Duncan frowned. “Come again?” he said.
He’d spent most of his time in the Order on the Preceptor’s protection detail. He was pretty well-versed on the typical threats a knight had to face but he’d never heard of such a thing. For all he knew the big master sergeant was making it up just to mess with the new guy.
But this time it was Cade who answered instead of Riley. The usually reticent commander spoke softly from his place by the window. “Chimeras. Changelings. Flesh-twisters — they have a lot of names. What they’re called isn’t as important as what they are — hellspawn.”
Cade turned to face him and Duncan could see anger, rather than fear, burning in his eyes.
“Somewhere out there,” — he waved a hand toward the village outside the window — “is a summoning circle. Squatting in that circle is a class three, maybe even a class four demon that broke free from those who summoned it and it has apparently decided to stay here. To do that, it needs more power, so it is sending out its drones to corrupt anyone they encounter.”
“Corrupt them how?”
“The drone burrows inside the victim and attaches itself to the individual’s brain stem before spreading along his or her spinal column and nervous system. Once in place, the victim becomes an extension of the demon, just like the drone. The two have effectively become one, transferring the power inherent in the victim’s spirit to the demon. As it gains more victims, it gains more power and therefore becomes stronger. Wait long enough, let the demon gather enough power, and it can grow to the extent that it is virtually impossible to kill.”
The explanation did nothing to bolster Duncan’s confidence; in fact, it had the exact opposite effect.
How were they going to stop something like that?
Cade didn’t seem to notice his discomfort. Turning to Olsen, the commander said, “Get on the phone to the commandery in Nurnberg. Tell them we need at least three combat units, preferably with incendiaries and flame throwers if at all possible, plus whatever manpower it is going to take to close off every road within a twenty mile radius of Durbandorf. I want a blockade thrown up around this place and I want it fast. No one gets in or out without my say so, understand?”
“Roger that,” Olsen said, as he pulled a satellite phone from his pocket and began dialing. Duncan didn’t hear what was said, however, for Cade turned to address him and Riley next.
“Riley, I want your eyes out front. Those demons might not be the most intelligent things on the planet, but even they have to eventually figure out that we didn’t go far. Give a signal the minute they head back in this direction. Duncan, you’re with me; we’re going to check the second storey for anything that might be useful in dealing with this mess.”
What Cade expected to find in the butcher’s apartment was anyone’s guess, but Duncan dutifully followed behind him just the same as they ascended the back staircase.
They found the lights off upstairs and decided to leave them that way, not wanting to alert their pursuers to their location with a sudden burst of brilliance in the dark. Each man carried a small but high-powered flashlight on their belts and they pulled them out, shining their beams around the interior. The living quarters on the second floor were small by anyone’s standards; a bedroom not much larger than a walk-in closet, a bathroom containing a sink and a toilet, neither of which looked like they’d been cleaned at any point in the last six months, and a living room/kitchenette combination.
Cade started in the bedroom, leaving the other rooms to Duncan. The younger Templar ignored the bathroom and stepped into the living room. He began poking around, though he wasn’t even sure exactly what he was looking for. What he thought they needed was another vehicle, but he didn’t have any hope of finding one of those. Still, a set of car keys would be a nice start.
He began with the drawers below the counter in the kitchenette, reasoning that it might be a logical place to leave a spare key, but found only silverware and other assorted cooking utensils. The cabinets above the sink were all but empty but Duncan wasn’t surprised, given the pile of dirty plates in the sink.
Not finding anything in the kitchenette he moved into the living room. He ruffled through the newspapers and half-full glasses left on the coffee table, then turned and searched the couch behind it. As he was replacing the cushions, not having found anything beneath them but some moldy pieces of food that were no longer recognizable, something outside the window caught his eye. At first he thought it was just the reflection of his flashlight in the window glass, but after a moment he realized that it was coming from outside. He moved closer, careful to keep his body from being framed in the window, and looked out into the darkness.
At the far end of the street a church steeple rose above the surrounding rooftops and from its bell tower Duncan could see a light flashing on and off in an irregular pattern.
Blink. Blink.
Long blink.
Blink. Blink. Blink.
Morse code.
Since he’d spotted it in mid-message, he waited for the signaler to begin anew, then quickly deciphered what it said.
H-E-L-P U-S.
Duncan turned and called toward the other side of the apartment.
“Commander? I think you need to see this!”
CHAPTER FOUR
Cade stood beside Duncan in the shadows by the window and watched the light blink on and off in the church belfry at the end of the street. He could read Morse as easily as his companion and immediately recognized the plea for help, but something about it made him uneasy.
He looked away from the blinking light and focused instead on the buildings up and down the street, searching the windows and rooftops for signs of the enemy, concerned that the signal might be some kind of a trap, a ruse to draw them out into the open where they could be attacked en masse and overwhelmed. Lesser demons like those they were dealing with might not always be that intelligent, Cade knew, but they were clever bastards.
“Are you going to answer him?” Duncan whispered.
Cade didn’t reply, just held up a hand in a signal for patience as he kept watching the street. He could feel Duncan getting impatient beside him but he ignored it for the moment, wanting to be certain they were in the clear before he made a move.
Finally, satisfied that they weren’t under observation from a conveniently placed drone in one of the adjacent buildings, he brought up his own flashlight, pointed it in the direction of the church steeped and, using one hand cupped over the lens, sent back a message of his own.
C-O-M-I-N-G, he said, H-O-L-D T-I-G-H-T.
He paused, waiting to be sure the other had understood, and was getting ready to repeat his message when the signaler in the belfry replied.
H-U-R-R-Y
“Doing our best here, buddy,” Cade muttered beneath his breath even as he shoved his flashlight back onto the clip on his belt and turned away.
Duncan eyed him expectantly. “Are we going to get them out of there?” he asked.
“Remains to be seen if we can get ourselves out of here, but yes, we’re going to give it a try. Let’s go back down and rejoin the others, see if Olsen has any news for us.”
As it turned out, Olsen did have news, though none of it good.
“The choppers at Nurnberg are currently on lockdown due to the weather; seems they’re getting smacked by a bitch of a storm,” Olsen said. “They were surprised that we hadn’t been hit yet, actually, and said we should expect it pretty much at any minute.”
Cade could care less about the weather. What he needed was enough men to contain this thing before it got out of hand. “Ground units?”