Stronger Together chapter 133 (Patreon)

A kitsune, two proto angels, a half demon, and a smuggler crept down  the abandoned hallway of a creepy seaside mansion in search of a  ruthless shapeshifting psychopath from before the dawn of civilization. I  had to force myself not to snort at what sounded like the beginning of  the most elaborate joke of all time. My face went serious as I  considered the circumstances however, hopefully it wouldn't end up being  an elaborate joke after all. We were playing for keeps here. Dalton had  been selected to decide out course, with Raven playing bloodhound once  we got a bit closer to the creature, so of course we were heading for  the basement.

Barb  was sticking to my side and we were both watching Dalton and Hana's  back's while Raven walked in front. The dark magic she'd used to hide us  made conversation pretty much impossible but we could still see each  other under the spell even if no one else could penetrate the magic. The  intense silence under the veil Raven was keeping over us was  oppressive, and without sound every minute shift in the environment,  even one caused by myself when I turned my head too fast had me jumping  out of my skin. Without my godsteel reflexes I'd have made a complete  fool of myself.

Raven  had informed us that touching someone else under the spell extended the  bubble so you could talk, but it also weakened the magic slightly so we  were only using that little trick in emergencies. As we came around the  corner however, we saw the basement door ajar, hanging torn from it's  hinges. We all put our hands together like a team huddle so we could  speak, and I was the one who stated the obvious. "This feels like a huge  trap right? Because accident or not this thing is older than dirt, it  shouldn't be stupid enough to leave a trail like this. Raven do you  sense anything?"

She  shook her head, her brows furrowed in concern "No. My empathy is an  active effect, at least in the way that we're talking about here. I can  sense the emotions of those around me but I can't pick up past traces.  That's psychometry, and it's a completely different psychic talent. I've  never had that particular gift unfortunately so unless one of you does  we have to proceed blind. I'll feel if it gets close but for right now  it's still out of range. I agree however that leaving such a clear trail  is...disturbing. The creature has been relying on stealth to this  point. Does it really think it can kill us all in a direct  confrontation."

Her  voice was analytical and composed as it so often became when she was in  the field. Dalton immediately shot her down however. "Don't assume  that." We all looked at him in confusion. "Don't assume just because  it's luring us in it wants a straight fight. There are plenty of things  you can set up with some time to prepare that don't involve punching or  blasts of fire. Stick close when we go down. Hana, if you can keep up  some foxfire to prevent outright stealth it should help a bit." He shot  Raven a questioning glance "assuming that works through your magic?" Her  nod seemed to satisfy him. "Ok, well in that case we should move  forward, but everyone keep your guard up."

We  retracted out joined hands but remained within easy reach as we made  out way slowly down the stairs into the basement. The door was in the  way, but one the very slim chance the creature wasn't waiting for us we  didn't want to make a racket so we ducked under the twisted metal, army  crawling across the floor beneath it. I felt the carpet of the hallway  below me replaced with cold hard cement and climbed to my feet, taking a  few steps down the stairs so I was out of the way of the others. Hana  was next, and when she came through she looked around searchingly before  putting up her hand.

She paused  like that, closing her eyes to concentrate with a hand in front of her  mouth before blowing gently on her upraised palm. A swirl of flame so  pale blue it was nearly transparent billowed out of her hand like she  had just blown a cloud of faerie dust. It rolled out as it struck the  ground creating a sort of pulse of the stuff that reminded me of Harry's  red flame detection spell during the vamp nest raid. When i glanced  away i realized everyone had already come through, Hana opened her eyes  and shook her head at our searching glances. We all took that in stride  as we moved on.

The  stairway was very tall but very thin and with a slight curve. We were  wedged in there pretty tight but we turned sideways and made it work so  we could stay together. The magic kept our feet from echoing on the  cement but I could still smell earth and damp air and rot, and as we  descended further something else...sea water. I reached back to place a  hand on Dalton, murmuring inside our now shared bubble "Does this place  have a fucking secret cove for boats?" The scooby doo vibes were getting  stronger by the second.

Dalton  just looked at me like I was an idiot. "Obviously. I'm a smuggler,  access to boats is sort of a must have for people like me." He noticed  my look and smiled wolfishly "Don't worry though, he can't get out that  way. I have a...guard." The way he said that sounded highly unpleasant,  but I wasn't worried about that anyway. If it tried to flee into the  lake I could alert Alfred. I didn't bother clarifying though, just  thanking him for the info and pulling back. I was curious if I would  find out more about his guard, but it seemed like the wrong time to ask.

It  took much longer to reach the bottom of the steps than I had expected.  It made snese thinking about it, if there was some kind of secret harbor  under the house we would have needed to walk all the way down. At that  distance that slight curve in the stone had lopped around and we came  out directly under the mansion. Stepping out on to the polished stone  floor I glanced around, hoping to see some obvious sign of a person who  shouldn't be here, but I saw nothing. The polished stone extended for  about fifty feet from the door, following the wall to either side and  creating a sort of pier here under the house. There was plenty of room  to walk around and crates of goods were pushed neatly against the walls.

Past  the stone was a massive expanse of water, obviously from the lake, and  about a dozen boats of various sizes were parked just off the stone  floor. Dalton must have had the stone under the water destroyed to an  extreme depth to prevent any possibility of his ships getting gutted on  the rocks when they rode low. Finally on the other side of the cavern  was a tunnel leading out, though it was at an angle and required a turn  to exit, making it most likely invisible from the outside unless you  knew it was there. Dalton walked up, once again placing a hand on my  shoulder so I could hear him. I expected smugness at the amazing feat of  engineering before me but he just looked wary.

His  eyes darted back and forth searchingly "Careful, Cameron. There are a  great many places to hide down here. It won't be able to escape through  the harbor, but if it left that trail for us to follow it clearly wants  us down here. We haven't seen the trap yet. I can't imagine what it  could do to use, which worries me. Plans you can't imagine are always  the most dangerous kind." He released my arm and stepped forward into  the cavern proper, eyes roaming over small recesses and compartments I  would have never seen as he looked for the monster among his most prized  possessions. I followed his eyes, trying to use my enhanced perception  to see anything but we both came up empty.

This  place was perfect for hiding. The light was being shone in from outside  by a series of angled mirrors and the moon had cast a dim radiance into  the cavern, creating just enough light that shadows covered the entire  cave. Every box, every ship, every spare barrel laying around looked  like some kind of hulking monster in the shadows. This asshole was  making me deeply paranoid and I couldn't wait to trap its shape shifting  ass back on Demonreach. We didn't dare step too far into the cavern and  expose ourselves to it's trap, but luckily we didn't have to. I nodded  to Raven, holding out my hand for her to take.

She  slipped her dainty fingers into mine. I smiled softly at her before  getting down to business "So, you said you would be able to sense it  right? You picking anything up down here? If it's lying in wait tit must  be feeling smug or anticipatory or some kind of emotion. Can you point  us in a direction?" Raven was our ace in the hole here, hard to ambush a  bunch of people when they know where you are before you strike, sadly  this place was bigger than expected so who knew if it was even within  her range right now.

Raven  furrowed her brow and closed her eyes, clearly reaching out with her  empathy to it's fullest range. She bit her lip "Maybe? There's something  else in here, it's...big, and it's throwing off my empathy. Its  emotions are very strong and they're acting as sort of like white  noise." I suspected whatever it was would be Dalton's guard but I  couldn't see any evidence of a large creature which meant it must be in  the water. I looked over at the dark surface of the harbor and  shuddered.

I  hated the idea of huge terrible things beneath the surface of the ocean,  lurking in the watery depths waiting to pull us down to join them. The  ocean itself kind of freaked me out like an inverted sky full over  terrible things we only roamed the surface of. Hell if you went deep  enough the ocean would crush you to death just for existing. I felt  Raven shake my shoulder and glanced over at her, she looked worried. I  furrowed my brow. That had been weird. I was kind of paranoid about the  ocean sure but I didn't have small panic attacks from looking at water.

I  met her eyes, transmitting confusion then looking around and sending  her a feeling of questioning. SHe modded to me and I winced. So she  agreed that was odd. Which meant the thing might be here now  manipulating our emotions. I hadn't been sure it could do that directly  yet, but it seemed like it had regained a lot of strength from killing  Carlos and Sergei. I hoped being on my guard would help, but to be sure I  also tapped into my lightning aspect slightly more deeply. Hopefully  the godsteel in my brain being full of soulfire would protect me.

We  all walked together along the stone, heading in a random direction we  picked to learn more about what was going on, when the spell around us  shattered. I whipped around to find Raven, but she wasn't hurt. Just  staring. Her eyes wide and breathing fast as she trembled in terror at  something behind me. I turned around where I was standing to look at  what she was seeing and I froze too.

A  massive humanoid form with red skin, white hair, horns, and four eyes  was towering over us. It grinned sadistically at us all exposing sharp  yellow teeth and a forked tongue. The malice and hate that was radiating  off the thing was convincing enough to make me believe what I was  seeing despite knowing this couldn't be real. It's voice was the booming  rumble of a cave in before it buries you alive. "Well if it isn't my favorite spawn. What's the matter girl? Come give your father a hug." And then Trigon the Destroyer began to laugh.