Death's Mantle: An Urban Fantasy Novel (Revelations Book 1)

by J. A. Cipriano

  “Don’t forget, I’m the one who gave you that weapon. I’m the one who made you, Fames.” Jormungand smiled, blood dripping from her hand as she tossed Haijiku to the ground. It hit with an air of finality as Jormungand stepped closer to him and reached out with one slender hand, trailing her fingers along his cheek. “And I can take it all away,” she whispered, leaning close to him so her breath was hot on his neck. A shiver shot through him, rippling along his flesh as she stepped back, smiling at him with a dopy smile. “Never forget that.”

  She turned then, leaving him to stand there watching as she made her way toward Malcom’s hammer. She bent down, eyeing it closely as a grin crossed her lips. She reached out with one hand, her fingers extended. Sparks leapt from the surface of the weapon as she gripped it and lifted the heavy weapon. She turned, smacking it against one tiny palm.

  “You know, there’s a whole lot of myth around this weapon. Talking about worthiness and the like. Talking about how this weapon could kill me.” She shook her head as she held the weapon in the air. Lightning crashed around her, turning the sand into glass. “It’s all a lie. No weapon is mightier than the hand wielding it.”

  Next to Ian, Haijiku pulsed, frosty butterflies creeping along its edge as he grabbed hold of the hilt. “Maybe,” Ian said as Jormungand came at him, her hammer coming up in an arc toward him as a zillion frosty butterflies filled the space between them.

  His vision blurred to the point of blackness as Mjolnir smashed into his chest, snapping his ribs and flinging him backward. He hit the ground, icy fingers frozen to the hilt of his sword as a zillion enraged butterflies slammed into Jormungand. The girl lifted from her feet, her mouth wide in a cry of agony as he lost consciousness.

  Kim 01:10

  Amy’s fist slammed into the side of Jormungand’s skull in an explosion of heat and flame that tossed the still recovering girl across the courtyard. “Caden, get the others out of here!”

  Crimson flames swirled around her, seeming as though they might consume her at any moment. “Let’s see how you deal with the full power of war!” Amy snarled, and the ice around them turned to steam in an instant.

  Jormungand got to her feet and casually waved her hand, dismissing Amy with a petulant wave. The front of her body was covered in frost. Her nails had taken on a bluish tint as she held her hands out in front of herself. The earth beneath them quaked.

  “You know the thing about war?” Jormungand asked, brushing herself off, and as she did so, the ice clinging to her fell away and hit the ground like frozen teardrops. “It’s only ever a means to an end.”

  Kim scrambled to her feet and took a wobbling step forward as Caden knelt beside Ian, trying desperately to awaken him. Even from here, she could tell there was something wrong with Ian’s chest. For one it wasn’t rising and falling properly, for another it looked disjointed and broken.

  She shut her eyes as a flash of ruby light made her stomach slosh. When she opened them Amy and Jormungand were fighting. Slashes and punches, were exchanged, but for the moment, Amy seemed to be holding her ground. She parried and blocked Jormungand’s claw with her bare hands as if protected by the scarlet flames surrounding her.

  Jormungand stepped back as Amy’s foot sailed by and slammed her left fist into the side of Amy’s neck. Amy wobbled to the side, and before she could recover, Jormungand brought her claw down. Darkness flowed off of it in tendrils so it looked like it was hewn from the fabric of hell itself.

  Amy thrust her palm outward, catching the weapon with her open palm. It tore through her flesh, spraying blood and flesh across the ground. She lashed out with her other hand, but Jormungand caught it and squeezed. There was a loud crack as the sound of splintering bone filled the air.

  Amy’s eyes went wide, and she shrieked, trying desperately to pull herself from the other girl’s grip. Then Jormungand was squirming uncontrollably, almost like she was trying to scratch an itch between her shoulders.

  Kim glanced down as something glimmered next to her. She hadn’t realized she had been walking forward, and now she stood next to Ian. Mjolnir lay at his feet, and almost hesitantly, she picked it up with her uninjured hand. It was like grabbing a live wire. Sensation shot through her, and for a brief moment, she felt everything and anything.

  Her eyes snapped open, though she hadn’t realized she had closed them and a vague voice whisper-cooed in her ear. It urged her forward, urged her to crush her enemy.

  She looked up from the hammer and saw Malcom had locked Jormungand in a full nelson. Blood flowed down his body, pooling at his feet as he threw all of his bodyweight onto the girl, using it to drive Jormungand to her knees in the frozen mud.

  “Kim… please… finish her now, before she can escape,” the blood soaked words sprayed from Malcom’s mouth as Jormungand bucked like a raging bronco.

  “But it will kill her.” Tears welled in Kim’s eyes as she stepped forward, the hammer urging her on. “You’ll die too.”

  “If all I have to do is die that would be enough.” He grinned and pain flashed across his features. “Dying is easy. Anyone can die.”

  Kim held the hammer in front of her as Jormungand bucked, twisted, and turned in a vain attempt to free herself. It was no use, Malcom had the hold locked in, and he would die before he released it. Kim readied the weapon and felt fire stream through her body.

  “Hurry, you won’t have another chance,” Malcom cried as Jormungand drove her elbow backward into his gut. He shrieked, and for a split second, his hold loosened.

  Jormungand whirled, flinging him into the dirt as Kim struck. Lightning exploded from Mjolnir as she drove the weapon straight into Jormungand’s stomach. Blood and thicker bits sprayed across the ground as Kim twisted, using her bodyweight to tear the jagged hammer sideways out of the girl.

  Jormungand deflated, dropping to her knees as her entrails spilled into the dirt. She looked down at them, one hand reaching out to touch the wound. Her blood flowed through her fingers as she looked up, a grin spreading across her face. Her eyes went glassy as the pair of golden orbs on her forehead winked out.

  “I didn’t think you had it in you,” Jormungand whispered, throwing her head back, and as she did so, golden mist exploded from her mouth, bursting into the sky like a thousand shooting stars.

  It hung there for a second, coalescing into a gilded cloud as the girl’s body slumped to the ground in a puddle of blood and gore. Then it came straight at her. Kim felt it hit her in the chest, flinging her backward as it wormed its way into her mouth, nose, and ears. She tried to scream, but her voice was choked off. Tears streamed from her eyes, and just when she thought she could take no more, the feeling faded as quickly as it came upon her.

  Her eyes burst open to see Mal standing over her, one hand outstretched toward her as he inhaled, sucking the golden smoke into his own body. His body flared like an emerald star as he took a step away from her. He took another, then another…

  “Mal, stop!” she cried, reaching out toward him as she scrambled to her feet.

  “I love you, Kim,” he replied as he took one more step away from them and collapsed.

  Amy 01:05

  No one was talking, or if they were, it wasn’t to Amy at least. Ian had flatly refused to so much as speak to her, and Kim had disappeared, actually disappeared. Even Caden had become rather difficult to get a hold of, though that was more to do with him spending extra time with Sabastin. Though she wasn’t sure why he had been spending so much time with the old man.

  Then again, he had been the one to carry Sabastin’s bleeding, broken daughter back to him. Amy remembered the look on Sabastin’s face when he saw her. It was like something inside had died.

  Amy wasn’t even sure if the girl would survive. While Sabastin had been able to more or less heal her with whatever gizmos his weird lab in the sky possessed, she still hadn’t woken up. Whatever Jormungand had done while he was inside her head was having some kind of lasting impression.

  Malcom… Ma
lcom was another story. His soul had fled his body. She had felt it happen, had felt it slip into the ether. While, neither Kim nor Ian would talk to her about it, Amy was reasonably sure they had felt it too. Still, something told her she could do something. She just didn’t know what…

  Which was why their lack of communication was pissing her off. They had a million things to focus on right now, like where Loki’s other two children, Fenris and Hel, were, and if they were still trying to wake their father. This whole not talking thing needed to end. Besides, if there was a way to bring Malcom back, didn’t they owe it to him to try? He had been the one to make the ultimate sacrifice after all…

  That’s why she was walking to Ian’s house. She had a thousand things to say to him, a thousand and one things even. A part of her ached at the mere thought of speaking with him because while he hadn’t been in control, he had killed Jesse. Every time she thought about it, her heart ached so much she could barely breathe.

  The sad thing was… part of her didn’t care. She knew it was wrong, but ever since they’d returned, she couldn’t ignore the connection she felt every single time she got next to him. But Ian was fire, and if she had learned anything, it was to stop playing with fire before it burned you. She smirked at the thought. Because she was fire, after all.

  Time drifted by her, the leaden echoes of the clock tower’s bell dissolving into the air as she walked up to the large grey building housing Ian’s apartment. She pressed the buzzer and waited. After what seemed like hours, she heard Ian’s voice.

  “What do you want?” Ian asked somewhat rudely through the intercom.

  “After Caden and I left with Sabastin’s daughter, what happened? Where is Malcom’s body?” Amy clutched her hands together as the wind whipped by her, chilling her to her core.

  The intercom died, pitching her into an endless silence. She sighed and rubbed her face with her hands. Just as she was about to leave, it squawked.

  “You still there?” Ian asked, his voice shaken and muffled sounding.

  “Ian, let me up, please.”

  The door opened. Ian’s eyes were glassy and filled with sadness. He stepped outside and closed the door behind him. Without saying a word, he took a few steps before motioning for Amy to follow him. They walked for several minutes, the silence mounting between them and stretching off toward infinity.

  “Are you okay?” Amy reached out to touch him, but he shied away from her.

  “What do you expect me to tell you? That he just magically woke back up? That… that,” mumbled Ian, his voice had started in a yell but had fallen to a whisper. “We left him there, in the dark desolation of that place. How’s that for thanks. We… we just left him behind.”

  “I… I… don’t know what I was expecting…” She sobbed, her face becoming pale and transparent. “I thought maybe Sabastin was doing something…”

  “I felt him die, Amy. I know you did too, and Kim… well… No one wants to deal with his death less than her.” A sad smile crossed his lips as he turned to look at her. “He died for you, for everyone, but he shouldn’t have had to die. We’re not worth the sacrifice.”

  “It’s not your fault, Ian.” Amy put her arms around him, and he shivered under her touch.

  “I…it isn’t like, like he…” Ian tailed off as he stared out into the distance. “If I was only a little stronger…” He exhaled sharply. “I was so close to killing Jormungand…”

  “It’s not your fault.” Amy sighed, shaking her head. “We were all there together, and we couldn’t stop Jormungand…”

  “You shouldn’t forgive me. I’m unforgivable.” Ian shook his head. “I killed Jesse, Amy. And here you are forgiving me, telling me it’s not my fault. Well it is.”

  Amy swallowed as his words hit her like a blow to the face. “I know you killed him,” she whispered. “And I know I should hate you for that, but I can’t. I just can’t! Every part of me is telling me to forgive you. Not because it was your fault or not, but because…” She looked down at her sandaled feet, unsure how to finish her sentence. How could she tell him it seemed like she had to forgive him because, crazy as it seemed, from the moment they met, she had been drawn to him…

  “I’m bad for you, Amy. I know what you’re going to say, not just because it’s written across your face, but because I feel the same way too.” Ian pulled himself away from her and stared down at her. His face was haunted as he looked her up and down. Still, had he meant what he said? Was he drawn to her too?

  “I’m a bad person, in general.” Ian shook his head and gritted his teeth as he crossed his arms over his chest.

  “You’re not a bad person, Ian. I don’t know why you think that…” Amy replied, biting her lip. Why couldn’t he see himself through her eyes? She reached out toward him and just as her fingers touched his skin, he pulled back like her hand was a snake.

  “I am. For instance, I only got drunk one time at a New Year’s Eve party. I don’t really remember it.” He looked up at her, his ice-blue eyes glistening with unshed tears. “And somehow I managed to betray two of my friends.”

  “Um… okay.” She swallowed as she thought back, trying to remember if she’d ever seen Ian at a party. Then again, she’d never really been into that scene. “Do you need a drink or something?”

  Ian shook his head. “No, that’s not what I’m trying to say. I don’t have a drinking problem or anything. I want to tell you about it though I don’t really know why.”

  “Well, if it was just one time, how bad could it have been?” Amy pushed him a little, trying to lighten the mood. “You throw up in your car or something?”

  “I woke up the next morning in a room I’d never seen before with a girl…” He took a deep breath. “I’d never been with anyone before that. I don’t even know what happened really.” Ian stared at his feet and trudged passed her.

  Amy touched his arm and found his skin cool to the touch. “It’s okay…”

  Ian turned, looking at her and shook his head. “Kim doesn’t think so.”

  “Kim has a lot more problems than having spent one drunken night with you.” The words left Amy’s mouth before she could stop them. “I didn’t know it was you she pulled into that room, but what I do know is that everyone tried to stop her…” She swallowed. “You were a casualty, Ian. If it hadn’t been you…”

  “It’d be someone else…” Ian bit his lip and shook his head. “That’s what Mal said too.” He looked up and stared at the sky. “Funny, eh?”

  “How is it funny?” Amy asked, and Ian turned toward her. His sapphire eyes were so blue that, for a moment, she was worried she might drown in them.

  “You’d think he’d have wanted to rip my head off… but he didn’t.” Ian shrugged. “And now I think to myself, maybe all that happened because of our mantles. Maybe we’re all broken and nothing we do is real. Not real in the reality sense, but real as in maybe we’re pawns of fate.”

  “I don’t believe that’s true. You can blame what you want on the mantles, but deep down you’re still a person with choices.” She poked him in the chest with her finger. How dare he say all her feelings were worthless just because they were both horsemen? “Don’t ever forget you have a choice.”

  “You know, for a long time I really hated you. Before I met you, I’d tried to convince myself I wasn’t lonely. But when I saw you with Jesse, it made me remember I really was lonely…”

  “Are you lonely right now? With me?” Amy asked him, and she felt heat rising on her cheeks.

  “I… I’m sorry…” He turned away, and she watched a shudder rush over him. The urge to comfort him was so strong, she almost couldn’t keep herself from wrapping her arms around him.

  “You’re not bad. You need to forgive yourself for not being able to say you’re lonely.” She reached out, grabbing his hand and pulling him back around to face her. “Everything you blame yourself for isn’t your fault.”

  “It’s not that. I…” he trailed off.

&nbs
p; “You don’t have to try so hard anymore.” Amy smiled at him. “I’ll do whatever I can to help…”

  “You’d do that for me? After I… after I killed Jesse?” The words had barely left Ian’s mouth when a gut-wrenching, baleful cry split the air behind them like a ripe melon.

  They spun toward it as police cars came sliding to a halt in front of them. An officer leapt out of the closest vehicle, gun raised.

  “Hands up!” the officer bellowed as others pointed their weapons at them. “Ma’am, please step away from the suspect. He is wanted for the terrorist attack downtown.”

  Thank you for reading Death's Mantle. If you wouldn't mind, please leave a review. As a special Bonus, I have included the first chapter of the sequel, War and Famine, on the next page.

  If you are curious about Sabastin's daughter, you can find out about her in Hardboiled.

  You may also want to check out my other series. The first book, May Contain Spies, is currently free on Amazon.

  Want to know when my next book is available? Sign up for my new release e-mail list here. If you do, I'll send you my short story, Alone in the Dark, for free.

  Visit my blog at JACipriano.com for all the latest updates.

  Kim 02:01

  “You killed me, Kim,” Malcom bared his teeth, but since most of his lips had rotted away, she could see not only his teeth, but the yellowed bone of his face. “And then you left me to rot.”

  Rivulets of decayed flesh clung to his skull as he hoisted himself to his feet and took a step toward her. Fragments of his broken bone poked through the bloody white t-shirt stuck to his chest, from where she’d caved in his ribcage with Mjolnir.