Take Flight - 14. Chapter 14

“I don’t figure you’re too worried about the iron part,” Mr. Rittenhauser said. “But a shot to the chest will kill you just as quick. I see a hint of that foul magic from him and you both die.”

The older man curled his lip in disgust. “I always knew you’d be the link we needed. Filthy, unconsecrated sinners like you always draw in the demons.”

Birch blinked. “What?”

“I know! I saw the pale demon enter your window one night, like smoke from the fires of hell. No one believed me but I started watching. I got proof. Then Father Biscayne finally took me serious. Then the pale one left and you went away.”

Birch shivered. Icy tendrils of dread coiled in the pit of his stomach. What proof did he have?

“The whole thing was swept under the carpet. I began to dig, to find ways to stop the demons from coming into our world.”

Birch struggled to keep the cross from slipping without moving. Rittenhauser’s cross had poisoned the fae realm, but had he meant for that to happen? His raving didn’t sound like it.

Spit sprayed from Rittenhauser’s mouth. “I had to test it. So I offered you a job. But he came back! That filthy demon wasn’t stopped by the righteous power of the Lord. Now this one escaped, due to you.” Rittenhauser jerked the gun toward Ange and then back to him. Birch flinched.

Ange’s eyes began to shine in the waning light. The change wasn’t sudden, but his glamour faded. The men surrounding them didn’t seem to notice but Birch could see it from the corner of his eye. The other men were all listening to Rittenhauser’s psychotic rant.

“I knew when that freak took you from your house that you’d be back sometime. We were watching. The faithful stand firm, as the Lord commanded us.” Birch’s former boss stabbed his finger into his chest. “We’ll purge the forces of evil from the heavenly places in this world, as He commanded.”

“Amen!” the men chorused.

The agreement bolstered Rittenhauser’s grandeur and he swelled up like a toad. His eyes bugged out as he glared at them.

Birch’s arms began to tremble. The standoff couldn’t go on much longer. He’d either drop the infernal cross and Rittenhauser would shoot, or the religious fanatic would get tired of his self-aggrandizing and shoot.

He felt a moment of sorrow for the pain Sayer would feel when he died, but Birch couldn’t let Ange be killed. He’d never get away, but Ange might. He was a dryad, and they were surrounded by trees. The trembling in his hands was almost too strong to let Birch get a good grip on the arms of the cross. He licked his lips.

“Run, Ange!” Birch screamed and heaved the cross at the men closest to him. The cross knocked two men over. Birch rushed toward Rittenhauser. He hoped Ange listened to him.

Shots broke out in the clearing as the men reacted to the confusion. Birch flinched as he dove toward his boss. A fiery trail slid across the top of his shoulder. Pain burst through one thigh, and Birch fell.

He struggled for possession of Rittenhauser’s gun. The older man had a strong grip. They rolled on the ground. Birch tried to brace his leg and buck his hips but it wouldn’t move. He was too weak to stop the blow as Rittenhauser brought the gun down on his chest.

The next strike was to his head.

***

“My Lord!” Two guards burst into Sayer’s suite. They carried a dryad… Ange!

“What are you doing here? Where’s Birch?”

Sayer had woken from the madness of the taint. His time as a Darkling had been short, but the damage had been done. He couldn’t access the magic of the fae realm for more than a trickle of power. Haverlseen sent all the recovered Darklings to rest. It was all he could do.

“Some guy, his human boss, surrounded us as soon as we left the fae realm with the cross. He knows about us and was watching the cross. He…” Ange drooped between the guards. “He captured Birch when your beloved threw the cross at the men and attacked.”

“He what?” Sayer shouted. He threw the blankets off.

Ange flinched. “I’m sorry, my lord. I didn’t want to leave but he ordered me to run. I knew you had to be told, so I left him there. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!”

“It’s not your fault. Birch made the right choice. We never would’ve known who was behind all this if you hadn’t listened to him. Did you…? Was he…?” Sayer couldn’t bring himself to finish the questions.

“Communing with the trees in the human world was hard, but I was still close. He was hurt, but still alive. I heard the one who was in charge, Mr. Rittenhauser Birch called him, order the guys with him to tie Birch up.”

Ange swallowed. “They plan to use him as bait. For you.”

***

Sayer leaned on the passenger window. Croll parked around the corner from the church near Birch’s house. They stared at the gray stone building crouching ominously in the center of the block blocking out the fading sunlight. It had wide, square walls and a tall, pointy spire stabbing at the sky. “Why here?”

“Ange said the guy talked about a Father. That means a priest in the human world. They called us demons; where else would they take him?”

“I’m surprised you’re not rushing in to find your beloved.” Croll tapped his fingers on the steering wheel.

“The last time I rushed I became a Darkling. My actions put Birch in this place with these maniacs. We need to know more before we can save him.” Sayer could feel the fae around them, blending in with the human realm, surrounding the church. “If that man wants demons, we’ll give him demons.”

Fae, great and small, had gathered to help Sayer save Birch. He’d risked his life to protect the fae realm, and now that they knew the cause of all the damage they’d put a stop to the religious fanatic. Sayer could feel his subject around him. His magic was weak but growing stronger.

A small fae with rough, pebbled grayish skin knocked on Sayer’s window. He rolled it down. “What did you find?”

“He’s in there, my lord. But….” The dwarf clutched at his jacket, hesitating.

“But what?” Croll prompted him.

“He’s hurt. His blood coated the rock inside their building.”

Sayer’s heart began to pound. Night fell around them. He couldn’t wait any longer. “We go in.”

“Your powers are not fully recovered yet.”

“That doesn’t matter. What I have will be enough.”

The dwarf bowed his head. “We’ll help you. We’ve opened a tunnel inside the sanctuary. You can enter there.”

Croll turned off the car. They climbed out. “Sprites.” Croll waved at the streetlights. Small groups of the glowing air sprites flew toward bulbs, swarming them until the glass popped in a shower of sparks and the lights went out. Darkness shrouded the street and the fae that materialized from the rocks, trees, and stone.

“You organize out here. Cover our retreat,” Sayer told his second-in-command. He pointed at several fae in the crowd. “You, you, and you. Come with us.”

The dwarf led the way into the tunnel they’d made through the stone walls. Sayer strode behind him, anxious to see his beloved. The tunnel climbed vertically through the walls. They climbed the irregular stones like a ladder up to a balcony. The tunnel exited in the shadowy recess.

“He’s close,” Sayer whispered. They crept out to the railing and peered over.

“You shot a man. What were you thinking?” The priest was hovering over Birch’s body. He was on the floor in front of the altar.

“He’s not a man! He’s associated with those demons you refused to believe in. I told you, I told you!” the other man screamed. He waved a gun around.

“You’re delusional.” The priest pressed the altar cloth tight around Birch’s thigh but it was stained red with blood that wasn’t stopping.

“I have proof. They saw it, the demon that was with him. It melted into a tree.” Several men were ranged around the sanctuary.

The priest shook his head. “We have to call an ambulance.”

“No. No ambulance and no cops.”

“He’ll die!”

“If he dies, he deserves it for consorting for with that filth. You can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs.”

Sayer clenched his hands into fists. Birch wasn’t moving. There was blood all over his shoulder and his leg was bleeding profusely no matter what the priest tried. He didn’t have much more time.

“We need their guns,” Sayer whispered to the drow he’d brought with him. The night-stealer grinned, his round face full of wicked glee.

He bounced off into the shadows.

Two small sprites had followed them. Sayer pointed to the lights over the center aisle. “Gently take some of those out.” They flew up to the ceiling and began stroking the lights. They flickered. “When I give you the signal, encase the human’s feet in the floor,” Sayer told the dwarf. “Skim a fine layer of rock into dust while we wait.”

Birch’s boss didn’t seem to notice. He continued ranting at the priest, exposing years of fixation on the fae as demonic beings sent by Satan to pollute his town. He’d been watching Birch since he and Sayer were children. Sayer blanched. One of his trips to leave a gift on Birch’s pillow had set this guy off?

Crouched, ready to spring, Sayer held on to his control by his fingertips. The dwarf at his side watched him for the signal.

The tall sylph he’d picked to come with them stood silently, her eyes huge, her hands spread. She was powerful but wild, rarely interacting with other fae. “You’ll create a cover. Use the stone dust.”

Shadows fell across the church as two of the three main lights went out, one after the other. “Now!” Sayer sent a trickle of power to the doors, shoving them open. He panted at the effort.

The dwarf began to mutter and the sylph waved her hands in flowing motions through the air, beginning to swirl the stone dust all through the church as if huge gusts of wind flowed in through the outer doors. Men shouted and a gun went off.

“The demons are here!”

Sayer jumped onto the balcony railing. His wings burst from his back and he drifted down to the main floor. A personal aura kept the fine stone grit from blinding him as he flew straight to Birch’s side. The priest was mired in stone, still kneeling beside his beloved.

“Thank you for trying to help him,” Sayer said. He gathered Birch’s body into his arms. Sayer flapped his wings to get back to the balcony and their escape route.