“How many?”
“Give me a moment.” I step into the elevator after the guards and Dervish. I focus as the doors close… my senses seep down through the building, searching for demonic targets…
With a gasp I jam a hand between the doors just before they close. The panels slide apart automatically.
“What are you doing?” Sharmila snaps.
“They’re in the shaft,” I hiss. “Three of them. Climbing the cables.”
“Out!” Sharmila barks at the guards. As they roll Dervish back into the corridor, the nurse who shouted at me hits the scene.
“Where are you going with that patient? You can’t move him without a doctor’s orders. I’m calling the—”
Sharmila waves a hand at her. The nurse’s eyes flicker, then she turns and walks away.
“The stairs?” Sharmila asks.
“More of them there. Eight or nine.”
Her face pales. “Can we fight them?”
“If we have to. They’re not strong. But there are so many of them…”
Balazs—the smallest of the guards—is on his walkie-talkie, talking softly but quickly. He finishes and clips it to his belt. “The roof,” he says calmly. “A helicopter will be with us in five minutes.”
“Bec?” Sharmila asks. “The elevator or stairs?”
I concentrate. The demons in the shaft are making fast progress. Those on the stairs are moving slower, pausing to pick off a few unfortunate nurses who get in their way.
“The stairs,” I decide, hurrying ahead of the guards to open the door.
Gabor and Bence—the other two guards—push the trolley to the foot of the stairs, then each takes an end. They raise the wheels off the floor and start up the steps. Kealan moves alongside them, monitoring Dervish.
“You two go ahead,” Balazs says to Sharmila and me, taking out a pair of pistols. “I’ll hold off the demons.”
“You cannot kill them with bullets,” Sharmila says.
“I know,” Balazs says softly. “But I can slow them down.”
Sharmila starts to object, then nods curtly and flees up the stairs, no longer limping, using magic to move freely and swiftly.
“Do you want me to stay and help?” I ask Balazs.
“No,” he says. “You’ll serve more good if you stay with Dervish.”
“You’ll die,” I note sadly.
“Dying’s my job.” He grins bleakly. “Now get the hell out of here and let me do what I’m trained for.”
I stand on my toes and give him a quick hug. I get flashes of his mother’s face. She was mauled by a demon. It took her several hours to die. A slow, painful death. Balazs is determined not to suffer as she did.
Releasing the doomed guard, I chase after the others, feeling the demons close on us from beneath.
We’ve just passed the seventh floor, heading for the exit to the roof, when the gunfire starts. We pause, even the guards who are used to situations like this. Then we press on. By the time we crash through the doors at the top of the stairs, the hail of
bullets has stopped.
Bence and Gabor check their watches. Their frantic eyes reveal how desperate the situation is. Unholstering their weapons, they silently head down the stairs.