Demon Accords 6: Forced Ascent (29 page)

With that out of the way, Grim turned our attention to the ones that had made our vampire grieve her lost guardian.  Already wounded by their own weapons, they would fall like wheat to our scythe. Lining my hands and arms with aura, Grim prepared for the slaughter, only to stop at the warm touch of a single finger on my left bicep.

Stacia was standing next to me, back in human form, her approach ignored by my combat persona’s focus on enemies and enemies alone.  Grim retreated a little at her contact and when I turned to her, part of my normal self was able to read her expression.  Sorrow, disgust at the shooters, and fear—fear for me.  Fear that I would lose myself in the slaughter that was about to follow. She was wearing just a borrowed jacket, but it must have been Arkady’s because it was enormous and covered her almost to her knees. 

Grim pulled back a bit further and I looked back to where Tanya held Trenton, her gaze locked on mine, her regret and loss so sharp it had weight.  Lydia was staring down at the handsome face of the silent bodyguard and Arkady stood with his head bowed.  Awasos sniffed Trent’s form then blurred back to wolf form, sitting and raising his head to the sky to howl for his lost companion in the way that wolves have since even before man lived in smoky caves and cowered in the dark night.

Grim checked our surroundings one more time, finding it clear of immediate danger for several hundred yards in all directions, before retreating fully.  Sirens approached but they were the ambulance and fire truck kinds, here to treat the wounded and control the damage I’d already done.

The news choppers continued to hover, but all the military ones were pulling back.  Fully myself, I went back to Tanya, whose eyes were streaked with tears.  Then I noticed Barbiel standing at the edge of the church grounds, mere yards from the others, his expression one of relief as he looked straight at me.  He gave Stacia a firm nod, then looked at Tanya, who had turned to look where I was staring.  Meeting the angel’s gaze, she came to a conclusion, one I could feel through our link.  She stood, lifting the tall, lean Guardian’s body without effort and started toward Barbiel.

He patted her shoulder as she lay Trenton on the church grounds at his feet. He leaned over and held one hand out, as if to give the dead vampire a hand up.  White light lifted from the body and touched his outstretched hand, swelling from an arm-shaped line to a body-shaped oval of pure white light. 

“I will take this warrior home myself, Lailah.  He has served well, sacrificing himself for his comrade,” the Angel of October said before blurring into gold and silver light himself.  Both blobs of light ascended, slow, then fast, then gone.

Chapter 25

Alexis Bishop arrived in the back of an ambulance, jumping out with the paramedics, moving quickly out of their way as they set about tending the survivors.  Most of the wounds were flash burns, micro shrapnel, ruptured eardrums, shock, and temporary blindness.  I caused those.  There were some gunshot wounds from the Satanists—who were mostly dead, having fought to the last man.  Then there were the agents and officers who had tangled with the demons.  Only a few survived, and they had already been medevaced to hospitals.  The rest were just bodies being covered by the cleanup crew.

Looking around at the wounded officers, bodies, and debris-strewn streets, it took her a moment before she looked over our way.  It’s not like we were hidden, sitting on the masonry base of the smashed church sign.  Plus the three—no, make it now four—camera crews situated on the roofs of the nearest buildings were all broadcasting a continuous video feed of our every move, while parabolic microphones sought our words.

I think it must have been the sheer activity that was taking place and the amount of damage to the street, parked cars, and surrounding buildings that occupied her attention.

All of the flashing lights were ambulance and fire truck mounted, as no military or SWAT vehicles had approached closer than five hundred yards to the center of the destruction.  The only non-news helicopters had been the medevac units and Marine One, which had landed on the South Lawn of the White House and then left, most likely with the President aboard.  Why he hadn’t been evacuated at the start of the whole thing, I didn’t know.

Grim could sense military units on the perimeter of the five hundred yard mark, ready but unmoving.

She got closer, slowing a bit at the sight of us.  Stacia sat on the corner of the sign base, then me, then Tanya, and finally Lydia, who hadn’t spoken since Trenton had died.  Arkady stood in guard position, halfway between the body of his fallen comrade and his queen, ready to protect either or both as needed.  Awasos lay by my feet, sharing pemmican bars that Arkady had retrieved from the cars.  A mound of wrappers were piled between me and Stacia.

“I’m here to talk about next steps,” she said, only her darting eyes betraying any real sign of nervousness.

“Next steps, Alexis?” I asked, trying to keep the volcano of rage and anger inside me from erupting.  Both Tanya and Stacia touched me, almost simultaneously, which at any other time would have made me smile in disbelief.

“Yes.  We need to talk about how to handle the aftermath of all of this,” Alexis Bishop said, waving her hands around. “How do we proceed and resolve what has happened?”

Tanya jumped up, which made Alexis jerk in fear.  Reaching a hand to Lydia, my vampire looked first at me, then Stacia.  “I’m going into the church.  I think Lydia and I need to talk with Barbiel.  You,” she directed at Stacia, “stay with him, right?”

“Right,” Stacia agreed. 

They left and when Arkady looked from me to them, I put him out of his indecision.  “Go with them. ‘Sos will watch over Trenton,” I said, patting the furry wolf at my feet.  I, myself, had spent some time with Barbiel after the battle and knew just how calming a talk with him could be, although my time had been more instructional in nature.

Arkady nodded, looked balefully at Alexis, then followed the other two vampires.

Alexis watched them, a trace amount of wonder showing through her poker face at the sight of three vampires entering a church.

“Maybe you would like to go with them?” she said, turning to Stacia.

“Maybe me sitting here is the only thing that will keep him from going ballistic when you push him over the edge with your words?  Maybe it would be in the best interests of this city and country if I sat my ass right here and prevented Apocalypse C?” Stacia replied.

That made the President’s Fixer pause, eyes widening slightly before she looked back at me as if trying to visually measure my fuse.  I just watched her and after trying to hold my stare for a moment, she looked back at the werewolf girl by my side.

“Yeah, maybe that would be best,” she said with a nervous nod.

“So, now that you’ve killed my friend and brother in arms, just how do we proceed?” I asked, thinking that my voice sounded reasonable.  Stacia’s immediate grasp of my forearm and Alexis’s gulp and small step back indicated not.

“
I
didn’t kill your friend.  The President didn’t kill your friend.  It was a mistake by a frightened agent, who as I understand it is now blind.”

I shifted slightly at the implication I should feel bad about one man’s vision problems while Trenton lay dead.  The hand on my forearm squeezed slightly.

“Lady, I understand that you’re some kind of high-powered negotiator or something, but right now, you’re doing a piss poor job with word selection,” Stacia said.

“Look, all I meant was that you’ve exacted some punishment on the killer of your friend.  Yes, he still lives, but at the end of the day, he was just a man doing his job in a situation that none of his experience or training could prepare him for.  No one ordered your friend killed.”

I pointed to the blackened furrow cut through the grass across the street in the square.

“And I suppose your little Death Star in the sky just happened to misfire, too?” I asked.

“We’re looking into that,” she said, paling noticeably.

“Wait, you don’t know who fired that thing?” Stacia asked, starting to stand up.  I grabbed her hand as it left my arm, restraining
her
for a change.

“You have to understand that it’s a huge government with thousands of moving parts.  There are over three thousand agencies, departments, and private companies all working on defense and homeland security.  It isn’t as clear cut as you might think.”

“You’re implying that there is another Agents-in-Rebus-like organization?  With control of space-based weapons?” I said.

“We have locked down control on all assets.  Since the Tomahawk misfired, we’ve initiated much more stringent command and control procedures.  Within the last hour, the President has ordered centralized weapons control to just himself.  He had nothing to do with those attacks on you or your people,” Alexis said. “We are actively investigating who actually ordered those attacks.”

“Either I believe you, in which case I’m left disgusted at the sheer ineffectiveness of this government, or I call you a liar and decide to go to war.”

She studied me for a moment, calculating.

“You can hear my heartbeat?  See if my skin flushes?”

“Yes, we can. Plus we can literally smell if you lie,” Stacia said.

“And?”

“You haven’t lied yet.  But then, I haven’t spoken to the President directly either, to get a read on him,” I said.

“Would you?  Talk to the President?  Could you?  Without killing anyone?” she asked.

Grim started to react but I squashed him on my own.  Instead, I got chilly inside, focused, my attention fully on her and all her reactions. 

“You don’t know if he will, do you?  You’re just testing the waters, looking for a hook.  You already know the level of control I’ve kept… I’ve been… gentle.  Would I?  Yeah, sure.  I don’t think he will though… too scared.”

She nodded at the truth of my words.  “You might be surprised.  Okay, what else?  How do we get you out of here?” she asked, waving her hands around us at the destruction.

“We’ve called for a ride,” Tanya said, walking back out of the church.  Lydia must have stayed inside as well as Arkady.  “We have a helicopter waiting.”

Alexis was terrified of Tanya; her erratic heartbeat and the little gulping motion in her neck told that plain as day.  But she struggled to contain it, pulling her eyes away from Tanya to glance at me.  “What are you waiting for?” she asked.

“You—or someone like you,” I answered.  She stayed looking at me but I could almost see the battle not to look back at the vampire princess gliding through the wreckage on the lawn.  She gulped again. 

“Why?  Why not just leave?” she asked, her professional curiosity peeking through her fear.

“Because we need to explain some things,” Tanya said, suddenly right next to her, the wind from her sudden blur of motion pushing Alexis’s brown hair back from her face.

Alexis froze completely while Tanya started a slow stroll around the professional politician.

“First, that we’re done here—with all this,” Tanya said, leaning close to Alexis’s ear from behind.  “That we’re done offering our help,” she almost whispered.

“Halloween is just begun,” I said.  “Daylight will be here soon, but then tonight will fall and even though this demon and his helpers are gone, don’t think for a second that it’s over.  This is the day of the year that the barriers between planes of existence are thinnest.  This country is going to have some issues, come nightfall, as will the whole of the planet.  You should do some planning while the daylight lasts.”

She looked at me for a second, then twitched her eyes sideways at Tanya, who was coming around to her left side. 

“It’s not over?  And you’re just leaving us?” she asked, looking around at us and the first responders some distance away.  Her head tilted up and her view took in the tops of the buildings… and the television crews on them.

“You’re leaving your people to just die?  Your country?,” she said louder.

“No, Alexis, we’re going to a funeral,” I said.

Her expression was all focused concentration and thought.  “Can’t that wait? Why can’t you postpone your arrangements till this is past?  Till the country is safe?”

“Because, as you told me the last time we met, Alexis, the leaders of this country cannot abide me roaming free, because you want to hold my eight-year-old goddaughter hostage for control of my God-given abilities, because you’ve frozen our assets, hunted us like rats, launched missiles at us, sent assassins, and now when we step out of hiding to protect you, you kill us!” I said, voice rising to match hers.

“You have been grievously wronged.  I was wrong, as were the others in that meeting.  But we… the President and myself did not order that missile launched or set that trap in Baltimore or fire the Stellar Overwatch weapon at you.  Would you let innocent people die—families hacked to death by demonic killers?”

“Actually, I don’t believe we said we were going to do nothing… I think we said we weren’t going to help
you
or
him
.  We don’t trust you, you can’t even control your own forces, and we won’t work with you.  What we will do is stop hiding.  We’ll do as much as we can on our own, but be warned: If you shoot at us, we’ll more than shoot back. If you launch missiles, I send them right back, and if another motherfucking satellite looks at me cross-eyed, I pull the whole fucking sky down on your heads.  Stay out of our way, keep your agents and assassins away, keep your fucking weapons holstered or by God, the Hell holes and demons will be the least of your problems.  And stay the fuck away from Toni!” I said, my voice rising along with my body.