by M. R. Forbes
They had just cleared the space when the Great Were pounced into the middle of the maelstrom.
Her claws almost tore me in half. I fell backwards, pulling strength to my limbs just in time to catch the follow up blow and throw her back again. I saw a shape in the dirt and dust, and then the fiend appeared inside my circle, his hand coming up to burn me in hellfire.
I stopped the tornado and dove to the right, avoiding the flames, rolling to my feet, and rushing him. I heard the Were behind me, could feel her claws scraping at my leg as she tried to stop me. The wound burned from the poison, and I didn't stop to heal it. I dove ahead, hoping that the fiend didn't want to risk burning his accomplice at my back.
He didn't. He sidestepped and backpedaled, trying to avoid my attack. He was too slow. I caught his neck in my hand and drove him backwards to the ground, coming down on top of him.
"Wait," he said, his voice strained by my constriction of his airway. He wasn't talking to me. He was talking to the Were.
I looked back. She shifted again, returning to her human form. She stood completely still, her angry eyes watching me.
"You're him, aren't you?" the fiend said. "The diuscrucis."
I nodded. "I need to see Espanto."
"You're looking at him."
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
I let go of his throat, and moved off him so he could get to his feet. He smiled as he pulled himself up, rubbing his neck with his hand.
"You're one tough hombre," he said. "You killed what? Twenty of my vampires? Alyx, how many ran away?"
"Two," the Great Were answered. "I'll get them later."
"You'll get them now. Make sure it hurts."
She smiled, the smile turning into a snout full of long, razor teeth. She turned and bounded off, back towards the center of the junkyard. I heard the screams when she found the deserters.
"You aren't here alone," Espanto said, pointing off towards where Rose and Gervais were hiding. "I hadn't heard anything about you keeping servants." He had a wide, bright grin. "Outside of the news that you were back to killing demons, I hadn't heard anything much about you at all the last couple of years. I take it you didn't come to off me?"
I turned back to him. I had been too busy trying not get killed to get a good look. He was short and stocky, with black hair, dark olive skin, and a square face. He was wearing a pink dress shirt rolled to his elbows, grey suit pants, and italian leather shoes. The demonic runes inked into his arms were smoldering like a dying fire.
"No. I didn't come to off you. And they aren't servants. They're my allies. Rose, Peter, you can come out."
They came out through the stack of cars. Gervais was back in his Peter form.
"You don't look Divine," Espanto said.
"They don't smell Divine either." Alyx padded back around the corner, her voice raspy and soft despite her monstrous appearance. She returned to human form a moment later.
"Not Divine," I said. "Human."
"Nicht Creidem, human?" Espanto asked.
"No, just human," Rose said.
"Hmm..." The fiend looked away from them, no longer interested. "Alyx, meet Landon. Landon, this is my wife, Alyx."
He didn't introduce Rose or Gervais. Toughness, and power. As far as he was concerned, humans didn't have any of either, and weren't worthy of his attention. Valerix might have called them 'sheep'. She had still acknowledged they existed.
"A pleasure," Alyx said. She was a tiny thing, athletic and toned. She was wearing a pair of skintight short shorts and a strapless black tunic. Her features spoke to her Vietnamese origins, and between that and her name I had a feeling she had been born a member of Ulnyx's pack. She looked to be eighteen or nineteen, which in were years meant she was closer to seventy or eighty.
For a demon to have a single partner was rare. For a were, especially a Great Were, to take a mate outside of their kind was rarer. For them to consider themselves committed as husband and wife was unheard of. Was that why Izak had been wary? There was something odd about Espanto. He didn't seem... evil... enough. Was it the result of finding some kind of love? Or was it something else?
Espanto reached up and put his arm around my back like we were old friends. "Why don't you come inside? You can tell me what you wanted to see me about. Although, I have an idea."
"You do?"
"I think so. We can discuss it inside."
He led us through the yard to the large barn. A were changeling came out of the door as he approached, holding a silver tray in his arms.
"Your shoes," he said in a meek voice.
Espanto started pulling his italian leathers from his feet. "If you don't mind. I like to keep a clean house."
Alyx was already barefoot. I guess she got a pass on the rule. I wasn't about to give up my boots, so I gave them a push, watching the dirt and dust spread away in a puff. I did the same for Rose and Gervais.
"Cute trick," Espanto said. "After you." He waved me in, not waiting for the rest of the group. I heard Rose mumble something in the background.
The inside of the barn had been converted to a living space, with walls that sectioned off different rooms, and a loft that appeared to overlook most of it. The entryway was purely defensive, an open space with a good line of sight from the doorways that fed from it, as well as from above. Besides the loft, I also noticed a catwalk running the perimeter of the rooftop. I could picture Alyx up there, stalking invaders.
"Strange days," Espanto said, leading me through the entryway, through a short corridor, and into the adjoining room. It was a large game room. Stand up video game machines, billiards, pinball. Under any other circumstances, I would have squee-d like a little girl and checked out the classic Pac-man box in the corner. "I had a feeling you would be involved in this. I didn't expect you to show up at my door."
"I wasn't planning on showing up at your door."
A vampire attendant came over to us, carrying a tray with three glasses of water.
"Drink?" he said. He took his and downed it. Picked up another and handed it back to Alyx.
I took mine and turned back to Rose and Peter. "You guys thirsty."
"No," Gervais said. I could tell he was amused by the whole thing.
"Yes, thank you," Rose said.
"I didn't offer it to them," Espanto said, taking it from my hand before I could give it to her.
"These are my companions. A problem with them is a problem with me."
The demon laughed. "I've got this intuition. It's helped me go from being a lowly fiend, fresh out of Hell, to controlling all of Juarez. I could have more if I wanted it. The archfiend, he's nothing to me. Weak. My army could destroy him in a blink. I don't though. You know why?"
"No."
"Intuition. A feeling that gaining too much, too soon, is bad for my health. It's bad for my long-term future. You're probably wondering what that has to do with you. I don't want to have a problem with you. My intuition tells me that you're here because you need something from me. And when you need something from someone, well then that person holds the cards, and you tend to not want to piss them off. Am I right?"
He was right. I nodded.
"So, you'll have to accept that I'm at least being gracious enough to allow your 'companions' into my home, and be satisfied with that." He handed me the water and stared at me.
Gervais had to be loving this. I drank the water and put the glass back on the tray. We kept walking.
There were other servants in the house, mainly vampires, both male and female. They were all naked, all completely shaven, their bodies bald. They wiped down the furniture, they swept the floors, they did everything they could to keep the place from collecting even a single spec of dust.
Espanto ignored them, even though they would stop what they were doing and drop to their knees as we passed. He kept us moving through the rooms in the barn, the path forcing us to spiral around towards the center. I was sure the demon had some better path through, a secret door here and there that
he didn't want me to know about, just as I was sure he had a stock of 'sheep' somewhere in the barn that he used to feed all of these servants, as well as the crew he had lost outside.
"I've been hearing things for the last few weeks," Espanto said while we moved. "Entire nests of vampires getting wiped out. The angels having a new weapon. I tried to get in touch with Valerix about it, because our territories are adjacent. She was tight lipped about the whole thing, which hurt my feelings after everything the three of us have shared together." He glanced back at Alyx, who only smiled again. "I know her well enough to know that there was something she wasn't telling me, although she did give me one free bit of advice." He reached another door and pushed it open. "Protect yourself."
As I entered, I realized what he meant about having an idea. The outer part of the barn was a cover, a disguise for the demon's true home, a place to tend his herd and visit with the lessors who came for an audience. Here in the center was a cement floor, at the middle of which was what looked to me like the entrance to a fallout shelter, its cement frame rising up out of the ground, two large metal doors leading into the depths. All of it - the frame, the doors, and the floor - was covered in runes. The same runes that had decorated Valerix's mansion. Protection from angels.
Protection from the Fists.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
"You know," I said.
"Valerix is dead, isn't she?" he asked.
He led us to the door. It began to open as we neared, the rattle of the chains and whining of the machine that worked it echoing in the room.
"She is. Killed by a Fist."
"Fist? Is that what they're calling those things?"
The doors opened enough for us to go through. Espanto led us into a long tunnel that dove deeper into the earth. The door closed behind us, leaving us in pitch black.
"Lights?" I asked.
"You can't see?" Espanto replied.
The demons would have no trouble seeing without light. I was faking my blindness for Rose's sake.
"Afraid not."
If they wanted to attack me, I gave them the perfect invitation. Instead, a row of dim light filled the room.
"Thank you," I said.
We cleared the corridor, spilling out into another living area. It was as sterile as the first, though the servants had already been ordered to leave us in privacy. We took positions on the available couches. This time, Rose stayed close to me.
"There was another attack yesterday. An archfiend in Russia."
"Darya?" I asked.
"Yes. She and all of her followers. They completely cleansed Moscow in less than an hour."
That was the hit to the balance I had felt. "Do you know how many Fists were there?"
Espanto walked over to a cabinet and pulled it open. Bottles of alcohol lined the shelves, along with a few unmarked containers that I knew held more macabre concoctions. "Drink?"
"No." I didn't make the mistake of asking Rose and Gervais again. It wasn't worth making the demon angry. Not yet, anyway.
He took out two glasses and poured a bit of bourbon for himself and Alyx. "I have demons monitoring every channel I know of for communications. We're still sorting through it, but my early estimate is six or seven. It could be more. I doubt it's less." He came back and handed Alyx the drink, settling down next to her.
Six or seven? I had enough trouble with one. I fought to keep my sudden panic from showing. The archangels had commanded Adam to find a way to defeat me, and to defeat the demons. Somehow, he had discovered Matthias Zheng. Somehow, he had succeeded.
"You're struggling to fight them, aren't you?" Espanto asked.
"Not as much as the demons are, but yes."
"As I guessed. Otherwise, you would be there, and not here. Perhaps you're regretting spending the last two years killing demons?"
"I must lack your intuition. I do what I have to do."
He laughed and took a sip. "Here is what I see, diuscrucis. I see the angels winning this war. I see the Rapture coming to pass. I see the demons that are left overrunning this world, enslaving man and devouring one another. I also see you dead."
He said it as a matter of fact. As far as he was concerned, the fight was already over.
"So what are my options?" he continued. "I'm safe in here, beneath the runes and the earth. I've already removed the tongues of my servants, to ensure they can't betray me to the Heavenly host as I imagine Valerix's minions did. I have enough stock to survive many, many years of ignorance. To spend it with my beloved in peace."
"Hiding? That doesn't sound very ambitious."
"Buying time. To see how the whole thing plays out. Which demon will emerge the strongest? We do not die, and patience is an easy practice to master when you have what you want the most." He patted his wife's leg.
"Your goal is to be second fiddle?" I asked.
"My goal is to be comfortable." He finished his drink and placed his glass very carefully on a nearby table, checking it first to make sure it wouldn't leave a spot. "I'm comfortable here. The angels can't touch me. Tell me why you came, diuscrucis. Tell me what you need from me, a lowly fiend. Let us be clear that regardless of what it is, my price will be exponentially high."
He was confident and smug. I wanted nothing more than to grind him into the floor, and mess up his painstakingly flawless environment with his blood and ash. A demon who wasn't actively interested in gaining power was the most dangerous of all.
"I need transport through a rift. I need reinforcements. I know where the Fists are being made. I know where to find their creator."
He laughed again. "You aim to stop them? I thought maybe you needed weapons, or perhaps information. That is something I would be willing to trade. Why would you think I would ever help you keep your precious balance?"
I glanced over at Gervais. His eyes danced away. Did he know Espanto would react this way? Or had he given me the only option he knew of? It would have been so much easier if I could trust him.
"You want the angels to win?" I asked.
"Someone is going to, sooner or later. Why not now? In the end, it's all the same to me. No, you have nothing I want, nothing you can provide me that is valuable enough for me to help you with this. I've decided."
He stood up, so I stood up. I didn't tell him that much about the situation. I didn't want to give him any more leverage over me. He didn't understand how important his assistance was. That he was even willing to dismiss me so readily... he was confident in his power. A fiend and a Great Were against me and my humans. He wasn't even counting them.
"I'll walk you out," he said. "I'm sorry you came all the way here for nothing."
I looked back at Rose and then over to Gervais. They knew the gravity. I could see them both tense.
"Why would you think I would waste my time coming here, and then walk away because you decided?" I asked. I knew one way I could get his help.
The runes on his arms flared in response. "Don't make me dirty my home."
Alyx gained her feet, baring her human teeth, ready to make the change. "You've been dismissed. Best be on your way."
"I don't think you understand what I'm asking you for," I said. They were so focused on me, so worried about my ability to fight them, they didn't even notice when Rose and Gervais got to their feet.
"I do," Espanto said. "And I said no."
He was getting angry. He was about to get even angrier.
Rose grabbed Alyx from behind and put her knife to her throat. Gervais took the fiend and did the same. The Great Were was immensely powerful in monster form, and she was still stronger than normal in human form. The difference was that her throat would be much easier to slit.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Espanto said. He squirmed against Gervais' grip, finding the demon was stronger than he expected.
He morphed from his Peter form. "Hello, Espanto."
The fiend stopped struggling and turned his head, just enough to see his captor. "Gervais?"
> "I bet your intuition didn't see that one coming. You should pay more attention to your enemies, regardless of their supposed origin."
Alyx growled, and found the knife pressed tighter against her neck for it.
"Don't," Rose said. "I'll take your head off before you can change."
"You're going to power the rift for me," I said. "I need to get to China, and I need to get there now."
Rose and Gervais kept a tight grip on the two demons, while they led us deeper down into the underground facility. More than once they had to order aside servants as they appeared in the long cement corridors and saw their masters held hostage. I could tell by Espanto's strained voice how embarrassed he was. How much the situation pained him.
I didn't doubt he would kill every one of those servants once he was free, rather than live knowing what they had seen.
The rift was in a small room behind what looked like an ops center, filled with workstations and monitors, and manned by a number of still unclothed and bald demons. They were monitoring communication channels - phone services, internet packets, satellite feeds. They were also monitoring the demon's interests, tracking the drug dealers and whores, the Turned and the vamps. It looked like a sophisticated operation. The work of someone who knew that knowledge was power, and did his best to command as much of it as he could.
It was how he had known about Valerix, and about Russia, and probably a lot more than he had revealed. Given more time, I would have liked to find out how much.
"Let him go," I said to Gervais, once we were at the rift.
He relaxed his grip and pushed the fiend forward. Immediately, the runes on Espanto's arms began to flare, his eyes turning into empty black orbs.
"Don't even think about it," Rose said, pulling the knife tighter against Alyx's throat. The fiend paused.
"Damn you to hell, diuscrucis," he said. He went to the ring of stones that formed the outline of the rift, and began filling in the missing runes.
