Dark Gate Angels Complete Series Omnibus

by Ramy Vance

  “Aren’t they supposed to be the bad guys?” Terra asked. “How come they like me so much?”

  The tracker beeped as Anabelle answered, “They’re orcs. No matter whose side they’re on, they respect a good fighter. That’s why, historically, it’s been hard to get orcs to join any one army. They prize fighters over any kind of ideology. Usually. I haven’t seen this in a while.”

  On the opposite side of the coliseum, the large double gates swung open. Something that looked like a small sun glowed in the darkness of the hallway. Then a jet of fire came spewing out of the darkness.

  Out walked the balrog. It stood nearly seven feet tall, its entire body made of fire and molten lava that somehow maintained the form of a humanoid creature, with black wings of ash that stretched out, hellish and batlike. The balrog held a whip of fire, and it cracked its weapon, sending a slice of fire flying through the air.

  Terra’s blood went cold in her veins. She stared at the balrog as it roared. “How exactly do I kill this thing, Anabelle?” she asked.

  The tracker swooped around Terra’s head, and Anabelle said, “I was trying to be encouraging, but we’ll figure something out.”

  The balrog roared again, beating its fiery fists on its chest. Terra, having no idea what else to do, slammed her katar to her shield and returned the roar. Then she charged the balrog.

  Gladiators and Shotguns

  Dark Gate Angels Book Two

  Chapter One

  The three suns beamed down on the coliseum. Goblins and orcs screeched, filling the air with their desire for violence, the dearest and most perfect form, that which has not come but soon will. It makes the blood pump and the throat clench. The purest form of anticipation.

  In the arena below were two creatures. One was a demon older than most universes, a beast born from the flames of dead worlds who was the scourge of the nine realms. The balrog snapped its whip as it roared, staring its opponent down.

  The other was a human. Small in comparison, her hair was buzzed to the skull, and she held only a shield and a katar, nervously opening and closing the weapon’s tri-blade. She’d seen the same thing done in movies, producing a much more intimidating effect. All it did for Terra was make her feel small.

  Terra felt like she’d been staring down the balrog for nearly an hour. The balrog had only advanced one step, and that seemed to have been a lifetime ago. Now the balrog was taking another step, cracking its whip again.

  Death had never occurred to Terra before. She’d only thought about it briefly. Something that happened to people around her and would eventually come for her. Death was not something she had dwelled on.

  Now Terra wished she had paid more attention to death. It seemed to be in the form of the balrog before her. She didn’t think there was any way she was going to get out of this alive.

  As Terra stared down the balrog, millions of light-years away, a young girl named Abby-Lynn from a farm in Utah sat beside Anabelle Chase, a five-hundred-year-old elf wearing earrings pressed from the finest dwarfish gold.

  The pair had their eyes glued to the giant holoscreen in front of them. Abby held a wireless keyboard in her lap as Anabelle picked at her cuticles. “She really gonna fight that thing?” Abby asked.

  Anabelle raised her hands so she could inspect her nails. “I don’t think they brought a balrog in to have a friendly conversation,” Anabelle chided. “Does that tracker have a camera on it?”

  “Of course. How d’ya think we’re looking at this?”

  “Right. Stupid question. I want you to broadcast this fight too. To as many different outlets as you can.”

  Abby pulled herself away from the holoscreen long enough to narrow her eyes at the elf. “I’m trying to run this tracker from a couple light-years away and not get caught up in lag. If you can’t tell, it’s kinda a handful.”

  Anabelle hit the comm hanging from her ear. “Wake Creon up,” she barked. “We need him.”

  A familiar voice answered—Blackwell, a new human recruit who could actually keep up with her demands. “On it, Ms. Chase,” he replied, approaching the sleeping goblin carefully and gently nudging him awake.

  Anabelle stood, then paced around the lab for a few moments before flopping down in her seat beside Abby. She tapped her foot on the floor loudly enough to catch Abby’s attention. “Worse than a cricket stuck in your room,” Abby muttered under her breath.

  Anabelle clicked her tongue and swung her chair around, giving Abby a gentle push. “You’re going to have to get much more direct with your confrontational communication if we’re going to be working together,” Anabelle said.

  “Stop fidgeting and sit still so I can concentrate! This tracker ain’t driving itself.”

  Abby thought Anabelle was going to say something, but the elf held her tongue. Guess that was the kind of communication Anabelle needed. Now Abby could focus on what was happening on what looked like the other side of the galaxy.

  As Abby tried to figure out the best place to maneuver the tracker, Creon woke with a jolt.

  Anabelle gave Creon’s disheveled appearance the side-eye, as if she were offended he wasn’t more put together. “We need help dealing with a transdimensional lag issue,” she snapped.

  Creon stretched, yawning so widely that they could see his tonsils. Once his yawn subsided, he gave them a bored look before saying, “Is that all?”

  Terra was squaring off with the balrog. They were circling each other, having closed the distance between them. The heat coming off the creature was nearly unbearable. It was worse than a terrible smell. Terra was still a good fifteen feet from it, and she was soaked with sweat.

  The balrog leaned forward, smoke billowing from its red and black eyes. The crowd in the stands cheered, their bloodlust apparent in their voices. Yet they seemed ready to wait for the bloodshed. It seemed obvious who they thought was going to end up dead.

  The stands filled with the chant, “Kill Not-a-Male!” Terra had almost forgotten the mixup about her gender. Of all the days to shave my head, she thought.

  A lash of fire like a solar flare came off the balrog. Terra raised her shield and the flames whipped her, pushing her back. She was surprised she could withstand something like that. Then she remembered she was stronger here than back on Earth. That gave her some encouragement. Not much, though.

  She was tired of this dance. She wasn’t going to wait for the balrog to make the first move. If this was a fight, it was going to be her fight. Terra sprinted toward the balrog, only vaguely aware she’d never fought with anything like a katar. What the hell, though. She’d never been in a real fight until a day ago, either.

  The balrog was caught off-guard by Terra’s sudden explosion of aggressiveness. It stepped back, prompting the crowd to cheer even louder.

  Terra leapt through the air, pulled down on the rod of her katar to combine the three blades into one, and slashed at the balrog’s face. The creature raised its whip in the nick of time, deflecting the attack as it staggered back, repositioning itself. Then it lashed out again, the air burning as Terra raised her shield, warding off the strike.

  Instead of backing away, Terra sidestepped to the left and rushed the balrog, cutting at its chest as it raised its whip and blocked her attack. The demon continued to stumble backward, and Terra backhanded it with her shield.

  The balrog was off balance. Terra leapt at it again, hoping to end the fight right there.

  As she flew toward the balrog, it unfurled its wings, flapping them. Caught up in the wind generated by its wings, Terra went hurtling backward. She landed hard and skidded across the ground.

  The balrog rushed forward, still flapping its wings to give it more speed. It hit Terra like a freight train, sending her flying across the arena. She slammed into the stone walls separating the stands from the fighting pit.

  Terra rolled over and got to one knee. She coughed and spat blood, but she was still standing. Honestly, she was surprised she was still alive. Even more so, she was p
issed. And she now knew she could take a hit from the balrog.

  The crowds were still cheering loudly, and Terra turned to face the spectators behind her. Orcs and goblins, a few creatures Terra couldn’t recognize. All of them screaming either for her or the balrog to win. Even though Terra knew she was nothing more than a brief flicker of entertainment for the afternoon, she still wanted them chanting her name. She had heard it yesterday, and she wanted more.

  Terra returned her attention to the balrog. The thing was a good two heads taller than her and made out of fire. How was she going to bring something like that down? The orcs had said it was an ancient bane of their existence. All Terra could claim to be was a walking doormat from a small town.

  Maybe this is where I change that, Terra thought. Maybe this is the place I learn how to kill demons.

  Terra slammed her fist to her chest as the orcs had done to her back at her cell. The orcs in the stands returned the gesture, shouting, “Not-a-Male! Not-a-Male!”

  She screamed back, “Not-a-Male!” before running toward the balrog. The fire demon cracked his whip at Terra, who raised her shield. She leapt forward and rolled under the balrog’s leg, ignoring the heat. Then she sliced its heel.

  The balrog gave a hollow scream of pain and fell forward. Its wings spread out, knocking Terra back as flashes of fire burst from the wound. Here’s my chance, Terra thought as she lunged.

  Terra landed on the balrog’s back, dropped her shield, wrapped her hand around the creature’s neck, and drove her katar into its throat.

  At the last minute, a layer of molten lava spurted from the balrog’s skin, covering its neck with a thick layer of armor. Terra’s attack had achieved nothing.

  The balrog spread its wings and took to the air as it roared, its body bursting into flames.

  Terra screamed as the fire seared her skin, but she did not let go. She struck the demon’s neck again, to no avail.

  The balrog rolled in the air, repositioning itself to grab hold of Terra as it climbed higher and higher.

  Terra made the mistake of looking down. The creature had dragged her nearly five feet above the highest stand in the coliseum. Then it dropped her.

  The wind rushed past Terra as she tried to figure out what to do. There weren’t any options. Nothing to grab onto. No magical spell to remember from a past life, only the ground rushing toward her and the eventual splat of her guts forcing their way out of her body, her bones cracking upon impact.

  Terra hit the ground hard, and the coliseum went quiet. The balrog screeched from on high.

  Abby and Anabelle watched the dust settling. The lab was crammed behind them. Blackwell, the recruits, and just about everyone else who didn’t have a mandatory station were watching the fight.

  Creon had rigged all of HQ’s monitors to play it. Anyone who needed access to their computer had to message Creon directly. Unless your work was of the utmost importance, you were watching Terra fight.

  Myrddin and Roy were the only two who had initially opted out. After twenty minutes or so, Roy had come down to the lab and taken a spot behind Anabelle, resting his hand on her computer chair. “Might need my computer later on,” he’d told Creon. “But I don’t want to miss this.”

  The humans had been cheering their asses off. That was up until a few minutes ago. Now there was a reverent hush over the entire lab. Everyone in the room had received some kind of combat training. They’d been told how dangerous certain creatures were. They knew a human couldn’t walk into a fight with a balrog and walk away alive. Still, they’d hoped.

  Abby grabbed Anabelle’s knee. “Should we turn it off? Should people be seeing this?”

  Anabelle shook her head as she leaned back in her chair, casually reaching up and touching Roy’s hand. “No, we keep it going. Everyone needs to see what the Dark One is doing to humans. If she dies, humanity needs to see who was responsible. She’s an everyman. A stand-in for all humans.”

  Abby tried not to watch Anabelle holding Roy’s fingertips. Instead, she focused all of her attention on the holoprojector. On Terra. “She’s ain’t getting up,” Abby whispered. “Maybe humanity just saw her die.”

  “No,” Anabelle said. “She’s not dead yet.”

  At the back of the room, Blackwell scoffed. “What do you mean? Did you see that fall? How the hell could she survive that?” he asked. “She’s not even wearing any armor.”

  Anabelle turned to find Blackwell, who hid behind a group of recruits. “She’s not on Earth anymore, idiot,” Anabelle said sharply. “There are nine realms that circle Middang3ard, the central realm…or as one of your writers put it, Middle Earth. But this isn’t like nine planets orbiting the sun. The nine realms exist in separate dimensions, and it is the dimensions that orbit Middang3ard. Every realm is connected to Middang3ard, either through magic or technology, but interdimensional travel is still tricky. Terra isn’t in this realm anymore. Her exceptional strength is being shown. In the other realms, humans are much stronger than they are here, without the pathetic limitations of the Earth realm. The fact that she can do what she can do proves she is not here anymore.”

  Although Abby was still stealing glances at Anabelle’s elegant fingers lying atop Roy’s gnarled digits, the elf’s words piqued her curiosity. “Wait, are you saying humans are stronger off Earth?”

  “Exactly. Every race experiences reality differently outside their realm. Elves get magically stronger but physically weaker. Dwarves live longer. Goblins have an odd fascination with shiny things. Humans get stronger, and that strength is tied to their wills. A strong will makes a strong human.”

  “So, no need for exosuits off-world?”

  “I’d generally say yeah, but don’t tell that to the jackasses back there.”

  Combat flashed through Abby’s mind. She remembered how weak she had felt, watching an orc tower over her father. All she had were her drones. She could see herself now, covered in the blood of those who had wronged her.

  A cheer went up from the recruits in the lab and broke Abby out of her revenge fantasies. On the holoprojector, Terra was pushing herself to her feet. That’ll have to wait, Abby thought. I got business to attend to right now.

  Terra was standing—shakily, but standing, nonetheless. She picked up her shield and spat blood into the sand before beating her chest and letting out a hearty shout as she pointed her katar at the balrog above her.

  The balrog returned the scream as it furled its wings. Then it came rocketing down at Terra.

  There wasn’t time to move. Instead, Terra raised her shield, squared her feet, and prepared for impact.

  The balrog hit the shield hard, emitting a shockwave of fire that spread through the entire arena. Terra dug her feet into the ground as the force of the attack almost drove her to her knees, but she did not yield. The ground around her cracked, but she did not yield.

  Terra shoved back with everything she had, flinging the balrog off her. As it floated away, no doubt stunned its attack hadn’t flattened its target, Terra flung herself through the air, landed on the demon’s chest, and punched it in the face with her katar.

  The balrog grabbed Terra and tossed her away. The two combatants landed a few feet from each other. Terra spat as the balrog heaved a sigh of smoke.

  The tracker was positioned on Terra’s shoulder, giving the lab and the viewers on Earth a front-row seat to the horrors of her battle with the balrog. She could hear a faint noise coming from the tracker. “What the hell is that?” Terra wondered aloud.

  Abby’s voice came through over the speaker. “It’s us. Everyone’s cheering for you. The whole world’s cheering for you.”

  Terra chuckled. She couldn’t remember anytime anyone had cheered for her before. It felt good. She was going to give Earth something to keep cheering for.

  She raised her shield and shouted at the balrog, “Is that all you fucking got? I thought you were supposed to be an ancient evil or something? I thought people were afraid of you. When are you going to
fucking bring it?”

  The balrog barreled toward Terra, incensed by her mocking. It kicked at her, but she easily sidestepped the attack. Then it brought its lash down. She threw herself to the right and rolled away, and the whip tore the ground open.

  Terra hadn’t noticed how slow the balrog was. Dodging its attacks would be easy enough, but she didn’t seem capable of hurting the beast. She could already see how this was going to turn out. She’d eventually get tired and sloppy. All it would take to kill her after that would be a couple of strikes from the creature.

  That thing hit hard.

  The balrog swiped at Terra with its whip again. This time she stepped to the side, tossed down her shield, and grabbed the whip.

  The crowd went wild, screaming and chanting, “Not-a-Male!” so loudly Terra thought they were down in the arena with her.

  Terra wrestled the balrog for its whip. The creature didn’t want to give it up. That didn’t matter to her. She knew she wanted the whip more than the balrog did.

  As the two rolled over each other, the balrog’s flames scorching Terra’s skin, she punched it in the face with her katar. The demon returned the favor, smashing its free fist into Terra’s face, but she didn’t let go. She pulled as hard as she could, and the whip went flying.

  Once Terra got the whip away from the balrog, she kicked off it and went tumbling backward. She scrambled to her feet, searching for the whip. It was a good distance from her and the balrog. That was one less thing to worry about.

  The crowd was standing and shouting, banging on their shields or clacking their weapons together.

  Terra squared up against the balrog again, slammed her fist to her chest, and roared loud enough to silence the crowd’s cheers.

  Chapter Two