by L R Deney
She sucked in her next breath through her teeth. Ohhhh fuuuuck!
Parked below, in the road, were two police squad cars, their lights whirling in the darkness. Two officers stepped out from the cars, one briefly looking up at the building. Then the two men walked toward the entrance. The building was secure, requiring a key to get in like most places downtown, but if a cop showed up, a manager was sure to let them in. That is, if they didn’t already have… other means….
She hurried over to an end table and grabbed her purse, deposited her phone in it, and snatched her coat from a peg on the wall. After hurrying to slip her feet into a pair of black flats, she sped through her front door and locked it behind her. She wasn’t taking any chances with this bullshit, even if they weren’t actually here for her; she remembered the Nazis from the other day that had been part of the police force.
Melanie knew that the stairs (elevator? what’s that?) were around the corner from her apartment, so she rushed toward the opposite corner (the layout of the hallway being an open square around a central core of other tiny apartments) and hid just out of sight of the approach. Within time, she heard the rising footsteps of the cops in the stairs.
Sweat beaded down her brow as the footsteps left the stairs and proceeded down the hall toward her apartment. Then there was a loud knock, a cop knock. She carefully peeked around the corner from her hiding place and saw the two cops at her door. Pulling back just in time to keep herself from being spotted, there was another loud, cop-style knock. The knock of systematic oppression.
“Melanie Brooks, we just want to talk,” one of the cops said loudly to the door.
A seemingly eternal moment of silence passed. Sweat was now streaming down Melanie’s forehead, her heart pounding heavily.
“She’s not answering.”
“Break it down.”
The shattering crack of wood followed and her pounding heart sank down into her stomach. She peered around again just catching sight of the two heading into her apartment. Then she broke for it, hurrying around the circling hallway, out of sight of her apartment, and slid the last few steps to the stairs.
From behind she heard a muffled voice. “She’s not here.”
Heart feeling like a huge fucking drum in her chest, she ran down the steps. Unfortunately the echoes of her movements were likely to tip off her pursuers. But down she went, sometimes hoping multiple steps if she had to, anything to create distance to escape the police officers. She was certain of who they were now, certain of what they were actually planning.
Somewhere behind, the Nazi cops realized what had just happened, and hurried steps were rapidly descending from above. Nevertheless, she reached the apartment building’s lobby far ahead of them and pushed her way out the entrance. Confronted with the irritating lights of the empty squad cars, she turned and sped down the road, not caring where she wound up. Suddenly she thought better of her tactic, as the two cops were likely to catch up to her in their vehicles out in the open like this, and darted down an alley.
Sure enough as she predicted, one of the cars came speeding down the road, passing the alley she was now in. Stopping momentarily, she took in another deep breath before continuing her way down the rest of the alley. It intersected a bit, going one way between another building and the other she already passed with the other passage going straight across to the other street. She decided to take the one between the two buildings. And a smart choice it was because a cop car sped down that other road that she would have been heading right into otherwise.
However, once she reached the end of the other alley, she was forced to exit out into the street. Peering both ways, finding not a single car in sight, she ran across the street to the other side. Unfortunately there wasn’t a single alley to duck into here, so she continued running. Somewhere in the distance she heard a speeding vehicle.
Suddenly she stumbled upon some business that had supporting pillars holding up an overhang that loomed over its entrance. She ducked behind that, and pulled her smart phone from her purse. Frantically, she looked through her contacts list and found Staci Drenvauder’s number. Selecting it, she placed the phone to her ear and listened to it ring.
Voicemail came up and she cursed her foul luck at the moment. Taking in a deep breath, she decided to leave a message.
“Hello? Staci? It’s Melanie. I’m out in the middle of the streets, being chased by a couple of those Nazi wizards disguised as cops. I’m not exactly sure where I am, because all the street signs are dark, but I’m sure you can find me with a spell or something. Please help!”
She barely noticed the cop car speeding by with a screech as it turned another corner while she approved the message she left on the voicemail. Sure that the pigs were out of sight, she looked around for another place she could move to. Finally she saw another area with an alley waiting for her. Wasting no time, she ran to it. The sensations made her feel like she was in some sort of crazy action movie.
Once again the alleyways here were a little more complex than what they initially appeared. Distant screeching of wheels haunted her. She wondered if she was even going to get out of this. Seattle’s downtown was huge, and the Nazis had better mobility in their squad cars.
She suddenly found herself standing in the middle of a small, paid parking lot. Glancing around, she saw a small handful of cars she could dart behind if shit got desperate. Carefully she crept low through the parking lot, not sure what to expect. Any moment now, one of those squad cars could just come buzzing by and spot her if she wasn’t mindful.
By the time she reached the edge of the parking lot, she was certain that she was in the clear. The cop cars sounded like they were really distant now. Feeling relieved, she jogged across the next street to another alley. Once she was deeper in the darkness, she slid down against a wall with her back to it. She was exhausted at this point.
This was fucking wild, actual Nazis chasing her. Her life certainly wasn’t boring since she met Staci Drenvauder nearly two weeks ago. She wondered if she just waited the rest of the night out here in the alley, the two pigs would give up looking for her. Pulling her coat close, she shivered in the late, freezing January wind.
Two footsteps suddenly announced themselves at the end of the alley and a man spoke. “You’re not an easy little bitch to find.”
Her heart stopped when she heard the voice and slowly turned her gaze towards its source. There stood a man in a black suit and shades, hair that looked closely cropped to his head. He flashed her a sinister smile and began slowly walking toward her.
“Oh fuuuuck!” she exclaimed before clambering to her feet to run—only to find herself running into an invisible wall.
“Did you really think I wouldn’t cover my bases? Let you escape from us again? You may have been able to give my colleagues the slip, but that won’t happen this time.”
He raised his hand and a sudden unseen force lifted her from the ground and pressed her up against the wall. It felt like she was being crushed while the Nazi walked closer with his extended palm.
He eyed her momentarily. “Ah, yes, I see an impurity in your bloodline, your heritage mixed with a lesser race. You’ll make as good a sacrifice as a hostage. Your blood will be used for a greater purpose.”
“S-s-sacrifice?” she managed to gurgle out.
“Yes, to bring about the new age of the Fourth Reich, a thousand years of order and purity, just as we tried to design so many decades ago. The Black Sun will rise again and will rule over everything you see here and the world beyond.” His other hand shifted, pointing toward the opposite wall, the symbol of the Schwarze Sonne burning into the stone.
“I wouldn’t bet on it,” a third, more familiar contralto announced. “So that’s how you make the Sonnenrad. Always wondered about the technique, too bad you won’t be able to finish it.”
“What?” The Nazi turned his head to view the new arrival.
Melanie struggled to turn her head against the force that her assailant
held her with. There, at the end of the alley, stood Staci, looking none too pleased, dressed in a black mesh top, corset, and skirt with fishnets and combat boots. She waved her hand and the symbol of hate forming on the wall was suddenly marred by a deep gash across it. Then she sent an eerie green and black bolt of energy into the Nazi, causing him to fly into his own invisible wall.
The magical force that held Melanie against the alley wall released and allowed her to fall freely to the ground. On her knees and hands, she gasped for air, feeling like her chest had been pressed by a vice.
“So, you escaped Azramoas after all,” the Nazi chided with a sneer, climbing back to his feet.
“Yeah, and I suspect you guys had something to do with the Speaker’s death.”
“Maybe, maybe not.” The man smirked, weaving his arms around, flames beginning to gather in the air before him.
“Yeah, not letting you finish that either.”
And then, as Melanie witnessed, a terrifying green glow filled Staci’s eyes and a whip made from a similar, sickly green energy formed, swirled, and cracked from her hand. Swinging it again quickly after it formed, Staci sent the strange, magical whip toward the Nazi, caught in the middle of his spell, wrapped around him, and began melting his skin. As the flesh dripped away into ruin, he was only able to let out a short, bloodcurdling scream.
Blackened, charred bones dropped to the ground, and the whip vanished from sight. Melanie looked back to Staci as the green glow left her eyes. Staci seemed to have a deep frown on her black painted lips.
“Holy shit, Staci, what was that?”
“You don’t want to know, trust me. Sorry you had to see that.”
Melanie looked at her, astonished momentarily, and then she stood up and rushed forward to hug her. Staci accepted the hug graciously and returned it. They pulled back briefly and their lips met briefly for several kisses, Staci’s black lipstick leaving dark smudges on Melanie’s.
“So you got my voicemail?”
“Voicemail? No, I haven’t had my phone with me for a few days now.”
“What? What’s going on? That guy mentioned your secret wizard city, Azramore or whatever.”
Staci looked off to the side, appearing uncomfortable. “I’ll… tell you later. First we need to get out of here.”
At that moment, the two squad cars came roaring down the road and made an immediate stop by the alley. The two officers jumped out of their vehicles, hands moving in abstract formations as they began casting spells. Staci looked back at them.
“Like right now,” she said, then surprised Melanie yet again as a pair of jet black and sickly green ethereal wings sprouted from her back. The green glow returned to her eyes and she winked at Melanie briefly before flapping the wings and took to the air, carrying the other woman with her in their embrace.
“What the fuck?” one of the cops shouted from below.
Melanie peered down briefly as they soared up through the buildings, then back at Staci. “Wait, you can fly? How could you not tell me that you can fly?”
Staci simply smirked at her. “Because I couldn’t.”
“Oh… Wait. What?”
“It’s a long story, dear. One for another time when we’re not being chased by the so-called ‘alt-right.’ ”
Holding tight, Melanie rested her head against Staci’s shoulder. Things have just gotten weirder. Staci was weirder. The entire scenario had suddenly shifted from something like a mystery thriller involving a cult of white supremacists with magic thrown in to something more like a superhero comic book complete with Nazi supervillains. Melanie wasn’t sure at that point if she was dreaming, asleep on her sofa, or just on drugs.
“Is this really happening?”
“Yes, it’s really happening.”
Fuck. So much for those theories.
They were soaring through the air for a while, the Seattle skyline as beautiful from above as it was from the ground. Maybe more so. Melanie smiled as she observed the city lights as they flew past. The only real problem she had was the occasionally biting chill of the cold, night air.
She looked at Staci again, who, with those eerie, green, glowing eyes, seemed focused on the path ahead. The wings were strange. She swore if she looked at them close enough, they appeared as though they shifted between feathered wings to something more bat-like at random intervals. Silently she wondered what that meant, and why Staci had said that she previously couldn’t fly.
Melanie was nearly relaxed when Staci made a sudden move to the right, and then another to the left. Confused, she looked around as Staci made quick ascension upward and saw a bolt of fire passing underneath. Eyes widening, she searched around for the source. Somewhere below, she caught sight of someone standing on a roof.
“Yep, they’re not done with us yet,” Staci commented dryly. “Damn Nazis are beginning to get on my nerves.”
“How many are there?”
“I think about three or four. I don’t think they like me very much.”
Staci made several more maneuvers to avoid the enemy spells, one of which being a barrel roll that made Melanie momentarily dizzy. Circling, diving, ascending, quick movements back and forth, for not being able to fly before, Staci was surprisingly skilled with the phantom wings. Melanie suspected that the woman wasn’t telling her everything.
Then the laughter, Staci’s laughter. The woman was actually amused by the whole situation. Melanie looked at her oddly and the other woman merely shot her a wide, toothy grin. A nervous smile was returned.
In a gut-twisting, harrowing move, Staci circled around again, bolts of magic exploding behind and went into a sudden dive. Melanie momentarily shrieked but quickly caught sight of where they were descending to. It looked like Staci’s apartment building, and a few surrounding landmarks confirmed this fact. Upon this realization and peering back, Melanie realized that the bulk of the downtown Seattle skyline was farther behind than she had thought.
After Staci landed in front of the apartment, she released Melanie and twirled around, the wings receding and fading. “Oh yes, that is more exhilarating than I remember!”
Melanie tilted her head in confusion. “Remember? I thought you said you couldn’t fly before.”
Staci looked back at her. “Not when we met.”
“Huh?”
“I’d hate to interrupt your heartwarming chat,” a male’s voice intruded. “But this is the end of the road for you two.” Both women turned their heads to find a group of five men dressed in black suits approaching them. “You gave us quite an impressive chase there, not often I see very many spellcasters infused with demonic power. You’re an interesting witch, I’ll admit. Too bad I have to kill you.”
“Bold words,” Staci retorted. “I’m pretty sure I’ve made a significant dent in your ranks already.”
“You’re not dealing with our low ranks any longer; I answer to the Fuehrer directly.”
Staci laughed in response and stepped in front of Melanie, poising her body to strike at any moment if she needed to. Melanie simply watched her in shock. Did the Nazi bastard just say that Staci was infused with demonic power? How did that happen? Was that good or bad? Why was Staci so tightlipped about it?
“Laugh if you want, bitch,” the Nazi said with a sneer. “We’ll have your head on a stick before the night is over.”
“Come and get it.”
The Nazi leader raised his hands and suddenly fired black and red bolts of something that resembled lightning at Staci. Quick on her reactions, Staci erected some kind of dark shield to deflect the attack, causing a stray bolt to strike one of the other Nazis. What happened next, Melanie was in no way prepared for, after the bolt struck him, the man gruesomely exploded in a shocking, gory display of blood, flesh, and bones.
Staci snickered. “One down. Come on boys, I thought you said you wanted my head. That spell doesn’t look like it preserves much.”
Then with a sweep of her hand, an arch of darkness shot outward, slammed into
the four remaining men and knocked them backwards. A couple of them seemed to smoke a bit afterward, as if they were burned by Staci’s attack.
Staci looked back to Melanie, tossed a set of keys to her and pointed back toward the front door of the apartment building. “Go on, get inside. I’ll hold them off.”
Melanie looked down at the keys with puzzlement; a lot of them looked weird. “How do I know which one?”
“Okay, so the one with the skull opens any door.” Staci sent a dart of energy into one of the men that was getting up, knocking him back down again and setting his clothes on fire.
“Skeleton key. Funny.”
“Easy way to remember. Anyway, the red and black key with the purple jewel opens up my home’s anchor. Now go on, get.”
Melanie nodded and turned toward the apartment and ran. Upon reaching the front door, she stuck in the skeleton key as directed and turned the lock, there was a click and the door was unlocked. She hurried in through it and ran down the hallway to door 15, where the doorway to Staci’s home awaited. There was suddenly a crash from behind.
Turning her head, Melanie saw one of the Nazis had somehow followed her and broken the door’s window so he could unlock it for himself. Behind him was a blazing special effects sight of Staci in an epic wizard duel with the ranking fascist. Gasping in a fearful breath, Melanie fumbled through the keys to find the one Staci mentioned. Eventually she found it and shoved the key in just as the Nazi was making a running stride toward her. Turning, and pushing in through the door, she found herself inside the massive chamber beyond. Unfortunately so did her pursuer and he tackled her to the floor.
“Chadwick will make short work of your friend and then there’ll be no one, no one to save you,” jeered the Nazi as he clamped his hands around her wrists.
The door into Staci’s abode was still wide open and a blazing body flew backwards past it. Melanie merely looked up at the man and smirked.
“You want to bet on that?”
“Let go of my girlfriend,” Staci’s voice ordered from the door.
“Huh?” The Nazi turned his head to see a very angry witch raise her hand, palm upward. This was reflected by him suddenly becoming acquainted with the ceiling.