Demon Squad 6 The Best of Enemies (7 page)

“Nah, don’t worry about it.” I gestured to the gaping hole. “Something needs to be done about this. We need a new place off the grid that has…well, walls and a roof and less slime. I did some damage to our unnamed nemesis’ troops so we’ve got some time, but I don’t imagine he’ll let it go, whoever he is. We need a new hideout.”

Veronica tried to cut in but I stopped her.

“And that’s the other thing. I need you to hunt around and find out either who the guy is or how to get a message to him. I’m not sure mine got through,” I said, chuckling at the carnage I’d created before the big slug showed up.

“What about—”

I loosed a trace of my power, just enough to get Veronica’s attention and let her know I was serious. Her lips paled as she pursed them tight and nodded, letting whatever she’d intended to say wither and die on her tongue.

“Good,” I said and shooed her out. “Track me down when you have a new place. I need to get Rala and CB someplace safe.”

Chatterbox wiggled his tongue at her, and that was all it took. Veronica raised a hand and spun on her heel. “I’m out.”

I watched her until she was gone, and then gave it a few minutes after that before I looked back to Rala. She stood there staring at me, her eyes a little puffy, cheeks gaunt. She looked as tired as I felt.

“You lied to her, right?” she asked.

“Yup.”

“
Yuuuuuuuuppp,
” CB parroted, shaking his head.

Rala sighed. “What do you want me to do?”

I looked behind me and let my senses loose to make sure Veronica hadn’t snuck back around. Once I was sure she hadn’t, I went on. “Keep doing what you’re doing,” I said, motioning to the portal.

“If you’re looking to commit suicide, there are easier ways to do it, you know that, right?”

“It’s got nothing to do with me killing myself.” I hoped.

“Then what’s it about?” Rala jutted her chin out at me, her furry little nose twitching.

“I…” my answer kind of trailed off. I wasn’t quite sure why I felt so strongly about translating the book, but there was no doubting I did. The thought was a steel ball bouncing around inside my skull. “Don’t worry about it,” I told her, glancing at the hole in the wall once more. “Just do what I ask, please.”

She grunted, and I heard Chatterbox snigger.

“Stop making faces at me and do it,” I said, whirling on her.

I spotted the tip of Rala’s tongue as it slithered into her mouth. Her eyes went wide, gaze darting one way while Chatterbox’s went the other.

“Seriously?”

“Fine.” She muttered something under her breath and opened the book, dropping to the floor to sit with her legs crossed, the tome splayed out in her lap. CB bounced around in the basket alongside her.

“I’ll be here to make sure nothing happens,” I said.

She grunted a noncommittal, “Uh, huh,” in response, getting right back to translating. The strange, singsong phrasing of the alien language started up right after, the sound beautiful despite its oddness. CB hummed along somewhat in tune while I stared at the shifting portal, its energies reacting to her voice.

“You’re an asshole, Frank.” I looked over to see Marcus peeling himself off the couch, which had been, quite luckily for him, only two feet from the slug’s trail. It had barely missed him, which I wasn’t entirely sure was a good thing. I’d forgotten he was there. He still looked like he’d been hit by a bus, cheeks sunken, but there was a glimmer of clarity in his squinty eyes.

“Where are you going?”

“To get another drink, not that it’s any of
your
business.” He shambled through the wreckage, beer bottles, cans, and pizza boxes pushed out before him like he was Moses parting the trash sea.

“Don’t let the door hit ya where your prison roommate split ya.” I told him.

He flipped me the bird and stumbled out onto the street. A moment later, the sound of his shuffling footsteps faded and it was just me, the alien, and a disembodied zombie head.

“
Duuuunnnn, dduuuuunnnn, dduunnnnnn.
”

I ignored CB’s commentary and focused on the portal. It shimmered as though it were a pool beneath a steady rain as Rala worked the book. She skipped around from page to page, the sound of paper flipping only adding to the ambiance of her voice. The swell of mystical energy pinged against my senses so I moved closer, running my hands along the doorway. It was still solid, but I could feel the slightest of gives as my fingers ran across its surface.

Instinctively, I used my magic to push against the leak of energy coming out of the portal. I felt kind of stupid, like that fairy tale with the kid sticking his thumb in the dike to keep it from leaking, but the shit was actually working. The drift of power stopped at my hands, but I could still sense it just beyond. I still wasn’t sure why I wanted to stand there plugging the hole, so to speak, but with all the critters slipping out to wreak havoc, it seemed like the smart thing to do. Rala’s soft, lilting tones were the soundtrack to my efforts.

I’m not sure how long I had stood there, pressing my power against the portal, but Chatterbox’s voice startled me into awareness.

“
Spppaaaaaarrrrrklllleeeeessssss!
”

A deep, rumbling thunder rolled through my skull as I peeled my eyes from the doorway to see what CB was going on about. Scarlett stood in the arch of the shattered wall.

I sighed. “Did he say you sparkled?”

“You sent us to Canada, Frank. Canada!”

Oops. Hadn’t meant to do all that, but I had to admit it was nice to know I’d figured out how to teleport. I swallowed back my grin.

Scarlett glared. “You don’t have any idea as to the shit storm you’re brewing, do you?”

“Ooooh, I’m telling Jesus.” I chuckled. “Look, I’m not—”

“Uh, Frank…”

“Not now, Rala.” I wiggled a finger. The last thing I wanted to do was turn my back on Scarlett when she was that pissed. The best I could hope for a pointed boot up my backside. “Tell the choir I’m not my father’s son. His bullshit beef with Heaven isn’t—”

“Frank!” Rala called out.

“God damn it, girl.
What?
”

Scarlett hissed, and I realized I had used her Lord’s name in vain. I almost apologized—force of habit—when I caught the strange expression on her face. It wasn’t anger, it was...awe? Concern, maybe? Her eyes were locked on something behind me. I craned my head around to look and saw two of the most brilliant purple eyeballs I’d ever seen staring back at me through the portal.

“Holy…” I willed my power back to life, noticing I’d let it slip when Scarlett arrived, and pushed against the seeping portal. The eyes hovered a moment, and then slid out of sight.

A collective sigh filled the room when I turned to look at Rala. “Why didn’t you tell me some critter was eyeballing me?”

“Really?” she huffed, dropping the book to the floor.

“It’s a good thing I’m paying attention or we might—”

“What is that?” Scarlett asked, her head bent to the side like a dog listening to something only she could hear.

The room went silent. Just above the quiet hum of the portal, there was a whistling sound growing louder and louder.

“
Innncccooommmmmmiiinnngggg!
” Chatterbox shouted and flopped onto his side in the basket, using his tongue to pull him to the far corner.

I glanced through the ruin of the wall and spied a silver blur streaking our direction.

“Ah crap.”

Then the world exploded.

Six

Dust clung to my lungs as I hunkered over Rala, her furry little butt tucked up underneath me while the last of the roof rained down in annoying
thumps
across my back. There’d only been time to grab the alien before the RPG hit, my shield fluttering up too late to do much more than blunt the impact of the explosion and disperse some of the flying debris.

I rose up, shrugging the wreckage off to make sure none of it hit Rala. My body ached and my brain felt as if it was waking up from a drunken one night stand with an inconsiderate elephant, but I wasn’t seriously hurt.

“You okay?” I asked Rala as she curled tight against the floor. She half-ass nodded, and I saw the tome clutched beneath her, glad to see it looked in one piece, as well. “Stay low, and I’ll get you out of here in a second.”

Gray and black smoke whirled in the shattered remnants of Baalth’s safe house, its thickness blocking the view of the outside world. The only benefit to that was that it probably also blocked what was going on inside, giving me a few seconds to get my head straight. I surveyed the mess quickly. Unless I was being attacked by the US Air Force, it was pretty much a guarantee the RPG was only the opening salvo to soften us up.

I spied Scarlett’s arm pushing aside debris and ran over to check on her. A few seconds later and she popped free of the detritus and coughed out a lungful of dust. Like me, she was a little battered but didn’t look too bad. She was tough, but I felt sorry for whoever had bombed us, though, because she was livid.

Her fury poured from her lungs as she scrambled to her feet, curses flying out of her that would have made Jesus blush. I shushed her but there was no stopping her from venting, her sword already out and ready for blood. And then the gunfire began. Bullets ripped through the smoke and pocked the concrete walls around us. This time, however, I was ready. My shield glistened in the gloom, its protection cast wide enough to ensure none of us would catch a bullet unless it was a lucky ricochet.

“Who’d you piss off?” Scarlett asked, the question a razor blade that went for my throat.

I shrugged as I ran over to Rala and helped her to her feet. “Who knows?” And that was the truth. As hostile as everyone had been since I returned to Earth, it could be anyone, though I suspected it was retaliation for my roughhousing of the mercenaries. Maybe their mysterious boss
had
gotten my message. That made him organized
and
stacked with resources, which are never good things for your enemy to have in conjunction.

“Where’s Chatterbox?” Rala’s eyes widened as she scanned the ruin.

“The head?” Scarlett asked. “Seriously?”

I nodded, but I hadn’t been too concerned with the guy—seeing how he’s dead and all—though I didn’t want to leave him behind when we split. Besides, it was obvious Rala was attached to the old lunk. I started moving debris where he’d been sitting in his basket when I heard a rambling vocal line come from under the wreckage, the sound distorted by the constant
ping
of gunfire.

“Here,” I said, dropping to my knees to dig where I’d heard him. Rala came over to help.

A few seconds later, we yanked CB out of his buried basket. His eyes lit up when he saw us, but he kept singing away. He was a little grayer than I remembered, but it looked like all his maggots were accounted for.

“We need to get out of here and shut this down before someone innocent gets hurt,” Scarlett rumbled at my back. She was in avenging angel mode, and God help the idiots who’d lobbed a missile at her—even if it was meant for me.

I nodded in agreement and tossed CB over to Rala, only then catching the rhythm of the song he was singing. A grin split my cheeks as I waved the women in close. He was belting out “Eat Lead” by the thrash band, At War.

“What are you laughing at?” Scarlett glared at me as I formed the teleportation spell. It was complex, but it was like I had the blueprints to it laid out across the screen of my mind. All I needed was a location. Damn it was good to be powerful.

“Nothing,” I answered, trying to retrain my amusement. “Hold tight.”

My magic welled up inside me, chasing my headache away, filling me with power, and choking the life out of me.

I realized the last bit, however slowly, had nothing to do with magic. My gaze dropped to see an oily tentacle wrapped about my throat, and then I was flying.

Well, flying might be a generous description for what I was doing. The tentacle snapped me back like a rubber band at the end of its tension. Fortunately, the still solid face of the portal was there to stop that nonsense.

The back of my skull slammed into the mystical gate, and the Hunchback let loose with a cathedral bell solo. The vertebrae down the length of my back popped in rapid succession as the impact brought a sudden halt to my quite admirable momentum. I’d have cursed or complained, but the tendril remained wrapped tightly around my neck, and for the second time in the same day, I found myself unable to breathe.

Scarlett remedied that with a silver flash.

Her blade cleaved the tentacle in two, the back end slithering into the portal while the one around my throat stiffened. I peeled it loose with a gasp, spinning away from the emerald gateway. Streaks of dark blood slid down the portal’s face. Its vibrato hum grew louder, deeper.

“Uh, Frank…little help here.”

I spun, cognizant of Rala’s last warning, only then noticing the gunfire hadn’t stopped. Bullets were ripping up what was left of the house while the little alien hunched down with the book under one arm and Chatterbox under the other. Puffs of dust and dirt were bursting from the ground beside her. My shield was gone.

“Damn it,” I shouted, a little surprised by how rough my voice sounded, my throat raw from being throttled. “Sorry.”

A tribal drum circle practiced in my head, shooting my concentration to hell. Fortunately though, all it took was a push of will and my defenses returned. Despite how simple it was to resurrect them, it was becoming clear that while I had power to spare, there was a lot more to the control of it than I’d mastered. Another RPG explosion rattled the remnants of the building and set my ears to ringing. The place was getting ready to come down on top of us.

A bone-crushing agony made that the least of my concerns.

Another tendril had snaked from the portal and had latched onto my wrist, its length wrapping around it several times as the pressure increased. I snarled in defiance and yanked against the rubbery limb. Turned out, that wasn’t the best of moves.

Through the shimmering portal, and like Veronica had implied earlier, a whale-sized octopus-looking thing oozed its head out into our world. An inbred first cousin to Cthulhu, the creature’s round face nothing but tentacles; dozens of them clasped at the edge of the portal and used me and it as a foothold to slip into Earth. The hail of bullets at our back pretty much confirmed our status between a squid and a hard place.