Shadow of the Apocalypse

by D. L. Harrison

  Jacob had obviously been worried when they were dropped off, and he had reiterated not to get into a fight without them.

  She wasn’t too worried their quarry would pick them out. She might have had the potential for warlock magic, but she never used it, and she was contained by witch shields. It seemed to her she’d feel the enemy, but she wouldn’t be detected in return. The pure shifters shouldn’t be seen either she didn’t think, but there was a lot she didn’t know.

  She wasn’t quite as sure about the demons though, they might have the capability to detect all of them for all she knew. Really, the best-case scenario was Jace and Meri picking up the warlock’s scent, then they could back off and call in the others. If the warlock was even really here.

  Meri said, “Wandering won’t get us very far, let’s walk by all the dorm entrances.”

  Her and Jace agreed. There’d be a lot of scent mixing at the doors, but animals didn’t scent combined scents like humans, they took them in all individually. A warlock’s scent markers would stick out in the crowd, so to speak. Especially since they already had her scent.

  Jace asked, “Any new dreams or memories?”

  She pondered that a minute, “No new memories, not exactly, but deeper feelings or instincts? I’m not sure though, that could just be a result of the training, finding out the truth and somewhere to belong, you know? I also haven’t had nightmares the last two nights, not that I remember.”

  Meri said, “Is that a good sign, or does it mean you buried your memories even deeper after learning the possibilities?”

  She hadn’t actually considered that second part before. Could her subconscious have pushed her memories even further out of reach after she’d learned what she’d learned? She didn’t think so, but then finding out she’d been the bride of Satan, maybe willing or maybe not, was quite a disturbing possibility.

  “The first, I think. I suppose we’ll see. I want to remember, but the mind can be a finicky thing. If it doesn’t happen in the next few days, I’m giving serious thoughts to letting Allision try and knock them loose.”

  Jace said, “Nothing at this dorm.”

  Meri nodded, and they headed out to the next one.

  “So Jace, proud papa?” Meri teased.

  Jace smiled so widely that she’d have had no doubts how he felt about becoming a father with Cinna, even without the burst of excitement and pride she felt roll off of him.

  “Absolutely, and we’ve got several built-in babysitters for when we need some couple time.”

  Meri’s teasing face fell, as she realized she’d been out flanked by the younger man.

  She giggled, “I suppose I can give up a free afternoon or two a week for that duty.”

  Jace grinned, “Thanks Lily. Cinna’s pretty amazing, isn’t she? I’m not really sure it’s all sunk in yet.”

  If Jace were human she’d have thought him a little too young for it, but shifters were different. He was hardly a callow young man, he was a sacrificing and dedicated shifter, who had Cinna at least as enthralled as he was.

  The smile cleared from Jace’s face as they passed the back door to the next dorm.

  “How they hell did you know? She lives here, her scent is embedded in the doorway and quite strong. Let’s move off and call Jacob.”

  She didn’t really know, it’d just been a guess based on the little they knew about her. That it panned out so quickly was fantastic.

  Meri waited until they were farther away before she spoke.

  “Did you pick up there are twelve demons? Apparently, she left one behind the night she took down the last team.”

  Jace grunted, “I did, it just didn’t register in the moment.”

  She frowned, “The authorities only found eleven corpses. Maybe she summoned that one earlier, perhaps much earlier.”

  Jace peered at her, “What are you thinking?”

  She shrugged helplessly, “I’m not sure. She’s careful, she’s been around a while considering how much she knows and how powerful she is. Maybe she summoned a demon to teach her? Most would summon a demon for physical power, maybe she was smart enough to know information is power when it comes to magic. Is there a demon type like that? It would also explain why she left it behind, perhaps it’s not suited for combat.”

  She shook her head, “It’s just speculation, but it feels right. Almost like I’ve fought this battle before and met someone similar. I just… can’t remember. Either way, we can’t count on that being right, and I’m not sure how or even if that helps us in any way.”

  Meri pulled out her phone, they were two buildings away at that point, and called Jacob.

  Jace said, “It never hurts to know our enemy better, but you’re right, it’s speculation we can’t count on. All we know is she doesn’t like direct combat, she prefers to ambush and murder with little risk to herself. She isn’t filled with pride, or the need to look in her opponent’s eyes and crow as they die. She has power, knowledge, and control, and that’s what matters. How she got it doesn’t matter as much, except it will tell us a little more about how she thinks and approaches things.”

  Meri smirked as she flipped the phone closed.

  “Jacob and Carl will be here soon, unlike us they’re going to stick out like a sore thumb.”

  That was true enough, her and Meri could pass as coeds, and Jace could easily pass as being in his freshman year. Although, she supposed even Jacob would pass as someone in the post graduate program, just Carl would stick out. He didn’t look thirty-four anymore, but he still looked around thirty. She imagined it would take a while to shift himself younger. That always took a longer time, to shift their actual bodies to a new look, shifting to an animal only took seconds.

  They speculated some more as they waited, but they didn’t really get anywhere with it. Once they identified her they could dig into her past if they had to. Hopefully they’d just take her down and wouldn’t have to bother with it at all.

  Despite the cold, she missed Chicago, it was her home. The warmer weather was nice though, and the sun burned off the overcast and mist while they waited, it felt good on her skin. San Antonio was a nice place to visit at least.

  Carl and Jacob joined them a few minutes later.

  Jacob asked, “Options?”

  Meri said, “We should set up downwind of the dorm, and move when her fresh scent reaches us. We could go in the dorm and find her room, but if she isn’t there the demons could pick up our scents and she’d run before we even laid eyes on her.”

  Jacob nodded, “It would be good to have her name, and check out her dorm room but I think you’re right. If we’re lucky, she won’t even have any demons with her, I don’t imagine she could stuff twelve of them in her dorm room closet.”

  Jace grinned, “Maybe they’re registered and taking classes.”

  Meri snickered, and Lily bit her lip to stop her laugh.

  Carl rolled his eyes, “It’s possible she has at least one with her though.”

  Jacob strolled out into the nearby field, and the rest of them followed. They found a place to sit and wait, there were other students out there studying so they didn’t really look out of place.

  Then they waited.

  Chapter Eight

  Her limits to cast in the real world as a witch were fifty feet or so, and she imagined the warlock side would be similar. Their quarry would have to be awfully close before she spotted her, which was why she was depending on her eyes and the web. She casually as possible kept a sharp eye out, and they’d been sitting and waiting about an hour before it paid off.

  Their target was still about sixty yards away, and walking with just one other student, who also didn’t show up on the life-web. Maybe Jace’s idea hadn’t been as silly as he’d thought, because when she shifted her eyes and zoomed in, she saw they both had bookbags with IDs clipped to them. At least one of her demons was registered and taking classes after all.

  “There they are, our target is nineteen, my height, with r
ed hair and green eyes. She looks so damned innocent. One matriculating demon accompanying her, appears the same age.”

  Jace let out a strangled laugh, as they too shifted their sight to take a closer look at the duo.

  Their quarry had a lissome body, very fair skin, and moved quite gracefully. She also looked completely relaxed walking next to the demon, who was smiling and acting like a friend instead of an enslaved monster.

  The demon next to her was shorter, a little curvier, and had midnight black hair and gray eyes.

  Jacob frowned, “How do you know which one is which, from this range?”

  There really was no way to know, at least not with her powers, which only told her in the moment both of the young ladies weren’t part of the life-web. She got zero vibes from them, which was very strange.

  She grinned, “The redhead has a glasses case in her pack’s webbed side pocket, I doubt a demon would be far-sighted.”

  Jacob grunted, and flashed her a smile that made her butterflies wake up.

  Damn, just then wasn’t the time for her to be feeling that, she pushed down her attraction and focused on the deadly warlock and demon who looked like two normal students. It just felt wrong, they didn’t even look dangerous, they looked cute and carefree. She even caught the redhead snickering a couple of times at whatever her demon said, which struck her as odd in the extreme. Had the warlock locked down the demon so hard with orders, and made it a friend of some kind?

  She couldn’t imagine the demon was truly enjoying the company.

  Jacob frowned, “Too many people out here enjoying the death of winter, let’s take them in the dorm.”

  She nodded, she might’ve been able to spell that many, but it would take a lot of life force to get so many at once. She’d be wiped out.

  The two young women didn’t even glance their way, as they walked over to the dorm and stepped inside. The others all wrinkled their noses, and they’d obviously taken note of the scents.

  They got up and moved toward the building, now that they knew they were in there it would be the better play, although still dangerous. She followed Jacob into the door, he led presumably by tracking the warlock’s freshest scent in the dorm. Jace, Meri, and Carl followed behind her. Jacob led them to the stairs quickly, and they got off of them on the second floor.

  Their two targets were sitting in the common room, which had about ten others.

  She prepared a sleep and short-term memory spell. Her targets would only be knocked out for a minute, and they wouldn’t remember the warlock and her demon entering the room at all. Then she released it into the life-web strands of everyone in the room while they all pulled their weapons.

  The warlock and demon jumped to their feet, as the five of them opened fire at the warlock.

  She’d thought it was all but over, but their simple ambush plan fell apart at that point.

  The bullets sparked as they got within an inch or two of the warlock, who sneered at them in anger. The polite and happy mask had fallen away, as she waved her hand and sent hellfire tumbling in their direction in a wave of liquid blood red fire.

  The five of them scattered, they had no defense against the warlock’s hellfire, and apparently the warlock had some kind of shield against the physical. It was as if their bullets were being burned out of existence before they could reach her. Which… was a surprise, to say the least.

  No one had mentioned physical shields.

  She dove to the ground and let the fire roll above her, as she switched tactics and shot her last three bullets into the demon instead. All three bullets impacted and drove into the demon’s body, which screamed in anger and pain.

  The fire missed all of them, Jace and Meri had ducked back into the stairwell and Jacob had dove into the hall, and when it splashed into the wall it winked out harmlessly without damaging a thing. No, the warlock’s hellfire would only burn what she wanted to burn.

  At the same time, she’d built a spell, the same kind she’d used to take out the witch. She imagined it was an unstoppable bunker buster missile, and she put all her power and force of will behind it as she launched it at the warlock, visualizing it smashing through their evil prey’s shield.

  The warlock’s shield ate her best shot without effort, and she wasn’t even sure that the warlock noticed, since the redhead let loose a devastated scream of anger, hatred, and loss as she grabbed the demoness and pulled it tightly against her. She wondered how she’d known, that the crazy bitch loved her demon friend.

  The redhead’s eyes were full of tears, but they narrowed in hate as more bullets were eaten by her shield, the demon now protected by it as well.

  “You’ll pay for this,” the warlock swore in deadly rage, as the air shimmered behind her and then started to glow as an oval portal appeared behind her. She stepped back and disappeared with the demoness cradled in her arms, and the portal snapped shut.

  Meri said, “What the fuck was that!”

  Jacob frowned, “I have no idea. I also don’t know why she ran, she was immune to our bullets and I suspect that shield would have burned our claws to ash if we’d bothered to try. We were all pretty much at her mercy.”

  She replied thoughtfully, “The demon, running was the warlock’s only chance to save it.”

  The others looked at Lily like she was nuts, but she just shrugged and walked over to the backpacks their enemies left behind.

  She smirked as she picked them up, “Our warlock is Jenna Carlson, and the demon’s name was Celia Smith, not that the demon’s cover name matters.”

  Jacob cleared his throat, “You’re serious?”

  She nodded, “It was a gamble, but I just shot who I think was Jenna’s only friend, perhaps even her lover. Spells and bullets certainly weren’t working on Jenna. Didn’t you hear that scream of loss?”

  Meri frowned, “What about that portal, I’ve never even heard of anything like that.”

  Jacob shrugged, “Portal demons can open portals to hell once summoned, maybe they can open portals from place to place on our world too? I imagine she has the other eleven demons stashed away somewhere, and she figured out a way to either call on them quickly for backup, or for her to retreat. Obviously, there’re things we don’t know about warlocks, or I should say things we don’t know about the demons they can summon. Although, I’ve never heard of a hellfire shield before either, and it was clearly Jenna doing it.”

  She said, “My guess is the demon I shot has been her friend in her mind, for a long while, and the one that’s been teaching her. Some kind of knowledge demon, she obviously wasn’t all that tough in a fight.”

  Jacob grunted, “Let’s find out what we can about her, we need to figure out how to get around that shield, and hopefully find clues where her hideout is where she keeps the other demons. No doubt she’ll be there and lying low for now.”

  They searched the backpack, and then the warlock’s dorm room, but they didn’t find anything that would help. If she had anything written down to betray her, it wasn’t at the college. It was just an hour or so later when they gave up on it and headed back to the hotel.

  Meri said, “It wasn’t a total loss, I think we can say for sure that Lily’s speculation has panned out.”

  None of the other’s disagreed. Jenna had been sharing the dorm room with the demoness, and it was clear from the scents in there they weren’t using two beds, and they were getting rather close and personal at night.

  It was… disturbing. Jenna’s cell phone hadn’t been any help either, she had two contacts, her mother and the local pizza place. From what they could determine, she was completely anti-social and had no human friends, and any social needs she did have were being met by an enslaved demoness. Jenna was intelligent, powerful, and smart, yet seemed completely deluded as well, at least on the emotional level. She couldn’t imagine that the demoness truly cared for Jenna.

  But then… according to legend she’d been stupid enough to get seduced by Samael, and she didn’t think sh
e was stupid at all. They didn’t call hell corrupting for no reason.

  The others back at the hotel, as well as their intelligence people in Montana were looking into Jenna’s life. Hopefully they’d have some solid leads by later that night or the next day. Of course, there was still the problem of Jenna’s apparent immunity to anything they had, they also needed to figure out a way to take her down.

  Chapter Nine

  The others including Caroline looked relieved to see them all alive when they got back, and Cinna was plastered against Jace like a barnacle as soon as they walked into the hotel. The soul eater didn’t look like she was going to let go of him anytime soon.

  It wasn’t quite noon yet, but she already felt her stomach craving some food. She also wanted to wrap herself around Jacob the way Cinna was hanging on Jace, but she’d get over it. The one thing she hadn’t tried was to hit Jenna with an emotional attack, to try and compel her to lower her guard. The idea was desperate actually, but the only other option she could think of was to wield hellfire herself against the warlock, which really wasn’t on the table at all.

  She wasn’t quite that desperate, yet. Still, she wished she had her memories, there was something very familiar about Jenna, and she felt like she’d fought a similar warlock in the past. But those memories and that solution was buried, out of her reach. It was almost as frustrating as being unable to explore a relationship with Jacob.

  After all, a girl had to have priorities, and her hands itched to explore Jacob. They’d almost died, could’ve died, and she didn’t want to wait anymore. Not that she had a choice.

  Jacob waved for them all to follow, and they all went up to his and Carl’s room for privacy.

  Jacob growled, “That was a cluster, we’d all be dead if Jenna hadn’t deluded herself into loving a demoness, and Lily hadn’t guessed at it and shot the demoness. Any information yet?”