look right at home in a plague ward or a zombie flick. His eyes shimmered with a bright yellow-orange, just like Mihheer’s. They were probably related in a cousin-brother-uncle-sheep kind of way.
“Where’s Scarlett?” Katon asked, straight to the point as always.
Gorath grinned. Obsidian teeth made his mouth look as though it were a black hole, a wiggling yellow slug in its midst. “Ah, is that what she is called?” He laughed, the tone setting the hairs of my arms on edge. “She wasn’t conscious long enough to tell us her name.”
Katon advanced and the mass of werewolves and vampires stepped past Gorath to block the way. Even with all of them filing into the room, the hallway was still full. Unconsciously, I started counting the bullets I had. I didn’t have anywhere near enough. Even Katon hesitated. As much as both of us wanted to put a fork in Gorath, it didn’t look all that likely.
“Let her go,” I told Gorath.
“Why, demon? We know well enough that Lucifer no longer resides in your universe, and we know where he is.” His grin grew wider as more of the critters piled in. “You’ve proven to be more trouble than you’re worth. Scarlett, however, went down without a fight. She’ll prove much better inducement to draw Lucifer out when I am prepared.”
“Lucifer doesn’t-“
I cut Katon off with a hard stare. We both knew Lucifer didn’t care about Scarlett, as she’d pledged her heart to Heaven, but as long as Gorath thought she was useful, he would keep her alive. We’d have a chance to rescue her. The second he felt she was expendable, like me, he would kill her. Unfortunately, judging by the wall of furries and fangs bunching up, if he settled for Scarlett, Katon and I were gonna die. Katon must have caught on to what I was thinking because he let his statement fade incomplete.
“Release her to my partner here, and I’ll surrender to you,” I offered. Gorath didn’t want little old me, he wanted Daddy Devil. If there was a chance Lucifer was gonna ride in on his black horse and rescue someone’s ass, it’d have to be mine, now that I knew who I was supposed to be. “I’m Lucifer’s son, not some distant relative like Scarlett. Take me instead.”
Katon didn’t even look sideways at me, probably figuring I was just baiting the hook. Gorath only waggled a finger. “I think not, demon.” He gestured to the weres and vamps. “I’d suggest you take advantage of this opportunity and die. Should you survive, I will slay your Scarlett and spread her pieces across the universe for Lucifer to find. I will have my vengeance…one way or another.” He turned to Mihheer. “Stay behind and see that it is done.” With a flicker of yellowish-orange energy, he disappeared.
Mihheer showed us his pointy whites and shrugged. “So it shall be.” He waved the critters forward and stepped back into their frantic midst.
Katon gave me his Oh Shit look and set his stance to wait. I just started capping dogs. It’s not like I could miss with them piled up so closely. As gunshots echoed in my ears, I raised my free hand and willed fire to it. With a quick sweep of the floor before us, I set out a wall of searing flames between us and the horde. It slowed the wolves down a bit, but the vampires just walked right through it.
Katon put his sword to work and met the first vampire to cross the fiery line. It fell away in pieces, as did the second. The third managed to get a step closer before I put a bullet in its ugly face. Katon followed up by taking its head off, and kicking it back through the flames. Against humans, brutal tactics like that might have dissuaded them, but we weren’t dealing with humans. They just kept coming.
Blue lights flickered on the other side of the wall and the flames vanished. Werewolves charged toward us, their growls drowning the room in a locomotive rumble. Nowhere to go, we stood our ground and fought. Between Katon’s sword, my bullets and magic, we’d built a pyramid of bodies in front of us that would make any serial killer proud. It just wasn’t enough.
I pulled back a few steps to reload and saw a werewolf latch onto Katon’s sword arm. That was all it took. He slowed for just an instant and went down under a pile of furry claws and teeth. Sickness churned inside me as I watched him swallowed up by the horde. I slammed the clip home and tried to clear them off, but it took me away from the ones nearest me. A vampire crashed into my arm and sent my gun flying. Werewolves dove in right after. The smell of their rancid breath filled my nose, and then there was the coppery tang of blood; mine, mostly. I managed to toss a few critters aside, but the rest bore me down. I felt the sting of every claw that ripped through my flesh and tore a piece away; every bite that filled my blood with the sickening burn of lycanthropy.
My vision went white as the disease seared through my veins, the beasts tearing me apart, bite by bite. I crumpled to the ground as my legs lost their strength and buckled. Even though I still fought, it wouldn’t be long before I lost my life, as well. My thoughts drifted to Karra and how I’d let her down. We’d found each other again only for it to end so soon. A flutter of anger welled up inside. It wasn’t enough what we had. I needed more.
Buried under a sea of weres, I rolled and tucked my arms beneath me, digging my hand into my pocket. I found the vials waiting. Unsure if I was just opting for suicide rather than being murdered, I pulled both of them out, and popped the stoppers. Before I could talk myself out of it, or the mutts could knock them from my hand, I swallowed the contents of both.
No longer defending, one of the wolves latched onto my throat and clamped down. I could feel the rest of them tearing at me somewhere deep down in the muddled haze of numbed sensory feedback. It felt like they were eating me whole. I only hoped I gave them the shits.
My vision tunneled as the werewolf chomped down harder on my carotid artery and the blood stopped flowing to my head. I could hear them grunting and slavering over top of me. My heart fluttered in my chest, but I couldn’t feel Lucifer’s claret kicking in. In a pool of crimson, my last thought was that his blood had spilled out of me just the same as my own. Like a cartoon character shot full of holes drinking a cup of water, I pictured my last hope squirting from me as though I were a fountain.
I heard one last grunt as the bastards took my ear off, and then I heard nothing.
The lights came back on with a mule’s kick. My eyes popped open and I met the startled, red gaze of a werewolf who’d apparently been leaning into take a bite. It paused and let out a surprised grumble. I smiled.
Daddy had come through again.
Lucifer’s blood ran through me as if I’d been corn-holed by a volcano. My veins shrieked with the searing agony of its touch, the claret healing me faster than I’d ever healed before. Flesh and bone knitted together and drew back into form; tendons and muscle were strung and stretched back in place quicker than the werewolves could gnaw them away. The wolf in front of me stared wide-eyed, and a few of the others started to notice their meal was filling back out. The pain of being a werewolf chew toy was dialed down to zero as the blood flushed away all but its own incendiary touch.
The feeling was a mix of phosphorous and Viagra mainlined through my bloodstream, my head a maelstrom of fury, chaos, and lust. I couldn’t think straight. The only thoughts sticking to the Teflon of my brainpan was the urge to fuck and fuck something up. Given the hairy asses in front of me, the latter won out, but it didn’t stop me from being aroused.
As I started to peak, I let the rage shoot from my brain into my limbs, and I let loose. I leapt to my feet and flung a dozen werewolves aside. Lighter than children, it looked like a hairy pinata swatted by Godzilla. Weres were tossed everywhere. I could hear their bones snapping as they slammed into the walls and ceiling. Startled yips sounded as I plowed through their ranks to get to Katon. His will rang quiet against my senses, but he was still alive-living? Undead? — whatever he was. He was still with me.
A number of weres were still latched onto me as I ran, but I ignored them. So caught up in the ecstasy of the double-shot Lucifer latte, I couldn’t feel the teeth or claws they were using to stay put. I didn’t care. The critters chewing on Katon saw me coming and a bunch of them jumped up and backed off. I laughed as I pictured what I must look like. My clothes eaten as an appetizer to the main course of my ass, I was naked and covered in blood from head to toe. I was also sporting the most painful erection I’ve ever had. I didn’t doubt the look on my face told the weres I was looking for someplace to stick it. There weren’t any volunteers.
Without slowing down, I crashed into the werewolves on Katon and ripped them limb from limb. Up to that point, it hadn’t even occurred to me to use my magic. My heart thundered in my chest, a perfect storm of malevolence and sadism that only wanted to slaughter my enemies with my bare hands. I wanted to feel their blood splatter warm across my chest, and taste the virulence of their disease that was nothing more than seasoning.
I gouged and clawed and ripped and bit, fur and pieces of stringy meat in my mouth and wedged between my
