He trotted on, leaping cars and other wreckage, but the fun had gone out of it. He navigated the street by instinct, his mind on other things. The interstate took him through downtown Jersey City. His eyes and other senses told him that few if any humans were resident. Even demons were conspicuous by their absence. But they were out there alright — not just the Devil’s Hand either. Plenty of demons in fact. Just because he couldn’t see them didn’t mean they weren’t there.
It wasn’t until he was at the entrance to the Holland tunnel that he realized where they were. Concealed in the darkness, hidden under tons of rock and bloody water. Lemure. In their thousands.
Sam paused and considered. It wasn’t the only way into New York but it was probably the one where he would be less exposed. He also needed to investigate the tunnel thoroughly for Colonel Wheat’s benefit. They were only Lemure after all. Stupid creatures. The lowest, weakest demon of all. But in great numbers, they still posed a threat to him — if he was cornered, for instance. And what better way to corner him than in a tunnel?
He sighed, resigned to a course of action. If it didn’t work out, he could always backtrack. Cautiously, wrapping his concealment glamor around himself more tightly than he’d ever done before, he entered the tunnel. He could sense that the Lemure weren’t at the entrance — they were further in, concealed within the darkened recesses of the tunnel, interspersed amongst the jumble of cars.
He stuck to the sides, moving without sound, edging his way deeper into the tunnel. He was about a hundred feet in when he saw his first Lemure. He froze, watching the creature carefully, waiting for any indication that he’d been spotted. He saw no such indication. In fact, the Lemure didn’t move at all, appearing as frozen as he was, its blood red eyes staring at nothing. In the darkness, he gradually became aware of how many there were, increasing in numbers further in. He’d been right. There were potentially thousands of them in the tunnel. They all looked like they were in the same state as the first one, locked in some sort of upright coma.
This just might be easier than he first suspected. He moved on, hugging the tunnel wall, keeping his distance from the creatures. Even though they appeared to be in some sort of stasis, it probably wouldn’t do to disturb them. If he disturbed one, he disturbed them all. Then it would get hairy.
He knew from studying his map that the tunnel was over two and a half miles long — perhaps the longest two and a half miles he would ever have to walk. He’d got lucky though. The fact that the creatures were in this state was definitely a bonus. If they had been fully awake, he wasn’t sure if he would have been able to get past all of them. He crept on and had traveled maybe a third of that distance when his luck began to change for the worse.
The Lemures were clustered thickly now, taking up almost every free space that wasn’t already occupied by a wrecked car, making it almost impossible for him to slip through without touching one. Somehow, he still managed it, using his agility to move up the walls for a few seconds at a time when he had to. It got him through some tricky patches.
And then he slipped up. It was something he didn’t do very often. His body was so well honed, so well trained and disciplined that it rarely let him down, always obeying and carrying out every command with precision. Not this time, however.
He’d had to glide up the wall to avoid a tightly packed bunch of Lemure blocking the way. When he came down, the handle of his sword brushed against one. Nothing happened for a moment and then the creature’s fixed stare suddenly focused on him. Sam could sense awareness erupting in what it considered a brain. His Wakizashi through its eye soon stopped all that, and it disappeared in a cloud of ash. Yet even though these events had only taken the blinking of an eye, literally, and he’d made absolutely no sound, other Lemure in the vicinity seemed to stir. Sam froze again, not daring to breathe. Perhaps he’d get away with it?
Several Lemure nearby displayed signs of rousing themselves. Forcing himself not to voice his despair, Sam decided on a course of action. He’d go back the way he’d come. If he went any further, he ran the risk of awakening every single one of the Lemure in the tunnel. He didn’t fancy those odds.
He turned back the way he’d come and then froze once more when he saw what was emerging out of the darkness. The Devil’s Hand. Moving with ethereal grace, they approached in a line, avoiding the cars almost as easily as he did. As for the Lemure — the Devil’s Hand didn’t seem to care about their presence, shoving them out of the way, barging past them. The Lemure gave no indication that they were concerned with this treatment, simply waking for a moment, identifying that these other demons posed no threat and then retreating back into their self-imposed coma.
The nearby Lemure were becoming aware of him now. They turned towards him, snarling. Sam felt the gazes of the Devil’s Hand snap in his direction. The jig was up. They knew he was in here. Tossing caution out the window in favor of speed, he took off, both swords out now, prepared to cut down anything that got in his way.
That turned out to be quite a lot of demons.
He raced through them, somersaulting and avoiding them where possible, slashing through them and dissolving them into dust when necessary. And it was becoming increasingly necessary.
The Devil’s Hand must have raised the warning. Every single Lemure were now awake and aware, luckily moving with some lethargy. With such great numbers, it hardly mattered. Sam was boxed in, forced onto the roofs and hoods of cars — places that he’d avoided earlier in an attempt to avoid any noise. Noise was the least of his problems now.
The screams of the Lemure were deafening inside the confines of the tunnel, amplified, reverberating and echoing around Sam, adding to the general confusion. Lemure leapt at him, scrabbling at his legs, tearing at his jeans and leaving bloody scratches where they connected with bare flesh. He ignored them and raced on. Ahead of him, some of the Lemure wised up, jumping on top of the cars in an effort to intercept him, forming an impenetrable mass.
He dived into them, both swords extended, plunging through and leaving a jet-stream of ash in his wake. Somehow, he landed on his feet. Claws struck him, this time all over his body, the sheer volume of the attacks beyond even his capabilities to deflect. He slowed time but it didn’t seem to help much. The Lemure were just too tightly packed. Behind him, the Devil’s Hand, moving in slow motion, were unimpeded, closing the distance regardless.
Despite Sam’s training and self-control, he began to panic. There just didn’t seem to be any way out of this. Everywhere he looked there were Lemure, blocking his movements at every turn. For every one he destroyed, five moved to replace it.
His ability to focus as Hikari had trained him ran out. Time resumed its normal pace, and the Lemure and Devil’s Hand appearing to speed up before his eyes. Wounds appeared on his body faster than he could heal. A clawed hand almost took off his head, leaving bloody claw tracks across his face. Blood dripped into his eyes, partially obscuring his vision. He was beginning to lose hope. And then he saw something through his blood blurred vision. Far down the end of the tunnel. A burnished glow.
At first, Sam thought the tunnel was on fire but then he realized it was moving. He blocked a dozen demon arms, severing them and reducing their owners to embers before wiping the blood out of his eyes. A fire that moved? That didn’t sound right. And then he sensed what it was and relief washed over him.
Yeth. Unbidden, his Hellhound was riding to his rescue.
Sam renewed his efforts, trying to force his way through the mass of demon bodies. Yeth got closer, the carnage he was inflicting forcing the Lemure to turn towards the new threat. Sam sensed their panic and confusion. Another demon attacking them? Not only that, a greater Hellhound — a demon feared by almost all others.