Still bent over, I resumed drawing with the bloody snow, a thicker, stronger line.
“He’s coming,” Maggie commented.
I nodded. My hand hurt, and holding the coat was hard, but it got lighter as I deposited more snow.
Conquest appeared, drawing close, as I had the circle three-quarters of the way done. Maggie and Evan remained at my side.
I felt stronger with allies close.
“Blood of a free man,” I said. “I claim his defeat for myself. It’s blood I drew, suffering I own, my victory, my conquest.”
“It’s incomplete,” Conquest said, circling around.
I turned, ready to pour more snow, but it took him only two steps to circle around.
The bayonet blade stabbed the earth just beside the opening in the circle.
Maggie’s backpack was bloating and twisting.
She threw it at Conquest. He swatted it aside.
Rose is back.
The imp clawed his way forth from the backpack. He hurled the bag and its remaining contents to one side, then hopped up, placing himself on the tire mounted on the back of an S.U.V.
“Cheat me once, diabolist, shame on you. Cheat me twice? Shame on me,” Pauz growled, in his too-deep, gravelly voice.
“Yet you accepted Rose’s offer,” I said.
“Yes.”
Conquest glanced at me. “What have you done?”
“Then, Pauz,” I said. “Follow through, and you’re free.”
That last word was a heavy one.
All that trouble.
All of the danger he posed.
But I was letting him go.
I knew what was coming.
Pauz screeched.
It was that same terrible noise as before. A rotten, venomous sound that penetrated to the bone marrow and distorted vision.
Radiation.
But it worked, distracting Conquest.
I threw the last of the bloody snow down, on and beside the blade of the bayonet.
The bayonet was a part of him, as were the bullets, apparently. He apparently counted the snow a barrier, when it was . He couldn’t swing over or through the snow.
He could only pull it free. Crimson snow fell into place, closing the circle, complete.
Conquest opened fire on the imp. The imp scrambled away.
“Blake-” Rose said, speaking through the pendant. “Corvidae is on his way. He couldn’t find anything good, apparently.”
I nodded, then realized she might not be able to see me. My throat was tight.
“Blake?
“Sorry,” she said.
“Me too. This went poorly.”
“We’re alive,” Maggie said. “Drat worrying about how.”
“Drat it indeed,” I said.
The imp slid over the front of the vehicle, disappearing beneath the underbelly.
Conquest stabbed the car with his bayonet. I saw him tense, and felt alarm sing through me.
“Fuck,” I said, the word escaping as a gasp.
I ran clear of the circle, and Maggie was a step behind me. Evan fluttered, giving us a nudge.
The S.U.V. hit the dead center of the circle, then rolled clear. The snow was largely untouched, the line mostly unbroken.
We backed into the middle of the street, while Conquest dealt with having the imp in front of him and us behind.
It’s not safe inside the circle. Our refuge.
Conquest turned his attention to us.
Pauz attacked, leaping to the small of Conquest’s back.
A rabbit leaped from the midst of the snow to claw and bite Conquest’s arm, failing to get far with the white, leathery skin-fabric covering in the way.
I couldn’t say for sure, but a part of me wondered if a being like Conquest remained as afraid of demons as the rest of us. He was immortal, few things could touch him on a fundamental level, but when you lived by a concept, and you faced down a being that could subvert that concept…
Conquest was twisted to begin with. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was still there in that alley, or in a room of the hostel-turned shelter for young homeless. To let him become more twisted? I didn’t like it.
I especially didn’t like giving the demons ground, but the alternative was losing the fight or turning to the lawyers.
The lawyers were an unknown quantity. The deal they wanted to make with me sounded too good to be true, so I could only assume it was.
Pauz was more of a known quantity.
Conquest shook both imp and rabbit off. He stabbed a raccoon that was making its way through the snow, then shot something in the distance I couldn’t see.
I could see the connections between imp and animal. He was reeling them in, calling them in from elsewhere. Rats by the hundreds.
I wondered if this neighborhood would be okay, after all was said and done, or if the vermin and mad animals would follow Pauz to his next destination.
Neither was necessarily good.
But we didn’t have much in the way of options. The Hyena was out of commission, and I’d made promises as far as the Hyena went.
I could see Corvidae.
Empty handed, damn.
We had the numbers advantage, but things weren’t coming together.
Pauz wasn’t winning or bringing Conquest to his knees. Corvidae hadn’t been able to find what we needed…
We moved as a group, putting distance between us and the fight, using the car that Conquest had smashed for cover.
“Check another house,” Rose told Corvidae, “tear something from the wall if you have to!”
Corvidae smiled.
It wasn’t a pretty smile. His features were alien.
It wasn’t a nice smile either, or a respectful one.
I was reminded of Midge, the inbred redneck Other.
Contempt.
Corvidae disappeared, moving too quickly through the snow. I looked away before he could distort in my field of vision again.
“He’s no help,” I said.
“We need him,” Rose said.
“Not much help to go around,” Maggie said.
All of the bodies on this battlefield had been nearly buried by fallen snow. Laird was the only person who wasn’t covered.
I’d spent the past week building up allies, drawing people together, and now…
Just us.
“This grows tiresome,” Conquest said. He held his weapon out, pointed at Pauz. The imp moved through the snow like a crab, not taking its eyes off Conquest.
It leered, its entire body tense.
“Surrendering?” Rose asked.
“No,” he replied.
He aimed at me.
I ducked, and the bullet hit the hood of the car.
He kept firing.
We ran as a pair, Rose within my pendant.
But there wasn’t much cover to go around, outside of a handful of cars buried in snow and some frozen snowbanks.
We picked a snowbank, and Conquest fired anyway.
Evan tried to give us a nudge, putting us out of the bullet’s way. Conquest shot him instead.
One crippling blow, removing Evan from the picture, knocking me down.
Maggie grabbed my arm before I could fall, and I fought her, struggling free.
Stupid, reflexive action.
I landed face down in a driveway, feeling like a bullet the size of a beachball had just passed through my chest. My thoughts turned to slush.
I’d just given energy to Rose, and now Evan was claiming his rightful share.
“Luck stretches thin,” Conquest said. He held out his rifle, pointing it at Pauz. “The universe makes its demands. You can only gamble so many times before the universe sees fit to give me my due. Back away, goblin queen.”
Maggie backed away from me. I wouldn’t accept her help anyway.
“Not having free use of my power, it’s something of a chore,” Conquest said. “I’ll be glad when you’ve given up-”