Judgement Day

by J. E. Taylor

  The driver pulled over after another ten minutes of fuming in the front seat. He let us out at an empty baseball diamond. CJ paid him and gave him a small tip. Much smaller than customary, and then the driver sped away.

  “You really do latch onto anything that will provide levity,” CJ said, letting his laughter finally surface.

  I shrugged and refitted the backpack, clipping it like Kylee had taught me. With a Kevlar backing, I knew my back was covered.

  His smile faded as we both looked down the hill. There were several people cheering on a soccer game. CJ pointed to the woods on the other side of the baseball field away from the crowd.

  “Farm Colony is through those woods,” he said.

  That dark ominous feeling that had preceded all the portals brushed against my skin and I shivered. The hair on CJ’s arms raised, and we glanced at each other.

  “Something’s here,” I said.

  “A whole lot of somethings,” he agreed as we stepped into the woods away from the families cheering on their kids.

  Each step closer to the hidden buildings left my skin crawling as if a thousand spiders had taken root just under the surface. The itch left behind made me want to scratch every exposed piece of skin until it bled and I got rid of this festering feeling. Hell, I wanted to burn it out. My fingers sparked. I closed my fists, dousing the flames.

  The air hummed around us, and my gaze snapped to CJ.

  “Just in case,” he said. “Just don’t bolt after anything, okay?”

  I nodded and inspected the shimmering air that moved a foot ahead of wherever we walked. The power in CJ’s shield flickered occasionally. I wondered what would happen if someone ran into it.

  “They would turn to dust,” CJ said as we continued to make our way through the thick trees.

  The afternoon sun broke though the canopy sporadically, leaving walls of light dotted through the darkening woods. It was like stepping into a fairy tale land or stepping through time.

  The first building we came upon was half gone. The blackened brick crumbled, and what little glass remained were jagged, shattered pieces that didn’t want to let go of the windowpane. With a clear line of sight right down into the earth and every area open to the elements, neither of us believed Lucifer inhabited the ruins. We didn’t bother to try to navigate the precarious floors that were rotting and sagging with mold. Besides, it didn’t radiate anything other than decay.

  We stepped around the ruins and moved on towards the other buildings farther into the woods.

  My senses heightened. Every snap of a twig made me jump, and that familiar tingle between my shoulders told me we were being watched. When we entered a grand courtyard with multiple buildings surrounding us, my steps faltered, and I stopped.

  CJ stopped when he noticed I was no longer beside him. The shimmer in front of us disappeared as he spun around to stare at me, his wide eyes addressing the sudden panic radiating off him.

  For a second, I didn’t understand, and then it slammed into me. I nearly got toasted by CJ’s force field. If he hadn’t noticed I wasn’t walking with him so quickly, our bid to take out the devil would have ended with my spontaneous combustion.

  The buildings loomed around us, and I stared at the one right behind CJ. My mouth suddenly went dry at the host of spirits milling inside. They weren’t kindly either. A cancerous malignance rolled from the building, and my breath caught in my throat.

  A blur caught my attention, but before either us could turn, it slammed into CJ, knocking him clean off his feet. The thump of his skull hitting the broken pavement echoed like a melon smashing.

  The snap of bone followed. CJ didn’t react.

  I ripped the gloves off my hands, but before I could raise my palm to shoot whatever it was that was mauling CJ, arms wrapped around me, pinning mine to my sides. Teeth sank into my shoulder, and I screamed at the flare of pain.

  I twisted my hand and let the fire go.

  The beast attacking CJ spun towards the pain-filled cry that left my ears ringing. It only took me a second to realize I was free. The monster in front of me charged. I blasted the thing back to hell, but not before I got a good look at our attacker.

  The thing looked worse than the Kapua that Kylee and I had run into in American Samoa. This was some type of cross between a man, and a buck, with claws like the Kapua and teeth like a shark. I shivered and ran to CJ’s crumpled form.

  Blood flowed from his head, and his arm was bent at an odd angle. The thing had taken a chunk of flesh out of his forearm after snapping it. I peeled my backpack off, grabbed my shirt out of it, and quickly wrapped it tight around where the thing had bitten him.

  I straightened his arm and ripped a patch of denim from my jeans to help splint the break. A broken branch lay on the ground within reach, and I grabbed it to use as a splint. I closed my eyes, gripped his arm above and below the break, and took a couple deep breaths before I snapped it back in place. My stomach rolled, but I swallowed the bile and ripped a second strip of denim from my discarded jeans to tie the splint in place.

  After I finished, I leaned forward and put my ear to his chest. His heart remained beating, and I closed my eyes, saying a small prayer of thanks. Next, I tore a bigger strip of denim and inspected CJ’s head wound.

  I needed to stop the bleeding. I concentrated, making my finger into a cauterizer. A controlled jet of blue flame leapt from my fingertip. I pushed his hair back, staring at the deep cut.

  “Sorry, Mr. Ryan,” I whispered, and then ran my fire-laced finger across the cut, pulling it away just as quickly. The bleeding stopped instantly as the scent of scalded human flesh drifted on the air.

  I closed my fist, dousing the flame, and wrapped the burn with the larger patch of denim. The hair on my arms stood on end. The whir of a blade sliced through the air. I threw myself on top of CJ. My protective instinct flared, and I spun in time to see a blade pierce a large demon that had snuck up behind me.

  More than one demon surrounded me. I shivered at the half dozen that stopped when their leader fell to the ground as dead as CJ appeared to be. I snapped my head in the direction that the knife had come from, and my brain stalled.

  The woman standing twenty yards away looked so familiar. I blinked at her long dark hair and her nearly golden eyes that reflected amber when the light hit just right. I blinked as her origin bloomed in my brain. She was the demon that got away in the subway system. The one Kylee couldn’t find.

  Another knife sailed past me, taking down another advancing demon. I made a decision that I hoped wouldn’t burn me. I turned towards the demon horde and opened my palms. A combination of angel fire and regular fire shot out, annihilating the demons and leaving only dust hanging in the air along with a few scalded trees.

  I closed my hands and turned back to the woman. She had closed half the distance, and I put my closed fist up. She halted and put her empty hands in the air where I could see them.

  “I’m not here to hurt you,” she said.

  “You’re a demon,” I growled, tempted to let my fire send her back to hell. I hovered over CJ protectively. Demons could easily possess the unconscious, and I wasn’t about to make that mistake.

  She nodded and inspected me closer. Her eyes widened after a moment. “You’re the one from the subway.” She gasped and covered her mouth. “The one who freed us.” Awe filled her voice, like I was the second coming or something equally as ridiculous.

  I climbed to my feet, ready to let loose on the next thing that moved, including her. “And you’re the one who got away.”

  Her cheeks bloomed red, and she nodded, averting her eyes. “And I am thankful.”

  The darkness inside me demanded that I end her, and I recognized where the order was coming from. Lucifer’s grace commanded the sacrifice. I clenched my fists tight against the urge.

  “Why?” I asked and waved at the two dead demons behind me still bearing her knives.

  “I was actually hunting the wendigos,” she said
and nodded towards my wounded shoulder. “But they attacked before I had a chance to intercept them.”

  “And you knew they would be here how?” I still didn’t trust her. Gabriel’s words about traps kept coming to the forefront of my mind.

  “Fate sent me. She said it was imperative that I stop the wendigos.” She glanced at CJ still unconscious on the ground. “Apparently I did not get here fast enough.”

  “Fate?” I cocked my head. I forced my mind into the woman’s and sure enough, she was telling the truth. Either that or she was very good at manipulating her mind into making me see what she wanted me to. Doubt still tainted my intuition.

  She nodded. “As hard as it is to believe, yes.”

  “What does she look like?”

  “Blonde little thing with chestnut eyes. No older than you.” She nodded at me.

  I lowered my hand and then glanced at CJ as what he’d said in the car resounded in my head. Demons could read me as easily as he had. When I looked back at her, I lifted my hand again.

  She put her hands up in front of her. “Fate said I needed to help whoever I ran into here.” Her voice shook with fear. “Please,” she whispered, begging me with eyes as wide as saucers.

  “You want to help? Get these bodies out of here while I call for an ambulance.” I pointed at the two remaining demons.

  I glanced at the nearest house, and every single ghost was staring out at us. The escaped demon pulled the blades from each dead demon and whispered an incantation. The bodies crumbled to dust.

  Unease still scraped over me. I needed to search these buildings for Alex, but I couldn’t leave CJ here alone. When the demon approached, I stiffened.

  “I’m Phoebe,” she said and stuck out her hand.

  I stared at the offering and then glanced up at her. I couldn’t bring myself to shake a demon’s hand, not even one Fate had sent. She eventually stuck it in her pocket.

  “I’ve never seen someone shoot fire before,” she said with reverence. “I could sure use someone like you on my side.”

  “I don’t think so.” My voice was cool, and I was sure my stare matched it.

  Who the hell does she think she is? Phoebe crossed her arms.

  I straightened at her thought and narrowed my eyes, wondering if I should play my hand. The scowl on her face clinched my decision. “I’m Lucifer’s daughter. And I’m looking for him.”

  Her eyes widened in fear, and she stumbled backwards like I was the devil himself and not his daughter. Her entire body trembled, and her eyes darted around, likely looking for an escape. Her mannerisms didn’t convey someone working for that bastard; rather the opposite.

  “He has something that belongs to me, and I want it back,” I growled. “Where is he?”

  Her laugh was too high, and she took another step back.

  “Is Lucifer here?” I asked a little softer and waved at the buildings.

  Her head shook back and forth in quick succession. “I would have never set foot on this land if he was here.”

  “But you’re a demon.”

  “I escaped for a reason,” she said. “He would drag me back kicking and screaming and then do to me what he made me do to so many.” Her voice trembled with honest terror.

  It flowed from her in waves that tightened my throat. Deep down where my never-failing intuition lived, I believed her. Now that all the demons were gone, I did not feel that dark presence overshadowing the land. Only the restlessness of the spirits inside the buildings.

  “Go. Get out of here before I raze you and this entire village to cinders.” I pointed, and she didn’t second-guess my orders. She ran just as fast as she had in the subway tunnel.

  I turned back to CJ and pulled out the phone. When Valerie didn’t answer her phone, I tried to get CJ up onto his feet. His dead weight was as onerous as Tom’s had been, but at least this Ryan was breathing.

  “Damn it,” I muttered. The swear felt so foreign on my lips. But CJ needed help. Now. I pulled out his phone and dialed nine-one-one.

  When the dispatcher answered, I took a deep breath.

  “What’s the nature of your emergency?”

  “My uncle was attacked by some sort of dog out at the Farm Colony. He’s unconscious and his arm is broken, and the thing took a bite out of it.”

  “Your uncle has been bitten by a wild dog?”

  “Yes. I’ve tried to set the bone and splint it and have wrapped the wound with a shirt I had in my backpack.”

  “When did he lose consciousness?”

  “He hit his head on the pavement when he was knocked down and hasn’t come to since.” In the distance, I heard sirens.

  “What’s his name, honey?” the dispatcher asked.

  I opened my mouth to tell her and then glanced around. “Chris Williams,” I said. Neither of us needed the publicity which would come with CJ Ryan being taken to an emergency room. I pried his wallet from his back pocket, dropped it into the pocket with the potion bag, and then shifted to sit near CJ’s head. Closing my eyes, I built a wall of protection around us.

  The air shimmered around us.

  “The EMTs will be there in a few minutes. They are parked as close to the grounds as possible. Do you want me to stay on the phone with you until they get there?”

  “No, ma’am. I need to try to reach my aunt,” I said, and some of my nerves came through on the line.

  “It’s okay. We can contact your aunt for you if you’d like?”

  “Thank you, but I think she would prefer hearing what happened to her husband from me rather than a stranger. But if you just want to stay on the line with me, that would be okay,” I said and closed my eyes. CJ had scanned prior structures today, and I concentrated on doing the same to the buildings around us.

  I sensed nothing. No living beings, anyway. I went deeper and still found nothing.

  Frustration roared in my blood. I was tempted to light up all three buildings with angel fire just to be sure, but Phoebe’s terrified face kept flashing before me. That was not manufactured fright.

  I shook my head slowly and opened my eyes. If Lucifer were here, scrubbing the place would kill Alex. If Lucifer were here, something else would have attacked us. I was sure of it. But nothing came. I found myself begrudgingly believing my intuition. That wayward demon had been honest with me. Lucifer was not here at this desolate, ghost-ridden place.

  When the ambulance technicians breached the clearing with a stretcher, I let my protection barrier fall and followed them out of the woods and into the back of the ambulance despite the strange looks I kept getting.

  “Cosplay,” I finally said, and heat bloomed in my cheeks. “Ghost hunting and all.” I shrugged. “He refused to wear the Indiana Jones outfit I got him.”

  Their soft chuckles and evaporation of suspicion put me at ease.

  The technician checked CJ’s vitals and plugged them into a pad before he pulled off my make-shift bandages. “Definitely broken.” He winced at the bite. “I’ve never seen a dog bite like this,” he muttered and bandaged it enough to staunch the bleeding. After he looked closer at CJ’s temple, he glanced at me. “Did you do this?” He pointed to the cauterized wound.

  It didn’t look quite as bad as the open gash had, but it was still gnarly.

  I shrugged. “He was bleeding, and that was something I knew how to fix.”

  “Were you trained in doing this?” he asked and applied burn salve to the wound. There was an edge to his voice.

  “No. Why?”

  “Because it was done as neatly as a professional.” He glanced at me. “And you don’t look old enough to have taken one EMT course, never mind the years this kind of precision requires.” This time his voice carried envy and I understood the edge. He considered himself one of the best in the area, and he would have never done as clean of a job as I had.

  “I’ve had some practice.” I waved at CJ. “How is he overall?”

  “His vitals are good, but he did take quite the hit in the head, so
I’m not sure if he’ll wake up tonight. You did a great job with the splint and the tourniquet, so I think you may have saved him some nerve damage, but he lost a pretty big chunk of flesh, so I’m not sure whether that will have any lasting effects. He was lucky it was his forearm and not his hand.” He nodded towards my shoulder. “I probably should look at that.”

  I glanced at the torn fabric of my leather jacket and frowned. “I’m okay.”

  “Take off the jacket,” he said.

  As uncomfortable as I was, I did as he asked and winced as I pulled the leather off my left shoulder.

  He took a quick look. “Can you move your shirt so I can clean the cuts for you?” he asked. “They aren’t deep, but they should be cleaned so you don’t get an infection.”

  I unthreaded my arm from the shirt and pulled it so he could work on the wounds. The cleaning agent he used stung when he swabbed the cuts, and then he put some small bandages on them.

  “Your leather jacket saved you from the same type of damage as your uncle,” he said as he put the last bandage on. “You can put your shirt back on.”

  I threaded my arm back into my shirt then slipped it into my leather jacket and sat back. I pulled CJ’s phone from my pocket and dialed Valerie.

  “Hello?” she said, out of breath.

  “Aunt Val?” I asked over the sirens.

  “What’s that in the background?”

  “There’s been an accident,” I started, and the immediate panic from the other side of the line filled me. “No one died,” I added quickly. “It’s just that Uncle CJ’s been knocked out. He got attacked by a... wild dog.”

  “Where are they taking him?”

  “Where are we going?” I asked the tech.

  “Staten Island University Hospital in Midland Beach area.”

  “I heard him. We will be down there in a couple hours. Just hang tight and keep him safe.”

  “I will. See you when you get here.” I hung up the phone and texted her the name I used for him. “My aunt will be here in a couple of hours.”

  “Can you give me a little information before we get to the emergency room?”