Chapter 7:
The Humvee crashed through the trees on the side of the highway, swerving onto the blacktop with a screech of burning rubber.
Malcom gritted his teeth as he floored the gas pedal, accelerating to well above the speed limit. Behind them, a pickup truck pulled through the opening they had created moments before.
"Who put the damn bounty on our heads in the first place?!" Jerry yelled in frustration as he leaned out the window to open fire on the third group of would-be ambushers.
The crunch of shattering glass filled the air as Jerry put three pieces of piping hot lead into the driver of the pickup truck. The truck swerved into a semi-truck slightly in front of it and flipped three times, landing to the side in a ditch on the side of the road.
Bullets pinged off the assault vehicle as the residents of the now vacated vehicle began shooting at the Humvee as it drove away.
Malcom leaned forward to look at Harry in the rearview mirror "You alright back there, kid?" he said, gruffly, not wanting to show the care that he held towards the small boy.
Jerry leaned back in the car, sliding into his seat, looking at Malcom knowingly "he grows on you, right? He's a regular trooper."
Harry clutched his violin case, as if reassuring him-self that he was okay.
It was at this moment that three black sedans pulled out onto the highway from a merge lane.
"F$%K!" Malcom swore as they slowed down, with two on the sides and one in front of the Humvee.
The windows on the sedans rolled down, revealing men in black suits "This is getting ridiculous!" Malcom yelled "how much further to your boy Kenny's place?"
Jerry climbed to the middle of the vehicle and stood into the gun turret "I think about 10 minutes, but it could be more!" he called as he inserted a box magazine into the machinegun attached to the top of the car.
"rattatatatatattatattattaaatatatatat!" the browning fifty caliber heavy machinegun released its deadly payload on the surrounding cars, blowing out windows, tires and brains as it shredded the SUV's, leaving their smoking wreckage on the road as they went around the remaining sedan, filling it with bullet holes in the process.
Harry looked out the window, watching as a flame sparked and then traveled along the puddle of gas that had begun leaking on the road.
The wreckage exploded, sending shrapnel flying into the sky.
The battered Humvee pulled up to an unassuming apartment complex, going down a ramp and into the underground parking. In the garage waited three black sedans, with heavily armed men arrayed around a single man in a black suit.
Jerry looked around the parking lot "wait, something isn't right…"
Malcom glanced at him "What bothering you?"
"Kenny never brings his full guard with him for meetings like this, maybe a few men, but never a full contingent…" Jerry trailed off, trying to make sense of it.
Malcom looked at the men, and then back at Jerry "well, maybe he is just worried about the people following us?..." Malcom trailed off "whatever it is, we had better see what he wants."
The men trained their guns on the Humvee as Malcom, Jerry and Harry got out of the assault vehicle.
The man waved his hand and the men around him relaxed their guns, pointing them at the ground, but still within ready position.
"Jerry! Good to see you again, my man! Thought we had lost you when my boys found your car, or what was left of it that is. You got an explanation for why my property, a damn fine mustang, imported straight from America fresh off the assembly line, now rests in a crater, crushed like a soda can?!" the man had dark skin, with a clipped Londoner's accent stepped forward.
It was this moment that Harry stepped out from behind Malcom to get a better look around.
One of the men looked at Harry, a shocked cough escaping his throat.
Kenny glanced towards the man, gazing into his eyes for a moment, before turning back to Jerry.
"Mind introducing me to your new friends?" Kenny asked. It wasn't a question.
Jerry gestured at Malcom "this is Malcom Jenkins, he worked with the Kings a while back, but now he works freelance as a Merc. The little guy is Harry Potter, and we picked him up because of a series of coincidences, of which included him having some very special powers…" Jerry trailed off as the man who had coughed earlier leaned in to talk to Kenny. Jerry didn't hear much, but he did hear the last few words.
That short sentence sent chills down his spine.
The man had said "… Killers, Warriors, Death Merchants, it runs in their blood."
Kenny looked at Harry with a new gleam in his eyes.
"Shoot them." He said simply, gesturing towards the trio.
The men trained their weapons on Harry, their fingers tightening on the trigger.
"NO!" Malcom shouted, jumping in front of Harry.
Jerry turned and ran to the Humvee, sliding into the front seat as he slammed the door shut.
The men fired, peppering Malcom with holes.
Jerry turned the key in the ignition, throwing the vehicle in reverse and peeling out of the parking lot with squealing tires.
His body dropped to the ground and revealed Harry.
His eyes light up with an unholy green fire "why? Why?! WHY!?" his voice deepened as he became more and more enraged, shaking the building with its force. He levitated off the ground as waves of power began pouring off of him, crushing the ground beneath him into another crater.
The men opened fire once more as Harry raised his hands and sent a pulse of energy their way, blowing all of the men except for the one who had spoken to Kenny and Kenny himself.
The two men were shielded by a glowing blue orb that surrounded them. The sight of them unharmed seemed to enrage Harry even more as a blackness gathered in his eyes and his flames grew darker and darker. The scar on his head turned more and more red and inflamed until it finally burst, showering the concrete of the parking lot below him with black and red ichor.
Harry's features became more and more pale until he looked like a wraith with vortexes that sucked in all light where his eyes should have been.
A pair of black wings sprouted from his back, shredding the rags he had been wearing, and he raised a singular hand towards the blue dome.
An ocean of energy rushed towards the figures sheltered behind the enclosure.
Kenny looked at Harry with greed gleaming in his eyes, while the other man looked on in horror.
"The archangel! Lord have mercy! I didn't think he would manifest this early!" the other man began muttering phrases in Latin, clutching a Rosario that was hanging around his neck.
The glowing blue dome began shining brightly as its aura became reinforced with a golden energy that seemed to crackle against the malevolence that lurked on the other side of the barrier.
Harry dropped his hand, unleashing a swirling maelstrom of black energy on the two occupants of the shield.
The ground around them buckled and then collapsed, leaving a small island around a gaping chasm that descended into the earth for hundreds of feet.
The man tightened his grip on the cross as veins throbbed on his forehead from the strain of holding against the attack.
Kenny looked at the destruction around them. He lifted a radio from his pocket "Attention, this is Kenny, we are ready for collection. Remember! Non-lethal only! Aim for nonessentials. use of sleeping agents is advised."
The radio crackled "Copy, unit in transit, ETA 2 minutes."
Harry continued to lash at the barrier, roaring in anger. The parking garage shuddered around them, dust raining from the ceiling.
The man chanting Latin swore under his breath "I am going to have to use one of my talismans if he keeps this up! The amount of energy he had stored within him is astounding! It is like he did not expend any energy at all during his life and somehow managed to store it. His replenishing rates must be off the charts!"
Kenny looked at him "if you need to use one, do it. I don't mind providing more if it means that we can get this behemoth under our control! Can you imagine how the weight of our threats would expand if we could literally send a demon after them if they don't comply!? It would change everything!"
The creature that had at one point been Harry Potter suddenly stopped all noise. A vale of silence overcame the surrounding area, silencing all sound. His magic, which had previously been lashing out at everything in the area, was now still and calm, and yet razor sharp, like a glittering shard of obsidian.
Harry focused his will into a scalpel, channeling his entire being into a sing point.
A pointed shard appeared out of thin air.
Kenny chuckled at that "looks like our boy is running out of steam!"
The man next to him looked non-plussed "if he were exhausted, he would either collapse, or keep going and burn out his physical body, at which point, he would become a literal shade, a being held together by only strength of will and malic. I am not sure what he is doing now. I just pray that whatever your 'extraction' team is packing will be enough."
Then, the shard flew across the remaining distance and buried itself halfway through the shield!
The force of the blow sent cracks running through the dome, magical slivers peeling off the inside and falling to the ground.
It was at that moment that Harry moved to the orb, shifting through space so fast it appeared that he had teleported without appearing to have moved at all. It was simply as if the world had shifted around him.
He observed the cracks running through the shield, prodding one of the spiderwebbing fractures.
The weakened shield crackled, and Harry yanked his hand back, hissing as steam rose from his alabaster skin.
He snarled at the shield, and then another spike appeared.
Then, another.
Then another
Then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, Then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, Then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, Then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, Then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another.
They kept appearing, until Kenny and the other man could scarcely see the THING that stared at them with a single-minded determination to bring about their end. So thick were the layers of spikes that the only thing they could see was a rough outline behind a bristling wall of pure darkness.
The man hurriedly pulled out a single white feather from a small vial. He held the feather tightly and then he began to chant "Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most-High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.Surely, he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. If you say, "The Lord is my refuge," and you make the Most-High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent."
The dome protecting the two men from death flashed a blinding white as the feather burned up in a golden flame.
The cracks rapidly restored themselves, where they reached the shard of darkness. The hole tried to close, but the material resisted until the pure white constricted until it sheared straight through it, one half dropping onto the ground outside the dome, and the other rolling to a stop at Kenny's feet.
Kenny reached down and scooped it into his pocket.
It was then that Harry attacked.
Razors of darkness lashed at the shield, ripping chunks from the pearly white material in poofs of dust.
The dust simply absorbed back into the shield.
The spikes began to bombard an singular point, needling a spot no larger than a door knob, striking and moving away so fast that a high pitched keening noise grew in strength and volume.
It was not obvious at first, but as moments passed, a small dent began appearing in the shield. A dent that did not reform…
Then, as suddenly as the frenzy of unholy spikes began, they stopped.
They rose to the roof, and began writhing and shifting together as they coalesced into a much larger shape.
It was a crude sword that appeared to be made of black stone so deep that one felt as if they were losing their vision just looking at it. The edges were jagged and unfinished. It was a weapon made only for destruction.
Harry grasped the handle and lifted it above the dome.
The man inside the shield looked dumbstruck by the blade "what is this! This is not an Archangel's magic! What did you do!?" he looked at Kenny with a horrified expression "you told me that the kid was a wizard who had just awoken! How is this possible!"
Kenny slapped him "Stay calm soldier! We will make it through this! We just need to hold out until the extraction team gets here, which will be in a few seconds!"
Harry swiped the sword downwards, impacting on the dented part of the shield and cutting a quarter way through!
The man flinched as the sword penetrated the dome with the sound of a pealing bell.
Then, Harry released the sword and turned, just in time to catch a glowing red crystal to his midsection.
The swirling shadows around him shifted and then were sucked inside the crystal, along with Harry himself. The only thing remaining was a small knife, as black as the sword buried partway through the shield, and Harry's gun case and belt.
AN: holy crap, that was a shot from the dark. I don't even know how I come up with this stuff, I literally write these chapters and then post them, straight off of the printing press. Damn, now I have to come up with some way to explain this and fit it into the story. Perhaps the Vatican is like its own wizarding nation, with a section of wizards that can preform rituals to tap into their god's strength? IDK, but let me know in a review what you guys think.
We have officially broken 1000 views! Wow! Thanks guys, I like to see that people aside from me and my brother actually read this.
Licorice Lord out.