Vessel: The Demontouched Saga (Book 4) (7 page)

I sighed. Her statement is nearly thirty thousand dollars off, to the bad. Even worse, she hasn’t been keeping current with her payroll. Something told me I would be there a lot longer than a week.

I jumped to the sound of the phone going off on my hip, forgetting I had the ringer set loud in the car. “I have to take this,” I said as I walked away.

“This is Mitch.”

“Mitch, you need to pack your things and head to the airport. I have Allen flying out there now to take over.”

“While I appreciate the gesture, I’m too far in to hand this over to someone else. It will take him a week to get where I’m at.”

“It’s Linda,” he said, sending my heart into a tailspin. “The police just showed up looking for you.”

“What’s wrong with her?”

“She was in an accident this morning,” he said. “It was all over the news.”

“Why didn’t you call me earlier?”

“I didn’t know it was her,” he said. “You couldn’t even make out the car on TV.”

“Is she alive?”

“The officer wouldn’t tell me, but the lady on channel two said she was stable.”

“Thanks,” I say, hanging up the phone as I tried to hold it together.

I walked back over to the table and gathered my belongings.

“Are you leaving already?” she said, puzzled.

“I have personal issues to attend to back home,” I said, wiping a tear from my eye. “Allen Jones should be here tomorrow to finish up.”

The rest of my time at her place was quiet. She had no questions, and I didn’t want to talk. I was thankful for that fact as I don’t think I could have held back the torrent if I had to say anything else.

Once I sat in the car, however. All bets were off.

- 9 -

I jolt upright from the nightmare with sweat pouring down my face. After wiping my head with my cover I look around the room.

In the corner I see Ralph, shaking slightly as he moans in his sleep.

“You OK over there?” I say, trying to sit up. My legs fail to move, however as they’re strapped to the table using a pair of small orange ratchet straps. “Who the hell would do something like this?”

“I would,” Uriel says, entering the basement. “It was the only way I knew to stop you from leaving.”

“It’s not like I could go far,” I say, pointing down at my leg.

“No, but I know you too well,” she sits down on a large stool next to me. “You would have tried.”

I smile at her. “Yeah, I would have.” I was going to.

“Are you here to finish healing my leg?” I say.

“It will be a few days before that,” she says. “That one requires too much attention.”

I look over at Ralph. “How’s he doing?”

“He is stable now. Though he may never walk again.”

“You can’t heal that?”

She shakes her head. “I told you. I have my limits.” She takes my hand when I lie back down. “I’ve only met one angel who could bring someone back from that.”

“Zeke?”

She nods.

I close my eyes, failing to stop the tears that are fighting their way through. “I wish he was here,” I say.

“Me too,” she says, caressing my cheek. “Now that he’s stable, I’ll finish your leg next. It should be easier now that the doctor has set the bone.”

I look down at my leg, noticing it is splinted on both sides with a fresh bandage on top of it.

“How long have I been out?”

“Two days,” she says. “You’ve been in and out, but never longer than a minute or two.”

“Nal and Sara take off for Ralph’s camp yet?”

“They left this morning,” she says. “Let’s not talk about them though. Let’s talk about you.”

“I’m OK,” I say. “If it wasn’t for a broken leg, I’d be in top shape.”

She smiles. “I need to know. What attacked you guys back at the power plant?”

“Three large dogs. About the size of a house.”

She holds her hand to her mouth. “Did they do anything weird?”

“Like melt through the fence? Or spit lava?”

“They must have a portal open somewhere.”

“A portal?” I say. “You mean like the one Tamiel closed?”

She nods. “But a smaller one. If they opened one that large, there would have been more than three.”

“What were those things, anyways?”

“Hell-hounds,” she says. “A better question is who let them roam free.”

“I always thought they would be smaller. Like a chihuahua.”

She laughs. “I wish.” She reaches down and grabs my angel blade off the floor. “Did you kill them with this?”

I nod. “Stabbed them in the head.”

“Good,” she says. “We never found a weakness in our battles with them. The ones we took out fell because we damaged them faster than they could heal.”

“I’m not sure how good it is,” I say. “You have to get too close to do any good.”

“I agree, but it is better than what we had before.”

“I’ve seen them before,” Ralph says from across the room. “But they weren’t that big.”

“What do you mean,” Uriel says, darting around.

“Louis had three dogs that looked like them,” he says. “I thought they were too ugly to be rottweilers.”

“How long has he had them?” she asks.

“Since I’ve been at the camp. At least two months now.”

“Demon?” I say to Uriel.

She nods. “Looks like it.”

“Then Sara and Nal are walking into a trap.” I sit up abruptly, getting lightheaded from the rapid movement.

“There isn’t anything you can do for them,” she says. “You can’t even walk.”

“No. But I can at least call Nal to warn him.”

She shakes her head. “Your phone is dead,” she says. “Theirs too.”

“They never got the power back up?”

“From what Nal said, there wasn’t much left of the plant once the hell-hounds got done with it.”

“If those dogs belonged to Louis, why would he send them to destroy the power plant?”

“He wanted to be in charge,” Ralph says. “He must have sent them to kill Bert. The power plant was just in the way.”

“Why would he risk losing electricity though. Isn’t that why you were there?”

He nods. “Louis never wanted to get it back up. He also never spoke against Bert going.”

I look over at Uriel. “How long until you have enough juice to patch me up?”

“At least two days,” she says. “Maybe three.”

“Shit,” I say. “Then get me a pair of crutches. I have to go help them.”

“How do you plan to fight a demon with your leg like that?” she says. “You barely survived against Belial in good shape.”

“I wouldn’t have survived that if it wasn’t for Nal,” I say. “That’s why I need to be there. They might need my help.”

She shakes her head. “You are a stubborn one, Mitchell Butler.”

“Blame my mother,” I say, smiling. “Does that mean you are going to help me out, or do I have to rip these straps off?”

“Give me a few hours,” she says. “I might have enough to mend it enough to put some weight on it. Then we can get the doctor to put you in a walking cast.”

“What time is it now?” I say.

“Nearly night.”

“Then we might as well do this in the morning,” I say. “Just make sure the doctor has me ready to go first thing.”

“I’ll have her stop by while you sleep,” she says, smiling.

I nod. It wasn’t the best solution, but I’ll take it anyways.

“How does it feel?” Uriel asks as I step down on my foot. I feel a sharp pain shoot up my leg when I first put pressure on it, but it subsides quickly.

“Not the best,” I say. “But I can work with it.”

She smiles. “Take a few steps with it first, just to make sure. The last thing I want is for it to snap again while you are moving around.”

Holding onto the edge of the table, I ease myself into the first few steps. “Feels good so far,” I say looking over at her.

“Without the table,” she says. “If you can’t walk on your own, I won’t let you go.”

I sigh, knowing she will willingly tie me to the table again to make sure I stay put.

“Here goes nothing,” I say, stepping out with my injured leg, feeling the pain again as it takes my weight. It’s taking everything I have to keep from yelling out, but I keep it to myself. I can’t afford to let her stop me now.

After that first step, the rest get easier. While I still get a jolt of pain through my leg every time I step down, it lessens every time. I know eventually my mind will tune it out once my adrenaline is flowing. Just need to get to the camp to make sure that happens.

“What do you think?” I say, looking back.

“It will have to do,” she says. “I don’t think it’s a great idea, but I’m not going to stop you either.”

“How about you, Doc?”

She nods. “Best we are going to do on short notice.” She pulls a bottle of pills out of her bag and throws them at me. “Painkillers,” she says. “Just in case.”

“Only in an emergency,” Uriel says. “You don’t know if they will hinder your abilities.”

I nod, reluctantly. There has been more than one occasion I’ve had to use them drunk, and it wasn’t pretty. Nearly knocked Joe out when I tried to throw the steel mixers at some dude at the hotel. Even today I couldn’t tell you what the guy was doing, but it must’ve been bad if I was throwing shit at him.

Or I was really drunk. I admit that could have been the cause.

I walk over to Ralph and sit on the edge of his bed. “How are you holding up?”

“About as well as I expected,” he says. “You heading out?”

“Soon,” I nod. “Once I grab some supplies.”

“Look. I don’t know how you do the things you did back there, but I’m glad you are the one saving my wife.”

“Not the only one,” I say. “I have two close friends that beat me to the punch. I’m just hoping they aren’t in too much trouble.”

He sits up and wraps his hand around my forearm. “Come back in one piece, will ya.”

I tilt my head back at Uriel, “She doesn’t give me a choice in the matter.”

I hear the sound of footsteps walking down the stairs. Commander Stevens walks around the corner, two of his men in tow.

“Your car is ready to go,” he says.

“I appreciate it, Russ.”

“I have one… request.”

“Name it.”

“Take these two with you,” he says. “Two of my best. Just in case things get rough over there.”

“Thanks for the gesture,” I say. “But I work best alone.”

I feel a hand touch me on my shoulder. “It’s not a request, Mitch,” Uriel says. “You take them, or you don’t go.”

I sigh. “Going to warn you two now. Your bullets may end up being pointless where we are going. It’s near impossible to take down a demon with conventional weaponry.”

Commander Stevens steps forward. “That’s why they have been equipped with some special ammunition at Uriel’s request.”

I look over in surprise only to see her with a wide grin on her face.

“They both have a pistol equipped with iron bullets. While the rounds are heavier than the normal ammunition we use, they should still be fairly accurate.”

“Sounds good,” I say.

“That’s not it.” The soldiers both turn around, exposing the weapon at their hips. “They are also equipped with a pistol-gripped hand-held shotgun loaded with salt pellets.”

“Sweet,” I say. “Now turn around the other way and show me your Super Soakers full of holy water.”

Stevens laughs. “Not practical,” he says. One of the solders walks up and pulls out a glass bottle out of his grenade pouch. “While they aren’t optimal, it is better than nothing.”

“Impressive,” I say. “I guess my next question is simple.”

“What’s that?” Steven’s asks.

“Who is going to drive?”

- 10 -

“Pull off over here,” I say pointing to a driveway that leads up the side of a hill. “I’d like to see what I’m getting myself into.”

Alana, the female solder with me, nods before making the turn. She follows the driveway as it curves through the woods until it stops at a large three story house overlooking the valley below. This place is a dream house of sorts until the winter months anyways. I wouldn’t want to navigate the driveway every time it snows.

The view, however, is amazing. From the top of the driveway there is nothing to see but trees for miles. A large ocean of green, but down below there is a speck of brown that stands out like a sore thumb.

Once the car is in park I open the door and step outside, wincing when I shift my weight on the leg.

“You good, sir?” Alana asks, grabbing my arm.

“I’m fine,” I say, pulling my binoculars up to my face. While the view is amazing, it is not good enough for me to see anything besides the walls of the compound below.

“We need to get up there.” I point to a window on the third level. “Might see something from up there.”

“Got it, sir,” Neil says, rushing to the door.

He knocks on the door three times while I limp my way over.

“Nobody’s answering, sir,” he says.

“Would you answer if two armed people knocked on your door?”

“Guess not,” he says reaching for the handle.

I throw my shoulder forward to get Alana off my arm. “Cover him. I’ll stay in back.”

She smiles before moving to the other side of the door with her automatic rifle in her hands, swiveling into position when Neil opens the door.

“Clear,” she says, looking at me.

I motion them inside and follow close behind. Up ahead I see Neil walking into the hallway to search the rest of the floor while Alana stays close, gun aimed at the stairway. From the looks, the house belongs to someone who likes to hunt. On the floor is a bearskin rug covering the hardwood floors to go with the heads and racks of various game animals decorating the walls. The only thing he needed to finish the decoration was…

“Billy Bass,” Alana says, walking up to the spot it hung on the wall. “I haven’t seen these in forever.” She presses the button when she gets close, sighing when nothing happens.

We both jerk our heads to the hallway reacting to the sound of gunfire. Alana readies her weapon before darting into the hall.