by Jack Porter
“Those BDA agents all have shields,” Piper said, peering out with me. “How do they hand things to each other? Do you think, if they stand close together, the shields sort of merge into a bigger one that covers them all? I can’t tell from here.”
It was a good question. I took a long, lingering look, focusing on the agents standing closest together. “Yeah, looks like it,” I muttered.
Suddenly, a whistling sound cut the air, and I looked in time to see that the agents had fired a rocket at us. Not wanting to take the chance that it had been dipped in holy water as well, I grabbed Piper and pulled her back as the rocket zoomed past to explode in the side of a building across the street.
“Fuck, that was close!” I yelled. “Okay, so we need to get through their shields, but how?”
Sandy flew next to me, her face screwed up in anger. Blotches of red skin covered her chest and arms where the bullets had hit her, and I tried to contain my anger at seeing her in such a state.
“If only we could burrow into the bunker,” Sandy said. “And avoid the agents altogether.”
“Yes,” I said slowly, thinking. “But then the agents might try to follow us in and shoot us from behind. We need to take them out before we deal with Bianca. I don’t think she’s going anywhere.”
And then I had a thought. I grinned, feeling pleased with myself. “Is the amulet we took from Dario the same type as the one the agents use?” I asked Azrael.
“I believe so.”
“And will the shield it produces merge the same way?” The shield-trap thing the agents had projected in the parking garage and around Dario’s place was a different thing. I knew that without even asking. It was much stronger than the agents’ personal shields, and didn’t merge the same way.
“I don’t see why not.”
I kept grinning. “Anyone see any reason it wouldn’t work?”
Piper seemed to like the idea. “You want to merge shields with an agent, then kill them from the inside? One at a time?” she asked, and I nodded. “There’s a lot of them. It would be quicker if you had backup.”
Good point. “You mean,” I said, “if I was to take the amulets from the agents I kill and give them to you?”
“Something like that, yes,” the assassin replied, returning my grin with one of her own.
But Sandy was frowning as if something troubled her. “If the shields are merging, what happens? It gets bigger, right? So that group of agents there,” she pointed, “could all be under the same shield. Couldn’t they all turn on you and start blasting away?”
She was right. Okay, so I had to think about this. “If I was fast enough,” I said finally, “maybe I could grab one and fly away…”
“And maybe you couldn’t,” the blond retorted.
Then I thought back to something she had said before, about burrowing under the agents to get to Bianca. I looked again, and saw that a few of the agents were standing near a manhole cover.
My grin returned. I didn’t need to be fast. Not really. All I needed was a way to separate an agent or two from the others, for long enough to kill them. And I thought I had just figured out how to do it.
Azrael was reading my mind. “Or you could turn around and fly away. And start over somewhere else,” he said.
I ignored him and told the girls what I was thinking.
“Now, where’s Julie?” I asked.
Julie wasn’t far away. I borrowed the amulet from her and told her to stay down while I had it, and then we were ready. In just a few moments, the other girls and I had landed a block over, out of the line of sight of the agents but where we could avoid most of the rubble from the downed building, which would only impede us.
“I’ll go first,” I said, “then you follow.”
The girls nodded, and I jumped into the sky, only to turn headfirst and let myself drop down. With a mighty punch, I shattered the concrete sidewalk and went into the sewer system. I was too big for a manhole, and anyway, this was just as easy. The girls hopped down to follow me, and we sloshed through knee-high water, following the line of street as best we could. Then, I turned, and judging the distance, listened to make sure we were where I thought we’d be.
The sounds of gunfire were close. I corrected our course by moving a few feet farther through the sewer and then paused again. Just above, I could make out the rat tat tat sounds of the automatic weapons, just above and coming through another manhole.
“Get ready!” I said. Then I crouched low and sprang upward as hard and fast as I could. The concrete and manhole above gave way as I punched through.
I ended up just behind an agent.
Our shields merged, just as I’d hoped. Before the agent could even turn to look or cry out, I grabbed her and ducked back into the ground, snapping her neck like a twig.
One down.
I tossed the agent’s amulet to Piper, who put it on.
A few moments later, we had both taken out another agent each, and we had amulets for all four of us.
That’s when things should have got easier, but while Piper, Rachel, and I all managed to subdue our next targets easily enough, Sandy struggled with hers. The agent was a bit farther away and had time to react. He had reached for Sandy’s amulet, and must have managed to deactivate it at just the wrong moment. Sandy had been caught somehow in the shield that the agent wore, and neither one of them seemed to be able to go anywhere.
Sandy held onto the agent’s rifle with the hand within his shield, but it didn’t stop him from trying to shoot her. However, with her body only halfway through his personal shield, she couldn’t get a hold of him with her other arm. I yelled and sprang over to them. I could have merged my shield with that agent, but all I could think of was Sandy. Yanking her out of the way, I took the bullet for her, right in my thigh.
Searing hot pain shot through my leg, and I looked down to see a bullet had grazed me. My flesh hissed and burned, and I gritted my teeth as I pulled all three of us back into the air and out of the way. But Sandy once again came through. She had managed to get an arm free of the agent’s shield and shoved it right toward his heart, and was still holding him. I laughed at her ferocity, but Sandy had a look of grim determination on her face as she pushed deeper into his chest cavity and, while the agent screamed, grabbed hold of his spine.
He died very quickly, before we even got back to the ground, and Sandy’s arm was covered in blood.
Which weirdly turned me on.
But there was no time to do anything about that, just at that moment. Instead, we joined up with Piper and Rachel and took a moment to check what was happening.
35
The agents had scattered, but there was still gunfire coming from all directions, firing at what was left of my army and at us.
“Looks like we spooked them,” I said.
“Yeah,” Rachel agreed. “They know we have amulets now too. They know they are exposed.”
“Good. We need to act now, then, before they decide to try a different strategy. Everyone ready?” I asked.
The girls all nodded, and I gave them their assignments. Then, I told everyone else in the army, through Azrael, that they were to lay down as much fire as they could, all at once.
In a few moments, the sounds of gunfire increased, and I even heard another explosion somewhere further away. “Now!” I said.
The four of us flew into the air, scattering in different directions. I felt a few bullets ricochet off my amulet’s shield, but ignored them. We had counted five pockets of agents left, all hunkered down and firing. I took the group farthest away, as it looked like the largest one, but still small enough that I felt I could handle them easily. And when I landed in their midst from above, some of them turned with shock on their faces.
Our plan had worked. The amulets enabled us get close to the agents. I was inside their protections.
I grabbed one man by his hair and yanked him around, breaking his neck, and the others screamed in alarm. And then I saw that the man
with the scar was in this group, and I grinned.
I’d never been so happy to kill. This time, it wasn’t about protecting myself or my girls.
This time, it wasn’t just a job.
This time, it was about revenge.
I disemboweled the man who had caused me so much trouble, and as he held his own intestines in his hands, I ripped out his throat with my other hand. His amulet went flying, and I dropped him to find another agent. At this point, the others were trying to leave their cover, but the humans were no match for me, not with Azrael’s strength. I felt his satisfaction as one by one, I caught them in my hands.
I picked one man up by the ankle as he tried to climb out of the way and swung him like I had swung that soldier demon the first time I’d encountered it. But this man didn’t have the protection of a demon. His head bashed against a chunk of concrete, and his brains spilled out with a magnificent splatter.
In a few more seconds, I had killed everyone in this nest. My army, the ones who had been firing, stopped, and I turned to see if I could help the girls. Rachel and Sandy had both dispatched their nests, and Piper was just about to snap the last neck. And then I remembered something.
“Wait!” I yelled.
Piper heard me and stopped with her strong arms around the man’s throat. With a jump, I landed just in front of them and tore off his amulet.
“We need one alive,” I said. “Just one.”
Then I smiled maliciously at the black-haired BDA agent, whose eyes had gone wide with fright and whose skin was the color of death. Handing the amulet to Sandy, who had also approached, I nodded approvingly at her blood-soaked hands and arms.
She shrugged and grinned. “Turns out, I’m not so helpless after all, am I?” she asked seductively. I really couldn’t wait to drag her to bed and fuck her in her demon form. And I sensed Azrael’s approval at this desire. However, we still had to find our main opponent.
At this point, Julie came running up to us, and I smiled in relief that she was okay and returned her amulet to her while picking up another that had fallen on the ground. The other army members came to help, then, and began to search for any survivors of the BDA that would need to be dispatched. I gave all the extra amulets that we found to Julie, who was to distribute them to anyone who wanted to fight for us more regularly. Because I could definitely see the benefit of raising my own army now. One that was completely loyal only to me.
But Bianca was still hunkered down somewhere in the ground, and until she was confronted, I couldn’t be satisfied. “I need you to watch our backs,” I told Julie when she returned, “and come with us.”
With my four favorite girls helping me, I began heaving large chunks of concrete, masonry, and steel aside to clear an area where I thought the bunker was. It took us a bit of time, but I finally found the remains of the elevator shaft we had destroyed. In the end, all I had to do was follow the stench of dead soldier demon. The body parts lay where we’d dropped them, right on top of the elevator car.
To my enormous surprise, one of the beasts was even still alive, which I thought was kind of funny at this point. But it couldn’t do anything to us in its largely-dismembered state. It was the one with the missing jaw, and it blinked rapidly at me as I peered down at it.
Just because she could, Julie shot it with a gun she had snagged from one of the dead agents, holy-water bullets and all. It took three rounds to the skull before the lights went out behind the monster’s eyes, and then I was sure it wouldn’t cause us anymore immediate trouble.
That done, we swept the body parts aside and looked at the elevator car.
36
It was surprisingly intact. Probably protected by the same divine shields that protected the agents. However, with us still wearing ours, I was able to tear open a hole in the steel and drop down into the car, packing into the tight space. Piper, Sandy, and Rachel prepared to follow, but I held my hand up for them to wait.
With Julie watching our backs up top, just in case, I wrenched the doors open.
The hallway that greeted us was almost what I expected, with thick concrete walls that looked like they could have survived a nuclear strike—which, when I thought about it, was probably exactly what they had been intended to do—and harsh industrial lighting.
What I didn’t expect, however, was the absence of agents, and instead the presence of what looked like murder holes in the walls and ceiling. Places like I’d seen pictures of in medieval castles, just big enough to put a weapon through and fire on an unwelcome person in the hallway.
At the very end of the corridor was a large door that looked as if it was protected by some type of steel, with a manual lever like a bank vault. No doubt, there were cameras here, as well, to announce our arrival.
I wasn’t fool enough to think that there weren’t other traps waiting for us down this hall. Ones I couldn’t see.
“What do you think?” I asked Azrael silently. “Flames? Clouds of heavenly origin?”
“Flames won’t hurt us,” he said confidently.
“But Bianca knows your weakness,” I said bitterly. “Tell me, Azrael, is there anything that can hurt us right now?”
The demon didn’t say anything, and I took that as a yes.
“What is it?” I demanded. “Tell me, demon!”
“Some divine shields do more than protect. Some can harm. But they are less common than those amulets you’ve stolen. And, I don’t believe we are dealing with one of those.”
“It’s likely they have them, though,” I said. The Syndicate and BDA seemed to have few limits to their power. And if such a thing existed, then they were sure to have it. “What can it do to you?” I asked.
“If they have the correct artifacts, then they can kill this physical body and send me back to Hell. You will die, and your soul will go with me to Hell. You will suffer eternal torment.”
“Great,” I muttered. “Let’s try to avoid that, huh? So how do we evade this new type of offensive shield, just in case it’s there?”
But Azrael didn’t get a chance to respond to me, because at that moment, the floor of the elevator shifted, and I was forced to grab onto the mangled doorframe to keep from falling into the abyss that had opened up below me.
“Holy shit!” I said. The dark abyss didn’t seem to have a bottom, and I really didn’t want to find out what would happen if I dropped into it, wings or no. “What is that?” I asked Azrael.
But again, he didn’t get to respond before Rachel yelled at me from above. “Simon, run!”
From below and above, as if they had appeared out of the air, all I saw were feathers and wings. As if heaven and hell had opened at the same time and spat out its creatures.
Jumping into the underground corridor, I watched as the elevator filled with not several creatures, but one giant with two sets of feathered wings. Neither angel nor demon, I suspected. It had black feathers, pale skin, and no horns.
And the damn thing’s eyes glowed yellow.
“What is that?” I asked, wanting to back away from the elevator but not wishing to spring any other traps that might be waiting for me in the hallway.
“A cacodemon,” Azrael said, and his voice was as close to fear as I’d ever heard it. “They bring death to demons and angels. Those who stray too far away from their masters, and those who don’t follow orders.”
“And should we be worried about this?” I asked, but I already knew the answer. This thing, this cacodemon, had jumped out of the elevator and begun stalking toward me.
This must have been what could bring down Azrael. Forget the offensive shields.
Oh shit. Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit. Shit shit shit. Fucking shit.
Shitfuck.
“Move!” Azrael bellowed.
And the cacodemon must have heard him as well, because it grinned as it launched itself for me.
Not going to lie, if I hadn’t been in my demon form, I might have pissed myself, because this cacodemon emanated raw power.
And I knew beyond anything that it was at least as strong as me. Finding my wits, I dove to the right just as the cacodemon reached for me. Tucking myself into a roll in the tight hallway, I jumped to my feet behind the monster, which had already spun around to face me.
“Stay out of here!” I yelled to the girls, because I could sense their fear for me, and their resolve to come help. But I didn’t want any of them hurt. If they were, I didn’t think I could live with myself.
So instead, I went on the offensive, roaring as I met the cacodemon in the middle of the hallway. We locked arms for a moment, each trying to bend the other to his will. And for the love of all that wasn’t holy, this thing was strong. Its grip threatened to break my arms, and I swung around, trying to throw it off balance. But it moved with the precision of a cheetah chasing an antelope, turning on a dime to throw me off balance instead. With a step forward, it threw me into the wall, which I felt bend behind me with a groan and a loud crack. Dust fell from the ceiling as the crack spread over our heads.
Then the cacodemon reached back as if intending to throw one good punch that would take me out forever. I raised my arm and blocked the blow, sending his fist wide and into the wall. It punched through, and I used the split second he needed to free himself to get myself out of the way.
When the cacodemon turned, he still had that grin on his face. “Been a long time, Azrael,” it said into my mind. “You’ve grown soft.”
With a surge of anger that the cacodemon wasn’t even addressing me, Simon, I attacked with everything I had. But the cacodemon met me blow for blow. I didn’t have any weapons on me, didn’t need any because my body was my weapon. But none of the weapons I owned would have done any good against this thing, anyway.
