Demon Squad 7: Exit Wounds (25 page)

“Something tells me you’ve been here before,” Karra said as she held her sword at the ready.

“Perhaps a time or two, friend,” he answered without glancing back. His gaze was locked on an alcove that opened up in front of us, the shimmer of the portals illuminating the way. I could feel their dull throb.

We scrambled up the incline to find ourselves on what appeared to be a stone balcony shaped like a crescent moon, set about thirty feet above the battle raging at our backs. The screams of greenies were a morbid soundtrack to the majesty of what lay before us. My brain tuned them out as I saw what loomed below.

The gate I’d seen from the sky was massive. It gleamed with a green and red sheen, but its lines and contours were nearly impossible to see through the blur of devourers that swam just above it.

“Holy hell!” I shouted, stumbling back from the open edge. “There has to be a hundred of those fuckers.”

“I count thirty-five,” Karra corrected.

“Still.” An unconscious tremble danced along my spine as I inched back, my gaze drawn from the devourers to the flutter of the portals running their paces above. So close to them, I could feel their dimensional flux passing over me, each a bee sting pricking my flesh. Home stung the worse. My eyes drifted along the dancing mess to see one portal standing out from the rest. While the others flickered and hummed, that one seemed a bit brighter, a bit larger; more constant, maybe.

Thinking Ilfaar had started, I quickly went over to where he stood. He was staring at a thing that must have been the mosaic he’d been talking about. It was very much like I’d picture a control panel on an alien spaceship. A circular pedestal, it was smoothed flat save for the hundreds of tiny divots in the stone, each about a quarter-size around and about that deep, if you turned the quarter on its side. At each hole was a strange image that corresponded to it, though I didn’t have a fuzzy clue as to what they meant. Red lines ran from image to image, some splitting off to dozens while others ran to just one, and then from there to another image.

“This is it, huh?”

Ilfaar nodded and pulled his stump from his guts with a flourish before digging inside the wound with his other hand. When he pulled his bloody fingers free, he clutched a tiny stone between them. I knew it the second I saw it.

“A cipher.”

“Know this thing, do you?” The angel grinned. “I’m surprised, to be honest, but I suppose some knowledge might make your journey home easier.”

He ran a red finger along the mosaic, following some lines before coming to a stop at a symbol that looked as if it had been hand-scribbled during a sneeze. It was all over the place within the tiny confines of the outer circle drawn around it.

“This is your realm here,” he said, though I noticed he didn’t drop the cipher into the hole. His finger slid to another. “And this one is mine.” He did slide it into
that
one. Once it was there, he put his hand over it and closed his eyes.

The mass of portals slowed their frantic whirl and began to nudge closer to each other, a gang of lava lamps spilling into the same container, the edges stretching to keep from bursting. The feeling of home poofed while a strange, otherworldliness took its place. As the portal widened and drew closer to the platform, I could see a desolate darkness through it, a wasteland of a world I couldn’t imagine living on.

“That’s home?”

He grinned. “No, but close enough.” Ilfaar pulled his hand from the cipher and saluted. “You need only press your hand upon the stone to will the gate to open.” At that, he spun about and ran for the ledge, which sat nearly level with the now open portal. His feet hit the edge and he jumped.

Someone slammed into me right then, knocking me backwards into Karra. We both went down, scrambling to keep from falling into the pit of devourers. We managed, barely. Still on the ground, I saw that it had been Shaw who had blindsided us. She reached for the pedestal and yanked the cipher from its mooring as Ilfaar sailed toward the exit with a grin. Though he was almost there, the portal pulled away in a rush, splitting once more into its component passages. Ilfaar shrieked as he realized what happened and spun about midair, his smile cast aside. He howled to see Shaw standing over the pedestal, cipher in hand, and then he fell.

We hopped to our feet as he hit the gate below. A muffled
thud
sounded at the impact, and I could imagine broken bones, but that wasn’t the worst of it. Both Karra and I glanced over the edge and saw Ilfaar lying on the glimmering gate, squirming as he tried to get to his feet. He rolled over just in time to see the first of the devourers coming. His screams came next. That was all I could handle.

I turned away to see Shaw staring at the mosaic, eyes narrowed. “Don’t know which one it is, do you?” I couldn’t help but laugh when I realized that.

She growled, but she might as well have admitted it. But then a smile brightened her face. “Actually, I do believe I do.” She gestured to the portals.

There, as I’d noticed early, was one that stood out. It did so even more now, as though something were pushing it open. I looked to Shaw’s hand and she still held the cipher.

“How in the—” I started, but the hole grew even wider. Though hardly large enough to squeeze a basketball through, it was big enough to see what lay on the other side. What I saw nearly made me swallow my tongue.

“Is that…?” Karra asked, losing her focus before she even finished the sentence.

“Azrael.” The name came out in an ugly growl. I could only see the back of him, but I knew that fabulous ass anywhere. It was mine. He faced off against Duke Forcalor and Uriel, and while the duke seemed okay, Uriel looked as though he’d taken to playing a losing game of chicken with a train.

I continued to watch as a blur of gold came at Azrael, but he knocked him aside as if he were a fly. A glimpse of the dude told me it was Raguel, the archangel who had my back when Azrael went after Eden. He’d supposedly been granted the Angel of Death’s powers by Metatron, but Azrael shrugged him off as though he were a child. If he could that to him, not to mention Uriel and Forcalor, what chance did we have? None was the answer.

“We are
so
fucked.”

If ever there was a prophetic saying, that one was it.

As we stared through the burgeoning portal toward
The Azrael Ass Kicking Show
, there was a sibilant whir behind us. We spun about just as a dragon wing crashed into the wall at our back that shielded us from the battle below. Stone cracked and splintered, shards exploding all around us. I stepped in front of Karra and felt the sharp edges of debris peppering my skin while I folded around her.

The wing was through and gone before I’d looked back up, but it had taken the secret tunnel with it. Where the incline used to be was nothing more than rubble, the roof of the tunnel ripped clear and scattered across the outer walkway. My gaze went from the wreckage to its cause. A guardian’s massive snout hovered just a few yards away. It looked as surprised to see us as we were it, but its red eyes narrowed in a heartbeat. It knew a prison break when it saw one.

“Watch the cipher,” I shouted to Karra.

I spun away, snatching up a chunk of stone. As the dragon opened its mouth to roar, I leapt at it. The pedestal placing me above its head, I soared across the open space between its furious eyes and landed smack dab on its protruding nose. Its skin felt cold and clammy beneath my hand as I latched on to a scale to keep from toppling over. Then before it could shake me, I smashed the stone right into its eye.

It grunted at the impact, only letting out a roar as it stumbled backward through the mess of stone and lost its footing amidst the crush of greenies. I let go before it toppled and slammed onto its back.

“Kill it!” I screamed, rolling to a landing that was almost elegant.

The greenies listened, but it really had nothing to do with me. Judas stood there as I got to my feet, with blood splattered across his cheek. He looked pissed. Rala in hand, book held open in the other, Judas’ gaze trailed past me to where Karra and Shaw stood on the pedestal, the portal gleaming behind.

“You weren’t thinking of leaving without me, were you?”

“Never gave it a thought,” I lied, changing the subject before he could call me on it. “The way things are now, though, none of us are leaving.” I pointed back the way I’d come. “You see that big bad guy through the portal there? He’s currently curb-stomping three archangels, and the only way out of here is through him. We won’t make it through in one piece.”

Judas growled as he stared at what was happening back on Earth. He was so close to his dream, and yet still nowhere near achieving it. It had to be demoralizing for him. Me, I’m pretty used to being on the gooey end of the shit stick, so it was pretty much business as usual. Didn’t make me feel any better about it, but I never had any expectations of easy.

The rest of the group, seeing us chatting outside the ruins of the secret tunnel, chose then to show up. All but Mia, that was. She had joined the group battling the nearest guardian, but it didn’t look as if they were winning. Mia’s right side look crippled, but she fought on. Had to admire her courage if not her sense of self-preservation. She was gonna go down fighting.

Less concerned with her than I was with our folks, I glanced at our little congregation. Katon’s sword dripped with blood, and it was pretty clear that not all of it was guardian. The rest of them looked as though they’d avoided combat altogether, which was probably a good thing. Though, with the greenies withering on the vine, it might not be long before we all had to fight.

With the guardian next to us buried under a swarm of greenies and too busy to notice us, I waved for the others to follow and made my way back up to the pedestal. Karra and Shaw had come to an understanding, which meant that Karra had her sword pointed toward the wight and neither had moved an inch from where they stood moments before.

“That’s you,” Rala said, seeing the commotion going on inside the portal.

“If only,” I answered, turning to Rahim and Katon. “Do you think all of us could take him if we popped in at once?”

Rahim cursed and waved us to silence. He stood there a moment, his already grave expression turning even darker. “Michael says Azrael has taken a vial of Lucifer’s blood.”

Moans erupted from everyone except Judas.

“Lucifer?”

“Long story, but we told you we knew the guy,” I said. Now was not the time to debate my family line. Across the way, Azrael drove Forcalor to his knees. “We’re running out of time, folks.”

The shriek of a newly reborn guardian only confirmed that. It leapt from its ashes, tossing the battered greenies aside with a flurry of wing strokes. If I’d owned a working heart, it would have been pounding a blast beat against my ribs. I turned back to see Uriel trying to keep Forcalor from meeting God in the spiritual way, only to find himself the victim of the Angel of Death’s wrath. I knew Azrael would eventually power down as Lucifer’s blood left his system, but I couldn’t imagine it taking as big a toll on him as it had me the last time I used it. Still, it was a chance. Our only chance.

And that’s when it hit me.

I spun to Judas. “You said you can’t die?”

His eyes narrowed as he contemplated his answer. “What does that have to—”

“Just answer me! Can you die?”

He shook his head.

That was all I needed. “Shaw, open the portal all the way.” I pointed to the divot that led to Earth.

“Azrael will likely know we’re here once I do.”

“Good.” I yanked the sword from Karra’s hand. “Gonna need to borrow this, hon,” I told her, handing it to Judas over her stuttered complaints. “Guard this with your life.”

He stared at the sword as Shaw dropped the stone into its hole. It pulsed at our back, starting to split wide.

“What are you doing, Frank?” Katon asked.

“Things are gonna hectic here in a minute. I need you to have my back.”

“I don’t know about—”

“Too late,” I told him as the portal reached its full size and drifted toward us over the howl of the devourers and dragons alike. “It’s go time.”

I turned and grabbed Judas, picking him up bodily, and tossed him through the portal. He cursed me as he went, his voice going silent as soon as he shifted to the other side and realized what I’d done. He crashed into Azrael, a horrified look on his face. The two went down in tangle of limbs.

Never very good at telepathic communication, I closed my eyes and concentrated on Michael. He’d already opened the link between us earlier, so I found it waiting for me. There was barely a flicker of a response to the message I sent, but it would have to do. We were down to the wire.

Azrael disentangled himself from Judas and slammed the betrayer to the ground. Judas didn’t let that stop him. He drove Karra’s sword up into the Angel of Death’s guts. That got his attention. Azrael screamed in agony and rage and drove his fists into Judas’ face, over and over and over. For his part, Judas just kept stabbing. That was my cue.

“Get them out when it’s clear, Katon.” That was the last thing I said before taking a running leap and diving through the portal. Karra shouted behind me, but it was too late to turn back even if I’d wanted to.

I landed on Azrael’s back, driving Karra’s sword through him. Of course, that kind of meant it went through me, too. Our screams erupted as one, and there was an instant where I wondered if I’d done the right thing, but that was all the time I had to ponder it. Azrael rose up, hands reaching for me, ripping the sword from our stomachs, but I clung to his back for dear life.

“Remember me, asshole?” I spewed wetly into his ear.

“Do it now,” Michael shouted. Never in my life had I heard such sweet words that didn’t involve
free
and
coffee
.

Given just the barest reprieve by Judas’ unexpected intervention, Raguel, Forcalor, and Uriel had mustered their energies. Without hesitation, they let them fly; right as us.

I closed my eyes and ducked behind Azrael’s head. He screamed his defiance, but there was nothing he could do to deflect the brunt of the magic before it slammed into us. I think he expected to weather the storm and shake my ashes off after, but I knew better than to play that game. The combined power of the archangels hit us with the fury of a hurricane. Expecting a death blow, Azrael was unprepared for the gust of force that blew him backward. He stumbled, trying to resist, and tumbled headlong through the portal to Tenebrae.