Hell Spawn: Shifter Squad 09

by J. C. Diem

  Drawing on my power as a supreme alpha, I cut through the link that the Cerberus had created between itself and the dogs. Their howls broke off just as a gigantic pack came into sight. Bowing to my authority, they turned on the snakes, lizards and alligators that were just beginning to arrive. Now beneath my control, they tore into the reptiles.

  Zeus growled as the golems stalked closer. During our pursuit of our foes, we’d circled back to the Capitol building. Herding me backwards, they were trying to trap me. With concrete beneath me, I couldn’t sink into the ground to try to escape and none of my zombies could come to my rescue. Then again, with my particular talents, I didn’t need to be rescued. Using my vampire speed, I was a mere blur that they couldn’t possibly keep up with as I sprinted between them.

  Spinning around to face me, they were confronted with my army of shifters, zombies and elemental magicians. Surrounded by my allies, the Cerberus bared its teeth and growled. All three heads swiveled as it tried to determine where the first attack would come from. The hydra’s heads bobbed and weaved almost hypnotically as it did the same. Venom dribbled from fangs that were ready to send out a spray of toxic fluid.

  From on high, the oracle and her flock dive bombed the golems. The attack distracted them for only a moment, but it was long enough. Working together, Aiden and Nina’s pack of werewolves fell on the Cerberus and dragged it over to the lawn. It wasn’t easy to pin down, but they managed it. Cortez waded into their ranks and emptied a clip into the base of its middle head. He planted a grenade and my army scattered. The dead sniper sank into the ground and reemerged a safe distance away. The grenade went off and the head became detached.

  Meanwhile, Flynn, Sabine and the wererats had targeted the hydra. The rats swarmed over it, biting and clawing. One of the snake heads sprayed venom on them. A few of the rats screamed shrilly in agony as their flesh was eaten away. Sabine was caught in the spray as well, but it had no effect on her. She began to sing and the hydra’s heads swiveled to her. Mesmerized, they swayed in time to her tune.

  Lifting her hands, she beckoned the middle head down to her level. It took no notice of Flynn as he wrapped his tail around the base of its head. Holding the head steady with his hands, he squeezed hard with his tail. With a sharp crack, the hydra’s head snapped off. Mark pulled the pin on a grenade and tossed it to Reece. In his werewolf form, his senses were supernaturally sharp. He caught it without looking and stuffed it into the snake’s mouth. Everyone scattered to a safe distance and it detonated a moment later.

  With the hydra disabled, the reptiles fled. I gave the dogs an order to leave the city. It would be safer for them to stay away for the next few days.

  “Is that all of them?” I asked Mark. It was now late afternoon and I’d lost track of how many we’d taken down.

  “Yes,” he said with a weary nod. “We’ve defeated all of the golems, but I don’t know how long they’ll stay down.” We both knew they’d be back, but hopefully this time they wouldn’t have as many minions to control.

  ₪₪₪

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Wondering what threat we would be facing next, I changed everyone back to their human forms now that the battle seemed to be over. All around us, the bodies of the imps were breaking down. They were decomposing at a far faster than normal rate. The stench was enough to make my eyes water, but at least it didn’t look like they’d have to be disposed of. I doubted even the Cleanup Crew would have been able to deal with tens of thousands of corpses.

  My army of naked shifters were pumped up by the battle. For the first time, they remembered what it was like to be in their wereforms. Their excited babble cut off abruptly when the golem heads broke down into sand. That had never happened before and I wasn’t sure what it meant. In the silence that ensued, someone began to clap. The sound echoed around us mockingly.

  Kurt Jorgen teleported out from wherever he’d been hiding and stood at the top of the stairs of the Capitol building. Grinning nastily, he swept an imaginary hat from his bald head and bowed theatrically. “I do hope you enjoyed our little skirmish, Alexis,” he said when he straightened up. “I thought it was only sporting to allow you to have a glimmer of hope before I yanked it away from you.”

  My heart sank at the implication that he’d just been toying with us. “You won’t win,” I said with as much confidence as I could muster. “Fate sent me to save humanity and I’m going to do everything in my power to stop you from destroying them.”

  He smiled with false commiseration. “I am afraid Fate chose poorly if this is the best army that you can muster.” His smile disappeared and he turned thoughtful. “I must thank you for gathering them all in one convenient location, though. Now I won’t have to waste time retrieving them.” With a wave of his hand, he teleported all of the shifters and non-shifters away. Only Reece, Mark, my father, Kala, Flynn and my zombies remained. Even Ava and Sabine had been sent somewhere else. Apparently, Laurylayne’s blessing made us exempt from his tricks. Now that my father was bonded to Kala, he shared her immunity to the faery. Zeus crouched in front of me, growling menacingly at the diminutive tyrant. Linked to me, I was the only one who had any power over him.

  “As I’m sure you are aware, the moon will be full tomorrow night,” Kurt said. He clasped his hands behind his back and squinted up at the setting sun. “Once the moon reaches ascendency and the shifters turn, I will lock them into their bestial forms permanently. It was as simple as snapping my fingers to bring them beneath my control again. You may have defeated Viktor, but I will find other necromancers to call on. Come tomorrow night, I will unleash hell upon this world.” His pointy teeth flashed in another nasty smile. “It is a pity none of you will be alive to witness it.”

  With that, his gray skinned demon sidekick appeared. Crimson eyes latched onto me and the hell spawn smiled in glee. With a thought, I transformed my friends back into their wereforms again. Reece and my father stepped in front of Mark and me protectively. Wolf and cougar, they were united in their need to keep us safe. Moving to flank them, Kala hissed at the imp as he approached us. Flynn slithered over and shot a short spray of venom, but their warning wasn’t necessary. I wasn’t the target this time. The demon was focused on another task.

  Standing on the lawn, the imp held his hands up and chanted in his alien tongue. A circle appeared on the grass, but it was far larger than the other pits that we’d seen. The hole had to span over a hundred yards. His chant increased in volume and urgency and flames roared high into the air.

  From somewhere uncomprehendingly far below, a babble of voices broke out. A deep roar sounded, cutting off the noise as something claimed the right to escape from hell. Fear crawled into my throat when a gigantic pair of clawed hands appeared on the rim. The creature that hauled itself out of the pit was so large that the grey skinned demon looked tiny in comparison. It was easily ten times taller than the smaller demon, which meant it had to be a hundred feet tall.

  I tilted my head back and stared at it in open mouthed horror. Instead of being black or gray, its skin was as red as the flames that had erupted from the hell pit. It had the arms, legs and body of a man, but that was where the resemblance ceased. Just like the gray demon, its feet were cloven and its pupils were slit. Horns rose from its forehead and curved backwards for several yards. Black, leathery wings unfolded. Stretching them out, they cast a shadow over us all. It opened its maw to reveal teeth that had to be a foot long then roared loudly enough to shatter the windows of the building behind it. Clapping my hands over my ears, I winced in pain.

  “Have fun with my new pet,” Kurt tittered. His sidekick gave him a sardonic look at having his minion claimed by the faery then they both disappeared.

  Expecting the goliath to squish us into the ground, I was surprised when it ignored us completely. Stomping past us, the ground shook with each step as it trod up the stairs to the Capitol building. Like a child on a mission to cause as much destruction as possible, it smashed a hole in the wall with
its fists. Humans screamed in terror as it barged its way inside.

  I looked at Mark and he shook his head in bewilderment. He didn’t have a plan to deal with something of this size. Most of my army had been teleported away, leaving only us and my zombies behind. Hundreds of thousands of people had died and were lying in the streets. I could raise them and make them mine, but they weren’t going to be very effective against something this colossal. I needed allies who were invulnerable to demons.

  What about ghosts? Reece said and sent me an image of a group of vengeful ghosts attacking the dark coven of witches and warlocks in Bradbury. Zeus had already proven that he could defeat demons singlehandedly. Maybe souls that had chosen to remain behind rather than moving on would be able to help me. I sent him a grateful smile and he gave me a wolfish grin. I’m not just eye candy, you know.

  I came very close to blushing at the nickname that Kala had given him every time she’d seen me drool over him. “I need to find some ghosts,” I said to Mark. “They’re the only things that might have a chance to take down something that big.” I hadn’t tried to use any spirits so far. I’d need to bring them to this plane before they could interact with the living, or anything else that needed to be dealt with. Doing so would take a lot of energy.

  “Sounds like a plan,” he said with impressive calm. The leviathan sized demon was rampaging through the building, smashing through the walls and snatching up every human that it found. Its roars shook what was left of the structure. “How did you manage to connect with the ghosts the last time?”

  “Almost losing Zeus caused me to feel enough grief and rage to bring my necromancer forward. She triggered something in my head that lets me see spirits that aren’t trapped here by wards.”

  The demon roared again and he winced in pain at the volume and ferocity. “I suggest you hurry before this thing destroys the entire city.”

  Knowing what I needed, my necromancer called on her power. My death magic swelled and filled me to the bursting point. Flicking a switch in my head, I could now see around fifty ghosts floating several inches above the ground. Our battle with the golems and demons had been violent enough to draw their attention. Reaching out, I fed them my energy.

  Some of the spirits were so old and weak that they were barely visible. My energy did more than just renew them, it also pulled them through to our plane of existence. It was going to exhaust me to feed them the power they needed to take on the goliath, but they were my only hope of stopping it.

  ₪₪₪

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Now fully restored, the spirits clustered around me. They were curious about how I could see them when I was still alive. Some were freshly made from the slaughter that had just occurred. Others dated back to when the city had been founded.

  “I need your help,” I said to the group. Just as I’d feared, I was weak from feeding them so much of my strength.

  “What would you have of us?” a man wearing an old-fashioned coat and white wig asked. His face was covered in white powder and he sported a fake mole near his mouth.

  “My enemy plans to destroy every human on this planet. He’s using demons as his soldiers. The one that he just raised is too strong for me to fight.”

  “You wish for us to turn vengeful?” a matronly woman said. Her face was pinched into a permanently disapproving frown. At my nod, she looked around at the throng of spirits. “You heard the girl,” she said and clapped her hands together sharply. “Let’s send that abomination back to hell where it belongs!”

  They drew more energy from me until I was lightheaded. Unlike the ghosts that had been trapped on our plane by magical wards, these ones weren’t infused with strength and had to borrow mine. I hadn’t realized how much effort it took for them to turn vengeful. They could have done it without my aid, but they would have been weak and ineffectual.

  As the spirits fed from what was left of my energy, they began to transform. The matronly woman’s hair fell out of its severe bun and floated around her face. Her flesh became wrinkled and skeletal. Her plain gray dress turned into a tattered shroud. She opened her mouth and gave a scream of rage. All around me, the ghosts had turned into horrors from a nightmare.

  With my strength sapped almost completely, my body would be useless until I fed. My necromancer yanked my soul free, but even my spirit was weak. Mark caught my body when it fell and eased it to the ground. Sensing my need, Kendricks and the rest of my undead soldiers gathered around. My friends couldn’t see me, but the dead apparently could and they knew what I needed.

  I siphoned off some of the death magic that animated them until I was bursting with energy again. Calling on my rage, my clothes became tattered rags and my hair billowed around me in tangled snarls. Bones showed through my withered flesh. I shrieked like a banshee as I turned vengeful. With Zeus and my new minions following in my wake, I led the charge.

  Zooming through what was left of the Capitol building, I followed the moans of the humans and the bellows of the demon. It had a bunch of civilians cornered and was picking them up one by one and was tossing them into its mouth. Instead of being bright red, the blood was as grey as the rest of the world to my spectral eyes.

  Swooping in, I turned solid and caught a female office worker before the gigantic teeth could rend her apart. Invisible to her, I placed her back on the ground. Terrified, she sprinted for cover, screaming at the top of her lungs as my ghost army went on the attack. Insubstantial to start with, they penetrated the demon’s body before becoming solid. It gave a shriek of agony as its insides were shredded. The matronly ghost exited from its side with a toothy grin. The wound healed, but we now knew it could be hurt.

  Zeus snapped at its hamstring, tearing out a chunk of flesh and spat it out. The wound healed and the gobbet of meat disappeared almost before it hit the floor. The demon kicked at Zeus, but its leg passed through him. My guardian sank his teeth into its calf and the hell spawn bellowed in frustrated fury.

  More and more of my incorporeal soldiers swooped at it. Swatting at us like invisible flies, it turned tail and ran. Crashing through walls, it exited from the building, but it didn’t get far. Zeus appeared in front of it and this time it didn’t pass through him. His body turned solid and it tripped over him.

  Skidding on its face for several yards, it climbed to its feet, but we were ready for it. Targeting its legs, we attacked it in a group, tearing both limbs away completely. It crashed to the ground with a resounding thud and shrieked in pain and rage. Its clawed hands swiped through the air madly, hoping to rend us apart and failing each time as they passed through our insubstantial forms.

  At my mental command, my army formed into a spear with me at the head. We zoomed towards the demon and entered its stomach. Becoming solid, I pushed through its flesh and inner organs as it writhed in torment. Exiting through the top of its head, blood and brains exploded on the lawn, but it wasn’t quite dead yet.

  Floating above it, I watched my ghostly warriors tear the thing apart. Zeus’ mouth was burrowed in its throat, gnawing away at its arteries. It was big and strong, but not even a demon of that size could withstand that much damage. Its body heaved and shuddered then went still as my wraith hound chewed all the way through its spinal cord. Expiring, its soul floated free and was whisked back to the hell pit.

  With their task finished, the spirits resumed their normal forms. Zeus was grinning from ear to ear and shrank back down to his normal size. “Thank you,” I said with genuine gratitude to the spirits. Like them, I’d returned to my human guise. “I couldn’t have banished it without your help.”

  “It was our pleasure,” the matronly woman said. Her hair was back in its prim bun again, but she was smiling slightly and wasn’t as dour now. “It can get quite boring being dead. I haven’t had this much excitement in decades.”

  “The demons won’t stay dead for long,” I warned them. “They’ll just keep coming back until I’ve vanquished their leader.” I hadn’t quite worked out how
I was going to do that yet.

  “You can call on us again when you need us,” she offered and they all nodded in agreement. “We need to rest now and to recharge.” She looked at me critically. “I suggest you do the same, my dear. You look a little peaked.” Apparently, their job wasn’t over yet or they would have moved on to wherever they’d been meant to go.

  As they dispersed, I returned to my body and my necromancer reconnected my soul. I sat up with a groan as fatigue crashed down on me. Mark helped me to my feet and put his arm around my waist to steady me. I had just enough strength left to change my father and friends back into their human forms. It hadn’t been necessary to change them, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

  Magnificent in his nakedness, Reece was at my side in a flash. He knew better than anyone how wiped out I was. “She needs rest and food,” he told Mark.

  Before Mark could respond, flames shot up from the pit again. To my horror, another pair of gigantic hands gripped the edge. A second behemoth sized demon began to haul itself out of the hole. Exhausted, I was in no shape to fight it and I didn’t have the strength to call on the spirits again.

  “What do we do?” Reece asked our boss.

  We all knew what his answer would be. “We run,” he replied grimly. What other choice did we have? It had taken everything I’d had just to kill the first one. I was completely wrung out now and couldn’t face a second one.

  Sending my zombies into the demolished Capitol building to save the few survivors, I transported us back to where we’d left our belongings. My friends grabbed their clothes and dressed. Even from a distance, we could hear the newly risen demon as it went on a rampage. Smashing buildings and tossing vehicles around like toys, it scooped up fleeing civilians and stuffed them into its mouth.

  Hearing more bellows of rage and triumph, a chill went through me. I sprinted as fast as I could to the nearest skyscraper. Reece was the only one who could keep up with me and he followed me up to the roof. Zeus materialized beside me moments later. Standing side by side, Reece linked his fingers with mine as we saw six more gigantic death pits open. It wasn’t just the leviathan sized demons that climbed out this time. Smaller demons escaped from the pits as well, numbering in the hundreds.