Down in Flames

by Jennifer Siddoway

  It was going to be a bloodbath.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Our Unholy War

  ML

  I swallowed hard, looking out across the demon army, and Caleb gave my hand a gentle squeeze. We were so close to our happy ending, and now it appeared that once again that option had been taken away from us. I didn’t know if we were going to make it out of this alive. My breathing shifted as I gazed out at the demons surrounding us, inhaling deeper as the weight of our miscalculation came raining down on me. Fear mixed with determination settled over me and I swallowed hard.

  “I love you,” Caleb whispered quietly. “If we get separated, I just want you to know that.”

  I nodded stiffly, as a sob of hopelessness rose in my chest. “I love you, too.”

  I watched him summon the breastplate and cape he had stolen, to arm himself for battle. He truly was my knight in shining armor, but I finally realized that he wasn’t trying to rescue me; he was pledging fealty, just like any warrior. A sworn sword, weary from battle, but who would fight for me till the end of time.

  The sandy beach we were standing on was fractured with deteriorating ley lines. The veins were faintly visible now, glowing with purple hues from where they were buried deep beneath the sand. Without fae blood, the magic wouldn’t be strong enough to unleash the entire realm of hell, but it was sufficient to get a small army through. And even a small army of demons was a devastating force, more than I feared any of us could handle on our own.

  I remembered the carts of a silvery magical substance that prisoners had been hauling from the mines in Xibalba. By leeching its magic, Aidan must have weakened nature’s power to protect the world above. That’s what allowed some of the demons to get through.

  This must have been where they were mining in Xibalba, I realized suddenly. That’s what they had been preparing for.

  Aidan’s planning had paid off – he was one step ahead of me.

  The crowd of demons circled closer; there was nowhere to run or hide. Our plan had failed, but at least we could take a few down on our way out. I raised my arms, when a glowing rope came swinging from beneath the shoreline and wrapped itself around one of the demons. My head whipped around just in time to see a tail flick in the distance, something dragging him off to the blue abyss. His strangled scream broke the silence, and all of us watched in shock as it pulled him mercilessly back towards the water and into the depths below.

  The demons didn’t know what had happened either any more than we did, and they watched, their attention now on the water and what lay beneath. A snarl of tentacles rose up from the sea and grabbed another struggling demon, and there was a gargled scream before all that was left was seafoam and a smear of bloody ink.

  “It’s the mermaids!” I exclaimed in pure amazement. “The fae are coming!”

  An overwhelming sense of relief washed over me at the sight of them coming to our aid. Lilith promised me her children would fight, and her oath remained unbroken.

  This created outrage from the demons surrounding us and they roared in fury as a horn blared out a signal in the distance. I exhaled in relief and awe as the centaurs came riding up over a sand dune, with Ellyllon and Nadia riding with them. Ellyllon rode an enormous bull that was made of night and was filled with shimmering motes like the stars on his own velvet cloak. The dark shape of its outline encased the constellation Taurus, the stars being the anchoring points, like a skeleton that moved the blue-black void in the form of a ravaging beast charging across the sand.

  As the rolling wall of fey crashed into the roiling horde of demons, all hell broke loose. Sathanus was wreaking havoc on a dock that jutted into the water as she pulled in a vortex of energy that leveled anything in its path. Her antique doll was dangling from her hand as she giggled at the scale of destruction her blast had wrought. She looked like some evil Goldilocks in her red satin dress and I sneered at the sight of her.

  Mom was channeling power to fend off some of the demons’ advances, protecting Dad as they huddled together nervously. Maya had teamed up with Nate, her sparking aura a perfect match for his electric powers. With the damp sand beneath them, anyone who approached was sure to get zapped. Maya still had the diamond flail and was throwing it around herself like a professional, smashing through everything that came near.

  I would have gone to them to assist, but the Demon Lords were a greater threat and I was needed elsewhere. Between the three of them, I had to have faith they could handle it. First and closest, Asmodea was spinning webs from the sidelines to trap the fae and leave them incapacitated. Not much farther down, three more demons had managed to capture Charley and Ryan, dragging them off to Belphegor who was in the thick of it. “This one isn’t talking,” he hissed out furiously, throwing Charley on the ground at his feet. She landed face first in the dirt, bracing herself on her knees and shoulder to cradle her belly.

  With demons fighting all around me, I could hardly concentrate on anything but trying to claw and grapple my way through the melee. Ryan was being held captive by two ogres while his wife was brought toward the Demon Lord.

  “Hello there, traitor. I didn’t expect to see you here,” the ogre sneered.

  Charlene looked up at him and scowled. “I’d rather be on the losing side than fight for you again.”

  Ryan elbowed the demon holding him and managed to break free. Rushing over to his wife, he helped her sit up.

  “Where is the branch the Earthwalker stole from the Garden?” the ogre demanded furiously.

  I could hear his voice across the battlefield, even with Asmodea and the whole army of demons between me and them. In an effort to reach them, I cast a spell that turned the earth to quicksand underneath a handful of demons to trap them where they stood. One of them launched a knife at me and I caught it in mid-air, swinging around to hurl it back at him. It buried itself deep in the creature’s chest and he howled in pain.

  I tried to Blink across the field to fight with Charlene and Ryan, but for some reason it wasn’t working. My body stretched, but it felt like I was unable to teleport – at least temporarily. I would have to run.

  Transforming my arms into psychic blades, I charged across the shore to rescue my friends in need. On the way, I kept being attacked by creature after creature, who wanted bragging rights that they’d taken a swing at Aidan’s protégé.

  Charley grinned defiantly and spat in the dirt. “You’ll never find it.”

  “We’ll see about that.”

  At his command, the demons pulled Ryan away from Charley, twisting his arm in an unnatural way and almost ripping it from his shoulder. “AUGH!!!!”

  Her eyes grew wide as she reached out to him in horror. “Ryan! No, he doesn’t have anything to do with this. Let him go!”

  “I will as soon as you tell me where to find it,” the demon laughed.

  She clenched her fists as one of the demons pulled her up and shouted, “Search them! I know it’s here. The Earthwalker wouldn’t leave it unprotected.”

  They groped her body, searching for the piece of wood and found one tethered to her thigh. “Here it is!” they cheered victoriously and snapped the stake in half.

  The wood splintered in his hand like glass instead of crumbling the way lore suggested it would, and the demons realized it was a decoy. “It’s a fake!” one squealed out angrily. “Kill them! Kill them all!”

  Charley’s eyes grew fierce as she reared back like a cornered animal, throwing off the demon holding her hostage, and stepped carefully away from Ryan. Panic started rising up inside of me, while I wondered what the hell she was doing. “I’m sorry, Ryan, but I have to do this.”

  “No, Charley! You’ll get hurt,” he insisted. My heart ached at the fear for his wife and unborn child as he pleaded with her, eyes resting on her belly. I gained speed and cut down demons as I went. Charlene was weak, and not in any condition to fight at this stage in her pregnancy. Ryan was counting on me to protect her, and I had let him down.

 
Blood spattered across my face as I sliced through another one, and saw Charley start to transform.

  Her tongue flicked out of her mouth like a snake as she twisted backwards in an unnatural fashion and ripped her skin apart to reveal a great serpentine leviathan. It burst forth from her lanky form with an explosion and somehow unfolded itself upright to the height of two men. Thick, pearly white scales covered her body like armor and three sharp blue fins erupted from her back, running along the spine.

  Out of her mouth, she blew a frosty ray of ice and snow that covered the ground in front of her. Anything caught within its path was immediately turned to a frozen statue. Ryan and I watched the demons jump back behind a makeshift palisade, but Charley dove right through it, knocking the group down like ragdolls and emerging with one grasped in her wicked fangs, piercing his fat belly.

  “Come out, come out,” Charlene coaxed from around the corner, her voice hauntingly sibilant and raspy, coming from a long, fanged maw.

  A few of them poked their heads out from around the corner and launched spears at her scaly hide. One metal shard pierced though scale and bone to embed itself along the ribcage. She let out a tremendous roar and twisted around to grip it with her teeth and pull it from her body. When Charlene saw the one who launched it, her jaw snapped the wood in two and dove toward him.

  Once the demon was trapped within the vice of her jaw, all I could see was a splash of blood and his body disappearing into her gullet. After she swallowed the creature whole, Charlene belched a spray of ice across the remaining ogres on the field.

  Ryan watched helplessly, even as I was swarmed with demons willing to be clawed and crushed as speedbumps while I fought to free myself. The largest creature on the field took notice of her action and came towards her with a smirk. It was an ogre from Xibalba that I recognized from the vision in her past. “Well, well, if it isn’t the infamous Charlene,” he crooned at her, his enormous girth bringing him swiftly towards us.

  Her pale, lithe figure turned and hissed at the sight of him. They launched themselves towards each other in a fit of teeth and fury, trying to rip the other to shreds. Ryan could only watch with mixed awe, hope, and pain at every blow, as the demons cackled around him, equally delighted by the brutality of their leader Belphegor and its effect on their captive. Charlene was doing well at first, until he surprised her with a feint and wrapped his hand securely around her neck.

  The two-headed ogre moved forward and lifted her with a tremendous arm, holding Charlene aloft by the throat. Her pearly white neck gasped desperately for air as she struggled to break free, clawing at his hands and face. “We'll see who's victorious this night, my little bird. I’m going to make you sing.”

  She kicked uselessly against the air as the demon drew back and heaved her into the wooden dock lining the coast. Ryan roared out a blood-curdling cry as he bucked against the two demons holding him, fighting them off as best he could.

  “Charley!”

  Veins bulged at the side of his neck from the exertion and bitter tears were streaming down his cheeks. His love, the woman he had married, needed him more than ever.

  The leviathan crumpled on the ground, smashing her head against the wooden surface as she landed. I gasped at the painful thud and snarled in fury, unable to go to them and help. Once she hit the ground, the serpent form was gone and she returned to the small blonde-haired girl I knew. Her face was bruised and bleeding when she looked up, terrified, at the demon coming toward her. Blood oozed down her cheek as she clutched her belly painfully.

  My eyes grew wide in horror as blood drained from my face. “NO!”

  The ogre grinned menacingly as he stood over her and laughed. “You brought this upon yourself, you know. A demon knows to pick their battles carefully.”

  She whimpered in pain with tears running down her cheeks, knowing she wouldn’t be able to fight any longer, and I watched her collapse in defeat and sink prone in resignation. My blood began to boil, filling me with rage as I bashed one of the demons in his skull, slowly making my way towards them. Ryan fell to his knees and screamed when he saw her fall and I felt my stomach drop. His face was red from anger and tears streamed down his cheeks, watching his precious wife succumb to exhaustion and defeat. The demon sneered at the display of weakness, now completely indifferent to her, turning back to the battle and leaving his mortally wounded opponent to die.

  The disappointed demons stood, debating whether to join their master or to take their time tormenting his leftovers. In their distraction, I flew straight into the demon holding Ryan back and screamed, “Ryan, go to her!”

  He ran across the sand and knelt over Charley to cradle her in his arms. I would have gone to them, but I was already engaged in another battle with the petite, girlish frame of Sathanus, merrily skipping down the sand with the antique doll clasped tightly in her hand. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him carry her to safety, but didn’t see where they were going. All I knew was they had left the beach. Caleb and Maya were each fighting three demons apiece, completely in their element, but my focus was aimed exclusively on the demon child. Her blonde curls bounced adorably, as if she didn’t have a care in the world. “Sathanus!” I hissed out in fury. “I will make sure you pay this time.”

  “You dare to challenge me again?” she asked.

  I Blinked, launching myself across the sand to appear right in front of her. She sensed my coming attack and moved to avoid it prematurely. Unfortunately for her, that wasn’t what I was going for. I smiled, looking down at the doll, which I’d pick-pocketed from her moments earlier. “No, but he does.”

  Her face went pale when she saw what I was holding, and she reached out to stop me, but I threw the doll onto the ground, smashing its porcelain face. Bits of shattered glass spread across the ground and a thick black smoke started escaping from its body. Sathanus reeled back in fear and the mushroom cloud of smoke coalesced into the figure of a huge, grisly minotaur. Baal, the Demon Lord of Wrath, whom she had overthrown, was no longer trapped inside the child’s plaything. As his cloven hoof hit the ground in front of me, he looked around, confused. The septum of his bull nose was pierced when he turned and saw me. “Who are you?”

  “I’m Wynnona Hendricks, the Earthwalker, and the one who released you from that prison.”

  “Then I am in your debt.”

  I chuckled dryly – the evil trill of getting vengeance for my sister. “If you want to repay me then take your kingdom back. Destroy Sathanus!”

  The minitour smiled, the hot, smelly breath of his whinny breezing past my face. “It would be my pleasure.”

  Sathanus backed up in apprehension, her blonde curls bouncing beside her dimpled face. She had to know that this would happen. Baal stepped towards her menacingly, with the base of his club gripped firmly in his hand. “You should know I’ve been looking forward to this for quite some time.”

  The demon child turned and ran, but he was on her in a flash. Her high-pitched screams were heard from all around. Asmodea hissed when she saw what I had done, but she otherwise engaged with Maya. In a flurry of bows, the two of them grappled and Maya was thrown back about twenty feet. She landed hard against the sand and shook her head, looking up at the bearded devil standing over her. As he spun his hand to cast an attack, Nate came out of nowhere with a two by four in his hands and brought it down on the attacker’s head.

  “Don’t you know how to treat a lady?” he snarled out angrily.

  She blinked, looking up at him appreciatively and then shrieked, “Look out!”

  Nate’s eyes flew open wide and he spun around just in time to see another demon sneaking up on them. A massive blast of fire came exploding towards him without any time to duck for cover.

  Before he could react, our father jumped out in front of him and pushed him out of the way, absorbing most of the flames into his own body. Nate screamed and I heard a painful moan, but didn’t see him fall. Maya dragged him off to safety after he was thrown from the explosive blast a
nd hid him from the battle.

  “Don’t worry,” she crooned. “I’ve got you.”

  Again, before I could run to Dad, a vortex of black and evil ripped open the earth in front of me, and out of the depths of its swirling vapors, Aidan rose from the ground. His Armani suit had been traded for a set of armor that was black as night. Not only was it fearsome, but covered with intricate, delicate gilt details and embossing that made his battle-dress a work of art. A purple cape hung across his shoulders, itself embroidered with a silver crown, which literally heralded himself as royalty. The edges of his breastplate were sharp and pointed, a striking resemblance to the black knights I had read about in fairy tales.

  He truly was the dark prince that I’d imagined.

  When we saw each other properly, Aidan drew his weapon: not a sword like I expected, but a dark, crystal mace resembling a scepter. As he strode towards me across the sand, one of the elfish looking fairies launched herself at him. She was still flying through the air when Aidan caught her by the throat and sneered. As she reached up to grab his wrist and pull him off her, the contact with his skin caused her hands to sizzle and start bubbling away like acid. Her strangled screams were both heart-wrenching and difficult to hear, until he threw her on the ground and let the toxic venom spread.

  The fae surrounding them who saw what happened were furious and charged him with their weapons drawn. Before they were able to land a single hit, the Demon Lord swung his mace like a crack of thunder and sent five of them flying back. The force of it rippled through the air like a shockwave and caused the ground below to tremble. I quickly hid the wooden branch, gripping it tightly in my hand, but not ready to reveal my weapon yet. He must have known that I had it, but I didn’t want him discovering where it was until it was too late. When another wave of attackers came rushing from the other side, he sent them flying back as well, cutting through the line of them like butter.