by Lincoln Cole
“Maybe you should ask him.” Nida gestured toward Aram.
Haatim looked at his father. Aram appeared as a man broken, looking down at the floor with a resigned expression and slumped posture. He refused to make eye contact with Haatim.
“Dad? What’s she talking about?”
“I couldn’t just let her go,” Aram said, his voice low. “Haatim, you have to understand. I couldn’t just let your sister die. Not if I had any chance to bring her back.”
“What do you mean? What do you mean, you couldn’t let her die?”
“When the doctors told me she only had a few weeks left, I … made arrangements. I couldn’t let her go, not without at least trying.”
Haatim let out a sharp breath. “The deal you made. You went to Arizona to bring Nida back.”
“They promised they would be able to do it, and I believed them. I needed to see her again. No parent should ever have to watch their child die. I wanted to see her again so badly.”
“I’m standing right here,” Nida said. “You don’t have to talk about me like I’m not.”
Aram glowered at her. “You are not my daughter.”
“Oh, Daddy, Daddy. Why must you be so persistent in your dismissal of me? You wanted to have me back, and here I am!”
Aram turned back to Haatim. “They betrayed me. They promised they could bring Nida back, and I felt desperate enough to believe anything. And, for a while, I thought it was Nida. But it isn’t her, Haatim. She never came back. This … this thing came in her place.”
“Who?” A lump rose in Haatim’s throat. “Who betrayed you?”
“The Ninth Circle,” Aram said.
A wave of dizziness washed over Haatim. “You mean this is where it all started?” He shook his head. “You didn’t just make a deal for peace, you did this?”
“I believed this would be the opening of negotiations, and that we could sue for peace after we took care of this. I never thought … they told me that if I didn’t pay them …”
“All of this—all of this—is your fault?” Haatim asked, incredulous. “You try to kill Abigail and ruin Frieda after you made a deal with the Ninth Circle?”
“You don’t understand.” Aram held his palms up in the air and, finally, met his son’s gaze. “I did all of this for you. For us. I knew how hard it was for you after she died and—”
“Don’t you dare bring me into this,” Haatim shouted. “I miss my sister and have wished, every single day, to see her. Not once, though, did I ask for something like this.”
A heavy silence hung in the atmosphere.
“Touching, isn’t it?” Nida said. However, rather than her words breaking the tension, they only enhanced it. “Oh, how I’ve missed you, brother.”
Part of Haatim—a large part—heard those words and wanted nothing more than to break down and weep. All of the grief and pain he’d put behind him for his lost sister had come back, and it felt as stingingly painful as it had only moments after her death.
He wanted Nida back more than anything else in the world. But he also knew that wasn’t possible. Never mind all of the truths he’d found out about the demonic creatures that possessed people or a Council battling an underground war to protect normal people. He knew in his heart that such a proposition could never be right.
This wasn’t right.
“You aren’t my sister,” he said.
“I am, Haatim. You know that I am.”
“I know that you are not. Nida is dead.”
“I look like her, though,” the demon said. “Isn’t that enough?”
“Why are you here?”
“I have some business to attend to. I must say, you’ve changed quite a bit since I saw you in Raven’s Peak.”
The hairs rose on the back of his neck and forearms. “You were there?”
Not-Nida pulled an ornamental dagger from behind her back. Long and curved, it glimmered in the light.
“I went there for this,” she said. “You’d be amazed at what it can do.” Then she pursed her lips. “I suppose I should say that you will be amazed at what it does. It’s nearly time for things to begin.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Do you expect me to give you an honest answer? Am I to regret the error of my ways and repent? I could give you a myriad of reasons. Maybe I’m just angry that Father, here, has tried so hard to kill me over the last few months. He sent Hunters to try to murder his child.”
“You are not my child.”
The demon ignored him. “Or, maybe, I could just say that it’s fun. I’ve had a lot of fun killing people, and ever since your father gave me this body, I’ve enjoyed so much more than I ever thought to find on the surface.”
Haatim’s mind scrambled. “You killed the Hunters?”
“Of course,” Nida said.
Haatim turned to Aram. “The ones you told me that Abigail had killed?”
“I didn’t know—”
“Spare me.” Haatim turned away from Aram. “Spare me the lies. I’m done. You brought me here, demon, so what do you want. Why are we here?”
“A family reunion, of sorts,” Nida said. “I need our father’s assistance, and I wanted to ensure his cooperation.”
“Why would he help you? All he does is manipulate and lie.”
“True, but I think that underneath the ignorance and stupidity, he has a good heart and loves his family.” It turned to Aram. “Tie them up.”
Aram looked at Haatim. “I’m sorry.”
Haatim ignored him. He’d never felt so hurt or betrayed in his life, nor so helpless.
“Come here,” Aram said, grabbing a length of rope from a nearby counter. “Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”
“Don’t do this,” Haatim said. “Whatever she’s planning, it’s worse than anything she can do to us.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” Nida said in a silky tone. “I have a very vivid imagination.”
“Don’t,” Haatim said, as his father approached. “Please, don’t do this.”
“Poor, sweet, innocent Haatim,” Nida said. “Our father couldn’t bear to lose me even when my time came to go. Do you think he will allow you and your mother to die if he can stop it?”
Aram grabbed Haatim’s arm, refusing to make eye contact, and dragged him over toward his mother. She stood there, terrified and crying, barely conscious. It looked as if she’d received a beating sometime earlier.
Aram pulled two chairs back-to-back and sat mother and son down, and then he tied the rope around them. He pulled it tight, making sure they couldn’t move.
Nida gestured with the gun for him toward the table where a duffel bag lay. “Open it,” she said.
Aram did. Haatim couldn’t tell what lay inside, but Aram’s face fell when he looked in it.
“Enough C4 to take out the adjoining rooms as well,” the demon said. “I set it for two hours, and if you get me inside fast enough, you’ll get back with plenty of time to turn it off.”
“It’ll take forty minutes just to drive to the Council,” Aram said.
“Then, we’d better hurry. Put it at their feet, and then get moving. If you try anything … anything at all, then by the time you get back here, you’ll only find chunks of your family left.”
“Don’t go through with this,” Haatim said. “She won’t let us live either way.”
Haatim understood, now, the demon’s plan. It wanted to break into the Council and bypass the external security. With the numerous armed guards, it would prove nearly impossible to breach their defenses. Yet, no one would think to challenge one of the Council members, especially the one in charge of security.
Aram refused to look at Haatim, and the expression on his face was one of utter despair.
“It was …” He let out a shuddering breath. “This was never supposed to happen. I’m sorry, Haatim, but this is the only way to keep you safe.”
He dropped the bag next to them and headed from the room. The demon w
alked past the chairs, leaning down to Haatim as it passed. It carried a bathroom rag and roll of tape. It shoved the rag into his mouth, and then put a line of tape over it.
“Don’t worry, big brother,” it said. “You’ll see the real Nida soon enough.”
And then it went out through the doorway, closing the door behind it. Haatim sat there, shocked and confused and with no idea of what to do.
***
Nida—or, rather, the creature that had called Nida’s body home these past several months—sat in the passenger seat of Aram’s car while they drove toward the gate of the Council building. With assault rifles, half-a-dozen guards watched the entrance. They wore heavy, cold gear, and the snow fell on them.
It should begin storming imminently, perfect for what the demon had planned. Aram had quite a few mercenaries on site, as well as a few rapid response teams in the surrounding area to call in case of emergencies, but the weather would slow their timing down by quite a bit.
“I have your word?” Aram asked, as they pulled slowly up to the gate.
“Of course,” Nida said. “I only want Frieda. Let me take her, and I’ll go peacefully.”
“What do you want with her?”
“That is between her and myself,” Nida said. “Once I have dealt with her, I will leave, and you will never see me again. But, if you mess things up now, your entire family will die.”
The car pulled to a stop in front of the gate, and one of the guards came up. Aram didn’t respond, except to roll down his window. He handed his identification through to the man. His hand shook ever so slightly, but it could have been from the cold, and the demon doubted the guard would notice.
The man looked at the card and then at Aram. He glanced at Nida in the passenger seat. “She’s with you?”
“Yes,” Aram said. “She is with me, and I have given her full clearance.”
“We’ll need to check your car,” the man said. “No exceptions.”
“This is a special exception,” Aram said. “And I’m in a hurry.”
“Sir, I was told not to allow anyone—”
“Do you want me to speak with your supervisor?” Aram asked. “I have full authority over who is allowed or denied from your team.”
The man hesitated, and then handed the card back to Aram.
“Of course, sir,” he said. “My apologies. Have a nice day.”
Then he stepped back and signaled for the other guards to open the gate. It slid apart, and Aram eased the car through the opening. He let out a sigh, hands clutching the steering wheel.
“Well done, Father.”
“I’m not your father,” Aram said, bitterness in his voice.
“Perhaps not, but perhaps indirectly,” the demon said. “After all, you gave me this body and life.”
“A decision I regret with every breath I take.”
Nida chuckled softly while the car drove to a stop next to a side door of the hotel and out of sight of the main gate.
“You can regret it all you want, but right now, you need to just live with it.”
Guards patrolled this area, Nida knew from her earlier surveying of their defenses, but none would patrol here for another ten minutes. They climbed out, and Aram used a keycard to get them into a loading area behind the hotel for services and storage. Packed with boxes and supplies, it had a ramp leading down with a concrete floor.
“You are inside our defenses now,” Aram said. “You wanted Frieda. Now, you can go get her.”
“Where is she?”
“Fourth floor, third door on the left. Only one person stands guard over her. I’ll wait for your return to drive you out.”
“Yes,” Nida said. “You will wait here.”
She turned and kicked him in the side of the knee. It cracked when the cartilage snapped, and Aram staggered. He let out a sharp cry of pain and grabbed something under his shirt. He drew it out, hands shaking, but she caught his arm and swatted it away.
The gun skidded across the floor and came to a stop against the wall of the ramp. The demon forced Aram down to the ground, and then dragged him in through the doorway and out of the cold. He cried out in pain when his knee buckled under him.
“Don’t be such a wuss,” Nida said, closing the door behind them. “You planned to betray me?”
“I never planned for you to leave,” Aram said through gritted teeth. “You are an abomination. I created you, and I fully intend to destroy you.”
“I am your daughter.”
“You are not my daughter.” Aram’s words came out low and snarly. “My daughter died.”
“A pity you didn’t learn that lesson months ago,” Nida said. She moved to nearby pipes and eyed them over, looking for a gas line. Then she reached up and grabbed hold of one, yanking on it. The seal proved a lot tougher than she’d expected, and it would take a few tries to break it loose.
“And to think, this was your plan? You thought you could bring me here and deal with me alone?”
“You are my responsibility,” Aram said.
“You are weak.” Nida shook her head. “If you wanted to betray me, you should have done it at the gate when you had your cronies with you.”
“I did,” Aram said, and then chuckled.
Nida hesitated, and then glanced over her shoulder at him. “What?”
“There are no exceptions for searching cars, even for me. They know that, and they also know certain codes for danger. Right now, they have surrounded this room to eliminate you. You won’t escape this time.”
Nida growled and yanked on the pipe, snapping the connection and tearing it from the wall. A hissing sound erupted while gas poured out.
She ran over to the door that led outside. A dozen men stood out there in the snow, approaching slowly with rifles ready.
“Damn it,” the demon said.
From his spot on the floor, Aram chuckled. “It’s over,” he said. “I made a terrible mistake bringing you back to life, and I’m sure I’ll pay for what I did, but at least this nightmare is finally over.”
“Oh?” Nida strode over to him and raised the pipe. “Nothing is over.”
Then she swung it down, cracking him in the shoulder with the lead tube. The bone shattered, and Aram let out a scream of agony.
The demon rushed over and retrieved the gun from the floor just as the outside door breached. A canister of gas bounced across the floor, spewing as it went. It rolled to screaming Aram, releasing its contents into the air.
Nida ran to the far door, which led out of the storage room and further into the building. This one opened as well, and another canister rolled inside. She fired through the doorway, hitting one guard in the shoulder as he tried to duck out of the way.
They started to close the door, planning to let the gas knock her unconscious. The canister spewed its fumes, but they had no effect on her. Nida charged straight into the door just before it latched, slamming it open with her entire body weight. The edge hit one man squarely in the chest, knocking him back and into the others.
Four guards in total. She caught her balance and raised the pistol, firing it into the face of the nearest man.
The others tried to respond, raising their rifles to react in kind, but they stood too close for such long-range weapons to be of much use. The demon stepped in and kicked one man in the chest, knocking him to the ground, and then fired two more bullets into the chest of another.
The first man, whom she’d shot in the shoulder, swung his gun around one-handed and pulled the trigger, firing off a spray of wild shots at her. One clipped her shoulder, but the rest went over her head. She turned and fired, shooting him in the throat and silencing him, for good this time.
The last guard had just begun to get his bearings and recover from the initial attack, but Nida reacted considerably faster. She fired off the last few shots from her clip into him. He staggered back into the wall and slid to the floor, head hanging on his chest, and a trail of blood above and behind him.
Behind her, the other team had fully breached the loading area and now charged into the room, wearing masks. The gas from their canister still hung in the air, obscuring their sight of her, but the domestic gas also filled the area from the pipe she’d ripped from the wall.
One of them saw her and raised his rifle, pulling the trigger. The spark ignited the gas, and a cloud of fire appeared in the center of the room, washing over them. A wall of hot air buffeted the demon. The ignited gas disappeared in a flash, but not without consequences. A few men dove aside in terror, and one man’s coat caught on fire.
Many of them, however, kept shooting and ignored the distraction. Nida grabbed an assault rifle from a guard and returned fire, forcing them to duck and find cover. Then she slipped a knife loose and cut the shoulder strap to separate the gun from the guard.
The demon threw the door shut behind her and sprinted down the hall, and bullets tore through the wood behind her and ripped into the walls.
Another shot clipped her leg, but not squarely enough to disable her. Nida rounded the corner and headed into the boiler room, where the furnace was located. Also where the backup generator lived, which should kick on and maintain the electric fence if the external power got cut.
There would be more guards alerted to her presence now, but that was to be expected. Things had actually gone rather well, considering. She ran to the huge gas storage tank and pulled a two-kilogram brick of C4 out of her pocket, as well as a detonator.
Nida put them on the valve, attached the detonator, and set the timer for fifteen seconds.
Then she sprinted further into the building, heading for the stairwell leading up. Shouting came from behind as the guards gave chase. She made it to the second-floor landing, turned back, and waited. A guard rounded the corner, and the demon opened fire into his chest.
A few more guards hesitated, popping around the corner and shooting up at her. Nida ducked back, satisfied that she’d held them up long enough, and given them a reason to be more cautious. She sprinted up the stairs, and a few seconds later, the C4 detonated.
The building shook, and a rush of hot air blasted up the stairwell. The tank wouldn’t completely explode, but the detonation would have ripped a hole in the side. At the very least, it had taken out the generator and sparked countless fires that would keep going for hours. The gas would continue to spill out and burn, causing significant damage difficult to contain.
