddy." He snatched the hovering phone and read what looked like a report log. "Whoever spliced this crappy shield spell together left tons of exploits." He flourished a hand toward the door. "I believe the Templars can take over from here."
Elyssa motioned toward one of the Templars. The masculine figure knelt in front of the door and produced a set of lock picks. I looked at Shelton. "Can't you pick the lock with your wand?"
He snorted. "How many times I gotta tell you it ain't as easy as it looks?"
It didn't take the Templar long to click open the lock. He twisted the handle, and opened the thick iron door to reveal the hallway into the sanctuary. Without a word, he and the other Templars filed through, vanishing inside. Elyssa held up a fist.
"Does that mean to wait?" I asked.
She threw me a disapproving look. "You still haven't memorized the hand signals."
"He's a terrible student," Shelton said with a laugh.
Dad peered inside the door. "I'd like to burn this place to the ground after we're finished here."
"I can't believe Montjoy is still after you," Mom said, eyes full of concern.
"The man has a one-track mind." Dad smirked. "But, he makes life interesting sometimes."
She frowned. "As usual, you and I have far different definitions of interesting."
Elyssa touched a finger to her ear and nodded. "Gamma gave the all clear. Let's proceed."
We walked inside. A glowball hovered high above even the massive chandeliers, casting the sanctuary in a pale light that almost made it seem not as spooky as before. The cages where they'd kept the possessed inmates were empty. Rows upon rows of pews ran the length of the large rectangular sanctuary. Icons of mosaic glass ringed the domed ceiling. I assumed they represented religious figures—which ones I couldn't say since my family wasn't exactly the church-going type. About fifty feet up, a thick wide ledge ran along the walls. Statues of angels with bowed heads were spaced along it.
The place looked abandoned.
"Something doesn't feel right," Elyssa said, looking around the empty church. "Why would they leave it completely unguarded?"
The light from the glowball hit a nearby angel from the side, casting a long shadow against the wall. I was just about to turn away from the angel, when I realized something odd about the shadow. Instead of one head, it had two. I felt my eyes widen as I realized the angel on the other side of the apse was also casting dual shadows.
I turned to ask Elyssa if Templars had taken positions up on the ledge when I saw a shadowy figure behind one angel raise a staff.
"Watch out!" I yelled just as a spear of light slammed into a nearby Templar, throwing him across the room.
I jerked Elyssa behind a stone column as another deadly spell blasted a divot in the stone floor where she'd been standing.
"It seems only death will remove you from this world, Mr. Slade," said Montjoy from somewhere above us. "And I will be the one to do it."
Chapter 33
"Montjoy, when I kill you, I plan to mount your head over the fireplace," Dad hollered back.
"Subdue him!" Montjoy shouted.
Elyssa took out her phone. "We need more troops in here now!"
I peeked from behind cover. "You were right. It's an ambush."
My girlfriend's eyes went wide. She flicked her wrist. A silver blade blurred through the air and slammed into a hooded figure as it emerged from the space behind an angel on the ledge above and across from us. A man cried out and plummeted over the side, his body bouncing off the pew below.
"Secret passageways behind the angels if I had to guess." Elyssa threw another knife. Her target on the ledge brandished a staff. An azure shield sprang up, deflecting the blade.
A bolt of white light speared past my head and gouged a hole in the stone column behind me. Elyssa and I dove in opposite directions as more spells blew stone to dust. Elyssa's arm blurred. Knives flashed in all directions. Two more Exorcists screamed and fell from the ledge. A man bellowed in agony. I turned my head toward the sound in time to see jagged bolts of magical energy tearing a Templar's armor to shreds. Bloody mist sprayed from exposed flesh.
I ran toward Elyssa. A blast threw me to the side. I crashed into the hard stone of a support column.
More yells and shouts erupted. Another Templar went down as one of the stone angels fell from the ledge and crushed him. I saw Shelton and Adam near the front of the apse. Shelton roared and sent a meteor of fire slamming into the ledge. The stone collapsed, sending hooded figures screaming to their deaths. Their bodies thudded into the floor far below. As if that wasn't enough, tons of stone and debris landed on them. Mom and Dad stood back-to-back, fending off a flurry of spells.
Something slammed me in the back and threw me headlong into the pews. Heat washed over my skin even through the Nightingale armor. The pew to my right exploded into splinters. I rolled, ignoring the burning pain in my back, and dodged several more lances of searing light. Another explosion sent me tumbling to the side. I scrambled to my feet and dove toward an alcove, seeking some cover from the enemies above.
In my desperate dash to escape death, I'd lost sight of Elyssa. I finally saw her across the room. She ran up a wall, flipped backward, and skewered an Exorcist with a thrown knife. I'd rarely seen her use knives. She usually preferred non-lethal methods unless left with no choice. Since these wackos were trying to kill us, I didn't particularly mind. I saw a group of Exorcists emerge from behind an angel across the room. One of them pointed in my direction. I ducked behind a nearby column, but knew it wouldn't cover me for long. Besides, I'd had enough.
Time to bring out the big guns.
I gritted my teeth, stepped from behind the stone column, and flicked my hands open. A statue against the wall to my right made a grating noise and slid to the side. Another group of robed figures poured from it, their staffs glowing with deadly light. One of them flung his hood back and regarded me with a wicked leer.
"I remember you," he said. "The demon spawn child."
At least half a dozen staffs pointed at me, their glowing ends bathing hooded faces in light.
I suddenly recognized the Exorcist as one of the men who'd guided me into the church while I was paralyzed. He was the one who'd made me watch as Montjoy tried to exorcise my father. I smiled. "I'm going to give you one chance to surrender peacefully."
Th
e man laughed. "Your Templar friends are dying, boy. There's nobody here to help you."
I showed my teeth. "I don't need protecting." I felt the window in my soul open wide as I connected with my inner Seraphim. The palms of my hands blazed with heat. "I'm no ordinary demon spawn, jackass. My mom is an angel."
The Exorcists' eyes went wide as spinner hubcaps.
With a roar, I thrust my left hand forward. Violet light coursed from my palm and splintered the staff of the gloating Exorcist. With my right hand, I formed a blazing white sword of light and slashed it across the other staffs, slicing off their ends. The Exorcists shrieked like little girls.
One of them pulled a knife and slashed at me. I kicked him in the chest. He crashed against the wall. Another Exorcist drew a sword and hacked at my arm. I ducked. Grabbed his wrist, and twisted. Bones cracked. His body flipped forward and slammed into the floor. I heard several quick whirring sounds and felt impacts explode all across my body. Iron shafts with smoking packets at the end littered the floor. I turned in time to see the man I recognized fire what looked like a crossbow with a rotating auto-loader like revolver pistols used. Before I could move, the shaft slammed into my head and exploded like a huge firecracker.
The Nightingale armor stopped it from penetrating my brain, but the impact knocked me silly. I staggered back.
"Use the sacrificial knives," one of the Exorcists shouted. "They'll go through the armor."
My vision blurred. I heard movement and felt something slash against my shoulder. Pain seared my skin. I heard crossbow bolts explode again. An impact against my chest knocked me onto the floor.
Rage and bloodlust surged like fire through my blood. The heat in my palms blazed as I felt my demon and Seraphim sides connect.
They tried to kill us. They sent us to the Gloom. Never again.
A guttural roar burst from my throat and the world went red.
I rolled backwards and sprang to my feet. I saw hazy shapes before me.
