Mass chuckled. “Then my condolences to you too.”
Smithy put a hand on Mass’s back and got his attention. “There’re more coming.”
“Lots more,” said Addy, her eyes narrowed and determined.
At the far edges of the crater, a new wave of demons began to form. The sheer destruction had caused them to hesitate, but none had turned away. In the distance, Crimolok strode through the ruins, pulling down buildings and crushing everything in its way. The barriers constructed across the main roads were brushed apart as the giant beast marched straight through them. Hordes of demons followed in its wake.
From the military docks, howitzers punted shells into the air. They hit the ground around Crimolok, obliterating demons but doing no harm to their master. The giant beast strode through the flames unimpeded.
Frank growled. “Another one of the big bastards. Quite the specimen.”
“It’s Crimolok,” said Mass. “He’s the one responsible for all of this. We kill him and this ends. Problem is, he can’t be killed.”
Frank frowned. “Yow need to close his gate. All the big ones have gates attached to ’em. It’s what makes ’em invincible.”
“Not this one. The only way to kill Crimolok is to destroy Hell itself. It’ll take something a little more powerful than what we just saw to achieve that.”
“How d’yow know that?”
“An angel told me.”
“Bugger.”
Smithy chuckled. “Yeah, mate, bugger. You could have met the guy, but he died on the bus getting here.”
“We didn’t have any angels on our team, but we do have a pet devil.” A look of horror crossed Frank’s face. “Shite! Sorrow was out there when them bombs landed. Does anybody see him?”
Everybody looked, but no one could see the big demon with the jet-black wings. He’d been right out there amongst the enemy, but there was no sign of him now.
Frank shook his head, genuine grief in his expression. “Goddamn friendly fire. We might have wiped out a thousand demons, but he was worth more than that. Damn, what are we going to do?”
Mass thought about what Rick had told him. “Crimolok came through a giant gate. If I can reach it, I can close it. Maybe it’ll change things in our favour.” He didn’t tell them that it would achieve nothing but trapping Crimolok here and pissing him off. They didn’t need to lose hope. Hope was the only thing that had kept them alive this far.
The howitzers fired again, and this time one of the shells struck Crimolok directly in the chest. It knocked the giant backwards, and he almost fell down, but then he continued his unrelenting march.
“That hurt it,” said Frank, hopping. “It almost fell.”
Mass shook his head. “It was nothing but a hard shove. Not enough.”
“We need to hit it again with the big guns on the boats,” said Addy. “Maybe it won’t be invincible if we hit it with something hard enough.”
Mass aimed his shotgun at the blackened crater, ready to take on the next wave of demons to cross the halfway point. The devastation was truly incredible. Maybe Addy was right. Maybe enough force could hurt Crimolok.
Mass turned to Addy. “Give me your radio.”
She handed it over.
Mass put out a call on all frequencies. “Whoever just levelled the city outside the walls, I need you to do it again. The enemy’s leader is a mile out from us, right next to Buckland Park. If you have any more of those big bombs left, I need you to drop ’em right now. Anyone else with things that go boom can help too. We need to level Buckland Park right now.”
The radio hissed. “The big bombs vere mine. I have only ze one more left. Who am I speaking to?”
“Mass. Leader of the Urban Vampires.”
“Ah, you are alive. That is good. What about my good friend Tony?”
Mass sighed. “Your guess is as good as mine. Wherever he is, I hope he’s still kicking.”
Another voice came on the line. It was Maddy. “Do what he says, Klein. Drop your other bomb.”
There was a slight pause, and then Klein replied, “Affirmative.”
Several more voices came over the airwaves, various boat commanders willing to fire their guns as well. They were going to drop everything they had left on the park Crimolok was currently passing through. If they hit it fast enough, and hard enough, they might make a big enough dent. Nothing could be truly invincible – not even an angel.
The final voice on the line was Wanstead. “Everybody pray,” said the colonel. “This might be the best shot we get.”
Overhead, missiles and mortars crossed the darkening sky.
Damien stood on the walls a few dozen metres from where Maddy and Commander Tosco were standing. Harry and Steph stood with him, along with Nancy and Scarlett. Scarlett was sobbing. Sorrow was gone. Nancy, the only mother amongst them, was trying to comfort the girl. Harry and Steph held long-range rifles and were putting them to use on the first wave of demons passing through the bomb crater. Overhead, missiles whistled towards the massive demon moving through a park a mile away. Damien spoke to himself. “Die, you bastard. Please, just die.”
The first of the missiles struck the main road beside the park. It engulfed the area in flames. Another explosion tossed up mud and grass from the park itself, as well as demons. Then a line of fire tore through the entire area, consuming everything in its path. Within seconds there was nothing left of the park or anything immediately around it. The resulting fires burned out quickly, leaving behind another massive, char-blackened crater. Several hundred demons disappeared in a flash.
The giant demon was also gone.
There was a brief pause before the men and women of Portsmouth let out a triumphant roar. The wooden scaffolds and platforms shook under their stomping boots, and wolf-whistles pierced the air. Damien had never heard anything like it. “It’s gone,” he said to himself. “We killed it.”
“I wouldn’t count on it,” said a stranger to his left.
Damien didn’t know
