The Night Beat

said it aloud, in that no-lips-moving undertone way, to save time. “Attack all but Lucifer now. Leave him to me.”
    Ralph lunged silently at Jack. I didn’t think she heard me, but Sexy Cindy followed Ralph’s lead and took the chick combo of my mother and Susan. Freddy, showing real guts or real insanity, or both, joined the fray and slammed into the Adversary. Abaddon and Apollyon looked like they were going to get a free ride, but then Dirt Corps arrived, Monty in the lead. They swarmed over the Three A’s.
    That was the frontal attack. The rear attack was everybody else.
    Adlet was still bounding around in his cage, making things confusing and hard for the minions. Lucifer had given them a direct command, and that meant it was their prime objective. To make sure Lucifer couldn’t give them another, smarter objective, I turned to werewolf form and jumped him.
    I knocked him down -- a feint on his part I was sure, because he felt strong, stronger than the Adversary. We rolled around on the ground, but I didn’t bite. We were in a rather intimate position when he reared up and locked eyes with mine. Make it real. Try to kill me. I must try to kill you. Or we both die, and everything else with us. He’d said it in my head, in a way I was pretty sure no other angel could have heard.
    I reminded myself that, in the grand scheme of things, Lucifer was technically my superior officer. So, I chose to follow two centuries of training and do what the boss-man said. I lunged up and bit his throat. Hard.
    As we flailed around, this time, fighting much harder and more realistically, I did get a glimpse of the rest of the activity. Mostly because Lucifer kicked me off him and it’s easy to take in the scene when you’re airborne.
    Ralph and Jack were still going at it, though it looked like Ralph had the upper paw. I hoped this meant Adlet was taking my suggestion and draining the werewolf out of Jack. Sexy Cindy was beating the crap out of my mother, then Susan, then my mother. They kept changing on her, but they didn’t seem clear on the fact that no regular white chick has a prayer against a really pissed off street hooker.
    Hansel finished off a fallen angel and leaped onto Jack to give Ralph an assist. Gretel did the same and joined Sexy Cindy. Ken, Amanda and Maurice focused on the Adversary. The three of them were in full Nosferatu mode, and doing some damage. I really hoped this meant Adlet was doing the draining thing on not just Jack but the rest of my “extended family”.
    There was a risk Adlet would try to drain me, too. But, as with any other choice, if it saved all the planes of existence, I’d find a way to deal with it later. I was the only other being at risk, though -- Black Wolf’s were-line had been wiped out with the exception of me. And if it was going to go on, I didn’t want that to happen through the Prince’s minions.
    I landed back on Lucifer -- because he conveniently rolled in the way so I hit him, not street -- and had to turn my attention back to survival. He hadn’t been joking -- he was fighting for real. I got onto his back and tried to shred his wings.
    The chanting was still going on -- the humans weren’t getting into the physical fighting, other than some of the cops, and clearly some of our troops were spending their time keeping the Bard’s spell going.
    A shriek worthy of any banshee cut through the air. But it had come from my mother. She dropped to the ground, moaning and rolling. I noted that the totem of Adlet was bigger. Not by a lot, but enough to notice.
    It made sense, he’d drained the werewolf out of the newest and weakest option. Hopefully that meant Jack was next, because this had caused him to fight back harder than ever. Ralph went flying into the convergence chasm.
    I didn’t hesitate. I leaped off of Lucifer and raced over. Ralph had caught the lip of the chasm with his paws, but paws weren’t great for holding onto something like this. I flung myself in a horizontal position and just managed to get my hands around his front legs as his grip slipped.
    This was good, as Ralph wasn’t plummeting into the Depths. It was bad, however, because I wasn’t stronger or heavier than him, and we were now inching towards the Depths anyway.
    “There’s nothing for me to get a toehold on,” Ralph panted. “Let go.”
    “No way.”
    “Vic, let go!” This was snarled.
    Didn’t work. “Nice try, but still no.”
    “Oh, don’t worry,” Jack said. I