Accounts Payable

by Blaise Corvin

  "In Bittertown?" gasped Anippe.

  "Yes, in a warehouse near the center of town. That big one by Yancy's Furniture."

  "Rotting hells," cursed Cat from the crowd listening in. Her face had gone white.

  "Dear creator,” whispered Beem. "I am assuming that this location, their base in the tunnels is a backup?"

  "Yes," I confirmed, my face grim. "The big area ahead has a second altar if they need it. They don't want to attack using it because then they would need to ferry all their monsters one by one. Also, some are too big for the smaller portals in the side tunnels.”

  "I truly understand now," said Beem. "My assumption before was correct. We need to push forward while you go back into town."

  "Yes. The others who follow me at normal speed can help me clean up, or pick up where I left off if I fall.”

  “You will go alone?” asked Anippe.

  “I’ll have Jadanak, but there aren't any Serpents that can keep up with me, and I can't fly with someone in case I get attacked so—"

  "No, I can go," interrupted Trevor Young. The handsome Healer's face was set in a determined scowl. "If you can help me get up those rotting stairs, I think I can keep up, or at least be right behind you."

  I looked a question at Beem and she nodded. "He probably can. He can heal away his pain and fatigue even if he sprints the entire time." She frowned, staring at Trevor. "But it takes a lot of his energy and he is our healer. And we are all about to be fighting an army of cultists and monsters down here in the dark. And Nora's information is untested."

  Trevor met Beem’s glare without flinching. "Nora hasn't been wrong so far, and what she said rings true. If she is right, the entire town will need me—innocents. Up there will be where I will be needed most. And if her information is bad I can run right back. I will have less energy when I return, but still some to spare."

  Beem crossed her arms, making her armor creak. "That makes sense but I really don't want to lose our healer before a huge fight. Some of us are going to die, more if you leave."

  Trevor's eyes hardened. "You think I don't know that? Some who die might be friends...or more. I am very, very aware. It’s already rotting haunting me but we are down here in the first place because we all know how important this is. None of us really want to be here, right? But we don't have a choice. I am a healer, a Life mage. This...this is something I have to do. Nora will be alone otherwise too."

  “She has a pet dragon,” muttered Anippe.

  “If there is a portal up there, that is the real fight. Other than me, who can get there?” said Trevor.

  “I am orb-Bonded now. So is Karen,” said Anippe.

  Karen nodded. “Yeah. I don’t move much faster than a regular person, though.”

  Anippe frowned. “Neither do I.”

  After a pause, Beem growled, "Trevor is right, but I still don't like it.”

  Trevor smiled but his voice was steel as he said, "You don't have to, Ship Mother." The Areva honorific rolled across his tongue. "This is my choice, not yours. I am not a Serpent."

  Beem looked like she wanted to argue more, but slowly closed her mouth. “So be it. Goodbye, Bright One, do us proud."

  In that moment, I learned something new about the Serpents—Trevor was like a son to Beem. I'd never seen such a thing before. I had always thought Areva would think they were too good to raise or mentor a Terran, but there was no way I could be mistaking what I was witnessing.

  Beem turned to me, her eyes hooded. "Was there anything else?"

  "Just what the portal altars might look like. They need to be destroyed."

  "Understood. Tell Anippe, then you can go."

  I nodded and turned to Anippe as Beem walked away. After telling the new orb-Bonded the last of what I knew, I headed back toward the stairs out of the tunnel system while Trevor followed. The Serpents were mostly quiet as they watched us leave. The stairs were full of fighters. There was no more room for most of them to go, so they were stalled until the force in the tunnel mushed forward. Dozens of eyes followed me as I glanced up and gestured to Trevor where I wanted him to stand.

  We saw Beem again as I hooked my arms under Trevor’s from behind, preparing to lift him straight up. He raised a hand, waving at the Serpent leader, and she waved back, eyes full of emotion. I pretended not to notice that Trevor was crying as we rose up through the center of the winding stairs, the same way I'd come down.

  At the top of the stairs I found my childhood home full of street fighters, all waiting for their turn to descend into the dark. They made way for us. Outside I found Jadanak and the fighters who would be heading back to Bittertown. There were only about forty, half were Serpents.

  I quickly outlined the situation to my ragged little strike force, noting that most of them were holding weapons far more lethal than Bittertown street fighters had ever carried while I’d been a Jackal. Two of them were Water mages—I couldn’t remember their names, the mother and daughter Serpents. The third Water mage must be with Beem below. As I spoke, I glanced around at all the new bodies on the streets around us. Thankfully, most of the dead that I saw had been cultists.

  Then as we prepared to move out, Trevor sidled up to me. “So it's just me, you, and the dragon, then the rest will catch up?” Behind him, Jadanak ambled over as the rest of our strike team pulled back into a separate group. Naked fear was obvious on some of their faces. I frowned. If they were scared of the drake, they were going to need to find some courage somewhere—fighting true-demons up close would be far worse.

  I answered, "More or less, yes. But I will probably get there first. I'm not waiting for any of you. Who knows how much rotting time we've wasted already."

  “Just don’t get yourself killed. I can’t heal the dead,” Trevor said, his voice serious. “This is important.”

  “I know.” Did he think I was soft in the head? That’s right, he hadn’t seen what I had in the caves. In fact, he hadn’t even seen the prisoners. He didn’t know what we may be running into, what the Serpents in the tunnels below would be fighting against soon. Still, I had to give him credit for having understood at least some of it, otherwise he wouldn’t be here right now.

  Jadanak’s giant head swung down to fix me with a glaring eye, and he huffed, “Don’t get too far ahead.”

  “I will try. Are you ready?”

  “Yes.”

  “Yes.”

  “Good.” Then I raised my voice, calling out to my new team, former street gang fighters of Bittertown. “You know where we are going, but listen to me now before we leave.”

  I gathered my breath, raising my voice further, and spoke the first words that came to my mind. “This is a fight different than any before. We fight for everyone, but most importantly, for ourselves! This isn’t fair, none of this is fair, but when has our life ever been fair? No more time for talking now—bring your clubs and your blades! Bring a heart of fire! Today is the day we get to save all the normies who have looked down on us our whole lives. Funny huh? Maybe this is the right thing to do, but I wouldn’t know, I’m not a hero. I’m here to kill the rotting vermin that have killed my sisters!”

  The group of fighters, timid just a moment ago with Jadanak nearby, screamed in fury, shaking their weapons in the air. I nodded and jumped up, letting Flight carry me upward before I turned toward the center of town. With one last look at my childhood home, I moved forward. Down below, Trevor and Jadanak followed, and my ragtag group of fighters trailed them.

  I wasn't surprised when thunder crashed and rain began to fall.

  Home Turf

  The weather rapidly grew worse, and I kept an eye on the sky while I flew toward the center of Bittertown. Clouds rolled in, seemingly from nowhere, and what light the day had left began fading. High above, lightning flashed, and I could have sworn it had a red tint.

  My hand tightened on Eneus and I pushed my Surround Vision out as far as I could. If some nasty flying thing came for me, I wouldn’t get much warning but something w
as better than nothing.

  Luck was with me and I made it to the warehouse without any trouble, even though I’d flown slower than I could have. Jadanak and Trevor were far enough behind I couldn’t see them, but I could imagine that the drake was causing a lot of commotion as he ran through the streets. Good. After the inevitable panic by terrified witnesses, if any of the Bittertown Guard were still interested in doing their rotting job, maybe they’d show up to help when all hell broke loose.

  Like the Guard in Bittertown has ever been useful, I thought sarcastically. Then again, there might be a first time for everything.

  I studied the warehouse carefully. The building was large, holding Ludus-knew how many enemies. Now that I was close, I could feel strange buzzing on my senses, like power touching the nerves behind my eyeballs. A feeling like static electricity crawled over my skin, and I knew I had the right place. I didn’t notice any guards, but briefly established a connection with Vistvis to be sure.

 

  “Me too,” I whispered.

 

  I felt a little guilty as I cut the connection. Even if it was because of self-interest, Vistvis wanted me to stay alive, and I had to admit that what I was doing was probably one of the most dangerous things I’d ever attempted in my life—at least on purpose.

  After briefly eyeing the huge, roll-up door, I glanced back in the direction my reinforcements would be coming from and shook my head. Charging in blindly would be stupid.

  I rose and hovered above the warehouse, hoping that if anyone saw me from the streets below, they’d keep their mouths shut. Then again, for all I knew, the cultists might have some way of communicating and the ones in the tunnel had warned this group that someone might be coming. The possibility hadn’t even occurred to me until now. I just had to hope I had the element of surprise.

  Get it together, Nora. I hovered around the building, looking for some way to peer inside. A few cracks in the exterior didn’t show much, only a red, ominous glow inside. Up in the sky, lightning flashed again, and this time I was sure it had been red too. It didn’t take a genius to connect the red in the sky to the red in the warehouse.

  Great, just great. How do I always find myself in the rot like this? This is a job for a fucking hero! I am not even getting paid! Seriously, where are all the rotting heroes at! I complained silently as I searched the building for any more cracks.

  I finally found what I was looking for to one side on the second floor, a skylight. When I peered inside, I saw a group of people standing on a mezzanine or a catwalk, peering below. The red glow was brighter now. Their backs were all toward me, and a few were wearing cloaks so it was hard to identify most of them, but my eyes widened as I recognized Hesst Nimal by the scar on her face. The new Jackals leader was one of the people I’d come to Bittertown to kill.

  When I spotted the woman, I felt a flush of rising hate, but then my blood ran cold as I noticed the man standing next to her, Ernest Gregory, one of the orb-Bonded enemies I’d fought when the cultists had ambushed me before. His hood was mostly down, and I assumed that there could be another of the wall-clingers I’d met that night among this group.

  Making no sudden movements, I floated away from the skylight, weighing my options. In this situation a hero would probably burst through the window, make a speech, demand justice and make a few clever comments before honorably fighting everyone at once. A Mo’hali Hero would do the same thing, but lock down the orb-Bonded’s powers first.

  With one last look at the group inside, I decided what I would do.

  I moved out and upward, eyeballing the other buildings and the streets below, mentally calculating angles. My Surround Vision helped with this, the wire overlay in my mind helping with seeing the entire area at once. Stealth was less of a concern now, but I still didn’t want innocent bystanders making a commotion or coming closer. When I was where I judged I should be, I grinned nastily, raised Pewpew, and triggered a scatter shot.

  My ring’s powerful violent beam penetrated the building below in a cone of slashing destruction, zig-zagging everywhere for a heartbeat of time. Then, before the destroyed areas could even begin falling apart, I slashed horizontally where the group of cultists had been just for good measure. Using the ring twice would take a lot out of me, but I felt a sense of deep satisfaction as part of the warehouse began to crumple, muffled screams coming from inside.

  But then other noises came from inside, and my eyes widened and I shot up as fast as I could. Below me, the warehouse exploded outward. Something buzzed beneath my feet, barely missing me. I turned on speed, flying sideways in a defensive, zig zag pattern, and then rotated to look down.

  I gulped as I realized that the building had actually been rigged to open like a flower. The damage I’d done made the whole structure more ragged than it would have been when it came down, but the end effect was the same. Now I could see what the cultists had been up to inside.

  A huge, spinning red portal, like a disk of light stood in the middle of the revealed area. This was obviously a hellgate. Even as I watched, a humanoid true-demon pushed its way through, joining the crowd of demons around the thing. Even flying creatures were perched nearby, ready to defend it from the sky.

  My attack with Pewpew had resulted in a cultist massacre. I could see parts of them in the rubble, and the scene was made even more gruesome by how some of the demons below were scrabbling forward, greedily searching for body parts to slurp up. Seeing one demon with its head in a bucket drew my attention to other buckets around the area, and I’d seen body parts inside one. I realized that the cultists had been feeding the demons, chumming them to keep them quiet. It was the only explanation that made sense, and made me mad as hell.

  Any guilt I might have felt for helping the building to come down was sunk by the realizations that it would have happened anyway, and far more demons would have spilled out onto the street all at once if the cultists had had their way. I really had killed a good number of cultists too, including Hesst.

  Now maybe Bittertown would have a fighting chance.

  The sky grew darker and more red lightning flashed as I dove down, gaining speed and buzzing by the largest group of demons. Most of them seemed half-asleep, drunk on human flesh or still waking up after the building had come down. I figured that the ones with wings were the greatest danger to me right now, so I targeted them with air drills as I flashed past. My aim was far better than it would have been before receiving my Spatial Awareness orb ability, but I still missed as many as I hit.

  Unfortunately, killing some of the awful things seemed to wake up their fellows, and a couple spikes buzzed through where I’d just been. Great, some of them have ranged attacks, I thought.

  Then the backlash from using Pewpew hit, and fire felt like it climbed from my back down to my toes and up to my head. It hurt like hell, but I gritted my teeth and endured it.

  As I climbed again, I realized I’d reflexively dropped into floating time, and I put effort into sinking further, focusing. The reality that a hellgate in the middle of Bittertown was spilling true-demons into the world had just started becoming real to me, and I needed to keep my head.

  Down below, some regular people who’d been standing outside, nervously watching the red lightning, caught sight of the true-demons for the first time. Their panic and screams seemed to wake up the last of the awful things, exciting more of them to leave the protective huddle around the hellgate and begin tearing people apart.

  I beheld a nightmare, and even through my floating time, a deep, dark rage started in my gut beginning to bubble up. How dare they. This town was a shithole, but it didn’t deserve this.

  The cultists had taken my home, separated my family, and probably had my father arrested to be
gin with. I’d wound up a gang girl, training directly with Lisa as they seemed to have intended in the first place...In reality, I’d been a pawn all along. The cultists had taken everything from me, made my life many times more difficult than it could have otherwise been.

  But now I had teeth.

  I was deeply thankful for the promise Arren had forced me to make years ago as she’d died. This battle probably hadn’t been what my friend had intended for my future, but now I knew who my true enemies were. In fact, these rotting fucks all worshipped Asag, right? The true-demons were from his domain, right? I guess I could count Asag an enemy too. Why not?

  Thinking about Asag reminded me of Dolos and the weird rock I had in my bag. I wished the damn thing had come with instructions.

  I buzzed downward, thinking furiously about what I should do. I wasn’t sure how much time I had until any reinforcements arrived, so for the moment I was on my own. Waiting around up in the air wasn’t an option, though. Staying still would probably be a great way to die, and I needed to act now, try to make a difference before my comrades arrived.

  “Hazard!” I screamed, and I dove with blurring speed to a street below. I held Eneus in front of me like a totem, and I dropped my weight to almost nothing before I hit, flaring Flight at the same time. My unnaturally strong knees were barely able to handle the impact as I landed. Eneus not only skewered the large, leather demon I’d attacked, it blew it into pieces. The terrified family I’d saved seemed even more scared now, but at least they were alive.

  Then I began truly fighting for my life. My hands began moving up to my neck to activate my armor, but I thought better of it. This would be a long fight, and I didn’t want to waste my most powerful defense. Instead, I activated the enchanted shield on my arm.