Chapter 44: The Whore's Daughters

Edited by Master Ken

The first crisis to challenge the Tyrants was the demoness Lilith. The Whore of Babylon had made her nest in the City of Seattle, breeding scores of her foul children. They were the monsters of old that had haunted mankind before the Flood. Our stories and legends abound with the memories of these vile and loathsome creatures, and though their names have been lost to modern memory, and it has been eons since they stalked the world, mankind's primal fear of them has never diminished: Thu'ban, Lamia, Tzavua, Alukah, Dever, Lamassu, Re'em, Mazikeen, Dabbat, Tzelanit, Agas, Pazuzu, Tir, Manticore, Dimme.
–excerpt from 'The History of the Tyrants' Theocracy', by Tina Allard

Tuesday, November 12th, 2013 – Lana Paquet-Holub – Seattle, WA

"They are here," Lilith calmly told me as Zuzu's screeching howl faded away. "You know what to do?"

Ice water flowed through my veins. Mark was here! "I ... yes," I stammered, trying to focus. I had a job to do. I had to make the portal.

Gunfire erupted outside; I jumped. "Go!" Lilith shouted.

I turned and ran, racing through the halls past the panicked women and their monstrous daughters. "To the basement!" I shouted at them, reminding them what to do. "Clear the damned way!" I roared at a group huddled in the hallway. "And follow me!"

Many of Lilith's children were still too young to fight, the latest batch only born yesterday. More than a hundred of them, the largest group yet birthed, but Mark's attack came too soon. We just needed another day or two, and maybe we would have had a chance to hold the warehouse. I pushed through the crowd, forcing my way down the last stairs into the musty basement.

"Chantelle!" I shouted in relief.

My wife smiled at me as she drew a portal with a bronze knife, struggling to saw open the Veil. I picked up one of the bronze knives laid out on the table, and started cutting my own portal open. Thamina arrived a minute later, pushing through the growing crowd of frightened women. More gunfire and loud roars could be heard outside.

"Hurry!" I shouted at Thamina as she took up a bronze knife. There were only three of us here that could create portals. As Thamina began to draw hers, I finished mine, a hole in the fabric of reality opening into the misty Shadows. "Stay close!" I yelled as women and young monsters pushed through.

Chantelle finished drawing her portal at the same time as Thamina. My wife was always so slow at it for some reason. We were fleeing to Africa, to a tiny village in the Congo where more of Lilith's daughters waited to be born. It was so galling. There were five villages in the Congo, nearly a thousand women just days away from birthing Lilith an army.

We were so damned close!

Fiona Cavanagh

My phone alarm went off, beeping incessantly and dragging me up from the depths of sleep.

"Fuck," I muttered, reaching my phone and swiping the alarm off. 4:30 AM. Too fucking early. This was the third time I had to wake-up and check on Mayor Erikson. He should still be asleep; he never caused any problems. He was too far under Lamia's spell to resist at this point.

Lilith wanted him watched. She didn't believe in leaving things to chance. I stood up, stretched, and padded out into the hallways. My feet slapped on the hardwood floor, and I scratched an itch on my side. I reached his bedroom, opened the door and saw the Mayor sleeping peacefully alone. I stifled a yawn, and turned to stumbled back to my room and get another hour or so of blessed sleep.

I froze when a splintering crash echoed through the house. Panic gripped my mind. It was only when the soldier threw me to the floor and put his boot on my back that I finally was able to think. Then it was too late. I had been captured, and terror squeezed my heart with a powerful fist until I was sure my poor organ would be crushed to a pulp. My greatest fear had happened.

I was at Mark's mercy again.

Mark Glassner

The monster, Lilith's daughter, fell from the sky, landing amidst the Rangers and bowling them over. She was big, thickly muscled, and bullish. Red-feathered wings folded almost gracefully behind the monstrosity's back. Her foot lashed out, slamming into a Ranger's chest. With a sickening crunch, he toppled backwards, and flopped like a fish on the deck of a boat.

"Fuck!" I shouted. "Fire! Fire, damn you!"

The Rangers' training took over; they fired their M16s at the monster. Red sprouted about the bullish woman from the bullet wounds. For a moment, the brute looked like she could take the punishment, the bullets only minor irritation. And maybe only a few were, but as she stepped forward, dozens and dozens pricked her skin. She staggered, the little wounds adding up, and collapsed into a great heap.

I glanced back at Mary, her face white with shock.

"Keller, Baxter, breach that door!" the lieutenant barked. "Don't just stand around with your dicks in your hand! Move, Rangers!"

Two Rangers blinked, shaking off their shock, and sprinted for the door. They were followed by four others. One pulled out a breaching charge, a rectangle made of duct tape and plastic explosives, and was about to slap it on the door, when the entire metal wall of the warehouse exploded outwards. The Ranger with the explosives was slammed to the ground beneath twisted aluminum siding. A hulking woman, ten feet tall, strode through the carnage, a thick piece of lumber clutched in one hand like a club.

Keller dived to the ground as she swung the club at him. I rushed forward, summoning my celestial blade. Gunfire erupted in the night as other monsters joined the fray, pouring out of the hole. My blood pumped wildly through my veins as I raised my sword to hack at the legs of the giantess. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion; she turned, her club swinging in a deadly, quick arc right at my chest.

Oh shit! How did she swing it that fast?

I tried to stop, digging my feet into the damp asphalt. I slid, my momentum carrying me right into the club. The wood slammed into my breastplate, snapping. I flew back in a spray of splinters, landing heavily and rolling to a stop. I coughed, struggling to catch my breath.

"Mark!" the giantess roared, a deep bass that somehow was feminine as it rattled my skull. She threw down the ruined stump of her club. "Mother will love me the most if I bring her your head!" Her hands clenched; I swallowed, struggling to stand. I could almost feel that monstrous hand about my throat, squeezing until my head popped off.

Bullets struck her; small, red wounds appeared. The Rangers may as well have been firing paintballs, because the hulking giantess didn't even seem to feel them. She threw one Ranger aside as he tried to stab her with a knife, his body crashing into a dumpster with a meaty crunch. She stomped towards me as I struggled to rise. Someone stepped before me, facing the giantess as fierce as a tiger protecting her cub, wreathed in bright fire.

Mary.

"That's my husband, bitch!" she snarled.

The flames that danced upon Mary rushed to her fist, and she threw her arm like she was throwing a baseball. The giantess screamed in pain as the ball of fire left a smoking hole in her breast. The monster stood dumbfounded for a moment, then slowly, like a tree snapping before the a powerful wind, toppled backwards, landing with a resounding crash.

"Mother," she croaked, her arm reaching into the air before she shuddered and went limp.

"You okay, Mark?" Mary asked, bending over.

"Yeah," I wheezed, and Mary helped pull me to my feet.

Monsters were attacking the Rangers from all sides. A woman whose every strand of hair seemed a different hue, whipped it around, the hair slashing in deadly arcs at the Rangers. Another monster had one normal eye and one that bulged yellow, and fired some sort of energy that knocked a Ranger off his feet. A grenade landed at the yellow-eyed monster's feet, detonating and tearing her body apart. A sinuous woman, completely hairless, somehow dodged the gunfire as she rushed forward, a forked tongue flicking from her lips.

"Damn," I muttered, struggling to think what to do. "How did you throw the fire?"

"I don't know, I just did!" Mary yelled. "Summon the dead, Mark!" Then she sent a gust of wind at the serpent-woman. The monster couldn't dodge the wind, and went tumbling hard into the side of the building. The serpent writhed, and righted itself.

"Tsamalev!" I cried.

Silver mist sprung up, swirling into sixteen figures. Chasity, Karen, and the dead bodyguards. Even in death they served us. They appeared clad in shining, silver armor and wielding silvered weapons. Some had swords, others guns; excited grins graced their beautiful faces.

"Master!" Chasity greeted with a bow, her blue eyes twinkling with excitement, before she turned and threw herself into the fray. A silver-clad warrior, a Valkyrie, her blonde hair streaming behind her as she led her sisters into battle.

I was right on her heels. I could feel the drain of the summoning spell, so I tapped all the souls bound to me, sharing the load between dozens and dozens of people. My golden sword flashed, and I severed the rainbow-haired monster's head, and led the counterattack on the serpent woman. Rangers followed, firing at the sinuous woman.

She hissed at me, twisting her body to avoid the gunshots, and launched herself at me. I set my shoulder, and barreled into her chest. Her legs wrapped around my body like a coiled serpent, squeezing me impossibly hard; my armor cracked beneath her constricting grip. I drew on Molech's flames, and the air filled with the reek of sizzling flesh. The serpent-woman hissed in pain, and fell to the ground a smoking ruin.

Mary sent another monster tumbling with a blast of wind at the creature's feet; three Rangers fell on the beast with flashing knives. I glanced around, looking for the next monster to fight. The ghosts were streaming into the warehouse, pursuing Lilith's children as they retreated. Only half of the Rangers were still standing; the other half lay dead or dying on the street.

"Go!" Mary shouted, bending down beside a fallen Ranger. "I'll take care of the wounded!"

"You were magnificent!" I shouted, before leading my remaining men into the gaping hole the giantess made in the warehouse.

Makeshift walls of plywood covered in red felt formed a hallway that led off in both directions. Inhuman roars and growls echoed from all directions, and muffled gunfire came from the other three groups of Rangers. The building trembled and creaked, like it protested the violence happening around it. A clapping boom rattled the floor, bringing more groaning protests from the building's metal frame.

"Chasity!" I shouted as I surveyed the warehouse.

"Master," she answered, stepping through a wall. "This place is a warren."

"Where is Lilith?"

"Basement," Chasity reported. "63 and 01 were unsummoned down there. 30 and I were forced to retreat. There's a strong group of her daughters guarding three portals that her followers are fleeing through."

"Fuck! Into the Shadow?"

She nodded.

"Which way?" I asked.

Chasity pointed to her right when the shadows behind her suddenly moved. A shaft of darkness formed into a spear, and pierced Chasity's chest. She gave a startled blink, then dissolved into silvery mist, her soul sent back to the Abyss.

For a moment, everything was still as the Rangers and I gaped at the moving shadow. Then the hallway filled with lancing shadows. They came from every direction, stabbing and slicing. One knifed at me; I turned, and it scraped across my breastplate, leaving gouges in the metal. The shadow kept striking forward, and struck a Ranger behind me, slicing through his body armor like it was wax paper; he fell in a lifeless heap to the ground.

I jumped back as the shadows in the hallway came alive. Soldiers fired blindly as the darkness slashed at them. Every shadow could suddenly become lethal, slicing at you, even the one you cast. I dodged another shadow as a blade of umber went through the rifle and arm of a Ranger, severing both as easily as a scissor cutting paper. My men were being cut down by these fucking shadows! I fought through the panic, whirling to dodge attacks, and looked in vain for the source of the attack.

A knife of shadows arced at my face. I pivoted, and slashed a black tendril with my golden blade. White light flashed, briefly revealing a small woman crouching in a corner, skin black as midnight, flinching in pain.

"There!" I barked, pointing at the corner. "Everything you got!"

The shadows convulsed and then snapped back to normal as automatic fire raked the corner. The midnight-skinned monster fell forward in a pool of inky blood. No-one spoke, except the man clutching his severed arm. Everyone just stared in horror at the monster. I could see the fear in their eyes. How could regular men fight a being that used the very shadows they cast as weapons?

I bent down next to the wounded Ranger, a scarlet light enveloping him as I healed him. When the scarlet faded the solder clutched at his newly grown arm, staring in amazement. "Thank you, my Lord!" he gasped, flexing his fingers and staring at his bare arm, his sleeve ending where the shadow had sliced through it. I healed another Ranger who still lived, but the others had bled out.

"My Lord!" a man yelled, and three more Rangers ran up, battered and singed.

"Southeast corner?" I asked.

"Yes, we're the only survivors," he gasped. Only three out of thirty-three survived? Fuck! "There's this thing breathing fire and..."

Gunshots cracked nearby, echoing down from where the new soldiers came from. Two of the ghosts were firing down the hallway, fiery-red light bathing their silver armor. Black smoke rolled around the top of the hallway, and billowed out of the massive hole the giantess had left. Yellow-orange fire engulfed the two ghosts; the summoning failed, and the two ghosts were sent back to the Abyss.

"Fuck!" someone cursed.