Chapter 19

I stretched my mouth in a yawn, driving in the large white van loaned to me. Upon my questioning of the large, white van, I was informed Avellino kept it for his staff when they needed to complete errands. Something told me it wasn't just to transport groceries from the local supermarket. Regardless, Paulina instructed me to meet in some neighborhood near the heart of Chicago, and I refused to carpool with Ronkins or take public transportation. That left me traveling in the 'stranger danger' van.

"You falling asleep on me Decter?" Came Garrison's voice.

I put my hand to my ear and said through another yawn, "Not yet sir." Between the late-night lesson with Mr. Fletcher and the early rise to meet Paulina, I didn't get much sleep. Even now as I crossed a bridge leading over the Chicago river, I continued to fight and will away my drowsiness.

I contacted Garrison through the earpiece after Mr. Fletcher ended his lesson and Mrs. Darwight mended my arm. I told him about my conversation with my new partner-slash-magical-parole-officer, leaving my experiences with Mr. Fletcher for a psychiatric session if I ever had one.

"Well stay sharp soldier. I've been digging into those bodies we believe were killed by the Stone twins, and it turns out they're military personnel."

That seemed pretty relevant to our current mission, "Why are we hearing about this now?" I asked.

"Because they were part of a secret weapons project, and I only got answers when I told them about a possible connection to an Icarus project," Garrison explained. "But that doesn't matter. What does matter is that they were a part of this project and the Icarus project involves the development of certain advanced combat drones."

"Well the wizards did say Degrada was after 'airplane bombs'," I muttered, "I guess those are fairly synonymous for their standards."

"Stay on topic Decter. The Icarus project involved using facial recognition software and satellites to send target information to these drones, so they can strike anywhere and anyone in the world when launched." He paused before continuing, "If the Red Court gets their hands on them, they could target any high-ranking White Council official and level the building they're in as well as the surrounding city block. With their lack of knowledge of pure mortal technology, they'd never see it coming."

I slapped my hand back to my ear, "Hold on there sir," I interjected, "You said 'drones', as in plural. How many of these things are we dealing with?"

"I wasn't given the exact number of drones produced, but from what I gathered on funding and number of personnel I imagine more than enough to do the job," Garrison answered grimly, "and there are bigger problems. Reports of cloaking technology suggest these drones could bypass missile detection systems, increasing its effectiveness. If used, the manufacturing could be linked back to the United States," he paused, "and they'd likely see it as an act of war. Not counting the lives that would be lost in a foreign engagement, I suspect the Red Court would use the chaos as a smokescreen to strike more boldly and possibly wipe out the White Council and any civilians in the area."

It was my turn to hear him sigh, "I can't stress how important it is that we stop Degrada here Caleb. From what we've pieced together, Degrada is close to obtaining the drones. The intel we recovered suggests Degrada knows where they're being kept."

That's concerning, "Shouldn't we be going there then if it's an obvious target?"

"Unfortunately the data we recovered didn't reveal the location of the base," he responded. "What it did reveal, was that there are a few security checks in place to protect the drones from being launched, three keys as well as the verification of the three heads of the project. If we can save just one of these three and their keys, it may be enough to prevent Degrada from taking control of the drones."

"Ok," I said, not satisfied, "but shouldn't the US government at least move the drones, or change the passcodes or something?"

Garrison's voice turned sour, "I've reached out to a few contacts with connections to this project. They've assured me they're quite secure, and it's not even certain Degrada knows their location." He took a breath, "One more thing. The wizards we rescued are gone."

"Already? I thought they were all unconscious."

"All except the one with the broken leg. I guess he didn't trust us much because he opened some sort of portal and dragged himself and the two others through."

"Great," I muttered.

"Be sure to keep me posted of any developments Decter," Garrison ordered, "I'll check back with you in an hour."

"Before you go Garrison," I started.

"Yeah?"

"Maybe ask Bernice to make a hands-free version of these things," I suggested. "It's a little awkward while driving."

"Will do," Garrison answered. "Just finish your breakfast." I glanced down at the granola bar I held as his voice went out. I only managed to have a few bites of breakfast this morning before rushing out the door, and this was one of them. Even so, I should probably finish up before I met with Paulina. Running when full never turns out good.

"Sure thing sir," I answered. I couldn't tell if he was serious about the hands-free communicator. The earpiece went dead, and I focused on driving. I took one more bite from the granola bar and shoved it into my pocket. I eventually found the address and pulled into an empty parking lot with a few trees planted along its borders. I leaned my head back and closed my eyes, thinking of Mr. Fletcher's words.

What was I doing?

I opened them again and took a sip of my black tea out of its to-go cup. It scalded my mouth, but I drank it anyway. The better to wake me up I supposed. I shoved the granola bar into my jacket pocket, grabbed a rubber mask off the passenger seat, and opened the car door. I extended my senses as I stepped out, still sipping my tea. After locating the corner Paulina hid in, I walked over. "Is it a habit of all wizards to hide at their own meetings or just you?" I called to the seemingly empty space. Her annoyance brought a smile to my lips, and a faint shimmer preluded Paulina's release of energy powering her spell.

The young Warden's form materialized, "You're not the one with vampires hunting your every step," she retorted.

"Give it a week, then we can talk," I responded, taking a sip of tea.

She nodded at me, "What's that for?"

"It's to wash out my morning breath," I explained. I gave the cup a small shake, "You're British, aren't you? Want some? Black tea, nothing added?"

Her facial expression made it worth it, "No thanks," she said shortly, "I already had my coffee like a normal 'British' person." She cut me off before I could comment, "Incorrect stereotypes aside, I wasn't talking about your tea."

"Oh," I held up the rubber mask, "Your worst nightmare," I growled sinisterly, showing off the Shrek mask. It was of very poor quality. The smiling green face stretched back eerily, making it look more like some freakish green clown, complete with little ears that poked out the sides.

"Good lord," she balked, "Why on earth would you bring that? It looks like an amateur artist mixed the faces of a jabberwocky with the Cheshire cat."

"To contain all of this," I made a vague motion towards my unwashed face complete with bedhead, and took another sip of tea. I didn't lie. I hoped the mask would help protect my identity from the vampires.

Paulina didn't appreciate the remark, but appeared to understand the reasoning, "Well it's revolting," she remarked. She peered closer at my hands, "and those?"

"Geeze you're the wizard," I said dryly, "you tell me." I showed off my gloved left hand and took another draw from my cup. The design similar to what Bernice made, cracked black leather covered with glyphs of a foreign script wrapped my hand in a glove. A crystal in the center of my palm emitted a dark orange glow. My right hand wore the other glove. "Just something my butler gave me this morning."

She raised an eyebrow.

"Well I think he's my butler," I thought aloud, "he didn't make my bed yesterday, so I'm not sure."

Paulina pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes. I could tell she seriously debated whether inviting me was a mistake. "How inconsiderate of him. You sure bear quite the burden."

I sighed, ready to get this over with, "They're my foci," I explained. "Same as the ones you have."

When I mentioned foci, Paulina's train of thought quickly ran to the silver bracelet she wore around her wrist, and a wand she kept hid up the sleeve of her cloak. Likely the foci she carried. Noted.

She considered it before nodding her head, "Fair enough," she acknowledged, "Although I hoped we wouldn't need such tools quite yet," she took a breath, "there's been a development…"

I covered my mouth as I began to yawn.

"We've received word from a few of our own yesterday evening after they were rescued from one of Degrada's bases."

I struggled to not give away I choked on air.

"There's a separate party here, but since they seem keen on helping us, and time is running short, we're going to focus on the information my fellow wizards were able to recover." She then explained information very similar to what Garrison told me on my way over, I would note that she kept it vague when referring to the drones.

"Degrada captured one of these keepers the night you and your adoptive father were attacked," she said grimly before looking away, "I…I tried to save him, but I wasn't able to make it in time." Her voice came out stronger, "One of the wizards rescued recently stole a few hairs of another one of these keepers by the name of Jerrold Smith before his capture by the Red Court. I've been able to use some of the hair to track him here, but I decided to wait for you before continuing." She made eye contact and tried to place additional importance in her words, "I understand I am placing you in a dangerous situation, and you might not want to be a part of this, but you are serving the greater good. Are you ready?"

Like I had a choice, "Yeah sure," I told her, "lead the way."

She nodded and took out a piece of chalk from her pocket. She explained as she drew a circle on the pavement around her, "It's going to take a minute for me to cast my divination spell, but once I do, we won't have much time. The length of the spell is determined by what fuels it, and this hair is fairly short."

"Okee dokee," I responded. Although I sounded nonchalant, I kept a close eye on how she conducted her magic.

Paulina took out a plastic dime bag holding a single strand of straw-like hair about an inch and a half long. She carefully plucked it out with her right middle finger and thumb and placed it onto her left palm. After slipping the bag into her cloak, she waved her right hand around the hair, muttering in a language I didn't understand.

Her voice raised to a gentle crescendo, then silence. She pinched the edge of the hair with her middle finger and thumb again before stepping out of the circle. I heard a small snap from the release of energy, and the hair abruptly twisted and turned before pointing perpendicular to Paulina's outstretched hand.

"This way," she instructed before walking in the direction the hair pointed. "We have about five minutes."

Rather than waste time with a quick comment, I put my tea back in the van and jogged to catch up with the young Warden. Paulina walked with a grim determination. We passed several automotive repair shops on our way until our path led us onto a property with a maze of pylons holding long wires. A fence and trees lined the perimeter, and Paulina quickly climbed over a fence (While still holding the hair in one hand I might add) with a sign reading WARNING HIGH VOLTAGE – NO TRESSPASSING.

I pulled the mask over my head and scrambled up after her. The mask cut off my periphery, but I figured it worth it if it kept my identity from the vampires. I'd just need to rely more on my psychosenses.

The main building we approached stood forlornly, multistoried, and the color of bricks. Its windows were all boarded despite the fresh paint. I figured Paulina's spell told her the direct line to the 'keeper', as she called him, because she led us towards the corner of the building, causing her head to swivel back and forth before choosing a direction to walk in. The entire time I extended out my sense to try and search the building.

After finding a single door, Paulina stopped, "We're here," she stated, inspecting our potential entrance. She abruptly threw her hand as if something bit her, "Bloody hell that's hot," she swore. The hair didn't make it to the ground, instead turning into a wisp of smoke.

I slowed my pace and continued extending my senses, registering several individuals. Several minds dotted the interior with an impatient boredom. Further detection alerted me of their confidence.

They expected company.

Paulina drew her wand and looked over the door once more, "Paulina wait!" I hissed, my voice muffled by the mask. She paused and glanced over as I caught up, "We're not alone here," I warned.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean there are people inside there waiting for us," I explained slowly, "Please don't go blowing open that door."

She froze with her wand, "Can you identify where Mr. Smith is?"

I shook my head, "I can't tell. I've never met him before, and it's difficult to identify a single person in the midst of a group anyway."

She lowered her arm, "Well," she began calmly, "we know he has to be in this building because my spell led us here, but if the Red Court captured him, they may be using him as bait." Her face became resolute, "That doesn't change the fact that we are tasked with saving this man." She raised her arm and resumed her movement, giving a small cry.

I winced as I waited for the echoing boom and a falling metal door. When I heard nothing, I opened one eye to see it the outermost edge only lightly scraping the ground. Paulina swung the door until it was open in its entirety before whispering, "Come here," I did as she explained, "I'm going to put a veil around us. Stay close so you stay within the spell's radius. Also, once we go in, do not speak. Otherwise we will surely alert them. Understand?"

I nodded. Paulina glanced back at my Shrek mask and shook her head, concentrating.

I felt a small tingle as Paulina's spell enveloped us both. My perception of the world changed as if I wore light sunglasses. Everything grew darker and colors of my surroundings drained away. My perception of Paulina didn't change, but the spell left everything else in varying shades of grey.

We entered a room mostly bare. A couple plain cabinets ran the perimeter of the square room. We kept our pace painfully slow, trying to reduce the sound of our footsteps on the hard floor. We continued through into an adjacent room filled with a large metal contraption. About twenty meters wide, fifty long, and ten tall, I had no clue as to its purpose. Various pipes with diameters as large as my chest and similar sized tubes stuck out of it with a few panels of unlit lights.

We walked alongside it, and sooner than I'd have liked, left the small stream of light that followed us in. Again, seemed pretty silly walking into darkness while monsters of the dark waited for us, but hey, why change it now? I hoped Paulina formed a plan because she didn't slow down. I gulped down my fears and took slow, quiet breaths to calm my pounding heart.

I began perceiving more about the figures waiting for us as we approached the door. I grabbed Paulina's shoulder to stop her and signaled for her to wait. She frowned, but I didn't care if she grew impatient. I closed my eyes and concentrated, counting the number of individuals. I came up with ten. I held up ten fingers and nodded towards the room, hoping she would decide to look for another way in, but she just nodded and continued towards the door.

I began reaching out a hand to stop her again, but a cry of pain pierced the silence accompanied by a spike of fear from an individual I hadn't noticed. The sound faded with the registered emotion. That never happened before.

Paulina quickened her pace and crossed the threshold. I did the same to keep myself within the radius of the spell. We entered a room about the size of a football field and maybe one hundred feet high. I could make out another metal floor thirty feet above us that only extended about four feet from the perimeter created by the walls with railings overlooking the rest of the room. The walls illuminated faintly by small amounts of sunlight that slipped through the top of the boards covering the windows. Paulina stopped abruptly, and I barely kept myself from knocking into her.

Electric lanterns scattered the floor, casting the ground in small circles of dim light. Amongst the lanterns in the middle of the room sat a lone chair with a man bound in rope and surrounded by vampires.

I sensed a vampire above us standing next to the railing. They waited impatiently to hear something. Something specific. In fact, as I stretched out my senses and concentrated on other vampires, I located two vampires on both the left and right sides with similar thoughts buzzing lazily through them. They were waiting for a signal. I continued scanning the room and ignored the two vampires at the far end because my vision stuck on the two familiar vampires flanking the tortured man on either side.

My jaw clenched in anger, but now wasn't the time to act out in anger. Instead I exhaled slowly and followed Paulina's lead as we wove our way slowly and silently to the left, giving the lanterns a wide berth. Each measured step brought us closer to Richard and Samantha Stone.

Their pale, slender bodies appeared carved from marble. Both with glossy raven black hair, Richard's had his cut short while Samantha's ran down over her shoulder blades. They both dressed in black, from their jackets to their combat shoes. I strove to ignore their unnerving hunger.

The man in the chair moaned, weakly moving his head from where it hung forward. I made out more features as we approached. Blood splotched his shock of straw blonde hair, his grimy shirt clung to him and emphasized his thin frame. Cuts and bruises covered his body. Dried blood added to whatever else had soaked into his shirt and swelling completely covered one of his eyes. I didn't register much of his pain, as if he became numb to it from his beatings. The greyscale filter of the spell emphasized the brutality.

Fear replaced anger as I swallowed. What kind of monsters were we dealing with here? A significant part of me hoped I never found out.

I scuffed my foot, snapping myself back to reality, and winced. Paulina froze in place and turned to give me an angry stare.

It wasn't even that loud, nonetheless I felt the attention of every vampire focus in our direction. Paulina's fear spiked, and two lanterns a few feet from us flickered uncertainly. Crap. "Well, well, well," Samantha began smugly, lazily circling the tortured man in a total villain cliché. "It appears the wizard has finally arrived. About time. I could go for a bite." She smiled, showing off a set of pearly-white teeth.

Mental alarms alerted me of danger. Thank you, Captain Obvious. My mind raced. If I was by myself, I could probably slip between the lanterns without causing a noticeable disturbance, but Paulina held more raw power than I did, and she was currently concentrating on a spell to boot. With our adrenaline spiking, it'd be close to impossible to move without causing a shortage somewhere.

I sensed Paulina run through similar observations. As we both hesitated, Richard took a step towards us, his arms wide, "Look," he said pragmatically, "we hear you, and we outnumber you. Even now, we are closing in. You will not make it out alive, much less with little old Mr. Smith here. As I'm sure you can see, he's not in the best condition for walking."

He brought up a good point. On top of fighting our way out, how were we supposed to manage getting this guy out of here? It was doubtful he could support himself.

On that thought, Samantha stepped to the side of Jerrold and quickly and forcefully kicked the side of his knee with the bottom of her boot. His leg bent sideways in a sickening crunch.

Jerrold howled in pain, and this time his emotions stayed elevated as his shot turned into a sob. I averted my gaze as horror washed over me.

Richard looked back at his sister and raised an eyebrow, "Just emphasizing your point brother," she said sweetly as her smile stretched farther back towards her ears.

Richard turned back towards us, "As I was saying, you cannot hide from us indefinitely," He made a point to nod towards a flickering lantern. "In fact," he began, "you might not remain hidden for another minute." He waved a hand, "Regardless, we may be able to compromise."

Richard paused, "You have been a thorn in our side for some time now wizard, give yourself up, and we will release this Mr. Smith." His eyes gleamed as he continued to speak, "You have my word."

That was interesting. Deals made in the supernatural community hold a special weight not often reciprocated in the mortal realm. Since a lot of supernatural beings live for centuries, if not millennia, things tend to remember when someone didn't keep their promise. Not only would this speak poorly for this one vampire, but the leader they represented as well. Richard would be bound to fulfill his promise.

But that didn't mean supernatural creatures weren't prone to trickery and misdirection. They would follow their word to the letter, and that's about it. If you're used to making deals, you learn to give yourself loopholes to weasel out of it, and trust me when I say I've been burned by that one before. These vampires were likely making promises with a forked tongue.

Paulina's uncertainty grew, which I quickly reacted to by shaking my head and moving my hand across my throat for the exaggerated use of the universal sign 'NO!'

I think she understood. Her eyes narrowed at me and she very slowly mouthed the words, 'Shut. Up.' She pointed at Jerrold and started to slowly circle around to the opposite side. I'd like to think I gave her a newfound confidence.

It dawned on me that she planned to grab Jerrold and include him within the radius of the spell. I looked at the flickering lanterns we passed and felt the eyes of the vampires follow. They'd track us all the way up until they sucked us dry.

I grabbed her shoulder, causing her to jump and almost lose control of the spell. She whirled on me angrily and the lantern closest to us fizzled out with a small pop.

I was already in motion, stepping past her and taking only a moment to focus my magical energy and fire it towards one of the lanterns behind Jerrold. The same magical energy known for disrupting electronics.

The lantern didn't stand a chance, and it exploded in a shower of sparks. Before the sparks faded, Samantha drew her weapon and fired five times in the empty space surrounding the area. The shots cracked within the confines of the building, causing my ears to ring. I didn't know where the bullets went, but the distorted sound of ricocheting bounced off the walls.

The room became deathly still, and Paulina momentarily forgot her resentment towards me as we both waited, eyes on the twins.

Richard sighed, "Your silence is disappointing. I would have thought a Warden would happily give their life to save an innocent. Although," a smile played on his lips, "to be fair, you are no true Warden," Paulina set her jaw, "nor is this man innocent."

I held on to Paulina and with my other hand held up a finger. I tried to keep it from shaking too much. She nodded nervously and waited, concentrating on her spell. Extending my hand once more, I hexed one of the lanterns on the opposite side of the twins, and it too make like a 4th of July firework and exploded. I counted in my head, one one-thousand, two one-thousand, three one-thousand, before hexing the lantern behind us. I counted again, and in a similar fashion, destroyed the lantern in front of us.

Another count to three, and another blasted lantern. I gently pushed Paulina forward as I did so. She wasn't happy with taking orders from me, but she complied, and we continued our painfully slow circle around towards the back of the chair. I continued to hex in a sporadic pattern, and the room darkened with each light source that winked out of existence.

The heads of the twins swiveled slightly with each lantern, "Interesting tactic," Richard mused. I sensed their surprise at the thought of a wizard concentrating on two spells, "futile, but interesting."

Samantha smoothly rolled her neck, causing audible pops. "C'mon little mouse," she crooned, "The cats want to play." She began to pace, letting out a fit of giggles that echoed throughout the room.

After one of the lanterns went out on the opposite side of the room, she pounced with vicious ferocity. He hand slammed the ground and cracked the concrete floor. She howled and swept her arm out, hitting nothing but air.

I hexed another lantern, and she pounced fifteen feet. After the third she growled. "This is getting old," she hissed with frustration.

"Patience sister, patience," Richard soothed.

Still twenty-five feet from Jerrold, we now crossed the midline and began circling around behind them. Unfortunately Richard still stood close beside him. I needed to distract him somehow and give us an opening to grab Jerrold.

I concentrated and reached out my senses into the minds of the Stone twins. I shivered as I was enveloped by their desire to kill and appease Degrada. Through their desires, I could sense a kernel of doubt. Digging past that, I noted their perception through their mind's eye and found where they focused. I pushed my own uncertainties upon them, causing them to grow more restless.

Richard's head swept the room, "Don't think we can't hear you walking."

Likewise, Samantha's head swiveled, "Reveal yourself wizard," she hissed. "Your petty veil won't do you much good."

Oh I think it will. We finally reached our point behind the twins. We crept forward a few steps and I began smelling metal. From this angle I could now see one of Jerrold's sleeves was longer than the other and drenched in blood. My adrenaline pumped, and I struggled to control my breathing.

Paulina and I looked at one another as we prepared ourselves. I held up a hand telling her to wait while I continued to concentrate on the twins. Following their line of sight, I hexed one of the remaining lanterns next to Richard. Richard howled in surprise as Samantha unloaded the rest of her clip within the area. During the chaos, I nodded at Paulina, and we both quickly stalked up to Jerrold, lifting him and the chair and pulling them both back. Paulina clapped a hand over his mouth, but even so, he let out a grunt barely audible to my own ears.

Both the Stone twins whipped towards us. Richard produced a pistol to match his sister's, and both stared at the spot that once held the prisoner. "Now, that wasn't very smart," Richard remarked condescendingly.

Samantha gave a chuckle, "Oh brother," she began in a sing-song voice, releasing an empty clip and letting it clatter to the floor as she reloaded, "I think the killing is about to begin."

I saw Paulina remove two fingers from Jerrold's mouth. They revealed crimson blood. I glanced back at the twins and watched their nostrils flare as they inhaled. Paulina and I both realized the problem with hiding now.

They could smell his blood.

Well so match for that.

I sensed her gathering energy as we moved quickly towards the side wall. We then both unceremoniously dumped Jerrold onto the floor. By the time his pitiful cry left his lips, Paulina already began waving her wand with its brown runes glowing as she shouted in a foreign language. The veil instantly disappeared, restoring a grim array of color to my vision. The ground beside us rose in a half circle around us, six and a half feet tall and two feet deep.

The twins each shot at the bunker, and, quite frankly, I was surprised we were still alive. Not surprised enough to hesitate to raise my hand against one of the two vampires behind us. Using my fear and anger to fuel the spell I snarled, "Éle!" A concentrated beam shot from my hand as the vampire drew and aimed its weapon.

My shot clipped it in the shoulder, causing its body to twist and fall as it fired. The shot went wide, and I heard a distorted ricochet as it bounced of the floor.

I jumped and cursed. We were sitting ducks here.

"Tell me you have an escape plan!" I yelled over the sounds of battle.

"Well you just threw mine down the tube!" Pauina responded angrily. She called out again and the metal floor flipped up underneath the second vampire, slamming it into and through the wall. "I planned to break down that wall over there!" she nodded to the right, "but you stopped too short. I can't concentrate on a shield at the same time!"

"Screw it then!" I shot back before launching another spell at the same vampire as he tried to recover. This time it struck him in the chest, causing their body to crunch into the wall and slump to the ground. I looked back at the wall she mentioned and the boarded windows above it. An idea came to me, "Can you hold a shield while we move?"

"Sure I can," she scoffed. Just then, two Red Court vampires in their true form leapt over our make-shift bunker. Paulina extended her arm and let out a command, causing a torrent of wind to catch them in its epicenter and send them both sprawling across the room. "What's your plan?"

"We dash over to that wall you talked about," I began, "then we take the express elevator."

"What about the vampires on the railing?"

"Yeah you need to take those guys out."

She swore something under her breath and peaked out from her cover. She waved her wand, and a twenty-foot section of the floor underneath the vampires caved underneath them. They screamed as they fell through. After they hit the ground, Paulina waved the wand again, and the metal panel that made up the floor dropped on top of them. "So what now?" she asked after the crash.

I could tell her spells were taking a toll on her as she began breathing more heavily. Even so I couldn't help but be impressed.

I wouldn't tell her that though. "Now we move." I grabbed both sides of the chair and dragged Jerrold and the chair as fast as possible towards the wall. Immediately after I stepped out from behind the stone wall, I several sparks appeared a few inches from my face. I swore in surprise, realizing those were bullets stopped by a shield Paulina conjured using her bracelet. The four remaining vampires on the railings continued firing. Bullets struck the area around us, while several more struck Paulina's shield, causing dots of varying color to appear around her. "Where's this 'express elevator?'" Paulina yelled as we stopped underneath a portion of the railing that still had its floor.

"Hold on and I'll show you!" I commanded. I gripped Jerrold's chair with one arm.

The twins, looking like red gargoyles, recovered from their initial knockback and began sprinting towards us. One split off to get ready to flank. "Come again?" Paulina asked through gritted teeth.

"Just hold on!" I repeated frantically. "I've already done this once before."

"Once? Fantastic!" She screamed sarcastically. She wrapped one arm around me, using the other to hold up the magical shield as I bellowed, "Lepsilë!" The ethereal tendril shot out and wrapped around the railing. Paulina slapped her other arm around me as we took off. I released the spell as we reached the top, causing us to continue over the railing. Paulina and I landed on our stomachs while Jerrold in his chair crashed onto his side.

For a moment, I couldn't move due to the drain of the spell, but it worked out in my favor, because a few shots punched holes into the boards covering the windows next to us. Maybe the floor wasn't such a bad place to be. "Open the window!" I gasped between breaths.

Apparently Paulina got the wind knocked out of her, because I could only hear her grunt and wave her wand from where she lay. The panel exploded outwards, letting light stream into the building. She brought up her bracelet again and stood up, looking outside. "Shit," she swore.

I pushed myself to my feet, annoyed she recovered before me and confirmed the thirty-foot drop on the outside. I then turned my attention to the old transmission tower fifty feet away.

Paulina realized my next step. "Oh no. Are you mental?"

Another series of shots rang out. I instinctively ducked, but Paulina only winced as they bounced away. "I don't know, are you?" I responded.

Paulina paused a moment, weighing her options. I saw sweat glistening on her forehead, and her chest heaved slightly as she breathed. "Fine!" She spat and used one arm to help me hoist of Jerrold and his chair, using the other to keep up the shield.

I adjusted my grip to grasp the chair as firmly as possible in my right hand. The whole time Jerrold let out a few desperate sobs. I hoped all the adrenaline would allow me to carry him, at least for a moment. "Alright," I grunted through gritted teeth, "Let's go!" I heaved with my right arm as Paulina and I stumbled towards the open window. I gathered energy and screamed "Lepsilë!" a second before my feet left the ground. The thrill, or, more accurately, the intense fear that comes from free falling was more than enough to fuel my spell.

The spell shot from my hand and we continued falling as it traveled. Paulina let out a yell as we neared the ground. I didn't see how close we were because I needed to concentrate fully on the vine of dark energy as it sped towards one of the arms of the transmission tower. My heart leapt into my throat as it overreached, and with a mere thought I had it wrapped around the metal. It quickly pulled taunt as I mentally shortened it, and I felt the weight of Jerrold and his chair on my right shoulder, and our combined weights on my left shoulder.

My left shoulder gave out with a sickening pop as my shoulder pulled forward and everything else continued downward.

I let out a scream and lost concentration of the spell. The energy dissipated, and we kept falling, but in that brief moment, our downward velocity decreased somewhat to be replaced by a forward velocity. All three of us hit the asphalt. I heard the crash of a wooden chair shattering but was too busy rolling as I bounced and separated from the others. My jacket and pants kept me from being skinned alive as I rolled. When I thought I stopped rolling, I watched the sky continue to spin. My vision tunneled, and pain pounded in my shoulder.

Paulina screamed my name. It sounded far off.

I gritted my teeth and fought against the darkness that threatened to overtake me. As my vision cleared, Paulina's face appeared. A new scrape ran down from her temple, smearing her face and catching a few stray brown hairs in a blotch of blood. Her expression seemed concerned as she ripped off the rubber mask and shook me. The morning air felt cool on my sweaty face.

The shaking caused a surge of intense pain from my shoulder, and my vision cleared. I sat up quickly and regretted my decision as a wave of nausea came over me. Paulina saw me swoon and steadied me. "Stay with me, Decter," she told me, "we need to get going."

Enough of my senses returned for me to nod an affirmation. She helped me stand up, and then we both went over to Jerrold, now unconscious but unbound from the chair. I winced inwardly at the pieces of wood scattered around. As rough as my day was, I'm sure it wasn't as close to as bad as his.

I used my right arm to help lift him up while Paulina lifted on the other side. We started making our way back to where I parked the van as the screams of rage behind us encouraged us to move faster. When we reached the fence, Paulina waved her wand, and the ground holding the posts shifted, toppling over a section for us to walk across.

My head slowly cleared with each haggard breath. Only because I knew what to look for could I still sense the vampires, "Will they be able to follow us?" I asked.

Paulina grunted as we continued, "Unlikely. An old, powerful vampire would, but I doubt such a creature would be under Degrada's control," she answered. "Regardless, I'd rather leave this place while we have the chance."

I agreed. We made it about halfway to where I parked the van before my arm grew too tired to continue. We set him down to rest for a moment. I closed my eyes and sucked my bottom lip as I sat down, gingerly holding my left shoulder as it painfully pounded in steady pulses. "We'll need to move soon," Paulina noted between breaths. "Are you almost ready?"

Suddenly I felt a spike of fear off in the distance. I opened my eyes and looked in the direction towards a collection of cargo containers. A chain link fence lined the perimeter of the property. I considered ignoring the sensation but noticed a gate rolled away, allowing me an easy entrance. I sensed a second surge of pure terror. Strangely, there was something different I couldn't identify about it. It wasn't human, or vampire, and I didn't think it was an animal. It was just different.

Paulina noticed me stand up and began lifting up Harrold.

"Not yet," I told her, "I need to check something out."

I could help but register her annoyance, "We don't have time to make detours Caleb. We need to be leaving. Now."

I gave a dismissive wave with my right hand, "It won't take long." I then added offhand, "Probably."

"Caleb," Paulina huffed, "your shoulder is dislocated."

I looked at my shoulder as if noticing it for the first time, "Well heck," I said with feigned surprise, "how about that?"

"The keeper needs medical attention." She reasoned through gritted teeth. "You won't be able to help anyone in your condition. In fact, you'll probably get yourself killed."

"Glad you care," I responded, sensing another pang of terror "but I'm going. Be right back. I started walking towards the source before calling over my shoulder, "Just cast a veil while I'm gone."

"Yes, I'll do that!" Paulina yelled angrily, "Because someone here needs to have some sense!"

I refused to be affected by her negativity and continued down the small road and through the open gate. I tried to run, but then I had to keep myself from throwing up, so I settled for a hobbling jog. As I neared, I heard a couple hungry yowls from behind one of the cargo containers and the whimpering of something else. I peaked my head around and saw two cats stalking past a spilled bowl of cat food towards a shivering ball of brown fur.

I'll give you three guesses as to which of the three gave off a sense of terror, and the first two don't count.

Honestly I didn't know what I was expecting, but I let out a sigh nonetheless, thankful this problem limited itself to a couple small, furry animals.

I stepped towards the cats who jumped a full one-eighty to face me. I waved my good arm, "C'mon you guys, no free lunch today," I scolded, "Go on. Scat!"

They quickly bolted off around some other container while I approached the huddling figure. It continued quivering. "It's all right little fella," I said as comforting as I could. I really hoped it wasn't just a large rat.

A head poked out of the ball of fluff and two large brown eyes looked up at me. Its eyes probably red from crying.

Ok. Definitely not a rat.

The poor guy sniffed its little black nose, "Are…are those scary beasts gone?" It asked warily. The high pitch of its voice reached almost comical levels.

I hesitated, not expecting it to speak, in perfect English no less. "Uh, yeah," I told it, "they're gone now. You're safe."

I took another step towards it to peer closer, and it stood up, eyes widening. Looking at it now while it stood, the figure was vaguely humanoid in shape. Brown curly fur covered its body save for its nose, eyes, ears, the palms of its hands and feet as well as a small patch around its belly button. The little half crescent ears protruded out the side of its small head. Its size was comparable to that of a Barbie doll. Wait… I think it might be a guy. Make that a Batman action figure.

As he tried to move away, the little guy let out a yelp of pain. Upon closer inspection, I noticed a rusted nail stuck in the bottom of his foot. "Hey, I can help you," I told the little creature, "just stay still."

I bent down and carefully pulled the nail out, "Yowie!" The creature screamed before jumping a half foot into the air.

After landing and inspecting his foot, the creature looked back at the spilled cat food with hunger and disdain. His stomach grumbled, causing him to grab his gut.

I remembered the leftover granola bar in my pocket. I took it out and offered it to him. "You hungry?" I asked, knowing fully well the answer. He looked at it suspiciously before inching forward and swiping it from my hand and retreating before scarfing it down. "So, what are you doing here little buddy?" I asked curiously, almost to myself.

"I was banished," the hungry fluffball answered, cheeks bulging. "Banished from my household."

I watched him finish the granola bar perplexed, "Banished? For what?"

"The Owner said I was too curious for my own good," the creature answered glumly before adding, "and naïve." He looked at the empty wrapper in his hands before asking, "Got any more food?"

I didn't find a response right away, "Uh, no sorry." I couldn't help but ask, "What exactly are you?"

He gave me a surprised look as if finding out I was incredibly stupid, "I'm a brownie of course," he told me as if that explained everything. "I used to have a lot of friends," he then looked around, "but not anymore," he finished sadly, hanging his head. His head perked back up before asking hopefully, "Do you want to be my friend?"

What is this? First grade? "Umm, sure," I told the small, mythical creature, not sensing any hostility or bad intentions from it, "What's your name?"

The brownie opened his mouth to answer, then scrunched his face, puzzled, "You wouldn't understand it," he said simply.

"Try me."

His little body then vibrated, producing a high-pitched musical note before stopping.

"Uh ok, you were right," I admitted, "I didn't understand that."

He thought for a few seconds, tapping his uninjured foot, "Well you called me buddy," he reasoned, "So that will be my name." He stuck out his hand, "And what's your name?" he asked.

My right hand completely engulfed his while I shook it, "Caleb," I told him uncertainly.

"Nice to meet you Caleb," Buddy said happily, apparently forgetting his earlier terror.

My pounding shoulder reminded me of my situation, "Look, Buddy, it was nice meeting you, but I've got to go."

"Oh," Buddy said with both gaze and voice lowering. He then grew excited again, "I can go with you!"

Oh brother, "I don't have time for this," I muttered.

"Ohh don't worry," Buddy said reassuringly, "You won't even notice me unless you ask, and besides, friends stick together!"

Good grief. I hoped I didn't accidentally pull brownie babysitting duty. My life consisted of enough to put me in the looney bin as it was.

I opened my mouth to suggest an alternative when the brownie made a small popping sound before disappearing. While we talked, I hadn't noticed his emotional imprint decrease as he grew more comfortable, and now that he disappeared, I had to strain to notice Buddy's presence. If I hadn't been looking for it, I probably wouldn't have known it was there.

I looked around, feeling a little ridiculous crouching behind some spilled cat food while trespassing. "Ok," I called out to the emptiness, "I'm leaving now." Then I did just that.

I found my way back to where Paulina hid, my shoulder making me feel nauseous while I felt other bruises forming on my body. I quickly located the Warden using my psychosenses, and she reappeared as I came closer, "What did you find?" she asked.

I shook my head, "A few cats," I told her.

"Cats?" She raised an eyebrow with the question, "You become extremely agitated and place all our lives in risk… because of cats?"

I got into position, and we lifted Jerrold of the ground with a grunt. Man I wished this guy was conscious. "Yep," I told her lightly, "Possibly unrelated topic, what do you know about brownies?"

Paulina glanced at me with a puzzled expression, "You may have hit your head harder than I thought," she muttered to herself, "Why? Are you craving pastries?"

"What?" I said before understanding her confusion. Maybe it was because my shoulder was dislocated or the high stress situation we just came from, or maybe because I just didn't like Paulina, but I struggled to keep my voice from rising, "No," I said slowly, "Not the dessert. Brownie as in a furry brown creature."

"Oh, in that case, they're very shy servants who tend to stick around homes all day." She glanced at Jerrold, "How about we talk about this after we reach the car?"

I had to agree with her on that, so we picked up the pace and hurried back to where I parked. By the time we got within sight, we both struggled to breathe from the physical exertion. I stopped abruptly when I saw a second small white car and a figure standing next to the van.

Paulina grunted with the sudden stop, "What is it," she asked sarcastically, "another cat?"

I closed my eyes and extended my senses until I recognized the figure, "No," I said surprised, "My butler." I started moving forward again.

This time Paulina didn't budge, "What?" she asked surprised, noticing the white sedan. Her voice grew worried, "Why is he here? Did you call him?"

He accusation caught me off guard, "No, why would I do that?" I did have to appreciate the timing though. I didn't want to try driving with only one good arm.

"This is not how it was supposed to go," Paulina hissed angrily.

"Oh what, so this is the part of the plan that went wrong?" I shot back, "Look. This guy needs medical attention, Paulina. Avellino can give it to him."

"Why would Avellino want to help him?" Paulina hissed, "He has no reason to!"

Crap. To her this was true. Avellino would have no reason to help this man unless he knew about Degrada. Which he did, but Paulina wasn't supposed to know that, and I needed to be better about keeping this whole 'secret deal' thing secret. Now that I thought about it, Paulina was probably the only person I'd been in contact with in the last day who didn't know I was involved. Some secret.

"I'll convince him," I told her. "If I'm able to persuade him into thinking helping is in his best interest, he'll do it."

"But then he'll be under Avellino's control," Paulina insisted, "Which brings him under the Baron's control, which is arguably worse."

I agreed with her, at least partially. Avellino wasn't going to rip anyone's throat out with his bare hands (at least not literally), but I'm sure he'd be able to work an angle to gain the favor of a very high-ranking official. Unfortunately, there wasn't much I could do to stop it.

And I truthfully didn't know if Jerrold going with Avellino was any worse than being stuck with the White Council.

"Look Paulina," I said as evenly as I could manage, "One of my arms is exhausted. The other is dislocated. Frankly I don't know how much farther I can keep carrying this guy, and I know you aren't doing too well either. This is the only way where Jerrold might be saved from his injuries, so unless you plan to carry him to some warden secret base by yourself, this is what needs to happen."

Paulina ground her teeth as she searched for a counter argument. When she failed, she gave a resentful nod, "Fine," and she dropped her half of the unconscious Jerrold. My body twisted in response to the additional weight, and I dropped him as my shoulder exploded with pain. I let out a small gasp, and Paulina spoke as she turned away. "Take and protect him. I need to look into a few things myself anyway." She made eye contact with me before saying, "Thank you for coming with me," she said sincerely.

I was a little too preoccupied with the new agonizing sensations from my shoulder to feel any heartfelt comradery. She walked away, placing a veil around herself, and left.

I called out to Ronkins twice. The first time I saw his head look over, and with the second he started towards me in a brisk walk. Physically and mentally exhausted, I couldn't move Jerrold any further, not with one arm anyway, so I just stood and waited. Ronkins looked very professional in his butler suit. I wondered if he always wore that suit outside Avellino's. I also wondered if I saw him wearing white gloves before. I didn't think so.

"Always a pleasure Mr. Decter," he spoke lightly as he approached, "Although I had hoped you would have been able to carry your friend here a little closer to the car." He then noticed my arm, "What happened?" he asked, his voice taking a sharp, serious tone.

"Vampires," I explained, "I think it's dislocated."

"Remarkable observation," Ronkins said dryly. He inspected my shoulder more closely as he came within arm's reach. Get it? Arm's reach? Sometimes I can't help myself. "Did it occur to you or your Warden friend to reset it?" he sighed.

I gritted my teeth, "Well maybe I would have if I knew how to set it."

Ronkins shook his head, "Well unless it happened within the last thirty seconds, it's probably swollen, making this harder and more painful." I felt his decisiveness over a course of action as he pointed past my left shoulder and widened his eyes, "Why, look at that remarkable bird over there," he said with feigned surprise.

I looked over by reflex, and as I did, it registered that Ronkins was lying. Ronkins slammed his hand onto my right shoulder while his other arm gripped mine, pulling and twisting.

I heard my shoulder give its second disturbing pop of that morning, and it felt just as comforting. My vision clouded and another wave of nausea came over me. I managed to keep myself from vomiting, probably for Ronkins's suit's benefit. After the initial shock followed a release of stress, and some of the pain faded. Don't get me wrong, it was still there, but the degree of agony faded from overwhelming to very, very, very, unpleasant.

After taking a long sharp inhale from the pain, I exhaled, "Ow."

"Well-spoken sir," Ronkins said lightly. He nodded at Jerrold. "Am I right to assume this is Mr. Smith?" Ronkins asked.

"Yeah," I answered with a grunt. "I was hoping to drop him off at a hospital, but we need to be careful in case Degrada comes looking for him."

Ronkins nodded, "Duly noted." He leaned over and examined the unconscious man, "Now, where is this man's right hand?"

I blinked and looked at the bloodied arm Ronkins was inspecting. Ronkins rolled up the sleeve I thought was too long for Jerrold's arm, and it turns out I was correct. With the extra excitement I didn't realize his arm ended just before you would have expected the wrist to be. The stump had been dressed with a rag at some point, but it had since soaked up enough blood to become a crusty dark red.

"Umm, the vampires took it?" I guessed.

Ronkins glanced back at me before turning his attention back to Jerrold, "At any rate, you are correct. This man needs to be taken to the hospital." He hoisted him onto his shoulders and began his brisk pace back towards the parked van.

I followed behind, noticing Ronkins carrying Jerrold more easily than Paulina and I together. I blamed my shoulder.

"Any reason you're driving a different car?" I asked.

"The same reason I drove wearing latex gloves," Ronkins answered lightly. He then politely requested, "Open the van doors if you please Mr. Decter." I obliged, pulling out my keys and unlocking the van before swining the rear doors open one at a time. Mr. Ronkins laid Jerrold carefully inside before speaking, "Now if you don't mind Mr. Decter, I believe it would be best if I drove."

Yeah most likely. I gave him the keys and jumping into the passenger's seat, but didn't close the door, "So are you just going to leave your car here?" I asked.

Ronkins closed the back doors and walked over to the small car he drove here, taking out a small multi-tool from his pocket. "Well the alternative would be for all of us to fit into my small vehicle," Ronkins responded, crouching down at the front end. I couldn't see what he was doing, but he stood up and walked to the back of the same car, "And I don't believe it would be quite as comfortable for any of us."

After finishing he walked over and took his place in the driver's seat, plopping down two license plates on the car floor behind us, "So yes, Mr. Decter, I'm leaving my car here, and I don't plan to come back for it."

"Why not?"

Ronkins sighed as he started the van, "Master Avellino's orders were quite clear. Leave as little of a trace as possible." The van rumbled to life and Ronkins took it out of park, "The vehicle is one of the many second hand vehicles Master Avellino has saved for this purpose. Soon an anonymous call will be placed with a tow truck company to take it to a junkyard, and that will be the end of it. Wearing gloves and removing the license plates removes additional evidence that may have been left behind."

"So what? Avellino just dumps cars everywhere he needs a job done?" Talk about wasteful.

I sensed Ronkins's annoyance at my comment, "Master Avellino will abandon a lifeless vehicle to prevent a possible connection back to him. Because if one were found, it would make Mr. Avellino, the Baron, and all their employees, targets in this war."

I sighed, tired. There wasn't any use in arguing. I knew his mind was made up, and I didn't need to add a headache to everything else. "I guess I have a lot to learn about all this covert stuff," I muttered to myself.

"Yes, you do," Ronkins agreed quietly. "Yes you do."