Demon Squad 7: Exit Wounds Read online

  “I agree,” Uriel answered without looking my way, “but—”

  Frank’s grin nearly devoured his face. “No, my friend, please don’t. It is far too soon for you to ruin the moment.”

  I turned back to Frank, unable to ward off the confusion crowding inside me. I’d never known my cousin and Uriel to be close. In fact, given Frank’s heritage, they were the furthest they could possibly be from friends. The guardian angel would never consort with Frank, and yet here they were talking as if they’d known each other for eons. Neither raised a hand in violence in the one circumstance that required nothing less than violence.

  “The charade is over,” Uriel said.

  “A pity. I was just beginning to enjoy myself, too.” Frank raised his hands in a mock, conciliatory gesture. “But so be it. This changes nothing of my intent, as I’m sure you well know.”

  I stared back and forth between the two like a witness to an argument framed in a foreign language.

  “I expect no less of you…Azrael.”

  It took a moment for the name to slither its way into my understanding, but for all its slowness, its impact struck me like a bullet. “Azrael?”

  Frank grinned. “And thus the secret is out,” he said with a discordant chuckle. “I had so hoped to play the role a little while longer, but it is what it is. All things must end, I suppose.”

  A knot bloomed in my stomach, rage and disgust and sorrow and relief all wound into a clenching fist, remorse and regret souring it all with the taste of bile. My shoulders slumped against my will, Everto’s tip slumping to the asphalt with a pitiful click. God, how could I have been so foolish, so wrong? I was ready to condemn Frank and murder him without remorse for what I’d believed he’d done, believed he could do. Was I really so different than the monster I’d imagined him to be?

  Azrael in Frank’s flesh laughed at the emotions that must have played out across my face. “Poor little angel. Are you disappointed because I’ve usurped your cousin’s body and returned from Limbo to seek my revenge, or is it because you truly hoped to be rid of Frank once and for all?”

  His words were poison, but I couldn’t help but feel them invade my veins, the searing truth of them stinging my veins.

  “Your silence speaks volumes,” he told me before I could find the words to defend my inner guilt. His sparkling gaze was confirmation of my failings. And though it might not be the true judgment of God, it was more than enough to steal the strength from my limbs. My body trembled with undisguised shame.

  Uriel, however, had strength enough for us both. He stepped forward, summoning his sword to his hand, an eruption of flames signaling the end of words.

  “Enough, Azrael!” he shouted “You always were a cruel and insufferable fool. Should you wish to hear yourself speak, tell us of your intentions, though to be honest, I would much prefer to hear you scream.” Uriel brandished his sword as he advanced.

  I remained frozen in place, too weak of spirit to join him.

  “And you were always a blowhard, Uriel,” Azrael answered. “You nearly lost Heaven to an unorganized rabble of undead, lycans, and half-breed maggots. Do you truly think you can defeat me?”

  “Again, you mean?” Uriel smiled. “However, this time I have no intention of leaving you to rot where foolish demons might stumble across you and undo your eternal sentence. No, this time I will flay the spirit from your flesh and leave it to God should He wish to reassemble its multitude of pieces.”

  Azrael laughed. The sound was even more disturbing for his wearing Frank’s face. “I love your bravado, Uriel, but as I know, far better than even you or Metatron, that God and Lucifer have no care for this world any longer. I’ve seen their preoccupations firsthand and can say for a certainty they won’t be returning any time soon. They are gone from this world now and forever.” He grinned, his words carving a hole in my chest. “And though I would enjoy cleaving your liar’s tongue from your mouth, I have more important errands to attend to. But so you don’t feel cheated of a confrontation, I offer you a parting gift to show you how truly little I care.”

  “Watch out!” Rachelle screamed from her shelter, but we didn’t need her warning to know something was coming.

  Azrael raised his hands, and I felt the sudden welling of his magic. Uriel paused to defend, but the Angel of Death cast nothing our way. Instead, a great portal opened at his back, and the brimstone stench and acrid breeze of Hell flowed over us, instantly recognizable. And then came a force of dread fiends, spilling through the gate in a swarm of flickering claws and chomping yellowed teeth.

  “Farewell,” Azrael called out while stepping backwards into the portal. “But to my utmost disappointment, Uriel, I suspect we shall meet again, sooner rather than later.” The gate swallowed him whole, and he vanished, leaving in its wake the slathering soldiers from the depths below.

  Ten

  The trip back to the underground hideout wasn’t as painless as I would have liked, but it could have been worse. From the platybeast on, I’d forgotten to mark the trees, so finding my way back to there, in the darkness, with all the critters abound, and a couple of hostages in tow, was a sausage-fingered prostate check I could have done without.

  I’d made Shaw drag Venai until Bruticass woke up. Boy was she pissed, but a couple of swift kicks got her in line. I’m sure it helped that Shaw told her to stand down since I was holding a pointy stick up to the wight’s eye as though it were an olive in a pretty martini. The head of the DSI clearly had a tight grip on the Nephilim’s short hairs because Venai didn’t even balk at the order, though I like to pretend my fantastic left hook had something to do with it.

  I like my delusions. They’re tasty with a side of fried hubris.

  After we’d dodged a pack of creatures that looked eerily similar to the Sleestak from the old Land of the Lost television show, we made it to the hidden tree-quarters. I forced Shaw to her knees with puerile glee and made her flip the latch while I kept an eye on Venai and the rest of the world. Having a hostage was just too much fun.

  After she’d peeled the door back just wide enough that I could be heard inside but Venai couldn’t bulldoze through and play tit for tat by taking her own hostage, I called for Katon. He appeared an instant later.

  “What the hell, Frank?” He sounded so sexy when he was angry. “Why are you out there?”

  “Here, catch,” I answered, ignoring his question as I pushed Shaw through the doorway, not so kindly I might add. There wasn’t any kind of pained thump, unfortunately, so Katon must have caught her. “Now it’s your turn,” I told Venai, pulling the tree-door open further.

  She sneered at me, but with her boss lady down in the hole—I started humming the Alice on Chains tune—she didn’t have much of a choice but to follow. As she got close, I hit her again. It was a right hook this time.

  “I can’t believe you fell for that shit twice.” I laughed and rolled her unconscious butt into the hideout. “Look out below.” She did land with an ugly thud, making my night far more satisfying that I could have ever imagined it when I left to chase the devourer.

  Once the door was latched tight and I scrambled down the rope ladder, I could feel the annoyed stares stabbing me in the back. I turned around slowly to see seven pairs of bleary eyeballs glaring at me and a last pair pretending not to, but still doing it through narrowed, green eyelids. Despite all that, I was feeling pretty good about no one having realized I was gone until I showed back up. Maybe I’d get my ninja merit badge after all.

  “Does no one like presents?”

  “I’m not unwrapping that.” Rala pointed at Venai’s limp form, her upper lip curled.

  “Iiiiii wiiiiillllllll,” Chatterbox hurried to volunteer, his tongue flickering across his lips. “Yuuuuummmmmmm.”

  “You would. Ewwww.” The little alien shivered.

  “That’s just creepy, guys,” I told them, earning my fair share of raised eyebrows. “What? It is…unless you have like, a prior arrangement or somethin
g. You don’t just go knocking on someone’s backdoor without calling ahead.”

  Rahim, preferring to stick to the business at hand—and no that’s not a masturbation joke—looked to Shaw, who Katon held restrained. “Why did you bring her here?” The wight stood stoic. She’d cracked under pressure out in the woods, but that didn’t meant she liked it.

  “Well, as it turns out, a certain someone has an idea as to how we might get out of here.”

  All the heads in the room—except the Nephilim’s—snapped in her direction so fast I thought they might break their necks.

  “Why don’t you tell the wonderful folks what you told me, Miss Shaw?”

  She held her silence until I raised my spear and wiggled the tip in her direction.

  “Don’t think all these folks around alters our deal any,” I told her. “You can make yourself useful or I can make good on our arrangement.”

  Katon visibly tightened his grip on her, making it clear he understood what was at stake.

  Shaw huffed but started to talk. “It would appear there are ripples in the dimensional wall of this world.”

  “What does that mean?” Veronica’s question was out in a flash.

  Shaw looked at her. “It means something is weakening the structural integrity of the wall in this realm. That particular something also seems to be building in strength, though only fractionally.”

  “So you’ve found a way back to Earth?” Karra asked.

  “Not necessarily Earth.” Shaw gave a feeble shrug. “The ripples flow past in waves, a multitude of dimensions merging in tenuous flickers similar to a deck of cards being shuffled. There is no guarantee the source of these ripples can be controlled sufficiently to open a proper gate, let alone one to a specific world.”

  The sighs were deafening.

  “But there’s a chance.” Katon seemed to ease his grip a little, maybe hoping the gesture would earn him good news.

  “Definitely a chance, but no certainty.”

  “Where are these ripples?” Rahim asked. He had his thinking face on. It looked kind of crinkly.

  “I have no idea since we were…interrupted.” Shaw glanced over at me.

  “Yeah, forget that you were getting your ass handed to you by a devourer, and I saved you. Way to play the highlight reel.”

  “We would have dealt with it,” she answered, gesturing to Venai, “had you not intervened.”

  “Whatever, Shaw,” I said, waving her whiny complaint aside. “You’re leaving out the good part in your effort to remain a half-empty kind of gal. Tell them the rest.”

  She snorted but did as I asked. “I don’t know where the ripples are reverberating currently, but they are found easily enough as I appear to be somewhat attuned to them. They emanate from the direction of the mountain range just beyond the forest.”

  “The sanctuary,” Rahim muttered. “It would appear there are too many coincidences leading us that way to be ignored.”

  I had to agree. Seemed like most everyone else did, too, even Mia, who hunched quietly behind everyone, taking it all in. I’d have to keep an eye on her.

  “What about the dragons?” Karra fidgeted as she asked. I could tell she wasn’t looking forward to tangling with the beasties given her condition. Unfortunately, it didn’t look as though we could avoid it.

  “Just like Rahim figured, the guardians are drawn to the portals opening. It seems to be their job to keep folks on this side of the gate, which is why they popped up when we ported in and when Rala tried the book. It’s also why they’ve left us alone once those portals and attempts were investigated. The guardians didn’t find what they were looking for, so they took off. They don’t give a damn about the prisoners unless they’re trying to escape.” I pointed at Shaw, and then Venai. “That’s how I found them, by following a devourer and a dragon, both looking to hone in on the ripples the Olson Twins found.”

  “So we travel to the mountain and have Shaw point out the source of these ripples?” Katon asked.

  “Have a better idea?” I asked, turning his earlier words around on him.

  The flicker of a smile creased his lips. “No, Frank, I don’t believe I do.”

  It wasn’t much of a concession, but I really didn’t expect any more than that. Mainly because it wasn’t much of a plan. We’d already been headed the same direction with essentially the same basic idea in mind, now we were just doing it with a little more confirmation that we might be going the right way. It was more of a bunt than a homerun, but it was more than we had earlier.

  “Then we might as well settle in and wait for morning” Rahim gestured to Shaw. “Make yourself comfortable. It seems we’re stuck with each other for the foreseeable future.”

  The wight gave Rahim the barest of nods and dropped down beside Venai, who’d only just begun to stir. I grinned at the pair and took a spot in front of the ladder, holding my spear in way that made it clear I had no compunctions putting it to use again.

  The rest of the night was spent listening to Chatterbox serenade Venai’s bowling ball boobs while the rest of us spent our energy on ignoring him and judicious nose picking.

  #

  Morning came with a whimper and a whole bunch of grunts and groans, the uncomfortable ground getting the best of us after the long day before.

  Katon peered through the netting, a vague hint of light coloring his face. “Is it safe outside now that the gloom is gone?” he asked Mia.

  “Of course it is,” she answered with a smile, which pretty much meant she was full of it.

  Her people were probably lying in wait somewhere out on the forest, or at least she was hoping they were. That was an issue we’d have to worry about if it cropped up, though. We couldn’t sit underground and wait for the cavalry to come and pull our asses out of the mess we were in. We might well be walking to our deaths, but it was a better option than waiting for death to come calling.

  That decided, we crawled up and out of the hidey hole, all of us making sure Shaw, Venai, and Mia were under control. The Nephilim spent her morning sneering at me. She did it so much I was afraid her face might freeze that way, but then again, it might be an improvement if it did. It wouldn’t hurt her looks any.

  “Which way?” Katon asked Shaw once we’d surveyed the area.

  The wight pointed casually off in the direction of the mountain.

  “Helpful as always, I see.” Shaw huffed but wouldn’t rise to the bait. I sighed, realizing how fun it was gonna be having her along on our journey to the center of the prison-verse.

  Katon apparently had the same thought. He stepped up behind Shaw and nudged her shoulder. “Let’s get going.”

  Shaw hesitated until Karra walked up alongside them, tugging Mia by her leash.

  “Play nice and we won’t duct tape you to a handful of branches and drag you along behind us up the mountain.”

  The threat was a little off the mark seeing how none of us had any of that sweet silver stuff stashed anywhere, but Shaw seemed to get the drift. She held her ground for a second before stalking off toward the trees.

  “Nothing a little charm can’t resolve,” Karra said with a wink, pulling Mia along and motioning for Venai to start walking.

  The Nephilim grunted and followed after her boss. The rest of us gathered around, forming a semi-circle of bodies Shaw and her compatriot would have to circumvent in order to ditch us. The fact we were all going the same way made me think the pair would be good. No point going it alone when there are other folks to throw into the path of danger. That’s what I was thinking, at least.

  Then I was thinking about how long we’d walked, how annoying the pink trees were, how frustratingly quiet the forest was and how much effort it was to listen for danger while being bored out of my mind. And then I thought about cookies. That thought lasted a long while, but it eventually got pushed to the side by more pressing matters: Cake. While Hobbs’ renta-corpse didn’t need food to keep going, my brain was geared toward and altogether different bod
y. That body loved to eat. And while I wouldn’t starve while we made our way through the alien forest, I started to think that others among us probably would, including Karra and the baby.

  “You guys hungry?” I asked.

  A bevy of annoyed moans was my answer.

  “Starving.” Rala clutched at her stomach, juggling Chatterbox and the tome to do it.

  “I’d only just forgotten my stomach growling at me,” Veronica complained. “Thanks, Frank.”

  I sighed as Karra gave me a glance that pretty much confirmed my heartlessness.

  “We’ll find something,” Katon said, though I wasn’t sure if he had something in mind or was just simply trying to quiet all the complaints so the rest of the realm wouldn’t hear us coming.

  “What the hell is there to eat in this place, anyway?” I glanced to Mia hoping she’d tell us there was a Taco Bell around the next tree. Would midget monkey meat taste good in a burrito? Couldn’t be any worse than whatever rodent they use now.

  The green woman chuckled. “We live off the land. There’s plenty to eat.”

  “Mind pointing some of that bounty out or is ‘plenty to eat’ code for dried dragon chips and devourer ooze?”

  She wrinkled her face. “Hardly.”

  I started to press her to put her food where my mouth was, but Katon silenced us all with a hiss. He dropped to his knees near a cluster if foliage that grew wild about the base of a humungous tree trunk. The rest of us came to a halt, Karra laying her sword across Mia’s collarbones to keep her quiet. The woman went silent, but I couldn’t read the look in her eyes. They locked on Katon.

  “Blood,” the enforcer whispered, holding up his hand so we could see the fluid wet upon his dark fingers. He gestured to the grass where more redness stained its natural orange. It didn’t take a tracker to tell something had gone that way, the shoots of grass bent and pushed aside, blood trailing.

  “We’re all here,” I whispered back, wondering what he wanted us to do with a shrug and raised hands.