The Merging Read online

  Whatever.

  I nodded my agreement and set my sights on the werewolf. It wasn’t much of a challenge considering they were all in a trance. Reese was the only one moving about and it was in a rhythmic fashion that Felicia would be able to compensate for without a fuss.

  “Rachel,” I said as I lowered my heart rate to keep the gun steady, “count us down.”

  “Three… Two… One…”

  The bullets left their chambers within milliseconds of each other. Mine struck the werewolf right between the eyes, blowing his head apart like a melon. The succubus was falling backward as well, her head nothing more than a splat of what it once was.

  Reese, though, was not hit.

  The bullet that was coming his way stopped inches before striking him.

  He turned around and plucked it out of the air, studying it for a moment. The look on his face was a mixture of confusion and amusement. I would have preferred full-on confusion or possibly terror.

  “You may as well come out from behind the vents,” he called out while spinning the bullet around in his hand. “It’s not like they’re going to give you much cover.”

  I fired at him again, just in case. The bullet stopped just as Felicia’s had done. I aimed lower. It stopped, too.

  “Honestly,” Reese said in a chastising tone, “you’re just wasting ammunition at this point.”

  I motioned for the others to stay put. There was no point in letting him know how many of us there were. He’d probably done enough of a calculation to know that there were at least three, but in his trance-like state, you never know.

  I stood up.

  “Ah,” he said, smiling, though his eyebrows were both up. “It’s you, Mr. Dex. I’m actually quite surprised. The explosion back at the morgue was quite powerful, after all.”

  “What can I say? I heal quickly.”

  “So it seems.” He was all smiles, looking like Mr. Roarke welcoming a guest at Fantasy Island. “I suppose I should have expected an amalgamite to be tougher to kill than a standard supernatural.” He shrugged. “Shame on me, I suppose. Not to worry, though. I shan’t make the same mistake twice.”

  Keeping his eyes on me, he snapped his fingers and a bolt of energy split from his hand. It hit the fallen werewolf and succubus at the same time, covering them in a cocoon of light for a few moments. They weren’t writhing about like I’d done when being smacked by one of Reese’s electrical blasts, so I assumed this one was intended for healing.

  Sure enough, the two creatures stood back up, looking as if they’d never been shot at all.

  “Impressive,” I admitted.

  “Trivial,” he replied. “I’ve got a nearly unlimited supply of energy. Plus, I’m pretty decent with magic in the first place.”

  “So it seems.”

  “You, though,” he said, wagging his finger at me while grinning playfully, “are somewhat of a thorn. How you were able to get through my magical shield the last time we met, and without any apparent effect to your person, was quite impressive.”

  I furrowed my brow at him. “Thanks?”

  “Don’t mention it. You see, that shouldn’t be possible.” He paced back and forth in front of his minions. “Anyone else would have been either bounced off my shield or they’d have been instantly killed.” He looked up at me thoughtfully “That would depend on their level of power, you see?”

  “Yeah, sure,” I replied. Did he think I was an idiot? “Makes sense.”

  “But you went right through it like it was nothing, and that tells me something about you.”

  “That I’m special?”

  “Clearly that, Mr. Dex.” His expression was dull. “More importantly, though, it tells me that I could use someone like you in my army.”

  One thing I’d learned over the years was that bad guys always tried to get you on their side when you made them nervous. Mental manipulation was the only thing stronger than physical manipulation. Twist an arm and a guy will scream “uncle,” but twist a mind and you’ll get, “How may I serve thee, Great One?” I can’t explain why my thoughts used Old English when thinking of dastardly things.

  What I didn’t understand was what he was afraid of. He’d kicked the shit out of me and my crew at the morgue already. So why would he be playing a game of get-me-on-his-side now?

  Unfortunately, I didn’t have much time to play along. The moon was reaching its apex and that meant even more trouble than we had now. It was time to misbehave.

  “Gee,” I said finally as I motioned my crew to join me, “it does sound like a hoot, Reese, but I’m afraid that your army’s going to be gone before I’ve had the chance to enlist.”

  I had three mages with hands aglow and three agents with guns, leveled and ready to fire. It wasn’t going to suffice to stop him, at least not without Warren’s runes, but it may prove just enough of a pain in the ass to give us the extra time we needed.

  “Very clever,” he said with a disappointed shake of his head. “Sad, but clever.” He then turned back to his pals and casually said, “Kill them.”

  Chapter 35

  The top of the Excalibur became a light show for the ages. Fireballs and ice storms raged in a cacophony of magical malady.

  Jasmine, Griff, and Rachel had their hands full throwing everything they could at Reese. He was easily defending them with his right hand while incessantly rebuilding the werewolf and succubus with his left. We peppered the two beasties with 50-caliber death, but they’d jump right back up within moments of falling.

  “Warren,” I said through the connect, “we could really use some help about now.”

  “We can hear the racket up there,” he called back.

  “Exactly, so hurry the fuck up!”

  “I’m trying, I’m trying!”

  In the hopes that Reese’s power consumption was impeding his ability to maintain his shield, I fired another bullet straight at him.

  It dropped.

  He rolled his eyes at me and then adjusted his hand to launch a bolt of energy my way. I flew back far enough to smack into one the vents. It didn’t feel all that great, but at least I wasn’t being encased in one of those sting-you-like-hell spells he’d thrown at me in the morgue.

  Did that mean that Reese didn’t have the bandwidth to fire one of those babies off right now? Were we giving him all he could handle?

  Only one way to find out.

  “Rachel, Jasmine, and Felicia,” I said through the connector as I got to my feet, “fire at the demons.”

  Chuck and I kept sticking bullets into the heads of the two merged ubernaturals while Griff formed a shield of his own to protect the other mages.

  It failed.

  The bullets went through the demons as if fired at a wall of mist. The magic struck them, but the result was far worse than expected. They were somehow absorbing the energy, giving them even more power.

  “Shit.”

  I didn’t have to call off my mages. They caught the problem just as quickly as I did and turned their attention back to Reese.

  “We seem to be at a stalemate,” I called out to Reese.

  “Not at all,” he said with a smile. “I’m merely allowing your mages to fully exhaust their reserves before I negate them completely. Don’t worry, though. Even after this little show of incorrigibleness on your part, I’ll still leave the door open for you to join me.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Merging someone like you with a demon would be quite a boon to my army, Mr. Dex.”

  “But you said I can’t be merged,” I noted.

  “Under normal means, that’s true.” He cast two quick energy spells at Felicia and Chuck, knocking them away from firing while he healed his two minions. It looked like it took nothing out of him. “I did a little thinking about it after I thought you’d been killed. I thought it such a shame to have done you in so quickly. You see, my level of power might just be the thing that could allow you to merge.” He put his hands out widely. “But since you’re a
live, you’d be a fantastic asset to my cause.”

  I needed to buy time for Warren to finish those runes, and I also had to make sure my mages didn’t go fully depleted of energy. The moon was nearing its highest point in the sky, which sucked even more. While I had no clue what that would mean when fighting this bastard, my team had seemed pretty uneasy regarding the prospect. And we were already getting our butts handed to us… again.

  “And you’re sure that would work?” I asked, lowering my gun.

  “I haven’t a clue,” he admitted with a shrug. “If it does, you’d be very powerful, indeed. If not, you’d die.”

  “Oh, well, sign me up, then.”

  He laughed at that. “You’re going to die either way, Mr. Dex. Why not do it with the possibility of giving yourself more power than you’ve ever known?”

  I nodded as if in thought, bringing my hand up to my chin. I’ll be the first to admit that I wasn’t much of an actor, but this guy’s ego was so big that maybe it wouldn’t take much to fool him. There’d only be one shot at it, though.

  “How much longer, Warren?” I whispered, trying to keep my lips from moving.

  “Two minutes.”

  “Everyone, listen up,” I said while continuing my best ventriloquistic speaking, “I’m going to motion you all to stop your attack in a second.” Rachel spun to look at me, but I gave her a glare. “Do it when I say. No arguments, please. You all have to play along, not matter what happens.”

  I lowered the gun a little farther and gave Reese a knowing look. “I see your point.”

  “Do you?”

  “Everyone cease firing,” I commanded while motioning my officers to stop their assault.

  Griff kept the shield up until Reese halted his onslaught.

  The hum of the vents was all that could be heard aside from the sound of vehicles below. All in all it made for a pleasant reprieve from the mayhem.

  Keeping my eyes on Reese, I said, “If I do this, will you let my team go?”

  “What are you doing, Chief?” said Chuck, who was obviously playing along.

  I held up my hand to silence him.

  “Sure, why not?” Reese answered my question with a careless nod. “It’s not like they can beat me anyway. Besides, if my little plan works, they’ll have to contend with me and you, and I’d frankly revel in watching you destroy your own team.”

  “Or you could include all of us in your plan,” announced Rachel.

  “That’s not part of the deal,” I said.

  “Screw your deal,” she replied with a little more drama than was warranted. “What’s the point in trying to fight him? It’s clear we’re going to lose. You saw what he did to us at the morgue, and we’re not even making a dent in his resources now.” She scoffed. “And if you join him, we won’t even last a minute.”

  “I’m in agreement,” Griff said suddenly. His acting was actually quite good. “Honestly, I’ve grown weary of fighting two-bit criminals in this damn town.” Griff never used foul language. “These last two nights have offered the most excitement I’ve had in years. It’s been thrilling.”

  “What the hell is going on?” shrieked Chuck.

  “Think it through,” Griff replied, giving his partner a firm look. “We’re wholly outmatched. Wouldn’t you rather join the winning team than perish on an island of honor with the losing one?”

  “But…”

  “But nothing, Charles.” Griff lowered the shield that was protecting the three mages. “We must face facts. Our lives have been shrouded behind a veil of boredom for years.”

  “I love how you talk,” said Reese. “It’s rather posh in comparison with the rest of the PPD squad.”

  Griff tilted his head. “I offer my thanks.”

  Reese crossed his arms and studied us all for a few seconds. I did everything I could to keep a look of genuine interest on my face. I even added a touch of forlorn to convey that I’d been defeated.

  “You do realize,” Reese said at a measured pace, “that if you’re trying to pull a fast one on me, it won’t work.”

  That’s when Warren said, “It’s done” through the connector. “Want me to activate them?”

  “Hold for a moment,” I whispered.

  I dropped my gun and signaled Felicia and Chuck to do the same. Chuck kept the confused act going, but Felicia gently reached out and took the firearm from his hand and then set it on the ground along with hers.

  “So you are being serious?” Reese said, still looking unconvinced.

  It was my turn to shrug. “Maybe it’s time to shake things up a little.”

  “Interesting,” said Reese with a laugh.

  “Warren,” I said through a fake smile as the powerful mage clapped his hands, “activate the fucking runes.”

  Chapter 36

  I crossed my arms and felt as much smugness as a person could manage. The mighty mage was about to have his power sources dropped back into oblivion, which would leave him as naught but a husk of the power he currently held.

  “Something wrong?” said Reese, tilting his head. “You look like you are having a bout with gas.”

  “Huh?” I said, dropping my arms. “No, I just…” I coughed. Then through gritted teeth, I said, “Warren?”

  “Sorry, Chief,” Warren replied. “Something went wrong. I’m trying to figure it out.”

  “Super,” I said while giving a crazy-eyed look at Rachel.

  Reese wore a dubious expression. “Everything okay?”

  “Yes, sorry.” I clapped my hands and rubbed them together. “Just not an easy decision, you know. Plus, it doesn’t look like my entire team wants to join in.”

  Reese shrugged. “Then they’ll die.”

  “Right, I get that.” Stalling for time wasn’t all that difficult when you were dealing with an evil villain. They liked the drama, after all. “It’s just that we’ve been friends for many years and that makes things a little tougher. I’d like a few moments to try and convince them.”

  A white light scanned across the top of the building the moment I finished my sentence. Reese and all of the demons, including the ones inhabiting the werewolf and succubus, flung their heads back and put their arms out in wide fashion. My three mages followed suit.

  It lasted all of thirty seconds, during which time everyone was silent.

  “Warren,” I hissed, “what the hell is going on?”

  “He drew one of the items incorrectly, Ian,” Serena answered for the wizard. “I have him focused on redrawing it now. We will need another few moments. Please let him work so it can be done more quickly.”

  “Fine,” I said, not sure what to do. “But all the mages and their demon friends just started glowing.”

  “That means the moon has reached its apex,” Serena explained. “I’ve been studying alongside of Warren, so I’ve picked up a thing or two.”

  “So what exactly does the moon reaching its apex do again?”

  “It restores full power to our mages, for one.”

  “Oh, well that’s good.”

  “And it increased the power of any demonic possession.”

  “Shit.”

  I looked over at Reese’s side of the playing field. The demon apparitions were definitely larger than they’d been a couple minutes ago.

  Great.

  It wasn’t bad enough that we had an exceedingly powerful egomaniac of a wizard with demon batteries giving him an unlimited supply of magic, now he was going to increase in power even more?

  “Wait a second,” I said, thinking something was definitely amiss. “The moon hits its apex every night and I don’t see Rachel, Jasmine, and Griff doing this odd-looking light dance.”

  “That’s because our mages aren’t in the vicinity of such power every night,” she replied. “Just like the runes Warren is currently in the process of perfecting, Reese’s magical grid expands out from his demons.”

  I glanced up at that, looking around at the roof. Sure enough, there were pulsing lines of
glowing white connecting to all three of my mages. They weren’t as bright as the ones hitting Reese, but from the orgasmic look on Rachel’s face—one I remembered quite well—it was clear she was being fed a good dose of energy.

  “Done,” said Warren.

  “Done?”

  “Yeah, Chief. It’s all set. I had missed one of the glyphs on the thirty-third rune. You can’t miss anything or it won’t work. Now, if you—”

  “Warren,” I interrupted, “if you don’t activate those runes right now, I swear I’ll come down there and punch you into next week.”

  “Oh, right. They’ll be up in about thirty seconds.”

  The moonlight event began to dissipate as Reese regained control of himself. He looked at me with glowing white eyes. It was kind of creepy.

  I glanced over at Rachel, who was staggering slightly. She looked at me with the same white eyes. It was kind of hot.

  “All better?” I said to Reese.

  “It’s like nothing you’ve ever imagined,” he said, looking somewhat blissful. “Soon, though, when we are taking over this world together, bending it to our rule, you will feel the immense joy of true moonlight.”

  “Sounds peachy,” I replied with a smile.

  “They’re firing off in three seconds, Chief,” said Warren through the connector.

  The smugness returned. “But there may be one teeny weeny problem with that plan.”

  Chapter 37

  Reese’s white eyes turned immediately dark as he realized that a set of runes had been flipped on. It dragged him and his two goons to the ground. The floating demons were writhing in pain. The ones inhabiting the werewolf and succubus must have been feeling similarly uncomfortable since they started clawing at themselves.

  “What have you done?” said Reese, looking as though he was trying to catch his breath.

  “Evening the playing field,” I replied as I bent down to pick up the Eagle.

  Unfortunately, I didn’t get that far before the angry mage unleashed a massive bolt of energy, knocking me off my feet with such force that I fully expected there to be a hole in my chest.