Time Untime (Dark-Hunter #21) - Page 19
Nick tossed Kateri over his shoulder as they hiked through the hinterlands of hell to find the right cavern that no one other than Ren or Choo Co La Tah knew the exact location of.
"He's in trouble. I can feel it."
Nick swept his gaze around the others-Sundown, Cabeza, and Sasha who was limping, but who refused to, as he so eloquently put it, 'lie down and lick his crotch while they either saved or condemned the world.'
"Why am I the one holding hellcat when out of this group, I'm the only one who doesn't really have to fear the gates opening?"
Sundown clapped him on the shoulder. "'Cause you're just that kind of man, Nick. And we appreciate it."
Nick snorted in derision. "You're so full of caca, Cowboy-no wonder you only wear shit-kickers."
Sundown flashed him a wicked grin. "I happen to like my cowboy boots. My woman says they make me look sexy."
Nick let out a "heh" sound. "I should have had Andy buy you scratchy wool long johns when I was a Squire."
Kateri stopped squirming at the word she wasn't familiar with … at least not in the way he used it. "What's a Squire?"
"Humans who help Dark-Hunters," Sundown said. "Obviously, mine was named Andy."
That made her heart lurch. "Was? Did something happen to him?"
"Yeah, little booger up and married on me a few months ago, and … well, I was going to say moved out. But that's just a pipe-dream I had once. I can't get him out no matter what I do, but I keep trying. Luckily the house is so big I don't ever really see him unless he runs out of eats or coffee, and has to mosey over to my side in the middle of the night to raid my cupboard or fridge."
"How big is this house?" she asked.
"Don't ask," the three-men-not-Jess said simultaneously.
Okay, now she had to know. "How big?"
Sundown chuckled. "Sixty thousand, give or take a few."
"You mean six thousand."
"No," Sasha said. "Sixty. You can land a 747 jet in his backyard."
She gaped. "Where do you live?"
"Vegas."
Wow … she didn't even want to contemplate how much something like that would cost in Vegas. "Now I have to be nosy. How much does a Dark-Hunter make?"
Nick laughed. "Let me put it to you this way. Those boots Jess is so proud of? Five grand."
That confused her more. "Then why is Ren's house so small?" While it was comfortably furnished, it wasn't elaborate. His sparse furnishings kind of reminded her a lot of IKEA.
"He don't got horses to accommodate." Jess made it sound so simple.
But it was Nick who really told her what she wanted to know. "Ren doesn't need much. He wants even less. Most of his pay gets donated to charity. Hell, he doesn't even have a Squire. And he never has had one."
"Why not?"
"It's up to the Dark-Hunter. Some," Nick cut his gaze to Jess, "like them, and others,"-he looked over to Cabeza-"can't stand humans of any sort. I have a feeling Ren falls into that latter category."
No. No one who donated the bulk of their money to charity hated people. But given his past, it made sense that Ren wouldn't want someone in close quarters with him.
Nick twisted to look at Jess. "For the record, Sundown is no longer a Dark-Hunter."
That surprised her more than anything else. "I didn't know they could stop."
Jess clicked his tongue. "It ain't easy on a Hunter. Not by a long shot. But somehow, some of us have muddled through."
Nick stopped dead in his tracks. This time when he spoke, his Cajun accent was as thick as Jess's Southern drawl. "Not easy? Cowboy, I know you did not just say that to moi. I'm the one who had to go up to Artemis and get your soul back pour tu. Having Abby stake your ass to put your soul back in is a Mardi Gras-style cakewalk. Trust me, cher."
Sundown scratched at the back of his neck. "Well, there you go. That's basically how we get out. Personally, I was going to stay in, but we decided we wanted kids, and since Dark-Hunters can't have young'uns…"
"They can't?" she asked.
"Nope," they all said in unison. Did they practice that?
But at least it took one concern off her table. Ren hadn't left her pregnant.
She tugged gently on Nick's jacket. "You can set me down now. I'm calm."
His expression skeptical, he obeyed and put her on her feet in front of him. "Remember now, cher. I can catch you and not break a sweat. So no more running after Ren and risking your neck. At least not until the calendar's reset. Then, you can be as stupid as you want, and I'll let you."
She let his comment go as she focused on what really mattered to her. "Could you get Ren's soul back?"
Nick groaned as if she'd just asked him for a kidney. "I damn sure can't say no to that face. Poor Ren. You must have him beside himself when you do that."
Not really … at least not that she knew of. And since she didn't know Nick all that well, she wanted to make sure he didn't find a loophole on her.
"Would you get his soul back for us?"
This time, he growled. "He has to request it, but yeah. In spite of the rumors, I haven't completely gone to the dark side yet. But damn, those cookies are good." Come to the dark side. We have cookies.
Someone spent way too much time on the Internet. Smiling, she stood up on her tiptoes and placed a chaste kiss on his scarred cheek. "Thank you."
"Ah, cher, that ain't right. Laying lips on me to help another man out? Cold, cher, cold."
She frowned as she glimpsed a different Nick. One who was a lot younger and much happier. It was something he was remembering, too. "You're not as far gone as you fear."
Nick scoffed. "It's hard to know how far down you are when there's not a speck of light to judge the darkness by."
"But the scariest part of the dark isn't what's really there, but rather what we imagine from our own fears."
"Then, cher, you don't wanna ever come to my closet. I promise you, there's a lot more than just skeletons hanging in it."
She could believe that. And that brought her right back to what had started all of this…. "Ren is in trouble. I know it." She could feel it with every part of her.
"You read the note," Sasha said from between clenched teeth. "He said he would meet us at the cave. Bastard could have left a map, or an address, or latitude, or longitude, or something, but nooooo…. he leaves you a note. Screw the rest of the world. Y'all can all die if you want. Just don't make my woman worry about me."
Nick snorted. "You obviously have never had a mother or a girlfriend. You do not go to the bathroom without letting them know, 'cause this hell's fury coming at us? Ring Around the Rosies, baby. I'd much rather face an armed demon horde drunk on the scent of my blood, than one riled woman who's been worrying herself sick about where I've been. Ain't a diamond cut big enough in the entire universe to make that beast smile and save your really important jewels from being drop-locked out your nostrils."
Cabeza froze.
"Something wrong?" Jess asked.
"Not sure. It's a … feeling." He cocked his head as if listening for something. After a second, he indicated Kateri with a jerk of his chin. "Go on. I'll catch up."
Her heart pounded with trepidation. Please, Cabeza, be the angel I think you are…. "Are you going after Ren?"
"Si."
For that, she could kiss him. "Thank you."
He winked at her. "Hey, I'm Mayan. We live to fight. Don't worry, chica. I'll have him back to you before you miss me." Then, he was gone.
Kateri bit her lip as another wave of worry crashed over her. And with it came anger of tidal proportions. Where were those powers her grandmother and father had promised her? They'd said they would kick in when she needed them.
Well, I need them now.
Unfortunately, neither her powers, nor her parents were listening, and all of them appeared to be on their own schedule. One she wanted to rush. How could she save the world without them?
But that wasn't her biggest concern.
Please be all right, Ren. Honestly, she wasn't sure she'd want to save the world if he was no longer in it.
Ren spat the blood out of his mouth an instant before Chacu seized him again, and slammed him back into the wall, face-first. The good news? He ached so much, it no longer hurt. The bad news? He ached so much, it no longer hurt to be slammed, face-first, into a wall.
Just kill me already and be done with it.
But they were having way too much fun beating on him. And while he'd stood strong against the Guardian month after month, the Guardian had only been one being. Against nine huge, immortal warriors, four of whom dwarfed him, with thousands of years of combat training each?
Sucked to be him tonight, and he was getting the ever-loving shit knocked out of him. And if, by some miracle, he got out of here in one piece, he was definitely going to feel it later.
"Hold him," Coyote snarled at his attackers.
Two seized Ren's arms and two his legs, while another planted one herculean boot right on his crotch to keep him from resisting. The bald bastard pressed down enough to let Ren know he meant it, but not enough to really damage him.
Yet.
May the gods help his jewels if the bastard sneezed.
His breathing labored, Ren looked up to see Coyote with war club in his hands.
Ah, shit …
The bastard was going to cut his head off. Yeah, that'll kill me.
At least it'll be quick.
Coyote twisted his face into a snide smile. "Where's your soliloquy now?"
Ren laughed at him, then licked at his bloodied and bruised lips. "It's 'monologue,' moron. And you dared to call me the stupid one? Now I am insulted."
Coyote narrowed his gaze in warning, "Fine, then. Your requiem."
Laughing even harder, Ren coughed up blood, then cursed as it rammed his cock against the bastard's boot. His breathing ragged, he glared at his brother. "I can barely speak, never mind break into song. And the last time I checked, we weren't Roman Catholics, so there's no chance of a requiem from me. Damn, boy. Buy a dictionary. Or better yet, kill me already. I can't take another minute of your uneducated abuse of the English language."
The biggest of his attackers grabbed Ren's chin and lifted it as far back as he could so that Coyote would have a clean shot at Ren's throat. Tensing from the pain that racked him, Ren glared at the asshole whose grip bit hard into his jaw. "I knew I should have killed you motherfuckers instead of imprisoning you. That'll teach me to be compassionate, eh?"
Even though he knew it was completely useless, Ren tried to throw them off him.
Squeezing his eyes shut, he mentally took himself away from the pain they caused, back to the first time Kateri had smiled at him. The first time her lips had brushed against his skin, and she'd called him baby …
Coyote dragged the jagged edge of the obsidian glass on the club across his throat, slicing his flesh only enough to sting. "A bientot, mon frere."
His brother lifted the club for the killing blow.
I love you, Kateri. May the gods watch over you always, and thank you for being the best thing I ever knew. If only he could see her one last time …
In the next heartbeat, Coyote went flying into the wall beside them, and the one holding his jaw was unconscious on the floor. Coughing to clear his throat, Ren rolled over to see Cabeza doing a death match circle with Chacu.
Chacu raked Cabeza with a sneer. "How's your wife, Kukulkan?"
By the amount of rage and severity of attack that question evoked from Cabeza, Ren was going to lay money that Chacu had had something to do with her death.
And hopefully that was the worst thing the bastard had done to her.
Ren splayed his hands against the earthen floor and pushed himself upright. One of the others grabbed his right arm and snapped the bone.
Okay, that he felt….
Before he could recover, four of them were on him.
"We don't need Chacu or Coyote to finish you." As Ren's attacker reached for the Coyote's club, a sonic boom went through the room so fiercely, it knocked everyone off their feet.
Damn, I'm on the floor again. He was getting really sick of this vantage point.
At first, he wasn't sure what had happened to knock them down. Not until he saw Ash grab one of the Gate Guardians and head-slam his ass into the wall. Yeah, that hurt, didn't it, puta? Slam him again, Ash. He'd say it out loud, but the last one who'd grabbed him had broken his jaw.
Ash rounded the seven of them up, and left Chacu for Cabeza to finish off. His silver eyes swirling with fury, Ash snarled at the Gate Guardians, exposing his fangs. "You swore to protect the innocent."
The tallest one tried to peacock posture Ash. It might have worked had Ash been a couple of feet shorter. But with those combat boots on, Ash topped seven feet easy. It'd be damn hard to intimidate someone that size if they were human. Toss in the god powers, and mad warrior skills …
You go on, bitch, and posture. Ash can probably use the comic relief.
Bald Ugly jerked his chin toward Coyote as he spoke to Acheron. "We owed a favor to the one who freed us. We were merely paying the obligation."
Ash shook his head. "Ah, see now, that was your mistake. Your obligation tripped all over a man I consider a brother. One I don't like seeing ganged up on and beaten to a pulp when I know one-on-one, you'd be picking up busted teeth … so I tell you what … How about I level this playing field a little?"
Still, the imbecile blustered. Maybe because his muscles were five times larger than Ash's, he thought that gave him the advantage. But one of the first things Ren had learned when he'd shot up to tower over his shorter, bulkier opponents … Lean muscle didn't interfere with fighting technique. It made you lethal. And you were a hell of a lot stronger than you appeared to be, so people underestimated the power of your blows. While a single blow from the mountain could lay you out cold, you could get twenty in to his one and have him down first. The mountain had to be accurate.
You? Not so much.
The mountain sneered up at Acheron. "We're not afraid of you."
Ash shrugged nonchalantly. "That would be exponentially foolish on your part. But I'm not the one you need to fear." Ash turned and approached Ren. "You look like hell, buddy."
"Ah, damn," Ren said, trying not to move his busted jaw any more than necessary. "All those hours in the salon wasted. I'd just got my nails done, too."
"You're so not right." Ash held his hand out to him so that he could pull Ren away from the wall, where Ren had himself braced to keep from falling again.
He took Ash's hand with the arm that hadn't been broken, and the moment he did, the pain vanished. Warmth spread through his veins as whatever Ash was doing to him healed his body completely.
Within a few seconds, Ren felt stronger than he ever had before. More than that, everyone else in the room was frozen solid-like someone had hit the pause button on a player.
Ash didn't seem to notice. "You know, Ren, it occurs to me that you never took your Act of Vengeance when Artemis signed you into her service."
"I didn't want it, then."
"And now?"
Ren glanced over to Coyote, who was frozen in the middle of a furious shriek that made the tendons on his neck protrude, and left his face a mask of ugliness.
As Dark-Hunters, they weren't allowed to arbitrarily kill anyone. There were very strict codes they had to follow. Murdering someone was a big no-no. "You'd allow it?"
Ash arched a wry brow. "You're part demon. Do you really give a shit what I think?"
"The demon in me that knows there's a demon in you who can mop the floor with my raunchy butt tells me to say yes. I care. Deeply."
"You're such a liar," Ash said with a laugh. "And a genius." He jerked his chin toward the group. "So, how about that vengeance?"
There was only one person in the room he truly wanted to lay low. "I'm going to kill Coyote."
"Take them all out if you want. You've earned it."
Ren frowned at the offer. Ash wasn't normally quite this bloodthirsty. Up until he'd married, Acheron had been all Hare Krishna-can't we all get along? Peace and love, brother. Peace and love. Kill the Daimons to free the human souls, but play nice with everyone else.
Yet from the moment Ash's wife Tory had placed that black titanium wedding ring on his finger, Ash had learned the benefits of "You knock on my door looking to fight? Then come on in, brother, and I'll put your rabid ass down tonight."
However, given Ash's lengthy past condemnations of wanton bloodshed, Ren wanted to make double sure that they were on the same page. "What exactly do you mean by that? Send them home intact, a little broken up, or in bloody body bags?"
No sooner had Ren asked the question, than seven more Rens appeared in the room around them. They stood before the Gate Guardians and were also frozen in place, yet posed as if they were about to clobber the one in front of them.
What the hell?
Ash folded his arms over his chest. "Relax. They'll vanish once they dispense of their assigned target … in whatever way you want them to. And you'll be none the weaker for it. Their powers don't draw from you."
Ren gaped at Ash's abilities. While he'd known the man had mad gpd powers, he'd had no idea that insta-clone-a-warrior was one of them.
"How did you do that?" Ren breathed. "For that matter, how can you even be here? I thought you couldn't help us tonight."
Ash shrugged. "Hope you don't take this the wrong way, but your gene pool is a little shallow when it comes to intelligence. The hallowed part of the Valley doesn't begin for another five miles in." He flashed a fanged grin at Ren. "Great place to set up camp, huh? I'd laugh at your brother's arrogant idiocy if it wasn't so pathetic. Anyway, I thought you were going in with the others, not detouring here. Had I known this was your plan, I'd have had your back all along. Sometimes, Ren, you have to remember that you do have friends now. And some of us have been around for a very long time. Like a permanent boil on your ass, I'm kind of attached to all of you."
Ren laughed. "I will remember that. Thank you."
Ash inclined his head respectfully. "I shall leave you and Beza to your fun. I'll take care of Choo Co La Tah for you, and continue holding the line against the vermin breaking though the barriers." He headed over to where Choo lay in an unconscious lump.
"Acheron?" Ren took care to use the true Atlantean pronunciation of his name with a hard C and audible H. "Herista." Thank you.
Ash tapped his heart twice with his fist, which was an Atlantean gesture for blood family. "Atee, mer, atee." Anytime, brother, anytime. Then, turning, he picked Choo up and vanished with him. As soon as Ash was gone, everyone returned to normal.
One day, Ash really needed to come clean about the full extent of his powers.
But that wouldn't be tonight.
Tonight, Ren had a gate to seal, and a rat to catch. One whose eyes were now widened by fear as Coyote realized he had eight Rens to fight now.
One of whom was severely pissed off and wanted his blood over the beating Coyote had ordered.
Ren left his duplicate army to fight the others while he headed straight for Coyote. As soon as his brother saw him coming for him, Coyote did what he did best.
He ran.
Ren picked up the pace as he ran down the shaft, after Coyote. Tired of chasing the jackrabbit, Ren teleported himself in front of Coyote.
Still looking behind him, he slammed into Ren's chest, then staggered back.
Ren gave him a pitiless glare as Coyote scurried backward on the ground, like a creepy contorted possessed human in a horror movie. Stand up and face me like the man you claim to be…. "I will never understand how our father was so blind to your true nature."
Finally discovering some semblance of a backbone, Coyote stood up and lifted his chin defiantly. "What are you going to do? Kill me?"
Ren pulled the hand forged knife from his boot, and glanced down at it. It was one of the very few items he'd managed to hang on to from his human life-one of the very few things he'd owned as a human. Simple and elegant, it had a crow etched down one side of the blade and a hummingbird on the other. A bit of whimsy he'd put there one night when he'd been unable to sleep. Too many bitter memories had often robbed him of his rest.
But he'd always had a strong affection for weaponry.
One of the things he'd learned as a boy was metallurgy. He'd watch the smiths smelt different compounds, taking mental notes on what they did so that he could duplicate it in private.
By the time he was twenty, he made all of his own weapons. His bow, arrows, war club, and knives. And he'd learned, courtesy of Coyote's "pranks," to sleep with his weapons so that if they were touched or tampered with, he'd know instantly.
There was no worse feeling than to entrust your life to a tool that malfunctioned or broke while you were under attack.
And he had the scars to prove it. As a human, his weapons had been the only thing he'd ever taken pride in. Unlike people, they didn't mock him. They didn't leave him, and they protected him when no one else would.
He still felt that way about them.
In fact, the garage at his house was a forge. Since he could fly and teleport, he had no use for a car. There was no need in wasting prime space when he could use it for the only thing that gave him real comfort.
"Say something," Coyote snarled.
"Sorry. I was lost in thought for a moment."
"Are you insane?"
Ren laughed. "Given our genes? It's a safe bet." He sobered and narrowed his gaze on Coyote. "Tell me something … do you remember that time when I was nineteen and for my birthday, I made a matching set of knives as a gift for you and Father?"
"Yeah? So?"
"Do you remember what you did?"
"No. I don't even know what happened to them."
Of course he didn't. Why should he? "I remember it." With a clarity he would give anything to purge out of his memory. "I gave you yours first, and you convinced me that Father wouldn't take his from me. That he would criticize it as being inferior. So I allowed you to give it to him while I watched. He assumed you'd made it, and he embraced you for the gift."
"Father was bad that way."
"No, Anukuwaya, you were always bad that way. You're a shadow walker. A treacherous creature from the dark that pretends it's from the light. It's shimmery and beautiful, but it has no substance. No loyalty. When we were human, I never saw it in you, because I cherished you as my brother. I didn't want to see it. And Father, even after Buffalo told him I was the knife's creator, said it was the best one he'd ever seen. It was the only time in my life he looked at me with anything other than contempt. But you couldn't stand it. The jealousy ate at you. And you couldn't let me have those two minutes of his affection. Instead, you thermal-shocked the blade so that it would snap, and then showed it to Father, who thanked you for saving his life from my incompetence. Angry at me for having given him a defective knife, he threw it at me while I ate dinner alone in the kitchen."
Ren opened the front of his shirt so that Coyote could see the scar on his shoulder where the knife had hit him while he sat unaware of his father's rage. Their father had thrown the knife so forcefully, that it'd knocked him off his seat, and laid him out on the floor. Stunned, Ren had stared in horror as his father curled his lip and cursed him. "It was a fine weapon. It tore through my flesh and sinew and muscle like they were butter, and the tip embedded in my bone. If nothing else, you should remember that. It was over a year before I had full range of motion in my arm again." Though to be honest, there were still some things he couldn't do with that arm.
He held the knife up for Coyote to see it. "It's been one of the best weapons I've ever owned. Eleven thousand years and the blade is still as strong as ever."
"Why would you keep it, you sick bastard?"
His anger rose up in his throat to choke him, but Ren shoved it away. This wasn't about fury. It was about retribution for a lifetime of misery Coyote had served him. "Because I wanted to make our father proud, and you happy, I melted down my mother's necklace as part of the blades. The cost of a gift is never important. The important part is that it comes from the heart, and that it holds emotional value to the giver. There was nothing I treasured more than her necklace … except you and Father. So I keep this knife that I used to remind myself to be humble and to never, ever trust another with my life. To make sure I always knew where other people stood in relation to my position at any given moment, so that no one would ever stab me again while I was being inattentive to my surroundings."
Moving closer to him, Coyote rolled his eyes. "I miss the days when you stuttered. You never rambled on back then about bullshit."
"After tonight, you'll never have to suffer my presence again. And never again will you take, harm, or threaten those I love."
Coyote scoffed as he came to rest right in front of Ren. "You can't kill me. I'm your brother."
Ren pulled Coyote against him into a brotherly hug, then the instant he felt Coyote relax, he stabbed him through the heart. "From another mother," he whispered in Coyote's ear as he held him in his arms. "And the Keetoowah only count relations through their mother's bloodline…. He is no brother of mine. And I owe him nothing." Those had been the exact words Coyote had said to the priest when he'd asked his brother how Coyote wanted Ren buried.
More than that, Coyote had added, "He is not a true Keetoowah and he died with no honor. I don't care what you do with his body, but do not insult or desecrate our beloved dead with a foreigner's remains."
Instead of having a funeral fit for a chief's son, Ren's body had been dumped in the pit they used for garbage. And Coyote would never have thought of him again had Artemis not restored Ren's life.
Gasping for air, Coyote reached up with his hands, trying to choke Ren as he died.
Ren shoved his brother away, and let Coyote fall to the floor where he writhed for a few more seconds. Once Coyote was dead, Ren did what Coyote had done to him all those centuries ago. He stepped over his body and went about his business.
At least he tried to. But he'd only taken three steps when his necklace heated up, and burned his skin.
Shit …
While Coyote had tried to choke him, their mingled blood had touched the demonstone.
The Grizzly would now be freed.
And I am owned. Forever.
Sick to his stomach, Ren rushed back to where he'd left Cabeza battling Chacu, to find his friend standing alone in the center of the room.
Ren slowed. "Where's Chacu?"
"Little puta ran home for his mother. I swear … one day I will drink the blood from his heart and eat it…." He jerked his chin toward the blood on Ren's shirt. "Et tu?"
"The Coyote howls no more. The bastard is forever silenced."
He nodded in understanding. "I am sorry, and I am happy for you."
Ren let out a short laugh. "Yeah, that sums it up, doesn't it?"
"It does, indeed, my brother."
Ren took a moment to savor that last part. The only time Coyote had claimed him as a brother was to manipulate him. But the ones who meant it when they said it to Ren had no blood relation to him whatsoever.
He would miss them while he served Grizzly.
Not wanting to think about it, he chucked Cabeza on the arm. "Shall we save the rest of the world now?"
"Sure. Why not? If everyone dies, I'd have to cook my own food, and I cook like shit. How about you?"
Ren laughed. "Only fry bread and okra, and I make no claims to the edible state of either."
"Then we'd best be saving the rest of the world."
Kateri cursed as she realized she was out of ammunition. Again. What she wouldn't give for a Hollywood weapon that never ran dry while you were taking fire.
Sasha was off in the darkness alone, fighting in wolf form, trying to keep as many away from them as he could, while they were pinned down, unable to go anywhere near the cave they had to reach really soon, or all of this was for nothing.
Provided that was actually the cave they needed. There was still some debate about the exact location of where the mural was. Without Ren … Yeah, this night might not have the best ending.
She shot her last arrow at a demon that was flying straight for Sundown. "Nick! More ammo!"
They appeared instantly in her quiver. Okay, Nick was better than Hollywood. Except he couldn't conjure C-4. Well, he could, in theory, conjure it. The problem was, none of them knew how to use it.
"Thanks."
Nick went back to fire-balling their attackers. He shot so many so fast, it looked like a Fourth of July celebration.
Jess continued to shoot at the raven mockers and demons as fast as his shotgun would load, cock, and aim-which was surprisingly fast in his hands. The barrel of that thing had to be hot enough to raise a blister.
But for every demon they destroyed, it seemed like ten more came in to replace it.
Sundown cast an irritated glare at Nick. "Can't you command these things to die, or something?"
"Yeah. Sure can, but, here's the big green pickle … if I use those powers, they'll pierce through the weakened gates, and open them instantly. I'm the top tier, Jess. That power tends to draw out other demons like Mardi Gras beads to naked beasts, and depending on the demon