The shadows screamed as we shot 'em, and they seemed to recede away from us...

Ron, I was thinking about you in there. I could hear your voice in my mind, from back at the shooting range. "Find your target. Line up the sight. Squeeze. Again. Target. Sight. Squeeze. Again."

I'll type out the next installment in a little while... Baby needs fed... Will post it here ASAP.

It is always a good feeling when training just slides into place.

Well said, Ron, well said.

Bert kept me supplied with fresh clips. I know neither of us expected to get out of there alive, but we were going to make Delemorte hurt...

At some point, I told Bert "Clip". His response was "Out".

That wasn't what I'd wanted to hear right then... Bert let his gun drop the second it was empty, and reached for another weapon, but an unseen force slammed us into the ground, hard and fast. "That will be enough of that..." The black tendrils relieved Bert of his remaining weapons as we both lay pinned under darkness. I tried to cast a protective spell around us, but one of the tendrils gagged me...

It's hard to describe the taste of darkness... Acrid and sweet...? It left me wanting to throw up, I know that. I bit into it, and it was like chomping onto nothing; completely insubstantial, yet I couldn't force air through my mouth enough to speak the words of my spell...

We were lifted into the air, and turned to face a human-shaped shadow that was darker than all the others. "You are in my domain, now. ...Mr. Turtle, as they call you... I have no further need for you. Your soul will further sustain me in my path to godhood.

"Gabriel... I have a proposition for you, my friend."

He wanted Gabriel. I heard Bert grunt in pain... I couldn't see what was happening to him, but despite the pain he was enduring, he refused to so much as gasp out loud.

"Gabriel..."

I started to tell him the truth, that Gabriel was me, now, and that I was Gabriel, and that for the first time in a decade, Gabriel was happy, satisfied.

Then I changed my mind, and did something Gabe would've been proud of me for, if he were still separate from me.

"Go to Hell; I got nuthin' to say to you, you goddamned pisant." I saw Bert give more of a reaction to that than he had for the pain. It was a pretty convincing performance, if I do say so myself.

"I will give you your own soul, Gabriel... So that you no longer need to remain trapped inside the druid you despise so..."

I put a nice, long pause in as I glared at him with the most hateful expression I could muster. "I'm listening."

"Submit to me, Gabriel... Lend me the incredible power I know you're capable of. You find beauty in destruction. Help me make the world...a beautiful place."

Something in Bert's body snapped. He winced, but still made no sound. "Fine. On one condition... It's his soul I get," I said, nodding as best I could towards Bert.

"Why?" he asked, sounding amused and victorious.

"Because his soul contains memories of skills I admire... Demolitions, combat, and..." I trailed off. I couldn't look at Bert... I just hoped this would work.

"And?" he prompted, as the medallions that protected us from his dark magics were snapped from our necks.

"And the tenacity to rip you a new hole, you goddamned--"

He knew he'd been duped. With a scream of rage, he slammed us both into the ground. "I will see you both suffer for your insolence! You--"

He got a rather rude interruption as a blade, glowing crimson, sprouted through his chest. "Let. My husband. Go. Now."

A second blade ripped through his chest, glowing white. Claw and Akasha went to work inside of him, demolishing his very spirit inside his body...

He was fighting it, hard, but he asn't doing too well. It's hard, when you're of one mind, to fight a battle internally and externally at the same time.

My wife stepped around to his front, grinning sadistically. "Oops! I'm supposed to say that *before* I stab you, aren't I? Tee-hee..." God, I love that woman.

There was a beam of light, as a doorway behind Delemorte, and he shrieked in rage, trying to speak, scream, and fight all at once. Adama was standing in the doorway, flexing his wings and smirking. "Hang tight you two... This'll only take a minute, if I know your wife..."

Delemorte grabbed her by the throat, snarling, spitting up black blood. "I will not be beaten...by some mortal BITCH!"

A slim blade of spiritual energy neatly sliced through his wrist as the spirit of Victoria, my wife's doll, manifested next to my wife. She frowned disdainfully... "You will not address my seamtress in such a manner, lout."

My wife smirked, and pulled a statue of a dragon from her pocket. With a roar that shook the entire domain, Cubrious appeared...and in this plane, he was physical. Very physical.

My wife spoke. "Your ass just got toasted by a girl. Deal with it, punk." I said it before, and I'll say it again... God, I love her.

Needless to say, Delemorte is no more... It was damned close, though. Adama made certain that his spirit was fully destroyed and obliterated...

We spent the rest of the morning healing each other and doing repairs (both magical and mundane) on the damaged hospital wing. Amazingly, there was a minimum of equipment that needs to be replaced.

All in all, it's been a good day.

It was amazing. Thank goodness for the cavalry.

"Out." That's the first time I've been out of ammunition in a long time.

And KT is a much better actor than I would've guessed. He had me genuinely worried for a moment thee.

I would have paid to have seen DeleMorte's face there at the end.

Ouch, yeah. I remember reading about that.

Shadowstalker wrote:I would have paid to have seen DeleMorte's face there at the end.

I think we need to start sending video cameras to these things.

That's a great idea.

The new phase of reality television....

It'd be good training material for people like us though.

That's true, too.

Reality television always looked staged to me anyway.

Heh, sorry, Ron. My sister-in-law is still in high school, and I don't think she possesses the same kind of strength and wit my wife does. She does have strength and wit, but it's...not as good, and most definitely not the same style.

My wife definitely lives up to her name... Alexis, defender of men.

We just gotta be careful to keep her away from movies, tv, and especially MTV for awhile.

Yeah, maybe start her off in small town America and work our way up?

Hmm Small town huh, Ron I have a thought to run by you.

Yeah I was there too. I fired some many "physical" rounds, that I had to start using my "meta-physical" rounds. The MP rounds seemed to work better. I even had to use the ole sword a bit.

The morgue in the basement was loaded with activity.

Yeah, I feel bad for them... Thanks again for all your help, Pendragon, and yours, too, Robin. I'm glad y'all didn't have to go through the whole Shadow Realm crap...

Just wanted to let'chall know, if anybody needs me tonight...too bad. Alexis and I are going out tonight, since we're not gonna get the chance on Valentine's.

Thanks again to everyone who helped out.

Dele Morte wrote:You candor is always appreciated Bert. But the question is not why, but who does the psycho have in the bag?

Maynard should call home more often. That may explain why no one is answering his calls.

You're referring to me now?

Cause there's really nobody to call home TO in the first place.

I wonder if DeleMoron is refering to your mom and siblings there Robin? For what its worth I hope not.

Dele Morte can go suck on my shotgun. I got something for his punk ass.

I like the idea there Pendragon.

Delemorte's already sucked on the business end of a magical blade and a blade enhanced by the spirit of a dragon, as well as the business end of a dragon's muzzle and my wife's ire. He will not be joining us any further.

Robin, if anything's happened to your family, which I sincerely hope isn't the case, we can put you up here for a while, while we help you find a place to stay...