The Night Beat

masculine.
    “Well, forever’s a long time.” I didn’t want to mention that if we failed, forever wasn’t going to last too long for any of us. And he was a human, meaning that even if we won, his forever and mine weren’t necessarily going to mesh.
    Jack shook his head. “I don’t care. I’ll figure out how to last forever, okay? I just want to know that you’ll be with me, when I do.”
    “I will be.” I leaned up and kissed him. “I promise.”
    He hugged me tightly, kissed me one more time, then headed off for a nearby Suburban.
    The others ran for similar vehicles and we started off. It wasn’t too hard to maneuver, the parking lot was huge and orderly. As I barreled towards the front of the Little Church worry flashed a fang. What if I was wrong? What if they weren’t in here at all? What if I blasted in only to find nothing but nice, churchgoing, normal people?
    There are times for prayer. I decided this was one of them. “Yahweh, could I have a sign that I’m doing the right thing?”
    I waited, pedal to the metal, for some sort of clue that this wasn’t going to be a really bad idea. Just as I hit the front steps and worry that I was completely wrong washed over me, a bolt of lightning hit the doors, blasting them open.
    “Thanks,” I murmured as I plowed through, the others right behind me.

Chapter 53
     
    The first thing I noticed was that there were no people inside the building. That was nice in that I wasn’t going to run some innocent down. What wasn’t nice was likely to be the answer to the question of where all the people actually were.
    The church wasn’t empty, however. There were a variety of beings there. I recognized most of them. I had no idea if being hit by a big Hummer would cause any of the major minions damage, but I was willing to give it the old college try.
    I aimed for Hitler. He was unmistakable -- short, military garb, ridiculous little moustache, funky-ugly haircut, overbearing and supercilious attitude. Not only did he look exactly like he had when he’d been running the Nazi Party, but he was in the center of the dais, pretty much on the exact spot where I figured Johnson did his preaching.
    Hitler had an eerie glow around him and he was waving his hands about. I was pretty sure he was in the middle of casting a huge spell. I wasn’t sure if it was part of the spell already cast or a new one, but decided not to care.
    The Hummer rolled over the comfy stadium-type chairs this place had instead of pews. It was a bumpy ride, but I was sort of high on adrenaline, so I didn’t notice all that much. I took in the rest of the scene, though, just in case.
    Apollyon and Abaddon were flanking Hitler. They looked similar -- huge no-longer-angelic wings, meaning they looked more bat-like than feathered. Their faces were beautiful, but distorted by eons of hatred and evil, so they were both compelling and repulsive at the same time. They stood a good ten feet high, and they glowed an ugly, dark red. Apollyon held a flaming sword while Abaddon had a Hellfired crossbow.
    Abaddon took aim, but not towards me. I realized he was shooting towards the car Jack was driving. Well, that wasn’t acceptable.
    I spun the Hummer so it skidded towards the three minions on the dais. It had the double advantage of clearly causing Hitler to stumble and messing up Abaddon’s aim. It had the disadvantage of landing my door right next to Apollyon, who took the opportunity to slice through the metal like it was butter.
    Some things are instinctive, and some beings react more instinctively than others. As far as undeads go, you don’t get more instinct-heavy than a werewolf. Even daemon cats and hellhounds had more instinctive control, though not much. I was in danger, and I did the thing I knew kept me most unalive. I shifted into wolf form -- and attacked.
    Apollyon and I went tumbling, mass of claws, wings, and teeth, snarling up a storm. He gave as good as he got, which was a pity. I didn’t feel so great after a few minutes of this, but the positive was he wasn’t doing anything to anyone else.
    I caught Ralph and Abaddon in a similar roll around and kill each other situation. So, we were fighting the big guys. But there were plenty more here who needed distracting, if killing wasn’t going to work.
    I landed a really good chomp on Apollyon’s neck, and risked a look around. Interestingly, Sexy Cindy and Freddy were attacking Hitler and seemed to be making progress. Merc and