Page 59

Kerry

When I told him that we were about to leave and why, Hank decided to take Lilas back to her mom, even though it meant he and Gina would be stuck at the Sanctuary until the lockdown lifted.

As the kids said goodbye to each other, I told Hank and Gina about Jax and Gigi going over to St. Pat’s and asked if they wanted me to call them back. Gina was Gigi’s warden, after all.

“The only way into the Sanctuary now is through a portal.” Gina gave me a small smile. “I’ll need to take Hank and Lilas to St. Pat’s anyway, so I can connect with her there before we leave.”

Then she ’ported out with Hank.

Hinge was heartbroken.

He begged and pleaded and even offered to wear clothes and a hat to hide what he was. Rome knelt down next to him and explained that the wardens at the Sanctuary would put him out of his misery sooner than shelter him.

I got what Hinge was feeling. How often did he get to hang out with kids his own age? Especially a pretty girl?

Gina popped back into the room and laid her hand on Lilas’ shoulder.

“I’ll see you again soon, Bertie,” Lilas smiled and squeezed his skeletal fingers. “I’m sure of it.”

“Farewell,” he murmured and bent his skull over their joined hands.

Then they were gone.

Hinge curled up in a corner and the purple lights of his eyes dimmed down to almost nothing. I figured he was either pouting or asleep. I wondered if I should talk to him, but my instincts warned me to leave him alone.

I wouldn’t want someone fussing over me. And what comfort could I give him? I wanna smash the world right now.

Since it looked like I was stuck with him for a while longer, I figured I’d better make a plan. Get some clothes and a hat like he’d suggested, or a hoodie. A little skeleton bouncing along with us wasn’t something humans would overlook or ignore.

I turned to ask Mira if she could do the shopping—and nearly collided with Gina and Lilas.

#

Mira

Gina and Lilas suddenly re-appeared in the middle of the living room. Gina, bent double, held one arm against her stomach and pushed Lilas away with the other.

“What the—”

She disappeared before Kerry could finish.

Lilas’ eyes were huge in her pale face and her whole body trembled. I scooped her into my arms and held her tight.

“Are you all right?”

“Yeah.” She clung to me, though, and her small fingers knotted into the back of my shirt.

“Lilas!”

Hinge, the little pest, started to climb me to reach her. If you’ve never had a skeleton skitter up your body like a spider, you can’t understand how creepy it is, even if you know the skeleton in question. I knelt and laid her on the floor just to get him off of me.

“What happened?” He stroked her hair back from her forehead.

“We bounced off St. Pat’s,” she whispered. “Gina said someone must have warded it for some reason. Then this … this thing came at us. Gina grabbed me and brought us back here.”

“Did she tell you what her plan was?” I asked, wondering if anyone else had noticed Gina was injured. “Do you know where she went just now?”

Lilas shook her head.

“Maybe back to St. Pat’s,” Rome guessed. “Her husband’s there, after all, and Jax and Gigi.”

“Maybe she—” Kerry stopped and went stone-still. “Rome, do you smell that?”

“Yeah. What is it? No Diabolical stink I’ve ever come across.”

“It reminds me of the d—”

A bomb went off, and the front door shattered into a thousand slivers of metal that flew in every direction. Acting on instinct, I jumped up and sprayed out power to glob them all together into a harmless lump before anyone got impaled.

Kerry manifested his sword in a wicked-fast move. Rome was only a hair’s breadth slower drawing his short swords from his back holsters. Good thing they so immediately understood we were under attack because huge, hairy, clawed things exploded into the room.

At my feet, Lilas screamed and curled up into a little ball.

“It’s the things!” she shrieked. “From St. Pat’s! The things !”

Hinge wrapped his skeletal self around her, as if his bones could protect her.

Things got messy quick after that as Rome and Kerry slaughtered their way through the furry bodies.

Realizing I could get in some licks of my own, I called for George, and my sledgehammer exploded out of a wall into my waiting hands.

I didn’t want to get in the warriors’ way, so I squared up in front of the kids and assumed responsibility for keeping them safe.

One of the monsters charged straight at us, its long, red tongue lolling out of its fanged mouth.

“Mira!” Hinge warned me.

“I see it.”

Bracing my feet wide, I swung that twenty-pound head of hardened steel right into its skull with a gruesome crunch.

“Go back where you came from,” I growled.

More creatures poured through the busted doorway like a malevolent shag carpet, and the tide of the battle carried me away from the kids.

I fought fiercely to get back to them, ignoring the burn of the big muscles in my back and arms as I wielded the hammer with all my physical might.

I was leery of using power to fuel my swings because I might need it later.

And I ain’t had a good workout in forever.

“Mira, can you get out with the kids?” Rome hollered.

How did he want me to do that? Enemies flooded through the door and we were twenty stories up, so going out the window wasn’t an option.

“Don’t think so,” I grunted as I drove my foot into a beast’s gut, then swung George like a ball bat into its face.

“Use Zick’s bracelet!” Kerry shouted.

“One problem: There’s half a dozen monsters between me and them!” Ditching the sarcasm, I addressed the bigger concern. “Even if I can reach them, where do you suggest I take them?”

With our safehouse blown, the Sanctuary locked down, and St. Pat’s warded, I was screwed for secure destinations.

Kerry realized it, too, because he turned the air around him blue with bad words.

Right then, a shrill voice spiraled into a scream of pure pain.

Oh, no. Please God, no.

“Lilas!” Hinge howled.

I did a dumb thing then and looked over my shoulder. While I was distracted, a creature darted in and socked me on the jaw. As I staggered back, it wrapped both clawed paws around George’s haft and snapped it as easily as I would a toothpick.

Furious at myself and terrified for Lilas, I used my power to rip George’s head away from the dirty beast, then called for the lump that had been the front door. It arrived at speed and I smashed the monster’s head between it and George like a ripe watermelon.

Making the two chunks of steel orbit me, I hustled back over to the kids.

Blood coated Lilas’ top and her chest heaved as she panted.

Hinge’s left leg below the knee was gone, either by choice or from attack, but he balanced on his knees in front of her, his tibia in one hand and fibula in the other.

Both bones were splintered at the top with points that looked sharp enough to puncture even these creatures’ thick hides.

Brave little cuss, I’ll give him that.

“Help her!” he demanded.

I didn’t know much beyond first aid, but we weren’t exactly spoiled for choice here. Spinning George’s head and the front door lump around us, I fell to my knees next to the little girl, took one look at her wounds, and fought not to cringe.

This baby is gonna die if we don’t get some help. Please, God. Even though we are what we are, do we not also need Your grace and mercy?

And, shock of shocks, God answered a nephilim’s prayer.

#

Rome

Throwing himself into the midst of hairy bodies, Kerry forced a knot of them out into the exterior hallway.

I took advantage of the open space and whirled my twin short swords all the faster.

Their bodies disintegrated fairly quickly, for which I was grateful.

To me, there was nothing worse than getting your feet tangled up in slow-dissolving corpses while fighting live enemies.

Searing light accompanied a crack of thunder, and my heart sank. Were more ’porting in? Even as good and as fast as Kerry and I were, the numbers would catch up to us.

But it was a woman in white who flashed into the room. She burned with Holy fire and radiated Divine power. With the same thunder and light show, three more luminous beings appeared. They each wielded a staff in one hand and a sword in the other.

Peris , my stunned brain informed me.

With battlecries like ringing glass, the quartet finished the fight in seconds. Divs either burst into flames or panicked and ’ported out. The peris made sure the room was clear, then disappeared without even a nod in my direction.

As I holstered my swords, I heard the thump from Kerry’s direction. For a second, I wondered if he’d passed out from too much Divinity nearby, but a snarling stream of swearing soon answered that question.

My eyes found Mira where she hunched over Lilas with Hinge at her elbow. She seemed uninjured and was safe enough for now, so I stuck my head around the doorway—what was left of it—to check on Kerry.

He was on his knees and shaking as sweat or tears poured down his red face. Blue tinged his lips, his pupils were massive, and one hand clawed at his chest.

Freaking taint.

“Need a hand up?” I asked.

He waved me away.

“What was that? Hurt like a mother!”

“Peris. They cleared out the divs. We’ll have to send Parvenah a thank-you note.”

“You can write it.” He winced and got to his feet.

Mira’s unexpected shout held all kinds of panic in it.

Did we miss a div?

I took off in a spray of blue sparks, only vaguely aware that Kerry ran with me.