Adramelek grinned. “Privacy spells, huh?”
“Indeed. I don’t particularly enjoy being mocked by angelkind for my sex life,” Lucifer said.
Adramelek laughed. “They only did it once.”
“And when you see Uriel, no doubt you’ll never hear the end of it.”
“Oh shit.” Adramelek’s eyes widened in horror. “I didn’t think of that.”
Lucifer burst out laughing even as he rolled his shoulders, using his power to get naked. “You forgot about him, hm?”
“As often as possible.” Adramelek held out his arms. “Come here,” he purred. He never could get enough of Lucifer, bared to him, his soul so shining, as bright as the morning star for which he was named. His skin, pale gold, and his jet-black hair were flawless, and his bright blue eyes were dark with lust.
Lucifer joined him on the bed, crawling over to straddle Adramelek.
“You seem quite eager.”
“My lord,” Adramelek said formally, “when it comes to you, I’m always eager.”
Lucifer kissed him. It was a hard, demanding kiss, and Adramelek tasted the metallic tang of blood and the sweeter, more intoxicating flavor of the essence of a Fallen One. Adramelek raised his hands and ran them down Lucifer’s back and up again to his wing joints, beginning to rub and tease the soft down.
Lucifer bit him, and Adramelek moaned, instantly pliant and submissive beneath him. As Lucifer broke the kiss to bite his way down Adramelek’s neck, drawing blood with each nip, Adramelek fuzzily thought that this must be what true love was like.
“Indeed it is,” Lucifer purred, looking up at Adramelek. His lips were bloodstained.
“Did I say that out loud?” Adramelek asked.
“No. You just thought it loudly.”
“Oh.”
“Yes. And you’re right.” Lucifer lowered his head and bit Adramelek’s collarbone, making Adramelek keen loudly. “It is true love.”
His mental voice in Adramelek’s mind was tender.
Adramelek clenched his fingers in the feathers of Lucifer’s wings and gave himself over completely to his lord and lover with a happy heart and loving soul.
“SHE’S A pretty clued-in kid, isn’t she?”
Liam looked at Baxter and grinned. “She is, yeah.” They’d nearly finished going through the boxes of files that had been left behind, and collected up nearly three dozen folders that would be worth a better look.
Liam was going through the last box on his shelf now, and Baxter had just finished his last one.
“Sad that she died so young,” Baxter murmured.
Liam sighed. “Yeah.” He examined the last two files, which held little of interest, then shoved the box back onto the shelf. “Hopefully what we’re doing here can give her and the other ghosts some peace.”
“Yeah.” Baxter hesitated and then lowered his voice to barely above a whisper. “I’m going to ask Michael and Samael about reincarnation.
Before you start waving your arms and ranting, remember that I’m a Buddhist. If anyone ever deserved a second chance, it’s Jessica-Mae.”
Liam was troubled by Baxter’s words. He wasn’t sure why. So he shrugged. “I guess they can make that call.”
“But you don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“Dead is dead, Bax.” Liam turned to look at him. “The dead move on when they’re ready. I don’t think they get reborn into new bodies. I think they go wherever they’re supposed to go once their spirit leaves their flesh. If they did get reborn, why do we have to deal with so many hauntings of spirits gone mad because they couldn’t—or wouldn’t—move on?”
Baxter looked at him sharply. “I would have thought that was obvious. They don’t go for their own reasons, but no one knows what happens to those souls that do leave. How do you know for certain that you or I or your brother or any of us here aren’t reincarnated?”
Liam frowned. “Okay, I don’t. But I still think it’s a bit…. Look. I was raised in the Santeria tradition. Hoodoo and a bit of Catholic Orthodoxy and more than a little folk magic. Buddhist theory is an abstract to me. I understand it—I just don’t believe it.”
“So what do you believe, then?”
“You die. The end. Flesh gets eaten by maggots and decomposes. The soul either moves on into the great beyond or lingers and goes insane.”
“That’s pretty grim, Liam.”
Liam shrugged. “It’s what I know.” He thought about his childhood and upbringing, getting lost in his memories.
“Liam. Earth to Liam!”
He started as Baxter snapped his fingers in front of his face. “What?”
“You were off with the pixies for a minute there, dude. We’re all ready to go. I’m about to shift; you ready to rock and roll?”
“Oh right. Yeah, I’m good.” Liam gave Baxter a grin and Baxter returned it, but then his expression became one of intense concentration and he shifted, becoming the great white Arctic wolf.
Declan, however, was gazing at Liam shrewdly. “Dude,” Declan said sotto voce, “don’t feel like you have to explain what we practice or what our religious beliefs are. It’s no one’s business.”
Liam nodded. “I know. Sometimes, I just feel like I’m going to get bombarded with twenty questions that I don’t want to answer. Talking about reincarnation was a bit….”
“Close to the bone?”
“Yeah.” Liam shrugged and pulled the carryall straps tighter onto his shoulders.
“Any word from your friends?”
Liam knew that Declan meant the Loa and he shook his head. “Not a one. This place is shielded against angels, we know that now. I think it’s shielded from everything and everyone even slightly supernatural, except for those ghosts who are the spirits of the poor folk who died here. And maybe the demons, because they were using them in their experiments. I bet they figured out a way to trick them into coming here, a way to lure them in.”
Declan nodded. “I thought as much. We need to get out of here and take this fucking shield down.”
“And then burn this place to the ground.”
“You took the words out of my mouth.”
Liam grinned at him, feeling much better than he had a few moments ago. “So, shall we head down to the levels of doom?”
Declan nodded. “I’m locked and loaded, ready for bear, in for the kill, I’ll be back, yippee-kay-yay motherfucker, shoot anything that moves, and all those other macho cliché movie phrases.”
Liam barked a laugh at that. “Okay, Captain America.”
“No way. Not here in this place. No, here, I’m more like… Duke Nukem.”
Liam snorted. “I want to make a crack about your abs not being radioactive size, but we are armed to the teeth, so sure thing, Duke.” He chuckled, shaking his head. “God, I forgot about that game. We played that all the time when we were kids, remember?”
Declan gave him a salute. “I sure do, soldier. So, you’re…
Doomguy.”
“Holy crap. Where are you digging these ancient games from, dude?
Your memory’s like a vault.”
Declan winked at him. “Angelique’s got ’em.”
Liam gaped at him and turned to the wolves clustered by the closed door. “Angelique, when we get back, I’m borrowing your old twentieth- century games.” The brief moment of levity had done a lot to help restore his equilibrium, and he felt ready to continue with the exploration of this facility.
Angelique turned to look at him, her tongue lolling out as she laughed. “Sure thing, soldier. Now, are we getting out of here or what?”
“We are getting out of here,” Declan said. “I’l open the door on three.”
Jessica-Mae stood between Riley and Lily, and Declan counted to three and flung open the door. The corridor beyond was just as it had been when they’d arrived—silent and still.
“This never gets less eerie,” Liam muttered as they began to make their way slowly and carefully down the corridor, followin
g Jessica-Mae’s directions.
The whole level was silent, which Liam was grateful for. It made listening for danger easier, but there wasn’t any. It seemed as if the entire area was cut off from danger, and that only made him feel uneasy, eroding the slight calm he’d felt after bantering with the others in the records room. It didn’t bode well for what might lie in wait for them on the floor below, and they were deliberately making their way toward that area in the hope of finding a way out. Jessica-Mae had mentioned the air- conditioning ducts, but Liam wasn’t too sure that would work. The wolves were bulky, and he and Declan were carrying a lot of extra weight due to the files they’d taken from the records room.
At the far end of the medical floor, Declan opened the door that led to the next flight of stairs, opposite the door they’d entered by. They went down the stairs quickly, not wanting to linger. The next landing was closed off by a red door with “Kennels / Pens” painted on it. Liam felt his upper lip curling with distaste even as he read those words. He had no doubt that whatever lay beyond would be fuel for his nightmares for the rest of his life.
He shoved open the door on the count of three, more than a little surprised it was unlocked, and stepped through with Declan, the Venatores, and Jessica-Mae’s ghost on his heels. Unlike the previous floor, this one was littered with debris. Broken furniture, dust, plaster, ripped and torn clothing, and other things were strewn all over the place.
“Whoa,” Declan said, looking around. “What happened here?”
“There was a big fight,” Jessica-Mae said.
“What sort of a fight, honey?” Liam asked.
She didn’t answer him. Instead, she let out a soft squeak of fear and vanished.
“Where did she go?” Baxter asked.
“I don’t know,” Liam said. “But she sounded pretty frightened.”
“I hate this place,” Declan said.
Before anyone could say anything, Liam heard a growl, a sound that was neither human nor animal or shifter. His hand tightened on the .50 and he shone the flashlight toward the growl.
What he saw amazed him. It wasn’t a wolf or a lion; it was a mixture of both, with hands like a human and wings like a demon. “What the fucking fuck is that?”
“Don’t ask questions, just shoot it!” Declan shouted.
Liam did so, firing directly into the beast, but the bullets seemed to have no effect, just as they hadn’t on the Mecha Nurses. “Oh fucking hell, it’s armored,” Liam swore.
“Run,” Declan yelled.
They turned and bolted, the Venatores snarling at the creature as it chased them down the debris-strewn corridor. Liam was cursing inventively under his breath as he and Declan looked desperately for a place to hide and keep safe.
“Here,” Declan called. “It’s a study of some sort. There’s bars on the windows and a lock on the door.” He ushered the Venatores inside, and then Liam backed in, still firing his gun. Once they were all inside, Declan slammed the door shut and leaned back against it as Liam holstered his weapon and began to pile furniture and a heavy metal filing cabinet against it. There was a little light in here, but Liam had no idea where it was coming from. Right then, he didn’t care.
“Give me your lighter.” It was Angelique, and she’d changed back to her human shape.
Declan threw it to her as he moved to help Liam shift a bookcase. “I hope like hell that thing can’t break through all of this,” he grumbled.
“Me too,” Liam said. “I’m not sure if our magic would work in here.”
Declan scowled. “I didn’t think of that. Thanks, Doomguy. You really are full of doom.”
“Oh shut up, Duke Nukem. Your naked girlfriend’s setting fire to things and you’re whining about magic.”
Declan lightly punched Liam’s arm. “My naked girlfriend’s hotter than your naked boyfriend.”
“No way.”
“Children,” Angelique said, “if you don’t mind, we’re trying to listen.”
Declan mimed zipping his lips closed as Liam stifled a laugh.
Angelique sighed and handed him a piece of wood.
“What’s this going to do?” Liam demanded. He saw that she’d lit a piece of candle, and he wondered where she’d found it. “You really want me to get close enough to bonk that monster on the head with a stick?
That’ll just piss it off even more!”
“No, idiot, I want you to try and spear it through the chest. If you get close enough. Don’t volunteer to do it.”
Liam stuck his tongue out at her and took the stick. He was about to retort, but there was a loud smash against the door and the whole wall shook. “Fuck,” he gasped.
“That thing might end up in here with us after all,” Declan said.
“Pack, attack formation,” Angelique said. Liam shot her a quick look and saw she was back to her wolf shape. He wondered if he’d ever get used to seeing her switch shape so often.
The wolves formed up in a line in front of Liam and Declan as they stepped back from the door. Declan dug around in his carryall and pulled out a submachine gun. Liam gaped at him.
“Where the fuck did you get that?”
“Nowhere special. I’m glad I packed it, though.”
“Where did you get bullets for that thing?”
Declan’s answering smile was positively evil. “Handmade, bro.
Hollow-point shell with a nice mix of Hoodoo herbs and spices inside with the gunpowder.”
Liam shot him a grin that was just as wicked. “I like. You’ll have to tell me the mix when we get out of here.”
The smashing noise was growing louder, and part of the door was beginning to splinter. A clawed hand reached through a hole and shoved at the furniture piled up against the door, pushing it away.
“Shit,” Liam muttered, drawing his .50 and the Glock.
There was another loud smash and the door fell away from the hinges, the furniture tumbling over. The monstrous creature roared in triumph, baring its fangs, and Liam was revolted to see the gore between each one. The stench coming from the thing was awful and Liam gagged in response, even as he sent up a quick prayer that something would kill this beast before anyone got hurt.
“Now!” Declan opened fire, the bullets hitting the thing squarely, penetrating its thick, hairy hide. It roared again, a sound of pure fury, and Liam fired as well, adding his own barrage to his brother’s. And then the wolves charged, lunging at the thing’s throat and belly, savaging those more sensitive areas with sharp fangs and claws.
Everything seemed as if it was happening in slow-motion. Time froze, moving at a glacial pace as, before Liam’s horrified eyes, the monster rose up onto its hind legs, shook off Danny and Lily, and dropped down on top of Baxter, its teeth sinking into his left rear leg. The scream that tore from Baxter’s throat was more human than wolf as the monster chomped and separated the lower half of the leg from the rest of Baxter’s body.
Baxter fell, dropped by pain and shock, and Angelique seized the moment. She switched to her human shape, already swearing in Spanish, rolled, and grabbed the stick Liam had dropped. Diving low, she slid beneath the monster’s body and stabbed upward with all her might.
The monster screamed, thrashing wildly as she wrenched the stick back and forth, tearing through muscle and sinew, ripping into the thing’s heart. It tried to move backward, but Angelique held on, even as Danny and Lily joined her, moving behind the thing to savage its hamstrings.
Riley had shifted back to his human form and was pulling the trembling, bloody body of the white wolf back out of harm’s way.
It seemed to go on forever as Liam watched, frozen into immobility by fear for his lover. And then the monster let out a strangled whine and toppled over, dead.
“Help me here,” Angelique yelled, and Declan went to her side, helping to push the thing back into the corridor. Then they came back into the office room and shoved the remains of the furniture into the doorway.
“Bax,” Liam whispered, drop
ping to his knees beside the wolf. “Oh God, Bax.”
“Liam, I need your med kit,” Riley said.
Liam shrugged the carryall off his shoulders. “It’s in here.” Then he laid a hand on Baxter’s shoulder. “Don’t die,” he whispered. He felt someone take the .50 from him, and realized it was Angelique. Liam shot a quick look at his brother and saw that Declan and Angelique were standing on either side of the doorframe, keeping watch. He looked back down at Baxter. “He’ll be okay, won’t he?”
Riley shrugged. “Don’t know. Now let me work.”
Liam shut his mouth and watched as Riley cleaned out the wound and began to dress it. He filled a syringe with something—Liam had no idea what, he couldn’t remember what was in the med kit. Baxter’s body was trembling, but Liam could feel his heart beating beneath where his palm lay on the bloodied white fur. Riley gave Baxter the shot, then packed up the kit.
“Can you carry him?”
Liam nodded. “Absolutely.”
Baxter’s eyes fluttered open. They were hazy, from the drugs Riley had given him, Liam hoped. “Hey, big guy. Don’t cry for me, Argentina.
I’ll be fine.”
“You better,” Liam said, choking back a sob.
“Totally going to be fine. I’ll be awesome. Legless. Hey, maybe I can get a pirate leg. Arrr, me hearties.”
In spite of himself, Liam started to laugh. He swiped away the tears and picked Baxter up. “We’ll have to put you on a diet. You’re heavy.”
“I’m not heavy, I’m fluffy.”
“Okay, babe, your fluff is heavy.”
“Are we getting out of here now?” Declan called.
“Yes,” Riley said. “Let’s move out.”
Angelique shot him a look, and Liam quirked an eyebrow at her, but she said nothing. Instead she handed the .50 over to Declan and shifted back into her wolf shape. Riley did the same, and Declan pulled what remained of the furniture away from the door.
They ran along the hall, stumbling often, looking back over their shoulders even more frequently. Liam carried Baxter easily, holding him close and hoping, praying for a miracle, for someone or something to save them from this nightmare. As they ran, the sound of howls began, growing louder with each step, and Liam knew that more of the demon-human- lion-wolf things were on their tail, following their scent.
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