To fight,

  Like a light,

  in the dark

  Not a shot, not a stab

  just some blood to dye your hands

  your hands

  I'm management, the queen

  from this power I have gleaned

  you are nothing

  nothing

  nothing

  Your heart in the mirror

  Throat in your teeth

  Beneath these boots,

  scepter, deceptive, defective

  you’ll see

  the clockwork soldier

  All will die for me!

  [chorus]

  Orders are telling

  soldiers are felling

  and falling in blood

  Our masters excite us

  to fester and blight us

  your orders we keep

  And together we weep

  falling in line,

  the crows this night will dine

  [chorus]

  Afraid and no food

  our orders were rude

  debauchery, is not what we know.

  I must not see,

  results, fulfillment

  truth of the judgments

  the end of the actions

  the fruits to be reaped

  the ticking

  the ticking of my heartless queen

  Your clockwork soldiers

  forever and ever, yours we

  we shall

  we shall be

  [chorus]

  The king shall sing,

  and send us orders.

  He will croon

  Send us to fight!

  Never knowing,

  never

  if it's right.

  If it's right.

  [Chorus]

  orders

  masters

  crows

  falling

  in

  line.

  ~Clockwork Hearts, song lyrics

  ~Feldyn Goldchord, the Endless Bard

  * * *

  “And he’s not in pain?” Ally asked skeptically, but the alchemist was too derped out on the tikirin. When Reba had realized Lance was not a stuffed animal, she had abruptly stopped explaining the officer’s situation, eyes glued on the small, pink and white cat.

  Ally had been having a staring problem of her own, she just didn't know if her problem was more fixated on Stryker or Reba. Trying to take in that this kid was actually Miss Reba, wasn't so easy. She had the personality down pat, as well as her taste in clothing. Still...

  Upon hearing the officer was stable, Feldyn had wandered back outside followed by Gigi. He had hardly cared about Reba’s appearance change. No, there were much more important things on his mind.

  When he had seen Darlothz standing there, an open portal behind him, Feldyn had doubted everything. Though Christ, it seemed, he could not -fully- doubt. His mind had quickly recovered to understand his faith was not wrong, but the understanding of things. For Heavens sake, Christ's blood paid for the salvation of a demon! Echoes of Aethra or not, such possibilities were never even in consideration! Or if they were, it was by much greater men than he.

  Had the bard considered it a trick? Something the demon had faked, to fool them into trusting her? Yes. If it was a trick, however, it had not felt like one. Regardless, there were just too many questions. Too many doubts, and loose ends. Feldyn, for now, would accept what he had witnessed, though he would not completely lower his guard around the imp. Not... yet. Even if he had to rely on her so heavily.

  The situation had changed, once again for the worse. Despite the super-powered edition to their party, firearms were now involved. The amount of gunfire (that was growing closer) greatly concerned the bard. Demonic ally or not, if a single bullet hit one of them somewhere too vital, even Reba couldn’t heal it in time.

  Feldyn wished Earth had learned to make mundane personal shielding devices. It would appear the Order had the technology, it was just not readily available to their troops. Back home it was no more uncommon than any other non-magical armor or weapon. More expensive, yes, but not less common. None were impenetrable, but even the cheaper shieldings took a few hits from non-magical firepower to break.

  “Have we come up with a plan?” Feldyn asked the old man who was talking with the diminutive demon. “We bust out!” Gigi informed from Feldyn’s side. He hadn’t even noticed her there. “That’s what I’m sayin'!” Iiyni said, with a ‘duh’ note to it. “Of course we do,” Feldyn agreed. “But then what?”

  “That is what I am saying,” John said in turn, still scowling at the imp.

  “And what of Masque?” Feldyn asked, then answered his own question; “I would assume he can find us easily enough on his own." Provided he is alive, and doesn't need our help... “Iiyni can take on his role as recon for the time," John told him. "Scouting a safe route for us to follow. Then we do as we always have; find a vehicle, continue to shelter. Which, for now, means returning to Jeff's.” John was rubbing his chin with one hand, and nodding to himself, eyes distant. His expression was no less concerned than Feldyn's.

  Iiyni had scouted the area for the vampire. Either there was no sign of him, or she was lying. Regardless, there was no lead on where he could be. Their first priority must be survival. Once safe, they could worry about finding their friend, assuming he had not returned by then.

  “Ugh, you small like piss,” Iiyni complained loudly, pinching her nose shut and glaring at Gigi. Being able to properly taste and smell was awesome. And slightly fucking disgusted. Stinky things STANK! “Can we remain focused?” John grumbled to the imp.

  As she started to reply to the old man, Iiyni deftly leaned her head to the side, dodging a punch from stinky. Or so she thought. She had definitely sensed a blow incoming, so why had- Gigi punched her in the cheekbone. Iiyni looked amazed and startled, staring at the little girl who was hopping around; expression contorted in a silent shout of pain. “How did you do that?!” Iiyni asked in complete awe. Gigi scowled in reply, no longer hopping, rubbing her fist. Iiyni stared intently into the blonde’s eyes. Something was off about this kid…

  A small explosion came from not far behind the mount of asphalt and earth they were beside. Then gunfire. Gigi, John, and Feldyn all crouched; the gunfire, and a sudden bit of shouting, abruptly quit. John and Feldyn exchanged puzzled expressions. Gigi sighed. “Easy. They weren’t even using any holy shit,” Iiyni announced, standing in the middle of the crouched trio, holding something in two arms against her chest. She snorted loudly and cackled, “Holy shit! HAH! I crack myself up.” Iiyni then dropped what she was holding on the ground; assault rifles and SMGs.

  Hopping to the top of the thirty some foot mound, “I’m gonna go scout around. See if I can clear us a path. And yes dad, I’ll be careful.” Iiyni bound away while John was still sputtering some type of complaint.

  “Moving Stryker is going to be our biggest difficulty,” Feldyn informed the old man, trying to stay focused on the task at hand. “Is he that bad?” John asked, exasperated, checking the firearms that had been dumped on the ground. Feldyn shrugged and shook his head, “Yes and no? Though he shan’t be walking.”

  Frowning, John paused his inspection of the guns to look up at the half-elf, “Near here. Same block, if memory serves, perhaps the next one over, is the fire house. They should have backboards, supplies, something to help us move or stabilize the man.”

  “Reba said he is stable, despite his condition,” Feldyn told him, and leaned down, taking two rifles. “I’ll get Caleb to go with me.” The clouds had mostly cleared during their battle through the ruined town, though the night was still dark. Feldyn had the eyes of an elf, and Caleb, plus the rest of them it appeared, could now miraculously see in the dark.

  The two were good choices. Plus, the boy knew the town. With how disfigured Castle Rock had become, that was currently an important trait. John had been turned around just trying to get here from the Rock.

  Feldyn didn’t need to retrieve the teen; Caleb had ran from the pharmacy after all the noise and gunfire to see what was happening. Lance also appeared in a pop on Feldyn’s shoulder, looking well, if not a bit… embarrassed. “Reba healed him,” Caleb explained, taking the firearm Feldyn handed him, already ascertaining things were relatively the same by the way everyone was acting. Was sorta obvious what happened. The chaos had stopped before he could even leave the pharmacy.. He also assumed, due to Iiyni’s absence, she was now out scouting them a safe route. He really wasn’t as stupid as he had been lately. Now that the demon possessing him was gone, thinking was much easier.

  Gigi was staring at Lance unblinking. She had seen him with Ally, and had been dying to ask to pet him, but was trying to play it cool. “This is Lance," Feldyn said to the girl, noticing her staring. "He’s a tikirin.”

  “Can I pet him?!” Gigi gushed by accident, and blushed. “Well of course!” Feldyn beamed, and his four legged friend tensed.

  Being held against Ally's chest for so long had been terribly awkward. The scrutiny from Reba not much better. This little girl reminded Lance far too much of that disturbing imp that was licking him. He hated children. Gigi walked closer to the bard holding both hands out like a toddler. “Don’t keep the lady waiting!” Feldyn scolded with a smile. Gigi’s gasp when Lance vanished, and appeared a couple feet away mid-air, was adorable. In fact she looked so happy right now, even Lance softened a tad. He flew to land near her on the ground. She was a bit small to land on.

  “Lance, stay with Gigi. Caleb and I are going to go to the emergency station and get something to transport Stryker.” Geeg had crouched down and was babbling at the pink and white cat. Which he seemed more intent to focus on than answering Feldyn. She was keeping her hands to herself, so Lance figured he could humor the kid.

  After the two males left, John told Gigi and the tikirin they should all head inside. Lance had blinked back into the air, intending to fly, but Gigi looked so sad, he reluctantly decided to let her carry him. She was filthy, but so was he. Gigi caught him quite gently and graceful, as he glided into her arms. He was impressed. She carried him comfortably too. Most kids treated him like a damn toy, without an iota of concern for his own comfort! And that was when he had his collar, and could scold the brats proper!

  Gigi scurried after John, who shouted a rare curse when he entered the pharmacy and saw Stryker. “You see where I get my bedside manner?” Reba said with mock disdain. John tossed her an SMG, since they were smaller, and another to Ally. He did not need nor desire to have a firearm. Clearing his throat, “I apologize. I had not expected… that.”

  “To sum it up, I can only guess alchemy," Reba explained. "He’s completely stable. I didn’t do much of anything aside from restore some fluids.”

  “Hey man...” Stryker mumbled. His one good eye (Reba had wrapped his head in a way to keep the shard of glass in his other eye immobile until she could remove it properly) opening halfway and looking at the priest. “How are you feeling?” John asked softly. “Great! Reba gave me the bubbly juice.” John smirked at the slurred reply. He knew quite well what Reba’s pain killers could do to your senses. At least he was assuming that’s what Stryker was referring to. “Did you hear? I killed that big bad dog demon?”

  “We did!” Gigi corrected. Stryker groaned. Then in a whiny voice, “I’m in trouble now man. Never take a girls gusto, virginity, or potato chips.”

  “Try to get some rest, officer,” John advised amidst the girls’ snickering. “Aye, aye capin' Moses!” Snickers turned to laughter. Even John gave a chuckle. Stryker let out a couple high pitched wheezing giggles, and fell back to a drug induced slumber.

  “So, what are we doing now?” Reba asked her guardian, smile still on her face. John couldn’t get over her new appearance. Clothing aside, he was rather enamored with her looks. John had thought many times of what it would have been like to raise Reba from a child. He felt he had missed out on so much. That they both had missed out on so much.

  However, the fact Reba not only looked younger but different, was new. She was still his Reba, yet her appearance had altered to something more akin to a sister or perhaps even a cousin. At this stage, it was hard to tell for sure what changes would take place as she re-aged. Her eyes were no longer brown, but a dark green. She also had freckles along the bridge of her nose and cheeks, and her hair appeared to be much thicker, and wavy. The bone structure of her face had also changed.

  She had always been a pretty girl. John was proud. This new younger version of herself looked like any ‘average’ traits had been altered, to make them better. Where beauty, to some extent, may be in the eye of the beholder, there was still a difference between beautiful and homely.

  And it made him angry. There were so many levels of beautiful, from a purely superficial sense. John understood why unattractive people said beauty was on the inside. He did not agree. Perhaps beauty in spirit, but physical beauty was a different thing entirely. Even the Bible mentions such things. John's anger came from what he feared Reba may think. He -correctly- assumed she had not seen herself in a mirror. And once she did…

  His daughter had always felt flawed. No matter her talent, or her looks, she always saw herself as the lesser. Right when it appeared she may have come to terms with her own equality to humans, now her very being was telling her she still needed perfecting. Changed for the better, in the most superficial ways possible. Which would undoubtedly cause her great pain.

  It wasn’t long after John explained their plans, that Caleb and Feldyn returned, carrying a backboard and a large bag with a caduceus on the side. The group quickly had Stryker wrapped in a blanket, and secured to the backboard. They were deciding which of them would be carrying the dismembered officer when the imp strolled into the building. “We have a problem.”

  “Of course we do!” Reba said cheerful and loud, big smile on her face. “I think I like you,” Iiyni beamed back at her. Then explained. “Y’know those nasty bitches that came out of the gate? No? Well, they’re back. Some of them, anyway. Which is good for us, since it adds to the chaos. The Suzie Squad is here now too, and for whatever the fuck reason, they are breaking seals. Not sure how many, but more than a couple. Really are a shit tone of things sealed in this neck of the woods. I ran across three lycanthropeire, a wyvern and some big spider bitch,” at that, she pulled pointlessly at a wedgie. Ally frowned. Her bottoms were perma wedgie, why bother? “I killed the lycanthropeire, wyvern bolted, spider-bitch I chased a ways off. I wasn’t going to risk her pulling me too far, gotta stick with the group, right?” Iiyni shrugged, and walked over by Ally and Gigi.

  The group was silent. “Suzie Squad?” Feldyn asked, more than a bit puzzled. "The Coven," Iiyni answered without looking at him. He didn't feel any less confused. Things at least sounded about the same. Granted, he was not sure what demons had come through the gate, nor what the 'spider bitch' was, but a wyvern wouldn’t pose too much trouble unless they were caught off guard and alone. Nor should a coven be of any great concern. Unless when she said the coven, she was revering to some powerful group with a generic name. Like the Order. What was next, a global crime ring called the syndicate? "This concerns ye as a problem?" Surely the imp could take them all out on her own, easily catching the rogue monsters as well.

  “Uh, yeah? I mean, we have Order colors, mercs, harpies, nekomata, the cunt squad, and the military to deal with. I can leave. You fuckers cant. More enemies means higher risk of you guys going splat.” Iiyni poked Gigi in the forehead, having been staring at her intensely while answering Feldyn. Gigi refused to acknowledge her. “The military? They have joined the conflict?” John asked. “Yup. I mean, I guess. Kinda assuming. Might just be backup, but they sure have more toys than the militia boys did." Iiyni turned to look at the rest of the group, "Helicopters and fighter jets, or whatever. Didn’t see any drones though. Guess they could be Order, wasn't paying attention to insignia. My bad."

  “We’ve been on the brink of horrible death for days,” Caleb said with a shrug. "Just sounds like a new cast of things that want to kill us." The others seemed to share his feelings. “You guys are weird,” Iiyni informed them while leading down a bit to look in Gigi’s ear. “I mean, here you-” Iiyni shrieked as Gigi suddenly turned and yelled in her face; Reba, Ally, and -thankfully unnoticed- Caleb to scream as well.

  Iiyni was laughing in joy, while John bitched at her and the blonde child. “Holy crap, I got startled! ME!” The little demon was far too happy. “You are fucking awesome!” she informed Gigi. “You’re annoying,” Geeg complained, and the imp snorted loudly without changing her expression of overjoyed stupidity. Gigi held Lance tighter. She really didn’t like the imp.

  Lance found the exchange between the two amusing. Which was odd. He hated screechy little girls.

  “I’ll carry stumpy,” Iiyni randomly announced. “I do not doubt your strength, but are ye not a bit, small?” Feldyn asked, wondering why Lance seemed content to be carried by an extremely filthy, and soaked, Gigi. Iiyni mockingly mouthed Feldyn’s words, making an exaggerated serious expression, easily picked up Stryker's backboard, holding it level with two hands, over her head.

  “Weird, but convenient,” Reba commented, then added, “you need to not jostle him, with that glass in his eye. I really would prefer to not extract it here.” The imp frowned, but nodded.

  Reba then asked, “what’s the best route out of here?”

  “The same bridge where you fuckers killed my babies,” Iiyni answered casually, voice not carrying the inflection one would expect from such words. “It’s still standing, even if there isn’t a river under it anymore.” She walked out the door with the unconscious cop over her head before anyone could say more.

  The imp didn’t seem to give a crap if her newfound companions couldn’t keep up. Bounding over the building sized piles of earth and asphalt, she was gone before they had hardly made it onto the street.

  “I need a bath,” Ally lamented, as they headed around the nearest mound of Earth and stone, moving as if to shine a flashlight, before stopping, perplexed that she didn’t have one. “Oh my, yes,” John agreed. She smiled, dismissing the oddity. John was the youngest old guy she had ever known. And by far the coolest. Somehow him wanting to soak in a hot bubble -she just assumed- bath, made her respect him even more.

  “Incoming!” Feldyn warned, and they all heard it at once. A helicopter. No, multiple, incoming fast.

  A manastorm erupted near them, the ground shaking. “If it moves, kill it!” John told them. Not like they needed him to. “Take cover, and no lights!” Feldyn commanded. “We don’t have any lights,” Reba pointed out, the words carrying on ominous weight that sparked a realization within the group.

  Not that anyone had time to ponder, for the take cover warning, took priority. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much cover to be had. Just mountains of earth, and flipped cars. Such things were fine to hide behind, but when a helicopter is suddenly strafing the area, some ceiling for cover would have been great.

  Ally shouted; her and Reba ducking alongside a car. Pinging, panging, and thudding, whirs of rotors blades, wind whipping everything, She didn’t know if her death was near or nowhere close.

  The rain of bullets didn't last long, the helicopters passing quick, and Ally was looking herself over everywhere to see if she had been shot. The damn things had no lights on them! Stealth bastards! They were also flying really fucking low. Those pilots must be nuts to be going at such high speeds between the magically consequenced stalagmites. Not to mention random manastorms!

  The sound of the helicopters grew louder again. They were coming back for another run. As much as she wanted to ask Reba why they were trying to kill them, to shout for it to stop, she already understood, and knew it would continue. Ally and her friends were a threat. A nice little clusters of kills waiting to be counted. "Everyone stay down, we have this!” Feldyn yelled, and she wasn’t going to argue.

  Ally hadn’t noticed, but only one helicopter had opened fire on them, the other having split off. And only the one was returning. Feldyn watched as the flying craft got within -assumed- firing range, then banked wildly to the side as it passed overhead. Lance reappeared on the bards shoulder, the chopper eventually lighting the night in a fireball. A psy blast in the center of the cockpit tended to cause such things. The bard immediately sensed his friends irritation. “We, you, does it matter?” Feldyn had a habit of taking the credit for what Lance did, as if Lance was but one of his own abilities.

  Getting ready to cheer, “Shit!” Feldyn cursed instead, before the nekomata -that jumped from a mound of asphalt to land in front of him- lunged. “Koh-luhn!” John shouted, and the creature was hurled violently through the air into one of the mounds of road and earth. Feldyn pointed his assault rifle, and began shooting the demon. It screamed as the mundane bullets pierced it’s body; and died as easily as any earthbound creature subject to such.

  Most hellbeasts were basically flesh and blood monsters, with traits allowing them to survive in Hell. On Earth, they were little more than very dangerous animals. Heavy emphasis on very.

  Nekomata were common demonic lore, though Feldyn had only seen illustrations of them. They were uglier in person. Not that he was granted time for much curiosity; soldiers rounded a mound of earth to their right.

  'Why is everything suddenly here?!' Caleb complained to himself. He had seen the nekomata before Feldyn, though hadn’t gotten a chance to react before John. This time, he would be the faster! In a whoosh Caleb was on one of the soldiers, his right fist through the mans chest; no resistance, as usual. Caleb shouldered his gun and fired into the torso of a second man, then quickstepped the direction the men had come, hoping the remaining soldiers would turn their backs to the group. He had to dive behind a flipped van to avoid the gunfire. His heart was slamming, and he was resisting the urge to scream.

  ‘Do not start panicking now!’

  Like the damn angel had any idea why he was so scared! Bullets were not like flesh and blood fucking opponents! They were the noisiest silent death you could imagine! He had seen enough T.V. and read enough books to know soldiers were basically meat shields, just waiting to die! Their training gave them a sliver of a percentage towards surviving, but when you had people shooting at you with fully automatic weapons, what fucking good was training?! This was totally different than hand to hand, or facing a monster or something! At any moment, any second, his life could end! Odds are he would never see, hear, or even feel it! One moment he would be alive, then just fucking dead!

  ‘Spare me the drama. You have yet to experience the danger of monsters. How about you try to sword fight a bear? And I do not understand? If you die, odds are good I would remain where I am. Heaven does not answer, all power bestowed to me gone. And that is a best case; Lord only knows what will become of me if you get cremated!’

  ‘Not helping.’

  ‘Nor is your whining!’

  Caleb mouthed the angels words mockingly, back leaned against the van, tense, pissed, and wanting to scream. And underlining his fear, was a guilt the angel was keeping in check. Caleb knew it was there, but was grateful he was able, for now, to shove to the back of his mind all the people he had been killing. Distracted with it all, he failed to noticed the gunfire had stopped.

  When someone ran around the van to his left, he screamed- only it came out as a manly(Debatable) shout of rage. Pointing the assault rifle, he opened fire. Luckily for the half-elf, he was faster than the Dragonheart’s attempt to kill him. With a quickstep, Feldyn was beside Caleb, grabbing his gun, and punching him repeatedly in the face.

  “I’M FUCKING SORRY!” Caleb shouted, not happy at being hit. “Ye almost killed me, you fucking shit!”

  “Aaaaand, they almost killed you both!” Iiyni announced. They looked at her, and saw no one else. She understood their look. “Should I have brought the heads? Oops, one sec,” and she was gone. “Sorry,” Caleb grumbled. So was Feldyn, but he didn’t feel like voicing it.

  Caleb followed from, as they left their cover; a quick glance over his shoulder, and he saw John, Reba and Ally were also following. God only knew where Gigi had gone. They needed proper training! They needed to be a group!

  Iiyni again stood before them. “I put stumpy over there in City Hall,” she hooked a thumb over her shoulder, at a pile of earth. Presumably, City Hall was behind it. “Shits clear for another couple minutes, so get to it; I gotta go find stinky."

  “Stinky?” Caleb asked Feldyn, since Iiyni left before he could ask her. “Gigi. Though I doubt she smells any worse than the rest of us,” was the bard’s answer. Caleb frowned. Why call Geeg stinky, though? That’s so rude. Gigi was a really clean little kid, in normal situations.

  The others had caught up, and Feldyn told them what Iiyni had said. Hurrying around the mound of earth, they were indeed near City Hall. The gaping hole in the side of the building was obvious. Stryker (still strapped tightly to his backboard) lay on the reception desk. That was also the moment the group registered their ability to see in the dark.

  “Well, we made it across the street,” Ally joked with a pleasant smile, trying to lighten the mood. Caleb was glad she was on her period. Ally was always a bit psychotically happy during her cycle. Why, the Lord only knew, but she was. And positivity was greatly needed right now.

  Yes, uncanny abilities were good and all, but also concerning. Why had they inexplicably gained better eyesight? Feldyn and Reba both already possessed strong low-light vision, but this was entirely different. It was unnatural, and somehow effected every one of them. Ally and John were also both positive that a mere couple hours ago, they had not had this ability. Nameless wasn’t helpful, telling Caleb he would ‘Look into it’, sounding more like he was avoiding the topic than actually trying to figure it out.

  A manastorm cut through the front wall, collapsing that part of the building. John vanished as it fell atop him, Reba retreating back into the entrance hallway, view of her cut off from the group when the ceiling near her collapsed with the front wall. The rest were together, just trapped, since the hole they entered through got buried, enclosing them in the small area of the reception desk. “The heck was dat?” Stryker asked in a dazed slur. Caleb, Feldyn, Ally, nor Lance (if he’d been able), felt the need to give a response.

  * * *

  This was so annoying! Having run to and ducked into a cave type of overhang (consisting of a building and chunk of road) when the helicopters were coming, Gigi was grumpy. This stuff wasn’t scary and everyone was acting dumb! They were panicking, and yelling, and being stupid! Whyyyy?! They had so much scarier stuff they did! Who cared about guns and things blowing up?! Gigi hated this. Adults were so dumb when it mattered, and so helpful when it didn’t!

  She wanted to help more! Lance had left her, she didn’t even have a gun anymore either! Cuz she forgot it… Oops. But now what? Just to sit here? Hide while the dumb adults and teenagers cried a lot and saved everyone?

  Way more into her emo than any six-year-old should be, she felt the imp approaching. Nooooooooo, uuuuuuuugh! “Try to keep up, midget,” Iiyni told when she was within speaking distance, even if she still couldn’t see her.

  “I hate you!” Gigi answered.

  “You first!” Iiyni replied. “That makes no sense!” Gigi complained. “Sticks and stones, bitch!” was the imps reply, that made even less sense.

  Leaving her cave, Gigi, knowing where she was, turned to glare at the ANNOYING DEMON more than she had EVERRR glared at anyone! “I hate you,” she again informed the abyssal butt-face. Iiyni responded by staggering, slouching, clutching her chest and looking at Gigi shocked and pained. “W-why?” she asked in a corny sounding voice. “I loved you, Stinky! I loved you!” Geeg kept glaring.

  What really made the kid mad, was she couldn’t hate the demon like she wanted to! She was pretty, which always made it harder, but she was so freaking annoying and gross! She had a dumb deformed adult voice, that made her sound like a not-kid, but would piss off adults. … And Gigi liked it. It was a Japanese anime girl voice. Why couldn’t she hate herrrrrr. Was it Jesus? Gigi loved Jesus, but God could be annoying sometimes too. He was, like, the ultimate adult she guessed; wanting you to do annoying prophet chores, and judging you when you just wanted to be naked and be left alone.

  * * *

  Neither the human or the imp, with their senses, noticed the woman several blocks away watching them with night-vision binoculars. Nor did they sense the two young women standing near, encased in a deep concealing witchcraft of fear, disgust and doubt. Without taking the binoculars from her eyes, the woman simply said: “kill them.”

  The witches near the two small girls bit their wrists in perfect synchronization. With perfect practice, they triggered their gag reflexes, and vomited in their mouths; flinging blood from their wrists into the air, then spitting the vomit from their mouth, connecting the two substances. Forcefully pulling in a small amount of mana, bodily fluids still in the air, both witches shouted in unison: “Vomati'usu-callulu-obr'ru'antricus!”

  Manastorms tore through things all around them, though their screams were more dramatic than the magic counter measures. Neither witches had ever used mana, and instead were going by the knowledge recently imprinted into them. Knowledge that was deeply flawed. Witchcraft was created by Lilith to be an alternative to magic. It could be boosted with mana, though the action took... Finesse. Something most witches lacked. One of the young women's eyes boiled in their sockets, where the other had every centimeter of skin ripped from her body in an instant.

  That was not even the worst of it. The dual cast spell had a larger area of effect than intended. The ground beneath where the imp and child had been (both long gone- the imp having sensed them when they dropped their guard, grabbed the human, and bound away before the spell was cast) was supposed to be a circular effect large enough to trap several people, with maybe an inch-wide line trailing back to the caster. Instead, a line wider than the two standing side by side, stretched back to and past them.

  The entire effected area of ground turned to bubbling, molten vomit. It was not deep, though the numerous thick tentacles (made of hair) that emerged, grabbed anything living it found and crushed it into the ground. In this case, that was the two screaming casters. The spell wore off in a few seconds, though that was all it took to kill the shit out of you when strapped face down in molten barf.

  * * *

  Kicking and biting the imp, Iiyni finally put Gigi down. “You’re a violent 'lil shit,”

  “I’m angry! And cute!”

  “And stinky,” Iiyni added.

  Locking eyes with the demon, Gigi wanted her to die.

  The pure terror that overcame the imp caught her off guard. It was like Hell itself had just tickled her vagina with a razor-lined elephant dick saturated in LSD. A fetish for some, a fucking nightmare for others. Iiyni was in the latter category. “How did you do that?” She asked, impressed with herself for holding it together. Whatever abilities this kid had, they were no fucking joke. Honestly confused, “Do what?” Geeg asked. Iiyni could tell the kid wasn't faking it. Which brought on another realization. “You really actually hate me.”

  “Duuuuuh,” was the childish reply. “Sorry,” Iiyni apologized to the child she had held no intention of offending. Quite the opposite, actually.

  "If you are sorry, teach me to fight!”

  “Why?”

  “To make people hurt. To kill them. To be strong.” Gigi had no emotion in her reply. There was nothing in the eyes Iiyni once again looked into. “Why?” she asked again, already knowing the answer, regardless of the reasoning she would be given. “Because that’s what Gigi wants.”

  Iiyni could now see something in the child's eyes that she had missed before. A heartless, callous evil. The kid was saved, so her evil should fade to general sin as she grew in her walk. It should have already, actually... Yet it was there. Gigi craved, was aroused by the emotional terror of others. Possibly even their physical pain. She wanted to kill. Not to help, but simply because she wanted to experience death at her own hand, because she found it enjoyable. Did Iiyni know this for sure? No. She wasn’t fucking psychic! But she would bet her left tit she was right. Even if it didn’t add it. How could one be evil and be saved? 'Am I... also still evil?'

  “Sure,” Iiyni agreed, and grinned; jagged teeth glinting in the moonlight. “But I have a price.”

  “Never mind” Gigi sighed, walking away. “Huh? Wait, what?!”

  “Gigi knows better. You don’t make deals with the devils.” She looked around a moment, then ran off in the right direction of the group.

  All Iiyni was going to say… was to be her friend. Knowing the kid hated her... in some odd, annoying, not physical way... hurt. Bad.

  It reminded her of the Cocsmeer, just less dramatic, and more specific. The Cocsmeer made demons feel. It forced them to go through the range of emotions that humans were capable of experiencing. Every demon that was anybody found a way to experience it. The lack of ability to empathize was a huge weakness. In Hell it mattered little. Fuck, it didn’t matter at all. Earth? Earth, one couldn’t just rip through shit, and claim their dominance. No, Earth took a more delicate molesters touch than a violent rapists. The appropriate grooming, and all that.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  Experiencing the Cocsmeer was little more than a way to realize ones inherent weakness. Demons were not totally incapable of feelings. Their feelings were just so muted, they didn't effect them on any significant level. Giving a fuck meant nothing, where not giving a fuck meant power.

  “Hurry up!” Gigi called to her, loudly. She even stopped to wait for the stupid imp. She knew how fast the dumb demon girl was, so when she wasn’t there right away, Geeg ran back to check, and saw her standing in the same place, with that same dumb expression adults got when they ignored you cuz they were 'thinking'. Grabbing the biggest piece of- hmm, no, too big. Geeg dropped the piece of asphalt back on the ground, and noticed a chunk of concrete, small enough she could easily hold it. And threw it at the imp- hitting her in the eye.

  !!!

  Gigi had thought she would dodge! Or it would bounce off her rock head! Iiyni covered her eye and cursed, while the blonde stuttered and stammered how it wasn’t her fault, trying to find an excuse, something to blame for her own actions. All the while hoping no adults showed up and shot them. Or cast a barf spell at them. Ugh. Grownups.

  * * *

  There hadn’t even been chance to properly react before they heard John shout to get back. Ducking quickly behind the reception counter, there was no time to grab the sleeping officer on top before the rubble burying John exploded.

  “Stryker!” Caleb coughed, totally blind from all the dust and smoke. Ally and Feldyn were already searching for him, coughing themselves. And in pain. All of them were hurting from that impact. “DAD!” Reba shouted in fury from somewhere in the cloud, path to her apparently cleared as well. “I was being crushed!” John shouted back, coughing, sounding defensive.

  “Found him!” Ally said, near to Caleb. Feldyn reached her at the same time as the teen boy. Stryker was laying face down, still strapped to the board. “Careful,” Feldyn reminded, as they turned the man over. John and Reba had been hurrying towards the voices of the others, and got to them just as they turned the cop over. “Is he...” was all John could manage. If Stryker had been killed because of him…

  One thing John did not do was use his power without focus. The weight that had landed atop him, it was pure adrenaline that kept him from being crushed, and gave him the strength to delay long enough to give a warning. It had not been enough.

  His focus-words were of his own creation. They came from a combination of a foolish child’s game, and words of wisdom from a nun. Why the words allowed him to focus his power, he did not know. Yet any time he used his abilities without a command word, the psionic release was wild, unpredictable, and strong. Very strong. In this case he used a psionic push, which caused a sudden violent blast in all directions.

  Ally leaned down and tried to put her ear to Stryker's mouth to see if he was breathing. She was terrified the shard of glass got shoved in deeper, and was too scared to feel for it. That fear didn’t last long; Ally jerked back, and slapped him across the face, then covered her mouth with both hands. “Oh shit!” she exclaimed.

  “What is it?” Feldyn asked, struggling to see and not cough. “Sorry! Sorry!” Ally apologized in the dust filled darkness, that their new super sight couldn’t penetrate. “He’s okay, he’s alive! I just slapped him is all!”

  “Why?!” John asked, voice filled with horrified confusion. “He licked my ear,” Ally explained. “I know, I know, he’s on drugs! Still, startling!” She giggled, embarrassed. John stared dumbfounded into the cloudy darkness.

  Reba and Feldyn both shared a decent laugh, and a decent cough.

  “Oh, Ally’s ear?” Stryker suddenly slurred. “Thought it was Reba's! Rawr!” Reba turned bright red. So did John, but for different reasons. Not that anyone could see them, though the air was clearing rapidly.

  The others were laughing so hard they were on the verge of suffocating. “Do you all mind?” Reba lectured, laughing a bit herself now. “Who’s dat?!” Stryker gasped in a drunken voice, lifting his head a bit wobbly, outline now visible to all. “It’s me. Reba. Remember, I look younger now? That comes with sounding younger as well.” Stryker gasped dramatically, and went into a coughing fit. “I licked a kids ear!” he croaked while the group tried to get him, and themselves, moved outside. “That’s inappropriate!” Everyone was laughing now, even John, as they made it out of the building, and towards what was left of the gravel filled playground behind the building.

  “Y’all are batshit fucking psychotic, you know that?” Iiyni told the group as she and Gigi came walking towards them, a forgotten Lance flying alongside them. Stryker looked over, saw the imp in the now super bright moonlight, and let out a shrill scream of terror. The laughter that had paused with their arrival, now erupted into utter hysterics. Gigi, Iiyni, and Lance (who had blinked out to find the girls after the collapse) looked un-amused. “I enjoy a good laugh as much as the next psycho, but I enjoy surviving a bit more.” The tone in the demon's voice silenced them rather quickly.

  “Just ran into the Coven,” she informed. “They don’t seem to mind blowing their cunts to take us out.”

  “What does that mean, exactly?” John asked, voice noticeably stressed. He doubted he would ever -nor did he care to- adjust to vulgar language. “It means that two of them just killed themselves infusing their craft with mana. Nasty one too.”

  Everyone started talking at once; a clusterfuck of suggestions, concerns, opinions, blah blah. At least the loli alchemist was distracted checking the cops eye, that no longer had that huge piece of glass in it. From her demeanor, it had not been removed intentionally.

  Iiyni decided it was time for her to stop being care free. To stop enjoying (and forcing...) the whole ‘salvation’ thing, or it was going to end up leading her to a quick death. She may have no reason to fear Hell now, but the idea of meeting God was somehow more terrifying to her, forgiven or not.

  These fuckers were morons. She could always leave them… Or kill them. Was she still supposed to want to do the latter? She didn’t know. Likely not. Supposed she never really wanted to kill them before, or now. Well, not true, she really did want to a few times- ANYWAY, doesn’t matter, her choice had been made, and until she had time to sit, think, and freak out: these were her allies.

  “Being the senior field officer here, I am taking charge,” Iiyni informed the group. Loudly. Her voice carried the power of a mouse. A mouse that terrified you, all the while wanting to pitch its cheeks. Unless high pitched, little girl voices offended you. In which case, you would be afraid and want to slap it.

  “Field officer?” Ally asked with a smirk. Iiyni’s scowl removed her smile. “No!” Iiyni squeaked commandingly at John and Feldyn when they began to speak, pointing a finger their way. “Shut it! How many wars have you all fought in? Hmm? Knowledge of this kinda shit? I haven’t just been through war; fighting has been my existence. I’m from Hell, remember? Do you have even the slightest fucking idea what that means? Any of you? No? What a surprise. Now, at least until we are out of this shit storm, y'all listen to me. If you do, we live."

  “We’ve survived fine so far,” Ally argued. “Because we didn’t want to kill you,” Iiyni explained. “Ye have not tried to kill us?” Feldyn asked in honesty. Iiyni appreciated that. He wasn’t being a smartass or contentious. Or he was reeeeally good at faking it. “Okay, sure, we sorta were, here an' there. Kinda. It honestly impressed me a bit how you all managed to keep not dying. How lucky you were. Yeah, lucky. Esseff or not, you all just Russian roulette’d your way through the last few days. That stops now.”

  “Couldn't kill me though, could ya?” Stryker slurred, interrupting John and Feldyn as they started to ask why she called them Esseff. “I wasn't trying to kill you, Stumpy. I was trying to drag you out of the car so I could torture you or something. I dunno. Was improvising.”

  “But ya didn't!”

  “Yeah, cuz you were being difficult! If I forced it, might have torn you in half or something. So, sure, you got away. At my amusement.”

  “Still won though! Hah!”

  “Is he high?” Iiyni asked. “Alchemy,” Geeg told her, and she nodded in understanding. Alchemy could do some right weird shit.

  “So, ma’am, whats next?” John asked sarcastically. “Call me ma’am again, I’ll eat your balls. In a non sexual way.” The imp needed to make sure that was clear. Priests could be quite perverted. “If you must use a title, princess is fine,” she told him, and felt her face grow furiously warm; suddenly wanting to avert her eyes.

  Embarrassment. She understood it, just didn’t know why she was feeling it. Was it just cuz she said he could refer to her as princess? She was joking! ‘Mention eating his nuts- I’m good. Say to call me princess, and I go all schoolgirl?’ Being a Christian was weird.

  “Gonna go out on a skinny dick, and trust this place you want to go to ain’t just some shack?” the imp asked the old man. He nodded before speaking; gave him a moment to grit his teeth. “It is an underground facility, hidden beneath a small cabin.” An underground facility? That would be easy to guard from the mundane, and ward from the demonic. Good.

  “Kay, uh…” Iiyni continued. She really needed to remember their damn names, “Dragonheart, elf, old dude - you three are going to spearhead things. The road out front, you will follow it on the south side, all parallel-like, to the left. West. Whatever. The doll and slutface here will stay behind about a block, guarding the rear.” She ignored the glares. “Gigi and Lance, I need you to move between the groups. Lance, since you can teleport you’ll be the liaison. Gigi, you stay between everyone. Keep an eye out for dangers, and let Lance know if you see anything. Got it?”

  “How do I let him know if he isn't with me?” Gigi asked, wide-eyed blank expression on her face. “Just be fucking loud, I dunno,” The imp told her. Did she have to think of everything little damn detail?

  Gigi walked away, talking to herself, looking into the sky. Iiyni assumed the kid was faking the weird shit, as she definitely wasn’t stupid. Psychopaths did tend to mature a bit faster, even if they came across the opposite.

  “So you call them by their names, and we get insults and nicknames?” Ally asked with her hand raised. Iiyni stared at her, mouth open a bit like she was going to say something, but never did. “Gigi and Lance? You called them by name,” the blonde explained. The realization hit Iiyni like a butt-rippling fart to the face. Why the fuck had she remembered just their two names?

  “Yeah, fuck, sorry, I dunno,” the imp rubbed her head and looked anywhere but at the others. “Not trying to be offensive, okay? I’ll work on it. Just… deal for now, alright?"

  “I’m going to take stumpy,” Iiyni continued, not wanting to give time for more stupid questions. “Are there many enemies in our path?” John asked. Iiyni supposed that one wasn't stupid. “Pretty clear between here and, uh... the direction you said we need to go to get to the hideout. After we cross the river we'll need to find a vehicle you all can fit in. I'll continue on foot, to scout ahead for the best route. I mean, we may get some spill-over as the fighting continues, but shouldn't be a problem as long as our group has more cohesion than a liquid shit.”

  Iiyni paused for a moment, wondering if the liquid shit analogy actually applied. Ah well. Bigger things to worry about. Her plan wasn’t much more than ‘go that way’. Despite her bravado, she had like zero experiencing leading. Zit and Jenta, sure, but they had pretty much always been with her, so knew how she did things. War? Sure, plowing through battle lines that were in her way, not actively engaging in campaigns. Regardless, someone needed to take charge, and she was the strongest.

  Reba giving the reluctant green light, Iiyni lifted Stryker's backboard over her head. It was then Feldyn who asked a question. “Are we to assume you are staying with us for a while?” She frowned. “Um, yeah? Didn't we already cover this? Pretty sure Dragonfart over there did invite me to join you.” Gigi, lingering nearby, started cackling. Took Iiyni a moment to realize what she had said. “Oh fuck! Sorry, habit!” She shrugged, doing her best to look apologetic.

  Iiyni was blushing a good bit, so Caleb tried not to pout too much on the inside. When a girl can absentmindedly call you Dragonfart, not really the most complimentary feeling. Nameless had found it quite amusing. Fucker.

  After some brief stretching, the males headed out, needing to unsurprisingly go around a huge mound of earth. Rounding it, they were passing through an intact front yard (with a perfectly mowed brown lawn, and a still standing house), when a figure abruptly hopped down from the roof of a rickety, single care, wooden garage, to stand before them.

  Wasting no time, Caleb shoulder his weapon and fired. “Koh-luhn!” John commanded, the small color in green knocked backwards, through the wall of the small garage.

  Caleb hadn’t thought much of the encounter, since it went about the same as the rest had gone. These ‘elite’ enemies hadn’t given them much trouble. At all. Moment they showed up, Iiyni tended to eliminate them before the others even needed to react. Occasionally Feldyn or John jumped into the fray. Less seldom Caleb, and only a few times Ally. Now with guns involved the situation was more deadly, though it felt good to be able to shoot back.

  Oblivious as the boy tended to be, he now had an angel in his mind to point out the things he missed. In this situation it was the gold on the small colors garb. The gold that his two companions had noticed on their own, and why they hadn’t yet relaxed their guard. Which proved to be prudent.

  The wooden garage exploded - no, was torn apart from the inside, by two long thrashing cables. Cables that had enough reach to cover the entire yard, and beyond. Standing in the middle of the destroyed shed was the tiny, green-hooded color, the cables coming from the palms of his hands. “Teri’kre!” John command, and the color froze in place. The cables, not so much.

  Caleb and Feldyn had to dive to the sides to avoid a lashing cable, John barely dodging the second one, and getting a nasty cut across his right cheek. Coming to a kneeling position, Caleb risked firing at the royal color- bullets appearing to be deflecting off! Deciding to listen to Nameless, Caleb went full defense.

  Feldyn was jumping, rolling, and tumbling mostly by reflex. He knew if he got hit, it would likely severe a limb, if not cut him in half. With a glance, he saw the old man was managing to avoid the second cable as it tore huge gouges into the earth. There was also blood. A lot of blood. John had apparently not managed to dodge as well as the other two.

  Right when Feldyn was about to make a move, wind rushed past him, and Caleb was suddenly in front of the color, rifle-butting them in the face. Both the cables retreat back in the blink of an eye, the green and gold clad figure falling to the ground. Controlled. Spinning a backwards leg swipe, taking Caleb’s feet out from under him.

  Feldyn noticed the hood had fallen from their face. A woman. She was average looking, chin length blond hair.

  There was an odd mechanical noise as the female color bull-rushed John. The old man was faster, spinning and dodging, cracking the color in the back of the head with his staff, then hitting her twice in the back, staggering her forwards. She was hardly slowed or injured, quickly engaging John in melee combat, blocking his staff with her arms. John scored more than one solid blow as they fought, yet they hardly fazed her.

  Not wanting to shoot and risk hitting the old man, Caleb and Feldyn still closed the distance to be damn near melee range. All they needed was an opening! But this level of pure martial combat was beyond both of their skills. John was amazing! He fought like something out of a movie! Not those slow paced (but really cool) kung-fu flicks, but those high speed, special effect and CGI laced super hero movies! And the color was equally impressive! Despite John's prowess, it appeared the only blows he landed were ones she allowed.

  The color scored a solid punch to John’s temple with her left handed, and the way his head lolled, Feldyn knew he had almost lost consciousness. She aimed her right hand at Caleb and Feldyn without looking back, also managing to score another blow on the priest in the form of an uppercut. Feldyn cursed and dove to the left, expecting to feel the cable rip through him. Caleb however, quickstepped -right fist leading- into the cable that shot out at him. His force gauntlet -as he was calling it- knocked the cable aside, his quickstep continuing all the way into the small color. The unstoppable velocity, and weird nature of the, uh, force field surrounding his fist, made his punch rip into her arm, and through her shoulder.

  She was fast, jumping away, then to a roof behind them. The three only had time to look at the now one-armed royal guard long enough to see sparks coming from her shoulder, before she was gone. “An android?” Feldyn asked the old man that had yet to raise back to his feet from getting knocked down, offering him a hand. “More likely a cyborg,” John grunted, not turning the assistance. Pride was not something on the fore front of his mind. Nor judgment on the half-elf’s. What was on Feldyn's mind was Caleb.

  The teenager was destined to rule over Aethra. This was his story, his tale. Yet Caleb hardly felt like the main character, as it were. To the bard, the teen was more a side character. Despite those thoughts, despite his irritation and fears, despite all of it; Caleb’s innate combat prowess was terrifying. The boy had quickstepped for his first time this very night! And now he could do so with casual ease. It took years for that kind of control. Months, DAYS at the bloody least! Mere hours?! With no practice? Training? It was unheard of!

  Could the Dragonheart really be this idiot? Caleb was not evil, Feldyn knew the boy meant well.. Feldyn could fight beside him, trust him and be proud of his brother in arms. King of Aethra? Hero to unite the world, fight and destroy the un-destroyable? Feldyn had chose to believe yes. Chose. Faith could be... obnoxious. Signs, prophecy and experiences, said Caleb was the Dragonheart. Feldyn would never doubt it on the outside looking in. From the inside? God have mercy on them all.

  Gunfire sounded from the way they had come, and Lance appeared near them in a pop a moment after. He looked more inquisitive than concerned “Aye friend, we had a setback,” Feldyn explained. “Moving out now.” Lance, glancing at them all a bit skeptically, vanished in another pop. “We best hurry,” John said, looking towards the gunfire, concerned. It mattered not the level of skill Reba ever achieved, he would always worry for her safety.

  The trio hurried on, expecting to be attacked at every turn. When they were within one or two giant mounds of earth from where the bridge should be, Iiyni called to them from the roof of a two-story house, Stryker held level over her head in two-hands. “Y’know, spearheading generally moves a bit faster.”

  “We can not simply leap over these obstacles,” John chided. “True, true,” the imp conceded. “Still, the girls are doing a better job. They took out twenty-seven mercs!”

  “Twenty seven?!” John choked on the words. Iiyni cackled “Nah, I’m lying. Was only about five. They were not expecting those two girls, I can tell ya that! Probably thought they were demons!” Iiyni was far too amused.

  Helicopters could be heard in the distance. “You guys good? Need to go take down those choppers.”

  “They sounds miles away,” John lectured. “And you are still carrying officer Stricksent!”

  “Yeah, so?” John didn’t bother to press his point. “I’m serious, you guys good dealing with those cunt kittens? Stumpy’ll be fine if I left him on the roof for a sec, if ya need a hand.”

  “We got it,” Caleb answered before the other two could voice their confusion. “Like the confidence!Have fun.” And she was gone.

  Feldyn followed Caleb’s gaze and saw them in the distance. “Bloody fucking hell.” Feldyn was pretty sure the old man cursed as well. Leave it to Caleb to volunteer them to fight nekomata. Not one, or even two, but four! The quartet of hellbeasts had been holding back out of fear of the superior demon's presence. Now that Iiyni had left, they turned their attention to the males.

  Lance appeared in a pop. “Lance, I need you here!” Feldyn commanded quiet, and stern. He wasn’t intending to command his familiar, yet it was what he did all the same. And Lance landed on his friends shoulder without hesitation, and of his own choosing.

  “I’ll go right,” Caleb said. John sighed, “I shall simply try to survive.”

  “Aye,” Feldyn agreed with the old man, and was trying to think of something witty to say, when the demons charged.

  Nekomata were disgusting. Their size was about that of an imp, and their torso was humanoid with two arms, two legs, and one head. Their bodies were genderless and hairless. No nipples, no navels, just yellow to gray skin, covered in puss, scabs, fungus, and God only knew what diseases. They had tails like a rat. The hair on their heads, if you could even call it that, was sparse, greasy and thin. Feline ears also adorned their skulls. Their eyes had no lashes, and no lids to cover the beady black (and sometimes red or yellow) orbs. Mouths held long needle-like teeth, arms single jointed, legs double. They moved on all fours, and their ‘hands’ and ‘feet’ held talons instead of fingers and toes, that undoubtedly could slice into stone.

  Nekomata were the demonic evolution of a feline race of mystics. They had grown overly fond of the actual felines they were tasked to watch over, discovering a way to breed with the animals in their charge. And it only grew worse from there. Love, to lust, to evil. The eventual offspring were pure currupsin filth. Demons.

  The abominations bred by tearing into another nekomata's groin, and forcefully exposing the internal sexual organ, injecting it with their... reproductive fluids. The victim would become impregnated, and the assailant would find a way to imprison them, until the children burst free. The ‘father’ would feed off as many of them as he could catch, as they fled into the wilds of Hell. Mmmm, crunchy offspring.

  Deciding offense was the best defense, Caleb charged (the normal way) towards the middle of the enemy party. ‘They are fast,’ Nameless warned. Again. Caleb had heard him the first time! The slimy cat demons cleared the distance to him much quicker than he did to them; barely having raised his rifle before a nekomata tried to slice his arm off. He dodged, swinging the riffle, and lurching back again to avoid his throat being ripped out. Then one of the demons on his left jumped at him ‘Shit!’ the boy cursed -specifically- in his mind. They were fucking fast!

  The first one was still assaulting him, managing to cut his right leg. Caleb stumbled, fell, and a third demon nimbly jumped on his gun, landing atop the boy that was already on his back. He heard John shout, and then felt like he was struck by a car - John’s psyblast hitting Caleb as well as the nekomata.

  Dropping his gun at some point as he had sailed through the air, Caleb tumbled and rolled, momentum stopping without him smashing into anything. Thankfully he hadn't been hit with the brunt of the psionic attack. On his feet in a hurry, he instinctively quickstepped back to where he had been laying a moment ago. Looking around for his gun, he saw John was fighting two demons, and the Feldyn / Lance combo, another. The fourth nekomata had already recovered from smashing into a mound of asphalt that would have probably killed Caleb.

  Finally locating his weapon, it was a good deal from where had assumed it dropped. Quickstepping at the nekomata, then -timing it perfectly- did another quickstep to his downed rifle, grabbed it, and quickstepped straight up. Aiming down, he fired into the demon that was looking around for him, then quickly aimed and fired at the one chasing a blinking Feldyn. Then quickstepped again (mid air) to a rooftop across a nearby alley.

  Suddenly dizzy, the pain in his leg erupted, turning his vision a searing white. Nameless said something about blocking pain, but Caleb couldn’t focus on the angel’s words. He stumbled, unable to put weight on his injured leg, and fell, dropping the gun again as he rolled off the roof.

  * * *

  “How in the bloody hell is he doing that?!” Feldyn cursed with clenched teeth before running to the mortally wounded nekomata (the one chasing him Caleb had killed) and finishing it off with a burst of gunfire. Caleb was zipping around like a damned fae! Only he was a human! As grateful as Feldyn was for the boys assistance, he was also annoyed. After everything, Caleb still thought nothing of being on a team. Lance had almost blinked right into him when he had first charged.

  There were countermeasures to keep a psion from ending up inside of objects from a teleport, but it was still technically possible. Not to mention some of said countermeasure was very destructive. In this case, if Lance had blinked them into the same space and time Caleb was occupying, a nanosecond battle would commence between their wills. Most sentient beings tended to resist a force trying to displace them. Regardless, there would be a substantial kinetic impact to one or the other to move them. Wrecking ball type of impact.

  “CRE-LAH-FUN!” Was the last thing Feldyn heard before all sound vanished; Lance blinking them away at the same moment, to the top of the mound of asphalt John had previously thrown the nekomata (and almost Caleb) into. The only thing Feldyn could hear was the ringing in his ears. Confused, he watched John standing over two squirming nekomata. A sound blast? Impressive! The old man had used psionic energy to amplify a sound wave that wreaked havoc on the senses, and if strong enough, organs.

  Feldyn’s pride in the man led the bard to a realization, that came with a bit of guilt. John was fighting as solo as Caleb. He was struggling with all he had not to die. In the process, injuring his teammates. Feldyn's reflexive reaction to John had been pride, yet Caleb he had judged, and still felt nothing but irritation at the boys foolishness.

  With a quickstep, Feldyn was on the opposite demon from the one John was now psy-blasting into the earth, over, and over, and over. Feldyn aimed the rifle at the monster and started shooting. By the time he felt satisfied it was dead, he could almost hear the gunshots. Turning to congratulate John on their victory, he saw the old priest laying on the ground, un-moving.

  * * *

  Ally and Reba had gotten into a rather intense gunfight. Ally managed to kill one of the men attacking them, Reba had gotten the rest. Even when the size of a little girl, Reba handled the SMG casually as she darted behind cover, firing, rolling, and killing. It wasn’t longer after that a sudden loud noise, like feedback from a monstrous speaker, caused Ally to cry out in surprise and cover her ears.

  Reba started cursing. “That was dad!” she stressed. “He never uses that ability!” Ally got her concern: John was in a pinch. “Let them do their jobs, and we'll do ours,” she reassured, and Reba glared at her. Ally found the once upon a time dance teacher, much less intimidating like this. She was actually pretty adorable.

  Before the alchemist could argue, Lance appeared in a pop, and landed on the ground. “Are they alive?” Reba asked urgently. The cat nodded, and yawned. Faked or real, he got his point across. “See?” Ally said, then added teasingly, “aren’t you supposed to be the seasoned warrior here?”

  “Aren’t you supposed to be the defiant one?” the mini alchemist replied under her breath. She pulled her knees up to her chest in a pout, leaning against the large chunk of asphalt, next to a car that was on it's side, where her and Ally currently took cover. Yeesh, was Reba always this pouty?

  “Do we move out?” Ally asked the little pink kitty cat, mostly trying to change the subject. Lance didn’t mind. Reba seemed oblivious to the concept of modesty currently, and he was in desperate need of somewhere to avert his eyes. Lance shook his head no, and a manastorm tore through the air over them, the ground quaking.

  “Witches,” Reba assumed. When they both smelled a strong odor of feces, it was pretty much confirmed. Manastorms kept flash-banging, though no more quakes. “There!” Ally pointed her gun at a chunk of asphalt with spider legs that was scurrying towards them.

  She didn't fire on it, since what good would it do? The smell of feces got stronger, and something hit Ally’s arm. Then her left shoulder. “We have to get back inside!” Reba urged. “Don’t let it get in your eyes or mouth!” Ally hurriedly followed after Reba as her horrified mind sorted out the fact that there was literal shit raining from the sky. Oh, and piss too now! Beautiful!

  The animated asphalt followed them, but slower. Once they were back inside city hall, Lance flew to sit just inside the hole in the wall. “It's probably diseased, or poisoned, or something,” Reba explained, trying to find something to wipe herself off with. "Worst case it’s acidic. Isn’t burning my skin, but might activate if ingested or touches viscous fluids,” she explained in a clinical manner.

  The asphalt spider rounded the corner, and Lance sliced it in two with a psybeam. “I hate witchcraft,” Ally complained, doing everything she could to not freak out that evil poop had rained on her. “You weren't even here for the worst of it,” Reba laughed. “Just wait, it gets even better!”

  “Wonderful!” Ally replied sarcastically, wanting to gag. And least it hadn’t been a downpour...

  A female screamed in agony, and both girls lifted their weapons. “Gigi killed her!” came the shout from somewhere outside. Lance blinked away. Seeing the fecal rain had ceased, Reba and Ally hurried out towards where Gigi’s voice had came from.

  They found Lance flying low to the ground, looking at a skinny dead lady in a black skirt and black tank-top. Her throat was sliced, and she had a screwdriver embedded in her temple. A lot of blood was also coming from under her skirt. Reba lifted the fabric to find a large piece of glass (the base wrapped in cloth, to form a safe grip) crammed in the witches vagina. “Gigi did this?!” Reba sounded horrified, looking at Lance and Ally. “I just don’t even know anymore,” was all Ally could manage in reply.

  * * *

  The loud noise had definitely concerned Caleb, but he was preoccupied with his dizziness subsiding, and hoping nothing ate him. There had been no more gunshots for a few, so that was good. ‘I warned you that you still need practice, however impressive your innate abilities might be.’ Caleb felt the best response was vomiting everywhere. ‘That is disgusting...’ He did feel better though! Nausea is like, nine tenths of the battle when dealing with dizziness. ‘Just where do you get these numbers?’ Caleb ignored the angel again. This commentary in his head was really annoying. ‘I am doing what I can to block the pain you are feeling in your leg, and slow the blood loss,' Nameless chose to explain, instead of acknowledging the boys ungrateful emotions. ‘Though if you try to anything like that again, I am not sure if I can keep it under control.’

  The ground seized and manastorms flashed back the way they had come. “Hope Reba and Ally are okay” he said, and risked -carefully- standing. Not seeing his gun, he decided to just go back to where Feldyn and John had been, without it.

  John was standing and waving Feldyn away when Caleb got to them. “I simply used too much energy!” he was explaining to the half elf. “Will it kill you?” Caleb asked as he approached, assuming what the concern was. “No,” John answered in a low exhale, then looked Caleb over, eyes stopping on the boys legs.

  Feldyn followed the mans gaze and cursed. Caleb looked as well. “Oh shit!” His lower right leg was ripped open, into the bone! He was bleeding everywhere! Feldyn took some bandaging he had stuffed in a pocket from when they went to the ambulance garage. “How are ye even walking?”

  “The angel is helping the pain.”

  “Convenient. The bleeding?”

  "Uh, he said he slowed it some, but it was good you bandaged it." This is the kind of thing Caleb wished Nameless would be more specific about!

  Lance appeared, looked them over with a scowl, and nodded, before blinking away again. “Guess we should get moving,” Feldyn said, trying -and failing- to sound cheerful.

  Making it the rest of the way to the bridge uneventfully, it was in pretty much the same state as they had left it. The river was gone, however. Feldyn said he could hear water, but they could not see it, so it was presumably underground. Clearing the bridge, they hurried on to the feed store. Iiyni greeted them in the breezeway of the U shaped double building. “Officer stoned-as-fuck is good, he’s singing some annoying music to himself inside,” she reassured.

  Not much else was said among the group while they waited for the others to arrive. Gigi was the first. She came sprinting from behind the bridge, wearing only panties -she must have taken the time to loot from a house?-, and carrying a combat knife. John had not been amused. Nor had Iiyni. Caleb and Feldyn were concerned over the amount of blood on her. Geeg assured them it wasn’t hers, but they checked her anyway. John huffled about the necessity for clothing, where Iiyni simply bitched the kid was nasty, while refusing to look at her.

  It wasn’t long until John saw Reba and Ally coming off the bridge. Lance appeared next to Feldyn a moment after, then landed on his shoulder. Geeg had spent the short wait time harassing Iiyni, since imp was obviously freaked out about the child being almost naked.

  “Gigi, get over here now!” was the first thing Ally -or either of them- said when they got to the feed store. Groaning, the kid walked over to her cousin, whom took her off to the side to speak a bit more privately. “You okay?” Reba asked John before he could do the same. “No,” he answered, and she rolled her eyes. “You’re such an old man,” she complained, and he couldn't keep a slight grin off his face. Then he scrunched his nose. “Is that…?”

  “Witchcraft,” Reba shrugged. John shook his head in disgust. They all needed to bathe. Some of them with more priority than others.

  The group quickly migrated to the same room where Ally had lay on the counter not long before. Now the counter was taken up by a quietly singing Stryker, firmly strapped to the backboard. Gigi was still only in panties, of course. Not much they could do about it. Ally had to give a fairly stern lecture to John and Iiyni to quit making an issue out of it. Surprisingly, John had consented with little complaint. The imp? She still dramatically refused to look at the child, but kept any comments to herself.

  “Kay then, we good to go?” Iiyni inquired of the room, trying to change the subject. She got nods and shrugs. Iiyni rolled her eyes, but accepted it. Sheesh, this group was moody. And gross. The fuck wanted to see loli vag running around? True, the kid wasn’t naked, and the panties were clean, but they were awkwardly form fitting. This was by far the most fucked up group of Christians the demon had ever even heard of, let alone dealt with.

  Iiyni hated anime, and Japanese role playing games, and all that closet pedo shit that always had magical, half naked little girls. “Why?” Gigi asked her. “You are one creepy little bitch,” Iiyni answered, assuming the child had somehow known what she was thinking. “Whyyyyyy,” Gigi droned, the un-amused demon scowling heavily.

  “Why, what?” Reba asked. “Wedgie demon is a lolis hater,” Gigi explained. Iiyni dropped her scowl at the comment, and frowned, trying to look back at her own butt. Ally sighed lightly, and walked over behind the imp. Iiyni turned to face her, and she motioned her to turn around again. That was all it took for John to leave the room. Ally then removed said wedgie, and Iiyni squeaked, turning red. No one was smiling besides Ally.

  For a change, their moods were not in the gutter, nor close to mirth. They were all worn out to the point even the normal antics were a bit annoying. “Why. Why, why why, why, why-” Gigi had began chanting. “FUCK, I wonder!” Iiyni snapped, interrupting her, finally making eye contact with the child. “But you’re a loli,” Gigi pointed out “and our life is like an RPG”

  “That isn't the same-”

  Iiyni was hit with a sudden realization. She was one of those super powered over sexualized little girls anime weirdos and antis were obsessed with. Iiyni loved how she looked. Her sisters were fucking hot too. So why exactly did she hate loli, and all that weeb shit so much?

  ... Wasn't it because she couldn't have what those fictional loli's had? Friends, adventure, freedom, love? Wouldn't that mean... she was just envious?

  Thinking it over, Iiyni had two choices; denial or acceptance. Denial was overrated.

  Iiyni had her moments, but she wasn’t a damn fool. She could admit when she was wrong. Usually. And the more she tried to rationalize her hatred, the more it kept coming back to one thing: that she probably actually liked anime tropes. Especially loli.

  “Huh,” Iiyni said casually, and fixed her gaze Gigi, looking her up and down. Yup, the feelings of disgust she thought was having, was something else entirely. The kid, filthy and stinky and gross… was… nice to look at. Iiyni blushed wildly, and averted her eyes again.

  Gigi appeared more uncomfortable than Ally had ever seen her before.

  “Perhaps we should get going?” Feldyn suggested, sounding tired. Lance had his eyes closed, sitting up on the bards shoulder. He wasn't sleeping, but was in a restorative meditation. Iiyni nodded, trying to get control of her thoughts, as it felt like her mind was totally new to her- and her eyes drifted to Reba.

  Flustered and embarrassed, Iiyni said without thinking, “Slut face needs to do something about the pussy blood though. Changing plugs wouldn't be a bad idea." The entire room looked at the imp with vivid disgust. “Oh my God, now what did I say?” Iiyni threw her hands up exasperated. “Fuck, was it pussy? Fine her vagina blood. Better?”

  Caleb shook his head and walked out of the building, followed by Feldyn. “WHAT?!” Iiyni practically shouted. “It’s different than normal blood!” Iiyni defended herself as Ally and Reba left too, their expressions judgmental and cruel.

  What was their problem?! Period blood was like ambrosia to a lot of monsters and demons! It also had a very distinct smell. Wasn't like she was insulting the blonde bitch, her damn tampon just needed changed! She was being a friend!

  Iiyni fucking wished she couldn't smell things! The worst part of salvation so far. It was more invasive than mind reading, since she couldn't turn it the fuck off!

  She figured her language could use some work, especially since they were all such special fucking snowflakes! As pissed (and defiant) as she was at their melting, the looks of disgust they had given her...

  Had felt bad. Really bad. “You’ll get used to it,” Gigi told her. “Why should I have to?” Was the soft spoken valid question. Weren't Christian's supposed to reign in their judgment of others, or something? She was brand new to this shit! “Go on, I’ll get Stumpy,” Iiyni sighed, dropping the topic.

  “You first. Not letting you look at my butt!” Gigi stuck her tongue out.

  Iiyni was becoming more and more convinced she couldn’t stay with these people. Heroes or not. They were judgmental, and hypocritical. The shit she had always hated about Christians. Didn't they understand anything? Did none of them give a fuck what she was going through right now? That something might be... That she might still need to...

  “Fine, you can look at my butt,” Geeg said dramatically. Iiyni wasn’t paying any attention to the kid's attempt at being friendly. There was too much going on inside of her, and sorting it all out was difficult. One horrible feeling in particular had her confused. It seemed to encompass every bad thing she had ever done. Though, for some reason, it also made her think of Jenta and Zit, and she couldn’t quite place what it was, only that it felt equally as bad, maybe worse, than what these assholes were causing.

  That feeling was guilt.