“I do,” Alana answered. “My team has been monitoring a couple of the warlock camps Elan helped us find down in Florida. They’re reporting in that the camps are heading in our general direction via the air. We believe they’re being called to the Midwest. I don’t know if that’s because of us being here, or this is where they’re choosing to have the battle.”
Alana was tall and slender, both in human form and when she morphed into a cobra. Her red hair and green eyes also made the transition, as she was a red spitting cobra with scary green eyes that didn’t look right to me. I hadn’t asked, but I assumed her hair was probably dyed. It didn’t seem natural to me.
“That’s interesting, anyone else?” I asked.
Any news that indicated I wouldn’t have to look far for the fight I’d been preparing for was great news in my book. I was ready for the need to watch over my shoulders all the time to be over.
“Just the same, they’re all heading towards the Midwest,” Joseph reported. “We’re going to add more security to tonight’s conference. I doubt us being here is a coincidence. I don’t know exactly where the flights are ending up, though. The only reason we know which direction they’re heading is because we have some of our birds tracking them.”
“Did you get any flight numbers? I could look them up,” Vinnie added to the conversation.
He had thankfully managed to change his looks a little bit. The same actor he based his original appearance on could still play him in a movie, but being out in the open had caused him to dye his hair blonde, change his eye color to a purplish blue and added a few scars the real actor didn’t have. He refused to do anything about his sculpted body, though. With all the other muscled men in my life, he claimed he would look out of place.
“I know in Florida they headed out in a private jet,” Alana said. “It had no distinctive markings on it, so we don’t know who it belongs to.”
“Yeah, someone is paying a pretty penny to get them all moved,” Brad confirmed. “We have some people trying to hack into the originating airports to find the flight plans. They just took off this morning, so give us another hour or so and we should know their final destination.”
“Good, we’re heading back to New York in a couple of days, but we’ll leave a force behind so they can quickly move in if need be,” I said. “Any reports from the human side of things?”
“I have to head back to D.C. after this meeting for some more strategy sessions to figure out if there’s any way for us to support you further. I know you’ve forbidden us from getting involved with the warlocks because we’re not as durable, but we may have some technology that will help you fight,” Steve said.
He’d tried a couple of Elan’s training simulations and virtually witnessed firsthand what we were going up against. After he was done, I thought he looked at us in a new light, especially when he watched me go through the same simulations.
He brought in a couple of Navy SEALs to try the training, and even though they did better, they were still no match for what the warlocks were capable of. Being dedicated warriors, they’d come back many times to try to get better training. There was talk about the simulations becoming a part of their regular curriculum.
“We’re always happy for any support you can give us,” I replied. “My hope is we can defeat this threat together. I just don’t want people getting hurt.”
I’d started remembering bouts of me seeing the future in the past. That sounded weird, but it is what it is. In the memories, I saw the casualties we’d end up taking. Rarely was it death, but missing appendages aren’t exactly nice either.
“Have we found any clues about who their leader may be?” Nate asked.
That was something we were all working to figure out. I had some basic images I’d picked up, but I didn’t know for sure if the man in them was the one we were searching for, but I had a feeling he was. I closed my eyes, trying to concentrate on the glimpses I’d seen of my past.
I’d found that when I really thought hard about something in particular, I did actually get something back. I didn’t do it often, because of the edict about not overtaxing my system, but every once in a while I believed it was necessary.
I started to get a few flashes that were confusing more than anything else. The vision of my brother being killed popped in, even though I tried to keep it at bay. The fact that it did left me with little doubt who his potential killer was, and for some reason a name came to me.
“I’m getting the name Malphas. Does that mean anything to anyone? It’s not ringing any of my bells.” I hated that I couldn’t do more than blurt out a name. I wanted to know everything I at one time knew about the guy.
“Please tell me you just pulled that name out of nowhere and weren’t concentrating on our opponent,” Eva said in a voice so unlike her usual carefree one. I swore I heard fear.
“Okay, that’s exactly what I was doing,” I replied. I was a little scared to hear who the person really was if Eva seemed a little worried.
“If that’s who we are going up against, and not just some warlock, we’re going to need a bigger boat,” Charles told the group. Everyone else seemed to be nodding their head, so I guessed he was well-known.
“Time to fill in the idiot at the table,” I said, looking at the clock on the wall that I required to be in every conference room. “And with quickness if you would.”
If there was to be a revelation during the meeting, I should’ve called everyone together sooner. I hated when unexpected surprises came up because of something coming from a partial memory.
“Well, my dear, you know how warlocks come about by selling their souls to people who have set themselves up as gods,” Nate started his explanation.
“Yeah, you told me all about that a while ago,” I replied, a little confused as to why we were covering things Nate knew I knew.
“We tend to call those bad gods demons, just for lack of a better word. Malphas would be the president of those demons,” Nate explained.
“Him being the ‘master’ kind of makes sense. Avery, in her past life, made a special knife to kill him and that shouldn’t have been necessary if he was just a run of the mill warlock,” Rick added.
“I don’t know that I understand what any of that means, but how will this possible revelation affect our planning?” I asked, wanting to move forward. I figured if we knew who the guy was, it would be easy to figure out what we needed to do. “What new training should we work into the program?”
“We have to be prepared for not only warlocks, but also his demon minions. Unlike the warlocks, we won’t be able to kill them. Since we can’t really die either, it will be a wash, but they won’t stop fighting until their master is killed,” Charles informed me.
“That means we really can’t train the teams any better for what they’ll face,” Liam said. “We’ll just have more casualties than we originally hoped. Thankfully everyone will eventually heal up.”
“So when the time comes, I need to find the guy as soon as possible and use my knife on him,” I said. I really didn’t want my troops to get hurt. I knew they’d heal, but cuts and bullets and fists still hurt.
“Do you know for sure that you’re the only one who can use it?” Elan asked. “Maybe it would be best if we kept you hidden like last time.”
“Sorry, Elan, but whether the knife works for someone else or not, I’m not sitting this one out, and if either Nate or Rick mentions shackles to any of you, I want to know right away,” I said.
“Yes, my queen,” Brad, my wolverine buddy, said immediately.
He’d been busy for a couple of weeks training in our new program, and trying to get everyone to pledge their fealty to me. I kept attempting to tell him that it wasn’t necessary, but he was being stubborn about it. The only good thing about his devotion was I knew for a fact he’d come running to me if anyone made plans I wouldn’t like.
“So, I have to run to get ready immediately. You guys decide who’s going tonight and I’ll meet you bac
k here in ten minutes,” I said, standing up from the table.
“Yes, my queen,” Rick said in a sarcastic tone.
“Freddie, don’t you start pushing my buttons,” I told him as I walked out of the room.
Having lived our very long lives almost always together, he’d found pretty much every button I had, and he loved pressing as many as possible. He usually forgot I knew the same information about him. Eventually when things settled down, I’d have to remind him.
“You do know I don’t hate that name anymore, right, baby girl?” he asked me mentally while I climbed the stairs that were just outside the dining room.
“I know. You only hated it because I was the one who gave it to you and I wasn’t around to call you that when you took the name again,” I replied. “Just think, we don’t have to technically change our names ever again if we don’t want to. You might want to make sure it’s something you can live with the rest of your life.”
“You calling me Freddie is definitely something I’ll never get tired of again, little sister,” he said, and then shut down the link between us.
I hurried through my shower and affixed my knives in their proper places. I threw on a pair of black jeans and a dark purple shirt. I’d had to steer clear of the snarky shirts I often wore, because I deemed it would be rude to give a presentation in a shirt that said everyone in the crowd was stupid.
After I put my shoes on, I brushed out my hair and rolled it up in a bun, so I could put in the two chopstick-looking weapons that Vinnie made for me. With all my protection, I hadn’t had a chance to use them. Supposedly, if I stabbed anyone with the little blades hidden inside, they’d be paralyzed pretty much instantly. Rumor was it would even work on the warlocks.
I’d have to ask if we expected it to work on the demons as well. If it could, that’d come in handy and I’d have to ask Vinnie to work on getting us mass quantities.
I headed downstairs and found the guys waiting for me. My berserker sparring partner had wet hair, so I assumed he’d at least found a car wash somewhere to run through. I was warned there would be extra protection that night, but there were a few more people there than I expected.
“Are we all going?” I asked, counting twenty-five people instead of the usual ten.
“If you’re right, the threat we’re facing is bigger than we thought. We’re going to take extra precautions to make sure you’re safe,” Nate replied. He didn’t mention wrapping me in bubble wrap, so I supposed I could live with extra protection.
“Fine, just try not to scare the humans,” I responded. “Let’s head to the limo. My time management skills have failed me today, so I’m not going to explain how I don’t think more people will make a difference.”
Yes, I said limo. It was deemed that riding my motorcycle around was a little too dangerous, so I was stuck in a limo equipped with bulletproof glass and all sorts of armor. I didn’t enjoy getting shot, but I thought it was a little overkill.
Usually the new ride was big enough to transport my entourage, but with over two dozen people, we ended up taking it and two black Suburbans. It was going to cause a scene and draw more attention than I liked. Oh well, it was the last one for me in the foreseeable future, so I’d put on my big girl pants and make it through.
CHAPTER 3
The future belongs to crowds