'Havoc' is a military command from the Middle Ages, ordering soldiers to cause chaos and to pillage.
It was a short flight to their point of attack deep in the rain forest, on the border of This Precious Earth property. Lena and Hal quickly saw lights illuminating the ongoing process of devastation, the ugly naked gash cut into the surrounding lush growth, and the end of a makeshift road that had been carved into the wilderness. Apparently around-the-clock destruction was the order of the day. Hal thought the poor greedy fools below them were about to see a kind of destruction they couldn't imagine.
When Lena circled the site Hal got a sense that she was studying more than human movement. He felt her growing anger, and he knew he was about to witness once again the full manifestation of her power. Hal was thankful he wasn't the target this time. To have faced her twice and lived proved that he had more luck than any cursed being had a right to have.
As soon as they landed Lena stepped away from Hal, then smiled briefly at him and handed him a long-bladed knife in a sheath. Hal recognized it immediately. It was the first of her weapons that she'd loaned him, the knife he'd held briefly and dismissed when they were confronted by a group of vampires bent on killing him. Hetty's plan for his assassination had come to light that afternoon at the Brecon Beacons, the day of their first tentative alliance.
Lena's fighting ability, her leadership in the Seraphin War, her slaughter of legions of vampires, and her thwarted attempt to kill Hal had come to light that day also. She'd disguised her true power and identity even then, and Hal wondered if he would ever fully understand Lena or ever fully know her. He wondered if it was possible for anyone, even another immortal, to do so.
"That's in case your modern weaponry fails you. I'll find you later," she said tersely.
"Thank you." Hal stuck the knife in his belt.
Lena looked to the sky, her eyes tracing the paths of demons that circled overhead, drawn by greed and corruption of the souls on the ground below. She assumed her true form as her hair rose from her head in a flame-licked mane and she began to glow with rage. She drew her swords and shot into the air like a meteor rising rather than falling to earth, an exultant scream trailing after her. As she began the lyrics he recognized from one of her bombastic heavy metal songs, Hal threw back his head and laughed.
In the dead of the night she'll come and take you away…
"My god, she's got a wicked streak!" His words carried humor and admiration. The song was a particularly absurd piece, "Queen of the Reich"*. She was poking fun at his historic alliance with the Third Reich even as she hunted. "And yet, the lyrics are frightening apropos to the evening's work," he added as he watched her ascent.
He followed her chaotic whirlwind as much by sense as by sight as she attacked her first targets: those things unseen but more deadly for her than any mortal thing. The mortals were less able to escape and would become her second point of attack.
He watched for a few moments, drawn to her as always, then took a breath and headed toward his own target. They'd seen a fleet of parked machinery in a cleared space. He'd begin there. Perhaps the explosions would warn humans away from those vehicles currently in operation and he could destroy them without risking exposure to blood.
Hal readied the M4 for use if needed and got the first hand-held explosive. A simple pressing together of two parts, the push of a button, and attachment—the things even had magnets to hold them in place. He decided to race himself through the rows of parked trucks and heavy equipment and see how long it took to prepare them all for demolition. Could he reach the end of the lot before the first exploded?
He studied the types of machines briefly, each one resembling some monstrous beast, with shovel mouths and saw-toothed jaws or with great grinding tracks that tore the earth just in passing. Each type had a form, and each form had a fuel tank. Those were the soft underbellies of the beasts. Hal smiled as he previewed his attack in his mind. More than two dozen vehicles set to explode in less than 30 seconds. He could do it, then watch his handiwork as they detonated with near clockwork precision. The notion tickled him.
He glanced skyward to see Lena's relentless, twisting spirals. She was going to love this. He checked his watch, took a deep breath, and began to move.
The quick mind, nimble fingers, smooth stretch and snap of muscle and sinew—the vampire raced the clock, running from machine to machine, at times simply leaping from one to the next. He landed precisely; he swerved and ducked gracefully around, under, and between the hulking machines. So many victims, so little time.
He'd not played the game quite like this before, but what a glorious game it was! Rather than blood-spattered corpses Hal left the suspense of a pregnant pause in his wake. The uncertainty of his success added a delicious drama that heightened his joy and focused his attack. He leaped from the last bulldozer and checked his watch.
29 seconds. Perfect.
Hal bowed deeply as if to an eager audience as the first logging truck exploded. He ran down the road toward current logging activity to the rhythm of destruction, smiling. When he could no longer resist, he turned to watch the growing conflagration. It was a thing of thunderous, violent beauty.
It prevented him from hearing the human running toward him until the man was nearly upon him. But honestly, what kind of fool runs toward something like that? The kind of fool who deserves to die.
Hal answered his own question as he drew Lena's knife and sliced the man into pieces with one effortless pass through a shoulder and out his other side, splitting his spine and upper ribs. It was instinct combined with old habits, sweetened by a moment of delight at the quality of his weapon.
The man's astonished face fell with his head; his severed arm dropped.
Blood in the air. Blood on the vampire.
Blood flowed from the man's damaged aorta until Hal caught the collapsing corpse in his arms and buried his face in the exposed chest cavity, pushing aside the severed flesh to tear the vessel apart. He gulped down the hot blood, reveling in the exquisite liquid as its life force recharged him. The hunger roared through him as the vampire celebrated its release.
Hal wrapped a hand around the man's dying heart, exposed in its decimated ribcage, and squeezed the blood through it until the flow weakened. He pulled the heart from his victim and tore into it as he resumed his race toward his next targets. Blood wasn't the goal; blood was the means to an end.
Energized, Hal ran eagerly toward the machines and their humans, toward demolition and death. His blood-soaked lady wanted a legendary slaughter. He could provide one.
Inanna, Nephilim and warrior, spun into the air with drawn swords and an exultant scream, plowing through a crowd of demons that dispersed into thin black ash as she sliced and skewered them. She chased them across the sky, rejoicing in her freedom. No need to disguise her actions or hide from the humans below. Let them watch and wonder; let them fear her if they were wise enough. Most of them would die soon anyway, and the few witnesses she allowed would have a terrifying story to tell.
Hal's synchronized explosions tore into the air and Inanna paused, watching. Flames and clouds rolled upward as metal flew. It reminded her of Independence Day celebrations, 4th of July fireworks and children lighting a string of firecrackers and running away to safety as the little explosions popped and snapped. The smell was diesel and burning rubber instead of gunpowder and barbecue; the smoke was much thicker than fireworks and laughter, the noise exponentially louder. The sense of freedom was much the same.
Inanna spread her wings and arms and hovered, a fixed flame in the sky. She savored the ash around her, the smoke and fire below her, the triumph over her enemies already begun.
Suddenly she felt a twisting knot in her being and knew it was her soul. Hal. Not injured, not threatened. Fallen. The vampire had risen and its evil repelled the piece of her soul that Hal carried.
This was her fault.
Very well. The vampire called out for blood, and she would answer that call. Blood they would have—the blood of their enemies. She focused again, found the stench of fear and greed and anger pouring from evil-minded humans below, and dove to destroy them.
No weapons, no clean kills. These humans needed a primitive kind of death, a death that would speak of horrors to the living left behind. She swept into the disorganized encampment and snatched a man from the ground, ripped off his head with one hand and tore off his sternum and ribs with the other. The body landed with a fleshy plop, the other pieces flew. Inanna held the man's heart in her hand. She focused the heat of her rage and it instantly incinerated. She grabbed her next victim. She moved faster than sight.
The panicked humans fled as bodies and pieces of bodies fell among them, a storm of mutilation and death they couldn't escape. They saw their fellows explode into the air and land, headless heartless corpses. Broken screams and strangled sobs rose from all around them until finally the few remaining people heard only their own whispered prayers and frantic breath.
The witnesses, two cooks, a laundress and a prostitute, stumbled from their hiding places as the great bloody angel came to earth among piles of shattered bodies. Inanna resumed the form of the Protector before she spoke.
"You were slaves here. Use your freedom to tell of what you saw. This place and the people in it belong to me. All who trespass will be destroyed."
Distant explosions and gunfire broke the sodden stillness of the encampment. Inanna flared into her true form and was gone.
She appeared next to Hal as he fired the M4 into a group of loggers bent on stopping his demolition. He was blood-smeared and laughing, and the vampire curse covered him like a blood-soaked blanket.
"My lady! What a marvelous weapon! Have you enjoyed my fireworks display?"
Inanna discovered that she didn't much care about the blood that covered her lover. In fact, it made things easier. She would ignore the curse and the stabbing pain in her core from the piece of her soul that he carried; as injuries received in battle, they would be addressed later. For now, she would make use of the creature Hal had become.
"Enough!" Inanna stopped him with a hand over his on the trigger as her wings spread to protect them both from the loggers' return fire. "No more easy deaths. Set aside this thing and join me."
She turned and flew into the midst of the group, tossing individuals into the air with a flick of her wings as she tore the first one into pieces. The heart burst into flames and ash. She caught her next victim before the first one landed.
Hal watched his fiery lover decimate the humans who threatened her people. The heat of her rage made the blood that drenched her bubble and char. Primitive slaughter, no elegant weaponry; this creature, born at the dawn of humankind, wreaked an ancient havoc. The head, the heart, torn and destroyed.
Yes, he could do that.
Hal Yorke leapt on his first victim, tore head from neck, wrenched open chest, ripped out heart. He drank swiftly, deeply, the first hot heady burst of blood, and moved on. Across the cleared spaces, under crushed and dying vegetation, into standing forest, they hunted. Within moments it was over. Or maybe it wasn't.
Hal heard a terrified heartbeat. He turned to track it, but his lady appeared in front of him.
"No. That one is a witness," she said. "I sense no evil in that soul."
"Yes, my lady." Hal bowed his acquiescence. She extended her hand. In it she held a human heart. He watched as flames curled around it. His nostrils twitched at the tantalizing scent of roasting meat.
"A treat," she said, "as a thank-you for a job well done. I believe it is a favorite of yours."
Hal plucked a large thick leaf from a plant and used it as a salver on which she placed the roasted heart. They walked together down the makeshift road toward the logging encampment, the sound of explosions echoing from behind them.
"It's a welcome treat, my lady. Or may I call you Inanna? I think it's time we use your true name."
"I agree. So, are there machines left to destroy?"
"I believe I've gotten them all. Are there humans left to destroy?"
"I've cleared out the encampment so I think not. Will the vampire keep from attacking me? I'd rather not begin your inevitable detox until we're done with the night's work."
"The vampire has no interest in its own destruction, so as long as your blood remains beneath the skin we should be fine. I wouldn't mind a few more of these hearts, if I can find the ones I tossed aside. I don't have your combustive talent."
"You catch 'em, I'll cook 'em." She grinned at him, a light-hearted expression worn on a face caked with gore. He smiled back, knowing he looked just as gruesome.
"My dear Inanna, you're a bloody mess. I'm afraid you may have a face only a vampire could love," he teased.
"Good thing a vampire is the only lover I'm interested in," Inanna replied. "Find your hearts. We don't have all night. I'll meet you at the encampment just up the road."
Inanna disappeared in her usual burst of effervescent air, leaving Hal to retrace his steps as quickly as he could. He retrieved the M4 and duffel bag of explosives before beginning a quick search for snacks. He found three more hearts, tucked them into a pocket of the bag, and decided that was plenty. He'd already eaten the one raw, and five was more than he usually indulged in at once. Hal took a careful bite of the heart she'd cooked for him. Just the right temperature and perfectly done. Inanna was apparently an expert at open-flame cooking, which made sense, considering her age.
Hal ate as he ran toward the encampment at full speed. Eating on the run was another old habit. He worked his way through Inanna's usual untidy leavings, pieces of bodies this time rather than coffee grounds and toast crumbs, and quickly found the office. It was a one-room metal caravan of sorts built on a flatbed trailer and made to be towed along as the logging progressed. Inanna was rummaging through a desk in the room, leaving behind blood smears and droplets with every move.
"I've found some letterhead with the company logo. Looking for addresses and such. Check out the map on the wall," she said. "I can use it to focus just on sites owned by Verdant Opportunity. Otherwise we'd spend the night chasing through the Amazon killing random loggers."
"Another time, perhaps," Hal suggested.
A satellite imagery map of the area showed two more logging sites. They were smaller, probably offshoots of this one. Their next targets. It would be a busy night.
"I hear distant heartbeats," he said as he studied the map. "More witnesses?"
"Yes. They hide in the tent that served as a kitchen."
Hal pulled the hearts from his duffel bag. "Speaking of kitchen, I found three more hearts if you'd care to roast them. The first one was delicious and perfectly done."
"I'd be happy to," Inanna said as she took a heart in each hand and quickly cooked them both.
Hal watched as before. Each new thing he learned about her fascinated him. "I'd already indulged in one raw on the half-shell, so to speak, so if you'd care to join me there's enough for us both," he said.
"Thank you, I just might." She noted Hal's surprise. Apparently he'd been joking. "What? Eating the heart of your defeated enemy is an ancient and respected custom."
"I'm aware. I didn't think it would be one you practiced."
"Well, it's been a few millennia, but still. I'm not above the occasional barbarity." Inanna smiled at her understatement. She set the cooked hearts on the desk and picked up the remaining raw heart. "I like mine medium-rare," she said.
A quick touch of flame and the heart was ready. She ate it right away, holding it like an apple while she continued to look through the contents of the desk. Hal let his hearts cool while he scanned a computer on a separate desk in the corner. He heard a generator running quietly outside-another machine to dispatch when they were ready to leave.
"The password is 'password.' We aren't dealing with geniuses here but we are dealing with English speakers, that much is clear," he observed. "American? Some conglomerate or other? Can you teleport this back to London? I see spreadsheets and a couple of databases we should study when we have more time."
"Good idea. Anything we can use right away?"
"Names and home addresses of several high-ranking executives. And the main office is a building in Sao Paulo. No surprise."
Inanna joined him at the computer and glanced at the monitor. A photo of a nondescript building about 20 stories tall filled the screen. The address was displayed in a corner.
"Easy enough to find. Don't show me anything else. I don't want to know where these people live," she said.
"Why not? I thought you wanted thorough retribution."
"They may have families. Children. I'd rather not traumatise a child."
"Of course. I hadn't thought of that. Are we done here?" At her nod, Hal turned off the computer and unplugged it from the power supply and all attachments.
Inanna quickly teleported the computer back to their suite in London. She sent a few piles of papers as well, after she'd had a look at them. When Hal was finished with his snack, she faced him and put her hands on his shoulders at the base of his neck. She watched as the curse rippled and retreated from her, exposing her lover as he should be. As he had been for months, until this misguided adventure.
Her manner softened; Hal saw sorrow in her eyes.
"My vampire. I brought you to this."
"I chose to drink blood in order to maintain my strength. I know we'll have to deal with it later. No matter. You need me as I am, so here I am. Shall we fly?" He gave her a quick smile.
She hugged him instead. In the midst of a night filled with violent desecration of human life and violent destruction of property, two old warriors claimed a quiet moment. Nephilim and vampire, enemies by creation, steadied each other and themselves with their touch.
"I didn't know," she whispered near his ear. "I didn't know you'd need the blood to be strong. Forgive me."
"I would have drunk it anyway," he whispered back. "My need is my excuse. Forgive me."
"Let's go," she said.
The bubble formed and they were gone, leaving behind the beginning of a new myth, of an angel of death and the vampire who did her bidding.
Their business along the perimeter of the reserve finished, appropriate horrors left behind, a few more hearts roasted and eaten, and Inanna and Hal were ready for their assault on Verdant Opportunity headquarters.
She'd been temporarily distracted after they'd finished with the third logging encampment. Knowledge of a large operation only a few hundred miles away, and the temptation to continue on as she had begun, had nearly been too much for her. Hal had reminded her of their focus for the night with some regret that he had been given the order to do so. He was too conscientious at times, but Inanna had brought him along for a purpose, and he needed to serve that purpose.
Inanna responded immediately to his reminder that they were to focus solely on Verdant Opportunity and turned toward Sao Paulo. She brought them to ground on a mountain where they could see the city lights below. They needed a minute to strategize before their assault on the office building that housed Verdant Opportunity.
They landed in a small clearing. Hal leaned his M4 against a tree and set the duffel bag, empty of all but ammunition for the weapon, on the ground next to it. He'd made no further use of the gun but hadn't wanted to leave it behind.
Inanna studied the sky around them and found it sufficiently empty. No watchers or spies. Their plan hadn't been sussed out, then. She heard the words 'sussed out' in Tom's voice in her head and smiled at herself. Hal wasn't the only roommate Anglicizing her; Tom just wasn't doing it on purpose.
She began speaking with the assumption that Hal didn't need preliminaries in order to plan their attack. "Typically I'd take out the outliers circling the building, then hit the main body of demons," she said. "After that I'd blow through the building to make sure there were no innocents inside before reducing it to rubble."
"How does having me with you change that?" Hal came to stand next to her as he spoke. He looked at the sky as well, although he saw only stars and the blinking lights of a jet flying overhead.
"I've never carried a passenger into this kind of conflict. I don't know what it will do to you."
"Then leave me here and return for me when you're finished," Hal said calmly. It seemed like a simple decision.
Inanna's eyes turned to his. "Will you be here when I'm finished? Or will you be hunting?"
"I'll be here. I know better than to make you come after me, and what's more, I'm not hungry. I've had plenty of treats tonight." Hal smiled warmly at his gore-encrusted angel. She'd fed him well and had seemed to enjoy their delectable snacks nearly as much as he had.
"I'm more concerned with your thirst than your hunger."
"Your proximity mutes the vampire's thirst for blood."
"Exactly why I worry about leaving you alone. What happens if I don't come back right away?" Inanna frowned toward the city. "What happens if I can't keep from hunting?"
"That would be bad news for us both, my dear, and for countless people as well."
"You must stay with me. I knew that before we started, I just hadn't thought of how to make it work." Inanna frowned again. "I'll need to control myself physically and emotionally. I can't move too quickly or allow myself to overheat for fear of tearing you apart or burning you."
"I'd prefer to avoid both of those as well," Hal said. "I've seen you wear armor, and I've seen the shadow of armor forming over you as if waiting for you to need it. Is it possible to simply cover us both?"
"I'm not sure my armor would accept you right now. The curse, you know. And even if it did, I'd have to think about it to keep it in place. That's the problem, Hal. These things no longer require me to think. They've become rote, instinctive. I'm afraid conscious thought will slow me down in battle and get us both killed."
It was his turn to frown as he thought. She was right. Some things become rote in battle, through training and experience—that's why a seasoned fighter is worth 10 soldiers newly-enlisted. "Maybe there's another way. How do you blow through a building?
"I become a spear of sorts. I keep my wings close against me, extend my hands over my head if I choose, then fly through the building."
"Sounds like classic Superman flight. It's a bird, it's a plane-"
"It's your worst nightmare!" she finished, smiling against her will.
"Oh, now you're just piling on the cliches, my dear. Isn't that a quote from one of your absurd American movies?" Hal smirked. "Still, what you're describing does sound both violent and superhuman." He added quietly, "And it makes me feel much more like Lois Lane than any kind of partner for you."
"I never think of you in those terms."
"You don't have to, the parallels are obvious," he said. "I'd feel better if I could think of some way to be helpful, or at least, not burdensome during your flight. If you fly without moving your wings, you must shift into that state where you move without physical effort."
"Yes, I guess I do."
"Can you keep from flaming? If it will accept me, can we wear armor while destroying the building?"
"If it will accept you, yes. I should be able to keep it in place for that. And the glowing flaming thing isn't conducive to secretive action, so I'm used to toning it down."
"Then pulling me apart while battling demons seems to be our only real worry." Hal summarized their situation without emotion, although Inanna's description of her ability to single-handedly destroy a building left him a bit shaky. He wasn't sure he wanted to go along for that ride.
"That's worry enough."
"How does fighting demons compare to our dance in the Bangor cathedral in terms of movement?"
"It's basically a more intense version. Everything is faster, the twists and turns are sharper, and there's the chance of being torn into by fangs and claws."
"Sounds like a few of my more interesting trysts," Hal joked with a raised eyebrow. Then he became thoughtful. "The vampire didn't like our dance. I remember feeling its protest in every cell of my body, until it was run to ground and surrendered. You took me with you into the music and I experienced it as you do, its substance, its scent, its taste. Perhaps experiencing combat as you do will have the same effect. A brief, if brutal, detox."
"Perhaps experiencing combat as I do will destroy you."
"You held me with you when we danced. There was no gravity pulling on me. I'm sure the same thing will happen tonight, as long as we stay in that world beyond the reach of humanity." Hal thought he'd found the solution to their dilemma, but Inanna quickly reminded him of the horrifying truth of what he suggested.
"I can keep us there, Hal, but there's a trade-off. In that world many things have substance, including spiritual beings. You will see those things I battle. You will experience them as I do, which means you can be hurt by them as I can." Inanna paused for a moment as her lover's countenance froze. His eyes looked away from her and into the sky, but they still revealed what he was trying to hide. Hal feared those things he couldn't see more than he feared anything in the physical world.
She continued quietly. "You don't have a soul for them to attack, so in a sense you're protected from demons in your day-to-day life. Flying into battle with me puts you physically within their reach." She sighed. "Perhaps leaving you here is the better option."
They stood side-by-side as Hal wrestled with his fear. It was a weakness and he despised his weaknesses, but this fear was deeper than most and sprang from the core of his humanity. He might be a legendary monster, but he was a man beneath it all, and men weren't made to face immortal horrors. He'd had his fill of that 500 years ago, when the Men with Sticks and Ropes had drug him into a dark place filled with pain. He'd felt the touch of things he couldn't see; he'd heard the scrabble and rustle, smelled the stench. Those things had torn his soul from him when he was called back to the world by his maker.
How could he fling himself into the midst of them? How could he dare look at them, let alone put himself within their reach? His answer stood next to him, waiting. The thought of failing Inanna was more painful than his fear.
He spoke to her while looking at the stars. "This conversation reminds me of our song. 'Demons' is the title, is it not? A song of darkness struggling not to destroy the light. You showed me the despair and hope that hides behind your eyes, the day you shared your soul with me. You asked me to trust you, do you remember?"
She nodded. Hal continued. "I've learned to trust you above all else. I trust you to keep me safe, and I trust that the piece of your soul in me will bind us together and keep me whole."
Inanna studied him carefully for a minute before speaking. "I believe you're right. We are bound together with a tie stronger than blood. We will drive back the curse without damaging the man. Let's fly."
*Music and lyrics by Chris DeGarmo, first performed by Queensryche.
In the dead of night
She'll come and take you away
Searing beams of light and thunder
Over blackened plains
She will find her way
Flying high through the night
She will hide your fate
As she takes your soul from under
And the blinding light of the castle fades
There is no escape
It's the ending of your precious life
Your soul slipped away
It belongs to the Queen of the Reich
The Queen of the Reich
Yeah she's coming for you
You're fading away
Your life cast astray
A victim the beast shall obtain
The light will not shine
For you'll die tonight at her shrine
And black is the last thing you'll see
Over and over
Dreams of dying fill your head
It's the sign of the cross
That you'll find ahead
No one will answer
The light is fading away
Captive souls are screaming out in pain
There is no escape
It's the ending of your precious life
Your soul slipped away
It belongs to the Queen of the Reich
You're fading away, No, No, No
The Queen of the Reich
You're slipping away, yeah
The Queen of the Reich
