by Ciara Graves
“Alright then, Demon Lord Tonamech, tell us how you’d like to proceed. My men and I will follow your orders. After all, you know this area best, and despite what I have been through in this war, you have, I believe, faced off against Zeraxin more than I have.”
Lela knew Dakota better than anyone here, but I forced those words down. “We need to find a way to catch them off guard. If we can break through the veil on our sources of power, we might have more of a fighting chance,” I explained. “All of us.”
Loz frowned. “What do you mean? We can still access our holy light. Can Zeraxin cut us off, too?”
“Not that we’ve seen, but as I said, it's being drained just as our hellfire is. If we break the veil around the sources, we think there’s a chance we can use all our powers before Hadariel destroys them for good.” I told him, then added, “How do you feel about using hellfire?”
“Is that even possible?”
“We were on the verge of making it happen when Dakota fell. And with the sources freed from whatever binds Hadariel’s placed on them, who the hell knows, but it’s worth a shot. Might be our only shot at this point.”
“Right, then we break the veil and go after Hadariel and Zeraxin.”
“No,” I growled. “Hadariel is mine. No one touches him. No one.”
I waited for him to argue with me, but he nodded slowly. “Understood.”
Another gentle touch traced my jaw.
I bit my cheek so hard blood seeped into my mouth. I quietly asked Ilran to pull up the map of Dakota. She gave me a funny look, but did as I asked. For the next five hours, we went through one plan after another until finally, we came to an agreement on what we believed would work. Our small force would be divided into four groups. Two would focus on the sources of our power, and the other two would focus solely on Zeraxin. He controlled the evil, and with his ability to bind our hellfire, even if we freed it from the veil, there was a chance he’d still be able to stop us. As much as I wanted to go straight for Hadariel, we had to be smart.
After we settled the details, I was the first to leave the table and exit the cave. Fresh air layered with mist from the cold falls hit my face. I sat on a large boulder and tilted my head to stare at the sky. A sliver of stars shone through the thunderheads and my spirits lifted for a second. Until the clouds rolled back in.
This plan of ours was going to be near impossible to pull off, but it was all we had. Our last hoorah.
“Probably going to die tomorrow,” I whispered as I reached into my pocket. The button I’d held onto all this time rested in my palm. I closed my fist around it and focused on Lela’s face and every memory I had of her.
One more time, if I could just see her one more time, I could make it through tomorrow with a shred of hope. After five minutes, only the rushing of the falls kept me company. There was no grove lit by bright sunshine. There was no soft grass.
There was no Lela.
I brought the button to my lips, then let it fall into the water flowing down through the mountains.
Chapter 11
Mech
“We’re all gonna die,” Bobby mumbled beside me.
Kexan glowered at him. “Now you sound like Mech.”
I checked the shotgun.
“And? Pretty sure he’s right. That, my friend, is what death looks like when it’s pissed off.” He motioned to the swarming mass of evil flooding Dakota. The rift had grown since we were last here. From the influx of wraiths and hellhounds and countless other horrifying creatures, the portal was opening just as Hadariel intended. “I can’t believe we’re doing this.”
I racked a shell. “You didn’t have to come, remember? No one did.”
“You think I’m going to miss this chance to take some more of those bastards down with me? Shit, Mech, it’s pretty much the end of the world if we fail. No way I’m hiding out in some cave. Nope,” he said, pulling his rifle around and checking the scope, “I want a front-row view of the end.”
“And you called me overdramatic.”
Bobby tilted his head back and forth. “Yeah, pretty much.”
I glanced at the stitches holding his head in place. We’d reinforced them since his head always seemed to be the first thing he lost in a fight. If Bobby was running around headless, he was pretty much a goner. I wanted my friend to have some sort of fighting chance, especially since he and Kexan were leading the teams to free the power sources, Ilran, Nathaniel, and Remiel with them. They had to succeed for the rest of our plan to have a chance at working.
Behind me was the rest of our small army. The angels helped bolster our numbers, but not by much. The demons who weren’t severely injured from the fall of Dakota were here. As were the humans. Bryan had to convince several of the older kids to stay behind to watch over the younger ones. They’d been more than ready to join the fight. I was happy they weren’t here. I’d seen too many kids killed by these monsters. I wasn’t sure I could bear watching them slaughtered. Loz and the four other generals stayed true to their word and made ready to attack Zeraxin. He was their focus. I’d help them until Hadariel became a threat. Then I’d turn my attention to him and with any luck, kill him.
A few rounds of shells infused with hellfire to the head might do the trick.
“Are we ready?” I asked Bryan as he approached, holding a burlap sack.
He counted what was inside and gave me a devious grin. “Oh, yeah, we’re ready. Time to blow some shit up.”
“Everyone knows their job,” I said to the group as they gathered around. “If anyone wants to back out, now’s the time. You won’t be judged, but I do ask that if you return to the caves, you fight to keep those humans alive as long as you can, should we fail.”
Not a single person moved. If determination alone could end this war, Hadariel wouldn’t stand a chance.
“Let’s move out.”
The boulder was shitty cover, but it was the best we could find. My group was scattered in various places around the outside of Dakota, waiting for the signal to move in. Loz crouched beside me, rifle in hand. We talked yesterday about the impossibility of being able to sneak any angel forces near Dakota and figured we’d just risk that Hadariel might sense their presence. If he did, he wasn’t worried about them. My hope was there was too much interference between the other angels already present and the evil pouring out of the rift that he simply couldn’t pick up on their holy light.
“How long?” he whispered.
“Not sure. Bryan was going to try and get to an optimal position.”
It had been over fifteen minutes since we split up. Had they been caught? I assumed if any of our teams were found, Zeraxin or Hadariel would be certain to make an example of us. The horned monster himself was currently fifty yards away, seated in front of a bonfire with several abominations and wraiths at his side. He picked his sharp teeth with a bone.
Somewhere on the far side of the compound, Kexan and Bobby, with their two teams, were also hiding and waiting. There were too many guards around the stone archways to even let them get remotely close enough to destroy the glowing box.
I had no eyes on Hadariel, but the high general was here. He had to be. I peeked around the boulder again, scanning for any sign of Bryan in trouble when Zeraxin suddenly shot to his feet.
I looked in the direction he did, as a column of fire exploded from the center of Dakota. A second one was quickly followed by a third. Leave it to Bryan to not only create a tiny distraction but set off a sequence of bombs in the midst of the enemy. Zeraxin shouted orders, and a swarm of abominations and zombies lumbered toward the explosions. More went off, shaking the ground and drowning out the panicked screams of those unlucky enough to be caught in the blasts.
Zeraxin lingered behind with only his guard to protect him. I counted off the seconds, while more bombs exploded. When there was a decent distance between Zeraxin and the main army, I sprinted around the boulder, with Loz and the rest following me.
I had no way to see if
Bobby and Kexan were able to make their move or not.
Zeraxin spotted us charging forward and smirked as if he’d been wondering when we’d show up.
I aimed the shotgun at his face, but a wraith slipped in between us and took the hit. Its robes caught with hellfire and it shrieked as its body disintegrated into a puff of smoke.
A second did the same. Then we were in full combat. I racked another shell and managed to get off a second shot at a wraith, but the one behind it crowded me, knocking the gun to the side. The third shot went wide, and then I was thrown through the air. Loz let out a battle cry as his holy light shifted into a longsword. He charged Zeraxin.
I scrambled to my feet. Idiot. I told him to conserve his holy light until he was ready to make the kill. Barely a minute into the fight and the sword shimmered like it was about to go out.
Using his sword and heavy-headed mace, Zeraxin easily beat back Loz and the three generals. An angel caught the mace to the face. His head caved in. Zeraxin kicked the motionless body aside and ran a second through.
Loz shouted. His holy light flared a bright blue. His sword sparked when it clashed against Zeraxin’s. I aimed the shotgun for the monster’s head while he was still, but a wraith knocked into me from behind. The shot blasted through Zeraxin’s upper thigh. His head whipped around and he snarled, flashing rows of fangs. He brought up his hooved foot, kicked Loz in the chest, then turned for me.
As he stalked closer, crowing like a maniac, I chanced a look around. Hadariel. Where was he?
“I told Hadariel we wouldn’t have to hunt you down,” Zeraxin said as he casually swung the mace in his hand. “That you’d be dumb enough to come for us.”
I aimed the gun at his head and pulled the trigger. He moved and the shot missed.
“What’s wrong, Mech? Can’t use your hellfire?” He laughed as those invisible bonds appeared and tightened around my fire. It was why I hadn’t even manifested it in the first place.
Behind him, Loz was on his feet, but his holy light was fading quickly. He gave up on the sword and drew two long, silver daggers instead. As I held Zeraxin’s attention, the general leaped into the air ready to plunge the tips into the bastard’s head. I aimed a shot at Zeraxin and struck his other leg. He grunted, blood spurting from his thigh. A heartbeat later, Loz stabbed Zeraxin in the back. He rolled away to stand beside me as the monster flailed. The blades had barely pierced him.
“Damn it.” Loz glanced around as the plan we spent so long coming up with fell apart in mere minutes. “What do we do?”
“Keep fighting. We need to draw Hadariel out.”
A scream came from the side. We spun to find one of Loz’s generals being hoisted into the air, a spear rammed through her gut. Her eyes glowed a brilliant blue, and then she was ashes. Loz shouted as Hadariel lowered the spear, his eyes glowing a dark, tainted blue.
“You want me, demon,” Hadariel said with a sneer as he aimed the spear at me, “you have me.”
The last two generals, beside Loz, charged forward. I had no chance to watch the fight because Zeraxin spiraled through the air, heading for me and Loz. He swung the mace and took out the angel. His wings caught me, and I staggered away but stayed on my feet. I racked another round, already running low. I strained to find any hint of Kexan or Ilran. The enemy was too great. They were all I saw, and my heart plummeted.
A mace whistled by my face. Instinct saved me from catching it in the face, and I whirled around, blasting Zeraxin in the shoulder. His body jerked, but he kept coming. Loz was on the ground, not moving.
The mace slammed into the ground, inches from me. I beat him in the face with the butt of the gun. More screams of the dying told me Hadariel had probably just killed another general. Maybe both. Zeraxin closed in, saliva dripping. Movement to my left caught my eye. Hadariel stepped over the body of the last angel general. Blood covered the tip of the spear in his hand. He gave it an emotionless look then dropped it.
“You could have simply died in the woods,” Hadariel informed me. “You and the rest of your kind. Taken it upon yourselves to leave this world your own way.”
“This is our way.”
“Is it? To be slaughtered at the hands of your enemy?” He sighed, and for the first time, I caught a hint of exhaustion in his eyes. The corruption was wearing on him as was the strain on his holy light.
“You’re letting him kill you,” I said, nodding to Zeraxin. “This whole army of yours, they’re going to end you, even if we don’t.”
“Don’t listen to him,” Zeraxin snapped. “You need us. You will always need us.”
Hadariel tensed, his hand twitching as if he considered attacking the monster he brought to life. “You should be concerned with your death now, Tonamech. How would you like to die?”
I raised the shotgun as the last word left his mouth and fired one round after the other. There were no cries of pain or thudding of bodies falling to the ground. I fired, reloaded as fast as I could get my fingers to work, then fired again.
I started to rack another shell, but the shotgun was empty. I grabbed for more out of the bandolier at my chest, but it too was out. Hadariel and Zeraxin smirked as they closed in. I lost sight of the others as soon as our plan went to shit.
“Did you really think you’d be able to defeat us?” Zeraxin asked, a dark glint in his eyes. “You were never going to win. None of you were. Now, it’s my turn to rule.”
Hadariel seemed to be watching his counterpart warily as if uncertain what he was going to do. There wasn’t a chance this situation could get any worse than it already was.
Until Zeraxin grabbed hold of Hadariel’s shoulder and the high general froze.
“What are you doing?”
“Ensuring no one ever threatens us again.” Zeraxin snatched Hadariel’s other shoulder and spun him around so they faced each other. His jaws stretched open far wider than was natural, revealing the double row of fangs. His jaw opened wide like a snake’s as Hadariel shouted at him to get back. His threats fell on deaf ears. Zeraxin’s claws dug into Hadariel’s skin, drawing blood.
I backed away, unsure of what I was witnessing.
Zeraxin’s hands began to glow a sickly blue. The haze spread until it encompassed them both.
“You can’t do this to me,” Hadariel shouted, true terror in his words.
“Oh, but I can, because you see, you are me, and I am you. It’s time we stop trying to be separate beings, Hadariel. It’s time you embrace the real you.”
The high general manifested a two-handed sword in his hands and attempted to stab the monster he’d created. The blade punctured his chest to the hilt. Zeraxin jerked back and slowly his face tilted to stare at it. He sniffed loudly, then shook his head.
“You shouldn’t have done that.”
The blade vanished into a puff of blue smoke. The haze exploded around them, then they disappeared.
I was thrown back.
Hadariel’s shout turned into a beastly howl that reverberated. I smashed my hands to my ears with a grimace, waiting for the haze to part. The second it did, I wished I was already dead. What stood in front of me now was a cross between Zeraxin and the high general, but worse. It had two sets of wings, drenched in black, greasy feathers that oozed with a substance that corroded the ground where it fell. The large eyes glaring down at me from the ten-foot-tall figure were crimson and leaked pure darkness. Black talons extended from its fingertips. Its feet were massive hooves that shook the ground when it took a lumbering step toward me. Saliva dripped from blackened and cracked lips. Fangs filled its mouth. When it smirked, Zeraxin’s face was what surfaced, but roaming beneath it as if trapped just beneath the skin was an impression of Hadariel.
As it let out a breath, the stench of rotting meat filled the air. I scrambled to get upright and pulled what little hellfire I had left to my hands.
Zeraxin cackled. “You think that will stop me?” he asked, his voice several octaves lower than it had been before. “I will crus
h you all. This world is mine, demon.”
I smashed my palms together and when I pulled them apart, a rotating orb of fire formed. It grew, the longer I held it, and when Zeraxin moved to take another step, I launched it at his head. The fire hit its mark, and he stumbled but didn’t go down. I launched another at him. Then another. The fire seemed to annoy him more than it hurt him. When I threw another one, far larger than the others, he caught it and scoffed.
“This is the best you can do, Demon Lord? Pathetic. You’re almost not worth killing.”
I snarled, but he launched my own fire back at me, and I was forced to dive to the side. I barely hit the ground when another orb of fire struck the ground. I rolled, cursing. The flames burned my arms and side. I didn’t even see the third volley, but I felt it strike my back. I bellowed, digging my nails into the dirt as I pushed to my knees. Through vision blurry from the attack, I strained to find any sight of Kexan or Bobby, or anyone else.
The fighting was still going on, but everyone else was too far away.
A hoof kicked my side. I grunted as I was flipped onto my back. I attempted to pull on my hellfire again, but Zeraxin closed his hand into a fist. My back arched as those invisible bonds clamped harder around my inner fire. Only this time, it didn’t just hold my power back.
The hellfire that had flowed through my veins since I was born was extinguished. A strange emptiness took its place.
I blinked, staring into the red eyes of the bastard who was going to kill me. I tried to get up, but he planted a hoof on my chest, smashing me into the ground. The weight crushed the air from my lungs. I struck at his leg, uselessly. He cackled, hunching over me. The double set of wings folded against his back as he sighed.
The claws on his left hand extended. Flames spread from his palm to cover them. “I would say tell Lela hello from me, but we both know that’s impossible. Goodbye, Tonamech.”
