“. . . and very quickly. They have been laying some groundwork. Remember the wayclearer demons? Those ugly, little squat creatures with teeth growing everywhere and the distinct lack of anything even remotely resembling a brain?”
I nodded. We’d come across the wayclearer demons several times already, chiefly during the attack on the Aegis HQ back in York.
“The hierarchy seem to be using them as a kind of foot soldier. Their numbers are growing and they’re heading north. On foot, it will take time, but even a mindless beast can move fast if it has sufficient motivation and needs no rest.”
“Let’s hope they find a way to shut down that gate then,” Johnny said.
Cheyne continued, “Asmodeus has been spotted again. The demon is definitely being drawn to something in this area, which can only be the artefact.”
“Where this time?”
Cheyne scanned her surroundings with trepidation. “Actually, around here. International Drive and Sand Lake. It appears the demon destroyed a nearby establishment.”
“Searching then.” I nodded. “The hierarchy demons are unable to pin down an exact location on these artefacts?”
Cheyne shrugged. “It appears so. If they’re merely drawn to the item, then I guess it will leave them with a large search area.”
“Let’s hope.”
Giles reappeared in the lobby’s entrance and beckoned us over. From the smile on his face I guessed the Aegis name had done the trick, not to mention its bottomless wallet.
“Good news at last,” he said. “Ethan, on the desk there, is a vampire and has extensive local knowledge. He has agreed to help us. Ethan is a loner but was in fact made by the vampire king of Europe.” He blinked. “A good pedigree.”
Ceriden’s demeanor soured. “You mean Strahovski of Vienna, Austria? That king of Europe?”
Giles nodded.
“Pah. I knew him a long time ago. And my guess is—once a blunted fang, always a blunted fang. Strahovski is weak. Compromised.”
Giles sighed. “Well, that said, Ethan is young, vital and we need his help, so a bit of discretion would be welcome, my friend.”
I filed in behind as they pushed through the tinted doors into an air-conditioned lobby. Lucy was to my right and I distinctly heard her sharp intake of breath upon sighting Ethan. One look and she was smitten. The kid had jet-black hair and piercing eyes, a sharply chiseled face, and rippling muscles enhanced by his tight Hollister t-shirt. His gaze swept across us all and settled upon my daughter.
I tended to notice these things.
Ethan smiled. Lucy took another breath. I stepped in between the almost silent exchange. “You booked us some rooms?” I asked Giles.
The Englishman shook his head. “No. I booked us the entire building to the far left.” He shrugged. “Twenty floors.”
I shook my head. Talk about overkill. But the distance between the lobby and the building would be a nice buffer zone. “Shall we go?” I asked. “The sooner we set up a HQ and start tracking these things down the better.”
Cheyne seemed to agree. “Let’s grab our things. My coven is close by. I will call them over.”
I smiled as we all started to move out, leaving the vampire kid, Ethan, with a surprised look on his face. “Maybe this time you’ll let the witches to take their hoods down, eh?”
“A witch is forbidden to reveal her identity until she ascends to a certain level,” Cheyne said gravely. “It is one of our laws.”
“Oh? Why?”
“Many reasons. Secrecy. Anonymity. Safety. Protection from each other, if required. Preservation of focus through the whole initiate period. Preference.”
Lucy cast another glance back at Ethan as we walked out the doors. I urged her onward. Don’t get me wrong, if the youth hadn’t been sporting a sharp set of fangs it wouldn’t have bothered me. Not so much anyway. Back home we had youths that drove five-hundred-dollar cars and fitted them with booming exhausts and an eight-speaker stereo system. If one of those guys ever turns up to collect your daughter then, in my opinion, the baseball bat is an acceptable deterrent. Over here they had vampire receptionists with muscles and winning smiles. I wondered which was worst.
We headed over to the rearmost part of the hotel. The attractions and wonders of I-Drive were just a road away, visible over the trees even from here. Some kind of Pirate’s Dinner Adventure sat across the street. A brightly lit strip mall promised everything from soft drinks to suitcases.
And Asmodeus the demon was out there too, even now searching for part of the puzzle that would enslave all mankind. Soon, we would have to face him. But that was better than a slow death in bondage and captivity.
Better that than the experience of hell on earth.
FOUR
Ken decided to forgo the pleasure of the vampires—lame joke, he thought—and try his luck with Felicia. Just because he was tramping through hell itself didn’t mean a dude had to stop practicing the art of seduction. And besides, the bouncy lycan was a playful little thing. Maybe she would welcome the opportunity.
Ken drifted over as she ranged ahead. When she spotted him, she took a quick scan of her surroundings and then dropped back, walking fast through the thigh-length grass.
“Everything okay?”
Ken rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. I just never realized chasing a demon with a chick dressed in black leather could be quite so . . . dull.”
Felicia’s mouth turned up at one corner. “You expected something more? From Eliza?”
“I guess not.”
“The lowliest gutter vamp rates himself a hundred times above the best of humanity. What exactly did you expect to get from Eliza, a queen?”
“At this point I’d settle for a friggin’ smile.”
“Don’t hold your breath. It’d be easier to find a lycan that didn’t like to run naked through the woods.”
Ken fell in beside her, warming to her openness. “I see. And is that something all lycans enjoy?”
“Every chance they get.”
“Excellent. Maybe we could do it together one day.”
Felicia looked amused. “You really want to run naked through the woods with me? Has the pot gone to your head, surfer-boy? You do know you’re human, right?”
“I’m up for anything.” Ken tried to sound indignant.
“I’ll bet.”
Felicia gave him a wide, infectious smile. Ken grinned back. “So what else do you lycans enjoy?”
“Whatever we like. That’s part of the beauty of being a lycan. We’re beholden to nothing and to no one. The world is our playground. And that’s why we’re helping, of course.”
“No rules?”
“None that aren’t worth breaking.”
“Awesome.” Ken liked her more and more. She didn’t sound the least bit complicated, something he was always on the alert for. He was about to speak again when Felicia stiffened.
“What?”
“Look.”
He looked up. What he saw brought him to a dead stop. The whispering grasses finally ended against what appeared to be a craggy rock face that rose out of nowhere. Among the rows of crags and outcroppings, the high, dark reaches, Ken made out caves; entrances to unknown realms. Many of the caves at ground level were high, wide and arched, but above them stood more, some smaller than a human and others just large enough to admit a man. Darkness pooled inside every entrance invitingly, ominously. As Ken watched, several creatures squirmed out of numerous entrances, then stopped suddenly as if seeing the light of day for the first time in many moons. Others moved off along the already trodden path toward the gate that led to Miami.
Felicia pulled him down to the ground. “Careful. We need to get by them. Not mate with them.”
The vampires and Lilith joined them. Eliza was in the middle of quizzing Lilith about the cave entrances.
“There is not much to say,” Lilith told them. “Creatures are free to come and go above the sixth level. Take your time and you should slip past
them. There are no guarantees.”
“Time is something we don’t have,” Eliza said. “We need a distraction.”
“Even then—”
“I hear you.” Eliza raised a hand. “But I need suggestions. Not skepticism. Anyone?”
“Or,” Ken said, pointing up at the skies, “we wait for the dark.”
The day was waning overhead, passing into night. Whatever passed for light down here was about to give way to utter dark, and Ken for one was somewhat anxious.
“Humans.” Milo shook his enormous head. “So naive. How have you lived so long?”
“Me?” Ken said archly. “Or my kind?”
“Both,” Eliza put in. “Vampires can see in the dark. Do you not think the creatures of hell might be able to do the same?”
Lilith came to his rescue. “It is harder for most of them to see well in the full dark. It would be better than causing a distraction that might give away our presence.”
They crept closer to the crags. As the grass grew sparser and details became clearer, Ken saw that a wide lake fronted the high rock faces. Its waters were black; obsidian waves rippled from end to end. Ken fancied he saw something undulating under the surface, a great spiny back that occasionally broke the waters, but it could have been his imagination.
“We can skirt around that way.” Felicia pointed off to the left where the grasses swept in a wide arc and ended up against the lowest reaches of the caves. “There’s no activity. No recent spoor or smells. And the dark is coming fast.”
When they reached the rough-hewn cave entrances, Felicia turned to Lilith. “You’re up. Which one?”
Lilith pointed to the top. “The higher the better. Most of these spawn take the easy routes in and out.”
Up they went, finding simple handholds in the rugged surface and clinging to the cliffs. At first it was easy, but as he climbed higher Ken chanced a look down. The first thing he saw was the silent lake, its waters swelling away from the center where something briefly rose. The spiny back heaved and rolled, its long bristling vertebrae catching the last of the light before sinking into the depths.
“Oh God.”
Felicia prodded him from below. “Hurry. What are you doing?”
“A freakin’ sea monster.”
“Meh. I’ve seen one before. Now catch up to Lilith before she disappears on us.”
Ken started up, trying to stay close to the young girl’s heels. As the night closed in sounds travelled further, and the grunts and screeches of the traveling terrors filled the high, empty vault of the night. Ken scraped his fingers against the rock and tried to keep his sword from clanging too loudly. Felicia urged him on and then came the vamps, scuttling up from below like poisonous spiders. Ken fought off a chill of fear. What the hell was he doing here with these creatures? It wasn’t as though any of them were good friends.
At last, Lilith entered a cave. Ken followed quickly, ducking his head as the ceiling lowered. Pitch blackness surrounded them. Sounds were limited to grunting and breathing.
“Come forward carefully,” Lilith whispered. “We are near a ledge.”
Ken joined her. The interior was dimly lit, the faint light filtering down from high above. Maybe another plain existed up there, but he didn’t care. He took stock of the place. The inside was a high, wide chamber that descended lower and lower beyond the limits of sight. In every rock wall was a warren of passageways, all twisting and looping and snaking lower, passing over great drops and breaks in the path, arching over each other. In the center of all this chaos a grand staircase rose, hewn out of stone, impossibly high and steep, full of sharp turns and switchbacks, a pillar of permanence at the heart of this random warren.
Lilith pointed vaguely through the gloom. “Down there is the gate to the sixth hell. We should go quickly before we are seen.”
Eliza was close enough to Ken’s shoulder to make him jump when she said, “Why can’t we just descend straight down the staircase to the first hell?”
“It is easier, and safer, to find the ways between hells. The grand staircase and its warrens are too dangerous and full of powerful, arrogant spawn. Some even live there. But the ways between, the lesser known paths, are both quicker and less populated.”
Eliza made a noise that managed to convey both understanding and impatience. Lilith slipped over the ledge and crept down the wall and, for a few moments, was exposed. Ken examined every angle, every shifting shadow. No creature turned in her direction, nor made any sound of surprise. By the time Lilith was crouched safety in a small niche the Californian was holding his breath.
Felicia nudged him. “Now it’s your turn.”
Slowly, carefully, they traversed the veritable burrow that circuited the staircase, stopping once to let several pale white forms slither past and another time to give some space to a shambling ogre with curved horns that scraped sparks off outcrops every time he turned. Eventually, they reached another ledge and a cave entrance, and Lilith nodded in anticipation.
“Let’s go.”
The sixth hell lay before them as they exited the cave, tentatively at first. Somewhat confusingly, a silvery light illuminated this place, bathing the landscape in stark relief. The scene was depressing and quietly threatening. A low plain stretched away from the lowest foothills of the caves, barren and wasted except for several ragtag huddles of abandoned and derelict buildings. From vacant sheds to crumbled houses and deserted office buildings the nightmare scenario reminded Ken of some doomsday movie he’d caught at the Cineplex.
“What was this place?” he murmured. “It could almost be Earth.”
Lilith shrugged. “It is said that all the seven hells were once an Earth. Each time Lucifer and his brethren overthrow one it is absorbed into the current hells and another Earth is born. Your own Earth could well be the eighth level of hell if Lucifer has his way.”
“Wow.” Ken drank in the scene, tasting ashes. “How do you know all this?”
Lilith shrugged. “I went to school.”
She moved off, climbing down, leaving him scrabbling around the question of her education. A cold wind blasted against his face as he regarded the appalling ruin of the sixth hell. Could his own world end up this way? As nothing but decay and debris, not even the faintest spark remaining to show for the beauty that had gone before?
This was the Devil’s ultimate victory—to leave hope in ruin.
Ken bent harder to the task, girding himself for a hard slog and an even harder battle.
FIVE
It all kicked off as I was coming out of the shower. Lucy had demanded a room of her own and, with Giles hiring the entire building, I didn’t have the grounds or—truth be told—the heart to say no. I took a two-bedroom suite with its own kitchenette, and Belinda moved in with me, happy that we could finally share some valuable alone time together. The first thing I did was hop in the shower, and the second thing that she did was to join me . . .
But then we got the call.
The phone rang. Belinda, half dressed, listened quietly for a few seconds and then turned to me, that haunted look once again stretched across her face.
“They need us downstairs. Asmodeus has been pinpointed by the witch coven less than a mile away.”
“Now?”
“Now.”
“Crap. Don’t forget your pants.”
I threw some jeans and a t-shirt on and headed for the door, barely remembering socks and trainers. Belinda was a second behind me, running and shrugging into her leather trousers even as I threw open the door. An elevator stood outside our room and I jabbed at the button.
“Hope you’re ready for this,” Belinda said. “We’re going up against Asmodeus, one of the strongest of all demons. Death has always been right around the corner for me, but this . . .” she shook her head sadly.
“We’re together,” I said as the doors opened. “All of us. And we’ll fight together. You no longer have to do this alone, Belinda.”
She nodded, still a litt
le melancholy but putting on a brave face. I took another look at the t-shirt she’d chosen earlier and pointed its merry slogan out to her.
Smile and be happy.
“That was for our shower tryst, Dean.”
“Ah. Well, to be continued.”
The doors whooshed open and we made our way to the parking lot. Several vehicles were already revving their engines. The entire group was present, including Lucy and the vampire kid, Ethan. My spirits rose fast, though, to see so many capable warriors ready to go.
“Move your ass.” Belinda ran and I joined her in the lead car. Tires squealed and we raced out. Cheyne explained that demons as powerful as Asmodeus could appear in a variety of disguises. From that of a man or woman, of any form, to an animal, a terrifying demon and even a fallen angel, that looked startlingly like old renderings of supposedly real angels. The beast’s true visage, a horned demon with eyes like bubbling lava, a wolf’s snout, claws for hands and veiny, transparent gray wings was rarely ever seen.
“So how do you track a hierarchy demon?” Tanya Jordan asked the question.
“A demon is still a demon,” Cheyne explained. “no matter the disguise. A pig is still a pig when dressed in top hat and tails, yes? Well, this is the same.”
I blinked at that one and made a mental note never to accept an invite to a witch’s party. Cheyne explained that demons could be tracked through the unique signature they emitted much like the witches had tracked down the eight Chosen and Gorgoth’s Destroyers—by spelling parchments and artefacts unique to them. Special identifiers.
“We’re a little like bloodhounds tracking a scent.” Cheyne tapped her crooked nose. “When we catch ‘em in here there’s no escape.”
Giles pulled onto I-Drive. Now that we had a general location it became immediately obvious where the demon was. Flames washed the skies beyond Wet ‘N Wild, along a quieter stretch of road that held only a few shops and eateries. As we came closer Cleaver spoke up.
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