God Hammer: A novel of the Demon Accords

by John Conroe

  “So the kid wonder there can bring the fight to the digital level,” Darion said quietly by my side. “What do we do about the other troubles that seem to be popping up? Like the Church of the True?” he asked.

  “We have more,” Tanya said, suddenly back on our side of the room. To his credit, Darion didn’t even flinch.

  “More?” I asked.

  “That call I was on was from Plasma. Seems they had a visit from some nice Russian gentlemen,” she said. “The Brotherhood wanted to pass along some information.”

  “The Solntsevskaya Brotherhood?” Darion asked.

  “Do you know another? Anyway, it appears that they’ve been having their own computer problems, mostly related to their banking activities, missing money, seized money, that sort of thing. And they’re not alone. The other major organized syndicates around the City have all been having tech issues,” Tanya said.

  “So why is that our trouble?” I asked.

  “Because the evidence points to Demidova Corp as the instigator of these digital raids,” she said.

  “But you didn’t, did you?” Darion asked.

  “No. Our computer division has nothing to do with organized crime or banking, although we do some algorithmic trading in the markets. Quantitative stuff, but the rest is theoretical. It’s a research unit,” she said.

  “So it’s a set up… to sic the major crime gangs in the city on us. Anvil’s work, no doubt,” I said.

  “That’s genius. Use one threat to eradicate another. But why would the Brotherhood warn you?” Darion asked.

  “Because they have known about us for far longer than most humans and they respect us. We would not take their digital accounts if we were in conflict, and they know it,” Tanya said.

  “No?” Darion asked.

  “No. We would take their lives and their blood, in the night.”

  “Oh right,” he said in the tone of someone suddenly reminded of a nasty truth.

  “Great. Now we need to make things right with all the gangs, too,” I said. “On top of the Church of the True’s public opinion campaign against vampires. Their knowledge about our operations is too detailed. Anvil must have fed it to them. This thing attacks on all fronts all at once.”

  “With great effectiveness,” Tanya said with a hint of respect.

  “So Boy Wonder over there is helping protect your computers, but what do you do about all the rest?” Darion asked.

  “I asked him how he would take on Anvil and he said that he wouldn’t. He said that most programs come at problems in a linear fashion. Logic trees and such. That a program like Anvil, no matter how sophisticated, is defined by its mission design. I dropped the rock on the silo and it labeled me a threat to the country. Declan said if we could understand its threat definitions, maybe we could see about changing how we’re classified.”

  “So you don’t even get into a fight with the thing. You just remove yourself from its radar. That’s a very Book of Five Rings type of approach. How old is that kid?” Darion asked.

  “Eighteen going on eighty,” Tanya said. I raised my eyebrows at her assessment.

  “What? He spends too much time overthinking his situation and not enough time enjoying his youth,” she said.

  “Who are you and what have you done with my vampire?” I asked Princess Super Serious.

  “I don’t know. I personally think it’s a good thing that the magic kid isn’t a flighty frat boy,” Darion said. “Think what trouble he could cause.”

  “Darion, you have no idea how true that is. That kid who is currently more aware of the pretty girl looking over his shoulder than the magic program he’s writing into history is undoubtedly one of the most powerful witches ever born,” I said.

  “And you’re sure he’s on our side?” Darion asked.

  “Yes, but let’s keep him that way, shall we?” I asked.

  “Good point. Let’s hope Anvil doesn’t think of that,” Darion said, which earned him a sharp look from both Tanya and me.

  “Heaven forbid,” Tanya said, watching the trio at the computer. Chet appeared to be pointing out an error to Declan, and Grace was now leaning one hand on the back of Declan’s chair, fascinated.

  “From the mouth of an angel,” Darion said to himself, very softly.

  Chapter 10 – Declan

  I got the first security program finished, and Chet hurried off to the computer center to transmit it to the satellite. Simon went with him, leaving Daiyu and Grace to help me with the next programs.

  The extra eyes helped too, as even though I’m thoroughly comfortable with runes, a computer program written in runic form is another beast altogether. Their questions and double checks kept me straight.

  “So… witchcraft?” Grace asked with a nervous glance at the chair and coffee table area where Chris, Tanya, and Darion all discussed some new serious matter.

  “Think of it as energy manipulation at a quantum level if that helps,” I suggested. “There seems to be a considerable amount of evidence to support that theory. In fact, Chet was telling me that he’s conducted experiments on Chris’s powers himself.”

  “So I can understand how a machine could possibly be built to interact with such things, but a human?” Grace asked.

  “Electric eels generate and channel electricity naturally, biologically. Why can’t a human brain have a potential to detect and influence other types of energy?” I asked back, trying to speak, code, and ignore her perfume.

  “Do you handle electricity then, mate?” Grace asked.

  “I do, but most other witches don’t.”

  “Do we call you a bloody witch or a warlock?” she asked.

  “I prefer to be called Declan, but if you feel you must, then go with witch. A warlock isn’t just a male witch.”

  “So yer not a warlock?” she asked.

  “Actually I am, but I prefer witch.”

  She looked puzzled, but Daiyu chose that moment to point out a mistake in my coding.

  “So ‘ows the whole Bewitched thing work?” Grace asked.

  “I’m not sure what you’re asking. Basically, there are genes that some people have and most others don’t. If you have them, then you may develop an affinity for an element of nature, like Earth, Water, Air, or Fire. That affinity may allow you to sense or even manipulate the world around you without physical contact. Most of these genes are spread randomly throughout the population, resulting in some individuals expressing talents that the world collectively refers to as psychic powers. Telepathy, telekinesis, remote viewing, things like that. But, eons ago, some groups of people with these genes formed societies and selected mates from these societies. As time went on, the genes became concentrated and these families learned techniques for focusing and honing these abilities, each generation training the next.”

  “And you come from such a family?” she asked. Both girls had stopped looking at the screen to listen to my explanation, so I stopped typing as well.

  “I do. Every part of the world has people that you could call witches. Mine happen to come from Ireland.”

  “And you chant spells and make potions and the like?” she asked.

  “Yes. I brew a love potion that makes girls drop their boyfriends and only want me,” I said with a straight face.

  “You whacker! You’re having me on,” she said, smacking my shoulder.

  “Yeah, I am. I don’t do chants or potions. Some do. I mostly use runes, when I use anything.”

  “Explain,” Daiyu said. It sounded a lot like the way Tanya sometimes said it.

  Both Grace and I looked at her in surprise.

  “Runes, spells, and the like are just forms of mental accounting. I grew up using magic, if you will, from a younger-than-normal age. My teachers were pretty much top of the field and so I can do a lot of things just by thinking about it. Like the elevator. There was no time for chants or what-have-you. I just reached out and did it.”

  “What did ya do ‘xactly?” Grace asked.

&
nbsp; “I converted some of the energy of the falling elevator into additional mass in the walls of the shaft.”

  “But that’s…” Daiyu started but didn’t finish.

  “Impossible?” I asked.

  “I was going to say that’s what particle accelerators do,” she said.

  “True. Most of what I did was actually to use the kinetic energy of the falling elevator to retrieve additional mass from the surrounding area. Not true conversion.”

  “Could you?” Grace asked.

  “Could I what?”

  “Do a true conversion of energy to mass or mass to energy?” she asked.

  “I don’t know. Why?”

  “Mass to energy is usually called fission or fusion,” Daiyu commented.

  Grace just nodded.

  “Oh. You’re asking if I could create an atomic reaction? I don’t know. Probably not. At least by myself. Maybe with others or with a huge source of energy,” I said, going back to coding.

  Fission? Fusion? What are these?

  I was sooo not going to tell the power-hungry sentient book about atomic power.

  “Can you work with entangled particles?” Daiyu asked. Grace sucked in a small breath.

  “Possibly I already do. I don’t know. Why?” I glanced from girl to girl, both of who were exchanging glances.

  “Many of the interns work on programing issues. A number of us are part of another project,” Daiyu said.

  “Is that Chet’s special project?” I asked, filling in another line of code, then immediately backing up and fixing an error.

  “You know it?” Grace asked.

  “No but Chet and Tanya mentioned it a moment ago. Chet wants me to help with it, I guess. Not sure why,” I said. “But now I’m guessing it has something to do with quantum particles and entanglement.” The answer popped up in my head, triggered by my own words. “You’re working on a quantum computer?” I guessed.

  Their silence was answer enough. “And that would be a yes,” I said, finishing the last line of runic code. The program the girls and Simon had made allowed me to type on the standard keyboard and have the result be written in runes. A fairly simple substitution program. The next layer of programs translated it into binary and then sent it to the other computers and the satellites.

  “Okay, look those over. If they look good, we’ll send them to Chet and he can transmit them.”

  “They seem adequate,” Daiyu said. Adequate? They freaking rocked, but they were adequate.

  “Whacko stuff, these runes,” Grace commented with a smile.

  “You mean they’re crazy?” I asked.

  “Cool, mate. They’re cool,” she said.

  “Oh, got it,” I said.

  “I’ve gotta watch my slang. It just creeps in, see?”

  “It’s nice to hear, but I don’t always know what you’re saying,” I said.

  “Same here, mate. Same here,” she replied, flipping her hair behind one ear.

  “Anyway, that’s done and off to Chet,” I said. “Chris, Tanya, I think we just sent the last of it to Chet,” I called out.

  “Great. Thank you,” Tanya said. “You guys have worked really hard.”

  “Flat out like a lizard drinking,” I agreed. Grace’s head whipped around and she stared at me in disbelief for a split second before smacking me on the arm.

  “You nong,” she said.

  “So I had a moment alone with Google,” I said with a shrug. What was it with every female I knew smacking my arms? Stacia or Tanya would probably break them if they started that behavior.

  “Great. Why don’t we head down to dinner?” Chris said, a gleam in his eyes. The area behind Tanya’s desk suddenly uplifted into a black and tan ottoman-sized canine. “See, ‘Sos agrees,” Chris said as the giant wolf shook himself awake and padded over.

  Ten minutes later, we were all sitting in the dining room, looking at menus.

  “Tomorrow, we’ll take you out to dinner somewhere, but for tonight, let’s stay near in case Chet needs something,” Chris said. “Plus, Remy would never forgive me if he didn’t get a chance to feed you all. Ah, speak of the devil.”

  A slim man in chef whites approached the table with vampire grace and pale skin. His face was smiling and the young waiter by his side looked completely human and completely comfortable carrying a pair of wooden platters.

  Tanya, who was seated on Chris’s other side, made the introductions, starting with Daiyu, then Grace, then myself.

  Remy shook each of the girls’ hands with genuine pleasure, then gripped my own in a firm shake. He didn’t let go but peered closer. “You are the one to take care of our little Toni?” he asked intensely.

  “Yes, although she’s a really tough little girl,” I said. He said something under his breath in French, smiled, shook my hand once more, and straightened up.

  “This one I feed special. Too thin, too thin,” he said, shaking his head but smiling. “But to start, we have some cheeses. Fromager D’Affinois, Beemster, and Black Mountain English cheddar, with fruit mostarda and farm honey. Enjoy,” he said, moving around to greet Tanya and Chris a bit more privately.

  “Toni?” Grace asked next to me, Daiyu leaning in to hear, apparently interested in the question as well.

  “Chris and Tanya’s goddaughter,” I said.

  “Didn’t he bomb part of the U.S. when she was kidnapped?” Grace asked.

  “He dropped an asteroid on an underground base where she had been held. He was really mad,” I said, shuddering a little as I remembered our first meeting.

  “You were there?” Grace asked, eyes wider than seemed humanly possible.

  “Yeah, we got Toni out of her cell before Chris and ‘Sos showed up and tore the place to pieces.”

  “Who is we?” Daiyu asked.

  “My ex-girlfriend and I.”

  “Is she a bloody witch too?” Grace asked.

  “No. Genetically engineered soldier,” I said.

  “You really do go to a different school, don’t you?” Grace asked.

  “A very different one,” I said, saved from further explanation by Chet’s arrival.

  “Success,” he said, pulling out a chair and sitting next to Tanya. A frowning Simon came along behind, followed by most of the rest of the interns. Immediately the tables around us filled up, although Simon managed to grab the last open seat at ours, putting himself between Chet and Daiyu. Grace’s friends, Aleesha and Jodi, sat at the table next to ours, their chairs directly behind Grace’s.

  “It worked?” Chris asked.

  “Yeah. Couldn’t get it to run after transmission until I used runes to actually type the word run. Took off as soon as I did that and cleared up the whole system. Comm sats are ours again and most of the foreign offices have reported in, just waiting on a few stragglers,” Chet said, helping himself to a some cheese and a slice of baguette.

  Aleesha pushed her chair backward, getting closer to Grace. “I heard there was real magic involved,” she said, her eyes turning toward the door, where there was movement. It was Darion, striding over to talk to Tanya and Chris.

  “Was it that guy?” Aleesha asked.

  “Was he what?” Grace asked.

  “Was he the witch?” she asked, eyes wide and scared.

  “No, that one is an attorney, I believe,” Daiyu interjected. “He’s the witch,” she said, pointing at me.

  Aleesha’s chair scraped loud enough to draw virtually everyone’s attention, which, I think, might have stopped her from freaking completely out. Instead, she looked around with scared eyes and sort of froze up. Grace leaned into her shoulder and whispered into her ear, Aleesha keeping her eyes on me the whole time.

  “If it helps, I tend to agree with you—hanging out with witches is trouble. I don’t go near them very often at school,” I said.

  “That’s true, he doesn’t,” a voice added. I turned to find Katrina standing right next to me, watching Aleesha with obvious fascination. “Although he does seem to be oft
en found in the company of a certain Irish witch and he hangs out with his aunt, who is a pretty big deal among witches, so maybe I’m wrong.”

  “Hey Katrina, what’s happening?” I asked.

  “I heard they were starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel for interns and had to come see for myself,” she said, not smiling as she turned her stare on me. For Katrina, this was major league joking.