Demon Squad 7: Exit Wounds Read online

  “We need to find cover.” Mia’s voice was brittle with fear. “Now! Night comes,” she said, tugging at the makeshift leash tying her to Karra.

  “Where?” Katon pressed, not bothering to question the green woman’s statement. There was no mistaking the honesty of her terror.

  Mia darted off into the trees without waiting to see if the rest of us followed.

  We did, of course. When a local freaks the fuck out, the smart move is just to follow along and worry about what’s going on later.

  Mia darted between the trees, pulling hard at her leash to force Karra to keep pace. Like a dog looking for the right spot to piss, she circled each trunk, running her hands along their bark only to abandon them seconds later with a dissatisfied growl. She went on and on, from tree to tree, her frantic panic growing with every passing second.

  “Tell us what we’re looking for so we can help,” Katon said, but the green woman pushed on without a word.

  At last, her eyes glimmered as she came upon a nondescript trunk, its only difference being that it was slightly narrower than surrounding giants and bore a trio of pale scratches across its face. Mia dropped to her knees and ran her hands through the dark dirt, fingers flitting along and stirring up piles of soil and humus. At last she cried out in triumph, a mechanical click following her pronouncement.

  “In here,” she said, getting to her feet.

  To my amazement, a huge chunk of the tree trunk rose with her, peeling away from the whole with a creak. She grunted under its weight and I rushed to help, peering into the darkness she revealed. Katon, sword drawn, was the first to slip inside. A ladder woven from tree roots greeted us just inside, its length falling into a deep well of darkness.

  “Wait here.” The enforcer wormed down the ladder without hesitation and faded into the shadows.

  The huff of quick, shallow breaths was the only sound to be heard while we waited. It seemed forever before Katon finally called up to us.

  “Come down, it’s safe.”

  Rala was first down the ladder, passing me Chatterbox as she went. He hummed the theme to Jaws as Veronica went behind the alien, so I tossed him into the hole after them. There were a few muttered curses as he bounced off whoever was in the way, followed by a meaty thump.

  “Meeeedddddiiiicccccc! Maaaaannnnn dooooowwwwwnnnnn!”

  His shout lasted a few seconds before someone clamped their hand over his mouth and shut him up.

  Next went Mia, whose face showed just how relieved she was to be going. If this was some sort of trap, she was the best actress I’d ever seen. She was like the love child of Meryl Streep and Gary Oldman, only green.

  I chased Karra down the ladder and motioned for Rahim to go after her. Both gave me ugly looks as if I’d farted in an elevator and waved them in, but they went without complaining. I stepped in after them, letting the trunk-door close behind me. It killed the last of the light and dumped us all into an early midnight with a sullen thump. Fortunately, my vampy-sight kicked in and the hollowed out core of the tree came into sharp relief.

  I hit the bottom, and turned to see a cozy, underground cavern that had been dug painstakingly out of the soft dirt and reinforced with thick branches, which formed a sloping roof of natural rafters. At the top of the far end of the twenty by twenty foot foxhole was a mesh of tree limbs and leaves, all woven into a thick netting that swayed slightly in the breeze. Mia kept her distance from it, and the others picked up on that, doing the same, the group huddled close against the nearby wall.

  “What’s out that way,” I whispered.

  Mia stared at the woven mass a moment before answering in an even quieter voice. “Our escape, should we need it.”

  “What are we hiding from?” Rahim asked, moving closer to the alien woman so they could speak without their voices carrying.

  “The night,” she answered, slipping right back into her terse narrative that told us nothing.

  “A little more detail would be nice.”

  She shook her head and pointed to the mesh. “Take a look for yourself, but do it silently lest you bring ruin upon us all.”

  Everyone looked to me as if I’d already screwed up, so I just raised my hands in surrender and crept to the netting without replying and pressed my face gently against the mass of foliage. I regretted my curiosity pretty much instantly.

  The already gloomy forest had become even bleaker, the pink trunks barely visible in the shroud of darkness that had settled over. I could barely see ten yards ahead of where we hid, my vision wavering as it tried in vain to sort the details buried in shadow. It was only then, while I was pushing my senses to their fullest, that I realized it wasn’t what I could see that bothered me, but what I could hear.

  Unlike earlier, the hush of the forest so prevalent as to be deafening, there was true noise battering my ears. Shuffling feet scraped the ground raw, stirring up the sour stench of moist earth. Roughened grunts and growls seeped into the air, growing louder and more guttural with each passing second. If I’d needed to breathe, I would have held onto the air in my lungs right then in fear of what the sound might summon.

  Dark shapes flitted past the cracks in the netting, giving me no opportunity to define them, save for that they traveled in herds. Heavy steps filed by while I strained to spy them clearly to no avail. It was like trying to watch a skin flick in a snowstorm. Whatever the creatures were, they had come out of nowhere and filled the night the moment it fell. I could smell the stink of them, raw, unbathed flesh filling my nostrils with disgust. I glanced behind me to see the others were just as offended, the whole lot of them covering their noses and mouths.

  Katon came to stand alongside me. He pressed his eye to a crack, the point of his sword just inches away should he need it. I hoped he wouldn’t.

  I gave him a sideways glance, which he immediately translated, providing me with a shrug in response. He couldn’t see what was out there any better than I could. The look on his face told me he hated that realization more than even I did.

  We hovered there silently for a long time as the creatures outside shuffled by, the cluster of them finally thinning enough for us to see the end of their group before they finally ambled out of sight.

  I looked back to Mia. “Is that—”

  She cut me short with a terrified hiss, the sound so low in her throat as to be almost silent. Her finger on her lips, she shook her head, and made it clear she would say no more. Katon and I turned back to our watch with trepidation. There was nothing worse than not knowing what you were up against. Your own imagination turns against you and fills in details even the worst of enemies would have a hard time comparing to. My mind was twisting itself in knots. Given all I’ve encountered in life, my brain had way more than enough fucked up shit to conjure up. And lo and behold, it outdid itself.

  An eerie moan cut through the night and set my undead skin to crawling. Unconsciously, I inched back from the netting, but my gaze wouldn’t let go of the image that appeared outside of our hiding place. And while I might have imagined it, I felt Hobbs’ heart sputter.

  Katon eased closer to the netting, and I could see the muscles of his back tensing, which only made me more nervous. If he could see what was out there, too, then it wasn’t just me playing make believe. It really was there.

  “A Devourer,” I’d whispered without even realizing it.

  Incandescent purple eyes glowed in the darkness, its sweeping gaze taking in the forest with a rabid insistence. It floated above the ground just as I remembered the last one I’d seen doing. The one that ate me and separated my soul from Azrael’s. Its skeletal hands clawed at the air, bones creaking like an aging boat at sea. Just like the other, a ratty black cloak—which I believed was simply a manifestation of its inner decay—trailed out behind it. A large hood covered its head save for the glimmer of its eyes, but it did nothing to hide its intent. It was seeking prey, and I knew from experience that its three mouths gnashed jagged teeth together as it sought a victim to devo
ur. Its breath was a wisp of foulness a shade darker than the night.

  Memories flooded me, and I felt my borrowed body tremble, sickened and amazed at the same time that I could still feel fear despite the tamping down of Hobbs’ vampiric emotions.

  “Too long,” it whispered, the sound of footsteps treading a shallow grave. “Too long…too long…too long…” A serpentine slither flutter in the air before its face. “Revenge!”

  Its shout stirred all sorts of unpleasant feelings, but unlike the last one I’d encountered, which had stared me in my eyes and recited its threat, this one seemed to be talking to itself. It looked at nothing, its multi-mouthed face staring off in the other direction from where we hid.

  “Reckoning is at hand.”

  It floated in circles, as though it were lost, shining eyes taking in everything yet appearing to see nothing.

  “Too long. His infernal…infernal prison.”

  The devourer’s voice faded, and then grew louder, repeating its words as though they were a mantra. Over and over they spilled loose from its invisible maws, the same as they had on Earth, but strangely, they lacked the same venom. The thing was a record stuck in a groove. I watched as it circled, my terror losing its edge as it repeated itself like a Rain Man Renfield. Had I not experienced its gnashing teeth and soul-shredding power firsthand, I might have pitied it…then shot it in its face, if I had a gun, that is.

  The constant repetition started to grate on my nerves, and I wondered if my fear of it had come from my being tied down, bound and helpless. Now that I looked at it, hovering back and forth without purpose, it didn’t seem so scary, so threatening. It was a poor man’s Angel of Death, clad in shoddy FX with a voice that made Gilbert Gottfried sound frightening. At least that’s what I told myself. I could still remember its teeth chewing me into pieces and swallowing me down into the blackness, every moment an agony. Still, I made myself face it, stared it down—even if it was only the back of its head—and not flinch when it came closer to our tenuous hideout.

  Finally, after what seemed hours, it appeared to find a hint of resolve as one of the dragons—its scream too distinctive to miss—roared somewhere in the distance. The devourer stopped its muttering and aimless drift and turned to stare off into the trees in the direction of the sound, its ghostly form going rigid. And then it was off, vanishing into the gloom, the flicker of its eyes gone a moment later. I let out a non-breath in relief and slumped to a seat on the ground.

  “It’s gone,” Katon told everyone, though he held his position.

  “You okay,” Karra whispered as she came over to me, wrapping her fingers in mine. And to my surprise, Rala was right there beside her, concern etched across her sour expression. She must have known what I’d been thinking the whole time

  I nodded, grateful for my undead host’s ability to remain frigid—literally. It wasn’t like I could puke or shit myself or even squeeze out a drop of pee. It made appearing unfazed so much easier. “I’m fine,” I answered, also glad my vamp-voice didn’t quaver.

  “Iiiiiii nnnneeeeeeddd aaaa bbeeeerrrrrr.”

  “You and me both, CB. You and me both.”

  “Those things creep me out,” Rala admitted.

  I nodded in agreement. “Didn’t realize there was more than one.”

  “They are legion,” Mia said, keeping her voice low. “Connected in spirit, though not in flesh.”

  Which somewhat explained why it rambled on exactly like the one that had munched on my guts. Had it seen what the other had seen, experienced it? It was freaky to imagine that being the case. The damn thing had eaten me. Had the others tasted that? Did they want more?

  A tremor rattled through me, but it brought along an interesting thought in its wake. One I hadn’t allowed myself to think since we’d been tossed through the portal. I disengaged my hand from Karra’s and stood, peering once more through the cracks in the net and out into the night, letting my eyes and ears wander.

  Strange sounds still echoed in the darkness, shrieks and roars and who knows what else, reverberating through the ebony pall, making it clear there was more out there than just the things that had stormed past our hole and the devourer. This world was full of creatures, all of which clearly wanted blood, if Mia’s reaction was any indication. There would be death and pain and terror. But there was also hope, slim and fragile, but hope nevertheless. I smiled as an idea took root in my skull, and then turned to Mia.

  “How long does this night last?” I asked, remembering to amend my statement before she answered. “And don’t tell me until morning.”

  The flash of a grin brightened her lips. “It will be many hours until the sun returns to the sky and the darkness retreats. We must stay here until it does.”

  I nodded. That was exactly what I wanted to hear. “How about you get some rest,” I told Karra, helping her to her feet, one handing gently caressing her belly. “It’s gonna be a long night.” I led her and Rala to the middle of the hole and gestured for them to sit, Rahim, Veronica, and Chatterbox already stationed there in a loose circle, Mia’s leash wrapped tight about the wizard’s stump.

  “You, too, Katon,” I told the enforcer. “You’ve been running ragged since we landed, and I’ve had the benefit of a heal. I’ll take first watch.”

  He stared at me with his usual distrust. “I’m fine.”

  “Suit yourself,” I answered dropping down alongside Karra. She leaned into me, setting her head on my shoulder, her hand wrapped about my waist.

  Chatterbox whispered a lullaby: Helstar’s “To Sleep, Perchance to Scream.”

  Eight

  It took a long time for everyone to settle in, especially after CB’s less than considerate anthem, but they finally did. The tiny chamber echoed softly with snores and soft exhalations. Everyone’s but mine.

  And not just because I was vacationing in a corpse. As I’d told Katon, his little stunt to clean up my crust had filled me with energy, but it was more than just that. I couldn’t have slept if I wanted to. My brain was on full auto, thoughts spurting like a bukkake Gatling gun. I only needed opportunity.

  I glanced over at Katon and found him leaning against the wall by the netting. His eyes were squeezed into tiny slits, but there was no telling if he was still awake. I’d never seen the guy sleep before, and I couldn’t be sure he ever did. What the fuck did I know about vampires? Not enough, for sure, but if I was gonna do something, now was the time.

  I slipped loose of Karra and got to my feet as quietly as possible, leaning her onto Rala’s shoulder in hopes neither would notice. Both exhausted from the day’s misadventure, they didn’t so much as stir. Chatterbox lay in the alien’s lap, his face buried in her crotch, so I was certain he wouldn’t be turning around to spot me anytime soon. A quick glance at Rahim and Mia told me they were out, too, the wizard’s leg over the leash to ensure the green woman couldn’t go anywhere without alerting him. Hands and arms bound, she wasn’t much of a threat. She’d have to chew her way loose if she wanted to escape, and there was no way she could do that without folks noticing her gnawing on the thick ass cords she was bound by.

  Across the room, Veronica slept as she always did; like a baby. The woman might harbor the weight of the world in betrayal, but it never stopped her from getting in her allotted eight hours of beauty rest. She would sleep through a hurricane as long as no one mentioned sex or money in the midst of it. If she could bottle her lack of remorse as a sleep aid, she’d be a billionaire. I only wished I had some of it right then.

  Everyone was here because of me. If I hadn’t been so damn insistent on finding out the truth of my father and his bullshit, none of us would be here. Azrael would be withering away inside Limbo, and the rest of us would be laughing it up in the real world with only the usual group of folks trying to kill me. Instead, we were stuck in some alien prison created by God, with apparently no one knowing any way to get out but some mysterious group of others who’d trekked through at some indeterminate point in the past. I
shook my head at that. As usual, I was in deep.

  I snuck by the ex-wife and gathered my spear and an extra dagger, and glanced back one last time at Katon. He hadn’t moved since I got up, so I figured that was as good a sign as I was gonna get. Without another glance back, I scampered up the root ladder and up to the secret tree door. It took me a minute to find the latch that opened it, but once I did, it was a simple procedure to pop the lock and slip outside without making too much noise.

  The darkness greeted me with a frigid embrace.

  I shivered and made sure I could find the outside latch when I came back—if I came back—and started off. Something vaguely resembling a plan floated inside my skull, but I needed more information to go on, and the only way to get that was to adventure out into the world. So I did, with hope in one hand and shit in the other. The odds of things going south were pretty high, but I had to do this alone. I’d already put the rest of the group—and my child—at risk, so there was no way I was gonna add any more grief to their lives. No, this harebrained scheme was all on me.

  After a quick survey to make sure some hideous beast wasn’t lurking about to ingest my intestines, I started off in the same direction the devourer had gone after cutting a telling slash in the tree bark. The devourer hadn’t left a trail, seeing how it floats, but I had the benefit of recognizing which way the dragon’s call had sounded. If I was right, that was the way it had gone. If I was wrong, my whole idea was shot to hell, so it really didn’t matter. It was as good a direction as any, at that point.

  Spear out in front of me and the dagger tucked into the waist of my borrowed fur-panties, I gritted my teeth and made like a commando squirrel, darting and ducking behind the massive pink tree trunks—marking each one—and doing my best to move silently, or at least not fall on my face.