Not fully realizing the scope of what he’d envisioned, Abraham was caught off guard when the pro-Armageddon forces took note of DRAC’s existence. Drawn to the shining beacon of power, which was the organization’s mystical cache, demons raided the compound, laying waste to it. Few survived the attack. Most of the knowledge and artifacts gathered were stolen or destroyed. The organization shattered.

Wounded and ridden with guilt, Abraham would take another ten years to recover and muster the courage to reform DRAC. Nearing his seventies, he had learned the lesson of his past failure. The location I appeared at, just one of many secret facilities, was a testament to that.

Accessible only by teleportation, the receiving room was designed to contain intruders, Page 14 both supernatural and human, who might make it past the initial portal security. On the floor was inscribed a large silver pentagram, its five points surrounded by the empowered summoning circle in which I appeared. Set upon the walls were an array of defensive wards, each designed to handle a defined instance of magical threat. The specifics were lost on me. Alongside them were small jets that could fill the room with poisonous gas. Above me, the thirty-ton steel roof was held in place by highpressure hydraulics, which could be lowered to crush everything in the room. That part always made me nervous.

I stood there staring at the ceiling as I was assessed by DRAC security, my skin tingling from the scans. After what felt like forever, the circle powered down and a seamless door slid open in front of me. I waited for my escort, standard operating procedure, and looked to the door when a shadow blocked the light. My heart skipped a beat when I saw who it was. I took a sip of my coffee to hide my nervousness. Katon De Pena was DRAC’s muscle, their enforcer, their assassin. He didn’t do grunt work, so I knew something was up. I felt a chill run down my spine as I speculated the reasons for his appearance. None of what I imagined was good. I had to admit, I wasn’t looking forward to being killed. That would seriously ruin my day.