Damien took aim at the one who seemed to be the boldest, the one testing Dante’s patience and his wall more than the others. Once he took the shot, he’d be a target as well. He’d have to access his powers to give him an advantage, teleporting around the room and taking Shem out as quickly as possible. With this many enemies he’d have no other choice, but at least in this room he’d have, well, the room to teleport. Damien closed his eyes and allowed his other sight to open up. He’d have trouble with his vision after this, but this was the best way to make sure he fired on Shem and not an innocent human who’d blundered their way into the battle.
The Shem moved, but it wasn’t enough, not nearly fast enough for Damien to miss at this range. With that strange sense of serenity he only experienced in battle, Damien pulled the trigger.
A spray of rank blood burned in the wall of flames Dante was still keeping up. The stench caused Dante to gag, but the wall remained firm. Fortunately, the Shem did not, falling to the ground with a shriek as his skin bubbled all over his body.
One Shem down, nine to go.
Damien teleported to the other side of the room and sighted his next target. He pulled the trigger, the shot going through the temple of the Shem he’d fired on. The Shem’s head imploded, sinking in on itself.
Two down, eight to go.
Again, Damien teleported, and again he fired. This Shem moved, but the bullet found a home in her shoulder instead of her head. The Shem went down, howling as the holy bullet lodged in its flesh. This one wasn’t dead, but it was really uncomfortable.
Dante dropped the fire wall and began shooting his flames at single targets. The light of an Angelus swept into the room as Seth’s blade slashed the first foe he came across. That was one enemy Damien could safely ignore. If Seth didn’t take him down, Dante would.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw one of the Shem doing something odd with—
Whoa!
Damien teleported just as a desk almost hit him in the face. One of the Shem was a Legionnaire then, strong beyond human norms, and intent on taking Damien out. Because he’d teleported so quickly, Damien couldn’t find him without pausing to search. There was far too much movement in the battle to allow him to do so. Instead, he targeted the next Shem and fired.
A dark flame roared toward him, but before he could teleport away from it, Dante’s bright fire countered it, dueled with it while Damien got out of the fucking way. He found himself once more behind the reception desk, firing at the Shem who seemed to be giving Seth a hard time.
“Thanks.” Seth’s turquoise light moved on to the next target.
Damien continued his routine. Teleport, fire, teleport again. Sometimes he missed his target. Sometimes he only wounded them, but every time he hit an enemy, the holy water he doused his bullets in seared into the blood of the Shem, causing them great agony.
He’d have to make more soon, perhaps teach Sam to help him. If he could produce enough to keep his brothers in bullets, things would go a lot easier on the other teams as well. Not everyone could shoot fire out of their asses, after all.
The last Shem fell to Seth’s blade, and it was over. Damien stood, shivering in the aftermath of teleporting so many times in such a short period. His eyesight was still doubled between Shem sins and the human world, but he could cope, for now. “We need to get the prisoners out of here before the police show up.”
Seth’s confused expression morphed into concern. “Where are the homeless? Why didn’t they come to investigate the noise?”
Dante cursed. “I don’t know, but I’m going upstairs to find out.” Dante hauled ass up the stairs to where the families should have been resting peacefully.
“Please don’t tell me they killed them,” Seth growled.
“So far no police have been called. Beth’s monitoring the police bands as well as her team,” Sam’s soft voice whispered in their ears.
“There’s that, at least.” Damien sighed. If he shut his eyes, he’d still see the dim shadows of the walls that surrounded him, the flickering of the life force of the last living Shem. It died out as he watched, waiting for Dante’s return.
Dante came back down. “They’re alive. They’re all in some sort of drugged sleep. Someone must have set it off when Damien breached the hidden basement.”
“They’ll need to go to the hospital, then.”
“No!” Sam bellowed, almost making Damien remove the earpiece. “Haven’t you ever watched Law & Order? These women and children are hiding from abusers. If they go to a hospital, there’s a chance they’ll be found.”
“There’s also a chance that the Shem poisoned them and they could die without medical attention.” Damien looked at Dante. “Your opinion, Detective?”
Dante shrugged, which looked odd when he was man-shaped flames. “This goes beyond me. I suggest we get the Shem bodies disposed of, get the Nephilim out of here and then call this in. These people need not only a doctor but police protection.”
“Which means another long night for you.” Damien rubbed his eyes, but it would be a while before the odd sight wore off and he saw through his human eyes once more.
“Yeah.” Dante sounded weary. Then again, they all were. “Seth, start gathering the bodies. Put them in their own cars. We’ll have to drive them away from here before we can dispose of them.”
That order made sense. The shelter was way too close to residential homes. Burning the bodies would be way too visible. He just hoped no one had called in the sounds of fighting in the shelter or they were screwed. “I’ll get the prisoners out of here. There are a couple who are mobile and can help with the ones too weak to move on their own.”
“Good.” Dante began removing some of the signs of combat, like the overturned desk. He grunted as he moved it, but another bright light joined him and picked it up with ease.
“I got this, man.” Ah, Mr. Legionnaire. “You help your teammates.”
“We’ll need you to help with the wounded.” Damien headed toward where he thought the stairs were that led to the basement.
Someone grabbed his arm. “This way.” Seth led him to the staircase. “Fuck this. There’s no way you’re going down that. I’ll bring up the prisoners. Those that can help will, those that can’t can sit with you while we do clean-up.”
Right. Damn it. He’d be able to help in about half an hour. “Fine. I’ll sit on the steps in here, though. Sam’s keeping an eye outside.”
“Yes, I am. Still no call in to the cops on any of the sites.”
Sam sounded as confused as Damien felt. “I used a silencer, but still, they should have heard the yells and screams.”
“Some people simply don’t want to be involved.” Dante had something on his shoulder, possibly a body. Damien wasn’t certain. “Even with us carting out bodies.”
“No. I’ll do that. I’m invisible, and the bodies will be, too, when I carry them out.” Seth took Dante’s bundle with a grunt and went invisible, only his voice giving them any clue as to his location. “You get the prisoners up here and make sure Damien sits the fuck down before he falls down those steps. Oh, and you’re driving home.”
Dante whistled. “Wow. Yeah, I see what you mean. Okay, Daredevil, let’s get you settled in.” Dante took hold of Damien’s arm and led him away from the spiral staircase. His touch was surprisingly gentle.
“I’m not hurt, Dante.” Damien was far more used to getting manhandled when his vision went out, but Dante was being particularly careful with him.
“This place is trashed. I’m making sure you don’t fall over something you can’t see.” Dante pushed Damien’s shoulder down, forcing him to sit. “Wait here. Seth and I’ve got you covered.”
“Yeah, he’s real useful to you.” Mr. Legionnaire laughed.
Dante grunted but didn’t respond. Instead, he headed for the staircase, calling out to the Nephilim prisoners as he went down. Damien could still see him through the floors, and wasn’t that nausea inducing.
He
squinted at the lights of the Nephilim in the basement. One of them was very dim, flickering in and out of his vision. “One of the Neph is near death.”
The Legionnaire dragged something heavy-sounding across the floor. “How can you tell?” He groaned. Damien watched as he put the heavy reception desk back into place. It was so long and heavy that it was straining even a Legionnaire’s strength.
A corpse disappeared from right in front of him. Hello, Seth.
He wasn’t about to explain how his vision worked to Muscle Mary. “I can see his life force flickering in and out.” He’d have to make sure that Neph, whoever it was, was on the first trip out of here. He hoped Rafe was up to doing some healing tonight, because that one wouldn’t last the night without serious aid.
“Huh. That’s…kind of cool. So was that thing you did. You moved so fast I didn’t even see it.” The Legionnaire brushed his hands on his legs.
“I was teleporting. Real handy when you need space in a crowd.” Damien rolled his shoulders. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off his stress was returning tenfold.
“I didn’t know some of us could teleport.” The Legionnaire looked thoughtful. “There seems to be a lot of things no one told me about us.” He glanced at Damien. “Name’s Ken, by the way.”
“Damien.” He shook Ken’s hand. “Any idea why the Shem were kidnapping you?”
“Nope. Like I said, I just got here. You’ll have to ask some of the others, like that Oracle maybe.”
He said the word Oracle like Damien said the word Shem. “You have a problem with Oracles?”
Ken made a rude sound. “Yeah. One led my group right into an ambush. He’d gone vision mad and no one caught it.”
“Fuck. How many missions did his cell leader push him into?” It was the only way Damien could think of that an Oracle would lose it like that, by forcing him to view too many things in too short a time, or using his powers over and over and over in a long period, like the guy was a television his cell leader liked to watch.
Ken scowled. “He’s an Oracle. He’s supposed to watch for Shem.”
“Not twenty-four seven.” Ken still looked skeptical, so Damien tried to explain it in Legionnaire terms. “Think about it. If you fought every day, all day, without resting your powers, what would you do? Think you might snap? Blow a gasket? Go insane?”
Ken went silent. Damien wasn’t sure if he’d gotten through, but he’d be discussing this abuse of power with Gabriel. Something was wrong with the Nephilim if they were mistreating some of their brothers.
Dante dropped off the first of the Nephilim wounded, the woman Seris who’d first spoken to him when he’d arrived in the basement.
“Hey.”
She almost crushed him with the strength of her hug. “Thank you so much! You have no idea how glad I am that you guys showed up.”
Damien gently hugged her back. “You’re welcome.”
“Please tell me we’re getting out soon.” She shuddered. “I don’t think I can stay here much longer.”
Damien eased himself out of her arms. “Once we’ve got the Shem bodies moved and you all out of the basement, we’re going to blow this joint.”
“Thank God. If you want, I’ll help your Seris burn this place to the ground.”
“Don’t. We’ve got humans upstairs, knocked out somehow. Women and children. We have to get them to safety.”
“Grr.” She huffed. “Fine. I’ll wait until they’re out, then it’s barbecue time.”
Seth’s voice sounded in his ear. “All of the bodies are out.” Seth seemed out of breath. Moving that much dead weight wasn’t easy. “The prisoners?”
“Some are more damaged and can’t walk up the staircase.” Damien blinked, but nope. His vision was still grays mixed with points of light. “Dante’s still working with them.”
“I’ll go help him then.”
“Micah and his team are out, bringing in six Neph,” Sam said. “Sasha and his team are cleaning up now. They have twelve Neph.”
Jesus. That made a total of twenty-eight Neph, and who knew how many more lost and gone. “Good. Our clean-up is still in progress and we’re moving our missing Neph upstairs now.”
“You okay?” Sam’s worried voice made him smile. It was nice to hear how much she cared about him.
“I’m fine. Blind, but fine. I’m sitting on some steps with a Neph waiting for extraction.”
Silence after that. “Oh. Be careful, okay? Don’t, like, walk or anything until someone we trust is with you.”
“Yeah, Damien. Sit there until Seth can carry you out the door princess style,” Dante replied cheekily.
Seth made a rude noise as both Dante and Sam broke into laughter.
“Assholes.” Damien settled back on the steps.
“It’s okay, baby. I like you anyway.” Sam’s amused tone wasn’t helping.
Chapter 27
Sam had no idea how they got the wounded back, but soon the mansion was filled with Nephilim in varying degrees of pain. Some were unconscious, while others were moaning and barely able to speak. Those who were able were helping Gabriel, Micah, and Rafe tend the wounded.
Even Elsa and Nate helped, bringing water and towels and holding people’s hands. Elsa wasn’t as verbal as Nate, but she stroked sweat-soaked faces with such a look of concern that you couldn’t help but smile to reassure her. Nate would babble about how they’d get well because his singing man was there to help.
If there had been any evil in these children, Sam couldn’t find it. The way they followed Rafe around like baby ducklings, obeying his every softly spoken command, left no doubt in her mind who would wind up being their parent when the time came to decide such things.
It was dawn before the wounded were settled around Gabriel’s mansion. Seth and Abby sat by Eli’s side, talking quietly with Seth’s brother. Piotr hovered near them, obviously worried about Eli. Beth was napping on the sofa, a bottle of water held lax between her fingers. She’d gotten into some sort of fight with Dante. All Sam had heard was Beth telling Dante that she wanted to help burn bodies. Sam hadn’t wanted to hear anything more, so she’d left the dining room while they fought. Dante had taken off with Gio and Sasha, leaving Beth behind to grumble and growl until she finally fell asleep waiting for him to return.
Well, they were finally back, coated in soot and scowling. Gabriel directed them to go take showers and they obeyed, looking weary as all hell.
“Gabriel?” Sam twisted her fingers together. She was always a bit nervous when speaking to him. “We should send some people to get some rest while we keep watch over the wounded.”
Gabriel smiled. “I wish we could, but Eli wishes to speak with us. He says it’s urgent.”
“Then let Abby, Beth, and I sit in.” She could hardly believe that had come out of her mouth. She must be more tired than she thought. “We helped, and we want to know what’s going on, too.”
Gabriel nodded slowly. “All right, but don’t think that this will become a common thing.” He sighed, his gaze traveling over the men and women in his living room. There were more upstairs, some in his library, but none in the dining room. She was pretty sure that was reserved for meetings like the one Gabriel apparently wanted to hold. “We keep the humans in our lives safe by keeping them out of our dealings with the Shem, but…”
“All three of us have already been targeted. The best way to protect us is to let us know the dangers we face.” Sam smiled and patted his arm, earning a surprised look from Gabriel. “We’re going to be okay as long as we’re kept in the loop.”
“We can do that.” Damien’s arms wrapped around her from behind. He’d come home half-blind, his eyes that hazel color between icy gray and their normal deep blue. “We’ve already discussed this, Sammie.”
“I know, but we want to sit in on the meeting today.” She turned in his arms until she could see his face. “Gabriel and I were just discussing it.”
“And I was informing Sam that this will be a
rare event, but they deserve to hear the results of our hard work.” Gabriel glanced over their shoulders toward the staircase. “Ah, the others are ready. Let’s take this to the dining room, shall we?”
Seth was helping Eli to his feet, Piotr hovering over both of them. Abby grabbed the baby carrier with little Rose. Dante was waking Beth up with a kiss to the forehead. Rafe must have tucked his ducklings safely away in their nest because he came into the dining room alone.
Before long, all of them were there at Gabriel’s huge, ten-person dining table. Gabriel sat at the head of the table, as he apparently always did since no one else went near that chair. Eli sat at Gabriel’s right side, the angel’s hand covering his in a gesture of comfort as the two quietly spoke. Rafe was on Eli’s other side. Seth, who cradled a sleepy Abby on his lap, was next to Rafe. Sam and Damien finished out their side of the table, with Piotr at the bottom, across from Gabriel. On Piotr’s right was Zeke, Gio, Sasha, and Beth. Dante stood behind Beth’s chair, his hands on the back of it. Micah was the last to sit at Gabriel’s left hand side, right next to Beth.
“We’re going to need a bigger table if we keep finding our other halves,” Zeke joked, poking Gio in the side. “What do you think? You next?”
Gio rolled his eyes. “I thought it would be you and Sasha.”
“Alas, our love is forbidden.” Sasha sighed, his hands at his breast, palms covering his heart.
“Hush.”
Everyone stopped speaking at the sound of Gabriel’s voice. Sam turned away from Sasha and Gio and toward Gabriel, who looked gravely concerned.
“We have a worse situation than I thought,” Gabriel continued. “Eli, please tell everyone what happened to you, and what else you know.”
Speak Thy Name (The Nephilim Book 3) Page 23