Daemons Are Forever

“Strange,” I said. “Where’s Molly, right now?”

“I’m afraid I’ve no idea, Eddie,” said Strange after a pause. “I don’t seem able to locate her anywhere. Which is odd…”

“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “It’s not important. I’ll talk to her later.”

The meeting finally got under way, as the various necessary people arrived. Giles Deathstalker was first, of course, with a soldier’s sense of punctuality. He looked calm and relaxed and incredibly dangerous, as always. He bowed to me and to the Matriarch, and it would have been hard to say which was the more respectful nod. I was begi

Next to arrive were Harry and Roger, both smiling easily and i

Mr. Stab strolled in, accompanied by the Sarjeant-at-Arms, and it felt like the temperature in the Sanctity dropped several degrees. We all looked at him, but none of us had anything to say. Mr. Stab smiled coolly back at us, as though he was used to awkward situations like this. He had volunteered for the mission I was putting together as soon as I explained it to him, and I was glad to have him on board. As long as the Sarjeant-at-Arms was there to keep an eye on him.

The next to arrive was another volunteer, the Blue Fairy. Who might have agreed in order to make up for his plan to steal a torc, but still didn’t have the grace to look in any way guilty. He was dressed in his best, all flashing colours and elaborate cuts, and he had a smile for everyone. It was hard to dislike the man, but worth the effort.

The Armourer wandered in and stood off to one side, his hands thrust deep into the pockets of his charred and stained lab coat, fidgeting and avoiding eye contact with anyone. He knew the mission I pla

And the last to arrive, as always, was Callan Drood. For him, showing up on time was something other people did. He wore a long leather duster and a floppy wide-brimmed hat, and looked like he’d come straight from a cattle roundup. Callan always liked to give the impression that you’d just dragged him away from something far more important, that he couldn’t wait to get back to.

“Right,” I said loudly, once they were all assembled. “This is it. The big attack, the big push, to stop the Loathly Ones in their tracks and prevent them from bringing the Invaders through into our reality. Intelligence has finally pinpointed the location of every nest throughout the world, with Molly’s help. We have to hit them all, and destroy them and their towers. And we have to get this right first time, people, because the odds are we won’t get a second chance. You will be leading carefully selected strike forces of our best fighters against the biggest and most important ghoulvilles; those whose towers intelligence believes are closest to completion. Once they’re wiped out, we will proceed from ghoulville to ghoulville, nest to nest, wiping them out in order of importance. Until they’re all gone. Not one nest, not one tower, not one drone can be allowed to survive. And we have to do this fast, people. Once we begin, the news will flash from nest to nest, transmitted through the Loathly Ones’ massmind, and after that they’ll be expecting us. Uncle Jack, tell the nice people about the nasty new thing you’ve developed for them to play with.”

The Armourer stepped forward, scowling. He’d done everything he could to try to persuade me to let him lead one of the strike forces, but for all his field agent experience he was just too valuable now to put at risk. He didn’t take at all kindly to me pointing this out, and had used language quite unbefitting a man of his age and position.

“I have developed a new kind of bomb,” he said flatly. “A whole new kind, that basically turns a tower’s other-dimensional energies against itself. The result is a massive explosion that destroys the tower completely, and every living thing within a hundred-mile radius. So make damn sure you’re all outside the ghoulville before it detonates. All you have to do is set the bomb at the base of the tower, set the timer, and run like hell. Be sure to guard every way in and out of the ghoulville; we can’t let any drones escape. I’m sorry, Eddie. I know you were still hoping I could come up with some way of curing the infected, but there’s nothing I can do. Nothing anyone could do. Once someone is infected, they’re lost to us. To humanity. We all know the drones are the i

I didn’t say anything. I didn’t want to believe what he was saying. Didn’t want to believe my Molly was hopelessly lost. But for now I just nodded and went along. What else could I do?

“Your job is to cut a path through the drones to the tower, and activate the bomb,” I said to the others. “Don’t get distracted. Don’t waste time killing drones when you should be getting to the tower. This is about destroying whole nests, not individual drones.”

“No need to rub it in,” said Harry. “We’re not stupid. I notice you aren’t down to lead one of these strike forces, Eddie. Why is that?”

“Because he’s needed here,” the Matriarch said flatly. “As am I. Someone has to take the overview. Something, I am told, you were always remarkably bad at.”

“Of course,” murmured Harry. “I knew it would be something like that.”

And then we all looked round sharply as Subway Sue burst into the Sanctity. It had been so long since I’d last seen her I’d actually forgotten about her. She looked even more of a mess than usual, which took some doing. Her long flappy coat was torn and tattered and covered with assorted filth, and her long hair was a mess of greasy strings. But her mouth was firm and her eyes burned fiercely. She marched right up to me and planted herself in front of me.

“I’ve been searching for something useful to contribute,” she said in her rough, scratchy voice. “Something to justify Molly’s faith in me, and my presence here. And I think I’ve found it. I know more about hidden ways than anyone else. All the secret paths, dimensional shortcuts, and forbidden doors. In my various lives as luck vampire, subterranean, and down and out, I’ve had occasion to use most of them more than once. But I’ve found you something new, or at least, something so old and disused it’s new again.

“It’s taken me some time, travelling through the darker regions, talking with old friends and enemies and allies, but I’ve found a whole new secret way for you to use. An approach your enemy will never suspect, because no one’s used it in ages. Mostly because it’s too dangerous. But you’re Droods; you laugh at danger, right? You can use this way to get anywhere in the world, from anywhere in the world, arriving entirely undetected. It’s the underside of the Rainbow Run; the Damnation Way.”

She finally stopped for breath and looked at me expectantly.

“The name doesn’t exactly fill me full of confidence,” I said carefully. “Might there be a reason why no one’s used it for so long? Something… specific, that makes it so very dangerous?”

“No one knows for sure,” said Subway Sue, doing her best not to sound defensive. “People just stopped coming out the other end when they used it. The best bet seems to be that something lives there now, and eats travellers. Something… really bad.”