A Despair of Demons (Travelers, Book 1)

by Cassy Campbell

  When they hit the dead-end, Connor took out a mini-periscope to study the streets over the maze wall. “Nobody in sight, demon or otherwise. Let’s get to the warehouse.”

  Connor boosted them over the wall one by one, and Jordan, who was second to last, turned at the top to grab Connor’s hands and pull him up.

  Liv dropped into the deserted street with the feeling that a trap had just sprung closed. She pulled her sidearm and covered her side of their group. Jordan and Connor landed next to her, surveying their surroundings.

  Jordan asked, “Does this seem too easy to anyone else?”

  Connor shrugged. “Maybe they just don’t expect attack. There probably isn’t any resistance in this world, right?”

  “Yeah, probably.”

  “Yeah, probably.” Connor sighed. Clearly, he hadn’t even convinced himself. “Move out.”

  Liv followed the others, keeping her sidearm at the ready, eyes moving, expecting at each corner to fall into the demons’ claws. But at each corner the new street was as deserted as the last.

  They made it to the Wolf’s building without seeing a single living thing and huddled into the recessed doorway across from the warehouse. From there, they crossed in a running crouch to the warehouse, single file, eyes darting from window to doorway to roofline.

  “Hsst.” Jordan hissed through his teeth, and Liv turned to look at him. He’d come to a halt with his eyes locked on something to her left. She followed his line of sight, and saw a demon striding along on the cross street.

  Ben picked the lock and threw the door open. He, Connor, and Gin leapt inside. Liv dived for the meager cover of the stone building’s corner, and Jordan flattened himself into the scrubby grass near the door. Trent, serving as rear guard, was forced to leap back into the shadowy doorway across the street.

  They were too slow. Liv lifted her head to peer around the corner and saw the demon standing straight and stiff. It was impossible to read its alien expression but its posture certainly conveyed surprise. It stood that way for less than half a second, then growled and ran toward them.

  “Shit,” Connor breathed from his position at the warehouse doorway. Liv knew that his brain, like hers, was scrambling through the possible scenarios: ambush, gunfire, capture. Or avoidance. “Liv,” he whispered. “Here.”

  Liv joined Connor at the doorway. “We only have eleven shots.”

  The demon raced closer, almost at their position. She already had the brain ray out and the lever switched to belief.

  “Stop him,” Connor said.

  Liv pointed the device at the demon rushing toward them and depressed the trigger. She waited for the beep, and then in a quiet but carrying voice, she said, “Stop.”

  The demon froze, almost overbalancing in its sudden halt.

  “Demon, you will not see us or hear us. Forget you heard anything and go about your business.”

  The demon jumped, looked around as if unsure how or why it had ended up there, and turned back down the street. At the cross street where they had first seen it, it looked around again, turned left, and disappeared.

  Trent crossed the street to the warehouse, and nodded at Liv as he passed through the door. “I’d prefer not to let them get that close again.”

  “Agreed,” she said. She joined the others in a sweep of the building, stowing the brain ray and pulling her sidearm to cover the area. She wished she was ambidextrous like Jordan, but she’d never manage two guns at once.

  The warehouse was just an empty metal building. The floor was packed crushed stone that crunched with every movement.

  “There’s a back door, Connor,” she called quietly.

  He motioned Trent to follow him and the rest of them to stay put.

  Trent opened the door, Connor went through, and Trent followed immediately. It was a dance they had performed thousands of times.

  Minutes later, they returned. As Connor came through the door, he said, “Nothing out there either. If there’s another entrance to Woolfe’s building, we didn’t find it. I hoped we’d have some kind of servant’s entrance or something, but it looks like we’re going in the front door.”

  “You couldn’t even peek in the windows?” Ben asked.

  Trent shook his head. “You saw the building. There’s a stone block basement that extends up past the ground floor. No windows.”

  Connor scowled. “Even the periscope wouldn’t reach.”

  The team regrouped around Connor. “Is there a reason to do this on another day or do we go right now?”

  He looked at Liv. “We’re already here, and we had to use one shot to do it. Ten left. I’m sure we’ll need at least a few to get inside. I say go.”

  Connor nodded and turned to Jordan. “There are far fewer demons outside than I expected. Either there’s something else drawing them away and they’re not here at all, which is good, or they’re expecting us and luring us in, which is very bad.”

  Connor waited, but when Jordan said nothing else, he asked, “So? Go or no go?”

  Jordan stood lost in thought. Finally, he said, “Go.”

  Connor raised his eyebrows at Ben, who said, “Hoo-rah! Let’s bag us a bad guy.”

  Gin grinned back at him when his eyes fell on her. “Bring it.”

  Trent was last. “I already stated my opinion. I don’t like it.”

  “Is it worth the risk?” Connor asked.

  “We’ll only get one shot at this. Even if we get caught and Travel out to escape, we’ll never get a second chance to surprise them and get to the Wolf. What if we’re seen leaving the city?”

  “So go?”

  “Yes.”

  Having given them the final chance to raise objections, Connor became brisk. “This will have to be quick. We need to get through the Wolf’s door without anything else wandering by to raise the alarm. Jordan, you’re lock breaker. I’m with you. Liv, you’re right behind us with the ray gun. Then Gin and Ben, Trent rearguard.”

  Liv holstered her sidearm and pulled the brain ray.

  “Quietly,” Connor continued. “No guns unless we have absolutely no choice. We don’t want to alert anything outside of the building. Move out.”

  Liv followed Jordan and Connor as they stalked to the doorway. Connor held a knife and a gun, but Jordan had holstered his guns and was pulling his lock picks. Liv didn’t like to see him even momentarily unarmed. She told herself that they wouldn’t need weapons at all with the brain ray, but she wasn’t entirely convinced.

  They made it to the door of the stone building without further demon sightings. Connor stopped at the far side of the door and tried the latch. A look of surprise crossed his face when it clicked and turned. Jordan fell back, stowing his picks and pulling a gun. Liv moved forward. She changed places with Jordan and signaled to Connor: ready.

  Connor swung the door open and she swept through, brain ray leveled.

  She entered a small marble foyer, more like an airlock with a space just wide enough for the door to open, and an identical door at the far side, steps away. Even closer than the door, however, stood a demon.

  It was already leaping for the doorway when she registered its presence as she came through, and she shot immediately with the brain ray. She scrambled out of the way as Jordan and Connor came through. Jordan had both guns out now, leveled on the demon.

  “Jordan,” Connor warned.

  They couldn’t shoot unless Liv was in mortal danger. She was starting to wonder if she might be, as the demon refused to be distracted and chased her around the tiny vestibule. She barely managed to stay ahead of the talons while trying to keep the brain ray pointed in its direction, hoping not to affect Connor or Jordan, who dodged under and behind the giant wings. After an eternity, the brain ray beeped. “Stop!” she said quietly.

  The demon obeyed. She said, “You will not see us, you will not hear us, and you will not remember us.” The demon went back to its guard post by the inner door.

  “Clear,” Conner called quietly, an
d the rest of the team joined them.

  “I’m sorry,” Ben said, “but I am just not getting used to how awesome that is!”

  She returned his grin with a weak smile—the best she could muster after nearly not out-dodging an eight-foot, one-ton monster with six-inch claws.

  Connor took up a post by the inner door and looked expectantly at Liv. She took a deep breath and nodded, repeating the foyer entry.

  This time, she entered a cavernous echoing room, as if they really had entered the lair of a beast. The dim light made it hard to see details, but she noted a stair to her left and a wide-open space to her right. She breathed a sigh of relief when she also noted the absence of demons.

  As her team filed in, Liv’s eyes adjusted well enough to see the windows a story above them filtering in the dim yellow light. The wide-open space to her right proved to be a mess hall extending into the gloom. A recognizable serving area took up the far side of the room, and rows of cafeteria-style picnic tables filled the floor. She imagined what would have happened if they had arrived during lunch or dinner, shuddering at the thought of a hundred demons rushing them as they came through the door.

  “Up,” Connor said quietly, bringing her back to the mission.

  Liv nodded. Woolfe would be at the top. They trooped up the stone staircase, she and Jordan sharing a wincing glance at the noise the rest were making. She wished they could clear the whole building, but she knew they didn’t have the firepower. They’d just have to hope they weren’t flanked from behind.

  They reached the third—top—floor within a minute. If they had to Travel out now, there would be a problem. Three floors was too far to fall into Safe World. They’d have to Travel there and back here, hit a lower floor, and then get out again.

  Hopefully, it wouldn’t come to that.

  At the door, Connor once again allowed her through first. This one was wood instead of metal, making Liv fear that she would pass directly into Woolfe’s chambers.

  She went through fast, leading with the brain ray, but had to blink against the bright light on the other side. Movement barely registered—something big and red-purple—before she had discharged the ray gun.

  A second movement to her left, heard and felt more than seen, had her spinning away, holding the ray on the first demon.

  “Hey!” someone said sharply behind her, and she knew Connor and the others were distracting the second demon.

  The brain ray finally beeped, and she said, “Stop!”

  She didn’t wait to see the demon obey before she spun to discharge the gun again. Luckily, she could aim above her teammates at the demon’s head, and they dodged back as she held the gun on it.

  When it beeped, she immediately repeated her command.

  The two demons who had been guarding the doorway now stood like broken windup toys in the hallway. She repeated her don’t-see, don’t-hear, don’t-remember command, and finally got a chance to look around. She blinked to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating.

  It was as if she stood in a luxury hotel. Her boots sank into deep burgundy-and-gold plush carpet, and the walls were papered in beige and gold and lit by gold sconces. Dark mahogany trim lined the doorways and several delicate settees upholstered in gold velvet sat along the walls.

  She turned to the rest of her team. “Where are we?”

  Ben glanced around. “Woolfe’s private floor.”

  Jordan scowled at her. “I don’t like you going through the door alone. We need to pair up from now on.”

  Connor nodded his agreement and gestured to the right. “Down the hall. You and Jordan can lead us.”

  Liv set off up the corridor. Several doors opened off this corridor, and another hallway crossed theirs about halfway up.

  No sound came from behind any of the closed doors.

  Liv wondered what could be behind them. Without warning, the door immediately on their right opened. A human girl stepped through, giggling at someone in the room, and only turned to the corridor after she’d shut the door. Her eyes widened in shock when she saw the strangers, and she drew a startled breath.

  “No, it’s okay, we’re friends,” Jordan said, but she drew a bigger breath, clearly intending to scream.

  Liv shook her head, and shot her with the brain ray. Again, she repeated her don’t-see, don’t-remember commands. This was getting old. And she was down to six shots now.

  “You didn’t have a choice,” Jordan said. “We couldn’t beat her unconscious.”

  “So you were right,” Trent said. “There are humans in Hell.”

  Jordan stared at her. “Great.”

  “Yeah,” Gin said, disgust in her voice. “Harem girls.”

  “Thought you’d be all over that, Virgin,” Ben said.

  Gin gave him a glare so vicious he held up his hands in surrender, giving her a wounded look. “Sorry.”

  Gin simply turned back to the hallway.

  Liv wondered why she was so angry, but there was no time now. They continued along the sumptuous corridor, following a branch that went only to the right this time.

  They turned the corner and found a single door set at the end of the hall. Standing in front of the door were eight demons, and behind them, just visible between his bodyguards, stood Raul Woolfe.

  Chapter 22

  Woolfe looked exactly like Liv remembered from his trial and execution, from the sallow skin to the greasy dark hair to the skeletal build. She fought the urge to cower as his flat dead eyes met hers and his lips curled in a cold smile. When he had last turned that smile on her, he had been strapped to a gurney while being prepped for lethal injection.

  She remembered Jordan’s words: this Woolfe doesn’t know you from Eve. It helped, especially when this time, instead of picking her out of the crowd, the cold gray gaze passed over her without pause.

  The demons closed ranks, hiding Woolfe from view. Liv only had six shots, and she needed at least one for him. The hopelessness of hitting all the demons with the ray when she had to wait for it to read their brains first—in the middle of a firefight, no less—was not lost on her. Still, they had to try.

  “We need at least three dead,” she murmured to Jordan, and shot the first with the brain ray. She couldn’t even see the others behind the mass of demons that filled the corridor as they lurched closer, closing in on Liv’s team.

  It was too loud to hear the gun beep, but she saw the display change.

  “Stop!” She shot the next in line while she repeated her now familiar refrain. For a wonder, the first two demons she shot did stop, but they were savagely shoved aside by the others. Apparently, there was no chance of hitting multiple targets with one shot, because if she was ever going to have a more crowded target area, she couldn’t imagine it.

  The Wolf said from somewhere behind them, “Take them to the cell block.”

  “Liv, shoot him!” Connor yelled from behind her.

  “I can’t even see him!” she shouted back as she shot two more demons.

  “Fall back!” Connor shouted. “Safe World, now!”

  Liv tried to follow his direction, but it felt like Jordan’s description of Elachai trapping him in Safe World: she couldn’t get through the door in her mind marked ‘Travel.’

  She had a moment of panic at the thought of getting left behind, but a quick glance showed her teammates were having the same problem.

  “Shit!” Trent threw one of his stars while the rest of the team reached for their sidearms.

  The five remaining demons moved so fast they were blurred—one of her shots must have misfired.

  Only two shots left, and she needed one for Woolfe. But as a demon lunged for her, she saw another lunging for Jordan, talons bare and lethal. Immediately, she shot it. “Stop!” she shouted, and it did. Jordan shot the one coming at her with his sidearm, and it whirled back on him.

  “No!” Liv lurched forward, trying to get to Jordan, but the demon had already scooped him up in a taloned hand.

  Behind it came
eight more. There must have been others in the room at the end of the hallway.

  She stowed the brain ray with its one remaining shot and pulled her sidearm, but a demon snatched her with razor-tipped talons, hoisting her off the ground. She hung like a rag doll in its grip.

  She shot the one that reached for Jordan, saw holes open in its hide and blood flow. As in Blue Beach, the bullets had no other effect.

  Gin stabbed the demon that snatched her up. She buried her boot knife in its arm to the hilt, but with no more effect than bullets. The demon held her by one shoulder and lifted her completely off the ground, then reached with its other hand for Trent.

  The rest of the team found themselves caught as easily, despite their efforts to damage their captors. The demons took their weapons with ease, but didn’t search them. Liv was grateful; she couldn’t stomach the thought of being pawed by these alien creatures. She also couldn’t complete the mission without the brain ray, but there was no way she’d be allowed to keep it.

  “Jeez,” Ben complained as he hung from his ankles, “at least in Blue Beach bullets caused them pain.”

  Liv dangled by the scruff of her neck like a kitten. The problem was, unlike a kitten, her neck didn’t have a scruff. The demon’s claws dug into her shoulder with every breath.

  As she swooped through the air, she caught a whiff of rotting-flesh-and-sulfur reek and swallowed the urge to vomit.

  She and the others were carried down the two flights of stairs they’d climbed. On the main floor, Liv got only impressions: a myriad of red stone rooms, demons walking past, a mix of demons and humans busily working at long tables.

  They went down another stair and entered a bare stone room lit by a single ceiling fluorescent. Set into the opposite wall was a riveted metal door next to a metal-mesh window. A demon sat in a small room on the other side of the window. Liv blinked twice, fast, but what she saw didn’t change: a computer monitor sat on the desk. The demon looked the group over and leaned forward to press a button. An insectile buzz sounded and the riveted door snicked open.

  Through the door lay a cellblock walled with alternating stone block and bars. The floor was bare concrete the same red color as the stone, splotched and stained with who-knew-what.