Uninhabitable
“Check this out!” I called, kinda glad that the nun could at least keep her head in the mission instead of glowering at me disapprovingly. As Ryann walked over, I fished through my pocket and pulled out my cell phone to snap a few photos. I had no idea if any of the symbols or the energy in the hole would show up on the camera or not, but maybe someone might recognize the big rectangle. Or something. Honestly, I was just proud of myself for thinking to take photos in the first place—Nic might appreciate them.
Ryann stepped closer, stopped next to me. The toes of her off-white sneakers shuffled dirt over the edge, into the hole. “What is it?”
“Can you see any of the weird glowy things on the ground?”
A glance around and she shook her head.
“Just me then. Well, this is likely the site we’re looking for. If they’re gonna raise my sis, I bet they’ll do it here.”
“These, er, ‘glowy things’—can you remove them? Disrupt them? If they’re on the ground...”
Good question. After another long gaze at the big trench in the ground, in case it might bite or something, I swallowed a lump in my throat and shoved the phone back in my pocket. The nearest flickering sigil was about two feet away. It burned brighter, hotter, moving like a living flame and flickering with rising intensity the closer I came to it. Tension worked through me as I braced. I stopped half a foot away and reached out with my foot, the toe of my boot angled at the dirt. With a quick swipe, I dragged my foot through the sigil.
Nothing happened.
I tried again. Still nothing. “They’re on the ground but, like, set into the air.” I took a step back with a sigh. “Doesn’t work. I don—”
The ground rumbled and hissed, sigils rising, dirt puffing up like the earth had expelled a great breath.
Oh shit. I didn’t know what was going down, but I didn’t think we wanted to be near that hole when it happened.
“Move!” I backed up, glancing around, and Ryann did the same.
The rumbling grew in volume, not just the earth this time, but something deeper—something more than the ground shifting. It rolled into a roar, growing louder, louder, closer, tumbling into a shriek. Another puff of gray shot into the air, twisting into the sky above us.
Double shit.
“Move!” I barked again and Ryann was already backing, already turning, ready to bolt just as I did. The swirling, hissing mass of smoky sentry demons reared up and dove, swimming past me—
And diving straight for Ryann.
Too late I tried to shove her out of the way. The crackling, swirling demonic energy shot into the top of her head. She crashed on the ground, landing on her hands and knees, coughing and choking.
Fuck.
I froze, held stock-still. Fingers flexed, thinking of the gun holstered under my coat. I couldn’t figure out whether or not Zara would be mad if I killed the kid.
Ryann sucked in a gasping breath and I shifted, taking a fighting stance. Then she let out a piercing scream that petered off into a cough, digging her splayed fingers into the dirt. Smoke swirled up out of her head again, shrieking as if burned.
Dude. What the fuck?
Ryann sputtered a few more coughs, spine curved, head tucked in, and her mess of wild blondish curls fell over her face. I grabbed her arm and hauled her up; lucid eyes stared back at me. She wasn’t possessed.
“Uninhabitable!” one of the shrieking things spat. At least they weren’t coming near me next. No, instead they puffed up high and shot out in all directions, probably looking for more hosts.
“We need to get the fuck out of here,” I said, patting her roughly on the back as she coughed. “Can you run?”
She nodded, raking her hands back through her tight curls. Brown eyes were red-rimmed and watering but, again, at least she hadn’t gone demonic. Uninhabitable...man, if that was the fucking Christian god protecting her or something, sign me up—I just might convert.
With a steady hand on her arm, I started back the way we came, padding as quickly as she could walk. Shit, bringing one of Zara’s cars might’ve been a really, really good idea. The walk wasn’t far but driving away from the demons would’ve been faster.
When we reached the perimeter, I stepped ahead and went for the board. “I’ll hold it, you go through—”
A head popped through as I moved the board. I yelped and darted back; the wood swung back into place, hitting the guy’s torso. It wasn’t the man from the night before, but someone new entirely: middle-aged, Asian, wearing a cheap suit with patched elbows on his tweed jacket. Possessed Chinese librarian. Great.
Wood groaned as he clawed his way through, muttering more curses about the scion and such. I didn’t have much time to listen to him before a board cracked to my left; this time the schoolgirl came through. To the right, two more.
We were surrounded.
“What do they want?” Ryann glanced around.
Panic rose in me though I tried not to show it. “Uh, according to the one last night, to peel my flesh and feast on my bones.”
I almost expected her to trip me, leave me there, and make a run for it, but she held her ground beside me. She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a small metal thing; a flick of her wrist and metal descended, clicking into place.
“Collapsible stake,” she answered my unasked question.
“Ready to kill them now?”
“I won’t stab anyone, but I’ll beat them back.”
Huh. All I had were knives and guns.
Well...then again, I never was without weapons, was I? Not given my lineage. A probably entirely stupid and unworkable idea slapped me upside the head and being short on a few I.Q. points, I decided to give it a shot. “Back up.”
“What?”
“Just gimme some breathing room. I’m going to try something and you need to get as far back as you can. Maybe avoid eye contact with me too.” My trials before becoming a field agent had proved unsuccessful when I attempted to pick and choose my targets—usually everyone died indiscriminately. It wasn’t my intent to kill all the humans this time, but they might be collateral damage. My options were: try a bad plan or be killed.
Ryann stood at my side a beat longer, then backpedalled, her steps quickening the farther she got. The possessed humans closed in, their focus on me and not the tall, gangly nun rapidly bolting from the scene.
Well then. Time to rock and roll, bitches.
The moment of Letting Go came in an instant, like shrugging off weights I’d been trying to wiggle out of for days. The cold, hard armour around me fell, crashed, and I was liquid, moving in warm syrup. I didn’t need to feel around, didn’t need to pull energy from every dark corner, because in this space it was everywhere—thickening the air, tinging the human souls riding backseat in bodies coming to kill me.
My head beat steadily, pounding, pounding, every molecule thrumming. This place...this place wasn’t like every other time I did it—this was like an acid trip, a weird, expectant energy burning under my breastbone, knowing a wave was about to hit. This place amplified me and something ticked in the back of my brain, like my subconscious gave a knowing little smile.
My eyes opened—I didn’t realize I’d closed them—and I looked at the world through a red-hued filter. It was bright red, too, in this grayscale day. It wasn’t grainy and hazy like usual—this was full Technicolor, and surround sound blasting. Air whispered around my bare neck, dragged down my spine, tickled my fingertips.
The others gathered around me with strangely slow movements, the air around them moving like sludge. I glanced around, eyeing them all, myself moving equally slow and loving every moment of it. My heart beat, I didn’t hear it anymore—didn’t feel it beating in my chest, just felt the rush of blood pulsing through my veins.
These sons of bitches were going down.
The nearest one was the damn schoolgirl, moving faster on scrawny legs than the others had. Five feet away. Four. Three. My hand shot out.
Two.
One.
Six inches away she froze, screaming, her head flopping back and body jerking. I pulled, grasping something in her, the demon snapping with my will. Next was the Chinese librarian and I held him in place with my right hand, feeling around and tearing at the smoky creature within him, yanking piece by piece. I felt it stretch, long tendrils hanging on, until I gave another yank and it pulled free.
People grabbed me from behind. Shit, I needed more hands.
I spun and clocked someone in the chin, heard bone snap when I elbowed another man in the ribs. Their hold broken, I gave them the same treatment as the others, latching on to the creatures and tearing them out.
Above me the air swirled in shades of black and gray, coils of smoke shrieking and growing thicker by the second as I yanked them out of bodies.
But I was weakening. Knees shook, would dump me on my ass soon. Outstretched arms ached. The dam in my mind was cracking and exhaustion tugged at my brain. I’d never kept it up this long—not since Osaka.
The world shifted and I was on my knees, hands above me, holding the demons in place. I coughed and tasted something—might’ve been blood. Keep ’em steady, just hold on— One last time I pulled everything I had left down deep and let out a scream, blasting the demons into oblivion.
Oblivion.
I saw it, then.
For a moment my mind was cradled in warmth, cradled in home, like a mother’s arms and soothing voice. Not a screaming hell dimension, no fire and brimstone. Just quiet bliss.
Home.
I slumped face first on the ground, not caring if I woke again or not.