I flung the warehouse door fully open, and marched in doing my best impression of a pissed off pixie. I didn't let the pain from every other step show on my face. The door slammed shut behind me and the impact boomed across the open space. The two vamp goons were out of sight, but the wicked witch was front and center arranging someone across an alter. Her head snapped up at the sound.
I didn't wait to see what would happen next.
I screamed "Hikari!" as loud as I could and threw up my arms.
A solid wall of dazzling light sprung to life in front of me and stretched across the length of the room. I clenched my fists and crossed my arms in front of me growling, "Weiqi!" to send it rushing forward.
One of the vampire goons literally came flying out of the office beside me in a disconcertingly graceful leap. The other was running right behind him. From the corner of my eye I saw Ugly burst through the wall of light heading my way too.
No one could see Butters climbing down to let Mouse in.
Distraction 'part one,' check.
I sprung into action with a hiss of "meinaini," bringing up a veil as I ducked into a roll to the right. I came out of the roll by (putting my full weight on the injured leg) with an agonizing hiss of "Fuck," and clutched at the can of silly string and one of Guard's runes. I was impressed at my own maneuvering skills. The flying vampire went sailing through the place I was standing a split second ago and I flung the veiled rune straight at the spot I hoped he would land on. The other vampire ground to a halt, looking around just as the rune I had thrown went off not four inches to the left of where his companion had landed.
The shock wave from the explosion half knocked the sense out of me and sent me staggering off to the side. Considering my concentration was already occupied with muttering and pouring heat down my arm into the can of silly string, I lost most of the veil. I flung the can with all my might behind the confused vampire, hoping to toss the next rune at his feet when he turned around. I never got the chance.
A solid weight hit me like a train the moment the can left my fingertips. I prayed I wouldn't drop the rune. The weight carried me with it into a support beam against the wall. I had lost track of Ugly in the excitement. She had apparently never stopped her charge.
Had we hit the ridged metal wall instead of the metal stud, I suspect we would have gone right through. Considering the pains screaming up my back in that moment, it would have been a much more pleasant experience.
She pulled her weight off of me and grasped my shoulders on either side, twisting and dragging me forward like she was about to fling me to the opposite wall.
In that moment, I heard the impact of the can, and both saw and heard the forceful expansion of silly-string arching and growing through the air like a forming monster.
For all the sparkling lights I can throw up in my life, I am convinced I will never see a more effective distraction than an exploding can of super-heated silly string.
The witchy vampire jerked her head to stare at the spectacle. I said a quick thanks to God and took the opportunity to jamb the force-rune I was holding straight into Ugly's face.
The rune went off on contact; dropping the vamp over backwards and nearly tearing my arm out of it's socket. Or, judging from the pain, maybe actually tearing my arm out of its socket. I tried to get my right arm working again and slid my drumstick out with the left just in time to see the last vamp standing come tearing at me; leaving bits of silly-goo in his wake.
Unfortunately for him, he was too focused on ending the little bitch that broke his Queens nose to notice the blue glow of an apparently possessed dog bearing down on him. Mouse took him down in much the same way Ugly handled me moments ago, only with more flashing teeth and claws. And they actually did go through the wall.
Seconds later the vampire came crashing back through the gaping hole, covered in pale blood and generally looking like death chilled over. He turned and scrambled towards the office door. Mouse took him down a final time with a leap that closed his jaws on the back of the vampire's retreating neck. Even a vampire should know better than to run from an angry dog. Mouse clamped down tight and shook his head vigorously like he might be shaking a favorite toy. Or at least, that's what it would look like if he ever lowered himself to such a level as to be seen playing with a toy.
Mouse looked up, pleased with a job well done, and I surveyed the scene. Instead of the charred remains of a toasty vampire, there was only a broad, black smudge on the ground with a smear of pale blood streaking out of it. A hissing sound from the front of the warehouse suggested where those remains might be. Wounded, he had gone straight for the captured thralls. A hissing from behind me and to the left suggested Ugly was waking up, too.
We turned to glance at each other. The look I got from Mouse said 'I got this, you go take care of them.' Or, more likely, the look I gave him said, 'Help! I can't handle this anymore! What do I do!'.
In any case, Mouse turned and charged in the direction of Ugly, and I took off towards the captive thralls and Butters, bare feet slapping on the floor and all.
Nothing says 'Here I come, and you better watch out cause I'm all kinds of dangerous' like the sound of feet slapping on the ground. To complete the circle of fear, I shouted, "Tinkerbell Rules!" with all my might while I gave a tug and wrenched my shoulder back into its socket. The pain overpowered my adrenaline high and brought out an agonized laugh that truly sounded like the voice of a crazy person.
A literal Roar of "Poooolllkaaaaa!" filled my ears in reply. I saw Butters holding back the crispy critter with a short blast from a fire extinguisher, then turning it around to club him over the head.
Mmmm, that's gotta smart, I thought. I was more than half way to closing the distance while the vampire-kabob was writhing on the floor, moving in closer to Butters. Apparently the extinguishing juice was on empty, or just wasn't effective anymore because butters continued wielding it like a club, batting the creature aside the head over and over, while the vampires one arm that still seemed to work continued clawing and slicing at Butters' Legs.
As I approached, the vampire finally got a good grip on his ankle and sent his crispy fingers sinking into Butter's skin. The man went rigid and a look of ecstasy, rather than pain, washed abruptly over him. The vampire was distracted with his frantic feeding so I didn't bother announcing I was there. His mouth was hanging open in his own ecstasy, and moving up towards Butters leg. I promptly shoved my final rune into the gaping maw and slapped it shut with the heel of my hand. Crispy's eyes snapped open an instant before they blew out of his head.
For someone who had been so thoroughly charred, I was amazed at how much slimy, disgusting gook came flying out of him and onto me. I was going to spend the next week in a hot bath. Even if I had to blow out every water heater in Chicago to make it happen, I was going to spend next week in a hot bath.
"I would have come sooner to help you," Butter's mumbled half-incoherently and breathing hard. "But as you see, I got a little detained.
I stepped over him grinning and moved quickly towards the last person who was still tied to the wall. "Oh, I think you came a lot quicker than you think," I replied over my shoulder. What can I say? Covered in filth, it's hard not to act like a dirty girl.
I made quick work untying the last poor… person, and sent her towards the open front door. Giving the same advice I assume Butters had given to the others, I said "Run like hell." She blinked a few times and staggered in the direction I had indicated.
Butters was picking himself off the floor and trying to look dignified when I turned around and saw her walking behind him. He froze, still facing me when he saw my expression.
Ugly had mouse by the back leg, and was dragging him limply behind her towards the ritual circle's center. She dropped him there and straightened, turning to glare at us.
"Is he…," I began in a whisper, chocking up.
Butters turned around, still favoring his leg.
Ugly let out a laugh to indicate she truly was insane.
Anger and rage began to burn behind my eyes. Mouse. The only thing. No, the only person I had left to walk with me through my miserable life, was laying unconscious, maybe dead. I was not going to fall apart. And This bitch was going to die. She needed to die.
"My dear…," Ugly's voice cracked through my consciousness. "Let's you and I have a talk, shall we?" I could feel her powers of seduction fall on me. This, without doubt, was the one. It wasn't as strong as the previous night, but it had the same dark energy. "Join me," she said, "and I let these pathetic mortals go free."
I wanted to rearrange her nose for a second time.
"Resist, and you will all die."
I stared the wicked concubus down, the weight of dark energy all around her. I could feel it. I could reach up and grab it, take it in and maybe stand a chance. My anger began to boil over. On my own good faith and power, I didn't stand a chance. I knew that. I'd be using it for good after all. Defeat the bad guy by any means necessary, isn't that what Harry always did?
I started to draw on it. Ugly's face contorted, making it even uglier, and she cackled. Honest to God cackled.
This wasn't right. Harry used his brains. And that's what he taught me to do. He put his life on the line teaching me to avoid the dark pull. And dammit, I would. Even if it Killed me. Shit, I thought, It probably would.
I gripped my drumstick harder, struggled to overcome her influence and leveled the rod of smoking power rangers at her. I considered my next move like it would be my last. The seductive force pushed in harder.
I sneered.
"Don't. call me. Dear," I said through clenched teeth. I imagined a circle forming around me, and willed it to snap closed. I felt the darkness of the incapacitating seduction ease the slightest bit.
"My name," I said, drawing back up straight, "is Margaret. Katherine. Amanda. Carpenter." I pronounced each word slowly. "You killed my doggy." I drew in a breath. "Now prepare to die!" I put the tounge roll into pronouncing 'prepare', then politely spat; giving the appropriate nod where nods are due.
The weight of her influence rolled off me like the stone from Jesus' tomb. She looked aghast in disbelief. Wizards, you see, simply don't go around giving their full names. People can do horrible things to a practitioner if they have your name, pronounced from your own lips. They can flat out control you. It was risky, but it had the desired effect.
I'm sure she was about to cackle something along the lines of "Haha! You little fool, your mine!" But during the last few minutes, I had stubbed my pinki toe, gotten my entire body plastered with vampire brain-goo, and I had to pee again. In short, I wasn't in the mood.
I drew in my will and shoved all my anger, all my pain, all my loss into the drumstick I held leveled at her head. I screamed something incoherent, and released it all with the white-hot image of my righteous rage. The stickers went up in a puff and a single thread of blue flame screamed out at the lousy whore. My aim was poor, falling to the right and a little bellow my target, which was her dammed neck. Almost as good though, the flame hit her right at the armpit and I jerked the rod to the right before releasing the spell in exhaustion. I sank down into the floor. The effect was impressive. I managed to cleanly remove her left arm at the shoulder. Streams of blood squirted and dripped out of arteries that were too large to have been seared closed by the heat. Damn, I thought, if Harry could see me now.
But the witch wasn't done. She screamed and flailed her remaining arm about. She fell to her knees and searched the ground frantically in blind hysteria, at last picking up her arm. She tried desperately to put it back on, then finally flung it at me. I put up my own to deflect it.
She stared marching towards me, eyes glazed over, then stopped shaking in rage. She reached down and tore off her robe. What was left of her body was simply gorgeous. I couldn't believe the contrast to the hideous disfigured face. I felt the tingles and shudders surge through my aching body again.
She came back at me again, stooped down and pulled me up level with her face, squeezing hard around around my neck. "Look what you've done! Look what you've ruined!" she shouted.
"It could have been… different. But now you will pay," she promised. Ugly dropped me on the ground then, turning back to the circle and Mouse. She started shuffling her feet on the ground and mumbling hysterical nonsense on her way there.
I could feel the energy gathering around her. I watched the whole spectacle in an exhausted daze. I said something obscene while she chanted more gibberish. I tried to pull myself off the ground and found Butters already there, trying to help me up. My head was spinning with fatigue and couldn't keep up with the pace around me.
I heard the chaotic mumbling reach a crescendo, and looked up to see Ugly one last time as she threw out her arm towards me.
A wall of flame, much like the wall of lights I had used earlier, appeared and began flying at us. Butters was dragging me away, limping as quickly as he could, but I could tell we didn't stand a chance. The wall of flames was maybe sixty feet away. The door was farther. The flames were coming faster than we were going.
It didn't take a physics professor to do the math. We were about to die.
I glanced up at the man dragging me. His hawkish nose and somewhat beady eyes were set in determination. "Go," I said.
He didn't pause or stop pulling. "If I left," He panted, "I'd have to come back to get your remains." He heaved and tried to double his pace. "There's no way I could come twice in the same place, on the same night. I need variety. Now stop that fire!"
Like I said. Funny guy.
I looked back at the fire. A dozen feet away. I could feel its warmth on my toes. It actually felt good. What the fuck, here goes nothing, I thought. I pulled in everything I could muster, and I did it quick. Even fully charged, my ability to manipulate wind was only better than my force magic by a few degrees. Whatever. Maybe I could buy us a few seconds to get out the door.
I let it all go screaming "Kamikaze!" at the top of my lungs, and watched as a gentle breeze slightly disturbed the tattered hem of my skirt in front of me.
Figures. Shit.
Without warning, all eight doors of the warehouse exploded inward.
Gusts of wind swirled around and surrounded the fire, stopping it in its place, then drawing it into a single cylinder of heat.
I blinked. I was pretty sure I didn't do that.
Butters came to a halt and swore something about polka, in surprise. "Wow…" he said after a beat, and looked down at me.
I watched as the fire swirled and writhed with rage, surrounded by a miniature cyclone of air. The funnel of flames moved at once, twice as fast as it had come, and right back at it's summoner, engulfing her entirely.
I already knew how well vampires burned.
Through the flames, we could see her thrash and writhe. "No!" she screamed in agony, while apparently trying to remember how to stop drop and roll. "I didn't call power from You!"
"But Here I Am!" The howling wind replied, then it blew over me and disappeared with a whisper.
It could have been my imagination. Sure, what with all the excitement sending it wild. But I swear the wind said that. Even though Butters didn't hear a thing.
I was left with a sense of peace and the fresh scent of spring. I had probably tipped over the edge, embracing crazy like a long lost friend.
