Free The Fall of Hades by Jeffrey Thomas Page A

bodies from regrowing. From Jay’s ongoing tutelage, Vee could tell by the brands on some of the foreheads that these were Damned humans, though by the time of the recording he had shown her the practice of branding the Damned had been forsaken, so the heads that weren’t branded were also members of the Damned as opposed to being Angels like herself.
    The heads swayed ever so slightly on their chains, like pendulums, stirred by a faint vented breeze. Vee stepped closer still, and saw the eyes follow her. Some seemed to blink their lids as if to convey a message to her in morse code. Other heads appeared to widen their eyes meaningfully, and a number of them stretched their mouths in silent screams or else mouthed words mutely.
    Too late, Vee realized the disembodied heads were trying to warn her.

10: THE WELCOMING COMMITTEE
    The crack of a gunshot (from a high angle, to the right) ,and a projectile whined off the floor a foot ahead of Vee’s feet. A voice amplified as if by a megaphone, also from on high but from another angle, began to call down, “Demon! What are you doing at our bord—”
    But Vee didn’t remain inactive to hear the rest of it. As if another, more experienced soul took over at her body’s controls, she swept the Demonic gun up in an arc, letting loose a chattering burst of molded bone bullets in the general direction from which the sniper shot had come. At the same time, she threw herself into a roll, tucking in her head and minimizing the shock to her body by keeping it fast, coming up on her feet and bolting into the chamber beyond the heads. Automatic fire stitched the ground where she had been and tried to follow her, but she found cover behind the imposing column of a steam pipe that skewered up through the floor and sprouted numerous twisting boughs high above before it faded into gloom. Bullets punched into its far side but didn’t penetrate, though Vee heard the hiss of liberated steam. Its billowing vapor helped mask her—but obscured her view of what lay ahead, too.
    She glanced behind her to see if any other assailants were sneaking up on her from that direction, and saw one of the suspended heads twirling, everything shot off below the nose but the eyes still unhappily active.
    “Demon!” came that electronic-sounding voice again. “You are messing with the wrong fucking Angels!”
    “I’m not a Demon, asshole!” she shouted. “And I’m not messing with anyone!”
    “The fuck you aren’t, and the fuck you aren’t!”
    “We should turn around!” Jay whispered. “They must have a settlement beyond this point!”
    “You heard him—they’re Angels. I am, too. They—”
    “To your left!” Jay blurted.
    It was a good thing his single eye was on his left side; otherwise, the Demonic instrument wouldn’t have seen the stealthy figure darting from behind one mechanical hulk to another. Vee whirled and triggered the gun, sending an automatic stream of bullets that way. She heard them clang and scream off a metallic bulk, not hitting the figure but at least letting them know she was aware of them, and pinning them down so they couldn’t for the moment advance further.
    “What are you trying to prove, Demon? You have a chance to get your ass out of here!” that voice drawled again.
    “I told you,” she called out, “I’m not a Demon! I’m an Angel, like you!”
    “You think we’re stupid, lady? You got a Demon gun and a Demon uniform—though I have to admit you look mighty fine in it, Mrs. Peel!”
    “I just took these clothes and this weapon off some dead Demons, damn it! Look at me! Do I look like a Demon to you other than that?”
    “They come in all shapes and sizes, sweetheart!”
    A boom off to her right, and several large holes popped open in the pipe beside her. A jet of steam scalded her neck, but worse, one of the balls of buckshot had taken off most of her left ear. With a cry more of surprise than pain, Vee dropped into a crouch and fired Jay before