Shadow of the Apocalypse

by D. L. Harrison

  Jacob grunted, “Good point. Let’s get started, if at all possible we need to find her before then.”

  Her and Meri went with Jacob and Allison down to the SUV, and they headed for the car rental place. Jace and Carl already had their own rental. Her thoughts wandered a bit on the quiet drive, and she struggled mentally at the memories that wouldn’t yield themselves to her. She already knew there was no point in doing that, the memories would come when they were ready, but she couldn’t help herself, which was an exercise in frustration.

  She’d also decided her dream last night and the worry she’d had was pointless. Even if there was some truth in it, that she’d felt attracted to Jacob right away because he’d reminded her of someone she couldn’t remember and loved, she decided it didn’t matter. Since then, she’d gotten to know Jacob and those initial feelings of shallow chemical attraction were far deeper. It didn’t matter where the initial attraction came from, what mattered was what’d come after that.

  Still, she hated being in the dark about her own life. It made her feel wishy washy at times, and she hated not being decisive. It didn’t feel like the real her.

  Jacob said, “Be careful out there today, if she noticed what we were doing yesterday she could have set traps for us.”

  Meri grinned, “We will.”

  She said, “You too, be careful I mean.”

  Allison said, “Good luck!”

  The two of them slipped out of the car, and they headed into the rental office. Her head spun with the possibilities, she knew this kind of hunt wasn’t all that rare, except that perhaps it was for this day and age. Warlocks of Jenna’s caliber were the exception in this time. The rest of the day had so much weight to it, and there was a lot that could go wrong. Exposure was a real risk, even if they stopped the mass sacrifice Jenna had planned some kooky things could get caught on camera. She also didn’t think that her and Allison would have enough power to erase the short-term memory of thousands of people. It didn’t take all that much magic for one, but eighteen thousand of a little bit added up to a whole lot.

  “What’d you get?” she asked as Meri walked away from the counter.

  Meri smirked, “Mustang.”

  She laughed, “Subtle.”

  Meri winked, “We’ll blend right in.”

  She snorted, but she had a wide smile on her face as they got into the metallic brown mustang. It wasn’t her favorite color, but it was still a sweet ride.

  Meri started it up, took a moment to find the eighties rock station on Sirius, and then pulled out.

  She pulled out the cellphone and loaded up Jacob’s report on the homes, and then put the first address in the car’s GPS. She could have used her phone, but that function always drained the hell out of the battery.

  Meri said, “You seem more relaxed.”

  She shrugged, “I decided not to worry about the dream. Plus, its progress, second new memory in as many days. At that rate, I should remember everything in a million years or so.”

  Meri giggled, and so did she.

  She frowned, “It’s true enough, but I expect it won’t actually work that way. It’s like poking holes in a dam, eventually it will all flood back.”

  Meri asked, “And the dream?”

  Nosy shifter.

  “I had a shifter mate, it was sometime before Samael killed my team and buried me alive, although I can’t say how long before. All I can say with certainty is somewhere in those last eight centuries, because he was there when...” she trailed off.

  Meri sighed, “That sucks, but it’s a familiar story. What we do is dangerous. More so because so many hunts are easy, like that guy we took down together in the bar. He didn’t even see it coming, much less put up a fight.”

  She smiled. Meri wasn’t wrong, but she didn’t think a fallen arch-angel counted as not staying frosty or letting down her guard. They were just… way outclassed in that case. What was the saying, it was possible to do everything right, and still lose, and that’d been one such case.

  They pulled up to the house with the windows down.

  She said, “This is one of the primary homes on the list, I can feel a family of four sleeping in there. I’m not feeling hell’s magic.”

  Meri frowned, “Are you sure you can feel it from this far?”

  She nodded, “I think so, a couple of hundred feet for a demon. I’d have to be a lot closer to pick up residue.”

  Meri said, “Well that will make things easier, as long as the house is relatively close to the street. Next?”

  She pulled out the list, and then put the second address in the GPS.

  The first half of the morning went similarly, they went from house to house, and because they didn’t have to get out for most of them she didn’t think they’d have trouble hitting them all. It was around four hours later, right before ten, when things broke.

  “This is a rental house,” she said as they pulled up the street.

  The GPS announced they’d reached their destination as she felt Jenna and the demons. It’d been hard doing the monotonous work and staying frosty, but she got a major hit of adrenaline as a fission of excitement went through her body.

  “Stop!”

  Meri stomped the breaks.

  “They’re in there,” she said, “and I’m not sure if they can feel me or not.”

  Meri pulled her phone and texted the address to the other two teams.

  She frowned, “The house is empty according to the life-web, but they’re all in there.”

  Meri backed up a little as she parked against the curb.

  She wasn’t sure if Jenna and the demons would have her range. She was also fairly sure they couldn’t detect her that way anyway. She was covered in witch shields, and she wasn’t channeling the magic of hell. Just like they were shielded from the life-web, she should be shielded the other way.

  Her only worry was that the enemy clearly had another way to keep an eye on them, otherwise they wouldn’t have found them so easily at the first hotel they’d stayed in. In fact, she was kind of surprised they’d found Jenna and her demons at all, the warlock should have been a step ahead of them.

  Unless, she supposed Jenna could still be asleep and not paying close attention to what they were up to that morning. Especially if the warlock was up late last night planning or playing. She tried not to think about that latter option too much. In fact, given their shortfall progress the day before, and their focus on the business addresses, Jenna might have dismissed it as a threat entirely. It was only splitting up into three teams that made the difference, otherwise they’d have never made it to this part of the list.

  Meri said, “They’re on their way.”

  “Yeah, she must be sleeping, she’s not moving.”

  She explained her thought process, but added, “Still, it could be a trap. Chances are she screwed up, but I don’t want to underestimate her either.”

  Meri nodded, “Agreed.”

  Meri pulled the large duffel bag over the seat, and they both grabbed M-16s and loaded clips.

  She grabbed one of the bars of tungsten as well. It was heavy as hell, about an inch in diameter, and two feet long. With shifted strength she didn’t have any trouble lifting it though, and she also shifted speed and felt the usual excitement at the hunt flow through her veins. It was a crazy line of work, protecting humanity, but at least she enjoyed it.

  “They’re almost here.”

  She could feel her team across a city of course, through the life-web, up to fifty miles away. They were just a few blocks away in that moment.

  Meri nodded.

  “Shit, somethings going on, she’s on the move. Downstairs, a basement maybe? Maybe she’s not tracking all of us.”

  The front door burst open, and four demons ran out with hellfire glowing on their fingertips.

  “Shit, out,” she said, but Meri was already opening the door.

  They both dove out as hellfire shot out from the demon’s fingertips and bathed the Mu
stang. Damnit, that was going to be some insurance claim form.

  She wanted to save her ammunition for the warlock and her shield, so flashed her aura long enough to fire off a death spell. She took one down, as a second was shot in the head by Meri. The other two blasted hellfire at them again, and she dove behind a tree.

  The mustang was about a quarter gone, and still burning in the licking blood fire. Obviously, the demons weren’t as selective about what burned, as their target had been.

  She flashed her aura a second time, and took down her second demon, as Jacob pulled up followed by Carl and Jace a few seconds later. She remembered the dream, in the past she hadn’t exploded out her aura in a sphere like that, she’d merely sent out an aural whip of sorts, which her past self had used to send the spell down to her target, while most of her aura remained a solid and tight in to her body as a shield. Unfortunately, unlike the spell to kill a demon, she hadn’t picked up on exactly how to do that.

  She’d have to practice, it was probably just the visualization thing. There was very little chance an opponent could time it right, the aura flashing out while releasing a spell and being pulled back in was measured in hundredths of a second. At least, not on purpose, but there was always blind chance and really bad luck to account for, so it made sense to close up even that small vulnerability if she could.

  Meri took out the last one with a headshot. There were eight demons left in the house, along with their target, but they were all downstairs.

  “Basement!” she passed on as she ran into the house. The others were right on her heels as she ran down the hallway into the kitchen, and toward the door down to the basement.

  She stopped short and let out a frustrated growl that startled her, as she saw the stairs down were burning merrily in blood red flames. It’d be suicide to go down there.

  Jacob stepped in front of her and tossed a small package down the stairs, it soared over the flames, and then he pulled her to the side as he took cover against the kitchen wall himself.

  Boom!

  The plastic explosives detonated below, but not close enough to kill any of the demons, much less Jenna.

  “Portal,” she grated out.

  She could feel them escaping. The blood red of the fire winked out, and she looked down the stairs. There were no stairs, just a basement pit with no way down or up. That didn’t stop her from jumping down, and Jacob growled as he jumped after her.

  Four demons had gone through, but the other four and Jenna turned to look their way.

  She sent debilitating fear at Jenna as she opened up with the M16. It was her first time firing it, and although the recoil was minimal, far less than the handgun, each firing added up. She sprayed about half the magazine over Jenna’s head. She was strong though, and pulled it back down, she’d never make that mistake again. Several bullets slammed into Jenna’s face and torso, but they were burned away by the hellfire shield.

  Jenna looked terrified, but Lily’s attack seemed to break her out of her frozen state, and she dove through the portal.

  The others on the team opened fire on the four demons, but two of them were able to escape, and the portal snapped shut. They’d killed half her twelve core demons, but it still felt like a failure. The bitch had escaped, and they’d never find her again, not before that night at the arena.

  Her eyes scanned the floor.

  “Shit, the canisters were here. That’s why she sacrificed those four demons, and burned the stairs down to slow us, instead of just building a portal out upstairs for them all as soon as she discovered us. Look, dust rings, four of them.”

  They were large too, about two feet in diameter. They must’ve just missed seeing the four demons carry them through the portal.

  Jacob frowned, “We’ll never find them now, we’ll have to take them at the arena.”

  “I might have a bit of good news,” Allison’s voice floated down from above.

  Carl asked, “What’s that?”

  She could hear the smirk in Allison’s voice.

  “We’ll have to worry about taking her out tonight, and about exposure, but the gas is now inert. It won’t be killing anyone, much less eighteen thousand people.”

  She giggled as a surge of relief went through her. The coming night could still be a nightmare, and they could still die, but at least they didn’t have to worry about all the people dying. Well, assuming those four canisters were the only four. Damn, why’d she have to think of that possibility?

  “That’s good news, but she has twelve demons for a reason, is it possible there are eight more stored somewhere else? I suspect her plan was for them to carry them in, then she can set them off herself so it counts as a sacrifice.”

  Jacob grumbled, “Maybe.”

  It was obvious he was just as upset that Jenna had escaped. To be fair, they hadn’t even had time to test their idea, Jenna had fought off her compulsion and dove through the portal before the rest of them could empty a magazine at her body.

  Allison sounded thoughtful, “It’s still a good thing, and it also means I can neutralize the other eight on scene, as long as I have a few moments after they’re brought in. Assuming Jenna even has eight more.”

  That was true, merely the knowledge that the gas was biological in nature was a relief, and it increased their chances of stopping Jenna.

  She said, “Well, we have our plans for tonight, and there’s no point checking the other addresses, we won’t catch her sleeping a second time. Any ideas?”

  Jacob grunted, “You’re right, a little fun and relaxation this afternoon might help us be sharp and relaxed for tonight. We’ll decide over lunch, I’m thinking Japanese steak house.”

  That sounded good to her stomach as well.

  “Yeah, it’s barely after ten though.”

  Jacob grinned, “Yes, and it should take about two hours for you and Meri to fill out all the insurance forms on the disappearing Mustang, obviously stolen. That thing has to be nothing but ashes by now.”

  She sighed, and gave him a sour look, “Or… we could let the apocalypse happen.”

  He chuckled, “To save on paperwork?”

  She nodded innocently, “Paperwork is evil,” and Meri and Allison giggled.

  Chapter Sixteen

  It didn’t quite take two hours, but close. The eight of them were seated around the grill, where their meal was being prepared. It looked delicious, mushroom, onions, fried rice, steak, chicken, shrimp, and veggies, all of it grilled in sinful amounts of rich butter.

  The morning had been a bust, but not a total one. They’d learned soul eater compulsion did affect a shielded warlock, and they’d killed half of Jenna’s demon minions. They had a plan for tonight, and they were monitoring the police band.

  It’d occurred to Meri earlier that Jenna might decide to get six last minute replacements. She hoped it didn’t happen, but it was certainly possible. She was trying to relax, and not stress, it would make a difference later she knew. The difference between being alert and frosty tonight, as opposed to wrung out from what ifs and worries during the preceding hours.

  Easier said than done however, she was nervous about later that night. They weren’t perfect, and failure could lead to the destruction of San Antonio and other parts of southern Texas. Even without her memories she knew the stakes had never been higher for her, cities simply weren’t that large in population in the antiquity of her earlier life. In her dream, even with her full powers and understanding, her and her team had failed to stop a very similar warlock from destroying a town of five thousand humans.

  “So, what’s the plan?”

  Cinna said, “Manis and pedis, and a massage?”

  Carl snorted, “How about that new Marvel movie?”

  Allison snorted, and then blushed when they all looked her way.

  “We could split up?”

  Jacob shook his head, “Stick together, Jenna could be watching for a chance. There has to be something that appeals to all of us, male or fema
le. That means no waxes, and no Marvel movies.”

  Meri shook her head, “You think we like waxing?”

  Jacob frowned, and she laughed.

  The conversation paused as the chef started to load their plates with rice, meat, and all the fixings. They all dug in, and they were half done with eating before anyone spoke.

  Caroline said, “How about Sea World, and then if there’s time we can explore the River Walk some more.”

  The guys didn’t look all that excited by the idea, but went with it when her, Meri, Cinna, and Allison all gushed over the idea. After all, Jace adored Cinna, Carl was trying to woo Allison into a relationship, and Jacob had it pretty bad for her as well. She thought it worked out well…

  They had a good time, followed by an early dinner before they headed to the arena. She was able to relax and have fun, and although Jacob wouldn’t let it go any farther the two of them had chatted, laughed, and held hands for most of the time.

  The police hadn’t found any dead bodies, but she took that with a grain of salt, that didn’t mean their quarry hadn’t gotten her hands on six more demons, it just meant if she had that the bodies hadn’t been discovered yet. She thought it likely though, Jenna wouldn’t have summoned eleven new demons if she hadn’t needed eleven. Jenna was nuts, crazy, and in love with a demoness, but she was also methodical and smart about her moves. It wouldn’t do to forget the warlock had managed to stay off the shifter team’s radar down here for four long years.

  She also regretted the promise she’d made. What if Jenna shows up, soaks up all the bullets and spells the six of them and the human security can send, and then hits the button that releases the gas before she can wield hellfire to end it? She felt antsy about it, like she should make sure of it and turn the bitch to ash as soon as she shows up. She promised though, and she wouldn’t wield hellfire unless it was the last and only remaining option.

  They showed their badges at the entrance, and one of the security guys escorted them to the security office where the head of security sat. He was a large man, six foot two, built like a linebacker, and looked to be in good shape. He was in his forties, with salt and pepper hair, steely gray eyes, and a square jaw with chiseled cheek bones.