The City of Monsters

by Matthew McCollum

  She drew her sword and ran forward. When she reached the pond—which was shallow enough to walk in easily enough—the monster looked up, startled by the sound of splashing water. Its beady little eyes, protected under those massive ridges of bone, stared at her with a mild curiosity balanced with indifference.

  She activated her speed, ran in front of its head, and stabbed it as far as she could in the eye.

  Right as she withdrew her blade, her reservoir ran out, and the gargant bellowed in pain, blasting her in the face with its horrific breath. It reared up on its hind legs, still howling. Akane fell back, and the others opened up with gunfire. Their bullets mostly bounced off its thick hide, which was a little odd. Looking closer, she was beginning to think the thing was armored with steel plates bolted to the skin. The “hair” seemed to actually be metal bristles, like on a brush. What were those for?

  It wasn't important. The point was that the beast was armored like a tank, and angry. It finally came back down to all fours, crashing with all its weight behind its hind legs. Akane was well out of danger by that point, but she did get splashed in the face with a wave of water. Her reservoir was only partly replenished, but it was enough to get her out of the water a little faster.

  Adam cursed as he struggled to his feet. He still wasn't quite used to the massive recoil of that shotgun. “I think it's bulletproof.”

  Akane nodded. “Metal plates.”

  George raised an eyebrow. She hadn't heard him fire yet. The roar of his minigun was distinctive, to say the least. “Then the skull's the weak point?”

  Akane frowned. That couldn't be right. The fey were crazy enough, sure, but it would have knocked itself unconscious just trying to break through the wall if that was the case. No, that wasn't necessarily true. Just because the skull was the weak point didn't mean that it was weak.

  Kelly was a bit more pragmatic. “I guess we'll find out. George, let her rip.”

  George grinned, revealing his sharp teeth, and lifted the massive minigun. Akane would never know why they named one of the largest portable weapons in existence the minigun.

  The thing weighed at least fifty pounds, probably more, but George was an eight-foot tall giant, and hefted it with ease. He flipped a switch—presumably the safety—braced himself, and depressed the trigger just as the gargant finally charged.

  The beast ran straight into a hail of bullets thicker than a rainstorm, heralded by a thunder Akane couldn't properly describe. It was like a marching band, playing their hearts out, but replace every single instrument with a drum, and remove the rhythm.

  Thirty 7.62 millimeter rounds per second tore through the air like screaming banshees... and bounced off the gargant's skull with a sound like tin roof in a hailstorm. It had about as much effect, too. The gargant was annoyed, but not actually harmed.

  Kelly swore loudly. “Sânge negru! Everyone, scatter!”

  Everyone jumped in different directions, standard practice when fighting big monsters. Even Adam dodged away correctly—his training with Mohamed must have been going well. George moved a little bit too slowly, however, and got clipped as the monster ran past. He cried out as he was thrown a few feet, the minigun rolling out of his hands.

  And the gargant was coming around for another pass.

  “Alex,” Akane said, pointing at George. Alex nodded, and moved to check on his friend. Akane wasn't about to let someone get killed on a routine gargant hunt. Besides, dayknives were sharp and everything, but they couldn't cut through whatever the gargant was armored with.

  Akane gestured to Adam, and he nodded, readying another round—hopefully the god slayer he had mentioned earlier.

  Farther away, Kelly started firing at the gargant, attracting its attention away from Alex and George. It wasn't injured, of course, but its tiny brain was annoyed, and it bellowed as it charged forward.

  Akane used that opportunity to slip forward at super speed and stab upwards into the roof of its mouth. She wasn't able to cut very deep. The depth of her reservoir was increasing every day, but it was still limited, and she just didn't have the time or the angle to get a good strike in.

  As she slipped away, however, she noticed that George's bullets had chipped away the white on the gargant's face, revealing steel underneath. It was paint, nothing more, paint over steel shaped to look like bone. No wonder it was bulletproof.

  Adam wasn't quite in position yet, so she danced back to where the monster could see her with its remaining eye, hoping it would charge at her instead of the others.

  It worked. The beast bellowed loud enough to wake the dead and rushed forward as fast as its tree-trunk legs would carry it, tearing up the grass beneath its feet.

  Akane was only about ten feet away. The gargant couldn't build up very much speed, but with its weight that didn't mean much. Thankfully, she had enough power left in her reservoir to dodge out of the way. If she didn't have super speed, she probably would have been killed.

  The creature ended up in the water again, and made a long, wide turn, coming back around for another pass, aiming straight for Akane.

  It was only when it started to pick up speed again that she realized I had lost track of herself. She was between George and the monster. If she dodged, it would crush him.

  She cursed. If she didn't dodge, it would crush them both. She dodged out of the way a bit early, in the hope that it would decide to chase after her again.

  It didn't.

  Adam, however, had a better plan.

  Before the gargant came out of the water, he jumped from the shore onto its side, grasping the metal bristles attached to its plates for purchase. He slowly crawled over to the face, scrambling for a grip on the ridges molded into its skull-armor. He finally managed to get himself on the skull, between the eyes, and while the beast bucked, he held on tightly, holding his shotgun in his right hand.

  Akane was... stunned. This wasn't the first time I had seen someone pull a stunt like this. She had once seen Derek jump into a gargant's mouth just so he could throw a grenade down its gullet. But that was with years of practice and training. Adam had been fighting for what? Two weeks? Even with training from Mohamed and some other monster slayers, he shouldn't be this good.

  The gargant was even more confused than before, and its deadly charge turned into a wild, erratic stampede. It missed George and Alex by a couple feet. They got showered in grass and dirt, but that was better than getting stomped by a ten-ton behemoth.

  It took Akane a minute to realize what Adam was trying to do. At first, she had just thought he was trying to distract the thing, but it looked like he was struggling to bring his shotgun around to use it.

  Well, he better do it quick. The gargant was coming back around, perhaps thinking the water of the pond could help it shake this mite off somehow.

  Akane rushed forward, starting on its blind side, then leaping into its vision as quickly as she could. As expected, the animal's primitive brain reacted much the same as the last time she had appeared so suddenly, and it reared up, bellowing a warning.

  Adam didn't waste the chance. With the gargant on its hind legs, he suddenly found it much easier to stay in position, and he let go with his hands, cocked his shotgun, placed it in the beast's dead right eye and fired.

  Akane had never actually seen a god slayer in action before. From the name, she was expecting a pretty big bang. Instead, there was just a loud, dull thump and the wet sound of gore and gristle bursting out of the gargant's eyes and mouth. The creature fell to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut, not even whimpering as it died It made a pretty big splash as it hit, though. Water, mud, and the red sluice that had recently been the contents of the its skull flew everywhere.

  Adam fell to his knees, breathing heavily and clutching the arm he had dislocated early this morning. Akane ran up to him, but it was hard to tell where he was bleeding and where he was just covered in gore.

  “Idiot,” Akane said. “You're still not healed from earlier.” They'd
need to get a doctor to look at his arm. If he hadn't dislocated it again, he had probably torn a few tendons. Akane was a bit surprised when she realized his hands and arms were torn up pretty badly. Apparently using those bristles as handholds was a bad idea.

  “Lay down,” she said, forcing him onto his back. He would be fine, probably. He just needed rest and bandages. Kelly tossed her some as she jogged up, and Akane started binding his wounds.

  “That was pretty impressive,” Kelly said, nodding in approval. “Stupid, but impressive.”

  Adam grunted in pain and didn't say anything. Hopefully, this little adventure had taught him to be more cautious in the future.

  “I wonder if the fey consider this a success,” Kelly said, scratching the fixer on her arm.

  “Probably,” Jarasax said, walking forward with a limp. “The fey usually call it a success if the monster manages to escape their labs. Anything after that isn't relevant.”

  Akane frowned. Where had he been?

  He seemed to read the look on her face. “I tripped up during the first charge, hit my head. If it had noticed me, I'd be dead.”

  She sighed. Well, everyone made mistakes. Speaking of which, Alex was walking over, leaving George alone on the grass some ten feet away.

  “He's fine,” Alex said. “Bad bruises and some fractures, but he'll be right as rain soon enough. The gargant could have done worse.”

  Kelly kicked the beast a little, as if to make sure it was dead, then snapped her fingers. “Steel-plated gargant! Of course!”

  Akane sighed. Of course.

  Chapter 49: MERCENNARIUM

  KELLY

  “That was probably a bad idea,” Alex said as they got back into the van.

  Kelly waved at Obould's boys loading the gargant into a truck. “It's not so bad. It was fun, and no one died.”

  George chuckled. “Boss, weren't you the one saying we shouldn't get involved with the Paladins more than we have to?”

  She took off her daygoggles. The ambient light in the van was a bit softer than daylight, about the level of a light bulb, which meant she could see fine, but it gave her a fierce headache. She could bear it for a little bit—she was tired of everything being dark.

  “Maybe you guys are right. But we're having a bad day, and I figured everyone could use a little R&R before another week or so of stakeout.”

  Jarasax grimaced as he slid into the driver's seat and started the engine. “That's an understatement if I ever heard one. But I'm not sure this was the time or the place.”

  “We did get to have a little fun,” George said, as he scratched at his bandages. They would need to get him better healing soon. “C'mon, Sax, you have to admit watching Adam kill that gargant was worth it.”

  Jarasax grunted. “Hardly. We both almost got killed. Hell, I didn't even see the actual kill. Wouldn't you have preferred to stay home over a few broken ribs?”

  Kelly rubbed her eyes. The headache wasn't too bad yet, but the incessant sniping was getting tiresome. “Fine, Sax, next time we'll leave you with the van. Happy now?”

  He frowned. “Kelly, come on. I'm just looking out for the team.”

  “Oh both of you stop,” Alex said as he polished his dayknives. “You're both so overprotective it's embarrassing. Though I suppose I should be grateful Mom let us have some fun today.”

  Kelly glared at him dangerously, but he just grinned back. “Don't start that again, Alex.”

  “I'm serious,” he said, warming to the subject. “Ling's been chattering about this whenever she gets the chance.”

  “Why to you of all people?” Sax asked. Kelly had to admit that she found it a bit curious too. Most people were a little leery around angels, and Kelly hadn't thought Ling was an exception. “Weren't you just complaining we aren't friendly enough with them?”

  “Hey, I wasn't complaining.” George shifted in his spot, an annoyed look on his face, and Alex hurriedly continued. “It's just that the rest of the Paladins aren't very sympathetic to her plight. She's not a soldier, she's just someone in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  George grinned. “With superpowers.”

  Alex smiled, and nodded. “Yes. With superpowers. They aren't any more interested in listening to her theories than she is to listening about tactics.”

  “I don't see the point here.” Kelly's headache was getting worse, but she didn't put the goggles back on yet. Besides, the pain distracted her from the fixer on her arm.

  Alex shrugged. “No point, really. She was just talking about each of us fit into our own little archetype. Derek's the hero, not to mention the father of his group. Laura's the smart one, and the mother.”

  “That doesn't make sense,” George said. “If anyone is the father, wouldn't it be Butler?”

  “Adoptive parents, then. Derek is in charge of caring for them, that's all I meant. Like how Kelly and Sax are the parents of the retinue.”

  Kelly rolled her eyes. “Cute, Alex. Very cute. What did I ever do to deserve this?”

  “Oh come on, I'm serious! You take care of us, and we appreciate it.”

  Sax looked at him sideways. “Yesterday you threatened to disembowel me and strangle Kelly with my guts.”

  “Oh, you've never wanted to kill your parents?” Suddenly his grin faded, and he stopped polishing his knives. “I... guess not.”

  Now that was surprising. He was usually good about avoiding talking about his past.

  Jarasax seemed to think the same thing. “You knew your parents, Alex? You never talk about what happened before you joined your Host.”

  Alex slid away his dayknives with a sigh. “That's 'cuz I don't like talking about it, Sax. It was a slip of the tongue. Don't worry about it.”

  Sax frowned, reached over, and smacked him upside the head. “That's bullshit. You know George's story, and all the details of my escape.” He nodded at Kelly. “And of course you know everything about the shit storm that is Kelly's life.”

  “Thanks,” she said dryly. He was right, though. In fact, Alex knew more about it than Sax did.

  Sax ignored her. “You don't get to skip your turn on our little sharing sessions.”

  Alex scowled. “Fine. My dad was one of the first angels, my mom one of the second-gen vampires. Dad killed mom, I killed dad. We done?”

  An awkward silence fell in the van. Kelly became acutely aware of the orcs outside, still cleaning up the gargant.

  George shuffled uncomfortably. “God, sorry, Alex. I mean... I didn't realize. Not knowing your parents is better than that.”

  But Sax just glared at him. “No, that's not what happened.”

  Alex glared right back, and his hands went to the hilts of his knives. “What did you just say? If you think you know me—”

  “That's the plot to Vampire Carmilla Saizou,” Sax said.

  Kelly blinked, then laughed. “Oh, right! I bought you the disc for your last birthday.”

  Alex winced. “Crap, I thought that was Adele. Ah, right. So my mom was a high-level vampire, and my dad a lupe—”

  “If your mom was a loli, that's Dance in the Vampire Bund.”

  “Uh, I was told my dad was a pilot, by my aunt and uncle—”

  “Star Wars.”

  “My dad was an antiques dealer and an abusive gambler, and my mom killed him with a cursed sword he got—”

  Kelly rolled her eyes. “Now you're just making stuff up.”

  He threw up his hands. “Saints above vampire, can't you just let me have my cool origin story?”

  Her headache was getting close to unbearable. “Alex, you're just making them curious.”

  He leaned his back against the door of the van and sighed. “Fine. I was raised in one of Zaphkiel's orphanages. Spent a lot of time watching TV. When I was eighteen—ten years ago—I took the glow and the eyes and joined the Host.” He waved his hand flippantly at the others. “You all know the rest.”

  George snorted, though he tried to hide it. “Well, I'll admit I can see wh
y you tried to come up with something better. It's not very interesting.”

  “Be nice,” Sax said. “It took a lot for him to admit the real story.”

  Kelly sighed and finally put her daygoggles back on. “Don't they teach you a bunch of junk about humility at the angel orphanages?”

  Alex shrugged. “I was never very good at learning that stuff. Too much of my father in me.”

  Kelly winced. “Don't say that.”

  George leaned forward a little. “That reminds me—Sax, what's the word on that data dump Kat set up? The one using MC's system?”

  “Not much,” Jarasax said. “I talked to Clarke and got the data, but it's just a five minute audio file between a half-dozen fey, talking about something.”

  Kelly raised an eyebrow. It scraped against the daygoggles, and hurt. It was amazing how easy it was to forget that discomfort, just by taking the stupid things off for a few minutes. “Anything specific?”

  “Just about how they'll need to be careful their dead homunculi don't fall into the wrong hands. They were talking about the kill switches, mostly.”

  Kill switches were pretty much what they sounded like; self-destruct sequences the fey used for their homunculi, to make sure that the body was completely destroyed, and no one would be able to study the corpse.

  “That's interesting on its own, though,” Alex said slowly. “They'd only be worried about leaving corpses behind if they were staging a war.”

  “They stage wars all the time,” Kelly said. “I don't think it's a big deal.”

  But Alex just shook his head. “Their normal turf wars are bad enough, but right now... if a war starts now, a lot of people are going to die.”

  “People die every day,” Kelly said gruffly. “Besides, we can handle a few monsters.”

  Alex leaned forward, between the driver's seat and the passenger, holding himself up by the shoulder rests. He locked gazes with her and wouldn't let go.

  “How do you think we would have survived the bleeders,” he asked slowly, “if there was a horde of fey-born monsters attacking at the same time?”