Damoren (23 page)

All three demons fell dead.

The disks of blood in the water swirled apart, joining with others in the pool. Two were moving to where Allan and Luiza still hid. Matt looked, but saw nothing there. Squinting, he spied odd shapes moving through the light drizzle as if the water was hitting something that wasn’t there.

“
Rakshasas!” Matt fired Dämoren at one of the invisible creatures.

One jolted back, the bullet striking its shoulder.
It materialized, taking the form of a black, featureless man. No light reflected off its body, giving it the look of nothingness, just an empty, humanoid hole of blackness.

Dämoren was empty.

The demons closed in.

Allan rolled out from his position on the ground and swung Ibenus.
Instantly he was standing, facing them down. The black monster lunged, but Allan swung the khopesh again, and appeared beside it. He slashed the blade in an upward arc, cleaving through the demon’s side. It fell.

The other, still invisible, save the water on its head and shoulders, turned to face
Allan. Luiza charged, attacking with her saber.

Figures rushed down the slopes.
Demons and familiars swarmed, ready to finish what the shooters started. An emaciated wendigo scuttled over the cliff face and leapt onto the truck as Malcolm crawled out. Matt pulled a new Ingram magazine from its pouch. His numb fingers fumbled, and it fell into the water. He moved for it, but his body just collapsed.

He rolled onto his back.
Blood coursed through the milky water, running in little streams and joining the moving pools at the edge. Matt opened Dämoren’s loading gate and ejected a spent shell. He lifted his pouch flap to slip it inside when all the blood in the water suddenly gathered around him.

A winged woman slammed on top of him
, the succubus straddling his shoulders. She hissed, latching an iron-firm hand over his face and shoved his head beneath the water. Matt fought, gurgling and spitting. Water ran up his nose and into his eyes, but the demon was too strong. Jagged rocks dug into the back of his skull as the monster pressed down.

Still squeezing Dämoren, Matt hacked the gun
’s blade, blindly trying to hit the demon. Claws tore his arm as she fought to grapple the swinging blade. She caught his bicep, and slapped his arm back into the water. Matt hooked his wrist, slicing down into the succubi’s forearm. It let go and Matt thrust his head out of the water as he slashed the blade into the screaming demon’s neck. Blood poured from the gaping wound and out her mouth. It ran down her pale breasts and arms and onto Matt. Her violet eyes rolled back and her blood ignited into purple and crimson flames. She crumpled on top of him.

The wave of calming pleasure hit him like drug.
Matt gasped as the bullet pushed from his body, wedging itself between him and the inside of his vest as the skin behind it healed. The exhaustion of being awake so long, the weariness from blood-loss washed away.

His eyes focused, and he pushed the succubi
’s nude corpse off of him. Her flaming blood spread out across the water, flaring as it met his.

Matt rolled onto one knee and saw the chaos around him.

Malcolm hacked Hounacier into the shoulder of an axe-wielding man as he dodged a scaly orange demon
’s swing. A flaming wendigo lie at his feet. Allan held back a shrieking woman and a bald, pointed-eared vampire, as he blinked around them with sword swings. Luiza still fought the rakshasa, now visible and bleeding from several wounds.

There
’s so many of them.
Matt rose to help his companions. He loaded a fresh round from his belt into Dämoren’s cylinder when a bullet struck him from behind, knocking him down in a jolt of pain.

He hit the water, still saturated with burning blood
, and the wound instantly began to mend.

Matt turned to see one of the gunmen coming down the slope behind him, carrying a black rifle.
The gunman’s eyes widened in surprise, seeing the man he’d just shot rise from the cauldron of violet-red fire. Matt spun Dämoren’s cylinder, aligning the single loaded chamber with the barrel, and fired.

The silver slug hit the man in the gut.
He staggered, then raised his rifle toward Matt. Orange flashed from the muzzle, and Matt threw himself down into the water-filled pit. A shot grazed his leg, and Matt screamed, more in surprise than pain. The demon blood still burning on him soothed and healed it.

“
No!” Luiza cried.

Gunshots popped
from behind and Matt’s would-be killer fell, dying.

Matt
turned to see Luiza racing across the open stretch toward him, saber in one hand, pistol in the other. Her eyes were wide with worry.

She doesn
’t know the blood is still healing me.

A dark shape flew down from the sky hitting the ground beside her with an earth-shaking thud.
A towering, blue oni raised a metal club, resembling a hammered section of railroad track, and swung.

Luiza sprung back, barely dodging the blurring swing.
The oni attacked again, swinging the weapon like a bat. Luiza ducked and rolled out of the way.

Matt splashed out of the pit and ran toward them, Dämoren in his hand.

Luiza hacked at the oni, but it jumped back with surprising speed and parried the blade with his steel beam. Feinluna flew from her hand, cast aside like it was nothing at all. Luiza fired her pistol at the monster as she started for her fallen sword, but the bullets, obviously not jade-capped, had no effect. The hulking demon raised its club and smashed it straight down onto the gilded saber, shattering it to pieces.

Luiza froze, her mouth open.
She started at the broken sword. The oni roared. Leaving its club imbedded in the ground, it raised its fist to strike her.

Matt leapt, grabbing Luiza and knocking her out of the way.
They hit the hard-packed mud, and Matt immediately jumped to his feet, putting himself between Luiza and the demon. “Run,” he screamed. Dämoren was empty. He had only her blade.

Luiza didn
’t move.

The monster charged
, and Matt dodged a beefy fist. He hacked Dämoren at the beast’s arm, slinging water. Metal rang as he hit the oni’s crude armor. It growled.

“
Luiza, run!” Matt sprung forward, hoping to take the creature by surprise. He hacked at a sliver of exposed blue skin at its thigh, but the monster side-stepped the attack.

Forming both hands into a single fist, it swung.
Matt moved to dodge the blow but the beast was faster. The fist glanced off Matt’s vest, sending him sprawling to the ground. He gulped like a fish, the breath completely knocked from him.

A pair of bouncing headlights raced down the long slope across the basin toward them.

The oni roared at the coming lights, then looked down at Matt, lying at its feet. It raised a fist. Still stunned, Matt couldn’t move. He met the beast’s eyes, readying for the killing blow.

A shot fired and the unarmored back of the creatures left knee exploded.
Violet blood splattered the ground and the beast howled. A second gunshot struck again, and the oni tumbled backward onto the gravel.

Malcolm ran up behind it, Hounacier in one hand,
smoking sawed-off in the other. The oni struggled to rise, but Malcolm rammed the machete straight into the demon’s open mouth. Kicking his foot against the monster’s armored chest, he wrenched the blade free as silver and green fire burst from the dead oni’s mouth and eyes.

Malcolm looked down at Matt.
“You all right?”

“
Yeah,” Matt croaked, struggling to his feet. “Just in time.”

Malcolm motioned to Luiza.
“Get her out of here.” He turned and ran to where Allan still fought back six opponents, blinking around them while hacking his khopesh.

Luiza had knelt beside the imbedded club gathering pieces of the broken sword.

Matt touched her shoulder.
“Luiza?”

She turned.
Tears streamed down her face. “He’s gone,” Luiza mouthed. “I can’t feel him.”

Matt met her eyes, seeing her pain.
“I’m... We need to move.”

She nodded absently.

The hunters’ van tore through the basin toward them, jolting over the white rocky ground as it circled the lagoon. Susumu stood in the open door his long naginata at his side, the ends of his yellow headband flapping behind him.

“
Come on!” Matt lifted Luiza to her feet. She hesitated, and then followed. They ran to meet the oncoming knights.

The van slid to a stop and Susumu leapt out, carried by his own momentum.
The samurai hit the ground running, charging the army of demons and men.

Luc came out of the passenger door, his mace in hand.
He saw Matt, covered in mud and blood, running toward him with Luiza. “Come on!” A bullet shattered the window beside his head, showering him with glass, and Luc crouched behind the door.

“
Everyone fall back,” Jean ordered over the radio. He stepped out of the vehicle, carrying a black bullpup assault rifle. He brought the weapon up and returned fire on the shooters on the far slope.

Matt and Luiza neared the van.
Luc jogged out to meet them. “Take her,” Matt said.

They helped Luiza up into the seat and Matt looked back at the battle behind them.
Allan and Malcolm fought side by side, falling back toward the van. Susumu stood before them, swinging his naginata in fast, graceful strikes, cutting through the demonic ranks with lethal proficiency. Matt ejected a spent shell and reached for his bag. The mud-caked flap was open. It shouldn’t be open.

Panicked he reached inside.
Water.
No!
Matt pulled it open with both hands and peered inside. The shells were gone. “I’ll be back,” he called, running back toward the battle

“
Where are you going?” Luc cried, but Matt didn’t answer. He hurried to the water-filled pit. Pools of his blood still moved inside, tracking the oncoming demons. Swirls of burning succubus blood still moved over the surface. He splashed inside and felt along the bottom.
Where are they?

He scooped up handfuls of mud and rocks, checking them only briefly before tossing them aside.
They have to be here.
He checked a fistful of white clay and saw two bronze shells. He shoved the filthy cases into his pouch and searched the same spot with both hands. He found one more.
Come one. Come on. Come on.
Two more. His fingers touched Akumanokira’s metal sheath and he pulled the katana out from the muddy water.

“Matt, fall back” Allan yelled. The Englishman ran past, headed toward the van, his shirt stained with blood. Malcolm jogged behind. A deep cut marred his chin.

A brilliant orange light illuminated the basin as a fiery ifrit came down the slope.
Susumu still stood at the bottom of the ramp, bodies strewn at his feet. Many burned with demonic flames. Matt ejected a shell from Dämoren and loaded a fresh bullet.

The ifrit was nearly to Susumu.
A blonde woman’s hair caught fire as the demon came up behind her. Screaming, she continued fighting, and lunged at Susumu with a metal baton. The samurai skewered her on his blade and stepped back onto even ground to face the fiery demon.

Matt loaded a second round and snapped Dämoren
’s loading latch closed.

The Ifrit charged
, and Susumu thrust the bladed staff at its chest. The ifrit dodged to the side just in time and closed the distance. Susumu moved back, swinging the naginata with him, slicing the demon along its side. Its flaming skin flared brighter as the enraged demon staggered, then rushed for the small hunter.

Matt aimed the revolver, but couldn
’t get a safe shot without risk of hitting Susumu. A shape moved atop the ridge and Matt saw a white-skinned man crouched at the edge above the samurai. Matt brought the gun up and fired. The vampire jolted back and scrambled off into the shadows.

Susumu lurched at the sound
, and the ifrit swiped at him. The stunned samurai held his ground, blocking the demon’s arms with an upswing, then circled the blade around and drove it into the ifrit’s chest. He pushed the impaled demon, and it fell backward. A jet of blinding white fire shot from the wound like a welding torch.

A small grin cracked Susumu
’s firm face as the demon’s soul burned. He turned to Matt when a blur shot from the shadows and smashed into him. The samurai fell, dropping his weapon. The white-skinned man crouched atop him. He yanked a slender knife from Susumu’s back. The blade glinted in the light of the ifrit’s white fire and the vampire drove it in again.

“
No!” Matt yelled, aiming Dämoren toward it. The vampire sprung up on top of the twenty-foot rise and into the shadows as Matt pulled the trigger. The bullet smacked into the clay cliff wall behind where it had been.

Susumu started to rise, then faltered.
A red stain spread across his shirt.