Vesik 3 Winter's Demon (6 page)

It was his turn to stare in shock as Bubbles trotted down Adams Street and crossed a parking lot, carrying my staff in her jaws. I started to laugh until I saw the tourists. They were pointing at Bubbles, then at Peanut, and started wandering toward the zombies. Bloody hell, they must’ve thought it was a show. Ever since Stones River, commoners could see Bubbles and Peanut. We still weren’t sure why, but people seemed to make assumptions about them being a rare breed. I didn’t argue. Mike, Sam, and Frank were close behind the cu siths.

“Get the hell out of here!” Mike’s voice boomed as he yelled at the people on the street. He raised his hand and shot a geyser of flame into the air, billowing out in a yellow orange fireball. Some of them took the hint, and others applauded, but I’m afraid all it really did was gather even more attention.

I started walking back toward Main Street, meeting Bubbles and the others halfway. One of the men stepped forward, tall and imposing in a black trench coat and thin sunglasses. “Hand over the Blessing and this all goes away.”

“Hey handsome,” Sam said. “How about you get the fuck out of here and you won’t go away in pieces.”

The slide of Frank’s shotgun pump was jarring in the silence that followed. Then everything went to shit.

Trench coat had guns in his hands before I could even blink. We scattered. Frank dove behind a car in the lot, Ashley behind a low shelf in the riverbank, and I angled for a shrub before I realized it was just a shrub. Bubbles followed me and I pulled my staff out of the cu sith’s mouth instead of seeking cover. My vision was distorted slightly as a shield sprang to life, the flowing glassy dome sheltering me and Bubbles.

“Assassins?” Mike asked before he burst out with a rumbling laugh. “You didn’t get paid enough for this.” Three shots rang out in quick succession. Mike grunted as the rounds hit him in the chest. Then he growled. Fire erupted from his outstretched arm and Trench coat screamed as his arm turned to cinders. The fire demon was on him in a flash. The scream died with a horrible crack as the man’s head came loose and sailed into the river.

“Stay away from that one!” another man yelled. Black robes, another necromancer, came out from behind another car on the street, trailing another gunman. He muttered something else and held out a staff. A thick beam of water shot out at Mike. He dodged and the liquid cut a hole six inches wide through the car behind him.

“Black mage!” Foster yelled as he blossomed into being above the man. The mage cursed and dodged a swipe from the fairy’s sword.

“Blood mage, insect,” the man spat as an athame sliced into his arm. He ran his fingers through the bright red blood. His hand curled into a claw and a sigil of flame appeared in front of him for a split second before a fiery wall of force sent Foster spiraling through a glass storefront to the northeast.

Our group was scattered. Ashley, Bubbles and I were closer to the river than anyone else, and the zombies reached us first. Gunfire erupted across the front of the shop in the distance. I saw Aideen and Zola dive back inside.

Frank unleashed three rounds from the shotgun. Two zombies went down in pieces and one of the gunmen caught a face full of shot as I picked off what zombies I could without using my necromancy. Sam ran past Frank, charging into the cluster of zombies, tearing them apart as someone began to attack them from a distance with concentrated bursts of fire. I looked toward the source of the flames and found Zola and Aideen outside the shop, closing on our attackers.

“Enough!” Ashley screamed, and her scream was intense enough to startle me. Peanut was at her side. I could only guess he’d been there since the start. “Sam, run!” My sister removed herself from the line of fire in a flash as Ashley tossed a handful of runes into the air. The nine tails lashed out, cracking like thunder as it shattered the bone-colored tiles.

I could see Foster picking himself out of the window. When he saw what was coming, he dove back into the storefront.

Black clouds roiled out from the broken tiles like a hurricane. They swallowed everything in a flash of blue lightning and flame-etched shadows. Mike cursed and leapt away from a zombie he was dismembering as the storm rushed in. The smoky clouds swelled and then collapsed in on themselves as fast as they’d appeared.

When the smoke cleared, the power of the runes was undeniable. Pieces of the cars were missing, exposed to the world like cutaway models. One had lost enough mass that the remaining half crashed to the ground in a screech of metal. Part of the street was gone and dirt showed where cobblestones should have been. I thought it had started to rain until I realized a fire hydrant was showering the entire scene in an icy wash, its upper half disintegrated. Zombies were gone, necromancers were gone, bodies were gone other than a few bits the cloud hadn’t devoured.

Foster tentatively poked his head out of the shattered window. He stepped out and circled around the northern edge of the destruction until he was beside Ashley.

The blood mage stood with a single gunman behind his flickering shield, water splattering a few inches from his face. I didn’t think his shield had saved him. Judging by the ground in front of him, Ashley’s cloud of doom had missed him by a couple feet. His surprised expression faded to rage. He dropped his shield and slashed his arm again with the athame.

A boom and a hiss like a rocket taking off rattled my head. I glanced backwards at the source of the noise.

Dad. He’d gone around the back of the shops on Main Street and come up the riverbank behind us. Good thing the gunmen hadn’t thought of that. The cannon Mike had given him was propped up against his shoulder and a trail of smoke was rising.

“Impadda!”
the blood mage cried. His shield sprang up and then shattered into a billowing electric blue cloud as the bomb lance simply dissipated it. He screamed and stared at the hissing projectile lodged in his chest, pinning him to the wall. It was the last thing he ever did.

The explosion killed the gunman beside him in a deadly storm of blood and bones. The last of the zombies fell, lifeless once more, cut off from their master. The few remaining passersby no longer thought it was a show. Their cries bled with terror and they ran like hell was at their heels.

“It worked,” Mike said, a smug grin splitting his face as he pulled a chunk of blood mage off his shoulder.

Aideen ran to Foster, watching carefully for any stragglers along the way. He leaned against her while she tried to look over his wings.

“Mike, what the hell?” I said.

“Well done,” Zola said as she walked across the remnants of the street. “Did you add runes to the lances?”

“Wards, actually,” Mike said. “I can’t take all the credit. An old friend did assist me. They should break anything short of a shielded circle.”

Zola tapped her foot and raised her eyebrow.

Mike’s eyes shifted back and forth and his lips quirked up in a slow smile. “Of course, they can only be fired by someone with no connection to the arts. Even a latent ability could render them useless.”

“Except for the exploding part?” I asked.

Mike paused and scratched his head. “Indeed, I believe they would still explode.”

I started to smile, but my lips fell as I stared at the damage and destruction around us. It’d never been this bad in the city. Not even close. The bystanders had already run screaming. The Watchers would have to track them all down. It was right about then I saw the kid with the phone pointed at us. He saw me looking, hopped in his car, and squealed his tires as he sped recklessly across the cobblestones.

“We are so fucked.”

CHAPTER SIX

“E
dgar, it’s Zola. We were attacked near the shop.” She paused and listened for a moment. Her cell phone was clenched against her right ear. “It’s a clusterfuck. Buildings are damaged, parts of the road are missing. Several witnesses have already fled. Both sides threw strong arts. Mike thinks the men that came for us were mercenaries.”

The phone squawked in an unpleasant way and Zola pulled it away from her ear.

“Okay,” she said as she held the phone out and put it on speaker.

“All of you, listen to me closely.” Edgar’s voice was hushed, metallic, and hurried. “Ezekiel is in Missouri, which means Philip is probably here too. The Cleaners, or what’s left of them, are on their way. Get the hell out of there. You don’t need to get caught up further in that godforsaken train wreck.”

“There’s more,” he said before hesitating. “Get to Boonville. We’re going after the Blessing. If Philip or his men get the Blessing before us, they’re not going to need a live hostage. I’ve only spent a couple hours in the taverns here and the locals are buzzing about the influx of outsiders. Get here fast.”

I could tell he was going to hang up so I just spat it out. “Edgar, wait. I saw a kid with a phone. He was either taking pictures or maybe video. He jumped in a white sedan and took off as soon as he noticed me watching.”

“How much did he see?” Edgar asked through a growl.

“I didn’t see him until the fight was over.”

The cursing exploding from the phone was enough to make a demon blush. Even Zola’s eyebrows rose.

“Noted,” Edgar said. “We don’t have the men to deal with that right now. Ezekiel has killed too many. Get the fuck out here.” The line went dead, and even the faint click sounded angry.

“Ezekiel?” I said. My voice trailed off as the implications of Edgar’s words spawned a thousand horrific scenarios in my mind.

“Frank, we have to move.” Zola said. “You need to stay with the shop.”

“No,” Sam said. “I’m not leaving him here alone to deal with Watchers.”

Frank smiled and put an arm around Sam, balancing the shotgun on his toe. “Sam, it’s fine. The battle wasn’t in the shop. I can play dumb just fine.”

No one took the easy shot.

“Are you sure?” Sam asked.

He nodded.

“I’ll stay with Frank,” Ashley said.

Zola turned slowly toward the priestess and cleared her throat in an attention-getting stutter. “Girl, Ah am not entirely certain what the hell it was you unleashed, but Ah suggest you hide those runes.”

Ashley nodded.

“Mind you, keep them handy, but out of sight.”

“And don’t vaporize the shop,” I said. “Thank you very much.”

Ashley flashed me a weak smile.

Foster ambled up beside us with his arm around Aideen. He groaned and then stretched. “Ow,” he said as he winced. “You can set the runes inside the clock, Ashley.”

Aideen nodded. “The power from the nexus will mask just about anything, including the potential energy in those runes.”

“I don’t want to sound ungrateful,” Dad said, “but can we please get moving? I’d really like to find my wife and get her the hell away from Philip and his mercs.”

“Mercenaries,” Zola spat. “Ah hate mercenaries. The only good thing about them is there’s always more to kill.”

***

We loaded the cars with road food and weapons in minutes.

“Where are we headed?” I said as I opened the driver’s side door to get in.

“Rivercene,” Zola said. “Dimitry is riding with me.”

“Any particular reason?” I asked.

Zola glanced up at me, and then turned her attention to straightening her gray cloak. “Have you not seen how unsettled Sam is around him, boy?”

“It’s …” I paused and really thought about it. “It’s better than it used to be.”

“Ah think you would do well to keep your sister close. Talk to her when you have the chance. Ah thought Dimitry and Andi would have gotten over their prejudice well before now. Obviously they haven’t.” There was a bite to her words.

I stopped and watched as Zola hefted a backpack into the trunk. She looked eighty, but she moved better than I did. She scratched at the scar on her wrist, briefly attacking the line of smooth tissue where it met her darker, wrinkled skin.

“What?” she asked without looking at me.

“Eyes in the back of your head,” I said as I stifled a laugh.

“That happens when you live too long.” She slammed the trunk. “Out with it.”

“What’s the deal with Edgar?” I asked. “We’ve never been on great terms with him, and now you seem friendly, sort of. He pretty much hates anyone with a hint of necromancy.”

“He has his reasons for that, boy.” She crossed her arms and leaned against the back of the trunk.

“That’s it? That’s your answer?”

“Yes, it is. Now let’s go.”

“We’re not done with this,” I said as she climbed into her car. I swear I caught the hint of a frown on her face.

“Just drop it, D,” Foster said. I glanced down and found him and Aideen steaming in my electric coffee mug, now their hot tub. I noticed the pile of armor beside the mug next.

“Are you two … naked?” I asked, unable to keep the surprise from my voice.

“Oh yeah,” Sam said from the passenger seat.

“Indubitably,” Mike said from the backseat.

“Oh, get over it and just pass the hat up here, Mike,” Aideen said. She sank down to her neck and motioned to Foster. He bounced his eyebrows a couple times and slid around the oversized cup.

“Bloody hell,” I said as Mike passed an old green bowler up from the backseat. I remembered getting that hat on an ill-fated trip downtown. Frank was convinced he’d found evidence of a “real” vampire. He still didn’t really know about the supernatural world back then. The trip ended up with Frank almost getting eaten. I covered the cup and reached for the radio. “Loud music, anyone?” I said as I cranked the volume up.

I stole a few glances at Sam as she channel surfed. She was almost as bad with the radio as she was with the TV. We jumped from modern rock to classics to Barry White (which got rousing applause from the coffee cup) and finally landed on some accessible metal. I fought off a frown as I turned my attention fully back on the road. She did seem more relaxed now.

“I do like the music of these times,” Mike said. “Wasn’t long ago you were lucky to catch a minstrel along the road or performing at an inn. Any man with a lute was a rock star back then.”

“Back when?” Sam asked. “How old are you?”