“That is essentially the deal.” Standing, Romasanta offered one of his massive claws as a moment to shake in agreements. “I want the killing blow when we find him.”
“I just want Angeline safe.” Shaking, it was agreed. “But what makes you think I can locate someone that an old dog like you has failed to do so.”
“Let’s just say, I have gut feeling that you already have a plan and just need time.”
Chapter Twenty-Four: The Sisters Arrive
“Whoa, so Merlin is the one that cursed Romasanta?” Tony was wiping down a few tables on the floor as Cedric finished the new installment of the story. “Man, this wizard really likes to piss people off.”
“He’s a clever one.” Badbh scoffed, she had been coming in with Cedric the last few Thursdays. “But I was wondering what the deal was and why you two became buddy-buddy.”
A smirk crawled across Cedric’s face as he finished sipping his drink. “By the way, would you like something to drink with Badbh and me, Romasanta?”
“No thank you.” Tony stood in bewilderment as the homeless man’s, Romasanta’s yellow eyes flashed for a moment before going back to looking out the wintry window in the back of the bar. “Badbh is far too much for me these days.”
“What is going on?” Tony’s body shivered, not from the cold, but the alarming feeling that was taking over his instincts. He returned behind the bar, the only barrier he found some comfort in. “These are the people from your fairy tale. This is insane, I must be dreaming? Is this some sort of prank?”
“We have much to discuss with you, Tony.” Cedric met Tony’s panicked face with a stern look. “But just wait a moment longer; we have more on their way. When they get here, I will explain what is going on. Please, do not be startled, no harm will come to you.”
“Harm?” Tony’s back hit the shelf of bottles, all of them clanking and wobbling in protest from his intrusion. “Are you crazy?”
“What a mess,” The door rung as two more women walked in from the snowstorm that painted the streets white. The one who was talking met the description of Morrighan as she shivered in her black fur coat while the other huddled deep into her similar white coat. “You were never good at being diplomatic, Cedric.”
“It has nothing to do with my lack of diplomacy.” Cedric’s jaw muscle twitched as he glared at Morrighan and Nemaine who walked over to greet their sister. “I blame your sister.”
“Stop knocking your knees together boy and pour me another round of Jonnie.” Badbh crossed her arms. “Or just hand me the bottle.”
Tony shook as he gave the bottle up to the sorceress and her two giggling sisters. He found himself lost in his own flood of fearful thoughts as he stared into the glowing green eyes of Cedric. The story he had spent weeks listening so deeply to was becoming more and more tangible, but his mind and heart were conflictive with one another. His elbow knocked into a bottle, it rolled on its heel for a moment before falling to the tiled floor. The crashing and shattering of the glass sent everyone silent. The eyes that stared at him were all strange and inhuman as he stood paling in the moment. The door to Rusty’s office swung open and the bar owner stomped out, his face reddened. He paused a moment, surveying the room as he scratched his large gut through his stained button up shirt. Snorting to himself, he shoved past Tony leaning over the counter staring down Cedric. His ploy for intimidating him was failing as smirks crawled across the sisters’ faces at the move.
Clearing his throat, Rusty’s green tooth grin added to his scummy demeanor. “What’s with all the ruckus!”
“I have no clue what you are talking about.” Cedric’s tone was smooth. “I invited some friends over, that’s all.”
“I know who you are, and you are going to cause me more trouble than what it’s worth.” Badbh laughed some before taking another thirsty swig from her bottle of Jonnie. “Leave here and don’t come back. You and your friends are no longer welcomed. It’s bad enough you have my girls spooked.”
“No. We are staying, I have business with Tony.” A fang was peeking out from under Cedric’s lips as he spoke.
Looking back at the startled Tony, Rusty snorted again. “What do you want with a partial blood like that? The kid knows nothing.”
“Step aside, Rusty.” Cedric stood, towering over all in the room in size. “This has nothing to do with you, your girls, or your kind. If you stand in my way, it will bring unwanted attention in your direction, Himeros. I know exactly who you are.”
“Hah, I haven’t heard that name in centuries.” Crossing his massive arms, he huffed. “Shocked to see something like you was capable of identifying someone of my power so easily in today’s time. What gave me away?”
“I am the King Incubus, Head of the Vampiric Order, the Hero Ilya Muromets, Bringer of Death, Slayer of Demons and more importantly, Lord Romulus.” A wicked grin snaked across Cedric’s face, his pupils catlike as he leaned over the bar top, fingers breaking through the wood with ease. “I am the all-knowing, you godling of the greeks!”
Tension filled the room and no one dared to intervene. The sounds of the snapping of wood were interrupted by the whistling wind of the blizzard. A bell cried out from the front door, a hard snow-filled wind blew across everyone. A tall voluptuous woman walked in, her dress lacking winter protection and her long white hair fell behind her as the door shut. The licking of her tongue graced her dark red lips and her red eyes fell upon Cedric and Himeros. Her heels clicked as she walked towards the commotion, rubbing herself against Cedric, she provocatively nibbled his ear. There was no reaction or movement from Cedric from her obscene behavior. She turned her glare to Himeros and a wicked grin crawled across her face as she groped her breasts that lay loosely under the covering of her black dress, bringing his stare to them.
“Well now! Since I can’t get what I want from the Incubus King, I shall settle for the son of Aphrodite and Ares!” Himeros paled as she pulled herself to sit on the bar top, leaning over to him. “I don’t recall ever laying with you. Let’s see how much you actually inherited from your father, godling.”
“Li-Lillith.” It came out as a gasp before she gripped the hair on the back of his greasy head. “This can’t be.”
“Did your Daddy ever recover?” She licked Himeros from his neck to his cheek and temple. “Mmm, not completely I see. No worries, Cedric baby, leave this one to me.”
“Enjoy your new toy, Lillith.” Pulling his fingers from the bar top, he turned his back to her, his tautness towards her overpowering the atmosphere prior. “Come join us at the table, Tony.”
Desperate to add distance from Lillith, Tony scrambled out from behind the bar to catch up with Cedric. Himeros screamed as Lillith dragged him to the back office, his face white with horror. They stopped at Romasanta’s table where Cedric gestured he slide in first. Being between the vagabond-dressed Romasanta and Cedric was like sitting between two prison walls that could destroy you if touched. Tony shook, unable to control the fear that drowned every thought, muscle, and beat of his heart. All he could hang on to was Cedric’s words, no harm will come to you.
He watched as the three sorceress sisters cleared the center of the room from its tables and chairs. Badbh put a foot to the pool table and with an effortless motion, kicked it into the bar where they all had been sitting earlier with an ear-shattering clash. Bottles tumbled to the floor, and with each hit, Tony jerked where he sat, wincing uncontrollably. Laughing as she downed the last drop of her Jonnie Walker, she tossed it into the remaining bottles that had miraculously survived her first assault. Candles were marked and laid out in particular orders as Morrighan consulted a large tome. Nemaine danced about as she lined the floor with salts and other herbs and items.
“Tony.” Cedric’s voice jolted his attention back to them. “Let me explain what is really happening.”
“O-Ok.” Swallowing, he braved to look Cedric in the face.
“I apologize for the intrusion into your life, but you hold a very import
ant key that I need in order to locate Merlin.”
“Merlin?” Tony’s confusion was growing. “What do I have to do with Merlin?”
“I am afraid, more than you realize. And you even have something to do with me.” A sheepish grin came across Cedric’s face but the look in his eyes was soft. “I hope you were paying attention to my story, because what I am about to explain might seem confusing otherwise.”
“I think I can recall a good amount.” Tony’s heart was pounding in his ear, his stomach turning into tighter knots. “Go ahead; explain it to me, please.”
“You are blood relative to both Merlin and me.”
It took several minutes for this to soak in, before Tony came up with his next question. “Ok, and how is that possible?”
“Well, there was one element I had failed to consider in my hundred year youth, and that was the responsibilities of the King Incubus. As much as it sickens me to admit, I am responsible for replenishing the world with Succubi and Incubi. I took advantage of this fact, and have taken a different route than Boto. It is rare that I have to kill one of my offspring, but they are all very aware of my search for Merlin and Angeline. By some bizarre turn of fate, along some point over the hundreds of years, one of my children slept with someone from Merlin’s original bloodline, or even Merlin himself perhaps. That line moved forward for at least 200 more years before someone was born with at least some essence of holding the Magic in their veins.” Cedric paused a moment to receive a nod from Morrighan, clearly a motion to signify they were ready. “You carry a strong bond and connection to Merlin. All I need is one drop so that I can launch my attack on him. This keeping and torturing of Angeline has gone on too long.”
“How,” Tony paused, his mind chewing over the information and out of need he continued the next harrowing question. “How do you know if she’s even alive after all this time?”
“I feel her pain.” Cedric’s eye dulled and his complexion paled. “Every burn, cut, broken bone, and magical torture I have felt in full force. In doing so, she has felt the love and pleasure in which I can only give her, letting her know I am still here looking for her. She has had all her fingers broken, her ribs cracked, healed, and cracked again. Legs smashed with the weight of hammers and the cuttings of a dull blade that snags one’s flesh in such a way it is more like being torn open. Magic has been seeped deep within her body and soul, but with the pain going to me, Merlin has failed to cleanse me from her body or break our bond.”
Tony stared at the broken man before him, realizing that all this time, his only reason to keep living was for a chance like this. Despite such a tiny spark of hope, he chose not to take it with force. Holding out his arm, Tony pushed back his fright as he spoke his shaken words, “My blood is yours.”
Morrighan wasted no time to rip his hand open with her blade, gathering the blood in a copper goblet. The three sisters took their places on their ornamental floor pattern. They hummed and swayed, facing the center of the pattern where the goblet sat. Tony watched as he held his throbbing hand close as the blood in the goblet spilled upward. It snaked in the air, forming a large spiral design before starting its rotation, spinning like a coin. It made a popping sound as it burst into a blinding light, as if someone had taken a picture in the darkness of the bar.
Tony sat bewildered in the shattered bar, alone.
Chapter Twenty-Five: Merlin’s Demise
Cedric’s ears hummed and the darkness he saw took a moment to fade away to light as his eyes adjusted. A damp, putrid smell hit his nose as he wobbled to his feet. He found himself standing alone on the foggy shoreline, freckled with black rocks. Before him was the faint sight of a castle. It was hard to say how tall the building was, drowning into the haze that filled the sky that even hid the sun from sight. Magic engulfed the air here, and there was no sense of time and whether it passed at all here was questionable.
His ears were met by the lapping of the waves against rocks, but no sounds of sea gulls could be heard. No creature in their right minds would set foot near Avalon. This was a cursed place where terrible magic had stained its very nature. Distorted and filthy, Cedric rubbed his nose, wishing he was not so sensitive to such things. His sensations for Angeline had heightened, she was here, but Merlin’s magic was sending the compass spinning. There was no clear sense of direction in this place.
He made his way over the rocks and sea grass covered slopes of sand. Reaching the granite outer walls, he picked a direction and began to follow it. After a moment, he could see a large bulky shadow on the path up ahead. Romasanta was in his full form, his muscles tense and he wore a hard look. Nodding to Cedric as he drew closer, he sniffed the air with his large doglike nose. His ears pricked forward and his fur ruffled, he had managed to find some sort of scent to follow among all the magical distortions and barriers. Without Romasanta, there would have been a high risk of being forever lost in one of the many magical barriers that protected the castle from intruders.
“What is the full story behind you agreeing to chase Merlin?” It was a question that had been dodged more times than Cedric could count as he followed behind Romasanta. “What history do you have with the old wizard, besides that fact he cursed you? I assume you had something he wanted.”
“More than you would want to know.” His yellow eyes flashed back at Cedric. In that look, there was a similar pain shared. “Let’s just say he is to blame for my form and my own heartache. He is a greedy man, and deserves what is coming to him. I pray to the Ancient Ones that I am the one who rightfully serves him with the punishment that he has been avoiding.”
“I see this is the sort of story that dates further back than any man who was capable of writing his own history to paper.” Cedric sighed, recognizing that he was treading on dangerous ground with Romasanta. “I just wanted to know that this was not one of your backdoor deals, again.”
Scoffing, Romasanta managed a toothy grin. “Fortunate for you, this is a personal reason that requires my direct dealings to satisfy the wants and needs I feel. Perhaps later on in life I will reveal my story to you, but not today, pup.”
Surprisingly, they stumbled across a crevice in the castle walls. It was becoming clear now that Merlin’s obsessions with wards and his own greed had distracted his ability to physically maintain the castle and surrounding area. Perhaps at one time this was truly a place of good and provided safe harbor to many, but the smell of rot was heavy as they tore away more bricks to gain access into the hallway that lay on the other side. Nodding to one another, they split ways. Both were capable of covering a vast amount of ground and holding their own until the other could catch up.
Once more, Cedric struggled to gain a sense of direction. Without Romasanta’s uncanny sense of smell, he felt lost. Angeline’s bond tugged at him. Having been nearly severed for so long made the sensation feel savage and desperate. Shaking it off, he wondered halls that seem to lead to dead ends with no doors or even spiraling stairways. Time did not exist inside the castle, and worse off, it made the air thick and choking. His own magical stitching was reeling from the contact with such spoiled magic.
By pure chance, he came across the old broken hallway. It looked heavily used and at the end of the hall, two heavily used oak doors stood tall. Walking up to them, his nerves tightened, his skin crawled excitedly. There was no mistake; Merlin was on the other side. The muscles in his jaws tightened as he pondered on waiting for his comrade. Taking in a deep breath, he swung the doors open with great force. Merlin swung around, bottles from his alchemist’s table shattering against the stone floor as they dropped from the old wizard’s hands. The look of surprise turned to anger as his pale eyes met the demonic green ones.
“Where is she?” Cedric’s voice was stern as he marched closer to the wizard, fearless. “Your time with her ends here, Merlin.”
“This is not right!” Disbelief filled Merlin’s voice as he jerked up a large book from the table, thumbing through it. “You cannot be here, demon. What ma
nner of trickery is this! No magic in the world could have brought you here! Why have I not received warning? How were you brought here to my doors so quickly!”
“Why of course not,” Cedric smirked, seeing the confusion on the wizard’s face as he consulted his tome for an answer. “It was not magic, but our grandson that brought me here. Was that not generous of him?”
“Filth! A blood relative of mine has to willingly give the blood to you in order for the Avalon’s Calling spell to work.” Outraged, he threw the book to the ground and threw a ball of wizard’s fire at Cedric’s feet, who failed to flinch. “They have to declare their blood to be yours and no spell has to be cast on them when they do so! Only those given the blood blessing can pass through Avalon without fear of her wards and spells!”
“Do not be surprised, Merlin.” Crossing his arms, Cedric enjoyed seeing the panic and bewilderment Merlin was drowning in as the wizard rubbed his forehead. The wizard had engulfed himself in his work so much over the centuries that he had driven himself mad. “I am fully aware of the stipulations that you have put in place. You have given me plenty of time to figure this out and I took my time to gain my grandson’s respect. However, being the demon that I am, it would have been far quicker to snatch him off his feet and sacrificed him to the cause, if that would have worked for the spell.”
“Impossible! This cannot be!” Ravaged in his rage, Merlin swiped his arms across his table sending all of his alchemy gear and bottles smashing onto the floor. A fog of panic was taking its hold on the old wizard’s mind, now facing a demon he had no time to deal with as he was running out of time to achieve immortality. “Outwitted by a demon, a mixed blood abomination made by magic itself is unforgivable! I have been too careless in dawdling in spells on breaking that blasted bond of yours!”
Cedric watched as Merlin cursed Gods of names he had never heard of and pulled at his hair mumbling of how his own spells have betrayed him; This was not the same Wizard that Cedric had faced before. He was older, his time fleeting, a panicked old man who had ran out of time. The investment in Angeline had failed him, his torture on her had come to trickle in the last few centuries, and now the once coy and clever Merlin was nothing more than a senile old man. Fear was swallowing him, destroying the great rival he had once been. This did not mean he was any less powerful, but simply not as focused. There might be a chance after all.
Cedric the Demonic Knight Page 24
