Post by thefangedrose on Oct 6, 2023 19:18:40 GMT -8
Disclaimer
This series contains elements of a supernatural nature and will play a parody to the Judao-Christian faith. It is not meant to be mocking or subversive and is simply done for a creative outlet.
You. Were. Warned.
The supernatural elements of this storyline were not always present. “The Pact” is a concept that kept Jesse’s original “Walk the line” idea alive while honoring that none of them had these “” abilities” five years ago.
Hope you enjoy it.
I give you Chapter 7!
Civil War 2
Chapter 7
“The Raid”
Location: Colbert, Georgia
Date: September 22th
Time: 7:48 PM
The twilight had begun to descend on the little town in North-Eastern Georgia. The irony of their location was not lost on Maiko as she and her group rolled down the road toward the destination only she and Hana knew. The Devil had indeed gone back to Georgia.
Shadow had remained behind with Silk and a small handful of Demons to protect Michael while Hana sat in the back with The massive man in the reptilian mask and the small group of demons in complete silence.
The sun was well on its way to disappearing when the group rounded the corner and crept toward a lone warehouse at the end of the street. The masked face suddenly appeared between Maiko and the Demon John, its eyes intense and focused on the path ahead.
“No way we are sneaking up on that.” It growled.
“Did you ever see us coming?” Maiko asked without taking her eyes off the road as the van turned down an ally and came to a stop between two buildings.
“I have told you about doing that.” It said with the faintest of little hisses. “Dean Matthews is dead. The sooner you people accept that fact the sooner you can get on with the grieving process.”
“Yet you share his memories,” Maiko told the thing between her and the demon. “You know I speak the truth.”
The figure sat silently, not wanting her to continue that particular train of thought. Instead, he looked over at her.
“What do you recommend then?”
“John,” Hana said softly from the back.
“Ma’am.” The balding man whispered and reached down into a bag between his legs.
From the bag, he withdrew a small metallic object about the size of a handheld game system and held it over his shoulder to her. Then he reached down again into the bag and withdrew another metallic object, this time it was much thinner and more rounded.
A mask.
The blank featureless mask was slid over his face and the hood of the robe he wore was pulled up. When he stepped out into the nearly dark ally it was very, very difficult to make out more than simply his vague shape.
“Hana?” Maiko asked without taking her eyes off the windshield and the street beyond.
“Checking,” Hana answered without looking up. “I miss Azazel….I always hated this.”
The little device she held showed a series of red and green lines spreading outwards from a central square. Red lines to their right and all green to their left.
“No alarms or cameras to the left. Multiple in the buildings to the right.”
“The one we need is two buildings down to the left…”
Without a word, the vague shape that had once been John simply disappeared as it darted toward the edge of the building and around. The masked man realized then they had worked out a way to detect the signals sent by cameras and alarms. That’s how they knew where they were and how to avoid them.
“Smart.” It hissed.
“Tell Azazel,” Hana said without looking up. “He designed them.”
The group sat in silence until a voice sounded in all of their ears.
“All clear. We beat them here.”
All at once every door of the van opened and robes and masks were taken from bags. Black and metallic for the demons and white and gold for the two angels. When the masked man climbed out to join them one of the two golden masks turned to look at him sharply.
“Remain here.” Maiko’s voice commanded.
An eyebrow went up behind the mask and it simply said.
“You will need my strength. You will understand when you see it.”
“Mother….please.” Hana’s voice pleaded.
One golden mask looked to the other and then the two turned and walked on. The masked man turned to one of the Demons.
“One of you remain here and inform us if anyone drives back toward the warehouse.”
And then he followed.
By the time he caught up with the group, they were moving around the side of the building to join the lone-robed figure. The sun had all but disappeared by the time they all joined up. One of the black-robed demons pulled the door open and strode inside with the others following behind them.
The door led into a huge room filled with boxes of various shapes and sizes just as the last one hand. All of them stopped looking around.
“If it's in a box at all it will be huge….” The masked man said scanning the room and then pointed near the far corner of the room where a larger crate stuck up above all the others. “That has to be it.”
They all walked through the maze of smaller boxes until they gathered, as a unit, around the larger one and Maiko grabbed a crowbar from atop the box next to it. The masked man grasped her wrist but she yanked her arm away.
“We want to see what's inside.” She demanded.
“As you wish.”
The others all stood back, the masked man with his arms over his large chest, and waited, watching as Maiko pried off one side and then the other, and the front of the crate fell forward. After a small shower of packing peanuts fell out she stepped back with a shocked expression on her face.
“...A casket?” She asked. “Seriously? You sent us all the way here for a damn casket?!”
Inside was a four-foot-tall and six-foot-long stone sarcophagus. It was covered in intricate carvings and rune work with jewels of all kinds covering its sides. What the cover looked like was anyone’s guess as no one could see it.
“This is it.” It told them firmly. “...And it’s much too old to be called a casket Demon. It’s a sarcophagus.”
Maiko went to reply when a sudden voice sounded in their ears.
“Company. 90 seconds.”
The two golden-faced women looked around and spotting a set of stairs leading to the second floor motioned without a word for all of them to ascend. Which quietly they all did. The heavy steps of the biggest of them fell silent just as the door below opened and voices drifted up to them.
“Let’s be quick Sham.” Josie’s voice commanded. “Lord Lucifer is in a mood and this is bound to improve it tremendously.”
“You just want to get back to your toy,” Remiel said teasingly.
“I mean….” Josie’s voice answered. “I had to be away from him for many months because of this. Lots of time to make…don’t you shake your head at me, Sham.”
Hana and Maiko looked at one another, their eyes rolling behind their golden masks…but a loud clicking sound brought their eyes darting to the floor. The whole floor below them had gone dead silent. The only sound is the faintest brushes of fabric against the crates.
“They’ve found the opened crate,” Maiko said in a whisper so soft the only reason any of them heard it was the earpieces. “They're searching.”
The silent search continued for ten full minutes and still no sound returned, then the soft thud of boots on the stairs announced someone was coming upstairs. Hana, in her golden mask, peeked out from behind one of the larger crates and saw the huge robed and masked figure round the top of the stairs, the eyes behind the mask searching in silence.
“....Get the Sarcophagus to the van….” A male voice whispered into their ears.
Before any of them could respond the sound of booted feet rushing forward sounded off. The large woman’s masked face turned to the side just as an even bigger figure slammed into her full force launching her into the air.
Josie landed against the wall and crashed through it disappearing into the darkness beyond. Nearly the instant she did two golden-faced figures appeared. One of the two rushed him, launching herself into the air and into a kick that took the masked man in the face staggering him to the side.
The flash of steel announced a knife in the hand of the other coming toward his face only to find itself crossed blade to blade with another reverse grip held blade. The woman’s eyes moved to the golden-masked face between her and the Sin's eyes wide with shock.
“Hello, Sasha.” Maiko’s voice said conversationally. “We missed you.”
A huge booted foot suddenly caught Shamsiel in the chest launching her away and into the railing of the stairs. The railing gave way with a wooden crash sending Shamsiel tumbling down the stairs.
The Sins turned and looked behind him to find two white-robed and golden-masked women exchanging fervent attacks. The twins, so evenly matched it was impossible to predict who would win.
Maiko looked around expecting Demons or Hounds but found none. She looked back puzzled.
“Lucifer would never trust this to Demons.” It told her. “This terrifies him.”
“Better for us.” She looked behind her at the black-robed men and women. “Get it to the Van.”
“Ma’am.” That was the only reply they got.
“TRAITOR!”
A voice suddenly shouted as a hulking brown-haired figure slammed into the side of the golden-masked Maiko tackling her back into a grate. Somewhere outside Josie had changed out of her robes into her street clothes.
Heavy blows slammed into the mask leaving large dents until on the fifth punch Maiko’s head darted to the side causing the blow to sail past her and slam into the crate behind her. Maiko’s hands suddenly dart out and grasp the back of Josie’s head and yank it forward slamming her face first into the crate with tremendous force causing the thick wood to crack.
Across the room, the two golden-masked women continued their back and forth of near perfection. Block for block and counterstrike for counterstrike. As the two stood locked forearm to forearm the one standing with her back to the balcony leading down to the first floor suddenly found a large chunk of wood connected with her masked face.
The force of the blow caused the wood to shatter and send her flying over the edge of the balcony and crashing into the crates below. The other looked over at the masked man in shock.
“How did you know who was who?” Hana asked, the faintest hints of anger creeping into her voice.
“You smell different.”
Another faint glint of steel and the masked man pulled back grunting sharply and grasping his forearm with a black ooze like blood seeping down the pale flesh. The eyes behind the mask looked down at his arm sharply as if she were shocked to see it.
That was all the opening that he needed. The masked man lashed out an arm slamming a forearm into her masked face. The momentary pause was more than the woman would allow as when the man came forward for a second strike she flashed that blade across between them biting into his palm.
The masked man took a step back at the sudden slash but the woman found herself busied by Hana who jumped in again catching the woman across the golden mask with a knee strike to the side of the face. As Hana landed the man tumbled across the ground.
Shamsiel looked over, her midnight hair flying around her face as Hana arched another kick toward her head only for Shamsiel to bat it away. The other hand wielded the blade with nearly the same expertise as Maiko herself, tossing it into the other hand as Hana went to block and slashed across her torso missing by a fraction of an inch.
“I see Sara has been teaching you.”
Shamsiel’s eyes flashed dangerously at the mention of Sariel and her eyes darted to the masked man and the memory of the motorcycle. He was out of her reach however as he grasped the broken railing and vaulted down landing with a loud thud where Remiel was pulling herself up by a crate with a grimace.
Beyond the group, the black-robed Demons had the massive crate loaded onto two different dollies and were slowly dragging it out the now-opened front door. Beyond them a town car was parked on the street and a van was backing up into place.
Remiel looked at the forearm bleeding black ooze and then up into the masked man’s face. She then looked closer at his torso and saw the healed bullet wounds hidden by the newly placed tattoo ink and the badly hidden one on his neck.
“D…Dean? Is that you? How are you alive?” She asked as she rose to her feet. “Your body is….”
“Tell your master that certain things cannot be imprisoned forever.” The masked man told her.
When he lunged she thought he was going for her and jumped back but instead, he grasped the large crate next to her and yanked toward her as hard as he could. Remiel looked over in shock at the feat of strength as the crate crashed down into her burying her in debris.
The masked man looked up at the opened doors and saw the men struggling to load the crate into the back of the large van.
“LADIES!” He shouted to the two women fighting on the floor above him.
Hana staggered back holding her now bleeding cheek. Half of the mask is now gone, cut away by a nasty strike by Shamsiel. A half an inch higher and it would have taken Hana’s eye. The blade flashed out again aiming a stab at the eye only to meet blade to blade again.
Maiko yanked the blade back slicing into Shamsiel’s own face and then spun in one movement driving the point of her elbow into the side of her head as she brought it back around to look for another attack.
The elbow slammed into the side of her face and she crumbled to the ground. Behind them, the stack of broken wood suddenly burst upwards in a shower of debris and shrapnel as Josie screamed in rage freeing herself from where Maiko had done something similar to her as the Sins did to Remiel….on a smaller scale.
Maiko checked on Hana briefly then the two women raced to where the railing was broken and jumped down to the first floor. Remiel was struggling to free herself from the heavy crate as they ran past her. Haniel looked over at her twin sister wanting more than anything to help her but she knew whose side she was on.
The two women passed the town car, now lying on flat tires just as the masked man was wrapping his forearm in the passenger seat. They jumped into the back of the van and yanked the doors closed as it sped off, the whole back end nearly dragging on the ground.
The van sped down the street and nearly lost control on the turn but the balding head demon John kept it on the road by an inch barely missing a street light.
“We’re not gonna last long in this.” He told the man sitting next to him. “The first cop that sees us hanging this low is going to think we are transporting something and pull us over.”
The masked man looked over slowly and locked eyes on the man driving. John looked a little guilty as he glanced into the rearview mirror.
“....The things you learn with human trafficking….”
A hand suddenly landed on his shoulder and the bloody face of Haniel appeared between the seats.
“That is no longer who you are Jonathan.” She told him tenderly. “You are a repented soul, loyal to our Father's plan and absolved of your sins.”
A single tear leaked down the man’s face as he reached up and patted Haniel’s hand.
“I can never forgive myself for the things I did, Hananiel.”
“And that….is why you are forgiven.”
The masked man looked out at the dark street and then down at the console. 8:36 P.M. He pulled a small square phone from his pocket and began to type. After a moment he spoke without looking up.
“Turn at this next light….left.”
The demon driver did as he was bidden pulling onto a main street into traffic.
“Two blocks down on the right is a U-Haul rental.” He informed them. “I’ll rent….”
“I’ll rent a truck,” John told him. “You’d need to take off your mask and considering the guy you killed on the high a few hundred miles west of here that caused that traffic jam? I guarantee you everyone for five hundred miles knows your face.”
The eyes behind the mask looked back out at the road and he nodded. The man hadn’t been the only casualty that day. The young woman was simply on her way home on her motorcycle…Druscilla.
That was on him too.
“We’ll transfer the sarcophagus into the truck and you can all follow behind. John can drive and I’ll ride in the back with the prize to ensure its safety.”
“What exactly is it?” Maiko asked him as she pulled her mask off. The bruises already forming from the heavy blows from Josie.
“I’ll explain that when we get back.” He promised. “I don’t want to tell the story twice….and Michael needs to hear it first.”
“I’m surprised we got it out of there.” Another of the demons in the back said.
The eyes behind the reptilian mask turned to the rearview to look at the group in the back.
“Do not misunderstand what happened here. We caught them by surprise and with even numbers and even with all of that we needed to make a run for it to escape." The thing lifted its arm, the black ooze still leaking down the tattoo's skin. It then motioned to Hana's bloody face. "None of us escaped unscathed.”
“Neither did they!” The demon announced fiercely.
“Yes.” The man agreed, looking out at the road. “And next time there will be ten times as many...and this time they don’t feel pain and don’t seem to die. We got lucky.”
Again. He thought.
They got lucky…again.
How long could that luck hold out?
