Give the Devil His Due

by Blackwell, Rob

  “Here you go, big guy,” he said. “You can put this to better use than I can.”

  The Horseman stood there with his shield and sword in hand, ready to face Carman.

  But the witch leapt into the air and started flying away.

  “Hell yeah!” Kieran screamed after her. “We came, we saw, we kicked your ass!”

  Carman was a speck in the sky and then she was gone. The Horseman turned briefly toward Kieran and seemed to nod in his direction. It reminded Kieran of last year when the Horseman greeted Sanheim — just before Kieran put a knife through his heart.

  Seconds later, the Horseman was gone in a flash of light and Kate appeared. She immediately fell to the floor and Kieran rushed to catch her.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, holding her up.

  “Just drained,” she said. “I raced all the way from Chancellorsville. And then those spears…”

  “I saw,” Kieran said. “But when you stood up there just now, I thought you looked ready to rumble.”

  “That was the idea,” Kate said.

  “I guess it worked,” Kieran replied.

  “We both know she’ll be back,” Kate said. “We need to get moving.”

  Outside, they could hear sirens. Kieran wondered what the hell had taken them so long. He helped Kate walk over to where Tim lay against the wall. She turned him over.

  “He… he doesn’t look so good,” Kieran said.

  Tim looked bruised and battered, but that wasn’t the worst of it. His shoulder, where the spear had gone through, was ripped open and bleeding. The outer edges of the wound were black, as if some kind of fungus was growing there.

  Kate took the shield and lay it against the wound. Kieran watched as the black started to slowly recede. After a moment, Kate removed the shield and the black was all gone.

  “He should be okay,” Kate said. “At least the magic has been destroyed.”

  “We can’t take him with us,” Kieran said. “We need to get moving and soon.”

  Kate looked at Tim and touched his face.

  “The police will be here in a moment,” she said. “They’ll make sure he gets to a hospital.”

  “Speaking of which…” Kieran said.

  The sirens were nearby. Kate stood up.

  “Get the other sword,” she said.

  Kieran went to comply, going into Tim’s room to pick up the silver-infused sword. He grabbed it and ran back into the remains of the living room. Kate was holding the shield and staring out the hole in the wall, where police were now gathering. Kieran wouldn’t be surprised if a SWAT team showed up.

  Before Kate turned around, Kieran looked quickly through the rubble. Still keeping an eye on her, he picked up the knife, which had fallen to the ground in all the fracas. He grabbed his jacket from the floor, shook it off, and stuck the knife inside.

  “You have a plan to get us out?” Kieran asked.

  “Through the front door,” Kate replied.

  “You sure you have enough energy left for that?” he asked.

  “We’ll see,” she answered.

  Kieran watched as Kate cast one more look in Tim’s direction and then faded from view. In a moment, the Headless Horseman stood in her place. Just as suddenly, a horse appeared out of thin air.

  The Horseman mounted up and waited for Kieran to follow suit. He climbed on, holding the sword to his side and the knife in his pocket.

  The Headless Horseman burst out the door, down the steps, and before police could do much more than shout, galloped away into the early morning darkness.

  Chapter 26

  Quinn slipped out of the cave, careful not to wake the others.

  They had traveled for a day under the mountain, with Parker and Janus taking turns guiding the way. Quinn still didn’t understand how Janus knew where to go, but he had almost come to take it for granted. Parker, on the other hand, had clearly been living and hiding in these tunnels since the Spider’s death, possibly for centuries.

  Quinn didn’t even know how long he had been in the Land of the Dead. By his own clock, it was only a couple of weeks, which had flown by. But Carol seemed to think that the mortal world, or home, moved at its own pace. Usually it raced by the underworld, only slowing during the mortal month of October. It dawned on Quinn that it could already be nearly a year since he died.

  Quinn wondered how Kate was doing. Not a moment went by when he didn’t think of her. Mostly, he just worried. Carol was so sure Kate was coming for him, and Quinn knew that if she discovered a way to get him out, she would literally move heaven and earth to accomplish that goal. But was she getting any help? Was she alone, scared, struggling?

  If this crazy plan worked, if somehow he and Kate found each other again, what shape would she be in?

  It doesn’t matter, Quinn thought. Once we’re together, nothing else matters.

  As tempting as that was to think, Quinn didn’t really believe it. Parker had said “everything” depended on Quinn.

  He stared out of the mountain tunnel across another field of red grass and strange, twisted trees. Beyond them, in the distance, he could see Dun Cumhacht, the Fort of the Ancients. It stood out black against the purple sky, a ring of stones piled high on top of each other. Crowley was supposedly being held there. Quinn didn’t know what else was there or how reliable Carol’s information was, but he was anxious to reach it.

  When Quinn first spotted it, he wanted to set out immediately, until Buzz finally convinced him it would be better to rest first. But Quinn got only a few hours of sleep before he woke up, worried about Kate and the mission ahead of them. Hopefully the others would have an easier time.

  As if on cue, he heard a scraping sound behind him and saw Janus walk out.

  “Couldn’t sleep?” Quinn asked him.

  Janus stared at the fort in the distance. It was close, so close it physically pained Quinn. They needed to get moving, and soon. He felt sure they were running out of time. He had the sense that Halloween was close in the mortal world, and that felt important.

  Janus nodded.

  “You?”

  “Worried about Kate,” Quinn said. “Wondering how she’s doing. Sometimes I think I’m the lucky one.”

  “The lucky one?” Janus asked. “You died, mate. What part of that is lucky?”

  “It’s the survivors who take it the hardest,” Quinn said. “I learned that when you died. Right after your death, I spent most of the time just trying to survive. But once all that was over, your absence was like a hole in my life. I missed you, man. Every day.”

  Janus smiled at him.

  “Are we supposed to hug now?” he asked.

  “I’m serious,” Quinn said. “It was painful. It’s only now that I remember how annoying you can be.”

  “Hey,” Janus laughed and hit him lightly in the arm.

  They were quiet for a moment.

  “I visited you in that dream last year, remember?” Janus asked. “I came back a little.”

  Quinn recalled it very well. He and Kate were being chased through a castle by ominous hordes. Janus was there, helping them.

  “I tried to warn you about Kieran,” Janus said. “Sanheim only let me say certain things, and he was very particular with the information he provided. But I knew he had an inside man. I didn’t know his name, but I picked up enough clues. I knew I couldn’t tell you immediately or he’d yank me out of there. But I thought if I shouted it at the end…”

  “I heard you,” Quinn said. “But I didn’t know what it meant. Not until it was too late.”

  “And now we’re both here,” Janus said. “The good news is you don’t have to miss me anymore. The bad news is you miss Kate. Death’s a bitch.”

  “You know what’s funny?” Quinn asked. “To the degree I thought about it at all, I always thought the afterlife was a carefree place. I read those stories about Crowley and the Spider invading the ‘Land of the Dead,’ and I never once wondered what it would be like to go there. If we had beat
en Sawyer and Elyssa, and Sanheim had let me live, I would have been one of those Princes who sat on his ass. I don’t see why you’d want this place.”

  “Power, mate,” Janus said. “It’s always about power.”

  “Not for me. All I wanted was to stop Lord Halloween and be with Kate. The rest of it was forced on me.”

  “Ironically, that probably makes you the perfect person to wield power,” Janus said. “You don’t want it. You’re a reporter.”

  “What’s that have to do with it?”

  “Oh, come on,” Janus said. “Reporters despise authority. They bristle when they’re told what to do. They’re the ones asking questions of authority, always second-guessing it. We’re a cynical lot. If you were put in charge, you’re so conflicted you’d probably end up leading a revolution against yourself. But better you than a tyrannical nut like Sanheim.”

  “What’s he like with you?” Quinn asked, realizing it was a topic he’d been dying to explore.

  “I’ve only met him a couple times,” Janus said. “I mouthed off the first time and he put me in a cage with these giant rats for two days. I had to fight them off with my bare hands to keep them from biting me. I stopped mouthing off after that.”

  “That’s hard to imagine.”

  “I know, right?” Janus said. “Hard for me too. My tongue was bleeding from all the times I bit it. Mostly he just asked questions about you.”

  Janus looked away for a minute.

  “What kind of questions?”

  “Everything, mate,” he said. “It was harmless stuff at first, but eventually it was everything. What you ate, how long you slept, your dating history. There wasn’t anything he didn’t want to know. I’m sorry. I tried to fight it at first, but…”

  “The rats were just the beginning?” Quinn said. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”

  “It wasn’t like that all the time,” Janus said. “And it hasn’t been as long as you think. I know you said it was a whole year, but it really doesn’t feel like that. Most of the time, Sanheim left me alone. He let all of his ‘prizes,’ the ones he wanted to keep close to him, roam around this castle as long as we didn’t try to burn it down or anything. There were a few of us. I even, uh, met someone.”

  “You did?” Quinn asked, surprised. “You go, dog. That’s what you meant when you said you were off the market?”

  “Yeah,” Janus said. “I know it’s crazy.”

  “Who is she? What’s she like?”

  “She’s… uh…,” Janus faltered. He seemed to be lost for words and avoiding eye contact.

  “Is she like a giant spider or something?” Quinn asked. “Is this going to be something gross?”

  “No, no,” Janus laughed. “Nothing like that. She’s human.”

  “And she’s back at the castle?” Quinn asked.

  “Hope so,” Janus said. “I didn’t have time to tell her anything before Sanheim sent me to find you. He didn’t give me a lot of options.”

  “Thanks,” Quinn said. “For coming to get me, even if it meant leaving her behind. Trust me, I know how painful that is.”

  “Sure,” Janus said. “You know what the Marines say, ‘Bros before hoes.’”

  Quinn burst out laughing.

  “Pretty sure they don’t actually say that, Janus.”

  “That’s what Bill used to say,” Janus replied, but he was smiling. “Seriously, was that whole photo department lost without me or what? I bet Bill couldn’t shoot his way out of a paper bag.”

  “It was never the same after you were gone,” Quinn said. “No more lunches at La Villa Roma, no more last minute crazy business assignments from Buzz. Hell, sometimes I missed Kyle’s recount of the latest wrestling match.”

  “Yeah, when Kyle wasn’t trying to kill all of us, he was a barrel of laughs,” Janus said.

  “I miss it,” Quinn said. “I miss the Loudoun Chronicle, what it was like in those days before the murders started. I miss Leesburg and the stupid HOA meetings in Ashburn. This place… look at it. I guess it’s near Halloween back home, but does it feel like that to you? I miss the orange and red leaves, the smell of autumn. I miss Virginia. I miss everything.”

  “Well, if Carol’s right, maybe you’ll get to go back,” Janus said. “Kate will show up and take you home.”

  Quinn gave him a long, searching look.

  “You really think I could do that?” he asked. “You heard what Parker said. If I don’t defeat Sanheim, everything ends.”

  “Come on, Quinn,” Janus said. “Didn’t your mother ever teach you not to believe everything strange spider people tell you? Carol says you can’t defeat Sanheim. Don’t be a martyr, mate. If you get the chance to go home, take it.”

  “And leave you behind?” Quinn asked. “I’m not going to do that. I should have saved you the first time, Janus.”

  “It wasn’t…”

  “It was my fault!” Quinn interrupted. “Kyle was mad at me. He wanted you dead because of me.”

  “Oh please,” Janus said. “That asshole was always going to get around to killing me sometime. I think we both know that.”

  “I could have…”

  “Shut up,” Janus said. “Shut up and listen to me. You are not responsible for my death. You didn’t unleash Lord Halloween into the world. That’s on Kyle. I died. It wasn’t your fault, it just happened. Don’t stay here and wage a war you can’t win out of some misplaced sense of guilt. If you get a chance to go home, to live with Kate, just think about it.”

  “Janus, I…”

  “No, I said shut up,” Janus said. “Just think about it, okay? I’m not asking you to commit. I’m not saying you need to make up your mind. Just give it some thought. Because no matter what Spider-Man says, you don’t have a destiny written in stone. He doesn’t know the future any more than you do. His master thought you could save the universe. Well, goody for him, but his master died, Quinn. If he was so fucking prophetic, you’d think he could have avoided that.

  “You’ve always been too damn serious, mate. Ever since your parents died, you walked around like the world was on your shoulders. But it didn’t have to be then and it doesn’t have to be now. Going home is an option. If Kate shows up, you can go and be happy. It might not last forever, but so what? Nothing good ever does. You take what you can get. Promise me you’ll at least think about it.”

  Janus stared at Quinn with such intensity that all Quinn could do was nod his head.

  “Good,” Janus said.

  Buzz emerged from the cavern.

  “You two done yapping?” he asked. “We have a fortress to assault.”

  Quinn thought “assault” was a strong word, seeing as how it was only the six of them. But he was anxious to go just the same.

  “Yes,” he said.

  Janus ducked back into the cave before Quinn could say anything else. When he emerged, it was with Elyssa, Carol and Parker as well.

  “Let’s go,” said Buzz.

  *****

  Dun Cumhacht stood out like a gigantic monolith against the dark sky.

  Quinn had expected something closer to a castle. Instead, it just seemed to be a huge round wall made of rock sitting on top of a high plateau. He had a vague memory of seeing a similar structure on a documentary about prehistoric buildings. Quinn wondered if it was based on something real or if it was just the product of Sanheim’s twisted imagination.

  As they walked across the wide open valley, Carol walked beside him.

  “We still haven’t taken the time to get you some better clothes,” she said.

  Quinn looked at Janus, who still wore some of his snow gear even though the mountain was far behind them. Quinn wondered if he was hot.

  “Not sure I need them anymore,” he said.

  “Maybe not,” she said. “But it’s still a good skill to know how to conjure something if you need it.”

  “I get the theory,” Quinn said. “We are what we think we are, basically. The physical projection matches our i
nner view of ourselves. Nothing here is real, is it?”

  He stared at the fortress ahead of them. It looked solid enough.

  “I don’t know that I would go that far,” she said. “The mountain was real, Dun Cumhacht is real. Those are made by Sanheim, or maybe they predate him. As for the creatures that haunt this land…”

  “They’re all just people,” Quinn said. “People who’ve put on a costume and become that costume. Like Parker. He was human once, and now he’s some kind of man-spider. Or like me and the Headless Horseman. Although if that’s true, why can’t I turn into him again?”

  “We’ve been over this; you don’t have enough power,” she said. “Conjuring a jacket for yourself is one thing. Even a flashlight is relatively easy. But changing into a scarecrow took assistance, a transfer of power between Sanheim and Kyle, and then from Kyle to his followers.”

  “So in order to turn people into creatures, you need power from Sanheim?”

  “That’s my understanding,” Carol said. “Unless, of course, you are a Prince of Sanheim.”

  “But I’m a…”

  “A living Prince,” Carol said, correcting herself. “The Spider obviously worked outside of Sanheim’s abilities. He turned Parker into a creature like himself. It’s just a guess, but I assume that Princes have some of the same power as Sanheim.”

  Quinn frowned. He understood what Carol said, but some part of him still felt like the Horseman. When he faced Dub and Dother, he fought like the phantom, even if he couldn’t change into him.

  “So how do I make new clothes?” he asked.

  “You said it yourself, honey. You just need to picture yourself as having them already. You should have seen Elyssa when she first tried it,” Carol rolled her eyes. “She put herself into some, uh, interesting outfits.”

  “Why?”

  “I think she was either trying to annoy me or make Janus drool,” Carol replied.

  “And the tools?” he asked.

  “That takes a bit more work.”

  Quinn kept walking. He didn’t want to slacken his pace for any reason if he could avoid it. But he closed his eyes and concentrated. He didn’t bother with clothes. It wasn’t snowing and he wasn’t cold. Instead he concentrated on the one instrument he wanted. If he couldn’t be the Horseman, at least if he had this, it might be almost as good.