If there hadn't been so many of them, it might have been impressive.
Instead, my strength was fading, and one more blow against my shield from a heavy claw left me on my back a dozen feet away. I dropped the now too-heavy stone and tried to scramble to my feet, feeling a level of exhaustion set in and starting to accept that I was going to lose.
The demons approached, their howling louder, their teeth chattering in anticipation.
Abaddon stepped in front of them.
His essence billowed out around him, casting forward like a net and wrapping around the creatures. Their glorious howls turned to hopeless moans, and their knees buckled beneath the power. I watched while he fed, the tendrils of his energy forcing their way into the monsters, finding their souls and drinking them dry. I could barely see him amidst the shadow of his power, but I was sure I heard him sigh.
Then it was over. The creatures were gone, their bodies gray and falling to ash. Abaddon turned to face me, his cloak shrinking out of my path.
"Hurry, child. We must hurry." He held out his hand to help me to my feet.
I grabbed it and let him pull me up. "I thought-"
"I betrayed you? In other circumstances, perhaps, but we had a promise in blood, and my word is the only precious thing that remains to me." His red eyes filled with dark flames. "He found a way to use your child against you and I both."
"The Beast?"
He shook his head. "No. Not the Beast. There is another entity here, one that I do not recognize, and did not see. She tried to warn you, to show you his true purpose."
"Malize?"
"I do not know that name."
My blood ran cold. Malize had come to collect Ross after the universe had been broken, and now Abaddon was suggesting he was somehow here, in the Box, and he had taken control of Clara. Was it Malize, or a shade of Malize? Or was it some nascent energy that had been embedded in the Templar script that powered it? Either way, I wasn't sure what to make of it. He had passed himself off as an archangel to Charis and me, but Clara's warning was suggesting something far more sinister. Was he a benevolent being in search of justice, or an agent of whatever had caused the destruction, seeking its final end? He had brought me this far, aided us in our fight against Ross. He had delivered Avriel to us, and provided the gun that was still resting in the small of my back. He was supposed to be an angel of God.
He had also sent the first round of monsters to attack us, and now he had taken Clara. Her power, our connection... had it ever truly been ours?
What the hell was he really?
"Diuscrucis, come."
I looked at Abaddon and felt my heart sinking. Charis was a Templar, a secret society of Divine that had been founded by the archangel. Did she know the truth of him?
"Diuscrucis." Abaddon's hand touched my face, and I felt the coldness of the despair. It was enough of a shock that it drew me out of my daze.
"Where is Clara?" I asked.
"She and the seraph have taken the path."
"Then we need to follow. Which way?"
Abaddon motioned off to a pile of rubble, and a ruined street beyond it. "There."
We both ran.
My power was gone, spent. My energy was almost the same. I staggered behind Abaddon, fighting to keep up with nothing more than sheer will. If I was going to do anything to help anyone, I needed to get out of this place, whatever this place was.
We reached the road beyond the rubble. Abaddon stopped.
"It has been altered."
"What do you mean altered? Isn't this your path, your route?"
"Yes. It was, until I brought you here." He kneeled down and put his fingers to the ground. "He is trying to keep you away."
I heard motion from our left. Another of the creatures moved out from behind the blown out wall of what used to be an apartment building. Three more followed behind it.
"I can't fight them," I said. "My power is gone."
He turned his head in their direction. His power snaked away from him, tendrils running along the ground. The creatures never saw it until it had pooled below their feet. "He would never expect me to help you, child. He has no concept of my promise, or my respect." The idea seemed to make him angry. The creatures bellowed and turned to dust under his strength.
"Great. Which way?"
He lifted his fingers to his lips, and pointed back the way we had come. "That way."
I followed behind him again, every step leaving me burning with pain. It felt like we ran forever, along burned and blasted roads.
Erus stepped out in front of us.
His face was burned, his right eye gone. His clothes were torn and singed. I don't know how he was still standing with so much damage. He saw us coming and began to scream.
"For all I have sacrificed. For all I have endured. This is how it ends."
Abaddon lashed out with his power, and threw him away from us. I gave him only a quick look as we passed him by; crying in the dirt, a pitiful, broken wreck.
"We are near," he said. He stopped again and put his fingers to the ground.
"What are you doing?"
"Tracing the power. I have taken this path. I have claimed it with all of the essence that remains to me in this place. It is but a single thread, but it is my domain. He cannot hide from me here, not completely."
He grabbed my arm and leaped. We launched high into the air, a hundred feet, two hundred, approaching a tall building that once had been coated in thousands of panes of glass, but now was just a metal framework. We came down on the roof, landing without a sound. He let me go.
Avriel was standing there. Clara was gone.
"You're supposed to be helping me," I said.
"No, diuscrucis. I was charged with protecting the girl." He held his blade in his hand, and he was blocking the small steel door into the stairwell. I had a feeling it didn't lead down into the skeletal remains of the building.
"Let him pass," Abaddon said. "I made a promise in blood, and you have interfered." A sword grew from his darkness, a scimitar of black despair.
"I cannot. I delivered the girl to him. Now my purpose is to prevent him from fulfilling his duty." The archangel's eyes caught on mine. "All you need do is wait, Landon. He means you and Charis no harm. You will be rewarded for what you have done."
No harm? Clara had shown me who he was for a reason, and it wasn't so that I would put my faith in him.
"Let me pass," I said. I didn't have a sword. I could barely stand up.
It didn't matter.
I walked towards the seraph, my eyes fixed on his. I reached behind me and pulled out the gun. It was still the same, plain thing it had always been. Why had Malize sent me to find this thing, if I wasn't supposed to use it?
Avriel attacked before I could aim, shooting forward and bringing his sword down in a smooth stroke towards my head. I slipped aside, Josette's training and muscle memory kicking in through my subconscious. I reached out and grabbed the angel's wrist, meaning to throw him over my shoulder.
I just wasn't strong enough.
I pulled against him, but it wasn't even enough for him to lose his balance. He wrenched back, throwing me towards the end of the rooftop. Somehow I managed to hold onto the pistol and come to a stop before I plunged over.
Abaddon picked up my slack. He came at Avriel in a flurry of motion, his tendrils of power whipping out around him in an effort to distract the demon. They had danced this dance an infinite number of times, and the angel didn't fall for any of it. He stayed focused on the dark sword, and they came together in a furious clash of energy. I pulled myself to my feet and held up the gun, trying to get a clear shot. The motion was just too quick.
They pounded at one another, the hate and anger obvious from both. I could feel the temperature drop around me, and my breath caught when the first wave of hopelessness crashed against my soul. I knew the same power was hitting Avriel, but which of us would break first?
It wasn't going to be me. I got on
my hands and knees, and then on my stomach. I inched towards the doorway, sliding along the rooftop, using my arms to propel me and trying desperately not to attract their attention. They circled one another at a dizzying rate, their weapons smacking and crashing, each hit a sizzle of energy that ionized the air around them.
Still I crawled, my mind focused only on Clara and Charis. What was Malize going to do to them? What was Malize going to do to us all?
A sword landed in front of my face.
"You will not pass," Avriel shouted. His need to stop me was without logic. Abaddon tackled him, and they both vanished from the rooftop.
I reached up and grabbed the hilt of the sword, using it to pull myself to my feet. Then I removed it from the stone, feeling the lightness and balance. The door was only a few feet away. I stumbled forward and grabbed the handle, turning it and throwing it open.
I stepped through.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Rebecca
We came out of the other side of the rift and into the small room Gervais had set aside for it. Vilya was already at the door, holding her hand out to keep us quiet and surveying the hallway.
"It's clear," she said. "Follow me."
We filed out into the hallway, a long corridor that ended in a set of stairs. Brian was a new shade of white at my side, clutching his stomach and trying to hold back another round of puking. He knew we couldn't afford to make a sound, and he made a valiant effort to keep quiet.
We reached the stairs and made our way down, into the lower levels where the archfiend kept his laboratory, as well as his prisons. We moved with a slow haste past the barred cells where corpses of demons remained imprisoned, awaiting their return from the end. They were damaged but well-preserved; Gervais must have been doing something to them to keep them in a more usable state. With every footstep I expected them to rise up and cry out in alarm, or try to rip their way through the runed bars, but they remained still.
I heard Sarah gasp when we passed the final row of cells, having reached the one unique prison where her mother had once been held captive. I glanced back and saw her clenching her hands and teeth, with Izak rubbing her back and gently pushing her forward. There was no time for memories.
We'd reached the archfiend's torture rooms when we heard the murmurs of his voice, speaking to Max from the room beyond. There had been a solid door there once, but now it was missing, the hinges bent and mangled like it had been ripped away. I knew Landon must have done it. I had left Gervais there for him to find, and he hadn't let me down.
"I'm telling you, my Lord, it won't work. Even in your state you can't collect that much power without being burned away by it."
"You promised me you could assist with that, Samael. You swore." Gervais' voice was flat, emotionless. Even his anger came across as a dead thing.
"I can, but I need more time. Malize-"
"There is no more time. Fulfill your obligation."
"Malize hid the ring even from me. He must have known not to trust me too far. I know I can find it given time, but this was to be expected. You can't rely on a trickster like me and not face a certain amount of adversity."
We crossed the room, using their voices to help disguise the sound of our footsteps. I didn't know how the archfiend hadn't sensed our presence, but I had a feeling Max had something to do with it.
"Adversity?" Gervais chuckled. "I'm minutes from becoming a god, and you want to speak to me of adversity? Where is the ring, Samael?" Max cried out, and I heard a thump. The archfiend must have thrown him into a wall. "Never mind. I'll take my chances that you're either wrong, or lying to me."
Vilya waved us to either side of the doorway. I came to rest against the wall right behind her, with Brian still tailing close to me.
"Izak and I will distract him," she said over her shoulder. "Dante will get the Box. You need to grab the swords. Max will lead you through the portal to the Beast's prison."
"What do we do then?"
"We must sink the blades into the Box at the same time. When the door opens, the Beast's power will be drawn into it. We are hoping it will draw in Gervais' stolen power as well."
"Hoping?" I didn't like the sound of that.
"My Lord, you can't," Max said. "If you fail, you will destroy everything."
"I'll destroy everything anyway," he replied. "Once I am a god, why would I settle for just these worlds? The entire universe will be for the taking."
Vilya motioned to Izak, an intricate pattern that I didn't understand. The demon nodded, stepped out into the doorway, and coughed.
There were no words spoken. There was no sound. At first, a stillness sat in the air that threatened to choke off all of reality. Then I felt the coldness of Gervais' power. I heard a crash, and Izak and Vilya rushed ahead. I trailed right behind them, waving for the others to follow.
Max had used the surprise to ambush the archfiend, slamming him hard in the head and throwing him across the small room. He was still on the ground when I entered, getting to his feet and looking amused.
"The deceiver has double-crossed me? Well done, Samael."
Max hadn't waited to see his reaction. He was crossing the floor to the southern wall, where I could see an intricate patchwork of Templar script had been etched. Had he learned the language, or had someone written it for him?
"Go ahead and open it, Samael," Gervais said. "I'll be along soon." His eyes fell on Izak, and he leaped forward, moving so fast I couldn't follow him. A slick of darkness trailed behind, and then snapped forward when he reached the demon. Izak fell sideways, avoiding the dark energy, and Vilya moved in behind the archfiend, slamming into him and sending him ahead. He hit the wall with enough force to dent the metal, rolled over, and got back to his feet.
"Signora, the swords." Dante appeared out of nowhere. The Box and the blades were resting on a small cart in the center of the room. He grabbed the cube and started backing away.
"No," Gervais said, rising to his feet. He put out his hand, and arcs of black energy launched towards the poet. They fell away when Izak tackled him.
"Follow Dante," I said to those behind me. I couldn't waste any more time watching. I dashed forward, coming to a quick stop at the cart. I grabbed the duffel and swung it over my shoulder, returning it to my back.
Dante was nearly across the room, and Max was already there, chanting in a deep voice with his hand pressed to the etched metal wall. The runes were glowing in a golden hue, casting an eerie light that began to fill the room. Adam was leading the others to the same spot.
"I'm done with you, Izak," Gervais shouted, loud enough to overcome Max's incantation, and loud enough to get our attention. He held the demon by the neck with one hand, and had pinned his good arm with the other. Anger and pain swam across the fiend's face. "I tried to make you part of this. What demon doesn't dream of standing in the shadow of such power? Yet you continue to abandon me, first for my sister, and then for my daughter."
"Let him go," Sarah said. Her voice was weary, her face ashen.
Gervais spun to face her, still holding Izak. "Let him go?" He laughed. "Make me."
Vilya was a bolt of lightning, shooting towards Gervais. She had a blade in hand, and she leaped towards him, rotating her torso and bringing it down on the archfiend with all of her strength. He didn't move. He didn't react. He continued staring at Sarah, challenging her, daring her to attack him. The blade struck him at the base of his neck, and disintegrated into nothing.
She had put all of her energy into the blow, and she lost her balance, stumbling away and falling to the floor. The corrosion continued down the hilt of the sword and onto her hand. She held it up to her face, panic in her eyes, and watched her skin and bone begin to waste away.
"You can't hurt me, Vilya," he said, his voice still flat. "None of you can hurt me. All of your tricks, Samael. All of your lies. They're for nothing."
Max finished his work and fell silent. The light from the door was intense now, bathing everything in i
ts glow. The script had faded away to nothing, as had the wall. All that remained was a glowing portal that led to the Beast's prison.
"Let's go," he said.
Dante was the first to go through.
"What about Izak?" Obi asked. "And Vilya?"
"They're dead," the reaper replied. "They knew it was going to end this way. They understood the need." He stepped through.
"I'm not leaving him," Sarah said. Her head stayed fixed on her father, as though she could see him through her eyeless sockets. Her flesh was gaining color, and she continued to flex her hands. "Even if you kill him, I'm going to kill you."
"A pleasant thought I'm sure," Gervais said. "Come and get him."
"Obi, take Brian and go," I said. I took the duffel from my back. "Adam, take the swords. I'll get Sarah."
None of them looked happy, but they knew they had no choice. Gervais would kill us all. Adam took the swords and vanished into the light, with Obi and Brian right behind.
Vilya had stopped screaming. The decay had done its work, reducing her to a layer of dust on the cold floor.
"Well, my dear?" Gervais said.
"Sarah, don't," I said. "We can't beat him this way. We have to go through the portal and use the Box."
She didn't react. I don't know if she even heard me. Her breathing had slowed, and she looked calm and peaceful. It was more frightening than when she had looked angry. She started walking towards Gervais.
"Sarah!" I grabbed her arm. Pain lanced through every nerve of my body, my muscles spasming and freezing and forcing me to let go. She didn't even seem to notice. "Sarah!"
I had no idea how to stop her. I couldn't touch her, couldn't reason with her. She kept walking towards Izak, and I saw lines of blood along the back of her shirt. With each step she took the blood thickened, until it burst in a flurry of cloth and flesh, and a pair of red and gold feathered wings sprouted from her back. They weren't plush and light like a seraph's, but ridged and serrated, menacing and dark.
Gervais laughed.
"I knew it," he said. "I knew I could coax you to change. I knew I could turn you, and bring out your true power. I knew I could break you." He shifted his grip, and pulled Izak's head from his neck. He held it out to her, letting the body fall away. "Thousands of years and all of that power. Wasted on the weakness of love."
Bound (The Divine, Book Four) Page 27
