I nodded as we continued moving forward. “Rachel?”
“Griff and Jasmine are right. We either nuke him or he gets away. I’d vote the former. I’ve got enough fire to torch the prick thoroughly.”
Obviously, she was in favor of attacking at the moment. It probably had something to do with my teasing her in the car. I had that effect on people.
“Warren?”
“I could probably work something up, Chief,” he replied, “but it’d take a fair amount of study and preparation.”
“No time for that, I’m afraid.”
The first of the skeletons noticed my arrival. This was clear because they spun on me as one, just like the zombies had.
“All right, gang,” I said while pointing at the suspected location of Fred, “go ahead and nuke the bastard.”
The mages unleashed hell at those poor bushes while Felicia, Chuck, and I stood together and fired at the skeletons.
They were harder to hit than the zombies because they were literally bone thin. Worse, when we did connect, any bone that was struck just flew away. So if you caught a rib, it’d disappear along with a few others, but the rest of the body would stay intact. The problem there was that it didn’t impede their movement at all. Blowing away a finger or an arm wasn’t going to stop a skeleton.
I adjusted my aim and said, “Target their legs.”
That worked, mostly. They were still able to crawl toward us, but they were no longer running. The legless ones anyway.
At first, the skeletons seemed like a much more effective weapon than the zombies because of the complexity of “killing” them. They were hard to take down, requiring multiple bullets in the process. But then one of them made it through and got to me. It put its arms around my neck and just stood there clacking its jaw.
“Uh,” I said as the others kept firing at the mass of skeletons. “What’s this thing doing?”
“It looks like it’s trying to dance with you, Chief,” Warren suggested. He then stepped over and pulled the skeleton away and threw it on the ground. “Oh wow, they have no strength at all.”
The skeleton went to get up, but Warren stepped on its chest and reached down, popping its arms and legs from their sockets. He’d done it like it was nothing. It was a bit gross, truth be told.
“Yes!” He did a fist pump. “Finally something I can beat the crap out of.” He then turned to Chuck and Felicia and yelled, “Stop firing! I’m going in!”
He rushed into a mass of skeletons.
The three of us stood there with our mouths agape as Warren went completely ballistic. I’d never seen him like this before. He was ripping their limbs away with a maniacal laughter that was borderline insane.
“He’s lost his mind,” Felicia said.
We all nodded.
“Did you know he was capable of that, Chief?” asked Chuck.
“I really didn’t.”
In the distance, my three mages were shredding the hedges where the light was attached. The magical mayhem hitting the area was enough to wipe out a band of ogres. They clearly weren’t taking any chances, which told me they felt Shitfaced Fred was even more powerful than they’d been letting on.
Seeing that Warren had this situation under control, I decided to run over to help apprehend what was left of the necromancer.
“Stick with him,” I commanded Chuck and Felicia. “Just in case.”
As I approached the mages, I was getting the feeling that they had done more than enough to kill Fred. The hedge was a wreck, being pummeled with fireballs, ice shards, and energy blasts. It was amazing that it was even partially intact.
“Okay, guys,” I yelled over the cacophony of magic, “I think you got him!”
“Can’t stop!” Rachel cried back.
“What?”
“Another virus,” Griff croaked.
“Oh, shit. What do I do?”
Griff struggled to face me, though his hands were still unleashing streams of power at the hedges. “Knock us out,” he grunted through the connector. “Quickly.”
“But…”
“Do it.”
I jumped behind them and gave three quick chops to their respective necks.
They all collapsed and the magic stopped.
Chapter 20
Serena was using her healing touch on them after they’d come to. I felt somewhat guilty about hitting them all, but they appeared grateful.
“It was either that or we died,” Jasmine noted somberly. She groaned. “This Fred guy is really advanced.”
Rachel nodded. “And he’s doing this without demon batteries like Reese had.”
“Precisely.” Griff was rubbing his neck while waiting for Serena to get to him. “The fact is that we are facing a wizard who has learned the intricacies of warfare in a manner we are unaccustomed to. We must tread carefully going forward.”
“Thanks for that obvious assessment,” I said and then winced. “Sorry, Griff. Anyway, it seems that this time Fred wasn’t looking for the skeletons to take us out. He was trying to figure out a way to destroy you three instead.”
Rachel looked up. “Why do you think that?” She held up her hand. “I mean, I know he was trying to wipe us out, but why do you think the skeletons were nothing but a diversion?”
“Because Warren-the-skeleton-slayer shredded them,” I answered soberly while pointing at our resident wizard. “He didn’t even use a weapon.”
The mages all turned and looked at Warren. He was all smiles.
“I couldn’t believe it either,” I continued. “It was like watching one of those Kung Fu movies where the little guy kicks the crap out of a bunch of dudes.” I had to give Warren his due. He had stepped up and fought like a madman. “You did a great job, Warren. If we’re ever faced with an army of skeletons again, you’re going to be our go-to guy.”
I walked over to the burning hedges to give them a study. The likelihood of there being additional traps left behind by Fred was low, but I didn’t want to risk it. I had enough magical capability to be naughty, and it would be embarrassing to die from incessantly firing embers. My crew would surely save me before that eventuality, but it’d take a while since they’d be rolling on the ground in laughter. Just in case, I kept my distance and used my enhanced vision.
Sitting on the opposite side of the hedge was a small box that had a slew of glyphs drawn all over it.
“Warren?” I called out, waving him over. He drew near and I pointed it out to him. “What’s that?”
“Rune box,” he answered as he started to move toward it.
I grabbed his arm. “Not so fast, Slayer. It could be boobytrapped, right?”
“Oh, yeah,” he answered with a surprised look. “I didn’t think of that.”
You’d think that the one guy who has to study and heavily prepare for doing magic would have enough sense to use caution when faced with something like this. Warren was a man with two speeds: Slow and fast. He either took his time or he knee-jerked.
“If it is a trap of some kind,” I said slowly, “would you have any idea as to how it could be disabled?”
“We need someone without magic.”
A few minutes later, Chuck stepped out from behind the hedge holding the box. He moved to a clearing so that he and Felicia could work on it while Warren gave them instructions from a distance.
It seemed that Shitfaced Fred was quite the tinkerer. Not only had he instigated a power siphon against my mages, he integrated a bomb in the box that would be triggered by any magic-user who touched the damn thing. And it was more than likely there’d be another explosive connected to just opening it.
I was starting to really dislike our necromancer.
“Carefully unhinge the bottom panel,” Warren instructed Chuck while Felicia held on to the main box.
“The bottom?” asked Chuck.
“Yes,” Warren replied. “Don’t let it fall off. There are probably a couple of connectors holding it. You have to disable the negative sid
e first or it’ll go boom.”
“And which one is the negative side?” Chuck asked as the bottom gently slipped free.
“It’ll have the symbol for negation on it.”
“Algebraic or wizard?”
“Huh?”
“The symbol. Are we talking algebra here or is it something specific to wizardry?”
“Oh, good point, Chuck,” said Warren. Then, “It’s the wizard one. So it’s a small circle with two lines coming off it like horns.”
“You wizards are so strange,” I noted.
Warren smiled genuinely. “Thanks.”
“Got it,” announced Chuck.
“Okay, that should be it. Just disconnect it completely and throw it aside.”
Chuck did. No boom. Phew.
“Is it safe now?” asked Felicia, looking up at Warren hopefully.
“Yes.”
Everyone let out a collective breath of relief. Felicia set the box down as Warren moved over to study it more closely. He was saying “hmmm” and “huh” a lot.
We left Warren to his studies so we could check on our mages.
Serena was still getting them back to normal, but they were looking pretty rough. Between Fred’s magical siphon and my karate chop, I’d be surprised if they’d be back to one hundred percent any time soon.
“How are you feeling?” I asked Rachel as I knelt next to her and rubbed her head. “You look like hell.”
“Thanks.”
“You know what I mean.”
She smiled weakly and put her hand on my arm.
That’s when we heard a beeping sound.
Faster than any normal could manage, I jumped to my feet and ran to Warren. I cannoned into him while simultaneously pulling the box away and launching it across the compound with all of my might.
It landed with a thud.
Nothing happened.
“Ouch,” said Warren while rubbing his shoulder. “What did you do that for, Chief?”
I was confused. That sound had been coming from the box, right? It had to have been.
“That beeping,” I said as I helped him back to his feet. “Wasn’t that the box?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, good.” At least I wasn’t losing my mind. “I thought it was going to blow up.”
He gave me a funny look and knelt down to pick up the pieces that were still sitting there.
“Nah, Chief, it was just a…”
And that’s when the box exploded with enough force to blow the crap out of anything within five feet of it.
Warren slowly turned to look at me.
“Wow. Thanks, Chief.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Chapter 21
“Skeletons?” said Zack as I sat in front of the Directors.
Imagine having to meet with your boss every day to be grilled about stuff you didn’t have enough information on. That’s what this felt like. I knew a little more, sure, but not enough. Besides, shouldn’t these guys know more about this than me?
“Yes, sir,” I replied. “Skeletons. Honestly not sure why he went with them. Maybe just as a test? They were surprisingly ineffective. In fact, Officer Lloyd had quite a good time knocking them down and ripping their limbs off.”
“The wizard?” said Silver.
I nodded. “We couldn’t believe it either. I guess he felt like he could finally contribute in some way beyond lengthy spells and diagrams.” I then laughed a bit to myself. “Kind of felt bad for Portman and his crew. They were having a hell of a time matching up limbs with bodies.”
EQK was the only one who found that humorous.
“Do you have any further information on the necromancer?” O asked.
“The only thing we know is that he’s a lot more advanced than we’d originally thought.” I adjusted in my seat. “He’s been adding spells to his spells.”
“Meaning?”
“He’s talking about triggers, Silver,” explained O.
“Ah, well that clears it up. Thanks, O.”
EQK giggled again.
Ever since I’d become chief and had to start reporting to these guys, I’d noticed the tension between them. I guess it was normal for the different factions to be at odds with each other. The pixies were the worst, no matter what the fairy tales said. They antagonized everyone. Turbo was an exception to that rule. He was a decent little dude. EQK, however, fit the douche-stereotype in the supernatural community perfectly. Personally, I loved the way the pixies acted because they were funny as hell, but they were responsible for a lot of angst between the rest of the factions. They were always starting trouble.
“What I’m talking about, Silver,” O said with a growl that even Zack could appreciate, “is an embedded spell that gets triggered by something else. Typically tampering or magic.”
“Something like a landmine?” asked Zack.
“That’s the general idea of it,” O replied.
“Ah yes,” Silver said at length. “I remember those now. Beastly things back in the war.”
“Indeed.” O had said with a sigh. It was clear that he’d seen these types of tricks before, too. “What exactly has the necromancer been doing, Mr. Dex?”
“Raising the dead, dumbass,” replied EQK before I could respond, effectively proving my point about pixies. “Don’t you ever pay attention in these meetings?”
“Watch yourself, EQK,” Zack said, coming to O’s defense.
“Oh, go mark a tree.”
I snorted and then coughed to try and cover my mirth. While I found EQK more my speed amongst the Directors, the rest of them were still my bosses.
“Okay, so Shitfaced Fred put in a trigger on the first line to knock Officer Benchley out.”
“Who?” asked Silver scooting forward for just a moment.
I frowned. “Officer Benchley, sir.”
“No, who is Shitfaced Fred?”
“Oh, uh…” Damn it. “That’s what we’re calling the necromancer.”
“Why?”
“Because he was drunk and…” I trailed off, feeling like an idiot. “Let’s just call him Fred.”
“Okay.”
I caught a glimpse of his face but it disappeared an instant later. I hated that. It’s like waking up from a dream that you can’t remember, even though it was so vivid you can’t believe it wasn’t real.
“Anyway, in his last attack he had configured a box that caused my mages to incessantly cast spells, draining them.” I recalled the sight of all that firepower flying from their hands. “Fred nearly took out three of my officers with that.”
“A box?” said Zack.
“Yes, sir. It was covered in runes.”
“Interesting,” O said as he tapped the table. “I’m assuming there was a standard explosive attached as well?”
I lifted my eyebrows at that.
“There was. How did you know that?”
“I saw them during the war.”
“Yes,” agreed Silver.
He had to have been referring to the supernatural war in the early 1900s. I’d read stories about it and heard some firsthand accounts from folks like Serena and Griff. My other officers hadn’t been born yet. Apparently it was an all out battle for supremacy in the factions. According to historical records, it was started by the vampires, but they swear to this day that the werewolves had taken the first bite. Many lives were lost during that war, including a lot of normals, and there were some pretty nasty spells, weaponry, and devices built as well. War brought out the deviousness in people, that was for certain.
“Fortunately, I’d gotten rid of the box before it obliterated Officer Lloyd.” The Directors said nothing. I didn’t know if they didn’t care about the wellbeing of my individual officers or if they were all deep in thought regarding the memory of the war. “Anyway, we’re still learning what we can about this mage so we can stop him. If you have any information that may help, I’m all ears.”
“I’ll send details to your mages regarding th
e boxes I saw during the battles,” offered O. “It won’t be comprehensive because a lot of the old magic was never understood. But it should at least give them a way to protect themselves.”
“You should also have your wizard do research on amulets,” suggested Silver. “We had rune necklaces that helped block the effects of those bombs. It wasn’t one hundred percent, but it was better than nothing.”
“Thank you, sirs,” I said, not expecting any additional feedback from the other two.
I was wrong.
Zack piped up and added, “You could also have Officer Logan change into her werewolf form and sniff the area.”
“Seriously?” said EQK with a laugh. “You’re suggesting bomb-sniffing dogs now?”
“We smell with the best of them.”
“No arguing that,” EQK agreed, very likely meaning something far different than what Zack had heard.
“Thank you.”
“Right,” said EQK. “Anyway, the smartest thing you can do is get your pixie tech to create a detection device. Runes, schematics, and bomb-sniffing dogs are all cute, but everyone who isn’t a complete moron knows that technology is the way to go.”
“That’s not true,” said O.
“Completely false,” argued Silver.
“An utter fabrication,” growled Zack.
There was a slight pause, followed by EQK saying, “I rest my case.”
Chapter 22
As soon as I left the meeting with the Directors, Rachel swung by my office to say there was another bit of fun going on.
“Which cemetery?”
“None. They’re actually on the old strip.”
“Shit.”
I took the steps in a single leap and headed for the door. A quick glance back at the offices told me the rest of the agents were already on their way.
“Here,” Rachel said, handing me a pair of fancy sunglasses as we got in the car.
“It’s the middle of the night.”
“Turbo made them,” she explained. “They’re to replace the bulky zombie spotters he’d built earlier.”
I slipped them on and noticed that it didn’t darken things at all. If anything it made the night light up a fair bit. How Turbo had managed to do that while still keeping the lenses so darkly tinted was a mystery I’d likely never ask about. I wouldn’t understand his answer anyway. It made me wonder what other little goodies he could build for us.
The Ian Dex Supernatural Thriller Series: Books 1 - 4 (Las Vegas Paranormal Police Department Box Sets) Page 20