Page 25 of Helsing: Demon Slayer
Ryan’s flagging spirit rebounded.
Harmonics.
It took several seconds before thedaemoniacsquad attacking them registered the new presence. They paused, grimaces twisting their features.
The humming increased in pitch and intensity, calling forth a response in Ryan’s personal harmonic system and swelling in volume around the combatants. The male punching Ryan gasped and clutched his head while the one gripping him broke off with a shriek. The acrid scent of smoldering flesh assailed Ryan’s nostrils an instant before both creatures combusted.
The otherdaemoniacsthrew their heads back, their hands over their ears, and howled.
Around Ryan and Dianne, thedaemoniacslikewise exploded in a spontaneous eruption of ash and blue-white flame, suspended in the air before cascading to the pavement in a rush. The acrid scent of charred flesh hung heavy in the abrupt silence.
All except the leader, that is. Instead, his eyes narrowed to slits as he clenched his fists and grimaced, straining against the disruptive force of the nanodrones that Olivia had sent as Ryan’s backup. Ryan’s personal harmonics system has acted as a tuner and amplifier, recalibrating the harmonics of the human vessels to an angelic key.
After a long struggle, one of the leader’s eyes popped with a hiss. Vitreous gel oozed down his drooping cheek. The hum of the nanodrones dissipated.
Ryan shook his head, exhaled a sharp breath, and then squared his shoulders.
Then he stepped forward, the knife held in a backhanded grip, ready to engage this final enemy. An enemy no longer strengthened by the horde.
Without a word, thedaemoniacspun and loped away, its lopsided gait testament to the energetic battle it had just fought on a cellular level—fought and barely won.
Ryan let it go. He sensed that this wave of the battle had ended. They needed to get out of here before the evil spirits had time to regroup and possess more human vessels, willing or unwilling, for their foot soldiers.
As he turned to leave, an object laying on the pavement next to where the leader had stood caught his attention.
Ryan stepped forward and picked it up. It was a small, ornate metal charm that resembled a hand with two short outer fingers and three extended fingers. A blue-white-and-black crystal that reminded him of the ubiquitous Eye of Athena found at tourist shops around the Adriatic dominated the tiny metallic palm.
What an irony. The ancient design purported to protect the holder against the malign influence of the Evil Eye.
He pocketed the peculiar charm as he strode back toward Dianne, refusing to contemplate what he’d find. Behind him, three of the police officers remained lying on the pavement where thedaemoniachunters had brought them down, one still and two moaning. Ryan ignored the rapid, urgent speech the officer shouted at him. It was obvious the man ordered him to stop, but that just wasn’t in Ryan’s game plan, not even when the cop started shooting.
Ryan made it unharmed to where Dianne knelt over Germaine, sobbing.
Thank God she was alive.
“We must go before more of them find us,” he said, peering over his shoulder toward the street. His neck itched. It wouldn’t be long.
Dianne turned a red, wet face to him. It hit him like an unexpected gut punch.
“She’s hurt,” she said in a broken, raspy voice.
Ryan clamped his jaw and said only, “Let me see.”
He moved beside Dianne, kneeling on one knee next to her best friend to assess her injuries. Germaine’s ravaged face and torso resembled raw meat. Her right leg had been fractured, and her femur poked through the skin of her thigh. He touched her neck and found her pulse surprisingly strong. She’d need immediate medical care.
All the more reason to get a move on.
He looked at Dianne. “Are you hurt?”
She shook her head. “No. Every time one of those—those—” She floundered for something to call the human shells inhabited by some of the nastiestdaemonsRyan had ever encountered “—tried to grab me, they acted like they’d gotten shocked by a downed powerline.”
“That’s a pretty apt description, though I don’t know how that tunic got so supercharged.” He glanced at her, relief washing over him that she was unhurt. “We have to go. Now. I’ll carry her.”
Unfortunately, it meant stowing the knife …
Dianne nodded. Again, Ryan’s relief caught him by surprise. He put it away along with the knife. There was no time for anything but the mission, even if that had grown to include Dianne’s friend.
“Harlequin, this is Demon Slayer,” he said as he lifted Germaine in his arms. “Thanks for the assist. Package is safe, but her friend needs medical attention yesterday. How far out is that transpo?”
