Knights of the Grey City

Chapter 37 - EVALUATE

I called Huang and listened to the tone ring five times before I got his answering machine.

"This is Joshua Huang, leave a message and I'll get back to you," requested his tinny voice. I sighed.

"Huang, I talked to Katie... she seems to have come around. Whatever that counts for. She was just scared, like us, but she seems to want to see it through anyway. Can you call me back so I know you're not freaking out?"

I hung up and leaned back in the bus seat, watching the warm January afternoon stream past outside. Well, the fact that Katie lived up North was pretty damned inconvenient. That meant the three of us were strewn across the City, making it an hour's bus journey for me to get back home from up where she was.

Well, I had a lot of time to think, at least. Once again, we had been grievously unprepared for something Leviathan probably should have told us ahead of time. 'Nothing more to tell you', my ass. The little fact that the demons were able to respawn in their own district would have been useful to know, not to mention the colossus.

I just couldn't see how we'd be able to win against odds like that. Maybe we could keep fighting hard and push through an army of constantly reforming demons, but as soon as they melded into that colossus... the thing had incapacitated me with one hit.

Leviathan had a lot of explaining to do. And Huang had a lot of planning to do. But Huang did not call me back, and after I got home and finally turned in for the night, Leviathan did not contact me, either.

Three days seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. Work, sleep, work, sleep, and still no phone calls, texts, or dream messaging.

My shoulder was starting to heal up pretty well, which was a relief, though the scabbing was oddly dark when I peeled off the gauze. I'd never been bitten by a giant fly before, so I didn't really know what to expect—maybe that was normal. It didn't seem infected, anyway. The skin around it seemed perfectly healthy and the pain was pretty much gone; the colour of the scabbing just surprised me. I had half a thought to ask someone, but forgot about it in the midst of the daily grind.

I had a feeling I'd be back in the Grey City very soon, and I was right. That day after work, I felt the world shift around me and looked up into the familiar colourless buildings and mist.

Thankfully, there were no demons nearby. My other form was still badly injured—really badly injured—and pain like that made me lose control. There was a chance that if I transformed now, instinct would take over and drive me to the waterfront, and possibly into more fights. I'd better stay human for now and hope Huang and Katie caught up with me.

They'd likely head toward the Sanctuary if they were here, too, since they were also in need of healing. I started to follow the round cobblestones in the pavement, my hands jammed in my pockets and my spatial sense alert.

It was very quiet.

I knew by now not to trust the quiet, and damn if I wasn't right. Before I had gotten far, I saw the form of something about seven feet tall creeping through the mist ahead. I plastered myself to the nearest wall and scanned it with my spatial sense.

I caught the shape of a mashed-in head, long wing-arms with the elbows sticking up above it and knuckles on the ground, claws scraping the cobblestones. A bat demon. I could hear it sniffing at the air, but it didn't seem to have found me yet.

I inched further into the alleyway, hoping I'd be able to find another way to get to the sanctuary. Where the hell were Huang and Katie? Normally they would have found me by now. Or was this another solo entry?

That hadn't happened in... a long time. Not since before Christmas. And to get another one now was phenomenally bad timing. I grimaced, then started to make my way through other streets, following more cobblestones.