Free Angel Souls and Devil Hearts by Christopher Golden Page B

replaced by perfectly
preserved, clanking armor, stolen from the museum at the Fortress Hohensalzburg. Behind them was a demon, eleven feet tall, with lobster-like pincers for hands and eyes all over its man-shaped
body. Only the enormous, sharply glimmering horn on its forehead was without eyes. And certainly there were more demons where it had came from.
    “We’ve got to get out of here,” John Courage said aloud, and the silence was broken.
    Noise came shrieking back into life: sirens started up in the distance, and the rumbling of trucks could be heard nearby. People were screaming as the demons emerged all over the city and the
evacuation began in earnest. A large group of people ran screaming across the street several blocks behind them, and then something large and black charged after them.
    In front of them, armor began clanking anew, as the dead soldiers rushed forward.
    Behind them, a roar, as the demon lumbered ahead.
    “Unless you want to leave Allison here, just how do you propose doing that?” Cody answered, acid in his voice.
    “Only one way,” Allison said, answering both their questions as she squared her feet the way Cody had taught her, aimed the Beretta, and shot the nearest soldier in the eye.
    “Allison, they’re tourists,” Cody reminded her, right hand nervously tugging his beard.
    “Get with it, Will. We’ve got no clue what’s really happened to them. What Mulkerrin’s done. Besides, it’s them or us. That’s a no-brainer.”
    She squeezed off another round, then pawed Cody’s jacket for backup clips. There weren’t any. And there were a lot of soldiers, moving in slowly, but inexorable as the tide.
    “John,” Cody said. “Can you burn?”
    “Of course I can, but—” He wasn’t allowed to finish.
    “Take the demon.” He flashed a look at Allison. “I’ll take these guys; you cover me. We’ve got to get an escape route.”
    Behind the demon was a side street from which some civilians still appeared, screaming and shouting but afraid to turn back, fleeing instead to the east, away from them. That side street led to
Franz-Joseph-Kai, and the Salzach River beyond. At least from there, Cody figured, they’d have space to figure out their next move. He transformed, in a heartbeat, from William F. Cody into a
tiger, a form he’d first seen taken by Meaghan Gallagher. Then he sprang, launching himself into the armored, possessed creatures that hunted him. Shots rang out, as Allison fired her weapon.
Bullets glanced off armor near him, one lodging in his flesh, stinging for a moment.
    He tore into them, their armor no match for strength that could smash their ribs, tear the limbs from their bodies. Claws raked skulls and fangs bit deep. Allison would run out of bullets
quickly, and then she’d be defenseless. Cody was not going to let anything happen to her. Swords bit deep into his flesh, and he knew he was lucky they were only steel. The sheer numbers of
the soldiers, many with no protection—there were only so many suits of armor—began to overwhelm him, and he turned to mist to escape the press of their flesh.
    John Courage lived up to his name, his flesh flowing like liquid, forming itself into the body of a huge hawk. His wings spread wide, and he dove to avoid the scrabbling arms of the many-eyed
demon as it rushed toward them. Talons raked the thing’s groin and thighs, eyes popped, spurting an acid ejaculate which soaked John’s wings, and his scream was that of the bird. He
changed fast, fire enveloping the demon, immolating it. Flames licked at the creature’s body, and it let out another roar, using its hands to smash at the flames, slapping its burning,
charring flesh in a feeble attempt to douse the flames. Eyes burst all over its form, the sound like popcorn popping, and the thing threw itself to the street, rolling around to kill the fire.
    Allison watched as Cody fought the possessed ones off, then turned to mist as they overwhelmed him. One of