Sacrifice (35 page)

And yet, there was nothing I could do for them. Lilitu continued to attack my unit. Leaving one group of soldiers to help another simply meant these men would become the next targets.
And that’s not going to happen,
I acknowledged to myself grimly.
I’m not leaving Dad.

Lilitu launched a fresh assault against us. I kept the soldiers focused, directing their efforts as each Lilitu struck. But as the minutes passed, I realized the demons were playing with us. They’d dart forward, always pulling back just as the soldiers struck. They danced out of our reach again and again. In each lull between attacks I’d look up and see more fallen soldiers.

As the units without spotters fell, one by one, more Lilitu turned their attention toward us. We might be outnumbered very soon. I glanced back at Hale; we had to join the remaining guard into one line.

But just as I’d opened my mouth to call to Hale, two Lilitu broke through the ranks surrounding him. They must have identified him as the leader; each of them bypassed easier targets and set their sights on Hale.

“Hale!” It was the only warning I had time for. Karayan heard my voice and spun.

She saw the breach and launched herself at the first Lilitu, knocking her off her collision course with Hale. Karayan nicked the Lilitu with her blade, revealing the demon for the Guardsmen—

But the second Lilitu connected with Hale, swinging for his throat with her claws. Hale, alerted by my scream, was already in motion. He dropped to one knee, spearing his sword up into the air before him. The movement saved his life; the demon’s claws raked through empty air, missing his throat by half a second. Unfortunately, Hale’s aim was off; he missed the demon. She knocked his sword aside, dropping on top of him. Hale fell back, his head impacting the ground with a sickening crack. Dazed, Hale wasn’t immediately able to defend himself. The Lilitu clasped her hands around his throat—

But Karayan dropped onto her back, driving two daggers straight through the demon’s ribs, both angled for the heart.

The Lilitu arched back in agony. Karayan twisted the daggers and plunged them further into the demon’s torso. The Lilitu went slack, her head tilted up, eyes strangely blank. Karayan retracted the blades and shoved the Lilitu to one side. Without the demon between them, Karayan and Hale’s eyes connected.

Karayan offered him a hand. Hale took it, sitting up. The move brought him face to face with Karayan.

I stared, breathless.

The look in Hale’s eyes was one of naked love—this was beyond gratitude, beyond friendship, beyond desire. He reached up to touch Karayan’s cheek. Karayan smiled, but the battle still raged around them. Together they stood, weapons in hand, and faced the next enemy.

“We need to combine our forces!” But my voice, shaken as I was, couldn’t reach Hale over the clamor of battle.

Dad heard me. “Guardsmen! Draw in!” The remaining Guardsmen pulled toward the center of the room. In a few minutes, we had linked our disparate units into one last, cohesive group. Soldiers formed a ring around Karayan, Gretchen, and me. Gretchen had grabbed a few prop crates on the way back. We each stood on one of them, and the crates gave us the added height we’d need to see over the soldiers to the enemy beyond. The extra height also gave me a clearer picture of the battlefield. The bodies of the fallen lay all around us; the dead greatly outnumbered the living. There were maybe 25 of us left, including Gretchen, Karayan, Matt, and me. Just 25, and only an hour ago we’d numbered over 80.

The remaining Lilitu surrounded us. I saw that we, too, had taken our toll on them. There were a dozen Lilitu left, perhaps a little less than half the original number. Of those, only five had maintained their cloaks.

Behind me, Gretchen rifled through one of the black duffle bags. I spared a moment to watch her, curious. She pulled a thick leather pouch out of the bag. Out of this pouch, she drew a wicked looking knife.

Gretchen climbed back onto the crate wordlessly. She fixed her sights on one of the cloaked Lilitu, hefted a knife, and launched it. The knife flew end over end, flashing in the theatrical lighting of the cavern. The Lilitu spotted it at the last second—she had time to throw herself to one side, but the blade nicked her arm in passing. One less cloaked demon.

Fascinated as I was by Gretchen’s skill with the throwing knives, I ripped my eyes off of her and forced myself to concentrate on the soldiers before me. Three uncloaked Lilitu edged toward us, putting the soldiers on edge. Behind them, two cloaked Lilitu examined the line for weaknesses.

But then—I noticed movement at the main entrance to the cavern. Lucas staggered in, clutching his daggers. He stared at the carnage, face drawn. I saw him grip his daggers tighter. He clenched his jaw, summoning the strength to race forward and help his fellow soldiers.

Everything other thought was driven from my head. I zeroed in on Lucas, reflexively sending my consciousness out to his mind.

Stay,
I ordered him.
Hide. You can’t help us, you’ll only get yourself killed.

Lucas’s eyes lifted from the fighting and found me. So he’d heard. The pain, shame, and agony moving across his features tore at my heart—but he nodded. I saw him withdraw, edging behind an outcropping near the entrance to the cavern. Relief so strong rushed through me that I felt my shoulders sag forward.

Lucas was safe for the moment; the same couldn’t be said for the rest of us. And a question started gnawing at my mind with increasing urgency; where was Seth?

Nightmares are pale comparisons of what we went through in that cavern. Gretchen loosed knife after knife, but after that first hit, none of the other cloaked Lilitu stood still long enough for her to accurately target.

The visible Lilitu kept trying to draw Guardsmen away from the line, where they’d be easier targets for the cloaked to attack. But the soldiers refused to take the bait. As Gretchen threw knives at the enemy from her perch, Karayan and I called out directions to the soldiers any time a cloaked Lilitu came close enough to warrant it.

It was a grueling fight, but bit-by-bit we started to turn the tide. Gretchen hit two of the visible Lilitu, wounding one badly enough to eliminate her from the fight, and killing the other instantly. Guard soldiers tagged another invisible demon, leaving us facing just three cloaked Lilitu.

Around the time I started to feel a surge of hope, we made a critical mistake.

Karayan and I saw an attack coming and shouted our directions at the same instant—but where she directed the soldiers to close ranks, I ordered an attack.

Some men planted their feet, anticipating the others to form a solid line on either side of them. But others charged, confident their fellow soldiers were by their sides.

The resulting chaos left the line vulnerable. Two cloaked Lilitu slipped through while four visible Lilitu engaged the scattered forces. Dad, seeing the carnage, ran toward the fray, unable to see the two cloaked Lilitu barreling toward him.

“Dad, stop!” I leapt off the rickety wooden box and raced forward, intercepting the first of the cloaked Lilitu.

We went down in a tangle of limbs. She pushed away from me, rolling to her feet—but my dagger had pierced her skin, just below her ribs. Her cloak unraveled, leaving her visible for all the Guardsmen to see.

One of them shouted and turned on her. I didn’t wait to see what happened.

Across the circle of Guardsmen, Dad dropped to his knees, clutching at his side. The cloaked Lilitu’s claws glistened in the darkness, slick with blood.

“Dad—?” My feet moved of their own accord. As the Lilitu reached for Dad’s throat, I gripped two fistfuls of her hair and wrenched her away from him. The Lilitu screamed her rage, but I didn’t let go.

She swiped for me, those razor-sharp claws coming within inches of my face. I moved as she thrashed in my grip, trying to stay behind her, limiting her ability to reach me. Dad stood shakily, drawing a sword out of the black canvas bag. He saw me struggling with the invisible enemy. He watched the fight with the intensity of a hunting hawk, then struck, lunging forward and spearing the demon sideways through the chest.

Her cloak fell away as the scream died on her lips. She went heavy in my hands and I released her, letting her fall.

“That’s it!” Karayan shouted. “Only one cloaked demon left!”

Hale glanced around grimly. Final tally: 15 Guardsmen, 7 Lilitu. “Teams of two! Go!”

The Guardsmen moved. It was like watching the inner workings of a well-maintained clock. The soldiers paired up wordlessly. Each team tracked one demon, focused on their prey, no longer worried about a sudden attack out of thin air.

Karayan, Gretchen, Matt, and Hale took on the last of the cloaked demons.

I ran to Dad. He still gripped his side, and when I pulled his hand free it came away bright with crimson blood.

“Dad!”

“I’m okay.” He pulled up the side of his shirt. “Just a flesh wound. Help Hale finish this.”

I turned. Several of the visible Lilitu were fleeing for the dark paths out of the central cavern. If they could get the soldiers away from light, they’d have the advantage.

“They’re leading you into darkness,” I shouted. If they heard me, the Guardsmen pursuing these Lilitu gave no sign. I pulled my attention back to the last cloaked Lilitu. Gretchen and Karayan had hemmed her back against one wall of the cavern. Hale was closing in on her. It would be over soon.

But then, the lights failed—plunging us into darkness.

My Lilitu eyes needed no time to adjust. If anything, the lack of artificial light casting all those deep shadows made it easier for me to see.

“Strike now, Hale!” Karayan’s voice cut through the sudden silence. I turned in time to see Hale lunge forward. His body blocked the Lilitu, but I heard the sword hit its mark.

“Braedyn?” Dad reached toward me, groping blindly in the perfect darkness.

“Here, Dad.”

“We need light,” he said, his voice hoarse with tension.

“I’m on it.” I glanced around, conscious of the fact I hadn’t heard a pop or any sound to indicate mechanical failure. I glanced at the string of bulbs, now hanging dark against the wall. A strand across the room was swaying slightly. I zeroed in on it and saw the problem; someone had unplugged it from its power source.

I raced forward, catching the free plug and reinserting it into the industrial outlet that powered this cavern. Light flooded the space once more. I had to clamp my eyes shut against the sudden brightness. When I blinked my eyes open once more, the clarity of the darkness had been replaced once more by the jarring light and shadow.

But, for the Guardsmen, light meant life.

I watched as the last Lilitu in the cavern were surrounded by soldiers. The men made quick work of the job, and when they withdrew, the demons joined the other lifeless bodies on the ground.

I felt something inside me give way. It was over. It was finally over.

Someone let out a ragged sob, but cut it short. The sound echoed hollowly in the chamber before falling away, leaving an oppressive silence behind. Matt embraced Gretchen fiercely; both had survived.

Behind them, Lucas emerged from his hiding place at the entrance to the cavern. His eyes scanned the space. A desolate shock washed over his face. I turned and saw what he saw. Of our forces, less than a dozen living Guardsmen remained. Bodies covered the cavern floor, soldier and demon alike.

Hale took the devastation in, then bowed his head. The others joined him, paying silent respect to the fallen. When he looked up, his expression was grim.

“We need to move. Idris is still out there. It might be a slim chance, but we have to try and stop her.”

“Weapons.” Dad barked the word crisply. As Hale wiped the ichor off his blade, other soldiers moved over the battlefield. They collected the irreplaceable swords and daggers of the Guard—weapons that the dead could no longer use. I turned back to Lucas, offering him my hand. He stepped forward gingerly, but he didn’t reach for me.

“I can’t believe it.” His voice rasped hollowly; it sent a shiver down my spine. “The Guard—the Guard is basically gone. What are we going to do now?”