Chaos Bites Part 11

Even worse were their faces. They had none. Just a swirling miasma of gray, as if the storm overhead gained power from the evil within them.

And they were evil. The telltale humming in my head was so loud, I wanted to put my hands over my ears and wail.

Jimmy and Summer used spears against the Iyas. Whenever they pierced one, sunlight seemed to pour from the wound, incinerating the monster-man in seconds. But there were hundreds, and all too soon Jimmy and Summer would be overrun.

Even without discernible eyes within the swirling fog of their faces, the Iyas had no problem seeing. They headed straight for the demon killers in their midst, and when Jimmy and Summer attacked, every Iya countered.

I'd known that upon their release the Grigori had immediately begun to have s.e.x with humans and re-populate the world with their half-demon seed. As a result, the Nephilim had increased-a lot.

But I hadn't really understood what a lot meant until I saw the Iyas pouring over the opposite ridge, running across the tabletop mesa toward Jimmy and Summer, trailing snow and ice in their wake. There were so many of them, they nearly blotted out the horizon. The more that appeared, the darker the sky became, and the more furious the coming of the storm.

"Sheesh," I muttered, "talk about a last stand." I guessed we were in the right place for one.

Luther leaped out of his seat, popping the trunk on the Impala to reveal an impressive cache of weapons, including spears. I had a feeling they weren't going to be enough.

"Hold on," I called.

Faith was upset, mewing at the gla.s.s, pawing at it, trying to get to Luther.

"Sorry, honey, but you can't go." I opened each window a fraction of an inch, then got out and quickly shut the door. Her face slammed against it as she tried to escape, and she sneezed, shook her head, then glared at me.

I ignored her. What else could I do? She couldn't wander around out here. I didn't want to see her head swinging from a belt.

Luther tossed me a spear, which I caught with one hand. He took a step toward the melee, and I lowered the weapon in front of him like a gate. "Wait."

"Liz, they're going to die out there."

"Ruthie sent us here for a reason."

"To dump the kid on Sanducci and talk to a skin-walker in the Black Hills."

I shook my head. "It's more than that. I could have taken the baby to New Mexico, or had Jimmy come to me. That would have made more sense, been safer for everyone."

"So?" Luther bounced on his toes, so pumped with adrenaline, so ready for the battle he could scarcely contain himself. "Are you going to fight or aren't you?"

"They have to have done something to their weapons," I said, watching Jimmy and Summer work.

"What?" Luther had one hand around my spear, probably in preparation for wresting it from my grip.

"Either coated them in . . . I don't know. What mimics sunlight?" Luther's answer was a blink. "Or maybe a spell, a blessing on the weapons?"

Luther frowned and glanced at the roiling thunderclouds. Not a single ray of sun pressed through them.

"So if I stick them with this-" He tugged on my spear, and this time I let him have it. He seemed to be catching a clue as to our dilemma.

"You'll probably do nothing more than p.i.s.s them off."

"Let's see," he said, and launched the weapon at the nearest half demon.

I was quick, but not quick enough to grab the spear before it sailed out of reach. The nearest Iya stood a good hundred yards away, but Luther managed to hit him. The boy had skills.

The monster-man roared. The sky above him opened and poured down rain. He turned, and the gray swirl of his face had deepened to black. A slash of lightning cut across the oval. An instant later lightning struck the ground two feet away from us. My toenails sizzled.

"Uh-oh," Luther said.

I cast him an annoyed glance as the Iya yanked the spear free, tossing it aside as if it were nothing more than a toothpick, and ran toward us.

"Luther." The kid had tensed, prepared for a fight, gaze on the approaching threat. The clack of the skulls at the Iya's waist was so loud I had to raise my voice. "Luther!"

His eyes flicked to mine. They'd gone amber. "I need you to do something." I lifted my hands to my collar.

Luther began to shake his head. "Liz, you shouldn't-"

"I have to. Ruthie sent me because I could help in a way no one else could."

"If that was the way, Sanducci wouldn't need you."

Jimmy had a demon, too. His was just a bit harder to release than mine.

"He would," I corrected. "Better if only one of us releases the beast, so the other can . . ." I took a deep breath. "You know."

Once I became a vampire, I was evil incarnate. Because we'd contained the demon, when we released it . . .

Well, h.e.l.l hath no fury like a vampire in a box. I'd decimate every Iya, and then I'd start in on whoever was left. The only one who'd be strong enough to contain me again would be another just like me.

"Get out of the way, kid."

I fumbled with the catch on my collar, fingers thick and unruly. They did not want to follow the dictates of my brain. Becoming an evil thing always left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Usually blood.

I lifted my gaze and scowled at the heavy, dark clouds, imagining just one single beam of light. "d.a.m.n, I wish there was sun."

The lead Iya was only a few feet away when a small ray of gold pierced the storm and shone across his face. He went up in flames like a Buddhist monk. The heat forced me back a step, then two. I b.u.mped into Luther.

"What did you do?" he whispered.

I wasn't sure. I could command a storm, bring the lightning and the thunder and the rain. I could even create a magic tattoo for shape-s.h.i.+fting by wielding that lightning like a mystical needle complete with supernatural ink-hence the phoenix on my neck.

But get rid of a storm? Bring the sun? Hadn't seen that coming.

I tilted my face to the sky, imagining a giant split in the charcoal twilight. I envisioned the bright yellow daylight bursting through. I thought about it so hard, I broke a sweat. Reaching upward with both hands, I smacked my palms together then pushed them apart.

And the sun came out exactly as I'd wanted it to.

CHAPTER 11.

Within minutes every last Iya was gone. I glanced over my shoulder. Luther appeared as shocked as I was.

"Lucky you didn't take off the collar," he said.

"Lucky," I echoed. There'd have been a lot of blood before the ashes that way. Been there, done that, didn't like it. Ashes and blood created a paste reminiscent of tar-and-feathering. I much preferred this method. The wind stirred, and the remains of the Iyas simply fluttered away.

"Why didn't Ruthie tell me I could bring the sun?" I demanded.

Luther frowned. "Got me."

"Well-" I waved my hand. "Get her a.s.s out here."

Luther lifted a brow. "You really want to go with that statement?"

"No."

Ruthie had raised us with love and an iron fist, and she saw no reason to change what worked even when the kids became adults. Since Ruthie's fist came in the shape of Luther's hand these days, any disrespect and I might wind up snacking on my teeth.

"Just let me talk to her."

Luther did his thing, and this time Ruthie appeared. "Lizbeth, you can't be callin' me all the time. I got things to do. Children to manage."

"The world to save."

"Darn right."

"Why didn't you tell me I could bring the sun and exterminate the Iyas?"

Luther's body, usually in constant, teenage motion, stilled. His head tilted. "Say what?"

"I thought I had to go vamp, and I almost did. Then-" I wasn't sure how to explain what I had done, or how. "I brought the sun and chased away the storm and they all-"

I made a gesture that indicated fire, explosion, kaboom. She got the picture.

"I nearly took off my collar." I shuddered at the thought of what would have happened then. "You should have just told me to bring the sun."

"I would have been happy to." Luther's eyes narrowed and his mouth tightened. "If I'd known you could."

I'd been rubbing the grit of a hundred Iyas out of my eyes, but at her words I dropped my hand. "Say what?" I repeated.

"I sent you because I knew your vampire could deal with several hundred Iyas, and Jimmy could deal with your vampire. I had no idea that you could bring the sun."

"And why can she?"

I turned just as Jimmy joined us. Sweat had drawn squiggly lines in the dust on his face. Streaks of blood-his? theirs?-marred his hands and forearms. Tiny burn holes randomly dotted a T-s.h.i.+rt that proclaimed TEAM EDWARD. Sanducci was a real comedian.

Jimmy's cover for his globe-trotting-demon-killing was portrait photographer to the stars. He was a genius with a camera. Almost as good as he was with a silver knife.

His photos had graced magazines, books, posters, CD cases, once even Times Square. Everyone who was anyone understood that if Sanducci took their photograph, they had arrived, or they very soon would.

However, there was one final test of glory-Sanducci and his T-s.h.i.+rts. He wore them all the time-with jeans or a jacket, for breakfast or bed. But no matter how many were stuffed into his post box every month-and there were a lot-he only wore the s.h.i.+rts of those he had photographed. It became a stamp of stardom if Sanducci himself was photographed in your s.h.i.+rt.

Sanducci gave great photograph. Beneath the mess, he was just short of beautiful. Olive skin, black eyes, hair so dark it appeared blue in certain lights, and a face that had been known to stop traffic in small to midsized towns. For just a few seconds, I enjoyed staring at him. Then Summer Bartholomew appeared, and all my warm, fuzzy feelings evaporated.

"Who'd you bang lately?" she asked.

My fingers curled into my palms. Why was it that every time we met, I wanted to slug her?

Oh, yeah. Hated her guts.

Even after a dusty, b.l.o.o.d.y battle with storm monsters, she appeared the same as always-blond and pet.i.te, with wide blue eyes and perfect pink lips that matched her perfect pink nails. Her usual outfit-skintight jeans, size zero, a fringed halter top, boots, and a white cowboy hat-was in place and there wasn't a speck on it.

"Rodeo fairy," I muttered.

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Summer put her arm through Jimmy's.

Jimmy jerked away. Summer's face fell. She blinked as if she might cry. I'd feel sorry for her if she hadn't sold her soul to Satan. Literally.

"Any word from your boss?" I asked.

Her gaze narrowed. Behind the pretty blond facade, something slithered.

Summer was a fairy. She could practice glamour, a type of shape-s.h.i.+fting that made her more attractive to humans. However, since her magic didn't work on anyone on an errand of mercy-and that was pretty much my schedule 24/7 these days-I figured she was as annoyingly cute as she appeared. I'd always thought there was more to her than we knew about.

I'd been proven right when we discovered she was moonlighting for the other side. Her excuse: She'd had to save Jimmy. The price? Her soul. Lucky for Summer I'd sent the soul s.n.a.t.c.her back to h.e.l.l before he could collect. She hadn't been all that grateful.

"Kiss my a.s.s," she said sweetly.

Ruthie had ordered Jimmy and Summer to work together so Jimmy could keep an eye on her. I kind of thought that was rewarding Summer for bad behavior. All she'd ever wanted was Sanducci. Too bad he loved me.

"What are you doing here, Lizzy?"

Or he had. Now I wasn't so sure.

"You don't look happy to see me."

Summer snorted. I flicked my hand, and she flew backward a few feet, landing on her perfect little b.u.t.t with a thud and a grunt. Dust cascaded over her pristine boots. A deep growl rumbled from inside that did not match her outside. She lifted her arms and shot sparkling dust from the tips of her fingers.

The sprinkles. .h.i.t me in the face, cool and a little sticky. I'd closed my eyes, and when I opened them diamonds seemed to twinkle on my eyelashes. But I remained on my feet, and I felt no compulsion to cluck like a duck. Instead, I stuck out my tongue.

Jimmy sighed. "It's hardly fair to zap Summer when she can't zap you back."

"There's fair"-I let my gaze wander over the fairy as she got up, trying to dust the dirt from her jeans but somehow managing to grind it in farther-"and then there's fun."

Jimmy's lips twitched. So did mine. Sometimes it seemed as if nothing had changed.