Stone nodded at the old man as we approached, some kind of sign of respect.
“Welcome to our home,” Old Man Patterson said as we drew nearer. “Despite our troubles, I hope that we are well met.”
“We are well met, old friend,” Stone said, stepping forward to take the old man’s hand. “Let me introduce you to Wyatt Draven, the Blade Mage.”
Old Man Patterson stepped forward and took my hand in his. “It is a pleasure, young man. I was deeply saddened by the loss of your father. He is greatly missed.”
“Thank you,” I replied, unsure what else to say since Stone had made such a big deal about not saying anything stupid. “It’s an honor to meet you and your family.”
“And who is this lovely woman with you?” he asked, motioning toward Faith.
She stuck out her hand as well and said, “Just call me Faith. I’m nobody.”
“To be traveling with the Blade Mage and Shain Stone, you must be somebody,” he replied, grinning. He turned back toward me. “We don’t normally receive guests, but you are the Blade Mage and Stone vouched for both of you, as well. I trust our secret entrance will remain secret.”
“You have my word,” I said.
“Thank you,” he replied. “I’m sorry we are to meet under such circumstances. It is regrettable.”
I glanced over at Stone, but he didn’t seem to understand what the old man was referring to either.
“I knew the Cabal would send someone eventually,” Old Man Patterson continued, sighing. “When I knew the two of you were coming, my heart sank. Yet, there is only three of you. Am I to take it you’ve only come to talk, rather than to levy punishment against us?”
“I assure you we’ve only come to talk,” I said, glancing around at his nervous children. Every one of them seemed on edge. I had no idea what the hell was going on, and I had a feeling we needed to social engineer the shit out of this situation to find out. “Tell me your side of the story, sir. I’d like to hear it.”
“I’m sure you already know it,” the old man said, watching me carefully.
“Perhaps,” I agreed. “But we aren’t here just to speak to you on behalf of the Cabal. There are questions we have unanswered. My hope is that you might be able to help us provide clarity. Please tell me what you know.”
“You may not be aware,” the old man said, holding my gaze, “I passed control of family affairs down to my son, Yoseph. Among his siblings, I believed him to be both wise and cautious.”
One of his other children snorted, causing Old Man Patterson to pause his tale and fix the young man with a scowl. When he felt his son had received the message, he turned back to me. “I was wrong. Given his new position, he became overzealous and eager for change. Many of us… Well, not I, nor the rest of my children… But you know some people fear the Cabal. They resent the Cabal’s control over their lives.”
“I am aware,” I said.
“Well, Yoseph was among these. He thought to align our family with a faction who defies the laws of the Cabal. Had I known, I would’ve forbade it. Alas, I did not become aware until he had already led us down this path.”
“And what path was that?” Stone asked, smiling at Old Man Patterson. “Officially, we need to hear you say it.”
Old Man Patterson sighed, his eyes downcast. “I don’t know the full arrangements he made with these people, and I did not become aware there was an arrangement until the child was brought here.” He paused and looked up again, anger in his eyes. “The Pattersons do not now, nor will we ever, support the dark arts. That you must believe. You must make sure the Archmage understands.”
I put up my hands and said, “I will tell him, sir, but please, continue your story.”
Old Man Pattersons face took on a disgusted look and he spat on the concrete floor. “When I learned that a human child was among our midst, I sought out my son to find out what was happening. It was then I learned he’d aligned himself with evil. I demanded he hand the child over to me, but he refused. Some among his brethren…” He paused again, glancing among his children, but not pausing on anyone in particular, “...thought that Yoseph was right. Others knew to follow the wisdom of their father, as they have for so many years. We fought. In the end, Yoseph and a few of his brothers left. I retook control. Again, I assure you that my family holds the Cabal in the highest regard and would not wish to anger the Archmage, yet I must put the protection of my family first. It is Yoseph and the others you want. The rest of my children are innocent.”
“What about the child?” I asked, trying to keep the excitement from my voice. “What happened with the kid?”
“It was my intention to hand the child over to the Cabal,” Old Man Patterson said, shrugging. “But as you know, Grand Enchanter Gunner’s son, the crazy one who talks too much…”
“Axel?” I offered.
“Yes, that one. Well, of course, somehow he snuck in here while we were in the middle of our fight and took the child before we could return her.”
“Wait, Axel took the kid?” I asked, realizing only too late what I’d just said.
“Well, yes, of course,” Old Man Patterson said, raising his eyebrow. “You knew that, though, didn’t you?”
Stone and I shared a look.
“You didn’t,” the old man said, glancing between us. He took a step back and several of his children raised their weapons. “Why are you really here?”
I flashed my best grin and said, “We’re looking for the child, sir. That’s why we’re here. I don’t suppose Axel said where he was taking her?”
“No, I never had a chance to speak with him. Don’t even know how he managed to get in here and out again. Just caught his face on camera, is all.” Old Man Patterson said, then he raised an eyebrow. “Does this mean the Cabal doesn’t know about our part in this?”
I glanced at Stone, who shrugged at me. I sighed. “No, I don’t believe that it does.”
“Then, you’re not here on the Cabal’s behalf?” he asked. “Do they even know you’re here?”
I wasn’t sure where he was going with the statement, but decided to play it safe. “Of course they know we’re here. The Archmage has been in the loop on this whole investigation. He recommended we come speak to you. In fact, I think what he said was that the Pattersons are good people and we could trust Old Man Patterson.”
Stone raised an eyebrow at me, suggesting I’d taken the lie too far. Whatever. I just didn’t want these folks thinking it would be easier to kill us and bury our bodies in the hills instead of owning their part in this whole cluster fuck.
“Do you know who these people were?” Stone asked. “Who your son tried to align your family with?”
“I do not,” he said, shrugging. “If I did, I can assure you I would let the Cabal know.”
“Any of your kids know?” I asked, glancing around at them myself. None of them looked guilty. In fact, they all just kind of looked like they wanted to shoot me.
“No,” he said. “I’ve asked each of them what they know. Yoseph kept that information to himself. All I can say is that a vampire witch is involved.”
This was new information.
I noticed Stone stiffen beside me and wondered what it meant. Did he know something about vampire witches? I sure as hell didn’t. I wondered if his family… That was a thought for another time. I focused on the present and asked, “A vampire witch? I wasn’t aware there was such a thing.”
“Of course there is,” Old Man Patterson said, as though it should’ve been obvious. “But this isn’t some regular, run of the mill vampire we’re talking about. It is an Obayifo, to be exact.”
I glanced at Stone, who’d regained his composure. He shrugged at me, clearly not aware of it either.
“Being the Blade Mage and all, I should probably know this,” I said. “But what’s an Obayifo?”
“A beast from the bowels of hell, boy,” Old Man Patterson said and spat. “The foulest of creatures. The old lore says—”
Old Man Pattersons words cut off into a gurgle as a pointed blade appeared in the front of his chest. From just behind him, one of his sons shoved the blade deeper and said, “You speak too much, father.”
There was a shocked silence throughout the room, save for the old man’s garbled attempt at speech. His eyes wide and white he looked back to the son who’d stabbed him. He cried out as his child twisted the blade in his back. The son said, “Yoseph sends his regards, you old prick.”
There was a panicked chaos as some of Pattersons moved toward the old man. Others raised their guns and pointed them in the faces of their siblings.
For me, there was no telling who was on whose side, but clearly the old man had been wrong. Apparently, several of his children had remained loyal to Yoseph and his grand ambition. In fact, roughly half seemed to have sided with Yoseph and the son who was in the process of murdering his father.
The backstabber eased the old man to the ground and slit his throat while the rest of us watched.
I wasn’t sure what to do. I was pissed, that was for sure, but I didn’t want to make a bonehead move either. Having just killed his father, I didn’t doubt for a second the asshole would order the others to open fire on their own siblings, not to mention us. The other siblings didn’t seem sure what to do, either. Unfortunately, a moment later, the decision was made for us.
Chapter 22
From seemingly nowhere, the Abasy appeared among the goat men. With a swipe of his claws, he beheaded one of the Pattersons. Then he disemboweled another.
Overhead a shriek sounded and the manananggal swooped in over us and snatched one of the Pattersons off the ground.
“Move!” Stone shouted as he pushed Faith behind him with one hand while raising his M4 with the other.
I drew my staff and sword and summoned a protective shield as several of the traitors opened fire on us. Sidestepping, I kept my face forward and tried to keep up with Stone’s hasty retreat. We found cover behind a number of large crates, which I immediately realized were ammo boxes. Probably not the best hiding space, but sometimes you have to take what you can get.
The room descended into chaos. Brothers killing brothers. Sisters killing sisters. Demons ripping people to shreds. The traitor Pattersons seemed to know exactly what they were doing, but the rest of the family were a collective mixture of panic and terror. Gunfire erupted in every direction.
The Patterson on the heavy gun swung the barrel toward the Abasy and cut loose, spraying automatic fire. His fury was short lived as Torso-lady swooped in and ripped him off the weapon.
I glanced back toward the Abasy and noticed that despite the fact he was busy ripping some poor satyr in half, his eyes were on me and he was smiling.
I grinned back.
Smiling at the demon might’ve not been the cleverest of moves, but it was clearly capable of ripping my face off and then eating my skin strips like pieces of bacon. Figured I’d might as well go for broke. It couldn’t hurt for the bastard to think I was nuts.
Stone had a different theory on the matter. Never one for psychological warfare, he raised his rifle and opened fire. The Abasy’s head jerked back, and when it came forward again, there was a singular hole directly in the center of its forehead. The only result was that its smile spread even wider.
“Motherfucker,” Stone said, his words barely audible over the roar of violence, but fortunately I had a fairly minor spell that would dampen the sound of gunfire. It was an old trick I’d picked up in Cabal combat training. Stone, on the other hand, wore military grade ear protection that dampened loud sounds but still picked up voices and quieter noises. Ain’t technology great?
Stone turned and scowled at me. “I hate it when you shoot them in the head and they don’t die.”
“Me and you both,” I replied.
“Well, Blade Mage, looks like he’s all yours,” Stone said, then nodded toward the ceiling. “I’ll see if I can do anything about that flying half-woman.”
“What about the salt?!” Faith cried, a finger in each ear. Apparently, she didn’t realize our hearing wasn’t impaired. I felt bad for her, though. She had to really focus to hear Stone.
“You’re welcome to throw salt at her when I run out of bullets.”
“No,” she said, scowling. “That’s not how Google said it works. We have to find her lower half.”
Stone shifted his gaze toward the bloodshed around us and said, “If you want to go look for it, you’re welcome to.”
Faith didn’t reply.
I watched as the Abasy ripped the arm off one Patterson, then turned and beat another Patterson to death with the severed appendage. And I realized that was my best moment to strike. I charged it, thinking how I’d been lucky the last two times we’d met. By all rights, I should’ve been dead already. My only chance was to catch the bastard off-guard and let Drynwyn do its job.
Unfortunately, the Abasy had other plans. As I charged toward his back, the demon whirled and hurled the severed arm at me. I ducked low, narrowly avoiding the stumpy appendage missile, but then the Abasy was on me.
The demon scooped up one of the dead men’s assault rifles by the barrel and cleared the distance between us in a single bound. He swung the rifle like an ax, aiming for my head. I rolled clear and brought Drynwyn up to block as he took another swipe, this time swinging the stolen rifle like a baseball bat.
I fell back and studied my opponent as he stomped toward me again. We both knew the score. His claws could rip me to pieces, but my sword could do the same to him. His strategy was clear. He’d use the gun like a mace to swat my sword away, then claw my chest with his talons.
He swung again and I was forced to block, trying desperately not to let my sword get knocked out from my protective center. However, the Abasy was incredibly powerful, and in a moment he broke my guard. My sword arm was yanked to the side, giving him the opening he desired.
As his claws shot toward my chest, I jabbed my staff forward and fired a simple blast of energy, knocking his hand away. The demon was so focused on my sword that he’d overlooked my staff. Sure, I doubted I knew a spell that would hurt him, but that didn’t mean it was useless.
I took advantage of my unexpected success and jabbed out with Drynwyn. Reading my movement, the magic blade transitioned from a katana into a rapier, but the Abasy still managed to jump clear before the slender blade could pierce his flesh.
Slapping my sword away again, he planted a foot in my chest and kicked me backward, causing me to land on my sore ass and slide across the cement floor.
I rolled back to my feet and realized I’d landed near the crates where Stone and Faith were hidden. The Abasy migth’ve tried to finish me off then, but a female Patterson with a double barrel shot gun stepped in front of it an unloaded. Annoyed, the demon turned his attention to her.
I took the opportunity to assess the battlefield.
The Pattersons seemed to have worked out who was on whose side by this point and were busy trying to kill one another.
Stone was focused on the half-a-lady in the air, peppering her wings with three round bursts from his M4. With each squeeze of the trigger, new holes appeared in her already tattered wings, but other than annoying the shit out of her, it didn’t appear to do much damage. I hadn’t actually seen whether he had garlic rounds in the rifle, but it was a safe assumption he did, otherwise he would’ve switched to the pistol. Chancers were, it just wasn’t doing anything but pissing her off.
Irritating her was worth something, though, I supposed.
Despite my protective spell, my ears were ringing from the steady thrum of gunfire in the enclosed space, but when Stone glanced my way I understood what he was trying to say. “We need to get the fuck out of here!”
I nodded my agreement, but didn’t have a clue where to go. The giant vault door we’d come through was closed, and I sure as hell didn’t know how to open it. I turned back to Stone and yelled, “How?”
“If Axel fucking Gunner can fig
ure it out, then so can we!”
It was a fair point, but under better circumstances I would’ve explained that getting in and out of places he wasn’t welcome was one of Axel’s talents.
I moved in closer to Stone and said, “What about the Pattersons?”
“Can you tell the good ones from the bad?”
“You mean baaahhhd?”
Stone stared at me for a moment and I got the impression he wasn’t amused. Finally, he said, “You’re just as bad as your dumbass friend, you know that?”
“You mean—”
“I swear to God if you say it again, I’ll shoot you.”
“Fine,” I replied. “No, I have no clue which Pattersons are the good guys. Nor do I have any clue about how to get out of here.”
Stone didn’t have a chance to reply as the manananggal swooped in and tried to catch him off guard. Silly half-a-vamp, Shain Stone never got caught off guard. He flipped his assault rifle to full auto as she plunged toward him, and let her have it.
She charged straight into the gunfire, seeming to ignore the impact, and grabbed the end of his barrel. Stone kept a finger on the trigger with his left hand and drew his pistol with the right. He fired both guns into her at point blank range, and whether they did any damage or not, the impact was too much for her and she let off.
I charged in and took a swipe at her like a kid trying to hit a piñata. I missed as she took to the air again.
The next problem was that a handful of the traitor Pattersons took the opportunity to open fire on us. I got my shield back up just in time to save us from being shredded. Not impressed by my magical shield, one of the treacherous dick weasels upped the ante with a Molotov Cocktail.
“Stone!” I screamed, hoping he could shoot the bastard before he threw it. Stone was only a moment too slow, but still saved our asses by shooting the flaming bottle while it was in the air. The only problem was the flames spewed every direction, raining fire all around us.
Still, I thought we were in good shape until Faith screamed, “Uh, guys!”
The Blade Mage Page 18