Shay watched as the same cottage he had entered to meet with The Crone walked into the clearing on gigantic chicken legs. The cottage settled down and The Mother walked out onto the front porch. Beautiful and graceful but no longer in her prime. If you had ever met The Maiden and The Crone she was a perfect middle ground. Appearing somewhere in her late 50s to early 60s she carried herself with grace and confidence. Hair streaked with a silvery gray, and crows feet by her eyes, she looked like a movie star who refused to hold onto youth and vanity with cosmetic surgery and knew she was beauty defined, at any age. “Greetings Shay and Sĕigo, what a glorious day for battle. I will have my vengeance today once and for all. I also took care of that vapid Enchantress for you. She betrayed you all, Tobias was in Lakeland although he was waiting in ambush for you two. She made sure to get you two out of Lakeland as quickly as possible and back here. Buying the order time to launch this attack.” Shay looked at Sĕigo and nodded, that was exactly what they had figured. The Enchantress was beautiful and could go places they couldn’t, but none of that mattered now and he was grateful to hear the Baba Yaga had ended her treachery once and for all. There was a faint buzzing in the distance growing louder and louder, Shay cocked his head to one side trying to place the sound before a silver tipped .308 round caught him right in the face. He shook his head and spit out fragments of lead and copper jacket. The Orders blessed silver burnt for a moment, but it was nothing like before when he was in the interrogation room. The blessings from his new God were outstanding. By the time heard the crack from the rifle he was already healed completely. He heard impacts on the bones of the creatures he was surrounded by as well but they didn't seem to be affected much at all. He watched as The Orders drones raced into the sky, the humans were clever but their tricks wouldn't stand a chance today. “The rest of them will be here in a few moments. They are heading in from the south. I hear 4 vehicles total. There is likely a 5th somewhere providing an over…” There was a series of detonations right in their midst, cutting Sĕigo's comment short. Silver wire burned as it flew into the crowd.
Simon was driving the lead vehicle and watched as the Swarmers detonated into the crowd after firing off the last of the ammo. He watched as some of the skeletal creatures had bones blown off of them, glowing bits now charred and scattered. As he got closer he planned on stopping his Jeep at the northernmost part, so the rest could fan out behind him creating a gaped semi circle around the cave mouth. He slammed on the breaks and slid his Jeep into position, trying to focus solely on the task at hand. They filed out of the Jeep and began to engage the onrushing hoard. The glowing skeletal creatures almost needed to be completely broken down before they would stop the attack.
Thomas watched as Simon slammed on his brakes and slid his Jeep into position. He did the same, knowing that Philip would do the same behind him, and Tobias behind him. They all bailed out and took cover on the left hand side of the Jeep, firing shots into the hoard as they could. He still had his bow and quiver filled with special arrows but he would save that for the vamp. If he could get a clean shot, he would drive an ashwood arrow through the Vamps heart. Then Simon or Philip could take the head. It was a trick they had performed countless times over the centuries.
There was a cloud of dust and a flicker of brake lights in front of me and I knew Philip stopped in his position. I stopped as well and bailed out. My team came around to the driver side and we started to engage the hoard. There was something off, well more off about the ones in front heading straight at my position. They looked smaller, and were much more intact than anything else. They still glowed slightly but they were just kids, but I couldn't imagine how they would have gotten out here! “Oi Hell, bunch of tykes out front mate! Bloody school picnic, run a muck or sommint?” Shouted Carter over the blast from his M2. The Aussie was so big he was hip firing a ma duce and made it look like a normal man shooting a M249 saw. Belt linkage and brass the size of cigars pooled at his feet as he unloaded into the fastest of the crowd, absolutely breaking them down. “III WANNA SHOOOOOOOT A DIIIINOOOO!!!!” he bellowed as he grabbed another 50 cal can from the back of the Jeep for a belt change. I shook my head as I engaged what looked to be a 12 year old girl. She was in pigtails and running on all fours, ignoring multiple grievous wounds. She jumped over the hood of the Jeep I was using as a rest for my rifle and landed on top of me. I let my LMT fall to its sling as I tried to catch the ferocious tween. I managed to catch her shoulders and she dug her nails into my vest and clawed feverishly at my trama pate, the impact taking us to the ground. Flat on my back I drew my 2011 from my right hip and pushed up on her jaw with my left hand, levering the pistol under her jaw indexing off my left thumb and wrist. I pulled the trigger and her head came apart, but what happened next was a complete shock. Her blood hit me and I felt like I had been splashed with acid or molten lead. I rolled her body off of me and wiped the brains and blood onto my pants before looking at my hands. To my amazement, ice crystals were melting away and I saw signs of severe frostbite before my hand could heal. I could feel it on my face and neck as well as my chest as I stood up and some dripped under my vest. I triggered my throat mic and got on the coms, as both a warning and to possibly trigger something in the memories of the elders that may give us an edge. I had certainly never ran into anything like this before! “Whatever enchantment The Soul Eater has used to raise his army, the blood or whatever burns like absolute fire when it hits you but it freezes the skin, repeat I saw signs of severe frostbite damage before healing.” As soon as I finished I heard a supersonic crack of a .408 bullet zip past me, I spun to see a bipedal dino shaking off an impact to its face. Large, head standing just below my shoulders it had powerful hind legs and a large jaw filled with sharp teeth. The raptor pawed at its snout with its stubby front limb before raising its head and starting the charge again. I holstered my 2011 and reached for my LMT but before I could shoulder it the raptor was tackled by Carter welding nothing but 2 tomahawks. He took the beast to the ground and began to hack into the neck over and over with brutal speed as he knelt on top of its ribs, pinning it down. Two chops and the hind leg trying to claw at him was gone, then he broke down the head, neck and torso. Carter stood up and with a triumphant bellow placed his tomahawks back into the sheaths on his hips. “They ain't too tough mate! Gotta bag me a dino!” He said with a huge bloody grin before spitting a gob of blood onto the broken pile of bones. He wiped a forearm across his beard, knocking away ice crystals.
Angiola watched as the first 2 waves were taken out. Regional made gun runs with both Fat Man and Little Boy over and over again until their belts ran out of ammo. He would normally bring them back in and land for a reload but he placed them in standby mode and started to set up the rail gun and uncrate its ammo. He read through the instructions and hooked up the large dry cell battery, before opening the chamber and setting out an ammo can. She got out of her prone position behind her Cheytac .408 and got the Railgun into position. She had glassed the battle with her Cheytac and knew The Eater Of Souls finally lumbering out into the open. Again she went prone and loaded one of the massive projectiles into the breach. She took careful aim at the abomination and decided her best bet was to get the beast right between the eyes. Unfortunately as soon as she was in position, it was like The Eater Of Souls knew it was being watched and began to lumber back to the cave. The Eater Of Souls began to turn back, presenting her with a perfect broadside shot. She aimed just behind the shoulder blade of the forelimbs hoping for a lung, heart, lung shot. At the velocity the projectile was traveling, as long as she penetrated the hide, the damage would be extensive even if it only got close to vital organs. If it even had traditional organs? Once she had her aim lined up, the reticle hardly danced over the massive beast, she waited for her natural respiratory pause and gently applied steady pressure to a trigger that broke like a glass rod. The recoil was substantial but she had the blessings of The Order now so the rifle hardly moved. She watched through the scope as her first shot made impact, removing large wet chunks. By instinct as she watched the heat mirage ripple and hit, as she worked the bolt and inserted another of the massive slugs. As soon as she saw the beast didn’t completely drop from the first shot she sent a follow up shot, after going through her normal pre shot ritual. As she watched through the scope she noticed the lich turn to stare right at her position. He clapped his hands in her direction and the railgun recoiled again, but before she had pulled the trigger this time. The unnatural recoil was followed by an acrid smell of burning electrical wiring as a noxious cloud of black smoke poured from the battery and rifle. “Reginald, the primary target is down, wounded but not out completely. I got off 2 shots but the lich somehow knew where I was shooting from and shorted out the railgun.” Angiola said over her shoulder, as Reginald frantically tapped at his keyboards. “I wondered what that was, Fat Man and Little Boy were both sending back error messages for the last few seconds. I just got my live feed back. Okay, I see the primary now. Good shooting Angiola, it appears crippled!” He replied before keying his throat mic, “All teams, be advised: Primary is crippled. Repeat primary is crippled. I'm going to detonate Fatman and Littleboy.” Reginald finished his transmission and immediately programmed both his massive drones to kamikaze into The Eater Of Souls. It only took him a few moments but the resulting explosion was epic, even from their distant vantage point. “That's the last of my eyes in the sky men, we will maintain a manned overwatch and sniper support but that's all we can manage. God bless all of you!” He transmitted over coms after the echo from the blast had rolled past their overwatch.
Sĕigo watched as his master commanded wave after wave of his enslaved souls to attack the members of The Order. They were not all members, he could feel an incredibly uncomfortable surge of light from only one person in each of the Jeeps and from two more slightly off in the distance. Even if they hadn't drawn out all 30 of them this time, once his God had captured their souls, surely the rest would respond. Falling right into a trap. They had ruined his phylactery and seriously drained his power, and now they had the nerve to come to his home and threaten his God. He would not let this stand! He was sent a partial telepathic message from his God about the members who were not in the battle as his God turned to head back inside. Something about it did not sit right with The Eater Of Souls but before he could read more into his God’s thoughts, a massive chunk was violently removed from his God's side. Followed immediately by another impact causing even more damage. His God was wounded and unable to move, but with the help from the Vamp Shay, they would be able to get their God back to safety to heal. Sĕigo looked in the direction and could feel the device used to cause this damage. The runes and the powerful blessings from the trespassers God shone brightly off of it. Shay focused and willed an immense wave of his own raw power and energy towards where the shot had come from. In the past, doing just this had killed hundreds of men on horseback, as they rode in to tell his tribe they could no longer live on the land they had occupied for generations. Now, as drained of his strength as he still was, even after the rituals of the previous evening… Now, he hoped it would be enough to quell the barrage from that area. He turned and called to his new companion, “Shaytan, Help me ge….” He was cut off as the entire area was devastated by two massive and simultaneous explosions.