Chapter 36 – Lana
W e try to be as quiet as possible as we skulk through the smaller, office-like sections of the warehouse. I sense dozens of Cambions in the vicinity and the extra demonic signature on the other side points to Andras being here as well. I hope the other team won’t have too much trouble with him. Jess should be fine with an ancient demon lord like Aim and two angels. Right?
As soon as the worry comes, it’s forced to the side – some of the Cambions I sense decide it’s a good idea to ambush us. Nephithar sighs like they’re naughty kids who stepped between him on his couch and the sitcom on the TV.
When the familiar sound of guns cocking enters my awareness, I take a breath to shout out a warning. Kevin beats me to it though.
“Guns!” he yells, ducking behind the corner and pulling me back with him.
With a growl, Nephithar charges, mowing down the first row of mortals like a juggernaut, disarming them and knocking them against the wall. When one bounces off with the sound of a broken neck, I wince. That is not going to go over well when we face the Council.
It doesn’t take long for the Cambions to notice that their bullets are ineffectual against the demon and they scatter with the sound of hurried receding footsteps and backward glances filled with panic.
“How did they even think they could win against us?” Mike asks, slapping his dad’s back, having to lift his arm comically high to do so.
I smirk at my once-daily companion. “They didn’t expect to come face to face with Lucy’s offspring, that’s for sure,” I say with a grin on my lips.
“This one’s dead as a doornail,” Kevin says. The male he’s looking down at is lying with his head at an unnatural angle and eyes open.
“Oops,” Nephithar says without a hint of inflection and I snort a laugh. When the boys cut me a sharp look I put a hand over my mouth. God, I’ve been hanging around Ash for too long.
“They were shooting at you,” I defend my callousness. “You two are vulnerable to bullets, especially Mike, he hasn’t been to a Celestial realm yet.”
“Nor will he.” Nephithar’s voice is as dark as pitch.
I bite my lip and choose my words carefully. “You can’t be sure how he’ll age if he doesn’t. You might outlive him.”
The muscles in Nephithar’s jaw twitch as his fists clench. This is clearly something he’s thought about.
“Hold up,” Mike says. “What do you mean ‘you two are vulnerable to bullets’? What about you?”
My eyes pop open at the question and I gape for a second. How do I say this in a way that he’ll understand?
“IsoldmysoultomyhusbandandnowIhavesuperpowers,” I rush out in one breath, tighten my ponytail, and continue down the hallway to a pair of unconscious Cambions.
“Are you insane?” Mike asks, each word louder than the last.
I take out the zip ties I borrowed from Syrin’s kitchen and restrain the passed-out mortals’ hands and feet. “It’s not like Lucifer gave us a choice,” I murmur. I can feel my face heating up. Why am I letting his judgment get to me? He wasn’t there, he doesn’t know what it’s like to be told to choose between your soul and your heart.
“That’s not–”
“Enough, Son,” Nephithar intervenes. I turn to see him giving me a knowing look. “She never had the choice.”
I bite my lip. “Ash thinks he’s planning something. Something to do with archdemon and mortal couples… maybe children.”
The demon’s eyes widen.
“What?” I take a step closer. “What do you know?”
He hesitates. “There is a prophecy,” he says slowly.
“What kind of prophecy?” I ask, growling with impatience.
The demon shakes his head, his red eyes narrowed in apology. “Ask Syrin when we’re back, she’ll know it better than me as she likely transcribed it eons ago. Her mind’s a vast archive of knowledge. Mine’s mostly preoccupied with thoughts of making love to her.”
“Ew, Dad!”
The burly demon shoots a shit-eating grin at Mike, then continues down the makeshift hallway. I let Kevin pass and fall into step with my other best friend.
“Are you mad at me?” I ask, chewing on the inside of my cheeks.
Mike blows out a gust of air before wrapping an arm around my waist. He pulls me along after the other males. “Dad’s right, I have no idea what I’m talking about and should’ve counted to five before I opened my cocksucking mouth.”
Nephithar groans from ahead and Mike’s eyes get that evil twinkle I know so well. Payback’s a bitch, I guess.
Before I can open my mouth, gunfire sounds from the other side of the warehouse, an endless rat-tat-tat of bullets being expelled from weapons.
“We need to hurry,” I gasp, shaking Mike off and picking up my pace. As we burst through the iron door at the end of the office area, the space opens up. There’s an old, likely defunct forklift to our right, and in front of us are endless rows of incredibly tall shelves.
“The gunfire isn't coming from here,” Kevin says, turning in circles to take in every shadowed corner.
“Let’s move, then.” Nephithar’s words spur us back into action. We pass row after row, their far sides fading into darkness, but we don’t seem to be any closer to the source of the sounds of battle.
I must’ve grown complacent to what I sense in my surroundings or just that worried about my friends, because the next thing I know, we’re surrounded by more Cambions. And this time there’s nowhere to hide.
Chaos engulfs us as we all spring into motion. Nephithar throws himself at the nearest Cambion, grabbing his arm and pushing it up just as the mortal squeezes the trigger of his gun. Instinctively, I duck, then use the move to barrel into another enemy’s midsection. As I bring the pudgy man to the ground and start whaling on him, I briefly wonder where all the women are. Surely their families aren’t all boys? This seems like a question Simone would be able to answer. If we ever got to talk to her again.
Once the scumbag under me is well and truly passed out, I blow a loose strand of hair from my sweaty face. In front of me, Mike spins to dodge a blow, ending the rotation with a roundhouse kick. He did not learn that in our self-defense class when we met. With that big demon as a dad, he must’ve known how to fight since he was in diapers. So what was he doing in that class? I’m going to have to ask him later.
I get up in time to catch Kevin in my arms, then push him back at his two opponents. We’re grossly outnumbered and I feel like we stepped on a beehive. I wish I could use my hellfire, but… I still can’t aim with it. I don’t want to hurt my friends.
What happens next transpires too fast for my brain to grasp. One moment I’m looking for my next target, the next I hear Mike screaming my name. He barrels into me with a thud and we both drop like a sack of potatoes, the smaller male on top of me.
“What the heck was that, douche canoe?” I grumble, pushing at his shoulders, but get no response. “Mike?”
“Michael!” Nephithar roars.
With shaking limbs, I roll until Mike’s lying on the floor and pat him down. “What’s wrong, buddy?” I ask, trying to find the source of his paleness. When I notice the pool of blood spreading underneath him, I feel my face pale as well. I turn him over until I’m faced with his wet back, a hole in his plain leather armor. “Fuck, no, no, no,” I whine, reaching for one of my daggers with a trembling hand.
Kevin’s knees hit the ground next to us. “What do you need?” he asks with an earnest voice.
“Watch our backs!” I hiss, grabbing the collar of Mike’s top and using my blade to cut it down the middle.
“It’s almost over,” Kevin says and reaches over to help me clear the wound. Once the hole is visible and I see dark red blood seeping out, my heart clenches. That’s a bullet hole and it’s clearly still inside him. Or it would’ve been inside of me.
In the sudden silence, I look up to see Nephithar frozen in horror, looking down at his bleeding son. Tears well in my eyes and I angrily brush them off with the back of my hand. He’s not dead. He can’t die. We’ve only just reunited.
I take a shaky breath and gently place my hands over the hole in my friend’s body. I can feel his warmth against my sweaty palms. I haven’t healed anything more than a scrape in months. Still, focusing on the ether in Mike’s blood is second nature. First, I stem the worst of the bleeding, sealing off the torn vessels causing the blood loss. He’s already lost enough. But I need to make sure I leave enough circulation to keep the flesh alive.
Careful. Careful, Lana .
“We need to get him to Syriniana.” That’s Mike’s Father.
“Let Lana do her thing, she’s good at this.” And that’s Kevin.
I hear their conversation as if from a great distance, not letting the emotions in their voices penetrate into my awareness as I focus on Mike’s flesh, manipulating it into pushing the offending object out. I feel every sharp, bent, and broken edge of the bullet, misshapen from the high-velocity impact against Mike’s lean body.
The projectile scratches my friend’s flesh as it reverses the path it took and nears the surface, fresh blood sprouting in its wake. I hear Nephithar’s alarm, but – again – don’t let it rattle me. I close those new lacerations and continue directing Mike’s body into expelling the bullet. Resistance stops once it leaves the enclosure of its target’s body and I distantly hear the plinking sound of it falling to the warehouse’s dirty floor.
I feel my energy flagging, but there’s only the matter of knitting the top layers of muscle and skin together again. I can do that.
“He isn’t breathing!” Nephithar yells, pulling my consciousness out of Mike’s body.
“Shit, Lana, let me turn him over.” Kevin pulls me back and I fall onto my ass, watching helplessly as the two males turn Mike onto his back again. He’s not breathing and his lips are getting a blue tinge.
Fuck, it didn’t hit his lungs, his lungs are fine, it must be blood loss, fuck, fuck, fuck, I don’t know if I have the strength to help his body produce more, I can’t lose my friend because I’m not strong enough, what was the point of selling my soul if I’m. Not. Strong enough!
My ears start ringing, the sound increasing in volume as Kevin tilts Mike’s chin up, listening for a moment before starting chest compressions.
My heart picks up speed like I’m running a sprint. Like I’m running from that golem again. Only no one’s here to save me this time. I’m helpless. I’m useless.
“Lana, his blood needs oxygen. Lana? Lana!”