Summoned to Die

by C L Walker

  “Unless I’m mistaken,” Artem said, already getting worked up. “It was your kind who started attacking us. If you don’t like how we live then get the hell away from us.”

  “Your proliferation threatens the balance of the city.” Nikolette was preparing to give as good as she got, and I suspected she’d win the argument, one way or another. “We never should have let you back in.”

  “Let us back in? You couldn’t stop us back then and you can’t stop us now.”

  “Alright,” I said. I kept my voice low, calm. I didn’t need to shout; they knew who I was. “I’m tired of you fighting. I’m calling a truce, for both sides. Until we’re done with the actual threat heading our way, you two are going to play nice. If you don’t I’ll spank you like the children you are.”

  Artem believed me, but Nikolette thought I was joking. She waited for me to smile or in some way validate her beliefs. I didn’t, and the anger leaked out of her quickly.

  “Alright,” I said when I was sure I wasn’t going to have to break up a fight. “Artem, I need you to gather your troops, and anyone else you can get to fight, humans or otherwise. I need a line of defense on this side of the gate in case she gets through. Can you handle that?”

  “My people are few in number as it is,” he began. Nikolette rolled her eyes and I glared at her. “I don’t have anyone to spare.”

  I moved in close to him, making him crane his neck to look up at me. I locked eyes with him and let some of my tattoos glow.

  “I’m going to make a much larger sacrifice than you are. Would you like me to decide not to? I can leave, if this is all too hard for you.”

  His face remained neutral, his illusion in place. He shook his head.

  “Good,” I said. “Then get your people together and get ready for war. Nikolette, you have your task, but if there is any help you can offer it would be much appreciated.”

  “I will do what I can.”

  “Bec,” I said. “Keep an eye on everything and make sure nobody does anything stupid. If they do, please let me know so I can start the spankings.”

  Nikolette still didn’t believe me. I wasn’t kidding though; I’d smack the witch around as happily as I would the king of the vampires.

  “Speaking of stupid,” she said, coming out from behind the bar. “Can I have a word?”

  I checked the bar, making sure everyone was behaving themselves, before following Bec into the back room.

  “What’s up?” I said.

  She took my hand and looked into my eyes. “Don’t do this,” she said.

  I had no response, so I kept my mouth shut.

  “You have options,” she said. She pulled me to the bed and made me sit down. She remained on her feet and our eyes were on the same level. “You can leave, for example.”

  “I can’t leave.”

  “You can. Go find a heaven somewhere with some pretty ladies in it. Hang out for a few hundred years until we’re all gone, then come back and start over.”

  Hearing my own thoughts come out of her mouth was surreal, but I should have expected it from her. It was how she thought, and how I used think.

  “I don’t think that’s something I can do.” She still had my hand in hers. I removed it slowly. “I don’t think I could live with myself if everyone died because I was being a coward.”

  “Screw that,” she snapped. She grabbed my hand again and held it tightly. “Not wanting to die isn’t cowardly, it’s normal. You’d be behaving in a very normal way. Running away makes more sense than setting a battle you can’t fight in before offing yourself.”

  “Bec,” I said, taking my hand back again. “I don’t have time for this. You don’t really care, and I know it. You’re not wired that way.”

  I stood and she had to move away, giving me space to step around her and head for the door.

  “I wasn’t making it up,” she said. “Bannon didn’t make me say those things.”

  I turned slowly, utterly confused. “What are you talking about?”

  “I like you,” she said. “Like, like like, you know?”

  “I won’t be manipulated by you, Rebecca.” My tone was too harsh, but she didn’t seem affected. “I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but it isn’t helping.”

  “I’m not trying to help, dummy. I’m trying to mess this up for you. I want you to run away. With me, if you like, but I don’t think that’ll last long. But run away.”

  “You don’t think we’d last long?”

  “God, no, of course not. Have you met us? I’m a sociopath and you’re a psychopath, and neither of us has a great relationship history. Granted, I’ve never had an ex try to destroy the world, but then most of my exes are complete wastes of space. Drummers, mostly.”

  I shook my head and put my back against the door. “You’re a strange woman, you know that?”

  “Yes,” she said, keeping it simple.

  “I’m not going to run,” I said. “Do you want to know why?”

  She made her voice deeper to mock me. “Because you’re a barbarian warrior, and your kind don’t run.”

  “No, because you’re my friend. And Roman is too, and even the damn vampires and witches. All of you, and if I go you’ll all die.”

  “You’ve thought about it, though?”

  “I’ve thought about little else, and my plans were better than yours.”

  “At least you’re human.” She walked up to me and took my hand again. “You promised me a date when the business with Bannon was done. I’d like a chance to collect on that promise.”

  I gently pushed her away and took my hand back again. I opened the door to make sure I had an exit, and stepped halfway out.

  “I wish I could have given you that, but it wasn’t meant to be.”

  “Now you’re being a coward,” she said, but I was already walking away.

  Bec was strange, and I believed her when she said she “like liked” me. If I’d had the time, who knew, I might have taken her up on it. But I didn’t.

  Nikolette and Artem were arguing again. I walked past them, tore the door open, and stood in the doorway.

  “Nikolette,” I said. “I’ve got some stuff to take care of through the gate. Stop messing around with the vampires and find that dagger. Artem, do your part or I swear I’ll go find another king who will.”

  I didn’t wait for their responses because I didn’t care. I had a mission, a place to move to. It would be dangerous, but it was my kind of danger. And it was nothing like the danger of standing in a small room with a cute sociopath with a mission of her own.

  Chapter 24

  I ran to the lot, speeding through the empty streets. When I arrived I leaped over the large wall protecting the new building from the road, and then tried to smash the hastily constructed side of the building in again.

  I broke through the wall easily and saw the gate, but I slammed into an invisible barrier and was thrown to the ground. My speed vanished and the world sped up around me. Soldiers moved in, rifles raised.

  They’d drawn a circle around the gate location and covered it in arcane symbols. A magical barrier, strong enough to keep out almost anyone.

  I stood and stared at the men with their guns. They were yelling at me, telling me to get down, to stop moving, to give up.

  I put my hand against the magical barrier, told the tattoos to help me, and pushed.

  The shield shimmered in the electric light, flashing a rainbow of colors as it fought my strength. The ethereal light intensified as I pushed harder, my magic battling that of whoever had created the circle. It was a foregone conclusion which would win.

  Powered by the blood of Ohm, I pushed through the barrier and stood in the spot the invisible gate occupied. The soldier’s rifles lowered slowly, frustration on their faces. Doctor Keith stepped out of the group to watch me.

  I stepped through the gate into the plains heaven of the fish-people statues. Buddy was waiting for me.

  “I wasn’t sure you w
ere coming back,” he said.

  “I’ve got a lot of stuff to arrange.”

  The area around the gate was full of fallen angels who hadn’t found human bodies yet. Beyond them were groups of the original hollow men, people I’d fought when they followed my enemies but who now seemed to be joining my side.

  “What’s happening here?” I said.

  “Migration,” Buddy replied. “She’s coming. They’re coming, and they’re driving the heavenly host before them.”

  Hundreds of eyes turned to me, some angry and some desperate. Most just looked haunted. Not all of them were people I’d picked up on my journey back to earth.

  “They’re falling to get away from her,” I said.

  “And there’s more coming. She’s spread out and started attacking hells as well. I don’t know what her plan is, but it’s driving up our numbers.”

  And giving any agents she wanted to hide in our midst a great place to fade into the crowd. I ran my gaze over all of them, trying to spot anyone I’d seen in the pyramid, but they were all so similar: angelic beings in old bodies, or the recently fallen with all their strange physical configurations.

  “Tell me what’s happening,” I said.

  Buddy took me to a tent they’d set up for some privacy. Nobody was using it and it turned out it had been erected just for my return. Buddy was leading the way, arranging for the coming conflict.

  “I’ve been through the gate,” he said. “Who is that waiting on the other side? They don’t seem friendly.”

  “I’ll take care of them when I go back. If you need to run they won’t be a problem.”

  It was a bold statement to make, and one I wasn’t sure I could uphold. I didn’t want to kill the men guarding the other side, but I knew I’d have to work something out. If she made it through the forces I was here to set up, then she’d send her people through the gate and the soldiers would be dead anyway.

  “I’ve been searching the nearby heavens for reinforcements,” Buddy said. He sat on the warm grass and gestured for me to sit opposite him. They’d brought a tent but hadn’t thought of chairs. “I found a few more gates to earth but only a handful of my brothers were waiting on the far side.”

  “And they are now here?”

  “They know what’s coming. They know how important it is.”

  I’d planned on doing the same thing, recruited as many beings to the cause as I could. I hadn’t expected Buddy to step up in my absence. He’d seemed broken before, scarred by his experiences in the court of Erindis.

  Now, though, he was back to his old self, animated and active. I was pleased to see him shrugging off his torment.

  “How close are they?” I said.

  “They’ve slowed down. I think they’re preparing for a push. Somehow they know what we’re doing here and I think they’re regrouping before heading in.”

  Peter was a warrior angel before he became a hollow man. He’d have battle experience and he wouldn’t underestimate me. They’d come in force.

  “What’s the plan?” Buddy said. “Please tell me you have a plan.”

  “I do. It isn’t nuanced or guaranteed, but it’s a plan.”

  “All I’ve got is ‘stand here and hope they don’t win.’” He smiled, something most hollow men never worked out how to do. I liked Buddy. “Anything you can come up with is better than that.”

  “I need you to stand here and hope they don’t win,” I said. “But I’m going to take out Erindis while you do it. There are a lot of things I need to get right to pull it off, but once I do she’ll be vulnerable. I need you to keep her away from the gate until I manage it, then attack her with everything you’ve got.”

  “That takes care of one person,” Buddy said, alarmed. “They’ve got hundreds. We need a better plan.”

  “They’re angels. They’re following her because they need a leader. You know that. Take out the leader and they’ll stand around wondering what to do.”

  “You can’t know that. I wouldn’t.”

  “And that’s what makes you special, Buddy. You’ve evolved since I first met you.” I laughed. “Hell, you weren’t that stupid to begin with. But you’ve learned to think for yourself, and they haven’t. If we take out their leader they’ll crumple.”

  “It’s a big risk.” He wasn’t happy, but he wasn’t going to disobey me either.

  “The alternative is worse. Combined, you and the people out there are a force to be reckoned with. But against Erindis, especially when she realizes how close she is to getting what she wants, you are less than an annoyance. You can face Peter, and you can face the others, but not her.”

  “I think I hate Peter,” he said, softly, in case anyone was listening in. “I mean, really hate him.”

  “Me too. Bastard stabbed me.”

  “Sure, but you’re just human.”

  “I wouldn’t say that,” I said.

  “You know what I mean.”

  I got up and knocked the grass from my pants. Buddy had done most of my work for me, but I had one more place I needed to go before I returned to the city.

  “I’ll be back in a little while,” I said. “Get them ready and make sure they know what they need to do. Don’t tell them everything will be fine. Some of them will die, but if they don’t fight they all will.”

  He looked nervous. “You should give the speech, not me. They’ll accept it from you.”

  I reached out a hand to help him up, then held it for a moment to make sure I had his attention.

  “Most of them followed you here, not me. They came because you called, and they’ll listen when you speak. Just do your best, and know that I’ll be fighting with you.”

  He nodded. He couldn’t speak, for some reason, but that was fine. I had to leave anyway.

  I stepped out of the tent and found everyone watching me, silent and expecting. They were looking for guidance and in any other situation I would have given it to them. But they needed a leader who was going to be around when the fighting started, and I planned on being dead.

  I sped up, running for the gate to the heaven next door.

  Chapter 25

  I had two more elements to the battle I needed to assemble. One would be easy, I knew, but the other would be impossible. Still, if I could pull it off I’d have the best I could hope for.

  I stepped into the HND and dodged to the side immediately. The demon’s hand smashed into the ground where I’d been.

  “Hi,” I said, waving up at him. He was fifty feet tall and looked like a greasy humanoid pig.

  The demon attacked me again, slamming his hand on the ground moments after I ran away.

  Well, I thought, that was unexpected. I looked around the heaven quickly and saw what had happened.

  The demon I’d come here to see wasn’t alone anymore. Dotted around the landscape at every gate I knew about and a dozen more I didn’t, pig demons sat and waited for people to step through.

  Only one sat apart from a gate, and I ran to meet him. The demon I’d avoided squealed behind me, alerting everyone to my presence. The demon sitting over the settlement I’d once been put in charge of squealed in return.

  “Agmundr,” he said when I was at the edge of the makeshift buildings. “I did not think you would return.”

  “Yeah” I replied. “I’m getting that a lot. What’s happening here?”

  The demon’s voice was a low rumble that I felt as a vibration in my bones. He smelled bad, too, and standing beside him was like standing next to a building that could crush you on a whim. Still, we’d gotten on well before so I liked him.

  “Advance forces intent on attacking earth.” He snorted, and spat a huge wad of phlegm off to the side. It would have drowned anyone it hit. “They say they’re looking for you.”

  “It’s why I’m here.”

  “I thought as much. Do you like what I’ve done with this heaven?”

  I looked around and saw nothing much different, beyond the new arrivals. The settlement was e
mpty, but I’d expected it to be after I failed to find anyone the bodies they needed on earth.

  “I freed my brothers,” the demon said as explanation. “I found an open gate in our realm and brought them here, to our new home.”

  “So what happened to your old home?”

  “We were not welcome there anymore,” he said. I couldn’t read his expression very well – he looked like a giant pig – but perhaps his voice sounded angry. It was difficult to tell.

  I’d spent a little time in his hell, and I’d wondered about the demons chained to the ceiling. If he’d freed them then I could believe they’d want to leave.

  “So you’re making your stand here?” I said. I looked around again and wondered what the attraction was. Then again, the HND was the closest heaven I’d seen to a hell in my time traveling the afterlives. If they could be comfortable in any heaven it would be the HND.

  “We are not the focus of the coming war,” he replied. “We do not feel the need to get involved.”

  “I disagree.” I wanted him involved, and now that he had others to bring with him I wanted it even more. His size alone would change the dynamics of the battle, and he was a full demon, not a fallen angel. If he had any powers or abilities in his hell he should have them in the heavens as well.

  “Your opinion carries very little weight with my people.”

  “Do you know what’s coming?” I said.

  “We have spies. We have seen her work.”

  “Then you know you can’t avoid it. She will disrupt your new home, and your old one, and every other one. It is in her nature and a requirement for her plans to succeed.”

  “Then we will deal with it when it happens, Agmundr. For now we will defend this runty little heaven.”

  “I’d like you to reconsider.” I had nothing to offer him and no threat to give. If I made him do it – as I could with the power of Ohm flooding the tattoos – then he’d only run away from the battle when I wasn’t there.

  “Because of who you are, I will speak to the others.” He shifted from one buttock to the other, groaning as he did so. It seemed to bring him great pleasure, or relieve great pain. “But I wouldn’t expect an outcome you’ll like.”