by Jack Porter
I wouldn’t slit my own mother’s throat just to get ahead. And I’d meant the offer I made. At least, for the moment during which I’d made it.
Was I really that much of a bastard in other people’s eyes?
Before I could defend myself, Bianca continued.
“And that you believe ‘all you have to do is squeeze’ is also laughable. It’s a joke. Do you know how many pretenders to my throne I’ve fought off? How many of them thought they had what it takes to get the best of me? Well, I’ll tell you. More than you can count. And nearly every single one of them had a better chance than you!”
My anger was returning in full measure, but she wasn’t letting me get a word in, not even if I turned it sideways and squeezed.
“You are nothing but a pretender, an upstart. You’ve made a bit of a name for yourself, I’ll admit. It can’t have been easy getting the best of dear Dario. But if you think all your schemes are enough to get the best of me, then you have another think coming! And I’ll even tell you why, if you care to hear it.”
Her voice was controlled venom, full of insults and threats. Despite them, I was interested in what she had to say.
Because if there was a flaw in my plan, I wanted to hear all about it.
“Tell me,” I said.
“Very well,” she said, her voice suddenly as smooth as silk, as if she was purring. “You think you have my people on your side. And many of them may well be. Maybe, if it came to a fight, you could wrest control from me. But maybe you couldn’t. And maybe there’s something you haven’t thought about that could make all the difference.”
She was the most frustrating woman. “Like what?” I demanded.
I could sense her sneer through the phone. “What do you think happens when you cut the head off a snake?”
I understood exactly what she meant. And she may well have been right. If she managed to kill me, what would happen to Rachel, Sandy, and all the other succubi and incubi I had created?
When the hero killed the original vampire in all those stories, that vampire’s progeny all withered and died. Is that what would happen with Azrael’s progeny too?
In this regard, were we truly like the vampires of legend?
I could have asked Azrael, but I didn’t see any reason to bother. Because there was a flaw in Bianca’s logic.
“You’re assuming you have the power to kill me at all,” I said.
Again, the old woman laughed. But this time, it was no more than a single bark instead of a long, drawn out affair. “Not me, you young upstart. But as long as I remain head of this family, I have friends who will remain loyal to me. I have my own cacodemons. I have my army. I have my BDA Agents. If you wish to try to wrest the Syndicate from my grasp, you will have to come through all of them to do it.”
This time, it was my turn to sneer. “That was the plan all along,” I said.
“So it was,” the old woman readily agreed. Then she started laughing again. “Good luck to you, then. I’ll see you soon.”
“Yes, you will,” I sneered in response, but it was already too late. The old woman had hung up.
I looked around at the girls and grinned somewhat forcibly.
“That went well,” Rachel said sarcastically.
She wasn’t wrong, I conceded. But at least I’d given it a try.
“Right, then. Are we ready to go?” I asked.
Sandy appeared solemn, but Rachel and Julie both seemed excited. Piper looked positively eager, as if she was born for this. All of them, without exception, agreed that they were.
“Good. Sandy, spread the word. It’s time to take over. From this moment on, all the Syndicate’s businesses belong to me.”
32
Arming ourselves for battle didn’t take long, because all of us except Julie were going as demons. I’d also passed the word along for any succubi and incubi in the area who had weapons to meet us there. We were going prepared.
During my extended period of debauchery Sandy had been working on something special. As well as managing the flow of women and doing what she could to find out what we needed to know, she had found a replacement car for me.
It was very much like my old Mustang, the one I’d crashed into bits in a fit of pique. But this one was newer, bigger, badder, and better in every way. A demon of a car if ever there was one, it made my old Mustang look like a puny half-cousin, a little down on his luck.
I wanted nothing more than to tear up the streets of El Diablo at full speed. But that was for later.
For now, I had business to attend.
It was late afternoon when we all made our way to Bianca’s part of town, parking our various vehicles a few blocks away from the crime Kingpin’s building. The girls and I had also brought weapons, with the intention of passing out guns and explosives to any of my progeny who needed them.
Slowly, we watched as more people gathered in the area, dressed in comfortable clothing, some of them obviously packing. To my initial surprise, I knew many of them, and I thought I knew why they were there.
“Azrael?” I asked.
“They are your army,” he confirmed. As they drew near, I could see the succubus or incubus within each person that passed. Some nodded to me, and some of the women smiled. Many of them I recognized, but not all. These were the converts I had arranged to meet us here. Those that were capable of fighting would do so. Some were here mainly to create distractions if we needed it. All of them knew what was at stake—their very existences were being threatened.
Most importantly, all of them were loyal to me.
“The BDA will be waiting for us,” I said. “Piper and Sandy, find a spot near the front entrance where you can see. Julie and Rachel, you watch the back entrance. Don’t let yourselves be seen until I give the signal.”
The girls all hurried to do just that, and I sent a silent signal to everyone through Azrael to take up positions surrounding the building. Then, with a nod to myself, I transformed into my demon form and took to the sky.
“I hope the girls don’t get killed.” Azrael said, but there was a certain degree of malice in his intent. But that was all he said, and I understood why. Despite his core nature, he wasn’t going to goad me into doing something stupid. He had just as much at stake here as I did.
“When this is over, Azrael,” I said, feeling calm despite the dig, “remind me to hurt you some more.”
I felt his sneer but chose to ignore it. Our intel had said that Bianca had gone to ground, that she had a private bunker beneath the building. I soared high in the sky, thinking about smashing my way through the top of the tower and using her elevator shaft to force my way down. If I could get to her quickly, then maybe we could end this without any of my people getting hurt. Because while I sought entry this way, everyone else would be trying to get into the building from the ground.
Upon seeing her penthouse, I flew into a cloud layer and positioned myself directly overtop, preparing for a deep dive that I figured would hurt like a bitch.
“Well? What are you waiting for?” I said to myself. “Time to man up, and get this shit done!”
So saying, I folding my wings and dove straight down. As soon as the clouds parted, however, I realized my plan wasn’t going to be so easy.
33
There were three soldier demons flying toward me, squat, ugly little beasts with their teeth bared and claws ready, their misshapen faces full of hate. Max and Brutus, I thought, and maybe Fido as well—and before I had time to think anymore, they met me mid-dive.
The first one tried to wrap its stubby fingers around my throat, and I grabbed its arm, swinging it away from me and into the second soldier demon. As they scrambled to correct course, I dealt with the third. This one was slightly larger, with red eyes that glared daggers at me. It also had a tuft of hair on its head, between its horns, and I wondered if it still had that tuft when in the form of a Wolfhound.
Then we clashed, and I used my longer arms to grab at him while using my wi
ngs to halt our descent. But he was a wily bastard, and wouldn’t let me grab onto him, pivoting in midair to flap above me. I turned just in time to see him pounce on my back and grab me under the chin. His grip was strong, and he planted his feet on my shoulders and was pulling and twisting my head at the same time.
Fucking monster! The winged, loathsome fuck was trying to take my head off.
“Fuck you!” I muttered, and I almost forgot to keep flying. I grabbed his hands and managed to break his grip, but the other two soldier demons had already returned to the fight. As I spun in-flight, trying to dislodge the bigger one, the other two latched onto my legs and began scrabbling up my body. They threw punch after punch, and try as I might, I could do nothing to throw them off.
So I did the only other thing I could do. I followed my original plan and dove straight for Bianca’s penthouse once more. Turning so the soldier demons would take the brunt of the impact, I hurtled into the top of the building, crashing through the roof of the penthouse in an explosion of concrete and steel.
“Ha!” I laughed at the vile creatures. “Suck on that, you little fucks!”
The building shook with the blow, and we didn’t stop on the top floor. Instead, we hurled through two more levels.
One of the soldier demons fell off, caught on a bar of steel and torn away. I knew better than to think it was dead, but it gave me the opportunity I needed. Using my wings, I smashed my body back up through the floors, hoping to tear off the other two demons. It hurt like a motherfucker, and I felt my back and shoulders take a beating as I smashed around inside the top of the building, trying to break the demons’ grips on my body.
“I know you said you wanted to hurt me,” Azrael said dryly, “but can’t you find a more elegant way to fight?”
“Shut the fuck up!” I snarled.
But he was right. All I was doing was wasting energy and hurting myself. Because the two demons still clinging to my body would not fall off. So I fought my way out of the building and flew back into the sky. The third demon had disappeared, so I soared high above the roof and dove downward again, this time toward a different part of Bianca’s tower.
We crashed straight through the top again, like a meteorite, and I tucked in my wings to avoid having them get caught in all the steel and concrete. A dust cloud rose around us, and the building shook once more. I was vaguely aware of screams somewhere below, but I continued crashing through floors, trying to shave off the soldier demons. Finally, one fell away, impaled on a piece of steel, and then the other let go when I broke through someone’s brick fireplace.
As soon as I was free, I tried to halt my descent, finally coming to a stop somewhere between floors. Then I looked upward at the sky. There was a hole the size of the bus in the building, and I’d just gone through five floors without even blinking. The air was thick with concrete dust, but instead of trying to go back out the way I’d come in, I avoided the soldier demons and tore my way out the side of the building.
Rachel, Sandy, and Piper met me in midair, but their looks of concern quickly disappeared when they saw me. Below, there was a firefight going on, a battle of guns blazing and fires burning. I grinned at the girls, happy to see that they all looked okay and even excited about what we were doing. It was good to have them fight by my side, and I never wanted to go back to the old way.
“We’re holding off the BDA for a moment,” Rachel said. “Where are those soldier demons?”
I nodded back to the building. “Caught somewhere inside, but they won’t be dead, I don’t think. Or maybe one of them, I’m not sure. Let’s get to that elevator shaft before they recover.”
And, with the girls in tow, I flew back up to the penthouse and entered through a smashed window. The place was in ruins. Part of the roof had caved in, and the first giant hole I’d made went straight through Bianca’s kitchen. I grinned at the destruction and then hurried to where I thought the elevator might be. It was inside the penthouse, a private elevator just for the head of the Syndicate. With both hands, I wrenched open the doors and tore them away.
Then we looked down into the shaft. It was dark, but not so dark we couldn’t see. After checking behind us to make sure nothing had followed us in, I jumped into the darkness. With a whoosh of air, I heard the girls follow me, and we half-glided, half-climbed down the elevator shaft. I was too big to fully extend my wings, but it wasn’t too difficult to hop down the shaft, grabbing hold of the cable and closed doorways as I went.
As we descended, the explosions and gun battle outside grew louder, as well as the screams from inside the building. By now, most of the residents would be trying to get out. And, if the BDA wasn’t a dick to them, maybe they would be able to do so. It was a pity, perhaps, but if Bianca didn’t care enough to evacuate the building before the battle, then neither did I.
Just as I saw the top of the elevator come into view, stopped on a sub-basement level, a great booming crash broke through the wall above me. Sandy yelled as chunks of concrete hit her in the head, and I looked up with a snarl, dodging more debris as it came my way.
Sandy seemed unhurt, but she had lost her concentration for the moment. The others had caught her from falling, and as one, we turned to see what had caused the explosion.
The two soldier demons had found us once again, one smaller one that I thought was my old friend Fido and the other one with the tuft of hair. They were flying down the elevator shaft toward us.
Perhaps I had killed the other one. I wasn’t entirely sure.
Either way, I found myself growling in fury. I was sick and fucking tired of dealing with these things, but there wasn’t a choice. They reached the girls first, and to my immense pride, Rachel and Piper began dealing them blow after blow. One of the demons latched onto Rachel with its teeth, and she yelled angrily. With a look of rage on her beautiful face, Sandy grabbed the thing by its wings and, yanking downward, pulled it away. Then she smashed the demon into the side of the elevator shaft.
And then she spun around, flinging the little demon into the other side of the shaft with a primal yell. “Don’t you fucking touch my girl!” she bellowed as she bashed it again and again.
I let out a whoop of approval. The second demon had mistakenly attacked Piper, and it wasn’t faring much better. As Sandy pummeled one into a pulp against the close walls, Piper was attempting to wrench off the other one’s arm—the one that had the tuft of hair.
Seeing that Sandy had things under control, Rachel joined Piper, and they had the demon spread between them.
“Hold him!” I yelled.
They did, and the thing snarled and squirmed while I dropped lower, gained a foothold further down, and then launched myself up at the demon. It saw me coming, and its eyes grew wide. But held between the two strong succubi, it couldn’t do anything but watch. I tore through the soldier demon in a spray of black blood. The thing was ripped apart at the torso, one of its arms tearing off, and the other breaking. In the next few seconds, I continued to rip it apart while Piper and Rachel helped. The little demon’s jaws kept snapping, however, so I grabbed those, too, and wrenched them wide, attempting to tear its lower jaw from its head.
It worked, and in another spray of goo, the demon had stopped trying to chomp down on us. We dropped the pieces into the bottom of the shaft and turned to help Sandy do the same thing to the other one. But she had almost beat the fucker unconscious, and it was already pulpy. All we had to do was disassemble it.
With a roar, we set to our task, and the little demon squealed and slathered as we tore it apart.
By the time we dropped the pieces, the building was beginning to tremble. The elevator shaft had taken too much damage, and already the bottom was covered in concrete and dust. I still thought to continue my plan, but the trembling turned to shaking, and walls began to fall away as well.
“Get out of here!” I yelled. The girls and I smashed our way through to the outside wall, and just in time. Bianca’s lovely tower of strength was crumbling, i
ts main support column ruined, imploding in a crash of dust, metal, and concrete.
It hit the street with a boom that shook the whole city.
I yelled, feeling triumphant. Hopefully it had taken out a few BDA agents with it. And hopefully my people had managed to get out of the way.
“Now all we have to do is dig Bianca out,” I said gleefully.
But Rachel, hovering in the air beside me, shook her head and pointed.
Near the edge of the rubble and emerging from the dust, one, two, three, and more BDA agents began to make their appearance. They were still armed and looked unharmed. And they were now looking at us.
“Fuck,” I said.
34
The first rounds whizzed by my head, and I didn’t think anything of it. Yeah, the BDA agents were using automatic rifles, but bullets couldn’t hurt me.
Until they did.
The first one that hit my right shoulder felt like someone had punched through me with a nail gun. And then the girls started yelling and dodging out of the way, too.
“Simon!” Rachel called.
I followed her as more bullets hit my wings, back, and butt. It was worse than being stung by a horde of angry hornets. We dodged behind the nearest intact building, and I heard more shouts from below.
“What the Hell was that?” I asked.
“Feels like holy water,” Azrael supplied.
“Holy water?” I repeated.
“Simon,” Piper said. “They must have dipped their bullets in it or something.”
I looked at my shoulder, where an angry red welt had formed where the bullet had hit. I imagined my backside looked worse. “The good news is that it hurts, but doesn’t seem to do any damage.”
Piper shook her head. “We were far away. What if we were up close and personal?”
“Shit,” I said. “Now what?”
Since we’d destroyed Bianca’s building, the only cover would come from the lingering dust in the air. We flew slowly toward the edge of the adjacent building so that we could look down at the agents below. Some of them had resumed their firefights with my incubus and succubus army, and I was happy to see that many of them were unscathed. Several bodies lay on the ground, however, and I tried not to think about how many of mine had been killed.
