Balance (The Divine, Book One)

by M. R. Forbes

  “How did they find you?” I asked.

  He started pulling himself to his feet. “You got me, man. Maybe triangulated the Wi-Fi access points? I thought I had done enough variance, but maybe they have some giant brain demons or something.”

  “There are no giant brain demons,” Rebecca said, reaching down lifting the muscular ex-marine to a standing position. “The Cthulhu are incredibly intelligent, but they don’t get involved outside of their own affairs.” She smiled, showing Obi her fangs.

  He had been giving her the oh-my-god-you’re-so-hot stare before she smiled. The effect was like breaking a spell. I’m sure mortals would see a perfect set of pearly whites, until they were being drained at least. I could see his throat move as he swallowed his heart and backed up a few steps.

  “What the,” he cried. He started raising the Desert Eagle, but I put my hand over it.

  “Obi, this is Rebecca. Rebecca, Obi-Wan. She’s on our side,” I told him.

  Rebecca scrunched her face. “Obi-Wan? Like Star Wars?”

  He rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Man, even vampires make fun of me. My parents,” he said.

  I cleared my throat to interrupt them. I could feel the shifting heat of a Hellish mass pressing down on my soul. “Now that the introductions are out of the way, we need to move. Those two you shot either brought friends or called for backup.”

  “If you can get to your room, I went back to Grand Central yesterday and got your sword. It was sitting on the tracks.” He looked over at the half-dissolved headless demon. “Not that you seem to need it.”

  “I could use it,” Rebecca said. “I don’t have the strength to rip skulls off spines.”

  I could feel the demons getting closer. “Okay,” I said. “Obi, stay back and cover us. Try not to shoot me again.”

  Rebecca and I hopped up the steps and out into the hallway.

  “Do you know what those things are?” I asked.

  She nodded. “Standard grunts. Reyzl makes them. They’re all brawn, no brains. They can survive for short times in the daylight, but they’re especially vulnerable to water. Make sure to mind your neck, they can remove your head with one finger.”

  She reached down and pulled her dagger from her boot, never breaking stride. Obi stayed ten feet behind, his Eagle aimed between us. I didn’t doubt he was an excellent shot, but I hoped that if he did miss, he would miss to the right. I could take the silver bullet, Rebecca couldn’t.

  “He makes them?” I asked. “Get ready.”

  The demons came rushing around the corner, spittle flying from their fangs as they changed direction. They had two more holes in their skulls before Rebecca and I could even move. I grabbed each by the head and twisted, becoming more comfortable with the sickening crack each time I caused it. I looked back at Obi, who just shrugged.

  “How many bullets do you have?” I asked him. Silver wasn’t cheap and making bullets from it couldn’t have been easy.

  “About fifty,” he said.

  “Hold your fire unless it looks like we’re in trouble. I have a feeling we’ll need those later.” We reached the corner and I pointed to the room down the hall. “My room is down there. Grab the sword so we can get out of here.”

  I reached out and felt for the demons. They were coming down the stairwell. I heard breaking glass. They were coming in from the windows too. Rebecca took off for my room at a sprint. I turned around to see a grunt bearing down on Obi from behind. He didn’t know it was coming.

  “Obi,” I shouted. I couldn’t reach him in time. Desperate, I focused on the floor right behind him, pulling the nails from the wood and sending them hurtling into the demon. It stumbled backwards as a hundred tiny spears checkered its chest. Obi stopped next to me and looked to see what I had done.

  “Nice,” he said.

  The demon recovered in a hurry and began rushing towards us again. I hoped I was as fast a learner as Obi had said I was.

  It arrived as a mass of swinging claws, strong, powerful muscles driving me backwards while I tried to find a way to maneuver around them. I felt the heat of a wound to my shoulder and another to my leg, but it was nothing that wouldn’t heal. It snapped and growled, trying to get to my face with its teeth. I ducked in close enough to smell stale, hot breath, then slipped around behind it, reached around its neck and twisted my arms, hearing its spine shatter. I was going to remove its head, but three more grunts had filed out into the hallway.

  Obi downed one of them, but couldn’t get a shot off on the other two. I grabbed him and pushed him to the ground to get him out of the way of a set of claws, then took hold of the monstrous arm and broke it at the elbow. The move would buy us seconds at most.

  I heard the snarl of the second demon, and then smiled when a blessed sword severed its head from behind.

  “This way,” I said, motioning to the nearest room. “We can take the fire escape to the ground.”

  Rebecca took a moment to stab the other two grunts, and then followed us into the empty room. I blew out the glass with a thought.

  “This is going from bad to worse,” I said. I could feel the gathered mass of evil growing, their power pushing in on me. It felt like the Belmont was on fire. “I think they’re trying to surround us.”

  The building shook from the force of so many monsters moving through the old structure, all converging on our location. Reyzl was using more force than I had expected. I leaned out through the window and looked down. There were more grunts waiting in the alley, covering the exit. I looked up. The roof was clear.

  “Up,” I said.

  “Up?” Obi asked. “Are you crazy, man?”

  I pushed him out onto the fire escape. “Go up sergeant,” I shouted back. He started climbing. “Rebecca, go.”

  “You first,” she said.

  I shook my head. “Someone needs to cover our escape.”

  Rebecca smiled and winked at me. “Escape? You’re leading us further into them. Now go!”

  I started climbing, hearing the sword thunking into flesh behind me. I doubted the roof was the safest place to be either, but it was open, and I wanted the breathing room. I caught up to Obi, and we dropped over the side of the building onto the roof together. There were already six grunts waiting for us, and three more came up behind Rebecca when she joined us a few seconds later. They didn’t attack right away, choosing instead to surround us. I assumed they were waiting for greater numbers, knowing they had us trapped.

  “Now what?” Obi asked, spinning in a circle to keep an eye on all of the demons.

  More of the grunts were reaching the rooftop every second, and three weres came up from the stairwell, joining the throng. They cut their way through the hissing demons, coming to a stop in front of me. The largest of them took two more steps forward and spoke.

  “Diuscrucis,” the were said. “Master Reyzl demands to meet with you. Come with us, and we’ll let your companions go.” I didn’t need any special power to know he was lying.

  “Landon,” Rebecca said, sounding worried, and looking ashen in the sun, “tell me you have a plan. I can’t stay out here like this for long.”

  “I have a plan,” I replied. Okay, I didn’t have a solid plan, but I had one idea. I closed my eyes and reached inward, calling out for Ulnyx. I could feel the Great Were’s strength forming in the base of my spine. This time, I could drink from it and stay in control. The power was his, but my mind was my own.

  I smiled at the were, my mouth growing, elongating, and filling with razor sharp teeth. I could feel the rest of my body changing as well, shifting form into the monstrosity of skin, muscle, and bone that was Ulnyx’s morphed form. I lifted my middle finger and aimed it at the demon, then used it to beckon them towards us. The weres hesitated, torn between the risk of death at my hands or Reyzl’s. There was no doubt he wouldn’t be pleased if they returned without some piece of me. The grunts weren’t smart enough to know any better, and they rushed to close the circle.

  I dropp
ed down to all fours and launched myself at the demons; claws ripping and tearing, powerful muscles tossing them aside like matchsticks. There were at least fifty of them squeezing in on us. I grabbed one of the grunts and threw it back at the frightened weres. They moved aside and it disappeared down the open stairwell. While I was watching its path, I noticed the water tower behind the door.

  I raked my claws through three more grunts, and then paused to focus on the tower. Even with Ulnyx’s massive strength there were just too many of the creatures to deal with this way. I might be able to kill them all in this powerful form, but not without risking Rebecca and Obi.

  I let loose a massive roar, feeling the tug in my mind and demanding the water in the tower to set itself free and join me on the roof. I pulled at it, forcing it through the wooden planks that contained it, causing it to geyser out through the weakest seam. The grunts had been frozen by the roar, and now they cried out in agony as the water splashed downward from the sky, soaking everything on the rooftop.

  “Damn that’s cold,” Obi cried. I swung my head around to check on him, and he stumbled backwards, away from my gaze.

  Rebecca wrapped an arm around him to steady him and winked at me. She looked like crap, the sunlight and the water taking their toll. The grunts behind them were dancing across the rooftop, desperate to shake the water from their bodies. Their skin puckered and oozed, their life force seeping out from everywhere. Many had already dropped lifeless to the ground, and I was sure the rest would follow.

  I heard claws on the blacktop and turned back around in time to see the three weres had made up their minds. They had morphed into their demon forms and were charging towards me, teeth bared. I let out another roar and shot forward to meet them. Blood blossomed from them and I heard the echoes of gunfire in the sky. The weres stumbled and rolled, coming to a rest right under my feet. I brought up a massive foot and slammed it down on one skull, then another. The third were, the leader, I let live.

  I had felt Ulnyx in my mind, his presence a pressure in my skull as he sought for a way to overpower me. I pushed back against him now, kicking him back down into my soul, dismissing his power as if flipping off a light switch. My body began changing, shrinking, returning to my human form. My clothes were rags hanging from my neck and I pulled them back into shape, then reached down and lifted the still stunned were to his feet. I grabbed his face and brought it in line with mine.

  “Tell Reyzl I’m coming for him,” I said.

  I would have sent him on his way, but Rebecca had other ideas. Without a word, she stepped up next to me and ran him through on the blessed sword.

  “Send that message and Reyzl will come for you himself,” she said to me. “You may control the Great Were, but his power can still pollute you.”

  I knew she was right. I could still feel my adrenaline pumping from the experience of being the terrifying killing machine. He might not have been able to overtake me, but the promise of his power was an intoxicating temptation that I would be at risk of accepting every time I called on it, opening the door to the Great Were’s dominion. Everything had its price, and I would have to reconsider the cost before calling on Ulnyx again.

  Rebecca looked awful, her skin a translucent white, her hair dull and greying. The water had done its damage, drying her out to the point that bits of her skin flaked off with every movement she made.

  “Let’s get you out of here,” I said.

  “That was so awesome,” Obi said, walking up behind us. “You guys kick complete ass.”

  Rebecca gave him a weak smile. “You were pretty good yourself, for a mortal,” she told him. He laughed off his adrenaline as we headed for the stairs.

  “So what’s next?” Obi asked when we reached the ground floor. Punkmo was hunched down behind the front desk, on the phone with the Police.

  “That’s right, gunshots,” he was saying. “Drug dealers? I don’t know, could be a gang too, who gives a crap. Are you going to send a car or what?” He didn’t look up as we walked past.

  “We need to get Rebecca someplace dark so she can rest for awhile, “ I said. “And you and I need to talk.”

  Just being out of the sun had already returned some of the opacity to the vampiress’ skin, and her hair was darkening by the moment. Even so, she still looked dry and sick. Dry and sick and stunning. We left the Belmont and headed uptown. I kept us to the shadows as we walked, only crossing the sun’s direct path when the limited cloud cover would obscure it.

  “Why attack during the day?” I asked Rebecca.

  “It was a calculated risk,” she replied. “Reyzl was hoping to catch you off-guard, maybe while you slept. He underestimated you.”

  Him and me both. I had returned from my Source with a new sense of self, but I hadn’t expected the change to be so dramatic. Even after pulling down the water tower, I still felt like I had plenty in reserve. It had taken a fair share of missteps, but I was coming into my own.

  “Where are we going anyway?” Rebecca asked.

  “I’m upgrading our accommodations,” I said.

  Chapter 16

  “Man, I’ve always wanted to stay here,” Obi said as I pushed open the door to Room 1601 of the Waldorf=Astoria Hotel.

  I had too, which is why I had decided to use the blank card Dante had given me to create a simulacrum of one of my mother’s credit cards. They had put the card on file at the front desk, but I had paid for the room with my remaining cash. After all, it wasn’t stealing if nothing got charged to it, right?

  The suite itself was as magnificent as I had always imagined it would be, the large living area home to a fancy nineteenth century sofa and loveseat, some expensive looking ornate wood furniture and a big flat screen television. The bedroom was just as large, fitting a huge dresser and a king size bed covered in finery. The marble bathroom rounded out the opulence, and it was easy to picture myself as someone important like a movie star, or royalty. I laughed at the irony.

  “What’s funny?” Rebecca asked. We were standing in the bedroom together, having left Obi watching television on the other side of the door.

  “I was just thinking about being someone important like an actor,” I said. I looked at her. The daytime stroll hadn’t done her any favors. No amount of damage could undo her nascent beauty, but she looked ragged and tired. “How are you feeling?”

  She was tentative in her reply. “I have a small problem,” she said.

  I looked over to the windows. There was a fair amount of light coming in, but I hadn’t pulled the heavy drapes closed yet.

  “Not dark enough?” I asked.

  She smiled, but it wasn’t a positive smile. She looked anxious and uncomfortable. “Between the sun and the water, and I haven’t been home in almost three days,” she looked down at the floor, embarrassed. “I’m hungry.”

  I felt like an idiot. I had forgotten about her dietary needs. Maybe the thought of her dining should have turned my stomach, but I had seen so much worse in the last twenty-four hours. Besides, I needed her far more than the world needed another pimp or gangbanger. I went over to the windows and pulled the drapes closed, making sure it was nice and dark.

  “Just lay down for awhile,” I told her. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” I leaned in to kiss her on the cheek. It was colder than usual. “It shouldn’t take me too long to find somebody the world won’t miss.”

  She lifted her head. There were tears in her perfect blue eyes. “You’re sweet, but there isn’t enough time,” she said. “I’ve taken too much of a beating the last few days. You’re not exactly Gandhi you know.”

  “Okay, how about if I grab the bellhop?” It was intended as a joke, but the blunt truth was that if it came down to it I would have if she had asked. What she did ask for was easier to live with, but harder to acquiesce to.

  “Landon, I don’t want to ask you to do this but... you’re a diuscrucis. Whatever I took, you’d regenerate.” Her eyes pleaded with me.

  “You said my blood co
uld be poison to you,” I reminded her. I wanted to help her, but the idea of anybody sucking up my life force was giving me the creepy crawlies.

  “I have to risk it,” she said. “I don’t want you to kill an innocent person because of me. ”

  I took a few steps back from her. “Just give me a second,” I said.

  I had already been shot, stabbed, torn apart, and fallen from the fifty-something-ith story of a skyscraper. It was just the concept of it that was frightening me. I had seen enough vampire movies to be influenced, and I was being stupid. The only one who could be harmed was Rebecca, and she was as good as gone if I didn’t agree to it. Seeing her standing there, her skin dry, her hair dull, her eyes wet with tears, there was no way I wouldn’t do it.

  I rushed forward, wrapped her up in my arms, pulled her head into my neck and closed my eyes. I felt the warmth of her breath on my skin, and then the soft touch of her incisors as she bit into me.

  I had expected it to hurt, but it didn’t cause any pain at all. The feeling was more of a euphoria, a strange emotional high. I could feel her mouth moving against my neck, and I could feel my body reacting as if we were engaged in more intimate activity. My heart was racing, my eyes blurred, and a million colors swam and danced in front of me, distracting me from the act.

  All too soon, it was done. She pulled away from me, holding me up as I came off of the vampiric high and was left breathless and weak. Rebecca put me down on the bed, and then lay down on her side facing me. I stared at the ceiling for a few minutes while my body began to regenerate.

  “Thank you,” she said. She reached over and stroked my hair. “You don’t know how much it means to me that you did this.”

  I turned my head. She looked healthy, radiant even. Her eyes were a cold blue fire, her lips redder and fuller, her skin smooth, silky, and shimmering as though she were covered in glitter. I had never seen anything like it. No human could ever hope to be as amazingly attractive.

  “Chocolate or garlic?” I asked her.