by Michael Todd
Katie snickered. “If you go down, Rose, I’ll go down too.”
Pandora blinked. “Worst Titanic reference of all time.”
Katie shrugged and took off. Pandora snarled and did the same, flapping her wings hard to catch up to her. She clenched her muscles as she approached Katie, trying her best to keep herself from wobbling. She knew there were a shit-ton of people watching them from the ground. Up they went until they were hidden from view by the clouds.
Once in a glide, Katie rolled her neck. “I really don’t understand what this creature could be. I mean, the first time this happened, I kind of understood Wilson’s mindset. He thought he was being hired by the government to take me down, and I was someone he hated. When he found out it was demon initiated, you would have thought he would have relented. But he is still at it, and getting information from God-knows-who.”
Pandora looked around. “I don’t even know if the Big Man knows, especially if they are searching for some beast that they were sent to find. There is something about this that is weirder than normal, but I can’t get my senses wrapped around it.”
Katie flapped her wings to speed up, and Pandora followed. “What could this creature even be? I mean, is it some demon they were sent out to find? If so, what would they need a submarine for?”
Pandora shook her head. “I can’t think of a demon they would need the submarine for. And generally, if there is a demon involved, it would come to them. There wouldn’t be a hunt for the thing. Demons don’t usually operate in that manner.”
Katie nodded. “That’s what I thought. And why would Wilson go looking for another demon anyway? It was obvious he was bamboozled by the lawyer just like everyone else. As much as I hate Wilson, I have a hard time believing that after all his years of service, he would bend to the will of a demon.”
Pandora shrugged. “You would be surprised by what humans will do for power or revenge. And let’s face it, Wilson has wanted both of those things for a very long time. He wants revenge on you and power from everyone.”
Katie shook her head. “Still, bowing to the enemy is a hard pill to swallow. Do you think maybe it could be another Leviathan?”
Pandora glanced at Katie. “Let’s hope not. We’ve seen what the Leviathans can do, and though Juntto is our ally now, he wasn’t always. It took both of us almost dying to get him to that point.”
The two flew together in silence, thinking about what Wilson might be up to. They discussed artifacts, weapons, and everything else, but none of it explained why the fuck he would steal a small submarine.
As they approached the hotel, Katie dove, Pandora struggling behind her. Pandora pulled her wings in, but the speed and wind caught one of them, pulling it back out. She spiraled downward, cursing as she tried to get her feet beneath her. “Sonofabitch. Feet down. What fucking hell is this? I thought it was an angel thing, not a torture thing.”
Katie landed gracefully on her feet in front of the hotel and folded her wings in. She looked to her right as Pandora slammed into the ground, one wing tight to her back, the other crinkled disobediently. Pandora immediately popped to her feet, reaching back and pushing her wild wing down until they both disappeared.
Katie lifted both eyebrows and Pandora put up her hands. “Don’t say it. At least I landed without injuring someone else or destroying property this time.”
Katie smirked and looked at the hotel. “Well, this is definitely not the Four Seasons.”
It was a shady motel in a secluded area, with hookers and drug dealers milling around the parking lot, trying to sell whatever they had available. The two headed for the room, stopping every few steps for Katie to turn down another hooker looking for a good time.
She glanced at Pandora. “Why the fuck are they bombarding me?”
Pandora snorted. “Because you are a stiff, and they figure they might be able to loosen you up a bit. To be honest, a hooker and some coke sound heavenly right about now.”
Katie narrowed her eyes. “You’re working.”
Pandora sighed. “Yeah, yeah. I said it sounded heavenly. Didn’t mean I was going to do it. Maybe later. At least now I know where to come for a good time.”
Katie grunted in disgust and hurried to the room marked 134, matching cover of the key card in her hand. She slid the card through the slot and carefully opened the door a crack. Katie paused and pulled out her pistol, looking back at Pandora. “You ready?”
Pandora nodded. “Got your back, sister.”
Katie kicked the door wide and pointed her gun into the dark space. Pandora sent out light through her blue eyes, shining it around the room. There were two beds, the comforter and sheets rumpled, some food boxes scattered about, and an empty bottle of liquor on the table. Katie hurried through the room to the bathroom and cleared it before walking back out and putting away her pistol. “There’s no one here. I’m assuming this was Wilson’s and Red’s room.”
Pandora fiddled around until she found the light switch. She clicked it on and smiled. “Let there be light.”
Katie chuckled. “Profound. You found the source of light in the disgusting whorehouse.” She put her hands on her hips and turned toward the back wall, her mouth slightly falling open. “Jesus Christ.”
Pandora walked up next to her, staring at the wall. From one corner to the other and from top to bottom, maps, papers, clippings, and pictures were pinned to the wall. Red string stretched from one item to another. Some of them had multiple points, sprouting out like a spider web. Some had none.
Pandora pursed her lips. “Who the fuck was staying here, some dirty detective?”
Katie took a step closer, narrowing her eyes. “I think this was Wilson. This isn’t all regular human stuff.”
Pandora ripped one of the papers from the wall. It was old and thick, not like modern paper. “I don’t know what this is written on, but it isn’t paper, and it’s not human skin either. I don’t know, it could be demon flesh, but it’s kind of thick and crinkly for that.”
Katie batted her eyes. “Does that give us a clue where they are going?”
Pandora glanced at Katie. “Oh, no. I was just making an observation. What it does do is tell us that somewhere along the path to whatever plan these asshats have been cooking up, there has been some sort of hell demon involved. To what extent, I have no idea, but Wilson and his team have put some work in with all this shit.”
Katie looked at the writing on the piece of skin. “What does this say?”
Pandora took it back and read it out loud. “Ya beast iz yoq aem knaoq ednardhy oth honor. Iq roves ya places traelr aerja qae ya bravest aem Lucifer’s warriors. Qae yozz udaer iz qae…”
Pandora stopped, lowering the paper to her side. “This is a very old form of demonic language, not spoken anywhere in the underworld or beyond anymore. It was abandoned long ago.”
Katie tilted her head to the side. “For English?”
Pandora shook her head. “Demons speak all languages, whatever is understood by the person they are talking to at that moment. To each other, they speak whatever they are comfortable with. That is why in hell you could walk past a demon speaking the demonic language and one replying in Cantonese or Elvish or whatever else they decided to speak in. On Earth, there are old languages like Aramaic. In hell, it is the same way. When hell was first created, they formulated a demonic language to keep angels and God from spying on them. This was that language. Over time, it was figured out and discarded because it was no longer needed.”
Katie pointed at the skin. “What does it say in English?”
Pandora concentrated, translating the ancient speech. “’The beast has great strength and honor. He roves the places known only to the bravest of Lucifer's warriors. To call upon him is to...’ The rest of it is very smudged.”
Katie nodded. “And the map?”
Pandora scanned the map and shook her head. “It’s definitely Earth. It’s leading the person somewhere out into the ocean. It’s really the middle of now
here. There aren’t even any islands out there.”
Katie sighed and crossed her arms. “Why would you want to go randomly out to the middle of the ocean? And look at the rest of these pictures. They are photographs of random locations out in the ocean. I don’t get it. Does it say anything else? The writing at the bottom?”
Pandora ran her finger across the smudged writing. “You…will find him. He is resting there. He…”
Katie looked at Pandora curiously. “What? What does it say?”
Pandora’s face had gone pale for the first time ever. Katie put her hand on her shoulder with a frown. “Pandora. Take a deep breath. What is going on?”
Pandora looked at Katie and shook her head, letting the map fall from her hands. She backed into the desk, looking at the expanse of information on the wall. “This can’t be right. There’s no way this can be right.”
Katie inhaled deeply, grabbing Pandora by the face. “Tell me what is going on.”
Pandora swallowed hard, looking her straight in the eyes. “They’re looking for Baylahn.”
The general stood next to the captain, angrier than hell. They were at the now-empty bay where the submarine had once sat. General Brushwood had seen the bloodstains and heard the explanation, and now just wanted to know what the fuck was going on. He looked at the sailors and soldiers standing by waiting for direction.
Glancing at the captain, who gave him a nod, he began to bark orders. “I want you men to track that fucking stolen submarine. I sure as hell hope you have already started doing that. I don’t give a rat’s ass if you have to strap on a diving suit and swim after the fucker, find it!”
One of the chiefs stepped forward at attention. “General, sir. Wilson must have disabled the tracking devices. We are unable to track the submarine electronically. It comes back as a dead signal every time we try.”
The general’s eye twitched. “Okay, then what else has been done to secure the sub? I know ‘nothing’ is not going to be the word coming out of your mouth. This man is extremely dangerous, and so is his cohort. They killed their own men, for fuck’s sake. We have no idea what they are up to, but we do know they are in possession of a stolen piece of advanced military machinery equipped with torpedoes capable of taking down ships and other submarines.”
A petty officer first class stepped forward. “General, we have intel that the submarine was seen going out into the Atlantic. There is speculation that Wilson and Red might be working with the Russians or some terrorist organization. We have taken the liberty of pooling resources with the other branches of the military as well as the FBI and the CIA to track any mention of plans received through transmissions.”
Brushwood threw his hands up. “Fine, keep doing that, but I can tell you right now that working with a foreign power against the United States is not Wilson’s MO. The man is an idiot and hell-bent on revenge, but he is not purposely working for a foreign enemy. At least not knowingly. Of course, he has proven to be a complete moron when it comes to things like that.”
The captain nodded. “Is it possible that some other demonic force has infiltrated the Council?”
The general rubbed his face. “We just finished kicking them out. I don’t understand how we let them sneak right through our motherfucking fingers!”
The chief took a deep breath. “We are working as fast as we can trying to figure out their course. We have all submarines and ships in the Atlantic on alert for anything they see or hear going on under the surface. All military ports, including our allies’, have been notified of the possibility of the enemy docking. They have been instructed to apprehend them and do what they can to keep our technology safe and covert.”
The general gritted his teeth. “I don’t give a damn about the sub right now. I care about what those idiots are using it for. They don’t do things like this without some good reason. Where the fuck are they going?”
Red shifted uncomfortably in the tiny space. She looked out the ultra-thick window and narrowed her eyes. It was dark and cold that deep under the water, and it didn’t make her very comfortable. “How experimental is this thing?”
Wilson glanced at her. “Relax. It has clocked thousands of hours under the water. It was being prepared for tactical deployment. Right now, I need you to focus on getting through the charts.”
Red held the folded-out charts in her lap and groaned. “The damn things are fucking hard to read. We killed the only one on the team who could have read them. Maybe we should have made him write it out first.”
Wilson lifted his eyebrows. “What, do you think he could have given you Google directions or something? They cannot possibly be that hard to read. We’ve got longitude, latitude, depth, and direction.”
Red stared at him in irritation. “And most of it is written in that fucking demonic language with strange symbols.”
Wilson pressed some buttons on the controls and took the charts from her. He moved his finger along the lines, pointing to the destination on the map. In reality, he wasn’t positive they were headed in the right direction either.
Red sighed. “There aren’t any islands or land masses on that map.”
Wilson shook his head, looking at the coordinates. He pulled out another map and began to plot the same numbers. Red watched him using the tools. “You’re like an old-ass pirate.”
Wilson chuckled. “Make fun of me, Red, but this will give a present-day view where we are headed. It might help us steer this sub a little bit better, or at least in the correct direction.”
When he was finished, he rubbed his chin. “Well, that’s interesting. This map has us going out into the middle of nowhere. No land masses, nothing.”
Red groaned, leaning back against the cold wall. “And what are we going to do when we find this Baylahn? Did you even think about that? We don’t even know what we will be facing. This could be a fucking trap, for all we know.”
Wilson handed back the chart and shook his head. “It’s not a trap. And when we find him, I guess we’ll ask for his help in the war against the demons.”
Red stared at him. “Okay, and do we speak his language? Fuck, do we even know what language he... Do we know what kind of creature he is?”
Wilson grumbled, “We didn’t get that far information-wise.”
Red threw her hands up, hitting the ceiling of the sub with her knuckles. She winced and pulled her hand back to her lap. “This fucking thing is the pits. It’s like a little water-tomb. What if he is a frost giant, like that blue twerp who hangs out with Katie? Or what if he’s a giant lizard-monster like Tiamat? She was definitely not a Leviathan you could just strike up a reasonable conversation with.”
Wilson sighed and turned as far as he could toward Red. “I know as much as you do. I have shared every bit of information with you. All we can do is follow the map and find out what is going on when we get there.”
Red nodded and looked down at the charts. “If we get there.”
4
Baal and Beelzebub stood nervously at the entrance to the throne room. Beelzebub grabbed Baal’s wrist, and his partner shook it off. “Get it together. We haven’t done anything too stupid since the last time we talked to him. Just fucking get it together.”
Beelzebub nodded, walking in behind Baal. Lucifer was waiting on his throne, with Mania standing next to him. She stared at them as they walked forward, crows circling over her head. Several dove for the two and she clicked her tongue, pulling them back into her orbit. One of them landed on her arm and she carefully stroked its head, whispering to it so low they couldn’t hear what she was saying.
When they reached the dais, Lucifer put his hand up. He took a deep breath and leaned forward, the red flashing blindingly in his eyes. “I don’t know why I have to have this conversation with you, but here you are, you blundering morons!”
The two began to shake as Lucifer’s voice echoed through the chamber. He gripped the baby skulls at the end of each arm of his throne. “You can’t just infect the dead! Di
d you think I wouldn’t notice the zombie Santa Claus groaning down the street? Or the fact that an angel had to cut its head off to stop it?”
Baal and Beelzebub stumbled over their words as they tried to explain. Lucifer stood up. “SILENCE! Do you know what happens when we start fucking with the rules? We have to answer to the angels. Right now, the Earth is relatively angel-free. The only time we see them roaming around is either with Katie and that bitch Pandora, or a random appearance for some disgusting miracle. It has been that way for centuries because we don’t push the envelope to the point at which they begin to take notice.”
Lucifer walked down the steps toward the two demons. “If zombies start eating brains and wreaking havoc, the angels will surely follow to figure out what the fuck is going on. When they do that, they will find our demons lurking on Earth. They will not only kill those demons, depleting our military strength, but they will report back. Do you know who has to answer for it when they report back?”
Baal cringed. “Uh, us?”
“WRONG,” Lucifer screamed, spitting on Baal. “I have to answer for my minions doing stupid-as-fuck things topside. Then, as if that isn’t bad enough, they will start executing the demons in my realm. There won’t be enough of us to go around even if you two morons get control of Earth. What exactly were you thinking?”
Baal and Beelzebub exchanged glances. Beelzebub cleared his throat, but before he could speak Lucifer swished his hand through the air, magically sealing his mouth. Beelzebub’s eyes went big and he stood very still, terrified of what would come next.
Lucifer was beyond pissed, and he got angrier by the second. At that point, he was yelling so loud that the entirety of hell could hear him. “THERE ARE RULES!”
Mania stroked her crow, smiling at the demons. Her eyes shone brightly; she was more than enjoying the show in front of her. She loved seeing the fear in their eyes, which excited her. Her crows cawed, feeling the excitement brewing in her, and began to circle faster and faster over her head. The tattoos of tree limbs on her neck and face swayed as her emotions heightened.