Execution (The Divine Book 6) (21 page)

It wasn't immediately clear how Alyx didn't smell them or hear them coming, or why the mortals around us didn't evacuate the area before the fighting began.
 

One second, we were walking along the sidewalk on our way across the city, and the next we were under full-scale attack.

The first of them hit Alyx hard mid-shift, knocking her back and away before she could get her legs under her. She slammed hard into a car, knocking it over and almost crushing a few pedestrians below it. They screamed at the sudden chaos and began scrambling away.

In that split-second, I wondered what they thought was happening.

 
A dozen more vampires followed behind the first. They were special ops types dressed in black and armed with swords. They knew who the most dangerous target was, and they headed right for her.

 
Or at least, they tried to. I threw my power out in front of them, using it as a wall. The bulk of them slammed against it, losing their momentum and hitting the ground. They were on their feet in seconds, but seconds were all Alyx needed.

She finished her change, reaching out with a monster claw to grab the original assailant. At the same time, Bradford had regained his feet, and he jumped on the back of one of the vamps, digging a blessed knife into its neck. It howled and collapsed under his weight.

"Well, don't just stand there," I said to Gervais, who was stationary beside me. I pushed myself forward, bringing the obsidian spatha to hand, ready to enter the fray.

Then I heard Alyx cry out. I looked over and saw the vampire had bit her hand, and it was turning black and dead as he held onto it. My stomach churned at the sight. I had seen something like it before, the way the skin shriveled and died beneath the bite.
 

That was Abaddon's power.

I tried to change direction and head her way to help. A sharp hiss to my left forced me to pause, and I ducked and brought my blade up just in time to avoid decapitation. The vampire bared his teeth at me, showing me dark fangs that oozed a black saliva. They had all been imbued with the demon's energy.

"Get off me, bro," I heard Bradford say. His fist bashed into one of the vampires, knocking it back with tattoo-enhanced strength. A second got its teeth onto his arm, and he used it to pull the surprised vampire into his dagger.
 

I sidestepped a claw-swipe from my opponent, noting the darkened fingernails with moisture at the tips, and then cast out my power at him, throwing him thirty feet and through a window. I turned back to Alyx, who had managed to dislodge the first of the vampires but was coming under attack by four more.

I glanced back at Gervais. He was still standing there, watching everything unfold. Because of course he was.

I charged toward Alyx, at the same time she leaped, getting herself out of the fracas. The four vampires turned to follow, and I hit them with my power, pushing them back and into the opposite wall. They bounced off and charged me, swords flashing under the streetlights.

I dropped into one of Josette's fighting stances, turning to keep them all in view as they organized themselves for the attack.

"All of that power and this is the best you can do?" I said, taunting them.

"Ask the were what the best we can do is," one of them said.
 

Ask the were? I glanced back to find Alyx. She had joined Bradford behind me and had pinned one of the vampires to the ground.
 

Her left arm dangled at her side, still useless. It hadn't healed.

"Oh no," I whispered, the anger exploding inside of me.
 

The vampires used the distraction to charge, and I pulled my power back in, wrapping it around me like a shield. As they reached it, I threw it back out as a wall of spikes, the energy piercing them and throwing them back once more. They grunted in pain that turned to laughter at my rage.

"Rebecca sends her regards," the same one said right before I cut his head off.

I threw myself toward Alyx even as their bodies collapsed and turned to ash. She and Bradford were holding their own, the Nicht Creidem's immunity giving him a firm advantage in the fight. As long as he avoided getting skewered, there was nothing the vampires could do to hurt him.

Gervais was still observing. No. He wasn't. He had disappeared.

I reached Bradford and Alyx, stabbing one of the vampires in the back. A second tried one more time to cut Bradford with its claws, and then it too was taken down by the blessed knife.

And then it was over. There were no more vampires to fight. Only piles of ash. I turned my attention to Alyx, who shifted back to human form. Her arm was still black and dead at her side.

"Landon," she said, upset at the wound.

I knelt down beside her and reached out for the arm. "Tell me if this hurts."

She nodded. I had never seen a great were so afraid of anything.

I lightly touched my fingertips to the wound. I immediately felt a wave of pain flow into them, and my fingernails began to turn black. I drew my hand away, more worried than I was before.
 

This was bad. Very bad.

I held my fingers up in front of my face. Whatever Abaddon's power had done when mingled with the vampires, it was contagious. I pushed my power into the wound, trying to heal it like I would any other. There was no effect.

"Landon?" Alyx said again, her voice small. She had tears in her eyes. It broke my heart to see her like that.
 

"Oh shit, bro," Bradford said.

"It'll be okay," I said.
 

To calm Alyx or me? I closed my eyes, letting my power flow forward and envelope the damage. I didn't push it, and instead, put my attention on relaxing. I felt a tingle in my fingers, and the wound began to heal.

I opened my eyes. The damage was gone.

"I can fix it," I said.

She smiled pensively. I reached for her arm again, keeping my hand slightly above the ruined flesh. I could feel the power below it, and I forced myself to calm while I worked to transform the poisonous demonic energy.

I smiled as the wound began to heal, the black skin fading and first turning pink, and then red, and then returning to the color of healthy flesh. It spread from her elbow down to her fingertips, until finally she was whole again. She wiggled her fingers and then dropped down to embrace me.

"Thank you, Master," she said, forgetting herself in the emotion of the moment. I was so happy that I forgot myself, too, bringing her lips to mine and kissing her intensely.

"Nice, bro," Bradford said behind us.

I broke off the kiss, stood up, and helped Alyx back to her feet. "I can fix it, but it isn't easy or fast. If these vampires start infecting other demons like this, or if they infect mortals, it's going to be an epic disaster."

"We have to find Abaddon," Alyx said. "We have to stop them before they can give any more of their number the same abilities."

"It might already be too late," I said. "Bradford, did you happen to see where Gervais went?"

"No. Sorry, dude. I was a little busy."

I scanned the street. I could hear sirens in the distance, drawing closer. They might not know what had occurred, but the damage was still done. Fortunately, we didn't hurt anybody.

"As soon as things go south, he disappears," Alyx said. "At least Zifah was honest about his cowardice."

"Hmph. Cowardice."

The fiend appeared behind the broken glass of the window I had thrown the vampire through. His face was coated in blood, his hair a mess.
 

"The things I do for you, diuscrucis."

For me? I doubted it. "What did you do?"

He reached down and lifted the vampire where I could see him. He was in one piece, which meant he was still alive. His pants were around his ankles, and his genitals were knitting back together as I watched. It was a disgusting display.

"I thought that didn't work on the Divine," I said.

"True. Very true. But then I remembered what you said about Rebecca, and how Abaddon's power allowed her to enter the Divine. So, I figured I would take a shot. He had Abaddon's power, and now I have eaten some of it. It is embarrassing and distasteful, but I do what I must."

The vampire began to come around. Gervais threw him at me with more force than he should have been able. Then the fiend changed shape, into an exact replica of the demon.

"It appears to work quite well. Surprisingly so. Perhaps no demon can wield the sheer volume of power Abaddon has except for Abaddon, but in smaller bites?" He laughed at his stupid pun. "It is effective."

"Wow," I heard Bradford say behind me.
 

That wasn't the word I would use. A Gervais who could feed on demons and take their form and their power?
 

Things were getting worse by the minute.

I lifted the original vampire up with my power, bringing the obsidian spatha to his neck. His eyes rolled open slowly, and he looked at me with bleary eyes.

"Where is Rose?" I asked.

"He doesn't know," Gervais said. "Or I should say, I don't know, which means the same thing."

If Rebecca had sent them, it meant that there was, at least, one thing she hadn't lied about.

"You haven't seen her, have you, Bradford?" I asked.

"Who? The ghost? No. Sorry, bro."

I pushed the spatha against the vampire's neck, threatening to break the skin. "Do you have anything useful that you do know?"

"He doesn't know anything useful, Landon," Gervais said. "Kill him and let us be done with it."

I was hesitant to do anything Gervais recommended, and if the vampire hadn't been carrying Abaddon's poison, I might have let him survive. He was no good to me if he didn't know anything.

I pushed the blade through his neck with my power, killing him in an instant. Then I scanned the street for Rose's bra. Alyx had dropped it near the banged-up car, and I went over and retrieved it. I could feel the tingle of the power the moment I touched it, and the difference in the feeling as I turned. I was pissed about what had happened to Alyx. I was pissed because Gervais had leveled up, and I was pissed because Elyse was dead. I was also sure there was more and would be more to be pissed about soon enough.

I didn't say anything to the others. I just started walking in the direction the enchanted lingerie indicated. Alyx was at my side a moment later, while Bradford and Gervais followed close behind.

"We'll find her," Alyx said. "You'll save her. That's what you do."

"I didn't save Elyse."

She flinched at my pessimism, and then took my hand in hers.
 

"You'll save her," she repeated.

"That has to be it," I said, pointing out over the bay.
 

The Statue of Liberty was looming in the background, a symbol of freedom for many, a personal symbol of sacrifice for me. It was where my afterlife adventure had started,  where I had met Rebecca, and where I had made the original deal with Abaddon. Whatever the reason was, it always seemed to be turning up whenever something major was about to happen.

That didn't make me feel better.

At least it wasn't Lady Liberty herself that I was pointing at. Instead, I was looking at a massive container ship sitting to the immediate left of the Grand Dame. Rose's bra was facing in its direction, and it was tingling my hand hard enough to make it itchy and numb.

"I guess we need a boat," Bradford said. "It figures. I can't swim."

"Do you want to wait here?" I asked. Alyx didn't look happy either. Weres hated water.

"And miss the action? No way, bro."

"Do you see any boats around here, diuscrucis?" Gervais asked. "Because I don't."

"There's the ferry coming right now, dude," Bradford said.

"Do you think they will be kind enough to head over to that ship for us?" Gervais snapped. "Dude?"

Bradford shrugged. "I think they'll do whatever we want them to, if it comes to it."

He wasn't wrong. We could easily commandeer the ferry and drive it over to the ship, and the idea of it was tempting. I had a feeling whoever was on the ship would notice that.

"The sea approach isn't going to work," I said.
 

"There's a heliport a little bit east of here," Gervais said. "I know how to fly a helicopter, though I'm not eager to be removed from the fight."

I gave him a look.

"What?" he asked.

"When I wanted to take a chopper in China you didn't volunteer to fly it."

He shrugged. "I wasn't in the mood. I'm feeling more peppy today."
 

It was so Gervais that I dropped the subject entirely. There was no point.

"Fine. We'll fly over. Unless anyone wants to swim?"

Alyx and Bradford both looked terrified at the thought. It was cute and amusing how she was afraid of water, especially when she would be fine with jumping out of a helicopter and onto a hard surface from a few hundred feet up.

We hurried over to the heliport. There was a single helicopter waiting there, a privately owned, sleek, black thing with a slowly spinning rotor that was ready to jump into action. A pair of men in dark suits waited on either side of it for its passenger to return.