Page 79 of Helsing: Demon Slayer
Tried, but thedaemonicnoise had blocked the command.
Miles didn’t wait to speak to Olivia. Even as he bent to type in a system override for Helsing’s directive, the livestream showed in color-coded visuals the powerful electromagnetic pulses that the drone swarm concentrated on their target, now moving as Ryan ran with Dianne in a fireman’s carry.
Dumb grunt must have it bad, thought Miles, both amused and slightly horrified that his friend took a bolt of electricity that would have stunned a bear or disrupted adaemon’s fundamental frequency, scattering the fractureddaemonicenergy far and wide.
Fortunately for Helsing, his clothing and boots had enough grounding to protect against a lightning strike, so the current drained into the churning mud of the unfinished terrace path. That didn’t stop the big man from pitching forward, unable to break his fall with either his disabled hand or the other one he used to keep Dianne from flying from him on the disintegrating slope.
“Go for Harlequin” came Olivia’s matter-of-fact answer to Greta’s comms request.
“Harlequin, this is Aerie Actual,” said Miles, who clung to protocol now to keep his cool. He gripped the back of Greta’s chair until his knuckles whitened as he went on. “We have a situation with Demon Slayer and Dianne. You might want to take a look at the live feed that Greta has shared with you.”
“Reviewing now,” she said, stress evident in her voice. “You overrode the priority protocol?”
“Yes, ma’am. But, ma’am, it appears that Demon Slayer’s signature has stabilized Dianne’s.In fact, their fundamental frequencies overlap in the system, almost as if they’re co-dependent. As long as that holds, sensors won’t flag Dianne as an enemy target. What does that mean given that she wears Abaddon’s charm?”
Olivia ignored his question. “Draka and Giant are en route to you. Divert them to the pass-through to pick up Demon Slayer and Dianne. Once they arrive at the Aerie, Helsing will take command of our forces, such as they are. What to do about Dianne will be his decision.”
Miles’s frustration grew. He shoved it aside. “Yes, ma’am.”
Olivia sighed. Miles could almost see her run her fingers through her fine blond hair as she paced in the small tactical operations center in the bunker built deep inside the mountain behind the clinic. “Miles, I need you to focus on what I’m asking you to do now.”
Miles, hearing the gravity in her tone, turned and walked away from Greta so the young officer wouldn’t overhear. “Asking?” he said. “Not ordering?”
Olivia laughed. There was a slight catch in the sound. “You and I both know that we pretend to have a command hierarchy here because it suits us. But I rely on your experience and good judgment more than you know.” She inhaled loudly enough that he heard it over the comms. “I count you as a friend. What I’m about to ask you is something I won’t order you to do.”
Miles stilled. He’d never heard Olivia so uncertain before. “Anything,” he said without hearing her request.
“I won’t hold you to that,” she said before adding, “but I will ask. I need you to make your way to Trieste and recover an MSS operative named Liú Xiù. She saved my life more than a decade ago. Now I need you to save hers.”
Dianne’s arm burned and ached to the bone, making it nearly impossible for her to think about anything except for the warm muscle and hard shoulder under her abdomen as Ryan carried her down the mountain. Darkness ate at her vision like acid. Low voices muttered and shrieked inside her head while invisible insects crawled on her skin, stinging and biting. She felt simultaneously feverish and chilled as the rain continued, waves of pain wracking her until she realized that the vibration originated somewhere in the air above her. It became stronger and stronger, threatening to split her head like a ripe cantaloupe.
Then lightning struck. Or that’s what it felt like.
Electricity connected to the bracelet, coursing along her arm in a mad race for her heart.
She was falling through the void, breathless. Yet still connected to that warm mass …
… that gripped her and rolled a moment before they hit the ground with a jarring thud and grunt, Ryan’s body shielding her from the impact. Somehow, she’d managed to keep her Glock in her hand without shooting him.
For a stunned moment, they lay there, entwined as the rain soaked them, Ryan’s chest heaving and her heart racing.
“What was that?” she asked.
“Just a little kiss from our surveillance drones. They seem to think you’re owned by adaemon.But they’re wrong.”
Dianne swallowed. “Are they coming back?”
“No.” He shook his head, his gaze never leaving her face. “Baxter overrode the protocol. Besides, your harmonic signature no longer reads asdaemonic.”
“Why is that?” she asked, just wanting to keep him talking as long as she could, even if their surreal conversation took place amidst pouring rain, mud, and a loomingdaemonicinvasion.
“Apparently my base frequency is rewriting yours.” He grinned. His grin didn’t just carry amusement. It held certainty. Defiance. A reckless dare to whatever force thought it could take her from him.“I told you you were mine. Even adaemoncan’t claim you.”
At his words, Dianne realized that the searing ache in her arm had dissipated. She blinked against the rain, willing her body to believe what her mind couldn’t comprehend. The pain was gone. Just—gone. Like he’d erased it.
“Is it strange that I never want to let you go?” she asked, her words watery and blurred. She hoped he thought it was from the rain sheeting over her mouth.
“Not any stranger than me never wanting to let you go,” he said. His eyes glinted in the light from the landscape lanterns scattered among the unfinished tiers of the future chapel amphitheater around them.
