by James Somers
“That’s a lie!” I yelled. “He was framed for their murders, but we’re going to find out who did it, Adolf. We just need to get out of here as fast as we can. Haven’t you noticed what’s happening?”
I was pointing to the anomaly in the sky, but he wasn’t listening. Adolf was seething with rage, staring at Brody. I couldn’t understand it.
“You think he’s innocent?” Adolf said, accusing me with his question. “Tell me, Cole, is he also innocent in the murder of Grayson Stone?”
This surprised me. I hadn’t heard that name in so many years, that it took a moment to understand what he was talking about. I had heard about Grayson Stone from the Queen. She had shared the story with me and Sadie. Redclaw had also been present when it happened in Tidus. He had seen Brody slay that son of Lucifer with Malak-esh, saving Sophia and the entire city in the process.
“It wasn’t murder, Adolf,” I said, realizing we had no time for this. The Lycans were closing in, only streets away now. Not to mention the increasing turmoil in the sky above. “Grayson Stone threatened Tidus and Queen Sophia.”
“So, Brody did do it! He killed him,” Adolf said.
“Of course, he did it,” I replied angrily. “Grayson Stone was a son of Lucifer.”
What Adolf said next shocked me more than I can say.
“So am I.”
“What?”
“Grayson Stone was my father!”
Fire
I couldn’t believe what my friend of so many years was telling me. Surely, he was delusional. He couldn’t be a Descendant of Lucifer. His fatigue had driven him mad. Something. Anything but that.
However, I could see it in his eyes. Adolf was as lucid as ever I had seen him. He was telling the truth. I didn’t understand how it could be, but he was telling me the truth. And he wanted to kill Brody West.
Sadie was focused on her father. I stepped between them fully now, blocking Adolf’s view. Brody wasn’t unconscious. His eyes were open, but he was definitely not able to fight right now.
“What did you do to him?”
Adolf grinned. I could see it in his face now. He was so very much like one of those devils.
“If you knew anything about my father, then you would know one of the powers he had. To kill with a touch.”
“You must not be very good with it then,” I said. “He’ll live.”
“Perhaps,” Adolf said, “for now. But I’m getting better with it. Next time I’ll—”
“There won’t be a next time!” Sadie shouted, calling Malak-esh to her hand. The sword blade became energized like sunlight. “I’ll kill you first!”
But there wasn’t time for anything else between us and him. The werewolves were upon us. Lycans came from everywhere descending upon Adolf and us, ready to kill us all. And with their numbers they might do it.
“To me!” Brody said, trying to get to his knees.
Sadie had managed to do something for his condition following Adolf’s physiologic attack, but he was still weak. He held out his hand to us. Sadie and I took hold.
The Lycans fell upon Adolf as we vanished from the street, adding our power to Brody’s in an effort to escape this city and this realm. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t enough. We appeared upon the shore some distance away from the city. But we were still not far enough.
“Are you all right, Father?” Sadie asked, kneeling down to help him to his feet.
“I’ve been better,” Brody said. Still, he managed to stand with her assistance. I could see it in his eyes though. He had been dealt a worse blow by Adolf than he was letting on for his daughter. He nodded to me. I didn’t pursue his condition for Sadie’s sake. This wasn’t the time. We still had to manage an escape.
The sky was opening up now over the city. I could see the three cherubim separated and bound with mighty chains. The heavenly host had them in custody. They would not escape. Seconds later they vanished, all of them with the three cherubim in tow.
Where they had gone, I could only guess. Tartarus seemed the likely choice, but there was no way to be sure. I wondered for a moment if Black was now there as well. Brody had mentioned killing Ishbe after Black killed Laish.
Good riddance to that foul angel, I thought. If anyone deserved Tartarus, it was him. He had hurt me and my loved ones so many times and in so many ways that it seemed difficult to imagine why such a being would take so great an interest. Surely there were others in the world to be cruel to.
Still, I knew it wasn’t right to think such things. My senses came back to me and I put Black out of my mind. I thanked God for keeping us safe and prayed for deliverance from this awful mess we were still in.
Fire began to fall down from the heavens, coming through the ever expanding hole in the ominous thunderhead hovering over Trinity. What appeared to be molten rock streamed down in a steadily increasing shower. Dragons and riders attempting to escape by air were thrown down, burned to ash.
A terrible choir of screams resounded from Trinity. I pictured vampires and Lycans, elves and Leprechauns all crying out in concert. Then all of them were suddenly silenced as the first volley from Heaven struck.
Buildings and walls were toppled easily. The coliseum was utterly consumed, as was the majestic temple that had been constructed to make offerings unto the cherubim. Burning debris and molten rock smashed through the perimeter wall, spilling into the sea. However, the attack was far from over.
The clouds above parted more and more. The rain of fiery molten rock expanded outward from the city. It would soon encompass the shoreline where we were standing. If it kept going in this manner, everything recreated by the cherubim would be burned to ash and covered in molten rock.
“We had better do something fast!” I yelled.
Brody and Sadie were seeing the same thing I was, but none of us knew what to do about it. Suddenly, there was a heavenly warrior standing behind them. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Were they playing tricks on me seconds before my death?
He touched Brody’s shoulder and spoke. “You should not be here.”
We had no time for anything else. The sound of the fiery attack filled our ears. Columns of steam drove into the air from the sea as it was vaporized before our eyes. The fire and steam mixed in my vision. I couldn’t see just how close the rain of fire was, but I could feel a terrible heat rising.
And then we were standing in Highmore Castle in Ireland. The heavenly warrior was smiling at us. Brody and Sadie were now standing next to me and apart from the angel. Only a second passed. Then the angel was gone.
I could still feel the lingering sensation of heat on my skin. Our rescue had been accomplished that fast. The heat began to abate. A cool breeze was coming through the windows, winding up through the stone stairs of the castle, filtering in to us from the hall.
“Who was that?” Sadie asked her father.
Brody smiled, sighing in relief. “The angel who showed me where to find you two. The same who told me of the coming destruction we just witnessed.”
“They’re all dead,” I said. Liam Shade. All of the vampires who had come from Russia with Yusupov. The Lycans who had been living here in Highmore and in Rockunder. Countless elves and Leprechauns. All of them perished in God’s overthrow of that idolatrous city dedicated to the cherubim.
I didn’t say his name, but I was thinking it. Adolf was dead now as well. When last we saw him, the Lycans were tackling him in the street. He was fighting, but losing. They had him. After all of his killing in the arena, his energies were spent.
My old friend had died there in that fiery cataclysm. I was still having trouble with his claim to be a son of Lucifer. He had never mentioned any of this before. He had never made any attempt to attack Brody. Adolf had never even accused him of anything before today.
That meant the revelation that Grayson Stone had been his father must be recent. And who would have given him that information?
Lucifer came to mind immediately. It had to be. The angel had contacted A
dolf and told him these things. And, whether it was the truth or not, Adolf clearly believed what he had been told.
A pack of Lycan warriors in their werewolf forms hurled themselves at the young man, Adolf. Brody West and the others had somehow vanished away out of their reach, but this one had been left behind. He would not get away.
Adolf grabbed one of the werewolves on top of him as more piled on. The creature cried out when Adolf applied his power, changing the Lycan’s physiology. The nerves sent back a feeling of shock from every limb. A blood vessel in the Lycan’s brain burst, causing intense pain and rapid death.
The werewolf fell limp on top of him. But that was only one. Many others were grappling with him to hold his hands and feet, bringing him under control before he could do any more harm. They barely regarded their fallen comrade.
A blast of energy knocked every one of the Lycans away from Adolf, leaving him kneeling in the street. Lucifer was standing before him now. He was dressed in a robe of black with a red sash at his waist and a breastplate of crimson armor.
“We must get you away from here,” Lucifer said, looking toward the sky. The moaning werewolves weren’t even worthy of his attention now. They all seemed to have been stunned and were barely able to move at the moment.
Adolf stood, looking around him then at Lucifer. “I had West in my grip,” he said, fuming with disappointment.
“And you shall again,” Lucifer said. “But now is not the time. The fight will wait.”
The fallen angel stretched forth his hand. Adolf glared at him for a moment before walking over to take hold.
“Promise me I’ll have my revenge upon him,” Adolf demanded.
“You’ll have it,” he replied easily.
Adolf couldn’t tell if he was lying. Certainly, Lucifer was the last person to be trusted. Still, he had not been lying when it came to Brody West. The man had murdered Adolf’s father. He had never even had the chance to lay eyes on him as a boy. All because of Brody West.”
“I’m going to kill him,” Adolf said.
Lucifer grinned as he unfolded a portal matrix around them. “Of course, you will.”
Molten fire came down upon the vampire city of Trinity. Screams of terror resounded throughout the place. Descendants and humans ran for their lives, but there was no place to hide. The Almighty had come for them, and there was no place to run.
Buildings made of cut stones were dashed to pieces and swallowed up by molten rock, fire and the stench of sulfur. Thousands of people who had either been dwelling in Trinity, or who had come to invade alongside King Liam Shade were incinerated upon their feet along with their horses and dragons and their weapons of war.
However, the former Covering Cherub and the son of his son vanished before the first spark of flame touched down. The city was swept away. The sea around it, defending it as a natural barrier, was burned away as a massive cloud of vapor that obscured everything upon the spiritual plane. Within that darkness, fire from Heaven consumed all that had been wrought by the cherubim. The Almighty’s judgment here was complete.
Ghost Town
Walking through Highmore. No children played in the streets. No patrons meandered through the vast market complex. There were no venders selling their wares anyway. The town had been emptied.
We knew what had happened to the men and at least some of the women. Both genders were accepted into the armies of the Leprechauns and the Lycans. Women could be just as ferocious in battle as men—sometimes more so, especially if they were werewolves.
However, there could be only one explanation as to where the mothers had gone with their children. The same would be likely for the elderly. Rockunder would have similarly emptied of its warriors, leaving plenty of room for anyone who wanted to wait there for the battle to come to a conclusion.
What these could not have yet realized was the fact that none of the Shade King’s army would ever come home. They were widows and fatherless now. They had chosen to follow a foolish king who had believed a lie. Liam Shade had marched his people to their doom.
“Perhaps we should go on to Rockunder,” I said. We were all thinking it, but no one had spoken up yet.
“But they’ll be looking for Father in the city,” Sadie said. “What would they think after sending their army to kill him, only to have those warriors die and Father arrive back in their places?”
“Good point,” I admitted. “They would do their best to kill us themselves.”
Brody was having trouble. He looked weak, like he had been crawling across a desert with no food or water. Every now and then I caught his eye, but he only smiled and dismissed my concern.
“Before we go any further, we need to do something,” he said.
Brody brought out a black cloth from his jacket pocket. He tossed it into the air where it unfolded itself and then settled down perfectly flat against the paving stones.
“What is it?” Sadie asked.
Brody had tears in his eyes again. “A shroud,” he said.
Whatever spell had been upon it was now undone at his silent command. From beneath the shroud a body took shape, growing until an outline of a woman’s diminutive form lay beneath the black cloth. None of us moved.
There was a glimmer of hope that ran through my thoughts. Would she pull back the drape and stand before us, laughing at our foolishness? Surely she wasn’t really dead. But, of course, that wasn’t going to happen. No matter how much we might wish it, Sophia was gone.
“I will not deny you, Sadie, if you wish to look upon her one last time,” Brody said, gazing down upon the body.
I watched my friend. She was remarkably composed. I had no idea how she could be so calm.
“I will not see her this way,” she said calmly. “I will remember her as she was in life. And I will avenge her death.”
Neither of us replied to this. We were feeling the same thing, but revenge was not what we should be focused upon. Vengeful thoughts could quickly consume a person if they weren’t careful. But we said nothing. Sadie was in no state of mind to listen anyway.
Brody raised his hand, and Sadie and I backed away knowing what was coming. Heat that originated within Sophia’s body quickly spread throughout until a flame could not be kept back. The body became white hot, consuming the shroud like paper.
We watched until there was only ash left of her. The Queen of the Lycans was no more than a memory in our hearts now. We looked at one another sadly.
“What now?” I asked.
“Rockunder will be mostly empty,” Sadie said. “Maybe we can find some clue as to who did this to mother.”
Brody glanced at me and then addressed his daughter. “I will let you go and see what you can find. As for me, I need to rest for a while. I’ve seen Adolf’s ability to kill physiologically before. Grayson Stone could have killed me in the same amount of time. Praise the Lord, Adolf apparently hasn’t had time to perfect his skill.”
Sadie came to his side. “I can stay with you, Father. You’re exhausted.”
“No, I think you should go into the Rockunder, as you’ve suggested.” He looked at me then. “I’ll keep Cole here with me. He’ll look out for me while I get some sleep.”
“Absolutely,” I said, nodding.
“After you return from Rockunder, we’ll have to leave this place,” Brody said. “It will be too dangerous to remain in Highmore.”
“But our enemies have been destroyed,” Sadie said. “There’s no one left to hunt us now.”
Brody grinned at her. “Adolf will come eventually.”
“But he died in Rockunder with the rest,” I said.
“Did you see him perish?” Brody asked. “No. Lucifer would not allow that to happen. It is not Lucifer’s time yet to go into judgment.”
“Let him come,” Sadie said, flexing her sword hand.
“Besides,” Brody said, “if it is the Lord’s will, we will see justice done in this matter.”
Sadie did not reply to that.
&n
bsp; “Now, go and see what you can find, sweetheart,” Brody said. “Cole will help me to my bed.”
He walked over to me, taking hold of my shoulder in order to steady himself. Brody had not been crippled necessarily, but he was clearly suffering the ill effects of Adolf’s physiologic attack. We could only hope his condition would soon improve.
I winked at Sadie, hoping she would be satisfied with my remaining here with her father. She nodded and then turned away, walking. A moment later, she vanished mid-stride.
Brody did not look back at here, but he seemed to know that she had gone on to Rockunder before he spoke. “I already know who killed Sophia and Brian Shade,” he said.
I was surprised to hear him say it with such confidence.
“How could you know already?”
“I saw Brian Shade’s body, or what was left of it,” he said. “I’m very confident that only Southresh could have managed the level of incendiary destruction that was done to the Shade King’s body.”
“Could not a Fire Elemental have done the same?”
“True, but I know of none who wished me ill, or who had the ability to also take my form,” he explained. “Liam made it clear that he saw me commit the murders.”
“I suppose you must be right about Southresh then.”
“I don’t want Sadie to know that right now,” he said. “She would do her best to find him, thinking that she was assured victory with Malak-esh to aid her.”
“But Oliver James died at Southresh’s hands despite having the sword,” I added.
“Precisely why I don’t want her to go after him.”
We vanished from the street then. I could sense Brody drawing us together with Highmore Castle. Sure enough, we appeared outside his bedchamber a moment later.
“What if she finds something in Rockunder?” I asked.
“Unlikely,” Brody replied. “Southresh has the power to cover his tracks. There won’t even be a scent. He’s mad, but he’s not a fool.”
The door to his room opened on its own as Brody turned to go in. “I wanted to speak with you about that, but I still wouldn’t mind if you could remain here while I rest.”
