Follow the Screams (The Executioner Trilogy Book 2)

by Kindra Sowder

  My knee was grinding and painful as I walked towards him, but this was something that I couldn’t stop. Not only was my will power moving me right along, so was the animal caged inside of me. We both knew this was the key to our deliverance. As soon as I was upon I thrust my hand towards his chest to his liquid fire heart I could hear beating and pumping, but I met resistance. The rock he was made of was something I couldn’t break through. How was that even possible? I was stronger down here, but couldn’t break through the Cherufe’s exoskeleton of black rock. I just wasn’t strong enough yet.

  I could hear the Cherufe begin to laugh and it was guttural and liquid. It almost sounded like he was drowning and happy about it. The shock must have registered on my face and he looked at me with the same look I had seen when I first met Lilith. Pure evil was bleeding from those eyes, and that was what I needed to feed on. We became like acrobats, dodging and returning a series of kicks and punches. A very well placed punch to my face landed me on the ground a few feet away with him walking towards me, his steps hurried and deliberate. Out of the corner of my eyes I could see Gordon take a step in our direction. I wasn’t letting him get in this fight. There was only so much he could do.

  “Stay back,” I choked, out of breath. I knew he wouldn’t listen. “Gordon, stay back!” I yelled the words. They froze him in place.

  I stood and my knee almost gave out, but the adrenaline and the hunger for power kept me standing. He began to run towards me and I unleashed a wave of fire at him again, which seemed to slow him down. My hands and arms were burning with power as it surged through me. The scream that erupted was involuntary and demonic and it made my throat ache.

  Then the unexpected happened. A storm of cold collided with the flames, extinguishing them. Steam and cool air streamed around me as I looked on in confusion. I wasn’t sure what was happening. I couldn’t see through the snow flurries that were now storming past me. It was so cold but the heat inside of me kept me from freezing, and any flakes that hit my skin evaporated with a snake like hiss. This was coming from directly behind me, but I didn’t dare look back because I was scared of what I would see. The snow forced the flames to stop and i kneeled down with my hands covering my head like when you were a kid and had earthquake drills at school. I never thought that would come in handy until now.

  The wind was whistling past me at an earth shattering speed, and my hair was whipping around my face and it stung. As the wind died and the flakes dissipated, I was able to look up and see the Cherufe frozen solid, steam rolling off of him in a fog from his head down to his feet. I wouldn’t have thought this was possible if I didn’t see it with my own eyes. I turned in the direction of the storm and could only see Gordon and Escara, but Gordon was out of breath and had almost fallen to his knees. I knew he was the source in that instant. Confusion flooded me, but that was only one emotion I was feeling in the tsunami of emotions that had just hit me.

  As I looked on at Gordon he told me to hurry between ragged breaths. I knew exactly what he meant. It was like he had realized it before I had, and knew this was the only way to get what I needed. The look on my face told him that we had something to discuss and soon, but not before I zapped all of the Hellfire I could from the heart of the Cherufe. It was a nice little gift Gordon had perfectly preserved in ice that was beginning to melt. After I absorbed all I could get, then we would have a long and possibly angry discussion about this new development. He had always been able to do this. That I knew for sure, so why did he feel the need to hide it from me? Was it a part of him he didn’t want to delve into and he did it to help me? I honestly had no idea.

  I turned away from him and limped to the still form of the Cherufe. I touched the center of his chest and it was slick as the ice began to melt. I forced heat into the palm of my hand and melted a nice hole in the center of his chest. Once I got down to where I could feel skin that had been buried beneath the rock exoskeleton I reared my arm back and thrust my hand through it. I enclosed my hand around his heart and I could feel the power of the Hellfire within it as I drew it out. I felt the heat rolling through my veins and concentrating over my own heart, gaining in brilliance as it beat faster and faster. The feeling was exhilarating and my head lolled back of its own volition. It was like I had no control over my own body, and I welcomed it. I lost complete control in that moment and could feel the heart turning into liquid in my hands, absorbing completely into me and filling me to the brim with power. If I didn’t know better I thought it would overflow, but I kept it very well contained.

  Then it suddenly stopped and the heart and liquid it had turned into was gone, leaving an empty, gaping hole where it used to be. I could feel the beast rolling within me like it was drunk on power, and that was honestly how it felt. The world began to spin and I fell to the ground, fumbling around like someone who had had one too many. Gordon came to kneel before me and as he looked deep into my eyes I knew that the power he showed me he possessed could also help us. Now I just had to convince him to tap into that part of him that he seemed to be so afraid to acknowledge, but first we would need to have a little talk.

  Chapter 19: Lies and Damned Lies

  I was beyond irate and the beast was still fully responding to the anger inside of me. If I didn’t know better I would say it was just as angry as I was, but no. It responded to my emotions, nothing more. It was all animal instinct.

  I turned away from the frozen form that was the Cherufe, and as I looked at Gordon he couldn’t take his eyes off of me. I could still feel the heat in my eyes and chest, and I could see the flashing light of my heartbeat. It wasn’t going to stop till this was over. I began to walk towards him and it was like he froze in place. My gaze turned to Escara as I walked towards them. This wasn’t going to be pretty and she didn’t need to know that I was clueless about this new development. What Escara saw in my eyes caused her to turn and spread her wings, taking off in flight to give us some privacy. Good, because this was about to get ugly.

  “What the hell, Gordon? What was that?” I asked as soon as she was out of sight. I could hear the anger in my voice. I could also hear the beast like it wanted to assert itself through me. It was funny how this would be our first fight, and it had to be about something as huge as this. He stood there for a moment and I could see shame move through his eyes and his facial expression. He obviously felt bad he hadn’t told me about this and I had to find out this way. He put his hands out towards me as I came even closer, the beast making its presence even more obvious. It was almost like Gordon was trying to keep the beast away to protect himself. Truly, it wasn’t the beast he had to worry about.

  My feet stopped carrying me once I was directly in front of him, almost touching chest to chest. Mine still seemed to be pushed out a little from the fight. I didn’t want to be angry. But that was the only thing I knew to feel.

  “Robin, please.”

  I wasn’t even sure what the please was for. Please don’t hurt me? Please don’t be mad at me? Well it’s a little too late for all that now, because I was absolutely livid. The beast was pounding on my control again, and I had to try very hard to pull in the reigns. It was still beating against me, but not nearly as hard now. Thank goodness because I was about to lay it all down for Gordon.

  “Why didn’t you tell me about this?” I was standing so close to him that I could see a very well defined reflection of myself. What I saw made me scared of myself. Hair was now a soft flowing red, my eyes were like pools of liquid fire and the network of veins underneath my skin looked like a very bright roadmap. I could only imagine how other people would feel if they saw this. Gordon was still calm and collected, but his eyes were full of shame and regret. I wanted him to feel bad.

  “I didn’t tell you because I thought this would be how you’d react, and man was I right.” If he wasn’t expecting me to get angry over a secret that could help us then he had bigger problems.

  I sighed and said, “Gordon, I’m not mad that you can do this. You’re a d
emon and I expected something, but you completely skipped over the part where you could turn things into ice sculptures. So forgive me for being a little angry.” I could feel tears burning my throat and I had to swallow to keep them from boiling over. It wasn’t like me to cry in the middle of a fight. I wasn’t sure if it was just the stress of trying to get us out of here or if I was upset because he showed his demon ways by lying. I think some could protest that he hadn’t actually lied, but if you didn’t tell someone severely important information you might as well have been. And this was important.

  “I know, I know. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I never expected to have to use it.” He looked directly into my eyes and sighed, “That is a part of me I never wanted to turn to again. Not for anything. I did it for you, for us.” I still wasn’t appeased and I folded my arms across my chest, closing him off. Beth had always said I did this a lot when I was truly irritated.

  “This is something we can use down here. Possibly even upstairs against Lilith and her followers. Why you felt you had to hide this from me, I have no idea. This would’ve been something great to know before all of this mess.” I put my hands out to the side in a gesture to point out our location. Hell. This could greatly help us in Hell. He can undo the destruction I would create or help me like he just did. The urge to continue to absorb more power was growing, and he could be very useful when dealing with certain creatures. Why, oh why did he hide this?

  He nodded in agreement and stated, “You don’t know how hard this was to hide from you. I didn’t want to, but I felt like I had to. Only high ranking demons are granted any kind of power, and I was afraid you’d use that fact against me.” He set his hands on my shoulders and gave them a slight squeeze, like he was trying to reassure me. “I’m sorry.”

  I scoffed at him and couldn’t help the sarcastic smile that spread across my face. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes either. This was becoming all too much. I was always hearing something I didn’t like down here. I only had two moments that stood out. Seeing Gordon for the first time since his death, and the moments of intimacy we had in the middle of this wasteland. I turned away from him quickly and ran my hands through my hair.

  Taking a step forward, I could still feel Gordon’s eyes on me like he was trying to guess my next move. He was really concentrating on me. I could feel his gaze on my back and it was making the hair on the back of my neck stand up. He then did something I didn’t expect, which was par for the course with him obviously. He walked up behind me and placed his hands on my shoulders once more, and I could feel their coolness. I began to wonder why I hadn’t noticed that before now. Was it because of this moment, or was I trying to ignore it before now? There was no telling.

  I wanted to still be mad, but I couldn’t. He had a very legitimate reason for not wanting me to know. After all, he had only used it to help me with the Cherufe, and that I was thankful for. I sat on the ground and I could feel the beast slipping back into the dark recesses of my mind. The heat began to fade until all of it and the light it caused were all gone. Almost like a distant memory. Gordon was still standing behind me and he gently caressed my hair. He came to be in a sitting position right behind me, wrapping his arms around me and holding on so tight. He was afraid I would leave him over this. I could tell. I wasn’t going anywhere. I just wished he didn’t hide anything from me so I had to ask.

  “Is there anything else I should know about before we start moving again?” I could feel his body relax against me, each muscle moving individually under skin. He didn’t say a word. All he did was sit there and hold me, and I couldn’t help but lean back into him. I turned to look at him and he was staring off into the distance. Our prison sure was vast. That I could agree on, but if anyone came up to me and told me there was absolutely no way we would make it out of here alive I would bet money that we could. I didn’t care what it took, but we were getting out. We were going to fight Lilith and her followers until not a single one of them was left standing. Not even Lilith herself would be spared.

  We then heard something we weren’t prepared for. Out in the distance there was an explosion, followed by a mushroom cloud and an ear shattering roar. I sat straight up and watched the cloud as it continued to spread in our direction, and fast. The mushroom top had fallen to the ground and was coming towards us in a rush. At that moment I wasn’t scared of the large creature that had made the sound. I was more terrified by the cloud of ash that was headed our way and I almost felt like we couldn’t avoid it, but I knew better.

  “Run!” I yelled.

  We both jumped to our feet and began to run as far away from the cloud as quickly as possible. I could hear Escara yelling something from above us, but in the rush of wind past my ears I couldn’t make it out. The roaring of the quickly approaching cloud didn’t help either. My arms were pumping at my sides and my breathing was already becoming ragged. If I didn’t know better I’d swear I had never worked out a day in my life, but I was nearly breathless already. I had to keep running. At least until we could clear the path of the oncoming ash cloud. That was if we could. Fear was choking me and the beast was a strong presence within me once again.

  Every muscle was pumping away and I could feel the heat rising within me. I knew for a fact that the beast couldn’t help me in this instance, so I just kept running. I took a chance at a look back and the cloud of ash and embers was gaining on us and showed no signs of slowing down. My whole body burned and I almost felt like giving up. I wanted to stop and let the ash cover me until all I could see was darkness. I did notice that the cloud was spreading equally in all directions, so turning to head another way wouldn’t help. I cursed under my breath and grabbed Gordon’s hand, pulling him towards me as I came to a stop. As soon as his arms were snaked around me the cloud was upon us. The wind was whistling past us and I could feel the pieces of ash whip past my face. A few live embers lashed out at my cheeks, causing small burns that felt like bee stings.

  I wasn’t sure what I thought in that moment, but I could continue to feel the pressure building around us and the current of air only getting stronger. Gordon bent at his knees and I followed suit until we were both kneeling on the ground holding onto each other and waiting for it to pass. That’s when the downpour of gigantic globes of fire began to rain down around us. All I could hear before was the wind, but then all I could hear were the falling fireballs that would surely kill us.

  The beast was begging to be let go. It could do something I couldn’t so why not take the risk? I let go of my control and flames blossomed all over every inch of skin, surrounding the both of us like a shield with a bright flash of light. I was beginning to think I could do anything. I looked up into the air just in time to see a large flaming boulder coming in our direction, and I was shocked once I saw the projectile make contact with the fire and crumble to pieces. They fell around us and slid down the invisible walls of the field I had created. The ash cloud began to slow and once it was gone the field went down on its own and the flames disappeared.

  As soon as we could we took complete inventory of any injuries we might have sustained. Gordon looked a lot like I did. There were tiny red burns on his arms and neck. I had a few on my cheeks and down both arms. Besides being covered in even more ash then we were before, that was the worst of it. They were small but painful. Of course, what did you expect when those embers that burned you came from Hellfire? Gordon tucked my hair behind my ears and kissed my forehead. We were more than okay. A little worse for the wear, but I wouldn’t have expected anything less.

  Any anger I was feeling towards him was gone. I guess a near death experience will do that to you. I hadn’t been prepared for this turn of events, but I seemed to be handling it well. The roadmap of veins was beginning to dissipate and my heart was beginning to slow down. The beast began to crawl back into its corner, ready to be called on again if need be. All I could smell was ash and it was even tickling my nose. I looked out into the wasteland of Hell and there were still ver
y few fires burning that I could see in the distance. The blankets of ash that covered the ground came up to my ankles. This was going to be tons of fun to walk in. Escara came to land beside us as Gordon helped me to my feet.

  “Are you okay?” she asked hurriedly as she quickly closed the distance between us. All I could do was nod. I was breathless and speechless. That was the most intense thing I had ever seen in my life, and I knew that I didn’t want to have to try to outrun that again. It was a terrifying experience.

  “Yes, we’re fine. Just a little shaken up.” Gordon said.

  Escara stood there watching us as I was trying to shake all of the ash out of my hair. As if I didn’t have enough of it in there before. I turned to her and she saw the question in my face before I even had to ask it, but she let me anyways.

  “What was that?” I genuinely wanted to know. I had never seen anything like it before except in movies about volcanoes, and I was sure those didn’t exist down here. Hell was a very strange place, I could tell anyone that.

  She shook her head and opened her mouth to speak. The words that came out were even more shocking than the event itself.

  “That was the death of a phoenix.”