by Wendy Owens
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Gabe commented.
“Yeah, I doubt the President of the United States has a protection detail like this,” Uri replied.
“What do we do about the humans?” Gabe inquired.
“We’ll give them a chance to leave.”
“And if they don’t …”
“Then that’s their choice.”
Gabe watched as Uri strode forward, coming to a stop in the middle of the street. Several of the guards took notice and began shouting at him not to move. Gabe quickly joined Uri, which then caused the men to raise their weapons in response.
Uri laughed, giving an elbow to Gabe’s ribs. “They think guns are going to stop us.”
Apprehensively Gabe looked around, “Umm, yeah, that’s a lot of guns, man. I think they could slow us down a good bit.”
“Watch this,” Uri instructed, taking another step forward.
“We said stop, or we’ll shoot!” a guard screamed out into the night.
“We’re here to see Grant Ledger.” Gabe’s stomach turned when he heard Uri say the name. Even the name Baal used as a disguise disgusted him.
A number of the guards began to laugh. One asked another what Uri had said. When the other guard repeated it, even more of them began to laugh. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen, so if that’s why you’re here, you can turn around and leave, right now.”
“We’re not going anywhere,” Uri replied firmly.
“Then we’ll be forced to shoot you,” the guard answered coolly.
Stepping forward, sensing the rising tension, Gabe quickly interjected, “I think if you go and tell someone we’re here you’ll see that Baal … I mean Mr. Ledger, will want to see us.”
“And just who are you?” the guard who seemed to be in charge inquired, never lowering his weapon.
“His name is Uri and mine’s Gabe.”
“Gabe Harwood?” the guard asked, panic in his voice for the first time.
“Yes, sir. I’m sure you …”
“Open fire!” the guard shouted without hesitation.
“Wha …” Gabe began, then leapt to one side, crouching low as the bullets began to spray in their direction. Uri and Gabe both unsheathed their weapons, swinging their blades wildly as they deflected the mass of bullets headed at them.
One bullet, and then another, ricocheted back, lodging themselves into a couple of the unsuspecting guards. With a swipe of Gabe’s hand, the remaining projectiles froze in mid-air. Gabe lowered his eyes, and as he did the remaining bullets fell to the ground. The guards watched in amazement.
A moment later, Uri and Gabe looked at the guards and Uri repeated his request. “Look, we don’t want to hurt any of you. We simply came here to see Grant Ledger.”
Instantly, several of them dropped their weapons and took off running down the street, frightened by the display of power they had just witnessed.
“Cowards!” one of the remaining guards shouted, waving his fist wildly in the air at the fleeing men.
“We just want to talk to him, that’s it,” Gabe attempted to reassure them.
“Well maybe you just wanna talk, I kind of want to send him back to Hell,” Uri muttered under his breath.
“Will you shut up? You’re not helping matters,” Gabe growled.
“I still can’t believe you think you can reason with these people,” Uri huffed, then fell silent.
The older guard with the dirty blonde hair rushed over to the face of the building. He slid a key in, and turning it, the lid to a small box fell open. The boys couldn’t quite see what he was doing, but it became clear when a loud siren started going off.
Both of them clutched their ears, the piercing noise causing jarring pains in their heads.
“What’s that?” Uri yelled in Gabe’s direction.
“I don’t know, but I have a feeling it isn’t good.”
A moment later a large steel door on the right of the building began to lift into the air, and the sirens fell silent.
“Feel that?” Uri asked clutching his stomach.
“You’re kidding me right?” Gabe barked. “My augeries have been going nuts since we got here. How can you tell the difference?”
“Whatever it is, it’s big,” Uri added.
“Whatever what is?”
But before Uri could answer Gabe’s question, it was answered for him. The earth began to shake under their feet as a large lizard head emerged from the opening.
“What the heck is that thing?” Gabe revised his question.
“I don’t know, but he’s got a friend,” Uri cried stumbling back as the second head followed. And then a third. “Make that friends.”
“Seriously? They’ve got a hydra?” Gabe grumbled as the rest of the body pushed itself out into the open.
Uri watched as fire sprayed from one of the beast’s head. “I fought one of these once.”
“Great, I’ll let you get this one then,” Gabe joked.
“I didn’t say I defeated it,” Uri snapped back.
“That’s comforting.”
“Don’t cut off their head,” Uri instructed.
“Excuse me?” Gabe asked.
“If you cut off their head, two will grow back in its place,” Uri informed his friend.
“Oh this keeps getting better and better.”
In only a few of the creature’s enormous bounding steps, it was upon the two men. They quickly went to work on the beast, swiping their swords at it. Uri shouted, suggesting they aim for the underbelly. However, the monster had different plans. Each time Gabe or Uri would even come close to moving in towards where the heart might be, one of the heads was there to block the attack.
“Any other bright ideas?” Gabe yelled.
Gabe jumped high into the air, avoiding a shot from the head that spit fire. Uri found himself in a compromising position as he fell to the ground and one of the heads caught sight of him. The neck bent and swooped in towards his location as quickly as it could. Using all the force he could muster, Uri pulled his feet back, crouching into a ball, and rolled onto his back.
“Uri!” Gabe shouted, extremely concerned by the position he saw his friend in.
As the head of the hydra came in at full sweep towards him, Uri uncoiled his body, sending his boot-clad feet directly into the chin of the one of the heads. The animal’s head went flying backwards, a green saliva spraying out of its mouth as it did.
A small portion landed on Gabe’s leg and quickly began eating its way through his denim. In a panic, Gabe cut the pants away at the knee, but not before a small bit ate through the flesh on his leg the size of his fist.
“Agh!” Gabe cried out in pain.
“Are you all right?” Uri shouted, parrying out of the way of another attack.
Gabe winced, doing his best to suck up the pain. Through gritted teeth he replied, “Yeah, I’ll be fine. Watch the green head, he spits acid.”
“Oh wonderful,” Uri huffed.
Pushing himself to his feet, Gabe attempted to put weight on the leg, almost causing him to fall to the ground once again.
“It’s bad,” he yelled to Uri. “I can’t stand on it.”
The hydra redirected its attention, all three heads in Gabe’s direction, as if it had understood what he had just said.
“Oh crap!” Gabe moaned, “What do I do now?”
Uri shot a fireball in the direction of the creature, and though it seemed slightly annoyed, it did not shift its focus from Gabe. Gabe continued moving backward, dragging his injured leg behind him, watching over his shoulder the entire time.
The hydra didn’t attack, though; it simply watched him, as if it were amused by his attempt to escape.
“I don’t think so!” Uri yelled out, lifting his hands.
A moment later the earth beneath all of them began to shake and the asphalt cracked, parting slightly beneath the monsters feet, causing it to stumble momentarily. Gabe fell back on his bottom, unable to hold hi
s footing on the shifting earth.
When he saw the hydra was struggling to stand, Gabe knew it was time to attack. Closing his eyes and pushing his hands forward he made his request of nature, blasting forth from where he stood was an arctic chill. It covered not only the hydra but also the entire building, in a layer of ice.
Uri lifted his sword high into the air and bringing it down with a mighty thud shattered the frozen hydra into thousands of pieces.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Uri rushed to his friend’s side and began to inspect his wound. “Wow, that looks nasty.”
“Yeah, where’s a healer when you need one.” Gabe laughed.
“Give it a few minutes and your body will start healing itself.”
“Something tells me we don’t have time for that,” Gabe commented looking around at the guards that were left, watching them closely from their hiding spots.
“You could cast a healing spell on yourself, you know you’re capable of it,” Uri suggested.
“I can’t, it takes too much out of me and I need to be awake for this,” Gabe replied.
“Then we should get out of here, we can come back when you’re rested,” Uri advised his friend.
“You’re not going anywhere,” a voice boomed from the front of the building.
Uri slowly turned around, catching a glimpse of what appeared to be a man in black robes. He paced back and forth in front of the doors, shoving the incompetent guards from one side to another.
“We came here to see Baal,” Uri called out, no longer seeing any reason to use the fake name, Grant Ledger. It was obvious after the hydra, the humans who were guarding him, knew full well what he was.
“And what business might you have with our great and mighty king?” the voice called back.
“Umm ... did I miss something?” Uri scoffed sarcastically, “has he gone off his rocker? The fight getting a little too intense for him? He’s gone and crowned himself king now. King of what? Jerks?”
“Silence!” the man shouted, coming to a halt, the hood falling to his shoulders. “This insolence will not be tolerated.”
And that was when Uri and Gabe caught sight of his face. The features were feline in appearance, and his hair full and long, as if it were a lion’s mane. Based on descriptions, they knew exactly who this was, one of the greatest hunters of all times, and the commander of the demon who killed Sophie and attacked Michael.
“Valafar,” Uri hissed in a low voice.
“Oh, I see my reputation precedes me,” the demon boasted.
“I’m going to kill you,” Uri enlightened him.
“I seriously doubt that,” Valafar cackled.
“Gabe, will you be all right to stay out of the way?” Uri asked.
Gabe nodded, then inquired, “Are you sure you can handle him on your own?”
“Oh yeah. This prick is responsible for Sophie, and now, he’s gonna die.”
Gabe pushed himself upright, managing to half crawl to the brick wall on the opposite side of the street. Leaning back, he took a moment to catch his breath, watching his friend begin to pace, as if he were stalking his prey.
“Oh this is too much,” Valafar bellowed, “You actually think you have a chance of beating me, don’t you?”
“Are we gonna talk or are we gonna fight?” Uri challenged.
Widening his stance, Valafar motioned for Uri to attack. Visions flashed through Uri’s mind, Sophie’s lifeless body lying on the earth in front of Gabe’s cabin, Michael’s dead eyes staring back at him. He began to tremble, the rage consuming him. Pushing off the ground with his toes, he charged at Valafar, his weapon held high over his head, it now glowing a bright green in color.
Valafar didn’t shift his position, he didn’t even blink, just watched Uri running towards him with his thunderous cry. Uri was within only feet of him now, his heart racing, as he prepared to strike. Valafar casually raised a single arm, his palm held open towards Uri.
Uri stopped, dead in his tracks, as if he had hit a wall of some kind. Valafar turned his hand upwards and clenched his fist shut. As he did, Uri felt as if hands were closing in around his throat, squeezing the life out of him. With one hand he held his sword tightly, and with the other he clutched at his neck, trying to find the source of the invisible pressure.
Just as Uri thought his life was about to be extinguished, with the ease of a flick of his wrist, Valafar sent Uri flying across the street, his back slamming into a parked car.
“Oh this is going to be fun,” Valafar laughed, walking across the street.
Gabe watched, frantically trying to think of any way he could help his friend. “Leave him alone,” Gabe shouted.
“Don’t worry pretty boy, you’re next,” Valafar yelled.
“Why are you doing this?” Gabe asked, attempting to stall and give Uri time to recover.
“It’s what I do,” Valafar said plainly, stopping directly in front of Uri’s crumpled body. “And besides, you two were the ones who came looking for trouble.”
Valafar pulled back his foot, delivering a swift kick to Uri’s ribs. “You know you smell like them. It’s disgusting. Every vile and nauseating thing about them has latched itself onto you. I can’t see the angel blood in you at all. You’re like all these humans I see day in and day out. Worthless.”
Kneeling down, Valafar wrapped his fingers around Uri’s shirt, lifting him high into the air and tossing him into the middle of the street, as if he were a mere doll, a toy to be played with. Uri hit the ground with a thud and skidded to a stop.
Coughing, spitting out a spray of blood, he pushed himself up onto his hands and knees, looking around for his sword, which had broken free from his grasp mid-air. Catching sight of it ahead of him, about five yards, Uri scurried forward, Valafar’s footsteps close behind.
“What’s this, are you still trying? I will say this about humans … they have loads of perseverance. You seem to have inherited that trait, as well. Not that it will do you any good.”
Gabe watched as Valafar walked towards his friend, his feet heavy with a mission, without giving it another thought Gabe lifted his hands in the direction of Valafar, casting a fireball and thrusting it in Valafar’s direction. The first one hit a nearby lamppost, grabbing the attention of the demon, who turned to face Gabe. Gabe had now managed to prop himself up against the brick wall, the tissue on his leg already beginning to regenerate, though very slowly.
Thrusting the heel of his hand towards Valafar, Gabe cried out, a shot of blue lightning leaping from his palm. Valafar responded with a spell of his own, deflecting Gabe’s magic.
“You two are really thick! When will you get the fact that you can’t beat me?” Valafar screamed in the direction of Gabe.
Before he could turn to re-engage Uri, Valafar was robbed of his voice. Looking down to his chest, he saw a green glowing blade sticking out of his gut. Uri slowly twisted the sword, the gurgling noises squeaking out from between Valafar’s lips.
Uri leaned in close over the monster’s shoulder. He whispered in his ear, “What were you saying about us never beating you?”
Pulling the weapon free, Uri watched as Valafar’s body slumped and fell to the ground. Raising his sword above his head he yelled out with a frenzied cry, then brought it down with all his fury, and cleanly sliced the demon’s head with ease. Uri fell to his knees next to the body, sinking his chin down into his own chest and sitting silently. His eyes closed tightly.
Gabe hobbled to Uri’s side, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Are you all right?”
“I hope she knows that was for her,” Uri remarked, not moving.
Before Uri could stand, the street around them was filled with a deafening sound. “What is that?” Uri shouted. “It sounds like … frogs.”
Gabe knew exactly what that noise was. He was about to be granted the audience he had requested. “Uri, you have to hide, now!”
“What? Why?”
“Please, just hide, there, in the alley,” Gabe
begged.
“No, why on earth would I hide?” Uri argued.
“Just do it for me. I need you to promise me something,” Gabe knew he didn’t have much time.
“What are you talking about?”
“Promise if something happens to me, you’ll take care of Rachel and Micah.”
“What’s going to happen to you?” Uri was obviously confused. The sound of the frogs had nearly over taken them now.
“Please!” Gabe shouted, his eyes filling with tears. “You have to promise me.”
“Fine, I promise,” Uri replied. “Now will you tell me what the heck is going on?”
Squeezing Uri’s arm he commanded, “You promised, now hide!”
Something in Gabe’s voice that last time made him listen. Rushing to the alley, and positioning himself behind a stack of pallets, Uri peered between them, watching for a hint of what Gabe might be talking about.
The croaking sounds stopped in an instant and an eerie silence fell over the street. It was the quietest Gabe could ever remember New York sounding. Turning around slowly, he already knew what would be waiting for him. Before he even lifted his gaze, he said, “Hello Baal.”
Uri’s breath caught in his throat as he watched, helpless from his hiding spot.
“Hello Gabe, so nice of you to come for a visit.” Baal’s voice was as soft as velvet. He looked around at the mess before him. Valafar’s body, the pieces of the hydra, now starting to melt, caused a lingering grotesque smell of flesh to hang in the air. “Although, I must say that your manners leave something to be desired, my dear boy. Hasn’t anyone ever told you it’s customary to bring someone a housewarming gift when they move into a new place.”
“I figured you weren’t staying,” Gabe said in a cool tone.
Uri could hardly believe his ears. The absolute nerve of Gabe to speak to Baal in such a manner, he couldn’t be prouder.
“Oh no, I quite like it here.” Baal laughed, straightening the lapel of his jacket.
Gabe inspected the man before him, his trademark devilish smirk on his face. Baal pulled the white cuffs of his shirt over his wrists, his grey, pinstripe, three-piece suit, made him look like he belonged on the cover of a men’s fashion magazine. He ran his fingers through his slicked back black hair, his tongue flicking out and wetting the corners of his lips. Gabe shivered as he watched him.
