Company of Angels 02 - The Demoness of Waking Dreams

courtyard beside her palazzo was beautifully kept, spilling with roses, the scent of them overwhelming in the summer heat.
    Such a beautiful garden must be maintained by someone, he thought.
    There was a small shed in the corner of the courtyard. He went to it, easily picking the ornamental lock. Perused the gardening tools inside. And picked up a hedge trimmer.
    Tucking it into the back of his belt, he circled the house quietly in the dark. Halfway up the side wall, he spotted a box near the roof that looked like it might contain some important electrical wiring.
    He climbed up the ornate decoration, hanging on the edge of a balcony just below the box. Reaching for the hedge trimmer, he used the tool to pry open the box. Inside, the multicolored electrical wires curled in a thick coil.
    He hacked through the cords.
    Inside the house, the lights went off. The reflection disappeared from the surface of the canal, moonlight the only thing spilling across the dark water.
    And Brandon waited. Silence.
    Shouts from within the house began.
    The demoness’s distinctive honey-toned voice rang out. “Massimo! Giancarlo!”
    The deep voices of the Gatekeepers, calling to each other in a rapid stream of Italian.
    The side door opened.
    Two of the Gatekeepers came outside to investigate, one carrying a toolbox.
    The Gatekeepers might be slow, but Brandon could tell they sensed him out there as they stood outside the door, listening in the stillness, peering out into the dark.
    It was the goblins under the house who gave him away. The evil little creatures screeched in high-pitched squeals, like alley cats in a fight. The Gatekeepers turned toward the noise. The one with the toolbox flung it open. He drew back his arm and chucked a wrench at Brandon’s head like an anvil. The other one charged, head down like a bull.
    Brandon caught the wrench in midair, pivoted like a matador to avoid the charging demon and brought the heavy tool down on the back of his assailant’s neck. The demon fell like a rock.
    In a split second, he was after the other one, throwing the wrench back and knocking the Gatekeeper’s knees out from under him. The man groaned and Brandon held him in a headlock until he passed out.
    One at a time, he hauled each unconscious body to the little wooden boat and tossed them both in the bottom, securing their hands with his cuffs. Once he had rowed the short distance across to his own crumbling temporary abode, he still wasn’t done.
    He hefted them inside. It was only when he had them both arranged securely in a windowless little room in the back of the building that he checked to see what the demoness was doing across the street. She was standing in a window, holding a candle and peering out into the night.
    Come out and play, he almost shouted across the canal.
    Then he went to interview his new acquaintances.
    * * *
     
    In her workroom, bent over her extractions, Luciana continued working on her formula by candlelight.
    Massimo pounded on the door. He called through it with a strained note in his voice that she had never heard before. “ Baronessa, we have an emergency.”
    She opened the door, pulling off her gloves to rub her tired eyes.
    “I can see that,” she said, blinking in the darkness. “Have the Gatekeepers made any headway restoring the electricity?”
    “No, baronessa. As you can see, we are still without power. But more importantly—” Massimo’s face was drawn “—two of the Gatekeepers have disappeared.”
    “Which ones?” she said.
    “Giancarlo and Antonio. They went outside to try to fix the outage.”
    Neither of them said anything. Giancarlo and Antonio were both strong young men. Certainly capable of holding their own.
    She swallowed. “We don’t know what happened to them, but it doesn’t make sense to assume the worst. If the Company of Angels got a hold of them, they’ll likely just find a woman to fuck them into submission. That seems to be their main mode of operation.”
    Massimo managed a shaky smile. “True enough.”
    “We can’t worry about them now. We have other things to focus on,” she said. “Time is running out. We have a handful of days left to deliver our sacrifice. And if we don’t…”
    She pressed her lips together and swallowed. There was no use thinking about the consequences. They both knew what would happen.
    “Do not fear, Massimo. See if you can repair the power outage. I must keep working.”
    She bent over the worktable, furious as