Demonicus (Overworld Underground Book 2) (30 page)

Silence gathered. George finally spoke. "I will be the first volunteer. I believe Mr. Sticks will be the second."

The other man's expression never wavered as he nodded in assent.

"No, George!" I slapped my hand on the table. "There has to be another way."

"It is my duty and obligation," he said. "We are sworn to protect Eden, and if this is all we can do, then we have no choice."

"I don't like this at all." Tyler frowned. "Look, I'm a demon. I can do it and if it frees my soul, I'll simply return to Haedaemos. Just keep my body alive, and I can eventually return."

"Absolutely not." I frantically gripped his arm, terrified at the thought of losing him, and immensely proud he was willing to make such a noble sacrifice. "We don't know if your soul will survive or not. Zuba only guessed it might."

"Well, it's better than letting two people who definitely can't come back sacrifice their lives." He displayed a confident grin. "I know it'll work."

Mr. Stick's eyes focused on him with something bordering on respect, but as usual, he said nothing.

"A very noble offer," George said. "But this is our duty."

"It's still my fight," Tyler declared.

"Wait!" I said. "Let's ask Vallaena. She knows a lot." I knew I was grasping at straws, but I liked George, and would die before letting Tyler throw himself on the demon sword. "Perhaps she can suggest alternatives."

George pursed his lips. "I'm willing to entertain other options."

"Can we contact her now?" I asked.

"Yes." George looked at Zuba. "If you come up with any other information, please let me know."

"Of course." Zuba nodded. "Good luck."

George ended the call and picked up his phone. He contacted Vallaena and projected her image over the table, then told her everything we knew.

"This is extremely troubling." Her eyes flashed. "Unfortunately, I know little more than Zuba when it comes this daemonculus." Vallaena's eyes grew distant for a moment. Finally, she spoke. "We have no choice but to stop them tonight."

"We have no reinforcements," George said. "The Templars are still tracking down rogue vampire elements and have no one to spare."

"I will bring my people. The possessed will have no chance against us." She looked at something not in view of the camera and nodded. "All we must do is stop them from creating one of the two demonicus. I believe we can reach the one to the west—a soccer field at Baskin Elementary School—more swiftly."

"Agreed." George checked his watch. "If the demons are keeping to the same tight schedule they used when summoning Abaddon, we don't have much time to stop them. How soon can you be there?"

"Thirty minutes." Vallaena looked down as if consulting something. We should meet in the vacant cul-de-sac to the north."

George scrolled the map and highlighted an unfinished part of a subdivision. "Here?"

"Yes." Vallaena gave us a tense look. "We'll see you there." She ended the call.

"Let's get everyone outfitted, shall we?" George motioned for us to follow him and took us down a level to a room with a window in a large wall. A man in a tight black uniform sat behind it.

"Yes, Agent Walker?"

"I need six sets of Nightingale armor complete with lancers," George said. He looked at my parents. "Any preference on weapons?"

"We brought our own," my mother said.

I really wanted a sword, or perhaps a shotgun, but felt certain I would receive neither. Tyler procured a set of nun chucks.

"Are you really planning to fight with those?" I asked. He nodded. "These are the best non-lethal weapons. After all, we don't want to kill the possessed hosts."

I really hadn't thought of that. "I suppose you're right, but can we afford to spare them?"

"If at all possible, Miss Glass." George slid a sword into a sheath on his back. "But we will do what is necessary."

Mr. Sticks banged the butt of his staff on the floor as if to underscore the point.

The man behind the window returned shortly with strips of black cloth and the other equipment.

I took a strip of the cloth and stared at it for a moment. "What are we supposed to do with these?"

"Place the belt around your bare waist," George instructed.

I lifted my shirt a fraction and wrapped the cloth around it. The ends seamlessly joined.

Tyler ran a hand along it. "Cool."

"Now, pinch the upper hem and give it a slight pull up," George said.

The second I did, the cloth literally grew up my torso. I squeaked and jumped back, as if that would remove the strange sensation crawling up my skin.

George smiled. "Do the same for the sleeves, gloves, legs and boots."

"Good lord, that's a lot of tugging." I bit back a multitude of questions and did as instructed until my entire body except for my head was covered in the material.

George took off his business suit to reveal a black uniform patterned with thin honeycombed ridges. "Remove your street clothes and leave them here."

Tyler removed his clothes. The tight armor highlighted every nuance of his muscular physique. He gave me a curious look when I hesitated to remove my clothes. "Something wrong?"

"Of course." I pinched my belly. "Every little bulge of fat is going to look horrid in this thing."

Tyler pressed his lips together, but couldn't repress a snort. "Em, you are too much." He pressed his hand to my stomach. "Your body is perfect, and it'll look just as perfect in the uniform."

"This material protects against many forms of physical and magical harm," George said. "It will also help us approach undetected, whereas your regular clothes are a bit bright for the job."

I sighed and removed my clothes. Patrick looked positively monstrous while my mother presented a shapely and lithe figure. Mr. Sticks looked odd without his suit and bowler, but no less menacing than usual.

George handed me a small dagger and a sheath. "I don't want to leave you completely without, Miss Glass, but use this only if necessary."

I tightened the belt of the sheath around my waist. "You can wager I'll avoid a sword fight at all costs."

We went to the garage, climbed into George's flying car, and flew off into the night sky. Though we were on the opposite side of town from the elementary school, it didn't take long to traverse the distance.

Torches flickered from the ground below, offering barely enough light to make out a pattern etched into the dirt below.

I couldn't tell how much was done. "Just to be clear, once the pattern is anointed, even digging up the ground won't get rid of it?"

"Correct," George said. "The pattern is then invisibly held together by the soul." He steered the car north to the empty cul-de-sac mentioned by Vallaena.

A dozen black-clad figures melted out of the forest around the street. One of them lowered a hood and a blonde ponytail spilled out, quickly identifying her as Vallaena.

"How shall we proceed?" she asked.

"Stealth," George replied. "Incapacitate the patrols first and then move inward." He knelt and drew an oval in the dirt. "They have six sentries in these locations." He put a dot at the locations. "I suggest your people approach from the south and west. We'll infiltrate from the north and east. Try to remain undetected as long as possible."

She nodded. "By incapacitate, I assume you do not want anyone killed?"

"The hosts are innocent. Any demon lord present is a different manner." He frowned. "How do you suggest we handle him?"

Vallaena remained silent for a moment. "I had hoped you might know. Perhaps I can banish him." She turned to me. "For that, I'll need his true name."

"I hope we're strong enough to hurt him," Tyler said.

She pulled the hood back over her head. "As do I." She turned to her followers. "We go." With that, the Daemos blurred into the night.

"Man, they're fast." Tyler stared intently after them, as if he might see them in the dark.

"Move out," George commanded and jogged toward the woods separating us from the soccer field.

Patrick incapacitated the first sentry on the north side of the field. George put the man in sleeper cuffs and hid him beneath a bush. We went to the edge of the trees and surveyed the area. Torches around the pattern flickered fitfully in the breeze, making it difficult to see how many people were in the middle of the field. Trees offered cover on all sides of the track, which would make it easier to sneak round the perimeter.

George turned to me. "Miss Glass, how many demons do you detect?"

I'd opened my senses already and had a number for him. "Thirty-seven regular possessed." The encounter with Astra had taught me what the demon knights felt like. I was barely close enough to make them out. "Five demon knights, and one demon lord." Karak was the easiest to discern, like an inferno bound in a bottle.

"Very precise, Miss Glass." George looked impressed. "You improve every day."

I felt a blush creeping up my cheeks. "I try."

Victoria touched my arm. "Remarkable, dear. Could you place each of them?" I blinked a couple of times, unsure if my mother had actually complimented me. My heart dared flutter with excitement, but I tried not to let it show.

I knelt and drew an oval in the dirt then pinpointed their approximate locations. The sentries were the easiest to place. I sensed the presence of two Arcanes as well.

My forehead wrinkled with confusion. "For some reason, I think Kassus and Drang are both here." I looked up. "Shouldn't one of them be drawing the other demonicus?"

"Perhaps they already completed the other one," Patrick suggested.

A bush rustled and I nearly jumped out of my skin as Mr. Sticks appeared with a bundle over either shoulder. He dumped two possessed onto the ground and George secured them with sleeper cuffs.

He pointed to my diagram. "Let's see how many we can capture before someone notices."

Sticks nodded and vanished into the dark.

Patrick put a hand on my shoulder as I stood. "Honey, you should wait here."

"I agree," Tyler said before I could protest. "Just be ready to come glimpse Karak's true name."

I glanced at my parents. "You don't have supernatural strength."

My mother turned her gaze on me. "Yes, but we have lancers and weapons, and we're trained to use them."

I decided not to mention how I'd taken out the three possessed at the construction site and simply shrugged. "I'll be here."

The words were hardly out of my mouth before the others had vanished into the trees. George and Sticks returned first, followed shortly by Tyler. We soon had a respectable number of unconscious people lying in a row on the forest floor as each member of our party returned with new guests. Many of them weren't possessed, I realized.

Some of these must be potential hosts.

I was just about to congratulate myself on how well things were going when I heard shouts followed by brilliant flashes of light. I ran to the edge of the trees and saw bolts of lightning crackling into the trees on the eastern side of the soccer field. Two figures with staffs stood at the center of the field, hurling magical destruction.

Two large glowballs shot high into the air, illuminating everything like daylight and revealing at least fifty people remaining on the soccer field. The demons had brought along plenty of humans, I realized.

Karak walked up behind Kassus. "I know someone is there," he boomed in a deep voice. "Give yourselves up and you won't be harmed."

George stepped out from behind a tree to the west of the field, hands in the air.

"What the bloody hell are you doing?" I said to myself.
They clearly outnumber us.

"I represent the Templars," George said. "We're here to stop you from completing this demonicus."

"I understand," Karak said. "Unfortunately, I cannot comply."

Kassus raised a fist and shouted, "The Children of Armageddon will not submit!"

Karak motioned the man to silence.

"We also cannot give you a choice in the matter." George pointed to the large patches of yellowing grass in the field. "Do you see what effect your presence has on this world? We cannot allow you to summon Domathus with the daemonculus."

Even from this distance, I saw the surprise flash on Karak's face. "You're very well informed, Templar."

"We do our best," George said. "Now, if you'll kindly cease and desist, then remove yourself back to Haedaemos, I will consider the matter closed."

Karak shook his head. "Eden is diseased, Templar. The mortals have metastasized like a cancer, infecting it and making it ripe for conquest." His form seemed to grow slightly in size. "Soon this world will be overrun by Seraphim as it nearly was thousands of years ago." His voice deepened as he spoke. "If Eden is conquered, Haedaemos will be vulnerable."

I dared feel a spark of hope. If the demons were here to help, that couldn't be all bad, right?

"We gladly accept your help in the defense of Eden," George said. "But devouring the souls of the innocent to do so is unconscionable. Despite this, perhaps we can work out an arrangement to allow you to remain until the dangers to Eden are pushed back."

Karak laughed. "You misunderstand me, Templar. We alone will push back the Seraphim hordes should they dare encroach this realm again. First, we will possess all of humanity itself. Eden will be ours."

Chapter 26

That was most definitely not what I expected.
I peered across the field in a vain attempt to see if Vallaena or the others were moving on the demons just yet.

"A most ambitious plan," George said. He scratched his neck. "I assume Atlanta is just the first city. Once the daemonculus is in place, it will allow Domathus to drain hundreds of souls."

"He will consume thousands," Karak said. "There will be no rival to his might."

Chilling horror consumed every last shred of doubt in my mind. We had to stop these creatures no matter the cost. Even if we had to kill every last host body, this couldn't be allowed to happen.

I felt something tingling in the distance. Something supernatural lingering at the edge of my vision. Try as I might, I couldn't glimpse it.