Which was exactly what we wanted.
But luring hell’s warriors into a trap is tough to survive. I glanced over my shoulder as we rounded the corner of the house, Cole to my right, Bergman and Raoul at our heels, Vayl bringing up the rear. I knew that thirty feet ahead of us the plane portal burned like a rock band’s gateway. And we were the groupies, about to be hammered by security if we weren’t gnarly enough to dodge their attack.
But the point wasn’t to evade. Not yet, anyway. Which was why Vayl was letting the female get in some major hits. By the time we’d reached the spot where the house ended and the fence began, she’d raked his shirt to ribbons and left his chest looking like something the butcher lets his trainees hack on, the other two slyein had joined her.
Fifteen steps to the portal and they hounded us all the way. We gave back only enough to make them think they were on the verge of a big win. Even Kyphas had come along, lured by the triumphant screams of the slyein every time a slash hit home. She’d folded up one of the chairs and was using it as a walker, holding it in front of her to help with balance as she stepped. She hadn’t pulled my bolo from her leg, though maybe she should’ve. The way the handle wiggled every time she moved couldn’t have felt pleasant.
Raoul had begun to chant under his breath. The portal shimmered and started to clear. I could see an endless plain littered with the shattered trunks of trees and the carcasses of dead animals. The slyein squealed at the sight.
Kyphas said, “The Great Taker must be pleased. Look where he’s sending us after this deed is done!”
“Jasmine!” yelled Raoul.
“I’m ready!”
His chant changed. Within seconds the destination changed to a meadow covered in newly mown grass at the edge of which sparkled a large lake. As soon as the new picture appeared he leaped through. Cole and Bergman quickly followed. All three of the slyein chased them in. Two of them flew. But Vayl’s original foe was forced to run. It tripped Bergman’s trap. The explosion, held inside the portal by its own power, still looked spectacular. A lima- bean storm flavored with the blood of our foes.
At the same time Vayl wrapped his arms around me, his own blood instantly soaking into my shirt.
Holding me more tightly than he ever had before, he leaped into the air as I yelled the trigger words Bergman had given me for the second explosion. “For Cassandra!” We flipped backward, whether because Vayl wanted us to or because the blast twisted us in the air I could never determine. In those brief moments I strained to watch Kyphas, poised in front of the doorway, the chair held out in front of her like a plastic-woven shield. I wanted a camera to lock in her expression for future generations. I’d have called it two parts what-the-hell mixed with a generous dollop of how-dare-you and just a pinch of oh-shit-I’m-screwed! Then the second set of bombs blew out their pile-o-sticks camouflage with a sound like automatic-weapons fire, splatting her arms, back, and legs with holy veggies. Damn, did she ever scream.
She was still yowling when we landed behind the doorway, protected from stray shrapnel by a pit so deep when I stood up I could barely see over the rim.
“When did you dig this?” I asked, glad he’d at least thought to line it with dead leaves.
“I began it after we found your rash.”
“Oh?” He crossed his arms. I did too. “Why did you dig a hole behind the portal, Vayl?”
“I supposed it was the last place you would look.”
“You didn’t want me to see?” He shook his head. “No wonder you kept sending me off to make other preparations for the fight. But why?” I demanded.
He shrugged. Jumped out and pulled me after him. I knew he didn’t want to answer. But he was my
“I struck oil.”
I was still trying to figure out how deep he must’ve drilled when we walked back around to where Kyphas lay. She was trying to pull herself to the door, sputtering ragged words that wouldn’t change it until Raoul released his hold. As if she could’ve crawled more than a couple of inches with half her muscles melted off.
I crouched down beside her. Grabbed her by the chin so she’d stop screaming long enough to focus. “I wish all those souls you’d stolen over the centuries could see you now. Maybe they wouldn’t have been so quick to cave. Which, by the way, is kinda what your back looks like. What do you say we make a deal?”
CHAPTERNINETEEN
Kyphas lay on her belly in the room at the end of the hall, on the bed Cassandra would’ve slept in if she’d been around. Nobody had much wanted to help her get there, so Cole finally stepped forward as the only one of us who thought he could touch her without losing control and causing further damage. I hadn’t missed the flash of pity in his eyes when he’d caught a glimpse of her wounds either. Surely we didn’t need to have a talk? I mean, okay, he loved women. Almost all of them, without exception, could fluff that down-filled pillow he called a heart. But this bitch wanted to dip Cassandra’s soul in shit and set it on fire. Forever.
We stood around the demon, trying to ignore the fact that frilly pink curtains hung from the two windows and a herd of ponies with excessively long manes and tails stared at us from the white shelves that had been built between them. Harder to glance away from was the toy chest beside the bed, so full of entertaining items the lid wouldn’t even close. Which meant the little girl who’d stayed in this room had left her baby doll hanging halfway out, like a prisoner who hasn’t dug the hole quite wide enough to fit her hips.
I moved my attention to Raoul, whose short brown crew cut had taken on a greenish tinge due to the fallout from the explosion. He, Cole, and Bergman had all huddled behind shields, which, along with the armor, had kept them safe from debris. But the goop had gone high, like a tennis ball lobbed over the head of the opponent, and splatted right over the top of them.
According to Cole it had decimated the slyein. But it had marked our guys as well, and they all needed about three days in the shower before they’d stop finding residue in their ear wax. Bergman had taken the glopping worst, and begun yelling at the other two to get it off of him almost before the last heap fell.
Something about being pasted in lima bean/slyein remains had turned a key in his brain, sending him into a
