Page 37 of Helsing: Demon Slayer
Dianne started and gave a little scream, which she muffled against Ryan.
Tremors raced through the shield’s finely woven frequencies and visible gaps began to appear. Ethereal light sprang from Willem’s fingertips as he began weaving a complex pattern in the air while chanting something unfamiliar to Ryan. Ryan’s harmonics responded, vibrating the drum of his chest.
All around them, sweet music began to swell, pushing against the discordant energy, repairing the fraying harmonic fabric. The other Kastrioti warfighters took up defensive positions around the shield’s base, adding energy from their personal systems to its complex harmonics.
The soft blue glow of Dianne’s tunic brightened to a phosphorescent white. Ryan glanced down and saw that she now stared at the vile Dark spirits, her mouth open, but her eyes narrowed. She no longer trembled like a rose in a hailstorm. Instead, she sat forward, her spine firm and her chin lifted. Something swelled in his chest as he looked at her.
It was the oddest, yet most comforting, sensation he’d ever felt in his life.
For a long interval, the team’s integrated defense expelled thedaemonsand harmonized the shield with the celestial plane. But thedaemonshowled and scrabbled at the glowing barrier in furious hatred so visceral it threatened to choke Ryan, whose harmonic chainmail had needed retuning and charging after Split. It had failed to protect him already.
Hewas in danger of failing.
The mission, soldierechoed Beta’s voice in his memory.
Ryan lifted his chin and began chanting St. Benedict’s Exorcism Prayer. Dianne shifted in his arms, her breasts rubbing his chest, and electricity swarmed through him like a beehive, unexpectedly juicing his harmonics and making his voice husky.
Without being ordered, Markos and the two other Kastrioti warfighters joined him. Their human chant blended in a pleasing counterpoint to Willem’sElioudone.
If they hadn’t had access to theElioudability to read and respond to angelic harmonics, which operated outside of created time and space, they would have been caught off guard and sent mad long before they tore each other to shreds. Or worse, possessed by a legion ofdaemonsand used in whatever way the Dark spirits wanted.
As they’d used Germaine Grimes.
As they’d do once the shield vanished.
Already Willem’s wet face shone, and sweat soaked the underarms of his shirt. He swayed, buffeted by a powerful current, as he maintained the shield’s fundamental frequency. He’d likely used a great deal of hisElioudpower getting the prototype copter to them, and even he couldn’t sustain a defense against so much bitter chaos and discord.
It wouldn’t be long now. Disordered harmonics had seeped into the space under the shield, which had lightened so much that Ryan could see through it and beyond thedaemonsclinging like locusts to its surface. As far as the eye could see along the narrow highway, a handful of cars had been overturned, anddaemonsinfiltrated passengers, transforming them into berserk animals. The temperature had plummeted until the breath of everything living fogged the air, mixed with a mind-numbing cacophony.
Beneath the fraying harmonic mesh, the pressure mounted. Markos wore a desperate expression, while Marta’s face had gone blank. But Barts? The driver had a strange gleam in his eyes, the kind of light that didn’t portend well for his sanity.
Ryan didn’t have time to worry about that. He’d left his gun in the Rover’s second-row seat when he’d gone to help Dianne with Germaine, but he needed it. And his backpack, which he’d filled with extra ammo. If he could get Dianne into a nearby vehicle, surely they could leave the others to deal with the few possessed, who’d be drawn to Germaine like flies to honey …
“I’ve got to get my weapon,” he said, setting Dianne on her feet. “Stay here.”
And then Mihàil Kastrioti appeared in a white-hot blaze on the asphalt outside the shield and began rippingdaemonsoff it. Thezotihad near full-angel blood, and since marrying Olivia had become the next best thing to a Watcher Angel walking on earth. Thedaemonsshrieked in agony as his hands disrupted what little control they had over the created world, turning them into what he’d described to Ryan as harmonic goo that he could disperse on superheated winds.
Dianne gasped. “Mihàil?”
Ryan ignored her to sprint around the Rover. He yanked open the rear door and reached in to grab the backpack from the far seat and the handgun in its holster from the seatback.
Unfortunately, Barts fell apart at the same time. Pivoting, he ran toward Marta with clawed hands. She, however, still carried the Defender combat rifle she held to ward off any possessed humans who made it into their haven. Turning, she managed a shot before the driver rushed her and grabbed the barrel. And then she engaged him in fierce hand-to-hand combat, her hands wielding the rifle like a club and her elbows striking in a syncopated rhythm.
Beyond them, Markos pulled his own pistol and began firing atdaemons, a futile act that would leave him without bullets once the shield collapsed.
They didn’t have much time.
Mihàil cleared all the evil spirits attacking their joined harmonics as they disintegrated into discord. His preternatural gaze took in the entire scene. Something sparked between him and Willem, who stood panting with his hands on his thighs.
Then thezoti’s unsettling gaze landed on Ryan, who’d returned to Dianne’s side.
“Get her out of here now, Helsing.”Elioudauthority rang in Mihàil’s voice, sending it echoing along the highway, where a small number of possessed humans momentarily milled in the disorienting heatwaves from thezoti’s assault. The disordered creatures shrieked as one, their hands going to their ears in a futile attempt to block the sound of their adversary’s voice.
Ryan didn’t need to be told twice. Grabbing Dianne’s hand, he tugged her after him beyond the prototype helo to the sole car, its driver’s door open and the engine still running.
Dianne looked behind them and screamed.
Ryan shot a glance over his shoulder, his stride lengthening into an all-out run at the sight.
