by S T Branton
On the other side of the study door, which had closed in the struggle, a booming voice echoed across the central hall. It was so loud, I barely understood what he had said, but we both knew exactly who had spoken.
I wondered if the whole damn world could hear him.
Chapter Thirty-Five
“Be careful,” Deacon cautioned. We stepped into the hall and kept our heads low. Delano’s voice permeated the whole chamber. He was talking about a grand vision and rebuilding the world from its fetid ashes, or some shit like that. I found it difficult to be too upset about anything now that I had Deacon’s hand safely back in mine. Suddenly, I was positive we could take on two Delanos and beat both to a pulp.
We would have to be creative, though. The only exit I knew of lay directly ahead and I no longer needed to act recklessly and out of my mind. I tugged on Deacon’s arm and made an upward motion. “Let’s check the roof out.”
He raised an eyebrow. “The roof?”
“Yeah. You know. We can look at the stars. And the cornfields. And the dozens of gods who want us dead.”
He laughed. “Well, shit. I didn’t realize you were such a romantic.”
I led him up the pillars and once again ignored the bodies I scrambled over.
Victoria, I have a question, Marcus said. Forgive me if it is too personal. You are not required to answer.
“Shoot,” I said. “If it’s about Deacon, he can’t hear you anyway, so you’re fine.”
I only wish to know how you deduced that kissing him would return his mind.
“Oh.” I shrugged while I continued to climb. “That’s easy. I didn’t. It was a total shot in the dark.” A loose strand of hair fell into my face and I brushed it away. “But I remembered learning that Delano had cut his heart out when he became Lorcan’s Apprenti, and I knew Deacon could never do anything like that. All I did was remind him that he still had it and that I was still there.”
I see. I…believe that makes sense.
“Humans are emotional beings at our cores, Marcus. You know that. Our identities lie in the ways we feel. I made him experience what he really felt for me, and what do you know? He came back.”
Perhaps a useful trick to remember for the future, Marcus said.
“Ha ha.” I rolled my eyes. “You think you’re so funny because you live in a necklace and I can’t hit you. Wait until the next time we’re in Carcerum, buddy.”
At the top of the pillar, we pulled ourselves over the lip of the hole I’d cut in the skylight.
Deacon looked down through the glass. “I can’t wait until Delano eats it.”
“You and me both,” I agreed. On my stomach, I crawled across the roof to the highest point. The scene that unfolded took my breath away in the worst way possible. Hundreds upon thousands of captive humans and Forgotten had been crammed into the holding pen, shoulder to shoulder. There wasn’t enough room to turn around, let alone struggle or rebel. The guards that had circled when I broke out had been posted every few feet along the bars. They never shifted their gazes off the restless horde.
I, on the other hand, couldn’t direct my eyes anywhere other than Delano. He’d moved and now sat at the bottom of the temple steps as he addressed his literally captive audience. Once I had my first good look at him, I saw that it wasn’t only Deacon who had changed.
Delano had evolved into a repulsive creature. All sense of form had evaporated and birthed a hideous mountain of flesh. A ponderous belly protruded over thighs studded by strange, knobby appendages. Several arms bristled from his back and their attached hands grasped constantly at nothing. The face that was cold and beautiful a week earlier bore no resemblance to itself anymore. He turned toward us and displayed a mess of eyes, mouths, teeth. Threads of saliva spilled from his lips.
“Talk about a downgrade,” Deacon muttered. “Looking nasty there, friend.” He paused. “I guess we are all pretty nasty, huh. Sorry.”
I leaned over and kissed him. “I think I’m already used to it.”
He cocked his head to the side, puzzled. “I think that makes me feel better,” he responded after a moment’s thought.
Down below, Delano held the Gladius Solis in a hand with ten fingers on it. The blade swirled with darkness. His whole body rippled, and Delano thrust the weapon into the air. One by one, the gods bowed and the humans and Forgotten in the holding pen followed suit as best they could in the cramped space. I sensed no inkling of protest among those assembled. They all thought it was far too late, that Delano’s plan had run its course without a hitch.
He laughed loudly and gloated over his subjects. “Good!” he roared. “Submit to me, my wretched servants. I dare you to defy my divine authority.”
“Okay.” I stood and shouted so he could hear me over the sound of his own voice. “I defy you, Delano.”
I paused and allowed him time to parse the situation. His countless eyes probed in all directions. When they finally found me, I waved at him and smiled. His expression morphed from smug satisfaction into a whole range of feelings. Rage. Amusement. A touch of apprehension.
He recovered smoothly and amusement took over. “I hoped you might show your face around here again, deserter. In fact, you could say I had counted on it. Now the people you have forsaken will have the pleasure of watching me strip the flesh from your feeble skeleton. I will wear your living bones as a crown.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Why make a crown when I’ll take your head off anyway?”
Delano wasn’t fazed in the least until I revealed the spear.
That made him falter visibly. Again, he recovered fast. “I have nothing to fear from you,” he sneered. “A single human, alone in the face of the god to end all gods? I think not.” His smug smile returned in full force. “Even a Solis weapon won’t be enough to defeat an entire army of gods!”
“That much is true,” I conceded and nodded. “Which is why I’ve brought in an army of my own.” Rather than give him time to react, I aimed the tip of the spear and threw it with all my strength. Delano heaved his grotesque shape out of its path but his evasion was irrelevant. I hadn’t tried to hit him. The spear glided unimpeded to its real target—the center of the gate on the holding pen. Its lock shattered on impact and the gate blew open and thrust the guard detail aside.
Dead silence reigned. The humans and Forgotten, newly freed, exchanged glances of confusion. They still didn’t dare to speak, so I did it for them.
“The gods have pitted us against each other for far too long,” I began. Delano hunched, motionless and apparently stunned. “They wanted us to be as a house divided, unable to stand together and so unable to rise up in rebellion. But the days of dividing and conquering end right here, right now. Each one of you before me—be you human, vampire, Were, satyr, or centaur—has a choice to make. You can continue to live the way you are, cowed in fear and solitude by some bullshit, fucked-up god-monster. Or you can join me in the fight right now. We can be rid of assholes like him once and for all.” I gazed out over the multitudes. “To me, the choice is as clear as day but I leave it up to you. Return to the Forgotten or step alongside me and reclaim your freedom. Reclaim your dignity and nobility.”
They stared at me for a long while, then stared at each other. Finally, they turned as one to stare at the gods. Vengeful hunger blazed in the mob’s collective eyes. And for perhaps the first time in their lives, the gods were undeniably afraid.
“Throw off the chains the gods have placed upon you!” I shouted. “Let’s show these fuckers the mighty wrath of Earth.”
The last word echoed into a void. No one moved on either side. The long silence stretched painfully before someone in the front of the holding pen grabbed a rock and flung it at the gods. It was followed by another, and another, and another. A shout rang out—a lone voice cursing the gods. Soon, it was bolstered by countless others. The human-Forgotten front began to shift and hundreds of thousands poured onto the plateau.
“Kill them, you fools!” Delano scr
eamed. His whole malformed body quivered. “Kill them! Kill them all!”
The other gods, half-galvanized by his frenzy, stumbled uncertainly to meet their foes, and all hell officially broke loose. I dropped over the edge of the roof and landed neatly fifteen feet from the monstrosity that had swallowed Delano. He turned his pulsing eyes to me. The sword raised up above his head, and his many legs readied themselves up for the charge.
He had been intimidating in his previous form, but now, he was mostly plain gross. It was the Gladius Solis I worried about. The first wound I’d received from that thing had yet to heal completely and I did not want to sustain another.
I craned my head back as Delano bore down on my position. The black sword sliced downward as anticipated. I put my hand out, summoned the spear, and caught the edge of the sword’s blade across the shaft. It wasn’t hot anymore but neither was it cold.
The sword simply reeked of evil.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Delano bared his crooked fangs scant inches above my face. His mouth filled with rows and rows of teeth jammed in there in such numbers that they seemed to burst outward when he dropped his jaw. I gathered my strength behind the spear and shoved him backward. His extra arms pinwheeled to try to maintain his balance. “This is a fucking joke,” I said to him and stepped forward as he staggered back. “Have you seen yourself? You don’t look like the sum of all gods, Delano. You look like Frankenstein’s experiment gone off the rails.”
He shifted his ponderous girth and backed hastily around the temple wall. The Gladius Solis slashed haphazardly through the air and left a black, noxious trail wholly unlike the arcs of fire I was accustomed to seeing. Where the blade scraped along the earth, its black aura lingered. “Give it up, Delano,” I called and followed relentlessly. “You’re making Kronin’s sword look bad.”
“Kronin?” Delano roared with laughter. “Don’t make me laugh, girl. Kronin knew nothing of glory.” He paused to taunt me. The whole building quaked as one of my giant buddies slammed a god with an armored shell into the side. The carapace and the stone both cracked and dust shook loose from the eaves of the roof. Delano cast a worried glance into the shadows and turned to face me. He charged with the Gladius Solis poised to carve out my heart.
The tip of the sword drew sparks when it collided with my spear. Delano roared and struck repeatedly. He tossed the sword from arm to arm in an effort to catch me off guard but I danced around him, traveled with it, and dueled each arm in turn. They were as strong as they were creepy, and I only managed to slice one off at the wrist. It fell with its fingers curled in like a dead spider.
Delano hissed. Blood poured down the backs of his legs from the brand-new stump. Annoyed by the sensation of a dead limb, he calmly pulled the whole arm off and whipped it at me. I sliced it at the elbow joint in midair. “Come on,” I said. “You can do better than that.”
He glanced around and a sick little smile slid across his features. His skin had assumed a greasy yellowish sheen. “I won’t have to,” he said. The smile evolved into a giggle and from there into full-on maniacal laughter. It was at this point that I noticed that the other fight between humans and the Forgotten and the gods had closed in around us. In a matter of minutes, the swarm of chaos would overtake me and I’d risk losing him in the melee.
“Fine.” I threw myself into a vengeful sprint. My trajectory aimed the point of the spear into the center of his distended abdomen. The spearhead became a white-hot streaking comet as I increased speed. “Have it your way, shit-face. I’ll bring the party to you.”
He evidently hadn’t considered the effect that his monstrous proportions might have on his speed, which was shamefully slow. Still, I was about to learn that the mutant god was more in tune with his horrible vessel than I expected. At the last minute, much like a car that took a turn way too fast, he careened onto one foot and teetered precariously, threatening to topple the other way. His laughter still rang in my ears, but I was the one who emerged with a grin because he wasn’t quite fast enough.
The spear met almost no resistance on its way into his stretched, overstuffed side. Delano shrieked. A plume of murky blood spurted from the wound and his extra limbs went crazy. I leapt back to avoid the worst of their frenzied defense and yanked the spear out as I moved. The blood pumped harder to coat the ground in pools of deep-red, viscous liquid. One of the gods slipped in it. He was immediately pounced on by an angry Were and had his throat torn open.
Delano glanced at me. His misshapen face was sallow now as the blood seeped from the maltreated vessel he had created from his body. “It was a mistake,” he rasped, “for you to return.” He coiled, pulled all his energy into his legs, and spun away, trailing a kite of blood. His grotesque shadow sailed up and over the lip of the roof. I pulled my throwing arm back and prepared to release the spear. He was in for a big surprise if he thought he would get off that easily.
The ground beneath me shifted and threw my balance off. I stumbled but regained my feet, intent on my pursuit of Delano’s ugly ass until a wave of people and Forgotten crashed in around me and blocked the way.
“Fuck!” I yelled and fought furiously against the tide, but it was too strong. The former caravan was a body in motion; its inertia could not be stopped.
I turned in search of another way and felt much like I was in a human washing machine. The fight raged on every side, and as I pushed my way in the general direction of the temple, I caught glimpses of my badass friends as they faced the chaos head-on. Brax’s hammer was missing, but he had somehow gathered a whole militia behind him who hung on his every command. They swarmed an earth god the size of an elephant and worked together to bring it to the ground with a stupendous crash. As I turned away, Brax called to Smitty, and a squadron of west coast Weres flooded in to protect Brax’s team. The blacksmith and the demon nodded stoically to one another.
An enraged howl shredded the air. It emanated from a smallish, red-tinted Were whom I could have recognized in my sleep. As always, Hurricane Maya left a wake of utter destruction. She had, I noticed, learned to differentiate between allies and enemies without losing her trademark strategy of simply throwing her adversaries at one another. Gods sprawled around her like discarded old boxes. I couldn’t tell if they were dead, unconscious, or merely dazed.
Knowing Maya, I would bet that they won’t get up anytime soon, Marcus said.
“Good,” I answered, spitefully. “Fuck ʼem.”
Indeed, he agreed. Delano, however, remains at large.
“Yeah, where the fuck did he go?” I raised my gaze to scan the roof but Delano was nowhere in sight. “Maybe he fell through,” I said, half laughing. “We did put that hole in the skylight.”
He has probably returned to his quarters, said Marcus. I would not be surprised to know he has some tricks left.
“Dammit.” I stood still for a second too long, momentarily paralyzed by a bout of indecision. It felt wrong to leave the center of the fight behind like a general abandoning her troops. But I also knew without a doubt that since I was the one who had forged the spear in Carcerum, I needed to wield it. Anyone else would be crushed by Delano’s might.
I stepped forward to resume my journey to the temple, only to be stopped by a rising wall of screams. The combatants behind me either scrambled or were tossed aside to make room for the massive beast who hit me in the back like a semi-truck. I pitched forward and barely managed to break my fall. A lumbering, rank shadow fell over me.
“Hello, you little witch,” jeered the ogre and his nose wrinkled in disdain. “Surely you must remember me.” He notched his knuckles under my chin. The skin stretched taut on my neck as he forced my head up. With his fist holding my jaw closed, the only reply I could muster was a decisive middle finger. He growled and increased the pressure. My jaw and the vertebrae at the back of my neck creaked audibly.
At that moment, a furry hand clamped down on the ogre’s greasy, bald skull. The razor-sharp claws raked over his skin and relea
sed a trail of foul blood to the air. He only had a moment of fleeting horror as the first hand’s mate latched onto the other side of his head and the two tore him in half from head to toe. Ogre blood sprayed across me in a fine mist. I closed my mouth and eyes tightly.
“What are you doing?” Maya roared. Her arms were bloody up to the shoulders with fur caked into it. “If I can remember my humanity on a daily basis, you can damn well save it.” She pushed me toward the temple. “Go, go, go! We can handle things on our own.” I picked myself up with a smile. She was very serious.
The sharp reports of a gun cut through the din. Steph and Frank broke through the ranks and dodged around a falling god. She grinned at me as she took pot shots without looking. “Vic!” she shouted. “Go after that living ball-sack. We have it covered here.”
“Tell him Frank says hello!” the vampire added.
Steph flashed him a warning look. “Don’t tell him that.”
More gunshots snapped through the air. Another god fell dead where it stood, killed by an unseen assassin. If I squinted hard at the temple door, I thought there might be a glimpse of Amber, holed up in her makeshift nest with a huge grin on her face.
“Don’t just stand there, Vic!” The newest voice made me whirl around. Jules leapt across the carnage and swung Brax’s hammer as if it rained money instead of fire. She had a look on her face that I’d only seen in the courtroom before—raw, intense conviction. Clearly, those two had enjoyed a few discussions about the philosophy of violence, and so far, it looked like Brax had won. “You heard Steph,” Jules shouted again. She made another mighty swing and a smallish woodland god, all leaves and delicate branches, catapulted out of her path. “Don’t let him get away.”
It seems as though your friends know best, after all, Marcus said.
“Okay, okay!” I gave the battlefield one last glance. My crew would hold it the hell down. Righty and Lefty, the two giants, hung on the outskirts and picked up any stragglers dumb enough to try to leave. “I get it,” I said with a grin. “They don’t need me.” Pride swelled in my chest. I was still smiling as I turned toward the temple and broke into a run.
