“A wise decision from the young man in the back!” Arawn, the god of the underworld, shouted, laughing heartily. He turned his attention to the figures sitting in awe around the table, a look of disgust covering his face. Sniffing the air, Arawn scrunched his face and rolled his lip. “Fear. I cannot stand the smell of fear. Sleep now…” Arawn waived his arm across the table, and the figures all fell forward, their faces slamming into the wooden surface.
In all of the commotion and surprise, Hitler remained unmoved. He looked impatiently down the table at the young soldier as if everything that had just happened was the soldier’s fault.
“These theatrics do not amuse me. I command the strength of the strongest army, with the greatest race of soldiers, in the history of this world. With the power of the Thule Society, I control the powers of all things supernatural. I fear nothing that you attempt,” Hitler spat at Arawn, adjusting himself in his seat and brushing his comb-over from his eyes. Arawn continued to look down at the commander, a wicked grin stretched across his thin face.
“You have requested an audience with me! Start to speak, or I will have you sh—”
“Nothing,” Arawn interjected, taking several steps away from Hitler. The young soldier remained frozen in place, afraid that if he moved, or even breathed, he would bring attention to himself. Though he dared not turn, he knew the woman held her dead gaze upon him. He could feel her glazed eyes boring a hole through his back.
“Nothing?! What is your “nothing”? You dare disrespect me?!” Hitler shouted, slamming his fist on the table. A shiver escaped the soldier’s lips. When Hitler was angry, people died. The soldier closed his eyes and swallowed the nerves that had forced their way up his throat.
“Well, aren't you just brimming with entitlement? I like that. I think we’re going to be good friends, you and I, Adolf, my boy! As for your question, what I meant by “nothing” is that you, in fact, control nothing of the supernatural. That is to say, nothing yet.” Arawn raised his arm, and the nearest chair (along with its unconscious occupant) slid several feet to his side.
The god of the underworld gripped the unconscious man by the shoulder and threw him from the chair. The seemingly lifeless body rolled continuously across the floor before colliding with a pillar just off to the side of the young soldier. Arawn pulled at the tips of his sleeves before taking a seat. Hitler’s eyes grew wide, and a glint of excitement and interest sparkled in them.
“Ah, now that’s more comfortable?” Arawn teased as he grabbed a chalice close to him. “Tell me, do you really wish to control life, death, and magic? Or are you only here to scare those that challenge you into a false sense of your power? If it’s the former, then you’re just the guy I’ve been looking for. If the latter is your aim, then I think I’ll just end your pitiful life and find another soul that actually has the balls to handle the kind of power I’m willing to give.”
Arawn sipped the contents of the chalice, looked into it with distaste and threw it aside. Hitler only looked at Arawn with amazement. A chilled silence fell between them, and Arawn crossed his legs and waited for a response. They sat in a staring match for some time before the Fuhrer finally spoke.
“I want the power of the gods. To vanquish all those unworthy and allow for only the truly powerful to remain. I want everything,” Hitler rambled on, leaning toward Arawn who smiled widely, exposing fanged teeth.
“Done. The power of the gods, with the ability to make everything that you could only dream of become your reality . . . I can give that to you, but there are things you need to do. Things you need to collect. I can help you, but it’s you that will have to accomplish these things. Once that has happened, power beyond your imagination will be yours.” Arawn rose from his seat and stepped closer to Hitler.
“What sorts of things? I can do anything! What will it take? Money? Soldiers? I have it all!” Hitler yelled as his excitement rose.
“All in good time, my boy. All in good time. The antiquities you need to collect will endow you with unfathomable power. You will need your soldiers to gather them, as they are spread across your world. Now, time for my turn. Regarding the cost, what I need from you are souls.”
Hitler sat in silence, his eyes roaming the god’s pale face.
“Souls?” he asked, confused. Arawn gave a curt nod in response.
“As many as possible. I want you to collect as many souls as your armies can acquire. I will accept these as payment. Oh, and another item, to show that I come only with gifts…” Arawn turned to face the forgotten boy and the woman he had brought with him. He raised his arm, and she left the soldier’s side, walking to the end of the table and stopping at Arawn’s side.
“I also offer you this token as a symbol of our agreement. I think she can serve you well during our transaction. Think of her as your new servant. You will find her fiercely loyal, and she has the ability to accomplish anything you task her with.” Arawn stepped from between the two and Hitler rose, staring at the woman before him.
“Who is she? What’s her name?” Hitler asked, visibly discomforted by her deathly demeanor and utter silence.
“She once was loved dearly by a foe of mine. Her true name is of no concern. You can call her whatever you like, she will answer.” At this strange proposal, Hitler paused, lost in thought.
“I think I shall call her Eva. I have always had a fancy for that name.” Hitler looked to the woman for a moment, examining her with a look of disgust. “Shame we couldn't do something about her looks.” The Fuhrer picked up a strand of her curly hair with the tips of his fingers as if he were picking up a dead mouse. “This is not what I want my country to see.” He dropped the strand of hair and returned to his chair, crossing his arms over his chest like a child not satisfied with his present.
“I can change her appearance to whatever you would like. All I ask is that I get my souls. You collect these items that I speak of, and I will see that you get everything you want. Do we have a deal?”
Hitler rose once more from his seat and nodded, extending his hand to Arawn. In a flash, Arawn disappeared. The fearless leader looked around the room in a panicked frenzy. Two cold hands gripped the soldier on the shoulder, causing both men to jump in shock.
“I prefer that matters such as this are signed in blood, wouldn't you agree?” Arawn asked, his grip tightening on the boy’s shoulders. Hitler smiled and grabbed one of the empty chalices from the table and walked toward the frightened soldier.
CHAPTER ONE
Gabrielle pushed her legs as hard as she could, not sure if her pursuers were still right behind her or not. Explosions and gunfire lit up the night as though it were dawn. The ground opened up before her, and Gabrielle jumped to avoid the hole, nearly tripping over the body of a soldier that had taken a hit.
Her heart beat furiously in her chest as the constant rumble and sharp cracks shook the world around her. Massive tanks tore through the small German city, crushing any obstacles and remnants of the old world. A cluster of shadows crossed the street a few blocks away, and Gabrielle threw herself to the ground, landing in a small crater that had been made by another explosion.
In the intermittent darkness between the illuminations from the bombs, she could no longer tell the difference between humans and monsters. Clutching her gun, Gabrielle slid her body up the side of the crater and peered carefully over the embankment.
As she squinted in the darkness, she saw no movement. The shadows were either not looking for her, or they had made their way off in the wrong direction. As her eyes surveyed the streets and alleyways to ensure her safety, a lock of her long wavy brown hair fell into her eyes, and she pawed it away, leaving a smear of dirt on her olive-skinned face. Gabrielle looked down at her thin, mud covered fingers and thought back to the little girl whose body this was. Alexandra.
***
Twenty-eight years ago, Gabrielle—still in Elizabeth’s body—adopted the young Alexandra. The time they spent together was magical and peaceful. Gabriel
le had watched the woman she’d once thought of as a grandmother, grow up before her own eyes. Telling her tales of mysterious adventures across time. Tales of monsters, gods, battles, and sorrows. They had spent evenings training for a battle that Alexandra didn’t know was coming. Always telling the child they were playing a game, Gabrielle trained Alexandra so that her body would be fit for battle when the time came.
***
As she lay in silence, the sound of a small pebble rolling down the embankment behind Gabrielle caught her attention. She shot a look over her shoulder, still on edge from the day’s events. Somehow a Sluagh had managed to sneak up behind her and stood at the edge of the crater, its hollow eyes trying to suck out her very soul. Gabrielle, unable to pull her eyes away from the captivating pits, slowly placed her finger on the trigger of her gun.
The creature must have known her intentions, as it let out a monstrous cry and raised its massive talons in the air. Without a moment’s loss, Gabrielle threw her hands into the soil and rolled herself over to her back, bringing the steel barrel around with her.
Fire flew from the barrel and thunderous explosions from the rounds discharging made the world go narrow. The automatic weapon vibrated in her arms as she did her best to hold on. With each shot that struck the creature, it winced and shook, and a foul, yellow liquid sprayed Gabrielle’s face and hands.
With a final, guttural gurgle, the creature slumped backward and quietly disappeared from sight on the other side of the embankment. Gabrielle fumbled with her pouch and withdrew another full magazine, removed the empty one, and reloaded her weapon.
Her ears ringing, she knew she had to move. She was no longer safe in her hiding place after the barrage of gunfire. Rising to a crouching position, she surveyed the edge of the crater with the muzzle of her weapon following her line of sight. Taking a deep breath, Gabrielle turned and ran up the side of the hole, over the edge, and into the street.
She sprinted through the dark, surreal scene. The battle continued on around her, yet all she could hear was the high-pitched squeal of the ringing in her head. Gabrielle darted side to side, maneuvering from piles of rubble to broken down machinery and into more bomb craters. She didn’t know where she was going, all she knew was that she needed to get someplace safe.
As she rounded the remains of a collapsed building at the end of the block, something moved out of the corner of her eye, and she rolled forward to avoid contact. Finishing her mid-sprint roll and turning to see what the movement was, Gabrielle saw the massive claws of another Sluagh just around the edge of the building.
Without a second thought, she raised her weapon and fired at the creature. The dull vibrations rattled her shoulder once more as she pressed her body against the weapon to prevent the muzzle from rising above the creature. The Sluagh jerked away as the first three rounds struck it in the chest and neck.
As it fell aside, another monster came from behind the first. Damnit! These things always come in hordes, Gabrielle thought as she rose to her knees and engaged the next creature. Adrenaline pumped through every inch of her body, and she was both more alive than ever and moments from death. The first couple of rounds went wide and buried themselves into the wall just above the monster’s head.
A lucky explosion nearby illuminated the scene, and Gabrielle was able to see her shot placement and adjust. The next several shots found their home in the face of her attacker. The Sluagh fell lifelessly forward and landed at her feet. Gabrielle rolled back, away from the limp corpse, and stood.
She hastily surveyed her surroundings for more. Another bomb exploded overhead, and a fireball remained in the sky after the explosion, streaking across the sky like a burning comet. Gabrielle let her eyes follow the fireball until they came to rest at the other end of the road. As the fire disappeared behind the buildings, her eyes widened, and she took a defensive half-step back.
She raised her weapon and waited. When the next explosion lit up the night, her fears were realized. She was looking down a destroyed road, covered in upturned cars, and craters the size of a Volkswagen Beetle. Covering every surface of the street stood, walked, or crawled hundreds of Sluagh. Her mouth fell open as she looked at the place where she would surely die.
The Sluagh stared at her like a wolf watched a lamb: ravenous and hungrily. With her eyes locked on the creatures, she stood motionless trying to figure out her best move. She had to get out of there, but how?
Her first thought was to turn and run back the way she came, but there was a reason she’d been running in this direction in the first place. Besides, she was not faster than the Sluagh, especially given that the street was covered in debris and holes.
As Gabrielle monitored her surroundings, she caught a glimpse of what looked like an alleyway off to her right. She hated alleys because of the first attack by Arawn’s hounds all those years ago, but this was her only option. And this time, she could defend herself.
Thinking back to the ancient Romans, if it were just an alleyway, it would be narrow and with her wits about her, she would have the upper hand as they would have to funnel in after her. At least they wouldn't be able to surround her. She found the Sluagh closest to her and focused on it.
“He goes down first…” she muttered as she tightened her grip on her gun. Gabrielle reached into the pouch slung over her shoulder and searched for the one flare she had left. Her fingers found the hard, pipe-like surface and slowly she withdrew it from her pouch. All the while, she kept the barrel of her weapon trained on the Sluagh closest to her.
With a rough ‘POP,' she snapped the end off of the flare with her thumb and raised it out before her. The light from the previous explosion had faded from sight. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath through her nose as she placed the edge of the flare to the base of the barrel of her rifle. With a violent jerk, Gabrielle ran the flare down the side of her weapon, igniting the fire until an orange hue burst through the darkness.
An orange glow cast out only ten or fifteen feet in front of her, but it was enough to light up the closest of the Sluagh. A piercing wail erupted from the creatures in Gabrielle’s sight and the darkness beyond them. With the fire in one hand and the gun in the other, Gabrielle returned a scream.
“If it’s me you want, you’ll have to work for your dinner!” Gripping her weapon, Gabrielle aimed the gun at the nearest Sluagh standing at the alleyway she was going for and pulled the trigger. The fire from the barrel lit up even more of the night than the flare had, illuminating the street and revealing a sea of grotesque monsters the darkness had hidden.
As each round left the gun, Gabrielle ran step after step toward the narrow passage. Two Sluagh rushed her from the left, and she turned the business end of the weapon to meet their attack, holding the trigger and moving it back and forth like she was fanning smoke from an oven. The first, second, and third creatures all let out screams of pain before collapsing to the ground.
Nearing the alley, a fourth monster swiped its massive claws at her. Gabrielle anticipated the move and tucked her head down. Rolling forward, the attack missed, and Gabrielle rolled over to her feet. Rotating on her heels, she turned and found that the Sluagh was already reaching its colossal claws toward her, the stench of its foul breath like rotting sardines, hot on her face.
Remembering how clumsy the creatures were, Gabrielle stepped into the monster’s arms. As though time stood still, the Sluagh froze in confusion. At that moment, she pressed the searing end of the barrel to the underside of the monster’s jaw and sent the last round of the magazine tearing through its skull and out through the top of the creature’s head with a yellow gush.
With another swing of her arm, she drew the stock of the rifle up the creature’s torso and thrust the dead monster away from her and into the Sluagh behind it. Gabrielle withdrew the empty magazine and threw it at the next monster to buy her the moment she needed to load another one.
With another round chambered, she turned on her heels, ran into the dark alley she’
d been trying to reach. With the gun and the flare held out before her, she ran as quickly as she could, the flare giving just enough illumination so she wouldn’t run into anything.
Gabrielle didn’t look back. She couldn’t. The thought of those creatures behind her terrified her. She willed her sore and cramping legs to move faster, and forced her heart out of her throat as she thought about where to go.
With the dwindling light of the flare out in front of her, Gabrielle’s heart sank when she saw that the passage did not lead to an open street. Dead end. Fuck! Gabrielle saw the wall too late and collided with its hard, brick surface.
She stumbled backward and looked around in a panic to see if there were any other corridors she could take or hide in. Nothing. She was surrounded by the walls of what would surely become her stone coffin. Another explosion erupted in the sky giving just enough ambient light so that Gabrielle could see back down the way she’d come.
A shambling mass of gruesome and contorted bodies rolled toward her from the shadows. Their hunger for her evident in their outstretched claws, grasping at the air. How Arawn managed to get them involved when not even he could control them was a mystery.
Not for the first time, she let her thoughts linger on an old friend, a god that could easily have destroyed these things. Morrigan. Tears threatened to form in the corners of her eyes, and she shook the thought away. If there was one lesson she’d learned, it was not to trust anyone other than the Lamented. The dead held no secrets from the living.
***
Three months earlier, Gabrielle was reading the paper and taking notes for her infiltration into the war when she saw him. A photo of Adolf Hitler addressing his followers at a rally caught her attention. Not because Hitler was all that interesting, she already knew from her conversation with Alexandra all those years ago that she would have to find and kill the dictator, but because behind Hitler was a familiar face that sparked both fear and anger in her heart.
The Gabrielle Series Boxed Set Page 43
