Chapter 22

A howl unlike anything heard in millennia tore through the night as the Shepherds of Hades rode into battle.

At some unseen signal, the Hounds circling the five Lampades erupted into motion, tearing across the landscape. Ash flew from their footsteps as they ran toward the waiting army, a fresh blaze erupting in their wake that shrouded the land in smoke and fire. Our view of the mountain was obscured within moments, and in return, so too was the view from on high.

"The Keres will take you to the peak," Rose declared even as the thundering beat of wings surrounded us. Dark silhouettes dropped into crouches all around us, and we turned as one to look upon the winged creatures of shadow.

I stared openly at the one closest to me. She was nude and feminine, in the same way a statue could be carved to resemble a woman without possessing any of the softness of flesh. Her form was that of a warrior, her arms and legs chiseled in muscle that would not dimple at a touch. Skin like black marble rippled and moved fluidly across her exposed upper body. The great wings folded upon her back were those of a fallen angel, each feather thin and sharp and glinting like obsidian. Her feet were taloned, shaped like those of a bird rather than anything human; so too were her hands, each sharp digit scraping against the hilt of the dark sword she bore in one claw.

The Keres stood as I studied her, those glowing crimson eyes looking me over in return as she grew closer. Her head tilted curiously as she approached, even as her aquiline nose moved in a bobbing motion, as if to catch my scent. Black marble lips peeled back from black dagger-like teeth as she smiled, gesturing to my side with the pointed claw of her free hand.

I glanced down, realizing that she was referencing the wound I'd taken atop the mountain. When I met her eyes again, a cawing sound emanated from her throat. Although her jaw was human looking, their speech was that of avian raptors.

"She is the one who saved you," Rose said softly at my side as the Keres stepped close, her open hand splayed to press gently against my chest. A chill went through me as a familiar sensation rippled through my being at her touch. The bird-like chatter echoed an oddly pleased look to her crimson eyes. "She says she has held your soul in her palm," Rose translated. "A fiery soul, she says; one pleasing to her."

"I'm spoken for," I muttered weakly.

At that, the Keres threw her bald head back, her dark scalp shining in the cerise light from the torch as she laughed a cackling laugh. It startled the others, who had been busy growing comfortable with their own dark shepherds.

"She says she will take you above, where you shall face the mágos," Rose continued when the avian laughter trailed off. "And should you fall again, she will personally accompany you to the Three Judges."

"Or, you know," I said softly, "she could keep me alive, like before."

When I finished speaking, the Keres' claw tightened on my coat, pulling me forward quickly. Her eyes burned brightly as she scowled at me, her warbled chatter low and throaty.

"She says the only death to fear is an unworthy one," Rose warned. "As she spared your life, your death must be in a manner she finds suitable. There is no greater death than that in the service of Hades."

"Well, I'll try not to disappoint her," I said with a forced smile, which the Keres matched with a fierce one.

"You must go," Rose said loudly to the rest. "The Hounds will send the restless back to their slumber, and my sisters and I will see to those the mágos has bewitched. But we cannot grow close to the mágos himself, for fear that he will take us in turn." Her gaze shifted back to me. "That task falls to you."

Argondian and the others nodded, and then the Keres were moving around us. I saw Anya flinch as one took position behind her, wrapping a dark arm about her waist. Then my view was clouded by my own Keres' wings as she did the same to me, holding us tightly together.

And then, without any so much as offering a seatbelt or pack of peanuts, the Keres leapt to the skies, their dark wings beating like thundering shadows around us as we soared upward.

In my years on the planet, there have only been a handful of occasions where my feet have left the ground for any extended period. I've flown in planes a few times, but I've never been much of a traveler. I've been up in helicopters during my EMT and fire training in school. And Chicago is home to several skyscrapers, one of which has a viewing platform with a glass bottom that you can stand on, looking down and out across the city.

Nothing in my life had prepared me for flying thousands of feet into the air secured only by a single arm wrapped around my waist.

The Keres' cries were fierce as we soared into the sky, quickly surpassing the smoky landscape below. From above, I could see where the Hounds of Hades had charged up the slope and had begun darting back and forth amongst the undead defenders, the wild grasses burning behind them. The dark forms drove the zombies to the ground one by one, slamming them to turf and thrusting their heads into the bodies. When they withdrew, the magics sustaining the undead were torn forcefully from their forms. Those that retained flesh and bone slumped to the ground, while the th rest crumbled into the pieces that remained.

And then the Hounds would leap upon another, and then another, sending each back to the rest they had so cruelly been denied. Those that resisted did so with futility, as the crude weapons the enthralled Chians thrust with had no more effect on the beasts than Anya's sword had back in the graveyard. And rather than retaliating against those still breathing, the Hounds continued on, leaving them untouched.

Behind them, the five Lampades strode forward, their torchlights burning brilliantly in the night as they approached the enthralled defenders. Those that charged them stumbled to a halt as the light washed over them, transfixing their gaze with wavering flames. Weapons, bricks and clubs and any other crude tools the Chians had gathered, all fell limply to the ground as they swayed before the Lampades, just as I had seen them do atop the mountain.

Only this time, when the nymphs finished their work, the innocent crumpled to the turf, unconscious and blissfully unaware.

I took in the sights of the battle, focusing on the details below rather than the fact that I hurtled perilously through the air. My hands held fast to the stony grip around my stomach. But the Keres' strength was immense, and her solid form behind me somewhat reassuring as we rose higher and higher.

"Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck…" I heard Anya muttering for a moment as our paths briefly crossed in our journey. I caught a glimpse of Nelson, who seemed to be concentrating on the backs of his eyelids while his fingers worked the prayer bracelet he wore around his wrist.

Moretti seemed non-plussed, if not a little irritated at having to be in direct contact with the monsters. Argondian was making a curious study of his Keres' form, touching and prodding while casting glances at her face to make sure she wasn't about to drop him in offense; but her disinterest in his activities could not have been more stony.

As for Sal…

Well, Sal had wriggled into the bullet hole in my coat pocket, his fiery gills extended as he weaved his head back and forth through the wind, emitting a a joyous trill.

"You're a little crazy," I muttered down at him. In response, he looked back at me for a second, letting his slim tongue loll out of his wedged mouth as if he were a dog hanging out a car window. "Mad," I reiterated, before gripping the arm around me tighter as we turned through the air.

Our ascent had been quick and brutal, climbing the several thousand feet of the mountain in moments. The Keres carrying our party were at the rear of the flock soaring toward the upper portion of Anavatos, their dark forms nothing more than shadows in the night as they swooped back and forth. As we grew closer, the Keres in the lead began diving toward the houses. The few defenders that had made their way to the roofs were quickly thrown down. Those that were breathing were cast aside with some modest care, while the dead were sliced into pieces by the slim black swords the dark valkyries bore.

The crack of rifle fire sounded now and again, as Katya fired upon the Keres from some hidden location. Our shepherds had carried us higher, and we watched helplessly as one shot exploded against a Keres. The dark form wobbled in the air before falling between buildings.

An angry hiss escaped the pursed lips of my Keres, and then we were diving for the city. I might have screamed as we went, and I looked frantically about. I saw that the others were following suit, their own Keres descending in what seemed like a suicidal dive for the ancient stone structures.

"Holy shit!" Nelson shouted from somewhere over one shoulder, the monk-like wizard momentarily losing his composure.

"Stay on target!" I shouted in return, a giddy smile breaking through my own terror as the Keres' dive along the street's narrow width reminded me of the trench run on the Death Star.

"Bombs away!" Anya screamed as her Keres released her. I lost sight of her, as they had descended along a different street. I turned to prepare for my own landing, but an explosion overhead distracted me just as the Keres released my waist.

My legs hit the ground hard, but I managed to roll with my momentum, and tumbled over once or twice before righting myself. I quickly scanned the sky, and saw that my Keres was soaring back toward the clouds, her sword having decapitated the zombies on the street before me. A fiery light was emanating from her right wing, leaving a trail of red-hot glass feathers in her wake. I realized that she must have been hit by one of Katya's enchanted rounds just as we'd dove for cover, and thanked my lucky stars I hadn't been hit.

The Keres shot through the sky, keeping a surprisingly low trajectory. Several more of her sisters joined her, and I blinked as I watched four of them crash through the open windows of one of the two tallest buildings. Flashes erupted inside, and I realized they'd pinpointed Katya's position, and were taking their revenge. I could imagine I could hear the fierce screams of the warrior women inside, avenging those that had fallen.

As soon as I was upright and stable, I was turning to look for the others. While I spun, Sal leapt from my pocket to the dirt road where we'd landed. He kept his smaller size, and sniffed at the air.

"You got it?" I asked. The salamander turned his head back to me, and gave a doubtful bark. "Do what you can, okay?"

The supernatural amphibian gave a confirmation trill, and then he was off. In his small form, Sal quickly disappeared into the shadows, moving with a speed that anything short of a leopard would be jealous of.

Another explosion overhead made me turn, and I saw the body of a Keres snap backwards as a round struck her in the face. Her wings shot out wide, catching wind as she began to tumble, but it looked more like a reflex than something planned.

She and her charge were still a good fifty feet up when they both began their twirling descent to the ground, and my breath caught as I lost sight of Moretti before a booming crash accompanied his landing.

"Holy fuck," I said as I drew a pistol from one holster. I left my sword sheathed as I started to run in that direction, and brought up the Beretta alone when several defenders stumbled around the corner.

I popped the safety off and fired on two of the four forms that charged me with awkward gates. The zombies' heads snapped back before their bodies crumpled, and I once again thanked whoever it was that researched all those zombie movies, for repeatedly insisting that head shots were kill shots.

Sure, the bodies were still writhing on the ground. But their cognitive abilities seemed to go from two to zero. As long as I didn't fall atop them, they were no threat to me.

The two enthralled Chians were a different matter entirely.

A man and woman charged me, and as I holstered my gun again, I noted a soft emerald and amethyst glow to their eyes as they came. Violet's power had entranced them, breaking their minds for Salvago to piece back together. They were innocent, despite seeming more than willing to bash my skull in with the stones and bricks they carried.

The man reached me first, and I easily ducked to one side as he swung his brick. I turned the motion into a hook that connected with his jaw. Whatever power was controlling him, it required consciousness. His lightly glowing eyes fluttered shut as he fell, and my attention turned to the woman just as she threw her stone at my head.

"Hey, whoa!" I shouted as I ducked to one side, allowing the stone to miss my scalp by two inches. It thudded against the stone wall of an ancient home, even as the woman ran at me with her hands clenched into talons. "Stop!" I tried, hoping to reason with the enthralled woman.

She slammed into me, her nails clawing at my face as I gripped her wrists. She was old, older than my mother by at least a couple decades, but she attacked with a ferocity born of madness. I struggled to hold on to her as she kicked and tore at me, her teeth gnashing threateningly when she was inches away.

And then suddenly she was wrenched back, and I saw her glowing eyes shift around before a fist clean clocked her, sending her spinning to the ground.

"Was that you trying to reason with a thrall?" Anya asked in disbelief, an eyebrow cocked.

"What was I supposed to do, hit an old lady?" I shot back as I drew the Beretta to take aim at a zombie that rounded a corner behind her. My aim was off, and the round struck it one shoulder, causing it to stagger.

Anya raised her own pistol, one of the Desert Eagles with the hundred-round drum, and opened up at the thing. The head exploded as half a dozen bullets tore through it.

"Hmgh," Anya said as she adjusted the setting on the gun to not waste ammunition. "You're such a pig."

"What are you talking about?" I said as I started toward where I'd seen Moretti fall.

"Won't hit a girl," Anya muttered. "But you hit me in sparring practice all the time."

"To clarify," I said, pausing to take out another zombie lumbering toward us. "You're mad that I didn't hit an old lady."

"She was trying to kill you!" Anya said as she drew Q's enchanted sword from her hip. I started to shout a warning, to tell her that the other person charging us looked like another thrall. But she had already realized it, and swung with the back side of the blade, a moderately crushing blow to the temple that sent the man to the ground.

"How about I handle the guys, and you handle the girls," I said as we continued to the corner.

"How about you grow a pair and—" she said before her eyes widened. Her arm moved lighting quick, striking me in the chest. The blow sent me reeling back, which meant that the spell aimed at my backside missed, hitting Anya in the chest.

The vampire disappeared in a flash of yellow light, crashing into the dilapidated building at the corner. The wall crumbled beneath the impact, and she disappeared in the shadows before I'd even turned to see what we were facing.

The other wizard, the warden they'd called Martin, was standing only a few feet away. His right hand was extended out, and I saw light glint from within the rings on his fingers as he unleashed another spell. I dove back toward the alley as another flash of citrine light struck out, the air around it hot and crackling.

"Fuck!" I shouted as I hit the ground hard. I reached for my coat as I scrambled backward, fighting a sense of deja vu as yet another wizard stalked toward me, prepared to kill me in this God forsaken town. As the Revenant wizard raised his right hand again, I let loose with the pair of iron balls I'd pulled from my pocket. "Gwedh!"

With the command, a slim line of glowing green appeared between the bola balls, before cooling into something darker. Once connected, the two spun around one another as they flew through the air, the goblin magic worked into them guiding them toward my intended target.

Said target lifted his left hand as they approached, and I saw the glint of metal on his staff as he raised it in defense. The line made of goblin magic struck the weapon, and green sparks flew as the spell broke apart on contact with what looked to be steel. The balls spun to either side of the wizard, who hadn't even had the decency to flinch. His glowing green eyes remained steadfast upon me.

"Oh, come on!" I shouted as I scrambled backwards until I was on my feet. "I'm the one that's supposed to have a cool steel staff weapon!"

Clearly sensing my frustration, Martin the Revenant proved to be sympathetic. Rather than blasting me with his rings, he raised the staff I was envious of and darted forward, thrusting the end at my chest. I brought my arms up to block, but the runes on the weapon shone with an inner light. It must have had some disorientation spell or something put into it, because my movements became uncoordinated as a dizzying sensation washed over me. The staff struck true, landing with a solid thud right over my heart.

A crackling yellow light burst from the end of the weapon, and my body shook as I flew backwards. I crashed to the ground and rolled helplessly, my limbs slow to respond. It felt like I'd been electrocuted on a sunny day, if that makes any sense. Not much did in those first few moments after I was hit. As I finally figured out it was still in fact night, and I was still in fact losing yet another duel with a wizard, all I could do was flop around to watch as the mage lifted his right hand again to finish me off.

Perhaps a second before he fired off another blast, a scuffing sound behind him clued him to a threat. He turned his body as the spell was unleashed, and I narrowly avoided the thick shaft of yellow lightning that raked the street to my left. He twisted to meet Anya's attack, and steel rang as her enchanted blade crashed against the wizard's steel staff, more yellow light sparking where they met.

I watched them as I stumbled to my feet, the wizard doing what he could against the vampire clearly reluctant to kill him. Anya's face was set with grim determination, and I knew she wouldn't be willing to kill the man she'd fought with during the siege. Not when there was a chance he could still be saved.

The White court vampire had drawn her second sword, the short straight-bladed weapon one of the pair she usually wielded. If her coordination was thrown off by using one of Q's longer, curving blades, it didn't show. The girl moved like quicksilver, her argent eyes shining in the golden light that shone from Martin's weapon.

But despite her advantage of speed and strength, the wizard held his ground. Energy rippled between the two of them as they dueled. Martin wielded the staff in both hands, deflecting attacks as they came, all while shooting smaller blasts of yellow light from his rings when he had the chance. Anya was quick enough to avoid most of them, but more than one struck the black coat she wore.

Whatever spellwork Simon had put into the jacket, it was enough to prevent the attacks from disabling her as they had done to me. Anya moved faster and faster, her skin beginning to glow with a soft light as she searched for a way around the wizard's defenses. The disorienting spell seemed to do just enough to allow the less experienced wizard to remain untouched, right up until I struck him in the back of the neck with the flat of my sword.

The wizard staggered, and it was enough to provide an opening. Anya's fist lashed out, hitting the wizard perhaps harder than necessary, but enough to send him to the ground.

"Thank—" Anya began, but I didn't hear the rest as the zombies I hadn't known were behind me surged forward after the wizard fell.

"Ack!" I said, ducking my head as a thick branch bounced off my skull. Arms grabbed at me, pulling me off balance. I tried to spin, calling on my seemingly endless training with a restless goblin sensei, but my limbs still weren't quite normal after the shocking blow to my chest. The blow to my head hadn't done me any favors either. I fell as my knees wobbled, and then the zombies were surging over me.

Anya was there in a flash, the skin of her face and hands all but brilliant as she blurred into motion. The two swords stabbed and slashed, decapitating one zombie as another was torn asunder with a twisted blade to the gut. Another fell to a crushing blow that turned bone to dust, and the last was set to be skewered in the eye when a hum filled the air, and Anya's sword thrust froze an inch from its target.

Both of us blinked in surprise, and then watched as an invisible blast threw the enemy against the wall. It hit with a solid thump, and then slipped to the dirt road. The branch he'd wielded against me fell from his grasp.

Anya stared at the fallen man with wide eyes, her breath suddenly panting as she watched red blood trickle from a wound to the scalp. "That one was not a zombie," Moretti growled from behind us.

Anya turned to see the wizard limping toward us. I sort of just rolled over, not yet trusting my legs to hold me up. The wizard looked to be more in my condition than hers, as he stumbled with his good arm bracing him against one wall. He'd just finished lowering his steel arm, and his magnetic grip on Anya's weapon was released.

"T-Thanks," Anya stuttered, clearly unnerved by the exchange. Her eyes shot down as she caught her breath, the light fading from her as she stopped using the power reserves available to a White Court vampire.

"Fighting them is hard enough," the wizard grumbled as he checked over Martin. "Don't make things worse by giving in to your monstrous bloodlust."

"Hey!" I snapped, my temper flaring. I'd been trying to meditate, and a warm glow of power had begun to radiate out from my naval before the wizard's harsh words pissed me off, breaking my concentration. "She was trying to save me!"

"Maybe you shouldn't have come, if you need so much saving," Moretti barked as he shot a dark look at me.

I stumbled to my feet, but Anya's voice held me back. "Woody, don't."

"You can't—"

"He's right," she said softly.

I turned, glancing at her in surprise. She'd turned away, and was watching the far end of the alley in case any more defenders appeared. But I could see her eyes when they turned toward me, before quickly looking away. They were shot through with silver, and hunger, and something altogether dark.

"You're not a monster," I whispered harshly. "And you—"

"Sometimes I am," she bit back, growing angry with my apparent naivety.

"But—"

"Save your therapy session for another time," Moretti said as knelt by Martin. He'd tied one of the beaded necklaces Amy had given us around the Revenant's neck. The goth wizard had assured us that the dark glass marbles would keep our quarry unconscious. "Something's wrong with the stones. I haven't been able to reach Amy or the others."

My hand went for my own communication stone, but I felt nothing as I touched it. "Same for me," I grumbled, willing to let the argument go for the moment.

"We need to find the others and regroup," Moretti said as he finished tying Martin's hands and securing a gag. The Revenant wizard's weapons had been tossed out of reach, just in case Amy's charms didn't work as well as we hoped.

I retrieved my own weapons, and then joined Moretti and Anya as they continued up the road toward the peak. Anya refused to meet my gaze, a hard look settling over her face. I wanted to try and undo the damage Moretti was doing, but she wasn't going to be receptive in that mood.

The girl had struggled with the monster inside her since before we'd met. Every White Court vampire had a hunger inside that drove them to feed and kill, but Anya had done her best to subdue it. Before we'd met, that had consisted of her trying to starve the thing. That had only resulted in the hunger eventually growing to great, to the point she would lose control.

Since we'd met, she'd been doing much better. She hadn't killed anyone in that time, and she'd learned to temper her hunger. She said she knew of another vampire that did the same, taking the smallest tastes from dozens of victims rather than taking too much from any one. That level of control was well beyond her own ability, but she was making great strides in controlling herself and the monster inside.

That said, she was clearly shaken by her actions in the alley. Had Moretti not arrived when he did, I had no doubt the enthralled Chian would have died at her hands. A death not by loss of control when feeding, but from loss of control in combat. From letting the thing inside dictate her actions, consequences be damned.

That didn't make her a monster. Not when we were in such a desperate and impossible situation. But Moretti's words had taken my friend to a dark place, and I didn't want to leave her there.

"Anya," I whispered softly, but sounds from nearby drew us up short. Moretti was off in a flash, with Anya following close behind. I brought up the rear, and rounded a corner just in time to see Peña's sword take Argondian's head off.