The Last Holidays

by Grover Young

  “We understand,” Grey shot back, disgusted.

  “We can take them out real quick like,” Ebony pointed out, “They would never know what hit them.”

  Everyone looked at her.

  “I never claimed to be a goody two-shoes,” she raised her brows.

  “Well,” Grey sighed, “I'm not about to play Red-Shirt and show those assholes how the monsters work. Can Ruby pick up the van with us and all the others, too?”

  “She should,” Lapis Lazuli nodded, “She once yanked out an entire walk-in safe out of a bank and flew off with it. That weighed tons compared to our few thousand pounds.”

  “Good,” He made his decision, “We'll let her lift us up and out of the way while we'll try and help those stupid, sorry, doomed SOB's.”

  “Dial, Bureau of Superhuman Security,” he ordered, “This is Grey Wolf.”

  This time he got a live person immediately.

  “This is Hyperion,” one of the Bureau's heavy hitters asked, “What's your situation?”

  “I've got,” he began.

  “Two thousand plus hostiles,” Levana helpfully added.

  “Moving at approximately 30 mph heading right at a roadblock on Highway 13 about five miles outside of Dunwich,” Grey dryly told, “They've ordered us to halt, but unless they get their asses in gear they'll be demon chow in about ten minutes. Oh, by the way, we're not making any last stands. One of the rescued golems is going to lift us up and out of the way. I figure we can rain down some hurt on the demons, but it's not going to stop them. The Air Force carpet bombing the area might be a solution, but unless things have changed, the damn things were still pouring out of that Gate like ants of a kicked over nest.”

  “I understand,” the hero answered, “we are on the way with Mystics Guild representatives. We will try to contact that roadblock. Hyperion out.”

  “Well, he was certainly a lot of help,” Ebony commented dryly.

  “At least someone is taking this half-way serious,” Lapis Lazuli countered.

  “They're still far behind the curve of what's needed,” Grey grunted, “Well, they've been warned.”

  “Connect with Essex County Sheriff's Department frequency,” He ordered again.

  “Dunwich roadblock, this Grey Wolf,” he did his best to keep his tone civil, “Since you've prevented us from seeking safety, we're going to go above what we think is the danger zone. We will provide as much supporting fire for you as we can, but if you're wise you'll bug out. Our best information says these things can make thirty mph, and that 113 of yours is going to be hard pressed to outrun them.”

  “You will maintain your present....” The voice began.

  “Cut connection,” Grey rolled his eyes, “Ruby, gently use your powers to pick up the van without bouncing the driver or passengers. Then, lift us up to your same altitude and hold. If you can, shield us from gunfire coming from the south.”

  His war wagon groaned as the weight was released from the shocks and springs as they were lifted into the air.

  “I'm not going to be able to do much,” Emerald pointed out, looking out at the dark clouds that were still growing, “Calling the lightning would be a bad thing while I'm here. I can sorta direct it in their general direction by increasing the electrical potential of an area, but it's always more accurate to call it to me and then loose it.”

  “Me neither,” Kobab shrugged, “but I don't want to be caught between the demons and that machine gun either. I can throw things pretty accurately, but that's going to be a drop in the bucket.”

  “So, we save you as our sniper,” Lapis Lazuli suggested, “Concentrate on covering those dumb-asses retreat when they come to their senses.

  She turned to Grey.

  “I know Wolf has got stuff for her to use,” The sapphire haired woman gave him a look.

  “I might,” Grey grinned, as he pulled out a box of his 'wolf claws' throwing stars. “Although I don't know if you can throw these things that far.”

  “I can,” the speedster smiled, “It's more about control and how fast you can accelerate them, than strength.”

  “You've got a spare crossbow?” Levana asked, “I'm a reasonably good archer.”

  “How about a recurve?” He retrieved the bow from its case, “It's a 60 pound pull, but I doubt you will have a problem with it.”

  “No problem at all,” she accepted the bow and quiver, “I could've managed it before my incarnation, but now it's even less of an issue.

  “I'll be on the roof acting as another sniper.” She swung herself lightly out of the window onto the roof.

  “You know,” Claire said, to no one, “nobody at school is going to believe any of this.”

  “Probably not,” Grey replied, “however, you have a part in this, too. It's easy for us shooters to get fixated on our targets. I need for you to keep your eyes open for things like flying demons or groups of them cutting in behind that roadblock.

  He watched her face as she looked at the tide of onrushing monsters.

  “I can do that,” she whispered.

  “Good!” Grey made himself sound cheerful, “Yell out Delta three times to get our attention and point to the trouble. Keep any descriptions as short and to the point as you can, okay?”

  “Okay.” The Cheerleader gave him the thumbs up.

  “I've talked to Emerald,” Lapis Lazuli and the bright blue girl with the green hair cornered him. “Her lightning won't bother me, so I can fly her to where she can do the most good.”

  “You two sure?” he grinned, inclining his head at Claire, “We've been cautioned about splitting the party.”

  “That's not bad advice,” Emerald laughed, “but we won't be far away. Just enough so you're not in the danger zone.”

  “Hey!” the Cheerleader complained, “I heard that!'

  “It'll just power me up,” Lapis Lazuli smiled at him.

  “That sounds like a plan,” He found himself smiling back. What was it about her that made it so hard to look away? Did he have a thing for tall women? Standing at six-two, Grey was not a little guy. However, she was a good head taller than him, but then again there weren't all that many women who were tall enough for him to find out.

  “Before you go,” he kept his sigh to himself, “open that box up again, so I can give the golems some orders.”

  Spreading his hands to cover all ten again; he marshaled his thoughts.

  “As a group, you will respond to Wolf Pack. When that advancing line of demons comes with range, any of you who are able will engage with ranged attacks. You are to pace yourself so you can continue attacking for as long as possible taking care not to injuring anyone with the exception of the foes designated as demons.

  “Understand, Wolf Pack?” he asked.

  “Yes Master,” all ten chorused.

  “Wolf Pack, I'm to be addressed as Alpha,” Grey winced at the old bastard's title. He was no one's master, doubling his determination to see all of these victims dealt with fairly.

  “Understand?” he asked again, feeling his wolf's pleasure at being a pack leader. Down boy! Grey mentally scolded his spirit.

  “Yes Alpha,” the ten answered.

  “You two know what you do best,” he said, to the woman now closing the box of stones.

  “Ready?” Lapis Lazuli asked Emerald.

  “Let's go show some demons why you shouldn't go out in a storm,” the blue gold woman gestured to the outside.

  Carrying Emerald, Lapis flew past the unawakened automatons. Already, a few were attacking the advancing demonic wave. Lasers swept over the front lines from Kaspit, while Topaz rained down exploding fireballs.

  There was a good reason why those two had been part of the Six. However, she did wonder about how three of the six had awakened, but only two of the others had. Did somehow being able preserve some part of themselves make them more useful to the Bastard?

  “So what's up with you and your boyfriend?” Emerald asked.

  “You do realize I'm
holding you up a hundred feet up in the air above a field swarming with thousands of demons, right?” Lapis asked, even if the green jewel headed girl did have a good question. What was up between her and Grey Wolf? She couldn't get it out of her mind that he'd had come for her.

  “Ooo!” Emerald giggled, “So there is something and you don't want to talk about it.”

  “Will you please keep your mind on business?” Lapis complained.

  “Standby,” her companion turned serious, “brace yourself. Here comes the big one.”

  A bolt from the heavens struck them. Way back when she first got her powers, being 'hit' like that would've hurt like hell, even if it wouldn't have killed her. Now, after Levana's term, her 'reincarnation', as well as years of learning how her power worked, had taught that she had to consciously not suck up all that energy that flowed into Emerald.

  “What goes in has to come out!” The blue and green girl spread her hands, sending out a crackling wave of energy that arced from her fingers to their enemies below. Scores went down, but again the demons barely slowed. Some few of the closest tried leaping up at them, but although they came closer than she thought they could, clearing 50 to 60 feet into the air, none reached high enough to touch them.

  “I know that I've spent years like this,” Emerald complained, “but my last memories of me are as a man. Now, I find myself acting girly and even giggling for Gawd's sake. I take it that our abductor did more than just torturing us to death and turning us into these golem things?”

  Others of the Wolf Pack began their attacks. More beams and bursts of different kinds raked the swiftly advancing front.

  “Here comes some more,” Emerald warned as lightning struck twice.

  Lapis drank deep of the splashed over power. The energy turbocharged her physical body's already considerable prowess, making her stronger, faster and tougher than any but a very select few. That was the 'gift' the bastard had given her. Before this reincarnation, she was a 'B' rated hero, but all it took was the loss of her humanity and over thirty years of her life, if this counted as life.

  “You really don't want to know,” She told the animated lightning rod, “The death of a super-powered hero was only a small part of the evil that went into the making of one of us. We resemble true golems about as much as bottle rockets are like Saturn Fives. Superficially, vaguely similar, but not really.”

  “Eat your heart out Benny Franklin baby!” Emerald warned again, as yet another bolt engulfed them.

  Again, aimed bolts zapped from her hands scything down rows of the demons, but the rushing horde never faltered. Lapis could see no end to the dark tide that seemingly devoured all in their path.

  “The very name, golem, means crude and misshapen,” she explained to her blue-gold companion. “We're anything but that. He designed us as carefully as any team of engineers does a jet. In our own way, we are as sophisticated as anything those engineers have ever built. When he did make mistakes, it was in having the wrong information or his blind spots.

  “Blind spots?” Emerald asked, but warned, “Power on!”

  “Let's try something different,” the lightning endowed woman blasted the very old utility poles causing the ancient unused power-lines to fall amidst the demonic host.

  Grey Wolf must've seen her plan because he ordered the Wolf Pack to target the other poles that still stood, too.

  “And now we add some juice!” Emerald exclaimed, “Just like plugging your finger into a light socket!”

  “Didn't anyone tell you as a child that was bad?” Lapis asked, as they were hit once more by enough raw electrical power to light up a city.

  “No,” Emerald laughed, “Maybe that's how I ended up this way, but honestly I was once a hero. Then I became a supervillainess minion to an insane lunatic. Now, I'm just a pissed off bitch getting some payback!”

  The lightning hit the fallen power-lines and surged down them like shaped explosive charges, frying many of the demons packed shoulder to shoulder on the road.

  Behind them, they heard the staccato roar of that machine gun from that Army armored personnel carrier. At least, the asses hadn't fired on the good guys. Sparing the roadblock a glance, she saw that the county mounties were hightailing it away, fast. The APC was retreating as well, but Lapis could see it wasn't widening its lead. It was a race to see who would win.

  Checking on Grey Wolf, he was following the Army machine using the Pack to cover its escape. Turning her attention back to the battlefield, she was grateful these bird-demon things weren't humans. Even with the blustery storm clouds, the stench of death blew strong. Hundreds were dead with more still moving, but hurt. It seemed the only way to stop them was to kill them dead. Anything less only slowed the bird-demons.

  That was a problem because they were also damn tough. It took a lot to put one down for the count even for the Wolf Pack. Despite the numbers of dead beneath them, there should've been many more. Just as worrying, was that all the badly injured ones that one would expect to die of their wounds, had secreted some kind of cocoon suggesting these wouldn't be out of action for long.

  In the distance, the ground was black, covered with the demon-birds all the way to the horizon. Not a tree nor any other living thing could be seen. With a chill she realized that Bastard might've really done it. Blaming the whole world for the Holocaust, in his insanity, he sought to destroy it, to end everything.

  She was well aware of mankind's short comings. For all of the natural disasters that killed thousands, that paled beside the death man dealt to their own kind. Lust for power, intolerance, bigotry and hatred in all of its forms were ugly, ugly things.

  In a lot of ways that was why, as the young man she'd once been, he had put on a mask and tried to make things better. There is no fool like an idealist, but someone had to take a stand. That person had powers and abilities that could, and she would like to think 'did', make a difference.

  Or at least they had before being tortured and sacrificed on the altar of a madman's hatred of Nazis. Now she was broken inside, although far more powerful on the outside. Her own need for revenge had kept her going after awakening from those long decades of hiding like a child from the monster in the dark.

  Even now, she had kept going only because proof that the Bastard's plan to destroy the world was unfolding right before her eyes. She would not be the person she'd been, the person she was, if she could let that happen without doing everything she could to stop it.

  When all was said and done, Lapis was still a heroine.

  “You were talking about that SOB's blind spots?” Emerald reminded her, as another lightning bolt thundered away.

  “Sure,” she replied, “his ego and madness demanded unquestioning devotion, but we're more than just our powers and abilities. Many of our talents and skills were hard earned, but he couldn't conceive that someone other than he might rise above and beyond themselves.”

  “You've got that right.” Emerald loosed another volley of bolts on the downed electrical lines as the horde unwisely continued its advance, “It's as much an art as physics to convince these oversized electric sparks to go where you want, instead of following the path of least resistance.

  “This 'incarnation' of mine can certainly handle a lot more power than I ever could before,” she drew in another of Zeus's legendary weapons for her own use, “and I can pull it in from further away, but inside I feel so disjointed and out of sorts I know I'm not at my best.”

  Listening to her companion and nodding because Lapis felt much the same way, she observed that while they had, by brute force, blasted a hole into the 'center' of the demons' advance but the ends were curving around in a classic military envelopment. Plus, those 'wings' looked to have sped up to an all out sprinting charge.

  The sheriff's cruisers would escape, but not that Army APC.

  “We've got trouble,” she alerted her passenger as she flew to one of what the Zulu of old would've called one of the 'horns' of the attack as it swept around.


  “I see it,” Emerald called more power to herself. “It's a good thing this is a huge storm. Even a thunderstorm has just so much energy, and we've been tapping this one like crazy.”

  “The Wolf Pack is shifting their targets now, too.” Lapis noticed relieved. Not having communications was a liability, but it was something they had to live with for now.

  “So, do I need to ask you again about tall, grey and handsome?” Emerald 'lit-up' the fresh group of speeding demons.

  “Back at that museum last Thanksgiving,” Lapis sighed, “when Grey Wolf discovered us, the Bastard ordered me to defeat the hero and dump his body in the river. So, I beat him up until he admitted I defeated him and did just that. I dropped him in the river, but in the shallows.”

  “How in hell did you do that?” Emerald asked, awed, “I had times when I was almost awake, but it didn't take me long to want more than anything not to be. I had no freedom of action at all, although I love how you found the loopholes in the old SOB's orders.”

  “I don't know,” Lapis admitted, “I was hiding like a whipped pup in the furthest part of my mind because of what he did to me. Something woke me. I was still shackled to the spells on that stone, but I could act on anything not covered by it or his orders, which admittedly wasn't much. The anal retentive Bastard would've been a lifelong bachelor even if he hadn't gone insane. No one would've willingly put up his crap for very long.”

  “So he made us.” Emerald sighed, as she poured more death upon the demon-birds.

  “He made us.” The Golden woman repeated, not trying to think of the other ways they were 'used' by him. “I'm sure the Bureau's profilers had some of it right. Golems were a Jewish symbol and some did see them as protectors. However, as much as the Bastard did need the muscle we provided, he also wanted an audience for that humongous ego of his, as well as living out his university professor sexual fantasies.”

  Her morbid train of thought was disrupted by a gold and silver spandex blur that crashed into the center of the forward surging horde. Since Emerald and the Pack had turned their attention to the more immediate threat of the 'wings' closing in from the sides, the demons along the road had recovered and were moving again.