The abandoned brewery had always been a recognizable landmark in Darkess as it was right between two access highways. Anybody that was coming and going from the south side would have to drive passed the buildings. But, as publicly viewed as it was, few people ever trespassed. Standard security measures were enough of a deterrent. A guard would patrol routinely, a few digital cameras watch the perimeter, and a chain link fence separated the sidewalk from the rest of the property. However, there was no knowing if any of those things remained once the Witch Hunters took over, nor what new measures might have been put in place.
“We just approach?” Emily questioned as the group approached the building after having gotten out of the parked car.
“No matter how we try to get into the building, we’ll have to face the Hunters,” Marcy understood. “Going through the front is the most direct way to get to Olivia. And we’re far more prepared to deal with them this time,” which was confirmed by looking at Rachael who carried a plastic bag of supplies.
“Well, are you sure she’s where you think she is?” Emily continued to be the cautious one.
“Demons lie but they’re also very prideful. The only way the information is inaccurate is if Laplace chose to be wrong,” Marcy explained. “I can guarantee no demon wants that kind of humiliation.”
“Alright,” that reasoning was believable enough. “What about if they set up an ambush?”
“Try not to fall for it.” Marcy ripped the lock off the gate using pure strength and swung the way open as her way of saying ‘Now, come on.’
The group entered the property and began walking down the road.
“Don’t worry too much,” Mark said as comfort to Emily while he stood and embraced her from behind, the two of them moving in tandem.
Marcy poked Rachael’s shoulder and then said with a smile, as they turned to look at each other, “You don’t worry either. After this, we’ll get Andy back.”
Rachael silently nodded with clear disappointment hanging over her.
Marcy recognized the issue, “I’m sorry I couldn’t ask Laplace where to find him.”
“It’s okay,” Rachael accepted. “I’m sure the price for that information would have been too great. With all of us working together, we should be able to find another way.”
“Agreed.”
They passed by the first building and then entered through the front entrance of the second, remaining near the door to be safe.
Marcy stood a bit deeper in the room than the others to investigate what might be ahead. She began by smelling the air and could not help crinkling her nose. There was something chemically putrid purposely put to block that particular sense. Then attempting to listen was blocked by a fabricated frequency. These safeguards were clearly meant for her. But what could not be blocked so easily from her was magic. She held up her hand and whispered into her palm, “Cetted Cigma.” Glowing dust appeared between her fingers, and she cast it forward. The particles floated for a moment before quickly dispersing as there was nothing to cling to. It seemed not even magic had been placed around the room. That was suspicious.
She slowly stepped forward a few feet with continued precaution, ready for the ambush. That is to say, a conventional ambush. But suddenly, there was a heavy detonation directly beneath her. In that second, she realized why her senses were being blocked and that was to conceal the presence of explosive devices.
The concrete floor erupted upward around her. The blast wave struck her body as did much of the debris. She was in great pain to the point she could not move for the moment. She and everything crumbled and fell to the lower floor. Her body landed hard on a pile of rubble and was impaled by rebar. Her hands hovered over the piece of metal stabbing through her back and out her stomach.
Rachael, Emily, and Mark ran over and looked down into the hole to see the gruesome sight of their friend and did not know what to do.
Marcy looked back at them and said, through bloodstained teeth, “Keep going.” Trusting in her, and aware of the importance of why they were here, no convincing was needed, and they quickly made their way around the hole. She was relieved that there was no hesitation. But she understood she had to get herself out of this bad situation without anyone else now. Unfortunately, things went from bad to worse.
A Hunter appeared out of the settling dust that lingered in the room and approached with the determined steps of the grievous man he was. The knife in his hand was driven into the left of Marcy’s chest before she had time to react. That would have been a lethal blow if not for the fact that her heart was unnaturally placed on the right side of her chest.
She gripped his forearm with one hand and swiped her other claws at his face. He caught her forearm and rotated his hold to lock her entire arm between his bicep and ribs. She pulled herself using the hold she had of him. Her body lifted off the pile, the rebar ripping back out, the knife cutting through her shoulder, and her locked arm being dislocated, but she landed on his back.
Her hold on him was released so she could claw at his throat and end this quickly. However, now that his wrist was not being gripped, he rotated the knife in his hand and stabbed backward at her face. She moved her head to the side to avoid being lobotomized. That was when he released his lock on her arm so that he could grab her by her hair, dragging her off him, and throwing her to the floor. When she landed, his leg lifted and stomped down. She rolled and crawled to find safety a short distance away.
“You moved your heart,” Shaw noted.
Marcy took half a second to quickly heal the major damage and then re-engaged before the pace of the fight reset. Right on him, him barely ready to counter, she disrupted his ability to defend further by repositioning with a sudden dash to be at his side before attacking. The lethal blow almost struck. But her intent was lost to a distraction, the sound of an ignition. “Wait!”
Rachael, Emily, and Mark were around the hole and about to run across to the other end of the room. They were brought to a stop when they heard Marcy scream out to wait. Just then there was another explosion from above. The floor overhead collapsed a few feet ahead of them.
Emily cast “Eldish” to protect them from debris that avalanched in their direction, a wall of dust and rocks blasting with great force against the barrier. The moment right after felt instantly calm as everything quickly settled. They seemed to have narrowly survived. But their feelings of safety were lost at the sound of gunfire from shotguns and semiautomatics ripping through the cloud of dust. More mana was forced into the barrier to make it last just a little longer.
“Ligaya!” was called upon.
The Aswang appeared, flying up through the hole and attacking the Hunters who were positioned on the floor above. Though she could not physically harm them, her touch was paralytic, earning time as the gunfire ceased momentarily.
Then Emily called “Rachael!”
Rachael knew what to do, though wished she did not have to use her material so soon. Taken from the plastic bag, a bar of soap was streaked on the ground to create a wide arch, a line of sacred salt was added on top, and water from a bottle was splashed over. She chanted, “As the sky falls, defend us. Defend us. Defend us.” From the line rose a translucent, light blue magic ward meant solely to repel ballistics. The timing could not have been better as gunfire returned. They seemed safe for the moment as the barrier held fast.
“What do we do with them blocking the way?” Mark asked in a panic. His eyes were wide.
“We should go to the left,” Rachael pointed out a door on that side of the room.
“No,” Emily said calmly. “I have a feeling that’s where they want us to go.”
“Then what?” Rachael needed to know.
“Forward like we planned,” Emily decided. The other two did not like the idea by the looks on their faces. “Trust me, please.”
“Of course,” that was not in question for either of them.
Mark then smiled widely as he stared upward with shut eyes and took a breath to balance his nerves. He said, jokingly to Rachael, “God. Now you know who wears the pants.”
“I always knew,” Rachael shared in the humor.
Emily did not indulge in the comedy. She was focused on timing the next move. But there was no consistent pause as she listened to the gunfire. No matter. “Ready. Go.” She rushed through the barrier, taking a bullet to the back but knowing full well that was likely to happen for her to get in the right position. She stood directly below the hole and held her hands straight up. “Eldish!” covered the open allowing Rachael and Mark to run across the room safely. She dispelled her barrier early which caught the Hunters off guard and gave her a moment to escape to the other end. Unfortunately, not without being hit, this time in the calf, by a few hot pellets from a shotgun.
Mark caught Emily as she staggered into him, holding her by the shoulders as he looked her over with terrified worry after his hands became wet with blood. “They got you.”
“I’ll be fine—,” said with pain—
And interrupted by a Hunter from above shouting, “They’re coming.”
“We have to go now,” she rushed.
The three sprinted down the hallway. Reaching an intersection in seconds, they instinctively glanced down the perpendicular paths and caught sight of something truly alarming. Seen down the left was a mounted gun aimed toward the opposite hallway that they had almost gone through. They would have been mowed down had Emily not listened to her instincts. And they still might be as the Hunter mounting the weapon heard the warning and was already turning the barrel toward them. They kept running forward to get out of the line of sight as heavy caliber rounds began to rattle like a bass. The gun was pointed at the hall wall to blindly fire in the direction where they were. Chunks of plaster exploded as bullets whizzed around them.
Mark grabbed Emily, dragging her into an embrace as if his body could act as a shield, and they dropped to the ground, trying to make themselves as small as possible.
Rachael knew she needed to do something, kneeling nearby and immediately getting to work on setting up another magic ward against the wall. It took no more than a couple of seconds to do so but those were the luckiest seconds of her life as random rounds ripped passed without a single one even grazing her. The blue barrier was projected and immediately worked to defend them from the attack. The bullets created massive ripples but even such great firepower was stopped, giving them safety.
Emily got back on her feet and quickly acted. “Tearger Chrocs Sep Reh Unreth,” created a ball of fire between her hands that she cast forward. It flew down the hall and around the corner. Magic fire exploded and a billow of flames erupted from the perpendicular hallway. The gunfire was brought to an end.
After a very short moment just to catch their breath, they continued to their goal, reaching a stairway that they knew they needed to go up …
Marcy, in her moment of distraction when she called out to the others, did not realize until too late that the Hunter’s movements were suddenly much faster. He caught her wrist, pulling her closer as he kicked her directly in the stomach. The air was knocked out of her. In her debilitation, he struck her in the face with his elbow, then he unbent his arm to hammer his fist down and hit her on the top of the head. As she began to fall toward the ground, he stepped forward and kneed up, striking her directly in the chin, then, quickly planting his foot, he kicked her in the stomach again with the other leg. She slid backward from the impact and spat blood. He turned his body toward her and pointed the knife as a challenge.
The distance was closed in a blink. The Hunter slashed up. Unexpectedly, the tip cut across Marcy’s chest even after she predicted the attack coming and did move to dodge. A ribbon of blood splattered on the floor. Regardless, with the weapon now wide, she chose to swiftly push into him. Blade flipped around and stabbed down into the back of her neck. But her brain already communicated her attack, both arms driving forward like spears. In seamless motion, he sidestepped out of the way of both hands which ripped the blade out the side of her neck. Then he grabbed hold of one of her extended arms tightly to keep her from retreating as he flipped the blade around again and stabbed at her face.
Flesh and bone knitted fast to restore motor functions near immediately after the knife was removed. Marcy moved her hand in front of the blade and cast, “Tratesh.” The metal broke to her touch all the way down the shaft to the hilt, and when her hand reached and took hold of his hand, his bones broke as well.
He tried to pull his arm away, but she did not let him go and lunged at his throat with fangs bore. He responded by headbutting her. Her face pulled back with a wincing eye. The head-to-head hit had been effective enough to stop her, but she saw this as her chance. They were so close that he would not be able to see a low attack coming. She let go of his hand and was able to pull her other arm free, reeling them both back to clamp his sides with her claws. But he had let her go so he could uppercut her which interrupted her action. What followed was a left hook that hit, then a long punch was aimed at her solar plexus.
“Eldish.” The impact of the punch was stopped. But the tips of Marcy’s fingers burned down to the bone at the activation of the spell that she had cast.
“What did you expect when using light magic?” Shaw remarked.
He bent his arm back to have his fist at the center of his chest and clenched the knuckles with his other hand. Legs skipped forward together to reposition right against the barrier, then he thrust his elbow with the power of both arms, shattering through like glass. His arm unfolded in a snap and grabbed hold of Marcy by hers. A quick turn step swung her over his head, and he slammed her hard on the ground. A punch square in the chest followed. The damage was tremendous.
Marcy coughed up blood as her organs were crushed. All this bleeding was not wanted but there was an opportunity that she used. Teeth bit hard with a sharp click, voicelessly casting Doblo Chrocs. Her spat of red ignited into deep crimson flames directly in his face. He dodged. She rolled away to a safe position where she planted both hands on the ground over a streak of blood. “Doblo Pesimas Nripso.”
Shaw realized he had overlooked something. Blood was spread across the ground in a way that created a perimeter surrounding him. Glowing, translucent red walls rose to seal him in a pyramid of bloody light. But, because of his strength, how long he was contained was unknown. Still, even a few seconds was enough.
Marcy jumped out of the basement through the hole and ascended to the next floor through the other one. On the second floor, she rushed across the room into the hall. Down the way were four Hunters with their backs turned as they were going to the stairwell on the opposite end. One stayed back by a door to keep guard. She blinked to be right beside him and swept her arm like a sword, cutting his head off.
The door opened, and after the gunfire and explosions, Olivia feared who may be entering. So terrifying and calming was the sight of the bloodstained lady in white. “Marcy!?”
“Let’s go,” Marcy said as she picked Olivia up.
Rachael, Emily, and Mark readied to ascend the stairs, aware there were most likely a few Hunters waiting right overhead. However, before they could make their move, Marcy bowled through them, throwing two over the railing, another into a wall, and the last to the floor. She jumped down from the upper level on the mid-plateau where there was a window.
“Escape here,” she directed, then went out the window backward, shattering the glass with her body while keeping Olivia safe. The two landed two stories down. Olivia was set on her feet and Marcy called up to the others, “Jump.”
“Go, Rachael,” Emily offered.
“You first,” Rachael, kneeling in the corner, ushered her instead. “I need a second.”
Emily did not attempt to argue and leaped. Mark stepped up next but looked back to make sure he was not going to be leaving Rachael behind. She appeared almost done with what she was doing, so he jumped. Rachael was up and out right after, landing in Marcy’s arms like the others.
“Thank you,” Olivia spoke gratefully to them all.
“Marcy did everything,” Rachael felt that was where the credit was deserved.
“That’s not true,” Marcy stayed humble. “This wasn’t something I could have done on my own.”
“Well,” Mark said with a smile, “I did nothing.”
“You looked cute,” Emily finally took the time to joke. “Now, let’s go before we lose our chance.” Vertigo suddenly rushed through her head causing the world to spin and become static in her eyes. She collapsed.
Shaw kneeled by the streak of soap and salt, staring intently at the construction of the ward. “Quite remarkable. Do you know what this is?” He directed the question to the four remaining Hunters standing by.
“Not specifically,” Jeremiah answered honestly.
“I wouldn’t expect you to know the specifics,” Shaw granted. “This is an old protection ward used a thousand years ago meant to defend castles from arrow barrages and catapult artillery. The material required to craft such a thing is animal fat, various herbs, sacred salt, and water. The rarer the fat, the rarer the herbs, and the quantity of salt and water all determine the durability of the barrier. She was able to create something that could receive an onslaught of gunfire using nothing more than a bar of soap. Then there’s this …”
He walked down the hallway followed by the others, reaching the stairwell and ascending. Fingers touched the barrier of cosmic color that not only blocked the window where the Witches escaped but surrounded the entire building. There was no possibility of breaking out for several hours. He looked around to find a pocket watch on the ground, more ward material. He had already found another by the front entrance.
“She created a time prison,” Shaw recognized. “And I’m guessing she was the one to summon The Midnight Man. The Apostate is strong. The tall one is talented. But the redhead has me the most worried.”