by Flynn, Mac
Ian pursed his lips and shook his head. "No." He reluctantly let go of Cronus' arm. "But for the record I think yours stinks."
Cronus nodded. "Duly noted."
Cronus turned away, but I slid around him to stand between him and the Gate. I stretched out my arms on either side of me and glared at him. "I'm not going to let you do this."
"There is no choice," he insisted.
"Really? Let's see if there isn't," I challenged him.
I spun around and stalked down the aisle towards the Gate. The hand was now joined by its arm and another hand. The two hands grasped either side of the slim funnel and pulled open the Gate. A creature like a Phantom, but with black horns and a skeleton-like face, pushed its heads out. Its red eyes glared at us and its gaze fell on me.
"Enid!" Cronus shouted.
I stopped ten feet short of the beast and stared it down. The creature snarled and snapped its jaws at me. Its body strained to free the rest of itself from its dark prison and it succeeded in pulling its torso from the portal.
I took a deep breath and raised my palm at its hideous face. "All right, Ugly, playtime's over. It's time to go back."
I focused all my energy on my palm. A bright light broke was expelled my skin and flew as a beam at the creature. The light hit it square in the head. The creature reared back its head and released a terrible howl of agony and fury.
The light from my hand was agonizingly hot. I clasped my wrist with my free hand to keep myself steady as the pain traveled down my arm.
That's when something hit me from the side. It felt like a whip sliced into me and sent me flying. I landed ten yards away and slid another five feet.
"Enid!" Ian cried out.
In a moment both Cronus and Ian were by my side. Ian pulled me into his arms while Cronus inspected the nice gash that gut through both my clothes and my flesh.
I managed to give them a shaky grin. "Not bad, huh?"
Ian chuckled. "Not bad at all." He turned to Cronus and his humor slipped. "Well?"
"Phantom Whips," Cronus surmised.
"What the hell is that?" I hissed. The slices stung like hell.
Cronus half-turned and looked over his shoulder. The creature was now furiously working its way out of the portal. "It means the creature has more than two arms, and the others are more difficult to see, even for angels and Nephilim."
"I saw it," a voice spoke up. Quinn stood over me with his eye patch pulled up. His empty eye glared down at me. Beside him was Cecilia. Our captives were piled in a group close to the exit wit Ruthven as guard.
"And I can get rid of them," Cecilia offered.
Ian helped me to a seated position. "Why can't this be easy?" I muttered.
'Because the things worth having are not easy to obtain," Cronus replied.
"Enough with the philosophy. We have a monster Phantom who's ass needs kicking," Cecilia reminded us.
I stood and brushed aside Ian's concerned hands. "I'm fine. Just needed a little rest, but I'm ready to try again."
I didn't have much choice. The creature had most of its body outside the portal. Its clawed hands dug into the ground along the aisle and narrowly avoided the prone bodies of the innocent mystics. The thing's eyes glared down at the helpless forms and it licked its sharp fangs in anticipation for evil.
Ian pursed his lips and turned to Quinn. "You sure you can protect her?"
"She won't be alone," Cronus commented as he stepped forward. "I will help her."
I spun around and glared at him. "I'm not going to let-"
"I will not use my own powers. I will merely help you focus yours," he offered.
I blinked at him. "Oh. Right. I knew that."
"Come on, people!" Cecilia spoke up. She rolled her eyes and walked forward. "Stupid adults. . ."
The rest of us nodded at one another and followed her. Cronus and I positioned ourselves in front of Ugly, though a little farther back from my first spot. Ian stood on my other side. Quinn and Cecilia moved to the front, and he picked up the young girl. He held her out like she was a baby with a three-alarm diaper.
I furrowed my brow. "What the hell are you doing?"
Quinn glanced over his shoulder and grinned at me. "Just start up that beam and watch."
I shrugged and raised my palm. Cronus set his hand behind mine so our fingers meshed together. "Ready?" I asked him. He nodded. I turned to the ugly creature and grinned. The monstrous Phantom stopped its struggling and snarled at us. "All right, Ugly, here comes the second course!"
A beam, larger and more focused than before, shot from my palm. It slammed into its forehead and I saw speckles of silvery dust fly off its touched flesh. The beam slowly spread across its forehead and behind its head.
Quinn swung around and pointed Cecilia at a spot to my left. She shot off a Barrier beam, and I saw a ripple of air as a tentacle-like thing was blasted backwards. The tentacle exploded into bits of dust that rained onto the mystics. Quinn turned in the opposite direction and Cecilia shot off another Barrier beam. Another tentacle bit the dust.
"Easy on the swinging!" Cecilia scolded him.
"I'll worry about driving, Pipsqueak, you just keep shooting!" he shot back.
For every destroyed tentacle the creature roared in fury. Its long black hands scraped and clawed at the ground. The dangerous dagger-like fingers came dangerously close to the fallen mystics.
"Be right back!" Ian yelled over the cries of the creature.
Ian rushed forward and slid under the creature's flailing hands. He landed beside a pile of the unconscious mystics and proceeded to stack them over his shoulders. The creature roared and reached out for him.
"Oh hell no!" I yelled.
Cronus and I moved as one and redirected the beam at the hand. The light hit the hand and the black flesh exploded in a hail of glitter. The thing reared back and tilted its head back to let loose a cry of anger. The noise echoed off the walls and caused the rock to shake. Loose dirt fell from the ceiling.
"This place isn't going to last much longer!" Quinn cried out.
Ian hurried over to us. His back was bent with the weight of a dozen people over his back. "I'll get the mystics, you guys get that thing pushed back!"
He rushed to the exit and paused at Ruthven. The vampire frowned, but rushed forward. He snatched half a dozen of the closest mystics and mimicked Ian's effort to pull them from harm's way. Between the two of them with their superhuman speed and strength they emptied half the place in a half a minute.
Meanwhile, Cronus and I had our hands full. Or rather, my hand full. The creature tried to dodge the beam, but slowly we pushed it back into the portal. The upper part of its legs disappeared followed quickly by its torso. The more of him that vanished the faster the rest of him joined the trapped portion.
Cronus and I pushed forward so that Ian and Ruthven could snatch the last of the mystics. Only the Phantom's arm existed outside the portal. The fingers clawed at the air and slammed into the ground. More ceiling gave way and rained down on us. Cracks formed in the walls and ran up to the very center of the roof.
"We have to go!" Ian yelled.
"Just a little more!" Cronus called back.
The upper arm slipped into the portal, but the hand grasped the edge of the opening and clung there. The room around us was a mess of rocks and boulders. All the lights were broken and the electrical wires were snapped. We were plunged into darkness where the only light source came from the dark, flickering vortex.
My eyes flickered to Cronus. Sweat poured down his face. His dark eyes were now a brilliant blue that glowed in the gloom. His beautiful eyes fell on me, and a smile slipped onto his lips.
"Are you prepared for one final slap?" he asked me.
I returned his smile with a grin. "Whenever you are."
We pulled our hands back without breaking our bond. The push of my magic pulled back with us and gave the monster a reprieve. Its face wiggled out of the portal. Those burning red eyes glared at us with a bottomless hatred.<
br />
"Tell the other uglies you're not welcome on Earth!" I called to it.
The Phantom opened its mouth and let out a horrible roar. Cronus and I swung my hand forward. The beam of light from my palm slapped across the Phantom's face. It's eyes widened and a horrible burning smell permeated the cavern as we seared its flesh. The Phantom's roar ended in a yelp as the force of our combined slap whipped its head back. It lost its grip on the portal and tumbled back into the depths of Purgatory. The portal shrank to the size of a tennis ball before it made a small 'pop' and disappeared altogether.
We'd done it.
CHAPTER 9
We were also completely in the dark. The last source of light, the portal, was gone, and what remained of the large cavern was completely black. The only lights I found amid the darkness was from the eyes of my supernatural acquaintances, Cronus, Ian and Ruthven.
"Anybody got a light?" I heard Quinn call out.
"Afraid of the dark?" Cecilia teased him.
"Only when I know you're nearby, Pipsqueak," he quipped.
"You got any matches, Ian?" I wondered.
There was a pause and I heard him pat his clothes. "Nope. All out."
A light flickered on behind we three. We turned to find it was Ruthven who held a lighter in his hand.
"What's a vampire doing with a lighter?" Quinn wondered.
"For the weak and blind," Ruthven quipped. Quinn's drooped face showed a sullen glare.
Ian looked around us. "At least the stairs are in one piece."
"What about all these people? We can't carry them all up," Quinn pointed out.
"They will awaken in a short while," Cronus assured him.
I looked to my father. "You're sure?"
He nodded. "The portal drained them of their energy. When it was destroyed, their energy returned to them."
"I think you're guys' priorities are messed up," Cecilia spoke up. She knocked her cane into Sebastian, and the man groaned but didn't awaken. "What do we do with these assholes?"
Cronus walked past me and knelt beside his unconscious son. He reached out and brushed some of Blake's hair away from the man's face. "My son has abused his power long enough. I will take it."
Ian raised an eyebrow. "If you could do that why didn't you do it a lot time ago?"
Cronus pressed his palm against Blake's forehead. "Once taken, the powers cannot be returned. I thought perhaps he might change, but these circumstances have shown he will only grow more evil until his madness consumes him," he explained.
I took a step towards him. "So why didn't you take my power?"
"If their power surfaces, I prefer to give my children a chance to prove themselves worthy of my lineage," he admitted.
A soft blue glow appeared around his hand. The light spread across Blake's body and lit up the cavern. A warmth fell over me like a hot blanket pulled from the dryer. The light lasted only ten seconds before it dimmed and was absorbed into Cronus' hand. He pulled back his palm and stood.
"It is done."
"And everyone else?" Quinn reminded us.
"I'll take care of them," Ruthven spoke up.
Ian raised an eyebrow. "That's a nice thing to do for free."
Ruthven flashed us a white, fangy smile. "There's a bounty on many of their heads."
Ian snorted. "I stand corrected."
"If that's settled then let's get out of here," Cecilia suggested. She nodded at the pile of unconscious mystic bodies. "Some of them are starting to wake up."
We helped Ruthven carry his pile of bounty up the stairs and into the alley at the rear of the Four Horsemen. He disappeared into the night with Lilith and Germain across his shoulders, and a sizable percentage of Ian's cash on his person. That left Keres, Sebastian, and Blake to us. Sebastian, with his bright purple black eye, was the first to wake up.
He stirred, and his black eye flickered open. Both eyes widened, and he sat up. "What? Where?" We stood around him, and he shrank from us. "W-who are you? Where am I?"
Ian knelt in front of him and grinned. "Stop the act. I didn't hit you that hard."
Sebastian blinked. "Who are you? Where am I? What are you-ack!" Ian had his hand wrapped around the man's neck.
When Ian stood he pulled Sebastian off his feet. Sebastian's Phantoms made their appearance from his pocket. Cronus held out his palm towards them and blasted them with a bright light. They disintegrated into a thousand tiny pieces.
"No!" Sebastian yelled.
Ian chuckled. "It looks like you've got your memory back." He opened his hand and Sebastian dropped to the ground.
The former Society member glared at Ian and Cronus. "You idiots! You don't know what you've done!"
"We are aware of your unnatural span of life and use of Phantom life to extend yours," Cronus assured him.
Quinn's lips curled back in disgust. "So that's how he got so good with those things."
Cronus gave a nod. "Yes. Through many years of practice and through the use of their life force to sustain his own."
"He did what?" I spoke up.
"He drained the life force from his own Phantoms to keep himself young," Cecilia explained to me.
I wrinkled my nose. "So he ate their souls to keep himself young?"
"Pretty much," Ian concurred.
Sebastian struggled to his feet and balled his hands into fists at his sides. "You'll pay for that! I'll get new Phantoms, and then you'll be sorry!"
Ian folded his arms across his chest and grinned. "I think you're going to have a lot more problems then us after we tell the Society what's happened to their leaders, and who did it."
Sebastian froze and his eyes widened. "Y-you wouldn't dare."
"Not tonight, but tomorrow," Ian replied. He checked his watch. "That means you have a twelve hour head-start. Better get running."
Sebastian stumbled backwards. He spun around and fled into the darkness.
"Does he have a chance?" I wondered.
"Not a chance in hell," Ian replied.
I turned and stared down at the last remaining unconscious figures, Keres and Blake. "So what do we do with them?"
"We leave them," Cronus proposed.
"You sure we shouldn't stay to make sure that energy drain worked?" Quinn suggested.
"There's nothing left in there," Cecilia spoke up. She tapped her cane against Blake's leg. "With what power he has left he couldn't even control a Phantom."
Ian turned to Quinn and grinned. "I thought you said this was a really stupid thing to do."
Quinn smiled and shrugged. "It was, so that's why I got Ruthven to take me to Pipsqueak's place and pick her up, too. I figured if this was going to be a big mess we all needed to be there to clean up after you guys."
Ian held out his hand. "Thanks. Really."
Quinn accepted his hand and they shook. "No problem, but next time you want to cause some trouble leave my hot dog stand out of it."
Cecilia raised an eyebrow. "Hot dog stand? Is that why you always smell like mustard?"
"It's an occupational hazard, but isn't it past your bedtime, Pipsqueak?" Quinn teased.
Cecilia frowned. "I don't sleep at night."
"Then tonight's a good night to start because I want to get home and get some sleep before work tomorrow," he commented.
He picked her up and tucked her under one arm. She flailed and kicked.
"Let me down! Let me down right now!" she yelled.
"Not until we get home, Pipsqueak," Quinn replied. He turned to us and gave a wave. "We'll see you guys later if you don't get yourselves killed by another bloodthirsty demon first."
"The same to you," Ian returned.
The pair of them headed off into the night. Cecilia's yells had barely died away when Cronus turned to the two people on the ground. His face fell. He closed his eyes and shook his head. Ian moved over to him and set a hand on his old friend's shoulder.
"You did the right thing," Ian told him.
Cronus opened his eyes and sighed. "Pe
rhaps."
"He wasn't going to let up until he got what he wanted, and regretted it," Ian insisted. "And he would've made a lot of other people regret it, too." He turned to me and smiled. "Besides, you still have one pain-in-the-ass kid to deal with."
I put my hands on my hips and glared at him. "And one pain-in-the-ass partner, too."
Ian laughed. "That's a really poor comeback, even for you." I punched him in the upper arm. He winced and grabbed his arm. "You've gotten stronger."
"A side-effect to gaining greater mastery of her angelic abilities," Cronus explained.
"She's not going to start sprouting wings, is she? Because I've got this allergy to chickens and feathers just don't agree with me," Ian commented.
I crossed my arms over my chest. "If I do grow wings maybe I'll molt on you just to watch you sneeze to death."
"If you are both done with your childish argument we should leave before the mystics climb the stairs," Cronus advised us.
Ian stepped up to me. He swept his arm across his chest and bowed to me. "If the lady would give me the honor of carrying her home."
I sighed and shrugged. "Why-NOT!" He swept me into his arms mid-sentence and sprinted down the alley. I clung to him and glared into his face. "You could've at least waited for me to finish!"
"You angel folk are too slow," he teased.
I snorted. "And you werewolf folk are too fast."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"It wasn't meant to be."
"I'll still take it as a compliment."
I rolled my eyes and snuggled against his warm chest. "At least you're comfortable," I commented.
"I'm even more comfortable in a bed," he quipped.
My face drooped and I narrowed my eyes. "You know, you haven't even asked me out on a date."
"What's that matter?" he wondered as the world around us sped past.
"I don't date anyone until they've asked me." I stopped so quickly I nearly flew out of his arms. I grasped his coat and glared at him. "Will you be careful? You don't exactly have an airbag!"
"Is that it?" he asked me.
I blinked at him. "Is what it?"
"I just need to ask you out on a date to get you to go out with me?"
I snorted. "Not all girls are complicated."
