Demonspawn (40 page)

“How the fuck do I use this?”

“I don't know. Just stand at the door and
pull the trigger.”

Alicia and Donna were kneeling next to
Bachner. Alicia was crying.

“Get ready for some pain,” I told him.

“Felt nothing but pain my whole life.”

I grabbed the bolt and broke it off as close
as I could to his shoulder. Then I grabbed him and pulled him up.
He yelled and let out a deep breath when the bolt was clear.

Bachner moved fast. He grabbed some kind of
mini-crossbow strapped to his ankle. A regular boy scout. He fired
a single shot that barely missed Sam's head, who was staring at us.
He hit the heart of a vampire trying to make his way in. Sam wasn't
paying attention to the front door, and if it weren't for Bachner's
quick reflexes, who knows how that would have ended.

“Focus!” Bachner shouted. “Come on, man. Be
careful with the flame, though. Or you'll burn us alive in
here.”

Sam nodded, and gave a light spraying to the
next vampire that tried to climb in. He didn't kill the thing, but
it did run away.

“A fuckin' mutiny right under my nose,”
Bachner said as he put a hand to his shoulder. “Unbelievable.”

“Well, just goes to show yo. Some humans are
assholes. And some vampires are actually okay.”

He looked at me. I saw what might have been a
little remorse in his face.

Alicia grabbed me and gestured to Victoria.
“Is she dead?”

I was gonna grab the bolt sticking from her
chest, but Bachner bent down next to her.

I could almost see the emotions he was
dealing with.

He'd chased Victoria his whole life. She was
the reason he hunted vampires. She was motionless in front of him
with wood in her heart. She was finally vulnerable. Revenge was his
for the taking.

He grabbed the bolt and gave it a few
pulls.

Victoria's eyes grew wide and she took a huge
breath when the bolt was out. She winced in pain, but still kept
quiet. I could see her nose twitching, like she was sniffing the
air.

Then she pounced on Bachner.

“What the fuck!” he yelled.

She locked her mouth onto his shoulder
wound.

“It's okay!” I said. “She's just getting some
blood.”

“Get the fuck off me. Get off me!”

I pulled gently on Victoria's shoulders. She
let go and fell backwards on her ass. Bachner scooted away, and
they made eye contact. Blood dribbled down Victoria's chin. Her
fangs were out now, a sure sign she was weak, slightly out of
control. She looked up at me.

“Heins?”

“Gone. But he couldn't have gone far. The
army's not letting anybody out of here.”

Bachner shook his head. “That won't matter.
I'm sure he's got an escape plan.”

“Yeah. You trained him well, right?” Victoria
asked, ice in her voice.

“Guys?” Sam said near the front. “I'm hearing
a lot of noise out there.”

Victoria stood up. I was surprised she
extended a hand to Bachner. And he took it.

“What is he doing?” she asked.

“He wants this thing to spread,” Bachner
said. “Probably stumbled on the virus, and figured he'd make use of
it. I didn't know anything about it, cause I'm an idiot.”

“No arguments here. He needs to be
stopped.”

Bachner didn't hesitate. “Yeah, I know.”

“Where's he
staying
?
You have a hideout of some kind?”

A new voice, right by Sam. It was Bill.

“A helicopter came and picked them up. Don't
know how they got out with the army flying around. But they did. I
heard them talking about an old office building on Russell Street,
right behind where Buster's used to be.”

Bachner was confused. He thought I was
staring at nothing. “Kid? You lost your mind?”

“An old office building on Russell Street.
Make sense, Bachner?”

He nodded. “We got a few places. Gotta keep
moving, you know? That's one of our best.”

Victoria looked at Bachner and me. I didn't
even notice that Alicia, Donna, and her new friend Chris were right
with us. Just one big happy group.

“Okay. I'll take care of Heins. Alex, you and
Bachner stay here and help clean up this mess. Now steer clear of
the army. They won't kill you on purpose, but they do have to
contain this.” She looked at the humans. “You all stay here. When
we leave, you block off this door. Then you go back in the kitchen
and block off there too.”

“No,” I said.

She glared at me. “What?”

“Bachner, if you're as good as I think you
are, this base of yours, I'm guessing it's vampire-proof?”

“As close as we could get it. UV bulbs in the
ceilings. Backup generators. A vampire even walks through the front
door, it's toast. And it makes sense for him to hide there until
daylight, then kill whatever's left over.”

“You won't be able to do it,” I told
Victoria. “But I can.”

She gave me a little smile. I think she might
have been proud of me, finally taking control.

“You just gonna walk in there and kill them,
Alex? Can your conscience handle that? Because mine can.”

I smirked. I knew what needed to be done. No
more holding back.

“They won't have a chance.”

“Wait, wait,” Alicia said. “You're talking
about sending my brother in against those guys?”

“I'll be fine, Alicia. Trust me.” The last
two words sounded weird. My voice mixed with demons.

“You be careful, kid. Heins, he won't be
playing.”

“Neither will I.” I looked at Victoria and
Bachner. It looked strange to me, the two of them standing side by
side. “You two play nice now.”

I looked at Bill. He nodded. “I'll meet you
over there.”

Bachner reloaded his mini-crossbow.

“Okay, let's go.”

I gave Alicia a quick hug, but I knew it
wasn't goodbye. I was confident. I just had to make sure it didn't
turn to arrogance.

“Oh, I kissed Cindy tonight,” I whispered to
her.

She smiled. “About time.”

The three of us left through the front door.
Sam and Chris started rebuilding the barricade once again.

Some vampires were chasing someone near the
stairs not too far from us. I saw someone standing over a corpse.
Just standing there, looking confused and lost. I realized it was a
ghost, mourning over his own body. It made me sad, and angry.

I shook my head. I had to stop Heins.

“Good luck,” I said.

“Same,” Bachner said. “Do me a favor. Give
Heins one good shot for me.”

Victoria gave me a smile. “See you soon.
Don't worry. I'll take care of your sister.”

“Thank you.”

I vanished and ran away from the stadium. As
soon as I cleared the outside walls, I reappeared and flew off.

I got a better view of what was happening
from up in the sky. It looked like the army was getting things
under control. They were slowly making their way inside, hopefully
to save more lives. That surprised me. If they truly knew what was
happening, they'd wait till daylight.

Russell Street wasn't too far away. The army
presence didn't stop at the stadium. I saw what looked like
checkpoints every few blocks. The city was deadlocked. No one in or
out. People were standing around in mobs everywhere. It was a scary
sight to see. I hoped no riots would happen.

I had to fly into the wind, a bit of a rough
ride. I stayed high. I'm sure there was enough panic and camera
phones below me as it was. I didn't need to add to anything.

I saw where the old Buster's nightclub use to
be, and the abandoned office building behind it. I couldn't see
inside too well. There wasn't anyone near the place.

I landed in the empty parking lot. I could
have vanished and walked right inside. But I didn't. I wanted them
to see me, if they were watching. Give them a chance to run.

Give them a chance to escape from the Hell
that was coming.

I tried to prepare myself for what I was
about to do.

I still didn't know exactly what I was
capable of. But I have the power of demons. I had taken it from
them, or they had given it to me. And they talked to me in my head,
in my dreams. I was gonna do what they wanted.

Before I could take a step, Bill appeared
next to me. He was obviously getting better at moving around.

“They're in there,” he said. “Maybe twenty,
thirty of them. Some are trying to catch the news on the radio.
Others are just goofing off. But they're all armed. Heins is on the
top floor, like the company president. He's all alone. It's weird,
though, the radio doesn't seem to be covering this at all. Looks
like maybe his plan didn't work.”

I'm guessing Bill's early visit to me did a
lot more good than we thought.

“Victoria called the army
very
fast.
I'm sure the coverup is already started.”

He nodded. “Okay. So what's the plan? I can
go in and do more recon if you need.”

I put a hand on his shoulder. “No. Stay
far
away. I'm not sure if what I'm gonna do will affect you
or not.”

He was surprised. “Alex, I'm a ghost. What
the hell can anyone do to me?”

I smiled and walked toward the office
building.

I could see my reflection in the glass door
as I got closer. I didn't expect what I saw.

My jeans were a little charred from the
earlier flame bath. My hair was a mess, and my chest was speckled
with blood. But that's not what surprised me.

My face was totally different.

I barely recognized myself. My face was
almost swollen. My forehead was a light shade of brown with ridges
in it. My cheeks were a bright red, to match my new red eyes.

I looked like a monster. Like a demon.

And that's what I am. I'm part demon. It was
time to really embrace that.

I pushed open the front door. An alarm went
off. The lobby area was rundown, like I imagine the rest of the
place was. The ultraviolet light gave the trash on the floor a
purple hue.

I heard people running. Two of Heins' men
popped up in a doorway not too far to the right. Looks like they
were packing guns this time. Before they could aim, I faced them
and beat my wings a few times. The wind knocked them to the
ground.

Two more showed up at the hallway to the
left. There was a large old desk that a secretary must have sat at
a long time ago. I ran for it and dove headfirst across the floor.
I vanished right before they opened blind fire. I felt the bullets
pass through as I slid through the desk and got into a sitting
position. They kept peppering the desk with bullets. I heard the
first two guys climb to their feet. There were four armed men, all
pointing guns at the desk.

I heard someone talking into a radio.

“The winged freak is here. He disappeared.
Get down to the lobby now.”

I didn't want to reappear. But I had to give
them a chance. I had to at least say I tried to save them.

“Listen, don't shoot,” I said. My voice still
sounded like a demon. That wouldn't help me get my message across.
“You have to leave. Please. Call your friends back and get everyone
out of here. If you leave now, you won't get hurt.”

There was a short laugh, followed by another
click of a radio.

“Okay, we've got him trapped. He's begging
for his life. Hurry up.”

I shook my head.

One of them jumped behind the desk, his
shotgun ready. I was already gone, vanished into the ghost
world.

Just one more world to go.

The empty office building slowly faded away
around me. The sounds and smells of the city all vanished. I could
only smell something horrible that I can't even describe.

I was in the demon world.

It was the same reddish looking desert that I
was in before. The demon world was always bleak and barren, except
for those rare gateways that reached all three worlds. But this
wasn't one of them.

That's because
I
was the gateway.

I was in the middle of hundreds, maybe
thousands of demons. None of them spoke a word. They were eating
people, ghosts, I guess. Was this Hell? Is this where bad people
went when they died? Or were they just lost souls, like my
biological parents and their cult?

One demon casually ripped off a woman's arm
and licked the end of the stump. Another ripped the dick off a man
and shoved it in his mouth. Some looked human, with arms and legs.
While others looked like twisted mutant animals of some sort, with
four legs. Some even had two heads.

They saw I was there.

They stopped what they were doing and looked
at me. Some were drooling with anticipation. One of the ones that
looked like a twisted dog tried to lick my leg, but it drew back,
like I'd hurt it. For whatever reason, I can hurt demons with a
touch.

A few of them bowed before me.

The demons had once said I'd be back, that I
was a part of them.

They were right.

“You want to come out and play?” I asked. I
still sounded like them.

There was some commotion. They looked
excited. One of the dog-like demons looked up at me and wagged its
two tails. It drooled blood.

I thought it was cute.

Then I felt guilty and horrible for thinking
that.

“It's play time. But no killing.”

They looked dejected, but only for a
second.

It was time to go back to the real world.

The red desert vanished. I was back in the
lobby of the office building, near the front door. It looked like
eight men all surrounded the front desk, trying to figure out where
I went. I recognized a few of them from the stadium.

I was angry.

“I tried to warn you.” They spun to face me.
I stretched my wings out, like a cobra extending its hood, then
folded them neatly behind me. “But you wouldn't listen. Remember,
you brought this on yourselves.”

They raised their weapons.