Scorched Shadows (The Hellequin Chronicles Book 7)

by Steve McHugh

  The ground beneath them shook, and Mordred turned toward the grave as it exploded. He raised a shield of air to stop anyone being hit by the snow, dirt, and rock that scattered all around.

  “This won’t be fun,” Mordred said.

  The group watched as Nate clawed his way out of the ground, although he no longer had the appearance of the Nate they all knew. His body was covered in thick, black, leathery skin. The nightmare ripped the tattered remains of his clothes free from his body and stared at each person in turn.

  “Nate?” Selene called out. “Are you still in there?”

  A low growl was the only response.

  “Erebus!” Mordred shouted, and the nightmare looked his way. “You remember that name, don’t you?”

  The nightmare nodded slightly and took a step forward just as one of Hades’s guards opened fire on him. Erebus stopped the bullets with a shield of shadow before blasting magical air toward the guard, throwing him back across the field. Erebus roared and charged the guard, swatting aside a second guard, who tried to physically stop him.

  He reached the guard just as Diana, now in full werebeast form, grabbed hold of Erebus and threw him aside, putting distance between the nightmare and the guard.

  “Get him out of here,” Hades snapped to a third guard, who dragged the first away toward the helicopter. He turned toward the nightmare. “Don’t make me have to stop you, Erebus.”

  Erebus snarled and charged Hades in an attempt to get at the injured guard. Hades extended his hand, and necromancy flew from it, slamming into the nightmare, who continued to try and get to the guard despite the incredible force pushing him back.

  Mordred added his own air magic to what Hades was doing, and eventually the nightmare was flung back toward his grave.

  “How did you stop your nightmare?” Selene asked Mordred.

  “I didn’t. But then I wasn’t fired upon in the first ten seconds after waking.”

  “That’s going to make things awkward,” Tommy said. He’d changed into his werebeast form, too, and he and Diana moved toward Erebus from opposite sides.

  The nightmare looked between Diana and Tommy over and over again until they were only a dozen feet from him, and he unleashed his matter magic, slamming his hands down into the ground and causing it to explode all around him, throwing up more dirt and allowing him to sink into the shadows he’d created.

  “That’s not good,” Tommy said, spitting out muck.

  “I didn’t know he could do that,” Hades said. “He doesn’t have earth magic.”

  “Matter magic,” Mordred said, scanning his surroundings.

  “He destroyed those rock statues in Shadow Falls with a punch,” Selene said. “Said something about seeing weaknesses in nonliving things. He’s incredibly strong and fast, too.”

  “Great,” Hades said.

  “A nightmare can use a sorcerer’s magic to the best of its ability. Or pretty close,” Mordred said. “If Erebus is this powerful and he’s only just woken up, we need to stop him. Now. On the plus side, we don’t need to worry about him trying to escape.”

  “Why?” Diana asked.

  “Nightmares see a threat, they destroy a threat,” Hades said.

  “So, Nate won’t leave until we’re dead?” Tommy asked. “Not exactly reassuring.”

  Mordred noticed the shadows moving beneath their feet. “Move!” he shouted, and threw himself aside, colliding with Diana as Erebus burst forth from the shadows where he’d been, slamming a fist of magical air into the ground and causing it to tear apart.

  Selene darted toward Erebus, taking the nightmare off his feet and dumping him on the ground, trying to hold him in place. “Calm down!” she shouted.

  Lightning streaked down from the sky above, forcing Selene to throw herself aside lest it hit her. Instead, the lightning struck Erebus, who raised a hand in Selene’s direction. Selene changed into her dragon-kin form and created a shield of ice the lightning smashed into, obliterating it. She opened her mouth once more, and ice poured from it, crashing into Erebus and encasing him where he crouched, leaving only his head uncovered.

  Tommy rushed forward and punched Erebus in the jaw with a blow that would have taken the head off anything human. Erebus’s head snapped aside, and he growled as the ice began to crack. Mordred poured more and more magical ice toward Erebus, helping to keep him still, but the fire magic pouring out of the nightmare’s hands was melting it as quickly as he and Selene could add new ice.

  “Tenacious little fucker, isn’t he,” Diana said.

  “You’ve met Nate before, yes?” Tommy asked.

  The ice exploded, causing both Selene and Mordred to fall back. The nightmare stood still as a large sphere of air began to spin in the palm of each hand.

  “Enough of this,” Hades said, and a blue-and-green glow lit up across the field, leaving only the part around Erebus’s feet empty. The nightmare turned toward Hades, staring with cold eyes as the glow around him intensified.

  Erebus took one step, and the glow vanished as dozens of spirits lifted out of the ground to grab hold of Erebus, who swiped at them with a whip of fire to no effect.

  “He can’t use his necromancy!” Mordred shouted. “This is a magic-only situation.”

  Hades said nothing as more and more spirits took hold of the nightmare, dragging him to his knees and pinning him there.

  “I wish there was another way,” Hades said, creating one of his soul weapons—a bident. It almost had the appearance of a pitchfork, but there was no mistaking that the blades instead of prongs were very much meant for war. “You need to calm down.”

  Erebus roared in defiance, and Hades punched the soul weapon into the nightmare’s chest. Erebus screamed in pain and, as soon as Hades withdrew the weapon, collapsed to the ground.

  Selene was there in an instant. “Will he be okay?”

  “Yes,” Hades said. “I didn’t use enough power to kill. And nightmares are quite capable of healing almost any wound.”

  Hades walked off to the helicopter and could be heard shouting at the guard who’d nearly gotten people killed, before he returned with a pair of shackles. “Zamek rune-scribed these,” he said, passing them to Selene, who put them on the nightmare’s wrists.

  “What will they do?” Tommy asked.

  “Stop him from killing everyone,” Hades said matter-of-factly. “We’ll deal with the rest of his treatment when we get him to a secure facility.”

  “I assume we’ll all be staying in Greenland,” Diana said with a slight sigh.

  Since Nate had gone missing and Gawain’s goons had started to eliminate people who would oppose his new world order, Hades had moved most of those he knew to be loyal to a secret complex in Greenland.

  “You like the weather,” Mordred said. “You’ve mentioned it several times.”

  Hades glanced at Mordred, who winked, causing Hades to smile.

  The trip back was one of anxious anticipation. While everyone fit in the Black Hawk, no one wanted to be there when the nightmare woke from its forced slumber. Fortunately, apart from everyone being nervous, the flight was relatively uneventful, and they eventually landed on a helipad on the northwest coast of Greenland.

  Hades and the medical staff at the facility unloaded Nate and took him away before anyone could say anything more to him, while the others went through the large, open hangar bay doors that signified the entrance to the complex. Most of the complex was underground, which Mordred thought was a running theme with nonhumans.

  “It’s been a long few weeks,” Sky said, causing Mordred to turn around and hug her.

  Mordred watched as Nate was wheeled onto a lift large enough to fit a tank.

  “They’ll take good care of him,” Sky assured Mordred. “My dad isn’t exactly the type of person to let something go.”

  “How’s your mum?”

  “Down there waiting for her patient.”

  “It took us a long time to find him. You think he’ll be okay?” />
  “Yes, it’s Nate. I can’t imagine him being anything else.” She passed a manila envelope to Mordred. “This is the information you asked for. I hope it helps.”

  Mordred didn’t bother opening it. “It will. Or it’ll get me killed.”

  “Nice extremes there.”

  “Yeah, I’m all about the living-dangerously kind of life.”

  Sky chuckled. “Be careful, okay?”

  An alarm went off, and Mordred and Sky ran toward the main command center, which was situated on the top floor of the aboveground portion of the facility. The pair took the stairs two at a time and almost burst through the stairwell door before spotting several guards go for their holstered weapons in the hallway beyond.

  “Whoa, guys, we’re on your side,” Sky said, raising her hands.

  Everyone relaxed and allowed Sky and Mordred to head into the situation room.

  The room had several banks of computers, and more than two dozen employees working there on a round-the-clock basis. The alarm stopped, and Hades, who stood at the front of the room beside the viewing window, turned toward them.

  Irkalla, Remy, Nabu, and Elaine were all in the room, too, and Mordred was glad to see he and Sky hadn’t been the only ones worried by the noise.

  “What the hell happened?” Sky asked.

  “Nate’s magic is . . . unpredictable,” Hades said.

  “Meaning what?” Mordred asked.

  “His lightning is striking the facility,” Elaine told them.

  “A lot,” Remy finished. “We’re essentially the epicenter of a storm. Which is a lot less pleasant than it sounds.”

  “It doesn’t sound that great,” Mordred said.

  “Yeah, kind of making my point for me there.”

  Mordred nodded that he got what Remy was saying, although he wasn’t entirely sure he did. “So, we’re all stuck here until it stops?”

  “You have somewhere you want to be?” Irkalla asked.

  “Yes.”

  “I would advise against leaving the compound,” Hades said. “But considering you’re going to do whatever you like, I can tell you the best way out of this country would be to take one of the four-by-fours to the nearby airport and fly from there. The storm is localized directly above us.”

  “Just how powerful will a fully healed Nate be?” Elaine asked.

  “I have no idea,” Mordred said. “When I woke up from my time as a nightmare, I’d frozen the building I was in. Made it look like a palace.”

  “I swear if you sing one word of that fucking song, Remy, I will kill you,” Sky said, forcing Remy to mime locking his mouth.

  “I’m coming with you,” Irkalla told Mordred.

  “You don’t even know where I’m going,” Mordred said.

  “Hades, how’s Nate doing?” Irkalla asked him.

  “He’s stable, unconscious, and still trying to kill us all. There’s no idea how long he’ll be out for.”

  “After the initial waking up, I spent months as a nightmare,” Mordred said. “We’ve got a long way to go yet.”

  “Then I’m coming with you,” Irkalla said. “Wherever you go, there will be people to punch in the face. I quite like that idea at the moment.”

  One of the workers in the situation room walked over to Hades and whispered something to him.

  “Thank you,” Hades said. “I think we need to see this.” He switched on a large TV screen at the far end of the room and flicked to a news channel that showed the start of a news conference of some kind.

  “That’s the president of the United States,” Nabu said, almost absentmindedly. “Along with several other leading figures from a variety of countries—the UK, France, Germany, China, Nigeria, South Africa, Japan, and Russia. There are dozens of people there. I had no idea there was a summit going on.”

  Hades turned up the volume.

  “These last weeks have seen some of the worst attacks on our freedom that our people have ever had to endure,” the president said. “Innocents have died the world over, and we have had to change the way we work to ensure that we can protect people from further atrocities. We can now tell the people of this world that our countries have come together to stop this menace. And in doing so the United Nations has created a new worldwide organization that will help to combat these forces of evil. Forces we don’t quite yet understand, but it’s my hope that with thanks to this new organization’s leadership we will destroy these forces. I’m proud to introduce you to the leader of this group, Arthur Pendragon.”

  Everyone in the situation room stared in horror as Arthur walked up to the podium and shook the president’s hand before he was left alone in front of the microphone. Gawain and Abaddon stood behind him, both looking very pleased with themselves.

  “Good morning to the press of the world,” Arthur began. “I am over seventeen hundred years old, and I am a sorcerer. We have existed in the shadows for thousands of years. We have tried to keep ourselves to ourselves, without interfering with human lives. This changed not long ago when a man by the name of Hellequin destroyed the peace that had existed between us. And in doing so murdered hundreds of thousands of innocent people the world over in his quest for power.

  “This man, this traitor to the lives we all swore to lead, has been found and killed. It was not what I wanted. I searched for a peaceful resolution to this problem, I had hoped to end this violence without further bloodshed, but he and his people would not be swayed with reason or peace.”

  Arthur looked appropriately sad, and Mordred felt nauseous.

  “While I would like to say that these attacks are over and humanity can rest easy, this is not the case,” Arthur continued. “Hellequin’s followers are out there. And will need to be captured before they can strike at the heart of the freedoms that most of us take for granted. I have accepted the United Nations’ gracious offer of cooperation, and I will use the new powers my people and I have been given to hunt down these monsters before they can do more harm. This organization is called Avalon. It will be the barrier between humanity and the evil that lurks in the darkness. It will protect you, and it will keep you safe.

  “My kind and I have remained hidden for thousands of years. Some of you will have heard stories, or myths, about us, but these are half-truths and fairy tales. You will find the real people to be much less fantastical, and I hope in the coming weeks and months to be able to place these people around the globe in new Avalon branches to help combat this terror. You need not be afraid of these operatives. Despite their power, or appearance, they will be there for your safety. Humanity and my kind have existed for thousands of years in harmony. It’s my hope that the bond between us will strengthen now that you know the truth.”

  Hades switched off the TV.

  “Well, fuck,” Sky said.

  “Did he just declare war on everyone who isn’t on his side?” Remy said. “It sounded like he did.”

  “And he outed us to the world,” Nabu said. “I’ve spent thousands of years living, quite happily, without everyone knowing that I’m not human. This is a big change.”

  “This is a terrifying change,” Hades said. “All of those heads of state are in Arthur’s pocket. Or at least in Avalon’s. I imagine a few of them will be considered unhelpful, or unpatriotic, in the coming weeks and months. More than a few will vanish.”

  “This was his plan all along,” Diana said. “Get the humans to welcome him, to think he’s their savior against a greater evil, and then slowly take over everything.”

  “It won’t be slow,” Irkalla said. “I saw the look in his eyes. Whatever remained of the Arthur we knew is gone. It looks like Gawain got his wish. Arthur wants that power as quickly as possible. In a decade there won’t be a country on the planet that isn’t under Avalon rule. And he’ll start with the big guns.”

  “The gift of peace with one hand and tightening the noose with the other,” Sky said. “As if I needed more reasons to hate the son of a bitch.”

  “I’m goin
g with you, Mordred,” Remy said. “I can’t do jack and or shit here. And I don’t think pissing off Sky as a hobby gives me a lengthy lifespan.”

  “Good guess,” Sky said, although she smiled after saying it.

  “Be ready in an hour,” Mordred said. “We’ll be a week or so.” He turned to Hades. “Keep Nate safe—we’ll need him more than ever now.”

  “It’ll take a few months for Arthur and his people to get their claws firmly into everything. Until then he’s going to be busy removing people who won’t like where this is going. I wouldn’t bank on it, but you probably have time to go do whatever you need to. Arthur thinks Nate is dead. Hopefully it’ll stay that way for some time.”

  “Mordred, wait up,” Sky said, catching up to him as he left the room. “You sure about this? What’s in the envelope could get you killed; you weren’t wrong about that.”

  Mordred opened the envelope and pulled out the photos and directions to where Viktor was being held. After he’d burned down his home for betraying so many people to the werewolf pack in Moscow, Mordred had hoped never to see the piece of crap again. “Might do. But it might also make things easier for us in the long run. I’d rather Arthur, Gawain, or whoever is in charge had as few advantages as possible. Besides, after what I just saw, I feel like pissing them all off a bit.”

  “Is there any point in telling you to be careful?”

  Mordred shook his head. “It’s not like I haven’t been trying so far in life.”

  “Then you suck at it.”

  “Not arguing.” Mordred paused. “In my room, second drawer on the bedside cabinet, is a USB drive. It needs decrypting, but it’s Elaine’s, so maybe she can help get it done. I’ve had a month, and it just didn’t feel important considering we learned the prophecy was a lie and Elaine came back to us. But Elaine still doesn’t have her memories, and we’ve all been so busy finding Nate that I just forgot about it. Can you decrypt it?”

  Sky nodded. “We can try.”