Angel Souls and Devil Hearts (42 page)

“Then why didn’t you become one of them?” Allison asked him.

Courage looked at her with an indulgent smile, as if she’d asked a terribly stupid question, but Roberto couldn’t read any more from it than that. He didn’t think Courage was
going to answer, but then the vampire’s face became serious once again.

“I wasn’t entirely human myself,” he said. Jimenez didn’t know what the hell he was saying, but Cody and Allison seemed to understand, and both their mouths hung open in
astonishment.

“Now,” Courage said, “enough of this foolishness. Cody, Charlemagne’s remaining troops will engage these vampires while I assist him and the others in their direct
assault on the mad priest. You, meanwhile, are going to come at him from behind, quickly, silently . . . and kill him.”

“With what?”

John Courage reached inside his shirt and removed the silver crucifix whose bottom had been honed into a dagger, and which he had earlier taken from Commander Jimenez himself. Cody looked at it
in silence, clearly remembering the last time he had seen such a weapon, and for some reason, though he was not a coward, Roberto Jimenez was glad that Will Cody didn’t know where Courage had
gotten the weapon.

Now, though, Roberto was terribly confused. If none of these other shadows could break through whatever force field Mulkerrin had erected, he didn’t know how Cody was going to do it. He
wanted to argue. But he didn’t. At this point, whatever Courage had planned had better happen soon, and he wasn’t about to stand in the way.

“Commander,” Courage said, “gather your surviving troops and withdraw, just as you had ordered.”

Jimenez looked at him, then across at where so many of his people were dying. His eyes closed before he knew they were going to.

“There is nothing you can do for them, Roberto. Work to save those still living.”

Commander Roberto Jimenez met John Courage’s eyes, and he found something there, a profound sadness, almost mourning, and a resolution to do whatever was necessary to save the lives of his
people. Jimenez wondered if he didn’t have something in common with this vampire, though the thought disturbed him greatly. His heart felt frozen, shattered by Gloria’s terrible death,
Mulkerrin’s violation of her. Hannibal’s defection and that entire catastrophe had enraged him, and now not more than two hundred members of the United Nations security force survived.
Operation: Jericho was a complete failure. Only the vampires could do anything about it.

“I owe you this at least,” he said. “I’m pretty sure that this battle is being observed very closely. If it looks like you’re going to lose, they’ll probably
nuke the whole city.”

“No way!” Allison couldn’t believe it. “They wouldn’t do that. There are too many people here, civilians, homes . . . and the
radiation.”

“Everyone’s been evac-ed,” Jimenez said. “There are no more civilians, and if we can’t take out Mulkerrin, who can? And as for people, well, vampires just killed
the President of your country, Allison. I don’t think anybody considers them people anymore. Just the enemy.”

She spun to look at Cody.
Let’s get out of here
, she wanted to say, but wouldn’t. Cody couldn’t go. Whatever was happening here, he was a part of it, an integral part.
And if he couldn’t leave, she wouldn’t either. She loved him, and the time they’d been separated, when she hadn’t known if he was alive or dead, had been the worst time of
her life.

But then Commander Jimenez took her by the arm.

“Let’s go,” he said. “You’re the only civilian left to evacuate.”

“Don’t touch me!” she snapped, holding on to Cody. “I was there during the Jihad. I’ve dealt with demons before.”

Cody’s eyes were sad, doubtful.

“Shit,” she said. “I gave my blood to wake Charlemagne to bring these reinforcements here. I’m in this thing, Will, all the way.”

Nobody said a word. Allison’s nostrils were filled with the smell of the vampires from the portal, and bile rose in her throat. She could see that Cody wasn’t going for it, and she
wanted to slap his face. Instead, she threw her arrns around him and hugged him tight, and he retumed the embrace. She was crying, and she buried her eyes in his shoulder so he wouldn’t see
it.

“I know you can take care of yourself, darlin’,” Cody said. “But if you go down, chances are you won’t get up again. I can’t let you take that
risk.”

“So I’m not as good, not as brave, as you because I die easier?” she asked, angry, sad.

And now Cody was mad too, pushing her to arm’s length, making sure their eyes met.

“Don’t ever say that,” he said gravely. “You’re a hell of a lot braver, and a lot luckier than the rest of us. You’re still human!”

Allison was stung; her face crumbled and the tears came in earnest. She hugged Cody again and whispered, “I love you” in his ear, and his face softened. He returned the words, and
then Allison turned toward Commander Jimenez.

“Got another weapon?” she asked, and he produced a semi-auto Beretta handgun and passed it to her. She looked it over quickly and wiped at her tears.

“It’ll do,” she said. “Now let’s get the hell out of here.”

When they’d gone, Cody let out the breath he’d been holding. Whatever Jimenez was, he was honorable. Allison could take care of herself, but he wasn’t going
to take any chances. Jimenez would consider Allison his responsibility the same way the rest of his troops were, and if there were any way to get them all clear, he’d do it. And yet their
departure didn’t lighten his heart any. Rather, Cody felt more pressure now, to stay alive, to be with Allison again.

There was just this little matter of killing Mulkerrin to deal with. Sure, Cody could pass right through Mulkerrin’s magical protection. He was immune to magic. But if Mulkerrin could
somehow sense him coming, well there were other ways the sorcerer could fight back. He could set these newly arrived “vampires” on him for one thing. And Cody was starting to think that
if he didn’t kill Mulkerrin, nobody would be able to.

And then what?

Did you know these creatures would come
? Cody asked John Courage, in his mind.

No
, Courage admitted.
And they frighten me. We can destroy them fairly simply. We are much more powerful, but they are so savage, so gleefully
. . .
evil.

But you’ve faced them before, and won
, Cody said.
You said yourself that you purged them from our world, after you had been tainted by their evil.

Courage faced him.
You’ve figured everything out now, haven’t you?

Most of it, I think
, he agreed.
You said before what once lived in you had left a trace of itself behind. Add to that the poison taint of the true vampire, and you have
. . .

“Yes,” Courage said aloud. “Us.”

There was silence, both verbal and mental, between them for a moment. Cody could not think of a thing to say, was completely overwhelmed by what he now believed to be true. He sensed movement
behind him and turned to see that Stefan, the young vampire who had been Rolf’s assistant while the SJS was still in operation, had come up behind him. Cody had liked Stefan immediately upon
their first meeting, two years earlier, and was pleased, though curious, to see he had survived.

“I thought you were dead,” Cody said to him, wondering how the other had escaped Mulkerrin’s wrath at the fortress.

“A strange choice of words,” the serious shadow said, “but as you can see, I yet survive to continue this battle.”

Cody introduced Stefan to John Courage, and the two exchanged greetings. Behind them, the portal continued to allow the original vampires to escape Hell, to walk the earth again. Most of the
soldiers left in the plaza had been drained or thrown into the gorge. Just above the portal, they could see where Charlemagne and his winged warriors continued to batter Mulkerrin’s
protective field, and the rest of Charlemagne’s troops were crossing the gorge, engaging the black, Hellish creatures of death, the leeches that poured forth.

Their swords looked like silver. Cody started to ask Courage if that was the answer, if the weapons were indeed forged of the poisonous metal and the creatures more susceptible to it than their
own kind.

And then a second portal appeared, midway across the plaza, almost at its center. This doorway was smaller, and its shimmering surface a reddish color. For a moment, nothing happened, and then,
at the edges of the portal, hands appeared. Two pair. It was clear that whatever was on the other side was struggling to pull itself into the world. Cody didn’t want that to happen.

“Come,” Courage said, and he was already running at full speed across the plaza when Cody and Stefan began to move. Obviously, he and Cody had had the same thought.

But even before they got there, one pair of hands had become a head of long blond hair, an upper torso and finally legs, all of which were familiar to Cody.

“Meaghan!” he shouted as he rushed to help her up. She was running both hands through her hair, and her eyes were wide as she puffed out a breath. She smiled as she got to her feet
and gave Cody a quick hug before turning to check on the progress of her companion.

“This is Meaghan Gallagher?” Courage asked, and Cody nodded.

“And that,” Meaghan pointed to a crown of brown hair that had emerged from the portal, “is Peter Octavian. Who might you be?”

Cody introduced Meaghan to John and Stefan, then, bewildered, he asked her where she had been.

“Hell,” Meaghan said soberly, and nothing more.

Meaghan took a moment to take in her surroundings: the black vampire things and the battle being fought against Mulkerrin in the sky. Cody knew that Charlemagne’s people would keep
Mulkerrin busy for a while, but not forever. He was glad Meaghan and Peter had arrived; they could use all the help they could get.

And Peter was alive! That was the best news of all. Other than Rolf, Peter Octavian was the only vampire Will Cody had ever been willing to call brother. As a human being, he had seen the
passing of many brothers, both in blood and in philosophy. He was pleased not to have lost another.

“Maybe we should help him,” Stefan suggested, and Cody felt foolish for not having suggested it already. Meaghan smiled despite all she must have been through, and the battle she had
returned to.

Cody and Stefan each reached for one of Octavian’s hands.

“Where’s Alexandra?” Cody asked.

“Dead,” Meaghan answered, and Cody did not want to dwell on the pain in her eyes, or in his own heart, for in regaining a brother, he’d lost a sister. Instead, they pulled even
harder, and Peter screamed aloud as he slipped through the portal, like the wail of a baby being born. He lay on the ground and shuddered for a moment before Cody helped him up.

“And Lazarus?” John Courage asked. “What of him?”

At that, they all looked up. Cody had only been dimly aware that Courage and Lazarus were connected. Meaghan’s face was a big question mark, for she didn’t know Courage at all. And
Peter was frowning, almost angrily.

“You’re the Stranger,” Octavian said, and now Meaghan looked even more confused. Cody didn’t get it, didn’t understand the reference, but it seemed that she did.
She looked at John Courage, the Stranger, with new respect.

“I’ve been called that,” Courage answered, one brow raised in surprise at Octavian’s words.

“Well,” Peter said, his face relaxing, his tone consoling. “I’m sorry to have to tell you that Lazarus didn’t make it. He is now a prisoner of Hell, as I was. And
The Gospel of Shadows
with him.”

“He’ll never get out now,” Meaghan said sadly. “Without the book, nobody can go back for him.”

“We’ll see about that,” Courage said, and Cody wasn’t certain, but he thought he caught a bit of hostility in Courage’s tone, for the first time.

“Well, Peter,” Cody said, breaking the moment, “what do you say we take another shot at Father Liam Mulkerrin? Put him down for good?”

“My pleasure,” Octavian said, and smiled.

But Will Cody wasn’t at all certain he liked that smile.

Washington, D.C., United States of America.
Wednesday, June 7, 2000, 4:47
A.M.
:

In the minutes since George Marcopoulos had called in on his safe line, Rafael Nieto had received the latest intelligence report, and he was shaking. The safe line had an
auto-trace, so that he always knew if not who was contacting him, at least where he was being contacted from.

UN Intelligence agents had arrived at the gas station in Virginia five minutes ago. Nieto held in his hand the fax that had just been transmitted on a closed line from Agent Perkins’s car.
The report was clear. A police officer had been attacked and bitten by an unidentified vampire. That vampire had a traveling companion whose description matched that of George Marcopoulos.

Only recently had the UN resorted to an Intelligence Division, as a part of the general expansion of the organization’s worldwide role. The problem was that nearly every UN staffer had
other loyalties as well, Intelligence agents included. So Nieto could be fairly confident that if the new President of the United States, William Galin, didn’t have a copy of the report yet,
he would have it soon.