“You work for Baalth? I can sense his stench on you.”
Damn he was good. “Hardly,” I answered, kind of at a loss for words. Hard to believe, I know.
“If you don’t work for Baalth, who do you work for?” He continued to edge forward, the goon behind him drifting along with him.
“I don’t think that’s any of your concern.”
He shrugged. “Doesn’t really matter none, I reckon. But you saw something you shouldn’t have so that ties my hands. There’s only one way to go from here.”
“You know, I’m getting real sick of being threatened.” That would be the third time today. I could feel my cheeks starting to burn. “How about you tell me who you are and why you’re here since you’re feeling so damn chatty.” I get mouthy when I’m mad. It’s one of my better character flaws. I could see him mulling it over. “Why not? The name’s Henry McConnell. That there is Mike.” He pointed to the wiry goon nearest me, then gestured to the one behind him. “This here is Mario.”
His name struck a chord. “Henry McConnell, The Gray?”
He broke into a smile. “I don’t much go by that these days, but yeah, that’d be me.”
Things just kept getting better and better. The Gray had been one of Abraham’s earliest recruits. I’d never met him or even seen a picture, but I’d heard stories. None of them good. He was there when the pro-Armageddon forces went after DRAC the first time. From what I’d been told, he held his own. Pretty damn impressive, all things considered. Unfortunately, more so for me than him, he turned out to be an opportunist with little loyalty to anything but his own self-interest. When Abraham needed him the most, he hitched a ride out of town and disappeared. He’d picked an interesting time to reappear.
I kept my attitude in check, the best I could, while I weighed my options. Once again, I was way out of my league. That seemed to be an ongoing theme lately.
“Well, Henry, I’m not really looking for a fight, so if you don’t mind, I’ll be on my way.” I took a slow step backward, angling to keep as much of the shelves in the way as I could.
“Not so fast.” He matched my retreat with a step of his own. His staring, blue eyes seemed to look right through me. “Since you say you’re not with Baalth, which I tend to believe, how’d you find this here place? You didn’t just stumble onto it. You had to have been clued in somehow.” His smile got wider. “There’s not a whole lot of folk with power enough to spot the dampener wards I set up or who’d need to send a mutt to check it out. So, if Baalth didn’t send ya, Abraham must have.”
Powerful and smart. Shit. The look on my face must have given it away.
“Well, howdy. I’d heard rumors DRAC had reformed, but could never prove it one way or t’other. This’ll make the boss’s day.”
He could only mean Asmoday. I was in it deep and sinking fast. “Glad I could help, but I gotta go.”
Knowing I didn’t stand a chance going head on with McConnell, I chose the lesser of two evils. I went after Mike. I dove forward firing. A professional, I hadn’t surprised him. He dodged to the side and returned as good as he got. Almost. My first shot him dead center in the chest. I heard his breath billow out, but knew his vest would hold. My second, however, caught him in the neck. He gurgled and fell back, clutching his throat. His first shot whistled past my ear. His second slammed into my shoulder just as I hit the end of my dive. Unfortunately, the chain shirt I was wearing was great against blades, but it didn’t do much to stop a bullet. It ripped right through it. I let out a groan as I tumbled off balance and slid into the shelves, coming to stop with a crash. I jumped to my feet as soon as I stopped moving. Though the wound hurt like a good case of the clap, I’d had worse. Wounds that is, not venereal diseases.
Although…
Never mind.
A little disoriented by the fall, I looked for McConnell and company. I spotted them just in time to see Henry finish the final flourish of a spell. His hand flashed a brilliant gray and a split second later it hit. It hit hard too. Like a Mack truck without brakes hurtling down a San Francisco street, a wave of force smashed into me. I went blind from the pain, my thoughts scattered about my mind like so much detritus. I flew backwards, crashing through the metal shelves. I felt the first couple as they snapped, banging against my head and shoulders, but the third, fourth, and fifth were just a vague blip on my pain radar. The sixth and seventh didn’t even register. I also didn’t notice when I’d hit the ground nearly forty yards from where I’d been struck. I did kinda feel the nearest shelves topple down on me, but just barely. Good thing they weren’t too heavy. I pushed them off and sat up, suddenly noticing the spreading stain of blood across my hips and crotch. My head clouded by the impact, I frantically checked for wounds. There were none. I checked again, feeling myself up as I wondered how I could be bleeding yet not injured. It took me a second, but the light came on, however dimly.
The vial. The fall had broken the tube of Lucifer’s blood. Just great.
Now contaminated, the quickly drying blood was useless the minute it was free of the vial. My ace in the hole was nothing more than an embarrassing menstrual stain on the front of my pants. Knowing how little of the precious fluid I had left, I almost cried. The sound of a bullet bouncing off the shelf behind me caught me mid-sniff and reminded me I wasn’t alone. I shook my head, trying to rid it of the cobwebs. They didn’t seem all that interested in leaving, but I didn’t have time to argue. I had to move.
I crawled to my feet, my bruised and battered body complaining the whole time, the nerves coming back to life. I saw Mario working his way toward me through the wreckage, McConnell at his back. The light in the room had faded, but I couldn’t tell whether the illumination spell had ended or it was just my eyes. I figured I’d worry about that later. I raised my gun to take Page 63 a shot and realized my hand was empty. Disoriented, I looked to the other hand. It too was missing its gun. Hell of a time to lose both weapons. Without thinking, something I do so often it’s frightening, I grabbed a chunk of twisted shelving and hurled it at my pursuers. While far from a perfect throw, it was close enough for government work. McConnell and Mario sidestepped the awkward projectile easily though. I just stared at them as Mario raised his gun. I found myself wishing I had one of those. Fortunately, my instincts took over where my brain left off. I heard the crack of the pistol and saw the flash, but before my mind could figure out what all that meant, my body dove for cover. I barreled through the mass of broken shelves and tumbled out the other side as Mario’s bullet pinged somewhere behind me. The sound clicked something on inside my head and the fog started to clear. Through it all, something felt weird about the whole situation. It felt surreal. Not right somehow.
I moved off further through the maze of shelves, deeper into the darkness, doing my best to circle toward the front entrance. Mario and McConnell cleared the debris and followed, veering off to keep me from reaching the exit. The goon popped a shot off here and there as they followed. They rang out through the gloom, ricocheting nearby.
Once the gears in my head found their rhythm Page 64 again, I felt sure the darkness was natural and not some reflection of my damaged skull. I presumed that’s why Mario had such a hard time hitting me in the minimal cover of the warehouse. But again, something seemed off. His shots seemed hurried, desperate almost. As I thought that, he fired off a few more rounds in my general direction. It was like he hoped to get lucky. Not on the first date, buddy.
I worked my way around another shelf and nearly shit myself when I tripped over Mike’s body. Focused on McConnell and Mario, I hadn’t been paying attention to where I was. I stifled a nervous laugh and relieved Mike of his gun. He wouldn’t need it anymore. It wasn’t the supernatural slayer my piece was, but it’d do for now. I searched him for spare rounds and came up with a couple of cartridges, stuffing them in my pockets and scurrying off as I heard my pursuers closing in. A few more shots pinged nearby, drawn by my movement. I kept my head down and crept in the direction I remembered the door being. Through it all, I still had the sense of something wrong. Right then, it hit me.