bedeviled & beyond 03 - bedeviled & beleaguered

by Sam Cheever

  My eyes widened and I realized I’d been holding back important information that Myra needed. “Tell her that she needs to bring Raoul in. I just learned that he’s probably a sensitive. He has some insight into how this thing works and he’s been walking a razor edge since helping us release King Dialle. It would do him a lot of good if he could help the celestial army right now.”

  Flick nodded and started to shimmer away. Then he solidified and stood, peering at me in a strange way. Like he wanted to say something but didn’t quite know how.

  “What?”

  Finally he shook his head as if rejecting the thought and shimmered away.

  Shrugging, I returned to my paperwork.

  The bell on my outer office door warned me that I had company. Since Emo was gone, I went to greet whoever had entered the outer office.

  I emerged into roiling, gray oblivion. A thick fog blanketed my entire outer office. I tried to peer through the murk but saw nothing except more mist. Reaching out, I realized I couldn’t feel the walls around me either.

  I turned, intending to head back into my office to regroup and discovered that my office door was gone. I was standing in a sea of roiling gray nothingness, with zero visibility and nothing else in the way of senses to guide me.

  Whatever it was it clogged my lungs and felt heavy on my skin. I could hear nothing except my own heartbeat and as I listened my heart started to beat more slowly as if it was being dragged to a stop by the thick presence in the air.

  If I didn’t know better I’d think I’d stepped into the shadows. The atmosphere was startlingly similar.

  I took a deep breath and forced myself to step forward, figuring I would never escape whatever it was by standing still. It took every ounce of my will to move forward in the cold, wet fog. Every hair on my body felt like it was standing on end. Around me pulsed an evil so black I was surprised it wasn’t visible through the grayness. I could feel it on my skin, in my head and wrapped around my soul.

  My power sparked and tried to surge, apparently feeling the same need I did to fight back. Although I didn’t know what I was fighting yet or how I was going to beat it.

  Lacking the ability to see, I strained my ears to listen for something that would help me find a way out of the fog. Gradually, I became aware of a low-pitched growling sound. Almost as soon as that awareness hit me a pair of feral red eyes appeared low in the fog ahead of me.

  The eyes were about chest height. Not tall enough to be a demon but too tall for an animal. Unless it was a really big animal.

  As I concentrated on the set of eyes in front of me I started to pull my power forward, thinking I’d just zap it between the eyes and be done with it. Alas, things are never that simple.

  At least for me.

  Several more pairs of eyes appeared around the first set, at varying heights that fell within a few inches of the first pair. That unfortunate reality told me two things.

  First, I was in deep shit.

  Second, it was highly likely that I was dealing with actual physical creatures, given the disparity in their apparent sizes. A vision would have been static and consistent.

  The growling had risen to a low, constant rumble that was distorted by the encompassing fog, making it sound like it came from everywhere at once. I pulled my power forward and waited, knowing that if I struck one of the things, whatever they were, the rest would leap.

  I thought about calling Emo or Dialle but I didn’t want them shimmering into the fog without being able to see what they were fighting. It was just too dangerous.

  So I waited and covered myself in a power bubble to hold them back on the initial attack. Giving me time to see what I was dealing with.

  After a few moments I started to feel a bit weak, a little dizzy. My eyes kept trying to slide closed and, as I jerked them back open, my knees would buckle just a little.

  Forcing my knees straight, I shook my head to clear it and managed to gain a slight clarity of thought. Something in the fog was draining me, trying to draw me into sleep.

  The things in the fog, whatever they were, appeared to be waiting for the mist to do its work. They didn’t seem inclined to attack.

  I realized then that my only hope lay in forcing a fight. If I didn’t do something I was soon gonna be a snoring lump on the floor. Then I’d be halfling kibble for the nasties in the fog, which I was beginning to suspect were Hell Hounds. Though I’d never, personally, encountered one before.

  Making a sudden decision, I dropped my power bubble and pulled my power forward. Lifting my hands, I honed in on them through the obscuring fog and flung my power out, turning as I released it to send it in an arc around me at about floor level.

  The room exploded in angry snarling. The glowing red eyes dropped toward the floor and I assumed I’d managed to topple them. I quickly redirected the power lower, hoping to finish a few of them off.

  Wild, pain-filled shrieking filled the air. The screams sounded way too human and I suffered a moment of panic. My heart thumped in my chest. What had I done? Had I just killed a bunch of humans in the fog?

  The screams quickly turned to snarls. Several pairs of eyes bounded toward me through the fog and I knew I had to act.

  Despite the risk of space shifting blindly, I didn’t think I had a choice. I closed my eyes and pictured the spot where I wanted to end up in my office. Time and space stopped for a beat and then I reappeared in the fog. Glancing around with straining eyes, I didn’t see any sign of the red-eyed critters of the mist.

  I waited, taking deep, labored breaths in an attempt to calm my pounding heart.

  One by one, the eyes started to appear around me again.

  They’d found me.

  The first hound hit my power bubble hard, nearly shaking it loose. I stared into the evil, red eyes and gulped. The nasty critter slid down my bubble and landed lightly on all four feet. The thing stood chest high and had thick black fur which sparkled against the fog. Its body was dog-like but huge and distorted, as if someone with a sick sense of humor and a limited knowledge of genetics had developed his own canine cocktail.

  Its head was overlong and misshapen, with oversized canines on the top and bottom of its slavering jaw that curled outward, keeping the jaws from closing correctly. It stalked around my bubble, peering at me through eyes that looked intelligent and very, very, angry.

  The thing tossed its head and gave off a single, guttural bark. Several of its friends stalked out of the fog to stand in a spoke-like fashion around me.

  A wheel with a halfling at the center and Satan’s hounds all ’round.

  How nice.

  The thing opened its jaws and snarled something that almost sounded like words.

  I shook my head and lifted my hands out to the side, “No comprendo, asshole.”

  It moved closer, pushing its ugly snout right up against my bubble, not even an inch from my face. I worked really hard at suppressing a shudder.

  “Come with me,” it said again very slowly, finishing each word with a slight growl.

  “Ahhh.” I said. “I understood that. And...no.”

  It threw back its glossy black head and roared. The other little doggies joined him until the room vibrated with sounds of their terrifying temper tantrum. I forced myself to stand still and not cover my ears but when my knees buckled and I went down hard, I suddenly remembered why I couldn’t just stand there.

  Thinking fast, I decided I had only one option and it wouldn’t be pretty. I yanked my power forward while reaching into my boots to pull out my knives. Closing my eyes, I said a little prayer, knowing I’d have to drop my protective bubble before I could use either my knives or my power.

  I took a deep breath and let it slide away.

  “This is gonna hurt!” I yelled as I threw myself onto the largest hound. He met me with a shriek and grabbed my arm in his horrible jaws. Enormous slimy teeth sank into my arm as I plunged the knife I held in my other hand into his heart and shot a power jolt in with it for
good measure.

  The hound went down and disappeared into the murk.

  Before I could pull the knife from their leader, the rest of the pack attacked. I sprang off the ground and flipped, praying I wouldn’t hit a wall or a hard piece of furniture.

  As soon as I landed I faced another hound. I slashed across the thing’s wide chest with one knife and immediately followed with the second knife to the throat. That one went down into the murk and I spun to meet the next one.

  A power jolt to the brain finished the third hound nicely but, before I could turn to meet the one I felt at my back, two of the thing’s five inch long canine teeth sank into my shoulder.

  I screamed and went down on a knee, realizing that if I couldn’t get back up I was toast.

  The hound must have realized the same thing because he promptly walked onto my back and stood there, smashing me into the floor while holding me still with the strength of his massive jaws.

  I groaned against the thing’s crushing weight and wondered if he would crush me to death or just rip out my throat.

  Either way I was gonna be mighty pissed.

  Reaching for my power, I pulled everything I had, including my daemon hickey power stores, into that place in my mind where I gather and grow my power. I let it build until it felt like it would explode out of me if I didn’t release it.

  I blew out a breath and let it go. Instead of trying to focus it I let it blast away from me untamed, screaming as it left.

  The power tore from my body in a burst of light, ripping painfully through my skin to burn everything around me.

  The hound’s huge, tearing canines ripped away from my shoulder and his crushing weight left my back as he flew away from me on a wash of raw, uncontrolled power. All around me hounds were blasted away on the horrendous power wash, their evil red eyes wide in surprise and fear.

  After a moment of silence I pushed myself to my knees and looked around. For a moment I didn’t see any more red eyes in the fog.

  But then they started to appear again.

  Shit!

  I pushed myself to my feet, realizing I’d dropped a knife and that I’d probably never find it in the fog. Sighing, I wiped my sweaty right palm on my sweater and transferred my remaining knife to that hand, preparing for round two.

  Suddenly the fog was speared with white light, coming from an opening in the distance. A single form stood in the midst of the light.

  It was the door into the hallway of my office building.

  I squinted but couldn’t make out the identity of the form in the open doorway. My knees buckled and realized I’d been standing still too long. I prepared to space shift to the door, figuring whatever was out there couldn’t be worse than what I’d just faced in the fog. A familiar voice stopped me in my tracks.

  “Astra Q Phelps. What have you gotten yourself into now?” The strident-voiced form in the doorway cocked a hip and crossed her arms over her chest.”

  I opened my mouth to yell, “Darma!” and went down hard into the fog. She screamed my name and I forced myself back to my knees. “Darma! Hell Hounds, get out!”

  I don’t know if she heard me but she shrieked as my vision started to gray out around the edges and I shook my head, reaching for my power to shift toward her.

  Closing my eyes I thought about the hallway outside my office and prayed I’d miss Darma. I landed just behind her, nearly stumbling to the ground as the aftereffects of the fog still clogged my drugged senses.

  I looked up, ready to rush to her rescue and felt my mouth go dry.

  She was standing like a superhero in the doorway, legs spread wide and both hands splayed out in front of her. She stood in a golden halo of light as burning white power shot from her hands and engulfed the room.

  Her eyes were closed and she was vibrating with the force of the power she was scouring my office with.

  Even as I watched I could see the fog retreating. The shrieking from inside told me the hounds were not fairing any better than the fog.

  Seeing that she had it well in hand I leaned against the wall and tried to regain my sea legs. As the last of the fog slid away, I moved to stand beside my sister.

  I put an arm around her and she jumped, turning to me with dazed eyes and a very pale face. “Hey, way to go. Apparently you did learn something today.”

  She stared at me for a long moment and then her eyes rolled up into her head and she started to go down. Fortunately for her I was there to catch her before she hit the carpet.

  I lowered her gently to the floor and grabbed her arm to check for a pulse. My fingers felt a slightly raised area on her wrist and my gaze jerked downward in panic.

  “Holy shit!”

  A slightly raised, purple teardrop stained the pale, white flesh on the inside of my sister’s wrist.

  A devil’s mark. Just like mine.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Bob’s Your Neighbor

  The mind of man has undergone, a truly hateful bent,

  And our fair misses need to run, until the fighting’s spent.

  I leaned over Darma and placed my hands on her chest. From everything I could tell she was okay, just exhausted from the unaccustomed effort of kicking dark world ass.

  I injected a soothing cocktail of energy into her and watched the color return to her cheeks. Her eyelids were just starting to flutter when a large rock blasted through the window at the end of the hall and skittered across the carpet toward us.

  Through the open window I could hear rioters in the streets.

  “Shit!”

  The flash elevator started dinging, which told me somebody was trying to come up but it had been locked, and the office door down the hall banged open, spitting Bob, my cute and friendly neighbor out into the hall.

  “Astra, come on. We need to get out of here!”

  I looked down at my sister in frustration. “Why? What’s going on?”

  He shook his head, “No time to explain. You’ll need to trust me on this.” His anxious brown eyes flew to the floor scale over the flash. Then he jerked his head toward Darma. “You need help with her?”

  I shook my head. Reaching down I hefted Darma off the floor and flung her over my shoulder. “Let’s go.”

  Bob hurried ahead of me back into his office. He didn’t hesitate once inside but led me directly to the back of the office and through a door that appeared to be some kind of secret escape route. Not for the first time I wondered what kind of business he and Ralph were in.

  The door opened up into a dark, wet hallway that was walled on both sides by old, red brick. It looked like the juncture between two buildings. He waited for me to clear the door, then he closed it behind me and pushed a bar into place.

  I frowned. “Bob, what the hell’s going on?”

  Bob glanced at me and his brown eyes were no longer warm and friendly. I felt my stomach drop.

  Seeing the fear in my eyes he shook his head and grabbed my arm. “It’s okay, Astra. I’m on your side. I’m afraid the veil has taken on new properties, the human race is about to go berserk. We need to get out of here.”

  As Bob jogged down the dark hallway my mind raced. What did Bob know about the veil? Why was he helping Darma and me? As far as I could tell Bob was human, which meant he should hate us for our magic. But he seemed to want to help.

  I did a mental shrug and followed Bob around a corner, where there were stairs that led down into some kind of underground place. The ground underneath my feet was soggy and my boots were already wet from slopping through puddles that smelled like sewer. The whole thing was making me a bit cranky. I could deal with death and destruction, but it really pissed me off when my boots got ruined.

  We descended for a good ten minutes and then the stairs ended in what looked like an old abandoned flash train tunnel.

  The space was dark, with only the occasional spear of light that seemed to come from the street above. Probably some kind of ventilation system.

  I didn’t even want to thi
nk about what might be living in the tunnel. There was little doubt in my mind there would be rats. Bleurgh!

  Darma started to wriggle and finally lifted her head, slapping me on the back. “Put me down, Astra.”

  I let her slide down until her feet hit the soggy ground of the tunnel. She grimaced and looked around. “It stinks. Where are we?”

  I looked at Bob.

  He held out a hand and smiled at Darma as if meeting her at a party. “Hi, I’m Bob Gleason. I work down the hall from your sister.”

  Darma’s good manners held her sharp mouth in check. Just barely. “Bob. Are you responsible for our being down here?”

  He dropped the hand and nodded. “It was the only way I knew of to get out without being torn to pieces.”

  Much to my surprise Darma nodded. She looked at me. “The streets have exploded. It’s not safe out there anymore. That’s why I was coming back to get you. I was hoping you’d know how to get us out of there.”

  I wondered why she didn’t just call Torre but decided it wasn’t the right time to ask that type of question.

  “Thanks for helping us,” I said to Bob.

  He shrugged. “It’s the least I could do after you helped Ralph. He’d be dead right now if you and your partner hadn’t intervened.”

  I shrugged. “We were happy to help.” My mental drawers shifted and Emo called my name.

  Hey partner.

  Boss! Where are you?

  I looked around with a sigh. Hell if I know, Bob Gleason is helping Darma and me get out.

  Describe your surroundings.

  It looks like the old flash train tunnels. Bob took us out through a door at the back of his office but the door is barred now.

  Hold on, I’ll be right there.

  After a moment the air changed and Bob grabbed a laser pistol from somewhere under his clothing. I hadn’t seen the gun before he pulled it out.

  “Whoa boy.” I said as I grabbed the end of the pistol. “It’s just Emo.”

  Bob’s face reddened with embarrassment. “Sorry.”