Devil Inside (62 page)

When she opened the door, she found a macabre parody of a gym class.  Nocte and Ignis fought chaotically across the hardwood floor of the gym.  Harley spotted Levi engaged in a battle with three Ignis.  She took an instant to appreciate the power with which he fought.  Where Castor was a smooth, graceful dance of death—Levi was a raw, brawling onslaught.  Reluctantly, Harley turned from Levi, realizing that it was only a matter of time before he gained the upper hand with the three he faced.  She saw one Nocte that she didn’t know crawling across the floor trying to get away from the Ignis that stalked him.  Her heart sank and her first instinct was to dive in and help her comrade.  However, her focus shifted when she spotted Nya fighting Cutter.

As Harley made her way across the gym floor, carefully dodging fighters and spilled blood, she appreciated the strength and grace of her mentor.  The woman was beautiful, funny and sometimes a little crazy, but she was a powerful fighter who was currently trading blow for blow with the Ignis Harley had been trying to kill for months.  When Nya and Cutter spotted Harley making her way towards them they both halted their fighting.  Nya, realizing that Harley meant to take over with Cutter, darted away to help the Nocte who were outnumbered and needed assistance.  Cutter smiled as he readied himself for Harley.  She felt her Nocte growl and it bubbled up out of her own throat as she bared her fangs at the Ignis in front of her.

They both crouched and circled each other as the battles around them waged on.  Harley wanted desperately to kill Cutter.  Her mouth actually watered at the idea, but reason overrode her desires.  They had to force Cutter to set up the confrontation with the Rogue.  That was the goal.  Harley simply had to hold Cutter off for approximately five more minutes.   All the Nocte had to last just five more minutes.  They were so outnumbered that Harley didn’t know if they would be able to last that long.  From the corner of her eye she saw Levi, having dispatched the other three, turn to fight a second (
or was it his third or fourth
) wave.  Cutter, realizing her attention was diverted for a moment, lunged at her.

Harley deflected his attack and spun away from his follow up.  She made her own lunge at the Burner and he dodged her attack.  Harley rushed in to follow through and managed to bring her knee up into Cutter’s stomach.  But before she could drive her knife into his side, he slammed his upper body into her face and she stumbled backwards.  Cutter rushed towards her and managed to slice the inside of her thigh as she landed a roundhouse kick to his chin.  Ignoring the pain and rushing blood, Harley darted forward and with two quick swipes, laid open his chest and forearm.  She would have gotten better hits in had he not quickly shuffled backwards out of her reach.   Suddenly, from her right, she saw another Ignis rushing towards her and she shifted to keep both Ignis in her line of sight.  As she turned a third Ignis made his move from her left.

Harley could see Cutter examining his forearm.  Through the blood that dripped from his skin she could see the white glare of bone.  Her Nocte laughed and she smiled realizing the attack had been a bit more effective than she had at first thought.  She pulled the spare knife from its sheath and prepared herself to fight off all three Ignis with a knife in each hand.  Cutter narrowed his eyes at her and began to back away, giving more room to the two Ignis who had joined their fight.

“No,” Harley barked at him.

“Sorry, honey,” he leered.  “I’m outta here.”

Before he could turn away from their fight and cowardly run away, a loud blaring air horn blasted over the sounds of fighting.  Everyone paused at the unexpected sound.  A second blast spurred the Ignis and Nocte alike to turn towards the origin of sound.  It was coming from the north side of the gym.  The Burners were clearly confused and the Nocte relieved.  Before Harley got a clear view of the commotion at the front of the gym she saw the blur of movement coming towards her over her right shoulder.  She instinctively lunged forward trying to leap out of range.  She only made it part way, however, as Cutter drove his blade into her back.  The knife was large enough to be called a machete and it was long enough that it actually broke through the front of her stomach.  The force threw her forward and she cursed herself for stupidly taking her attention off him.  The air horn blasted again as she crashed face first onto the floor.

“Hey!” 

Harley looked up to see Evie and Rafe making their way through the crowd towards them.  Evie led the way with the air horn in one hand a shiny, silver blade in the other.  She was on edge and watched the Ignis around her warily, ready for one of them to make a move.  Harley was surprised by the fierceness on Evie’s face.  She was used to Evie’s bubbling cheerfulness and the fight now etched on her face reminded Harley that Evie was Nocte after all and, by nature, a fighter.

Rafe followed Evie through the crowd.  The haughty look he usually wore was joined with a look of ready determination as well.  His right hand held a fist full of blonde hair and his left held a knife poised at the back of the blonde Ignis that always provided back up for Cutter.  The blonde woman looked furious and her face was bloody from injuries that had already healed.  Harley smiled at the sight before her and struggled to pull her legs underneath her to stand.  She was having trouble because of the blade that still protruded from her stomach.  It must have done some serious damage.  Every movement caused white hot pain to flash through her entire body.

From behind Rafe, Castor and his crew of Lux appeared.  Despite having not been in the fight, the Lux looked exhausted due to the lack of sunlight.  They all looked cautious and nervous, realizing that they were as vulnerable as a human would be right now.  When Castor spotted Harley lying on the hard floor he began to make his way towards her.  Her black eyes locked onto his green ones with a smile that he answered with a worried grimace at her condition.  Before he even made up half the distance between them, Harley felt a hand grasp hers.  Her initial alarm receded when she realized it was just Levi.  His shirt was ragged from knife wounds that were already healing.  His face was bruised and bloody and he looked like he could collapse from utter exhaustion.  His face was twisted with worry as he knelt beside her.

“Want me to pull that out?”

She gave him a small laugh.  “Yes, please.”  In one swift motion he yanked the huge blade from her back and she clenched her teeth to keep from crying out.  Castor joined them and knelt as well.

“Are you OK?”

“I will be,” she replied through clenched teeth.  She started to stand and as Levi and Cas both tried to help her up but she waved them off.  She turned to look at Cutter who, having realized the situation, had frozen behind her.  His turned his attention from Rafe, Evie and the blonde Ignis to glare at her.  Harley made a show of dusting herself off before speaking.   Levi pulled his ragged shirt over his head and held it out to her.  She wrapped it around her stomach making sure that it covered the entrance and exit wounds and knotted it tightly.  It was going to take a few minutes for those wounds to close and she wanted to avoid leaking blood everywhere.

When Harley was sure that she could speak in a voice that wasn’t strained with pain she turned to meet Evie and Rafe.  “Welcome,” she said with a smile.  “Glad you could join us.”

Evie smiled back, “Glad to be here.  Sorry we couldn’t get here sooner.  She put up a good fight.”

“Hello, Rafe,” Harley said politely.  He nodded back.

Cutter spoke from behind them.  “If you think I will trade my life for her life, you are wrong.”  Harley turned to face Cutter.  “Kill the bitch,” he said simply.  His words were cold and hard and, no doubt, mostly true.  However, the small twitch in his brown eyes gave the tiniest hint that he might care a little more than he let on.

“Oh, I’m sure you would let her die,” Harley smirked at him.  “That’s not what I’m offering though.”  Cutter waited for her to go on.  “Imagine just how much information she has.  Think of all the useful tidbits she has had access to since you have allowed her into your circle.”

Cutter swallowed hard.  Harley was gambling.  They all had banked on this gamble.  Harley had realized that there had to have been a reason that the blonde woman never actually joined in the fights.  It wasn’t just that Cutter didn’t think she belong in the fight.  A coward like Cutter wouldn’t hesitate to use as many Ignis as fodder that he needed to.  There had to have been another reason that the blonde woman always seemed to be around but safely outside of the fight.  Cutter didn’t want her involved in potential fighting.  Furthermore, she had to have been someone that he trusted enough to be his back up—his escape plan.  Cutter began to look doubtful and Harley grinned at him.

“How long do you think it will take to make her spill everything she knows?  And you know I can.  I made enough Ignis talk to track you down—twice.”

“What the fuck do you want?”  Cutter’s control was beginning to slip as he weighed the options.  He could do what they wanted and spare the blonde woman the pain he knew they could inflict.  Or he could just do whatever it was that they wanted that they were going to get one way or the other.

“What we want is simple.  We want you to arrange a meeting.”

“What?”  Cutter was dumbfounded.  “Who do you want a meeting with?”

“The Rogue,” Harley answered.

“The who?”

“The Lux you have been working with,” Harley’s answer clearly indicated that she fully expected him to know who she was talking about.

Cutter stared at her blankly for a minute.  “Seriously?  You mean Haddon?”

“Is that what he calls himself?”  Harley shrugged.  “Whatever his name is, you know who I mean.”

“I should have known,” Cutter mumbled a look of realization coming across his face.

“What?  Disappointed that you aren’t my number one target anymore?”

Cutter ignored the jab.  “What if I just say ‘fuck you’ and fight our way out of here?”

“You could try,” Harley said fairly.  “But then—that would just ruin everyone’s day.”  Cutter waited for her to explain.  Harley nodded at Rafe who reached around and raised his hostage’s shirt.  Under her shirt were several pasty looking blocks with wires that connected them.  Evie held up a small remote.  “If you try to disconnect it—boom.  If you try to leave without doing what we want—boom,” Harley explained.  Evie, it turns out, was quiet the bomb expert.  Harley smiled at her and Evie returned the gesture.

Cutter’s look should have been able to burn a hole in Harley with its intensity.  “Fine,” he shrugged, trying to look more nonchalant than he really was.  “Why do you want to meet him?”

Harley’s voice was hard when she answered.  “I want to put an end to whatever he is trying to do.  One on one—to the death.  If he wins—then he continues on his evil way.  If I win—” she shrugged, “then his work is over.”  Harley could feel her Nocte swell eagerly and she could feel the anxiety radiating from Castor and the steely resolve from Levi.  She looked to Nya and the gleam in her eye was pure excitement and fierceness.  The Burners began to shift nervously and mutter amongst themselves.

Cutter motioned towards his fellow Ignis.  “Stand down,” he commanded.  Slowly, all the Ignis began to make their way towards Cutter.  A figurative line had been drawn down the middle of the gym.  The Ignis stood on one side behind their leader, on the other were the Nocte and the Lux and one lone Burner hostage.

Cutter pulled a cell phone from his pocket and pushed a couple of buttons before placing the phone to his ear.  He only waited a moment before Harley could hear the mumble of a voice answer.  Even with her superior hearing he was too far away for her to be able to hear much. 

“I have someone who wants to meet you,” he said simply.  He didn’t look at any of the Nocte as he spoke.  He glanced at the blonde female before turning his back to face the rest of the Ignis.  He listened for a moment.  “Yes.  Yes.  Her name is Harley—she’s issuing a challenge.  Right.  OK, I’ll let you know.”  Cutter hung up the phone and turned to face Harley.  Her heart pounded in anticipation.  This was their chance, their chance to put an end to the Rogue—Haddon’s—plan.  Their chance to stop Lux and Nocte and humans from being murdered.  “He’ll meet you.  Name the time and place.”

Harley’s body relaxed a little, but she also went numb at the same time.  What was to come was more than she could process at the moment.  “How about here.  At sundown in two days.”

Cutter glared at her.  “Done.”

Harley smiled at him and stepped forward until she reached the invisible line.  Cutter moved forward to meet her.  She bared her teeth at him.  “Just to let you know,” she growled.  “After I’m done with the Rogue I’m going to drain you dry.”

Cutter chuckled.  “We’ll see about that.”

Harley stepped back in between Castor and Levi.  She nodded at the south entrance behind Cutter and the other Ignis.  “Go out that door.  Take—what’s your name Blondie?”

The woman in Rafe’s grasp glared at her.  “Raven.”

Harley rolled her eyes, “Take Raven with you.  The remote has a half mile radius.  If you follow us we will detonate the bomb.  When we are half a mile away the device will deactivate on its own and you can remove it.”

“If you detonate it anyway—Haddon won’t be here to meet you.  The deal with be off.”

“Fair enough,” Harley responded.

Cutter continued to glare at her.  Rafe pushed the woman towards her fellow Ignis and each group backed away from the other.  Harley was the last through the double doors and for pure cheese factor she blew Cutter a kiss just before ducking out.