Council of Peacocks

by M Joseph Murphy

  Bethany felt numbness shoot through her.

  Then her chin bounced against the floor again and everything went black.

  ***

  It only took Echo an instant to realize she couldn’t stop the Edimmu from taking the children. So she ran. Before most of the Anomalies registered what was happening, before the first of them fell to the ground with broken bones only to be swallowed by darkness, she warped the spatial field and jumped into the light. She closed the circle as quickly as she had summoned it.

  Silence.

  She looked around, not sure at first where her panic had taken her. The air was clear, clean and brisk. Below were thick, green forests of healthy trees; above, snow and ice hung to the ridges of untamable mountains. It took her brain several seconds to confirm what her body knew instinctively.

  “Home,” she said. She did not know if this particular mountain had a name but she was somewhere in the Jeseníky mountains in northern Moravia. “I was born not far from here.” The village no longer existed, of course. Everyone she had known in that old life was dead and buried. Even their graves were long forgotten now.

  “Mother would have loved the view from here.” She sat down on a nearby rock, took deep breaths and stared out over the wilderness below. It was strange for her to think how old she was, far older than the trees. Most of the years slid through her memory, mercurial and jumbled, but her childhood stayed with her. Playing games by the river. Days watching clouds and birds. And the day Wisdom took her. He had been a different person then. Violent and cruel. Now he genuinely seemed to care about her. It was easy, sometimes, to forget what he had done to her. To her family. Now, it was all she could think about.

  Echo covered her face with trembling hands and tried to push the memory of screams away. Somewhere in the world, people were dying because she had run out on them. In and of itself, that was no concern to her. Humans died every day, after all. But she had made a promise. A promise to Wisdom to keep the children safe. If they died on her watch, he would be angry. Or worse, disappointed.

  She shut down the voice of instinct and rose to her feet. She opened another circle of light. Echo looked back once more on the mountains and forests of Moravia. Then she was gone.

  ***

  Something pounded against the door again.

  The sofa moved back another inch.

  “We have to do something.” Jessica said. She brought her right arm up to her head and squinted her eyes.

  “What?” David licked his lips. He slapped himself across the face several times. “I can’t die like this.” He ran forward and slammed his body against the sofa until it slid firmly back up against the door.

  “Not that way,” Jessica said. “Use your EFHBs. They’re stronger than your body.”

  “I don’t know how!” His voice came out in a shrill and broken fashion. The realization that this little girl was handling the situation far better than him embarrassed him. The only thing that infuriated him more than his own weakness was having someone else recognize it. He howled and slammed his fists against the floor. “I’m flippin’ useless! Damn!”

  “Stop it!” Jessica shouted. She tried to push herself off the couch with her good arm but the effort made her woozy again. “Stop your whining or they’re going to kill us! Quit being a baby and fight back!”

  Radiant rage and a kind of hush crept through David. He turned to Jessica. He wanted to slap her. Then he set his jaw in determination.

  “Good. I’m angry,” he said. “Now I can fight back.”

  He stood up, moved away from the couch and focused his mind on the other side of the door. Beads of perspiration built up along his arms as the temperature in the room rose sharply. The air around the door rippled. Sweat dripped off his face and fingertips.

  The pounding stopped.

  On the other side of the door, something hissed.

  Then it began to scream.

  ***

  Echo stepped out of the portal just as an Edimmu grabbed Todd by the throat. The lizard with wings stood over eight feet tall. It slammed Todd’s head against the ceiling several times in quick succession until the stone was dark with blood. The creature turned at the flash of light as the portal opened. Before he could focus on Echo, though, Elaine stepped from the portal and started shooting.

  Three more Edimmu appeared, one of them dragging a mess of clothing and flesh that looked like Bethany. They stopped, eyes flashing yellow as Elaine fired her modified Mossberg Mariner shotgun in quick succession. Echo stretched out her hands, took a strong grip on the magnetic strings of reality, and twisted them. Bolts of lightning shot through the air and singed the Edimmu’s chests. They dropped the body and rushed toward a pool of shadow that hung suspended in the air a few inches from the wall.

  “Not today,” Echo said. She brushed her hands through the air toward the Edimmu’s escape route. She clenched her fingers into a fist. The dark portal warped like a piece of paper, crinkled and shredded. Then, with a soft pop, the shadows disappeared.

  The Edimmu stopped mid-stride, wings flapping. They turned as one, joined by a common intelligence.

  Elaine emptied her shotgun into one of them. When the creature fell, she threw the shotgun aside, pulled out her MP-5 sub-machine gun and turned it on the other three. Echo rushed to Todd, who now lay slumped atop a table under the body of the Edimmu. Fingers to his throat, she felt for a pulse and let out a sigh of relief. At least the boy was still alive.

  The remaining Edimmu each held their right arm outstretched, palms open and outward. The bullets from the sub-machine gun sprayed against an invisible barrier several feet in front of them. They started walking toward Elaine.

  “Enough, Elaine.” Echo said. “I’ll take care of these three. Go check on the others.”

  With a nod, Elaine stopped firing and rushed toward the living quarters. A few steps later, an unseen force lifted her off the ground and tossed her backwards. She landed on her back with a thud. One of the Edimmu laughed, a mixture of hissing and guttural sounds.

  ‘I hope I made the right choice,’ Echo thought. ‘Even with Elaine’s help, this isn’t the sort of thing I’m good at.’

  From somewhere deep in the living quarters, a scream that was not human filled the air.

  Chapter Eighteen

  David waited until the scream stopped and then moved toward the door.

  “Don’t,” Jessica said. She pulled her tattered shirt closer to her skin, closing the holes in the fabric. “It’s not dead.”

  ‘I wish I could feel that,’ he thought. He gave his head a single shake but kept moving. ‘It has to be at least incapacitated. I felt the flames hit his flesh. Whatever these creatures are, I know now they can be hurt.’

  He bent down, braced his feet, and pushed the couch away from the entrance. When there was enough space for him to open the door just a crack, he stopped pushing. Just in case.

  He put his hand on the doorknob and started to turn.

  “You’re being stupid.” Jessica was standing now. She brushed sweaty hair away from her face. Whatever signs of weakness there had been when she had broken down in tears was gone. She still looked like a broken doll with her damp, red eyes and the ugly break of her arm. Her stance and the steadiness of her eyes radiated nothing but strength. “It’s stronger than that. It’s stronger than us.”

  David turned the knob all the way and heard it click open. “You don’t know how strong I am,” he said. Slowly, he let the door open.

  He peeked through.

  On the ground, black as coal, was a pile of scaly legs and arms and wings. It twitched, the movement amorphous and subtle like snakes squirming under a black blanket. Then he saw the eyes, white ovals with thin green slits down the middle.

  Looking at him.

  “Damn.”

  As quickly as he could, he pushed against the door to slam it shut. His arms felt heavy and thick like he was moving through water. Before he could blink, the Edimmu was on its feet. It hisse
d – a forked tongue shooting out through human teeth – and slammed its shoulder against the slightly open door. Pain shot through his forehead where the door hit him. He flew back, falling on his shoulder as the creature charged into the room. Its black, oily wings fluttered back and forth. It grabbed the sofa in one enormous hand and tossed it away like so much cardboard.

  David’s anger was gone, replaced again by the fear that made him powerless. He closed his eyes, instinct screaming at him to flee. He pushed and pushed with weak arms that kept buckling at the elbow as he tried to get up. Something smacked him in the back of the head. His face slammed forward, breaking his nose. Somewhere behind him, Jessica screamed.

  ***

  The Edimmu, caught off guard by their colleague's howl of pain, turned slightly toward the living quarters. For just a moment their concentration was divided between curiosity and keeping the shield in place.

  “Go!” Echo shouted at Elaine.

  Elaine jumped to her feet and ran toward the scream. Echo reached out, twining her fingers within the weave of energy and force that held the atoms of the room together. Then, once again, she clenched her fists. Nosebleeds accompanied tiny hemorrhages she set off in the Edimmu’s brains. Elaine rushed past them as each Edimmu fell to its knees, reptilian hands over the all-too-human faces.

  Echo tore at the magnetic strings again. Forks of lightning shot from her fingertips across the dry air. Scaled flesh sizzled. The Edimmu shrieked.

  Then, corner by corner, the shadows began to grow.

  ***

  Elaine fought the urge to run down the hallway. The submachine gun hung around her neck on a tight strap. She held it firmly with sweaty palms. Recklessness could be fatal. She inhaled through her mouth to avoid the stench of the scorched bodies and smoldering fabric that littered the hallway. All the doors she passed were open, revealing room after room of carnage.

  ‘Only a few bodies,’ she thought. ‘They must have taken the others.’ Several of the dead wore white uniforms. Garnet’s employees. ‘Wisdom knew this was going to happen. He chose to let this happen. I can only imagine the alternative.’

  Down the hallway, she heard a scream. Jessica.

  ‘At least she’s alive,’ Elaine thought. Wisdom would have been most upset if he lost her. From what Wisdom had told had her, Jessica was vital to their success. She let the submachine gun fall back against her body and took an M-9 handgun in each hand. These weapons would minimize the risk of Jessica getting caught in the crossfire.

  Jessica screamed again.

  Elaine moved quickly now, a brisk walk with outstretched arms. She fired as soon as she stepped into the room. The Edimmu had its back to the door, both hands round Jessica’s neck. It held her above its head while she kicked at its body and beat at its hands. Neither made its grip on her any less firm. Elaine aimed both guns at the Edimmu’ knee caps. The creature howled and tossed Jessica like a sack of potatoes aimed right at Elaine. She rolled out of the way, letting the tiny body crash behind her. Whatever damage Jessica took in the fall, Elaine had still accomplished her goal. There was nothing now between her and the Edimmu.

  The Edimmu hissed again. The air filled with the stench of ozone, like damp air after a lightning strike and, hands clenched in fists, it vomited bright red flame from his mouth. Elaine twisted to the left, barely escaping the attack. She dropped to the ground and tossed the gun in her right hand away. Then she grabbed the handle of her hunting knife, throwing it as hard as she could. It spun a full rotation in the air before the blade stabbed into the Edimmu, firmly in the middle of its forehead. It looked up, struggling to see the thing imbedded in its skull. It screamed again, a war cry. Then it fell and was silent.

  Elaine ran to Jessica. The girl coughed but wasn’t moving. Elaine recognized five serious injuries that were potentially life threatening.

  “No time for caution,” she whispered to herself. She squatted down and carefully helped Jessica to her feet while she talked. “Listen, Jessica. We have to get you away from here. I know you are hurt, but we’re going to have to move quickly. Can you do that?”

  Jessica nodded. Elaine put an arm around her waist and let the child put most of her weight on her. Then Jessica pointed at a nearby body.

  “David is still alive,” she said.

  Elaine looked over at the crumpled man. The back of his head was a mash of blood and matted red hair. As if prodded by her eyes, David twitched and pushed himself up on tenuous arms until he was on all fours. He blinked several times, every movement maddeningly slow. Then his eyes landed on Jessica and Elaine.

  “You look like hell, Ross.” His face was a mass of broken and bruised flesh. “Injuries like that require a hospital. You’re lucky to be alive. You wouldn’t be standing if you were a normal person. Anomalies are fast healers. Just don’t pass out. You’re still vulnerable to concussions.” Elaine looked at Jessica. “How many others are still here?”

  Jessica shook her head, a tear falling down her cheek.

  Elaine bit her lips, took hold of her sub-machine gun again and used it to motion them out into the hallway.

  Then there was a series of screams. A whoosh of hot air rushed past them.

  Silence.

  Elaine raised a hand, motioning for them to be silent. Guns drawn, she stepped away from Jessica and crept forward into the sitting room.

  “It’s clear,” she said.

  Jessica walked forward, stumbled and nearly fell. David tightened his grip on her.

  “Holy. Crap.” David stopped in his tracks, mouth open. Echo was burning. Blue and pale green flames streaked up and down her arms, tracing her breasts and legs without consuming her flesh or clothes. She stood in the middle of three piles of black ash. Echo looked up from the piles. David caught Echo’s eye. She flinched. Her pupils shone bright orange for a moment. Then her eyes cooled to a deep black and the flames on her arms disappeared.

  Everything else in the room was destroyed. Todd lay on top of a table, legs bent at the knee and raised so that his feet were flat on the table close to the base of his spine. Elaine exhaled with relief when Todd coughed, a harsh wet sound that confirmed he was still alive. Barely. The table was one of the few pieces of furniture still intact. The paintings that had given the subterranean apartment a sense of sophistication were now squares of half-burnt paper, their surfaces marred by black smears and holes where the canvas had been burned completely away. Under a long red sofa, upended and blackened, Elaine glimpsed grey hair. Bethany. Her legs hung out twisted at an odd angle and she was not moving.

  “Is it safe?” Jessica asked. The strength was gone from her eyes now. Only the tears remained.

  Echo shook her head. “No. There’s something else here.” She walked past them and stood at the mouth of the hallway. “It’s down in my room.”

  Jessica shook her head. “It doesn’t feel the same way these monsters do. It’s very powerful. And it’s not alone.”

  Echo wiped the palms of her hands against the sides of her pants. “You’re right. It feels slimy. This one I know. Elaine, take the others and get out of here.”

  “That’s not happening.” Elaine took one step forward then stopped. Once again, Echo was covered in blue flames.

  “Get them out of here,” she said.

  For a moment no one moved. Then Elaine let the gun fall against her body and nodded.

  Echo turned and walked out of their sight.

  A dark wind began to blow.

  ***

  David watched Todd squirm in pain. He knew they had to move him, knew they couldn’t.

  “She’s dead, isn’t she?” Todd said. His face was contorted, eyes squeezed shut, and lips open to reveal teeth covered in blood. “Bethany’s dead. I heard her scream for a while, then nothing.”

  “Yes,” David said. “They broke her back.” He left Jessica and walked over to Todd. He light squeezed Todd's shoulder in support. “It looks like she managed to crawl…” David stopped, realizing what he was saying. />
  Todd yelped, like a dog hit by a car. He sobbed, bringing a hand covered in blood to cover his face.

  “Damn it,” Todd howled. He let his hand fall away from his face and opened his eyes. “She was my best friend in the whole world.” He stopped talking, let his head fall to the side and stared off into the rubble. “Help me up. I have to see her.”

  “I don’t think….” David started.

  BOOM!

  An explosion shook the walls. A white blur flew down the hallway and crashed into a wall. It hit with a solid thud and dropped to the floor. Only then did David realize what the blur was.

  “Echo!” Elaine ran to where the other woman lay in the dirt.

  Before Elaine reached her, Echo pushed herself to her feet and brushed the dirt from the lapels of her white jacket. “Damned suit is ruined,” she said.

  “Echo.” Elaine’s mouth fell open and she quickly forced it shut, tightening her grip on the submachine gun. “You’re bleeding.”

  “What?” Echo looked up and saw blood dripping down over her eyebrows. “Yes, it appears so. Put the gun away, Elaine. It won’t do any good here.”

  “Is it one of them? One of the bastards on the Council?”

  “No, Elaine. Just an old friend.” Echo’s eyes flashed orange. “I thought I told you to get them out of here. I’ll meet you in the city below.”

  “Echo,” Elaine started. “You can’t.”

  “Don’t presume to tell me what I can or cannot do, Sweetie. You have a very special place in Wisdom’s heart, but you are only human to me. Remember that. Now, get them down to the city. Fast. He’s coming.”

  Pale and shaken, Elaine nodded. “Grab Todd,” she said to David. Despite the crazed look in her eyes, her voice was calm. “Help him off the table and move quickly.”

  He nearly toppled over. David offered him a shoulder for support. Elaine went to help Jessica. The four of them ran down the spiral stairs.

  “This is bad,” Todd said. He grimaced every time his right leg hit the ground.