wild gray hair with a matching beard, which rested heavily on his chest. I couldn’t help but picture Santa Claus. I caught myself looking for reindeer. He wore a loose-fitting earth-tone shirt and blue jeans that did little to hide his bulk. At about six feet, he easily weighed two hundred eighty pounds, but it was clear by how he moved it wasn’t fat lurking beneath his country couture. He had that big, bad biker look to him. The kind of guy you just don’t want to fuck with. And there I was.
He walked casually up to the other two, his narrow eyes taking in the scene. He started to say something, then went silent. His eyes widened. Right then, I felt the almost imperceptible tingle of a magical scan.
He knew I was there.
Without hesitation, he pointed me out, shouting to his goons to get me. I felt so unloved. It took them but an instant to orient on me, each fanning out with his gun drawn.
Since there was no point waiting to get shot, I popped up, letting the manacles drop to the floor as I drew my own guns. I didn’t wait for a clear shot, I simply started blasting. Stuck in the back end of a warehouse with no cover, I wanted them on the defensive. It worked. The little guy ducked behind the office without firing a shot. The wiry one snapped off a couple quickies as he scrambled to find shelter in the darkening warehouse. He wasn’t even close to hitting me.
The wizard stood his ground and glared at me. He was a confident fellow; too confident for my liking. I aimed at his chest and pulled the trigger. I saw a flash of sparks as the bullet struck an invisible barrier, deflecting away before it could hit the wizard. I sighed. No wonder he was so confident.
He walked forward with a smile, his hands held out as if to imply no threat. I knew better. The stocky goon ran over and positioned himself behind the wizard, taking advantage of the old man’s shield. Pretty smart of him. Thinking it was time to get moving, I left the manacles where they lay-my inner perv screaming obscenities at me the whole time-and drifted off Page 58 toward the darkness. The same direction the other goon had gone. I didn’t get far before the lights came on.
The wizard had cast an illumination spell and the whole warehouse was suddenly bathed in a yellowish glow.
I ducked down to make myself a smaller target, the wiry goon only about fifty feet to my right. He leveled his gun when he saw me, but didn’t shoot. I held both of mine out, one aimed at the goon, the other the wizard for all the good it’d do me.
“I don’t know who you are, but you’re not welcome here,” the wizard said with a southern twang. He came off calm and calculating despite the drawl. He knew I was more than just some random trespasser.
“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
