The City of Monsters

by Matthew McCollum

  Adam leaned over. “Screamers?” he whispered. Derek nodded. “Then we need to leave.” He glanced at Lizzy. “Should she—”

  “No,” Derek whispered back. Lizzy looked at them, a questioning frown on her face, but she couldn't hear them. “She's not getting involved in this.”

  He stood up, packing his things, and Akane followed his example. She just had to pick up her sword, still in its bag, and tuck her notebook under her arm. Derek and Adam had to wrap up the power cords for their laptops and wrestle them into their backpacks. Adam also had to pick up his gun case—unlabeled, thankfully. He doubted that even this city would turn a blind eye to him toting around enough firearms to arm a platoon.

  “Excuse me,” the dog called out in an annoyed tone. Adam was surprised. He figured he wouldn't even notice them leaving. “Is there something wrong with my lecture?”

  “I'm sorry sir, it's an emergency.” Adam noted that Derek hadn't lied.

  The professor sighed and waved his hand, dismissing them. They left before he could change his mind.

  Outside, the night was cold, but Adam had remembered a sweater this time. Laura and Ling met them, coming from opposite directions.

  “We need to hurry,” Laura said. “And we'll need to stash our stuff somewhere when we get there.”

  “Actually, that won't be a problem.”

  Adam turned to see who had spoken. To his surprise, it was a vampire, one with crimson hair and larger fangs than he had grown to expect. She had a strange device on her left arm. There were a few vials of unidentifiable substances and a dial, all attached to a Velcro strap secured to her arm with what looked like metal buckles. It wouldn't be coming off anytime soon.

  She was standing next to a parked black van with a red stripe painted horizontally across the side. It was the minimalist emblem of Necessarius. The door of the van slid open, and four more people tumbled out.

  They were standing in the shadows away from the lights of the school, so Adam and the others couldn't see them very clearly. “Who are you?” Adam asked with some trepidation. He had a bad feeling.

  The vampire cursed and put on thick goggles. “Alex, light.”

  The person closest to her began to glow, not brightly, but enough to illuminate the group. It was a woman, albeit a petite and gangly one, dressed in a white t-shirt to emphasize her white tattoos, which almost looked like stylized Hebrew. Those were the source of the glow, and they pulsed gently as she gave a quick mock salute.

  So this was an angel. Somehow Adam had expected something more. Her tattoos threw him off, too. He had seen phosphorus before, and it was nowhere near as bright as this. He had a feeling Derek was a bit misinformed on exactly how that worked.

  “I'm Alex Gabriel,” she said. Her voice was unique, breathy and deep at the same time. Adam really didn't know what to make of it. “Pleased to meet you.”

  Next to her, an eight-foot tall giant grunted out “George.” He didn't have the force of presence Butler did, and his body proportions were a little off—his arms too long and his shoulders too wide. Adam assumed, then, that his extra mass was the result of a toy, probably an expensive one.

  Next to George was what appeared to be an ordinary human of some kind of Middle-Eastern ethnicity Adam couldn't identify. He saluted with a machine gun. “I'm Jarasax of the Blood-Doused Hunters.” He jerked his head to the right, indicating the last person in line. “This is Katherine. Call her Kat.”

  It wasn't hard to tell where the woman earned her nickname. Adam had seen a few cat kemos running around, but her modifications were the most extensive. She even seemed to have fur, a thin, tawny coat. She was filing her claws at first, but when she heard her name she hid the file somewhere in her long sleeves and retracted the claws.

  Her face was the most interesting, however. It was clearly a cat's face, complete with slightly elongated nose and whiskers. Her teeth were a bit oversized for a feline, and her eyes were jet black and wincing. Now that Adam had experience, he could identify them as the nighteyes of the vampires. Her cat ears had replaced her human ones on the sides of her head, unlike some kemos who just added them on top. Adam doubted they did much good up there.

  She also held a very large sniper rifle resting against her side, with the butt of the gun on the ground. It was almost as tall as she was. She wasn't very tall, admittedly, but a five-foot-long gun was still impressive.

  Laura stepped forward. “Is that a railgun? I thought those were still in testing.”

  Kat shook her head, and her hands flashed in a pattern Adam couldn't decipher.

  “She doesn't talk,” Jarasax said. “But she says the railguns still aren't reliable.” Her hands flashed again. “And that it's nice to meet you.”

  “And I'm Drakela Sanguinas,” the vampire said in an annoyed tone, scratching the device on her arm. “Kelly. We're you're retinue. Now get in the van and point us towards the zombies.”

  It was a tight fit, especially with George and his massive minigun, but we made it. It helped that we didn't have much other than laptops and weapons. Kelly promised she'd keep the school supplies in the van, which would help.

  Derek and Laura provided Jarasax with directions while he drove. Akane was quiet as usual, and Adam couldn't hear a damn thing, so he was little help. After a minute, Ling poked him gently in the ribs.

  “You should get to know these guys,” she said. “You'll be fighting with them more than us.”

  Adam frowned. “Just because I don't have powers...”

  She rolled her eyes. “Defense sticks with defense, and offense sticks with offense. We're offense, we go in and fight. You're defense, you make sure nothing bad happens. Our tactics are...” She waved her hand. “You know... self-contained. We're all on the same team, we're just playing different positions.”

  Adam had to admit she was right. Petty rivalries would get them nowhere but a grave. He thought for a moment. “Who's goalie in this metaphor?”

  She shrugged. “The truck, I guess?”

  Adam shrugged right back. Worked for me.

  He turned to the closest member of the retinue, the giant George. “So what's your role here?”

  He grinned, revealing enlarged canines, and patted his minigun. “Bullets. Lots of bullets.”

  Adam chuckled. Yeah, maybe he should have expected that. The cat was obvious too. Even Adam knew you never turned down a sniper's help. He was a little worried about the angel, though.

  “Isn't glowing in the dark a little... tame for what we're facing?” he asked her, trying not to sound confrontational.

  She just laughed. “I can do more than that,” she said. “But I'm not combat, anyway. I'm a scout and tracker.”

  “We have people who can literally hear these things from miles away.”

  She shook her head. “The screamers, yes. But the Big Boss thinks someone is pulling their strings, and even if not, there's always use for a tracker.” She clapped him on the shoulder. “I hear you're good, but you don't have a lot of experience. Stay with us, you'll see.”

  “We're here,” Derek said before Adam could respond. After a moment, the van pulled to an abrupt stop.

  “This is as close as I can get,” Jarasax said. “Give us a bit of a buffer.”

  Now that Adam was paying attention, he could hear the distinctive screams, maybe a block off. There were a lot of them, mixed with the sound of gunfire and panicked yelling.

  He opened his gun case, ready to head into the fight... which was when he realized he didn't have any holsters or anything. That would limit his options. He bit his lip, trying to decide which one to take.

  Kat shoved something in his face. It took him a moment to realize it was a pair of belts, or rather a belt with two holsters for his pistol and SMG, and a back strap for the shotgun and rifle. The belt had a few packs on it where he could store ammo, and the chest bandoleer had room for shotgun shells.

  “Thanks,” Adam said. He was surprised, but pleasantly so.

  Kat nodded
, then her fingers moved quickly in a pattern he couldn't understand.

  He turned to George. “What'd she say?”

  George shrugged. “Hell if I know. I only met her two days ago. Sax and Kelly are the only ones who understand her.”

  Kat looked frustrated, but waved her hand when Adam leaned forward to ask them. She mimed readying a weapon, mimicking the pair. The message was clear: It's not important, don't bother them.

  Well, that was fine. He belted on the holsters and found they fit perfectly, though he pretty much expected it by that point. His Sica went on his right hip, the Caedes on his left, with the Saint George over his right shoulder and the Athena his left.

  Adam felt pretty badass at that point, and was ready to take on pretty much anything. The only thing missing was some armor, but the screamers didn't seem to be able to use weapons anyway, so he wasn't that worried.

  Kelly was the last one out, carrying a short rifle without anything more complicated than iron sights. She handed Alex some sort of headset, which looked like night vision goggles. Adam remembered something about how angels had special eyes that saw great in the light, but horrible in the dark. Made sense to use goggles. She couldn't do the brightness thing all the time.

  “Everyone ready?” Derek asked. Everyone nodded. “Good. Akane, you're on point, I'll be right behind you. Adam, stay close to me. Ling is behind the retinue, watching the rear. Laura, you're in the middle. Kelly, keep her safe. Let's move.”

  Adam was impressed. Derek certainly seemed to know what he was doing. Judging from a few things he had said in the past few days, Adam understood that he and Akane had been taking missions for years. It also explained some of why she followed his orders so unquestioningly, but it still didn't quite sit right with him. But people grew pretty close after fighting together, so maybe there wasn't anything else to it.

  They advanced slowly, ten people a bit too big a group to move with both stealth and speed. But they inched our way towards the screamers, sure they'd be ready.

  They had only gone a little less than half a block—very close to where the screams were originating—when Akane held up her fist, signaling a stop. She pointed emphatically to a nearby wall but didn't say anything.

  Adan looked where she was indicating, but only saw a weird piece of graffiti, written in glowing neon ink. It seemed to be a circle with wings. There was more underneath it, a circle with a crescent moon, a wilted leaf, and the lower half of the circle shaded in. It didn't seem all that special to him.

  The rest of the party, however, immediately started cursing violently.

  “They're having a Hunt now?” Kelly hissed. “In the middle of a zombie invasion?”

  “It would take far more than that to stop them,” Sax said, resigned.

  “Calm down,” Derek said. “They might be here to help.”

  Sax snorted.

  “It has happened before,” Derek said. “What court is it?”

  “You can't reason with them,” Alex said.

  Derek just glared at her. “What court is it?”

  “Night's southern autumn,” Kelly replied. Adam had no idea what that meant.

  Derek just rolled his eyes. “I know that. I can read the glyph. I mean what's the name?”

  “Killing Sparrow,” Akane whispered. She blushed when everyone turned to her.

  Derek blanched. “That means—”

  “Aw, did you finally figure it out? I was hoping to watch you fight first.”

  It was a female voice, coming from above. Adam looked up to see a naked Caucasian woman with short brown hair, maybe twenty-five years old, serenely sitting on the edge of the building, about ten feet above the neon symbol. With a small grunt of effort, she leaped down, about twenty feet, and landed without any sign of difficulty.

  Adam wasn't all that surprised—he had seen stranger things in the four days he had been in Domina—but every single member of the band, even Laura, looked ready to fight.

  “Little Derek and Akane... so wonderful to see you again. Did you come to play? Or were you drawn here by that song?”

  Kelly cursed and glanced at Derek. “You know her?”

  He nodded, then steeled himself with a deep breath. “May I introduce the Princess of Killing Sparrow, the Maiden of Night's Southern Autumn.”

  The girl in question giggled, causing her breasts to jiggle in a distracting manner. “That's me!”

  Adam looked around at everyone else. “What is—”

  Kat immediately made a chopping motion with one hand. Later. Got it. Message received.

  “Honored Maiden,” Laura said carefully, bringing her hands away from her gun. “You said something about a song. Would you care to elaborate?”

  The girl laughed, a melodic sound, and her chest shook. Adam forced himself to keep his eyes on her face.

  “So polite! Better than this one,” she sidled up to Akane, who was clearly making a conscious effort not to flinch away. “She killed me the second she saw me.”

  Adam got within whisper range of Jarasax. “Is she insane?”

  “Yes,” he whispered back without hesitation. “But not like you think. Talk later.”

  Adam shut up. He'd leave this to the people who seemed to know what was going on.

  “It wasn't the loss of the homunculus that upset me,” the so-called princess said, sliding away from Akane again. “It was that they killed so many of my peataí.” She gave an exaggerated sigh. “But I forgave them, in the end.” She grinned like a madman, revealing teeth like a shark. Looking closer, she also had vampire eyes. “It was so much fun to watch.”

  “The song, Lady Princess,” Laura reminded her gently.

  “The amhránaithe are smart,” Killing Sparrow continued. Adam wasn't really sure whether she was answering Laura's question or not. “They're looking for me, you know. But those aren't the ones you're looking for, is it? No, you're here for the caointhe.” She grinned widely. “You can hear them, can't you? Their screams?”

  “Why are the amhránaithe looking for you?” Laura prodded. Everyone else was keeping very quiet, though Adam noticed their hands stayed near their weapons. He decided to follow their example.

  Killing Sparrow just looked at Laura like she was an idiot. “So they can sing to me, of course. And then I will spread the song farther than they could hope.” She tapped her lip, thinking. “You know, I might go looking for one of them. The song does sound interesting.”

  “Honored Maiden, please, I don't understand. What is this song you are talking about? Why would you spread it?”

  Killing Sparrow gave a great heaving sigh—emphasis on the heaving—as though talking to a troublesome child. “The amhránaithe sing, and anyone who hears them becomes a caoin. But the caointhe only have a flawed understanding of the song, which is why they scream. It's also why their powers are weaker.”

  That brought them all to attention. She was talking about the screamers the entire time? Adam stepped forward. “What else can you tell us?”

  She turned to him, her shark-grin wide again, while Laura glared at him from behind her back.

  “Well, what do we have here? A new leanbh, untested and untried?” She glanced at his shotgun. “You have at least some congress with Necessarius, I see. One of their Saints rides at your shoulder.” Apparently, she didn't realize the retinue were 'sarians. None of them were wearing their red and black armbands.

  “Please, Honored Maiden,” Laura said in an apologetic tone, trying to steer the conversation back on track. “He's new to the city. We're just trying to—”

  Killing Sparrow's head snapped around, and her face twisted into such violent glee that Adam had to take a step back.

  “A leanbh from outside?” She turned back to me and actually purred. “Oh, that has so many wonderful implications.” She grinned so wide that Adam was suddenly convinced that she could bite off his entire head easily. “Beidh tástáil simplí a insint i bhfad.”

  She leaped forward, her jaw opened wider than
he could have believed possible. But he was ready—he whipped out his pistol and shot her three times in the chest. Thankfully, he was ready for the recoil. The first time he had used it, it had jumped right out of his hand.

  The woman staggered, but didn't fall. Adam took the opportunity to take careful aim at her forehead and pulled the trigger again. His Sica barked, and a large chunk of her skull evaporated. Her charge terminated, and she fell at his feet.

  By the time she hit the ground, only Akane had managed to get her weapon out. Everyone else was still fumbling, and Kat nodded in appreciation of Adam's skills. He better be good. He had spent most of the last seventy-two hours at a shooting range.

  It took a full minute for his heartbeat to slow down enough for him to holster the gun. They didn't teach fighting things like this at shooting ranges.

  “What language was she speaking, anyway?” he asked. It seemed like a stupid question, but he had so many I didn't know where to start.

  “Irish,” Jarasax said. Kat's fingers made a sign. “Bad Irish,” he corrected.

  “...why would she be speaking Irish?”

  “Because she's crazy,” Derek said. “She thinks she's a faerie from Celtic mythology.”

  “Thought,” Adam corrected reflexively.

  “No, thinks. She's not dead.”

  Adam looked carefully at the naked corpse. It wasn't breathing. “She sure looks dead.”

  Derek sighed. “It's a little complicated. She has these things called homunculi, they're like remote-piloted clones. All the fey have them.”

  Adam blinked. “Fey?”

  If Derek was planning to dignify that with a response, Adam didn't hear it. Kat's rifle barked loud enough to nearly shatter his eardrums. He turned to see her target.

  It was a giant dog, about the size of a Great Dane but with the muscle of a pit bull. Despite taking a shot to the skull, it was still moving. Kat fired again, and this time the thing's head exploded.