Days Gone Bad (26 page)

“Touch it with your power.”

I pushed a bit of my necromancy into the circle and was almost thrown into shock as a shield that looked more like a circle of power snapped into existence. I released the runes and gasped as the shield dissipated.

Zola was laughing. “That, Damian …” she shook her head, “that is one hell of a gift.”

“I hope it serves you well,” Cara said. “It amplifies your necromancy while shielding you from the usual … side effects. It will work with line energy, too. That shield will protect you from more than your normal shield would. We want Sam back, and we want you back, too.”

I blinked my eyes rapidly as they started to burn. I hugged Cara, careful not to crush the edges of her wings, and thanked her before she shrank to her normal size again.

“Devon was giving them orders,” Zola said.

My knuckles whitened as my hand clenched the demon staff. “Now she has Sam,” I said. “What’s she going to do?”

“Ah don’t know. From what we’ve learned, Ah’m worried. She could turn Sam into one of those slaves, or a zom-”

“Don’t, don’t even say it,” I said as I held up my hand and closed my eyes.

She bobbed her head and crooked a finger at me. “You’re on to something, boy. Devon’s aura was even darker than the puppets’, but she had more control than any of the others.”

“Yeah, but what’s that mean?”

“It means we need Vik. He knows her best.”

“I’m coming with you,” Cara said.

None of us had any objections.

***

We pulled into the u-shaped driveway of the Pit about a half hour later. I still had questions buzzing in my head, one in particular that just wouldn’t wait.

“Who healed me in the park, Zola?”

She said nothing as we exited the car and started toward the house. Foster and Aideen flew ahead, circling to the rear of the house. The car doors were like thunder in the silence. I could hear the highway in the distance, but the usual raucous symphony of crickets and frogs was silent. The wind brought a tinge of chlorine from the pool and the humid air was heavy in my lungs.

Still silent, Zola started up the walkway to the front door, her cane clicking on the bricks.

“I’m curious because you usually leave me in a lot more pain to be sure I learn my lesson.”

“Bah!” Cara said with a sudden burst of laughter.

Zola chuckled. She took a deep breath and picked at a fingernail before she said, “Glenn did.”

“What?”

“Ah didn’t know who he was at the time. He wore a different face.”

“Fuck me, Zola. Will he be able to call on me?”

Her face closed down. “It is … possible. Ah could not have saved you without him though. Ah don’t think the fairies could have either. Your back was broken, and if the bear had not intervened …” She shook her head and glanced back at Cara.

“My back?” I said in horror before Cara spoke, my hand rubbing over my fully-intact vertebrae.

“I’m not sure Damian, but it’s possible he may call favor from you,” Cara said.

“Shit.”

Zola just nodded and knocked on the door.

Nothing.

“It’s very quiet,” Cara said.

Zola knocked again and I put my ear up to the door. I could hear a faint groan. “Someone’s hurt.” I tried the door, but it was locked. I closed my hand like I was grabbing the hilt of a sword and pushed my aura into the circle.

“Damian,”
Cara hissed, “what are you doing?”

I smiled and flexed my hand. A thin red glow flashed out of the void. I could feel the power humming all around it.

“Aural blade,” Zola said, astonishment plain in her voice.

I jammed it through the deadbolt and cut the lock out of the door with a hiss of burning metal. The entire assembly fell to the ground and the door swung open. I let go of the blade, which dispersed like smoke, and stepped inside.

“I thought that was just a parlor trick,” Cara said.

“So did I,” Zola whispered.

I glanced at my master and grinned. “I’ve been working on it for a while.” My grin faded as I saw what had been groaning. Vik was leaning against the wall at the base of the staircase. To say he was a torn-up, bloody mess would be a gross understatement.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

I took a step toward Vik and didn’t even notice the blur out of the corner of my eye until I was airborne. I contemplated the stupidity of not checking the area with my Sight before I bounced off the banister, distantly impressed it didn’t break, and tumbled down the stairs across from Vik. I could hear the clash of metal on metal by the time I stopped falling.

I cursed and started up the stairs as soon as I gained my footing. Zola was crouched beside Vik. Foster and Aideen were both dueling with a single, monstrous vampire. He was close to Foster’s seven-foot height, a spiky crown of blond hair snarling from his head. The muscles writhing in his arms were scary as hell, and didn’t slow him down at all. If I’d ever had any doubt about the swords in the Pit’s coat of arms being real, it was gone now. Muscles fended off the two fairies, one sword in each hand. He swung the short swords like they were rapiers, thrusting and arcing in overhand blows that moved the blades faster than they had any right to move.

Foster dropped below a lateral swipe and lunged with his claymore. Muscles intercepted the thrust by crossing his body with his left hand. He followed through and lowered his body into a sweep. Foster cursed as his legs were knocked out from under him.

Aideen leapt in with a two-handed overhead slash that would have cleaved through a boulder. Muscles managed to follow through his sweep and deflect the blow with the sword in his left hand. If he’d tried to block Aideen outright, I was sure her sword would have split his like a toothpick.

I raised my hand to call on my necromancy. There was no sense in risking Foster or Aideen.

“No!” They both shouted at once.

I hesitated and, as I glanced at Foster, I noticed the shadow creeping around the chandelier.

Unfortunately for Muscles, he didn’t. Cara put her battle face on about ten feet above him and came down with a fury. Her sword sliced through his left thigh and sent the limb spinning down the stairs.

Muscles didn’t even scream. He just propped himself up on one leg and one sword, then swiped at Cara with his free arm. Her wings flared as she jumped back and dodged the attack.

Foster relieved him of his right arm. Muscles grunted as Aideen took care of his left arm, and Foster followed through a split second later to remove his right leg, just below the hip. Cara pulled back for a killing blow.

“Don’t kill him!” I yelled.

She paused and stared at me. “If I don’t do it, the Pit is going to.”

I shook my head and glanced at my master.

“Minas Ignatto,”
Zola said. I felt the power move through the room as fire sprang from her hand. She dragged the line of flame across the severed stumps of lost limbs.

“He’s still going to die, just not now,” I said. “Foster, you alright? Aideen?”

They both nodded and hugged each other briefly.

“You two mind adding this vamp to the collection I’m starting in my trunk?”

Foster laughed. “Not at all.”

I nodded and threw him my keys.

“It is not safe, boy, leaving them alive,” Zola said. “The demon is attached to them.”

“It’s our best shot,” I said, a little sharply. “I won’t ask Glenn for help, and you already said Aeros can’t fight a demon.”

“Ah said he can’t beat
this
demon.”

“Either way,” I said.

“These creatures are strong,” Cara said.

“He is not a puppet,” Zola said as she leaned over the vampire, “but he is corrupted.”

I looked at his aura. It was thin, tinged with sickly red hues, but it still moved outside his skin.

Cara was still staring at Muscles when I heard a low groan behind us and what sounded like very weak words. I glanced at Vik and was surprised to see his eyes open.

“Vik!” I walked over to him quickly and knelt down on the bloody rug.

His voice was only a whisper. “Damian, thank God.” He was on the floor, leaning into a person-sized dent in the white wainscoting. There was blood splattered everywhere. The mustard carpet looked like someone tried to repaint it with ketchup. Two bodies were on the ground in pieces around Vik. I hadn’t noticed them. Being distracted by a psychotic vampire can do that.

“Thank God,” Vik whispered again.

I couldn’t help but smile at a wounded vampire thanking God. “What happened? They ours?” I asked, indicating the other bodies in the hall.

He shook his head and flashed a bloody set of fangs. His grin faded. “Devon, she had Sam with her. Devon, that fucking whore, she laid me open and left that lout to finish off the Pit, but—” He cringed and his hand jerked to a wound in his side. “Most of them went down to the Loop, to the monster movie marathon.” He leaned his head back against the wall, blood streaming down his cheek. “Only three of us stayed here. The others are locked in the safe room downstairs. Devon …” he swallowed hard and grimaced, “said to tell you to meet them for a family reunion with your grandparents.”

My smile disappeared. “Calvary Cemetery,” was all I said.

“Sorry, Damian. Couldn’t stop her. I think she’s done something very stupid. She’s always after power … so …” He winced and sagged deeper against the wall.

“Don’t worry Vik. It’s not your fault. You’ve been good to Sam.” I squeezed his undamaged shoulder and turned to look for Cara. She already had her sword sheathed and was heading toward Vik. “Can you help him?”

A golden glow flashed around her as she inspected Vik’s wounds. “Yes, but it will take some time.”

Vik’s eyes rolled back and he slumped onto the floor in a pool of blood.

“Take care of him, Mom. We’ll go to the graveyard.”

Foster slammed his sword home with a sharp nod and led us out of the Pit.

CHAPTER THIRTY

Calvary Cemetery was a little over thirty minutes from the shop. We traveled in silence across Highway 70 East as the sun abandoned us. My grip alternated between the steering wheel and the demon staff stuffed between my leg and the door. A few minutes later we were in front of the gates to Calvary, just off West Florrisant Avenue on the north side of the city.

I hadn’t visited Calvary much since our grandparents passed away. Just seeing the huge marble pillar, surrounded by eagles, crowned with a towering crucifix, sent shivers down my spine. Centered at the front of the pillar’s base, between two eagle statues, stood Saint Louis IX with his cross-like sword point down between his feet. The figure looked out over the entrance with a serene expression. Basic armor, a stone cape, and stone headgear complimented the body. I have nothing but bad memories of that gate. I ground my teeth together and deliberately looked away.

“What is it?” Zola said.

“I’ve never come here without Sam.” I took a deep breath. “I never want to have to come here without her again.”

Zola patted my knee and nodded. She pointed off toward a mausoleum and said, “Park there. We’ll go behind the hills and come up by the rowan tree.”

I nodded once and pulled Vicky over to the edge of the asphalt drive.

“They’re here,” Aideen said from the edge of my headrest. “I can feel them. The power is … it’s wrong.”

“Yes, it is,” Foster said from the same general direction as Aideen’s voice. I couldn’t see him in the rear view mirror. “It feels more like the gravemaker in Pilot Knob than a vampire.”

“No,” Zola said in a harsh whisper. “It feels like a demon.” She got out and gently closed the door, leaving it unlatched. “Look at the ghosts.”

I focused my Sight and cursed under my breath. The cemetery was a thick fog of spirits. All of them were turned away from us, focused on something in the distance. The combined mass of energy was opaque enough I couldn’t see through it. I let my Sight fade.

Aideen and Foster took up posts above each of my shoulders as they flew out of the car. I closed the door like Zola. I was tempted to lock it, but decided not to in case we needed a fast getaway. Plus, slamming the doors would make more noise than our arrival already had.

We left the asphalt in silence, creeping through the short lawn and up to the side of the mausoleum. I crouched down near the corner to peek around at the hill and absentmindedly placed my hand on the marble wall. I stiffened as the auras of the dead flashed up into my senses. It was a domino effect from there. The auras in the mausoleum spread out to the graves nearby, which sent bits of my power cascading to another field of graves and then another as I tried to rein it in. In moments, I could sense the change in the slow, calm flow of the cemetery. The dead were, frankly, pissed as all hell about a demon-worshipping vampire being on their turf.

I looked up at Zola and she smiled. “They don’t want the vampire here,” she said in a shallow whisper. “They want our help.”

“They’ll have more than two necromancers tonight.”

Foster grinned at my comment. He shifted the golden armor on his shoulders and set out around the corner.

“Remember, you stay out of sight when this starts,” Zola said.

Aideen nodded in confirmation, her coif a quiet slither of metal on metal in the night.

We moved quietly, as stealthy as we could be in the darkness of the cemetery. Moving from the mausoleum, we stayed low and crawled to the top of the hill behind my grandparent’s graves. The grass was longer there, and we could see the wind patterns as a cool breeze whipped through the area, sending the blades of grass and the trees nearby into a wobbling frenzy. My face was close to earth and the dirt filled my senses. I was sure my pounding heartbeat would betray our location as my eyes crested the top of the hill.

They were there.

Sam was staring right at us, but she didn’t react. She just stood there, dressed in white leather from head to toe, a blank expression carved onto her face. Rage boiled in my gut. I wanted to run down there, grab Sam, and blow Devon’s head into something more closely resembling pasta sauce.