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Recon ii
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2024-10-29 19:42:56~ Shea woke from her nightmare fighting against ghosts that were not there.
“Hey, hey, it’s all right.” Ichiro got up from the chair where he sat by her window. The rain outside was now a drizzle. Holding her by the wrists, he held her down as she continued to fight. Ichiro had to straddle her on the bed to keep her down. “You’re safe now.”
She continued to buck and kick, trying to get free.
“Shea! Stop fighting me.”
A few seconds later, she settled down, her chest heaving. Ichiro kept her pinned all the same. Her thick, wild mane of hair covered her face. It was longer than it had been when last he saw her.
Two months ago, he did not know this woman. He and Zigor had not been on the Mountain for two full mont
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Enter the Shadows Recon iii
~Garrick, Helick, Ichiro, Zigor, Martha, and Nico gathered in the living room. Shea was filling them in. “So we killed him?” Garrick asked. Shea nodded. “Yup.” Helick ran a hand over his face. “And that’s how he changed.” “With the help of Ava’s stone, yes.” “Did he say where Sven’s hiding?” Zigor asked. Shea pursed her lips. “Ah crap,” Helick said. “I feel the bad news coming.” “He’s held up at a maximum-security prison.” They looked at her, confused. “A prison?” Garrick asked.
Enter the Shadows Recon iv
~Daniel, Helick, and Ichiro geared up for their recon mission, while Shea gave them an overview of the prison again. They all suspected it could be a trap, but Shea was confident that it was not. “And remember, the primary aim is recon,” Marx said to the three. “If you can’t get in without making a stir, don’t go in, surveil the property. We need to find out if Sven is alive and the extent of his operations in Penthart.” “What do we do if things go sideways?” Helick asked, putting on his gloves. “Make it out alive.” Helick nodded. “While you guys do that, I’ll be taking a trip back to Pentorium, speak to Vescovi and the others in person.” Marx walked off, and She
Enter the Shadows 16. Damage Control i
~The elevator opened and before Helick, Daniel, and Ichiro could step out, Marx and Anabella, who had been waiting for them, stepped in. The door closed again. “Welcome to Anax Corp. I trust you gentlemen had a pleasant ride here,” she said to them. “I could get used to having a chopper on hand,” Helick commented. She gave him a small smile and a nod before typing in a password with the regular elevator buttons. The elevator started moving. No one spoke on the way down. When the numbers stopped lighting up at ‘B’ for the basement level, but the elevator kept descending, no one asked questions. The elevator dinged on its stop, the panel behind them opening. “Gentlemen,” Anabella stepped out before them. They walked into the middle of an underground factory
Enter the Shadows Damage Control ii
STAGE I – GETTING THE TEAM IN PLACE Location: Penthart Supermax - Inside Cellblocks A and B Alpha Team The prison transport truck pulled up at the gate. After checking the exterior of the vehicle, along with the badges of the guards who came in the truck, the correctional officers at the outside gate radioed for the first gate to open. The transport went through, and the gate started closing behind them. The second gate did not open until the locks for the first clicked in place. The same process repeated when they came to stop at the main entrance. Bryan drove the van, with Yuri in the passenger seat, into the compound. They remained there as the correctional officers came to escort the prisoners out. All of them were vampires or werewolves. Both gr
Enter the Shadows Damage Control iii
Location: Penthart Supermax - Inside Cellblocks A Alpha Team “Target is down. I repeat target is down,” Marx heard Ichiro say through the comms. Marx stood facing one of the hybrid werewolves Sven created. Around him on the floor were bodies of other werewolves. Through the constant chatter in his ears, he knew that four of them were in Block B while the other four were roaming Block A. Ichiro and his team put down the ninth. “I have eyes on one of the hybrids in Block A. Does anyone have eyes on the others?” “We have two of them on the second floor.”
Enter the Shadows Damage Control iv
STAGE IV AND V - CALL IN THE HUMANS AND LIGHT THE EVIDENCE ON FIRE Location: Anax Corp - Mission Control On the all-clear of Javier, all of Marx’s men and the vampires left. They used the secret tunnels that snaked underneath the grounds of the facility to make their leave. Shea and Hana remained in the control room. Anabella gave the order. “Release phase 2 of the gas.” “Releasing.” “The humans are coming to,” Shea said. “Hana, as we rehearsed.” The comms went dead, and Anabella waited. A few minutes later, th
Enter the Shadows 17. Missing Link i
~Anabella and Philippe stood by the glass wall, looking out into the city. They were on the uppermost floor of Pentalum, Vescovi’s headquarters. From there, they could see the towers of the other four buildings, each at the point of their pentagram. Anax, NexTeq, Vancor, Pentalum, and Salcom International marked the five corners of Pentorium. The door opened to the office, and Vescovi rushed in with his assistant following him. He looked surprised to see Philippe and Anabella waiting for him. “Was there a meeting?” He glanced at the woman who came in with him, and she shook her head, adjusting her glasses on her nose. “Not officially,” Anabella said. Vescovi creased his eyebrows, looking from one friend to the next. He dismissed his assistant, who closed the door behind her.
Enter the Shadows Missing Link ii
~Salvay entered his home, shrugging out of his jacket. Before the tailor-made Italian masterpiece touched the floor, his butler was there to catch it. He entered his living room, where a fire was burning in the hearth. He didn’t bother to roll up the sleeve of his shirt as he pushed his hand into the fire to press a button hidden by the flames. His hand came away, neither shirt nor skin seared. Without a sound, a section of the wall to the right of the fireplace slid open. The door closed behind him as he made his way down the stairs concealed in pitch-blackness. Pushing open the door at the foot of the stairs, he entered a lit room. Inside was Passerini, making notes on a chart. The man looked up for a second, acknowledging Salvay’s presence before he went back to his work. “Should the process take this long?”
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Enter the Shadows 27. Epilogue: After the Shadows
~ Marx stood looking at the carbonated lump that used to be four people he knew. Four people he loved. Ava, Lochlan, Zack, and Dempsey. Around him, the grass had grown again. The earth showed no signs of the battle that raged there. Mother earth had healed, but he had not. None of the others had. The world was safe, but a gap remained in their hearts that could never be filled. Around the base of the carbon memorial, laid fresh flowers. Every day for the past six months, Martha came with a new bouquet. Today was no different. He arrived as she did. “You came,” she had said to him when she saw him. In her hands, she had more than a dozen bulbs of tulips. Her summer dress fluttered in the breeze, strands of her now brown hair escaping her ponytail. The smile she gave him out shunned the sun, and Marx, for the life
Enter the Shadows The Last Stand iii
~Marx was leading the last assault; one meant to be a distraction. Ava moved her palm away from the wound on her side. Bleeding still felt strange to her. Martha was the only one with whom she could go into details about her plans. “Penny has the last rune. All she has to do is plant it on him. When she does, we have only a few minutes to get our part done,” she said to Martha. “What is our part?” “I’m going to use you like an amplifier. I know how it sounds and yes, it is dangerous. For me more than you.” “Then we can’t do it,” Martha said. “If you’re going to get hurt—” “I have a contingency for that as well.” “Ava—” She
Enter the Shadows The Last Stand ii
~Rea and Cale launched direct attacks on Kunz while Ava tried to unravel his protections. Each layer she pulled apart revealed another was more entrenched and more intricate than the one preceding it. She almost got another layer undone when she heard Cale shout— “Look out.” Ava had enough time to react, the death rune crackling through the air towards her. She split the force in half, saving herself by a hair. In the duel that ensued, Cale made the ultimate sacrifice. Rea tried to stop him as he ran straight for Kunz. Ava threw up a rune between Cale and the King; it was too late. Like dust, Cale disappeared. A self-satisfied smile lifted the side of Kunz’s lips. “Come now Avana. You cannot hope to defeat me. Even with all the knowledge at your disposal, I have spent years perfecting my craft.”
Enter the Shadows 26. The Last Stand i
~They came through using three portals. Cale and Rea helped Ava to create one large enough to transport all of their forces. On the other side, they emerged on the field of battle in Hedgewood. The ground was scarred black. Trees toppled over and uprooted. It looked like a nuclear weapon went off, turning black everything in its path. The familiarity of the scene had an itch running down Marx’s spine. This place was either where they would claim victory or where he would walk over the corpses of the people he loved. He brushed his somber thoughts aside. Victory was their only option. To Ava, who stood on his right, Marx said, “Your handy work?” “I may have caused a patch here and there.” She bobbed her head from side to side. It was such a human gesture Marx found he had an urge to smile. He allowed his amu
Enter the Shadows To Hell and Back xii
~ Storming Hedgewood had to wait. Ava’s ‘problem’ required a second’s more thought. So close to the end, Marx was growing impatient. They needed to strike while they could and delays after delays were shifting the advantage square into the enemy’s hands. He folded his arms across his chest, keeping his face void of his emotions as he listened to Ava. “He has layers of protection wrapped around him like a shawl,” she was telling them as they stood inside the lobby of Anax Corp. Having the conversation on the outside felt too open. While they conversed, the last of the civilians and the injured were being ushered to the safety of the Mountain. Those left behind were there to fight. Marx found he was itching to fight. Ava continued. “We got through three of them before we had to retreat.” “Kunz spent years perfectin
Enter the Shadows To Hell and Back xi
~The sky was a battlefield. Above Pentorium, spreading out for miles, the shadows fought amongst themselves. Those made from the spirits of dead vampires clashing against those created from werewolves. Marx had control of the latter. It was surreal watching it all unfold. Anabella came to stand by Marx as he stood gazing up at the result of his power. Power he would never have dreamed of having. Explaining to the others what he could do would have paled compared to the scene unfolding over their heads. “This is what Sven wanted from her,” Anabella said about Sven and his sister, Marx’s mate, Celeste. “And when he couldn’t take it, he planned to break the seal on the portal.” “I can’t imagine having that man’s thoughts inside my head,” Marx said. “I rather
Enter the Shadows To Hell and Back x
~Vescovi’s head throbbed as if a drummer band was marching across his forehead. Making his way through the tunnel with his men, a blast came out of nowhere, knocking them down and rendering them unconscious. He woke up in a crumpled heap with his men, all in various stages of recovery. It took him several tries to get to his feet and stay there, the drumming in his head growing louder with each movement. Walking straight was a task, but it was urgent that they get to Xavier and the others. They were delayed enough as it was getting the remaining civilians under Anax Corp ready for transport to the Mountain. Pentorium was under an evacuation order. He paused when he saw that the panel leading out of the tunnels was open. It was plausible that Xavier had left it like that since it was their way in and out, but Vescovi could not ignore the prickle at
Enter the Shadows To Hell and Back ix
~Martha moved to run to Nico as a shadow took possession of his body. Four steps in his direction, she stopped. Nico faced her direction, his eyes twin pools of swirling mist. The thing inside of him had his lips turn up in a smirk. With hot tears streaming unchecked down her cheeks, Martha clutched her fingers into tight fists. The words came from the pits of her stomach. The ground under her feet undulated, rippling with energy as she spoke them. Nico charged in her direction, his face twisted in rage. Martha held up her hand, palm open, continuing the chant, repeating it with fervor and a new understanding. Death fueled shadow magic. Hate. Anger. All the dark things that sullied the world. The spell was the most powerful she had ever attempted since Ava infused the revenant soul with hers. She had to release control to it. Allow the magic to ru
Enter the Shadows To Hell and Back viii
~Martha couldn’t breathe, her anxiety tightening her chest. Through her link with Nico, she could feel his growing distress. It urged her to move faster as she sprinted through the hidden tunnels leading down into the subway. Back at Anax Corp, Vescovi was assembling a team, a process that was taking longer than was comfortable with her. Nico and the others needed immediate help. Communications, already spotty, had gone dead. Not a single response, only the constant frying of static. Unable to stand around doing nothing while the man she loved probably laid gutted and dying, Martha snuck off when no one was looking. None of the others knew what she was planning to do. If they did, they would have tried to stop her. She was the passive one. The one who chose not to fight. For a werewolf, her reliance on that part of herself never went past her prim
