Black Howl
Page 17“Walk forward,” I said.
Miraculously, they obeyed. They still screamed, but they marched through the tunnel like little automatons. I looked at Beezle, who shrugged.
“Stop screaming,” I said loudly.
The cubs stopped abruptly, as if a switch had been thrown. The silence was eerie.
They all looked at me expectantly, except for the ones I had already told to walk forward. They had disappeared into the shadows ahead.
“Jude, go after those other two. You lead the column,” I said.
I looked at the cubs, then pointed at five of them in turn. “Walk forward.”
They obeyed, proceeding after their companions.
“Gabriel, you stay with them,” I said.
I ordered the other cubs forward in small groups with an angel walking behind like a grade-school chaperone. I handed one of the toddlers to Samiel, who nodded gravely at the little boy in his arms.
I shifted the little girl I held to my other arm so that I could carry the bag of cameras with my right hand. It’s not comfortable to grip anything for any length of time when you have only three fingers.
“Gods above and below,” I muttered.
A zillion demons were after us, we were crammed into a tiny space with limited options for defense, we were trying to protect a bunch of helpless children, and my gargoyle goes to sleep right on schedule. No amount of peril would jeopardize Beezle’s naptime.
“On the upside, I might have lost a pound or two, what with all the stress and the walking and the not eating for hours.” I needed to find an upside before I cracked up completely.
We had just reached the portal entry when we heard the distant whoop of the triumphant demon horde. I pushed to the front of the column to open the portal, only to discover that the cubs in front were still trying to walk forward into the wall.
“Stop walking,” I ordered, and they immediately stopped. I frowned at Jude.
“I tried doing what you did, but they wouldn’t listen to me,” he growled.
That was a complication I didn’t want to think about, and in any event there was no time. The demons were coming, and their claws sounded like the approach of thunder.
I held my tattooed hand up to the symbol in the wall, and once more the portal opened. Jude went through first, and then I ordered the cubs through in their chaperoned groups.
Nathaniel approached me before his group was about to enter. He reached for the makeshift bag of cameras. “Let me take this for you. You will need your hands for defense if the demons appear before we are all through.”
I handed him the cub instead. “She’s heavier, and it’s more important that we get all of the kids through.”
The last feathers of Samiel’s wings had just slipped into the portal as the demons emerged over the slope down the tunnel. I leapt into the portal behind the others, one hand holding Beezle to my shoulder—he still wasn’t awake—and one hand gripping the knot in my coat. I took a deep breath and tried not to think about the pain that always accompanied portal travel.
A few moments later I crashed on my face into the clearing. The cameras clattered to the ground as the knot came loose. Beezle awoke with a grunt and flew off my shoulder. The portal spun behind me.
Gabriel grasped me by the shoulders and hauled me to my feet.
“You must seal the portal,” he said urgently.
“Seal it?” I said blankly.
“You must close it permanently,” he said. “The demons were directly behind us. They will pour forth from that portal if you do not seal it now.”
“But…” I began, but I didn’t need to voice what I was thinking. Wade.
I looked at the cubs, standing in the clearing like broken dolls.
Jude shook his head at me. “No.”
“You must close the portal,” Gabriel insisted. “We cannot defend the children if the demons come through.”
“No!” Jude shouted.
From the corner of my eye I saw Jude leap toward me. Samiel intercepted him and there was the sound of a scuffle.
Light burst from the palm of my hand, the blazing red light of the heart of the sun. The portal shrank rapidly. I thought for a moment that there might have been the gleam of tooth and fang emerging from the swirling mist, a glint of malicious eyes, but a moment later the portal was closed and the image was gone.
The demon mark in the rock was scorched and blackened. The portal was closed forever. I dropped my hand and turned back to the others.
Samiel was sitting on top of Jude, who was facedown in dead leaves. The angel used his legs to pin Jude’s arms to his sides, and the wolf’s right cheek pressed into the dirt.
Jude was red-faced with fury. It was a testament to Samiel’s exceptional strength that he was able to hold Jude down. Wolves are some of the most physically powerful supernatural creatures around.
Samiel glanced up at me, questioning.
“Let him up,” I said.
He looked doubtful.
“It’s okay.”