“You're right. This is way worse than I ever thought!” Wick said looking very trouble. Like all his hopes of defeating her had just been crushed.
“Technically, we're still dealing with a demon but if she wasn't lying then soon we might be dealing with an angel. You think that Enochy thingy will still work?” Jerry asked, holding a towel against his bleeding head.
“Well, Enochian should still work on her. If she manages to ascend then I'm not so sure,” Wick said thinking hard.
“Here,” Sophinia appeared at his side holding a syringe full of his little hormone cocktail. “It's starting to wear off, I can smell it.”
“Thanks,” he smiled before sticking the needle into his leg and pushing down the plunger.
“Question is; how do you stop the most powerful ting on the planet?” Vic asked.
“Right. I know it's been crazy around here but have you guys thought of any other ideas?” Jerry asked.
“Well...maybe one,” Joe said not sounding too confident.
“Anything's better than nothing,” Cass said.
“Chains. Big iron heavy duty chains. Like they use for picking up cargo containers,” he said.
“Scratch the binding symbols into each of the links then wrap them round her!” Wick said catching on. By the look on his face he seemed to think it was a great idea. “Yes, that could work!”
“Really?” Goose asked looking skeptical. “Couldn't she just snap them?”
“If you can get them round her before she can break them, they'll form a binding circle and her strength will be shut down. Temporary. But it might give us the time we need,” Wick said.
“Great. I like this plan,” Goose said.
“We'll have to distract her somehow. Keep her busy long enough for us to get the chains around her.”
“I can be pretty distracting,” Jerry grinned.
“We're gonna have to work on the specifics but first, let's get you stitched up and fed,” Joe ordered. No one disagreed with that.
“Hey,” Jerry said turning to Sophinia. “Where's Rachel?”
The room went into a horrible silence as it always did when everyone tried to find the right words to describe something terrible. Eventually Sophinia spoke.
“She's in a coma.”
Pain, worse than any physical wound shot through Jerry's body. Rachel. Psychic or not, she was still just a kid. A rich, moody, genius who they all looked at like a little sister. A non-combatant.
This was wrong. The universe had hit below the belt this time and it was yet more fuel for Jerry's lack of faith. And something told him that the mystery woman in white wasn't going to show up and heal her like she did for him. He wished that she would but she only seemed interested in him. That was when a strange theory began to build in his mind. He was certain that she was trying to tell him something but what and why? Maybe there was a reason for this but it was one he couldn't afford to think about right now. He was having enough trouble keeping his head in check as it was.
His hands were shaking again but this time it wasn't because of the cold. Anger was joining forces with grief and now Jerry was tempted to skip the planning and resting stage and just arm up for the fight. He wanted to go after her right now.
“She's strong. If anyone can fight their way out of a coma, it's her,” Soph said gently rubbing his arm.
Jerry's lips were pressed tightly together and he was staring at nothing but finally managed to nod. “Get me stitched up so we can go end this bitch!”
The Salem Witches were gone and couldn't help, Rachel was the expert on the human brain, and none of them had more than basic medical training. There was nothing they could for her at this point, except kill the thing that harmed her.
About ten minutes later, Wick was examining Aria's arm on a table under a light while Jerry sat away eating a cold slice of pizza as Joe worked the needle and thread.
Cass couldn't help herself. She was staring vividly at the blood on the end of the needle. Jerry's blood.
“Cassandra,” she jumped as Sophinia laid her hand on her shoulder. She studied her face for a moment, seeing the hunger in her eyes.
“I'm okay,” Cass nodded.
“Are you sure?”
“I just...I haven't fed. I'm thirsty, that's all,” she tried to brush off but Sophie wasn't buying it.
She saw how much Cass longed for that blood again. She was fighting it with everything she had but it may not be enough. She was the only one that had ever actually drank Jerry's blood and that experience had stayed with her.
“Go get yourself a blood pack,” Sophinia ordered, hoping it would take the edge off.
Cass nodded and walked out of the room, her teeth clenched together hard.
Jerry pretended that he hadn't heard their exchange and focused on Wick's examination. Thankfully, the arm didn't twitch or come to life and try and choke anyone to death which Jerry had thought could be a real possibility. He winced a little as Joe pushed the needle through his skin again.
“This is weird,” Wick mumbled as he looked more closely at he arm.
“What?” Goose asked walking over.
“Well, if I didn't know better, I'd say you had just given me a human arm,” Wick shrugged.
“Meaning?”
“Well...I always assumed that Aria was so...so...”
“So hot that it's almost a crime against nature?” Goose finished for him.
“Yeah, but I always thought that was some kind of glamor or spell, you know, like a succubus or siren. Now, I'm not so sure.”
Joe snipped the thread on Jerry's stitches just as he started to rise from his seat. “Wait,” he said handing Jerry a towel. “Hold that to your head, you're still bleeding.”
He did as requested before they joined the others and grouped around Aria's severed limb.
“Look,” Wick said using a scalpel to open up the mangled flesh. “Bone, muscle, tendons, radial nerve, they're all exactly where they should be. And there's nothing to suggest anything supernatural.”
“So, her hotness isn't hiding some hideous demon freak? She's actually that beautiful?” Cass asked. When Wick nodded she groaned. “Now I really hate her.”
“So wait a sec, let's backtrack this,” Jerry said still holding the towel to his head. “Aria starts off human, she does something awful that earns her a back hand to the boiler room. She dies, her body stays here but her soul goes to hell for who knows how long. Lucifer decides to use her in his little Maximum Ride experiment but gives her a human body...why would he do that?”
“Well, there are theories that angels only appear as humans when they're in the presence of humans,” Wick said. “There's all kinds of scripture and lore on it. Most of it says that an angels true form isn't a person with wings, it's basically just a giant wave of celestial energy. But, for a human to see them like that, well, it would be like trying to walk across the sun.”
“So, wait, they take human form when they're around us just because we'd die if we saw what they really look like?” Goose summed up. “And Aria's got the same thing.”
“Which means she isn't lying. She is actually close to being an angel,” Sophinia said in a grave voice.
“Yeah, but with a human body...her wings!” Jerry said going a little wide eyed. “Her power has gotta come from her wings!”
“That would explain why they're indestructible.”
“Yeah, they are but her body isn't. What if we ripped them off?”
“You really think you could get that close?” Joe asked.
“I don't know, it's worth a shot,” Jerry shrugged.
“But we don't even know if that would work,” Wick sighed. “Or what it could do if we did. I mean she could go Chernobyl or something.”
“Well, wingendectomy or exorcism, we gotta stop her before she can ascend.”
“She give you any hint about what this missing piece was?” Claire asked.
“Yeah, me. But I don't see how that's possible. I mean, Lucif
er is staying powerful by soul sucking damned humans but if that's all Aria wanted, why wouldn't she have done it to me?”
“Maybe there's more to it than that,” Wick wondered.
“I hate to think what,” he moaned pulled the towel away from his head to see how much he was still bleeding. He felt a small trickle of blood move down the side of his ear but it wasn't much. He leaned over the arm again studying the skin. Apart from where the bullet had blasted it to pieces, Wick was right. It was completely human. Well, not quite, it was a little too perfect to be human. There were zero changes in skin tone, no freckles or scars, no blemishes or impurities of any kind. Almost as if it had been given the full Adobe Photoshop treatment. “So, you think even a corrupted soul like Aria's is too much to look at now that she's been upgraded?”
“Maybe, but I-”
Wick was cut off by a strange low hissing noise. He and Jerry looked around for the source of the sound as a rancid smell crept up their nostrils. They looked down at the arm to see small, marble sized hole that was sizzling and melting away as if a drop of acid had just fallen on it.
“What the hell?”
For a second they both just stared at it as the others grouped around. Then Wick suddenly reached out and rubbed his finger across the stitched up wound on Jerry's head. He winced but Wick ignored him and studied the blood on his finger tip for a moment before wiping it on Aria's arm.
Instantly the skin began to burn away and dissolve leaving behind little wisps of smoke and a putrid odor. The whole room seemed to freeze.
“No freakin' way!” Goose gasped. “Dude, why do you have facehugger blood?”
“I don't have facehugger blood! Shut up!” Jerry squeaked.
“Yeah, you do! Look at it, it's like acid!”
“I don't have facehugger blood!”
“It's not burning me,” Wick said holding up his finger.
Cass quickly reached out and touched the blood on Wick's finger. Nothing happened. She wiped it off quickly after before any thoughts of tasting it could take hold.
“It only burns demons,” Soph said looking astonished.
“Why?” Joe asked still staring at the smouldering parts of the arm.
“I have no idea,” Wick breathed.
“Why is this happening now?”
“Well...have you bled on her before?” the priest asked.
“Err...no.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah,” Jerry nodded. It was true, he hadn't actually been injured when he'd been with Aria.
“This is incredible! Your blood is toxic to demons!”
“It can't be!”
“Why not? You just saw what happened.”
“Well...” Jerry faltered. He really hadn't wanted anyone to know about this. “Back in the restaurant...she, sorta, well...kissed me, and nothing happened!”
“She-” Goose blinked as his eyes shot open in surprise. “She...you got violated by hell tongue?”
“Shut up!” Jerry snapped.
“Wait, wait,” Wick said holding his hands up. “Your blood and saliva effects vampires and your blood burns her but your saliva does nothing, that doesn't make any sense.”
They all stood silently for a moment, trying to process this new data. Wick was right, his saliva should have had some kind of affect on Aria but it hadn't. Jerry's mind flashed back to when she had kissed him, trying to recall ever moment of it. It was then that something else occurred to him and latched itself onto the theory that had been building in the back on his mind. He still didn't have enough facts to give it any real structure but it was starting to nag at him more and more. He was about to tell it to the others when Sophinia spoke.
“Daniel, what were you feeling when Aria kissed you?” she asked.
“Err,” he tried to think back. “I was a little pissed off, confused, kinda anxious I guess.”
“Were you angry or frightened?”
“A little, why?”
“Aroused?”
“That's kinda personal...” he mumbled.
“So, yes?”
“Alright, fine! Yes! I couldn't help it, I mean have you seen her? And this was before I found out that the Devil literally broke the mold making her!”
“And now? How do you feel now?”
“Now? Now I'm really confused, extremely anxious and on the verge of going postal!”
“And now your blood burns her,” she said sounding so wise.
Jerry made a face as he caught onto what she was saying. “What?! No, come on! That's ridiculous! You think I've got...mood blood?”
“It's not as crazy as it sounds. A persons emotional state can cause all kinds of physical reactions,” Claire said. “Nervous ticks, hives, headaches, eye twitches, it's very common.”
“Wait, so you're saying that when Jerry gets mad, his blood gets mad?” Joe asked looking very confused.
“Looks that way.”
“This is stupid!” Jerry huffed and started pacing. Between turning vampires into uberfangs and exploding if electrocuted, he thought they had seen all the big surprises his blood had to offer.
“Jerry, they're right,” Cass said looking shocked. “That's what happened to me in that factory. You were scared and angry and I had just asked you to kill me. You were going out of your mind and then I drank your blood and I went out of my mind!”
That made him feel like he'd been gut-shot. He had been the reason that she'd gone berserk. Now he kind of felt like he deserved having his throat ripped out by her. It made him rub the scar absently.
“Is my blood ever gonna stop getting weirder?” Jerry huffed.
“Dude, I think you're missing the big picture here,” Goose said with a grin. “You've got a weapon that can literally melt her and best of all, she doesn't know about it! If she kissed you and nothing happened then she has no idea that your blood burns her!”
“He's right. I think you're right about her power coming from her wings but there has to be some kind of residual trace in that arm which is why your blood reacts to it. That means your blood doesn't burn her flesh, it burns her power! Spray her with it and she might loose her strength or her telekinesis or who knows what else!” Wick said excitedly. “Jerry, we've got a real chance of stopping her now!”
“Okay...silver lining,” Jerry nodded.
This was good news. Just about anything that could hurt Aria interested him at that moment but the fact that it was his blood came with a few downsides. He may be blood heavy but loosing too much would still screw him over. He get dizzy, tired and probably lose consciousness after a while and he doubted very seriously that his blood would burn her wings. They were indestructible after all.
“You guys are still gonna have to sit this out,” Joe said pointing to Cass, Claire and Sophinia.
They all looked unhappy at that.
“And If your blood doesn't bugger up her power, I don't know how much use I'll be. She could just use telekinesis to control the elements,” Vic said.
“Yeah, but still, I'm sure your teleporting will come in handy,” Goose shrugged.
“I figure we got maybe twelve hours before she decides to come back and check this place. We need to be ready for her by then,” Jerry said.
“Alright,” Joe nodded. “I'll start searching for these chains then Vic can take us to pick them up, Goose, find us a venue, somewhere out of the way with no civilians. If this fight gets out of hand, we don't want innocent people getting caught in the crossfire. Cass, Claire, weapons detail. Make sure we're locked and loaded on everything, and I mean everything. Jerry-”
“Jerry has got his own things to work on, one of which is finish his car,” he stated. “I might be dead in a few hours, I wanna be able to drive her at least once before that happens.”
Nobody bothered to argue with him.
“Guess I was right about you needing to get angry,” Cass smiled.
Maybe there was something good that could come out of his rage after all.
CHAPTER
23 – BATTLE PLANS
Sioux Falls – South Dakota
Cass and Claire were wearing heavy duty gloves in order to handle the the silver rounds that they pressed into magazines while Vic was preparing Kevlar and other possible armor for the impending fight.
Joe and Goose were using tablet computers to make internet searches. They didn't want to risk using the computers upstairs in case Aria decided to do a fly-by and see activity. Jerry was the only one absent from the basement but concealed in the garage, working on his car.
Blood Heavy: Ascension Page 24