Chapter Thirty-Six: Skies Rain Fire.
Daisy hardly could have guessed how her life would have changed over the past few months. She took a job to keep an eye on a high profile assistant for her boss. Yet, the job snowballed into something else and there was never a dull moment. Daisy had no idea how it happened, other than the fact it happened. Harry really did have that uncanny ability to ensure her life would be more than eventful, she would say that much.
The dark haired meta-human made her way to the office, arms swinging off to the side. She stopped and paused before knocking. Experience had finally taught her the value of knocking before she entered a room in the Horizon complex. Harry could have been busy. Not she minded the show, but sometimes, it was for the best not to get distracted and also to get down to business.
Well, at least make the attempt to do so. Distractions happened, and Daisy hoped she could keep everything on a level head.
"Come in, it's unlocked."
Daisy pushed the door open and smiled. Harry was sitting behind his desk. Off to the guest suite to the side of the office, Daisy caught a glimpse of Lara Croft sleeping peacefully in the bed. She pretty much could piece together what happened and had to laugh.
"Sorry, I didn't want to get distracted," Daisy said.
"Well, you know you could have taken a peak on everything though the bond link to make sure there were no accidental distractions occurring," Harry informed her.
Daisy sat down in front of Harry and folded her arms when peering at the powerful young man.
"You do remember how interactive the bond link can get, don't you?" Daisy asked. "I really didn't want to get pulled in any more than I would have to. And besides, it's just easier to knock."
Harry surveyed his personal assistant with a smile.
"Do what makes you feel the most comfortable," Harry said. "So, I take it you're back from your trip. What do you have to tell me?"
"Nothing tangible just yet," Daisy said. "Please tell me you found out something like your end?"
Harry really wished there was more to tell that he did. The unfortunate conclusion was until Blood utilized the Stone, they were running around in circles. The small usage against the Order only briefly scrapped the surface of what Blood could do.
"Nyssa, Talia, and Sara uncovered one of the Order outposts and they discovered solid gold statues of the Order members," Harry said. "Compliments of Brother Blood and his new toy."
Daisy responded with a sigh. She figured about as much. Blood wouldn't waste any time trying to figure out how to get the Philosopher's Stone working. She wanted to throw her hands back and groan in frustration. Something held her back from taking this particular plunge, though.
"And he was gone by the time the showed up?" Daisy asked.
"How did you ever guess?" Harry asked.
"He's managed to put himself a couple of steps ahead of you so far," Daisy said.
'He's going to get arrogant, the longer he uses that Stone,' Buffy thought. 'Just call it a hunch from experience…but we have to catch him before there are any problems.'
"Whenever he uses the Philosopher's Stone, he won't be too far ahead," Harry said. He noticed Daisy looking at him strangely, so he decided it would be best to elaborate his points. "The Stone can be used in conjunction with several highly powerful and extremely unstable magical rituals. He slips the Stone into anything, and who knows what could happen."
Harry considered the infinite amount of possibilities of an untamed Philosopher's Stone coupled with rituals. Harry guessed hell on Earth would not be an accurate description.
"I think I have a pretty good idea it won't be for anything good, or wonderful in the world," Daisy answered. She shifted back an inch on the chair and turned her neck. "I finally have some good news, though, if you would like to hear it?"
After a constant barrage of bad news, just assaulting Harry from every last direction, the good news would be welcomed to open arms. He was slowly piecing together a way to counteract the Stone, although destroying it was another matter entirely. Harry was not entirely sure the Stone could have even been destroyed if push had come to shove.
"Trust me, I'm all ears," Harry said. "What do you have for me?"
After everything, Daisy felt jubilation at finally being able to deliver some good news to Harry. Boy was that ever a change?
"My boss finally has agreed to a meeting with you," Daisy said. "The end of the week…..I have all of the information for you that you're need right here."
Daisy placed the device in Harry's hand. Harry touched it and opened it up. The device responded to his touch and had details of the meeting place and the time. He smiled when looking over the information and then slipped it into a secured drawer in his desk.
"Finally," Harry said.
"If it makes you feel any better, she wanted this meeting about as long as you did," Daisy said. She looked towards him with a smile. "Don't know why she waited, though. Guess she's about as busy as you are."
Harry figured there was much more than just being busy. Until meeting with Daisy's boss, Harry only could guess.
"Yes, although I'm going to have to ask her why it took her so long," Harry said. "Don't worry, I know you don't know. There are only circumstances which she knows about."
The dreaded circumstances, Daisy knew how they could pop up at the worst possible times, in the absolutely vaguest way possible. She watched Harry rise to his feet and turn around. He slipped his coat on.
"I have someone I want to reconnect with," Harry said. "Feel free to join me."
The door opened as Bobbi stepped in. She looked towards Harry and Daisy who were both in the office with each other. Bobbi opened her mouth. Harry cut his bodyguard off with a smile.
"If the car is ready, then so am I," Harry said.
"How often are you reconnecting with someone anyway?" Daisy asked.
A smile popped over Harry's face, now Daisy mentioned it, he had those meetings where he reconnected with someone very often.
"Very often," Harry answered. He paused to receive the usual laughter from the peanut gallery. "So, are you coming?"
Daisy grabbed her case and rose up to her feet. She and Bobbi followed Harry out the door, allowing him to lead the way. Exactly to what adventure, they did not have the slightest idea whatsoever, but knowing Harry, whoever was meeting him would likely be another person of interest.
A couple of military officers paced back and forth across from an empty field. The field led to a fence which led to a rather populated area. Billboards erected as far as the eye could see. One of the soldiers raised a hand to the top of his face and wiped a bead of sweat across from it.
It would have been interesting if they had been out here for a purpose. Nothing interesting dropped down from the field, for a very long time at least. One of the younger soldiers started to get agitated at with the lack of action.
"Nothing happens out here, this must be the most boring assignment in the entire world," the soldier said. He shifted his shoulders backward and looked on with one of the more obvious groans possible.
"It's just a training excise," the older soldier said. "You're just going to have to learn how to get with it, and get it over with."
"Yeah, well if everyone else was in position, then we could get on with it."
The older soldier frowned and shook his head. That was the problem with the youth of the world these days. They always were so gung-ho about wanting to do things in the now. They didn't want to just wait, let everything roll out.
A loud thunderclap resounded across their heads. The black clouds were beginning to roll in slightly. The younger soldier looked towards the sky.
"Hell of a storm about ready to roll in," he murmured.
The older soldier looked towards the sky only with the mildest of curious looks. He had been through a lot of shit to be too rattled by a little storm. Said storm continued to roll over the skies above them, and he just shrugged.
"A little rain won't hurt you," the older soldier said. "And here come the rest, so we can finally get this show on the r…"
The words of the older soldier trailed off into infinity when he gazed up into the sky. Another crackle of lightning shot across the sky. The older soldier could have dropped to the ground in complete and utter shock thanks to everything he saw. His mouth opened and shut numerous times when he tried to get it out.
Something shifted in the sky. In between the sky, a swirling red light flashed in the sky. The other troops made their way down to the ground. The sky continued to glow around them. They followed the progress of the glowing sky, slack-jawed and utterly confused. They did not know what to make of what they were seeing. None of them did not even want to speculate, but the words had been lost.
"What the hell?"
A large orange ball erupted from the sky and shot down to the ground. The ball scorched the ground and caused a large hole to burn into the desert. A couple of the more adventurous soldiers ambled forward. Curiosity at what just landed.
"Careful, it could be another UFO," the older soldier said.
"Come on, aliens don't exist," the younger soldier said. "It's just manufactured hysteria like the moon landing"
The older soldier bared on the younger soldier like a particularly demented bulldog.
"You shut your mouth boy," the older soldier said. "I've seen them...I saw what happened in Smallville when those meteors ran down."
The energy both warmed and caused the soldiers shivers. They approached the large hole in the ground. The smoke began to settle around them.
An unremarkable looking man with dark hair and cold lifeless black eyes pulled himself out of the ground. Several black scars adorned his body, but for someone who had dropped out of the heavens in a path of fire, he looked unremarkable enough. He staggered to a standing position and turned from one side to the other, and then turned directly towards the soldiers, a sneer fitting over his face.
"Alright, just stay calm," one of the soldiers said.
The man pulled himself out of the hole and walked forward. He pushed through a metal fence and ripped it completely in half before continuing the long walk across the city.
The soldiers scrambled after him. The man didn't look like he was about to attack, at least not yet. They wondered what he had up his sleeve.
"Hands up and drop to your knees!" the younger man yelled.
The words came out, but they did not register in the mind of the man. The man just kept walking.
"This is your last warning!"
Once again, the mysterious man kept walking off without a single word.
"It's like dealing with the border all over again, not a word of English," one of the men murmured.
The man stopped and stared. The face of Harry Potter lingered at a billboard in front of him. He raised his hand in the air and shot a ball of flames from the palm of it. The flames struck the billboard and engulfed it in flames in one simple movement.
"The hell are we dealing with?" one of the military men asked.
His footprints scorched the ground and he turned to face the members of the military. They all raised their guns and fired at him. It was enough bullets to bring down a small army.
The bullets had absolutely no effect at all. The magic in the air incinerated them before striking the man in question. The flames got hotter and rose the temperature the point where the troops staggered and slumped over. A couple collapsed in the desert from a bout of heat exhaustion.
"I'M COMING FOR YOU HARRY POTTER!"
The figure flickered into shadows and vanished. The senior officer gasped when reaching over. Severe heat exhaustion at his age was not good. Despite being in good shape for a man of advanced age, the veteran felt like he was going to have a heart attack.
"I need the DEO," he breathed, wheezing.
The man struggled to get into his satchel and produce a water bottle. The moment he pulled it out, he found all of the moisture inside had been evaporated despite never once dripping a drop of water.
Harry, Bobbi, and Daisy arrived at the airport with pretty much no time to spare. The moment Daisy caught onto what is happening, several questions entered her mind. She launched onto what she perceived to be the most obvious of all of the questions.
""You're meeting them at an airport?" Daisy asked. "Okay, I didn't want to say anything, but it just seems very odd."
Harry just smiled in response and put a hand on Daisy's shoulder to assure her.
"That's what they wanted to do," Harry said. "And it's the last place anyone expects a succubus to be to be fair."
"He does have a point," Bobbi said.
Bobbi took the surroundings into clear view. The moment she had an opening which she could strike, she would have to take it. The plane landed down and she saw an attractive dark haired woman coming down the plane. She smiled at Bobbi and Daisy before she turned her attention towards Harry.
"It's good to see you again," the woman said.
"Bo, this is Daisy Johnson and Bobbi Morse, they are two women who are under my employ," Harry answered. "Daisy and Bobbi, this is Bo Dennis….."
"The succubus you met in the bar, and you fucked for several hours," Daisy said without any tact. "It's a pleasure to meet you….guess you got more than you can bargained for with Harry."
"I'm not complaining," Bo said. She leaned towards Harry and kissed him in response. She tingled when touching lip to lip against him. "No woman would dare complain what Harry had to offer."
Another woman descended from the plan. The attractive and very leggy blonde sauntered towards them. She gave Daisy and Bobbi the most curious looks. Her eyes fell onto Harry like he was an ice cream cone that she just had to lick up.
"So this is your friend?" Harry asked.
"Yes, Tamsin, this is Harry and Harry, this is Tamsin," Bo said.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, especially after Bo just wouldn't stop raving about you," Tamsin said.
Harry offered a handshake, but she swooped down and caught him with a kiss on the lips. It was almost like she was testing something, working her tongue into his mouth. Harry was surprised, but just rolled with it and the kiss wasn't too bad. He gripped her lower back to continue the kiss.
The moment it ended, Tamsin pulled away. She looked smiled and satisfied.
"He's the one," Tamsin said. "I thought it was so when you told me about him, but now after testing, he's the one."
"What would have happened if he wasn't the one?" Daisy asked.
"He would have woken up with a slight headache," Tamsin said without missing a beat.
"That's really charming," Daisy said.
"Maybe we should continue this conversation elsewhere," Harry answered.
He was rather curious, but despite an airport being a meeting place which was very acceptable, he didn't think it was an acceptable place to conduct conversations about the world-changing matters. Too many ears were around which could blurt out information. He raised his hands and tried to teleport them off, but a loud alarm blared in his ears.
"Something is wrong," Tamsin said. "The barriers have been breached."
Harry's eyes screwed shut and just then, the magic-blasted around. It was pretty close, whatever it was. He took a moment to just take it all in. The phone rang and Harry wasted absolutely no time.
"Harry, there's a slight problem," Lucy said.
"It wouldn't have anything to do with the dangerous magical creature heading my way," Harry said.
"Well, I don't really want to know how you know, but he did toast a billboard with your face on it and did scream your name, that he was coming for you," Lucy said. "So, I think we can draw the obvious conclusion he has it out for you."
Lucy sighed.
"What did you do this time?" Lucy asked.
"Anything, knowing my luck," Harry said.
Harry took a moment to consider his options and had a pretty clear idea. If this magical creature was brought here by Blood, things could get very dangerous in a hurry.
"Stay here," Harry told Daisy and Bobbi. "I have no problem with your capabilities, but we're dealing with something that is far more dangerous and unstable than even your training could handle."
Harry, Bo, and Tamsin disappeared into a flash. They all dropped down into the middle of a field which had symbols scorched into it. Tamsin frowned and kneeled down in the middle of the field.
"A fire wraith is the only hideous creature which can be responsible for this," she said and turned towards Harry. "They detest wand wavers, even those who have tossed away their wands."
"Figures about as much," Harry answered. "Let's go find it, and I'll fill you two in on the charming gentlemen who likely opened his realm, and what he's stolen."
"Oh, I can hardly wait," Bo said.
The fire wraith's body alternated between blasts of cold and blasts of heat. He took a moment to drop to his knees and mutter about something.
"No, I have to go home," he breathed. "This place is just wrong, it's all wrong, it's tearing me apart…you can't do this to me. I'll destroy you!"
"Destroy me, and you'll lose the only person who can send you home," Brother Blood said in his usual silky voice. "Your type was exiled by wand wavers, remember that. Harry Potter is the last of a dying breed. Make sure he's extinct, and you will be free."
The fire wraith did not know whether or not he was lying. All he knew was he had no choice other than to engage this man.
Speaking of which, Harry Potter stood from across him, a frown on his face.
"So, you're the one who has been calling me out," Harry said. "Well, I'm here, and I'm not too hard to find."
The fire wraith extended his arms and shot blasts of fire at Harry. Harry answered those blasts by lifting his hands to block the fire blasts and fire back with an attack of his own. The energy rippled through the air. The fire wraith blocked the energy even though it caused him to tilt back.
Harry raised his arm and blue energy spiraled from it. The number one threat to the stability of any fire wraith, coldness appeared. Harry drew pretty much all of the warmth from the air and thus it prevented the fire wraith from performing any attacks.
The fire wraith faded into shadows and the air around Harry warmed up once again. The fire wraith dropped down and started to continue the attacks anew. Harry crouched down to shield himself from the oncoming barrage of fire which rattled him. He returned fire and repeated the ritual anew.
The enemy performed the same trick he did previously. This gave Harry more than enough cause to believe all he needed to do was disrupt his teleportation abilities.
'Any ideas?' Harry asked.
'Well, Tamsin thinks if you lock onto the portal he has been sent into, and reverse it, he will be drawn out,' Bo thought. 'Providing, of course, it hasn't closed already.'
'Yes, well, I'm pretty sure it hasn't.'
Harry worked on disrupting the fire wraith's abilities to keep fading in and out, all while repeating the ritual of removing as much of the heat into the air. He had almost dropped the temperature in the general area to almost Arctic levels.
It drained him to do this time and time again, and he might not have it in him to do this had it not been for the intense marathon session of sex he had with Lara earlier. He watched when the wraith dropped down to the ground behind him.
"What did you do?" the wraith asked. "No, I'll destroy you."
The attempts to summon fire only caused the inside of his body to turn into ice. The raw magic in the air caused Harry to face off against an ice wraith. The wraith charged him and tried to nail him with a vicious attack.
Tamsin dropped down and stabbed the wraith in the chest with something.
"Now!" she yelled.
Harry snapped his wrist.
"You might stop me, but dark forces are coming, this world will be theirs for the taking!" the fire wraith yelled.
Harry shot the fire wraith directly back through the portal. He snapped back like a rubber band. Harry caught a flash of some kind of realm on the other side.
He staggered. Tamsin gripped his wrist gently and held him up, with Bo walking towards him on the other side. She planted a moist kiss on his lips and energy flowed back into Harry.
"Sorry, for the disruption," Harry said. "But, I'm afraid it's not over."
"Well, we're not leaving until it is," Tamsin said.
'Or, until I get a piece of you,' she thought hungrily.
Brother Blood ascended to a pedestal and looked down at the group of followers which assembled. They were less than abundant after pulling the same trick in the temple. Several more made their way inside.
The cult leader wiped a trickle of blood away from his nose. The usage of the Stone caused him fatigue, but he was able to press on, through sheer determination. Blood would not rest until Harry Potter was broken at his feet.
"My brothers, lend me a moment of your time," Brother Blood said. "At one time, we sought to eliminate the Fae, but I think this was foolish and short sighted. They are a force which we can use to help purge the elements which prevent our purification. And one of those elements is Harry Potter."
Everyone grumbled at that particular name being brought up. Blood allowed them to have their moment before he pressed on.
"They will be dealt with, and one the deal is made, we can move on," Blood said. "I have to thank this little object for giving me the ability to focus and tap upon other Realms. And now it's time for us to make use of one of the gifts of the Philosopher's Stone."
A table rose up and several glass goblets rose from a table around them.
"The Elixir of Life is good for one year of eternal life, no matter what, you will regenerate and you will survive," Brother Blood said. "Those who are worthy anyway will receive those gifts anyway. Those who aren't, the Elixir acts as a poison. It will grant you a short, but extremely agonizing death."
Blood lifted his head with a smile. Those who were still unworthy would be purged. Those who refused to drink would lack faith, and thus Brother Blood would eliminate them.
Blood turned around and noticed a figure standing in the shadows. The glowing eyes on the other end and the pointed ears caused Blood to smile.
"So, have you given our deal consideration, my friend?"
"Yes, I'm ready to make a deal."
To Be Continued on February 2nd, 2017.
Well, it was only a matter of time before trouble started to brew, with Blood getting his hand on the Stone. There are more dangerous threats coming. Meanwhile, more from the Lost Girl corner of the story comes in.
Poor Harry having to pay for the sins of his people. Then again, they were kind of assholes to a lot of magical creatures. Not that the magical creatures were much better in some cases, but an eye for an eye, is how we got Nick Fury. Or something.
Blood was playing with some dangerous fire. It would be great karma if he ends up getting burned, but will he? Stay tuned.
Back on Thursday.