Welcome to the war, Lieutinant," The co-pilot told me with a grin as I stepped off back ramp of the C-130 and into the rather muggy air.

The thirteenth time. That was the thirteenth time that some idiot that thought he was being clever quoted that at me since my trip started. From captains to grunts, they all loved saying it. I wasn't violent by nature, but if one more person said that to me, no matter who it was, I was going to scream - and punch them out cold. I swear it.

The location I'd been dropped off to was a rough one, with a dirt airfield and metal sided prefabricated structures. At least it had actual barracks too, even if not nearly enough for all the troops here. There was an air of the temporary here, but there were chain link fences bristling with runes and circles.

I wondered if the fences went all the way around the base; that seemed like a large expense for a temporary base. Standard procedure was that all bases in enemy territory were temporary and could be moved inside an hour if necessary. There had to be actual silver in at least some of those wards....

It seemed too hot for the hinterlands of Russia, and all I could see in the distance were gentle rolling hills covered in forest, not the snow capped mountains I expected. I guess they could be out of my visual range, but my eyes were actually very good now, when I bothered to really look. Not that they were bad before, but the ability to spot a single flower in a field from miles up was an improvement, however unexpected it had been at the time.

All in all it looked like a rather rude base, carved out in the middle of nowhere. But there was an air of permanence here. The wood I could see in the structures was old, dark and brittle looking. The fence was brand new of course, but all the metal buildings had paint which camouflaged them from the distance and the air; that paint was peeling. There was a generator in front of the air field control tower, under a metal roof; it was large and clearly old.

Heavily armed troops marched or double-times to and fro, on errands or on some Sargeant's shit list.

There, that was the supply depot, probably just one of them, come to think of it, and it was huge; a metal building with dirt and stone packed high around it, with iron spikes around the roof. It was also covered in wards from what I could see and the roof probably was too. There was no way all that could be moved inside an hour.

What base was this? Hm, my phone said I was in UTC +2... that wasn't the time zone in Russia. That was - it had to be France. What was I doing in France? I was supposed to be in Russia.

According to orders, I was supposed to report to the base's commanding officer, but no name had been given. So... my bosses had probably pulled a fast one on me. I hitched my bag up higher on my shoulder, grabbed my case, and set off. Nothing to do but to do it.

Besides, inside of five minutes the C-130 behind me would be turning around and taking off, and I didn't want to be here when that happened.

The command center wasn't really obvious, so once I stepped off the runway it was time to join in that time honored tradition of humanity, since time immemorial.

"Excuse me, private. Which way to command?"

The private looked left and right so quickly I almost missed it. Yes private, I'm talking to you, and I'm an officer, so you'd better answer.

He straightened up, saluted, and waited for me to return it before pointing left. "That way ma'am. The third road, follow it straight up then go into the small building with the flag in front of it."

"Thank you private." I dismissed him and started down the proper road; I had to dodge two jeeps, one of which was driving way too fast for a dirt road filled with other people. At least they didn't seem to care that I was a summoner.

In fact, no one was giving me a second glance; that was a little odd.

Hey, speaking of Summoners, there was one, and it was someone I recognized, if not liked or respected.

His uniform had seen better days; it was covered in both mud and blood, long since dried and ground into the fabric beyond the hope of any of the obviously recent laundering attempts to remove. He was sitting down, hunched over a large bag that had to be his; it too had seen better days. That didn't seem to be the only thing wrong, as his mutterings were clear, even from here:

"All dead... just like that, all dead."

He kept repeating it, trying to make sense of something, a haunted look in his eyes.

"Hello, Justin."

He didn't look up. "All dead... seconds, seconds was all it took."

"He can't really hear you, Ma'am."

I turned to find a chaplain walking up, 2 bottles of water in his hands. He handed one to Justin, who took it absently. "He's shipping out, likely to Paris."

I didn't want to, but I had to ask. "What happened?"

The chaplain made the sign of the cross; I was mildly shocked that it didn't repel me or something, but didn't let it show. "Something that happens all too often. He lost his support team on patrol."

And since he was clearly unstable, he would be removed from the situation and his demon bound while he received counseling, to prevent... accidents. He'd be back though; there were few enough of us to go around as it was.

"Is he a friend of yours?" The chaplain asked.

I shook my head. "We went to basic together, but he was a bit of a jerk."

He still didn't really deserve what was coming to him. I turned to Justin. "Get better, man. See you later."

The road was straight, at least. All along the sides were buildings, probably administration buildings, though that one almost had to be a mess hall. and in the center, a building so small that if you didn't know, you'd pass it by on your hunt for an important building, a jumped up closet really. Only the flag marked it as possibly more.

I opened the door and ran smack into two soldiers in full gear, behind a warded plexiglass blast shield.

"Name and business?"

well that was abrupt. They didn't even salute. "Lieutinant Maeve Numens, reporting to the commander on scene."

A slot in the wall opened. "Identification please."

Really? I pulled out my license and military I.D. - slowly, since thing one over there was actually resting his hand on his sidearm. What he thought his sidearm would do if I actually was the demon they suspected I was, was anyone guess.

Funny really, they both had the look of veterans.

"Alright, checks out. Sorry lieutenant." They both saluted, and a door hidden in the wall popped open. So the real entrance wasn't the door behind them after all....

I returned the salute and retrieved my cards. "Down the stairs and to the right ma'am."

"Thank you, corporal."

The hidden door opened into a very brightly lit concrete hallway leading down, complete with concrete staircase. at the end of that, I could see what looked and sounded like a war room down a hall straight ahead. The left hall was quiet, as was the right. I couldn't see any more guards, but I had no doubt they were watching.

I headed right, and found myself staring at bland looking office doors; the one for a Chaplain Earnest Griswold, which was an amazing name for an army Chaplain, a few with no nameplate, then one for a Colonel O'Connel: I didn't see anyon else in the hall that outranked them, so this had to be the command on site.

Again, no visible guards, though I could spot the tell-tale glint of recessed mirrors from here; cameras could be spoofed with preparation, but oddly enough mirrors were harder. I knocked.

"Enter, Lieutenant."

I did so, and saluted as crisply as I could. The Colonel, a small, whip thin man that still managed to look both muscular and intimidating despite the hint of a paunch and the gray in his buzz cut hair, stood and returned it.

"At ease."

I pulled the small booklet of a file I'd been given on the plane ride over out of my bag, supposedly mine and full of my exploits; I hadn't bothered to check,. It was merely a formality anyway, since he no doubt had a copy e-mailed to him before I even left the America. His was likely more complete than mine, too.

The Colonel took it without so much as a glance, and slapped it down on his desk.

"Do you know why you're here, Lieutinant?"

I settled into parade rest, keeping my bag slung. I had my suspicions, but suspicions weren't concrete knowledge. "No, sir."

"Lieutinant, you're here because some people who outrank me want to try and keep you alive. Somehow, that means you're now my problem and that this is the safest place for you. How that works, command has not seen fit to tell me. You're not in the Urals because that posting was meant to throw off the... hounds that might track you."

So my own files from home might not be as secure as I hoped. A reasonable precaution, I suppose.

"So, welcome to Ardenne outpost number three. How fresh are you?"

Unusual wording. "I slept about four hours on the plane, sir."

"Good. Grab some food from the mess, I'll send your support team to you. Get to know them fast, because you'll be running patrols starting o-five-hundred tomorrow. Dismissed."

I heard him sigh as I left - a sound I could only describe as forlorn.

This place seemed kind of by the book or tight in some ways, and yet lax in others. Or maybe the good Colonel just needed a vacation. I could sympathize.

The good Corporals didn't even pay attention to me on the way out, and no one was waiting for me. The C-130 was gone, and so was Justin. No one even looked at me twice - but that may be becauseI wasn't wearing my robes. No one wore robes on the front, it was too easy to pick out the summoner that way. There were other ways to pick us out, but the other ways required thought and observation.

It was actually kind of nice.

I'd guessed right on the mess hall, even though it looked more like a gymnasium with a dirt floor and tables than anything else. The ceiling was reinforced with large wooden beams, something which I approved of, since flying demons could carry large rocks, and the most important thing, the buffet table, spanned the entirety of one side.

One of the things the world's military did well, was provide food for the troops. Most of the meat was heavily salted or dried, but still good, and most of the vegetables were canned but still good. The fruit however, was fresh and in season. I took some grapes to go with my ham and beef jerky, and snagged some carrots that looked to be fresh from a local victory garden, grabbed a coke, (they had coke!) and sat down.

The place was full even though it wasn't a meal time, which implied to me that people could come in and grab something whenever they were free. It didn't take long before I was interrupted, but it wasn't by my new team.

"Snow. What the hell are you doing here?!?"

I looked up and pulled the jerky from my mouth as Cassius sat down, a little more scarred and much more dirty than the last time we spoke.

"Got reassigned Cassius, I have to admit I didn't expect to see you here."

It was a small world.

Cassius shrugged and began working on his own food. "Yah, I was further East, but my team got sent here to replace another one. But enough of that, how are things back in the states, and what are you doing here at least a month before your scheduled rotation?"

Cassius had an extra bar on his uniform. He caught on to what I was thinking before I could salute. "Don't bother, keep eating. If anyone asks, you went through the song and dance."

"If you say so."

"We don't tend to stand on formality out here," Cassius said around a mouthful of asparagus. He choked down a huge bite and continued. "Besides we both know you'd be outranking me by now if you'd shipped with us."

I didn't know that at all, but maybe things might have been different if I had... no, can't think that way; it was probably a delusion anyway.

"Whatever, sir."

Oh, that annoyed him. I was saved from his wrath, as well as having to apologize, by the arrival of several soldiers, each looking like varying degrees of 'I've traveled a hundred miles of bad road'. The worst looked just slightly better than Cassius, the best just slightly worse than me.

More were filing in... an even dozen around us.

"Sir, Ma'am... support team fourteen reporting as ordered. You are lieutenant Maeve Numens, are you not ma'am?"

Oh, that was a crisp salute from the obviously weary Sargeant, mirrored by his team. Since Cassius showed no signs of caring, I got up to return it. "I am Sargeant, and you are? At ease, pull up a chair, and introduce yourselves. Get some food if you need, I hear the jerky is exquisite."

"Don't mind me Sargeant," Cassius ground out past some mashed potatoes. "Pretend I'm not here. Oh, and her name is Snow, not Maeve. Get it right."

From the looks of things, the good Sargeant had heard that from Cassius before. "There are words for people like you, Lieutinant Cassius."

He grinned at me, showing off his need for a toothbrush; disgusting.

One look proved the blood was in the water already.

"Right, I'm Sargeant Clay, 'the golem' Tomlin, going right to left I present: private Yusef 'Musad' Heiman, corporal Clint 'Black' Miller, private Tyler 'Perry' Mason, private Eliot 'E.T.' Wilbourne, corporal Jace 'Dod' Burrows, private Caleb 'Rigger' Rigos, then our resident eye candy - private Myla 'Lewd' Lewko, private Savanna 'Eve' Van Eden, corporal Gretchen 'Olympic' Schuster, and last and certainly least, Rosa 'Thorn' Fabron; all together, we're support team fourteen."

Fire team fourteen - there was no thirteen, for obvious reasons, so this would be thirteen if not for the superstition. Some of them were close to each other, tightly knit... and others were placing themselves slightly farther away from the proceedings. Replacements, not new; remnants of another team rolled into this one?

It was just as obvious that I was a replacement for whatever summoner they had just lost. Or both of them had lost, if I was right.

"Pleased to meet you all. As you've been told, I'm Lieutinant Snow, your new commanding officer, emphasis on new. I've no idea what to expect out there, so how about you brief me; what's France like, this time of year?"

My new support team all shared a look, the stereotypical 'oh crap she's totally new' look, which had to be largely for my benefit, since they had to already know that from their own briefing about me, whenever that had been.

The good Sargeant, who looked like a bald professional wrestler or body builder, a veritable bronzed god or statue (some people made it too easy to figure out where their nicknames come from) took up my thrown gauntlet.

"Not good. The weather is very nice, but the demons tend to become thick as fleas this time of year. Winters they usually lay off, or most of them vanish at least, but now isn't really a good time to learn the ropes."

Well that was interesting, I didn't know that the attacks or activity was seasonal.

"Yeah, what command was thinking, sending someone like you here now...." Corporal Gretchen 'Olympic' Schuster (if I had the names right) spit out, almost jumping to her feet.

She was a tall woman, and except for having hair, she was an almost perfect counterpart to Sargeant Golem. They could have been twins, except Gretchen had a faint accent which it took me a moment to place. She was German, or German descent, since there wasn't really a German nation anymore.

Time to nip that in the bud. "It's true I'm new, but I'm not some stateside theorist. I worked with the police, and I've actually fought a demon or two and lived. I also have a few tricks up my sleeve that can only add to the chance of survival for me and any team I'm a part of. Where I'm weak is in tactics and overall strategy for the army in the field, and as far as I'm aware of, nothing else."

"Sit down, corporal." Golem said with deceptive softness. His eyes were hard enough that I wouldn't want him looking at me that way. The good corporal sat back down - but she clearly hadn't let anything go just yet.

Cassius decided to weigh in. "Snow is the best of her class. She scored better than me, even. She was widely considered too valuable to lose, back in the states. No idea why she's here now, but there's nothing in her jacket that smells."

I assumed he meant my file; the powers that be had let Cassius see my file? How many people actually had access to my file? The demons (Lucifer) would probably know where I actually was before the day was out - it seemed everyone else did, along with everything else about me.

No wait, don't panic. He's probably seen the sanitized version of my file.

"Well, The short of it is, there are some people looking for me back in the states, and our boss decided I would be safer here."

Implying the terrorists were the ones to be feared would cover the redacted areas of my file nicely, without putting anyone in more danger than they already were. I'd just have to be careful.

There were more than a few looks of disbelief. "I have a few tricks which make me relatively safe when fighting demons. Humans are trickier."

"Must be quite the trick." Myla the lewd one muttered. She was small and well formed, but lacking in any bulk professional soldiers seemed to develop, managing to look soft despite the grungy uniform.

"You'll find out. I can't really show off here without landing in a brig somewhere, but you'll all find out tomorrow."

It was kind of fun to play the wise all knowing senior - I could see why Karen liked to now.

The good Sargeant caught on immediately, settling back with a shrug. I decided to be truthful.

"I will need some help staying alive and learning the ropes though, so any advice would be helpful."

"Well, demons and the fallen aside, the ardennes is barely wild. So it's like camping out, most of the time. Well, except we don't light fires or make smores." E.T. Wilbourne said. He looked like he was all of fifteen years old, all thin and wiry with light brown hair that seemed as if it couldn't touch his face.

That made sense, fire would be smelled from miles away. But wait. "The fallen? They are this far away from Germany?"

The fallen was one name used for the remains of the German people actually left in Germany. former nazis, now they were the crushed slaves of demons; one of many of the rumors surrounding them was that they were in fact nazis who simply hadn't been allowed to die, and were still fighting the bad fight.

I doubted that, but there was no mistaking the fact that they existed.

"Sometimes we get to snag a deer or wild boar, that's always a little fun." Right, the guy named after a country singer, thin and tall with a texan accent to match, liked shooting game. Color me surprised.

"Yeah, but most of us prefer boring," Savanna added with a smile that showed off teeth to rival mine. She was a bit shorter than Gretchen, thin but with a lean build that suggested a runner; her dark black hair was down to her neck, and her skin reminded me of coffee.

I probably needed more coffee. Or more sleep; I could really go either way.

Again, the good Sargeant caught on. "Yeah, it looks like one of your extra special skills isn't handling jet-lag. Come on, I'll show you to where you can sack out. Well, if you're done, that is."

I was, that was part of the problem; with a full stomach, exhaustion was kicking in.

"Sure Sargeant. For the rest of you, I've heard it straight from the base boss himself; we're moving out tomorrow, so get everything in order."

The Sargeant should probably give that order, but it wouldn't do to let them forget I was at least supposed to be in charge. Even if they hated me for it. Having the person best capable of keeping everyone alive making the decisions was for the best; it wasn't as if they had a pocket demon.

They all stood and saluted; taking a cue from Cassius I waved it off. "I'm not big on formality either. Do what you need to do."

They dispersed, and the Sargeant led the way out. The sun hit me pretty hard when I stepped out; I hoped my sunscreen supply would hold up; the last thing I wanted was to burn on top of everything else.

The place I was led to was a small, modest looking wood house on the outskirts of the base, near the fence. It looked perfectly normal and non-descript. Just a house for officers or something, completely mundane.

At least, on the outside.

From the inside it had more in common with my apartment back home - at least in wards and other protections. The place itself was converted into a kind of barracks. A barracks for Summoners, if I had to guess. It could use a good carpenter or twelve, too.

The good Sargeant walked right in like the owned the place, and the wards didn't argue the point. He pointed to a bed that was more a jumped up cot than anything else at the far wall - I could see my trunk sitting by the foot of it.

The entire house was apparently empty; I couldn't sense or hear any sign of life.

"That's your bunk. I'll be awake by o-three-hundred, probably. If you are up, look me up then, and we'll go over planning the op."

"Thanks Sargeant. Have a good day."

I tossed my bag down and bounced on the mattress as the door shut. Hm, the bed was tougher than it looked.

I pulled my boots off, then grabbed the small personal ward I made on the plane ride over. Hanging it up made me feel safer. Not from demons, but from my fellow summoners; I worked with cops, I knew how this hazing thing worked.

Now that I was safe, I could sleep. Eventually. Whenever I could actually fall asleep, after being told I was now responsible for at least a dozen lives for six months.

Three am, the good Sargeant walked in, still looking like a greek statue in camouflage, a bucket of water in hand. Of course when he realized I was awake, and actually seated at the table and doing something, he set it by the door as if that had been his plan all along.

"What are you up to, Ma'am?"

"Just going over these maps." The maps were far more low tech than I thought we should have, after all America was the country who invented satellite mapping and cheap satellite communications, but there was a certain charm to them. Holding an actual heavy grade piece of paper in your hand and pouring over keys, finding where the mountains and valleys lay....

The Sargeant pulled up a chair, quietly, since I had a few housemates now, pleasantly sleeping the night away. "Why?"

"Trying to plan possible routes. I don't know where my new boss will want me to patrol, but I want to have at least some idea of the best way to get there before we leave."

Come to think of it, the Sargeant was here to help me plan. "what kind of load out should we be looking at? Has the standard changed at all in the last six months?"

"Nah, you should be okay with the standard kit, and the squad already has what they need. Standard small arms, ammunition, some explosives, silver weapons absolutely covered in that weird writing you guys do, a week of food, water, the whole nine yards."

Well I had all of that, even the small arm. The weapons wouldn't be worth anything against demons, but there were other dangers running around. The same dangers the squad was supposed to watch my back for.

"So what time are we supposed to meet the boss?" I knew it was after three, but not the exact time.

"Oh, right about now," the Sargeant answered airily. "No rush."

One of the summoners stirred, and he lowered his voice. "We've actually got about ten, but you're presentable, and going early couldn't hurt."

Well, I had taken the time to dress. I wasn't sure about presentable though, there was only so much I could do in the dark.

I grabbed my bag and followed the Sargeant out the door. As soon as I closed it, he turned to me. "So, any weaknesses I should know about? Before we go see the Colonel or meet up; is there anything we will need to cover you on?"

Interesting question. "Why do you ask?"

"Our last summoner had an issue with salt. Couldn't stand it, was allergic. Because of that we couldn't use certain circles, and had to do other things."

Hm, that would almost have to be a contract promoted allergy; I hadn't heard of anyone having a natural allergy to salt; it was in all things, after all. I wonder if their own bodies' salt caused them issues?

I motioned for the man to keep going. "No, nothing like that. I might not be in the best shape ever, but I've no known allergies or other issues. Well, I might burn in the sun if not covered, but that's it."

I was far from the worst in respect of weaknesses, even if I wasn't the best.

"Huh. Good. I think we can work around that."

"I've already got scentless sunscreen. Just not sure how long it'll last," I told him. I didn't want him thinking I wasn't capable of dealing with things. Now to sweeten the pot. "In fact, I have a pretty good advantage on other summoners to make up for it."

"I'd expect nothing less from a Numens. Your family is something of a legend among summoners."

Because of course it was; family names were bogus for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was living up to the hype.

"You shouldn't read too much into my last name, I'm not all that special."

The Sargeant shrugged. "We will see. Special or dead, that's usually the choice."

Well, that was... bleak.

We arrived at the office, and were waved on through without a single issue. The Colonel was outside his office in the hall, a key in one hand, coffee in the other.

"Lieutinant Numens, you're early." He sounded like he wasn't all that happy about it.

"Sorry sir, I had issues sleeping." Oh, that was apparently the wrong thing to say.

The Colonel schooled his features with effort. "Quadrant F, Lieutinant. That's where you're going. Make sure your team is ready to roll by sunrise. Dismissed."

Thanks to the map, I knew where quadrant F was. I saluted. "Yes, sir."

The Sargeant followed suit as the Colonel dismissed me with a wave, almost fumbling his coffee.

He hadn't asked me if I knew where that was, which was kind of an issue. I thought we were going to go over map coordinates and the like. Speaking of, I should make sure the map I'd found was up to date. The war room would probably have the most up to date information, so I headed in. The guards there didn't stop me either.

The map on the wall was a digital one, and according to the timer in the lower right corner, updated in thirteen minutes. According to it, quadrant F was southwest, towards Germany. Straight into the greatest danger, not that it mattered; I was up for it. I hoped.

A quick look at the other screens show current demonic engagements, by location and time and outcome (some not favorable to us) and the time of our last patrol into quadrant F. Hm, the last patrol in some regions of that area were yesterday, and some other regions were almost a week ago. That just wouldn't do.

We had time, I supposed. "Coffee, Sargeant?"

"I should be waking the troops then."

I grinned. "Don't bother just yet; let's share the wealth."

HE grinned back. "You're a cruel woman, Lieutinant."

Yeah I had to nip that in the bud. "Just call me Snow, everyone else does."

"When we leave and there aren't any butt-hurt officers around to bust me for it. We do try not to out our officers and summoners in the field."

Right, both he and Clay had mentioned that yesterday. "I'll probably be pretty hard to cover for, but maybe."

There were some people who had my condition naturally, and some that were demon touched without a pact, but a random demon wouldn't care about any of that; they would target me for looking different.

Not that I really cared; I had my own ways of dealing with that, and in this case, it might well work out for the best if they came at me first. I was more worried about the humans running around out there; those were far more dangerous to me.

We stopped by the mess, and there it was; not one, not two, not even three, but four different kinds of coffee! The sheer decadence of it all! I picked the one that wasn't Folgers or decaf and or Folgers decaf. No I knew how this game was played. Sugar and cream packets were right there, and I used them on the steaming cup of pitch black liquid, then took an experimental sip.

It tasted as if someone had used twice the normally recommended amount of coffee to make it, and was somehow a little on the stale side while being freshly brewed. A major feat requiring great skill.

The Sargeant helped himself to the same pot. "Oh, that face you're making is priceless, Lieutinant. This is the best coffee you'll have this side of the Atlantic."

That just could not possibly be true. "Isn't France known for their coffee shops and bistros?"

The good Sargeant took a long drink of his black coffee, uncaring of it's heat, then looked me dead in the eye. "Yes."

Well, at least now I knew which side of the fence the Sargeant stood at. There truly was no accounting for taste.

At least we both agreed the oatmeal being served was slop. We both ate it anyway; the Sargeant in a greater hurry than I was.

"Well, with your leave Ma'am, I'd like to go wake the troops."

"Certainly Sargeant. Don't forget your bucket."

He grinned, saluted, and left while I finished up. Just as I bussed my dishes, my squad decided to join me, along with several other noisy squads. They all parted around me like a red sea, complaining so loudly I was sure they were waking people up. The bleary-eyed breakfast cooks managed a defeated look at the influx before they were too busy to do anything else; I hoped they would get some bunk time soon, they looked like they needed it.

"Youre a cruel, cruel woman, Lieutinant," Corporal Miller informed me, with an exaggerated hangdog expression.

"Tell me you all weren't chuckling at the idea of me getting soaked at three in the morning, and I'll apologize."

Yep, I thought so. At least he didn't waste breath with denials. "You got us. We'd have paid the sarge for filming it, too."

I turned to see Sarge trying to whistle... badly, his eyes on the ceiling. A phone? I hadn't seen one.

"Whatever. Get breakfast in a hurry, because we're moving out as soon as the sun rises."

Night was the domain of demons. Sure, I could handle it, but running patrols with normals in the dark was a wonderful way to lose those normals. Such suicide or bait patrols were run anyway, but I hadn't been told to run one. Only the inside of the fence was truly safe in this area, and in the dark anything could be waiting.

The sun was coming on quickly though.

"Yes Ma'am." my minions chorused, and broke to do my bidding.

I grabbed another cup of what I could only describe as burnt tar, and walked out, watching as the base started to come alive. Ugh, early morning calisthenics, headed by a drill Sargeant. I really hoped they didn't want me to do all that crap again; the first time was enough.

It felt odd to be out of robes and into fatigues again. I kind of missed being able to hide in them, but they would have been hard to walk in; robes of any kind aren't really built for nature hikes.

Of course, what I'd miss even more was the protection; none of my uniforms had runes of any kind sewn in. The very act was frowned upon, for some reason. It was wierd, you would think they'd want summoners to survive longer.

Well, false dawn - the sun was close enough. It will start to rise as we hit the gate. I went back inside; the Sargeant was watching the door, and he started the squad moving while ignoring how they stuffed their faces or packs last minute on their way out the door.

I tossed my cup and let them pass me, and fell in the center. If I were ahead or behind, any demon observer could decide I was the leader for certain. To his credit, the good Sargeant seemed to have no such worries as he led us all to the parade green.

Then he turned to me. "Lieutinant, if you would."

He didn't really expect me to... shit, he did. An officer was supposed to check the troops under their command before a patrol or sortie, to make sure they were in uniform, in good health, and hadn't forgotten anything. But I hadn't done this sort of thing before; if anything, they should be checking my gear.

I gave them all a quick once over; everything looked like it was in the right place. I wasn't about to check each backpack though. Right, no bleeding wounds, they were all standing straight and looking ahead, past me, and in formation. Works for me.

"Alright, if you've forgotten something, it's on you. Let's go."

There were two guards on either side of the gate, both in armored bunkers. They didn't bother saluting, keeping their gaze outside.

"Seen anything?" I asked the nearest. An ambush right outside wasn't unheard of, after all.

"No Ma'am."

Private Wilbourne broke first, taking the lead. Private Heiman was right behind him. Wilbourne opened the small pad on the fence, tapping in a number, and the gate swung open. Heiman rushed through. staying low, with his assault rifle out and scanning for threats. With the sun cresting behind us, it was certain that anyone watching for us would have a hard time picking us out.

I wasted no time, and I still wasn't the third one out. Private Lenko swung the gate shut behind us, and it locked with a buzz.

And nothing. I blew out a breath. "Alright, away we go."

Just a bit longer, and ironically, I'd be even more safe than I was in the compound. Well, maybe; If he'd been turned...

The good Sargeant was giving me a look, as if he knew what I was thinking. but it didn't matter.

"Grex, veni huc!"

His embrace was tender, almost as if he actually cared. Well, at least it answered the first question; if the big L had managed to turn him, I'd already be dead or on my way back to the states.

The Sargeant - Golem now, I must remember - grinned and held a hand out. "Pay up."

There were sighs, and bills exchanged hands, ending up in his.

Okay, what was this? "What's going on?"

"Most newbies summon their demon at the first opportunity," Corporal... Burrows, yes. informed me. "It's like a security blanket thing. Most of us bet that you wouldn't, since according to scuttlebutt you'd seen some action stateside."

"We all thought you'd know how important it was to save the time you can have one out before going under from the strain," Eve clarified, a look of disdain plastered over the worry on her face.

"Oh, is that all? Well, allow me to put your minds to rest. There isn't any need to worry about me failing at a critical time, or going insane. I can actually have Grex out twenty-four seven, three-sixty-five. That's in my file. Only reason I didn't summon him before is the standing order designed to save the effort you spoke of; but out here, there is no reason not to."

It took them awhile to digest that one. "That's... that's one hell of a secret weapon, if true."

"Indeed," Grex agreed, smirking widely so he could show off all his teeth. "And if desired, little Maeve here can summon more than just myself, and just as easily. You meat-bags stand in the presence of greatness."

"Grex, be nice. they are here to protect me against nazis. Or zombies. Or nazi zombies." Did they have zombies? I guess not in the classical sense, but humans conquered and controlled by demons was a thing. I guess thralls could be considered zombies, if you squinted."

Grex squinted, taking my new squad in, gaze by gaze. There were only a few takers to the obvious staring contest and he pronounced his judgement: "They are unworthy; can we not go back, and exchange them for real warriors?"

Ouch. I held up a hand to cut off any retorts. "No, we get what we get. Now shut up, Grex, we're trying to be stealthy."

I could tell he wanted to say something, likely something witty about how much noise we were making, but I had ordered him. I turned back to my audience. "Any questions?"

"How is your mind not mush?" Golem asked, his eyes narrowed. Yeah he knew what he was asking; I wondered how long he'd been here.

I shrugged. "Part of my contract, I assume. A side effect of what I asked for, but I haven't really asked because it doesn't really matter. I can hold out up to three demons for hours at a time, even while asleep, with no recorded ill effects. And that is one hundred percent confirmed, you don't need to take my word for it."

"Well, now you getting assigned here is even more mysterious," Rigger muttered.

"Not really, but I don't think you're cleared for that, private. Suffice to say, there is a reason I wasn't assigned to a front first, and a reason I have been assigned now." I didn't want to claim our chances of survival were better with me; I wasn't sure if it were true or not yet.

I did think it though.

"The Numens family have always been hot stuff for summoners. I'm sure you all can grasp the implications of having a permanent demon, who is in fact one of their more powerful ones, running around us permanently. As well as the implications of letting her die to something that ain't a demon. So guess what we won't be doing?"

I was touched. Well, a little, at least.

"Grex, you know this drill. Check for dangers, and warn me if you find any, no matter how small."

That way my demon couldn't pull that crap where he ignored a danger that wouldn't kill me but would my men. I really didn't need a miss like that on my conscience. I opened my own senses wide, just to make sure. Grex saluted just to piss everyone off, then vanished like a mirage in a heat haze.

"Right, well we aren't getting anything done here, and I'd rather not have to explain to the Colonel why we're still just outside the gate. So, lets go; Lewd, you're on point."

Lewd was very small, and seemed to be making the least noise. That was good enough for me.

She sighed. "Yeah, sure. Watch me hide with the best of them."

I looked to Golem, who shrugged, then tapped his wrist in the time honored signal and held up three fingers. Right, give her three minutes, then follow.

This was all a little surreal.

Five minutes later, everything was still just as surreal, and I was fighting the urge to summon more demons.

The problem was, it was too pleasant. The forest around us was coming alive, with insects and other small critters and birds beginning to move and in some cases jabber at us with pleasant song or chittering. The trees were nice, mostly old growth, and solid.

By contrast, us intruders were flinching at every twig snap we made. Weapons were out, eyes were strained, and violence was our invited guest.

I put a stop to it when I found my hand cradled around my sidearm. This was beyond ridiculous.

I stopped hunching over; I may have to keep a slower pace to stay behind the troops, but I didn't have to act like an idiot.

My fellow soldiers looked at me, and I got a few shrugs. They kept right on sneaking, though.

Golem got close. "Sometimes, we get ambushed, right out the gate."

I know, he told me this before. "Right, but in this I trust Grex, and it's kinda pointless, isn't it? I mean if they are drawing a bead on me right now, they are, and it's all hit or miss at this point."

"No need to make it easier to catch a bullet. The Germans do still come out this far, sometimes. Besides, we got all day and nowhere to be, and you stand out by standing up."

Right, I was supposed to be blending in. "Fine. But next time I want a better gun. I mean, if I'm supposed to be blending in, why don't I go all the way?"

Golem nodded. "A point, and my answer is weight. Usually summoners want to be lighter on their feet than we are."

I guess there was a limit to how far you could go... how much did that gun weigh, with ammo? Thirty pounds? If you weren't actually going to use it (I'd never be praised for my rifle marksmanship) that was a lot of dead weight.

It was something to think about later. "Well, whatever, we're wasting time, and we need to make ten miles in dense forest today, and back."

It was only just possible, and we weren't making it standing here. It was also possible our scout hadn't waited on us, and if that was true I didn't want them to die for it. So i clammed up and gave the signal to move out.

I watched my feet for careful placement; I wasn't going to hunch over again like an idiot. Well, maybe just a little.

...And then boredom. Lots of walking to the tune of nature sounds, and boredom.

I caught myself checking my phone for the time halfway here. Hm, I wonder if I can switch the service over to a european company; the whole "searching for service" thing was like a splinter under a fingernail.

I made sure the thing was on vibrate (it was, but there was no problem being careful) and slid it back in.

If anything, my squad seemed to get more antsy as time went on, instead of less.

I gave the signal for a halt this time. "Problem?"

Golem wouldn't look directly at me. "I think the natives are getting restless about your demon. He hasn't been around for hours."

Well, that was silly. "Yes he has. He's been looking for threats the entire time, and hasn't been further than a fifty yards from me."

"You can sense him, then."

Wait, that was a valid point. I could sense him, not just see him. When did that happen? It wasn't a part of the contract.

Time to let nothing show, again. "Yes I can."

Golem reached up and scratched his neck, near a scar there. A tell? "Well the thing is, some of us... most of us maybe, would be happier with a demon where we can see it."

I shrugged as obviously as I could. "Sure, thats fine."

I mean Grex was doing good work, but only I knew that, and I could respect that the squad was skeptical. What had they seen though, to demand such distrust? Usually something like that was earned, somehow.

There was a story there, I was sure of it. I decided I needed to know it after all, for all that now was not the time.

"Grex, veni huc."

A spurt of fire and a wisp of smoke, and he was there, right in front of me and clearly invading golem's personal space without a single care.

"You rang, my master?"

"From now on, stick close. If you have any way of searching out threats while at my side - without killing anyone I'd rather you didn't - go ahead and use that."

Judging from the look on his face, I was glad I'd been specific. "Fine, my beloved spoilsport, though my obvious presence makes of you a target."

That was surprising. If he agreed to that, why was he allowing it? He had some wiggle room granted by contract in situations like this.

"Why aren't you turning invisible or something then?"

"A valid suggestion, but one not without it's own risks."

Yeah, the risk that the spell itself could be detected... but it was unlikely. The odds were at least a little against it; maybe as far as forty percent in favor of discovery to a sixty percent chance of it not being looked for, because of the limits most summoners had. Maybe it was eve lower.

"Just do it." I'd have to get him to teach me that spell; it would be useful.

Grex bowed deeply, then faded from view with a wave.

"That kind of defeats the purpose of keeping him where we can see him," Golem said once I could see him again.

Whoops. "Right, well, this is as close as I feel comfy with."

"Shall I wear a bell for you, meatsack?" Grex asked, his spell doing nothing to deaden his voice.

"Gee, would you? Thanks." Golem replied without missing a beat, in the most faked smug voice I'd ever heard.

I decided I'd best stop this before it got out of hand. "Sargeant, move out."

He didn't quite snap to, but it was close. He also didn't say anything else, but it looked like he wanted to; instead the hand signals flew, and we all started moving again.

Which led to more walking. The urge to just spread my own wings and take flight was building, but knowing my luck, I'd miss something because of all the cover. Still, I wasn't ready to dismiss it yet, for all that revealing that little party trick would get me sent back to the states in silver-etched chains.

A gilded cage perhaps, but still a cage; and all because my wings, unlike those of any other summoner, worked. Well, at least I suspected they worked here - I'd never tried them on Earth, only in Hell, or my delusional dreams.

Suddenly, signs of human habitation.

I suppose calling it human habitation is a little grand, it was only a trail; little more than a game trail but with clear boot prints in it. The good news is they looked to be military issue. It also looked to be heading out, our direction, as opposed to at us.

"What do you think?" I asked Golem. He'd gone right past the tracks.

"I think it's good that you saw them, but they are ours, and three days old."

Well, there went my flight of fancy. I guess it was unlikely that demons had stolen the boots and trekked around in an attempt to lure us into a trap, after all.

The clearly marked half-way point was a boulder, sitting in the middle of the forest, painted entirely blue. It was still whole, which surprised me.

"If they break it, we know. If they wash it off, we know, and if they repaint it, we know," Lewd informed me sagely. "That's why it works."

"And if they set up an ambush nearby?"

"Then we know, of course," Golem answered. "Since they already know we're out here, it works. Besides, if they get this close without detection we want them to give themselves away; better here then at the fence."

That made some sense - if you wanted to get hit at all. I wasn't so sure about that; any contact this close would be bad.

It also occurred to me that there could be an army a good hundred yards further on, and we'd never see them as long as we stuck to the painted rock rule.

"Lewd, Perry, I want you to go a bit further; one hundred yards, and try and stay within sight of each other."

Lewd shrugged and started out immediately; Perry hurried to catch up.

"You do know there are patrols further out, right?" Golem asked.

A subtle rebuke. "Yeah, but they aren't my patrols. And before you start in with the over-eager officer bs, those other patrols aren't ours. Can you live with yourself, knowing you missed something and people get killed for it?"

We had the time, we had the technology.

"You have a point."

We hid ourselves a bit better, and I had just settled in to wait when my two sacrificial lambs came back. Lewd stopped before me.

"No recent sign of anything."

"Alright. Dod, you're scout on the way back, Rigger, you're last in line."

"Gee, thanks boss." Rigger muttered, a little too sure that I couldn't hear him from my distance.

I could of course, but I didn't care.

The journey back should see us inside the fence again before night, the very definition of a milk run. The best for all concerned, really. The other patrols, the ones further out, were screwed the moment the sun went down; I couldn't imagine sleeping out under the stars, knowing that between one moment and the next could mean something not seen could claw out your throat.

Not that it couldn't happen now, but it was far more likely to happen at night; the casualty numbers were clear.

A series of pops drew my attention while everyone else flattened. Gun shots, from far away. Belatedly, I dropped myself even as Grex made his presence known.

"The hostility is not directed at us," he whispered in my ear. "Those weapons are miles away, and echo from the terrain itself."

Right, so a trick of the ground around us was letting us hear it. some distance back, or some forward, and we probably wouldn't have heard. But we did, and the weapons sounded like our own.

It was also to the west, and miles away meant it was well away from our patrol route.

My eyes met Golem's, and I knew we were in full agreement. "Rigger, Dod. Find us a route. We're going."

There was the concern that this could be a feint to draw us out of position, but I felt confident in dismissing that; we weren't a large patrol, and I wasn't well known yet. Any of our enemies would go through us, not try to work around us.

We didn't entirely throw away stealth, but with all the noise, we could make some speed. The firing kept on, which gave me some hope; if it was a demon attack, one way or the other, any conflict would be over by now.

Once we got close enough to have the sounds resolve themselves from a buzz saw to more of a staccato clap, we had to slow; of there was an ambush, running into it, even from surprise, would only be a bad thing.

"Grex." I whispered.

"Say no more," He whispered back, perhaps an inch from my ear, his breath tickling it. "I'll be right back."

"Check only," I told him; I wasn't going to assume anything.

"Understood," was all he said, and I knew he was gone, even though I couldn't see him.

I motioned everyone to bunker up, something I should have done before I sent Grex away.

A few more scattered shots, from as close as fifty feet (I still couldn't see the shooter due to the trees) to probably a hundred yards away, and Grex was back, breathing in my ear.

"I found no evidence of demons. I saw only allied troops among the living; one is wounded. I found evidence of an enemy - a "sniper's nest".

When had Grex learned about what a sniper's nest is?

"Is the sniper still there?"

Grex gave me the 'are you stupid?' look. "No, or I'd have said so."

Golem had a better question. "Where was the nest?"

Grex looked to me, ignoring the man. I noded in Golem's direction.

Grex answered, pointing behind him. "There, to the South. The large oak with the gnarled trunk."

Golem started scanning the tree line.

I readied a flare; one of my personal, special flares.

Every summoner had a special kind of flare, just as every patrol had one; it was a nice, low tech way, to make sure you didn't get shot by your own when trying to help them, just in case more high tech forms of communication were out or being jammed. That was an all-too-often occurrence. I'd heard the flares could get picked out of the air before they sparked up, but it was better than nothing.

I fired it off, the lack of recoil surprised me. The flare itself didn't even go over the tree line, it was a small and sickly thing that was barely visible in the daytime, a streak of red sparking silver that reminded me more of a bottle rocket than anything else.

"Santa, Musad, Perry, you're with me. Everyone else, burrow in. Grex, keep an eye out."

I was pretty sure Grex was right about the danger being past, at least the danger from the sniper, but caution never hurt, and telling Grex to do what he was going to do anyway couldn't hurt either.

I probably should wait for an answering flare, but if the other patrol were compromised, then they would have access to the flares anyway. Stupid as it sounded, even in my head, I trusted Grex in this; he had to keep me safe, it was part of our contract.

My gun would only get me in trouble here, so it was best to holster it. Come to think of it, uniform or not, drawing my athame would also likely only end in tears. Heck, I could be shot with my hands empty, since it was unlikely I'd be recognized.

Mainly I worried about Grex; even if I gave him a prior order, at the first sign of danger to me he'd use the excuse of our contract to murder anyone who took a shot at me, sure as the sun rose in the East.

There were two bodies down, one twitching and groaning, one motionless. The groaning one was a large bear of a man, covered in blood, and was spurting more of the red stuff spouting from a shoulder and a leg.

The smaller one was a man, only a little bigger than myself, his hair color impossible to determine through his blood, and his uniform as unmarked as my own. If I had to guess, he was this squad's summoner.

The three soldiers visible, hunched over and with minimal cover from the sniper's nest and absolutely none from my position, pointing weapons at me, was also a good clue.

The three were more or less the same size, and all three were blond, with rough features. What were the odds? Were they brothers or something? Maybe triplets?

"He's gone, and we're going to need to move. Our demon's on watch, but there's no guarantee the sniper won't circle around."

"Password." One of the blonds said, tightening his meaty paws on his rifle. The other two weren't even watching me. They were watching the tree line.

"The moon is made of green cheese." That wasn't actually the password, but he was asking a summoner for a password; that was just begging for the wrong response.

Golem burst up, seemingly from the ground. "Yo-yo."

Weapons were lowered. "Why no flare?"

Well, that one they could blame on me. "We didn't have time, and I didn't want to warn the ambush. Come on, you got a stretcher?"

The one who wasn't moving was still alive; I could see the faintest of breaths stir the wild grasses near his face.

I grabbed a bandage, but was beaten to the punch as Eve and someone I didn't know came out from behind a tree at a run. They both reached the wounded man at the same time, the dark, swarthy man (at least it wasn't another blond) skidding like a baseball player stealing home in order to get there.

That was fine, my bandage could go around the bleeding guy's leg - if Dod wasn't already there.

"Yeah, we've got one. Reynold's, the stretcher."

"You got it, boss."

The stretcher was really just a tough canvas sheet with two collapsible plastic poles. Each squad had one, and Eve had ours. So of course she was already breaking it out.

"Grex."

He wasn't close, or at least he shouldn't be if he knew what was good for him, but that wouldn't stop him from answering.

"Yes, my master?"

"Any sign?"

"Plenty, my dark liege, all pointing to a hasty retreat. Somehow, either the sniper knew we were coming, or they just decided it was time to leave. I feel the latter is more likely, but cannot discount the former."

Judging from the looks I was getting, everyone had heard that exchange. For the best, really. Grex was trying to get me in trouble again, I was sure of it.

"Get them up and start moving, and we'll cover the rear."

Golem moved, but the one I took to be in charge of the other squad didn't until I snapped fingers at him. "Sometime today. Unless you'd rather we watch your wounded?"

He got up. "No, we got it. Reynolds, Cooper, Gear, and Hill. You're on stretcher duty. Everyone else, spread out, I want Sanders on the wings, and everyone else in front of us. We're going to need to move fast."

He had that much right at least; the summoner was alive, but there was a bullet in his head. Maybe I could help that... I'd have to be careful though.

"If you want, I've got magic that can help stabilize him. Or both of them, for that matter."

The other sargeant thought it over. "What kind?"

"Time magic. I can slow time for them, at least for awhile."

Sure, I hadn't actually done it before, and sure, I hadn't done anything like that for hours at a time, but theoretically it could be done.

"Time magic? Slowing them down?"

"So they don't bleed out or die, yes.I have to be touching them to do it, so keep them on either side of me and close." It occurred to me that I was the officer here; why was I asking permission?

"One on either side, I'll take the middle. no ritual or anything required, just focus. Golem, set up the screen."

I leaned over. The hole in the summoner's head was almost neat. At least the front of it was; I wasn't quite sure I wanted to see the exit wound. "How is he?"

"Bad," the swarthy man told me. "He might survive, if we can airlift him. A hike? He'll be dead in an hour. If you're not just talk, prove it now."

I could make that seconds. A touch and I was pushing power into the still form. It took a little more power than I expected - it felt like the body was resisting me, as if it wanted to age at the normal rate regardless. The more I slowed them down, the harder it was, and I needed to slow them almost to a full stop.

Doing a second one almost did me in; without pulling off some jewelry, I wasn't sure that I could do it; not for the full march back.

Grex could probably do it... and he's shaking his head at me. So maybe not, or maybe he just doesnt want to.

Golem yelled a bit, but the squad already knew what the plan was and was already on the move.

And then, contrary to all my instincts, we had to set out at a sedate walk.

The sun was setting, and the pace had been grueling. Not because of the walk, but because of the energy expenditure. Keeping two people aging one second or so an hour was actually difficult, and I didn't dare take my jewelry off; any of it.

Come to think of it, jewelry was a big no-no in the military for obvious reasons, so why hadn't I been asked to take it off? Had it been discounted as a simple foible or something? I really should have thought about that before now.

The sun was a mere sliver on the horizon. We were at least twenty minutes past due. I'd sent Thorn and Lewd ahead to make sure we weren't shot, but the gate was silent. When we broke from the tree line, there was no one in sight.

Then, all at once, when we were halfway through no man's land, soldiers popped literally into sight with an effect not unlike a desert's heat haze, with medics right behind them. They made no move to go beyond the gate, or even open it until we were mere feet away and our rearguard was beginning to crowd us.

They were definitely close enough to hear the passcode. "Indigo, Orange, Victor."

"Joe, Purple, White." The left soldier replied, the same Sargeant I'd seen at this post yesterday.

Right, they were looking at Grex. "Grex, go home."

He bowed and burst into harmless flames; this time he actually allowed some ash to fall. Weird.

Still he waited precious seconds before finally unlocking the gate. The medics at least, wasted no time, charging out so fast they almost ran the guards over in order to get to my charges.

"What's the story here?"

"Sniper, I'm helping to keep them stable. When I let go, this one," I nodded in the direction of the summoner - "is likely going to flatline."

"How?"

A good question. "Slowing time for them, drastically."

"Alright, then wait before you let it go, let's get these two to the hospital."

The other medic turned to the guard. "Are they clear?"

Put on the spot, the man noded. "Code checked out, and it wasn't the duress code."

"Then let's go. No transfers yet, keep carrying them. Will they suddenly speed up, and get all the shocks and movements they would have experienced on the trip?"

That was... a very good question. "No? They shouldn't at least. They are insulated from most effects actually."

The medics both wasted a moment staring at me. I heard one mutter the words thanks to my improved ears: "Broken as fuck."

"Alright, come on. You four are still on stretcher duty. Not that I don't believe you, Ma'am, but I'd rather not chance things going to hell trying to transfer the patients."

I was gratified when my soldiers looked to me. "You heard the man. Let's go; I'm getting a bit tired."

I was really beyond tired, and a little confused as to how no one could see it. Or maybe they could, and just hadn't said anything.

We started off, silently. The escort came trickling in, and I couldn't tell if it was just concerned fellow soldiers or something more sinister based on our abbreviated gate protocols.

The medics wanted to double time it, but I just couldn't. the risk of losing contact with either of my patients was high. It took them ten steps to slow down.

We made it there in plenty of time anyway.

The doctors were waiting. I was oddly happy to see them all standing around and waiting, since it meant my casualties are likely the only ones.

As soon as they doctors moved away we went in. "Nearest beds? We should probably only transfer once."

My teeth felt like they were cracking, and I had to force the words out. My knees were also more than a little wobbly, and my vision was beginning to gray.

"This way." The doctors were like the medics, always just rushing off at top speed. Thankfully it wasn't infectious, and the soldiers I'd walked with for hours stuck to my pace.

We finally made it to an ER with more than a dozen beds. I sidled up to the first two. "Alright, I'm going to have to let go of one to make sure the other gets settled in right, so I'm choosing the good private here; his injuries seem the least life threatening."

The nurses got ready; as I kept contact with the summoner, they swooped in and grabbed the guy as he came out of it mid-groan. I stumbled, the release of pressure was so great, but I didn't lose contact until the summoner was settled on the bed.

Then I all but dove out of the way, the sweat on my face drying instantly.

Golem caught me. "Sargeant remind me never to do that again."

"Yes Ma'am, but I don't think you'll listen." His smirk was insufferable.

"You might be right about that. You think anyone would mind if I just snagged a bed?"

"I think that Captain Sawyer might, ma'am. He's probably waiting for a debrief."

Well it was a fresh face for me to embarrass myself in front of, so I was game, why wouldn't I be?

"Alright Sargeant, lead the way."

He did, leading me to what I was rapidly beginning to think of as the bureaucracy building. Of course all the brass were in the same place. Wonder why I wasn't? I was technically brass. Why did I get shoved into the campy happy place dorm?

Nevermind all that, focus. My own troops were following; it made sense that we would all debrief together I supposed, but the other squad wasn't here, or even nearby; had they gone on ahead?

The Captain was on the same level as the Colonel, even down the same hall, but his door came first. I'd passed it without taking any special note of it yesterday. Gracefully, my Sargeant let me lead the way through the door.

The Captain was waiting for me. He was a tall, thin man, the first glance suggesting he could be blown over by a stiff breeze. The second glance however, showed the thin, corded muscle running the length of him. He was dark in that very tan way some people get, with just a hint of darker than nordic skin color. He was also as bald as Golem, but his head was smooth in a way that suggested it was deliberate.

He was also wearing a veritable mine's worth of metal on his chest, and was in his forties if he was a day; a career soldier and one worthy of respect. I saluted as crisply as my noodle arms would allow.

"Sir."

He waited for everyone else to file in and follow suit before acknowledging us. "At ease, all of you. Is anyone unclear on why you're here?"

He was staring straight at me. Of course he was. Choosing not to answer seemed the wisest course.

“Right.” The Captain reached over and started a recorder. Then he started another one, this one an actual tap recorder; did they even still make those?

He spoke clearly and precisely, his next words not aimed at any of us. “This is the debrief of the 14th, first army, on the events of the 16th of August.”

The next words were just as clearly addressed to me. “Alright Lieutenant, in your own words, tell me what happened.”

I guess I was on. “We set out for a patrol of quadrant F, a day only patrol. We reached the marker at the end of the route without incident, and I decided to do a sweep about a hundred yards beyond it.”

Captain Sawyer interrupted. “Why?”

“Because we were early, Sir, and we’d seen nothing. No movement other than animal, and no sign of hostiles in the area.”

He sat back, waving a hand my way. “Continue.”

“As I was saying, we’d taken five while I sent scouts forward; we had flankers watching the cardinal directions. We all heard gunfire coming from the West. I had everyone stay put behind cover while I conferred on proper procedure while Grex, my demon, covered us.”

Captain Sawyer interrupted again. “Conferred with who, exactly?”

“The Sergeant mainly, sir.” And why couldn’t I remember his actual name?

Captain Sawyer’s look said he knew. “And your demon? When did you summon it, exactly?”

Crap. “I summoned Grex as soon as we were outside the fence, sir.”

I could feel disapproval radiate from the man; I felt like I was back in high school, staring down Mr. Hind after I’d made fun of his name that one time.

“I can summon my demon with no time limit, sir. My capabilities are listed in exhaustive detail in my file.”

He shrugged the mild rebuke off. “Not all of us have time to read, Lieutenant. You say your capabilities have in this regard have been tested? Never mind, continue.”

“Yes sir. The scouts I’d sent rejoined us, and I sent a new set out to the west of our position, keeping Grex near the squad as we moved in case the attack was by a demon. To this point the only gunfire we had heard seemed to be from our own forces.”

I gave the Captain a pause in case he wanted to interrupt again, and this time he didn’t.

“Anyway, we advanced under cover in standard formation; Once I saw the casualties I realized the situation was a sniper attack. I sent Grex ahead to neutralize the sniper.”

“Why?”

I was getting used to it already, which was a little sad.

“I thought it best to uncover the position of the sniper and deal with the threat as quickly as possible. Since the sniper wasn’t actively shooting, it was difficult to tell more than a basic direction and I wasn’t about to send my squad forward.”

“And if the sniper was a feint, and a demon attacked you while yours was tracking the sniper?”

“I am hardly helpless, sir. I judged the situation merited the risk.”

“Did your demon find the sniper?”

“No, the sniper had left some minutes before it seemed.”

“I see. Continue.”

“I then revealed myself, and when asked gave the appropriate code; the other squad was able to verify.”

“And how did you reveal yourself?”

“Shouting, sir.”

“And was it possible that the squad had been compromised in such a way as to have the code of the day?” A second interrupted question, and a loaded one.

“I did not judge that to be the case.”

“It has happened before lieutenant,” he informed me. His face and voice never so much as wavered. “Demons have some interesting tricks out here. Continue.”

“Our medics saw to the wounded, and I was advised both would be unlikely to survive the trip back; one would almost surely die, and the other was bleeding out.”

“I see. And did you check those wounded for a demonic plant?”

What? Could demons even do that, with our own men watching? “No, however Grex would have known and taken steps if they proved to be; our contract is defensive in nature.”

“I see. Continue.”

“We discussed the problem, and I decided I could solve it.”

“With demonic power,” The Captain interrupted.

“With demonic power, yes. Specifically, my pact given affinity for slowing time on a target.”

I got him there, his eyes widened a fraction. He hadn’t known what I’d done before, or how broken I could be when I got going.

“I see. Continue.”

The man was unflappable. “I then sent scouts ahead, flankers, and picked a rearguard screen, and we set off for this base without further delay.”

“Why didn’t you send your demon after the sniper?”

“I prioritized lives, Sir. I had no way of knowing if that sniper was the only one at work, and while I was… occupied, an enemy demon could have mowed us down easily.”

He nodded this time, a faint one that seemed more involuntary than anything else. “Continue.”

“That’s basically it, Sir. The march back was peaceful, and we encountered no further trouble.”

He paused, giving me a heavy lidded look. “I see. Sergeant, anything to add?”

“Only that the Lieutenant was in fact visible to at least some of squad C when she called out, Sir, and that never once did she show the well known signs of DF.”

What was DF?

Captain Sawyer was not done. “Alright, anyone else? Any observations you’d like to share?”

After the chorus of ‘no, Sirs’ he couldn’t have sounded more exasperated. “Alright, dismissed. Get some chow into you and rest. You’ll be going back out tomorrow. This time it’ll be a long sweep.”

He returned our salutes but waited; it was easy to ambush me since I was the last out the door.

“Lieutenant.”

“Yes sir?”

“You need to be a touch more cautious.”

“Yes Sir.”

I probably did, not that I’d do anything differently.

Golem made a move to catch me as I pulled the door shut. I waved him off, but I really wanted to pull off a bracelet or two. Just one would likely revive me, but it wasn’t worth the risk.

“I’ll be fine. Just a little winded.”

“Lieutenant, you’ve been winded for the last two hours.”

“It’s fine, I’m recovering. Just don’t let me drown in my soup if I fall asleep in the mess, okay?”

“Sure, I think I can do that,” Golem admitted with a grin. “But if you do you’re still wearing it.”

“Fair.” It wasn’t really, but I’d live with it.

I managed to make it to the mess, and maybe my legs were getting less wobbly, or maybe they weren’t. The buffet waited for no woman though, and it was best to get to it first before sitting down – mainly because if I sat down, I would likely have issues standing up.

I had to know. “So tell me Sergent, how did I do?”

Golem shrugged, still eyeing me. “I’ve heard worse. The last guy we had, Captain Sawyer threw him out of his office and made him stand outside while we debriefed. You weren’t up to mil spec, but you weren’t that bad. We could all understand you, at least.”

That was comforting. “Any words of advice?”

“Nah, not really. Use of more military terminology, but that ship might have sailed since you didn’t ship immediately; some of you summoners who start out state-side tend to get a little… odd.”

An image of a twerking imp flashed through my mind. “I hardly think it’s just us in the states, Sergeant. I remember some of those shipped home when I started.”

That was my story, and I’m sticking to it.

“I didn’t mean it like that, I mean you’re all crazy, no exceptions, but most of you get set in your ways, and you can tell the difference between those who’ve done tours first and those who didn’t.”

I just raised an eyebrow at him. I was perfectly sane, even if he didn’t know it.

“There is much I find wrong with that point Sergeant, and yet I’m too tired to argue it. Perhaps tomorrow, when I care more.”

“You’ll see,” Golem told me, unrepentant.

Well that was certainly ominous.

What I wanted to see was a nice steak, but unfortunately the best I could find was a nice pre-processed meat patty of questionable origin. At least the baked potatoes were real; I took two of those. The chocolate pudding was another must, but the milk was a hard pass in favor of just plain water.

I’d feel like a pig – but people who had burned far fewer calories today were eating more right in front of me. Lewd hadn’t even done anything but scout, and she had seconds piled up on her plate!

Maybe she was a growing girl. Then again, none of us had stopped for lunch; the sniper kind of stopped that for us, and after that event I couldn’t really stop. Going all day on the breakfast we had was probably enough by itself, goodness knew my own stomach felt like it was trying to jump up and eat my heart.

At least everyone else seemed to have energy to spare, telling jokes and laughing with everyone in range. My vision widened some, and I realized that was a surprising amount of people; either we weren’t the only late arrivals or we’d managed to be just in time for dinner.

Thankfully it hadn’t been standing room only. I’d likely be on the ground if it was, rank and reputation be damned.

“Hey, so you’re the newbie.”

I looked up from my second potato, (the first had been vanquished in a blitzkrieg) and into the face of a man.

The man was quite possibly the ugliest man I had seen in my life, and that was saying something. He had a large build, muscles on muscles, a wide sloping forehead that went well back, large jug ears, and beady brown eyes. He was also my rank, which meant I wasn't about to try and get up to salute him. I could also see his athame, which was sheathed right in front on his belt.

"Yes, I'm the newbie."

"Hi, I'm pretty boy, or just pretty. I'm one of the seniors on duty here. I just wanted to say, good work earlier, Jimbob is a friend of mine, and you saved his life."

He held out a hand, and we shook. He was very gentle.

"You just see Captain Sawyer?" He grabbed a chair and turned it around, sitting in it. I didn't think anyone did that anymore.

"Yes." Ah, coffee; too bad it was trash. I really missed my coffee house. Or even my Kuerig.

"Yeah everyone hates their first time with him. He gets better."

I didn't think he was that bad. "I didn't think he was that bad. He didn't yell at me or anything. Some faint disapproval, perhaps."

His face smeared itself into a thoughtful look, which somehow made him look worse. "Really? Let me guess, one of those was in not catching the sniper?"

Now I was interested. "How did you know that?"

He grinned. "I asked around."

Of course he did, and there were at least two squads of people who knew. I wonder who it was that talked. "That was one moment, yes. To be fair I could have sent my demon after the sniper, they probably weren't that far away. But if that sniper had a demon of their own, waiting for a chance...."

We waved a hand. "Unlikely; any demon would have likely taken advantage of the chaos before you arrived. But I get it; you're in the field, you have to use your best judgement. No one here is going to fault the choice you made. but tell me, is it true you can keep your demon summoned for hours?"

It would be pointless to deny it, he clearly already knew, and there really wasn't a way to hide that here. "Yes, I can. It's part of my pact."

"Nice, I wasn't aware that was even possible. Quite the game changer."

"Well, I'd hesitate to say I bargained well, but I might have broke even. Somehow."

A little bit of a touchy subject; most summoners didn't like talking about their rituals, myself included. Unless of course you counted the reason why I was here....

Thankfully he picked up on it. "Right, sorry. Just thinking, you have no idea how big that sort of thing is. Most of us have to make decisions on when we have our demons out to do the heavy lifting, which is probably why Jimbob got popped in the first place."

I had a pretty good idea on how big it was, thanks. "How is he, by the way?"

The face morphed into concern, which made it look.. better? It was fascinating. "Well, if he lives, he probably won't be all there. But summoners have a tendency to live through injuries that kill normal people, and Jimbob wasn't all there anyway."

Jimbob probably was going home to a nice padded cell, if he lived. Or maybe his demon wouldn't let him do one or the other; they could be particular like that.

That wasn't my problem; I could only do so much after all, and I couldn't interfere with a contract. I could maybe do something if the demon was in front of me, but I couldn't summon another summoner's demon.

"Hey, don't worry about it. He's alive, so he's ahead of the game." Pretty Boy said; great, I really was that obvious, even to people untrained in reading other people.

"Right. And the other guy, the private?"

"Right, private Long, who went out like an idiot trying to drag Jimbob to safety. He's going to make a full recovery, and be back out with the rest of us. No free ticket home for him."

That was... well, mixed to be honest. "At least he didn't lose the leg. I thought for a minute it might happen."

"Nope!", Pretty boy replied, suddenly chipper. "He's going to be fine. Anyway, I'll let you eat. I just wanted to say, welcome to the team and don't worry about Sawyer."

He got up, turned the chair back, waved and wandered off to take his place in line.

I got back to my potato.

"Well that's good news. Apparently you'll be able to forego the hazing most new bloods get." Golem whispered at me.

I stopped eating, my appetite lost. "That happens here too?"

Golem nodded. "I'm not sure what goes on, but I have been told that it wasn't pretty."

I wasn't going to tempt fate. "And you got that I'm not going to from that?"

Golem nodded again. "Pretty boy usually sets those things up."

Well, that's nice I suppose. "That's good. I don't want to go through that crap again."

Golem raised an eyebrow, and stopped whispering. "Come on, they're cops. How bad could they be?"

Ha. "Ex-military... as in, after they all pulled their tours."

Golem made a show of thinking about it. "You might have a point. Can you share?"

A thought, narrowly avoided. "No, sharing will lead to bad things. Going to head out then, get some sleep while I can."

No one called me on my rubber legs, but everyone was watching, even as they pointedly ignored me while chatting about inane things. I didn't even know the people past our few tables, but apparently they knew me.

At least the people outside the mess didn't stare.

The barracks slash dorm was quiet, and like last night, no one was in it. I supposed I was early, since it was barely past eight. I could hear Karen in my head now: 'get out there and talk to people! live a little! Don't be such a nerd!' When I could barely hold my head up.

Time enough to stop being a nerd tomorrow. I still checked my bed for unpleasant surprised before getting in it. Trust no one, especially on matters of hazing.

“Pack for an extended hike,” the Captain informed us, pointing to his map. “You’ll be going through D, into E, around F, and then back. Takes about a week. Bring your compass; GPS works in F sometimes. Sometimes it doesn’t. You see anything, anything at all, you call it in Lieutenant. That is, if radios work; sometimes they do….”

“And sometimes they don’t,” I finished for him. “Got it, sir.”

“Sir, permission to speak freely.” my Sergeant said, trying to bore into the man opposite.

“Granted, but I already know what you’re going to say. Your summoner isn’t ready for an extended patrol, she’s too new, etcetera. That the gist of it?”

Golem nodded, mouth shut.

“I’m down two summoners in three days, Sergeant Tomluv. Any incursion, any demon we let by, could kill dozens if not hundreds before it’s put down. I’ve no time to coddle anyone, and I’m fresh out of fucks to give about that. You have your orders, carry them out.”

We both saluted, Golem a bit more stiffly than I, and walked out.

“It’s too soon,” Golem muttered, frowning.

He started as I responded, a light shudder wracking his frame. “Maybe, but we do as we must. I’m pretty confident in my abilities Sergeant, and in time you will be too.”

“It’s not lack of confidence in you, Ma’am. It’s knowing what we’re getting into.”

Operations was as busy as always. A green looking pimply faced kid handed me a new, updated map along with the codes I’d need for the week before wandering off on some other errand. He probably had more time in country than I had in the service; that’s usually how that sort of thing worked.

I still double checked to make sure. Then I triple checked. Everything was in order.

Golem agreed with me; he didn’t say anything was off, at least. I started heading back to the surface.

“So, extra rations, extra ammo, extra clothes?”

Golem shook himself out of whatever thought he was in. “Rations, yes. Ammunition, and extra two clips; we travel light at all times, and if we find a demon or even humans anything more than an extra two clips is usually pointless; a fight is won or lost before we run out and we bug out regardless of the outcome.”

That… was depressing. I guess even for a win we would have casualties, and continuing would be foolhardy at best.

But how would we get out? “Evac by chopper?”

Golem shook his head. “There are some points where it’s possible. There are even a few old roads we sort of maintain, so sometimes truck is an option. But most of the time, it means hoofing it.”

That would mean leaving wounded who couldn’t walk behind – or finishing them ourselves.

To literal Hell with that; not on my watch. I may not be able to keep everyone alive through an attack, but I wouldn’t be adding to the body count.

I resolved to carry an extra few clips myself; I could always dump them later if mobility proved more important than a few extra pounds, and I wouldn’t likely be using my guns anyway.

The less said about my aim currently, the better.

“Also, clothes? Really? Never would have figured you for a clothes horse. What we take is what we’re wearing.”

To Hell with that too; I was taking extra underwear at least. Which reminds me – extra toilet paper too perhaps? Something to look into. “Didn’t you know? I’m a supermodel on my off hours.”

Golem gave me an exaggerated once over, and I could feel my face heat up; some things should not be said.

It got worse. “I could see it, but if you’re going to be a supermodel, you better lay off the granola bars. They are all a bit on the skinny side.”

Great, so now I was a fat clothes horse. No, it was just banter, and I didn’t have any body image issues. I was white as a ghost, with maybe a bit too much in some places, but I was in shape. I bet I could run Golem into the ground – all those muscles had to be heavy.

“Go see to the kids, Sergeant. I’ll see to requisitions.”

“Yes Ma’am.”

The quartermaster was a small, harried woman with a pinched face and stress lines who technically outranked me and unofficially didn’t care, or so I’d been told. She had a pretty good name for a gear officer.

“Lieutenant Carr.”

She took a sip of her coffee, her gaze pointedly fixed on her laptop screen. Well, she didn’t demand a salute, so Golem was batting a thousand so far. “A week for a squad, right? The standard kits’ll be ready by the time you’re back from breakfast. Anything special you need, let me know now.

“Five pounds of salt, a pound of powdered silver, a coarse horsehair brush, and two extra clips in nine millimeter. Oh, and an extra bottle of water testing tablets.”

She made some clicks on the keyboard in front of her. “Done. Anything else? Requested MRE’s? I hear the goulash can cause digestion issues.”

Oh, but her tone was spicy today. Not even an extra eye blink at the things I asked for. Well I guess other than the brush, they weren’t truly unusual.

“Anything else?”

I realized I’d been standing there for a moment longer than I probably should have.

“Yes, actually. One extra mag for each of my squad. I can’t speak for any specific request my squad might make yet though.”

Carr shrugged. “Done. If they have them and it takes time to fill, it’s their ass, not mine.”

I could feel the compassion.

“Right, off to breakfast then.”

Carr made shooing motions, still busily clacking away.

The mess tent was just as deserted at this pre-dawn hour as it was yesterday. They had fresh coffee this time, which was a plus, but it was army coffee, which wasn’t.

The waffles were instant, knock off eggos, the eggs had started as powder somehow, I was sure. But the bacon was good, and there was orange juice. I probably should be reviewing the troops like a good officer, but there was plenty of time for that after breakfast.

As expected, my squad fell in around me at the table as I was draining my first coffee. I took the opportunity provided by the chaos to snag another cup – not that the cooks wouldn’t have given me another anyway, but it was the thought that counted.

I was silent as they ate, joked, and laughed around me. They didn’t try to draw me into the easy conversation, but they didn’t make a point of keeping me out of it either; I’d take that as a win. If I were just a little less socially awkward….

They wrapped things up in half the time it took me.

“All of you will carry at least one extra mag. You can ask for more if you want, but you’re getting that much already.”

“Ma’am, you know procedure….”

Yeah no, I wasn’t asleep the day they covered this in boot. “I do, and we’re breaking it. End of discussion. I want you all ready and on the green in ten.”

They could probably do it in five – but I needed the extra minutes myself.

Golem seemed determined to take at least one of those, but he waited until everyone else had left.

“You know why we have the rule, Lieutenant.”

“I do.” I admitted. Having our weapons and ammunition fall into the hands of the demon army’s allies only allowed them to do more damage to us; a sniper with no ammunition for example, was useless to them.

But I had a feeling. “I know it sounds stupid, but I’ve got a feeling we’ll need it.”

The truth is, if we hit contact, odds were we would take casualties and pull back, succeed or fail. If we hit contact though, and didn’t take casualties, we’d still have to pull back due to expended supplies. I wanted the option to continue forward.

Golem eased up though, with a shrug. “Well, if you’ve got a feeling, that’s it then.”

Evidently he’s dealt with summoners who had gut feelings before – enough times not to question it anymore. No doubt a good survival trait.

I walked sedately back to the barracks (which still looked more like a dormitory to me) and grabbed my pack. Then I took a quick look inside it, just to make sure no one else had tampered with it in my absence; one could never be too careful, and I wouldn’t put it past any summoner to do so. It was all there, thankfully, and with no new additives.

Then I snuck in a few more pair of underwear, because an extra pound wasn’t going to break me either, while being disgusting might. I’d find some way of changing when no one was looking.

Lieutenant Carr was waiting for me. “Your stuff’s on the counter, take it and get out.”

Wow. “Thanks.”

A few small bags and an extra mag did weigh more than my underwear; I stuck them on top, and slid the brush into my pocket, where I could get to it immediately should I need to.

The squad was waiting for me at attention when I reached the green. They weren’t alone – there were two other squads there, with their officers nowhere to be seen.

Odd, I hadn’t seen any other summoners up and about. Beds had been empty of course, but it’d been an hour, and nothing. Oh well, wasn’t my problem.

I double checked them all in silence as they stood there, eyes front like statues, the only clue they were alive the breathing they couldn’t quite mask.

Some had snuck in some extra rations, some had snuck in some personal items (When would Lewd even find the time to read her trashy romance novel?) but they all had an extra magazine. Some even had two.

“Alright, fall in.”

I didn’t lead the way out of the gate for the same reasons as yesterday, and just like yesterday, nothing happened. The feeling that the world was buttering me up for something really bad to happen intensified. I didn’t even wait until out of sight of the compound this time.

“Grex, veni Huc!”

His arrival was a balm to my mind, and his hug wasn’t entirely unwelcome, not that he needed to know that.

His smirk told me he already did. “You rang?”

“You know the drill by now. Go scout for dangers to us.”

With a bow, he was gone, so fast he created a nice breeze.

“Lewd, Perry, take point. The rest of you spread out a bit, fifty feet.”

In keeping with the ruse that I was sure wouldn’t fool anyone, I posted myself away from our center, gun out. My best stalking impression was a clumsy job, but maybe an idiot wouldn’t notice. We had plenty of idiots on our side of the war, the other side had to have a few, right?

The only thing that broke the monotony were the quick checks I made of our position and heading; the morning passed quietly with only the sounds of nature to keep us company.

All in all, it was rather peaceful – I could almost fool myself into thinking I was hiking in a park back home. Well, while I was bored, I might as well be bored and informed.

“So Golem, what were those other squads doing this morning?”

“Patrols.” He answered stiffly, eyes darting around.

We were the only murderously intelligent life for miles, he didn’t need to worry.

“Their summoners were late then. I didn’t see any in the mess.” Or even awake, for that matter, though I didn’t know everyone.

“That’s because the summoners in question are insane, and likely forgot,” Dod stated. “with summoners, it’s only a matter of time before they crack. Their Sergeants were probably rounding them up or something.”

“Dod, that’s enough.” Golem admonished; what did he think I’d be offended or something? I knew summoners personally, we were all crazy.

“They can get away with that crap? Not even a reprimand?” That raised all sorts of interesting possibilities.

Golem nodded, his face sour. “Nothing official; we’re too short on summoners for that. Summoners can pull some pretty… crazy… stunts… shit.”

The light dawned, too late. “Music to my ears, even though I’d never ruin the integrity of the armed forces by cutting corners.”

Dod nodded along. “Very good, I almost believed you.”

“Thanks!”

Image was important, after all.

Golem palmed his face, for the added melodrama, just because. He didn’t hold the pose long of course, and thankfully the universe at large did not take that as a sign to enact something karmic on him.

There were trails here too, and again that made things easier, but wasn’t it true that the enemy would expect us along those trails, and either ambush or avoid us? Avoidance was probably unlikely since all demons had egos the size of battleships, but human enemies could cause quite a bit of damage and likely had humility beaten into them by now. I’d have to ask, later. Probably Grex to be sure on the first point, and wouldn’t that be a joy.

Nothing much to do anyway but hike and think, not that I’d trade being bored for excitement; I was no fool.

That summoner, the one who started the entire incursion back home; I wonder if he came this way? Down this very trail perhaps, dodging our soldiers all the way, ordered to strike at our heart. Perhaps it was to show that even under the shadow of the tower, no one was safe – I refused to believe it was solely for me, the man had to have been moving since before I was active, or the timeline wouldn’t fit.

Big S couldn’t see the future, could he? We were so totally screwed if he could. The world was so totally screwed if he could, and we’d just be going through the motions at that point, waiting for the end. No, if he could, then his decisions would make no sense at all; if he had anything like that it must be very spotty at best.

Right or wrong, I firmly believed that if he knew where I was, he’d already be here, foot tapping impatience away, flaying the skin from my new friends while trying to convince me it was the right thing to do, and all for my benefit somehow. Or theirs.

I had a morbid streak. I should probably watch that.

As the sun began the dipping part of it’s daily journey, Grex came walking back along the path we were taking, looking for all the world like a tourist, and dressed in a trench coat and fedora. He strode right up to Golem and stated loudly:

“Something interesting up ahead.”

Was he? He was.

“Grex, unless there is a presence causing me danger right now, you get the heck over here and address me directly. No throwing my squad-mates under the bus.”

He responded to my hiss with his usual aplomb, striding over. “Just getting in the cloak and dagger mood, my wonderful mistress. There is no presence which wishes us ill-will within a mile at least, but there is a very interesting cabin just ahead.

“A cabin? What’s so interesting about a cabin?” Other than it being the first sign of human habitation I’d seen in this forest. Well, as long as you didn’t count the army; most people did not count the army. Even the army didn’t count the army, I’d seen as much on the last census details for the area.

“The cabin he’s talking about,” Golem interrupted. “is more of an experiment with the idea of a forward fire base than a house. You’ll see when we get there.”

A forward fire base? I knew about those from my military history; in America’s brief intervention of Vietnam. Forward fire bases were used to spot trouble, and pound the heck out of it with large guns and air power. They were constantly in danger of getting overrun though; I thought that our current base was the local equivalent.

If the army had tried for something smaller, what happened to it would be no surprise. But what would be the point? You would need a string of such places, all close together, in sort of a modern Maginot line, and even then it wouldn’t work because failing anything else the enemy could just go over you; it wasn’t like flak did anything to demons other than piss them off.

And all that was after you considered the vulnerability to fire; we were in a forest, after all, and troops needed to breathe to be effective.

We reached a small clearing, and reality proved to be worse than my fears. The place was a small box, with a low wall and shuttered windows all around. It was hard to tell with the roof collapsed, but there might have been a skylight with angles on the air too. Each corner was actually a small round tower and the entire thing was made of logs that were bigger than I was.

The very air seemed to warp with the power of the wards still on the place, and those were just the ones still intact; I could tell there was more.

It was the strongest death trap I’d ever seen, even half burned and open to the elements.

Golem met my look with one of his own. “Like most experiments, it was a failure. But there were few casualties on this one, most people got out.”

That raised a question. “You were here?”

Golem shook his head. “Nah, no one here now was; this was all well before our time, a good thirty years ago.”

So not that bad. Military thinking always did take some time to evolve. The place was remarkably well preserved for it’s age, no doubt thanks to the words of power I had yet to see inscribed on it.

I really wanted to see those. “Chances the place is trapped?”

“Well, not high, but not zero.”

I’d take it. “Grex, go scope it out.”

“As you command, my Mistress.” Grex faded from sight as Golem swore.

“What?”

“Nothing,” he told me. “Just my own fault. I should have remembered how the place affects newbies. No offense, lieutenant.”

“None taken.” Yeah something like this would be a huge draw for the average summoner; an opportunity to learn in the field should never be passed up on.

Golem used the hand signal for stop and wait, and the squad took up positions watching each other and went to ground.

No sooner had they done so than Grex was back. “No traps of any kind, My dear Mistress.”

“Right, let’s go then.”

This close, it was easy to see that the door had half burned and rotted, the victim of elements and time. It hadn’t broken, immediately however, a testament to the power of whatever words lay carved on the other side of it. The walls were likewise still standing, in their own saggy way.

The place screamed to my senses, like being close to a live high voltage wire. So why was the roof gone? Surely, that would have been covered as well? Flyers were a common thong after all.

I bent down and picked up a piece of roof; it was a split log wooden tile, so thin I could break it with one hand. Oh, the shame of it all; the roof had come down first because it was the most vulnerable to breakage, the work on the rest of the place undone by a mistake of tragic proportions.

The place throbbed. Even though I could tell the writing on the walls had been defaced, with the silver poured into the carvings chiseled out, there was somehow still plenty of power here. This was the very sort of place we were discouraged from making in the States; the type of place a summoner could hole up in and it would take an army to root him out.

Of course, it had clearly taken an army to make, so there was that.

There were old shell casings on the floor of the place, under every window. Marks of claws riddled every sill.

It looked like, once up, this was the sort of stronghold that couldn’t be ignored – so the enemy hadn’t. Instead they had hit it, again and again, making the place too hot for the defenders to stay. How would you even resupply a base like this, once it was enveloped in a siege?

The words… were they Etruscan? Something even older? There was something about them…

Grex was studying them too, his face as blank as a mask.

I pulled out my field notebook and got started. The same calls for protection and immunity from dark powers that graced every such installation, but the language wasn’t one in common use by us today. Some variant of Babylonian or Etruscan, likely predating Hebrew. I was more a the hobbyist in ancient languages most summoners were than a P.H.D., but even I could tell something was there.

“Do you recognize it Grex?”

My demon shot me a look. “I don’t recognize one hairless monkey language over another. Do you recognize it, my Mistress?”

“Kind of. I haven’t seen anything quite like it, but it looks familiar. There’s just something about it.”

Grex nodded. “Yes, a certain elegance of line to it.”

That was...odd. For Grex to say something nice about anything, it must be as amazing as sliced bread; for him to say a language had elegance of line was the same as anyone else standing up and cheering about it until they fell over from lack of air.

But I had to admit my own fumbling attempts seemed somehow less complete than the crude-seeming carvings I was staring at. At least they got the message or meaning across, and expressed on paper, the relationship to Babylonian was even more clear; they were close sister languages. I certainly never expected to find anything like this out here; this front wasn’t the complete backwater that Russia was, but I wouldn’t exactly call it a mecca of learning.

I really wanted to find the authors, but they hadn’t signed their work and as old as this building was, they had to be dead. I’d look it up once I went stateside again. If I made it to go stateside again.

Golem poked his head in the door. He seemed entirely unaffected by what he saw. “Come on Ma’am. We’re burning daylight.”

Must be a case of repeated exposure.

“Alright Sergeant, on my way.”

Miles to go before we sleep, and all that.

This was just like camping. Pick a spot, start a small fire, get rained on, have your groundcloth fail. Have your tent retain the water, and all your stuff get wet. Shiver in the cold for hours with your teeth chattering hard enough to crack, everyone has to have been there before, right?

Sure, there was no tent, the sleeping bag was paper thin and did nothing, and I was surrounded by armed people and booby traps, but it was essentially the same.

I used to love camping, but this sucked.

“You okay, Lieutenant?” Golem asked me.

“No, I’m frickin’ freezing!”

“Pipe down, you big baby! It’s only about fifty degrees.”

Should I reprimand her? It seemed like Lewd was getting a bit too familiar. Decisions, decisions. “Fifty degrees and raining. It’s cold.”

Lewd gave me a lopsided grin. “Just wait. As it’s drying, if you’re moving – it can chafe.”

“Perfect.” I told her.

But wait, I had a secret weapon for that. My clothes would be dry in seconds if I wanted them to be. Yep, just like camping.

“Lewd has a point. Out here, silence is golden.” Corporal Black informed us all, not quite aiming those admonishing words my way.

“Then you should probably be silent,” I told him. “I’ll try and keep my teeth from clacking.”

The good Corporal wisely stayed silent. But wise-cracking companions was also part of camping, even if I was their superior officer and their mission was to die for me.

If I had to guess, it was the small hours, which was close enough. “Grex, veni huc!”

There was only so much time I could stand being unprotected. Well, that wasn’t quite right; unprotected by anything that was more than a speed bump against a demon. It was only paranoia if they weren’t actually out to get you. I was surprised I’d gotten any sleep last night with Grex gone, but my loyal troops had all but told me they couldn’t sleep with him there, and a watch would be sufficient.

Grex did one of his usual tricks, rising next to me from the ground up, his arms wrapped around me. He stiffened slightly when instead of pulling away, I leaned into him, and I congratulated myself for actually noticing.

“You bellowed, my Mistress?”

That clinched it, he had t be watching me when he was back home. Why else would he make that reference?

“I called softly, yes. I want you to check out around our camp for anything hostile to us, then report back.”

“Just report?” He asked. “I’m not to eliminate it?”

As if. “Not automatically, no. If you find something, come back and tell me what and where it is.”

“Understood.” He stated for the record, then vanished with a puff of short lived fire.

A puff of fire which suspiciously large, didn’t burn my clothes, but felt very warm.

It made me wonder what he wanted. Probably virgin blood or something.

At the summoning, the rest of the loyal troops woke up, stirring in the dim light. I guess they really couldn’t sleep with a demon about, which was kind of interesting; how did something like that work? A sixth sense? Experience? The other senses filling in, like smelling brimstone or something?

I almost felt bad. Then the cold returned, and it was time to time to move no matter who was tired. “Golem, let’s get started.”

“Sure thing,” he told me. Then he addressed the troops. “Breakfast time.”

MRE’s were brought out; we had breakfast ones, but I just grabbed one of mine at random.

Grex puffed back into range, warming me again.

“Back already?”

“Do you know of any reason I should take my time at such a trivial task?” He challenged me.

“No, and I’d rather you didn’t if you don’t have to. To that end, why did it take you so long to do such searches before?”

“Well, you did not specify times by which the searches were to be complete, and I like the sweet air of Earth. Am I not allowed to take my time on such trivial tasks?”

He smiled at me, as if he hadn’t just contradicted himself in the space of two sentences. Well, I guess he hadn’t directly, but it was close enough.

“Alright, so what else have you been sandbagging me on?”

Grex widened his grin. “That is a very long list. I dare say your team of apes won’t get much walking done if you insist on hearing it.”

Right, I was going to need to be more careful in the future. “Fine. Let’s go. Keep an eye our for trouble Grex, and I don’t mean literally.”

Knowing the mood he was in, he’d do it, blood, screams, and all. Just to be a jerk.

I looked up and he already had two fingers around his left eye, all set to pinch it out.

I couldn’t stop the sigh, and I could feel the headache start. “I need more coffee to put up with this.”

“I can help you with that.” Grex told me.

My joy upon hearing those words was only matched by my suspicion. He had just told me about some wiggle room I’d left him, after all.

“How?”

“By going to get some of course. All you need do is tell me to do it. Your wish is my command, after all.”

That almost sounded like a challenge. Which of course meant that was exactly what it was.

“Fine, Grex go get me coffee. No side trips, and don’t do anything you know I won’t approve of.” That should be as ironclad a bind as any list of things I could name.

Grex gave nothing away, his face bland as he disappeared, leaving a whispered “Of course” and an afterimage of his teeth behind, both floating on the wind.

“You didn’t just….”

I turned to find Golem staring at me wide eyed through the cage his large hand made on his face.

“Yes she did. She just ordered her demon to get her coffee. I fucking saw it.” Lewd was staring at me with something uncomfortably like awe.

“I’ve seen it. I’ve officially seen everything.” Black saw fit to inform us, shaking his head.

“I’m more angry she didn’t include us,” E.T. groused, giving me a look. “What are we, chopped liver?”

That last one needed to be addressed – it wouldn’t do to have my people think I didn’t care. “I can’t be totally sure he won’t spike yours with something, if I order him to bring more.”

E.T didn’t buy it. “You just ordered him not to do anything you’d disapprove of. Are you saying you’d approve of him poisoning us?”

Urk. “Alright, you got me. I just didn’t think of it. But if you want an example, under the right circumstances I could easily see myself poisoning you given the chance, and that might be enough wiggle room for Grex.”

Everyone tensed up, hands on weapons. “Relax, relax, I’m not crazy! I meant that, in the event one of you turned traitor, I might take action. Asking Grex not to do anything I wouldn’t approve of doesn’t really cover that, just because I wouldn’t do anything now doesn’t mean circumstances can’t change. Grex could use that; however poisoning my own coffee is something I would never do.”

“Not crazy, huh?” Eve asked, relaxing.

“Well, not crazier? Will you accept that?”

Golem had not relaxed, but he wanted me to think he had. “All summoners are crazy. It’s in the manual or something.

“It might be in the coffee,” Black opined, which was somewhat disturbing. But I was pretty sure I’d disapprove of crazy pills in my coffee too.

Grex poofed back into existence all at once with a pop, and no fire. He grinned when he saw every weapon we had pointed his way, my own included.

“I apologize, there was a line I was forced to wait through.” He held a coffee in a foam cup I recognized. It bore the logo of the coffee shop around the corner from the apartment complex that had recently been my home. My recent home, in Arizona. My recent home in Arizona which was so near summoner central there was no way Grex hadn’t been recognized. In his other hand, he held something out to me… my debit card.

Just, what? “Did you really…?” I took both items. I know my card had been in my wallet, but here it was, filched from my pocket somehow. The coffee smelled heavenly.

“Order your favorite? Of course.”

I had to ask. “Did you see Karen?” Or did Karen see you, more to the point. If so, I could expect a call soon, cell service denial here or no.

“Of course not, we are several hours ahead of her in the day cycle.”

It was true the cafe was open twenty-four seven due to it’s location, but still, that was nuts.

“Did your demon just pop over to America to get you coffee?” Golem asked in a whisper.

“It seems so,” I answered, taking the cup. It certainly tasted like my favorite blend.

“...The fuck? Demons can do that?” Santa exclaimed, rather loudly. Too loudly, perhaps.

“Only the strongest, but we already knew that.” Dod answered him, even though I was sure the question was rhetorical.

“Yes, Grex can do that,” I told them all and then took another sip. “And I’d appreciate it if you didn’t let on that he just did, or might be in the future.”

I’d never send Grex for ammunition or something else during a fire-fight, but there were ways to use this.

“In the future?” Golem asked, suspicious.

I sipped again. It was still hot, but oh so good. “Sure. I’m thinking pizza party. Tonight.”

There were snickers, but I didn’t see from who. Grex probably did, but he was too busy looking on as blandly as possible.

“….Are you trying to bribe us to keep quiet? With pizza?”

“….Maybe?” I admitted, staring Golem right in the eye.

“Sold. I haven’t had a good pizza in forever.”

“A good pizza might be difficult to find, if I am to consider the opinions of these monkeys, my Mistress.”

That was a valid concern; Having Grex pop all over the place only increased our risk and his chance for discovery.

“Such a child, I swear.” Golem muttered.

“I heard that.”

He looked up and deadpanned. “Whoops. Drink your coffee, Lieutenant.”

I took that answer as a yes.

Rigger had other ideas. “I’ll take beer instead. The beer around here sucks.”

“Not on duty you won’t. I don’t want drunken soldiers watching my back in the middle of demon infested woods.”

“Fair point,” Rigger admitted with a shrug.

Golem clapped, the sound like thunder. “Alright, enough talk, let’s get moving. Pack up and gear up, we leave in five.”

I packed up while Grex held my coffee. I could probably get him to pack for me, but something might get left out if that happened. Something important that I would miss later. Like losing my utility knife wouldn’t hurt me, but it would certainly be annoying. My extra clothes that no one knew about, or would know about, was another thing I’d miss.

We started moving on time, and I reclaimed my coffee. I ignored the lusty eyes cast upon it as I drank deeply. Yes, I could walk and drink at the same time without making a mess of myself! Fear my co-ordination!

I didn’t even feel a pull from Grex anymore upon that tranquil pool of power I possessed. Even with the jewelry. The link was there of course, and it felt as strong as ever. As soothing as ever. But of the drain I was supposed to feel, or even the drain that I actually felt, there was only the barest hint of anything. I couldn’t even properly call it a tug, it was so faint.

I wasn’t sure I liked that.

I needed time to ask Grex what that meant; was my jewelry losing potency again? It would almost have to be, and yet we couldn’t actually stop and deal with it in front of an entire team of paranoid trigger happy army types.

It was time to go. “Dod, you’re point today. Rigger, you’re drag. Perry, you’re left, E.T., you’re right. Twenty feet apart minimum, but don’t lose sight of each other.”

There, that almost sounded professional. Golem even nodded once, sharply.

E.T. grumbled and muttered about being a wing, though he was smart enough to do it nearly silently.

It was a nice sunny day, if a little chilly. Birds were chirping, insects were buzzing, and the surroundings were peaceful – at least until we tromped through them. I turned the flow of time on my uniform up a bit and as expected it dried out fairly quickly. It didn’t even behave differently.

What a horrifying power that was. Could I do that to people? Age them until they died of old age, in seconds?

No, I could not. Even testing such a thing to see if it was possible would lead me down a very dark path. Even thinking of it was too much. Could I do the reverse? Would I dare test that? No, that too was wrong. I couldn’t affect other living creatures, I was sure of it; to even believe otherwise would be madness, and put me on par with a minor god such as should not be held before the real one.

Affecting myself was only natural however.

Grex needed to stop grinning at me from his position, floating invisibly. Every time I clapped eyes on him, he was showing teeth, as if he knew what I was thinking, and that wasn’t one of our powers. I could only imagine the true horror if it was. Wait, could other demons read minds? It wasn’t listed in any of the literature I’d read, but some legends had them just knowing things, and clearly humanity hadn’t done more than just scratch the surface of what some demons could do.

Seventy-ish years was not a long time for research into a new field, if such could be called research. Especially in a war footing.

Speaking of the war, I should get my mind back into it; E.T. was beckoning, and Golem was on his way over. I decided to join them against my better judgement, since wandering in the woods with no conversation or anything to keep yourself busy was boring. Well, when it wasn’t terrifying.

They were both hunched over what looked like a small game trail, whispering. I got closer, and nestled in between two roots, away from most wind and rain, was a small track. The track of a boot. A nearly smooth-soled boot; not one of ours, or any modern boot.

The track was in soft dirt churned up by the tree roots that sheltered it, and was just beginning to crumble around the edges. It was also pointed almost arrow straight toward the base, which raised an interesting question or two.

Like this one. “Grex, are you even paying attention?”

“Of course I am, my Mistress. Do you need more coffee?”

Okay, so maybe I was being a little unfair. But if that’s how he wanted to play it… “I’m fine, thanks. How did someone get past you? This looks like some random loon decided to take a walk. A walk that would take it right to us, and you didn’t detect them.”

Grex came down and looked. “I suspect that track is older than you think it is, if you believe the person who made it went past me. From the looks of it, we were on our first patrol at the time this track was made, if not on that delightful plane over the ocean.”

“But this person,” probably a man judging from the size of the track, but one could never be sure - “would have been a day or so closer to us yesterday.”

“If they hadn’t changed direction,” Golem stated. “And we have no evidence of that.”

“Then let’s find it. There isn’t supposed to be anyone in this forest at all.” Anyone stupid or desperate enough to actually come to demon frequented woods was someone I wanted to talk to.

We grouped up then split up again, searching for more footprints, broken branches, or marks on or in trees. A good long thirty minutes turned up a good fat nothing, so I gave the signal for another regroup.

“Well?”

“We mark it, and call it in if we can,” Golem answered. “We don’t have time to backtrack and no idea which direction to go.”

I wasn’t happy with that. “Alright. Black, radio it in. The rest of you, spread out again, same places as last time. If we can’t find out where our mystery guest is going, let’s find out where they’ve been.”

Finding out where they had been was just as easy as finding out where they were going, it turned out. We did however, find another track like the first at a small creek fed pool; it looked like whoever it was had stopped here for water, maybe as long as five days ago.

Probably sooner than that, since it was a half day from the first track at an easy hiking pace. Rigger found it while filling a canteen, which spoke to how good this guy was.

The question was, how badly did I want to know what this person was doing? How badly did I want to find him?

A gesture later and we were huddled, or mostly huddled. Grex was keeping a casual look out, which meant we were probably pretty safe.

“Alright so how bad do we want this person? You all have more experience here than I do.”

“Technically no one is supposed to be here, and anyone who is here is assumed to be a demon puppet of one kind or another,” Golem explained. “However, there are some people who live in the woods or near it, and do their thing. At least, until the demons eat them. Not many, but there are some.”

That didn’t muddy the waters at all.

“Alright, so…?”

“We track them down. Could be another sniper.” Dod opined idly, chewing on some piece of grass I hoped wasn’t hallucinagenic.

“We don’t bother,” Black disagreed. “It’s almost certainly a loner squatting in a shack somewhere.”

Eve broke the silence. “Most of those don’t come so close to us.”

I think that was the first time I’d heard Eve talk since yesterday morning.

It was clear the consensus was going somewhere. “Right. So we find him, but it’s not really important enough to sideline the patrol?”

Golem held his hand out and waffled it. “It’s your call, technically.”

Right. “Alright, we will continue as planned. But… I’m still going to handle the potential problem. It’s time for you all to meet the twins, I think.”

“That doesn’t sound ominous at all,” Musad muttered. I took a few steps out of the huddle.

“Don’t freak out, alright? Abnex, Sarex, veni huc!”

The twins dropped from the sky like birds of prey, pulling up right before they would hit me. And of course, they started in immediately.

“Are these meatbags...”

“Bothering you, Milady?”

And in stereo: “Shall we kill them?”

“No, they are my soldiers while I’m here. I have a different task for you, and you will complete it.” It was best to be firm with the twins.

They stiffened, picking up on my tone immediately, and saluted. Their salutes were sloppier than mine. At least they were trying, I guess. Or maybe they were mocking; with demons, it was tough to tell.

“I want you to find the owner of the boot that made this track as soon as possible under the following conditions. You are to do nothing else while here. You are to find this person, and bring them directly to me, without causing them any lasting damage. You are to hurt no one else by either any sort of action, direct or indirect. Do you understand those instructions?”

“We do,” they chorused.

“Then go.”

They both flapped at once, plunging upwards straight as arrows, before flying off in the direction of the first track.

I symbolically washed my hands of the whole thing; the deed was already done after all, and walked back to my shell shocked troops. Grex at least was at ease; if not bored.

I probably shouldn’t ask, but I had to. “What?”

“You just summoned two demons with your contract words, then set them loose,” Olympic told me. “No circle, no binding, no blood.”

Oh. Right. “My contract to Grex gives me dominion over them, technically. The words themselves, the marching orders, are binding enough. I’ve used the twins before, and they can’t overstep.”

“That’s… pretty impressive.” Golem muttered, closing his mouth.

“I told you all I could summon and control multiple demons.” I pointed out.

“Yeah we heard you, but… summoners,” Golem returned.

True, summoners did have some rather sketchy views on reality. I couldn’t deny that charge, even for myself.

“Well, I’m pretty sane, at least so far.”

“A paragon of sanity,” Grex stated.

“Yes, thank you Grex,” Help like that in my corner was no help at all. “Anyway, the twins have their mission, and we have ours. Rigger, did we get any reply on the radio?”

“No response yet, Snow. I think it’s being jammed at the source again.”

Well, I wouldn’t know if my choice was right until after, I guess. Fine by me. “Whatever, let’s get to work.”

Another cold and nearly sleepless night in a foxhole, watching my breath frost. I never thought France was this cold, but I guess with it being close to winter, it was expected. Maybe.

Grex brought coffee as soon as the first sliver of the sun rose over the horizon, as I had ordered him too. A full thermos of coffee from home this time, one I could share with the troops.

The twins were nowhere to be found, yet. Worrying was inappropriate for the situation; at least, worrying about them. Worrying about the damage they could cause is still fair game.

I munched my mostly flavorless protein bar down as Grex packed up for me. My loyal troops were already ready of course, and at least some were actually drinking the coffee provided. They had waited until after I'd sampled the thermos, but it was still a step in the right direction.

I finished up as Grex did. "Right, time to go. Lewd, you're on point. Santa, left wing, Musad, right wing. Fifteen foot spacing, arrow."

A perfect formation for sweeps; I didn't want anything getting by us and I hated single file. Anyone lining up was just asking for it, as far as I was concerned.

"Grex, keep an eye out."

I wanted Grex invisible and in the air, but the forest was still too thick. I'd have to settle for him helping out with his eyes and other senses, which I already knew were better than human. That and trust that since he knew I wanted my soldiers alive, he'd at least warn us rather than watch the fireworks.

Another day of walking. At least I was going to stay in shape.

I couldn't believe I was already bored to tears. I should be very happy to be bored to tears, but I couldn't even read!

It was nearly lunch when the I heard flapping. I felt them before I saw them. "The twins are back."

Then they crashed through the trees like little bombs, right on top of us. Branches rained down, and despite my warning, weapons were raised and safeties clicked off. It was luck alone that no one fired.

They had a very shaken human between them, and Abnex had a ratty looking rifle slung on his shoulder.

"We found your human."

"He looked up to no good."

"So we detained him." The twins finished together, pushing the old guy forward.

The man himself was very old, very dirty, and dressed in ragged clothes that had seen better days - right around the industrial revolution. The plain shirt alone was more holes than cloth, and the pants were stiff with what I hoped was dirt.

At least he didn't stink too badly, which was a wonder in itself.

The old man was a little roughed up too, which was to be expected from a long flight and a powerdive like that one. It was a wonder both his arms hadn't been dislocated. He wasn't cowed at all though, stepping right up to me.

"You in charge here?" His English was heavily accented, but it was good.

"For now." I was interested to see where he'd take this.

"So the military is arresting honest hunters now? Honest men?"

Golem face palmed. "Renny, you know damn well you aren't allowed in here, for your own safety. Why are you back again?"

"You know this guy?" I asked my Sargeant.

"That's Renoir, or Renny. He's a crotchety old bastard that's lived here longer than the demons. He's one of those holdouts I mentioned, he lives a few miles away, and hunts in the woods sometimes. Somehow the demons haven't gotten him yet, but he's harmless."

The old man's eyes crinkled and I realized he was smiling. It was hard to tell when his mouth jowls wouldn't move. "I've even been tried as a spy, twice. Set free both times."

"I see. Well I found your track and wanted to make sure you weren't a sniper."

"Can't hit anything farther than fifty feet away any more," the man replied readily. "My eyes ain't what they used to be."

Looking at him, I could believe it.

"You probably won't catch anything then," I told him.

He snorted. "I have my ways. Besides, catching critters isn't the point. The point is to hunt, and no jumped up demons are going to stop me from doing what I want."

Technically I was within my rights to detain this man. But if he had already been given due process twice, and come through, it was probably a waste of time.

"Fine. Just don't shoot us with that thing. Abnex give him his rifle back. Release him."

"No apology?" He asked, eyes bright.

"Don't press your luck," I replied with my best scowl.

He touched his forelock and bowed with a flourish, then walked back the direction we'd come without another word.

It was interesting that he knew enough about us to mark me out as new. Then again it could just be an educated guess, since turnover and casualties both were high in the armies of the world. I didn't think so though; he was too easy with us, too used to interacting with uniforms, and too blase about getting caught by demons.

The wild demons probably didn't consider him worth the effort; too old and stringy.

Golem nodded to himself. "You handled that well, Renny tends to break in most of the newbies. Most don't handle it as well."

"I'm not really happy about letting him go; anyone working that long in this area without death obviously has a thing going on; some advantage somewhere."

Golem nodded again. "We aren't sure what it is, but we've had him tested before. He's not a summoner or demon marked, just an ordinary human. He likely has a variety of well made boltholes across the forest, or the demons just dont think he's worth killing."

I turned to Grex, my resident expert on demon thoughts. "What do you think?"

"I certainly wouldn't bother," Grex answered. "Too old, too frail, and barely a soul left. As long as he did nothing to me, and bowed his head as I walked by. But the weaker among us might kill him out of spite. Still, he is human, without any of the usual protections. A mild curiosity but no more."

I turned to the other resident demons in the house; they glanced at Grex in unison, then nodded.

"You sure? Nothing at all demonic about him? Tell me the truth, now."

A good warning should be all it took for them. Grex couldn't tell a lie when I ordered him not to, so...."

"There is something odd about the situation, certainly, but nothing demonic about the man." Grex stated clearly.

Well that was that then. "Alright Twins, you did your job, you're off the hook. Go home."

The twins vanished in a puff of flame, their identical smirks disappearing last, and flames licking the damp leaves.

Golem shook his head. "I'm beginning to think you have too much power. Your answer to potential problems seems... remarkably straightforward.

"I'm a simple kind of girl," I answered, marveling over the fact that the gender word came easily anymore.

"Yeah, you're the hammer, seeing nails everywhere. It's a bad rut to get into."

It was probably too late for me, but I couldn't deny he had a point. When had I started to trust this power so recklessly? It was pure evil after all, there was no other way to describe it, no way to mitigate it. The source was the same as that trying to kill us all.

No, trusting the power was a bad move, even if it was mine for the next nine years. And reliance on it was definitely going to be an issue once I no longer had it. I'd seen what that did to Mom, after all. At least, I was pretty sure that was part of her problem.

"Maybe so, but while I'm here I don't think that's going to change. So far, my hammer has come in quite handy. Feel free to tell me I'm using it too much, but don't expect me to stop making things easier for us."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Golem told me, even though he clearly just tried to.

"Let's just go before we gather dust and the demons take over the planet."

Grex sighed longingly, and showed teeth when we all turned his way. Just to be a dick, I knew.

It was too bad I couldn't order him to take point while staying safe. I never wanted anything more in this moment.

I'd have to settle. "Grex, shut up unless it's to warn me of danger to myself and mine."

He nodded and mimed zipping his lips, still with that smirk. Well i couldn't really tell him to stop smiling - could I?

Without further ado we started off, with Grex sticking close and everyone else spreading out. Then we walked, and I realized we probably could have stopped for lunch. Too late now, best to just grin and bear it.

Soon I was ready to call a lunch break just to break the monotony. It was crazy how something so outwardly boring could be so tense. It was even more crazy that I found myself missing my days as a cop; sure it was sometimes dull, but it was never like this. Or maybe I just didn't feel it at the time. Maybe my glasses were rose colored; I didn't know.

But this almost felt ridiculous; there were more shoes to drop, I was sure of it.

But no shoes to drop today, it seemed. Night fell with a thump, signalling the end of another day's progress. I checked where we were against my map, both my own senses and compass showing us to be right on schedule.

The next major obstacle tomorrow would be a gulch I wanted to swing around rather than go through; it looked like prime ambush territory.

Grex was standing around staring at me. "Grex, dig my foxhole," I ordered.

I'd done it the last couple nights, he could do it once.

"As you command, my Mistress," Was his response, and just as suddenly there was a hole there. The hole looked more like a grave than a foxhole, but at least Grex had included steps to get out with.

Where he'd gotten the perfectly stone for it was beyond me, but it was the thought that counted, right? At least I had enough room to stretch out in to sleep, right?

"Thank you Grex." It was best not to acknowledge the weirdness; to give credit to it was to encourage more of it.

My loyal troops shot me more than one glance, ranging from jealousy to pity filled. I took note of the ones with pity in them, and where they were from - those were probably the old timers. Not that I would encourage such behavior, I wasn't a crazy summoner like almost every other summoner out there. Never you mind how many other summoners no doubt say the same thing, traitorous mind; I've got this covered.

"So, how close are we?" Golem asked, pointing to the map I was putting away.

"Right on target, best as I can tell. We might be a hundred feet off either way."

"Excellent," was the response. "I'd hate to be lost."

I doubted that he could ever get lost. I doubted that very much; he probably knew better than I did where we were.

The plan for tonight was to circle up, fortify up as best as possible, and ride out the night. So far everyone was on the same page, and you cold almost draw perfect lines from hole to hole. The latrine would be in the center, because no one would be wandering off to get picked off, horror movie style. We'd just deal with the stink.

I broke out some reading material while the camp started taking shape. Knowledge was power, and I didn't know nearly enough yet.

"My Mistress."

Huh? I was totally awake; Ancient Hebrew in no way put me to sleep faster than a fist full of Lunesta.

"Yes?"

"Do you still desire me?"

I choked on my spit, and he grinned his insufferable grin.

"My presence, I mean. My duties here are complete, unless you have more for me to do."

Right, the troops don't like the demon standing over them while they try to sleep. The sun was down and I could see from here the traps were set, and set correctly.

I shook my head and went back to my book; my eyes were pretty good with low amounts of light, so I still had time. "Bring me another thermos of coffee, the way I normally like it and with no unusual additives, and then you can knock off for the night Grex."

My demon sighed. I knew it pissed him off to be relegated to basically a gopher, I could feel it through our bond. It didn't matter either way, for the next nine years I wore the pants in this family. Not that I considered Grex family ever, but that was the expression.

A thermos was soon in my hands, and Grex did his fire poofing thing. I then took the excess and made a small fire in one corner of my nightly home. I couldn't think of a use for it right now, but a flame was always useful. Not to mention cheering.

Perhaps I'd use it for boiling water, or warming rocks for sleeping on. Assuming I could find any of the latter, that is. No. No weakness, as cheering as this was, it had to go out, if only to protect my night-vision. Not to mention the smell could lure things here. I stamped it out.

That did give me an idea, however. A dangerous and very stupid idea... one that would have to be shelved for now.

"Golem, you can set the watch. At least two and two shifts. Anything more than that is fine but extra."

"Understood, Snow."

I tuned Golem out as he went to work; it was hard enough reading this crap without splitting my attention. Seriously, this was like what not to do with a language. It was very odd that between the "shalt not suffer a witch to live" comments was enough magic spells to start Hogwart's, but what did I know?

The name of my Sargeant was the hint for this excursion into yester-year. Maybe I could make actual Golems to save the troops; I had fewer limits on my magic than most. That is, if I could find the actual recipe, and not just the cautionary tale.

It was funny. The whispered conversations going on around me I could ignore; ditto with the assorted groans and light snores. But a single twig snapping in the forest beyond my foxhole? That got my attention before I even realized what it was.

It was good to be in the company of like-minded people. In an instant, the light snores and other assorted sounds stopped, and I could hear all of us straining our ears to the utmost.

Another crack, isolated from all other sounds, quite clearly done deliberately, and just as clearly done right on the outskirts of our ring of traps.

Something was messing with us, and with that act, it was unlikely to be human. Still, it was best to make sure. I popped a flare.

I didn't pop it by hand, of course, it was popped remotely; there were several of them placed around the camp, hidden with the traps on the line. Each was set to pop if the traps were set off or tampered with, but they could also be set off remotely. Number seven was probably the closest, so I keyed that one up.

The flares were mixed with some alchemical odds and ends to make them very irritating to certain things that went bump in the night. This had the side effect of making them too short-lived to be more than an annoyance. But in this case, where something intelligent clearly knew we were here and could likely see us better than we could it, the flares had a real purpose.

This one popped and we all squinted at the lone growl, or rather the source of it.

I knew what this was. I'd seen one in action before; a hellhound. I'd seen one rip apart a fast food place, forever ago. This one was in its natural element, sniffing for us and pawing at the side of its face the flare had burned by going off.

It certainly knew who and were we all were though.One baleful eye zeroed in on me far more quickly than it had any right to.

I was almost insulted. THIS was what interrupt my reading with smug twig cracks? This thing thought it had what it took to give me fear? I mean, all demons were dangerous, sure, but after what I've already been through, this little puppy thought it could walk up to me, growl a little, and I'd crack? Please.

I slowed time's hold upon me, drawing lightly on my true power; the world slowed down. The hellhound was almost frozen in mid-bark, and my troops were even worse, barely beginning to react to the threat.

I had all the time in the world, it seemed, to stride up casually and stab the canine in the hindquarters. I wasn't going near those teeth, that was just stupid. The head was turning to follow me, but it was far too slow; the athame penetrated easily, the runes lighting up in response to the contact with unsanctified flesh, or whatever demons were really made of.

A simple trickle of power channeled into the blade, and the demon was no more. Thankfully it wasn't one of the explodey kinds of demon, instead choosing to vanish like a heat haze with a pitiful whine. Better for my clothes at least; I let go and time resumed its normal flow.

"What the fuck was that?" Golem all but yelled in a hoarse whisper.

I almost stopped, but remembered I made a hell of a target. "What did you mean, what was that? You've never seen a hellhound before?"

"Not the hellhound, you." Golem clarified. "You were in your hole, then you were out, and the hellhound was gone."

"An application of slowing time. Same ability I can use to save lives, I can use to stab demons."

There was muttering. Some of it even sounded complimentary.

"I thought I saw a blur, but...."

"I'm glad I didn't fire."

As if they would hit me if they all shot. I could totally do some asian movie crap with bullets now. "Enough already, go back to sleep and the watch."

Standard protocol was to move after a demon encounter. Basically to run like hell, even if you won; but I really didn't want to take down the traps, move all the crap, and move at all at night. We were still fine, here.

But just to be sure. "Grex, veni huc!"

He held a hand out as I started down the steps he'd made earlier, looking impeccable as usual. "You bellowed, my Mistress?"

"You're slacking. We had a visit from a bad dog."

Grex artfully raised an eyebrow. "Yet, you were in no danger."

Bullcrap. I'd come a long way, but not that long. Or something. "Whatever. You're now on watch, and I'm going to bed. Sorry guys, but you're just going to have to put up with him. Now Grex, no pranks, lethal or otherwise, no mind games, just watch and respond to threats. And that means threats to any of us, not just me."

Grex bowed low. "As you command, my Mistress. Sleep well."

I knew my loyal troops would not be happy, and still be watching, but I wanted them paranoid and alive rather than happy and dead. Or however that would work. I'd sleep better at least.

The dawn broke, early and bright. One blink and the sight became a little more believable.

Yes, that was a breakfast of eggs and bacon settled on a small crate before me. Yes, that was coffee next to it. Yes, that was a morning paper from my hometown sitting there next to the plate. There was even a small vase with a flower stuck in it; some pink thing.

There was even a cloth napkin, and silverware. The only thing missing was the orange juice.

"Grex, what the hell is this?"

Grex faded into sight. "That is breakfast, of course. What ails you, my Mistress?"

"I didn't ask for any breakfast, and you let me sleep late. Why did you get food for me, from where, and why did you let me sleep?"

"I wanted to. Your current diet is... unbefitting. I let you sleep because you needed the rest," Grex pointed wide. "All is in preparation for this nature hike of yours."

"Did you do anything to the food which would cause me not to eat it, if I know what you've done to it?" I asked, because with Grex you always had to ask.

"No, I've anticipated your question and I've been good," Grex confirmed with a smarmy grin that he long since should have trademarked. "Neither the breakfast I've made for you, nor the coffee, or indeed anything else I've made for you thus far today fails to conform to the rules for normal human consumption in your culture."

That was... pretty exact, and had to be true, given that any lie he fed me immediately broke our contract in my favor. "So, no bugs?"

Grex kept his smile up, but I knew the question irritated him. It was the small victories, sometimes.

"No, no maggots, roaches, leeches, or demonic fungi were used in the meal."

It was best to let that pass; I'd have time to ask later, probably.

He was probably trying to put me off my feed, as the saying went. With a shrug I took a bite; the bacon tasted right to me.

My soldiers were staring at me and my plate in turns. Some of them were even drooling.

As always, Golem voiced their thoughts. "Come on, really?"

Well, they didn't know. "He can't lie to me, it's part of the terms of our contract. So if he says the food is to my taste and fit for human consumption, it is. If you guys don't say anything... I'll share. How about tonight being pizza night?"

"Works for me."

"Pizza from where?"

"I'm in!"

Well, that was easy. I answered the question. "Lewd, pizza from this authentic fake Italian place I know, back in my hometown. Basically delivery pizza, not cardboard."

Golem just shook his head. "I don't get paid enough for this shit."

I couldn't fight down the urge. "No need to worry about price, I'll pay for it."

Golem growled at me, sounding just like a big dog warning me off.

"Secondary mission for the day; everyone think of the toppings they want." That should keep them occupied.

Grex hadn't been exaggerating the situation either, aside from me and my sleeping bag, everything was packed up and ready to go. I hurried as much as I dared without descending to the level of gross mannerless heathen, and grabbed the paper.

"Grex, clean this up."

I was tempted to tell him to fill in the foxholes, but I had a feeling I'd need them.

No, wait, they offered a good hiding place for demons, if demons came this way.

"Also, fill in the foxholes once we're out of them and away. When you're done, catch up with us."

Grex bowed, and ground out "As you command, my Mistress."

His teeth squeaked, he was clenching them so hard. Nice. He was more pissed now than when I asked him to dig the hole. Maybe I should be worried; an angry demon looks for opportunities, as the summoner saying goes.

I rolled my sleeping bag up, tied it off, and slung it with my backpack. "Alright, let's move. Lewd, point. Dod, left wing, Eve, right wing, with 20 feet apart."

I got close to Golem as the others started off. "I get why Grex didn't wake me up, but why didn't you?"

"I couldn't get close enough with that thing floatin' over you, and I wasn't about to yell," Golem whispered back, making it a point not to look at the demon we were leaving behind.

That was fair.

"Sorry, I'll have him loom less next time."

"No need to apologize," Golem told me. "You did what you felt you needed to do."

It was pretty clear that he was insincere.

"I didn't do it because I was afraid. At least not for me; the fact is if I'm asleep, Grex can respond to and deal with ninety-nine percent of all threats by himself. I want us all going home, and if I have to rub my power in your faces to do that, I certainly will."

"A noble sentiment," Golem hissed back with some heat. "And that's exactly how the past three summoners we've had assigned us felt just before they went off the rails. They told us so themselves."

That was sobering. "Then I'll buck that trend."

I was different after all, at least in the scale of power I had if nothing else... wasn't I?

"I hope so," Golem hissed again, this time with the fire in his voice gone. "But we've seen it before. Most summoners start out sure they will change things or stop the war. Sure that they will buck the trend. Most... don't, and let's just leave it at that. It's a small jump from commanding your demon to watch over us, to having the same demon murder us in our sleep."

I wanted to say I'd never do such a thing, but Golem had clearly heard all that before.

"I get it. But you're just going to have to trust me, here."

"You aren't making it easy," Golem spit out, glaring at Perry, who had been getting close enough to hear. "Demons sent on pizza runs? Demons summoned all night, and more than one? I've seen summoners, strong summoners, break under half the pressure you've got to be under. The only explanation you've given so far is 'I bargained well'. I call bullshit."

That was one misconception I was happy to clear up. "No. I never meant to say or imply I bargained well. I said my contract was good; the fact is, I gave up... much. The amount I've lost is perhaps equal to what I've gained, if I squint just right, but I don't think so."

I had to be careful about what I said next. Things could go terrible for me here.

"However, the demon I've contracted is a Lord among their kind, among their most powerful... and because of all I've lost, for the next ten years he's mine. My mother used the same demon to halt the demons along this very front, and I can probably do the same. So in that case, I am right about being different."

"Really? The same one? So you're one of the families, then?" Golem asked.

One of the families? Not sure what that meant. "Grex set me up before I was born, somehow. Not sure what went on there exactly, since he can avoid those questions; prior contracts and all."

"Some demons have some families marked," Golem said. "They follow those families, and whenever there is a summoner, that demon is the first to show up."

That... sounded ominous. "I don't think my family is anything like that. Mom told me Grex just asked for first crack at me if I became a summoner myself. She used those exact words, 'if', not 'when'. But there is no doubt that Grex is powerful enough to help, because he's done it before."

"Families don't have strong demons, usually, so maybe you're not. Maybe Grex saw the chance. Did he ask you to follow your kids?"

Yeah I wasn't going to answer that; all sorts of bad ends led down that road. "I don't think I'm going to have kids," I started out, before remembering my Mom had said the same thing, way back when. "But even if I do, they are safe. Grex didn't put any stipulation like that in my contract. He got... other things instead."

Like the name I still couldn't remember, and the fundamental sense of self torn from me with it. I knew something was gone, but not what it was; I just felt the loss. And my soul, can't forget that. But that part was every summoner, so that wasn't really extra. I felt like there was more I was forgetting.

Either way, it wasn't important now.

"Well that's good at least," Golem replied. "Having a demon follow your kids through all the generations of your line doesn't sound like a solid idea to me."

"On that we agree," It was anybody's guess whether having demons out at all was worth it. All we were doing was slowing down the destruction of humanity, not stopping it. "Whatever happens, for better or worse, that buck stops with me."

"Yeah."

Weird, Golem sounded subdued there - almost sad. Wonder what the big guy was thinking now?

I wasn't going to ask. Any more of this conversation and questions would be asked. questions I did not want to answer or lie about.

Grex came to bail me out. He was walking along, seeming to be unhurried as he loped along slowly and somehow catching up to us as if moving twice as fast. It was a neat trick - I wonder if it was something I could learn? Despite the digging I had him do, he was impeccable. "I have finished with my humble task, my Mistress."

"Great; fall in and keep watch." It was a good thing Grex didn't need sleep like the rest of us.

"Understood my Mistress."

Golem gave me a sidelong glance. I could keep Grex out forever by this point, and Golem knew it. People were going to have to start believing me about stuff. I guess the best way to have that happen was to prove it.

So, more walking. Birds were chirping, bees were singing, little woodland creatures were roaring (but not really), it was a normal day. A normal boring day. Unlike yesterday however, there was something else. A tickle in the back of the mind, a sort of creeping dread. The feeling that something was going to happen, and soon. A feeling I hadn't had last night, come to think of it.

So of course nothing did; we had an uneventful hike in the sunshine, and uneventful lunch, then another uneventful hike. We didn't even find tracks. Which meant something of course, because animal tracks should have been all over, and yet we couldn't find anything larger than a fox or badger.

It was enough to make my not fully existent wings itch.

At five I stopped us. "Alright, let's dig in. Grex, make the call to the pizza place."

I was about to let Grex have thirty minutes free time to himself while waiting on pizzas.

I looked to my less than loyal troops. "Well?"

"You were serious?" Dod asked.

Idiot. "Your topping choice?"

"Pepperoni and mushrooms."

Odd combo. I took the rest of the tally, and we almost ended up with a pie for each of us. Pepperoni and sausage was the most popular, followed by cheese. Who ate just cheese pizza? That was weird; beyond weird, really. I used my still not confiscated phone to set a timer, then made the call. I knew the number by heart; so many late nights with Karen crashing at my place after work.

To give Grex a break and keep in shape, I dug my own hole, this time. It was more shallow than the home I had last night, but less grave-like. It also didn't need stairs.

No sooner had I finished than the phone alarm went off. Or maybe I used the excuse of my alarm to stop, not that I'd ever admit that out loud or in a court of law. I dug out my still not confiscated debit card, and handed it over.

"Okay Grex, time to go. Get the pizzas, pay for them, come back, and don't do anything I wouldn't do. Most importantly, behave."

Grex frowned, but I could tell it was mostly for effect - there weren't enough teeth showing. "I live to serve." he admitted before vanishing in a puff of fire that was... a little weak.

Lewd summed it up best: "He's not even trying anymore. I think you broke him, somehow."

"Or he's lying in wait for me to screw up."That was always a concern when dealing with demons.

I'd almost wanted to give him a time limit, but then he would have crashed any line. Things would not end well, there.

I checked my phone... three minutes. Wait, why had my phone worked on a call to Arizona? Weren't they supposed to be region locked? How did my phone work? More importantly, could I ask or not? If I asked and some shenanigans were being pulled, people would know I had no idea and crap would hit the fan. Time to rely on Grex again, once night fell. If I was really lucky, I might be able to get a second opinion on that which I didn't use summoning circles for.

Grex poofed himself back into existence, using even less flames than before; just a lot of smoke. Three pizzas in each hand, held straight. Each in its own foil bag, and with small cards taped to them.

"Names? Foil bags? Where did you even get foil pizza bags?"

"To be fair," Grex returned. "You didn't say I couldn't do nice things, or be considerate."

Well, no, of course I didn't. Why would I? "So you... decided to be nice in order to troll me?"

There the teeth were, in hair-raising display. Every single one. "Yes."

Well he couldn't lie to me. It was best to reward behavior like that, and throw the thoughts of puppies and dogs from my mind. Maybe I should get a dog if I survive.... "Well it worked. Good on you."

The pizzas were gently set on the ground, and Grex stepped away. Then looked at my loyal troops, and stepped back again. Those same loyal troops waited a moment then descended upon the feast like a pack of hungry wolves.

I waited a moment longer, then got my small mess kit out. Sure no one else was bothering to, but I wasn't going to eat like a savage.

An oversight; Grex might have forgotten something. "Napkins?"

My demon rolled his eyes at me, and removed a wad of papery goodness from his jacket pocket. I gave his offering the stink-eye; there had to be twenty napkins there. Which, given the conditions, might be just enough.

Between my small plate-skillet, the tin fork and knife, it should be enough. My first victim was the sausage and black olive pizza, which was probably going to be all mine. Not sure why everyone hated olives, but they were not loved.

The pizza was just the right amount of fat and grease; it was heavenly.

Lewd sidled up to me. "So... this is a bribe, right? To stop us from telling on you breaking procedure?"

"Absolutely," I answered. It was best to be honest. "Pizza, and maybe some other choice foods, in exchange for not going to the Colonel."

What was the Colonel going to do, really? Send me to another front?

I suppose he could view me as a threat and loose cannon, and kill me. That was an option.

"Works for me," Lewd agreed easily, chomping down half a slice of her bacon and cheese pizza in one gulp.

Golem chewed on his cheese slice thoughtfully. "I suppose some things can be left out of the official report. After all, the Colonel doesn't really need to know every little detail."

Hearing him say that was a relief. I wrote reports, but as the senior non-com so did he, and his were trusted more because he wasn't tied to a demon for ten years. Which was fair, but if we matched up or came close, the Colonel wouldn't do anything.

Well, not anything lethal at least. I'd really not like trying to prove how useful I was to avoid a firing squad - I wouldn't know where the cutoff was, and it would be all too easy to go too far.

Technically, it was possible to pull some major shenanigans here without even leaving the base. All I'd need to do was ignore certain regulations I was already ignoring.

Enough thinking. Pizza was good, that was the thing to think about.

We finished a bit early. "Alright, Dod, E.T., set the traps. The rest of you, clean the mess up so we don't attract anything we'd rather not see. Grex, you're dismissed; go get some rest and I'll call you if I need you."

Grex bowed low and vanished without a word, feet first and grin last. Everyone else got to work while I checked the map. We had stopped early, but we were still on pace, according to my best reckoning. We wouldn't be able to mess around tomorrow, however. We'd need to power walk to make pace.

Maybe we could use some energy drinks tomorrow, like Gatorade or something. Nah, no reason to spoil us all; coffee and water would be enough.

The pizza boxes were consigned to a grave of sorts, complete with mourners who hadn't been able to eat everything. Good rich dirt heaped over to cover the scents, and moss over that to cover the signs of digging.

Then we settled in to wait yet again.

Night sucked. Even when you know nothing is out there, watching you, waiting to chomp down on you as if you were a big mac, it was hard to kick the fear. It was even worse when you actually knew a bit about what went bump in the night; knew that there were actually inhuman things out there more than willing to do bad things to you just because you were human. You could go weeks, afraid of your own shadow every night.

Then something would actually come out of the darkness, and you'd remember why you feared; why the fear took over until you were unmanned. Because the things out there waiting to kill you or worse, were much stronger than you, and you could only fight them at all if they let you. That your fate was not in your own hands, or even close.

Tonight was one of those nights.

Flares popped off around us, some streaking skyward, some staying land-bound, and all making enough noise to wake the dead. They had been tripped on purpose, of course. Our entire line, hit all at once? Had to be a demon; no demon immediately visible? It wanted us to stew.

How long it wanted that was important; I doubted I had time to brush the sleep out of my eyes. the others, they could be picked off at leisure, but the moment I was spotted, I'd be killed. Probably the blinding flares were the only reasons I haven't died already.

"Grex, veni huc!"

Grex seemed to understand the situation even before he fully materialized, as he put himself together right above me - just in time to take a charge from something small and fast.

He manhandled it easily enough, throwing it off into the dark. "Use your skill, my Mistress."

Right, I should have done that first. With a thought, time slowed down.

This time I could see what slammed into Grex. An imp that looked vaguely like a skinned monkey, and about that size. From a different angle than he'd thrown in; was there more than one?

There was, a second, looking like a wizened old man of about a thousand, and a third, looking kind of dog-like, were even now streaking in at the speed of molasses. At least they weren't targeting my soldiers.

No wait, two more, looking like twin monstrosities, were targeting my soldiers. Lewd and Dod. Why were there so many imps around?

At any rate, they were more helpless than I was, despite being up already and slinging guns. I moved out of the jaws of the pincer aimed for me, throttling time down even more, and to Lewd's side. A swift stab with my athame ended her problem.

Dod was firing by the time I got to his side, and that cost me a second because he forced me to dodge.

The two meant for me had touched down, and were now looking for me. Grex had the one that attacked him in hand; he was throttling it with cold precision. What a slacker.

I shived the last two and let my hold go; time resumed it's normal flow.

There was some sporadic fire on my side as the flares dropped. "Situation is in hand for now, stand down."

The fire stopped, but the wariness didn't. Not that I blamed them for that, I wasn't entirely sure I should be sounding the all clear. Five imps was a major incursion back home, but there might be more running around.

I turned to Grex. "Ask it how many friends it had."

Grex turned an eye to me, still throttling. "Friends?"

Jerk. "Whatever, companions, allies. How many other demons he came with."

Grex turned back to our intelligence source. "You heard her. Tell me how many foolish demons you came with."

The imp could not resist, of course. "Five, traitorous great one."

One more then. "One more! eyes peeled!"

I stabbed the grinning imp casually, sending it back to hell in a cloud of ash. "Go find it Grex."

He was gone in a flash, as I used a minor trick to extend my own senses. I wasn't sure how the troops would react if both I and my demon appeared to vanish at the same time, so instead I'd save speeding up my own flow of time as a last resort.

I'd rather lure one in than let it get away. Any demon who escaped would know exactly how my team did things, and how I responded. They might even know who I was by what I could do. I didn't think that information had trickled down to the lowest rank and file, but I couldn't say for sure.

But nothing attacked. Nothing went after my team, huddled together back to back with eyes out, and nothing attacked me, off to the side.

Grex popped back in, all business, no games. "I've found nothing. The fifth demon must have ran the moment the others attacked."

We both knew the imp couldn't lie to me. "Ran and left no trace you could follow? A talented sort, then."

Probably not an imp. Whatever it was stayed just long enough to order the imps in, and then left like the veritable bat our of hell. It wasn't a flyer or we'd have seen it. A burrower perhaps? Maybe even something strong enough to gate, though demons couldn't gate from hell and back without a contract. So that was out, unless there was a rogue summoner running around.

"It can happen, if one is prepared. You of all people know how the eyes can be fooled." Grex opined.

Yes, invisibility was a thing, but Grex was supposed to be better than that.

"You're sure? Nothing around, no demons, no unpleasant surprises?"

Instead of answering with words, Grex chose to glare at me for a long moment instead.

I decided to press. "Well?"

"No, nothing like that," Grex finally said with as melodramatic a sigh as he could manage. "Where is the trust for your bosom companion in the face of all life's adversity?"

"Lacking." I turned to Golem. "Reset what you guys can. We aren't moving."

"Understood," Golem answered simply, then turned the team. "You heard the boss! Santa, E.T., Rigger, you're up! The rest of you, cover!"

I winced. He was a little loud, but I guess that could be my improved senses talking.

I really needed to figure out a way to incorporate wards somehow into our camps without them being sniffed out. If I could just fix that little problem, I could help summoners the world over. Well, maybe. Not everyone could just do what I did.

I turned back to Grex. "You know how I said you had a night off? Well, now you don't. Keep watch, and mean it. Any casualties on our side you're getting punished for."

Grex knew I meant it; he straightened up and gave a fist over heart salute. "As you command, my Mistress."

Then he flew up, and perched in the nearest tree overlooking us, as if he were a giant crow, the weirdo. Next he'd be crapping on cars or something.

There wasn't going to be any rest for the wicked, since I couldn't sleep either. But those who could, I wouldn't hold it against them. I was curious.

It took my soldiers less than three minutes to reset everything. "Alright, back to sleep unless you were set to watch."

Wonder of wonders, not only did those who were sleeping settle back in, but most of them went right off like little babes, judging from the breathing patterns. That was either some hardcore trust, or hardcore fatalism.

I dug into my coffee, and tapped my time powers a bit. I knew it would make me bored longer, but maybe I could get some research in; my notebook was waiting.

Maybe some sort of automated wards writer? Kind of like a protractor, only for dirt and wood? It would have to be capable of bloodletting on the fly too, because that would be the only way to power something like that... but then you run into a few issues with getting the blood flow to stop. Hm, this was more complicated than it seemed.

Maybe if you infused silver beforehand, and used that in a reservoir....

The whisper that came to my ears was not attenuated. "Look lively, Mistress."

Whoops, boredom really was no excuse not to pay attention in a war zone.

Another imp was inbound; Grex had already moved to intercept.

Well, one imp posed no threat, but the imp had to know that. So, what was in the other direction, or circling behind us? My eyes were still enhanced, I could see in the low light with no problems, but I saw nothing.

Some special powder on the eyes to reveal the unseen, and I took another look. Nothing, again. Why would a lone imp attack?

"Grex, ask him why he's here. This makes no sense. Ask him somewhere a bit farther out," I whispered back. Our sentries had yet to spot anything amiss, and I'd love to keep it that way; they needed their rest, even more than I did.

Grex did as ordered, and returned within the minute, resuming looming in his former location. "It seems we are being tested."

"We in general, or we as in us specifically?"

Grex paused. "A good question, and one I did not ask. However, the impression I got was the United States Military in general."

Wonderful; tests like that meant we had been shipped just in time, to a war zone about to go hot. Why else would you probe like this? "Just perfect."

Someone had to be ordering these imps. If all they had were imps to use, they couldn't be very strong, either. So the immediate problem would be finding the summoner on the ground, and dealing with them. After all, taking them out would stop crap like this, deal a blow, and send a message all at once.

If we could find him; so far he was good at covering his tracks. "Did you ask him who sent him, and where from?"

Grex's mouth didn't even move as he whispered back. "I did, and wonder why you didn't think of it before. However, the imp could not say, even under threat of dismemberment. The master has managed that much, at least; I am unsure on how, as my orders were accepted."

Which meant mine would work too. We were likely in little danger.

I wasn't sure I believed that, but so far this was all easy. Too easy. I really wanted to talk to Golem, but doing so would distract a pair of eyes I wanted searching for threats. Plus saying such a thing out loud was just asking for it. I couldn't even ask how much ammo we were down, for fear that I'd reveal crucial intelligence to a hidden enemy.

Sometimes I really hated being an adult; adulthood sucked.

Wait, there was a way to spy on people with spells, and I could stop that if I tried. Even if I didn't have that creepy eyes on me feeling my instructors said I'd feel, it was at least something to do.

Pity I'd never learned the reverse, with the bowl of water and the Greek elements. I could be an oracle.

I drew the runes into the air with my athame, allowing my power to infuse them. It led to a nice 'fire in the air' effect that was pretty cool, but potentially dangerous - you didn't want one rune sort of flowing into the other. I wouldn't even do this normally, but this was more busy-work than anything.

Just as I thought, there was nothing; no one was watching us from range.

Grex must have spared a glance at my handiwork, because he whispered: "You did it wrong," at me.

"Gee, thanks. Never used it before," At least it didn't explode. "How bad is it?"

"Not bad - it just won't work. I suggest using your paper next time. For the record, nothing is watching us by those means."

Heaven forbid I want to try something new. Heh, they probably would.

"At least it won't explode," Grex whispered, mirroring my thoughts. "It looks very pretty. Almost as if you're doing something."

"Hush demon; you only get to be insufferable with words if you find the ambush."

"There is no ambush to find, yet. Please stop ordering the impossible."

Well, so snark and requests now. When did this happen, exactly? He wasn't actually trying to subvert and destroy me at every moment, with every act and breath. There was... banter.

No, I couldn't trust it; Grex was probably just playing the long con. He wasn't after the family anymore, Golem had a point before. So whatever he wanted was either with me, or me. And demons did not like to wait; he would never wait until I died naturally when he could get my soul early.

The other demons I could summon were even more dangerous; they had no stake in my survival at all. Really, being an adult sucked.

Mind back into the now; there was nothing to be gained worrying about a tomorrow before it comes. There was no attack to sniff out, according to Grex. We were safe for now.

I had to make sure. "So you;re saying there's no demons, or attacks of any kind, out there that you can detect?"

Grex sighed just loud enough for me to hear, and rolled his eyes. "Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying. You and your mortal friends are as safe as can be for the moment."

That was pretty ironclad. "Thanks. Keep up the good work."

Staying awake was the proper thing to do. But I was going to run out of coffee if I kept this up, which was a problem. Getting more wasnt not going to happen while Grex was on duty, so to speak.

When did I become so pampered? I used to be able to go out into a desert with just a knife and survive. I needed to get back to that, somehow. Later. I packed my bedding, just for something to do.

More boredom, as hours pass. I could almost hear the endless loop of the jeopardy thinking music in my head, no matter how much I wanted not to. I was aware of the shift change, as Golem, Dod, and Perry took watch.

When the sun broke past the horizon, even though it wasn't past the tree line, I felt it. It was almost a relief.

"Alright, everyone up. Let's go, time to break this all down and move."

Once again, the team was packed and ready to go with all the traps and traces cleaned up just shy of six minutes.

Golem was less than happy about that, and everyone could tell, despite the fact that he didn't say a word. I appreciated his discipline. The morning felt... wrong. Heavy, full of portent somehow. This wasn't a horror movie; bright sunlight helped sometimes, but it was no proof against the stronger things we faced.

Usually imps hated bright lights though; some even burned in it. But of course I never got that lucky; every demon I faced was one that had no weaknesses, more power, and better reactions than I could pack. At least I could fight back when sent into the meat grinder, unlike my living shields. How much worse did they feel about all this?

I needed to stop wondering about things I couldn't help or change.

"Alright, let's move. Black, you're point, Olympic, Thorn, left and right wings. Musad, you're the trail."

The trail was our backside. Arguably one of the worst positions to take, survival wise. Even worse than point, but someone had to take it, and it was his turn. I'd rather have Grex on it, but he needed to stay close.

"Grex, you're on overwatch."

We moved out, and I checked to make sure we were on route. We were, and on schedule besides, which was something at least. Just a few more days, and we could turn around and work our way back.

Knowing our luck, the person that sent the demons was outside our patrol range, just laughing it up.

That the summoner was still active and had not just walked off was confirmed just before noon when Grex spoke for the first time today, whispering in my ear as if the intervening space did not exist.

"I see something odd ahead, just beyond the range of your left-most scout."

"Odd how?" I didn't stop the column; I didn't want to tip off anyone without concrete data.

"Odd as in a lone demon, standing in the open." came the answer.

I signaled the halt; chances are the demon would notice, but it was better than walking into something that was clearly a trap.

Everyone halted just in time, and I signalled the approach. We needed to consolidate or we'd get picked off. Which might be the trap, but I'd take the chance.

The demon noticed. A lone imp, busy tearing something small apart; it looked like an animal of some kind, but it was hard to tell, because the demon had been at it awhile. It was the very picture of homicidal boredom.

Golem didn't question the situation, he was learning for better or worse. "What's wrong?"

"Imp ahead, just standing out there. I don't like it, it looks too easy."

"We sure this is just one guy? This sucker has too many resources."

It could be a group. But it could be one summoner with years of prep time. But, how likely was that really? Normally, each of these imps would require a contract, and a more standard one written in blood and paid for in advance if they weren't the first or main demon.

It would be for one summoning unless otherwise specified, and the recovery time would be... long. Each time. Possible, but what the heck kinds of long, time wise.

No, I needed to know what was going on. "Take positions."

Then I whispered so that only Grex would hear. "Grex, do our thing, go over there, catch that imp, take him somewhere, and ask him why he's here, who his master is, and what the trap is. If you can, get a picture of what's going on here, and how many are involved."

"Yes, my Mistress," Grex answered, all business.

I used my power again, in order to catch the incoming ambush that may or may not be coming. It offered the bonus of seeing Grex flash forward and grab the imp before the ugly little creature could even squeak; it even dropped its little dead toy.

Golem's words were drawn out, but still understandable; I wasn't dipping as hard into the flow of time as I could: "Where'd it go?"

The team was still getting set up.

I took care to slow down my response. "Grex is handling it. I want answers."

Golem blew a shuddering breath. "Right. I'll just be over here."

Not a minute later (my time, not normal time) Grex returned, without the imp. "The summoner is gone. His name is Mr. Werner, and he is a German slave owned by a demon; I was not able to get the name of the demon who owns him, but I was able to uncover the plan.

It is a series of tests for the American army and their policies, in order to prepare for an invasion. The theory is, the imps are to test us to see how we respond. The lack of so called survivors so far has been noted as a response of sorts all its own. That might set back their plans, but it is far more likely they will simply use more force."

"So the imps are tripwires?"

"Yes." Grex answered impatiently.

"How many more are around? And more importantly, when is the attack coming?"

"The imp didn't know, either question. However, he did know one curious fact."

I shouldn't ask, I shouldn't ask... "What fact?"

Grex smiled. "Mr. Werner wears an old military uniform, and is one hundred and twenty-one years old."