The Night Beat

felt his feet straddle me. “I’ll make her let go, how about that?”
    “How about I show you what I do to guys who screw over my ex?” It wasn’t Ken’s voice, it was Jude’s.
    I managed to look over my shoulder to see Jude, wings on full. He grabbed Jack’s head and yanked him backwards. This was nice, but Ralph and I were still sliding towards imminent doom.
    “Vic, let me go.”
    “No. I can keep this up for hours. No.”
    I felt two hands grab my left ankle, then two more grab my right. “On three,” Amanda shouted. “One, two, three!”
    My legs wanted to come out of their sockets, but we flew backwards. Literally. We were in the air -- in an awkward position, but still, in the air. My right side was higher and steadier than my left. I risked a look. Sexy Cindy has the left side and while she was giving it her all, she still wasn’t all that adept at flying.
    “Drop us on Lucifer!”
    They let go. Conveniently, we were right above him. I wasn’t sure if they’d just been listening or lost their holds at the right time, but I didn’t have time to question.
    Lucifer flipped us both off, but we landed on the ground. On our paws. Apparently cats weren’t the only beings that could land on their feet when it mattered.
    I took a look around. We were doing some serious damage to the fallen angels and other lesser minions fighting. I noted Ishtrallum -- he was standing behind Merc and L.K., chanting. The same thing the others on our side were chanting. I looked carefully -- there were a lot of minor minions doing the same, hiding behind our side and lending a helping hand, claw, paw, talon, or vocal chord.
    Jude had Jack and was doing some seriously nasty things to him. The totem of Adlet was hovering over them, twirling. I saw a dark mist drain from Jack into the totem. Adlet grew larger, Jack dropped like a stone. Jude was about to deliver what I knew was a deathblow when Jack disappeared.
    I knew he wasn’t destroyed. The Adversary was still fighting and grew a little larger as well, now that Jack was back within it.
    But it didn’t help. The totem of Adlet sailed over the Adversary’s head, spinning even faster. Dirt Corps and a variety of beings were in full on attack and occupying all the Adversary’s focus. A larger dark mist sailed from the Adversary to the totem. Adlet was now about the size of the Maltese Falcon, though nowhere near as pretty.
    Lucifer grabbed me. “Adlet! Come drain her and break free!”

Chapter 73
     
    The totem of Adlet moved towards us. “Adlet,” I shouted. “Remember that deal? I never mentioned what you needed to do for me to give you the great idea.”
    The totem hovered in front of me. It was definitely malleable because it shrugged what I charitably thought were its shoulders.
    “Here’s the thing. The Adversary? It’s vulnerable to werewolves. That’s why you could drain them all so easily.” I talked fast. Who knew how long I had? “Think about it. You could destroy the Adversary and take his place. You know how the Prince works. You kill it, you can take its place.”
    Adlet cocked his statue-head at me.
    “Seriously, what are you waiting for? You don’t need me to break those bonds. You need the real power that’s sitting within the head of the Prince’s Army of the Damned.”
    Adlet looked at Lucifer.
    “No, not him. Really, he’s like the Prime Minister or something. The Adversary’s where your kind of power is. Besides, if you destroy the Adversary, the rest of the werewolves will have to follow you, right? We won’t have a choice. So, why not hurry up and kill two minions with one bottle of holy water? Or whatever the evil undead equivalent is.”
    “I forbid you to do this,” Lucifer said imperiously.
    Adlet was big enough that I could see his eyes narrow. He also bared his fangs. Clearly, this wasn’t the right thing to say to the being who the Prince’s side had left locked up in a tiny statue for hundreds of years.
    Adlet nodded to me and flew straight at the Adversary. Dear Old Dad saw him coming, reached out, and yanked the Mom and Susan combo to him. They melded into one being. I gagged. Adlet sailed into them and was also absorbed.
    The internal struggle started immediately. The Adversary was jerking and flinging itself all over the place, flailing and hitting out at anything.
    “Retreat!” Jude shouted, and our side disengaged, fast.
    Which was a good thing, since the Adversary hit Abaddon and Apollyon at the same