Midnight's Angels - 03 (14 page)

We drove to the foot of Sycamore Hill, although we didn’t go by way of Plymouth Drive. There was no sense that I could see in taking the main route up. The whole place had to be crawling with hominids, and we’d be spotted far too quickly.

I went instead to a steep gradient on the north frontage of the hill. There was a series of connecting footpaths that I knew about in that direction, and not too many houses in view. With luck could make nearly the entire distance without passing so much as a back yard or an overlooking window.

Cassie kept glancing around at the interior of the car during the journey. The truth of it was -- despite the fact we’d worked together for the past couple of years -- this was the first time that she’d ever been inside my Cadillac.

“Ever think of getting something newer?” she asked.

“Wash your mouth out,” I growled at her.

She moved her fingertips across the radio. “And what does this get? Glen Miller?”

So her time in the forest hadn’t lost her that sarcastic edge. I took it on the chin, remaining silent.

She was sitting where my wife once had. That ground at me a little. Cassie and Alicia, although both attractive, came from two entirely separate molds. The woman that I’d married had been soft and blond, a teacher and a loving mother. And sure, Cassie had once answered that second description. But there was nothing soft about her. She’d had a much harder life, and from a very early age.

When you boiled it down though -- bottom line -- I was happy to have somebody as good as her watching my back again. Cassie doesn’t simply fight evil. She does it with real passion. And that’s what makes the genuine difference.

She’d pocketed the last of her incendiary shells, and was loading her shotgun with saboted slugs again.

“You realize, in spite of what you said,” she asked me, “if we start running into any trouble up there, we might have to end up killing a few of those things?”

I was already well aware of that. Didn’t like it, but it was a fact. I nodded stiffly. Living where we do, we’re sometimes prey to forces beyond our control. And they can strike at anyone, without the slightest warning.

We take our chances, that’s the fact of the matter. Levin. All the other adepts. Anyone. Which means that we can scarcely complain if our luck runs out.

I pulled off the main highway, onto a side road that led us deeper in. Then turned left into a cul-de-sac that terminated at a line of trees. The unnatural darkness started here.

At first glance, it was like a pall of heavy, oily smoke. The same kind of dimness that you get around a factory fire. But then it got a good deal denser, tightening its grip.

My throat went dry as I got out. I was staring at something that should have been impossible. The area in front of me was still trapped in the realms of midnight. And on this side of the divide, I was standing in the middle of a sunny, bright fall day.

The trees ahead of us were sunken deeply in shadow. You could not make out the details of them, only their general shapes. Their branches were completely still, and none of their leaves were rustling. So at least there didn’t seem to be any hominids in them, like last time. It was far more likely that the creatures were sticking to the better-populated areas, hunting for survivors maybe. They had no reason to be down here.

I felt a bead of sweat crawling across my upper lip. Wiped it away. And Cassie noticed that. Her lashes batted sympathetically.

“I don’t want to go in either.” She ran her gaze across the swathe of gloom ahead of us. “I thought I’d seen creepy in my time, but not like this.”

I pushed a hand toward the dark, but it didn’t respond. Unlike smoke, it hung there motionlessly, waiting for us to step in. Cassie gripped the Mossberg with both hands and pumped a slug into the chamber. Then she looked at me again.

“I’d lead the way,” she informed me. “But I don’t know this place the same way you do.”

* * *

It barely counted as a footpath. Really just a winding strip of bare earth -- most of it at a sharp upward angle -- that had been formed by the weather down the years. Rainwater had carved it out. And because of that, the route got pretty steep and treacherous the higher up we climbed.

There were times when we had to let go of our weapons, and haul ourselves up the next few yards by whatever means were available. A trailing root. Sometimes just a handful of coarse grass. I puffed and panted, and the muscles in my limbs burned. This part of the north side was the steepest climb on the whole hill except for one. Over to our left was Coven Point, and that was a sheer drop.

Cassie managed it a lot more easily. She’d always been the fitter of us. But I was reminded, too, that she’d spent the last couple of months living out of doors. It seemed to have invigorated her, refreshing her natural energy and strength. There was something unconcerned about the way she crossed each obstacle.

I was already wishing that I’d picked an easier route up. But that would have taken us much closer to the houses, and I knew we had to avoid that.

It was not only the adepts who lived up here. Most people in town who’d done well for themselves -- or had had it done for them by their parents -- had a place on Sycamore Hill. Occasionally, we’d catch sight of a sprawling rooftop or a set of high gates through the tangled branches. At which point, we’d both slow down, moving as quietly as we could, our guns held at the ready, our eyes scanning the darkened undergrowth for anything that looked like trouble.

None came, thank God. Although I did make out a pair of shapes clambering across a big old chimneypot, one time. They stopped abruptly, angling their heads in the direction we were hiding. Then they moved away.

This was daytime. I kept having to remind myself of that. And the sun should have been above us. So why couldn’t we see it?

The fact was, we just plain couldn’t. There was not so much as a faint yellow smudge above our heads. Nor was there any view of the rest of the town, even when we reached a clearing. It was like we’d entered a different dimension, cut adrift completely from reality. The hill was no part of the Landing any longer. It had become the property of something else.

A few more massive residences went by, every single one of them with darkened movement on its roofs and walls. And then we came, at last, to blacktop. It took me a brief moment to get my bearings, but it looked like we’d arrived at the final bend on Plymouth Drive before it reached Raine Manor. From this point on, the foliage got so dense that there was no way to continue through it.

Cassie hadn’t even been up here before, but she glanced up ahead and could see the problem too.

Peering from behind the tree line, we tried to make out if there were creatures in our way. There didn’t appear to be any. None visible either on the sloping road below us. But that might not last for very long.

Memories came back of what I’d seen on Greenwood Terrace. How rapidly those blocks had been completely overwhelmed. Those scuttling hominids moved really fast. Which meant we had to do the same

“We’re going to have to run?” Cass whispered to me.

And I nodded. She had got that right.

“If Raine turns out to have been changed as well …?”

“Then we’ll know that we’ve been running in the wrong direction,” I said flatly. “There’s no other way to do this.”

She gave a stiff nod.

No further words passed between us. There are times when they are not enough. One second, we were staring at each other.

The next, we were on our way.

Out onto the open road, the streetlamps as dead as lightning-blasted trees ahead of us. We started powering our way up the final gradient. The muscles in my thighs were smarting, but that didn’t even slow me down.

Pattering. I could hear it before we’d gone fifty yards. And I thought at first it might be only my imagination. Or else there were small stones on the pavement, and our hurried feet were kicking them aside.

But then it got much louder. It was coming from behind us, from the barren, hollow gloom that we were trying to leave behind. There had been nothing back there a few seconds ago. But now …

I was forced to slow down and stare back.

The only thing that I could see, at first glance, was that the surface of the road seemed to have broken up a little. Sections of it seemed to be bobbing up and down as if in the grip of some silent earthquake. And then my eyes focused better. I could see that it was not the pavement itself but figures on it. Somewhere around a hundred of them.

Cassie had noticed the same thing.

I’d brought a flashlight with me. Took it out and switched it on, then shone it at the approaching horde.

Which slowed the creatures down a little, the same way that my headlamps had. Hands came up to shield twisted faces. But they were still too far away for anything this small to have much effect. They halted from surprise more than anything else, and then kept on coming.

Cass tugged urgently at my sleeve.

“Let’s go!”

She was right. We needed to be gaining ground again. But the hackles on my neck were prickling. I was starting to get a bad feeling about this. Felt certain I was missing something.

My gaze went -- and the beam with it -- to the hominid at the front of the pack. It was loping up the hill like the rest of them, coming down on its hands first, then powering forward with its strong back legs. That was what made them look like they were bobbing. Their heads were going constantly up and down.

It looked the same as the others, when I first stared at it. But then I thought I recognized the way that it was dressed.

A pinstriped suit, torn and ragged at the edges. With a maroon tie flapping out across its shoulder. One of its shoes was gone, but the other looked expensive. And the creature’s hair was dark, but with a sprinkling of silver.

That was when its face came up.

Its rimless spectacles were gone, its eyes shining unpleasantly. But I knew those patrician features straight away. And saw my worst fears had been realized.

I had no idea whether the sense of recognition was mutual. Did these things even think like that? But Samuel Levin came to a stumbling halt. He was obviously the leader of this pack, because the rest of the hominids slowed down around him.

His chin lifted and he studied me. Almost like I was a plate of food.

My instincts kicked in savagely. Don’t ask me how -- I simply knew it. We could run as fast as we liked and he still would have the upper hand. There was more involved than mere physical effort.

Cassie didn’t seem to get that, and there was no reason why she should. She gave my sleeve an even harder yank.

“What are we
waiting
for?”

And she was right. It made no sense to hang around. The pack was already on the move again, the judge still leading it.

We were wheeling around and powering away next moment, urgency’s hot breath pushing us on. And it looked like a simple task to get inside the mansion’s grounds. The big iron gates, rusted open, could only have been about three hundred yards away. One good hard sprint and we’d be past them. And if Raine was okay, then we’d probably be safe in there. He doesn’t take kindly to intruders on his property … I’d found that out before to my own cost.

But that instinct kept on nagging at me every step I took, despite the fact that we were both closing the distance very fast.
It isn’t going to be this easy
, a small voice in my mind was saying. I tried to tell myself that it was just me being pessimistic. But it didn’t really feel like that.

The pattering sounds behind us died away. After which, I heard some kind of creaking sound.

It was almost a mechanical noise, like some worn-out engine breaking down for the last time. And then it grew louder and higher in pitch. And I was forced to risk another glance across my shoulder.

Maybe they still had enough sense that they’d figured out they were not going to catch up with us. The mob had drawn to a halt again. They were still down on all fours, except …

I practically tripped over my own feet. Stumbled, and then fought to right myself.

“What are you doing?” Cassie yelled.

But I kept staring.

Levin wasn’t down with the others anymore. He hadn’t stood fully up exactly, but was squatting on his haunches, the way a great ape might. His arms were spread out to the sides, palms upward, fingers curved. His head was tipped right back. I couldn’t see his eyes anymore. But his mouth was stretched wide open.

That hole in his face looked considerably darker than the gloom around him. As empty as anything I’d ever seen. It was he who was making that weird noise. It was pouring from him in a continuous stream.

Cassie had me by the wrist, and was trying to haul me the rest of the distance.

“We’re almost there!” she was shouting.

But I paid her no attention. Because my instincts were screaming at me. We were heading into some kind of trap. Don’t ask me how, but I just
knew
it.

“Have you lost it, for chrissake?”

The noises Levin was making became so high-pitched they could have shattered glass. I felt the muscles in my face bunch up. And Cassie finally let go of me, staring downward warily.

“What’s that?”

I didn’t know. But got the feeling that we’d soon find out.

There was a sudden whumping noise from the direction we’d been headed.

And when we looked that way, a broad, high mass of strange dark flame was lifting from the asphalt.

* * *

I had never seen fire like it. It bore no relation to the ones we’d started back in Union Square. In fact, it cast no light in the slightest. The flames simply came licking up, eight feet or more, massively distorting the landscape behind them but providing no illumination.

In some ways, it seemed the precise opposite of flame. It was like looking at Raine Manor’s grounds through an enormous, flowing screen of water, but that wasn’t the reality exactly. There was still heat being given off. It reached us, working at the skin around our cheeks. If we’d kept going in that direction, we’d have quite literally been toast.

The flames continued to leap and churn, sending black sparks up into the night sky. They blocked the whole road, and there was no way forward.

Below us on the slope, the judge dropped back onto his palms again, letting out a gentle hiss. And that appeared to be a signal, because the pack of hominids advanced.

Cassie had her Mossberg ready. And I’d pulled my Smith & Wesson out. But the look on my companion’s face summed things up neatly. If they managed to surround us, two weapons might not be enough.

“Any ideas?” she blurted, casting her gaze around.

Just the one.  I shouldn’t have gotten her mixed up in any of this. I should have left her in the woods. The pack was closing in steadily, but was moving slower than it had before. They might have been reduced to animals, but they still seemed to know what guns could do.

Were the two remaining adepts seeing this? If so, there was nothing they could do about it. They hadn’t been so much as able to spirit themselves up in this direction. And the doctor had already said it. Once beyond this veil of darkness, their power was useless.

If we were going to get any help, there was only one source where it might come from. You couldn’t see the manor from here.But I knew where it lay, and squared myself up to it.

Tipped my own head slightly back and yelled out, “
Woody!
”

I was betting on two long shots. One, that he was still okay. And two, that he was taking the slightest notice of what was happening outside his own front gate. That was the tough one. Raine’s perfectly capable of keeping an eye on everything that happens in this town, without so much as shifting a muscle. But what he cares to do about it -- that’s another story.

There was no answer. Not even when I tried again. I hoped he was asleep, because the other option was a good deal worse.

A shot rang out. Cassie had fired a round over the cluster of approaching heads. It was merely a warning shot, and made them pause. But then they started moving in again, their front line spreading out.

I could make out the details of Levin’s face clearly. His usual expression -- thoughtful and dignified -- was gone, replaced by a drooling kind of hunger. Spite as well, and seething anger. The kind of frustrated rage that comes from looking at the world and barely understanding it. 

His eyes were like dull pebbles, with not a genuine hint of real life or intelligence. I’d been standing in his study not too long back, surrounded by his artifacts and books. And it pained me to see the guy this way.

The ones around him were his wealthy neighbors, but were now a pretty scruffy bunch. A lot of their hands were bleeding from the constant friction with the ground. They didn’t even seem to notice.

I yelled out a third time, purely out of desperation. And when the sole response was my own echo, me and Cass exchanged heavy looks. We’d have no choice but to start shooting for real before much longer. I had five slugs in my revolver. Cass had eight left in the Mossberg. There were still the Glocks, but would they be enough?

That was when the wind sprang up. It did not come from the direction of the manor. Rather, it arrived from the broad eastern flank of the hill, the usual way you came up here. It swept past us, moaning gently. And I didn’t pay it too much mind at first.

But when it started getting a good deal stronger, the pitch of it becoming far more sharp … I began to understand that it might not be natural. Then I saw what it was doing to the flames.

It was pushing them aside.
My God.
The wind was scything through the heart of the dark fire, parting it like a swift breeze through a cornfield.

A strip of bare asphalt came into view, bubbling and smoking gently. It wasn’t a gap of much more than twelve inches. But a path through was a path through. It was the only break that we were going to get.

Cass threw me a look that asked,
If this is Woody, can we trust him?

But no, I wasn’t convinced that this was Raine at all. We’d still not heard a word from him. And this wind wasn’t coming from the manor. Considering the position we were in, though, I was ready to take any chance, whichever source it came from.

“Beggars can’t be choosers,” I reminded her.

She let out a big, fat curse.

“Remember how fast we were running before?” I asked. “We need to run a whole lot faster. Stick with me and let’s get going.”