The door to Investigations flew open, and Boudreaux raced out. He passed Cory and me without a glance, blocking my view of the zhurn for an instant, but it was all the demon needed.
“It’s gone!” I wheeled around in an instinctive search. Boudreaux ran to his car, either oblivious or not caring that Idris and Pellini crouched within the caution tape. Pellini lifted his head in surprise and called out to him, but Boudreaux dove into his car and pulled out of the parking lot with a shriek of tires on asphalt.
It took me a few seconds to realize that the vibration in the ground wasn’t from the speeding car or a heavy truck driving by. “Oh, shit,” I breathed even as it faded.
“Was that an earthquake?” Cory asked in disbelief, still looking around uneasily for the demon.
Before I could answer him, Idris’s voice resonated across the parking lot, tense and angry. “Kara. Katashi has rigged the valve to destroy it.”
My gut went cold. An arcane blast strong enough to destroy a valve would do a terrible amount of damage to the physical world as well from the shock wave alone. “Why?”
“Eliminates an outlet. Shunts potency to the node and makes it a ‘supernode,’ but I don’t know how he plans to use it.”
“How big an area of effect? Can you stop it? Oh, and there’s a zhurn lurking around.”
“Mile. Two. Maybe more.” Clinical and abrupt. “The charges are set but not activated, so I can’t be sure.” Idris continued to work in all-out super-summoner mode. “I need time to disarm them. Keep the zhurn off of us.”
Miles? I crushed the panic and clung to my faith in his half-demonic lordiness. “Got it,” I said then turned to Cory who stared in open disbelief. “You need to evacuate the PD and as much as you can around this area,” I told him. “People need to drop everything and go.” He opened his mouth to argue then shut it as another, stronger tremor hit. It only lasted a couple of seconds, but no way could anyone mistake that for a big truck.
“Evacuate,” he said crisply. “I’m on it.” He might have been out of his element with my kind of weirdness, but handling disaster was right in his wheelhouse. Calm certainty settled over him as he ran into the building and started shouting orders. The honking of the fire alarm cut through the air, followed by a steady flow of people exiting. I held my gun behind my leg and out of sight. Anyone who recognized me would know about my arrest, and now was not the time to deal with questions about why I was in the PD lot with a loaded gun.
For a horrifying instant I thought the people would scurry into the parking lot and onto the valve, but I’d underestimated Cory. An officer I didn’t recognize stepped in front of the crowd, directed them away from Idris and Pellini and to the lot on the far side of the building. I remained halfway between the building and the valve and scanned for the zhurn and other threats. Fortunately, with all the commotion, I only racked up a dozen or so curious looks.
As the PD emptied, officers ran to nearby buildings to facilitate evacuation. I shifted from foot to foot, uneasy as tremors continued in a slow cycle, yet grateful for them at the same time. No way would we be able to convince people to get the hell outside in the middle of July otherwise. But the danger isn’t truly earthquakes, I thought with worry. Were they safer out in the open?
A wave of shrieks and shouts rolled from the street. Officers drew their guns, attention riveted on the roof of the PD. The zhurn? I held my gun at the ready and watched the edge of the roof, poised to fire at the first hint of a moving shadow.
No, not the zhurn. A big ass reyza. Son of a fucking bitch. To the bystanders he surely looked like a true demon from hell—manlike in form with skin the color of bronze, huge bat-like wings, and wicked clawed hands. He leaped off the roof and took flight. I yelped out a curse and got two quick shots off, missing with both. “Pellini!” I yelled, pivoting as the demon flew over me and swooped toward the valve. “Idris! Watch out!” I didn’t dare fire again for fear of hitting one of them.
In a flash Pellini drew, aimed, and fired three shots at the rapidly approaching reyza. Clearly he hadn’t been blowing smoke up our asses about weekly firearms practice. The reyza bellowed as blood sprayed from his left bicep, but the injury didn’t slow him. Pellini grabbed Idris by his collar to pull him back, but the demon seized Idris by the wrist and delivered a kick to Pellini’s chest that sent him sprawling.