Night of Demons - 02 (18 page)

By the time I’d got back to my car, I could see clustered bursts of small bright flashes, far off in the distance most places I looked. More gunfire. There was plenty of it, both sides of the darkly gleaming river. And patrol cars were rushing from district to district. It seemed like what had gone down in Garnerstown and Greenwood was happening in East Crealley and Pilgrim’s Plot as well. So I’d been right—it was counterclockwise. One by one, the outer suburbs to the east were being hit.

I climbed in and tuned my radio to a police channel. There was a load of shouting going on, several dozen voices competing for air space. If this went on, Cassie’s neighborhood would be next. Then mine.

I should have gone down straightaway. But I noticed something, shortly before I set off.

The flashing in East Crealley died away abruptly. So the beast down there had been stopped in its tracks. Another cloud appeared above the roofs’ dark silhouettes. It rose into the night sky like a misshapen balloon. And then it seemed to swell.

I understood it wasn’t that. The thing was simply heading my way, getting closer, and at speed.

I tensed up. But the thing never reached the crest of Sycamore Hill. Like both the others, it turned at the last moment, plunging down to Plymouth Drive. And disappeared behind a spreading clump of elm trees, shortly before it reached Millwood House.

What would I find if I went down there? I reversed onto the main road, then headed down the gradient with my lights off.

Which practically turned out to be a very big mistake indeed. As I rounded the final bend before Ms. Tollburn’s residence, a middle-aged man in expensive-looking sweats stepped out right in front of me, not even seeing I was there.

I stamped on my brakes, squealing to a halt mere inches from him. He glanced at me through the windshield. But then seemed to forget about me. He was more concerned about something else, apparently. His eyes had a haunted look. His face was damp.

He was silver-haired, distinguished-looking in a slightly paunchy way. Had a thin spike of a nose, and lips with a patrician twist. Most probably a local. There were big gold rings on both his hands, a chain of the same around his throat. And the watch that he was wearing hadn’t come exactly cheap. By the sweats, he might have been out running. He could have been using one of the woodland trails up here, and not even noticed what was going on.

My gaze wandered past him down the wide, shadowy avenue.

There were more people standing on the asphalt. They all looked as if they lived here too. They’d come wandering out of their homes, a few of them in shorts or even housecoats. And were staring blankly at Ms. Tollburn’s place.

I squinted across at it, and felt my face go slack. There’d been a high brick wall with spikes before. And a wide flat roof beyond it.

They had completely disappeared behind a barrier of plain, featureless gray that rose some thirty feet into the air. It was the same down the left side of the property, the entire mansion sealed from view, as if a huge box had been placed across it.

My heart sank even further. I couldn’t remember ever seeing anything quite so ominous. It looked genuinely threatening, sitting there like a steel fortress. I could only wonder what was happening inside.

As I watched, another ball of vapor arced across the sky, rushing in its direction. Which told me what precisely about the situation we were in? The creatures that had invaded our town were being dealt with, for sure. But they weren’t being destroyed in any meaningful way. They were simply retreating here. To regroup? If so, for what purpose?

I watched it drop down to the barrier, then disappear behind it. And felt my heart sink to rock bottom. How many more were there going to be?

By the time that I’d rejoined the others, the attacks had spread up to East Meadow. Further mayhem had broken out a couple of blocks from Rowan Street, where Cassie had her home.

And that really ticked her off. Her dark eyes blazed, her lean face was white with fury. And she laid into this brand-new creature with a vengeance that was startling to watch.

It wasn’t anything gigantic, this time. Everybody had their own particular size of inner demon, I supposed. The thing was roughly my height, although far more densely muscled. And retained a vaguely human shape. But it was really much more like some massive ape, the same silhouetted black as the others, with the same gleaming eyes. Fur hung from it in ragged tatters, swirling as the creature moved. It had a wide mouth with pointed fangs. Lengthy arms with sharp nails at the fingertips. And legs as powerful as springs.

And it was moving at a truly unbelievable speed. Even the fastest of us could barely keep tabs on it. One second, it was up in front of us and we were trying to take aim. And the next, it was on a roof in one huge bound, and hurrying around to flank us.

We were on a street where some developer, a while back, had had the brilliant notion of tearing the wood-built houses down and replacing them with tightly lined apartment blocks. It didn’t make the place look any better. It simply made the shabbiness appear more permanent.

We kept on swinging around, trying to find our target. But we had to be careful where we opened fire. The people in the blocks around us were keeping themselves out of sight, of course. But a few times that a gun went off, a bullet sailed in through a window. Nobody was going to approve of the P.D. doing that, especially if some tenant caught a ricochet.

Cass, naturally, had no such qualms. She had her Mossberg out again, and was pumping at it furiously. She almost hit the creature twice, except it dodged away just in time. I wasn’t quite sure which was louder—the repeated blasting of her shotgun, or the stream of curses that she let out every time she missed.

Both of them finally trailed to a halt. Because this new demon had simply vanished.

“Where’d it go?” somebody asked.

We peered around cautiously.

The thing had been up on a cornice to our right. Except it was no longer there, or anywhere else we looked. Maybe it had given up, turning into a cloud of smoke and heading up the hill like the others.

There were a dozen of us here. Half were cops, the rest were firemen and civilians. There’d been more outbreaks back the way we’d come. So groups like this were spread thinly across the whole eastern side of town.

An adept would be here soon—we’d been assured of that. The main thing was to simply hang on. Everyone around me looked exhausted and unsteady. I glanced across at Saul, who was perspiring heavily. But he didn’t lower his piece. He stayed alert. And, following his example, the rest of us did the same. That thing could come at us again in the blinking of an eye. And so we kept on staring off along the rooftops, waiting for another glimpse of it.

There was a sudden blur of movement from an alley to our left. We started to turn, but far too slowly. The thing went ramming into a uniformed cop, knocking him to the ground before we’d even taken in what was happening. It ducked its head over his throat an instant. And then it was gone, retreating back into the alley, leaving us with no time to react.

It had happened so terribly quickly. I took a glance at what the thing had done, then grit my teeth. The cop on the ground was Colin Trent, the brand-new rookie. And he wasn’t getting up any time soon.

Steam was coming from his open windpipe. I took that in, then looked away. Hobart dropped his head and swore. How many people had he lost in ways like this, during the years he’d been in charge? Yet another of his people reduced to a photograph in Sam Scott’s Tavern, next to Davy Quinn’s.

A second swiftly moving shape went past me, heading for the alley too. But it wasn’t any demon, this time.

“Cassie!” I yelled out.

She must have heard me, but she kept on running anyway. I took another deep breath, then went after her.

East Meadow was holed like a Swiss cheese with alleyways like this. It was only about four feet wide, and half filled up with trash cans. It smelled foul. Spilled refuse crunched underfoot. You couldn’t see the far end, since there was a right-angled bend halfway along, and that made the sense of being shut in even worse.

Something small and not too clean had died here recently—I couldn’t see it, but my nose made up for what my eyes were missing. The night sky was a narrow strip above us, and looked very far away, almost unreal.

Cassie was moving far more slowly by this time, her Mossberg out in front of her and her left arm suspended at shoulder height for balance. She was trying to walk quietly, but that was plain impossible in here. A rusted tin can spun away from her boot and something crackled when she stepped on it.

Our eyes were darting everywhere.

“Where’s Levin, by the way?” I whispered.

“Dealing with another one, out on the edge of Pilgrim’s Plot. And Gaspar Vernon’s shown up too.”

There was no love lost between me and that particular adept, but I still considered it good news.

“What are these things anyway?” Cass asked me.

“To sum it up, the darkest side of our own natures.”

At which point, she let out a groan that seemed to swell in the fetid darkness.

“You’re not serious?”

“Afraid I am.”

“Why can’t anything be simple round this place?” she complained, continuing to move forward.

“Next time,” I promised her, “I’ll try and find you some nice, uncomplicated monsters.”

Her head gave a tiny nod. “Appreciate it.”

Then our talk went out the window. Just as we were getting near another clump of trash cans, they exploded like a bomb had gone off in their midst. Lids and cylinders went flying everywhere. And what we’d thought was merely a shadow resolved itself into a now familiar shape, which came rushing at us again. It was snarling furiously, despite the fact it hadn’t made a sound before.

It was on me before I had time to move. One lengthy arm came swinging out. I tried to block it, but the thing was moving much too fast. Its knuckles caught me on the jaw. I flew back, slamming hard against a wall and scraping down it.

Then it turned on Cassie, and she disappeared beneath its jet-black silhouette. Its head ducked toward her neck.

I felt my heart almost stop in my chest. Had visions of her with her throat torn out, like Colin Trent’s had been.

I hadn’t counted on her resilience.

When the creature bit down, its fangs closed around her Mossberg. She had brought it up to shield her windpipe just in time. As its face pulled away, she swung the gun butt—really hard—into its cheek. The thing let out a yelp and staggered off from her.

She was back on her feet in the next moment, pushing herself after it. But it bounded away before she could hit it again. It bounced off the surrounding brickwork like a rubber ball and came caroming back. Both of its hands grabbed at her. But Cassie simply used its speed against it.

She swung her body around to the side as it made contact, pivoting from the waist. The beast lost its grip again, and went sailing past. Slammed into the wall behind her with a resounding smack.

Cass didn’t even pause. She aimed and fired from the hip. There was a cloud of dust, a hole appeared. But, once again, the demon had escaped before the charge struck home.

It picked up an overturned pail and came hurtling back at her. Swung its weapon forward and down, trying to smash her in the face with it.

Cassie simply fended off the blow, crossing her arms in front of her. And then lashed out with her right boot, kicking her attacker in the stomach.

It let go of the can and doubled over. At which point, she drove her knee into its chin.

The apelike thing went down, landing heavily on its back. She calmly stepped onto its groin. And when its mouth came open—which was pretty much inevitable—she shoved the muzzle of her shotgun into it, and put a slug into its skull.

The whole thing dissolved into a large swirl of vapor, drifting upward and then disappearing past the rooftops. I watched Cass’s body stiffen, and could almost feel the tremors of frustration rising off her.

“Goddamn it!” she protested loudly. “How’s that fair? I won!”

It wasn’t too much longer before I found myself doing battle in my own neighborhood…although not near Kenveigh Street, I’m glad to say. Some people were working as runners by this stage, resupplying us with ammunition, since everyone was getting low. We managed to defeat the creature there, but then were called down through Vernon Valley and West Meadow, almost to the edge of Marshall Drive, before being forced to turn around and head back the whole other way again. Why didn’t the attacks continue down the west side? Well, the Little Girl lives in Marshall Drive, so maybe that had something to do with it.

Most of the information I was getting, by that stage, was from other cops or from the babble on my radio. I learned that the rest of the major adepts had put in an appearance, and was relieved to hear that. But there was an even more significant development. Once news of what was happening had really got around, whole droves of ordinary people started showing up, armed as best as they could manage and eager to help.

I started passing them as I drove from one neighborhood to the next, the suburbs around me becoming a seamless blur. You couldn’t even call them a militia. It was too spur of the moment, too unplanned for that. But I watched them pitch in fiercely, throwing themselves into the fighting shoulder to shoulder with the uniformed guys. And it wasn’t just the men of this town either. There were women too. A few of the older cops tried turning them away at first, but simply got shouted down.

“It’s just as much our home!” was the constant yell I heard.

Cassie would have approved, but I didn’t see too much of her for quite a while after the alley. So much was going down that we kept heading off to different places. There was no choice in the matter. Creatures were appearing in a constant flow. And all through the small hours till the crack of dawn, we battled with new demons of every shape and size. There were a few more huge ones, including one so shapeless that I still cannot describe it. But a lot of them were man-sized, and as fast and deadly as the first had been. Some of them were heavily scaled. Most had fangs and talons.