Chapter 27
The Early Bird…doesn’t battle demons, let’s be real!
We were up before the sun, but we lay in bed, holding each other for a while before we showered and dressed.
“This is for you.” Raymond held out the hilt of the sword…with no blade.
“Am I supposed to throw this at the enemy?” I pointed at it. “I thought you wanted me to survive.”
“Put it in your hand.” He shook his head and pushed it toward me again.
I grabbed it, and he stepped back. A moment later, a long blade appeared, silver and wrapped in light.
“Damn, this is like something out of Star Wars.” I swung it in front of my face, hoping for the cool, whooshing sound. There was none.
“I’ll take your word for it.” He nodded. “Open your grip, and the blade disappears.”
I did as he said, and the moment I released my hold on the hilt, the blade vanished. “Nice.”
“Be careful with that,” he said as he stepped closer to me and wrapped a belt around my waist. It had a holster for the invisible sword. After securing it, he paused and pointed to the scarf I had wrapped around my neck. “Likosa’s scarf?”
“My scarf, actually, and instinct told me to bring it, so I am.”
“Good enough for me.” He nodded, and the shadows opened behind him.
We made it to the meeting point at the same time Metice arrived. He appeared, the little blue demon dog with him. Those strange eyes found my face, and his tail wagged.
“Metice,” Raymond greeted him as Piko settled at his feet.
“Raymond. You good?” Metice glanced down at the dog, and the corner of his lips twitched, like he was holding back a smile.
“Absolutely,” Raymond answered. “Rested and ready for a fight.”
“Glad you all made it here on time.” Olian walked up.
I wasn’t sure where she came from, but she had a massive orange guy with her.
He was one of the demons who looked nearly human, save for his alarming orange skin.
The guy looked like a walking traffic cone!
It also looked like he was actively flexing every muscle as he walked up.
“Why wouldn’t we be?” Raymond asked.
“Figured you'd be,” she pressed the tip of her tongue between her teeth, “… distracted.”
“I don’t even want to know what that’s supposed to mean.” Cufio stepped out of a shadow, followed by Noville. He rolled his eyes at Olian and the big orange guy.
“The others are already in their position,” Noville reported, getting straight to the point.
“I'm going to join Noville and his men,” Cufio directed. “Olian will have her own team, Metice will leave his own team, and you two stick together.”
“I never thought I'd see the day you take control.” Olian smirked, appearing impressed by Cufio. The big orange demon by her side flexed again.
Is he doing that for her? Is he jealous?
“Calm down, green girl.” Cufio held his hand then nodded at the orange one. “Just because these two don't want you anymore doesn't mean I do.”
“Oh, shut up.” She crossed her arms over her chest, embarrassed. “That's the last time I give you a compliment.”
“Focus,” Metice said simply. “We don’t have time for this.”
“Metice is right,” Noville spoke again. “According to my calculations, this entire thing should take no more than twenty-five minutes. If we're in there any longer than that, it's going to be bad for everyone involved.”
“Make sure your people stay away from that shadow core,” Raymond warned.
“They already know.” Noville nodded.
“Is it a good idea to have that thing here?” I pointed at Piko, who remained by Metice’s feet. His tail wagged the moment I acknowledged him.
“Uh, trust me, we're going to want him around.” Metice nodded. “He’s not as helpless as he appears.”
“Alright, sun’s coming up. Let's go.” Cufio pointed at the sky where the dark blanket began to pull back.
In seconds, Olian headed off with her orange man, Metice popped out of view, and Cufio stepped into the shadows with Noville behind him.
Raymond grabbed my hand, pulled me over to him, and kissed my forehead before we crossed the shadows.
When we exited, we stood in front of seven demons.
Two looked like Noville, made of stone. There was a small furry one with large eyes and an innocent smile, and the others looked almost boring in comparison, two women and one man.
They looked human, only slightly mutated with strangely textured skin.
Raymond addressed the team briefly, reiterating what Noville and Cufio had already told them. Then, we headed into the building. Raymond led us. He opened a shadow path tighter than any other he’d ever done before, and we all tiptoed through the weak point of the building.
On the inside, we stood against the wall of an angled hall.
I expected an ambush, but the space was empty.
In the distance, there was a strange whooshing noise, like someone had a powerful fan turned on.
It was bright inside; the wide windows at the top of the walls let the sunlight spill in, and bright strips of light were fixed down the center of the ceiling.
“They really don’t want any shadow walkers in here,” the furry one commented in a soft, feminine voice.
“At least not ones who are against them.” Raymond nodded. “Stay close. I can use shadows without darkness, but if you get too far from me, you’ll be on your own.”
“Understood,” she responded.
They were effective. Having worked together for so long, they needed little communication to perform. I watched them closely, learning, and I couldn’t stop myself from considering how I could get my own team to perform the same way—if I made it back home.
Um, no, girl. This is not the time to think that way. We’re going to make it back, and we’re going to buy Jackie so much damn sushi because I know those clients are driving her crazy by now.
Once inside, we had no direct way of communicating with the other teams, but we had our directives.
Raymond and I were to find Talkeen, who happened to have his office stationed just below the most dangerous point of the building that could only be accessed through a shadow port—a door only shadow walkers could use—right beneath where the shadow cores sat.
The shadow cores we weren’t supposed to get too close to. Yeah, those.
The others were there for one real purpose: distraction. While Talkeen’s men attacked the other teams, we would slip in, face off with Talkeen, and hopefully drag his ass back to Klougus so the big guy could finish him off himself.
We made steady progress through the hall, moving closer together as the space narrowed around us. But then a blaring sound like storm alarms rang out around us, the lights above us turning red and flashing in furious alerts.
“Fuck. It didn't take them long to mess that up,” Raymond said with annoyance.
“What happened?” I scanned the hall, bracing for an onslaught of shadow walkers, but nothing happened outside of that loud ass alarm. “Where are they?”
“I'm guessing someone tripped an alarm, or they got too close to the core,” Raymond stated. “But it should have taken them at least a few more minutes before getting anywhere near the core.”
“I’ll check in.” Furry’s head vibrated, and then, when it stilled, she spoke. “Talkeen’s guys spotted Olian’s team. Couldn’t catch the guy before he sounded the alarm.”
“What do we do now?” I looked at Raymond, the official leader of our group.
“We head for the core. Our goal is the same here. Now, we just have to move a lot faster.”
Moving faster meant more opportunities for mistakes, but we didn’t have time to reevaluate things.
Raymond ran, and I followed his lead. The sounds of battle quickly reached us.
We weren’t the only ones who decided to speed things up.
As we exited the hallway, entering the open center of the building, we spotted Metice and his team.
Half of his men kept straight while he and the others turned left, heading for the front.
“You all go join the fight. We’ll head for Talkeen,” Raymond instructed the others, and they took off.
As the others ran, Raymond and I continued on our decided path.
I couldn’t see the entrance, but he could.
What I could see were the flickering bodies in my peripherals.
At first, I thought I was imagining things, but I realized it wasn’t just phantoms caused by paranoia.
They were shadow walkers, jumping in and out of shadows, getting closer and closer to us.
A minute later, we reached the center of the hollow hall.
It sat behind a half-wall that wrapped around the two giant orbs floating in the middle.
The orbs could be partially seen over the top of the walls that acted as a barrier, the only thing keeping the orbs in place as they performed a dangerous dance with each other.
They weren’t still like I had pictured them.
And they felt like magnets. Huge magnets with fuzzy edges that called to me.
“Keep your distance,” Raymond instructed me, as if he knew exactly what I was thinking. “I know how it feels. But trust me, do not get anywhere near that thing.”
“Okay.” I gripped the holster on my waist, making sure my weapon was still there.
“The door is just ahead.” He pointed.
“Watch out!” a deep voice called out, and I turned just in time to see a man's fist coming straight for my face. I dipped down, dodging the hit and instead of meeting me, he met Raymond. My shadow walker grabbed the man by his throat and threw him back what looked to be at least fifteen feet.
“Are you okay? Did he hurt you?” Raymond was back by my side in a flash.
“Raymond, I’m fine. You know I can handle myself.” I stood, pulling the hilt from the holder, and the blade appeared. “Eye on the ball.”
“Right.” He looked away from me. “Because we have company.”
I turned to follow his gaze and saw several shadow spots opening.
“I thought they couldn’t do that.” I pointed at one of the spots. “They’re supposed to be weaker? Right?”
“Clearly, someone got their shit wrong.” He pulled his shirt off.
“What are you doing?”