CHAPTER 19
Fade spread a map out on the table and made several markings on it. He wasn’t sure exactly what the meant, but he had seen his mother do it before and figured it probably looked impressive.
“So we’re outnumbered… which means we’re going to need to take several of the angels out without being seen. Thoughts?”
Enyo frowned.
“Yeah. I have a thought. Why do you think you’re in charge?”
“I’m the son of Steam and Selene and I placed higher than the two of you in the hunt.”
“You didn’t do anything in the hunt. You rode the coattails of your brother, Backlash. If he were here, maybe I would let him be in charge… or Nissa or Shade. Face it, we’re the three at the bottom of the barrel.”
Ares stared off into space. Fade waved a hand in front of his face.
“Care to weigh in? What are your thoughts?”
“I think Lucia is really pretty. I mean… like damn. Crazy hot even when she isn’t on fire.”
Enyo backhanded Ares and he fell out of his chair.
“We’re over. You’re free to pursue her all you want. Watching you get rejected will be amusing.”
Enyo turned to Fade.
“As for you, I think I should be in charge. Instead of resting on the reputation of a sibling or my parents, I actually know what I’m doing. For example, all of the markings you used on the map don’t actually go along with any discernable strategy. I think you were hoping we wouldn’t know what any of it meant anyways.”
Fade knew Reaper would beat the crap out of him if he let a girl lead their attack on the angel party. He decided to offer a split of responsibilities.
“How about this… you plan our strategy. You clearly understand battle plans better than I do. I’ll lead the attack and coordinate our fighting. We can split the leadership role. What do you think?”
Ares stood up.
“Don’t I get a say in this? What if I want to lead?”
Enyo looked at him in an amused sort of way.
“Neither of us cares. You’ll follow. You’ll be lucky if I don’t use you as bait to draw the angels in.”
“Now that’s not…”
“She’s right, Ares. We don’t care. We’re taking this seriously. You can go back to daydreaming and then follow our orders. Otherwise, I’ll help Enyo tie you up and we will use you as bait.”
Ares pouted as he sat back in his chair. It didn’t last long. He was soon staring off into the air again and both Enyo and Fade knew what he was thinking about. Enyo extended her hand to Fade and Fade shook it.
“We have a deal. I’ll map out our strategy and you can give commands in the field.”
“So what are you thinking as far as strategy?”
“We make some kind of noise or disturbance when one or two are separated from their camp. We draw them away and take them out. After that, we regroup and assault the rest of them.”
Fade thought for a moment and then smiled.
“Actually, I think I may have the perfect distraction. Other than the angels, what else is in the area?”
The small group of angels was discussing miracles when a demon dropped into their camp. He shook his head, looked around, and drew his sword. An angel cut him off at his knees and then lit him on fire. Before the demon had died, another demon fell from the skies. This one was quicker. He had his weapon out and had killed an angel before an angel was able to put him down.
The small band of angels groups together and waited, looking into the skies to see if any more demons were going to arrive. Arrows flew from the bushes and another two angels fell. The two remaining angels adjusted their gaze and saw three nephilim walk into view.
“Throw down your weapons and we’ll take you in for questioning instead of killing you.”
One of the two angels attacked. Fade conjured a small tornado and flung him high into the air. Enyo watched the angel as he fell towards the earth. She positioned a spear underneath him and the angel fell straight on it. Ares pointed his sword at the final angel and the angel threw down his knives. Ares retrieved his weapons and bound his hands behind his back. Reaper hopped down from the trees and started clapping slowly.
“That was a well-executed plan. Walk me through the process.”
Fade was about to speak, but he looked at Enyo and nodded at her.
“Fade and I decided we would both take the lead on this. I mapped out the area and decided we needed to draw one or two of the angels away and take them out without being seen in order to even the odds. Fade pointed out that two demons were also spotted in the area. We attacked the demons and bound them. We let them keep their weapons and cut their bonds right before Fade launched them into the air with a tornado. They flew into the angels’ camp and attacked. One angel went down. They were looking at the skies, waiting for more demons to fall. We shot arrows from the bushes and took down another two. When we emerged for the final fight, it was three on two. We killed one and this one surrendered.”
“The three of you shot arrows and you only killed two angels. Who missed?”
Ares looked dejectedly at the ground, but Fade stepped forward.
“I missed. They’re both better shots than I am.”
Reaper shook his head.
“There will be consequences, little brother. You screwed this up. You could have done the whole thing with almost no risk and ended up in a three on one situation. I’ll take this prisoner back to Necropolis and hand him over to the information extractor nephilim. You three get some sleep.”
When Reaper was gone, Ares put his hand on Fade’s shoulder.
“I don’t know why you did that for me, but thank you.”
Enyo nodded.
“I know we’re all taking credit for that plan, but it was you, Fade. You’re the real leader here.”
“Thanks guys. Just promise you’ll stick with me when my brother comes back to kick my ass.”
Ares and Enyo nodded.
CHAPTER 20
“If I let you in my head, how much can you access?”
“All of it unless you’re an Archangel.”
“How do I know you’ll just watch the memory of Shadow killing Abaddon?”
“You don’t. You’ll have to trust me like I’m trusting my life and the life of my friends to the nephilim.”
“Fine. Do it. Just keep in mind that a lot of powerful nephilim know where I am right now and what I’m doing.”
“If I haven’t mentally crippled Monkey by now, I’m pretty sure you’re safe. Do you know how tempting it is to make him think he’s a kangaroo or a bird or an actual monkey?”
Steam grinned.
“That actually makes me feel better. Really good point. Ok. Go for it.”
Bumalin touched Steam’s forehead and entered his memory. He saw Steam aid in distracting Abaddon and Shadow jump up before slicing off the nephilim’s head. He heard all of the goodbyes. He watched in unexpected horror as Shadow cut open his own chest and took in Abaddon’s soul. When Bumalin exited the memory, he stumbled backwards and fell over.
“So he wasn’t full of shit. He really was capable of putting that massive horror down. I guess my part in his campaign was worth it then. Thank you, Steam. It’s a valuable memory.”
“Very few people know what happened and how it happened. Let’s keep it that way.”
“Of course. This one stays in my head. I won’t be sending it off for storage.”
“Where exactly do you store all of these valuable memories?”
Bumalin laughed.
“They aren’t all in the same place. Some are stored in friends who don’t even know they’re in there. They only appear in dreams and only on occasion. Some are in small bottles, constantly on the move in the hands of one of my agents. Some stay with me. There isn’t a simple answer to your question and I won’t give you any specific details. Let’s just say with the number of critical secrets I have in play, even my eidetic memory is strained to remember al
l of it.”
“Well that’s terrifying. Thanks for explaining all of that. How many secrets are you storing in Monkey’s head? I have to imagine there’s a lot of free space in there.”
Bumalin chuckled.
“Nothing critical. It wouldn’t be safe. It’s a shame… cuz you’re right. He’s as close to a blank slate as I’ve ever seen.”
“We should get going. It’s a long journey to Necropolis.”
Bumalin whistled loudly and Razorburn stomped out of the jungle. Bumalin climbed his back and sat on his shoulder. Coconut and Monkey were sitting on the other shoulder.
“Follow Steam. He’s going to lead us to a safe place.”
When Steam, Bumalin, Razorburn, Coconut, and Monkey arrived at the walls surrounding Necropolis, they were met by Lilith.
“We have rooms prepared for all of you. You’ll be safe here. There’s a nephilim defending party constantly patrolling the walls commanded by Steam’s wife, Selene.”
Razorburn fell over and the ground shook. Everyone hopped off his shoulders just in time to avoid being crushed. His eyes were closed. Coconut checked his pulse and nodded at Bumalin.
“He’s still alive.”
Bumalin shook his head and offered an explanation to Steam and Lilith.
“He fell asleep. He always does that when he thinks a long journey is over. Do you have a team of nephilim that can drag him to his room? Actually… it doesn’t even have to be a room. Do you have a team of nephilim that can drag him to the nearest barn? Or… honestly… just anywhere inside the wall?”
Lilith grinned.
“No problem.”
Lilith snapped her fingers and a dozen nephilim were at her side almost immediately.
“Get this guy to his room… or as far as you can pull him inside the walls.”
The nephilim started shoving the sleeping Razorburn and several started using sorcery to aid in the process. Progress was slow. Coconut and Monkey ran inside the wall before turning back when they realized that they didn’t know where their rooms are. Coconut walked back over to Lilith.
“I know we’re small, but we’re important. I don’t want to share a room with Monkey. He snores and he smells.”
Monkey threw a rock at his brother, but Coconut ducked before it hit him.
“I don’t not snore or smell!”
Lilith giggled.
“We prepared four rooms total. One for each of you. Inside the walls, down the road, turn left. You’ll come up on a large black building. Ask the nephilim at the front desk to check you guys in. They’ll just need your names.”
Coconut looked excitedly back at Bumalin.
“Boss, they have a hotel.”
“That’s great. Go get some sleep. I need to talk to Lilith.”
Coconut and Monkey turned and ran inside Necropolis, each shoving the other when possible so that they could be the first inside the hotel. Steam put his hands on Lilith’s shoulder.
“It’s been… an experience… picking them up. I’m going to go get some sleep as well. Have a good night.”
The group of nephilim continued to drag and magically move Razorburn towards Necropolis. Bumalin noted that they had made some progress and were finally out of earshot.
“I want to see it, Lilith. I need to see it now.”
“I thought all of you would want to sleep. The Philippines is a long ways away from…”
“Leech’s memory is what brought me here. I want to see the place before I go get some sleep. It’s why I decided that the nephilim could ultimately protect us.”
Lilith nodded.
“Alright then. I’ll send to have Leech accompany us. It’s behind a few defensive layers and several layers of sorcery. Follow me to the whore house and the nursery.”
CHAPTER 21
“How in the fuck does that dog run that fast?”
“It’s simple, Backlash. All three of them are trying to run at the same time.”
“That makes no sense.”
“Stop whining and keep up.”
Cerberus stopped and all three heads started munching on something.
“What did you find, buddy?”
Shade ran to the dog and crouched down. Cerberus was chewing on a large chunk of demon flesh. Shade looked around and saw more demon bits and pieces all around.
“She got mad at this one. Used the rocket launcher. It was one of Weapon’s favorite weapons.”
“Over here!”
Shade ran to Backlash and Backlash pointed at the ground. There were tire tracks leading towards the mountains.
“Damn. She found the motorcycle.”
“What motorcycle?”
“Weapon’s motorcycle. It was in one of his coat pockets.”
Backlash laughed.
“I understand sorcery, but I still don’t get that trench coat. How in the name of fuck does he fit so much inside there?”
“Here’s your chance to finally prove you’re worth bringing along, Dff.”
“Great. Happy to help. What would you… wait… Dff?”
Shade grinned.
“Dog food finder.”
“I’m not helping if you continue to call me that.”
“It’s a joke, Backlash. Take it easy. Do you have some kind of spell that can help us catch up to her?”
“Possibly. How are you at surfing?”
“No idea. Never done it before.”
“Well I can convert the water in my pouch into a small stream and convert that into a wave. It’ll be a pain in the ass, but I think I can keep the wave rolling. Any idea how Cerberus…”
“He can swim. He won’t get tired. He likes the water. Shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Fine… just don’t start calling me dog drowner if you end up being wrong.”
“Dd. I like that better than Dff. You better not drown my dog though.”
“Dude. I don’t want to drown your dog. That’s why I asked about…”
“Again… he’ll be fine. Come on, buddy. Time to catch up to Nissa.”
Cerberus ran to Shade, carrying demon pieces in his mouths.
“Get ready to swim, buddy.”
Backlash drew the water out of his pouch and turned it into a small stream. He removed two small pieces of wood from his backpack and cast a spell on them. They grew into normal-sized surfboards. Shade got on one.
“Alright. This is going to crash in pretty hard when I summon it so maintain your balance for the first part and we should be fine. You’ll get used to it.”
Backlash twisted the water from the stream into a massive wave. He hopped on his board before he let it crash into them.
Nissa drove towards the mountains, hopeful that Shade wouldn’t catch up, until she finally heard something louder than her motorcycle’s engine. She looked back and saw a massive wave of water racing towards her.
“How in the hell did he learn to do that?”
When she turned back around, something hard hit her across her chest. She fell off of her motorcycle and struggled to breathe. She tried to sit up, but was hit hard in the face and blacked out.
Cerberus swam around happily in the wave, occasionally lifting one head out of the water to breathe. Shade had some balance issues with surfing at first, but had finally caught on and was able to keep his balance. Backlash pointed at a small group of angels towards the base of the mountains.
“There’s a motorcycle. I think those angels have her.”
Shade nodded.
“Good catch. Bring us down over there.”
Backlash moved his hands and the wave changed direction.
“It looks like she’s hurt. Can you make this wave go any faster?”
“Sorry. This is as fast as we can go.”
Several angels turned and pointed at the quickly approaching wave. They started to gather their things and Shade could tell they were planning on running. One of them picked up Nissa without waiting for the others and ran off into the mountains.
“Fuck. They h
ave her. Bring us down at their camp, Backlash. Get ready to hop on Cerberus. He’s gonna get us to the angel that ran off with her.”
As Backlash brought them down, they were immediately surrounded. Shade’s eyes turned white and he summoned ice in both hands. The angels looked shocked and several started to back away. Backlash didn’t move.
“Do what I told you. Get on Cerberus.”
Backlash climbed on the back of the large, three-headed dog.
“We’re going after the angel that ran off with our friend. Don’t try to stop us. Don’t try to follow us.”
An angel stepped forward and pointed his spear at Shade.
“We are the nephilim-hunting task force appointed by the Archangel Gabriel. We are authorized by all seven of the Archangels to kill you.”
“I am a descendant of both Michael and Gabriel. The last time I summoned ice, I killed an entire scouting party of berserker demons. This is your last warning. Do not get in our way.”
The angel that had addressed Shade lunged with his spear. Shade grabbed it with one of his hands and the weapon froze instantly. He punched it with his other hand and it shattered. Shade cast ice on either side of him as he made his way to Cerberus. The angels turned and fled. He hopped on his dog’s back.
“We need to find Nissa, Cerberus. Run. Run until we find her.”
All three heads howled into the night air and Cerberus began sprinting up the mountain path. Several angels threw weapons and stones, but Backlash was ready with curses and spells to deflect the incoming attacks.
CHAPTER 22
After their first successful mission, Fade, Ares, and Enyo were hungry for more. Reaper and Lucia had told them to wait for further orders, but Enyo had found a small group of nephilim by scouting the area. After hearing Enyo’s news, Fade determined that they should make contact and recruit them to join the nephilim community in Necropolis. Ares shook his head in defiance.
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