by Tim Marquitz
His goons in tow, he headed for the exit, nodding to Abraham as they passed. At the archway where Veronica stood waiting, he called back to me. “Don’t forget, Frank, you still owe me a favor.” With that, he left, Poe and Marcus at his heels.
Veronica lingered for a moment and our eyes met. Even as angry as I was, I couldn’t bring myself to look away. Though I probably imagined it, I thought I saw a trace of regret flicker across her face. She looked at me and raised her hand in a tentative wave, a half-assed attempt at a smile creeping to her lips. Unable to bear it, I turned away. I heard her footsteps a second later, scuffling off into the distance as Abraham arrived at my side. Hurt, I focused my attention on him.
“How you doing, Abe?”
He dropped down beside me, looking me over.
“I’d have to say a slight bit better than you.” He glanced around the room. “Katon, Scarlett?”
I shook my head, my eyes beginning to tear up.
“They didn’t make it. I’m sorry.” I hung my head as Abraham placed a comforting hand on my shoulder, holding back his own tears.
“Don’t be so quick to count us out, Trigg,” a quiet voice spoke from nearby.
We both popped our heads up and looked to the wreckage. There, about twenty feet away, Katon lifted his scorched head from out of the detritus and looked at us with mild amusement. “It takes more than a little fire to put me in my casket for good.” He climbed to his feet and though he spoke with confidence, his movement didn’t reflect the same. He limped unsteadily over to us. His dark skin was ash black in places while rosy pink in others where the flames had gouged deep and new flesh was forming, his vampiric regeneration already kicking in. Though motley in appearance, with only a few strips of cloth keeping him from being naked, he looked as though he’d pull through okay.
“Have you seen Scarlett?”
He nodded. “She’s back that way a bit.” He thumbed over his shoulder. “I checked on her as I circled around to get to you. She’s unconscious and hurt pretty bad, but she’ll make it if we get her help soon.”
Relief flooded my face. Abraham sighed, as obviously relieved as I was. His fears of our deaths allayed, he stood up, taking charge. “You have enough energy left to trigger the gate?”
I shrugged. “I’ll find it.”
Abraham smiled as warmly as I’d ever seen him. After a brief moment, he turned to Katon. “Gather Scarlett. We can take stock of things once we’ve returned to DRAC.” He bent down and slipped beneath my shoulder, wrestling me to my feet. He impressed me. Wounded as I was, I was dead weight, but he managed to get me up and support me without hurting himself. I smiled at him. I guess there was still some life left in the old guy after all. Once Katon returned with Scarlett, hanging limp over the shoulder of his battered arm, we started toward the gate. Dragged along, I peered back behind us, saddened by the destruction of my uncle’s sanctum.
“What about-”
Abraham cut me off. “It’s not going anywhere, Frank.” He said it with such certainty I couldn’t help but let it go. “I’ll send Katon back once I’ve got you two safely back at headquarters.”
I was too tired to argue. I let him pull me along, my eyes fluttering with exhaustion over the slow haul. With all my adrenaline burnt off, I was crashing fast. At the gate, I could barely keep my eyes open. How I managed to trigger the portal is beyond me, but the next thing I knew I was being dumped into an uncomfortable bed in the emergency room at DRAC. Abraham stayed at my side until unconsciousness welled up to claim me. Dosed with painkillers, I drifted off on a cloud of flickering darkness.
Under the influence of the PK cocktail, I remember dreaming of my uncle. He stood upon a grassy hill as the sun rose majestically behind him. The beautiful reds and oranges shimmered above his head like a fiery halo. He smiled at me, its warmth brighter than the sun, before he turned and walked away to disappear from sight behind the rise. I’d never seen him happier.
The Aftermath
A couple of weeks after Asmoday’s bid to bring about Armageddon had gone south, things were just starting to get back to normal. Well, as normal as they could in a world full of wizards, demons, and angels. The media had latched onto the destruction caused by Asmoday’s fiends and McConnell’s attempt on my life, but with the timely intervention of DRAC’s Public Relations branch, a squad of aggressive mentalists, what had been front page news turned into fodder for the tabloids. Dismissed by all but the most dedicated of conspiracy theorists, the near end of the world went pretty much unreported.
I’d moved into DRAC headquarters for the time being as I waited for my house to be rebuilt. Thanks to the rampage of Asmoday’s pets, I wasn’t alone. The place was seriously overcrowded. Many of the DRAC families whose homes were also destroyed had been squeezed in wherever they’d fit, spread out across all of the locations. Though there were a handful of headquarters, they really weren’t built to accommodate that many people. I’d taken to sleeping on the couch in Abraham’s office. While roomy and surprisingly comfortable, the old geezer was an early riser and I’d always been more of a get up at noon kinda guy. He was Page 296 cramping what little style I had.
This morning, he strolled in at about six a.m., whistling happily, Rachelle bouncing along at his side. Knowing my sleep was at an end, I muttered a few unkind words under my breath and sat up to see what had gotten the old boy so worked up.
“Viagra prescription come in, Abe?”
He chuckled as Rachelle blushed while she went about flicking on the lights and powering up the computer.
“Something better has happened, Frank, something much better.” He dropped down into his chair, a contented smile plastered on his face. Rachelle sat beside him, quite closely I might add, an air of happiness about her. Abraham looked pleased with himself as well, but neither said anything.
“So, are you gonna tell me what’s got you two pissing rainbows, or what?”
“It’d be easier to show you.” He gestured to the office door.
Right then, as if on cue, it swung open. I glanced over and my jaw dropped as Rahim walked into the room, Katon at his elbow. Well, more like he limped slowly while leaning heavily on a cane, but you could call that walking. Either way, he was up and about, something none of us ever thought we’d see again. After we’d returned to DRAC and Scarlett and I had been dropped off, Katon returned to Lucifer’s sanctum. He’d dug through the mess around the altar and found what Baalth had said my uncle left for me. It was a letter as well as a small package. Katon brought them both to me.
He’d also managed to find Scarlett’s sword, which he returned to her through a flurry of grateful kisses. She was beyond ecstatic. Her trusty demon slayer, Everto Trucido back in her hands, she took off in a flash to put it to use. She’d missed it so much. Inside the package were two small vials of my uncle’s blood. I think I cried when I saw them. In his letter, Lucifer wrote he’d figured I’d need more of it one day, given my penchant for getting into trouble, so he thought he’d provide a backup for the vials he’d already given me. And though I’d rejected the mantle of AntiChrist, he knew one day I’d return to where I belonged. Hell.
I guess, in a way, he was right.
After Scarlett and I had ingested a few drops, we were as good as new. Rahim was another story though. Human, I had no idea if the blood would cure him or kill him. I left that choice up to him. A fighter to the core, he took a chance.
At first, we’d thought it had failed. Nothing had changed. The outlook remained bleak. But a week later, the doctors saw sudden improvement overnight. Out of nowhere, his shattered spine had begun to heal. Piece by piece it was reconstructing itself while the
nerves sparked back to life with a vengeance. Despite the agonizing process, his body ravaged with pain, Rahim never once voiced a complaint. Through all the suffering, his smile never left his face. Now, only two weeks after he’d been crippled, he came into Abraham’s office under his own power. The smile was still there.
I pulled myself off the couch and went over to him, giving him a gentle hug. “Good to see you up and about. You had us worried there for a bit.”
He hugged me back fiercely. “I was worried myself.” He broke the embrace and patted me gently on the cheek, his eyes bright. “Thank you.” He limped his way to a chair near Abraham and Rachelle and dropped into it with caution.
Katon and I sat in the chairs in front of the desk, giving each other tired looks; he was ready to go to bed, I was ready to go back.
Down to business, Abraham ignored our grumbling as he read through a stack of files, his face serious. After going through a couple, he paused on one, his eyes narrowing. He took a deep breath and passed the folder to the wizard. No rest for the weary, apparently.
Rahim cracked it open and looked inside. After a moment, the ever-present smile dropped from his lips. He looked up at us, loosing a quiet sigh, his face grave.
“It seems we have a problem.”
Page 299
I groaned, slumping down in my chair.
“When don’t we?”
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