Watcher of the Dark: A Jeremiah Hunt Supernatual Thriller (The Jeremiah Hunt Chronicle) by Joseph Nassise Page A
Authors: Joseph Nassise
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was separating him from Ilyana with a roar, his claws a blur as he slashed at her with unbelievable speed.
To my surprise she blocked every strike and even managed to land a few of her own in between. After a few minutes of that, Wagner attempted to back off and Ilyana let him. The two of them hung there, ten feet off the ground, waiting to see what the other would do.
Rivera’s voice rang out.
“We’re here for the Key and that’s all. Give it to us and we’ll leave you in peace.”
Wagner laughed and there was nothing human in the sound.
“I’m not a fool, Rivera.”
They knew each other?
“Even if I were to turn over the Key, you wouldn’t leave me alone. I know it and you do too. You may be content to be Fuentes’s lapdog but I am not.”
The last word was barely out of Wagner’s mouth when he made his move. Rather than rushing Ilyana a second time or having a go at Rivera, Wagner flung himself upward, straight at the ceiling above his head, no doubt in a bid to try to crash through it and escape through the structure above. It wasn’t a bad plan, as plans go; if he made it into the open air, for all I knew he might have been able to get away.
Rivera had apparently been waiting for Wagner to make just such an attempt, for even as the other man shot toward the ceiling, the sorcerer unleashed the power that he’d been holding ready in his bare hands. Black flames shot forth from his palms in a thick stream and washed across Wagner’s lower body as if flung from some kind of arcane flamethrower. I could feel the heat from where I was standing and assumed that was the end of Wagner, but once again my expectations fell far short of reality.
The would-be fugitive screamed in agony, but he didn’t let the flames or his own pain slow him down. He crashed into and then through the ceiling above our heads, sending pieces of wood, insulation, and floor tile from the room above raining down toward us as he disappeared from view.
I was still staring at the hole in the ceiling that Wagner had disappeared through, amazed that he hadn’t been burnt to a cinder, when Rivera ordered Ilyana to go after him.
“And when I catch him?” she asked.
Not if, when.
“He’s all yours,” Rivera replied.
Ilyana took off in pursuit.
Rivera watched her go and then turned to where Grady, Perkins, and I stood waiting.
“The Key is here somewhere,” he told us. “Find it.”
14
In the end, it really didn’t take us very long to do as he’d asked. Perkins’s gift told us that what we were looking for was at the bottom of the hole from which Wagner had emerged, and once we knew that it didn’t take us very long to find the safe that was buried there. Rivera used his sorcery to lift the safe out of the hole and set it down on the floor, after which Grady went to work with his own unique set of skills.
He had the safe open inside of ten minutes.
Along with a fair amount of cash, the safe also contained several unmarked DVDs and a small velvet bag.
Inside the bag was another piece of metal similar to the one we’d removed from the crypt beneath the church several days before.
Grady tossed the bag to Rivera and then began taking stacks of money wrapped in rubber bands out of the safe and stuffing them into his pockets.
Seeing me watching him, he grabbed a stack and tossed it in my direction, saying, “You want it, you can have it. I doubt Wagner’s going to need it anymore.”
But I didn’t want it; didn’t want anything to do with it, in fact, and I let it fall to the floor in front of me without making any attempt to catch it.
“Suit yourself,” Grady said.
He took several stacks for himself and handed roughly the same amount to Perkins, who shot me a guilty look as he took it but stuffed it in his pockets just the same.
The light above our heads started to dim and Rivera hurried us along. I glanced upward, past the drifting ball of arcane energy to the hole through which Ilyana and Wagner had
To my surprise she blocked every strike and even managed to land a few of her own in between. After a few minutes of that, Wagner attempted to back off and Ilyana let him. The two of them hung there, ten feet off the ground, waiting to see what the other would do.
Rivera’s voice rang out.
“We’re here for the Key and that’s all. Give it to us and we’ll leave you in peace.”
Wagner laughed and there was nothing human in the sound.
“I’m not a fool, Rivera.”
They knew each other?
“Even if I were to turn over the Key, you wouldn’t leave me alone. I know it and you do too. You may be content to be Fuentes’s lapdog but I am not.”
The last word was barely out of Wagner’s mouth when he made his move. Rather than rushing Ilyana a second time or having a go at Rivera, Wagner flung himself upward, straight at the ceiling above his head, no doubt in a bid to try to crash through it and escape through the structure above. It wasn’t a bad plan, as plans go; if he made it into the open air, for all I knew he might have been able to get away.
Rivera had apparently been waiting for Wagner to make just such an attempt, for even as the other man shot toward the ceiling, the sorcerer unleashed the power that he’d been holding ready in his bare hands. Black flames shot forth from his palms in a thick stream and washed across Wagner’s lower body as if flung from some kind of arcane flamethrower. I could feel the heat from where I was standing and assumed that was the end of Wagner, but once again my expectations fell far short of reality.
The would-be fugitive screamed in agony, but he didn’t let the flames or his own pain slow him down. He crashed into and then through the ceiling above our heads, sending pieces of wood, insulation, and floor tile from the room above raining down toward us as he disappeared from view.
I was still staring at the hole in the ceiling that Wagner had disappeared through, amazed that he hadn’t been burnt to a cinder, when Rivera ordered Ilyana to go after him.
“And when I catch him?” she asked.
Not if, when.
“He’s all yours,” Rivera replied.
Ilyana took off in pursuit.
Rivera watched her go and then turned to where Grady, Perkins, and I stood waiting.
“The Key is here somewhere,” he told us. “Find it.”
14
In the end, it really didn’t take us very long to do as he’d asked. Perkins’s gift told us that what we were looking for was at the bottom of the hole from which Wagner had emerged, and once we knew that it didn’t take us very long to find the safe that was buried there. Rivera used his sorcery to lift the safe out of the hole and set it down on the floor, after which Grady went to work with his own unique set of skills.
He had the safe open inside of ten minutes.
Along with a fair amount of cash, the safe also contained several unmarked DVDs and a small velvet bag.
Inside the bag was another piece of metal similar to the one we’d removed from the crypt beneath the church several days before.
Grady tossed the bag to Rivera and then began taking stacks of money wrapped in rubber bands out of the safe and stuffing them into his pockets.
Seeing me watching him, he grabbed a stack and tossed it in my direction, saying, “You want it, you can have it. I doubt Wagner’s going to need it anymore.”
But I didn’t want it; didn’t want anything to do with it, in fact, and I let it fall to the floor in front of me without making any attempt to catch it.
“Suit yourself,” Grady said.
He took several stacks for himself and handed roughly the same amount to Perkins, who shot me a guilty look as he took it but stuffed it in his pockets just the same.
The light above our heads started to dim and Rivera hurried us along. I glanced upward, past the drifting ball of arcane energy to the hole through which Ilyana and Wagner had
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