by Chloe Garner
Abby kissed her cheek.
“I’ll go pick a fight with him. It’ll make him feel better.”
Samantha smiled and squeezed her friend’s hand, then turned for the elevator. Jason reached above his head to push the button with the butt of his gun.
“And us?” Sam asked.
“I need to see a healer. You find Celeste and Marvin and bring them to me.”
“We’re splitting up?” Jason asked.
“You and Kelly will stay with me. Sam knows his way through the city and can keep himself out of trouble.”
“I don’t like it,” Jason said.
“I don’t like any of it,” Samantha agreed, “but I don’t see any good alternatives.”
“I say we find something to kill,” Jason said. Samantha stepped onto the elevator and leaned against Sam.
“I hear you,” she answered. “This is the first step, I promise.”
<><><>
Celeste was a bust. She had noticed an uptick in demons stockpiling certain things, and Samantha made a careful list of the things whose prices had gone up, but with the niche nature of Celeste’s market, it was hard to be sure whether a single demon or magic user was doing something specific, or a general interest. Sam went out again after dark to find Marvin. Kelly sat in a corner, eyes sharp, while Jason oversaw the healer. Samantha lay in bed, trying not to fight the healer while she ran through demon clans mentally.
Hellside, it was easy. If a demon wanted a shot at power, he had to be in Hellcity, which meant he was in a sect with a clear chain of command and power structure. In New York, as everywhere, the power was fractured, and it had evolved into a diverse cesspool of different configurations of power and control and command. Lone demons could shape the way the world worked.
“Ouch,” she yelped as one of the ribs popped back into one piece.
“You can’t take the pain, you shouldn’t incur the injury,” the woman said unsympathetically. Samantha shifted, glaring at the woman. Jason laughed.
“She just called you a big baby.”
“I am a big baby,” Samantha pouted. “I’m trying to think.”
“You think too much.”
“Guilty.”
“This is good,” Kelly said. “Here is good. No one can get in without permission, and the spellwork to limit magic use is… Curious.”
“Kelly,” Jason said.
“What?”
“Too much information,” he said.
“What?”
“I didn’t know you suffered fools, Renouch,” the healer said.
“I do when he’s an angel,” Samantha said. The healer fingered the chain around Samantha’s waist and cocked an eyebrow. Samantha shrugged.
“What did I do?” Kelly asked. Jason reached under the bed and made a quick motion with his wrist.
“Get the ball.”
“You didn’t throw anything.”
Jason ignored him.
“Did you?”
The healer worked in silence.
“What did you throw?”
Kelly went off to investigate, and Samantha clicked her tongue softly.
“Now who’s giving away too much?” she said. Jason glanced at her. “Showing off the fatal weakness of my angel guardian.”
He grinned and shifted closer to her on the bed.
“It was bound to come out anyway.”
Sam returned and Marvin moved to follow Sam through the doorway, but stopped short.
“I’ll talk to you in the hallway,” Samantha said, getting up gingerly.
“You plan on moving?” the healer asked. “Should have told me that fifteen minutes ago.”
Samantha rolled her head to the side to look into the gash that the woman had pulled back open.
“You’ll just have to make do,” she said. “He can’t come in here.”
“Yell,” the woman answered, not looking up. Samantha sighed and pushed herself up. The woman’s hand slammed down into her chest.
“I’m not kidding,” she said. “I have everything tied off right now, but you should not strain yourself.”
“Honey, there’s every chance a pack of hard-core demons are going to turn up any second and try to finish me,” Samantha said. “I’ve got work to do.”
“Here,” Sam said, touching the woman’s shoulder. She moved out of the way, and Samantha edged over so Sam could lift her.
“This is humiliating,” she said.
“You get to talk to Marvin, and you don’t mess yourself up. Everyone’s happy,” he said.
“Except me,” Samantha said.
“Then everything turned out right,” Jason said, following them into the hallway.
“I’d heard you’d gotten yourself into some trouble,” Marvin said. The healer stayed in the apartment and Samantha motioned for Jason to close the door.
“Nothing I can’t handle,” Samantha answered. “How is business?”
“Fine. What do you want, girl?”
“Players,” she said.
“Lots of games,” he said. “Plus, you know I don’t approve.”
She smiled.
“I miss you when I go,” she said.
“I miss you, too. Not enough people who beat me like you do. Fun to get schooled, once in a while.”
“Unfortunately, I’m not up for that today,” Samantha said, dropping her head against Sam’s shoulder. The healer she had called was one of the best there was, but she was careless with how much of Samantha’s own energy she used, and her body was exhausted.
“Look, girl. You know I like you, but I’ve got no motive, here. Why would I tell you?”
“Pick a rival,” Samantha said. “Someone who knows stuff that you know I want to know, and who it’s in your best interest if I take them out.”
“You, huh?”
“I’ll be back on my feet tomorrow,” Samantha said. “I’m too busy to take any more time.”
“They say you were touch-and-go in New Orleans,” Marvin said.
“I heard that, too,” Samantha said. “But we’re harder to kill than that.”
“And you’re carrying.”
“I should warn you that my two gentlemen friends here are a lot more competent these days,” Samantha said.
“Oh, I heard that, too,” Marvin said, giving her a crooked smile. “I just wanted to hear it from the queen bee herself.”
“I’m not a queen bee.”
“Yeah you are,” Marvin said.
“You kind of are,” Jason echoed. Sam agreed silently, more concerned than the other two let on that she was over-taxing herself. She gave him a shove mentally.
“Whatever. I need a name.”
“You know Ozy?” Marvin asked.
“Yeah.”
“He’s picked up a lot of trade I used to do, and I think he’s got a sponsor in the high-ups who knows a lot of what’s going on.”
“So he would know, too?” Samantha asked. Marvin shuffled a foot and looked away.
“We all know,” Marvin said. “We all know a lot. Look, ask him, okay? Then get rid of him. Then we’re even.”
“Thank you,” Samantha said.
“Yeah.”
Marvin chewed on his cheek for a second.
“I got a good thing, you know?”
“I do.”
“Take ‘em out, girl. Okay?”
“Yeah. Okay.”
Sam and Jason waited as Marvin turned down the steps and went out of view, then Sam took Samantha back into the apartment.
“I want you to wait to follow up until you’re really ready,” Sam said.
As much as she had known it was coming, she didn’t take it any better. Much the way Carter had, she resented being taken out of the game.
“Every day I stay here sleeping, the chances that someone puts together the pieces go up.”
“I don’t care how fast the world is ending,” the healer said, edging Sam out of the way after he set her back on the bed. “You stay here and in bed unti
l everything is back where it’s supposed to be. Do you know they had to find the piece of your kidney that was missing in order to put it back together?”
The woman went on for another minute, describing the injuries that the healer in New Orleans had fixed, but Samantha wasn’t listening hard enough to catch them. Ozy. Carter. Angeldust.
She drifted off into a swampy sea of things she might have once called nightmares, but that now she just called life.
<><><>
She woke in darkness, alone. Everything was wrong. She couldn’t find Sam, and the bed was empty, and she was in pain. Everything hurt. She curled her hands into fists, pushing herself upright, primed for a fight. Someone pushed her back down, and her body barely resisted. She thrashed, searching through her body for the cause of her weakness, ready to shut it off, ready to react.
“Easy,” Sam said. “What’s wrong with you?”
Jason snorted a snore and rolled over. She was in her own bed, in the apartment in New York, just like she remembered she should have been. Sam had been further away, and now he was next to her. How had she not known that?
Her heart was racing, making her wrists and ankles throb.
“What happened?” she asked. “Where am I?”
She knew the answer to the second, but it was simply the next question her mind put in line. She struggled awake, finding that nothing actually hurt but her side and her ribs, like they should have.
“You’re here,” Sam said. “What’s wrong?”
“How long have I been asleep?”
She struggled to get away from the feeling of paralysis from her dream, of being trapped in her own body, only able to observe the terrible things around her.
“A day and a half,” he said. Her eyes adjusted to the dark and she found Kelly and Maryann at opposite ends of the room staring at each other. She sat up, her body still shaky and weak.
“That woman drugged me,” Samantha said. “I didn’t think anyone could do it.”
Knowing the root of the problem, her body attacked it almost without guidance and her wrists stopped throbbing.
“I’d started worrying,” Sam said.
“What time is it?”
“Two.”
She nodded, rubbing her face.
“Okay. We should go.”
She was two steps ahead of herself, and tangled in the sheets as she tried to get up.
“Easy,” Sam said, putting his arm around her as she almost fell out of the bed and standing with her, pulling her legs out. They stood, breathing, just inches away from each other, and she turned away. She wasn’t sure which of them was more disappointed. Jason snorted again.
“What’s going on?” Sam asked again. Samantha went to lean against the headboard, trying to pull her thoughts into order.
“I know where Ozy is this time of night,” she said.
“She shouldn’t be able to get in,” Kelly said. There was a jolt of annoyance from Sam that suggested this was not the first time Kelly had said as much.
“I bound her,” Samantha said. “She can go through any of my magic that isn’t set up specifically to block her.”
“You shouldn’t trust her,” Kelly said. “Demons lie.”
“So does Jason,” Samantha said, then glanced at Sam.
“Get him up?”
“Yeah.”
“You shouldn’t go out,” Maryann said, detaching from the wall and approaching Samantha. “They’re looking for you.”
“I know, lover,” Samantha said. “That can’t stop me.”
“There are so many of them,” Maryann said, taking Samantha’s hand. “Please don’t go.”
“Someone has to be the point of the spear,” Samantha said. “I’ve been called Carter’s attack dog.”
“The human time bomb,” Sam added.
“The indiscriminate one,” Samantha said.
“Dragon slayer,” Jason said, rubbing his eyes.
“What did you say?”
“The dragon’s slayer,” Jason said. “That’s what they called you.”
“I’m going to take that as a compliment,” Samantha said, turning back to Maryann. “Someone has to do it, and there isn’t anyone better than me to go.”
“What do you know?” Sam asked, turning on the light in the kitchen and taking out a jug of milk. It was strange to see the refrigerator used for something other than leftovers and beer.
“Whispers,” Maryann said, glancing at Kelly like a nervous cat. “Everyone whispers of a great hunt, and of spoils.” She looked at Samantha, pushing her hair over her shoulder and dropping her face. “There are two hunts, though. They don’t know that there are two; they all just seek you.”
“Awesome,” Samantha said. “Means I don’t have to hunt as many of them down myself.”
“Damn straight,” Jason said. “We got any coffee left?”
“Sure,” Sam said.
“You guys made coffee and it didn’t wake me up?” Samantha asked.
“We were pretty sure you were dead,” Jason said, disappearing into the bathroom.
“You act like this is nothing. Like Anadidd’na Anu’dd didn’t just nearly die,” Kelly said.
“This is what we do,” Samantha said. “And this is how they do it.”
She was feeling better, the dark webs of the dream slipping away and the physical pain ebbing as she became more alert and more able to ignore it. She would try to stay out of any major fights if she could help it, for at least a few days, but Sam was drinking milk and Jason was brushing his teeth, and she smelled the promise of coffee. They were hunting demons, and she was on the right path because everyone was angry at her. Sam was relieved that she was as lighthearted as she was. She nodded at him, as if answering something he had said.
“Just another day at the office.”
“Do I know Ozy by another name?” Sam asked, taking out a loaf of bread and putting two slices in the toaster.
“No, I don’t think you’ve ever heard of him,” Samantha told him.
“How is that possible?”
“There are a lot of demons in New York. I would have loved to have gone and killed him, but you never found him like that. He’s pretentious on the largest scale possible. Took Ozymandias as his name when he crossed.”
“Seriously?”
“Who’s Ozymandias?” Jason asked.
“I am Ozymandias, look upon my works and despair?” Sam asked. Jason shrugged.
“Whatever. Where do we find him?”
Samantha winced her face.
“Nuri’s club.”
The toaster popped.
“You’d be willing to take it there?” Sam asked.
“It’s business,” Samantha said. “Carter does a lot of his enforcement there.”
“But for him to be there…”
“Means we can’t lock him in,” Samantha said, going to pour herself a cup of coffee, handing one to Jason. “What goes on in the rooms… It’s use at your own risk. Demons die in there every day because things got out of hand. And he likes to play there.”
Sam shuddered. Maryann turned her face away, and Samantha watched her, wondering where the young woman had been.
“You think you can get Jason in?” Sam asked.
“He can get in or he can’t, has nothing to do with us,” Samantha said. She hopped up onto the counter and took the slice of toast Sam handed her, suddenly ravenous.
“Do we have bacon?” she asked. “Meat at all?”
“Thought you were in a hurry,” Jason said, leaning against the counter and drinking his coffee.
“I was until I realized I haven’t eaten in more than a day.”
“It’s like I’m psychic or something,” Sam said, digging in the fridge and coming up with a package of bacon. She leaned her head against the cabinets.
“You’re the best.”
“I know.”
“And meanwhile the rest of us are about to be sick,” Jason said.
“Why?” Kelly aske
d.
“What are you?” Maryann asked.
“One of God’s warriors,” Kelly answered, standing straighter. “Parroah’na anan’ae.”
“You’re clueless,” Maryann said. “Light on everything, including knowledge of any kind.”
Samantha, Jason, and Sam turned as one to stare at her.
“I know mysteries of the universe that your kind could never fathom,” Kelly answered. “Sleft’na pall.”
“You’re a little baby angel with a Napoleon complex,” she answered.
“I saved her life.”
“You forgot where you were supposed to be and showed up at the last minute. They’re going to be ready for you next time, and they’ll just lock you out.”
“I am stronger than they,” Kelly said.
“Keeping an angel out is the easiest thing in the world,” Maryann said. “Even the humans know how to do it. You know who’s hard to keep out? Demons.”
Sam and Jason looked at Samantha for confirmation and she shrugged.
“It’s true.”
Kelly bristled.
“You are going to bring destruction to her door. Demon. She is a fool for trusting you.”
“But she does trust me. It’s you she’s just tolerating.”
“She trusts you because she put a knife through your heart,” Kelly said. “You’re bound to her.”
Maryann hadn’t been strong enough to take a knife through the heart, but Samantha didn’t want to get in the way of a good fight with facts.
“So, what, either I lie and cheat and she can’t trust me, or I’m bound to her and I have no freewill, and she can trust me implicitly. Which is it, winged fool?”
For a moment, Samantha thought Kelly might explode his wings out of his shirt, but he mastered his temper.
“If a demon wants you to be angry, you should be calm. When a demon wants you to be calm, you should already be fighting.”
“Is that what they teach you in angel school?” Maryann asked. “Where they teach you to all be the same, and all be predictable? You know that means we know exactly how to deal with you, and you have no clue how to fight us. I was human once. You will never understand what that means. And it’s why you’re going to lose.”
“Enough,” Samantha said. It was a killing blow to the argument, anyway, because it was more true than it wasn’t. Angels didn’t understand humans. Maryann took two steps back, turning to face Samantha and dipping her head and shoulders.