I nodded toward the building, "Let me know when you're set on the top."

"OK," she returned and ran toward the building.

She didn't bother entering the place, she just went straight up the wall in a flash, reminding me a good bit of another comic book hero I loved as a kid. He scaled walls with ease, and swung through New York on strands of webbing.

I smiled at her, and turned toward the area I had chosen. Then I leapt forward, and scaled a building side as she had. In moments I was leaping from roof top to roof top.

Chapter 38.

Just south of 145th Street I saw two groups of Souls. One was a cluster of probably seventy that had fortified themselves at the intersection of 144th and Amsterdam, right at the edge of the "kill box". They seemed to be all right at the moment. The other was a small group of Souls in an alley a little ways to the East of the others. There were the dark ugly Souls of Kresh near them. I leapt across another gap to close on these. I hoped I could get there in time.

"I'm set on the roof," Lyrica's voice said over the coms. "Andrea, one block north, take a left and the second building on the right has about twenty people in it."

"Got it."

"Alec," she said, "the building straight in front of you has a group hiding in the basement. There are some Kresh scattered through the area around the corner. It looks like a lot more heading toward you from the East."

"On it."

She continued steering the others toward targets, but I didn't have time to really pay attention to the others. I had come within sight of my own target. My eyes crossed the scene in an instant.

What I saw in the alley was a young black woman holding one child, perhaps two years old. Huddled behind her were four others that looked to range between seven or eight and three.

Facing down the alley toward them was a Soldier Demon. Just behind him were the crumpled remains of seven Lesser Demons. Standing directly in front of the Soldier, surrounded by discarded weapons, presumably empty, stood six and a half feet of concentrated violence.

That's what the man's Soul looked like to me. Concentrated violence. In his right hand was a gleaming blade. Apparently, this man had already killed seven Demons before the Soldier arrived. But no normal human would stand a chance against a Soldier.

All of this I had registered in my mind in an instant. The next instant, I was airborne once more.

The Kresh pointed toward the woman.

"Mine," It hissed and without a word, the man moved.

He was fast, maybe the fastest person I had ever met who wasn't a Guard. The Soldier stepped away from the blade, and started to laugh. That's when the sword I had hurled as I leapt, slammed into its side.

The Demon was slammed right down to the pavement, where my sword pinned it for the half second it took for me to land right behind my sword. My fist ripped through its neck, and its head flew from its body in a gush of Demon blood.

I turned to find the man right beside me, ready to plant the knife if needed.

"Hi," I offered, "can you tell me where the nearest Starbuck's is located?"

He looked at me with one eyebrow raised. I seem to find that look everywhere I go. I'm beginning to think it might be me.

"Quite a ways south," he said in a deep voice.

I chuckled, "There's a group of people a couple of streets that way. They seem to be fortified in an intersection. If you guys will follow me, I'll make sure you get there safely."

He nodded and motioned toward the woman and the children. One of the little boys never looked anywhere but at the man. His eyes seemed glued to him.

I sheathed my swords, and stuck my hand out, "Colin Rourke."

"Khalib," the man said and grasped my hand. "This is Dreanna and... well, a bunch a kids."

"Let's get moving," I said and headed toward the end of the alley.

I saw a spot toward the left where a whole group of people had been literally torn to pieces, so I angled right to prevent the kids from seeing it. There was a great deal of blood through the streets, but most of the bodies were gone. Quite a few were just partially gone, and my rage kept clawing at the walls. These were my people, these were the people I had sworn to protect.

We rounded the corner to see to our south, a bunch of cars parked as a makeshift blockade. Atop the cars and behind them were crowded a group of people. I saw National Guard uniforms, police uniforms and a good many others who held guns at the ready.

"Friendlies incoming!" one of the Guardsmen yelled, and we headed for the cars.

As we crossed into the fortified area I heard one of the men who was probably a gang member.

"Check out that..."

"Shut up man," the guy beside him interrupted, "Dat's Mr. Khalib. I give you one guess who she is."

"Shit, man, you think he heard me?"

There was a genuine fear rolling through the fellow-more like terror.

I glanced toward Khalib, and caught the smile as he looked away from the two guys. After seeing the body count the man had left in the alley, I had a feeling the gang members had a right to be scared of the man.

I headed for the NG's, "What's our situation, boys?"

"Who are..." the first one said until he saw me closely, "Holy shit, you're the Soulguard guy."

"Colin Rourke," I introduced myself.

"Trevor Simms," he said, "Sir we got caught inside the zone. I hope the lines get back up here but, for now we're just trying to protect as many as we can. We got thirteen cops, twelve Guardsmen, and eighteen civilians who are armed. We can hold off small numbers of the damn things, but a serious group of em will tear us to hell."

"How many civilians?"

"Fifty seven unarmed civilians, Sir."

I clicked my coms, "I got a sizeable group of civilians close to the Box, here. Intersection of 144th and Amsterdam. If all goes right they'll be OK. I'm heading north from here in a short while to get their attention."

"Everyone is kinda pinned at the moment, Colin," Lyrica said. "You've got a big force heading down Amsterdam straight at you. Couple of hundred at least. I'm heading toward you."

"Negative, stay there until the box is clear."

I could imagine the grumbling she was probably doing right then.

"Copy," she said and I could hear the anger in her voice.

"Don't worry, we got this," I said.

I turned to the Guardsmen, "We got company inbound from the north. Everyone who has a gun needs to form up."

"Yes, Sir."

I headed back out where the cars had been parked, and grabbed the side of a Buick.

"Killed my friend," I muttered and flipped the car to the side, "Murdered all these innocent people," I slammed into a Chevy on the right and it flipped that direction.

I had cleared out a good sized area in front of the barricades well within range of the guns.

"Been waiting for this for two damn years," I said.

I could see them flooding down Amsterdam.

"Waiting for what?" Simms asked. He had followed me out.

I drew my swords and the Soulfire flowed across the blade, "My turn."

"Anything gets past me, shoot it...a lot."

"Y-Yes Sir." I think he had seen the horde coming down the street. He ran back to the lines giving orders.

Chapter 39.

I walked forward, and they grew nearer and nearer, so I let the beast out of its cage, and rage washed over me. The lead Demon roared, and I roared right back. What I said didn't sound human. It was one word, in a language unknown to natives of my planet. It was a word that all Demons knew, and it was guaranteed to draw the attention of each and every one of them.

"Rash'Tor'Ri!" echoed through the street, and I saw the reactions of rage and hate as they heard it. I was surging forward, and I was amongst them. Then the Dance began. My blades were everywhere, and I blurred as I swept across the front of the packed Demons.

Once again, I came to realize that this is what I was made to do. It's the place where I can be free, where I don't have to cage a piece of myself or hide who I am. This is where I belong.

There were gunshots as the men behind me picked off several that had gotten past me. There were precious few of those, but there were some.

All too soon, they were gone. There was nothing around me but piles of dead bodies. I spent a full minute, standing there, coated in blood. It took that long to beat the monster back down and push it back into its cage.

"A-Are you ok, Sir?" Simms had returned to where I was. I turned to find him staring at me in terror. He was keeping it in check, but it was there. It was always there.

"I'm fine," I said looking around at the bodies, "but they're not."

I clicked my coms, "Lyrica, are there any hostiles between my position, and the lines directly south of us?"

"Not that I can see," she said, "They're to your north and east, for the most part."

"Ok, I'm sending a group of civilians back toward the lines. See if you can't steer some of the good guys toward them, please."

"And the other two groups of Kresh heading in your direction?"

"Two?"

"Yes, one from the north and one from the north east. Both about the size of the one you just had."

"Ok, we'll deal with 'em. Just steer the civilians out. I'm sending some Guardsmen with 'em. I'll get you the frequency in a sec."

"Copy."

I turned toward Simms, "We got more incoming, and we need to get these civilians out of harm's way. There's nothing between here, and the lines to the south. I need you guys to get these people out."

"Sir," he said, "You're going to need some backup. I'll send half my guys with the civilians. We'll stay and watch your back."

I stared at him for a moment. I could see the fear in his aura, but there was an iron core in him of duty and honor. He wasn't going to leave me here alone.

I nodded, "All right. Get 'em started."

I turned back to the body strewn street where I had met the last group. There was Demon blood running in the streets towards the storm drains. I felt a sort of satisfaction at the sight, then cringed as I felt that satisfaction. What kind of monster was I becoming?

I waded back to the center of the piles of bodies, and formed a shield wall on each side of me. It was about thirty feet long and ten feet high. Then with the strength of a Soulmage I slammed it to the sides and pushed everything up against the buildings on each side of me. I stepped forward and repeated the action to clear a decent sized swath of street for me to fight in.

I turned back to the lines to find Simms arguing with one of the gang members. As I approached they both shut up.

"What's the problem?" I asked.

"Some of the civilians won't leave, Sir."

The gang member stood straight, a steady look in his eye, "We ain't civilians, today."

"You want to stay?" I asked.

"My bro told me a long time ago how'ta survive on dese streets," He said, "He said ta find the baddest mutha in the city and stand behind him."

He looked at the piles of dead Demons up the street, "I think you be da baddest mutha in the city. And I plan ta stand behind you. We got yo back."

Funny how things work out. One day you're the lowest of the low, dregs of society in the eyes of a lot of people. The next you're standing on the firing line, protecting those same people who would have looked down on you from certain death. The world seems to have a way of setting things straight.

The other gang members were nodding and I saw several old men digging through the pile of weapons stacked in the center of the barricades. They both started checking loads and preparing the weapons like experts.

I saw memories flash through both their auras of a dark jungle and machine gun fire.

"You can take the Marine out of the fight, Sir," the closest one said, "You can't take the fight out of a Marine."

"Hoorah," the other one said without even looking up from the rifle he was prepping.