by T. G. Ayer
“Some kind of magical field. It’s next to one of the nurseries which is probably the only reason I found him.” Syama swallowed hard then looked up at the top of the shaft, avoiding Vee’s eyes. “I should have known something was wrong.”
“Don’t beat yourself up. We should have all known something was wrong. For now, let’s get those charges set at all the nursery location and let’s get in and retrieve Akil before the timers go off.”
Syama’s mouth tightened, forming a thin line and Vee knew she’d best get the hellhound focusing on something other than blaming herself.
Vee looked over at the Alpha Team leader who took her cue and tapped her comms. “We have a green light to set those charges. All teams proceed to each of your locations. Syama will assist to distribute you all.”
Syama barely blinked before disappearing, and Vee shook her head. “We really need to get another team member who can help out with the transportation.”
“Hopefully one that doesn’t get captured,” said Shivani with a smile.
Vee grinned and counted the minutes until Syama arrived. She’d barely solidified before saying, “All charges are set. We have twenty minutes to get in, get Akil and get far away.”
Vee nodded and reached for Syama’s hand as the hellhound said, “He’s in some kind of force field, so we’re going to have to figure out how to release him first.”
“How many guards? Firepower?”
“Six guards, all armed. Looked like handguns to me. Nothing semiautomatic which is odd. They can’t be that complacent.”
Vee had no idea what to expect from the demons. She’d imagine a more well-organized system with their upper echelon considering their political aims, of which Vee had to admit she knew all too little.
I supposed we’ll find out soon enough.
They arrived under cover of Syama’s glamor, and this time there was no safe place to hide. Vee knew all too well that Syama’s glamor hid them from the demons, but if Akil had gotten caught, who knew what methods the demons had to detect even a hellhound glamor.
As they solidified in the furthest corner of the small room, Vee swallowed the urge to cry out in horror.
In the middle of the room, a ball of energy pulsed and spun, its clear skin revealing the prisoner inside. Akil. He hung within the ball, held in place by crackling sparks of mini lightning bolts.
Akil’s gaze flitted to the trio the moment they arrived, and he sent them a pointed glance. Vee looked over at what he was indicating, and she gasped at the sight of Lucy lying at the bottom of a similar ball of energy, only this one absent of the lightning.
Good thing too, as the sparks would not have been healthy for the unborn child. Vee studied the young woman, relieved to see that she appeared to be in good health. She lay at the bottom curve of the ball, arms wrapped around her stomach as she curled on her side. Her hair was oily and un-brushed, and her clothing appeared soiled, as if she’d not been allowed to have a change of clothes during the last four days.
Despite the lack of care, Vee was glad the girl was still alive.
When Vee glanced back at Akil, she found him glaring at her. Then he looked away and shook his head. She knew what he was doing. He was trying to tell her something without bringing her presence to the attention of the demons that milled around the room.
The space wasn’t overly big; about the size of a large school gymnasium, it contained a trio of large chairs at one end, a long table filled with a medley of food, fruits, and files. And two long dining tables that sat parallel to each other on either side of the hall.
Had they walked into a dining hall?
Vee looked at Syama, but the hellhound’s attention was focused on a pair of demons who seemed to be watching her. Vee looked at Shivani who shook her head, her eyes wide with concern.
Up at the end of the hall, one of the larger demons began to laugh, the sound raucous and echoing around the room.
“Your glamor won’t work here, hellhound.” He snickered as he stared at Syama, his eyes shifting to red and then black, and back again.
Syama had frozen in place in the center aisle and Vee could tell the hellhound wanted to turn around and look at Vee. Instead, she concentrated on the two demons who swaggered to her.
Vee recognized the larger of the two. “Harvard,” she muttered, gritting her teeth.
“What?” whispered Shivani from Vee’s side. But Vee didn’t have time to respond as a sound at her back had the pair spinning around to face another set of demons.
“Ah, the entertainment has arrived. And what better entertainment than to watch an apsara be smashed to death, right?” Cheers rose from the floor as dozens of demons turned to watch the three women face down their demon opponents.
Shivani raised her gun and fired, the blast of her weapon setting the battle in motion. The bullet spread apart and hit wide, slamming into both the demons advancing on them. Though all the glass slivers failed to hit their skin, enough passed through seams and areas where skin was visible.
The two fell and began writing on the floor. Not that it mattered that they’d downed two with one shot. Another pair of demons replaced them and surged forward, not waiting to see what Vee and Shivani would do.
As the Alpha leader fired again, Vee glanced over her shoulder to see a third demon advancing on Syama who was currently fighting two full-grown demons who happened to be almost twice her size.
These guys had no clue as to what a fair fight was.
Chapter 41
Vee drew a throwing dagger from her thigh and let it fly, then turned to attack one of the demons who had run full tilt at her. The satisfying thwack as the dagger embedded itself within the demon’s eye gave Vee only brief enjoyment.
Before she took the next breath, she was ducking to avoid a double-sided ax, barely escaping with her neck intact.
Shivani struggled to keep up. As they dispatched each opponent, new demons replaced them, onlookers helping to clear away the dead.
A loud growl of anger emanated from the front of the hall. “Three women, you useless pieces of shit. Three women for Yama’s sake. Kill them!” he yelled.
“Don’t think Yama will be too happy with you using his name,” Vee muttered under her breath as she sidestepped a broadsword, then drew a needle from her wrist to plunge into the back of the demon’s neck. He went down like a rock and Vee twisted around and delivered the same treatment to his partner who’d backed Shivani into a corner.
“Thanks,” Shivani called out. “We need to preserve our ammo.”
Vee nodded and glanced over at Syama. Though she’d kept a few demons at bay, Harvard still stalked her, giving her a wide berth.
The demon in charge, who stood up on the dais, relayed instructions to his underlings but remained safely out of reach.
Vee grabbed her trishula and waited only long enough for the spear handle to extend before letting it fly. Golden lightning flashed from the weapon as it streaked through the air, so fast that the demon up front had no time to evade the weapon. It hit him in the throat slamming him into the concrete wall behind him.
Vee spun on her heel and drew her chakra, enjoying the hum it emitted as she let it fly in a wide arc.
She would have felt a little bad that the weapon was so destructive had she and Shivani not been outnumbered and nearly overpowered.
As she fought them off, she noted a mixed bag of demons who appeared to be part of the security squad attached to the pey demon’s population initiative.
With their boss eliminated, Vee had expected at least a partial retreat, but nothing seemed to sway the demons from their path.
Vee gritted her teeth. “We don’t have the time for this bullshit. How are we doing for time?” she asked Shivani.
The apsara blinked and then said, “T minus ten minutes, thirty-eight seconds and counting.”
“Crap, we need to get a move on.”
“Syama?”
“I heard,” she called without looking in their dir
ection.
Akil was still whiling away his time in the energy ball above their heads, and Vee looked over at the trishula still impaled in the demon’s neck up on the dais. Vee didn’t wait to apprise Shivani of her intention. She spun on her heel and raced toward the front of the hall. Her speed had quickly transitioned to super-fast, and within a few moments, she was plucking the trishula from the demon’s neck.
She didn’t wait to see him crumple to the ground. Vee turned and aimed at the energy ball, using all the power in her upper body, she flung the trishula at Akil’s prison. The weapon flew through the air, the long handle whipping back and forth as it sped toward the energy ball.
Vee had used the trishula on a hunch, without thinking what would happen when the trishula hit the ball of energy full-force. Almost too late, she understood the ramifications and grabbed for Shivani.
“Syama! Down,” she yelled and outstretched to the hellhound.
As soon as Syama complied, Vee threw her hands out and summoned the ball of energy that she knew would protect her and her team from harm in case Akil’s energy ball turned violent.
Everything seemed to happen at once.
The trishula’s triple pointed spear hit Akil’s energy ball. Vee’s protective ward spread and grew around her, Syama, and Shivani. The energy ball shattered and Akil flung his arms out in shock.
The blast flew into the hall, the shockwave spreading out like a tsunami, toppling everyone in its path. Except for Vee and her team. And the demon group who were walking into the hall.
The higher up on the Demon Horde ladder a demon was, the more powerful they happened to be. So as Vee squatted within the protection of her bubble of protective magic, she watched in cold horror as the demons strode through the moaning mass that was their security team.
In Vee’s peripheral vision she saw Akil fall, speeding up as he closed in on the bare concrete floor. But thankfully, when only half a yard off the ground, he shifted into owl form and swooped to safety along a ledge on the far wall.
As the shockwave, and the accompanying mayhem subsided, Vee straightened and let her protective ward evaporate. She was relieved it had worked when she’d needed it most. She glanced to her left to where the trishula lay on the concrete, two demons eyeing the golden spear, their expressions filled with a strange hunger.
One of them lunged forward, and Vee yelled, “Don’t touch it.”
But the demon merely sneered and grabbed hold of the handle. The moment his fingers gripped the trishula the demon began to glow, a golden halo forming around his body,
Then Vee ducked the instant before he exploded into ash and dust.
The trishula dropped to the ground, and Vee lunged for it. “I warned you,” she said, scooping the weapon up and backing away from the remaining demon who was looking at the remnants of his buddy as the cloud of ash floated around him and drifted to the floor.
“Enough!” a voice rang out around the hall, this one distinctly female despite the guttural growl.
Vee glanced up at the dais to see a pey demon female standing there, arms akimbo, her armor a dull red color that gave the impression that she’d bathed in blood before she’d arrived.
Which was also entirely possible given her species.
The demon lifted her hand, and a high pitched shriek echoed around the room. Vee’s gaze snapped toward the origin of the cry, and she sucked back a gasp of horror. The ball in which Lucy sat had begun to disintegrate.
“If you don’t call off the bombings, I will kill the girl.”
Vee’s eyes widened, and she shared a look of concern with Shivani. A few feet ahead, Syama stood with her dagger at the neck of one demon, and another in the gut of another.
Vee hesitated then glanced up at the owl who’d drawn his glamor over him. He was currently perched on a light fixture halfway up the wall to Vee’s right.
Another demon hurried inside and went straight to their leader. Harvard again? Hadn’t he just been there? He’d likely left to summon his demon boss and had remained to investigate the bombs.
“Queen Ishanie, I have news,” he said as he rushed to her.
After the two spoke, they turned to stare at the three women. The demon who Syama had stabbed in the gut began to tilt backward, slowly falling until he hit the ground so hard that the sound of his skull cracking reverberated through the room.
“I’ve been told we have no more than five minutes left,” the queen called out. “Perhaps now would be a good time to send word to cancel the detonations.”
“Can’t do that. We set the timers manually.” Vee shrugged in apology although her face was far from sorry.
Ishanie lifted her hand again and the bubble holding Lucy shivered and thinned again. Vee was about to protest, hoping Akil was ready to jump the girl away when the time was right, when footsteps clattered on the concrete, announcing the arrival of someone who was very large, but who ran like a little child.
One of the demons who’d entered with Ishanie stepped forward, shoulders hunched as he called out, “No you promised you wouldn’t hurt her.” His voice was whiny, and so unlike Vee’s impression of him as a hardened killer.
Vee’s jaw dropped as it hit her who this demon was.
The killer Monroe was after. The pey demon who’d killed Susie.
Chapter 42
The queen laughed softly. “I’m sorry, Rishi, my son. She will have to die if these nasty people here don’t turn off the bombs.”
The demon—Rishi—faced Vee and her team and began to cry. “Do what Mother asks. I don’t want her to die,” he said pointing at Lucy who let out a soft whimper.
The queen clicked her tongue. “There, there, Rishi, you must know we don’t need her.”
“But I got her for you. Because I heard you say you want to make children. You wanted babies, and I brought you one of your very own.”
“And I’m so happy about that my boy,” Ishanie replied, her tone clearly revealing her disdain for the human girl, and her impatience with her son.
Vee was floored by the revelation. Had they all been chasing a killer who just happened to be mentally incapacitated? Had their hunt for Lucy and her unborn baby led them to the demon nurseries by accident?
Still, it didn’t explain Vee’s stalkers-slash-abductors-slash-assassins. For now, she had to concentrate on the queen though. And what she was about to do to Lucy.
“What do you want?” yelled Vee, trying to distract the queen. “Why are you lying to your poor son?”
Rishi glanced at his mother, confused, and Vee grabbed the opportunity.
“Sorry, Rishi. Mommy dearest plans on killing the girl and her baby,” Vee said, raising her voice. Around them, the demons gathered were smiling and talking amongst themselves, and Vee heard snippets of conversation filter through to her.
“He’s pathetic…”
“She should have gotten rid of him when it happened…”
“The mother goddess won’t like this…”
“Her soft spot for him will be her downfall…”
“This crap is just delaying our timeframe…”
Up on the dais, the killer demon stamped his foot and pouted. “But she was a present,” Rishi said, tears filling his eyes. “Why you want to kill her? You wanted babies to conquer the city, and I brought you a baby, but now you want to kill it even before it’s born.” Rishi rambled on, and Vee shook her head.
Time was running out.
Vee glanced at Akil hoping he’d understand what she wanted him to do.
“The goddess won’t be happy with you, Mother. She’s the goddess of life and creation. You can’t kill in her name.” Rishi whimpered, shaking his head. He began to chew his nails, his eyes darting left to right.
The queen hushed him. “The mother goddess is very happy with us. She’s going to bless us with a boon just like the ones that girl has.” The demon pointed at Vee.
As all eyes turned to Vee, she felt her stomach go hard. Did this demon queen know about Vee
, about who she was? From the look in Queen Ishanie’s eyes, Vee was certain she did. Yet she’d referred to Vee as a ‘girl’ and not an apsara. Was she hiding something from her security team?
“T minus 1 minute and counting,” whispered Shivani.
Vee stiffened, preparing herself for what was about to happen. “You got any of the kablooeys left?”
“Yep. All two of them.”
“Match the timers and be ready to drop them here.”
Shivani didn’t answer, but Vee sensed movement as the team leader slid her hand into her satchel and set the timers.
Even though Vee and her team had killed so many of their team-mates, none of the demons appeared to be concerned. It made sense that they would not be grieving, especially considering they could come back soon enough, but their complacency was a concern.
Ishanie pointed at Harvard, who’d been standing at attention beside the dais, serving the team. “The mother has assured us that we will prevail. These humans have attempted to overthrow us but have failed outright.”
“That’s what you think,” muttered Vee.
“T minus thirty,” whispered Shivani. Syama’s spine tensed, and Vee flicked a glance up at Akil. The owl gave a single nod.
“I think you are mistaken. Whoever this mother is that’s helping you, she’s misleading you into thinking you can take over the Demon Horde Assembly.” Vee blurted the words out, hoping to distract the queen.
But Ishanie’s face darkened, taking on a bluish hue as she glanced over at Harvard. The look on her face was priceless, revealing her shock at how Vee could have known.
“So that was your plan. You need to work on your poker face, your majesty.”
“The mother of creation will not lie to her believers. Our faith is her power,” Ishanie ground the words out. “She warned me about you. Told me to ensure we either terminated you, or at least ensured you don’t find out about our plans.”
Vee shrugged. “You can thank your baby boy over there. His crazy killing spree across the city is what brought me here. All I did was to track his activity and here I am. Don’t suppose I can take him into custody?”
