Nimravid (The MacFade Chronicles Book 1) Page 2

  “Won’t that drop her in the steel?”

  “No, because you’re going to keep a constant pressure against her and push her towards the opposite side platform. Don’t thrust, if she starts spinning or swinging you’re not going to be able to stop her.”

  “I can do more,” Casey protested. I smiled for the first time in days. “I know you can, but pushing her hard enough to change her trajectory is going to be enough of a challenge for you as it is. There is no Ley Line to draw from, here, Case. The electro magnetism being put out by those furnaces coupled with the high power transformers is disrupting any ambient energy available. That’s probably the reason the demon had him choose this place.”

  “There you go again with the $10 words. I need the nickel version, Mr. Engineer.”

  “Simple, all the energy you’re going to have, you brought in with you.” Casey eyed the enormous demon. “Right, use it all up, and I’ve screwed the pooch. What about Previtt and the Demon?” I grasped the Spirit Stone rod as it uncurled itself from around my waist, morphing from belt, to stout dragon headed cudgel, almost instantly. “I’ll sort them out. Just do your part and don’t waste any energy being visible. You don’t want to spook this wacka-doo or scare the girl.” I took a deep breath. “Ready, Mai?”

  “No, but we don’t seem to have a choice. The child’s life force is weakening every second and that Demon has me really concerned.” I gave her a mental pat on the back. “We’ll sort it out.” I nodded at Casey. “You ready?” He gave me a brave smile that never touched his eyes. I couldn’t help but be proud of him. “Go!” Casey streaked up to the ceiling rafters and along a beam to get into position. I looked skyward and swallowed my pride, something I do VERY rarely. “Hey, big guy, if you’re really up there we could use a little help with this one…this being a child and all.”

  “You’re praying? Now you’re scaring me!”

  I don’t know if it was some kind of answer or a fluke spiritual power surge but I Sensed Casey power up. Big time! The demon took note of it too. It raised its head and started sniffing the air. We were downwind of the ventilation system, the result of an old feline predatory instinct. I saw it whisper something to Previtt causing him to become wild eyed. I slammed my fist into my palm. “Damn!”

  Previtt was now completely alert and no longer talking to himself. No—now he was talking to ME. Previtt looked in my general direction. “Hello? I know you’re out there. Show yourself or I’ll drop the girl in the pot.” Pot, crucible, frying pan, fire, it was all pretty much the same at this point. “So much for the element of surprise,” I grumbled. “Deep breath, Alex, and dive right in, no way around it now.” I stood up and walked around the panel I’d been hiding behind. I stalked slowly forward, eyes and ears peeled for any type of threat. It didn’t take long. He actually looked glad to see me. That was different. “What the hell is going on, here?” I narrowed my eyes and started to growl, stopping him in his tracks. He looked confused. “Who was this guy expecting? The lollipop guild with the key to the city?”

  “Careful, he looks like he’s on the edge Alex and you’re not wearing a Glamour.” Previtt studied me for a few seconds. “You’re early, I haven’t finished yet.” Huh? He’s facing off with a six and a half foot cat creature and he’s chastising me for being early? What the fuck? I recovered as best I could. In other words…I pulled something out of my ass. “I wanted to witness the master stroke personally.” He looked at me with an insane wildness in his eyes. “So you have come to bestow the Master’s gift?”

  “Gift?”

  “What’s he talking about, Mai?”

  “Sometimes Demons convince their victims that they can achieve fame, fortune or immortality if they follow their instructions. Killing multiple innocents sounds like an immortality ritual.” Mai sounded distracted. I decided to press my advantage. “Who are we talking about, Matthew?” Previtt smiled as his eyes glazed. “The master, he who speaks to me in my dreams, I am his favorite disciple and he’s going to grant me everlasting life.” Previtt’s chest swelled with pride. He was wearing a No Fear t-shirt. You know what would look good with that? A gaping chest wound… “Sounds like a promise of immortality alright, could it work, Mai?”

  “Depends on what the demon has in mind. Jack the Ripper was made immortal because his demon didn’t want the fun to end. Your mother and I slew him seventy years something ago. He was preying on German soldiers and prostitutes in a little French village called Lyon. I hate to say this Alex but I think I recognize Legion over there. We killed Jack and the demon tried to forcibly possess your mother. She was too strong and we ended up having to flee.

  “My mum took that thing on?”

  “Yes, and successfully, in spite of the circumstances.”

  “Meaning?”

  “Your mother was a pure bred Nimravid. Her kind had simpler brains, not that your mother was dim by any stretch of the imagination. She being a pure bred, didn’t have much in the way of available cerebral resources like humans do. Her Abilities were pretty much limited to controlling the Spirit Stone and some powerful magic of limited repertoire. She was a real badass, like you, clever, but she wasn’t very imaginative. She escaped to fight another day. It was the best possible outcome at the time.”

  They say the only way to handle a deluded person is to play into the delusion until you’re in a position to subdue them. Having closed the distance between us to about 20 feet, I was in that position now. I circled him trying to edge him away from the control box. He was either too out of it or too stupid to realize he was in danger and passively stood his ground. “Damn! This isn’t working, Alex, time for a different approach.”

  I had an idea. “Oh Mathew, I do have a surprise for you,” I purred stalking forward a little closer. The idiot was actually excited to hear what I was going to say. I Projected a sense of wellbeing at him. “The master has sent me here to assist with the final kill of this ritual. There’s only one left.”

  “How’s tall, black and thorny doing, Mai?”

  “She’s watching you, mission successful, you now have her full attention. I’m pretty far into Previtt’s mind. It’s a mess in there but I can give him impressions and images now. I could dig deeper but it’ll take time.”

  “Good work, Mai. It’ll have to do. Wait a tic…did you say SHE?”

  “Yes, I did. Her name is Bastet, very old and very powerful, one of the lesser gods. She started out an Egyptian Goddess and ended up with a Vodoun following.”

  “An Egyptian Goddess? I wasn’t expecting that one.”

  “Any reason you should have? Women can be dangerous too, Alex.” A fair point… I ignored the last part. “I’m going to try something. Stay connected and follow my lead.”

  “I hope you know what you’re doing, Alex.”

  “Can’t help you there Mai, I’m officially winging it here.”

  Previtt clutched his hands together expectantly and looked anxious. “Who is going to be the final kill, minion?” Minion? Kiss my ass puppet boy! “Why you of course, dear Matthew.” I Focused on him as strongly as I could. I wanted to watch him, but the other effect this had, is to allow my Nimravid pupils to fully dilate, giving my eyes an unearthly glow in the glare of the molten steel. “Why me?” He was genuinely perplexed and frightened. “I have done everything asked of me with a joyful heart.”

  “Joyful heart? Oh, he’s just begging for it!”

  “Then I say we give it to him, Mai.”

  “The master said he was pleased with me,” Matthew protested. Mai picked up my thoughts and opened her channel to Previtt so I could listen in. Sirens off in the distance started to sound, getting closer every second. Mai was forcing the impression into his colander like mind. Perfect!

  “No Previtt, the master is very DISPLEASED. This ritual was to be carried out in complete secrecy and your blunders have led the mortal authorities right to this very spot. Such careless work is unforgivable. But…the master being a generous being has given me permi
ssion to be merciful. Kneel down and I’ll make your death a quick one.” So far so good...that’s when the demon smiled, never a good sign. She didn’t whisper this time. “Ask him to speak the master’s name one last time so that you may die with its sweet sound in your ears.” It was a voice that sounded like someone dragging sheet metal down a gravel road, alarming and painful to behold. “Balls! I hadn’t thought of that one, Mai.”

  And like a good little meat puppet, he asked me. I was stumped. I didn’t have enough information and had confronted him to soon. There were only a few seconds left to answer him before he totally went off his nut. Little Arianna was going pay the price for my arrogance. “Mai?”

  “Kuso, kuso!” Now Mai’s swearing. That’s helpful… “I’m working on it! Areas like religious beliefs are deeper in than I’ve gotten and nothing is where it should be.”

  “I’ll be sure to reprimand him for not keeping his room picked up. I need that name Mai!

  “He’s getting too anxious. You’re going to have to guess.” Previtt was backing away from me now, his eyes darted from me to the control box. “Alex! He’s going for the emergency release lever.” Bloody hell! That would send the whole spool spinning out of control. Arianna would drop like a stone. I had to take a shot. “Lucifer” I said with all the reverence I could muster.

  “That’s an angelic name, idiot!”

  Previtt’s eyes snapped wide open. “You were not sent by Him! Who are you?” I crouched to leap at him and that’s when all Hell broke loose. Previtt raced for the red painted lever, I followed but was too depleted to Slip. I let out a panther scream at a decibel level usually reserved for sonic booms. This is something I’ve perfected over the years. Facing off with me is scary enough but a perfectly executed panther scream can chill the blood of the most hardened criminal.

  Previtt hesitated, stunned. “Casey, now!” As Previtt fell onto the lever, I leapt off the railing and delivered a powerful kick to the winch hard enough to rip it off its moorings and send it sailing over the crucible, to land on a lower deck cat walk. Luckily little Arianna didn’t smack into anything solid. The winch landed just on the inside of the railing and she swung back and forth over the crucible, like a hypnotist’s watch. Casey was just able to push her up and over the railing. He cushioned her head as he went through the railing to keep it from striking the steel grid flooring. Arianna was safe, almost…

  Chapter 2

  The biggest problem with leaping off the catwalk in a high capacity melting room is that there are only two ways to go. Falling into open air and immediately into the crucible, to be grilled like a bratwurst or desperately clinging to a support beam. In my relief at seeing my little ploy’s success, I failed to notice that I was hanging from a damaged winch assembly, over a big pot of molten death. Cannibals cutting up carrots and onions and blithely tossing them in with me came to mind. A screech of protest from the over stressed metal above me brought me back around to MY situation. In a few seconds I was going to drop like a stone.

  Previtt was now scrambling down the opposite side catwalk headed straight for Arianna and Casey. Wiped out but getting slowly to his feet, the little nipper was going to try to take on Previtt and the demon. My heart swelled with pride. “That’s our boy!” There was no way he was going to be able to do anything more than rip off one of Previtt’s buttons, but it was the thought that counted. I was completely spent and my arms weren’t going to hold out for long. I had an idea but I’d have to time it perfectly.

  One of the many properties of Spirit Stone is that it prefers the path of least resistance, like most conductive materials. This means that it’s not dependent on the wielder’s personal energy stores but can pull energy from any available source. Such as magnetism or heat, something I had a near limitless supply of at that moment. I powered up the gauntlet and it formed a hooked clamp, latching onto the girder I was clinging to. As Previtt neared Arianna, Casey used the last of what he had left to make himself visible and audible. “Don’t you touch her, you donkey rooting ratbag!” My fault, if Previtt had been an Aussie he would have been horribly insulted, instead he was just amused.

  “Huh? Who are you or what should I ask are you?” Previtt managed to say through a chuckle. My turn! I released the hook just as a cable of Spirit Stone burst from the rod in my left hand and rocketed over a beam directly above Previtt’s head. I was falling fast, headed straight for the crucible. The cable whipped down and wrapped itself around Previtt’s neck, just under his jaw. Good thing too, the rod was running out of mass and the section I was still clinging to was becoming paper thin. I have never been able to strain or tax the Spirit Stone into giving way but this was no time to discover those limits. I willed the cable to contract rapidly. It pulled tight and Previtt started to sail up into the air. I had misjudged his weight and was continuing to swing towards the crucible.

  Just as my very short life flashed before my eyes, I started to change course and my decent slowed. I was headed crashing into the wall of the trench, instead of the crucible. I looked up to see Casey hauling on my half of the cable with everything he had. I poured more energy into the rod and the cable started contracting at break neck speed. I shot up just as I was hitting the wall, managing to tuck in my legs so my knees and shins took the brunt of the impact. I was going to feel that in the morning.

  As I cleared the railing, I stood on it and released Previtt. By this time he was pulled tight against a rafter and clawing at his neck. He fell 30 feet before hitting his head on the floor with a sickening crack. “To Hell with him!” I snarled, dropping down to tend to Arianna. Casey was holding her bound body and cradling her head in his lap, exhausted.

  I touched Arianna’s left cheek, the only unmarred spot on her swollen face. I felt Mai surge into her body, running a diagnostic. The news wasn’t good…“She’s dead, Alex.” Raw emotion flooded into me and had nowhere to go. “No!” My fur stood on end as the air around me crackled with the raw power of my rage. “NOOOOO!” I roared. Windows and florescent lights shattered overhead; glass and sparks rained down around us like so many falling stars. I crumpled to my knees, the weight of my guilt and shame bearing me to the floor. “A child…not another one.”

  “It wasn’t your fault, Alex. There was too much damage. Her organs were failing hours ago. There wasn’t anything you could have done.”

  “Not now, Mai.”

  “Alex—”

  “I SAID NOT NOW, MAI!”

  She wisely sank into a sulking silence, shrinking back from the enormous power of my of self-loathing . I was in no mood to be consoled, a child was dead and I chose to blame myself. No one was going to change my mind. “Mack?” Casey’s voice was weak, barely audible. I suspect he was so depleted that I was really hearing his thoughts. “What?” I grunted.

  “I think Previtt’s dead.”

  “What a bloody fucking shame, that is. How will I ever live with myself?” My voice was harsh with an edge of bitterness. I barely had enough energy left to keep myself breathing, let alone give two shits for the wellbeing of a pedophilic sadist. “Why do you think that?”

  “Because the demon is coming towards us.”

  I slowly shook my head. “Aces… I forgot about the demon and she’s actually trying to sneak up on me. That’s adorable, and yet…still pissed me off.”

  She was gloating, huge mistake. “Yes, yes, so much guilt, so much shame, if only you were better, stronger, faster, you could have saved her.” Her voice slithered into my brain and started to sting. I reached down to touch my belt. “That’s right, gloat over your prey, make a meal of it, Luv. Just a little bit closer, you piece of—”

  “Don’t do it Alex, run!”

  Just as I felt her reach for me, the Spirit Stone uncoiled from around my waist, forming a sword in my right hand. Leaping into the air, I spun as I swung the blade and shouted “SEISHIN KASAI!” All my rage and hatred of this vile creature poured into the katana, super charging it. Blazing to life like a road flare, a brillian
t liquid blue-green fire quickly enveloped the full length of the blade, neatly slicing through her left arm, severing it midway between the shoulder and elbow. Screeching in rage, she fell back, the stump burning furiously; the severed arm reduced to ash before my eyes.

  The demon beat savagely at her ruined limb to put out the flames, some of them transferring to her hand. For the first time in the last few days, I smiled, enjoying her pain. Wizard’s Fire burns like Napalm; veraciously and sticks to whatever it touches. Mine is even more tenacious because it’s the Spirit Fire variety, which maintains a connection with the wielder. I can will it to burn hotter, spread or even form little dancing figures, if I choose. Waiting until she had beaten at it, a reasonable number of times, I allowed the fire to go out. The blade of my sword reverting to its natural state, a smooth, black texture-less stone. There was no point in trying to kill, Bastet. Like all other gods and goddesses, she’s a corrupted angel and The Almighty made them truly immortal, as the lore goes. The best you can do is beat them down and banish them back to Hell.

  As I watched, she stared at the stump as a new arm began to grow. I hadn’t expected that. She then looked at me and smiled. It felt like a filthy oily mist had just covered my body. Mai pushed to the front of my consciousness. “This is an old one and extremely powerful.”

  “I think we may have bitten off more than we can chew, Mai.”

  “What do you mean US, hero? You got us into this. I wanted to run! But noooo, you had to be Mr. Badass!”

  “Seriously Mai, while we are facing off with Queen Kong of the netherworld?”