by Tim Marquitz
The flickering portals that flew past might well have been tiny and fleeting, but they were open. If there was some way to take advantage of that fact, we’d be in much better situation than we were now, stuck depending on some angel Daddy wanted dead for some reason or another. And while I didn’t give much credence to Ilfaar’s stated point of view in the conflict, Lucifer and God supposedly fighting the good fight, I knew better than to think my father was some innocent victim in Ilfaar’s plot. That left me kind of torn.
If Ilfaar helped us out of here, he was doing so because it helped him. How did that affect Old Lou’s plans on the other side of the portal? Was escaping this prison worth possibly screwing up some grand scheme that involved defending the universe? My chest wallowed in a chill as I thought about that, but all it took was a single glance in Karra’s direction to help me make up my mind. There was no way I could leave her and the baby here. If Ilfaar knew how to get out, I’d drag him to the ends of the realm to see it for myself. What happened then, however, still remained to be seen. All that was in the future, though. There were things that needed to be dealt with now.
“We need to get going,” I told everyone, motioning for Rahim to help Ilfaar to his feet. The old guy might be better off in Venai’s loving embrace, but I really didn’t want to give her an opportunity to run off with our way home now that things had settled somewhat.
Shaw snorted and waved the Nephilim on, the two starting off the same way we’d been traveling.
“Hold on a second there, hot pants.” I gestured off in another direction. “We don’t want to go that way.”
“And why not? The aliens have been scattered, and surely they won’t attempt another ambush when it’s clear how little you care about your own life let alone theirs.” She grinned. “I believe it’s the safest way to go.”
“And you’d lose any sort of wager we put on it, too,” I answered. “While I was playing satellite, I spied an army of the little green folks headed that exact direction.” I pointed off the way she’d started. “Might take them a day or more to get here, but trust me, this little group of greenies is nothing compared to the force that’s marching our way. You keep going, and you’re going to find yourselves running right into them and saving them the effort of having to track you down.” I waved them on. “Feel free to make your own decision, though. Wouldn’t want to step on your civil liberties, or anything. Not like I have a sniper handy.”
“No, of course you wouldn’t.”
I turned from Shaw to look at Rala. “You doing all right?”
She nodded. “Much better, thanks.”
“Cool, then let’s get this traveling circus on the road.”
“Which way then?” Katon asked.
I took a second to reorient myself with what I’d seen above the canopy, and motioned off with my chin.
The enforcer glanced around at everyone real quick, likely gauging their willingness to let me lead them, and finally shook his head, starting off that way. “Risking the ire of Fate, I can’t imagine this direction being any worse than the last.”
I sure hoped that statement didn’t come back to haunt us, but he was spot on. We were in an alien world where we didn’t belong and pretty much everything here understood that. We were victims waiting to be victimized. With that hanging over our heads, we were gambling no matter what path we chose. So thinking, I headed off only pausing long enough to snatch up a couple replacement weapons and to make sure everyone was following along. We had a long way to go.
Hours later, we still had a long way to go. Maybe I had just become a lazy American, but it’d been forever since I’d had to walk somewhere further than the nearest liquor store or coffee shop.
Katon darted around in front of us the entire time, slipping between the tree trunks and running off out of sight for a minute or two only for us to catch up to him standing quietly in some random place, eyeballing something or other that none of the rest of us were privy to. He held up a hand to bring us to a halt during one of these particular pauses.
“We’re coming on night again. I can feel it closing in.” He pointed at the sky. “I’d rather not risk being outside when it comes.”
I’d damn near forgotten what the darkness held, but at Katon’s declaration my brain filled to overflowing with memories of the platybeast and monkey-critters, not to mention the wonderful lot of devourers. While the latter proved to be less threatening than when I wasn’t chained to a table, the thought still sent a spider web chill up my spine. I’d never forget those damn three mouths coming at me.
“Uh, I’m thinking that might be a problem.”
Katon shook his head my direction. “No, not really.” He ran a hand along the tree beside him, fingers stopping alongside a trio of pale slashes. I couldn’t help but smile.
“Glad someone was paying attention,” Shaw offered.
I didn’t even bother to acknowledge her. “Then let’s get out of sight before squidfall.”
Katon circled the base of the tree, seeking out the trigger to open the hideout, but it was Rala who drew my attention. Her stomach rumbled like thunder. She hurried to cover it up, the book and Chatterbox whipped along in her rush.
“Grrrrruuummmmbbblllle, ggrrruuuummmmbllllleee…”
“Shush!” she told the head.
“Think we might find some food soon?” Karra asked, reminding me just how different my priorities had become since inheriting Hobbs’ body. Out of stomach, out of mind?
“We might have to get creative,” I answered, glancing around. “Hey, Venai, got any milk in them jugs?”
The Nephilim tensed and started forward, fists clenched.
“Don’t let him provoke you,” Shaw told her, keeping her flunky from trying to smash my teeth in. “Your opportunity will come.”
I just smiled. It probably wasn’t smart to rattle their cages, but I wanted the pair of them focused on me and no one else. A plan was ovulating inside my skull but it wasn’t quite ready to hatch just yet. I needed some more time to piece it all together, and I couldn’t be distracted by having to worry about what the twins had up their sleeves. As long as they were thinking about killing me, and only me, all was right with the world. That was a pressure I was used to. Hunting and gathering, however, ended with my ability to stuff a wad of cash in the hands of the clerk at the nearest grocery store or fast food joint. I’ll take a number one, no onions, please.
The muffled click of the hidey hole’s rear entrance brought my salivating attention back to the real world. Night would be on us before too long, and the opportunity for a snack—however we ended up defining it—was creeping up on us.
“It’s clear,” Katon said, waving Rala and Rahim down into the shelter first.
Ilfaar patiently waited for his turn while I sent Venai down first to help buffer the angel when I lowered him inside. Once those two were in, Veronica ducked inside, followed by Shaw. As the wight’s feet hit the ground, Karra inched up close to me.
“The baby can’t go much longer without sustenance,” she told me, getting straight to the point as she was wont to do.
My stomach tightened into a hard knot at hearing it laid out so plainly. “I don’t know what there is, but the greenies had a bunch of giant rats strung out to dry so the critters around her must be edible, if you don’t mind vermin.”
She sighed. “At this point, Frankie, food is food. We can’t deprive the baby much longer without consequence.”
“I know.” The screw of responsibility twisted a little deeper. “Once night falls, I’ll find something. I promise.”
She nodded, leaving it at that, and slipped out of sight inside the tree hideout. I stared off through the canopy, hoping to catch a glimpse of the approaching gloom. As much as I didn’t want to run out in it again, choice had been taken from me.
The kid wasn’t even born yet, and I was already learning about the sacrifices parents were forced to make for their children. On the other hand, having a child meant there would a
lways be ice cream around.
Always gotta look on the bright side.
Sixteen
(Scarlett)
“I sense them,” Michael Li shouted, his voice ragged with excitement.
The feeling was contagious. “Yes?”
Rachelle nearly bowled the mentalist over in her insistence to crowd beside him as the gate wavered and snapped shut, just as the previous four apertures had. Only this time, a smile gleamed across Michael’s lips.
“It wasn’t much more than a flicker, as if the portal is in rampant flux on the other side, time offset between the two making it more difficult to connect,” he said. “There wasn’t but a hint of Rahim and Katon, a limp ping reflected back, but I’m certain I connected with Frank, though the link was horribly distorted. He felt…odd; different.”
“More so than usual, I presume?”
I glanced at Uriel, unable to hold back my smile despite the inappropriateness of his joke.
“His soul is bound to a vampire while Azrael wears his flesh, so he’s not quite the Frank of old,” Rachelle answered.
“That would explain it.” Michael took the weirdness in stride. Anyone close to Frank knew to temper their expectations for strange occurrences. There was no separating the two. “I wasn’t able to actually connect with him, to speak with him, but I managed to push a suggestion through the link before the connection was severed. Not sure how effective it will be, but I’ll keep pushing every time the portal cracks. He’ll be easier to find now that I’ve embedded a psychic beacon, if nothing else.”
Rachelle nodded. “I believe I have the gate’s number this time.” Her energies swirled about her, coiled, ready to snap. She’d missed latching onto it the previous times it appeared, but there was no doubting her determination.
“Any word from the rest of DRAC?” I asked Michael.
He shook his head. “None of our agents report seeing the angel anywhere, and the mystic we employed hasn’t felt any splits in the dimensional wall from Hell, but she lacks Rachelle’s sensitivity. However, unless Azrael completely shuts down his magical signature, I’m sure she’ll spot him in time to give us a heads up as to his destination, at least.”
“The more advanced it is, the better,” Uriel said.
Michael shrugged. “She’ll do what she can, but our resident expert is here with us.” He gestured to Rachelle, who squinted and focused all her attention on the spot where the portal had been popping into existence. She prepared without a word.
Uriel nodded. “I understand, but I fear that if we wait on Azrael to return of his own accord, on his terms, our current plans might not be sufficient to our needs.”
The uncertainty in the archangel’s tone drew me up short. If Azrael found access to the full strength of Longinus embedded within Frank’s flesh, there was little hope we could bring him down with so few of us. Uriel was a great equalizer, but with the full power of the earthly Christ at his beck and call, stolen upon the cross by the tip of Longinus’ spear, we stood little chance of conquering Azrael. We could only hope the message I’d delivered to Duke Forcalor, on behalf of Uriel, had the desired effect. I prayed to our Father that we succeeded in our plan before the Angel of Death succeeded in his.
Only empty silence answered.
Seventeen
Darkness settled, and once more the world outside our tiny sanctuary exploded with life. This time, I was glad to hear it.
I glanced over at Karra who rubbed her swollen stomach absentmindedly. She gave me a tight smile, no doubt realizing what we were gonna have to do to feed the baby. She’d deal with anything to make sure the kid was taken care of, but neither of us had any clue as to what the pair of them would end up ingesting. I could see the uncertainty in her eyes, and it bothered me to feel so useless. I wasn’t very good at this camping out crap, and she knew it.
I stared off to where Katon had taken up his post, the foliage grating smaller than the last hideout, but built similarly to allow us some small view outside. He was pensive. His hands clenched and unclenched at his side with rhythmic intensity. The sounds of shuffling monsters outside had him wound up tight. Couldn’t blame him, though. I was fixing to head out into it once the early clamor subsided. We needed food, but there was no way I could take down an army of unknowns to get it. The play had be stealthy or the roles would end up reversed, us being dinner instead of them.
Shaw and Venai sat nearby, with Rahim and Karra a short distance off to ensure the women didn’t make a run for it, though they seemed content to hang out. Rala, Veronica, and CB were all nestled in an alcove off to one side of the hole, their whispered chatter drifting into the main chamber, while Ilfaar had been tucked into a similar alcove on the other side. He sat curled in the shadows, only the occasional grunt of his movement sounding from within. The guy was a mystery. I only hoped he didn’t die before we figured it out.
He wasn’t the only one, though.
I glanced around the room, my eyes landing on Shaw. She glared back, daggers in her eyes. I resisted the urge to grin. She was more trouble than I wanted to deal with, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized she might be useful. At least until she tried to stab us all in the back.
“Can you sense the portals now?” I asked, catching her off guard with a real question.
She sat stoic for a moment before finally nodding. “I can, though just barely. They seem more pronounced as the night wears on.”
“Would you be able to track them?”
“What are you fishing for, Frank?” Katon asked without bothering to turn around.
The last thing I wanted to do was get into detail with the enemy camped among us. I hadn’t told anyone about the strange gate in the volcano or how the glimmering portal strings seemed to head straight for it, seeing how we were headed that direction anyway, but a nagging thought kept pecking at me. My head wouldn’t let it go. I’d heard something in the midst of all that noise that reminded me of home.
I simply ignored Katon. “You weren’t able to pinpoint where the portals opened, were you?”
She didn’t appear pleased as she shook her head.
I pointed upward. “That’s because they aren’t opening near the ground. They’re hovering high in the air above us where we can’t see or reach them.”
Her eyes narrowed as the sense of it hit her. Then her lip curled back when she realized what that told me about her. Had she been operating on full cylinders, she would have pinpointed the portal fluctuations rather than only being teased by them. That gave me pause, as what I was plotting required her to be able to pick them out accurately or we’d miss our opportunity to…to…
To what exactly?
My brain belt slipped and left me scrambling to catch up with what I’d been thinking. A discombobulated echo inside my skull ricocheted through the darkness, shrieking about something I couldn’t quite grasp.
“Damn it!”
“What?” Karra asked?
I shook my head, and something resembling coherence popped into place. “I want to try something, but I’m gonna need help.”
“I’ll help.”
“No.” I waved her offer aside, only realizing how rudely I’d done it after the fact. I clasped her hand in mine as an apology. “No, thank you. Stay here and keep an eye on tubs back there.” I gestured to where Ilfaar lurked, doing my best to convey my uncertainty.
Karra ground her teeth together, but she didn’t argue. For all her concern, she trusted me to take care of things. You’d think she’d know better by now. I sighed and disentangled my finger from her, instantly missing the warmth of her grasp.
“I need you, you, and you,” I said, pointing to Shaw, Rahim, and then Rala in turn. “Let’s take a walk.” The alien and her companions trundled out into the main chamber, no one looking pleased.
“And if I refuse?” Shaw asked.
I sent an ugly grin to my lips. “Then I start knifing you until you decide it’s better to go along with my harebrained scheme th
an to live the rest of your life as a deformed cripple.” I hoped she wouldn’t call my bluff. We still had options, and I wasn’t sure exactly what I was trying to accomplish, but it damn sure seemed important for some reason. I knew I couldn’t do it without her.” So, what do you say, your wightness?”
“She’s not going anywhere without me?” Venai growled. Only the subtle sound of Karra drawing her sword held the Nephilim in check.
“Fine,” I answered. “I can use you, too.”
“What are you doing, Frank?” Katon had turned from his watch to stare at me with suspicion swirling in his dark eyes.
“I have an idea,” I answered. “Besides, we need food, and I think it’ll be easier for us to procure some if I have help. Or at least someone to carry it.” I winked at Venai.
“I don’t think this is wise.”
“Nor do I,” Rahim agreed. “I’m not sure what you’re planning, but we should at least take Katon along with us.”
I wasn’t completely sure myself, but I did know Katon needed to stay with Karra or I wouldn’t feel comfortable leaving her behind. “No, he should stay here and keep tabs on things.”
My eyes shifted first to Ilfaar, and then to Veronica, hoping Katon got the hint. I didn’t trust either one of them. If the ex-wife managed to get a few minutes alone with the angel, she might be able to use her powers as a succubus to ferret out what he knew about escaping Tenebrae. Wounded as he was, he was less susceptible to her manipulations because of the pain he was going through, but I didn’t want to take the chance. If we needed to go that route, I wanted to be the one controlling it.
I also didn’t want Veronica with me. Given what she’d done to help Baalth kidnap Karra, the woman knew she was on thin ice. If she found the opportunity to stab me in the back and get away with it, she might just take it since she could only presume I intended to do the same. She had to be thinking she could get something out of Ilfaar, but she hadn’t said a word. That alone was evidence of her plotting something. If she hadn’t felt threatened, she would have already offered to do it so we could all go home.
