by Stead, Nick
We must have been walking for around two hours before we started to see the real damage caused by Dhaer, just as Will had said we would. The stench of death and the buzz of flies were the first hints of what was to come, but neither did anything to prepare us for the gruesome zone we were about to enter.
Corpses lined the streets, propped up against those empty buildings like silent spectators. Dead eyes stared unseeing as we passed through this ghastly crowd, the incessant hum of their insectile companions the closest we would get to cheering. They varied in size and shape, race and religion. Some still held their crosses and other holy symbols, as though praying to the gods who had forsaken them, while smaller bodies clutched their teddies for comfort. But there was one thing they all had in common.
Each one had been remade in the image of their killer. Skin was already greying and broken ribs poked out of their chests like bony fingers reaching towards their tormentor in some perverted form of worship. Most of the chest cavities were still filled with all their internal organs like I’d seen in David’s complex, when Dhaer had killed a group of them there. Most, but not all. A few showed signs of being scavenged, though not by any natural animals. Other than the flies, there was no evidence of any wildlife in the area, Mother Nature’s creatures too afraid of the demonic presence to attend the scavenger’s banquet this dread thing had left out for them. No, this was the work of ghouls.
I also noticed a few bodies holding guns, evidence the Slayers had put up at least a bit of a fight. They might not have had chance to mount a proper attack, but they hadn’t simply laid down and died either. Zee and Lady Sarah had been right though. They did put far too much faith in their technology and look where it had gotten them. If they’d put more resources into building occult defences maybe they’d have won the war already. But I supposed I should be grateful they hadn’t chosen to go down that path. I assumed the main thing holding them back from it was fear. Technology they understood and probably felt in control of. Magic, on the other hand, was a force most would never truly master.
The further we walked, the less signs of scavenging we found, until eventually the corpses lay undisturbed and no less whole than the demon had left them. Clearly the ghouls’ hunger could not withstand the abject terror Dhaer inspired in all things. I had yet to feel my own fear rising in response to its presence but I knew it was only a matter of time. It was impossible to be near the demon and not feel fear’s icy grip closing around your heart, even for a monstrous predator like me.
I felt like the sky was darkening overhead, though it could have been no more than my imagination. Those grey clouds were certainly looking heavier, and I began to wonder if the heavens would open up again, in another attempt to wash away the evil taint plaguing the land. Yet if it were that easy, all evidence of undead and our own atrocities we’d committed would be long gone by now. I didn’t know what Will was planning but it would surely take something stronger than nature’s fury to drive the demon back to Hell, or plunge it into oblivion.
The heavens did open up but not with rain. Snowflakes began to drift down, in spite of the mildness of that autumn day. Except this snow was not white and cold when it caught in my fur but warm and grey, and I realised it wasn’t snow at all. It was ash falling over us, sent not from the heavens but from the patch of Hell Dhaer was carving into the Earth. The smoke of that Hellfire was not far behind. It stung my sensitive nostrils and set my lupine instincts screaming for me to run, dragging my body into a state of fear even before the demon’s scent reached me. Then that scent found its way into my nose, overpowering both the smell of the smoke and the stench of carnage, and it took all my inner strength to keep from bolting and force my paws to continue carrying me onwards.
I glanced at Will, wondering if he was similarly affected. But the human’s face was set in grim determination and his heartbeat remained as steady as ever, even as mine began to hammer against my ribcage with the need to flee. It had to be something to do with his bond to his master, for how else could he move so close to Dhaer without feeling that sense of dread?
I don’t know how much further we had to walk through the ash and the corpses lining the streets, and their blood staining the gutters on either side of the road. My sense of time crumbled beneath the state of terror I was trapped in, my hold on reality frail. Being back under the demon’s power left no room for hope, and in my heart I was sure we were going to our deaths. And for what? Will wouldn’t tell me why I had to be the one to fight beside him, if he even knew himself what his master’s reasons were for enlisting my aid, or for taking on Dhaer in the first place. I should have been angry at that, but my rage lay dormant. The blood in my veins was running far too cold, and I knew only fear.
Some of my doubts must have shown in my lupine features. Will spoke up for the first time since killing the woman.
“If you can’t find anything worth fighting for then you damn well better find something worth dying for. It’s the only way you’re going to stay brave in the face of this living nightmare.”
“Isn’t that the same thing?” I asked.
“Maybe,” he admitted.
I was quiet for a moment, but fear drove me to ask “Do you think we will die, even if we beat it?”
“It’s possible. But we will defeat it, one way or another.”
“How do you kill a demon, anyway?”
“With great difficulty. You think vampire and werewolf healing is impressive? I’ve seen demons rebuilt from almost nothing. The killing blow has to completely destroy both body and spirit.”
That filled me with even less confidence. “It’d help if you’d tell me why I’m here. You must have a plan that involves me specifically, or why else would you have been so set on dragging me out here with you, and not the vampires as well, or even Selina and her familiar? And what about why we’re doing this – you must have some idea of why your master wants Dhaer out of the way, some guess as to what this is all about.”
“You set Dhaer free and it knows it. There’s a chance we can persuade it to return to Hell without a fight, and it’s more likely to listen with you here than any of your companions.”
“That’s it? You brought me along just to talk to the damn thing and hope it listens?”
“Yes. If we come to blows then it doesn’t really matter who stands beside me in the fight. We will just have to hope my master’s power is enough.”
“What’s your master’s name?”
“I can’t tell you that. Names have power and are not to be given freely. But when the time comes, I will speak to Dhaer with my master’s voice. Let me do the talking to begin with. If it addresses you then I would advise you choose your words with care. Best not to provoke the demon if we can help it.”
I had a feeling there was more to this than he was telling me, but he fell quiet again and refused to say anything else on the matter.
Our surroundings were beginning to turn from merely abandoned and neglected buildings to a burning landscape. Smoke rose above those empty shops and houses, twisting and clawing its way into the sky to add to the darkness that had befallen this unfortunate county. Flames danced and leapt to the demon’s tune, crushing these human structures as if they were made of nothing more than cardboard, and eating its way through all the contents within. Here was the source of the ash, those grey flakes spat out like crumbs as the fire devoured all in its path. And at the centre of this inferno the demon stood. Dhaer, living nightmare and bringer of destruction and death.
We were still a few streets away, but the buildings had been damaged so badly that we could see its impressive form rising above them. Twice as tall as the average man, it towered above that silent audience it had gathered so that they might bear witness to its conquering of the Earth. Except they were not truly seeing the horrors brought by their new demonic ruler. Their spirits were probably in the very place the demon had come from, enduring new torments far worse than anything they’d suffered up here. A living body can only endu
re so much, after all. But the soul is eternal.
Great bat-like wings stretched out as if it was about to take flight, its thin tail twitching like a cat at play. The demon had its back to us but that ugly head was turned to the side, gazing down at a human body dangling from its clawed, skeletal hand. The creature almost looked like it was whispering tender words to its prey, in the same way a parent might soothe a young child to sleep. I could see its mouth moving and my sensitive ears caught the gentle hiss of its voice, but it spoke too softly for even my lupine hearing to pick up the words. Then its victim, still alive it seemed, let out a scream of such anguish that I felt it go right through to what remained of my soul.
Dhaer dropped its prey mid-scream, the human landing awkwardly with the sharp crack of breaking bone. I could hear her sobbing across the short distance now separating us, but I couldn’t see whether she attempted to pick herself up on her ruined limb and limp away, or if she tried to drag herself before her tormentor struck again. Or maybe she simply laid there in a broken heap, too full of despair to bother making any effort to save herself. However it played out, the sobbing stopped before we reached them and another empty, bloody corpse joined the rest of the demon’s dead audience.
We started down the street towards Dhaer, my instinct to run growing increasingly urgent with every step. Dhaer still had its back to us but I felt sure it was aware of our approach. This was not the kind of creature you could simply sneak up on. I imagined it had a way of sensing souls that went far beyond the five senses of the Earth’s children, this spawn of Hell. It probably knew we were in the area before we’d even begun to feel its presence, or how else would it have been able to wipe out all life here with such complete success? Not even the smallest of creatures appeared to have escaped its destruction. Which meant anyone like the woman we’d encountered had probably been allowed to make it so far, only to be killed at a moment of Dhaer’s choosing. It was simply a way of prolonging their torment.
We were only a few metres away when the demon finally acknowledged our presence. Its head was now looking straight down at the cracked tarmac beneath its paws, so that it had the back of its horned skull to us. But it swished its tail from side to side and stretched its wings further still, then folded them back in towards its body. There came a sound like a last dying breath rattling through its throat, even though I knew its chest was no more than a dead hollow, devoid of any of the organs of life, including lungs. Then the demon turned and its eye sockets lit up with that malevolent glow as its gaze locked on the two of us. My chance to run had passed. It was time to face this demonic embodiment of terror once again, with whatever courage I had left. Even if it meant almost certain death.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
His Master’s Voice
I glanced at Will, hoping he knew what he was doing. Had I done the right thing in coming here with him, or should I have listened to Ed and found some other way to save Gwyn? My doubts and fears were stronger than ever. For a moment it felt like they were being reflected back at me in the demon’s hideous eye sockets, with their necrotic skin stretched across, unbroken by any kind of lids. I could feel my resolve crumbling, my courage failing. And with not even the slightest bit of trust to place in my ally, it took all my willpower just to keep standing there, facing this dread thing I didn’t believe we could beat.
Will looked the same as ever. His heartbeat kept to its steady rhythm, calm and measured like the man himself. No fear showed in those grey eyes, nor did his skin bead with the sweat most humans would have been oozing. His voice didn’t even hold the slightest of quavers as he addressed our adversary.
“Dhaer, I come on behalf of my master. I trust you know of whom I speak?”
“Yes, I know who you serve.” Its forked tongue flicked out with the enunciation of each word, its voice a hiss. That thin tail continued to swish from side to side and the glow in its sockets seemed more intense. I felt my limbs begin to shake.
“Then you know He is not one to be trifled with. I am here to ask that you leave the mortal realm and return to your own domain, for the time of demons has not yet come. When the time is right, He will gladly fight alongside you for all Hell dreams of, but that time is not now.”
“If this is so important, why does He not come here Himself?”
“Because He has no need. I speak with His voice and I am here to tell you to go back, or you could undo everything He has been working towards over the aeons.”
Dhaer bared its serpentine fangs. “He is not my master. I will do as I wish, and if He wants me off the Earth He will have to remove me Himself. No human or undead can defeat me, no matter who you are bound to. Your flesh is weak and too easily broken. I will give you this one chance to leave, but if you choose not to take it then I will crush the life from your pathetic bodies like I did to all these others you see before you. And even your master cannot save you from that.”
So much for talking our way out. Will remained undaunted but I was losing my battle just to stay in the thing’s presence. Its power seemed to have grown since our last encounter, and I could no longer look the demon in its terrible eyes. My gaze shifted back to Will. Except it didn’t seem to be Will standing beside me anymore.
His pupils were changing shape, squeezed into slits by some unholy force. Blood seeped in around them until there was only that crimson colour, leaving not a trace of his human grey. And these eyes were not the cold emptiness of a damaged man, but malevolent like Dhaer’s, glittering with malice and burning with rage. These eyes were full of a heat capable of destroying everything in its path, like a stronger version of my own fiery amber. They didn’t raise that same feeling of abject terror as Dhaer’s, yet in many ways they were just as terrible to look into.
The rest of his face was also shifting, becoming that of another man. Only his hair remained the same, still flecked with grey. I had a strange sense of déjà vu as I looked at his side profile, the features seeming somehow familiar, and yet I was sure I would have remembered seeing this man before. Especially with that partial skeletal grin creeping across his left cheek, visible through flesh parting beneath invisible claws. There was nothing in his face to express any pain, but I was sure those four gashes must hurt.
This other man had a sense of age to him, and yet the lines of Will’s face had all disappeared, leaving something timeless, like the centuries old vampires or like I would one day be, if I lived long enough. Whoever he was, he felt much older than Will, much more ancient. And powerful. The shape of Will’s body didn’t look to have changed – his clothes were not suddenly tearing beneath bulkier muscles and he was no taller or shorter than before the transformation of his features – yet there was a new strength to him, one to rival that of Dhaer.
“You know who I am,” the transformed Will said, and it was no longer his voice. He was literally speaking with the voice of his master, I realised. It was still Will’s body, and I was sure Will must still be in there somewhere, but it wasn’t Will’s soul pulling the strings anymore. Was this what possession looked like?
There was something else about that voice. It didn’t even sound remotely human, but rough and guttural, like my own voice whenever I was partially transformed. And I’d heard it not once before but twice. The second time had of course been when I’d fought the Reaper to save Amy, but before that, when Ulfarr had been about to execute me, it was this same voice which had told me it was not my time. I just hadn’t recognised it in the fight for both my life and my sister’s. Why I was suddenly making the connection now, I’ve no idea, but it brought a fresh chill to my spine. Who was this demon and why had He taken such an interest in me?
Dhaer bared its fangs again. “You have no power here.”
“No?” demon Will said, a smile twisting those mangled features.
“No. This is not your domain, and you have no claim to these souls. It is not for you to command me to leave.”
Demon Will’s smile faded, his eyes narrowing. “I will ask one last ti
me. Return to Hell and help me prepare for the day we will all be free to hunt up here, or continue to threaten my plans and suffer the consequences.”
Dhaer was done talking. It hissed and unleashed a blast of that same telekinetic energy we’d experienced in the dungeon. I could feel the force of it from where I stood, like a gale force wind battering our vulnerable mortal bodies. Yet neither of us were flung backwards, nor did our bones bend and break. Our ribcages remained intact and we were not crushed as though by some invisible fist, like Dhaer had threatened. No, the demon possessing Will raised His hand palm outwards, and I felt a similar power travelling along that limb and forming a kind of a shield, preventing Dhaer’s energy affecting either of us.
I got the feeling Dhaer hadn’t been expecting Will to be able to withstand its telekinesis, even with his master possessing him, and if its features had been more human there might have been something recognisable as surprise in them. As it was, Dhaer’s first blast of power ended and the creature didn’t follow through with a second. Instead, it strode towards us with all the arrogance of a lion approaching two rogue hyenas. If Will’s master joined us in body and not just in spirit it might be a different story, but at present we were no more than a minor threat to Dhaer. It takes an entire pack to put even the mightiest cat at risk, and we were far from a pack.
Demon Will tossed his rifle aside and drew his sword. Hellfire sprang to life along the entire length of the blade, blazing with unbearable heat. I had a feeling human Will would have preferred his guns, but I’d seen how ineffective bullets were when Zee had tried firing on Dhaer in the dungeon. The terror demon merely laughed at the sight of the blade and kept coming.
Demon Will stood his ground as Dhaer launched into another attack, stabbing with its long, bony tipped tail and slashing with its claws. Most humans would likely have fallen to either of those natural weapons, but with his master pulling the strings, Will successfully dodged and retaliated with a blow to its leg. The sword actually struck its target which was more than I remembered Lady Sarah or Zee managing to do, but again the terror demon only laughed. It stepped away from demon Will, its leg still whole and barely damaged. Clearly they were made of stronger stuff than mortals and undead, or I was sure the blade would have cleaved the thing’s limb in two.
