by Gail Koger
“You bet your ass you will.”
Adan twitched. His tentacles shrank away, and he morphed into the wizard kid. “Asmoday has found a body to possess. He will be back.”
“Oh yay.” I noticed the frightened townsfolk peering out of the grocery store’s windows and waved all friendly-like.
A white-faced cop approached us cautiously. “Are they gone?”
“For now,” Ethan said.
The cop swallowed hard. “Are they coming back?”
“Not if I can help it,” I replied.
Ethan added, “Central Command is aware of the situation and we’re working on a solution.”
“Good. Good.” The cop walked off.
“You’re such a liar,” Xenia exclaimed.
“I don’t want them to panic and do something stupid.”
I glanced over my shoulder as a slew of engines roared to life. “It might be a little late for that.” I winced at the repeated crunch of metal on metal. It was like a demolition derby as the fear-crazed people made their getaway. “We’re gonna need more salt and a couple of really big mirrors.”
“Mirrors? What do we need mirrors for?” Ethan demanded.
“Believe it or not, once the ghosts see their own reflections it’ll scare them back to their watery grave. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of them trying to kill us.”
“The spirits are very angry,” Granny concurred.
Ethan snarled, “Homicidal is more like it.”
“If you had been trapped in an unending hell for centuries, you’d be cranky too.” I tapped on my bracelet. “We’re in luck. There’s a hardware store down the street.”
“Asmoday slaughtered the warriors and magically bound their lifeforce to the jade snake. None can touch it, but him. The Thunder God feared Asmoday’s growing powers and tricked him into the figurine,” Adan said as he climbed to his feet.
Xenia blew out a long breath. “That answers a few of our questions.
“He is mine to kill,” Adan declared.
“No one has a problem with that. We know Asmoday will return for the jade snake and we need to be prepared,” I said.
Ethan stated firmly, “The Aztec warriors must be dealt with first.”
“Agreed,” Adan said.
Chapter Eighteen
The sun slowly slid below the jagged edges of the mesa, casting an almost mystical glow over the shimmering red rock.
Voices whispered in the wind creating a wailing melody of death.
My body coiled with tension I cast a circle of salt around a card table loaded down by two big mirrors. With a cautious look at the gathering clouds, I poured a second line of defense with the holy water I had gotten from a Catholic priest in Kanab.
Our bad luck continued. One of the townsfolk had recorded our fight with the Aztec warriors and gave it to the news vids. An hour later Bjarke warriors were spotted in Kanab. It made me wonder how long it would take Luigi’s assassins to show up too.
A word to the wise. Pissing off General Jones is a bad idea. He was intent on annihilating Asmoday and his army of Aztec ghosts. Quinn and Ethan managed to talk him into concentrating on the Bjarke mercenaries, while Granny and I dealt with things that went bump in the night. Adan would handle Asmoday.
I could still taste Ethan’s fierce kiss on my lips and hear his stern command of, “No matter what, you don’t step out of that fucking circle.”
To ease the lines of worry creasing his forehead, I made a solemn vow that I wouldn’t step one foot out of the circle until he came for me. No matter what I heard or saw. Clinging to him, I had whispered, “Don’t get dead on me, sugar.” Ethan, the invincible, just laughed and kissed me again.
Throwing a quick glance at the ledge where Ethan lay hidden with a laser rifle, I pulled out the piece of paper with the protection spell Zarek had gotten from the Pope himself. I would have loved to attend that meeting.
Taking a deep, calming breath, I fought down the jitters and chanted, “Tempore. Cuidamn. Monstrata. Desopsuit de cruce, mirabilis visio!”
A clap of thunder resounded off the mesa and energy crackled wildly around me. Whoa! The Pope knew his stuff. The circle was set, and the trap baited.
Right on cue, a little troll of a man with a bulbous nose and a bad comb over, walked out of the shadows. The wind lifted his hair and it flapped like a flea ridden flag. This was the guy Asmoday decided to possess?
His gaze slid over me with a sexual menace that was both frightening and repellent. “That won’t keep me out.”
No shit, Sherlock. The circle was to keep the nasty Aztec spirits away. Granny had gleefully told us Asmoday’s possession hadn’t worked the way it should, and he was gonna be in for a big surprise. I stared at him with utter loathing. “If you’re a smart man, alien, or whatever, you’ll leave now.”
A cold lustful gleam filled his eyes. “I’ve never had a human female before.”
Oh ick! “And you’re not starting with me.”
Asmoday’s puppet smiled. “The Bjarke warriors have the Coletti surrounded. They cannot save you.”
My stomach clenched in horror. “Granny?”
“He lies,” she responded in my head.
“I think you overestimate the Bjarke warrior’s abilities.”
An explosion rocked the area and flaming green energy balls lit up the encroaching darkness. Screams echoed around the mesas.
Asmoday laughed. “Your mate and the others are outnumbered and will soon be dead.”
“You should be more concerned about what’s going to happen to you. You’ve been a very bad boy.”
“You’re not strong enough to take me,” Asmoday sneered. “If Adan makes an appearance, I will send him straight to the Ninth hell.”
Shadows twisted, contorted and rippled.
“The only one going to hell is you,” I announced, absolutely, positively sure that at any second now all hell would break loose. When nothing happened, I looked around in disbelief. Aw, c’mon.
The shadows frolicked gleefully behind the little troll.
“Ha. Ha. You guys are a riot,” I muttered under my breath.
Asmoday kept getting closer and closer and the spirits still hadn’t pounced. I bet the second I stepped out of the circle they would be all over me; trying to drown me, zapping me with lightning and blowing me into the next county.
A smirk on his ugly face, Asmoday strutted toward me like a little banty rooster. “I’m gonna fuck you till you bleed.”
“No, you won’t,” I snarled, shifting into a combat stance; I pulled out the knife Ethan had given me and pointed it at him. “Touch me and you’ll be dickless.”
The bastard started laughing.
Hundreds of skeletal limbs suddenly tore through the ground and wrapped bony fingers around his legs. Asmoday’s laughter turned into squeals of terror as he was dragged down into the shattered earth.
About friggin’ time. I shoved the knife back in its sheath.
Hundreds of disembodied skulls flew out of the boiling black clouds and tore at Asmoday’s borrowed body.
I flinched as his hot blood splattered over my face.
The puppet’s agonized screams mixed with the Aztec warrior’s banshee like shrieks.
The shield sparked brightly as the vengeful wraiths tried to cross my circle.
Granny urgent voice cried, “Use the mirrors now.”
I quickly pulled the mirrors off the table propped one against my back and held the other in front of me.
Shrill keening wails broke from the spirits as the mirrors reflected their ghastly images back at them.
It was working!
Red coils of lightning danced wildly across the sky and slammed into my shields.
“The prayer,” Granny urged.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I prayed, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside the still waters.”
The Aztec’s furious howls grew in volume.<
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I prayed louder. “He restoreth my soul; he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”
The ground shuddered under my feet.
Grabbing my cross, I shouted, “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
With a thunderous cracking boom, an eerie silence fell.
The wind stopped.
I cracked one eye open. Had it worked?
Granny Annabel’s comforting presence surrounded me. “You are safe, Kizzy, the Aztec warriors have been banished to the underworld.”
A shudder shook me. “And their souls?”
“Could not be saved.”
“Asmoday?” I wiped his blood off my face. “Were they able to capture him?”
“As soon as the body he possessed died, he fled right into the vortex Adan and the Katanic enforcers summoned.”
“What do we know about the poor guy Asmoday possessed?”
“Do not grieve for him. He killed his family,” Granny replied.
“Oh, whew. He was going to hell anyway.” I put the mirrors back on the table and gaped in horrified disbelief. Hundreds of skeletons littered the ground around me, along with gory pieces of the dead guy’s body.
Swallowing down the nausea rising in my throat, I turned to Granny Annabel. “The Pope doesn’t mess around.”
“The Holy One is a warrior in the battle against evil.”
“That old guy?”
“Age has nothing to do with it,” Granny huffed indignantly.
With a wince, I hurriedly added, “Sorry, I meant I couldn’t see his Holiness going toe-to-toe with a ghost.”
“He has done so many times,” Granny sniffed, “as I have.”
“You’re the best slayer ever.”
The night was slashed apart by the lurid brilliancy of energy beams.
Anxiety knotted my stomach as I stared up at the mesa. I had soaked the General, Ethan, Xenia and Quinn in holy water and loaded them down with salt, but I couldn’t protect them from the Bjarke warriors.
Kaboom! A blazing fireball rose high into the air.
Was the battle over? Had the Bjarke warriors been defeated? “Could you check on them?”
“Certainly.” Granny vanished.
Someone clapped loudly and a harsh voice congratulated, “Well done, you’ve come into your powers.”
I spun around.
Holy shit! Dante, the Dragos clan’s second-in-command, stood a few feet away. His tall, scarecrow figure was silhouetted by the raging fire.
My gaze settled on the gun pointed at my chest. My shield didn’t repel bullets, but my armor sure did. “You gonna shoot me?”
Dante’s soulless slate-gray eyes stared coldly at me. “Not unless it’s necessary. I want Montezuma’s treasure and you will find it for me.”
“You kicked me out of the clan, remember? I don’t have to obey you anymore.”
He laughed. “You don’t have a choice. I have your Coletti.”
“He does not,” Granny inserted.
“They’re all ok?”
“Si, they are unharmed.”
Relief flooded me and I let my gaze rove over Dante. Something was off about him but what? “God, you’re such a liar.”
A growl rumbled deep in Dante chest. “Am I?”
I frowned. His lips hadn’t moved. Dante’s normally immaculate black hair stood out wildly and his scalp seemed to slide about unnaturally. “Ethan’s fine and the Bjarke got their asses handed to them.”
Dante carefully straightened his blood-soaked suit. “The battle has not yet been won and your insolence will be punished.”
My unease grew. There was way too much blood on his suit.
“Step out of the circle,” Dante commanded.
I could feel his rage beating at me. “No, and if I were you, I’d put the gun down.”
A merciless smile pulled at Dante’s mouth. “The Farin just died.”
“Granny?”
“He lies.”
“Step out of the circle.”
A cold prickling ran up my spine and I warily surveyed the mounds of bones. Had something survived? I opened my mind’s eye and the breath froze in my lungs. Holy Mary Mother of God, that wasn’t Dante. It was Asmoday. “Don’t you ever get tired of wearing other people’s skin?”
A bellow of fury broke from Asmoday. “Step out of the circle or I will send you straight to hell.”
“If I leave the circle, I die.”
“You’re dead either way.” Asmoday pulled the trigger.
Bang! Something slammed into my chest and hurled me back on the table. It toppled over and the mirrors slammed into my head. A terrible roaring filled my ears, and everything faded to black.
Chapter Nineteen
“Welcome to hell,” a raspy voice gloated.
The words echoed over and over in my head, shocking me back to consciousness. Hell? I shot upright and pain exploded in my head. Sonovabitch! It felt like someone had hit me with a crowbar. The minute Dante appeared I should have engaged my helmet.
My eyes widened in horror as an unending blackness stared back. Had I gone blind? The only sound was an eerie moaning.
A torch flared in the darkness, then another and another and another until I could make out a cavern. Strange contorted rocks reared from the floor. Some seemed to writhe in nameless agony, while others clawed at the air as if to escape some unspeakable horror.
It kinda looked like the Cavern of the Damned, but smaller. How did I get here? I never left the circle. Was I dead? I didn’t feel dead. Then again, I had met some ghosts who didn’t know they were dead either. If I was dead, I shouldn’t feel any pain, right? I swiped at the blood running down my face. Or bleed? Had Asmoday brought me here? If so, where was he? Those torches hadn’t lit themselves.
Holy shit! Ethan! Panic rolled over me. Where was he? Was he hurt? Or dead? I let out a mental scream. “Ethan!”
Granny Annabel’s familiar presence filled my head. “Your man is unharmed.”
“Why hasn’t he come for me?”
“Something is blocking us from locating you.”
“Again? Maybe I am in hell.”
“You are not in hell, Kizzy.”
The fuzzy-headiness and vertigo made it difficult to concentrate. “It sorta feels like it.”
A frantic Ethan linked with me. “Where are you Angel?”
“Dunno.” The cavern spun dizzily around me. “I seriously need some aspirin.” I wiped blood out of my eyes. “And your magic healing wand thingy.”
Ethan poured power into me. “Look around. What do you see?”
“I’m in another stupid cave.” I frowned. Was that water? I rubbed my eyes and looked again. Yep. Waves lapped over piles of Aztec armor. “I think I’m under the lakes. Asmoday swiped Dante Drago’s body so be on the lookout for him.” My gaze fixed on a bloody corpse floating in the water. “Never mind. Dante’s dead. You think Asmoday will try to possess me next?”
“As long as I’m linked with you, he can’t.”
“If he tries, you need to keep chanting ostium, fluminis, sont. It disrupts his power,” Granny advised.
I let out a relieved breath. “You’re the best Granny. What I don’t understand is how Asmoday got away?”
“He was somehow able to ditch Adan and the Enforcers in the vortex,” Ethan snarled.
Out of the shadows slithered a creepy half-human, half-snake monstrosity with Dante’s face. “You still live.” Its voice was a raspy hiss.
“Surprise.” I flashed Ethan the image of Asmoday’s new form. “I think you’re gonna need a laser cannon to kill that thing.”
Asmoday smiled, revealing two long curved fangs. “Th
ey cannot save you. You need the power of a God to break through my shields. I’m going to enjoy eating you.”
The cold fist of reality shattered my daze. I could die in this place. If I died, Ethan died and that wasn’t happening. I tapped my bracelet and the helmet formed around my head. “Granny give me a spell. Anything. Like now!”
A spell formed in my mind and I chanted, “Miraculum sepulcrum ibidem solus novem!”
Pure, burning white energy crackled wildly around the cavern and slammed into Asmoday. He howled in fury but kept coming.
Out of sheer desperation, I yelled, “Miraculin sepulcrum ibidem solus novum. Domum rotundam vivtorie construxit!” A portal opened on the cavern ceiling. “Go into the light, you fucking monster.”
“No! It cannot be,” Asmoday roared.
Slashes of green lightning pulsed over the cavern walls.
The portal suddenly vanished.
A twister formed and spat out two dark, wraith-like creatures.
Holy cow! “What are those?”
“Executioners. Stay away from them,” Ethan replied.
Enormous mouths edged with hundreds of serrated teeth appeared where the wraiths faces should be, and they viciously attacked Asmoday.
I scooted back. “Not gonna be a problem.”
Asmoday retreated into the water.
“Don’t let him touch the jade snake,” I shouted at the Executioners.
I heard Ethan repeat my instructions to someone.
The Executioners jumped on Asmoday’s back and started chomping like hungry tigers.
Asmoday’s inhuman shrieks echoed around the cavern. Rolling over and over, he managed to dislodge the Executioners. His tail stretched out reaching for the jade snake.
Oh, hell no. “Ostium fluminis sont ibidem solus novem!” A bolt of energy exploded from my hand and hit the jade snake, knocking it away. Whoa! I just did that.
The Executioners’ gaping maws tripled in size.
Instead of making a run for it, Asmoday attacked them.
I watched in disbelief as the Executioners sprouted tentacles and wrapped them tightly around Asmoday.
Asmoday ate one of the Executioners and kablooey! In a gory eruption of flesh and icky green blood the Executioner erupted from Asmoday’s stomach.
