by Jasmine Walt
“More or less.” I shrugged. “It’s all real, more or less.” He looked like he was going to ask more, but I held up my hand to silence him before gesturing at the sky. The sun was already getting low in the horizon. It wouldn’t be long before it started to fade completely from the sky. I didn’t want to be inside the building when that happened for obvious reasons. “Now let’s get going. We’re burning daylight.”
Luc cocked his shotgun in response as we headed toward the building. Every step felt sort of foreboding, making the hair stand up on the back of my neck and my teeth chatter. It was always like this when I got ready for a mission. I never really got ahold of myself until I was in the thick of things. Then my training would take over, and I’d be fine, more or less, but the walking in part… well, that always sucked.
“So why haven’t you just burned the building to the ground?” I asked as we approached the twin pine trees. Something about them was even more unnerving on foot, though I wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t like they were ents and would pull themselves from the ground and try to beat me into oblivion. I mean, that’d happened before, but they tended not to leave the black forest along the border of Germany.
“I’d thought about it originally, but even though that looks like a pretty normal building, most of it is underground. It has these weird hatches inside that seal off and suck the air from rooms to smother fire in addition to a state of the art sprinkler system. That and most of the walls are solid concrete, so well, unless I have a nuclear device, I’m not going to kill much with explosives or fire. I can’t just fling a Molotov cocktail at it and tear away in my low-rider.” Luc shrugged.
“I don’t know what half of the things you just said mean, but I’m going to assume it won’t work,” I replied, giving him a thin smile.
Before he could respond, a branch shot out of the pine tree next to him and wrapped its wooden fingers around his throat. It hoisted him into the air like he was a toothpick. The sound of cracking wood and rustling leaves filled my ears as I threw myself backward, thankful I’d been a few steps behind Luc. A branch flew through the spot I’d just occupied as I landed hard on my shoulders, rolling across the pavement in a way that let me know I’d have bruises in the morning.
I came to my feet and drew my weapons. The pure white blades of Shirajirashii glinted in the sunlight as the tree pulled itself free of the ground and began moving toward me. Its bark was as black as soot and yellow orbs glowed inside its green pine needles. The orbs focused on me, and the giant tree monster took a lumbering step forward, spraying soil across the concrete.
“Why the hell are you here?” I screamed at the ent because they almost never left the forest. Its appearance here was odd to say the least. Instead of replying, the tree monster whipped its body around in a way that made me think of a willow being hit by a heavy gale. Pinecones exploded from its branches, their razor sharp edges more than enough to cut me into twain, you know, provided the poison didn’t kill me first.
I darted to the side, but there was no way I’d get free of the deluge in time. Muttering, I held Isis out in front of me. Blue light filled the space around the katana as a wall of force slammed down in front of me and solidified into an invisible shield. The pinecones hit it with so much strength, I was forced backward along the parking lot, my shoes skidding along the surface.
Sweat trickled down my face as I reached out toward Set, willing it to lend its sister some power. Then the pinecones exploded. The blast threw me backward, shattering my shield as my feet left the ground. I crashed to the ground, but kept a grip on my weapons as the ent shambled forward. It wasn’t fast, thank God, but it was still a living tree. It’d hurt like hell if it hit me.
I crawled to my feet as something exploded behind the creature, throwing bark and other debris into the air and distilling my hearing into an angry whine. The ent coming toward me, turned, shuffling its immense bulk as I ran at the creature. It didn’t even notice me until I landed amid its branches and drove my wakazashi deep into its trunk. Black sap that sort of smelled like fresh maple syrup exploded from the wound, coating me in a sheen of sticky liquid.
A howl tore through the air as it tried to shake me off. I ducked an oncoming branch and focused my will. The smell of pine was overwhelming as I reached out and called upon my magic. Lightning shot from the sky and slammed straight down on the spot where Set was embedded into the creature. The blast tore the living tree asunder in a flash that threw me backward.
Air whooshed out of my lungs as I smacked into the shrubbery. I threw my arms up to cover myself as sticks and other debris pelted me in the face and body. The ent leaned to the side, half blackened. Flames crawled up out of its center as it whirled, evidently not knowing it should stop, drop, and roll.
I ignored the thrashing creature and got to my feet, glad the lightning thing had worked. Set was a storm god after all, but I’d never really been good at storm magic even though both of my parents were masters of the art. It was a little weird since things like that were normally hereditary, but someone had told me Dirge had sucked at it too. Either way, I was more than happy to blame it on her.
“Timber!” Luc called, and as I glanced around for him, I saw the other ent toppling over like someone had sliced it in half. It fell, branches snapping against the pavement as a howl of anguish tore through the air. Black fluid spewed from its bottom in a wave that left the ground covered in sticky sap. Luc stood behind it, brandishing some kind of whirring chain weapon. He gestured at the creature with it and smirked. “That’s why I always carry a chainsaw,” he said, before raising it over his head in triumph.
“Remind me to get one of those things,” I said, making my way toward him.
“They’re on aisle six.” He smirked and did something to the weapon. The blade stopped whirring, and as he watched it slow, he glanced from me to the trees still thrashing in their death throes. “What are those?”
“Ents. Living tree monsters. I’ll be honest, whatever brought them here must be really powerful since they almost never come out of the forest.” I shrugged because I didn’t know what else to do. It was either that or retreat screaming. I wasn’t about to do that because not only would it not help the situation, but I was supposed to be tough. Running away would sort of hurt that image.
Still, the idea of tangling with something strong enough to drag ents out of hiding and use them as perimeter defense scared the bejesus out of me, especially since we were dealing with vampires. It meant the culprit was likely to be really old, and not only that, but whatever was inside that compound would likely be way, way worse than ents. I didn’t even want to think of what would be on the bottom floor.
“Well, let’s go,” Luc said, moving toward the door probably because he didn’t know enough to be scared. Before I could do anything, he rapped on the metal doors at the entrance. “Special delivery!”
8
The door creaked open and a gust of frigid air swept out, making gooseflesh sprout across my skin even though I was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt. Luc turned to me and exhaled a breath of foggy air before shining his flashlight into the depths.
It was so dark inside, I couldn’t make out anything aside from white marble floors and what looked like a receptionist’s desk. Only there was no receptionist. As the beam crawled upward along the desk’s sleek metal finish, it revealed an empty chair. Behind it was a painting of the moon shining over a lonely desert, only instead of the night sky being blue, it was crimson.
A bad feeling settled over me because the scene looked strangely familiar though I couldn’t quite place it. Luc took a step forward, and his boots squeaked on the marble. I was glad nothing had blown him to smithereens or tried to eat him, which would have put an end to this adventure right quick. Still, I needed to stop him before he triggered a trap that did just that.
“Let me go first,” I said even though he was the hulking black man with the shotgun and the chainsaw. He gave me a look that told me he’d thought the same
thing, and I had to fight the urge to be offended because honestly, I sort of wanted him to go in front of me. Not because he was male, but because the idea of anyone between me and the monsters was appealing.
“Why?” he asked, his light sweeping over the room and revealing nothing more menacing than a kitten calendar.
“Because I’ll probably be able to tell if there’s magic in the air, while your dumbass is likely to just set it off and blow us to kingdom come or get us trapped in a pocket dimension.” I shook my head. “You’re so far out of your league, you might as well be playing on another planet.”
Instead of arguing, he merely nodded and stepped to the side, allowing me to pass in front of him. The darkness was oppressive and overwhelming. The frigid air wasn’t helping matters. It made everything feel cold and dead. Then again, if this place was filled with vampires, that wouldn’t be too far from the truth. Why had I wanted to go first, again?
I muttered a magic word and with a small effort of will sent power thrumming along the lengths of my swords. Red and blue light crept along their respective surfaces, lighting them up like I was using glow sticks at a rave. And yes, I’ve actually been to a rave before. You’d be surprised how many creepy crawlies like to prey on people under the cover of electronic music.
The air had that clean, disinfectant smell that reminded me of hospitals as I moved forward toward one of the doors. I wasn’t sure which door to take so I just picked one at random. I’d asked Luc for building plans before we’d gotten here, but he hadn’t managed to acquire them. Apparently, they weren’t readily available which was par for the course I supposed.
Still, the smell bothered me. It was like they were trying to cover something up, but what could that be? Blood? Maybe, but I was worried it was something worse. I shoved the thought from my brain as I made a sweep of the door, and feeling no magical defenses, pushed on the metal panel inlaid into the door with my elbow. There was resistance at first then something inside it clicked, and the door swung inward.
I shined my sword on the wall just inside the door, looking for some kind of light switch, but as soon as I saw it, something pinged off my senses. I flung myself backward out of the doorway, colliding with Luc in the process. We went down in a heap as the door shuddered closed under the impact of something. The room around us shook and dust fell from the ceiling as I struggled to disentangle myself from the hunter.
“What is it?” Luc asked as the door was torn off its hinges and flung off into the distance. A crash filled my ears as I scrambled to my feet, my blazing swords held in front of me. They’d gotten brighter with my fear, which meant I’d accidentally dumped more power into the twin blades. Great, I was sure I was going to regret that later when I needed the energy for something actually useful like lighting a vampire on fire with my magic.
Still, I was pretty sure nothing had come through the door. I craned my head toward it, listening. Luc was crouched to the side, his shotgun trained on the entrance. His flashlight had spun off behind us, leaving us shrouded in darkness. I’d like to say my swords managed to light the room up like a spotlight, but unfortunately, that just wasn’t the case. It was more like the flickering of a candle in the darkness of a cave.
A low rumbling escaped the doorway, setting my nerves on edge and making my heart thud in my chest. Instead of letting it get to me, I tightened my grip on my swords and took a tentative step forward. Something flew out of the darkness, and the boom of the shotgun tore my hearing asunder. Thick wet fluid spattered across me as something disappeared into a bloody cloud. I blinked, wiping the goop from my eyes as Luc racked another shell into place and stood, still watching the door.
I wasn’t sure what had come out, but I doubted it was whatever had torn the door off. I craned my head forward, trying to peer inside when something grabbed me around the ankle and hoisted me backward into the air. I dangled there for a split second before whatever it was flung me across the room like I was a ragdoll.
My back slammed into the desk and pain shot through me. My swords slipped from my grip, hitting the ground with a lifeless clatter. Their glow went out, pitching us into complete and utter darkness.
The swish of the wind filled my ears as I found my feet, but no sooner had I gotten them under me when my breath was driven from my lungs. It felt like I’d been hit in the chest by a baseball bat. Sadly, I knew what that felt like.
Luc’s shotgun roared again, making it impossible to hear, which was lame. It was one thing to fight without sight, but without hearing as well? That was crap. Still, I’d been in tougher spots thanks to my mother. One time, we had played hide and go seek in a swamp while blindfolded and wearing earplugs. Let me say this right now, I hate frogmen.
My body crashed to the ground, but instead of trying to scramble away, I laid there as still as possible. Just as the barest glimmer of something touched me, I lashed out with everything I had, slamming my palm into whatever it was. “White Sparrow!” I screamed.
The white cylinder of flame burst into being, sealing whatever was attacking me inside. I staggered backward, chest heaving as fire crackled out of my spell, spilling across the ceiling and engulfing it in super-heated flames.
The light of the fire illuminated the room, but it was almost blinding since it’d been so dark. I blinked, trying to see what I’d caught in my spell as I recovered Shirajirashii. Sure, fire killed most things, but this was magical fire. Some things could shake that off. If it could, I wanted to be ready.
When nothing burst from my spell, I grabbed my swords while doing my best to ignore the flames and looked for Luc. He was on his back, his shotgun in front of him. A werewolf had its jaws around the barrel, trying to bite its way through the weapon as the studs in Luc’s coat flared with blue light. So they were made of silver. That was smart.
I got to my feet as water exploded from the ceiling, dousing me in a deluge that extinguished the fire and my spell in an instant. The air whipped around me as I spun in the water in time to duck a swipe from a charbroiled werewolf.
“Hey, Fido, why are you helping vampires?” I asked, lashing out with my blades and spilling its entrails across the floor. Not that it mattered. The creature kept slashing at me like I hadn’t just lit it on fire and disemboweled it. That was the problem with werewolves. In addition to being strong, fast, and having fangs and claws, they healed nearly instantly. Thus, they were used to taking on incredible amounts of damage without stopping, even from magically enchanted swords.
Still, it was weird that they were helping vampires. While they weren’t enemies per se, they didn’t exactly get along. In fact, most werewolves were pretty damned aggressive toward, well, non-werewolves in general.
The werewolf, unsurprisingly, didn’t answer my question. Instead, it lunged, teeth bared. I stepped to the side, driving my knee into the underside of its jaw, snapping its mouth closed and flinging it across the room. It crashed into the wall and slumped to the marble floor dazed.
I spun back toward Luc and leapt. My shoulder crashed into the creature pinning him to the floor. We slid across the slick marble as it whirled on me, feet scrabbling on the surface like a dog on linoleum as I tried to keep my face from getting torn off.
“Down!” Luc screamed, and I dropped just before his shotgun went off. The blast hit the werewolf full in the chest as it struggled for balance. It screamed, a horrible inhuman sound I was sure I’d never forget as silver fire exploded from its wounds. The creature thrashed, falling to its back as it tried to tear the silver pellets from its body. I wasn’t sure why Luc had silver ammunition, but I was sure glad he did. Maybe he was more prepared than I’d given him credit for.
Luc spun as he cocked the shotgun and put a round into the other werewolf as it was getting to its feet. The howl of anguish was enough to almost make me feel bad for it. Almost.
“Let’s get out of here,” I said, making my way through the door and out of the deluge of water. Luc nodded to me, and I was suddenly glad I’d brought the hu
nter along with me. Most Dioscuri didn’t take on werewolves alone. Two might have been a death sentence, especially without silver weapons. Then again, if I’d had my gear, I’d have had silver. The thought made me grumble.
“Why are there werewolves?” Luc asked, coming up next to me and shining his flashlight into the empty concrete room. Evidently, he had recovered it. “Don’t they normally hate vampires?”
“I was wondering the same thing,” I replied, staring at the room as a horrible thought filled my brain. The walls were absolutely covered with scratches. They filled nearly every square inch of the twenty by twenty space. Had the creatures just been captured? Had they just been attacking us because we were the first people they saw when we opened their prison door? I certainly hoped not. That would make me feel bad, and I really didn’t like feeling bad.
So what did I do? I pushed it out of my mind and made my way across the room toward the only other door. It looked a lot heavier than the one we’d come through originally. Something told me if they’d gone through the trouble of filling this room with hungry, angry werewolves, our target was through that door. Then again, it could just be a trap to trick us. Stranger things had happened.
9
The first thing I noticed upon opening the door was the smell of blood and despair. I shivered as it washed over me like a warm breath and tossed a look back at Luc. I wasn’t sure how he’d managed to pick the lock with his weird little kit, but I was glad he had. Otherwise, I wasn’t sure how we were going to get through a steel-reinforced door set into a concrete wall, especially when it was built to withstand werewolves.
He swallowed hard enough for me to hear the sound, and I tossed another look back at him to see him reloading his shotgun. He gave me a sheepish grin, which seemed ominous in the relative darkness of the room.