Cult of the Hexad (Afterlife saga Book 6)

by Stephanie Hudson

  “Niðr, gǫrr ykkarr ofreflismaðr!” Ragnar roared to his son. (‘Son, ready your superior power’) Sigurd growled at the sight of the beast and had started to summon his own powers. He threw off his jacket to bare his own shadowed creatures and the dark tattooed skin started to spin and merge, taking over his body. Only this time instead of the usual two serpents that came from behind him something started to change. He seemed to draw up from beneath him, as if tapping in to some hidden power source and draining it for what he needed. It came up from the earth beneath him in streams of black smoke, adding to the power that was already there.

  Then on another demonic cry he released it all at once, twisting and combining it all and shot it forward straight for the beast. The further it got the more it combined into one massive shadowed beast of his own. So when it finally reached the huge serpent it went at it with its newly formed head snapping deadly jaws.

  The monster Jörmungandr twisted its head and bit into Sigurd’s shadowed creature, biting through its head after only a second into the fight. I gasped thinking it was useless, only to see it reform behind its enemy and snap back at its neck, getting its revenge. Unlike Sigurd’s clever beast the serpent Jörmungandr hissed in pain as black blood spurted into the sky like a mist.

  “He’s winning!” I shouted back to Draven who wasn’t looking at the fight but straight at the Fathers to see they were opening yet another portal.

  “Where is Jared and his council?” Draven asked Lucius.

  “They should be coming from that side any minute, why?” He responded fighting back the last of the defeated army of dark elves that looked like hybrids between what you would have expected of dwarves and elves together. Pointed ears, short bodies, coal black matt skin and white hair braided back into Mohawks.

  “Because we are going to need him if what I suspect is next through that portal.” Draven said tensely and this was quickly followed by an almighty roar that would have put any lion to shame.

  “He Who Dwells in the Marshes” Ragnar uttered in awe just as an enormous wolf leapt from the newly formed pathway snarling at the world. He was terrifying and I grabbed on to Draven, as it came straight for us.

  “FENRIR ATTACKS! GET BACK!” Ragnar shouted to all that were making sure the last of the dark elves were dead. Meanwhile Sigurd still battled the giant serpent, Jörmungandr who looked as if he would soon be defeated.

  “Where the fuck is a Hellbeast when you need one!?” Lucius said sarcastically as he held his sword out like a modern day knight.

  “Come on Cerberus, now would be a good time to…” Draven was suddenly cut short as demonic howls sounded that they were near. We looked towards the trees and saw at first it looked like an actual giant was running through the woods. The trees shook and some even uprooted through the force of Jared and his council all charging into battle. Then, bursting from the trees, wild beasts of different kinds came charging through, all being led by the biggest, which I knew was Jared. He had a Jurassic look about him with hardened clumps of stone fur, pointed and tipped with razor edges.

  He raged through the rest of us straight for Fenrir, whose fury was building into a crescendo. The remains of thick massive chains hung in sections from the heavy collar he wore and large links had been stretched back by brute strength. It was obvious he had broken through these but it was confusingly the single silky thread that hung down from the front that looked to be made of woven silver that I stared at. It looked to have been sheared off from whatever it had been attached to. However, this was nothing in comparison to the great sword, one the length of a two storey building that had been thrust up through his jaw. The handle curled back round, sitting under his lower jaw and the blade part had broken through to his upper jaw, sticking up like a horn or a weapon. One he used right now to charge at Jared and his men.

  “What are we going to do?!” I shouted up at Draven.

  “They will only bring more in My Lord and Odin only knows what is next in store for us.” Ragnar told him and Draven snarled at the Fathers, at the sight of them doing just that.

  “If you get the Runes, can you send them back?” Draven asked scanning the area for his people.

  “Aye, me and the boy with some help from the seer.” He said nodding to the girl I now knew as Rue.

  “Then we kill the Fathers and take control of their power…Rue, Takeshi!” Draven shouted over to them and Takeshi led Rue, which quickly told me she was blind. She had her hands out in front of her but the eyes I saw tattooed there told me two things, one she could see from them and two, they weren’t equipped enough to move quickly.

  “Yes my Lord.” Takeshi said surprisingly calm, considering our dire situation.

  “Rue, do you think you can use your power to confuse them, to prevent them from bringing anything else through?” Draven asked her.

  “No, my powers are nothing up against the four of them but I might be able to slow them down, plant some fears against them. One is weaker than the others and already fears what comes through will attack them.” She informed us.

  “Good, use that against him and focus all your energy there. We only need one to fail enough to get close to them.” She nodded and ran off towards the side of them.

  “Takeshi, you go and protect her…and use what you have to aid in boosting her powers.”

  “With my life I give.” He replied and was quickly at Rue’s side, making sure she got there safely.

  “LOOK OUT!” Sophia shouted to us and the next thing I knew I was on the floor after being pushed out of the way. I looked up to see the massive body of the serpent had landed like a falling, thousand-year-old tree in between Draven and I. Sigurd had done it but from the sounds of things the job was long from finished. This beast was down but there was another coming from the next pathway.

  “You need to get out of here!” Sigurd said walking over to me, half hidden in his surrounding shadows. It was like black smoke that tried to cling to him every time he moved. Draven saw that Sigurd had me and the relief was plain to see. Draven nodded for him to take me far from here and just as he took the top of my arm ready to take me to safety the sky split from the unearthly sound of our biggest monster yet.

  “Fucking Thor’s hammer, what next!?” He growled looking back to the lit pathway.

  “Fuck no!”

  “What is it? Sigurd what is…oh my God! You have got to be shitting me! It’s a fucking Dragon!” It was my time to roar as the head started to emerge.

  “It’s no Dragon, its worse…its Níðhöggr!” This is the point where I would have asked him ‘who’ but he turned to me and screamed one thing,

  “RUN!” I didn’t need to be told twice as that is exactly what I did. I started running and knowing what was at my back I did so like death was following me! I looked back over my shoulder expecting to see Sigurd running with me but he wasn’t there. He was stood in between it and me surrounded by a black cloud that was growing bigger and bigger.

  I screamed as fire burst through the shadows at the same time an almighty roaring purr rose up from the belly of a mighty beast before the crackling scorch of flames travelling through the air. I ran even faster to get away and as I looked over my shoulder its head materialised through the fire. It was trying to reach for me and stopped abruptly, bellowing its anger into the sky. I looked back to see Sigurd’s shadowed serpent had wrapped itself around its neck and for a false hopeful minute I thought Sigurd had him. But the Dragon, Níðhöggr was obviously a lot smarter than the giant snake Sigurd had defeated. Because he looked down and saw who the shadows were being controlled by and with one nasty wipe of his tail, Sigurd went flying into the side of one of the houses.

  I froze in horror, too scared to move. I looked to Draven to see now he had his own monster to deal with, one that had a flaming sword and was bigger than Ragnar. I looked to everyone around to see they each had their own devastating force to try and control as even all of Jared’s crew were still battling it out against the monstrous wol
f. But nobody was left to fight the biggest of them all! If only we had our own monster to fight him, because if something didn’t happen soon then all would be lost.

  I don’t know why but my subconscious kicked in just at the right time as the next set of flames came at me. I took a deep breath as the seconds seemed to slow down and raised my hands up. Suddenly there was no fear and there was no doubt left in me. For I knew I could do this and for the first time I didn’t need anger to cast it out. I simply said,

  “No.” And from me came a blinding flash of light that boomed from me and I could see it travelling along in the air like a shimmering curved wall. It hit the beast like a shockwave and it whipped its head around in what looked like agony, screaming this high pitched sound so great everything stopped for a moment.

  I thought for a second I had been victorious but after what felt like using all of my power the creature recovered. Now instead of being a wild angry beast, I had just given it purpose and made it a wild, angry, vengeful beast!

  “Oh shit!” I said once again trying to run only this time in the direction of someone that could aid me. Because as cool as what I did was, I knew I was now all out of juice. I ran and screamed just as one of Jared’s Hellbeastsrolled past me after being thrown off the back of the wolf, Fenrir. They were all going at it together and I could see little by little it was weakening from the constant attacks from all sides.

  But instead of getting to safety by running this way I was only bringing more danger. I was just about to start running the other way when suddenly I was scooped from the ground and being flown backwards by Lucius.

  “Stay here.” He ordered and then snapped open his phone. I couldn’t imagine who he was going to call at a time like this and would have asked if he hadn’t snapped,

  “Pip, get your ass here now!” Pip! What the Hell could Pip do?

  “No I know what I said but that was before the fucking Dragon appeared, so yeah fuck it, I will take the chance of Hell breaking loose, because right now, I need a fucking Hell on my side!” I frowned having no clue what he was talking about but then my whole body tensed as it just sounded like thunder striking a volcano right behind us in the trees.

  “Fuck that was quick!” Lucius said and before I could ask, Pip suddenly came racing through the trees with the whole forest shaking behind her. Even the ground started to vibrate until it felt like it would open up beneath us.

  “Oh God, what now?”

  “I would move your asses if I were you…my hunka train is coming through.” Pip said running past us and changing direction just before she ran straight into the Dragon.

  “I think now would be the time to ignore my order.” Lucius said, picking me up and launching us up in the air over to where Pip had decided to stand…well out of the way. Just as we got close I looked over his shoulder to see the scariest, most terrifying beast so far! Actually he made all the others look like demonic pets you would buy at a pet store run by the Devil.

  “What the fuck did you say to him to get him to change so quickly?” Lucius asked her as soon as we had landed.

  “Oh nothing much, just a little female persuasion.”

  “Pipper!” Lucius said her name in warning.

  “Okay, okay…I simply told him that if he isn’t gonna turn all beasty and sex me up then I might have to just go over there and find myself a naughty little beasty to play with me…see no biggy.”

  “Oh fuck!” Lucius shouted dragging both his hands through his hair. Meanwhile the battle still raged around us but with one big exception, now we had our own monster, and he was kick ass! He took one look at the Dragon standing in between him getting to Pip and went crazy! He ran into Níðhöggr at a dead run, charging at him with his head down and you could just see all the skulls of other demonic creatures embedded in his thick unearthly flesh.

  “How the Hell are we going to get him to come back down now!?”

  “Well you told me there was a freakin Dragon for foogle sake! What else was I supposed to do, Adam wouldn’t listen to me!”

  “Where is Adam?” I asked looking around realising this was the first time I hadn’t seen the two of them together.

  “Uh…durr Toots, he’s right there.” She said nodding to the new beast on the block.

  “Wait a second…you’re telling me that’s…Adam?!” I said thinking this was the time I might actually pass out.

  “Ooops, sorry, our bad! …Do you think a fruit basket will help?” Pip asked as her monster husband just back handed one of Jared’s crew into the forest.

  “More like a free night out at a titty bar, he’s a fucking biker Squeak.” She shrugged her shoulders and said,

  “I know a girl, she can do me a deal.” Were they serious right now! I looked to Draven and saw him still battling it out now with Vincent at his side as the enemy he fought had more than tripled in size.

  “The last one is coming through.” Lucius said nodding towards the Fathers and he was right. But I was surprised as I thought they were getting bigger but the one that walked through now was…

  “It’s just a woman.” I voiced this as I wanted to make sure my eyes weren’t deceiving me.

  “That’s not just a woman sweetheart.”

  “Oh Shit on a stick for breakfast.” Pip added causing a chill to ripple across my spine.

  “Who is she?” I asked,

  Lucius pulled his sword from his back, swung it round once as if testing its weight and then said,

  “My next fight.” He took two steps towards her before Pip grabbed his arm.

  “Be careful, Boss.” He pinched her chin and said,

  “Aren’t I always?” Then he walked off leaving Pip shouting behind,

  “Well no, the last time you were in Hell you lost your hand remember!” To which he turned and saluted her whilst holding up his middle finger. She gave him a smile that didn’t reach her eyes and it was the first time I had seen Pip not only serious but also worried.

  “Who is she?”

  “She’s the Devil.” She answered as simply as that and I gasped.

  “What?!”

  “It’s true. Her name is Hel and she is the ruler of Helheim, the Norse underworld, ruler of the dead. Her name means ‘Hidden’ and she is the most powerful of all that has walked through the pathway.” She said, not being able to take her eyes off Lucius as he might be walking to his death.

  “How do we stop it, Pip? How do we stop all of this?” I asked her grabbing her by the tops of her arms and spinning her to face me.

  “Hey Honey, your date just arrived.” Lucius said as he got into position to fight her.

  “PIP!” I said dragging her away from the sight of Lucius. I needed her to focus now on how to stop this.

  “We can’t, she won’t go back to where she came from until the pathway is about to close. She won’t risk it, not in this world. She draws her power from Helheim but if that closes then she is powerless and she will be forced back to the underworld.” Pip said telling me that at this level of crisis, she could lay it all on the line just like everyone else could.

  “So we can stop it!” I said and she shook her head,

  “Not with those four dickheads keeping the …oh, okay yeah we can stop it.” She said getting where I was going with this. I was just trying to think of a plan when suddenly the Dragon that was on its way down after finally being defeated by Adam let out one last burst of fire into the sky and then straight across the field towards the barn when its head hit the ground. The barn was set alight almost immediately and I knew my priorities had changed.

  “Oh God, the people!” I shouted and started running but turned to see Pip wasn’t following.

  “I have to save the others!”

  “From what, the Dragon’s down?!” I shouted back and then she shocked me when she whipped off her top and shouted back,

  “No, not from them, from my husband!” And then she was gone, sprinting towards Adam the monster, half naked. I watched for a second longer to s
ee little Pip hopping around trying to get her pants off and at the same time waving her little arms around under the beast. The second he saw her he tried to grab her but as his big hand came towards her she smacked it away, put a hand to her hip and shook her finger at him. I could barely believe what I was seeing as it was a bit like watching the damsel in distress taming King Kong. The next second she sprinted for the trees and the chase was on. I was quickly left shaking my head and praying that she knew what she was doing with that one.

  I turned and raced towards the barn, knowing there were people inside! The whole back wall was covered in flames and I had to wonder how many burning buildings a person could see in their life before they knew they were gonna have fire issues?!

  I got to the barn and flung open the door to see it was packed with people. Thankfully the smoke wasn’t too bad yet and the part that was burning was at the back where no one stood thanks to it being full with straw.

  “EVERYONE OUT NOW!” I screamed at them and even though they all resembled zombies, they did as they were ordered. I recognised that most of the Colony was in there too but after a frantic search for Ari I knew she wasn’t with them.

  “That way!” I pointed to the furthest point away from here and after one started walking towards the corn fields they all followed like drugged sheep. It was heart-breaking seeing Lucy and Denis not recognising me and looking all mindless but then one look back at what anyone would think was the end of the world, and I thought it was for the best.

  “Go! Go! Follow the others!” I commanded and it was only when Dex walked past me that I saw something I might be able to use. I stopped him and being a good mind controlled human he obeyed.

  “I’m just gonna borrow this.” I said unsnapping his gun from the holster and taking it in my hand. I pointed it down not having a clue but knowing it might come in handy. Once everyone was out of the barn I closed the doors and stepped away as more and more of it became consumed. I turned to face the cause of all the chaos and death seeing that the Fathers were once more trying to bring something else through. I couldn’t let it happen!