Evil - Chapter 29
I thought it would be hard for me to sleep the night before the big raid.
This is a portal fantasy series with mythological roots and action-adventure tendencies. You can search through all my work on my website.
It's not easy being the Antichrist.
Anjelica’s mother never told her that she was a demon. Now, all she wants is her old life back, but that’s not possible for her. Not after what she’s seen.
Anjelica used to be a popular cheerleader with an awesome life, but that was before an evil cult of demons tried to use her blood to open a portal to Hell and start the Apocalypse.
She was rescued from that fate, barely, and because of the imminent threat to her life, her saviors ripped her from Los Angeles and brought her to a safe house in the middle of nowhere.
They said it was for her own good, but she would rather be dead than stuck in boring, old Bronard, Missouri. She was from the big city, so a sleepy, rural life wasn’t for her.
She longed for excitement.
So, when she met a young witch with a mysterious past who promised to show her everything she knew about opening portals and traveling between distant lands, they bonded immediately
I mean, what’s the worst that could happen, right?
It’s not like they would open an intergalactic gateway to another planet and get thrown into a brand, new world with no way to get back to Earth, right?
Join Anjelica in her own solo adventure and find out what happened to her immediately after the events in Magic.
After barely resting for the past two weeks, I fell asleep without issue on the cold cot provided me by the rebellion. It was staying asleep that was the problem. A familiar disembodied hand kept finding me and trying to drag me down into the darkness. I thought that maybe I had banished the hand in my old Earth, and I would get peace from it, but time after time, when I closed my eyes, it found me.
Every time it happened, I would wake up, splash water on my face, use the bathroom, and then try again to drift off to sleep. This repeated until the next morning when Madam Fantasmo came to call on me.
“Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey,” she said, dressed in a black camo suit like the one I would be wearing in the near future. “Although I wouldn’t get your hopes up. The café can find a way to ruin even eggs.”
I rolled to the edge of my bed and set my feet down, the cold concrete sending shivers down my spine. “Please tell me you aren’t coming with us.”
“Oh gods no, child. I just wanted to show some camaraderie.”
I followed her up the elevator and downed runny eggs with burnt toast. She was right about the eggs. When my belly was full, though not satiated, Madam Fantasmo brought me back to the armory where Commander Bivnol was suiting up, surrounded by a small team of men and women, none of whom I recognized.
“Morning, recruit,” she said. “Meet the rest of the team.” She pointed to a tall man with broad shoulders and a scruffy face. “Lieutenant Tarborniv. He’s leading the other assault team to take down the guard tower.” She pointed to three more people in the small room, a young woman with glasses, an older man with several teeth missing, and a Black woman who refused to look in my direction. “Otis, Grounir, and Shangil. Their success is your success, and their failure is our failure.” She smacked her chest. “We live as one.”
They all punched their chests. “We die as one.”
“That’s really a horrifying thought. Which team are you on, ma’am?” I asked.
“I’ll be coordinating in central command.” Commander Bivnol reached into her pocket and pulled out a small headset. “Put this in your ear, and you’ll hear everything we have to say.” She stormed out of the room. “Follow.”
I hurried to catch up with her as she walked toward a bakery truck that said “Chitrer’s Bakery” on the side. The people loading weren’t dressed in the mercenary gear but in simple off-white jumpsuits with logos on the back that matched the side of the truck.
“Corporal,” she growled as she marched toward them. “How are you doing?”
A baby-faced woman with a bright smile turned and saluted. “Good, ma’am. We’ll be ready in five minutes.”
“Excellent. Corporal Mercer, this is Anjelica. She’ll be on your team, as we discussed. I leave her in your capable hands.” Commander Bivnol turned to me and saluted. “It’s a great honor to be working with you on this project. Thank you for your service to the rebellion.”
I returned the salute, and she left. “She’s a bit intense, right?”
Corporal Mercer laughed. “She’s just trying to look out for us, but yeah, over the top is an apt definition. She’s a dynamite training officer, though. More than once, something she taught me saved my life in the field.” Corporal Mercer waved me forward. “Come on, I’ll introduce you to the rest of the team.”
She picked up a wooden box filled with baguettes and walked toward the truck. A dark-skinned man with piercing brown eyes hopped out as she slid the box into the back. “This is Thole. He’s an infiltration expert, one of the best we have.”
“One of? Please.” He shook my hand. “I’m the best. Half of this plan was my idea, and the other half was cribbed from my past missions.”
“He’s not modest, either.” She pointed to the front, where a portly man with a long, ratty beard waved toward me. “That’s Inyss, our driver. If things get hairy, he’s the one who’ll get us out of a tough jam.”
“I am also an excellent parallel parker,” Inyss replied with a gruff voice.
“That’s it?” I said. “Just the four of us?”
“We have to make it look like we’re delivering baked goods, and even four is pushing it.” She grabbed me by the shoulders. “That’s why you’re so important. You are here to convince Margaret to come with us willingly. We don’t want it to get dicey in there.”
“No pressure.”
She dug through the back of the truck and handed me a jumpsuit. “Here, put this on.”
“Oh.” I took it. “I thought I was going to be wearing the camo and vest. I kind of picked one out already.”
The three of them looked at each other, and Corporal Mercer spoke, “That is conspicuous as hell. No, we have to play the part. You get the jumpsuit. Once we unload, we’ll give you a gun just in case it all goes to pot, but this is a simple in and out job.”
I regretted not being on the other team. I’ll bet they had bulletproof vests. Still, all of this hinged on me doing my part, so I dutifully shed my camo and put on the jumpsuit, then rejoined the team. By the time I finished, they were already packed up, and both teams were loaded into the truck.
“We’ll drop Alpha team off first,” Corporal Mercer said, helping me into the back of the truck. “And then we’ll continue once they have breached. Sound good?”
No, it didn’t. I didn’t know what a breach was, but it didn’t sound good at all. I didn’t say any of that. “Sounds great.”
***
It took an hour to reach the estate, taking it easy on the windy country roads, what with the added weight of seven people in the back of the truck, along with various assorted breads and cheeses to make us look legit. It was cramped and smelly, but the rumbling of the road under my feet lulled me into a sort of trance and made me forget how tired and scared I was…until the estate expanded out in front of us, and it all came rushing back to me.
Inyss swerved around the country roads until he reached the edge of the wall. When he stopped, Alpha team was ready. They leaped out in less than ten seconds, and Mercer closed the door behind them.
“So, you have an easy job right now,” Mercer said. “All you have to do is not say anything. Here.” She handed me a badge with my name on it, surrounded by green. “If anyone asks, you’re new, and you have no idea what is happening. You’re a last-minute fill-in. Say it back to me.”
“I’m a last-minute fill-in. I have no idea what’s going on.” I gave a wry smile. “Well, that should be easy to remember because it’s true.”
The truck made it around to the front gate, and Inyss pulled up to the guard shack.
“Badge,” a man’s voice grumbled. Inyss pulled out his badge and showed it to the guard. “Open the back.”
“It’s already unlocked.”
Footsteps crackled on gravel, and then the back door opened. I smiled at the tall gentleman staring at us. He didn’t say anything. He just eyed us for several seconds and then closed the door again. My heart leapt into my chest, expecting the worst to happen, and when the gate opened a few seconds later, I felt all the air in my lungs escape at once. I hadn’t realized I was holding my breath.
“Step one is down,” Mercer said to me with a smile. I liked her. I really hoped she didn’t die.
We pulled up to the back of the house, and Mercer opened the door, helping me down to the ground and then handing me a wooden crate.
The radio in my ear crackled. “We’re in position. Next shift comes down in ten minutes.”
“That’s the go sign,” Mercer said. “We have ten minutes before they find our guys. We need to be out of here in five. Inyss and Thole will make the trip to unload the supplies while you and I find the girl. Got it?”
“Got it.”
Mercer picked up a crate and walked toward the castle. I had only ever seen castles in the movies, and this one was grand. A tower rose from each corner of the building, with high walls connecting them. As we passed through the stone archway into the building, a cool, stiff breeze hit me. If we hadn’t been busy with a kidnapping, I would have loved to walk around the property and get a tour.
Inside the ancient walls stood a modern kitchen, complete with stainless steel appliances and marble countertops, every bit befitting a king’s family. Mercer laid the crate down on the large island in the middle of the room and pulled a gun from inside the crate. She handed it to me before recovering a second one and putting it into the back waistband of her jumpsuit, motioning for me to do the same.
“Let’s go,” she said. She looked at Thole and pounded her chest. “We live as one.”
He pounded his chest. “We die as one.”
We stepped quietly but quickly through the hallway. A TV blared, and we passed a room where three Jackboot guards sat, enrapt in whatever sport they were playing on the screen. We turned the corner and ducked into a small inlet as two more guards walked down the hallway toward us. When they passed, we continued down to the end of the hall and took the circular stairs up two flights.
I could see why they needed Margaret to come willingly. It would have been impossible to drag somebody down the way we came without causing a ruckus. I wasn’t sure how they got her upstairs with her wheelchair, but the Jackboots were all strong and strapping, so I had no doubt they could carry a little girl up two flights of stairs.
“This way,” Mercer said, leading us forward. This level was considerably quieter and quainter than the first floor, which seemed more industrial and utilitarian. There were paintings on the walls here and plush carpeting.
Mercer rushed over to a wooden door with a brass knocker. “This is it. You have three minutes. Are you ready?”
No. “Yes.”
Mercer knocked on the door and then pushed it open without waiting for an answer. I slid into the room, which was awash in purples and pinks. All sorts of beautiful dolls lined the shelves, interspersed with books and other knickknacks, but my eyes were drawn to the large canopy bed in the center of the room, where a heart monitor beeped wildly. When I pushed the mesh around the bed back, I saw her, Margaret, staring back at me, smiling.
“Anjelica!” she shouted, wrapping her hands around my neck. “You’re alive!”
I wrapped her in a hug. “It’s good to see you, too. I’m so glad you’re safe.” I pulled back from her. “Now, come on, we have to get out of here.”
She cocked her head. “Why would I do that? I have everything I ever wanted right here.”
This is a portal fantasy series with mythological roots and action-adventure tendencies. You can search through all my work on my website.