Gods Ascendent: The Apsara Chronicles #2 Read online

  His lip quirked and he replied, “Yeah, I know. What rock have I been living under for the last decade, huh?” Vee’s eyes widened at him, and she gave a small shake of her head, glancing quickly at the now-perplexed team. “Oh, never mind them. They know my weird sense of humor.”

  Huh?

  Vee glanced at Shivani, who shook her head and smiled at Raj before schooling her features.

  Vee cleared her throat. “Okay, boy who lives under rock, please do enlighten us what your bagful of snitches can do?” Vee had totally given up trying to look professional. Her words earned her a roll of the eyes from her mother who raised her hands in the air and looked up at the ceiling, her signature move when asking the gods why she’d been blessed with such a clueless kid.

  Her dad on the other hand smiled widely. “They’re grenades. Bombs filled with fire. Once the timer goes off the fire mixes with mercury, bursts into flame and doesn’t die off until it’s consumed all biological elements around it.”

  “Fire and mercury?”

  He nodded. “Plus, a little something to give it wings,” he said, grinning.

  Vee did a double take, wondering if he’d meant what she thought with his reference to wings. Beside her she caught Shivani looking at him too.

  “So you set the timer, and skedaddle. You can’t be nearby as the post detonation pressure will push through the tunnels. I’ve run some sims using Syama’s specs of the tunnel layout and I think you will need to jump out of there immediately. You can’t run fast enough to avoid the pressure radius of the blast.”

  “Here,” said Vee to Shivani, handing her two grenades. “Keep these two just in case we need a backup kablooey or three.”

  Shivani took them and glanced up at Vee, her brow furrowed. “There’s only two…”

  “What?” asked Vee, her mind already onto considering their next step.

  Shivani slid the two bombs into the satchel wound around her torso. Its bulk confirmed the presence of a number of weapons for which Vee was glad. You never knew when they’d come in handy.

  “We have blast resistant tactical gear,” Shivani offered, her eyes questioning.

  Raj shook his head. “Sorry Shivs, you’re going to have to get totally gone. Unless you want to be flattened. The mercury doesn’t mix well with the fire and if something goes wrong, I’d prefer you all get out alive at least. I don’t want to deal with your father if you’re incinerated by my weapons.”

  Shivani grinned. “Yes, sir.”

  “It’s her mother who’s going to be harder to deal with you know,” said Devi as she began distributing sheets of paper to each of the women. “Grab you weapons and gear, suit up and be ready to move out in ten.”

  Chapter 38

  After readying her team, Syama left them with Akil and jumped to Vee’s side.

  “Are you ready?” she asked softly, nodding at the team as they strapped on the last of their weapons.

  “Locked and loaded,” Vee murmured, her mind going over the plan.

  Syama held out a hand to Vee and one to Shivani. She shimmered away, her form disappearing, followed quickly by the room fading away like an image burned to dust. They arrived inside the tunnel that overlooked the nursery of pey eggs and Syama left Vee and the tac team leader there as she made three more trips to ferry the remainder of the team to Vee’s side.

  “B Team?” asked Vee softly.

  Syama pointed at another tunnel which opened a few yards higher on the opposite wall.

  Below them, movement drew their attention to the shadows that flitted between the eggs. A small group of demons, clipboards in arms, walked among the eggs ticking items off their lists. One was taking photographs, the other using a strange device that appeared to be a sonogram of sorts. He drew a long narrow wand over the widest portion of the sac and stared at a screen that rested on his arm. From Vee’s vantage point, it appeared to reveal the images of a person within the sac, the shape and feel of the image resembling that of an unborn baby.

  Vee suppressed a shudder.

  Both teams maintained position until the demon baby doctor completed a circuit of random testing before leaving through a tunnel to the far left of the hall.

  With their departure, the lights dimmed and Vee squatted. Shivani taped Vee’s helmet and mouthed, “Infrared.” Vee nodded and flicked the button to turn the IR sensor on. Immediately an overlay of the room shimmered in patterns of red and purple, not unlike Vee’s own aural vision.

  Vee glanced at Shivani and nodded. The Team leader made a circling motion with her hand in the air above her head, giving both teams the go ahead. Akil and Syama took turns to jump everyone down to ground level where the team members weaved between the hanging sacs, positioning the bombs and setting the times to give them a ten-minute window.

  As Vee set the charge on one bomb, she got to her feet and studied the sacs around her. One of the eggs undulated as though the embryo within was moving or turning over. The pale skin of the sac shifted and a face pressed against it, perfectly outlined and almost visible through the thin, near transparent sac.

  Vee swallowed a shriek and waved at Syama for a ride out of there. The moment she’d seen the face, she realized that all those eggs contained a living breathing demon. Were they about to commit mass murder?

  As she watched from the tunnel above, she softened her breathing and studied the aural patterns from below. As soon as she opened her senses, her mind was flooded with the sound of heartbeats, thrumming loud around her as if they echoed within her head.

  But she didn’t have a choice anymore. This was a nest of demons who were hell bent on the destruction of humanity. From what she knew, one of the main dangers of the demonic horde was the individual’s ability to transfer their spirits from body to body.

  Below them were hundreds of eggs that were more than likely going to be hosts for demonic spirits just waiting in line for a flesh-suit.

  Vee had to stop thinking of them as if they were mortal. Destroying this nursery would eliminate this wave of demons from finding a way to physical existence but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t wait their turn for the next body they could create.

  All Vee and her team were doing was hampering their progress.

  “Get the teams out. Team Leaders wait to ensure nothing goes wrong.”

  Shivani nodded and Syama disappeared as she worked on jumping the team out of harm’s way. In the end, only Vee, Shivani, and Syama remained, waiting until almost the last moment to jump.

  Syama grabbed a hold of Vee and Shivani just as the timers ticked off the last two seconds. When they arrived inside the boardroom it was as if they’d brought part of the blast with them. The three women tumbled out of empty nothing and flew through the air, Syama hitting the glass cabinet, Vee slamming into the table, and Shivani hitting the window before sliding to the ground as a rippling of cracks appeared in the glass.

  “Shit,” Vee cried out as she rolled off the table and rushed to the Alpha Team leader.

  “It’s okay. It’s triple glazed so you’d need to break all three panes to get out,” Devi said as she rushed into the room.

  Vee fell to the ground, taking a deep breath. “How long before we can go back?”

  “Two minutes until the fire clears and the overheated fumes die away.”

  Vee nodded and straightened, watching Syama and Shivani as they also rose and dusted themselves off. Shivani glanced over her shoulder at the window and grimaced. “That was close,” she said grinning.

  Vee didn’t answer, her mind too focused on the fact that she hadn’t considered the danger they all faced when they’d taken this mission on.

  “Ready to go back in T minus thirty seconds,” Shivani said nodding at Syama who strode over to Vee.

  The Alpha Team leader also followed suit and hurried over to stand beside Vee.

  Syama transported them back over to the tunnel and Vee’s mouth dropped open. Not only was the tunnel brickwork now blackened, there were chunks gouged out of the
walls as if some huge creature had made its way through the rounded corridor scraping gigantic claws into the walls.

  Vee steadied herself as her feet hit ground, then shifted forward slowly until she reached the tunnel edge. Down below, destruction awaited as remnants of embryos and burned egg sacs fluttered around on invisible eddies.

  The bombs had detonated in sync and the fields of the explosions had spread out and overlapped each other. That along with the devastating fire had turned the embryos into a pool on unrecognizable sludge coating the bottom of the hall.

  Vee felt bile rise in her throat and she shifted her gaze away and studied the tunnel around her. As she stepped away from the hall, she found herself pausing to listen.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Shivani, her voice low even on the comms link.

  “Not sure. Just something doesn’t feel—”

  Something slammed into Vee and Shivani sending them sprawling on the floor of the narrow tunnel. The wall where Vee had just been standing exploded, shavings of splintered brick flew in every direction and Vee felt them stabbing into her protective gear as her helmeted head bounced off the wall. For a moment, she lay there, brain buzzing and then she sucked in a breath and rolled over, blinking the stars from her eyes.

  A groan from her side brought her upright and she searched the dusty space for Shivani and Syama. Syama was lying on the floor holding her head. “Thanks dude,” Vee murmured as she helped the hellhound up. “Saved my life there.”

  Syama grunted. “It’s what I do,” she muttered then coughed.

  Shivani was already crouched staring out in the direction from which the bullet had originated. “Sorry, Syama. Know you’re a bit shaken up, but let’s get out of here before the next one turns us to dust.”

  Syama nodded and rolled over into a crouch. Vee and Shivani reached out to grab her hand. They shimmered away just in time. Two more missiles plunged into the wall beside the women and exploded.

  Again, the three women solidified inside the boardroom, bringing dust and dirt with them.

  “Man, the cleaning crew ain’t gonna like us after today,” muttered Vee as she surveyed the deep dark pile that covered the boardroom floor. Around them the air shimmered with dust, and debris covered the floor.

  “Those were live weapons, Vee,” said Syama as she dusted herself off.

  “They thought we were human.” Shivani put her hands on her hips as she tapped her foot.

  Just as Vee was about to reply the air beside them boiled and three demons solidified, weapons held high as they surveyed the boardroom and its occupants.

  Shit.

  Vee surged forward, grabbing her trishula and taking a swing at the tallest demon. His face was bare, and a bright red earring shimmered in his ear. He hit back with his sword, the metal clanging against the trishula. The impact set off a loud ringing that was so bad Vee was tempted to protect her ears with her hands.

  Instead, she ignored the sound and focused on throwing her knives at her opponent. Each of the girls battled their own demon—literally. Bullets rang out, slamming into the walls and the window, daggers went wide plunging into chairs and equipment.

  “Syama,” Vee yelled. “Get us back before we destroy this place.”

  Without a word, Syama transported them back to the tunnel. Vee knew the effort would drain her, jumping five people would take its toll, but the hellhound didn’t seem to miss a stride.

  The confined space of the tunnel forced Vee to put the trishula away and reach for her chakra. The sudden appearance of the weapon as Vee whipped it out of her belt loop caught the demon by surprise, and he wasn’t fast enough to avoid Vee’s wide swipe.

  His throat split open and dark blood spurted out of the gash. The demon emitted a gurgling sound, his hands going to the wound as if to stop the blood flow. Then he fell forward, landing on his face and stopped moving.

  Shivani despatched her demon with a dagger to the side of the neck while Syama dropped her opponent over the edge of the tunnel into the murky dead-demon embryo sludge.

  Just as they thought they were safe, another explosion rocked the tunnel and Vee raised her hands, instinct bringing on her force field. She’d barely practiced using the power and was glad it still worked, especially considering the three of them would have been incinerated had she not raised the protective barrier in time.

  Inside the bubble, Vee glanced over at Syama. “Where’s B Team? Akil?”

  Both Shivani and Syama shook their heads “Comms appears to be down.”

  “Not good enough. We need to find them and get them to safety.”

  Shivani put her hand to her ear. “Balance of the squad is reporting they’re safe in the basement. Akil went back for Ashnee—she’d remained to guard their flank. They haven’t returned yet.”

  No!

  Chapter 39

  How long?”

  “A few minutes.”

  “Possibly a few minutes too long, especially in this place.” Vee frowned as she spoke, the odd sound echoing in her ears again. She shook her head, even though she knew how incongruous the movement was—it wasn’t as if she could shake away a sound that rang inside her head.

  Vee looked up at Syama, but the hellhound was already shimmering away.

  When she returned a few moments later, her eyes were wide, her skin pale. Shaking her head, she said, “I couldn’t find him.”

  “And?” asked Vee, already reading the hellhound’s consternation.

  “And we have a problem. This isn’t the only nursery.”

  Vee was a little stunned for a moment as she processed Syama’s words.

  More nurseries meant their mission was far from over. It also meant they’d shown their hand by bombing the nursery in the tunnel.

  “We need to check it out. Move fast.” Both women nodded. “Syama, you drop us near the next nursery and we’ll check it out, then go tell Dad we need more bombs. Let’s hope he made extra. Otherwise we’re SOL.”

  Syama nodded then jumped Vee and Shivani to a wider tunnel, only this one was a space to run electrical conduits and ended in a dead end. Vee’s eyes widened as she shuffled along the concrete wall, avoiding the fat ropy electrical wiring that ran down the center of the pipe.

  “This isn’t good.” Syama pointed at the mouth of the pipeline and Vee crawled forward. This time there was no direct access to the nursery. It was barred by a metal grate with spacings no larger than Vee’s thumb. It did have a hole in the center, but it was only large enough for the electrical wiring and didn’t have space enough for even a Bobby pin to pass through.

  And it happened to be the only access point onto the nursery other than two metal doors on the opposite wall.

  “It’s much smaller than the first one.” Vee eyed the collection of eggs through the grating, watching a small groups of white-coated demons do an inspection, very similar to the one they’d performed at the last nursery.

  “I’m going to speak to Raj. Be back in a sec.”

  Below them, the space was smaller, and felt more closed in. “What is this place?”

  “It appears to be a basement to some sort of industrial firm. These conduits are for backup power, likely to a computer mainframe.”

  Syama returned, her face grim. “He’ll have it ready in twenty. We need to scope out the rest of the nurseries because if there’s this one, you can bet there’s more.”

  Vee nodded. Syama was only saying exactly what she was already thinking.

  “This whole thing is way bigger than we expected. And I’m still not entirely sure what Lucy and her baby have to do with this,” Vee said softly. Then she pulled herself free from the thoughts. No point in focusing on that for now. There’d be time enough later for that.

  “Syama? Can we rely on you to locate the rest of the nurseries?”

  The hellhound nodded. “I can locate them, but it would be easier if I had help.”

  “You worried about Akil?

  Syama didn’t respond.

  “I a
m too. And you looked for him, but right now we can’t do anything other than keep going on with the mission.”

  “I have a bad feeling about this.”

  “You and me both, girl. You and me both.”

  Syama sighed. “I’ll get those locations and send them on to you and the team,” Syama said then shimmered away.

  “I’ll coordinate the locations and we’ll formulate a plan of attack,” said Shivani.

  “Yeah. It needs to be coordinated and we have to move—”

  Vee was cut off by the sound of shouts from below. Peering through the grate she and Shivani watched as the contingent of demons turned and raced from the room. Vee heard mention of a nursery and explosions, and of someone being captured. They disappeared through the door and Vee heard the clanging of locks on the other side of the doors.

  “They secured the location well,” Shivani murmured.

  “Making it perfect for our attack.” Vee paused, considering where the demons had gone. “Surely they aren’t going to the nursery we just destroyed. So, I’d guess they must be going to look for whoever they captured.”

  Vee looked at Shivani and froze as the other girl’s eyes widened.

  “Akil!”

  Chapter 40

  Vee and Shivani waited impatiently until Syama returned ten minutes later. They were enclosed in the pipe with no possible way out other than to blow the thing to pieces. That was an option they didn’t want to consider.

  Syama materialized beside them, her face pinched and dark with tension.

  “We have to follow the guards. They left here a while ago, and we couldn’t follow them,” Vee said speaking as fast as possible and motioning for Syama to take them now.

  But the hellhound shook her head. “I know.”

  Vee frowned and looked over at Shivani, then said, “Know what?”

  “That they have Akil.”

  Vee shook her head, wanting it to not be true, but from the look on Syama’s face, she knew that was impossible.