Crimson Veil

Chapter 13

As I raced forward, I decided to take on the hellhound. He couldn’t do as much damage to me as he could to my sisters, and they could probably handle the daemons easier.

The daemons weren’t prepared for my attack, and I managed to launch myself off the floor, over their heads, to land behind them. Turning, I shoved them both, forcing them to stumble forward, which would give the others an advantage. Then I whirled to face the hellhound.

The creature was full grown, meaning he was nearly shoulder high to me. Black as night, the three-headed dog had fiery eyes, and each of those heads was rife with teeth that could rip flesh and sinew. I had already decided that one of the best ways to take it down would be to avoid shedding its blood. That way I wouldn’t chance the acidic liquid spraying on the others.

One thing about hellhounds—they were intelligent. They were guarded, cunning, and volatile. And they didn’t have a lot of patience. When I landed in front of it, there was no hemming or hawing. The hellhound met my aggression, lunging forward, the center head with jaws gaping, ready to bite.

I kicked it under the chin, the force of my foot shoving the freak up off its front legs and skidding it sideways. Before it had time to regroup, I slammed into its side, pushing it farther back, away from the main group. I could hear shouts from behind, and I knew that the fight was on, but I didn’t dare chance glancing over my shoulder to see how they were doing.

The hellhound scrambled, recovering its footing as I hit it again. No time to think—no time to plan. I was in out-and-out beat it senseless mode. But this time, it was ready for my attack and its right head swung around, the gnashing teeth grabbing hold of the sleeve of my jacket. The monster yanked, and—even though I’d seen it coming, I wasn’t prepared for the force of the brute. I stumbled, falling as my arm slipped out of the sleeve, and as I rolled, I pulled my other arm out. But it dropped the jacket the minute it saw me pull away.

As it lunged again, I scrambled to my feet, but the creature landed against me and sent me flying back. Before it could snap at my face, all three of the thing’s slobbering jowls looming over me, I managed to roll away, and once again, come up into a crouch. I wondered what the fuck would happen if I tried to drink it down? Would acidic blood hurt me? The acid was corrosive but I didn’t know if it would react like fire on me. I decided a sample taste couldn’t hurt. Well, maybe not too much.

Leaping on its back, I leaned down and sank my teeth into the skin. Immediately a foul-tasting liquid poured into my mouth, stinging like hell. I spit it out as I felt welts rise up inside my mouth from the corrosive blood. Well, hell, that wasn’t going to work, and now the fucker was bleeding from the place where I’d fanged it.

The hellhound yelped and the left head let out a curse in some language I couldn’t understand, while the right swung the body around and thrust its muzzle at me, this time latching on to my leg. I yelped—even if I could survive an attack like this, it still fucking hurt.

I brought my hands down, fists clenched, on top of its head with full force, driving them deep into the skull. Bones shattering, the sound of my hands meeting brain was one I never got used to—a sucking, squishy sound that left me nauseated and yet oddly elated.

“One down!” As the teeth let go of my leg and the hellhound staggered, I was on my feet, and this time I grabbed the tail, spinning it around. Heavy as it was, I was stronger, thanks to my vampiric nature, and I managed to lift the creature off the ground a few inches, whirling it like I was Thor, wielding his mighty hammer. As I built up momentum, the hellhound seemed to realize it needed to book its way out of my grasp and began to struggle, so I waited till I was facing away from the group, then let go.

The hellhound went flying through the air, landing against the opposite wall with a massive thud that actually shook the ground, dazing the two heads that were still alive. It was still foggy—meaning, I’d just bought more time.

I moved in again, racing forward to land on its back once more. This time I brought my fists down on the second head, which seemed to be the smarter of the three, and once again, the crunching of bone, the shattering of skull, and another one was down.

As the remaining head howled, I grabbed it around the neck and abruptly twisted, rejoicing in the strength of my body, the elation of the kill, the feel of its life draining away in my hands. Reveling in the bloodlust as my hunger flared, I rose up with a low growl, turning to see how the others were doing. I was in my game, ready for more.

The others were still facing off with the guards, but they couldn’t get near enough to fight. The lead daemon had a pair of whips out, going a mile a minute, and he knew how to use them. He alternated sides as the whips became propellers, dangerously lethal. They could take a head off, slice a throat, rend flesh. The crack of the whips echoed through the air with ear-popping precision as he moved forward, his buddies behind him.

Camille and Morio had backed a ways down the hall. They were holding hands, preparing a spell. Magic might be our only hope right now, unless we could get those whips away—but then, I realized, I was facing the back of the daemons. They seemed to have forgotten about me, leaving me to the hellhound’s devices. I had the perfect opportunity to narrow the odds a bit. Within two shakes I bounded across the room and launched myself at the one in back, grappling him around the neck and pulling him to the floor with me.

He went down hard—he was big and heavy and his leather armor was stiff to the point of being wooden. I had the upper hand, having surprised him, but I wouldn’t for long, so I took full advantage of my position. I grabbed a handful of his hair as I sat on his chest, used it to yank his head off the ground, then smashed it against the floor. He let out a shout as he tried to push me away, but I backhanded him, hard, and his neck snapped to the left with a nasty crack. He wasn’t dead, but that had to hurt.

Apparently, one of his buddies noticed the scuffle, because the next thing I knew, I was unceremoniously ripped off my opponent’s belly, and I found myself flat on my back to the side of him. As he rolled out of the way, I saw the daemon standing over me bring his whip up, and the next thing I knew, the whistling tip had sliced through my clothing, leaving a long gash on my left side.

The pain made me gasp, but I managed to roll to the side, avoiding his next flick of the whip. Then, I readied myself, and on the third crack, before he could yank it back, my lightning-quick reflexes allowed me to grab the end.

He didn’t count on me being a vampire—with the accompanying strength—because when I gave a hearty yank, he stumbled forward, close enough for me to catch the back of his leg with my toe. I pulled, jerking my foot, and he went down in a tumble, falling on his buddy.

With the both of them in a tangle, I shouted for help just as some sort of an explosion went off. It sounded magical by nature, so I could only assume Camille and Morio had let off some spell.

The next moment, Smoky appeared in a shimmer—thank the gods for the Ionyc Seas—and he ripped into my opponents, talons lengthening as he intervened between the daemons and me.

Never anger a dragon. Even in human form, Smoky was a nightmare on the battlefield, and he managed to slice through one’s armor, neat as a pin. The other daemon—the one who I’d first attacked—scrambled back, like a crab scuttling along the sand. He was weaving erratically as he tried to get out of the way, and I realized I’d managed to give him a pretty nasty head injury.

Before the prone daemon could lift a finger to protect himself, Smoky let loose with another slash, neatly eviscerating him. As a pile of steaming intestines and other internal organs came pouring through the wide, deep gash, the daemon let out a howl, then fell silent, his head dropping to the side. With one last strike, Smoky slit his throat to ensure he was dead, then turned to the other daemon, who had managed to stagger to his feet, but was still weaving back and forth.

“I’ve got this.” Smoky pushed past me, and within seconds, the other daemon hit the ground, his throat bloody. The sight and scent of the blood stimulated my predatory nature, and I knew that I had to feed, and fast, because both the scent and the rush of the fight were pushing me over the edge.

“Give me space.” I stared at Smoky.

His gaze flickered to my face, then he simply nodded and turned back to the others. I fell on the dead daemon, the thirst gnawing in me as I sucked up the blood, licking the wound joyfully.

There was power in the blood, and life force, and it sang in my mouth. I had tasted demon’s blood before and it had frightened me with the strength and nasty aftertaste it left behind. But this… this was different. The daemon’s blood—at least this one’s—was sweet, and full in my mouth. Ripe and fruity and sparkling, like champagne. I reeled. What the hell? I’d had reactions to blood before but this was…

The room began to spin and I let out a low laugh. I wanted more. Wanted a mouthful, a bellyful, wanted to drain the whole damned river of it that was flowing out of the creature. I fell on him, savaging the corpse, practically rolling in the stuff. Elated, feeling dizzy, I sucked up as much of the blood as I could before I realized Smoky was pulling me off the body.

“Let go! Let me go!” I struggled with him, furious, wanting only to return to my bloody feast.

“Camille—we need you!” Smoky bellowed out as he held me fast.

In my haze, I noticed the other two daemons were down and Camille was running past their bodies. She took one look at the situation and let out a loud command.

“Listen to me!” Her voice rang through the room, and though she didn’t have complete control of the command voice, it was strong enough to make me take notice. And in that brief moment, I could tell that I’d been drugged. I struggled for focus, struggled to regain control of myself.

“Can you hear me?” She came closer. Smoky had hold of me, and strong as I was, he was stronger.

“Yes—need to focus. Need… control…” My sight kept phasing in and out, a bloody blur of lust one moment, and brief glimpses of clarity the next.

“Dilute it!” Roz raced over. “If she gets clear blood, it should dilute the daemon’s blood. At least it makes sense to me.”

“But who…” Camille glanced around. “I’d be too weakened if she fed from me.”

“Never—” I’d made a vow never, ever—even in the direst circumstances—to drink from my sisters. And I’d never break that vow, even at the expense of my own life.

Roz quickly stripped off his duster. “I can handle it. She can drink enough from me to hopefully get this under control.” And he moved in as Smoky continued to hold me, baring his neck.

I stared at the creamy skin. I’d fucked Roz once before but I didn’t drink from friends. “No…” But then the haze came over me, and all I could see was the pulsing of his jugular vein, and all I could hear was the throbbing of his heart.

Grabbing him to me, I sank my fangs in his throat, making it as sensuous and pleasant as possible. He moaned, leaning into me, as I drank, his sweet blood filling my mouth. But because he was a minor demon, like me, it wasn’t as sweet as human’s blood—or as the daemon’s blood had been. I suckled, the rush of warm, sticky fluid filling my mouth, and swallowed deep gulps. A moment later, I realized what I was doing as the raging thirst began to taper off.

Abruptly I let go, pulling my fangs out, and with a horrified understanding of what had just happened, I went limp in Smoky’s hands. But I didn’t have time to angst over it, because a door I hadn’t previously seen opened, and two more of the daemon guards burst through, with another hellhound behind them.

Smoky let go of me. “Just don’t drink their blood!” he shouted as he raced forward before they could get their whips out. Delilah was on his heels, along with Tanne, who was flashing a silver blade. Roz must have given him the short sword.

The trio intercepted the guards, but the hellhound came around from behind, making a beeline for Camille. She screamed and let loose with a bolt of her Moon Magic, and this time it hit square center, singeing the hound’s center head. It howled and leaped for her.

Morio backed up a step and transformed into his demonic self. He bared his teeth, sharp and gleaming in that vulpine muzzle of his. He was suddenly towering over the hellhound, eight feet tall. He swiped down, his long black talons gashing into the head of the creature.

I decided it was safer for me to help Morio, and so I attacked the hellhound from behind. I grabbed it by its haunches as Morio ripped at the heads, and then I got the idea to get hold of one of its legs and pull. Hard. The sound of snapping bones ricocheted through the air and the hellhound let out a howl from its right head, even as Morio gashed through the throat of the left one. He shouted—a little of the acidic blood had spilled on him.

At that moment, Roz appeared and he tossed a little white ball in front of the hellhound. “Scatter!”

As Morio and I obeyed, an explosion encased the creature in ice. It froze, hardening, and then while it was paralyzed, Roz stabbed it through the heart with a heavy spike, which looked to be steel. The blood that started to ooze froze as it touched the surface. Roz pulled the spike out and cautiously wiped it on the hellhound’s fur.

I turned my attention to the other two guards but Smoky and Tanne had managed to take them down somehow. As we stared at the carnage around us, I realized that the insane thirst had died down and I was feeling back to normal.

“Well, we know there are probably more of those guards down here, as well as hellhounds.” I looked around, grimly assessing the situation. “We better have our act together. All of the guards are wielding cold iron, which means they are probably guarding whatever Fae that Lowestar and his groupies have nabbed. They also all seem to have these handy-dandy bullwhips and they know how to use them. And the hellhounds are trouble in their own right. We can’t just wing it, because trust me, while I was able to handle a slash from the whip, I don’t think most of you could.”

In fact, the welt from the whip had healed over and was a thin red line now. That was one of the wonderful things about being a vamp—healing at a highly accelerated state. But if Camille or Delilah got hit by one of those whips? They could be healing up for a long, long time, and their scars would be for real.

“Where the hell are we?” Delilah looked around.

“Oh, yeah.” I realized that we’d been engaged in the battle immediately upon opening the door, before we knew where we were headed. As I glanced around, I realized it was some sort of guard post or headquarters room. There were weapons cases on the walls, with extra blades and whips in them. Harness hangers, with hellhound harnesses ready to go. A table to one side held logbooks, but they were in a language I couldn’t read.

Tanne took a look at the words. “Daemonic. I don’t know the dialect, but I recognize the basic pattern. Look—there are five columns. Single numbers in the first. In the second—can’t read, but they’re all capitalized and I’m thinking… names? The next two columns contain numbers—what appear to be dates or maybe times. Some of the lines have a time or date recorded in one column, but not the next. And the fifth column… again, I have no clue.”

Roz studied the logbook for a long moment. “I think… I think I may have an inkling of an idea. Prisoners. My guess is the column with the longer words—I think those are names. The date they’re brought in, the date they’re brought out?”

Delilah peeked over his shoulder to examine the papers. “That might be it. If so… then there should be five prisoners locked in the cells. There are five that appear to be logged in, and haven’t been logged out yet.”

“Five.” I stared at the desk. “We can’t leave the other four and just rescue Violet.” A sick feeling swelled up at the thought. We couldn’t leave the others to face the slaver’s block.

Smoky’s voice was gentle as he placed a hand on my shoulder. “We won’t. I promise you, if there are five prisoners, we will rescue all of them.”

I flashed him a smile, grateful again that he was my brother-in-law. “The door over there must lead to… well… Tanne, did you see this place in your vision?”

He shook his head. “No, but bear in mind, magical visions are often highly influenced by what we are seeking to discover, and some of them are more metaphorical in nature. I think perhaps I was searching for Violet so I skipped some intervening steps. But because we found the sign and the sconces… I want to believe that we’re on the right track.” He looked a little crestfallen and I realized he thought I was insinuating this was all a waste of time.

“I think you’re right. We just need to be cautious moving forward. Those guards are nothing to dick around with, and the hellhounds are deadly.”

With a nod, he brightened. “There we agree. We move forward carefully. I wish I could send out a seeing-eye spell to scout ahead but that only works in the forest.”

Camille jerked around. “You know the seeing-eye spell?”

He grinned at her then. “Oh yes, I learned it when I was young. You understand what it is, correct?”

“Only too well. It’s one I tried and tried to learn but it kept backfiring on me. We need to sit down and have a long talk when this is over, about what you can do, and what spells you know. We might be useful to each other.” She pointed to the door. “I think that’s our only option. I don’t see any other exits.”

“We could send Rodney down for us. Send him to check it out. If nobody is on the other side—and we have to hope for that—then maybe a twelve-inch-high skeleton won’t be noticed.” Morio rolled his eyes. He was back in his human form now.

“Oh gods, do we have to?” Camille grimaced.

“Remember, Grandmother Coyote told you that Rodney may save your life someday.” Delilah snorted as she said it, and I had the feeling it was more to get a rise out of Camille than anything else. Although Grandmother Coyote had definitely done exactly that.

“Oh fine. If he can keep his mouth shut and not draw attention to himself.” She crossed her arms and moved away. “Little freakshow pervert.”

Morio grinned and opened his bag. Within the messenger bag, he kept a skull—which he needed to have near him in order to shift forms. But he found what he was looking for, and pulled out a miniature coffin. Delilah frowned and moved over by Camille. Rodney hadn’t made such a good impression on the women of the family. Or the men. Or anybody really. In fact, Rodney was in line for our least favorite jackass ally award.

As Morio opened it, there was a slight stir, and then, the twelve-inch-high bone golem slowly sat up and looked around.

“Hey, bitch-boy, what you up to?” And he was off and swinging.

Rodney could easily have been the love child if Howard Stern and Rodney Dangerfield decided to procreate. He fancied himself a comedian and a hot date—as much as a genital-free bag of bones can be a playboy, but he’d managed to come up with some creative—if gross—suggestions.

Rodney reveled in the crude, lewd, and rude. In other words, he was an unwelcome, unlikable companion who happened to be under a geas to obey Morio. And he’d been a present from Grandmother Coyote, which meant no arguing and use him for what we could use him for.

“Shut up and listen.” Morio picked him up by one bony arm and set him on the floor. “I want you to go through that door when we open it, and providing nothing blows you to smithereens, you sneak down the hall. Then come back and tell us what you see. And you keep your mouth shut while doing it. No drawing attention to us. Got it?”

Rodney glared at him. The light in his eye sockets was disturbingly intelligent. “And what if there happen to be traps on the other side of that door?”

“Then you might find yourself in a dozen pieces. Any other questions?”

“Fox-butt, you’ve got a hard heart.” Rodney turned to see Camille, Delilah, and me standing there. “Maybe I can plead a little sugar from the boobs brigade? A kiss for the road? A ride up the river of your pussy before I go?”

Camille looked ready to beat the shit out of him. Delilah sputtered. I just moved forward and smoothly snatched him up to face me at eye level.

“Maybe we should hand you over to the Maiden of Karask for a play toy? How’s that sound, bone-brain?”

Rodney sniggered. “I’d take her on. Skin is skin and cunt is cunt. Give me a willing broad and—”

It was no use. No matter what we said or did, Rodney would be Rodney. I brought him close to my face, but not close enough for him to reach me with his now-flailing arms.

“If you don’t behave, we stick you in a dollhouse, dress you in a frilly apron, and make you listen to Martha Stewart reruns all day.”

Delilah meandered over. “Or better yet, we’ll have a craft marathon and see just how sparkly we can make you. We’ll get a Bedazzler and glitter and—”

“Whoa—now, Pussycat, hold on there.” Hands on his hipbones, he let out a long, put-upon sigh. “Bitches, you really know how to wound a man’s ego, don’t you?”

“Oh trust me, we can think of far worse torments.” I grinned now, enjoying watching the little son of a bitch squirm.

“Fine! Fine! I’ll behave.”

And that was that.

Rodney waited by the side of the door as Smoky and Morio prepared to open it. We all tensed, waiting, drawing what weapons we had and thought would be effective against the daemons and hellhounds.

As Morio inched the door open, Rodney peeked through. A second later he popped back in the room. “Nobody out there, Fox-butt.”

“Then get your ass down the hall and remember which way you went. Don’t take a lot of twists and turns. We’re looking for a jail area, with a few Fae locked up there. Or Fae and Supes. Doesn’t matter—we’re just out to find the cells in this dungeon.” Morio leaned down. “Remember—you fuck up, you blow our cover, you’re bone dust in a graveyard.”

“Or so sparkly you’ll make Liberace look Amish.” I wiggled my finger at him. “I don’t make promises lightly, remember that.”

“Remembering!” But as he slipped back out the door, I heard him mutter, “Bloodsucking bitch, I’ll give you something to suck on.”

I didn’t bother responding. Instead we waited, on pins and needles, hoping he wouldn’t blow it for us, hoping that the little trash-talking skeleton could keep his fucking mouth shut.

Five minutes passed. Six… I was about to suggest we head out without him when he came rustling back with the pitter-patter of little bony feet. Rodney slid inside the room.

“I found them. The cells. And there are four women and one man there. Those bitches look cold and dirty, by the way. Their cells aren’t the Holiday Express Hotel, and there’s a lot of shit on the floor and, bitch”—he turned to Morio—“I mean that literally.”

Morio looked over at me. “We have five people to rescue, then, as Rozurial thought we might.”

“One more thing—I didn’t see no fucking hellhounds or pretty boys in black leather, but there’s something there. I could sense it. Don’t even bother to ask what because that is not my job. I’m not a pay-for-play psychic.” Rodney leered at Camille—and yes, bone golems can leer. “I’d pay to play you, though, Boobette.”

Morio swept him up and shook the crap out him. “One. More. Comment. To. My. Wife. Just one more…” He set the bone golem down again, and this time, Rodney kept his eyes—or what passed for them—to himself.

Camille snorted as Rodney cracked his neck back into place. “That something could be anything. Did you see anything, or just sense it?”

“Just sensed it.” Rodney muttered something under his breath but quickly stopped when Morio leaned down to stare at him. “What? I’m not saying nuthin’ . . .”

“Precisely. Now grow. We need you full size. There have been too many dangers tonight. We need more firepower and we don’t have time to summon anyone else. Chances are we’ll never make it in again after they discover the breach in their security. But remember: One misstep and—”

“I’m bone dust. Bag o’ bones. Graveyard fodder. Sparkly like a pony. I know, I know.” Rodney let out an exasperated sigh.

As we watched, he began to grow to full size. This was one ability none of us were comfortable with, but there was little we could do about it. So we made use of it whenever possible, or when we could stand to have the freak around.

As he stood there, gleaming ivory bones the size of a grown man, it struck me how odd our lives had become. We were steeped in death—all around us—from losing friends, to relying on perverted bone golems, to fighting zombies, to dealing with our own personal paths. I was a vampire—one of the undead. Delilah was pledged to one of the Harvestmen—a harbinger of death. And Camille was a Dark Moon Priestess and a practitioner of death magic. We’d all strayed down the dark alley so far that there was no going back. And that… that was okay.

“I guess then we head out?” I moved to the lead, stopping beside Rodney. “You come up front with me and Rozurial. And no funny stuff, no jokes, no butt pinches or boob grabs. Got it?”

“Color me a rainbow and poop sparkle turds. Yeah, I got it.”

“Then, Delilah and Tanne, you take second flank. Camille and Morio, third, and Smoky, watch our backs, dude.”

“Will do, Captain Menolly. Lead on.” The dragon saluted me, but there was a twinkle in his eye that told me he had no intention of trying to take over. In fact, all our lovers let us lead. They might offer suggestions and sweep in to save the day now and then, but they knew we three were at the foremost helm of this little war, and they gave us all the space and freedom we needed to make our decisions. And for that, I was ever grateful.

“Okay, then. Let’s get a move on, and let’s go rescue those prisoners.”

“I just hope one of them is Violet,” Tanne whispered behind me.

I turned to him. “I hope so, too,” I said. “I hope so, too.”