Bad Grace (Watcher Chronicles Book 1) (18 page)

“There’s too damn many!” Frank shouted as he put a bullet in a crazy who was trying to crawl through where the windshield used to be.

Michelle hit a crazy woman in the face with the butt of the M16, knocking the woman of the passenger side door. “I know!”

“Now would be a good time to try those teleportation powers of yours!”

After kicking a teenage boy in the face, Michelle grabbed on to Frank’s leg.

“We’re still here!” Frank reminded her as he ran out of bullets.

“I’m trying!”

There were crazy people all over the truck like a swarm of bees, the only thing slowing them down from getting a hold of Frank and Eva being the fact that there were so many of them and they kept getting in each other’s way.

Hands were gripping them now. Clawing them. Scratching them. Pulling them.

“Michelle!”

The second Frank said her name he found himself lying somewhere else completely.

They weren’t in the truck anymore.

“Thank Christ,” he breathed. “Nice job on the teleporting. Although you had me worried for a second there.

“It’s a new skill,” Michelle said. “I’m still working on it.”

Frank stood up and looked around at the old warehouse buildings surrounding them. “You’re co-ordinates were slightly off. I was expecting to land outside the factory doors.”

Michelle was on her feet. “I’ll try harder next time,” she said sarcastically.

“Relax.” Frank smiled. “I was just kidding. You definitely have your father’s sense of humor, which is to say, none.”

Michelle looked put out, if a little offended. “I can do humor.”

Frank shook his head at her. “You can
do
humor, huh?” He laughed.

“Maybe after we stop the apocalypse from happing, I might tell you a joke.”

“Well, that’s one joke I can’t wait to hear.”

She smiled, her normally hardened expression softening for a second. “You’ll laugh, I promise.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt it,” Frank said. “But at you or the joke, that remains to be seen.”

Michelle shook her head but kept her smile. “Whatever. I got us to the warehouse district. Never mind about my comedic potential.”

“That you did.”

“You ever see anything like that back there?”

“Nope, but I have a feeling their violent behavior had something to do with the fact that they had no souls.”

“And that’s down to this demon we’re here for? Krakus?”

Frank nodded. “Just one of the many reasons he needs to be stopped.”

“What with?” Michelle asked. “We have no weapons. I have my knife. That’s it. We need a plan before going into that factory.”

Frank looked around, trying to orientate where the old meat factory was. “Well,” he said beginning to walk, Michelle alongside him. “We have until we reach the factory to think of one.”

“Preferably one that isn’t going to get us killed,” she said.

CHAPTER 26

It took about twenty minutes for them to make their way through the warehouse district to get to the old meat factory. On the way, they discussed plans and possible tactics. Neither of them came up with anything that you would call solid. When you’re dealing with demons, no matter what your plan is, things always got dangerous. The more powerful the demon, the more dangerous things got. Krakus was a mid-level demon and therefore pretty powerful. Not click his fingers and you would explode into tiny pieces powerful, but powerful enough. The only way to insure yourself against a powerful demon was to have the upper hand on them somehow. This could mean employing certain spells or forms of magic against them, or it could mean using powerful weapons against them, such as the Watcher knife. Surprise was always a good tactic, as with any enemy. So was overwhelming force via superior numbers. Of course, Nephilim like Frank and Michelle also had their own not inconsiderable powers to use, but those powers barely levelled the playing field against the more powerful demons. All of which meant that Frank was taking a risk in confronting Krakus again. More than that, he was putting his dead friend’s only daughter at risk for personal gain. Sure, the soul stealing rituals had to stop, but Frank was under no illusions about his motives for being there at that factory.

“Okay,” Frank said as they stood around the side of the factory. “There’s no easy way to do this. We have no weapons apart from the knives, and there’s only two of us.”

Michelle threw her head back, stood tall. “We’re Watcher’s, they’re demons,” she said. “
We
keep
them
in line, right?”

Frank half smiled. “You sound like Jack.”

“You knew my father. He believed in what we do.”

“Yeah, he did.”

“So how we going to do this?”

“I go in the front door, alone. Hopefully I can distract them long enough for you to teleport in and use your knife on Krakus.”

“That’s your plan? I don’t even know if I can teleport again. I told you, it’s new to me. I don’t have a handle on it yet.”

“Well, you’d better try,” Frank said. “I’m assuming Krakus is in there with his two sidekicks. They’ll kill us both if we just walk in the front door.”

“What about you then? They’ll kill you surely.”

Is it worth the risk, Frank? Possibly getting killed just to bring me back?

“I don’t die that easy,” Frank said, trying to convince himself as much as her. “Just give me two minutes and then get in there, alright?”

Michelle didn’t look happy with what he was proposing, but she nodded anyway.

Frank left her at the side of the building and went around the front, hoping Krakus hadn’t upped his security since the last assault. As it was, Frank saw no one as he came around the front of the factory. The double doors were wide open and Frank walked into the darkness inside, grace beaming from his hand, allowing him to see where he was going. A moment later he had reached the door to the big room where he knew Krakus would be. He could already hear the demon in the midst of the ritual, Krakus’s voice low and full of dark intent.

After taking a moment to steady his nerves and focus his brain—wishing at the same time that he had his hip flask on him—Frank pushed the doors open and went inside the room.

He was surprised to see Krakus sitting alone in the circle of black candles in the center of the big room. Frank barely acknowledged the naked unconscious bodies strewn haphazardly all across the floor. No doubt it was too late for them anyway. Their souls would already be taken to Hell. “Hey!” he shouted, snapping Krakus out of whatever trance he was in. “Remember me? It’s your buddy, Frank.”

As Frank started stepping through the bodies on the floor, not really worrying if he trod on them or not, Krakus stared at him, eyes blazing red. The demon looked furious for a second, then he laughed. “Once again, Watcher, you’re too late. Everyone here is soulless now.”

“Not everyone,” Frank said as he continued to pick his way through the floor of naked flesh, trying not to be too disconcerted by the sheer number of bodies around him. There seemed twice as many as before.

“Keep telling yourself that,” Krakus said, having made no movement to get to his feet yet. Instead, he merely sat cross-legged while Frank drew closer. “One day you might believe it.”

Ouch, Frank. That had to hurt.

Frank stopped about six feet away from the still sitting demon. “Look, Krakus,” he said, hoping Michelle was going to show very soon. “I don’t care about you—”

The demon cut him off before Frank could continue with his not so subtle ruse to stall for time. “Then why are you here? For this?” Krakus picked up the long feather from the bowl of blood, its pristine whiteness unsoiled by any blood stains, as if the blood just ran off it leaving no trace.

Frank swallowed as he tried to stay casual and not fixate on the feather, even though that’s exactly what he wanted to do, almost like he was under the feather’s spell. Where is Michelle? he thought.  “I’m not here about that. I’m just here to talk.”

Krakus waved the feather at him. “Come now, Frank. I can feel your wanton need from here. What do you want it for?”

“I told you, I’m just here to talk. Tell me about Tolloch.”

The demon’s eyes narrowed as his lips curled slightly. “I see you’ve been digging.”

“I know he’s your boss. You’re just a small player in a bigger game. That’s why I don’t give a shit about you.”

Krakus leapt to his feet, the feather still in his hand. His true demon face was now in full view, huge mouth open, twitching the tusks on the side of his jaws. “I’m sick of you, Watcher,” he said, his voice so deep and gravelly Frank could hardly make out the words. The demon’s intent though, was quite clear, even if his words were not. “Time to die!”

Before Frank could make a move, the demon shot out an arm towards him. A second later, it felt to Frank like a steel vice had been clamped around his neck, pressing in from every side, making it impossible for him to breathe.

Then he found himself lifting off the floor as Krakus telekinetically held him in suspension. The pressure around his neck was so forceful and so sudden that he could barely think as he hung in midair, his head feeling like it was about to explode at any second. He could only stare down at the demon below, helpless.

Then, just before the blackness rushed in to meet him, Frank saw Michelle suddenly appear behind Krakus and then he saw, or thought he saw, Michelle stick her knife into the back of the demon’s head. After that, the blackness took Frank away.

“Frank! Frank! Wake up, Frank!”

His eyes shot open and he sat bolt upright, unsure of where he was or who was kneeling beside him. He drew his head back to look at the person. Such blonde hair. Such a beautiful face. An angel? He can’t be dead…

“It’s Michelle, Frank. Are you with me?”

Michelle. Of course. “What—” He had to stop when he felt a rush of blood to his head that almost made him faint. He felt hands on his back as Michelle steadied him.

“Krakus was about to kill you,” Michelle said.

Krakus. Of course. The demon that held him up in the air and who was about to break his neck. That Krakus. “Shit,” Frank said, remembering. Then he froze. The feather. He looked around to where the circle of candles was, at the hollow meat suit that used to house Krakus. He couldn’t see any sign of the feather.

“Looking for this?” Michelle held the feather in front of her and he reached out to grab it. She pulled it away so he couldn’t reach it. “Come on, Frank. Why else would you be here, risking your life? Certainly not to stop Krakus, not when we could have been trying to stop his boss instead.”

Frank sighed. “It’s important I have that. That’s all you need to know for now.”

Michelle stared at him a moment. “I risked my ass to get this. Saved your ass in the process. You owe me an explanation, at least.”

“And you’ll get one,” Frank said nodding. “Just not now. Please.”

She handed him the feather, said, “I hope it was worth all the effort to get it, especially when there’s a city out there that needs us.” She stood up and began to walk through the bodies on the floor, all of whom would be waking up soon, every one of them capable of causing much destruction and mayhem, not to mention murder.

A wave of shame came over Frank after hearing Michelle’s last words. She was right. There was a city out there about to go under and here he was, running personal errands. Despite the guilt that cut into him like a knife, he couldn’t help feeling pleased and vaguely excited when he looked at the feather he now held in his hand.

Redemption was now within his grasp and he didn’t know whether to feel happy or terrified by that.

CHAPTER 27

Before he left the factory, Frank phoned Lucas. “It’s me,” he said. “I’ve got what you want.”

There was a pause on the other end of the line, then Lucas said, “I’m very glad to hear that.”

“You find out what I need to know?”

“I did. You’ll know everything when I have the feather.”

“Well, I’m afraid you’ll have to wait on that. I have to try and find a way to stop this city from going to hell first.”

“Tell me where you are,” Lucas said. “We could meet and—”

“No,” Frank said, cutting him off. “The feather stays with me until I’m ready to hand it over.”

A tight sigh came down the line. “Try not to get killed in the meantime. I don’t fancy another hunting expedition.”

Frank shook his head. “Jesus, to hear you, anyone would think you risked your ass to get the damn thing.”

“Just be careful with it,” Lucas said and then hung up the phone.

“Dick,” Frank said as he walked out of the factory through the front doors. Michelle was standing outside waiting on him. She still seemed pissed at him. He couldn’t blame her.

“Ready to do your duty now?” she asked.

“I’m ready, yes.”

“Good. I’ll try to teleport us to the Facility.” She walked over and grabbed his arm.

“Wait,” he said, shaking loose from her strong grip. “Not so fast. We need a plan before we go storming in there, not to mention reinforcements. Don’t let your anger affect your judgment.”

Really, Frank? That’s just hilarious, you talking about clouded judgment, the man who neglects his duties to go on vanity missions.

Michelle’s face hardened even more than it already was. “How much time are we going to waste? We’re probably too late as it is.”

“Too late for what, Michelle? We don’t even know what we’re up against. Do you?”

“Of course. Leland and that demon Tolloch. They are both behind all this madness.”

“Well, let’s hope it’s that simple then, though in my experience, these things never are. There’s always more to the story.”

“Which is why we have to get in there and find out what the rest of the story is.”

Her youthful zeal and enthusiasm wasn’t exactly infectious to Frank. It just made him crave a drink or three. “Look, I agree with you. But we need weapons and back up, like I said.”

“I can get us weapons when we get inside the Facility,” she said. “And it’s probably best that we go in alone. More people will attract more attention, making it harder to move through the Facility.”