by Ben Reeder
I stood up and ran my fingers through my hair as I paced the room. There weren’t a lot of options open to me that weren’t a huge roll of the dice, and if the numbers came up anything other than perfect, someone was going to end up losing their soul. I knew I couldn’t let Gilbert make that sacrifice.
Worse yet, this didn’t bring me any closer to understanding why my father and Dulka were working so hard to get me back. Dulka had a familiar now, and a willing one at that. Plus, there was McCain to consider. If I knew my old boss, Riker was as much there for Dulka’s sake as for Lucinda’s. What did they need with me? Was it simple revenge or was there a deeper motive in place? Or was it a little of both? I really only had one way to tell.
I sat back down and logged into my email account, then put in the email addresses for Dr. C, Shade, Wanda, and Lucas. The message was simple:
Going to kick the hornets’ nest and see what happens. Bring Hell down but leave the family out of this. Stay home for this. I hope to be back home soon.
I hit send, then deleted the email from the out box. Now all I could do was wait.
Chapter 9
~ A loyal man knows when to lie to you and when to do exactly the opposite of what you tell him to. ~ Nick Cadmus, Master mage
Demonic summoning spells are never bright and shiny. Which is why the best time to cast them is during the new moon, when the night sky is supposed to be darkest. Since Gilbert didn’t have an ounce of magickal Talent as far as I knew, he was basically relying on tools, timing, brute force, and repetition to complete the spell. From where I sat, I could see the sweat pouring down his face in the light of the four black candles he’d placed around the circle. He’d been chanting for half an hour, slowly building energy and working himself into a trance state that would allow him to actually channel the magick he was trying to call up. His face was turned up to the sky, his aquiline nose in profile to me as he repeated the summoning spell over and over again with feverish intensity. By now, his dark hair was plastered to his skull, and his shirt was showing darker patches under his arms and around his neck and shoulders.
My vantage point was on a stone wall with an arched opening in the middle. What the building it belonged to used to be was lost to the past, but it was easy to climb in the dark and close enough to his circle that I could do what I needed to. My heart ached as I looked down at this kid with my mystic sight and saw the first black tendrils starting to creep into the pale gold of his aura. Streaks of pale blue were already laced into it, desperation and despair that had led him to this fateful moment deeply embedded in his psyche. His aura told me he was a good guy. Everything about him looked normal. He should have been worried about pimples and dates. He should have been obsessing over girls, movies, video games. Not demons. In all of the uncertainty that had filled my life the last few days, there was one thing I was sure of: Gilbert Vasquez didn’t belong in that circle. If there was any place at all for him in the world I knew, it was on this side of things, fighting the darkness.
The power swirling around him grew, spinning into a vortex only I could see, drawing to a point thirty feet above his head. My left hand came up, ready to disrupt the spell, but I held myself back. No matter how badly I wanted to stop the spell, the only way I was going to settle this was to let him finish, and let Dulka show up.
In the middle of the circle, the copper brazier he’d lit flared to life with a burst of purple flame, and Gilbert reached for the black-handled ritual blade. In one smooth motion, he grabbed it and plunged it into the chalice, then stuck the dripping blade into the wooden pentacle in front of him.
A blue-black flame rose along the edge of the larger circle, traveling counterclockwise along its circumference. It was time for me to make my entrance. I gathered my feet under me and jumped off the wall. When my feet hit the ground, I let my momentum push me into a roll that brought me back to my feet only a couple of yards from the chalked outline of the circle. Two steps brought me right up to the edge, and I tossed a handful of salt into the air.
“Circumvare!” I called out as the circle’s casting hit my own smaller circle. The flame split, leaving a trail between me and the inside of the circle, and at the same time sealing me off from the outside world. It continued on until it met the edge of Gilbert’s carefully drawn summoner’s circle.
“No!” Gilbert called out. “You’ll ruin everything!”
“Your circle’s fine, Gilbert,” I said. His eyes went wide when he heard his name.
“How do you know …” he sputtered.
“Because I am great and powerful,” I said.
“You’re a meddling brat is what you are,” Dulka’s voice came from within the circle. Both Gilbert and I turned to look at the purple column of flame that had risen from the brazier. One blackened, cloven-hoofed foot slid into view, then the rest of Dulka’s ugly self followed. His left horn was still broken, and his cheek bore a fresh set of criss-crossed scars from where I’d beaten him with his own broken horn. “It took you long enough to stick your nose in on this, though.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
Dulka let out a long, rumbling laugh. “I mean, you’re right where I want you to be,” he said. “Trying to save some stupid human’s soul with a noble gesture.”
“Hey!” Gilbert protested.
“Actually, I’m with the demon on that,” I said to Gilbert. “You are being pretty stupid.”
“I don’t have any other choice!” he said. “If I can get Danny back and help Celia get into school, it’s worth any trade!”
“Any trade?” Dulka asked with a smile. “Because your soul is only worth one of those. But if you can get me another soul …”
“No!” Gilbert blurted. “Just my soul.”
“Then choose,” Dulka said. “Now.”
“Wait!” I said. “Gilbert, you said it was worth any trade. If you believe that …” I hesitated, hoping he was at least half the man I thought he was. “If you believe that, then I have a counter-offer. I’m offering my soul in place of yours.” Both Gilbert and Dulka did a double take at that.
“You’re making this so easy, boy,” Dulka crowed. “I accept your offer. So, this just got a lot easier for you, Gil. You get one of the things you want, and you keep your soul. Or, you could have both and I get both your souls.”
“Are you willing to trade someone else’s soul for this?” I asked. “I know you’re willing to sacrifice yourself, but are you ready to give someone else up in your place? Can you live with yourself if you do that?”
“You’re just one guy,” Gilbert said. “I don’t know you. If it was up to you, I wouldn’t get anything out of this. Well, I’m not walking away empty-handed. My family has been through enough that … that …” He faltered, and his eyes went to something outside the circle. I turned to see Shade standing at the edge of my circle, with Lucas and Wanda behind her.
“He’s trying to save you from something worse than death,” she said as she stepped forward. The circle stopped her cold, and she pressed against it. “Chance, if he gets you, he gets me, too. Please, let me in. I’m not letting you do this alone.” A wordless cry escaped my throat at the sight of her, willing to pay the price of her soul.
“Your soul belongs to something else, girl,” Dulka said. “As much as you’d like to play Juliet to his Romeo, you can’t play this game.
“I can,” Lucas said as he stepped through the shimmering barrier and came to my side.
“So can I,” Wanda added. The barrier flared bright white as she passed it, and Dulka cringed back from the glow that permeated it. I put my hand to the barrier, pressing it against where Shade’s palm lay. Tears ran down my face as I felt my heart lurch in my chest. She would have done it, I knew. Lucas and Wanda had, but she’d stepped forward first. As much as that meant to me, I was glad she was still on the other side. I turned to Lucas and Wanda.
“Guys, no, you can’t,” I said. “Please, I know what you’re trying to do, but I can’t let you do th
is.”
“Lucky for you,” Lucas said, “you can’t stop us from doing it. Just promise me you won’t be mad.”
“I’m already … Hell, I can’t be mad at you.”
“We’ll see if you say the same thing later on.”
I growled in frustration and turned to Dulka. “Their souls aren’t part of this,” I said. “You already accepted my offer.”
“But he hasn’t accepted it,” Dulka said, extending one taloned finger at Gilbert. “So, negotiations are still open. However, I do have a proposal for you, one that lets your friends walk away with their souls intact, and everyone has what they want. Well, almost everyone. You’re still fucked.” He made a gesture with his hand, and I felt like something was being pulled through me. I fell to my knees as blinding pain flared in my chest.
“Stop!” I yelled. “What are you doing?”
“Adding insult to injury, I think,” Dulka said. “Salt in the wound, kicking a dead horse, pick your metaphor. See, it never occurred to you that you, as you are, are worthless to me. Your soul is broken, basically trash for the rubbish heap. It isn’t you that I want. Frankly, I’m happy to be rid of you. But you have something that I do want … desperately.” He drew the last word out, almost as if he was savoring it. He stretched his arm out and closed his fist, then pulled his hand back. Another wave of pain lanced through my chest, and I felt myself pulled toward the inner circle.
“Leave him alone!” Wanda yelled, and Dulka turned his face away. Some small part of my brain took a little too much pleasure in that, and I noted we were finally going to find out what Dulka really wanted.
“What?” I panted. “What are you after?”
“Nothing much,” he said with a grim smile. “Just this.” He made a gesture and I felt like my whole body split open. Then, there was a sense like something had come free, and I felt another presence nearby. I turned my head as I gasped for breath, then froze.
“No,” I said. Hovering outside the circle was the Maxilla. With it under his control, he could rule Hell and Earth. I’d been played, and I never saw it coming. Dulka knew all along that I’d do this, that I would put my own soul on the line to save someone else’s. He’d been counting on it. Even though I wasn’t its Wielder, I was still the Page of Swords, the Seeker and guardian of it when it wasn’t in the care of Steve Donovan. I was one of two people on Earth who could even pick it up. If he could keep it out of Steve’s hands, then the good guys would be missing one of their most powerful weapons in whatever looming conflict that had made it choose a Wielder.
“You do realize that once I get your soul, which you’ve already freely offered and I’ve accepted, I still get this. It bonded to you the moment you first picked it up. ‘No’ isn’t part of this bargain.” Dulka laughed and gave me a broad grin. “Count yourself lucky, boy. The world is about to change, and when my Masters arrive to claim it, I’ll rule at their left hand and you … you will sit at my feet, exalted above all humans, privileged to serve Mammon through me.”
“He still has to say yes,” I said as I let Lucas and Wanda help me to my feet. I fought a cold chill as I struggled to straighten. If the Maxilla was bonded to me, and Dulka had my soul, there was a very real chance he could transfer that bond to himself. I fought the wave of despair that threatened to suck me down at the thought of a demon wielding the one weapon that might even be able to kill angels.
“Three souls,” Dulka said, turning his attention to Gilbert. “Three people who never lifted a finger to help you before, when your family needed it the most. But now … now they’ll finally be doing something to benefit your family. It’s someone else’s turn to make the sacrifice.”
Gilbert was shaking his head, and I could see the first doubts start to show in his eyes.
“Think about it, Gilbert,” Wanda said. “Would you do this if your family was here to see you? Is this what your brother or your sister would want?”
“They’ll never know!” Gilbert yelled. “They’ve sacrificed enough. It’s my turn!”
“No, son,” another voice came from the edge of the clearing. Gilbert let out an anguished sob as a man hobbled into the light. A pair of artificial legs supported him, but he also had two metal crutches to help keep him balanced. Slowly, he stepped forward, with a young woman beside him. Both of them looked like slightly different versions of Gilbert, the man with gray at his temples and in his mustache, the girl like a slightly narrower picture of him. Dulka cackled with glee, and I wanted so badly to punch him again.
“Poppa! No, you shouldn’t be here!” Gilbert cried out.
“Yes, we should,” the girl said. “I won’t let you do this, Gil. You can’t trade them for my school. I couldn’t live with myself.” As she spoke, his father hobbled toward my circle. When he reached the edge, he leaned on one crutch and grabbed Wanda by the arm, then yanked her out. Shade ran to her side and helped her to her feet as he pulled Lucas out by his shirt front. When he laid his hand on my arm, I shook my head.
“You can’t pull me out,” I said softly. “It’s my circle. And I’d just come back in anyway.”
“You don’t understand, Celia,” Gilbert was saying. “He can get Danny back. He can make sure you never have to worry about paying for nursing school, or if you even want to become a doctor. We’ve lost enough … too much. No one was there for us when Poppa lost his legs, or when Danny disappeared. All they want to do is make sure we still don’t get anywhere.”
“Then he can have my soul,” his father said, and stepped into the circle. A moment later, Celia was at the edge, but her father had one hand on her shoulder as he shook his head. She shrugged his arm off and stepped in beside him, her eyes blazing. “This is what it means to sacrifice, Gilbert. No one pays our debts for us.”
Time stood still for one eternal moment. I looked across the few feet between us, into Gilbert’s eyes. Tears ran down his face, and his eyes went to his father, to his sister, then to me. Then he looked at Lucas and Wanda, and finally his gaze turned to Dulka. He stood straight and wiped his eyes, then glanced back at us before he turned back again. Dulka was almost drooling in anticipation as he saw Gilbert’s resolve harden.
“Demon, I’ve made my choice,” he said. “I refuse.” He stepped back, out of his circle, and it collapsed, leaving the main circle intact. I turned to Mr. Vasquez. In the distance, I could see lights in the woods. Either a dozen random bystanders had come to the park and brought flashlights with them, or a group of Sentinels was headed our way. Behind me, Dulka roared his outrage and rushed the edge of the circle, but it held against his assault.
“Go,” I said as I pushed Mr. Vasquez toward the edge of the circle. “Talk to those people coming down the hill, and demand a trial.”
“I don’t understand,” he said as he cleared the barrier.
“And I don’t have time to explain. Just do what I told you to.”
He nodded, then headed for Gilbert as Lucas and Wanda joined me in the smaller circle again. Dulka lurched back from the barrier, his fists suddenly smoking, and howled in pain. Shade hovered near the edge, her eyes gold and her teeth bared.
“Now what?” Wanda asked.
“Shouldn’t he go away when the circle collapses?” Lucas asked.
“He was already here,” I said. “Different summoning, different rules.”
“So if it drops now?” Shade asked.
“Not even my father can control him until sunrise. Which means he’ll probably go on a rampage and try to kill the old man.”
“You know what we have to do,” Lucas said as he shrugged my backpack off and set it on the ground. He gave the Maxilla a pointed look as he knelt and unzipped it.
“No,” I said. “I won’t kill him permanently if I don’t have to. And how did you get my stuff?”
“I borrowed your car,” he said as he pulled the LeMat out. “You did reload this thing, right?” He handed me my paintball gun, and I checked to see what it was loaded with. The white tape showed on top. Holy
water and silver nitrate.
“Of course.” The circle shuddered and Dulka hit it with a blast of Hellfire.
“So, we don’t kill him all the way,” Lucas said. “We just kill him a little.”
“No!” I snapped. “My father will still have—”
“You can fix that!” Lucas snarled. “We have to send them a message tonight, or we’ll never be free of their bullshit!”
I closed my eyes for a second and tried to find fault with his argument, but I couldn’t. I handed Wanda the paintball gun.
“Stay behind Shade until you hear the signal.”
“What’s the signal?” Wanda asked as they stepped out of the circle.
“Screaming,” I said. “Lots and lots of screaming.” I turned to face Dulka. He’d gone quiet, and he was pacing the edge of the larger circle.
“Big words from the mewling mouths of children,” he sneered. “You can’t kill me with that thing. Your heart isn’t pure, and your motive is pure vengeance. So here’s what I think of your threats.” He stopped and laughed, offering me his middle finger. Obviously, he’d missed the Evil Overlord List rule about cackling maniacally.
“I may not be able to kill you,” I said as I jumped out of the circle and grabbed the Maxilla, then dropped the point and muscled it into a thrust as the circle dropped. His laughter stopped as the blade stabbed into the back of his right hand, and I saw it emerge on the other side. “But I can hurt you.”
He looked at me in shock. “You stabbed me,” he said.
I leaned forward and made sure he was focused on me. I only had seconds before the shock wore off.
“We have a message for you,” I told him. “Don’t fuck with us.”
Lucas and Wanda stepped up beside me with Shade at their back.
“It’s bad for your health,” Lucas said as he raised the LeMat. I pulled the blade free, and Dulka screamed. Lucas pulled the trigger, and the first incendiary round caught Dulka in the chest. He staggered back as Lucas calmly thumbed the hammer back and pulled the trigger again, shooting him in the gut. Each shot staggered him, and Lucas stepped forward to deliver the next round. Wanda stayed next to me, her face sad as she watched Lucas fire again and again. When the hammer finally fell on an empty chamber, I walked forward and stood over Dulka’s fading form.
