A Shroud of Mist. Part 30

I looked across the table at her. Damn she was beautiful. The bar around us was quiet. There was the clinking of glasses from the bartender, who was wiping them out with a filthy rag. The air smelled like smoke. We were the only ones there except for the bartender and a tall, brown-haired man in a suit in the corner. He was reading the newspaper, but I couldn’t help thinking he was looking at us. Maybe I’m just paranoid.

“So what brings you to Russia?” Adrienne asked.

“I’m not really sure, to be honest.” She was still a little shaken up, I could tell. It hadn’t been long since she was almost killed by a demon, after all, but she was taking the whole experience surprisingly well.

“Well, I really do want to thank you for saving me. How can I ever repay you?” She leaned a little closer as she said this, batted her eyes all pretty like. I couldn’t help reveling in the moment. Score! I said to myself.

“Oh, I’ve got a few ideas,” I said, moving closer to her as well.

“Like?” she said playfully. Our lips met, but only briefly. Just as we kissed there was a feeling in my chest like the shattering of worlds. My stomach seemed to wrench from my body, pulled so hard it was like to explode. I fell away from her, out of my chair and onto the floor, where I held onto my stomach.

“What’s wrong?” she asked. She got down on the floor next to me. The man in the suit stood up to see what was happening. Before long, though, the feeling had passed. There was no more pain but I knew what I had to do.

The man in the suit’s phone beeped twice. He looked down at the screen and then up at me.

“Ramsey,” he said.

“How do you know me?” I asked.

“It’s me, Alex.”

“What?” I was astonished. “Why’d you follow me?”

“Stewart made me. He wanted to make sure you weren’t a threat. But I think he’s in trouble and we have to go back to Birmingham.”

“I know,” I said. It was the feeling in my gut—what Ser had called my demon hunter’s sense. There were more demons in Birmingham right now than anywhere else in the world—thousands, hundreds of thousands—maybe even millions.

I looked at Adrienne. “Will you go with me?”

“Go where?” she asked, confused.

“To America, if only for a short while,” I said.

She hesitated, unsure. “I don’t know what it is about you,” she said. “But I feel like I have to say yes, if just to see where it takes me… takes us.”

“Good.” I smiled. “Come on, then. Alex, I’m going to need your help.”

“What am I supposed to do?” he said. “I don’t have powers or a magic sword or anything.”

“No.” I said. “But you’ve got one thing I’ll never have.” I stared him dead in the face. “You’re fucking Russian.”

“Um…” he said.

“Okay yeah it didn’t make sense. I don’t care, we have to go.” I pulled the sword from my back and drew it down, as if to slice the air. Where the blade had cut there appeared a line of bright white light, and soon it spread to reveal the image of Birmingham, draped in shadow, cloud and mist. “Alright, jump through.”

We all went, and it was as if we’d jumped into a picture of hell. The demons were everywhere, tearing the city apart. Before I knew it we were in the thick of battle. There were cops already shooting at the demons but they were severely outnumbered. I picked up an assault rifle off the ground and threw it to Alex. “Back to back!” I shouted, and we did it. Behind me I could hear him shooting. I had my sword, shooting white-hot plasma at the demons in all directions, Adrienne wrapped around my leg, scared.

I told her to stay with Alex and leapt off, my sword flashing like lighting. The demons fell by the hundreds to my blade, but wherever one fell three more appeared in its place, bigger and stronger than before. Even after hours of slaughter there were still thousands left, but Stewart was nowhere to be seen.

I met back up with Alex and Adrienne, who were both torn up and bloody but otherwise okay. “Where’s Stewart? What has he gotten himself into here?”

“I dunno, but I don’t like it. This is darker than what we’re used to dealing with.”

“Hell, I’m not used to shit. Not yet.” I looked to Adrienne. “You alright?”

“Yeah.” She was holding a large shotgun. “Yeah, I’m good.”

“Good girl,” I said, smiling, and jumped back into the fray.



-The Knight