Iron Angels

by Eric Flint

  Booted feet clanking on metal drew her gaze down.

  Rao stood before her. He grabbed her wrists.

  “You were to remain in place.” Rao’s face filled with fury. His grip on her wrists was crushing her bones. She cried out in pain.

  “Rao, stop. I beg—”

  Rao lifted her over his head. She kicked and squirmed. Below her, she saw the slab upon which Steve and Carlos were lashed. Rao grunted and Lali fell through the air, rolling onto her back as she did so. Above, the nâga twisted.

  The smaller, orange nâga broke free, retreating for the rafters. The bright red one chased after it.

  Lali smacked against the slab. Her breath left her, back spasmed, and she gasped.

  A gruff male voice asked, “Nasty fall. You okay?”

  Lali’s eyes widened as she fought for air. A deep, raspy breath caught hold, and then repeated over and over. She rolled on her side and coughed. Metallic liquid bathed her tongue. Blood drooled from her mouth, running off her chin, and puddling on the slab.

  “Oh, my God,” Carlos said, “the Nephilim, it’s—”

  Lali rolled over. Above her the bright red nâga descended toward them. Lali screamed.

  Chapter 43

  Jasper and Penny reached Temple, but the cultists prevented any of them from getting to the sacrificial platform.

  “We can’t rush through. They’ll pick us off.” Temple pointed at one of the Völundr’s Hammer men slumped against the wall. “He’s alive, but took a pretty good hit from a long gun.” Temple had ripped the man’s shirt and used it as a bandage for his wound. The round had taken him in the leg, luckily missing arteries, but the bandage was soaked through with red.

  “I’ve sent three of the men off to find a way of flanking this mess. The fireball you conjured up created quite a distraction. You should be proud, but damn I thought you’d killed us all.” Temple’s hands rested on her hips.

  “I assure you, it was unintentional on my part—I’m not a chemist or bomb maker, you know.”

  “Pfft. The Unabomber’s got nothing on you,” Temple said.

  “Uh, thank you?” Jasper’s forehead wrinkled. “All right then, so what’s the plan?”

  Squeals and shrieks erupted from above. All of them winced.

  “This is going to end poorly if we don’t take the bull by the horns here, the initiative. I already blew up a good number of these assholes,” Jasper said.

  “Unintentionally,” Temple said.

  “So what, let me have it, okay?” Jasper laughed. “Let’s go. I’ll run through first and see what happens.” Jasper made for the opening and the metal-runged ladder ostensibly leading to the slab where Steve and Carlos were being held.

  “I’m first. My father’s up there,” Penny pulled him back and went through the opening. Silence. No gunshots. Nothing. Only squealing and shrieking.

  Madness. But this no longer fazed Temple, or perhaps that was the adrenaline taking over. Jasper, sturdy beyond what she had imagined, appeared energized. By all normal standards, he should have passed out from all that’d happened to him the past few days. All of them should have been dead on their feet by now.

  “Come on!” Penny yelled through the doorway.

  A loud thump caught Temple’s attention as she went through the door.

  “What was that? One of the Nephilim landing on the sacrificial slab?”

  Penny climbed the ladder.

  A woman screamed.

  Another scream pierced the air, but from a different woman and more shrill.

  Jasper hurried up the ladder after Penny, and Temple followed, almost grabbing Jasper’s ankles rather than the rungs in her scramble.

  She reached the top in time to see Penny standing between Steve and the waitress, Lali. Temple glanced up—Lali must have fallen. Motion above caught Temple’s eye. A bright red flame shot down from the top of the building. Penny raised the hammer, pointing the head at the rapidly descending beast.

  The Nephilim closed to within ten feet and Penny allowed the head of the hammer to drop and she crouched, getting under the swing, and drove her legs up and hips around. The head of the hammer whirred, a silver streak in the air, and connected with the beast, appearing to cleave the Nephilim in two. A two-toned, dissonant screech split Temple’s skull. Her head felt as if it would explode if the sound level increased.

  The hammer clanged against the slab and teetered on the edge, but didn’t fall off. Penny collapsed, and held her arm, wincing, but moved toward her father, now groaning. Both Steve and Carlos wore only loincloths, their bodies bare and slick with oil and sweat. The large man’s arms bulged and his chest was thick with striated muscle. White scars crisscrossed much of his torso. Steve could have been a Titan chained to the side of a mountain.

  The red Nephilim crashed beyond the slab, a writhing mess, flopping about. But soon it righted and coalesced back into its original form, that of a bipedal dragon-man. A beast.

  “Jasper.” Temple tugged his arm. “We need to free Steve and Carlos and get Penny out of here.”

  “The woman, Lali,” Jasper said. “She’s badly hurt.”

  “We’ll get to her after we rescue the good guys, okay?”

  “Yes.”

  “Come on!” Temple shoved him.

  Jasper shook his head. “Okay. Okay.”

  A man stood on a metal dais above them, positioned in front of a ruined section of wall shot with lines, cracks, and raised scars—stone scars. The leader of the cult—even from this distance Temple recognized him from the photo that Mandy had sent on Jasper’s smartphone.

  “Ah, this is even better.” The man’s voice boomed with power. “More Sha ’Lu for the nâga, of which we have two here this evening. More honey for them. More power for me.” He pounded his chest twice with his fist.

  “I’m taking this asshole out,” Temple said.

  “Uh, okay—”

  Temple ran for the ladder leading to the dais where the cult leader stood—

  “—but you don’t have any weapons, what happened to your Glock and the M4?”

  Temple had no time to explain, but turned before hitting the first rung of the ladder: “Free Steve and Carlos. Get them off the platform before the Nephilim come for them.”

  Her words set Jasper into motion.

  “Look out!” Temple ducked down at the base of the ladder.

  The metal walkways and scaffolding supporting the dais Rao strutted upon moaned and creaked, and began toppling over. Rao leaped off the falling metal and slammed against the giant metal platform upon which the sacrificial slab rested. Temple closed on Rao and kicked him in the side.

  * * *

  Jasper turned his attention to Steve and Carlos. Both were awake—fear filled Carlos’s eyes and hatred filled Steve’s.

  Lali’s hand touched Jasper. “Get her.” The waitress nodded at Penny.

  A squeal and hiss hit him, followed by hot air—metallic scented with traces of sulphur. The solidity of the platform beneath the stone slab became less certain. Steve struggled against his bindings, loosening them, but Carlos’s ties remained taut. Jasper wanted to free Steve first, but—

  The bright red Nephilim stood between Jasper and Steve, though the beast faced away from Jasper. Why did the creatures go for the people on the stone slab and not him? Was there something about how the sacrifices were prepared that made them more palatable to the Nephilim? Or was he less visible to them for some reason?

  “Grab the hammer,” Steve said, continuing his struggle against the ties. “Do it while you can.”

  Penny crawled for Steve, toward the Nephilim.

  “No. Wait!” Jasper cried out. He slid across the platform and grabbed the hammer. The weapon weighed a ton. He jumped to his feet, dragging the hammer with him, conserving his strength for a swing at the Nephilim. Where had the other one gone? He scanned the rafters, but the thick smoke camouflaged the other, smaller Nephilim.

  Penny reached the Nephilim faster than Jasper ant
icipated, but the creature, not fully recovered from the hammer’s first blow, wobbled about—confused, as if drunk. Penny reached for Steve before the creature fully coalesced and sprang upon her father.

  The older man sprang to his feet, but staggered and held his head for a moment. “The hammer,” he waved for the weapon. “Now.”

  But the Nephilim blocked Jasper’s path. He lifted the hammer—

  The beast spun on him. Jasper’s eyes widened and he backed away.

  “No!” Penny shrieked.

  Steve embraced the Nephilim from behind, wrapping his arms around the beast as best he could.

  Penny turned her head away from the scene of her father engaging the Nephilim, staring at Jasper.

  Shrieks shot through the air as the Nephilim’s head shook back and forth, snout in the air.

  Jasper stared, awestruck over Steve’s bravery. His thick arms turned red as if badly burning, but Steve never faltered. If anything his size seemed to increase, if that were possible.

  Penny grabbed the hammer from Jasper, and marched toward the Nephilim. “Father, release, you must!” She took up the hammer in both hands and lowered the head, allowing the weapon to drop behind her as she coiled her hips. “Release your hold, now!” Penny’s torso twisted, her teeth gritted and her eyes scrunched against her sweat-drenched face.

  Steve released his grip on the Nephilim, stumbled and dropped on one knee, panting.

  “Get my daughter out of here,” Steve pleaded.

  Penny’s knees bent as she twirled, and at once her knees elevated and her hips twisted, uncoiling and swinging the hammer, a silvery streak—

  —the gleaming head shot up and through the Nephilim, not quite cleaving the beast in two, but severely damaging it.

  Penny readied the hammer for another blow, but the Nephilim stumbled away, weakened.

  Behind the Nephilim, Steve’s chest heaved and his face whitened.

  The hammer fell from Penny’s hands, and her shoulders slumped.

  The Nephilim staggered and balanced on the edge of the platform, wobbling.

  Steve’s arms flopped and the big man collapsed, appearing as only a shell of what he’d been just seconds before.

  The Nephilim’s cries ceased for the moment, and the beast reached for Penny with tendrils and arms.

  Penny cried out, but Jasper pulled the struggling woman away.

  A screech from above pulled the Nephilim’s attention off them. The creature staggered about, confused.

  Lali had reached Carlos, and for a moment, Jasper thought she might still try to kill him. But then he saw that she was trying to untie him.

  * * *

  Rao recovered from his fall and Temple’s kick within seconds. Temple’s eyes widened.

  “Fool woman,” Rao said, “you think a human as pitiful as you can harm Rao? You are but a gnat.” He brushed himself off. What in Lord’s name was the man wearing? He looked like a refugee from a 1980s metal video, like a demented Rob Halford of Judas Priest fame. She remembered laughing at those ridiculous images back then, and it was even funnier in person. Except she wasn’t laughing—this was real and he was about to kick her ass.

  “Well? What are you waiting for, Halford?”

  A look of confusion suffused his face, but soon twisted with scorn and he closed on her with inhuman speed.

  She bladed her body and feinted with a kick before delivering a backfist to the bridge of Rao’s nose. Nothing. She followed up with a straight punch which he ducked. He somehow got behind her, snaking an arm across Temple’s throat. Was he attempting to choke her out or use her as a shield? Temple kicked back and tried to wriggle her hands under his arm as she bit down on his arm, narrowly missing a band of metal biting into her skin. Rao edged backward, presumably toward the ladder leading to his dais.

  Blood trickled down. Hers or Rao’s? She had popped him good, but the blood had to be hers. She brought her heel down on his foot, but he didn’t budge.

  “Ah, they are coming,” Rao said, his breath hot against her ear. She brought her head forward and back as hard as she could, connecting with something, hopefully the man’s face, but still he did not budge, but laughed. “Watch what happens now as your friends flail about on the sacrificial slab.” Rao’s hold on her tightened.

  * * *

  Penny struggled against Jasper, and nearly got free, but he held her tight. “We can’t help him now.” He was sure Steve was dead although he didn’t have the heart to say it out loud.

  The platform shook—did thermite still burn through the metal? Or maybe whatever petrochemical fuels remained in the vat and the pipes had started to burn also, rupturing some more of the metal.

  “Penny, climb down. Get off of the platform.” Jasper’s hold on her failed.

  She dropped to her knees and scrambled over to her fallen father. Up close, he was clearly dead. His eyes were open, staring sightlessly. She pounded the metal next to him with her fist.

  “There’s no time.” Jasper grabbed her by the arm, and pulled her away, trudging toward the ladder leading down.

  “I have to help see this through,” Penny insisted. But her eyes looked glazed.

  Jasper turned his attention back to Lali, Carlos, and Temple, assessing where the greatest need lay. Lali was still trying to untie Carlos. For some crazy reason, Jasper felt a lot more sympathy toward the waitress than he did for Carlos himself. Jasper stared at the cult leader, Rao, made his decision, and ran for him. The man’s eyes widened and he released Temple, pushing her at Jasper as he closed on them. She collided with Jasper with an oof, and she sagged in his arms. Rao limped, clearly favoring his left leg, and tried climbing up the ladder.

  “I’m going after him, I owe him,” Temple said, wiping blood from her lip with the back of her hand.

  “Wait, he can’t hurt us while he’s up there. We need to get Carlos and Lali off the platform.”

  Temple’s expression was furious. “The man needs a beatdown, dammit!”

  “Agreed, but let’s get everyone off this platform and to safety, wherever that is. Rao isn’t going anywhere.”

  Squeals and screeches ricocheted off the metal walls. Jasper spun around and saw that the Nephilim Penny had struck with the hammer, the bright red one, stood not more than twenty feet away. And whatever Steve had done during the embrace had taken its toll on the beast. It was still formidable, but not as menacing, even with the awful ear-rending dissonance spewing out of its maw.

  A deeper, guttural roar drowned out the bright red Nephilim’s screeches. Jasper and Temple’s heads snapped back, and they gazed at the smoke in the rafters of the building. An orange shape uncoiled in the gray smoke, and shot toward them, or maybe the other Nephilim—

  “Go,” a female voice said beside them.

  Jasper and Temple both started. Turning, they saw Lali standing behind them. She was holding up Carlos, who now seemed only half-conscious.

  She pushed him toward them. “Take Carlos. Get him out of here.” Lali looked up at the platform where Rao stood, his back to them, gazing into a swirling and pulsing portal of stone.

  “We can get him together,” Jasper said.

  Lali shook her head. “Go, before these nâga tear the entire place apart.”

  Jasper and Temple saw orange reflected in Lali’s eyes. The woman spun and grabbed the ladder leading to the platform.

  Chapter 44

  Carlos moaned—the cultists must have drugged him heavily. For a second, Jasper wondered if any more Câ Tsang roamed about. The strange absence of the cultists bothered Jasper. Where had they all gone? Had they succumbed to fear of the Nephilim or the actions of Völundr’s Hammer folks and fled? He had no idea. Only Rao and Lali remained, as far as he could tell.

  Jasper dragged Carlos toward the ladder, but made Temple descend first. Jasper stooped, grabbed Carlos in a fireman’s carry, and started down the ladder.

  The bright red Nephilim came toward them but suddenly stopped, reaching with tendrils and arms up ab
ove.

  Jasper glanced up. The orange Nephilim plummeted like a meteor from the rafters, the creature’s rear quarters a wispy, orange contrail in its wake.

  Jasper hurried his descent, feet slipping on the slick rungs. At the bottom, he eased Carlos off his shoulder, and collapsed. He took deep breaths and rested his back against the wall for a moment. Sweat stung his eyes.

  “We need to get out of here.” He glanced at Penny and Carlos. Carlos’s drugged state didn’t help matters, and Penny, despite her ruggedness, seemed to be in shock.

  But a glance at Temple, combined with the way he felt right now, made him doubt they’d be any use helping Carlos and Penny out of the building.

  The wall Jasper rested against shook.

  “We have to try.”

  Temple touched Penny’s shoulder. Her blank face and dead eyes at were at odds with her heaving chest. A tear fell from one of her eyes, carving a trail down her dirtied cheek. Her chin wrinkled and lips quivered. The loss of her father seemed to have paralyzed her.

  Carlos wasn’t any better. He resembled a marionette with cut strings sitting against a wall.

  Footsteps cut through the racket taking place on the platform. Jasper glanced about for a weapon. Nothing.

  “Where are all the guns?” He asked Temple.

  “The Völundr’s Hammer men—they had a need—they had our back while we screwed around up there.” Temple’s smile was weak.

  Three men burst into the area—three of the Völundr’s Hammer men. The man who’d been with Jasper earlier, Ian, was with them.

  “Ian,” Jasper said. “Will you please assist with Penny? She’s in shock.”

  “Where is Steve?” Ian asked, and the other two men stepped forward, their faces heavy with concern.

  Jasper shook his head. “He’s dead. We have to get out of here. Quick. I’m afraid we’ll be trapped in here, or worse—” He glanced up to where the Nephilim were struggling with one another. He wondered what Lali was up to, how she was going to deal with Rao.

  “All of you have to leave before the police get here,” Jasper said. “I bet they’re on their way by now.” Had to be, more than thirty minutes had passed since he texted Pete to bring in the cavalry.