Lost Bloodlines Ch. 06

"Stop," she spoke with some seriousness back in her tone. "You did exactly what I asked you to. And more, from what I hear. I'll be alright, I've had worse than this."

"Somehow I doubt that," I said, but finally let my relief and happiness at seeing her okay overpower the worry. "I'm glad you're still alive. We never got our round two."

She chuckled, which quickly turned into a hacking cough. "Something to live for indeed." She turned her head to the survey the scenes of pain around us. "We lost too many men," she admitted. "If we run into another blockade on the way to the air force base..."

"We'll handle it." She just cocked an eyebrow at my words. "The monsters might just be ordinary people, but there's a reason why they wanted to kill us all. Backed into a corner...an ordinary person can do anything to survive." I nodded towards where part of Draco's scaled leg was visible through the gap in the buses. "We'll handle anything else they throw at us. Just get us to the planes."

Her eyes searched mine for a moment, but then she nodded. "Brooks!" she yelled, and I turned as a familiar face appeared from around the edge of the bus. "Find out how many of those Militia trucks still run along with the buses. We need to be rolling out in 30!" Captain Brooks just nodded, offered me a tense smile and rushed off to parts unknown.

I pushed myself to my feet. "Try not to die of blood loss," I casually tossed out, and Elizabeth smiled grimly. "I'm going to see if a certain dragon would be willing to clear the road for us." I picked my way through the infirmary and began walking towards the mess of the frontline.

Behind me, I heard Elizabeth's belated call as it followed my steps.

"I'm glad you're okay too!"

-00000-

"Wake up, Lilith, we're landing."

I was shaken awake by a hand on my shoulder, and I blinked tiredly as my senses gradually returned to me. I smothered a yawn with the back of my hand and looked reproachfully at Victoria's tired face.

"A demon needs her beauty sleep, you know," I complained, but she just rolled her eyes.

"You slept the whole flight, lucky bitch. I couldn't grab a wink." By the haunted look on the Valkyrie's face as she spoke, I had a feeling it had more to do with her actions on the highway than the sound and vibration in the plane.

"We're almost to...well...wherever it is we're going," I reassured her. "I'll find you some ridiculously comfortable bed and you can pass out for a week. I bet the Seats have magic beds. Doesn't that sound nice?" I finally got a tired smile and a nod from the large woman, and she rested her head against the headrest, closing her eyes for a moment.

I shifted in the rather uncomfortable side-facing seats, pulling at the harness digging into my collarbone. I should really count myself lucky. I had actually gotten a seat. Before me was the large interior of a military supply plane, but it was packed over capacity. Along with the full seats on each side, perhaps a hundred monsters and soldiers sat packed in next to each other like sardines on the floor. Across the way, I saw Alana give a wave from the opposite wall, Sam, Aqua, and a surly Dr. Lima all sitting together. I didn't even know that the doctor had joined the convoy until she boarded my plane at the air force base. It was a good thing the space around me was already packed, because I had been much to tired to fend off her advances if she had made them.

The convoy, a cobbled-together mass of barely-functional buses, APCs, a single surviving tank, and a mass of pick-up trucks, had hobbled the rest of the way to Robins Air Force Base. We had been alert for any more roadblocks or ambushes, but they never came. Perhaps the Governor had been overconfident of the ability of his troops.

Or perhaps they had been in waiting for the other convoys that made up the monstrous exodus from Georgia and the other interment camps. For now, there was no way to tell. As soon as we had arrived, we were loaded onto five waiting AC-130 aircraft, and took-off within the hour. Elizabeth and her superiors were taking no chances after the attack on the highway. I hoped that Governor Landis's little insurrection was a singular event, but I knew better. There's no way he would have acted alone in defying the Federal Government on this matter, not if it meant effectively declaring war on the United States. I dreaded how many other states had joined him, and how many thousands of monsters might have been intercepted or killed in the crossfire.

I felt a shift in my gut as the plane began its final descent, and I saw many monsters looking hopefully towards the light leaking through the door to the cockpit, perhaps seeking some sign of where we were going. It seemed nobody had quite known the answer to that, and I assumed it was decided mid-air at some point during the flight. Who knows where it might actually be safe to land.

After minutes of waiting, as my anxiety of what was waiting for me on the other side grew, I finally felt the thud of the plane landing and its rapid deceleration. We came to a stop, and I quickly unhooked my harness, standing up and stretching as the hundred other passengers did the same. As the cargo ramp opened descended towards the ground, I grabbed Victoria's hand, holding it tightly as we moved with the crush of the crowd out of the aircraft. Finally exposed to the sunlight, I raised my other hand over my eyes and squinted against the harsh glare.

We had emerged on a runway, and an intense blast of dry heat washed over us as we stepped out into the open. Beyond the hangers, planes, and barracks scattered about, the landscape morphed into a dry desert and low mountains. Th urban spread of some unknown city graced the other side of the base. Given that, and that it was still light outside, I assumed we had flown somewhere out west. I saw Cyri and the rest of the group approaching as the crowd gradually spread out.

"Have a nice nap?" she called as she got within speaking distance. This time she was carrying Aqua. She smirked. "I could see you drooling from across the plane. Very becoming of an ancient demon."

"Fuck off," I responded. "I didn't see you spewing fire from your palms. I was tired!" She just grinned down at me, and Aqua pushed her board forward.

"I thought it was cute."

"At least someone appreciates me," I muttered, earning a half-hearted smack on the back of my head from Victoria. I narrowed my eyes at her. "You can keep those baseball mitts to yourself, missy, or maybe I'll flame you too." That earned another eye-roll.

Alana slithered forward, receiving a large berth from the surrounding monsters due to the size of her serpentine half. "Please keep the domestic abuse to a minimum," she chided, and nodded towards the front of the crowd. "Looks like we're about to get the rundown."

I couldn't see anything, but I didn't have her height advantage. Luckily I didn't need to.

"Welcome to Nellis Air Force Base!" a mega-phone enhanced voice called out. Ah, Nevada then. The voice, distorted though it was, was familiar enough that I recognized it. With the rest of the group following, I pushed my way through the crowd until I made it to the front. Sure enough, Captain Brooks, along with a small group of other military officers, was standing at the head of the group.

"All military personal, report to Hanger 3, that's that one there," he called out, pointed towards a nearby structure. "As for the monsters, the Seat's representatives are waiting for you. Please follow me, and we can begin the population transfer." He began to move off in the direction where the other transport planes were parked, and I could make out a mass of figures congregated near another of the hangers.

I shared a look with Victoria. This was it. Waiting for me somewhere out there was a demon, about to drag me down to hell. Or...wherever it is demons actually came from. For what felt like the hundredth time, I wanted to just take off into the sky and disappear. Every since the world fell apart, I had been caged, forced about in agendas that I had no say in, and now I was about to meet my new captors. Perhaps I had nothing to worry about...but they were demons. Not humans who turned into demons, but literal demons. They don't exactly have a good track record.

"If they try to put us on spits and roast us over the fire, we'll just beat the shit out of them," Victoria nudged me. "Or maybe they'll be into really kinky sex stuff. I think you'd look good in latex. I don't know, might be fun."

I snorted in a distinctly unladylike fashion. A cheeky smile was back on Victoria's face for the first time since the highway, and that alone was enough to buoy my spirits a bit. She had long since shifted out of her armor, and when I smacked her ass in revenge for her teasing, it jiggled enticingly. "Only if I get you a collar and leash," I murmured back up to her, before turning and joining the crowd walking across the runway.

Cyri gave me an inquisitive look as Victoria ran up after me, calling, "Is that a threat or a promise!?"

"Maybe a bit of both," I smiled.

Alana and Cyri just shared an exasperated look at Victoria's antics, but she got a thumbs up and a salacious smile from Aqua.

"At the behest of the Seats' representatives," Brooks' voice boomed out again. "We'll be separating you into groups matching the relative demographics of the Seats themselves. When it's your turn, just name your species, as far as you know it, and you'll be directed to one of the waiting areas." The crowd of monsters began to murmur uncertainly, and Brooks quickly followed up. "I have been informed that this is only a temporary organizational measure. Don't worry, you will not be separated for long if you do not wish it."

"So, these Seats really are like their own countries," Alana said quietly to our group. She looked down briefly at her ebony scales. "I wonder what kind of citizenship Nagini receive."

"As long as the other angels look like I do..." Sam proclaimed, exaggeratedly flexing like a male model. "I think I'll be happy with a little heavenly vacation." His display earned a chorus of groans from the rest of us.

Victoria just grabbed tighter onto my hand, her blue eyes flashing fearfully. "I don't care what their plan is, I'm not going anywhere without you." She looked around to the rest of our group. "That applies to the rest of you as well. We've been through too much to split up now."

"Maybe they'll make an exception," I shrugged. "They went through all this trouble to find me. I might be able to pull some strings." Victoria looked reassured by this, and I noticed Cyri and Aqua in particular looking happy with my suggestion.

We crossed the runway towards the gathering mass of monsters quickly, and it became rapidly apparent that this base had become a rendezvous spot for several of the evacuated camps. There were easily a thousand monsters milling about outside the hangers, and as the crowd shifted, I could see that the hangers themselves were open and packed full of even more. Every conceivable skin tone, height, weight, body type, and fantastical arrangement of scales, feathers, and various animalistic attributes were distributed among the monsters. Almost all of them were in humanoid form, which only made sense, given that most fully monstrous forms seemed to be considerably large, and there was only so much space.

As we began to merge into the waiting mob, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned, and Captain Brooks was waiting patiently, his mega-phone hanging off a clip on his belt.

"Good to see you again, Captain, there wasn't much time for pleasantries on the highway."

The older soldier offered a warm smile, sticking out a hand that I happily shook. "You did good work today Lilith, just like back at Alpha. I was sorry to hear that you turned down Riley's offer to join Tartartus, we really could have used you."

"Wait, Tartarus is still a thing?" I asked. "I thought the government was turning over all of the monsters?"

Brooks' weathered face creased slightly. "It's more complicated than that. Let's just say that the program is still active. You'll likely see for yourself shortly."

"Meaning...?"

"Come on," he just said. "It'll be easier just to show you. You were requested specifically by the Seat of the Legions; I'm taking you directly to the representatives." His gaze turned towards Alana. "You as well, Ms. Kingsley."

Alana looked perturbed. "Me? You don't mean to say that another of the Seats requested me as well?"

"Not quite, but you were requested by a relevant party. Just come along, this shouldn't take long." Brooks answered, clearly having a timetable that we were delaying somehow.

"What about the rest of us?" I interjected, looking around to the rest of our group. "We're not being separated again." Victoria squeezed my hand as Brooks looked to be considering answering in the negative, but he just sighed.

"You can ask, it's really not up to me anyway. Come on."

He led us away from the gathering area of the monsters and towards one of the nearby barracks. Parked in orderly rows behind the structure was a small fleet of black SUV's, along with nine figures in various forms of formal dress talking amongst themselves.

Immediately I assumed that these were the representatives from the Seat, so they were real monsters, not just Turned. Except...they were all human. Not a tail or pair of horns in sight. Human intermediaries then? I recalled that Elizabeth had claimed that the representatives sent to D.C. all looked human as well. As we approached, I saw that they were a mix of racial groups and genders: three were Caucasian men, a Middle-Eastern man and woman, two Asian women, an African woman, and an Amerindian man. My theorizing of their monstrous nature came to a rapid end as the Middle-eastern woman straightened abruptly as we neared, and I heard a sharp gasp. She stepped away from her colleagues, and I was struck by her natural beauty for a moment as her dark eyes met mine.

"Mother!" she cried, and ran straight for us, crossing the short distance in a supernaturally rapid pace. Beside me, Victoria tensed and dropped my hand. In an instant, she was armed and armored, pushing me aside and standing directly in the woman's path. Her mad dash towards us halted abruptly, and her mouth dropped open as she took in the battle-ready Valkyrie who jumped to my defense. True, deep fear flashed across her beautiful face, and she jerked backwards, falling onto her backside as she screamed, "Odinspawn!" She turned her head back towards her fellow representatives. "Erik, kill it!"

One of the Caucasian men stepped forward menacingly. He was large and thickly built in a luxurious suit, with shaggy white hair and a wind-weathered face like a sailor. His body shimmered in an odd blue haze for a moment, and an abnormally large polar bear appeared where he once stood. Huh. So, I guess they are monsters. In my state of shock at the rapid turn of events, I couldn't think of much else.

The bear leapt forward, charging directly at Victoria. I thought I heard her gulp in fear before a brown streak barreled into the charging bear, knocking it onto its side. Cyrilla, fully transformed, stood over its sprawled form and growled. The bear rapidly righted itself, and released a bellowing roar in response. The two monstrous creatures began to circle each other as both the representatives and our group looked on worriedly.

As the bear jerked forward and almost took a chunk out of Cyri's foreleg, I decided enough was enough.

I ran forward, interposing myself between the bear and Cyri, placing a hand on her furry snout protectively as I looked angrily at the white beast, my opposite hand held out and crackling with hellfire. "I don't know who the hell you think you are," I warned, "But if you try to attack any of my friends, I'm going light your ass up like a bonfire."

"Mother, stop!" The middle-eastern woman cried. "He's trying to protect you. The Valkyries are evil, they cannot be trusted!"

I grit my teeth. "That Valkyrie," I said, pointing towards to bewildered form of Victoria, "Is a teenage girl who has no idea what's going on, except that I might have been in danger. I trust her far more than the lot of you, so if 'Erik' here doesn't back the fuck off, we're going to have a problem."

The woman blinked. "She is your thrall?"

"Look, I don't know what that means. All you need to know is that she's with me. She's under my protection. Understand?" The woman looked uncertainly between me and Victoria, but finally nodded her agreement. At her gesture, the bear disappeared, replaced by the white-haired man once again, somehow still dressed in his fancy suit.

I felt the furry muzzle under my palm shift, and suddenly my hand was resting against a stumble-lined face. I pulled it back quickly, but didn't turn my gaze around to look at Cyri. By the odd looks of the group before me, I figured the problem.

"I'm assuming you didn't have time to change out of your clothes before you shifted?" I spoke, still not turning my head. I heard an awkward cough before Cyri answered in her deep rumble.

"No."

I sighed and turned my head towards Brooks, who was casually standing to the side of our group with an eyebrow raised at the theatrics. "Could you please try to find Cyri here something to cover up with?" I thought I saw him suppress a chuckle before he nodded, and jogged in the direction of the nearby barrack.

As he left, the middle-eastern woman approached me, cautiously this time, her dark eyes searching for something in my face. "I...I'm sorry about that," she said hesitantly. Whatever she was looking for, it seems she couldn't find it. "Do you truly not recognize me, mother?"

Of course I do, my darling Berith.

I crossed my arms and sighed again. "The voice in my head says your name is Berith." Her eyes lit up and a wide smile spread across her olive-toned face. I raised a hand to forestall any further exclamation. "I assume the 'mother' you're referring to is the demon stuck in my soul. I'm not her. I just...have her body, apparently."

Berith's smile dimmed, but not by much. "I had hoped that perhaps her soul might fully emerge, given her abilities, but it seems there are limits to even Lilith's powers." She gently stuck out her hand. "In that case, it is my pleasure to meet you. I am called Berith, a duchess of Hell and representative of the Seat of the Legions to the United States. I cannot express enough how good it is to see you again, even if only in body."

I eyed her offered hand uncertainly, but eventually I took it, shaking lightly. "I go by Lilith now, but I used to be Charles Finch." Wait a minute. Berith, Berith, that name sounded familiar. A duchess of Hell...Lilith had mentioned a Paimon earlier today as well. The dots connected in my head, and I couldn't help letting out a surprised chuckle. "Wait, are you telling me that Alistair Crowley of all people was right about demons!?"

Berith's amusement matched my own. She rested a companionable hand on my shoulder and gently walked me a short distance away from the others. "The Ars Goetica was seeded among the humans hundreds of years ago, Crowley was just one of the more recent transcribers. He was a useful tool, but most of his practices were nonsense." She winked at me. "We don't just reveal all our secrets to every occultist who comes knocking."

"But then...there really is a hell. Fire and Brimstone, eternal damnation, all of the horror stories?"

She laughed. "Not quite. I think you'll find most of that was the fever dream of a certain Italian poet. Hell isn't an afterlife, and neither is Heaven, if you're wondering. It is merely the home of the demons, and the other monsters who now reside there. It is now your home. It is why I have come, to bring you back to where you belong, along with all of the other Turned demons."