Vessel: The Demontouched Saga (Book 4)

by Douglas Wayne

  “Need a hand,” Alana says, placing Nal on the ground.

  I nod and wait for her to stand in front of Sara before slicing the remaining rope.

  With her mass free, Sara falls to the front right into Alana’s arm.

  “Good catch I say, catching my knife.”

  I limp over to take Alana’s place, holding Sara up. I brush the hair out of her face before saying I’m sorry. Unfortunately I don’t get to do more because I look up in time to see three armed men with their rifles out towards us.

  “Figured someone would come for them.”

  - 11 -

  “You must be Louis,” I say, standing up.

  “The one and only.” He walks up and grabs my knife off the ground before taking the sword from my hip. I look over to see Alana getting the same treatment.

  “Let us go and there won’t be any problems,” I say, hands in the air.

  Louis laughs. “Let you go?” he says. “But playtime has just begun.”

  One of his goons brings over a plastic folding lawn char, placing it just behind him. “You know what this is?” he says, pulling Sara’s amulet out of his pocket.

  “I’ve seen it a few times,” I say, nodding to Sara. “Belongs to the girl now.”

  “She can have it back,” he says. “Soon.” He takes a seat on the chair. “This little thing houses the spirit of one of the greatest demons to have ever walked this earth.”

  “For being a great demon, he sure didn’t help the last guy who had the necklace.”

  “If you weren’t around over a thousand years ago, you wouldn’t know what he is capable of.” He twirls the necklace around in his hands. “He was responsible for the fall of hundreds of nations in his time. Murderer of millions.”

  “Sounds like pleasant fellow,” I say, shifting the weight off of my foot.

  “Indeed,” he says, sitting forward. “I thought we lost this relic years ago.”

  “Blaine beat you to it,” I say.

  “Blaine was worthless,” he says. “A wanna-be who was good for nothing besides killing women.”

  “I thought you liked that sort of thing?”

  He laughs. “Don’t get me wrong. I like a good murder like the next demon. But, I prefer my deaths to have a purpose.”

  “Purpose?” I say. “Then why were you killing her?” I point to Sara on the ground.

  “Killing her?” he laughs. “We were simply preparing her.”

  “For what?”

  He laughs. “You seem so intent on your destruction, Demontouched.”

  “Persistence is my middle name.”

  “Fine,” he says, standing up. “She should be close enough.”

  I feel someone grab me by the cuff of my neck, pulling me away. I try to pull free, but they are holding me tight.

  Louis kneels down at Sara’s side. He untangles the chain moments before placing the amulet around her neck, standing up once he has it clasped.

  “Arise my brother,” he says.

  On the ground Sara stirs. At first staring at her hands. Getting to her feet shortly after.

  “Balthazaar?” she says. “Is that truly you?”

  “Welcome home, old friend.”

  “What the fuck did you do?” I yell.

  “She obviously wanted the power,” Louis laughed. “I only allowed her to have all of it.”

  I shake myself free and run over to Sara, pulling off the necklace when I’m close.

  “Infidel!” she yells before hitting me with a backhand that sends me flying across the yard and through a plastic table.

  After dusting myself off I look at the amulet, noticing the color has changed from red to white. “How the?”

  “How were we to know he didn’t die,” Louis says.

  Sara takes a few steps in my direction, her eyes turning the color of flame. “You have interfered long enough,” she says, her hair waving in the air.

  Louis places his hand on her chest. “Save your power, exalted one. Abaddon needs your aid with the portal. I will handle this ant.”

  She nods, hair slowly falling around her shoulders as her eyes turn back to their normal color. “I will see you in hell, Demontouched.” She laughs for a moment before walking away with one goon.

  “I guess you had a plan for him too?” I say, pointing to Nal.

  “No,” he says. “We just wanted him to die.”

  He takes a few steps back towards the house, my blade in hand. “This weapon will come in handy in our coming battle.”

  “This one?” Nal says, firing the shot gun at the demon.

  Louis drops to his knees, screaming in pain as the flesh from his leg sizzles in protest. He drops the blades on the ground before clutching his leg.

  Alana elbows her captor in the gut before bringing him to the ground with a Judo flip. I reach out for my knife and send it her way allowing her to shove it into the man’s eye.

  Behind her, Nal pumps the shotgun sending the spent cartridge to the ground before walking up to Louis on the ground. “Game over, asshole,” he says, pulling the trigger again.

  Louis yells out again as the salt penetrates the flesh of his face, sending the flesh of his cheek into the house.

  “I got this,” I say, kneeling over his body. “Any last words?”

  Louis says something in demonic that I only assume is cursing me and my mother’s name. Demons never have been the creative type.

  I place the palm of my hand over the assholes face, fingers on his temples. “Exorcizamus.”

  The white flash leaves my palm, hitting him in the head. He leans back, hands on his face in a feeble attempt to hold his soul in. But it is in vain as the shadowy tendrils of his spirit floats into my eyes instead, sending Louis’s body collapsing to the floor in a pool of blood. As the soul enters my body, I feel a surge of adrenaline through my blood, sending me into a heightened state of awareness.

  “Well that was interesting,” Nal says, rubbing his wrists.

  “No shit,” I say, grabbing my sword. “We need to stop her before she gets too far.”

  “Let’s go,” Nal says.

  Alana rushes up to take the lead, rifle in hand.

  We pass around the side of the building, noticing a car heading our direction. With my knife in hand, I send it flying at the vehicle, hoping to stick it in the tire. The driver, apparently seeing the knife, swerving at the last second, crashing into a parked car.

  “Good enough,” Nal says, walking ahead.

  Three car doors open, sending the passengers to the ground. Alana takes out the driver and man in the passenger seat with two well placed shots with Nal taking out the man in back before he can get off the ground.

  “Not your gal,” Nal says, tossing me the knife.

  “She can’t be that far away,” I say, looking ahead.

  “She isn’t,” Neil says, walking up from behind. “She is up at that yellow house.”

  I nod. “You realize that means Louis wasn’t the big bad, right?”

  “Could’ve told you that,” Nal says. “There’s a tattooed freak in charge. Louis was just a front.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding,” I say.

  “Nope, this place is all about diversion.”

  “Can you get us to the house?” I say.

  Nal nods. “This way.”

  We follow him as he storms through the streets, amazingly without trouble. Either we’ve taken out all the thugs or…

  “Shit,” Nal says, ducking behind a car. Within moments the rest of us are ducked behind a set of three cars parked on the side of the street.

  “That’s a damn army,” I say. “How the hell are we going to take them all out?”

  “We can try,” Neil says, changing out his magazine.

  I shake my head. “Even with my powers, that’s a suicide mission.”

  “What choice do we have?” Nal says. “It’s not like they’ll let us hide behind these cars all day.”

  “True.” I shift around for a better lo
ok at the pack. Just from the ones I see, I can tell we are easily outnumbered nearly eight to one. And that’s assuming we are only dealing with one demon and Isra-Sara. “What do you think?”

  “I hate to say it,” Nal says. “But we need your girl to leave.”

  “I’m not leaving without her,” I say. “I didn’t come out here to leave her to them.”

  “You don’t have much of a choice.” He puts his hand on my shoulder. “Besides. We know where to find her.”

  I nod reluctantly. “Won’t be any more fun there.”

  “No, but we’ll have better odds.”

  It doesn’t sit right with me, leaving her on her own, but I know I won’t be doing her any favors if I get my self killed out here today either. I only hope her powers keep her safe.

  Judging from the way Louis treated her, it’s probably the case.

  “I guess we sit tight, then. Wait until they leave.”

  We don’t have to wait long for it either. After hiding behind the cars for about ten minutes we hear cars starting down the street. A few minutes later they are driving down the road past our position in a convoy of nearly twenty vehicles. We bunch up around the side of the cars as they pass to avoid being seen.

  “That’s better,” Nal says, peeking around the corner once the coast is clear. “The odds are down to three to one.”

  “I’ll take it,” I say standing up.

  “Any day I know the enemy is a good day,” Neil says.

  Alana nods before standing up first.

  Within moments my ears are ringing thanks to the sound of nearby gunfire. It doesn’t take long for my posse to take down the assholes ahead, nearly evening our odds in a matter of seconds. By the time they retaliate, our odds are even better.

  Neil takes a few steps ahead of me, taking out a man who is positioned at a second floor window. “Another asshole down,” he says with a large grin on his face.

  “Good work, kid,” I say watching him work.

  I turn my head to the left, noticing the front door of a neighboring house to open.

  “Get down!” I shout. But it was too late. The man walking out of the door raises a pistol, taking aim at the kid as he turns to face his new threat. Blood shoots out of the front of Neil’s face when the bullet hits home, sending him to the ground in a heap.

  “NO!” Alana screams before taking out the shooter with a volley of precise fire.

  I kneel down in front of the kid, drawing his soul into my eyes as his body falls limp in front of me.

  Alana, changes her magazine out as it empties. Shortly after she is walking ahead taking shots at the people ahead of us.

  “Get behind cover!” I shout. But in her blood lust, Alana ignores my pleas. Ducking behind cover, I watch as she gets five yards away before she takes a shot to the leg, bringing her to her knees. With her mobility reduced, the attackers pounce sending three quick bullets to her chest sending her body to the pavement.

  “Well,” Nal says, ducking down next to me. “Our odds are back to two to one.”

  “With one of them being a demon,” I say.

  Nal nods. “One of these days I’ll learn to stop messing with them.”

  I laugh. “Too late to stop today,” I say, handing him Neil’s rifle.

  “Ready?” he asks.

  I nod.

  We stand up, facing the four men on the other side of the street. The men that are left are set up in a near semi-circle, guns trained on our position.

  “Impressive work, Demontouched,” the tattooed one says. “But your fun is over.”

  “Fun’s over when I say it is, asshole.” Nal fires his rifle, hitting him in the head. Tattoo’s head jerks back rapidly sending him stumbling, but his body refuses to fall.

  “You have to do better than that,” he says laughing. He bends forward, revealing the bullet hole in his forehead. Within moments, however, the wound closes looking like nothing happened shortly after.

  “Well shit,” Nal says lowering his weapon.

  “Wise choice,” the tattooed man says, spitting the bullet on the ground before looking at me. “How about you, Mitch? Want to play?”

  “How the hell do you know my name?”

  “I know everything about you,” he says dismissing his goons. “And your little pet, Roman.”

  “I doubt that,” I say, gripping my blades tightly.

  “Why did you leave me?” he says using Linda’s voice.

  “How the hell did you do that?” I say, knuckles turning white. It’s been over three years since I last heard that voice. As you can imagine this was the last place I expected to hear it again.

  “The same way I did this,” he says in Jack’s voice.

  Nal places his arm on my chest. “Don’t fall for it, Mitch.”

  “Fall for what?” I say stepping forward. “I don’t know how he knew those voices but I’m going to beat it out of him.”

  The tattooed guy laughs for a few minutes before coming to an abrupt stop. his eyes widen before he turns around and darts into the house.

  “What did you do?” Nal asks.

  I shrug. “Not sure,” I stay, taking a few steps forward.

  “I think I know,” I hear from a familiar voice behind me.

  “Nancy?” I say turning around to see my old friend. Nancy moves to the side revealing a short woman behind her. From the way her hair is matted over her filthy face I can tell she is definitely out of it. She doesn’t look like she is under the influence of drugs or anything. From here she almost looks exhausted.

  “Not exactly,” she says, looking me over.

  From head to toe she is a dead ringer for the woman I left in the hospital a while back. From the way she is getting around I can tell she’s gotten over being shot in the past few weeks. On her hip she holds an angel blade, similar to my own, but slightly longer.

  “What do you mean, not exactly?” Nal says, raising his gun at her.

  She holds her hands open, to her side. “She is still here, I assure you. Just… absent.”

  “Absent?”

  She blinks her eyes revealing a bright white light before closing them again. “She has become a vessel.”

  “For an angel?” I say.

  She nods. “I am Malachi. I have been sent by Micheal to prepare you for war.”

  “What war?” I say. “Armageddon?”

  “Not yet,” she says. “I must prepare you for the battle we must fight first.”

  “I don’t follow,” Nal says, lowering his weapon. “What battle are you talking about?”

  “There will be another battle on the riverfront. This time, we cannot rely on Tamiel’s sacrifice to seal the gate. This battle will require the aid of humans like you if we are to keep the forces of hell out of this world.”

  “So you are saying they have it veiled?”

  She nods. “Abaddon works under your noses to rebuild the portal, sending his lesser minions to keep you busy.”

  “He’s doing a good job,” Nal says, looking at me.

  After the last few weeks, I’m inclined to agree. I’ve hardly had time to think since Nal sent me after Duncan, let alone anything else.

  I look up, hearing the sound of a motorcycle speeding our way.

  “We going to let this one escape?” Nal says, pointing to the tattooed guy driving off on a red crotch rocket.

  “Not on my watch.” I toss my blades to the ground and step in front of him. Seeing me in the open, he revs the gas harder while aiming the bike at me. With my hands out, I quickly latch onto the fork holding the front tire with my power. A smile reaches my lips as I shift my hand to the left, turning his front tire sharply to the left with him rolling over the handlebars.

  He hits the pavement rolling, leaving a ten foot long trail of flesh and bone in his path.

  “Where are you going?” I say, drawing both blades to my hands.

  He scoots backwards a few feet, unable to stand up thanks to losing half of his calf in the crash. I can see the fl
esh healing, telling me I need to move fast.

  “Guess I won’t be seeing you at the party,” I say, thrusting my sword through his heart. When he grasps the blade, trying to pull it out, I kneel beside him and shove my dagger through the soft flesh of his throat and into his skull.

  As he shakes violently on the pavement, I place my hand on his face, drawing the tendrils of his soul into my body.

  “Now we go save Sara,” I say, wiping the man’s blood off on his pants.

  “You must not,” Nancy says. “Not yet.”

  “Why the hell not?”

  “Her bond is not pure, but they don’t know it.” she says. “If you press them now, they will force the bond even more. If that happens you may lose her forever.” She takes a few steps towards Alana’s body in the middle of the road. “I believe she is still with us.”

  I walk over and kneel next to Alana on the ground. Her face is pale and her eyes glassy. I can tell she doesn’t have much longer.

  “I’m sorry,” she says, coughing up blood.

  “Don’t be,” I say. “You did well.”

  She allows a smile to form on her lips before coughing more.

  “I can take you home,” I say. “If you like.”

  She looks up at me, tears in her eyes and nods.

  Nal turns away when I place my hand on her head, drawing her soul into my body.

  “Having a reaper on our side will give us a much better chance,” she says.

  I blink a few times trying to fight off the tears. “Will we have a chance to save Sara?”

  At this point, that’s all I care about.

  She nods again. “There will be a window in the coming weeks we can use to save her. Until then, we must let her go.”

  “What the hell are we supposed to do in the meantime?” I say.

  “We take this one back to her husband,” she says, motioning to the woman behind her. “After that, we must hunt. It is vital to keep them from gaining too much strength.”

  Nal looks over and smiles. “I know just the place to start.”

  Continued in Sacrifice

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