Demonheart: Book 2: Walkers From Another Dimension

by J. J. Egosi

  Michael’s heart raced as darkness surrounded him. He looked around at the terrified gazes to his left and over at her.

  “Everyone’s afraid now.” He began. “And that’s your doing. Do you still wish to continue?”

  “You’re mistaken, Michael. I’m ending this. Right here and now,” she said as a purple ring appeared around her finger.

  “I see.” Michael tightened his grip on his sword. “I suppose we both are.”

  Suddenly, the clouds in the sky opened, revealing the same pitch-black whirlpool of thunderous darkness that came with the second dimension titan. Lightning filled the air above, as Michael watched, horrified by the call of the beast from the sky.

  “Mighty bird that hunts the dead. May you grace our killing grounds and rob my foe of all its life. Come forth! Tiamat, titan of the first dimension!”

  With the conclusion of her chant, the sky responded with claps of lightning. A blue humanoid vulture broke through the writhing clouds, descending from the blackened heavens. The beast’s wings spanned across the skies, sending gusts roaring past with every flap. A terrified Julianna backed off slowly as she watched. Isabella froze while her heart did all the running. Ursula swallowed heavy breaths to calm her jitters.

  “Holy shit, that’s an enormous bird!” Michael said, stunned, as it landed before them and trembled the ground in its wake.

  “Yes, my dimension titan is here, at last!” said Alexa.

  The beast stood tall, with massive feathered wings, two arms, and two legs. It cawed to the heavens, shaking the weeping sky into a lightning-induced rage.

  Michael gazed into its soulless eyes, mesmerized by its energy. “What an incredible beast!”

  Alexa grinned. “Just wait and see what it can do!” The beast soared into the air, circling the battlefield.

  “What’s it doing?” Michael asked.

  He found himself quickly mesmerized by its sweeping motions—like the hands of a clock moving around the face without ever missing a second.

  “In prehistoric times, the world was covered in nothing, but ferocious beasts,” Alexa began. “To survive, you had to be strong. You had to be vigilant and do whatever was necessary to survive. There was no use for weak emotions, as those pitiful humans weren’t around yet to plague our world with such things. No, if you wanted to survive, you simply had to be the best at everything you did. And as I speak, Tiamat is preparing to prove its top slot on the food chain by delivering a strike upon you.”

  “We’ll just see about that.” Michael raised his sword high, ready to combat the impact of the titan.

  “While vultures usually only attack the dead, it can make an exception for a dead man walking.”

  “How very charming. And you wonder why I wanted to break Ursula away from you.” Michael sneered.

  “Revel in that petty victory.” Alexa looked up at her titan with a smile. “You’re the one who’s on the chopping block. And by the looks of it, Tiamat’s about to feed!”

  The vulture soared high into the air. Everyone’s hearts trembled in fear as they watched the beast look directly down at Michael with hollow black eyes, like the night, before flying down at a speed beyond sound.

  “Oh, no!” he said, in disbelief of its pace and ferocity.

  “Oh, yes! Now go, my servant. Feed on this weak excuse for an angel,” Alexa called.

  Before the titan could strike, Michael stopped it in its tracks, forcing all the light energy that he could onto it from his sword by jabbing the blade between its teeth.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Alexa asked, flustered at the sight of her servant attempting to gnaw through the lightning coursing through Michael’s blade. Its teeth could not break through the blockade.

  “Stopping your titan’s assault,” said Michael.

  “You now dare to challenge the might of a dimension titan with that weak magic of yours?” Alexa responded.

  “Say what you want about my magic, but so long as my friends stand by me, I’ll never give up. Not on me and not on them,” said Michael.

  Julianna and Isabella cheered in support of his resistance. Ursula soon joined them before turning away at Alexa’s scornful glare.

  “You cannot stop my dimension titan, Michael. Forfeit or I will use it to crush you!” Alexa shouted with as much vitriol as she could express.

  “We’ll just see about that.” Michael ran his sword deep through the beast’s gullet. The lightning pulsating from the blade filled its mouth.

  Alexa watched with disbelief as the once-mighty titan faltered. Its movements slowed, and the lightning took hold.

  My servant, too? Her eyes widened. She remembered many tireless nights reading all the spell books she could get a hold of, each regarding the history of the archangel. Everything I’ve ever come to know about him is false. His power is just as it was all those years ago. He’s a monster.

  “You can do it, Michael!” Julianna shouted.

  “Send that giant vulture back to the first dimension where it came from,” Isabella exclaimed.

  Michael smiled, feeling the last of the bird’s fight give in to the ruthless of lightning in his sword.

  “Gladly.”

  With a tightening and one swing, he knocked the titan high into the sky. His friends watched as it slowly fell in a fit of electrocution before he cast it into the ground. Alexa’s eyes widened from shock as a gaping crater formed with its defeat.

  “Get up, you worthless titan. We still have work to do!” The titan roared in pain as it slowly got up in a limp state.

  “You don’t respect anyone or anything, do you?” said Michael.

  “Stop pretending you fucking know me. Nobody asked for more of your preachy bullshit,” said Alexa.

  “Tell me, Alexa. How did you come across Ursula?” he asked.

  “What do you mean?” Alexa asked in annoyance.

  “You two come from very different dimensions, right? I don’t fully understand how dimensions work yet, but that seems like some distance to go for someone you don’t respect. Just how did you two come together?”

  “You don’t know when to shut that mouth of yours, do you?” Alexa gritted her teeth. “You really want to know? Fine.”

  She remembered the experience in her home dimension as if it occurred moments ago.

  “I was driving to work in my steam craft”—

  “Your what?” Michael interrupted.

  “The ship we landed here in. I didn’t expect your primitive brain to comprehend it,” she said with a groan. “Anyway, I was running late for an important meeting, so I took a backroad. That’s when our paths crossed.”

  Alexa looked over at Ursula’s trembling face. She remembered the day just as well, nodding along as she spoke.

  “She was driving way over the speed limit that fateful day. How she even got to the sixth dimension is beyond me. That woman has probably been dimension jumping her entire life, in hopes of finding a good home.”

  “And it seems she settled for you,” Michael said.

  “Not exactly,” Alexa replied.

  Michael looked at her in confusion. Isabella and Julianna mirrored while Ursula looked the other way.

  Alexa took a deep breath. “Just as it was my turn to go through the four way intersection, that moron comes flying in, hitting me on my left side. I swear that imbecile must have never driven in her life.”

  The memory of their collision still sent her blood boiling. Not nearly as much as it did when it happened. Rather, there was a calmness to that day now.

  “I took her to court immediately after that. After just a few minutes, the jury concluded that Ursula could not pay for the damages on my steam craft. She had two options left: a life sentence or an execution.”

  “That seems rather extreme for a traffic offense,” Michael suggested.

  “Not when it wasn’t your first accident,” Alexa replied with a stoic glare.

  Michael stared in silence, racing with what sort of trouble she c
aused with past incidents. Julianna and Isabella were just as nervous, turning their attention towards Ursula. She looked away, trembling with fear.

  “It also didn’t help that any crimes dealt against the queen were handled with extra severity.”

  Alexa recalled the court hearing and the judge’s immediate inclination to favor her. They never so much as glanced over her file. The jury and the audience were all on her side, as well, leaving Ursula to represent herself.

  “Seeing the despair in her eyes, I knew I couldn’t let her ago. She was an idiot, but no one deserves to go down that way.”

  She recalled Ursula’s whimpering terror and the tears that spilled from her face in the courtroom before the judge.

  “What I did was quite controversial. I pleaded to the jury to let me take her in as my servant to pay for my damages. This happened about a year ago. We’ve been tied at the hip ever since.”

  Michael only realized now Alexa had smiled during the last part of her story, and he smiled, too. “I understand now.”

  “You understand what?” said Alexa.

  “You really care about that girl, don’t you? However, your cruel ways as a tyrannical businesswoman have prevented you from ever showing her the care that she deserves,” he said.

  “You just like making assumptions, don’t you? A narcissistic prick is what you are,” Alexa said with a scowl.

  I’m sure you probably had some sort of reputation to uphold. Your kind always does,” said Michael, looking over at an embarrassed Isabella.

  “Shut up. You don’t know me!” Alexa refuted.

  “I think I do, Alexa. You’ve grown cold as a leader. Now, the only way you communicate with Ursula is through your rage. Despite all this, I think that deep down, you’re a good person,” he said.

  “What? After everything you’ve said to me and everything you’ve seen me do, you still think I’m a good person?” Alexa said, completely confused.

  “Yes. I do.” Michael replied in a calming tone. “That day you could have let Ursula die or rot in some prison cell. But you showed compassion, despite her inconveniencing you. Although many years of stepping on people for financial and political gain have hardened you to the point where your heart seldom beats, I’m sure you can express your feelings to Ursula appropriately. A way that shows the compassion I know you have for her.”

  Tears flowed from Alexa’s face. “Damn it! Why did you have to read so much into everything? I was just trying to do something nice for once that day.”

  “That’s how he is.” Isabella smiled.

  “Kind-hearted and resilient. Even if he is a little stupid sometimes.” Julianna smiled, too.

  “And while you probably made her life difficult, I’m sure she was grateful to you for allowing her to have one at all,” Michael said to Alexa.

  He looked over at Ursula and smiled. She looked back at him and smiled back.

  “You’re right.” Alexa began, with a deep breath. “Ursula means a great deal to me. I’ve just never been able to express myself, as you said.”

  “It’s not too late. I’m sure Ursula’s waiting to start the life she wanted all along. A life where she can call you her friend,” Michael said.

  “A friend.”

  Alexa dropped to her hands and knees. The titan disappeared, returning the lands to their peaceful state.

  Michael walked up to her with a smile. “I’m proud of you, Alexa.”

  “You’re proud of me? Why?” Alexa asked.

  “Facing your problems is never easy. And you did it. That’s why,” Michael replied with an earnest grin.

  Alexa looked up at him, bewildered, before breaking out into a chuckle.

  “You’re peculiar, you know that.” Alexa rose to her feet, smiled, and wiped her tears. “All my accomplishments, money, and power, yet you’re the first to ever acknowledge the kindness deep within me. You’re the only person to ever say they’re proud of me.” Alexa leaned forward, pulled him into a tight hug, and kissed him on the lips, as tears poured down her face.

  His eyes quickly widened with disbelief. The girls looked at them both with expressions of frustration and outrage.

  “Surely, this is a joke,” Julianna said.

  “Afraid not. It appears with his kind heart, she’s also smitten with him,” Isabella said.

  Michael released her from his lips and stared into her eyes with a nervous laugh. “You dimension walkers sure are affectionate once you break through your thick exteriors,” he said. She nodded and laughed too.

  Ursula ran up to them, hugging Alexa with as much tightness as she could muster and crying with joy. “I’ve waited so long for this day.”

  “The wait is finally over. I can finally be the person I wanted to be. Someone you deserve. And it’s all thanks to Michael,” said Alexa, looking over at him.

  Michael returned to his normal form and nodded. “It was nothing. I’m just happy to help.”

  “Is there any way we can return the favor?” Ursula asked, tugging him by one arm.

  He looked down at Ursula’s low-cut top, and then his face reddened from embarrassment. “None that I can think of, so don’t worry about it.”

  “Yes, Michael.” Alexa wrapped herself around his other arm. “If there is anything we can do, please ask. We will make ourselves of use to you, any way we can.”

  He only noticed now her top was just as revealing. He could almost see the outline of her nipples peering from the top. He gulped and looked the other way.

  “It’s alright, I’m fine,” he said in a high-pitched voice.

  Isabella and Julianna stormed toward him, grabbing him by the legs. “He’s mine. Hands off, you pink-haired slut!” said Isabella.

  “Slut? I don’t think so,” Alexa replied. “I’m only trying to return the favor.”

  “Return the favor without kissing my husband,” Isabella demanded.

  “He’s my husband,” Julianna protested.

  Julianna and Isabella exchanged scornful looks, unaware they were stretching Michael well beyond the point of comfort.

  Alexa looked over at them with a smile. “Admittedly, I was a bit jealous when I saw Ursula kiss him with such ardor. I suppose a part of me wanted to experience a bit of that.”

  “And what did you think?” Ursula asked.

  Alexa smiled. “I think he and I are going to be the best of friends.”

  “Let go of me, please. All of you.” Michael gritted his teeth in discomfort from the tension of being pulled in four directions.

  Julianna and Isabella looked at one another with stern nods.

  “I think the competition for his heart just got stiffer,” said Julianna, “Which means something else did.”

  “I say we call a truce. At least until we know for certain he doesn’t harbor any feelings towards either of them,” said Isabella.

  Julianna looked down and saw a clear bulge under Michael’s belt. She rolled her eyes and shook her head. Isabella noticed it too and reacted the same way.

  “What a masochist,” they both said.

  “Well, since you offered a repayment, Alexa, I’d be happy with you teaming up with us. That is, once you and the others put me down.”

  “You mean that?” Alexa said, wide-eyed.

  The four of them placed him back on his feet. He relaxed his muscles back into place while he caught his breath.

  “Yeah. We’re going after the same organization and, together, we have four titans against their two. We’ll be unstoppable!”

  “Which means they can never have more than us,” Isabella said, smiling with optimism.

  “That demon king will be history,” Julianna said with a confident smile.

  Right, Michael thought, I got so caught up in dealing with these two I nearly forgot the dream I had with Lucifer.

  He looked around at the smiling faces and nodded.

  When I had that vision of something flying down from another world, this was far from what I expected. But I can’t complain
. With two more allies, we’ll be even stronger. I’ll be sure to tell all of them my findings once my back stops aching so much.

  “This is great,” Ursula said in an enthusiastic tone. “The five of us. A total dream team!”

  “I’ll have some royals ship over necessary funds. A mission like this could take a while,” said Alexa.

  “I guess we’re setting up camp for two more,” Julianna suggested.

  “We sure are,” Michael replied.

  They all looked at each other with wide enthusiastic smiles, confident about the new friendship and adventures ahead of them.

  Chapter 5

  The Face of All Your Fears

  A

  week had passed since Alexa and Ursula joined Michael’s group. They settled in comfortably with the team, getting along with one another. Despite the occasional difference, their ambitions to defeat the legion of Morningstar remained aligned.

  Julianna rose when the sun’s light barely graced the eastern horizon. She wiped the sleepiness out of her eyes and stepped outside to the sound of birdsong. She had a primary task on her mind this day: to sew and enchant infinity bags for the rest of her team. She gathered her tools, laid them across the wooden table she engineered for this task, and got to work.

  Ursula walked up to her with a curious gaze. “Hey, what do you have going on there?”

  “It’s the new infinity bags I’m making for you,” Julianna replied.

  “Yes, she’s quite the talented one, isn’t she?” Isabella chimed in while wrapping her arm around Isabella.

  “That’s very flattering, but I need to concentrate. One wrong stitch and the enchantments won’t work,” Julianna said as she took Isabella’s arm off her.

  Isabella pouted. “Fine. Refuse the compliment, now, will you?

  Julianna sighed. “If you want me to teach you how to sew, I can do that another time.”

  Isabella’s face lit up with joy. “That would be great!”

  “Do you think you could teach me too? These bags look really cute!” Ursula said.

  “I’m glad you think so. I picked the colors myself,” Julianna proudly said, focusing on the pink bag meant for Alexa.