They rounded the corner, and Ula could hardly believe they’d found them. A line of civilians with vacant stares stood swaying on the lawn, where Jennie was deep in conversation with Jiao.
Jiao…
The sight of her made Ula’s rage burn. Although she hadn’t freed the Dreadnought, she had betrayed those who had saved her. This was the final confirmation they needed of her betrayal.
The possessed broke into a run.
“Come on,” Ula instructed. “Let’s go.”
* * *
Jiao remained where she was and let the possessed rush around her. Their number was large, and Jennie grouped her team nearby, creating a small island in the middle of the ocean of enemies.
Jennie hated fighting those who had been possessed. It wasn’t their fault they were caught up in this, and the mortal shell that encapsulated the trace of specter would get battered and bruised along the way. It was the ultimate form of cowardice, to hide behind others and allow them to take the pain for you.
Still, if they didn’t do something, they were going to get hurt.
Jennie holstered the Big Bitch and harnessed Baxter’s power. The cells strapped to her waist throbbed with power, and she reached out with experimental fingers to ascertain what kind of spectral power she was dealing with in this batch of possessed.
The frequencies were murky. While the Shadows had taken whole specters and combined them with mortals, the Dreadnought had found a different way to possess his servants. All she could sense as she hurriedly tried to determine what they were dealing with was a strange darkness inside each person. Every possessed civilian was a tiny piece of the puzzle, too small to be able to create much significant change.
Jennie opened her eyes as the first punch was thrown. It caught her on the cheek and knocked her head back.
Jennie’s lips thinned into a tight line. The man who had punched her closed the gap. “Okay, bozo. You want it that way, huh?”
Jennie balled her hands into fists and delivered a blow to his stomach. Even possessed, the man was winded. Jennie followed up when he doubled over to clutch his gut by raising her knee and delivering a hard blow to his head.
The man bowled backward, knocking over the possessed crowding behind him.
Ashton threw punches, catching the mortals who had now surrounded his side of the island. Although he was a pilot by trade, he hadn’t forgotten his training and was able to hold his own. Baxter and Susannah found they were able to connect their blows with the spectral forces inside, each punch, kick, or headbutt sent their target to the ground.
Jennie let her training take over. Fighting had always felt like a dance to her, and she allowed her instincts to guide her. She kicked out when enemies came to close, ducked to avoid blows, and punched many a possessed in the face, wincing every time she felt the sickening crunch of bone against her knuckles.
She spun, and a break in the enemy afforded her a glance of a new group running to enter the fray. Jennie smiled at Ula as the conduit sprinted with a determined expression on her face. Her plan had worked. She hadn’t been sure that Ula had received her message, but thankfully she had.
The conduits arrived and crashed into the enemy. Rhone was among them, wasting no time before getting stuck in. Rogers’ face was determined as he added to their number. They found that if they hit the mortals hard enough, they fell unconscious, and there was little the spectral piece inside could do to pick them up.
“I see you’ve brought a friend back with you,” Rhone commented as he swept out the legs of a woman in front and sending her sprawling to the floor. “Want to introduce us?”
Jennie grunted, just managing to avoid a punch that would have connected with her temple and potentially caused some real damage. “Maybe later. I’m a little busy right now.”
Ula moved fast, lithe and nimble. Her body was a blur as she engaged with the possessed around her. She paused for the briefest of moments. “Jennie, can’t you do something about this? They’re specters inside, right?”
Jennie shook her head, then kicked the chest of the woman in front of her. “Not quite. Not from what I sensed anyway. I’m going to need more time to figure this out.”
“Then get inside us,” Ula shouted. Rhone shot her a strange look, a smirk on his face. “Really? Now? Now you want to play innuendo bingo?”
Jennie tucked herself into the middle of the circle the others formed around her. Her heart was racing. She closed her eyes and focused on what she was reading around her. While specters would usually appear as a bright white signature inside of her mind, the spectral energy inside of the possessed more resembled gray clouds. Jennie shot out a tendril of spectral energy and tested the connection. The moment they connected, a wave of nausea swept over her. She held her connection tight, determined to figure this out.
The feeling was like waving a hand through fog. It was as though she should be able to touch it, but it just slipped through her fingers. Jennie sent out a second tendril and latched onto two at once.
She gagged, her body convulsing as it tried to repel the foreign feelings that were coursing through her. The Dreadnought was old, he had been cursed. Could it be that this had somehow tainted his spectral form?
Jennie attempted latching onto a third, but the sensation made her physically sick. She vomited on the ground.
Ula threw her a concerned look. “You okay?”
“I’ve been better,” Jennie replied, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.
The circle tightened as the enemy drew closer. Despite their best efforts to keep them at bay, there were just too many. Even Roman, who had been throwing his tree-trunk-sized arms in all directions, was now almost surrounded. Julia was tucked behind him, cowering from the reaching hands of those who were closing the gap.
Jennie hated to retreat, but she knew when to throw in the towel. If they were going to save as many of the possessed as possible, they’d need to change tack.
She forced her way back to the front line and scanned over the tops of the heads for Jiao. She couldn’t see her anymore, though that didn’t mean a lot. Jiao was tiny and could easily be lost in this crowd.
Jennie growled. “Fall back,” she instructed. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
The others didn’t argue. As one, they about-faced and broke through the group, running for the other end of the street to put as much distance between themselves and their attackers as possible.
Jennie slowed after fifty meters or so and risked a look back. She found that the possessed weren’t following them.
The two groups waited in a silent stand-off. The possessed had no need to pursue them. They had completed their objective. Bees don’t continue to chase an invader when they’ve got a hive to protect.
Jennie took a step toward the possessed. As one, the possessed took a step forward.
“Interesting,” she muttered. She narrowed her eyes and took another step.
The possessed copied her again.
“We need to get through to the others,” Jennie instructed, glancing at Ula. “We’ve got the enemy in our sights, and it’s about time we close in and finish this.”
Ula was on it immediately, muttering into her earpiece to summon the others. She gave coordinates for their location and followed with the order to hurry.
Jennie tested her theory once more and took a larger step this time. The possessed, as one, took another step toward them.
“A predictable enemy is a removable enemy,” Jennie muttered.
No sooner had she said this than movement at the back of the possessed caught her eye. A handful of figures worked their way through the crowd and took their place at the front of the throng.
Jennie’s heart stopped when she recognized Sturgeon and one of the GOA guys.
Three other civilians holding firearms were beside them, and it was clear what they were about to do.
“Find cover!” Jennie shouted, already diving toward a parked car.
The other
s split up and found their own protection behind mailboxes, trees, and around the sides of buildings.
The possessed fired without hesitation, pumping their fingers against the triggers until their ammo was spent. Shots fired smashed windows, and bullets ricocheted off walls and car doors.
Jennie looked up at Baxter, who had found his hiding place beside her. Her face was a mixture of doubt and hurt. “I think we may have to hurt some people to win this one, Bax.”
Baxter nodded solemnly. “I think so, too.” He took a deep breath. “I think so, too.”
* * *
The minute her horde surrounded the enemy, Jiao slipped out of sight.
Her usually calm demeanor had slipped, and a crazed expression masked her face. She walked speedily toward the community center, seeking the protection of inside the hall.
Jennie was here. Her group was small, that only meant reinforcements would come soon. Jiao and Rathbourne had built a decent-sized army so far, but they weren’t ready at all. She’d thought they would have had more time to recruit. She had overruled Rathbourne and said her way was best. Recruit quietly, and soon the army would be ready to go.
She had underestimated Jennie.
Heart racing in her chest, Jiao strode through the community center and entered a room at the back of the building. Once this room may have hosted children’s birthday parties, but now it was the holding place of Rathbourne’s sarcophagus. Jiao was unsurprised to find the female mortal Rathbourne was possessing standing beside the tomb, one hand touching the stone.
“They’re going to overrun us, aren’t they?” His voice was calm and measured, that strange doubling effect like two people talking confusing Jiao’s ears.
Jiao gave a curt nod. “They’re summoning reinforcements as we speak. We need to move you. We need to get you out of here.”
The woman turned to Jiao and met her eyes. The stare was so intense that a weaker woman might have withered, but Jiao held firm.
“You said you have kin?” Rathbourne didn’t blink. “You said there were others.”
“I do,” Jiao replied, not bothering to correct the man that they weren’t “kin” as such, but more devoted followers inherited by an ancient legacy. “Once we’ve gotten you out of here, I’ll summon them to bolster our numbers. We need to grow much faster than we have been.”
Rathbourne held Jiao’s stare. It was a strange feeling, looking into the pits of those dark eyes. While the possessed had all lost their pupils and saw only from eyes of white, this woman’s eyes had turned dark and were now swimming with the deep and ancient knowledge of magic that shouldn’t have existed in this world. Jiao wondered what those eyes had seen on the other side of mortality.
“I agree,” Rathbourne replied. The woman clapped her hands once, and eight possessed entered the room. They were muscular, part of the group Rathbourne had coordinated to shift the sarcophagus here in the first place. He issued the command and they got to work, raising the tomb onto a wheeled platform. Soon they were out of the door and rolling toward a white van.
Jiao made to follow them but found Rathbourne’s hand holding her back. “No. We go our own way.”
“Why?” Jiao asked.
“We must build our numbers,” Rathbourne croaked. “Therefore, I must visit some old friends of mine. Soldiers who are willing to and have already died for me.”
With an iron grip on her shoulder, Jiao was led out of the community center. In the distance behind them, gunfire broke the quiet of the city.
Chapter Sixty-Three
Richmond, Virginia, USA
Roman called to Jennie. They were separated by the width of the sidewalk, Jennie tucked behind the trunk of a car, Roman in the shadows of the alley.
“I’m making some cover. Get ready to run,” Roman called.
Jennie looked at him curiously. Roman held up a smoke grenade and waved it.
Jennie grinned.
Roman pulled the pin and tossed the grenade as far as he could down the street. Bullets still ricocheted off walls and metal. He ducked back and waited for the explosion.
There was no cry of surprise when the grenade went off. Usually people would start in shock, but these weren’t normal people; they were soulless drones.
Jennie looked around at the others. Ula and Triton were not too far from Roman. Julia was tucked next to Roman, shrunken as small as she could and flinching with every bullet fired. Across the way, Rogers’ steeled expression stared into the growing mass of smoke. Rhone was not far from Rogers, his back to the wall of a florist’s.
“Disarm and disband them!” Jennie cried. “Go!”
They broke cover and tore toward the smoke. The conduits had their IR goggles on, giving them the ability to see their enemies in the thickening fog. Jennie latched onto Baxter and rushed toward the group, keeping close to the edges of the street and doing her best to keep her bearings once they encountered the horde once more.
Jennie was heartened to hear helicopters whirring in the distance. Although it would draw more attention to them, it reassured Jennie to know she had her team coming to help her.
Birds are faster than cars.
Jennie issued an order into her radio to not kill where possible. She looked up and saw some of the helicopters landing on the nearby rooftops. Projectiles launched down and exploded in flashes of white and ear-piercing shouts—flash-bang grenades designed to scramble the possessed and confuse their circuits.
Pressing the advantage, Jennie slalomed through the group, occasionally kicking someone out of her way. She hoped that if she could make it through the crowd, she could find Jiao and the Dreadnought. With any luck, if she could find the ringleader, she could stop the followers all at once.
Susannah followed closely behind, keeping an impressive pace for an ancient witch. Baxter stayed by her side, knowing deep down that somehow Susannah was going to be the key to the Dreadnought’s undoing, while Jennie would be Jiao’s.
They were almost through the crowd when Jennie was taken by surprise by a woman who looked as if she had once been carved from stone. Her flat face showed Neanderthal features, and her body was twice as wide as it was tall. She bowled into Jennie and knocked her to her feet. Those immediately in the vicinity piled on top of her.
“Shit,” Jennie grunted.
Baxter and Susannah tried to help, but there were just too many of them. The possessed piled on, squashing Jennie to the ground. She turned spectral, latching onto Susannah and Baxter, and tried to feel again for the signatures of the tainted ones nearby.
All she could see was darkness. Nausea immediately washed over her. She couldn’t understand how something so corrupt could be living inside these people.
She rejected the possessed and focused on something else that presented itself to her. Another ancient kind of spectral power that flushed through her and brought with it a wash of memory and magic.
Susannah’s energy signature was intoxicating. Where the possessed’s was black and cloudy, Susannah’s was white and throbbing with power. As Jennie explored her connection, memories that weren’t her own flooded her. Years of running and moving and concocting potions and spells of all natures filled her head in a blink, but most of all, there was something that purified Jennie and ejected the corruption of those piled on top of her.
“Jennie!” Baxter exclaimed, tearing away at the bodies piling up on top of her. For every possessed that he picked up and threw into the crowd, another two jumped on. The large woman eyed him up and moved toward him.
Susannah narrowed her eyes and held out her hands. They glowed soft white and produced an orange-sized ball of light.
Jennie channeled Susannah’s power and, following an instinct she didn’t understand, kissed the face of the closest person to her. Her lips made contact with the sticky sheen of the man’s face, and Susannah’s power crept from her lips and worked its way into the man’s system.
With her eyes closed, Jennie could make out the cloudy gray shape of corruptio
n inside the man. Her kiss leaked a white power that made its way toward the corruption and immediately started its work.
Like an antibody to a virus, the power multiplied, growing and doubling in size until it was consuming the corruption. Jennie groaned under the weight of the specters on top but couldn’t look away from what was happening in front of her. The man blinked and grimaced as the corruption was dispelled. He took a deep gulp of air, struggling under the mass of the others, and looked at Jennie in shock.
His eyes had returned to normal.
“Interesting,” Jennie mouthed.
The man tried to talk but couldn’t underneath the weight of everyone. She could hear Baxter still working away at clearing the pile, but it just continued to grow. Her mind was cast back to the tunnels of the abandoned New York subway tracks, where she had once repelled dozens of specters in a single glowing display of power. She wished she could try that here but knew that the corruption would only hurt her. She couldn’t harness their powers the way she would like.
But she could harness Susannah’s.
Jennie gasped for air, her lungs were nearing empty. Any more bodies on top and she’d be done. Even if she turned spectral, she wouldn’t be able to escape, the corrupt power inside her enemies was a weight in the other world.
Jennie focused her energy on Susannah’s power and her hands started to glow. She flailed her arms and reached for anyone she could, her heart racing fast as the power started leaking into them, repeating what it had done with the first man who grunted and complained in front of her, his hot breath on her face.
Susannah’s power acted as a cure. One by one, those nearest to Jennie—those that she could physically touch—were cleared of their corruption. On the outside of the bundle of bodies, Susannah worked on her own targets, pushing her power into the others while Baxter fought on to remove the possessed.
Agents, Agreements and Aggravations: In Her Paranormal Majesty’s Secret Service™ Book Three Page 48