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

so I obediently hopped in the back of the van. Lilith started it up, and despite its aged looked, it purred to life. Someone had done some work to it.

At the thirty second mark, all three BMWs peeled out and shot off in different directions. Lilith counted to ten and then calmly pulled out of the parking lot. She used her blinker and obeyed all the traffic laws as they drove toward the edge of town and the T intersection that would take them to the highway.

“Clever,” I grinned from where I’d laid down in the back seat. “Hiding in plain sight.” It had as good a chance as any of getting them the hell out of there.

***

“I’ve got three rabbits,” the Echelon pilot relayed to Becky as he read out GPS coordinates.

The Co-Sheriff jumped in her jeep and floored it to the closest target. “I’ve got the first one. Someone get the others, we aren’t letting these people get away with this,” she felt her heart racing and the adrenaline flowing through her veins. They’d received the casualty reports, and a bunch of kids were dead. She was not okay with that.

It had been a long time since she’d been on a hunt like this. The only thing that came close to the sensation surging through her was fucking Vernon, but this was different. She pressed the gas to the floor, and nearly rolled the jeep as she took the corner too fast. She could see the BMW in the distance, easily going sixty in a thirty. She hit her lights and sirens and urged the jeep to go faster. Her jeep responded with a roar that echoed out her throat.

They were nearly out of town by the time she caught up to the little sports car. The T intersection that would take it to the highway, or the academy, was right up ahead. She expected it to take a right and flee for the highway. She was already on the state trooper’s channel ready to call in the chase, but the exact opposite happened. Once it was clear the police jeep was trying to pull the BMW over, it calmly pulled to the side of the road and put on its hazard lights.

Becky jumped out of the jeep and laid the M4 rifle across the side mirror. “Turn off the vehicle and get out with your hands up!” she yelled, as she used the door as cover.

Nothing happened. No one got out, but the car didn’t move either. She’d seen this before. The perp would wait for her to approach before taking off in the hopes of getting a few seconds head start. Unlucky for them, she didn’t need her car to catch them. In a short sprint, she could move faster than any car could get going.

“Turn off the vehicle and get out with your hands up!” she repeated, and counted down from five.

She rushed forward in a blur, nearly ripping the door off its hinges as she swept the car for its occupant. It was empty. The only thing she saw was a pile of dust in the driver’s seat.

“Shit,” she kicked the side of the car, her boot punching through the thin aluminum and getting stuck. “Fuck,” she growled, as she spent a moment retrieving her foot from where she’d shoved it up the car’s metaphorical ass. “My rabbits a bust,” she radioed in, and advanced into the T intersection to look down the road toward the highway.

The on-ramp was nearly two miles away, but it was a straight shot. Even in the moonlight, she should have been able to see the rear lights of a car making a run for it. She saw nothing. She pivoted to look up toward the school. Nothing again. Lastly, she looked back the way she’d come.

Ms. Landings beat up old minivan was chugging toward her. The old librarian had worked at St. Vincent’s forever, and Becky would have noticed the van anywhere. She started to move to clear the road, but stopped as a gust of wind blew in her direction.

She smelled fire, she smelled blood, she did not smell the old-lady scent of mothballs and books. As the car moved closer, she saw through the windshield. She recognized Lilith Venitas and Dani Underwood from the files the UN had put together. She didn’t see Cameron Dupree yet, but there was no way he wasn’t in that car.

“Freeze!” she roared as she leveled her weapon at the car.

The vehicle seemed to slow for a moment before speeding up. She heard the whine of the engine as it fired on all cylinders. She responded by shifting. Thankfully, Vernon had scratched a few runes into her clothes so she didn’t bust up a perfectly good set. The only thing that didn’t expand when she added nearly two feet and a hundred and fifty pounds of muscle was her weapon.

The gun felt awkward in her paw, but she’d trained for instances like this. She sighted in on the engine and started to pull the trigger. One . . . two . . . three rounds smashed into the grill. The 5.56mm magically-enchanted rounds should have punched straight into the engine and done some damage, but she saw them pancake against something solid. This might look like Ms. Landings’ van, but if it was, someone had done a lot of work to it.

She switched targets. The van was still coming, and she deemed it a threat to her personal safety. She sighted on the driver and opened fire. The engine might be reinforced, but whoever did the body work didn’t have time to bulletproof the windshield. Holes punched through the glass where the succubae’s head and chest should be.

If she did any damage to the girl, she couldn’t tell. The van was still coming. She flipped the selector switch from single shot