“Fine. Orcs can be so literal sometimes.”

I was still climbing when the improvised explosive device hit amid the demons crowding their way against the entrance. The boom wasn’t as big as I’d expected, either that or I was so frazzled that my system just wasn’t registering concussions anymore, but a look over the railing showed me that the bottom floor had been sprayed with colorful blood and entrails. A foul smoke was drifting up the stairwell. The chemical stink of acetone burned my eyes as it hit, but nothing else was trying to get through the door. “Clear?”

“For a minute. They’re milling around.”

“Who made that one?” I asked as I resumed climbing. Talking kept my mind focused on something other than my foot, which felt like it was so swollen that I was expecting my boot to pop open.

“Cooper, Lee, or Milo. I’m not sure. I think those three are having a competition to see who can build the most dangerous thing out of household chemicals.”

There was a fierce rumble. The hotel shook. Dust fell down the stairwell. “What was that?”

“Damn! Half the conference center just blew up. It was the overlook area where the demons broke in. That was huge. I think Milo just took the lead.”

“Right on.” Getting those particular pyromaniacs together was like a Discovery Channel show gone horribly wrong. The Mythbusters had nothing on our guys.

“I’m sending a couple of the men down to meet you. Skippy’s prepping the chopper. I hope you know what you’re doing, Owen.”

Not really. “Sure do. Don’t worry.” I thought about telling her about the baby, but quickly dismissed that thought. We needed to concentrate on not getting killed first, then talk about the future. Now I could understand why Earl hadn’t said anything. Normally it was the woman that knew about this sort of thing first. This was supposed to be happy news, not hey, we’re trapped in a nightmare dimension surrounded by demons and a nightmare creature that’s going to swallow our souls, but you’re pregnant! Yay! This sucked. Keep climbing. Keep your head in the game, Owen. I had to focus on the task at hand. Not my stupid foot, not fatherhood, but focus on beating the Nachtmar.

Beating him required getting his attention first. “I’ve got to talk to Earl.” I toggled through the channels and found the main band. It was chaos.

“Holding on two, but Kantrowitz is down.”

“Demons are stalled at the escalators. I don’t know who, but somebody’s flanked them.”

“There’s fifty of them at the conference side entrance. We can’t hold them. Falling back.”