Evenstar (24 page)

Jacob and Tracy gave her Tokala.
 
The woman looked down at him.
 
“This may disturb you or fascinate you.
 
You spend time with Belial, so perhaps the latter.
 
Watch if you’d like.”

Jacob and Tracy turned away from the Lilliam.
 
They kept their backs firmly towards her as the sound of sucking commenced.
 
Tracy made a face.
 
Jacob peeked and turned greener; whirlwinds whipped up dust and debris on the street.
 
The Chulyin watched them amused, but alert.
   

Belial threw Celeste out of the house.
 
Celeste rolled across the concrete and righted herself in a smooth motion.
 
She reset a dislocated shoulder.
 
Belial jumped on her then looked up.
 
“
Spider
!”
 
Belial left Celeste and jumped past Jacob and Tracy.
 

Celeste stood up.
 
Her clothes were in tatters, but she grinned.
 
Her eyes faded to their normal hue.
 
“That was so much fun!
 
I could do that for hours!”

Jacob and Tracy eyed her warily.
 
“Okay.”

Tokala blinked and stood up on his own.
 
The bite mark above his heart healed.
 
He waved to Celeste, Jacob, and Tracy as he stumbled over.
 
“Miracle worker.”
 
He looked drunk.
 
“She’s my great aunt.
 
Did you know that?”
 
The three nodded, semi-nauseous.
 
Tokala staggered.
 
Celeste helped him stay on his feet.
 
They shared a shy smile.
 

The Chulyin waited until Belial finished hugging Spider to give her his message.
 
“Message from the north, Andrealphus and the rest of his party are safe and travelling to the Old Road.”

“Awesome.”
 
Belial grinned and looked from the Chulyin to Spider.
 
She hugged Spider again and helped her to her feet.
 
She pointed to the burning house.
 
“Why didn’t you kill them?”

“That house was old and the plumbing needed to be repaired anyways.”
 
The woman shrugged.
 
“The Solomon Soldiers attack my relatives and the Earth worshippers.
 
They even stalk the hippies from Sedona.
 
I went to protect them.
 
I did not know you were on your way.”

Belial hugged her.
 
“Your desire to protect your human converts has always confused me.”

Spider smiled.
 
“If I had the desire to kill them as you used to, then we would be much the same, and I so enjoy the ways we are different, Belial.”

“Thank you for healing him.”

“Of course, he is blood as are the three you have collected.”
 
She glanced over at Tracy.
 
“Strange, rare ones.”

Belial grinned.
 
“They are the Mother’s childhood friends.”

“Then the rumors are true.”
 
Spider reached out for Tokala’s hand.
 
He took it and hugged her.
 
She smiled at Celeste.
 
“Belial has not had anyone to wrestle with besides those boys for so long.
 
It’s good to see her playing again.”

The trio looked between Belial and Spider.
 
Celeste smirked at Belial.
 
“She’s acting like she’s your mom.”

Belial shrugged.
 
“It’s her thing.
 
I am perpetually a child.
 
She is perpetually a grandmother.”
 
She slapped Tokala on the back.
 
“Our plan is back on track!”

Tokala nodded.
 
“We do not have an entrance to the Old Road for some ways, so we might as well cause some mayhem on the way.”

“Yes!”
 
Belial grinned.
 
“I am sick of these fucking Solomon Soldiers.
 
They’re attacking new agers in Sedona?
 
That’s fucked up.
 
I don’t like hippies, but that’s fucked up.
 
You’re sure they’re converts?”
 
She looked at Spider.

Spider nodded.
 
“We have many on our side in the southwest, and they do not deserve to die.”
 
Belial made a face.
 
Spider sighed.
 
“There are also a number of Lilliam, my children, who also refuse to go below ground if I won’t.
 
Is that a good enough reason?”

Belial grinned.
 
“As if I
need
a reason.
 
So here’s the deal, instead of ‘Draw Angels Away from Dahlia’ our plan is ‘Draw Out Lots of Solomon Soldiers and Kill Them All!’”

Jacob smiled.
 
“Nice name.”

Belial hopped from foot to foot.
 
“I need a stage.
 
I need gear.
 
I can’t do this without gear.
 
I never go on stage without it.
 
I haven’t done this publicly in millennia.
 
I need to look the part!”

Spider patted her shoulder.
 
“I will accessorize you.
 
You will be resplendent, yet modern, a blood-curdling terror, but in vogue.”

Belial grinned.
 
“This is going to be
great
!”

Celeste looked between them, confused.
 
“I still don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

Belial ignored her.
 
“Are there any big sporting events or conventions going on in town?
 
Ones that will be televised?”

Jacob shrugged.
 
“There’s bound to be a Diamondbacks game if the city hasn’t completely fallen apart.”

Belial wrinkled her nose.
 
“What’s
that
?”

“Baseball.”

She shrugged.
 
“Okay, whatever that is, does it have a large crowd?
 
Do people watch it on TV?”
    

Jacob nodded.
 
“Yeah, nationally.”

Belial smacked her palms together.
 
“That’s our target.
 
We strike these
Diamondbacks
tomorrow.
 
We get the Solomon Soldiers gathered in one spot, and then we kill them all on live TV!”

Tracy shook her head.
 
“How are we supposed to do that?”

“Leave that part to me.”
 
Belial grinned with more than a little crazy in her eyes.
 
“Killing heaps of people in a flashy manner is my specialty.”

***

Paimon was pissed off.
 
He was wet, his clothes barely held together, and he had not had a drink all day.
 
He’d been shot, stabbed, punched, hit with cars, baseball bats, and a golf club.
 
He’d had to hide, run through alleys, and fend off attacks by mind-controlled humans.
 
He had no idea if Furcas was okay, it had rained the entire day, and his temper could not stand another blow.
 

Paimon stomped up his paved driveway.
 
He ripped his wrought iron gate off its hinges and threw it into his vegetable patch.
 
The yard was silent, but occupied.
 
Three cars that were not his or known to him, were parked and empty in his driveway.
 
One had run over his heritage rose garden.
 
Paimon’s eye ticked.

“Motherfuckers.”
 
He un-slung his shotgun and double-checked that it was loaded.
 
He had one shot left.
 
Paimon grabbed a spade from his shed and kicked in his front door.
 
Three Solomon Soldiers looked up from one of his filing cabinets.
 
Paimon shot them, killing two instantly.
 
He drove the spade into the neck of the third.
 
He shoved the bodies aside and examined what they had been looking through.
 
The papers were nothing more than his pasta recipes.
 
He snorted.

A woman emerged at the end of the hall and shot at him.

Paimon shook off the hit, jumped, and drove his shotgun into her face.
 
He brought the spade around and sliced through her neck.
 
Blood sprayed his chest, adding to his layers of grime.

Movement out of the corner of his eye brought his attention to his dining room.
 
A man walked into the room, an iron knife at the neck of a hostage, a Chulyin soldier beaten and limp.
 
The Solomon Soldier eyed Paimon, then the Chulyin.
 
“This is the owner?”

The Chulyin spat at the man’s foot.
 

Paimon dropped his spade.
 
“Yeah I’m the owner.
 
What the fuck do you want?”

“The City.”

Paimon smacked his lips and walked past the man to his kitchen.
 
He tore the door off his freezer and grabbed a bottle of vodka.
 
He broke the top off and took a swig.
 
“I dunno where it is.”

“All Lilliam know where it is!”
 
The man raised the weapon and pricked the neck of the Chulyin.
 
“Tell me or this one dies!”

Paimon took a drink and hucked the bottle at the Solomon Soldier.
 
The bottle slammed into the man’s forehead.
 
The Chulyin shoved his palm into the man’s nose and shrugged the body off.
 
“Thank you, Paimon.”

“Any more of them?”

“I killed three, two ran.
 
I got here and they were violating your house.”

Paimon shrugged.
 
“They weren’t going to find anything except for excellent recipes and booze.
 
Speaking of which.”
 
He smiled and grabbed two bottles out of his cabinets.
 
He took a drink from the first and wiped his lips.
 
“So what’s up?
 
I’m in a hurry.”

“Message from the north, Andrealphus and the rest of his party are safe and travelling to the Old Road.”

“Lanes down there too?”
 
The Chulyin nodded.
 
Paimon sighed.
 
“Shit.”
 

He pointed towards the front door.
 
“Can you find Powell’s Books?
 
Furcas is there and he is badly injured.
 
I don’t want him to run raving into the streets, I just can’t handle tracking down his crazy ass right now.
 
Let him know I am on my way back.”

“Are you sure you do not want me to stay until you are ready to leave?”

“No, he needs you more than I do.”
 
Paimon handed the Chulyin a fifth of scotch.
 
“He’ll need this too.
 
Can you carry it?”

The Chulyin nodded, changed, and flew out the open front door with the bottle in his claws.
 
Paimon sighed.
 
He flicked his light switch, but the power was dead.
 
He tore his fridge out of the wall and walked through the passageway below it.
 
Underneath his house, the generators worked and his lab was active.
 
The lights flicked on at his presence.
 
He took another pull from his bottle and looked around.
 
His plants ran rampant.

“Babies, sorry I’ve been away.”
 
He touched the leaves of those closest to him.
 
A botanist would have been in awe.
 
Species of plants that existed nowhere else on the planet resided in his basement.
 
He liked to seed them into the general population ever so often, but only those he thought would create the most fun, like non-lethal, but very psychedelic mushrooms.
 

He grabbed a worn leather jacket off the wall and slipped it on over his tattered shirt.
 
He walked between rows of plants and collected flowers, leaves, seeds, and mushrooms of various shapes and colors, stuffing the small stuff into his pockets.
 
He found the plant he was looking for.
 
He picked up the entire pot and kissed the stone container.
 
“There you are.
 
Furcas needs you.”
 

Paimon rummaged around the room for a cart.
 
He set the potted plant and his bottle on it and rolled both towards the doorway.
 
Along the way, he grabbed random pots of flowers and fruit.
 
He hoisted the plants up the passageway and came face to face with another Solomon Soldier.
 
Paimon sighed.