Contractor (56 page)

machines like bulls. A harpy shrieked as it

was ripped apart by birds.

Daniel passed an intersection. There

was a huge roar. The birds behind him were

engulfed in red fire. He watched the

enchanted steel melt to glowing ash. The

heated remains rained down on the extractors

below.

A dragon whipped around the corner, a

giant winged monster with a long, snaking

neck and sharp spines running down its back.

Daniel turned again, and the dragon followed

his path, letting loose another roar as it

adjusted its wings. He felt like he was being

pursued by a freight train.

He felt the heat before he saw it. Daniel

flipped in midair, curled up, and raised his

shield. The stream of fire slammed into it.

Tendrils of flame licked around its edges,

but his armor plating protected him.

Daniel hung a sharp right at the next

intersection, then, before the dragon caught

up, smashed through a window. He slid to a

stop inside a nest of tan cubicles and

suppressed his presence. The dragon

whooshed passed his position, oblivious to

one more broken window among dozens.

Daniel sat back against a steel cabinet and

breathed.

He jerked back up and jumped onto a

desk. He had to stay alert. Being up higher

off the floor would give him more time to

react if the Nightmares came from below.

The dragon doubled back. The scaled

monster searched for a few minutes, peeking

in a few windows with its reptilian head

cocked, then flew off to light up more

extractors. He watched it until it went far

enough that he felt safe.

Daniel leaned out the building to get his

bearings. Below, lines of extractors marched

along with robotic precision. At this point,

he figured they were more cannon fodder to

soften up the Dawn.

Times Square was just two blocks

away. All the signs were shut off and greyed

out by the dome. Without the lights and the

people, it might have seemed empty, but no

less than three black pillars had set down

there. They spewed out extractors by the

hundreds. He could feel at least twenty

overseers milling around.

Daniel ducked back inside when he

heard a heavy flap of wings. Sure enough, a

green-colored dragon cruised down, dousing

the extractors below with brilliant yellow

flames. The only thing left was a streak of

burnt pavement.

Just behind the dragon was a small

horde of Minotaurs, and behind them,

magicians. They pushed into the region the

dragon cleared. Everything in the city was

converging, fast. It confirmed his suspicions

—they were going to use the square as their

launch pad for a direct attack on the fortress.

Rachel and Eleanor had to be with them.

He wasn’t missing this party. Daniel jumped

out the window and pushed off straight for

the closest overseer.

Chapter Twelve

Times Square

Rachel’s golems were all embroiled

with extractors. As soon as they killed or

damaged one, another took its place,

shooting the black lasers or punching with

steel fists. Rachel herself was even using her

most powerful spell, a combination

construct-physical sigil that coated her with

the shell of a golem, effectively making her a

stone-armored warrior. Unlike her dolls,

which could only take orders, she had

instinct and creativity on her side—and

focusing all her magic on only herself

multiplied her strength several times.

Rachel caught an extractor with an

uppercut. It soared into the air. Eleanor,

calmly walking just behind, flicked her

wrist. The robot was shredded by icy spears.

Rachel moved up for another attack.

She needn’t have bothered. Henry

completed his spell. The massive sigil

appeared in the air over the horde of

extractors. The lines of blue light shifted and

clicked like the face of a giant clock.

It was a massive, perfected version of

Eleanor’s quick attack. Dozens of gleaming

stalactites ripped downward. The flock of

birds above them were shredded, and the

wall of ice continued down, spearing through

metal arms and heads of the extractors. A fog

boiled across the ground from the chipped,

melting ice.

When the cloud cleared, there was

nothing left but a field of unmoving metal

bodies. Rachel’s golems shoveled a path

clear. Ahead lay more black pillars, and the

nest of the overseers. More extractors were

already crowding their base. Henry’s spell

hadn’t been enough to take out the

commanders; even he couldn’t force that

amount of power over that wide an area.

A dragon roared in the distance. The

extractors opposite them were caught in the

conflagration from the demon’s mouth.

Rothschild’s side was closing in. "Move

up!" Henry yelled. "Get ready for their

spell!"

Even as he spoke the words, the grey

spheres appeared around the pillars. There

were dozens, maybe even hundreds, some

small, others the size of trucks. Rachel kept

her golems close. Eleanor prepared her

barrier magic. If they didn’t stop this attack,

a lot of people were going to die.

There was a flash of white light.

A nearby display sign blew in half—an

overseer had struck it. The sign creaked,

tilted, then collapsed on the overseer’s body.

A black mist drifted upward. A green sigil

flared under a man covered in layered iron

plates as bits of the Vorid’s soul were

absorbed. Daniel.

He stood in midair. He had a baseball

bat in one hand, and an iron shield in the

other. The grey spheres flew at him. There

were no gaps to slip through. It was a solid

wave of magic.

Half of a skyscraper was erased. It was

the strangest thing, seeing the top half of the

building still floating there, frozen in time,

when it should have collapsed right on top of

them.

Daniel was gone. But he wasn’t dead.

He was so fast she couldn’t follow him

with her eyes. The only way to track him was

by the physical sigils he used to change

direction. The hazy pads didn’t dissipate

immediately.

The whole of the street lit up with his

efforts. A white blur shot around the

overseers like a laser reflected off mirrors.

The grey spheres launched his way were

useless; he was gone long before they

reached him. By the time the Dawn had

moved up to where he was fighting, he’d

killed half of them.

"Oh my god," Eleanor breathed.

Rachel had similar sentiments. She

could hardly believe it was him. The battle

must have increased his powers

exponentially.

Even as they watched, the rest of their

troops made the square. They’d surrounded it

from all sides, just as planned. It was oddly

quiet. No one, human or demon, made any

move to jump into Daniel’s fight.

Daniel stopped at the end of the square.

Every segment of armor glowed somewhat,

but his bat burned the brightest. It left spots

in Rachel’s eyes.

The remaining overseers had clustered

tight together. They were holding their grey

orbs around themselves as a last defense.

Daniel wasn’t paying them any attention. He

was looking at the underside of the fortress.

Henry flinched. A moment later, Eleanor

did the same thing, and finally, Rachel felt it.

The dark, cutting feeling that always came

with a dome. It plummeted toward them.

Toward Daniel.

He raised his shield. A black spear

struck its surface. A shockwave echoed out

from the point of contact. Magic energy

poured out in a shower of sparks.

Daniel batted at the spear. It was thrown

away, flipping end-over-end. Just as

suddenly, it halted. Rachel saw then that it

was more a sword than a spear, a long,

curved blade sharpened on one edge like a

scythe. It didn’t have a handle.

Then it came. She knew it was the Vorid

lord. It had to be.

Daniel’s shining white light felt like a

flickering candle next to the mass of magical

oppression that rolled over them. She took a

step back. Eleanor bit her lip. The magicians

exchanged nervous glances. Henry raised a

fist to stop his forces from getting closer.

"Hold!"

The lord drifted down. It had the same

form as the others, ink-black skin and

delicate, narrow features. It was dressed in a

white robe with green trimmings. There was

a black patch on its breast, some kind of

sigil. It stopped near the floating sword.

It looked at the overseers. They

cowered before their master. It said

something in a humming language full of n’s

and m’s. Even though they were surrounded

by their enemies, the overseers immediately

prostrated themselves.

The lord raised a thin hand. Its fingers

twitched. Screams echoed over the square.

Rachel felt the blood drain from her face as

the lord ripped souls directly out of its

servants.

The lord waved a hand. A black sigil

flashed at its fingertips, and the sword

multiplied. Five identical blades floated

around it.

Rothschild chose that moment to release

his dragons. All three of the demons flew in

from above. Three streams of hellfire

erupted from their mouths, surrounding the

Vorid leader in magic heat.

The smoke vanished. A crackling black

shield came into view, like an egg sheltering

him from the storm. The lord wasn’t

perturbed. It hadn’t even moved.

The swords leaped forward at lightning

speed. The dragons barely had time to roar

as they were chopped into pieces. Their

thick hides offered no protection. All three

were dead before their corpses smacked the

ground. The five swords returned to their

master, lining up like obedient soldiers.

It raised a hand. Four of the swords

swept toward Daniel. One flew at Rachel’s

position.

A minotaur jumped to meet it, fists

wrapped in shadowy magic. The sword

blurred. The minotaur fell apart. Entrails

slapped to the pavement. The sword

hesitated only briefly before continuing on.

Henry threw up his hands. A blue sigil

glowed under his feet. A diamond of solid

ice trapped the sword in the air just a few

yards away. Over the square, Rachel could

see Daniel flashing about as the swords

tailed him.

The prism buckled. The sword sawed

up, then down, and freed itself. It dove

forward and stabbed Henry through the gut

before anyone could react.

The president of the Ivory Dawn took a

step back. He coughed. Blood lined his lips.

There was a blast of white light. Daniel

flashed by. The sword was gone, pulled out

of Henry. Wind rushed over them as Daniel

exploded away.

Rachel was numb. Her golem skin fell

from her body. She ran forward, tripped,

then crawled the rest of the way. Blood was

everywhere.

Eleanor was there. She grabbed his

robes up in her fists. She was screaming.

Rachel couldn’t hear her. She couldn’t hear

anything.

Arms were under her, lifting her to her

feet. Nickolas. "We can’t stay here!"

Others rushed Henry. A medic came in

with healing magic to stabilize the wound.

Rachel’s world restarted. She had to

protect Eleanor. They had to retreat. "Elly!"

Rachel grabbed Eleanor’s shoulder. Eleanor

slapped the hand away. "We have to go!

You’ll just get in the way! Elly!"

Rachel didn’t know what the sword had

been doing in the meantime, but she felt the

dark magic flash. She raised a single golem.

The blade hardly slowed as it cut through.

There was a flash of light. Daniel was

back, shield high. He slapped his bat at the

weapon, and it spun away from the force.

"Get him out of here! I’ll hold -"

He couldn’t finish his sentence; the lord

wasn’t being patient. Daniel fended off

another sword and moved so as not to make

them a target. All five weapons were on him,

now.

Rachel grabbed Eleanor. Nicholas

helped drag her back from the lines. Eleanor

scratched at Rachel’s arm, crying, half from

grief and half from anger.

Other magicians gathered up Henry. The

demons on the front line scattered, accepting

the pain of disobeying summoning orders to

avoid their own deaths. Magic rumbled over

them as they ran.

****

Eleanor stood over her father. Henry

was resting in the back of a truck, alive, and

stable, but unconscious. Rachel stood with

her, keeping an arm on her shoulder.

Eleanor’s face was expressionless.

Henry might have been Rachel’s surrogate