by S. A. Moss
“Do you hear that?” I murmured to Pearl.
“Yeah,” she muttered. “It must be—”
I didn’t get to find out if she’d guessed right or not, because a moment later, the hotel’s front doors were flung open, and dozens of bodies rushed out.
My body tensed.
This is it. No going back now.
“Humans!” I cried, diving to the side as they raced onto the street. Our own human force stepped forward to meet them, aided by the Guardians who’d been tasked to stay behind and protect them. The remaining Guardians, the Council, and I all faded out, racing through the walls of the building as humans continued to pour out through the doors.
More humans filled the lobby, shouting and working themselves up in a battle frenzy. Akaron’s disciples were a strange assortment of people, but fortunately for us, most of them appeared to be civilians with little tactical training.
I raced up the stairs to the second floor, aware of Sada and Arcadius flanking me on either side. Pearl had peeled off from our group when the humans attacked. She had her own job to do.
Speaking of which…
A low buzz caught my ear, and a second later, a small electronic drone flew over my head, zipping up the stairs ahead of me as I rounded the third floor landing. It flitted down the hallway, and Pearl’s voice came through the walkie-talkie clipped to my pants.
“Cam! Two vampires in the room up ahead!”
I changed course slightly, veering away from the door as two pale-skinned creatures with large crowns of antlers burst into the hall. They must’ve been lying in wait for us.
My dodge wasn’t quite fast enough, and one grabbed a fistful of my shirt, yanking me off balance. Will dove for the floor as I fell sideways, throwing an aether pike as I did. It caught the vampire through the neck, opening a hole the size of a quarter.
For a moment, I could see his friend’s shocked expression through the hole in his neck, then I hit the plush carpet and rolled. I heard a crack as Sada blasted the remaining vampire into the wall with such force he flew through it.
Other Guardians raced past us, and I heard Pearl calling out directions over the walkie-talkies they had as well. She was controlling at least five drones, sending them out like little bees to collect information and report back. The walkie-talkies would lose effectiveness once we crossed over to the Shroud, but our plan was to avoid doing that for as long as possible.
The black box hooked to my waistband crackled. Pearl’s voice was positively gleeful as she called out, “Cam? This floor is clear! I’m scoping out the fourth floor, and I’ve got another drone on the fifth. Keep going!”
Adrenaline flooded my body.
So far, so good.
Akaron would likely be on the top floor. It was possible he’d stationed himself on one of the lower levels, but it was unlikely. As slippery as he’d proven to be, he was also somewhat predictable as a megalomaniac. If there was a penthouse suite, nothing else would do to appease his ego.
I really hope I’m right about that.
If Akaron was on the top floor, it would make our job much easier. We’d have an easier time pinning him down when he had fewer escape routes available.
The only downside was that we had a long, long way to go before we reached him.
I dashed up the steps behind the Council, who had taken the lead. Will had obviously decided I was too dangerous to use as transport anymore, so he darted up the steps beside me, his little body moving quickly. We rounded the stairwell on the fourth floor, then the fifth, leaving behind several Guardians on each floor.
Only twenty-five floors left to go.
As if Pearl had read my thoughts, her voice crackled through the walkie-talkie again.
“Cam! Look out! The tenth floor is full of scorpion-demons. They took out one of my drones. They’re out for blood.”
33
Ah crap.
I’d never encountered a scorpion-demon before, but I had a very strong suspicion I didn’t want to. I didn’t care for scorpions or demons; why would I like a combination of the two?
“Thanks, Pearl,” I said into the walk-talkie as we reached the eighth floor. If I’d still been human, I probably would’ve been gasping for breath by now. But I wasn’t even winded. We sprinted up the next flight of stairs, and when we rounded the stairwell to the tenth, a chittering, clattering noise set my teeth on edge.
Three giant scorpions leapt toward us, pincers snapping and tails poised over their heads. Their upper bodies were vaguely human, although the skin of the humanoid half was the same dark, glistening shell as the scorpion half.
I dove forward, sliding underneath one of the huge bugs and popping up behind it. It was safer back here, where the tail couldn’t sting me. Even if it couldn’t kill me, the venom would definitely take me out of commission for a long while.
The creature screeched and wheeled about, but before it could face me again, I unleashed a large blast of aether toward it. The thing slammed into the wall, its human head hitting a wall sconce and shattering it. The hallway dimmed slightly as the scorpion-demon shook its head, reorienting itself.
It lunged toward me again as one of its friends fought Owen and Adele. They were alternating aether blasts, keeping it confused and angry. But behind them, several more of the creatures lurched down the hallway toward us.
Shit! We couldn’t fight them all.
I ducked to the side, and the scorpion’s huge tail slammed into the ground where I’d been standing, gouging into the carpet with a thunk.
“Cam! Behind you!”
Owen’s voice drew my attention, and I whirled. Another huge stinger jabbed toward me.
My throat closed in panic.
There was no time to evade it.
There was barely time to fade out.
As I crossed over to mid-plane, I felt the stinger hit my torso, causing a starburst of pain to flare inside me. Then my body became incorporeal, and the heavy tail passed the rest of the way through me harmlessly.
I clutched my chest, blood welling between my fingers. The wound would heal, but I could feel the scorpion’s poison seeping through me, weakening me. Will darted back and forth in front of me, chittering anxiously.
Still, it was better than being pierced completely through. That would’ve put me out of commission for hours—and we didn’t have hours.
The wound in my chest began to close slowly, trapping the poison inside. My limbs felt like they were made of lead as I attempted to fight off the stupor. The scorpion demon hadn’t followed me to the mid-plane, choosing instead to go after Arjun, who’d rushed forward to help me.
I faded back in quickly, positioning myself so the scorpion was boxed in between me and the other Guardian.
“Arjun! His head! Go for his head!”
Not waiting for a confirmation from him, I unleashed a large blast of aether at the scorpion’s humanoid head. Arjun was no dummy. He picked up on my intention immediately and sent his own blast at the creature’s head.
Our two strikes hit simultaneously, crushing the scorpion-demon’s skull between them. It staggered and fell sideways, crashing into a wall in the narrow hallway.
“Nicely done!” Arjun called, grinning at me.
I tried to grin back, but the sight of half a dozen more of these things skittering toward us sucked all the joy out of our victory.
Backing up a step, I reached for the walkie-talkie at my waist before remembering it was useless now. I’d just taken it to the mid-plane.
“Here. Take mine!” Arjun unclipped the small black device from his belt and passed it over to me.
“Thanks,” I panted, adrenaline making me short of breath. I held it up to my mouth with one hand and threw an aether pike with my other. It pierced a scorpion-demon’s torso. The impact slowed him a bit, but the hole in his body otherwise had no effect.
“Damn, these things are strong,” Arjun muttered, readying his next attack.
“Pearl! Things are getting hairy
down here! What do the upper levels look like?”
“You’re clear for the next five floors.” Her voice sounded tinny through the small speakers. “If you can break away, you’ll have a straight shot up.”
“Great.” I bit my lip, throwing another blast of aether. The hallway was crowded with writhing, struggling bodies—both Guardian and scorpion. “Now I just need to find an opening.”
Pearl said something else, but I didn’t register her words because a banshee’s shriek suddenly echoed down the hallway, its scream shattering the windows. I dropped to my knees, pressing my hands to my ears. Around me, other Guardians did the same. But the piercing howl seemed to have no effect on the scorpions, who took advantage of our moment of weakness to leap on us.
A scorpion with shiny black-brown skin pinned Sada down with its front legs, raising its stinger high overhead as the banshee’s scream continued to tear through the hall.
Suddenly, the scorpion’s tail jerked. Instead of plunging into Sada’s chest, the curved tail bent backward unnaturally, the hard material of the scorpion’s shell snapping with a loud crack. The humanoid upper body stiffened, its hands pressed to its chest.
“I’ve got him! Broke him! Run. Run!”
Reeva’s voice echoed out of the space above Sada. I peered back down the hall, hands still clamped firmly over my ears, which I was pretty sure were bleeding now.
Finally, I saw it. Reeva’s glowing aura.
She was surrounded by several more auras, and as I watched, she and the ghosts around her flickered into view for a moment, briefly appearing on the earthly plane.
The scorpions screeched with rage, the sound barely audible above the banshee’s never-ending wail. They charged the ghosts, but before the demons reached them, the ghosts faded back out. Blast after blast of aether flew toward the advancing scorpions.
That was all the opening I needed. I trusted that Reeva and her friends could take care of these guys, or at least keep them distracted long enough for us to get out of here.
Forcing my limbs to move despite the poison coursing through them, I stood slowly.
Will darted down the hallway suddenly, throwing himself at the banshee. He landed halfway up its body and scrambled higher, sinking his sharp little teeth into its neck. The screeching noise stopped for a moment, and I took advantage of the temporary reprieve, reaching out with my sense and wrapping a bind around the dark creature.
I pulled tight, and the banshee froze, its jaw snapping shut.
The sounds of a fight echoed behind me as the scorpions battled the ghosts, but it might as well have been sweet, sweet silence.
“Thanks, Will. Good boy.” Breathing a sigh of relief, I turned to help Sada up. “Let’s go!”
She nodded grimly, wiping a smear of blood from her cheek with the back of her hand and taking off down the hallway.
Will leapt back onto my shoulder as I followed, the other Guardians hot on my tail. We’d leave some of our team down here, but we’d need backup for whatever else we were bound to encounter on our way up.
“Pearl, we’re on our way! How far up are your drones?”
“Fifteenth floor. Be ready on the fourteenth, there’s a giant spider who built a web across the entire hallway. I’ll guide you around it.”
My stomach dipped. Logically, I knew a giant supernatural spider wasn’t really any more dangerous than any of the other creatures we’d fought today—but that didn’t mean I was eager to encounter one.
“Thanks, Pearl.”
She whispered short directions when we reached the fourteenth floor. The carpet was covered in a tacky white film, and I cringed as my boots stuck to it. We were almost to the utility stairs when a loud squeal rang in my ears. A spider the size of a car raced down the hallway toward us, moving as fast as a car too.
“Shit!” I threw myself at the door, wrenching it open as Arjun and Asha stepped forward.
“You go! We’ll take this bastard!” Asha screamed, her face a fierce mask. She raised her hands toward the furry beast bearing down on them.
I didn’t wait to see what happened next. I darted through the door, followed by the Council members and our few remaining guard. My chest clenched with worry as we raced up the stairs behind Pearl’s buzzing drone.
We couldn’t afford to lose too many more on the way up, or I wouldn’t have enough backup when it came time to fight my father and Akaron.
34
I had been right to worry.
By the time we reached the twenty-ninth floor, we’d left behind almost everyone we started with. They were several stories below us, battling werewolves, ghouls, and vampires. But they were buying us time.
Sada, Arcadius, and I crept quietly along the carpeted hallway toward the last set of stairs. The door was locked, so I dropped my walkie-talkie, faded out and passed through, then opened it from the other side, retrieving the small device as I did.
Arcadius nodded approvingly. He and Sada had both had to fade several times as we made our way up here, so my walkie-talkie was the last functioning one. And we needed it.
The drone buzzed ahead of me, flitting down the hallway like a humming bird, pausing every so often as Pearl got her bearings. My walkie-talkie squeaked before her voice came through faintly.
“This hallway looks clear. I’ll keep Dronie with you all though, and try to get the layout of the penthouse when you get in. I don’t expect he’ll last too long with aether flying around, but I’ll gather as much intel as I can.”
I smiled, although my face felt numb and the expression felt foreign. “You named your drone?”
“Of course! And Dronie has done very well.”
Clearing my throat to hide my laugh, I said, “You’ve done well, Pearl. Thanks. We wouldn’t have made it this far without you.”
The drone dipped in the air ahead of us, as if Pearl had knocked the control by accident. Then her voice came softly. “Be careful, Cam.”
“I will.”
The hallway was undisturbed, and the sounds of the fight below us could barely be heard. We turned a corner, and a large, ornate set of double doors came into view. I swallowed. The scene looked almost serene.
Too bad we have to break the peace.
The three of us stalked slowly toward the door. Could Akaron feel our presence out here? Did he have spies of his own? Could he have hooked into the hotels surveillance feed somehow?
Our attack wasn’t meant to be a surprise, but I suddenly hated the thought of how long we’d given him to prepare for our arrival. Did two Council members and one newbie Guardian really stand a chance against him? Against my father?
Swallowing down the fear bubbling up my throat, I turned to Sada and Arcadius. “Thank you. For being here.”
“It’s an honor to fight with you, Cam.” Arcadius’s face was streaked with blood, but his gray eyes were warm and steady, calming me.
Sada didn’t speak, but her long fingers gripped my hand tightly for a moment, lending me strength.
I turned to face the solid oak doors. “Well, here goes nothing.”
Arcadius shot me a look, his body tensed and ready. “Not nothing. Something. A fight worth fighting.”
The Seer’s words from my last visit to her echoed through my mind.
We don’t fight only when we know we will win. We fight when we cannot do anything else.
She had been right. And Arcadius was right. Whether we won or lost today, this was a battle that needed to be fought. It was important.
I placed one hand on the keycard lock of the door and pulsed three quick blasts of energy into it. The metal heated, and on the third blast, it snapped. Throwing the door open, I stepped inside, hands raised.
The penthouse suite was opulent and sprawling. Recessed lighting glinted from a full bar along one wall, and leather upholstered furniture was arranged around the room. It had seen better days though—the days before Fallen creatures invaded this space and gouged huge chunks out of it with their talons, teeth, and ho
rns. Smears of blood decorated the soft leather too, although I didn’t see any human bodies, thank goodness.
Akaron sat on a curved couch, his arms spread across the back. His hood was still thrown back, revealing his scarred, bald head and red eyes.
Several Fallen were spaced around the room, but my eyes glossed over them as I searched for my father. He leaned against a wall by the window, separate from the others. His gaze locked on me as he straightened slowly.
For a moment, the room was completely silent as we squared off.
Then Akaron tipped back his head and laughed. “Three? You only brought three? I must say, I’m a bit insulted.”
“We have more.” My focus snapped back to him, although I saw my father moving in my periphery. I couldn’t let him out of my sight. We were outnumbered here, although not by much. But between Akaron and my father, we were very possibly outmatched.
“I thought the crowd gathered out front looked bigger. Lost that many, have you?” Akaron smirked.
“They’re taking on all the Fallen goons you have running around this building,” I snapped. “And probably kicking their asses.”
His eyes narrowed. “You’re feisty for an untrained Guardian who’s in very much over her head.”
“Who said I’m untrained?” I flicked my eyes around the room, trying to assess what we were up against. Two vampires. One pig-demon. A woman with bronze skin and a forked tongue like a snake, who stood so tall her head almost brushed the high ceiling.
Shit. Where is my father?
I hoped Sada or Arcadius had eyes on him, because I didn’t dare turn away from Akaron.
The Fallen leader smiled, chilling my blood. “You’ll pardon me for saying so, but it’s obvious.”
“Still managed to thwart your plan to use Guardians as a portal!”
He was getting under my skin. Stay calm, Cam. Don’t let him play you.
Akaron’s smile turned into a grimace. “And I’ll make sure you pay for that. Although killing your precious Seer was worth the slight change of plans.” He stood slowly, his long robes flowing around his feet. “I wish I could’ve been there to see the end of her.”