Chapter 4

After the elevator came to a halt on the ground floor, we got out and went to the library and stood there for a moment in awe once more.  I looked around as I really took in everything.  Victor and the others stood at my side when Raphael came over towards us, and bowed his head respectfully.  He had a cup of coffee in his hands, and we walked forward, and he offered us any by way of signaling with his cup.  Victor and I declined Alexander and Joseph and Giovanni nodded.  He led the three of them off towards the coffee pot, and Victor and I made our way over to the cubicle of computers.  I found one of the computers empty, and nodded at Victor, who sat down and logged himself in.  He typed up a few commands, and Bianca came up, accompanied by Maggie.  They told us that they were all logged in, and that there were two things waiting on the screens in our room when we got back.  We nodded, and he logged off.  We stood up, and then saw Raphael return with the others.  They drank their coffee with greedy love, and I paid it no mind.  Raphael led us to the elevator.  

The elevator music was playing.

I was about to into my own head after Raphael pressed the basement button, and we descended.  A few moments later the door opened and we were shown a long, narrow, but beautifully designed hallway.  We walked out, made a left, and then were led to double wooden doors and walked in.  The cafeteria was large, extremely white linoleum floored and walled, and my eyes had to adjust.  John Lazarus was sitting, eating some pasta and the five of us went to the lunch buffet that was set up, and I grabbed some pizza that was there, as well as a can of coke.  I went and sat down, the others invariably having grabbing something different.  John nodded, and I opened my soda, and began drinking it.  John passed me a folder forward, then one to the others.  I opened it, and my eyes widened.

Serenity’s picture.

“That file is the last known whereabouts of Serenity La Beau.  In her last mission, her and several other Inquisitors were sent out on a mission to find out why the Governor was not making his public speeches, maybe to see if he was sick.  We do that out here from time to time.  However, The governor was sick but it was due to…inhumanly causes.  There was a spell that was like Ebola virus used on him, except, instead of causing his insides to deteriorate, they were actually increasing them, making them stronger, but also at the same pumping his adrenaline glands more and more.  He was on a constant adrenaline rush, and was going to die.  We found out it was his wife that had used the spell, and Serenity…having learned from you, Lucas,” John looked at me, as did Victor who grinned.

What can I say?  Torture is something I’m good at when the time calls for it.

And as an Inquisitor it is necessary.

And it’s no wonder I never have a date.

“She found out that…the wife was being controlled by Cain himself.  And….Serenity was forced to kill the wife in order to get that information, her devotion was that deep.”  My eyes widened as I confirmed this, and took a swig from my can of coke.  I swallowed it, and as everyone processed this, I took another swig.

“Wait, John!  It’s actually reported here that the Governor’s wife got friggan sopping wet in her carpal tunnel when she thought about Cain!”  Victor shouted out, and immediately, soda shot from my nostrils to my pizza, and Joseph broke out with hard, raw laughter.  I grunted in slight pain and laughed as well, despite my pizza being ruined.  

Hey, some things, even for an Inquisition’s mission, are hilarious.

“Yeah…that is why Serenity was used to get the information.  All the other Inquisitors were able to do was torture her body, and attempt to get into the mind.  That’s where Serenity came in.  Since you taught her the torture methods Lucas, she was able to get past those mental defenses, and show the woman what Cain really was like on the inside.  His soul that was burning in heaven.  She screamed in torment, and confessed to everything, and then gave up the anti-spell.  After she was set free, she jumped in the middle of Hollywood boulevard and was hit by two cars at once, the cars having crushed her spine.”  Alexander whistled when John finished.  Alexander lit a cigarette and I finished the rest of my soda as I went and got some fried chicken and sat down.  I ate, and then after swallowing the food, I looked at the report and arched a brow.

“It says here that with the autopsy, she was found to be pregnant,” I stated.  

“Yassuh.”

“…With the heir to the throne I suppose?”  It was a logical question if her husband got her pregnant.

“Nope.”  Victor’s eyes widened at the statement, as did the Italian Inquisitors.  John continued.  “She was pregnant with an inhuman seed that couldn’t be recorded in the DNA files of any Inquisitor’s data base.  Not even the Grand High Headquarters,” John told us flatly.  We all looked at each other.  That was some serious power right there.  To not be in the Inquisition’s DNA records, that was bad.  The Inquisition was older than most people would ever realize, and it wasn’t even the fact that it was run not just by humans, but by other creatures as well.  Hell, it’s stated that after man began to thrive, Adam himself was resurrected by God and put as the first human to serve the Inquisition of Man.  But that meant only one thing.

Cain.

My eyes closed for a minute and John looked at me.  “What we’re concerned with is the fact that out of the official report, we left out that two Inquisitors did return and they had no minds left.  We were forced…to kill them.  Hence all the extra security.  Serenity never returned with them.”  I looked at her picture, and memories flashed through my mind once more, and I must have winced, because Joseph broke the silence.

“We’ll find her then John,” he said.  I looked over at him, and nodded.  John sighed and I looked at John.

“I’ll need all her known hide outs.  Where she keeps her private place, and even her apartment.  I want the works,” I said keeping my tone quiet as I saw others walk in.  John nodded, and pointed to the folders.  

“They’re all in there, ready for you.  Will you be requiring anything else?”  John looked really concerned for me, and I shook my head no.  I wouldn’t want their Inquisitors involved with this.  John nodded, probably having sensed the same thing.  When I was brought into different Inquisitorial jurisdictions, I tended to work with the Inquisitors on hand, unless I was brought with others.  John knew this.  So he knew that I wouldn’t need his people.  With that all said and done, I got up, and walked off on my own.  Victor was about to follow me, when I stopped, and didn’t bother turning around.  “Stay here, finish eating.  We’ll meet in our rooms in two hours, and leave fifteen minutes after that.”  Having said that, I left.

As I walked out of the cafeteria, I followed intuition and let my mind wander.  I turned down a corridor, and went towards the last room all the way at the bottom of the hall.  It would take me a good five me minutes to get there, so I let my mind wander as I did so.  My thoughts always came back to Serenity, and where she could have been hiding.  I cursed inwardly, and struck the air, and as I did so, I felt the tension, the ripple in the air.  I stopped for a moment, and calmed myself, and then made it to the double doors.  I was standing in the training grounds.  I looked around, taking it all in, nodding.  It was a simple room after all.  A white linoleum floor, with silver steel walls, and there was a control like room, with a trainer in it at a computer console.  I looked at him, he bowed his head.  We knew each other by face and reputation, but nothing more.  He wasn’t such an important figure head to me that I ever cared to learn his name.  It was no offense to him.  I just had more important things to do.  He looked at me and spoke through a microphone, asking me what kind of simulation I wanted.  I told him to give me a gauntlet selection, and to access my records while he was at it.  I faintly heard the clicking noises of his computer, he gasped loud enough for me to hear, and then grinned.  A soft voice entered, and it was a simple programmed voice.

“Simulation Selection, Level:  Five.  Type:  Gauntlet.  Simulation Difficulty:  High Inquisitor.  Engage.”  The voice disappeared, and that was when the world around me actually blurred.  The air rippled and then I was set up in a warehouse room, and I heard the sound of automatic weapons being loaded, and I grunted.  I saw that there were no weapons at my disposal as the warehouse itself set up.  It was a four layered warehouse that used to be some sort of packing plant for alcohol and such.  The first floor was the boxing and there was the entire area of rolling conveyer belts and the machines themselves turned on.  I grunted.  This was going to be fun.  

The bullets exploded from the barrels as I threw myself out of the way, and chunks of the ground exploded, my eyes going wide as I saw how narrowly they missed me.  Usually, I was prepared for such things.  But, I had left my weapons upstairs.

I get it.

I’m a dumbass.  You can say it.

As I move quickly, the armed figures opened fire without mercy, their aiming damn near perfect.  I found a literal crate, and kicked it forward, the bullets absorbing the blows and disappearing as I rolled out of the way, taking cover at a conveyer belt.  There were weapons at my disposal.  Beer bottles, crates, and other various pieces of metal pipes and glass.  

Glass.

I really am stupid at times.  And I also sometimes wonder how they ever asked me to be an Inquisitor.

I winced as the glass exploded before me, and I went to summon up the Inquisition’s magic at my disposal, when I winced, and felt the electric jolt.  Well, I keep forgetting that magic wasn’t supposed to be using during this kind of simulation.  At least not yet.  This was a test of how we could make decisions and fight our way through overwhelming odds, and any moron could summon magic to fix their problems.  I was hell bent on proving that theory wrong.  I kept my head ducked low as the rounds blurred above my head.  I was counting way more bullets than I really thought had been set up.  The computer was just a computer after all, and wasn’t necessarily going to make perfect decisions.

“Hey Inquisitor Lucas!  Eat this ya’ rotten, impotent slag!”  A female’s voice rang out, and I immediately realize who the hell that was.

Maggie.

Maggie was taking over the simulation to make things that much more difficult.  She no doubt had inserted herself into the main frame, and would be gone once I dealt with her.  

I really hate computers.

I had to make a decision.  I knew that what I was hiding behind would only work for so long, and so, I thrust myself up, and rolled hard, picking up a few shards of glass on my way.  Gripping them so that they didn’t cut my fingers I stood up, and thrust myself through the air, my body flipping at the angle I had hoped for and the glass shards flew from my hands like an experienced knife thrower.  The shards made contact with three throats, taking down the first part of the fire.  I landed on my feet and charged, using my speed, the world blurring past me as I did so, my eyes focused on the gunman reloading.  I charged at him, and the world moved as if in slow motion around me, my body pumping out adrenaline as I felt my heartbeat ready to explode within my chest.  I came within reach of the gunman, and grabbed him by the hair, and forced my knee into his stomach, and stole the AK-47 assault rifle from him, and then gripped him by the neck hard as I saw the others preparing to open fire.  They all had body armor to protect them from such rounds, which, no doubt Maggie added to test me.  So, I used the man as a shield, letting the bullets punch into him hard, stopping inside the armor and going no further.  Without hesitation, I moved my left leg, planted my right, and thrust the hostage gunman hard by his neck, and I heard it snap as it flew through the air, and towards the gunman off by the corner.  It collided with the gunman, and dropped him, the dead one lying there motionless.  

I suddenly fell to my stomach with an audible grunt as the bullets came after me, and I opened fire with the assault rifle, my aim not focused on them entirely, but up at the glass that held the roof together.  I opened fire on it, the shards raining down and causing confusion.  I found a spare clip, reloaded, and then emptied the gun hard, doing my level best to keep it from recoiling too highly.  

I hate automatic weapons for that lone reason.  

The glass rained down, and that was my chance as I gripped the gun, and forced myself to my feet and charged, smacking the weapons hard from the gunman’s hands, and making this a hand-to-gun fight.  Using the butt of the AK, I smashed it into the temple of one of the men, and I knew from the sound I’d cracked his temple.  One of the men swung at me, connecting with my jaw.  I staggered back, and one grabbed me by the back of the head, holding my arms as the one that hit me ran towards me, to punch me.  I summoned my own inner strength, my own resourcefulness, and thrust my legs into the air, and snapped the man’s neck hard, causing a deliberate forcing of me and the other down to the ground.  I turned, and then brought my fist down hard on his nether regions.

It was a perfectly honorable move damn it.  You use what you can when the odds are unfair.  I forced myself up, and grabbed the man by his own arm, and dislocated it, and then kicked him with all the force I could muster across the jaw.  He stopped twitching after some time.  That left me with the other three that had regained their weapons.  

And Maggie.

They pulled their weapons and began to unload, and I just ran at them, full speed, gathering all the momentum I could.  I’d need it for what I was about to do.  And stupid me, I wasn’t wearing a bullet proof vest.  The bullets whipped past me, and I was lucky that they hadn’t grazed or hit me.  As I moved closer, I sprung forward, my legs bent and then lunged, my arms outstretched and I collided with two of the three and rolled, and brought my leg in a high back kick right at the gunman’s automatic weapon, denting it so he couldn’t fire.  I brought my arm around his throat, forwards, into a front headlock, and then thrust myself hard down, his skull impacting hard into the ground, and I heard the grunt of agony come from him.  I picked up his weapon, removed his headgear, and put a single round through his skull.  I turned, and then opened fire on the ones with the body armor, and then cracked one in the knee, one handed with it, with all my strength, and I heard the knee snap.  He fell to the ground hard, the other punching me hard in the jaw, and sending me rolling.  He approached me, and smirked, and then kicked me hard in the stomach, and I felt the air leave my body.  He went to kick me again, and I rolled out of the way, stealing a knife quickly off of one of the dead gunman’s body.  I thrust it hard, not aiming, and luck…

…Was on my side for once.  It missed the gunman standing before me, and hit the other, square in the eye, and he fell, crying in agony.  He went to attack me, and I caught my breath enough to put my wrists together to stop the foot coming at my face.  I flipped his leg, and he flipped up, and I stopped it again, and punched him in the stomach hard.  I brought my fist in a shot to his jaw, then one to his skull.  As a final move, I grabbed him by the back, lifted him up, and slammed him down hard on his neck, and I felt his spine snap.  I let him go, and then looked at the guy who’d pulled the knife from his eye, looked at me, and I tackled him, and began pummeling him, not wasting time on Inquisition protocol.  I then turned my attention, my eyes focused, and I felt my body go numb.

Unfair.

It wasn’t right.

Maggie…you bitch.

Maggie was no longer Maggie, but the face of Serenity.  I growled lowly, calling Maggie a bitch, to which, Maggie replied, even in Serenity’s voice, saying, “You have to do this.  Fight me Lucas.  What other options would you have?” I charged blindly, and Maggie brought her leg hard into my gut, and her elbow into the base of my neck.  I fell, but with my hand grabbed her ankle, and yanked her down, dropping my elbow hard onto her chest.  I got up, and moved, thrusting my foot hard at her skull, and her hands caught my foot and pushed me off, and she hopped to her feet.  She charged at me, grabbing a lead pipe and swung at me.  I moved, but it still caught me across the head, and I fell hard, rolling, gripping my head.  My vision was blurred and doubled for a moment.  This wasn’t good.  Maggie approached, and swung hard, but out of instinct, I thrust my foot out hard into her gut.  Once, twice, three times, and then using my hands, kicked her with both feet in the jaw.  I grabbed the lead pipe with dangerous speed, and brought it p across her back hard, and I felt something hard break.  She landed on the ground with a grunt, and without thinking, I brought my newly acquired weapon down on her skull without remorse, smashing it to bits of bone and brain.  The simulation ended when Alexander walked in, the bodies disappearing.  He looked at me, and touched my shoulder, and then hugged me as tears stung my eyes.  

Even an Inquisitor can cry.

Don’t even start.

Alexander waited for me to compose myself, and as I did so, he spoke softly.  “What you did, Lucas, was necessary.  If…Serenity has conformed…to heresy, than what you did was absolutely necessary,” he said to me gently.  I turned, a look in my eyes that made him flinch visibly, and he backed away.

“I’m aware of that….thank you.”  We both walked out, and we didn’t speak the way there.  We were walking, heading back to our rooms when Alexander broke the silence.

“What is our next move?” Alexander seemed to be a man of action, and always ready.  That was good.  I’d need that soon enough.  I smirked.

“We’re going to see an old friend of mine.  Head to your room, and have the others ready in ten minutes to leave.  And dress formally,” I replied to him, and as we hit the elevator, I decided to take the stairs.  We nodded to each other once, and then I took the stairs, not in the mood to listen to the elevator music anymore.  

I walked up the stairs and went up to my room, and knocked on the door a specific way, and Victor powered down the wards and defenses, and I walked in, and we put them right back up.  He nodded to me, and then sighed heavily.  “Alright, so far, Maggie and Bianca have come up with a crap load of spots that Serenity uses for hideouts.  She has two apartments under assumed identities, and has five hotels that she takes in the L.A. area.  There’s also one place outside of Hollywood, out in Beverly Hills that she stays at.  But...she doesn’t own it,” Victor finished.  I took a look at the two plasma screen televisions and sighed heavily.  I knew the place he was talking about.  I knew exactly where, and it brought back some painful memories for me.  I sighed.  I knew this was going to be the place we started out first.  I looked at Victor.   

“Dress formally,” I told him.



After some time, we were dressed and ready.  I was bringing my weapons with me, despite the problems it might cause.  I never left without Celesse and Oracle, and I wasn’t going to start now.  Business was business, and despite the emotional problems, and the diplomatic problems that might be caused by me carrying these two hand cannons with the special runes and the specially carved runes on the bullets.  I put two spare clips on the inside of my coat’s pocket.  The holsters remained at my sides, and I walked out.  Victor was dressed in a nice Italian suit, satin entirely.  I didn’t like it, but he did, and that was all that mattered.  I grabbed my headset, and my cell phone, just because I felt that Maggie should be with me on this one.  I put the headset in my ear, and put my cell phone in my pocket.  Victor looked at me and I looked at him, and he tapped his coat, indicating that he was carrying a weapon on him.  I did the same thing, showing him Celesse and Oracle.  He grinned, shaking his head, and we left our room, powering everything off, except our computers.  No one would want to try and mess with those anyways.  We left the room, and put the seals back up.  We knocked on Giovanni and his team’s door, and waited for them to come out.

After about two minutes, they finally did, and they were all wearing matching Armani suits, black suede of course, and they were all very nicely dressed.  With that, we took the stairs.  As we walked to the lobby, I called Raphael over, and he immediately came over, dropping whatever he was going to do.

“There’s something I can help you with Inquisitor Lucas?”  He asked me, and I nodded.

“I need you get a driver ready, with a limo with tinted windows and a mini-bar,” I told him politely.

“Sure thing Sir,” He said, and pulled out his cell phone, dialed and then spoke briefly.  “Yeah, Michael, you’re on,” some hesitance,  “Yeah, take that one.”  With that he, hung up, and nodded to me.  “Sometimes, Michael’s an idiot, not his fault though.  Eh?” He smiled, and I nodded.  One would think that there was something strange afoot here, but, Maggie would have warned me otherwise.  With that all done, I nodded, chuckled lightly, and we made our way out, but I was stopped by Raphael, and he looked at me pleadingly.  “…Lucas…please.  Please find Serenity and save her.  She’s the only High Inquisitor next to John and you that doesn’t treat me like I’m totally useless, or like a secretary,” I could see the tears building in his eyes, so I clasped his shoulder, and nodded my head, but knew if I spoke, I’d break down with him.

“You have my word I’ll bring her back,” I said, and with that, I walked out, and got into the limo.  My eyes widened a bit when I saw it.  The extra security it seemed, went a little too far.  I saw a display of buttons and such that meant that if I pressed one, a secret compartment would reveal itself to the five of us, and we would be shown some serious heavy artillery.  Not just that though.  

The damned thing was warded like our plane was warded when we first arrived here!  

Can you say…paranoid?

I believe in extra protection, but this is just ridiculous.

Anyway, as we drove, we left the Los Angeles area, and we were making our way to the Beverly Hills area, and the person we were going to see, the others weren’t schooled on who we were going to see, so I had to brief them.  “Alright, here’s the thing.  We’re going to one of the oldest families in America itself.  The Duvall Estate.  They aren’t human, so don’t even think they are.  They’re vampires, and a very strict covenant.  Their Mistress is Priscilla Duvall, a very old, and a very powerful vampire.  She has an accord with the Inquisition of Man, but that has never stopped her from killing fellow Inquisitors.  And she’s done it before, because she believes heavily in courtesy.”  They nodded to me, and I looked at Giovanni.  “Also, I don’t want any problems.  If any of the vampires start problems with us, you are not to engage them in combat,” I said to him directly.  He nodded to me seriously.  

Joseph looked at me.  “Why are we going to this estate though?  What purpose is there in our search?”  A good question.  So I told him so.

“A good question Joseph.  We’re going there, because this is one of our allies in our hunt against heresy, and because I used to use this place so that not even the Inquisition could get me for a job when I was still new, or when I was hiding from enemies, or when I was just too hurt to continue to work.  It’s a safe haven, and the vampires, despite what they do to people, continue to exist, because they have no real quarrel with man.  We’re checking here first, because I was the one who taught Serenity to go here if she were ever in trouble.”  With that said, we drove the rest of the way in silence.   I would need every ounce of my strength for what we were going to be facing.  And I only hoped one thing:

That they had already fed.



As our limo pulled up to the estate grounds, I had lost track of the landscape, and it all came back to me.  The limo pulled up to the security post, and I rolled down the window, but I didn’t let anyone look out the window.  I kept my eyes focused on the floor, and my voice remained hard and cold.  It remained as if I was an Inquisitor, and that’s the effect I wanted.  

“Tell Miss Duvall that Inquisitor Lucas Deialaan has arrived,” I said, my voice keeping neutral.  I looked at the floor, and I heard the guard murmur something and then he opened the gates.  I rolled up the window, and the limo rolled on.  I heard Joseph gasp.  I looked up, and I nodded to him.  The house before us was in fact a grand spectacle.  It was a white mansion, though, I think calling it a mansion was an understatement.  The entire house covered ten acres of land, and was massive in size, but it was plain white, with an old gothic set up to it.  The car pulled up to the front of the house, which, oddly enough, and very cliché was a circle like area.  The driver got out, and we were met by him as he opened the door for us.  I was the first out, and the others followed behind us.  I nodded for the driver to remain where he was, and he nodded back, and opened his jacket, revealing a pistol within.  I had no doubt on what it would be shooting.  

We walked towards the door, and the door exploded open, as if kicked open, and guards removed themselves from the bushes and the shadows, red laser sights pointed on us from the trees from weapons that were no doubt snipers.  Guns were trained on us from the balconies.  I was covered with red dots, and Maggie spoke in my ear.

“Boss…this doesn’t look good…” she trailed off, her voice filled with worry, and I shook my head.  I looked at the guards and they snarled at us, Inquisitors of Man.  I spoke, my voice a whisper so that only the Inquisitors could hear me.

“Don’t draw your weapons.  I repeat…do not draw your weapons, because something tells me that this could prove rather problematic for us,” I said, and I heard a beautiful, but cruel laughter escape as the guards stepped aside, keeping their weapons trained on us.

“Well, it’s been sometime, hasn’t it Lucas?  Welcome home,” Priscilla Duvall said to us, her hollow blue eyes staring at us, and her lips carved into a cruel smile.