my way.
Katon and Scarlett realized what we were doing and ordered our folks to advance. Random blasts tearing at their flesh and morale, the front line violently cleaving through their ranks, the Nephilim broke. Those capable of dimensional travel ported away, leaving their friends to find their own ride home.
No longer being bombarded, I surveyed the field until I saw someone I recognized. Thinned as it was, it didn’t take long.
Less than fifty feet from me, I spied the massive bulk of Jorn. Braver than most of his companions, he stood his ground, his meaty fists wailing away in a circle at anyone who came close. Shirtless-a sight that will forever live on in infamy in the annals of my memory-his arms and shoulders were covered in pustulant, bubbled wounds. The side of his face, I could see, was seared black, pieces molting off as he moved.
Scurrying around his feet was Zellick. The little guy stepped out quick from behind Jorn’s shielding mass to lash out with his dagger, before leaping back to safety.
Venai was probably another fifty feet past them. She held a flickering portal open at her back as she screamed for Jorn and Zellick.
An idea sprang to mind. I called for Rachelle to pass on a message for Katon to follow me and headed off. As quick, and as low, as I could, I closed the intervening space. Venai spotted me just as I came up behind her companions. She shrieked a warning, but it was lost in the white noise of battle.
A smile plastered across my face, I waited until the weasel popped up for another round of hit and run before doing anything. He saw me just as I pulled the trigger.
“Remember me?”
His eyes went wide as the bullet pierced his cheek. They were wider still when the back of his head exploded in a conflagration of red and gray. The spray showered Jorn in warm chunks as Zellick dropped at his feet. Venai screamed again and left the portal, racing toward us as fast as she could manage, her wounded leg slowing her down.
Jorn spun around to see Zellick crumpled in the sand. A horrible look of despair washed over his round face as he fell to his knees without even looking at me. He picked Zellick up like a child, and pulled him to his chest, showering him with tears.
Seeing the big guy crying, I felt a little bad about shooting his buddy; but only a little. The bastard had no problem going after my cousin or sticking me in the back, so why should I care? He’d reaped what he’d sown.
Venai almost on top of me, I leveled my gun toward Jorn’s head and waggled a finger at her. Katon arrived right then, moving to stand beside the big guy, his hand on his huge shoulder.
“We’ve got some business to discuss,” I told her with a wiggle of the gun, making sure she understood I would do the same to Jorn as I had Zellick.
She froze, but her glare was hot enough to melt steel.
“C’mon now, you don’t get to be a hypocrite. You and your buddies were looking to whack my cousin, so get down off your high horse.”
Venai growled, but her glower took on a shade of resignation. “I won’t give you the key piece.”
Before I could say anything, Scarlett stepped up behind her. She wrapped her arms around Venai’s thick waist and lifted her into the air as though the half-breed weighed nothing. Venai’s eyes popped wide as Scarlett took her for a ride, flipping her head over heels before slamming her hard into the ground. She hit with a manly grunt.
Scarlett stood over her with a vindictive grin, her fists clenched. “Bitch!” She didn’t look like she was done.
Katon, catching the imploring look I gave him, left Jorn where he was kneeling and went to pull Scarlett off Venai. She put up a little bit of a fight, but it was halfhearted.
Once Scarlett was away from her, Venai looked up at me, her face dusted in sand.
“I don’t want the piece,” I told her, continuing as if we hadn’t been interrupted.
She looked at me like I’d just outed Brad Pitt. “You lie!”
“Of course I do, I’m a demon, but I’m serious this time. You can keep the damn thing. In fact, you can have ours too.”
“What?” The question was asked in triplicate. Katon and Scarlett stared at me like I was out of my mind while Venai just stared in disbelief.
“We’re not giv-”
I waved Scarlett quiet. “Look, Venai, as things stand, we’re at a three-way standstill. You have a piece, we have a piece, and the weres have a piece. What that means is none of us are going anywhere near Heaven before the world goes kaboom.” Gesturing to the Nephilim who lay dead around us, I laughed. “We can do this all day and it won’t change the outcome one bit. Seeing how we’re all gonna die anyway, who cares?”
Her eyes met mine and I saw a tiny crack of reason squirreled away in there. I went to work on it.
“The Nephilim are in just as much danger as the rest of us. If the weres win, they’ll cut down the Tree of Life and we’ll all become mortal. That includes you. At that point, it won’t matter how many of you there are; you’ll all die. You won’t pass Go, you won’t collect $200, and you won’t be going to Heaven.”
The crack slit wide. “What do you want?”
If only getting laid were so easy. “A truce of sorts.”
Scarlett shouted and stepped forward. Though Katon pulled her back, he looked a bit reluctant. He stared at me with questioning eyes, wondering what I was up to. Scarlett just looked like she wanted to kill me.
Venai shook her head. “Why? What do you get out of giving up your piece?”
“First off, I get to live. That’s pretty high up on my things to do list. I’m not gonna get to do it much longer if something doesn’t change soon.” I waved my hand in the general direction of Eden. “Second, your people aren’t looking to commit genocide like the weres. While it’s not the ideal solution, from our perspective, letting ya’ll win is easily the lesser of the three evils we face. We can always renew hostilities later.” My gun still trained on Jorn, I shook it to make my point.
Though she didn’t even blink, I could tell she was thinking it over. “So, you just hand the bone over and we go our separate ways?”
“Kinda, yeah, but I won’t be giving it to you, at least not here.”
The glare back on her face, Venai got to her feet. A finger of warning to Scarlett let her stay there.
“Then what do you propose?”
“You go back to your people and tell them I’ll be at the gate shortly to hand over the key piece. You have to make sure they’re ready to deal with the weres though, because the second I pull the piece out, it’s gonna rain furballs.”
“That’s it?”
I nodded. “I’m not greedy. I just want to wake up alive tomorrow.”
She looked to Scarlett, then back to me. It was clear what she wanted to know.
“I’ll never hear the end of her bitching, and you can guarantee she’ll be kicking down your door after the dust has settled, but she’ll go along for now. Won’t you, Scarlett?”
Venai looked to Scarlett again and I nearly disfigured my face trying to get her to agree with me. Scarlett went back and forth, glaring at both of us, but she finally relented. She knew me well enough to know I had a plan. Unfortunately, she also knew me well enough to realize it probably sucked and would likely end up getting us killed.
She was probably right.
A quiet sigh slipped from Venai as she looked to where Jorn kneeled, cradling Zellick’s body. “I’ll do this, but you and I aren’t finished. You will pay for Zellick’s death.”
A wise-ass remark hopped onto my tongue and I nearly choked swallowing it. Though I rarely listen to my own advice, it wouldn’t help things to antagonize. So instead, I took a handful of steps back and lowered my gun.
“I’ll be around.” At least I hoped I would be.
Venai didn’t waste any time. She summoned a portal beside Jorn and pulled it over them, Zellick still in the big guy’s arms. In just a second, all three were gone. Less than a second after that, I was on my ass, staring up at the spinning desert sky.
Scarlett stepped over me, a vicious snarl marring her beauty. “What the Hell are you thinking?”
“That this would be a lot less awkward if you weren’t trying to put your foot in my ass.”
