Inside, dust coated the black marble floor of the foyer. The once-grand staircase in front of him had rotted away and was missing several steps. A number of doors to the left and right led to other areas of the house.
Christian tried to determine where he should search first. No Life Kings preferred living in darkness. Their hatred of light was one of their few weaknesses. If a No Life King was going to hold a captive, it would want her somewhere with little to no light.
Lilith is probably in the basement.
Making a quick decision, Christian traveled through the first door on his left. It led to a large dining room with a long table. He ignored the fancy decor as he ran across the room and burst through the door on the other side of the room.
The next area was a hallway with dark-red carpet and white walls. Several paintings that must have been expensive at some point lined the walls, their canvases torn and the paint cracked. Christian ran down the hall until he came to the first door and opened it. Seeing that it was nothing more than a parlor, he shut the door and continued running.
It took more time than he wished, but he eventually found a flight of stairs leading down to the basement. Christian knew very little about the layout of old Victorian mansions like this, but he knew they sometimes held more than one basement level. He hoped this route would lead to Lilith.
Christian fumbled as darkness engulfed him. His hands ran along the wall before he found a light switch. He was pleased to see that the bulbs still worked. The area lit up, revealing a hallway made entirely of dull gray stone. He was tempted to say the room looked like a dungeon, except it was too nice to be a dungeon. A wine cellar, maybe?
Christian moved cautiously. The sound of his feet thudding against the floor and his slow breathing was accompanied by soft creaking that echoed down the corridor.
The hallway eventually opened up into a large room, a cylindrical chamber with several doors. His gaze swept across the interior while his stride took him further in, until he stopped within the center.
Instincts screamed at him, warning him of impending danger. Yet he could see nothing that might be dangerous. Just an empty room with―
A feeling surged through him, the tingle along his spine telling him of impending attack. Christian rolled forward, the attack missed, along with several other attacks that manifested in the form of thin wires lashing at the ground, creating thin slash marks in the stone.
As he rolled onto his feet, Christian whirled around, whipping out Phanuel at the same time. He fired a barrage of bullets that were sliced to pieces by thin, razor sharp wires that moved around a red-cloaked figure like a shield.
Deciding that even more firepower was needed, Christian pulled Gabriel out of its holster. The silver gun added to the amount of gunfire being unleashed. The wires whipping around the red-cloaked figure moved faster in response. While the wires were busy slicing apart his bullets, Christian rushed forward.
The Assassin tried to move backward, but doing so caused several of his wires to slip and become tangled. If Christian had been a more conceited person, he would have smirked at the sight. It had taken him a while to work out a way to beat those gloves, but he had eventually figured it out.
Uriel and Barachiel offered their wielder the ability to attack from many directions at once in the form of ten Orichalcum wires. However, while the gloves allowed their wielder to attack from ten places at the same time, it was very difficult for the user to keep track of everything: the wires, the paths they moved in, the position of the opponent, their surroundings, and their wielder’s own movement. There too many variables for even the most talented of combatants to keep track of at all times.
As Phanuel ran out of ammo, Christian clicked a switch on the side, causing the now empty cartridge to fall out and clatter to the ground. He continued firing Gabriel, his finger pulling the trigger fast enough that it seemed like he was shooting an automatic pistol.
The hand holding Phanuel dipped into his cloak, where he kept several cartridges of ammo strapped to his thighs. With practiced ease, he pressed a button that caused the cartridge to slip out of its holder, then swiftly moved his gun so the cartridge slid into it. He hit his thigh with the butt, locking the ammo into place, then brought it out of his cloak and began firing again.
Putting more pressure on his opponent, Christian forced the cloaked figure to back up against the circular wall. The Assassin was obviously not paying attention to his surroundings, busy as he was trying to deflect Christian’s constant barrage of gunfire. The wires smacked against hard stone, gouging out several lines and, more importantly, halting the wires’ continuous motion. This was the chance Christian had been looking for.
Rushing forward, Christian slid his guns back into their holsters before drawing Michael and Raphael. A second after that he reached his opponent.
He thrust his blades forward, penetrating flesh, muscle, and bone, along with the wall behind the cloaked Assassin. Blood spurted from the wounds, a clear sign that he had sliced into arteries or veins. The crimson liquid ran across his blades, dripping off and splashing against the floor.
A second passed. Then two. Finally, a breathy sigh escaped the cloaked figure. It was light, airy, and slightly high pitched, as if the person was just going to sleep instead of dying.
As the figure slumped over his swords, he pulled them out and took a step back, letting the body crumple to the floor. He waited for a second to see if it would get up, but when nothing happened, he knelt down next to the figure and took a long, hard look.
The corpse was lying on its front, so Christian turned it over. When he did, the hood fell away to reveal the person he had killed.
“That is not Anthony,” he stated to himself as long crimson hair spilled out of the hood to halo the body. Aside from Anthony having brown hair, he was also a male. This person was clearly female, an Assassin he didn’t recognize.
He dismissed the idea of her being a ghoul, as she’d been far too capable a fighter. While ghouls were physically stronger than humans, they were also stupid. Nothing more than soulless husks, they possessed a limited intelligence. They could follow simple orders but were incapable of complex thoughts beyond kill this or guard that. Ghouls were cannon fodder at best.
This woman had fought him with a strength, ferocity, and cunning that no ghoul could match. Another vampire? Unlikely. An enthralled human? Maybe. No Life Kings were more than capable of cursing or enthralling humans. Christian supposed he would never find out now.
Since there was no point in staying there, Christian left the room and continued his search. This battle might have been finished, but there was another fight awaiting him. The battle that he had just fought would be nothing compared to the one he was knowingly walking into.
But, before he engaged in mortal combat with a No Life King, he had to find Lilith.
Chapter 24
Lilith wasn’t in the basement, which he had discovered was indeed a wine cellar. He didn’t know how long he’d searched through that basement, but according to the reports coming in through his headset, it had been long enough that Catherine and her team had dealt with all the ghouls.
From the small bits of dialogue he allowed himself to listen to, the SIU members had only lost two members, which was good, considering they were all a bunch of wet-behind-the-ears rookies when it came to dealing with supernatural monsters.
After leaving the basement, Christian began a more thorough search of the first floor. Several SIU members were inside, including Catherine. Upon spotting him walking down one of the mansion’s many hallways, she ran to catch up.
“Christian!”
Turning around, Christian waited for Catherine to reach him. Then, together, they started moving once more, with the SIU police officer trying to keep pace with his long strides.
“I see you’ve taken care of the ghouls,” Christian observed.
“We have. And I take it you haven’t found the girl Lilith, or her friends?”
“I think the answer to that should be obvious.” Christian was not often one for sarcasm, but his frustration at failing to find Lilith shortened his fuse considerably.
“Yes, I suppose it is.” Catherine seemed unaffected by his snappish reply, or perhaps she simply chose not to openly show her annoyance. “What about the No Life King and his partner?”
“I’ve already killed his partner.” Christian turned down another corridor. Catherine stuck to his side as they walked. “It was a woman that I’ve never seen before. She wasn’t a ghoul. Her body is in the wine cellar. I know it’s an unusual favor to ask, but could you see to it that the body is sent to the Executioners Headquarters?”
“I take it there is something special about this person?” Catherine inquired.
“Not the person so much as what she’s carrying, a weapon of the Church. It belonged to another Executioner, so the fact that she has it is cause for alarm. The church will want to retrieve her body and the weapon.”
Catherine thought about his request before slowly nodding. “I don’t see why I can’t do this for you. I’ll have my men retrieve the body and deliver it to the Catholic Church once this operation is finished.”
“Thank you.”
“Ma’am.” A male voice came over the communication devices inside of their ears. Catherine didn’t break stride as she followed Christian down the twisting maze of corridors.
“What is it?”
“We’ve found a really large door near the back of the mansion that looks like it might contain something important. The locks on this thing are pretty impressive. We plan on breaking through to see what’s inside, but it’s going to take a while. We’re out of plastic explosives.”
“That’s probably the No Life King’s sleeping chamber,” Christian informed Catherine. “It and its human accomplice probably enthralled several people to install that door before killing them. I would tell your men to leave it alone. If it’s locked, then it means the No Life King is inside. Breaking into the beast’s chamber wouldn’t be a wise move.”
“Right. You hear that? Don’t try getting past that door. Wait until Christian and myself arrive before―”
Catherine was interrupted by the squeal of tearing metal from the other end, which was so loud Christian and Catherine almost ripped their headsets out of their ears. Christian could only imagine how the officers in close proximity to the sound were dealing with it.
However, the noise gave way to a much bigger problem. He and Catherine were forced to listen to the sound of gunfire and screams.
“Oh, God! What the hell is that thing?!”
“Wings! It has wings!”
“Fire! Fire!”
“Delta squad? Delta squad, come in!” Catherine stopped walking as she shouted into her headset. Christian followed suit, turning around to watch the woman’s frantic calling. “Delta squad!”
“Come on.” Christian grabbed her by the arm and started dragging her behind him as he ran through the hallway. “I know it’s difficult, but we’ve got to keep moving or this entire mission is a bust.”
“Delta squad! Come in, Delta squad!” Catherine continued yelling into her headset.
“Delta squad is gone,” Christian told her. “They just had a meeting with a No Life King. There’s no way they could have survived that encounter.”
“Dammit!” she swore before speaking into her headset again. “Alpha squad! Omega squad! The enemy is on the loose. I repeat, the enemy is on the loose. Keep your eyes peeled, your guns at the ready, and make sure you’ve got your squad-mates’ backs.”
The comlink crackled with static. “Ma’am!”
“We were completely unprepared for this.” Catherine clenched her teeth, air whistling through them as she and Christian rushed swiftly down hallway after hallway. They blurred passed several doors, their frames barely lit by the almost-burnt-out bulbs glowing overhead.
“That’s to be expected.” Christian made a sharp turn as they rounded a corner. “You’re not only new to all this, but your group is working with standard equipment meant for dealing with humans, not supernatural monsters.”
Catherine scowled, but didn’t say anything to dispute the claim.
They rounded another corner. This one opened into a larger-than-average hallway with a single door at the end. As they ran to it, Christian’s danger sense warned him of an impending attack.
“Look out!”
He shoved Catherine away, and then rolled across the floor just in time to avoid getting impaled by a small throwing knife, which embedded itself into the carpet. Coming back to his feet while Catherine scrambled to her own, Christian pulled Phanuel back out of its holster and aimed it at the person who had attacked them.
He hesitated when he saw who it was.
“Maria? Stacy?”
The two women dropped from a small hole in the ceiling, where they had obviously been lying in wait. It looked as if they’d set this area up as an ambush point, which meant Lilith was likely on the other side of that door.
“You know these two?” Catherine’s gun was trained on the two girls, one of whom held a knife in her hands, revealing her to be the culprit who’d thrown the other knife at them.
“They’re Lilith’s roommates.”
“And why are they attacking us? Are they ghouls as well?”
Christian shook his head.
“No, look at their skin. It’s still healthy, and they’re still breathing. Their movement is also too natural to be a ghoul’s. I’m pretty sure they’ve been enthralled. It’s one of the two abilities unique to a No Life King, the other being their ability to curse people.”
“Curse?” Catherine eyed the two stationary women. Christian wondered why they weren’t attacking. “You mean like spells and stuff?”
“It’s not a spell. By injecting a person with its blood, it has the ability to do one of two things: control them through the phenomena known as enthralling, or curse them to create a passive phenomenon such as giving someone really bad luck. We call it cursing, but really, all they’re doing is forcibly changing a person’s genetic structure through the power of their blood.”
“Sounds nasty.” Catherine walked sideways, keeping the two women in her sights. Christian also watched them. Maria looked ready to throw her other knife, while Stacy took a combat stance. “Any suggestions on how to deal with these two?”
Christian readied his swords. “The only thing we can do is knock them unconscious. It won’t break them of their enthrallment, but so long as they remain unconscious, the blood in their system will be rendered ineffective.”
“And how do we break the enthrallment?”
“The only way to break their enthrallment is by killing the No Life King who enthralled them.”
“… Great—”
The two girls attacked. Maria flung her throwing knife at Christian while Stacy charged Catherine. Knowing that she couldn’t use her weapon on them, Catherine holstered her gun, and brought her hands up in a guard position just as Stacy reached her.
Christian rushed at Maria, dodging to the left and letting the knife sail past him. Then he was in front of her, unloading a powerful yet swift jab to her temple. The woman dodged by tilting her head, but all that meant was that, instead of getting punched in the face, she received a knee to the stomach.
Christian gave Maria no reprieve as she stumbled backward. His fists shot out in blurring corkscrews and powerful straights. Despite being enhanced by the No Life King’s blood, he was clearly the superior fighter.
He slipped a punch through her guard, knocking her upside the temple and rendering her unconscious. He caught her before she could hit the ground, gently laying her against the wall. With his opponent taken care of, he turned to see how Catherine was holding up, and saw that she had already knocked Stacy out cold.
“Call your men and have them come pick these two up,” Christian said. “Have them sent to the hospital, and tell the doctors to keep them sedated. So long as the
y’re unconscious, the No Life King can’t send them commands.”
“Right.” Catherine frowned at him. “I don’t like taking orders from you, but it’s clear to me that you have more experience with this than I do. We’ll do things your way for now.”
“Thank you.” Christian gave her a nod. “I’m going to go on ahead. Please wait here. We need to keep an eye on these girls. It would be a pain if they woke up and attacked us from behind.”
“I got it.” Catherine waved him off. “You go rescue your girl. I’ll stay with these two.”
That was all the answer Christian needed. He raced down the hall and, before even reaching the door, pulled out Gabriel and took careful aim at the handle. Two precise shots struck the brass knob, destroying the locking mechanism and allowing him to kick the door in and rush inside.
The room, much like the rest of the mansion, was dark. The vampire had obviously gone to great pains to keep this place sealed from natural sunlight and radiation. A small candle on a nightstand next to a bed served as the room’s only illumination.
Christian’s eyes were drawn away from the candle when something on the bed moved. A shivering lump—that’s what it looked like, until his eyes adjusted to the room’s low lighting and he discovered the lump to be a person.
Her knees were drawn to her chest, and she wasn’t facing him, but he’d recognize her anywhere.
“Lilith!”
Christian was beside the bed in a matter of seconds. Lilith didn’t seem to have heard him, but her body had become still, as if she were petrified. He leaned over and placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Lilith? Lilith, it’s me—”
A loud wail of terror erupted from Lilith the moment he touched her. He jerked backward as the girl kicked and struggled like she was locked in combat against aggressors’ unknown. His surprise only lasted for a moment before he moved back, wrapping his arms around her middle and trying to calm her with his presence, only to be forced off when an elbow slammed into his gut.
Succubus Page 27
