by Justin Sloan
“Your new titles mean nothing!” Altemus shouted, casting the spirits aside. “I will have what I came for—the power of the Lich King!”
Anne leaped out of the girl’s body, allowing James to take his daughter and run. Above, Anne’s spirit surged toward Nora, trying to snatch the scythe away.
A great laughter filled the sky, echoing in their ears and sending vibrations through their ethereal bodies. Darkness swirled, even darker than the spirits, who now seemed to be backing away.
“You petty, insignificant beings,” the voice said, and then the demon who had once been introduced to Rohan in the pits of hell as Azrael, appeared before them. “This ends here.”
Altemus and Anne moved back, their mouths moving as they cast incantations on the demon to help it grow in power and strength, bursts of what looked like lava erupting from its body as it grew.
“I am the Lich King,” Rohan said, and he held out his scepter, willing it to bind the demon.
Azrael flew at him and slapped the scepter aside, then grabbed him by the cloak and flew with him into the sky as Nora screamed after him below.
“Is this what you wanted?” Azrael said. “To challenge me, the greatest demon ever to exist? Me, who commands all things evil?”
As they rose, clouds parted and turned to ash, falling around them. Cackling laughter filled the now black air, and Rohan felt his lungs filling with ash. He wanted to fight this demon, but his muscles weren’t responding.
“The Lich King, Gilgamesh, wouldn’t have transferred his power to me if he didn’t think I had a chance,” Rohan said, as much to convince himself as anything else. “I won’t let him down.”
“He is dead,” Azrael said as they continued their ascent. “Just as you shall be, momentarily.”
And then he released Rohan, his spine-chilling laughter returning as Rohan fell.
It wasn’t like falling through the sky, but more like falling through a terrible nightmare. All around him the sky became like acid, burning his skin, while faces of the tormented appeared, screaming, reaching for him.
But dammit, he was the king of the dead now, was he not? And Lady Death, the new Lady Death that Nora had become, was his queen.
“NORA!” he shouted, fighting the burning in his lungs, hoping she would hear him. But no sound came out, he realized as he shouted again.
So he focused his mind on her, telling her what they had to do. Then, as he fell, he began to work his hands and mind, commanding all of the dead to come forth, to fight, and as he approached the ground, fast, Nora was there, using her powers to open a rift in the ground that released the spirits he’d summoned.
The dead from the underworld rose out in a wave, catching him and letting him drift to Nora’s side, and then the real battle began.
All of his spirits, any that would listen to the combined commands of the Lich King and Lady Death, rose to the challenge and were fighting the red and black spirits. The world became a black, red, and silver light show, the colors smashing, weaving, and exploding. Rohan swung the Scepter, screaming. Next to him, Nora swiped her sickle relentlessly. All around them, the spirits of men and women with swords made of spiritual energy, and they were fighting the demons.
Four men rode out on horseback—four generals of the dead. Their faces were figureless, but their auras commanded a strong presence and Rohan just knew them, that he could rely on them and give them orders. He pointed toward one of the demons. Two of them rode straight for the demon and the other two rode toward Altemus and Anne.
“This is….” Nora strained to find the words as she maneuvered with her scythe to cut down one evil spirit after another.
“Amazing?” Rohan offered.
“I was going for AMAZEBALLS, but yeah, amazing works too.” She spun, bringing the scythe in an upward attack that split a spirit in two. It sent a shock-wave of energy out that banished another group of evil spirits.
“The mouth on you when you’re close to death,” he said with a smile, just before picking up the dropped scepter and casting a blast of green fire out over a new wave of red spirits.
“Not close to death,” she said with a wink. “I am death. Lady freaking death.”
“Just… I hope the kids are in bed, is all I’m saying.” He sent another blast of fire, and then saw Azrael descending on them. “Damn, playtime’s over.”
The leader of the four horsemen, a robed man with a crown on his head, steered his horse over to Rohan’s side and said, “Sir, can you handle him?”
Rohan was taken aback by being called sir by this being, but then he nodded and said. “Not alone, but with Lady Death at my side. Hell yes.”
The rider smiled and his eyes flared with fire, before bowing and riding off to get back into the fight.
“I might have underestimated you,” Azrael said, touching down beside Rohan and Nora. “It won’t happen again.”
“You won’t have a chance,” Rohan said, and he lifted the scepter. Only this time, he used it as a feint, throwing it at the demon, and then darting forward, tackling it by the legs and pinning it to the ground, like he’d seen in all those MMA fights over the years. “You’re about to get a smack down, human style,” Rohan said and then shimmied up the demon. He landed an elbow in Azrael’s face, and then began raining down punch after punch.
“This isn’t—” BAM, the demon took a punch… “How you—” BAM! Another, and the demon’s nose cracked, sending black, steaming blood down his face. “FIGHT!”
“It is in my world,” Rohan said, and then he moved to the side of the demon, grabbing his neck and wrapping his legs around him so that he’d be unable to move. “NOW!”
Nora was there in that instant, scythe raised, and she brought it down into Azrael’s chest.
An explosion of light shot out and as Azrael screamed in anger.
Rohan pulled at the surrounding spirits to bind the demon, like silvery wisps of chains.
When they held him in place, Nora said, “I banish you to the seventh level of hell, where you will stay for all eternity.”
She pulled down and twisted the scythe, pulling it from the demon so that he exploded into a wall of flames that flew up and then, like a serpent, flew screaming into the ground and was gone. The other demons followed him, shrieking on their way into the ground.
Rohan picked up his scepter and turned. The fighting had stopped. All of the spirits, good and bad, were staring in awe.
Altemus floated beside Anne, shaking his head.
“No… it can’t be.” He took her hand in his and they looked like they were about to run, but Rohan held up his scepter.
A green light formed around the two, and pulled them back toward Rohan. Both clawed the ground, screaming, pulling at spirits around them—but, caught in that green light, their powers were useless.
“Nora,” Rohan said, and nodded toward the last remaining demon, who was backing up, eyes wide with fear.
“Oh, right.” She smiled and ran for the demon, while Rohan made Altemus and Anne hover in front of him, their arms pinned to their sides.
“It’s finally over, you do realize that?” Rohan asked.
“For us, or for you?” Altemus said, and then he laughed. “Look at you!”
Rohan glanced down, and then nodded. “Yes, both for you two and for us, I imagine. But at least Nora and I won’t be suffering down there, which is more than I can say for the two of you.”
“Do your worst,” Anne said, hissing.
Just then, Nora swung her scythe and was about to banish them, when Rohan had an idea.
“Wait,” he said.
Nora turned back, mid-swing, and damn, she looked sexy as hell in that flowing black cloak with that scythe held up like that. Rohan had to laugh at himself—he never knew he’d have a thing for the death look.
“Any day now,” she said with a glance to the surrounding spirits.
“I was just thinking. Those demons could use some company.” Rohan nodded to Altemus and Anne. “An
d I’ve got just the two.”
“Nice,” Nora said, and then she completed the swipe down, banishing the two, as Rohan tossed the green light over so that the fire wrapped around it and pulled them down too.
Just before disappearing, Altemus screamed out, “I’ll find a way to get revenge, mark my words!”
And then the earth swallowed him up, and he was gone.
“No, you won’t,” Rohan said. He held out his hand to Nora, and she took it.
“I suppose it’s time we send them all home? Back to the afterlife, or wherever they came from.”
“And us,” Nora said. “Don’t forget, we have jobs to do now. Something tells me we won’t be able to escape those so easily.”
“Let’s get to it then,” Rohan said. With a wave of his scepter and a flash of green light, the spirits were gone. The world was still torn up, and evildoers didn’t simply cease to exist. But a peace descended over it as the evil spirits left.
Rohan hoped they’d find a way to rebuild, but for now he was more worried about the dead, and trying to figure out what exactly his job was as the Lich King.
At least he still had a body. He especially appreciated having his lips, so he could take Nora in a kiss as they descended into the afterlife together.
THE END
Authors' Note
Justin Sloan
Wow, this is insane! I can’t believe we finished the whole trilogy. Were the books a bit short? Sure, but that’s what we set out to do – give you an intense, supernatural thrill ride of an urban fantasy novel. No one should be bored reading these, and it shouldn’t take you six months.
If we achieved those goals and you read this far, that hopefully means you enjoyed it. Thank you so much!
The first book launched above and beyond our expectations, and it’s been fun to see what readers think of the second book, and now betas of this one.
What was really fun was putting together the audiobooks. We definitely have book 1, and book 2 and 3 will hopefully follow along shortly.
What’s next for you? I’ll let Michael answer that for himself, but I actually have another Michael I worked with after these books – Michael Anderle. It’s called Reclaiming Honor, and has vampires and werewolves, though they have a sci-fi angle to them (originally), and now have evolved into dystopian / post-apocalyptic.
So if you’re into that, check out those books. I also launched Hounds of God between those two books, so that’s another worth looking into. Find them all at www.JustinSloanAuthor.com.
But for now, let me just say how super grateful I am toward Michael. We did it man, and we made this final book amazing!
I hope the readers agree. If you liked this book and the others in the series, please leave us a review on Amazon and Goodreads (Audible if audiobook).
Thank you all!
***
Michael La Ronn
We made it!
Hard to believe this trilogy is coming to an end. But this was one crazy journey and every minute of it was nothing but fun.
This is the first series I have co-written with someone. And honestly, it scared me in the beginning. I’m so used to being autonomous. I kept thinking What if the story doesn’t work? What if we disagree?
You know, the common thoughts.
But guess what? The whole process with Justin has been amazing. What’s still hard for me to believe after all this time is just how well our ideas meshed and our author voices merged together.
Of course, I could talk all night about the audiobooks too. Definitely check those out if you want to hear top-notch narration. I got chills listening to Michael Tamburrino bring Rohan and Altemus to life. Seriously.
But…
You know what is really amazing?
You, gentle reader!
No, seriously.
If you’re reading this, that means that this journey has come to an end for you, too. I hope it was as rewarding for you as it was for me (and Justin). We couldn’t have done this without you.
All we ask: please don’t let this be the end. Check out Justin’s series. His books are awesome. And you can check out my work at www.michaellaronn.com. Both of us release a crazy amount of books each year, so if you liked Modern Necromancy, you’ll be right at home in each of our respective works.
Thanks again for reading, thanks for your support, and don’t forget to leave an honest review!
***
Want to keep reading more stories? Turn the page to read an excerpt from Justin’s novel Hounds of God (Cursed Night Book 1).
EXCERPT: Hounds of God
You are the Hounds of God. Through your deeds, all sins will be corrected, all wrongs righted, and the evildoers of the world will cower in fear at your feet.
- The Way of Light, A Manifesto, Page 259: Section C.
Katherine pulled at her dusty leather jacket to fend off the cold wind’s bite, mind racing at the possibilities of what they’d find in these mountains. A cure? More clues? As long as it wasn’t simply another dead end, she’d accept anything.
With each leap over rocks and along the mountain path, she became increasingly annoyed at the bounce of her ponytail. One of these days, she’d just shave it all off and be done with it. She liked to tell herself it didn’t matter what Danny would think if she did, but she often found herself taking the extra minute each morning to look her best, even if she knew they’d be searching freezing mountains for hidden caverns—as they were this day.
Searching, and probably ending up disappointed—again.
The years had been a mixture of hope and defeat. Nine years of looking for answers as to why she’d become a werewolf. Nine years of hoping to find a cure, but always coming up empty-handed.
She had only two companions—Babur and Danny. During their search, they’d found myths of wolf spirits taking over one’s body, and of Native Americans who had called upon these spirits for help. So far, they’d dismissed the European stories of towns transforming in the night to fight off the evil witches, or going into Hell to keep the demons at bay—they had to draw the line somewhere between what they thought might hold a kernel of truth and what was pure fiction—not that they had any clear guidelines on how to draw that line.
In these days of the internet, there was no shortage of stories and theories. Yet, in all their searches, they hadn’t come across anything regarding the cure she longed for. The myths were their best bet, and they had led them to the mountains of Washington State.
She slowed at a fallen tree she’d noted earlier as a marker, smiling to see Danny crouching nearby and inspecting the area. His tan leather jacket was covered with dust, and a layer of sweat shone from his forehead.
When he turned to grin up at her, his white teeth gleamed in the dim light of dusk.
“You found it?” he asked.
“I found something.”
She motioned for him to keep up as she led him back to the small cave she had discovered. This could be it, she thought, as he knelt down and kicked at the clods of dirt that blocked the entrance. They broke apart to reveal stone steps leading down, chipped and worn.
“You think it’s down there?” he asked. She could tell he was trying to keep the hope out of his voice. Like her, he’d been disappointed many times, too.
“There’s only one way to find out.”
She tested the first step, gingerly putting her weight on it until she was sure it wouldn’t give way. The steps were sturdy, carved directly into the large rock surface below them. They each pulled flashlights from their packs, and she led the way as they descended.
At the bottom of the stairs, they found a large room. Shelves were carved into the walls, holding clay pots and dried herbs, long ago forgotten.
“Nice work,” Danny said, looking up at a faded mural on the wall.
Katherine came over, shining her light to better see the mural. It appeared to be a man cowering before a giant wolf. Her hands felt suddenly clammy, her heart thumping so loudly it seemed to echo
off the walls.
“Don’t get your hopes up,” Danny said with a glance her way. “You always do.”
“And one of these days, it’ll be for the right reason,” she said, her finger brushing the stone wall of the mural. “There’s got to be something here.”
The rest of the room held more stone walls and murals in a small circle. The familiar frustration of this being only one more dead end of many was rising, and she began wondering if she would ever find the answers she needed.
Danny’s voice broke through her dismal thoughts. “Over here.”
He was kneeling next to one of the ledges. At its base, he had moved aside a large stone to reveal a tunnel just wide enough for a person to crawl through.
“You’ve gotta be kidding,” Katherine said. “I’m not going in there.”
“Well, I’ll holler back when I’ve found the cure, then,” Danny said as he dropped to his belly. He pushed his pack ahead of him and scooted forward, soon disappearing into the tunnel.
Katherine stood frozen, thinking how stupid she would have to be to go in there, but also how much she’d regret not going. With a silent curse, she dropped to her belly and scooted in after him. Darkness surrounded her, except for the dim light of Danny’s flashlight bobbing ahead. She held hers in front of her, and the sight of the stone tunnel so close around her was almost worse than the darkness. It reminded her of a casket.
She pushed that thought aside as quickly as possible.
Darkness didn’t usually make her uneasy. When the sun set, she could see better than others, move faster, and have an advantage on any opponent out there—man or werewolf.
However, trapped in the darkness of the tunnel, her memories came rushing back: horrible images flashing across her mind of that morning long ago when she’d found her parents dead, and then Aldrick and the fire, and that man they called Hunter.
