Šassūrātu V

Richard Greythorne stood right next to her right shoulder, just far away from the mirror that his visage was slightly fogged up. She looked back and did not see him, taking it for the fact that the witch had cast an illusionary spell.

Taking the form of a mirror image, Richard smiled as she turned back. "–Attraction, the one with Glenn Close. Oh, A Simple Favor–Actually, I think she isn't even an actress yet. Nevermind about that one, I only have three films. Anyway, it seems to me that Anthony's well-being is your priority now."

She narrowed her eyes, not at all covering up her body in front of Richard. "What do you want, witch? Your time's up. If my sisters knew that you were still in town… I'd say we'd have a feast in our hands."

Richard grinned, "Would they? What's your plan after you eat us, then? Run away with Anthony to live somewhere safe and free, knowing full well that he had left his dearest wife to the angered vultures who would undoubtedly kill her the moment his newborn daughter is born. Good plan."

It would be a lie to tell herself that it was a certainty that her sisters would not find her, but she knew that their allies would undoubtedly do so. The Asuras alone had three gods that could track them down in days and that was if they never entered their territory.

Another fact of the matter was that Anthony was in love with Linda. The same true and unfortunate passion that made her fall in love with him was directed at a woman birthed to be the ultimate sacrifice.

As such, she regarded Richard with caution but an open mind. "You're going to offer me something that I won't refuse."

"A memory wiper." Richard said, not needing to expound. "For free, once the rest of the Šassūrātu are gone."

It was certainly tempting, but her centuries of intuition were telling her something was decidedly off about his offer. "Anything else I should know about?" She asked shrewdly.

The grin on Richard's face grew wider, as if patronizing her doubt. "He will… 'divorce' Linda and marry you after his election to the senate. Once he's inside and my puppet within the congress, you can go whenever the fuck you want."

She was confused, doubly so. Someone capable of casting such an intricate spell as that of the sword attack that took the life of her sister would obviously be above human politics, yet, for the life of her, Richard was intent on weaponizing Anthony into being a sitting senator.

'Why is that?', she asked herself. 'Could there be an ancient artifact within the halls of the United States congress that only a legislative representative could access? Perhaps a founding father was a witch or someone with innate magical blood has created a ritual that would engender him to wade into a pantheonic assembly.'

She banished the thought within her mind; Any such artifact or magik could not compare to her innate abilities, anyway.

"They've already captured Linda in the guise of pre-labor care. How are you going to save her from the clutches of her grandmother? Or perhaps… Your plan is to destroy all of them at once. Change my identity into that of–"

"We're going to save her." Richard corrected her thinking in a voice that brook no arguments.

"Save her?" She was aghast. "You could barely save yourself from my sisters, let alone be a hero and save a pregnant woman."

Richard grinned. "Let me handle that. I just need you to do three things for me."

●●●●●

Irwin felt the morning chill sapping the energy in his body, forcing him to yawn uncontrollably. With the effects of the Stamina potion trudging on his consciousness, it was apparent that he needed sleep more than anything else in the world.

Still, it was nice to see the rising sun once in a while, especially when his hobby was fighting monsters that God created to entertain himself. 

"You never know when you're gonna see it again, huh?" He said aloud, eliciting an agreeable chuckle from a blonde middle-aged hunter.

"True enough. But you know what they say, "God makes good on his promises–"

"Yeah, I don't need the sermon." Irwin shook his head with an ugly smile, still frustrated that Gordon had brought his so-called 'kooky' friend this morning. "Have you been updated on the events the previous night, Kubrick?"

The blonde-haired man sporting a beige jacket and a visible silver cross nodded his head. "Yeah. I still can't believe you've killed, survived, and escaped false gods in their dens. Its… amazing. God really helps us out when we're fighting against imposters." 

Irwin wanted to groan, but once he thought about it, it was true that God had a hand in some of the nastier fights between pagan gods and the Winchesters. If not for some Deus ex machinas, then the two would have long died–and subsequently revived–from their hunts.

"Good. Remember, we have one on our side at the moment. She's integral to my future plans." Irwin reminded Kubrick, not knowing how the man would react to the chaos of the following fight. In fact, he clapped his hands and reminded everyone of the plan once more.

"We'll start at eight o'clock sharp. Winchesters and Bobby, you'll be our pointman in this mission. The Angel Blades can kill them, but you need to hit a vital organ. That's the tradeoff for the symbolic death caused by the pagan stakes." Sam and Dean nodded their heads sternly while Bobby grunted as he stretched his legs.

Irwin spent two thousand four hundred fifty credits to buy each of them an Angel Blade of their own, which would be used in case the respective teams met a Demihuman or an entity that could not be killed by mortal weapons.

It was tough seeing hard-earned money go down the drain, but he moralized himself by thinking of all the corpses he would gain in the process. Of course, he made sure to tell his troops of how generous and filial he was to the way of the hunters and to save the corpses for him.

There was a bit of a hubbub about the corpse part–mostly due to Kubrick–but they agreed eventually once Irwin had thoroughly explained that he was going to disintegrate them before they could resurrect.

"Gordon and Kubrick, you're going on the back to seal off the exits and escort the civilians out of the building." It had taken a lot of compromise, but Gordon had to acquiesce to be a rescuer in the hunt. While his relentless, bloodthirsty tendency was advantageous in normal hunts, the mission would fail if they attacked a Demihuman without setting up the mystical traps. 

Kubrick raised his hands, "I, uh, I'm not familiar with these Chinese spells. How are we supposed to–"

"Those paper talismans I gave you are ready-to-use. Just stick them in the wall or door and you can leave them alone." Irwin resisted the urge to groan, having thoroughly explained the process twice earlier. "Remember: do not mess with it once it has activated and glowed or I'll be using you as a corpse bait for the pagan gods."

He then turned to the last piece of the puzzle. Decked in two-hundred-credit armors and sporting two talismans of differing abilities, Garth Fitzgerald IV, Ellen Harvelle, and Scott Carrey looked as if they were ready to storm the keeps of Valhalla and liberate the nearby town of their presence.

"Garth, don't scratch the armor!" He scolded the former dentist. "I know it's itchy, it's made of blessed copper."

Garth halted his scratching at once, silently grumbling as to why he had to wear the only metal armor of the three.

"Ellen and I will rescue Linda Brown from the clutches of the Sassuratu. It'll be hard, but we won't be staying for long. Garth and Scott, find their son and take him away from whomever is babysitting him. Inject him with the paralytic and treat whomever that stops you with hostility."

Scott nodded.

"Good." Irwin breathed out an air of anticipation. "We'll be taking three cars there. The operation starts at eight o'clock. Do not, I repeat, do not falter. If you make a mistake, retry. If you get knocked down, get back up. If you get killed… walk it off."