Shadow of the Apocalypse

by D. L. Harrison

  “Most serve sixty years?”

  He shrugged, “Some few fall in love, mate, and have children with another team member, those usually serve their whole lives, and only train a replacement when close to two hundred.”

  That made sense to her.

  They turned around and started to head back. She let up on the questions, her curiosity about the team mostly quenched for the moment, and simply enjoyed the company and beautiful night.

  She was a bit surprised to see Carl and Allison walking together when they were halfway back. They weren’t holding hands, but it made her very curious, especially given the vibes coming off both. She suppressed the idea of meddling, it wasn’t her business. Still, it was a bit of a shock, Carl hadn’t let on at all, not even with leaked emotions, but it was clear as day to her he was attracted to the red headed lissome witch. Except, she remembered that morning he hadn’t been all that put off about playing guard to the two witches and Cinna. Allison’s emotions just felt… confused, but also more open to the idea than she’d have thought. She got the idea Allison had never even considered Carl that way before, but she wasn’t at all closed off to the idea either now that it was there.

  She turned her mind back to Jacob, and the feeling of her hand in his…

  Chapter Twelve

  The hot desert sun pounded down on her and her team as they moved far too quickly through the sand dunes. She was drenched in sweat and out of breath, but she refused to slow. Another village of five thousand had been destroyed by their quarry, and she’d lost one of her team in the last battle. The warlock’s hellfire shield seemed impossible to penetrate, but she knew the lifeforce cost to channel that much magic was huge and couldn’t be maintained forever.

  With enough attacks, and enough strikes on it, it would fall. It took a lot of magic and power, to disintegrate swords, arrows, and bolts so completely the way their quarry did. It also made the warlock fall into madness faster.

  Not that it helped knowing that, every time they’d cornered the bastard there was a quick and nasty fight, followed by him retreating through a portal when he ran low on magic. She was reluctant to use her own hellfire, but she was convinced it would be their best chance to take down the enemy’s shield fast enough to end him, before his portal demon could extract them.

  It wouldn’t be the first time that she’d pitted her will against Samael and the allure of hell and won, but every time she was forced to use the fell infernal magic it got a little harder to resist. The seduction of a life of power without responsibility was heady, and an obvious lie, but was also overwhelming. She’d never even consider taking the risk it if it wasn’t for the death on her team, and the death of five thousand innocent humans because they hadn’t stopped him yet.

  The life web vibrated with the life of their destination, just over the next dune. She was exhausted, they’d been hunting down the summoned demons for two days straight, not content to let them sink back into hell after a full week of destruction.

  She took a deep breath, shifted, and flooded her body with adrenaline. It was dangerous to do so when so low on resources, but she’d be alright if she didn’t do it too much longer before finding sleep. She pulled her sword as the city came into sight, and as soon as she felt the fell power of their quarry she charged in that direction.

  The bastard wouldn’t escape her wrath this time.

  The evil warlock sensed her, or perhaps one of its demon minions did and warned him.

  He turned toward her and laughed as he launched a blast of rolling blood red hellfire at her and her team.

  She knew the old tactics would let him escape. Her team scattered for cover and shot arrows, bolts, and her witch cast spells to ablate the warlock’s hellfire shield. She couldn’t allow him to escape again, and she saw his face scrunch in confusion and slight worry as she continued to charge.

  Right before the hellfire reached her, her whole body rippled, as she shifted and simultaneously reached for the fires of hell. She knew she looked more demon than human in her new form, as leather wings exploded from her back, and her skin turned gray and hard, only to light up with blood red licking fire over her body, and sheathing flames on her sword. It wasn’t the first time she’d fought in that form, but it was the first time she’d imbued her body with the fires of hell.

  The warlock’s fire splashed against her, and she laughed, she was unstoppable now. What power could possibly resist her? She fought against that lie, and that allure of hell’s power with everything she had, but she knew it was a losing battle, she needed to strike true, and fast. The longer she was wielding the power, the surer her own corruption became.

  And would corruption be so bad, if she was invincible? She shuddered away from that false temptation.

  Two of the demons moved to attack her, trying to save their doomed master. With a contemptuous flick of her aura, she hit them both with death spells. Demons may not have been life on this world, but they could be affected by witch magic. They had magical shields of course, but her greater power smashed through theirs, and the demons stiffened and fell to the ground dead.

  She lunged as he turned to run, the air shimmering as a portal started to form.

  She started to swing her sword, the excitement and taste of victory in her mouth.

  She gasped, and she was covered in sweat as she sat up in the hotel bed. She hadn’t had a dream that vivid before, not even the ones when Samael had killed her whole team while she watched helplessly, or when she was buried alive.

  She was horrified at the deep desire to reach inside of her and wield the magic of a warlock. Even in the dream it had been an addicting thing, which she now knew was a cumulative effect. How many more times had she wielded that power in her life since that moment in her dream. Could she do it again and not fall victim to hellish desires? She didn’t know, and she pushed down the urge to feel the power run through her, as she lit the room on fire. It was an insane impulse, and hard to resist. Worse, she hadn’t really just wielded it, it’d only been a dream, and she knew she was just facing the temptation of the power itself, and not the will of hell itself in that moment.

  Even the power was seductive.

  It wasn’t all bad news though, she’d learned that it took a lot of power to maintain a hellfire shield. Perhaps that’s why demons didn’t do it, a hellfire shield would make their attacks weak. She got the idea Jenna fought smart, not only ambushing to kill, but defensively only unless cornered alone, and let her demons do the actual offensive fighting.

  Point was, Lily had hope now that several rounds of automatic fire plus an explosion or two would be enough to destroy that shield quickly. They’d only been guessing and hoping before, but now she was sure it would work. The only question was, would it work fast enough? It was… a relief, that she realized Jenna was merely extremely dangerous, and could still kill them, but the evil bitch was far from invincible.

  As a bonus, she remembered that death spell and how to form it. It was different from the heart seizing one she’d made for her evil half human quarry, it was tailor made to fully demonic life. Point being, she knew how to take demons down now with her witch magic as well, not just a gun.

  Even better, her memories would come back soon, she could feel it. That dream had been a breakthrough of sorts. At least, she had some hope that was true.

  She frowned, she could still feel the lure of the demonic power, and the demons from the dream. Or at least, she thought that’s what she was feeling, until the hotel door started to open.

  She panicked for a second, when she finally realized the feeling wasn’t a leftover from the dream, it was probably what had woken her up. None of the others could detect demons like she could with her warlock side. Shifters could only scent them, or a witch could know them if she laid eyes on them.

  She rolled off her bed and grabbed Meri and dragged her off her bed as the room was filled with hellfire. She cursed, as she focused her mind, built the spell, and flashed her aura as she releas
ed it, pulling it back tight around her body in as she felt the demon die.

  Meri said, “What the hell!” and then shut up as she noticed her bed merrily burning to ash, as the fire spread. The short hallway by the bathroom and room entrance was still engulfed with the magical hellfire, and there was no way out.

  She hoped the hellfire had the intention to burn only this room, but that wouldn’t help them at all, just the rest of the people staying in the hotel.

  “Jenna must’ve found us and sent demon assassins, we need to get out of here.”

  Meri’s eyes widened, “The others?”

  She frowned, “I think they’re okay, I only feel the hellfire in this room, and the demon that started it is dead, so he won’t be going after them next. Our room was closest to the elevators.”

  They didn’t have much time, the fire was spreading fast, and hungrily devouring everything in the room.

  Meri grabbed her weapon of the night table and opened fire to shoot out the window.

  “Shift!”

  Yeah, they were far too high to survive a fall. She shifted into a hummingbird. Not exactly a bird of prey, but it was puny and if any humans were looking up at the window they wouldn’t see anything flying out.

  Meri shifted too, and they flew out the window. Damn, they were going to need new clothes, and weapons. The hellfire would turn their guns and ammunition into dust as well.

  Shit, she really liked that leather jacket.

  She formed a rather complicated communication spell, and then sent it at Meri and Allison at the same time.

  She sent to both, “We’re alive, the demon is dead. Allison, can you bring some clothes outside. We’re perched on the tree near the hotel side entrance.”

  Meri sent, “This is weird. Okay, we’re going to need the keys to the car too. We’ll go on a Walmart run for new clothes, and someone’s going to have to explain to management we need a new room, and why the fire alarm didn’t go off, and how everything in that room is now ash.”

  Allison replied in a sleepy mind voice, “What the hell are you talking about? It’s four thirty in the morning! What happened?”

  Chapter Thirteen

  It took time to work out. Eventually they’d gotten new clothes, and they were all up and at breakfast at a Bob Evans restaurant a mile away from the hotel. She hadn’t been expecting it, but should have, they’d all just checked out. In hindsight Jacob was right, they didn’t need to be staying there anymore if their enemy was going to send assassins. Although she must have a demon that can find them with impunity, which made it a rather moot point.

  She’d just gotten done telling them all about her dream, minus her wielding hellfire of course, she’d just told them about what she’d learned about the limits to Jenna’s hellfire shielding.

  Everyone looked relieved at that, the sure knowledge that they could overwhelm the warlock’s shield instead of just a hopeful guess, and they seemed to perk up a bit.

  Jacob grunted, “While you two were shopping the rest of us were able to go over some new intelligence. Out of the thirty-seven people on the list, there are over two hundred properties to check out. I won’t blow off the idea she’s at one of their primary homes, but we’ll put them last as far as possible hideouts. That leaves a hundred and eighty-two properties to check, some of them are secondary homes they lease out, some are retail businesses, warehouses, and a few empty buildings.

  “We’re going to split into two teams to search the properties for demon scents. Carl, you’re with Meri, and Lily with me. Jace, you’re going to stay with Cinna, Caroline, and Allison. If it wasn’t for a possible coverup need, I’d send them home since they can’t help with the actual hunt this time. We’ll get as many done as we can today. Before we split up, we’ll pick up replacement weapons for Meri and Lily. Jace, I want you four to stay on the move all day, we’ll regroup later tonight and figure out where we’ll stay.”

  She sighed, it was a decent plan, but if she was Jenna she’d be keeping an eye on the shifter hunter team after her ass. She was afraid Jenna was too smart for it. Sneaking up to Jenna had only worked at the college because Jenna hadn’t been aware of them hunting her yet. The twisted warlock could choose an ambush point to take out a team of two, or simply keep an eye on them and jump between the two hundred properties, keeping her distance until she could initiate her plan at the arena. If Jenna used portals, she wouldn’t even leave scents on the doorways.

  Still, they had to do something, and they might get lucky.

  Jacob cleared his throat, “We’ve also got heavier weapons and explosives on the way. They should be here later tonight. The goal is to find where she is today if possible, then we’ll regroup and go after her when we have C-4, automatic assault weapons, and tungsten clubs.”

  Meri raised an eyebrow, “Tungsten clubs?”

  Jacob nodded, “One of the analysts had the idea. It’s the hardest natural metal, and it has a very high melting point. They thought it might not be so easy for the hellfire to just vaporize it. There’s magic involved of course, but at the very least it will burn up more magic and therefore more life force, to get the shield down faster.”

  Allison looked at her and she could tell the younger witch had a question. It was hard to remember sometimes she wasn’t really in her early twenties, but that she was in her late thirties and hardly young at all. She suspected it was how shy that Allison was, that reinforced that false impression.

  She said, “Sounds like a plan. If nothing else, it’ll be a lot more mass for her to vaporize.”

  She tilted her head at Allison, but the mischievously shy witch held her silence. Maybe Allison wanted to talk to her alone?

  Cinna sighed, and looked up from her phone, “There was a murder last night. Whatever demon you killed, it wasn’t one of her core twelve. I suspect she summoned it just to kill us.”

  Jacob grunted, “Her plan comes to fruition tomorrow night, maybe she’s getting a little arrogant and reckless. There’s little chance the humans will figure anything out before it won’t matter anymore, from her point of view. If… When we find her, we need to take out her demons first during the assault. It’s likely that her portal demon is with her now, and not somewhere else. Today we focus on finding her, without her noticing us, which admittedly will be difficult. Worse comes to worse, we face her at the arena, but let’s do our best to avoid that.”

  Everyone agreed.

  Jacob said, “Let’s finish up breakfast, grab two weapons, and start the search. Jace, see if you can find us a new place to stay.”

  Allison got up, and headed toward the bathroom, she got up and followed.

  Allison looked unsure, and was at the sinks when she walked in.

  “What’s on your mind?”

  Allison asked, “Your dream, did your team witch really fight in the field?”

  Oh, that’s what it was about. She felt a little disappointed, and more than a bit nosy, she’d been hoping it was about Carl.

  “Yes, he did. But I’m not sure if that was normal or not back then, or if it was just because the warlock was a deadly enemy and it would’ve been more dangerous for him to stay behind. Why?”

  Allison shrugged, “We teach, search for prey on the web, and do coverups, but we don’t fight alongside of the shifters in the field. I just wondered if that wasn’t always so.”

  She frowned, “Witches can’t really help much against soul eaters, which in this day and age are what shifter teams hunt the most. I suppose they would be a boon when hunting a rogue shifter or witch though. I suspect the practice fell off when most of the warlocks were hunted down. A witch would be a powerful ally in a warlock hunt, and rogue hunts of witches and shifters are rare too. I suppose it probably just got to the point where it made sense for them not to risk themselves, and to take on non-combat duties.”

  Allison nodded, “That makes sense for most of the time. I mean when hunting soul eaters I couldn’t help. But… I feel like a coward, I could help against Jenna
, or the rare shifter or witch rogue hunt. Even a demon if you teach me that spell. Maybe I don’t feel it as strongly as a shifter, but I do feel the calling to protect humanity, it’s why I’m here. I don’t feel like I’m doing as much as I can do. It’s been bothering me for a while, but I just figured it was the way it was, until you mentioned your dream.”

  She tilted her head, “It’s up to you I’d imagine, you just have to convince Jacob. And… perhaps Carl?”

  Allison looked startled at that.

  She smiled apologetically, “I saw you two last night, on the river walk.”

  Allison laughed a bit nervously, “Yeah, that’s another whole thing to consider. He looks even younger today. I’m not even sure how to feel about it, I’m attracted to him, all of them really. Shifter men are all yummy, you know? So that part of things isn’t a problem at all, I’m just not sure I want a relationship with one. It’ll take time to get used to the idea, before I can decide. Carl is family to me already, and not in that way, you know?”

  She nodded slowly, “Sorry for being nosy, and I suppose I get that. I don’t think Jacob would stop you, if you wanted to go out with one of the teams. Jace could just hang with Cinna and Caroline today.”

  Allison replied, “I think I want to, I’m scared though.”

  She smiled, “We all are, Allie. Even us insane shifters that get excited by danger and the hunt get scared, that’s why it’s called bravery. Fearlessness is just stupidity, and it has nothing to do with being brave. Bravery is being terrified and doing it anyway, fear doesn’t make you weak, or lesser, it makes you smart, sharp, and keeps you alive. You might want to wait though, you’re not really trained for it. The witch in my vision had a sword and crossbow, and he was in good enough shape to run miles through the desert.”