Stopping a few feet away, she twirled the chain like a lasso high above her head to gain enough momentum then—she tossed it—catching the Minotaur’s legs as Thomas twisted on the horns. “Help me!” she shouted as Rick and Julian ran forward. All three grabbed the chain and pulled just as a golden blur soared through the air in front of them.
Eva smashed into the Minotaur’s chest, propelling the bull backwards towards the yawning pit. The impact was just what was needed to knock the bull off balance as the she-wolf launched her body off of the creature, bouncing back onto the floor of the cave.
“Pull—pull hard!” Kate ordered. The three of them tugged on the chain, yanking the bull’s feet out from under him. The Minotaur teetered, suspended in the air for a moment before it began to fall backwards. “Thomas—jump!” the three shouted in unison as Rick leaped forward to catch his friend.
Thomas pushed off the creature’s shoulders in an attempt to jump to safety but he was weak—his strength spent. He’d aimed for the open space between the rocks and the massive bull but he missed his mark. Before Rick could reach him, Thomas’ back was slammed against the jutting rocks protruding from the mountain of boulders. His fragile body seemed to hang there, suspended in excruciating pain for a brief moment before sliding down the rocky surface to land with a ‘thud’ on the hard cavern floor.
The Minotaur, arms flailing and a queer look on its face, teetered on the edge of the pit before tumbling backwards, disappearing with a wail of terror into the darkness of the endless abyss. Kate screamed, releasing the chain as she ran towards Thomas. “Thomas—my god, Thomas,” she whispered as she fell to her knees beside the injured man as Rick and Julian came up behind her.
Kate gently turned Thomas over, brushing his reddish-brown hair away from a face that was smudged with dirt and blood. “Thomas—please honey—it’s me—Kate. Are—are you okay?” she asked as Thomas looked at her strangely. “Thomas—please—talk to me.”
“Kate…” Rick whispered, kneeling beside her. “…take it easy with him. I think—I think he may be hurt pretty badly.”
Kate stared at Rick as if he had a third eye.”What—no—you’re wrong. He’s fine. He—he just needs to catch his breath, you know, clear his head and he’ll be on his feet. Come on, Thomas—show him—Thomas?”
Thomas turned his head, blinking his eyes before looking at the woman hovering over him. “Kate…” his eyes were glazed and she could tell he was in immense pain as he struggled to get the words out. “ Kate—I—I can’t— feel my legs.”
“Shit!” Julian cursed as Rick’s deft hands examined every inch of Thomas’ body. “Thomas—can you feel this?” he asked as he pressed on Thomas arms, then his chest. The young man nodded in the affirmative.
“That’s good—how about this?” The vampire then pressed on Thomas hip. As Thomas shook his head “no”, the vampire proceeded to bend his leg. “This?” and Thomas again shook his head “no” again. Rick’s eyes met Julian’s and the slight shaking of his head was barely noticeable as he turned to Kate, “Listen Kate—Thomas is—hurt pretty badly. We won’t know the true extent of his injuries until we get him out of here. I’ll carry him—you help Julian with Christoff. We have to get Christoff some blood and Thomas to a hospital as soon as possible.” Rick leaned forward and gently lifted the injured man into his arms. Once he was standing again, he looked around the cavern.” Where—what happened to the wolves?”
The three of them scoured the large room. It soon became apparent that not one werewolf remained inside the cavern. “They’re gone—the harpies, too.”Kate said as she stumbled to rise. Numbly, she followed Julian over to where Christoff still lay unmoving.
“I have a bad feeling about this but we can’t worry about that now.” Julian told them as he leaned over the fallen vampire. “Christoff,” he said, shaking his friend but he received no response. Turning him over, Julian noticed Christoff’s midnight eyes were glassy and unresponsive.
“Here, Julian…” Rick said as he passed Thomas’ body to the other man, “…you and Kate take Thomas and I’ll get Christoff. We’ll get them out—we’ll get them…” but before he could finish his sentence a deep, husky voice was heard coming from somewhere behind them.
“Oh my, my, my—Lou was very fond of that Minotaur. Someone is surely going to pay dearly—and that’s just the way we like it, right boys?”
Three pairs of eyes turned, traveling to the top of the long staircase where they came to rest upon the gloating figure of Lilith. Robert and Roman, with Lucian and Simon clasped tightly in their arms, flanked her on either side.
“Welcome friends—I’ve been waiting a long time for this.”
Chapter 25
So focused was Lilith on the three figures staring up at her that she failed to notice a slight movement off to her right. A lone figure, her golden body hugging the far wall of the cavern, slipped quietly into the shadows while the demon moved slowly forward, scanning the destruction below her as she descended the stairs. High above her, the harpies began a loud chanting; paying homage, in their own depraved way, to their demon patroness as they watched her step onto what had now become a battlefield.
“Regina de Damno—Regina de Damno.” Over and over again the birdlike figures sang in unison. The chant was faint, a mere whisper, so soft it was almost subliminal and Lilith basked in their praise as she savored the destruction laid out before her. She surveyed the carnage, the broken bodies of dozens of werewolves who, in death, had morphed back into their human forms. There were gang members, the homeless and a sprinkling of prostitutes; the expendables of society, their lives altered forever by the twist of fate that had thrown them into the path of the hounds of Hell.
Lilith stopped briefly to examine the severed head of a young girl, her former beauty still evident even in death. Leaning down, the she-demon fingered the jet black hair matted with blood, the rosebud mouth agape in a death scream, the silver blue eyes frozen in shock. “If you’d used your physical attributes to their full advantage, my little lovely, you might not have ended your worthless life in such a horrific manner. Shame—I could have trained one such as you well,” she whispered.
Continuing her tour of the battlefield with macabre fascination, the demon’s red eyes fell upon the tattooed body of a Hispanic man, his nude body ravaged, his limbs severed. Turning her head slightly to the left, she addressed the hounds behind her, “It would seem you over-estimated the skill of your pups, gentleman and, as a result, they were slaughtered.” Her evil laugh emphasized her words.
“They served their purpose, mistress.” Roman pointed out, “The Dark Vampire was immobilized. He is no longer a threat to anyone—as you requested. He is ready to be harvested by our Lord Lucifer.”
Lilith walked over to where Christoff lay deep in the sleep of the undead, his handsome face stone cold, his precious blood pooling near the corners of his mouth. “So—this is the one they call the Dark Vampire. Hmm—I think you might be right, Roman. He would make a fine trophy for Lu.” An evil smirk spread across Lilith’s face as she crouched beside the fallen vampire. Leaning close, her serpentine tongue flittered forth, sliding down Christoff’s cheek where her ruby lips locked with those of the vampire. “Ahh—this one had so much power I can still taste it,” she said raising her head, eyes closed as she licked the vampire’s blood from her lips.
Standing, she stared at Christoff’s still form, “What a waste—all that beauty—all that power gone now and for what—them?” she shouted pointing a red tipped finger at Julian and the others. “This is the second time your misguided allegiance to that man has brought you to the brink of destruction, vampire. But this time there is no angel to bring you back from death’s grasp and Lu will claim his prize.”
“More than one, mistress…” Robert pointed out, capturing Lilith’s attention, “…and that one…” he continued, pointing to the man standing
at Christoff’s feet, “… is Julian Reynolds, in the flesh. The master covets him almost as much as the warrior and the vampire priest—and he seems to have survived the fight relatively unscathed.”
Lilith red eyes lingered on Julian for a moment as something in her memory was triggered. “Ahh, the vampire who would be human—and the cause of this entire mess—uhh, uhh, uh…” she warned, raising a hand to stop him as Julian, eyes blazing with hatred, started to protest, “…there’s no denying it—you know it’s the truth. If Dragone hadn’t been so obsessed with bringing you back into his fold— you and your lady would be living happily ever after in some dingy little town as we speak. The warrior, over there, would be alive and well and divesting virgins of their virtue as well as their blood and your priest…” Lilith said, focusing her hungry eyes on Rick, “…well, he would still be alive and spouting his lies in church every Sunday morning. So, you see Mister Reynolds, you are the cause of all of this bloodshed and destruction and you have become invaluable to me.”
“I’d rather die than help you in any way, bitch!”
“Oh make no mistake that’s exactly what you will do but not before you help me deal with a certain ruler of Hell. You see, I know my demon lover well. He promised me the vampire priest if I did all the dirty work and captured him myself. But, now that the priest is here, The Dark Lord will try to take him away from me. That’s where you and your undead friend come in. You two will be my bargaining chips—two for the price of one,” she told Julian, “Even Lucifer wouldn’t argue with those rates. And that brings us to the rest of your little group. They’re pretty much useless to me so they will, of course, be sacrificed. A situation I will have to handle myself because your newborns, Robert…” she said turning to the man beside her, “…were incapable of killing even one of them. I would have thought that any creation of yours would have the depravity to take out at least one of the humans even if they had help from a couple of vampires and—a mangy wolf. Speaking of which…”Lilith said, spinning in a circle to look around the room, “…where is the Wolf Mother?”
Before anyone could respond, Kate shifted Thomas’ broken body in her arms causing the young man to groan in agony, drawing Lilith’s attention. She walked over to the couple huddled against a large boulder. Kneeling beside them, she whispered to Thomas, “Not so cocky now are we, hon. You’re such a pathetic thing, even for a human— always trying to be something that you’re not. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I understand why you do it. I mean what else can you do since even your girlfriend is stronger than you?”
Kate’s eyes blazed with fury but she held her tongue as Thomas lay in her arms, his body wracked with pain.
“Look at you now…”Lilith continued, “…your body is broken and bleeding and pretty much unfixable I would say. You’d have been better off letting me kill you when I…”
“Slap!” Before Lilith could finish her taunting, Kate backhanded the demon across her flawless face, the sharp edges of Thomas’ engagement ring digging into Lilith’s porcelain flesh, ripping away its beautiful façade.
The harpy’s cry erupted in a chorus of screeching as Lilith screamed with rage, “You filthy little bitch—look what you’ve done!” Holding her cheek with one hand, Lilith drew back the other, landing a hard punch to Kate’s jaw, sending the kneeling woman sprawling across the floor.
“Ahhh!” Julian roared as he bolted forward, scooping the cattle prod up from the floor as he charged towards the she-demon.
But Lilith, sensing him coming, grabbed the head of the prod just as Julian thrust it in her direction. She allowed the weapon to touch her as she absorbed the electrical current. Serving as its conduit, Lilith uttered an evil cackle as she reached for Julian. The force of the electrical current when they made contact sent Julian flying across the room.
“Enough!” shrieked Lilith, “I’m so tired of this little group’s pathetic attempts at bravado. Clearly you all need a lesson in humility—a lesson in fear. Roman…” she shouted, pivoting towards the hound and the vampire struggling it his arms, “…if you would, please.”
Roman nodded, pulling one hand back and away from Lucian. Then, before anyone even realized what was happening, a sickening sound was heard throughout the cave as the hound’s fist tore through flesh and bone, entering Lucian’s body through his back and exiting through his chest. The vampire’s eyes grew wide with shock as his body was wracked with pain. He stared for a brief moment at the heart, still beating, in the hound’s hand before it, as well as his body, exploded in a cloud of dust.
“Lucian!” screamed Simon. His cry of anguish echoed throughout the cavern as he struggled to break free of Robert’s hold on him.
“Well done, brother.”Robert said as he roared with laughter. The hound’s momentary lapse afforded Simon the opportunity he was looking for. With a vicious thrust, the vampire slammed his head backwards. There was a loud crack, then the sound of bone on bone, as Simon’s skull connected with the bridge of Robert’s nose.
“Son of a bitch!” Robert cursed as he was momentarily caught off guard but, as Simon prepared to run forward, the hound snapped back to attention, grabbing the vampire’s arms and pulling him back with a yank. “You bastard…”Robert whispered into Simon’s ear as he wrapped his arms tightly around him, “…you miss your friend so much then, by all means, go and join him.”
Robert pulled back squeezing hard. Simon was lifted off of the floor, his legs dangling like a marionette. Lilith and Roman walked towards them as Simon struggled against the strength of the hound. “You’re a fool, vampire.” Lilith said softly, “You were never part of any bargain…” she told him as she held her hand out towards Roman, “…so I’m afraid you’re expendable as well.”
Roman reached inside his military jacket and withdrew Simon’s bronze dagger. “A crude weapon…”Lilith said, “…but beautiful in its simplicity. Assyrian, I believe?” The demon wrapped her manicured fingers around the knife’s handle. The group watched with horror-filled eyes as Lilith thrust the ancient blade, all the way up to the hilt, directly into Simon’s heart. The vampire grimaced in pain but would not cry out as he, too, disintegrated into a pile of ash.
“No…” the word was barely heard by anyone until the anguished whisper was spoken again, a little louder this time, “…no…” and all eyes turned towards Rick. The vampire, his head hung down and twisting slowly from side to side, kept repeating that single word, “…no—no—no…” as if it had the power to change what had just happened to his friends. Suddenly the vampire’s head jerked upward. Rick, eyes ablaze with fury, fangs distended, charged at Lilith, slamming hard into the side of the demon.
“You soulless bitch!” Rick screamed at her as his own demon took charge and all that was once human inside of him was forgotten. He savagely ripped at Lilith with his own sharp claws, tearing at her human façade as layers of clothing and skin fell to the ground in a bloody heap. The she-demon, shrieking in agony, tried desperately to fight him off, but Rick’s frenzy, fueled by all the anguish and hatred of the past year, was too much for her.
“Help me. Don’t just stand there, you fools—get—him—off—of me!”
The hounds rushed forward but it took their combined strength to pull the crazed vampire off of their mistress. They struggled to hold Rick away from Lilith, the vampire’s arms and legs flailing violently as he hissed wildly, straining to reach the demon.
Lilith whipped around to face her assailant as she mindlessly raised the dagger to strike. Rick, his anger and grief washing away any terror he might have felt at the sight of the weapon, lunged at Lilith, bones cracking in his arms, ribs breaking as the hounds fought to hold him back.
“You venomous abomination—I will kill you!” the vampire shrieked in hatred.
“Priest…” she spat at him as she clutched at the tattered remains of her once beautiful face, “…I may have coveted you once but—no�
��more. I had such wonderful plans for the two of us but—it’s obvious you cannot be trained.” Lilith told him as she forced a piece of torn cheek back into place over her reptilian flesh. “Bring him closer.”
The two hounds continued to struggle against Rick’s fury. Hoisting him up, they stretched out his arms replicating the Crucifixion as they dragged him to a standstill in front of Lilith. “You leave me no choice so now, my pet—it is time to die. Join your friends and return to dust,” she said as she pulled back her arm, thrusting the dagger towards Rick’s chest.
Out of the shadows the golden wolf streaked across the floor lunging towards the demon. Evangeline captured Lilith’s knife wielding hand between her strong jaws and chomped down hard, ripping through flesh and bone. Lilith’s scream echoed throughout the cavern as the Wolf Mother then slammed her fur clad body into Roman, knocking him off his feet and freeing Rick.
Lilith’s hand bounced across the floor still clutching the Assyrian blade as black liquid oozed from the demon’s severed wrist. Rick, seeing his chance, charged at Lilith, his dagger-like claws ready to finish what he’d started.
“Rick—watch your back!” But Julian’s warning came too late.
Robert grabbed the vampire from behind. Peeling him off of Lilith, the hound shoved his fist into Rick’s kidney sending the vampire crumbling to the floor. He then reached down to capture Rick in a strangle hold making it impossible for the vampire to move—or to come to Eva’s aid as she bounded towards the protection of the rock wall with Roman close on her heels. The demon morphed from human to hound in a matter of seconds, the great brown beast tackling the smaller wolf, knocking Eva to the ground.
A Soul in Torment Page 49
