The Demon Deception (28 page)

“Suck our faces off?” Lilith asked.

“Isn’t that what other dimensional monsters
do?”

“Ah, yuck.”

Darcy sat, not saying anything, but she
crossed her arms across her chest, the non-verbal communication
screaming at Lazarus.

Sam spoke, “yeah boss, not thinking that’s a
good description.”

Lazarus shrugged, “Okay, no more H.P.
Lovecraft allusions.”

Sam nodded, “Probably a good idea, Eli.”

“So, it’s up to you guys. What do you want to
do? They know we’re here. I’m thinking that we go in, because if we
don’t, they’re going to follow us. They may even call in the local
police to apprehend us. The last thing we need is a nation-wide
A.P.B on us and our van. That could complicate our situation, and
keep us from getting to Bisbee tomorrow.”

Sam looked at Lilith and Darcy. Darcy kept
her arms crossed, and shrugged. Lilith sighed, then nodded, “Sure,
I guess so.” She took a drink from the coke, “I hate dealing with
Mephistopheles. He’s so bitchy. He takes everything
personally.”

Lazarus spoke, “Well, I hate dealing with
Agent Johnston. He’s too damn serious.”

“Well, he is an ATF agent,” Sam pointed out.
“I’m thinking anybody that deals with illegal weapons, explosives,
and terrorists probably has a tendency to be pretty serious about
it.”

“He might not be so serious about that kind
of thing.”

“What do you mean?” Sam asked.

“Well, he’s been turned by Mephistopheles.
What kind of trouble would an AFT agent get into that could allow
demonic possession?”

Sam thought about it, “Well, other than the
regular stuff like murder, sex, and power? I don’t know, maybe
corruption of some type?”

Lazarus nodded, “I’m thinking he probably did
more than violate a citizen’s right to carry a handgun. I don’t
know what it might be, but there have been a lot of things
happening on the terrorism front these days.”

“You think he’s a dirty ATF agent?”

“Maybe, not that it really matters,” he
turned to Lilith, “Does it, Lilith?”

She shook her head, “No, not really. If he
gets in our way, we deal with him. Then your problem of what kind
of corrupt he is, disappears.”

“All right, let’s mount up, and head over to
the warehouse.”

Sam walked back over to the driver’s seat,
and hopped in. Lazarus walked to the back seat. Darcy looked at
him, and slid over. Lilith turned in her seat, and closed the
passenger door. Lazarus climbed in, and pulled the door shut.

“Everybody ready?” Sam asked.

“How many people can we expect?” Lilith
asked.

“They had eight in Saint Louis, so at least
that many. Maybe a few more.”

Sam started the engine, and they pulled out
of the parking lot. It was a very short ride. In five minutes, Sam
was pulling up in front of the warehouse door. Nothing
happened.

“Honk the horn,” Lazarus told him.

Sam honked the horn. Nothing happened for a
few minutes. Sam honked again. A side door opened and a face looked
out. The door shut, a minute passed, then they heard a motor start,
and the door to the warehouse began rumbling up.

“Into the lion’s den we go,” Lazarus
said.

Lilith glanced back, a smile on her face, “He
was such a sweet man. I really liked him.”

Darcy stared at Lilith, “Really? Now you know
Daniel as well?”

“How do you know about Daniel? I thought you
didn’t know anything about the bible?” Lazarus asked.

“Art appreciation. In college.”

“Ah, Rubens.”

Sam spoke up, “Well, hopefully, we’ll walk
out just like Daniel did.”

The door rose, and when it was high enough,
Sam pulled forward into the warehouse. The door began rumbling down
as the van pulled past it. The warehouse was filled with pallets of
building supplies, stacked endlessly. In the middle of an open
area, they could see six large, green plastic cases with aluminum
strips at the juncture of the top and bottom where the two sides
met. There were large butter fly clip latches on the edge of the
cases, and yellow lettering.

“Damn, we’re going to have to move a few
things around in the back to get all of that in,” Sam said.

Lazarus pondered the possible combinations.
Nothing that he thought of could accommodate all the weapons and
munitions in the back plus the large cases he saw on the floor of
the warehouse. Of course, the fact that Agent Johnston was sitting
on one of the cases could complicate loading the missile launchers
into the back of the van as well. The other agent from the sedan
was standing just to the right of the cases.

Sam drove the van forward, and stopped about
ten feet away from Agent Johnston. The van doors opened, and
everybody stepped out. Sam stepped away from the side of the van,
to give a wider angle on targets, and for maneuver room. Lilith
walked around to the front of the van, and leaned back against it.
Lazarus walked forward, opposite the front passenger door. Darcy
climbed out behind him, and stayed next to the van.

Lazarus raised a hand, and waved at Agent
Johnston, “Long time no see. What’s it been, about five days,
now?”

Agent Johnston stood up, “You’ve been a very
busy man, Lazarus.” Johnston took a drink of coffee, savoring what
was, in his mind, a substantial victory.

“Well, I try to stay busy. I feel that a man
who stays busy, stays young at heart.”

“Keeps your mind off of the future?” Johnston
asked.

“No, not really. Maybe it’s more about the
work that I do.”

“I didn’t know you worked, Lazarus.”

Lazarus smiled, “Well, I don’t really
consider it work. It’s more of a calling with me.”

Lilith rolled her eyes, “Please, boys, can we
get past the machismo and get on with whatever’s going to happen
here?”

Agent Johnston looked at her, “Who are
you?”

Lilith smiled. She shifted, just enough to
make Johnston check out her considerable assets. The other agent
was less circumspect. He was openly staring at Lilith. She giggled
at the attention.

“I’m going to have to talk to your boss. I’m
amazed that Mephistopheles hasn’t mentioned his competition.”

“Competition? I thought Lazarus was his
competition.”

Lilith pushed off from the van and stood
straight. She walked over to Agent Johnston, reached out, and
straightened his tie, “Yes, his competition. And no, silly, Eli
isn’t his competition. Eli’s just trying to kill him. That’s not
really competition. I, however, work for the same boss that
Mephistopheles does. We’re both in marketing and sales. But,” she
leaned forward into him, and looked deeply into his eyes, “I’m so
much more fun to work for.”

Johnston leaned back, his composure
compromised by Lilith’s directness and physical closeness. Lilith
did that to men, making men want her and despise her control over
them at the same time.

“Look lady, I don’t have time for this. I’m
placing all of you under arrest for smuggling and trading illegal
weapons and munitions.”

Lilith smiled a sweet, demure smile, “You and
what army, Agent Johnston?”

Johnston was mesmerized. He had trouble
taking his eyes off of hers, but he was still able to turn his head
slightly, and yell out, “Come on out, guys.”

Four more agents from Saint Louis stepped out
from behind their cover. They all had M4 carbines held at the low
ready. Lazarus heard something above, and looked up. There were
three more agents on catwalks above them, two from Saint Louis, one
of them the woman agent. The height gave them good angles to shoot
if Lazarus and company gave any indication they were going to put
up a fight.

“I see you brought some extra help, Agent
Johnston.”

Agent Johnston nodded, “yes, unfortunately,
he wasn’t able to help us in Saint Louis. He had another case he
was working on. I was able to pull him over when I told my bosses
about this sting.”

“Well, technically, it’s only a sting if we
didn’t know you were going to be here. And, if you were undercover
and we were giving you money for the weapons. We’ve known for a
while that you were going to intercept one of our shipments. Since
you didn’t hit us on the last one, I kind of figured that you would
probably hit us on this one. So, not really a sting.”

“Technically true,” Agent Johnston admitted.
Lilith was standing close enough to make Agent Johnston nervous,
“but it has no bearing on what’s going to happen next.”

Lilith leaned forward, “I suppose you mean
the part where you shoot us all for trying to resist arrest.”

Lazarus heard Darcy gasp behind him, as she
realized the gravity of the situation.

“Now Darcy,” Lazarus said.

A split second later, multiple clicks were
heard as magazines disengaged from their firearms. The M4 magazines
from the ground crew hit first, followed closely by the three
magazines from the crew on the catwalks. The three magazines hit
the ground with such force that they split and bullets cascaded and
rolled across the floor. The magazines from Agent Johnston’s Glock
and the other agent hit the floor with heavy clicks.

Lazarus heard a heavy clatter on the floor
next to him, and looked down to see the magazine from his
Springfield XD on the ground. From the reactions of Sam and Lilith,
they had just experienced the same thing.

“Well, that was unexpected,” Lazarus
said.

Rage overtook Agent Johnston. He had been
fooled once by Lazarus, and he was pissed that it was happening
again. The rage took control, and he couldn’t stop what happened
next. His countenance grew gaunt, greasy lanks of hair appeared,
stretched over a bald head. His skin was wrinkled, and mottled. His
hands became skeletal, his fingernails talons. A miasma of rot and
fetid flesh grew strong. His teeth cracked and became jagged,
almost serrated. His shoes shredded as the claws on his feet ripped
through the leather. His posture changed, and his body bent
forward, with his arms long enough to touch the floor.

“Damn, ghouls, I hate ghouls,” Lazarus sprang
into action. He reached into the van and pulled out Faith and
Mercy, “Head’s up, Sam!” He flung Faith over the van. It tumbled
through the air, and Sam followed it with his eyes. At the last
minute, he reached out a hand, and the hilt of the sword landed in
his palm.

“Jesus, Eli!” Sam exclaimed.

The ATF team dropped their humanity like
cheap suits. They howled as they charged forward. The ghouls on the
crosswalks dropped over the sides, not worried at the impact at the
bottom of the forty foot drop.

The first one to find out that Lazarus and
his team weren’t going to go quietly was Agent Johnston. Lilith had
stepped back as soon as she saw the magazine of her Glock go
sliding across the floor. Now she was backed up against the van.
Agent Johnston didn’t see the hellfire glimmer in her eyes. His
arms flung wide and he leaped forward to maul Lilith. Hellfire
erupted, limning her brow. She batted Johnston’s talons aside and
fire surrounded her hands as she slammed her fist into his chest.
His ribs shattered like toothpicks. Already dead, he howled as he
tried to rend her. Hellfire flared, consuming his body. Ash filled
the air as hellfire destroyed him.

Lazarus was dealing with two on his side. He
turned, grabbed Darcy, and pushed her into the back seat of the
van. He ducked, and talons ripped through the air where his head
had been. He whirled on one foot, and Faith arced through the air,
cutting the ghoul in half. The sword was preternaturally sharp, and
the blade flamed as it intersected the ghoul’s body. Fire consumed
the corpse. Two more loped across the floor towards Lazarus,
joining the one that he was fighting.

On the other side of the van, Sam was
engaging two of the ghouls. He was weaving Mercy in an intricate
pattern to keep them at bay. He had been caught flat footed as the
magazine in his XDM hit the floor. The only thing that saved him
was Eli’s yell. He looked up just in time to keep the sword from
skewering him. Since then, he was on defense to keep the two ghouls
from ripping him apart. They tried to slash and rend the giant that
was facing them, but the angel forged sword kept them at bay.

Lilith was on the offense. She leaped over
the munitions cases and ripped into the other ghoul that was
standing next to them. One of the ghoul’s arms was shattered as she
grabbed and twisted. The possessed howled as the arm turned to
pulp. She punched into its spine, and ripped it out through the
ghoul’s abdomen. The howl crescendoed into a shriek as it died.

Lazarus was dancing a dance of death. He
swayed and shifted like a reed in the wind as the three ghouls
tried to reach him. His movement ensured that one of the ghouls was
always in front of and interfering with the other two. They grew
frustrated that they couldn’t get to him. Their frustration led to
mistakes. One of the ghouls screamed as its hand flew through the
air. It flinched from the pain and Lazarus danced forward to drive
the sword into the ghoul’s chest. It flamed out of existence, and
its loss of physical presence didn’t register with the other two
ghouls as a tactical advantage until Lazarus burst through the
ashes to engage one. He cleaved the ghoul’s leg through the thigh,
and it collapsed onto the floor. He leaped over the flailing body,
and stabbed the blade forward into the body of the last ghoul. Cut
through the spine, the possessed flared, and the ghoul flashed into
ash.

Sam slipped past the raking talons of one of
the ghouls, and he surged forward to grab the other by the throat.
He picked it up and heaved it. They collided and he stepped forward
and rammed Mercy through both their chests. Curlicues of flame ate
them from the inside out as they flashed into ash and died.

The last of the ghouls Lazarus had fought was
crawling towards him. It was foaming at the mouth as it left a
trail of blood on the floor from its severed leg. Lazarus walked
forward, kicked it in the head. When it stilled, he cut the head
off. With his part in the fighting finished, he noticed the smell
of sulfur and ash. He hated that smell.