horns adorned their black, goat-like faces. On their backs were large wicker baskets, and each one carried a heavy stone mallet.
He edged back even further behind his sheltering tree but he needn’t have worried. They were not interested in him. In fact, they didn’t even spare him a glance as they stomped past. One came so close that one of its great muscled arms brushed against his tree. The tree shuddered and almost fell, raining ash all over him. He counted three of them, and as they passed, he stepped out from his concealment and stared at their backs. At first he thought that their skin was black but now seeing them closer up, he realized it was black armour. Similar to the Astaroth but clearly much thicker. Thicker, presumably, to stop bullets.
Sam raced around behind them, careful to avoid their path. In the clearing, the battle was in full swing. As he suspected, the survivors had armed themselves with iron shells. The roar of gunfire was deafening as whole swathes of Lemure were taken out by the deadly hail. The arc lights were causing great confusion in their ranks. As soon as the Lemure dashed out from the sheltering darkness of the tree line and met the blazing light, they looked disorientated. Demon after demon fell before the withering fire. The killing ground was working; it looked like the humans were holding for now.
All that changed in a moment. The Lemure fell back and with a crash of falling trees, the horned demons emerged into the light. Even from this distance, Sam could see the nictitating membrane on their great red eyes. As soon as the arc light fell upon them, the protective membrane slammed shut. Of course, that made them almost blind. One charged, shaking the ground as it moved, shells sparking and bouncing off its armour. It missed the palisade completely, blundering into a rock wall with a thunderous collision, sending fragments of rock raining down on the clearing.
It fell to the ground, stunned, as bullets tore into its unprotected flanks. The other two charged. Sam heard the heavy machine gun open up. He could actually see the dents from the bullet impacts, but other than that, the horned demons weren’t even slowed. One almost missed the palisade like its unfortunate comrade but at the last second it swerved, clipping the side of the defensive barrier immediately next to one of the mounted arc lights. The light toppled, smashing to the ground. Suddenly, half the killing ground was in shadow.
The last horned demon hit the palisade square on, the great sharpened tree trunks splintering under its huge bulk. As three men on the fighting platform fell screaming to the ground, the horned demon scooped them up and flung them into the wicker basket on its back.
Lemure began to appear again, keeping to the shadows and heading towards the dark side of the palisade. The defenders, intent on firing at the horned demons and desperately warding off the diving Astaroth who were lunging for the remaining light, were unaware of their danger.
It was time for Sam to act. With a roar he charged towards the legions of Lemure, cutting and slicing as fast as his arms would move. The sheer weight of them forced him back and soon he found himself up against the wooden palisade, fighting a furious defensive action. It didn’t seem to matter how many Lemure he cut down, more would replace them and they just kept on coming.
A huge mallet slammed into the palisade above him, missing his head by a fraction. The surging mass of Lemure suddenly fled. Before him, a horned demon roared its outrage. The sound was deafening and the blast of fetid sulphur almost made him gag. It seemed to sniff the air before ducking its mighty head and charging. In hindsight, Sam realized that the demon must have smelt him. It certainly couldn’t see much. Regardless, it gave him the edge.
He danced to the side as the massive demon surged past, crashing into the palisade with a hail of splinters. As it moved past, Sam lashed out with both blades, cutting through the thick armour and severing the beast’s hamstrings. It emitted another roar and slammed to the ground with a ground-shaking thud.
Dizzy with the heat of battle, Sam almost didn’t notice at first what was wrong. Then it struck him. The horned demon hadn’t disappeared. Normally, when struck with cold iron, demons would dissipate. This one hadn’t. Odd. Apparently, certain demons had been bred with more iron resistance than others.
The horned demon still thrashed on the ground, trying to lever itself up with its four thick arms. Sam jumped on its back and placed the tip of his katana directly in the gap where the beast’s helmet met its torso armour. With all his strength, he punched the blade through. It emerged through the creature’s throat; only then did it suddenly dissolve into a billowing fog of ash.
Sam found himself standing on the ground, spitting out slivers of cinder and trying to clear his vision. Another wave of Lemure was coming.
Behind him, he heard an urgent hiss. “Hey, you there. Get yourself in here.”
Sam felt arms tug at his shoulders and he was dragged in through the gap in the palisade created by the horned demon. He found himself staring at a familiar face. Joshua. A teenage boy that both he and Aimi had known in Jacob’s Ladder.
“You!” exclaimed the boy.
“Yes,” replied Sam warily, “it’s me.”
The two teenagers stared at each other for a long moment before the sounds of battle suddenly intruded again. Already, Lemure were trying to force themselves through the gap in the defences.
Sam thrust out with his swords, reducing two Lemure to dust. “Now,” he grunted, “is probably not the time to talk. We’re all a bit busy at the moment. I’m here to help.”
Joshua nodded. Sam could see that the boy carried a submachine gun, which he appeared to be pointing at Sam’s head.
“Wait!” He ducked as the boy let off a barrage of bullets. Behind him, he heard the shrieks of dying Lemure.
“You should be more careful,”said Josh with a crooked grin, the barrel of his gun still smoking. “It’s dangerous around here. You could get hurt.”
Sam grinned back savagely. “I’ll try to remember.”
Side by side, the boys stood and prepared for the next demon advance.
6
4 YEARS EARLIER
“This is truth: when you sacrifice your life, you must make fullest use of your weaponry. It is false not to do so, and to die with a weapon yet undrawn.”
Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings.
“Strike again. Harder this time.”
Sam did what he was told. His katana flashed out, chopping down on an angle and severing the bamboo pole into two pieces. Before the segment hit the ground, he struck again. With a hollow thud, both pieces hit the ground almost simultaneously.
Hikari smiled at him from behind the pole. “Good, but not excellent. You have speed, I’ll grant you that. I have never seen anyone faster with the blade. But …” Hikari paused and held up one finger. “… it’s your technique we need to work on. As you made your attack, you completely forgot to defend yourself. You were exposed on your left side.”
Breathing heavily, Sam lowered his katana and digested this feedback. Rivulets of sweat dripped down his bare torso, streaking the layers of grime and dirt covering the hard lines of muscle. Most of his body was muscle now thanks to the strict training regime insisted upon by Hikari. In the last three years, he had matured rapidly, growing almost unnaturally quickly. He was over six feet tall with a lean, muscular physique more commonly seen on professional ballet dancers.
In the last few months, Hikari had implemented a heavier weight programme which was starting to bulk him up. His master had made pains to stress the importance of not becoming too muscular though. Heavy muscles, Hikari had explained, could also slow Sam down. The trick was to find a balance between speed and power. So far, the training programme seemed to be working.
They’d been out here for several hours since twilight, in the training ground behind their property. The
