The Pythoness

I pushed open the doors just in time to find my quarry. My nose had been right, for these sorts of things. As always.

The particular building I was walking into had been called “The Maxx” by the man I’d shaken down in the parking lot (after having caught him trying to shove a comatose woman into the back of his car). and was apparently some kind of bar. Didn’t look it to me.

I smelled the scent of sweat, tears, and sex, the moment I stepped inside. And more pressingly, fear, from the two people who had been moving to leave before I’d opened up the door to stop them.

Both of them wore white coats, like doctors, but I knew they were anything but healers. One of them, a middle aged human man with a messy and ill put together self, reached into his coat for what was certainly a firearm. The other, a young woman with glasses that covered most of her face, took a step back in fear.

“Where’s the artifact.”

I said, gruffly, and without any room for negotiation. Well, apparently they had decided there was room, because the man tried to shoot me in the face.

Now, I quite liked my face, so I moved my body faster then his little peashooter could, and sprouted my fingernails into vicious claws, and struck upwards faster then he could move to dodge. My claws sank into his throat, and I pulled outwards. He made something between a gurgle and a scream, before his head detached in a spray of blood. Some of it landed in my mouth, and it tasted worse then most. I let the body fall, but kept hold of the head.

At this point, the people in this front atrium made the choice to start screaming and running, not that I was sure I could blame them. They didn’t know what that idiot had done, or they’d be cheering.

Or maybe still screaming.

I tuned them out and looked over to the woman, who had backed herself to the wall. I took a step closer.

“Where. Is. The. Artifact.”

I said, glaring at her, allowing the serpentine tail that protruded from my back to sway back and forth, producing a rattle that cut through even the screams.

“T-The Senator has it-he’s the man with the Ci-Cigar-“

She pointed. Towards the back of the establishment.

“Don’t have it anymore? Shame.”

I sighed, and took one step back. For a moment, I considered my options. It felt scummy to kill her, but at the same time, this woman had made that…thing.

Somebody else made my choice before me, as clearly one of the armed guards of the saloon had decided that he oughta do something about the mean snake tailed stranger. A flurry of bullets were discharged behind me, and I chose to dive out of the way. I didn’t carry the poor turtledove in front of me to safety, however, and the hail of iron killed her before I could finish contemplating.

Damn.

Oh well.

“Alice, sic ’em!”

I called into the air, and my steadfast companion answered. A giant grey wolf, regal in bearing, hurled towards the two armed men, who had these strange purple eyes, and pulverized them against the wall in a spray of human insides and outsides.

“Good girl. Now c’mon.”

She dropped the chunk of human mean she’d managed to snag between the slam from her mouth, and spoke in her usual upbeat sounding voice.

“Ok! What’re we doing?”

I whistled, and the big softie trod after me-I avoided her attempts to lick my face, and instead reached down to tear the head off the other scientist. Would be one hell of a statement whenever I caught up with whoever ACTUALLY had the artifact.

“We’re lookin’ for something. Fancy lookin’ machine Gonna cause big problems.”

I sniffed the air again, and paused. Hm. Those purple eyed fellas, and the rest of the strangeness of tonight had me a bit cautious. I turned towards the next room. Only a small volume of panic had reached them, many of them were still dancing along to some kind of music. Needed some chaos, to walk around with two severed heads.

“Alice, fetch-” I said, reaching into a pocket, and hurling a chunk of raw meat out that way.

“Ok! Yay!”

She said, with enthusiasm.

The wolf bounded after, which caused the panic I wanted. People scattered, screamed, the music stopped, as a giant grey wolf stalked through the crowd. I followed a pace behind her, and effortlessly navigated the crowds of humans running past me. I’d already eaten tonight, and I’d trained my dog better then to go mauling folks who didn’t deserve it.

I turned my head towards the back of the establishment. I saw somebody with a sword running down a back hallway, and while I normally didn’t make it a habit of following people with sharp sticks into dark halls, it seemed like my best lead. Most of the people in the establishment had cleared out by now, and I was clearing my path towards the back, trying to make it direct as possible. Unfortunately for me, it was never gonna be that simple.

A gout of purple fire arced down from one of the upper sections, and I was forced to drop my two severed trophies, and jump back a few strides, landing a few feet behind my prior position. Alice got on her haunches and growled.

I saw him there, wreathed in a corona of purple flame. He was a man, fair skinned, with crimson red eyes that cut through the smoke and fire. He wore finery, and had a mouth full of shark teeth, bared at me. I sniffed the air, and placed it.

“Demon!” I called out. “I wasn’t expectin’ one of your sort ’round here! Don’t they have most of ya in tombs somewhere?”

I wasn’t gonna scare this fella with a glowering gaze, so I decided to be nice and candid.

He didn’t seem interested in a chat, unfortunately, cause another fireball ripped down from above. This time it was aimed at Alice, and frankly, bad choice, cause she was faster then those speeding bullets from before. She ran forward, leaping upwards and towards the demon. Meanwhile, I sprouted my claws again. I figured I could call in more help when I needed it. I started going for the stairs. This demon wouldn’t be going away.

Alice had managed to tackle him, but he, in turn, had slipped her grasp, getting behind her. A set of spectral chains tore from his palm, and moved towards her, as I ran at him, claws brandished. Fire was dangerous, but so was letting him using magic to mess with my dog.

He sidestepped me, and wreathed his arm with fire, before trying to elbow strike me. I caught his shoulder, and moved to gut him with my other hand. He intensified his corona, and a bolt of purple flame struck at me as I tried. My front was alight for a moment, before I swiped at it, and managed to put it out.

He clapped his hands together, summoning another inferno, but I’d bought time for Alice to tackle him off the side of the balcony, taking him through it, and nearly to the floor, but he sprouted a pair of wings, and pushed off of her before that could happen. His front was clawed, but healing fast, as he continued to shift and change. A full daemonic form wouldn’t be a particularly good turn for me.

Plus, I didn’t want to run out of time.

I held out a hand, towards him, from the edge of the balcony I stood upon.

“Fido-“

The giant snake’s maw appeared around the demon’s lower body.

“Swallow.”

The two of them crashed back to the ground. He wouldn’t go down easy, but Fido was the strongest beast spirit I knew, despite the name. He was an anaconda with the strength of an elephant, and the speed of a car, and the demon hadn’t expected him.

“Caspian-” I said, with another whistle, this one more akin to a tune. The giant canary, beautiful and clean, emerged from the spirit world a pace later. I made a motion towards the now abandoned center of the room, where the two heads lay.

“Go get those heads for me.”

The bird, capable of speech more readily and willingly then the other two, released the bird equivalent of a sigh.

“Must I, angel? They seem so dirty!”

“C’mon. I’ll take you flying later.” I said, a little bit insistent. and pleading.

“Oh fine, if you’re offering.”

He took flight, and began to swoop towards the heads. I whistled again, the one Alice nkew, and she stepped up to me, as the demon’s fire began to protrude from Fido’s mouth, and he continued to try and swallow him down. She was injured, one of her eyes looking swollen shut, and her fur was singed in various segments.

“I didn’t get him, angel…”

“That’s ok. Fido’ll handle it. Let’s get moving, before anybody gets away”

She must’ve caught whiff of something, because she shot down that back hallway like a rocket before she could say anything else. I shook my head, and moved to follow after her. Sometimes I wondered if the spirit world had crossed one of those domesticated mutts into Alice’s body.

I saw the same shape, a guy with a full on sword, I now realized, duck out a back door. In the meantime, I heard gunshots, and picked up my pace after Alice. I found her with a new chew toy, or what was about to be a new chew toy. A woman wearing a fancy suit, with a giant bruise on her head, and generally looking clawed up by Alice. I saw a few of Alice’s teeth on the floor, and a bit of her blood. I sniffed. Human. Huh.

Alice would get better after a brief jaunt into the spirit world, and if she was in pain I would know. So I wasn’t too worried as I went on approach, my tail swaying and rattling behind me, and my spurs clinking with my feet.

It looked like the woman had wedged a club into Alice’s mouth, to avoid her tearing out her throat. Clever, but it wouldn’t last her very long.

I whistled sharply again.

“Alice, stay!”

“But angel, she smells of the enemy!” She protested.

I made a dismissive hand gesture. I didn’t smell anything. She was probably smelling the demon’s fire. I walked up to her, a bit of a grin on my face.

“You’ve got fight!” I said, with confidence. “Tell me where the Senator went off to, and I’ll have Alice here get off ya.”

I didn’t think it was necessary to try and scare her either. If she wasn’t shitting herself from the wolf, there was nothing I could do.

She spat on my boots. An impressive thing to do, when she was the one laying down.

“Monster.” She said, believing it with her whole chest. I guess it wasn’t hard to figure me out.

I turned my head back, and laughed. Man! Some humans these days were really something. I resolved to find the Senator myself, I could probably smell his cheap modern tobacco a couple miles off anyhow.

“Alice, off, we’ve got a hunt to get to.”

I stepped over her, and Alice got off, moving down the hall ahead of me. I heard her, behind me, about to go for a weapon, so I smacked her hand with my surprisingly strong tail. I might have broken it, at my speed. I heard something clatter to the ground, at least. I put a hand up over my shoulder as a sort of wave. She’d get over this humiliation, she seemed like a curly wolf.

“Later, Inquisitor.”

I said, because there’s no way she was anything but. I’d seen her type over the past century and a half, hell, I used to be in her shoes, a long time ago now.

I walked out the door, and felt the cold, biting, and filthy city air strike me. Alice moved a few paces ahead, sniffing as if trying to find something. Meanwhile, Caspian circled around the side of the building, and dropped the two heads at my feet.

“There! Now, shall we fly?” He said, proud of himself.

“For sure.” I said, focusing for a moment, and giving Fido the conduit he needed to return to the spirit world. Our connection frayed for a moment, then returned to normal. Good. “You can help me with the hunt, while we’re at it.”

“Of course, angel.”

At the same time, I called upon a new spirit, giving him the means to cross over, still inside that Maxx place. Directing him towards the back, to find something in specific.

A few moments later, I pulled the fox spirit, named Archie, to my side. He had a used up cigar in his mouth.

“Here you are, angel!” He said, dropping it into my palm with enthusiasm.

“Good work. Let’s get huntin'”

————————————————————————————

Lucky for me, Alice had a good nose, and doubly lucky, she didn’t mind me riding on her back. I really should get her fitted for a saddle one of these days, but my favorite leatherworker passed back in 1904, and I hadn’t had a real flesh and blood horse since before even that. Even my immortality couldn’t buy me the time to do little menial things like that.

She ran like a bullet over top of buildings, as Caspian soared overhead, getting his fresh air. I didn’t let him soar like this very often, especially not in America, where every asshole and their bitch mothers wanted to shoot at pretty animals.

But this was a quiet night.

I had about seven hours till sunrise, when the vengeance of some asshole god would burn me to cinders, in the form of the sun. But, I had plenty of time to get what I wanted, and vanish to a proper hiding spot.

I was still turning the catalyst of all this over in my head. I’d had a vision from Archie, the little fox had a touch of clairvoyance when he wanted to, and he shown me the vision of an artifact, bound up in steel and gold, that would cause the mountains to wake and the lakes to boil. I hoped it wasn’t literal, but I’d set off anyways. I’d shaken down as many government types from the city limits to that Maxx place, and it had led me here. And I still didn’t have a clue what I was really looking for.

My attempts to wrap my head around the murkiness of it all was cut short by Alice stopping her advance on the roof of a building. She growled down at the stone surface of it. I dismounted.

“Enough air, Caspian?” I called up to the bird.

“Oh, I suppose, angel.” He replied, circling above my head.

“Alrighty. You two head home. I’ll ring if I need anythin’.”

The pair of them both passed back over to their world. I wished I could follow them. It was always nice there. Less light pollution.

I then went searching for a way inside the building. Eventually, I settled for climbing down the side. Alice had stopped atop a parking garage, but a taller building loomed beside it. I figured, if they’d passed this way, they woulda left their car, and I could probably formulate something from there. With a bit of a clever set of jumps, and my own athleticism coming home to roost, I managed to reach one of the lower levels. I sniffed the air. Someone was coming, in a vehicle. One that smelled like money, and…

Tobacco. I moved towards the smell.

Rounding the corner was one of those long black automobiles that fancy pants tended to ride in. Plenty of my bloodkin used them as a status symbol. Needless to say, it didn’t say anything encouraging about who might be in there.

Whoever was driving must’ve seen me, because the car stopped and tried to reverse. I sighed.

“Bruce, tires-“

The alligator popped his head out, long enough to swallow an entire wheel. Suited me fine, as he slunk back into the spirit world. The car swerved, and slammed into one of the pillars holding the place up.

I took this chance to hold up my prizes. The two severed heads of the scientist. I did this, and put on my scary face. Taking a few steps forward.

A man wearing a suit similar to the woman I’d left, with scars up his face, and a shaved head, stepped out of the vehicle, raising a gun. He said something under his breath, then shouted.

“You!” He shouted. “Hands on the ground!”

I could’ve laughed.

At the same time, a fat man in an even nicer suit, and a younger man in more casual wear, got out on one side. Meanwhile, on the same side as the man with a gun, a young woman with the top two buttons of her blouse unbuttoned, scrambled out of the vehicle and took off running. I saw no cause to stop her. I held up the two heads. I watched as the two other men took a step back in horror. Meanwhile, the man with the gun had the guts to advance on me. I almost respected it. But then again, he was in my way. And I felt I could scare him if I tried.

“Last warning! Get on the ground, or I’m opening fire!” He shouted, again.

I held the heads up more fully, for a moment. Yet, the other two began to advance. Alright, time to change tactics. I dropped both of the heads with a faint ‘squelch’. I looked at the two other men, since the gun didn’t concern me. Because I had seen it. In the younger man’s hand, was a steel case, with a golden strip going across it. If that wasn’t what I was looking for, I didn’t know what was.

I spoke, in the scariest monster voice I could muster. It made me feel a little gross. Too masculine. Hadn’t talked like that since…well, I’d learned not to. Hard, given my condition, but I managed it.

“The case. Give it over, and you’ll all live. Cling to it, and I won’t even leave your skulls.”

I stared down at them. But then, the man with the gun chose to act. Three gunshots.

I wasn’t expecting the sudden push, and had clearly underestimated him. I fell backwards, as a bit of my lifeblood fell from my front. My head struck the ground, and rather then deter me, it brought me back to my senses. Ugh. Men.

I heard him speak again.

“Get to the elevator, I’m calling the-“

Footsteps.

I rattled my tail into a steady drone, and started to pull myself up to my feet. I wasn’t gonna just lie around. I expelled the bullets from my body, and heard them impact the ground.

I didn’t speak my commands this time, I gestured, and each one of my companions answered. I flicked my hand towards the vehicle, and Fido appeared on the other side of it, flipping it with one half of his tail, sending it soared towards two of the men, who were fleeing. Meanwhile, I pushed my other hand in the form of a fist towards the man with the gun, whose next two shots went wide. His eyes were in a similar state, as now, he felt fear.

Alice bounded out of the spirit world at top speed, running him down, even as he moved to flee. I brought my hands together after that, and Caspian manifested upon my shoulder, observing the carnage with me.

The fancier and larger man who I assumed was the senator, had been successfully pinned by the vehicle, his legs mangled and crushed. The younger one with the case had avoided his fate in a stroke of luck. I sighed under my breath, and put my scary face back on.

“Fido, swallow. Alice, fetch. Caspian, take it.”

The terror I had hoped to invoke had certainly been conjured now, as Fido lunged across the room towards the senator on the ground, Alice meanwhile, chased the man with the gun, and it wasn’t long before before she had claws and teeth into him, his screams echoing through this entire garage. Caspian took flight, and dove for the man with the case, as I’d wanted. Nobody needed to speak. When things got down to it, we were in tune with each other, and we were a few hand motions away from understanding.

The man with the case ran, jamming his hand into the control panel for one of those elevators that buildings had these days. Caspian struck him from behind, digging into his shoulder with talons and beak alike, making a bloody mess of it. He dropped something between his arms as he was attacked, a folder, with documents inside. I took note of it, and began to approach. Fido, in the meantime, had found his meal, and was slowly starting to swallow. Alice had killed the man with the gun, and was taking her fill. The case was swung like a bludgeon towards Caspian, once, twice, three times, which managed to get the bird to release. The elevator’s doors opened, and he stumbled back inside, trailing blood and sweat behind him.

I approached, as Caspian did a few swoops to increase speed, placing my foot atop this folder as I did. Caspian then dove, correctly discerning that the young man would be incapable of swinging the case again.

What I didn’t expect, however, was him to muster the strength to push himself forward, and operate part of the elevator. The doors began to close. Caspian chose to not try and make the dive, so I had to pick up into a run.

Fast as I was, I couldn’t beat the damn machine. The doors closed, and the elevator carried him away. I growled.

I walked back over to Caspian, as Alice pulled the body to me and dropped it at my feet.

“Good work.” I said, to everyone present, receiving various flavors of admonishments in return. I directed Fido to smash open the elevator doors, leading into the shaft beyond.

“Caspian, can you start-“

I started to ask the canary to fly up and after the case, when another car roared around the corner at top speed. It was a lot less nice, but that didn’t stop it from trying to hit me. Fuckin’ hated those things.

Caspian took flight, I still didn’t have wings. The car slammed into me at top speed, and carried me back into the wall, a bit of steel being what kept me from falling a couple stories down into the street. It hurt. A lot.

“Yellow bellied-mouthpiecin’–son of a bitch, piece of shit, motherfu-“

I shouted a variety of insults in a bit of a frenzy, as the car’s sole occupant got out. He was built like a scoundrel, vaguely muscled, with tousled hair, and tan skin. He had drawn a familiar blade out of nowhere, and he smelled like demon. He must’ve been the one at the club. Two demons, in one roof? Didn’t think I’d seen the day. Everything I knew about them, they tended to work alone.

He winked at me, then turned his attention towards Fido, who had swallowed his meal, and Alice, who was done showing off. They, and Caspian, were prepared to fight him, and I heard the sounds of combat begin to ensue without my direction, as I focused on freeing myself from the automobile based prison I had found myself trapped in. I’d escaped worse. Back when I could still feel the sun, I got tossed in a pit and nearly was buried alive. This was nothing.

With a bit of blood fueled strength, I forced myself free, and put myself on the mend. It was starting to work up my appetite, but I’d live.

My companions had seemingly made short work of the new assailant, who had been flung towards the general area of the elevator, looking pretty well beat up. I began to advance on him, wondering about the virtues of negotiating with him. Then, I realized he was right next to that folder, which was probably my only ticket to figuring out more about this whole mess. So, I’d have to be careful, as I plotted my approach.

He sprung to his feet a little too quick for someone who’d been flung across a room by a snake stronger then most human machines. He put one foot on the folder, and I stopped-he picked it up, and spoke.

“Time out-time out-“ He said, holding up the folder. He was grinning a good bit. Me calling him a mouthpiece hadn’t seemed fully inaccurate “Tell you what. Let me go, and this is all yours.”

Was he…not…here for…

The confusion didn’t show on my face. I put on my scary visage instead, as he waved the folder around.

“Don’t, and I rip it in half” He said, miming the motion.

I growled at him, and rattled my tail. Eventually, realizing that hadn’t shaken him, I spoke.

“I don’t make demons.”

I’d live without the folder.

“Your loss” He said, as he did something surprising-he tossed the folder at me. I moved the catch it, before realizing his scheme-he’d thrown himself into the elevator shaft and started climbing. Tricked that easily. You’d think I wasn’t even a hundred years old.

I sent my companions after him, but they never found him. Leaving me stranded on the ground floor.

I sighed. My Sisters were never going to let me live this down.

So I carried on. Wouldn’t be the first time I’d been hit with a setback. I always persevered, even if it got me six feet under. Could always crawl my way back out.

————————————————————————————

Dead end after dead end. By the time I reached the top office, tearing up the stairwell to do it, it was by far too late. I found the body of the young man, eyes still open, and with a large hole in his chest. I bothered to close his eyes, and tore apart the once office of Senator Garrison looking for answers. The closest I found was a lot of blood that wasn’t his, that smelled vaguely demonlike. Must’ve been the swordsman. I did a brief ritual, to try and glean anything I could-to no avail. Then, I took a look at the folder, and swiftly gave up. No pictures. I’d never learned to read human languages. Had seemed like a waste of time. Till now. So, I tore off a piece of the carpet that was stained with the demon’s blood, and was back on the hunt. Before I did, I headed back to the garage deck and took what blood I could from the mangled driver of the fancy car, and the man with the gun. Senator was swallowed, and I didn’t feel like draining try the young man up above. Then, it was back to riding Alice, whose meager injuries had fully healed, not even a sign of the eye wound from before.

I tried to wrack my brain, as I told Alice to giddy up and set off. The sequence I was seeing here was that the scientists who had stolen the artifact from the government, had given the artifact to the Senator, who had given it to the young man who worked for him, who was killed by the swordman, though that wound hadn’t looked like a blade-who now had the chip. His scent wasn’t taking us out of the city, or in the direction of the Maxx for that matter. I had a bad feeling, about all of this. I considered calling another Sister for help. I was technically operating on my own, but somebody would want to lend a hand, given how fuckin’ bad this might be. But, I decided against it. Would take too much time for anyone to get here, anyways.

Eventually, Alice jumped from the rooftop to the street with a resounding slam. She was unhurt, of course. She nodded with her head towards a large and fancy building.

I dismounted, and scratched her along the neck. And let her return to the spirit world. I could find things from here, I was sure.

I took a few strides closer to the building. It was a quiet night, not many cars on this part of the street, so I was able to cross without getting hit for the second damn time tonight. I reached the front door, and sniffed the air.

I immediately smelled blood. I moved towards the source, as quickly as my legs would carry me. It led me to another elevator. I messed around with the buttons until I pressed one that made the door open, and it revealed a grisly sight, and the source of the smell.

The swordman was there, cut up, beat up, and with a gunshot wound in his neck. A bag had it’s contents strewn across the floor, displaying various trinkets, curios, and no case. He looked worse then a cattle thief after a stampede.

Shit.

I hurried up to him. He was definitely dead, from these wounds. But…

I smelled him again. There was nothing demonic about him. I may have been wrong before. But what I hadn’t been wrong about, is that he definitely wasn’t human. Which meant…

I wrenched a silver throwing blade out of his chest, and sliced open my palm. Using the lifeblood that came forth from it, I leaned forward, and began to draw on his forehead. If he was any flavor of supernatural creature, then there was more to his essence, then the body that had been shot. Without intervention, he would die, because the body did reflect the deeper entity. At least, that was what my spiritual mentors had taught me. So, they’d made this particular little trick.

I finished drawing on his forehead. And spoke a few words. I didn’t know what they meant, but they’d been taught to me to do this particular little rite, so I knew ’em from memory. Didn’t even know the language.

For a moment, it didn’t seem to work. Figures, I thought, because I’d only ever used this on spirits whose physical forms had gotten too damaged. But then, he started coughing and hacking. The wound in his throat sealed, as something within subsumed the wound. Then, the blade wounds followed, and finally, the various bruises. His eyes snapped open, slightly cloudy, as he looked up at me.

“…Are you an angel?” He murmured. I kicked him in the ribs. He yelped.

“Hey! What the hell i-” His eyes unclouded, and widened, as he looked around. “Oh no. Ohnonono-“

“It’s gone.” I said, confirming the worst fears that he clearly held.

He groaned, and leaned back against the wall.

“Well, then, I’m sorry to disappoint me. Feel free to beat me senseless, if you feel like it.” He had a flair of dramatics. It was almost endearing. I scoffed.

“No need. Did ya see who attacked ya?” I said, crouching down next to him. He laughed.

“A lot of people have attacked me tonight, beautiful. Gonna have to be more specific.” His compliment made me feel some sort of way. Eugh.

“The fucker who took the artifact!” I said, almost yelling at him. He was either dense, or still delirious. Maybe a bit of both.

“Oh. Yes. Some bitch from the Maxx. I think she was pretending to be a bodyguard to get at that senator, apparently she w-“

I had heard all I had needed to. I stood up, and turned to leave.

“Hey, where’re you going?” The swordsman asked, standing up. “Not even gonna tell me your name?”

I stopped, annoyed, turning back around.

“Ariel Angel. I’m gonna go clean up this mess once and for all.”

“And I’m Bandit, I think we ca-“

I didn’t let him finish, because I took off sprinting. I was running out of time. I ran out of the building, conjured Alice, and set her on the trail.

————————————————————————————

Luckily enough, because of my ability to talk to Alice, I was able to give her the directions I wanted and started to pull foot. She remembered the woman, and by some miracle, her smell. That’s why she was probably my favorite, even if I could never tell her, or any of the others that. We set to the rooftops. Eventually, I did catch sight of her. She had recovered from her injuries, and had a large bad that my nose was pretty sure was full of steel. So she was armed. At multiple points, I considered dropping down to engage her, but at multiple points, I realized something sinister.

She wasn’t the only one being followed. I started seeing them on rooftops adjacent to the ones me and Alice were bounding across. Men in suits, all looking exactly identical. Sunglasses, earpieces, handguns. I didn’t smell any human on them.

So, I had my various companions start picking them off. Bruce dragged one off the rooftop, and he didn’t even scream. Archie distracted one with a mental impulse, before pushing a box onto his head. Caspian did a pass on another. Fido ate well, though he complained about hollow they all tasted. They were never able to move in close enough to strike at me, but I was never able to strike at my own target. Damn.

I had cause to curse again when I saw where she was going. She ducked into the large, marbled building that was the Baltimore Train Station. Or at least, it smelled like a train station. I couldn’t read the sign. She hurried inside, and we leaped down to follow. A grouping of those strange identical men tried to stop us, but Alice slammed them into splatters. Or, not really splatters. They sort of just evaporated into smoke, leaving their articles behind. Without a moment to lose, I charged into the train station, knocking aside the security guards who tried to stop me, and called Fido and Caspian to my side, since Alice was already behind me. I saw the woman, the inquisitor, boarding her train, the doors closing behind her. I surged after her, with all of my companions moving as fast as they could-and we damn well nearly caught it, too, but it just narrowly pulled out of the platform too quickly. I knew we could catch it if we tried, but there was another obstacle. Stepping from every shadow was one of those agents. Every person in the station, who had fled my arrival, looked more reassure, as if a bunch of identical men materializing from nothing was some kind of boon.

“Just my fucking luck-” I muttered under my breath, as they drew out guns, and pointed them at me.

“Hey there gents!” I called. “You’re outmatched. Your buds have already failed.”

Not true, and not true. There were at least twenty of them. A difficult fight, even for me. I might need to summon more companions then just these three. And more of these strange shadow men were emerging near the entrance.

I didn’t have a heart, but if I did, it would be pounding. I’d need to pull in my horns, or I might not be able to fight my way out of this one unscratched. Or worse, one of my companions might get hurt.

Each of them looked ready to fire. I was ready to give my companions orders, and practically summon an army of spirits. But that’s when a black metal object landed in the center of them. A long, white cloth fuse winding down. I backed up. They didn’t. An explosion that was more sound and smoke then substance rippled through the train station. For a moment, I was disoriented, when I felt someone’s hands at my back. A familiar voice whispered in my ear-

“You’re welcome-“

And in a burst of purple fire, me and Bandit were pulled away.

————————————————————————————

We stumbled out of the column, into a much nicer environment. A rooftop restaurant, with none but one man present, pouring over a menu. The entire Baltimore skyline was on display, the cold wind somehow not even reaching up here. I blinked a few times to get the spots in my vision to go away, before turning to Bandit, who looked a little too pleased with himself.

“You litt-“

“You’re welcome.” He said, insistently. “We’re even.”

“Like hell we are.” I retorted.

“Are we arguing, or being productive?” Said the other person here. I almost didn’t recognize him, while he was wearing contacts, and not opening his mouth very wide to speak. But I could smell him. The demon I’d faced in that Maxx place.

“What’re yo-“

Bandit cut me off again.

“Ariel, this is Leonidas. Leonidas, this is Ariel. Leo here is my boss. He’s the one who put me on the trail of the artifact. Leo, Ariel saved me from getting thrown in a ditch somewhere.” He gave the introductions with the same, slightly endearing flair as before.

“Pleasure. Apologies for hurling flame at you. I don’t take kindly to trespassers.” He seemed calm enough. I took a seat across from him, sitting in such a way that I didn’t squish my tail. I kept my eyes narrowed, but I was trying to be amicable.

“…Sorry for wrecking your place. Had a bit of tunnel vision.” I said, putting one hand to the back of my head.

“It’s been a pattern tonight.” He said, just as Bandit took the third seat at the table. “Water under the bridge. We have bigger concerns at the moment.”

“Such as?” I asked, curious.

“The Fundamental Chip, the artifact everyone is after? It’s currently en route to…” He looked at Bandit. I was starting to think he was the real mouthpiece, in all this.

“New York, if the sign at the station was anything to go by.” Bandit contributed, putting his arms on the table.

“New York. In the hands of an unknown monster hunter.” Leo concluded, grimly.

“Out of our hands now, I guess.” I said, leaning back.

“If we knew anything more about where she was headed, or the artifact itself, I could probably work my magic.” Said Bandit. “Or try, anyways. But without that familiarity? I’m shit out of luck.”

Him saying that suddenly jogged my memory.

“Hold that thought.” I said, reaching into the interior of my jacket, rummaging a bit, and withdrawing the folder from earlier. It had a few small bloodstains along the cover. “Would this help?” I said, sliding it across the table. It had a bit of heft to it. “Couldn’t read it, so was just gonna pass it along to the Sisterhood later.”

“Ah. You’re with that particular group?” Leo said, with a diplomatic looking smile.

“Yessir.” I said, in reply.

“And you’re a Pythoness, right?” Asked Bandit. I tensed.

“What’s it to you?” I said in return, flicking a sharp gaze over to him.

“Well, you’re supposed to be extinct, right? I dunno much about vampires, but that much I do know.” He leaned back, clearly not realizing how much the question bothered me. Or maybe, he just didn’t care.

“We like them to think so. Most of us joined the Sisterhood. A couple more have joined up with one Demesne or another, or the Chimera Prince, or…whoever will take us.” I said, with a bit of bitterness in my voice.

“…Am I missing something? What Sisterhood?” Asked Bandit, again, pressing.

“My mentor calls us a global aid group.” I said, parroting the diplomatic line I’d been taught.

Leonidas snorted.

“If your definition of aid is the Sisterhood’s activities, then I would not want to receive it. The Santa Monica attacks were masterful work, but not really what I would call aid.” He said with a faintly amused tone of voice.

“Those pricks had it coming.” I fired back.

“Yes, well. We’re getting off track. I don’t have time to read the techno jargon in there. Band, take that, find a quiet corner, and contact my sister. Tell her I’ll foot the bill.” There was something here I was missing. But I chose not to concern myself with it. For now. Bandit stood, took the folder, and walked off to find a corner.

“Can I offer you anything to drink?” Leonidas asked, in the meantime. I shook my head.

“Respectfully? Not taking anything from ya.” I was again, really trying my very hardest to be diplomatic.

For his credit, he threw his head back and laughed.

“You’re smarted then most. But this isn’t an attempt to ensnare you. You aren’t the first vampire I’ve entreated with. I have some very fine vintage on tap.” He smiled, and it was a charming kind of smile.

“No thanks. Fed up recently enough.” Mostly true. There had been enough blood in those bodies even if it hadn’t really been very good tasting.

“Suit yourself.” He said with a shrug. “So.” He began, after a moment’s pause. “How long have you roamed these nights?”

“Hundred fifty years and change.” I said, not minding the question from him as much as I did most. “Got turned around the time of the Alamo by a mean son-of-a-bitch who wanted a new bodyguard. Been a Pythoness for about fifty some odd years now. Best choice I ever made, ace high.” And that was god’s honest truth.

“Your kind are made by ritual then, fascinating.” He remarked, turning over his menu.

“Yea. Not exactly a secret.” I replied, shrugging. It was a little more complicated then that, but he didn’t need to know it. May as well make it seem clear cut in front of this fella.

“You seem to have a mastery of other arts beyond the usual witchcraft. Who did you entreat with? Would it be a name I know?” He kept asking these questions. I narrowed my eyes slightly.

“What’s it to you?” I was choosing my words very carefully now.

“Curiosity. I don’t have much interest in the realm your friends are from.”

I didn’t believe him. And I didn’t really want to start spinning that particular yarn involving dead gods, and scions of mother nature. Thankfully, I was saved, by Bandit returning, folder under arm. He looked…oddly pale. The most off put I’d seen him. Which got me concerned given how much bluster he’d had before.

“…Band? What’s wrong?” Leonidas said, clearly noticing the same thing.

He threw the folder down.

“We’ve gotta do something.” He said, conclusively.

“Well, we knew that.” Said Leonidas, a little impatiently.

“Spit it out, bud.” I said, kicking up my feet, to Leonidas’s slight look of annoyance.

Bandit sucked in a breath.

“The artifact-chip…whatever. It’s a magical piece of technology. It was made by a secret branch of the Pentagon that has a bunch of mages working under Cross’s direct order. Hush hush stuff. Might be signed off on by the OAA. The chip isn’t the only type of thing like it. There are a whole bunch of them, installed in machines across the country. Really, REALLY big machines.”

A few things were starting to click for me, and I didn’t like it. I gestured for him to go on.

“The chip is a master control device for all of the other ones. I’m not sure what the complete project is, exactly. But this uh-Fundament’s Chip? It’s vital to completing the project. Which they seem pretty confident is that this “Project Troy” is “More important then the atom bomb”. According to the lead researcher, anyways. Somebody named Wehinahpay Tyrell. Who I’m pretty sure I’ve run into twice now, based on how it talks about them.”

That sunk in, and it sunk in hard. Man. Why couldn’t this just be a nice hog killing time?

“The asshole who bound me?” Asked Leonidas. New information to me.

“Probably.” Said Bandit.

“So, what’s the problem here, exactly?” I said, feet still on the table. “The bitch with the artifact, right now, for better or for worse, is heading opposite of DC. We should still try and catch her, but…” I trailed off. I was really hoping that this was just a case of more then one person trying to do the same thing the same way. Dick measuring contest.

“One small problem.” Bandit says, with a sigh. “The control sight, for these devices? It’s not in DC. It’s in Albany New York. In a military base that’s off the books. Which means, either she’s working for the fuzz, which seems more and more likely the more I think about it, or she’s playing into their hands. Or…” He paused.

“…Or what?” I prodded at him.

“There’s one piece of good news. There’s a way to destroy the chip, and the entire project. This Tyrell cunt’s superiors apparently demanded an override, so they installed one. But we’d need to go to the base to access it. But I’m not sure we can properly put an end to this otherwise. They might be able to make another one if we just smash it.” He said with a long, drawn out, and annoyed sounding sigh.

“So, we think she might be doin’ that?” I asked, leaning forward.

“Who fuckin’ knows. She just seems crazy to me.” Complained Bandit, as he sat down, and joined me in kicking his feet up.

“If she’s a proper monster hunter, there will be no negotiating with her. She’ll hate us for simply being.” Leonidas added. “Regardless, the stakes are clearly too high. Our contract stands, Band, I need you to recover that chip, and bring it to me. I’ll double your pay.”

The offer hung in the air for a moment, and then I heard Bandit laugh. I turned over to him.

“Yeah. So, remember that lift debt you owe me cause of tonight? I’m calling that in. No more contract. In fact, you’re going to help me track down and destroy that thing.” He said, peering over the table at Leonidas.

I was just willing to watch the two fight, so I stayed quiet.

Leonidas sighed.

“I was afraid you’d say that. But frankly, knowing what I do now, I’m a bit glad for it. Alright. Fine. Just to clear the slate with my best contractee. Father won’t be happy, but I’m sure I can spin it.”

“Father?” I asked, peering over at him.

“Daemon.” He replied.

I whistled long and loud, but didn’t audibly respond. Sucked to be him.

“Well, now that it’s settled.” Said Bandit. “Let’s form a plan. We gotta catch that train.”

I laughed a bit hollowly.

“And how are we gonna do that? I’ve got a trick, but it’s real bad in the accuracy department. We’re just as likely to end up below the tracks.” I grumbled a bit at the prospect.

“And I’m afraid my own teleportation tricks that we’ve been using won’t work on a destination I’m unfamiliar. Or without a contractee on board.” Leonidas said, grimly.

“Well, lucky for you two sorry sons a bitches, I’ve got one more trick up my sleeve. But it’s gonna need some finagling. You know that trick you used on the Great Jarrow heist, Leonidas? Where you got all those guards to submit to my demands so their keycards would appear in my pockets?”

He sounded excited at the mere memory. Leonidas nodded.

“Yes. Taxing thing that. They wouldn’t count as contractee’s, assuming I could target anyone to begin with.” His voice was still grim. “All I could do is maybe get them to swarm her, incapacitate her for us to cut her off at a station ahead.”

“Don’t need that. I need them to submit to another one of my powers.” Bandit said, in retort.

“…Which one?” Asked Leonidas, now intrigued.

“The crew.”

Bandit sounded very confident, while explaining absolutely nothing. It was a very strange facet of his being. Like some other things about him, it was the slightest bit endearing.

“…Crew?” I leaned forward, removing my feet from the table.

“What good Bandit doesn’t have a crew of outlaws? And my aspect of Banditry seems to agree. If I can get a large enough crew, I tend to be able to…curry more favor, skip some steps of a plan. It just bites me in the ass later if any of them get arrested, or whatever. Lots of risks. But those risks won’t come into play, if, say, my crew is a bunch of random people who stop being in the crew once they’re done. I bet a step I could skip is getting to the train, and bringing my beautiful co conspirator here.” He winked at me. It felt a little less gross this time.

I whistled again.

“Don’t know much about your kind. But it sounds like it might work. Haven’t been part of a band of outlaws since I could see the sun. Sounds like fun.”

My last crew…well, they were where I’d gotten my last name from. It had been easy to shorten “Ariel the Angel”, of the Angel Gang, to Ariel Angel. And then a bunch of my companions had gotten the idea to start calling me Angel. For some reason. Beat the name I was born under. Pretty sure everyone who knew that wretched little detail was six feet under or more.

I looked to Leonidas for confirmation on the first part of my statement. He mulled it over for a few moments but…nodded.

“I think that just might work, you bastard.”

————————————————————————————

The cold wind whipped around me, as I rode Alice besides the train at a speed I didn’t think she would be able to reach. Fido wreathed besides me, and Caspian soared overhead. I had seen the battle within the train running to my left in the shapes of those fighting it. Our inquisitor had battled through all of the thralls Leonidas had mustered, but they had mostly been a distraction. I don’t know how he did it, but Bandit explained his plan, declared it dramatically, and suddenly, I was riding alongside the train, and he was waiting for the Inquisitor in the penultimate car in the train.

I saw the last of the thralls drop. I’d read her correctly, and she wasn’t going to be killing any of them. I mighta felt a little bad otherwise.

Soon enough, I watched as she progressed into Bandit’s car, and the battle was waged. It was hard to keep track of, between the shadows cast, the flickering lights, and the speeds Alice was forced to maintain. I kept coaxing her onwards. I heard very muffled gunshots, then I saw them locked in very close combat, to the point that it almost looked like an embrace. And then-

She flipped over him. For a moment, I thought Bandit may have thrown her to the floor. But then, she got up, brandished her weapon-and Bandit collapsed.

I cursed. Time to bail him out for the second time tonight.

“Fido!” I shouted, and the snake responded through our connection, crashing through the side of the train, and wrapping around the top, defending Bandit with his body. For a moment, he loomed over the inquisitor, poised to strike, but it seemed the hunter had another trick up her sleeve, as a silver throwing blade unerringly found Fido’s eye, as the snake reeled backwards, wobbling and threatening to fall from his perch. I held up my fist, and struck it down, signaling Caspian, as I lightly nudged Alice with my legs to move closer to the train, towards the giant hole in the car. Just as Caspian dug into Fido’s scales with his talons, and kept him from tipping out, I jumped from her back, one hand on my hat to avoid losing it, and landed in front of Fido and the fallen Bandit, now facing off with the Inquisitor. She looked like shit. She was missing a hand, had a hole in her leg, and was bleeding from a dozen other wounds. She held a curved, dark blade in her hand, peering out past hair matted with blood. She wore a chain shirt underneath her tattered garments, her only protection from whatever came next. She wore a bag over her shoulder, and through the holes in it, I could see the gold of the case, glinting.

“Evenin’ Inquisitor.” I said, friendly enough.

She grew a small, devious smile, as if she were resisting laughing. The delirium of her wounds, no doubt.

“Now it all makes sense. You two are like two peas in a pod. I suppose you’re part of his little…band of outlaws?”

Then, she did laugh, a hollow, wet thing. I almost winced on her behalf.

“Anybody whose anybody has one. Question is, wheres yours, miss?”

I said, peering over at her.

“None of your concern. I’ll be more then enough to send you and your little gang to the pit!”

She brandished her blade, and did her best to glower. Unfortunately, in her state, it wasn’t particularly imposing. But I was going to do my best to humor her.

I laughed, though. I tried to make it good natured.

“Damn. I knew you had fight, but this is something else. Look. I really don’t wanna kill you just for gettin’ mixed up in this nonsense. I’m sure you have plenty of actual battles left to fight, and I ain’t feelin’ like stampin’ those out. So how about you give me that case in your bag, and I’ll even fix your wounds up nice and clean. I can knock you upside the head if it’ll help your crew believe you, whoever they are.”

It was the only plea I thought might work. Clearly, she had pride, and she couldn’t be working alone. I could give her an out. No sympathy, no attempts at collusion, just an off ramp for someone who was clearly out of her league. I’d been in her position before.

I took one step closer to her, swaying my tail back and forth as I did.

She laughed again, and a bit of blood dribbled from her lips.

She glared at me, though. With all of the force and zeal that I expected, she gave a perhaps final speech.

“Hear me, monster, and hear me well. I don’t know what or who you are, why or how you are here. It doesn’t matter. None of that matters. It also doesn’t matter how powerful you think you are, what delusions of grandeur hide beneath your heart. My name is Claire Vayun. I serve the Wheel, which brings our species forward, and tramples beasts like you into the mud. I have slain beasts high and low, creatures who claimed heights greater then yours. And I will do it all again. I am the guardian who shall send you to hell where you belong!”

She brandished her blade. And prepared to charge. I protruded my claws from my fingers. But I didn’t need to do a thing.

Fido wasn’t happy about his eye. His tail struck out like a one ton whip and struck the inquisitor dead center. She went flying backwards, pieces of chain mail going flying, her blade dropping from her grasp, and her bag fell free. She slammed through the door that divided the cars, and into the doors that separated that car from the engine, where she came to a sickening stop, unmoving.

I sighed.

I took a few steps forward, waiting for her to move, scream another speech. None came. I then approached the bag, and found the case close to the top. It was untouched, undamaged. It was almost annoying. I then looked up at the inquisitor. She had managed to reach out and grab something. A phone? She was speaking into it. I couldn’t hear what. Was she trying to call someone, in her final moments?

I got a bit closer, and realized too late, that there was another voice on the other end. I picked up speed, ran forward, but-

She distorted for a moment or two, like a mirage of light. And then she was gone.

“What the hell?”

————————————————————————————

Myself and Bandit regrouped in one of the least ruined first class cars. He bounced back quick, especially after I did my ritual again. He was marked with a lot of blood runes now. It was almost comical, seeing how the foreign blood marked his forehead, and now cheeks. He didn’t seem to mind, though. He was eating from a tray of food that had never been delivered thanks to our intervention. Banditry at it’s finest, I guess.

Leonidas was also present, speaking through one of the thralls, a bigger guy, who had come to before anyone else. Everyone else, he assured us, would stay asleep until long after we were gone.

“So we’ve got the case. Now what?” I asked, throwing the steel gold case between us.

“We go to that facility, and destroy it, duh. After we make a plan, obviously. I figure we ride the train till the end, and then go from there.” Bandit said, as he shoveled down more of the meal in front of him.

“Yes. We should be as measured about this as possible.” Said Leonidas, through his host. “This is a United States military installation, after all.”

I nodded, leaning back to stare at the ceiling.

“Well, we should definitely try to get a map of the place first. Ya think you could steal one?” I flicked my gaze to Bandit.

“For you, beautiful? Anything” He said, with a rakish grin.

We sat there in silence, for a moment, before one of the phones in the car started ringing.

“Son of a-” I sat up.

“Don’t answer it.” Say Leonidas, sharply, likely seeing that Bandit was moving to. “We know that sorcerer can use their magic through phones. Just let it go.”

We did.

But, as if by an act of independence, the phone picked up anyways. The inquisitor’s voice came from the other end.

“Hello again, Bandit, Pythoness, Leonidas”

All three of us tensed.

“You’re all quite rude. Not picking up the phone. But, that’s ok. Manners are a taught skill. I’m just calling to tell you, that you win.”

All of us looked between each other, confusion on our faces. I eventually spoke up.

“Who’re we talking to, the inquisitor?” I hoped it was.

“Oh, sorry, no. Not at all. We haven’t met, Pythoness. I’m the creator whose work you’ve stolen and played hot potato with all night.”

They sounded agitated.

“Wehinahpay Tyrell, I’d guess?” I ventured, with some confidence behind my voice.

“Wow! That’s correct. Knew I shouldn’t have kept my files out in the open. Anyways. As I was saying, you all win. You can keep that chip.”

I once again shared a look with my companions, before turning back in the direction of the phone.

“I’d thank you, but I know it ain’t out of the goodness of your heart.” Firing back, I tensed, ever slightly.

“Hm? No, it’s not. It’s just because it’ll be too much effort to retrieve. So I went ahead and cut some corners, and made a new one at my lab, here. I’ll be activating all of the Troy units tonight. You know what they say about rushed work, but you’ve forced my hand. Enjoy your Fundament’s chip! Maybe it can be a mantle ornament, or something.”

They sounded so smug. I clenched a fist.

“Yeah, well, I hope your fancy little contraption blows up in your face.” I said, walking over, picking up the receiver, and slamming it back down. The voice ceased after that, but for good measure, I smashed the phone with my fist. I turned back over to the group.

“That’s a fuckin’ problem.”

“Understatement of the century!” Said Bandit, standing up.

“Ugh. I knew it was too good to be true.” Said Leonidas. “I suppose now, we hunker down, and wait to see what happens?”

“Sounds good to me!” Bandit began to walk towards the exit to the car. “I’ve got a warded safe house in Alexandria. I bet we could hide out there.”

I held out both my hands, as confusion spread across my face.

“Just like that? We’re runnin’ away to some hidey hole, and hoping nothin’ goes wrong?”

I looked between Bandit and Leonidas readily.

“Pretty much!” Said Bandit.

“What else is there to be done?” Remarked Leonidas with a shrug.

“I dunno! Somethin’, anythin’?! What if we get a bigger crew, do the same trick again?” I asked, looking at Bandit again.

“Nah. Can’t do that to a place I can’t even conceptualize. Plus, I’ve burned through a lot of goodwill tonight.”

“Oook…what if we asked your sister for some information, or somebody you know for a favor?” I said, looking to Leonidas.

“Any government facility will be warded. It’s been common practice, UN enforced, since the 70’s. Anti espionage tactic.” Leonidas retorted. “And even if it did work, how much of it will be worth it, in the face of this. If ANYTHING goes wrong?”

I sighed. And for a long moment, I had nothing. They were right. For all my connections, for all my strength, the distance was the real killer. The sheer unknown.

Bandit was about to leave, to try and find his way to Virginia. And Leonidas had already left his host. Then, suddenly, it struck me.

I snapped my tail at a rapid rattle, and Bandit turned.

“Huh?”

“I have an idea. But you’re really gonna need to trust me.”

————————————————————————————

In preparation for the journey, I dispatched all but my core three companions, sending them to various nooks and crannies of the world, all with messages to as many members of the Sisterhood I knew. The message was simple.

“World at risk. Come find me to help.”

Enough members of the Sisterhood could track me specifically that I was confident someone who wanted could follow those instructions. And I had been with them long enough that I didn’t need to explain more. The benefits of credibility. Plus, most of them owed me for Santa Monica, or Martha’s Vineyard. One of them even owed me for the Alamo. You earned a lot of favors, helping people without pay for a century or so.

After doing that, I walked into the car I had left, where Bandit was waiting. He had a bag slung over his shoulder that he didn’t before, but I had stopped questioning the specifics of his abilities and how they worked. I meanwhile, just had the clothes on my back. I’d used a trick to make it so this realm associated me with my usual getup. Otherwise, it tried to turn me into an animal. But I didn’t want to chance things by adding any other element…besides the case. I’d marked it with a bit of my blood, to bind it to me.

“I’m kinda excited.” He admitted. “Never been to another realm before.”

“Don’t get too excited. You’ll wanna keep your wits about you. If we do this right, the spirit highways should carry us straight to the artifact’s origin. If we do this wrong, we’ll probably end up in some demented wyld for a decade or so.”

I’d missed the entire second world war because of a mistake like that. One of my first visits to the Spirit Wilds, and it went horribly wrong.

That seemed to take the wind out of his sails, which, good. This wasn’t a laughing matter. Not only did I rarely use the Wilds to skip distance, because it tended to defy that use (I’d been trying to skip across the Atlantic when I took my 1938 detour), but I usually only went there for my companions sake. It didn’t really like earthly beings. And I wasn’t sure if I counted or not. I tended to get contradictory answers, even after my bargain. He muttered something along the lines of ‘yes ma’am’ as I finished preparation.

I drew my remaining companion spirits into the area, and they began to circle us. I started a chant, that I couldn’t tell anyone the words for, but knew my heart all the same. The air began to swirl, shift, and fold, and suddenly, we were no longer on the moving train. It felt the same as it usually did, like a giant burden was being lifted from my shoulders.

I blinked the magic from my eyes, and realized I was standing on a large hill, overlooking some flat lands. But something was wrong. The ordinary spirit wilds, which I knew and treasured, was overlaid by a different landscale, of rolling hills and plains decorated by human shapes sinking into the ground, under a sky that was primarily green, with unnatural metal strips cutting through it like scars. I growled, out of instinct, and turned over. Bandit was nowhere to be seen, but I was sharing this hill with another figure. He was tall, gaunt, partly mechanical, and had three heads sprouting from one neck, each face had it’s eyes closed, but two of them were horribly malformed. The central head was a human man, with gaunt and grey features that seemed eerily familiar in a way I couldn’t place. Golden strips ran down it’s entire body, six arms sprouted from it’s torso, and a set of golden spiderlike legs protruded from it’s lower half. It looked at me, and I looked back.

I had a guess what it was. So I executed on my guess.

“Artifact spirit. Cease your trickery, and lead me to your creator.”

Nothing budged. I swore the mountains in the distance were moving. Towards me? I really, really fucking hoped not.

I spoke again, putting more effort behind my words.

“Artifact made incarnate! I refuse your devilry. Dismiss your spell, and take me to the lands of your home.”

It lurched towards me. I felt the ground underneath my feet begin to shift, give way, as if it intended to swallow me whole. I attempted to grip onto my vision of the wilds, to not avail, so instead, I reached out with my words one more time.

“Stupid-motherfucking-chip. No more fuckery, take me to the end of the world.” Maybe it was the third instance-an auspicious repetition, or just my force of will, but I shattered the illusion.

I was still standing on a hill, but the verdant fields of the spirit wilds that gave way to storming dark forests and skies full of unpolluted stars were familiar and relieving. Bandit was staring at me, he looked a bit different, here. He had an almost comical bandana, and an obvious gun and scimitar at his belt. He wore dark leather, and had a lot scarier of eyes. Literally the standard highway robber. It almost made me laugh.

“…You alright, beautiful?” He asked. I shot him a look.

“Fine. Just getting control of the situation.” I shot back, sharply.

“Good, cuz he’s getting a move on.” He said, looking down the hill, I followed his gaze. The artifact spirit looked different now. It had four heads, and was closer to an amalgam of flesh and shifting bone bound together by metal wires. Freaky looking fucking thing. I almost shuddered. It had moved all the way down the hill, and was continuing to walk. I jogged to follow, with Bandit close behind. It led us across the plains, where most of the beast spirits seemed content to ignore us. Those which might normally pick a fight recognized me for what I was, who I was, and where I was from, and strayed away, Not for a lack of prowls and growling. I recognized a few of them from previous trips here. Some of them I had helped my companions hunt down. Or avoid getting hunted by.

I blocked it out, and focused on the trail ahead. The plains faded away for dark trees that swayed with natural wonder, the chirps and calls of birds and other creatures, some lost to the world we had come from. It was almost like another earth. But it wasn’t. It was only a shadow. A very beautiful shadow.

I had learned that the hard way, once. And I wasn’t going to let it trick me again. Hurt too badly the first time.

The environment didn’t seem to like our guide, but didn’t act against us, instead expediting our journey, something I was more then thankful for. There were worse vengeance this realm could extract. A particularly pressed faerie had chased me in here once, when I used it to escape and come up with a new plan. Turns out, I didn’t need to bother. Poor bastard got eaten alive by fire ants in thirty seconds flat.

I was equally thankful for Bandit being content to stay silent and take in the atmosphere as opposed to making snappy commentary. I was worried he’d might offend whoever listened between the trees. Doubly so, because I’d never brought a man in here. The few times I’d brought a companion, they’d been part of the Sisterhood. Eventually, our journey through the trees abruptly concluded, and we were standing in a different biome altogether, a mountain valley. But this area was different. No particularly verdant growth, no snow clinging to the slopes, even the stars above seemed remarkably mundane. It was as if earth had pushed itself onto it’s shadow for a moment. I’d never seen anything like it before, and it spooked the hell out of me.

The spirit stood there, for a moment, and then things began to shift. The realm around us folded, contracted, and then, with a faint flicker of overlaying reality, punched through without even my trying to. A giant, ragged tear, between the spirit wilds and earth. My eyes widened. I looked to Bandit. He nodded. The pair of us ran through.

We emerged in the middle of a walled off zone. Various tents had been set up, but all seemed abandoned, along with various watchtowers on the interior of an area isolated by a giant concrete wall. In the center, past these tents, was a giant, silvery domed building, that had various antennae and dishes off the top. It looked stupid.

I looked around. The portal was still there. The case was at my feet. Bandit, a pace behind me, returned to his normal appearance.

I picked up the case, and we wordlessly started walking towards the dome, because nothing else could be our destination. And that’s when we began to see them. They wore suits, sunglasses, had earpieces. Those strange multiples of clones began to converge. Meanwhile, a few people who might still be human, wearing complex metal armor, began to emerge from various tents, and started to yell at us.

“This is government property! Get back in your portal, and depart!” One of them, a man with a commanding voice, shouted.

I ignored him, and kept walking, even as more began to appear, and Bandit began to look around nervously.

“You here him, guys? Back in the portal! Or you’ll be facing prison time!” A lady off to my right shouted. The usage of guys got a faint scowl to my face, but I kept walking. Just a little bit further.

They followed us another few paces. Before one, giant, large, metal armored figure landed in front of us. In a voice distorted by metal and magic, he spoke.

“Last warning.”

“Took the words right out of my mouth.”

I said, as a thin grin came to my lips. It was hog killing time.

The portal behind me exploded with growth, at a Pythoness’s command, at the heir to Old God’s command. Where before, on the platform, I’d been surrounded by industrial banality, and even here, the scent of ancestral blood stained the machines, this time, there was a direct opening to the source of my power. The shadow of the wilds.

Those close, mostly the suits, were ripped asunder by vines, thorns, and even some small critters, in an instant, and attention was drawn away. That gave me time to whistle.

“Alice, fetch!” I said, pointing at the woman, before I then gestured at the man. “Caspian, dive!” And then, I looked to the central one, who began to raise an arm that looked suspiciously part firearm.

“Fido, kill!”

All three spirits tore from the wilds. Alice ran down the woman, and her screams filled me with a special kind of joy. Many of the agents began to open fire, some getting the funny idea to close the distance. I ran at them first, as Caspian tore himself forward, taking the helmet off the man, to start pecking at his eyes. He thrashed with a fancy energy weapon, and didn’t make any contact. Meanwhile, the big guy’s weapon misfired, a blast of explosive force demolishing a watchtower and taking down another guy in metal and a couple of suits. He missed because a giant snake had slammed into him, and began to constrict, metal bending and shaking in his wake.

I struck the first agent with a hand of claws to the gut, using his dissipating body as a shield against incoming fire, before doing a too strong leap towards the next two, bowling them over, then cutting their throats with a pair of savage swipes. I was about to get shot in the back, but I also knew that Bandit would have gotten the memo by now. And he did, as his greenish blade decapitated one, and he seized his firearm to gun down two more.

More mechanical forces began to show up, that vaguely resembled canines, but with six legs, and two heads. I whistled, and Alice sprinted towards them, eager to wrestle with dogs her size.

Around the dome, weapons began to unfurl, firing rounds of metal into the fray. Nothing impacted yet, but they were just a bit too close for comfort, so I turned over to Fido trying to figure out how to swallow his prey, before I decided to save him the trouble.

“Fido! Throw!” I shouted, gesturing towards the dome.

And throw he did. There was an echoing crash, and the dome had a new hole. The bombardment then stopped.

Two metal clad humans tried to advance on me, their gauntlets charged with electricity. I flicked my wrist, and the growth that was spreading through the local earth responded to my command. A column of vines sent one of them flying into the side of a watchtower, and the other tried to punch at me, not expecting me to back up, once, twice, duck my head out of the way of the socking blow, and then bring my clawed hands around the side, tearing through the flexible material at the neck of his suit, and tearing up in a decapitating blow.

I saw that Bandit was struggling, so I sent Caspian, currently feasting on eyeballs, to go help him out with the swarm of suits. Fido had found himself a recurring group of snacks in the form of some more human personnel wearing lab coats that had run out of a squished tent. I meanwhile, ran towards the dome. More suits emerged, but more vines sprouted, along with swarms of insects, rats, and other creatures of the wild, to get underfoot. I cut through a few. Bandit had evidently caught on, and we forced the enemy to trail us, as my companions too broke off from the fray. They all converged, trying with one last attempt to stop us from reaching the dome.

It was a bloodbath. Alice and Fido swept through their lines like wrecking balls, vines, swarms, and even a few fallen stars lost to light pollution sent them scattering. Bandit had good aim, and even better agility, and Caspian was plenty good as a spotty. And me? I was mad.

It wasn’t long until the portal tore shut, and my increased power went with it. But as I pulled the case from my belt, and walked towards the front doors of the dome, I was satisfied with the field of bent metal, blood, and empty suits I’d left behind. And without a scratch on myself. Bandit was a little nicked up, but he seemed impressed with me. Or rather, infatuated into silence.

We reached the large doors at the entrance, and Bandit picked the lock and broke the security within moments. And soon enough, we stepped into the belly of the beast.

The dome was really one large room. Close to the center, the crashed body of the suited man that Fido had thrown lay a bloody mangled mess, and moonlight leaked in through the hole he had punched. Though, the hole seemed to be patching itself with fresh metal. Concerning.

We barely got a few steps into the expansive interior space, filled with machinery behind strange luminous barriers, and compartments that seemed to fold in on themselves, when the doors shut behind us. And we saw them.

The inquisitor was standing atop a balcony. She had a new hand, made from some kind of silver metal, and her wounds seemed to be fully mended, not even a scar in most cases. She had a crossbow in her hands, and various other weapons strapped to her back. Her eyes were hardened, and staring down at me and Bandit. Ready to engage at a moments notice. Then, there was the other person.

They had dark skin and hair, with grey eyes that seemed full of life. Various golden strips ran down their body, from hands to cheeks, and they had a mouth full of silver teeth that shone when they smiled. They had two extra sets of arms, composed of a dark metal, that absolutely reeked of rot and decay. In those hands, various implements and components were head, that I swore to keep an eye on. They spoke as they looked down at us.

“Ariel Angel, Banditry! Welcome.”

They were speaking in a new voice this time, one I didn’t know. It sounded basically genderless, machine like.

“Thanks.” I said, gruffly. “Don’t suppose this can go nice and easy?”

“Oh, of course it can! Just give me my chip, and you’re free to leave.”

“I thought you didn’t need anymore, and we forced your hand or whatever?” Bandit said, gripping his sword.

“Ah!” They said, clasping all of their hands together. “Well, that’s very simple.”

The lights began to dim. They held out a hand, and the case was pulled from my grasp at a screeching speed, before landing it’s handle in their outstretched palm.

“I lied.”

I swore to myself that I’d never trust again, after this sunrise.

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