The Rephaim: Burn Part 26

'A tall dude with long white hair and a trench coat.'

DEMONS, DEMONS EVERYWHERE.

The resort. Dani.

My heart slams into my ribs.

'Go,' Jude says. 'Check Dani. I'll take a team and sweep the resort grounds, get our sentries sorted.'

I make fleeting eye contact with Rafa and then duck under the table out of sight to slip into the void...and come out the other side in Jason's suite. Maria gasps and drops the plate she's drying. It smashes on the marble tiles. Jason and Dani turn together on the balcony. Maggie's with them now too, her hand pressed to her chest.

'Oh my G.o.d, you scared the-'

'Come inside,' I say, pushing past them to haul shut the French doors. 'Gatekeepers.'

Maria leaps over the broken plate and grabs Dani, pulls her further into the room. 'Close the shutters,' she hisses.

Maggie lunges for the main window and yanks the cord, blanketing the room in shadow. It's already darker outside than it should be and I smell rain in the air. She ducks down behind the couch with Maria and Dani and I hear their panicked breathing. Feel their fear.

Jason and I flank the French doors. Gatekeepers can't fly, but they can shift from balcony to balcony. There's nothing we can do to cover the gla.s.s: no blinds and no curtains. It could be a coincidence a Gatekeeper's here at the resort. Or not.

The sky brightens again and then a gust of wind shakes the latch on the doors. s.h.i.t, it's totally overcast now.

'The storm's almost here,' Dani whispers. She's scared. My sudden arrival hasn't helped. I join them behind the couch.

'You have to leave.'

'No, Gabe,' Dani says, gripping my wrist. Her slender fingers are warm. 'I need to be here. So does Jason.'

'Not right now you don't. Jason can get you and your mum to safety. You can watch us from wherever you are and-'

'Please don't make me go.'

'Dani,' I say, impatient. 'There's a Gatekeeper right here, lurking around downstairs. I guarantee he's not alone. You're not staying. None of you are.'

'We're safer where you are.'

'Baby,' Maria whispers, 'for once listen to sense. Even Gabe can't protect us now.'

Maggie's fingers are splayed on her throat. 'What about the town?'

I tell them the plan.

'I need to be with Mum,' she says.

'Of course.' Jason crowds in. 'We'll take her with us.'

'Jason, Mum and I can't leave Pan Beach. People will notice if we don't make it to the evacuation centre. They'll put themselves in danger trying to find us.'

'I'm not leaving without you.'

'I need to be here. For Simon too.'

I touch Maggie's wrist.

'We could go with Maggie and her mum,' Dani says. 'Jason will be with us, so we'll be safe.'

I try to mount an argument against it. Fail. 'Fine.' I catch Jason's eye. 'But the first sign of trouble, you get them to the other side of the planet. I don't care who you have to shift in front of.'

The first charge detonates about three seconds after I arrive in the car park behind Rick's. Car alarms start up half a second later. Followed by shouting. I weave between parked cars and sprint to the street. People are streaming in all directions from cafes and bars, trying to get away from the blast. I cross the street to the beach side to get a better view out of the way. It looks like Mick's boys paid a visit to the surf shop on the next block down. Smoke billows through shattered windows, stinking of burning fibregla.s.s. It's murky enough now the streetlights have come on.

Another blast-at the opposite end of the esplanade. Screaming. Panic.

'Gabe!'

I scan the footpath in front of Rick's, see Micah break free from the crowd and jog across the road.

'Sentries are in place,' he says as he reaches me. 'We're running sweeps of the town and then regrouping at the end of the boardwalk near the rainforest.'

'What about the evacuation?'

'Mick's made the call.'

I nod. A bomb threat plus two explosions: surely that's enough. I glance back at the resort. I should have made sure they got out safely. But maybe the demons don't know about Dani; if they see her with me, they'll know she's important. What the h.e.l.l's the best way to protect her?

Sirens now. Cop cars. Two fire trucks.

'Come on.' I spring over the railing to the beach, ready to shift again. Before my boots. .h.i.t the sand, the air shudders from another blast. Something else has gone up in the surf shop. A mob surges across the road. Frightened drinkers and diners jostle us before I get a chance to slip into the void, gaping at the fires bookending the esplanade. A gust of wind whips past, bringing with it the promise of rain. The temperature drops a few degrees. Another flash of lightning. A heavy crash of waves.

The storm is here and the beach is crowded with humans.

Oh s.h.i.t.

'Get the others.'

Micah nods and sprints into the gloom. I follow, shifting as soon as I can duck behind a dune.

I arrive in my silent, shadowy bedroom, grab my sword and shift to Rafa's kitchen. The shack is empty and smells of coffee, the floor littered with discarded weapon bags. I rifle through them, find a saya and two knives. I sheathe my katana and sling the strap over my head, tuck one knife into my boot, the other against my hip.

And then I'm back on the sand, not far from where I left. The wind is stronger now. More shouting further along the beach. I jog closer, see Jess pointing and shouting at Pan Beach's bulky police sergeant, Des McIvor. He lifts the loudhailer, forcing her to step aside.

'People, calm down.' His voice crackles through the speaker. 'I need all of you to make your way to the golf course. Remember the speed limits. I repeat: we are evacuating to the golf course. If you are a visitor, just follow the signs once you reach the highway.'

The crowd keeps milling, unsure. Surfers, stoners. Couples dressed for dinner. Kids holding ice-cream cones, clinging to their parents. Dozens of people. Exposed and vulnerable.

'We are investigating what caused the-' McIvor breaks off for a heated discussion with a silver-haired man in a crisp shirt who's not convinced the sergeant knows what he's doing.

Forked lightning-the beach is lit up in serial staccato flashes. I try to get an idea of how many people are here, but for a few seconds all I see is retina burn. Thunder cracks so close it reverberates in my breastbone. Another loudhailer further along the esplanade is repeating the instructions to evacuate. I reach for the hilt between my shoulderblades, touch the woven leather strap. An old habit.

A fat raindrop hits my nose. Another gust of wind, laced with salt and ozone and fear. It's about to bucket down, and these people would rather get caught in a storm than risk going back onto the street.

No sign of Rafa or Jude or anyone else. Are the sentries still in place?

I climb the sandbank to get a better view. I'm almost at the top when my insides plummet. A split second later another flash bathes the scene in vivid light and my stomach lurches again. And again.

The beach beyond the agitated crowd isn't empty anymore.

The long stretch of sand is filled with more demons than I've ever seen in my life.

TOSSED AND TURNED.

Dozens of Gatekeepers, broadswords drawn.

h.e.l.lions in chain mail, carrying clubs.

And Immundi. So many Immundi. There must be at least two hundred. The beach is black with them. Where the f.u.c.k did they come from?

My gut roils. Time slows and grinds out.

I can't think.

We're not prepared for this.

We'd never be prepared for this, not in another hundred years. What can we possibly do in the face of that advancing horde? How did Zarael get them all here?

A wave smashes in the shallows. Cars rev in the street, tyres squeal. Shouting. Burning plastic and acrid smoke.

The crowd on the beach hasn't scattered. Haven't they seen the nightmare? The demons keep coming, no more than fifty metres away, waiting to be seen. Itching for the terror.

Lightning slashes the sky. The h.e.l.lions snarl and roar as one, a horrifying noise that carries over the wind and the traffic and the surf. Promising violence and pain. The response is a collective scream-a sound borne of bone-deep terror-and the lights go out in town.

I need to put myself between the horde and- 'Get down!'

Two gunshots crack through the air, sharper, more demanding than thunder. The crowd drops to the sand. I crouch and turn towards the voice, see Rusty a split second before the flash on his shoulder. Feel the blast of heat as the missile scorches past and then- Boom.

The world fractures. The ground shudders through the soles of my boots. My head buzzes. There's a stunned pause in the wake of the blast-even the wind seems to catch its breath-and then a war cry erupts from the demon army.

It's greeted with a burst of rapid gunfire behind me.

Men, women and children scramble up the sandbank on hands and knees to the boardwalk. Screaming, crying-backlit by the fire taking hold in the surf shop. The thunderclouds are low, the sky heavy, as if night has already closed in over us.

'Gaby!'

It's Jess, trying to scuttle free of the crowd on her hands and knees, a gun in one hand.

'Get them out of here,' I shout, and then shift to where the Butlers are advancing on the darkening beach with their a.r.s.enal. I arrive a few metres behind them to the deafening sounds of semi-automatic gunfire. My nose instantly burns with the stink of cordite. In a heartbeat, I understand the tactic. Mick and his boys-all of them, even the hoodie brigade-are advancing shoulder to shoulder, firing steady rounds into the front ranks of Immundi. The Rephaim stalk behind them, weapons ready, coiled to shift into the fray as soon as the firestorm stops.

Jude and Rafa turn when they feel me arrive. I push past them and grab Mick's shoulder, absorb the shuddering recoil as he empties another clip. His mouth is a grim statement, his eyes locked on the h.e.l.l-sp.a.w.n army invading his town.

More sheet lightning. The rain heavier now, streaming down my nose and into my mouth. The Gatekeepers and the h.e.l.lions have abandoned the frontline, leaving Immundi to stumble and fall as bullets rip through them. But the Butlers' weapons are only slowing the demons, not killing them. Zarael's army keeps pressing forward. Sharp teeth, sharp claws, sharp swords.

'Get to high ground,' I hiss in Mick's ear.

Mick pauses to change the clip on his rifle. 'Hang on.' He empties it. The blasts thud in my ears.

More screaming from the street. At least three h.e.l.lions are chasing the crowd along the esplanade. Gunshots in the midst of it all: Jess, trying to stop them.

'Now!' I yell. 'Go help Jess. Let us get in there.'

But even as I say it I know we can't stop this many demons. Not with only twenty-seven Rephaim-even with Mick and his militia thinning the enemy ranks. But what else are we going to do, sit back and watch Immundi overrun Pan Beach? Let h.e.l.l-beasts devour anyone not quick enough to outrun them? I draw my katana, squint against the wind and rain.

'Ready?' Jude shouts, loud enough for his voice to carry up and down the line. He turns to me. 'Stay alive.'

'You too.' My heart is thrashing now.

I scan up and down the line. I'm looking at everyone I care about: Ez and Zak, Taya, Micah, Malachi, Daisy and Jones. Mya-yeah, I care what happens to her too. She's beside Malachi, fidgeting but resolved.

And Rafa.

'I've got your back,' he says and leans in, kisses me once, hard, on the mouth.

I feel strangely bereft when his lips leave mine. 'Likewise.'

Any of us could die here. We all could. I can't breathe, can't feel my legs.

'Now!' Jude yells.

My pulse leaps. Adrenaline surges. No time to think. I suck in a deep breath and shift with the others-and come face to face with a wall of enraged Immundi.

The bobble-headed demons let out another battle cry and stomp their own injured to breach the distance.

They surround us in seconds.

Rafa and I stand back to back, fending off the onslaught. Jude and Daisy are a few metres away, already surrounded by snarling pit sc.u.m. The wind carries the angry clash of steel on steel. The ocean pounds the beach. I block and strike, using wide sweeps to keep the demons at bay. There's four-no, five-trying to break through my defence. In the open, I could take out five Immundi easily enough. I'm too quick, too skilled for these bottom-feeders. But pressed in close like this, working in soft sand in driving rain? Much harder.

The wind whips up, bringing with it a new stench: sulfur. f.u.c.k. Zarael's summoned this army straight from h.e.l.l. No wonder the sky's at war with itself. That's no simple thing. He didn't pull this attack together in the last few hours: the leader of the Gatekeepers has been planning a full-scale a.s.sault for years. We simply gave him the excuse to launch it now. Here.

I swing hard at the nearest demon, take his arm clean off at the elbow. He howls and collapses, tripping the Immundi behind him. I take advantage, bring my blade down on the second demon's neck.

Blood. Everywhere. And the awful reality: this is what I do. This is what I've done for more than a century. I take no pride in it, but at least I know what I'm doing now. Timing is everything.

Sideways rain, so heavy the world is turning white. Plastering my shirt to my skin, my hair to my face and neck. My calves ache, my arms already heavy. The lightning is constant now, illuminating the beach as if we're at the world's most terrifying dance party. Flashes of teeth and blades. Black irises turning silver. Behind me, Rafa swears, grunts. At least he's still on his feet. I can't tell where anyone else is-Zak, Ez, the others-all I can do is keep swinging and blocking. Not think about Dani and Maggie. Not worry about where they are right now, if they're safe.

I slice my way through flesh and bone, use my knees and elbows when the demons get too close. My hands are slick-with blood or rain, I can't tell. I use my saya to block, my katana to strike. Over and over again. The Immundi keep coming. I still haven't crossed swords with a Gatekeeper. Where are they? What are they waiting for?

I push back three Immundi. Countless more flow around us like a river, streaming towards the esplanade. Thunder splits the sky. And then another two Immundi barrel into the demons closest to me, bleeding. I glimpse red hair, see who drove them there. Hope explodes under my ribs.

Uri.