by S. C. Stokes
Innocent bystanders cowered before the impostor.
Kasey knew that kind of fear. She'd felt it herself, when she was being hunted. It was the same terror that had rooted her to the spot as she had stared into the gaping maw of the werewolf, Danilo.
With one sweep of his hand, the Chancellor cast the bystanders aside like rag dolls. The bystanders bounced along the Underpass, before sliding into a heap against the wall.
Kasey longed to help them, but the Master of the Shinigami had to be stopped first. She quickened her pace. The Master must've heard their approach as he turned and looked over his shoulder.
“Oh, the insufferable Kasey Chase and Mr. Sanders. I'm surprised you are willing to bring yourself within my reach once more. You two truly are the worst excuses for heroes I've ever seen. Don't you realize you stand before the tsunami? It will crush you and everything else before it. You can't stop us now, it’s too late.”
Kasey summoned her power, but before the words of her spell could even leave her lips, a lance of blue energy emanated from somewhere to her right. The spell scored a glancing hit to the Master’s shoulder. He howled in rage, as the attack shattered his concentration and burned into his shoulder.
Kasey followed the source of the spell and saw John Ainsley advancing on the Master.
Kasey had no idea where John had emerged from, but given his father's position, she had no doubt he knew the complex rabbit warren of tunnels beneath Manhattan as well as anyone alive. Most people would have used them to flee. John had used them to hunt down his father's killer.
John chanted again and a blast of energy rolled toward the Master. The Master’s left arm may have hung uselessly from his ruined shoulder, but his right hand rose to meet it.
The two agents that had been dancing before him crumpled to the floor as the Chancellor turned his whole focus on John. Akihiro chanted, and John dodged reflexively.
In spite of the Master’s chanting there was no arcane missile to evade. Instead, John was torn from his feet by the same incantation the Master of the Shinigami had used to control the agents.
Kasey gasped as John was swept from his feet. Waving his hand like the conductor of some macabre symphony, the Master of the Shinigami dragged John through the air until he stood suspended between Akihiro and Kasey.
“Miss Chase, go ahead and unleash that spell. You will likely hit your beloved.”
Kasey felt the arcane energy coursing through her. Every fiber of her being wanted to let loose and obliterate the Master of the Shinigami, but she knew that no matter how she aimed her spell, he would ensure John was first to be hit.
She would be killing John herself. The thought tore at her heartstrings. She didn't know how to process her feelings for him anymore. Once, he'd been her tormentor, but more recently he'd been her ally, her confidant, and friend. She'd even come to enjoy the little time they had manage to spend together. They were feelings that she had never expected.
She had no idea how to diffuse the situation without putting him in harm’s way.
“What do we do?” Kasey asked Sanders, unable to look away from John. “We can't let him go, but we can't attack him either. Whatever we do, John is bound to get caught in the crossfire.”
“I'm not playing with you, Miss Chase,” the Master of the Shinigami said. “One more step, one more spell, one more misguided breath in my direction and I'll end his existence before your very eyes.”
Kasey stood rooted to the spot. It was John, or the city. She could see the outcome with perfect clarity. If they let Akihiro leave, he would destroy New York City. If they didn't, he would kill John. He'd killed dozens already; she had no doubt John would be next if they did not comply.
Akihiro had put her in this position before, though she hadn’t known him at the time. It had been Langstrode or Bishop. She could only save one. He knew all too well how she would react. She'd chosen Bishop over Langstrode and allowed the Shinigami to further his plans. In her heart she knew there was a price to be paid to save the city, but she could not bear to watch another pay it.
“Take me,” Kasey said, voice even.
“No, Kasey!” her mother cried out.
Kasey held up a hand for silence. “Take me in his place. I'm the one you wanted anyway, right? You sent Danilo after me. It was me that killed your little cabals of murderers. I’m the one you want, not him. What is he to you? Let him go and take me as your collateral.”
“I'm not here to bargain, Miss Chase.”
“But you should,” Kasey countered. “I might not be willing to risk his life, but Sanders and his agents aren’t going to think twice. Not after today.”
Akihiro nodded. “It is certainly a tempting proposition. After all, without you, none of us would even be standing here today. I accept. Come, slowly. I'm warning you, one step out of place, one breath of a spell upon your lips, and I will end him, and you will have a front row seat.”
Kasey raised her hands, “It’s not a ploy, Akihiro. I'm simply sick of seeing others pay the price.”
She advanced toward the Chancellor.
Her mother tried to reach for her. “No, Kasey. You can’t do this.”
Kasey shook her off.
“Kasey, don’t do it,” Sanders said, but didn’t dare to move.
Kasey paused, looking over her shoulder at her mother and Sanders. “I can, and I will. You know everything I know about his plot now. If he escapes, you know where to go.” Her gaze fixed on her mother. “Momma, I love you. You're the best mother a girl could ever ask for. I’m sorry I couldn’t do more.”
Kasey couldn't ever recall seeing her mother flustered. Now, she watched as her mother’s stern expression broke like a dam shattering. Tears welled up in her eyes.
It was more than Kasey could take. She turned and continued to walk toward the Master of the Shinigami.
She felt the weight of the world pressing down on her shoulders as she neared John.
John was shaking in the air. Whatever spell Akihiro was using to immobilize him, John was fighting with every fiber of his being.
As soon as Kasey got within a few steps of him, the Shinigami flipped his hand. John sailed up into the roof.
“No!” Kasey screamed as he struck the ceiling and then hurtled downward into the tiles.
Before Kasey could reach for him, she felt an icy grip surround her. Akihiro had her and she knew it. Kasey looked at the crumpled form of John Ainsley as she was swept into the air.
The chill seemed to completely enshroud her. It felt as if she were diving deep underwater. The pressure threatened to crush in on her from every direction. The Shinigami was literally squeezing the life out of her.
Kasey hovered through the air until she rested helplessly before him.
Akihiro’s mouth widened into a smile. “Well, well, well, Miss Chase. What are we to do with you now?”
Chapter Twenty-One
Kasey hovered helplessly in the air, dangling before the Master of the Shinigami. All over her body, she could feel the weight of her arcane containment crushing against her. It was slowly, inexorably squeezing the life out of her. At her feet, John Ainsley lay in a heap.
Akihiro, Master of The Shinigami, grinned maniacally as he used the floating Kasey as a human shield.
“Now, just give me a moment to take care of this shoulder and we shall be out of here, Miss Chase,” the Shinigami said. He glanced back at her mother and Sanders. “Not a move out of either of you two, or I swear you will see her die in a manner so excruciatingly painful, you will never be able to erase it from your mind. Imagine her bursting like an overfilled balloon. I promise you, it’s a sight you will never forget.”
The Shinigami chanted as he laid his good hand over his ruined shoulder. The suit his illusion was wearing had been blasted apart, and blood stained his shirt.
As Akihiro chanted, sickly emerald energy emanated from his palm and washed over his shoulder. Kasey’s eyes widened. She had expected the same healing glow her mother us
ed on her earlier. The master must've seen her surprised reaction because he looked up and offered a pitying smile.
“You see, Kasey, the problem with using magic to heal is that you are trying to use an arcane force to heal a failing mortal frame. Not a bad option if you have no other choice. But for those versed in necromancy, the art of life and death, it is a poor second choice. Far better to restore life with life.”
Kasey's eyes descended to the glowing talisman around his neck.
“Yes, precisely. This device allows me to capture the energy that escapes from a person's body at the moment they expire. Stored and preserved, that life force allows me to extend my own life far beyond that of a normal mortal. You are all positively infantile to me. I have seen centuries come and go. You are so attracted to this ideal of freedom, you have no comprehension of how the world works. America is just another pretender momentarily occupying the center of the world stage. I watched as your country rose and I'll be the instrument of its fall. There is no stopping us now.”
Kasey watched as the ruined flesh knit itself together. When he was done, the skin of his shoulder looked unblemished, it was as if he’d never been wounded at all.
Footsteps thudded behind her, dozens upon dozens. All around her, the ADI was converging on their location. More seemed to be approaching from behind the Master of the Shinigami.
Her heart leapt.
The Master of the Shinigami was about to be completely surrounded and cut off from his escape. She may have had little chance of survival, but it was comforting to know that he would die too.
As the agents approached, Kasey studied them. Something was wrong; they were far too at ease. They advanced, completely unconcerned by the presence of Arthur Ainsley surrounded by the bodies of dozens of civilians and their fellow agents. Their faces were an unreadable facade.
Each agent carried an MP5 submachine gun. It wasn't standard issue for the ADI, though it was a weapon that she had been on the receiving end of before. The same weapon carried by the Shinigami and their acolytes during the assault on the Ninth Precinct.
Kasey realized what was happening.
Those standing behind the Master were no agents of the ADI. They were not salvation. They were Akihiro’s reinforcements and they were disguised as ADI agents. The unknown force that had stormed City Hall was here.
Kasey looked to their arms. The mark of the Shinigami was inked just above the right wrist. She wanted to scream a warning, but she could not move. She prayed that Sanders would see it in time.
“It's time for us to leave, Kasey,” the Master of the Shinigami declared. “Say goodbye to your friends. If you're lucky, they might live through the day, but then again, you never know. It always pays to be prepared.”
Kasey hovered in the air, completely unable to speak.
“What's the matter, Kasey? Cat got your tongue?” Akihiro laughed. The maniacal tone resonated eerily down through the corridor.
As he drank in his victory, Kasey noticed movement at her feet. It was John.
His eyes fluttered open. He squinted up at the Shinigami. Slowly, John reached behind his back. The hilt of a pistol peeked out from his pants.
It seemed he was favoring the gun over magic as to avoid detection. Doubtless the Master of the Shinigami would have felt the buildup of energy as John rallied his might for a sudden onslaught. The pistol at this range would prove just as deadly and provide no warning.
Just as the pistol cleared John's pants, the Master swung around to face him. The master chanted, and a blade appeared in his hands. Unlike the short sword he'd been using earlier, this one was long and slender, almost a needle but for its length. With uncanny speed, the Master of the Shinigami brought the blade down.
Kasey had seen the weapon before, in her vision of the cathedral. It was the same blade she had seen used on Arthur Ainsley.
With her eyes fixed in terror, Kasey watched in slow motion as John brought up the pistol. The blade descended as John leveled the pistol at the Master's face.
The slender blade drove straight through John's chest.
As the blade took him in the heart, Kasey's own broke.
The gunshot never came. The Master of the Shinigami grinned down at John. “Oh, I know you so very badly want to pull that trigger, but you see, the Night Blade paralyzes its victim. It allows them to enjoy one brief moment of utter helplessness before they expire. There’s a kind of beautiful symmetry when you think about it. In this moment, you have more in common with your father than ever before. This is the same blade that killed him and now it will be your death too.”
John lips pursed in pain.
“Kasey!” he gasped.
An emerald hue traveled from John’s chest, along the blade, and into the Master of the Shinigami. The Shinigami was draining John’s life force.
“Waste not, want not,” Akihiro said.
Kasey watched in agony as John’s head sank lifelessly against the tiles of the Underpass. She wanted to cry out but could not, her every move restrained by the suffocating spell she was encased in. Her eyes burned as the tears welled up. John had died without ever hearing how she felt.
A gunshot split the silence in the Underpass.
The unseen hands that had held her fast were gone, and Kasey fell to the floor.
She hit the tiles in a crumpled heap, pain shooting through her leg. She pushed herself upright and looked over her shoulder. Sanders had his gun raised, a faint whiff of smoke rising from its barrel. She glanced over at the Master. Blood pooled on his shirt. As the Master of the Shinigami had killed John, he must have stepped out from behind the cover that Kasey had afforded him.
Sanders had taken the only shot he had.
With one hand, he tried to stem the bleeding in his chest. He began chanting.
Sanders opened fire once more, round after round straight at the Master. This time, Sanders had a clean shot. He was shooting to kill.
An emerald shield encased the Master and Sanders’ bullets flattened uselessly against the protective shell.
The gun clicked. He was empty.
The fake agents raised their weapons in unison.
Kasey was only feet away. It was too late for her. At this distance, she would never manage a shield in time. She simply collapsed on top of John and cried.
The restrained tears burst from her like a river as she wept.
Closing her eyes, she buried her face in John’s chest and waited for the end. The fusillade was deafening as the Shinigami acolytes raised their weapons and unleashed hell.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Kasey wept openly. Tears rolled down her cheeks as her world ended around her. The deafening staccato fire of automatic weapons filled the Underpass and Kasey could feel the ebb and flow of magical current washing all around her.
The agents returned fire against the Shinigami acolytes. Their handguns might have been outmatched by the MP5s but the agents responded with enough arcane firepower to level a small city.
Amid it all, Kasey simply buried her head against John’s shoulder. She wanted to try and heal him, but she knew it was too late. Checking his pulse, her fears were confirmed. He was gone. Even magic wouldn't bring back the dead.
At any moment, she expected she would join him. Surely the deadly hail of bullets would find her.
Kasey closed her eyes again and waited for the end to come.
All around her, the battle raged and yet she remained unscathed.
Looking up, Kasey forced her eyes open. Shimmering over her head was a protective scarlet shield. In the furious melee she could not see its origin, but she knew it all the same.
It was her mother.
There was only one person in the Underpass who would put her life above their own. Somewhere amid the chaos, her mother had woven a powerful protective barrier around Kasey.
Kasey looked behind her at an ever-increasing flow of agents joining the battle. Glancing ahead, she could make out the contingent of Shinigami acolytes forti
fying the Underpass. They were taking cover behind statues and benches before returning fire.
Kasey scanned the area for the Master but he was nowhere to be seen. His flight had been swift and now his acolytes were selling their lives to buy him time to escape.
Kasey was tired. Physically and emotionally, she was utterly spent. She had come so far and in spite of all of her efforts to protect him, John had paid the ultimate price. Her soul ached, but she knew that she couldn't languish in self-pity and loathing forever. Not while the Master of the Shinigami lived to fight another day.
Akihiro had to die.
Kasey quarantined the feelings that threatened to consume her. There would be a time to mourn, but it would have to wait.
She laid a hand on John's chest.
He will pay for this. They will all pay for this.
She rose to one knee and then struggled to her feet. The Shinigami turned on her, their weapons pointed at her at point blank range. Placing her faith in her protector, she unleashed her rage in torrents of arcane destruction. With no mercy, she moved through the Shinigami like a hurricane.
Bullets ricocheted harmlessly off her protective shield, producing the faintest wisps of scarlet light before they clattered harmlessly to the ground.
“Chwythu Asid!” Kasey bellowed in her Celtic tongue.
A searing blast of violet light streamed from her outstretched hands. In a heartbeat, the wave of energy had scythed through three acolytes. They collapsed in a heap to rise no more.
Other Shinigami brought their weapons to bear on her, but her shield held. She looked into the eyes of her nearest enemy. The surprise was written across his face, until another emotion replaced it. His eyes went wide, his jaw dropped, and his expression told Kasey he knew what was coming next.
Weaving her arms, she lashed out once more. This time the violet scythe cleaved the man in half.
His comrades watched him fall and looked to the avatar of destruction in their midst. Kasey was the eye of the storm all around her.