Excitement spread quickly, after all here she was offering proof of her power. Alexi knew that Savanna could do what she promised, but she also knew the price tag that would come with it. She put her hand on Savanna’s shoulder, “Savanna, no.” She whispered quietly. The witch squared her shoulders and whispered back, “It is the only way, remember my vision?”
“What exactly would you be summoning?” asked Monique.
Alexi braced herself for the coming backlash. Once they heard what she had in mind they were going t lose their minds. It was one thing for the Arcanum to put up with Alexi and by extension, Savanna. After all, they proved that they were on the side of humanity. Alexi didn’t kill people and Savanna didn’t sacrifice humans for her own power. It was another for them to accept their actual nature. They could forget Alexi was a vampire, they could ignore that Savanna was a witch, but this…
“A demon lord could find it for us. A magical infection like this would be something he could trace,” Savanna whispered.
The room burst into a roar of shouting and yelling. Monique let the wave of noise pass over her as she peered carefully at Savanna. Almost as if she gazed hard enough she could reveal Savanna’s nature.
Everyone was yelling now. Osei and Connor were screaming at each other over the very idea. Connor, god bless him, stepped in front of Savanna to make his position clear. The camp in favor of the summoning was clearly smaller than the one against. Alexi didn’t like it either, but if evil magic could save the world?
Monique raised her hands for silence. Not for the first time, Alexi was in awe of the respect the scarred woman received. Almost all the agents quieted down immediately.
“I have some experience with demons,” Monique waved her hand past the part of her face that was a lattice of scars so fine they could be mistaken for a mask. “Let us say for the moment I would be willing to overlook the moral implications of this—” she held her hand out to forestall the obvious complaints, “—for the moment. I know how dangerous and uncontrollable they are. How could you summon one and guarantee it wouldn’t kill us all?”
Savanna took a deep breath. Alexi knew what was coming. She had heard the story before. Savanna couldn’t protect herself and control the demon, it was one or the other. Unless she had a human sacrifice. Alexi shuddered. It was horrible and evil, but one life against the whole world? There was no math there. If she could be the sacrifice she would do it in a heartbeat.
“I have wards I can create to prevent it from misbehaving while it’s on our plane of existence. I can also compel it to obey. A bargain of some kind would likely need to be struck for that to work. However, I can’t power the wards and summon the demon. I would need—” here it came, Alexi cringed at the response it would draw, “a donor,” Savanna finished.
Monique's eyes went wide with shock before they narrowed with suspicion.
“You’re talking about a human sacrifice,” the director said between clenched teeth.
“Yes,” Savanna replied.
***
The Arcanum thought of everything when they built their secret underground facility. While not comparable to a luxury hotel, it had enough rooms for everyone plus a few extra. A central hall for lectures, a rec room, pool, and a gym. The gym was the largest single room in the whole complex. The basketball court that dominated one-half of the large room was the only place Savanna could use to prepare her circles.
She knelt on the hard floor with her eyes closed drawing in her special chalk. She had plenty since she had bought it to heal Alexi. Only three years had passed since she used them to sacrifice a human. It seemed like a lot longer.
A thousand times she had drawn these same circles as a child. Each one complete unto itself but connected to the next. Thirteen in all, completely surrounding her in layers of protection that could only be broken by her.
The chalk in her hand felt like an old friend as she scraped it across the floor. The last circle was the most difficult, for she had to draw it behind her. When it was finally connected she felt a brief thrill pass through her. This is what she trained for her whole life. She had used these circles to save her best friend. It felt wrong to use them to kill, but that was in her blood.
I hope you're proud of me mother if you're still alive. You finally get your wish.
Footsteps interrupted her thoughts. She dragged her arm across her face to wipe away the tears that had been falling since she realized what she had to do.
“Hey, I thought I might find you in here,” Connor said. He knelt next to the outer circle. He reached down—
“Don’t touch. It won’t work if you touch it,” Savanna said.
He nodded.
“Is this like the ones you used to cure Alexi?”
“Pretty much, they’re them same for any ritual that could hurt us or if we think someone might hurt us. Without them, we would be vulnerable while channeling.” Many a fool had attacked a witch while she was protected. With her power, she could rip a man in half or turn them into pigs.
She had a strange swell of sympathy for them men who attacked her. Death would have been a kinder fate to them. Turning them into pigs was a surprise to her, especially with the little amount of blood she spilled.
“Savanna?”
She looked up to Connor, “Sorry, I was lost in thought.”
He nodded.
Silence stretched out between them. She hated this. The last thing she had wanted was for him to come face to face with what she was. Would he still love her when it was done? How could he? She would kill one of his friends, forget the reasons and then use his blood to summon the thing that the Arcanum stood against.
“Can you really do it?” he asked.
She closed her eyes for a minute. The demon lord, an Alatum, that she had summoned to destroy her mother's coven, were incredibly powerful. The one her mother summoned was new and weak in comparison. The one she would summon now would have to be the most powerful one she could bring. She could do it.
“Yes,” she said quietly. She was terrified of what Connor would think of her, “Will they let me?” she asked.
Connor shrugged, “I don’t know. They’re split. Of course, someone would have to volunteer, but I don’t think it’s going to come to that.”
The door to the gym opened. Savanna glanced over as Alexi walked in holding hands with her Detective. They stopped, turned to the side and stayed on the far side of the large expanse.
“Will it hurt? You know, the person, will it damn them to hell or something?” he asked.
Savanna raised a delicate eyebrow. She had never thought of that before. Did it?
“I don’t think so. It hurts as much as getting stabbed in the chest. I don’t think I can condemn anyone to hell. There are forces at work that war with men's souls that I can’t interfere with.”
She went back to twirling the chalk in her hand. Not wanting to look him in the eyes.
“Can I come in, or would it break something?” he asked.
She dragged herself to her feet to make room for him in the center. She nodded and pointed to where he could step.
“Just don’t break any of the circles or I will have to start all over.”
She watched as he carefully stepped between the lines to make his way to her. When he got there he wrapped his arms around her. Savanna sighed. His arms were warm and she sank into him. For the moment her fear subsided and she was content to be held.
“I know it isn’t easy for you,” he whispered into her ear, “doing this. After what your mother made you do.”
“I don’t want to Connor, I don’t. I had a vision of the world if we fail. No one survives, not the city, not the Arcanum, no one in the whole world. How do I measure one life against all of that?” A desperate need for him to understand welled up inside of her. She wasn’t a monster, he had to understand that, “If I could kill myself and still perform the spell I would,” she choked out the last words. Her heart overwhelmed by the enormity of the consequences.
She couldn’t breathe. She sobbed into his chest as he held her. He patted her back and ran his hands down her hair making shushing noises. She leaned into him drawing from his strength.
“I—swore I would never do this again,” she said. With her free hand, she banged her fist against his chest.
“It’s okay Savanna. It will be alright, I promise.”
Her eyes were squeezed tight as the tears that wracked her body subsided. She choked back her response that would disagree with him. How could anything ever be alright again?
“I love you,” he said into her hair, “This isn’t your fault.”
His hand slid down her arm to her legs. Confusion made her pull back from him to look up into his brown eyes. He smiled at her. Connor slipped her dagger into her hand and squeezed her fingers around the leather bound hilt. Confusion froze her for a moment too long. Then realization dawned on her.
“No—” It was too late.
He plunged the dagger up through his abdomen with the precision of a surgeon. His big hands held hers firmly around the blades handle. Her dagger, her hands, her sacrifice.
Savanna couldn’t hope to keep him up, all she could do was sink to the floor with him cradled to her chest. Blood poured out the wound and dripped down his sides and onto her and the floor.
She couldn’t hear anything. The room faded from view and she could only see Connor. Her hand wrapped around the hilt of the dagger protruding from his chest. His bloody fingers slipping from hers as the life drained out of him.
He gazed up at her and smiled. How could he smile at her?
“It was the only way. Couldn’t,” he coughed, “ask anyone else.”
“I love you,” she whispered. She didn’t know what else to say. The pain in her heart choked her.
He reached up and cupped her chin, smearing his blood on her face, “Don’t blame yourself. One of us for all of them,” his hand fell down to smack against the floor.
My…choi—” he didn’t finish as his heart took its last beat.
“Savanna!” Alexi screamed.
Savanna couldn’t take her eyes off of him. His still form. Something was different. His soul was gone and now all she held was his lifeless corpse. She wanted to scream, to cry, but most of all, she wanted him back.
Light from the wards enshrined her, his blood automatically powered them as it dripped down.
“There isn’t much time,” she said, the steel in her voice surprising her.
Savanna pushed Connor out of her head. She couldn’t think about the way he kissed her, how he held her hands, how he never doubted her. It was all gone. All that was left was his sacrifice. She couldn’t waste it.
“Stay back, no matter what you see and hear, don’t interfere.” She said to Alexi. “I need to know you understand, Alexi? Say it!”
“I—I understand.”
Savanna nodded. She leaned down and placed one last kiss on Connor’s lips.
Her chant filled the room with an unearthly volume that the petite girl could never hope to achieve without electronic assistance. At the end of the first sentence, she dragged the bloodied dagger across her own abdomen. Mixing Connor’s blood with her own. The power of her witches blood engulfed her and she gasped as Connor’s life energy poured into her. Every cell in her vibrated with stolen energy. She wouldn’t fail. For him, she wouldn’t fail.
TWENTY-TWO
Alexi watched, helpless to interfere as Savanna chanted in the middle of her circle, Connors cooling body splayed out in front of her as the blood pooled underneath her.
She wanted to rush to her friend. Hold her and tell her it would be okay. She knew it wouldn’t be, it would never be okay again. Alexi feared no matter how this turned out, it wouldn’t end well for the witch. When Victor had died Alexi felt just as helpless, but she hadn’t killed him. Savanna would have to live with the knowledge that her blade ended Connor. She shook her head, she couldn’t imagine how Savanna felt.
“How the hell did this happen?” Monique asked from beside her. Alexi jumped in surprise, so lost in thought she hadn’t heard the Israeli woman come in. Not something that happened often.
“Connor—he sacrificed himself.”
“Are you’re sure?”
Alexi nodded. She had seen the whole thing. It happened so fast she didn’t have time to shout a warning. “I’m sure you have surveillance, you can check it if you want.” Alexi didn’t want to argue with them, not now. If they all lived, if the world lived, the Arcanum could sort itself out later.
“Damn fool,” Monique muttered, “He knew I wouldn’t ever allow this. Not ever.”
Hot wind rushed into the room interrupting her. The doors slammed closed as the airflow reversed itself and now was sucking all the air toward a center point. More agents than just Monique had entered the room, including Osei. Alexi couldn’t help but notice they were armed.
A sudden burst of crimson lightning exploded outward from a point in front of Savanna. It cracked with a ground shaking clap as it crawled over the witches wards. Tendrils of it split off to shatter windows and light fixtures until the only light left in the gym was the violet energy of Savanna’s power and the crimson lightning that leaped out of the portal.
An overwhelming stench of rotten eggs rolled over them. Alexi put her hand to her nose to block it out. She heard retching behind her but couldn’t take her eyes off the growing portal to see who. Another massive clap of thunder exploded outward from the growing portal. Alexi lifted her arms to protect her head. She heard screams as people were knocked down.
“Come forth, beast,” Savanna shouted above the roaring wind. Her voice echoed through the chamber at impossible volumes.
The portal widened as the crimson lightning stopped lashing out at Savanna. Instead, it wrapped itself in a circle of spinning energy, widening to the size of a man.
Something about the light and the smell reminded Alexi of the vampires she had slain. The smell, though a million times stronger now, was the same when she banished a vampire with her sword. Intellectually she knew where ever she sent them was bad but to see it. To have it in her face and wonder if that was the fate in store for her someday, was something else.
Massive clawed hands latched onto the circle from the inside. They stretched it wider, pulling the air asunder. One massive leg stepped through, It’s backward knee, taloned toes, and leathery skin was made of hard red skin. Red light flowed underneath it like molten rock.
A wave of nausea passed over the gym as something never meant for this world came through. Alexi barely held on because her stomach contained nothing to vomit up, others were not so lucky.
The alien appearance of the thing baffled her. Skin like a lizard, knees like a bird, and giant wings folded on its back like a bat. Nothing about it looked like any of those things, or anything Alexi had ever imagined. It’s scarred face protruded with horns and pointed bones. Its massive bulk had to hunch over to fit in the gym. Claws the size of her legs crushed tile and gouged great furrows in the linoleum.
Little witch. It’s thoughts filled Alexi’s mind. They were sick and wretched. Her mind felt unclean from hearing it speak. A glance around told her that everyone heard. Its maw didn’t move but to smile and show row after row of razor-sharp teeth.
“I summoned thee, Alatum, obey my will!” Savanna shouted over the wind. In response, the creature lashed out with one clawed hand the size of a car. The air whistled as it sliced them across her wards. Sparks of violet energy exploded off of them and chunks of demon flesh vanished. It roared with anger as it clasped its ruined hand. In seconds the skin and bone regenerated.
Your wards are strong, bitch. But they will not protect you forever. I will have your soul in Hades for my eternal enjoyment. That, you cannot escape!
“Silence, fiend,” Savanna growled. Her voice boomed through the open area, “You will obey my will or I will banish you into eternal agony and torment.”
Flame leaped out of its nostrils sending the temperature in
the room skyrocketing. Alexi wasn’t effected by heat, but those around her broke out in sweat.
Of course. What is thy will, my master? As it asked it bent to one knee on the floor. Cracks spread from the impact and Alexi wondered if there were rooms underneath.
Savanna gently put Connors hands on his chest before standing up. Alexi hadn’t realized she had been holding them.
“There is an infection on this planet. We know them as zombies. Do you know of what I speak?” she asked.
Of course, am I not the King of all demons, the Lord of Hades. Giver of eternal torment. The things massive head shifted to look at Alexi. She swallowed hard.
I even know of you, Alexi Creed. Do not fear for your friend. For you will join her in my kingdom and beg for death’s sweet release. Made only sweeter by the souls you have sent me.
The Alatum grimaced in pain as eldritch energy crackled around Savanna and struck him.
“Enough of your threats. You may be the Lord of Hades, but here and now you are my servant. Where is the source of this infection? Where is the zombie that started all of this?”
The Alatum gazed at Savanna for a long moment, its black eyes reflected the light. Alexi couldn’t tell if it was re-evaluating her or merely angry.
Yes.
“Tell us where it is,” Savanna demanded.
I cannot.
“You must,” Savanna’s voice lost some of its force, “I command you.”
I cannot. I must take you there.
Savanna slumped in her circle, falling to her knees.
“Is there no other way,” she pleaded.
That’s what makes this delicious. There isn’t.
“Promise me we will get there and allow us the time to defeat and destroy the source,” she bargained.
Blood Sacrifice (Faith of the Fallen Book 2) Page 21
