To The Eye

Her boss was out of commission. No one in the office was left to help. She only had the assistance of the off-site folks who worked in the warehouses and miscellaneous other ventures that were all related to the business. She had no direction, no one to tell her what to do. This was the moment that she determined that she had to take charge. This was her personal contract and she issued it to herself.

She enlisted the help of the driver who took them from the office back to the warehouse. He had to drive them to Hunter's house. She would be able to take it from there.

The storm had started to move into the area. Everything would shake with each clap. Every window was dark as they pulled up. Once she was out, the van took off. His mission was just to drop her off and he was more than happy to leave. There was nothing he would be able to do about this. Getting inside wasn't difficult. She had seen Hunter use the keypad enough to get the code for the garage. But she was stuck in the dark. The storm had knocked the power out to the area, including here.

Her phone provided enough light that she could fumble around to the living room. It all seemed so off to her. This is where they spent so much time together. This place made her feel warm and fuzzy but now, it was dreadful. The house flashed with the red glow of the storm. Her poor phone tried but couldn't hold on, dying in her hands. She was left in the dark of this house. "Hunter, please. I need your help." She pleaded with the darkness to try and work with her. A flash hit everything, shining as bright as if it were daylight outside. At that moment, she saw a familiar shadow. His body dressed in that black suit with his red shirt, right arm stretched out pointing towards the entryway.

She fumbled around the couch following the direction she was given. Another flash and another figure pointing up the stairs. She slowly made her way up feeling out each step to not trip herself up. There was some relief at the top of the stairs. Red flooded into the hallway from the open windows. Another flash and the figure pointed down the hallway. She knew the room she was heading to. It pointed to Hunter's personal office.

Using just the glow, she was able to stumble around to his desk. She had no idea where to start looking. There were papers everywhere that she had no idea what they said. There wasn't enough light to pick anything out. Another flash, and she saw an open drawer. Inside, a black book. She held in her hands, one of the most important pieces of Hunter's career. His contacts. The people who he's helped, worked with, assisted, including every favor ever owed to him that he had not called in. Another flash, this one was close. She could hear the static in the air as it crackled. In the hiss of the electricity she heard a voice, "Find me using Angel's wings."

She couldn't do it anymore! She had to get outside. Her feet did their best to keep up but she tripped herself on the last few stairs dropping the book. She collected it before making her exit out the front door. The storm was still a ways off, yet it was obviously still growing. Not just in size, but ferocity.

"Angel's wings…" She muttered as she started looking through the book. Clearly, it was a clue, but why did it have to be so cryptic? "Angel's wings… Anyone named Angel?" She laughed at her own joke to try and ease the nerves. But it did match what she was looking for, The name she found was Angela Vongrace with the title "Dragon Matriarch" with a case file number. She didn't have to look it up. She remembered it clearly. This was the woman whose son was kidnapped. They were going to hunt him like a game until their team showed up. She owed Hunter a favor. Maybe Juliet would be able to cash it for him.

Going back into the house was not an idea she wanted to entertain. Instead, she went back into the garage. She hated to do it, but she needed a vehicle. She had her pick of a few cars. Hopefully one of them was still working. Every electronic device just seemed to be dead. The classic stuck out. His usual driver that he used to get to work and back. "He would be crazy enough to do it, right?" The key fit into the ignition. With no hesitation the lights kicked on, the engine roared to life, and Juliet had a set of wheels to get somewhere away from here. She needed to make contact with Angela.

An hour's drive got her to where she could observe the storm from a safe distance. The building she found was abandoned. The windows had cracked and broken in. The sides were giving to the area around them as the weather battered them. This far out, her phone was able to work again. The disturbance was far enough away it became useful. Good thing Hunter liked to save everything, including numbers.

Her service was spotty, but the call connected. The voice on the other end of the line was rather terse, "Who are you and how did you get this number?" It wasn't her usual tone, but she recognized the voice. "Angela! It's Juliet! From Hunter's office." The line went silent. Did the call drop? No. It was still active. "Juliet, his succubus. I'm guessing that if you are calling me, then Hunter needs help."

 "I think so. The storm is…"

 "Believe me, I'm aware of it. I wondered when this may happen."

A lot came to the surface that needed to be unpacked. "You… you knew?" She sighed, "Dragons are very attuned to the world. Even living beings. I could see something in him that spelled disaster. I just wonder if he knew about it himself. I did not bring it up for this reason." Questions would have to wait. "Angela, I need help getting to him. Anything that gets too close to the storm fails or gets destroyed. I need someone strong to get me inside the storm."

 "Do you have a plan once you are inside?"

 "I… no."

She just knew where she needed to be. She didn't know how or what she needed to do to get there. "I just need you to get me as close as you can. I can make it the rest of the way." Angela's muffled chuckle made it through the phone, "I have full faith in you. Where are you and I can come pick you up."

To the best of her ability, Juliet gave her a rough idea of where she was. The area was an open field with an old abandoned house that had no discernible address. Her best guess was a mix of GPS coordinates, some landmarks, and the road sign she had passed on the way there. It was enough that she was willing to attempt it.

An hour passed. Another hour after that. Juliet stayed in the car watching the storm continue to build. Every radio station was playing an emergency announcement that those in the immediate area needed to evacuate. There was still no official word on the cause or the possible impact of the storm. Only that it showed no sign of stopping.

The sun never really seemed to set. The red just took over everything. A roar unlike any other rolled over the hills. It sounded nothing like the thunder that the storm had produced. Juliet stepped out of the car watching the storm. A gust nearly knocked her off her feet. The source didn't come from the storm but from behind her. Turning around she saw a woman stepping out from the side of the road, "You really are out in the middle of nowhere, Ms. Juliet." She pulled herself up from the ditch off the side of the road. Looking behind her, she could see a rather deep indentation into the earth.

Angela looked off into the distance as the growing storm. "There's been a lot of discussion about this since it started. Word traveled quickly and a lot of prestigious families were looking for a diplomatic solution to it. But you know something, don't you, Ms. Juliet?"

 "It's Hunter. I know it is."

 "Do you know why?"

"I don't. We were assaulted in the office by heavily armed men. They killed him. I watched him die. But he got back up. He seemed different. Yet… I had seen that look in his eyes before. I chose to ignore it then but now, I can't."

Angela pondered for a quick second, "You really don't have a plan do you?"

"I don't,"

"Hmm…"

Angela stepped back with her hand to her face. Juliet was quickly engulfed in a wind as a pure white dragon adorned with a silver harness lay next to her. Her eyes met with the shimmering silver of the dragon's. She could hear Angela's voice ring out in her mind, "It's been many years since someone last rode. You should consider it an honor."

The dragon's wing extended out acting as a slope for Juliet to get to her back. Her grip on the metal posts was strong. Her feet fit into the stirrups setting her in a forward leaning position. "You will need to hang on tight! The storm is violent." With no further warning, they were airborne.

Juliet looked back to see the house slowly shrink behind them as they left. Hunter's car sat there on the dirt road slowly fading away with it. She needed to keep her eyes forward. She can't look back. There is no going back now!

The closer to the storm they got, the worse the air began to feel. It became musty with an odd smell. The thunder still rang out with odd sounds that sounded like screams. They were distorted as they traveled through the buildings. "Juliet! You will need to hang on!" They had passed the threshold of the outer storm wall. The pressure became almost unbearable. Juliet's ears started ringing. Similar to when the plane would take off. The difference was too great, too quickly. She had a hard time adjusting.

Angela's warning came into play. She began to roll to pull hard turns. Lightning started striking around them as though it was following them. They became a moving target to the unnatural force. "I will get you as close to the center as I can! After that, you will be on your own!" Everything was too much on her. She was unable to give a verbal answer. All she could do was tap twice to show she heard.

Juliet did all she could to try and see where they were going. Flying over the city streets shook her. She could see the destruction that this storm had caused. Cars were burnt out and thrown around like toys. Buildings were missing chunks. Her attempt to locate where they were was disrupted by a yell, "Hang on!"

Her body lurched up before her grasp weakened. Her support disappeared underneath her. Her feet slipped from the harness leaving her floating in the air. She could see the silver blur of her ride firing straight down towards the Earth without her. Seconds passed before her brain caught up. She had reached the peak of the throw and was starting to fall. The wind whipped by her ears deafening her to the world. Including her own screams.

Her arms flailed as she tried to stop herself from tumbling over in the air. In addition to the unsettling feeling of falling, the hair on her neck began to stand up. Soon, her whole body felt charged. So much more than just static electricity. She tumbled to her back looking up at the sky. A slow flash started strobing above her. This was the source and it was aiming for her. There was nothing she would be able to do. She closed her eyes and waited for it to come.

Her body was blasted by a heavy force knocking the wind out of her. The flash was bright as the boom was instant. Her ears rattled in the deafening silence. The only thing that stuck behind was a high-pitched whine.

Her body shook hard as it felt like something hit her. It continued as she felt her body roll over and over against uneven terrain. She just clenched herself into a ball waiting for it to start. Her protective cocoon broke as her body could no longer hold herself into the ball. Her limbs flew as she rolled across more terrain before coming to a stop against something hard. The whining hadn't stopped. Her ears were still ringing from the thunder. As she opened her eyes she began to take in what was around her. She was in a hallway of a building that she had never seen before. The wall was missing, exposing a staircase that used to lead up to the next floor.

Shock is one hell of a drug. The dust in the air clouded her vision, agitating her lungs as she tried to move. Her shoulders were stiff from the collision to what she found was a wall that stopped her. It was a hard stop as well. The drywall caved in around a stud. Miraculously, she survived! Being blasted by lightning and thrown into a building was no small feat to make it through. That's what she assumed happened until a voice called out to her. "Juliet! Are you OK?!"

Angela! She yelled back, "I'm OK! Where are you?" She listened as hard as she could through the ringing. She tried to follow the sound of her voice as best she could. The trail of destruction was a better indicator. Around the corner, more holes were in the wall. Almost as if someone had thrown a truck through the building. She followed the tunnel created only to find Angela cradling her side in a corner. Her arm looked burnt while her face looked bloodied up. "Angela!"

Juliet dropped to the floor below where she had settled. "What happened? How are you this hurt?"

"You got bucked off mid-flight. I came back around to get you as lightning struck. I did what I could to shield you as we crashed but I seemed to have taken a tumble myself."

"We need to get you out of here!"

"No! No. You need to stop this mess. Then you can come get me out. We're inside. I should be safe from the storm here."

It was clear that Juliet didn't have her decision made. Should she stay or follow Angela's words? Her decision was made for her when she felt a rumble from Angela's shout, "Go!" The fear kicked in forcing Juliet to scamper away. She got one last look back to see her still cradling her arm as she tried to move.

The once lively city was not a ghost town. She did what she could to keep a low profile. Moving from building to building was her best bet to not get hit. Every street she ran across she could feel the static build up. She could only hope that the people in the area were able to get out before this all rolled over. Every electronic device was fried. Cars were left on the road. Some were burnt out from the fire. From the lightning or something else, she couldn't tell. The swirling clouds overhead just brought a sense of dread, They only seemed to get worse the closer to the center she thought she was. This aimlessly running around wasn't getting anything solved. She had to find the location of the source.

No reward comes without risk. She had to play it carefully to try and find where she needed to go. Plenty of buildings in the area were tall. She could get a good look over a few blocks if she found one that stuck out. No amount of stairs could stop her from finding the roof access of a business building. The 27 floors of them did wear her down. The roof access was unlocked allowing her to at least open the door. Her plan was to quickly step out, see what she could, and retreat back into the building before she was hit.

She caught her breath before running out. The swirls in the sky helped pinpoint where she needed to look to get a direction. The center was visible from that height as she looked over the other buildings. As soon as she was out from the cover of the small outcropping on the roof, she could feel the static building up around her once again. She had her target though. She knew the direction she needed to go.

Quickly, she ran herself back inside to let the feeling die down. She needed a landmark to identify someplace close. She needed a second point to make sure that as she traveled she was able to keep her direction.

One more trip out to try and find a point she could recognize. She scanned the streets she could see, looking over the buildings at the signs. She found her point! A high-posted sign on a pole for a coffee place she would stop at in the morning on the way to work. If she had the time before her next transfer, she would get something warm from there before work.

The realization hit her. The source wasn't just coming from an area she knew. It was coming from the office building. She could feel the hair on her arms starting to stand up. She had stayed out too long. "Oh shit!" She started pounding her feet on the gravel. Her eyes locked on the door she had to hit before she was safe. The crackling in the air started to get intense. The boom hit with a bright flash. Lightning made contact with the metal door she had passed through frying it off the hinges.

Juliet's ears were ringing once again from the blast. "I'm going to lose my hearing if this continues." The stairs down were easier. The howling wind that whipped through kept knocking her off guard. The open door just let anything in.

She had her destination, she knew how to get there. Now the hard part of moving from building to building. It couldn't have been more than a couple miles. On a normal day, that's a good walk. On a day like today, that could take hours. She didn't have much time to stop and rest either. The storm just continued to grow. No access to the news meant that she couldn't tell how bad it had gotten on the edge. Only what was going on in the center that no one could report or share information on.

She trudged on through the streets. More and more areas started to look familiar the closer she got. She knew some shortcuts but some she had to avoid. They were too open. It set her back a bit but she kept reminding herself that she had to make it there alive rather than make it there fast.

"Slow is smooth and smooth is fast." She muttered it to herself over and over. She had heard Hunter say it from time to time. Right now seems like a good time to use that. It's keeping her movements in check while she traverses this warzone. A glimmer of hope hit her when she could see down one of the streets to the main entrance of the building. The glimmer faded away as the swirling vortex overhead showed a pitch-black center that whirled down to the building. The air in the area was incredibly still compared to what it was on her way here. The black tower of clouds only stood as a beacon of despair.

She moved up the street waiting for the feeling of static to build up again. There was nothing. As though this little area around here was a safe zone. None of the horrors from the vortex manifested here. The door to the building was still unlocked. The lights were blown out with the glass scattered across the floor. No one had been able to get in here leaving the carnage from the assault behind. Blood still stained the walls and floors as those who perished here still lay where they were slain.

She had so much joy when she walked into this building. Even though it was a job, she enjoyed it. She got to work with colorful people who all did interesting things or worked on interesting studies. Walking into it now, it felt more like a tomb. The second floor was bare. Their office doors were cracked from the force used against them to open them. Hunter's office door was hanging on one hinge, while Hanson's was lying on the floor leaning against his desk.

The third floor was just dark. Being mostly conference rooms, there were few windows to illuminate the hallway. And also no sign of Hunter.