The first warning Angie had that they were under attack was the stench of sulfur.
"Ware yourselves!" Char screamed, pushing Angie behind her with her staff as the air before her filled with thick black smoke.
Terror washed over Angie, a primal fear so profound she struggled to breathe as the smoke coalesced, forming a manlike shadow with red eyes. Char didn't hesitate but struck at it with her hexed battle rapier, eliciting a roar of pain and anger from a mouth that clearly wasn't remotely human or Fey. The thing swung a long arm at Char, but the succubus ducked beneath the strike.
"Reveal yourself," Char yelled as she struck up with her staff, ramming it into the darkness. A detonation swept through them, knocking Angie and the others off their feet, all except Char. Her staff was gone, broken into shards, but now Angie saw the monster clearly.
A demon from hell.
Taller than Char, it walked upright like a man with two arms, two legs, and a head, but that was where the similarity ended. Its torso was covered in what Angie thought was a cuirass of bloodred armor but then realized was part of its flesh, an exoskeleton or insect's carapace. Its long, powerful arms were corded in loops of chitin. Long, knifelike claws extended from its hands. Its head was wrong, covered in the same chitin as the rest of the body, but with massive jaws that took up the entire lower head, like a shark's maw, filled with the same rows of jagged teeth. The eyes were narrow and red, the nose little more than a snout. Vast horns three feet long grew out from the sides of its armored head and swept forward into points like a bull’s. Spikes jutted from the chitin along its shoulders. And over its entire body glistened a coat of wet blood, as if the thing had just stepped out of a blood shower.
"Demon," Char spat, squaring off against it, her sword ready. Flames swept up the length of her hexed blade, a trick Angie had never seen before.
"YOU THINK YOUR MAGICAL FIRE WILL HURT ME, SUCCUBUS," the demon taunted. Its voice reverberated within Angie's skull, like a thousand souls screaming. "I AM GOUGER OF FACES, AND I WILL DINE ON YOUR SOUL THIS NIGHT."
Angie bit back a scream, her chest stuttering in terror.
This wasn't possible.
Erin fired a long burst of automatic fire that hit the demon in its chest. The bullets whizzed and popped, ricocheting dangerously about.
"Run!" Char yelled, her wings snapping out to either side. "This foe is mine."
The demon roared as it came at Char, the sound turning Angie's blood cold, and Char met it, leaping forward with a flurry of bat wings. They collided with the sound of a train wreck, the air exploding into light and flames around them.
Instead of running away, Angie and Erin moved about, looking for an opportunity to fire on the demon without hitting Char. Andrej, petrified, stood and stared, his rifle falling from his elderly hands as Char and the demon fought an epic battle.
She slashed at it with her rapier, cutting into it with the hexed weapon, burning it. But the demon's armored exoskeleton protected its limbs from amputation, its torso from disabling wounds. It came at Char, slashing at her with razor-like talons that should have cut her to pieces. But her shade protected her, creating shields to stop the demon's claws. But the demon kept attacking, and sooner or later, Angie knew Char's shade would no longer have enough magic to protect her.
Angie needed to do something right now, but what could she do?
"Behind us!" Erin yelled, shoving Angie out of the way.
Angie flew, landing hard, as Erin opened fire on new attackers behind them, dropping several soldiers. Someone cast Shockwave, knocking Erin off her feet. As Angie rose to her knees, Nathan and five of his combat mages stepped forward, their hexed swords in hand as they cast more Shockwave spells at Erin, keeping her down. More Home Guard soldiers came up behind them, looking for targets.
These were impossible odds, especially with Char engaged in the fight of her life, but Angie wasn't going to abandon her friends. She rose to a kneeling position and opened fire on Nathan's mages, knowing she was wasting her time. And she was; the bullets ricocheted from the shields the combat mages' shades created to protect them.
But in the momentary distraction, Erin climbed to her feet and sprinted forward, slamming into one of the mages, the blond who had accompanied Nathan to the hospital. The mage's shade protected her, but she was still sent flying back to slam into a tree and fall forward. Erin dropped on her chest, hammering at her face with her fists. Each blow was blocked by the woman's shade, but the shields were weakening. In another couple of blows, Erin was going to get through.
Until Nathan hit Erin with another Shockwave spell, knocking her off the mage to tumble along the ground. Before she could rise, at least eight soldiers leaped on top of her, hammering at her with their rifle butts. Erin kicked one man in the chest, sending him flying away, but another took his place.
Angie fired more rounds at Nathan and his other mages, getting their attention. They stalked toward her, intent on finishing her.
And then Andrej ran into their midst, something clutched against his chest. A second later, the grenade he had been holding detonated, knocking Nathan and his mages down.
“No,” Angie said, knowing it made no difference. Andrej was gone. She looked about wildly, uncertain who to help now, Erin or Char.
A flash of red fire rushed out of the woods, washing over Char from behind. She screamed and spun, her wings burning.
"No!" Angie screamed as that bitch Smoke Heart stepped out of the trees, the red fire from her hands trailing away.
A soldier rushed at Angie, intent on tackling her. She spun, extending her leg and tripping him. As he fell forward, he knocked her rifle from her grip, but she grasped at his shoulder, gripping the skin on his neck.
The brief contact was all the Other needed, just like before. In a moment, the Other stole the man’s life force, absorbing it. Mana flowed through her, empowering her, and the soldier's body fell.
She rose as another soldier charged at her with a bayonet fixed to his rifle. Again, instinct saved her life. She cast Shutter, a spell that should have let her slip a foot or two to the side but instead sent her a dozen paces to the right, well away from the danger. Before the soldier could react, she hit him with a Shockwave spell that sent his body smashing right through a tree trunk.
But then, horror gripping her, she saw the demon lift Char into the air with one hand on the back of her neck. With the other, he ripped loose one of her wings, tearing flesh and bone with it. Char screamed.
Angie snapped.
Without understanding how, she created a whirling twister of fire and smoke that rushed at the demon, striking it from behind and knocking Char from its grip.
The demon spun, enraged, and glared at Angie from a dozen yards away. The Other—it had to be the Other working through her—sent the fire-tornado at it again, hammering it once more. And then again. The demon screamed.
At least one of the helicopters was landing. And she heard the others flying about. Bullets from a door gunner struck all about her but were knocked aside by the shield the Other had created. Then white shapes flashed through the trees, and a vampire leaped on one of the soldiers, tearing through his throat with its fangs. Others attacked Nathan and the rest of his men. Two tackled one of the Tzitzime carrying a sack of items stolen from Char's sanctum. As the man fell under the weight of the two vampires, his sack spilled open, and the dream weaver talisman tumbled out.
Then Angie's attention went to the soldiers carrying Erin into one of the helicopters. Erin!
The demon tried to rush at her again, and once more the Other hit it with the fire twister.
A dark form leaped through the air, landing atop the demon's back and tearing at it with long talons—Ephix. Ephix Lamia was here. For the very first time in her life, Angie was glad to see her.
Ephix tore at the demon, ripping lose hunks of flesh and chitin, but the demon vanished in a moment, turning to smoke as Ephix fell forward, still enraged.
The Other released it
s hold on Angie, perhaps deciding it no longer needed to be present if the demon, the true threat, was gone.
More and more vampires rushed out of the trees. Rockets from above exploded among them, but most of the vampires hit by explosions simply rose and continued the attack, albeit some missing limbs. One of the soldiers shot a vampire with a crossbow, but another vampire leaped over the first, slamming into the soldier and ripping his throat out. Smoke obscured her vision as several of the soldiers tossed smoke grenades to cover their retreat.
Angie turned to face the helicopter they had carried Erin into.
She saw Mother Smoke Heart within the helicopter’s cabin, her hands outstretched. A second later, a biting cloud of insects rose from the bodies on the ground, enveloping Angie. As before, when they were ambushed, the insects flew into her mouth, choking her. She flailed at them in panic, but they stung her again and again. It was like a thousand white-hot needles lancing her skin.
Then someone lifted her, and she was moving away, carried across a strong back as whoever it was ran. "Hold your breath," a male voice, oddly familiar, yelled.
Just when she thought the agony would be too much, cold water enveloped her, cooling the agony in her lungs.
Her world turned black.
Chapter 26
Five-year-old Angie watches television with her family. Actually, she's playing with her new Barbie doll, but she's glancing at the television and understands that something big is happening, big enough to frighten her mother and older brother, big enough to make her father shave and put his uniform on even though it's Sunday and he promised to take them all to the mall to look at toys and maybe eat ice cream or even go watch the airplanes land.
But that isn't going to happen. She's old enough to understand that much.
And it isn't fair.
The lady on the television is talking about other places, New Kori or something, although she did say Japan. Angie likes Japan and Japanese people. They make the best cartoons and have ninjas with big swords and magic powers. She wants magic powers and a sword, too.
Her mother sits on the couch with her brother, both staring at the television, which they've been doing all morning. And they hadn't let her watch any of her cartoons.
Then a car pulls up in front of their house. Angie sees Mr. Marshal in his new red convertible. It's very pretty. He honks but doesn't look at the house, as if he doesn't want to, even though Angie waved. Doesn't he see her? Mr. Marshal is nice. He pretends to pull coins from behind the ears of Angie and her brother, and he always gives them the coin afterward. He says it's magic, but Angie knows it's a trick. Still, she likes the coins. He's wearing his uniform today, too, the one with the colors that run together.
Her father runs down the stairs, wiping shaving cream from his neck with a hand towel.
"You'll call?" her mother asks as she rushes to kiss him and take the towel.
"It's just standard operating procedure," he says. "Don't worry. I'll be home soon enough."
"Call when you can."
He nods and then rushes over to kiss Angie on the forehead. His lips are warm, and he smells like soap. She likes the smell. Then he runs his fingers through her brother's hair. "Be good, and listen to your mother."
Her brother grasps at his hand, stopping him. There's fear in his eyes, just like when he sees a spider. Why is he frightened? "Are we going to war, Dad?"
"No," her father replies quickly. Too quickly? "It's a drill, buddy. Standard procedure during times of heightened tension. I doubt we'll even close the Bunker's doors this time. You watch. I'll be home later tonight, and tomorrow it'll be business as usual."
Mr. Marshal honks his horn again, and her father straightens before rushing to the door. "Listen to your mother." He slips out, closing the door behind him. In seconds, he is in the pretty red convertible, driving away.
Mr. Marshal and her father work underground in a top-secret place. Some of the older kids say they know all about it, that the soldiers keep flying saucers and submarines and little Martian men in safes, but her dad said it wasn't true, that it was just boring navy stuff.
She'd like to see a Martian man.
She pulls at her mother's leg. "Mom, can I watch my show now?"
"Quiet!" her brother snaps. "Something's happening."
"Don't yell at your sister."
A bright-red banner flashes on the television screen, announcing an urgent report. Her mother and brother lean forward, staring with big eyes. An excited young man, a Japanese man but not a ninja—at least he doesn't look like a ninja—comes on the screen. He's yelling, and his hair blows about his face. He’s in a helicopter, Angie realizes, and someone is holding a camera on his face, but it is jerking around. Helicopters are cool. She can’t understand what he is saying because it is in the other language that her shows are sometimes in, but his eyes are big. There are words running across the bottom of the television screen, and her mother gasps, clutching at her throat.
Angie recognizes only one word: dragons.
Is this a movie?
The camera pans past the young man and out the open door of the helicopter. It zooms in on a large mountain with a vast snow-covered summit. Above the mountain's top, circling it in the air, are four large, winged shapes with night-dark clouds gathered behind them. At first, Angie thinks she is looking at birds, but then she realizes that’s impossible—no birds could be that large.
She stares in disbelief, feeling funny inside. They aren't birds, they are dragons—real dragons.
It is a movie.
Lightning bolts flash in the dark clouds behind the dragons, and the camera jerks, the dragons going out of focus. This isn't a very good movie, not if everything is so hard to see. The young man begins to scream—proving he is no real ninja—and the screen goes black.
"Mom!" her brother says, panic in his voice.
Doesn't he realize it's just a movie? Sometimes Angie didn't when she was little, but not now that she is five and so big.
The television comes back to the news lady, but now she's arguing with someone Angie can't see. This is weird. She faces the screen once more.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we've lost the video feed, but we expect to get it back shortly. We're not entirely sure what we just witnessed, but local reports state four large winged creatures have appeared in the sky over Mount Fuji and have been circling the summit for at least the last fifteen minutes. Eyewitness reports describe these creatures as ... dragons."
She speaks the last word as if she doesn’t believe it.
A moment later, the television goes dark. It is still light outside, but Angie sees that the power is out, the air conditioning off, the house and surrounding military housing on the naval station eerily quiet.
"You've got to be kidding," her mother says, a nervous tremor in her voice. "Now?"
Then something flows into Angie, a sensation she has never felt before, washing over and through her, burning and freezing her at the same time. She knows something is wrong, very wrong, but doesn't understand what's happening. She closes her eyes, but even with her eyes closed, she can still “see” her mother and brother, although they're only glowing blobs of light.
As she screams, the large windows behind her shatter.
When Angie came to, Tec was kissing her.
No, not kissing. He was breathing air into her lungs. As nausea coursed through her, she gasped, pulling away and rolling over just in time to vomit up the contents of her stomach: stagnant pond water. He was rubbing her back, but she barely noticed, gasping and coughing and spewing up more fluid, pain coursing through her insides. It seemed to go on forever but likely only lasted a few seconds. When she could breathe again, she saw the glow of the fire that had been Char's home in the distance, smelled the smoke.
"You're okay. Just focus on breathing. I told you to hold your breath," Tec added, almost in a whisper.
Wasn't he supposed to be a prisoner in the polar bear pen?
Then the memory of the
last few minutes crashed in on her, and she gasped, her head spinning about. "Char. Where's Char?"
He helped her to her feet. Every bit of exposed skin stung. She ran her fingers over her face and arms, which were now covered by painful swelling. That damned witch Mother Smoke Heart had cast that blood insect spell again. She was lucky to be alive.
No, not lucky. Tec had saved her.
Again.
She leaned on him as he led her to others, a large crowd of hundreds of Fey, mostly vampires but trolls and others as well, all carrying weapons, most bloodied. Corpses of both Home Guard soldiers and Fey littered the ground. But it was Ephix that she hurried to join, Ephix still in her beast form that had always terrified Angie so, kneeling on the ground with Char's head on her lap. Nathan and the others were gone, the skies silent and clear of helicopters.
She dropped to her knees beside Char, reaching for her. Char raised her head, her eyes filled with pain and gladness at the sight of Angie. Horrific wounds in her torso pooled blood about the succubus. One of her wings was gone, as was much of the muscle on her back. The pain must have been beyond agony.
"Oh, Mother," she said, her voice breaking as she grasped at Char's bloody hand, holding it between hers.
"I'm ... I'm sorry, daughter. They took your friend. I'm sorry."
"Not your fault," Angie said, squeezing Char's hand. "Not your fault."
Nathan had betrayed them, that much was clear. And he had used the Home Guard to carry out his attack. Worse, he was working with the same people who had almost stuffed her alive inside a meat shredder. The world was upside down. None of this made any sense.
She looked to Ephix. "Can you..."
"No." Ephix said simply, her beast voice filled with sorrow. "No one can."
"It is my time, daughter. I am ready ... almost." A blood bubble formed on the corner of Char's lip and then popped. She closed her eyes, her body trembling. When they opened again, they fixed on Angie. "I ... want ... need you to forgive me, for the Other. I lied to you because I was certain you'd have killed yourself had I not done so."
The Awakened World Boxed Set Page 23