Gabriel Elder book II of the Warlock Series

While the watcher wept and those in the compound rested, other forces were just beginning to move. The mercenaries Oz had dropped off in West Vancouver were found and transported to a care center just off the main highway, only a few miles from where they were found. As the local police and ambulance scanners started buzzing about such a large group of men and the severity of their injuries, Grace was picking up the telephone.

“Yes, Ronald it is me,” Grace began, “the latest group of incompetents you sent me have failed miserably.”

“But…but Miss Stevens, I sent you the best men I could find,” answered the voice on the other end of the line.

“I do not accept excuses Ronald. I provided two helicopters, the best weapons money could buy and solid intelligence. All your men had to do was to take out one badly injured, worn-out, old warlock. If it was too much for you, then I shall no longer be needing your services. There will be no payment for this fiasco as well,” Grace replied.

Even as she was saying it, she was nodding to the man standing in front of her. Raphael turned and walked out of the lab. He knew what to do and he knew better than to fail. He felt for the two pistols he kept, one under each arm, and was already thinking about the best way to eliminate the ‘failures’. He climbed into his black Mercedes and sped toward the care center.

Two of the mercenaries had already fled by the time Raphael arrived at the hospital. Whether they were avoiding the police or the clean-up crew, they would be glad they had already disappeared. As Raphael watched, the police detectives finally left. None of the men were willing to make a statement and most were under heavy sedation and awaiting a variety of surgeries and procedures. There was nothing for the police to do and since none of these men were in any shape to move, the real investigation would begin in the morning.

With his silencers in place, Raphael went quietly and efficiently from room to room and put a bullet in each of the mercenary’s brains. In less than ten minutes, he was done and leaving the hospital. The ball cap and sunglasses would keep the authorities guessing at his identity when they got around to checking the security footage. He doubted they would look too closely since all of the casualties were professional hit men, unwilling to talk to the police.

He had one more stop before he could call it a night. Ronald was about to learn what happened to those who disappointed Grace Stevens. He should be thankful it was Raphael coming to visit, rather than Miss Grace herself. At least this way it would be relatively quick and painless.

Raphael liked to think he had no fear. He tried to convince himself he had never known fear, but deep down, he knew he was lying to himself. Grace Stevens, the petite young woman, had the ability to scare Raphael. After seeing what she was capable of doing, you’d have to be insane not to fear the little witch. Raphael now knew what fear felt like.

He’d witnessed her rip the arms from a man and slowly eat his flesh as he screamed in agony. Then, when he thought it couldn’t get any worse, she ripped the man’s legs off and before he bled out, she reached into his belly and pulled his spine out through his stomach. She did all of this with one hand, or one paw as it was. In her shifter form, she was the most powerful and terrifying creature he had ever seen.

He couldn’t imagine any human, or animal, who could stand up to her. Just being near her caused other shifters to lay on the ground and whimper like pups. At least until she gave a command, then they would do anything she ordered them to do. It was like a queen bee ordering the workers in a hive. They blindly followed her bidding no matter what she commanded.

Raphael was going to make sure he did not fail Miss Stevens, he never wanted to see her turn her anger on him. So far, Raphael had managed to work for Grace for three years. He was told that was a record. He knew he needed to leave while he still could, but the money was too good. Where everyone else paid for difficult jobs with tens of thousands of dollars, Grace Stevens paid in the hundreds of thousands. She also had many influential contacts in the governments on both sides of the border.

Whether he was working in the U.S. or Canada, Raphael seemed to always have immunity. He liked the feeling of power it gave him. Some of his colleagues worked for the C.I.A., the N.S.A. and even the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (C.S.I.S.) and even they didn’t have the carte blanche Raphael did to complete his assignments for Miss Stevens.

Still, in the pit of his stomach, something was telling him if he ever wanted to spend the millions he had amassed over the past three years, he needed to be leaving Miss Stevens soon. Just a few more jobs, then he would disappear.

That would happen soon enough, for now, he needed to tie up the loose end known as Ronald and then he could get some rest. He might be called tomorrow night, or he might not hear from her for a few weeks or more. He would need a plan. Things were moving quickly now, but soon they would die down again. Once things calmed down a bit, he could use the time before his next summons to make his escape. He knew how to disappear and knew how to remain off the grid when he had too. Something told him he’d need every bit of those skills to remain hidden from Grace Stevens.

Back at her lab, Grace was already on the phone again. This time she was reaching out to her European contact for contractors. They had referred Raphael to her several years before and she had remained impressed by his unique abilities to clean up any mess, quickly and efficiently.

“Jacques, I need a team of professionals,” Grace began.

“Miss Stevens, I am not sure I can provide such a team, at least not for you,” Jacques answered.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Grace asked, raising her voice. She wanted there to be no doubt she would not accept any disrespect from the hired help.

“Calm down Miss Stevens, I meant nothing personal. There are several issues I must contend with. Several of the larger countries have contracted many of my professionals. The terrorists’ networks are grabbing up much of the young talent and you have a penchant for eliminating anyone who tries to leave your employment and everyone knows it. Due to these factors, what you are asking for is virtually impossible,” Jacques answered.

“I pay better than anyone else, what more do they need?” she asked.

“True, you used to pay better than everyone, but not anymore. Besides, like I said, the word is out, no one ever leaves you alive, so the amount of money you pay doesn’t matter. If no one ever lives to spend it, what good is all the money in the world?

The kind of professionals you seek are not the type to be ordered into any assignment they do not want. In the current world market, they can choose from a variety of employers and they seldom choose based on pay alone,” Jacques explained.

“These are nothing more than highly paid animals, what could mean more to them than money?” Grace asked.

She was beginning to be more intrigued and less aggravated. Perhaps she could learn something, which was a very rare event for her, but she relished when it happened. Being born with the prior knowledge of her former selves made her highly intelligent and always thirsting for something new to add to the accumulated knowledge she already possessed.

“Amnesty for one thing,” Jacques replied, “Many of the other employers out there are able to offer a substantial pay and the promise of amnesty for all past deeds. The top professionals today are looking to the future and a place where they can finally settle down and be left alone. Your reputation of getting your people killed, or killing them yourself, is not likely to attract many of those at the top of this industry.

Remember, Miss Grace, I am just a coordinator. I pair skilled professionals with possible employers but they choose so willingly and always on their own terms. I can put out feelers and see what I can find, but it would likely be a group of rookies or a few of the crazies, not the top people you are looking for.”

Grace thought about it for a few minutes. No, they would never do. She couldn’t trust the crazies, and the rookies would never stand up against a trained warlock. There had to be another option. Perhaps she could find a way to turn the other government agencies against the warlocks?

“Miss Stevens…Miss Stevens, are you still there?” Jacques asked.

Grace hung up the phone. She didn’t bother to finish the conversation with Jacques. Mentally she thought she might look him up the next time she was in France and rip his heart out, just for the fun of it. The thought made her smile. She had been born, or rather created, without the slightest bit of empathy. Such weak characteristics had been eliminated from her DNA by her amazing father, a geneticist and genius, well ahead of his time.

Most of the work he had done would have been illegal, or at the very least immoral, in the civilized world. However, pre-World War I Germany was in turmoil and once the war began, any chance at victory was being supported. Even the doctor’s claims of being able to clone humans and manipulate DNA to increase intelligence and strength was being considered. He even claimed to have the ability to create a “super soldier” for the military and was granted unlimited funding.

As the war drew to a close, the German government realized they had been duped and the doctor was only working to save his own daughter. A price was put on his head and he fled to a secret lab in the Carpathian Mountains of Hungary. Germany was defeated just a month later and the crazy doctor was forgotten.

Not only had he managed to escape Germany, but he managed to take a fortune in gold and precious gems with him. All of it had been spoils of war, stolen from the countries conquered by Germany in the first two years of the war. Very few people knew how much had been confiscated and set aside to help Germany both during and after the war.

Dr. Steffens managed to get a sizeable amount of it and had it transported to his secret mountain lab. The treasure trove had been added to by each version of Grace who had existed so far. Each version was little smarter, each one a little stronger, and more invincible than the one before. Grace wasn’t immortal, not yet anyway, but she would keep working on it.

First, she would conquer the world and destroy all mankind so she alone could rule the shifters. They were easily the more dominant physically, but much easier to control than humans. Grace was determined to lead the shifters as they became the new heirs of planet Earth. It was time for the ‘frail sacks of flesh’, as Grace referred to humans, to be replaced.

Just the thought of how weak and flawed humans were, had convinced Grace there could be no such thing as a God. She had often wondered how something so powerful could create something so useless? She had no need for religion or theology of any kind. Her father had invented immortality and the only true example of reincarnation, the process of cloning. In her mind, science had created what religion had only promised.

Grace had left herself notes and instructions cautioning her new incarnation not to get to carried away with her status and power. It seemed that was the downfall of her previous self, but it would not be this Grace’s downfall. She knew she was better, smarter, stronger than the ones before. She would be even stronger when she came back next time, but that wouldn’t be for a very long time.

While trying to convince herself, she tapped a series of commands into the electronic notebook in her hands. She could look at the hidden lab where her next incarnation was waiting in suspended animation. There was even an additional supply of genetic material hidden away, if something were to happen to the replacement.

Every week Grace spent an hour updating her bio-profile for the massive mainframe computer connected to her hidden lab. It recorded all her memories, thoughts and actions. Converted to binary code and ready to upload to the new Grace when the time came.

If she could only get a stable sample of the Scythian DNA to work with, the next version would be even stronger and more amazing than she was. She must get a sample!

Grace was snapped out of her daydream by the beeping of her computer. She was being notified someone was making a series of inquiries about her origins. She was getting annoyed. She had created an impressive data trail documenting her birth, education and ancestry. Unfortunately, whoever was snooping around was doing it the old-fashioned way. They were looking at the actual records, instead of the computer entries. At first, she was convinced it was Zeus, but she had managed to eliminate him as her prime suspect. He was in Vancouver during the latest inquiry in Germany. Perhaps he had a confidential informant, a lackey, doing his legwork?

It wasn’t a major concern, just a minor inconvenience. If anyone found out and tried to alert the authorities, she would have it stamped out in less than an hour. She had allies and accomplices throughout the world’s leading economic centers, businesses and governments. She could be seen crushing the U.S. President to death in one hand and the Pope in the other and still get away with it. Or at least Grace had convinced herself she could.

Just the thought of crushing the two of them at the same time, to a worldwide television audience, made her smile. She might have to put it on her ‘to-do list’. What better way to crush the spirits of those who might try to stand up to her and her legions of shifters. In just a few weeks she would launch her assault on the world.

The world’s leaders, political and military alike, would be eliminated or abducted on the first night of the campaign. The second night would see her forces attacking, killing and spreading the virus at will. It would be a hunt to end all hunts. The streets would run red with blood.

Grace would allow the shifters to continue to run wild for five nights in row. Then they would disappear, back into their mundane existences, joining the remaining, shell-shocked, humans. She knew the survivors would debate, argue and bicker about what to do. Before they knew it, the next full moon would be upon them.

That month would see the end of any humans capable of standing up to the shifters. A rare, blue-moon month, one in which the full moon would make its appearance twice in the same month, would be all the shifters needed. The first moon would let them attack and eliminate most of the strong ones. Those they couldn’t eliminate on the first moon, would be identified and specifically targeted when the second full moon began.

With the remaining humans reeling in fear and trying to come up with a strategy to combat the shifters, she would implement the final, deadly phase of her plan. Grace had shifters in key positions in every government with nuclear weapons on Earth. She had access to the codes and computers of several of the governments. Her agents had direct access to eight countries and she was able to order the launch of all their nuclear weapons.

Grace hated destroying her beloved Germany, but geographically it wasn’t the best choice to use as her headquarters. No, she would use North America as the home for her shifter empire. She would nuke all the rests of the inhabited parts of the world and then one by one, kill or infect all remaining humans. Grace thought her plan was flawless, even if it was simple.

She wasn’t going to destroy the great cities and resources of the world, she was going to detonate the bombs far above the target countries and create a massive electromagnetic pulse which would knock out all electricity and electronics. As the people fled the radioactively contaminated areas, they would be like sheep for the taking. The warlocks and their kind had prevented the shifters from enjoying the hunt for far too long. Now, Grace would lead a hunt to destroy all mankind!

She was sitting and thinking of all of this when her cell phone rang. She looked at the screen, it was Raphael.

“All loose ends have been eliminated,” he said.

“Thank you, I will see there is adequate payment and a bonus deposited in your account by the morning,” Grace said as she hung up.

At least Raphael was reliable. She was going to hate killing him, but as a human, he just wasn’t in the right species group to be allowed to live. Of course, there was always the chance he would survive the attack and get infected. If so, he would make an excellent second-in-command.

Ah, but who was she kidding? Grace would never trust, nor had she ever needed a second-in-command. Besides, once she started taking professionals like Raphael apart she always got carried away. He had no better chance at survival than all of those before him, and not one had ever lasted more than a minute.

Not only did Grace Stevens lack empathy, but she was completely devoid of sympathy, loyalty or trust. Her only allegiance was to herself and the shifter community. She would live forever and she would rule the planet, perhaps even the galaxy, as the Queen of the Shifters.

First though, she would need to eliminate a few obstacles, starting with Mr. Zeus. How he was still alive was beyond her, but she would rectify it soon enough. This time she was going to use her U.S. connections. Sometimes the best way to kill a snake was with a bigger snake. It would take some doing, but she knew she could make it happen, even if it caused an international incident.

She had the U.S. Secretary of State as one of her lackeys. Grace had to laugh, it had been so easy. All it took was a generous, multi-million-dollar donation to the Secretary’s personal ‘non-charitable’ foundation. Ever since the U.S. Supreme Court was paid off to decide that corporations could donate unimpeded to any political party or person, the entire senate, congress, and even the President had become fair game for the billionaires and conglomerates of the world.

It truly was a case of “money can buy anything” regardless of what the old wisdom said. Less than fifteen minutes later, the call was done and the matter was going to be taken care of by the Americans. This was one of the many reasons why Grace was never going to share power with another entity, human or otherwise. They were just too easy to corrupt, blackmail or manipulate. There was even talk of making the entire shifter community known to the world and instating their ‘rights’. What would humans think of next?