Hell Bent

by Marie Bilodeau

  “Um, Rachel?”

  “Shhh,” her hand shimmered and she pushed the door. A few seconds passed, the stench of blood replaced by that of melting metal. I stared at the door. Near Rachel’s hand, the entire door shimmered and began to buckle.

  “Push it?” she asked, still holding her hand to it. I shouldered it. The door seemed to spark against my shoulder, hyped-up static electricity crackling up and down my arm. I braced myself and pushed harder.

  My skin burned where it touched the door. I should have thrown armor on, but who’d had the time? I pulled away, took a step back, then launched myself at the door with the same shoulder, pain searing as it made contact.

  The door gave way, nearly sending me tumbling into two more bodies.

  Rachel caught me, her still-shimmering hand burning my skin. I bit back a cry, and she quickly pulled away her hand.

  “Sorry!” she whispered, looking genuinely distressed.

  “It’s okay,” I stood back up, ignored my burns as I folded the shadows around us. “Are you ready to do this?”

  She narrowed her eyes at me and signaled that we should get going. We stepped past the two dead bodies, and I saw body parts for maybe three more on the floor.

  My heart hammered in my throat. I’d just been with Ian. The green light had danced in his dark eyes, his voice soft and soothing…

  Please be safe.

  Rachel held her gun before her, steadying it with her right hand. It looked like a bolt gun – a mix between a shotgun and a crossbow.

  Nice.

  I brought up my taser gun. I hadn’t gotten to use it yet, and it could be pretty damaging at full capacity. I was hoping it would knock out Alicia completely. If we could question her, find out what exactly was going on, who she worked for…not to mention what she’d done with the old woman, we might be able to stop something worse from happening.

  Worse than the entire Guild of Shadows being executed where they stand.

  I took another step, careful to avoid blood lazily trickling on the floor. There were no carpets to absorb the blood, here.

  Glitter. I’d left him behind. He’d be fine, I told myself, trying to calm the knots in my stomach. But the creature had focused its attentions here. Probably heading toward the canister, which Sonsil undoubtedly kept in his quarters or office or something equally guarded.

  Torn between stealth and speed, we moved as quickly as we could, following the trail of bodies. Alicia clearly didn’t care about not being found. She knew she had the advantage, and that we were pretty much powerless to stop her.

  We turned down a third corridor, and I glanced down at a movement to my left.

  My heart dropped.

  Ian!

  A bad slash cut across his chest. His breathing was shallow, his face deathly pale. Blood gurgled up and came out in dribbles from the side of his mouth, as he tried not to choke on it.

  I didn’t even know if he was conscious, his eyes scrunched up in pain, his limbs perfectly still.

  “Ian,” I whispered at his ear. “You have to shift. You heal when you shift.” I took his hand in mine. Rachel was on one knee, still within my shadows, gun at the ready as she kept an eye out.

  “Ian,” I pleaded, my voice choking on his name. “You have to shift. Please.”

  His brow furrowed, but I wasn’t sure he’d heard me.

  I leaned in, calling him by the first name I’d used for him, when I thought he was actually a dog.

  “Max,” I whispered. His fingers squeezed mine gently, and then his entire body folded onto itself, changing shape. Rachel glanced down, having never seen him shift.

  “He likes privacy,” I said, and she turned back to the corridor.

  Soon, Max lay on the ground, a big shaggy dog that I absolutely loved. He pushed himself onto all fours, the gashes completely healed.

  “Ian,” I wrapped my arms around him, smelling the fur and life on him. He wagged his tail and nuzzled my neck.

  Time to go. I indicated for him to stay close. He nodded. We started down the hall again. There were fewer bodies, which could be really good. Or really bad.

  I stepped down another hall, uncertain where to go with the lack of trail, but Ian nuzzled me to turn left. There was no door there, just a wall. I glanced over to Rachel, who looked impatient to get going. Ian stood on his hind legs, his paw hitting a slight panel in the wall. It had looked like a decorative pattern, so I hadn’t even noticed it.

  Ian was right. I wasn’t ready to be an operative yet.

  The wall shifted sideways. And revealed pure chaos behind it.

  Sonsil stood badly hurt, several Guild operatives dead at his feet. But he had managed to hold his own, sparks flying as his twin swords met the creature’s invisible blades.

  I gathered my shadows and slammed them toward him, revealing Alicia in all her glory. Sonsil took the advantage, kneeling and striking her legs before rolling away, leaving a trail of his own blood.

  Ian growled and jumped after Alicia, going for her neck, but there was no soft flesh to get hold of – it was all rock-hard. He leapt away, landing on his feet before propelling himself further as swords came crashing down.

  I tightened my shadows around her. Maybe I could hold her there, if I tried hard enough…she turned on me, her eyes narrowing. She knew I was the one doing this.

  Where the hell was Glitter and his damn suggestions? Probably under my damn bed.

  “Alicia,” Rachel called out, grief in her voice. “Whatever’s making you do this, you’re stronger than it. Fight back!”

  For a second, Alicia focused on Rachel, and something else seemed to shine in those diamond eyes.

  They didn’t seem so cold.

  “Alicia, please!” Rachel pleaded. “I don’t want to lose you, too!”

  Alicia’s arms shifted sideways, losing their attack position. But she didn’t answer, as though trapped in a miasma of indecision. The entire room became flooded with the scent of sugar and sweets, a sickly layer over the stench of death.

  Sonsil took advantage of her confusion, striking her in the back. Rachel screamed. Alicia screamed. I think I screamed.

  The blades came back up, shredding parts of Sonsil’s coat as he fell back, Ian growling in front of him, standing guard.

  I ran to them, throwing my shadows up around Alicia, trying to stop her from moving. To hold her steady.

  To stop her from killing anyone else.

  She planted her right leg down and pushed, all four arms coming up like shields against herself as she tried to cloak again. She pushed to break my shadows.

  I screamed, pulling the shadows from all around, as far as I could go. From the floors above and below, from the bodies still bleeding out, from the minute cracks in the seemingly perfect metal surfaces…but Alicia pushed through.

  Ian growled beside me, his fur on end, but he couldn’t stop her.

  Sonsil struggled to stand back up, with little success.

  “You killed my crew,” Rachel spat out from the other side of her. “Our crew!” She took a step toward her, throwing aside her gun as her skin began to glow.

  “Rachel!” I said, ducking as Alicia came close. I managed to push her back with my shadows, her limbs straining against their strength. I surrounded her with shadows, every crack revealed and brought to light.

  On the metal band surrounding her chest, I thought I spotted, etched in it, a guild symbol. My blood ran cold.

  “Rachel, wait…” before I could stop her, Rachel screamed, pink shimmers gliding on the air around her.

  “I won’t let you kill another crew!” She screeched in anger and grief, light exploding from the shimmers.

  “Down!” I screamed, and threw myself to the ground, keeping my shadows around Alicia, hoping she wouldn’t have the chance to strike before Rachel exploded.

  Rachel unleashed all of her powers at once, a great shockwave pummeling into us. I lost track of Ian and Sonsil, an
d Rachel, and even myself as I went flying right out of the room.

  I’m pretty sure I lost consciousness, or nearly, and only recovered my senses when a dog licked my face. Ian whined as I opened my eyes and pushed myself up on my elbow.

  “I’m okay,” I said, patting him. He sat down beside me, looking back into the room. I could see straight outside where a massive hole had been punched into the side of the building. I could also see three floors up, and three below. Rachel had managed to pull herself back toward the wall, but hadn’t exited the room, a bit of floor still holding her up.

  Sonsil stood, looking fierce and proud despite being covered in blood. He sheathed both swords on his back, then helped Rachel up and out of the precarious room.

  “I think,” Sonsil said, “that that did it.”

  As if to punctuate his words, one of the sword arms tumbled down from where it had landed, three floors up.

  It was definitely over.

  Which was great, because every part of me hurt.

  Rachel closed her eyes, as though saying a silent prayer, or imagining she was on the sea, far away, with her crew alive, happy, and laughing by her side.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  All things considered, we’d been lucky. The injured filled the infirmary, meaning lots of people had survived. We’d lost an entire chunk of the building, but we were just leaving anyway.

  Not too bad, for a day’s work.

  Per his request, I stayed near Sonsil, as Ian seemed trapped in dog form for now. Following the attack and the destruction of most of the operatives’ section of the Guild, they were getting ready to move. Humans would come soon, to see what the hell had happened to the building. The fewer Traded here, the better.

  Rachel had left for the infirmary, having burned herself with her own explosiveness. My burns weren’t bad, and none of my injuries stung too hard.

  Ian sat beside me, and I petted him as I looked around, testing the shadows. Parts of Alicia were still cloaked, but I could highlight them for others to see. The trick was in scouring the entire floor.

  “Another foot,” I said, pleased I’d found it. She’d exploded everywhere, so it wasn’t easy work. Our main worry was that someone would trip on a cloaked sword arm and lose a foot.

  I pushed my shadows up. “There!” A piece of arm embedded in the wall by the force of the explosion.

  Operatives followed my trail and packed the pieces in special containers. We had three out of four arms, but the last one proved elusive.

  “Do you want me to go down?” I asked Sonsil, looking at the shattered room.

  “No,” he said. “The building isn’t that stable anymore, so we should make our exit,” he turned from me to the operatives, indicating that the body parts containers should be placed in the third door to the right, where “special” transport would be arranged.

  I imagined the canister was there, too.

  “Everything safe?” I asked Sonsil, raising an eyebrow.

  He looked at me as though to say he didn’t need to answer me, but relented. “Yes. We’ll start by moving the initiates. Then the operatives and special transport.”

  “Perfect,” I said. “And the wounded?”

  “With the initiates,” Sonsil said. “Are you concerned about your friend?”

  I looked down to Ian, then realized he meant Rachel. Could I trust Sonsil? I placed my hand on Ian’s head. Sonsil had found Ian and kept him safe. He’d protected him from the world, given him a place to stay, a purpose.

  But even Ian wasn’t sure if he could trust Sonsil.

  I held my peace, choosing not to tell him that I’d seen Rachel talking with Alicia. After all, hadn’t Rachel just killed her? I just didn’t know if Sonsil would use the information for other means.

  There had been enough betrayals today, and this information hardly seemed important.

  Not anymore.

  “I’ll go check on her,” I said, and then added. “If you don’t need me here anymore?”

  “No,” he said. “Ian can oversee the transport here. I believe I’ll head to the infirmary myself,” he said. He was covered in his own blood, his shirt slashed in several placed.

  “That’s probably a good idea,” I said.

  “A good operative is a living one, after all,” he said with a wince. He gently patted Ian and then shuffled his way toward the infirmary. I watched him go. He’d put up a good fight. He might be human, but he was a highly trained human.

  “I’ll be back,” I knelt beside Ian, looking deep into his eyes. I could see him, there. I could see his intelligence and gentleness. He’d almost died on me. If he hadn’t shifted…

  I forced the thought away and hugged him. “Be careful,” I said. “I’ll see you soon.”

  He licked my cheek and I laughed as I stood up and, without a second glance back, headed to my room.

  It was time to pull Glitter out from wherever he’d hidden himself.

  #

  The lights weren’t on in my room when I opened the door, which worried me. Glitter couldn’t see in the dark. At first glance, I couldn’t see him beside my bed. I knelt beside it.

  “Glitter? Are you in here?” Please be in here. What if he’d been caught by Alicia and I’d been too busy running around to notice?

  “Glitter?” I peered under the bed.

  I saw him there. Two green eyes shining, looking back at me.

  “It’s okay, Glitter,” I said gently, holding out my hand to help him out. “The monster is gone.”

  The two eyes focused on me, unblinking. They seemed steady. Too steady. Something was different about them, but before I could place it, Glitter spoke. His voice wasn’t raspy anymore.

  “Are you sure about that, Tira?”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  I drew my shadows around us, though I wasn’t sure why. I really needed to get to the special shipment, without being seen. Glitter walked behind me, silent as we both walked by operatives and initiates, the place bustling with the noises of imminent departure.

  The whole place breathed more easily. We’d been under the threat of attack for days now and, now that it was gone, everyone seemed more relaxed. Grieving, yes. In shock, certainly. But also more relaxed.

  Like we’d gotten to the end of a book, and finally knew who would die and who would live, so we could enjoy the last denouement in peace.

  This is a strange line of thought.

  Wrapping the shadows more tightly, I kept walking, as though in a dream. Maybe this was a dream, and there would be cake at the end.

  Cake with icing and sugar and those fun flowers…

  No. That wasn’t right. This wasn’t a dream.

  I’d smelled sugar before, in the Chengzu Guild, before the creature hurt me.

  Before the creature cut me, but didn’t kill me.

  I tried to focus my mind, to think about where I was going and why, but those threads evaded me. I just needed to get to the operatives’ section. To the special shipment, before it left.

  I saw the creature. I could tell the guild members about it. They came together to form a plan.

  Because of cake.

  Because of cake.

  The door leading to it was closed. I placed my hand on the biometrics pad, and it opened.

  It seemed my promotion had come through, probably to help with the movement of everything now that so many operatives were dead.

  I’d get more freedom. More equipment! Missions!

  I’ll get to visit Clay.

  Why was I so sad? Where was I? I’d walked up the corridor. I needed to remember something important.

  The sugar is in your mind and in his mind and you’re not you break free break free

  Wait. Was that Ian, sitting before the closed door, keeping a sharp eye out, waiting patiently for the transport to come? To take the body parts away... And whatever treasures the Guild of Shadows hid here. And the canister.

  The
canister!

  Oh no. No no no. I tried to break free, but a hand reached the back of my head, and I couldn’t stop the shadows from forming more thickly around us, hiding us.

  I managed to moan just a little bit.

  Ian looked up, cocked his head sideways. I couldn’t make more noise, and I stopped walking, held in place by a power I couldn’t see.

  But Ian stood now. He could smell me. His tail wagged once, then stopped. A growl erupted from his jaw.

  Glitter’s hand flicked, a dart hitting Ian in the chest. He slumped to the ground, soundless.

  Ian. I couldn’t scream his name. We started walking again, and I couldn’t even turn to look at him, to make sure he was all right.

  “You made this too easy,” Glitter said as I opened the door to the special shipment. Damn biometrics!

  “I’ve been following you since the first guild where you found me. I knew you’d lead me to the canister, eventually. I figured one purple demon was enough for a world to hold, and you were the one who stole the canister, along with your buddy Clay. A slight suggestion to make sure you survived the first battle, and you led me straight where I needed to go, if a bit of a circuitous route.” He looked at me. “Wait here,” he ordered, and I did, standing by the door.

  I tried to move my arm, but couldn’t. Somewhere behind me, Ian lay on the ground. Breathing proved difficult, my breaths unable to accelerate to match my mounting distress, my heart pumping increasingly quick and my lungs struggling to meet the demand.

  I felt lightheaded and swallowed hard, trying to calm myself so I didn’t pass out.

  “But Ian, well, he was a gift,” Glitter said as he pulled the canister out. He tossed it into his shoulder bag and stood before me. Gone were his bent back and his broken gait. Gone were his glowing green eyes, and his hesitant movements. I managed to move my hand, just a bit.

  I really wanted to strangle him.

  “Nice,” he said, seeing my hand twitch. He looked thoughtful. “I’m sorry we won’t get to hang out anymore, for what it’s worth.”

  I wished I could spit in his face. He held out his hand, and his bandages slithered off him, revealing covered arms underneath, in some kind of dark green fabric.