A Monster and a Gentleman (23 page)

“I’ll get them out. Later.” Maeve’s voice was strained and now Cali could see the outlines of men through the ice—men wearing helmets and bulky black clothes.

Seling pushed Cali until she stood behind him, Michael’s back on her other side.
 

A nervous giggle rattled out of Cali.
 

“You’re laughing?” Seling asked.

“I don’t mean to, but I think there’s no more scared left in me.”

“Maeve, go,” Michael ordered.

“I can fight—steam will hurt them.”

“You’re too important for us to lose. If we’re killed, our Clan will need you.”

“I won’t leave you.”

“You have to.”

“Can you take Cali with you?” Seling asked.

“No. If I take her through the portal, she’d be lost.”

There was a pop, and a spider web of cracks appeared just in front of Maeve’s face. She pressed both hands to the ice, muttering in the language Cali didn’t know. The ice wall thickened, becoming opaque. Panting, Maeve stepped back. She hung her head for a moment, then turned to face them.

“You must fight.” Her gaze swung from Seling to Michael and then back. “To lose this battle is to lose the war.”

Her gaze narrowed on Cali, and Cali felt as if it were a physical touch. Cali wondered if Maeve already knew they were doomed, knew they’d die tonight.
 

“Maeve, go.” Michael said a few things in a language Cali didn’t understand.
 

“What did he say?” Cali asked as Maeve drew a line in the air. The shimmering circle of light appeared. Maeve stepped into it and was gone. Cali felt her absence keenly, as if their ship was sinking and Maeve’s leaving had made it apparent that nothing they did would save them from drowning.
 

“He asked her to watch after Jane, to make sure she was safe, especially because...” Seling’s head turned towards Michael, looking at his friend as he finished translating. “...Jane’s pregnant.”

Cali broke into a grin. “And she didn’t tell me? That bitch. I’m going to kick her ass.”

“We have to survive first.” Michael’s voice was grim. There were two pops and the thinning wall of ice developed cracks where the bullets had hit.

“Then let’s survive.”

Seling laughed as he folded his wings back around her.
 

“Let’s survive,” he repeated.

The flamethrower roared and with a sharp snap a chunk of the ice wall fell. They were face to face with their attackers.

“You’re surrounded. We’re giving you the opportunity to surrender yourselves to us and come peacefully. Otherwise we will use deadly force.”

Pressed against Seling’s back, with his wings surrounding her, she couldn’t see the men, but she could hear them. Their voices were firm and authoritative, totally calm. Who the hell did they think they were?

“Surrender? Who would we be surrendering too?” she shouted.

There was a moment of silence and she heard muttering before they replied. “Ma’am, if you’re a human captive of these creatures, we’re here to rescue you.”

“And if I’m the human lover of one of them?”

Another smattering of mutters. “We cannot guarantee your safety.”

“Exactly what authority do you think you have here?”

“We’re the people protecting all normal humans from these creatures.”

“That didn’t answer my question.”

“Ma’am, I’ll give you one final chance to step aside before we deal with these two.”

“You mean before you murder them.”

“We’re protecting the United States of America.”

That did it. Cali pushed Seling’s wing up, avoided his grab and marched up to the breach in the ice wall. “You have zero authority to act on behalf of the U.S. government.”

As she spoke she caught sight of something in the distance, a black shape in the sky. Forcing her gaze back to the men, she did her best to look tough, unafraid. They wore all black, with bulky padding and helmets with visors. They looked like a SWAT team, but their guns were massive. One guy even had what she could only assume was a rocket launcher braced on his shoulder.
 

A man near the back answered her. “We’re members of the United States military—”

“No, you
were
members of the U.S. military. Now you’re gun-happy freaks too out of control and violent to be allowed to mingle with the real military.”

This time the mutters were loud enough for her to hear them.
Bitch
and
bunch of pussies
were the two she could pick out. It confirmed what Seling had said, that these were the same paramilitary group that had kidnapped Seling and almost killed Runako and Margo.

“We’re fighting a war that the military doesn’t even know exists. People like you who support and help hide these creatures are terrorists.” The man in front, who seemed to be in charge, didn’t react to her insults. His tone remained level and cool.

“First of all, the last thing I want to do is help them hide. Second, what exactly do you think these creatures are?”

“They’re alien demons.” The leader certainly seemed to have all the answers.

“Alien...demons? That is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

The guns swiveled off Michael and Seling to focus on her.
 

“Cali...” Seling’s voice was a low growl.

“What? They’re the dumbassess. Let me guess, you all believe in heaven and hell and doing God’s work? Am I right?”

There was no response, but that didn’t stop Cali. This was a plot device ripped from one of the scenes Jane had written but immediately deleted. Deleted because Michael had never wanted it written in the first place. He refused to try and draw humans to their side by playing on their religions.
 

Cali had no such hang-ups.

“Are you really going to shoot an archangel?”

There was a rustle behind her as Michael caught on to her plan and spread his wings. The men sucked in breaths, cursed and a few even lowered their guns.

“No,” the leader said, but there was a note of hesitation in his voice. “It’s a trick.”

“And you’re willing to bet your immortal soul on that? Because he’s an angel.” Cali pointed to Michael.

“The other one, he’s a demon.” The comment came not from the leader, but from one of the soldiers who now pointed his gun at Seling.

“Of course he is,” Cali agreed. “But who do you think is guarding Hell? Who do you think keeps the souls from spilling out and becoming zombies?”
 

Cali’s mother had claimed to be Christian, but Cali had never seen the inside of a church. Her father was a Muslim, but a lapsed one at best, so Cali’s knowledge of world religions was sketchy—were there zombies in Christianity? Either way, it sounded good.

And after all, she was just buying time.

The thing she’d seen was closer now—a winged shadow in the night sky. Help was coming—she just had to give them time.
 

“Lucifer himself fell from Heaven. Without him, we would not know God’s grace.” The comment came from someone in the back and Cali nodded enthusiastically.
 

“She’s lying.” It was the leader again. He flipped up the visor on his helmet, revealing cool blue eyes and a hard face. Cali had the distinct impression that he just wanted to kill something. He trained his gun on Seling. “If she’s right, then we’ll take the white one back to be studied, but kill the green one.” He bent his head, sighting the rifle, and Cali sucked in a breath.

He didn’t get the chance to fire. Three small barbs sank deep into his wrist. They appeared soundlessly, fired from somewhere in the shadows. The gun clattered to the floor and he dropped to his knees, clutching his wrist and screaming.

Cali let out the breath. Her whole body was vibrating with adrenaline and now hope. She’d seen those barbs before. “Put your guns down if you’re smart and want to live. Otherwise, by all means, try to shoot one of us.”

Half the men put the guns down and backed up. The three directly in front of Cali didn’t.
 

There was a thump, as if something heavy had landed near them, and then a massive white paw swiped the guns out of the hands of the three men near Cali.
 

Tokaki was here.

With a roar, Seling charged into the men. There was the rattle of gunfire, but either they didn’t hit him or Seling was too pissed to notice. He cut a swath through them, talons flashing. There was a flare of light as Seling breathed fire, his flame like the roar of a bonfire, making their flamethrower seem no more powerful than candles on a birthday cake.

After the stalemate that held while Cali spoke with the men, the sudden flurry of violence was deafening. There were things she would have to process later, because the sudden and vicious violence was too much. She saw Tokaki, now a massive white tiger, hold a man down and bite his whole right arm off, spitting out the limb—which still held the gun—a moment later. Luke, the largest of any of them, was taking on two men. Their guns clattered to the floor before hitting them so hard that they fell back and rolled.

Cali jumped into action, grabbing the straps of the discarded guns and throwing them over her shoulder. They were heavier than she anticipated and she staggered under the weight. When a dark figure ran at her, she grabbed one, struggling to point it at him.
 

Rather than attack her, he held up his hands and dropped to his knees.

“I didn’t know. I didn’t know.” She could barely hear him over the spatter of gunfire, shouts of the fighters and woosh of Seling’s flame and Tokaki’s roar.
 

“What?”

“Please! I didn’t know. I don’t want to fight them.”

Cali stared on the man kneeling before her, finally realizing that he was surrendering.
 

“Stay there,” she ordered. “And, uh, stay down.”

She spun in a circle looking for anyone else who wasn’t engaging in the fight. Seeing one, she waved him over, and before long she had a collection of five men.
 

The battle was over. There was no one left standing beside herself, Luke, Seling, Tokaki, Michael and Runako. The humans lay on the ground, some panting heavily, others moaning in pain. A few had been dismembered or eviscerated and some were dying or were already dead. Cali was handling it well until one man moaned, then coughed up blood before closing his eyes. His breath stopped.

He’d died. Just like that, he’d died.

Cali had spend her adult life on sets and stages, many of them dressed so expertly that it wasn’t just the audience that would forget it wasn’t real. She’d worked a few horror movies right out of school, and her brain had been filing what she saw now away as a really well-done horror set—disgusting, but not real.

This was real. That man had died just in front of her. The blood that painted the floor in long arcs wasn’t a red chocolate mixture, it was being pumped out of living people.
 

The monsters had cut through these men, making the almighty human weapon of a gun seem insignificant. She’d known they were dangerous, but now she understood it in a primal way.

Luke said something in their language. One by one, they responded. Cali kept one of her new collection of guns trained on the men who were kneeling in front of her. Something touched her shoulder and she yelped.

“It’s me,” Seling said.

“These ones surrendered. You don’t have to kill them.”

“We know. Give Luke the guns. We’re leaving.”

“We’re leaving? But what are we going to do with, with them?” She pointed at the men with the gun.

“I will take care of them.” The words were an unearthly grumble, coming from Tokaki’s massive jaws. He paced a circle around the men, several of whom bowed their heads rather than look at him.

“Give me the guns.” Runako took them from Cali, lifting them easily.
 

“It took you all long enough to get here.”

Runako snorted. “It’s not my fault Seling did a terrible job of protecting you.”

Cali snarled. “Don’t insult him.”

“He did mostly die,” Michael added.
 

Seling hadn’t said anything, though he still stood at her back. Cali reached over to touch his arm. It was hard as a rock, the muscles so tense that he flinched away from her. “Seling?”

Something in her voice must have alerted the others.

Luke and Runako crowded around her, each of them bracing a hand on one of Seling’s shoulders. Cali stood in the middle, feeling very short and very soft.
 

“Seling, back away.” Luke’s voice was low and calm.

“They kidnapped me.” Seling’s voice was just as low, but anything but calm. “They tortured me.” He looked at Runako. “They killed your sister.”

“I know they did.”

“They should die.”

Cali tensed, wondering if she was about to watch the man she’d loved kill five men in cold blood.

“Should they?” Luke asked.