Chapter Text
Pentagram City
Extermination Day 2020
“This is Kestrel three-six, all Flight Three sections form up on me. We’re taking a little detour through the industrial district.”
“Six, three-one. What’s going on? That sector’s an empty nest. No foot traffic and the warehouses are always sealed up tight.”
“Big game hunting, three-one, if you’re up for it. Last E-Day we found one of those bunkers that the heavy hitters like to hide out in, but we didn’t have enough time to crack it open. How do you girls feel about bagging an Overlord?”
Cere grinned inside her adaptive mask. Whoops and hollers filled her helmet as the nine Exorcists of Kestrel Squadron’s Third Flight joined their flight leader in a blistering dive down to the streets of Pentagram City below. Adam’s warriors preferred to set themselves apart from their sisters via body count, but hacking and slashing one’s way through the streets of Hell’s capital city was a damned hard grind, and there was always someone better, someone faster and more vicious who made even her best efforts look pitiful by comparison. The last few exterminations it had been that new girl in Tyto Squadron—Agata, was it? Something vaguely Spanish—who’d emerged as Command’s latest rising star.
For those who couldn’t compete with the top scorers, another route to fame, glory, and promotions was to slay an Overlord, one of the big-shot sinners who controlled entire districts of Hell’s Pride Ring. They possessed legions of the damned at their beck and call through infernal soul-binding contracts designed by Lucifer himself, or so the rumors went. They were still no match for the divine power of the Exorcists, but the resources at their command allowed them to hide themselves deep within the city, making them difficult prey to root out. No angel wanted to spend their limited time down here knocking down doors in the vain hope to stumble upon an Overlord while their sisters painted the streets red with sinner blood. But if Gem knew where one was, this could very well be their ticket to the fast track. This time next year Cere might be leading her own section!
Screams drifted up through the howling wind as Exorcists made landfall across the city and began their work. Cere could see fires burning in the urban hellscape below, though she wasn’t sure if they were her sisters’ handiwork or destruction unrelated to their annual purge. This was Hell, after all. A soft chime and flashing light on her helmet’s heads-up display highlighted Gem’s intended landing zone, a squat two story compound with a courtyard and some sort of loading dock among a sector full of warehouses. As they dropped ever closer Cere could make out the thick metal shutters tightly shut over any possible entrance. Overlord or no, someone had spent time and effort to make this place secure.
Secure, or so they thought. If these sinners really thought money and influence could hide them from Heaven’s light, the angels of Kestrel Squadron would happily disabuse them of that notion.
Gem flared her wings and touched down on the dock in a three-point landing. The others dropped in around her and fanned out, surveying the loading dock and gatehouse with their weapons at the ready, searching for any demons they’d missed during their descent. Nothing. By all appearances this district was a ghost town, just as it had been in years past.
“Ma’am, you sure about this?” Cere questioned their leader.
“Oh, they’re here.” Gem sniffed the air through her adaptive mask, her stylized smile spreading into a demonic rictus grin. “Can’t you smell the sin? Nitro, you’re with me. The rest of you girls keep watch while we crack this coconut open.”
Nitro joined the flight leader on the dock with a few flaps of her wings and they approached the shutter door. She ran a hand across the dull steel slats. Local materials, this would be easy.
“Whatever you do, make it fast.” Gem nodded to the cameras that dotted the compound’s exterior. “They know we’re coming.”
Nitro nodded and with the flick of a wrist conjured up a small garden sprayer and water tank. “Holy water, baby,” She crowed to her flight leader with an LED-stylized smirk. “Guaranteed to melt through anything made in this forsaken pit in no time at all.” She flew up to the top of the doorframe and quickly put the sprayer to work. The noxious smell of sulfur permeated through their helmets’ filters as the metal corroded and dissolved in seconds. She nodded to Gem, who brought the rest of the flight over to them with a whistle and wave of her hand. They took positions along the wall and Gem signaled Nitro with a silent nod.
On Gem’s signal, Nitro flapped backwards, putting distance between herself and the corroded entryway. She then rushed forward at full tilt, angling her body midair to take the impact on her shoulder instead of her helmet or wings. The bay door flew off its hinges, landing inside the compound with a thunderous crash.
The Exorcists rushed in, spears up as they spread out into the darkened interior. Adaptive masks took in what little light there was inside the compound and enhanced it, bringing near total pitch black up to a gloomy grayscale which allowed them to see just enough to go about their work without position-revealing flashlights.
They moved through the acrid smoke still wafting off the door frame and into the central courtyard. The floor was open save for a few palletized crates full of what appeared to be automatic rifles, but the ornate columns, the sweeping grand staircase, the carpeting, the sconces and stylized-eye decorations all suggested this was more than just some warehouse.
“Eyes up, sisters,” Gem reminded her flight. “We’re not alone in here.”
“Doesn’t look like anyone’s home,” Cere mused, as much to herself as her flight leader.
“That’s the idea. These types reliably survive our exterminations by making it too much time and effort for us to dig them out of their hidey holes.” Gem explained to the flight. “So let’s prove them wrong. There might be a few flunkies out and about for bait but the Overlord will be bunkered up somewhere, like a basement or a panic room. Sections Two and Three, sweep and clear. Dusty, your section will take this level and Reina’s got deck two. Section one with me, we’re heading down below.” The Exorcists nodded, Reina, Cere, and Dasha moved towards the stair while Dusty’s section spread out. Star, Nitro, and Skye fell in behind their flight leader as she moved around the staircase towards the far end of the floor.
A few minutes of searching and a few smashed-down doors later yielded the results they’d hoped for, a stairwell leading down to a sublevel. Spears at the ready, they moved down below.
The basement was open and unfurnished, solely utilitarian in nature opposed to the opulent decorations above them. More crates of guns, blades, bombs and all sorts of things that went bang, stab, or boom. The walls were bare concrete (and the occasional eye, but nothing like upstairs) save for a freight elevator, a few more security cameras and, at the far end of the room, a gleaming silver vault door.
“Jackpot,” Gem smirked. “Nitro, let’s get to work.”
“Three-three, check in”
“Eight up, all clear.”
“Nine up, clear,” Cere whispered as she silently made her way along the second floor balcony. A quick glance to her right told her Dasha was making similar progress, her mask’s heads-up-display helpfully bracketing her section sister’s position on the opposite balcony with a green ‘friendly’ box. She knew Reina was behind them, clearing the rooms near the landing. She returned her focus to the last door on her side, the only remaining room she hadn’t checked.
The door was ajar. She tensed as she noticed, tightening her grip on her spear. It likely meant nothing, but it was the first sign of life she’d seen so far. The parlor, bathroom, and linen closet she’d already checked had all appeared untouched, nothing out of place, no books or cups or anything personal that would hint at sinners cowering nearby. She crept forward, tense and light on her feet. To come this far, only to give a desperate sinner the chance to gain the upper hand and disarm her would be unthinkable. Exorcists who needed to be rescued by their sisters never lived down the embarrassment.
She slid her speartip through the gap and prodded the door open as quietly as she could. Her mask’s display adjusted, the low light function illuminating another bedroom in its dim grayscale. She crept forward into the room, carefully checking her corners. She caught a whiff of sulphur as she crossed the threshold.
Someone was in here. And they were scared.
Cere’s eyes narrowed. She cautiously bent down to peek under the neatly made four-post bed, spear at the ready. Nothing. She glanced around the room, looking for anything she’d missed. A nightstand with a lamp and framed photo which she couldn’t make out through her helmer’s filters. Posters on the wall advertised some sort of demon pop star. An armoire stood against the far wall.
There. She crept towards the armoire. Her suspicion confirmed by the telltale sulphuric scent of the denizens of hell, as well as the telltale buzzing of a phone on quiet mode. She couldn’t help but snicker as she heard a thump that could only be the demon dropping its phone, followed by a muffled epithet.
She sprang upon the piece of furniture and ripped the doors open, revealing a small red creature curled up inside with a look of abject terror on its face.
“AAAUGH NONO PLEASE DON’T KILL ME!! I’M HELLBORN! I’M HELLLBORRN!! PLEASE I JUST WORK HERE!!”
Cere recoiled from the groveling creature in disgust. It was a tiny red lizard-looking thing with curled horns and a spiked tail, currently prostrating itself at her feet but didn’t look to be more than half her height should it stand up. An imp, she recognized the species from her studies of the Codex Demonicus and Adam’s admittedly-questionable classroom training sessions. Her helmet confirmed it a moment later, bracketing the terrified imp with a white box marked HLLBN.
Fuck. Her first catch of the day and she had to throw it back. Still, maybe it could prove useful. She held her spear point against the thing’s chest in case it got any ideas, then palmed her radio switch.
“Three-three, this is Nine. Found a hellborn, not hostile at this time. No joy on the sinners.”
No response from Reina or Dasha. Cere focused back on the pleading imp.
“Shut up, demon.”
The imp clamped its mouth shut and nodded furiously.
“Good. Now answer my questions or, hellborn or not, I won’t hesitate to skewer you. Understood?” Another nod. “You work for the sinner that owns this place?”
“Y-Yes.”
“Where are they?”
“The vault, um, down in the basement.”
Cere keyed her radio. “Three-three, this is Nine.” No response. “Three-three, this is Nine, how copy?”
“Nine, three-six.” Gem responded. “We read you loud and clear. What’s going on up there?”
“Questioning the hellborn now. Says our target should be on your level, in some sort of vault.”
“Copy. We found it, working on a breach now. Maybe it knows what this fucking thing’s made of, because holy water is a no go. Find out what you can, then finish your sweep. Keep me in the loop until you reestablish contact with your section. Three-six out.”
Cere glared at the imp. Something was wrong here, she just couldn’t put her finger on it. If her helmet communicator wasn’t on the fritz, then why wasn’t Reina answering? “We’re here for your boss, not you,” she snarled at the imp. “So the more you tell me about how to get into that vault, the longer you live.”
“I, uhh, oh fuck, I don’t know the code! WAIT!!” It flinched as Cere jabbed her spear an inch from its chest. “Okayokay, it’s angel steel! Like, from your spears a shit that you leave here! Boss had it coated in blessed metal last year! So whatever you used to melt yer way in here probably ain’t gonna work.”
“What? Our weapons?” That threw Cere for a loop. “Three-six, you get that?”
“Copy all, Nine. I think we’ve got an idea. Finish up there and link back up with your section.”
Cere focused back on her prisoner. “So what exactly are you freaks doing with our weapons?”
“I, umm, that’s like most of our business, we grab all the shit you assh-ahem, you angels leave behind and sell it! Well, we break it down and use it to make guns and shit, then we sell those.”
“Why?”
“Whadda ya mean why, how the fuck else are sinners supposed to kill each other? Like, for reals dead not just like kinda dead for a little while. Or if someone wants to whack a Goetia or some other royal they pretty much gotta do it with a blessed tipped round. The bolt and barrel lining’s gotta be switched out too, otherwise it corrodes, however you holy types forge that shit makes it really do a number on the stuff we use down here so—“
So the sinners are doing our work for us. Interesting. Cere was sure command would want to know about this, but this was not the time or place for a full interrogation. She cut the demon off with a wave of her hand. “I’ve heard enough. If you want to survive the day, demon, you’re coming with me and telling my sisters exactly what you’ve—“ a loud buzzing cut her off. She glanced down at the phone the demon had dropped. “Who’s texting you?”
“I—uh I don’t, I mean, I—“
“Pick it up.” She growled. “Show me.”
A shaking clawed hand held the phone up for Cere to see.
they made it inside
If they find you, stall them
it works
keep that one busy, dealing with the others
“The FUCK!? You little BITCH!” Cere roared. The imp scooted away as she whirled around. Her sisters, she’d thought it was a radio malfunction but the realization of what demon’s text messages could mean sent a surge of fear through her body. She scrambled for the door. “Dasha! Reina!”
She burst out onto the balcony, spear up and wings flared. The only sign of her sisters was near the landing, where the walls were splattered with what was unmistakably angelic ichor.
Overwhelmed with disbelief, Cere never noticed the imp had regained its footing until the holy-steel dagger plunged into her back.
“You catch all that?” Gem glanced at Nitro.
“Oh yeah,” Nitro replied with a smirk. ”Don’t worry boss, I’ve got this! Blessed vault, meet blessed drill bit!” She conjured the power tool forth with a wave of her hand and got to work setting it up.
Skye and Star took up positions near the stairwell while Gem stuck with Nitro, monitoring the rest of the flight’s progress. The minutes ticked by as Nitro poked holes through the vault door’s protective layer with her drill.
“Three-six, three-two. First floor is all clear.”
“Copy, three-two.” Gem paused for a moment. “Three-three, report.”
Nothing.
“Three-three, this is three-six. How copy? Nine, you there?”
Silence on the airwaves. Star and Skye glanced at each other apprehensively. This wasn’t right. No way all three of them had broken helmets at the same time.
“Three-six, three-two. We just heard shouting from the second deck. Any luck raising them?”
“Negative.” Gem grimaced. “Okay, if you’re done there head up to level two and see what’s going on. Use caution, Dusty.”
“Copy that, boss. Second Section, you heard her! Rally at the stairwell!”
“Fuck.” Gem shook her head. “How’s it coming?”
“Ready to melt, boss.”
Gem nodded. “Hit it.” Nitro inserted the sprayer hose into one of the drill holes and began pumping water inside the vault door. The holy water immediately went to work dissolving demon-forged metal into an amorphous slurry and noxious fumes. Soon, the thin leaf of angelic steel coating the vault would have no support to prevent it from crumpling under its own weight. All they needed was a few more minutes, and they could kill these wretched sinners and get back to the Extermination proper.
“Three-two to three-six!” The exorcists jumped at the sudden panic in Dusty’s voice. “Got a big fuckin problem up here!”
Gem frowned. Dusty was an experienced section lead, not some brand new Exorcist on her first extermination. She didn’t spook easily. What could’ve rattled her like this? “Go ahead, Dusty.”
“We, uh, we found—oh, fuck…” Dusty trailed off for a moment. “They’re all dead, ma’am. Three-three is gone.”
What. The. FUCK. Gem felt as if someone had shoved a live wire into her gut. “Fu-I don’t… Say again last, three-two.”
“Three-three is fucking dead, Gem. I’m looking right at Reina and—oh holy fuck… she uhh, she looks like she got torn up bad. Not breathing, no pulse.” A pause. “SHIT that’s a lot of blood. Dasha and Cere too. It looks like they were ambushed… they’re… they’re gone, boss.”
Gem’s legs felt weak. All her years with the Exorcists, all the death and carnage she’d seen, none of it prepared her for this.
This wasn’t supposed to be possible.
“Boss?”
Gem tried to think. She tried to cut through the sheer fucking panic flooding her veins and come up with something, anything to stop the world around her from spinning wildly out of her control.
“Boss!” Star’s snap brought Gem back to the moment. She shook her head and keyed her mic.
“Three-two, regroup back on the first floor and cover the stairs, we’re coming up to you. Stay together. None of your girls are to go off on their own, understood?”
“Copy all, boss.”
Gem turned to Star. “Have your section pack it in. We’re leaving.”
First Section didn’t need to be told twice. Star nodded to Gem as Nitro disappeared her equipment with a wave of a hand and ran to join Skye by the stairwell. Gem glanced back at the vault door, disappointed all Nitro’s work would go to waste. It looked corroded to the point where a light tap would knock it off its hinges, but her sisters needed her. She glanced up to the security camera and offered a scowl to whoever was on the other end. “This isn’t over. You’ve won nothing but time.”
By the grace of the divine plan, the sinners cowering inside would live. For now.
As she turned back to the others, her helmet comms crackled to life. “Contact! Contact! Three-two defending! Fuck, Six is down! We need—” The transmission abruptly cut out.
Gem swore. “Kestrel three-six to Kestrel actual!”
“Kestrel oh-six, go ahead.”
“Kestrel Three engaged and taking casualties! Request immediate reinforcements at—“ she wracked her brain as she hit the wall next to the stairwell where First Section waited, “at grid hope-cherub three seven and seraph-virtue eight four!” She jerked her helmet towards the stairwell. Star nodded, and the four angels rushed through with their spears at the ready.
“Uhh copy three-six, nearest units are all engaged but we’re working on retasking elements from Kestrel and Condor. Can uh… what’s the nature of the casualties?”
They burst out of the stairwell into the main parlor, ready to tear into whatever entity had attacked their sisters. Gem’s helmet adjusted and the dim gloom around her came into focus, and what she saw made her stop dead.
They’d charged headlong into a slaughterhouse.
Angelic ichor, glowing bright despite the golden hue becoming somewhat washed out through their helmets’ monochrome low-light filters, coated the floor and support columns. A fallen Exorcist lay facedown before them in a pool of blood, another halfway up the grand staircase in a crumpled heap, faceplate smashed and uniform stained and torn where something had slashed deep gouges across her torso.
Gem felt the bile rise in her throat. Knowing her sisters, the angels she was responsible for, were dead had hurt enough, but actually seeing them laid out like discarded trash… her whole body flooded with abject terror and blinding, white-hot rage. She gripped her spear as if she wanted to snap it in half, fingernails doffing into her palms. Her breathing came in short, quick gasps as her heart hammered in her chest.
Movement drew the Exorcists’ eyes up to the second floor balcony. A demon stood balanced on the guardrail, glaring down at them. Two long curved horns wrapped in ribbon rose from its head. Its long legs and large clawed hands were slick with ichor, answering any lingering question in the angels’ minds as to what had happened to their sisters.
Gem’s mask display highlighted the creature with a red box and SINNR marking, the ‘valid target’ chime that rang in her helmet snapped her from her shock and spurred her to action. Her wings flared as she prepared to leap at the unholy creature and drive her spear deep into its chest.
Neither Gem nor the others noticed the grenade the creature had tossed at their feet until it went off in a blinding flash.
The concussion of the blast caught Gem’s wings and roughly shoved her backwards. She stumbled, dropping her spear and clawing at her helmet in pain. Her vision swam, her head pounded. Star, Skye, and Nitro all faltered too, struggling against the assault on their senses. None were physically injured, though none of the four had a moment to realize the blast had not bloodied or crippled them, much less muse whether it was due to their angelic invulnerability or simply the nature of the weapon itself. Before they could recover, the demon leapt from its perch.
Nitro had ripped her helmet off and was trying to shake her head clear when the sinner fell upon her. She barely had time to get her spear over her head to block a downward swipe. She nearly buckled against the force of the attack, and gave a step to keep her balance. Seeing an opening, she drew her spear back and lunged forward with an upward slash.
The demon flowed around the spear tip like water, deftly sidestepping and striking at Nitro with a high kick. It connected, flinging Nitro’s weapon out of her grasp. It spun in a graceful pirouette, pointed shoe striking Nitro in the chest and driving deep into her sternum.
Nitro cried out in pain, spraying droplets of ichor onto the sinner’s bodysuit. She numbly stared down as the demon extracted its foot from her chest. She tried to reach up and press her hand to the wound in attempt to staunch the flow of blood, but her strength had already left her. The floor wobbled beneath her, her legs buckled and gave out.
“Help,” she whispered feebly as the world went dark around her.
Star and Skye both screamed with rage at the sight of their fallen sister. Star charged the demon with her spear while Skye went high, leaping into the air. Their target danced backwards and again twisted out of the way as they bore down on it. A white hand with gleaming silver claws grabbed Skye’s spear and yanked down, slamming her into the floor with a sickening crunch. Star yelped in pain as a glancing blow from its pointed silver shoe sliced a golden line across her forearm.
Gem caught up to the fight and jumped in as the demon advanced on Star. She came up along its flank, forcing it to decide its attention. Short, fast swipes with her spear forced it to give ground while not overextending herself. Star shook off her injury and leapt back into the fray, swinging and stabbing with reckless abandon. The demon blocked her strikes with graceful kicks and claw-swipes, stepping backwards with each parry to keep the two enraged angels at a distance. It seemed to realize it was at a disadvantage, and after another thwarted set of strikes it leapt high into the air. It touched down with a light *tink* on the second floor landing and reached behind itself, grabbing at something near the small of its back.
Star and Gem had just spread their wings and leapt into pursuit when Gem spotted the pistol. It raised the silver weapon at Star and snapped off three shots. Star’s wings folded and she fell to the floor. Gem saw the barrel shift to track her and she dove for cover behind a column. The demon kept firing, raining shards of marble around her.
She heard the weapon click empty and risked a peek. Star laid in a crumpled heap on the floor. Skye struggled to pick herself up, her mask had shattered from the impact and left cuts across her face. The sinner almost casually sauntered down the staircase towards Skye. It reloaded its handgun with practiced ease as it approached the injured exorcist, metal shoes clicking against the marble.
Gem let out a strangled “No!” and charged towards the demon. It snapped the pistol up and fired again, bullets whizzing past Gem as she dove behind a crate. She couldn’t close the distance all at once, but she could hold its attention. Skye saw the opening Gen gave her and lashed out with her spear, striking the demon’s arm on one of the gleaming bands that crisscrossed its bodysuit. The speartip clanged against the metal and did not penetrate, but knocked the firearm from the demon’s grasp and sent it clattering away into the darkness.
The demon immediately shifted its weight, nimbly dodging behind Skye as her attack’s momentum carried her past. A swipe of claws-or a clawed glove, some part of Gem’s brain realized as the rest surged with adrenaline-left jagged gashes down Skye’s back. She went down, and the demon drove a shoe into her back to ensure she didn’t get up again.
Gem cried and leapt at the demon, spear swinging at its head and arms as she flapped around it. It was too damned fast, either swiping at her spear shaft and knocking her stabs away or ducking and weaving under anything it couldn’t block. She kept up the pressure, desperate to regain the upper hand. Her brain swirled with a red haze as she lashed out at the sinner again and again.
In her rage and desperation, Gem overstepped. She dove too low with one of her spear thrusts, and as the spinner spun under her attack it countered with a high swinging kick. It connected with her gut, slicing a golden line across her midsection. She screamed in pain and tried to pull up out of its reach, but the next blow struck her faceplate, snapping her head to the side and sending her tumbling down in a heap.
She tried to get back to her feet, weakly pulling herself up against a crate. The pain from her midsection radiated out, a fresh wave hitting her whenever she tried to move her core. Her cracked visor flickered, the red SINNR targeting box fading in and out as the demon approached her.
Static crackled in her ears. “Yoooo Kestrel three, this is Gold Eagle actual. Where you girls at? We’ve got backup on the way but there’s a lotta warehouses in that district, send up a fuckin flare or something so they don’t have to go door to door.”
Gem wrenched herself to the edge of the crate. Shecould see Hell’s dim red sunlight through the doorway they’d broken down. She held out her hand and summoned a mote of light. If she could throw the magical flare outside, her sisters would see it and come for her.
A razor shoe stabbed down into her forearm, pinning her to the floor and extinguishing her hope of rescue. She shrieked in pain. The sinner’s sharp red eyes examined her dispassionately. Gem had expected it to be feral, a mad beast hungering for the blood of the virtuous, but now, up close, all she could see was grim determination written across its face. The demon scooped up her spear and prodded the butt end under her mask, flipping the visor up and off her helmet. She grunted in agonizing pain, but forced herself to meet the creature’s gaze.
“You should not have come here, angel,” it spoke for the first time. “The souls here are not yours to claim.”
“My sisters are coming for me,” Gem warned. “They’re going to erase your soul from existence and burn this place to the ground, your’s and whoever else is hiding here. If you run now, you might live.”
The demon’s eyes narrowed as a flicker of rage crossed its features. “They may come,” it replied, “but they will be too late for a rescue.”
No, I need to keep it talking, Gem thought through the pain and adrenaline. Adam said they’re close. “Wait! It doesn’t have to go like this. Spare me, and I’ll get them to spare you and your friends down below! We can all just walk away.”
The demon actually chuckled at that, sparing a quick glance at the angel corpses that littered its parlor. “I think we are well past that possibility. Even a soul so famed for mercy and compassion such as Adam would never forgive me for what I’ve done.” It looked down at Gem with something approaching pity. “We’ve wasted enough time here, angel. May your souls find the peace you’ve denied us.” It flipped the spear around and drew it back.
Gem felt the weapon pierce her chest, then nothing.
Carmilla Carmine released the spear lodged in the dead angel and wiped the ichor off her hands. She pulled out her phone, quickly checking the security app and rapidly firing off a text message. She then looked up at the nearest security camera and spoke.
“We are safe for the moment, Zestial. If you and the girls could join me upstairs?”
Moments later, the shadows across the floor darkened and coalesced into the towering arachnoid figure of Zestial, Carmilla’s daughters Odette and Clara held tightly by his sides. They let go of Zestial and ran to their mother to embrace her.
“Mom!”
“We were so worried!”
Carmilla squeezed them. For a moment, they were not the adult professionals who’d boarded that plane in Medellin with her all those years ago, they were her little girls again.
“I’m fine, hijas, I’m fine,” she reassured them.
“We are fortunate thou distracted them,” Zestial said. “T’were not for thy actions, the angels would surely have slain us all within minutes… thou may need a new vault.” He added after a moment of thought.
“I’ll call the contractor tomorrow,” Carmilla replied lightly before continuing in a more somber tone. “Unfortunately we have bigger problems than remodeling. I wasn’t able to stop them from calling for help. More will be coming, and when they see this…” she gestured to the golden bloodbath that surrounded them. Odette and Clara both blanched at the realization of what the immediate future held for them. That their mom had managed to kill ten angels was a damned miracle. But an army… even if they could be hurt, it was impossible.
Zestial nodded thoughtfully. “Praytell, does thou have a plan to survive heaven’s retribution? We can no longer hide, nor fight without being overwhelmed.”
“I have an idea, but… it’s risky. Flint!” Carmilla called out to her director of operations. The imp poked his head out from the second floor balcony.
“Hey Boss. Sorry I could only get the one.”
“You may be the first imp in Hell’s history to kill an angel,” Carmilla mused. “No need to be modest. Please, join us. We have much work to do and precious little time to do it.”
Flint quickly made his way down to his boss and her family. “I’m guessin we ain’t gonna be just shoving angel corpses underneath couch cushions in the hopes the next ones who show up don’t notice?”
“I think it’s best if they had bigger problems than what has happened here. I need you to go to your managers and order their armories opened. Impress upon them the urgency of the situation as best you can, then have them start issuing weapons.”
Flint looked taken aback. “What do you mean, issuing? Which weapons?”
“All of them. Anything remotely capable of harming an exorcist. To anyone who will take them. Our employees, anyone sheltering nearby, any survivors from off the street. Notify the contractees that due to our inability to further protect them, they are released from any and all obligations and retain full rights to their souls.” Carmilla sighed. “I would of course prefer they stay and defend themselves together as a group, but if they wish to flee at the very least make sure they are armed.” A fleeing sinner was an easy target for exorcists. A fleeing sinner armed with an angelic weapon, as Adam’s legions would very soon find out, was a threat that they couldn’t afford to ignore.
“Right, I uh…”
“After that is done, get in contact with security and tell them to activate the Skysweeper system. Type H ammunition loads, obviously.”
“Obviously. Um, I know all the emplacements were installed but I dunno if the fire control network has been tested yet?”
“It’s a risk we have to take, if we can’t fight on even footing then this is over before it ever begins. We’ll just have to hope that the serpent’s designs are worth the money we paid him.”
Flint nodded and raced off to bring Carmilla’s warning to the rest of the weapons district. Carmilla turned to her daughters.
“Mom…” Clara spoke first. “We’re giving away our stock?”
“We’ll be ruined,” Odette finished. “Even if we survive, the other Overlords… what will happen to us?”
“The business is a necessary sacrifice,” Carmilla replied. “We came here with nothing and clawed our way up, and if necessary we can do it again. But none of that matters if we cannot survive these angels.” She smiled grimly. “No money, no weapons, no soul contracts are worth your lives.”
Odette and Clara nodded, still shaken by what they’d just gone through and what was yet to come.
“Odette, message our store managers and tell them what Flint is telling the warehouse staff: that the Carmine Crafted Blessed product line is now free to any demons who want them. The Imp City and Wrath locations as well; if any demons wish to make the trip for the chance to mount an exorcist mask on their trophy walls, we will equip them. Clara, we need to get our message out across the ring. Call V Tower, we need to talk to Vox and Velvette right away.”
Odette and Clara both nodded and pulled out their phones, stepping away to send texts and make calls. Zestial caught her eye.
“I know I have no right to ask.”
“Which is why thou shalt never need to. On mine own soul, I assure thou daughters are brought to safety.”
“Thank you, Zestial.” Carmilla closed her eyes in relief. “One other favor,” she handed him a scrap of paper with a discrete shortwave frequency scribbled on it. “I need you to get in touch with your friend, if possible.”
Zestial’s eyes widened in surprise. “Are thou sure?”
“I may have just declared war on heaven,” Carmilla said bitterly. “I don’t have the luxury of options.”
Zestial nodded solemnly and moved off to find a radio set as Clara waved her over and held up her phone, showing the faces of Vox, Velvette, and the pimp—he wasn’t strictly needed, but those three were damn near inseparable in the worst way—on a live video call.
“Hel-lo Carmilla,” Vox drawled. “What can I do for you this lovely Extermination Day? Everything alright over there?”
Carmilla nodded at Clara. “Show him.” Clara panned the phone around.
“Is that… Holy fuck!” Vox swore. Velvette’s eyes bugged out. Valentino adjusted his glasses and leaned in to squint at the screen. “How?”
“Thought you’d be interested. If this,” Carmilla motioned to the dead angels that littered her parlor, “is something you’re looking to get in on the ground floor of, then I’m going to need something from you. A minor favor, but I’m afraid time is pressing and I’ll need it up front.”
Vox’s veneer was back up in an instant. He straightened up and flashed her a sharklike grin. “Well, with an opener like that, who could say no? Let’s talk business…”