A Grim Situation Page 19

  I was confused. I’d had nothing to do with their deaths. I was relieved, but also disappointed. I’d really looked forward to killing them. A quick check of the bodies showed me that the last two had enormous holes drilled into them.

  A figure came strolling over the ridge from the east, and I recognized Edge, who was smiling widely. He was carrying an enormous rifle with an equally huge scope. I busied myself by finding the sheath for the sword and slid the blade into it as Edge approached within speaking distance.

  “Heard all that racket,” he said calmly, a hint of amusement coloring his words. “Used the night scope on my Barrett. Figured you might not refuse a little help.”

  “Thanks,” I said. As much as I loved a good fight, he’d saved me time and effort. I had none to waste. “You two all right?”

  “Oh, yeah, we’re fine. Almost got the copter up and running. Would have finished had those knuckleheads not come around. I’ll take one of these bikes to get back to the copter, finish it up.” Shifting the rifle to hang across his back on its sling, he walked over to one of the motorcycles to check it over. He righted it, sat astride its seat, and kicked the starter.

  I looked at the other cycles, lying forlorn in the dark, riderless.

  “You know Edge, that’s not a bad idea. Not bad at all.”

  Chapter 27

  Ariana watched Kane make the diving leap out of the big picture window. She bolted to the edge to see him running for the closing gate. He slammed into it, freezing it in place, then he slipped through the opening and vanished into the night. Not two seconds later, a couple of black-clad guards rushed from somewhere below into the center of the courtyard. They carried AR-15’s, and opened fire in the direction of the fleeing figure, but only let a few rounds fly. It was obvious he had already escaped, and they saw no sense in wasting ammunition. Suddenly, one turned and looked up at the window. He slapped his comrade’s arm to get his attention, then pointed at Ariana, silhouetted in the window above.

  “Ah, crap,” she muttered, rushing across the room toward the doorway. She had to find her way downstairs, then get outside the compound and head to the mountain to find Tanya and Avery. She shouldered open the door, then skidded to a stop in the hallway as she heard the two guards from outside already thumping their way up the stairs. She looked around, but there was almost nowhere for her to hide, no other room close enough for her to duck into. Instead, she opened the door as far as it would go and hid behind it, her back to the wall. It was poor cover, but all she had. I really need to work on my quick-draw glamour skills, she thought as the heavy footsteps approached.

  A few feet away from the open door, the men slowed. She quietly mashed herself as close to the wall as she could, hoping they would overlook her terrible hiding place. Letting out a slow breath, she reached out with her magick, searching for something she had seen in the room behind her. The invisible tentacle stretched through the wall and into the room, sending only faint signals back to her. She gritted her teeth as sweat began to drip from her forehead. She was much better at spell-casting than she was at this, a brute force use of her power. She focused on her breathing, trying to ignore the fact that the two men were now only a few feet away.

  “Ok, I’ll go in first,” one was saying. “It’s quiet in there, they may be hiding. I’ll take the left, you take the right.”

  Before the other could respond, Ariana found what she’d been after. A glass vase was sitting on a side table, filled with glass beads, water, and calla lilies. Flexing her will, she wrapped her power around the vase and pulled. She felt it slide off the table, then heard it shatter as it struck the wooden floor.

  “Dammit! Go, go, go!” the first man yelled, and they both raced into the huge living room. Shots rang out as they excitedly sprayed the room with gunfire. Moments later, they removed their fingers from their triggers and surveyed the damage. The TV was shattered, more windows were broken, and bullet holes pocked the walls in several places. It was a huge mess.

  “Shit,” the first man said.

  “Yeah, I don’t think Tanya’s going to like this,” murmured the second man, shaking his head slowly.

  There was a meaty thwack! and the first gunman slumped to the floor as Ariana’s baton made contact with his skull. The second jerked away in surprise, narrowly avoiding her backswing. He stumbled, fell down on his butt, then scuttled awkwardly away from her. Ariana kept her gun pointed unerringly at his head, and she took a confident step forward. His hand twitched toward the gun that still hung from his neck by its strap, but she had the drop on him.

  “Freeze!” she ordered, her voice firm and loud. “Show me your hands!” She took a step closer, the barrel of her gun never wavering. Her voice dropped, cold and menacing. “I mean it. Do it now or you know what you’ll get…” she narrowed her eyes and read the embroidery on his shirt, “Garrett.”

  Garrett looked into Ariana’s bright blue eyes. Whatever he saw there kept him still. Moving carefully, he brought up his hands in surrender.

  She tried not to smile and failed. She surveyed the man’s two black eyes and bandaged nose and said, “Looks like you’ve had a tough night, there, Garrett. Wanna talk about it?”

  Garrett just looked at her with a combination of anger, fear, and embarrassment. He clamped his mouth shut and shook his head.

  “No? OK, suit yourself. Put that gun on the floor and slide it over. Slowly, please.” Garrett carefully did as he was told and the gun slid out of his reach. “Now the Glock.” Moving slowly, he pulled the handgun from its holster and slid it over to her as well. “Now roll over on your belly and put your hands on your head. I promise I won’t kill you unless you do something stupid. Got it?”

  He stared at her briefly, then seemed to come to a decision. With a sigh, he rolled over and laced his fingers behind his head.

  “Good choice, Garrett. Now just stay still until I get you situated, and someone will come and check on you in the morning. You’ll be fine.” Keeping the gun in one hand, she knelt and dragged a pair of cuffs from the utility belt of the downed guard, then leaned in and clicked one side around his left wrist, intending to pull his arm around so she could cuff his hands behind his back. As she did, his right hand flashed around to his front pocket, then quickly darted up to his face before she could protest. “Hey, what’re you doing, you jerk? I told you to stay still!” She pressed the barrel of her gun into the back of his head hard enough that it should have hurt. “Now don’t move!”

  Garrett stayed still. For a few seconds, anyway. Then his body shuddered, fell still, then shook as he started laughing. It wasn’t the meathead frat boy laugh she’d expected from his appearance. No, this was a laugh that had a thick stripe of crazy in it, high-pitched and maniacal. She backed away from him, keeping the gun up.

  Garrett rolled over and pushed himself to a sitting position, ignoring the guns on the floor nearby. His mouth was stretched wide in a joker’s grin, and his eyes were hugely round and yellow, their pupils tiny pinpricks in the center. He cackled again, and spoke in a high, reedy voice. “Ariana, my love, I’m so glad you decided to play with us again!”

  She hid her shock at the sound of her name. She knew now what she was dealing with, and it wouldn’t be pretty. Dammit, my demon-goo is in my pack! She thought. She didn’t really want to shoot Garrett, but might not have a choice.

  “No comment, my love?” the demon that now inhabited Garrett teased, “but I’ve missed you soooo much!” Then it launched itself at her.

  Too fast, too fast! she heard herself shriek in her mind as she fell backwards, instinctively trying to avoid the demon’s headlong rush. Her feet came up and landed on Garrett-demon’s chest, and rather than kicking him away, she bent her knees and allowed his momentum to carry his body over hers. Then, with a powerful thrust of her legs, she heaved him into the wall behind her, where he smashed into the sheetrock and then slid to the floor in a cloud of white dust.

  She was on her feet in an instant, racing across the
room to put some distance between them. She aimed her AK at Garrett as he stood up, then carefully popped off a round at his shoulder. The impact jerked Garrett’s body to the left, but then he just smiled that insane smile and took a menacing step forward.

  “Dammit Garrett, stop! I mean it!” When the demon only laughed in response, she lowered her aim and put a bullet into his left shin. He went down to one knee, but then stood and kept coming, ignoring whatever pain might be coursing through Garrett’s body.

  Ariana knew she only had two options. The demon-goo was in her backpack, but she’d have to drop her gun to get it. Or she could just shoot Garrett in the head and be done with it. She growled in frustration.

  “Damn you Garrett, you’re gonna owe me. You’d better find the cure for cancer or something after you leave here.” She dropped the gun to hang on its strap, then whipped her backpack off, unzipped it, and reached inside.

  That’s when Garrett picked up the couch and threw it at her. She tried to dodge out of the way, but one end clipped her thigh, and she fell heavily to the ground as the couch destroyed an end table behind her. Clenching her teeth in pain, she pulled out the jar of goo and tossed her backpack aside.

  Garrett was on her in a heartbeat, lashing out with a fist almost too fast to see. The blow rocked her, and she fell on her back as she tried to regain her composure. Before she could move, Garrett sat astride her torso, pinning her between his legs.

  “There, there, my little pretty! Just relax, and we’ll have some real fun!” He cackled as his demon eyes bore down into Ariana’s. He knew he’d won.

  Or at least, he thought so. Her right hand swept up and slammed the squatty jar of demon-goo into the side of his head, cutting off his laughter with a grunt. He slumped sideways, and she swiftly caught one of his arms and executed a sharp bridge-and-roll to put him on his back. She deftly passed his legs, then pinned his arms to the floor with her knees as she settled her weight onto his chest.

  “Sorry, Garrett. You’re just not my type, man. I’m swiping left.” With her hands free, she unscrewed the jar and scooped up a dollop of the gunk with her fingers, then slapped it across Garret’s bruised face. As she expected, he screamed horribly, arching his body and thrashing beneath her, but she relaxed and held her position, keeping him safely pinned. Soon enough, his body glowed from within, shining like an ugly jack-o-lantern, and it convulsed one last time before falling still.

  Her hands flying, Ariana retrieved the handcuffs and secured his hands behind him, then zip-tied his ankles and did the same for his unconscious partner. After a moment’s thought, she pulled out her first aid kit and applied a quick bandage to each gunshot wound.

  “You’re still an asshole, Garrett,” she mumbled as she packed everything away and picked up her gun, “but there’s my good deed for the day. Pass it on, you schmuck.” She glanced over at the two men Kane had killed earlier and felt a passing sadness. She understood what he was, and how he did things. He’d actually become less violent since they’d begun working together, if he was to be believed. Seeing the two corpses bleeding onto the floor, their throats neatly sliced open, she felt a shudder run up her spine. Although he fought on the side of good, he sure did it in an ugly way. She shook her head, reminding herself that anyone he killed generally deserved it. Any of these guys would have shot and killed her, or worse. Even so, she felt compelled to stop and help Garrett. She sighed, feeling a little stupid, but also feeling like she did the right thing. Shouldering her backpack, and holding her gun at the ready, she moved towards the door and the hallway beyond.

  Fortunately, it seemed that almost all of the guards were either dead, unconscious or in pursuit of Kane, so she met with little resistance as she made her way down the stairs and out the back door of the residence. The huge, red mountain loomed, a darker shadow in the night, and she moved towards it, as she searched for a way over or through the wall. She found a small service door in the northwest corner, and moments later, she was running for the mountain. Her feelings of dread increased with every step as she approached the sinister looking peak. Something is in there, she thought, something really bad. Fear washed over her, oppressive and overpowering, and nausea roiled in her stomach. She felt herself slowing down, felt her confidence waning. Can I really do this?

  Then she remembered the detective. She was in there somewhere. It wasn’t often that Ariana ran across someone like herself, someone who felt magick the way she did. Even if Avery didn’t know how to use it, Ariana felt a kinship with her nonetheless, and her being a cop meant that she wanted to help innocent people. Ariana gritted her teeth and willed her legs to run faster, pushing herself through the unseen wall of dread and trepidation. I’ve got to get to her before Tanya does something to her, she thought.

  The road was clear all the way to what looked like a reinforced cave entrance at the base of the mountain. A light post had been erected there, shining a pool of illumination on the yawning mouth of the entryway. She slowed as she neared it, then stopped entirely and knelt in the middle of the road, intent on making herself as small a target as possible. From a pocket on the side of her backpack, she pulled a small pair of night vision binoculars and scanned the cave entrance. She found the guard lurking in a shadowy alcove just to the left of the opening, and she knew she’d have missed him if she’d been less careful. She laid the binoculars on the ground and took aim with her AK, then lowered it. She was much too far away to hit him with any accuracy, and even if she were closer, she didn’t share Kane’s affinity for killing first and then never asking questions later. This guy was armed and likely not hired for his compassion, but even so, Ariana had reservations about killing him with no warning. Knowing Kane would have given her a hard time about the entire episode, she sighed and decided on a change of plan. Still kneeling, she pulled off her backpack and rummaged around in it. When her fingers touched a small leather pouch, she allowed herself a slight grin. I’ve been wanting to try this out anyway, she assured herself. After she carefully withdrew the pouch, she slid her arms through the straps again, let her gun hang from its lanyard, and then began working her way closer to the guard, keeping her eye on the shadowy spot that hid him.

  When a light blinked on, allowing her to see his downturned face clearly, she froze. He’d pulled out his phone and was idly thumbing the screen. He looked bored. Perfect! she thought, I hope this works.

  She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to clear her mind. Shutting out all the negativity that emanated from the looming bluff, she looked inward, finding a familiar space of stillness within herself. Once her spirit was placid and calm, she began a chant, a quiet whisper that she used to focus her will. In her mind, she created an image of the result she desired, held that picture in high definition before her mind’s eye, and poured her energy into it. With careful, deliberate motions, she loosened the drawstring on the leather pouch and poured the contents into her outstretched palm. A mound of silvery powder sparkled in the moonlight, glinting in response to her magick.

  When her eyes opened, she found the tiny glow of the guard’s phone, revealing his shape against the darker shadows of the mountain behind him. Still holding the image strongly in her mind, she blew the powder from her palm in one long, focused exhale.

  The powder didn’t fly away as one might expect; it answered Ariana’s call. Borne on a sinuous tendril of focused magick, the powder snaked through the cool desert air, winding its way towards the guard.

  She had spent most of the last year wandering in the forested land that surrounded her family home. Dozens of species of spiders lived in that wooded area, and she had observed almost all of them. All spiders spin silk, though not all of them use it to catch their prey. Some simply use it as an ever-present safety line, leaving a single, white thread behind them wherever they go. Others build extraordinarily elaborate webs, using different kinds of silk depending on the function they needed.

  Ariana had observed every spider she had run across, spending time with
them, getting to know how they moved, how they hunted, and where they lived. Although she’d been scared of them as a little girl, she’d actually come to care for them as she understood them. They only wanted to be left alone, they hunted only what they needed, and their webs were often creations of stunning beauty, especially when the dew of early morning clung to the silken strands of their circular sculptures. It had been necessary for her to gain a strong sense of each spider, or else the spell she intended would never have taken shape. It had also taken a painstaking, careful effort to collect the types of silk in the quantities she desired without harming the tiny arachnids. And each time, she’d thanked them for their help.

  The line of powdered silk wound its way towards the guard, drifting with purpose through the air like a serpentine ghost. Whatever he was looking at on his phone kept him occupied, and he was completely unaware of the approaching spell. The misty tendril wrapped its coils around him, a silent and gentle caress.

  The guard’s eyes caught a flicker of movement and he registered the ghostly tentacle that surrounded him. He frowned in confusion, but at that point, it was far too late for him.

  Ariana whispered the final word of the spell and flexed her will, clenching her fist as tightly as she could. The phantom tendril exploded into a massive web that completely covered the guard, mummifying him in its silken, unbreakable grip. He stayed on his feet at first, teetering. His legs had been webbed together, just as his arms had been pinned tightly to his sides. His phone hand was now pressed uncomfortably to his chest as the enormous web captured him better than any straight jacket. A muffled cry barely escaped his lips, sealed shut as they were. He toppled, falling face first to the ground, raising a faint cloud of dust on impact.