Jack of Ravens

22

Night was falling as Ice reached the chaos that had erupted at the intersection of Haight and Ashbury. A cacophony of screams and shouts thundered in the air as the heaving crowd surged in panic. Police were all around and tear gas drifted on the breeze.

Grace and Doctor Jay came running up with a young man with short hair, horn-rimmed glasses and a University of Berkeley T-shirt, and a woman with long auburn hair and an abundance of beads and bangles.

‘They’re killing us out there,’ Grace said breathlessly.

‘They’re making their move tonight. They’re going to catch us all in one go,’ Doctor Jay added.

Ice nodded to the new arrivals. ‘These the last two?’

‘James and Deanna.’ Grace looked over her shoulder at the seething crowd.

Ice could already feel his affinity for the two. In their faces he saw confidence and hardly any fear despite their situation. ‘Okay, that’s a full packet. Where are the others?’

‘Gabe’s taking photos. Marcy’s lost it. She’s on the front line, stoning the cops. Tom and Niamh are trying to drag her away,’ Grace said.

‘Let’s help them. We have to return to the house.’

They pushed their way back into the crowd as a wave of movement and screams came from their right. Ice stood his ground as a terrified mob washed around him. Behind them staggered five men and women clutching their faces where weeping sores were rapidly blooming.

And behind them, floating two feet above the sidewalk, was a voluptuous woman, nearly naked apart from a few wisps of gossamer veil. Her black hair flowed out all around a terrible face with wide, staring eyes and enormous fangs that looked sharp enough to tear off a man’s arm. Her fingers and toes ended in jagged claws.

A young woman ran by, so busy looking over her shoulder at the police that she didn’t see what she was passing. With rattlesnake speed, the floating thing lashed out and caught the woman across the side of the face with her claws. Instantly, the woman faltered. Her shock turned to discomfort and then agony as the sores began to appear.

‘What the hell is that?’ Ice said.

‘Rangda.’ Doctor Jay’s sunglasses made him impassive. ‘The demon-queen of Bali. Spreads plague. Leads an army of evil witches.’

‘You read too many books,’ Ice growled. He herded them back into the crowd as Rangda darted forward.

‘The police aren’t going to let us out of here,’ Grace squealed. ‘That thing’s going to pick us off one by one.’

‘We’ll get out,’ Ice said. Church is counting on us. We don’t let him down, you hear?’

The crowd swallowed them up and the screams grew louder.