by Vox Day
Khasar pointed to a building about thirty yards ahead, then leaped to the top of a brick building and faded into the shadows. Holli, did likewise, heading for the high point indicated, although she was still nervous about taking to the air. She didn’t know what to do with her legs or especially her arms, and the sensation of her wings beating was more than a little disturbing. She desperately hoped to avoid having to fight in mid-air—she’d be lucky to avoid cutting off her own wing and then where would she be?
Derek was turning slowly around, as if trying to determine where they’d gone, but he did obey Khasar’s directive to remain silent. He kicked at an empty bottle, then picked up a broken piece of brick and tossed it at the bottle. It broke with a loud shattering sound that was magnified by the nearby stone wall, and as if in answer, Holli heard the sound of something treading quietly over the darkness somewhere in front of her.
She peered into the shadows, and her angelic vision showed her a tall, thin flame, green and flickering weakly. Was it the abomination they hunted? Or was it a vampire; she knew the Children came in many forms, but what would they do if it was the wrong kind? Either way, they couldn’t let it attack Derek, even if such attacks were seldom fatal. Khasar had told them that although the Concordat did not govern them, Mephistopheles was a harsh King and he preferred his slaves to dwell quietly in the shadow and avoid attracting the attention of Man whenever possible.
The shapeless green form edged closer, moving a few feet, then stopping and waiting for a moment before slipping into the next dark pool of shadow. It had clearly sensed Derek, but there was something cautious and fearful about its movements that corresponded with Khasar’s story. It was strange to think of the terrors that had haunted her dreams for years as being frightened little parasites; how she’d regretted letting Christopher talk her and Jami into sneaking out of bed and watching that stupid vampire movie in sixth grade.
A faint glow caught her attention, and she saw another flame, greenish-yellow this time, followed by a third. Then there was a fourth, and a fifth. She counted quickly as they quietly stalked towards Derek; there were thirteen of them in all, and two of them burned nearly as brightly as an angel. She looked over to where Khasar was, but his cloak was too powerful for her eyes to penetrate and he might not even be there for all that she could see. There were so many! Khasar had told them to expect four or five at most.
As they came closer to her, she could perceive their physical outlines as well. At least one thing was going according to plan, as they were pretty obviously werewolves, if skinnier and smaller than she’d imagined them to be. They looked more like coyotes than wolves, although their eyes burned inhumanly red and even if she hadn’t been able to see the angelfire within them, their movements were far too purposeful to ever mistake them for normal animals.
She nervously fingered the gold chain in her hands. It had sounded simple enough when Khasar explained it to her, all she was supposed to do was drop down and trap the last one in the pack, but she wasn’t sure how that was going to work now. Could she stay in the fifth shadow, or would the chain pull her down to septus? And if she was pulled down and Khasar couldn’t take them all out before they fled, wouldn’t they run right over her? Or, if she was unlucky, rip her right to shreds. That was assuming Khasar could even fight thirteen werewolves; the two big ones alone looked worrisome.
Those two were directly below her now, as the first werewolf, obviously a scout, drew near to where Khasar was waiting. Holli’s hands were shaking, she was so nervous. She clenched the chain tightly, digging her nails into her palms to make sure she didn’t drop it. She counted to ten, then did it again, before the last werewolf, her target, came within range. It wasn’t too big, thank God, and its flame was nearly as weak as the scout’s. Should she try to capture it first, before Khasar revealed himself and scared it off? She had just decided to do so when one of the big wolves rumbled low in his throat.
As she looked on in horror, each of the wolves began to broaden, thicken and twist. The one below her changed from a cute little coyote into a horrid half-man with long gorilla arms and long claws that stood on its hind legs. The biggest was the worst, standing nearly eight feet tall, it raised its muscular arms towards the full moon and howled out an arrogant challenge. It knew they were here! The realization struck her like a fist in her stomach just as the howl caused Derek to look up and see the small army of monsters.
“Khasar!” he shouted, just as three of the closest abominable Children snarled and leaped towards him. The others were obviously waiting for something, but they were not prepared for a golden blur that exploded into action with a roar that caused the building under Holli’s feet to quiver. This was no mere sword-wielding Guardian, he was an archon, a mighty lion of God unleashing the full power of his righteous rage. He was gorgeous, his golden fur pierced the darkness and his radiant blue wings were as wide as a school bus as he pounced on the attacking werewolves.
One powerful claw smashed the closest beast aside, and he seized another in his powerful jaws, snapping its neck with several brutal shakes. He spat it out, leveling the first onrushing werewolf, and his tail lashed out at the beast that was hurling itself at Derek. It wrapped around the beast’s throat, lifted it up and smashed the creature once, twice, three times on the broken pavement.
As the two biggest monsters flung themselves at Khasar, Holli swallowed hard and leaped from the top of the building. She spread her wings and stretched out the golden chain as far as it would go. Her target was circling around to the right, hoping to get around the furious melee in order to attack Khasar from behind. Holli lowered her right wing, drifted lower until she was just above the werewolf, then dropped the chain around its head and shoulders.
As soon as the gold chain touched the fur of the beast, it burst into flames! The werewolf screamed horribly and leaped to the side, which only tightened the fiery chain although it sent Holli spinning out of control the other way. She held desperately onto the chain with both hands, and screamed herself as she hurdled sideways, just over the flailing arms and snapping jaws of the werepack as they furiously battled Khasar.
She was afraid to walk shadow, fearing that she’d lose her grasp on the chain that bound the werewolf, which was rolling madly on the ground, apparently trying to put out what it thought was a fire. But when she saw a big dark mass approaching out of the corner of her eyes, she flinched. It was a good thing, too, for she leaped two shadows into quintus just before her spirit ripped through the corner of a building. The walls and interior space flashed before her eyes like a black-and-grey kaleidoscope, and then she was in the open again, the chain still miraculously in her hands.
Of course it is, you idiot, she realized. It’s a Divine weapon, or whatever.
Spreading her wings, she stopped her tumbling then beat them hard to gain some altitude and see what was going on. The bound werewolf was still thrashing, but its weight was almost nonexistent now, and as the chain tightened, she pulled it off the ground with ease. Gotcha! Khasar was roaring like the lion he truly was; one of the big werewolves was down, but the other one was holding onto his front paw with his jaw and raking at his chest with long, terrible claws while three of the smaller monsters had his left wing trapped. In the time it had taken her to capture the beast, he’d struck down six, but he was in danger of being overwhelmed. And worse, one of the smaller monsters had leaped past him in pursuit of Derek, who hadn’t had the sense to run right away, but stuck around to watch instead.
What now? She could try to draw her sword, but she wasn’t sure if it crossed shadows too. And she didn’t think she could hang on to the captured werewolf if she dropped down to sextus, much less septus. Then, she had her brainstorm.
Furling her wings to build up some speed, she dropped and then flew forward as fast as she could. She grunted as she dropped down a shadow and the full weight of the werewolf hit her forearms. It was weird but she suddenly found herself thinking about Jami, and wishing she’d gone with
her to lift weights in the morning this summer.
The monstrous melee was in full bore when she flew over it, and the bound and flaming werewolf smashed into the crowd like a wrecking ball. Fur and fire flew everywhere, and there was the terrible sound of bone on bone as something snapped loudly and someone screamed, a terrible piercing cry. She didn’t slow down, but flew furiously after the beast running down Derek. Just before it caught him, she saw him turn to face it. It managed to get in one vicious swipe before Holli dragged her makeshift, madly thrashing weapon squarely into its back.
The beast went down hard, rolled over, and fled howling, its fur crackling with Divine fire. Holli shouted at Derek as she labored to get higher, trying to keep from slamming her captive into a wall. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I think so,” he yelled as he pushed himself to his feet, but he only used one hand to do so; the other was clutching his chest. But he was waving her irritably away, so she circled around to see if Khasar had been able to take advantage of the confusion.
He had. The lesser beasts, or pieces of them, were scattered as if a bomb had exploded in their midst. Only the one large monster was left standing, and one of its over-muscled arms hung limply at its side while the left side of its head was a mass of blood.
Khasar wasn’t looking a whole lot better himself, but he was much bigger and even on four legs, his maned head came up to the wounded monster’s chest. He reared up on his two hind legs, towering over the brute, then transformed into the shape of a simple Divine angel. He had a black eye and there were little flickers of fire here and there about his body, including the corner of his mouth, but he folded his arms and regarded the evil beast with contempt.
“You thought you’d try an ambush, did you?”
“Almus wurk,” the werewolf slurred, and Holli noticed for the first time that its jaw was broken. “Wurn’t an urchan, wuduv ‘adya.”
“Who sent you?”
The werewolf’s reply made Holli blink. She didn’t know that supernatural beings, even evil ones, had mouths like that. Khasar didn’t seem impressed. He glanced over at the bound werewolf, saw that it was still alive despite the beating it had taken, then drew his sword and ran it through the monster’s throat in a single, lightning-like motion that made Holli cringe and look away.
When he noticed, he cocked an eyebrow and shrugged his shoulders. “They’re abomination, darling. Believe me, even this fallen world is far, far better off without them roaming about. There are no prisoners in this war. And by the way, that was really rather clever, now, wasn’t it?”
Holli thought about what she’d done for a second, and smiled. “Yeah, you know, it kind of was!” Then she looked around at the nightmarish figures sprawled messily about and felt her stomach heave. It was terrible. “You’re not just going to leave them here for the police to find, are you?”
“Of course not.” Khasar scratched his palm and scattered a few sparks of angelfire over each fallen werewolf, then said something she couldn’t understand. A great purple fire roared instantly to life, hissing and spitting, completely engulfing each monster. It burned, high and hot, for a little while, and when the flames subsided, there was no trace whatsoever that the monsters had ever been there.
“I bet there’s some criminals who’d love to get their hands on that stuff.”
Khasar laughed. “You’re getting better at this.”
“What’s that?”
“The flames. I saw you step back. They burn on primus, but you can only see them in tertius. I think you’re getting the hang of it.”
Holli hoped he was right. Then again, they’d come a lot closer to getting nailed by a bunch of monsters that weren’t even proper Fallen, so she figured it would be a long time before she’d be ready to take on the real monsters. Like, forever, if she was lucky!
“Dang, you kicked some tail there, Khasar.”
“Well done, Derek,” Khasar said as the disguised boy approached them. “Sorry that one slipped by me. How are you?”
“Um, not all that great.” Holli whirled around at the tight sound of his voice. She hissed at the site of his chest in the flickering firelight. It was dark with blood. “It nicked me before Holli clocked it with the other one. I think the bleeding’s stopped, but it stings like you wouldn’t believe!”
“We have to get you back to the hotel and clean that out right away. They’re filthy beasts, these Shadowspawn.”
“So, what do we with her, then?” Holli asked, shaking the chain. “I mean, we can’t just leave her here, can we?”
“Oh, we won’t.” Khasar approached the bound werewolf, and when he raised a hand, the flames died out and the chain loosened and dropped from her waist, where it lay in a harmless gold circle around her feet. “I am going to ask you one question and you will have one opportunity to answer it. If you answer it truthfully, you will have the opportunity to go and reflect on your many sins. If you do not answer it, or if you lie to me, you will not have the opportunity to commit another one.”
The werewolf nodded, and then her monstrous furry shape began to twist and distort terribly. There were some disturbing popping noises, the beast grunted two or three times, and then she stood before them in her human form. She was thin and her ribs showed plainly. She was not pretty, but neither she was terribly ugly; her long, horsey face was mostly notable for being gaunt. Nor did she show any of the pride of her pack leader, instead, she seemed resigned to her fate.
“Will you spare me then, my lord angel?” Her voice was hoarse, and she did not meet Khasar’s eyes.
“To what end? Your very existence is a mockery of the Lord Almighty’s Creation!”
“And so my life is forfeit?”
“Every life on this cursed planet is forfeit,” Khasar growled. Even so, he slid his blade back into his scabbard; the flames hissed as they were quenched for the time being. “It does not fall to me, however, to claim it at this time. At least not if you can tell me where can I find the prince of the local Raustravian coterie.
The werewolf’s shadowed eyes sparked momentarily when she realized that Khasar was not after more of her unholy kind, but of their hated rivals instead. “Oh, yes, my lord angel, I can tell you that. And gladly too. He is no prince, though. His name is Vashya. Lord Vashya.”
Chapter 25
Misplaced Trust
It feeds, it grows
It clouds all that you will know
Deceit, deceive
Decide just what you believe
—Metallica, (“The God That Failed”)
It was another hour before they reached an ugly little neighborhood consisting of street after street of dilapidated row houses. It seemed like a strange place for a vampire lord to live, and Holli was feeling vaguely disappointed that it hadn’t led them to an abandoned Gothic castle out on a lonely moor. She and Khasar were standing in the front entryway while the dull-eyed monster that had answered the door went to find Lord Vashya; they’d left Derek, after cleaning his wounds and bandaging them, back at the hotel. He’d wanted to come with them, but Khasar wouldn’t hear of it after seeing how deep the three slashes across his chest were. The Children of the Twice-Fallen limited their depredations, but even so, no human who stumbled upon a vampire lord’s lair was permitted to live. Vashya would never dare to attack a human guarded by two angels, Divine or Fallen, but since Khasar was looking for cooperation, he thought it best not to rub the abomination’s nose in his impotence.
And thinking of noses, this place had an ungodly stink to it. There was a noxious air of death and decay emanating from it; even her human senses were quite aware of the terrible wrongness that filled the house. She was surprised that the neighbors hadn’t complained. Of course, that was assuming there were any neighbors, that they hadn’t already been eaten or something.
“Why was she so happy to tell us where this guy is?”
Khasar forced their captive to lead the way before them, even though he had little doubt she was telling the truth.
Only when he sensed the supernatural air about the shabby brick residence down the block, he allowed her to depart. She didn’t thank him or even speak at all, she only glanced fearfully once at Holli before running down the street and disappearing into the shadows of the streetlights.
“Vampires and werewolves don’t get along any better than we do with the Fallen. Actually, that’s wrong. We have the Law to regulate our dealings, so things tend to be somewhat more civilized for all that we are at war.”
“They are?”
Khasar glanced at her and raised an eyebrow. “Well, if you think about it, there has to be a certain amount of restraint when a Tempter and a Guardian are going to be in relatively close quarters for a long period of time, particularly when it’s a zero-sum game.”
“A what?”
“Zero-sum. When a soul is at stake, there’s only one winner. When you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, Aliel won. Your Tempter lost, and knowing how the Fallen operate, she will probably be very sorry about it for a long, long time.”
“I really like Aliel, but I wonder what it would be like to meet, you know, the other one. I mean, I’m kind of torn. Here’s she’s trying to destroy me on the one hand, but on the other, I don’t see how you could be around for someone practically all their life, know them as well as you possibly could know anyone, and still hate them enough to try to destroy them forever.”
“Misery loves company.” Holli heard the sound of someone coming down the stairs, but Khasar ignored it. “It depends on the individual, of course. The individual demon. Some of the more foolish and short-sighted become quite attached to their charges and see themselves as sharing an eternal destiny, if a doomed one. It’s a twisted form of love, I suppose. Others are simply full of rage and seek to destroy everything they can. Most, in my experience, are largely indifferent and slack off as much as they can.”
