by Thomas Green
The corpses turned into dried husks. I glanced at Evelyn. Was saving her worth this much death and destruction?
Logically, no, one life wasn’t worth the dozens I’ve killed. But why didn’t I care?
The moment I crossed the threshold when I shot Miller, something in me died and I didn’t even notice. My palm started to burn from the rotating sphere of compressed aether. Light around my hand bent into the black globe.
I let the spell go. The ceiling above me disappeared. So did everything else and I looked through the gaping hole at the cloud-covered heavens. Light shone through a hole in the clouds my spell dug.
I took Evelyn into my arms and my heart jumped, soul soothing. I ducked, pushed aether into my legs and leapt upward, cloaking us in the misty invisibility.
The base and the surrounding forest were ablaze. It may have been late October, but the magical flame was too hot, and I summoned too much for the cold air to stop the inferno from spreading. The fire wouldn’t spread too far, but this entire section of the forest burned.
I kept making the tiles of hardened air and ran above the treetops.
Evelyn held onto me, staring around in amazement. “You… did this?”
“Sorry,” I whispered. “Once I crossed the line, I couldn’t stop until I found you.”
She clutched me tighter. “Thank you.”
That almost made me cry. We ran over the forest in silence and I landed in the Bloomingdale borough of New York.
Konrad was already there, standing next to his car, a silver Volkswagen Passat.
I dispersed the aether cloaking me and stopped in front of him. “Thanks for coming.”
He measured me with a cold stare. “I suppose the fire trucks rushing up the road are your doing.”
“Obviously.” I smiled. “I need you to drive Evelyn home.”
Evelyn’s grip around my body tightened. “You’re not leaving me, are you?”
“Sorry.” My smile turned into a sad one. I didn’t want to let go. “But I need to settle this.”
Konrad understood and opened the back door of his car.
“Oh, no, no, no, no, you’re not going anywhere.” Evelyn grabbed my coat.
“Sorry. I have to.” With my heart sinking into my stomach and tears sliding down my face, I started pushing her off me.
“We can run to Europe or Asia or anywhere. We can live somewhere else… please.”
“I’ll not live on the run.” I forced out a smile. “But I’ll return to you.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Promise?”
“I promise I will come back to you within a year.”
She let go of me and allowed me to put her into the car.
I glanced at Konrad. “Got a pen and some paper?”
He withdrew a pen from his pocket, tore a page off the note book he always carried and handed them to me. From the secret compartment in my valet, I drew the emergency credit card. I handed it to Evelyn. “This has over four million dollars. That should suffice until I’m back.”
She held the card with her mouth gaping. Yeah, for all the clean-up work I did for the Secret Societies, I earned a lot more money than I ever told her. “Here’s the pin.” I wrote the number onto the paper and stuffed it into her pocket. “And would you take care of my hat when I’m gone?”
I unstrapped the hat and placed it on her head.
She reached out with her hand, grabbed the cross necklace hanging around my neck and pulled out the cross shaped amulet. She clutched it in her hand. ‘Splindo anima mea.’ [Split my soul.]
Evelyn grunted in pain. “With this, you’ll always find me.” She let go of the amulet, sagged onto the car seat, clutched the hat with her arms and exploded into tears. I closed the car’s door and looked at Konrad.
His eyes glistened in the morning sun. He pushed his round glasses up his nose, put on a professional smile and stretched out his hand. “It’s been an honor, Mr. Johnson.”
I shook his hand. “Till next time.”
He got into the car.
I watched him drive away. Only now, I allowed myself to cry.
Thundering rotors interrupted me. I glanced up and saw a combat helicopter flying from above the forest, heading toward me.
I spread my arms and raised my palms above my head. The only way to stop them from pursuing Evelyn was to give them another culprit, to give them someone to arrest. Once they arrested me, a single phone call to Katherine or anyone else from the Secret Societies would stop them from executing me.
Upon my death, Lucifer’s soul would return to the Void from which it could be resurrected. Therefore, killing me would be riskier than locking me up for life in Tul Sar Naar. And I could work with that.
The bottom of the helicopter opened and a pair of miniguns slipped out, aiming at me.
They weren’t planning to arrest me, were they? I powered my body with aether. Gunfire roared into the air. I bolted forward, avoiding the bullets. Once I was under the helicopter, I spun, formed Aiko’s patter with my fingers and slashed my hand. A blast of force flew up and bent the helicopter’s tail.
The helicopter spun and crashed into a fiery explosion. On the main road, black vans were approaching the city.
Oh, no, they were not going to pursue Evelyn. I formed Yoshiro’s pattern in my hands, ducked, touched the road and channeled the spell. On the main road, the asphalt bent, forming a wall in front of the vans.
If they wanted to fight, I’d fight to the death, fine, I would bury them all.
Chapter 18
I SAT ON THE BENCH of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Lower Manhattan. Light shone inside through the stained glass and the vast hall lay quiet. A group of tourists just left, and others haven’t entered yet. I breathed in the air, relaxing on the wooden seat.
With exhaustion clouding my mind, my entire body felt cold and dried blood glued the clothes to my skin. The pendant of the cross felt burning against my chest.
With a trembling hand, I called Katherine.
She picked up after a single beep. “Hey.”
“I need you to arrest someone, Paladin.”
“Who is it, this time?”
“Me.”
She paused. “This isn’t a good time for jokes. I’ve got an emergency here.”
“Someone burned down the secret FBSI base and then killed everyone who pursued him into the New York City, right?”
Her voice answered in a much colder tone. “How do you know that?”
“Because the culprit is me.” I sighed. “And I need you to arrest me yourself. I’m in the St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan. Come alone.” I hung up.
The statues standing at the sides, the paintings of saints gave me peace. I rested but did not allow myself sleep. I could do that later.
Two more tourist groups entered the cathedral, walked the circuit with a guide, and left.
The bench next to me creaked. I didn’t notice Katherine coming before she sat down next to me. Beneath her coat and loose pants, she wore full plate armor and her longsword made a bump on her back.
By now, the cathedral was likely besieged by Church’s forces and the entire area must have been restricted from access.
She measured me with a cold look. “What happened?”
“They kidnapped Evelyn, tortured her, and then wanted to execute her after she admitted to crimes she hadn’t committed.” I smiled sadly. “And then, when I wanted to turn myself in, they started shooting without asking for me to surrender.”
“That doesn’t justify you killing hundreds of people.” Her tone heated up and intonation quickened.
“Which is why I need you to arrest me.”
She reached under her robes and tossed me set of irons. I knew them, they were the strongest anti-magical shackles the Church used. I put them onto more than a few people myself.
I raised them and stared at the metal. “I have three conditions.”
“You’re in no position to make demands.”
“So the FBS
I thought.” I smirked and forced the cold power out of my heart. My eyes turned into pools of darkness. “I am wounded and exhausted, but I’m still far from defenseless. Yes, you and your men would eventually overpower me. But thousands innocent people would die as collateral damage.” This is why I chose this cathedral in particular. Lower Manhattan was so densely populated there was no way to have a fight here without a massive loss of life.
“Are you blackmailing me?”
“No.” I smiled and withdrew the power, letting my eyes return to normal. “I’m only making sure you’re making an informed decision.”
She shook her head. “Fine. What do you want?”
“First, I want all crimes with which Evelyn has ever been charged or suspected written on me. I’ll make any needed testimonies, sign any required papers and admit to everything I both did and didn’t do. I don’t care what you pin on me as long as Evelyn ends up cleared of everything.”
A long pause hung heavy in the air. Katherine observed me with narrowed eyes. “Suppose I agree, what’d be the second condition?”
“That you, in person, see to me being transported to Tul Sar Naar, not executed or killed.”
“That’s what the Church would do anyway. It’s how the Secret Societies’ law works.”
“I know.” I smiled. “But I want to be sure and I trust no one more than you.”
Her face slackened and eyes became glazed. “This is not how I expected things to end when I brought you into this life.”
“I’m sorry I’ve failed you.”
“All right.” Tears glistened in her eyes and she rubbed them clean with her hand. “What’s the third one?”
I raised the amulet of the cross that hung around my neck. “I need you to keep this safe until I return. And my guns.”
“You’re not escaping from Tul Sar Naar.” She shrugged. “But whatever. I agree to your conditions.”
I gave Katherine the necklace, unbuckled my belt, untied the holsters from my thighs and handed all of it to her. After she accepted the items, I put on the aether-blocking shackles.
She arrested me.
Things went fast from then on. I signed a mountain-worth of papers, went through two dozen recorded testimonies and spent my time sitting in a windowless, maximum-security cell.
Five days after my arrest, a swift trial sentenced me to seventeen thousand, five hundred and forty-three lifetime sentences in Tul Sar Naar. One for each person whose death they wrote under my name, everyone from the nightmare plague, all victims of the past week and everyone else they needed.
The day after that, I was placed on a chopper in a Church’s base outside New York. There were eight seats in the combat helicopter, two for guards, six designed as full-restriction seats for the prisoners. Four men brought me into the chopper. They put me into the seat, removed the irons from my legs and attached my lower limbs to the shackles of the seat. Another shackle went by my belt, two more caught my arms, and one my neck.
I couldn’t move an inch and the cold metal bit into my skin. Two men stayed behind, and soon more soldiers brought the other prisoners who were to share the transport.
The soldiers brought Sora first, followed by Aiko, Kenji, and Yoshiro. Misery indeed loved company. All four of them stared at me with wide eyes, not knowing what to say. They tied them into their seats.
When the two soldiers closed the door and strapped themselves into the guard seats, Aiko broke the silence. “I love the irony, but still, how did you end up in here?”
“I’ve sinned.”
Sora shook his head. “That’s not the point. There’s no way they could ever capture you alive unless you wanted them to.”
I narrowed my eyes. That wasn’t how I understood this. “What do you mean?”
“Back on the roof, I went through eighteen thousand possible futures. There wasn’t a single one where I could defeat you.”
I frowned. No matter how the start of the fight began, I would’ve always fired the blast at his friends. Up until now, I thought that if he chose not to save them, he would have killed me.
But if he didn’t, the spell would have murdered his friends, which would’ve caused me to merge with Lucifer. I guess us becoming one did more than I thought.
No, that didn’t sound right. “And in how many of the scenarios did you lose control of your body for no reason at some point?”
“Most, why?”
Yea, he could have killed me. Vivian didn’t fly away, but, instead, lingered around and wasn’t planning on standing idle watching me die. She would have saved me if Sora abandoned his friends and chose to kill me instead.
Oh, that bloodsucking psycho sure knew how to make me smile.
The helicopter started trembling and rotors roared above us. We lifted off.
From the window on the opposite side, I watched the forests disappear from sight and clouds take their place. I relaxed into my seat. Everyone was awfully quiet. I mean, Sora and his team were whispering in Japanese before, but now they stopped.
Blood started pouring into the helicopter from the roof.
Right, this.
The crimson liquid formed the shape of Vivian, sapphire eyes shone in the sockets and there she stood, wearing a dashing black dress and killer heels, looming above me. Everyone else in the chopper was staring blankly into space, clearly knocked out by her.
“This almost feels nostalgic.” She placed her legs to my sides, clenched my torso between her thighs and put her face in front of mine. I raised my chin and we kissed, the heat of her body dispelling the cold that has settled in mine.
My mind blanked for a moment.
When we finished kissing, she put on a wide smile. “I have talked with Lucielle and she is willing to arrange your pardon under a few conditions.”
“Which ones?”
“You join the ranks of her agents as my personal pet, I mean, my direct subordinate, for at least the next hundred thousand years. You will also swear Lucielle your unconditional loyalty and receive standard agent wage.”
“Not interested.”
She frowned. “Are you certain?”
“I’m not becoming Lucielle’s puppet.”
The corners of her mouth dropped, and her voice turned to a lower tone. “Do you have any idea where you are being taken?”
“Enlighten me.”
“When Lucielle wiped out the original Greek pantheon, she struck a deal with Hades to let him live in exchange for him running her prison. Tul Sar Naar is the modern name for what was once called Tartarus. No one has ever gotten even close to escaping.”
“So Lucielle says, which is why a full pardon will be given to anyone who manages to escape. I know.”
“That’s a pointless taunt.” She clicked her tongue, her eyes shining even brighter. “No one can escape that place.”
“Then why aren’t you there?”
She paused.
“If escape was impossible, I’m sure Lucielle would have long ago locked you up in there. That she hasn’t means you would be able to escape and Lucielle is unwilling to risk that.”
Her face split into a wide grin, baring her teeth. “Oh, you cheeky bastard.” She leaned in for another long kiss. When she detached, she spoke again, her voice melodic and cheerful. “Not by much, but you are more fun as a free man than you would be as my pet. Fine, I will give you a chance to prove you can live up to your ego. But first, I am going to punish you refusing my generous offer.”
Heat filled her body as she pushed her aether into me. The chair I was tied into did a perfect job of stopping me from using my aether, leaving me utterly defenceless. The blood flowing through my veins sped up and fuelled straight into my crotch.
That made my dick so hard it hurt. She slid open the pants, positioned herself and sat on it while still kissing me. I didn’t bother telling her to be reasonable.
The flight took two impossibly long hours. When I bedded Vivian, I used an excessive amount of aether to protect my manhood. Now, I h
ad no such option. The first fifteen minutes were a lot of fun as she rode me in a frenzy, scratching my back and moaning. The remaining hour and a half were pure agony. I screamed, I shook, I begged, I whimpered.
Normally, the male genitalia protected itself by the blood flooding out when excitement faded. Since she was using magic to get the blood into the correct places in the first place, that couldn’t happen.
When the helicopter started landing and she finally stopped, my crotch was a butchered mess of blisters and my own blood. All I could do was to whimper in a broken voice.
She cleared the dried tears from my face and looked me in the eyes. “Now, I will go back to being punished. When that is over, about two years from now, you better be back. If you are not, well, this was a small preview of how the rest of your life would be.” She kissed me, closed my pants, and turned to blood.
I panted, mind-numbing agony pouring through me.
The blood seeped out through the floor and the other passengers woke up. I tried to make out the details of where I was but all I could see behind the window was a snowstorm.
The two guards put on gas masks. One walked to me, took what looked like an oxygen mask from above my chair and put it over my face. I passed out in an instant.
I woke up lying on a steel platform that was rising up. Sora and the two men from his team were next to me. We all wore orange jumpsuits and had thick, steel collars on our necks. I reached for my aether and there was almost no response. I smiled. Almost nothing was something I could work with.
Someone changed my clothes for clean ones, bandaged my crotch, and gave me powerful painkillers. Standing up still sent me blinding pain.
We were in a long shaft, rising toward bright lights. I exchanged glances with Sora. We both tensed our bodies. The ceiling with lights split apart and the platform rose up into a hall.
Around us were dozens of men in orange jumpsuits, all looking at us curiously. I saw quite a few familiar faces. Over the past year, I sent over seventy men here. Many were present.
Most men averted their gazes and went back to minding their business. We apparently impressed no one. Judging by the basketball hoops that rimmed the walls, this was the sports hall.
