by Jan Stryvant
"What? Where?"
"The Indian place, take that parking spot! Right there!"
"What?"
"Do it!"
Andrey pulled the car in and put it in park, then he looked up just in time to see a young man in a duster walk up to the door, hold it open as five hot little ladies went inside, then close it behind him.
"Holy shit! Now what?"
"Now I call Mika and tell him what we found! That's what," Victor said as he pulled out his cellphone and dialed his boss.
"Should we go in and keep an eye on him?"
"Fuck, no! Weren't you paying attention?"
"Paying attention to what?"
"They're a team of assassins, you idiot! These are the ones who killed Leo and Anatoly and took down Woller's people in that big firefight at that warehouse a couple months back."
"Woller? Isn't he the guy who got blown up in the high school?"
"Yeah, and Mika thinks this group was behind that, too. So no, we're not…Hello, Mika? Yeah, we found 'em. They're in that Indian restaurant on Lincoln."
"What? No, we're not going in, we're sitting out front in a parked car. What's that? You want us to drive down to the south end of the street and keep watch. Got it. Follow them when they come out but hang back and don't be seen. Alright, Mika. Whatever you say."
"I'm going, I'm going," Andrey said. He put the car in reverse, backed out, and drove down to the end of the block.
"So that's the plan? We just wait for them?"
"Mika said he'd call us back and tell us more once he got everyone else organized. For now, keep your eyes open, and if they come out and come back this way, we follow them. He's gonna have the rest of the crew staking out the entire area. Got it?"
Andrey nodded. "Got it."
#
Godfrey looked at the number on his phone and blinked in surprise.
"Alice! Is everything okay?" he asked as he answered the phone.
"Goff! They found the kid! He's at some hotel up in Auburn, and they're sending out damn near everyone! Yvette came in, grabbed all her muscle, and told them to grab their guns and meet her up by the In-N-Out!"
"What! They're going to attack him in a hotel? In public?"
"Yeah! Something about he's blackmailing Weson, and Weson wants him dead before he can collect this weekend!"
Godfrey swore.
"Thanks, Alice. Bye," he said, killing the call. He hit the speed dial for Terry.
"Yes, Goff?" Terry answered immediately.
"Call your sister; we're hitting Dale tonight, and she needs to be ready in two hours. Full out, hold nothing back."
"I'm on it! Anything I need to know?"
"Weson's hitting a hotel up in Auburn. The kid's there, and he'd gonna take him down in public." Godfrey looked at his watch. "Have someone listen to the police radio; when the call goes out, we'll give it fifteen minutes to draw everyone out, and we'll attack."
"Understood. Will you be joining us?"
"As soon as I can get there. I need to prepare for this first."
"See you there!" Terry said. Godfrey hung up and immediately went to the safe where he stored his more deadly weapons. The kid was blackmailing Weson? How? Was that why they'd stopped by Dale's? Did they have something on him as well?
He'd have to think about this. Maybe after they killed Dale, they could figure out what was going on. Hana was known for being crafty and devious—it would be just like her to get some sort of hold over Weson, drain him dry, and then kill him. That was the only thing he could think of that would explain why Weson was willing to do something like this right out in public.
A lot of people were going to die tonight. A lot of people. He'd have to make sure he warned Terry and Carmine to keep the mundane body count to zero. The more heat focused on Weson after tonight, the better.
Opening the safe, he pulled out the special robe he used when going into a fight and put it on. He filled the pockets with the things he'd need. He wondered briefly if he should try to warn Daniel. It wasn't like he had any way to get in touch with him, and any warnings made probably wouldn't arrive until it was too late. But, should the kid survive, it might win him a few points.
On the other hand, if Weson found out about it, it might expose Alice, since Weson would know he had a leak and start looking. For all that a witch-hunt and the inevitable purge that always followed one would help him, Godfrey wasn't sure he wanted to lose Alice's help just yet.
Surprise Party
Dan was on his back on the bed, with Fawn riding his mouth, and Olivia riding his shaft, when the first explosion went off.
"Someone's attacking the ward on the door!" Wrath yelled as both of the girls jumped off of him, and he reached over and grabbed for his pants. He was just pulling them on when another explosion went off, taking down the ward on the door. A second explosion blew out the windows, peppering them all with glass. Buckling his belt, he quickly incanted a wall of steel tied into the walls in front of the door as it suddenly disintegrated.
The girls were mostly dressed and had their weapons out.
"Shit, I can't believe they found us!" Olivia bitched.
"We need to get out of here!" Aella said. "This isn't a good place to hold them off."
Dan noticed that Lofn had put a magical shield over the open windows, and it was already deflecting a fireball.
"Dan! Blow a hole in the ceiling!" Wrath yelled.
Nodding, he ran through a quick disintegration spell and channeled it straight up, creating a ten-foot-wide hole above him. He grabbed his duster and donned it, then grabbed his mace as the room shook again, the steel barrier he put up creasing down the center as it bent.
Aella jumped up and grabbed the edge of the hole with her tentacles, pulling herself up and through. Lofn grabbed Fawn and flew up through it, followed by Olivia, who jumped up, grabbed one of Aella's tentacles, and was pulled through the hole.
Another explosion shook the room as the metal blockade shattered and fell to the floor, and he cast a shield spell over Wrath, who had the Browning A5 in her hands and blew some large holes in a surprised man, who immediately dropped to the floor, dead. Dan then drew his pistol and shot the man behind him.
Wrath managed to kill one more before someone raised a shield over the rest of the people who were trying to enter the room.
"Time to go!" Wrath said, running towards him. She grabbed him and jumped up through the hole, using her wings to push them through the opening. Turning back, Dan cast an 'improved' acid ball into the room, a spell Wrath's father Nicitel had taught him. It would quickly eat through the floor, dropping anyone in the room to the level below. It also tended to ooze under most people's shields and take off their feet if they weren't careful. From the sounds of the screams that soon came up through the hole, it must have worked.
Lofn was by the roof access, doing something magical to block it, while Aella and Olivia were lying prone, looking over the edge of the room, and taking shots of opportunity with their pistols.
"I can't believe they're doing this in public!" Fawn said loudly as she did something with her cellphone.
"How long until they figure out we're up on the roof?" he asked, looking around.
"Oh, I think they've already guessed," Lofn said. "Better put up a shield, and quick!"
Nodding he started another incantation and threw up a dome over the roof, covering them from any attacks from the outside. Just in time too as magical attacks started to hit it.
"Suddenly I'm no longer regretting all of that shit your dad put me through to learn how to quickly cast those combat spells he taught me," Dan mumbled to Wrath.
"Now what?" Olivia asked as she stopped to reload. "I'm almost out of ammo."
"We need to get out of here," Wrath said, looking around. "I can carry two of you, and Lofn can carry one, but that still leaves us one shy."
"I'm trying to find somebody with a helicopter who's willing to pick us up in the middle of a firefight!" Fawn said as she continu
ed working her phone.
"Unless it's a magical helicopter, don't bother," Lofn said. "They're seriously loaded for bear down there."
Another explosion went off then, and a section of the roof near where they'd come up themselves disappeared.
"Shit, we gotta do something!" Dan said, looking around.
"Might I suggest killing our enemies?" Wrath growled, and as he watched, she threw some kind of spell down through the new hole in the roof.
Putting his gun away, Dan began a curse that would set all the walls on the top floor ablaze.
"Fire's not going to stop them!" Wrath grumbled when he finished.
"No, but a complete lack of oxygen will!" he said with a frown. "I just hope there aren't any innocent people left alive on the top floor."
"That was the executive suite floor; most of the rooms were empty," Fawn said, growling, and put her phone away. "We're not getting any help."
"What about the police?" Aella said and motioned to the convoy of red and blue flashing lights headed their way.
"We need to get off this building before they destroy it and kill everyone in it!" Lofn said.
"I'm open to suggestions," Wrath said, looking around. "Lofn, how far could you glide if you took Fawn and Olivia? They're the two lightest."
"I think I could make it to the other side of the highway, but not much farther."
"Let me cast one more spell to give us cover," Dan said, "then let's get out of here before we're trapped."
#
"The call just went out, Goff! They're lighting up the hotel with everything they've got, and it's right in the middle of downtown!" Terry said, shaking his head. "The police are screaming for the National Guard!"
Godfrey shook his head and looked at his watch. It was just after one in the morning. "Weson is a fool. Let's be about it then!" Picking up his phone, he called Carmine, who answered immediately.
"We starting?"
"Yes. Are you ready?"
"Of course I am!"
"Wonderful." Godfrey began to invoke a sound shielding spell, with Carmine's help, the two of them using their cellphones to synchronize their casting. Unlike Weson, Godfrey knew the costs of alerting too many people to what he was doing.
While he was doing that, Terry advanced all of their men into their attack positions. As soon as Godfrey and Carmine finished their spell, Terry gave the word to attack, then began work on a spell to breach the first ward around the property, while Godfrey and Carmine caught their breath.
By the time Godfrey was ready to get back into action, the fighting had begun in earnest. Magical combat was still something that intrigued Godfrey. He'd grown up in England during the 'times of trouble', as people often referred to the struggles in Northern Ireland. As a young man, he'd been caught up in more of that than he'd liked, and the one thing that had always made an impression on him was the noise. Firefights were loud, because of all the guns and the explosions.
But magical combat was different. It was, by comparison, quiet. Most spells didn't make much noise, if any at all. Spells cast from wands were especially quiet. Even magical explosions, like the one that blew the iron gates off of the stone pillars at the end of the driveway, wasn't half as loud as the clang the gates made when they landed on the concrete.
Godfrey set to attacking the ward that was set around the house. This was the first time he'd really had the opportunity to examine it; the ward that had been placed on the fence had prevented him from doing so in the past. It really was an impressive piece of work; Dale obviously knew a lot about warding, and it took him a good ten minutes to figure it out. By then, all the defenders had retreated into the house and were attacking from behind the ward's shielding effects.
Taking down the ward proved difficult, but not impossible. He was about halfway through its removal when he noticed…
Dale wasn't opposing him.
"Damnation," he swore under his breath as he continued to work.
"What's wrong, Goff?" Terry asked. He'd recovered from taking down the first ward and was now supporting their fighters with shielding spells.
"Dale's not fighting me on the shield!"
"What! I better warn Carmine! This may be a trap!"
"Do that," Godfrey agreed as he continued to take down the ward, a bit more cautiously now, just in case Dale had something up his sleeve he wasn't prepared for. Dale had proven to be a very secretive foe, and Godfrey knew better than to make assumptions when in battle.
When he'd finally drained off the last of the ward, he turned back to Terry.
"What did Carmine say?"
"That she doesn't think Dale is here. They're fighting a purely defensive battle, and no one's taking any chances."
"If Dale's not here, then why are they all still here?" Godfrey asked with a sigh, waving his hand at the estate in question.
"We discussed it, and we both think if Hana killed him or convinced him to leave, it would make sense to keep it a secret—for a little while at least."
Godfrey had a sudden thought and then sighed heavily. "Like until Weson paid off on his blackmail."
"Exactly. If you were to discover that you didn't have to worry about Dale anymore, you'd be free to start your final attack on Weson."
"Weson, who's currently launching an all-out attack on Hana and her friends."
"Which means he probably suspects Dale is gone."
"Or that we'd involve ourselves in attacking Dale while he tried to kill them," Terry pointed out.
Godfrey shook his head and sighed again. "If that's the case, he's smarter than I've given him credit for. Still, we need to know for sure whether Dale's in there or not."
"True. But do we really want to destroy the place in the process?" Terry said, looking thoughtful.
"I'm not sure I follow," Godfrey admitted.
"If Weson doesn't know Dale's gone, don't you think it'd be best for us if he didn't find out?"
Godfrey bit his lip and nodded slowly as he thought about that. "I see your point, and it's a good one, nephew. However, we still need to learn the truth."
"Now that their wards are down, the three of us could join together and cast a major sleep or paralyzation spell. Then we send everyone in to mop up those not affected, search the grounds, maybe question one or two of them."
Godfrey considered that. On the one hand, casting such a massive spell after everything else they'd already done would leave them tired and vulnerable. However, Weson's forces and Weson himself were already heavily engaged tonight and probably wouldn't be launching any attacks of their own for several days.
And finding out what had happened here would go a long way toward determining what he was up against.
"You're right," he said, looking over at Terry. "Get Carmine over here and tell our people to pull back."
#
Miles Brown groaned as he regained consciousness. Thankfully one of his people had dragged him out of the building after the floor had collapsed beneath him. He hurt all over, but his legs and feet were the worst of it. Looking down to examine himself, he saw why; his shoes were gone, as well as most of his pants. From the chemical burns all over his feet and legs, he could tell they'd been destroyed by some sort of magical acid his protection spells hadn't been able to deal with.
Pulling out one of his more powerful items, he used it to cast a major healing spell on himself, as he kicked off the remaining pieces of his shoes, then quickly shed what was left of his pants.
At that moment the building shook again.
"Where are we?" he asked the people standing around him.
"Third floor, on the other side of the building."
"Is the attack still going on?"
"Yes, Weson's leading it himself now."
"Help me up. We need to get out of here," Miles said. "How long was I out?"
"Two, maybe three minutes," his man told him as they helped him to his feet, then led him to the stairs.
"They obviously have a lot more magical gear t
han we suspected," Miles grumbled, weighing their options. "Have the police shown up yet?"
"They're showing up now. The barriers are keeping them out, but we don't know how long that'll last."'
"Great, just great," Miles said and followed his man out the fire door that led outside.
"Where's Weson?" he asked Dave Schroeder as he came over to their little 'command post', which was just a large panel truck.
"He's on the roof, on the other side of the hotel complex on the other tower."
"We need to do something quick. This is getting out of our control," Miles said, looking up at the top of the southern tower of the hotel. A fire had broken out on the top two floors and was gaining in power.
"Steve wants to keep them pinned down up there until the fire gets to them," Dave said.
"What about the police? The witnesses?"
"He said he's got an artifact that'll deal with them. Oh, shit! There they go!" Looking up, Miles saw that the kid and his demons had jumped off the building, but the succubus and one of the other demons had wings, and they were flying away, diving towards the other side of the highway.
"Fuck!" Miles swore. "With all the police, there's no way we can get over there!"
"Isn't there anything you can do?" Dave said, clearly starting to panic. "If they get away, I think Steve'll lose it for sure."
Reaching into his jacket pocket, Miles pulled out his prized possession, a short metal rod made out of bronze with a series of sigils drawn along its length, yellowed with age. It was an artifact reputed to have been created for one of the earliest demon hunters, over a thousand years ago, 'The Rod of Dismissal'.
"I can banish the demons," he said, pointing it at them, "back to their home planes."
"The kid isn't a demon, Miles."
"No, so he'll just fall to his death."
Dave smiled. "Do it! Quickly! Before they're out of range!"
Miles uttered the triggering phrase while holding the two pressure points on the rod and pointed it at the group as they dived over the highway. If the fall didn't kill the kid, getting run over would probably do it.