Calling upon his inner energy, Dagan slashed through the small force. He kept aware of the others and fought back to back with Scion a couple of times.
The gunshots reverberated in the room and the smell of gunpowder filled his nostrils, but he kept at it until there were none left, or so he thought.
He saw Riley come out from the hidey hole Scion had put her in pulling a gun from the waistband of her jeans. A
zulie
lying by her feet opened its eyes and grabbed her ankle. On reflex, she screamed and squeezed the trigger of the gun she held, shooting the
zulie
in the head.
She yanked her ankle out of its hand. “Damn zombies.”
Scion crowded in on her. All Dagan’s senses lit up again when a tall, lanky figure phasing in and out strolled through the now shattered door. Once inside, it solidified.
“Hello, Venom, what brings you here?” Dagan asked in a wary tone.
“I heard a
nephili
had been found.” The creature glanced at Clive Whittaker.
Dagan chuckled. Venom was the leader of the
Anuna
, those who had fallen from grace with the Pantheon many centuries ago. Banned to the Underworld, they roamed, searching for a way to lay low the Council and take their place as rulers. “I guess that answers the question of who made the
zulies
.” He shook his head. “I thought you abhorred Kur. Why would you be working with him?”
The demon sneered. “We came to an agreement.”
“Oh?” The movement of other demons didn’t escape Dagan. His hand tightened around the hilt of his sword, still dripping with dark ooze. He sensed Clive tense as well.
“I told him I would waste no more than one Earth-bound hour on this venture. If I manage to get the
nephili
, he is mine.”
“And what did Kur get in return?”
“He would not say, but it seemed very important to him.”
Dagan’s stomach churned. This day continued to suck. The
Anuna
were fallen gods stripped of their rights, most of their powers, and kicked out of Dilmun. Banished to the Underworld they were to walk there for eternity. When Kur went to the Underworld, he brought with him certain knowledge about thin layers between the realms that shift and will open to certain frequencies. That is the only way this
Anuna
was able to be here now.
They could not be killed because they were gods, but in Venom’s current state, the
Anuna
could experience pain. If Dagan hurt Venom enough, he would return to the Underworld to heal.
He pointed the tip of his dripping weapon toward Venom. “Shall we begin?”
Bowing, the fallen god said, “Yes, as I have wasted ten minutes already explaining that which was not necessary.”
“I’m sorry to delay your fun,” Dagan said and made a courtly bow.
Venom laughed and attacked.
In solid form,
Anuna
made easy targets. He carried no weapons, but did have the ability to blast an opponent with a bolt of energy containing enough voltage to incapacitate if hit directly.
If taken, Clive would spend a lifetime in the Underworld being tortured as revenge on the gods who had banished them. Or, they would try to use him to barter their freedom. Either way, it wouldn’t be good.
Venom charged him, swinging a fist toward Dagan’s head. He deflected the blow with his left forearm, curled his fingers and put his fist in Venom’s face. The creature stumbled back, roared and came at him again, extending sharp blades from its fingertips. Dagan spun away but not before Venom raked his bladed fingers across Dagan’s stomach.
Clive was doing the Ali shuffle with another demon and getting in some great upper cuts and jabs, sparring for his life. When the
galla
scratched his face very close to his eye and let loose with a wail, Clive reached behind his back, produced a
Khukri
knife and sliced both arms and the
galla
’s chest in a big X motion.
Dagan ducked as a wooden chair from the dining room set came hurtling toward him. On the way up, he landed his fist into the midsection of the creature Clive battled. It grunted and stumbled back. During that exchange, Dagan lost sight of Venom.
To his left he saw Scion with his battle axe clearing a wide path and not allowing any of the demons near Riley. He grabbed the handle, spun around and planted the end into the head of one of the
zulies
. It fell to the floor unconscious.
Riley had her hands full with the guns and popped off some rounds into the stomach of a demon rushing in from the right. He rose several feet into the air, holding his stomach, before crashing back to the ground. Something between a groan and a whine came out of the thing before it sagged, dead.
Riley walked over and kicked the thing in the face.
Gideon had a chair in one hand with its legs pointed outward poking at the
zulie
who concentrated on him. A long chain swung from the other hand, the length of which wrapped around his forearm. Dagan didn’t remember having a chain in the bag. Maybe Gideon had brought his own arsenal.
The five of them were holding their own against the onslaught. It made Dagan uneasy. The
Anuna
were masters at strategy and warfare, especially Venom.
From behind him, Dagan heard Venom yell “
Searci
.”
All the remaining demons and
zulies
stopped and joined Venom where he stood.
Dropping his gaze to Dagan, Venom said, “The hour is up.”
“Already? Damn, I was just getting into it.”
Some kind of vortex opened and the enemy stepped through and disappeared.
Scion stormed over. “What the hell?”
“Yeah,” Gideon laughed. “We kicked their butts.”
Scion and Dagan shared glances.
“What is it?” Riley asked, having noticed the concerned look.
“It was too easy.” Dagan flipped his phone open and pushed three.
“Dagan?”
The voice on the other end of the line sounded woozy and out of sorts.
“Rufus, where’s Reese?”
“She’s gone.”
“What?” he roared. “Are you at the house?”
“Yes.”
“I’m on my way.” He shoved the phone back in the holder on his belt. “Scion, can you take care of everything here?
Rufus says Reese is gone. I have to get there.”
“Has something happened to Reese?” Riley asked. “I’m coming with you.”
“No,” both Dagan and Scion replied.
“Riley, you need to stay here and see to your father. Scion and Gideon will take care of the clean up. When I know more, I’ll call.”
He snapped his fingers and appeared in Reese’s front yard. Rufus sat on the porch steps holding the right side of his head. Blood had matted his hair.
“What happened?”
“We’d just arrived. I scanned the area and there were no signs of anything. When we got out, all of a sudden, I’m struck from behind and I went down. I came to long enough to see a blond witch telling Reese that if she didn’t go with her, she’d kill me.”
“So Reese went.”
Rufus shook his head, then regretted it. “Not at first, but the bitch—Vile—pulled a knife on her.” He shifted uneasily. “I knocked her to the ground but she was too fast.”
“Was she alone?”
“Yes.” He looked at Dagan, but then cast his gaze downward. “She told me to tell you that if you wanted to see Reese alive again, you were to go to the place where you met, before dawn.”
“That’s not much time.”
“What are you going to do?”
“The only thing I can do—go to her.”
Dagan materialized at the corner where he’d met Reese a few nights ago. So much had happened in that short time.
No snow fell, but the bitter wind cut through him. Though he had changed his clothes, the icy air pricked the still healing cuts.
Across the street, a tall, lithe blonde stood wrapped in a fur coat. She crooked her finger at him. Obviously, this was the bitch who had taken Reese and he would do whatever it took to get her back.
When he jogged toward the woman, she turned and started walking, only stopping when she’d reached a huge warehouse at the end of the block. Going inside got him out of the icy blast and it took him all of a few seconds to adjust to the deeper darkness.
“Come with me,” Vile said in a gently accented voice.
He followed her to the back corner of the cavernous building. As he slowly closed on the location, his attuned senses picked up the faint heartbeat and the severe smell of blood. His heart pounded against his chest wall. Was he too late?
Coming around a stack of boxes, Dagan saw Reese. Her wrists were manacled and the chain hung from the ceiling. Her head hung forward and she slumped in a thick pool of blood.
His heart skipped and the
fury
in him bellowed, but before he could move, Kur stepped into the light next to Reese’s still body.
“It seems I have to be more specific next time I give Vile instructions.” Kur indicated the woman who had led Dagan there. “I told her to toy with the prize, but she got a bit carried away.”
It was all Dagan could do not to lunge at Kur and rip his throat out.
Reese was still alive.
Dressed in jeans, a knit cap and a long shoreman’s jacket, Kur looked like a dock worker.
“I deplore the cold,” he said conversationally. “But I thought keeping it this way would help slow the blood flow, thereby keeping her alive longer. I had so wanted you to be here when I drained my prize.”
Dagan clenched his teeth.
“It doesn’t matter what condition she’s in when I take her life force. The end result is the same.”
“So what’s the plan?” Dagan finally spoke. “Surely you didn’t bring me here just to watch.”
Kur laughed. “You’re trying to be so nonchalant when I know it’s killing you to see her life slipping away—drip, drip, drip.”
Dagan lifted his hand over his head and unsheathed his sword. “Come on, Kur. Let’s do this again, only this time, just you and me.” He swung the sword across his body. “Are you man enough?”
An insane fire burned in Kur’s eyes. Kur cocked his head, considering Dagan’s proposal. “I will take you on, Time Walker. I should have finished you properly the last time. But, I have the greater advantage,” Kur snickered. “I devoured two life forces before I came here.” He licked his lips. “You were expending your energy fighting Venom.”
“He sends his regards.”
Kur scowled at Vile. “Don’t let her die before I’m finished here.”
“No worries,” she flicked him a kiss and tossed him a blade.
Kur raised the blade up in front of his face and bowed to Dagan.
To the death
had never meant more to Dagan than at this moment. He had to stay focused. The woman he loved hung in a pool of her own blood but he couldn’t let it distract him, or he’d likely join her and the creature would win.
Kur advanced bringing his sword in a high arc toward Dagan’s neck. Holding the hilt in both hands, Dagan did a one-eighty and blocked the move. Kur faltered, a little off balance. Dagan’s sword crisscrossed his body in a figure eight, aggressively backing Kur up until he pressed against the wall. Raising his blade at the last minute, he deflected the fatal blow. The hard contact reverberated up his arm and Dagan sliced into his forearm when he retracted.
Kur hissed. “I’m impressed.”
With a glint in his eye Dagan said, “I live to fight.”
Kur’s face screwed into a mask of hatred. “Not for long.”
Dagan and Kur performed their deadly dance across every inch of the warehouse floor. Each swing and stab, thrust and parry took chunks of skin and dotted the floor with blood.
On one lunge, Kur slipped in some blood, skidded forward and fell to his knees cursing. It presented Dagan with the chance he’d been waiting for, so he stuck the tip of his sword through Kur’s extended knee, wrenching a scream from the dark lord. Dagan quickly spun around and brought the blade down, slicing deeply at the point where Kur’s neck connected to the shoulder. Unfortunately, he missed the jugular. Blood spurted from the wound.
Vile raced over and sent a knife hurtling toward Dagan, who deflected it. Quick as lightning he sailed two metal stars at her, lodging one in her shoulder and the other in her hand. She screamed and dropped next to Kur before pulling the metal objects out, letting them fall to the concrete floor. Blood oozed from the wound on Kur’s neck, his fingers bloodied from stemming the flow. With a lethal glare, Vile wrapped her arms around Kur and teleported them back to the Underworld.
Dagan rushed to Reese.
Using the sword, he pounded the chains, cutting them from the wall, letting it fall to catch her weak form. He rested two shaking fingers against the pulse point. Her skin was pale and her lips were turning blue. She wouldn’t last much longer. Hopelessness coursed through him, stabbing his heart with its vicious attack.
He wanted to see those blue flames glare at him and threaten to banish his ass again, needed to see her smile and feel her warmth. One more time to lie next to her and hear her sighs when they made love. One more kiss.