House of Ill Repute

“Hi Vee” Penny said to me as I opened my eyes. “Are you still in there?” I was held in her arms on the stairwell. She was finishing putting a wound dressing on my exposed shoulder and then tucked the bloodied jacket back over it.

I sat up and flexed my left arm. It hurt like hell but I could still use it.

“How long was I out?” I asked her.

“Just a couple of minutes” she said.

I surveyed the scene. Blue light was still flowing from Ferro Mortis, throwing its illumination over the dark blood staining the stairs. The Mares were already faded back to their own realm, leaving just a rotten stench behind.

“Are we ready to take him on?” I said to Penny.

“All systems are go” she affirmed and helped me to my feet. She led the way, her rifle back in her hands. I picked up Ferro Mortis and climbed the steps after her, pausing only to recover my Infernus dagger.

The top of the landing appeared before us. Stairs continued up to the roof level, yet there were no bloody trails in that direction. They all went in and out of this floor.

“Once more into the breach” joked Penny and kicked the door open, her enhanced strength and anger tearing it off the metal hinges and sending it thudding to the carpeted floor beyond.

The foyer was illuminated by red lights set into the ceiling. The walls were white, tinged red by the lighting, with more framed prints of debauchery and sexual violence arrayed across them. There were two long couches set against the walls and the floor had a black carpet that was tacky underfoot with drying blood. Doors led to rooms at our left and right, and a corridor lead away to more rooms. At the far end were blood red drapes, covering a barely visible window that overlooked the central parking lot.

“So where is this a-hole hiding?” wondered Penny and tracked her rifle over each door in sight. “No heat signatures, so they have not come this way for some time. He must be in one of the rooms”

“OK, room by room it is” I said and we went to first door to our left. There were no blood trails to this one, but the Warlock could still be in there.

Penny stood back, ready to fire into the room as I tested the door. It was unlocked so I flung it open. A plushly appointed room lay beyond, with a large circular bed in the middle and mirrors on all the walls and ceilings. A cruciform frame with leather straps and buckles stood to one side. There was no one visible.

“That is wrong in so many ways” I said on viewing the room. Penny just grinned. “Reminds me of my apartment back in Rome” she stated.

We moved to the opposite door and followed the same routine. More outlandish furniture and pleasure devices were revealed, but no occupants.

“Why is he hiding from us” I asked Penny. “He wanted to face us, so why is he making us hunt him down?”

“Whichever space he is lurking in, he wants us to meet him there” she answered. “He has some ace card up his sleeve that he can’t use if he fights us anywhere else”

That had been my own thought. But what did he have set up? As a Warlock, his power came from the Mares he summoned and bound. He could cast spells, but more likely he relied on spell foci to cast magic in combat.

Rituals and spells are potent when the time is taken to do them properly, but you don’t have that luxury in a fight. Unless you knew when and where the fight would occur. Then the time consuming spells and rituals had their moment to shine.

I put my hand on Penny’s arm and drew her back to the foyer.

“I just realised something. Something so fundamental. It has been staring me in the face all this time”

“What is it Vee?” said Penny.

“It’s a Warlock. They are the ultimate cowards of the Adepts. They will never put themselves at risk. They will never pay the blood price. It is always someone else who pays it. He challenged us to meet him here. We thought it was arrogance, to try and best us”

“Yeah, maybe he is just an arrogant prick” said Penny.

“I am not even sure the Warlock is a man. I don’t think we have ever fought them directly, whoever they really are”

“What about that guy on the train? He was an Adept, wasn’t he? Surely that was him?” Penny demanded quietly, looking urgently around us. “He must be here, driving all of this!”

“I don’t think so Penny. I think they suckered us into believing everything we have encountered as being true. That guy on the train only used one spell, a Shield. That can be powered by any Adept through a focus, even used by a Mare. A Mare of Possession could control anyone if they were not strong enough to resist, even a minor Adept”

“Could our Warlock summon Mares of Possession?” she asked. I nodded.

“We have only fought the Warlock’s Mares all this time. Whoever they are, they have hidden themselves, maybe in plain sight” I finished.

“So why all this hide and seek with us?” she countered.

“I am not sure. Maybe to kill us, since we are significant warriors of the Church here in the Zone”. Then the final puzzle piece dropped into place. Why cut off the arm when you can cut off the head.

“The Bishop will be outside tonight, directing the final defence in case the Warlock escapes us. What if one of our own is possessed? They could get up right next to the Bishop and no-one would even suspect. Taking out the head of the Order of Michael will leave a massive power vacuum here in the Zone. It could be months before it is resolved”

“And in that time, the Governor and his cronies could have free rein to do whatever they wanted” added Penny.

“We need to warn the Bishop” I said and took out my phone. It was dead. “Oh crap, the EMP killed it’

Penny hurriedly got her own phone out. It was scrap plastic too.

“We have to get outside and warn them” I said.

“Or maybe you can stay here and fight to the death like good little girls” said a deep masculine voice from down the corridor. The man in the dark suit and coat stood there, holding the short sword in his right hand. Beside him was a Blood Mare, the biggest I had seen. Its head scraped against the ceiling, its long taloned arms dragging on the floor. A mouth the size of a tunnel opened to show gleaming fangs as long as my dagger.

Penny responded in the only way she knew how. Her rifle roared in the enclosed area, lighting up the corridor as she emptied fifty rounds of Marked ammunition into the man and the Mare.

Blood sprayed and flesh was ripped in huge pieces, splattering wetly against the end wall, painting the drapes a whole new shade of red.

When the barrage ended my eyes took a moment to look past the afterimages of gunfire. From out of the smoke and wreckage surged a ragged man shaped form, clad in tatters of clothes. In their right hand was the Iron Mare, in their left the fading red light of the Shield spell. The Marked rounds had taken their toll, but none had struck the heart of this beast.

Penny was dropping her rifle and drawing her pistol when I leaped forward, meeting the Iron Mare with Ferro Mortis. The strength of the blow drove me backwards across the carpet, my boots finding little purchase on the blood slicked surface.

He slammed me back against the elevator doors, the force of our impact buckling the sheet metal surface. I felt ribs crack and the ravaged face was pressed up against mine.

“My Master will not be defeated by the likes of you, Papist whore” it grated from a broken mouth, blood and spit drooling onto me.

“I have never been a Papist” I said and with my left hand drove Infernus deep into its side. It howled and pulled away from me, clutching at the dagger I had imbedded to the hilt in its flesh.

“Infernus” I whispered and jumped awkwardly to one side as the body exploded in fire. I was showered in purtrid chunks of what had once been a man, but had been the Host for days to a Mare of Possession.

Penny ran to my side and lifted me up. I groaned with the pain and leaned heavily on her.

“We have to get outside and warn the Bishop. The Warlock will know his Mare is gone”

“OK” said Penny, “But we are taking the elevator”.

“That is fine by me” I said tiredly. “Oh, can you get my dagger back please. I would hate to lose it”.

She propped me against the wall and retrieved my dagger, sliding it back into the forearm sheath. The elevator arrived with a “ding” and we stepped into the open doors.

=====

The elevator opened on the ground floor. Penny lead the way with her rifle in one hand and her pistol in the other. She had used all her Marked rounds for the rifle, so it was now loaded with fifty rounds of Armour Piercing ammunition.

In the courier’s office we found the groaning and confused employees. They seemed to have no idea who we were or why they were so beaten up.

We walked through their midst, until I stopped and looked down at the sleeping form of a courier in his blue uniform. Normal people have no resistance to Sleep spells and will stay unconscious for one or two hours, even if someone tries to vigorously wake them.

“Penny, I think the Warlock was here all the time” I said. “He was here, watching us arrive and put on our show. He let me think I had dropped him with a Sleep spell”.

“Come on then” she said. “If I see anyone in a blue uniform I will shoot them in the head” It was lucky for the courier on the ground he was really out of it, or Penny would have plugged him just to cover all bets.

In the car park everything looked normal to my eyes. My Visio spell was still active, so I could see the dark areas clearly. Only the lit areas made my eyes blur. Our SUV was still there and as far as I could see, the other vehicles were still in place.

Penny was looking too, with far superior vision to mine. She stood next to me and gestured with her pistol to a low building opposite the entrance to the retail park. A small electric runabout was parked there.

“Jeremy was sent by the Bishop to cover us in case the Warlock escaped right” she said. “So why is he down in that carpark, walking towards the Bishop?”

“Oh crap!” I said and started running towards the roadway, shouting and waving my arms. Jeremy turned to look in my direction, as did the Bishop. The Bishop was still looking at me when Jeremy lifted the long barrelled rifle he was carrying and calmly took aim at the older man.

A single shot rang out, shattering the stillness of the night air. The Bishop turned to Jeremy in surprise as the young man slumped to the ground, shot cleanly through the temple. The rifle clattered to the tarmac alongside.

I stopped running and looked back at Penny. She was still standing in her firing position, the rifle snugged up against her cheek and shoulder, her pistol discarded on the ground.

My feet felt like lead as I walked slowly towards her. Penny lowered her rifle and watched me approach.

“You said when the Mare gets into a Host, they rarely survive even when the Mare is destroyed” she said. “It was a kindness. He died instantly”.

“Oh Penny” I cried “I knew him. He was a good kid. He had a great future ahead of him”

“Really?” she snapped. “Did you actually look at his future path? If you had, maybe we could have spared him what happened here tonight”

“Penny, it’s not that simple...” I tried to explain. My emotions were running rampant after everything that we had been through.

She softened her expression. “I’m sorry Vee. You didn’t deserve that. But stop being afraid of your power. You have it for a reason” She picked up her pistol and tucked it away.

“Come on, let’s go tell the Bishop what we think is going on”.

As we walked together, I saw other agents of the Order converging on us. I looked around but could not see anyone in a blue uniform watching us, but I knew they were out there.