Blood on the Bar (Lucas the Atoner Book 1)

by Iain Rob Wright

  “Even better. The soul will be even easier to take from you. I conjured Jerusalem to give you something to fight against, to wear yourself out while under the illusion you were making progress. By the time you made it up to the terrace, you were already exhausted and unable to put up a fight. Now you’re hanging on by a mere thread. Let us cut that final string.”

  “You’ll end existence if you allow the Red Lord to wipe out humanity! I know him. He is without compassion.”

  Judas rolled his eyes, more like a teenager than a bi-millennial. “Existence is relative. One is as good as another, and my situation can only improve.”

  Lucas shook his head, worried that blood was leaking from his nose and mouth instead of black smoke. He struggled with his bonds again, but he was tethered to an iron loop in the floor in front of him. His wrists were shackled together in his lap, and his hands bulged into fists as he tried to wrench them free.

  “Billions will die, Judas. Don’t you care? You cursed yourself by killing one man. What do you think killing an entire world will do to you?”

  Judas plucked a hooked knife from inside his coat and tapped it against Vetta’s exposed stomach. It was the same knife he’d gutted Jake with. “Do you know something I have learned over the last two-thousand years, Satan? I learned that the rules don’t matter if you change them. I played by God’s rules and was condemned. Rather than continue trying to succeed at a rigged game, I shall simply play something else. Something with a different set of rules.”

  “Oh, shut the hell up,” Simon shouted. “You sodding moron.”

  Judas turned, stunned. “I beg your pardon?”

  Simon appeared disgusted—even shackled to the ground and in peril. He glared at Judas as if the man were nobody. “All I’ve heard you do is blame other people for your own shite decisions. Boohoo, so you killed Jesus. Nobody forced you to. Nobody forced you to do anything these last two-thousand years.”

  “He did!” Judas pointed at Lucas. “He forced me to do the things I have done!”

  “No, he never did! He fed you a con, and you fell for it. What you’re really mad about is how gullible you were. Get over it already.”

  There was silence in the cramped space, and even Vetta stopped sobbing on the crucifix. Judas acted as though he’d been punched. It took several moments for him to gather himself. Once he had, his expression turned dark, and he marched over to his captives with the knife held in front of him.

  Simon lifted his chin and squared his shoulders, getting as upright as he could on his knees. “Slit my throat, I don’t give a shite. Won’t change the fact that you’re a whining moron! So, why don’t you go and suck my big hairy—”

  Judas slashed his hooked knife through the air, killing the words coming out of Simon’s mouth. The sharp blade met flesh and tore through throat muscle like soft cheese. Blood spurted into the air and soaked them all.

  Simon’s eyes went wide. His lips trembled. And then he wept. “No!”

  Shaun collapsed awkwardly onto his side, restricted by the bonds around his wrist. His eyes were stuck in a wide-open stare as his sliced throat gushed blood. He gurgled and tried to speak, but before he got close to forming a single word, his life passed away, and he went still—eyes wide open. The grey streaks in his hair turned red.

  “You bastard!” Simon bellowed at Judas, raging against his bonds. “I’m gonna kill you!”

  Lucas closed his eyes and prayed. He prayed to God to please forgive him for just one moment and help these people. Couldn’t Heaven put grudges aside just this once and lend a hand?

  Please! If not directly, then at least—

  His thoughts tumbled away as he felt a cool breeze wash over him. There was a presence in the room, something large taking up the empty spaces. Lucas opened his eyes and saw something beautiful standing before him. Heavenly Aura washed over everything as Gladri materialised in the centre of the room—massive wings brushing against the ceiling.

  Lucas couldn’t believe it. His prayer had been answered—but how? How did Gladri know to find him here?

  Lucas looked down at his clenched fists and slowly let them fall open. Inside his left hand lay a crumpled blue feather. The one that Gladri had shed last night and had somehow floated into the illusion of Jerusalem. A miracle?

  Probably not. But I’ll take it.

  Gladri threw out a slender, velvet-skinned hand and sent Judas flying across the room. He struck the wall and immediately fell unconscious. A vile-smelling black cloud evaporated from his body. Lucas knew, at once, that Gladri had just removed the curse Lucifer had cast two-thousand years ago on Cavalry Hill.

  Judas’s immortality had just been surgically removed.

  Gladri turned to Lucas and cast a rage upon him fierce enough to light the room. The torches around the perimeter flared. “Lucifer, you fool! I took away your soul for a reason, yet you reclaim it within a day! You reclaim it even after learning of this fiend’s intention to devour it.”

  Lucas tried to pull his hands free from the cuffs. They were metal, but he didn’t think they were iron. “I… I needed to help these people.”

  Gladri looked around, eyes settling on Shaun bleeding on the floor. “Human lives are not worth jeopardising all of existence. If the Red Lord succeeds, there will be no human life. You are a selfish fool, Lucifer.”

  Lucas nodded. He was done arguing with Heaven, had finally learned his lesson. “You’re right, Gladri. My whole existence has been one of self-service. Even trying to be good, I was really just serving myself. I’ve never sacrificed. I’ve never given a part of myself to help another. Until today. So please, forgive my foolishness, and just help them. Help them!”

  Gladri sighed, an action that sent a gust of wind through the small room. “Fine!”

  The angel moved throughout the room, waving his slender, delicate hands indifferently. Simon and Jake were suddenly free of their bonds. They got up, rubbing at their wrists. Simon rushed over to Shaun and shook his friend.

  “That one is already gone,” Gladri told him.

  “You’re an angel,” said Simon. “Fix him!”

  Gladri glared at Simon, intolerant of being commanded by a mortal. He looked more demon than angel. “And drag him away from Heaven? This man was your friend—is that what you want for him? He has earned his reward, but you would take it from him?”

  Simon peered at Shaun, then slowly lifted his wet eyes back to Gladri. “He… He’s in Heaven?”

  “I can recall him, if you wish?”

  Simon shook his head. “No… No.” He smiled slightly, then crossed Shaun’s arms across his chest and stroked his cheek. “Let him rest.”

  Next, Gladri turned to Lucas, but Lucas waved him away. “No, help her!” He pointed at Vetta. “Help her!”

  “Not yet, Lucifer. There is something you have that no longer belongs to you.” Gladri threw out an arm, making Lucas scream as black flame burned out of him. His celestial soul fed him once more, and his insides felt lighter. “You endangered us all,” barked Gladri. “Do not seek to reclaim your past again. It is gone from you forever. Do you understand?”

  Lucas couldn’t catch his breath to speak, but he nodded. He wanted Heaven to know he was done fighting. He would accept whatever fate he had coming and be thankful for it—just so long as Heaven helped him right now. “Vetta! P-Please.”

  Looking increasingly irritated, Gladri turned to Vetta and waved his hand. She didn’t fall free from the crucifix as intended, however, and Gladri frowned. “I cannot free her, brother. Her bonds are of iron.”

  “Then unshackle me and I’ll help her! I’m human. I can touch iron.” Lucas strained at his bonds. Now that he was no longer possessed by a celestial presence, his human flesh was recuperating rapidly. He was getting back his strength.

  “You’re not merely human, Lucifer,” said Gladri. “Is all not yet clear? Are you truly so blind?”

  “W-What?” Lucas paused, torn between saving Vetta and hearing a grand truth that Gl
adri seemed poised to reveal. “J-Just untie me,” he said. “We’ll deal with the denouement later! First, I have to rescue the girl.”

  Gladri chuckled and shook his head. “As petulant as always but have it your way.”

  Gladri raised an arm to Lucas, intending to free his bonds, but before his hand got halfway up, the angel shuddered and bucked. Something flashed across his beautiful white throat and golden light spilled out like hot blood. Gladri’s glacial eyes pulsed, showing more emotion than they had since the dawn of time. Something was wrong.

  Judas stepped out from behind Gladri, holding the hooked knife in his hand. Lucas realised then that it had been forged from folded steel and iron with a vein of silver running along its edge—a weapon forged to take down angels and demons. You couldn’t kill an angel with a knife, but the iron was enough to devastate Gladri temporarily, and silver acted as an amplifier.

  The angel froze in place, shuddering in pain while Heavenly Aura leaked out through his sliced throat. Simon and Jake helped each other up and rushed at Judas, but Judas shoved them casually away with a blast of air from his palm.

  Then he conjured the red sphere again.

  Gladri’s chest cracked apart in a vortex of golden light. The light drained out into the red sphere. Inside the orb, something terrible fed—the mouth of a worm suckling at a rotten breast.

  Lucas screamed. “No! Judas, stop!”

  Judas sneered at Lucas, with black and oily malice swirling in his eyes. “It is already done.”

  More golden light flowed out of Gladri and into the red sphere. Judas stood there, smiling, looking about himself like he expected something to happen. There was a sudden snap as the sphere yanked the last of the golden light from Gladri and closed like a blinking eye.

  Judas appeared confused, and when nothing else seemed to happen, his sneer fell to confusion. “W-What is happening?” he muttered. “Red Lord, I have given you what you wanted. It is done! Come forth and consume this place!”

  While this was happening, Jake crawled stealthily over to Lucas, and then started yanking at his bonds. Between the two of them, they were able to pull the cuffs open, and Lucas got free.

  Jake was hurt, winded badly, but he managed to stand. Lucas got up beside him and patted the lad on the back. They needed to let Judas know they were back in the game.

  Lucas laughed at the man in a mocking tone. “If you think the soul of a Heavenly bureaucrat like Gladri is worth the same as mine, you’re a fool, Judas. I am Lucifer, one of The Three. I was the second angel born into existence. I am closer to God than all but the two brothers born with me. My celestial soul is caviar. Gladri’s was popcorn chicken! You big feckin’ eejit!”

  Judas was at a loss, but he soon recovered. Two-thousand years of set backs had given the man a talent for reacting.

  He strode towards Lucas, hands already summoning dark energy at his sides. Lucas moved to meet him, his own hands no longer able to wield power, but ready to wage war in whatever way they could.

  But Judas was too fast. Lucas was no match for his power.

  Judas threw up a hand and froze Lucas in place, compacting his bones with the minutest movement of his fingers. “I could break you right now!” He sneered, spittle flying from his lips. “Whether or not the Red Lord is sated, he is fed, and more powerful than ever before. He will reward my loyalty, and even more so once I remove you from the battles to come. First though, I shall see agony leak from you until you are a puddle on the floor. This is my moment, Satan. This is my redemption.”

  Lucas tried to move, but he couldn’t. It was like when Gladri had held him in place outside in the alleyway. Gladri had frozen him to enact a punishment. Judas was doing so to exact revenge. Even after two-thousand years, it all just boiled down to one simple thing—hatred. The strongest of all human emotions.

  But Judas moved away from Lucas, leaving him frozen. He turned his sights toward Vetta, a salacious glint in his eye. She was hanging upside down, sinews bulging in her neck—a tied lamb about to be slaughtered.

  Lucas was too frozen to scream.

  But Vetta wasn’t. She screamed without end.

  Judas smashed her in the face with his knee, then placed the edge of his hooked blade against her belly. He drew it playfully along her flesh, scratching but not cutting. As he spoke, he kept his gleeful stare on Lucas.

  “Before I end you, Satan, I shall make you watch while I disembowel every one of these pathetic maggots you have tried to save. I shall show you what impotence truly feels like. Starting with her.”

  Lucas fought to move. He used every muscle fibre to try and get free, refusing to be controlled by a monster like Judas—a monster he had made—but the spell cast upon him was unbelievably strong. Desperately, he searched for that light, that energy, which had allowed him to heal Jake. Gladri had said he was more than merely human. He needed to find out what that meant.

  It was time to finally find out who he was.

  Judas lifted the knife and poised it over Vetta’s navel. She squirmed and begged, but it only made Judas’s grin wider. He licked his lips as he lifted the blade high above his head. There, he let it linger for a moment, sharp edge catching the light from the shrine room’s torches. Then, without word, he plunged the knife downward, towards Vetta’s navel.

  Vetta screamed. Lucas fought, concentrated, prayed. But he couldn’t move. Not even an inch.

  No!

  Jake threw himself against Judas and knocked the man aside. The wicked blade had been about to sink deep into Vetta’s flesh, but it missed and struck thin air. Judas had been taken by surprise, which allowed Jake to get in a punch, knocking the man down on his ass.

  “It’s wrong to hurt a lady,” Jake growled. “Trust me, I know!”

  Judas howled as Jake kicked him in the ribs. The lad had transformed back into the thug that had attacked Lucas and Vetta last night, but this time, his moral compass was pointed in the right direction. His fury was righteous. Jake raised his fist again and prepared to knock Judas’s lights out. But Judas clambered to his knees and threw himself forwards, clinching with Jake like a winded boxer. Air exploded from Jake’s cheeks as Judas’s shoulder knocked the wind out of his sails. He beat at the man’s back, but his blows were weak.

  Lucas felt a slight movement in his neck, the hold on him lessening as Judas’s focus turned elsewhere. Jake had got in some licks, but now he was stumbling about like a blind man and out of the fight.

  At first it was unclear why he was stunned, but then he turned to reveal the hooked blade sticking out of his stomach. Judas placed a hand around the handle and yanked it free, pulling coils of Jake’s intestine with it. It was the second time he had gutted the lad.

  Jake got down on the floor, almost leisurely, and stared into space. Judas stood over the lad and glowered. “You dare put your hands on me, boy! A wastrel like you? I’ll spread your entrails across my bar and use your skull as a urinal.”

  Jake put a hand up somehow despite his injuries. He was fading fast, skin already pale, but his eyes were wide and alert.

  “Wait! You’re right. I’m a… a mess. But only because this world has screwed me over again and again. My whole life has been a misery because of rules I can’t follow. You think I care about God, or angels? I got dragged into this shit. Just like I’ve been dragged into other people’s shit since the moment I was born. It makes me so… so fucking angry. Help me.”

  Judas appeared disgusted. “I’ll slice your throat and all your pain will go away.”

  “No, don’t let me die, man. I want to fight for your cause. I don’t care about this screwed up world any more than you do. You say God is the reason for all of the crap and misery, then I want to see a change too. Let me help you hit restart on this motherfucker. It’s going to be lonely otherwise.”

  Judas seemed incredulous. “You just attacked me, you maggot! You expect me to recruit you?”

  Jake took a moment too long and Judas went to cut him. He put his hands out just
in time to dissuade the man again. “No! Please, man, just…” he nodded at Vetta—still upside down on the crucifix. “I… I got a thing for the Pole tart. I didn’t want to see her get hurt. That doesn’t mean I’m with this asshole!” He gestured to Lucas. “I acted to save her, not to stop you.”

  Judas raised an eyebrow and seemed to think. He looked at Vetta with a suspicious squint. The scrunching up of his face made his unpleasant face even uglier. “I could give her to you, you know? I could heal you and make her your slave forever. My power is vast. You would not believe it.”

  Jake grinned lecherously, although in obvious pain—his intestines lay in his lap. That he was still lucid was an act of pure determination, and perhaps the effects of the cut being so surgically clean. “If you help me, man, you’ll have already given me more than anyone else ever has. I’ll have your back for life; I swear it. Every powerful person needs followers. Give me the Pole tart, and I’ll be your soldier.”

  “You monster,” shouted Vetta. “I would never be with you, Jake.”

  Judas glanced at Vetta and seemed amused. When he turned to Jake again, he was full on smiling. “I shall see the world destroyed, boy. Would you truly betray everything you’ve ever cared about?”

  Jake winced, starting to succumb to the pain of his mortal wounds. “God took the last thing I cared about when he let my sister die.”

  Lucas swore at the lad. His invisible bonds continued to loosen as he fought with them, but he had to be careful not to reveal that he was getting free. Yet, he couldn’t help but scream at the lad, which betrayed that he had regained the ability to speak.

  “Jake, you bastard! You had a chance to be better than this!”

  Judas stopped smiling and became serious. He folded his arms, bloody knife pointed in the air. “Hmmm, yes… Satan used an act of betrayal to condemn Jesus to death. It seems fitting he should be undone by betrayal himself. I shall heal you, Jake, but if you make a single move towards me, I shall place you in a white-hot cell and keep you burning there for eternity. Take my hand.”