Chapter Fourteen

I arrived at the warehouse several hours early. There wasn’t much to be done for traps, but I did have one small surprise. In the middle of the space, I placed four waist high square mirrors in a very specific pattern. The first two were connected at a right angle with the mirrors facing outward, and I set them up so that one of the mirrors made a 45-degree angle with the front wall of the warehouse. Facing the door of the warehouse, the outer edge of the mirror lined up with the edge of the door, and the connecting point between the mirrors was to my left. This left one of the mirrors facing the door and the other facing the back of the warehouse. The second set of mirrors I also connected at a right angle, but with the mirrors facing towards the right angle. These mirrors were placed facing the first set of mirrors, with a pallet of boxes hiding them from being seen from the door. I now had the perfect hiding spot. Squatting down in the crook of the first set of mirrors, I was completely hidden from the entrance. The peculiar setup of the mirrors reflected the back of the warehouse so nothing appeared out of place.

At 11:30 I rolled out the welcome wagon. This close to the river it was a simple thing to create a fog that surrounded the warehouse I was in, with a corridor leading up to the main entrance. I made the fog reach two stories higher than the actual building just so my guests wouldn’t have any issues finding the place. Sitting back in my hidey hole, I waited to see if my ultimatum would be accepted.

Fifteen minutes later I had my answer, as the door opened to admit two men. Even though they entered by themselves, I still wasn’t the trusting type. Letting them get five feet inside the building, I turned the fog into a massive ice block that wrapped around the doorway with two feet of clearance on each side. Feeling the massive temperature difference, both men turned to look over their shoulders, then turned back obviously dismissing my exit deterrent. Speaking loudly, I called out, “Sorry guys, but I just don’t trust either of you. This is to ensure we aren’t disturbed.”

The left twin responded, “We understand. Although it would weaken our position more to be seen as requiring backup to remove an irritant such as yourself, precautions on your part will not be held against you.”

“For a pair of ruthless criminals you are rather accommodating. Since we can keep it civil for the moment, my name is Larry Davidson. Would you mind introducing yourselves?”

Again the left one responded, “Not a problem Larry. I am Draco, and this is my twin brother Ryu. So would you mind telling us why you have declared war on our operation? Perhaps we could come to some sort of agreement. You have proven yourself extremely resourceful, and we have had several high level positions open up recently of which you must be aware.”

“Sorry to disappoint you guys, but there will not be any agreement between us.”

“Pity. Normally at this point we would be threatening your entire family with the most horrendous of tortures followed shortly by your own painful demise. Unfortunately, we seem to have a problem that has never occurred before, as you don’t have any family. Would you care to explain how that came to be?”

“I suppose it wouldn’t hurt, not like anything about my situation could be changed. You see, I am from another world. I have no idea how my fiancé and I were forced into your world, the only thing I know is that on what should have been one of the happiest days of my life a minion of yours took everything away from me. My fiancé, Sarah, the only connection to my world, was tortured and killed right in front of me. Since your organization took everything from me, I decided I would have to return the favor.”

“We were not aware of that unfortunate situation, although I suppose it wouldn’t make any difference to you to now to express our condolences. I suppose this will end with your death then. How regretful, I’m sure the knowledge from your world would have been of tremendous help in advancing our organization. Especially this disappearing trick you seem to have mastered.”

Stepping sideways from the mirror, I launched a barrage of ice spikes towards the twins before they could separate. I didn’t count on Ryu being prepared to launch such a quick defensive move as a wave of intense heat melted everything I had thrown. Knowing a counterattack would be sure to follow, I quickly conjured a shield of the purest water I could. Instead of a lightning strike, my shield was struck by an intense jet of flame that vaporized well over half of my protection.

A flash of light and a roar. Blinking slowly, my eyes finally made out the rafters above me. When did that mule kick me in the chest? What was I doing again? Oh yeah, that was a firebrand blasting me with lightning, not a mule. Fitting, that this whole thing began and will end because of Sarah.

Searing pain cleared the fog clouding my head. “Gyaaaaaah!” I cried out in agony as a flame was held inches above my stomach.

The scariest part was how calmly Draco was holding a flame just close enough to cause pain without causing too much tissue damage. “Well, we are so glad you managed to survive. Did you think us fools though? Roger told us of how your water shield managed to block his lightning. Now that we have your attention, there are several questions we would like you to answer. Before you misunderstand us, we will ask you questions and you will tell us everything we want to know. There will be no negotiation and no tricks. Understand?”

Before I could respond, the flame was dancing on my flesh. “Gyaaaaaaaah, yes, YES I UNDERSTAND!” Damn, I couldn’t let these guys know anything they wanted. Apparently they were under the misunderstanding that people in this world couldn’t use their powers through pain. While this was true for the vast majority, I could do small tricks. Any direct attacks wouldn’t work, as Ryu was keeping a close eye on me and I had no doubt that he would terminate any attempt in an extreme manner. As the flame was slowly taken away, I used just a trickle of my power to do the opposite of what I had done to the bodyguard a week ago. Instead of activating pain receptors, I shut all mine down. Now I just had to buy some time.

“Now that we understand what’s at stake, let’s move on to more important matters. It seems an associate of ours, Miss Andrews, has gone missing. What do you know about that?”

“Depends, there was a Miss Andrews I came across recently. Slightly deranged, foul mouthed windbrand with a penchant for torture?”

“An apt description, since you seem to have met her can I assume she came to an untimely demise? Oh, come now it really is ok. We had figured as much since we hadn’t heard from her in a week.” Apparently mistaking the sweat beading on my forehead for fright instead of effort, I made an effort to keep the inadvertent ruse going.

“Yeah. Yeah, I met her. Like you said, she is dead. Nothing persoGYAAAAAAH!” Despite what Draco had said, apparently it was a rather sore subject. Luckily I was able to see where he was holding the flame so that I could fake the agony of being burned alive. Taking several deep breaths after he removed the flame, I knew time was running out.

“Excellent. Now, it seems that Roger has lost all his power. So now we are going to have a nice, long discussion on how you managed to remove the power of a firebrand whose strength is on par with ours. Do we need more incentive?”

Shaking my head in the negative, I knew my time was up. Who knows what despicable acts these bastards would pull with that kind of knowledge. Keeping my voice quiet, I got both of them to lean in close as I whispered, “I wonder if Kansas got it right in their song, will there be peace when I’m done?” Grabbing both twins by the collar, I let go of the massive ice block I had been conjuring twelve feet above our heads and embraced the descent of darkness.