by Hanna Peach
Sinners beside saints, Alyx thought.
There were a group of three Darkened who looked like they had tumbled out of the Hell’s Fire bar. A mortal man lay discarded on the ground at their feet.
Under the distinct smell of cigarette smoke she could smell sweat and oil. Motorbikes were parked farther up the thin lane like a row of chrome and black beasts.
“Only three? That’s barely enough to make it interesting,” Jordan said in a disappointed voice, jolting her out of her thoughts.
At this, the three Darkened looked up. For a split second, it seemed that a silence descended upon the world.
Then a terrified shriek came from the door of the bar as a mortal woman tumbled out, shoeless, bloody, dress torn off one shoulder, scrambling in panic up the steps to the road level. Behind her were another two Darkened. The woman swayed at the top of the steps as she caught sight of Alyx and Jordan, swords at the ready. She let out another shriek, but this time the end of her wail was lost to the wind as the tip of a Darkened blade skewered her from behind. “Shut up, bitch.” The flash of silver retreated and she hit the ground.
The two newcomers caught sight of Alyx and Jordan.
“Five…that’s a little better,” Jordan said.
The Darkened closest to the bar turned his head towards the building and yelled out something incomprehensible to Alyx. Then the door swung again and a few more Darkened spilled from the bar out into the street.
Oh. Crap. Alyx took a long hard swallow as she surveyed the group of Darkened in front of them. She took in their black jackets, leather vests and studded pants. Some of them were swinging chains. Now it was eleven against two.
She could see Jordan out of the corner of her eye. His grin was just getting wider as he twirled his blades around him. “Now this…this just got interesting.”
Great. She was fighting alongside a maniac.
With a yell, one of the Darkened raised his chains and the group swarmed towards them. Alyx focused on the first two coming for her. She met both their swords with her dagger and her blade. Flicking her wrists, she twirled her weapons around the Darkened’s blades, loosening them from their owners’ hands.
Alyx jumped; a split kick in the air knocked them both aside, their swords clattering across concrete. Mid-air she tumbled forward to meet the next two Darkened. Her blades sliced down through the air across and over her head in a lethal X. One of the Darkened was quick enough to block her strike with his chain. The other was not so lucky. Her dagger sliced at his chest and she felt her blade grate against bone. He cried out, grabbing at his wound as he fell to his knees.
Alyx felt herself being jerked through the air as the Darkened pulled at the chain that had wrapped around her blade. She saw the wall coming for her and had just enough time to force her body to relax. A tense body meant broken bones. Broken bones were a bitch to fight with and a bitch to heal.
She hit the wall with her side, her breath expelling from her lungs in an audible grunt. She fell to the ground, temporarily stunned from the shock.
“Alyx!” she heard Jordan yell. She looked up in time to see the Darkened swinging his chain back, ready to lash down at her. She dove forward, knowing that she didn’t have time to clear it completely. She braced for a lash of pain across her legs.
But it never came. Alyx rolled and sprung up onto her feet, turning her head to the Darkened. His eyes bulged and the chain fell from his shaking fingers, clinking harmlessly to the ground. He fell, Jordan’s dagger sticking out of his back. Jordan was left wrestling with the crossed blades of two Darkened using only his sword.
“Kinda…need...my blade back, Alyx,” he grunted over his shoulder as he struggled against the swords pressing down towards his face. Jordan’s back was facing her, his body between her and the two Darkened.
Alyx pressed her lips together. Neither of the Darkened were clear targets. Good thing she had wicked aim. She snatched Jordan’s dagger from the back of the fallen Darkened and threw it. It flew through the air and struck flesh, making a soft sucking sound. Alyx grinned. It had flown just over Jordan’s shoulder and struck one of the Darkened in the eye.
Jordan kicked at the other Darkened and grabbed his dagger back from the eye socket of the falling Darkened. He glanced over his shoulder and held up the bloody dagger as a thanks, before turning back to his other attackers.
The sound of feet against gravel alerted Alyx to the approach of the two Darkened that she had initially disarmed. They had collected their weapons and their courage again and were charging at her, swords aimed for her chest. Alyx kicked her feet up onto the wall to sprint sideways around their attack. She flipped off the wall and twisted over their heads to land back-to-back with Jordan.
“I do believe I am in the lead,” Jordan said from behind her.
“Not for long.” Alyx grinned at him over her shoulder.
The last four Darkened circled them. Two of the Darkened surged towards her. Alyx leaned back, evading the blade of one of them, then swooped her torso around and carved her sword across his exposed side.
As the second Darkened’s blade came for her, she countered it with her dagger. Then she swept her legs up, wrapping them like a vine along his arm, trapping his hand and rendering his weapon useless. She turned sharply in the air and heard a loud pop that caused her to grin. His blade fell from his fingers. She unwrapped her legs and flew back a little so that she could admire her work.
The Darkened cried in pain as he clutched at his useless arm now hanging limply out of its socket. Alyx delivered a merciful slice to his throat and he was silenced.
She turned to see one of Jordan’s Darkened fall. The last Darkened stood shifting his weight from foot to foot, glancing at his fallen brothers and sisters, littering the ground like sacks.
“I do believe we are now even,” Jordan said as he stepped to Alyx’s side to face the last Darkened. “Which makes him the tiebreaker.”
“No, don’t kill him,” Alyx said as she eyed the Black Stone blade in the last Darkened’s hand. “He’s one of Samyara’s. He may know where Mini is being held.”
Alyx heard the Darkened swear. Then he turned on his heel and began to run. Alyx looked at Jordan.
“Do you want to fetch him or shall I?” he asked.
“I’ll fetch him. I don’t trust that you won’t accidentally kill him just to get a win.”
He made an indignant sound. “I would never…actually, I would. But so would you.”
“Fine. We’ll both get him.”
They both launched at the runaway Darkened. He hadn’t managed three more steps before Alyx had disarmed him and Jordan held him from behind. Alyx stepped in front of the Darkened. The demon underneath – green-skinned and horned – had chosen a gruff-looking bearded man. Alyx guessed that he had been in his mid-forties before he was turned, from the lines around his dark brown eyes now crinkled with anger.
He spat at her. “I ain’t saying shit.”
Alyx scraped the spit off her shirt with her blood-stained dagger, then smeared the side of her blade against his cheek. The mix of blood and spit left a dark pink brand. “Tell me where Samyara took the girl.”
“I’m not scared of you,” the Darkened growled. “Go on, kill me.”
Alyx frowned, remembering what Passar had said to her when he had been revealed as a traitor.
“Demons don’t die. No, no. When their host bodies are killed the demon gets sucked right back into hell. Then they brush themselves off and come right back to Earth in another human host.”
Could what Passar said be true?
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Alyx said, not letting on to the Darkened that she was testing him. “Then you’d get a cushy little trip back to Hell where you can then find another mortal to worm your way back to Earth.”
The Darkened’s eyes widened as if surprised at her knowledge. He had given her the answer. Passar had been telling the truth. While the mortal host died, the demon survived.
&n
bsp; “Aren’t you a smarty pants,” the Darkened said, his voice thick with sarcasm.
Jordan tightened his grip on the man, causing him to grunt. “Be polite to the lady.”
“She ain’t no lady.”
“Damn straight, I’m no lady.” Alyx pressed the end of her blade to the Darkened’s throat. She lowered her voice so it oozed out like blood. “I can make you wish you were dead.”
He swallowed, causing his Adam’s apple to roll down against the blade tip. A small line of blood appeared.
“Now, you will tell us where Samyara is hiding her.”
The Darkened’s face twisted into a snarl. “Or you’ll what? Torture me? If you hurt me, you hurt the mortal, remember? Then when I leave this body…he’ll be the one who has to recover. Are you prepared to do that?”
Alyx froze as her mind went over all the Darkened they had just killed…all those mortals whose lives they just took. All those wasted lives. And for what? She shook these thoughts off. What choice did they have?
The Darkened looked smug. “Fool. Wasting your pity on these wretched humans.”
“Then go. Leave this body and go back to where you came from.” She leaned forward, her voice a growl, “You tell Samyara that if he touches one little hair on her body, so help me God…”
The Darkened laughed. “Even God can’t help you now.”
His face began to shake and blur underneath his skin. A wretched howling came from deep within the depths of the Darkened’s mouth.
“What the hell is happening?” cried Jordan. He leaned his body away as he continued to grip the Darkened.
A black light burst from the man’s eyes and ears and mouth and from under his clothes. Alyx had to shield her eyes against this inhuman glare. Through her squinted vision she could see ghostly faces reaching out from his eyes and mouth, twisting their demented mouths and clutching their spindly arms out towards her as if to drag her back to Hell with them. Her stomach turned.
* * *
He watched from within his fleshy prison as this dark angel, dressed in black – black like night, like dried blood, like death – leaned forward, pressing the tip of her blade to his throat. He felt the blade but he couldn’t react to it. But the Evil could.
Yes, he screamed, but nobody heard him. Nobody saw him kicking at nothing, screaming, kicking. Yes, please kill me. Please, release me.
But she couldn’t hear him. No one could.
She spoke, “You tell Samyara that if he touches one little hair on her body, so help me God…”
The Evil who now owned him laughed. It was his laughter, sounding so familiar and odd coming from his mouth. But it wasn’t his laughter and it wasn’t his mouth anymore.
The Evil spoke, “Even God can’t help you now.”
God definitely stopped helping him long ago. He had stopped deserving God’s help long before that.
He felt a shockwave exploding through his body and a searing heat as if his soul had been cast into an open inferno. Then the noise started – the screams and crying – and the anguish. He felt every life his Evil had taken while controlling his body dripping through his essence like melting candle wax. Every single one of their screams for him to stop was like a jagged claw against his body. He felt the torment sutured under his skin.
He prayed he was dying.
Then he felt the searing pain suck away. And the screams and the cries and the noise faded until they were whispers. He sagged and he felt the strong arms of the one who held him lowering him to the dirt. The dark angel knelt down in front of him.
“The demon’s gone,” he heard her say.
Yes, the Evil had gone from him. But he wasn’t alone in here. The faded screams and bitter whispers of those that the Evil had taken remained in here with him. He would never be left alone in here.
He blacked out.
* * *
“The demon’s gone,” Alyx said as she knelt by the mortal. “We need to take him back with us. We may be able to get information from him about Samyara.”
Jordan nodded. Then, looking around he said, “Let’s collect the Black Stone blades and see what else we can find on them. Then we can clean up the mess.”
Alyx checked her ribs. She had most of an Animale mark, parts of WaterBearer, AirWhisperer and EarthSifter, a sliver of FireTwirler and some of Moloko’s undiluted MirageWeaver blood left. “I barely have any FireTwirler left.”
“Burn what you can. I’ll do the rest,” Jordan said as he moved to the closest corpse. “I have Tobias’s Firestick.”
Alyx knelt by a Darkened body. She tried to not look at his face. He seemed too mortal now. She grabbed his discarded blade and hooked it onto her belt. She began to rummage through his pockets.
“So…thanks. For saving my life and all.” Alyx sent a quick smile over to Jordan.
He paused his own rummaging and looked up at her, a satisfied smile on his face. “And thanks. For saving mine. We make a good team, you know.”
“I know.”
“But I still won.”
Alyx burst into a mock outrage. “You won nothing. It was a tie. Five and five.”
“I look forward to the tie-breaker then.”
“You were a Castus when you were in Michaelea, but you fight like a warrior. Where did you learn to fight?”
“Vix. She taught me everything I know. Then I taught her a thing or two.” He winked at Alyx.
She shook her head in amusement as she used the last of her FireTwirler mark on the Darkened body. If she didn’t already know that Vix was deeply in love with Xiang, she may have taken his bravado to heart.
The flickering of the Hell’s Fire sign caught her eye. Alyx frowned and stared at the bar entrance as something occurred to her. “Jordan, did you wonder why nobody else came out of the bar even after we made all that noise outside?”
Jordan froze. “Most mortals want to stay out of a fight…” His voice trailed off as if he himself didn’t believe what he was saying. He frowned at the door, then glanced back at her. She nodded and as they stood in unison, they unsheathed their blades.
They moved silently to the door, epileptic music still blaring through the gaps. Jordan stood to the left side, Alyx to the right.
“Ready?” he mouthed.
She nodded.
In one swift move, Jordan kicked the door of the bar open and stormed inside, Alyx close behind him. She almost bumped into him when he stopped.
“Jesus Christ,” he hissed.
Chapter 7
Mason strode through his station, weaving around Alyx’s supernatural friends who spilled across the platforms in clumps. There must be at least twenty of them or more. He ground his teeth. Supplies would not last if they had to keep feeding these people. And he had already met some resistance from his men, who were upset that he couldn’t give them a proper answer to who these people were and who they were running from. The only thing holding his men at bay from kicking all these newcomers out was their fondness for Alyx and Israel. He had to talk to Alyx.
He knocked on the door of Israel’s compartment and stuck his head in. “Alyx?” But she still wasn’t there. He had checked about half an hour ago and she hadn’t been there. Mason frowned. Odd. That girl hadn’t left Israel’s side for more than five minutes since they had arrived here.
A wail caught his attention. He spun towards the station to see a ratty-looking female supernatural moving towards him. Her arms were outstretched and she was crying…Israel’s name?
She was going to attack Israel. Mason stood his ground in front of Israel’s compartment door as she reached him. “Get out of my way.” To Mason’s horror, she rose off the ground so she could claw at his face. Mason grabbed her wrists before she could scratch him. Mason pushed at her so that she was forced back onto the ground.
He glanced around to see whether anyone had noticed her momentary flight. There were a few faces that turned away. Hopefully these men would ignore what they just saw or think that their eyes were fooling them
. He then caught the wide eyes of Terrapin, the largest and tallest of his men, a giant South Pacific Islander whose life had been spared by Alyx. Terrapin averted his eyes quickly enough. For once Mason was thankful that Terrapin couldn’t speak.
“Calm down, blasted woman,” he said to the female who continued to struggle against him.
“Israel, my love, Israel. You must let me go back to him. He needs me.”
Mason frowned. What was this woman talking about? Who was she? And why the hell did she call Israel her love?
He noticed Tobias running over.
“Oh my God,” Tobias said as he reached him. “Did she touch your head?”
Mason shook his head.
“Thank Heavens.”
Mason turned his eyes from Tobias to the female struggling uselessly against his grip. “What would she have done to me? Wait, I don’t want to know.”
She gurgled incoherently.
Tobias shook his head. “She is not right in her head. She usually isn’t this much trouble but…it must be the new surroundings, the stress of what we’ve been through… I should have known better than to let her wander around here. I’m sorry.”
“No harm done…yet.”
“We should have her contained. To avoid any more…outbursts.”
Mason nodded and began to drag the female towards the back of the station. “I’ll put her in the cage next to Adere.”
Chapter 8
Alyx stood frozen as she stared around Jordan at the inside of the bar, everything bathed in a harsh red light. A small strobe light was flickering in one corner, casting the scene in a series of horrid snapshots. There were mortals, over a dozen of them, all thrown in various prone positions with too much of their flesh exposed. The floor of the bar was covered with torn pieces of clothing and what looked like blood. There was a distinct smell of fresh vomit underneath the worn-in musk of stale beer and smoke.
