FILE FOLDER 2
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“Next, begins my accounts of a truly remarkable family.
The year was 2024AD after the great Dirge (or so it became known to the Eternal) as the world tried to catch up from their now damaged economies and changes within governments from the unrest and dissatisfaction of those in power. Multiple countries were at war with one another and governments were being used to separate human from human on the basis of prejudice alone.
My accounts start with a trio of siblings. A young girl of 16 named Kaliefi Tahi, her 19 year old brother Reve Tahi, and her 22 year old brother Kei Tahi. Lief: as she preferred to be called, and her family were from a reservation in the state of Arizona (When the America’s were still one country) but moved to Boston when Lief was seven years old. If any surviving accounts of Lief exist in your time, other than my own, then you may know her as The Heretic Goddess. She was hunted by countless governments, cults, and religious groups who referred to her by this name. Her part in the coming of those who would reshape the Earth is of the utmost importance so I must begin my accounts from the moment she became known to me.
Now I must warn you, what I am about to tell you is a history of your time and it is not at all what you have been taught in school or by your family. It is violent, dark, heartbreaking, twisted, and filled with war, death, blood, and reveals the deepest levels of evil that mankind is capable of. If you are truly ready to hear this truth, then keep listening. If you are not, then return to the blissful ignorant life you lived before this moment. Continue to believe that there is no Heaven, no Hel, no Gods, no Devil’s, and no deeper meaning to life on this planet than just to live, love, reproduce, and die. Abandon Hope all ye who enter here….”
CHAPTER 1
Location: SunGrove Mall, Boston Massachusetts
“A Daughter Scorned”
“Why do Infernus always pick the most dank places to hole up?” Lief whispered to the air.
Lief stood pressed against the side of the old abandoned mall, scoping out her target location. Her bright yellow and orange colored hair was almost glowing in the light of the half moon right above her. Her left heel tapping anxiously…well more like impatiently, as she scanned the old brick movie theater across the parking lot.
Once upon a time the SunGrove Mall was the place to be on a Sunday night. It would take you at least ten minutes to find a parking spot and the movie theater was always packed no matter what was showing. Lief and her family never knew the mall like that. When they first moved here to Boston the mall was already down to just a handful of struggling stores and the movie theater was boarded up. Within the following years the movie theater had to be boarded up because stupid teenagers would break in, do drugs, get drunk, have sex everywhere, and overall make a complete mess of the once beautiful building. Soon after that the whole mall shut down and was eventually boarded up as well to keep out looters and more stupid individuals who vandalized every square inch of the building they could find. Lief even heard a few stories of people being brought there to be killed and some who went there to kill themselves. Over all the building had real bad juju now. Lief couldn’t figure out why it hadn’t been torn down all these years but then recently her and her siblings found out exactly why. The mall and the theater were owned by some shady individuals with their hands in circles so dark and malevolent, it was no wonder her next target was hiding on these very grounds.
“The back entrance still the plan?” a male voice spoke within Lief’s earpiece.
“Yep” Lief responded, popping the gum in her mouth as she spoke.
“You know that’s very loud in a microphone right?”
Lief blew an impressively large bubble, closed her lips around it and popped it loudly.
“Thanks sis” the male voice said. “Brat”
“I am who I am.”
“Is Hart back yet?”
“Not…actually here she comes”
“The security guard is on the other side of the mall talking with the next shift” a richly toned female voice spoke from behind Lief.
“Then I guess that’s our cue” Lief said jumping up and down several times, breathing in through her nose and out her mouth.
“Must you always do that before?” the female voice asked.
“You know it’s my process” Lief said, raising a hand to the empty space beside her. “Don’t step on the process.”
“Well your process needs to hurry it up a little. Those guards won’t stay talking long.”
“You never know when one can pull a muscle Hart” Lief said, flicking her vision to the empty space. “How long are you going to stay invisible?” She said, raising an eyebrow.
“I don’t want to bring too much attention to you incase there are lookouts watching you right now. Your little headphone trick works on less than bright Eternals but more intelligent beings like Infernus and their offspring may get wise to the fact that you’re having a conversation with an Angel.”
“Why do you always have to be so freaking serious?”
“Because she’s meant to be your balance” the male voice in her ear said brightly.
Lief let out a light *hmph* before turning her head back to the brick building. “Alright, let’s get this party started”
Lief began jogging across the parking lot, checking her fit-watch, trying to look like a normal teenager going for an evening jog. She even started belting out the song she was pretending to listen to with her cordless earbuds.
She neared the building and began jogging around it, looking as normal as possible. She would do random turns; dancing to the imaginary song, so that she could look at the roof in search of guards or watchdogs.
She looped around the back and spotted the heavily boarded back entrance. She jogged up to it and stopped, pretending to be out of breath. Her hand grabbed the iron railing that stood around the small stoop leading to the door. Lief began stretching her calves and ankles as she checked her surroundings.
“I don’t see anything” she sang out loud like lyrics to her fake music.
Instead of answering, the invisible angel placed her hand on Lief’s shoulder to let her know it was all clear to her as well.
Lief cleared her throat and dove under the railing so that she was crouched down in front of the door.
“It’s a simple wood door” the male voice said. “A splinter cast should work.”
Lief reached up, placing a hand at the dead center of the thick sheet of plywood nailed over the door.
“E mocdnam htee, lte em neret” she whispered.
The plywood groaned quietly for a moment. Then the surface shivered and the wood began to splinter and shift until a large hole was made directly under Lief’s hand. Lief stepped up and through the hole, to the other side. Behind her, the plywood board moved again until the hole was once again filled.
Lief untied the jacket she had around her hips and slipped her arms through to wear it normally. She then reached into one of the many small pockets and slipped on a ring hidden inside.
“Queen Bast give me your sight” she said.
Within the dark of the pocket, golden light sparked from the large gem that sat in the center of the Egyptian style ring. The light died out and she removed her hand, bringing it up to her face. She traced the outline of both eyes and kissed the ring. Once her lips parted from the rings surface, her pupils and iris’s altered their form into the eyes of a cat.
Lief looked around the dark storage room she was now in; able to see almost perfectly thanks to her enchanted eyes. The room was empty apart from herself and Hart, who was crouching beside her.
“You may want to shift further into the Veil” Hart whispered.
“You think he was right?” Lief said scoping out the door leading into the rest of the building.
“Have you known your brother to ever be wrong in his instincts?” Hart said with a lift in her voice.
“No” Lief said. “Don’t tell him I admitted to that.”
“You literally have your microphone on you goof” the male voice said in her ear.
“I wasn’t talking about you Reve, I was talking about Kei.”
“Rude” Reve responded.
Lief focused her eyes on the patch of wall directly across from her. She calmed her energy and peeled back the very space around her like the petals of a flower.
Lief’s soul erupted in a flash of blue and amber as she passed deep into the Veil, allowing her eyes to see the true form of things. Now the room around her took on a much more sinister visage. The walls rippled and breathed and flecks of dark energy lifted from the floor up to the ceiling, adding to the layers of shadow and filth already there.
She looked down at the spot she stood and lifted a single foot. Her boot was sticking to the strange substance that was coating the area where she was crouched.
“Great” she said with a curled lip. “I love these boots.”
“I’m sure your brother can get daemonic bile stains out” Hart said, patting Lief’s shoulder.
“I don’t think it’s just bile. Look at the markings on the wall” she said, flicking her head towards the wall to the side of them.
Hart turned her vision and scanned the crimson sigils and seals that covered the entire wall.
“Breeding grounds” Reve said with distain. “Lovely.”
“I am officially burning these boots when I get home” Lief said, moving across the room towards the far door.
“That means there are pureblood’s there” Hart offered, following her charge closely. The tall angel held her dark green wings tightly to her back; making sure to keep them from dragging across the filth of the floor, with her left hand on the hilt of her sword, ready to unsheathe it at a moments notice.
The two of them made it to the door and paused before Lief cracked the door open to peer out into the large lobby of the old theater. It was a complete mess from what she could see. She closed the door again and turned to her Watcher.
“It must all be Helions. The place looks like a college guys dorm room.”
“With how often this room looks like it’s used I’m not surprised. Do you think this Infernus is the breeder?”
“Makes sense” Lief said, reaching into her shirt, to pull out the necklace she was wearing. “That Shadow Market that got busted a few months ago has apparently resurfaced on the other side of town. One of Reve’s customers was giving him the lowdown. This place might be why it’s back up and running.”
“A regular supply of Helion’s” Hart said with destain.
“And blood and parts, and Daemonic essence to boot” Reve finished.
“That would mean the Pureblood’s most likely serve as the Infernus’ bodyguards as well as breeding stock.”
“Or they have something even worse protecting them” Lief offered as she took the silver pendant of her necklace off its chain and held it tightly in her hand.
“That’s a fun thought” Hart admitted.
“I don’t think stealth is going to be the way to go with this one” Lief said with a smile. “With such an enclosed space, they’re all going to come at us at once.”
“We all know that you wouldn’t take the stealth option even if there was one” Hart said, unsheathing her sword slowly and quietly.
Lief flashed a mischievous smile to her Watcher, knowing she could see her despite the dark.
“We should at least take our time so we can take out the purebloods first” Hart offered. “Once they’re down it will be easier to take out their children.”
“Fine” Lief said, sounding more disappointed than anything (She always preferred to burst in guns a-blazing).
Lief opened the door wide enough to slip through. She pressed close to the outside wall, moving foot by foot, scanning the large open entryway for any movement.
The space was completely gutted from it’s original interior and furnishings. It was covered in graffiti: both human and Eternal made, from ceiling to floor. There were metal freight crates stacked on one side of the room and sitting right in the middle of the space was an old trolly car; also covered in brightly colored graffiti. Lief raised an eyebrow sharply at the strange interior of the old movie theater. It was like stepping into an old alleyway rather than the inside of a building. What’s more, the trolly car appeared to be well kept, like it was still in use.
I can sense them, Lief thought to herself.
She focused on sensing the direction of the dark energy she was feeling. Her eyes returned to the half-dozen freight crates on the opposite side of the room. She looked back at Hart, who was staying right on her charge’s heels, and flicked her eyes toward the crates. Hart just nodded and locked her eyes on the large metal containers as they continued moving across the room to the first couple of theaters.
Lief reached the first door and shifted up slightly so she could peek in through the thin window; which was completely broken out. She did a quick scan of what little she could see of the room inside. The angle she was seeing from wasn’t incredibly helpful but she could at least see the lower section of seats, closest to the wall where the movie screen used to be. The whole wall was covered with t.v and computer screens of every shape and size. She could barely see a single square inch of the wall behind the mass of screens. They were all hooked together with thousands of cables that ran down the wall, across the floor, and up into the ceiling. Half of the screens were currently on but Lief didn’t have time to study what they were showing.
Lief ducked back down and looked at Hart, who still had her eyes focused on the far wall.
“I wanna get a closer look at this room” she whispered. Hart gave a small sharp nod.
Lief pushed the door open slowly and slipped inside. Once Hart was sure they had not been sensed, she stepped back slowly until she passed right through the wall and into the room on the other side.
Turning from the wall before her now, Hart saw the ocean of screens connected by winding knotted cables. It was not strange to see so much technology in the hands of Daemonic Eternals, but to see it in the same place as a breeding den was a little odd.
Lief had shifted to the end of the short narrow hall that spilled out from the door to the actual theater. She prepped to come face to face with whoever was monitoring the feeds. Her hand tightened on the silver pendant in her hand, as she leapt out from her cover and faced the dozens of rows of broken and stained seats…well at least what should have been rows of dilapidated theater seats. Instead she was met by a handful of rather ornate looking couches facing the wall of screens with beautiful hand carved side tables from the late eighteen hundreds. The room was also completely devoid of any living thing other than her and Hart. She flicked her vision to Hart, who also looked confused as to the nature of the room.
“I really don’t like the vibes of that place” Reve said with a dark tone. “I think you need to be prepared for…”
Reve’s words were cut off by the sound of the door his sister and Hart came through, opening. Both women’s head’s flicked in the direction of the sound and not a breath later, they were both sprinting towards the wall of screens. Lief ducked behind a tall narrow screen close enough to the ground that even her feet couldn’t be seen. Hart folded her wings around her waist and tucked herself behind the screen right next to the one Lief hid behind. Reve began whispering in an Eternal language too quiet for even Lief to fully hear in the earpiece. After a few moments, the girls felt the familiar tingle of a shadowing spell rippling across their whole body. Once Reve sensed that both of them were hidden by the spell, he finished the incantation and silenced his voice. Shortly after, a very high pitched; nearly comedic voice boomed through the room:
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“Connect screen 54 to Senator Spritker” the voice demanded.
“Yessir” a much sweeter voice replied.
Lief’s eyes shot wide open at the familiar name of a well known politician. Why would they be in contact with a Senator? She asked herself.
The two of them went silent as they waited for what was about to transpire. One of the larger, dead screens above them, flashed on and a rhythmic beep began coming from the speakers wired into that particular screen. Soon the beeping changed pitch and rhythm before ending.
“Senator Spritker” the high pitched voice said with rather well acted pleasure. “What can I do for you tonight?”
“The Children of Hellfire are coming together in two days for an emergency meeting” an older male voice spoke (Just by the sound of his voice Lief wanted to punch him in the throat). “Sister Ducett was attacked last night by a group of angels. She was able to ward them off but she is worried it affected the pregnancy. We will be performing a ritual of second consecration to make sure the vessel is unharmed. We will be needing sacrifices and enough blood to submerge her completely.”
“Would you prefer Human or Husk?” the high pitched ‘salesman’ asked.
“Human of course” the older man said, sounding rather offended. “Our Lord excepts nothing less for such a ritual.”
“Of course” the high pitched man said with fake remorse. “I can have a dozen newborns to you for the baptism and three adult’s for the sacrifice.”
Lief cringed at the conversation being had. She was well aware of these kinds of dark dealings that happened every day right under humanities nose, but it still pissed her off every time. Crooked politicians, religious groups worshiping dark deities and deceiving their congregations as to the nature of their prayers. All of it made her fume with rage toward the lies that so many innocently broken people clung to as they are spewed from the putrid mouths of arrogant bastards who think they are more worthy and more powerful.
“I will send our men to pick them up first thing tomorrow morning” the old man spoke. “They will need to be bathed and prepared with proper sacraments a day before the ritual. Can you have them ready by morning?”
“I have enough supplies here for what you need. Send your men anytime.”
“Good” the older man said, sounding quite proud. “Make sure the sacrifices are untouched” he spat. “We need this ritual to be a success. You know what’s at stake.”
“I am well aware Senator. I will prepare the stock myself. Goodnight.”
The large screen went dark once again. Lief grasped the pendant in her hand tightly, ready to use it. Hart signaled for her to hold a bit longer. The impatient girl clenched her jaw and shifted her eyes back in the direction of the two figures in the room.
“Tell Arhitul that I need to hand pick some stock tonight. I have one more private call I need to make. You are excused” the high pitched male voice spoke.
“Yes sir” the other voice said, followed by the sound of quick scurrying feet, making their way out of the room.
Lief once again looked to Hart to signal their move but Hart shook her head once more. Lief rolled her eyes and gave her a frustrated look, lingering on her eyes. Hart held her gaze with a lifted brow.
“My queen” the high pitched man spoke. Both Hart and Lief’s faces dropped as they flicked their attention to the man who had made a quick call on his phone (at least they both assumed).
“I am sorry to disturb you my Queen but The Children of Hellfire are enacting a ritual of second consecration over the host. She was apparently attacked the other night by a group of Angelic beings…..no my Queen the baby was not harmed. The host was able to fight them off, but she fears the severity of the attack might have caused trauma to the vessel…..yes…..I am sending the supplies first thing tomorrow morning. They plan to enact the ritual in two days time…..yes, I will be hand picking the supplies myself to ensure the highest quality. I would use nothing less for this task…..thank you my Queen. I will notify you in the morning once the supplies have been safely transferred to the C.O.H.”
Lief’s blood curdled at hearing human’s being referred to as nothing more than supplies. She knew she could not attack this being right now. She wanted the chance to follow them to the holding room where the “supplies” were held. This had very quickly become a rescue mission first and an assassination second.
The male figure ended his call and Lief heard his heavier footsteps leaving the room in the same direction the lighter footed figure had left just before. Lief locked eyes with Hart as both women waited to hear the far door open and close once again.
“We need to follow him and rescue the humans he has imprisoned here” Lief said in a hushed voice.
“Agree’d” Hart said, gripping her sword tightly. “I’m concerned with this Queen he was speaking to.”
“I’m not” Lief said, completely uninterested. “I’m here to kill the Infernus and save those people and then I’m on to the next one. The inner workings of Eternals has nothing to do with me.”
“Lief if this guy has a Queen who contacts him then he’s someone of importance. Be ready for more resistance and possibly higher level than we anticipated.”
“I sure hope so” Lief said confidently.
Lief stepped out from behind the screen she was hiding behind and moved across to the far wall. Hart stood where she was for a moment longer, lingering on her charges disheartening words. She fazed through the screen and jogged to where Lief was standing, covering their back as Lief moved to the door.
“I guess stealth is up” Lief said, not wanting to admit it. The only sound Hart made was a bright “hmm”.
Hart unfolded her wings from around her torso, wrapping one around Lief like a shield and then wrapped the other around herself. She ruffled the dark emerald feathers from joint to tip. The colors shimmered and altered until they became translucent, hiding both women from any eye outside their feathered barriers.
“You know I am perfectly capable of shadowing both of you” Reve said in near offense.
“Yes but I can do it with no effort which allows both of you to concentrate on other things.”
“Good point” Reve said, releasing his own shadowing spell.
The two of them moved, staying back to back, through the door and into the main area again. Lief caught sight of a short male figure as it strode across the large lobby toward the hall on the opposite side, leading to two more theaters. His scale and stone flesh betrayed him despite his bright white business suit. The flesh on his bald head was so thin in areas that his skull almost protruded through. Even looking at him from the back, Lief knew what he was.
The Infernus made it to the far hall, followed closely and quietly by Lief and her Watcher. Instead of entering one of the theater rooms, the Infernus made his way to the end of the hall and a narrow doorway that appeared to be handmade by very unskilled hands. He opened the horribly made door and stepped down into the dark stairwell. Great, Lief thought to herself as she followed through the door before it could close. She stopped dead in her tracks and held her breath. She was standing only one stair behind the Infernus who had stopped suddenly. Every muscle in her body tightened as she tried not to move. Hart sensed the tension and had also frozen completely. After a few worrisome seconds, the Infernus began descending the stairs once again.
Does he sense us? Lief thought.
Lief allowed half a dozen stairs between them before she made to follow; wanting to give ample room to stop if a moment like that occurred again.
At the bottom of the stairs, the Infernus opened a second door. This one was thicker than the one above and sounded like it was made of metal. There was dim light coming from the other side, which lit up the bottom of the stairwell. Though Lief was able to see the darkened staircase; thanks to the ring still active on her finger, now she could see the stairs more clearly and also the bloodstains that striped them right down the middle.
Once the Infernus was through the door, Lief ducked behind him and shifted to the nearest wall space. Hart kept up with her perfectly and the two of them chose a cover spot near what appeared to be a medical table. They both looked up and over the steel table and took in a horrifying sight.
There were a handful of steel medical tables like the one they were hiding behind, on the same side of the huge room where they were located. Past that were rows and rows of human bodies in plastic bags like freezer meat. Tubes and i.v’s snaked from their bodies, out of pressurized nozzles coming from the bags, then leading down to medical machine’s near each body bag. The bodies were completely naked but in perfect condition. The women were all kept on one side of the room and the men on the other in a dozen or more rows that stretched from the area with the tables, all the way to the far wall, which Lief could barely see.
Hart tapped Lief’s shoulder with her own and signaled her Charge to look back to the center area of the room where a large glass chamber sat. Lief strained her eyes but wished she hadn’t looked so hard after. Within the large chamber were a hundred or so smaller body bags much like the ones the adults were kept in, but inside those bags were infants and toddlers, all placed in sections; seemingly by age.
Lief wanted to kill something and fast. She needed to do something violent to stem the pure rage she was now feeling. Hart; who was usually even tempered and mentally balanced at all times, was sharing in her charges rage. The Infernus was right in his word choice; these were nothing more than supplies. There were no humans to be seen. They had been stripped away of that birthright.
“Master” a female voice called from somewhere up ahead.
Lief and Hart watched as an incredibly tall female Eternal stepped out from between two rows of female human bags. She has to be eleven feet tall, Lief thought in amazement as she watched the gangly limbed female with dark umber skin, glide across the room.
“I need a dozen infants no older than 16 months and three adults no older than forty.”
“Of course Master” the woman said in a slow drawn out reply. Lief thought is sounded like the woman was speaking through some sort of vocal transformer that slowed and slightly distorted her speech.
The tall Eternal craned her long neck to the side, looking for which row to pull from. Once she decided, she lifted her ridiculously long arm and pointed an equally long and bony finger; which was made even longer by her four inch bright purple nails. The Infernus followed the line of her finger and walked at a quick pace to the line of “supplies” in the row the woman pointed to. She began to follow behind him immediately but obviously did not arrive at his location for quite a few seconds later thanks to her naturally slow movements.
The Infernus began reading the labels on each bag with great care; like choosing milk at a grocer. Lief watched in disgust at the whole ordeal. She wanted so badly to separate that creatures head from his neck. The tall one would prove to be a fun bonus as well.
Lief looked over at Hart and mouthed: “What is she?”
Hart studied the tall creature once more but shook her head in bewilderment. The woman was unlike any Eternal creature she or her Charge had ever come across, nor did she remember seeing it in any of Reve or Kei’s books, or in their mothers journals.
Hart turned back to Lief and mouthed: “It might be a pureblood.” But truthfully she was just grasping at straws. The creature lacked the horns of an Angel or Fallen, and she didn’t have the usual eyes of a Daemon.
Lief looked back at the gangly creature and focused her mind. The woman wasn’t putting off the same kind of strong daemonic energy that pureblood daemon’s did; at least not like the ones she had come across.
“Reve are you getting anything?”
“Her essence isn’t familiar. Keep on your toes.”
“I’ll take these two and the last one in the row” the Infernus spoke with great pride.
“Yes, Master. Stupendous choices” the female responded, bowing her head lowly.
The Infernus then turned round and began walking towards the center chamber.
“Now onto the infants” he said with apparent disgust.
Behind him, the tall creature was pressing a series of buttons on each of the three monitors connected to the chosen three male’s. Once she was done inputting the commands, each computer screen began flashing blue and the three bodies; along with their connected monitors, began moving on a track away from the line and towards the center of the room. The three bodies then began to travel down to the far end opposite of Lief and Hart. Lief assumed there was a loading dock of some sort at that end to make transportation easier.
The tall creature had moved toward the center chamber, to meet up with her Master, who had already begun choosing twelve ideal candidates. Once both of them were inside and the double sliding doors had closed once again, Lief turned to Hart and steeled her gaze.
“Once they come out of there we’re going to have our best opening” she whispered.
“I agree” Hart said over her shoulder. “What of the tall one” she asked with a raised eyebrow.
“You want I should leave her for you?” Lief asked humorously.
“Seems like an unfair fight” Hart teased. “Poor thing.”
“Go ahead and drop your ward” Lief said, crouching down behind the table. “Time to suit up.”
Hart shifted her wings back to a resting position around her waist, turning to crouch right next to Lief. Hart readied her sword and also pulled out one of the three daggers she had strapped to the small of her back. With both weapons ready, she locked eyes with the wall in front of her and steadied herself for her charges call to action. Her short white horns gave off a subtle glow and her white irised black eyes echoed the soft pulses of light.
Lief lifted the silver pendant in her hand, up to her mouth and kissed it. She then brushed her eyes with the hand wearing the Egyptian ring and her eyes reverted to their original color. She removed that ring with her teeth and placed it back into the pocket it was originally stored in. She reached inside another hidden pocket on the inside of her shirt and slid on two more rings. She removed her hand and lifted the two rings to her mouth.
“Awanek” she commanded in a whisper. The two ornate rings vibrated and the colored stones at the peak of each one began to glow softly. Once she was finished, she looked over to Hart to make sure she was ready and then turned so that she was facing the end of the table that stood towards the middle of the room. Then she waited.
“We will need to replace these as soon as possible” the Infernus spoke as he exited the center chamber. “We have that auction at Mortis this weekend and I want a full stock to show. Get your best breeders going tonight.”
“With only eight days, we will be cutting it close Master” the tall Eternal spoke, ducking out through the glass double doors.
“Then give them a double dose of Daemon blood to move the process along more quickly. You have plenty of breeders right now so losing those twelve at birth won’t matter. I want the offspring. The mothers mean nothing to me, you know that.”
Hart reached a hand and grasped Lief’s arm at the comment. She knew such comments about women; especially mothers, always put Lief over the edge. Women were after all the original heir’s. It was the denizen’s of Hel and Earth that shifted the balance and devalued their gender. That was just one more thing that Lief hated about man and Helish Eternal alike.
Lief took a deep breath and waited for the perfect moment.
“I will begin immediately Master. Have you enough Hellion’s for the auction as well?”
“Plenty of those. Just focus on replacing this stock and that will suffice for now. You might want to breed fourteen in case there is another defect like the last stock.”
“Yes, my Master.”
“That’s it” Lief whispered in anger.
Lief shot out from around the table and began running full speed at the Infernus who was completely caught off guard and even stumbled into the table next to him. Hart shot off the ground and backflipped clear up and over the table, using it as a vault to launch herself into the air, spreading her wings and soaring directly at the tall Eternal.
“Arhitul!” the Infernus shrieked at the tall woman.
In a flash, the tall Eternal’s whole appearance changed. She leapt into the air at Hart and her limbs grew in size and bent in two other areas, creating two more joins. Her mouth opened so wide that it split her head to her ears and another mouth opened in her neck just below her chin. Her four eyes all turned bright white as she shrieked loudly.
Hart smashed into the creature, slashing and flipping in the air around the creatures tentacle-like limbs.
Lief clenched her hand which held the silver pendant tightly and yelled: “Umbral Star!”
Bright white and silver energy exploded out from her hand and the pendant expanded and twisted its form until it created a beautiful silver blade with glowing white markings and diamonds patterned into the ornately winding hilt.
Lief swung the blade with great force at the Infernus but the man shot out of the way much faster than Lief would have thought him capable. She pulled back, re-centering herself and swung her other hand in a tight fist at the mans chest, striking full on. The two rings on her middle and index fingers shot out colored sparks as they collided with the daemon’s body. The Infernus flew backwards, slamming into the wall of the center chamber, making a small crack in the thick reinforced glass.
Lief pursued her target, giving him not even a full breath after landing on the ground clumsily, before she was on him again, spinning her body so that her blade came down on his shoulder with great speed and weight. The silver blade sang as it sank into his shoulder, splitting bone and muscle. The Infernus let out a howl of pain before Lief slammed her ringed fist into his face, shooting blood out of his mouth and nose. She even chipped off two of the daemon’s facial spikes with the blow.
Lief pushed her sword into his shoulder further and reared back to strike him again with her fist. The Infernus grabbed Lief’s wrist with his free arm and fought to keep her arm from pressing forward to attack again. Lief chuckled.
“I thought you might put up more of a fight” she said, pressing down onto her blade, making the Infernus bellow again. “I guess you’re more of a business man than the fists around here.”
Lief pulled her other arm free of his grip and swung full force again, catching the Infernus’ hand between her fist and his own face. His fingers crunched and twisted from the blow and more blood spurted from his mouth as his own knuckles slammed into his gums and teeth.
“You…you’re the one….who….”
“Killed all your other siblings?” Lief said interrupting the Infernus. “Yep, that’s me. You guys screwed with the wrong family.”
“I have no idea who you even are girl! We don’t care who you family…”
“Shut up swine!” Lief shrieked. “You know exactly what you and your siblings did. I’m going to hunt down every last one of you and make you suffer.”
“If you kill me…you will…bring down more than just…the Infernus upon you…”
“Oh you mean by shutting down your little business here? I’m so scared” Lief said as the sounds of a heated battle cascaded across the room from behind her. The Infernus kept looking from Lief, to the fight between the green winged Velkhr and his Eternal employee.
“I don’t know what your friend is” Lief said in perfect time as Hart hacked clean through one of the gangly creatures legs, “But my Watcher is going to carve her into kindling and then set her on fire. You however, have a fate far worse than death ahead of you. Say goodnight creep.”
Lief yanked her sword out of the Infernus shoulder, making him fall to the ground in agony as silver blood cascaded out from the gaping wound and onto the tile floor. She then pulled out a small black box with thin gold markings across it’s surface.
“You are a fool” the Infernus said lowly. “You have no concept of the world you have elected to bring your family into. You are nothing.”
Lief held the box up in the air and let go of it. The box hovered for a moment before exploding open, sending golden electricity from inside rolling across the Infernus’ body. He cried loudly as the energy dissolved his form, turning him into a cloud of dark ash. The cloud was wrapped by the cascading lightning and pulled into the black box which reformed around it, sealing itself. Lief grabbed the box from the air and slid it into a pocket, zipping it closed.
Lief ran to the sliding doors of the center chamber and stepped inside. Outside of the nearly soundproof chamber, Hart was giving the gangly Eternal a good thrashing, sending her body flying from ceiling to floor and back again. Lief wasn’t watching at all, however. She knew her Watcher could handle herself. She was more concerned with how she was going to get so many human children and adults out of this place. She scanned a few of the printed labels on the plastic bags that held the infants tightly inside. The labels gave physical facts of each infant including genetics, estimated height, weight, build, and even a marker for a future breeder or fodder. Lief clenched her jaw tight as she read what were basically nutrition facts of each child. She turned her attention then to the small display screens connected to each bag. She went through the multiple pages of one of the infants vitals, looking for some kind of disengage or release command. In a quite comedic moment, the gangly Eternal suddenly smashed into the wall of the chamber, splattering it with blood. Lief only glanced for a split second before returning to her task. The creature slid down onto the floor in a heap of limbs and blood as Hart slowly walked towards it, tossing her hair from her face.
“There you are” Lief said as she went to press the ‘Shutdown’ command on the system. She stopped just shy of the panel and thought with clarity. “What the heck am I gonna do with a hundred babies? Frag!”
“I’ve got you” Reve said, dialing 911 on his phone.
“Hello 911 Emergency how…”
“I need a team of squad cars to come to 498 Calloway Drive, the old movie theater. I was in here….doing some drugs”-he said unconvincingly, grasping for some kind of excuse-“when I found some scary stuff down in the basement. I mean human trafficking kind of scary. Please send someone fast!”
“Some drugs huh?” Lief teased as she walked away from the shutdown window she left flashing so the police could easily figure out how to free everyone.
“It will work okay” Reve said in protest.
Once again Lief’s timing was perfect and she exited the glass room just in time to see Hart thrust her blade into the gangly Eternals skull. Hart looked up at her charge and tossed her bloody hair from her face with a smile.
“Reve called the police” Lief said, treating the situation as just a normal day at the office. “They can handle getting all these people out of here. We need to take care of everything upstairs before they get here.”
“Brute force; your favorite” Hart said pulling her sword from the Eternals face.
Lief checked to make sure her two rings were still on her favorite fingers and then re-gripped her silver blade before looking up at Hart with a wicked grin.
“Let’s go kill some daemon’s.”