‘Don’t you dare!’ Gray roared. Both the Ancients turned to look at him, and in that instant, Adri lifted his weapon and fired once, the gunshot echoing loudly in the room. Gray eagerly looked past the smoking barrel of the gun and saw both the Ancients standing perfect and unharmed. Horrified, he looked at Maya and saw a gaping bullet hole in her stomach. ‘You shot-you shot-’ he started, turning to look at Adri with horrified amazement.
The Ancient seemed disturbed as well. It looked at Maya, and then at Adri with distrust. ‘What did you shoot her with, human?’ it asked.
‘A corruption,’ Adri replied calmly, as Gray saw the bullet hole close itself up. ‘Her blood will be so toxic under the minute that your biting her will prove most—unhealthy.’
Both the Ancients hissed angrily. The one holding her drew its finger along her cheek, and a thin red line appeared. ‘She still bleeds,’ it breathed. ‘Maybe we won’t feed on her, human. But if you’re late, you will find us playing skittles with her pretty little head.’
‘We’ll need the gun she was carrying. Park Street isn’t close,’ Adri said.
The Ancient holding Maya retreated back into the darkness. It came back soon, holding the Sadhu’s Shotgun. It threw the gun to Adri who caught it and wordlessly handed it to Gray, who took it in a state of shock.
‘The deal is on then, Tantric,’ the first Ancient spoke. ‘Tomorrow night.’ Both the Ancients backed away into the darkness and were gone. The soft snapping noises faded away.
‘We can’t leave without her, Adri,’ Gray whispered, holding the shotgun tight.
Adri looked at the shotgun quietly and shook his head. ‘We have to return with the body. That’s our only chance.’ He turned around and holstering his weapon, started walking back. The fireball took the lead immediately.
Gray stood where he was, the darkness closing in fast around him. Then he turned around, strode up to Adri and pushed him with a cry of anger. The push was hard, and Adri fell on his face. The fireball froze in place.
‘Damn you, Adri!’ Gray screamed. ‘Damn you to hell! Why did you have to do this?’
Adri coughed, sending dirt flying. Slowly, he put his hands to the rocky floor and sat up, examining his cuts. ‘Maya knew the risks when she agreed to come to Old Kolkata,’ he said softly.
‘Why did you have to come to JU?’ Gray shouted. ‘What bloody book was that? What are you after, Adri Sen?’
‘Look,’ Adri replied, his guilt keeping his anger in check. ‘Right now, all I’m doing is trying to save Maya. I’ve got to get that body here before they kill her. Does that make sense to you? Or do you still want to play the blame game until it’s too late?’
‘I know you’re hiding your agenda,’ Gray said after a few seconds. His voice was calmer now, threatening to break. ‘I know this is all about what you want. But now you listen and listen good to what I want. I want my sister safe and I want to get out of this godforsaken city. Do we understand each other?’
Adri nodded silently, getting back on his feet. His clothes were dusty, there was dirt on his face, sticking to the stubble; and with that came the realisation that he hadn’t shaved for a while now. His shoulder stung. The fall had hurt his wound. He cursed silently and started hobbling back.
Gray followed him, conflicted. He felt stabs of guilt for pushing Adri down—without the Tantric he would be lost—but it was also true that without the Tantric they wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place. Adri was selfish and secretive, and he had reasons of his own that had led them to this place of horror, not that he wanted to know what Adri’s reasons were. He just wanted Maya safe and he wanted to get back on the train. And he would make sure Adri got them back, no matter what.
‘How come they made a deal with you?’ Gray asked a few moments later. They were climbing up the basement steps once more.
‘They needed a Necromancer. They saw I’m one and took their chance. They didn’t harm Maya, she was bait; if none of us were Necromancers we’d have been dinner.’
‘What are they? These confounded Ancients?’
‘What do you think? Vampires of bone, held together by curses and spells. My weapons were useless, I hadn’t created any bullets to handle them. And there were well over ten to fifteen of them in the shadows.’
‘You saw them in the darkness?’
‘I heard them all around us. They can’t hide that noise they make when they move. Too many of them down there. One wrong move and they would’ve been on us; my gunshot almost made them pounce.’
‘Speaking of which, what the heck did you shoot Maya with? What is a corruption? And where are you going?’
Adri was on his way up the stairs past the ground floor. ‘I’ve got to get my bag,’ he said. ‘It’s still in the professor’s office.’ Gray nodded and followed.
‘About the corruption, it’s the only thing not letting the Ancients drink Maya’s blood. Thus, it’s keeping her alive, as well as killing her slowly, as it’s a corruption. It will not kill her as fast as the Ancients would have. We’ll deal with it once we get her back.’
‘I guess I owe you a thanks,’ Gray said slowly. ‘And an apology. I mean, Maya did go off on her own, right?’
They reached the floor and Adri, revolver in hand, headed towards Professor Sural’s office. ‘She did have an agenda of her own, yes. I don’t think she was prone to random curiosities,’ Adri said. They reached the office, and it was still empty. Adri picked up the black book he had cast away earlier, opened the correct page, and memorised the four names. It took him two readings to do it. Casting the book away, reminded again of its uselessness, Adri picked up his bag and wore it. Gray stood at the door, wondering about how best to apologise.
‘Save it,’ Adri said, crossing him and entering the corridor. ‘Long night ahead, and the journey isn’t really easy.’
Gray was slightly angered again, but he swallowed it and followed Adri, the Sadhu’s Shotgun in his hands.
Gray looked at Adri. The young Tantric seemed preoccupied with his own thoughts, and looking at him, Gray understood for the first time that thing Maya had mentioned. That something about Adri, something which she couldn’t understand, that he felt different somehow. Gray felt it too right now, only Maya wasn’t around for him to tell. He felt alone, he felt cold. He didn’t really know the Tantric and had been brash with him sometime back; Adri had sort of withdrawn since then, and even though Gray knew it was valid, his reaction as well as Adri’s withdrawal, he still felt alienated and lonely. The surroundings were partly responsible.
They were resting in what had once been a children’s playground. Broken swings, abandoned see-saws, a picture of desolation. There would be no children found here; Gray hadn’t seen a single child in the Old City as of yet, and this place served as a stark reminder to the same. Old Kolkata had many ghosts, and among them was rumoured to be a mother searching for her children, long gone. She was said to wear white, and held a lamp as she walked through broken buildings and dark places, softly calling out their names. Gray had been told of this as a child, and it made him sad even then; when they had entered this place of the children who once were, Gray found that mellow sorrow once more.
Adri had cleared some space and made a fire in the centre using the same spirit, and was now heating some canned food on it. Everything around them was pitch black, and the tall dark buildings surrounding the playground gave it an even more ominous feel. Gray’s stomach gave a low growl as he looked at the food, they hadn’t eaten since leaving the Gunsmith’s house earlier in the day. Turning his face away, he looked around some more to get his mind off the food. The desolation depressed him. Adri had already told him this wasn’t a residential area any more. In fact, from now on, he had said, and all the way to the Lake of Fire, they were only going to find lesser and lesser residential areas. And closer to the dangerous areas, the people lived together in huddled and guarded colonies called Settlements. They would soon be encountering these, Adri had warned. Gray had heard about
the Settlements of Old Kolkata, and he had also heard that most of them were quick and brutal with outsiders—they trusted no one.
Gray looked up at the night sky, and thought he saw something move on one of the neighbouring roofs. He peered into the darkness. Nothing. He mentioned it to Adri, who in turn looked long and hard, but saw nothing. Nevertheless, Adri kept one of his revolvers ready, and Gray cradled the Sadhu’s Shotgun in his lap, his fingers running along the weapon’s surface repeatedly. The fire burned as their food got heated. They ate soon. It was vegetarian food, canned, but to a hungry Gray it was heavenly.
A dog. Strutting into the playground. Attracted by the smell of food. It stood at a distance, watching them, eyes glittering in the firelight.
‘Is that just a dog?’ Gray asked.
Adri had already seen it. ‘Yes.’
Gray whistled to it and the dog promptly trotted over, wolfing down the scraps Gray offered. It was the first living thing they had come across in a long time that belonged to a normal place, to a Kolkata that once was. The sight of Gray feeding the dog fascinated Adri; it reminded him of things he had long forgotten, of things he cherished. Gray was an animal lover, and he wasn’t to know what he had sparked off, but Adri revelled in nostalgia for a blissfully long time before he realised they needed to get moving. Embarrassingly enough, it was Gray who roused him from his near stupor; he got up and packed everything back into his backpack hastily. The bag was heavy, Adri realised as he wore it once more. It would have been easier to not be a Tantric. He would have been able to enter Settlements and buy necessary supplies. Yes, not being a Tantric would really have made his life so much easier. Adri shook his head and lit a cigarette as they moved out of the playground. The dog followed them.
‘The dog’s coming with us. Not a problem, is it?’ Gray asked.
‘Hardly. If it has survived for this long, it’s probably used to smelling danger a long way off. I would call it useful.’
They walked on. Gray wanted to move faster, worried that they weren’t covering enough ground. It took Adri most of his patience trying to convince him of the need to move slowly. ‘It’s night. There are things out here,’ Adri said, impatience creeping into his voice. ‘We have to move slowly, that way we can stay alive, and get to Park Street and back.’
The fireball was no longer with them. Adri had it put itself out for fear of detection. They walked for a long time, and the dog followed them to a certain point, beyond which it just stood watching them go, wagging its tail. They walked on through a labyrinth of crashed cars and bent street lamps—a part of the road where everything seemed chaotic and devastated even in the quiet of the sparse moonlight.
‘What happened here?’ Gray asked in a whisper.
‘A massacre,’ Adri replied.
They were weaving their way through a tangle of parked cars, when all of a sudden something blocked out the moon. For a second there was darkness, then the shadow passed, gigantic and black as it flew over their heads. Gray’s eyes shot up as he saw the edge of something disappear over the edge of the tallest building. He did not ask any questions then; whatever that creature of the night was, it was completely soundless, and that scared him. He stole after Adri as fast as he could, casting nervous glances behind.
It was surreal, and for a time Gray tried to forget it all—all the pain, all the anxiety, all the weight of responsibility tugging at him. He followed Adri mechanically, and they were nearing the end of the road when he heard voices that brought him back to the present. Adri slowly came to a stop and sat down on the road against a crashed car, signalling him to do the same. The voices were very coarse, harsh and deep, accompanied by grunts and heavy breathing. Not too far away. Whoever it was, they were only a little ahead of them. Adri silently raised a finger to his lips, and it was probably all in his imagination, but Gray thought Adri’s face seemed to be a little drained of colour. In any case, he looked extremely nervous; more than Gray had ever seen him be. Not a good sign.
Adri was opening both his revolvers as quietly as he could, changing ammunition. The voices were conversing in the Old Tongue. Gray didn’t fully understand it, all but snatches—blood, blade, chop. It did not sound optimistic to him; he clutched the shotgun tightly to his chest. Then he saw them, reflected in the side mirror of the car in front of him. Two of them, walking slowly.
Humanoid. Mostly. About ten to eleven feet in height. In the moonlight one could see they were wearing armour and clothing, all black, gleaming. They were heavy, hulking, hard-bodied; they moved slowly, with weight in every footstep. Though he couldn’t see much in the small mirror, Gray saw the one thing that confirmed what they were: the horns. Both of them had a pair each—long, curving, rising high above their heads, and then cutting a wicked arc right back down, coal black in the white light of a pale moon. A chill went up Gray’s spine. Demons.
He saw Adri’s lips move in what he thought was a prayer—Adri was actually performing a small and immediate incantation, but Gray didn’t know that—and to see a Tantric pray scared him even more; all Necromancers were atheists.
Adri ignored Gray’s shudders and reaching into his bag, did some frantic groping before withdrawing a couple of vials. He felt the weight of the pentacle against his neck. I have a lot more to do. I cannot let this be the end.
The Demons walked slowly, their steps heavy, their weapons sheathed. No MYTH troops had been seen in this area of late, but there had been sightings of an unknown creature that they needed to keep a watch over, according to the Commander’s orders. But it was their third night of patrol and they hadn’t noticed anything so far. Seemed like another peaceful night.
‘Then he crushed him with one foot. One! That’s all it took,’ one of them spoke loudly. ‘He split open like a ripe pumpkin, the dog. Demon-killer, ha!’
The other one was smoking an enormous cigar. It nodded viciously, breathing out smoke.
‘Hraathar always had a temper problem with the Tantrics. Never really worked for them. Everyone thought him useless until he killed that Demon-killer. He was a dangerous one, he was. He made me think before I went to war, and that’s something, that is.’
‘They were nothing but trouble, they were,’ the first one agreed. ‘Give me some of that cigar.’
The second one handed it over and the first one took a long drag. ‘Bloody human Plane. I got such a cold, I can barely taste this thing.’
‘Plane got its advantages, Garth,’ the second Demon said. ‘I support the decision to stay here. Compare this to where we come from, eh?’ It began to laugh, and so did the Demon named Garth, until the second one stopped all of a sudden. It sniffed the air. Twice, thrice. Then it turned its head in the direction of the open street they had just crossed.
‘What is it?’ Garth asked, puffing on the cigar.
‘Humans,’ the Demon replied, baring its fangs in a grin. Hideous. It sniffed again. ‘No wait—there’s more. There’s something else.’ It sniffed again. ‘Two humans and a half-breed, I think. Can’t say what, I’m not so sure.’
‘I’m hungry,’ Garth said. ‘But I can’t smell shit.’ The other one laughed in response.
Adri peered over the hood of the car and then sat back down, looking at Gray very seriously. ‘Okay, look. I’m going to make this very clear,’ he whispered. ‘We cannot possibly take on both the Demons right now, not in this light. However, they will smell us any second now and we can’t help that.’
‘So what do we do?’ Gray asked.
‘I will try and take them down one at a time. You have to keep one busy so that they don’t attack me together.’
‘What? I have to what?’
Adri lit a cigarette. ‘Distract! Talk to it, shoot at it a couple of times. Basically run from it, but keep taunting it. They’re warrior Demons, they’re slow. Keep your distance and you should be fine. Oh, and if they throw something just dodge it. Jump out of the way, they can be pretty nasty at times.’
‘Can’t we run away?’
> ‘No chance, they’re almost always hungry and they’ll track us down. In other words, it was too late the moment we saw them—they were too close to not have smelt us already. And I don’t think we have the luxury of time anymore—they’re coming!’
Adri shoved his bag aside and stood up straight, a revolver in each hand and a lit cigarette in his mouth.
‘Ah, maggot!’ one of the Demons roared. Its voice was hoarse and cracked, yet it radiated with power, with might beyond human or animal. Both the Demons changed course and made a beeline towards Adri.
Adri chose the one on the right, the one without the cigar. He lifted his guns and fired two rounds together. Holy water infused with the essence of tulsi and the ashes of holy men stirred in it for greater effect—one extremely strong holy bullet. Both the bullets hit the Demon’s head and stopped it in its tracks. It roared in agony, clutching its head. The other Demon paused as well to see what his partner had been hit with. He found out the next instant as Adri plugged him with two rounds as well.
As both the Demons bellowed and howled, Gray got a good, clear look at them, and he watched them in awe. They were gigantic, one of them over eleven feet tall. Their skin was a dark, muddy brown and it reminded him of elephant skin with all its wrinkles and cracks, but it seemed hardier, like rock. Their faces were a bit warped; they had started out with human features, but somewhere in the middle someone had decided to play around and expand the eyebrows, make the nose almost disappear but for a slit-like breathing hole, and shrink the eyes deep into the face where they glittered like marbles. They had hair though, facial hair as well; the one called Garth was bald with a huge beard, and the other one had long dark hair, which it had tied in a ponytail. Their ears were sharp and pointed, and they had tails—Garth’s was short and unimpressive, whereas the other one’s was thick and large like a crocodile’s. Their torsos were much bigger than their lower abdomens, though their feet were strong and muscular and supported them well, but it didn’t look like they could run. Their horns, however, remained the most majestic thing about them, bloodthirsty as they were.
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