The Dark Storm (22 page)

“I’ll not ask you twice, offshoot.” The blond’s voice was harsher.

“Please, I don’t—,” Gabriel began but was cut off by the voice in his head.

“
The shadows have no patience for your lies, Hunter. Loose the power gifted to you and let both mortals and demons feel your wrath
,” the Bishop urged.

“One,” the blond began his count.

“Gabriel, I don’t know what’s going on, but if you have whatever these guys want, then please give it to them,” Carter begged.

“Two.”

“Gabriel, what the hell is wrong with you? Just give it to them!” Katie shouted.

“I don’t know how,” he said honestly.

“Three.”

Gabriel didn’t hear the shot, but he saw Carter’s brains when they jumped from his skull onto the wall. He looked at Gabriel with wide eyes as he dropped to his knees and fell over dead. Katie screamed and was rewarded with a club to the head by one of the officers’ guns. Gabriel moved to help, but the shadows wound tightly around his legs. They hurriedly bound themselves around his arms and pulled him down on all fours. He struggled, but the shadows wouldn’t give. He looked up helplessly at the blond who was standing over him grinning.

“Is this what has become of the feared Knights of Christ?” the blond laughed. He knelt beside Gabriel and grabbed him by the jaw so that the young boy could look into his eyes, eyes that were swirling pools of darkness. “How desperate the church must’ve become to entrust the holy weapons to the likes of you. Give me the Nimrod, boy, and I’ll kill you quickly.”

Gabriel looked from his dead friend to the blond and spat in his face. “Find it your fucking self.”

A lone tear of shadow snaked from the blond’s eye and wiped the spit away. “You are a brave one, aren’t you? Well, let’s see if we can have a little fun loosening your tongue.” The blond raised his arms and Katie was lifted from the ground by a band of shadow that had wrapped
around her neck. The girl whimpered while the blond dragged her over.

“No!” Gabriel tried to get up, but the shadows held him firm.

“Fond of this one, are you? I shall make this most unpleasant.” The blond tightened the shadow around Katie’s neck.

“Please, God.” Katie sobbed.

The blond cocked his head. “God?” A loose strand of shadow slithered up and caressed Katie’s cheek. “God has no place in the shadows. This is your last chance.” He turned to Gabriel. “Give me the Nimrod or watch your friends die.” The shadow band tightened and Katie’s face started turning red.

“God damn you, if I knew how to give this thing to you I would.” Gabriel was frantic. “Do something, damn you!” he shouted at his arm.

“Well, let’s see if we can help you figure it out.” The blond closed his fist and broke Katie’s neck. Her lifeless body dangled on the band of shadow. Eyes that were once blue and alert were now dead and unseeing.

“I’m gonna kill you!” Gabriel raged.

“
That’s it; let your hate fuel it. My will be done
,” the Bishop said anxiously.

With a roar Gabriel managed to free his arm from the shadows and the Nimrod was instantly in his hand. He tapped the shaft against the ground and sent out a burst of light that dissipated the shadows. “Soulless thing, I know your true name, Moses shadow master.” Gabriel tapped the shaft on the ground again. “And it is your name that will mark your passing back into the pit.”

Gabriel charged Moses wildly, but Moses tripped him up with his shadows. Gabriel made to strike out with the Nimrod, but suddenly he found the weapon and his arm
wrapped in shadow. Moses jerked him off his feet and slammed him from wall to wall until Gabriel was dizzy. When his vision cleared, Moses was standing in front of him. Moses had fashioned a piece of shadow into a thin shard and drove it into Gabriel’s collar. Gabriel tried to scream, but a patch of shadow covered his mouth.

Moses leaned in close enough to where Gabriel could smell his rank breath. “It is good that you know my true name, Knight. So that when you reach the dead lands you can tell them who sent you.” Moses’ shadows wrapped Gabriel in a cocoon and began to squeeze so hard that he couldn’t breathe. Spots danced before his eyes and he was about to black out when he heard a gunshot.

Rogue almost got knocked over when the boy came charging out of the bathroom. He had a terrified expression on his face and his aura was going nuts. Rogue almost thought he saw the arm of the boy’s jacket moving like he had something under it. Three more people followed him out the fire door. They were definitely mortal, but which side of the light they fought on was a question, a question that Rogue intended to get the answer to.

He hadn’t even meant to do it when he slipped into the shadows, but sensing his urgency to keep up with the boy, Rogue’s powers acted of their own accord. It had happened to him like that a few times over the years and when it did it usually meant his life was about to become more complicated. He just hoped that in his haste to take the proper measures there wasn’t someone in the club who might’ve been adept enough with shadow magic to pick up on what he’d just done. It seemed senseless to worry about it after the fact, though.

He didn’t see them when he materialized in the alley, but he could feel the magic crackling all around him. For
a minute he heard voices, but they’d suddenly been drowned out. He peered down the alley and realized that he was having trouble seeing the other end. There was nothing wrong with his eyes but the image he was seeing. It was shadow magic, and from the potency of it the barrier wasn’t raised by another conduit like him; this was pure shadow magic. Rogue drew his revolvers and went to investigate.

By the time he’d gotten within three feet of the shadow barrier he could feel it calling out the thing lurking inside him. It was said that the entire race of shadow creatures drew their power from one common source; therefore, they all shared a connection. Staring at the wall of darkness, he felt like he wanted to do nothing more than go to it and add of himself to the collective. Luckily, something slamming against the barrier snapped him out of it. He looked down and saw the lifeless body of the girl who had been following his mark. Her neck was bent at an odd angle, but there was no bruising, only the residue the shadows had left. Rogue followed the dissipating shadows to their source and spotted a blond in a police uniform. One look at the cop and Rogue knew what was really hiding inside the mortal shell.

A feral roar brought his attention to the center of the darkness. The young man was now on his feet holding what had to be the Nimrod. When he slammed the shaft against the ground it sent out a flash so bright that it scorched Rogue’s face and eyes. The demon screamed so loud that Rogue felt a trickle of blood coming from his eardrum. Through blurry eyes he saw the young man charge the demon, but the shadows didn’t let him get far. Rogue watched as the demon effortlessly manipulated the shadows and bound the young man. The boy fought the good fight, but he was too much of a novice at using the Nimrod to stand against the demon. As the demon choked
the breath from the young man Rogue decided it was time to react.

With the revolver in his right hand he hit the officer closest to him with two bullets to the back, dropping him. Not breaking his stride, he fired on the demon with the revolver in his left hand. Regular bullets wouldn’t have done much other than piss the demon off, which was why Rogue made sure to hit him with the enchanted rounds. As the bullets entered the soft flesh of the demon’s host’s body, Rogue whispered the words of power and they exploded in a great burst of blue light. The demon howled and the barrier of darkness shattered.

“On your feet.” Rogue grabbed the young man and yanked him up by the front of his windbreaker. Through his mass of tangled hair Rogue could see that he was little more than a child, but more important, he knew him. “Gabriel?” He was a little older than the last time Rogue had seen him, but he’d know the offspring of the Red-feather clan anywhere.

Gabriel looked up with dazed eyes. “Rogue? How did—” Gabriel was cut off as Rogue spun him out of the way just as a hail of bullets ripped into the wall. Rogue responded with a few shots of his own.

“We can catch up later, but right now we gotta dip,” Rogue told him. “Let’s move, kid!” Rogue shouted to Vince, who was in the corner trembling. The shadows were regaining substance and closing in on him. Rogue fired another one of his enchanted bullets at the ground, which slowed the shadows but didn’t stop them. “Move it!” Rogue screamed, but it was useless. The shadows washed over Vince like a wave and consumed him.

“Oh, Katie.” Gabriel moved towards her, but Rogue grabbed him roughly by the arm.

“Are you crazy? She’s dead and we’re not, and if you wanna keep it that way, I suggest you get your ass in
gear.” Rogue half-dragged Gabriel down the alley. He knew that if the shadow demon didn’t kill Gabriel, Dutch would. With the shadow barrier broken, all guarantees of secrecy were off. In a matter of seconds that alley was going to be teeming with angry witches and warlocks.

Moses got to his feet slowly, seeming to gain substance as he went. His inky black eyes studied Rogue and a look of recognition crossed his face. “I’ve heard stories of you, mage. They call you the Stalker with a soul.” It was true. Rogue shared his body with a demon but had not had to sacrifice his soul in the bargain.

“And they’re gonna call you a fucking ambulance if you don’t crawl back to whatever hole you slunk out of. There’s nothing here for you, demon; go back to the shadows.” Rogue pointed both revolvers at Moses and backed away slowly, keeping Gabriel and the demon in view.

“We are of the same, mage. Don’t fight; take your place in glory when darkness consumes the world,” Moses offered.

“Eternal darkness?” Rogue pondered out loud. “I think I’ll pass.” He fired his revolvers. The regular bullets passed right through Moses, and the enchanted ones were swallowed by the shadows before they could do any harm.

“I’m not so easily fooled twice.” Moses smirked. The shadows opened up and the enchanted bullets fell harmlessly to the ground. “If you won’t stand at my side, then you’ll die at my feet.” Moses called the shadows to him.

“What the fuck is this?” Angel came barreling out the side door into the alley. He was flanked by Lisa and Lane.

When Moses turned his head in the direction of the new threat, Rogue made his move. He lashed out with a shadow band and grabbed one of the officers. Rogue hurled the officer into Moses as hard as he could, grabbed Gabriel, and hauled ass down the alley.

“I wouldn’t wanna be you pricks when Dutch catches wind of this.” Angel looked around at the dead bodies.

“I’ll have to ask you people to step back, this being a police matter and all,” the cop with the buzz cut said.

“You’re a cop and I’m the queen of England.” Lisa called up her magic. Both her fists and the spider perched in her hair glowed unnaturally. She watched as the shadows snaked around Moses patching the wounds Rogue’s gun had inflicted.

“Fucking shadow demons, I knew it would be shadow demons,” Lane said, drawing her buck knife and moving to circle Moses and his fake cops.

“The shadows have no quarrel with the Black King. Stay out of this, little witches,” Moses warned.

“Afraid we can’t. See, if Dutch finds out that we let you drop these mortals and hightail it, it’ll look pretty fucked up on us.” Angel drew his guns from beneath his leather blazer. “Let’s all go inside and have a little chat with the king.”

In response Moses unleashed a flurry of shadow bands. Angel was quick, even by a vampire’s standards, but the shadows were quicker. The bands bound his legs and arms and began to pull. Angel howled out in pain as the shadows broke all his arms and legs. Moses turned his attention to the witches and found them moving on him. One of the officers placed himself between Moses and the advancing witches, firing his Glock wildly. With the first swipe of her buck knife Lane erected a shield to deflect the bullets, and with the second swipe she cut the officer’s throat.

The remaining officers stood back-to-back, trying to cut down the witches with their guns, but Lisa and Lane moved with amazing speed. They leapt around the officers in what looked like a complex dance, leaving a trail of silky webbing in their wake. By the time the officers
had fired off the last of their bullets they found themselves bound in webs that felt like steel and at the mercy of the witches. Moving in a coordinated strike, the witches plunged their knives into the chests of the officers, freeing them from their pact with the shadow master.