Lost Bloodlines Ch. 06

All across the open field and driveway in front of the CDC center, soldiers ran about in disorder, disembarking from a fleet of APCs that were parked near the entrance. As I watched, the rest of the cavalry rolled in; half a dozen tanks and the rest of the armored vehicles I recognized from the motor pool at Fort McPherson. Oddly enough, pulling in behind the armored convoy was a long line of buses, ranging from charter buses, tour buses, and even school buses. Whatever they were doing out there, they were planning on moving a lot of people.

My eyes widened. Holy shit, the deal must have gone through! My certainty grew as I saw Elizabeth's suited form step out of one of the APCs and look around pensively before barking orders at several of the nearby hurrying soldiers.

I turned around excitedly. "They're moving us! Victoria, start packing our stuff up from the room, I need to go talk to Agent Riley." I rushed over to Aqua's side, planting another kiss on her opposite cheek and smiling wide. "You picked a good time to finally wake up." She smiled back at me before waving a hand towards the door, shooing me out of the room. I sprinted through the halls, dodging between doctors and gurneys and wincing as a wing caught painfully on one of the latter. In less than I minute I was at the front of the facility, scanning for where the agent had disappeared off to. I saw her standing with a group of monstrous soldiers from Tartarus, speaking loudly to the group over the hum of activity all around us.

"...the last line of defense if we encounter trouble. Do not engage until authorized, am I understood?" I overheard as I neared her. The surrounding monsters snapped stiff salutes before rushing off to whatever their duties were.

"Elizabeth!"

She jumped, her hand falling to her waist and her head whipping around nervously until she spotted me coming from behind. The sight of my crimson form apparently did nothing to lessen her tension.

"Damnit, Lilith," she cursed. She grabbed my arm and dragged me into an alcove hidden by foliage away from the activity at the entrance. "I told you not to use that name here."

"Is it happening?" I demanded. "Did Congress accept the deal?"

She stared at me for a long moment behind a pair of dark shades (a little cliché, but hey, I respect the aesthetic). Finally she sighed, pulling said shades off her face and rubbing at the bridge of her nose. When she looked back up at me, it was an expression of frustration and exasperation that I was beginning to grow very familiar with. Elizabeth had been avoiding me since our encounter, and my few attempts to speak with her had been diligently stonewalled. Here though, she was most certainly trapped.

The government agent leaned heavily against the wall of the building and regarded me with tired eyes. "Yes, Lilith, Congress voted in favor of entering into an alliance with the Monstrous Seats and arranging diplomatic ties roughly an hour ago." I smiled broadly. Finally, some good fucking news for once.

"I don't know what you're so happy about," Elizabeth said bitterly. "This is not good news."

My elation was halted mid-celebration. "What do you mean? This is the best thing we could have hoped for. Unless you wanted the United States to go to war with all monsters, in which case, I really thought I knew you better, Riley."

She dragged a hand down her face. "God, you can be insuffera...The US won't be going to war with the monsters, but there's a very good chance it will be going to war with itself in a matter of hours!" She sat down heavily on the ground and slouched forward, resting her head in her hands. "God help us all." She muttered.

I blinked, and tentatively approached the stricken agent. I knelt down before her and rested a hand on her knee. "What are you talking about?"

Elizabeth raised her head and looked at me. Her eyes were bloodshot and there were dark bags under them; it looked like she hadn't slept in days.

"Things seemed to be going well at first," she said in a dull monotone. "The ambassadors from the monsters arrived in Washington, and they all looked human. They promised incredible things. Cures for cancer, a solution to climate change, billions of dollars of economic relief to combat the inevitable depression we're sliding into. Congress was hooked. Pretty sure most of them were just happy to make the monsters someone else's problem."

"And then," she said with a sneer, "some pompous little Senator wanted to know more. Who were the Seats? What did they really want? What was their ulterior motive?"

"Seems like a reasonable concern," I said cautiously. "Deals too good to be true and all that."

"You don't know how right you are," Elizabeth said tiredly. "All the ambassadors had given vague descriptions of who they represented. 'Seat of the Fae', 'Seat of the Rising Sun', 'Seat of the North', all very high-fantasy concept bullshit. When the Senator pressed, they named their leaders. Lots of mythological figures, much like Oberon had been, I didn't recognize most of them. But then the ambassador from the 'Seat of the Legions' had to open her little mouth, and told the entirely of the US Congress that she served Satan, the devil himself." She paused, and chuckled darkly. "Things went rapidly downhill after that."

"Satan?" I spoke, caught utterly off-guard. "Like...Satan, Satan? Lucifer? Fire and brimstone and the pit, Satan? He's real?"

As real as I am, Charles. I was wondering when Father would make himself known to us.

My head reeled, both from the succubus's words and Elizabeth's. On some level I might have suspected...I mean, the existence of demon and angels implied a certain hierarchy in Judeo-Christian mythology. Lilith alone being a real creature should have tipped me off immediately. Except, I just couldn't wrap my head around the fact that the devil could be a real being. Was God real? Heaven? Hell? Years of un-indoctrinating myself from my parents' religion had rendered such a conclusion impossible. And yet here I was, proven the fool.

"Apparently so," Elizabeth said dryly. "Congress practically descended into chaos afterwards. Siding with monsters out of fairy tales and Shakespeare is one thing, but accepting a deal from the actual devil? I think that was a step too far for one too many representatives. The session was halted early, and from the way talk shifted around the hill, it looked like the deal wouldn't go through.

"But afterwards," she continued, "the demonic ambassador made the rounds personally to the representatives most on the fence after that particular revelation. This is only second-hand gossip, but...she allegedly offered them personal rewards if they accepted the alliance."

"Personal rewards?"

"Wealth and influence, mainly." She laughed again, humorously. "I even heard talk that they were offered personal demonic concubines. Seems a bit much to me, but these are politicians we're talking about." Her tired gaze sharpened on me, and she reached into her pocket and grabbed her phone. After swiping quickly, she bent it in my direction. "One thing I do know for sure, was that she didn't just want the alliance to go through. These rewards were offered only on the condition that the US government made sure that a single individual in particular was handed over to their Seat." Her finger tapped pointedly at the screen.

I leaned down. Elizabeth had some sort of blurry photo of a hand-held portrait, done in elaborate Renaissance style. It depicted a woman in a flowing gown, lounging amid the splendor of a lusciously decorated room that wouldn't look out of place in any royal residence of Europe. What truly stood out, however, was the crimson-red hue of her skin, the spiraling horns on her head, and the indulgent smile upon a face identical to my own.

Oh, how lovely. She looks rather like me, doesn't she? Lilith giggled in my head. I bet Paimon made this, the boy always was good with a brush.

I wasn't listening, however. As I looked upon the image, only the final words of the elderly green wizard echoed in my head.

"He's coming for you, my dear. He broke the world to bring you back. He's coming, and when he finds you, you will never know peace again."

I gulped. It was Lucifer, it had to be. He was the one the wizard had spoken of. And the government was being bribed to hand me right over to him. The promise of rescue and security by the monsters suddenly didn't seem so comforting anymore, especially if the devil actually had a hand in all of these transformations.

Don't be so dramatic, Charles. It's time we returned home.

"So, I assume it worked, then?" I croaked. "Since you said Congress agreed. The bribes were enough to sway the House and Senate?"

Elizabeth nodded grimly. "It was a close thing, but yes. Given the severity of the situation, only a simple majority was required. The proposed agreement passed the House by a margin of less than a dozen, and in the Senate the Vice President was required to break a tie. As soon as voting was over though...things got violent. Fights broke out on the floor between delegates, spurred mainly by those who had sympathy for the Militia. Lots of yelling and accusations of treason. I was ordered to immediately begin transportation as soon as the vote went through."

She shook herself, and stood up. Her face was tense and anxious, and I saw plainly how much the events in D.C. had shaken the agent. "And that brings us to now. We're to bus you all to Robins Air Force Base and provide a military escort with all mobile Army assets at McPherson." She grimaced, her hazel eyes going hard. "I don't know if that bastard Landis is going to try anything, but everyone knows he's politically with the Militia. We're not taking any chances. All camps in Georgia are being evacuated out of state, along with the other camps in Militia hotspots."

"And then you're immediately handing me over to the literal devil."

"If it makes you feel any better, you won't be going alone," Elizabeth replied. I raised my eyebrows, but she shook her head, looking at the time on her phone. "We'll talk about it later. My agents should have organized the camp for evacuation by now, and we need to get moving."

Elizabeth slipped the shades back on her face, and the no-nonsense Agent Riley was back. She pointed towards the front of the bus convoy, towards a garishly decorated tour bus. "Start getting the monsters in intensive care loaded into that bus, you'll be riding with them. I'll be joining you as soon as the rest of the monsters are loaded up."

"You're coming with the wounded monsters?"

She smiled, and a hint of warmth actually seemed to slip through her cold mask. "Someone needs to keep you out of trouble."

I smirked, and gave Riley my most exaggerated salute. "Yes ma'am!"

As I walked back into the facility to begin gathering up my monstrous wards and errant friends, I couldn't help but begin to mindlessly hum "Highway to Hell". When I said that anywhere would be preferable to the prison camp, the lake of fire wasn't exactly what I meant.

-00000-

The bus jostled us as we hit yet another pot-hole. I winced as one of my horns bounced uncomfortably against the window next to me. I turned my head and looked outside as our convoy headed ever onwards.

We had long ago passed the urban spread of Atlanta and its surroundings, and now only a dark expanse of forest along the highway greeted my gaze. Just to our left, an APC matched our pace in the opposite lane. We hadn't seen a single car on the trip outside of the city, and I was reminded that the country was still under lockdown and martial law was being rigidly enforced, especially after the decision in Congress earlier. I wondered if the sessions had been televised, but I somehow doubted it. The Capitol building would likely be on fire if they had.

"What're you thinking about?" Victoria nudged me. The tall Valkyrie was taking her guard duties seriously, bedecked in her golden armor and her silver spear and shield laying lengthwise on the floor of the bus within reach. We were seated near the front, only two rows away from the driver, and a packed bus of monsters behind us. Aqua was seated in the opposite row, Cyrilla holding a large arm around her shoulders to keep her steady. The siren was weak and had trouble staying upright, but her eyes were alert as she looked around curiously.

Victoria's dark blue eyes peered down at me through her visor, waiting for my response. I shrugged, pushing a wisp of hair away from my face.

"Just how quiet it is out there," I said. "It's eerie not seeing any cars on the road."

"I know what you mean, it's creepy." Victoria shifted uncomfortably, and the edge of a feathered wing nudged up against my side. "I keep waiting for something to jump out of the trees." She smiled self-deprecatingly. "And then I remember that there are far scarier creatures riding this bus than anything in those woods."

"I'm going to assume that wasn't directed at me," I prodded, and her façade of innocence wasn't particularly convincing. Even with half of her face obscured by her helmet's face-plate, Victoria's eyes betrayed her every emotion, and it was clear she was just putting a brave face forward. She was as terrified as I was about what was waiting for us at the end of this journey, but doing her best to stay positive for my sake. I smiled reassuringly and lightly knocked a horn against the golden metal of her imposing helmet.

Pushing up from my seat and resting my knees on its faded fabric, I looked towards the back of the bus. Dozens of eyes looked back at me: some weary, some hopeful, and others outright defiant. I made out Hae's white-tufted ears sticking out from somewhere near the rear, and I hoped the frightful woman was doing okay in the claustrophobic conditions.

"Don't worry. they haven't gone anywhere!" Cyri called out teasingly as she saw me looking back once again at our wards. I scowled over at her, but gave one last once-over to the injured monsters behind me before sitting back down.

A troubling thought had come to me and refused to let go ever since we had started loading the bus. If my hunch was correct, and the green wizard had been talking about the devil in his mad last words, did that mean that all of these poor people had been turned into monsters because of me? Were they all just collateral damage so that Lucifer could get back his...what? As far as I remembered, Lilith and Lucifer had no relation to each other in Judeo-Christian mythology, other than both being vaguely evil. What were they to each other?

Everything.

I gave the demon in my head a chance to elaborate on that, but she remained quiet. Because God forbid she ever tell me what the hell was going on at any given moment.

When no response came, I turned my thoughts back to the guilt at hand. I had nothing to base the feeling on except the words of a crazy old wizard and a hunch, but to think that all of the grievously-injured monsters behind me might only be here because of me...well, it wasn't a pleasant feeling.

In the seat directly in front of me, I heard the crackle of radio static and a garbled voice. "Veh..les a...ad, ..ease adv..e, ov.r." That was Agent Riley's seat. I stood and grabbed the back of her chair, peering down to see what was going on. She spared me an annoyed glare before speaking back into the radio.

"Please repeat, signal was weak, over."

There was only a second's pause before the radio sounded again, this time much clearer.

"Vehicles ahead, I repeat, vehicles ahead. Looks like a blockade, National Guard and some civilians. Please advise, over." Riley cursed, stood, and pounded on the driver's seat ahead of her twice before responding. The soldier driving the bus hit the brakes.

"Halt the convoy immediately and form a defensive perimeter, code Omega. I'll be there shortly, do not engage! Over." By the end of her terse command, the bus had come fully to a stop. Riley cursed again. She looked worriedly back at the scared faces of the monsters in the back of the bus before standing next to the driver and addressing him.

"Sergeant Miles, I need to disembark immediately. Take your place in formation with the others. Double up the buses inside the perimeter." After a crisp, "Yes Ma'am!" Riley sighed, checked her sidearm, and then moved to the door of the bus.

"Wait, you're going out there alone?" I called after her, pushing past Victoria to get into the aisle. In the row opposite Riley's, two monsters from Tartarus, an elven woman and a male minotaur, were rapidly checking their gear, but not disembarking with her.

She turned to me, and her face was drawn in a hard line. "I need to get to the front to see if we can head this off without violence. The rest of you are needed here to guard the monsters in case I don't succeed."

"The radio said it was the National Guard out there," I pressed. "They'll kill you in a second if things go wrong, you're not even wearing armor!" She just shrugged.

"I'm the ranking officer here, it's part of the job."

"Fine, but I'm coming with you."

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I am. Can you withstand a tank round to the chest?" She didn't reply. "I thought not. Let me at least offer you some protection if you're walking to your death." She was studying me from behind her dark shades, and after a moment of contemplation, she nodded lightly.

I turned towards Victoria, who I could already see was about to explode in protest. I pressed a finger to her lips. "I need to do this," I said softly. "Elizabeth needs my help. You and Cyri can guard the others. I'll be alright, it takes a lot to kill me."

More than these petty humans could hope to muster.

It's never a good sign when the voice in your head sounds excited, but I shrugged it off. I could tell that Victoria wanted to argue, but after a quick look towards Aqua, she slowly nodded her head. "Just be careful," she breathed.

"When am I not?" I joked. She rolled her eyes. With a glance towards Aqua, who just held up two encouraging thumbs and smiled, and Cyri, who just gave a worried nod, I turned back towards Riley. She was speaking quietly with the two monstrous soldiers.

"We'll keep 'em safe, Ma'am," the elven woman spoke, racking the slide of her submachine gun. Elizabeth nodded approvingly, and with a glance towards me, stepped off of the bus. I followed.

As soon as my foot hit the pavement, I materialized armor around my body, feeling my clothes become instantly replaced with warm brass scales. I took some small comfort in knowing the armor would likely keep me safe from whatever guns might be pointed at me in just moments, but that couldn't stop the knot forming in my stomach. This was a terrible idea, but it also felt like the right thing to do. I stared at the back of Elizabeth's head as she began purposely striding along the road. She was one of mine...or I guess I might be one of hers, given our last sexual encounter. I wasn't going to let her go out there alone, no matter what.

I hurried to catch up with her, dodging a honking APC as it barreled down the side of the road towards the front of the convoy. The buses were pulling up next to each other in rows of two in the middle of the road, with the escorting military vehicles forming a defensive perimeter on the adjacent lanes. When I finally caught up with Elizabeth's quick gait, we were already approaching the front of the convoy, and I began to make out indistinct vehicles on the road ahead blocking the highway.

"What's the plan?" I asked as I drew alongside her.

She didn't even look over as she responded. "Avoid starting a civil war, primarily. I don't know if this is just some sort of political maneuver or something more, but it looks like a shitshow to me. Maybe if it were just the Guard...but if there are civilians, it might be Militia with them." She dodged around a squad of soldiers deploying from the back of a vehicle, continuing to speak. "I've heard talk of open sympathy from a lot of members of the military for the Militia, if they're here together, things could get bad very quickly."