Good Intentions 3: Personal Demons (21 page)

The fiery outline of the portal at least provided a steady source of light. The big demon made for a frightening obstacle, too. Hector’s shotgun boomed again as Alex rushed in, but thankfully—if Alex could call it that—the monster had pushed itself up now with both hands on the floor. Its head rose high enough that Hector could shoot over Alex without hitting him. It was another headshot, once again inflicting more anger and distraction than harm, but it kept the beast from swatting Alex away.

Alex had never practiced this sort of move. He didn’t have a shield to work with, either. Once at the portal’s edge, Alex spun sideways to reach the side of the demon’s hand. He brought his short sword over his head and down again with as much torque as he could muster. The blade hacked straight through two of the demon’s fingers before bouncing off the hardwood floor. The demon jerked its hand away with a roar of pain, shrinking back slightly down the hole in the floor. Now able to look over the edge, Alex saw a swirl of smoke, ash, and floating embers within. It reminded him too much of the one time he’d been on the other side of such a portal.

The demon looked ready to swat Alex away with its wounded hand, but a shrieking gust of wind cut a nasty gash all along its upper arm. The loud bang of another gunshot and a yelp of pain behind Alex caused him to whirl around. He found a wounded man in hunter’s clothes at his feet. Alex spared only one glance back at Molly, Onyx, and Hector. The latter now held a revolver and seemed intent on providing cover. Grateful for the support, Alex pressed on.

Evelyn and her ally from the Light held their place. The sorcerer concentrated on his work, but the blonde recognized the danger as Alex rounded the circle. Before he could reach the pair, Evelyn yelled something in a language he couldn’t understand. An instant later, he heard a shrill cry from above. The winged demon dove at him with blades extended.

Bullets struck the flyer from some corner Alex couldn’t identify—not Hector’s gun, though he didn’t have time to think about it. The impacts jarred the oncoming demon just enough to give it trouble as it closed in. With only a split-second thought, Alex realized the thing might well expect him to try to roll forward under its dive, so he risked the opposite move: he jumped up into the air and stabbed forward.

He couldn’t get very high, of course. Alex did better at track and field than most other sports, but even a good jump took him only a couple feet off the ground. In this context, that was enough. His enemy expected to connect a heartbeat later rather than sooner. As they collided, Alex plunged his sword into the demon’s ribcage. His foe’s blades swung into empty air behind him. The only harm Alex suffered came from their graceless landing. The demon got the worst of that, too, landing on its back and absorbing most of the impact.

Thrashing to get free of the tangle, Alex yanked his blade out of the demon’s chest and stumbled backward to evade its snapping jaws. He deflected one swing of the enemy’s blades and then another with his sword. He’d done serious harm, but not enough to put the thing down.

Another sharp series of gunshots close by interrupted their fight. He saw the muzzle flashes only a foot or two away from the demon’s head. The enemy jerked and blinked but didn’t fall. Instead, the demon turned its attention to its new attacker. Alex made it pay dearly for giving in to distraction. He stepped in close and stabbed in a downward arc, driving his blade between the demon’s shoulder and its neck. Thankfully, it seemed as vulnerable there as any human. It expired with an awful squawk.

He glanced to the young woman with the smoking pistol on the other side of their conquered foe. “Hand weapons,” he huffed to Sierra. “Gotta fight demons up close—”

She pulled Alex to the floor, saving them both from the swinging arm of the much larger demon still trying to climb out of the portal. “I figured that part out now!” she snapped

Sierra took up one of the flyer’s blades, but Alex had no time to watch her use it. Shooting, screaming, and bursts of magic continued. He thought he heard another howl of wind, hopefully conjured by Molly again. He didn’t look back. Evelyn and her ally were only a few feet away. Alex moved in fast.

As it turned out, the blonde was faster. She swept one hand out at him in an arc. Alex jerked back instinctively, avoiding the spread of small, sharp icicles that flew from her palm. His luck ran out when he got close enough to strike. Something wrapped around his leg—her demon’s tail, he realized—and yanked him off his feet. Evelyn stomped down on his chest, nearly impaling him with the short heel of her shoe but for the bad angle as he twisted in an effort to rise again.

Sierra came to his rescue before Evelyn could do worse harm. Her newly-acquired demonic blade caught the blonde on the arm and sent her staggering. Then she pivoted and swung upward to catch the huge demonic hand coming at her from above, carving a nasty gouge across its palm. Blood rained down on Alex and Sierra, scalding them both like boiling water, but once again the big demon yanked its hand back.

Alex tugged his leg to one side and brought his sword down hard on Evelyn’s tail. He didn’t cut through completely, but the blonde pulled it away with a cry of anger and pain. As much as he wanted to press the advantage, he quickly noticed bigger problems. The heads and arms of more demons emerged from the smoky hole in the floor. One or two others climbed up the body of the big monster still half in and half out of the portal.

The conjurer of the portal remained on his knees nearby. Fire spread from his palms as if feeding the breach with energy. White light flashed around him as a bullet ricocheted off of some invisible barrier. Alex scrambled to his feet once more, ducking low to evade further trouble while he closed in.

The few steps between them gave Alex a chance to think fast. Apparently bullets didn’t phase the guy’s defenses. It seemed a reasonable guess that magic wouldn’t, either, since by now someone must have thrown some spell or another at him in all this mess. Alex opted for an attack that probably hadn’t been tried yet. Rather than leading with his sword, he brought his foot up in a snap kick that connected squarely with the sorcerer’s shoulder.

Knocked off of his knees, the man stumbled back on his hip. He reached for something in his jacket, his hands no longer wreathed in flame. Alex stabbed downward with his sword, but as before a dim white light flashed around him and the sword bounced away. Then the man’s hand emerged from his jacket once more, now clutching a pistol.

Alex swung a low kick that connected with the man’s groin. It bought him a chance to grab and pull, but he didn’t want to drop his sword to wrestle for the gun. His eyes fell on the fiery ring only a couple of steps away. With a forceful pull, Alex spun his foe around and delivered another snap kick to the stomach. The impact sent his opponent stumbling into the portal.

He wasn’t surprised at the sorcerer’s howl of terror. The reactions of the other demons was another thing entirely. Several of them promptly dove back in after the falling man with hunger in their eyes.

In another heartbeat, the portal contracted. The biggest demon roared in agony as the ring of fire cut deeply into its torso. It pulled back from the portal’s edge, clutching its chest while the other demons scrambled to jump free in a sudden panic.

A loud, steady, chanting voice drew near. Onyx rushed forward, both hands raised and empty as she slowly brought them together. Molly and Hector came with her, watching either side to offer protection as she concentrated on her work. Onyx strained against some invisible force, fighting to close her palms together with a sharp clap.

In a sudden rush, the fiery circle shrank into nothing. It cut straight through the big demon’s torso along the way. The monster’s bisected remains quickly caught fire.

Fighting continued, but with the steady firelight of the burning demon, Alex saw a decisive shift. Sierra engaged the last demon in sight, pushing it back with the blade she’d claimed form the flyer. Bodies strewn around the floor suggested others hadn’t put up such an effective fight. Jin staggered away from the match with one hand over his bloodied hip. Sparks from ricochets flashed off of the air around Jin and others near him, suggesting he still maintained some sort of magical shield.

Alex crossed half the distance to Sierra and the remaining demon, but it turned out she didn’t need much help. The distraction he caused simply by presenting another threat was enough. Sierra dropped low and swept the demon’s legs out from under him with a hard kick. She didn’t wield the blade in her hand with expertise, but she clearly knew how to fight. She ran the monster through with an ugly but decisive swing before it could rise again. Alex never landed a single hit.

He looked for other problems. Most of the Light had pulled away from the center of the ballroom while he’d been preoccupied with all the demons. Jin’s work in providing shields from spells and bullets seemed to benefit Alex as much as anyone else.

“Leon!” Aaron shouted from further away. He helped Evelyn stay on her feet with one arm around her shoulders, keeping his wand ready with his other hand. The blonde still looked fully human. “Evelyn’s hurt!”

“Shit,” Leon fumed. He remained engaged, having taken cover behind an overturned table with a wand in one hand and a sub-machinegun in the other. “Pull back! Everyone, pull back! Out the emergency exit! Go!”

“Wait!” Evelyn protested, though Aaron was already half-carrying her out. “We’re not done yet! Not until we get—”

“Go! Now!” ordered Leon. He followed his own commands, throwing out a final wave of fire from his wand in a broad arc before he turned and ran. Two more his comrades held the door on the far end of the room. Rather than opening out into a hallway or another of the casino’s rooms, greenery and the open night air waited on the other side.

Alex spared only two seconds for another look around the room. He spotted Kate behind one table, casting a spell through her wand at the retreating enemy despite a bloody wound on the side of her head. Jin and a couple of his guys fought on, too, though they plainly weren’t in any shape to pursue. Archimedes and Hypatia huddled behind another overturned table with no apparent interest in fighting. The rest of the gathering was either laid out or similarly hidden behind cover.

He looked to Molly and Onyx with a wordless question before he moved, but the pair were already on the case with raised wands and chants on their lips. Alex rushed to the door. He didn’t have to deal with the pair of sorcerers left behind as a rear guard. Before he reached the exit, one enemy stumbled over, clutching her head with a shriek of pain. A blast of concentrated air hurled the other one out the doorway.

Sierra ran for the same door at full tilt. Alex kept going. At least he wouldn’t be alone.

Sammael made it as high as the rooftop before they caught him. Even up here, they heard the hotel’s blaring fire alarm and cries of fear and stress from down below. By contrast, the mortals streaming out of the building would know nothing of the struggle up above.

Guardian angels were no match for him in raw power. That Marvin and Jon would challenge and pursue demonstrated their courage, but the guardians of Lorelei’s little friends weren’t an exceptional threat as long as Sammael took them seriously. Their only advantage came from the damage Lorelei had already done, and even that came only through treachery. He didn’t know whether to be angrier at himself or at her.

Marvin’s flaming sword burned painfully, though Sammael caught only the very tip against his forearm. The blade flickered like a candle nearly blown out by wind as it passed through Sammael’s wrist. He grabbed Marvin’s hair and twisted hard, forcefully opening the guardian up for a punishing blow to the chest from Sammael’s other hand. Despite the pain, Marvin caught the attacking wrist to provide an opening for the other guardian.

The fallen angel recognized the danger in time to react. He ducked under Jon’s sword as it came for his head, still with Marvin in his grip. Then he swung Marvin up into the other guardian to knock them both back. Sammael’s fair skin contrasted sharply against the rich brown tones of his two opponents, but the chalk white color of their wings struck an even greater difference against the jet black hue of his own. He hardly noticed it himself. He could still see despite the hideous state of his eyes, though not well. What got to Sammael was the halos. The bright light surrounding Jon and Marvin’s heads created an aggravating, insulting glare.

Sammael pressed the advantage with a vicious backfist against Jon’s face. He seized his foe by the arm, cruelly twisting the limb around. “Your boys will never know the debt they owe for your sacrifice,” Sammael hissed at the back of Jon’s head as the guardian struggled to break free. “Then again, they may not last long without you.”

He brought back his left fist to strike again, but cried out as searing pain stabbed through his right forearm. Sammael released Jon, staggering back to avoid a follow-up swing of his new opponent’s fiery blade. Had it slashed through his arm rather than thrusting straight in, he might have lost the limb entirely. “Daniel!” he taunted with a broad, bitter grin. “What a surprise! I didn’t expect you up here!”

“Kiss my ass,” Daniel growled, swinging again but still coming up empty.

“A few thousand years late to ask for reciprocity, aren’t you?” Sammael gave more ground only to notice an odd glance in his new opponent’s eye. Sammael dove to the side, evading yet another burning blade that nearly came down through his shoulder and midsection.

“Oh hello, Julia,” Sammael laughed. “You almost had me there. Blame Daniel for that one. Nothing wrong with your stealth, but he needs to work on his subtlety.”

“Shut up and fight, bastard,” replied the dark-haired angel now at Daniel’s side. “Nothing you have to say matters.”

“I’m not sure that’s true,” said Sammael, shaking off the pain in his arm. He could still use it despite the terrible burn. “There’s so much we could talk out if you had the courage to listen. It’s never too late to be enlightened.”

“Tell someone who cares.” Julia rushed in with her blade up and Daniel close at her side.

Sammael only evaded long enough to take in a quick breath, then released it in a broad blast of frost across both angels. Daniel and Julia cried out, staggering to either side to escape the torrent of supernaturally frigid air and ice that left them weakened and hurt. Sammael sent Daniel sprawling away with a kick in the stomach before turning to Julia once more. “It still amazes me how you people call me a ‘sellout’ but forget what that actually
bought
for me,” he said. “You’re not the first to fall for that trick. How was that a surprise? Don’t you people talk amongst yourselves?”

He grabbed a fistful of Julia’s hair to yank her halfway up to her feet. He didn’t expect the sudden punch to his groin or the power she could put behind it even after suffering the agony of his frigid breath. Sammael released her as he staggered back. The angel fell to her hands and knees, clearly drained despite her show of force. “Right, then,” said Sammael. “Perhaps I underestimated you. It won’t happen again.”

“Fuck yourself,” huffed Julia.

Sammael blinked, looking from Julia to Daniel and back again. “How did you all fall into such coarse language?” he asked.

Then he noticed the bright light behind him. Another angel stepped onto the rooftop, sword in hand…only this sword bore the bright white pommel of dominion over the city and its surroundings. “Still need an answer for your fuckin’ question, shitstain?” Rachel replied. Marvin and Jon fell in behind her, battered but still ready to fight.

“Of course. How silly of me to ask.” He tilted his head curiously. “You look well, Rachel.”

“Your face looks like a brutalized asshole after a kink session gone too far. Y’know, I tried to find you before you ran into Lorelei out of the goodness of my heart. Looks like I was too late.”

His lips spread into a bitter smile. “So she talks about me?”

“Not really,” said Rachel, shaking her head. “I know your type, is all. But to answer your other question: Yes. We all still talk.”

Light rose all around them, chasing away every shadow. Angels floated up over the rooftop’s edge, encircling the building with burning blades drawn and ready.

Sammael let out a small laugh. “I’d have thought you would be more confident after defeating Baal. Are you so worried that you’ll need all this help against me?”

“No, dickhead. They’re here ‘cause I don’t care who takes you out as long as you go down. You’re too fucked up to get away and you’re not going through us all. Give up now and you’ll at least save yourself an ass-beating before we take you in for judgment. Either way you’re done.”

Surrounded and wounded, partly blinded and with his head still throbbing from one gunshot after another, Sammael reached out to call upon his sword. The weapon grew in his hand to match Rachel’s in size and style, but not in grandeur. Where she and the other angels wielded swords made of pure flame and light, Sammael’s grew as a blade of ice.

His eyes narrowed as he faced the mob of angels—and then he grinned at the boom of gunfire and explosions from below and the ensuing screams of panicked mortals. All around him, distracted angels looked over the rooftop’s edge. “So how high do I rank on your list of priorities?” he asked.

“Shit. Take care of your charges!” Rachel shouted, releasing her allies to higher duties as she charged in against Sammael.

* * *

Sierra rolled into a somersault as she passed through the doorway. The move saved her from a blast of fire from outside. Alex saw the flames scatter against the open door, leaving behind an unnerving burn. Sierra pushed herself to her feet to give chase, staying a few steps ahead of him the whole way. Molly and Onyx wouldn’t be far behind.

The fire alarm kept going out here, though with all the gunfire inside his ears felt so stuffed the bells hardly made any difference. A low line of bushes separated the long sidewalk from the driveway. Alex didn’t know the full layout of the casino before coming in. At least two of the old soldiers he used to be cursed at his stupidity. He could’ve looked this up. He could’ve checked the place out at any point over the four days between hearing about this caper and showing up. Now here he was, chasing off after a stranger in pursuit of bad guys he’d never met in a conflict he didn’t understand, all in an environment he didn’t know.

That much at least felt familiar. Only the magic and the demons made it weird.

Sierra slowed down as she came to the corner of the building, hugging close to the concrete wall with that black demonic blade still in her hand. Alex looked back as he caught up with her. The witches weren’t through the door yet. He opened his mouth to say something, wanting to at least coordinate with Sierra, but she didn’t wait. She rolled out into the driveway.

Naturally, her move set off a hail of gunfire. Bullets ricocheted against the pavement, chasing her further away from the corner than she wanted to go. Screams came from around that corner, too—many screams, distant and not. “Aw shit,” Alex grunted. The casino and hotel’s main entrance probably weren’t far. A whole lot of anxious people would be out there, already sent fleeing the building by the fire alarm. Now they’d be terrified by crazy people with guns.

“Go! Go!” someone yelled around the corner. “We’ll take her out, just go!” He heard the squeal of tires, but also more gunfire. Sierra was now behind the low hedge along the other side of the driveway and out of sight. The enemy fired at a target they couldn’t see. Alex switched his sword over to his left hand, pulled out his .45 with the right, and crouched low to look around the corner.

The enemy congregated in and around a large pickup truck blocking the driveway entrance. Alex saw bright lights, fountains, and greenery, but thankfully no normal people nearby—just the lunatics with guns and wands. The one pouring out all the gunfire stood in the pickup’s flatbed like a moron, looking down the barrel of his tricked-out, expensive assault rifle as if he meant to actually aim rather than blasting away with more adrenaline than brains.

Alex didn’t think twice. His partner, chosen or not, needed a break in the gunfire. He aimed his .45 and fired two shots. The shooter jerked and fell back into the flatbed.

“There!” another shooter yelled. Alex meant to shift his aim to whoever was in the driver’s seat, but a dazzling flash of light threw off his aim. He pulled back around the corner to take cover, wondering if that was magic or just high-beams. Though he wasn’t blinded, he couldn’t shoot accurately through that. Exposing himself to shoot wildly seemed stupid.

“Is it the one Evelyn wanted?” someone else shouted.

“Yeah, go get ‘im!” Tires squealed again, this time closer than before, clearly fitting the position of the pickup around the corner.

Fuck no
, Alex decided,
I am not getting fucking kidnapped again
. He slipped back farther from the corner, wanting to wave Onyx and Molly off before they reached him. The witches were only another twenty yards back, already calling out to him.

Green, glowing smoke burst from thin air between Alex and his friends. Suddenly the asshole in the Marine ball cap stood in front of him with one hand clenched in a fist and the other holding his wand. With Aaron so close, Alex didn’t try for his gun. He swung low with his blade, but jerked back involuntarily as the intense, rapid throb of an electric shock overcame him before the weapon could connect.

The sorcerer blurted something in a language Alex didn’t know and gestured at him quickly, opening his fist to release a cloud of sand.

Onyx saw the danger a split second before anyone else. She had her wand up and ready as the smoke erupted and Aaron stepped out. The spell was already on her lips before her target had his own magic at work. It hardly took more than two words. She’d used the same technique on the morons who’d held the door a moment ago.

She imagined herself reaching out to grab Aaron’s mind by force of will, targeting the swirling colors that made up his spiritual aura—and lost it with a gasp when Alex vanished in a cloud of sand and dust. “Alex!” she shouted.

Headlights flashed along the driveway. Molly flung an angry blast of concentrated wind at Aaron, sending him staggering to his knees before the pickup truck neared. Onyx recognized the danger immediately, pulling Molly down before a barrage of gunfire burst from the pickup’s window. Defensive spells could ward off gunfire, but nothing was ever guaranteed; no magical protection worked as well as simply not being in the path of a bullet. Masonry burst over their heads as shots struck the concrete.

The pickup roared past rather than staying to finish them off. When Onyx looked up again, only a second later, she saw Sierra standing not far away, firing a pistol at the retreating vehicle until it turned the next corner. She didn’t see Aaron. More importantly, she didn’t see Alex.

* * *

Rachel drove Sammael back on the rooftop, forcing him to parry blow after blow, but she hadn’t gotten through his defenses yet. Even with his eyes half gouged out and all his other wounds, Sammael was more dangerous than anyone Rachel had ever fought. She kept her cool, looked for gaps to exploit, and watched for traps—no matter how much she wanted to burn away that fucking grin on his arrogant fucking face.

“You should be flattered,” he said, ducking sideways to avoid another swing. He countered with a jab of his empty hand. Rachel stepped back and shook off the blow before he could follow up with his blade, dodging a wide, rapid slash that would have ended everything. “I don’t draw my sword these days for just anyone.”

Then he stepped backward and swung his blade around past his own hip as if bringing it into a sheathe that wasn’t there. Behind him, Daniel screamed in pain, run through in the stomach before he could land his attack at Sammael’s back. The fallen angel jerked his sword free to hold off Rachel’s renewed offense as Marvin rushed to Daniel’s aid. “Literal backstabbing now?” Sammael taunted. “Heaven fights dirty these days.”