by J. Armand
“You sound scared to try. Noah was always preaching to me about overcoming fear. He even has a tattoo about it. There’s no reason the both of you can’t.”
“It is mostly guilt, not fear, for me. By saving his life tonight, even you did what I could not. I am reminded of it every night.”
“You need to let that go. You could be free together. I don’t think he blames you, but that’s a conversation the two of you should be having.”
“Maybe you are right,” she said, looking over at him. “I may have finally found something to make these wretched nights a little more bearable and it was right in front of me all this time.”
“I’m going after the hunchback,” I yelled to the group.
“Non! Only an Ancient can kill an Ancient,” Vivi insisted. “Our best chance is to eliminate his army. Let Noah and I deal with him and force his retreat.”
“I was made for this, Vivi.” I flew over the mob, searching for the man in the mask. It didn’t take long to spot the big hat. Nothing could have made me angrier than seeing him stroll through the crowd, spinning his cane like this was a leisurely walk in the park. I got an idea immediately upon seeing a car along the street. I gave it everything I had in me and rolled the car on its side, sending it bowling through the infected and into The Blighted One.
“Tell me what crevasse you plan to crawl into should you succeed? Humanity will never accept you as the monster you are now.” His voice came from under the car.
I landed on the sidewalk, waiting for his retaliation. The car budged, then flipped through the air toward me. I blocked my face with my hands and the car collided with an invisible wall erected by my powers. The Blighted One stood watching me through the soulless portholes in his mask.
“Your fight to protect the humans that will never embrace you for who you are is laughable. Do you think your Archios allies will welcome you in? No, they will bury you to keep up their charade.”
The more he talked the more empowered I felt to shut him up. I threw the car back at him, but he halved it with his right arm, which had mutated into a long blade. He walked toward me, knocking half of the car away with ease. Something wriggled under the leather duster he was wearing. It tore open, revealing two sickle-like appendages sprouting from his back.
The bony mask protecting his head was too thick for me to crush. That was the most effective thing I had learned up to now. I was out of tricks sooner than I had hoped. His new sword-arm looked the most dangerous, so I focused on trying to remove it. We were caught in a tug of war, but I prevailed and yanked it from his body.
I turned it back around in the air and tried impaling him with it. The sword stuck straight through his chest and melted into him, reforming at his side. Alarmed, I flew back to rethink my strategy. Our fight traveled into Central Park and was now between just the two of us. My strongest hadn’t done much but stagger him for a second and I was running out of ideas already.
The Blighted One dropped on all fours and scuttled across the ground. He climbed up a tree with the help of his extra appendages and pounced with his blade out. It missed, but on his way down the blade transformed into some sort of barbed tentacle and wrapped around my arm. With a jerk it tightened until I screamed.
I crashed to the ground and crawled away from him, feeling faint from blood loss as I left a trail behind me. He absorbed the blood from my arm just like the blade. My powers still weren’t enough to throw him back, and every attempt I made didn’t seem to bother him. He stopped following me momentarily and gazed at the sky. A deafening noise that reminded me of a cicada echoed from his throat. Once he was done, the sound of many feet trampling the grass came from all around. I saw infected stampeding through the trees to us and knew I wouldn’t be able to do this on my own.
“The parasite may not discriminate in choosing a host, but I no longer deem you worthy of such a gift.”
One of the bladed appendages from the Blighted One’s back pierced between my ribs. I could no longer hold back the tears and began to choke. They mixed with the blood gurgling up in my throat and prevented me from pleading for mercy. An agonizing suction wreaked havoc inside my body. The bone scythe stuck in me rent my vital organs from their connective tissue.
“That robust flavor, I would recognize it anywhere. Bloodlust and rage, the final emotions of the oppressed. This is no work of the parasite. These are your true feelings. You want to hate, to lash out and destroy what stands in your way. You may not be human, but you are every bit as wicked.”
I fought my body’s urge to shut down and give in to unconsciousness. I collected myself just enough to tear the appendage from him and push him away. He recoiled, but I was still surrounded by infected bearing down on me. Before they could move in, I turned my attention to the trees above me and pulled down large branches to crush them and block their path even if only for a moment.
The Blighted One regrouped quickly and reattached his severed limb to continue his quest to harvest my insides.
“Ah, you have synergized so well with the parasite. I can taste the otherworldly energies from the Rift coursing through you. It is such a shame. You would have made an ideal successor and a wonderful instrument of destruction. It wouldn’t take long before you turned that anger on mankind once they shunned you.”
My heart beat erratically, traumatized by my organs rupturing. My senses failed. I held on for as long as I could, hoping maybe I was at least buying the others time to go through with their plan before I died. As my sight darkened, I had one last shot at taking the plague doctor out. Staring into his mask, I cracked the glass covering his eyes and sent the shards inward. The blood leaking from the holes let me know I was successful in bringing him at least a little more suffering. While he was definitely hurt, he still managed to heal by ingesting more tissue from me.
Vivi leaped down from the night sky, cutting off the Carpathian’s siphon and removing it from my body. “Noah, keep him busy!” she shouted and carried me off to a safe place in the trees.
“I can still fight,” I told her as my body started patching itself up.
“You’ve done enough. Take Monsieur Turner with you and leave here. I will erase his memory of everything that happened this week, including everyone he has met.”
“Everyone?” I had only known him for a few days, but without Lyle I had no one left. We became friends quicker than I opened up to most people under the circumstances. I didn’t think I’d have to walk away as if I never existed.
“It is for your own good as well as his. I strongly advise you continue to keep your secret and move on with your life.”
“If I can’t do what I was created for, then who am I? What purpose does my life really have?”
“Your life is not defined by how it began, but the paths you take along the way. It is too soon for you to end that journey so recklessly.”
Vivi left me to rest away from danger and took up the fight against the Blighted One alongside Noah. My missing skin and organs were growing back now and I could feel my strength returning.
I floated to my feet when I heard a woman scream. I shot through the trees, smacking into branches as I flew past.
“NO!” Noah’s roar boomed loud enough to be heard across all five boroughs. The Blighted One’s rib cage had burst through its torso and engulfed Vivi. By the time I got there only her face and hand were visible as she desperately reached out to Noah.
“So much for your legendary speed!” The Carpathian laughed at Noah’s frustration. He dropped his swords to try and pull Vivi out, snarling with his fangs bared and punching with all his strength. A few of the remaining infected were stabbing him in the back with their bladed arms, but he shrugged off the pain in his frenzied state. My heart sank, hearing her bones crunch and pop as she was assimilated into the monster.
“GIVE HER BACK TO ME!” he bellowed.
Noah had gone berserk with rage, and was clawing and punching to get to Vivi. He picked up one of his swords to try and cut her out
, but it couldn’t scratch the bony carapace protecting the Blighted One. In his anger, Noah failed to notice the mutated appendages make their move to consume him next. The two from the Carpathian’s back stabbed into Noah’s shoulders, holding him in place while the tentacle arm wrapped around his torso. The rib cage sprang open again like a crab’s legs and extended to drag him in.
He should have transformed into mist, but he was so blinded by fury, all he did was strike senselessly at the body. I threw off the infected as soon as I flew in close enough and smashed them to bits.
Lyle ran up shouting as soon as he saw Vivi’s katana on the grass and figured out what had happened. I pried Noah from the Blighted One before he was lost too, but he shoved me away so hard I almost broke my neck when I hit a tree. Noah dove right back in, trying to attack with the same results. I went to pull him away again, but he snarled menacingly at me to back off.
His crazed punching cracked the mask, but he was also about to be consumed. I warned Lyle to stay away. My anger was well past the boiling point so I could just imagine how Noah felt. I ripped off the Blighted One’s appendages holding him. I sure as hell wasn’t going to lose someone else.
The Blighted One let out an insidious chuckle from behind the broken mask. I helped Noah break the rest of the mask off, revealing the grotesque face it hid. A razor-toothed maw and two beady eyes greeted us. There was no skin, only raw muscle and bone covered in black veins, which made me think the mask actually was his face. Noah went to impale the hideous Ancient, but stopped before the sword struck. The Blighted One ignited in a baleful green blaze. Vivi’s body fell from his chest cavity and disintegrated before it hit the ground.
“Oh — I’m sorry, did you love her?” A woman’s voice cackled at Noah from behind The Blighted One who was thrashing wildly to extinguish the flames. Noah was on his knees trying to scoop what was left of Vivi into his hands.
“We killed you!” I screamed. Minerva emerged from a portal on the ground. Her new look better matched the evil soul inside her. Her eyes were bright red with cat-like irises, curved horns extended from each side of her skull, and leathery crimson wings kept her aloft before us.
“Then it should come as no surprise to you why I’ve returned. But, I’m not here only for you …”
“Traitor!” The Blighted One’s melting carcass hissed. “You failed our master and yet you get a second chance only to betray him?”
“On the contrary. My master has sent me to release you from your contract. It is you who have failed him. Your army is broken and the parasitic plague meant to contaminate mankind could have been better spread by a child with a cold. I, on the other hand, have succeeded in my task at creating perfect vessels for him. He was most pleased after seeing the destruction and resilience that this one possesses.”
“My people … will know justice. They … will hunt you … to the depths of Hell and back to avenge me.” The Blighted One’s voice faded out between the crackling flames. “We will not fall … we will be free …”
“Splendid. I could always make use of more sacrifices. You are no less pathetic than the witch who only sought power for something so short-sighted as revenge against her sister. There is a world ready to be taken and you pine for mere freedom.”
Minerva unleashed another gout of balefire upon the Blighted One and soon his body crumbled to ash too. Noah had vanished amidst the squabbling. I was hoping he would return because right now I wasn’t sure if I could do this alone.
“We’ve already defeated your demon once and I’ve only gotten stronger since then.”
“You speak of that infernal fodder; an insult to compare him to my master. That was nothing more than a servant.” Minerva paused and with a flap of her wing deflected Noah’s aerial ambush. “That won’t work twice.” She smiled. “I’ve been looking forward to returning the favor you did me by reuniting me with my master.”
Noah’s eyes were still berserk with rage. He disappeared again, but Minerva caught him with her flames forcing him to transform into mist several times to avoid taking damage. Lyle took a step toward Vivi’s katana. I couldn’t let him fight even if he was willing to throw away his life to be a hero. I threw him as far away as I could without hurting him. Minerva was busy taking delight in having the upper hand on Noah this time around. Despite still being faster than her he wasn’t able to get close with her constantly spraying flames in his path. Noah was unrelenting, but so was Minerva. She had yet to land a blow until he got too close and was forced to drop both his wakizashi as they melted from the intense heat.
I thought of what Vivi said before she died about him respecting me and the time he taught me how to fly. They weren’t all bad, it was the ones that were who have been ruining it for the rest. But, I have the power to change that starting here and now. It isn’t just about me and my revenge anymore. I can’t let this cycle start over again. There’s already enough hatred and war in the world, we don’t need to add anymore fuel to the fire. Minerva and the demons’ unholy crusade will only lead to genocide for both humanity and the supernatural. It won’t bring balance and neither side will accept the other anymore than they do already. If I was created for destruction then that’s what I’ll have use to put an end to this before it can begin.
My mind was clear, centered even. I felt lucid again for the first time in a while. The anger was still there, but it wasn’t in control. The world seemed to slow to a crawl around me as I honed my sights on Minerva.
The earth beneath me started to quake. It wasn’t in my head though. With a wave of my hand the pavement cracked open and apartment windows shattered in a line toward Minerva. She glanced away from Noah too slowly to avoid the oncoming tsunami of cars and concrete. The green flames extinguished from around Noah instantly upon her loss of concentration as she was sent barreling down the street with the avalanche of cars.
“My nephew’s pitiful sentiment to spare your life won’t save you from the coming apocalypse. You and your pathetic allies will burn in hellfire with the rest of mankind.”
Minerva flew into the air, throwing back all the cars in a fiery green explosion. She was many times more resistant against the direct effects of my telekinesis than anyone else I had fought. I would need to be creative to weaken her first. Water was still spraying from the fire hydrant I used earlier on the Carpathians. I angled the stream with the help of a manhole cover, but it failed to put out the oncoming flames.
“Water has no effect on the fires of Hell, fool!” She laughed.
My skin burned away in the tempest of unstoppable flames. The dead tissue reknitted itself with a temporary display of blackened blood vessels pumping life back into my body. The healing process wasn’t without pain, but it caused an even greater surge of energy within me.
I flew through another burst of fire to take Minerva by surprise. We were inches apart when she flapped her wings to retreat. Everything I had stored inside me erupted outward in a shockwave that sent her ricocheting helplessly down the street.
Minerva was stopped abruptly by a sword through her heart. Noah had been waiting to greet her at just the right moment with Vivi’s katana. He remained expressionless as he kicked her off the blade and into the flooded street. She cackled at him when he swung the beautifully engraved sword down like a guillotine.
“Soon you will bear witness to the depths of your folly! Humanity’s reign is at an end and there is nothing any of you can do. Do you think such weak ideals as love and hope can break the cosmic cycle? I will return and I will rule —”
The malicious laughter from her severed head wouldn’t cease until a gunshot finally brought us silence.
“I thought you’d be out of bullets by now.” I looked over at Lyle. “I had one saved for myself. Just in case.”
The same pentagram portal she came from opened beneath Minerva and returned what was left of her to Hell.
“Tell me it’s over.” Lyle sighed.
“For now, hopefully. Maybe even for the rest of yo
ur lifetime.”
“Don’t say that …”
“It’s fine. It gives me a purpose right?”
Noah bent down on one knee in Vivi’s ashes holding her katana. “I never blamed you,” he whispered to her.
He vanished in a gust of wind that swirled the ash along the street. Lyle walked up beside me as I healed away the rest of the burns. We watched the ashes dance around us until the breeze carried them away.
“I thought I wanted revenge, I thought I’d be a hero for killing everyone who wronged me, but this isn’t what I imagined victory would feel like,” I said, breaking the silence through a lump in my throat. “Why don’t I feel like we’ve really won the war?”
“Heroes fight wars to end them. Only monsters fight to win, and you’re no monster.”
Epilogue
“Damn, Sarge, you’re on fire,” a young police officer exclaimed by the park gates. “Night shift just started and that’s the second mugging you stopped by yourself. Someone upstairs must have really got your back.”
“All about being in the right place at the right time, rookie,” Lyle told him. “Hang back here a minute, all right?”
“You can’t keep doing this,” Lyle whispered to me as he walked up to my seat on the park bench. “People are getting suspicious.”
“You mean your partner?” I peered over to where he was standing. “He looks like he hasn’t even graduated high school. Anything would impress him.”
“Since I’ve been back I’m filling my quotas for the month during the first week. I’m booking people faster than they can process them.”
“And that’s bad how exactly?” I asked. “We’re cleaning up the streets, you’re getting all the recognition. What’s the problem?”
“I didn’t take this job for the recognition. I appreciate what you’re doing, but I’m going to get investigated if my bosses start doubting the validity of my arrests.”
“Fine. I’ll go help another cop who isn’t so modest.” I took another sip of my caramel latte and got up to leave.
