Tomas signaled Ariel to break right. They had already decided they would loop around and attack the ‘goyles from the back, then Tomas would take out the guard and open the gate. The Dogs were to hold back until that was done.
Ariel was swooping down on her ‘goyle when she heard a shout from inside the gate. The guard was halfway out of his booth, pointing at the Raptors and yelling at the ‘goyles. Ariel flew over the booth.
“Take the guard!!” she yelled into her headset. Tomas abandoned his ‘goyle and dove for the booth. The guard tried to pull the door shut before Tomas could reach him but he was seconds too late. Tomas did an air somersault a few feet off the ground and landed a sweeping side kick to the door, slamming it back open and propelling the startled guard back into the booth. The guard hit the control panel and scrabbled for the alarm button just as Tomas landed full force on his back. As the guard was going down, Tomas grabbed his head and gave it a hard twist. He shoved the crumpled guard out of sight under the console and hit the “Open” button with the heel of one hand.
Ariel rammed her spear into the nearest ‘goyle’s back. The ‘goyle turned toward her with an expression of mild surprise that quickly became annoyance. Twisting his torso he ripped the length of wood out of her hands and reached around with one scaly claw to break off the shaft. The splintered nub sticking out of his back began to smoke and blacken as the acid in the creature’s blood dissolved it. He flew at Ariel, his small red eyes glowing with fury. Ariel reached over her shoulder and grabbed the handle of her sword, pulling it free of the sheath strapped between her shoulder blades. Her wings beat faster to keep her in one place, she swung the sword with both hands. Its razor edge split open the ‘goyle’s belly causing ropes of steaming viscera to pour out of the wound toward the ground below. The wounded ‘goyle shrieked, more in rage than pain. One clawed hand grabbed at the escaping intestines while its head darted back and forth on its skinny neck, trying to get beyond the Raptor’s guard to deliver a poisonous bite. The second Gargoyle left its pillar and darted at Ariel, causing her to spin sideways to avoid an attack from both sides. But the second ‘goyle wasn’t as brave as his companion, so it hovered, growling and spitting, its eyes following the tip of her sword as it tried to figure out how to reach her without losing its guts.
Tomas ran from the booth and jumped into the air. He dove toward the second ‘goyle. Seeing him, the creature bolted toward the estate, flying as fast as his leathery wings would take him, Tomas on his tail. Ariel finished off the first ‘goyle, and landed on the grass just as Juke’s pick up squealed through the now open gate and pulled to the side to let the Harleys, two and three abreast, enter the estate. The sound of the bikes heavy engines was accompanied by a rumbling chorus of growls and excited howls from the riders. A furry, but upright Ez stood in the back of the pickup tossing swords, semi-automatic rifles and grenade launchers at the passing bikers who snatched them out of the air with long, clawed fingers.
“There’s two guards still loose on the property.” Ez was yelling as the bikers passed him. “Take their heads. Gut them! Do as much damage as you can so they can’t heal! Check the house, the lab and any other buildings you see. Keep the occupants from getting outside into open space. Keep runners away from the lake and the gate. I need two volunteers on the gate and four at the lake.”
Two female Dogs slipped off their rides, guns raised over their heads. Four other hands went up, volunteering for the lake.
Juke backed the truck around until it was sideways to the gate and got out of it while Ham leaned into the booth, to press the large button that closed and locked it. He was carrying a tank with a metal hose attached. Ariel heard a clicking sound and fire exploded out of the bell shaped nozzle on the end of the hose. Juke let it wash over the control panel, melting buttons and switches into flaming piles of goo, buckling the panel until it sagged like an old hammock. One of the women who’d volunteered for gate duty glanced from the flaming booth to the dead ‘goyle lying on the ground next to it. The little monster’s body had been three feet tall with a six foot wing spread. Now it was just a pile of ugly skin and bones, its deflated belly spilling yards of stinking, bluish-green intestine. The wrinkly face still held an expression of outrage and surprise at being killed so quickly and with such little effort. The woman smiled wolfishly at Ariel, revealing a very impressive set of teeth. Ariel grinned back. It was a moment of silent acknowledgement; one scary bitch to another.
* * *
“Platform’s clear,” McCullen’s slightly tinny voice echoed through the car. He felt the tap as the old train was hit by the bumper spring of the cars behind it. Steel panels retracted and the doors of each car slid open. Deepers poured onto the silent platform, forming teams that Greggs quickly dispatched with a series of complicated hand signals. Cassius brought multiple views of the arena up on the monitors inside the car. Silent videos of adolescents beating each other to the ground in the day’s earlier combat matches played on the big screens on the arena walls. Side bars with time clocks in the corners showed fast forwards of fighters regaining consciousness, their injuries healing with cartoon swiftness so that they could be thrown back into the ring to do it all over again. Some fighters who were obviously demons, died over and over; stabbed, shot, decapitated only to come back as hollow eyed and hopeless as their human counterparts. Looking over Cassius shoulder, Bishop wondered what multiple resurrections did to a person. Did a bigger and bigger piece of you get left behind each time you died, until you were just a hollow creature of meat and bone held together by a scurrying army of invisible healers? And what would happen to this violated flesh after it was rescued? If the person it used to be was only an insane shadow of its former self wouldn’t it be better to let it die along with the soulless creatures that made it live?
“If they’re human we have to save them,” Cassius said to him. It was almost as if he’d read Bishop’s mind.
“You’re staying here to watch the screens?” Cassius nodded. He popped up a floor plan in the corner of his monitor and printed it out. “Mouser is probably in one of the lab buildings. It’s not secure yet so you might have to take one of the utility stairs under the arena, then follow the passageway south.”
Bishop stepped onto the platform where there was more room to pull his daiko out of its scabbard. He felt slightly silly with a sword in his hand, like some miscast hero in a bad kung fu movie with lame choreography and an out-of-sync sound track.
“Don’t forget to lock the doors behind me,” he told Cassius. “You never know which way a trapped demon will run.”
As Bishop made his way down the platform, he was glad to see that a few armed Deepers had been posted to guard the train. Several had climbed onto the top of the first car to man the mounted artillery in case they were attacked. McCullen was sitting on the steps to the engine compartment having a smoke. “Find our kids,” the engineer said as Bishop passed him. So far, only Mouser and Susan Elizabeth Morgan had names but they’d already been adopted into the Deeper’s underground family.
* * *
Ariel followed the driveway, past the main house to the large piece of open ground that led down to the lake. A pack of Dogs had managed to flush a small group of security guards and were chasing them back and forth across the lawn for sport, their long bodies thrust forward, heads jutting between furry shoulders, snouts snuffling up the heady scent of fear. She was about to leave them to it when Tomas suddenly burst into the sky from a break deep in the trees, trailing an explosion of leaves and twigs in his wake. Behind him poured a swirling cloud of shrieking, growling creatures with leathery wings and eyes like burning coals. Someone had opened the ‘goyle cages. Below her, Dogs and guards stopped to watch the leathery tornado spin out across the sky.
The gargoyles seemed intent on getting as much distance as they possibly could from the confines of their roost. The smaller ones immediately sought cover in the leafy canopy of nearby trees. It was the behavior of animals being chased by somethi
ng larger and scarier than themselves. Ariel climbed higher in the air. She could see what was scaring them now. Behind the ‘goyles came creatures of more distinct threat. They were large and brightly colored in red, blue, yellow and green, with spiked, snake-like tails, lizard bodies and scaly wings that seemed much too small to support their weight. Large heads darted left and right, as saucer-sized eyes looked for their escaping prey. One lizard grabbed a small ‘goyle in its lipless mouth, tossed it into the air like a piece of popcorn and swallowed it whole. Another swiped one out of the air with a clawed foot, casually biting off body parts as it flew along. Its forked tongue darted in and out searching its snout for any morsels it might have missed as the ‘goyle went down. Behind these two flying monsters was another and another, and another, all searching for something to eat.
Ariel could feel the wash of Tomas’ wings behind her. “Jesus,” he said through her headset. “It’s like Dr. Doolittle’s Zoo from hell. The big gate ‘goyle managed to open the cages before I took him down and these lizard things came out of somewhere in the back. Uh oh, I think they’ve spotted the wolves.”
The lizards began plowing relentlessly through the cloud of fleeing gargoyles toward the larger, more meaty sources of food on the ground.
“How many lizards are there?” Ariel asked.
“Six, eight?”
“Well, I think two of them just put us on the menu.”
* * *
The wolves scattered. Three of them had semi-automatic rifles. They started firing at the lizards but the bullets bounced harmlessly off their boney chest plates. One bullet penetrated the wattle of skin under one lizard’s jaw, and exited through the flesh of its cheek. The lizard barely flinched. Its only reaction was a darting purple tongue that came out to lick away the small clumps of gelatinous fluid spattering its muzzle and jaw. The lizard flying closest to it gave it a speculative glance, but was warned away by a throaty bellow. The wolves melted into the woods, leaving the security guards to their fate.
Three of the lizards swooped down on the guards, knocking them to the ground, biting off their heads and ripping at their bellies with great clawed feet. Once the guards were dead, a squabble broke out between the scaly predators over possession of the meal. Clawing, biting and bellowing at each other, they started bumping chests, hip blocking and smacking each other with their tails.
“What ever happened to good manners?” Ariel moved her attention to the lizards bearing down on her and Tomas.
“Get above them,” Tomas yelled. “Try to land on its back, behind the head.”
Ariel swerved to the right. She intended to go higher, but didn’t want to telegraph the move too soon.
Tomas broke left, luring the lizard closest to him farther away from its buddy.
Ariel was getting a much more detailed look at the monster bearing down on her than she wanted. The creature was acting as if nothing else existed in its world except the tempting piece of flying meat that happened to be her. Its large, yellow eyes were almost hypnotic. Their iris seemed to be spinning slowly around a bottomless vortex of darkness where moments ago there had been a pupil. Ariel’s wings began to feel incredibly heavy. It was hard to keep them moving. She was tired of trying to stay in the air. She could feel herself start to drop toward the ground.
“EL! EL! SNAP OUT OF IT!” Tomas voice yelled. “Look away! Get behind it NOW!”
Ariel’s head snapped to the side. She blinked to clear away the fog and dove upward just as powerful jaws snapped shut on the empty air where her foot had been only half a second ago. Ariel spun around and landed on the creature’s back, the claws on her fingers and toes extended to get a better grip. A quiver ran through the lizard’s skin as it tried to shake her off. She threw herself forward, claws grabbing the folds of flesh around the creature’s neck. She held on as tight as she could while the lizard went into a series of twists and barrel rolls trying to dislodge her. She let it tire itself a bit, then realized if it landed it could easily roll over on its back and crush her. Reaching back, she drew her sword with one hand, and slowly straightened until she was standing almost upright, toes firmly hooked into the creatures hide. Holding the sword in both hands, she drove it to the hilt into the soft spot behind the creature’s head. The monster screamed, twisting its head, trying to bite the thing causing it pain. Ariel hung onto the sword, working it back and forth in the wound. The creature rolled upside down, still trying to shake her off. Yellow ichor ran from the wound and from the corners of its mouth, spattering Ariel with burning fluid. The lizard began to plunge toward the ground, beating its wings, trying desperately to right itself before impact. Ariel tried to dislodge her sword, but the ground was coming up too fast. The creature made one last effort to flip over and Ariel let go, using the lizard’s momentum to throw her clear. A second later the creature hit the ground.
Tomas’ lizard was no more than thirty feet away and obviously dead.
“My sword,” she called to Tomas. “Help me pull it out”
Luckily the lizard had fallen more on its side than its back. Tomas planted a foot in its neck and gave the sword a good yank. It took two tries but it finally came free.
“Look at that.” Ariel held up the sword so Tomas could see what she was talking about. The bright shine on its blade had turned to a dull, tarnished silver.
“Metal’s still okay,” he flicked it with a finger. “It did the same to mine. I hope there aren’t too many more of these things. They’re a bitch to kill.”
“Where are the rest of them?”
“Still having lunch.”
There was a sound like escaping swamp gas and Tomas’ lizard carcass rolled over on its back.
“I thought yours was dead.” Ariel hissed.
Tomas hefted his sword. “It was. Maybe it’s just a post mortem cadaver spasm.”
“You’ve been watching way too much CSI.” Ariel held her sword with both hands and began stepping sideways toward the dead lizard.
“I don’t watch television.”
“Liar.”
“Okay. The History Channel and an occasional CSI re-run marathon when I’m not training. There’s this blond super-hottie on the team in Miami.”
Tomas paced her, moving around the lizard’s head until he and Ariel were standing on either side of it. Ripples were moving up and down the animal’s abdomen as if there was a small, angry pond inside trying to get out. The ripples turned into a heaving motion. The lizard’s stomach started to bulge, straining the flesh until it was totally taut like a massive balloon made of skin.
Tomas poked the body with his sword. “It’s still dead,” he pronounced.
“Then what’s happening?”
“I don’t know, but I think it’s about to blow. Run!”
The lizard exploded with a resounding Woomph! Ariel felt herself carried aloft by a shock wave of hot, fetid air only to be deposited on her face several yards away. She quickly pulled into a ball, covering herself with her wings until the rain of mud, grass and lizard innards stopped. After the last plop, she crawled to her feet and began shaking goo and other chunky bits of lizard out of her feathers.
“Tomas?”
“Here. I think we should put more space between us and your lizard. If the back flip it just did is any indication, we’re in for another blessed event.”
“Blessed event?”
“My dead lizard just had a baby by involuntary Cesarean detonation. It’s the size of a Mini Cooper and the more of mom it eats, the bigger it gets.” Despite the explosion, Tomas looked remarkably un-gooed.
“Great.” Ariel pushed a few strands of sticky hair out of her face. Her wings hadn’t protected her from everything. She was tempted to throw a nice big chunk of raw lizard at Tomas and see how he liked it. “They replace themselves. I thought I spotted two other dead lizards on the edge of the woods, thanks to the Dogs. I wonder if they’ve exploded yet.”
Tomas was hovering impatiently. “We’re going to need much bigger weapons
and more air support to take out these guys completely.”
Ariel looked up. The sky was clear but in an hour or so it would be dark. If they stayed outside they’d soon be fighting things they could barely see.
The throaty roar of motorcycle engines echoed across the grass, followed by a large explosion. She smiled. You couldn’t mistake the sound of a Harley or the sound of a grenade going off for anything else. She rose into the air and turned around for one last look at the rapidly bloating lizard. Its stomach was quivering like it was in the throes of a grand mal seizure. Tomas was already flying toward the sound of breaking glass.
“I’ll get back to you,” Ariel told it. “Or whatever you leave behind. Right now I have to go kick some demon ass.”
- 15 -
Bishop soon found the stairway that led to the arena. According to the map, there was a second exit from the platform to the labs but Cassius told him it was blocked at the top by steel security doors. The arena stairway had wide steps and a tall ceiling, everything covered in white subway tile. Strips of fluorescent lights ran along each side of the ceiling creating such a glare that it was hard to see any detail, except for the blood. It started with a few bright red drops that got bigger as Bishop’s eyes followed them up the stairs. Something was huddled against the wall, it looked like a bundle of old rags wearing a ratty sweatshirt and a pair of black high top sneakers.
Bishop put the daiko back in its scabbard and felt around the top of the oversized sweatshirt for a neck and a pulse. The pile of rags groaned at the touch and raised its head to show the pale, pinched face of an adolescent boy. Bishop moved his fingers over the kid’s chest, looking for a wound. It was there under his ribs, a bullet had gone straight through the flesh, from one side to the other.
Raptor: Urban Fantasy Noir Page 32