by Jan Stryvant
But he thought he heard demonic cheering from behind as the shelling suddenly stopped, then after a brief lull, it started up off to the east again, obscuring any sounds he might have heard.
"What the hell was that!" Shamus asked, panting heavily.
"Yes, dear," Jenna growled. "What the hell was that?"
"Desperation, that's what! Now, we need to make our way through the wall someplace up ahead and see if we can set up some ambushes for our friends, once they're well inside the defenses."
"You want us to go back to fighting after that!" Jenna growled.
"Yes, woman! I do! Now shut up, all of you, and do your damn jobs!" Adam growled. Oh, well, so much for his hopes of a pride…
Daelyn looked around the garage as she dialed flight ops.
"Flight ops!"
"This is Daelyn, I need a helicopter."
"Sorry, but they're all in use…"
"I said, this is Daelyn!" Daelyn interrupted. "Now you tell whoever is in charge that Daelyn will be there in two minutes and you will have a helicopter ready! Understand?"
"Uhh, Yes, Ma'am!" was the reply, and the line went dead.
"Betty! You know how to use that pistol?" Daelyn asked, pointing to the sidearm she and all the others were now required to wear.
"Umm, yes?" Betty replied weakly.
"You're coming with me. Tinker! Draco! Grab a rifle and get in the car!"
"What?" Tinker's head popped up from behind a Humvee.
"NOW!" Daelyn said, turning and jogging to her 'Cuda, then getting passed by the three of them running flat out to get there first. They knew she was one of Sean's wives. They also knew she could throw that hammer of hers a good fifty yards and never miss. Arguing with dwarves was stupid. Arguing with Daelyn was downright painful.
Jumping in, Daelyn fired the 'Cuda up and made a mad dash over to the flight line about as fast as she could go. The helicopters were all based on the far side of the field from the motor pool, but she wasn't afraid to use the taxiways, and seeing as she was going faster than any of the aircraft taxiing around, it wasn't like she had anything to worry about from them, either.
Screeching to a halt by the helipads, she flagged down one of the werewolf crew chiefs as she ran around to the back of the 'Cuda. Popping the trunk, she grabbed her armor and donned it quickly, followed by her command radio, then her new warhammer, as the crew chief jogged up to her.
"Someone says you need a helicopter?" he asked.
"Yup, whatever's about to take off is mine."
"Daelyn, we got combat ops going on here!"
Daelyn looked up at him and scowled. "Who's in charge here?"
He clicked his radio. "Boys! Clear out Lion Three! We got a priority mission!"
"Good boy," Daelyn said and smiled at him. "Now, I need a dozen folks who can use a rifle."
"We don't have any troops on hand, Daelyn. That was going to be an ammo run."
"Well then, you better go get one and join me! Raid the folks in flight ops if you have to! Now move! This is an emergency!"
Betty looked on in shock as Daelyn started bulldozing right over everyone. The crew chief ran into flight ops and came out twenty seconds later with a bunch of shocked looking administrators. But they all had rifles, and they all were wearing the faerie breastplates the dwarves were making. She really needed to get herself one of those. Then again, neither Tinker nor Draco had one, either.
"Hey, Betty! What's going on?"
Betty turned and saw Julia, one of the lionesses she'd met last week.
"What are you doing here, Julia?"
"Oh, Doug works over here. He's a helicopter pilot! So I got a job helping out."
"Betty!" Daelyn yelled out. "Let's go! And bring your friend!"
"Umm, I think we better go!" Betty said.
Julia grinned and looked over at the people getting in the helicopter that was already running. "Is that Daelyn?"
"You know her?"
"I haven't met her; we better get a move on, any idea why she's in such a hurry?"
Betty shook her head as she trotted off to the helicopter, Julia pushing her head down as they got near.
"Mind the blades!" She laughed.
She scrambled up inside, someone hauled the door closed, and they took off.
"I'm Daelyn," Daelyn introduced herself, looking over at the lioness she'd successfully drafted, "and you are?"
"Julia."
"Great! Now I don't have to stop over at the mess. We may need you to do some of that 'mystic shit' Sean's always going on about."
"What's up?"
"We've got an unresponsive general who isn't moving his division up."
"Any idea why?"
"No, but we're going to find out! I'm pretty sure his troops are mainly lycans, so I may need you to do your thing and take command."
"'Do my thing'?" Julia asked innocently.
Daelyn growled, "Don't make me smack you! Bad enough when Adam does that."
Julia laughed. "Yes, I've heard his shins are permanently bruised nowadays!"
Daelyn turned towards the pilot. "How far out?"
"We're coming around for a landing, be on the ground in less than a minute."
Betty looked at Daelyn, then back at Julia. "Wait, we're going to see a general?"
Daelyn nodded. "And read him the riot act."
"Can I get a gas mask?"
"What the hell would you want that for?"
"Well, from the way his man smelled, and his car, I figure he's gotta be worse! That's why we call him General Stinky back at the shop!"
Betty didn't miss the look Daelyn and Julia suddenly shared.
"Pilot!" Daelyn said as he started to flair for the landing. "The moment you're clear, get on a secure channel and tell Chad and Jolene we have demonic possessed officers in General McQuire's camp! Got it?"
"Yes, Ma'am!"
The doors slid open, and Betty found herself pushed out of the Black Hawk and quickly hustled away as the helicopter sped away.
"What was that…" Betty started, but Julia shushed her as they started off towards a group of soldiers who were looking at them in surprise.
"I thought there were werewolves in this division?" Daelyn called as they drew near. "Smell anything?" she asked Julia in sotto voce.
"Not from them, but there is a bit of a stink in the air," Julia whispered back.
"We've been ordered to stay in human form," one of the men said.
"By who?" Daelyn demanded.
"Our commander."
"Well, that order's been rescinded. Now shift into ya' hybrid form."
"Umm, we can't."
"What?"
"Most of us haven't achieved it yet."
"How long ago were you infected?" Julia asked, speaking up.
"A month!" another man answered. "But we're not allowed to run around in wolf form!"
Daelyn swore again. "All of ya' who're wolves, raise ya' hand!"
They looked at each other uncertainly.
"Do it!" Julia growled and suddenly all their hands went up. "Any order from Daelyn is an order from me! You will obey her without hesitation, no mater what! Am I clear?"
Daelyn was impressed as they all nodded. Julia was obviously a lioness who knew exactly what to do and when to do it.
"Now," Daelyn continued, "take us to General McGuire. If we run into anyone who smells bad, point 'em out. They're evil, and yea're not to listen to them, no matter what, understand?"
"But that's most of the senior officers!" the first wolf said.
Daelyn and Julia exchanged looks.
"Okay, you four, take us to the general's quarters," Daelyn said, pointing to four of them. "The rest of you, gather as many wolves as ya' can and meet us there, immediately."
"Yes, Ma'am!" the other six said and ran off.
"This isn't good, is it?" Betty asked in a small voice.
"No, no it isn't," Julia agreed.
"I'm thinkin' we need to tell everyone that if somebody sti
nks right bad and only the lycans smell it, they need to kill 'em," Daelyn grumbled.
"But what if they're just dirty?" Betty replied, eyes wide.
"Guess they'll have to learn to shower, won't they?"
They followed the four werewolves through the neatly ordered tents, drawing a lot of looks from the soldiers who were standing around. Daelyn noticed that Julia, who was in her hybrid form, was doing something, because most of the men were starting to move along with them.
"They for us or against us?" Daelyn asked her.
"For us," Julia said.
When they came to the command tents, there was a guard there, a lieutenant, and from the expressions on Betty, Tinker, and Draco's faces, Daelyn didn't have to guess if he was possessed or not.
"Halt!"
"We're here to see General McGuire," Daelyn said.
"Let me see your orders!"
Daelyn looked around as she reached for her belt. Best she could tell, no one behind the lieutenant was watching them, so they didn't notice as she grabbed the handle of the warhammer behind her back and quickly brought it around and up under the lieutenant's chin, leading with the spike, which she drove up into his brain from underneath.
The body quivered a moment, the only thing now holding it upright being Daelyn's hammer.
"I thought Maxwell was a dwarven hammer?" Julia asked.
"He is, this be my new one. He be named Sabaton."
"Sabaton? Why's that?"
"Cause he's made of iron," Daelyn said with a huge smile. "Now, one of ya' come here and help the poor lieutenant off to someplace outta sight, so no one be taking alarm."
"Do as she says," Julia said and pointed to two of the men that were now following them. "All the officers who smell bad are possessed by demons. They're no longer human, and you will no longer listen to them!"
"I…I felt that!" Betty said with a shiver.
"Oops, sorry, Betty, didn't mean to catch you in that," Julia apologized.
"Let's go see the good general," Daelyn said. Sticking her warhammer back into its clip, she led them through the small 'gateway' and into the command compound.
"What are you doing here!" a captain yelled, walking over towards them.
"Ugh, Captain Stinky," Betty mumbled as she recognized him.
"I'm here to see General McGuire," Daelyn said, giving him a look of disdain. "Now lead me to him, Captain."
"The general is a very busy man!"
"And I'm his boss, so take me to him, now!"
"I thought…"
"No one is payin' ya' to think, Captain. Do as yea're told!"
Daelyn watched to see what would happen. The possessed they'd dealt with last time hadn't been the brightest. Otherwise they wouldn't have left evidence everywhere that something wasn't right. Also djevels were ruled by force. So she was hoping her bluster would force him to back down.
"What's going on over there?"
Looking past the captain, Daelyn could see General McGuire standing at the doorway to a tent that actually had a door.
"General, we've been trying to reach you! I have something we need to discuss!"
General McGuire scowled at her for a moment, then gave a curt nod of his head.
"Come inside, but just you and your aide." With that he turned and walked back inside.
"Keep yer ears open and get ready," Daelyn whispered to Julia, and then turned to Betty and Tinker. "You two are my aides; now follow me."
Betty's eyes bulged, why her? But she kept her mouth shut as Tinker nodded and followed Daelyn without comment. So she did the same.
"Close the door!" General McGuire said as they came inside. Betty noticed the dismissive look he gave her; she was still in her human form, as she had yet to achieve her hybrid one. He scowled at Tinker, but then she was in her hybrid form, and with the big white stripe on her back, Betty figured that maybe he mistook her for a skunk.
The look he gave Daelyn was all but dismissive.
She then noticed two other people in the room. One was a woman with a slightly glazed expression; she was wearing a uniform, though from the state of it, Betty wasn't sure she'd been wearing it a minute ago. The other person was a man in a dark suit she'd never seen before, but he was definitely the source of the stench in the room.
"Now, what is the problem?" General McGuire asked, walking behind the large desk in the room.
"Ye were ordered to the front to engage the enemy! Why haven't ya'?" Daelyn began without preamble.
"I received no such orders!"
"Well, maybe if ya' weren't busy in here sticking ya' dick in ya' subordinates, ya' would have!" Daelyn growled.
"How dare you suggest such a thing!" the general thundered. "I want you out of my office!"
Betty was sure he was about to call for the guards when Daelyn cut him off.
"And perhaps ye can tell me and my aides here just why your officer corps all be possessed by djevels?"
"What! How can you say such a thing?"
"Because we brought us along one of them magical devices the mages make. Like what we used in the Capital. You're not one, but all of yer officers surely are."
The general dropped into his seat. "I…I had no idea! All of them, you say? How can that be?" He looked up at Daelyn with an expression on his face that Betty had seen a hundred times before. "Why haven't they possessed me? Why was I spared?"
"That be a question I ain't got the time to answer," Daelyn replied. "What I need is for ya' to get your army on the road and headed north. But without yer officers, how are ya' gonna make that happen?"
Betty blinked. Daelyn was buying his story? He was lying to her, pure and simple!
"Dae..." Betty started, but Daelyn raised a hand, cutting her off.
General McGuire sat there and looked to be deep in thought for a moment before he spoke. "We don't really need them, I could just give the order over the public address system and let all the non-coms sort it out. It won't be perfect, but it'll work."
"But what about yer officers? How do we get them outta the way?"
"Oh, that's simple. I'll just call a staff meeting. I'll call them all up here before I order my men to be on their way."
Betty saw it again, that look, that glint in the eye, that slight twist to the very end of the mouth. He was evil, just like that bastard Cross. She started to open her mouth, but Daelyn held up her hand again, stopping her from uttering a sound.
"Then why don't you do that? Say, like right now?" Daelyn said, nodding towards the smaller of the two desks in the room, the one Betty guessed the disheveled girl had been sitting at.
"Carla, please be a dear and summon the officers to my office for a meeting."
"Ye…yes. Summon the officers," Carla said with a look of dread as the glazed expression quickly left her face.
Betty watched as she got up and had to grab at her blouse with one hand and her skirt with the other as she stumbled over to the smaller desk. Leaning forward into the microphone, she keyed it.
"All officers, come to General McGuire's office at once. Repeat, all officers come at once." Carla released the microphone key and collapsed back in her seat with a whimper.
"There now, my officers will be here shortly," General McGuire said with a smile as the man in the dark suit suddenly jumped forward and seized Tinker's arms, pinning them behind her back. Daelyn reached for her warhammer, but General McGuire had a pistol in his hand, pointing at Betty.
"Now, now. I'm sure you wouldn't want me to shoot your human friend, there. But don't worry, I'll take care of her real…"
There was a loud boom in the room as one of the general's eyes disappeared, and the wall behind him was decorated with a mixture of blood and brains, followed immediately by a second explosion of sound as the general's gun went off. Looking down at herself, Betty realized she had drawn and fired without even thinking about it. The thought of suffering another bastard was just too much for her. She could see where she'd been shot—right in the center of the chest—
and it hurt, it hurt like nothing she'd ever felt before!
Looking over at Daelyn and Tinker, she saw Tinker had ripped off one of the arms of the man in the suit, and was working on his head when Daelyn planted the warhammer through his chest, causing him to spasm and die immediately.
"Why do they always think I'm weak?" Tinker muttered under her breath.
"It's because beautiful women aren't supposed to be strong," Daelyn said with a chuckle, then turned to Betty.
"You okay over there?"
"I'm…I'm shot!"
"Give it a moment," Tinker said, "you're a lycan now. You'll be fine."
Just then it sounded like World War Three had opened up outside.
"Guess that'd be Julia dealing with the officers," Daelyn said with a chuckle. "I can't believe he was stupid enough to think I'd fall for his bullshit."
"Well, beautiful women, right?" Tinker said with a laugh.
"Wait!" Betty said, looking back and forth. "You knew?"
"Course we knew. Now let's go help…Uh-oh," Daelyn said, and Betty blinked as Daelyn's warhammer flew towards the desk, where it hit some sort of thing that had stood up. As the warhammer flew back to Daelyn's hand, Betty got a good look at it. Its head was still—reforming was the best word she could think of—while the body grew and expanded, splitting what had been the general's uniform.
"Should have guessed," Daelyn said and threw her hammer again. "Feel free to open fire, you two!"
Betty blinked and, bringing her pistol up, she put shot after shot into its body as Tinker lit it up with the rifle she was carrying.
When the slide on her pistol locked open, it took Betty a moment to fumble for the other magazine she had and replace it. Then she put another fifteen shots into it.
"I'm out!" Tinker said.
"Me, too!" Betty said, scared.
"That's okay, I got this!" Daelyn said with a smile and, moving forward, she started in on the forræderen djevel that now stood there in the general's body. All the steel bullets had definitely damaged it, along with the blows from her warhammer as she'd thrown it across the room, but now it was time to close. She could hit a lot harder by swinging her warhammer than she could by throwing it, and she was about to lay down a world of hurt on this bad boy.
Betty watched in awe as Daelyn advanced on the monster. It had reach on her, but she easily dodged its first attack, and then Daelyn hit it so hard in the shoulder that the arm became useless.