by M. R. Forbes
She reached up, and slapped my face.
A new face had been added to the group by the time I returned to Kafrit and the others. A female vampire. A young, and pretty one, with shoulder length hair that she had dyed a dark red, and strong but delicate features. She looked confused, and uncomfortable. In fact, the big guy was holding her arms behind her back.
"Do you not see, Landon?" Josette asked.
I did see, but I didn't care. Maybe I should have thought it was wrong. Maybe I should have been at least a little bit unsure, but it didn't change that I believed Josette was more important then one more gutter vampire.
Izak and Sarah both looked at me, their nerves obvious.
"Can I talk to both of you, in private?" I asked.
"My friend," Kafrit said. "It would be best to get this done soon."
"I know," I said. "Just a few more minutes." I walked out of the room, with Sarah and Izak behind me.
"Are you ready for this?" I asked Josette, surrendering control to her one last time. I felt her spirit flood into me, her soul rising up to take hold of my body. She walked us into the room, and closed the door behind Sarah and Izak.
"Sarah, I-"
Sarah didn't let her speak. She wrapped her arms around us, and buried her head in our shoulder.
"Don't do this, mom. Please don't do this. I never got to know you, I barely got to spend any time with you."
I could feel the tears through my shirt.
"Sarah," Josette said. She pulled her back gently. "You know I have to do this. Everything I sacrificed was to keep you safe. How could I refuse now, when you need me the most?"
"I need you here," Sarah said. "I need my mother. Everything has been so much better since we talked. I feel so much better. Why can't you just take another body? Vampires are scum."
"All life is sacred, and all life deserves respect. I had my time. It should have ended long ago, but the Lord saw fit to give me a gift in a beautiful child. I could not have asked for anything better, or a life more complete."
Sarah bowed her head. "It isn't fair. If I hadn't set the Beast free, you wouldn't have to die. It's all my fault."
We reached out, putting our hand to Sarah's face and cupping it tenderly. "No, my love. This is His will. Think of all of the many things that had to happen to bring us to this day. Think of how many ways we might never have met, or you might never have been. Yet here you are, and here I am, and we have this chance to say goodbye. Only God can make such blessings so."
Sarah was crying harder, and she took us in her arms again. "I love you," she said.
"I love you too."
She backed away, and Izak stepped in front of us. For as tough as the demon was, even he couldn't keep his eyes from running. He looked miserable.
"Izak, of all of the beings I have ever had the honor of knowing, you have been the greatest." We stepped forward, and she kissed him. Not a small peck, but a solid, loving, intimate kiss. The demon was surprised at first, but he didn't resist. He wasn't seeing me in that moment, he was seeing Josette, his forbidden love. This was his last chance, and he didn't waste it.
We backed away, and smiled at him. "You have made me so proud. Thank you."
He smiled, and put his hand to his heart. We did the same.
"I'm ready," she said to me then, letting go of her control, and allowing me to reassert myself.
"Believe it or not," Ulnyx said. "I'm going to miss you too, princess."
"And I, you, wolf," she replied.
I looked at Izak and Sarah, both red-eyed and stricken. I felt the same way they looked, and it was taking a lot of effort to keep myself together. "Come on guys," I said, my own voice sullen. "It's the way it has to be."
They both looked at me, but didn't say anything.
When I returned to Kafrit, Charis was unconscious in her chair, and the red-headed vampire was leaned over her, stroking her face.
"Vilya?" I asked.
She turned and looked at me. Her eyes were as red as her hair. "Landon," she said. "I wish we could be meeting under different circumstances." She held out her hand.
I took it. "Me too."
"Well my friend," Kafrit said. "Now you see the proof, I can do the extraction. She'll be okay, but it is taxing on the body and soul. I expect you'll have the same reaction, possibly worse because you have two in there."
"What does he do?" I asked Obi.
He shrugged. "He just put his hand on her forehead, whispered some gibberish, and a black cloud came pouring out of her mouth and went to the vampire. She moaned a bit, but it didn't sound too painful."
"Please, have a seat," Kafrit said, pointing at the empty chair.
I walked over to it and sat. The djinn stood over me, looking into my eyes. As he did, he brought his hand up to my forehead. I could swear I saw an eye appear on his palm, right before it touched my skin. He started mumbling under his breath, words I didn't understand and could never repeat.
I felt Ulnyx shifting within me. I focused, and saw the threads of him that bound us together, coming unraveled, spinning apart, and gathering into a single dense ball of him. It was an odd feeling, and it tickled and hurt at the same time. I also felt his power leaving me, and in the first seconds after it washed away I felt weaker and more naked than I could ever remember. Ulnyx had been my personal monster, my warrior armor, my key to winning so many fights. I felt his soul separate from mine.
"See ya on the other side," he said, his voice echoing in my mind. Then I felt like I was choking, and I let my head fall back. The black cloud that had shoved itself into me all of those years ago came pouring out of my mouth, pooling in front of me until it was completely external. I watched as it flowed towards the big guy, whose eyes grew wide with shock. Kafrit hadn't told him he was the host. Ulnyx poured in, and a few moments later he smiled.
"I never thought I would get the chance to do this," he said. It suddenly occurred to me that maybe we weren't on as good of terms as I had thought.
Ulnyx walked towards me, his eyes menacing. I grabbed Kafrit's hand, to pull him away, because he was still chanting and he hadn't noticed the Were. Ulnyx reached me, a long, sharp smile extending across his face.
"Boo," he said, then he started laughing.
"Shut up," I whispered, finding my voice hoarse.
I felt the process starting again, Josette's soul being unwrapped from my own once more.
"Goodbye, Josette," I said. "I love you."
"Goodbye, brother. I love you too. Good luck."
Her spirit was torn away from me, gathering into one mass of white light that slipped more easily from my body. She floated for a second above the table and then shot towards Sarah, circling around her, enveloping her in one final hug, bringing more tears and a smile to her daughter's face. Then she spun around Izak.
In an instant of blinding white light, she was gone.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
I woke up an hour later, my head resting on the poker table, surrounded by my friends and family. Well, most of them. I had lost two today, and one that hurt more than all of the others combined. I tried not to think too much about it, because there was nothing good to come of it. She had made her choice, and we all had to live with it.
I picked up my head.
"Welcome back, meat," Ulnyx said. His voice was strange to me, outside of my body and in the form of the large Russian.
"You're still here," I said. I hadn't been sure he would stick around once he was free.
"I'm not missing this action," he said.
"Landon." Charis' voice. I looked at her, almost doing a double-take at the violet eyes that looked back at me. I wasn't expecting that.
"Your eyes," I said. "They're amazing."
She smiled. "Yours too."
I turned my head, looking for Sarah. She wasn't there.
"She's out in the truck with Izak and Alichino," Obi said. "She couldn't stand being in here, once Josie was gone."
"Why is Alichino in the truck
?" I asked.
"He's working on the Box," Charis replied. "He's making the modifications."
"How long?"
"Not long."
"So, my friend, you are awake!" Kafrit stepped into the room, a huge grin on his face. "I told you I could do it, didn't I?"
"You did. I guess I owe you one."
"Yes. You will do well to remember."
"I'm sure you won't let me forget." I pushed myself to my feet, ignoring my body's complaints. It felt weaker than I remembered, without the Were to help augment my strength. Other things felt more dull too; my hearing, my sense of smell. It was going to take some readjustment. I could still remember some of Josette's fighting style at least. I had learned something by practicing it for five years.
"Ulnyx," I said.
"What's up, meat?"
"I'm glad you're willing to help me out. What about the rest of your pack?"
"What about them?"
I looked at him. "Think you can get them to Mumbai?"
He scowled, and then nodded. "Better for them to die in a blaze of glory. I'll have to go round them up myself. It's going to take a few hours, and I need some help with the rifts."
We had two demons who could manage them. I needed Izak. I turned to Vilya. "I don't know you that well yet, but-"
"You know me better than most," she said, interrupting. I had Charis' memories, so in a way that was true. "Consider it done.We're all on the same side, right now."
"I'll stay on your side," Ulnyx said, his face a little too much of a leer.
"Watch yourself, Were," Charis said. "You're dealing with a daughter of Baal."
He laughed. "Even sexier," he said. "Just warn me if I'm going too far, and you're tempted to hellfire my balls off."
"This should be interesting," Obi said.
Vilya scowled at the Were.
"Kafrit, can you spare an extra car?"
He sighed. "You take advantage of my friendship, diuscrucis. There's a Maybach in the garage out back. Pietr will drive you."
His remaining stooge pulled a set of keys from his pocket and started walking. Ulnyx and Vilya trailed behind.
"Sorry," I said to Charis once Vilya was gone. "I know you're worried about her, but she's in good, if not overly hormone-driven hands."
Charis nodded. "I understand the need. Besides, she can take care of herself. I forget that sometimes."
"Now what?" Melody asked. She was sitting next to Obi, her hand on his shoulder.
"Back to the rift. As soon as Alichino finishes with the Box, we head to Mumbai."
"So, we have the pure energy, and we'll have the Box soon enough," Charis said, "but the Beast is still trapped, isn't he? Which means we need to get back to his original prison to try to catch him again."
"The prison we don't know how to find," I said. "We need to talk to Dante. He got us out of there, he must know how to get back."
"Sounds like a great plan," Obi said. He stood and headed for the door. "Let's do it from the truck. I'll drive, you meditate; or whatever it is you do."
I couldn't argue with that. "Kafrit, do you have a cell?"
He reached into a pocket and pulled out a gold-plated smartphone. "What kind of respectable businessman would I be if I didn't?"
I took it from him, and put in my own phone number. "I can't guarantee how long this number will work for, but I have a feeling you'll be able to find me, when you're ready."
He laughed, and wrapped me in a hug. "Good luck, my friend," he said. "Don't think dying will get you out of our bargain."
Most times, I would have thought it could. With Kafrit, I wasn't too sure. I left the room without another word.
We piled into the UPS truck. Alichino was tucked into the back corner, hunched so far over the Box I couldn't see what he was doing to it. Sarah was sitting at the opposite corner with Izak, her head resting in his lap while she slept. The demon looked pained, and he didn't acknowledge us when we joined him in the rear.
Obi and Melody rode up front, while Charis and I took one of the free corners. We sat down with our shoulders pressed together. Obi started the engine, and got us on the move.
"Hang in there, Landon," Charis said, nothing but warmth in her eyes.
"You too," I replied, taking her hand in my own. "Let's go find Dante."
I closed my eyes, focusing on the trickle of power coming through from Purgatory and following it back once more. The power looked and felt strange to me, no longer hued with the energy of the Were and the angel, and I felt a pang of sadness at the thought. Time seemed to stop, and I stepped forward out of my body, into a world so much like our own, but so much different. Charis was standing next to me.
She reached out and took my hand. A thought, and we were at Dante's 'house', but I knew right away he wasn't there.
"The library," I said. We were there in a blink.
Marble columns and lots of books and scrolls. That was the only way to describe the library. It was sixty feet high from floor to roof, with a tremendous dome in the center that made it look even more massive. There were a number of souls inside, some working returning items to the shelves, others reading, and a few just standing amidst the books, as if they didn't know how they should be spending their eternity.
We found Dante amidst his own pile of tomes, having amassed enough of them that he was using a larger stack as a stool to sit on. He was already looking at us when we approached. He didn't look happy.
"Millions of books," he said. "Millions, and I have found nothing but a single scrap of paper. I did go to see an acquaintance of mine, to see if he could assist you with Avriel's Box."
"Alichino," Charis said. "He thinks we can trap the Beast. He's altering the design right now."
His mood turned on a dime. "Excellente," he shouted, drawing stares from the souls around him. "So, you will be able to stop the Beast?"
"We're going to try," I said. "There's one little problem."
"We don't know how to find him," Charis said.
Dante hopped off his book-stool and held up a finger. Then he closed his eyes. "I have a connection to his prison, because it was leaking into this realm." He was still for a minute, during which he began to shake his head. "This is very, very bad," he said.
I was used to it. "What?"
"He isn't there."
"What do you mean, he isn't there?" I asked. "I thought he was trapped."
"Much of his power is still there, signore. Power that he cannot unlock without the rest of the true diuscrucis' blood. He has gathered the rest faster than I would have thought possible, and has taken form to walk the Earth."
"And lure us in," I said, the objective becoming clear. "He tried to stop us a few times, but it didn't work out. Now he's betting that he'll be able to get Sarah, before we can get him. He wants us to go to Mumbai. He wants us to bring the Box. He has an army in the millions, not even counting the demons and angels on his side, and it only grows with each passing minute. We have to go to him, or he'll destroy everything, and break the balance."
"He can't know we've altered the Box," Charis said.
I smiled. "No, he doesn't. He killed Avriel, believing that was enough to stop us. But he'd know we'd make a run for him anyway. We don't have any other choice."
Dante rubbed his chin. "So you must walk right into a trap," he said. "How will you get through these millions to reach him? How will you even know where he is?"
I thought about it. They were tough questions, that I had to answer, but had no good answer to.
"Do not be concerned, signore. I can help you with the second part. As I've said, I can feel his power and use it to find him, even as I can use it to find you. I will locate the Beast, and I will make his location known to you. There will be... consequences."
"What do you mean consequences?" I asked.
"Every time I use my power in your world. Every time you use your power, or the Beast uses his power, it changes the very fabric of the reality that God shaped within the univer
se. Like any fabric, it can take a certain amount of pulling and twisting and still go back into form. Pull too hard, twist too tightly, and the fabric tears, or stretches, and never goes back the way it was."
I had always understood the principle. "But what is the consequence?"
He shook his head. "I don't know, signore. What I can tell you is that I have already stretched the fabric to deliver you from the Beast's prison, and the Beast is stretching it even now. For me to use the strength of Purgatory, the true strength of Purgatory, in the mortal realm might be the proverbial straw that throws reality into chaos."
Charis laughed. We both looked at her, confusion on our faces.
"There are a million plus human beings being possessed at one time by a single entity bent on destroying all of God's creation, and every other mortal he kills becoming the walking dead. Haven't we already thrown reality into chaos?"
Dante smirked. "What about getting past these millions, to reach my signal?" he asked.
"We'll get by with a little help from our friends," I replied.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Adam was waiting for us when we returned to Ivan the Great's Bell Tower. So were Darya's promised troops, in the form of fifty vampires and fifty weres. They were an interesting assortment of male and female, though most had athletic builds and the calm toughness that came from being a trained badass. They didn't look too happy to be waiting outside anywhere near the angel, who had taken a perch above them.
He dropped down when he saw us pile out of the truck. "Fredeline sent one of the Inquisitors to Mumbai to try to get a feel for the situation. They never came back."
I wasn't surprised. I could feel the balance in my gut, and with it a coldness that I had never felt before. The demons had been winning when I had come onto the scene five years ago, but the scales were tipped even further on their side now. Except, it wasn't their side. It was that the universe didn't know it.
"We've got it as good as it's going to get," I said. Alichino had complained about the bumpy ride in the back of the truck, but he had finished his changes and hopped out of the corner beaming and proud of himself for what he had accomplished. He had shown Charis the Box, and tried to describe the math before she diverted him to teaching Sarah how to activate it.
