Contents
Acknowledgments
Dedication
Disclaimer
Prologue
Chapter 1
Interlude
Chapter 2
Interlude
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Interlude
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Interlude
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Epilogue
Author's Note
To those who supported me, all of you from 20 books.
But Especially to
Cover Design / Illustrator: Deranged Doctor Designs
Blurb Editor: Craig Martelle
Editorial Team: Bree Burrs, Diane Velasquez, Dorene Johnson, Tom Dickerson, JW Arlock.
This Book would literally be less than half as good without you. Your support and commentary to a new author cannot be more appreciated
Technical Thing: Kat Lind and her team (and the SCARE program)
Beta Readers: Hemlock Mejerne, Anthony Horler, Arthur Deforest.
Thank you for your encouragement.
And apologies to anyone I have forgotten. You have my email or facebook, tell me if I missed you and I'll add you for the next edition.
V1.40
Dedication
To my Mother, Christine Middleton.
Without you I would not be the person am today
And while I sometimes have regrets for individual actions
You taught me to accept them and accept myself
And to always strive towards a goal.
Thank You.
Disclaimer
This book is an Urban Fantasy novel, set in a world like ours in many ways, but very different in many others.
This book is a work of fiction, all the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Similarities to current events can be considered 'timey wimey wibbly wobbly'
Any references or portrayals of religion are not intended to provoke offense, but rather provoke thought.
If there is a God or any Gods they obviously intended us to think - look at the Yapok and the Platypus.
Copyright (c) 2016 Paul C. Middleton
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.
Prologue
The Order traces its history back to the hunters of werewolves, vampires and rogue warlocks that was instituted by Belisarius, one of the greatest generals of Justinian the Great. Although these hunters had no formal organization they worked in groups under a 'Holy Warrior'. They were given permission to draw on the resources of monasteries by the Emperor through an Imperial warrant.
During the Rule of Charlemagne the problems these creatures caused expanded and were compounded by the appearances of demons and demonspawn. This is thought to have been brought on by the impiety of both Pope Leo, a known philanderer, and of the Byzantine ruler Irene for seizing the throne from her son and having him mutilated. Charlemagne's response to this - to create the Order, in one of the few acts in concert with Irene's successor and the support of the Church.
The Order was composed of his best soldiers without regard to birth or station. These warriors had proven themselves in battle time and again. They were even given permission by the Caliph to hunt such beings in his lands as the threats became evident to him and his advisers. In Islamic territory, they were supported by the Dervishes. In Christian lands the Order of Saint Michael and the lay-brothers of the Order supported their works.
From the introduction to A History of the Order published in 2010, kept internally, given to all new recruits of the Order.
Chapter 1
January 15th, 2014, England
This was what Griffin lived for. Hunting down a demon like the one he was after. That was all that made him feel alive. He still took on the vamp and werewolf missions, but after so many years knew how they fought so well that he reflexively predicted exactly what they would do. The last few nights he'd hunted down this spawn and narrowed down the area in which it dwelt. No demon would enter an occupied dwelling when it was being hunted like this. So he called his backup, and tonight was the night to take it out. For two hundred years he'd either been hunting unnaturals, or training to kill them.
Over his encrypted radio he heard "Paladin One, this is Soldier One, we are in position to follow you for the lead and sweep through this area."
"Copy that, first target is the building on your right. Spiral sweep to the center, one building at a time. Only enter buildings designated as empty or potential."
He held his sword, a gladius, a Roman Legionaries' sword, in one hand and a dirk and buckler in the other. He leaned back, kicked the door in and did a quick sweep of the house. Empty. Well, onto the next.
Three houses later he came to the first house that was occupied. It had been identified as one of three potential occupied homes where the creature might have holed up. After sweeping the front of the house he heard a door out back open up. "We have a target. Runner, repeat runner. Don't lose this one boys." He commed to his team as he dashed towards the noise.
He found the door to the yard open and smelt the inhuman nature of the creature, a smell which was an odd combination of smoke, lust and power. Whatever it looked like, it wasn't and never would have been human. Then a figure jumped the six foot wooden fence, so he ran after it. Rather than bothering to jump the vertical wooden fence he simply turned his shoulder into it and broke through. With the sharp crack of shattering timbers he was through it easily.
Within a minute he had closed enough to keep it in sight and within ten minutes he caught up to the devilspawn. He could see why the Archdioceses', Catholic and Anglican, were involved. Her human form was stunning. Not that it affected him. He'd hunted her kind before.
Then he saw the succubus trip over a rock and sprawl across the ground, he paused and thought through his options for the team. Few of them would be able to resist its beauty if they got close enough. At best they would yell at him to stop and be disturbed at the seductress's death. At worst they might turn on him if it was powerful enough, and he wished them no harm. He decided to lower the risk to his men, getting on the comms and saying. "Soldier team move to contain area. This one is succubus type. Repeat contain at 100 feet or more." He heard the six acknowledgments and continued on forward.
The succubus rolled onto its back and scuttled backwards in terror until it was stopped by a tree as he ran towards it. Then it grasped at the air, clenched its hand and created a trio of fireballs. It spun them out of shrieking air, gasping with the effort and threw all three at him in successive arcs. The Demonspawn was desperate to ward him off or end him. He caught them on his buckler, deflecting one to the ground. The second he deflected straight up. The final one he tried to deflect back towards her but it came in at an awkward angle. The fireball landed on the ground in front of him before going out.
With the unnatural beings' exhaustion plain to see he charged towards it. The metal boss of his buckler glowed a dull red from the heat, the leather covering around the boss smoking slightly. That was all the proof he needed to absolutely confirm what his nose had already told him. No human could do that, only demonspawn or unnaturals.
He slammed its head against the tree with the still heated buckler. The buckler sizzled as it burnt the spawn's skin. Stabbing up through the gut to the heart with his gladius, the creature shuddered as the blade turned.
He kept twisting until the shuddering stopped and a surge of power blasted through his body. Then he pinned the creature to the tree by its shoulder with his buckler and swept the sword out of its chest.
"Job finished boys, call in cleanup team F. No need to disturb one of the male teams picking up a Succubus."
He stood there, breathing heavily. It hadn't taken that much effort to run down a demonspawn in some time. The beautiful abomination had been fast, but he was faster. His faith in God protected him. His shield helped too. Right tool for the situation. Then he looked down and noticed it was deformed from the combination of heat and force he'd held the beast with. "Fucking little devil." He muttered under his breath. He realized he was going to have to get it reforged and reconsecrated.
Ah well, that was another thing the Archdioceses could cover. When they called him in they appreciated it was an 'all expenses will be paid, on your faith' deal. He'd injured a few who'd refused to pay on grounds that he never tithed. His entire life was his tithe to God, and he still needed to live. On several occasions, to make a point, he'd deducted their hospital bill from the next invoice he gave them. He added a comment he'd get there eventually on a note attached to it. For some reason they paid remarkably fast after that. His church jobs were now cost + 10%. It was the government he charged premium rates, to be able to live with a few luxuries. A few drinks here and a dame occasionally were all he asked for beyond the basics.
A van pulled softly up, barely a squeak on the brakes. He recognized Agatha, his only female backup. She was also his apprentice. Originally she had been a nun. One of her sisters had been bitten by a wolf and she'd wrapped and treated the wound. However it hadn't been an ordinary wolf that bit her sister. When the corruption of the foul beast's bite had spread through the poor woman she changed.
Agatha was the only one in the monastery that had kept her wits and faith. She'd clubbed it to death with one of the silver candlesticks during the first change, killing it. She had succeeded in dealing with it before it could damn all her sisters to its fate. Her reward - being kicked out by the Mother Superior of the monastery for 'Harming one of her Sisters under God'. Hell-bound idiot woman. As soon as that wolf bit the poor girl she was no longer human anymore. Therefore she was no longer a sister. Only three of the paladins had ever been bitten by a wolf and not turned. For someone in the orders, the odds that their faith in God was strong enough to resist the turn was almost nonexistent.
He'd found Agatha about six months later while she was hunting down the wolf that bit the sister. There were four other people who had been changed and taken into its 'pack'. She'd believed she found her calling from God, the same as him. Since leaving the monastery she had been hunting various werecreatures. Killing some wolves and at least one werebear. She'd dyed her red hair a dark purple and trained fast and well in several martial art forms.
At five feet ten inches she was a tall, slim woman but wiry with muscle. Her rage at being kicked out of her monastery had been focused on training to take out the root cause, the dark creatures she had seen. As a freelancer she'd done better than most but he'd seen her potential after he'd shot a werewolf as it charged her from behind. She'd been turning before he even pulled the trigger. It was obvious to him that the double load of silver shot from her shotgun could just as easily killed the werebeast before it reached her. This had been the third werewolf from that small pack and he took it as a sign. This inclination had strengthened since she'd calmly reloaded the over and under shotgun and had been ready when two more charged her.
He was sure one of them would have clawed or bitten her before she'd managed to kill it had she been alone. But she would have taken out them both just as well without him. As she explained her vow to kill herself if that ever happened – wisely with silver – he'd been impressed enough to offer her training as his direct apprentice. She was only the second he had ever taken. It was working out well. If she hadn't been injured she would have been fighting at his side tonight, and he'd have been glad to give her the experience. She was leading the F cleanup team at the moment because a vampire broke her arm on her first solo op two weeks ago. She'd kept her head and still managed to take it out, using a Kama - a one-handed scythe - to take its head with her other arm.
She chivied the two young nuns of St. Rita of Cascia, Saint of the Impossible, the order which provided all their F cleanup teams. They also provided members of many of the other cleanup teams. She shook her head at one of them who turned green with nausea upon seeing the body. Agatha looked at her with annoyance and said "Sister – this is a clean death. More than an obvious succubus spawn deserved. Look at the Paladin's shield. It's obvious the creature threw fire at it so why act like it was human? It was a thing that had to be put down and now it has. That's all you need to think about." She lectured in an aggrieved tone.
It was a familiar theme to Griffin. Often the cleanup teams were not prepared for what they saw. The two sisters nodded to Agatha and slid the corpse in a body bag before taking it to the battered blue van.
While they were doing that, she turned to Griffin and said "Grif, please tell me I can go back with you rather than to one of the monasteries. I'm so bored!"
"Agatha, you need to heal properly before... "
She glared at the cast. "It feels fine, but the doctors won't even look at it for another two weeks. I can't stand the regular orders, not since I found the truth out. There's too much that needs to be done. Too many people in harm's way. I know I can do more good in the Order or even just helping you than I could in the regular orders. I need to be doing that, Boss." Griffin winced at that. When it was time for a fight he had no problem being the leader, but he neither viewed himself as nor wished to be anyone's 'boss'.
"By all that is good, how many times have I told you not to call me that?" He said in exasperation.
"Err... I guess the only answer you'll take is too many."
"That sums it up. Don't make me think you need me to treat you like I do most of the other Paladins. We aren't special in God's eyes. We just hear Him better." He saw her nod at this, truly taking it in.
The older sister walked up to Agatha and said, "Ma'am, are you coming with us?"
Agatha shook her head. "I need to talk more with the Paladin." The sister nodded and went to the van. After it had driven off she turned to Griffin
"Boss please - " she started, in a wheedling tone. He interrupted her with a glare. How many times had he told her that a Paladin begged of no-one? And not to call him that?
In a firmer tone she said "Okay, Okay, Griffin. But when are you gonna let me train again rather than babysit these... timid sisters?"
He thought about it. She had faith, more than anyone outside or inside the Paladins he'd seen. Oh she had her rough edges, but no question about her strength of faith. It might even be greater than his. He touched her arm above and below the cast and applied a small amount of pressure. She didn't even wince. He sighed. There was protocol he needed to follow.
"Bug the doctors to take another X-ray of it. Tell them I said to. If you have been finally able to tap into your faith like I have taught you, it should be healed."
She grinned. She felt there was literally no-one else he'd have done that for. Then he shocked her. "It is also time to teach you two other things that none of the other Paladins, at least not in my lifetime, have ever managed to grasp. Let me release the backup and then we'll walk back to our quarters for the night." Agatha sighed. He was going into what she thought of as his 19th century seminary mode.
He radioed the team "That's it guys. One more demonspawn sent back to hell. Thanks for the assist, we'll have a drink later." He could hear a grumble about him stealing all the action again and heard Azim respond forcefully.
"Gomez, pipe down, would you rather have been fried by that fireball? Didn't think so – that's why the Paladins always take the risks. Their faith is our shield. Next time it might be a Vamp nest or a Were den – Then you'll get more action than you could wa
nt!"
Griffin turned off the radio and started taking it off. He hated having the damned thing in his ear all the time, but that was how modern ops worked. He had to admit there were fewer escapes and fewer deaths on the teams since they started using them. Gomez didn't know it yet, but he'd just volunteered every lay-brother Griffin could get his hands on for personal and squad-based training when he got back. This was a job, not for ego or some macho bullshit. That they killed these monsters was enough to the glory of God.
As he put the radio in one of the cargo pants pockets, he started walking. Agatha followed and eventually caught up. "Grif, slow down a bit, your legs are longer than mine." He smiled and did as she asked. He recognized it was more because she was enjoying the evening air than anything else. The wilds were always invigorating, and suburban England was pleasant enough as well.
The first thing he asked was, "Do you know why we are simply called The Order, and nothing else Agatha?"
She shook her head. "No, boss, not a clue. I mean, we can requisition help from any of the organized Christians almost at need. I know there have been Paladins who have been Catholic, Anglican, Baptist, Orthodox, Coptic, hell just about anything Christian. Not Muslim though. Some small sects and the Druze still offer support and occasionally provide lay-brothers. But, for the most part the Crusades burnt any hope of getting much support from them. They know how to hold a grudge. I just figured we were called that as a focus on unity as much as anything else. Best not to pick a Saint that not may have meaning in all of them Y'know?"
He smiled. Once, long ago, he was of that opinion. He had been raised in The Order, and their focus was on being a good Christian, but above creed. He also never wanted the job of Master. Thankfully he'd never been offered it, and all of his Order acknowledged he was better fighting on the front lines. However, it seemed to him, that the faith drained out of someone almost as soon as he took the job.
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