From Ashes and Dust (Book One)

Chapter 29.1

The district Vatra and Nat were in was cleared. They'd managed to take down two more creatures rather uneventfully. Though, both of them were left covered in a mess of black blood and guts that trailed behind them with every step.

Vatra plucked at her jumpsuit and grimaced. The putrid stench had faded to a faint annoyance, but if she thought about it too much, bile rose in the back of her throat. Her mouth watered. And it wasn't because she smelt something delicious.

"Don't you throw up again." Nat scowled. She had the godkiller propped on her shoulder. The blade glinted off light, throwing dancings beams across the walls.

Swallowing the feeling of another retch, Vatra cast a narrow gaze back over her shoulder. "It was all that food I ate before. I've never been able to exercise on a full stomach," Vatra said in a defensive tone.

"Right," Nat dragged out. She rolled her eyes.

Vatra focused on the rock music playing through their speakers. The voices of Heart serenaded her, and helped keep her mind on something else other than the smell assaulting her senses.

They neared the second district they were going to clear before looping back to the Agkistrodon. It was all entertainment businesses and bars.

Great. This was a noisy place before Lorenzo shut things down, Vatra thought.

Passing through the last hallway, Vatra and Nat stepped out into the airy atrium of the entertainment district. The facades of each bar and club were stacked atop each other like pieces in a game of Jenga. There had to be at least fifteen levels, surrounding them on all four sides.

Littering the ground level were hastily discarded trash and knocked over tables and chairs. More curiously were the random objects dotting the ground. Giant bouncing balls and hoops were placed with no real purpose. There were a few places to eat on the bottom levels, and the smell of half-eaten food wafted from their thrown wrappers.

Vatra walked with little regard over the trash. Her boots crunched loudly over plastic and crunchy foods. The more noise, the better. She craned her neck and did a complete circle, looking up to the top floor.

It was completely shut down compared to what the district would normally look like. Their only guiding lights, once more, were the emergency bulbs along the floor. Vatra wondered what the massive neon lights would reveal when turned on above them. Or how many holographic images would be dancing around them on the ground level.

"This is going to take a while to clear," Nat observed.

Vatra grinned. "Then we should get going, right? I have a sneaking suspicion we might find some fun in here, and not just because it's the entertainment district."

"I forgot the drum snare for that joke," Nat dead-panned. She looked less enthusiastic than Vatra to clear fifteen or more levels.

The two of them crossed the ground level and found the stairwell. It was less exciting after taking down four creatures already, but Vatra was still on the defensive. Once she got to the corner leading out to the first floor, she peered around carefully before leading them out.

There were no creatures on the first floor. Or the second. Nor the third or fourth. Their legs were tired by the tenth lap around and another flight of stairs. Vatra could tell by watching Nat that even the latter was hoping to find something when they turned the corner.

It wasn't until the top floor that they actually found anything, and it was quite evident why.

Vatra and Nat exited the stairwell on to the fifteenth floor and immediately noticed a commotion on the opposite side. They were cautious, but also offensive in their movements. Neither of them hesitated in running toward the sounds of a fight.

"It's like our music is our very own soundtrack," Vatra said through heaving breaths. She was smiling madly through a mess of smeared blood and muck on her face. Nat probably thought she was losing her mind.

They rounded each corner without slowing, their arms and legs pumping in a full out sprint until the source of the fight was in their line of sight. They stopped in their tracks.

There were a dozen beasts in front of them, and three were already dead on the ground.

"How many gods were hiding out in this shithole?" Nat whispered.

Vatra ignored her question, and instead peered through the moving mass of deformed creatures to find who was fighting them off. It didn't surprise her much to see Ares bare-knuckling a beast right across the jaw. His godkiller rings were perfect for such a technique.

Her eyes caught more movement beyond the god. Hisato and Geb were holding their own against the beasts. Lightning sparked off Geb's godkiller spear as he spun it around like a top in his palm. With one strike, he took down the beast pinning him against the bulkhead doors lowered around a bar.

Hisato didn't have a godkiller. Vatra realized that fact as she watched him depend on Geb to take down the beasts once he fought them off with what little hand-to-hand he could manage. That method wasn't as useful if he didn't have a godkiller ring, like Ares did. And it was dangerous, too. Vatra noted blood on Hisato's maroon flight suit.

"We need to help them out," Vatra said.

"All right, but our music isn't really drawing their attention. What do you want to do?" Nat asked.

Vatra frowned in thought. She tightened her grasp around her dagger. It was possible they could take down the beasts. But the risk was high. The danger the beasts posed to Hisato was too great, and she wasn't sure if the beasts were able to kill Geb and Ares. Their loophole around godkiller level abilities was unknown.

She scanned the area they were in. The halls in front of the bars and clubs were narrow. It would be easy to funnel all of the creatures in one direction, if she could get them turned around one way or the other. Looking along the railings, she noted a gap on the side perpendicular to them.

Leaning over the railing, Vatra looked up. There was an anti-gravity zone right above them. The gap in the railing had most likely been sealed with a type of shielding that could be lowered to allow a patron out into the anti-gravity zone.

The bouncing balls and hoops made sense to Vatra. They were part of the anti-gravity zone for patrons to interact with.

"I have a plan, but it requires us to get to the others. We need to tell them," Vatra said. 

"Shouldn't you tell me first?" Nat inquired.

"It's easier to say it at one time." Vatra shrugged. "Anyway, we've been chatting long enough. Let's get to it."