“Are we ready?” Vita was obviously excited to go save Merrill, as they all were.
“Almost… Lister,” Donovan began, turning to him after the drone was secured. He was strapping a bulletproof vest in place on his torso. “there is a reason I haven’t contacted The White Temple for assistance.”
“Yeah?”
“If I were to tell them of what was going on here I don’t think you or Vita would be safe.”
“Really?” Lister was confused. “I thought they, you, are the good guys.”
“We are. I don’t doubt it one bit. They have been fighting The Cabal for the good of mankind but sometimes good can seem like… something else.”
“Ah, I think I know where you are going with this.” Lister was no fool and the coming revelation was something he had feared for a long time being a paranoid inventor.
“From time to time the line between right and wrong gets blurry and bad things get done for the right reasons. I have been telling Magda, my superior, you have no connection to anything we would be interested in. Obviously I have been lying.”
“You think they would take Lister’s machine.” Vita said darkly.
“Yes but not just.” Donovan paused for a moment looking at Vita with concern. “I have seen the aftermath when they take what they want and I don’t want to see it happen to you.”
“Why are you telling us this now?” Lister asked the anger not hidden in his voice.
“I have grown fond of you two. You trusted me. In Vita’s world, which I will never forget by the way, you didn’t even think to search me. Who does that? Not people intending harm. I had a gun and could have killed the both of you. The level of trust you showed is not something I take lightly.”
“You couldn’t have killed me.” Vita’s eyes were glued to Donovan as he spoke but he did not look at her… he couldn’t and he knew she was right.
“I want you to know I am not going to let them take you. Either of you.”
“Won’t they find out?” Lister asked probing for the truth.
“Maybe but we have bigger problems. I don’t want the Temple to become like The Cabal and it could happen. The factions within the ranks are always vying for power. I could see them doing something they could not come back from.” Donovan sounded sincere to Lister and he had trusted him this far. “The world, hell the universe is in danger right now and we have to do what we can to make it right.”
“Just what is going on in there?” Lister was very concerned at the thought of what they were walking into.
“ I don’t know but whatever it is… we are going to be in for one hell of a night.” Donovan rubbed his forehead. “By not telling The Temple we are the only ones who will be in a position to stop this from happening. It’s all or nothing.”
Just a few short days ago Lister had been a blissful idiot going about his day to day activities, turning screws and soldering wires. Now he was at the center of some demented story of demons and monsters.
“Are you sure I am not dreaming all of this?” Lister asked quite seriously.
“If you are then I am too. So sure, this is a dream.” Vita was the one to answer. “The whole universe is a dream Lister so yes… we are in a dream but does the fact make it any less real? We need to stop whatever this is without his Temple knowing of the goings on…” Vita indicated Donovan with a head motion. “and we need to save Merrill. We have no help and there could be an army behind those walls. Dream or not we have to make this an amazing night. A night of blood and will.” Lister shuddered when she finished. He had known she was wiser than her young looks let on but when she spoke in such a way he could not help but feel like he was an amateur among professionals.
“Was that supposed to fire me up?” Lister asked.
“Did it work?”
“No.”
The three of them laughed. The sound of their mirth was not loud but it was genuine. Lister realized they had no choice. They had come to the point where it was either do or die and if this was his last night then he would make it count. In the inevitable, he found his fear had passed and in it’s place was a steely resolve which banished the thoughts of failure and of death. What would his demise mean for the Universe? He finally saw his place in the grand scheme of things and realized he was but a free electron in a creation so large as to be unknowable and he was fine with his insignificance.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Vita landed on the other side of the fence without even a rustle. Donovan had chosen the optimum spot to make her entry, a slightly wooded area. The grounds keeping shack nearby would hide her from any eyes which may happen be looking in Vita’s direction. The night was cool and she was not used to such weather. It made her shiver sometimes uncontrollably for her home was much warmer and far more forgiving than this place of steel and stone.
She leaned against the back of the shed and peeked around the corner. Her eyes were much better in the dark than those of her companions. As she surveyed her course toward the back gate she noted the path which she would take. Once she was satisfied the guards in the shack were sufficiently bored and possibly napping she made her way from tree to tree along the side of the mansion grounds.
Lister had been against the plan from the beginning but she had dealt with their like on many an occasion. Bandits were bandits no matter where you found yourself. She did not like killing but Vita would do what needed to be done to achieve her aims.
The dogs were out and she could see them crisscrossing the area with their handlers. She was not sure what they were capable of but Donovan had informed her of their superior sense of smell. She had no doubt she could handle them if they detected her but the event would be the end of their plan which was unacceptable.
The lessened gravity allowed her a freedom of movement she had never known. Soon she found herself twenty yards from the back gate. She knew Lister and Donovan were waiting for her to give the signal and once she did it would be time to make her move.
Her heart was pounding in her chest as she peered at the guards from the shadows. Lister had told her he admired her fearlessness though she was anything but. What kind of being would she be if she knew no fear? She would be no better than a beast and though she felt like one from time to time she was more human than those they were to battle on this dark night.
Vita made a chittering noise with her teeth, the signal they had agreed would be the call to action and the effect was immediate. Instantly the world was filled with a vibration which seemed to pulse all around her and made her stomach flip. She could see the confusion the wave caused to the guards by the gate which was her objective. They were shaking their heads as though trying to dislodge water caught within. One of them vomited in the bright lights by the gate but none of their actions, questionings or bodily functions made a sound.
Lister had not been slacking in the time it had taken to get to their destination. Though he was loath to use a Singing Stone it was their only chance to make it inside without being detected.
The nearest guard, her target looked in her direction. When he saw her his eyes went wide. Vita paused for a moment but no more relishing the terror his expression held.
She moved quickly across the twenty yards to him as he began to draw a weapon. She drew her blade when she was within a couple of paces. It’s glow steeled her nerves as it always did. She felt like a dark apparition as she stepped from the black and she was drawing tendrils of the dark with her as she stepped into the light. The blade sliced in a quick motion across the man’s throat nearly severing his head but still no sound could be heard.
She slipped behind the men as they were looking into the spot light Donovan had trained on them. The cop, as Lister called him had been right. The guards froze before her like a small herd of deer caught in headlights. She continued her brutal action, her blade leading the way.
Her second victim found his spine sliced from tailbone to skull before he had even felt the deep wound. The blade brightened as it worked, seemingly hungry for fle
sh and violence.
The third turned toward her and leveled his weapon but Vita was so much faster than him it was unfair and the look on his face said as much. Her blade protruded from a wound in his back which originated in his stomach. Vita could feel the hot blood on her hand and could see the terror, up close in the man’s eyes. The pain was expressed in his face. A profound agony in the stark white light encompassing them.
The next in line was the one who had vomited upon being impacted by the pulse. He looked to have recovered but he was not breathing long enough to be grateful for the fact. She took his legs out from under him by slicing deeply into the backs of his knees. He dropped hard to the ground his weapon firing without a sound into the air. She brought her blade down into his throat. The blood immediately began welling up around the blade.
She rolled over the man and came off the ground in a fast upward leap directly in the face of the next. She thrust her head forward delivering it to the bridge of his nose. His head flopped back, an arc of crimson spewing into the air. In the light the droplets scintillated like horrid gems. She kicked him in his stomach, sending him sprawling into the last man. They stumbled against the side of the gate house where Vita, with a powerful thrust, sent her glowing blade into the forehead of the first. It went completely through his cranium and into the right temple of the second thoroughly pinning them both to the wall, ending the bloodbath as abruptly as it had begun.
She stood breathing heavily, not because she was tired but from the power which had built up in her as she had wrought death. She was sure her inner fire was burning like an inferno but it was under control. She stood for a moment wondering at the feeling within her. She was such a power in this place and it was intoxicating. The sound stealing pulse stopped and all at once the world was normal again. She could hear the footsteps of her companions running up to the gate.
“Good lord.” Donovan whispered urgently with no small amount of admiration in his voice. “That was really something.”
“Yeah, something?” Lister was less impressed as he tried not to look at the bodies.
“Are you alright?” Lister asked, his hands on the gate bars, knuckles white with worry. Vita was dazed from what had just transpired. Suddenly embarrassed by her state she shook her head in an effort to call herself back to the present. Her pale blue tinged face flushed noticeably with her unease as the last of her shadow cloak was taken by the light.
She entered the gatehouse to which she had pinned the two men. She pulled a handle and the gate began to rumble open. Vita looked down at the control and saw the last drop of blood from her hand dripping onto the console. She quickly let go. For a moment she felt as though she were floating just behind her eyes. She held her open palm in front of her, staring at it. No tremor of worry or weariness caused it to twitch as she gazed at the blood of life covering her skin. She sniffed deeply and her eyes closed. The smell of cooling iron was the smell of power and in this place she had more than she could have ever imagined.
Back home whenever she had to use her skills she would feel bad about it and her nerves would let her know. This time it was different. This time she had not despised the act but had enjoyed it. This world seemed to crave the death she was delivering and the thought made her pause. What was she becoming? Vita wondered as she admired the look of her hand in all it’s bloody glory. Eyes were watching her and her reverie was broken as Lister stood staring with worry written in a tale on his face. It was too much for her and she knew the question he was about to voice.
“I’m fine.” she said not wanting to talk about it. She slipped past him without meeting his gaze.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The intruders did not find resistance entering the house though they were ready for anything. Lister was sure they had entered undetected which came as a pleasant surprise. They passed through a well lit kitchen. The white of the room was nearly complete except for the stainless steel appliances which only added to the sterile feeling.
They exited the kitchen into a dining room larger than all of the rooms in Lister’s apartment combined. Lister popped the back off of his resonator and replaced the singing stone in order to detect Karak once again. It only took him a moment as he tapped some commands on the touchscreen of the handheld. In a minute which felt prolonged, they knew which way to go.
Out of the dining room and into the main foyer was where the device led them. Vita, with a hand motion, indicated they should hold for a moment while she took a look. Lister wanted to object at this for he was afraid for her. Not just bodily but for her mind. He had not told her how much her blood lust had frightened him because he knew it was what they needed. It was going to be a long night seemingly filled with more violence than he could imagine but he did not want to lose her to possible insanity.
She left them by the door and made her way behind the large staircase. Lister could tell by the look on Donovan’s face he was becoming tired of playing second fiddle to what appeared to be a teenage girl. Lister felt a wanting to be anywhere but where he found himself and if it had not been for Merrill he would be.
“Who…” a male voice spoke up and was replaced by a gurgling sound and the thud of a body hitting the floor.
“Over there!” a voice shouted and the air erupted in gunfire. Donovan was already moving before the body had dropped and his .45 was adding to the shots ringing out in the foyer. It had all happened so fast Lister had not thought to configure his resonator to mask the sound as he crouched with his hands protecting his ears.
Lister peeked out from around the staircase not knowing what he could do. He saw Donovan take a bullet to the stomach which knocked him to the ground. Lister thought this was going to be it, the end of their mission. He was way out of his league and he knew it. He was not a spry little demon. He was not a former cop turned psychic investigator. He was an engineer who happened to get lucky. He looked up the stairs and saw a man standing there, if a man he could be called.
He was old and his visage spoke of the centuries upon him. He wore a black suit which starkly contrasted his deathly pale flesh. The apparition did not look like a man but more like a corpse. Lister cocked his head at seeing him, a frown splayed across his features. Upon seeing Lister the man held his arms out wide, paused for a moment and then brought them together in front of him. It took but a moment but Lister saw the effort the motion took and the compression of reality which was taking place in the space between his palms. The hands came together in a clap which sent a visible shock wave emanating from them. The wave expanded in a sphere and hit the group below.
When it hit Lister he felt as though he had been doused with freezing water. He looked around as it was passing through him and the others. Time seemed to slow and space seemed to undulate around them. He could feel his body becoming more unsubstantial as the others stopped their battle. Donovan, on his back, plucked a bullet from his body armor. He looked up at Lister with confusion and in the strange space the hallway had become, his expression was almost comical.
The color seemed to have been drained from the world. The walls and paintings looked like they had been coated in dust from a generation of neglect. It also seemed as though the lights had been dimmed making Lister feel as though he were no more than a paint stroke on canvas than a man.
Those involved in the skirmish had forgotten about their beef momentarily and in that space of time ghastly apparitions began to push themselves from the wall. Their bodies resembled people but backward and unintelligent. Their hunger was evidenced by their slathering jaws.
The gunfire started again but this time it was not the intruders the security force were firing at but the specters which had started to fall upon them. Lister watched in horror as one of the creatures punched a bloody hole in a guards stomach and wormed it’s way inside. He had to look away and found a familiar face.
“We have been transported to a mirror dimension.” Donovan yelled as he grabbed Lister by the shoulders.
Lister was stu
nned at what had transpired as the devastation of humanity around him continued. What could he do? He was looking at Donovan wide eyed but finally he gathered his sense of purpose. Lister pulled himself together and with a nod he hunkered down on the floor and got to work on his resonator.
Vita came around the corner slashing at the creatures with her blade. The transformation which had taken place in her was nothing short of stunning. Vita had become darkness incarnate and a tangible black enveloped her. Vita was slashing at the creatures driving some away and the ones she hit turned to screaming ash as the now blinding bright blade passed through them. The sound of her laughter echoed through the hall sending Lister’s skin to goose flesh.
“I hope this works.” Lister held the device before him and keyed it. A low pitched pulse emanated from it blasting the remaining creatures with vibration sending them tumbling, twisting and turning through the air and back through walls. Vita was facing away from Lister her laughter was as other worldly as was her countenance. She turned to them and Lister choked back a scream of terror.
Come on!” the smile on her face was a twisted mask of volatile joy but her eyes made them both recoil at the same time. They were orbs of black which spread its influence across her face. The sight of her froze them both, neither were able to follow her command had they wanted to. With her unnatural speed she was off down the halls to battle the enemy like a paladin chasing the devil himself. The two stood side by side and watched her go knowing they would never be able to keep up. Soon the two men were left without their ace in the hole.
“What the hell was that?” Lister shouted after a stunned moment.
“It’s OK. We are going to be alright.” Donovan sounded confident but he seemed to be talking to himself more than Lister.
After their momentary freak out the two pulled themselves together and went after her. The mirror they found themselves within was not meant for mankind and they could feel it did not want them. Lister felt like a heart not compatible with a transplant recipient and was therefore being rejected.
Lister Crowe Page 16