"That thing's gotta be one of those things from my dream." Sadie looked back at the monster as it took off at a run behind them. "An anchimayen or whatever. So that Joaquin guy's gotta be nearby too."
Tim reached a hand into his backpack as he fought his instincts and forced himself to the left side of the road. Horns blared as he dug Arlington's herald out and tossed it to the back seat. "One of you guys call Day. I gotta keep my eyes on the road."
Tim rushed through the streets of Rome. Cassandra pulled herself into the front seat, ready to force off another straggler if one came along. Stephanie fought with her phone to accept the terms and payment needed to activate her GPS. And Sadie tried in vain to remember what she'd seen the previous night.
"I didn't see how the fight with those things went," she said. "Kedar took one out with that magic spear, but we don't have anything like that, do we? Cassie, you still have any of those knives? Maybe that would work?"
Cassandra shook her head. "No. Lost the one when we fought Gedeyon."
Sadie swore to herself.
"Yes, damn it, yes I agree to your terms and conditions, just get me online!" Stephanie flicked passed one page, groaned and felt around in her jacket pockets. "Why now, of all times, does it forget my charge card information?"
Cassandra kept her eye on the rearview mirror. The first attacker was long out of sight even as Tim started to hit red lights, but she still searched around. Every minute or two Tim had to jerk one way or another, a round of horns blared from one of the countless cars around them.
"It's like they're all driving Batmobiles out here," Tim said. "We're keeping things moving, but it's only because it's so damn aggressive."
Stephanie sighed. "Baby, I always liked that you're a careful driver. But this place isn't for the weak—" Another horn from who knew one infraction got on her last nerve. Stephanie rolled down her window and shouted, "We didn't even do anything!"
Cassandra asked, "Those directions pulling up?"
"Still working on it," Stephanie said.
"It's a walled city, why can't we just see it from here?" Tim jerked his head about and got a good look at rustic old houses and enormous pieces of stonework whose purpose felt unknown, but no sign of the Vatican.
Cassandra turned back for a moment and asked, "Sadie, any other ideas?"
"I just don't know. The dream got screwed up at the worst time."
As all four exchanged words, they passed by another cab on the side of the road smashed into a truly enormous, ancient tree. The red motorcycle that departed when they'd first called for the cab sat next to it. No one saw the driver in leathers and a matching red helmet when he glared in for a moment, or the little twist of his fingers thereafter. He climbed back on his bike and sped up.
"All right, come on, fingers crossed." Stephanie pressed a button on her phone.
"Per il Vatican, svolta sinistra."
Tim scowled. "Any chance we can get that in English?"
"I don't want to risk shutting the map down now," Stephanie said. "Turn left at the next light. I'll just watch the directions and translate."
With a nod Tim came up on the next light and brought the car to a stop. A heavy smash careened into the roof of the car. Sadie and Stephanie screamed at the same time, Tim floored the gas again and rear ended the car in front of them. With another crash, the pointed head of a clava cut through the top of the cab. The driver in front of them stepped out of his car, shouted a curse, and was cut off as he looked at something descending from the car's roof.
"Drive around him." Cassandra pushed herself out the window and angled upward. Another slender creature in a wooden mask raised its clava high. "Now, only one hand on the car!"
Tim whipped the cab around the sputtering man in front of them and sped back onto the streets.
"Coliseum's coming up on the right," Tim said. "We still going the right way?"
"Yep," Stephanie said.
As the huge gray structure started to engulf the horizon, the red motorcycle pulled up again. This time, Cassandra got a good look at it. "It's him!" She had to yell over the wind. "He's perusing us, probably sending those things-"
The motorcycle driver veered right and pulled something from a sack on his side. After a few spins, Cassandra recognized a set of bolas.
"Duck!"
Tim realized her instruction with half a second to spare. The bolas flew through Cassandra's open window and smashed his. Tim swore as shards of glass cut his hand.
"Per il Vatican, svolta dritto."
"Keep going straight," Stephanie said. "Tim, you okay?"
"Just some scratches," he said through grit teeth.
"Okay, can we just sideswipe this jackass or something?" Sadie said. "Feeling pretty justified right now."
Cassandra glared at the cyclist and considered it before she shook her head. "Don't know what he is. Might be still alive, can't risk killing him."
"Ugh, guess I've never heard of a zombie driving before," Sadie said.
Stephanie held her phone toward Cassandra. "Take over navigating for a sec. Think I've got a lead."
As soon as Cassandra accepted it, Tim asked, "I keep going straight?"
"Yes, for now."
Stephanie leaned down and rummaged in Tim's backpack.
"This jerk wants to joust, okay, let's joust." She drew a cylinder of metal and pressed on its center. Her telescoping staff quickly extended to its full size. "Maybe we can at least knock him off balance."
"Whatever you're cooking up back there, we got another red light coming," Tim said.
Stephanie asked, "Can you just speed through this one?"
Both the taxi and the motorcycle slowed as a rush of cars pushed through the opposing intersection. There was nothing for it in the middle of their lane, both Tim and their assailant came to a complete stop.
As soon as they were both stuck, the cyclist pulled off his helmet. Underneath was a handsome Latino man with long hair and a short beard, a solemn glare on his face.
Sadie recognized him immediately and, under her breath, confirmed, "Joaquin Sandoval, the kalku."
"My brothers and sisters will catch up within the next minute," he said. "I've had words with Nijah, I already know the truth." He looked past Tim and Cassandra and toward the back of the taxi. Unsure if he was looking at her or not, Sadie's heartrate picked up as he said, "Give me the icon."
Cassandra passed the phone back to Sadie. "Don't know KMs, how far are we?"
Sadie squinted at the screen. "Looks like just another two and a half miles. Tim, driving this crazy, that's just, what, three minutes?"
Tim remained quiet a moment before he said, "Most fights don't even last one, Sadie. This is going to be the longest three minutes you've ever seen speed by."
Stephanie kept Tim's staff pointed at their pursuer. She couldn't do much but ineffectually poke at him from their current position, and if he took hold of the weapon he could probably jerk it out of her hands. So she just held her position, ready to know him off his motorcycle the instant they were all moving again. He maintained his stoic glare as he reached for a satchel at the side of his bike.
"I'm not asking again, friends," As Joaquin spoke, he rolled a handful of small, metal objects around his fingers, their purposes unclear. "I don't want to cause anymore car accidents, let's just get this over with, yeah?"
The light flashed green. Tim hit the gas. The cyclist threw his handful of objects— tire spikes— at the bottom of the car. An instant after the car rushed forward one of the spikes bit into the rear left tire. As air rushed out the car started to bump and squeal.
"This guy's crazy," Tim said.
"He's grinning ear to ear." Stephanie got a look at him for a last moment before he flipped down his helmet again. "And right in the middle of the road like this— you're right, he's nuts."
The chorus of honking cars picked up again as the busted tire slowed the taxi's movements. The road swerved to the left and the man on the motorcycle hugged tight to the curb alongside the River Tiber. Tim still pushed the gas as hard as he dared, Cassandra counted down aloud as the distance on the phone decreased. With both vehicles moving again, Stephane tried to thrust the staff at Joaquin, but the cyclist either swerved around or took her hits like little more than pokes.
"This bridge up here, then left," Cassandra said. "City entrance will be ahead."
"Good, because I don't know how much more that tire," Tim said.
As Cassandra said, Tim took a hard right onto the Ponte Vittorio Emanuele II, a stone bridge. Traffic narrowed to two lanes, but with a quick jerk right, then left, Tim threatened the cyclist with a sideswipe hard enough to force him to slow.
Sadie leaned forward as the outline of the walls around Vatican City came into focus. "Come on, almost there, almost there—"
Stephanie let out a shrieking cry of, "Tim, look out!"
A little boy jumped down from the barrier that split road from sidewalk and turned toward the taxi. In that tiny moment, Tim saw his greyed skin and could picture his sallow eyes. This one didn't wear a mask, there was no doubt it was another of the Joaquin's monsters.
None of that mattered. Corrupted as it was, it was still a little boy's face looking back at him. Tim jerked the wheel, the taxi took a sharp, swerving turn and the four careened into the stone barrier.
Seatbelts kept Cassandra and Sadie from suffering worse than nosebleeds when their faces flew into the driver seats. The airbags erupted and suffocated Tim and Stephanie for a moment before they forced them down. Horns blared and stars shown in everyone's eyes as the cyclist strutted up to the totaled car.
"Be honest with me, my friend." He grinned as he surveyed the damage. "Did you know that one was one of mine?"
Propped up with the help of Tim's staff, Stephanie was the first to pull herself out of the smashed car. With a cough and a spit to clear her mouth, she glared at their pursuer. "Doesn't matter if he did, that was a dirty, awful trick."
The pale boy stepped up beside him. Joaquin glanced at him for a moment, shuttered, and looked back toward Stephanie. "I didn't make him. Or any of them, you know" he said. "Believe me, I hate them too. I just believe in giving unwanted things a purpose." As he spoke, a line of cars from both sides of the road slowed at the sight of the wreck and both screams and shouts emanated from around them. He turned, his brow wrinkled in annoyance, and shouted, "Stai zitto!"
Cassandra seized the momentary distraction to rush at Joaquin. Hard and fast, she beat a flurry of finger strikes into his chest, the kalku fell to the pavement before he even uttered a howl of pain. With a turn back to her companions, Cassandra said, "He's down, let's just run—"
The child that Joaquin used to force Tim to crash the car leapt at Cassandra. It got its arms around one of hers and bit down hard enough to draw blood just below her elbow. Cassandra cringed at the pain and shook. A quick punch would be so efficient, but Tim was right, it was hard to hit them when they looked so much like children.
As Cassandra's companions rushed to her side, Joaquin's undead forces started to swarm the bridge. Two of the biggest—very possibly the two that most harassed the car—soared from one side of the bridge to its center so they could help their master stand.
"Gracias Paulo, gracias Julio." He grunted as he stood up straight again and glared at the four who now stood surrounded. "Look, I can mend broken bones, but I don't think you wanna feel the pain of what I gotta do beforehand. The game's up. You made a valiant effort, but this is as far as you go. Gimmie the icon and go home. Or hell, stay in the city, what do I care? Just hand it over."
Cassandra whipped the tubular carrier out of her backpack and drew her sword. Stephanie reached into a side slot on her backpack, drew her staff, and passed it to Tim.
"You're a better wielder than I am."
"Keep it," Tim said. "I'm a better fist fighter too, I'll be all right."
She rolled her eyes but took her stance. "Show off."
Joaquin uttered a scornful chuckle. "And they say chivalry is dead." Then his forces closed in.
One of the giant undead got ahold of Sadie almost immediately, but when it did nothing more than clasp her shoulders, she didn't resist. It felt like there would be a time to fight back, she just wasn't positive when yet, so she swallowed hard and waited. For the first few seconds of battle, Cassandra, Tim, and Stephanie pummeled Joaquin's thralls. As swift and effective as they all seemed when attacking the cab, each was swiftly knocked down in a few punches, kicks, or weapon strikes, and the attacker went on to the next opponent.
But Sadie saw swiftly the advantage was fleeting. Each masked giant that fell pushed back onto their feet just a few seconds later. And with Joaquin's circle so full and tight, it was impossible to get a break from the battle. Cassandra's dull blade couldn't cut them to ribbons, and, without blood flowing through their veins, the anchimayen were totally immune from her pressure point strikes. The fight that seemed so straightforward a moment before fast felt like an insurmountable war of attrition.
With a glare toward Joaquin, Sadie asked, "So what, I'm just waiting here?"
"You're a non-combatant, chica, I can see it in your eyes." He chuckled. "Kinda like me."
One of Stephanie's thrusts with the staff broke the fragile skin of an enemy's belly, and was caught on his inner workings. The anchimayen used her moment stuck to close in, grab her by the neck, and pin her to the ground.
Joaquin leaned against the edge of the bridge as he continued to recover from the pressure point strikes. "Entertaining as this is, come on, kiddies, just tell me where the icon is and we can be done."
Tim broke from his fight to assist Stephanie, but one anchimayen from Stephanie's side stepped into his path and knocked him to the ground with a clothesline. It and the monster he'd broken away from both stepped forward and thrust their legs into his stomach. He gasped in pain, a burst of spit and blood blew out his mouth.
With a chuckle, Joaquin said, "Come on now, this is just getting sad."
Cassandra dodged out blows from two of the anchimayen at once. Freed from their fight with Tim and Stephanie, two that stood ready in reserves joined their siblings. While Cassandra was halfway into an attack, two different clava strikes smashed into her shoulder blades, and Gotham's guardian angel fell with a teeth-grit shout.
Sadie cried, "Cassie!" And, as Joaquin cackled, the revelation came to her. The vision hadn't told her anything about overcoming a kalku. But maybe they'd told her about how to defeat Joaquin.
"Hey, bruja!" Sadie had to hope she was pronouncing it from memory right. "How much did Kedar give you for your soul? I've heard all about you. I thought you were supposed to hate these things."
Joaquin remained unimpressed. "What did I tell you before? Uses for unloved things."
"You're making up excuses," Sadie said. "I saw that big stupid grin you had on during the chase. You're just another sadist hiding behind his religion, aren't you?"
Cassandra turned and clenched. "Sadie, stop."
"No, Cassie, he deserves to hear it." Sadie stared down Joaquin. Most of his body remained still, but bits of him twitched as she went on. "I saw Benjie before you- that poor guy can't go out in the sun. And Gedeyon— he struggles to control that thing inside him. But you—"
Cassandra and Stephanie both shouted, "Sadie!" The anchimayen that held Sadie squeezed her, and it was a struggle to keep from breaking out crying. Tim, however, remained still and watched closely as Joaquin turned all his attention to her closer.
"You, 'saw' what they went through, did you? And what I did? Choose those next words carefully." Sandoval more hissed than spoke. "I can't kill you, but you'd be shocked the kind of trauma you can live through."
Sadie's brovado started to fail, tears slipped from her eyes as the giant squeezed her tighter. Still, she eeked out, "You could have just walked away from this life. But you didn't. Because deep down, you really are a monster." With a deep inhale and a swish of her tongue, Sadie blew a defiant raspberry.
Joaquin stepped forward and raised his hand to strike her himself. In the midst of his rage, he didn't even see as Tim cross his arms and fling them in opposite directions, the force strong enough to shove his two distracted giants' legs off of him. Tim leapt toward Joaquin and grabbed ahold of his biker jacket. Too surprised to move in opposition, Joaquin was helpless as Tim slammed him against the edge of the bridge.
Tim shouted, "Get to the Vatican! I'll keep him busy!"
With a twist and a yank, Tim held Joaquin over the edge of the bridge. With his attention diverted, the giant that held Sadie slackened, and the others that stood guard over Stephanie and Cassandra went limp. Sadie shook herself free, pulled Cassandra up by a clasped hand, and ran toward the walls.
After a quick moment to reorient, Cassandra looked toward Tim and Joaquin on the edge. "We need to help him."
"No!" As Tim struggled with Joaquin, he took a step back toward the women. "I'm giving you an opening, take it."
"Pequena mierda." Joaquin spoke through grit teeth as he moved his fingers again. His undead warriors shook their heads and stirred.
"You guys go, I'll help him." Stephanie ran toward the struggling pair.
"Good!" Sadie called back. "You can do it, rescue your hubby!"
The giant that held Sadie reached out and laid a strong hand on Stephanie's shoulder. Stephanie jerked around, kicked the thing in the side of its knee and the monster crumbled, but it recovered its footing a moment after and threw her aside, she yelped as she hit the ground. It seemed clear: they weren't interested in her, they just wanted to rip Tim off their master. Another of Joaquin's monsters broke from the pack and ran after Cassandra and Sadie.
After a struggle to get Joaquin hands off his throat, Tim shouted, "Steph! Give me a shove!"
She looked up at him, horrified. "What?"
"Fish us out later." He spoke with a struggle. "Let's see him control those things from down there."
Stephanie hated this idea, there had to be something else. She was pretty sure, given thirty seconds, she could come up with a better plan. But with Tim's urgent shouts and Cassandra and Sadie's departure, it didn't feel like she had that much time, the giants were closing in on the two.
With Sandoval's concentration still divided, Stephanie outran his monsters. With one of Tim's legs in one hand and one of Sandoval's in the other, Stephanie lent her strength to Tim and lifted. As the two continued to struggle with one another, she flipped them off the bridge. Sandoval let out a scream, Tim just shut his eyes. A moment later the two bodies crashed, still clutching each other, into the Tiber River, and the water's swift current carried them downstream.
Stephanie watched as the river carried the two downstream and uttered a quick, silent prayer for Tim. With their puppermaster so thoroughly occupied, nearly every one of Joaquin's anchimayen went limp. But with the last of his strength, he forced one of his giants, the one that held Sadie, with the last, forceful command to hunt her down. With Stephanie's eyes elsewhere, the monster rushed away from her and towards his target.
Across the bridge, with a last rush, Cassandra and Sadie pushed through the crowd of milling tourists. Cassandra turned and got a look at the last anchimayen on their tail. "Faster. Need to go faster."
"I don't know—if I can—" Sadie gasped as she spoke.
"End is right there. Just a little more."
The giant sprinted, jumped, and reached out. Sadie pushed herself forward. The tip of the monster's finger caught the heel of her shoe, Sadie tripped for a moment as the shoe slipped off, but she and Cassandra kept running. Neither felt anything as they slipped through the marble-colored gate and into the wall, Sadie's heart pounded with terror in fear the boarders of the city had no power. Cassandra kept her eyes firmly ahead while Sadie watched as their pursuer imitated their movement and shoved tourists aside. With one of its long, gray arms extended, it reached out for them again.
There was no slowing, not even a sight of decay. The monster's momentum carried it over the barrier, but the moment it did the entire entire body came undone. In an instant, a pile of dust and the wooden mask were all that remained when it came into contact with holy ground.
"Cassie— Cassie— hold up." Sadie struggled to even her breathing. "That thing, it's just—it's gone."
"And people probably saw it," Cassandra said. Need to keep moving. Lose ourselves in the crowd."
Sadie nearly objected, thought better of it, and huffed as they continued to run. After they cleared the inner entrance, however, Cassandra's steps came to a stuttered stop.
To the two uninitiated young women, the city that surrounded them looked like a place out of time. Enormous, open buildings supported by decorative pillars surrounded one side. A tall obelisk crowned with a cross stood at the center, a flowing fountain before it. And beyond that stood a great square that led up to the dome that shaped Saint Peter's Basilica. It seemed their journey was finally at an end.
[[AN: So ends the pilgrimage to the Vatican, as it were. I've been enjoying this new release schedule of getting sizeable chunks done and then sharing them with a new chapter daily with time in between to work on new material. So it's that time again- Will be taking a bit off to get the next arc done and release it daily for a while when it's done.]]
