by Brian Fuller
“For you, what’s the best part of being in love with someone?”
Now it was his turn to think. His relationships all spun around in his head, including his one steady girlfriend in high school, which had lasted all of two months. He’d dated two women while in the military, though he wasn’t sure he would even call that love anymore. Then there was Terissa, who he thought would be the love of his life. As an Ash Angel he had tried jump-starting Aclima’s heart with little return.
But surveying his past brought a realization. What he wanted from love had changed from when he was a young man, and even from where he began as an Ash Angel. But he had largely shoved love aside while they fought against Avadan, something he knew bothered the ever-patient Melody, who never missed an opportunity to let him know how she felt.
“Tough question, huh?” she said, smiling.
He nodded and looked away for a moment before answering. “I’m sorry, Melody. I just . . . well, love’s not been easy on me. I guess the idea of someone being there for me and me being there for them is what it’s all about. Maybe it’s a Marine thing, but knowing someone’s got your back—I mean really has got your back—well, it takes the fear out of just about everything. Not what you were looking for, I bet.”
“There are no wrong answers,” she said brightly. Everything about her was so bright. “What you said is beautiful. And I don’t mean to get all up in your business, but if what you said is true, then I can see why Terissa’s betrayal hurt you so bad.”
He scratched his head. “Yeah. Your turn.”
“Ask away,” she said.
“What do you see when you get torched?”
Her face fell a couple of notches, and he immediately felt bad for asking. “Sorry. That’s really personal. I’ll come up with another one.”
“No, no,” she said. “That’s how this works. All questions are fair.” She sighed. “I see you with her. You choosing her over me. You kissing her. You making love to her. Sometimes Aclima, too. It’s stupid, I know, but I see that stuff in my head sometimes even when I’m not being torched. You must think I’m an obsessed nut job, but like I said, I’ve had it in my head that you were mine from the time I was a little girl. From what you’ve told me, when you get torched, what you lost makes you feel like you’re not good enough. When I get torched, it’s what I don’t have that makes me feel that way.”
He reached out and touched her cheek, and she grabbed his hand and pressed it against her skin. He hoped he could let her in someday, hoped he could get beyond the darkness that always set his mind and heart to war. If anyone could pull him out if it, she could. He wasn’t sure if he was more afraid of failing to meet her expectations or of opening up and risking losing her.
“Be patient with me,” he said.
She kissed him lightly. “Be faster. Come on. It’s time for another lonely day out on the mean streets of Detroit.”
They went outside to find an overcast morning, bands of gray clouds stretching across the horizon. The Old Masters had loaned them two motorcycles, and considering who her father was, it wasn’t any surprise that Melody could handle a Harley with the same ease she could handle a guitar. And she looked way better in the leather than Dolorem ever did.
“See you tomorrow morning,” she said and then powered away to her patrol area downtown where the concentration of evil creatures was greater. Blanks got the “hot routes,” his just east of hers. He didn’t like sending her out there on her own, but he bit back the instinct to keep her out of harm’s way.
He was lifting his helmet to put it on when Oakes and Lotus drove up in a junky old car they had borrowed. A Ghostpacker was lying in the back seat, a slice of the evil spirit sticking up in the rear window. The Old Masters got out.
Oakes pulled her hair behind her head and secured it with a scrunchie. “We were hoping we could catch you. We snatched one of Legion’s victims. We know the Ash Angel Organization hasn’t had any luck exorcising the thing, and we haven’t either. But there is something you probably haven’t tried. It’s an Old Master technique, but I will share it with an Unascended.”
They opened the back and pulled out an unconscious black female. She was young, scrawny, and wearing a short black skirt and black shirt that showed her midriff. Her hair was short, makeup heavily applied.
“Where’d you find her?”
“Wandering the streets,” Oakes said. “Let’s get her inside.”
Helo grabbed her legs. “And what did you do to her?”
Oakes produced a syringe from her coat. “A little night-night juice, as we call it. Much better than punching them until they can’t see straight.”
Helo made a note to get the recipe for the night-night juice. The AAO seemed to favor a good beating over drugging. Perhaps the AAO had its reasons, but drugging seemed a little kinder. He and Oakes hefted the woman to the basement, where he and Melody had meditated together. After laying her out on the carpet, Oakes signaled for Lotus to come over. Together they put their hands on the unconscious woman, Oakes on the head, Lotus on the arm.
“Put one hand on the Possessed, Helo,” Oakes instructed. “We’ll do this together if we can.”
“Hold on,” Helo said. “You mean you can team Exorcise someone?”
“Yes,” she said. “It takes a little practice, and it’s usually not necessary. But with Legion, I don’t think there’s another way. Lotus and I have tried . . . and it isn’t pretty. We are hoping that with an Unascended, it might work.”
Helo shook his head. “I tried earlier. Legion kicked my ass.”
Oakes nodded. “Together, then. Let’s see what we can do. Lotus will take my hand. You take hers. We must all be connected to each other and to the Possessed. Inside the exorcism, our minds will be open to each other. The trick is to focus on Legion, not on each other. Don’t let Legion turn you inward. Got it?”
“I think so,” he said, taking Lotus by the hand and taking the Possessed’s hand with the other. “Let’s go.”
Oakes looked at Lotus. “Follow my lead. When I begin to Exorcise, the two of you join in.”
Virtus flowed from Oakes, then Lotus. Helo closed his eyes and Exorcised. Immediately, the crushing weight of Legion was dumped onto his soul like an Abrams tank, its malice and multitude of whispering voices close in his head. He could sense Oakes and Lotus inside his mind like they were some kind of phantoms. But with that sense came an impression of who they were, what they were like. Oakes was disciplined and dedicated, a true believer who took satisfaction in the life she lived. Lotus was younger, more adventurous and ambitious, and someone who craved an afterlife a little outside the lines.
“Helo has returned,” Legion mocked. “Are you ready now to receive your name, Unascended? Ready to learn what you really are?”
That scene from Christmas exploded back into his vision, right where it left off. His sense of Oakes and Lotus vanished. He had to get out of his own mind! It should be easy; he didn’t want to relive what Legion wanted to show him. He fought back, trying to find Oakes and Lotus again, shoving away the weight Legion brought to his mind. It was like trying to bench-press a hundred pounds too much, the bar dropping toward his neck.
Then he was out, back in the basement. Lotus had pulled his hand away from the woman.
“Have you ever Exorcised anyone?” Oakes said, face concerned.
“No,” he said. “My first try was Legion.”
Oakes stood and nodded like she understood. “You need practice. The mind is like a fortress, and the walls around yours still have some broken places where the enemy can get in. Exorcism is a great way to find those places so you can shore them up, but Legion’s a bit too strong of an enemy to cut your teeth on. We’ll see if we can find another one and get you up to speed.”
He felt a bit slow and weak but was grateful Oakes didn’t seem too disappointed. With the way they were all kneeling and offering him his service, he felt like he had some huge reputation he had to live up to.
&nbs
p; “Thanks,” he said. “And thanks for showing me that technique. I’d better get out on my patrol. See you tomorrow.”
As he walked up the stairs, Corinth called.
“Talk to me,” Helo said.
“Avadan’s show is starting. The Dreads and Ghostpackers are on the move.”
Helo picked up the pace, heading outside toward his motorcycle. “What is it this time? More buses?”
“No. Hospitals.”
Chapter 34
Cowboys
Helo’s phone blew up for the next two minutes with reports. Possessed and Dreads were loosely congregating around hospitals, some armed with pistols, knives, and bats. No Sheid sightings so far, but at least three hospitals had been targeted. Avadan continued his awful pattern: pick on the helpless. Compared to Avadan, Cain seemed to have some scruples.
Detroit’s day of pain had started. But they had a fighting chance this time. He and Corinth farmed Ash Angels out to the three locations to deal with the threat, but if this was anything like Saint Louis, Helo knew what would come next and that it would come soon. He needed to be in the middle of it, and after all the assignments had been distributed between the teams, he hopped on his motorcycle and burned down the street.
Sure enough, he hadn’t even left the neighborhood when Melody called it in: the desecration was spreading from somewhere near the Motor City Casino. He pulled Sicarius Nox and one of the Michael teams off hospital duty: the hunt for Avadan was on. After a warning to everyone else to get in a car or on a second floor, he zoomed away toward the south side of Detroit where Melody patrolled.
Again the morning traffic confounded him. Was Avadan choosing rush hour on purpose? And why the mornings? Dodging cars and slipping down the shoulder kept his thoughts occupied, especially as he drove into the spreading desecration field. It was like walking off a concrete sidewalk into sand. It took a minute to adjust.
He found Melody in a parking lot next the Motor City Casino complex and pulled in next to her. The main structure was a mixture of glass, stone, and brick, the roof a big, swooping dome, parking garages and parking lots clustered around it. Thankfully, not many people wandered nearby streets and sidewalks.
“Where did you first see it?” he asked after killing his engine.
“Somewhere over there,” she said, pointing north.
He got behind her on her bike. “We’ll find him by the feel. Let me call the teams.” She nodded and put her visor down. He sent tracking information to Sicarius Nox and the Michael team and then wrapped his arms around Melody’s waist. “Let’s go.”
She accelerated into the street with the same easy command of the machine as her father, navigating the traffic and the road like she had spent her life there. Helo closed his eyes, blocking out the noise of the engine, the rush of the wind, the hum of city traffic. He extended his senses. Avadan was out there somewhere pushing his black carpet out over the city, waiting for the desecration to absorb the Vexus from the hospital attacks to make him even more powerful.
After about five minutes of riding around, Helo felt the poison of hopelessness brush against his heart, just a hint of it. The feeling wafted in and out of his heart like a fickle breeze until Melody pulled onto Perry Street. Then it hit him like a gale. A redbrick parking garage rose to their right, and Helo directed her inside. They drove around the first level and then went up a ramp to the second. And that’s where they found him—and four Shedim.
Avadan’s choice of vehicle surprised him: a jacked-up Dodge Ram pickup. It was electric blue with fog lights, knobby tires, and a lift kit that set the running board almost two feet off the ground. He had pulled the truck backward into a stall—probably for a quick getaway—but the desecration flowed out of the truck, spilling down the parking-garage levels and out into the street. Two Shedim dressed like cowboys, with hats, boots, and flannel, leaned against the front of the truck. Avadan and two other Shedim sat inside the extended crew cab.
Helo directed Melody to park in a stall about fifty feet away to put them out of sight behind a Cadillac Escalade. Avadan and his Sheid crew eyed them but made no move. Being a Blank had its advantages. Helo knew they had to wait for the rest of the team to even have a shot, but he had to get them and their conspicuous auras in without tipping off Avadan that he was about to get ambushed.
He and Melody got off the motorcycle and hung their helmets on the handlebars. He put his arm around her waist and pulled her in—just a young couple out for a day at the casino at a ridiculous hour. She played the part like a true Gabriel, laughing like he’d told her some hilarious joke and kissing him on the cheek.
He led her out of sight of the Shedim, behind a wall, and stopped. She kept up the affectionate show while he dialed in Sicarius Nox and the Michael team and gave them the information. The play was simple: Sicarius Nox would use the Ford Expedition kamikaze style to disable Avadan’s truck, and then everyone would unload with all the bullets, Bestowals, and sanctified weapons they had.
A thrill started to build within him. Finally, finally, they had a chance to drop the hammer on Avadan. They had him cornered. They had his hospital attack covered. They had the manpower ready to go. It felt good.
“Hey,” Melody said in a sultry voice, “you didn’t sneak me out of my parents’ house to this Casino just to stand around in the parking garage. You ready to roll the dice, hotshot?”
She really would have been great as a Gabriel. Cassandra would have loved her. He had a hard time with the acting bit, but he’d give it a go. He grabbed her hips, and she put her arms around his neck. “The last time I snuck you in somewhere I rolled snake eyes. Remember that amusement park?”
“We got interrupted,” she said, kissing him and putting her forehead on his. “I think things might be a little different this time. But,” she said, pulling away a little as a car drove by, “I don’t think I want to be a parking-garage sideshow. We should really get inside.”
“Just waiting for my friends to show up,” he said.
She leaned in close and whispered, “I think we’d have more fun by ourselves, but if you want to be with your friends . . .”
Helo chuckled quietly. “You should have been an actress,” he whispered.
She kissed him slow. “Who’s acting?”
What had he ever done to deserve her? He wanted to believe it. It was there in her eyes as bright as gold and as real as her body beneath his hands. But how could he trust her love when he didn’t feel like he’d earned it? It would be like someone knocking on his door and telling him he’d won a lottery he hadn’t bought a ticket for.
“Why do you doubt it?” she asked, running a finger down his cheek.
And she could read him like a book. “It’s not that—”
A call from Sparks saved him from having to answer a question he didn’t have an answer for. “We’re outside the parking garage entrance and ready to unleash heaven on this guy. Michaels are right behind us.”
“Second level,” Helo said. Turn right at the end of the ramp and floor it. You’ll see it. Hard to miss.”
He hung up and rubbed Melody’s cheek with his thumb. “Are you ready for this?”
“I’ve been ready forever,” she said, though he didn’t think they were talking about the same thing. “I’ll be right beside you. You ready to show them who the real cowboy is?”
He could hear the engine revving, tires squealing. He let her go. “Faramir tell you that?”
“Yep. I’ll do the Hallowing. You do the rest.”
The red Expedition roared up the ramp and around the corner, and Finny gunned it. The engine growled as it whipped past, the Michael team right behind it in an old Chrysler Town and Country minivan. Helo waited until the awful crunching sound of SUV on truck before exploding out from behind the wall.
Then a supernatural pyrotechnic show worthy of the Fourth of July went off, the evil and divine slinging everything they had at each other. Red torches. Blasts of Glorious Presence. Angel Fire. Sheid Fire. Gun
Fire. The glow of sanctified weapons. The radiant pool of Melody’s hallow. It was beautiful and chaotic. The Expedition had ruined the front of Avadan’s truck, caving in the driver-side corner, tilting the whole truck up and angling the big tires at a forty-five-degree angle.
Andromeda and Sparks bolted out of the Expedition first, Finny and Shujaa blasting away at Avadan through the windshield, dismantling the truck from the top down with a shredding volley of hot lead. The Michaels piled out of the van and kept up the pressure, blasting at the Shedim. One Sheid went down after a swipe from Andromeda’s sanctified knife. Helo dove into the fray and took out another Sheid with a punch to its gut.
This was going to work. Avadan’s minions were overwhelmed.
Then Avadan ruined it. He shot through the roof of the truck and let loose with what Helo feared the most: the black torch. It hit Helo like a brick wall made of his worst memories. He fought it off. He could not fail now.
Opening his eyes brought nothing but bleak news. Every Ash Angel except for him and Melody had slumped to the ground or were doubled over in agony. The hallow was down, and Melody was up but stumbling around like a drunk.
Avadan hopped to the ground, the two remaining Shedim forming up beside him. The wacko was dressed like a Nebraska farm boy with a handsome face, wheat-colored hair, and a youthful look in his blue eyes. Helo half expected to see a shaft of wheat sticking out of his teeth. Avadan’s black aura and evil spirit turned his good looks into a horror show. The Loremaster smiled like seeing Helo was the best thing that had happened to him all day.
Helo pulled Melody back. He remembered something Cassandra had taught him: Glorious Presence could help people recover from a torching blast. He needed to get everyone back up. He strobed Glorious Presence like he was the light show at a concert.
The boyish Avadan winced a little, like he had just walked from a dark room into sunshine, and the Shedim slowed. It was working. Sparks was on one knee. Shujaa opened the door to the Expedition. A couple of the Michaels had crouched down and were gathering their weapons from the asphalt. Helo reached behind his back, grasping the hilt of the sanctified dagger under his coat.
