“There are stairs over here,” Declan yelled, and they ran toward a doorway without a door. The stairs led down, and they stumbled along in the murky darkness, shadows looming like irregular-shaped monsters reaching out to pull them down into a new dimension of this hellish building.
The stairs came to an abrupt end at another landing and another door. The door was unmarked, but Liam, puffing a little, didn’t care what lay beyond, so long as it was safety. Declan opened it, looked around by the light of the flashlight, and then led the way down another refuse- littered corridor.
“Where are we?” Danny’s mental voice was strained, tense.
“I think we’re in a storage level,” Declan said. “I think this is where the survivors hid out after whatever happened here went down. Then they got eaten by the things we just ran away from.”
“So how the fuck are we going to be safe from them?” Danny demanded.
“We’re going to find one of those steel rooms and barricade ourselves in. Then we’re going to figure out who to call for help.” Declan shouldered open a large metal door. “Aha! In here.”
They went into the room in single file, and Declan closed the door, locking it by the simple expedient of smashing the handle and the lock.
Liam looked around. There was a steel operating table and several trays full of implements. There were a few chairs, covered in dust, and a pile of blankets in a messy heap in one corner. The air smelled stale, as if the ventilation no longer worked, and Liam had a bad feeling that Declan had just sealed them into their own tomb.
“This is an awesome hideout,” Angelique said. She was human again. “There’s a fucking glass wall here, Declan. One of those monsters could smash through it in a damn heartbeat!”
Declan glared at her. “Then we’ll have to be very fucking quiet, won’t we!”
“Whatever.” Angelique went over to Liam. “How is he?” she asked, looking at Baxter.
“Okay, I think. But we need to get out of here.”
“Please put him onto the table here,” Riley said from beyond them.
“I should use these facilities to make certain that I’ve done all that I can with what I have at hand. Could I have the med kit again, please?”
Liam complied, gently setting Baxter down on the operating table.
Then he pulled the med kit out from his carryall and handed it over to Riley. “What can I do?”
“Could you shine the flashlight on his wound, please? Good light will help me see what’s happening and make sure that I wrap it up tight.”
Liam nodded and did as he was asked, watching as Riley carefully unwrapped the blood-soaked bandage around Baxter’s leg and peered at the wound. He pulled out some items from the med kit—what looked like disinfectant, antiseptic, sutures, and a dressing—and got to work.
Liam and Angelique watched him and Danny and Lily joined Declan by the operating room window. Everyone apart from Baxter was back in their human shapes. Liam was very weary now. He wanted to get out of here, wanted to smell fresh air and see blue sky, feel sunlight on his skin, and then spend at least two hours in the shower. He wanted to get Baxter to a proper hospital, and he wanted everyone to be safe, happy, and healthy. He wanted to call Samael and ask the Archangel of Death to take special care with the soul of Jessica-Mae. But most of all, Liam wanted to find a quiet spot in the garden behind Michael’s large house and crumple to the ground and sob.
“ALL RIGHT, I’ve done as much as I can here,” Riley said. “He’ll need surgery soon, though.”
“Is he unconscious?” Liam asked.
Riley nodded. “Yes. I think it’s for the best. He needs tramadol and you don’t have any of that in your kit. Or morphine, and you don’t have any of that, either.”
Liam shook his head. “No, I’ve got that.” He grabbed the med kit and rummaged in the pockets, pulling out two ampoules. “Here.”
“You’re like James Bond or MacGyver,” Riley said, taking the ampoules. “Yes, I do watch old films and TV with Baxter, before you ask.” He grabbed a syringe out of the med kit and filled it with the contents of one of the ampoules. Then he injected it into Baxter, who let out a snuffling little noise that sounded suspiciously like a snore.
Liam started to laugh. It sounded slightly hysterical to his own ears.
“Of course he snores when he’s out like a light.”
Riley chuckled. “Better that than in agony.”
“Too damn right. God, I want a bottle of whiskey right now, a bottle bigger than my damn head,” Liam said.
“Shush!” Lily hissed.
They froze, and Liam shot Angelique a look, only to be met with one that was full of unhappiness.
“You’ll need to carry Bax,” she whispered, and Liam nodded. She curtly nodded once in return, and then she concentrated, her body changing shape, muscles creaking and bones groaning as she slipped from human to wolf. Liam looked at his brother and saw that Lily and Danny had already made the change as well. Riley shrugged, gave Liam a wry smile, and then he too changed into his wolf.
“You’re on your own with the weaponry, Dec,” Liam said.
Declan nodded. “Can you hear that noise? What’s it sound like to you, Necromancer?”
Liam quirked an eyebrow at him, but listened hard. At first, he wasn’t sure what it was he was listening for, but then he heard it. It was the sound of nails on rock, or claws. As he concentrated, muttering a quick spell under his breath, the sound was joined by another, a chittering noise like the wings of a large fly or a cricket.
“Oh fucking hell no,” Declan breathed, and Liam looked sharply at him. His gaze slid from his brother to the window and through it, he saw what had made Declan react.
It was a thing that resembled a mixture of a crab, a scorpion, and a bear. All topped with a human face. “Fuck,” Liam said. “We need to—”
“A giant bug thing?” Declan was saying, his voice shrill. “Bugs?
What next?”
“Don’t fucking jinx it, dude.” Liam looked over at Angelique. “We know how to get out now—through the window—but we need to get past that thing.”
Angelique nodded. “We need to rip it apart,” she thought to the other wolves. “It won’t be easy. Avoid the pincers and go for the soft part of its belly, that shouldn’t be covered in its shell… thing.”
“We’re really going to do this? Attack a giant bug from the dawn of time?” Danny asked.
“You got a better idea?”
“No. Fuck, no. I just wanted to be sure.”
“You and Lily go left, Riley and I will go right. Got it?”
The wolves nodded.
“I’ll give you covering fire,” Declan said. “Maybe those Hoodoo- herb-and-gunpowder-filled bullets will impact this thing better than the wolf-lion-demon thing.”
“Okay. Let’s do this. You start firing, we’ll move.”
Declan nodded to Angelique and took a breath, then rose and started shooting at the giant insectoid creature. The wolves charged, snarling and growling, and Liam, cradling Baxter, sat, listening to the noises of their attack and the gunfire mingle with the snapping and clicking of claws, pincers, and who knew what else. Desperately, Liam curled over Baxter’s body, wanting to join in the fight but not wanting to leave his lover’s unconscious form alone.
And then he heard a pained yelp, the sort that came from a wolf, and the loud, psychic shriek of another, and he realized that half of a mated pair had been hurt. But which half? Taking a breath, Liam leaned up and peered over the edge of the table just in time to see the insect creature tumble to its side riddled with rips and tears from teeth, claws, and bullets.
It was obviously—and thankfully—dead, its carcass a terrifying shape in the room filled with glass from the broken window the thing had crashed through. Liam looked at Lily, who was now human again, covered in blood and gore, and had her hands pressed to her cheeks as she screamed her husband’s name.
“Danny! DANNY!”
�
��Riley!” That was Declan. Liam recognized his brother’s voice, although he couldn’t see him. “How is he?”
“I’m checking.”
Angelique came to join him then and Liam looked over at her. Like Lily, she was filthy, covered in dust, dirt, and gore, and her expression was full of rage and murder. They shared a look and understood each other perfectly in that moment: pack members and loved ones had been hurt and those who had perpetrated this monstrosity were going to pay. Painfully.
“C’mon,” she said, “we need to go.”
“Go where?” Liam asked. “There’s nowhere to go to.”
“We’ll find a better place to hide,” she said. “Move it, Liam! Now!”
“Yes, sir,” he said automatically, getting to his feet still holding Baxter in his arms.
“He’ll be all right,” Liam heard Riley saying. “But we need to get out of here.”
“Yeah, we’ve been saying that since we got trapped in here,” Declan growled. “Liam, where’s that map?”
“Huh? Oh!” Liam remembered he had the map inside his flak jacket.
He hefted Baxter carefully and tugged the map out. Declan grabbed it from him, then opened and peered at it as Liam cuddled Baxter close.
“Okay, there’s a cell down the corridor,” Declan said, “and it’s barred and secured. It’s a panic room. Least, that’s what the note on this map said. So let’s go there, lock ourselves in, and panic.”
“I’ll carry Danny,” Riley said. “Lily, he’ll be all right, I swear.”
She nodded, her lower lip quivering, and then she morphed, changing into the gray wolf that was her shifter shape. She did it quickly and smoothly, so much so Liam wondered if he’d imagined it. None of the other Venatores had changed as rapidly as Lily did. It was something else to wonder about, something else to question. Later.
“When we get to this panic room,” Angelique said, “we need to get in touch with someone. Go through all your contacts on your cell phone, Declan. Just because we can’t reach an Archangel, it doesn’t mean we can’t reach someone who can.”
Declan nodded. “We’ll try it.”
“Okay.” Angelique changed back into her wolf shape and trotted over to Lily, nuzzling her flank. Lily looked at her, and there was such great sorrow and pain in her golden eyes that Liam felt a lump rise in his throat.
It was a frightened, bedraggled group that moved down the corridor toward the room Declan had found on the map. Liam wondered if his brother had read the map correctly, or if they were running toward their certain death. It was a little ironic that he, a Necromancer, one of the strongest to have lived in centuries, was going to die here in a place where no one would ever know of his passing. How ignoble a death indeed!
“Not gonna die, big guy. Heh, that rhymes. Anyway. None of us are going to die, because it’s not our time. We’re Venatores, you’re a Necromancer, and Declan’s a tracker and a shifter. We’ll be super- duper fine.”
“Rest, Bax, baby,” Liam said softly. “We can talk about this later.”
“Later is good. See? Later means that we’ll live. And living will be awesome.”
Liam smiled to himself. He felt much better, even though Baxter’s mental voice was a little slurred from the drugs he’d been given. Hearing him speak had made Liam determined to survive. He had a reason to now, after all. That reason might be injured and covered in fur right at the moment, but Baxter was the closest thing to a soul mate Liam had ever had and he didn’t want to lose him. Not now, not ever.
Somehow, they’d made it into the panic room. When had that happened? Liam blinked, a little disoriented. He couldn’t remember the last five hundred yards of their mad dash from the operating room with its windowed observation room beyond. As Declan and Riley slammed the door closed, Liam sagged to the ground, Baxter in his lap. He watched as Angelique shifted back to human form and lit some candles taken from Declan’s carryall, while Riley went to take care of the prone wolf form of Danny. Lily stood to one side, shaking violently, tears streaming down her cheeks, as Declan jimmied the lock of the door. He watched everything with a sense of incuriousness, wondering why he wasn’t more worried or more frightened.
Liam’s gaze returned to Lily. Something told him she was the key here, that it was going to be a decision she made that would either save or condemn them. He wondered what that decision would be, even as she angrily brushed the tears from her face and took a deep breath.
“I’m calling Hell.”
Liam stared at her, shocked out of his strange reverie. Of all the things he thought he might hear her say, that wasn’t one of them.
“Are you crazy?” Angelique demanded. “Why?”
“Because Heaven and Hell have a truce, and we can’t get hold of the angels or Michael or anyone, and Adramelek will help us.”
“How do you know?”
“I just do.” Lily glared at her. “I’m doing it, Jelly. Or we’re all going to die here.”
Angelique glared right back. “That isn’t certain.”
“Oh please, of course it is. We’re dying one at a time. These things are taking us out—injuring us badly—you know it, we all know it. It’s just as certain as taxes and Christmas.”
Angelique rubbed her face with one hand. “Michael will have my guts for garters.”
“No way. He’ll be pissed if we die, less pissed that we used initiative. That’s what I’m doing right now.”
Angelique nodded. “Okay. Do it.”
“You sure about this?” Declan asked from by the door.
“No, but Lily’s right. I can’t think of anything else and we need help. Bad.”
Declan nodded, shooting Liam a look. “Okay.” He returned his attention to the door and the small thick double glass window set in it.
Lily took a deep breath and stepped over to one side and began to use her own blood to mark out a circle and sigils on the floor. Then she stood up and closed her eyes. Her face was a study in concentration as she began to incant. Liam didn’t understand a word of what she was saying except for Adramelek’s name. He hoped the Archdemon could hear her.
ADRAMELEK SPRAWLED on Lucifer’s bed, watching as Lucifer ran his fingers through the feathers of his left wing. He was feeling sated and content, and watching Lucifer comb his own feathers was rather soothing. It was, therefore, a rude shock when he heard Lily’s voice calling his name.
He sat up in surprise, frowning as he tried to pinpoint the source of her call. She wasn’t in Hell, that much was certain; her call was too faint.
And there was static, too, as if something was trying to stop her finding him. He reached out with his own power, seeking her soul and finding nothing.
“Lily,” he said sharply, “slow down. I can hear you. What’s going on?”
“Adramelek? Oh thank God, you can hear me. We need your help.
We’re being slaughtered by monsters, a giant bug thing that was part demon or something, and then there was the wolf-lion-human-hybrid and the Mecha Nurses….”
“The Mecha what?”
Lucifer was staring at him as Adramelek spoke. Adramelek was well aware that Lucifer could hear every word.
“They were these mechanical nurses, part machine, with human heads and I think demon wings. They—”
“Lily. Start at the beginning. What’s going on?”
She told him, recounting the story of their adventure, and Adramelek and Lucifer stared at each other, shocked into speechlessness. Adramelek wondered what Lucifer thought of all this.
“Can you come and get us?” Lily asked.
“I’ll do what I can,” he said to her.
“Can you let Michael and the other Archangels know what happened?”
“I can do that.”
Lucifer hummed. “Are you certain there were demons used in these monsters?”
“Positive,” Lily said.
“Stay where you are,” Adramelek said. “I’ll be there soon with backup.”
“Don’t w
orry,” Lily said. “We don’t plan to move.”
“Good girl.”
Lucifer looked at Adramelek. “You taking the Guild?”
“Yes. And some Hellhounds, I think.”
“Good. And try and find out who and what have been using demons in such a way.”
“I will,” Adramelek said.
“You’ll be my eyes and ears out there. If you need any backup, such as a legion of demon soldiers or more Hellhounds, let me know.”
Adramelek nodded. “Thanks, Lightbringer, I will.”
“Good. Go now, gather the rest of the Guild of Glass Knives and the Hellhounds, and go help Lily and the others.”
“I’ll call Michael while I’m at it,” Adramelek said. “Once I get up onto Earth. If this place they’re in is as well shielded as she said, he’ll need to take coordinates from me.”
“Indeed.” Lucifer let out a quiet sigh. “Take care of yourself over there too, Adry. Don’t get injured.”
“I’ll do my damnedest to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
“Good. Stay safe and keep in touch.”
“I will, Lightbringer.”
“Good,” Lucifer said again. “Go now, with my blessing.”
“Thanks.” Adramelek got to his feet and climbed off the bed, then got dressed. He reached out to Ondrass, calling him to ask him to gather their guild together and meet him at the exit from Hell and to bring a dozen Hellhounds with him. Ondrass was surprised at the summons, but promised he would follow them, and Adramelek gave Lucifer a quick kiss, got to his feet, and made his way out of the Castle of Black Ice and toward the gate that led out of Hell and on to Earth.
When he reached the gate, Adramelek was pleased to see the rest of his guild there and the Hellhounds he’d requested. Ondrass, Markus, Lix Tetrax, and Melcherisa looked at him curiously, and Adramelek gave them all a small smile. “I got a rather shocking call from Lily,” he said to them.
“The Venatores girl?” Ondrass asked.
“That’s the one.” Adramelek filled them in on what Lily had told him, noting that they were just as stunned and horrified as he himself had been.
Archangel Chronicles 7 - Shot In the Dark Page 13