Half an hour later, Rai crossed paths with another Voodoo witch in a tight corridor.
She had barely gotten a syllable of a chant out before he arrived like a gusting gale and slit her throat.
The witch touched her neck in disbelief and collapsed.
Glancing at the measly +40 points that rolled into the Grimoire, Rai shook his head.
"Stingy, even in death."
This was the third Voodoo cultist he'd cut down since powering up.
His method hardly changed:
On contact, lean into his speed; in these narrow halls, close before the enemy can react; one slash, done.
If someone did react quickly, he would use Mind Control for a split second to confuse them, like the time he met a team of two witches. He distracted one with a mental nudge, while the other was just about to raise her hand before he attacked her. The team never worked together.
Three heads later: this kill only paid 40, but the previous two had been 100 each.
He checked his stats.
[Physique: 3.0]
[Spirit: 2.3]
[Abilities: Control Flame; Mind Control; Health; Spirit Sight]
[Points: 40]
Having field-tested it, Rai felt his current power was enough and was just considering banking points to be ready to awaken the next ability when a faint noise sounded behind him.
He started to turn when a blast of high-heat flame tore toward him.
Earlier, that might've been trouble.
Now, he slid aside; air screamed at his acceleration; the fire washed past, harmless.
He didn't counter with steel like before.
Seeing who it was, he grinned. "Trying to murder your boyfriend, Zoe?"
"I'm so sorry! Rai, I'm just too on edge!"
Zoe had loosed the shot and only then realised it was Rai. The instant relief when he dodged had her breath coming again; she apologised in a rush.
Rai waved it off and stepped up. Seeing how bedraggled she was, he was about to ask when Zoe seized him, urgent.
"Rai, run! There are a lot of Voodoo witches chasing me!"
"A lot… of people."
In a blink, Rai's eyes lit up like bulbs.
—
Inside the flesh labyrinth, hunter and prey kept trading places.
In the real world, the Supreme Witch and the Voodoo Queen were still at it.
If Fiona hadn't prepared an isolation ward in advance and if all the locals dragged into this weren't tied to the Voodoo side, with no one dumb enough to call the cops, the scene, already cratered like it had been shelled again and again, would have raised half the city's alarms.
On the rubble, Fiona stood heaving, all society-lady poise gone; face slate-dark, she said again:
"Name the demon, call it 'devil' if you like, that made your pact and gave you life unending. Tell me its name, and tonight ends here."
"Ends here? You really think you've got this won? Arrogant."
Marie, hardly in great shape herself, wiped the blood from her lip and laughed.
"Oh, and by the way, by my count, the flesh-maze's timer is almost up. The batch of little witches you brought? They're pretty much all finished. I've helped you, Fiona. Shouldn't you thank me?"
"My price is small, kill yourself. You're not long for this world anyway."
Fiona's face darkened; she said nothing and opened her hand.
They clashed again.
What neither knew: not far off, a fully armed crew of hunters was quietly drawing a very tight net.
—
A dozen miles away.
University Medical Centre New Orleans.
Propped against her hospital bed's pillows, Cordelia stared with dead eyes at the blank air, saying nothing.
She hadn't recovered from the blow of losing her sight.
Her husband, Hank, who'd stayed by her side all along, peeled an apple and offered it over. "Have a little."
Cordelia reached by chance, her fingers brushed his.
Instantly.
Her mind shuddered.
Sightless eyes suddenly filled with a crystal-clear memory, Hank's memory image after image of him wrapped up with some red-haired woman.
A moment later, Cordelia was startled and took a sharp breath, as if she was struggling to breathe.
No time to ponder how she had gained such power.
As a wife, fury surged, and she demanded, loud, "Who is she? Who's that red-haired woman with you?!"
Hank blinked, genuinely confused by the sudden anger.
Until she said red hair.
Then he thought of the redhead he'd shot, one of Salem blood, who had awakened flame. To win her trust, he had indeed played along close enough to kill her in the end and meet the quotas from the Voodoo Queen… and from his father.
He could not tell the truth.
He drew a breath and, facing Cordelia's fury, denied it coolly. "Cordelia, what are you talking about? What redhead? I don't know any such woman."
Cordelia let out a few cold laughs and pointed to her lightless eyes. "I may be blind, but I awakened The Sight by accident. All the filthy things you've done, I can see them."
Before Hank could hedge, she grabbed his hand again.
She meant to confirm that sickening scene, but another memory poured into her mind, also his:
"Father, I've confirmed it. Fiona will bring people to fight the Voodoo side tonight."
"Good. Salem or Voodoo are both targets for us. Looks like scarring Cordelia was a smart move."
"Cordelia? Scarred???"
"It was only to be sure she'd need you more afterwards, but we got a bonus."
"You did that to my wife?!"
"Your wife? Tell me you didn't truly fall for that woman. Tell me, son! You haven't forgotten what she is or what you are!"
"…I am of the Order. A soldier in the Shadow War. A war that started before Salem. We are brothers to the death, purging sorcery from this continent. I am… a witch hunter."
"Good. You remember. Tonight I'll have David close the net. And you, my son Cordelia, is yours to handle."
"…Yes, sir…"
Huff! Huff! Huff!
Tearing herself out of the vision again, Cordelia curled in on herself, panting even harder than before.
"What is it, darling?" Hank stepped in to steady her.
But Cordelia shrank away as if he were a plague upon her. When she finally caught her breath, she aimed her face toward Hank, voice full of hurt, despair, and hatred. "Fine. Fine! I didn't think you were hiding this deep, Hank!"
"I… what happened? Cordelia, are you feeling unwell?"
Cordelia clenched her fists and shouted, "Witch hunter! You're a witch hunter! A lie, everything's been a lie!"
Hank's face changed at once. "How… how do you know?"
"Because I'm a witch!"
The deeper the love had been, the deeper the hate was now.
As much as she wanted to tear apart the man who had lied to her for so long and carried such malice in his heart, she didn't forget what she'd just seen in that father-son exchange. Forcing her fury down, she demanded:
"Talk! What's happening tonight? What is your father going to do?"
Cordelia's long hair lifted in a wind that wasn't there, writhing like snakes.
Crackle! Crackle!
The lights in the room and beyond flickered hard, objects around them shuddering and clattering to the floor.
Feeling a mountain of pressure crash over him, Hank swallowed and hurried to answer:
"Tonight, Fiona takes the academy witches to war with the Voodoo Queen, Marie. My uncle David has already led a team of witch hunters to close the net. He plans to wipe both sides at once."
Thump!
The apple on the bed burst into pulp.
Cordelia's face went as dark as it could go.
Hank drew a long breath and let his true feelings tumble out: "Cordelia, you have to believe me, my love for you is real. If Fiona and Marie and the rest are all gone, I won't be under Marie's thumb, and my father can't order me to hunt Salem witches anymore. And you, you'll finally be free of your mother's shadow. Then we can disappear somewhere no one will find us and live out our lives. Together."
"Cordelia, come with me tonight."
Cordelia laughed, icy. "What, no plans to 'deal with' me as the last loose end?"
"That was to placate my father. I swear to God, I won't harm you."
"I don't believe in God."
She stopped listening, hands patting along the bedside, fumbling until she found her phone. She tried Fiona's number and found she couldn't get through.
"If you don't want to die, call Fiona," Cordelia said, deadly serious, to Hank.
He hesitated, but took the phone and dialled.
Beep… beep… beep… It dropped to voicemail.
"Try Madison," Cordelia said, more anxious now.
No answer.
Then Queenie. Zoe. Nan. Rai. All the same.
Cordelia grew frantic. Whether or not she could move easily, she grabbed the white cane by the bed and went to leave.
Hank reached to stop her…
She flung out a hand, and he slammed into the wall.
"I have more important things to do. Hank, don't let me see you again. Or I won't be able to stop myself from killing you."
Leaving that killing intent hanging in the air, Cordelia took her cane and, unsteady, left.
Hank slid down the wall, staring after her, hollowed out.
—
Inside the flesh labyrinth.
Rai had just flipped from prey to hunter and scored a little. He and Zoe were pushing the chase when the maze shuddered violently.
He halted, wary, scanning the walls.
"What is it?" Zoe asked, uneasy.
Before he could answer, the black-and-red miasma he'd seen before welled up again out of nowhere and rolled toward them like surf.
"Looks like we're going back," he said. "Take my hand."
She did.
A few seconds later, the familiar fog smothered the world.
When Rai opened his eyes again, under the sheen of moonlight, he could tell he was back in reality.
But was this exactly where they'd left?
He remembered that while Fiona had dropped the buildings, she'd left heaps of rubble piled up.
Now, looking again, the mounds were gone, replaced by deep pits, embers guttering, foul blood smeared everywhere, and the remains of all manner of grotesque things.
"So this is how strong a Supreme Witch and a Voodoo Queen really are."
Rai stared, dazed, at Fiona and Marie still facing off.
He wasn't the only one; everyone who'd made it back from the maze alive gaped at the scene.
Marie, one of the two at the centre, didn't look good.
She swept her gaze over the people who'd returned; her face, which had been full of certainty, turned stormy.
How had her side lost so many?
In the end, they'd only managed to capture one? The other witches were all alive?
Useless, she cursed inwardly.
Fiona, looking back, wore something odd too and a faint… disappointment?
Queenie had been taken, but not harmed. Zoe, once she'd linked back up with Rai, was untouched. Madison, who'd bulldozed her way through, was the messiest, splashed with blood, some hers, some not, one arm hanging limp.
Realising she was back, the normally fussy-clean Madison just plopped right down on the filthy ground, then snapped her head toward Rai's position.
Of the four, Nan was the worst off. She'd scraped by to the end at the cost of a body wrapped head-to-toe in bandages.
Just then, with her tears long gone from the pain, Nan suddenly raised her head and stared into the darkness, terror spiking across her face. "So… so many people!"
Rai, with the sharpest ears, felt his pupils contract. He yanked Zoe down and shouted.
"Down!"
Madison, who'd been watching Rai like a hawk, dove flat without a word.
Whether or not the others heard, it was already too late.
The next instant…
From a command by David, the field lead, the witch hunters hidden around the perimeter opened fire.
A swarm of rounds fanned in from all sides toward the witches.
Not ordinary ammo, silver rounds laid with spells, made to bite into witches.
In a blink, anyone left standing burst with plumes of blood.
A few who could block a shot or two had their wards ripped apart by the silver's bite.
The Voodoo side bled hard on the spot.
Tied up and unable to move, Queenie went down. So did Nan, spent and defenceless.
"Damn it!"
Marie raged at the sight.
Fiona, face tight as she stopped a spray of silver, spat the words:
"Witch hunters!"
Fiona had not expected to be ambushed like this by witch hunters, no less, the oldest mortal enemies of witches.
As the main target, and seeing a storm of silver rounds made for witches rip toward her, Fiona's pupils snapped down. She didn't dare stand there catching bullets the way she had before; she started chaining Blink, skittering through space to dodge the kill shots.
Mid-flight, she shouted toward the equally harried Marie: "Together!"
Marie's face was ugly, but she only snorted and didn't refuse.
For all that they'd just been trying to kill each other, this was still an internal witch feud. Against witch hunters, the ones who never stopped until the last witch was gone, she knew exactly what to do.
Especially now, when both had taken heavy losses and she and Fiona were running low.
With Marie covering, Fiona finally had a hand free; her eyes hardened, and bouquets of flame blossomed out in the darkness ahead.
No screams followed.
The hunters, who'd been honing the kill for centuries, were far more professional than those swamp-bred fanatics. They were wearing modern fire-resistant suits, with trained extinguisher crews in support.
Fiona's fire looked grand, but it did little damage.
The counterpunch came fast: a string of flashbangs arced in.
The searing light blew out the witches' sight, Fiona's.
Behind that glare, the hunters in low-light goggles turned up the pressure.
Screams sharp, despairing became their scoreboard.
"We can't trade here, we have to pull out!"
Watching her people drop one after another, Marie, hugging her arm, a silver round lodged somewhere in her shot, Fiona a hateful look. If not for Fiona's war and both sides being ground down, how would a pack of hunters have forced her to this? How would she be abandoning a turf she'd held for two centuries?
Fiona, breathing raggedly now, the wrinkles deeper on her face, stared into the light-spattered dark that ate people whole, then gave the barest nod.
She glanced at Queenie and Nan lying still and silent, hesitated, and flicked her hand, hauling them along.
Then she looked to the three who'd had the sense to hit the dirt and find cover early, Rai, Zoe, and Madison, none of whom were scratched and snapped, "Move!"
The hunters were ready and ruthless. To save what was left, Fiona and Marie picked a vector and drove a wedge to break through.
Seeing that, Rai stopped playing opossum. He set Zoe and Madison down, told them to be careful, and vanished into the dark.
Against armed men seasoned in counter-occult work, raw Spirit tricks would only go so far; what mattered now was body.
[Physique +0.5]
Without hesitation, he dumped the hundred Points he'd just banked into Physique. At 3.5, more and more inhuman, Rai surged forward like a wraith.
He was fast.
Even with NVGs, hunters who blinked at the wrong moment couldn't keep him. And with Fiona and Marie pulling all the aggro up front, Rai slipped to the edge of their line cleanly.
One hunter, lit with mission-fever and raking the front with fire, suddenly felt a broad, iron hand clamp his mouth.
Crack.
A twist, and his neck went. Dead before he hit dirt.
At Rai's current strength, holding a grown man was like pinching a chick.
He stripped the man's M4 carbine and night-vision, tucked small, and slid on a hook toward his second mark.
Muffled struggle, two beats, then limp.
Rai pulled the mags and kept moving death in the dark around the perimeter.
Three… four… five…
The hunters had centuries of practice against covens; none of them imagined someone would close in and play butcher up close. That never happened with fragile witches.
By the time the gunfire thinned and the witches pressed closer, the sector lead finally realised something was wrong.
He keyed up. "Teams Six, Seven, Nine report."
Static.
His face drained. "Heads up! We've…"
Rounds punched through him, shredding his insides; he dropped without finishing.
Rai had jumped first and stitched him apart.
Exposed now, he rose into a crouch, locked the trigger, and, with the muzzle a sheet of fire, combed a line of bullets across every hunter in reach.
"Argh!"
"My leg help!"
"Who's firing wild?!"
"There, enemy! Look…no…!"
Panic and pain cascaded across the net.
Those not caught swung to kill him, well-trained, fast, but Rai was faster. They couldn't track him; he shaved them down one by one with cold shots.
With the pressure bled off, the witches punched through.
"Finally caught you rats," Fiona said coldly, fixing on one hunter.
His face went slack; he swung and shot the teammate beside him.
Others, hardened, immediately put down the controlled man, but that was the last straw. This sector collapsed within moments.
With no more barricades ahead, Fiona blew out a breath and shot Rai a look of rare approval. "Well done, Rai."
Seeing Zoe and Madison unhurt, Rai glanced at the two they were dragging. "How are Queenie and Nan?"
"Back at the house," Fiona said, shaking her head. "We'll talk then."
Rai fell silent.