by Ciara Graves
“Bobby,” I yelled.
He shuffled down the hall from the rear of the house. “Yeah?”
I scowled. “Kexan and I are heading out to hunt. Keep an eye on Lela.”
He saluted me with that stupid, crooked grin of his. “Sure thing.”
“Get her out of that room. And try to get her to talk. About anything.” I looked up the stairs, worried. She hadn’t come out yet. “On second thought. Just a minute,” I told Kexan, then stomped back upstairs.
Lela’s door was unlocked, and when I opened it, she was standing at the window watching the sunset through the tall, dead pines. She had her arms wrapped around herself, and her long hair hung down her back.
“Now what do you want?” she snapped without turning around.
“You going to come downstairs or not?”
“You going to carry me again, like the jackass you are?”
She whirled around as she said it, hair flying wildly around her shoulders. When we first met, she never cursed. Lately, it seemed to be slipping out of her mouth more and more. Her cheeks didn’t redden with harsh language anymore either. The restrictions she had from being an angel were quickly slipping away. I wondered if she noticed the difference in herself.
“If I have to,” I finally said.
Her arms fell to her sides. It took everything I had to keep my face blank as she marched past me, heading for the door, then down the stairs. I followed as she entered the living room and threw herself onto the couch.
“Happy?”
“Not until you talk,” I muttered. “Kexan, you coming or what?”
“Where are you going?” Lela sat up straighter. “Mech?”
“Nowhere. Be back soon enough.” Not looking back, I walked out the front door and heard it shut behind me.
Kexan caught up with me on the front porch a few seconds later. He was grinning and shaking his head.
“What’s so amusing?”
He shrugged. “Nothing at all, my friend. Nothing. You ready to go hunting or what?”
I was ready to find a way to bust into the Heavens and slaughter Hadariel and his men but would have to settle for killing abominations. For now.
Fighting to keep my anger in check, I set off into the trees, aiming south as Kexan directed.
It didn’t take us long to reach the small outpost that had been essentially wiped off the map. We were maybe five miles from the safe house, and instinct screamed at me to get back to Lela. The two watchtowers that had been erected were nothing. Just piles of smoldering wooden beams. The ramshackle gate they’d constructed looked like a battering ram had been taken to it. The smell of burnt flesh made my nose crinkle.
“Shit. How did we not hear them getting attacked?”
I wondered the same as I walked toward the pile of bodies in the center of the clearing. They’d been dragged together, and something had lit them on fire. I prayed they were dead before those flames began to devour them. The rest of the small buildings were burning piles of rubble. There were a few dismembered zombie corpses scattered about, riddled with bullets and missing their heads.
They took a few of the bastards with them at least. I kicked over a body and frowned. He was an angel. A quick survey of the rest of the bodies told me he hadn’t been the only one here. Had they fought against the zombies, or had they joined them in attacking the outpost? There were no survivors to ask but seeing the dead angel almost made me turn back to Bear Run and Lela.
I pressed on. I had a job to do.
When I spotted a small hand sticking out of some of the destruction, I rushed to it, threw a collapsed wall aside then staggered back with a curse. The kid, maybe eight or nine, was missing his face. It was sliced off.
“Sick bastards,” Kexan spat.
I couldn’t stand the sight of the kid lying there, his tiny body mangled like that. Hellfire filled my palm, and with a silent prayer that his soul somehow found peace, I set him alight. He burned to ash in seconds.
“Mech,” Kexan uttered, and I spun around to find him crouching on the ground near the edge of the outpost perimeter. “Tracks. Abominations, from the size of them. Some hounds, too.”
“Heading which way?”
“West.” He stood but kept his gaze fixed on the ground. “Away from the safe house, at least.”
“For now. Let’s move.”
The tracks led us deeper into the woods and higher into the mountains. Night had fallen, but we could see well enough in the dark. Dead leaves rustled and sticks cracked, but nothing came out of the shadows.
In the near distance, several hounds howled, making me pause. They were close, and there were many of them. Ten or more, I guessed. When the second round of howls went up, Kexan and I came to a stop in the pitch darkness of night.
“What are they doing?” Kexan whispered on a breath.
I wasn’t sure. The way they howled back and forth was like they were talking. When one sounded only yards away, we hunkered down behind a large rock and waited.
Steps came seconds later.
Stealthily, I reached for a dagger at my hip and drew it free of its sheath. If this was going to turn into a fight, we’d have to take them down quietly. Alerting the entire pack would get us surrounded.
Kexan peered over the rock and shook his head. “Gone. It’s heading in the direction of the tracks.”
“Are they traveling together?”
“Your guess is as good as mine at this point.”
We continued through the brush, catching sight of broken sticks and deep impressions in the dirt from the massive weight of the abominations. We wound further into the woods until the trees grew so close together, we could barely fit between them.
Sticking to the same path instead of creeping along what was obviously a well-worn trail was not something I’d usually do, but there was no other place to go. Couldn’t fit between those trees, that was for certain. We moved slowly, a few feet at a time, then paused, listening.
The hounds continued to howl and yip. When something large lumbered through the trees to our right, we dove left, flattening ourselves against tree trunks.
Kexan was a yard or so ahead of me. The heavy cloud cover chose then to shift, and a rare ray of silver moonlight filtered through the gnarled branches. His eyes narrowed, then he motioned subtly.
With my back digging into the sharp, dried out bark of the tree, I turned my head to look around the trunk.
An abomination was breaking through trees like they were twigs. He stood ten feet tall with misshapen horns on his head. He carried a torch, and I shied back from the light. He wasn’t alone. Four hounds circled around him as they all stopped on the trail. The hounds sniffed the air, then growled.
There was no more time to waste. We had to take them out. Just as one of the hounds came around the tree, I lunged for it with my dagger and rammed it down through its thick skull. The beast’s eyes rolled back into its head as it hit the ground. The others snarled and came for me, but they hadn’t sniffed out Kexan yet.
He attacked from behind, slashing two along their backs, leaving me to deal with the third. It lunged for me, jaws wide and dripping saliva. I missed the bite aimed for my leg but caught its razor-sharp claws at my side. I tackled the hound to the forest floor and rammed a dagger into its heart. It died instantly.
I kicked the hound aside to find Kexan running right toward me, the abomination behind him. The rest of the hounds were dead. I braced myself, and when the monster grew closer, I sprinted straight for it.
As it swung its claws, I slid on the damp leaves and mud and went right between its legs, slashing at its ankles. It grunted, took two more lumbering steps, then dropped to its knees.
Kexan rushed back, and as the beast opened its mouth to roar, he slit its throat. For good measure, he clambered up its back and jammed two of his longer daggers into its head. I spat dirt as the abomination toppled. Kexan jumped away to stop from being crushed. I removed my dagger from the first hound’s head.
“For what?”
Abominations were hunting in packs. They were coordinating attacks with hounds and zombies. Now they had patrols?
“Let’s move before another one comes along. The next one might not be as easy to kill.”
We’d been fortunate, but my gut said the further we went down the path, the less luck we were bound to have. Whatever was out here, it wasn’t going to just be a few abominations and hounds. It was going to be worse. Much worse.
The path dipped sharply. I grabbed Kexan to stop him from stumbling down the steep incline. At the bottom were wooden spikes, aimed upward toward whoever continued on the path. Torches lit the space behind it. As we ducked into the shadows again, I noticed six zombies guarding the entrance to whatever lay in that clearing. They were armed with swords. Except one of them had a damned rifle slung over his shoulder.
I tapped Kexan on the shoulder, and we cautiously inched our way through the trees, heading down the slope as quietly as we could. One slip and we’d both be impaled on the wooden stakes that formed a large circle. A ditch filled with knee-deep, sludgy, foul-smelling water greeted us at the bottom.
I gagged. Behind me, Kexan retched. I took a few steps forward, trying not to slosh too loudly when I kicked a solid object. The water rippled, and a face appeared in the water. A body came with it.
Kexan cursed. Something hit the back of my shins.
“Mech,” he whispered.
“Keep moving,” I growled. “We can’t do anything for them now.”
More bodies appeared in the ditch. At least now I knew where the overwhelming smell of death came from. I ignored the faces looking up at me. They were just more reminders of how badly we were losing this war.
We circled the clearing, peering through the trees. The entire perimeter was protected by wooden stakes, as well as patrols of abominations accompanied by hounds. There was a group of zombies at the second entrance. There was no way for us to sneak in. When the trees parted enough to give us a clear shot, I was glad we hadn’t tried.
“Mech, you see this, right?”
I crouched in the disgusting, corpse-filled water and couldn’t find the words to answer. There had to be twenty abominations, maybe a few more. There weren’t any tents, but there were campfires. Wraiths glided through the ranks of zombies. Packs of hounds huddled around the flames. There was an entire legion of skeleton bodies toward the southeastern perimeter, all of them standing around. Waiting.
An army. Evil was gathering and building an army.
“We need to get to Koreth,” Kexan whispered.
My mind was on logistics. I tried to count, but there were too many. “Who’s leading them?”
“Over there,” he said, pointing toward the left. “They seem to be heading that direction.”
We trudged through the ditch, following it around toward the left of the encampment. They all were moving toward the far side of the open space. There was a wooden platform and on it stood a hooded figure. At first, I thought it was a wraith, but the way it moved was wrong.
“Is that a damned angel?” I leaned closer, cursing that we couldn’t get a clear view.
Whoever it was threw its hood back.
I growled, lunging forward without even thinking about what I was doing. Kexan dragged me back, and we went down in the muck and grime. He clamped a hand over my mouth, hissing in my ear to shut up or we’d both be dead. I fought against him, fighting to keep that evil, rotten piece of shit in my sights.
Hadariel. It was him. He was right there. I wanted to tear him to pieces.
“Stop it,” Kexan growled again. “Get a grip.”
“It’s him,” I snapped. “Let me kill him. Kexan, just let me kill him.”
“No, it’s not.”
“What do you mean? Yeah, it is.”
Kexan told me to take another look. I was ready to deck him just to get him off my back and let me finish Hadariel off now and end the war. Only when I took a second, longer look, I shoved my rage aside. I clambered to get out of the ditch and to the tree line.
“That’s not him,” I whispered. “Is that… what is that?”
“Not Hadariel. Sure as Hell looks like him though.”
Standing atop the platform was what appeared to be Hadariel’s twin. They looked damned similar, only this version had two sets of crimson horns sprouting through his hair and the wings that spread out behind him after he dropped the cloak were not feathered, but leathery and black. I would’ve said he was a demon, but the evil permeating the air and centered around him indicated he wasn’t our kin. Hell might’ve spit him out, but I’d never seen a creature like that.
“Whatever he is, he’s leading this army,” I said, not believing those words just came out of my mouth.
“And it would appear he’s making ready to send out the troops. Look.”
There was a rather large group of zombies making their way toward the gate we’d seen on the southern side of the encampment. I wanted to follow them and see where they went. If they were headed to take out another human outpost, we had to stop them. We stepped back into the ditch and worked our way around.
My boot became stuck. I tugged on my leg, twisting around to get free, but couldn’t move. My other leg became stuck, too.
The water rippled around me.
Kexan appeared to be fixed in the mud. I was ready to leave my damned boots if it’d get us out there when a hand grabbed hold of my calf.
A very bony hand.
Hands fisting at my sides, I looked down. The water in the ditch churned as the bodies we thought were dead came to life one after another. The entire ditch was filled with animated bodies possessed by souls that had clearly escaped from Hell. A second hand grabbed my other leg. Then a body with half a face, missing a lower jaw, clawed its way up my torso and out of the muck. A second clambered up my back as I strained to get away without causing too much of a disturbance.
The one in front of me let out a horrifying screech. I winced at the harsh sound. Those in the encampment started to shout. A horn blew.
“Seriously?”
I punched the zombie in the face hard enough to dislodge its head and send it plopping into the water. I tore myself from it and reached around for the one at my back. It raked sharp, bone-tipped fingers down my shoulder blades. Two more threw themselves at me. With my boots stuck in the mud, I couldn’t move and ended up trying to hold them both at bay while the one at my back continued to dig through my flesh like it hoped to dislodge my heart as its prize.
“Kexan,” I growled, wrenching one of their heads free then tearing the other’s arm from its shoulder and using it as a bat. “Open a portal!”
I would’ve done it, but my hands were occupied with zombies trying to gnaw off my arms while the third one was still digging its fingers into my back. I growled, shaking violently as I attempted to dislodge the zombies. More were coming from the encampment. If we didn’t get out of here, we would be dead.
“We’re gonna have company coming with us,” he shouted.
“We’ll take care of them. Do it!”
A body flew over my head and landed in the ditch, taking out three more on the way down. A burst of heat erupted at my back, and a firm hand landed on my bicep.
I was dragged backward as the winged beast from the platform let out a bellowing roar that shook the branches of the decaying trees. Then we were through the portal. It sealed behind us, cutting off the rest of the dead in the ditch from following.
We were back in Olem, just outside the barracks.
Demons rushed forward to help us get rid of the zombies clinging to us. The one on my back was removed, and the other two were executed in seconds by the guards in the courtyard.
“My lord,” one of the guards said as he steadied m
e. “What happened?”
“Long story. Where’s my father?”
“Meeting with the other demon lords elsewhere.”
“Kexan, you coming with me?”
“You’re bleeding,” he commented.
His face probably looked just as good as my back. He wiped the blood from his eyes with his hand. “You want to take time to get patched up?”
“No.”
“Good, let’s go.” We were just about to make for the main fortress that had direct portals to the other realms of Hell when a demon burst out the front doors, looking panicked.
“Mech! We got problems. The alarms are going off all over the damned place,” the demon shouted as he raced down the steps and ran right into me. “Outposts all through the Midwest are lighting up.”
“Evil?”
“No. Angels. They’ve finally made a damned appearance.” He thrust a torn piece of paper out.
I cursed when I spotted the name of the outpost near the top. “Lela.” I needed to tell Koreth about the army, but if they were going after Bear Run, she wasn’t strong enough to protect herself.
“Go,” Kexan told me. “Take some others with you. I’ll find your father.”
My wounds forgotten, fury flooded me.
Lela. I had to get to her in time.
Hadariel would not get his hands on her again.
Chapter 4
Lela
A hand grabbed my shoulder. I flailed, screamed, and came face-to-face with a zombie. I shrieked louder, ready to bring out my double-headed ax when Bobby’s face appeared out of the fog. My hands were still empty as I scrambled back against the couch, fighting to catch my breath.
“Just me,” he said. “You’re at the safe house. Just me.”
A nightmare. Damn it. I grunted, hanging my head. “Sorry.”
