Chapter 15

With all the equipment through for out camp, we made a habit of keeping the main portal closed, but with the smaller one generated by the dagger open so we could maintain communications with home. I called for the main portal to be opened so I could evacuate non-combatants, only to discover it wouldn’t let us through.

I should have figured on that. Right from the start, I knew the portals were one way only. Vampires and demons came through but only small parts of them went back if they died. If you only went partially through you could back away as the boss guy had done on my first encounter, but once you were through, you were committed.

Which meant our only way back was from a portal opened on this side. I called for the blinds to be closed on the dome. I wasn’t sure how the portal opened this side, but it seemed to be automatic, however nothing continued to happen.

I cursed and gave my mind over to organising our defence. We’d put up a good show, but against the sort of numbers coming, we’d be overwhelmed before we’d taken out a fraction of their numbers.

They came in range and I ordered the splinter guns – a name that had gained popularity among the troops for the rifles with wood based ammunition – to open fire. The vampire hoards broke into a run and fell like corn before a reaper. There were several Fyarl demons in the mix, but no way I’d be able to harvest any horns in this mess. Besides, I had no idea what went into those prisms or even if they’d work from this side. I waited until most of them were in range and turned the fifty cals loose.

The screams and energy release were immense. Something was flaring around where the portal should have been, but nothing more.

With a flash of inspiration, I grabbed the communicator.

“Shut down the portal on your side,” I snapped.

“What, but...”

“Do it Finn.” Thank goodness for duplex communication. “If nothing happens in five minutes, open it again.”

The small accumulation of sparkles which represented the portal on this side vanished and a larger hole looking into the darkened interior of the dome blossomed into appearance in its stead.

“Non-combatants, grab something expensive and head through the hole,” I yelled. “Slayerettes, you too. There’s nothing you can do against those numbers.”

Our numbers dwindled by a half in the next thirty seconds.

“Set self-destruct on everything,” I yelled. “Splinter guns keep firing, everyone else through the hole.”

We were down to a couple of dozen soldiers, myself included. I was about to order a strategic withdraw when the approaching masses skidded to a halt.

Their commander, standing an impressive forty feet tall, stepped forward.

“Get through,” I yelled. “Just fucking run, no matter what else.”

Three quarters of them were through when the master demon’s thoughts hit us. They felt like a freight train colliding with my brain. I fell to my knees as the half dozen remaining soldiers collapsed around me.

I forced myself to my feet and bodily heaved them one after the other through the portal.

“You’re a strong one,” a voice boomed painfully in my head. “You must be the one who defeated my brother.”

I had two more men to help. I fought my way through the pain to drag them across the threshold where willing hands were waiting to take them and me the rest of the way. A few hands grabbed mine at the end, but I resisted. I had a few last things to do this side.

“More than just me,” I yelled back. “We’ll beat you just as easily.”

“Is that why you’re running away?” I could sense the amusement in his thoughts. “Will you try the same trick with my forces, little morsel? Your weapons crack the wall between our worlds like an egg,” there was a sense this wasn’t quite the term intended, but his thoughts were picking through my brain for closest approximations. “I won’t make the same mistake as my brother. If you wish to destroy my army, it will be at the cost of tearing this portal wide open, then my father’s hoards will overrun your world, and his rage will be incandescent for he will have two sons to avenge.

“In the meantime, my thanks for these trinkets to study.”

“My pleasure,” I shouted. “Make of them what you will.”

The self-destructs were going off. Small thermite charges with just enough destructive power to melt the working elements of each device to slag, hopefully without affecting the portal further.

“Incidentally, we have your brother captive.”

“You lie. I saw him incinerated along with his hoard.”

“Well, maybe it wasn’t him then, but we had the essence of one of your kind locked in a book on our world. We inadvertently freed it into a computer system where it caused us a little difficulty before we isolated it.”

It caused him to pause, relieving the pressure on my mind. I glanced around the camp to make sure there was nothing valuable remaining then stepped through the portal.

“Shutters open,” Finn yelled, then, “What the fuck were you thinking?” directly into my face as sunlight bathed us all.

“Danger minimal,” I said. “His brain doesn’t seem to affect me as badly and I figured it would be worth opening a dialogue.”

“Danger minimal?” he asked and indicated six bodies covered head to foot.

“But I got them out.”

“And they started convulsing as soon as they made it through. They’re going for autopsy. And you’re heading for a military hospital for a complete brain scan.”

“I’m fine.”

“Possibly. I’ll take our top neurologists opinion over yours though.”

“Until which time I’m considered unfit to command?”

“Now you’re getting it. I’ll ask the captain – the other captain – to send someone with you to take your statement.”

“Okay. Here’s a preview though. Keeping a small portal open here from our side seems to stop anything from opening on the other side. It might be worth experimenting with that because his army’s a lot bigger than the last one, including hellmaws and possibly some shit we haven’t seen yet, and he’s setting up camp on that side of the portal.”

The rest of the day was no fun. Given my fighting ability and the boss demon’s – digital version at least – capacity for mind control, I submitted to restraints in the ambulance and throughout the barrage of tests performed on me, which were thankfully non-invasive.

The doctor had noted some lesions in my brain which separate scans at the beginning and end of my examination indicated were healing themselves. That intrigued him enough that he wanted to take a whole series of samples, all of which were invasive and painful to different degrees, to see if he could figure out how I was actually healing my brain damage.

I was asked to give my report a second time on my way back from the hospital. That actually proved to be worthwhile as my recall seemed to improve over the course of the day. In the end I was issued a clean bill of health and arrived back at the camp ready to take command.

The first thing Finn did was apologise.

“Don’t you fucking dare. That was a good call, and I don’t want you second guessing yourself over it.”

The second thing he did was sit me down in front of a video recording. There wasn’t much to watch. Just the small portal and the appearance of multiple red eyes on the other side. The sound squealed unpleasantly for a few seconds, then, “Not as straightforward as connecting to a brain, but my thanks for leaving me with this communicator. Intriguing construction. It has already given me many ideas for alternative uses.

“I will assume that my diminutive adversary is listening to this. I commend your ingenuity in locking the portal by keeping this one open. It won’t last for long though. In time your device will burn out and we’ll have control. I am patient and will bide my time.

“I am however prepared to... negotiate for your captive. Perhaps we can arrive at an agreement. What you would consider fair exchange for his return. I will await your response, but do not wait too long. I will wait no longer than I have to.”

“This needs to go up the chain of command,” I said.

“Already gone,” Finn said. “Still waiting for the response. In the meantime...”

“How long has the portal been open?”

“As long as you’ve been away.”

“We have another dagger portal. How quickly can we shut one down and bring the other up?”

“Not sure. A few seconds maybe. No more than thirty I would say.”

“Keep monitoring the current one for any signs it’s about to fail. Let’s not risk playing into his hands for now.”

“Meaning he may be lying to us and waiting for us to shut down our end.”

“There are a couple more demon bone daggers in David’s possession. I think we should track him down and ask for them.”

“Any idea where to start, other than London?”

“East of here is all I know.”

“It’s something. What else?”

“I need to talk to Jen. Have you tried sending drones through?”

“Yep. He has something on the other side that kind of fries them as soon as they go through.”

“Makes sense. Okay, we wait till we hear from Jen then, and when we see if we can locate David.

“Can you show me the report you sent up the chain?”

He dropped a manila folder in front of me.

“And what you’ve done fortifying this place?”

“Snipers with splinter guns on eight-hour rotation all around the dome. A couple more fifty cals up in the rafters. Slayerettes billeted in the dome ready for immediate deployment. A few more options weapons-wise. Flamethrowers seemed to work quite well on vamps, so we have some of those.”

“Can we get a shuttered cage big enough to go over the portal?”

“Currently being constructed. It’ll be ready in an hour.”

“Sounds like you thought of everything I can think of and then some. I guess I read through this lot and wait for someone to pick up the phone.”

#

When the phone did ring, the call came from an unexpected source.

“Stuart, this isn’t a great time.”

“No, I suspect it rarely will be, but this is important.”

“Fair enough. What do you have?”

“I’ve, er, been thinking about that book which had the demon in it, you know, the one we scanned into my computer and...”

“I don’t think there have been many books with demons in.”

“Er, yes. Well I went through my records to see if I could find anything more about the book. Where it came from etcetera.”

“Kind of growing old here, Stuart. Can we get to the punchline?”

“Er, yes, er. To the best of my knowledge, the book dates from the thirteenth century, from a place called the Monastery of Kayless.”

“Wasn’t he a Klingon?”

“Different spellings, I believe, and either Mr Roddenberry came up with the same phonetic sound himself or he read about it somewhere.

“The important thing is the monastery has records from that date which a contact of mine says includes a ritual that was used to trap a demon named Moloch, or perhaps a Moloch demon, I’m unsure.”

“Can you recreate this ritual?”

“I’ll need to travel to Bavaria, but I believe there’s a distinct possibility, yes.”

“Pack your bags, Mr Giles, I’ll send a car to fetch you in half an hour.”

The next call went to Lieutenant General Teal .

“There is a chain of command, captain.” He sounded peeved.

“I need this to happen quickly. Stuart Giles has a potentially game changing lead, and I need to get him to Bavaria today.”

“Okay, I’ll play this time. Your man will have a plane waiting for him at, er,” he gave me the name of a nearby RAF base, “in an hour, but you will have a full report on my desk by the same time, and it had better be bloody good.”

“Yes sir.” I yelled for my aide who stuck his head in. I gave him instructions to send a driver for Stuart and deliver him to base name I’d been given, then turned to my computer and started typing.

I was still typing when the second call came in, this time from one of Finn’s guys who’d been searching for David.

“We’ve found him sir, but he’ll only talk to you.”

“David?” I asked into the silence that followed.

“It didn’t take you long, did it?”

“Sorry, what?”

“I told you to forget about me.”

“And I can’t, not while you have something I need.”

“Sarah...”

“Those two demon bone daggers of yours. They can be used to open portals into the other world. I kind of need them.”

“... Oh.”

“Call it a loan if you like, but things are hotting up here.”

“Yeah, well I guess I’m not really using them.”

“Thanks. Also, do you have any idea where those other mini portals ended up?”

“Yeah, I can give you a list of locations, but nothing that side would fit through them.”

“How about someone my size?”

“Er, maybe.”

“Thanks. I’d be grateful for the list. How are things your end?”

“Well, my portal caught on to the graveyard at Angel Church in Islington. I don’t have much coming through, so I spend more time waiting than fighting. I did have a small greshnick squeeze through last night though.”

“Lucky you. Listen, could you give the daggers and the list to the soldier who found you?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Thanks. I owe you one.”

“We’re on the same side, remember?”

“So when you need something from me, call, okay?”

“Er, yeah.”

“Okay. Gotta go. Don’t be a stranger.”

I’d just finished my report and was about to check it through with Stuart when Jen came through.

“Hi Jen,” I said. “I have David’s demon bone daggers on their way back here. Anyway you could use the two of them together to create a portal big enough for someone slayer size to squeeze through? Either that or shave a chunk off the big horn to do the same?”

“Well, I’d rather not do the latter; it’ll reduce the size of the biggest portal we can make for one thing. But those two daggers? I should think so. How soon can you get them to me?”

“They’re on their way back from London right now, so a couple of hours?”

“You’ll have your portal tomorrow morning.”

“Thanks. Hopefully it’ll be soon enough.”

“If it’s that urgent, maybe midnight tonight.”

“It’s urgent. Mega thanks, Jen.”

Which left me with the call through to Stuart who wasn’t enjoying his high-speed car ride to catch his plane.

He gave me a few corrections and additions to my report.

“I know there’s nothing certain about this,” I told him, “but if there’s any chance you can get a working ritual back to me by midnight – that’s midnight here, so two am in Bavaria – that would be amazing.”

“Well, no promises, other than my best efforts of course.”

“Can’t ask for more.”

I sent off my report to General Teal then set about putting together a plan with minimal information. The empty book that had held our moloch demon was still on base along with a few other things Stuart had decided he needed. I checked in with the slayerettes and put together a list of best to, er, least best. Priorities for choosing a team. I made sure that my preferred candidates would be rested by midnight.

Lastly I called through to Laurel and asked if she’d be up for something maybe a little scary later that evening.

The daggers and list made it back on time. I delivered the daggers to Jen and looked through the list for the nearest mini-portal and drove out to it with our one remaining portal dagger. It was less than ten minutes’ drive away and opened readily enough to the small dagger key.

I sent a drone through with a locator beacon, which told me the portal was on the hill which had shielded the portal from our strike last time. It overlooked our newest enemy’s plain full of unpleasantness and stood perhaps five miles from what remained of portal base.

Jen’s portal device was delivered at eleven. Laurel arrived at eleven thirty. Stuart called at quarter past twelve.

“Sorry this is, er, a little late. It took a while to find all the necessary.”

“And what do you have?”

“The, er, Circle of Kayless is a ritual that requires, er, seven individuals including someone highly skilled in magic. You’ll need certain ingredients and, er, the spell will need to be cast within, er, one mile of the intended target. I’ve asked the, er, pilot chappie here to scan and email the details.”

“Coming through now. Thanks Stuart. Hopefully you can get some rest on the way back.”

“Not likely to happen. They brought me over in, I believe it’s called a Typhoon. A, er, two-seater fighter jet. It’s not particularly comfortable.”

“Quick though. Rest when you get back. Thanks for this.”

“What do you plan to do with it?”

“Swing the balance back in our favour.”

I woke a dozen slayerettes and loaded them with Laurel and a few other bits and bobs onto a small coach.

Twenty minutes of Laurel reading through Stuart’s instructions and briefing her chosen six while I briefed the others on my part of the plan. We arrived at the location of my chosen mini portal. Okay so less than ten minutes by very nippy little Mini. Twenty by minibus.

Firstly, a brief test to make sure we could get in and back. I was the smallest by a margin, so opened the portal into the realm, squeezed through, then closed it and clambered back through the small rift. It was tight, like Pooh squeezing through rabbit’s hole, but I gauged we were all small enough to fit. The way back was slightly larger, so if we could get there we should be able to return.

Laurel chose a sheltered area hidden in the rocks and started setting up. I took my team a half mile downhill and picked up the communicator I’d brought with me.

“Hey fuck-face. I heard you wanted to talk.”

“You are not in your realm,” he replied a moment later.

“Negotiations better done face to face, not that I’m that keen on looking at yours.”

“The feeling is mutual. Where?”

“The hill to your... Hell I don’t know how you pick out directions. There’s only one hill. Your brother’s ashes are on the other side of it.”

“Do you feel it will improve your standing in our negotiations if you anger me?”

“I don’t know. I tell it how I see it. Why don’t you come over here and we’ll see what we can arrange.”

An enormous figure stood and strode across the plain in roughly my direction. Our direction including the half dozen slayerettes alongside me. He wasn’t particularly careful where he trod and a number of his hoard either barely escaped being crushed or didn’t.

“A little to your right,” I said and he corrected, spotting my group and walking up close.

“This is going to hurt,” I told the girls just as the hammer blow of his thoughts crashed down on us.

“Give me Moloch,” his mind boomed.

“Oh, so that’s his name, not a generic name for your species. What are you people called?”

“You will call us master.” There was compulsion there, but I could shake it off with some effort.

“Not very catchy,” I said. “You can call me Sarah.”

“Sarah, give me Moloch.”

“Oh, compulsion becomes stronger if you use my name. Sorry, can’t do. You see, it’s my bosses who have your Moloch, not me. You want him, you offer something of value to us. I let them know and if they’re interested, we deal.”

“What is it you want?”

And so we began the negotiations. From the amount of writing on the page, the Circle of Kayless could take quite a while to cast, so I had to keep him interested and away from suspicion.

“We’d really like you to stop trying to invade our world,” I said.

“If we agree, you would return Moloch?”

“If you can provide us with some sort of proof or guarantee that you’ll stop, sure. Maybe you have a way of sealing the portals?”

“This is not something known to our science. Perhaps if we share what we know, you could find a way.”

“That might work. You share this knowledge as a sign of good faith and when we see if there’s any mileage in it, we’ll decide whether it’s worth your Moloch.”

“There must be an exchange. Our knowledge of portals for your knowledge of the explosive devices you use.”

“Which we know would tear a rift wide open. Not something we’d consider.”

“Then your knowledge of how Moloch was captured.”

“So you can protect against such attacks in the future. We could maybe work with that. Exchange of defensive knowledge on both sides seems fair.”

“Bring him closer,” Laurel whispered in my mind.

“If you’d care to step this way, we have what you seek.”

I turned up the hill towards the other group. I’d noticed a few subtle movements in the rocks around us. Krrst at a guess. I was the only one here who’d fought them for real, but the girls knew what to look for, especially once I’d alerted them to keep their eyes peeled.

“You have your entourage,” the demon’s words fell like lead weights in my skull. He was definitely giving me a headache.

“Just make sure they don’t show any aggression,” I said. “Mine haven’t.”

“I can’t help it if you’re a fool,” he said. I could feel his thoughts going out to his bodyguard.

“Now,” Laurel called from less than a quarter of a mile away. I could see evidence of krrst closer to them than we were.

“Defend the other group,” I yelled and ran forward. Laurel and her group had started chanting, with the result that the Molochy guy behind me started screaming. I’d have loved to take a look, but I had my hands full. The scream tore into all our minds, fortunately including the krrst who popped into existence all around us and stood rigid while I and my group still had just enough strength of will to slice through them one by one. Also fortunately, the chant was a simple repetition which Laurel’s slayerettes were able to maintain. Laurel herself was covered in dark veins; her eyes entirely black. She also continued chanting with a fierce intensity I’d never seen in her before.

I could do nothing to help her other than form a circle around her group. The giant demon was on his hands and knees with parts of him flaking off like dark scabs. They were flying through the air and into the book in Laurel’s lap. Behind the monster, creatures were turning our way, heading towards the slope of the hill. This didn’t look great.

They were slow climbing. A few faster individuals reached us and fell to my group’s flashing feet. We could cope with those sorts of numbers, but the hoards heading our way would double by the minute until we were overthrown. Whether we had enough time to complete the spell would be touch and go. We wouldn’t have time to escape as well.

The demon was down to the last few sinews. We were at the limit of being overwhelmed. A couple of greshnicks and a manticore would be on top of us in seconds. I ran at the manticores just as I heard the book behind me slam shut with a thump.

Laurel said something. I assume it was her because certainly none of my ladies had a voice that ever sounded that scary. As far as I knew they only spoke English too, which this definitely wasn’t. Apart from Bao who only spoke Mandarin, and this wasn’t Mandarin either.

There was power in the words. They rushed past us all like a wind heading out in all directions, gaining momentum. It nearly overbalanced me, but by the time it reached the manticore, it lifted it off the ground, along with all the other enemies approaching us, and threw them a couple of hundred feet down the hill.

Gift horses and mouths sprang to mind. “Get to the portal,” I yelled. “Run!”

It was kind of more a lopsided stagger for most of them, but they were heading in the right direction at least. Laurel was unconscious with the demon book lying on the ground next to her. I hefted her into a fireman’s lift, which left me just enough strength and balance to grab the book too.

Three had gone through by the time I caught up with the rest of them. “Laurel next and the book,” I said. They didn’t question me, just did it, then they were helping each other through.

I turned to look down the slope just as the manticore bounded up through the rocks. I reflexively jumped and jammed a spike in its eye. Its tail flashed my way so rapidly, but not quite quickly enough. I grabbed it behind the stinger and deflected it enough that it missed me. The droplets of venom that separated from the barbed tip did though, splashing my cheek where they stung enough to draw a cry of pain from me.

There were two slayerettes still waiting to go through. My first choices I realised. Violet and Caridad. They turned on the writhing creature and jammed a spike heel each through its ears and into its brain.

Vi grabbed me and jammed me through the portal, giving me a somewhat unceremonious push up the rump as she followed me through. When Caridad appeared, she had the tip of the manticore’s tail in her hand.

What looked like a greshnick arm reached through the portal and was unceremoniously severed by one of the group. I don’t recall who.

They bundled Laurel and me onto the coach, bound the now considerably heavier tomb with leather straps and headed us homeward.

I vaguely recall phone calls being made, diversions to – as it happened – the same military hospital I’d been sent to the previous day and a short journey to the large complex. All I really knew was the intense burning sensation in my cheek which eventually stole my consciousness.

#

“Mitchel, what the hell are you doing wearing a dress?”

I opened my eyes and everything felt wrong. I was too big. I was the wrong shape. I had something dangling between my legs and nothing hanging off my chest despite the tightness of the fabric across my shoulders.

I looked up into a mirror and he was there. I’d never wanted to see him again, certainly never wanted to be him.

“Mr Geller, you have to understand, this is just the way things have to be.” It was Stuart Giles’s voice, but filled with a desperation I’d never heard in him.

“You can shut the fuck up,” Dad said. “We’ll see what the police have to say about perverts like you.”

I stood up and wobbled on a pair of ridiculously high heels. The dress was so short it was barely decent, especially with what I had between my legs.

“Dad?”

“You can think yourself lucky, you idiot boy. I don’t care much for that friend of yours, Nick, but at least he had the presence of mind to call me when this pervert dragged you in here. What the hell did you think you were doing?”

“Fighting vampires, Dad.”

“Fighting... What the fuck do you mean? Where are your clothes.”

“These are my clothes.”

“Your bloody trousers boy. Where are they?”

“I’m not a boy, Dad. I’m Sarah, don’t you remember.”

“Fuck. That bang to the head has done a number on you.

“You, pervert. Where are his clothes?”

“Er, er, in, er, in the, er...” he ended up pointing.

Dad dragged me into the room. “Get yourself fucking changed.” He dug out his phone and dialled three digits. “Hello, I’d like to report a pervert.”

I held up my jeans and tee-shirt and stared at them. “This isn’t right,” I said.

“Too fucking true. No son of mine should be seen gallivanting about in a frock, especially one as borderline indecent as that one. Now get fucking changed, or do you want everyone laughing at you when we drag you out of here?”

I lifted a hand to my cheek. I remembered... pain.

“Yeah, you lost your balance in those stupid shoes and banged your head. Just get changed, son. I’ll take you home and we can forget this bullshit ever happened.”

“But it did happen, Dad. I was changed into a girl. I’ve been fighting to keep the world safe from all sorts of monsters.”

“Listen to him, will you. I swear if he’s permanently damaged over this, I’m going to sue you for everything you have.”

“Sarah?” The voice was faint but familiar.

“Did you hear that?” I asked.

“Did I hear what? Look, just put the fucking trousers on son. Do you want people laughing at you?”

“I...”

“Listen, what’s more likely? You turned into a girl and learned to fight scary monsters, or some pathetic pervert persuaded you to put on a dress and stupid shoes which ended up with you falling over and banging your head?”

“Well...”

“Sarah, hold on. Just hold on a little longer. You’re going to be okay, but you just need to hold on.”

“Get fucking changed, boy. Do you think I want the embarrassment of all the town seeing my son tarted up like this?”

It was a choice. Logic supported Dad’s reasoning Occam’s razor or some such, but logic could go screw itself. This wasn’t the truth I wanted. I dropped the clothes on the floor.

“Sorry Dad,” I said and collapsed.

“Mitchel? Mitchel!”

He was shouting, but he was fading too. I reached for the other voice.

“Sarah? Sarah, oh thank God. I was worried we were going to lose you there for a moment.

I could feel the comforting tightness of a bra around my chest, the breasts they held secure. The rest of me was wearing a nightdress I didn’t recognise.

“I thought you said I was going to be alright,” I said muzzily. There was a lot of hair in front of my face.

“I did. Perhaps a little subterfuge there, but I needed you to believe it. I’ve never seen a hallucinogen quite that powerful before. If it had pulled you any further into that alternate state, whatever it was, we’d probably have lost you forever.”

“Lost... me?”

“You’d have fallen into a fugue state, completely unresponsive to this world, and lived out the rest of your life in whatever fantasy your mind had created for you.”

“Not... good.”

“No, but thankfully one of your friends had the foresight to bring a sample of the toxin and we were able to synthesise an antidote. It was touch and go even so.”

Caridad was standing at the back of the room blinking back tears.

“Thank you,” I said. “You have no idea what hell you just saved me from.”

“What hell?” she asked.

“My old life, when I was a guy. At least we know what manticore venom does now.”

“You’re so laid back about it. I mean you nearly...”

“But I didn’t. I’ve had a lot of narrow scrapes in the past few weeks. I guess I’ve just got used to things working out for the best.”

“But you were so amazing out there. I mean I was scared half to death all the time we were on that fucking planet, but you knew just what to do and when.”

“You think I wasn’t scared half to death?”

“But that just makes it so much more amazing.”

“Why? Because I got on with the job in hand? I mean, so did you and Vi. You were with Laurel to start with, weren’t you? You kept the chant going through that excruciating psychic scream. You helped everyone through the portal at the end. You two were the last to go and you took out the manticore, then you had the presence of mind to collect its stinger before coming through last of all. You can’t tell me you did anything less than me in all that, and all of it while being scared half to death. You’re every bit the slayer you think you see in me, and I wouldn’t be here right now if it wasn’t for you. So, thank you, really, thank you. Chances are I’ll have an opportunity to pay you back sometime, but that just fits with who we are. We look out for each other regardless of how scared we are.”

“I still think you’re amazing.”

“So do I. Think you are. Amazing. So why don’t we just agree to be mutually impressed with each other and not get hung up on all the hero worship?”

“Heroine.”

“No, heroin’s bad for you.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Yeah, but guys have a hard enough time of it without us girls making an issue over rubbish like that.

“You are allowed to disagree with me if you like.”

She smiles shyly. “I suppose it is a bit of a non-issue.”

“There you go. How’s Laurel? She doesn’t have the same capacity to mend as we do.”

“She’s fine. Woke up before you did. She’d be in here now if the doctor would allow it. I don’t know what she did in all that, but I’m guessing her magic protected her.”

“Magic.”

“Yeah. I mean that is what the whole thing with the book was, wasn’t it?”

“I suppose, but Laurel and magic. Wow!

“I could do with a rest right now, but would you pop in and tell her I’m okay, and I’m glad she is too?”

“Sure.”

“Then take care of the others for me. Tell them they did an amazing job, and they should be proud of themselves.”

“Me? But...”

“Tell yourself first. We got the bad guy, and we didn’t lose anybody. That’s a serious win.”

“Yeah but...”

“You don’t feel like it’s your place. Well, that’ll just means you’ll know how I feel. We are the same, Caridad. All of us. I may be the first one among us to come into my powers, but only by a few weeks and that doesn’t make me any more special than any of you, and you really all did an amazing job.”

“Okay.”

“Now get out of here. If my pillow is anything to go by, I dribble when I sleep, and my street cred does not need anyone to see that.”

She gave me a grin and slipped out. It took me no time to slip into the land of nod. To sleep, perchance to drool.

#

Back at the dome the following day, we used the double dagger portal key to look in on our enemy. The nastier monsters were establishing factions and skirmishes were breaking out all over. Without a main boss to unite them all, it looked like they would probably solve most of our problem for us.

We were able to slip a few quadcopter drones past them, and that made surveillance easier.

Daddy demon would likely be along soon enough, but we had his one surviving son captive, which might not mean a lot to him, but it should at least make him cautious. If we could capture one from the centre of his hoard, he’d have to worry whether we could do it again.

Or maybe not. Who knew what went through an alien demon overlord’s mind.

I wasn’t about to worry just yet. I’d just averted a second invasion attempt, so maybe sit back and relax for a day or two.

Except that wasn’t pro-active and the last thing I needed to be with a known threat still out there was passive and reactive.

I cursed myself and headed out of my office. Standard uniform for all slayers – not slayerettes. They’d earned full status on our last mission. True not all had been there, but those who’d been selected had won the privilege for everyone on the squad. Anyway, standard uniform for all slayers was the army colours short skirt and battle shoes. A matter of being ready at any moment. Cold weather permitted the loose trousers that could be easily ripped off, but we were heading out of the cold weather now. The short skirt invited looks from every red-blooded Y chromosome, but that was just part of the deal. Apparently, it kept moral up among the men, and it didn’t do much harm to the girl’s self-esteem either.

I marched – as much as marching was possible in five-inch heels – across to the dome.

“Lieutenant Finn,” I called as soon as I saw him. “set up the big portal, I want long range drones up and searching for the next hoard.”

“The next hoard? Aren’t we still dealing with this one?”

“Your men may be enjoying a little target practice, but for the most part they’re dealing with themselves. There’s another Moloch demon out there. If he comes across the remains of his son’s hoard, one he’s going to be pissed and two he’s going to have a few extra troops to add to his own. I’d like to get ahead of that if at all possible.”

“Yes sir. We’ll have drones out in half an hour. Choice of direction?”

I shrugged. “Lets see if we can cover thirty degrees either side of the direction the last lot of monsters came from.”

“Do you mind if I ask why?”

“Call it a hunch, or if you don’t like that, let’s just say we have to start somewhere. The drones have a range of a couple of hundred miles, yes?”

“Yes.”

“So maximum range and come back on a different radial to cover the full area. If we don’t find anything, try the opposite direction, then clockwise in either direction until we’ve covered a whole circle. If there’s nothing inside the hundred mile range, we have a bit of breathing room.

“Oh and just before they turn around each time, take maximum zoom images of the horizons.”

“Looking for dust clouds, gotcha.”

“If anyone comes looking for me, I’m going to see Laurel.”

“So, you’ll be in the consultants’ shed with Jen and Stuart.”

“...because that’s where Laurel is right now.”

“Yes sir.”

“Lieutenant, do lower ranking officers ever ask their superiors out.”

“Unwritten rule is no, sir, if they’re fully enlisted.”

“What about specially assigned ranks?”

“No precedent that I know of.”

“Fancy setting one?”

“Sir?”

“Work it out Lieutenant. I think you’re due a bit of down time, and I know I am.”

“Yes sir.”

“It’s not an order Lieutenant.”

“No sir.”

“But a girl does like to be asked.”

“Yes sir. I’ll get you the results if the drone sweep as soon as we find anything.”

Which would be six round trips at a hundred and fifty knots. Faster in miles per hour so say an hour and ten per round trip. An hour and a half per round trip including refueling. Six round trips meant nine hours. Eleven in the morning now, so expect a response around eight this evening. He had that long to figure out whether he was going to ask me out

Laurel was with Stuart and Jen as I’d been told. They each offered me a friendly smile when I stepped through the door.

“How are you feeling?” Stuart asked, pouring an additional mug from what looked like a fresh pot of tea and offering it to me.

“Oh, you know, like anybody who’s very nearly stepped through into the worst kind of hell imaginable, I guess. Grateful to be here more than anything.”

“As we are that you’re still with us,” Jen said, placing a friendly hand on my arm.

“We were, just going to have a try at speaking to Moloch,” Laurel said with her usual breathless eagerness. “Would you like to, maybe, come watch?”

“Are you sure that’s such a great idea? I mean, did you get a chance to read the doctor’s report after my last encounter with one of those things?”

Stuart shrugged. “Your medical records aren’t public record, Sarah. Why should...”

“Well, they should be. At least when it gives some insights into our enemies, or our special assets. You know six soldiers died in that incident? Weren’t there at least autopsy reports on them?”

“Well, yes. They all showed major lesions in the brain, but the circumstances here are different. This demon is different.”

“Yeah! He managed to influence pretty much everyone he communicated with to act against their own will, without realising they were doing it.”

“Yes, by subtly altering some areas of the victims’ brains,” Jen said. “Stuart and I were involved in the treatments of those affected so we know. It wasn’t totally dissimilar to the damage done to your soldiers. Just a gentler form of the same thing.

“Moloch was trapped in that book for over a fifteen hundred years. We don’t know how much he experienced in that state, but it’s possible he was ancient before he was even captured. We think the differences between what he did and the attacks that killed your soldiers are just down to a gentler touch. We think the one you captured yesterday is young and simply tears into his victims without restraint, which is why we rather like the idea of leaving him in the book for now.”

“Or, or maybe forever,” Laurel chipped in brightly.

“We can reverse the effects of Moloch’s influence easily enough and we think we have a defence against them. That’s what we want to try out.”

“What if Moloch realises his gentle approach isn’t working and decides to lash out? What if your new defence doesn’t protect you against that?”

“Well, there are dangers inherent in every endeavour,” Stuart’s glasses were apparently in need of cleaning again.

“Which we can mitigate easily enough,” I said. “I had the same lesions in my brain as the soldiers who died, only my slayer super-constitution meant I survived. And recovered afterwards. If you want to test out some new idea you have, at least test it on someone who isn’t likely to suffer permanent brain damage if it goes wrong. Look, talk to my neurologist, he’ll tell you.”

They did, which is how I ended up strapped to a table with a sizeable helmet over my head. My friends trundled a computer terminal into the room before backing out. Recordings would be made, but Moloch had managed to spread his influence through electronic communication and even the written word, so essentially I was on my own for the next five minutes. Once we knew how effective the helmet was, we might let one of the others review the video, or even try direct contact.

The terminal blinked on.

“Release me.”

The effect was subtle. I could feel a hint of the influence through the helmet’s protection. Not enough to be persuaded, but still enough to know it was there. I shrugged it off.

“You must be Moloch,” I said.

“You know it really would be best if you released me.” The influence was stronger, but still easy enough to ignore.

“I get that you’re stuck inside a creaky old machine and probably can’t sense a great deal, but you should know, I’m strapped down and couldn’t even release myself right now.”

“Break your bonds!”

That one got through. For a moment I pulled against my restraints for a few seconds, then once again shook it off.

“You’re wasting your time. For one, they made sure I couldn’t escape. For two I don’t really want to. Why don’t we just try talking?”

“If you’re not going to help me, perhaps you should simply die.”

A lance of pain shot through my skull. If the last demon’s attack had been a bludgeon, this one was a scalpel. I heard someone screaming before the lights went out.

“Well, when you’re right you’re right.”

It was Laurel speaking in response to my murmuring. I was back in hospital.

“What happened?”

“You mean after you screamed?”

“That was me?”

“Yeah. We shut Moloch’s computer down immediately. I, I kind of hope it gives him a big fat headache.”

“Kind of like the one he gave me?” I winced. There was too much sunshine in the room.

“Well, the doctor says you should be dead, so this has to be better, right?”

“I’m not convinced.”

“He says you have more of the same kind of lesions, only much deeper and more localised. He still doesn’t know how you’re healing yourself, but they’re mending. He says you should be all better in a couple of hours, but he wants to keep you in for observation overnight.”

“He can’t. I mean I can’t. Stay, I mean. What time is it?”

“Quarter past three.”

“Mark’s supposed to come see me about eight. He’s going to ask me out, if he knows what’s good for him.”

“He already came by.”

“What? He did?”

“About the same time we were putting you in an ambulance. He was so worried; it was kind of sweet.”

“What did he say?”

“He said, ‘What happened? Let me see her. I have to see her.’ A couple of guys had to hold him back.”

“No, I mean what did he say about why he came to see me?”

“He didn’t, but he said he’d be coming to see you here just as soon as he could straighten things out at the base. You know, get leave to come and all that?”

“Oh. Sometimes this whole army thing really sucks, you know?”

“Yeah. Oz and I don’t get to see each other anywhere near as much as I’d like.”

“That’s a thing now? You and Oz, I mean. You’re a thing.”

“We’re a thing. Wow, that sounds so... I’m part of a thing. With Oz. Wow.”

“Couldn’t happen to a nicer person.”

“No. I’m not a nice person. I’m a bad person. I nearly got my best friend killed.”

“Volunteer remember? And you would have been killed, so I can live with a headache. Which is already getting better.” It was, but not as quickly as I wanted.

“So, what happened?”

“He didn’t want to talk. When he couldn’t make me do what he wanted, he told me to die then there was just so much pain.”

“Stupid helmet. I don’t know why I thought it would work.”

“It did though. When he was trying to influence me, it was like I could feel it, but I didn’t really feel like I needed or even wanted to do what he said.

“I think you’re right about his being older though. He understands his mental abilities so much more than the others. The subtle influence for one thing, but that attack of his was like a laser beam to the brain. It probably would have killed me without that helmet.”

“You’re just trying to make me feel better.”

“No. I’m not. You can’t let anyone see that recording.”

“Not an anyone. An anything. We have our own AI examining it.”

“Is that wise?”

“Well, we can monitor it closely in real time and if it changes like at all, we can shut it down right away. Plus, we’re doing it in a virtual bubble, so if it is affected, all it will do will be in a kind of pretend world.”

“Fine. Be careful though. I’d hate to think what this would do to you.”

“I have my ways. Of. Defending... Myself. The helmet is based on the magic I used when we went after the other guy.”

“Yeah, well see if you can make it any better, ‘cos it does help and I think we could use it.”

“Yeah. Well better get right on with that then. The doctor said I shouldn’t tire you out, and. I think I’ve already done that. So, see you back at base tomorrow.”

“Tell the nurses if Mark comes by and they don’t let him in, I’ll get really cranky.”

“They wouldn’t want that.”

“You’d better believe it.”