Haze (34 page)

Rusty puts another log on the fire. ‘How many are there?’

‘We don’t know for sure.’ She pops out the ammunition clip from the handgun she’s still holding. ‘We’ve never seen them all in one place.’

‘Best guess is around fifty,’ Rafa says. ‘We’re not sure how many hellions are left—but there’s two less than a week ago.’

The fire shimmers into a solid ball of light. I blink. Dig my heels into the soil until I feel steady again. Fifty Gatekeepers. Stronger, faster than the Rephaim. Able to shift. If they all attacked at once…

‘Are you okay?’ Jude asks, his voice low.

My eyes stray to the flickering shadows beyond the chairs. Why haven’t they attacked the Sanctuary if they’ve got those sorts of numbers? But then I remember Bel and the other demons cowering before shining wings and know the answer: Nathaniel.

‘Where are these demons now?’ Rusty asks.

Rafa checks the line of his sword again in the firelight. ‘Coming.’

Rusty blinks and stares off towards the gloomy curtain of tree roots. ‘We’re fucked then.’

Mick glares at him. ‘You want to grow some stones, or you just gonna pull your pants down and bend over?’

‘Ease up. I’m here to fight, but let’s be real.’ He gestures to the men around the fire. ‘We got good blokes here—’

‘Who want to fight.’

‘Yeah, they want to fight. Not get eaten by friggin’ hell-beasts. Nobody signed up for this.’

‘Speak for yourself,’ Joffa says. He’s still bare-chested, a t-shirt tied around the stab wound in his thigh. ‘I’ll have a crack at anything that comes out of those trees.’

Murmurs of agreement.

‘Fine.’ Rusty sits back in his chair. ‘Anyone here got a sword?’

No answer.

‘Anyone ever use one?’

‘Doesn’t matter,’ Mick snaps. ‘We’re not running away with our tails between our legs because ninja boy here tells us to. We’re staying and fighting.’

‘You got a death wish,
mate
?’ Rafa says, repeating Mick’s threat to him on Friday morning.

‘Nah, mate, but I’m not hiding in the pub while demons stroll around my town.’

‘You couldn’t defend yourselves against us,’ Ez points out. ‘How do you expect to—’

‘You ambushed us!’

‘You think demons are going to give you a heads-up?’

Mick scowls at her.

‘You think you know what you’re up against,’ she says. ‘You don’t. You and your friends will die up here, horribly. Get yourselves to safety. Please.’

Mick picks a piece of tobacco from his tongue. Doesn’t bother answering.

‘Hey,’ Rusty says to Rafa. ‘Instead of taking the piss, you could help us.’

‘We’re not babysitting you.’

‘Lend us some swords. Show us what to do.’

Rafa gestures to Mick. ‘He doesn’t look too teachable.’

‘Fuck you,’ Mick says.

Rafa looks around the fire at the rest of Mick’s crew. They’re all watching him, waiting. ‘It’s a bad idea.’

‘Of course it’s a bad idea.’ The voice comes from the shadows. ‘But that’s never stopped you from making bad choices in the past.’

I turn to see two figures step out from the trees. Shit.

How the hell did they find us?

OLD HABITS DIE HARD

Daniel and Taya. Armed and dressed for battle. Have they come to fight us?

‘What the fuck do you two want?’ Mick looks to Rafa. ‘Are they with you?’

‘No chance,’ Rafa says. ‘What now, Daniel?’

Daniel doesn’t answer. He’s too busy looking at Jude, as is Taya. ‘I see the band’s back together.’

Jude steps forward with his katana. ‘You’re the arsehole who locked my sister in a cage with a hell-beast, right?’

‘Yes.’

‘You don’t seem too sorry about it.’

‘What I feel is none of your business.’ Daniel sounds slightly out of breath.

It’s then I realise I didn’t feel them arrive. ‘Did you hike in? How did you find us?’

Taya nods at Simon, who hasn’t stopped looking at her.

I stare at him. ‘You told her we were here?’

He frowns, confused.

‘Don’t blame him. I put a tracker in his phone.’

‘What?’ Simon says at the same time I say, ‘Are you kidding me?’

‘What did you expect?’ Taya says. ‘It’s not as if we could get one in yours. And anyway, it was for his own protection. You know Bel and Leon would recognise him if they found him. He’d be the first one they’d grab.’

Simon swallows. ‘Is that true?’

Taya points to my side of the fire. ‘Look at the company you keep.’

Mya, Ez and Zak flank me and Jude. Our six against Daniel and Taya: not good odds for them. So either they didn’t come to fight or they’re not the only Rephaim who hiked here in the dark.

‘Where’s Virginia?’ Mya asks, her elbow on the rifle butt.

‘Where’s Debra?’ Daniel counters.

‘Somewhere she’s not being tortured.’

‘You don’t honestly believe we’d hurt humans, Mya?’

‘Everything’s gone to hell, Daniel. I don’t know what the Five are willing to do.’

‘We’re more interested in what Gabe and Jude were doing a year ago.’ He hasn’t come closer but it doesn’t make me feel any better about him being here—things never end well when Daniel’s around. ‘I don’t suppose you remember?’ he asks Jude.

‘No, mate, I don’t,’ Jude says. ‘And when I do, you’ll be the last person I tell.’

Daniel’s lips twitch almost imperceptibly. Two minutes in Jude’s company and he’s already pissed off.

Rafa brushes ash from the campfire off his arm. ‘What do you want?’

‘I wanted to see Jude with my own eyes,’ Daniel says. ‘I have to say I’m surprised you brought him back here. A little obvious, don’t you think?’

Rafa’s glance at me is pointed, but he can’t hold it. He’s enjoying Jude’s antagonism towards Daniel too much.

‘We don’t have time for this,’ I say to Rafa. ‘We need to get these guys off the mountain, remember?’

Daniel is watching Jude again. ‘Is it true that you don’t remember who you are?’

‘Don’t worry about who I am, mate.’ Jude spins his sword hilt. ‘Worry about what’s going to happen the next time you come near my sister.’

‘Jude…’ I think about that cage, about how far Daniel was prepared to go to access my memories. Having him near Jude has set me back behind that wire, white pain bursting across my vision. I try to swallow. My mouth is dry.

‘Have you got anything to drink here other than beer?’ I ask Rusty.

‘Try the esky.’ He points to the tarped area under the banyan tree.

Jude comes with me. The esky is behind the table outside the ring of spotlights. I pull out two bottles of water, hand one to him. We keep our backs to the wall of the banyan tree, our eyes on the others. Rafa and Daniel are bickering across the fire about me and Jude and how irresponsible Rafa is. Mick and his boys have settled back for the show. Ez, Zak and Mya are watching them, and the argument. On edge.

‘This is too weird, all these people knowing us,’ Jude says. We stay under the tree in darkness. It’s the closest we’ve been to alone since Rafa’s shack. ‘Does any of this get any easier?’

‘No, you just get used to things not making sense.’

‘Shit, Gaby, how have you coped?’

‘It’s only been a week. And I’ve had help.’

He looks over at Rafa, now on Daniel’s side of the fire. Any second and they’re going to start throwing punches. Honestly, he and Daniel can argue anywhere. We need to get these guys out of here.
We
need to get out of here.

‘So, you and Rafa. It doesn’t look that complicated to me.’

I’m watching Rafa. His hair is messy and his eyes are dark and alive. My mind wanders for a second. I want to be alone with him too. Rafa’s right: whatever this is between us, it starts now. I want answers about the past. But I want this too. ‘There’s…stuff.’

Across the fire, Daniel is staring at Rafa. He looks stunned. What did I miss?

‘You heard me,’ Rafa says. ‘We cleaned out the Rhythm Palace. Paying job. Gaby came along.’

‘Yeah,’ Mya says, ‘she was a real natural.’

Oh shit.

‘Taya knew all about it.’ Rafa smiles at her.

She can’t meet Daniel’s eyes. ‘There were circumstances—’

‘Not here.’ Daniel cuts her off. He glances in my direction, but I can’t tell if he can see me in the shadows. ‘That’s a low move, Rafa, even for you.’ His words come out slow, furious. He puts distance between himself and Rafa, as if he can’t stand to be near him. ‘Gabe will rip you apart when she remembers who she is.’

‘You’re an arsehole,’ Taya says to Rafa.

He laughs. ‘What are you so upset about—that you finally thought for yourself or that you got caught out?’

They’ve both got their backs to the inky forest. They’re so preoccupied with each other they’ve forgotten the rest of us are here. Rafa really shouldn’t drop his guard—

My stomach plummets as though the ground has been torn out from underneath me.

Then Rafa’s whole body jerks and a sword emerges from his stomach.

NO—

Everything happens at once.

Rafa looks around, disoriented, to where Jude and I were standing before we left the firelight. His face changes when he doesn’t find us there. Taya collapses to her knees, a blade buried in her shoulder.

Gatekeeper demons stand behind them. Eyes blazing. There are more than I can count. I vaguely register a hellion with a stump for an arm.

I want to scream. I can’t.

Jude drags me down behind the keg, but I push him away; I need to see.

The swords are ripped out of Rafa and Taya with lightning speed; the hilts slammed against their heads before they can react.

‘No—’ Ez shifts mid-shout. She and Zak arrive on the other side of the fire at the same time.

They find nothing but empty air.

The dark canopy presses down on me. The walls of the gully crowd in. Nothing is in focus. Not the fire. Not the figures scrambling around the campsite. People are shouting. I can’t make out the words.

Rafa and Taya are gone.

Rafa. Gone.

Someone is shaking me. Jude. I can’t understand what he’s saying. He drags me deeper into the darkness. Pushes me to the ground. My fingers latch around thick bars. No, wait. What I’m holding is rough, alive. The hanging roots of the banyan tree.

Jude says, ‘They’re everywhere.’ His words come and go.

Gunfire. Screaming. Clashing swords.

Rafa is gone.

‘Gaby.
Gab.
’ Jude shakes me again. His face swims into focus, pale in the spotlights of the camp. ‘Are they demons?’

I nod. I can’t feel my legs. Am I sitting down? Yes. I bury my fingers in the damp soil.

A movement behind us.

Jude scrambles to put himself between me and whatever it is.

‘We have to go.’ It’s Daniel. He’s bleeding from his ear.

‘Did you do this?’ My voice is flat. ‘Did you bring them here?’

I see his eyes. He didn’t do this.

Ez, Zak and Mya materialise, almost on top of him.

‘Thank god,’ Ez says when she sees us. She’s out of breath, possibly crying.

More gunfire.

‘Where is she?’ The voice is loud, smoky and angry. It can only belong to a demon. The Gatekeepers are still here. Everything snaps back into sharp focus: the trees, the harsh lights, the seeping rock walls, the wetness under Ez’s eyes. The screams.

‘We have to go.’ Daniel’s voice is urgent. ‘Now.’ He leans towards Jude.

‘Don’t touch him,’ I hiss.

‘Gabe, listen to me.’ Daniel grabs my arm, his fingers gouge my skin. ‘Nathaniel is the only one who can protect us now.’

‘I don’t trust you.’ I push him away, reach for Ez. ‘Will you take us?’

She clasps my hand. ‘To the Sanctuary?’

‘Where
is
she?’ the demon shouts.

‘Please,’ I say to Ez. ‘Don’t separate us.’

Mya crawls closer. ‘Yes, yes, come on. The chapterhouse will do.’

I lace my fingers through Jude’s. His grip is crushing.

My stomach lurches again.

A demon I haven’t seen before appears in the middle of the camp. Taller than Bel, his face deeply scarred. His eyes blaze like the others’ but his long hair is jet black. His nails are dark too, overgrown talons, holding a mediaeval sword that is shiny with blood.

Ez’s hand tightens around mine as the fiery eyes lock on me. He can see me, even in the darkness. His lips curl into a smile. He disappears.

I see a flare of orange, feel hot breath on my face, but the scream is ripped out of me as I’m pulled into nothing and nowhere.

HOME SWEET HOME

Jude’s hand is still in mine when we stop moving. For a few seconds, it’s enough.

‘Get Nathaniel.’ Whoever Daniel gives the order to leaves before I open my eyes.

When I do, I’m vaguely aware of towering arches, white marble columns, a pale stone floor. The smell of ancient dust and damp mortar. And cold, cold air.

‘Gaby…you’re shaking.’ Ez’s arm is around me. She leads me to one of the pews along an alabaster wall. Arched windows with heavy panes let in muted light. The white is so different from where we were. I have no idea what time it is here. It doesn’t matter.

‘Rafa.’ His name comes out like I’ve dragged it over sandpaper.

‘He’s alive, Gaby.’ Ez and Jude sit either side of me. ‘If Zarael wanted them dead he would have taken their heads in front of us.’

I close my eyes, see the blade of the sword coming out of Rafa’s body, see him searching the shadows for me.

‘They came for you,’ Daniel says. ‘Or to take prisoners to trade for you. That only works if they’re alive.’ His tone is calm, focused, but he can’t hide the distress in his eyes.

Jude moves closer so our shoulders are touching. Neither of us speaks.

Rafa is alive. But he’ll be trapped in the iron room now. Zarael wouldn’t have attacked unless he could hold Rephaim in there. God knows what they’ll do to him and Taya. I can’t shake the image of Rafa hurling himself against the wall, unable to get out—

Mya materialises in the middle of the chapterhouse, drops two men on the stone floor and disappears. One of them is Simon, who moans, rolls over and throws up. Beside him, Rusty scrambles backwards on his hands and feet, eyes wild. His shirt is soaked with blood and he’s gulping in air.

Zak appears with Mick and Joffa, bringing pain and noise into the quiet room. Joffa’s screaming; his jeans are on fire.