by Kenny Soward
She knew Lonnie, knew that weakness in him and had tried to exploit it even then.
He shook his head. He’d burned his cigarette halfway down already, sucking that poison smoke like it was going out of style.
Coming close to the yard, a long-legged wolf crossed his path, eyes flashing at him before moving off. Others were just out of sight. He could feel them, feel the entire forest on edge after having just been attacked. He was glad when he stepped into the clearing around Torri’s home, away from those nervous, quivering branches. He shivered with the image of his sister caught in those branches, stretched until her joints cracked.
“Hey!” He called out to Ingrid and Crash who were sitting on the edge of the porch. Elsa lay on the old wooden slats, a blanket beneath her and a pillow beneath her head.
“How’s she doing?”
“Good, Lonnie. She’s resting. Can’t hardly tell if she’s alive or not though.”
Ingrid was busy wringing her hands in her shirt, but her expression was hopeful. “She’s alive,” she scolded.
Lonnie grinned, thankful to have something else to think of other than his own misplaced guilt. “It’s good to see you two—”
“Mother fucker.” Crash rose from his seat and made fists. His muscles flexed and undulated beneath his shirt, ripples of pent up violence. Even his brow elongated over his eyes, and Lonnie didn’t have to turn around to know he’d spotted Bess, Kristanna, and Torri. And Alex.
“Yeah, Bess brought some friends.”
He knew Crash didn’t like the Alex, but he’d underestimated just how much. He certainly didn’t expect the big man to start stalking toward them. Especially when they had a dozen or more high-powered rifles filled with anti-ripper ammo trained on them.
Lonnie spun, tried to grab the guy as he passed. “Crash!”
“That’s the one tried to give us problems back in Lexington. I didn’t beat his ass then out of respect for Selix and Bess, but there’s nothing to stop me now.”
And while they were sorely outnumbered and outgunned, Crash’s imposing form was enough to cause Bess and her entourage to stop in their tracks with Torri walking on until she realized the Holy Avengers were no longer at her side.
The hill witch looked back and forth between Crash and Alex, who wore a dark expression of his own as he glared at Crash.
“Ah, you two don’t like each other much. Must’ve met before.”
Bess held up her hand slowly. “Stand down, guys. We’re just here to help.”
Crash stopped, twenty yards from Bess’s crew. “I don’t mind you none, Bess. But this one here. This one’s can march his ass right back down the hill.”
Bess took a careful step forward, holding her hand up. Lonnie expected to see defiance in her expression, but all he saw was a sort of calm understanding. “It sucks about Selix, my friend. I wish I could turn back the clock on that one, even as much as I’m thankful to still have my dad. But y’all volunteered to come with us, remember? We were a team. You know how things can go.”
Crash pounded his fist into his hand, the sound was like a rifle going off. Even Alex backed up a step.
“That’s right. But we ain’t in your little church this time.”
Alex bucked up, stepping past his leader and hefting his gun, a grin spreading on his face. “I like this guy. I’ll like him better when he’s on his knees begging for the Lord’s forgiveness.”
This time Bess grabbed her man hard by the elbow. “Come on, Rios. You’re the least holy of us all. And I don’t think you know what you’re getting into with this one. He’s a C3-P of the omag variation, man. Demon blood in his veins. Stand the fuck down.”
Crash came forward, closing the distance. The only two between them were Torri Dowe and Bess. That’s when Lonnie realized just how hurt Crash was over Selix’s death. That he wholeheartedly blamed the ECC for it, not Lonnie. And here Lonnie had been placing the blame squarely on his own shoulders.
“Stay with Elsa,” he told Ingrid, jogging forward. He had no idea what he was going to do should Crash decide to go for broke and beat the hell out of this guy, but he’d have to try something.
Crash jerked his head back and forth, dreads bouncing in anger. “Put the gun down then. Be a man and fight me hand to hand.”
Alex spat, then raised his MP5, lips pulled into a grimace. “I’m not stupid. We each have our advantages. This machine gun is mine. Question is, can you get to me before I fill you full of anti-ripper ammo?”
Lonnie felt his shoulders clench as he prepared to dodge another hail of bullets, but Torri Dowe raised her hands between the two bristling men. Her voice cut through the tension like a warm country afternoon. “Y’all are just a couple of prized pigs knucklin’ down in the slop, huh?”
Crash’s glare shifted to the hill witch. “This man threatened to destroy us after we saved them. After we risked our lives for them. And he continues to disrespect us. Would you let this man get away with such disrespect when all you did was try to help him? Look at him. He is a godless man who uses religion as a path toward violence. I saw it in his eyes then, and I see it now. Is he the kind of man you want in this sacred place?”
Torri paused, giving Lonnie time to hobble over and get in Crash’s way. Bess pushed Alex a few stumbling steps back.
Wiping her nose with the back of her hand, Torri said, “No. I ain’t saying assholes don’t exist, and none of us is perfect. I understand y’all got some bad blood between you. But you ain’t fighting here. Take it down over the hill and past the benches for all I care.” She reached out and gave Crash a slap on the chest. “Now, don’t you want to get Elsa all fixed up? Isn’t that a better use of our time”
Crash glanced back to the porch and then again at Alex Rios, his brow furrowing.
He tried pushing past Torri, but grew confused when he couldn’t budge. He looked down at the pale hand against his chest, then raised his eyes to Torri’s.
She wasn’t moving, and she wasn’t going to allow Crash to move either.
“Let me go little lady,” the big man growled.
Torri slowly shook her head. “Nope. Ain’t happening. You see what I did to that demon?”
Crash paused, recalling what Torri and her living forest had done to the wretched demon. Coming to his senses, he nodded and gave the hill witch a sarcastic grin. “Yeah, I guess I want Elsa healed after all.”
“Thanks, big fella. I appreciate that.”
Lonnie took Crash’s arm, turned him, and led him back toward the house. Well, he leaned on him more than anything, but at least they’d avoided a potentially deadly confrontation.
“You okay, man?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” he said to Lonnie. And then he raised his voice louder so everyone could hear him. “I just don’t don’t want that fucker around me.”
Torri nodded, saying, “Separate play rooms. I think we can manage that. Hey Bess, why don’t you get your folks set up in the yard.”
“Fine,” Bess returned.
Lonnie gave Crash a pat on the back. “Hey, help Torri with Elsa, okay? I need to talk to Bess.”
“Got it.”
He turned around to find the ECC commando waiting for him with her arms folded. “I’m ready when you are.”
“C’mon. I know a good spot. Your people gonna play nice?”
Bess threw a look back at Kristanna Bell, who nodded.
“Yes, they will.”
“All right, let’s go.”
It felt strange taking Bess out at the jungle gym where he’d just done some very naughty things with Elsa (hard to believe the whorchal was fighting for her life now) but it also seemed like as good a spot as any. Away from the cabin without being out in the dark, angry forest.
Lantern light from the cabin was cozy, reaching just about to the edge of the gym. There were no insects making noise, but the forest still rustled with sound. For the first few minutes, Lonnie caught himself frequently glancing out into the thick underbrush, half-expecting
one of those damn wolves to pop out.
Surprisingly, Bess got comfortable on the swing, fitting nicely between the chains, shifting her rifle to her lap.
They lingered in an uncomfortable silence, just the creaking of the swing moving slowly back and forth. No, he was wrong. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence, just the opposite, a kinship kind of silence, both of them sharing a connection through Selix.
Bess broke it. “I called. Texted you a hundred times. What happened?”
“I got all of your messages. I was a little lost there for a while.” He chuckled, shaking his head. “Shit, Bess. I failed miserably. Couldn’t keep my shit together. Couldn’t keep the gang together. Everyone stewing in that van for four months, miserable with me. Amazing I didn’t get us killed.”
“I know. Well, at least based on the reports I was getting. Fifteen robberies, multiple assaults. A lot of folks in the ECC wanted to hunt you down after that mall you robbed in Bowling Green. Said someone could have gotten killed. That it was just a matter of time before it happened. That there’d be blood on my hands.”
“Looks like they got their wish,” Lonnie said, thinking of the officer they’d caught Elsa munching on back at the storage facility.
“Nope. Officer Wilson is alive. In serious condition, but alive.”
Lonnie sighed, thankful not only because he hadn’t gone back on his promise to Bess but, fuck, the officer had lived. “Good. That’s real good, Bess. Dude was just doing his job and things got out of control. How’d you track us?”
“Easier than you’d think, actually. Your sister posted dozens of times a day on Twitter. She left her location settings on.”
“What are location settings?”
“Exactly.”
“Ugh. I’ve got a lot to learn.” He got a smoke out and lit up. “I should have smashed that fucking phone of hers. No, maybe not. It kept her pacified for awhile. Although I’m sure she could have made a move much sooner.”
“What happened? Tonight, I mean.”
“I’m not sure. Torri went to commune with some of her friends. Other witches, I think. Next thing you know all hell was breaking loose and we were fighting a demon.
“So, was he a friend of yours, this demon?”
“Fuck no. There are thousands of demons in Hell. And we fight with them just like people on Earth do.”
“So Hell is more…civilized?”
“Well, some parts are like what you might read in your Bible. Most of it is that way. Especially the Demon Wastes. That’s where the nasty stuff is born. Chaos. Seven Gates of Hell and all that. There are dukes and archdukes—”
“The Devil himself?”
“I’ve never seen him. Only rumors, just like here on Earth.”
Bess shifted on the swing. “You mean to tell me you grew up in Hell and never dealt with the Devil?”
Lonnie nodded, let himself swing by his arms again. It felt good stretching himself out after the events of the evening. “It’s just another world, really.”
“That’s unbelievable.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because the people of this world, my people—those of the Faith—have pretty much counted on the Devil for two millinium. We’ve based our entire religion on the fact that the Devil is constantly trying to claim our souls. That’s why we need God.”
Lonnie thought about that, unsure of what to say next. Judging by Bess’s fervent tone, this little chat seemed to be affecting her quite a bit. “Really? Is that the only reason you need God?”
“No.” She chuckled. “But it helps. Fear is a damn good motivator.”
“Well, there’s plenty to fear on Septu…Hell. There are mysteries most of us don’t have time to solve because people are just trying to survive. So much war. Monsters unlike anything you’d find here. I feel like my world is some kind of crossroads to many worlds, but I still don’t remember everything.”
“Do you think your memory problem is permanent?”
Lonnie shrugged. “I don’t know. I was iced for so long, I guess it could be. Hell, Selix warned me about the possibility of permanent damage, but just when I think I’ll never remember another thing about my home world, some old memory pops into my head. Like tethers. You know what those are?”
Bess spun in her seat until the chains got tight. Then she lifted her feet and let herself go, spinning back the other way. “It wasn’t my specialty before, but we did some research after what happened in the Under River. So, yeah, I know what they are. Tethers are like invisible power cables back to your world, only they are invisible, and they need to be woven through a gate. Like Gruff, he was a gate, and your sister came through all tethered up. That’s why she was so damn powerful.”
“Yep, that’s right. And Hell is gated and tethered to many different worlds, not just Earth.”
“That’s interesting. So, your world is everyone’s Hell?”
Lonnie laughed. “I guess so. And there very well could be a Devil, but we’ve never seen him. Or, he manifests in different ways. We do tend to war a lot. Or, maybe I just don’t remember.” It was true that the flood of memories that had accosted him back at Rose Park had dwindled to a trickle, and Lonnie suspected they would stop completely at some point.
They lingered in contemplative silence before anyone spoke again. “It’s all pretty mind blowing.”
“Well, as militant as you guys are, I figure you would know all this already. You’ve never raided Hell?”
“No,” she answered quickly. “There have been some expeditions, but that was hundreds of years ago. Since then, our doctrine changed. Over the past decades we’ve only focused on protecting the Earth and its people. To do God’s will. That is, until now.”
“Until now?”
Bess nodded slowly. “We’ll debrief everyone together, soon. Now, tell me more.”
Lonnie closed his eyes, trying to remember. “So, there’s the Demon Wastes, and then there is the Rim, which comprises about one-half of Hell’s entire human population. It sits atop a wide, plateaued ridge that is heavily defended. Along the eastern most ridge, and trickling far into the Demon Wastes, are the Skragish Mountains. Nearly impassable and inhabited mostly by Selix’s kind. Dragon voices, whorchals, and other mountain-dwelling creatures. To the north is the Chasms of Avarice where the Sky Lords fly. That’s where Crash is from.
“The rest of our borders are porous enough to require armies to defend them. That’s where my family comes in. We supply all the war implements required for such a defense. Xester is a sort of intellectual center.”
“A mecca.”
“Exactly. We have far-seeing technologies, an entire, massive chamber filled with gates and tethers to other worlds. Worlds we do business with. Worlds we supply and, in many ways, keep them fighting amongst themselves. That’s how the Bet-Ohman’s have avoided having to fight for centuries. We help create it, and then we supply it.”
“Sounds ruthless. In return, you receive…?”
Lonnie shrugged. “Survival, I guess. Prestige?”
“You know, my superiors would love to hear all this. You should come in and talk to us.”
“I am talking to you.”
“I mean, them.”
“No. Just you, Bess. I’m not concerned about the ECC, or God or Satan, for that matter. And, honestly, that’s about as much as I can remember. The recollections are just snips of memories in dreams. I don’t even know if they’re real.”
“So, tell me, Lonnie. What do you want out of all this? What’s your goal now?”
“I want them safe. I want to take them home.” He didn’t have to explain that it was Crash, Ingrid, and Elsa he was referring to. “After that…” Lonnie gazed up through the quiet branches into the night sky. It was a clear night, and it seemed like he was seeing the stars for the very first time. “I want to be off this fucking heroin.”
“There are programs we could get you into.”
“No fucking programs, Bess. Does it look like I could m
ake it through a fucking twelve-step?”
Bess laughed. “No, I guess not. But if I understand things correctly, you have some kind of claim back in…Xester, is it? You could go back and rule, right?”
The thought had occurred to him. Now that his sister was gone, banished to some unknown place back in Hell—likely on her way to a cold, hard death—perhaps a return to Xester was indeed in order. It might be easier now with her gone. Easier to step in as a member of the ruling family. At the very least, they might find some protection. The only problem was that he had no idea what was happening in Xester right now. Who knew what evil powers were fighting for the throne at this very moment?
The next boss could be just as bad as the old boss.
“That’s not what I want, I know that much.”
Bess got up from the swing and moved closer, tentatively. She lifted her hand where it had been hanging over the top of her machine gun and put it on Lonnie’s shoulder, giving it a little squeeze. “Hey, I totally get it. And I’m sorry about Selix.” She choked on those last few words, and that sent Lonnie’s own eyes to watering.
A woman like Bess was hard to choke up.
Without thinking, Lonnie put his arm around the stocky woman and pulled her in.
Even with the gun between them, he was able to hug her with both arms, pulling her head into his chest. He breathed deep, catching the scent of sweat and a faint hint of shampoo. If anything, Bess was startlingly neutral. Ultra professional and almost completely unshakable.
Except for this moment.
She gave in, no longer cold and emotionless. She threw her arms around him, hugging back. “I’m full of guilt. It’s killing me, man. I should never have let her heal my father.” Lonnie could barely make out what she was saying with her mouth pressed against the old leather of his jacket. “It was his time to go, and I was selfish.”
“Shh. It’s all right. Selix was going to try to save regardless of what we said. Believe me, I’ve played it over and over in my mind a thousand times. It’s wasn’t your fault, and it wasn’t my fault either.”