Graves of Wrath

by Lina Gardiner

  “Of course! Get out your cell phone,” he said. “We can tell the media that people should go to the churches, hunker down there until it is safe to come out.”

  Jess dialed directory assistance and, with stilted French, she managed to contact the city’s most prominent TV channel. Without giving her name, she switched to English. “You have to tell people they’ll be safe in the churches of every denomination. Instruct them to go directly there until the insurgence is over.” She hung up while the person at the other end was still asking how it would be stopped.

  “Can you get Sampson to Notre Dame? He can wait in my office, and I’ll meet him there later tonight after I do my search at the archives.”

  “Will do. Stay safe, brother,” Jess said, dropping him off at the archive building.

  “Phone us when you’re ready to leave the archives, and we’ll escort you back to Notre Dame,” Britt said.

  THIRTY MINUTES LATER, they escorted Samson to Notre Dame, then went back out again. It was getting worse on the streets—much worse.

  Even the rooftops were becoming infested now, so they made their way back to the bridge. Shadows swelled under every streetlight on the both sides of the bridge.

  “I don’t think we can make it back to Regent through that mess. We’ll have to find another route,” he said.

  She gritted her teeth. “We have to find another way, Britt. I won’t desert Regent. These shadows are everywhere!”

  Britt looked around, trying to figure out a way to get back to the archives. He stared down at the water. Slowly, a long rowboat glided out from under the bridge. Holy hell! Our salvation just arrived.

  “We can go up river on that boat, until we’re closer to the archives. Then we just have to figure out a way to get to Regent over land. Hopefully, there won’t be as many shadows there,” Britt said, grabbing her hand and climbing up onto the cement bridge rail. “Jump.”

  She didn’t hesitate. They both jumped. He prayed they’d make the deck of the boat before it slipped off down the river.

  The man steering the craft nearly had a heart attack, judging by the way he was clutching his chest.

  “Friends,” Britt shouted quickly.

  The man nodded at them several times, but his hand gripped the motor handle tightly. The cigarette hanging off his lower lip had gone out long ago.

  “Parlez-vous anglais?” Jess asked.

  “Oui, yes,” he said in a strong French accent.

  “The shadows, the demons up there.” She pointed at the street above and he nodded vigorously, fear evident behind his wide eyes. “They’re afraid of water. We’re safe in the boat,” she said. “We need to get to my brother at the archives. Can you take us as close as you can?”

  “Oui, oui. Asseyez-vous.”

  “Did he really understand what we said?” Britt asked.

  “I think so, if his English is like my French. I can understand more than I can speak.” As they floated along the river, the tiny trolling motor making not much more than a whirring sound, they heard heart-wrenching screams coming from the streets above.

  “We’re in trouble, aren’t we?” Jess said.

  “Don’t give up, doll. You, more than any of us, know we can fight evil and win. This is no different than facing a vampire horde.”

  “Really?” She sounded unusually panicked. “How do you figure that? We’ve both been nearly killed by these things. We can’t possibly win.”

  Britt thought hard about that, as another scream rent the air, with diabolical laughter following. His instinct was to rush to save the person, but he couldn’t without killing the host. He bit his lip. “We have to pray that Regent has found something we can use. We’re here for a reason, Jess. We’re here to help save Paris. I know it.”

  “Oui, oui,” the boat driver said vigorously, pointing at the street.

  When the old man slowed the motor, Britt motioned for him not to get too close to the edge of the river. “It’s safer for you here,” he said. “We can jump.”

  The man looked skeptical.

  They stood, and the boat rocked for a few seconds before they easily jumped to the nearby bank. From there, they waved a thank you to the man. He tipped his hat and responded in French, then revved up his little motor and disappeared into the dark.

  Quickly climbing the bank, they noted the streetlights had been knocked out here, even though there were still lights on inside the buildings on this block. Maybe the residents were still safe—for now.

  “Uh oh!” Jess said. “Without the streetlights, we won’t be able to see the shadows. How do we handle that?”

  “I have an idea,” Britt said, concentrating for a second before angel fire erupted from his solar plexus. This ball of light was larger than normal and hovered in front of them like a brilliant blue lantern. They both saw shadows scurrying to get out of its illumination. “Get in the light, Jess, and stay there. I think we might be safe to travel to Regent.”

  “The demons are afraid of it now, but they’re sly. I hope they don’t find a way to get through,” she said, stepping carefully into the light. Funny—that light had wiped out a hundred vampires at once, yet it didn’t harm her.

  He inhaled her fragrance and felt her soul. Once she came into his light, he could see her true self. Not that she’d want him to know her that well.

  They walked as fast as possible toward the archives. Inside, the building was fully lit but the front steps crawled with shadows. Moaning, wailing, and unworldly sounds filled the Paris night, making the fine hairs on Britt’s arms stand on end.

  Jess faltered before they mounted the steps. “Those sounds,” she said. “They’re awful.”

  “They’re meant to scare us,” he said. “But we’re safe in the light.” He hoped. Who knew if that many shadows could be kept at bay? There is only one way to find out.

  They ascended the stairs. Shadows thronged around them just barely outside his blue light. So far so good. But how long would his energy last?

  They made it to the front doors and stepped inside.

  Three people were sprawled on the floor at the reception desk. Two were dead, and one was badly injured—but not possessed. Jess reacted instinctively by grabbing her cell phone in order to phone for an ambulance.

  “Don’t bother, Jess. It’ll just put the EMTs in danger.”

  “Right,” she said and shoved the cell phone back into her pocket. They wrapped the woman’s wounds as best they could with bits of her own clothing and stepped away. She’d passed out. Hopefully, she’d make it. She looked around.

  “Regent? Oh God, Britt, where’s Regent?”

  Chapter Eighteen

  THE FARTHER THEY got into the archives, the more damage they saw. The building was trashed. There were holes in the walls, lights hung from the ceiling with wires nearly gnawed through, and sparks shot out randomly as they passed under them. Shadows crawled on the floors and up the walls outside the protection of Britt’s angel fire. Shrieks and moans came from every direction.

  “Regent!” Jess shouted. “Where are you?”

  No answer.

  Britt touched her arm and she jerked her head around to see him put his finger over his mouth. She rolled her eyes. Of course. He knew where Regent was. But if Regent answered her, he’d give his position away. Where would be the safest place in this building?

  She racked her panicked brain. Odds were, they had a hermetically sealed secure room for the most valuable books. If so, Regent could be inside. Maybe all of the priests were inside, as well. But where would that be? In the basement, maybe?

  She pointed downward, and Britt nodded. They made for the back of the building and worked their way down the stairs to a sub-basement where they found a biometrically coded door.

  “What are we going to do now? There’s no way ins
ide without the code,” she said, looking around. Safety lighting still gave a little illumination in the hall, and a fire hose and axe remained intact behind a glass case nearby. “Hold on, I’m going to break the door down,” she said.

  She broke the glass with her elbow, grabbed the axe, and slammed it into the metal door. The coding machine blew apart and flew in all directions, but the door didn’t budge.

  “Stand back,” she said. “I’m going to get this door open one way or another.”

  “Wait, doll. You’re almost out of range of my light. Maybe there’s something else we can do.”

  The keening amped up around them, reminding them that the demons knew what he’d said and most likely couldn’t wait to get their claws into her again.

  “I don’t care. I need to find Regent before it’s too late,” she said.

  “You can’t help him if you’re dead,” he said, clamping his hand gently on her shoulder. “Think about this, Jess. I’m not willing to risk your life. Not now. Not ever.”

  Her fear drained away. Damn it, she knew exactly how he felt. She’d be saying the same thing if it had been him taking the risk. “Okay, but if we don’t find a way quickly, I’m going to take my chances.”

  Britt nodded, and she could tell he was frantically trying to come up with a plan.

  “I’ve got it,” he said almost immediately. “Let me get the door open. You stick close to my back so you’ll still be protected.”

  She frowned at him. “You’re not serious. My brother might be dying in there. I’m not taking a back seat on this one—demon attack or not.”

  “Okay, second scenario, I’ll stand beside you, so you’ll still be protected by my light while you pound on that door, hopefully without cracking my head open with the axe,” he said.

  She could have kissed him for not demanding to take over. He knew she had to do this, especially since she had the strength of ten men.

  She slammed the axe as hard as she could into the door. By the third swing, it was beginning to crack near the lock. One more strategic hit and she’d have had it . . . except that the axe split and landed on the floor outside Britt’s light. The demons swarmed it, making it corrode before their eyes. Crap!

  “What if . . .” Britt said, “ . . . we kick the door in together.”

  She grinned at him. “Hurry!”

  He joined her, and they kicked about a dozen times before the door finally gave way. Demons spilled into the opening before either of them could get inside. The room instantly filled with shadows, as if a hole had opened up and black ocean water gushed inside.

  There was one place the demons seemed unable to touch. In the center of the room, there was a glass-paneled structure filled with shelves and books. Inside it, three men were seated at a table. She nearly broke contact from Britt in her hurry to make sure Regent was safe. Luckily, Britt held tight.

  When they waded through the black undulating mass, it spread like the Red Sea for them, but only because of Britt’s angel fire. Only when they reached the glass-encased room and Jess spotted water bubbles between the layers of the glass in the walls, did she realize why the demons couldn’t get any closer—the water must be blessed for stronger protection against evil entities. Was this a common precaution, or did the church expect this kind of uprising? No time for postulating, she spotted a glass door with another biometric code.

  Unable to see clearly through the water, she got a little panicky, but the moment Regent spotted her, he ran to the wall and pressed his hands against it.

  “We think we know how to stop them,” he shouted. “Only we can’t come out. If we do, they’ll kill us.”

  Jess nodded. Regent’s voice was muffled but with her acute hearing, she caught every word. “Wait a minute,” she shouted and turned to Britt.

  It was then she noticed Britt’s pallor, and the sweat beading his forehead. He’d been using his angel fire for too long. Worse, she’d seen what had happened to evangelist Malcolm Fisk last year when he’d exhausted himself with the use of his light—he’d actually gone blind. That meant Britt could be in deep trouble if they didn’t get out of here soon.

  “Can you hold on a few minutes longer?” she asked Britt.

  He blinked a couple of times and swiped the moisture from his face. “Of course!”

  Britt was lying and she knew it. She glanced at Regent—he knew it too. Regent shook his head while his face contorted weirdly behind the shifting water that moved inside the walls.

  She glanced at a table in the background and a small glowing light caught her eye. “You’ve got a computer in there!”

  Regent nodded.

  “Is it connected to Wi-Fi?”

  “Yes, it is.” Excitement lit his eyes when he saw where she was going with her question.

  “Can you send us the information we need to take the demons down?”

  She heard whispers around her, as if she were in a cave of thousands, all muttering at the same time. “Do it fast, brother, or I fear your Wi-Fi connection will be lost.”

  The priests tore back to the desk and went to work. One of them typed, the rest looked as if they were reading off information from texts they had on the desk.

  “Let’s get out of here, my love. Regent is safe for now, and I can’t hold this illumination much longer,” Britt said.

  “Hurry then, let’s go.” The ocean of demons looked like bloodsuckers crawling over each other, trying to stay ahead of them as they climbed the steps back to the main level. Even though she was within his protective circle, the intense blackness threatened to suck all hope from her world.

  Worse, Britt was obviously weakening. Could they make it to the outside?

  Since the hallway no longer had visible floors, doors or windows, they had to hope they could make their way back to safety before Britt’s energy depleted completely.

  “Wait a minute. Are we going the right way?” Britt asked, still gripping Jess’s hand.

  She reached out, feeling along the wall for the railing. “Just keep feeling your way. Hurry.”

  It seemed to take forever to make it to the hallway leading to the foyer. At least, she was pretty sure that’s where they were.

  Only Britt’s angel fire kept them insulated from the pressing void. His light was losing its strength—their protective barrier was getting smaller and closing in on them. Britt grunted and didn’t respond while she finally found the reception desk with her hand and led him to the front door of the building.

  If she hadn’t been so scared, she’d have made a joke about having echolocation, but this really wasn’t the time.

  Suddenly, they were outside, with hopeful stars twinkling above them. That said, the ground still writhed with shadow demons, and Britt’s waning light still somehow managed to part the sea of shadows to show pavement.

  “Hurry. We’ve got to make it to the bridge before your energy collapses.”

  “Lead on, babe,” he said in a voice that expressed everything—his love, his devotion, and his exhaustion.

  “Two more blocks,” Jess shouted, sensing his energy waning. “Can you run?”

  They darted forward, his hand clinging to hers. Had his grip lessened? She squeezed his hand and urged him forward. The second they made the bridge, his light disappeared, and he dropped to his knees.

  “You okay?” she asked. He was dripping in sweat, but he managed to nod.

  She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket to see if she’d still had a connection. So far, so good. Now she prayed the Wi-Fi towers were still working.

  They weren’t alone on the bridge, either. Citizens who hadn’t made it to the churches crowded here for safety. Every bridge in Paris was probably occupied.

  “As soon as Regent’s message comes through, save it to your mini SD card, just in case. We don’t want to
lose it,” Britt said.

  Jess continued to monitor their surroundings. “Dammit, we could use a boat again,” she said.

  “Madame?” a voice called from the river below them. “Do you need me?”

  She leaned over the bridge and looked down. “It’s him,” she shouted to Britt, trying to be heard over the voices of the many fearful and crying people around them. She leaned over the side again and smiled. “Merci, monsieur. Merci!”

  He nodded, his dead cigarette still hanging from his lower lip, then motioned for them to hurry. Even the banks of the rivers were undulating with demons now. They desperately wanted to get at those people protected by the water. Somehow the magic of the Seine, or the water itself, saved them.

  Jess leaned over to whisper to Britt, who was still on his knees. “Britt, did you hear me? We’re going to get a boat ride back to Notre Dame. Then we can find a computer and figure out how to stop these things.”

  “I’m with you all the way, babe,” he grunted in exhaustion, shoving himself to his feet. It seemed that he’d used every ounce of energy he had.

  “Can you climb up onto the side of the bridge to jump into the boat?” she asked, grabbing his elbow to help him.

  “I’m not that tired,” he said, smiling at her. “I can do it. You go first, and I’ll come next.

  “No frigging way. What if you have trouble?” She scowled at him. “Get your ass over the side of that bridge, or I’ll throw you over.”

  He laughed. “I love it when you go all Rambo on me.” He scrambled up onto the bridge with less effort than she expected, then grabbed her hand to help her, to prove his capability.

  She could have ignored his hand, and normally she would have, but not this time. She let him help her. His outward strength was almost as impressive as his inner strength.

  He jumped first and waited below to catch her. She dropped lithely into his arms, and they both found a seat with minimal rocking of the boat.

  The boatman grinned at them.

  “Notre Dame, please?” Jess said. He couldn’t take her directly to Notre Dame, but close. Surely they could make it that far over land, blue light or not.