by D L Greeley
“This kid is more observant than I thought.”
“You do tend to underestimate people, Alex. Good habit to break, leads to less winging it.”
“Dually, noted.”
Archie looked at me expectantly, nodding his head. He had the same question on his mind. I was thoroughly impressed. I could see a smile touch the corners of Kolann’s mouth which resolved to a head shake. “Out with it Mack, how bad is it and how deep is my wife in this?”
“Should we tell him she’s going to need SCUBA gear when the shit hits the fan?”
“You’re not helping, Mai.”
I had no choice. I had to be honest with him. “How deep?”
“Yes, Mack, HOW DEEP?”
“I don’t think she can see the surface from where she is K.”
Kolann, groaned as I described everything I saw, including the squad of guards and Svetlana’s cabaret act. The boys flushed a little. Kolann rolled his eyes and looked thoughtful. “What did you call it, Vodoun? I don’t remember Svetlana saying anything about practicing Vodoun.” He was clearly hearing the term for the first time and trying to rationalize his way around the fact that he missed such an important detail in his wife’s life.
I put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “Not your fault, K. Mostly, what she’s doing is some really dark shit. You don’t casually talk about practicing ancient Egyptian black magic to your friends and family. I have known some pretty nasty supernaturals in my day and even THEY wouldn’t touch this stuff with a ten foot pole—using someone else’s arm. She appears to be attempting to resurrect something. From the sheer magnitude of the undertaking, no pun intended, I’d reckon it’s one of The Forgotten.”
Archie perked up. “Forgotten?”
“The older gods. Most of them were angels, a bolder part of the contingent cast down by The Almighty after the Great War. As the old saying goes, ‘better to die on your feet than to live on your knees’. The Forgotten took this to the extreme. They decided it was better to be Gods among mankind, than servants in Hell, besides, they were pissed off at Lucifer for screwing them over.
Most were vanquished one by one, by an assortment of powerful wizards and banished into the depths of the Otherworld, to suffer the greatest punishment there is for a so called God.” Reggie nodded. “Obscurity.” I put my finger to the tip of my nose. “Damn! To be forgotten by the very society that used to worship you?” Archie said with a shiver. “That blows pretty hard, Mack. Did they deserve it?” I huffed and nodded smugly. “Yeah, I’d say they certainly did. Enslaving mankind only lasts for so long until your subjects out-grow you and rebel. Most of them were vile, cruel, and abhorrent. A large number were ambivalent towards humanity all together, lamenting their lost paradise. A few were pranksters. The latter were more fun until they started to compete, then whole civilizations were wiped out. So yeah, most of them got what was coming to them, in my opinion.” Kolann considered the new information. “I take it if this ritual is successful and said Forgotten one is summoned forth, he or she will be fairly angry about the whole affair?” I blew out a suppressed laugh. “You can be sure of that. St. Louis will be wiped off the map, like blowing so much dust off a bookshelf.”
“Oh, shit!” exclaimed Archie.
“Precisely, I didn’t want to scare you guys unnecessarily but you asked and you’re entitled to know what you’re getting into. If anyone wants to back out now, I’ll understand. I won’t LIKE IT, but, I’ll understand. If that’s your course of action, I suggest you go now, travel East as fast as you can. The force of the initial tantrum will do as much damage as possible before it hits sunlight.”
Good idea, that would give them their best chances, AND OUR’S.
I promptly ignored Mai. “Any takers? Speak now or forever hold your peace,” I looked back at the building, now starting to hum with dark power. “However long that may be at this point.” Archie looked determined and Reggie insulted. Kolann watched his boys intently. I shrugged “Alright then, operation ‘certain death’ is a go.” Everyone stared at me, no reaction at all. “Alright, tough crowd, let’s get down to it, shall we?”
“How are we going in?” Kolann asked as we all crouched down for the movie cliché dirt map drawing. The plan was simple—we would slip into the skylights and deal death from above. I would go first, to hunt down the Shrouded sentries. Kolann and Archie would then neutralize the top floor sentries and the ones on the fire escapes. Reggie would Shroud himself and make his way to a large crane that ran on tracks along the ceiling. The tracks spanned the entire length of the building. The crane would provide him cover and a good shooting angle. The controls were simple so he could maneuver as he needed to, until someone cut the power. I stressed to him that getting into position in the ritual area was priority number one. Kolann, Archie and I would then torch the meth labs and confront the ground troops, as well as Svetlana and the Guards. Archie’s eyes searched mine when I was finished. There was a question on his mind. One I wished had never occurred to him.
“What is it, Arch?”
“Are we locking them in?”
I closed my eyes and reminded myself he was still a kid, at heart. “No, Arch, this is a search and rescue. Punishment and vengeance come later, if you truly feel it necessary.” Archie apparently was in strong disagreement. “Mack, their kind has killed thousands and they teach this shit to their kids, to keep the hate going. Why not do the world a favor and burn the nest?” I looked at Kolann. He was studying Archie, his expression unreadable to the naked eye. I Sensed pain from him. Turning back to Archie, “I won’t kill anyone out of prejudice and neither will anyone in my company, we need to be in agreement on this.” Archie looked incredulous. “Prejudice? Give me a break, Mack! Everyone knows what kind of people these are. I don’t have a prejudiced bone in my body. None of us do.”
“Easy Alex, he’s just a boy.”
“You forgot a hothead with lethal combat skills.”
I looked at him evenly, reigning in my outrage. “No prejudice? Really? That’s fascinating. Tell me, what have your parents taught you about werewolves?” Archie looked surprised at the question and then seemed to take affront. “That’s different! They have been killing our people for hundreds of years. They’re blood thirsty animals, unthinking killing machines.” I nodded, “I know what you mean, been called that myself a few times… I know a couple werewolves. Do you know what their KIDS call me?” Archie shook his head. I leaned in and said in very quiet voice, “Uncle Mack.”
Kolann said nothing as I continued making additional marks to the map, in silence, just barely reigning in my temper. I spoke without looking up. “The bottom line is, there are women and children in there, Arch, drug along for the ride. Although I am certain our opponents have never shown ANY of their victim’s families such compassion, we’ll not soil our hands with INNOCENT blood.”
Now that I thought about it, historically maybe I was talking to the wrong crowd. Nah, that’s just my bias raising its ugly head. Tough to blame Archie when I’ve got the same kind of opinions about vampires.
“Very good, Alex, you really will make a wonderful father someday.”
“Thanks Mai, say that to Claire and you’re hamburger.”
“Of course.”
When I was done, I looked up, putting on what I am hoping is my most compassionate smile. “Sure, some of the guilty are going to get away, amongst all of the innocent. That’s just the price of being one of the good guys. Do you understand what I’m saying to you?” It looked like he did. “Yes, I do.” Good boy! “And that price is acceptable to you? Be honest Archie, I won’t take a change of heart in the thick of things, well.” With a resigned sigh, Archie nodded. “You’re a complicated man, Mack. Just as I think I have you figured out…”
“I do an unforeseen 180? Yeah, I feel ya, but it’s what keeps me so bloody interesting. Ready to proceed, gentlemen? We are short on time here.” We had pretty good odds of success, as long as nothing too unexpected happened. “And
gentlemen, let’s keep the fatalities confined to vampires, please.”
“Oh that just sounded wrong, Alex.
“Ooh, kinda did, didn’t it?”
I looked up from my map, receiving three stony cold looks. “What?” Kolann arched an eyebrow. “Would you mind saying that again? Surely what you were thinking is not what you said or perhaps maybe what you said, is not what we heard.”
“You’re right Kolann, that didn’t come out the way I intended, but, think about it. Everyone in that building is complicit with what is going on here. The humans can be prosecuted, possibly even rehabilitated to go on to live relatively productive lives. The vampires on the other hand…let me put it to you this way. How many feral vampire bikers do you want to try to quietly incorporate into your clan, and after that, which clan will take who’s left?” Kolann considered my proposition. “I see your point. Sorry for jumping to conclusions. We thought you were being…”
“Racist?” I supplied, with a hint of indignation. “You’re right, you’re right. It was kind of a dick move, to say it out right. I reckon that’s my one for the year.” I gave them a toothy grin, fangs glinting in moonlight. “Somehow, I doubt that,” replied Reggie returning my toothy grin. “Ho!” The rest of us said in unison. “Reggie—a swing and a hit. Good to see you getting in the game, kid. You guys go get some rebar out of that scrap pile and we’ll wait for you by the rear East wall. Any questions?”
“Just one,” Reggie looked like he was trying to puzzle something out.
“What’s on your mind, Regg?”
“What does sunlight have to do with an old God’s temper tantrum? I know what sunlight will do to a vampire, but I am unaware of it having that severe effect on anything else.”
“Sunlight has a degrading effect on magic, due to it being a particle energy. Dawn is when it’s at its most potent.”
Archie looked thoughtful. “So why don’t we just wait them out, until sunrise?” I grasped his shoulder and squeezed. He was trying to figure out a way to do this while putting Shelly at the least risk, a guy after my own heart. “They’ll torture Shelly to get me to show up, before that. You can be sure of it. If it were someone I didn’t care about, like say Terzic, I might let them roast his giblets until conditions were to my advantage.” Kolann’s eyes opened a little wider. “You know Mad Mirzad Terzic?” He was a little surprised by the name drop of the notorious mobster. “I wouldn’t say I KNOW him. I’ve slapped his guys around a couple of times, but money is money, so if I was hired to bring him back alive, I’d do it, if I could.” Reggie shook his head and snorted. I eyeballed him. “What?’
“You’re a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, dipped in hot melted cognitive dissonance, do you know that?” I shrugged. I was already pretty aware, just nobody had ever used half a dictionary to say it, before. “Get moving, guys.”
We had a couple minutes while the boys gathered the rebar. Kolann was silent for a moment, staring up into the night sky, wondering if it would be for the last time. “I think I understand you now. Japan is a very ethnocentric culture. You being this… different, must have made you a target for the other kids, pretty brutal were they?” I grunted, my brow furrowing from the pain of the memories. “They used to call me my adopted father’s pet Coco-Jin (brown foreigner) and worse. My old man (Oroku), liked to think my incredible fighting skill was his teaching. Really, it was all the practice I got in the schoolyard that made me great. I haven’t had the heart to tell the old geezer.” I smiled fondly at the pain tinged memory, not having seen my family in 23 years. I wasn’t sure if Oroku or Burnum were even still alive. Catching myself starting to brim with the emotion, I grinned and slapped his shoulder. “OK, enough bonding time, get your game face on, here come the boys.”
They were pretty weighed down between the guns, swords and rebar, but they managed. Archie looked up at the roof, gauging the height. “Uh, Mack? How are we getting up there with all this? Father can fly, but he can’t carry us.” Kolann’s eyes flew open. “I beg your pardon!” Reggie came to his brother’s rescue. “Father be realistic, you’re over 400 years old and some things fade with age. To fly both of us up, just to prove a point, would only serve to use up precious energy that will be needed in the fight.” I bent backward to stretch my back and held my arms up, fingers interlaced. “I’ve got it covered. Kolann, you want a ride up or do you want to stretch your wings, so to speak?” He smiled. I was giving him an opportunity to show off in front of the boys. “I think I’ll stretch my wings.” He stepped back and removed his coat. He was bare-chested with the exception of a tight black tank top and a utility harness that supported assorted weapons. It was very Rambo. I noticed the muscles in his shoulders ripple. He bent his knees into a crouch, sprinted forward, thrusting himself up, making a graceful arch along the surface of the wall to alight on the ledge. “Beauty,” I said genuinely impressed. “Are you coming?” He asked in an amplified whisper.
I concentrated and two loops large enough for hand holds sprouted from the breast plate shoulders. “Grab on guys.” Both boys slipped their free hands through the loops. I reached up with my left hand tossed a cable of Spirit Stone up to anchor itself to the building ledge. Willing the cable to contract, we sailed up until we got to the anchor point. We were hanging from the side of the building, my arm’s length below the top.
Archie looked at me. “Now what?” He sounded frustrated. “Hoist you’re lazy asses up; I can’t do every bloody thing for ya!”
Handing his rebar off to Kolann, Reggie was first up, sweeping his enhanced gaze over the rooftop. “Aren’t we being a little casual about this? I understand the need to be relaxed going into battle but aren’t we wasting time?” So, he noticed. I had been having Mai project confidence and ease at the Rayners since they arrived. Fighters that are too wound up, just get themselves and others killed.
“OK Mai, ease back.”
I felt the slow constant trickle of power dry up as we started creeping toward a skylight. I needed to give them a reason other than my telepathic manipulation. It was sort of a trust issue, not having asked their permission first. Reggie’s time wasting question was valid.
“No, Svetlana went to a lot of trouble to make sure I came here. I think whatever the end result of that ritual is, I’m a key part of it.” Kolann turned to me. “Do you really think so?” I nodded. “Pretty sure, think about it, K. If you were going to perform a ritual to summon an old god, up from the Otherworld, would you really challenge ME to a show down first?”
“I see your point. But doesn’t that mean you showing up tonight lends her ritual a greater chance of success?”
“A brilliant man, I’ve always thought so.”
“Quiet you.”
“Yep, I reckon so,” I said with a shrug. Archie looked alarmed. “And you’re OK with that?” Shaking my head I said, “No, usually I live by a code, the good of the many over the good of the few. This goes against everything I believe in and my instincts are screaming at me to walk away.”
“Oh, is that what I am now? A nagging instinct?”
“Your words, not mine.”
Archie finished my thought for me. “But Shelly is family.” I nodded, “The little family I have left. Fuck the code!” Kolann looked grim. “Gods preserve us.” I smiled, “At this point I’d settle for a god not stomping me into a runny red jelly.”
Now there’s a pleasant thought to begin a battle on.
Chapter 29
Upon inspecting our chosen point of entry, we found the skylight bolted down on three sides and on the fourth, hinges that looked like they were last maintained during the Johnson Administration. Kolann looked around, “I don’t suppose anyone had the insight to bring some WD40 and a wrench?”
“Not necessary, Father, when you have the handy, dandy Spirit Stone Swiss army knife,” Archie said with a grin. I braced my fingers on the edge of the frame and pushed sideways against the bolt heads with my thumbs, bleeding just the smallest amount of energy into each gaunt
let. Seishin Chikara,” the bolt heads snapped off like peanut brittle with a quiet crackling noise. Kolann looked very impressed. He had never really seen the Spirit Stone operate as anything but a weapon. “I see your point, very handy indeed.” I bobbed my eyebrows. “That and they leave the strangest finger prints you have ever seen. It’s a riot to read the police reports.”
We slowly lifted the skylight off its base and carefully let it rest on its hinges, thankfully they were stronger than they appeared. I gave the group a warning look, “Whatever is behind all this might be able to sense a sudden change in air pressure. No matter how small, some creatures would be able to home in on the source, in a matter of seconds. There will be no warning.” Reggie spoke in a hushed voice. “How often have you done this sort of thing, Mack?”
“Dozens of times, without having to be this cautious though, gods and sorceresses up the ante. Usually I just appear from nowhere and kill whomever challenges me first. Once they see how hopeless the odds are, I give the rest of them a chance to surrender.” Kolann eyed me, amused. “Does that work?”
“Only with the smart ones, Kol.” Mai pushed to the front of my consciousness. “In other words…rarely.”
“They don’t need to know that.”
The infiltration went off without a hitch, surprisingly enough. We had to move quickly. There was exactly 15 minutes before the next round of check-ins and someone sounded the alarm. Below me, I could see Shelly. Svetlana had almost completed her circuit of the diagram and time was running out. It was then I saw 40 bikers scattered about the crates and stacks, leering at Svetlana, but clearly trying to hide.