Goetia

a few shots before the military men overwhelmed it and knocked it to the floor. One of the men took a direct hit and stumbled forward only a couple steps before dropping to his knees. He covered his chest and tried to scream.

Then his chest melted and took away his lungs. His face and head followed, sloughing into the chest cavity as the corpse fell forward.

With guttural curses, the warriors battered the demon to the floor and turned the weapon onto the Darkspawn. Several more bursts sailed through the passageway. One struck a fleeing prisoner and dropped the woman to the ground when her legs folded under her. She screamed hoarsely until the destruction caused by the weapon rendered her unconscious or dead.

Panicked, Warren dropped to the ground. A burst missed him by inches before disappearing down the hallway.

“Get them!” Hargastor ordered. “Don’t let them escape!”

Three Darkspawn surged forward.

The two men left struggling with the Darkspawn fired several bursts into their opponent. The Darkspawn screeched defiantly and lashed out with a handful of claws that tore through one man’s face and left it a bloody mess. The manstaggered back, but the demon didn’t live to see its victory. The energy burstturned it into a mass of seething protoplasm that leaked through its bones.

The man who had seized the weapon fired at the nearest Darkspawn and hit the demon in the head. Instantly the Darkspawn’s head blew up like a balloon, thenfell inside its neck. Already dead, the demon stumbled to the ground and sprawled.

Before the man could use his weapon again, two other Darkspawn fired at him from point-blank range. The bursts chewed holes in his body before he hit the ground. The other man wipedblood from his eyes and dove for the weapon. He managed to get it up, but couldn’t fire before more bursts hit him.

Hargastor whirled toward Warren. “You’re going to pay for the inconvenienceyou’ve caused, human. I’ll give you a slow and painful death.”

“Get up,” the voice said in the back of Warren’s mind. “Get up or you’ll dieon your knees.”

Three Darkspawn closed on Warren as he pushed himself to his feet.

Simon led the way down the spiral staircase that had been hewn through the limestone. The HUD chased the shadows from the area. At the bottom, the hallway ran in both directions.

“Any guesses which way?” he asked.

“No,” Nathan said. “The man—or woman—that made that drawing might not haveknown. Or could have gotten confused.”

“We could split up,” Danielle suggested.

“No,” Leah and Simon said atthe same time.

“Not exactly my favorite idea either,” Danielle admitted. “But I thought wemight be able to cover more ground that way.”

“We go together,” Simon said. “Whatever is down here has waited for a longtime. It can wait a little while longer.” He chose the passage to the right,thinking that the wall offered protection for his weak side.

More skeletons littered the floor. Most of the cages had been occupied. Mummified corpses lay sprawled on the other side of the iron bars.

“They didn’t even try to get these people out of here,” Danielle said in asoft voice.

“Their families paid for them to be locked away,” Nathan said. “You didn’tthink they wanted them back just because the sanitarium was closing, did you?”

“Did anyone ever find out what the sanitarium staff did to these people?”

“I don’t know,” Simon answered. “None of the research I looked at talkedabout any of this.”

“Seems to me we’ve had plenty of evil here before the demons arrived,”Danielle said.

No one argued with her.

The unmistakable voice of a demon rang out in the passageway ahead. Then a human voice ordered others to flee for their lives. Feet slapped against stone as fearful cries echoed through the hollow throat of the hallway.

Simon waved the others into defensive positions. They occupied the hallway in stacked two by two formation. He and Nathan took kneeling positions with their swords across their knees and their Spike Bolters in hand. Danielle and another Templar stood behind them so they could fire over their heads.

It was a close-in tactic designed to break a frontal assault.

“Protect the rear,” Simon said. “Pull back to the staircase and keep the wayopen. Remember that this hallway is a ring.”

Two Templar broke off and jogged back the way they’d come. Simon kept trackof all their positions on the HUD.

“I have identified one of the voices,” the suit’s AI informed him.

That surprised Simon. He hadn’t recognized any of the voices, but he knew theAI kept track of everyone he’d come in contact with.

“Display,” Simon ordered.

“His name is Warren. I don’t know if that’s a first name or last.” The AIghosted an image on the HUD.

Simon didn’t recognize the young black man onscreen. “I don’t know him.”

“You met him before,” the AI said. “When you were attempting to retrieveBalekor’s Hammer.”

Simon remembered the man then. He’d chopped his hand off when he’d calledforth a demon to kill them. The nightmare of taking the man’s hand had been onlyone of those that chased through Simon’s dreams. He was surprised to learn thatthe man was still alive.

They’d gotten Balekor’s Hammer that night, and they’d gotten away. Most ofthem. The weapon was in the Templar Underground now. At least, the last time Simon had seen it the hammer had been.

But what was the man doing here now? The last Simon had seen of him was the night the man—Warren—had tried to kill him aboard the train four years ago.Simon had felt certain the Cabalist had died in the river that night.

Shapes appeared around the bend in the hallway. Even with the HUD’samplification Simon couldn’t tell if they were demon or human.

“Hold,” he ordered calmly.

In the next instant he saw that they were human. Four of them fled for their lives. But Darkspawn followed at their heels.

Nathan cursed.

“Up,” Simon ordered. “We let the people through and we hold the demons.” Heleaned into a run and brought the Spike Bolter up as he closed on the fleeing humans.

THIRTY

Warren summoned the dark energy that swirled within him. He threw his