It was close to a mile from the cemetery that I came to the end of the crater. At its edge, a small group of people gathered and mourned. Shellshocked faces stared at the ruin of what had been their neighborhood just the night before. Their neighbors, friends, and family who had lived there had been erased from existence. In the span of minutes, the course of their lives had been horribly altered.
Ignoring their questions and shouted pleas for answers as they saw me emerge from the crater, I pushed my way past. There was nothing I could do for them. For me to save what was left, I needed to get to Heaven.
Right then, salvation wasn’t looking so good.
Chapter Nineteen
As I neared one of DRAC’s hidden gates, ready to make my way back to where Scarlett and Katon waited, I heard the crackling static of a telepathic connection open up inside my head.
Abraham’s quiet voice drifted into my brain. “Frank. It’s Abe. Where are you?”
Never quite able to answer in my head without getting a lot of superfluous thoughts jumbled together into the transmission, I told him aloud where I was. My brain engaged a split-second after that.
He’d called himself Abe.
In all the years I’d known him, he never once referred to himself as Abe. It had always been Abraham. In fact, I was probably the only person who did call him that. My gun was in my hand before I’d even completed the thought. Something was up.
Just a few feet from the back alley door that obscured the gate, a gentle wave of energy washed over me, signaling the portal had been activated. It hadn’t been by me.
Paranoia in high gear, I aimed my gun at the door and waited. The energy subsided after a moment and a gruff voice from the other side of the door called out to me.
“I’m coming out, demon. We have the old man, so don’t try anything funny or you’ll never see him again; at least not in anything resembling one piece.” The voice finished with a rough chuckle.
My heart thudded hollow in my chest as I realized how stupid I’d been. Abraham had tried to warn me and I’d figured it out too late. It had to be about the key piece.
Cold sweat tickling my scalp, I tied the end of my pillowcase bag into a sloppy knot and delayed for time.
“Who is it?” I sang.
“No games, demon. Either let me out peacefully, so we can speak face-to-face, or we kill your mentor.”
I waited until I heard the grumbled reply start, then tossed the bag onto the nearby roof. It landed with a muffled thump and I hoped, with all my heart, the vials survived.
Timed to cover the sound, I loudly muttered my agreement. “All right, all right!” It wasn’t the best of hiding places, but with humanity hunkered down awaiting the end, I figured the piece was safe enough. It had to better than having it on me.
The door creaked open and a furry snout peeked out from behind it, its muzzle pulled back in a vicious smile. The whitish lightning bolt fur on its forehead told me it was Rampage, the same werewolf who’d been carrying Adam’s skull when the weres jumped us; Grawwl’s right-pawed flunky.
His reddish-orange eyes locked onto mine. My gun still in my hand, pointed steady at his face, his smile slid away. I knew it was a bluff, but he couldn’t be sure. It was a satisfying moment of defiance, however futile.
“Do you really want to be responsible for the old man’s death?” he asked. He didn’t say anything else. He didn’t have to. With those few words, he knew he had me by the short and curlies. The fact he used one of DRAC’s gates was more than sufficient evidence to prove he told me the truth.
As much as I wanted to ventilate his smug lupine face, it wouldn’t help Abraham. Not that I expected mercy from the bastards. Certain they would kill Abe the second they got what they wanted, I could at least delay and hope to pull something out of my ass. My putting a bullet in Rampage would guarantee Abraham’s death, and it would be on my shoulders.
Shit. I hated having a conscience.
The stare down lasted only a second longer before I gave in and lowered my gun. I was only delaying the inevitable.
He crept out from behind the door. “Smart move, demon. Now put it away so we can get going.”
A bit surprised he didn’t take it from me, I certainly wasn’t gonna complain. Though on the other hand, not disarming me meant they didn’t think I was a threat. They had to believe they held all the cards or they wouldn’t risk leaving me armed. That blew a big hole in my dreamy concept of hope.
“Take me to your leader.” My pistol stuffed into my pants, I gestured to the gate. Might as well get it over with.
Rampage chuckled and turned his back on me as he went and stood inside the gate. Nothing to do but follow, I stepped onto the pentagram right after. Uncomfortable standing so close to the werewolf, I inched back as far as I could go, making sure I faced him the whole time. Once we were both situated, the gate throttled to life and zipped us on down the line.
We appeared inside the secure entryway inside the main DRAC headquarters. My heart skipped a beat as the room came into focus. It wasn’t secure anymore.
The array of defensive wards had been scoured from the walls. Their colorful faces were marred, blackened singe marks lay overtop of each, their energies neutralized. The room smelled of sulfur and bitter ash, the taste of it stung my tongue.
My moist eyes drifted upward toward the behemoth roof and I couldn’t help but stare. The thirty ton weight was warped and disfigured, twisted so badly it had dug into the walls around it and failed to drop.
The door leading into the main complex had been ripped free of its sunken hinges. It lay on the floor beside us. The outer edge was bent inward, the three foot thick steel mangled and crumpled like paper.
Amazed and horrified all at the same time, I couldn’t imagine the kind of power it would take to bypass the security system so casually. Despite the presence of the werewolf, there was no doubt in mind that it hadn’t been Grawwl. While powerful in a physical way, he didn’t possess the kind of mystical aptitude it took to lay waste to DRAC. I had a pretty good idea who did.
I glanced over at Rampage’s smiling face and he just chuckled, waving me down the hall. It took some willpower to get my feet moving, but I managed to follow him after a second or two.
Out in the corridor, I saw several of DRAC’s security team scattered about. They lay on the floor motionless, obviously dead, but there were no signs of trauma on any of them. No blood or bruises were visible. Their uniforms were immaculate as though they hadn’t even put up a fight. It was if they’d just dropped dead where they stood.
Seeing that made it real clear as to why Rampage hadn’t cared whether I kept my gun or not. Compared to the defense array and the firepower the security forces could bring to bear, one measly little pistol wasn’t but a drop of spit in the ocean.
It suddenly felt like I was taking my last walk, a condemned man’s final journey.
Rampage wound his way through the compound with confidence, his head held high and his arms easy at his side. The lifeless men we passed at every turn only reinforced his seeming invulnerability, a casual swagger seeping into his gait.
I thought about all the people who worked at headquarters and then pictured them all dead. My stomach churned with bile and I could feel my face growing flush, but there was nothing I could do for them. The men already gone, I needed to think about Abraham and the rest of the world. The longer this went on, the more people who were gonna die.
Certain I knew where we were headed, I slipped past Rampage and picked up the pace. He chuckled behind me and matched me stride for stride. After a moment I reached Abraham’s office and opened the door. As it always did, the smell of old wisdom met me at the door, but I wasn’t there for that. The feedback on my senses told me I’d been right in my assumption.
Once inside, Rampage shut the door behind us and took up a position right in front of it. The werewolf the least of my concerns, my eyes swung toward the desk and saw Abraham uncomfortable in his chair behind it. He
