Chapter 89: Alex's stand...

Wade's plan was to lie low while the cars of vampires screaming to get away from the burning building rushed by. With any luck, he figured, they would be more interested in survival than they would be in picking unnecessary fights with unknown attackers. Rachel would have gone after them if any of them had Alex, so there was no reason not to let them go.

For the first couple of passing cars, he had been right. Unfortunately, someone in the gravel parking lot off and away from the house spotted movement by the pick-up. Wade didn't know they were exposed until he had taken a bullet to his leg and Drew was hit in the back. They both staggered and fell, and as more bullets began to slam into his pick-up truck Jason and Taylor dragged them to cover.

"Shoot back," Wade groaned, holding his gun up to them. "Y'all gotta shoot back or they'll run up here."

It was Jason who did just that. Wade had been right; there were already several figures advancing on them in the dark. They spotted Jason as he rose over the hood of the pick-up to fire. He put out several bursts, keeping their heads down. He even managed to clip one of them in the head. The vampire slumped to the ground, enraging the others.

Then Jason's bullets ran dry. The vampires rushed forward.

Jason pulled Wade's pistol out of his waistband, ready to fire until the last bullet, but something stopped him. There was a hand on his shoulder. He was no longer tired, nor aching, nor fearful.

"You have done enough," the voice said. "You have all done enough."

Taylor looked up in awe from where she sat with Drew's head in her lap. Four figures in white, with wings even brighter than Rachel's, stood among them. Light was shed from something above each figure's head. Of the group, three of them moved forward, walking straight through the pick-up truck into the night beyond. A fourth knelt down next to Taylor.

Her face was just barely visible despite the bright light around her head. She seemed twice Taylor's age but still very beautiful, with long black hair and gentle, patient eyes. The woman reached out to Drew and held his hand. "You are safe," she said to him soothingly.

Drew looked up in awe. The pain left his back. So did the weakness and all of the worry. The woman then turned her attention to Wade, putting her hand on his forehead with the same results. The bullet in his leg was gone. The blood on his pant leg was there, as was the hole, but the wound disappeared, along with the pain.

Jason looked on with his jaw hanging open as the other three angels, swords drawn and ignited, cut through the group of vampires as if it were all happening in slow motion. There were screams and pleas for mercy, and then there was silence. The three angels then looked back at him. One of them waved. They all quickly faded.

"Who are you?" Taylor managed.

The woman smiled. "I should not tell you. We should not have shown ourselves or intervened like this, and we will have to answer for it soon. But..." she seemed about to say more, then shook her head. "When you see Rachel again, tell her that she has been a very bad influence on her colleagues." The angel reached out and touched the side of Taylor's face. "My name is Julia. I have always been with you, Taylor. I have loved you all of your life. And I always will."

Taylor's breath shook. She couldn't think of words to say as Julia leaned forward to kiss her forehead, taking away all of her pain and all of her fear.

She looked upon Taylor with unconditional love before she stood and walked away, fading into the night.

************

Lorelei's talons had dug into the floor as she was dragged to the portal. They left long, deep scars in the carpet and even the concrete beneath them, but they only partially slowed her descent. Slashing at Ba'al's arm had done no good; the wounds were grievous, but they healed almost instantly. He wouldn't give up. Moreover, several other arms reached out now, grabbing at her legs, her hips, her shoulders. Like Ba'al's arms, they were impossibly long, though not as muscled or as fearsome. They all matched with gleaming red eyes and cackling laughter.

The portal would only be open for a scant few more moments, but Ba'al and his minions wouldn't give up. Lorelei fought on, but it was no use. She could feel the heat of the Pit on her legs and her waist as she began to pass through the portal.

"Lorelei!" Alex yelled. She looked up to see him there, a gun in his hands. He rushed to her in the hall, firing all the way at the monsters behind her. Molly and Onyx followed only a few yards behind, rushing up with their eyes wide with shock at what they saw.

Alex's bullets had no real effect; they seemed to stop and disappear as they went into the portal. Alex decided to drop the gun as he ran since it was useless. Alex made it to Lorelei just as she was finally dragged through the portal. He snatched at her wrists, crouching low to get every bit of leverage he could to pull her back.

"He's too strong!" Lorelei cried out. "Don't let him take you, too! Alex, no!"

"Hold on!" Rachel cried out from the end of the hallway. Her wings folded in as she came to her feet, rushing headlong to aid them. However, a battered, charred white shape appeared behind her moving with even greater urgency. Harrow jumped over to Rachel's shoulders landing on her upper back. Harrow shoved down on her shoulders as if vaulting off of a pommel horse causing Rachel to stumble face-first to the floor.

Harrow batted Molly and Onyx aside to either direction as he shot past them. The demon roared again, tackling Alex even as the young man thought, for the briefest of moments, that he might somehow be winning this unreal tug-of-war. The tackle caught Alex off guard as he was knocked off his feet sending himself and Lorelei into the portal.

What had seemed like a horizontal plane suddenly became a long fall down a shaft. Reality seemed to warp and shift in odd patterns. Alex still had hold of Lorelei's wrists. Ba'al's hands over her were gone, as were the others. Alex looked closer around them as they fell and he could see hundreds, if not thousands, of malevolent red eyes watching them. He also saw Harrow's wings spread out behind him, slowing his fall.

He wasn't the only one so capable. Lorelei threw her arms around Alex, spreading her own wings out as they descended. She tried to flap them, to create some sort of lift, but she was too weary. "Alex, you shouldn't have done this," she said to him, her head buried against his shoulder."

"I won't let you go," he said. "I'd rather die."

She clung to him fiercely. "Fear no evil in this place, my love," she whispered. "It is your only chance of survival here."

Above them, watching the group fall now, Molly and Onyx saw the portal begin to shrink. Onyx threw her wand against one side of it, trying to hold it open on instinct and magical willpower alone. Molly quickly followed, her own verawood wand out and stabbed at the ripples in space created on her side of the portal.

"Can you pull them back?" Onyx asked.

"Not without letting go!" Molly grunted.

"Just hold it open!" Rachel shouted behind them. She leapt in, a sudden rush of light and wind going past the two witches, and then she was diving down into the blackness after the others.

Winged shapes rushed up to meet her, shooting past the succubus, mortal and greater demon alike. The angel was beset by smaller flying things with poisoned tails and claws already dripping with blood. Her wings pushed against the air, slowing her descent while she swung her blade wide and the holy fire flared abruptly. The first of the little beasts was instantly incinerated. The others pressed in trying to slow her down if not outright destroyer her.

Far below her, Lorelei and Alex fluttered down until they were struck from above. Harrow swung at Lorelei's back with one of his monstrous hands, bashing them both and ruining the hold Lorelei's wings had on the warm air around them. Lorelei twisted around in an effort to place herself under Alex to shield him from the impact into the ground, which rushed up quickly and had precious little give when they landed.

Alex lay stunned for a moment as he picked his face up off of the ground. He looked around to see himself surrounded by monsters of a hundred different sorts. None of them looked alike; there were scales and boils, mottled fur and rent flesh, baleful red eyes and things with nothing at all in their eye sockets. Horns, tails and wings were everywhere, but beyond that very few of them bore any real resemblance to one another except for the hungry, frightful demeanor with which they all regarded him.

Lorelei was slightly under him, struggling to rise. She had been through so much already. The succubus had landed on her back cushioning their fall. As she tried to get up, a large, burned white foot slammed down on her chest from above. Harrow landed there, growling menacingly as he swatted Alex aside.

It didn't slow Alex down. As before, he didn't think; he just acted. The gladius was in his hands again, slashing at Harrow fiercely. The demon raised his hand as if to block it, but the blade bit deeply into his skin. He shrieked, jerking the limb back, then shrank back yet again as Alex swung and struck home at Harrow's side, drawing dark black blood yet again.

The demon's foot came off of Lorelei, leaving her coughing up black blood and rolling to one side. Alex stepped over her protectively, ready to swing at the thing again without really understanding how he could possibly have hurt something so fearful.

"You have entertained me tonight," said a voice like a dozen different animals all calling out in the night. It was a cacophony that only barely made any sense to the ear. Alex risked a look over his shoulder to see Ba'al standing there, eight feet of black, soot-covered horror. Ba'al stood tall with three heads: a toad, a man, and a cat. A crown decorated the human head. "I will allow you a chance to leave my realm."

Alex spun at that. He tried to stay wary of Harrow, standing with the two demons to his either side with Lorelei at his feet. Alex looked at Ba'al again with confusion. "I've seen you before somewhere." Memories flashed like rapid-fire through Alex's head before settling on a single memory of Alex standing on a cliff overlooking the smoking ruins of Ugarit. In the ruins of the palace, a large black demon with three heads can be seen laughing as it wrecked destruction upon everything. "You... you were there. You destroyed my palace... my family... my kingdom."

Ba'al cocked his human head as he looked at Alex and started grinning evilly. "So you remember. You are such an old soul Alex. One that has served me well over the millennium without even realizing it. You have sent me so many souls that have given me greater power."

Alex shook his head and yelled, "I'd never serve you. Now or ever. You are the kind of evil that must be stopped." Alex stopped and stepped back as he saw Harrow move out of the corner of his eye.

Ba'al laughed and said, " You can't ever hope to do anything to me mortal. Again, I will allow you a chance to leave my realm."

"Fine," Alex said. His voice trembled, but he did his best to sound resolute. "We'll be happy to leave this place."

"Just you. The succubus stays. She is mine."

"Fuck that noise," Alex forced himself to say. "She's coming home with me."

"Look around you, boy," the demon lord rumbled with a voice that seemed to put a tremble into the ground itself. "She is home here." Ba'al gestured with his broad arms at their surroundings. The whole land was smoke and ash and glowing embers. The demon hordes around him watched hungrily, congregating in a ring around them that was ten or twenty yards in diameter but were many hundreds of demons deep at every direction.

"That is your home," Ba'al said. He pointed past Harrow. Alex risked a glance, where he saw that the portal was suddenly at ground level. Molly and Onyx were both there, still standing in the hallway holding on to its edges. "Your friends hold the door for you. Take the opportunity to leave while I am still merciful. You cannot hope to prevail here."

Lorelei coughed. She reached up to touch Alex's hand. "Fear no evil," she whispered hoarsely.

It made him blink. He opened his mouth to speak to Ba'al, but out of the corner of his eye he caught a flash of movement. Alex lashed out with his blade out of instinct striking Harrow's huge tail even as it snaked out to grab at Lorelei again. The tail was jerked back, flinging blood everywhere as it withdrew.

Alex swallowed. "If I'm not a threat to you," he ventured, trying hard to master his own terror, "how come I'm not already dead?"

"You would question this charity?" Harrow hissed.

"From you guys?" Alex nodded, "Hell, yes."

"This is your last chance," Ba'al warned. "Leave my realm. Now."

The hand on Alex's squeezed his tightly. Alex took comfort that she seemed a little stronger than before. He turned his gaze directly toward the towering demon lord to his right. "Make me," he said.

Ba'al's eyes narrowed. "Harrow," he began, but didn't finish.

"Fucker!" Rachel screamed, diving down on Harrow once again with her sword hacking straight through his shoulder. The beast howled in agony.