Darren Shan - Hell's Heroes

The woman snarls at me and says something in a foreign language. I could use a spell to translate it, but why bother? I’m sure it’s more of the same old crap.

I ball my right fingers into a fist and crush the woman’s head. Apart from her agonized squeal, this has no effect. Several demons throw themselves on me, but I flex my muscles and swat them aside. Then I lash at the rock with my fists, one punch after another. It cracks on the fourth blow, splits on the fifth, then crumbles after a few more.

As the lodestone breaks, a wind rips out of the tunnel. It quickly picks up speed and sweeps across the land, gathering all the demons and zombies, knocking over some of the humans and werewolves too. Using magic, I root myself and watch as the wind is sucked back up the tunnel, returning its catch to the realm of the Demonata. A few human and wolfen innocents are taken too. I can’t say I’m too bothered. This is a tough world and it’s getting tougher. Only the strong are worth caring about.

As the wind drops, the tunnel closes, and rocks and earth grind together. I glance around at those who remain. Many were knocked over and are picking themselves up, weeping and groaning. Prae has been clinging to a werewolf. She lets go and staggers away, then hurries to check on the rest of the pack, showing that odd maternal concern that she reserves for these hairy misfits.

“That wasn’t so hard,” I grin at Kernel. His eyes are wild, darting this way and that, looking for something else to kill. “Easy, big guy,” I calm him, laying a firm hand on his shoulder. “It’s over for now. We can rest awhile.”

“Rest?” he sneers. “Don’t be a child. There’s another tunnel. I can smell it.”

“Where?” I growl.

“The other side of the world. We can be there in minutes. You game?”

“What’s it like compared to the one we just shut?”

“Bigger. It’s only been open a few hours, but already more demons have come through there than here. Stronger ones too. A lot nastier than these familiars.”

“Are there Disciples on the scene? Mages? Soldiers?”

“Who cares?” Kernel hoots. “I’ll take them on by myself if you’re chicken.”

“You want to be careful who you taunt,” I snarl.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Kernel smirks. “You won’t harm me. You need me. I’m your quick way in and out of the madness.”

I eye Kernel warily as he works on opening a new window. I don’t like this new, wilder version of Cornelius Fleck. Something switched off inside him when the Old Creature was killed. He thought he had a greater purpose, that he was going to save the universe. Now he’s been reduced to the same level as the rest of us, scrapping to salvage an unremarkable planet on its last legs. The demotion hit him hard. I’m not sure how many brain cells he’s operating on. In this state he could do anything.

But there’s no time to try and help the borderline-crazy Kernel. Because even as I’m worrying about him, the window opens and he darts through. I have no option but to call my pack of werewolves to my side and push on after him, before I lose him to an army of demons and the walking dead.

I know straightaway that we’re in trouble. When you fight as often as I do, you develop a knack of swiftly judging the course of a battle. To any normal person, this would look no different from the war zone we came from, a group of humans and werewolves up against demons and reanimated corpses.

But looks are deceptive. The magical energy in the air is much thicker than it was outside the city. That’s good for us, but even better for the demons. It means stronger monsters can cross, beasts who can channel the energy and wreak more havoc than the creatures we crushed a few minutes ago.

There are already some mages and soldiers on the scene. We wade in beside them, werewolves running wild, Disciples unleashing bolts of magic, soldiers firing concentrated bursts, shredding the bodies of weaker demons and zombies.

A group of the undead are clustered around hundreds of screaming people. I scatter them with a wave of magic that rips most to pieces. “Fight or get the hell out of here!” I bellow at the humans, then grapple with a massive demon that has several heads and more arms than I can count. It tugs and snaps at me, piercing my flesh in dozens of places, focusing its largest mouth on my face.

I roll across the ground with the demon, punching savagely, biting at anything that comes within range of my fangs. I drive a fist into its stomach and feel around for guts to yank out. Before I can finish off the beast, a foul stench fills the air. Looking up, I spot Kernel vomiting over the demon. As the last drops drip from his lower lip, he touches the vomit and it flashes, becoming acidic. The lethal puke sizzles through the demon’s shell and it falls away, squealing with agony.

“You love that old vomit trick,” I grunt, getting to my feet, wiping slime, blood, and some of the remains of Kernel’s last supper from my flesh.

“It works,” he says, looking for his next victim.

“I could have dealt with the demon myself,” I tell him.

“I know. But I didn’t like its face.”

He whirls away, scanning the masses for another face that doesn’t take his fancy. He certainly has plenty to choose from. I fry a few more demons, then push after Kernel. I’m worried he might do something stupid in his wired-up state.

We fight desperately, more demons crossing all the time, each wave stronger than the last. I haven’t sensed any demon masters hitting the scene, but these are certainly A-plus students. They slaughter soldiers for fun, and don’t have too much hassle dispatching werewolves or mages either. We’ve already suffered severe casualties, and the battle is only minutes old.

I force my way through a pack of zombies and grab Kernel. “The lodestone!” I yell in his ear. “We have to destroy it. We can’t take much more of this.”

“It’s over there,” he shouts, pointing to his left.

I stand on my toes. All I can see are demons and zombies, a few hapless humans trapped among them. “How far?” I ask Kernel.

“A mile, maybe more.”

“How are you at flying?”

“Never tried it on this world,” he says. “But I’m game.”

Linking hands, we jump high. I’ve flown once before, with Beranabus, when he dragged me out of a plane. I’ve tried to repeat the trick a few times since, but there was never enough magic for me to tap into. Now there is, and we soar forward, shooting over the heads of the warring forces like a couple of blow-ins from Peter Pan .

Some of the more powerful beasts fire at us as we flit by. We easily deflect the balls of energy and rocks. But as we get within three hundred feet of the tunnel, a squadron of winged demons flaps into the air. We draw to a halt and eye them warily.

The demons, thirty or forty of them, hang in the air above the lodestone. They’re deliberately positioned, an aerial guard to protect the tunnel.

“There are others on the ground,” Kernel says sullenly. “More powerful than any we’ve faced so far.”

“Can we take them?” I ask.

“Maybe.” He casts an eye over the demons behind us. “But we’d have more fun if we tackled that lot.”

“This isn’t about fun,” I growl.

“Of course it is,” he laughs. “You taught me that. We’ve lost. All that remains is to take as many demons down with us as we can, and have a blast killing them.”

I scowl, but I can’t refute his statement. If Kernel has become a suicidal, kill-crazy goon, it’s because of what I’ve done to him.

“Let’s try for the lodestone,” I mutter. “If we slip past the guards and destroy it, this will be a victory to savor.”