by Hanna Peach
They moved fast, collecting only the bare necessities. As they left the theater the sun was getting low in the sky.
They found a disused warehouse along the docks. Inside the air was damp and clung to their skin like cobwebs. Machinery and metal rollers lay out across the space like skeletons. Cranes gridded the ceiling and off them, large hooks hung like branches of a steel forest. But it was empty and for the moment, it was safe.
Alyx missed their theater already. That place was warm and cozy, a contained little world. This place was harsh and an unhappy wind whipped through the cracks of the building.
“We have to get out of Saint Joseph,” she said to Israel.
“I’m not leaving till−”
“I know. That’s why we have to bring forward the plan. We start looking for Adere tonight.”
Chapter 30
The man moved along the cobblestone sidewalk of Solitude Valley favoring his left leg, his limp only noticeable if you were watching him. The glow of sex shops and alternative clubs ebbed across his face as he walked through the bedrooms of the homeless and the drunk, crushing the used needles and condoms under his feet.
Recently, parts of the Valley had undergone somewhat of a revival, a gentrification of sorts. Several small bars and restaurants had dared to open on the Valley’s main strip but were still so cool that the mainstream night-revelers hadn’t yet discovered them.
But this crowded strip was not where he was going. No. He walked deeper and deeper into the bowels of the Valley, where the dignified citizens of Saint Joseph would not even drive.
The man stopped at the gate of a large two-story house, the painted bricks now a dirty beige, several window boxes jutting out from the rotting roof. A row of unloved trees stood like bony sentries on the strip of yard that divided the sidewalk from the building. From inside came the cackling of brassy jazz.
Above the street, peering over the rooftop of a nearby building were two faces.
“Why are we here if we aren’t going to confront them?” Israel asked. He was itching to do something. All those weeks of training. And still no action.
“We don’t even know if she’s in there,” Alyx said. “We can’t just waltz in there, swords brandished, demanding to know if Adere is here. It would be suicide.”
Israel glanced over at her profile, the moonlight dabbing a soft gloss on her forehead and nose. He wanted so badly to touch her. He let his arm brush against hers as if it were unintentional.
Alyx nudged him. Israel looked down to where she was staring. The man walked to the small porch, flooded with a red light. He knocked three times using the large lion-face knocker. Israel doubted if anyone inside could hear the knocking against the music, but within seconds the door was opened by a plump woman, her flesh squeezed into a blue and gold corset trimmed with black lace.
As she stepped forward to greet her visitor, her face fell under the red light, making the exposed pale bones of her demon face give off an eerie glow. Israel felt Alyx stiffen.
“Is there something odd to you about her?” she asked.
“Now that you mention it, demons in corsets? Not a good look.”
“I’m being serious.”
“So am I.”
The man entered the house and the woman closed the door behind them.
Alyx gasped.
“What is it?”
“Did you see her hands? They looked like raw exposed bones from her forearms, same as her face.”
“And?”
“That’s a nightmare demon.”
“There are different kinds? So what?”
“Nightmare demons are supposed to just be legends...myths.”
“Myths?” Israel frowned.
“A nightmare demon is a greater demon. We were taught about greater demons by the Elders, but After, the greater demons haven’t been seen on Earth.”
“What? So what we’ve been dealing with here on Earth has only been the lesser demons?”
“Something like that.”
“Great, only lesser demons,” Israel mumbled. “Where were the greater demons supposed to have gone?”
“Stayed in hell or crossed over to the other worlds or other realms. Earth isn’t the most important place to the greater demons. Or, at least, it wasn’t.”
“There are other worlds? Other realms?” Israel’s voice grew louder as he fought to process this information.
“That isn’t a conversation for right now.”
“But we are having that conversation, right? Later?”
Alyx waved at him to shush, then pointed at two figures walking down the dark street. Both were middle-aged men dressed in suits. One of them swung a walking cane, although it was obviously for aesthetics rather than assistance walking. Israel looked closer at his face; late thirties but holding it well, handsome with a thick black moustache matching his conservative haircut, his skin the color of spice. Israel felt the sharp tang of recognition. “The one with the cane − recognize him at all?”
Alyx looked again. “I’m not sure. He does seem familiar.”
“That,” he said, “is Saint Joseph’s mayor.”
As the two men reached the porch of the double-story house, Alyx and Israel were able to see their demon faces. The other gentleman’s demon face was green and had the familiar row of horns along the cheeks and forehead. But the mayor wore red skin and had yellow slit eyes like a crocodile.
Alyx cursed. “The mayor has become a hate demon.”
“Another greater demon?” A strange prickle of fear started to claw at the back of his neck and the feeling traveled across his skin.
Alyx nodded. “Something’s going on. I have to get closer.”
“I’m coming with you.”
“No, you stay here.”
Israel’s shoulders pinched as he watched Alyx tip over the edge of the building and fly across to the roof of the demon house.
He didn’t like this. Didn’t like this at all. He shouldn’t have let her fly off like that. How useless was he if he had to keep letting her protect him?
Alyx hung in the shadows by the side of a protruding window on the second floor. From where he was, Israel could see that there was nobody inside that room. Alyx moved down to spy into a first floor window.
Unlike the second floor windows, the lower ones were long and sleek. From this high angle, Israel could only see a strip of red and gold floor through the first floor windows. He watched as Alyx moved back to the second floor window. She started testing the edges of the window frame. What was she doing? She pried the window open and disappeared inside.
No. Israel’s heart beat against his ribs. She was going to get herself killed. He couldn’t stay here while she risked her life. He had to do something.
He gazed over the building. Confident he could see a way down, he swung his legs over the edge of the roof, finding a little ledge with his feet.
* * *
Through the ground floor window Alyx could see a decadent sitting room fringed with red and gold curtains and a matching carpet. Upon the mixed assortment of plump couches and settees – black leather, gold silk, red suede – lounged a dozen or so Darkened.
She recognized a few other greater demons: a nightmare demon, black skin over exposed bone; a fire demon, molten skin like lava; and two blood demons, thick blue and purple veins like twisted ropes across their ghostly skin. The hate demon mayor was pacing the room and punctuating the air with his hands, but she couldn’t hear what he was saying.
Alyx’s spine tingled with a cold fear. What was a collection of greater demons doing here on Earth after so many centuries of staying away? She had to get inside. She had to hear what they were saying.
She returned to the first window on the second story. She pushed her fingers into the grooves around the window and pulled. It moved a crack. Yes. It was unlocked. She pushed open the window, carefully, carefully, and slipped in.
Inside, she moved across the room to the only door. It opened to an empty la
nding, voices floating up from the stairwell. Alyx crept to the top of the stairs and the voices became clearer.
“...the sparrow is on our side. The Guardian has been chosen. No doubt the rest of the prophecy will come about. We just have to be patient.”
“I don’t want to be patient, dammit.” There was a large growl, then a sigh as the speaker tried to calm himself. “We shall just have to keep searching for the keye in the meantime.”
Alyx leaned forward so she could hear them better. At that moment she felt herself fall forward. She had to clutch the banister to keep from tumbling down the stairs. Everything started to fade...she was being pulled into Israel.
Now is not the time, Alyx thought in a panic. She bit her bottom lip, using the pain to keep her focused on here, and pushed against the insistent tug. It started to ebb away. The stairs came back into focus.
“What if Lucifer finds out?”
Alyx heard a loud slap and a cowering noise. “Well, we just have to make sure he doesn’t find out, won’t we?”
“Yes, Samyara.”
The front door at the base of the stairs opened. Alyx ducked back into the corridor to avoid being seen by this newcomer. She stole a look over the banister. It was another Darkened, a weathered-faced man on the outside, green skinned and studded with horns on the inside. He was holding a body flung limp over his left shoulder, face hidden. Alyx’s heart dropped when she recognized Israel’s boots.
“Alzeke, what in the devil is that?” Alyx heard a female voice say.
“I found him creeping around the side of the house, milady,” the demon-man wheezed. “Mortal. Could be a tasty snack for later.” He laughed, wet and throaty, which turned into rough coughing.
Dammit, Israel. Why didn’t you just stay where you were?
“Deposit him in one of the bedrooms upstairs for now. Lock him in and bring me the key.”
“Of course, milady.” The demon moved towards the stairs.
Alyx spun around and flew towards the room she came in through. She slipped inside, closed the door as silently as she could, knelt down and put her eye to the keyhole.
The demon was singing as he got to the top of the staircase and stepped onto the landing. It was a moaning, wailing noise.
“...My lover stole my heart one night,
And with it she took my soul,
She held them in her hands so light,
And then she swallow’d them whole...”
Would he come into this room? Alyx glanced around the room for a place to hide just in case. The closet. Perfect. She turned back to the keyhole in time to see the demon disappear with Israel into another bedroom. He reappeared several moments later and locked the door behind him. He threw the key in the air. A large green forked tongue flew out from between his lips and snatched the key back into his mouth. There was a glint in his other hand. A sword. It was Israel’s sword that had been hanging from his belt. The Darkened named Alzeke brought it up to his face and stared at it, frowning.
“Milady,” he walked towards the stairs, “there’s something strange about this mortal.”
Alyx cursed under her breath. Once the demons in the living room realized that Israel had been carrying a sword on him, they would no longer see him as just a mortal unlucky enough to have spied into the wrong house. She had to get Israel out. Now.
Alyx turned from the door. What now? The window. She flew across the room, pushed it open, slipped out and moved along the outside wall towards the room that Israel was in.
Through the window Alyx could see Israel sprawled on his back across a single bed, eyes closed. She tried the window. Locked. Dammit. She heard a commotion downstairs. She was running out of time.
Alyx grabbed the top window sill and swung her body through the glass, feet first. It shattered with a terrible crash. She rolled up from the wooden floor, ignoring the tiny pieces of glass that left cuts in her legs. There was a thundering of feet up the stairs.
“Israel, wake up.” Alyx shook Israel’s body but he remained still. She slipped her hands under his limp form and pulled him up over one shoulder. Dammit. The window was too small to let both of them out like this.
Alyx heard a muffled voice outside the door. “Alzeke, the key. Now.”
The door thudded, the lock rattling behind her. She looked out the window. Two demons rounded the corner and were drawing their demonswords. They saw her too. Placing his sword in his teeth, one of the demons started to climb the side of the house towards her, his feet scraping across the brick as he scuttled up. The other followed.
Alyx kicked the remaining shards of glass from the base of the sill. The lock clicked in place behind her. She swung Israel’s body, throwing it forward head first out of the broken window.
The door behind her burst open. Alyx grabbed Israel’s feet and let the weight of him pull her out through the window. She heard the sing of steel cutting through air and felt a slice of pain across her calf as she dove out. She thought she heard a girlish voice call Israel’s name.
They fell over the heads of the demons clinging to the wall. The dry grass, littered with pieces of glass, was coming up fast. Alyx yanked Israel towards her, grasped him around the waist and pulled up. His limp fingers knocked against the ground as she swooped up just in time.
She could hear them behind her, yelling in fury. She ignored the pain in her leg, lifted her head towards the clouds and rocketed up.
* * *
The back of her calf was still throbbing and bleeding when Alyx stumbled into the warehouse. Israel was still unconscious as she laid him on the cold concrete slab. She ripped up some material from a discarded tarp and made a tourniquet. Her calf should have stopped bleeding by now. She felt dizzy. Light headed.
She brushed back the hair from Israel’s forehead and called his name. He didn’t stir.
I’m just going to rest my eyes, Alyx thought as she lay next to him. She laced her fingers through his. I won’t go to sleep. I’ll just rest my eyes.
The steel rafters across the high ceiling looked like cage bars as they flickered in and out of sight behind her eyelids. Alyx moved her head to get more comfortable and she heard the dirt under her shift.
Dirt?
Her eyes flew open. She was looking at a dirt ceiling. Her heart pounded with horror when she realized she was lying in the gray DreamScape maze again. This time the walls were closer on all sides. A slightly acrid smell of smoke hit her lungs.
“Hello, precious.”
Michael had found her.
“Israel, wake up,” Alyx screamed and launched to her feet. A searing pain shot up through her calf. Even in the DreamScape she was still bleeding from her wound. She limped along, favoring her right leg. This time the change about her was keeping up with her. She couldn’t outrun it. Everything was shifting too fast for her injured state.
“Please, Israel, you have to wake me up.”
“Israel, wake me up. Help me, Israel,” Michael’s voice echoed around her, mocking her. Alyx heard a crunch like gravel underfoot behind her. She snapped her head towards the sound. There was no one. She turned forward again, only to find herself slamming against a solid wall that wasn’t there before. She pushed off the wall and ran in the other direction.
Michael’s voice crackled in her ear, “Want to see another trick, little girl?”
Her scream was cut off as her stomach lurched into her throat. Her feet left the ground. Her arms grasped for anything, finding only air. Alyx fell against the dirt ceiling, landing hard. She pushed herself up and braced for the drop back down to the ground. But she stayed stuck on the ceiling. She looked down.
No, down was now up. The floor was now the ceiling, as if Michael had turned the box that held her upside down. Another trick.
“Boo.”
Alyx jumped to her feet, spinning. No one behind her, just a wall. A wall with a face. Alyx’s heart leaped into her throat. Run. But fear kept her limbs frozen. The face grinned. The brick-creature started to pull its
elf out. The wall stretched as if the creature’s skin was made of stone and moss.
“I’m not scared of you,” Alyx said, trying to keep the shaking from her voice.
“Oh my dear, you have me all wrong,” the brick-creature said, pieces of mortar crumbling from his moving lips. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Liar.”
“I don’t deny that I like to play games, but it’s all just in good fun. Life can be such fun. You like having fun, don’t you, Alyxandria?”
“I’ll never let you find us.”
“Us?” He tilted his head. “Really?”
Alyx didn’t see the mossy brick arms stretching from the wall behind her. Stretching for her. They grasped her around her chest, pinning her arms to her sides. She screamed.
The brick-Michael leaned close to Alyx as she struggled against the cold brick arms. “Show me where you are, little girl.”
Alyx tried desperately to think of something, anything other than Israel, lying beside her, unconscious, in the dark of the warehouse. But the more she tried not to think about him, the clearer her thoughts of him became. The walls around her started to swirl and shift.
“Help me!” she screamed to the sky. Please, Israel, wake up.
Calling for him only seemed to make the walls shift faster. Gray stone swirled into the flat dusty floor. The gray ceiling above soared into the high warehouse rafters, the arms of the cranes started to drip down. Pieces of machinery began forming around her. Alyx screamed again and bucked against her stony prison.
She heard the blade falling towards her before she saw it. Alyx had just enough time to squeeze her eyes shut and brace for pain. She felt a jarring as the blade made its impact. An inhuman shriek filled her ears and the tension behind her released as the brick arms broke apart around her. The sword missed her. Her eyes flew open. There was another swoop of blade and the face in front of her exploded into pieces. A hand, a flesh and blood hand, grabbed her and pulled.
She saw pale eyes like mint tea.
“You,” Alyx cried. “From the night-race.”
