Emergence (The Infernal Guard Book 1)

by SGD Singh

  Within minutes, she was bored. Picking up the latest edition of Plants of Satya and Their Healing Qualities, Asha tried to study by the light of the candles, but couldn't concentrate.

  Pulling the plug with an impatient sigh, she moved to the large shower, turning the knob to cold.

  Fifteen minutes later, Asha sat on her balcony, appreciating the feeling of the rarely-seen afternoon sun on her wet hair and eating honey almonds.

  Trying to kill time until breakfast, she cleaned her room, straightening every item in it whether it needed straightening or not, shined her harp with loving care before returning it to its case, re-organized her closet (which had been ignored for months). At last, sitting down at the desk, she tried to study again.

  All of it had only taken forty minutes.

  There's always stalking Ranya…

  Asha's hand went to her necklace as she looked at her Seer ring. Ranya had called her a chickenshit for the last time. She knew that lack of sleep was probably making her reckless, but still a part of her wanted, yearned to confront the witch, see the look in Ranya's hate-filled eyes when she saw her rings.

  She was in the courtyard of a typical Punjabi village house with marble floors and cement and brick outbuildings. A sad-looking tree stood next to a low wall surrounding an outdoor cooking space. The ashes had gone cold in the already fading afternoon light.

  The two-story house looked down on the courtyard, with the third-floor windows of a small room peeking over its purple-trimmed shoulders. Laundry fluttered gently on the line strung across the roof. Potted plants lined the wall on either side of an intricate wrought iron gate, and a hand-woven cot leaned against the crumbling wall of a small vegetable garden.

  Asha looked at the dark windows and French doors, listening to the sounds of distant water buffaloes and traffic horns.

  The house seemed unnaturally still, and Asha felt her heart pound in her ears.

  And then she saw it—red liquid moving across the marble, glistening in the light as it flowed from the base of a door.

  Blood.

  Asha reached the door just as it was pulled open.

  Ranya froze for a fraction of a second, blinking at Asha in surprise, before smiling.

  Bringing one bloody-clawed finger to her lips, Ranya whispered softly, eyes gleaming with pleasure. “I was never taught not to play with my food.”

  Stepping smoothly aside with a careless gesture toward the room, Ranya giggled, whispering in Asha's ear, so close she felt the Witch's breath move her hair. “I'm afraid I left quite the mess…”

  And Asha felt her legs give way under her, her knees hitting the cement floor, blood splashing her clothes. She clamped her hands to her mouth, stifling a scream, squeezing her eyes closed against what she saw, but a second had been enough to sear the image into her mind.

  A family sat on floral-patterned velvet couches in an overly decorated sitting room. An elderly couple, a younger woman, and four no, five children. Except they weren't actually sitting. They had been… placed after being savagely and messily dismembered. Blood still flowed from their wounds, soaking the couch, the thick rug, moving across the floor.

  Sixteen eyes stared at her, unseeing, wide in horror. The younger woman's broken fingers missing nails on hands placed slackly around her children. The old man's brutally smashed-in head. Asha realized with sickening surety that the youngest two children had the wrong heads placed on their bloody and torn necks, and her stomach heaved.

  One horrifying moment, which, once seen, could never be unseen.

  Jumping to her feet, Asha spun, searching the courtyard, the narrow, unpaved street.

  Ranya had disappeared.

  Asha screamed in rage, and the sound of panicked wings filled the courtyard, fleeing birds darkening the sky.

  Bolting out of her room, Asha sprinted along the veranda to Avinash's door, pounding on it until it was yanked open by a very irritated Kairav.

  “What?” she snapped. Then, sounding more like herself, “Do you realize what time it is, Asha?”

  “I need help, there's been a—”

  “Everyone went to the meeting in Chandigarh. You can call, but I wouldn't advise it. Just wait 'til tomorrow—”

  “I need help now, Kairav.” Asha hit the doorframe.

  Kairav blinked at her. “Well, I can't help you right now, Asha. Tonight's the full moon. Wait for breakfast, I'm sure someone will… We're a little busy.” She moved to close the door, but Asha put out a hand against it.

  “Which room is Janu's?”

  With a sigh, Kairav pointed. “Three doors down.” Asha was already running along the veranda. “It better be important if you're waking him up,” Kairav called after her. “And Asha! If he's not in there, check the training room!”

  After banging on Janu's door loud enough to wake the dead, Asha ran down to the stone door, taking the steps two at a time. Sprinting past the Moroccan lamps, Asha burst through the herb lab. Running past the garden, dodging bushes and jumping over plants, she entered the Zen garden. The only sound was the river flowing over rocks. Asha blinked in the darkness.

  “Janu!” she shouted.

  No answer.

  Running up the slope to the gazebo, Asha noticed a light on in Janu's small office. She ran faster, bursting through its delicately carved doors. “Janu! Thank God. There's been a—”

  But the office was empty.

  Catching her breath, trying to think who to look for next, Asha's eyes fell to Janu's normally neat desk, and she froze. A piece of paper sat at its center. Crossing to it, Asha felt the blood leave her face as her brain registered what was on top of the paper.

  Janu's Seer ring.

  Its smooth emerald shone in the light, surrounded by sapphires, fluorites, and diamonds in the familiar masculine design that had always reminded Asha of an NBA championship ring.

  Snatching up the paper, Asha held it in shaking hands.

  Asha,

  I am negotiating a hostage situation, which, if you're reading this, went horribly wrong, and I was too late. Wait for Barindra and the others to return. Do not come for me. I am most assuredly dead already.

  They want our Seer rings, Asha. You already know this, as you have seen Ranya's terrible staff yourself. I do not know what the Underworlders plan to use them for, but we can be sure it is not for anything good. Keep mine safe. If I do return, perhaps I will have learned more from my encounter. Otherwise, you will know what to do with it when the time comes.

  There is true greatness in you, Asha. We have all known this since before you were born.

  It was an honor to teach you, and I regret not seeing you grow up more than you will ever know.

  Janu

  “Like hell I'm not coming for you,” Asha said out loud. And, holding Janu's ring in her clenched fist, she closed her eyes.

  Asha blinked in the gloom. An official-looking building loomed in front of her, white pillars and granite steps in the already-thickening fog. Gold letters declaring Bank of Patiala shone down on a manicured garden. Asha slipped unseen past two uniformed doormen and ran across shining marble, around an enormous flower arrangement, and under a glittering chandelier, searching for any indication of Janu.

  She took the stairs leading down, and Asha sprinted across the room, half slipping, half running on the polished marble.

  A vault door. Safety deposit boxes. Another door.

  Sounds of laughter.

  Taking a deep breath, Asha closed her eyes and focused her mind on Janu.

  He was nearly unrecognizable, with one eye swollen shut, his lips split and swollen, his nose grotesquely broken. He was stripped and covered in blood. But it was him.

  Asha closed her eyes and was back in the Zen garden, running for the door, with only one thought: get to that bank.

  “What's up, Asha?” Tzirga called to her as Asha ran blindly past the training room. “Isn't it early for you to be down here?”

  “Something's wrong,” Ursala said, and she h
eard him running to catch up with her. He grabbed her arm just above the elbow, and Asha spun. “What's going on?”

  She looked at him, blinking. “You're not at the meetings.”

  “Nope.” Ursala bowed, not letting go of her. “Just as you are not the shopping type, I am not the meeting type. What's—”

  “It's Janu. He's being held captive at a bank. I have to go—”

  “Not alone, you don't!” Ursala pulled out his cell phone. “I'll call my dad.”

  “Dhevan's here?”

  “Yeah. What'd you think? They just leave a bunch of Trainees totally alone? Avinash and Tanvir are here too. Plus Senya.” Still holding her arm, he dialed another number. “He's not answering. Let me try Tanvir…”

  “We don't have time for this!” Asha said. “Tell them to meet me there.”

  “Meet you? I'm hurt, Asha.”

  “I'm going, too,” said Tzirga, crossing her arms.

  “Tanvir's not answering… probably in the shower…”

  “We're wasting time!” Asha tried to yank her arm out of Ursala's grip. “Let go of me, Ursala,” she said. “Now.”

  With a hiss, Ursala released her, and Asha ran for the door, pulling Lexi's car keys off the wall. “Ow! That was uncalled for, Sandhu. Damn!”

  Catching up with her on the stone bridge, Ursala snatched the keys from Asha. “I'm driving. I appreciate you not shifting and leaving us behind, but you still have no freakin' idea where you're going.”

  “Just drive fast,” Asha said.

  Ursala backed up and sped out of the dump, throwing Tzirga his phone. “Keep calling Dhevan and Arihan. Asha, tell me everything.”

  Chapter 37

  “I can see perfectly fine in fog, Asha. Thanks,” said Ursala.

  “There it is!” Tzirga shouted, pointing.

  Ursala slowed the vehicle and parked along a deserted side street, half a block from the columned building. He tried calling Dhevan again, then dialed Avinash's number, growling irritably.

  “I'm texting Aquila and Kelakha. Screw their meeting.” Ursala's thumbs flew across the small screen, then he threw the door open and jumped out, firing a flare before Asha and Tzirga were out of the car.

  “Let's go,” he said, moving in his steady, fluid gait.

  Asha and Tzirga fanned out on both sides of him, moving along the foggy street, revolvers held down at their sides.

  Ursala stopped before the gated driveway, holding his hand up. He said, “Four armed security guards.”

  Asha noticed his eyes had gone completely black and round. Like… a bear! She almost slapped herself in the forehead for not figuring it out sooner. Ursala… little bear. No doubt the Indian black bear with that adorable blonde bib. Asha looked at the streak of blond in Ursala's thick, shaggy hair with new understanding.

  “Are they familiars?” said Tzirga.

  Asha asked, “What's that?” and they both looked at her in surprise. “What? Your mom has me on kitchen duty practically twenty-four-seven.”

  “Familiars are civilian scum who help Underworlders for their own selfish gain,” said Ursala. “Hard to say if these guys are or not. It is a bank, so…”

  “I could—”

  “No, Asha. Let's assume they're just security guards and—”

  “I wasn't going to say kill them! I could knock them out. I think.”

  “You think?” Ursala shook his head. “Let's do ‘lost foreigners’ It's safer.”

  “Okay, explain that fast. We're running out of time!” Asha hissed, and Tzirga nodded.

  “Just follow my lead. And try to look helpless.” He glanced at them doubtfully and put his revolver back in his weapons belt, then Ursala jogged through the gate, waving an arm at the nearest guard. “Hi!” he shouted in a perfect American accent, an obnoxious swagger in his step. “Can we use the phone? Our car broke down, and then the driver just, like, took off, man!” He didn't stop moving toward the door as he spoke.

  Asha and Tzirga huddled close behind him, trying to look like over-privileged, helpless females afraid to be too far from a male in this scary country.

  “We'll pay for the call. Whatever. And hey, can someone please tell us how to get to the nearest, like, clean hotel? One that serves a decent steak? Because, dude, I mean—”

  They were almost up the steps and into the building when two of the security guards stepped forward. In rapid Punjabi, one of them said, “The bank is closed. Go find somewhere else to use the phone.”

  Ursala, without missing a beat, stepped past him. “Do any of you guys speak English? ENG-LISH!”

  One of the guards said, “Get them out of here before they get themselves killed.”

  Familiars.

  Pulling a knife from under his long jacket, Ursala shouted, “Now, Asha!” and she held up her hands, draining the first guard of what she hoped was only enough life to render him unconscious. Ursala knocked the second guard's legs out from under him, kicking him viciously in the stomach as he struggled to get up.

  As the other two guards scrambled for the Sten guns at their shoulders, Tzirga lunged forward hitting them in their heads with one swift back and forth movement of her maru spear. They fell, staring up at her in astonishment.

  One of them reached for his fallen weapon, but Tzirga's eyes turned black, and horns that matched her twisted spear grew from the front of her head. “I wouldn't,” she said.

  Eyes wide with terror, the man pulled his hand back.

  “You're… Infernal Guard,” the other whimpered.

  Ursala growled, “Asha, shut this filth up already,” kicking the man nearest him again.

  Within seconds, they were moving past four unconscious guards and across the empty bank lobby. Asha pointed to the stairs.

  Ursala stopped and held up a hand, listening, and Asha cocked her head.

  Voices drifted up to them, speaking English with British accents, getting louder as the speakers ascended the marble steps.

  “Of course, Roland, but what are a few hundred lives compared to the millions we'll make if this deal goes through?” The nasal voice bounced off the marble.

  “Well, obviously,” said a lower voice, presumably Roland. “But can we trust that… thing? I mean to say, how can you trust someone who's not even human?”

  Grinning at Tzirga, Ursala held his hand up and black claws the size of Asha's fingers protruded from his fingertips. With one casual step, Ursala blocked the stairs just as the men came around the corner. “You can't,” he said, slashing out at their throats faster than Asha thought was possible, and they collapsed, gurgling, trying in vain to scream as blood spilled over their designer suits, ruining ten thousand-dollar shoes.

  “What are you gonna do with all your millions now, motherfuckers?”

  Asha stood frozen in place as Tzirga stepped lightly around the choking men. “See? That's what I'm talking about! I can't do that. All I have are hooves.”

  Asha stared. “So… we, we just murder civilians?”

  “They're not civilians, Asha,” said Ursala, turning to look sternly up at her. “Familiars are the worst scum imaginable. They don't care who they kill or how, as long as they get what they want. The cops won't exactly love it, but ever since World War Two, civilian authorities have recognized the importance of executing familiars.” Ursala began to move swiftly down the stairs.

  After a quick glance at the men, who had gone still, Asha followed.

  “A hoof can do some awesome damage, Tzirga,” Ursala was saying. “Here, we'll let you take the next one.”

  Just before they rounded the corner, Asha reached out, pulling them back.

  “Asura. Two of them,” she whispered. “I just… know.”

  “All right,” whispered Ursala, frowning. “There's two? You're sure?”

  Asha nodded.

  Ursala looked at the floor, thinking. “Okay, you guys have to distract them… it won't be fun, but… Injure them if you can with the holy water. And,” he winked at Tzirga, “avoid the claws
, people.”

  “Just hurry up, okay?” said Tzirga, putting her maru away. “I hate these things.” Taking out her revolver, she moved around the corner, and Asha did the same.

  She had a second to register dark shadows unfurling like black smoke at the end of the marble passageway before a blast of ice cold wind hit her and they disappeared.

  And Asha's hand froze on the trigger.

  Aquila leaned against the wall, pale and still.

  “Asha? Is that you?” he croaked, coughing. Blood covered his lips and he reached one gore-covered hand to her.

  Asha stumbled, crying out at the horrendous injuries across his abdomen, one hand struggling to hold his insides from spilling out. Her heart felt like it was being ripped from her chest at the pain in his beautiful eyes. All rational thought evaporated in an instant, and her mind flooded with unspeakable fear.

  She ran to Aquila's side, sliding to her knees—

  And blinked at a pool of very cold black slime, and the Asura claws disappearing in black smoke.

  Ursala pulled her to her feet. “Sorry, Asha. That's never fun the first time. You'll get better with practice… You okay, Tzirga?” He wrapped one arm around Tzirga, who nodded, looking ill. “You can smash your hooves into the next solid monsters we come across. Don't even worry about it.” He kissed her cheek, and she laughed shakily.

  Asha pointed to the end of the passageway, where a wooden door stood surrounded by elaborate molding. “That one,” she said, heart still pounding painfully in her chest.

  Staying close to the wall, the three of them moved silently along the marble, Asha trying to breathe deeply.

  At the door, Ursala halted, sniffing the air.

  “Oh crap,” he muttered, cursing in Punjabi. “A Goblin.”

  Asha and Tzirga looked at him in alarm. Goblins were among the more dangerous Underworlders, which was saying a lot. Although they mostly took the form of kindly, seemingly helpless, elderly civilians, Goblins were vicious fighters, their teeth razor sharp and venomous. Besides having access to the Zombie-plague, Goblins were extremely intelligent and their craving for power was limitless. They could offer practically anything, luring humans through greed to do every imaginable horrific act known throughout history.