They left the concrete pavement of the town, moving up onto a winding drive way that snaked through tall trees. Amongst the branches in the mist, dark lethal shapes moved and climbed.
Finally Debruler pointed ahead.
“There. See that’s the front gates of chez Debruler. Would be nice if I was having you all round for dinner instead of this, but such is life. This is terribly embarrassing but the place is a bit of a state. Muscadet is an excellent manservant but hoovering is not his specialty.”
Usher looked around at the tall vulture headed valet.
“I’ve seen lots of unusual things over the years, but I have to ask. What is he exactly?”
“Hah. I picked him up in Egypt on my travels. He’s old school, is Muscadet, and there’s a good story behind how I found him. Basically…”
A cold voice came from behind the group.
“Mr Debruler! I believe you have something of mine.”
Usher turned around to a see a man standing behind them some way down the path the way they had come. He looked like a preacher that had ended up homeless. The soldiers of Empire One raised their Soulblades and motley firearms. Debruler called to them.
“Wait. I don’t think your bullets will have much effect on this one.”
Usher didn’t lower his blade and spoke over his shoulder. “That our man?”
Debruler nodded. “Unfortunately yes. That is Cornelius Fortune. I doubt you’ve been up against anything quite like him before. Hello Cornelius!”
Cornelius Fortune peered around him at the misty walls, reached a long fingered hand out and brushed them, creating a puff of red.
“This is a rather good idea Debruler. Your father teach you this one?”
“Before you killed him, yes.”
“Sorry about that.”
Debruler set his jaw.
“We’re not going to give up the Bones, Cornelius. Go back and tell your boss you tried.”
Cornelius nodded. “Shall I? He’ll be fine about it I’m sure he will. Or instead I could just torture and kill you all then walk in there and take it. I’ll do that.”
“What’s that monstrosity with you?”
Debruler pointed to the shuffling decomposing revenant that used to be the town mechanic, who lurched and stooped behind his new master.
“That’s Gus. I believe he used to be married to the attractive red haired lady to your left. Hello Gina. Sorry I didn’t get to sample your breakfast wares.”
Gina could not look at the hunched thing behind the Necromancer. She shut her eyes against the hot tears she felt rising.
Usher called out.
“Unseelie! I don’t much care what you are, or how fucking spooky you try to be. As far as we’re concerned you’re just another monster needs sent back to the dust.”
Cornelius cocked his head at Usher.
“I know you. You’re the one that took Isaiah’s head. It took me a long time to make him.”
“Took me about two seconds to unmake him.”
“Hmm. Usher isn’t it? Took a lot longer than that to dismantle your wife and son.”
Usher felt a cold rage rise up in his soul. For a moment he almost forgot himself, his mission, everything, and had to fight the urge to run at this creature with his blade held high. He felt Isaac’s hand on his arm.
“He’s goading you Thom. He doesn’t know shit.”
Cornelius called out to Debruler.
“Young Edward. You made a mistake in your conjurations.”
Debruler let the doubt creep into his face then checked it.
“What mistake?”
Cornelius ran his fingers through the mist again, watched as it wound like a spool around his wrist.
“You missed out vital little sigil, easy to forget. But like most things, all it takes to unravel it, is one loose little thread.”
The survivors watched in fearful anticipation as the Necromancer tugged at the tendril of mist.
“Just. Like. This.”
Suddenly it was as if a submarine hull had been breached, and red mist began to pour into the narrow passage. It spread around the smiling Necromancer and then engulfed him. The last thing Usher saw was his rotten toothed smile.
For a few horrified moments they all just stared as their precious tunnel collapsed. Closer and closer it came, the mist closing in and within it countless ravening Nosferatu and Carrion.
Usher turned to the group.
“Run. Like you’ve never run before. Go!!”
The survivors pushed their legs until they burned with lactic acid. Their lungs were dragging in every last morsel of oxygen. Usher slung Isaac over his shoulder in a fireman’s lift and ran as fast as he could. “Remember the old commando test Isaac?”
Isaac struggled and moaned in pain.
“Thom put me the fuck down, you can’t outrun them carrying me!”
Usher was close to collapse but he was not about to abandon his friend.
“Only thing weighing me down is your pessimism soldier, suck it up and shoot anything at my back.”
They ran as fast as they could, pushing their bodies to the limits, hardly daring to look back.
For a moment Usher did glace over his shoulder and saw that the passage was collapsing only a few metres behind them, and he could see myriad snapping jaws within the mist. He dug deep, finding some last reserve of energy. Behind him he could hear the screeching and hissing of the undead and smell the acrid stench of the mist.
Come on soldier. Keep going.
Suddenly they were through the gate and past the fence, none of them daring to stop. Usher looked up and saw Debruler stumbling as he reached an ornate fountain overgrown with vines. He fell to his knees but quickly picked himself up and lunged for what looked like a sundial of sorts. He turned an iron dial and then fell to his knees and looked back at the gate.
Usher’s knees suddenly gave way beneath the weight of Isaac and he collapsed onto the gravel. Isaac tumbled down next to him.
“I’m sorry Isaac. I’m sorry. Legs are gone. Come on get up, we can keep going.”
Isaac struggled to his knees and tried to help Usher up. Then he looked up and called out.
“Thom. They’re on us!”
Usher spun and saw that the mist was almost upon them. They were the last through the gate and the horde of Unseelie was no more than ten feet away. Usher drew his blade and beside him Isaac did the same.
“Isaac, it’s been a pleasure.”
“Likewise old pal. Let’s take some heads off.”
They watched as the mist rolled over the threshold and the monsters were only six feet away.
Usher braced himself for the last fight.
Suddenly a translucent sheen rose up in front of them, as visible as a rainbow but with a purple hue.
The creatures in front of them halted, unable to advance. They scratched their talons and beat their skulls against the barrier but to no avail.
Usher looked around and saw the same distortion of light rise up all around the perimeter of the mansion, coming together high above to form a dome.
Usher looked around, saw the survivors collapsed on the grass in front of the house, saw Stromberg and Jeter running across towards him. Next to the fountain Debruler was looking over and panting heavily with his thumb held high.
He did it. Jesus he actually did it.
Jeter and Charlie arrived at their sides, helping them up. Usher put his arm around Charlie’s shoulder.
“Thanks Charlie. How you doing?”
“I am absolutely on my fucking chinstrap, boss. Beats stacking shelves though.”
Jeter tugged up the sleeve of his torn shirt and looked at his watch.
“We only have a few minutes, major. I know little of thaumaturgy. Does Ariel think this shield or whatever it is will hold?”
Usher shrugged.
“As usual we’re in the hands of the Gods, Jeter. We just have to hope.”
Usher limped over to Debruler, the lactic acid in
his legs slowly subsiding.
“Seems another thanks is in order. You’ve bought us some time.”
Debruler nodded. “A little maybe. Truth is I’m as terrified and confused as you are. My dad prepared me for this day all my life. Here it is, and I feel like a blundering idiot.”
Muscadet chirped next to him.
“Well that’s very kind old boy, but you did most of the work with that sword of yours.”
Muscadet held up his sickle sword and bowed slightly.
Usher straightened up, turned to Ariel and caught his breath.
“Ariel, is there any point taking cover inside?”
Ariel looked up at the mansion.
“Not really Thom. It may give us some protection from the blast but the anti-thaumaturgic energy, it’s like radiation, it will seep through everything in minutes. We can’t survive it.”
Usher peered up at the insubstantial looking dome above his head.
“Unless that shield can absorb it.”
“That’s about it Thom. Sometimes we just have to accept that some things are bigger than us. We’re all at the mercy of something.”
Usher looked around him at the townsfolk and his team.
“Well we have a couple of minutes. Just about enough time for a quick drink.”
The soldiers of Empire One limped over and gathered around the fountain. They watched as the bloodmist wrapped itself around the shield, seeping upwards until it obscured the sky. Countless Nosferatu battered their leathery wings against the shield above them, screeching and slashing at it with their claws. Around the fence line hundreds more Carrion appeared, crawling right up to the barrier and pounding it with their rotting limbs.
Usher took out a small silver hipflask, unscrewed the lid and took a slug of brandy.
He passed it across to Isaac.
“You still got your post-mission cigar?”
Isaac checked his pocket and produced two small aluminium tubes. He raised a dark eyebrow at Usher.
“How come despite nearly every piece of kit we brought with us ending up broken, we never lose these?”
Usher took one and shook his head. “We’re just lucky.”
Isaac smiled and unscrewed the lid.
“The lucky few.”
They watched as more and more Unseelie monsters appeared from the depths of the mist and battered against the shield. The whole mansion was enveloped now in a thick coating of red mist and to the humans inside it was like staring out into hell. The sheer numbers of the enemy were insurmountable.
Isaac and Thom lit up their cigars, enjoying a bizarre moment of calm in the face of impending death.
“You think it will hold?”
“Not for long.”
“So either it fails and the Unseelie kill us, or the bomb shatters the shield and the blast kills us. Or if we’re still alive by the time these cigars are done, somehow the shield holds up.”
Usher took in a deep puff of smoke.
“Yup. Smoke slow.”
“How did this mission go so wrong, Thom?”
Usher blew out the smoke and sighed, watching the vampires run again and again at the shield wall, smashing off it and preparing again.
“I think we were getting too used to winning. Started to believe our own reputation in the STG. We almost had the Unseelie on the run these last few missions. I think this is just a reminder of exactly what it is we are up against. We’re just a handful of men against a sea of monsters. Yet we were winning Isaac. Somehow we were winning.”
Isaac looked around at the rest of the team, the townsfolk huddled up on the lawn, at Debruler and his strange manservant.
“We won’t make that mistake again Thom.”
“I don’t know if we’ll get the chance Isaac.”
“If we do?”
Usher looked over at his old friend.
“I don’t know if we can win the war against such a force Isaac. I just want to fight next to my friends. To whatever end.”
“Amen to that.”
A figure appeared out of the mist at the wrought iron gate of the mansion. It stood there in its mouldy black suit and smiled in at them with rotten teeth.
Usher chewed his cigar into the corner of his mouth. “Well look who it is.”
“Fortune.”
Usher walked forward down the path to the edge of the shield until he was almost nose to nose with the Necromancer. The rest of Empire One and Debruler followed behind him, a stand of solidarity.
Usher nodded.
“We’re closed.”
Cornelius Fortune studied the shield up and down and then touched a tentative finger to its surface. It crackled and he drew his hand back with a sharp hiss. He looked past Usher’s shoulder to Debruler.
“Well you finally got something right Edward. This is beautifully made. Your father’s work I assume however not yours. It won’t last long though, not once I start bombarding it with magic.”
Debruler stared back at the Necromancer and tried to meet his eye.
“His present to his son. To keep undesirables from our door.”
Cornelius looked around and took in a measure of the motley group of desperate soldiers and terrified townsfolk.
“Well that hasn’t worked out has it?”
Usher stepped forward.
“Last chance to pack up your stuff and cross back over.”
Cornelius regarded him with wry amusement.
“I admire your confidence Major Usher. Your family had a similar constitution. At first.”
“Save it.”
“Oh but I remember. It was me they brought them to. It was me that killed them, your wife and son. Not straight away obviously. Took quite some time. That’s something you don’t have.”
Usher felt his blood turn to ice. Then he heard the deep droning of a jet in the sky above them. A slow smile crept across his face.
“Looks like time is something neither of us have Mr Fortune.”
The Necromancer studied Usher’s face, calculating. He glanced up through the mist, taking in the sound of the aeroplane. His bloodshot eyes were filled with nothing but cunning and sadism. His face seemed to register what was happening but he did not flinch.
“Scorched earth policy, eh?”
“Something like that.”
“You know this is unlikely to protect you.”
“I know.”
“Well then. Time for me to go.”
“Looks that way. Better run fast.”
“But I’ll be back once the dust settles. To take my prize.”
The sounds of the jet engines were closer overhead now. The Necromancer looked past Usher and spoke in a louder voice.
“Once they’re all dead, if you’re still standing, bring it to me.”
Usher looked around. He scanned the battered and broken members of his team. They stood as strong and tall as they could. Ariel, Jeter, Santiago, Brock, Stromberg, Charlie, Isaac. They kept their chins up despite how Usher knew they felt inside. Debruler and his manservant Muscadet stood next to them. There was a strange nobility to them both, despite their filthy and ragged appearance. Across the grass, tending to the wounded and scared was Gina the waitress, still fascinating to Usher despite being covered in filth and grazes.
The two young rivals Bobby and Billy were now side by side, comrades in arms. Sherriff Daggett had fought through paunch and inactivity to become the best Sherriff he could for the town. Then Usher’s gaze fell on a man he had almost forgotten about in all the terror and violence. A man who seemed ill suited to his role and who had seemed determined to sabotage the mission from the start. A man whose whereabouts after the helicopter crash could not entirely be accounted for.
Cavell stood there at the fringes of the townsfolk, next to the front entrance to the house.
From his pocket he produced a key. It looked exactly like the one taken from a safety deposit box in Paris by a doppelganger masquerading as his wife. A key that was designed to switch off all magica
l protection in the vault deep beneath the mansion where the Bones of Lilith were kept.
Usher turned back to Cornelius Fortune, who was smiling at him and backing off into the mist. “Oh look it’s trying to think. Bye now Major Usher.” The Necromancer then seemed to turn into the bloodmist itself and drift away.
The penny dropped.
Usher spun around and saw Cavell holding up the key and winking at him across the lawn. Then Cavell’s face melted away like candle wax, reforming until it became a face he knew only too well. His own wife.
Usher drew his blade and shouted at his team.
“It’s Cavell! It’s the fucking shapechanger. He’s going for the bones!”
The team turned around and saw the half transformed creature standing in the porch. It waved at them and then turned tail and ran into the mansion.
Usher’s mind was racing.
Did Fortune want this all along? Was this his plan? Has he been playing us all this time?
Usher and his team ran towards the mansion, blades drawn, desperate to salvage something of the mission and stop the Necromancer getting what he wanted.
But it was too late.
There was a sudden blinding flash in the forest outside the mansion. Everyone stooped and covered their eyes. There was nothing else for a long moment and then a deep rumbling suction like pulling the plug on the world and the ground shook beneath their feet.
The bomb.
Usher struggled to stay on his feet. He watched in awe as outside the shield, trees were suddenly uprooted like weeds. The hundreds of Nosferatu and Carrion outside suddenly stopped, crouching in confusion and fear, and then were vaporized in an instant, becoming just an ever increasing cloud of dust.
Usher shouted to Ariel over the clamouring din. “Ariel what the hell have you helped create?”
Ariel just shook his head and stared as the hundreds of Unseelie creatures surrounding the mansion crumbled like dry insects into powder. The mist began to swirl and condense into smaller tornadoes, vast swathes of blue sky suddenly becoming visible above their heads. Suddenly a portion of the shield cracked and burst inwards. A burning hot gale howled into the sanctuary of the mansion grounds, knocking everyone to the ground. The air was foul and Usher felt himself retching and convulsing as he lay on the grass.
The Last Line Series One Page 54