Web Master (#8 Shifter Squad)

by J. C. Diem

  Sabine was the last to enter. She closed the door, turned and gasped when she saw Ava. “You!” she said in a hoarse whisper. “What are you doing here?”

  “You two know each other?” Mark asked in confusion. Sabine had been held captive for twenty years, which meant Ava would have been in her teens back then.

  “I know what she is,” Sabine said and sniffed in disdain. “Her species does not usually interfere in the perils of mankind. They prefer to remain aloof, watching from afar as disaster strikes.”

  “Her species?” I said. “You mean she isn’t human?”

  Ava seemed to dread what Sabine was about to say, but she didn’t try to stop her. “She is about as human as I am,” the lamia scoffed. “She is a nagi.”

  “Nagi?” Reece said. “Don’t you mean naga?”

  “That is the male of their species,” Sabine explained. “Their females are called nagi.”

  There wasn’t much about nagas or nagi in the PIA archives. The only information I’d found about them was that they were some kind of minor serpent deity with strong ties to nature.

  “You’re a nagi?” Mark said blankly. “What about your sister? Was she a nagi, too?”

  “Heather wasn’t my sister,” Ava admitted. She wrung her hands together at Mark’s betrayed expression. “I wanted to tell you, but I couldn’t. How could I explain to you what I really was?”

  “I don’t understand. Why did you pretend that Heather was your sister?”

  “Because I needed to find a way to join the PIA. I knew you would be my best avenue to gain entry.”

  “You used me for your own gains.” His disappointment was palpable.

  “That is not true,” she said with as much dignity as she could muster then turned to Sabine. “You are correct in your belief that my kind usually has little tolerance for humans. They have polluted their planet and they will end up destroying it one day. Our task has always been to preserve the lands and waters. I did not join this organization for personal reasons. We knew that danger was coming and that it would result in the destruction of this world as we know it. Mankind has many flaws, but they do not deserve to be eradicated.”

  “Did you know that the clairvoyant was actually a zombie?” I asked.

  “Of course. There are very few secrets that can be kept from me.” She turned a knowing look on Mark. She’d known we were immortal before we’d figured it out for ourselves. “I believe you were telling the truth when you said that Alexis is Fate’s warrior. She and your team will be instrumental in deciding the destiny of this world. The warlock who erected the wards inside this building is on our side. He has put a spell on the guards who are watching the monitors. They do not yet know that you are here. Like him, I will do whatever I can to help.”

  “You can start by convincing the Board that we aren’t the enemy,” my father said.

  Her expression turned regretful. “I can try, but they have already made their decision. They have ordered the entire agency to shoot you all on sight.”

  “Great,” Kala muttered. “We’re at the top of the PIA’s most wanted list. Hooray for us.”

  “Is Cromby in the Boardroom?” Mark asked.

  Ava inclined her head. “He is. The Board is holding a meeting on how to deal with you all as we speak.”

  “I guess we should invite ourselves to the party then,” I said. I doubted it would do any good to talk to them, but we might as well get this over with.

  Mark brushed past Ava as he stepped over to the door. She was saddened by his brusqueness. She’d broken his trust when she’d lied to him and she might never be able to regain it again. I could see that whatever she felt for him went deeper than mere friendship. Kala saw it too and we shared a long look. We didn’t have time to delve into this now, but neither of us was going to forget it. Mark had been alone for a very long time. If he could have a chance to find happiness again, we weren’t going to let the opportunity pass by without doing something about it.

  He strode down the hall to the Boardroom and waited for us to catch up to him. Opening the door, he entered without knocking. Cromby broke off his conversation with his cronies and gaped at us. Instantly panicking, he reached for the phone on his desk.

  “It isn’t necessary for you to call for your guards,” Mark said. “We’re not here to kill you.”

  Cromby’s hand hovered over the phone before he dropped it to the desk. “I was informed that you’ve decimated most of the Obliteration Squad and the Containment Squad.”

  “Actually, my Dad killed most of them,” I said. The rest had run away before the demon could eradicate them.

  The entire Board looked at my father in shock at my pronouncement. “But, you’re just a human,” the British woman said.

  I snorted out a laugh. “He’s the most highly skilled warrior the US Army has ever seen. Your men were no match for him.”

  My dad looked modest, but he didn’t refute my claim. I had no idea how many people he’d killed during the course of his career. It was probably more than the rest of us had killed combined.

  “What do you want?” the Russian Board member asked brusquely. Cromby was the only one in immediate danger. The others were safely ensconced in their offices in their distant countries.

  “We’ve come here to remind you that we’re not your enemies,” Mark replied. “What we told you is true. An apocalypse is coming. It would be wise of you to join forces with us rather than wasting more of your resources by sending them after us.”

  It was obvious that the Board weren’t convinced by his speech. “What is your plan if we do agree to join forces with you?” the Chinese Board member asked. “All we know so far is that we are seeking a creature that can teleport, create golems and control the dead. No being in our records has ever had that combination of abilities before.”

  His words triggered something in my head. I drowned the voices out as they began to argue. Searching through my memories, I began to piece it all together. Playing back a recent event that had been fuzzy, it suddenly became clear again and I recalled the entire conversation. “I know who it is,” I said, cutting off all talk.

  “Really?” the British woman said derisively. “Would you care to enlighten us?”

  “There’s one type of being who can teleport, use elemental magic and control the dead. Or they can take over someone else who can control the dead, at least. Their magic is strong enough to force anyone to bend to their will. They can even make us forget we ever saw them.”

  It all made sense to me now and I didn’t know how I hadn’t seen it sooner. I finally understood how the Board had been so easily duped into believing that the zombie was a clairvoyant. Their minds had been taken over. There was only one creature that I knew of who could pull that off.

  The silence lasted only for a moment before Reece plucked the thought out of my head. “Faeries.”

  Mark’s eyes widened, then narrowed. “Or perhaps a half-faery in this instance.”

  Kala looked mystified for a moment then she realized who we were talking about. “Kurt Jorgen is behind all this?”

  “How did you put it together?” Flynn asked me.

  “It was the zombie that was acting as their clairvoyant that was the main clue,” I replied. “Her accent was familiar and I finally realized she sounded just like Jorgen. He can use his fae magic to bind just about any creature to his will. He teleported me overseas, forced me to raise a zombie then made me order her to answer his questions.”

  Mark realized where I was going with this. “He can’t raise the dead, but he can control necromancers.”

  I nodded, glad that he hadn’t told me my theory was crazy. “I picked up some information from the ghost of the necromancer before the other spirits banished him." The Board members shared uneasy glances on their monitors at my reminder of my true origins.

  “I think he made a bargain with Kurt and then failed to fulfil it. The faery killed him and his magic is so powerful that the soul of the necromanc
er was still bound to do his bidding. For three hundred years, he was forced to obey every command that he was given. Then, a hundred years ago, he was teleported here. Jorgen killed a maid and compelled a living necromancer to resurrect her. The necromancer ordered her to obey the spirit. She became Kurt’s tool by proxy. He could have had control transferred to him, but he gets more satisfaction out of bossing the ghost around.”

  It was the only thing that made sense and I knew in my bones that it was true. Kurt’s nasty smile when he said we’d meet again came back to me. I’d known all along that he didn’t like me much, even if I hadn’t known why. He’d known that I’d been chosen by Fate to be his nemesis long before I’d become aware of my destiny.

  “How did he retain control of the zombie after the vengeful spirits killed the ghost?” Mark asked. “He shouldn’t have had any power over her.”

  “He has a new necromancer on his payroll now,” I said. “When he took me to the cemetery to raise the zombie, he said something that only just came back to me now. He said that Viktor told him no one could raise a four hundred year old corpse. I believe Viktor has assumed control of the zombie.”

  Kala was incredulous. “Viktor as in Viktor D’Ath, your biological father? They’re in cahoots?” At my nod, she realized the full implications of what I was telling her. “Kurt Jorgen is the one who has been raising the golems, teleporting everywhere and controlling the zombie that they thought was a clairvoyant?” She hiked her thumb over her shoulder at the chagrined Board members on the monitors. “That short, bald, creepy little weirdo is the Web Master and the real leader of EERI?” Her upper lip lifted in scorn.

  “Now, now,” a voice said from behind us. “There’s no need to be nasty.”

  We spun around to see Kurt Jorgen watching us. He stood on the far side of the room where the magical barrier had once hidden his zombie and the spirit that had been controlling her. Dressed in the same rumpled black suit as always, his expression was close to gleeful. He’d dropped his glamor so the Board could see him for what he truly was.

  “You look familiar,” Cromby said in confusion. “Aren’t you the head of the Mind Sweepers?” I was amazed he remembered even that much about him. It seemed Jorgen had wanted recognition of some kind, even if it was just as the head of a PIA team. “You’re a half-faery?”

  “Yes and yes,” Kurt replied. “I’ve been employed by the PIA in one form or another almost from its very inception. Thomas, the pious priest, and his annoying sidekick, Harold had no idea that I was their enemy.” He sneered at the memory of our founder. If he disliked me, he truly despised Thomas and Harold. “I posed as a human and joined their ranks. Before killing the supernatural creatures that they hunted, I harvested what I needed from them.”

  “What did you take from them?” Mark asked.

  “Power.” He clenched a fist and grinned. His sharp teeth flashed in the light. “I have been feeding on them for four hundred years, storing the energy for when I could finally strike.”

  “Why are you planning on destroying mankind?” Flynn asked. “What did they ever do to you?”

  Kurt’s expression darkened and we all drew back. His evil power swelled until the air almost seemed to pulse with it. “They are brutal, stupid parasites who know only how to cause harm to anything weaker than they are.” He fell into a brooding silence, but it didn’t last long.

  “My mother was a full blood fae and made the mistake of visiting this realm. She came across a party of humans and was curious enough to speak to them. They knew her for what she was and captured her. They bound her with iron and brutalized her for weeks. She finally managed to escape, but by then she was pregnant with me. Her kind wouldn’t take her back, telling her she was tainted.

  “Banished from the fae realm, she had no choice but to return here. She only survived for a few years before she pined to death. She hated this realm and preferred to die rather than to continue living here. She was disgusted by me because I was half human and she despised me because of my tainted blood.

  “Left all alone in this harsh world, I was forced to beg for food and shelter. I was different from every other child in the village. They teased me and threw rocks. I was beaten severely when I stole a loaf of bread and ran away to live in the forest. I vowed that I would get my revenge on humankind for their intolerance. Two hundred years later, Thomas founded the organization that you now work for. I knew he would lead me to creatures who would make me strong. Now here I am, poised to destroy mankind, just as they deserve.”

  “Wait a minute,” Kala broke in, completely ruining his moment of triumph. “You’re going to kill everyone on the planet because your mommy didn’t love you enough and some kids were mean to you?”

  Kurt’s face turned thunderous at her mockery. He opened his mouth to make a retort. Before he could utter a word, my father’s gun was in his hand. A shot rang out and a hole appeared in Jorgen’s forehead. He staggered back a step, but he didn’t fall. As we watched, the wound closed and his lips pressed into a thin, humorless smile.

  “I’ve heard that your skills were unparalleled, Major Levine,” he said. “Now it is time for you to witness mine.”

  ₪₪₪

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Staring down at the floor, Kurt chanted in a language that I’d never heard before. The words sounded harsh to my ears and hurt my head. Ava cringed away and Mark pulled her behind him protectively. Flynn did the same with Sabine. Reece didn’t try to shield me. He stood at my side as my equal rather than my protector.

  We looked to Mark for guidance and he sent us a helpless look as a ring of fire formed in the carpet. Flames gushed almost to the ceiling and the carpet was burned away. When the flames died down, a pit was revealed. Black as midnight, it was so deep that I couldn’t see the bottom. Pure evil emanated from it. From far away, a babble of harsh voices rose. A fight ensued and one of the imps won. The door slammed shut and the voices were cut off.

  Clawed hands appeared and gripped the edges of the hole. As inky black as the first demon, the hell spawn laboriously hauled himself out of the opening. Collapsing on his side, he recovered far more quickly than the first one had. Rising to his feet, he opened fiery red eyes and glowered down at us. He was easily eight feet tall.

  “I will leave my minion to deal with you,” Kurt said. “You may have defeated my first imp, but I think you’ll find this one is far stronger. With a little more practice, I will soon be able to call forth a much more powerful demon. Then the end of the world shall begin and no force on this Earth can stop me.” With that fervent promise, he disappeared.

  “Can you do anything about the demon?” Mark asked Ava.

  Still cringing away, she shook her head. “My kind are not fighters. We are nurturers.”

  “Fat lot of good that’s going to do,” Kala muttered then looked at me. “Can you rustle up some more ghosts and get them to kill this thing?”

  I shook my head. “The spirits that were trapped here have moved on. Even if there are more ghosts nearby, the wards will keep them out.”

  There probably were more ghosts roaming the grounds, but I didn’t have time to go through the process of killing myself so I could pull them into our realm. It had taken Zeus’ death to push me that far in the first place. I doubted I’d be able to duplicate the process easily.

  Speaking of Zeus, he crouched in front of me with his head down, growling at the demon. He recognized him as being the same type of creature that had killed him, only larger. His rage grew and I sensed something happening to him.

  The death magic that I’d used to bring Zeus back swelled inside him. I blinked a few times when he seemed to be getting larger. Ava gasped in shock and I realized it wasn’t an optical illusion.

  “What’s happening to him?” Kala asked. She sent me a frantic look, but I didn’t have any answers for her. I knew he was different now, but I had no idea what was going on.

  We backed away as he changed from an ordinary Rottweiler into
something that barely resembled a dog at all. He grew to roughly the size of a large horse with talons, fangs and glowing red eyes. Shadows swirled around him and almost seemed to be a part of him. He clawed at the ground, leaving deep furrows in the carpet and in the concrete floor beneath.

  “He has become a Wraith Hound,” Ava said in awe that was tinged with fear. “I have not seen one for many thousands of years.” She looked from Zeus to me. “I take it you have bound him to you with your death magic?”

  I nodded wordlessly. Mark tore his eyes away from Zeus long enough to glance at Ava. “You and I are going to have a very long talk if we live through this,” he said. If she really was thousands of years old, then she’d be a wealth of information. The least she could do after using him to infiltrate the PIA was to tell him everything she knew about supernatural creatures.

  The demon chortled at having so many victims to choose from and took a step forward. Zeus snarled and the sound reverberated around the room. The hell spawn paused, realizing he wasn’t going to be able to wipe us out without a fight. They circled each other, searching for weaknesses. The demon struck first, punching his hand through Zeus’ chest. Instead of tearing him apart, this time it passed through him harmlessly. Apparently, he could switch between being solid and being insubstantial at will. He’d become a cross between a zombie and a ghost.

  Zeus almost seemed to grin then swiped a clawed paw at the imp. Furrows appeared in the inky skin of his abdomen. Rank black blood spurted and he shrieked in pain. Our guns were useless in this fight, we could only watch on as my gigantic guardian stalked the demon. He had become the canine equivalent of a vengeful spirit. The wounds he inflicted on the imp didn’t heal as they should have. Infused with death magic, he was deadly even to demons.

  Bleeding black ichor and knowing he was doomed, the demon leaped at me. He was intent on causing as much havoc as possible before he was banished back to hell. Before I could react, Zeus lunged forward and snagged the demon by the leg. Tossing him into the air, he caught him in his mouth and bit him in half.