“Oh no… oh no… oh no…” Celine’s panicked chanting picked up in volume as her wheezing breathes grew more frantic. “Wh-where is he? Where is—What do we do? What’s going to happen? I don’t wanna die! I don’t wanna—”
A strangely peaceful sigh sounded in everyone’s heads. Why did you bring her, exactly? Michael asked.
“She insisted,” Zane shook his head, his right hand clasping the still-sheathed katana—ready to draw the sword at any moment—while his left hand held his Glock at the ready. “And, quite frankly, I didn’t care enough to tell her ‘no.’”
Celine’s eyes went wide at that, “Zane? H-how could you say that? You… you don’t care? What does that even mean? Are you saying—”
Zane groaned, “Michael, could you do the honors?”
Gladly.
Celine, still in mid-rant, suddenly went silent as Michael’s aura snaked into her head and put her to sleep. As her body went loose and fell back, the auric vampire caught her and set her gently down against the entrance to the asylum.
Both therions nodded their thanks.
Nikki smirked at him, “I’d kiss you, sugar, but…” she motioned to Raith, who curled his lip at the idea.
Michael smirked and held up a hand, I’m honored, but your boyfriend’s bigger than me.
The air went cold and dead; as though anything of vitality floating on the particles had suddenly been slaughtered all at once.
Why did you bring her, Zaney-boy? Hoping to butter me up with a bribe; trade one piece of pussy for another, is that it? You’re gonna have to do better than that, though. I’m sitting on some pretty fucking choice merchandise here—or, should I say, she’s sitting on me.
Zane sneered and shook his head, reminding himself that it was all a lie.
I have a feeling I tickled a nerve with that one, bitch, Maledictus’ internal rant pressed on. It could all be over in an instant if you turned that pretty little pea-shooter of yours inward. I’m sure a single bullet or two won’t do much to kill you, but if you just keep pulling the trigger and pumping the entire clip into your heart I’m sure the fates will see fit to finally bury you!
“Shut the fuck up,” Zane growled, hoping the others couldn’t hear him.
No? Well then I guess the show must go on then, eh? Here… we… go!
Six streams of breath came out in thick, frigid plumes.
“COWARD,” Nikki screamed, yanking her twin sais from the sheathes at her hip and spinning the forked daggers in her grip, “STOP HIDING BEHIND YOUR TRICKS AND FACE YOUR FINAL MOMENTS WITH HONOR!”
The group turned at once as a wet, rattling hiss of laughter erupted in the neighboring room. “Honor? Are you hearing this shit, Zaney-boy? The stupid slag talks of honor!”
Raith growled, starting to take a step towards the voice only to have Nikki hold her arm across his stomach to stop him. Whimpering, he looked down at her, curiosity glistening across his features.
“Trust her, buddy,” Zane sighed, his left leg twitching with his own eagerness to advance. “She’s going to help keep us both alive,” he glanced back at her, remembering their checkered history and biting his lip, “Right?”
Nikki flashed a coy grin, but finally nodded. “You’ve grown on me, and my man seems to like you. You’re not gonna die on my watch.”
Zane nodded, smiling. “Thanks, Nikki.”
“Isn’t that just fucking adorable? Like a goddam buddy movie or something! Oh! I like the one with the talking toaster and all his little friends—each and every one of them a hobbling, chattering piece of household shit!—something about seeing all those cold, dead appliances hopping around…”
All around them was the sound of new life. As though an entire colony of rats had awoken in the ancient building’s foundation, the frantic, scrambling noises of something grew; scuttling and scratching in the walls and the ceiling…
And even in the floor beneath their feet.
“Look alive, team,” Zane warned the others, who’d all prepared for whatever was coming.
Maledictus laughed again. “Strange choice of words, Zaney-boy.”
The walls began to chip away as the bony, rotting limbs of every creature that had ever called the dilapidated halls of Sacred Gates “home” began to come to life and crawl their way free of their insulated tombs.
A hissing possum missing half its head and dragging a skeletal leg beside its rat-like tail worked to scurry through the tight opening it had made in the walls—baring its incisors at the group and rattling like a cheap toy—before it slipped free and tumbled to the floor, its reanimated body erupting under the pressure and falling apart.
“While this rancid, undead Disney army gets its bearings”—the group continued to watch as more and more risen creatures fought and clawed, sacrificing limb and new-life, in a frantic effort to follow their Leiche-lord’s command—“I’d like to readdress that subject that the taroe-cunt brought up: honor! Bleh! The fucking word itself just rolls like something weak and pathetic; something destined to fail and leave anybody believing in it cast into the void… hey! Maybe we should call you ‘honor,’ Zaney-boy!” he cackled again. The risen creatures started breaking free of their confines and started to close in on the group. Maledictus, wherever he was, offered a rumbling applause at the turn of events. “Anyways, as I was saying, I can’t help but question the whole honor shtick. It seems to me that it’s the sort of concept that weak people who favored themselves as warriors would cook up in an effort to keep from getting too fucked up in battle. Like, ‘No hitting below the belt’ or ‘Don’t stab your opponent in the back’ or ‘Let’s declare napalm a global war crime’”—he laughed again—“‘War crimes’… yea, there’s a dumb-fuck notion if ever there was one. A bunch of people declare war—sweet, glorious, death-bringing war—and then politely sit around and discuss what’s not alright? Is that the sort of honor your little spell-casting tramp is preaching about? ‘Cause it all sounds like the sort of stupid, pussy shit that a dumb bitch would cook up while she’s ragging.”
Nikki sneered, “You disgusting monster.”
“Oh please, honey! You wanna talk disgusting, let’s talk about a few of the things I’ve gathered that I’m gonna stuff you with. I wanna see how much I can fit inside you before your V rips through your—”
Raith had had enough, and he let that fact be known by letting loose a roar that silenced Maledictus, the mumbling group, and the scuttling horde of risen creatures.
The therion dropped to all fours, the blondish-brown hackles around its neck and shoulders standing on end as he sprinted off in the direction of Maledictus’ voice.
Nikki held her arm out to try to stop him, but Zane held her back.
“If you want to help him, clear him a path,” he said, looking back at Michael. “You too, Long-John! We need every creep-tastic creepy-crawly out of our way.”
One snow-blower special coming up, sir, Michael nodded.
Nikki grinned at him. “I like the way you think.”
The cold, dead air went alive then as Nikki’s taroe tattoos began to glow—the enchanted ink preparing to focus her peoples’ natural magical abilities—and Michael began to work his aura.
Zane finally drew the katana and started after Raith. Though he knew that jumping into overdrive, Zane held back, remembering what had happened when he’d been brash enough to deplete his energy the previous night when he’d fought Maledictus. As the two of them came up towards an ever-growing wall of dead vermin—the mass converging as a single mind and working to assemble their tiny, rotting parts into something larger—Nikki and Michael acted.
Zane and Raith could feel something brush past them, like the tug of air one would feel when a car passes nearby…
Then an invisible truck slammed into the horde.
Snow-blower special, indeed! Zane thought with a smirk.
As he and Raith charged towards Maledictus—the rest of the crew not far behind—everything in their path was blown away by the
enchanted force that Nikki and Michael had produced. A few times, one of the festering animals would leap at them, trying to get past the unseen force, only to burst against an invisible barrier—Michael’s aura, Zane guessed—before it could reach them. Coming around a corner, they found themselves facing down a massive thing that was, at one time, a dog—now a snarling, three-legged mess with no lower jaw and a lolling tongue that garbled its growls—and Michael, not needing an order, put a bullet into its restarted brain.
“Now you’ve done it, asshole,” Zane grumbled, certain Maledictus could hear him, “I like dogs!”
Like you needed any more reason, shit-sucker! Maledictus cackled.
“Stairs!” Zane ordered, tracing the sound of the laughter; the growing sense of Maledictus’ presence growing stronger as they approached.
The team took to the wide stairway, bolting past an overturned, rusty folding chair and a sign on the wall—dented, twisted, and hanging from a single tortured nail—that read CHECK IN WITH SECURITY.
Around the bend, second flight…
A blur of movement caught Raith and Zane off guard as Maledictus came in from the side, jumping from the second-floor and tackling the pair.
Raith whimpered as he took the full force of the monster’s attack, the two of them crashing into Zane, who fought through the pain and leveled his Glock—aiming around Raith’s shoulders and straight for Maledictus’ leering face—and squeezed off three rounds before he was sandwiched between the wall and over six-hundred pounds of therion fury.
Not a single bullet found its mark.
Gritting his teeth against the pain, Zane called out to Isaac.
The second therion—a dark-amber bullet—vaulted the railing, dropping in behind Maledictus and bringing its powerful arms around the monster.
Raith pulled free as Maledictus fell back, giving enough room for him to free himself and Zane. Roaring in their opponent’s face, Raith pulled back one of his cinderblock-sized fists and drove it into Maledictus’ chest. The Leiche-lizard heaved under the force, its inhale coming in ragged as it sneered in Raith’s face. Still growling, Raith prepared for another punch.
Sucking in a loud breath of air, Maledictus belched a rancid cloud of mist into Raith’s face before following with a head-butt that toppled Raith, whimpering and clawing at his face, down the steps.
“Raith!” Nikki cried out in a panic, seeing her lover collapse in front of her.
“Help him,” Zane ordered, lunging forward and driving his elbow into Maledictus’ stomach. Above him, the still-pinned monster leered—struggling against Isaac’s hold—and opened his mouth to deliver the same toxic mist at him. Spinning the Glock on his trigger finger and gripping the still-hot barrel, he drove the grip of pistol into Maledictus’ jaw, forcing it to slam shut.
A writhing, forked tongue fell onto one of the steps.
“Good,” Zane growled, delivering another vicious pistol whip to Maledictus’ throat. “Maybe now you won’t talk so damn much.”
Maledictus’ laughter burst in Zane’s head like fireworks. Or maybe I’ll just do this…
His mouth opened again, and Zane watched as the bloody stump of his tongue writhed and stretched for a brief moment before suddenly shooting out at him like an angry snake and wrapping around his throat and beginning to burn into his flesh.
You don’t know much about reptiles, do you, Zane? he taunted.
Zane’s pained cries were throttled as the elongated tongue constricted around his throat.
Isaac growled, sacrificing his hold on Maledictus’ arms in an attempt to punch him in the side of the head, only to have the monster rocket his head back—driving the horned surface of his skull into Isaac’s bestial face—and worm free of his grip.
Drop to your knees on three! Michael’s psychic warning buzzed in Zane’s dazed head.
Zane struggled to understand what the words meant in his oxygen-starved, pain-flooded mind, but somehow was able to bring himself to remember how to count to three. On faith alone, he let his legs drop beneath him.
One of Nikki’s sais screamed through the air, slicing through exposed length of Maledictus’ tongue and letting Zane’s fall not end in a hanging.
Isaac, also having heard Michael’s warning, jumped back over the railing to the first floor.
With the two safely out of range, Zane watched Michael move his arm in a wide arc, directing his aura like he’d seen many aurics do in the past. Maledictus saw the auric’s movements, but was too late to react as the attack caught him and threw him.
Maledictus howled in agony.
The group felt a swell of glee at the sound.
Zane, yanking the acidic length of tongue from his throat, hurried to Raith and Nikki, who was just finishing an enchantment on her still-whimpering lover.
“Is he going to be okay?” Zane asked.
Nikki nodded, “Things might not smell right for him for the next few days, but I neutralized the toxins before they could do any damage.”
Zane nodded, “Good. Wouldn’t want to have to find him another new face.”
Nikki forced a smile, “I know. I just started liking this one.”
Zane stood and gave Michael a pat on the shoulder. “You did good, soldier.”
“Did… good?” Maledictus growled.
Both therions dragged themselves to their feet and exposed their teeth to the monster.
Nikki’s tattoos flared as she retrieved the sai she’d thrown; catching it as it flew back to her.
Both Zane and Michael drew their guns.
“Where’s Serena, you twisted fuck?” Zane demanded.
“YOU THINK I’LL GIVE HER BACK TO YOU, MOTHERFUCKER?” Maledictus roared, dragging himself to his feet and clutching a dripping stump that remained of his left arm.
Zane gave Michael a smirk without taking his eyes off their enemy. “You took off his arm?”
Michael shrugged, also keeping his focus on Maledictus. Figured you’d want a trophy.
Maledictus’ voice echoed in their heads: I got your trophy right here, fuckers!
The severed arm shook with spasms before twisting and beginning to drag itself down the stairs with its fingers.
“Oh for fuck’s sake!” Maledictus rolled his eyes, “This is going to take forever!”
Kicking the scuttling limb towards the group, everyone shifted their focus towards the animated arm coming their way.
Only to have Maledictus’ tail swing around at them…
Seeing the attack coming at them, Zane jumped into overdrive.
Time stopped.
The arm, with its clutching talons, froze in midair.
The incoming tail, its razor-sharp barbs positioned to slice the entire group in half, stopped a short distance from Isaac’s side.
Maledictus’ face, a horrific, inhuman mask of murderous gluttony and rage, was captured in the moment like a wax museum tribute to the worst things the world had ever known.
Zane had to put a stop to it all!
Lunging for the impending threat of Maledictus’ tail, he passed the blade of his katana through the wide hunk of bone, meat, and scales; kicking the severed mass away from the group so that its momentum wouldn’t finish its intended purpose after he dropped back out of overdrive. Turning back, he snatched one of Nikki’s sai from her hand and stapled the airborne arm to the wall with it. Then he sprinted towards Maledictus…
I imagine that’s going to sting when we get back to real time, the monster’s voice chimed in Zane’s head as he followed him into overdrive, his body starting to creep to life as his muscles and mind caught up with Zane’s pace. I’ll have to repay you for that… and that fuck-wad of a muted auric for my arm.
Zane didn’t have any way to respond, and, at that moment, he didn’t want one. Brandishing the katana, he started at Maledictus. Seeing the glistening blade—his time-frozen blood still caking the blade—Maledictus sprinted up the stairs, forcing Zane to chase after him. As they reached the second floor, Zane
threw himself after Maledictus in a hail-Mary attack to bring the monster down. Once off his feet, the laws of physics began to take hold; the sounds of the world beginning to creep more and more into focus as his midair dive lost its superhuman momentum and took root in gravity…
Then Zane slammed into Maledictus. Realizing the tackle had worked, Zane scrambled to bring his enemy down before he could shake free and kill him in overdrive. The distorted outline of Maledictus took shape as he buckled. Zane howled and drove a fist into what he guessed was Maledictus’ knee. A blur became a shimmer of focus, and the two crashed to the floor.
Behind him, Zane heard the wet, loud sound of the severed tail as it landed on the floor—the shocked and then relieved sounds of his allies as they realized what had happened—and a brief bout of barking laughter from the therions as they spotted what Zane had done with the severed arm.
“—top of the stairs!” Nikki called out.
They were close; very close.
Zane could hear the cavalry coming up the stairs.
So close.
He kept punching Maledictus, trying to keep the monster that had plagued his life from getting up; trying to keep him from getting another chance at whatever else he had in his new bag of tricks.
So close. So very, very—
“Zane,” Celine’s voice rang from the base of the stairs.
He ignored her. He was too close to finishing this; he couldn’t allow himself to lose focus. Celine was a liability now; she’d woken up inside Maledictus’ lair alone and, more than likely, with no idea of how she’d passed out in the first place. With nobody around to protect her and no idea if the monster they’d come to kill might be back for her, she’d be frantic—desperate—and, in her desperation, she’d be a hindrance.
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