The angel got to her feet, grabbing onto the side of the SUV with both hands as if for support. “I’m not Vincent,” she huffed, “and I’m not playing by his playground pussy rules.” With that, she heaved the wrecked SUV over, crying out at the effort as she flipped it end-over-end onto the stairs with Harrow under it. It was one more thing the demon never saw coming.
“Really is a waste of fuckin’ time fightin’ you here, though,” Rachel spat. She snatched up her sword again, vaulted onto the ruined banister of the staircase and hustled after Alex and the witches.
She didn’t linger to see Harrow’s hands reach out from under the vehicle.
* * *
Wade’s new plan was to lie low while the cars of vampires screaming to get away from the chaos rushed by. With any luck, he figured, they would be more interested in survival than in picking unnecessary fights with unknown attackers. Rachel would doubtlessly pursue any car that held Alex; unless they saw her, the group had no reason not to let the rest escape.
For the first couple of passing cars, he had been right. Unfortunately, someone in the gravel parking lot in front of the mansion spotted them. Wade didn’t know they were exposed until he took a bullet to his leg. Another hit Drew in the back. They both fell, and as more bullets began to slam into his pick-up truck Jason and Taylor dragged them to cover.
“Shoot back,” Wade groaned, holding up his gun. “Y’all gotta shoot back or they’ll run up here.”
Jason obeyed. Wade had been right; several figures already advanced on them in the dark. Jason brought Wade’s gun over the top of the pick-up truck, firing off several bursts and forcing the enemy to dive to the ground. He even managed to clip one of them in the head. The vampire slumped over dead, enraging the others.
Then Jason’s magazine ran dry.
He pulled the pistol out of his waistband, ready to fire until the last bullet, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. He no longer felt tired, nor aching, nor fearful.
“You have done enough,” a voice said. “You have all done enough.”
Taylor looked up in awe from where she sat with Drew’s head in her lap. Four figures in white stood among them. Their wings were even brighter than Rachel’s. Light was shed from something around each one’s head. Of the group, three of them moved forward, walking straight through the pick-up truck toward the vampires, who seemed not to see them at first.
A fourth knelt down beside Taylor. The bright light around her head made it hard to make out her face. She seemed twice Taylor’s age and beautiful, with long black hair and gentle, patient eyes. The woman took Drew’s hand. “You are safe,” she told him soothingly.
Drew looked up in awe. The pain left his back. So did the weakness and all of the worry. The woman turned her attention to Wade, putting her hand on his forehead with the same results. The bullet in his leg vanished. The blood on his leg remained, as did the hole in his jeans, but the wound disappeared. He felt fine.
Jason looked on with his jaw hanging open as the other three angels, swords drawn and ignited, cut through the group of vampires as if it all happened in slow motion. Screams and pleas for mercy were quickly silenced. The three angels looked back at him. One of them waved. Then they faded.
“Who are you?” Taylor managed.
The woman smiled. “I should not tell you. We should not have shown ourselves or intervened like this, and we will have to answer for it. But…” she seemed about to say more, then shook her head. “When you see Rachel again, tell her that she is a bad influence on her colleagues.” The angel reached out and touched the side of Taylor’s face. “My name is Julia. I have always been with you, Taylor. I have loved you all of your life. And I always will.”
Taylor’s breath shook. She couldn’t think of words to say as Julia leaned forward to kiss her forehead, relieving all of her pain and all of her fear.
The angel looked upon Taylor with unconditional love before she stood and walked away, fading into the night.
* * *
Lorelei’s talons dug into the floor as she was dragged to the portal. They left long, deep scars in the carpet and even the concrete beneath them, but they only partially slowed the arm pulling her through the hall. Slashing at Baal’s hand and wrist had done no good; the vicious wounds healed almost instantly. He wouldn’t give up. Several more impossibly long arms reached out, too, grabbing at her legs, her hips, her shoulders.
The portal would only be open for a scant few more moments. Crossing directly from Hell like this was an immense effort. It would not have been done lightly, nor would Baal let it go wasted. Lorelei felt the heat of the Pit on her legs and her waist as she began to pass through the portal.
“Lorelei!” Alex yelled. She saw him rushing to her, armed and furious. He fired at the monsters behind her as he ran. Molly and Onyx followed only a few steps behind, rushing up with their eyes wide with shock at what they saw.
The bullets had no real effect. Alex dropped the gun, snatching Lorelei’s wrists. He dug in for every bit of leverage he could to pull her back.
“He’s too strong!” Lorelei cried out. “Don’t let him take you, too! Alex, no!”
“Hold on!” Rachel cried out from the end of the hallway. Her wings folded in as she landed, rushing headlong to aid them. A battered, charred monster appeared behind her, moving with even greater urgency. Harrow bounded over her, shoving down on her shoulders as if vaulting off of a pommel horse. Rachel stumbled face-first to the floor.
Harrow batted Molly and Onyx aside. The demon roared again, tackling Alex just as the young man thought for a heartbeat that he might somehow win this unreal tug-of-war. Alex was knocked off his feet. He tumbled after Lorelei into the portal.
What had seemed like a horizontal plane suddenly became a long fall down a shaft. Alex still had hold of Lorelei’s wrists. Baal’s hands vanished, as did the others. Harrow’s wings spread out behind him, slowing his fall.
He wasn’t the only one so capable. Lorelei threw her arms around Alex, spreading her wings out as they descended. She tried to flap them, to create some sort of lift, but she was too weary. “You shouldn’t have done this,” she said to him, her head buried against his shoulder.
“I won’t let you go,” he said.
She clung to him fiercely. “Fear no evil, my love. It is your only chance here.”
Above them, watching the group fall, Molly and Onyx saw the portal begin to shrink. Onyx threw her wand against one side of it, trying to hold it open on instinct and magical willpower alone. Molly quickly followed, stabbing into the ripples in space created on her side of the portal with her verawood wand.
“Can you pull them back?” Onyx asked.
“Not without letting go!” Molly grunted.
“Just hold it open!” Rachel shouted. She dove in, a sudden rush of light and wind rushing past the two witches.
Winged shapes rushed up to meet the angel, shooting past succubus, mortal and great demon alike. Small flying monsters with poisoned tails and claws already dripping with blood beset her. Rachel’s wings pushed against the air, slowing her descent while she swung her blade wide. The first of the little beasts was instantly incinerated. Others pressed in.
Far below her, Lorelei and Alex fluttered down until Harrow struck from above. Harrow’s monstrous hands bashed them both and ruined the hold Lorelei’s wings had on the warm air around them. Their fall ended with a sudden, merciless impact.
Alex forced himself up off of the ground. He saw monsters of a hundred different sorts surrounding them. None of them looked alike; he saw scales and boils, mottled fur and rent flesh, baleful red eyes and things with nothing at all in their eye sockets. Horns, tails and wings were everywhere, but beyond that very few of them bore any real resemblance to one another except for their hungry, frightful demeanor.