rippled through Carlos's system as he heart-snatched stunned male sentries and neutered drone lovers on the way to Lilith's golden, demon-headed sanctuary. To defile that car nal place would definitely send her a message: her primary lair had been breached after all these centuries, the squad that did it went for broke, and she was vulnerable - thus weak, and her reinforcements weren't shit against the Guardian forces. But the moment he neared the high monument that sat alone on a steep crag of black malachite almost a half-mile deep into her lair, a giant black cobra - her regular lover and familiar - uncoiled from under her bed in a jealous rage, green eyes glowing, black scales gleaming, fangs dripping as it hissed. He could feel the thing before him hesitate, clearly not sure if Lilith had sent him as a new playmate, but furious at the invasion. Carlos outstretched his arm and drew the blade of Ausar into his grip.
"You tell that bitch that Rivera was here!" Carlos shouted. "And the next time she fucks with my family, or brings that punk bastard, Fallon Nuit, with her to my door, it's her head and his nuts!"
The serpent swayed its huge, Hyundai-sized head and snapped, its eyes narrowed on Carlos from its position above him. Then from beneath the bed, several more heads emerged, until the thick body came out to reveal that it was a hydra, not a serpent. The tricky question for Carlos now was which head was the main one? Plus the damned thing moved like greased lightning. He could still hear gunfire report behind him, which meant his team was holding its own. From his peripheral vision, he saw Shabazz and J.L. racing in to assist.
Not even waiting for the command, Shabazz was liquid motion and had stunned the beast with a tactical charge from his locks and right hand. The blue arc rippled right down Black Beauty's barrel and discharged the shell with it to blow away one head. J.L. flipped out of the way of a strike to dig one of Dan's spent AK-47s into the monster's eye, only landing to blow out the other, firing from 9mms with both hands.
Sword raised, Carlos took a running leap forward into the air with a Neteru battle cry, his
coat billowing out from him, propelled by fury. His silver glare burned the creature like lasers had been trained on it, making it flop and screech to be out of his line of vision, and then he released the blade swing. A huge head crashed to the cavern floor as Carlos dropped onto Lilith's bed. Serpents hidden beneath her red silk sheets wriggled and scampered away at his intrusion, and he pulled a handheld Uzi out of his shoulder holster and began shooting the bed, making it bleed black and green blood. The hydra went down slowly, the other heads whining and hissing as the mortally wounded creature nuzzled the gushing site of the main beheading. Fury still had a choke hold on Carlos, and he rammed his sword into the center of the bed, wishing Lilith had been there versus her sumptuous mattress, and then unceremoniously lopped off the golden heads of the four posts.
But he jumped back amazed as they bled red blood and the little gargoyle figures at the tops of each post grappled at their cut throats.
Down beside his teammates in seconds, Carlos nodded as they picked up the pace to rejoin the battle on the main floor. Gunshots had ceased, only occasional bursts. Each man's heart slammed into his chest as he ran, hoping for the best, trying to prepare for the worst - only to see the entire team standing in the middle of sulfur plumes rising in hot, yellow smoke from the floor.
A sea of decapitated and mutilated demon bodies stretched out before them on the ground, piles of ash and cinders cov ered the bars, littering the crevices and crags where they'd dropped. Golden furniture and gaming tables were shot to smithereens. Glass was everywhere from exploded bottles. Guardian eyes briefly studied the carnage knowing that if anything twitched, it could still get up and bite.
"Raze the place," Shabazz muttered.
Carlos lifted his blade, ready to send a blast of white light from it, when a cavern opened behind the far wall, sucking the whole bar and half the shelving behind it down into it. Instantly, Carlos spun. J.L. was up on the golden surface of another bar in two