by Richard Hein
The Entity collapsed into a heap. I closed the distance, jumping piles of detritus. The creature scrambled forward on knees and elbows. My last few steps brought me to the prone form, and I flung myself in a wild leap, trying to pin the thing to the ground.
Apparently I had telegraphed my reckless jump. The moment my feet left the ground the demon rolled, back to the pavement, and lashed out with its will. Again a tempest of wind rushed at me, and, mid-leap, I was weightless. I grunted as I twisted through the air, skipped off of a heavy air conditioning unit, and landed in a tangle atop a thankfully-closed dumpster.
“Leave me be!” the demon shouted, fists balled and screaming like a petulant child. “You’ve already taken what you wanted.”
I slid from the dumpster and crumpled to the ground as the demon turned to run. With a snarl, I wrenched at reality, twisting and breaking it, slamming a piece of another universe into being. With an audible pop and groan of settling masonry, a red brick wall popped into existence. A sudden wave of fatigue swept through my limbs as if I’d just tried to scale a mile-tall vertical face. My muscles went slack, a Samuel-shaped puddle amid the muck, breathing harder than I could recall in any recent years. Black dots swam across my vision.
The fleeing creature, however, was trapped in the alley with me.
I cringed at using magic like that, but I couldn’t let this figure get away. Thankfully we were in an alley, and it was unlikely anyone had seen a wall just appear out of nothingness. Whatever Norman Lockyer thought, the world was safer in ignorance, not knowing the awful truth about the dark things that lay beyond our reality.
Such as the man-shaped Entity slapping at my summoned wall. I gulped down another breath of air, pushed to my feet, and staggered down the alley. The figure turned, and my steps slowed. I ran back through my conversations with the Twins.
“Simon?” I asked.
The Entity rocked as if struck, even though most blows — or a four-story fall — would have done nothing.
“Just leave me alone,” Simon said with a violent shake of its head. “It's all gone. He’s gone. Let me be.”
I held up my hands and slowed my advance. “Whoa, hey,” I said. “I don’t want trouble. Stefan and Dieter asked me to find you.”
Simon blinked. “Stefan?”
I nodded. “And Dieter. Now, how about we get out of this filthy alley and talk about this somewhere with a first aid kit.” I wiggled my ground-up left arm, hoping Simon would see I was bleeding and, therefore, human.
Simon calmed a little, though I could see its eyes were wide and panicked behind its glasses.
“Samuel?”
Kate’s voice came from the other side of the free-standing brick wall. Simon spun, facing the direction her voice had come from before glancing side to side as if looking for a way to escape. I cursed.
“She’s with me,” I said, taking another slow step forward. Simon whirled to stare me down once more. “Kate’s a friend of Stefan and Dieter’s.”
Simon swallowed and nodded, relaxing. I blew out a breath, held up my hands in what I hoped was a non-threatening gesture and pitched my voice louder.
“We’re here,” I called to Kate. “I think we’re fine. I’m here with Simon.”
A pause. “Okay. So, case closed?”
I stared at Simon, a corporeal Entity, one summoned to our reality, and was thus pure willpower stuffed into a human-like vessel like a shitty, extra-dimensional sausage. Indestructible, save for magic or weapons created by magic.
What could spook an invincible creature?
“Maybe,” I said. “I still have questions.”
“And the wall?”
I coughed. “Sorry.”
Kate gave an exasperated sigh, and I could imagine the roll of her eyes. “I thought you were quitting with the magic?”
I ignored her and nodded at Simon. “What do you say about a friendly, non-threatening, absolutely-no-battering-me-into-vehicles sort of a talk?”
Something enormous splashed down at the end of the alley we’d entered from. Simon and I turned. Another of those faceless, spindly-legged creatures stood blocking any egress. Vicious claws whipped out to the sides as the thing readied a charge.
“It’s here for me,” I said, taking a step toward it, heart thundering into a gallop.
Simon let out a whimper. “Not again. I can’t face this thing again.”
I glanced at Simon. “Wait. What?”
Clayface charged. Those too-tiny legs belied its speed, hurling it down the alley at us like a freight train. It leaped into the air, twisting sideways to kick off of a fire escape and scythe toward us.
I had no idea if this was the same creature I’d fought before, or another one conjured up from the same place. Either way, it was dangerous as all hell and now the fight was out in public. I needed to head this off fast. My hand slipped to the holster on my hip, freeing my baton as I spun out of the way. Simon rushed forward, but those sharp talons flashed out, parting the tweed jacket like it was air. Simon screamed and stumbled, momentum sending the creature sprawling. A fine mist of black fuzz swirled from the cuts, three neat rows a foot and a half long.
There was no time to waste. While Clayface kept attention on the prone Simon, I lashed out with my weapon as the demon landed. My first blow connected, resounding with a solid thunk on the black carapace across its oversize torso. A little black fuzz twirled at the blow, but not enough for my liking. Another strike on the backhand, but this time Clayface clambered to the side, an alien crab scrambling across the grime of the alley. I hit nothing but air. The demon lashed out with a foot, and, remembering what had happened to my car, I swore and flung myself to the side.
Too slow. Clayface moved like lightning, and the leg caught me right in the stomach. Air exploded out of me as I flew through the air for yet another time. I clipped a dumpster with enough force to rock it up onto two wheels. I felt metal dent beneath my body, felt my right arm go numb from the elbow down, and then I found myself supine on the concrete, staring up at the wall I’d conjured.
Farther above I saw frightened faces poking from windows, watching the spectacle below. I recognized the horror there, the moment of being confronted with something your mind couldn’t rationalize. A shout echoed from above, followed by a hoarse scream that cut off only due to running out of air.
This had to end fast, and not just because I was sure my body couldn’t handle another blow. Protecting the world also meant sheltering people from the harsh realities that lurked beyond ours. With a groan, I rolled to my feet.
Simon had retreated halfway back down the alley toward the entrance we’d come in. Demon against demon, I could feel the twisting of magic as Simon fought valiantly yet vainly against the inexorable tide of Clayface’s advance. A bar of white so bright it left a purple line across my vision flashed out from Simon’s upraised hand, but Clayface moved like crap through a goose. Simon’s attack missed as Clayface rushed sideways impossibly quick, carving a furrow through the building across from us.
“That’s my trick,” I muttered, snatching up my baton.
With a twist of my whole body, I flung the weapon right as the demon’s fist drove at Simon. I wasn’t expecting to do much damage, but the twirling weapon caught the thing across the wrist, deflecting enough that the claws missed by an inch and struck Simon by the back of its fist. Simon grunted and twisted to the ground.
Clayface’s unnatural, twisted head snapped around to focus on me, yellowed eyes narrowing.
“Hey,” I said. “Can’t knock me for trying.”
Kate dropped beside me. Dirt and grime matted her clothes from the climb over the wall. She straightened, eyes widening at the creature before us.
I needed a ‘Plan B’. A ‘Plan C’. A ‘Plan Tactical Nuke’. Something. This was going on over-long and the odds looked grim, even three against one. Two against one, really, as Simon crawled behind a dumpster.
Can we slow this thing down? I thought into the vault of my
mind.
Lauren stirred. Still coming for help only when your life is on the line? I don’t think you see this as a two-way relationship, Samuel, and that hurts me.
Hey, I snapped. You don’t want me dead any more than I do. I need something to slow it enough that I can get in and cast it out. Make with the demon shit and figure something out. I paused and thought for a second. No magic.
The thing lunged at me. My last few dodges had been pitiful, so this time I threw myself downward. The creature’s claws parted the air a foot above my head. I hit the pavement and rolled. My ribs protested, the cut across my stomach hammering pain against my senses. Agile yet tiny legs impacted the wall, vicious claws punching through stone like it was butter. For a moment Clayface stood sideways, the wall acting as a floor, arresting its motion before it dropped back to the ground.
I charged as Kate stepped up beside it. The Entity caught sight of her a second before her reaching hand touched it. Its misshapen face twisted around like an owl’s, staring over its own back. One clawed hand snapped around, poised to shred Kate, and during the second of distraction I bowled into it.
It felt like slamming into an oily brick wall. I hadn’t tackled it. It hadn’t even budged with the normal flexing of muscles one might expect. It was like grappling a statue made of unyielding, greasy iron. My hands slipped across its scales as I brought my angry will to bear. Quick as I could, I tried to exorcise it.
A sensation of being elsewhere flooded my mind. Brackish, shallow water covered in algae. Ragged mountains of blackened iron jutting from the narrow sea. A billion writhing creatures stalking through waist-deep murk, three-clawed fingers flashing out to spear at something pink that squealed when hauled from the water. The air was dense and cloying.
I pushed. For a second the thing shifted, as if someone had turned on a filter over its reality, making it look like an impressionist painting.
Lightning exploded in my eyes, followed a heartbeat later by a thunderous pain. I hit ground in the middle of the street. I hadn’t even seen the fist that had clocked me, though I swore I could feel each individual scale’s indent in my forehead where it had struck. My stomach heaved at the blow to the head, and I staggered to my feet.
Kate took her opportunity while I was playing Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Robots with the thing. She, at least, had remembered her baton. Her arm swept out, and the weapon connected with a tiny knee. Purple light flashed, and a spattering of blackened fuzz sprayed from the joint. The clay-like face distended and rippled as if it was trying to howl without a mouth.
She pivoted, either expecting a fist to the face like I’d taken or trying to always be on the move. Kate’s face was a mask of determination and calm. She whirled again, whipping the baton in a backhand arc that connected with the elbow that tried to claw at where she’d been. More fuzz swirled into the air, like dark static from an old tube television. She moved with precision, with direction.
Here, Lauren said in a commanding tone. Try this.
A dozen images flashed through my mind in a fraction of a second, a vague sense of urgency and direction behind them. I growled at the sudden stab of pain above my right eye.
None of that made sense, damn it! I snapped.
Well, I can’t do it for you, Lauren said back in a lofty tone. I can’t control this meat suit of yours. A pause. Unless you want to let me into the driver’s seat and—
No!
Spoil sport. Listen closer this time, Twinkles.
The images flashed through again. This time instead of trying to watch I let them flicker past my awareness without trying to glean any information from them, then swore in silence.
I said no magic.
It’s either magic or murder, Lauren said. You wanted a way to slow it down. Hitting it with a car didn’t work so well last time, you know. Tick tock. If you don’t do something fast, your precious friend will be Kate tartare.
Kate twisted away from another swing of terrible fingers. The creature was fast though, and dark fingers raked through her jacket, tugging her off balance. She cried out and fell, crimson blossoming on her shoulder. My breath caught as she toppled. Her baton tumbled free as she rolled away from a stomp from those tiny legs, a strike hard enough that the asphalt of the alley pitted beneath the blow.
I flung myself forward, snapping up her fallen weapon. Rolling to my feet, I whipped the baton up and around, expecting an attack, and felt the enchanted steel tube connect with questing claws. I skipped back, standing over Kate while she struggled to her feet, lunging forward with quick, decisive strikes that all hit air. It kept the Entity from an outright attack, at least, but I knew it would be moments before it overran me and clawed me to shreds.
I had to think fast. The only thing that seemed reasonable was magic. There would be a price to pay, though, and I’d dipped into that well a few times today. Daniel’s angry words whispered at me. I needed to be better than that, to be the leader everyone wanted me to be.
The wet-clay face curled into a vicious smile, six eyes burning. It leapt, throwing its enormous bulk up and sideways. One clawed foot lashed out at me as the other planted on my brick wall, again anchoring it for a heartbeat. I twisted and swung, but the thing had been anticipating that. The strike became a grab, long talons curling around my wrist and yanking as the thing pushed off the wall. It moved as deftly and gracefully as the one had in the parking lot at Sanctuary, when it had done its trapeze act from the street light. I stumbled, a sudden white pain in my wrist causing my fingers to spasm against my will. The baton toppled and I fell.
The creature twisted in mid-air, the long points of its feet bearing down on Kate as she rose.
“No!” I roared and gestured, left hand snapping upward, letting the images Lauren had shown me guide my thoughts. I had only the vaguest idea of what I was doing as my will lashed out and twisted reality. I hated myself for it, but Kate was…
A golden chain, each link as thick as my forearm, punched upward through the asphalt. The sharpened pike on the end shot upward and speared through the Entity’s leg. The tip exploded outward, widening like an umbrella on the other side of its flesh. The chain snapped taut and the talons seeking Kate’s blood yanked up short. The thing twisted again and fell, the golden chain going slack.
How had I done that? I stood there, hand raised in the air, eyes wide and confused. Magic was about swapping out bits of reality for another. The sort of finesse one would need to direct a chain — a moving chain, no less — at a target in motion… I mean, it was possible, if you focused your will enough. Find another universe with the chains, find one already in motion in the direction and angle desired and…
I shuddered. Maybe it was like catching a baseball thrown at you. Technically there’s a bunch of math one needs to figure out to determine trajectories and speed, but in the end, you sort of catch it.
Kate stumbled back, eyes wide.
The creature surged upward, a torrent of claws and talons and scales bearing down on Kate. I flicked my wrist and slammed my burning anger into my smoldering will. Another chain tore through the asphalt and speared its arm. A third detonated upward, spearing through a dumpster to catch the other leg. Another and another, the rattle of golden chains shattering the ground and punching through scales and flesh with a meaty thunk over and over.
I spread my fingers, and the chains straightened, hauling the thing up into the air. It thrashed, a fly caught in the web. I gave a nervous, relieved laugh as I stepped around it and stood beside Kate.
“Samuel,” she muttered out of the corner of her mouth, “how are you doing that?”
The golden links swept the thing a few feet off the ground. I stepped forward, hesitant, and placed one hand on the Entity. Its scales were hot, as if they’d been baking in the summer sun rather than the cold Seattle winter all day.
“I don’t know if you’re the asshole I already kicked out or another from the same branch of the Ugly Tree,” I said, “but kindly fuck right off.”
&
nbsp; I was tired of all this crap. The anger kindled and rushed out in a raging tempest. I felt the wet, tropical world it called home once more, and kicked it through to the other side. The creature vanished in a pop of displaced air. The chains sagged, bouncing against the asphalt with metallic notes.
Kate slumped to sit in the middle of the alley. With a thought I clenched off my will and the chains vanished with similar little pops of air. I glanced up to see how many witnesses we had. Quite a few had fled. Some peeked from behind curtains and blinds. The cops would be there soon. Seemed to be a running theme with me these days.
I scrubbed at my face and sagged down beside Kate, weary. With a yawn I crossed my legs, and the two of us sat in the middle of the grimy alley. I offered my right fist, and Kate rapped her knuckles against mine.
“I don’t know if I can get used to the whole Samuel Walker, Asshole Wizard thing,” Kate said, wincing and rolling a shoulder, “but thanks all the same.”
“You going to manage?”
Kate snorted. “What about you? That arm looks like dirty ground sausage.”
I hefted my left arm, the sleeve of my jacket shredded away to reveal the road rash beneath. It hurt, but not any worse than anything else on me, so it all sort of faded into a hazy pain cocktail.
“I’m right-handed,” I said, letting the arm drop. “The left is only good for flipping the bird out my car window.”
Kate gave a soft chuckle.
I retrieved our weapons and gave them a disgusted look.
“These really don’t cut the mustard,” I muttered.
“Get Sanctuary to make something better.”
“What?”
Kate shrugged. “We have those weird brass and glass squirt guns Sanctuary made, right? Shoot beams of pretty purple light, kinda piss poor against angels, probably illegal as hell to carry through the streets. Get Sanctuary to make something more useful.”
I nodded. “Not a bad plan.” I glanced over at Simon.
“What about you?” I asked. “We’ve gone through one hell of a bit of trouble to find you and keep you safe. How about a few answers?”