“I got the picture.”
The sound of boat motors echoed from the far end of the beach. Juke tilted his head, listening.
“Two,” he said. “Lots of power. They’ll be fast. I’ll wait here as long as I can.”
Two boats came flying out of the reeds at the far end of the beach, one after the other. They were long and low to the water with powerful engines and a wide, flat wake. One was moving faster and quickly overtook the other. The second driver seemed less skilled at driving a boat, or at least one that moved that fast. Ariel left the ground, repeating what Juke had told her about aiming and wind speed and letting the rocket lead the target just slightly. Someone in the back of one of the boats saw her tracking them. She could hear a shout and the first boat broke to the right, leaving its slower companion behind.
Ariel made a choice. She was going after the fastest boat, reasoning it was more likely to get away if she didn’t take action immediately. The boat was cutting back and forth across the surface of the lake, trying to become a more evasive target but only succeeding in causing huge rooster tails of spray that glowed in the setting sun like plumes of blood.
Muscles screaming, Ariel closed the distance. Although the boat remained yards ahead of her it was time to take the shot. Gripping the rocket launcher, she hovered, took aim, folded her right wing out of the way, breathed out, and fired. The recoil knocked her back a few feet and she almost dropped the tube. She watched the rocket overshoot the boat and explode harmlessly twenty feet off its bow. The small boat rocked violently in the wake created by the explosion and the driver spun it away from the turbulence. Ariel counted four or five passengers, not including the driver. It was impossible to tell if one of them was Zaki. She hovered and aimed a second time. Not rushing it, conscious of the beat of her wings, making sure she led the boat in the sight, but not by too much. She fired again. Everything seemed to stop for one long immeasurable moment and then the boat exploded in a massive fireball. She clutched the hot tube and spun in a circle looking for the other boat.
The second boat had taken off diagonally, trying to hug the shoreline until it was safe to make a break into open water. Right now, everyone in that boat would have their eyes riveted on the explosion. Ariel moved higher in the air, circling back to land, intending to come up behind the second boat. She could see wolves running along the shore, howling and barking at the boat, trying to keep it from landing where its passengers might escape into the woods. Ariel swerved around until she was directly above its bow and leveled the rocket launcher. The driver raised his hands. Other passengers quickly followed suit.
Now what? Ariel thought. We never thought about taking prisoners.
“Bring the boat in,” a growly voice instructed from the shore. Three wolves waded into the lake to grab the gunnel as the boat floated into reach. “Let’s see what they have to say first. We can eat them later.” The driver made a small, whimpering sound and one of the older demons gave him a hard smack across the head.
“You heard him,” Ariel said. “You’re going to show us how you got this boat onto the lake. Any funny stuff and I’ll blow you into bite size pieces.”
As soon as the boat was tied up at the mouth of the tunnel, Ariel gave the rocket launcher back to Juke. “Find out where this tunnel ends up, maybe we can get around behind them.”
“What do you want me to do with the prisoners?” Juke asked. “Most of them look like they’d be more dangerous attacking a pizza than our guys.”
“There must be someplace you can lock them up. I need to find Tomas and Bishop.”
* * *
“You can’t stay here,” Bishop told Cassius. “There’s no lock on the stairway, anybody could get down here. You want to play with the computers, you’ll have to do it in the lab building. Find us a way to get there.”
Cassius pulled out his PDA. “The fastest way is across the arena floor and through a tunnel that connects both buildings. Or, there seems to be another tunnel that goes from down here to series of rooms bisected by corridors. The floor plan indicates stairs and elevators to what looks like an administration complex.”
The tech peered over Cassius shoulder. “When my crew split they went the other way. Nobody’s come back yet.”
“That could be good or bad.”
“I vote we invite . . .” Cassius looked at the young man.
“Michael,” he said.
“Michael along with us. No telling what happened to his friends if the demons took off in the same direction.”
“Your choice, kid.”
“Nice,” Michael muttered. “This gig paid really well, too. Cash.”
“The lesson is,” Bishop said, prodding the young man ahead of him, “if something seems too good to be true, it usually is.”
The arena basement was a labyrinth, but Cassius kept them on a path that took them under the arena and up a staircase that exited into a connecting tunnel to the administration wing of the lab building. Gregg’s soldiers had built a barricade across the corridor.
“Cassius,” someone called. “Jesus, Sir, get over here before they come back.” Hidden hands started to remove several pieces of furniture so the three could slip through.
Bishop hung back.
“Frank?”
“You go on ahead,” Bishop said. “There’s something I have to do first.”
- 17 -
Zaki stood, arms folded, looking through the glass of the Skybox window. Below, on the arena floor, was a scene of pure chaos. Demons from the cheap seats, as Zaki liked to think of the minor demon families and their tag-alongs, had reverted to their primordial forms. The fight with the invading humans wasn’t a match between equals, but desperation often drove weaker opponents to amazing acts of bravery and sacrifice. Besides, the demons in the arena hadn’t been enhanced with nanabots and were soft from centuries of easy living and rich food.
Zaki used a private elevator to get to this special box that could only be accessed by a unique key. The House of Eight demons who awaited him had expected a Raptor or two, but not an all-out assault by armed humans and rampaging werewolves. Still, they seemed unruffled by the scene below. When he arrived, several were standing at the windows making small wagers on the fighters, or on how many bodies a lizard could eat before it exploded. The monitors in the box were tuned to the security cameras outside. Zaki had seen the first boat explode. It had been a happy coincidence that the Raptor’s rocket had preceded the remote detonation of a bomb the boat already carried. The second boat carried no one of any consequence. Zaki thought some of the passengers might even have been the techs from the control room under the arena. As informants they were useless. They had little or no information to give away.
The yellow skinned demon next to Zaki began to remove the formal robe she’d worn to the meeting in the board room. Underneath the expensive silk was a hardened leather vest and leggings covered in plackets of blue steel patterned like the scales of a dragon.
“I sincerely hope this minor distraction won’t interfere with our business arrangement,” Zoven said, adjusting the buckle on her sword belt. The scabbard was empty as requested.
Déjà vu, Zaki smiled. Demons were so focused on their own assumed superiority that they rarely saw the forest for the trees.
Zaki directed a token bow in the demon’s direction, the gesture was a legacy of his mother’s culture. Arrogant bitch, you have no idea what arrangements I’ve made. When this is over, all annoying distractions to my plans will have been removed, including you and your pretentious progeny.
“Of course not, My Lady,” Zaki said out loud. “This chaos is just what we hoped for. The Raptors and the rest of this rabble will be blamed for your rival’s deaths, you and your people will have avenged them, and your family will be hailed as heroes. Then we--and by that of course I mean you--will get on with a more important task. . . .Nicolai!”
Nicolai Tesslovich, motioned his men forward. The bundles they carried clinked dully as they place
d them on the box’s long banquet table. The lawyer had been waiting hours to finish this one small task. He hated being treated like an errand boy, but the rewards he’d been promised would more than make up for the humiliation and the inconvenience of being treated like a servant, not to mention a brief but painful decapitation and the loss of two of his most loyal minions. As he twittered over the parcels, he could barely stand the thought that there might be damage to his beloved antiques. He’d only half-heartedly volunteered them, before the walls of his house were stripped of the most prized pieces in his collection. At least he’d managed to lay them out as tradition demanded before battle, on the unfurled skins of long dead demon warriors and their more delicate, but still colorful consorts. He straightened a scaly pelt. Everything was ready for the final confrontation.
“Angel Slayers.” The female demon’s voice was low and husky as she reached out to caress the elaborately twisted hilt attached to a scabrous green blade. Tesslovich cringed, thinking about the acid in the oil on the tips of her fingers. “No Raptor can stand against a weapon such as this. Our truce with the Guardians is finally at an end. We will kill the two young Raptors that have been causing us so much annoyance tonight, and then we will drive the rest of their kind from the face of the Earth. Your science will make us unstoppable. Earth, sky, water, every stone and flame in this world will soon be ours for the taking.”
“As is your family’s right, My Lady.” Tesslovich sounded like the villain in a bad horror movie.
Zaki was barely able to conceal his contempt. “My only wish is to continue to improve my inventions under your protection.”
As Zaki backed away from the table, he spread his hands, inviting all the demons in the slowly descending Skybox to take their choice of blades. The female demon hefted her sword. It was obvious she had become impatient with irrelevant detail. This was her opportunity to finally kill an angel, something she hadn’t attempted in millennia. She could hardly wait.
- 18 -
Bishop jogged back toward the arena. Most of the fight had moved outside. The dead and wounded littered the floor and two large, ugly lizards seemed to be eating their way through the remains. Bishop ran down an aisle toward the stage and jumped onto the platform. No one seemed to pay him much attention, especially now the lizards had started to fight over possession of the choicest bits. Most of the fight had moved outside. He used his sword to cut the straps that held the human boy upright on his board. The boy still had one throwing knife buried in his naked shoulder although the bleeding had stopped. Bishop pulled it out and lowered the boy to the ground. Then he started on the young demon’s straps.
“Are you going to kill me?” the demon asked. There was more weariness in his voice than fear. His bare torso was covered in scars some new, some old.
“Not unless you make me.”
The demon slid to his knees when the last strap split and started to crawl toward the wounded boy.
“Will,” he said. “Will, you okay?” The other boy moaned softly.
“Help me with him, mister,” the demon pleaded. “We got to get out of here. This place is hell on earth.”
Bishop grabbed the half conscious Will under the arms and tried to pull him to his feet.
“Why do you care?” he asked. “He’s human.”
The demon got his shoulder under one of the boy’s arms and lifted. “He’s my friend. I may be a demon but I never wanted to hurt anybody. I just want my life back.”
Bishop shouldered the other arm. “C’mon, we’ll drag him out of here. I have a few friends I’m worried about myself.”
“Look out!” The shout came from above their heads.
Bishop spun around just as a huge demon exploded out of a big pile of wreckage just off the stage. One arm still around the semi-conscious boy, Bishop fumbled under his coat with his other hand, reaching for the Glock. The demon was at least eight feet tall, with abnormally long arms that could probably reach them without him moving a step. The demon’s bloodshot, yellow eyes promised an immediate, painful death.
Bishop’s gun hand seemed to be moving in slow motion. He knew he wasn’t going to be able to make the shot before the demon’s huge hands closed the distance. Too fast, the demon swung his arms in what was going to be a crushing bear hug, arched his back and crashed down flat on his face inches away. Half the length of a sword quivered deep in the demon’s back.
“Had to throw it,” Ariel announced, her clawed feet landing square on the demon’s vast posterior. Bishop pulled the trigger. The Raptor’s hands flew to her chest feeling for the wound. Behind her, something heavy hit the ground.
“There were two of them.” Bishop re-holstered the gun.
Ariel gave the second demon a cursory, over-the-shoulder glance, Bishop had blown away most of its head. “I saw you through the roof. Are you crazy? You need to get out of here.” She dragged the barely conscious boy to the edge of the stage by his belt and pointed. “Take the tunnel straight ahead of you. It leads to the training rooms. I think there’s access to the lab building from there. Then get yourself off this property.”
“I’m not leaving without you and Mouser.” Bishop told her.
Ariel gave him a grim smile. “I thought you said your mantra was ‘Don’t be a hero.’”
“Oh, yeah. I forgot. But, since I’m already hip deep in demon goo and lizard snot, I thought I’d stay and see how this all turns out.”
“Trust me. If I’m telling you to run, Run! We didn’t know Zaki had this much wildlife on board. We’re fighting ‘goyles, lizards and the demons, who, as you can see, are now uncontained and really pissed off. Tomas, the Dogs and I may be able to hold them until the prisoners are rescued and the Deepers get clear, but after that I think we’re fucked.”
Over Ariel’s shoulder Bishop saw the tinted windows of the largest, cantilevered Skybox light up like a stage set. The box had to be twelve or fifteen feet across, supported by a metal track attacked to the wall.
“Uh oh.” Bishop reached down and dragged a now somewhat conscious Will to his feet so he and the young demon could get him moving.
The lights in the box became brighter the closer it moved toward the floor. Like deer in the headlights Ariel and Bishop stood and watched the box slowly descend until it hit the floor with a thump. Its windows began to retract to either side, revealing the interior one foot at a time.
As soon as the opening was wide enough, a demon in body armor stepped out of the box onto the arena floor. She was holding a sword, its blade was covered in the cancerous green mold Ham had called verdigris. As the windows moved farther apart, another demon joined her, then another and another, each armed with a weapon covered in deadly poison. It seemed impossible there were that many of them in the glass space, but like a clown car act, they just kept coming.
One by one, the smaller Skyboxes also began to move, beginning their own slow ride toward the arena floor.
“Angel Slayers.” Ariel whispered. “Bad has just gotten a whole lot worse.”
* * *
“Go!” Ariel yelled at Bishop. “They want me, not you.” She sprang for the opening in the stadium roof.
Bishop threw Will across his shoulder and ran for the tunnel, the young demon jogged at his side.
“Down this way!” The demon said. “We can barricade ourselves in one of the training rooms. There’ll be medical supplies and stuff.”
The light in the tunnel was dim. Emergency back-up lights had taken over the illumination giving the tunnel a cave-like effect. Ahead of him Bishop could hear pounding and yelling. The tunnel opened into a wide hallway with closed doors on either side. Behind them he could hear voices yelling “Hey! Let us out!” “Open up!” “Help!”
The young demon tried a door. “Locked,” he said. “It’s electronic. They all lock down at the same time for security.”
Bishop laid Will down on the floor. “Wood or steel?” he asked.
“Steel.”
“Okay, watch this. You
inside! Get away from the door!” he yelled. “Move to the side and cover your ears.” He held the Glock in both hands and pulled the trigger. The door exploded inward, leaving a large, smoking hole where the handle used to be.
The room was full of adolescents in their early to late teens and some older ones in their early twenties. Will was soon scooped up and placed on a padded table. “Garl!” somebody said. Will’s demon friend was hugged and patted on the back which made Bishop feel a whole lot better about rescuing him.
“We heard noise and fighting. The explosions. We yelled but nobody would let us out.”
“What’s happening mister? Are you a cop? FBI?”
“Can you get us out of here?”
“We were kidnapped. They used us for experiments. Some of us are sick or hurt bad.”
“They killed my best mate.”
“We want out!”
“Slow down,” Bishop said. He had to say it five or six times.
“This is a rescue but I’m not a cop. There’s a big fight going on between demons and the rescue team. I don’t know who’s winning, but it’s really dangerous out there. We can either try and find a way out through another building or barricade ourselves in here and wait.”
“Out!” “Out!” “Out!”
“We can fight.”
“They trained us to fight.”
“We want to kick some ass!”
“We’ll take those fuckers apart. They can’t fight all of us”
“Fight!’ “Fight!” “Fight!”
“Okay,” Bishop said. “Show of hands. Kicking some ass it is. However, there’s a few things you need to know. First, the werewolves are on our side.”
“Werewolves?”
“Cool,” somebody else said.
“Second. Avoid the giant lizards at all cost. And I mean that. They’ll eat anything that moves and then they explode.”
“Exploding lizards,” A girl with pierced eyebrows and stars tattooed on the shaved skin above her ears repeated. “Check.”
Raptor: Urban Fantasy Noir Page 34