Unmasked (5 page)

What? I was cloaked! How could they see me?
She glanced about wildly. Obviously anyone could see her now, but how, when she was shadow?

Does it matter? If I trust you, they will, too. But be careful—Yush is a powerful demon. He eats humans.

She’d been trying not to think about that. Addie glanced at Ukopach. He was safely out of the way, but there was no sign of her guys. Yush raised his head, tilting it to one side as if he listened for something. Addie couldn’t hear a thing above the pounding of her heart and the rush of air in and out of her lungs. She really hadn’t expected to fight this thing on her own.

Where the hell were Jett and Locan?

An ear-splitting roar rent the air. Addie planted her feet as Yush launched himself across the room, six-fingered hands widely extended, long claws flashing in the overhead lights. She raised her swords with the grim realization that while she was worried about staying alive, Yush was looking at his next meal.

Chapter 6

Jett sensed trouble the moment he left the makeup trailer. Instead of running, he transported beyond the buildings to the area where filming had been taking place earlier and landed just behind the cameraman. Locan was backed up against the chain-link fence, a sword in one hand, knife in the other, with both blades flashing while demons attacked from all directions.

He was holding them back—barely—but the biggest shock was the fact the cameras were all turned on Locan. The director was sending the actor demons against him as if he were filming his movie, and the crew members—openly demonic now—were all in place, holding lights and microphones, running cameras and doing their usual jobs.

The only ones who still looked human were the director and the man running the main camera.

Locan was truly beautiful to watch, with his long silver hair whipping about as he twisted and turned that perfect body, striking out and disabling his attackers without actually harming anyone. The director was yelling at the actor demons and screaming at the crew members.

The entire scene shrieked absolute insanity—and it was fascinating to watch.

But Locan was beginning to tire. He needed help—more help than merely another set of swords. Jett spotted a fire hose near one of the buildings, sheathed the sword he’d drawn, and raced across the parking lot. Out of sight of the director and cameraman, he grabbed the heavy fire hose and spun the handle to turn on the water. Pressure came up immediately, almost lifting Jett off the ground as water charged the thick hose.

It was all he could do to control the damned thing, but he hauled it around the side of the building and aimed it on the crowd of actor demons attacking Locan. The powerful blast knocked them down and sent them rolling, slipping and sliding in all directions, and then, just as Ukopach had predicted, the demons fled their human avatars.

Shrieking and squealing, they shot into the air as blasts of dark mist, swirling about overhead in a maelstrom of demonic fury. Their human hosts fell to the ground, for the most part unconscious.

The director cursed, turned and glared at Jett. “Turn that damned thing off now. Who the hell do you think you are?”

“Hopefully, your worst nightmare.” Jett turned the hose on the director and waited for the dark mist, except his demon didn’t flee. The director stood solidly within the powerful blast of water. Where others had tumbled and fallen, he merely snarled at Jett as he slowly lost all sign of his humanity.

It began with eyes glowing scarlet and a body that simply changed. His upper torso stretched and his neck thickened and arched forward until it wasn’t a man’s face anymore.

Jett held the hose steady and moved closer, blasting the director/demon with all he had, until reality couldn’t be ignored. This was no video game creature. Jett faced the demon Moloch . . . or a damned close facsimile.

The demon grew; his body shifted into something else entirely. Where a slightly overweight movie director with a bald head and soft paunch had stood, now a massive demon with the powerful legs of an athlete and the upper body and head of a bull glowered at Jett. The creature opened his mouth and roared, flashing huge fangs. The horns on his head glistened as if they were made of the sharpest steel.

“Oh, fuck.” This was not good. Jett sucked in a sharp breath. Damn, he’d been so certain the director wasn’t a real demon, had expected someone more along the lines of Ukopach.

It appeared he’d sorely underestimated his opponent.

Jett kept the stream from the fire hose pointing directly at the beast. The force of the water slowed his attack, but it didn’t stop him as he lunged for Jett. Casting the hose aside, Jett leapt away from the charging demon and the suddenly out-of-control hose and rolled to his right.

The hose moved like a thing alive, rising into the air, then slamming the heavy brass nozzle against the ground, twisting and turning, shooting powerful streams of water in all directions.

Locan leapt over the comatose bodies in front of him and went straight for Moloch, but the water caught the demon hunter full in the chest and knocked him off his feet. The night sky, brilliantly illuminated with the klieg lights, pulsed with the swirling streams of demons freed by the blast of water, but they had no anchor, no one to guide them or tell them where to go.

And the Moloch demon was headed straight for Jett.

Jett found a spot away from the dancing fire hose and stood his ground, a long sword in one hand, his short sword in the other.

Moloch put his head down and charged. Jett dipped low beneath the sharp horns and thrust forward and up with the shorter blade. Locan leapt to the creature’s back and buried his short sword between the creature’s powerful shoulder blades. Jett felt his blade slide off of bone, but then it ripped through muscles and tendons. The demon shrieked, slashed out with its powerful arms and clawed hands. Then it reached behind itself for Locan, but Jett’s partner was forcing his short sword deeper, going for the spine. Suddenly the demon stopped in its tracks and dropped.

Locan jumped away as the demon fell, pulling the short sword free and swinging his longer blade. The bull-like head rolled away from the still quivering body. Dark blood sprayed the ground, steaming against the asphalt, sizzling where it met puddles from the fire hose.

Breathing hard, Jett raced across the parking lot and cut the water pressure. The fire hose stopped dancing and dropped with a loud clatter. The only sound was the quiet groaning of once-possessed human actors returning to consciousness. The Moloch demon was dead. The cameraman, looking slightly stunned, continued filming the carnage. Of all of them, it appeared he was the only one not possessed.

Locan wiped his blade on the dead demon’s hairy leg. He sheathed his weapon as the demon’s body continued steaming and began to decompose. Then he raised his head and frowned, gazing about the area. “Where’s Addie?”

His question brought Jett up short. “Fuck! She’s still inside. C’mon.”
Addie! Are you all right?

Help me, Jett! Hurry.

We’re almost there.
Spinning about, he teleported to a spot just outside the makeup trailer. With a fight in progress in such a small space, it was too dangerous to land inside, but it felt as if it took him forever to race up the stairs and open the door. With Locan on his heels, Jett slipped inside into absolute chaos.

* * *

Addie ducked and rolled beneath the demon’s lumbering charge, but the trailer wasn’t large enough to give her much room for escape, and the big, hulking brute moved too damned fast. The other demons scattered out of the way—all except for Ukopach. He was jumping up and down and screaming encouragement.

She had to admit, it was a unique experience, having a demon for a cheerleader. Yush lunged to the right but slashed wide with his left arm. Addie spun away, but she wasn’t fast enough. Razor-sharp talons sliced across her back, skipped over bone and cut deep into her shoulder.

“Holy . . .” She stumbled back, barely avoiding another strike. Blood dripped steadily down her arm and soaked the back of her sweater. Her sword slipped in fingers gone numb. She tightened her grip as best she could, but she was losing blood fast. If she couldn’t end this quickly, she’d have to transport home, hope she healed herself, and then return.

In that short time, Yush could escape.

Where in the hell were the guys? Leading with the sword tightly grasped in her left hand, Addie went on the offensive. She slipped in low and fast, ignoring her agonizing pain as she skipped around behind the demon and slashed the backs of both legs. His left leg buckled, but she’d missed the tendons on the right.

Howling, Yush turned way too fast and reached for Addie. Her foot slipped in a puddle of her own blood. She went down hard, well within the demon’s reach. Her head hit the side of the cabinet as she tried to catch herself. Lights exploded behind her eyes.

Something screamed. A long, loud scream of demonic attack.
It’s over,
she thought. Her mind was too scrambled to transport, she couldn’t get her balance, her back felt shredded, and her right arm was totally numb. Blinking, she forced herself to focus on the huge demon looming overhead.

Ukopach clung to the beast’s shoulders. Somehow he’d found enough energy to take on his video demon shape—brilliantly colored and perfectly formed—and buried his sharp little fangs in Yush’s neck, where he clung like a burr as the demon tried to dislodge him.

No matter how Yush twisted and turned, Ukopach hung on.

As if his attack had broken their stasis, the other demons in the room abandoned their human avatars. Human bodies collapsed all around as, swirling into a thick, black mist, the small demons banded together and surrounded Yush. Addie scrambled out of the way as her head began to clear.

Amazing. They’d taken on shape and form the same as Ukopach. There were at least a dozen of the brilliantly colored video demons attacking the huge creature, snapping at it with sharp little teeth and drawing blood on every pass. The vast numbers of vicious little demons had Yush totally confused. Screeching, flailing at attackers too small and quick to catch, he flung himself about the makeup trailer, crushing chairs and tables, knocking out windows and leaving a trail of foul, dark green blood that steamed and hissed wherever it fell.

And suddenly Jett was there, holding her close and moving her even farther away from the battle. Locan slipped in right behind him, kissed Addie’s cheek on the way past, and stood in front of Yush. “Clear,” he shouted. “Move away from Yush.”

The tiny demons scattered, Locan raised his sword, and, before Yush even realized he was no longer under attack, Locan swiftly beheaded the monster. His horned head rolled across the trailer and came to rest in front of Ukopach.

It was half again as tall as the tiny demon, but that didn’t seem to matter a bit. The rest of the creatures gathered about the trophy, cheering and giving each other high fives—or threes or sixes as the number of digits warranted.

“Well, that’s certainly a first.” Addie slumped against Jett as blood loss and burnout from the adrenaline surge met in the middle. “I’ve never been cheered by demons before.”

“Neither have we.” Locan examined her bleeding shoulder and badly injured back. “Jett, let me clean up here. Get Addie home so the wounds will heal. Then both of you come back here and we’ll figure out how we’re going to get these little guys back into their video game.”

“There’s something I have to do first.” Gasping against the pain, Addie struggled to stand without falling. Jett steadied her with a firm grip on her left arm and helped her walk across the room to Ukopach. She knelt down and held out her hand. He grabbed on with his tiny fingers and squeezed.

“Thank you, Ukopach. You were very brave, and you saved my life. You and your buddies. You’re an amazing little demon and I appreciate your help.” She glanced at the others standing silently by Yush’s severed head. “I appreciate every one of you. Thank you all.”

Ukopach’s eyes went big and round and he stood very straight as the other video demons gathered close. “You saved all of us from Yush and Moloch.” He grinned at her, displaying a mouthful of tiny fangs. “One good deed always deserves another.”

Addie tried to figure out if that was a good or bad thing. Then the world went black and nothing really mattered.

* * *

It was a full hour before Jett brought Addie back to the movie set. They landed just outside the makeup trailer, and it took her a minute to get her balance after the transfer. She was still shaky. Her wounds had been worse than he’d realized, but teleporting between dimensions pushed the healing. She wasn’t a hundred percent, but at least he knew he wasn’t going to lose her.

Locan wasn’t in the makeup trailer, but he must have sensed they were back and ’pathed an update.
I’ve sent all of the humans home. They’ve got mixed memories of a job that didn’t pan out, but they won’t remember they’ve been possessed. The cameraman’s a different matter.

That could be a problem. Jett knew the man had not only witnessed their battle with Moloch, he’d captured just about everything on film. All he lacked was the final battle with Yush, but by now the demon’s body would be gone, decomposing shortly after death in this dimension.

He walked across the lot with Addie, headed to the spot where Locan stood in front of the cameraman. His arms were crossed over his bare chest and his white leather pants and long silvery hair were as pristine as ever. In fact, Jett thought Locan looked every inch the leading man. He was surrounded by at least three dozen video demons as he spoke with the cameraman.

“You realize no one will believe what they see, no matter what you show them on film. It’s too easy to Photoshop stuff nowadays, and these little guys”—he gestured at the small crowd of video demons listening avidly to the conversation—“look like CGI animations to begin with.”

“I know,” the cameraman said. “But this stuff is amazing. I can’t destroy it, even though there’s not nearly enough for a full-length feature. If nothing else, I can put it up on YouTube.”

Locan glanced at Addie and Jett. “What do you guys think?”

Jett shrugged. “It’s his film.” He glanced at the spot where Moloch had died. All that was left was a greasy black smear on the pavement. Even as he watched, that was beginning to fade. “There’s no proof of what’s happened here. Dead demons decompose almost immediately in this dimension, and we’ll be sending the little guys home to their realm as soon as we can.”

Then he remembered the most important loose end. “What about the assistant director? We came because we were told he’d been eaten by someone.”

The cameraman shook his head. “When the police showed up, there was no one missing and no sign of blood. I didn’t catch it on film.” He shrugged. “I was watching the action, not what happened behind the scenes, but I imagine it was either Moloch or Yush eating another demon.”