Judgement (The Twelve) (48 page)

“
Not the brightest spark is he.”

Huntress jumped down and ran for the doors leading to the stairwell. At least twenty Shades were slowly climbing towards there level, “Everyone inside the court now!”

They didn’t need telling twice, even the court officials and police officers obeyed her. Hot Cross was the last inside and saw the first Shade slam the landing doors back against the wall.

He looked at the large brass door handle
s
and smiled grabbing hold of both he waited. A sudden jerk almost tore the right door from his grasp. Grunting he held on tight and sent a lightning bolt into
the brass which as everyone knows, is a marvellous conductor of electricity
. There was a howl from outside,
a
sudden
smell of burning that
s
trangely smelt
of rubber and peat and melted bronze.

Hot Cross
looked
down
at the
semi
melted door handles, he felt exhausted and needn’t to re-charge. Staggering across to a wall, he saw a double electric socket. Sliding down with his back pressed to the white painted wall, he held one hand over the socket and sighed with relief as he connected with the current.
Huntress moved down the court and now stood elevated next to the judges’ chair. Bow string pulled back to her lips, she waited.

After a long silence, the doors burst open, in rushed the
remaining
Shades and arrow after arrow flashed from her bow to strike each target. “Hot Cross only got three arrows left….make that two!”

Hot Cross sighed again but this time it was more like an irritation at being disturbed.
Still
sitting by the wall
, h
e raised the other hand
, made a fist then pointed his index finger, like a child playing with an imaginary gun.

“Let
’
s see if I can make like Bulls Eye!”

He concentrated and the next second shot a blast of energy at the head of a smaller Shade. It stumbled forwards crashed to its knees and exploded.

“Hot damn!” He realised
that
with his other hand connected to the buildings main circuit, he had an endless supply of energy shots. He started to blast all over the place, one managed to hit a policeman in the shoulder as he suddenly stood up. The copper spun round and fell without a sound.

“SORRY!”

Another policeman popped up his head,
“What the hecks goin
g
on?”

“Is your friend ok?” Hot Cross asked
as he
fir
ed
off three bolts in quick succession.

“Just shocked. Are you using a taser….. Jesus !”

That in response to the fact Hot Cross was not using a Taser but firing what appeared to be bolts of lightning from his finger tip. The
officer
glanced over at the strange woman with flowing moving white hair and white eyes. He watched as she let loose another long wicked looking arrow that exploded another of these things. ‘
Who the hell are they?’

But instead of asking,
he
took a deep breath
and
shouted
,
“D
on’t fire!
”

Ju
mp
ing
to his feet with his telescopic metal Asp at the ready
, h
is intention was to recover the arrows th
at lay in the ash covered floor near the door.

Huntress shouted across to him as he gave a
p
assing Shade one big
whack to the side of its head and grabbed up four arrows with his other hand.”

“Rub
an
arrow head along your weapon
then try it
.”

Police Constable 846 Fitzpatrick did as he was told
, e
ven if
he did
remotely and somewhat disturbingly, f
ind
that suggestion sexually provocative.  But he
’d seen enough to know that these two knew what these creatures where
and how to kill them
. He ducked under the reach of a
smaller
Shade
,
hit it with his asp and watched as it exploded,
but got smashed in the face by another
. Hurled backward
,
he landed
on top of
a cowering powerfully built male.

“Get off me!”

Fitzpatrick was surprised
when
the male sounded so effeminate!

“Sorry
sir,
” He rolled off, slide along the floor keeping his head below the bench row. Seeing an arrow lying in a pile of ash, he made a grab for.
A
ghoul reached over the top of the bench and seized him by the hair.

The ‘sir’ in question smashed a double hand
ed blow to the side of its head with a very large handbag,
sending the ghoul skidding sideways. Helping the officer to his feet he smiled, “Used to be John now it’s Jane.”

The policeman would have kissed her if not for the two day growth on ‘her’ chin’. Instead he just nodded his thanks and rushed over to Huntress with half a dozen arrows.

Hot Cross was starting to enjoy himself in all this mayhem and confusion, “Huntress
go see if that door behind the judges bench leads out of here
. I’ll hold the fort!”

The ghoul
that had attacked the officer came back for more
, its blood smeared mouth reaching for his face.
The bow in
Huntress
es hands came alive. In a fraction of a second she drew aimed and fired. The arrow missed the police officers face by half an inch as it took the ghoul dead centre in its forehead. Having been used once the arrows had
lost
some
of there power and strength but
c
ould still do the job
. The ghoul collapsed in a heap.
Huntress leaned in past the gaping police officer and yanked free her arrow.

Jane smiled, “I love your hair. How do you get it to move like that?”

“Get yourself hung.” She replied, running to the door behind the judges bench, “Leads to a room with two doors leading off it.” Huntress shouted.

A court usher raised his head from the floor, “One door leads to his honours bathroom, the other a staircase down to the back entrance.”

There was a moments calm before more Shades arrived, giving Huntress time to look at the carnage.

Five people where down and dead, at least they’d stopped screaming so she presumed they were dead. More Shades were
gathering in the shattered doorway to the crowded
court.

“Shit!” she whispered.

Hot Cross saw a bunch
of Shades
enter and gave them all a prolonged blast
that downed four but six or so carried on into the court. They could smell blood and
saw
the cowering public. Two however turned and reached for him. He blasted one right through the mouth but as it exploded the other sank its fangs into his arm.

Huntress snapp
ed an arrow
to her bow
and
shot the Shade through the neck, the head exploded and the body fell to ash.

The police officer was in trouble,
he’d jumped in to help Hot Cross. He was fighting with a ghoul and
a big chunk of flesh
was
missing from his left cheek, exposed several teeth along his jaw line. Huntress jumped over a Shade eating a
n already dead
woman
. Ignoring it she
struck an arrow deep into
the ghouls
left ear, piercing the
head
. The ghoul collapsed along with the police officer, who looked more dead than alive. A Shade hit her across the back of her head, propelling her forward. She tripped over a body and went down in a heap.

Hot Cross decided it was time to get to his feet and used
a
passing
Shades
arm
to pull him upright. “Bugger off!”
He sent a flash of several thousand volts up its arm. It went off like a fire cracker.

Huntress was now back on her feet and had helped the policeman up as well, together they where herding the others towards the judges chambers and escape.
A Shade stumbled into view blocking there path.
Hot Cross
hit the Shade across the face like Chris had done
,
but in this case there was a clap of thunder and a huge flash of light. When the light cleared, the Shade was gone, totally obliterated.

“Nice one
! D
idn’t know I could do that. Right you slime balls, who’s next?”

“I am.”A dry cold voice replied
from behind him. Spinning around and preparing to blast whoever had spoke
n
. Hot Cross saw for a
second the
fl
ash of a silvery blade and then nothing.

In the private rear gardens of Aspley House once famous as the Duke of Wellington home. A battle royal raged fit to compete with Waterloo itself. Two hundred and eighty Shades had rushed out from Hyde Park Corners underground railway station, leaving behind dozens of mutilated corpses. Blubbering madly, they climbed the wall into the rear garden, intent on storming the house.

Although on display as a national heritage for arts and treasures belonging to the Duke, the house had a hidden side to it. The basement was home to the communications wing of MI5 and 6.

Jennings had sent two units to protect that area, recognising it as one of strategic importance. Starlight security was until yesterday, the agency tasked with its unobtrusive protection.

It was hard to try and second guess The Dark but in this case he had come up trumps. It was only the numbers of his enemy that he’d gotten wrong. His men concealed behind statuettes, low walls and dense foliage. Opened fire the moment the Shades started to pour over the far wall.
The
watch commander on duty at
the home recognised their credentials and was acutely aware of the fact that all hell was breaking loose around him.