The demon quivered convulsively. Its jaws went slack and it dropped.
The demon still blazing, Simon put his foot on its head and freed his blade. The other demon toppled as he glanced up. But the HUD showed there were two more. Both of them closed in on one of the nearby rooftops. As he watched, one of them breathed fire onto the rooftop. In the same moment, a salvo of missiles struck the demon and knocked it from the sky.
A black-suited figure rose to one knee on the rooftop and took aim at the last surviving flying demon.
Leah! Simon knew the young woman at once from their long association.
But he’d never seen her on fire before.
SIX
On fire, burning up, Leah stayed with the target. She fired twice and the Cluster Rifle bucked hard against her shoulder both times. Both salvos struck the flying demon in the back and knocked it from the sky.
As it fell, no longer a danger to her continued survival, she turned her attention to the flames that engulfed her. The armor she wore didn’t compare tothat of the Templar. Even during the years of investigating the secret order of knights as well as the Cabalists, her people had never learned the technology behind the armor.
What she wore was the best military grade there was, strictly eyes-only hardware, but it couldn’t bear up like Templar armor. The flames peeled away herdefenses. The first to go was oxygen. Her suit didn’t carry an oxygen filtrationand backup reservoir as she’d learned the Templar armor did.
And whatever the demon had spat on her, magic-based pitch resin or some kind of natural oil, it wasn’t going out She dropped the Cluster Rifle and beat atthe flames with her gloved hands. All she succeeded in doing was spreading the flames.
Her lungs burned for air, but every time she tried to breathe in, there was nothing there. Heat battered her face as the flames sucked in close to her mouth and nose.
Don’t panic, she told herself. But it was one thing to tell herself thatwhile driving on icy roads or deep in enemy territory with security guards nipping at her heels. It was quite another to be calm while asphyxiating.
“Leah!”
She focused on Simon’s voice. Surely he knew she was in trouble. Then againin the heat of combat, he might not have even known. Her senses swam and she knew from experience that she was about to black out.
She tried to choke out his name and couldn’t. She stumbled toward therooftop’s edge and hoped there were no more demons.
Movement on her right side brought her around. She tried to draw the pistol at her side, but her hands failed her. In the next moment Simon was on her. He wrapped his arms around her and started back down the fire escape he’d climbed.
She was barely aware of him breaking through the window of the apartment there and grabbing the curtains. Leah was surprised they were still there. Curtains, especially heavy brocaded ones like this one, could help people stay warm during the bitter winters spent with no electricity or coal.
Simon called her name but she couldn’t answer. He wrapped her in the curtainand she knew that he was trying to snuff out the flames. She didn’t know if hewas successful because she passed out.
“Leah.” Simon pulled the curtains from the young woman cautiously. He thoughthe had all the flames out, but it was possible that fresh air could cause combustion. She didn’t respond, but the oily substance clinging to her armordidn’t catch fire either. His cursory examination of the lightweight personalarmor she wore, which fit her like a catsuit with reinforced contact areas at elbows, knees, sternum,and groin, didn’t appear burned through. That was good. However, the flesh onthe other side of the flame-retardant barrier could be parboiled.
“Simon,” Danielle called.
“Yes.”
“We have to get out of here.”
“I know.”
“Now.”
Simon didn’t blame Danielle for wanting to leave, but Leah had put her headon the block for them. He wasn’t going to leave her behind. However, he didn’twant to try to move her if it was only going to cause further injury.
“Go. I’ll catch up.”
“That’s not how we”
“No, it isn’t.” Simon swiveled his head and glared down at her. He knew shecould spot him easily up on the fire escape landing through her HUD. Her suit’sAI would have him tagged to make that even easier. “Nothing out here goes asplanned every time. You’ve seen that. Get the team home. Get them safe. I’ll beright behind you.”
Danielle hesitated for only a moment, then she showed the good judgment that he’d promoted her to his field second for.
“If you’re not,” she warned, “and I have to track you down, I’m going to kickyour butt.”
Simon grinned a little at that. Danielle was a frequent sparring partner. It frustrated her that he was better than she was.
“Good luck,” she called.
“And you.” Simon watched her for any sign of life. He breathed a sigh ofrelief as he saw her chest rise and fallslightlybut in steady rhythm.
*
Simon searched the black mask and thin helmet that covered her face for a seam or some locking mechanism that would allow him to remove it. None were apparent. When he saw the headset and ocular built into the helmet, he suspected the suit had built-in circuitry much like his armor’s.
With his hand on the side of her head, Simon said, “Access.”
“Accessing,” his suit’s AI responded.
Feedback suddenly juiced across Simon’s HUD. The imaging feature rolled.
“Warning,” the suit’s AI said. “Shock deterrent employed. Access failed.”
Frustration chafed at Simon. He didn’t know if Leah was critically injured oronly passed out from shock. There was no way to know if smoke had gotten trapped in her lungs and was damaging them as she struggled for breath.
And he certainly didn’t know how anyone could know he and his team could beset up through her. Or who would want to.
Tenderly,
