Collateral Damage (Demon Squad Book 8) (12 page)

“Blasphemers!” the old guy shouted as he brought up a shield to protect himself, focusing his efforts to the fore. “Our Lord will flay your souls.”

“I’ve met your God,” I shouted back at him, “and he’s too busy cleaning up the beds he shit to worry about you little fuckers.”

The revenant shrieked and went to blast me. I just smiled at her. Phase three spilled out of the rooms behind her and the old bastard right then, crashing into them with ragged snarls, teeth and claws aplenty. Trinity’s faces soured as the dread fiends struck, surprise winning out. Their expressions probably had something to do with the fact that I’d dressed all the fiends in the blood-red robes of ancient Catholic priests.

Seriously. No one expects the Spanish Inquisition.

Limited by the number of fiends we could drag to Earth without leaving Hell unguarded, the group that hit the old man and the ghost weren’t much more than a diversionary tactic so Rahim could put it on them and keep the bastards in place while the rest of the plan played out.

Divide and conquer.

Over and over Scarlett put Everto Trucido to work. The kid parried as best he could, but she was wearing him down. He was fast and efficient—probably more agile than my cousin—but he hadn’t spent the last couple hundred years perfecting his swordsmanship. Scarlett had. He was also seriously wounded already, way worse than she was.

She chewed him up like a rock star. A feint would catch him slipping, and she would cut a ruby line across his body, spilling his blood across the floor. Only his speed kept him from dying, but she was wearing him down. He looked like the bottom to Edward Scissorhands top. A scratch pad made of flesh, he was covered from head to toe in dripping, oozing wounds that splattered beneath him, leaving smears of red everywhere he stepped.

I glared at the kid. As much as I wanted him to suffer for what he did, we simply didn’t have the time for it. The dread fiends were dying fast and Rahim stood toe to toe with the old man, the revenant taking on the brunt of our rear ambush. It was time to handle my end of the business.

I waited just a heartbeat, pausing until Scarlett forced the kid to engage. That’s when I joined in. Magic coalesced around my arm and hand, crackling into the shape of a blade. I lashed out with my arm caught the kid at his wrist. He screeched as the magical energy cleaved his hand off, his own momentum providing the torque to sever his bones.

His hand tumbled away from his wrist with an ashen trail, the wound instantly cauterized. Longinus’s sword fell with it, still trapped in his clenched fist. His eyes went wide and Scarlett cut one from his face, and explosion of gray and red bursting from the socket like an infected boil.

“Hurry!” Rahim called out, but I didn’t spare him a glance. Michael would recall us all too soon since shit was falling apart. There was no time to waste.

The kid stumbled, lashing out wildly with his magic but there was no zing behind it. Scarlett drove her sword into his guts, and I watched it explode from his back, blood misting in the air. I came up behind him as he doubled over and pulled him upright by his hair. The Son cried out, either cursing me or voicing his pain, but it didn’t matter.

“This is for Karra,” I told him right before I put a bolt of energy through his ear.

The blast echoed through the room, drowning out everything but the beat of my pounding heart. The kid went limp, but he wasn’t getting off that easily. As soon as I let him go, he flopped to the ground in a heap. I leaned over and placed my hand to his temple and unloaded every ounce of power I had into his skull.

“Frank!”

I barely realized Scarlett had shouted my name, the sound of it registering just as a herd of buffaloes ran me over. The world went lopsided, and I caught the whiff of char as I’d suddenly become airborne, but Rachelle was there to catch me.

Well, kind of.

A portal rent the air before me as I tried the shake off the magical blast that had sent me for a loop. I’d just barely realized what had happened when I flew through the portal…and then crashed mercilessly onto the hard floor of Hell. The stone was cold against my cheek once I finally stopped bouncing.

The chaotic sound of combat went on for a few seconds, and then I heard the clatter of heavy feet landing behind me; one pair, and then two, and then the noise died with a flick of a switch, the portals closed. I rolled over to see Rahim and Scarlett standing a few feet from me, smug smiles distorting their lips at seeing me in relatively one piece.

“One down,” my cousin said as she caught her breath, tossing Longinus’s sword so it landed at my feet.

I sighed and let my head drop back to the floor. Nothing we’d done would bring Karra back to me, but I’d be lying if I said killing the kid hadn’t been satisfying. Tears came to my eyes as I replayed the moment in my head, my anger welling until I could feel it prickling my skin from the inside.

It wasn’t much of a victory, but it was a start.

Fourteen

As much as I wanted to lie there and nurse my scorched back while replaying the memories of blasting the kid’s head off, there was still work to be done, and the clock was ticking. I didn’t, however, inform the others what I intended, simply telling them that I needed a little while to myself. After what we’d done to the Son, no one seemed to think anything of it. So, once again hidden away from the world in the God-proof room, I cracked a gate and stepped out into the world above.

A few seconds later I was back in Old Town. I hadn’t even bothered to change my clothes, which left me in a pair of grungy jeans and my steel-toed boots, all covered in a nice shade of crusty red. My T-shirt had met its end at the flaming touch of whatever had kicked me in the ass on our way out of the trap, so there I was bare-chested, soot and toasty skin out there for the world to see. My guns still hung in their holsters, though the straps were blackened and warped. I probably looked like a lunatic. I kind of felt like one, too.

I looked up at the emergency door above and willed myself up to it, landing easily on the parapet. The door was locked this time, but I sure as hell didn’t let that stop me. The time for subtlety was over. A swift kick tore the door from its hinges and sent it flying down the hallway. I followed on its proverbial heels, storming down the hall. My senses crept like octopi through the building, picking out each and every presence there. I pinged on Rala and Vol, their energies so strange as to be easily identified amidst the dread fiends, and then I found Veronica.

She burst from a room near the end of the hall, blades in her hands, ready to fight. She saw me and exhaled her frustration, her sword points dropping. “What the hell is wrong with you, Frank?” She pointed to the broken door, her eyes taking the sight of me in.

My stomach boiled with acid as I closed on her, giving her no chance to react. She gasped as my hand wrapped about her throat, and I batted her weapons away with my other hand. We were in the room with the door closed behind us before she’d even tried to take a breath. I slammed her to the ground, looming over her.

“I don’t know what your problem is—”

“Don’t. You. Fucking. Dare.” The words came out in a slow seep, each one tasting of bile. Spittle peppered her face, but she didn’t move to wipe it away. Her big blue eyes stared at me, and I could have sworn I saw a glimmer of realization there.

“I—”

“Don’t,” I repeated, baring my teeth. “I don’t want to hear your excuses, and I don’t want to hear your lies.”

She squirmed, backing up and getting slowly to her feet. Her eyes never left mine.

“What do you want me to say, Frank?”

“You can start with telling me why you did it.”

Her breathing was shallow and fast, and there was nothing she could do to hide her guilt. As such, she didn’t bother. We’d been here a dozen times before. She was comfortable on the receiving end of my wrath.

“I knew you wanted me to keep Rala safe,” she said. “I did that.”

A chuckle slipped free of me, the sound insane even to my own ears. “Are you seriously going to claim you did it for me?”

She started to say something else but decided against it.

“These people you made a deal with, do you know who they are?” I asked, barely able to form words through my rage.

She nodded. “Government,” she answered. “DSI.”

I shook my head. “No, they’re murderers, that’s it.

Her eyes narrowed, unsure of where I was going with this, but determined to listen to every word so she could work an angle to get away from me. That’s what she did.

“They’re the same bastards who raided Hell to get to Rala.” I bit back the urge to hit her and went on. “They’ve meticulously destroyed every scrap of property connected to me. Three houses have been torched, laid to waste, everything inside them gone to ash. Every photo, every stick of furniture, every memory. Gone.
Poof!
”

Veronica swallowed as I talked, knowing how little I cared about material possessions. Lucifer had spoiled me when it came to shit like that. I’d the best of everything my entire life, Daddy’s effort at buying a minion he could manipulate one day. She knew all that, and I could see the concern growing in her eyes as she translated the fury of my expression.

“These same people are working for Shaw and her alphabet soup agency, the same people you bargained your life for against mine.”

“I didn’t think they’d be able to hurt—”

I raised a hand and cut her off. “Doesn’t matter what you thought, Veronica.” I pointed behind me. “I stood just a few rooms over while you traded my life for yours, sealing the deal with Thud right here in this building.”

Her shoulders slumped at hearing the demon’s name, and she didn’t bother trying to deny it. She knew she’d been caught.

“These people killed Karra.” I let the words hang in the air for a moment.

Veronica flinched at hearing that. A tremble crept into her hands, her fingers squirming to regain control. “I-I didn’t know, Frank. I’m—”

“You’re what, Veronica? Sorry?” I laughed. “Oh, I fucking doubt that. You’re not capable of being sorry. It’s just not in your DNA.”

“I wouldn’t have done it if I had known, Frank. You’ve got to believe me.”

“Do I? Do I
have
to believe you?” I asked. “You’ve done nothing but betray me at every turn, your knife in my back so often that I’ve begun to feel as though it belongs there; that it
should
be there. Shit, I’ve gotten so fucking comfortable with it there that I never seem to notice it anymore. I’ve forgotten or forgiven it every time. It’s like I have fucking Stockholm syndrome.” With a grunt, I swiped away the wild hair that had fallen in front of my eyes. “Fool that I am, I could have even forgiven you for joining up with the monsters that killed Karra because I truly believe you hadn’t known they’d done it.”

I closed on her so that we were just inches apart, her warm breath tickling my beard. “I could have forgiven almost anything you’d done, Veronica, because deep down, buried at the core of me, I still love you; I still care about you.”

She went rigid, and I could see her searching for the door that fit the key I’d just shown her. The tingle of her powers crept over me despite her knowing they wouldn’t work.

“I
could
have forgiven you had you done anything else but what you did.” I grabbed her by her throat and forced her against the wall. “That little demon stump made it clear Shaw didn’t want just me, Veronica. She wanted me
and
my daughter.”

A light went on behind Veronica’s eyes. It was right then she realized just how far she’d pushed me and that there was no way back from this point. I felt her throat bobble against my palm as I squeezed

“My daughter, Veronica,” I continued. “Her name is Abigail, not that you care. She has her mother’s eyes, her brains, and my temper, and she’s perfect. A tiny little bundle of helpless joy who never did anyone harm, and not once did you think of her when you tried to save your own ass. No, you simply rolled over and gave her up to Shaw, part of the deal to get you out of the crosshairs. You chose yourself over an innocent baby.”

I lifted her up by her throat, sliding her against the wall until her feet dangled a foot above the floor. She gasped, clawing at my hand but nothing in the world could pull me away right then.

“You would sacrifice my daughter just to survive.” Tears bubbled in the corners of her eyes, trails of silver running down her cheeks. “I could have forgiven you almost anything, Veronica, but not that.”

I pulled a pistol free of its holster and pressed it against her forehead. Veronica stopped squirming as the cold steel touched her skin. Unable to breathe, she couldn’t complain or plead or even whimper, and that was fine with me. Her eyes did all of the above for her, and I ignored them all.

“My child, Veronica. My
baby
. The only connection I have to her mother now that she’s been killed.” I drew a cleansing breath into my lungs and met her terrified stare. “Could this have ended any other way?” I asked but didn’t give her the opportunity to answer.

I pulled the trigger.

#

I found Rala and Vol in a secured room on the opposite side of the building. The old man sat cross-legged on the floor, his blind eyes staring in the direction of the door when I entered.

“The man of shadows returns,” Vol said, spitting out his
wisdom
as he always did. The guy was fucking nuts. “Ruby stains your soul. The end has begun, the beginning ended—”

I groaned and waved him off. “Yeah, yeah. Blue is black, yellow is the new magenta. Up is only down when it’s wet. Yeah, I get it.”

He went silent with a huff.

“Frank!” Rala hopped up, surprise smeared across her face at seeing me.

Her black stripes were scrunched at her nose, standing out sharply against the orange of her fur, and she stared at me through wide eyes. She’d grown up a little since the last time I’d seen her. Her features were fuller, some of the sharp edges rounded off a bit. The kid was still whipcord thin but where there’s been nothing but skin and bone, she now had curves, her chest and hips filling out. I looked away as soon as I realized I was staring.

“What are you doing here?” she asked?

“I came to take you back to Hell.” It wasn’t the whole truth, but it
had
been part of the plan.

She looked me over, seeing the burnt flesh and blood spattered across my face and chest. “What happened?”

“I’ve been busy hunting those guys who attacked you down in Hell.”

Her furry little eyebrow popped up. “What guys?”

I stared at her a moment, wondering if she was messing with me, but nothing in her expression told me she was. It hit me then. Veronica hadn’t even told her she was in danger. I sighed, unsure if that was a good thing or not. Finally, I decided it didn’t matter.

“Don’t worry about it. Just pack what you have and let’s go.”

She nodded and went over to help Vol to his feet. “Where’s Veronica? Will she meet us there?”

I hesitated just an instant before answering. “Yeah, she’ll be around once she’s finished taking care of something.”

Vol sneered at me after Rala wandered into the adjoining room to collect their baggage.

“You bear the stench of a man who bathes in his sins.”

“You have no idea.” Rala came back into the room then, and I opened a gate for them down to my chambers in Hell. “Things have changed in the past day—
had it been so little time?
—so let the fiends know what you need and they’ll take care of you. And don’t worry about the Goth convention that’s taken up residence and moping in the hallways. They’re good people. People you can trust. Just don’t ask them how their day’s going.”

“You’re not coming now either?”

“Not yet,” I said, biting back my frustration at her questions. The kid had gotten awfully comfortable with Veronica in recent times. She wasn’t gonna appreciate hearing what happened, even if I lied about it. Putting it off was best for now. “One more errand to run, and I’ll be back after that. I’ll see you in a little bit.”

Rala took me at my word and helped Vol through the gate. The old man glared empty-eyed daggers at me until I tossed their bags through and shut the portal behind them. He and I could squabble over my deeds later. I still had shit to do.

A liar’s work is never done.