Demon Days

by Jan Stryvant

  "Okay, Lieutenant," Sean said as they formed up and started moving forward in a skirmish line. "Stay out of the way of Cali and Daelyn. They won't hesitate to whack you one if you get between me and them. You're best off laying back about twenty feet behind me and keeping your eyes open."

  "I know how to fight! This isn't my first time, you know."

  "It is with a sword," Sean reminded him, "and you're not here to fight, you're here to observe whatever the hell it is Baker wants observed."

  "I don't see anyone around the gateway, my Husband," Cali said in a soft voice as they topped the small hill they'd landed behind.

  Sean nodded and got on the radio. Chad's people were now landing, and Claudia's were only a minute behind. General Baker's suggestion to rack all their armor and weapons in the building next to the helipad instead of their personal quarters had shaved several minutes off their response time. Getting here before the enemy came out was definitely a good thing.

  "Movement!" Cali hissed and, casting an enhanced night vision spell on himself, Sean started looking over the scene.

  "A dozen gnashers just came through," he called over the radio. "And another dozen. They're really pouring out. Uh-oh, a mindre just came out."

  "Launch the flares," Chad ordered, and a moment later several flare guns went off and a number of parachute flares lit the scene below.

  "That looks like something out of Dante's Inferno," the lieutenant commented from behind them.

  "Oh, don't worry, it'll get worse," Daelyn grumbled.

  "Well, they know we're here now," Sean said, drawing his sword. "I'll deal with the Mindre, unless something worse comes through. At a walk, people!"

  They all started down the hill towards the portal; the Mindre was bellowing out commands and getting the gnashers in order as a couple of raseri came out of the gateway and joined the enemy's forces.

  They clashed while more of the gnashers and a third raseri were coming out of the gate, but the demons were still fewer than a hundred in number, and Sean's troops were almost three times that. They'd hit them before they'd gotten any sort of order, and Sean was able to slay the mindre before it could get any kind of defense organized, while Cali and several other troops killed the raseri, and the rest of his people mopped up the gnashers.

  The problem was, demons were still coming through the portal.

  When another mindre came through, Sean had to move quickly to intercept it, and he and Cali double-teamed it as the rest dealt with the two raseri accompanying it.

  "Pull back!" Chad called over the radio while Sean was finishing up. "Pull back to the sides and behind the gate!"

  "Why?"

  "One of the raseri went back through the gate. They know we're here now. If they have any nasty weapons, they'll be the next through the gate."

  "Makes sense," Sean agreed and they all reordered themselves in more defensive positions while they waited.

  And waited.

  And waited.

  Sean was drowsing a little as he knelt there on the ground when suddenly a loud yell brought him to his feet. False dawn was starting to light up the ground before him, and coming out of the gate was a wall of gnashers, ten deep and ten wide, arms linked as they pushed forward, followed immediately by a half dozen raseri, another ten by ten block of gnashers, and then two more mindre.

  And they were moving fast!

  "Everybody up!" Sean roared loudly and immediately led his men down the hill to smash into the side of the two mindre before they could get too far away.

  The mindre saw them coming, and turned their group of gnashers around to intercept Sean and his people, as another block of gnashers came out of the gate, followed by two more raseri.

  Suddenly Sean found himself between two large forces and signaled for a retreat, all of his men backpedaling away from the gnashers and the mindre before the other group could fall on their unguarded flank. Thankfully Chad's reserve group hadn't engaged and started to fight their way towards Sean and his people.

  "Bring all the reserves in!" Chad's voice called over the radio. "Everyone move up to the fight. They're flooding us with gnashers!"

  Looking over by the gate, Sean could see Chad was right, another block of a hundred came out. But this block didn't have a larger demon lording over them, and as one of the reserve groups plowed into them, they didn't hold their integrity very long.

  That unfortunately wasn't helping Sean all that much. His group of eighty was being hit by two groups from either side, and the sheer number of them was wreaking havoc on his people. Several had fallen back with serious wounds that would take minutes to heal before they could step back up to the fight, and Sean wasn't sure he had minutes.

  Opening up his offensive framework, he called up a cone of fire and started to spray it back and forth along the wall of gnashers in front of him and to the sides, trying to buy enough time for the reserves to join the fight and make a difference. They were only a couple hundred yards behind Sean and his men, but in a fight like this, seconds most definitely mattered.

  Pulling his lines back some more, Sean canceled the fire spell and took advantage of the confusion that had caused to cast a couple of fireballs into the middle of the group on his right, then shifted his attack to the group on the left that was now being set on by Chad's reserve group, led by Ryan. It took precious seconds, but he was able to fight his way through them and link up before turning back around to take care of his right flank.

  By the time they'd cut the bulk of the gnashers down, Chad and his people had engaged the two mindre, and Sean was reminded once again that, of all his friends, Chad was the real martial artist as he quickly dispatched the first mindre, while Max held the second one at bay, with Baron's help. Then the three of them made quick work of the remaining one.

  Two of the raseri tried to turn and run back to the gate, but unfortunately for them, Sean was now in the way of any escape. Sean wasn't happy with his position; anything that came through that gate now would have an easy shot at his rear, so his only real option was to attack forward and put a lot more space between it and himself.

  When they finally finished off the last of the demons, Chad reorganized them all back and well away from the gateway, putting the freshest of their troops in the front, while they caught a break sitting in the rear.

  "What did we learn today?" Chad asked in a low voice, coming over to Sean.

  "Not to charge in when there's an open gate on my flank." Sean sighed.

  "Good boy! I knew you could learn!"

  Sean growled a little at that.

  "Look, I'd whack you upside the head for that one if it wouldn't hurt morale," Chad warned Sean. "And if you do it again, I'll tell Roxy, who will certainly put a hurt on you."

  "Yeah, yeah, I know, I know," Sean sighed. "Are you sure you want to sit this far away? If they come through again, they'll have time to set up now."

  Chad shook his head. "No one's coming through that gate again. They shot their wad, and they got hammered."

  "You think? There was probably only seven or eight hundred of them between the two groups. We've seen a lot more of that before."

  "And they were a lot more organized from the get-go, too," Chad told him. "Also, they were all mindre, raseri, and gnashers. No ridders, råge, or biskops. I think these people were from a different group. They put those imitation pikemen squares together at the last moment. The folks in the center of those were tripping over each other's feet."

  "Well, wait and see, I guess," Sean said and squatted down to wait for the gate to close.

  No one else came out that gate, as Chad had predicted. When the gate finally closed and they started backing up, Sean looked around and found the lieutenant examining the dead bodies of the demons.

  "Do these things burn?" he asked, looking up at Sean.

  "Yup."

  "I wonder if flame throwers would work for you guys?"

  Sean shrugged. "Only one way to find out I guess. So, what did you think of the
fight?"

  "I think I need more sword practice. When's the next one open?"

  "Soon enough. The next window opens on the thirteenth, and today's what, the twelfth?"

  "Well, that doesn't sound too bad."

  "Oh, trust me, it's gonna get a lot worse before it gets better. Our ride's landing, time to go home."

  Sean explained the schedule to the lieutenant on the flight back, and watched as he took notes.

  "You really need to do something about your weapons."

  Sean nodded. "I know. Using swords isn't the best way to deal with this; I keep hoping someone will figure something out. Hopefully the flamethrower idea will help."

  They landed then, and Trey started to shut everything down, as this was the last trip back. The techs helped Sean and the others out of the helicopter and then immediately started in on maintenance.

  "What's the rush?" Lieutenant Kennedy asked.

  "We only have enough trained people to cycle one through at a time, and we have six," Sean grumbled.

  "I'll make sure General Baker knows to send people out with the birds," Lieutenant Kennedy said with a nod.

  Walking over to the room where the armor was stored, Sean noticed that the lieutenant had shifted back from his hybrid form to his human one. He'd been wearing fatigues, which were now probably ruined from the 'tar' of the dead demons, as well as all the blood from his own wounds and those of the people around him. The breastplate didn't resize, but that wasn't a big issue, being as it was just the front and back piece.

  Everyone started stripping off any clothing they had before they even got to the door and throwing it all in a barrel. It would be gone through later, and either cleaned, or burned, depending on how bad it was.

  "Lieutenant! What the hell do you think you're doing?"

  "Aw, fuck," Lieutenant Kennedy said, "I forgot that asshole might be here."

  Sean looked over at Kennedy, who had stripped off his shirt and pants and tossed it into the barrel as well. All he had on were his boots, and he was holding the breastplate/back plate combo in his left hand.

  Captain Mueller was striding across the landing area with a stern look on his face.

  "Go inside, get cleaned up," Sean rumbled. "I got this."

  "I..." Lieutenant Kennedy looked up at Sean's expression and decided to go inside.

  "Don't you go walking away! Come back here, Lieutenant! That's an order!"

  Sean shook his head and watched as Mueller strode angrily towards the door that the last of the troops were going through. Sean stuck his arm out and blocked Mueller.

  "Out of my way!" Mueller yelled and tried to push past Sean's arm.

  "You're not allowed in there," Sean grumbled.

  "The lieutenant went in there! He's hiding from me! He's out of uniform! He's naked! In public!"

  "It's for returning fighters. Not for lame-ass chair jockeys who want to stare at naked bodies."

  "Out of my way!"

  Sean lowered his head down until his nose was level with Mueller's and, baring his fangs, he growled.

  "Or. What?"

  "I'll have him brought up on charges! I'm a captain! I have rank! Now I demand to go inside!"

  "Well, if you really want to go in that badly," Sean growled and, grabbing the shoulders of Mueller's uniform, he let his claws slide out and ripped the shirt off of his body, taking his white undershirt with it.

  "What are you doing!" Mueller shrieked.

  "Only naked people are allowed inside, standing orders," Sean growled and, ripping the man's pants off, he grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and pushed him through the door wearing only his well-polished shoes. Dropping his shredded clothing on the ground, Sean followed him inside, spinning Mueller around and pushing him back inside as he tried to make his escape.

  "What's the matter, Mueller? Afraid of showing a little skin?" Sean growled. The man was as pink as a newborn, and about as flabby, too. He wasn't really fat; there just wasn't any muscle tone to him at all. "Come on! You wanted in! Well, you're in!"

  Mueller was starting to panic, almost gasping for breath. Everyone else in the room was getting out of their gear, using the towels and cleaners provided to get the tar and the blood off their gear and their bodies, then racking it all up and heading towards the showers. Most of the solders were men, but at least a quarter of them were women.

  "Let me go!"

  "But you're out of uniform now, Captain. I wouldn't want you to get in trouble! But if you run through those showers over there, well, there's people handing out clothing."

  Sean let him go then, and instead of running for the showers, Mueller ran out the door they'd entered, all but screaming.

  "You know he's going to complain to the general," Lieutenant Kennedy said.

  "I can't have him causing my people trouble." Sean sighed and started taking off his own gear. One of the attendants came over to help him.

  "I'm not one of your people."

  Sean snorted.

  The attendant who took Kennedy's armor shook his head. "You're a lycan, he's a lion. It's like gravity, it just is."

  "If Mueller or his friend give you any trouble, you let me know and I'll deal with it." Sean sighed, and with his armor now off, he shifted into his human form and went to get cleaned up.

  Ride the Cliché

  "Damn, what did you do to Mueller?" Roxy asked as she dropped down to sit on the bed. Sean stretched and gave Roberta a hug, then carefully untangled himself from her, making sure not to accidentally pull her hair as he pushed down on the bed and sat up to give Roxy a hug.

  "What are you talking about?"

  "He's been raising objections to everything the others are proposing. Oh, he doesn't do it while Baker is around, but he's seriously doing everything he can to sabotage us here, and his friend is helping him.

  "Hmm, maybe I should talk to Cali," Sean mused.

  "Sean! I'm serious! This guy is stirring up trouble, and I wouldn't be surprised to find out he's making calls back to the Pentagon to cause even more trouble."

  "What, you don't know?" Sean asked surprised.

  Roxy snorted. "Okay, yes, he's doing that too. He's gone from a petty annoying problem to a full-fledged thorn in our side."

  "So you're saying I should talk to Cali? Or should I just kill him myself?" Sean smiled and flexed his hands as he thought about twisting a certain someone's head off. Mueller was a bully, just like Dean had been. But where Dean had had strength and physical power, Mueller used the authority his rank gave him to feed his ego. Dean at least had the balls to come at you face to face. Mueller was all about sticking knives in your back.

  "You do that, and we'll have more problems than we'll know what to do with. Now tell me, what did you do to him?"

  "I stripped him naked and pushed him into a room full of naked lycans."

  "Is that all?" Roberta chuckled. "I've seen that little weasel. I'm surprised he didn't have a coronary."

  "Sean!" Roxy sighed. "Why?"

  "He was harassing Kennedy and threatening him with charges because he saw Kennedy's ass as he took off his ruined fatigues on the way into new recovery room."

  "How'd that happen?"

  "The clothing barrel is outside. I guess no one thought there'd be any mundanes around who might complain about a bunch of naked people. But you should have seen him, I think he was about to pop a gasket about the kid being out of uniform and disobeying a direct order. Kennedy's not even in his chain of command. I was kind of hoping he'd learn a lesson about pissing off lions. I guess he's just too stupid for that."

  "Great, just great." Roxy shook her head.

  "Look, Hon, I'm sorry, I'll take care of it," Sean said and gave her a squeeze.

  Roxy shook her head. "No, you'll just end up killing him or something. I'll take care of it."

  "I broke it..." Sean started, but stopped when Roxy put her finger over his lips.

  "I said I'd take care of it, and I will, Sean. So don't worry about it, and don't give i
t any more thought. The next window opens tomorrow, and we still have work to do to get everything ready to go."

  Sean nodded. "I need to see Claudia and go over her finances. Sawyer's still making us a lot of money and wants me to start selling those medallions that block scrying."

  "Don't those block mental spells as well?"

  "We had a long discussion on it. He agreed that we should hold off letting that little secret out, and I can separate those functions with a little work. But he's pretty sure we could sell ones that block those spells for an easy hundred grand a piece."

  "Really?"

  "He's going to sell the protection from scrying at fifty, then let it run down to half that, where he'll hold it steady."

  "Well, as long as the money keeps coming in to fund all this, I guess that's a good thing."

  Sean patted her belly. "Gotta make sure the kids have clothes, right?"

  "I'm a bit more worried about us having the money to keep us in fuel and spare parts for all the helicopters. Now, you go hit the shower."

  Nodding, Sean got up and, stretching again, ambled off to go wash up before heading off to start his day.

  "So, what are you going to do about Mueller?" Roberta asked after Sean closed the door.

  "Something permanent, I'm sure. Little bastard is more worried about his sense of importance than winning a war against devils that want to eat him. That makes him expendable in my book."

  "So, Cali?"

  Roxy shook her head. "Too suspicious. Besides, I want him to suffer first. Maybe his friend will catch on so we don't have to get rid of him too."

  "So who then?"

  "Who do you think?" Roxy replied with a grin.

  #

  "Peg, Sheila," Roxy said, coming into Peg's small office, where Sheila was apparently teaching Peg something about, well, Roxy wasn't sure she wanted to know. "I need your help."

  "Sure, Rox. What's up?" Peg asked.

  "Apparently that Captain Mueller guy is trying to make trouble for the lycan lieutenant they brought with them, and Sean's getting annoyed."

  Sheila shrugged. "So why not just wait until Sean kills him?"