“That should do it.” Aerin stated as she landed next to him.
The Hellhound wasn’t quite finished yet, though. It stumbled around as its putrid inside fell out from the gaping wound beneath it as it turned around to face John and Aerin. John watched the sad sight before them with an odd pang of regret for the beast. It attempted to roar at them but all that came out was a horrible gurgling noise. It made a movement forward but collapsed onto the ground, defeated, or so it would seem. Before John and Aerin were given the chance to celebrate, the impossible happened. Black tendrils extended from each lip of the wound out towards each other. They took hold of their partners and slowly pulled the wound together like a series of twisted sentient stitches. In almost no time, the massive cut John had dealt was completely healed. The Hellhound took a deep breath and let out a loud roar once again as it slowly stood, a renewed fire in its eyes.
“That’s…” Aerin subconsciously took a step backward. “That’s not right. It’s not supposed to- I’ve never seen one do that!”
“Looks like it’s not going down that easy.” John sighed as he readied his blade.
The monster rushed toward them and John slashed at the beast with all of his might. To his surprise, the Hellhound easily sidestepped his attacks. It jumped left and right at a crazy pace as John swung his sword. With each dodge the beast would follow up with an attack of its own, attacks that were now much too quick for John to avoid. The battle was quickly turning toward the Hellhound’s favor as John began to take a handful of hits that left large cuts all over his armor. It was as if John was facing an entirely different opponent now, or rather, it had been holding back this whole time. After a few rounds of going back and forth, he knew that he wasn’t going to last very long.
“Aerin!” He shouted. “We’re gonna need a new plan!”
Aerin was already two steps ahead of him. She flew high above the battle surveying the area for anything she could use. Nothing down below seemed helpful, but something above looked like it might do the trick. The smokestack they had seen earlier, now that she got a closer look she could see just how far it had fallen into disrepair. A large portion of brick was missing on the side facing toward John and the beast below. Seeing this, a plan started to form in the Angel’s head.
“John!” She called down to him as she flew overhead. “Bring it this way!”
“Just get it off me first!” John shouted back.
Aerin flew down and fired a few bolts into the Hellhound’s back as she passed. It reeled around quickly and howled at her, giving John a quick opportunity to get away. He ran as hard as he could toward where Aerin had led him. The Hellhound moved to give chase but was suddenly attacked by the Angel overhead once more. It turned its attention toward her, letting John move into position. Once he was in place, Aerin flew over and brought the Hellhound with her.
“Keep him busy!” She shouted as she flew up past him.
The Hellhound jumped into the air and came down hard where John had just been standing. Had he not stepped to the side like he did, the monster would have surely crushed him. John dodged side to side as the Hellhound slashed wildly at him in frustration. The battle was clearly testing the demon’s patience, but the end was drawing near. While John kept the beast busy below, Aerin enacted her plan above. She clapped her hands together, forming a large glyph in between her hands. The spell spun around quickly as it emitted a tone that grew ever higher in pitch. Once the spell was charged up, she threw it at the base of the tower. It collided with the old stone and exploded into a brilliant blast of blue that shattered a good portion out of what remained of the tower’s belly. The weakened portion couldn’t sustain the weight that was pressing down upon it, and so it gave way, bringing the tower down with it.
John was somewhat of a fast learner and he had figured out the next part of the plan as he saw the tower start to fall overhead; what he wasn’t sure of was how he was going to get away. Suddenly a bolt impacted into the Hellhound’s backside, fired from Aerin high above on the roof. The distraction gave John the second he needed to jump out of the way. By the time the Hellhound realized what was happening, it was already too late. Five hundred tons of blocks slammed down onto the beast, crushing it and sending John flying forward onto his face from the shockwave.
He blinked his eyes rapidly to clear the dust from them once more. There was a thick cloud around him that made it difficult to see anything beyond his nose. He reached for his sword beside him and slowly pulled himself up from the ground. The dust suddenly cleared beside him as Aerin’s wings beat down hard, gently setting her on the gravel next to him. The large white wings folded up behind her and vanished into thin air.
“Did we get it?” John asked.
“I think so.” Aerin answered. She gazed toward the large pile of rubble with a very surprised reaction. “I didn’t think it would actually work, but I can’t sense it anymore.”
John closed his eyes to try and confirm what Aerin wasn’t feeling. He felt his own soul, Emily’s soul within him, and Aerin standing beside him; but other than that, there wasn’t another soul around. The lot was empty.
“I guess we should worry about Emily now, shouldn’t-“
The next few moments happened almost too fast for John to remember, but he clearly saw them happen. A huge black form emerged from the dust cloud right in front of them. It reached out with its large arm and struck at Aerin. She had been caught off guard and the beast slapped her in the side with its massive claw. The impact sent her tumbling away from John. With the Angel out of the way, the monster turned quickly toward John and brought both of its paws down at him in a crushing motion. John instinctively raised his blade, just as he had done before, and managed to block the attack; but he was now in serious trouble.
The Hellhound had survived somehow, which shouldn’t have come as such a shock to him. In his heart he knew the plan had failed, and he figured Aerin would have probably felt the same. What was most concerning, though, was how he hadn’t been able to sense the monster’s presence. It was almost as if it had studied John and Aerin enough to copy them. Almost as if it had suppressed its own spirit.
Unfortunately, John didn’t have much time to think about such things. The Hellhound tightened its claws around the blade and forced more of its weight down against him. In response, John put all of his strength into his blade, but it wasn’t enough. He grunted as his feet dug into the ground beneath him. The pressure bearing down on him was tremendous and he was ultimately forced down onto one knee.
“Dammit… not… not like this.” John muttered as he struggled to hold the sword.
“John!” Emily cried out from within him. “Are you okay?!”
“Yeah!” John tried his best not to sound in distress. “I’m f-fine!” He struggled.
John’s mind went white for a split second at the sound of his bones grinding together in his shoulders. He quickly snapped back to reality and began to think. Emily had been just what he needed to pull him out of the fog that clouded his head. His mind raced back over every single encounter he had ever had, looking for some way that would secure victory. Something, anything that would let him walk away alive. Finally, something stuck out within his mind.
“A soul spell is a physical manifestation of a Slayer’s will, using souls as a medium.”
Samuel’s words jumped out within John’s mind, as if they had been pushed out for him to notice suddenly. He quickly recounted the conversation.
“What about you then? Have you made any?” John asked.
“I have one.” Samuel replied. “It’s a powerful spell that I haven’t used in… years.” He suddenly fell silent as his eyes closed. Samuel looked to be lost in thought as he sat there. “You know.” He suddenly stood. “That was a good match, John. I haven’t been able to test my blade against another for quite some time now. I’d like to teach it to you.”
“Really?” John asked in disbelief. He didn’t know what was in store, but felt extremely honored
.
“Yes.” Samuel held out his hand toward John. “Hold out your hand.” He said.
John quickly stood from his seat. He looked down at his own hand and then back to Samuel’s before reaching across the table. Samuel grabbed onto John’s forearm, and John did the same to Samuel. There was a wave of intense heat that suddenly washed through John’s body. He felt his muscles convulse throughout his arms and legs as his mind became hazy. It was as if he was remembering something he had forgotten long ago.
“What… What was that?” John asked while nearly out of breath. Samuel released his arm and John fell back down onto his seat. He raised his right hand and stared at it.
“Heaven’s Fury.” Samuel stated as he sat back down. “It allows you to turn the negative energy of the land into a single, concentrated attack. The pain and sorrow of the earth will become your source of power, giving you the strength to scorch your enemies with a righteous fire.”
That was it. This was the power John needed to walk away from the fight. He closed his eyes and recounted the attack. He could feel the negative energy swell up beneath him. It ran up into his body and filled him to the brim, rushing down into his arm and stopping at his blade. Suddenly, the energy vanished. As soon as it had appeared, it was gone. The torrent of negativity below him receded, and he was left alone with the Hellhound once more.
“What?!” John shouted in disbelief. “No!” He felt his body being pushed down even more. “Why?!”
“John!” Emily cried out again.
There was something he was missing. Something he had overlooked. He knew deep down that Heaven’s Fury should work. He could feel it in his muscles as if he had performed the attack countless times. There was something he hadn’t noticed, something he had simply forgotten.
“It’s a terribly powerful technique.” Samuel said. “Only to be used in the direst of circumstances, and as such it requires ten souls to cast.”
John ran back over every fight he had won as he recounted the souls he held. The demon on the plane: one soul. The fire demon: four souls. Lily the Succubus: one soul. Holland’s two experiments: two souls. And finally Holland himself: nine souls all together. Nine, the number bounced around inside of John’s head like some sadistic taunt. He could feel his body breaking around him and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
Slowly he began to realize something, something that made him cringe at just the thought. He hadn’t come up short. There was one soul he hadn’t thought of, one that could bring him to his ultimate goal of ten souls. John could feel his knees weaken, not from the immense weight bearing down on him, but from the thought of what he was about to do.
“H-Hey… Emily…” John stuttered. “Listen… uh… you still want to go on that… that adventure?” He managed to say.
“…Yeah.” There was a heavy pause before Emily replied.
John felt himself become sick to his stomach. He could feel something welling up within his throat, but he suppressed it somehow. There was a chance that Emily knew what was about to happen. John couldn’t be sure, but the fact that she was inside of him made it possible, and just the thought of that made him feel all the worse.
“A-Alright… great… that’s great.” He managed to say.
“Will it hurt?”
The question hit John in the chest like a ton of bricks.
“No!” He assured. “N-No! Not at all!”
“What do I do?” Emily’s voice was shaky.
“Nothing, you just… I just… have to…”
John couldn’t do it. The façade he was keeping up crumbled completely. He could feel the lump in his throat well up again, and he did his best to push it back down. His eyes began to water and what little vision he still had went blurry.
“Son of a… bitch.” He muttered under his breath.
“John?”
“I’m sorry.”
The negative energy of the land filled John once more. It circled around his body like a whirlpool that poured into him, filling his body to the brim. The power moved up into his chest, filling him with the pain and sorrow that those gone before had experienced. It moved down into his arms and he could feel the souls within him consumed. One by one they were thrown into the torrent, until all that remained was Emily. And just like the others, her soul disappeared as well. Any screams that she may have made were muffled by the sound that soon followed.
An inferno burst from John’s body. The air around him was heated to such a point that it combusted. The fire ran down onto his blade, turning it white hot. The intense heat caused the Hellhound to release its grip and quickly back away from the blaze. John pulled himself up off of the ground slowly. Tears streamed down his face, immediately burning up once they dripped from his skin. He shut his eyes tight for a moment before reopening them. There were no more tears, only eyes burning red with a deep hatred for the monster before him, and for the monster that he had become.
The Hellhound dug its claws into the ground as it charged forward. John stood still, his knuckles whitening against the hilt of his sword. He took hold of it with both hands and raised the blade high above his head. The inferno around his body suddenly channeled up onto his arms and then out onto his blade. John waited for the Hellhound to pounce into the air before attacking. He slashed downward quickly with his sword, bringing it to rest down by his left leg.
At first, nothing happened. For a split second, time seemed to stand still. The blade was at rest by John’s side as the Hellhound was held suspended in the air. For a brief moment, everything was quiet, but the stillness soon ended as the air in front of John erupted. A wall of fire raced forward, catching the Hellhound in the chest. It seared the demon in half and devoured its body in the all-consuming flame. The inferno continued on until it struck the wall of the factory. The walls buckled and melted under the intense heat, leaving a massive scar behind in their wake. Just as quickly as the flames appeared, they vanished, leaving only destruction as a testament to the power of Heaven’s Fury.
John let go of his sword and dropped to his knees. The blade vanished as his clothes returned to normal. He fell forward and barely caught himself with his hands. His body was exhausted, both physically and mentally. He closed his eyes and gazed within himself, hoping to see Emily’s soul right where it had been before, but the only thing within him was himself. There was a sudden sickening feeling within him. The lump in his throat came back stronger than it had before. John heaved and coughed until he finally threw up everything in his stomach. After that he began to cry as he balled his hands into fists and punched the gravel beneath him.
He sat there until he could cry no more, and after his knuckles had scabbed over from all the blood, he finally stood up. The area around him was a mess, and John could hear sirens in the distance. His body wanted to stay there, moping, forever; but his mind won the argument. He stumbled over to where he remembered Aerin landing, sure enough she was lying there on the ground. John kneeled down beside her and got a closer look. She wasn’t nearly as bad off as he had imagined, at least on the outside. Her side had been cut by the Hellhound and her head was bleeding from the fall. He slowly scooped her up into his arms and held her. Her breathing was slow and soft and he could feel her heart beating against his own. Seeing her like this, small, frail and defenseless, something clicked inside of his mind. A new feeling began to stir within him
It had happened, just as Samuel had said. Something had changed within John. It was a feeling he couldn’t deny. He had finally found what he was looking for.
His reason to fight.
Chapter Thirteen
John rolled over on the couch and faced the ceiling. Unfortunately for him, the flat white above offered no more repose than the TV had moments before. He sighed heavily and attempted to lean farther back into the pillows, hoping that somehow he might disappear within them. The room was quiet with the TV muted. The news had been on to give him something to take his mind off of things, but only made it worse when a stor
y came on about a mysterious fire in an abandoned building the day before. No matter what John did, he couldn’t keep his mind from going back over everything. He lay there staring at the white ceiling as images flashed through his mind. He saw the Hellhound before him again, and could hear Emily’s voice in the back of his mind. He watched the whole scene play out again for the hundredth time before Aerin filled his thoughts.
He had rushed her back as quickly as he could, narrowly avoiding the dozen or so police cars and other first responders arriving at the scene of the fire. Meredith had already been waiting at the front door the moment he arrived. After carrying her to the infirmary and watching over Aerin herself, Meredith gave John a harsh scolding. He couldn’t remember what exactly was said; something about irresponsibility and acting without thinking. Half of it had been said in anger, so she probably didn’t mean it all, John didn’t know, he was too concerned with Aerin’s wellbeing to care. After the small Angel finished shouting at him, John had remembered the hard drive he and Aerin had taken from the computer. Once he explained where it had come from, the small girl took it away and retreated to her office upstairs, leaving John alone in the infirmary hallway.
Samuel approached him shortly thereafter and asked for a proper explanation. He had sensed that Heaven’s Fury had been used, and wanted to know every detail. John recounted everything that had happened leading up to that point. He struggled over the bits with Emily and Samuel waited patiently for him to speak. To John’s surprise, Samuel was far more understanding than he had expected. He had spoken something philosophical about the matter, but it didn’t stick. No matter how hard John tried to remember what he had said, it wouldn’t come.
Slayer: A Demon Hunter's Tale Page 27
