Shadow of the Apocalypse

by D. L. Harrison

  She said, “It is possible the shield wouldn’t have lasted much longer, who knows how much life energy it takes to maintain?”

  Jacob grunted, and looked to Cinna. Granted, it was probably wishful thinking on her part.

  Cinna replied, “Preliminary information, but no leads to wherever she could be hiding. Jenna killed her father in self-defense when she was fifteen. She’d already been getting molested and beaten for three years before that. We can assume that’s when she discovered she had power. Celia was adopted by her mother just a month later, so we can probably also assume she made some kind of deal with her mother who’s probably deep in her daughter’s thrall. As for the sacrifice to summon Celia, we haven’t been able to turn up anything, but we can speculate on that. Jenna has a grandmother up in Austin, and it’s possible she sacrificed someone up there to summon Celia shortly after the funeral during a visit. A violent unsolved death in Austin wouldn’t really stick out to our analysts.

  “After that, we assume she killed once a week for the next four years to keep Celia at her side, which would account for the small spike in missing persons in this area. Of course, with hellfire to remove the evidence in those crimes, the humans never suspected they had a serial killer on their hands. As mentioned before, there is a very large indigent population in San Antonio, it wouldn’t be hard for her to hide two hundred deaths over the last four years. Sadly enough.

  “As far as we can tell so far, she didn’t do anything but learn and plan over those four years. Her and Celia were inseparable during that time, and from what we can tell she didn’t have any human friends. Given what happened to her, I wouldn’t be surprised if she’d been ostracized by her peers because of what was done to her, and what she did to her step-father. Instead of getting past that, she obviously closed off from all human contact.

  “She’s smart, and powerful, but she must have a plan or endgame. She was content with just Celia for four years, until last month when she summoned eleven more demons and started to put her acquired knowledge into action. I’d suspect that she hates humans, and she blames them for what happened to her and is the cause of her deep attachment to Celia who literally can’t betray her as long as Jenna stays in control of her power.”

  Who’d have thought, co-dependent demon and warlock.

  Cinna continued, “If she owns any land or a building the other demons could hide in, we haven’t found it yet. We can speculate that she has deals with other humans, not just her mother, and if her demon hideaway is owned by one of those we have no way to track it. Nor do we have any idea what she’s really up to, she seems too smart to expose herself to us as she did with the summoning sacrifices, without a really good reason to do so. Her grades in school are in the top five percentile.”

  Jacob grunted, “Whatever she’s planning, it’ll be ugly. I assume we have a home address?”

  Cinna nodded, “She lives about twenty minutes north from here with her mother.”

  Jacob replied, “Text me the address, we’ll go chase that one lead we have at least, and hopefully our network will have more to tell us either tonight or tomorrow. It was all good information to build a profile on the girl, but we really need to know where she is now and what she’s up to. She’s far too clever to return to the college, at least not before she takes us out, so be alert for ambushes and go nowhere alone.”

  Lily snorted, “We also need a way to take her down, shouldn’t that be the first priority? She’s strong enough and knowledgeable enough to be immune to both witch magic and physical attacks. Our only defense against her hellfire attacks are to dodge out of the way, which isn’t good at all. We were out of our league just facing her, what happens when she brings her demon army with her, not the helpless one, but the other eleven.”

  They’d told her warlocks were the most dangerous, but she’d really underestimated just how true that was, they all had.

  She added, “Compulsion might be effective, but we have no way to know. Maybe an energy attack of some kind, fire can’t burn away energy, we need something like a concussive wave, sound, or a nearby explosion.”

  Allison said, “Maybe, or maybe not. Lifeforce is energy, and she blocks witch’s spells quite easily. Not that some kind of sonic weapon, or a bomb going off next to her won’t be effective, we just can’t be positive. I’ve never heard of a warlock using hellfire as a shield.”

  Jacob grunted, “None of us have, which means Celia probably is some kind of knowledge demon, and who knows what other applications of a warlock’s power she knows that most never learn, or how much about hell and demons she’s learned in the last four years. Still, her capacity to channel hellfire can’t be unlimited, there has to be a way to overwhelm it.”

  Meri said deadpan, “We can drop a piano on her.”

  Jacob closed his eyes for patience, he was obviously stressed out and the banter wasn’t helping him.

  She ignored the urge to go to him and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. She snickered instead, mostly because it was a funny visual in her head.

  “I was thinking more like a building.”

  There was of course one more option, she could wield hellfire in opposition. She was almost positive that would work, she was part shifter, which meant her lifeforce should be five times as powerful as Jenna’s. It was just that even with stronger witch magic, the hellfire shield was able to consume it despite the power difference. Fire to fire was a different story, with their weapons equal in power, her greater power to wield it should win out.

  Or she was wrong, and Jenna would kick her ass, but she didn’t think she was. Still, that could corrupt her, tempt her, and turn her toward evil. She’d already felt the seductive allure and temptation of that power, merely from reading the magical residue at the house. It would be so much worse, if she wielded it herself. At the very least, it would open her mind to manipulation from Samael, and that’s the last thing she’d ever do.

  Except, wouldn’t she sacrifice herself to save the others? She would, but there had to be a better way, Jenna couldn’t be invulnerable, life didn’t work that way. It was just finding that weakness that was the problem, bullets or claws had always worked in the past.

  Regardless, she was going to keep that idea in reserve, and not talk about it. She was sure the others would be violently opposed to the idea. She was pretty violently opposed to it herself, things would have to get very desperate to reach a tipping point there. It would be a horribly desperate move.

  Jacob said, “I’ll look into it. Sonic weapons are experimental at best and would be hard to get. I should be able to get explosives, we’ll just have to toss them at her and set them off before it hits the shield. It’s worth a try anyway. Not sure how we’d bring a building down or drop a piano on her.”

  Meri snickered.

  Jacob continued after a pause, “Still, while our people try to locate those weapons, we should check out the house this afternoon. Her dorm rooms were clean of evidence, but maybe we can find a lead or two at the house. I’m guessing she won’t be there, and if she is we can retreat and possibly take out a few of her demons as we do. Our guns are still quite effective against them, which is curious isn’t it, since they can wield hellfire as well?”

  No one had an answer to that. Either demons couldn’t, or didn’t use hellfire it that way, for some unknown reason they couldn’t guess at. That wasn’t very helpful. Still, the most important thing was that they didn’t use it that way, the reasons didn’t matter. She sucked up her confusion and moved on, there weren’t always answers.

  Jace said, “Lunch first?”

  She smiled, “I like that plan.”

  Meri’s stomach growled, adding a third vote for eating lunch first.

  Jacob nodded, “We’ll stop on the way.”

  “Mexican.”

  Jacob smirked at her, but he didn’t object to the idea.

  Caroline asked, “Do you think we’re safe here?”

  That was a good question, one that none o
f them were sure of either. Who knew what the eleven demons with her were capable of. One was the portal demon, obviously, but the other ten were unknown in what they could do. Jenna did manage to track down the shifter house when they’d started to hunt for her presence in the city, so one of the demons had to be able to sniff out the supernatural from far away, somehow.

  She hated being in the dark. It was also the reason all warlocks were so dangerous, the demons they summoned could be capable of just about anything, it was just Jenna with her damned hellfire shield that lifted that danger level even higher.

  “I don’t know, none of the warlock powers lends itself toward finding someone, so it must be one of the demons, and I couldn’t even guess at how they’re doing it.”

  Jacob nodded, “Agreed. Carl and Jace will stay with the three of you, and cover an escape if it comes to that. Me, Lily, and Meri will go check out the warlock’s house.”

  She noticed Jace looked relieved at the order, it was obvious he was feeling very protective toward Cinna in that moment, the mother of his unborn child. Carl didn’t look all that upset by the idea of being left behind either, not that the man had ever refused one of Jacob’s orders, but she’d seen him express displeasure at some orders, and she wondered what that was about.

  Jacob said, “Let’s move, I’m hungry too.”

  She smirked, and the three of them left, while the rest of them broke for their own lunch downstairs in the hotel’s restaurant.

  Chapter Ten

  The sun was bright overhead as they pulled up to Jenna’s childhood home, and it was in the upper sixties. She ditched her leather coat in the backseat of her car, the red shirt she had on was good enough to conceal the weapon at the small of her back.

  Lunch was fantastic, she’d devoured the special, which was two tacos, two enchiladas, and two burritos. Not to mention the basket of chips and salsa. They’d all avoided conversation about the hunt, but she could tell their minds weren’t very far from thoughts of it.

  The house was in an upper middle-class neighborhood, her family obviously had money. She sensed Jenna’s mother inside, and she visualized her slowly falling to sleep. Once the spell was built in her hollow protective sphere on the web, she released it down the woman’s line. The woman would have a good twenty seconds to make it to a chair or couch before she passed out.

  It would also clear the woman’s short-term memory, Jenna’s mother wouldn’t have any clue why she’d taken a sudden nap, and she would probably just brush it off. She sent off another spell, this one was a simple beacon that would grab a witch’s attention.

  She could probably do it herself, maybe, but she wasn’t as confident in reading past memories. She just had the sure knowledge to read current thoughts and remove short term memories. Either Caroline or Allison would see her life-web flare of sorts, and start sifting through the mother’s memories. They were about five miles north of the hotel, which should still be in Allison’s range. They suspected the woman had been enslaved to her warlock daughter through a deal or pact, who knows what gems or leads they might pick up from her mind.

  Maybe Jenna liked to monologue her plans, just to punish and terrorize her mother for failing to stop her husband from molesting her daughter. Okay, probably not, but they could get lucky, who knew what the woman had picked up during the last four years living with her warlock daughter and an adopted demoness.

  Jacob tried the door, and it was locked.

  Meri smirked, “I got this,” and pulled out a set of lock picks, while her and Jacob blocked the view of what she was doing. It didn’t take the irrepressible short curvy brunette very long to pop the door open, and they moved inside.

  Jacob said, “Her room first,” as he moved toward the stairs, then he asked, “The mother?”

  She replied, “Knocked out, and being skimmed of her memories by either Allison or Caroline.”

  She couldn’t really be sure of that, but she could tell the woman’s life node on the life web was under a spell in that moment, so it was a fairly safe assumption. Unless one of the San Antonio coven’s witches got curious and saw her flare first, but she doubted it. Witches were too cautious to dive in like that, not without knowing what the flare meant or who sent it.

  They moved up the stairs, it was a four-bedroom house, and she guessed a little over two thousand square feet. It was easy enough to dismiss the empty guest room and master bedroom, but it took them a few moments to figure out which bedroom was Jenna’s and Celia’s.

  To her surprise, it was Jenna’s that had a darker vibe to it, colors and decorations.

  Jacob’s cell phone rang before they’d even gotten started in a search, and he put it on speaker.

  “What do you have?” he asked.

  Allison said, “It was… ugly. I didn’t learn anything important, she obviously keeps her mother in the dark. I did learn what a psychotic and twisted evil bitch Jenna is though, and you really don’t want to know. Let’s just say she got her revenge on her mother, in an eye for an eye style.”

  She’d had her raped? She shivered.

  Allison’s voice had sounded unsteady and upset.

  Allison continued in a reluctant voice, “She’s been terrorized the last four years, and is probably clinically insane herself. She did know what her new husband was doing to her daughter at night, and she ignored it in favor of the money and security he could provide. But still, no one deserves what was done to her, and I think I’m going to have Caroline erase those memories in me, I sure as hell don’t want them.”

  Jacob cleared his throat, “Alright, do that. I’m sorry you had to go through that for nothing.”

  Allison sniffled, “Maybe, but if I’d had any doubts before, they’re gone now. Jenna needs to die, the sooner the better.”

  The phone disconnected.

  Jacob and Meri looked a little disturbed as he put the phone back in his pocket, and she felt that way herself. She truly didn’t want to know the details. Her guesses were bad enough and she didn’t want to even linger on those. Worse than just knowing, Allison had seen those memories from the mother’s point of view, as if they’d happened to her. She hoped her friend was okay.

  Jacob grumbled, “Search.”

  They all moved to systematically search Jenna’s room and closet. They found a number of disturbing things, including drug and BDSM paraphernalia, but she did her best to ignore the implications of the latter equipment. Investigating was a sticky ugly thing, she wasn’t quite sure why she hadn’t expected it to be, and she pushed it all down.

  Meri said, “I think I found something.”

  Her and Jacob looked over, and she was pulling down a thick white leather-bound personal journal from the book shelf.

  All three of them looked at each other tentatively, and she snorted. None of them wanted to read it.

  Jacob said, “I’ll do it.”

  Meri was brave, and she’d have said fearless, but there was relief in Meri’s warm hazel eyes as she passed the journal to Jacob.

  Jacob flipped it open, and started reading, while they kept searching the room.

  It was ten minutes later when they finished.

  She said, “We didn’t find anything else. At least, not any leads, we already know more than enough about Jenna and who she is.”

  Jacob grunted, “Search the demon’s room. Although I think we hit the jackpot with this book. Jenna is a sick woman. I won’t go into her perversions or wishful plans for destruction, but she also wrote down every deal she tricked a human into, and has their names, addresses and phone numbers listed. In itself, it tells us very little outside of her perversions and how many souls she pinched, but if we search for all the properties owned by her victims it may point us in the right direction to find her hideaway. I’d been hoping to find a list of her known powers as well, but she doesn’t talk about them in here at all, if she has them written down its somewhere else.”

  She frowned, “That actually makes sense though, her abilities as a war
lock is just a means to an end and it’s doubtful she’d forget what Celia taught her. It’s what she does for revenge and hatred that actually matters to her and makes it on the page. Even the list of names is just a list of her victims and accomplishments that matter to her.”

  Jacob nodded absently as he scanned the page.

  Jacob pulled out his cell phone and started taking pictures of the pages, while the two of them went to search Celia’s room.

  She said, “This mission sucks. I usually don’t feel like I’m being dragged into the muck, it’s much easier when I can just find them for us to kill and call it a day.”

  Meri nodded, “I know what you mean. I bet she can’t vaporize a whole train, let’s run her over with a train.”

  She giggled. It was completely ridiculous, and not even all that funny, but it helped lighten her mood. She was usually excited on a hunt as the adrenaline ran through and electrified her body, but this one was different. She was scared. Not really for herself, but for everyone else. Sure, death had been a constant danger since the moment she met them, but Jenna was more powerful than anything they’d faced before. They were lucky none of them had died earlier that morning, and Jenna was crazy enough to love a demoness and retreat from the battle after just one hellfire attack.

  Meri shook her head, “This bedroom seems like the bedroom of a teenage girl who was far too innocent. I guess they did all their play in Jenna’s room?”

  “Trying not to think about it. But I see what you mean, there’s nothing here.”

  Meri said, “Keep looking.”

  She nodded, and then moved to the dresser. The draws didn’t yield anything but conservative clothes outside of the lingerie, but she froze as she lifted the lid on the jewelry box. She reached in and took the two tickets out.

  “This is strange, two tickets to a hockey game, night after tomorrow. San Antonio Rampage are hosting the Griffins.”

  Meri shrugged, “Maybe they like hockey?”

  Meri’s voice hadn’t sounded very confident, and they didn’t find anything else of interest.