Deliver Us From Evil Read online

  Deliver Us From Evil

  A Newton’s Gate Series

  Jamie Davis

  MedicCast Productions

  Contents

  Also by Jamie Davis

  Foreword

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Afterword

  Also by Jamie Davis

  Leave a Review

  About the Author

  Copyright © 2018 Jamie Davis

  All rights reserved.

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, businesses, events, or locales is purely coincidental.

  Reproduction in whole or in part of this publication without express written consent is strictly prohibited.

  The authors greatly appreciate you taking the time to read their books. Please consider leaving a review wherever you bought the book, or telling your friends about it, to help spread the word.

  Thank you for supporting their work.

  Cover art by Nicole at www.significantcover.com

  Created with Vellum

  Also by Jamie Davis

  The Delivery Mage

  Book 1 - Deliver or Die

  Book 2 - Deliver the Goods

  Book 3 - Labor and Delivery

  Book 4 - Deliver Us From Evil

  —

  Coming Soon

  Book 5 - Signed, Sealed, Delivered

  —

  The Broken Throne Series (5 books)

  Read book 1 - The Charm Runner

  —

  The Accidental Traveler LitRPG Trilogy

  (with C.J. Davis)

  Read book 1 - The Accidental Thief

  —

  Accidental Champion Trilogy

  (with C.J. Davis)

  Read book 1 - Accidental Duelist

  —

  Extreme Medical Services Series (8 books)

  Read book 1 - Extreme Medical Services

  —

  Eldara Sister Series (2 books)

  Read book 1 - The Nightingale’s Angel

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  Follow on Facebook for updates, news, and upcoming book excerpts

  Facebook.com/jamiedavisbooks

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  Foreword

  Welcome to the Newton’s Gate Universe, where The Delivery Mage series takes place.

  What is the Newton’s Gate Universe?

  On New Year’s Eve of 2050, humanity launches Newton’s Gate, a gateway meant to enable interstellar exploration. But when the gateway explodes, our greatest achievement morphs into our greatest disaster. Portals begin to appear around the world. Some open and close briefly, others swallow entire cities, while some remain permanently active, linking Earth to a wide array of planets, galaxies, universes, dimensions, and alternate times. Earth has become Grand Central Station for all of existence, bringing humanity into contact with alien humanoids, fantastical creatures, and everything in between.

  One consequence is certain: chaos reigns everywhere.

  The NGU and the C.J. Clemens pen name have emerged from the combined efforts of over thirty authors, featuring series ranging from space opera to urban fantasy -- epic fantasy to steam punk -- thrillers to military sci-fi. Virtually something for everyone!

  Chapter 1

  The baying and howls of the hounds echoed off the canyon walls behind her as Marci scrambled over the cracked and barren landscape. There was no place to hide. The broken, rocky path stretched out before her with no end in sight.

  Marci checked over her shoulder. She still couldn’t see her pursuers. She knew they were back there though.

  Scanning the canyon walls to either side, Marci looked for a way to climb to the top. That, at least, would put off the six-legged hounds on her trail. She could deal with the rest of the demons following her differently.

  She saw no way to reach the top though. Picking her way over the broken ground, Marci moved forward through the canyon. She couldn’t afford to stay in one place for too long. It would allow the hunters to catch up with her.

  A horrifying thought occurred to Marci. What if this was a box canyon, a dead end with no way out?

  She shook her head. She wouldn’t let Harshad get away with catching her as easy as that.

  The cracks and small stones that made up the canyon floor soon became littered with boulders, making Marci have to scramble over and around the new obstacles. It slowed her down even more.

  As she climbed over a large boulder in her way, she gasped in pain and pulled her hand away from a razor-sharp edge. The stone had gashed her palm open.

  Marci had no time to worry about minor wounds. She scrambled over the top, leaving a dripping trail of blood on the boulder behind her. Forcing herself forward, Marci slid down the far side to the canyon floor.

  “Shit,” she said to herself looking back at the boulder. She couldn’t afford to leave a blood trail but she had no way to clean it up, either.

  A fresh chorus of howls from the hounds behind her grew louder. The hunting pursuers must have reached the mouth of the canyon.

  Fear gripped Marci for the first time since she began running from the demons hunting her. Until now, Marci believed she might escape, despite what Harshad told her about her chances. The demon had given her an opportunity to escape in his devil’s bargain.

  He had offered her the option of becoming prey for his demons to hunt. Now those hunters we’re gaining on her and she wasn’t sure at this point if she’d be able to get away.

  Picking herself up, Marci dashed forward across the uneven ground. She had to get out of this canyon. Looking ahead, Marci hoped the far side of the walled passage wasn’t too far away. She still had to reach the caves that were her objective.

  In the back of her mind, Marci wondered if Harshad would even keep his word. He told her the crystal belonged to him. He couldn’t take it away from her though. According to a condition of the crystal, he had to win it in a contest of some sort.

  Now Marci raced for her life trying to get away, trying, against all odds, to escape.

  Marci ran through a narrowing passage as the canyon walls closed in around her. She squeezed through one gap she wasn’t sure was wide enough for her to pass through, even sideways. As she emerged from the far side of the pinch point, she hoped it would be too narrow for at least some of the hunters to get past.

  She could always hope.

  Marci pushed herself to pick up speed running through the gap on the other side. She raced around the corner then stopped and sank to her knees. The canyon ended in a small pocket cul-de-sac. Stone walls rose all around her. The only way out was the way she’d come.

  The canyon had Marci trapped.

  The renewed crescendo of baying hounds behind her told Marci they’d found the blood trail on the boulder.

  She turned and struggled to gather the strength of will to face what was coming. The hunt was over, and the demons caught up to her.

  The pack leader of the six-legged hell hounds squeezed through the narrow canyon opening and raced towards her. Four more followed close behind. Marci Drew the only weapon they’d allowed her, a single tomahawk, and readied herself for the end.

  The demon hound leaped at her, f
angs dripping at the prospect of finally catching its prey. Marci winced as the creature landed on her. She felt its jaws closing on her throat, crushing the life out of her.

  Marci sat up straight in her bed. Her fevered dream had drenched the sheets with sweat. For almost a minute, she sat there gasping for breath. It all felt so real and she trembled with fear of something that wasn’t there. Relief flooded her mind as the realization it was all a dream dawned on her.

  Marci turned and climbed out of bed, her night shirt plastered to her sweat soaked body. She stumbled to the bathroom and leaned on the sink, staring down as the cool water flowed through her fingers into the drain.

  Cupping her hands under the flow, Marci bent down and drank the cool water flowing from the faucet. Then she splashed some on her face and grabbed a towel from the rack. As she dried off, she tried to recall how the dream started. Details were slipping away with every passing second. For some reason, Marci thought she needed to remember as much as possible. It was important though she didn’t know why.

  Overwhelming dread filled her. She remembered the demon, Harshad, demanding she run for her life in a contest to regain the crystal.

  Marci returned to her bedroom, stripping out of her damp night shirt. She pulled a fresh T-shirt out of the pile of clean laundry still folded in the basket beside her bed. Flipping the shirt over her head, Marci padded in her bare feet out into her living room. She moved across to the ornate wooden chest sitting next to her sofa.

  Sitting down on the cushions, Marci faced what most of her friends thought was a decorative furniture item. She used it as a coffee table most of the time. While it served that purpose, it was much more important as a safe, hidden place to keep things she didn’t want others to find.

  Marci closed her eyes and drew in magical energy from around her. As the flows of energy filled her, she reached out with her hands, hovering them over the chest.

  She opened her eyes. Glowing runes replaced the drawings and carvings on the chest, runes only she could see.

  Watching through eyes tuned to this specific magical energy, Marci began the process of opening the localized gateway that led to a pocket dimension she’d created as part of her second doctoral thesis a few years before.

  Marci wasn’t sure if anyone else had discovered how to do this trick. It had impressed her Ph.D. panel enough to award her the first of her two doctorates.

  During her endeavors and studies on how the portal magic worked since the Newton’s Gate incident years before, Marci had discovered a way to create a small localized gateway. That portal led to a finite pocket of real space on the other side.

  With practice, she learned how to tune the gate access until only she could perceive the signs of its location. She also found a way to limit the size of the pocket on the far side.

  With that discovery, Marci found the perfect place to hide anything she wanted to keep away from prying eyes.

  Now she manipulated the runes with her magic until she activated the small portal inside the chest. Reaching forward and opening the lid, she saw the swirling blue glow of the gateway inside the bottom of the wooden box.

  Standing, Marci stepped over the side and into the chest. Taking her time, she climbed down through the gateway into the tiny pocket of reality on the far side.

  The small spherical room glowed with the blue light of the gateway but the walls were an amorphous, smoky gray all around her. The room was an artificial bubble in the nothing that existed between atoms.

  Crossing to the center of the open space, Marci bent down and picked up the large, translucent white crystal she’d placed there weeks before. It was the size of her head and glowed with its own inner light.

  She held it before her in two hands, feeling the smooth, faceted surface beneath her fingers. It was safe.

  That meant her dream had been just that, nothing more than a dream.

  Harshad had not found her or the crystal. The winged demon, or whatever the hell he was, would have to wait and catch her another day.

  Smiling, Marci set the crystal back down on the floor and walked back up the slope towards the portal opening. As long as the crystal remained here, she was sure Harshad could not sense its location.

  Only she could find the gateway to this place and only she knew the specific magical combination which revealed and opened it.

  Marci climbed out of the box, returning to her living room. She turned and waived her hand over the chest, closing the gateway. As it winked out of existence, it left behind nothing but the clean interior of the ornate wooden chest.

  Anyone who looked here would see nothing but an empty box. Sighing with relief, Marci went back to her room and climbed back into bed.

  It was still only 3:30 in the morning. She could get more sleep if she could put the dream out of her mind. There was a lot she had to do in the morning.

  Chapter 2

  Kurt swerved as a car pulled out of the side street in front of him almost cutting him off. Snarling at the other driver, he resisted the urge to flip the other driver the bird as he passed to the left on the busy Baltimore city streets.

  “What are you cursing at me for?” Trent asked over the comm channel.

  “I wasn’t cursing at you, Trent. Some idiot almost killed me when he pulled out in front of me.”

  “Why don’t you slow down, then. You’re usually a pretty cautious driver.”

  “That’s when I’m not late to drop off something like I am right now,” Kurt replied. “I’m still a little pissed at you because you couldn’t find a way to reschedule this payment.”

  “I tried. Really, I did.”

  Kurt could almost hear Trent shaking his head. He knew his delivery broker had been doing the best he could. Trent had spent a lot of effort putting off the biker clan that put a price on Kurt’s head.

  Kurt would not blame him for this particular screwup. Trent finally negotiated a payment plan for the blood debt after all. It was up to Kurt to make sure he made those payments.

  “Look, buddy,” Trent continued. “At least you’re not having to fight off hitmen anymore, right?”

  “I think that was probably the only good thing the come out of you negotiating this settlement. No offense, Trent, but I’ll be paying off this debt for the rest of my life at this rate.”

  “I’m not the one who killed four gangbangers during a routine delivery. I thought you were done with killing. You’re always telling me how you won’t take a gun out on most of your jobs.”

  Kurt ground his teeth to keep his mouth shut. He wanted to respond and tell Trent he had killed no one. If he did, though, he’d have to admit to his friend that it was his daughter, Marci, who’d killed the four men that day. She, and her usual trigger-happy use of advanced weaponry, had lost her temper while escaping through the gate. She mowed down the four attacking gangbangers with no remorse at all. Kurt took the blame so that she wouldn’t end up with the underworld clan on her tail.

  “Look , Trent, this is the last of my available cash reserves. I’m not going to be able to make the next payment at all if you don’t find me more jobs, and soon.”

  “I’m working on it, bud. Things have sort of dried up. I’m not sure why.”

  “Has something been shutting down the gateway traffic?” Kurt asked.

  “Not sure. It seems as if a lot of regular commerce is flowing as usual. But the GEU enforcers are cracking down on black-market trade. I haven’t been able to find anyone willing to risk getting caught transporting anything outside of regular channels.”

  “Dammit, Shareen told me she would find a way to shut me down. I guess she got her bosses to step up their operations to support her proposed portal enforcement programs.”

  “Seriously, Kurt, you need to find a way to bury the hatchet with that girl.”

  “It’s not my fault. You know as well as I do that Captain Shareen Hendersen has had it in for me ever since I divorced her best friend. Still, there’s got to be some work out there. Eventuall
y, someone will have to transport something that can’t go through regular channels. Keep your eyes open, all right?”

  “Will do. Just be careful when you drop off this payment. I know they roughed you up a bit the last time.”

  “I can take care of myself ,” Kurt replied. “Look, I’ve got to go. Traffic is getting worse and I’m almost there, anyway.”

  Trent cut off the comm signal, closing the connection. Kurt returned his full attention to the street ahead as he drove through the rush hour traffic of downtown Baltimore on his way to the drop off.

  He wondered about his partner and sidekick, Marci, while he wove through traffic. He’d forgotten to ask Trent if he’d heard from his daughter. She’d become more reclusive than normal. Kurt had not heard from her at all in the weeks since they returned from their most recent job handling a vaccine delivery to combat a zombie virus. He made a mental note to check in on her later.

  Kurt finally made it through the early morning traffic and pulled up out front of a small delicatessen. He checked the address on his wrist comp one more time to make sure he was at the right place.

  It all checked out. This was the place. His contact for this payment drop must be hungry.

  Parking his SUV, Kurt got out and walked through the deli’s front door. He looked around for someone wearing gang colors from the Hell’s Gater clan. He saw no one matching the description.