by Tim Marquitz
He reached over and grabbed Veronica by her throat. She gasped before he cut her air off, her eyes going wide. Azrael lifted her up, her feet dangling a foot from the ground as she choked, clawing at his hand. Rala dropped to her butt and hid behind the book, still reading.
“Farewell, succubus. You served me well, but the demon’s taint sours your worth.” Without another word, he tossed Veronica into the portal. She disappeared with a shriek, her voice sliced in half as the portal swallowed her whole. “Now it is your turn, Triggaltheron.” He stepped forward. A wash of energy stopped him cold. His head snapped nearly sideways at the mystical touch, both of us recognizing it at the same time.
A rent in the dimensional fabric peeled open, and I spied Rachelle’s pale face peering out of it, the barrel of a gun poking out of the hole. Her expression drooped as she saw Azrael raise a hand, energy bristling. She slowly raised her weapon, shock spreading across her face. She thought he was me.
I screamed as Azrael released his bolt, and jumped in front of it. It was like diving into a pool of lava. Already torched, my skin lit up with agony, the world washed away in a torrent of furious orange and red. I vaguely recall hitting the ground below the portal, Rachelle’s terrified face vanishing before my eyes as she slammed her gate shut.
Azrael growled and started toward me, but Katon was on him first. A gleam of silver at the angel’s back drew a curse from him, splatters of blood trailing Katon’s blade. Azrael spun and drove a fist into Katon’s gut, doubling the enforcer up. He had no need to breathe but the sheer force of the blow could not be denied.
“I have had enough of you gnats,” Azrael screamed, grabbing ahold of Katon’s arm. He bent it backward in a quick movement, the sound of his elbow shattering echoed in the streets.
Katon clenched his teeth and stabbed Azrael in the side, sinking his blade into the meat a good six inches. It wasn’t enough. The angel twisted the enforcer’s arm again and drew the man up, the sword slipping free of Azrael’s flesh. Before Katon could attack again, he was flung at the portal. He reached out to grasp its edges but it had continued to grow, leaving him nothing but open space at his back. He flew through it and was gone.
Rahim and Scarlett were on him a heartbeat later. A blast of energy tore into Azrael, but he shunted it aside with his own magic. The wizard had clearly expected that. Scarlett appeared at Azrael’s other side, her sword flashing. Azrael screamed as the blade found a home between his ribs. Black blood bubbled from the wound as she pushed the sword in deeper, digging for the angel’s heart. He roared and slammed his fist into her face again. Her already broken nose exploded, but she held strong. Blood spilled red down her face, devouring her chin, as she fought on, driving a fist into Azrael’s opposite side as she hacked with Everto Trucido.
Rahim closed, bear claws imbued with mystical power ripping into Azrael’s lower back. The angel let out a furious shriek of rage and agony, and I found myself sickened by the look on his face. There was something profoundly disturbing about watching my body be shredded before me despite knowing someone else was piloting it. What happened if DRAC won, I thought, cold, lifeless bile welling up. It would be me they killed. The thought froze me where I stood, but Azrael had no intention of dying.
He put an elbow to Scarlett’s chin and turned, driving her backward. A lifetime of training took hold and she clutched her sword with a death grip. To lose your weapon was to lose your life. Azrael had counted on that. The sword slipped free of his side with a wet squish, and he rounded on Rahim. A cleaver of red energy enveloped the angel’s hand as the wizard pulled an arm back and slashed at him. Azrael met him halfway, the makeshift blade cleaving clean through his wrist. His bear paw spun away, the silver of his claws gleaming until it hit the ground. Rahim stumbled back with a pained roar, holding the stump with his other hand as blood spewed from the wound.
Shaw chose that moment to get brave. Ephemeral, her body as substantive as a ghost, she launched herself at Azrael. By the look on her face, there was no doubt she still thought the angel was me, which might have been a good thing. The sheer disgust on her face drove her forward. She turned solid for an instant and bolts of energy flew from her hand before she returned to her misty form.
Azrael raised a shield with ease and deflected her spells, batting them upward as he crouched and met her charge. A glowing fist caught her coming in. The resulting impact echoed in my head as the DSI boss dropped without complaint. She was unconscious before she hit the ground. Azrael just laughed as he scooped her up and tossed her through the portal to join Veronica and Katon. Scarlett gave him no time to gloat.
She danced in, sword drawing circles through the air with deadly grace. Azrael growled and stepped aside to avoid her. A gate opened at his back and the sound of a pistol roared before the portal stitched shut.
Azrael stumbled forward as the bullet collided with his skull, and Scarlett took full advantage, her blade cutting into Azrael’s thigh. He batted it loose and wheeled about only to be shot again from behind, Rachelle’s portal nothing more than a wavering streak of gold when he spun to face it. My cousin cut into him twice more, drawing great red lines across his chest and stomach. Yet another bullet plowed into him as he went to deal with Scarlett.
A burst of mystical energy followed. It drove Azrael to his knees. Rahim advanced, blood spilling from his severed hand but magic shining at the other. He fired another burst, but the angel deflected it, a glistening shield appearing around him. Rachelle appeared and fired her gun once more, but the shield proved as effective against her bullets as it was against Rahim’s magic.
Azrael grinned and grabbed ahold of Scarlett’s leg, dragging her down beside him. “You first, and then the others,” he told her. There was no disguising the joy that brightened his face.
His fingers stabbed into her side, slipping through her flesh and sinking into the meat. Scarlett’s head fell back as she voiced her pain, but Azrael held her fast. She hung at his hand like a puppet. He grunted and yanked and there was a sudden crack like kindling being snapped in half. My cousin fell shrieking, crimson gushing from her side where Azrael had ripped two of her ribs out. She landed beside Rala who still hunkered down in the street, hands over her head, clutching to CB. His eyes peered out from between her forearms.
My stomach churned at the sight of my cousin’s injury, and despite myself, I was on my feet, racing to her side. Azrael cheered, tossing her ribs aside with contempt. He turned away from me and faced Rahim, magic erupting at his hands, wisps of fury smoldering in his eyes. I dropped down beside Scarlett as the air sizzled, both Rahim and Azrael letting their bolts loose. My skin screamed under the sudden heat, but I ignored it as best I could. Scarlett needed me.
Right then Rachelle split the dimensions open above me. I leapt up and grabbed her pistol, keeping her from firing it and drawing Azrael’s attention.
“No, wait,” I growled, reaching down and scooping my cousin into my arms, hoping Rachelle didn’t shoot me when I turned my back. She didn’t.
I lifted Scarlett and dumped her through the gateway, Rachelle stepping back to help her through.
“Get her to Heaven. Now!” I told her, reaching through to grab Rachelle’s chin, making sure I had her full attention. “Warn them Azrael is coming.”
Rachelle’s eyes went wide, focused somewhere behind me, but she gave me a curt nod before the gateway zipped shut. I was on my back a second after, staring up at the sky.
“Damn you, Triggaltheron,” Azrael shouted in my ear. “You will not ruin this for me.” He pulled me up by my throat so we were eye to eye. “It’s over, demonspawn.”
Azrael jerked without warning as the point of a blade sprouted from his chest, its sharpened edge coming to a halt no more than an inch from where I dangled. I’m man enough to admit I eeeped a little.
“Not just yet,” A familiar voice told him as I slipped loose of Azrael’s grip.
I hit the ground as my savior ripped the sword loose of the angel’s back and
swung again. My heart sank at seeing her.
No, not here!
Karra glared at Azrael, grim-faced, murder in her eyes.
Twenty-One
“Move, Frankie,” she shouted, her father’s sword, made from the spear Longinus plunged into the side of Jesus, cleaved a blackened gash along Azrael’s biceps.
I scrambled back a foot or two, but there was no way I was leaving her—them—alone. As Azrael turned to deal with Karra, I dove at his legs. Every inch of me flared up with searing agony at the sudden movement, but Azrael wasn’t gonna hurt my family. I grabbed ahold of his ankle and knee and sunk my newfound fangs into his calf. He roared, and I ripped a chunk of meat loose. Karra impaled him again while I bit him, a warm shower of blood falling over me as I went back for seconds, meat and oozing nastiness filling my mouth.
Karra slashed Azrael again, and then I saw her drop into a squat before me, one hand on my head, steady pressure holding me down. “Let go,” she said.
I barely heard her over the screeching whistle of the wind. A blur of gray appeared in my peripheral vision overhead as I released Azrael’s leg. There was a resounding boom of impact, and then the angel was whipped away. I glanced up as Azrael crashed somewhere behind me, his landing vibrating the street. Venai stood there, bloodied but unbowed. She held a massive I-beam in her hands. The Nephilim shoved past us and followed after Azrael. She still thought he was me, which was pretty cool right then. There was no way I could take what she’d just dished out.
Karra grabbed me under my arms and dragged me to my feet as Venai went to bat again. “We need to go.”
“We can’t.” I shook my head, motioning toward the portal. “Katon and Veronica are in there.”
“Damn it, Frankie, we can’t win this—”
Venai’s I-beam slammed into her chest, cutting her sentence short with a loud woof of air. The tail end caught me as I leapt after Karra, and we both rolled across the asphalt. She hit hard, but was already scrambling back to her feet before I’d even finished up my impromptu pratfall. My eyes were locked on her.
“I’m fine,” she growled, tightening her grip on her father’s sword, her other hand unconsciously rubbing her belly.
Fury reared up, singeing my cheeks. I jumped up and spun to face Azrael. “You motherfucker!”
He grinned, but the streaks of blood running down his face made it less convincing. Venai hung limply from his left hand, her massive arms swinging back and forth as he moved. “This is a battle you cannot win, Triggaltheron.” Azrael hefted the Nephilim easily and threw her through the emerald portal. She vanished without a sound. “Now it’s just you two.”
“Three,” the tones of Barry White told him, a burst of energy exploding at Azrael’s crotch.
“Ah, damn it,” I cursed. Not the nuts!
Rahim limped forward. No longer a bear, he looked like Darth Vader’s battered older brother. His hand was still missing, wisps of smoke billowing from its charred end. My stomach roiled when I realized he’d cauterized the wound with magic. Still he went after Azrael without hesitation.
Karra leapt past me cut yet another gash in Azrael’s body while he struggled to get up. Azrael followed suit, his magic being loosed over and over again. Each blow to Azrael was a psychological kick in my ass because I knew we would need to destroy the body to kill the soul inside. Where did that leave me? Trapped in the husk of a vampire like Katon was? I howled and charged after Azrael. None of that mattered right then. Karra was in danger; our baby was in danger. I could worry about who and what I was after the fact.
Azrael knocked Rahim aside with a burst of fire while still on his back, the wizard crashing into the wreckage of a nearby building. Then the angel turned his attention to Karra. He muscled his way upright and slammed his palm against the flat of Karra’s sword. A snappy jab sent her reeling backward. I caught her as I raced by, helping her to right her balance before I continued on. The angel smirked as I closed. He had nothing to fear from me and we both knew it. That wasn’t gonna stop me.
A left hook to the liver startled him. Seemed like Hobbs had some gumption after all. “Mama said knock you out!” The right uppercut slammed into his jaw, and I heard his teeth clack together as his head snapped up and away.
Azrael spit a mouthful of blood and rolled his neck around right after, his spine popping. A way too familiar grin spread across his lips as he let me know who was boss. It wasn’t me.
“Or not.”
A straight right from the angel sent me skittering along the street on my ass, my eyeballs spinning in their sockets. I slid to a stop about fifteen feet away, earning road rash on top of my toasted skin. My head thumped against the pavement while stars danced in the sunlight.
A crash sounded, followed by a grunt I gleefully recognized as coming from my old body. Then there was a flash of static discharge, brimstone stink filling the air. The angel cursed at the sound of the impact, the crunch of toppling stone following on its heels.
“Are you okay?”
I barely recognized Rala’s voice as I wormed my way to my elbows, the sound alien and strange without the translator buried in my arm. My eyes searched through the haze until I found her. She crouched in the debris a few feet from where I lay, Chatterbox and the book filling her arms.
“Peachy,” I answered, hoping she understood me. “You?”
She shrugged, clearly able to. “Been a shitty day so far.” There was an accent to her voice I hadn’t heard before, making her sound different, but the words were clear enough.
I had to agree with her assessment. So did CB, apparently. He hummed the chorus to Iron Maiden’s “Run to the Hills.” There was wisdom there in his off kilter advice, but I needed to stay. That didn’t meant they couldn’t leave.
“You and CB have to get out of here,” I told her while I clambered to stand. “Find a place outside the city to stay, but don’t go back to Hell. CB can—”
“What about Vol?”
“Damn it.” I let out a slow breath at remembering the old man. He was alone in Hell with only the dread fiends to take care of him. If Azrael popped in, the alien dude was fucked. “You’re gonna need to get him, then get out fast. Chatterbox can show you where I keep some emergency cash to get by on.”
Rala chuckled, but there was no humor in it. “Sure thing, Frank. Like an orange and black-striped alien is going to rent a room without raising any eyebrows.”
She was right, and it was damn annoying. Us demons and angels got along well enough in the real world because we looked human enough. There was no way a zebra-looking little girl could pass herself off as being anything but alien. Not to mention she’d be running around with another alien and a severed head who didn’t understand what the word quiet meant. Yeah, I hadn’t thought that through very well.
A blast of mystical energy ripped past us overhead, warming the air with its passage. I glanced over to see Karra being driven backward. She was losing. I darted off without a word to Rala. Run or stay, she was gonna have to figure shit out on her own.
A blast of magic slipped past Karra’s parry as I drew closer. She hissed and stumbled, righting herself almost immediately, but Azrael was on her. He knocked her sword aside and drove a fist into her stomach. Karra stiffened and dropped to her knees.
“No!” I was in the air before the word had left my mouth.
My fists crashed into Azrael’s stolen face, over and over: lefts, rights, uppercuts, hooks, and overhands all thrown in a flurry. Azrael withered under the assault for less than a heartbeat before regaining his composure. The Angel of Death might not be used to brawling but he could take it, and then some. He blocked a hook and sidestepped the follow up, throwing my rhythm all to hell. I went to reset but Azrael was having none of that. His forehead smashed into my nose, and I dropped like a virgin’s pants on prom night.
My head hadn’t even stopped bouncing before his foot slammed it into the pavement. The world exploded with white, and I crumpled without resistance, my brain
only barely realizing I’d done so.
“Stay,” I heard Azrael tell me, his voice trailing off into the darkness. My body tingled as though I’d stuck my dick in an electrical outlet. Spasms ran through my limbs, arms and legs twitching.
Karra screamed somewhere behind me. That was all it took to get me moving. I rolled to my side with a snarl, scrambling for purchase in a world that wouldn’t stop spinning. My dancing vision spotted her as I slid across the asphalt trying to get up. Azrael had her pinned down, his foot holding her sword arm flat on the ground. I rolled to my knees.
“Leave her alone,” I shouted, but if Azrael even heard me, he ignored it.
He ran a hand across Karra’s stomach as she squirmed. A bloodied grin colored his lips. “This is Triggaltheron’s whelp buried in your belly. How interesting.” His hand continued its lazy circle as Karra thrashed.
I stumbled forward, gravity helping me along. “I’ll fucking kill you.”
Azrael stood, drawing Karra up with him, glancing over at me. “Were you capable, I have no doubt that you would.” His grin grew wide and he winked. “But that day is not today.” Without even looking, he cast Karra aside. The portal swallowed her before I’d even gotten close to Azrael.
“If you’ve hurt them—”
“Blow and bluster as you will, demonspawn, but the only weapon left in your arsenal is words.” Azrael straightened, wiping the blood from his lips. He stared at the back of his hand for a moment before flicking the red droplets my direction. “Sticks and stones as the saying begins, does it not?”
And there I was, fresh out of sticks. It didn’t stop me from advancing. “Fuck you.”
All I had left was my defiance, which was pretty pitiful when you compared it to what I was up against. Still, I had to try. Azrael let me close, confident in my defeat, but a shadow of hope loomed behind him.
