Good Intentions 3: Personal Demons (25 page)

“Hey, buddy,” someone said, patting him on the foot. The soldier named Austin looked up at him. “That’s actually my gun. How about you let me take over?”

“Sure,” Alex replied.

He climbed down out of the turret to find Rico watching him from the shotgun seat, holding the mic from the vehicle’s radio in one hand and a pistol in the other. The gun wasn’t pointed at Alex, though its presence said enough. “Six, this is Alpha,” Rico said into the mic. “Primary objectives achieved, partial accomplishment of secondary objectives. I say again, primary success confirmed, secondary is a partial. We have two down and our tour guide turned on us. One person of interest acquired. En route to Point Echo now. Over.”

Dwayne crouched over their fallen comrade laid out on the back seat. Something about his body language told Alex the moment of crisis for the other guy had passed. “Is he gonna be okay?” Alex asked. “Can I help?”

Dwayne shook his head. “He’ll be fine. Leg wound. Ain’t too bad. He can probably limp on it if he has to.”

The other man raised his hand in a thumbs-up where Alex could see it. “Felt worse than it was. I’m good.”

Alex turned around to find Rico still watching him. “Have a seat,” he said, nodding to the chair behind the driver.

“Alpha, six, acknowledged,” said a male voice on the radio. “Please repeat status of your tour guide, over.”

“Six, alpha, he set us up for an ambush at the objective,” Rico fumed. “We barely made it out of there. Our tour guide was an ‘extraordinary factor.’ Over.”

“Alpha, six, understood. Is the tour guide neutralized? Over.”

“Negative.”

“Acknowledged. Continue toward Point Echo. Be advised, you have multiple armed vehicles in your area. Presume hostiles. Support remains minimal. Over.”

“Understood. Alpha out.” Rico replaced the mic in its holder without turning away from their passenger.

“Am I the ‘person of interest?’” asked Alex.

“That’s you,” confirmed Rico. “I can’t tell them anything else until I know more myself.  So who are you? What are you doing here?”

“I’m Alex,” he answered, already considering how little he wanted to tell these guys. “Where am I? And what’s the date?” He watched Rico frown and glance to Dwayne, who seemed just as surprised by the response. “Hey, don’t look at me like that. You guys almost got barbecued by a giant fire fairy and fed to zombie terrorists. Obviously shit’s weird here, so let’s roll with it. Where are we and what day is it?”

“You’re in northwestern Iraq,” said Rico. “It’s Saturday, January Ninth.” He pulled back his sleeve to offer a look at his watch.

“Any chance you know the time difference between here and the West Coast?”

“We’re ten hours ahead,” said Dwayne.

Alex sighed, sitting back against the seat. He hadn’t lost any time between the casino and the dumpster. “What’s going on with you guys here?”

“I think maybe we need some answers from you first before we tell you more,” said Rico. He seemed drained rather than aggressive, but he wasn’t about to let his guard down. “You’re Alex who? What are you doing here?”

“It’s just Alex. Ten minutes ago, I was in the States. I got hit with a magic spell. Next thing I knew, I was in a dumpster in that camp or whatever it was. I poked my head up and saw you guys in trouble. Figured I’d better pick a side and pitch in. It seemed pretty obvious which side I should choose.”

“A magic spell,” repeated Rico.

“Yeah, I was having a shitty night, but it wasn’t any weirder than zombie terrorists and fire fairies,” Alex countered. “Since I’m the guy who chased off Big Red back there, maybe you ought to reconsider who owes who an explanation?”

“Alpha, six,” broke in the steady voice on the radio. “We have eyes on hostiles in your area. Multiple vehicles. Available support is limited. Over.”

“Sounds like maybe we’re gonna have to work together to get through this,” Alex spoke up. “I bailed you out already. You wanna tell me what’s going on? Or at least who you guys are so we can get names straight before shit gets crazy again?”

Rico frowned, glancing once toward Dwayne before answering. “Wes, can you respond to that?” he asked his driver. Then he looked back to Alex again. “I’m Rico. That’s Wes in the driver’s seat. This is Dwayne. The guy on the turret is Austin. The one lounging around like he deserves a Purple Heart is Carter. That’s all I can tell you there, ‘Just Alex.’

“As for what’s going on, it’s what it looks like. We’re in hostile territory and we need to get out. We’re grateful for your help. I can’t tell you much more than that.”

“Tell me about the cult of Azazel,” Alex suggested. “I heard that much. Those guys back there weren’t really terrorists, were they?”

Rico hesitated. Dwayne shrugged, turning to sort out weapons and gear while Wes answered the call on the radio. “Fuck it, boss, this shit’s all sideways already as it is,” Dwayne grumbled. “Seems like this kid knows more about what’s goin’ on than we do.”

Alex kept his mouth shut, figuring that was the best way to bolster Dwayne’s premise.

“You were in the States, you got hit with a magic spell, and now you’re here?” Rico asked again. “And your name’s Alex? Is that all you’re gonna tell me?”

“Hey, I won’t ask personal questions if you don’t.” Alex shrugged. “I’m guessing you aren’t gonna tell me your whole name or what unit you’re with, right? I don’t see any nametags or rank insignia on you guys. Maybe you’re not supposed to be here, either. It’s cool. I get the ‘need to know’ thing, but if we’re wrapped up in demon cult nonsense and magic bullshit, I kinda need to know.”

Rico answered slowly, choosing his words with care. “The bad guys back there were some local insurgents who’d split off from the big boys to form some kind of cult. The leader claimed magical powers and made prophecies. All that shit. Obviously every other insurgent cell would’ve killed them for heresy if they ever found out. They didn’t find out, though, which is why we came in to take care of it. We hit the site with a couple of Hellfire missiles from a Predator drone a little over half an hour ago.”

Alex snorted. “Wait. Hellfire missiles? You shot a demon cult with weaponized irony?”

“We didn’t know this ‘Azazel’ is supposed to be a demon,” noted Rico.

“Ah. Yeah. I’ve played a little
Dungeons and Dragons
. Stuff sticks with you. Go on.”

“Uh-huh.” Rico’s frown deepened. “That compound was an American post during the occupation, so we knew it would be fortified. We came in on the ground to watch the target for the Predator. We had to make sure it was done right. Once the strike was over, we drove in to check the damage and make sure we’d taken everyone out.

“The strike went fine. We got everyone, including the cult leader. Where it went wrong was with Yusuf. He’s a local we’d known for years. The guy worked as an interpreter during the occupation. He’d always been loyal and reliable. Only once we were on site, Yusuf turned into that big red monster and all those corpses got up and attacked us. One second he’s our old war buddy, next he’s that
thing
and we’re in a horror movie. You know the rest.”

Alex glanced back to Dwayne and Carter in the back, and the box wrapped in black cloth nearby. Rico had mentioned a partial success on “secondary objectives” on the radio, yet the box had seemed like the real priority. Was it more important than taking out the cult?

Whatever was in the bundle, Alex doubted the soldiers would answer any questions about it. They probably hoped he hadn’t noticed.

“Okay, so where are we going? You guys have a helicopter ready to pull you out, right? What’s the plan?”

“We drive,” said Rico. “You don’t see any American markings on this Humvee because it was handed over after the occupation ended. This is an Iraqi Army vehicle now. Don’t ask how we got it. The bottom line is, you’re right: we’re not supposed to be here. We’ve got a drone keeping an eye out for us and we had another one deliver the airstrike, but there’s no air support. No back-up nearby. We’re on our own.”

“Seriously?” Alex blinked. “They really sent you out here on your own in a truck? What kind of plan is that? I thought the US and the Iraqi Army at least worked together. How far into ‘not supposed to be here’ are you guys, anyway?”

Rico glanced once at Dwayne, then back to his driver. “How are we looking?”

“The Hummer’s running fine and we’re okay for gas,” said Wes. “I figure we’re two hours out if we can avoid any trouble. Six is calling out threats, though, so we maybe gotta take a few detours.”

“Sounds good.” Rico turned back to Alex. “We’re on our way to a safe haven to the northwest, near the border.”

“The border with who?” Alex tried to imagine the map in his head. He followed the news fairly well, and could more or less remember the neighboring countries. “That doesn’t sound all that safe to me.”

“It’s the plan we were given,” Rico shrugged. “I can’t tell you any more than that. And I can’t let you get out and walk, either. Sorry. You’re gonna have to stay with us for now.”

Grimacing, Alex looked through the window at the vast desert outside. As the fiery red guy had said, it was dangerous out there. That led him to another thought: “Hey, you said Yusuf was your interpreter and your guide, right? Did he know your exit plan?”

Rico didn’t answer. That told Alex all he needed to know. “No way am I gonna get that book report in on time,” he grumbled.

“Keep pressure on it right there an’ keep it elevated.” Wade turned from Jason back to the injured man on the floor. “Buddy, what’s your name?”

He didn’t speak loudly enough for Wade to hear. Blood trickled from his mouth. He seemed middle-aged and healthy but for the pair of gunshot wounds. Jason held one of his legs up in his lap, keeping one hand over the ugly mess of his thigh. The bigger problem laid under the torn shirt Taylor pressed into the man’s gut.

“Don’t we need to get the bullet out?” Jason asked nervously.

“No,” Wade and Taylor answered simultaneously. Taylor continued: “We’d do more harm than good pulling it out. That’s a job for a doctor, anyway.”

“I know, but he’s…” Jason’s voice trailed off. He looked around the room, hoping someone would be there to help soon. Drew had already run off to see if anyone else in the ballroom could do something about this. The room was full of sorcerers, but they didn’t know if any of them could heal bullet wounds—aside from Molly, who still spoke urgently with Lorelei and Onyx. The carnage scattered all around the area suggested magic couldn’t fix everything.

“Someone called 911 already, right?” Taylor asked. “Tell me somebody’s doing that.”

“We can’t,” said Wade.

“Jesus, people are dying here. Some of them are already gone.”

“Magic bullshit, Taylor,” Wade reminded her steadily. “This ain’t our world. It ain’t our call. I don’t like it any better’n you, but it’s what we’ve got. Whoever’s hostin’ this mess gets to make that call. We’d only piss ‘em off if we took it into our own hands.” He glanced up as Drew arrived with a stranger in a slightly torn-up suit. “Can you do anything for this guy? Ah figure he needs either magic or a paramedic right away.”

“No guarantees,” said the newcomer. He placed his hand on the fallen man’s forehead and whispered something before looking up again. “I’m Natsuo. What are your names?” he asked as he fished a few things out of his pockets.

Wade hesitated for only a second, but relented. “Ah’m Wade. Taylor, Jason, Drew.”

“Okay. Listen. I can help him, but only if you’re willing to give to make it happen. This will come at a price.”

“What kinda price?” Jason asked. “You don’t have a spell to put him back to normal?”

“Some Practices allow for that. Mine doesn’t. I can mend the muscle and bone and all that, but I can’t conjure up everything he’s lost. He needs blood. You can give it. Blood type and all that won’t matter. I only need donors. Magic will do the rest. Are you up for it?”

“Yes,” said Taylor without hesitation.

“If we gotta,” said Wade.

“How much blood are we talking?” Jason asked.

“I’ll split it among you so it won’t take too much from anyone.” Already, Natsuo had a wand and a sharp pocketknife out. “If you are reluctant…?” he asked, leaving the rest unsaid.

“Jason, I’ll do it,” Drew volunteered.

“No, it’s not that. It’s fine,” said Jason. “Just a lot of other hurt people around here, is all. I don’t know if there’s enough of us to go around.”

“There isn’t,” Natsuo said, shaking his head. “Others here have different magic. This is what I can do. Our patient here doesn’t have much time.”

“Do it,” said Wade. Natsuo closed his eyes and began murmuring. Wade took that for a spell. He glanced up to Drew while Natsuo focused on his work. “Can you stick with the others?” he asked quietly. “Maybe see what else they can do?”

“You don’t want me to watch you guys while he does his thing?” Drew suggested.

Wade frowned. “That’s a good idea, but ah’m worried ‘bout them. Still wonderin’ what they mean ‘bout Alex bein’ gone. It don’t sound like he’s dead, but—”

“Give me your hand,” Natsuo said to Wade. The younger man complied. Natsuo brought the blade of his knife to Wade’s palm, paused long enough to ensure Wade knew what was coming, and drew a shallow cut through his skin. Then he put his wand in Wade’s hand and turned it to point into the wound, gently pushing Taylor’s hands aside.

Blood spiraled out from Wade’s hand down the length of the wand into the wound, but it came out in a mist rather than droplets. “Woah,” Wade grunted.

“Count out each second for a full minute,” Natsuo murmured, placing his fingers around the tip of the wand at his patient’s wounded stomach. “I’ll start mending. After that minute, we’ll switch to Taylor, then to Jason.”

“Gotcha,” Wade agreed. He looked up to Drew again and nodded.

Drew returned the gesture. He didn’t like the thought of all three of his friends being tied up with no one to watch them, but he also wanted to know what happened with Alex. Beaten up as she was, Lorelei needed someone to look out for her. He thought at first the witches might be able to take care of that, yet as he joined the three women, he realized they’d all been through hell already. If nothing else, Drew was still fresh in case of further trouble.

“Teleported? Are you sure?” Lorelei asked as he joined the trio. The de facto leader of the crew stood tall as she spoke with the witches, though she couldn’t conceal all of her pain. She didn’t waste energy on illusions to conceal the damage to her clothing, either.

“No, I’m not, but it fits better than anything else I can think of,” said Onyx. “Something like that would take a lot of power, though. More power than anything we’ve ever tried. I mean we’re talking human sacrifice or something crazy like that.”

“Or demons,” Molly pointed out. “It looked like that Evelyn chick we told you about was helping them somehow.”

“Yes. I know of her. That would make sense.”

“But here’s the thing,” Molly continued. “It shouldn’t have worked. Not with a nail in his pocket. That should’ve disrupted the spell. For all we know, it did. But when Rachel took off, all she said was, ‘Gotta go,’ and then she bailed. She didn’t say to where.”

“Do you have any thoughts?”

Onyx shook her head. “I don’t have any specific guesses, no. If it works like a summons on a spirit, he’d have to land someplace that was prepared in advance. But again, with the nail in play to screw things up?” She shrugged. “Best we can say is he’d be someplace with a lot of magical energy. Probably the closest kind of energy, too. Like the same sort of source, or maybe…I dunno, flavor? It’s hard to describe.”

“And Rachel flew off after him,” Lorelei finished, still considering all she’d heard.

“Yeah. She didn’t say where, though,” said Onyx. “Far as I know, all she had to go on was the spell I cast so she could follow the magic that binds all three of you.”

“Rachel would not have left unless Alex was in extreme danger. She has great responsibilities here. Alex knows she places those responsibilities first. Yet the bond between us compels her to protect him. For her to have abandoned all of this in favor of his safety is...” Lorelei shook her head. “His situation must be dire.”

“He ain’t the only one,” Drew spoke up. “Listen, if we can’t help him, can you two help any of these other people? Looks like there ain’t enough first aid magic to go around.”

“Shit. Yeah,” said Molly. She quickly took in the scene once more. Some of those on the ground had people helping them. Others still laid on the floor alone. “I don’t know who needs it most. Onyx?”

Her partner shook her head. “Everyone who still has an aura has someone looking after them. I guess Kate or someone must have sorted that out while we were outside. That guy the others are working on now was the last.”

“Damn,” Drew breathed, his gaze sweeping the room once more. “What is this, like, ten dead in here? Twelve? What the fuck happened, anyway?”

“The Light showed up planning to do this,” said Molly. “They only sat through the start of the meeting to get a sense of who was ready for trouble. Things got kinda heated and it came to a stand-off. For a second, they looked like they might back down or walk out of here without a fight, but then the fire alarm went off and everyone snapped.”

Lorelei winced. “The alarm started the fight?”

“More or less.”

“Hey, hold up,” said Drew, placing a hand on Lorelei’s shoulder. “If they came here to start shit, it don’t matter what kicked things off. You said this was premeditated, right?” he asked the witches.

“Oh man, demon summoning and teleporting? I sure hope so,” Molly huffed. “I don’t wanna think about how much power they have if they can do stuff like that on the fly.”

“That’s not what you mean, is it?” asked Onyx. She looked from Drew to Lorelei’s pained expression. “What set off the fire alarm?”

“Molly?” came Kate’s voice as she walked over to join them. “You said all of these people are with you? Who are they?”

“Friends of ours,” Molly replied. “They came as back-up.”

“You brought back-up?”

“Yeah. In case some shit like
exactly this
happened,” Molly snapped, waving her arms at their surroundings. “It’s not the first time I’ve seen a bunch of Practitioners turn a club meeting into a big murdering clusterfuck.”

  Kate paused, caught between defensiveness and knowing that Molly had a point. She chose her words carefully as she looked to Lorelei and Drew. “Are you Practitioners?”

“No,” said Lorelei. “Yet we are all familiar with the night life from prior experience. Molly and Onyx met us through their trouble with the Brotherhood. They revealed very little by asking for our support.”

“Okay. Who are you?”

“I am—”

“She’s another one of them!” warned a fearful voice from across the room. Archimedes and Hypatia stood not far from the overturned tables where they’d hidden during the fight. Neither looked injured, though Hypatia pointed with undisguised fear. “That’s an illusion. She’s covering up wings and a tail like the other demons!”

The pump action sound of a shotgun soon followed. Hector stood not far away with his gun pointed low. “She ain’t wrong, now that I’m takin’ a closer look myself,” he agreed. “Molly, Onyx: you know who you’ve been associatin’ with here?”

“Woah, Hector, chill out,” said Molly, one hand raised to stop him. “It’s not like that.”

“Kate, she’s not a threat,” Onyx tried to explain, but their host had already taken several wary steps backward. Others in the room looked on, some with nervous curiosity and others with renewed tension. “Seriously, we wouldn’t bring her if she was dangerous to you.”

“And we’re supposed to believe that?” asked Archimedes. Like his wife, he had his wand out and ready. Unlike Hector, the couple didn’t have the decency to keep their weapons pointed away. “After what just happened?”

“Molly, Onyx,” said Jin. He came forward from another corner full of wounded Practitioners with a couple of his associates in tow. “I don’t believe any of us want further trouble.”

Drew stepped between Hector and Lorelei. “Maybe we all oughta chill, then,” he said.

“Maybe this is as chill as we gonna get,” Hector countered.

“Drew,” Lorelei murmured, placing one hand on his shoulder. “I will endure gunshots much better than you could. You must be ready to act if I should fall.”

He understood her point even if he didn’t like it. Drew stepped aside, glancing back to his other friends. Wade had already stood from their work with the man still lying on the floor, probably ready to pull his own weapon and start shooting if this went south. Taylor and Jason stayed in place, stuck between this mess and the need to keep helping Natsuo with their patient. It presented an obvious counter to the looming threat.

“Think you oughta listen to your man there,” Drew said to Hector, nodding his head slightly toward Jin. “Look around. People are still hurtin’ here. Some of ‘em still need help. Gettin’ all crazy won’t help. It’s only gonna make all this worse.”

“Not really my problem, mon,” Hector replied.

“No,” Kate broke in assertively. “No, he’s right. I don’t want more bloodshed.”

“Then can you tell everyone to back off?” asked Molly. “She’s with us, okay? We didn’t start this shit and we’re not here to hurt anyone now.”

“We don’t know that,” called out Archimedes.

“More to the point, we don’t know
her
,” corrected Jin. “Or your relationship. Or any of your other friends.”

“She is not your biggest problem right now,” said Onyx. “None of us are.”

“This is true,” noted Lorelei. She looked to Kate and Jin. “You have a crisis to manage. Mundane authorities are surely on their way. Whatever influence or control you have over them, you surely have much to manage. Between that and the harm you have already suffered, further violence will only make your problems worse.

“If my presence is alarming, my friends and I will leave. We mean you no harm. Surely you have more pressing matters to attend than your concerns about me.”

The hosts shared an uneasy glance. So did the witches. “If you leave, we all leave,” said Onyx.

“I think that might be best,” said Kate. “Under different circumstances, I wouldn’t be okay with any of this, but you’re not wrong. We have more immediate problems. I’ll have to take your word that this woman isn’t a threat,” she said to the witches. “I hope that’s true. I’ll tell security to let you out to your cars or however you got here. You should leave. Now.”