Jane

by Rose Montague

  Our plan was still to enter from the roof unless Clive had something planned for an attack from above. In that case we would wait a few minutes before following him in. Jill was convinced he would attack immediately if he did not work things out with Andre.

  After about twenty minutes Clive came out the front door followed by two vamps and two shifters that took up posts on either side of the front entrance. It was clear he was angry and that he would not be allowed back inside.

  His car pulled up to the curve as he waited but instead of entering he leaned back against the passenger side door and stared at the guards. I could clearly hear him saying a spell or curse.

  All of a sudden six of the Fallen appeared around Clive, towering, dark and beautiful. Wings and all, they were manifested Angels of Hell, armed with swords, the traditional weapon of the angels . This is not good, I thought, as I had heard that an angel is almost impossible to kill without a magical weapon.

  I glanced towards Jill, a question on my face.

  “We stick to the plan,” she said as the angels attacked. Clive remained leaning against the car, waiting for them to return with Jade.

  The four at the front door were in shock and had not even moved when several of the Fallen sliced them in half with their swords and knocked the door in, barely pausing in the effort. Sounds of gunfire rang out.

  “That’s our cue,” Jill said, invoking the glamour. I felt it clinging to my face and skin as we ran towards Jewel’s building.

  Mom carried a big bag with the rope inside, and I wore Ann Le’s leathers with the chain mail vest and daggers in the jacket and boots. Mom was unarmed and Jill had a single dagger that had shown itself suddenly in her belt. I knew all Fae women carried daggers with them when going into battle.

  The single doorman at Jewel’s building stepped outside when he heard gunfire, I heard him talking on the phone to the emergency operator as we passed unnoticed through the front door. A small lobby with a single service counter was ahead, empty except for us. We took the stairs up to the top floor and Jill magicked the lock on the service door to the roof. Ben said he’d done that before when he and Jewel went up there.

  Mom pulled the rope out and laid it near the edge of the roof. There was a sock full of ball bearings tied to one end. I didn’t think Jill would have much trouble throwing it over to us once we made the leap.

  Gunshots and some explosions rang out as well and screams of both terror and rage floated up from the building across from us. I sensed the Fallen were still on the first floor and Rose said she could tell many on the upper floors were headed downward to repulse the attack.

  The gap between buildings looked huge as well as the two story drop between the top of our building and Andre’s.

  Mom saw me eying it and laughed. “Piece of cake,” she said. “I’ll go first. Don’t forget to slow your descent once you have the distance covered. Slowing it before then may end with you in the middle of the street down there.”

  She made it with three feet to spare, slowing her descent a few feet above her landing point, bending her knees slightly at the impact. I had not heard a thing over the sounds of gunfire. She was amazing, faster and stronger than any vamp I ever saw.

  I did not hold anything back as I backed up and made a run towards the ledge, jumping off one leg as she did, as in a long jump competition. I made it a good ten feet past her spot. I had not understood some of the changes that had happened due to Jade’s blood. I had also forgotten to slow my drop but instinct kicked in at the last minute. Still I stumbled almost to my knees as I made contact with the roof. I heard it but I doubted any below were paying attention to what would have to be a minor bump above. Mom gave me a strange look as we made our way back to the ledge and caught the rope Jill threw over to us. We secured it to an exhaust pipe that looked solid and Jill lowered herself from the opposite ledge and made her way across, hand over hand. It seemed to take forever but eventually she joined us at the trapdoor that would lead us within.

  All of a sudden Death was with us, Mom and Jill jerking slightly as he appeared out of thin air, next to me. His hand was on my shoulder.

  “He has gone too far,” Death said. “This is something far outside the rules of engagement followed for many centuries. I am not God, but I can tell you HE is not pleased. HIS angels will not contest this because they play by the rules. You will have only me to support you, Jane. You will be the hand of God for His judgment on Lucifer. This will not be allowed to continue.”

  Looking downward, he had paused as if listening to something. “I have many aspects who are already busy with the dead below. I can tell you two of his Fallen are now dead. The human world with all its technology has even managed to kill two angels. This will change how we angels regard the world. That could work both for and against us in the future.”

  With that he was gone, leaving Mom and Jill looking at me silently.

  “Welcome to your new family, Mom,” I said, pulling out a dagger to wedge open the trapdoor.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN: DON’T LOOK BEHIND YOU

  I COULD BARELY HEAR the wood splinter as the trapdoor opened. Several of the windows below us blew out in a shower on the streets as a couple more explosions rang out. Over the gunfire I heard the sound of multiple sirens approaching from several directions.

  The short ladder down to the fourth floor led to a utility closet. Mom held up four fingers signifying how many remained on the floor. The rest must have joined the fight below. I could tell from the sound that the Fallen had reached the second floor and the major fighting was to either side of the floor, probably the stairs leading to the higher levels.

  Jill drew a dagger and I drew two of mine, silver coated blades with leather covered handles. I wasn’t much of a dagger expert but if it was close in fighting I could slam the dagger into vamps and shifters alike. We needed to move fast before the fighting reached Jade’s location on the third floor.

  Mom motioned me to the front, pointing to the left of the doorway. That was the direction of the remaining guards. I burst through it with a quick surge of strength and speed, barely stumbling as the door flew open. Mom passed me in a blur while Jill stayed back for now. I looked to my left as two of the guards reacted to the sound of the door.

  Mom reached the nearest one and sank her fangs into his neck before he could register what was happening. All four were shifters and they would not be easy to kill. I managed to get to the second one before he completely turned around, sinking the dagger in my right hand through his skull and into his brain. His gun went off, firing into the floor as the other two turned towards us raising their guns. I felt a cold wave of magic pass me and take those two, turning them into living ice sculptures as Jill threw a spell past us. Both toppled over, arms breaking off and one of the guard’s heads rolled away like a ball of ice. The noise in the stairwell was overwhelming. It sounded as if a couple of the Fallen were making their way up the stairs against dozens of armed vamps and shifters firing into them. At the same time I could tell they were also being attacked by dozens more from below as they had managed to make the stairs. Those on the first floor were not giving up after they managed to break through. Screams of rage and pain mixed with gunshots and the sound of the Fallen hacking their swords into the groups pressing them from both directions. It had to be a wall of bodies they were trying to get through as well as the living. The vamps killed would have turned to ash but the shifters would still be clogging the way.

  We needed to move fast. Mom once again held up a number, this time with both hands, nine on the third floor. I don’t know if that included Jade and the witches but it didn’t matter, we were committed at this point. Once again I led the way, darting down the first group of stairs. As I took the corner, I saw a mass of shifters and vamps already backed up to the door to the third floor we were trying to enter.

  It would not matter as I moved in a blur of vamp speed and was through them and the door, knocking them aside as they had not seen me coming. M
om was right behind me, carrying Jill over her shoulder. She immediately covered the entrance we passed through with a solid wall of ice. Only a few of those on the stairs had made it in with us.

  Mom took a couple of rounds from one of those that had fallen inside, body shots, but neither hit her heart. Jill pinned that one down with a pointed icicle that flew from her open palm. I took the other one with my other dagger to his heart and Rose literally tore the head off the third one, an unarmed vamp that had fallen inside with us as we entered.

  The third floor was one big open space. Jade was tied to a metal hospital bed with what looked like living ropes made out of some type of snakeskin that flowed and moved around her limbs as she struggled. Three witches, side by side, chanted as Jade struggled to shift or tear free of her magical bonds. She gave me a quick grimace as she struggled, groggy but determined. Jill immediately threw another spell across the room to the stair well on the other side, sealing it in a block of ice as well. The witches turned towards her, still maintaining their chanting but waving their arms in unison as they prepared a group spell.

  Folding tables and chairs littered the room along with pizza boxes and discarded bags of fast food. To the left of Jade’s bed was Andre, sitting on what looked like a throne, surrounded by five old and powerful vamps, his personal guard. They were armed with swords and looked as if they could have come out of a museum, representing many past battles in history. Most vamps, especially the older ones, don’t use modern weapons and some prefer only to have armed human servants. These five looked like soldiers turned many centuries ago.

  “Rose Red,” said Andre. “I challenge you to a battle of wills.”

  He knew he had no chance to match her in a physical battle, but I had to give a short snort because he had no idea that my mother probably had the strongest vamp mind power on the planet. It would be a contest of wills to see who would fall under the other’s influence and offer the other their throat first. He was quite mad and I was sure he thought himself to be powerful in this regard. I knew she would adhere to vamp protocol. The other five vamps spread out to form a line between me and Jade, and the three witches faced off against Jill, their chanting reaching a high pitched, hair raising volume. Even I felt the magic gathering between them. Jill just smiled. I doubted they had ever faced someone like the Winter Queen of Faerie. I gave another snort and drew two more daggers from Ann Le’s leather jacket. I would have to rely on speed, superior strength, and the element of surprise. Piece of cake, I told myself as I began the attack.

  Predators know by instinct to attack the stragglers at the end of the group. They are usually the weakest and slowest and it gives you time to attack before the others can circle you. The last guy to form the line facing me, the one at the far left, is the one I picked to start my attack. He was the follower and deferred to the others. The one on the far right, the first to move, I would try to avoid until I dealt with the rest.

  I used my vamp trick, counting on my superior speed and the surprise to initiate the attack and in a blink I was there, jumping and doing a forward somersault in midair as I reached him. He was pretty quick and had raised his sword in that blink of an eye. Jabbing his blade upwards I blocked it to the side with the dagger in my left hand and left the one in my right embedded in his brain, right in the forehead he presented to me when he directed his sword upwards. I wasn’t trained in fighting but I had a good bit of experience and when I was a young girl, I loved gymnastics.

  Adding a half twist to my leap I landed firmly five feet past him, facing the others who already turned back towards me, the closest one taking a quick step and a lunge with his sword straight at my heart. Turning sideways the sword kissed my leather jacket, slicing through to the skin of my right breast, not deep but certainly painful. As he lunged so did I, leaving the dagger in my left hand embedded in his heart, as with the first vamp. Leaving the blade in would ensure their death in a matter of seconds both in the brain and in the heart. Drawing it out immediately might give them a chance of healing and continuing the fight.

  The third vamp was really fast and had already jabbed his sword at me. I continued my turn, grabbing the vamp I just stabbed in the heart and turning him slightly as a shield between me and the third vamp. He was strong and had put his weight into it and the sword passed through the body of the second vamp, right into my chest, scraping on my rig cage, just short of my heart. I needed to buy some time as I jerked back and executed a back flip towards the far wall, again twisting in the air, landing this time with my back to the remaining two vamps. I immediately blurred towards the far wall and I could tell I was already slowing down. I would have to find out pretty quick if I still had the edge in speed. I felt the blood from that last stab already flowing down my chest.

  In that brief moment I could tell the remaining two were just a few steps behind me. I leaped at the approach wall, planted my feet near the ceiling, and pushed outward with my legs, curling into a ball with my hands at my ankles drawing the last two daggers from my boots. The last vamp was quick enough to bring up his sword as I flew back past him and sliced me all the way across my back from the right shoulder to my ass. In one more half twist, this time landing in a crouch, I had raised the two daggers in front of me in a crisscross and caught his sword lunge straight at my head. Directing it upwards, I rose, stepped into his body and ripped his throat out with my fangs in a quick, snake-like strike, body pressed against him. I had not counted on him having a dagger as well and he managed to leave it in my side before he fell to the floor, blood pumping out of his jugular. Leaving one of my daggers in his heart on his way down, I threw the last dagger at the vamp that followed, causing him to pause as it thumped hilt-first against him. I so needed to take knife throwing lessons if I ever got the opportunity.

  As he paused, I drew the dagger the last vamp had left in my side and took a slow step back. I was really hurting, weak from the cuts, slashes, and stabbings I had already received. This last vamp was not even winded and had not a mark on him. I had to wait for his move. I had no other plan and my edge in strength and speed was gone as I was swaying slightly, dizzy from the wounds I had taken.

  He was in no hurry, knowing I was weakened. Although my body was already healing the first slice, the other three were still bleeding profusely. He smiled, anticipating victory. I smiled as well because behind him I saw Mom had sunk her neck into Andre, having won the contest of wills. As she drained him, she glanced my way.

  “Don’t look behind you,” I said.

  “Not falling for that one,” he replied, the smile spreading into a nasty grin which somehow managed to stay on his face as Mom ripped his head off.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: GET THAT GIRL A ROBE

  WE TURNED OUR ATTENTION to Jill. I saw the magic pulsing between her and the three witches. No way were we getting in the middle of that one, it would be like touching a live power line. I was a little surprised she had not disposed of them already but then Rose pointed out a line of power coming from Jade to the group of witches. They were somehow getting their power from her.

  She had stopped struggling and the snake-like ropes that bound her to the table had tightened, digging into her skin. She looked pale and her breathing was shallow and uneven. Rose reached out a hand to touch one of the ropes and was immediately thrown back into the air ten feet or more, sliding on her butt another few feet, knocking down one of the sets of card tables and chairs in the room. As I helped her up we heard an explosion at the right stairwell that had been covered in a several foot thick block of ice. We heard the ice crack and a spray came through our side of the ice block. We didn’t have much time left before Andre’s men breached the blockage. On the other side we heard swords hacking away at the ice. The Fallen would also be coming through soon.

  “Maybe they will get through at the same time,” Mom said, still a bit unsteady on her feet. “We could just stand back and watch them fight it out.”

  “Probably not the best plan to be caught in the mid
dle of that,” I responded.

  My attention was drawn to the now several piles of ash that were the vamps I’d fought. The swords were silver coated.

  “I am going to try something,” I told Mom.

  I took up one of the swords, and gently touched it to one of the snake ropes that bound Jade. There was a loud crackling, but all I felt was a slight tingling through the hilt of the blade, a greasy and unnatural evil feeling making my hair stand up from my head. The sword was sharp and cut through the ropes easily and they fell to the floor, turning black and shriveling and curling up. Kicking them to the side, I leaned over Jade and her eyes opened and she smiled.

  “You saved me,” she whispered.

  “Big piece of cake,” I responded and gave her a quick kiss. “We’re not out of here just yet.”

  Helping her sit up I saw she was exhausted and on the verge of passing out again. Her energy was drained and I saw fading bites on her neck where Andre had fed from her.

  Looking back at Jill, I saw the witches were in trouble, no longer getting the power feed from Jade. Cutting the ropes had cut off their power line.

  A ball of fire came from the center witch towards Jill and she blocked it, holding her hand in front of her where a shield of ice suddenly appeared. The shield dissolved in the fire with water drops and steam shooting out to the side, and three spears of ice shot from her outstretched hand, impaling each witch in the chest. They fell to the floor in a heap and Mom immediately surged forward grabbing one that still had a heartbeat. She brought her over to us, and held her neck up to me.

  I sank my fangs in and drank, leaving some for Jade. I needed the blood for healing, and she would also need some. I propped Jade up as she took her turn with the witch, draining her of all remaining blood. Mom let her crumple to the floor.