Free Imperium (Caulborn) by Nicholas Olivo

quick snack, cleaned up, brushed my teeth and headed for the bedroom. My apartment isn’t huge, but it’s got enough room for Petra and me. I looked at the pictures of the two of us on the wall, and then at the calendar, which had the day after tomorrow circled in red. Inside the circle, the word ‘Home!’ was printed in Petra’s girly handwriting. The ‘o’ in ‘Home!’ was a happy face. God, I missed her.
    I stretched out on the bed and closed my eyes. Fae wars, a de-brained woman, kidnapped paranormals and vampire attacks would be enough to give anyone nightmares.
    Especially me.
     
     
     
     

Chapter 7
     
Begin Coded Transmission
Details of what transpired during Corinthos’ crossover to the Bright Side are sparse, but from other interrogated fae we have learned that Corinthos’ psychic powers were amplified. This was illustrated when he single-handedly threw back a wave of hobgoblin soldiers that were attacking an Urisk farming detail. The Urisk who witnessed this were in awe of the Godling, and it is believed they were among the first to evangelize him to the other Urisk, proclaiming his heroic deeds.
-NS
End Coded Transmission
    I was trapped in a demonic forge. The cavernous room’s only light came from the hellish red light of the forge’s flames, which easily reached the ceiling. The blacksmith, a crimson-skinned fiend with fangs as long as my index finger, pounded on an anvil with a hammer the size of a toaster oven. The blacksmith saw me and snarled, hurling the sword he’d been forging at me. I tried to turn, but it was like I was stuck in a vat of molasses. The world barely moved as I willed my body to run.
    About halfway to me, the sword turned into a man whose eyes gleamed like glass. He stretched his arms out and chains burst from his hands. The chains ensnared me, dug into my skin, wrapped around my neck. I tried to raise my arms to break free, tried to summon the Urisk’s faith, but my body and my powers refused to respond. The man slammed into me, drove me to the ground. A blade appeared where his hand should have been and he drove it at my throat.
    I came awake with a start and almost fired off a real telekinetic blast in response to the dream. I caught myself just in time. The last time that happened, we had to replace the bedroom door. I rubbed my eyes and tried to shake off the unease of the nightmare. I glanced at the clock. It was just after six in the morning. Might as well get up.
    I started my morning out as I always do, by answering my follower’s prayers. I opened my mind to them, and their voices flooded into my mind. Many of them were just speaking their daily litanies, part of a routine that Lotholio and the other priests had instilled into them. Some of them asked for health or strength, and these I granted. With each prayer that I heard, my faith reserves refilled a bit more.
    Twenty minutes later, I stood up and gave a satisfied stretch. When I was fully charged with the Urisk’s faith I felt like I could take on the world. So hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work I go.
    When I got to HQ, I walked down the hall and saw that the lights were on in Megan’s office. I stuck my head in and found her in front of a whiteboard, a pad of paper in one hand and a marker in the other. In pristine handwriting, she’d written out the names of the missing and what we knew of them so far. The board was color-coded, with notes about the missing appearing in green, questions in blue, and miscellaneous bits of information in brown.
    “Oh, hi, Vincent,” she said when she noticed me. “I copied these from Miguel’s whiteboard.” She held up the pad and gestured to her own board. “I’ve been going over this for the last hour, but I’m not having much luck.” We spoke for a few minutes while we reviewed what we knew so far. We took another look at the tapes we’d recovered from Mikey’s apartment, but even with the enhanced footage, courtesy of Gearstripper, we couldn’t see