Page 74 of Helsing: Demon Slayer
She needed to warn everyone, to get Ryan and the others to return to defend the clinic.
Dianne remembered the connection she’d had to the harmonic comms system. Everyone had seemed surprised—and not in a good way—that she’d been able to listen in and respond. They’d suggested it was tied to the special tunic that Olivia had sent for her to wear, but Dianne had also gotten the distinct impression that her communication ability didn’t rely solely on that miraculous garment.
What if she had some innate harmonic talent that had been awakened during thedaemonicassault in Split? She was Olivia’s sister after all …
And she’d definitely felt a connection to Ryan in Medugorje. Maybe it was still there even though he’d shut her out.
“Beast, Beauty Queen. How copy?” she said as she ran through the pass-through, focusing on Ryan’s beloved face in her memory. Her words echoed against the stone, making her feel ridiculous for speaking into thin air.
“Dianne?” asked Ryan, sounding stunned.
“Who else do you call ‘Beauty Queen’?” she asked, her breath coming in pants as she climbed the raw ground of the terraced slope where a future outdoor worship area would be built. “You need to get to the clinic. The dire wolves are heading there.”
“You’ve seen them?” he asked, alarm making his voice rough. But his voice in her ear steadied her. She could almost feel the heat from his skin, smell his clean scent. She closed her eyes for a brief moment, inhaling an easier breath as Ryan’s presence filled her.
“Seen them, shot the leader in the head. Outside Olivia and Mihàil’s house. The creepy bastard just got back up and led the others to the clinic,” she said, ignoring the burning in her thighs as she pushed uphill toward the clinic where the dire wolves had halted outside the entrance. She didn’t like the way the largest dire wolf seemed to study the wide glass doors.
She knew when Ryan had figured out her position when he swore, vigorously and colorfully. Still, the fury in his next words nearly took her breath away—and told her more than he’d intended about how he felt about her. “What the hell are you doing outside the clinic? Get out of there! Go to the training center or better yet the ops center. Miles will protect you. How copy, Beauty Queen?”
Dianne halted at the next terrace down from the level that the clinic and site of the future chapel sat on. She was totally exposed, but none of the dire wolves even looked in her direction. She pressed against the exposed wall of packed earth at the rear of the terraced landscape as she moved closer to the pack of dire wolves above.
“Beauty Queen, confirm last order. How copy?”
“They aren’t interested in me, Beast,” she said, moving backwards on the terrace to catch a glimpse of the wolves’ hollow gazes reflected in the last rays of the setting sun on the glass doors and walls of the clinic. She saw herself there, the sun highlighting her blond hair like a halo. For a moment her gaze locked with that of the leader, the ragged black bullet hole a third eye on his motley head. “They’re here for Mihàil.”
Ryan was silent for a moment, and then the comms, which had continued blaring their warning about an intrusion, switched to a different message with Ryan’s voice.
“Updated enemy position confirmed—dire wolves advancing on clinic grounds! Sector Seven compromised. Repeat—Sector Seven compromised. Immediate Response Teams: Redirect to clinic perimeter. Non-combat personnel: Evacuate via rear tunnel immediately—priority exit route engaged. Medical staff: Transport all ambulatory patients to evacuation route. Immobile patients and remaining personnel: Secure-room lockdown activated—reinforced barriers engaged. Combat personnel—defensive protocols active! Weapons free. Authority override—priority defense-directive initiated. Protect thezoti. Hold the perimeter.”
As the system announced this new protocol, steel security screens dropped over the glass doors and walls of the clinic entrance. They’d scarcely slammed into the limestone pavers forming a wide patio next to the building with a metallic crash before retractable bollards erupted from the pavers, jolting the compacted earth against which Dianne leaned. Finally, reinforced grilles locked into place over the security screens. Then electromagnetic locks engaged, resonating through the steel frame like a tuning fork.
Above the clinic's first floor, armed security guards appeared in the tall windows lining the front of the building.
“Impressive, Beast,” said Dianne, rubbing her wrist, now scalded by the charm bracelet. Its weight dragged at her arm, almost as if it didn’t want her to raise the Glock. “But something tells me it’s not going to be enough.”
“What do you see?” asked Ryan, coiled urgency driving his words into her brain. He almost sounded as if he was standing next to her.
Dianne watched as the largest dire wolf, who’d waited in a seated position while the clinic’s defensive system activated, stood and began picking its way through the bollards as if navigating a path among roses. She glanced up at the sky, where roiling black clouds sailed in to obliterate the last of the setting sun, throwing the clinic into deep shadow.
The Glock slipped against her sweaty palm forcing her to bring her other hand to its grip as she answered. “The zombie bastard that I shot has gone right up to the doors. He seems to be studying them …oh, sweet Lord…” Dianne’s voice wavered as the vibrations trailing through the lead dire wolf hit her like heatwaves around a desert mirage. They rolled down her body until she trembled like leaves pelted by hail. Her eyes refused to blink. Everything around her shimmered, even the solid glass, steel, and stone clinic.
The alpha dire wolf tilted his head before lifting his paw and pressing it against the steel grille in front of him. His paw disappeared beneath its surface like a dog patting a pond. The shimmer deepened, sending ripples across the rest of the grille, spreading out into the other door and windows.
Dianne’s vision flickered. The air suffocated her.
“Dianne!” Ryan’s yell hit her mind like thunder, breaking the spell. “Stay put! I’m coming for you. You got that, soldier? I. Am. Coming. For. You.”
Dizziness flooded Dianne, dragging her to her knees. She choked, gasping as if trying to breathe water. Her hand holding the Glock fell to the unfinished terrace, sending a brown puff of dirt swirling around her face. Involuntary tears coursed down her cheeks.
Through her blurry vision, she saw the lead dire wolf stick his head into the liquified steel covering the clinic door to the ruff on his neck. As he did, shifting light overhead brought Dianne’s gaze up to the windows several floors above the entrance to see a visibly trembling Mihàil being held upright between two men in hospital scrubs, his sole eye trained on the sky as if he could call down lightning from its heavy cumulonimbus shroud.
The clouds responded with an unnatural low moaning that raked the air with electricity. Something inside the storm moved. Or so it seemed to Dianne, now pressed against the ground, shaking in the icy wind that sent her hair dancing among dirt dervishes.
The dire wolves reacted, stiffening as their attention shifted from the clinic to the sky. Snarling, the lead dire wolf stepped back onto the terrace, its ears flat against its skull. He watched the storm like a soldier assessing a battlefield shift.
Lightning flickered, sending flashes of white-hot brilliance across Mihàil’s half-ruined visage now free of its bandage, lighting up the ground around the clinic in a phosphorescent blaze. The thick looming clouds contracted inward as if recoiling from his glare. For a breath, the air held itself still, stretched thin, as though the storm itself was deciding whether to yield or strike.
Until the first dark-winged figure descended, its presence cutting through the unnatural weight pressing on Dianne. Other dark-winged figures rained down, their elongated shadows seeking the dire wolves. They were silent save for the crackling energy that emanated from them, disturbing everything. Leaves, dirt, even small stones swirled in the air around their grim cohort.
