God of Malice

by J. C. Diem

  He hesitated, overwhelmed by his choices. “I’m not sure. I’ve never been to a psychic before.”

  Sending Lexi a sidelong look, Nat knew her friend was barely containing her annoyance. She could read it in her stiff shoulders and disapproving frown. Being stuck with Brie had driven Nat to letting the man in. She needed some entertainment and baiting an angel wasn’t the best way to go about it. This had seemed like a better option. “How about I start by reading your palms?” she asked. “That’ll be twenty dollars.”

  Relieved that this wasn’t going to empty his wallet, George took the money out and handed it over. The beautiful brunette wasn’t what he’d been expecting when he’d knocked on the door. He’d never imagined that a psychic would dress in tight black leather. He willingly gave her his palms and shivered when she took hold of his hands. Hers were far colder than normal. “Are you British?” he asked. Her accent was a dead giveaway that she wasn’t American.

  “Nope, I’m Australian,” Nat replied. “Hmm,” she added as she studied the lines on his hands. They meant nothing to her, of course. The only thing she learned was that his hands were soft and he didn’t do any form of manual labor. Glancing up, she caught and held his eyes. She couldn’t read his mind in this dimension, which would have been helpful. He wore a boring white polo shirt and worn jeans that had gone out of style a decade ago. His hair was thinning and he was in his mid to late thirties. “You’re single and you still live with your mother,” she guessed. “You’ve never had a real relationship with a woman.”

  He hunched his shoulders and nodded miserably. “My Mom guilt-tripped me into staying with her when the rest of my brothers and sisters moved out,” he admitted. “She said it was my duty to stay and look after her.”

  “Is there anything wrong with her physically?”

  His brow furrowed even more. As a psychic, shouldn’t she have known the answer to that? “No. She’s as healthy as a horse.”

  Nat wanted to tell him to grow some balls and stand up for himself, but that wasn’t the way to handle this. Letting go of his hands, she stood. “This calls for the Tarot cards,” she announced. She’d overheard Leo saying they were kept behind the counter and headed for it.

  “How much will that cost?” George asked anxiously.

  “A hundred dollars,” she replied and rummaged through the drawers behind the counter until she found a stack of cards. The more she charged him, the more likely he would be to listen to her words of wisdom. Clearly, this guy needed some serious help.

  Gulping, he fished inside his wallet and came out with the cash. He handed it over grudgingly and she had to yank the bills out of his hand. Nat had no idea what she was supposed to do with the cards, so she made it up as she went along. Shuffling them rapidly, she split them into two piles and set them in front of her client. “Choose a card from one of the stacks,” she instructed him.

  Her slight bamboozlement had worn off and he looked at her doubtfully. Grabbing the pile on the left, he picked it up and chose a card at random. He flipped it over and put it down. It depicted an old, gray-haired woman wearing a black shawl. He shivered at how closely she resembled his mother. The crone was smiling craftily and almost seemed to be looking right at him.

  “Well, that’s obviously your mother,” Nat said. “See the way she’s grinning at you slyly?” He nodded unwillingly. “She knows she’s got you by the short hairs,” she said in a commiserating tone. He flinched, knowing she was right. “Pick another card,” she ordered.

  Reaching for the other pile, his hands were trembling as he chose another card and flipped it over. His face went pale when he saw the Grim Reaper staring up at him.

  “Don’t worry,” Nat said quickly. “The Grim Reaper doesn’t always mean you’re going to die.” If Loki won this war, the man and his horrible mother would end up wearing collars and being turned into mindless minions. Death would probably be a blessing. “In this instance, the card represents what your mother is doing to your chances of you ever getting laid,” she told him solemnly.

  A muffled snigger came from Brie in the kitchen, but his hearing wasn’t good enough to detect it. Even Lexi was struggling to contain herself. She took a sip of coffee to hide her grin. This was turning out to be far more entertaining than she’d expected.

  “What am I supposed to do?” George asked in despair. “Aliens are attacking our planet and I’m probably going to die.” He stared at the beautiful psychic beseechingly. “I don’t want to die a virgin.”

  “You won’t,” she promised him, suddenly feeling empathy for the poor guy. “I know for a fact that this world will be saved.” Using her hypnotism, she drew him beneath her thrall again. This time, she put more strength into it. “You’re going to go home and tell your mother that you’re moving out once the apocalypse is over. You’re going to find your own place, then ask out the woman you have a crush on.” His cheeks turned red, confirming her hunch that his despair was due to his feelings for someone. “Don’t worry if she says no, just keep asking women you like out until one of them says yes.” Statistically, there had to be someone out there for the poor guy.

  Filled with determination, he stood up. “You’re right,” he said with conviction that had been brought on by her spell. “I should have grown a backbone a long time ago. Thank you for telling me what I needed to hear,” he added, then headed for the door.

  Nat waited until she closed the door behind him before descending into giggles. Brie stalked back into the room with a scowl, but a faint trace of a smile ruined the effect. “What was the point of that?” she asked.

  “What?” Nat said defensively. “It’s not like we were doing anything important right now. Besides, I helped him. He’s finally become a man.” Her tone was proud and she wiped away an imaginary tear.

  Lexi shook her head, then gave in to her sniggers. Fate had strange taste in champions. Nat had the weirdest sense of humor she’d ever seen, but she was also a fierce warrior. She was a confusing contradiction.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  ~~~ Violet’s World ~~~

  RASHIDA USED ELIJAH’S tiny office to print off a list of addresses for the imps who had escaped from hell. She’d learned how to use computers fairly quickly for a being who hadn’t been on Earth since long before electricity had been invented. She’d listed the addresses by location to make the task of finding the imps quicker. Most of them didn’t have cell phones and were still afraid of modern technology. Meeting with them face to face was the best way to talk them into joining their cause.

  Everyone took copies of the list with them to hand out to the new recruits so they could spread the word faster. Elijah remained behind to welcome the terrified imps as they flooded to his church during the next few hours.

  Reynolds arrived just before midnight to see the area surrounding the church was dense with black-skinned, hideous creatures. They were terrified, but determined to earn forgiveness for the sins they’d been made to perform in hell.

  “My Captain was able to convince the soldiers to help us,” the detective reported when Violet and her friends gathered around. “Several thousand more soldiers have been dispatched to Nebraska. They should be arriving any minute now.”

  Willing her wings into being, Violet rose into the air so she could be seen by everyone. She knew she became ethereally beautiful from the gasps of awe that rang out. While she wasn’t a full angel, she resembled one closely when she was in this guise. “I want to thank you all for agreeing to help us fight the aliens,” she shouted and the whispers and murmurs died down. “Your target is King Rho, the leader of the Grimgorg army. We need you to find him and scare him into leaving through the blue portals.”

  “How will we know which one is their king?” Max shouted the question so everyone could hear him.

  “He’s the only one who carries a black staff.”

  “What if we see Loki?” another imp shouted. “Do you want us to scare him away, too?”

  “He’s not as cowa
rdly as the Grimgorg,” she replied. “He won’t run. He’ll try to kill you. Stay away from him and the faeries. We have a plan to take care of them.” Dropping back to the ground, she made her wings disappear and turned to Leo. “Can you head to the store and retrieve the girls?”

  He nodded, but he couldn’t hide his concern. “I just hope they have not killed each other during our absence.”

  Violet smirked, secretly thinking the same thing. “We’ll meet you in Nebraska,” she said, then she teleported her army and friends to a field near the dome.

  Just as Reynolds had advised, more soldiers had arrived. A convoy of Army trucks was lined up to the side of the road. Soldiers were disembarking and were splitting into small units.

  Leo arrived with Brie, Nat and Lexi a few moments later. To Violet’s relief, they were intact. “Did anything interesting happen while we were gone?” she asked. From the mischievous look on Nat’s face, it was obvious that something had occurred.

  “I figured out what I can do for a living if I ever get bored being Fate’s champion,” Nat said with a grin. Brie rolled her eyes, but Lexi was smiling slightly. Violet arched her brow in enquiry. “A guy knocked on the door and wanted his fortune told,” Nat explained.

  Horrified, Sophia strode over to them. “Please tell me you did not attempt to do so.”

  “Yep,” the vampire said with a snigger. “I read his palm, then used the Tarot cards.”

  Closing her eyes, Sophia shook her head in despair. “How badly did you traumatize the poor man?”

  A bit hurt that the angel would think the worst of her so easily, Nat’s shoulders slumped. “Never mind. I guess the story isn’t that interesting.”

  To everyone’s surprise, Brie came to her defense. “She did not traumatize the human,” she said. “She did the exact opposite by giving him confidence and the courage to change his life for the better. He left feeling happier and more positive than he had been before he arrived.”

  “Aw,” Nat said and pulled the teen in for a hug. “You don’t hate me after all.”

  Extricating herself, Brie’s glower was slightly less sullen than usual. “You are still an unholy creature of the night, but you are not as evil as I first thought,” she conceded.

  Violet sent her a wry look. She’d been through this with Brie herself. It had taken her a long time to win the angel over. Nat had managed the feat in a few short days.

  A group of soldiers jogged over to them and Reynolds stepped forward to shake hands with the man in charge. “Colonel Hargreaves, I’m Detective Reynolds.”

  “Detective,” the colonel nodded and shook his hand firmly. “I have ten thousand men ready to infiltrate the city.” His troops were scared, but they were ready for combat. Each man carried an assault rifle and a handgun. Their backpacks were crammed full of spare ammo. While their force was tiny in comparison to the Grimgorgs’, they had enough firepower to whittle them down.

  That was Violet’s cue, so she began painting the demonic runes on the dome. When she ran out of bottled demon blood, she had to use her own. She should have been dizzy from blood loss by the time she’d painted fifty symbols, but she healed so fast that even her blood replenished itself easily.

  Reynolds and Colonel Hargreaves gathered everyone together to go over their plan a final time. “We only have five minutes to get through the doorways before they will disappear,” Hargreaves reminded everyone when they were done. “The imps will go first, followed by Violet and her friends. My men and I will bring up the rear.” He was confident the bulk of his force would be able to infiltrate the dome before the doorways closed.

  Violet stood next to the first rune, ready to slice her hand open and activate the doorways. It was going to take her a while to get through all fifty of them. Turning to Nat speculatively when everyone was lined up and ready for action, she crooked her finger.

  Nat dutifully trotted over to her. “Yes, oh Majestic One?” she asked with a low bow. “How can I be of assistance?”

  Snorting out a laugh, Violet knew the warrior would never be able to stay serious for long. “Can you use your vampire speed to help me activate all these runes quickly?”

  “Sure,” Nat replied. Stepping over to Violet, she put her arm around her waist. “I’m ready when you are.”

  Taking a deep breath, Violet sliced her hand open deeply enough for the blood to flow thickly. Pressing her hand against the first rune, if flared bright scarlet. “Go!” she said and Nat took off. They moved so fast that the dome was a silver blur. She left a smear of blood across all fifty runes in the space of a couple of heartbeats. All of them became active almost at the same time and fifty misty doorways formed.

  “Go, go, go!” Colonel Hargreaves bellowed at the imps. Panicked, they raced towards the doorways in pairs. Turning to face each other, they squeezed through the narrow gap and entered the city.

  When all of the imps were inside, Violet and her friends went next. Even Elijah had come along this time. He wasn’t a warrior and he wasn’t sure what help he would be, but a small voice in his head had told him to come and he’d obeyed it.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  ~~~ Violet’s World ~~~

  RACING THROUGH THE shadows, the imps headed for the center of the city. They were armed with crude weapons like kitchen knives and meat cleavers, but they swarmed over the few Grimgorg shamans they encountered along the way. Swiftly and almost silently, they killed the sorcerers before they could have a chance to unleash their magic or to sound the alarm.

  Violet and her friends caught up to the imps just as they reached the bulk of the hunchbacked green aliens. Spotting the only Grimgorg who carried a staff, the lead imp screeched like a banshee and sprinted towards him.

  Hearing the horrible sound, Rho spun around. His yellow eyes widened in shock when he saw a flood of hideous black monsters racing towards him. His shamans closed around him and began throwing fireballs at the oncoming army. Many of the unknown creatures were badly burned, yet they refused to die. Healing quickly, they climbed to their feet and recommenced their attack.

  Nat searched the area and her gaze locked on a faery with silver hair. From the way his kin were clustered around him, he had to be Nifirial. “Wish me luck,” she said cheerfully to Violet, then raced towards him using her vampire speed. Lexi had already split off to search for higher ground.

  Reaching the cluster of faeries, Nat barreled straight through them. She didn’t give Nifirial any warning as she shouldered his warriors out of the way. Her swords were in her hands and she swung them simultaneously. Instead of slicing through his neck and beheading him, they bounced off an invisible barrier.

  His initial shock changed to a sly smirk as she staggered back. Looking her up and down, he noted that she wasn’t breathing. “So, there is an undead creature on this world after all.” Circling her, he didn’t seem to be impressed. “You must have learned of the curse that was laid against me by my Queen so long ago,” he said mockingly. “It would seem that you missed one vital detail.”

  “Oh, yeah?” Nat said warily. “What detail might that be?”

  “Only a blessed undead can kill me,” he replied, then made a gesture. Her quick reflexes saved her when a plant sprang out of the ground. It was the same type of tree that held the gates to heaven and hell shut. Huge thorns sprouted from its greenish-black branches. One whipped towards her and she darted back just in time. Another tree came into being and she had to step nimbly to avoid its writhing branches. Nifirial laughed in glee and an entire circle of the gangrenous looking plants came to life. They surrounded him and his kin protectively.

  Knowing it would be very bad to be caught inside the circle, Nat used her lightning speed to race towards the final tree. Leaping onto a branch, she sprang to safety with only a few injuries from being gored by thorns as it grew to its full height. Violet ran to her side, but Nat already healed by the time she got there. “Well, that was a bust,” Nat said with a scowl.

  “Why couldn’t you
kill him?” Violet asked. She’d been too far away to hear their conversation.

  “Apparently, I’m not the right type of undead creature,” Nat replied. She became distracted when the soldiers arrived and didn’t get a chance to tell her the rest of what he’d said. The humans opened fire on the shamans, as per their plan.

  Violet cursed when more of the deadly plants randomly sprouted from the ground. Thorny branches whipped around, sending the soldiers and imps flying. Rho had seemed to be on the verge of fleeing when the imps had first appeared, but he’d rallied himself. He was directing his sorcerers to fight off the imps.

  Standing on the roof of a five-story apartment building, Lexi assembled her sniper rifle. She took a shot at Nifirial, but his magical shield deflected the bullet. She managed to take down a few of his kin, but they erected a larger shield to protect themselves. Dismantling her rifle out of habit and stuffing it in her backpack, she assessed the battlefield. It was obvious to her that they were going to lose. The soldiers were being decimated by the faeries and shamans. While the imps were practically immortal in their twisted forms, they weren’t going to be enough to defeat their enemies. They needed more allies and none were available.

  Out of sheer desperation, she reached deep inside herself to her necromancer and flipped a switch inside her mind. Right on cue, the spirits of the dead appeared. There were only a thousand or so, but more were being added to their ranks each time a soldier fell.

  Ghosts had helped her during her world’s first version of the apocalypse, but it had taken all of her strength to recruit them. Right now, her necromancy was pathetically weak. It was doubtful she would even be able to power one phantom, let alone a thousand of them. If she hadn’t been infused with death magic, she wouldn’t have been able to see them at all.