Foreboding Skies (The Skybreaker Saga Book 1) (11 page)

“What are you talking about? Kill who?” She was trying to stop herself from fidgeting noticeably with some success.

“Just listen! You and Hemmingway need to grab Alewyn and run while I monopolize their attention.”

“What are you talking about now Smith?” Hemmingway wasn’t fazed by the current situation. No matter how bad it got he would always do what he sincerely believed to be the right thing. It was going to get him killed. Probably today. He should have tried to apprehend me, that way the both of them would be unconscious in a back alley.

“Listen To Me.” My voice was devoid of any identifiable human trait. They both shut up and stared. Good.

“I will be the diversion. You will grab Alewyn and run. This is what is happening. There is no more time for discussion. Leave now…or we all die.” As opposed to my plan where only I would be the only dying. Still no fear. I felt free, like nothing could touch me. A good attitude to have when faced with a certain violent death.

They listened this time. Hemmingway scooped Alewyn up, an easy task for the hulking cop. Gousie continued to stare wide eyed at me, she was frightened, they both were. Dammit, I should be able to help them. Everything was ejected from my mind in an instant as the sound of several large creatures crashing through the walls of the warehouse announced that it was already too late.

“Hello? Is anybody home?” Shit.

The sound of that bitch’s voice pushed something deep inside of me to the breaking point. It was definitely her, the one who tried to kill me. I didn’t feel any rage toward her. I felt nothing, even more nothing than earlier. There were no words left to say. And really, what good were words now? Two of the nigh inconceivable people I could tolerate, and a so-so third, were going to die because of me.

When that realization settled in my mind what had been strained finally broke. I calmly pushed the soft targets back into the office prison and slammed the door shut before they could react. I wasn’t sure of what my plan of action was going to be. I put my hand on the door just like before and the wards flowed back out. The reaver was dismayed by my appearance. More than that. Was she afraid of me? She probably thought that her poison would kill me or leave me in no shape to interfere further.

She cloaked her unease behind a thin veneer of arrogance. “Hello my sweat little Shaman. I’m pleased to see you looking so, delicious. If you could be as kind as to hand over Jeffery I promise to make your demise mostly painless.” Downs wasn’t there anymore, someone helped him escape and nearly killed Alewyn. And the undead bitch didn’t know that. This pretty much confirmed that there was a third player in the game, unless she was screwing with me. We would have to wait and see. I wondered what it would take to break the fem fatale before me. She was certainly pleasant to look at. Would she be as pleasant if I ripped her head off?

Let’s find out. I turned and faced my violent demise. The reaver now wore the guise of an attractive Hispanic woman. Reavers could change their appearance by literally slipping into someone else’s skin. Surrounding her was a small army of the dredge of the Fae. There was never a shortage of such filth looking to sell their services to someone who promised plenty of mayhem and loot. I could pick out trolls of several varieties, goblins, bugbears, and heaps of beastlings. At least I thought that is what they all were. I was behind on my Fae studies, and there were more kinds of Fae than miracle diets.  Beastlings were Fae that looked and acted like beasts. There were lions, tigers, and bears. Oh my. They were the lowest amongst the Fae socially. However, they were amongst the most feared on the battle field. Fodder that could die in droves and inflict heavy damage on the enemy. Despite all of that I still could not find my fear. There was something wrong with that. There had to be, unless I was just that okay with dying.

I didn’t have a chance to further contemplate my peculiar emotional state. An ugly ass troll, probably not its technical name, decided not to wait any longer and bounded toward me on all fours. The reaver hissed her disapproval, she wasn’t done playing with me yet. He gave me a big toothy smile. A thick black tongue slid across dozens of jagged teeth. Once in range he raised high a long arm decorated with a clawed hand at the end and brought it down toward my head.

I was reminded of how this all began, with some ugly bastard trying to play fruit ninja with my head as the fruit. Just like before I didn’t bother moving, it didn’t seem to matter. The troll let out a victory screech. Prematurely it would seem. His shriek transformed into one of pain and confusion. He staggered back looking at where his arm used to be. A mid-length clean cut stump pumping out the poor bastard’s lifeblood was all that remained.

Never call a troll intelligent, unless you wish to be completely wrong. Instead of backing off and licking his wounds, instead of evaluating the situation he decided it would be a good idea to lunge at my throat, mouth agape. To understand what happened next picture a tube of tooth paste being squeezed too hard. Troll bile by the bucket load repainted most of the wall behind me. I didn’t have a drop on me. I met the briefly horrified face of the reaver. Just like before there would be a slaughter. And just like before it was going to go in the complete opposite direction of what common sense would dictate. The opposite of what anyone would reasonably expect

Of course, expectations could be dangerous things, tricky things. We try to impose what we want on reality and reality is not always kind enough to oblige. The reaver and her minions came here expecting an easy kill. They had hyped themselves up for it. And now it was going to be hard. How many of them seriously prepared themselves for death? Most likely none of them had done so.

I should have been able to work up some amusement at how the reaver was reacting to this turn of events. Legions of fear, confusion, and anger marched across her face. Her army was cowering, seemingly unwilling to move a single step forward. As her eyes met mine I started forward, one step at a time. Once I moved a scant ten feet the shock of what happened faded enough for the reaver to unleash a soul grinding screech. It was annoying to me, but the Fae found some courage in it. The beastlings were the first to head the call with primal eagerness. Their instincts launched them on a collision course with death. The rest filed in behind with more caution.

The wave of beastlings broke quickly against me. Every time a fang or claw tried to reach me it wasted away to nothing before making contact. The pitiable dredge of Fairies still tried to bury me beneath their sheer numbers. The reaver was screeching constantly to keep her army from melting away completely. She wouldn’t shut up. I dimly noted that the number of enemies seemed to be increasing no matter how many I killed. The part of me that was still thinking knew they must be using portals to bring in reinforcements and that was a problem. Then the part of me doing the killing chimed in. Good. It was considerably more convenient to let my enemies come to me. The beastlings were almost entirely spent at this point. A few humanoid Fae crept up behind the front lines but were careful to keep the fodder in between us.

From three different directions three hulking bear like masses of fairy muscle coated in fur thick enough to stop bullets tried to crush me beneath them and any thoughts other than blood and death were forced from my mind. The first attempted an old fashioned body slam, trampling several of its smaller companions to build its momentum. Just as it leapt I did to. We met mid-air and I planted my foot in its skull then pushed off. The newly headless fairy flew back and crushed more of its fellows. I vaulted over the mass of the two other big bear bastards and landed amongst the small fry who had elected to stay back.

Not going to lie. I felt fucking fantastic. Like a kid on a sugar high stomping on an anthill. I had no weapons, only my hands and feet. I didn’t know or care how many of them died beneath me. A flick of the wrist here a kick there and the corpses scattered before me. Pieces were sent flying into the racks knocking them over like dominoes. I couldn’t hear their screams or the sounds of their bodies breaking. I was moving faster now than I ever remembered. My blows were met with no resistance. They say enough ants can eventually take down a lion. But could enough ants take down a God?

I slashed down with my hand and cut right through the troll in front of me. The beastlings were dead or trying unsuccessfully to escape. The reaver’s battle cry was sounding more and more frantic by the moment. Humanoid Fae armed with legitimate weapons quickly surrounded me and began stabbing away. Any flesh that got too close was gone instantly, the weapons fared better. Spears and axes were the favorites. Defense wasn’t in the cards. I took the hits and continued to lash out relentlessly. Any wounds healed rapidly and the ones who inflicted them didn’t get a second chance. I impaled myself on the line of spearmen, or spearfairies, which blocked my path to the bitch. I pushed forward on the spears until I was within punching distance. The faces of the goblins holding the spears were frozen in disbelief. I erased those faces along with the rest of their heads with one swing of my arm. Their bodies crumbled and I started pulling spears out of me. The remaining Fae didn’t seem willing to further impede my progress. They crouched meekly off to the sides and behind falling 

And just like that, the path opened. There she stood, trying to look tough while flanked by two uncertain looking ogres who must have arrived via portal. The reaver certainly looked less confident now. The ogres took their cue from her and reluctantly moved to stop me. I leapt into the closest ogre. Correction. I jumped through the closest ogre. A me sized chunk of him was missing.

The other ogre shit itself. A massive death machine literally voided its bowls in fear. It might have been grunting something about surrendering, but it was hard to understand it after I removed most of his skull. The bitch was trying to flee with what was left of her army through a portal at the other end of the warehouse.

Like with the wards I simply acted. I extended my hand toward the portal and closed my hand into the fist. The portal squeezed shut and the reaver slammed into the wall of the warehouse. Even the ogres stopped at that. A tense silence reigned as the remaining Fae realized what I did. Personally, I didn’t see what the big deal was. Doors open and doors close. And then they began fleeing. From behind me I heard a mad shuffle of terrified movement.

I didn’t like the idea of dozens of what amounted to the trash of the Fairy world running around the streets of Detroit. The beastlings alone would have killed dozens of people. This was my territory. Mine. I sunk deeper into the infinite void inside of me and shouted as loud as I could. If I had a reason for doing so it was lost to me. I meant to shout, but no sound came out. In fact there wasn’t any noise at all.

I did a slow three-sixty of the warehouse and saw that all of the remaining Fae had fallen. Whatever I did killed everything there. Well, almost everything. The reaver still stood, she looked particularly horrified. Why wasn’t she dead? She stared at me through wide eyes as her legs gave out and she fell back against the wall. I almost pitied her. Almost. I had no intention of showering her a single kindness.

“It wasn’t supposed to be like this. They told me you would be weak, an easy kill.” I was in no mood to play the pronoun game right now. Downs was in the wind, but my current target seemed to be higher up on the food chain.

“You do a lot of talking for a reaver. And you seem to know important information. Perhaps you would like to talk about said information?” I needed names. I needed a list, a list of people who needed to die. A cacophony of gunfire interrupted my thoughts and tore through my flesh. Suddenly I lost all feeling below the neck and my body began to tumble to the ground. A lucky bullet damaged my spinal cord. I was more annoyed over my ruined thoughts than my body.

My wounds were already healing as I stepped forward with my right foot to halt my descent. The reaver took the opportunity to slash through the wall and took flight. I turned to take out my frustrations on the newest pain in my ass.

Bullets continued to slam into me. I pushed my thumbs through the eyes of the closest bastard. The man crumbled to dust as I took everything that comprised Mathew Collins from his physical vitality to his mental acuity. The other humans, all black suits and shades, took a moment to shit themselves in the silence that followed. There were five more trigger happy fools left. Two of them were standing next to each other on my left. I raced in between them and threw out both of my arms, neatly removing both of their heads. The other three ran for the exit. The one furthest from me actually made it out the door before I pounced on her and dusted her. Three standard black SUVs were pulling out in a hurry.

I didn’t want anyone to miss out on the fun. It was mostly my fun, they probably wouldn’t be having much. The first two SUVs roared past me. But the third was within my reach. There was only one way to stop it. . The driver was clearly unprepared for the shock of someone jumping in front of his car. He swerved wildly and wound up smashing into the wall of the next warehouse. The other cars didn’t come back to help for obvious reasons. A pity. But I still had a whole unopened car full of people to occupy myself with.

No one tried to make a break for it as I approached. I briefly considered that they all were dead but my senses told me there was a living person left in the car. The window of the passenger seat door was mostly broken already, so I helped it along. As soon as I did the bitch sitting on the other side had the gull to try and shoot me. I easily stepped out of her firing path, grabbed her wrist and threw her from the car. While she was rolling to a stop I took a quick peak inside. Pity, there was nothing left to kill.

I suppose I would have to savor the one that was left. A dumpster chose that exact moment to hurl itself at me with enough force to crush me against the SUV. It was, of course just as hilariously ineffective. I kicked the dumpster away and my body was healed in seconds. The dumpster was followed by a massive corrosive blast of magic. It took me off my feet and tried to take the flesh from my bones. I skidded to a stop a good thirty yards away and finally got to see the newest threat to my life.

The shock of seeing the man whom I had trusted for a lifetime and who knew secrets about me no one else did was crippling. Vladimir Rurik. The rational part of my mind went into a full meltdown. I was literally blinded by rage. My vision narrowed and my breath refused to come. I was suffocating.

“That’s right, feel something, anything. Rage, sorrow, despair, these tell us that we are still alive. You once knew this far better than I Zalmoxis!” That name. That Name! I was going to die because of that name. A horrible darkness was constricting me. “Wake up! Feel damn you!” I heard... someone shout at me. Then I was flying, and then I was falling. Again and again and again. Belatedly I realized someone was throwing me across the pavement. That vexed me greatly.

I continued to lie where I fell while my scrambled brains tried to piece together a coherent picture of what was happening. I felt like a severe fever that had broken, enabling me to think clearly and realize a few things. The first realization was that my whole body seethed with pain, nothing new there. The second was that quickly overwhelming the pain was more than I had ever felt at any point in my life. The third and gravest realization was that Vladimir Rurik was trying to kill me.

My confusion gave way to fear which was in turn swept away by anger. I didn’t need to understand what was happening to know I was going to go down swinging against any foe. With my heart racing at a frantic pace I waited for him to get closer. All too quickly he was upon me. Vladimir loomed above. His face was a bulwark of determination. He had steeled himself to complete a distasteful task. Maybe he felt guilty about killing me. It was a struggle to keep my eyes unfocused and unthreatening as he reached down and hefted me up by the neck.

The Vampire Lords are amongst the most powerful creatures in the Community and considered nearly invincible. . But a kick with hurricane force behind it delivered by a Shaman with a rage enhanced body will take even a Vampire Lord off their feet and through the wall of a warehouse. My surprise attack granted me a brief reprieve to take stock of my surroundings. I picked up the overpowering metallic odor of blood, and Gousie’s scent. I couldn’t remember why she was there. I couldn’t even remember why I was there.

Vladimir surged from the warehouse and delivered his own stomach smashing kick reminded me that I was still in a fight to the death. The blood reminded me that serious shit had gone down, presumably involving me, and serious shit meant serious spirits. I didn’t care which I took in, I needed the strength to take on Vladimir. Even with every available asset I had the odds of victory were still in his favor.

I skidded across the pavement until the wall of the next warehouse helped me out. Vladimir blurred across the distance between us and I tried to meet him halfway. As far as I knew Vlad never bothered to learn any official martial arts. He compiled more than a millennia worth of combat experience into the most effective ways to kill someone with your bare hands. And he was good at killing. I was barely keeping up. I kept drawing more and more spirits and expelling the spent ones at a reckless pace, don’t worry spirits are a renewable resource. There was no way I could keep this up for long and I didn’t see a path to victory before me. It took a staggering left hook to the face to remind me that I had no need to engage in hand to hand combat.

A wind assisted jump took me past the end of the warehouse to the deserted parking lot. A second jump took me another fifty yards away. I wondered when the police would show up. I assumed that whatever happened made a lot of noise. And I was about to make more. A lot more. To fully destroy a Vampire mage of Vladimir’s power it would take an act of God. I would have to do for now. I tempered my call to draw in storm spirits only. They were close enough cousins to my own wind spirit for me to utilize them, though it was extremely taxing. The areas around the great lakes always have an abundant supply of storm spirits ready to cause havoc with weather patterns.

Vladimir came on with clear urgency. He knew what I was trying to do and knew he needed to stop me before I did it. With nails like talons he sliced open the veins on his right arm, long ways, how you do it if you are really trying to die. Regardless of how magically gifted one was before being turned into a Vampire you get a nice bag of tricks. Even the weakest of Vampires could use blood magic, and Vladimir Rurik was far from weak.

A black oily substance pulsed from his veins and began covering his right arm even as he opened the veins on his left arm. He was going to be ready sooner. I drew in the power of the dispersed spirits around me. His inherent abilities as a mage and as a Vampire meant the bulk of his power was readily on hand and he intended to use that quick draw power to end me. With a terrifying hiss in a tongue mortals were never meant to hear he hurled two spheres of acrid energy.

The pavement in close proximity to the death orbs sizzled, melted, and tried to evaporate altogether. I could imagine that the results would be far more unpleasant if they hit a living creature, which I happened to be. My lightning infused F4 tornado rushed out to meet them. In the second before the two swirling masses of magic collided I had time to snort at the clichéd scene. Two super powered assholes throwing what amounted to energy blasts at each other.

In the next second the backlash of the collision cratered the parking lot and sent me skidding across pavement before taking me from my feet completely. I feebly attempted to ride the winds before falling on my ass and tumble weeding across the ground. I fractured or broke a few bones and was certain that my innards were leaking but in the aftermath of such a large discharge of energy my body was too drained to acknowledge the pain.

I heard the deliberate shuffle of feet moving closer to me. Damn. I hoped for a miracle but alas, it was not to be. I wanted to fight on but my body was having none of it. I was drastically overloaded. The last few days forced an enormous toll on me. Everyone has a wall they come up against that simply could not be overcome. I slammed my head into that wall for the last time.

My body was a rock that refused to move and my consciousness felt… disconnected. I should have been terrified, or furious, or something at least. But I felt nothing. That was a grim sign for me. It meant that I was experiencing the first symptoms of immersion. I used too much power and was being pulled from this world into the Expanse. I would lose all sense of self and become perpetually lost in the expanse. It was quick and painless as terrible demises went. I suppose it could be called the logical conclusion to my journey. The world threw too much at me too quickly and I finally buckled. I had gone from one disaster to the next and the prospect of oblivion seemed nice at the moment. My only regret at that moment was that I brought admirable people along to share the consequences.

Lucy with the hilarious last name. I couldn’t remember why she was here but I could only assume it had something to do with me. Orbs of bloody fire hung above me. “Is this the end? Is this as far as you go?” Of course it was. Even if the backlash of overextending myself didn’t effectively kill me Vladimir was going to. Or maybe he was going to gloat before he did. Lots of people did that.

Vladimir was saying something else but I couldn’t hear him anymore. I felt constricted. A great pressure was building A massive hand grabbed me and pulled me down. Down through the clouds back to my body, deep into myself where there was nothing but silence.