The Demon Beside Me (28 page)

“This place isn’t this large,” Tink said as we took another few steps. “I swear we’re going in circles, or going through the entrance.”

“And the pews seem to be missing,” I said.

“I assume they’ve been flung around.”

The floor shook under our feet and I heard a crash from our left. There was a shout of pain. I led Tink in that direction and nearly stumbled over the body. It was a demon, his features contorted in pain, the cause of death being that the side of his head was caved in. “Maybe someone hit him with a pew?” I asked.

Tink shrugged. “Someone has good aim to do that through this smoke.”

“Or he just had really bad luck. I really want to get out of here as soon as possible.”

“That makes two of us.” We continued in the same general direction and within a couple of steps, found a wall. “Not sure what wall this is,” she said.

“Let’s wreck it and move on,” I said, offering her my hand. She sliced my palm with her knife and drew a rune on the wall in both blood and ichor. We knelt next to the wall as she worked, ignoring the crashes and yells behind us. She slapped the rune, then flattened against the wall, a few steps away from the rune. I mirrored her actions on the opposite side.

The explosion threw me sideways and away from the wall. I scrambled to my feet and met Tink at the hole in the wall. The hole was almost large enough for her to walk through without ducking. On a count of two, we peered through the hole. Instead of daylight, we simply saw more smoke, and a few pairs of legs standing around. “Well, shit,” I said. “That’s the kitchen.”

“That’s a lot of angels in there,” Tink said as we both backed away.

“That means the other wall is on the other side,” I said.

“That’s brilliant, demon. I’m so glad I keep you around.”

I grabbed her hand, sighted across the room as best I could, and led her on a headlong charge to the opposite wall. We ran into one of the pews, jumped over it, circled around a patch of fire, and nearly caught the attention of a pair of burly angels. Three demons jumped them before they could orient on us. A burning pew sailed through the air above us. Tink started coughing as the smoke grew even thicker. Jase’s insurance was probably not going to cover this sort of damage.

“There’s the wall,” she rasped. “Give me some ichor.”

We repeated the process, standing further away from the rune this time. This time it didn’t bowl me over, and daylight shone in through the hole. Tink dove through without even checking for hostile angels, and I scrambled after her. A gout of smoke followed and a shout rang out from behind us.

In front of us stood a line of demons, hellfire sparking in their palms. “Clear!” shouted the one in the center. Though he looked a little the worse for wear, Kalil had survived the ambush outside. “Get the mage clear, Asmodeus!”

I grabbed Tink’s hand again and pulled her sideways. Even as we did, an angel dove feet first through the hole after us. A half dozen spikes of hellfire impaled him and he dropped to the ground.

“What’s the status?” I called out as Tink proceeded to cough her lungs out. “Where are the others?”

Kalil jerked a thumb over his shoulder. Caleb was sitting calmly on the ground with purity weeping from a rather large slice across his abdomen. He lifted a hand in greeting as our eyes met, but didn’t rise, since that would likely result in parts of him sliding out. “That looks like it hurts,” I said.

“It hurt more at the time it was delivered,” he said. “I’ll be fine in a few minutes.”

“Make sure he doesn’t strain himself,” I said to Kalil. “We don’t want him to leak anywhere important, if you know what I mean.” The demons around Caleb were at least three long strides from him and all of them looked like they’d rather be twice as far away.

“Something’s happening in there!” roared another demonic voice. I turned to the building. Smoke was pouring out of the windows, but I still didn’t hear any sirens. A roaring explosion from the front of the building belched even more dark smoke into the air. We couldn’t keep it hidden from the nearby humans much longer.

A pair of heavy clawed feet hit the ground where Tink and I had blown the hole through the side of the building. Opheran burst through the smoke and took in all of us with a single gaze. “Who’s still inside?” he shouted.

“Hikari and Jase,” I shouted back to him. “I told them to stick together!”

“Clear! Clear the entrance!” I looked past Opheran at the emergency exit we had created as Hikari came staggering out, holding her left arm tightly. Her shirt was sprayed with red.

“Hikari!” I sprinted past Opheran to her. She turned toward me, staggered slightly, and nearly collapsed into my arms. “What happened? Where’s Jase?”

“We got separated,” she whispered. “Angel took me by surprise. Might have been Victor. Didn’t get a clear look.”

“Victor,” I said. “Did he get a hold of Jase?”

“I don’t know.” She winced and sagged against me.

“Other side of the building, move!” The demons behind us that had been covering the hole suddenly lifted into the air and winged over the building, Opheran in the lead. I started to follow them, but Hikari was still clutching me. I quickly hoisted her into my arms. I looked over my shoulder just before we turned the corner to see Caleb slowly getting to his feet and carefully following us, his arm still pressed to his stomach. Shouts rang out ahead of us and I picked up the pace, Tink right on my heels.

On the far side of the building, in a field where Jase and I had walked several times, there was a ring of demons surrounding someone. As we closed in on the circle, I could hear Opheran’s deep voice echoing out. “Safe passage for your survivors is acceptable. We didn’t come here to fight you.”

“Good. Let them go. Now.”

“That’s Victor’s voice,” Tink said. “What’s going on?”

“I think I know,” I said. As we joined the ring, my worst fears were confirmed. Victor and Jase stood in the middle of the ring. Victor’s wings were spread slightly, his scimitars were both in hand, and both of them were pressed to Jase’s neck. “Ah, Victor, the ever-sore loser.”

“I should thank you for this opportunity, halfbreed,” Victor snapped back. “Granted this isn’t exactly the way I had imagined it, but such are the spoils of war.”

“I was fairly certain that the Choir had given us close to a hundred days,” I said. “I guess we can’t trust you angels after all. How surprising.”

“There are those of us who think this war is a mistake,” Victor said. I raised an eyebrow. “I advocated that we should just start killing you in the streets with no warning.”

“Aren’t you just a sweetheart.”

“Don’t make me angry, halfbreed. I twitch when I’m angry.”

“You twitch when you’re happy too, if my scars are any indication.”

“Isaiah,” Jase said. “I know this is a difficult thing for you, but I’d appreciate it if you don’t make him twitch.”

“Sorry, Jase.”

“What else do you want, Victor?” Opheran asked. “Your men are leaving now. Is there anything else you’d like?”

“His head?” He lifted his chin toward me.

“You had your chance,” I said.

“I suppose I did.” He laughed. “My own safe passage. Back off. Step back. I can’t be responsible for what happens if you don’t.”

“Let’s give him some room,” Opheran said. “Three steps back. Fair enough?”

“Four.”

“Four it is.” We all stepped back four steps and waited. Victor didn’t move, just slowly spun in place, making sure he had plenty of room. “What else, Victor?”

“Don’t get impatient, dear Prince,” Victor said. “I’m going to stretch my wings out. I want you all to put out that hellfire now. As you can see, it’s not like I’m going to be able to take you all out with a single spinning assault.”

“Do as he says,” Opheran said. The sparks of hellfire went out.

“Victor, what did you intend to accomplish with this?” I turned my head as Caleb joined the circle next to me. His hands were still pressed tightly to his stomach. “There’s no reason to attack a church. You’re Internal Security, you’re meant to police the threats within the Choir, not look for human heretics.”

“Oh, but that’s a common misconception,” Victor said. His wings stretched out, the tips barely reaching the edges of the circle. “Our authority is very wide, Caleb, very wide indeed. Internal Security requires all possible latitude to execute our goals. It’s never been about you, halfbreed, though snuffing you would be a nice bonus. No, Caleb, this has been about you all along.”

“What?”

“You’re a threat to the Choir, Caleb DeMarco. Internal Security’s been watching you for a long time. Your heroic actions are in the past. It’s time we move on.”

“Why?” Caleb’s voice was nearly a whisper.

“Look at the company you keep.”

Caleb looked at me, then to his right, and then across the circle to Opheran. “I see demons that I have come to know and respect. I see friends where I used to see enemies. I see potential peace where I once saw inevitable war.” His head turned back to Victor. “What do you see, Victor?”

“I see the enemy. I see corrupted humans. I see a traitor among them. You know what the Choir does to traitors, don’t you?”

“Of course.” His voice was flat.

“Internal Security has a different method.” Victor showed his teeth. “We hurt them. We keep hurting them. And only when we believe they have been hurt enough, do we bring them to justice.”

“Wait-“

“I’m not done hurting you yet, Caleb.”

Victor’s wings had folded back in. Now he snapped them back out. As he did so, something flashed, blindingly bright. I threw an arm up, covering my eyes, hearing various curses and snarls from all around me. I heard a thump and yelp from next to me and knew that Caleb had gone flying backwards. A whoosh of wings beating the air told me that Victor was now on his way out. I lowered my arm and blinked furiously to clear my vision.

In the middle of the circle, Jase had fallen to his knees. His hands reached up to where two streaks of glistening purity marked where Victor’s swords had rested. Those streaks began to run red, a V with the point at the base of his throat. In the next heartbeat, those streaks sprayed outwards.

“Jase!”

He looked at me, opened his mouth. Blood trickled from the corners of his lips, but no words came out. He gagged and slumped to the ground, each beat of his heart forcing blood to spurt from the gashes in either side of his neck. Victor’s purity sealed the wounds away from any possibility of demonic regeneration. I rushed to his side and his eyes stared up at me, filled with tears. His lips moved, formed the words “I’m sorry,” and smiled. By the time Caleb made it to my side, his smile was all that remained.

The coffin was open and Jase lay in calm repose, his hands folded over his stomach. A high-collared shirt covered what had been done to him. The muscles of his face had slackened and the smile I had so often seen on his face was gone forever. I sighed and moved aside, letting Hikari step up beside me. “I don’t understand this,” she said softly. “He had no reason to do this. Jase never hurt anyone.”

I didn’t say anything. I didn’t have anything I could say. I just put a hand on her shoulder and drew her away. A few steps away, Jase’s wife and children stood waiting, weak smiles on their faces as they greeted those who had come to mourn his passing. I had only met Rachel Pruitt a couple of times, and I had never known that Jase had three children, all grown. His oldest son even had children of his own who sat quietly in chairs nearby, too young to understand that their grandfather wasn’t going to wake up again, too old to forget him.

Hikari and I exchanged a few words with his wife. We expressed our regrets. Simple words didn’t work. I fell silent. This time, Hikari put her hand on my shoulder and led me away. We stepped to the side, down the receiving line, past the children to the man who stood with his family in their mourning.

Caleb held his hand out to me as Hikari steered me into place. I took it, his grip firm but cold. “Zay,” he said quietly. “Thanks for coming.”

“He’s not really coherent right now,” Hikari said.

“You don’t need to tell him that,” I said.

Caleb’s grip tightened and I looked up at him. “Zay, listen to me. You couldn’t do anything.”

“Don’t-“

“Don’t what? Don’t you think I’ve been thinking the same thing for the past three days? Do you think I’ve slept at all?” His eyes were sunken and dark, haunted and cold. “Listen to me. You couldn’t do anything. If you had tried, it would have caused a reaction and killed all of us. If there’s anyone who could have done something, it was me.”

“You couldn’t have done anything either, Caleb,” Hikari said. “You were already injured, even before he tossed you halfway back to the church. I’m the one to blame. I was separated from him inside. If I had been with him, maybe it would have turned out differently.”

“Or maybe we would be having two funerals today,” he said, finally releasing my hand. “I don’t think he would have hesitated to cut you down if he had the opportunity.”

“Maybe you should all stop blaming yourselves.” Tink thumped my shoulder in passing, ignored Hikari, and walked straight up to Caleb, staring up at him. “Especially you, Caleb. You know there was no way anything short of a miracle could have saved him. Victor knew precisely what he was doing.”

I winced. Her words were blunt but true. The swords had sliced all the way through his carotid arteries and jugular veins, almost all the way back to his spine. Even if the wounds hadn’t been imbued with purity, I wouldn’t have been able to do anything for him. Tink and I could have attempted some amplified healing magic, but that would have run the risk of an amplified volatile reaction.

None of us had had the presence of mind to do anything constructive at the time. We were exhausted and drained from fighting the angels, as well as the exposure to the smoke and fire. As she had said, nothing short of a miracle would have saved him, and I was fresh out of those. He had lost consciousness within those first few seconds and even with Caleb trying to hold the wounds closed, he had bled out in less than a minute.