Bound by Light (21 page)

Roars and gunshots exploded in the direction Jake, Sal Freeman, and the OCU had gone.

Droplets of rain—Andy’s barely tamed water energy—splattered Merilee’s cheeks. Andy drew water from the moist air, the ground, and unfortunately, from water mains, sewers, toilets, the ocean—whatever was handy. At least this water smelled fresh as it seeped through the scent of city exhaust, trees, dirt, and the unmistakable sulfur of Asmodai.

A high, piercing scream cut the night in front of them, followed by the unearthly bellow of a Legion demon.

Merilee drew an arrow and nocked it without breaking stride. Andy steadied her HKP-11. Rain fell harder, and started to spread. A jet of water ripped up from the ground nearby. One more water main shot to hell.

"Control yourself!" Merilee shouted to Andy as they plunged into the semidarkness at the dormitory’s edge, burst into a small grassy courtyard surrounded by trees and benches—and came face-to-face with five towering, glowing Asmodai. The evil Legion demons almost filled the small gardenlike space about a hundred yards in front of them.

Shit! Too many.

But they had to stand, fight. The dorm—the students—and it sounded like OCU had its hands full over at the law school.

The few lampposts still shining shorted out from the rush of elemental energies colliding over the grass and bushes, and the courtyard went dark.

An Asmodai exploded into bits of earth and dust, thanks to a well-placed dagger hurled by Bela Argos. The South Bronx earth Sibyl stood on one of the benches and yelled, more a furious wail—as she guarded what looked like a body on the ground below her. Merilee’s Sibyl vision picked out every detail of Bela’s appearance, from her exotic, slanted eyes to the dark hair pulled back in a tight bun, making her look twice as dangerous. All around the courtyard, the ground shook with her rage.

Merilee looked at the body below Bela, and her whole being lurched.

Great Hecate. That’s Devin on the ground.

The darkness next to the dorm seemed to get darker, but Merilee’s sharp eyes tracked Bela as the earth Sibyl aimed a dagger at one of two demons nearest her. The demon waved a fist, and a blast of air knocked the blade to the ground.

Air Asmodai
.

Merilee steadied herself on the shaking earth, aimed at one of the beasts—but the other two lumbered around to face her and Andy.

Normal-looking men one second, and the next moment, too tall, and the following moment, too short. Human, yet not human. One had on a new deal–new day T-shirt. Slack, vacant faces, and those horrible eyes, just empty, burning sockets. They bashed fists against tree trunks and the side of the dormitory, leaving trails of black flame wherever they touched.

These are made of fire.

Andy raised her dart pistol and squeezed the trigger. A massive blast of water lifted from the ground in front of her, first a geyser, then a streaming jet, following the dart, forcing it forward, deadly and blinding-fast. The wave and projectile struck the first demon directly between its flaming eyes. The beast exploded into spits of flame, charring the grass in a wide circle even as Andy’s wave crested against the dormitory wall and shattered five windows.

From inside the building, people screamed.

"Damnit." Merilee squinted at the windows, hoping, praying no students had been injured.

No time. Can’t go there.

"Stay put!" she yelled to Andy, and ran forward again as Bela’s rumbling earth energy poured over her. "Cover me, but try not to use your water."

Merilee dropped to one knee for balance. She loosed her arrow at the second fire Asmodai and coated the shaft with a blast of wind for speed as it flew, guiding it, guiding it—yes!

The elementally locked steel tip buried itself in the demon’s heart, and the thing blew up with a sulfurous
whump,
rattling tree limbs and sending sticks spinning in all directions.

This was easy pickings.

Almost too easy.

The thought made Merilee shiver.

She drew another arrow from her quiver just as Bela took a hit of Asmodai wind in her face. Bela stumbled off the bench and fell flat over Devin’s body.

The ground stopped shaking.

Both air Asmodai blasted forward, feet hardly touching earth, and leaped for the fallen Sibyl.

Merilee jerked out of her stance. No shot.

"Goddamnit!" Adrenaline slammed through her system. She jumped to her feet and charged toward Bela. "Take the left one," she yelled back to Andy. "And be careful!"

She’d pull the fuckers off the Sibyl and bash their brains to a pulp if that was her only option—or let Andy tear up half the mains in the city and drown the bastards.

They couldn’t lose another warrior. For the sake of all the goddesses, they couldn’t lose Bela.

Something wet and cold slammed into Merilee’s back with the force of a speeding van.

All the breath smashed out of her lungs and she flew forward, tumbling, her bow flying out of her flailing hands.

"Shit!" Andy screamed, seemingly from two hundred miles away. "I’m sorry! I’m sorry!"

Water jammed itself into Merilee’s ears, eyes, mouth. She pushed against the wave, forced a shield of air into a bubble around her, and crashed herself straight out of the moving water-wall, slamming hard into the ground about fifty feet from Bela and the Asmodai. Her goggles shattered from the impact and fell off her face.

She sucked air as pain tattooed every square inch of her body. Her chest seemed to tear in half from the pressure of reinflating, and water squirted out of her nose. Her fingers dug into wet dirt and grass.

Air howled around her, almost a funnel. She bit her own lip, pulling her wind energy to a manageable level.

Where the hell is my bow?

The quiver? Arrows probably broken . . .

Everything smelled like water and dirt.

"I’m sorry!" Andy was still yelling and the wave, oh, shit, the wave!

The water, easily two stories high, plowed over the grass and broke over Bela, Devin, and both air Asmodai.

Bodies flew.

"I’m sorry!" moaned Andy.

"Shut up and shoot something!" Merilee yelled back. She staggered to her feet, groping for her weapons.

Nowhere. Nothing.

The Asmodai were up. Bela and Devin weren’t.

Merilee threw herself between the demons and the fallen Sibyls, facing the beasts and the brick face of the dorm.

Merilee coughed out another lungful of water and readied herself to take on the Asmodai with her fists and feet. She could barely get a full breath, but she snarled as her heart pounded against what felt like a broken rib.

Air burst around her in powerful eddies as the demons approached, and she did her best to keep it off Bela and Devin, and channel the air into punishing funnels.

The demons might get her, but by the strength of Artemis, she’d take a piece of them with her.

Demon-wind screamed in Merilee’s ears, trying to batter her. She met it, grabbed it, controlled it as both demons charged her, and fed it into her funnels.

Why wasn’t Andy shooting that frigging dart gun?

Because she’s freaking out. She’s not trained as a Sibyl, not enough. Fuck, fuck, fuck!

This was insane.

So much for easy pickings.

Both Asmodai blasted through her shield-funnels and reached her at the same time.

Merilee screamed as loud as she could, battle rage bursting out of her in wide swirls of wind even as one bleak thought drilled itself through her consciousness.

Game over.

(15)

Asmodai roars filled Merilee’s senses.

Her wet leather bodysuit strained against the force of the air the demons pushed at her. She stumbled, then flew backward, slamming into earth and rock and something metal.

Park bench. The one next to Bela and Devin.

Her shoulders burned. Her lungs felt like fists had punched holes through her entire chest.

Gotta get up now. They’ll tear me in half.

She forced herself forward, rocking like a sprinter about to take off, and jumped to her feet, wheezing.

The demons came at her again, shoving air like battering rams. Merilee steadied herself, rode the wind, let it lift her. Ignoring the pain in her back and the squeeze in her chest, she got off a perfect roundhouse kick.

Her foot struck the left-hand demon in the head so hard the beast spun in a circle, staggered, and fell. The second one grabbed her by the throat and pulled her to the ground.

Her air choked off. She looked into the swirls of black wind where the thing’s eyes ought to have been. It opened its mouth, spewing more black, rotten wind into her face.

She thrust both fists between its arms, smashed outward, and broke its hold.

The other Asmodai was getting to its feet.

The demon closest to her reached for her again—but its head turned sideways and suddenly tore right off its body.

Merilee coughed and grabbed her throat with both hands as the Asmodai exploded into a fetid swirl of wind and mud and shredded grass.

The night cleared to reveal Jake standing quietly, arms up, hands extended, where the demon had been. His expression was blank yet stern, but his normally blue eyes blazed with gold-white fire. He was fully visible, fully human, yet Merilee saw the shimmer of wings, the hint of fangs and claws, almost like an afterimage surrounding the man.

Behind him stood his three Astaroth trainees, Darian, Quince, and Jared, lips pulled back, massive fangs wet and gleaming. They gazed at Jake with blazing golden eyes, approval and respect obvious on their pale white faces, and made no attempt to interfere in the battle.

Jake brushed off his palms to clear them of dirt, turned to face the remaining demon, let it grab for him—and calmly reached forward and tore its head off, too.

The demon exploded into fits of sour-smelling air.

Oh. Sweet. Holy. Shit.

The strength that took!

As the three Astaroths growled at the destruction of their foe, Merilee coughed again and shivered.

She scanned the courtyard—no more Asmodai. No demons at all . . . except for Jake and his Astaroth trainees.

She had never seen anything like what Jake had done in her entire life.

Wasn’t sure she wanted to, ever again.

When Jake turned to face her, she had to fight every instinct she possessed not to back up a step and give the man
plenty
of room. The golden blaze in his eyes faded until she saw blue again, and she managed to think enough to rasp, "Uh, thank you."

"Are you injured?" His deep voice came out low and even. Determined and controlled, yet clearly concerned.

"No," Merilee said, fingers still massaging the skin of her neck, and heard her own voice shake. "Just bruised. It’ll heal fast."

Jake touched her neck, and Merilee felt a slight shock. A burst of heat. She jerked back in surprise.

With a frown, Jake looked at his own fingers, then lowered his arm and didn’t try to touch her again. His stance relaxed a fraction, but that didn’t calm Merilee one bit. Damn, she was shaking all over. And wet. And getting cold.

"Freeman has Andy," Jake reported in his bass, matter-of-fact tone, never taking his unsettling gaze from hers. "She’s not hurt. Two OCU officers wounded, one dead, ambulances on the way." He paused, then glanced back toward the three waiting Astaroths. Shadows seemed to flicker across his handsome, frightening face. "You can go now, and thanks. All the Asmodai have been handled."

Handled. Gods and goddesses and all the earth’s demons.
Handled.
No kidding?

"The fight seemed too easy," he said as the Astaroths vanished, as if he might be discussing some research paper or theoretical battle simulation. "Do you agree?"

Merilee swallowed hard, actually welcoming the pain of her sore throat muscles to keep her grounded—not too sore, though. Not as sore as they were a minute ago.

She raised her fingers to her throat, which didn’t feel so puffy or painful, and kept staring at Jake.

In the two years she had been fighting alongside Astaroth demons, she was used to the surfer boys functioning like Harrier jets, swooping in, slashing with claws, or picking up enemies, throwing them—never anything like what Jake did.

He ripped off their heads.

With . . . his . . .
hands.

Jake looked away from her, then moved to her right, and reality came whistling back to Merilee’s numb brain.

Bela.

Devin!

She hurried to follow Jake, who had knelt beside the young blond air Sibyl. He touched Devin’s throat, held his fingers still, then closed his eyes and shook his head.