Roaring Blood (Demon-Hearted Book 2)

by Ambrose Ibsen

  “Settle down, kid!” he replied through a mouthful of frosting. “I saved you some. Don't go embarrassing yourself in front of everyone. Be a good host, why don't you?”

  I immediately stormed across the room to the cabinets, rifling through the drawer I used to store my knives. Selecting the biggest one I could find, I made a dash for the table and narrowly avoided Germaine's frosted carapace. “You're done! Done!”

  From the living room came Kubo and Percy in a hurry. They each took one of my arms and dragged me back towards the refrigerator, frothing at the mouth. “Cool your head, Lucy,” ordered the Chief. “I didn't come here to talk dessert.”

  I spied Kanta lingering near my record player in the living room, smirking. She'd cleaned up since last I saw her; a silver sari, a fresh braid and, perhaps most impressively, her ankle wasn't all swollen. There were bright bruises there, but she didn't have any trouble walking. Dr. Sargasso, or Mona, perhaps, had patched her up. Percy, who struggled to contain me, didn't look like death, either.

  As always, the Veiled Order's medical team had come through.

  Which meant only one thing.

  I was going to have to hack Germaine into such tiny pieces that not even Mona would be able to put him back together again.

  Germaine ambled over to the edge of the kitchen table. “So, uh, I guess we're all here now, eh?”

  Pushing me in the chest with an open palm, Kubo nodded. “That's right. It's nice to meet you, Germaine. I wasn't expecting...”

  “Surprised the hell out of me, too,” I said, reaching out for the knife. Joe and Percy herded me back towards the bedroom. “That disgusting little thing isn't fit to live. When this is over with, I swear I'm going to--”

  Kubo cleared his throat loudly. “Anyway, did you get ahold of your friend? The one in charge of the armory?”

  Germaine gave the spider equivalent of a nod, body twitching. “Yep. He'll meet us there.”

  “All right. Give me a minute,” said Kubo to the spider. Then, looking at me sharply, he waved towards the living room. “Lucy, a word?”

  I pushed past Joe and Percy, glaring at the spider who'd ruined my cake. The box was still there, with the price sticker on it and everything. I wondered if there was any part of the thing that hadn't been touched by Germaine's fuzzy appendages, if any of it could be salvaged. “What do you want, Chief?”

  Kubo nodded to the sofa. “Sit.”

  Sighing, I dropped down onto the cushion and looked up at him expectantly. “What is this? You about to tell me I'm adopted or something?”

  “No,” replied Kubo cooly. “I'm going to tell you about the plan we've come up with. See, the existence of this Archangel Saber is game-changing for us. The leaders of the Veiled Order are willing to do whatever necessary to procure it. We're setting out now to do so, in fact.”

  I rolled my eyes. “So, we flying out to Camden, New Jersey where this douche lives?”

  “You still don't understand how the Beyond works, do you, kid?” Kubo shook his head. “We're going to meet the guy at the armory. All of us will be heading into the Underground, where the two of you picked up Germaine. Once there, we're going to meet his buddy Dennis. Money talks in the Underground, and my bosses have a whole lot of it to throw around when they find something they want. Our job is going to be to enter the armory and leave with the sword.”

  “Fine, whatever. But it doesn't actually belong to this Dennis guy, does it? I thought the sword was just stored in the armory for safe-keeping. What if the owner doesn't want to sell?”

  Kubo arched a wooly brow. “I said we're leaving that place with the sword. One way or another. Got it?”

  I couldn't hold back my laughter this time. “Now, hold up. You mean to tell me we'll steal the Archangel Saber if we have to? Steal a holy sword? That's pretty fucked up, even for me. Aren't there rules against that kind of theft?”

  “Anyway,” continued Kubo, disregarding my sass, “we're all going into the Underground together. We don't know what we're going to encounter down there, or at the armory. There's... a rumor going around that Agamemnon's already scoped the place. A few informants have reported seeing someone matching his description in the Underground as recently as last week.”

  “Sure, but he can't wield the sword. It'd kill him, wouldn't it?” I asked.

  “Perhaps. But that doesn't mean he doesn't have guys on the inside who could smuggle it away and hide it. That's not the kind of weapon he'd like us to get our hands on.” He glanced over his shoulder at the others. “This is how things are going to go. We all venture into the Underground and meet with Dennis outside the armory. Hopefully we can get ahold of the sword and everything will be peachy. If not, prepare for a fight. After that, we're going to go looking for Agamemnon. Germaine thinks that the necromancer will wait till the new moon to launch his attack. We want to kill him before that. I'm afraid you'll be sitting that part out, though.”

  “W-what?” I sat up, brow furrowed. “What do you mean, I have to sit that part out? That's the big fight. How can you leave me on the sidelines?”

  Kubo reached out and poked me in the chest with his finger. “Because of the time bomb you've got in there, dummy. We'll have to have you tied up in anticipation of the new moon. It's already been decided that you'll be locked away in advance, once the sword is retrieved. My bosses don't want to risk anything. If you got loose amidst the chaos, then we'd have two targets on our hands.”

  “No way. You guys need me! How can you take this guy on without me?” I protested, standing up and kicking my coffee table across the room.

  I immediately regretted doing so. I mean, busting up furniture at the Veiled Order HQ was one thing, but that'd been my coffee table. Now I was going to have to replace the damn thing.

  “It's already been decided,” repeated Kubo. “When we've retrieved the sword, you'll be bound up in HQ, to avoid any accidents, and Kanta will be given the Archangel Saber to wield against Agamemnon. When the new moon has passed, we'll let you out, like always. But in the event that chaos breaks out and we don't have a chance to lock you up in time...” He trailed off. “And then there's the fact that you love a fight, Lucy. I know you-- you'll try and stay out of isolation so that you can participate in the fight against the necromancer. But the minute that moon's out, you'll be given over to the demon.”

  “Jesus, Chief! Have a little faith in me, will you?” I shook him by the shoulders, and he frowned down at me like he really didn't appreciate being jostled. “I can control him! I can control Gadreel. I mean it! You can't just let me miss out on this fight, not after everything that's happened. Seriously... you could use my muscle. Don't tell me I'm wrong. I promise not to try any heroics, not to steal the show. You want to give the sword to Kanta and have her slay the necromancer, then fine. I'm all for it. But at least let me get a bit of the action, too.”

  Honestly, I wasn't “all for” Kanta wielding the sword.

  In fact, to my mind, she was the worst possible choice.

  I looked over at Kanta with a grimace, finding her leaning against my living room wall, snickering. Her green eyes were lit up; bitch was likely daydreaming about killing me with her new weapon. “Chief, I've gotta say... have you considered just wielding the sword yourself? Or, I mean, what about Joe? His fire tricks are awfully cool and all, but I've been thinking for a while that he needs to diversify. If he faces off against Agamemnon with his lighter again, they're going to think he's a one-trick pony.”

  Kubo's firm grip about crushed my shoulder. “Don't get so shaken up, Lucy. She's on our side. That sword can do a number on you, but you're not the target here. Relax, follow your orders and there won't be anything to worry about.”

  Kanta's grin widened. “Yeah. Nothing to worry about,” she added, crossing her arms. “We're friends now, remember?”

  I couldn't tell whether she was just having fun with me or whether she really meant to kill me when this job was done. Shit, who was I
kidding? She was doing both; fucking around with me was just more fun to her. She had me on the hook and was just watching me writhe now.

  “Let's get ready to go. I'll drive,” said Kubo, waving everyone towards the door.

  Everyone shuffled out of my pad slowly. Germaine scurried behind the others as Kanta and I trailed behind. The smile on her face hadn't abated as we walked out into the hall. I was digging through my pockets for my keys when she spoke. “I hope you'll be on your best behavior, demon.”

  I grit my teeth. I really wasn't going to have much of a choice, was I?

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  By now, I was getting damn tired of looking at Yao's. I'd been there way too many times in the last few days. The sun was starting to dip and the sky was painted in hues of fire. Though the day had been hot, the streets were cooling off pretty rapidly, thanks to a slight breeze that warned of rain. Crowding in around the golden light show on the horizon were heaps of dark clouds. A storm was coming.

  Literally and figuratively.

  Kubo sat at the wheel, chatting with Germaine, who was sitting on the dash. Joe was in the passenger seat, with Percy and Kanta taking up the second row. I laid out across the third row all by my lonesome, eyes closed and rather hot under the collar.

  I'd worked my ass off on this mission. I was invested in it. And now Kubo wanted to shut me out before the big finale. Surely a guy like Kubo knew why that wouldn't fly with me. A guy like him was no stranger to grudges, to rivalries. He must've known just how badly I wanted to crack Agamemnon across the jaw. His bosses wanted to cover their asses, though. Locking me up a bit prematurely was seen as the safest option.

  When Gadreel takes over, things tend to go south pretty fast. I'm not trying to make excuses for the demon-- he's a real asshole with a murderous streak that can't go unchecked. Still, I was beginning to feel like I could control him. Yeah, yeah, these esoteric texts they kept bringing up all talked about how that was impossible; that the night of the new moon was the demon's one night where he could eclipse me totally. A night when I was completely at his mercy. They'd driven that point home again and again. But there's more to life than what you find in books, and I felt pretty capable of controlling the demon's impulses. Maybe I couldn't control him one-hundred percent, it's true, but even on the night of the new moon I figured that I could curb his more destructive tendencies and keep him from spreading ruin. Gadreel wanted to kill Agamemnon just as much as the rest of us. Why couldn't the Chief see that and put a little faith in me? Damn it, I wanted a chance to really prove myself!

  But it didn't matter either way.

  I was going to participate in that fight, no matter Kubo's opinion on it.

  Kubo turned right, deep in conversation with the spider. “Where do you think the necromancer got ahold of the Scythe of Thanatos? Any guesses? I don't think gods are usually in the habit of lending their weapons, are they?”

  Germaine chuckled. “Nah. I bet you anything that the fella stole it. Worshipping at the altar of death for years probably gave him an in. I imagine he wandered for a while, searching different ruins for the thing. It was hidden someplace and the necromancer found it.” Germaine struggled to remain on the dash as the car sped up, and nearly fell into Joe's lap. Clawing his way back up towards the windshield, he went on. “You know, there's another possibility. Coulda been that the god of death really did lend it to him. That's a worst case scenario. If this Agamemnon is an avatar of Thanatos, a representation of the god of death here on Earth, then anything's possible. He could be a demigod.”

  Kubo took his eyes off of the road to glare at the spider. “That can't be right, can it? Why would the god of death send someone like Agamemnon to start this war? What would he hope to accomplish?”

  The spider rubbed its forelimbs together. “I'm reminded of some old stories. Myths, really, where a god might grant an acolyte of his some higher status. Perhaps Agamemnon dedicated himself to Thanatos all of these years and finally got in his good graces, right? Perhaps he was tasked with caring after the god's weapon, but then went rogue.”

  Much as I hated him, what Germaine was saying seemed pretty accurate. I'd spoken with Agamemnon a bit. The necromancer had claimed to be “death itself”; had said that, once, he'd been merely a devotee of death, but that somewhere along the line he'd transcended his acolyte status. “I think the spider's onto something,” I said from the backseat. “When I encountered the necromancer, he said that he'd once been an acolyte of death. Now, though, he thinks he's 'Death itself'. Whatever that means. It's possible that he really did get some favors from the god of death, and that he was able to get the weapon in that way.”

  “Fine,” replied Kubo. “But even if that is the case, then I don't imagine Thanatos is all too happy with what Agamemnon has done with this new power. God of death gave him a foot, but Agamemnon took a mile, eh?”

  “Sounds like it,” said Germaine. “Pity we can't just call up ol' Thanatos and have him revoke Agamemnon's powers. That would be a hell of a lot easier than hunting for this sword and fighting him. If the god of death knew what he was up to, he'd probably be kind of miffed.”

  “Well, why don't we?” It seemed like common sense to me. Why couldn't we tip off this powerful god and let him know that one of his dedicated followers was off the chain, upsetting the natural balance of things? “Can't we get ahold of Thanatos somehow and let him know what his boy's been up to?”

  Everyone looked back at me and stared like I was an idiot.

  “Let me guess,” I continued. “It's not that easy?”

  “Sure ain't,” explained the spider. “Never mind that coming face-to-face with the god of death is enough to make a living creature explode into flame. Even when he's rounding up souls, Thanatos doesn't just enter the earthly sphere all willy-nilly. Unless you've got a line to the big guy, you can't exactly chat with him. He doesn't have Internet access, ya know? Don't suppose anyone in this car knows a helpful necromancer who's skilled enough to commune with the god of the dead, but not so powerful that he's working with Agamemnon? Yeah, that's what I thought. There's a reason you never see a god manifesting here on Earth, and it's because the gods have their own place. They exist elsewhere, beyond the Beyond, if you get my meaning. If they want to interact with mortals, then they have to send off some of their followers. They imbue 'em with some godly juice so they can get work done on that god's behalf. Avatars, demigods. Whatever. And I think that's what we're dealing with.”

  When tangling with Agamemnon, I'd thought him to possess the power of a god. It seemed my initial assessment wasn't too far off of the mark.

  We were rolling to a stop now. I sat up and looked through the tinted glass, finding the neon sign outside of Yao's burning dimly. Kubo parked, but let the SUV idle for a time.

  “Before we get to it,” continued Germaine, “I wanna know what you're all about. Demon-boy back there is an open book. What about the rest of you? What're you bringing to the table?”

  “Yeah, Chief. Introduce him to the rest of the class, why don't you?” I let my forehead rest against the glass. A few people walked out of the alley near Yao's, and I had to do a double-take. For a minute there, I'd thought them zombies. Narrowing my gaze, I discovered they were just drunk college kids.

  “Joe here is a pyromancer. Percy is a skilled monster hunter with skills in tracking and trapping. Kanta is an exorcist. She will probably be the best choice for the Archangel Saber, based on her skill in harnessing holy energy.” Kubo then pulled the stack of seals from his breast pocket. “I'm a sorcerer. I've studied multiple disciplines, but ultimately my craft draws off of the old school.”

  “Very nice,” replied Germaine. He looked at each of us and then scrambled to the second row, crawling up the bone hilt of Percy's sword. “And might I just say that this is the coolest damn sword I've ever seen? It's got a frigging bone for a hilt! Ain't that something?”

  “Well, what about you, eh?” I asked, sitting up and threat
ening to flick Germaine off of the hilt. “What do you bring to the table?”

  Germaine crawled back to the front of the car, pausing atop Kubo's headrest. “Other than good looks, you mean? Well, my special ability is inducing Priapism.”

  I shook my head. “Inducing what?”

  “Priapism, kid. Never heard of it?” The spider paused for a moment. “OK, you know them commercials for dick sweets, like Viagra? Know how they're always warning you to head to the ER if your joystick stays hard for longer than four hours? Well, that's called Priapism, and if it doesn't get fixed quick, you won't ever be able to get it up again. A Brazilian Wandering Spider's venom ain't always deadly, but it can cause Priapism.” The rest of us burst out laughing, but judging by the way Germaine twitched and muttered, he wasn't kidding. “Priapism ain't a laughing matter, kid. It's a medical emergency.”

  “No, that's awesome.” I got up and threw open the door, hopping onto the pavement. “We're going to threaten a necromancer with erectile dysfunction. Now I've really heard it all.”

  I felt a weight on my shoulder, and soon thereafter came the sensation of bristly appendages brushing against my neck. “All it takes is one bite,” he warned.

  Kanta stepped out of the car and smoothed out her braid. “May as well bite him. Lucy hasn't got any game, so I don't imagine he gets much use out of his joystick.”

  Germaine laughed so hard that he almost fell off of me.

  Kubo locked up the SUV, and before he could even tell us all to get ready, I was blazing a path across the parking lot and towards the alley. Let's get this shit over with, I thought.

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  A group of six walking down a dim alley drew more attention than was wise.

  Some passersby muttered as they saw us walk by, marveling at the sword on Percy's back. I heard one of them wonder aloud whether we were cosplayers or not; whether the spider on my shoulder was real or some kind of hyper-realistic stuffed animal.