The tracks on which the partition moved had also been locked and covered. Nothing was getting through—no yelling of residents, no whiffs of cooling meatloaf, no nothing. Whatever technology the company that owned Paradise Homes used to seal off areas did its job.
Behind us, something slammed against the lobby door, and a rainbow of fantastic colors burst through the shadows of the concourse.
I looked over my shoulder just as the monster backed up and rammed the door again.
“It’s the big one.” I pointed. “It’s slamming the window with its forehead.”
“What the hell are those things?” Marko waited until I’d moved by him, then he readied his weapon and walked backward as we made our way toward the weird, geometric partition.
Nax slapped the blue wall. “Let us in!” he bellowed. “I have Marko and Del Parrish with me!” He pounded on the partition.
The colors blasting through the lobby door stopped. The entire structure rattled.
Marko pointed along the partition toward the narrow alcove where it exited the wall. “There’s a comm.”
Nax frowned. “I can’t get in there,” he said.
No, he couldn’t. He was too big. “Move,” I said. “Why would anyone put the comm—”
A high-pitched metallic shriek reverberated through the concourse. I cringed. Marko cringed, but Nax just grunted.
She’d stuck her sword through the small window in the lobby door.
No rainbows moved along the blade, but it shimmered with all possible colors anyway. It sucked away light, and like a shadow at midnight, it hid itself inside what it stole.
A cut opened along the side of the window’s frame. She pulled the blade back, then reinserted it at a right angle to her first slice.
A chunk of door, broken window included, fell to the floor.
“Here’s Johnny!” the demon yelled.
“I fucking hate Burners,” Marko muttered.
I looked back at the Burner woman Nax had called Ismene. She leaned her head against the now-open hole and grinned like a kid way too proud of her joke.
Her teeth fluoresced. She had a mouth of white-hot razors.
Which made no sense. Which could not, at all, be possible. But then again, she could not be possible, yet here she was in her full demon-glory making stupid jokes and getting her jollies out of terrorizing two Shifters and little old me.
“Get us through the partition.” Nax pushed me back into the alcove.
“What was that, Lesser Emperor?” Ismene the demon-goddess held her hand next to her ear. “Are you delegating poorly once again?” She laughed. “Make sure you pay this group. You don’t want them rushing your gates and killing you in the courtyard of your villa.”
Nax stepped between Ismene and me, so I could no longer see her.
I had no idea why she flustered Nax with such specific taunts, but Marko clearly did. He stared at Nax with eyes as wide as they’d been when the monsters first came through the distortion.
“Jesus,” Marko muttered. “And you’ve been here all this time?”
Nax looked as if he wanted to hit Marko.
The demon-goddess laughed. “So much fun!” she yelled.
One of her beasts hit the door again.
I felt along the inside of the alcove, hoping to find a button or something that felt like an intercom. The curtain filled the entire track all the way into the wall, so I turned around and investigated the wall opposite.
The blue carpet upholstered to the wall rubbed against my back as I patted along the open wall.
“Why hasn’t she come through?” Marko said.
“I can hear you… What did you call yourself? Marko? Yes. Marko. I can hear you, Marko, you little liar.”
Marko stiffened in much the same way Nax had when the demon-goddess taunted him.
“She’s trying to get under your skin,” I said.
“I’m playing with my food!” she yelled.
I found no intercom in the alcove. Both walls were flush, and the interior wall smooth except for a slightly raised rectangle that felt like a plaque. I pulled out my phone and used the main screen to throw some light instead of using the glaringly obvious flashlight option.
I was correct; I’d found a plaque. The partition was “ballistic shielding” manufactured and installed less than nine months ago by the Special Metallurgy division of the massive corporation that owned Paradise Homes. The ever-present Praesagio Industries, the same unavoidable makers of high technology and purveyors of “the future” that had woven themselves into the modern lives of most of the world.
Paradise Homes had a space-aged ballistic curtain between its lobby and its dining room. A curtain that might be able to keep out the monsters at the door.
“This thing was made by—”
The two tile pieces against my back hissed. Hydraulic motors kicked in.
A door opened.
“Del!” Roseanna Hernandez grabbed me by the arm and pulled.
I fell into the dining hall.
She stuck her head through the hole and waved in Nax and Marko. “Hurry up!”
A loud thunk echoed through the hole. Ismene the demon-goddess must have cut through the lobby door.
Nax forced his way into the alcove and through the hole, with Marko right behind him. Roseanna slapped a button on the wall, then tapped a code into a keypad.
The tiles hissed, and began sliding back into place.
A burst of rainbow light flashed around the tiles. A howl followed, but no evil beast made it through.
Roseanna stared at Nax. “Who the hell are you?”
He sniffed. “Nax,” he said.
She wagged her finger in his face. “We’re trapped in here and I won’t have some big thug lying about the residents!”
The same ballistic shielding blocked the windows, and another curtain similar to the one we’d just come through had been dropped over the far end of the dining hall, at the Building One end.
The lights were also off in the hall, just like they were off everywhere else in Paradise Homes. Someone had lit the tea lights on all the tables, and the hall had a surprisingly lovely, calming glow to it.
The smell of meatloaf still permeated the air, but was now accentuated by astringent fear. If I managed to get out of this alive, I’d never eat meatloaf again.
Every seat was empty. All the residents had been moved out.
Everyone except Mrs. Karanova.
Mrs. K sat in her chair with her crocheted lap blanket over her legs and her hands cupped and settled on her thighs. She twisted her head and looked up to her side.
Her ghost was talking to her. It had to be.
“There’s a passage open into Building One,” Roseanna said. “We’ve moved everyone. Irena refused to go.”
“Oh, Mrs. K.” I took a step toward her, but Nax held out his hand.
Roseanna pointed at the other end of the dining hall, and the other curtain. “The alarms went off, but there’s no fire.” She waved her hand. “We’re being attacked, aren’t we? It’s one of those extreme situations listed in the protocols, isn’t it? We moved the residents. Help me get Irena out of here.” She pointed at the tiles she’d opened for us. “Who’s out there? Who would attack Paradise Homes?”
Nax walked past her as if she didn’t matter. “Irena, a hole opened in the sky,” he said. “Seven Fates knew it was coming. Seven went outside to greet it.” He stopped not far from her chair. “They’re dead. Another hole opened from the-gods-knows-where and beasts came through. Beasts that look like the dragons.” He crossed his arms. “What do your ghosts have to say about that?”
“Dragons?” I asked. “There are dragons, too?”
Marko snorted. “Oh, yes, there most certainly are dragons.”
“Scaly, flying dragons?” Why not? Nothing would surprise me, at this point. Maybe they would come flying in and fry all the hellhounds from above.
Nax frowned. “No,” he said.
Marko rol
led his eyes. “Like Nax said, they look like hellhounds, but are bigger and smarter.”
Something worse than the hellhounds stalked the world? But of course something much worse was out there—it had opened in the sky.
Mrs. K touched my hand. “Maria wishes to warn you against getting caught up in Marko’s panic.”
Marko holstered his weapon. “I’m not panicking.” He nodded at the curtain. “Those creatures are being controlled by a Burner.”
Mrs. K opened her mouth, but clamped it shut. She extended her hand toward me. “Del, darling, please help me with my chair.”
Roseanna gaped. “Dragons? Hellhounds? What are you talking about?” She pointed at Building One again. “Is this more magic talk?”
Mrs. K tipped her head again. “Roseanna, Maria says you will likely not survive this if you stay with us.”
Roseanna’s gaping turned to indignant scowling.
Marko pointed at the ballistic shielding. “One of the Fates has family high up in Praesagio Industries, right?” He waved his hand. “No way they’d care enough to outfit any room in this place with high-tech anything, much less the entire dining hall, unless they saw something bad coming.”
Roseanna shook her head in disbelief.
I touched her elbow. “It’s all real,” I said. “The big guy really is Nax. He’s been glamouring himself to make everyone think he was old and frail.”
She staggered into a table. “I saw the thing in the sky,” she said. “We all did. We saw the portal open out in the drive before the shutters closed.” She rubbed her face. “But we thought it was some sort of bomb going off. What is happening? Is the world ending?”
“I think so,” I said.
Something big hit the ballistic shielding and the entire curtain hummed. No shaking. No real wiggles, either. Just a hum.
“Shit.” Marko pulled his weapon again.
Three somethings hit the shielding in rapid succession. I stepped back, pulling Roseanna, who looked as if she wanted to throw up, with me.
Outside, one of the beasts rammed a window. Glass broke. More ramming against the shield followed, and against other windows.
The entire dining hall rattled with a low, discordant hum that set my teeth on edge.
It was like being inside a ringing bell.
A bell that was about to be cracked by a demon-goddess and her pet monsters.
Chapter Eight
I covered my ears. Roseanna dropped to her knees. Mrs. K shrank down into her chair. Nax and Marko took up defensive postures.
“How many of those beasts are there?” Marko yelled.
Roseanna shook her head. “This is impossible.” She waved her hands at the walls. “All of this is impossible.”
A boom rocked the room, and the shielding shook. Dust fell from the ceiling.
Someone had set off an explosion on the other side of the partition. It didn’t stop the ringing, though.
“The shielding is holding against a Burner,” Marko yelled. He covered his ears against the hum. “The damned resonance might kill us first.”
More ramming hit the shielding over the windows. Outside, breaking glass added a high-pitched tinkling to the hum.
“The Fates could have installed the partition at the entrance. They could have kept those things from getting into the buildings. They could have kept a crazy-ass super-Burner away from their fellow residents, but no, they pick one room to protect. One small place because someone paid off the planet’s largest corporation!”
Marko waved his gun at Mrs. K.
“Marko,” Nax said. “Lower your weapon.”
“Shut up,” Marko said. “You’re Praesagio. All you ancient ones are Praesagio Industries.”
Roseanna carefully moved toward Mrs. K and me as if to shield us more from Marko than from the demon-goddess outside.
The hum had leveled off. It rattled my teeth and made my eyeballs jitter, but it wasn’t so loud we couldn’t communicate.
Nax rolled his eyes and turned his back to Marko. “I want nothing to do with the Fates at Praesagio Industries. Why would I throw in with that lot? I’m hiding, remember? Who else would I be hiding from?”
Marko glared at Nax. “Russians.”
Nax inhaled and his entire body tightened. “Am I hiding from Russians, Irena?”
Mrs. K looked up at her ghost. Her mouth opened as if to answer yes, but she frowned, and shook her head. “Maria says that she does not know why you are hiding, and that right now, she does not care. She wants both of you to concentrate on this moment.”
Marko frowned. Nax looked much more pleased with the ghost’s answer than he should, considering what was outside.
Nax pointed at the shielding. “Praesagio Industries employ some of the most powerful Fates on Earth. Men and women who can read the backs of cereal boxes that won’t exist for another fifty years. If they wanted to protect someone here, that person would not be here. If I was someone they cared about, I would not be here.”
Marko kicked a chair but didn’t argue with Nax.
“Marko,” I said. “We’re all scared, and we need you to calm down.”
I was beginning to suspect that Praesagio “Making a difference for the world to see” Industries might just be as big a threat as the monsters outside. Right now, I was glad they cared enough to put in the ballistic shielding between us and the demon-goddess.
Marko lowered his weapon just enough to scowl at me. “They’re real. Karanova’s ghosts are real, aren’t they? We’d heard rumors. That’s why I’m here.”
Mrs. K set her hands on her lap. She did not respond.
“What are you talking about, Marko?” Nax asked.
“Leverage,” Marko said. “They sent me in when…” He rubbed his face. “It’s not important anymore. Our leader’s dead. It’s done. I stayed because…” He rubbed it again. “Because I like Colorado. I like having a real job.”
“He’s Seraphim,” someone called from the kitchen doors.
I hadn’t seen him there in the shadows. He was big, like Nax, and hidden well enough I only saw his outline.
The way he yelled “Seraphim,” I was pretty sure he didn’t mean real angels. He held no reverence in his voice, nor did he show any in his stance. If anything, he looked as if he would snap Marko’s neck if he got too close.
The only shocked face was Roseanna. Nax, Marko, and Mrs. K all understood the “Seraphim” label.
Nax vanished. Marko yelped, and in the blink of an eye, the invisible Nax had stripped his gun and slammed his ass into a chair.
“Stay there,” Nax said. He checked the weapon before tucking it into the back of his jeans. “Give me your belt and holster,” he said. “Now.”
Marko ignored him. He leaned forward and rubbed his face in time with the ramming against the shielding.
“I wondered how many of you assholes were in this place,” the man in the shadows yelled. He picked up a vase and whipped it at Marko’s head.
It came surprisingly close to hitting his temple.
Roseanna ran to the man and stopped him from throwing a bowl. “Stop! Stop,” she said.
Nax sniffed. “The Seraphim are paramilitary Shifters,” he said, as if he knew my thoughts and I was some kind of idiot for thinking, even for a second, that angels might be real. “They’re nasty pieces of work, aren’t they?” He shoved Marko’s shoulder.
Marko gave him the finger.
“You’re a goddamned crazy motherfucker!” the employee who threw the vase yelled.
“Leave him alone,” Mrs. K said. “All of you! Leave him alone.”
Nax turned around. His eyes narrowed. “Is that what your ghost is telling you? That we should ignore the criminal in our—damn.”
Nax growled like a lion and held his head. Marko also, and the employee who threw the vase.
“The Burner. She’s using her seer…” Nax groaned. “It feels like acid foaming over my mind.”
They rubbed their heads. Marko hung his head. An
d Nax watched the room like a father looking to lay down a good spanking.
I dropped down to the floor and just sat. We were trapped inside a ballistic sheathing without any way of escape. We had Mrs. Karanova trapped in here with us. She’d need her evening medications soon.
And outside, the world had just ended.
I didn’t know that for sure, but the damned ringing hum and my gut told me it was true. We all knew. A blister in the sky had popped and was, right now, raining death down onto the world. Another reality blister had opened in the drive of Paradise Homes and spilled impossible things.
Were there more blisters? How many of those shimmering hellhounds stalked streets and forests? Could anyone stop them? Was anyone trying?
And here I was, stuck inside a bell with yelling magical people who were just as vulnerable as normal me. Many of them, more so. But I couldn’t give up hope.
Someone had to be trying. Humanity wasn’t going to go down without a fight, and neither should Paradise Homes.
Dying might be on today’s agenda, but I wouldn’t go quietly.
Nax stood over me. “Del,” he said. “You need to keep your wits about you.” He frowned like the cantankerous old fool Mrs. K liked to call him.
“You’re a patronizing old geezer, you know that?” I said.
He smiled and his beard pulled up with his lips. He extended his hand. “Stand up.”
“I really don’t know if I like you,” I said. He was gruff and a pain in the ass, but he was big and fast, and seemed to know what he was doing in terms of dealing with the threats at hand.
“No one likes me,” he said. “It comes with the job.”
I allowed him to help me stand. “And what job would that be?”
He shook his head and refused to answer.
Marko sneered. He opened his mouth, then closed it again as if deciding against outing Nax’s deep, dark secrets.
“Be quiet!” Roseanna yelled.
The room fell silent. The hum had stopped. The monsters were no longer ramming the partition.
“Do you think they left?” Roseanna said.
“Maybe,” Marko said. “Burners bore easily.”
But something told me that this particular demon-goddess also had an agenda, and hers most certainly contained as much death as she could cause.
Witch of the Midnight Blade Page 5