The creature landed on the immortal, its great weight coming down to deform the metal of the armor. Kurt cried out as he felt bones snap and he tried to bring his sword up, foiled by the bulk of the monster. The demon roared again and flapped up. The immortal wasn't sure why it did that, when it had him dead to rights, when he caught a glimpse of the slender figure of Jackie hanging from the monster's back, holding onto the grips of her katanas, both buried to the hilts in the demon's back. As he watched, she pulled Ice out and shoved it back into the monster, going for its internal organs.
"Are you okay?" asked Izabella, kneeling beside Kurt.
Kurt nodded, still gritting his teeth, but the pain was starting to recede, along with the feeling of nausea. His peculiar physiology, amplified on this world, was healing him from his injuries. If he could just lay still for a few more moments he would be fine. But they didn't have a few moments, not if they wanted to take this thing out before it killed more people. From what he understood from the priests, killing was not the worst thing it would do to those it murdered.
Kurt pushed himself to his feet. Jackie was still on its back, still plunging one sword blade at a time through its rock-hard skin. Gregor was hitting the right foot whenever it came within reach. A couple of mages were throwing bolts of cold at its face, while the priests in the courtyard were calling down the power of their gods on it. The demon was bleeding from its back and grimacing as cold and holy power washed over it.
"I don't think it likes what we're doing to it," said Izabella with a tight smile.
"I want it to not like or dislike anything ever again," growled Kurt, running at the demon and springing into the air, bringing his sword back to strike into an upper leg, slicing through flesh and muscle.
The demon roared, looking down at him and sending another gout of flame his way. As before, it was dissipated by his sword before it could wash over him. He fell back from the monster, getting in one more strike before his feet hit the ground.
The creature kept trying to reach around and get Jackie, but there was no way its arms would extend that far. It turned in the air, then flung itself against the tower, trying to crush the pest that was on its back.
"No," yelled Kurt, running and leaping into the air again, leading with his sword, right into the groin of the creature. It had no noticeable sexual characteristics, but he thought that would still be a vulnerable area, and as his blade sank in the flesh and the creature jerked in agony he knew he was right.
The demon leaned forward as both of its hands went to its groin, its wings folding up in a sympathetic reaction to the pain. Jackie fell to the ground, unconscious, and Kurt went into a frenzy, striking the legs and abdomen of the demon over and over again, splashing black blood that splattered his armor. It still burned when it hit his skin, but the nausea was missing, and it seemed that his system had become used to it.
Gregor hit the monster from the side, his great battle ax, glowing with enchantment, slicing into muscle and even scoring the steel hard bone underneath. Izabella attacked the other side with her sword. Moments later any concern Kurt had for his lover disappeared as she climbed off the ground and launched herself onto its back once again.
Priests were shouting words of power, mages were hitting it with bolts of energy, everything but fire. The demon was obviously weakening. It extended its wings and gave a flap, its feet rising off the ground.
"We can't let it get away," yelled Kurt, shoving his blade into its lower abdominal area and hanging on with all his might. "If it flies away it will heal, and we'll have to deal with it again."
Power with the blue-white glow of life surrounded the head of the creature, some powerful priest coming up with the right spell at the right time. By itself, it wouldn't be enough, but it weakened the demon enough, just enough, so it couldn't escape the superhuman warriors swarming over it.
The demon landed heavily on its feet, staggering forward. They were doing terrible damage to it. Kurt really couldn't see what was keeping it on its feet, unless it had some infernal source of healing that mimicked their own. If so, maybe they couldn't destroy it. He dismissed that thought. The Army had killed demons when they first arrived on this world. True, they hadn't been this powerful, and the humans had used weapons they no longer had, but if they kept at it surely they could kill this thing.
The demon staggered back, one hand going out to land on one of the partially smashed barracks buildings. The hand went through the roof, and the creature fell to its knees. It turned its gaze on everyone to its front, an angry glare of glowing red eyes. Kurt met those eyes with an unwavering gaze, showing the creature that he was not afraid of it, that he would be its death. It pushed itself back to its feet, then stomped forward, bringing one foot down a short distance from Gregor and raising the other one to attempt to stomp Kurt into the ground.
"Let's tip this bastard over," yelled Gregor, stepping up and grabbing the lower leg of the monster, pushing with legs and back, trying to lift the great weight.
Kurt grabbed the other foot before it could come down, then mimicked his fellow immortal. The creature staggered, but didn't go down, until a trio of mages sent bolts of force into its chest. The creature tipped, slowly going over. Jackie jumped from its back, slicing into a wing as she fell to the ground. Then it had passed the balance point and was falling backwards, its head and shoulders slamming into the central tower with an earth-shaking rumble.
"Your sword," yelled one of the priests. "It's a weapon that can kill it, if you act fast, before it recovers."
Kurt looked at his blade, Lenoris, a Goddess blade of Arothonia, one of the most powerful weapons on the planet. It was a two-handed blade, long enough to reach its heart. Or at least he hoped so. With a thought he ran toward the demon, jumping into the air and landing on its lower abdomen, then running up and raising his hands in the air, hilt gripped tightly, blade pointed down. With a powerful slam he shoved the blade into the demon's chest, about where he thought its heart would be, based on what he knew of human anatomy. Not that it had to be configured exactly like a human, but he had to count on something.
The creature roared its pain and displeasure, and tried to reach for the immortal. The other three attacked its arms, slicing through flesh, cutting nerves and vessels. It knocked Gregor away, then grabbed Izabella and pulled her up to its wide-open mouth.
Kurt pushed the sword in deeper, almost to the hilt, meeting some resistance. Izabella jammed her sword into the open mouth, slicing the tongue and lining. The demon roared and flung her away, to strike one of the fortress walls with a loud crunch and slide to the ground.
"Here," yelled a priest, a dwarf in the heavy armor of a warpriest, tossing up a heavy mace. Kurt caught the weapon in the air, feeling the weight of a smashing object, sensing the holy power of the mace. He raised it into the air, then smashed it down on the pommel of the sword, apologizing to both weapons in his mind as he swung. With a crashing roar the blade went into the chest of the creature to the cross guard.
The mouth of the monster opened wide, gouts of black blood gushed out, while the hands of the demon twitched spasmodically. In seconds its entire body was shaking, like a massive earthquake under the feet of the immortal. Kurt looked down at his blade, tempted to grab it before he jumped.
[Leave me] said the sword in his mind. [You can retrieve me after it is gone.]
Kurt sent back his understanding as he leapt from the creature, landing on bent legs, then running toward Izabella, worried that she might have been hurt too badly from her collision with the wall. She was still lying on the ground when he reached her, breathing heavily, her face screwed up in agony, still alive.
"I can feel myself healing," she groaned out through gritted teeth. "Still hurts like hell. Did you finish it?"
Kurt looked back over at the sprawling demon, which had stopped twitching and was now leaking fluids everywhere. As he watched the body shrank in on itself, until it was little more than a bag of flesh draped over bone.
>
"Yes, my dear. I think it's finished."
He had to wait another ten minutes before the creature had completely dissolved, even the fluids having evaporated into the air. Izabella was sitting up by that time, looking like she was going to recover fully. He walked over to where the demon had lain, now only a shadow on the stone, and picked up his sword, holding it up to examine it.
[Are you okay, my friend?]
[I am fine, my master. More than fine, since killing such a creature brings great merit to such as myself.]
Kurt smiled as he held the blade up to the sky, letting it commune with the goddess that created it, thanking all the gods of this world and his own that he had found the sword. Or was it the sword that had found him? And then he wondered how Levine was doing against the other demon. He sent a message by mindspeak to Levine, and was shocked by the impression that came back.
"We're not finished here, people," he told his fellow immortals. "There's one more of the bastards to kill."
Chapter Eleven
"Okay, guys. It's time to instill some courage in our people."
"I'm not sure I have all that much courage to instill," groaned Warrant Officer Second Peter Steiner, the drummer. "I mean, look at those fucking things."
Warrant Officers Second Wolfgang and Reinhold Schrenker said nothing, simply staring at the red winged creature that was darting and diving over the fortress.
Dirk Winslow felt the same, but they had a duty to perform, and dammit, he was going to perform it. He checked the sword at his belt, realizing that it would be next to useless if that thing came after them. He had served a term in the United States Army, and Peter had done service in the German, but neither had been what would be considered combat soldiers, and they were definitely not warriors on this world.
"We need to support our people," yelled Dirk, checking the strap on his guitar. "If you guys won't help me, I'll have to do it alone."
The three men continued to stare, sometimes at their bandleader and superior officer, more often at the demon. Dirk thought about ordering them to accompany him, and then thought better of it. Unless their hearts were in their music, it would accomplish naught. He was the most powerful of them, probably twice the measure of any of them. But the band playing in harmony would tap into more than five times his own personal power.
"Well, dammit. I'm not going to let our guys down. You all can play along with me, or be damned."
The band was set up on a rocky shelf on the hills overlooking the bridge fort. They were about four hundred meters from the walls, just out of accurate bowshot, though not for a lucky shot. A pair of mages stood in front of them, ready to erect an inertial shield if shafts were in the air and headed their way. A hundred Conyastoya archers stood on a lower shelf, their defense against any enemy trying to get at them the old-fashioned way. It had made Dirk feel good that the army thought so much of their services. They were the only thing like themselves on this world, as far as they knew, and they were to be protected. They were also a military asset, and would be used as such if needed, and now seemed that time of need.
Dirk hit a loud riff on his guitar, sending the sound waves out over the fort and the areas surrounding it. He had a choice to make. Send out waves to energized and encourage the troops. Or send out those that would have a detrimental effect on the creature they were fighting. After a minute of sending out encouragement, and now sure that no matter how energized the music wasn't going to give them the advantage over the infernal creature, he started into a song that was sure to cause the demon discomfort. Or so he had been told when he had composed it with the help of the priests.
The loud screech of the music caused the demon to look up and into the eyes of the guitarist across the distance. It was a look to freeze the marrow of the bones, but Dirk kept at the song, his fingers moving quickly over the strings in perfect timing, the music fighting his fear. The demon continued to stare his way, and the bandleader was sure that at any moment it would come flapping toward him, to rend him limb from limb. Instead it turned its concentration back toward the people it was fighting below, and Winslow let out a breath of relief while continuing to play.
The beat of the drums came in behind him, adding to the music, adding to the power. Moments later the bass adding its beat to that of the drum, and Dirk started weaving his riffs in with them. Then Reinhold, a skilled guitarist himself, started in with a counterpoint that wove in among the faster riffs of his leader. The power of the music increased exponentially, and the demon could be seen shaking its head, at time placing its hands over its ears. That didn't help, and the creature seemed to be spending as much time shaking its head and growling as it did fighting. So they were doing their job.
They played through the entire fight, watching as the demon went down below the walls and didn't come up. The feel of evil that had been in the air for most of the fight dissipated quickly, The fight might still be going on, but no longer against infernal creatures.
Dirk help up a hand to silence the band. "Start into something lively. When You Found Me."
The drums and bass started into the rhythm track of the song, one of the most popular from their first album. Reinhold started a secondary lead, which Dirk soon played over and under, sending the waves of magic out over the field. Due to the working of the magic it only had an effect on the friendly troops. To the enemy it was no more than loud noise, unlike anything they had ever heard before.
* * *
Ismael Levine looked up as the great beast dropped out of the sky. He could feel the fear the demon radiated, probably not as much as the people around him, since he had the age behind him that produced the wisdom that tempered emotions. The ancient immortal didn't know what he was going to do about this terror dropping into his lap, but he did know that it was going to be his job to get rid of it. If only he had Kurt's sword. His was powerful enough, but a holy blade would come in handy at a time like this.
The demon flapped its wings, arresting its fall as it looked around the courtyard, apprising itself of the possible targets. It looked at the guns, then breathed out a gout of flame, white hot, much more powerful than that of a dragon. It would surely destroy at least one of the guns, while killing the crew of all of them. At least it would have, until the young schizophrenic physicist turned fire mage stepped forward, waving his hands and shouting out words of power. The flame washed over Drake, curving around so that all of the fire struck his body and nothing past it.
Levine sucked in his breath, thinking the mage dead. The flames were sucked into the man's form as if it was a vacuum, until it was all gone, and the young man stood there, glowing red eyes staring at the demon, his garments smoking. His eyes were bugged out, his mouth was open in a silent scream, and it appeared as if he wouldn't be able to hold the power in for long.
The young man pointed a finger at the demon and released the fire, a gout smaller but no less fierce than what had been absorbed by the mage. The demon laughed as the fire played over it, not discomfited in the least by the infernal power.
[It's not working, James] sent Levine by mindspeak. [Use it for something else.]
James nodded, then moved his finger down, the fire moving out like the jet of a flamethrower. It hit the gate to the tower. The valve that was still up glowed, going from red to white-hot in an instant, while more of the flame moved through the open side of the portal. Screams sounded from within, proving that the flame was doing something other than being a mere pyrotechnic display.
The music of the bards came in over the fort, sounding much like an Earthly rock concert. At first it seemed to invigorate the humans and elves of the army. Unfortunately, that didn't help them to damage the demon to any greater extent. Levine was about to order someone to order the band to start into another theme when they did it themselves, and the demon hovered in the air, its eyes turned toward the area where the band was set. And holding its hands over its ears.
Levine snorted a laugh. He sometimes felt the same way a
bout this kind of music, but as long it helped his side, he didn't care if he liked it or not.
The demon roared, then headed down, attacking a couple of soldiers, ripping through the armor of one, then climbing back into the sky, where it again stared over at the band and screeched its displeasure. Levine was afraid the creature would head off toward the band, which didn't have the fighting power gathered around itself to handle such a threat.
[James. Attract its attention.]
The mage nodded and gestured, sending a small burst of flame into the demon. The creature ignored it. Being a creature of fire, the magical flame was not going to damage it. So James sent a larger blast toward it, finally attracting its attention. It glared down at him for a moment, then back at the band, shaking its head. Levine was afraid it wasn't going to reengage with them. In a way that would be a perfect outcome, in the short term, since the soldiers wouldn't have to worry about it while it was away. However, it could destroy the bards, a unique resource, and it would be back. James sent another bolt its way, this time hitting it in the face.
The demon roared again, flapped his wings, and headed for the young mage, leading with his taloned feet. Katherine Heidle stepped forward, raised her hands, and a blast of wind struck the creature and pushed it back. It righted itself and landed on the ground, stalking forward. A cannon cracked and steam flew from the barrel, sending a ball into the chest of the monster. The demon grunted, but the ball bounced off and it took another step forward.
Levine saw his chance, and ran up, jumping into the air and coming down on the back of the demon, his enchanted blade plunging deep into the muscle. The demon roared again and turned, trying to get at its tormentor. As it pivoted a pair of balls struck in the side, while a flight of arrows hissed in to bounce from the rock-hard hide.
Refuge: Book 5: Angels & Demons Page 13