by T S Paul
Hiding behind the last unit was the missing Aalu Kovacic. He had gleaming red eyes and a fireball in each hand. He tossed one at me and I pushed Cat out of the way. I felt it slide off my shields. “Cat, get the girls to safety! I will handle this guy!”
Taking a deep breath, I engaged my shield and threw a fireball of my own at the cultist. Saying a silent prayer to my Goddess, I hoped that no hostages were in any of these units as we threw fireballs at each other. Sparks and melted droplets of metal filled the air. This guy was starting to piss me off! My fireballs only glanced off of the machines his melted holes and sank into the asphalt with a demonic glow. I hoped that Cat was having success.
~~~~~
“Sir, we just received a call from Catherine. The FBI is at Fabulous Face. They just served a warrant to search the place.”
The Senator sat upright. “What? Now they are harassing my wife? Get the car we need to get there and stop this nonsense. They need to be searching for my Granddaughter. I will have the head of whoever is in charge of that group. Call Catherine back and tell her I’m on my way!”
~~~~~
Cat stumbled as she dodged another fireball. Agatha was deflecting most of them but the cultist was getting close to her. She interpreted that to mean she was close to the girls. The last bank of machines was in the corner of the walled area. The center machine had a large padlock on it. That had to be the one she was looking for. Keeping one eye on the magical duel she tried to pull the lock off, and it was stuck. Glancing away from Agatha she concentrated on the lock. It was an older style but it wouldn’t break no matter how hard she pulled. The metal of the air conditioning unit groaned under the pressure she was putting on it. Cursing, Cat began stripping off her armor as fast as could. Reaching down inside of herself, Cat called forth her warrior form.
With a rumbling growl, a large Bigfoot-sized humanoid cat hooked it’s four-inch claws into the edge of the door and ripped it off the AC unit. Four tiny shrieks of terror could be heard from inside the unit.
“Doonnn’t beee afrrraaid! Ressscuuee.” Cat’s voice was very deep but could be clearly heard. A tiny head poked out of the hole and let out a squeak when it saw Cat. Four very wide-eyed little girls could be seen through the small door. “Pleeaase cooome wiithh meee. Saaafffe.” Retracting her claws Cat carefully helped the girls out of the large metal container one at a time. A fireball, deflected during the battle came arcing over the units and hit the retaining wall with a loud bang. All the girls jumped, but it didn’t scare them. Cat remembered where the cars were and motioned for the girls to step back. She charged the wall with all of her strength and battered a hole through it.
If the members of the FBI tactical team reacted to an extremely large Cat-creature bursting through a wall near their cars, they never said anything. Leaving half the team to guard the gate and vehicles, the rest rushed over and helped the girls get out of the enclosure. Explosions from the battle could now be heard by all as it drew closer. Cat turned and went to go help her friend.
~~~~~
The cultist was relentless. His fireballs were more powerful than mine and he knew it. I was trying not to throw anything more for fear of hitting the girls. I could hear Cat’s growls behind me so I knew she may have found them. I intensified my fire and started calling up balls of electricity. I was hoping he was a one-trick-pony, and that was all he was able to use against me. I threw the first electro ball and hit him through his shields! He staggered and responded with a flurry of fireballs that came at me like a shotgun blast. I ducked and threw up my arms to shield my face. I thought for sure I was dead.
I felt the heat of the fireballs as they struck my arms but there was no pain! Opening my eyes, I could see a faint shimmer that covered my arms and upper body. A strange shield was coming from the bracelet on my arm. I raised my left hand and threw one of my fireballs at him. I heard a loud roar and one of the largest warrior form Were I had ever seen attacked my opponent, Aalu Kovacic. He was hit from behind as three-inch claws ripped through his body. As he went down, another rain of fireballs was directed at who I assumed was Cat. I spoke the word “hlíf” and covered my friend with a glowing shield. I threw a freeze ball at the cultist and he froze for all of ten seconds. He was trying to crawl away as I hit him again with an electro ball.
“Cat, is that you?” The large Were nodded its head.
“Yeesss. Nooottt Usseett tooo tallkkk.”
“Thanks for the assist. He was starting to get through my shields.” I nudged the man with the toe of my shoe and we could hear a groan. He was still alive.
“Whhhyy nooot freezzz?”
“I was worried I would hurt the girls. Did you find them?” Cat nodded at me and turned to point. I could see part of the hole in the fence that she made. Neither one of us had handcuffs or even zip ties to lock down this guy. He was bleeding very heavily and would need a trauma team or some sort of express healing. While I have some skill with healing, I never took any sort of Hippocratic oath. Scumbags don’t get medical care from me. Cat nudged me and almost knocked me over. She pointed at my radio which I had completely forgotten about.
~~~~~
SAC Lowrey and her team found the cafeteria and kitchen area fairly easily. The warrant only allowed a search of two specific areas; any industrial air conditioning units and metal walk-in’s and freezers. She kept this part of her team together, they were not to wander off. She had just gotten to the kitchen and ordered them to search when she heard a voice behind her.
“Agent Lowrey I protest! This is retaliation and bad business! Why are you harassing my wife and I when you should be tracking down who kidnapped my granddaughter?”
Turning around she found the Senator and Mrs. Emery standing in the doorway accompanied by two of his bodyguards and two of the executive staff.
“Senator we are searching for your granddaughter. Mrs. Emery, I have some questions I would like answered please?”
“Catherine don’t say a word! This woman and her campaign to ruin us stop now! I have called our associates and they are putting a stop to this.” The Senator beamed at his wife who only smiled.
Nita frowned at the Senator. “Sir, your wife is involved in this up to her neck! Your man Aalu Kovacic is the one that ordered the creation of the statues given to the children. We have a video of him paying off the model maker and inserting Demonic artifacts into them to set the spell. Magic associated with Demonic energy was detected in your house.”
“Aalu is involved? Ridiculous? All of our servants are checked very thoroughly, and he has been with us for years. You’re lying.”
“Are we? What about this place, Fabulous Face. Why does it move every five years? There were four kidnappings in the Jefferson City area in the months before the move, all were children of politicians and all were sorority sisters of you wife’s national organization. Five years before that a similar crime was committed in Texas. Every five years children are kidnapped, and this company moves right after it happens. We have records that go back thirty years or more. Why does it move around so much?”
The Senator looked at his wife who smiled at him. “Honey, make them stop saying bad things about me and my company!”
Senator Emery looked past the fake smile that his wife had and really looked at her. “Catherine is any of this true?”
“Seymour why would I hurt little Elisabeth? We are a family, don’t let these people take all of that away from us!”
He looked at Nita. “I agree with my wife Agent. I refuse to believe you. This is nothing more than a put-up job to accuse me or my wife of something we did not do.”
“Agent Lowrey? We found something in the walk-in you need to come look at!”
“Senator I have to go see what my people have found if you will excuse me?” Nita turned and walked toward the back of the kitchen.
The Senator started to move toward the kitchen also when one of the other agents told him to remain where he was or he would be charged with obstruction. Sever
al more of the kitchen staff and a few executives drifted into the dining room. They, along with those already there, began to rubberneck and watch what was happening.
In the kitchen, the walk-in door was blocked open and several agents were outside it, bent over a bucket throwing up. “What is it?”
One of the senior agents motioned for her to enter. Pushing through the PVC strip curtain Nita entered the large commercial walk-in. The front section contained racks filled with food used to feed the workers. Beyond the racks of meat, vegetables, and prepared food lay the real horror. The thick insulated walls were carved with the runic or Goetia script. Idols on pedestals lined the walls. Statues of horrific demonic beings. thirty in number were atop the pedestals. A massive altar built from what looked like red basalt covered the entire back wall. A painted representation of Bune hung as a backdrop. Over a hundred jars lined the back of the altar, each contained a heart the size of a clenched fist. As Nita drew closer, she could see that bones made up much of the construction, they framed the stonework and were used as altar pieces. Human skulls were used as cups and pools of blood dripped from the surface of the structure. The dismembered corpse of what appeared to be a young woman was laid out on a low table nearby.
Nita felt bile rise in her throat but refused to allow it to go further. She was an experienced agent and refused to show any weakness to her team. “Call in the Tac-team we need to lock this plant down. No way anyone was ignorant of all of this! Start taking pictures! Photograph everything!” She turned and walked back out into the mostly clean air of the kitchen. Yelling at the milling FBI agents she pointed at the kitchen staff. “Start arresting everyone!”
“Senator you and your wife are under arrest.” She motioned to one of her agents to take control of him.
“On what charges? I will have your badge for this! False arrest is a serious charge!”
Nita leaned in toward him. “Senator we will start with murder, kidnapping, and conspiracy to commit murder, and end with obstruction of justice, and interfering with an official investigation. What is in that cooler over there will have you in the deepest, darkest hole our government can find!”
“Whatever you have found is planted! This is a conspiracy to defame the Emery name!”
“Senator, Demon worship is not illegal in this country but murder and kidnapping are. There are over a hundred human hearts in there. You will be known as one of the most prolific serial killers in the world! Handcuff him and read him his rights.”
“Demon worship? What have you been smoking? My family puts the B in Baptist! This is a trick! Catherine tell them I had nothing to do with any of this!”
Nita heard a crackle and her radio beeped at her. She grabbed her microphone and replied to the broadcast. “Go ahead.” She listened for a moment and replied. “Call an ambulance and get him checked out, have Agatha put a freeze on him and then find me in the kitchen. Tell her that I need them both here. What about the girls? Great, have the local field office send reinforcements and put them on twenty-four-hour watch in the children's ward.”
Looking at the stunned Senator, Nita started to talk. “Good news Senator. Your Granddaughter is safe along with the other three girls. Once the doctors finish examining the girls, we will place them under protective custody. Your man Aalu Kovacic is also under arrest. He was seriously injured by a very angry Were, but we think he will survive.”
“You found Elizabeth? Where was she?”
“Don’t you know? She was here at the plant the whole time. Out in the AC pen, there was a hollowed out unit. All four girls were in there. I assumed you knew since you protect this place stringently.”
“She was here? At the plant?”
“Senator I’m starting to believe you. I’m still going to book you and prosecute you but maybe you didn’t know that this place is run by a Demon Cult. Let’s ask your wife, shall we? What do you say Catherine about all this?”
Mrs. Emery stared at Nita and smiled. Her eyes had a tiny red glint to them. She pursed her lips and looked at her husband with disdain. “Such a little man you are. Too good to see what is right in front of you. All that eloquence, all that power, everything you always wanted and you never once asked how. How is it that a man who wasn’t a good lawyer who barely passed the Bar could sway his district into electing him to a public office? Never once did you ask me how? Ah, tradition is such a good thing.” Catherine’s smile was almost angelic but not quite.
“Catherine, what are you saying? Surely you didn’t take little Elizabeth. Why?” The Senator just stood there with his mouth open.
“Silly man. Everything has a price. You should know that by now and don’t call me Shirley.” She began to laugh, and it was not the laugh of an old woman. “Being human has been so enlightening. All your petty desires and whims. So easily manipulated. Each time we give a little you take more and more. Before you know it we are the one making all the rules. It has been so easy. The master only takes a few and only once a cycle. Parents can always have more children but true power comes but once a lifetime. Time for this charade to end.” Catherine Emery seemed to grow in size before Nita and the other agent’s eyes.
The old woman's eyes turned bright red and large claws sprang from her fingertips. She slashed the agent holding her arm across the chest as she lunged toward Nita.
Nita pulled her weapon and began firing at the Demon that had appeared in her midst. She yelled at the other agents to protect the civilians.
Catherine Emery was no longer human, or she had never been. She began to laugh as the bullets penetrated her skin and went out the other side. Red could be seen in the holes but no blood. “Civilians? There are none of those here! Bune is all here.” The factory workers and kitchen staff now Bunis, all drew weapons and began to engage the FBI agents directly.
“Bune needs a sacrifice. He prefers the youth of the world but you and your agents will suffice for now.” The Demon woman had her husband by the arm and was holding him up in front of her eyes. “Goodbye, Seymour.” She ripped his head off and threw it at the agents firing at her.
Every agent carried blessed icons that according to those who make the rules were supposed to be effective against Demonic activity. Whoever came up with them was crazy because Nita’s men were losing and losing badly!
Nita tried to rally her men and women behind the serving line, but their weapons were having no effect against the Demon. Several of the Bunis had already been killed. The former factory workers were not bulletproof like their leader.
~~~~~
Cat and I heard cries of “officer down” on the radio and struggled to get to the rest of our team. Like flicking a switch almost every factory worker inside the gates was transformed into a Bunis, a follower of the Demon Bune. The large group that had been milling around in the front were now attacking our gate unit. That unit had taken the children away and was only at half strength. Murmuring a prayer to Athena I uttered the word “stǫðva.” The charging crowd froze for just a moment then they continued their charge. My eyes widened. That spell always worked before! I tried to remember everything that Grams had taught me of Demonkind.
The agents at the gate opened fire and dozens of the Bunis were down writhing in pain. I braced myself and said another prayer this time to Persephone to open the way for those swayed by evil. Pulling reserves I didn’t know existed I began throwing fireballs at my new enemy even as we ran across the courtyard. Cat, still in her massive Warrior form reached the Bunis before I did and began slashing and biting at will. The Tac-team at the gate started picking shot as they tried to keep some of them from us. I was in full battle mode using spells I was taught but never ever used.
The crowd of over a hundred was slowly whittled down to dozens as I froze, burned, and blasted my way toward the gates. Cat protected my rear slashing anyone that got near me.
“Agent Blackmore! Thanks for the assist!” The combat armor-clad agent was one I had met before.
“Where’s Agent Lowrey?”
I looked around for Nita.
“We received Officer down calls from her and her team. The last location had them in the cafeteria. They reported that the Senator and his wife were under arrest and a murder victim was discovered. They went dark after that.”
“Do we have a backup?”
“We have requested it but it may be a while. I mentioned Demons over an open channel.” All I could do was shake my head. Stupid.
“OK. Cat and I will go try to find them. Please don’t let anyone escape.”
“Come on partner. I motioned toward the front entrance.” Cat ran ahead of me and crashed through the glass doors. Weres.
Chapter 19
The lobby was deathly quiet. Only the sounds of glass falling could be heard inside. Outside we could hear the Tac-team doing the clean up followed by the occasional shot. Demons were illegal in every country on Earth. Here in the United States, they could be worshiped, but never, ever raised. We have had a shoot-on-sight order for demons, and those possessed by them since the 1940’s. Many of those exposed to demons during the war had to be put down. Thousands of innocent civilians were abused and tortured in the camps to make them susceptible to possession during that war. Only a few dozen survived it. Many went insane. Laws were passed outlawing attempts to even try to save those poor tortured souls. Grams told me those in our community tried for years to ‘fix’ some of our own damaged by the war. Finally, the Witches Councils signed one of the few documents that actually agreed with mundane laws. Death to Demons.