Blood of Gods

by Lola StVil

  “I’m not saying you’re wrong about her, Sailor,” he says, reading my expression. “What I’m saying is that if she is up to no good, then we have the advantage of knowing where she is this way.”

  “And using my dad as bait?” I say, raising an eyebrow.

  “If she wanted to hurt him, she’d have hurt him by now,” Ya-Ya points out.

  “I agree,” Mel says. “And if she is part of the Boundless, then you’re safer with her in your life trying to gather intel rather than letting her think you might be suspicious and coming after you or your dad.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN: THE WEAPON

  Part of me knows Mel is right.

  Raven actually poses less of a danger to me and my dad if we know where she is and what she’s up to, but it still bothers me to know she’s hanging around my dad. If she’s just using him, then I want her out of his life before he gets any more attached to her, even if that does mean it’ll be more dangerous for us. I mean, can Raven really be more dangerous than the Horsemen? Probably not, and I have to face them.

  I open my mouth to try to explain all this to the others without sounding like I’m a paranoid freak, but I don’t get out more than the first word before we hear the front door of the cabin opening. We all exchange glances and start to get to our feet, reaching for our weapons.

  “It’s us,” Aziza’s voice shouts from the hallway seconds before she and Jinx walk into the room.

  “Good way to get yourself killed,” Rye comments.

  “Why do you think I called out?” Aziza laughs. “You think we didn’t hear the clanking of knives being pulled out? Which, by the way, you can put away now.”

  Aziza looks at me as she says it, and I realize I’m still holding my dagger out in front of me. I slowly lower it and push it back inside my boot. Even if I was right about Jinx or Aziza being the Horseman, until I have the weapon in my hand, they won’t fully realize it, so it’s not like either of them is going to try and kill me now.

  “Did you find anything?” Rye asks as I retake my seat.

  “It’s definitely out there,” Jinx says. “Nexus was right. It took us a while to find the right area, that desert is pretty damn big, but we soon stumbled across an area rife with demon activity.”

  “Yeah. We had to fight off a couple of Slip Demons, and they seemed really keen to keep us out of this one spot. I’m betting that’s the right spot,” Aziza adds. “And it wasn’t just those two. They were just the only two that actually came close enough to confront us.”

  “Because the others figured out that without the Paradox with you, it didn’t matter how close you got,” Mel says.

  “That’s my guess,” Jinx says.

  “Actually it was my guess, but whatever,” Aziza says. She turns to me. “We need to go back there now, you and I, and see if the medallion lights up. If it does, then we know for sure we’re right. And if it doesn’t, we can go back to looking around.”

  “I should come too,” Jinx says before I can respond to Aziza.

  “Why?” Aziza demands. “No one is going to think you weren’t responsible for helping to find the right spot if you don’t come back with us now you know.”

  “You think I just want the credit for finding the right spot? Come on, Az, you know me better than that,” Jinx says.

  “So why are you so adamant about coming back now?” Aziza says.

  I’m beginning to get a little nervous. It sounds like Aziza wants to take me off into the desert on my own with her, but it also sounds like Jinx is determined not to let that happen. I don’t want to outright accuse anyone of being the Horseman, but surely Rye is seeing this and thinking the same thing I am. It has to be one of those two.

  “Because you know I’m the best with direction. I know exactly where the spot is. It will save time rather than just dropping in there and starting over,” Jinx says. “Sailor and I should go.”

  “Bullshit,” Aziza counters. “What if there are more Slip Demons this time? I’m a better fighter than you and you know it.”

  It definitely sounds like either Aziza or Jinx has a plan to get me alone and ambush me once I have the weapon. I hate having to think this way about anyone on my team, but it’s so hard not to when they’re bickering about who should go into the desert with me like this. Under any normal circumstances, I would have spoken up by now and insisted I could do it without either of them babysitting me, but I’m biting my tongue this time because I want to see if anything will slip out of one of them that can help me figure out who it is.

  “How are you a better fighter than me?” Jinx asks, looking genuinely surprised.

  Aziza grins at him.

  “How aren’t I a better fighter than you? We can always go out to the warehouse and spar and settle this right now.”

  “Guys, enough,” Sunday says, cutting off Aziza and Jinx. Both of them turn their attention to him, no longer glowering at each other. “If there’s demonic activity, we should all go.”

  “I agree,” Ya-Ya puts in. “And sooner rather than later too. It’s only going to get worse if we wait.”

  “Which is exactly why I’m suggesting we go back now and just make sure that we have the right area,” Aziza says.

  “Everyone stop bickering and let me think for a moment,” Rye says.

  The room falls quiet, but I know that won’t last. Rye only takes a couple seconds before he nods to himself and then looks at the team.

  “You’re all right in your own way. We do need to move quickly, the demonic activity will get worse with time, and we do need to be sure about the location sooner rather than later. Get prepared.”

  He stands up and heads toward the door. He turns back and gives his orders.

  “We’re going as a team first thing in the morning. And we’re coming back with the weapon.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN: VEN DEMONS

  “Sailor, stay close to me,” Rye says as we stand gathered together ready to go to the desert and check out the location.

  I roll my eyes. It’s really starting to piss me off how Rye thinks I need a babysitter all the time, but at the same time, I get it. He might be in denial outwardly that a member of the team is the Horseman, but inside, I know he is keeping an eye on everyone, and he’s not going to risk me being ambushed by the Horseman now. Instead of arguing, I just nod my head, but I don’t miss the way he glares at me when he catches me rolling my eyes. Just like he probably doesn’t miss the fact that I’ll stay close to him unless I need to act.

  “Everyone, stay on your guard,” he says.

  “You know if this is the right location, it’s going to be dangerous, and we don’t want to risk any of us dropping our guard and getting hurt. Even if the area looks clear, remember, danger can come from anywhere. From the place you least expect it.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Sunday frowns.

  “It’s supposed to mean exactly what I said. Stay vigilant. Now let’s do this,” Rye says.

  He turns to Jinx.

  “Open up the portal whenever you’re ready. Get us close enough that we don’t have a ten-mile hike, but not so close that we pop out into a nest of demons.”

  Jinx nods and waves his hand. A portal appears before him, and he steps through it. We all follow him, and instantly, I can feel the heat of the glaring sun blazing down on me. The air itself feels hot and I am instantly soaked in sweat and having trouble breathing. The sand beneath my feet feels hot even through my shoes, and I can feel my feet starting to sink into it as I walk. I really hope Jinx has gotten us pretty close. The thought of trekking through this sand isn’t appealing to me in the least. I shuffle from foot to foot as Jinx closes the portal and Rye turns to me.

  “Do you have the medallion?” he asks.

  I nod and fish into my pocket and pull it out. I gasp as it begins to glow pink. We’re definitely pretty close.

  “Which way?” I ask.

  “This way,” Jinx says, pointing
.

  “How do you know?” Mel asks, looking around. “Everything looks exactly the same.”

  Jinx points up.

  “Except the sun. I’m not following landmarks, I’m following the actual direction we walked in,” he says. “And if Aziza and I are right about the location, we’ll be following the medallion soon enough.”

  I take a couple of steps in the direction Jinx pointed in and I smile.

  “He’s right,” I say, holding up the medallion so the others can see it.

  The pink glow is getting darker, more red. I keep walking, my eyes trained on the medallion. The others follow me, and Rye comes to walk beside me.

  “I’m still not completely convinced Nexus is right about one of us being the Horseman,” he says. “But if she is, then the minute you have that weapon, they’ll fully realize who they are and remember their mission. You are going to have to be careful, Sailor, and not let your guard down with any of them, even for a second.”

  I nod my head.

  “I know. Don’t worry. I’ll be ready when the attack comes. And Rye? I’m going to separate the two souls. I won’t fail. None of them will die at my hand.”

  He doesn’t say anything. He just gives me a sad smile.

  “You don’t think I can do it?” I say.

  “It’s not that,” he says quickly. “It’s just… is it worth the risk, Sailor? After what Nexus said about trapping their soul in limbo if the timing is off by a second.”

  “When we thought we knew who the last Horseman was, that ended with me killing an innocent man. This is my chance to make up for that,” I say.

  “I get—duck,” Rye shouts, his voice changing.

  I crouch down and a fire ball sails over my head.

  “What the…?” I say, looking around.

  The sand stretches out for miles in every direction and there is no one in sight anywhere.

  “Ven Demons,” Aziza shouts from just behind us. “They’re invisible until they take a wound.”

  She starts throwing fire everywhere, and as a few pained cries go up, sure enough, the demons start to flicker into sight. If it wasn’t for the fire balls, I never would have guessed these guys were demons. They’re all really good looking, and they all have bodies to die for. They look like an all-star football team or a group of Hollywood stars rather than a band of demons, but as I study them, I see their beauty is a cruel beauty, all hard lines and sharp angles. The biggest giveaway is their dull blackened eyes. There is no sparkle there; they look dead behind the eyes.

  I duck again as another ball of fire flies in my direction. Aziza is still throwing flames everywhere, and Jinx and Ya-Ya have joined her, throwing their powers at the seemingly empty air around us too. Mel, Rye, and Sunday are already running toward the demons who have become visible, and for a moment, I find myself standing alone, the fight raging around me.

  Fire balls and blue balls of electricity crash in the air, causing a fizzing sound and making my hair stand up slightly as the air around me becomes charged. I wince as more and more Ven Demons come into sight. The worst part of it is we won’t know for sure if we’ve exposed them all or not until it’s potentially too late. And it does nothing for my confidence when I see the number of them there are.

  As I watch the fight raging on, I do figure out one thing though. Our best chance is getting up close and personal with these things. The ones getting fried by the powers are healing quickly and seem to be taking no real injuries, or at least not immediately. I think being given a couple of blasts of any of the team’s powers would kill them, but right now, Jinx, Aziza, and Ya-Ya are concentrating on making them visible rather than killing them, and the only disadvantage it seems to give them right now is becoming visible to us. But the ones fighting hand to hand are being chopped down quickly. Their fire balls don’t seem to work at close range, and for all they’re armed with various swords and knives, they don’t seem to know how to use them. I don’t suppose learning to sword fight is a priority for something that’s invisible and can throw fire balls from a distance.

  I jump to the left as a fire ball comes in my direction and then I spin around, looking for the best place to enter the fight. I see two Ven Demons materialize away from the rest of the team, and I run towards them. I don’t want them being able to throw accurate fire balls at the others while they’re otherwise engaged.

  I pull out my sword. They spot my sudden movement and they rain fire balls in my direction. I find myself jumping and ducking to avoid being hit, but I don’t let them slow me down. While they’re focused on firing at me, my plan is working. I am getting closer to them, and within minutes, I am close enough that their fire balls seem unable to get near me.

  I swing out with my sword and decapitate one of the Ven Demons in one easy stroke. I don’t have long to celebrate my victory. The other Ven Demon has focused his sole attention on me now and his sword is wicked sharp with a long, chunky blade. He swings at me and I block his shot with a clang of metal. The shock waves run up my arms and I grit my teeth to stay in control of my sword.

  He strikes out again, and again, I block the shot. I push hard with my sword, forcing him to stumble backwards a little, and it’s my turn to strike, but he blocks the shot as easily as I did. I swear under my breath and swing again. I’m starting to think I underestimated the demons’ fighting skills. The team just make them look bad because they’re so good.

  We both keep swinging our swords, and we both keep blocking each other’s shots. The muscles in my arms are screaming from the constant swinging, and I know I have to take this motherfucker down fast if I want to survive this fight. The demon is showing no signs of tiring, and I don’t want to find myself in a position where a member of the team has to come and bail me out. The thought of that happening spurs me on, giving me fresh energy and momentarily stopping the ache in my arms from feeling so intense.

  I swing again, but it’s a badly timed swing and the Ven Demon manages to get his sword beneath mine, and with a flick of his wrist, my sword is wrenched from my hands. I curse myself as it falls to the ground just out of my reach.

  The Ven Demon grins at me, a malicious grin that shows wolf-like white teeth and makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. He steps towards me, and I take a step back. I need to get to my dagger, but if I bend down to get to my boot now, he’ll chop my head off. I duck to the side to avoid another shot.

  He swings again and I crouch and then throw myself to the ground and roll. As I roll, I pull my dagger out of my boot. I end up on my back and I go to stand back up, but the demon is hovering over me, the tip of his sword pressed to my throat.

  I don’t have time to think, I just act. I pull my knees up to my chest and kick out hard with both feet. They catch the demon in the stomach, right where I was aiming to hit him, and he goes sprawling. I spring up and run towards him. I don’t waste any time, I just ram my dagger into his eye, jumping back to avoid the hot spurt of acidic black blood that sprays from his ruined eye. I step back to him when the spurting becomes a trickle, and I wrench my dagger free, turn away, and run back to retrieve my sword.

  I pick my sword up, push my dagger into the back of my jeans where I can grab it easily, and start to run back into the battle. I’ve only taken a couple steps when I feel a sharp stinging pain across the top of my arm. I gasp in a breath through gritted teeth, already seeing the blood seeping through my sleeve. I look up, but there’s no one close enough to have done that. I swing out in a wide arc with my sword and I feel it connect with something that’s both hard and soft.

  A Ven Demon materializes in front of my eyes, becoming visible now that I’ve wounded him. My sword caught him in the side, but it’s far from a fatal wound and he grins and launches himself at me, his own sword swinging. The tip scratches across my stomach as I jump back, not quickly enough to avoid the swing altogether, but quickly enough to avoid being cut in half. Pain fills me for a moment, threatening to overwhelm my sense
s, but I can’t let it distract me completely. I swallow hard, forcing myself to ignore the stinging pain in my stomach and my arm.

  I jump back as he swings again, and this time, he misses me completely. I circle him for a moment, my eyes locked on his, waiting for him to drop his guard slightly, waiting for an opening to end him. He doesn’t drop his guard, but he does advance on me and swing his sword hard, attempting to cut my head off.

  I duck beneath his potentially lethal swing and I throw myself toward him. I grab my dagger out of my jeans as I launch myself forward, and I ram it into his stomach and wrench it upwards, splitting his stomach wide open. Black sausage-like intestines spill from the wound. The demon drops his sword, using his hands to try and hold his insides in. It doesn’t work. They spill out through his fingers. His knees buckle and he falls to them before slamming to the ground on his face. As he falls, he catches my eye, and I see a look of almost comical surprise on his face.

  “Yeah. You fuck with the Paradox, you don’t live to tell the tale,” I mutter.

  I start to move again, putting my dagger away once more, wanting my hands free to use my sword. I have covered another couple of steps when a blanket of blue electricity flies towards me. I throw myself flat on the ground and it passes over the top of me. I get to my feet, my eyes narrowed at Ya-Ya as she runs towards me, a look of horror on her face.

  “Sailor. Oh my God, I’m sorry. Are you alright?” she says.

  I nod my head, my eyes still narrowed, trying to work out if her apology is genuine. Did she just try to take me out because she’s the Horseman? Why else would she have launched a wall of lightning at me?

  “Watch out behind you,” Ya-Ya shouts, not seeming to notice the way I’m eyeing her suspiciously.

  I spin around in time to see about twelve Ven Demons coming at me.

  “Get down,” Ya-Ya shouts.

  I drop to the ground and she throws another blanket of blue electricity at them. She keeps it coming, and it connects with all but one of them and I have to look away for a moment as the sparks consume their bodies, making them convulse and drop to the ground. I can smell their skin singeing and their hair burning.