by S. C. Stokes
She had no idea how to diffuse the situation without putting him in harm’s way.
"What do we do?” Kasey asked Sanders, unable to look away from John. “We can't let him go, but we can't attack him either. Whatever we do, John is bound to get caught in the crossfire."
"I'm not playing with you, Miss Chase,” the Master of the Shinigami said. “One more step, one more spell, one more misguided breath in my direction and I'll end his existence before your very eyes.”
Kasey stood rooted to the spot. It was John, or the city. She could see the outcome with perfect clarity. If they let Akihiro leave, he would destroy New York City. If they didn't, he would kill John. He'd killed dozens already; she had no doubt John would be next if they did not comply.
Akihiro had put her in this position before, though she hadn’t known him at the time. It had been Langstrode or Bishop. She could only save one. He knew all too well how she would react. She'd chosen Bishop over Langstrode and allowed the Shinigami to further his plans. In her heart she knew there was a price to be paid to save the city, but she could not bear to watch another pay it.
"Take me,” Kasey said, voice even.
"No, Kasey!" her mother cried out.
Kasey held up a hand for silence. "Take me in his place. I'm the one you wanted anyway, right? You sent Danilo after me. It was me that killed your little cabals of murderers. I’m the one you want, not him. What is he to you? Let him go and take me as your collateral."
"I'm not here to bargain, Miss Chase.”
“But you should,” Kasey countered. “I might not be willing to risk his life, but Sanders and his agents aren’t going to think twice. Not after today.”
Akihiro nodded. “It is certainly a tempting proposition. After all, without you, none of us would even be standing here today. I accept. Come, slowly. I'm warning you, one step out of place, one breath of a spell upon your lips, and I will end him, and you will have a front row seat."
Kasey raised her hands, "It’s not a ploy, Akihiro. I'm simply sick of seeing others pay the price."
She advanced toward the Chancellor.
Her mother tried to reach for her. "No, Kasey. You can’t do this."
Kasey shook her off.
"Kasey, don’t do it,” Sanders said, but didn’t dare to move.
Kasey paused, looking over her shoulder at her mother and Sanders. "I can, and I will. You know everything I know about his plot now. If he escapes, you know where to go.” Her gaze fixed on her mother. “Momma, I love you. You're the best mother a girl could ever ask for. I’m sorry I couldn’t do more.”
Kasey couldn't ever recall seeing her mother flustered. Now, she watched as her mother’s stern expression broke like a dam shattering. Tears welled up in her eyes.
It was more than Kasey could take. She turned and continued to walk toward the Master of the Shinigami.
She felt the weight of the world pressing down on her shoulders as she neared John.
John was shaking in the air. Whatever spell Akihiro was using to immobilize him, John was fighting with every fiber of his being.
As soon as Kasey got within a few steps of him, the Shinigami flipped his hand. John sailed up into the roof.
"No!” Kasey screamed as he struck the ceiling and then hurtled downward into the tiles.
Before Kasey could reach for him, she felt an icy grip surround her. Akihiro had her and she knew it. Kasey looked at the crumpled form of John Ainslie as she was swept into the air.
The chill seemed to completely enshroud her. It felt as if she were diving deep underwater. The pressure threatened to crush in on her from every direction. The Shinigami was literally squeezing the life out of her.
Kasey hovered through the air until she rested helplessly before him.
Akihiro’s mouth widened into a smile. "Well, well, well, Miss Chase. What are we to do with you now?"
Chapter Twenty-One
Kasey hovered helplessly in the air, dangling before the Master of the Shinigami. All over her body, she could feel the weight of her arcane containment crushing against her. It was slowly, inexorably squeezing the life out of her. At her feet, John Ainslie lay in a heap.
Akihiro, Master of The Shinigami, grinned maniacally as he used the floating Kasey as a human shield.
"Now, just give me a moment to take care of this shoulder and we shall be out of here, Miss Chase," the Shinigami said. He glanced back at her mother and Sanders. "Not a move out of either of you two, or I swear you will see her die in a manner so excruciatingly painful, you will never be able to erase it from your mind. Imagine her bursting like an overfilled balloon. I promise you, it’s a sight you will never forget."
The Shinigami chanted as he laid his good hand over his ruined shoulder. The suit his illusion was wearing had been blasted apart, and blood stained his shirt.
As Akihiro chanted, sickly emerald energy emanated from his palm and washed over his shoulder. Kasey’s eyes widened. She had expected the same healing glow her mother used on her earlier. The master must've seen her surprised reaction because he looked up and offered a pitying smile.
"You see, Kasey, the problem with using magic to heal is that you are trying to use an arcane force to heal a failing mortal frame. Not a bad option if you have no other choice. But for those versed in necromancy, the art of life and death, it is a poor second choice. Far better to restore life with life."
Kasey's eyes descended to the glowing talisman around his neck.
"Yes, precisely. This device allows me to capture the energy that escapes from a person's body at the moment they expire. Stored and preserved, that life force allows me to extend my own life far beyond that of a normal mortal. You are all positively infantile to me. I have seen centuries come and go. You are so attracted to this ideal of freedom, you have no comprehension of how the world works. America is just another pretender momentarily occupying the center of the world stage. I watched as your country rose and I'll be the instrument of its fall. There is no stopping us now."
Kasey watched as the ruined flesh knit itself together. When he was done, the skin of his shoulder looked unblemished, it was as if he’d never been wounded at all.
Footsteps thudded behind her, dozens upon dozens. All around her, the ADI was converging on their location. More seemed to be approaching from behind the Master of the Shinigami.
Her heart leapt.
The Master of the Shinigami was about to be completely surrounded and cut off from his escape. She may have had little chance of survival, but it was comforting to know that he would die too.
As the agents approached, Kasey studied them. Something was wrong; they were far too at ease. They advanced, completely unconcerned by the presence of Arthur Ainslie surrounded by the bodies of dozens of civilians and their fellow agents. Their faces were an unreadable facade.
Each agent carried an MP5 submachine gun. It wasn't standard issue for the ADI, though it was a weapon that she had been on the receiving end of before. The same weapon carried by the Shinigami and their acolytes during the assault on the Ninth Precinct.
Kasey realized what was happening.
Those standing behind the Master were no agents of the ADI. They were not salvation. They were Akihiro’s reinforcements and they were disguised as ADI agents. The unknown force that had stormed City Hall was here.
Kasey looked to their arms. The mark of the Shinigami was inked just above the right wrist. She wanted to scream a warning, but she could not move. She prayed that Sanders would see it in time.
"It's time for us to leave, Kasey," the Master of the Shinigami declared. “Say goodbye to your friends. If you're lucky, they might live through the day, but then again, you never know. It always pays to be prepared."
Kasey hovered in the air, completely unable to speak.
“What's the matter, Kasey? Cat got your tongue?" Akihiro laughed. The maniacal tone resonated eerily down through the corridor.
As he drank in his victory, Kasey noticed movement
at her feet. It was John.
His eyes fluttered open. He squinted up at the Shinigami. Slowly, John reached behind his back. The hilt of a pistol peeked out from his pants.
It seemed he was favoring the gun over magic as to avoid detection. Doubtless the Master of the Shinigami would have felt the buildup of energy as John rallied his might for a sudden onslaught. The pistol at this range would prove just as deadly and provide no warning.
Just as the pistol cleared John's pants, the Master swung around to face him. The master chanted, and a blade appeared in his hands. Unlike the short sword he'd been using earlier, this one was long and slender, almost a needle but for its length. With uncanny speed, the Master of the Shinigami brought the blade down.
Kasey had seen the weapon before, in her vision of the cathedral. It was the same blade she had seen used on Arthur Ainslie.
With her eyes fixed in terror, Kasey watched in slow motion as John brought up the pistol. The blade descended as John leveled the pistol at the Master's face.
The slender blade drove straight through John's chest.
As the blade took him in the heart, Kasey's own broke.
The gunshot never came. The Master of the Shinigami grinned down at John. "Oh, I know you so very badly want to pull that trigger, but you see, the Night Blade paralyzes its victim. It allows them to enjoy one brief moment of utter helplessness before they expire. There’s a kind of beautiful symmetry when you think about it. In this moment, you have more in common with your father than ever before. This is the same blade that killed him and now it will be your death too."
John lips pursed in pain.
"Kasey!" he gasped.
An emerald hue traveled from John’s chest, along the blade, and into the Master of the Shinigami. The Shinigami was draining John’s life force.
“Waste not, want not,” Akihiro said.
Kasey watched in agony as John’s head sank lifelessly against the tiles of the Underpass. She wanted to cry out but could not, her every move restrained by the suffocating spell she was encased in. Her eyes burned as the tears welled up. John had died without ever hearing how she felt.
A gunshot split the silence in the Underpass.
The unseen hands that had held her fast were gone, and Kasey fell to the floor.
She hit the tiles in a crumpled heap, pain shooting through her leg. She pushed herself upright and looked over her shoulder. Sanders had his gun raised, a faint whiff of smoke rising from its barrel. She glanced over at the Master. Blood pooled on his shirt. As the Master of the Shinigami had killed John, he must have stepped out from behind the cover that Kasey had afforded him.
Sanders had taken the only shot he had.
With one hand, he tried to stem the bleeding in his chest. He began chanting.
Sanders opened fire once more, round after round straight at the Master. This time, Sanders had a clean shot. He was shooting to kill.
An emerald shield encased the Master and Sanders’ bullets flattened uselessly against the protective shell.
The gun clicked. He was empty.
The fake agents raised their weapons in unison.
Kasey was only feet away. It was too late for her. At this distance, she would never manage a shield in time. She simply collapsed on top of John and cried.
The restrained tears burst from her like a river as she wept.
Closing her eyes, she buried her face in John’s chest and waited for the end. The fusillade was deafening as the Shinigami acolytes raised their weapons and unleashed hell.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Kasey wept openly. Tears rolled down her cheeks as her world ended around her. The deafening staccato fire of automatic weapons filled the Underpass and Kasey could feel the ebb and flow of magical current washing all around her.
The agents returned fire against the Shinigami acolytes. Their handguns might have been outmatched by the MP5s but the agents responded with enough arcane firepower to level a small city.
Amid it all, Kasey simply buried her head against John’s shoulder. She wanted to try and heal him, but she knew it was too late. Checking his pulse, her fears were confirmed. He was gone. Even magic wouldn't bring back the dead.
At any moment, she expected she would join him. Surely the deadly hail of bullets would find her.
Kasey closed her eyes again and waited for the end to come.
All around her, the battle raged and yet she remained unscathed.
Looking up, Kasey forced her eyes open. Shimmering over her head was a protective scarlet shield. In the furious melee she could not see its origin, but she knew it all the same.
It was her mother.
There was only one person in the Underpass who would put her life above their own. Somewhere amid the chaos, her mother had woven a powerful protective barrier around Kasey.
Kasey looked behind her at an ever-increasing flow of agents joining the battle. Glancing ahead, she could make out the contingent of Shinigami acolytes fortifying the Underpass. They were taking cover behind statues and benches before returning fire.
Kasey scanned the area for the Master but he was nowhere to be seen. His flight had been swift and now his acolytes were selling their lives to buy him time to escape.
Kasey was tired. Physically and emotionally, she was utterly spent. She had come so far and in spite of all of her efforts to protect him, John had paid the ultimate price. Her soul ached, but she knew that she couldn't languish in self-pity and loathing forever. Not while the Master of the Shinigami lived to fight another day.
Akihiro had to die.
Kasey quarantined the feelings that threatened to consume her. There would be a time to mourn, but it would have to wait.
She laid a hand on John's chest.
He will pay for this. They will all pay for this.
She rose to one knee and then struggled to her feet. The Shinigami turned on her, their weapons pointed at her at point blank range. Placing her faith in her protector, she unleashed her rage in torrents of arcane destruction. With no mercy, she moved through the Shinigami like a hurricane.
Bullets ricocheted harmlessly off her protective shield, producing the faintest wisps of scarlet light before they clattered harmlessly to the ground.
“Chwythu Asid!” Kasey bellowed in her Celtic tongue.
A searing blast of violet light streamed from her outstretched hands. In a heartbeat, the wave of energy had scythed through three acolytes. They collapsed in a heap to rise no more.
Other Shinigami brought their weapons to bear on her, but her shield held. She looked into the eyes of her nearest enemy. The surprise was written across his face, until another emotion replaced it. His eyes went wide, his jaw dropped, and his expression told Kasey he knew what was coming next.
Weaving her arms, she lashed out once more. This time the violet scythe cleaved the man in half.
His comrades watched him fall and looked to the avatar of destruction in their midst. Kasey was the eye of the storm all around her.
Buoyed by Kasey's presence, the ADI pressed forward.
Sanders shouted over the din. "Advance. We need Akihiro. Beat them back, drive them back at once.”
The ADI surged forward.
A fireball sailed past her and exploded into a pair of acolytes who were reloading. Kasey pressed onward. Lightning cackled from her outstretched palms, striking Shinigami on either side of her. The Shinigami crumpled to the earth, and Kasey continued her advance.
Up ahead, a handful of acolytes had taken shelter behind a water fountain. From the cover of the fountain stonework, they laid down a withering hail of fire. The ADI traded shots with the suit-clad acolytes unsuccessfully.
Kasey opted for a more direct approach.
Racing at the emplacement, Kasey ignored the hail of fire reflecting off her shield and vaulted up onto the ledge of the fountain.
For a split second, Kasey allowed herself to enjoy the intricately carved center piece of the fountain. A trio of mermaids loung
ed on a stone outcropping that had been carved into the shape of a reef. Water streamed out of the stonework, before landing in the fountain to be recycled. It was an impressive sight.
Their fate would be a crying shame.
Kasey had learned a trick or two from her encounter with the gargoyles. “Hud Ysgarlad.”
A lance of scarlet arcane energy leapt from her palms and hit the centerpiece. For a moment, the lance just seemed to disappear into the stonework, without effect. Then, the stonework began to glow. Cracks appeared in the surface of the stone, racing out from the point of impact. There was a deafening blast as the superheated stone exploded like a frag grenade.
Shrapnel rained down on the Shinigami acolytes. With the centerpiece obliterated, Kasey’s lance struck the fountain edge the acolytes cowered behind. The masonry shattered outward. The weight of the water bowled over the Shinigami who hadn’t already been laid low by the withering hail of stone shrapnel.
With the acolytes dispersed, the ADI advanced.
Kasey reveled in her success, but motion to her right drew her eye. She turned as an emerald orb hurtled toward her face.
The shield took the worst of the brunt, but the power of the blast still threw Kasey clear off her perch. She struck the tiles hard, the impact winding her. She struggled for breath but her relief at surviving the blast faded as her shield shimmered once and then failed, collapsing in on itself and her.
Kasey was completely exposed.
The Shinigami acolyte smirked as he raised his hands to deliver the killing blow, but a withering hail of gunfire drove him into cover.
Kasey shook herself off and got to her feet. She owed her life to the ADI agents surging before her. If not for their cover fire, she would surely be dead.