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IT WAS ALMOST UNFAIR that our foes couldn’t use magic against us. The witches and warlocks were helpless with their power cut off. I realized how wrong I was about that when we turned a corner to see a cluster of humans ahead. One of them tossed a vial at us. It smashed against my magical barrier and smoke erupted in front of me. When it cleared, a minotaur stood a few feet away. Ten feet tall, it towered over me. If I hadn’t spent several months hunting things like this down in the goblin dungeon, it might have given me pause.
“Is it real?” Asha asked, peering around me at it.
“Nope. It’s just an illusion,” I replied and walked straight through it. Murmurs of dismay sounded from the sorcerers and more potions were thrown at us. They must have seen the footage of my team attacking the institute and had copied Pru. Some of the spells were dangerous and would have maimed us badly. The acid one was particularly nasty. It ate a hole right through the carpet and floorboards. Our shields kept us safe from harm and I used my trusty Colt to decimate the group.
“This is getting almost boring,” Asha joked, but I sensed her relief that she didn’t have to kill anyone. “Can I at least shoot them in the legs or something?”
“You can’t shoot the humans, sweetheart,” I replied as I led the way down one of the many hallways. “You might hit an artery and they’ll bleed out in seconds. Feel free to shoot the shifters in the legs, though. It won’t kill them.”
We shared a smile, then I focused on the hunt. Stopping at a door, I knew there were werewolves behind it even before I kicked it open. Asha knew they weren’t human because she could sense them just like I could. She started taking potshots at their legs when they rushed at me. My shield protected me from all harm and the lead shifter bounced off it and fell down. Asha pumped an entire magazine into his legs and he roared in pain and anger. I finished him off with a round to the forehead while his pack futilely tried to tear me apart.
If we’d been in any other fight, I would have dropped my barrier to make the odds fairer. Unfortunately, we were facing something that was far more dangerous than anything we’d ever seen before. We couldn’t afford to let our defenses down while there was a gorgon trapped in the building with us.
I could hear the creature that called herself Sheridan Harwood raging around in the den below. She’d transformed into her true form and her evil permeated the entire house. One glance from her would turn us to stone. We needed to eradicate her minions before she broke free from the spell Ari had placed around the den. Once she went on the loose, it was going to be imperative for us to stay out of her sight. Not even my magical shields could deflect the stare from a gorgon. Only the dragon scale shield had a chance of defeating her.
When the third floor was empty of foes, we descended the stairs to the second level. Quin and her team had just finished clearing out the main floor. We met at the stairs and I was glad to see everyone was intact.
“That gem must be pretty powerful,” Ari said in envy, pointing at the glowing jewel that was nestled in my back pocket. “Your shields make mine look amateurish in comparison.”
“Just remember they aren’t infallible,” I reminded her. “They won’t save us from Harwood’s stare.”
“We know,” Jonah said, rolling his eyes rudely. All three phantoms were in full poltergeist form, which meant they were royal pains in our butts. “You don’t have to remind us, flesh bag. We’re not stupid.”
“Jonah,” Ari said warningly.
“What?” he sneered. “We both know you’re not going to send me back to our base until after the gorgon is dead. There’s nothing you can do to stop me from saying what’s on my mind.”
“Can we stop standing around and congratulating the big fairy and go and kill some more minions?” Brandi asked in annoyance.
“Heh, she called you a big fairy, boss honky,” Leroy said with a chuckle. Unlike the other poltergeists, he didn’t turn insultingly nasty. It was just one more difference between him and the others.
“Be careful,” Quin ordered, sensing the creatures that were on this floor. “There are other types of monsters on this level.”
“We haven’t even been to the basement yet,” Connor reminded her. “I can feel something weird down there.”
“We’ll deal with this floor first, then head down there,” his boss decided. At her hand signals, we split up and went on the hunt.
The first room I came to contained a bunch of ghouls. It just showed how powerful the gorgon’s hypnosis was if she could control the undead. The greenish colored, naked, vaguely humanoid creatures hissed hungrily and surged forward when I kicked the door open. Asha emptied her Glock into them, aiming for their legs while I leisurely cut them down with headshots.
“It’s like Sheridan was prepared for a war,” Asha noted when they were all down. We both reloaded before heading to the next room where we could feel more creatures waiting.
“She must have known Quin and her team would turn on her eventually,” I replied. “Their rings prevent anyone from controlling them. Harwood made a big mistake by underestimating them. She should have known Ari would have spells to counter hers. None of these creatures are a match for anyone on her team, or ours.”
With both of our teams working in sync, we cleared the second floor of enemies much faster than we had the others. “All right,” Quin said when we gathered in the foyer again. “Now we just have to clear out the basement. There are two entrances and a long hallway that joins them. There are a bunch of cells with an unknown number of monsters inside them.”
“Plus the stone statues,” Leroy added.
“Who cares about statues?” Brandi sneered. “It isn’t like they can hurt anyone.”
“What sort of creatures are down there?” Asha asked, peering downward as if she could see through the layers that separated us from the basement.
“I’m not sure,” Ari said with a frown. “I can’t quite make out what they are.”
“There must be another spell that you missed when you purged the house,” Jonah said. “Good job, loser.”
She opened her mouth to issue a tirade at him, but snapped it shut when Quin shook her head warningly. “I didn’t miss anything,” my foster daughter said in self-defense instead of what she’d initially been about to say.
“I think it was added after you destroyed the wards,” Emelia said. She was standing next to Harley and looked tiny beside the kid.
“No one should be able to cast magic except us,” Ari said with a frown.
“Leroy, go and take a look, will you?” I asked.
“Sure, boss,” he replied, then cocked his eyebrow at the other two spirits. “Are you honkies coming with me?”
Jonah and Brandi looked at their leash holders for permission and received nods. “Find out what’s down there, then come straight back,” Quin ordered. Jonah gave her a mock salute, then the ghosts sank through the floorboards and vanished from our sight.
