Paranormal After Dark

by Rebecca Hamilton

  “Let’s see if you still bleed,” he said.

  His eyes squinted for a moment. The sound of cracking stone filled the room, and blood seeped from around Tres’s hand. The creature spread out its arms and spun. Tres flew back into the stairs, knocking Marge over in the process. I scanned the room. There had be something to bash this abomination to death. My gaze fell on a fire extinguisher near the table. I dropped my sword and grabbed it. Tres got to his feet as the squat demon waddled closer to him. He held his right hand out with his fingers spread wide.

  I slammed the fire extinguisher into the crevice of the stone demon’s back. The crack widened, causing more blood to gush from the wound. It streamed down its back and stained the gray stone a dark red. The demon swung its arm at me, but I side-stepped it and bashed it again with the metal canister. It dropped to its knees, but I didn’t stop. I kept slamming the extinguisher into it until the demon stilled. I stood over my fallen enemies, panting, and glanced over at Tres.

  “Remind me never to make you mad,” he said.

  “This isn’t angry,” I said and glanced at Marge. “How about her?”

  He kneeled over her and started inspecting her. “Her joints appeared to have stiffened. Interesting effect.”

  “That particular kind likes to paralyze its victims and sexually assault them,” I said. “Though I didn’t know its physical form would turn out to be actual stone.”

  “So, you’ve seen these things before?” Tres asked.

  I pointed to the stone remains. “This was a Trauco. The other”—I pointed to the cat demon—“was a Bajang. They’re both less powerful kinds from the Throne of Lust.”

  “More from Lust,” Adrian said in my ear. “I wonder what this purpose is for summoning this many.”

  “She always wanted power,” I said. “I guess this gives her an advantage over the others.”

  “She?”

  “The ruler. Naamah.”

  “So what were they doing there?” Adrian asked.

  I limped to a crate by the table and opened it as Tres continued working on Marge. Bags filled with a yellowish power lay stacked on one another. I picked up my flashlight from where I had dropped in during the fight and walked towards the slumped figure in the corner. A black slick liquid covered the figure from head to toe, shining a slight rainbow reflection in the light my flashlight.

  An orang. Another demon from Lust. His head rested on his chest and his arms hung on the arm rests. A plastic tube came from one of the limp arms and was attached to an I.V. bag hanging from a metal stand. Blackish red liquid filled the bag. I reached forward and clamped my hand on the wrist. Nothing. I turned back to the table and scanned the contents of the still intact beakers. The same liquid filled several of them. I turned the flashlight back on the man, and a sick feeling rose in my stomach.

  “They were making Blasphemy,” I said. “And they were using demon blood to do it.”

  Chapter 16

  MARGE JAMMED HER foot into Victor’s knee and sent him to the ground for the third time. She hopped back with a satisfied smirk and brought her fists up. Esais covered his face with his hand and gave a loud sigh. I shook my head from my position beside Esais on the bench.

  “Watch your left side,” I said.

  They’d been at this for almost an hour. Viktor was panting, and sweat poured from his face. He hadn’t called for a break though. Every time Marge knocked him flat, he just got back up and took the position I’d taught him. He picked things up quickly for someone with not a lot of training.

  “Your mind is jumbled,” Esais said.

  I glanced at him. “Are you looking places you’re not supposed to?”

  “Not on purpose. You’re being loud.” He cleared his throat. “Do you want to talk?”

  I chewed the inside of my cheek, debating on where to start. “John says he gave the remaining Menrazine he had back to me when we were in Texas.”

  “But you are having trouble believing him?”

  I ran a hand through my hair and sighed. “I don’t know. I was going mad there. It could have happened. And if it did, well . . .”

  “You think this is your fault.”

  “Isn’t it? Either way, I let that drug leave Texas. Now we have God knows how many demons in the city and who knows where else Brimstone could be.”

  He sighed. “You shouldn’t lay the blame at your feet alone.”

  “Who else? You, Marge? No one else put their trust in John.”

  “But you needed to find out what we were dealing with. Did you have any other options?’

  “None that wouldn’t take weeks.”

  He gave me a soft punch in the arm. “Stop wallowing. What do you plan to do about it?”

  “Make damn sure that this doesn’t get out.”

  He became very still, and his voice softened. “That may take great sacrifice. Are you willing?”

  I stared at Viktor and Marge until they blurred to only two figures moving. What was I willing to sacrifice to fix my mistake? My life, definitely, though I’d learned long ago that was almost impossible. The lives of those I cared about? Not if I could help it, but Marge and the Van Helsings knew the danger of this life. My mind? I’d rather not spend eternity condemned to insanity. What was the risk involved if I let this get out? Human souls lost . . . a multitude of demons walking the Earth. I nodded to him. He sighed and patted my hand.

  “Well, I believe we’ve tortured Viktor enough,” Esais said. “I’m taking him out to dinner.”

  I looked over at Viktor and Marge. Marge had him on his knees this time with a sadistic look of pleasure on her face. He deserved some time off.

  “Ok, that’s enough for today. Be here at the same time tomorrow and pick up again, barring any emergency.”

  Viktor nodded and turned to Marge with a grin. “Thanks for the fun, sweetheart.”

  “Oh, don’t,” I said. “You’ll make her think she’s doing something right.”

  Marge smirked. “He likes the way I teach.”

  “God help us.” Esais stood and picked up the gym bag beside him. He moved to Viktor and kissed him. “You ready to get something to eat?”

  Viktor grinned shyly. “Are you cooking?”

  “Ugh,” Marge said. “I’m out of here. Searching for demons has got to be better than this.”

  Scowling, she stalked to the elevator. Esais watched her go with a chuckle and wrapped an arm around Viktor’s shoulders. They waved to me as they left, chatting to themselves. I moved to the center of the mat, closed my eyes, and rotated my neck, letting the tension fade away. I breathed in deeply as I counted to ten and exhaled. My body moved through the different stances automatically, and I let my mind wander. Doing this practice helped me focus on what was important.

  The demons were using their own blood to create a drug. Who was the mastermind behind this? Faust or Cambione? Or they could have gotten it from another entity altogether. No, that felt too complex for this, too many fingers in the pie, so to speak. I had to kill the both of them and take care of this multi-headed snake. Unfortunately, I didn’t even know what Cambione looked like, and Faust was in the middle of a corporation full of vampires. Once again, I had to remind myself that patience was a virtue.

  I took a deep breath and stood up straight with a more relaxed body and clearer mind. I grabbed a towel and wiped the sweat from my brow. I was at a loss on what to do for the evening. Marge couldn’t patrol all of New York for demons by herself. With a soft hum, I changed clothes and headed to the first floor. Adrian pushed past me on the stairs, carrying a large bag.

  “Where are you headed?” I asked.

  “Out,” he said.

  “Obviously. But to where?”

  He stopped and looked at me. “Out.”

  He continued down the stairs to the parking garage. I frowned, my forehead wrinkling. Adrian hadn’t left his computer in days unless forced to. He had to have made a breakthrough with Acesco, but why was he hiding it?

 
I took the stairs two at a time until I reached the garage. He was closing the back doors of the van. I sucked in a quick breath and sprinted toward him. I slid into the passenger seat as he was starting the ignition. He turned his head and glared at me.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” he asked.

  “Coming with you,” I said. “You’re being secretive, and I want to know what you are up to.”

  “I’m not your boyfriend,” he said. “You don’t need to follow me.”

  I gritted my teeth. “You don’t need to be scouting dangerous places on your own. This has something to do with Acesco, doesn’t it?”

  “I’m perfectly capable of handling this myself. You would just get in the way.”

  I buckled my seatbelt. “Deal with it.”

  He stared at the steering wheel. “Fine.”

  He pulled out of the parking lot and into the night. Adrian parked three blocks away from the Acesco building, got out of the car, and opened the back of the van. I climbed out. When he handed me the bag he’d been carrying, I blinked at its lightness.

  “Since you’re here, you might as well be useful,” he said. He pulled out a rifle case and slung it over his shoulder. “Come on.”

  He led me to an alley across the street from our target, pulled out a set of binoculars from the bag, and studied the building for several moments before handing them to me. I put the device to my eyes and scanned the building. Most of the windows of the five stories were dark as the employees had gone home hours ago. Adrian scooted forward and peered at the entrance.

  “It looks like two security guards. One at the desk, one who patrols,” he said.

  “You can tell all that from a few minutes?” I asked.

  He glanced in my direction. “No, I’ve been watching this place for days.”

  I blinked. So much for assuming he hadn’t left our office. He reached in my bag and handed me a folded bundle. It rolled out to reveal a long black coat with a hood. I held it up to my shoulders and looked at him questioningly.

  “The coat will render you virtually invisible. It bends light around you.” He pulled one of his own out.

  “You made this?”

  He nodded. “I only had time to make two. One was supposed to be my backup. Let’s hope both work.”

  Adrian pulled out a rifle case and opened it. He put the gun together in quick, sure movements. I paused with my arm halfway in the coat.

  “Are you planning on sniping the guards?”

  “I have to take out the security system. Then we will sneak into the building and deal with the guards.” He kneeled and positioned the rifle.

  “So you’re going to shoot out the cameras?”

  “It’s a dart containing some of my nanites. They’ve been programmed to infiltrate the security system.”

  I looked from his face to the rifle. He wasn’t behind a computer this time. “How do you actually give commands to those things?”

  He tapped his head. “I implanted a radio chip in my head that relays all my mental commands. Can we get on with this?”

  “Right.” I shut up.

  He aimed to the left of the door and pulled the trigger. The gun clicked and made a whooshing sound, jerking his shoulder. He stood up.

  “We should move. We have maybe half an hour,” he said. “Head around back. There’s a loading area we can sneak in through.”

  I nodded and took the alley. One truck sat empty in the parking lot. The light above the door flickered. I leaned against the rail, keeping my gaze on the truck. Adrian shifted around behind me for several minutes before the door opened with the squeak of metal.

  He held the door open for me. I pulled out my sword and stepped into the warehouse. A metal rail divided the walkway from the loading area below. It was mostly empty, with a few boxes scattered throughout. I waved to Adrian and climbed over the rail. I headed to the door across the room. With Adrian’s guidance, we snuck through the halls to the front of the building. I crouched down, peeking around the corner.

  One of the guards sat at the desk while the other leaned over, one hand resting on the marble counter surrounding the front of the desk. He chuckled at something on the screen of the television in front of them. The low babble of voices drifted to my ears. They didn’t notice my crawl toward them until it was too late. I took out the standing man with a hand chop to the back of his neck. The other one gaped at me for a second before he stood, his chair toppling to the ground. He reached for his gun, but Adrian slammed his fist into the man’s face, and the man dropped.

  “Nice punch,” I said.

  “Practice with Tres.” He moved down the hall. “Do something about them.”

  I pulled a coil of rope from my belt, making a mental note to get more. I probably wouldn’t get this back. I left them tied and tucked away in a janitor’s supply closet down the hall. Cliché, I know, but it worked. Adrian stood behind the security desk, typing away on the computers.

  “The server room is on this floor. Lucky you. No elevator ride,” he said.

  I smirked at him. “I could have taken the stairs.”

  “Come on.”

  I followed him down one of the halls to a set of double doors. He swiped a card against a black square on the wall and the doors opened with a beep. The room held rows and rows of metal computer boxes that were almost as tall as I was. Adrian moved to the far corner of the room and sat down in front of a monitor and computer.

  Adrian sat down, and his fingers moved over the keyboard rapidly. He pulled out a box with a cord and connected it to the computer. I moved to watch over his shoulder. A file come up with a head shot of Raina Benson. Her brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and a pair of square glasses rested on her nose. A forced half-smile hovered on her lips.

  “She looks a little different from the conference,” I said. “Still cold, but less rigid.”

  “I guess she enjoys vampirism.” His lips pressed together in a thin line.

  “Were the two of you close?” I asked, and my heart sped up for some reason as I waited for his answer.

  The small box to his side beeped, and he pulled it free. “We’re done here.”

  He stood then walked out. We headed down the same hall we had entered. My gaze bored into his stiff shoulders as I walked behind him. He was so closed off. Honestly, learning anything about him as like pulling teeth. Why did I even care, though?

  The dim lights flickered. A shadow pulled itself from the wall, stood upright as a person would, and blocked our way out. I took a step back, trying to wrap my mind around the fact a shadow had become three dimensional. I turned and found another shadow forming behind us as well.

  Damn. Trapped.

  Chapter 17

  “VAMPIRES?” I ASKED.

  He nodded but kept his gaze focused on the one in front of him. I put my back to him and pulled my sword from its sheath. If it harmed demons’ actual forms, perhaps it would do something against these monsters. The vampire’s form in front of me undulated, thickening until it became three dimensional. My own shadow reached up and slapped my sword out of my hand. Its black finger brushed across my skin, leaving a chill behind that burned my flesh and left a deep ache in my bones.

  “Damn,” I whispered.

  “Throw this.” Adrian put a small marble in my hand.

  I didn’t look too hard at what he handed me. I just lobbed it at the vampire. It shattered against the ground and a puff of yellowish smoke exploded around the creature. It contorted, and a harsh cough emanated from it. The smell of garlic filled the air. The figure rushed from the smoke. Pale skin had replaced the shadow along with straw-colored hair. Adrian jerked his arm and there was another sound of breaking glass and the stench of more garlic.

  The vampire in front of me glared at us as he pulled a pistol from inside the jacket of his charcoal suit. I swore, spun around, and yanked Adrian to the ground with me. We hit the ground in a roll, and I came up on top with my face just inches from his. His breath warm
ed my skin. The boom of the gun firing echoed through the hall, and shots flew over our head. The other vampire jerked and stumbled backward. Adrian stared at the gun with his eye narrowed. The blond vampire gaped as the handle of his gun began to disappear. I rolled off of Adrian, leapt to my feet, and ran toward my sword. My fingers grazed the handle before I slammed into the ground with all of the air in my lungs leaving me.

  As the second vampire sat on top of me, blood dripped from the wound of his chest and onto my face. I tried to squirm out from under him, but he tightened his knees around my thighs. He pressed one hand on my chest, forcing me against the floor while he jerked my head to the side and exposed my neck with the other hand. With a hiss, he buried his fangs in my neck. An icy burn replaced the initial jab of pain. The cry I would have made died in my throat as a numbness replaced any warmth I had.

  My fingers fumbled along the edges of the stake on my belt. If I could just get it free. The vampire’s grip on my head and chest relaxed as he began to lose himself in draining me. I pulled the stake out and jabbed it into the vampire’s neck. He jerked away from me with a growl as his hand went to his neck. I writhed out from under him and scuttled to my sundang as he tugged the stake free. I didn’t stop moving until I was on my feet and well away from him with my sword in my hand. Adrian wrestled with the blond vampire farther down the hall. The vampire in front of me hissed again and pulled out his own pistol. The shots resounded in the air. I dodged down, rolled forward, and came up in a crouch. My blade swung in an upward arc and severed the hand holding the gun.

  The ringing of gunfire in my ears muted his screams. He clutched his stump to his chest with his face twisted in an almost comical visage. These creatures really could feel pain. Well, I would be sure to put him out of him misery. I leapt up and spun, letting my sword follow the momentum of my body. It sliced through his neck and severed his head from the rest of his body. I expected more blood, but I was wrong. The creature’s form dissipated into wisps of shadow and his clothes crumpled to the ground.

  I stepped back, leaned against the wall, and panted. My hand moved to the burning wound on my neck, and my hand came away wet with blood. Surprising. My blood felt frozen inside my veins. I didn’t know how it could even flow. Adrian pushed the other vampire against the wall and staked him. He turned and his gaze sought mine. He moved to me, pulled my hand away, and inspected my wound.