Roaring Blood (Demon-Hearted Book 2) (34 page)

The demon's.

I was floating above the scene like a cloud of smoke, looking down at Kanta and the hideous monstrosity, Gadreel, wielding the sword in unison. I could feel the sword in my hand even as I hovered there.

And then, all at once, the three of us gave a solid thrust.

FORTY-FOUR

With the Archangel Saber wedged deep into his gut, Agamemnon stopped in his tracks. Massive and muscled though his frame was, he was suddenly enfeebled, barely able to remain standing. The room was completely silent. Joe, Percy and Kubo stood in the corner, watching the titan fall with wide eyes. Germaine wandered over and joined them.

Letting go of the sword and feeling a few drops of the necromancer's blood strike me in the face from above, I found myself back in my physical body. I was completely shot, drained, and at that moment it didn't feel like I'd ever manage a recovery. Even demons had limits, and it seemed to me that I'd pushed so far past them with my little stunt that our death was imminent. It didn't matter; standing there and watching the life flicker in Agamemnon's eyes was worth it.

The necromancer groaned, taking a few steps back. His horde had fallen still, silent, as if they too had been run through by the angelic blade. Kanta rolled out from underneath him and savagely ripped the sword from his abdomen, strewing his entrails across the floor in the process.

The job was done.

Crisis averted.

The necromancer was dead and we wouldn't have to worry about the war he'd planned on waging. Soon, when he'd drawn his last breath, all of his minions would crumble and the world would be saved. Or so the narrative had gone up to this point.

Make no mistake: Agamemnon
did
die. He took his time with it, wincing and falling to one knee. The scythe he'd so proudly carried fell from his hand and quickly disintegrated into a fine, black powder. The zombies in the room followed suit, till it was just Agamemnon kneeling before us, grimacing in his death throes.

Even in death, however, the necromancer retained his brutality. While bleeding out in the hotel lobby, Agamemnon looked at each of us in turn. His eyes were a plain, ordinary brown now; no longer the terrifying yellow I was used to. His lips were twisted into a cruel sneer in the moments before the end, and he uttered what would become his final words. “Well,” he said, “was it worthwhile?” Agamemnon looked at me last, before finally falling onto his back and taking in a final, soupy breath. “I'll be seeing you in hell very soon now, demon. The building... is set to detonate any second now.”

The necromancer died.

And if we didn't hurry our asses up, we were going to be right behind him.

***

Joe and Percy held me up and dragged me out of the lobby. We were going to make a run for it. My wounds were slowly healing now; after the Scythe of Thanatos had disintegrated, its curse had been lifted. Still, my demonic energies were at an all-time low after touching the angelic sword and I couldn't even summon the strength to walk on my own feet.

Germaine hitched a ride on Kubo's sling while the Chief charged through the doors and led us to the nearest exit. Kanta was next in line, her body shaking for the exertion of the fight we'd just narrowly won. Percy and Joe did their best to keep up, shuttling me down the halls while I struggled to remain conscious. I wasn't sure how much time we had before the building was set to explode, or how we'd manage to get far enough away from the complex to avoid being crushed.

I heard Kubo scream into his radio. “Tell her to do it now!”

When next I opened my eyes, I got an eyeful of sunlight. We'd found an exit and were booking it down the street. The cop cars I remembered had moved since I'd last been outside; apparently the message had gotten through about the explosives and the first responders had gotten away. Good thing.

A series of explosions like firecrackers tore into the building. I turned my glassy eyes upward and watched as the center tower began breaking apart from the top. Its uppermost levels wobbled and began to split as the supports were taken out by Agamemnon's explosives. Walls were reduced to rubble, and the entire structure began to tumble at incredible speed. The wreckage and dust were going to overcome us any second... Anyone within a few blocks was in serious danger, and I hoped that the evacuation had been thorough enough.

But as I watched the destruction, I grew increasingly confused. I was out of it, sure, but the sight of the center tower and the center tower
alone
blowing up didn't make any sense to me. The pieces of the building were in free-fall and the other six skyscrapers in the complex should have been significantly damaged, at least. That wasn't what happened, though. In my stunned state, I squinted at the hotel building and watched as its destruction was neatly,
unnaturally
contained.

It was like a big, invisible wall had been constructed around the exploding building. It dampened the sound of the blasts dramatically and kept the destruction contained to a very limited area. The physics of the explosion were all wrong. When Kubo stopped and looked up at the mess with a grin, I knew something was up.

“H-how did that happen? Why is the whole RenCen not going to pieces? How did you contain that blast?” My voice was awfully hoarse; Gadreel had gotten around to fusing my windpipe back together and talking was still somewhat painful.

Kubo palmed away a veil of sweat and laughed. “It was pure, merciful chance is all it was.”

Joe and Percy lowered me to the sidewalk, where I managed to sit up on my own. “Bullshit. What'd you guys do?”

Joe knelt down beside me. “Our original plan was to seal off the building. See, we wanted to keep Agamemnon and his monsters from escaping it if possible. We called in, uh, a specialist to help us with that part. The Chief had a few men inscribe seals in the four corners of that building to strengthen certain spells. Isabella took care of the rest.”

“Isabella?” I cocked my head to the side. Isabella was the weirdo magician girl I'd worked with during the hunt for Mater Agatha. She dressed strangely, in a brown sack-like outfit, and referred to herself in the third person. A real eccentric type. She was considered a magician, a specialist in illusions, but when the situation called for more muscle she had some pretty crazy tricks under her cap. When I'd lost control after defeating Agatha, it'd been Isabella's invisible wall trick that'd saved everyone's ass. Like a magical mime, Isabella was capable of building impenetrable psychical walls. Apparently the Veiled Order had used some variation on that technique to limit the explosion's reach. Damn clever.

Kubo elaborated. “Isabella had to be flown in from abroad. She answered the call when we first started looking for people to take up the fight against Agamemnon, but we weren't sure she'd make it in time. She touched down just this morning. We wanted to lock the necromancer in there with the psychic wall technique. The seals I had placed around the building amplified Isabella's power so that she could scale her spell up to size. 'Course, when we were arranging it, we didn't know about the bombs. Didn't learn about those until Germaine here met us near the entrance to the building. We ran into each other after we'd come up from the sewer system and he told us everything.” The Chief walked over and kicked me playfully in the leg. “You're grounded by the way.”

I grinned. “It was worth it.”

From behind came a number of Veiled Order commandos, along with a thin, stooping girl in brown garb. It was Isabella. The outfit she wore was the same one I'd seen her in last; burlap-like material embroidered with messy star-shaped symbols in black thread. Her unkempt hair spilled out of her hood as she stood at Kubo's side, twitching and muttering to herself. She held her hands out before her, watching the building crumble. Now and then she'd shift her hands, seemingly smothering the wreckage and further containing its spread until it was merely a sky-high column of tightly-packed grey rubble.

“That was incredible magic, Isabella,” offered Joe, standing up. “Top notch.”

“I've never seen anything like it,” added Kanta. “We should have brought her into the fold sooner. She would have been very useful.”

Kubo shook his head. “Nah, I'm afraid that's not how it works. We only have Isabella on loan for short periods.”

“Mother doesn't want Isabella to work too much. Mother says overwork is dangerous to Isabella's health, but Isabella is strong and sometimes helps people.” Isabella relaxed her hands and smiled awkwardly. Then, without warning, she reached out to Kubo's sling and began petting Germaine. “Isabella likes kitties,” she added.

Percy grimaced. “Hey, who is this chick? Why does she talk like that? Is she homeless or something?” he asked me under his breath.

“Beats me,” I replied. “But she saved our bacon. She can be as weird as she wants.”

Germaine purred. “You know, girlie? I like you. You aren't like the others, unwilling to show a spider some love.” He turned to Kanta and pointed a jagged little arm her way. “So, exorcist... you gonna plunge that sword into Lucy's heart now that we're all done with this necromancer business?”

I laid back on the sidewalk and sighed. “Oh, here we go.”

Kanta gripped the hilt of the sword and walked over to me, a playful grin on her lips. “I've been thinking about it,” she said, weighing me with a steely glare. “But I've decided to let him live for now. He's an idiot. And a creep. But he's also pretty useful.” She chuckled. “I think he may have redeemed himself.”

“Glad to hear it,” I said, rolling over and slowly gaining my feet. My leg had healed enough for me to stand, and I held onto a lamppost for better support. “Don't suppose you'd be willing to take me out to dinner sometime? I'm a big eater, but since I'm a
trusted
teammate now, you wouldn't be averse to shelling out for demon-sized portions, would you?”

Her hand returned to the sword. “Don't push it. You did good work inside, but I can still think of
many
reasons why I should cut you down on the spot.”

Percy reached out and shook my hand, his cheeks red for all of the running. “She's just giving
 
you a hard time. I, for one, am happy to call you a friend.” He paused, laughing nervously. “Didn't think I'd ever say that kind of thing about a demon, but... you know. Thanks for your help. Glad you broke out when you did. If you hadn't then we'd have been toast.”

“Hear that, Chief?” I said pointing to him. “You'd have all been
toast
without me. I hope you're taking notes. I want you to mention all of this in your speech to the higher-ups at Veiled Order HQ before presenting me with a lifetime achievement award.”

Kubo took me by the arm and pulled me along. “Oh, I've got an award for ya. Two shiny bracelets with your name on 'em, as a matter of fact. I'll let you wear them all night.”

FORTY-FIVE

Well, how about that? We got back to HQ with more than enough time to chain me up and keep Gadreel from going postal in the city. Not that he would have; the demon and I were both pretty spent after the day's fight, and even once my wounds had been patched up I doubt we'd have had the gas to do anything wild. I tried to convince Kubo of that, but he didn't really care.

Into the isolation chamber I went.

And this time, I didn't try to break out.

Joe came by to visit me before evening really set in, and he told me about what'd been going on on the outside. The news outlets bought the terrorism angle completely, and the destruction of the RenCen was rightfully decried in the media. The city authorities were on full-alert after the incident. I don't know what strings the Veiled Order was going to pull to smooth this mess over, but it was going to take some doing. Thankfully, aside from the guests in the hotel that'd been turned by Agamemnon, there were no other casualties to report. Our operation hadn't been neat and tidy, but we'd done a damn fine job protecting the city, all things considered.

“So,” I asked Joe, sitting cross-legged on the floor. “We cool, man?” Now that the necromancer was out of the picture, I had plenty of time to stress over the other things going on in my life. I'd avoided death this time and had even survived contact with a holy sword, but someday I wouldn't be so lucky. I didn't want to think about what awaited me at the end of that road. And then there was my friendship with Joe. “I don't want to spend all night locked up in here wondering if you're talking shit behind my back,” I said with a grin.

Joe had smuggled in a few beers for us. Bringing alcohol into HQ, and especially to the isolation room, was
totally
against the rules. But it was worth it. He emptied his can and crunched it between his hands. “Well,” he belched, “I only share beer with friends of mine, so I guess you're in good standing, Lucy.”

I took a sip. “Where do we go from here, man? This last mission felt like it was going to be the last. Now that it's over I don't know how to feel. Know what I mean?”

“The Chief will find us something to do. Make no mistake.” Joe snickered. “And if he doesn't, we'll find ways to keep ourselves busy. I tell ya, we should look into throwing our
own
party. Those friends of yours are boring, but I bet that they'd loosen up under the right circumstances.”

“Oh, sure. And who would you invite?” I asked. “We gonna have Isabella DJ the thing? Germaine serving drinks?”

“I was thinking we'd get some drinks into Chief Kubo and see what happens.” Joe yawned and picked up all of the empties. “I'm gonna head out, Lucy. Have a good one. I'll see you when you're out, yeah?”

“Sounds good.” I stood up and gave a little wave. “Hey, one more thing. What's everyone else up to? Percy and Kanta. And, uh, Germaine?”

Joe snickered. “Germaine will be real glad to hear you're asking about him. Honestly, though, I dunno where they all got off to. Kanta and Percy just walked off. The job's done and their checks must've cleared. I saw them talking to Amundsen and then they just wandered away without a word.”

I breathed a little sigh of relief. The friendly exorcist was out of the picture. For now. At least I wouldn't have to worry about her changing her mind and lopping my head off with that new blade of hers.