Courts and Cabals by G.S. D'Moore (best e reader for academics txt) 📕

of reality appeared in the space that should lead to a pizza joint’s shitter. The armored man grabbed the edge of the tear with one hand while his second hand lost cohesion and glowed with the same unnatural light. With both hands securing an edge, the Echelon leader gave a grunt and tore a man-sized hole in the universe.

“Go!” he ordered, and Charlotte burst through the opening with her minigun scanning for targets. The Commander followed, and Vernon hesitated for just a moment before trailing in their wake.

“Fire and death,” his senses told him the moment he crossed the threshold. A walkway lined with stone pillars led to an open stone circle that was covered in gore.

“Clear,” Charlotte informed. “I’ve got bodies,” her massive form stood over several well-done corpses. She took a deep breath, “faerie flame,” she confirmed.

The Commander sighed and removed his helmet. His features were Asian on a long, oval face. He had black hair cut short to accommodate his helmet, and his mouth was set in a thin line of displeasure. He walked to the edge of the cliff the stone circle butted up against and looked down “I’ve got one more. Looks like his chest exploded and his body was crushed on impact.”

Vernon went to check, and identified the cabal member they didn’t have a file on. He grimaced at the gruesome sight. There was a hole the size of his fist blasted straight through the poor bastard’s heart. On top of that, he’d fallen a good five hundred feet to land on jagged rocks. Even from here, Vernon could see dozens of compound fractures and blood leaking from the man’s eyes, nose, and ears. If the guy was only an imp like they thought, there was no way he could heal from that level of damage.

“Shit,” judging by the positions of the bodies, there were casualties on both sides of this fight. Things were spiraling out of control.

“Can we get an ID on any of those?” he pointed at the charred bodies.

Charlotte snarled, clearly telling Vernon she didn’t answer to him. The growl cut off as the Commander raised his hand and nodded his ascent.

“Doubtful,” she grumbled, “but we can get forensics in here and try.”

“That’ll have to do,” he felt his shoulders sag. This was an even bigger clusterfuck than before. He was glad he wasn’t in charge anymore.

“Where is everyone?” he asked the million-dollar question.

“Teleported,” the Commander replied casually, as he took a deep breath. “One went that way,” he pointed east, “and four that way,” he pointed north.

“They could be a hundred feet or a hundred miles from here,” Vernon growled in frustration.

“They won’t go far,” the Commander disagreed, as he surveyed the carnage. He inhaled again; his nostrils flared wider than was humanly possible. “The succubus is wounded. She can’t go more than a few miles.”

A few miles in Vincent’s Hollow stretched into the wilderness, so even that far was too far. “We need to expand the perimeter,” Vernon informed as he keyed his radio. All he got was static.

He didn’t need to be told the dimensional pocket was fucking with their communications, so he jogged to the entrance. The minute he crossed the threshold, voices started screaming at him.

“Target sighted on Main Street . . . shit they’re gone, but I swear I saw them,” multiple voices were reporting the same thing.

“We missed them by seconds,” Vernon stomped down his frustration.

“All units, expand the perimeter. Target is wounded and won’t get far,” he switched channels. “Becky, what is the easiest way to get out of town.”

“The highway,” the mountain lion shifter replied instantly. “It’s the only way out. We have a few hunter’s paths and side roads, but if you want to go anywhere you need to take the highway.”

“Okay, call the state troopers and get roadblocks up at ten miles out. Have every exit between here and Syracuse under observation. We can’t let Dupree and his people get away.”

“On it,” there was a thrill in her tone he liked to here. “I’ll link in with the Echelon’s chopper so they can provide overwatch. Anything on the move around here is going to be easy to spot. The entire town is locked down.”

Vernon felt the thrill of the hunt surge through him. “I’m coming, Dupree,” he resisted the urge to howl at the moon. That was just too cliché.

***

Lilith dropped them in the supermarket parking lot on the opposite side of town from Joe’s place. The lot was nearly empty, but the spots close to the store were filled with people taking advantage of the spectacle to get their shopping done. Lilith ignored the cars and headed for the trio of black BMWs waiting near the street. She stumbled as she approached, but shrugged off Dani’s assistance. The window rolled down as she approached, and a young man nodded to her.

“We’ll be set in thirty seconds,” she informed, and the man nodded.

All three BMWs started up as one, and I wondered which one we were getting into, but Lilith walked past them all toward a beat-up minivan. It looked like something a red-neck soccer mom would drive. Rust marred the edges, and the leather seats, that were still outdated a decade ago, were cracked and uncomfortable looking. Even the St. Vincent’s Academy bumper sticker that adorned the lower left-hand corner of the rear window was faded to near illegibility. None of that mattered to Lilith as she hopped in the driver’s seat.

“In the back,” Dani ordered, as I went to the passenger door and she hip checked me out of the way. “That was a UN chopper up there, and last time I checked, they’re attention wasn’t focused on Lilith or me.”

She had a point. The loudspeaker had started to yell my name, not any of the other cabal members,