Page 22 of Helsing: Demon Slayer
Roaring, Ryan came to his feet, throwing the possessed man off his back. He barely registered when this attacker crashed to the ground, rolling and coming to its haunches.
He ignored the swarmingdaemoniacsfrom the ship.
He ignored the panicked people who clogged the pier in a desperate rush to escape.
Instead, he sprinted faster than he’d ever run to reach his principle, who’d just screamed his name.
The male who’d pivoted from Germaine tugged on Dianne’s protective tunic while the male who’d smashed his head into Ryan’s sat on her thighs, giggling. Germaine swatted both men about the head, crying and screaming, and about as effectual as a gnat.
Ryan wrenched the first attacker from Dianne’s legs. He felt the power leave his replenished chainmail and heard an unnatural grunt from thedaemoniac. The man landed, hard, on the asphalt.
Ryan kicked him in the head before turning back to the second attacker, who gleefully twisted Dianne’s tunic around her neck, choking the life from her.
A bolt of fury raced through Ryan. He grabbed thedaemoniac, whose high-pitched scream stopped all activity on the crowded pier.
Thedaemoniacstiffened, its eyes going wide, and then slumped in Ryan’s grip.
Ryan shoved the limp body to the side and away from Dianne as Germaine, sobbing, untwisted the tunic and began to pull it over her friend’s head.
“No,” said Ryan, putting a hand on Germaine’s wrist. When she looked at him, wide eyed and panting, he shook his head. “That stays on her.”
He glanced over his shoulder at the renewed tumult around them. For now, nodaemoniacstargeted them. For the moment, the malicious creatures had switched their sights to the easier prey around them.
“Is she able to stand?” He nodded to Dianne, who sat up with Germaine’s help and sucked in broken breaths. He didn’t have time to check her over.
“Demon Slayer, I registered several harmonic discharges,” said Olivia in his ear. She paused. “At higher output than designed.” Concern threaded her voice.
“I don’t know my own power, Harlequin,” he said, reaching down to pull Dianne to her feet. He glanced at the motionlessdaemoniaclying next to her. “I think I lost one.”
“Copy that,” she said. “Transpo is still fifteen minutes out. You need to get to the Old Town and find someplace secure to wait for the exfil team.”
“Roger that,” he said.
Dianne looked around. She didn’t seem to register the tumult. “I-I”—the hoarse words stuck in her injured throat. She coughed. “—lost my phone.”
Ryan ignored her to address Germaine. “I’ll get you as far as the palace over there”—he lifted his chin toward the obvious Roman ruins overlooking the harbor—“but then you’re on your own. My advice? Stay off that ship.”
Germaine blanched, looking over her shoulder. “What about the others?”
Just then, a piercing scream rent the air before cutting off abruptly. Visceral sounds of grunting and snarling thickened as possessed people streamed toward a growing clump of bodies. Ryan saw blood and gore on the jaws of several. It looked like a scene out of a zombie movie.
His stomach twisted. He looked away for a moment, leaving his answer to Germaine’s question unsaid. Instead, he asked Dianne, “Can you walk?”
She bit her lip and nodded, her fingers drifting to her neck, now swollen and red. Ryan clenched his jaw and flexed his useless fingers.
So much for the protective tunic. It didn’t defend against actual physical attack.
He gestured to Germaine. “You take point. Dianne, you follow. I’ll take the rear.”
The women nodded and turned to head toward the palm-lined Riva Promenade along the waterfront. It was deserted. Even the street next to the pier had emptied of all traffic. In the distance, strident sirens competed with the disturbing discord around them.
He grabbed Germaine’s arm before she took a step. “Be ready to run on my order.”
Germaine’s gaze darted behind him. Ryan saw something slither across it, something that he doubted he’d seen correctly in the early morning glare. He could have sworn that avarice mixed with the regret …
Germaine looked at him, and he saw that she realized he’d been watching her.
“Don’t worry about me, soldier boy,” she said, dismissing the frenzy of violence on the pier behind them and heading toward the waterfront boulevard.
