Charles stopped up short when he came across a cabinet containing what looked like a desiccated and blackened human hand. Fascinated he stepped closer, reaching out towards it.
‘I wouldn’t do that if were you Cher.’
He turned back to see who had spoken and his eyes widened slightly.
‘Cora?’ he asked uncertainly.
‘Who else were you expecting Cher?’
‘You look different.’
‘When I am working there are no masks, no pretenses, just truth.’
‘So this is the real you?’
‘As you see,’ she shrugged.
She stepped bare footed into the room. Gone was the cute little Englishwoman with her perfectly sculpted curls and neatly buttoned up cardigan. Before him stood a slightly older woman with a kind of timelessness about her. If he had to peg her age he’d have put her close to his own, although he imagined she was probably far older than she actually looked. Her long jet black hair was pulled back from her face in a mass of complicated braids, falling down her back in thick ropes which were almost dreadlocks, interwoven every now and then with gold rings. Her skin was a pleasing deep golden honey, her eyes were dark and edged with black Kohl. She wore a dark dress which clung to her curves like a second skin. There was a kind of overripe lushness about her, and an appealing sensuality. Dark beads hung around her neck, entwined with several strange pendants which hung down past her breasts almost to her waist. Her nails were painted black and her hands were unadorned, with the exception of a single signet ring of gold, inlaid with a large black stone of polished onyx.
He turned back to the cabinet and to the strange blackened hand.
‘It’s a hand of glory, isn’t it?’
‘Did you come for the tour?’ she asked in amusement, ‘or did you bring the items I requested?’
He handed her the bag he was holding.
‘Good,’ she took it from him slowly, her gaze holding his. ‘I was beginning to wonder if you were coming back, your time was almost up.’
‘We have a deal.’
‘Yes we do Cher,’ she muttered studying him thoughtfully. ‘Shall we begin then?’
As she moved aside his gaze fell to where a large sigil was drawn out on the wooden floor. Spaced at intervals were strategically placed thick stumpy black and white candles, more symbols were scrawled in a circular pattern around them and herbs were scattered everywhere. He watched as she laid the sweater and hairbrush in the center of the circle and retrieved a jar of black dust from one of the shelves.
‘What’s that?’ he asked curiously.
‘It’s Goofer dust,’ she replied as she knelt on the ground, unscrewed the lid and pulled out a great handful scattering it across the symbols.
‘Goofer dust?’ he frowned, ‘isn’t that usually used for hexing?’
‘Usually,’ she agreed ‘but it can also be used for coaxing and coercion. It has many uses, depending on the blend.’
‘What’s in that one?’
‘A little of this, a little of that,’ she shrugged, ‘graveyard dirt, snake skin, ash, salt, powdered bones. Do you really want a lesson on magic?’
‘Sorry,’ he smiled, ‘I’m a teacher by nature. I always was too curious for my own good.’
‘A teacher?’ she raised one slender brow.
‘High school history.’
‘I do like a man who respects roots.’ She stood and placed the jar back on the shelf dusting her hands on her skirt. ‘Okay, shoes and socks off and come and stand over here.’
‘Sorry?’
‘You heard,’ she replied, ‘bare feet and hurry up, we don’t have all night.’
Bending down to do as she asked, he untied his shoes and removed them. Tucking his socks neatly inside he wandered over and stood opposite Cora, feeling the dust and herbs beneath the soles of his feet.
‘Okay then Cher’ she grinned, ‘let’s get this show on the road.’
Nathaniel glanced down the gloomy corridor and saw a faint light in the distance. They groped along in the darkness for what seemed like forever and when they finally reached the end and stepped out they found themselves facing a tall curved wall. No longer the warm pale yellow sandstone of the labyrinth, these walls were bleak and imposing, made of solid tightly packed grey stone. Slightly to the left was a huge arched doorway from which hung a heavy wooden door with large metal hinges. A curved letter ‘Ε’ was burned deeply into the door, scarring the wood.
‘Epsilon’ Nathaniel muttered, the ruin of his mouth trying to curve into a smile but merely succeeded in achieving a terrifying grimace. ‘Zachary,’ he turned as the younger demon appeared next to him, ‘summon the others.’
Zachary nodded and closed his eyes, reaching out to his brethren. Slowly they started appearing around the circumference of the huge wall, men, women, children all of varying shapes and sizes and all with the same pitch black eyes as Zachary.
A middle aged woman with red hair approached.
‘Saffire,’ Nathaniel turned to look at her.
‘My lord,’ she nodded in greeting, ‘an archway has opened up in front of the West entrance to Epsilon.’
‘Hades?’ he growled.
‘Not just Hades my lord, he has the witch with him.’ She spat in disgust, casting an accusing look at Isabel who was completely unperturbed by her presence.
‘Take the others and head to the tunnel, make sure no one reaches the Crossroad.’
She nodded and moved towards the new, brightly lit archway, beckoning the other demons to follow.
‘You too Zachary,’ he told his second in command. ‘No matter what happens Hades and the girl must not reach the Crossroad.’
‘Of course,’ he replied.
‘How about you Isabel?’ Nathaniel asked slowly. ‘Would you like to watch while we kill your daughter?’
Isabel stared at him blankly, as if she couldn’t quite comprehend what he was saying, either that or she just wasn’t concerned enough to show any reaction. Nathaniel chuckled, a disgusting wet burbling kind of sound.
‘Go,’ he commanded and Zachary bowed and disappeared towards the West entrance.
Nathaniel turned and looked at Isabel who was staring at the wooden door.
‘Open it,’ he whispered to her. It had to be her of course. As a demon he would not be able to touch the door, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t step through it if someone opened it for him. Once inside, all he had to do was get Isabel to make a deal with the keeper. Annoyingly this was also something he couldn’t do because it had to be a human. Still, he had her now. Isabel was his to control and all he had to do was get her to ask for the location of the book.
He watched in interest as Isabel reached out, slowly grasped the cool metal handle and twisted. Despite no one probably having used it for centuries, possibly even longer, the door swung open easily with no hint of rust or creaking hinges. A breeze rushed through the open doorway tugging at Isabel's hair, brushing it back over her shoulder and revealing the silvery burn mark which marred the skin on the side of her face.
Slowly she stepped across the threshold into the darkness beyond, with Nathaniel silently gloating as he following behind.
Olivia walked in silence alongside Hades, with Theo and Sam just slightly behind her to her right, and behind them the ghostly forms of the army of shades glided silently along the sandy ground.
‘Are you feeling okay?’ Theo whispered to Sam.
‘I feel a bit strange’ he admitted quietly, ‘but I’ll be okay. What about you?’
‘What about me?’
Sam nodded towards the impressive blue black sword in his hand, ‘do you actually know how to use that thing?’
Theo shrugged, ‘what’s to know? The pointy end goes into the other man.’
‘Seriously?’
‘What about you then?’ he indicated the sword Hades had given to Sam. ‘You don’t even look old enough to shave yet, are yo
u sure you know how to use that?’
‘Don’t let the face fool you Theo, I’m a lot older than you think and I have been training since I was old enough to pick up a sword. It’s the way of my people, we are first and foremost warriors.’
‘If you say so,’ Theo replied.
‘Look, stay close to me and try not to get yourself killed. Olivia went to a lot of trouble to pull you out of the Otherworld. I doubt she wants to go back and start looking for you all over again.’
‘I thought the Otherworld was destroyed when it was pulled into the Void?’ Theo frowned in confusion.
‘No,’ Sam snorted, ‘there’s no way you can destroy the whole of the Otherworld, it’s too vast. It’s probably one of the largest of all the different realms, because it more or less caters to each soul personally. What you saw fall into the Void was simply the manifestation of the afterlife you subconsciously created.’
Theo stared at him blankly.
‘Think of the Otherworld as a fruit, a raspberry for example. If you look closely it’s not one fruit but rather lots of tiny little segments, which bind together to form the whole. It’s the same with the Otherworld. There are thousands of tiny little pockets of it and each one belongs to a different soul.’
‘Oh I see,’ Theo replied.
‘What was that?’ Olivia stopped suddenly in front of them, listening intently. ‘Can you hear that?’
‘Yes I can’ Hades growled, drawing his own sword. ‘DEMONS!’ he hissed in disgust.
Olivia’s expression hardened as she raised her hands and when she drew them apart her bow burst into sapphire flames. Two of her dragonflies, double their usual size, blazed brightly with Hellfire and hovered over her shoulder protectively.
‘We’ll take care of the demons,’ he told her quietly. ‘Whatever happens, you have to get to the Crossroad and stop your mother from making a deal.’
Olivia nodded as she saw the first wave of demons scrambling down the tunnel towards them. Her eyes widened in shock and she almost took an involuntary step back. The demons were like a swarm of insects. Defying all the laws of nature they flooded every surface of the tunnel, clinging to the walls and ceiling as she headed towards them. As if that was not bad enough she suddenly heard a cold baying sound, followed by a familiar growl and when she looked dozens of Hell hounds ran with them in a pack.
‘Shit,’ she swore and let loose a bolt of pure black flame, aiming for the alpha of the pack. She gave a smirk of satisfaction as it hit true and the drooling skeletal creature exploded in a shower of ash and dust.
Hades watched her carefully, his expression indecipherable as she aimed and took out another three in quick secession.
‘Hellfire won’t work on demons’ Hades warned her, as his eyes locked on the demons rushing forward.
‘I know,’ she muttered taking out another hound. ‘You take out the demons, I’ll deal with the dogs.’
Grunting in agreement the shades surged forward down the tunnel. ‘PROTECT THE GIRL!’ Hades roared at them as he rushed forward.
Sam and Theo suddenly appeared, flanking her. It was carnage fighting in such close quarters. The shades were unstoppable, claws and weapons simply passed straight through them. None of the demons could get a grip on them long enough to do any damage, yet the shades’ weapons plunged into bodies and hacked off appendages with sickening tearing sounds.
Theo and Sam seemed to be doing fine on their own and soon the bodies were piling up either side of them as she continued to fire blazing arrows at the Hell hounds, watching as they detonated one by one. The air was filling with a disgusting choking ash, which disturbingly smelled like barbecue.
‘GET TO THE CROSSROAD!’ She heard Hades shout from somewhere deep in the melee.
‘Theo!’ she called out to him, but she’d lost him in the press of falling bodies.
Theo and a smaller demon were circling each other. Theo held his blade loosely in his fingers ready to strike and yet he couldn’t bring himself to do it. The demon in front of him looked no more than a ten-year-old child. His mind was telling him it was a demon, but he still couldn’t bring himself to deliver the killing blow.
‘Theo!’ Sam yelled as he plunged his blade easily through a female’s throat and spun around, running another through with one clean thrust. ‘Stop playing with it and just kill it!’
‘It’s a child!’
‘It’s not a child’ he growled, ‘kill it now!’
He could hear Olivia calling out to him from somewhere further down the tunnel and he knew he had to find her. Giving a roar of disgust and frustration he ran the demon through, his heart aching as he watched the innocent looking form slide lifelessly to the floor that was now stained black with blood. They climbed over body parts and corpses until they reached Olivia.
‘We have to get to the Crossroad now!’ she shouted as they approached.
Nodding in agreement, Sam went first, cutting and hacking his way through to clear a path for them, as Theo hung back to protect Olivia, killing anything that got too close to her.
‘There’s so many of them,’ she breathed heavily as they climbed over more dead.
‘They’re not called the hordes of Hell without reason’ Sam panted. ‘I can see the end of the tunnel, keep moving.’
They finally burst out of the end of the tunnel but something grabbed Olivia’s ankle and she hit the ground hard. She rolled over to see a hand grasping onto her leg. Worryingly, the hand was attached to an arm and part of a torso but that was it. She screamed and kicked at it but it held firm. It yanked her hard, scraping her back against the hard ground as it dragged her back towards the tunnel. Theo grabbed her and pulled her back towards him as Sam seized a spear from a nearby corpse and thrust it through the wrist of Olivia’s captor, pinning it to the ground and forcing it to release her ankle. She scrambled back out of the way as Theo hauled her to her feet, pushing her behind him protectively.
‘STOP THE GIRL!’ Zachary shrieked and suddenly several more demons spewed out of the tunnel heading towards them.
Isabel stepped calmly through the doorway, followed closely by Nathaniel, and the door slowly swung closed behind them. The pathway which led to the center of the Crossroad was much as the others had been, grey flagstones inscribed with an ancient language too worn to decipher correctly. The Crossroad was similar to all the others, with four pathways intersecting at the center and ending at the four compass points, and a large doorway. The whole Crossroad itself was enclosed with a tall circular wall, which was covered with ancient scrubby looking vines. It was dimly lit and although there seemed to be no direct light source, there was a low glow which just seemed to emanate from everywhere and yet nowhere at the same time.
Isabel drifted down the path, absently gravitating to the center, while Nathaniel glanced around warily, looking for the keeper. This Crossroad may have been similar in design if not in size but he knew Epsilon was the oldest and the most powerful of all the Crossroads.
Isabel stopped in the dead center and glanced around.
‘What do we have here?’ a strange voice crackled from beside them.
Isabel peered into the darkness on either side of the path and as her gaze became accustomed to the gloom she made out an old lady sitting in a rocking chair, knitting something of no clear shape, from a rather unsavory and unattractive looking ball of rough brownish grey yarn. The woman rocked back in her chair, her needles clicking furiously as she watched them.
‘Come into the light,’ Nathaniel commanded.
She cackled in the darkness, ‘I don’t take orders from demons.’ She leaned forward far enough for the light of the Crossroad to highlight her old and misshapen face, ‘especially you Nathaniel…’
‘YOU…’ his eyes widened and he exhaled slowly…
‘I’ve waited a long time to cross paths with you again,’ she hissed, revealing rows of blackened teeth.
‘I wondered what happened to you,’ he
smirked. ‘The last time we met you looked a lot prettier.’
‘The last time we met I ended up sentenced to the Crossroad,’ she glared at him hatefully.
‘Water under the bridge,’ he shrugged, ‘we’re here to do business. Isabel…’ he called to her, his gaze still fixed smugly on the stooped old woman, ‘come here and ask her for the location of the book.’
‘Still flogging that dead horse are you?’ the old woman asked insultingly.
‘Isabel…’ Nathaniel turned towards her, ‘ask her for the location of the book.’
Isabel turned her dark whiskey colored eyes on him and the blank look drained from her eyes, revealing a sharp defiance.
‘No,’ she whispered quietly, her mouth curving into a slow smile.
‘What?’ he hissed. ‘I said, ask her for the location of the book.’
‘Did you really think it was that easy?’ she answered smoothly. ‘Did you really think I would be so easily manipulated?’
He took an involuntary step back in shock. Gone was the unstable demanding woman he’d first encountered when she raised him from the devil’s trap. Gone was the lethargic dreamlike state she had portrayed for the last several weeks. Gone was the mask of a broken mind and impending madness, and in front of him stood an icy cool dangerous woman, very much in control of her own mind.
‘Stupid…stupid little demon…’ she tutted slowly as the old woman began cackling in delight behind her.
Ignoring Nathaniel, she turned to the woman and smiled coolly. ‘I’m here to make a deal.’
She shot a smug look at Nathaniel and turned back to Isabel, rubbing her dirty hands together in delight, ‘and what exactly is your heart’s desire?’
Her voice when she finally spoke was dripping with ice and her smile was so sharp it could have sliced with the precision of a scalpel.
‘I want to be the most powerful witch who ever lived…’
Chapter 26.
‘NO!’ Nathaniel growled and stepped forward, only to be pushed back by an invisible barrier.
‘Ah, ah, ah,’ the old woman shook her head gleefully, ‘no interfering whilst terms are being discussed. This does not involve you, demon.’
Crossroads Page 35
