The refugee camp, Vicky’s base of operations, was a campground that had been commandeered by the government to assist with the exodus of survivors from the destroyed city. It wasn’t the first their small convoy passed as they headed up the I-77. They passed the military’s FOB, which was seeing an influx of heavy weapons after the carnage that Gaius’ force had unleashed. Tanks and artillery were the main component of the new force. Most gear was coming by truck, but there was a line of heavy equipment digging what looked like a small airfield.

Gerry thought as the dust kicked up from the construction diluted the moonlight.

The Charlotte Airport had been the sight of a vicious part of the battle between Satan and Michael. More than one plane had been carved up like a Thanksgiving turkey, and the Archangel had actually tackled the King of Hell into the terminal at one point. The result was a broken place where the military and civilian relief agencies couldn’t fly in troops or supplies. Beyond that, it wasn’t even in a secure area, and the military didn’t look like they were willing to go in until they had overwhelming force at their disposal. Driving in everything needed for that push was just too slow, so now they were making their own airfield.

Gerry looked up at the thump-thump-thump of passing helicopters in route to the new airfield. They were loaded down and ready for war, which was what they were going to find if things continued as they were. The Divine was still flying around putting down the last of Gaius’ men, but the old general didn’t look like he cared. He knew when to advance and when to retreat. Now was a time to retreat and consolidate.

Their small caravan left all of that behind as they pulled off the highway and headed down a country road. It was well kept, with an arch over the road with the campsite’s corporate logo hanging above everyone who came to enjoy the scenic views and woodland beauty. That beauty was marred as Gerry’s vehicles came to a halt behind several eighteen wheelers waiting at a military checkpoint.

“I’ll handle this,” Vicky stated as she undid the top two buttons of her shirt and pushed up her breasts to make a pleasing view of her cleavage. “Hiya, Harold!” Vicky squealed when an armed guard waved them to a halt and lowered a barricade in front of them.

Harold’s clothing was a slightly different pattern than the men Gerry had seen torn to pieces by Gaius’ legionaries, which dictated a separate service. US Air Force was written in bold on Harold’s chest, and his weapon was slung professionally with a magazine locked and loaded, and Gerry presumed, a round in the chamber. Harold and his people might be guarding a refugee camp thirty miles from the front lines, but it looked like they knew what they were doing.

However, Harold’s professional façade cracked and a goofy look spread across his face when he saw Vicky. “Hey, Vicky.” He looked at Gerry and at the cars behind him. “Who’re your friends?”

Gerry felt a spike of jealousy from the man and knew he could reach out and grab it to empower him, but he didn’t. The minute they’d drawn close to the camp the throne in his pocket had become uncomfortably warm. This camp was giving off ætherial energy that the throne was just gobbling up. Knowing what he did about how the throne worked, that was a good and bad thing. They needed to get to Vicky’s people quick.

“This is my Uncle Gerry. He’s my Dad’s brother-in-law. My aunt is back in Nashville looking after my cousins, but Uncle Gerry wanted to help those where he could.” Gerry cracked a smile and shrugged humbly to help sell Vicky’s bullshit.

“He brought some of his friends to help.” Vicky pointed over her shoulder at the cars behind them. “They’re all survivalist types so they can tell everyone how to get clean water, make fires, and all that outdoorsy stuff.” Vicky smiled her winning smile and Harold melted.

“Sure thing, Vicky. Thank’s for coming to help Uncle Gerry.” Harold used Uncle for a reason. The lust coming off him was palpable. Vicky knew that and was using it to her advantage.

“Thanks, Harold, you’re the best.” Vicky blew him a kiss as the barricade went up and the guards waved them through.

“T and A laced with a bit of compulsion,” Vicky explained as they wound through the overcrowded campsite. “Gets the boys every time.”

Gerry estimated twenty thousand people were currently crammed into the space meant for a thousand at most. Cars were linked up nose-to-nose and ass-to-ass. Tents were either on the grounds next to them in the little space available, or in the back of trucks. Garbage was everywhere and it made the place stink like week-old shit. Gerry bet that these cars had been loaded down with supplies when they left, but after all this time people had gone through their stores and were living off aid supplies from the government, or more likely, taking from others.

More guards in military vehicles were driving the small lanes created between the parked cars. They were in armor, were scanning the area with night vision, and looked ready for action.

“Things are mostly ok during the day. The guards keep order, but people are crammed tightly together with little food, water, and no privacy, so things get testy. We’ve had a couple big brawls, but tear gas ended those. It’s nighttime that you really need to worry about.” Vicky was grinning like the Cheshire cat. “People have been going missing. The guards think its sex trafficking, and they’re sending photos to other camps to keep an eye out.”

“But they’re actually snacks.” Gerry raised an eyebrow.

“Hey, a girls got to eat.” Vicky replied unapologetically. “Take a right up here and head to the end.”

Gerry did as instructed and arrived at Vicky’s new home. It was a small compound of handmade shelters separated by a ring of open space. He suspected she’d compelled or seduced some carpenters or construction workers in the refugee population to get together and build it for her. It wasn’t more than some ramshackle shacks made of plywood and metal stacked two stories high in a rough block shape, but it looked like a palace compared to the tent city surrounding it.

In fact, it reminded Gerry a bit of Seere’s Great Hall surrounded by the Capitol and tent city occupied by the legions. A spasm of pain went through Gerry’s chest at the thought. He knew all of that was gone. Beelzebub had burned it to the ground according to Gaius. Since the winged asshole had been trying to do it for eons, Gerry doubted anyone or anything was left standing. He’d probably salted the land so nothing would ever grow again and taken an Infernal Lord-sized shit to contaminate the ecosystem for centuries to come.

Gerry shook his head to get rid of that image and focused on what was right in front of him. A few guards walked the edge of the compound and waved at the sight of Vicky. Gerry could feel that they were Soulless. This was all that was left of Vicky’s coven. Gerry suddenly wasn’t sure how useful Vicky would be to his plans. She seemed to sense this as they parked the cars and led the group of Infernals inside.

“I’ve got whatever you want.” She waved her arms at the wide open space. The building looked more segmented from the outside, but for the most part this place had an open floor plan with only a few private rooms here and there. “I’ve got booze, the coke you drink, the coke you snort, weed, women, men if that’s your thing, and the best food in the camp.” Vicky smiled proudly at her little kingdom. “Here, have some candy.” She threw a chocolate bar to one of the Infernal soldiers.

The man cautiously opened it, took a bite, and looked like he’d gone to heaven. He’d never tasted Hershey’s chocolate before.

“Dig in. Mi casa es su casa.” The soldiers looked to Gaius for orders, and he nodded consent.

The legionnaires practically sprinted toward the food set up on a table. A few of the older ones didn’t understand the concept of plastic wrapping the food so they ate it all. After centuries on the diet of Hell, a thin bit of plastic wasn’t going to do anything to their indestructible intestine.

To make matters even better, Vicky snapped her fingers and a small harem of scantily clad men and women joined them. The soldiers couldn’t tell the difference, but Gerry had something else to compare them too. Vicky looked like she’d scraped the bottom of the barrel for these whores. They had a strung out look that said they were paid in drugs, and their addiction kept them around. Vicky saw him looking and shrugged.

“I’m starting from the ground up here,” she defended herself. “I’ve got to go back to the old ways of keeping my employees in line. My whole business went up in flames with the rest of Charlotte, so thanks for that. All my top earners are dead or fled, Caroline is still here if you want to plow her like old times, but she’s a shell of her former self. She watched a bunch of her friends and family go down in a collapsed building. She’s pretty messed up about it, but I’m sure your magic hands could help her forget for an hour.

“No thank you. “As much as Gerry wanted to partake in the sins of the flesh, he had work to do. The throne in his pocket was nearly scalding. He needed to do something about it. He walked directly to one of the few rooms in the place and opened the door. It was filled with half a dozen people with IVs sticking out of their arms and leading into blood bags.

“This room is mine now,” he commanded.

“Sure thing, Boss. Just let me move the meat bags.”

“No,” he held up a hand. “I’m going to need them.”

“Um…” Vicky didn’t get to say anything before he shut the door in her face.

With a sweep of his hand the humans slid across the room and smacked into the far wall. A few moaned softly in pain, but they were almost dead anyway. Vicky wasn’t running a catch and release game here. This was a ‘pump them until they’re dry and burry them in back behind the shed’ kind of operation. He left them in the corner for their life to leak away into a plastic bag and took the throne out of his pocket. A few words and a slight pulse of power and it was normal sized again.

Unlike Gaius, Gerry wasn’t going to make the same mistakes. The general came in hot, caused a little mayhem, and then faded out. He’d burned bright and quick, but the Divine had snuffed him out in under a few hours. Gerry was playing the long game.

He used the blood from the dying humans as the base. He started with his new throne room. Wards against unwanted entry, triple layers of protection from the eyes of the Divine, and a power conduit went onto the walls, ceilings, and floor. From there he expanded. He went out to the rest of the compound and created layers of protection. He pumped power into the wards as he went. He felt the strain of the throne’s building power as he created layer after layer of interlocking defenses. No one, human, Divine, or anything in between would be able to get into the compound without him knowing. They wouldn’t be able to attack his or Vicky’s people without being attacked by the æther itself he’d twisted into offensive countermeasures. They wouldn’t be able to walk more than a handful of feet without running into resistance that grew the closer you got to the throne room.

It wasn’t a Demesne, but it was the next best thing. This was a refuge, a base of operations for him to use to expand his powerbase. A Demesne was a permanent fixture, and he wasn’t going to put that in some refugee shithole all the way out here. This place was expendable, but the one thing it was good for was collecting the æther. With all the misery floating around this place, the throne was drinking it up. Soon, Gerry would need to exercise more power to keep it from burning away the wards protecting all of them from Divine eyes.

“Bring me a map!” He ordered.

Most of the soldiers were balls deep in Vicky’s whores, but the Soulless were free, and a pretty thing Gerry had never seen followed his order.

“Thank you…” he waited for the woman to introduce herself.

“Elisa, Sir…Sire…My Lord…I’m not really sure how to address you.” She pushed her glasses up her nose and averted her eyes. She was clearly flustered.

“Gerry is fine when it is just the two of us.” He accepted the map and laid it flat on a table. He took two knives and stabbed them easily through the plywood at two corners to hold it steady.

“What are you doing?” Elisa couldn’t help herself. Gerry felt the natural curiosity in her. He also knew if it didn’t fall into the order and calm she needed it would upset her.

“I’m scrying for some friends of mine.”

“Other Infernals.”

“Yes. There is a war coming and we need all the allies we can get.”

“Coming,” the girl let out a small laugh before covering her mouth and looking horrified at her outburst. “I mean to say. Isn’t it already here?”

“These are just the opening moves. The pawns are moving across the chessboard,” Gerry replied as he reached toward the woman.

She froze as he unbuttoned the top button of her shirt and slid it open. He felt a shiver of pleasure and anticipation go through her as he reached down between her breasts and grabbed the small pendent she kept around a golden chain. “I need to borrow this.”

“Yeah…sure…of course,” Elisa tried to play off her reaction as nothing and failed miserably.

Gerry took the pendent and held it suspended over the map. He started a chant, no more than a whisper, and calmly swung the pendent in a lazy circle. As he continued to chant the pendent spun faster and faster. Soon, the golden chain was a nothing more than a blur until it looked like was going to snap.

Abruptly, the pendent stopped. The chain snapped taught, and pointed at a location.

“That’s…” Elisa was lost for words.

“The last place we want to go,” Gerry finished it for her.

The pendent pointed at the center of the military FOB. That was where the æther was saying their next ally was located.

he grumbled. Sometimes, the æther was a pain in the ass, but it was always right; even if it didn’t seem like it at the time.