by Nick Freo
I put my gun away, and Pride sheathed her daggers a moment later. “Pride,” I said, “see to Alia.” I approached the man slowly. I could have respect for one who wielded such power while spitting in the face of the established authorities. That was how I had begun on my former world. But I had never had the opportunity to wear fine silks and satins. Armor had been my suit, and a sword my only decoration. “Thank you for the invitation,” I said. “It was not necessary for you to take one of mine simply to arrange a meeting.”
“Oh no?” he chuckled. “Well, I sent a few of my people to extend my hospitality, and that didn’t work out so well for them. All in all, it seemed best to compel your attention. You’re new in these parts, aren’t you? There must be so many distractions for you...” he trailed off, stroking his smoothly shaven chin and chuckling.
“This world is fascinating,” I admitted, “but I have a singular focus, and I am here to teach you all about that.”
I lunged forward and charged at the gentleman who had called himself a mob boss, mighty hands reaching for his throat.
He slithered away like an eel shedding its skin. One moment I swore he was within my grasp, and the next he was two steps away, still smiling. I leaped and made another grab for him, but he ducked beneath my arms and moved toward where Pride was attempting to unravel the chains binding Alia. I gave chase, abandoning the notion of seizing such a nimble creature and instead swinging a fist at the back of his head. My first punch missed, as did my second, but as we neared the women, I landed a triumphant blow to his chest.
The punch had been a powerful blow, and it should have caved in his chest. It sent him flying across the room to bounce off the wall and flop to the ground. I felt a moment’s satisfaction, for no human could survive such an ordeal, but then he stood up.
“Nice shot,” he commented. “I can tell you work out a lot. What are you, a P90-X type of guy?” He gave a wry laugh and shook his head.
I froze. I had never seen anyone shake off a blow from my fists so easily, except perhaps the Enemy. I stared at this well-dressed man, willing my spirit vision to tell me everything about him. I learned nothing. Whatever powers he wielded, he had the skill to deceive even my eyes.
“My lord,” Pride gasped, “help me, I cannot break these chains.” I turned and knelt at her side, gripping the metal links between my hands and applying pressure. They were strong, but they bent as I forced them apart.
“Thank you for that,” the strange gentleman called. I glanced up and witnessed him making some strange motions with his hands. Suddenly, a translucent wall sprung into place, surrounding me and the two women.
“What is this?” I demanded, abandoning my struggle with the chains. I approached the translucent barrier and placed a palm against it. It felt as solid as bedrock. “How do you wield magic, when most on this world have never heard of it? Speak now, or I will strike you down!”
The man only laughed and shook his head, standing back to admire his handiwork. I looked up and realized that there were a series of runes carved on the ceiling above us. A quick inspection showed a matching set of smaller runes concealed beneath Alia. This man had prepared the ritual trap well in advance for us. But he could not be a man.
I closed my fist and smashed my hand against the barrier, to no avail. I drew my sword and lashed it against the barrier until I could feel its blade beginning to dull. I returned it to its sheath and drew my dagger instead, gripping it in both hands and stabbing at the arcane wall as though chipping ice. It did not budge or weaken in the slightest.
“Damn you!” I roared as I sheathed my dagger, slamming an elbow against the impenetrable barrier in frustration. “Why are you so concerned with trapping us, and who are you?”
My captor’s laugh echoed throughout the room as he moved closer, brown eyes grinning. “It’s not who I am you ought to be concerned with,” he said, “so much as what I am.”
I met his gaze easily, and then nearly blinked when his eyes changed. Where they had been a deep, human brown they suddenly faded and became a sickly shade of yellow. His skin morphed as well, almost seeming to molt as it took on a greenish pallor and produced fine scales around his neck and the backs of his hands. His ears lengthened and sharpened, splitting into all-too-familiar jagged edges. Pointed fangs glistened from his smile where square teeth had stood moments before. His chest and shoulders broadened and thickened, the suit seeming to grow with him.
Where moments earlier there had been a man claiming to be a mob boss, a demon stood smiling at me. His long forked tongue lapped at his lips, leaving a trail of glistening saliva that shone beneath the room’s electronic lighting.
“You seem surprised,” the demon said mildly. “Perhaps you will be equally surprised to know that I’ve alerted the Overseers of my success in capturing you, Shining One.” He enunciated one of my many titles with evident scorn. “Their agents will already be on their way. Don’t go anywhere.” His smirk enraged me more than being trapped. I wanted to tear his face off and feed it down his neck hole. I settled my anger; I needed to think.
I paced the length and width of our cage while Pride continued to struggle with Alia’s bindings. The vampire had remained strangely calm throughout the process. There was a distant, pleading expression on her face, but she did not move or make a sound. It seemed as though she had exhausted all of her energy just struggling to remain alive.
I was unused to situations from which my fists and weapons could not help me escape. I would need my cunning now, more than ever. The first step would be to keep the demon talking. That seemed easy enough, but it would still require the correct approach.
“I am surprised only by one thing,” I replied at last, crossing my arms and meeting the demon’s pale yellow gaze. “I am shocked to find a demon working in the service of men. I would have thought you would sooner devour your own pointed tongue than bend a knee to one of the lesser races.”
Chapter 18
The demon burst out laughing again, but there was a sharper edge to it this time. Perhaps I had succeeded in angering him, or perhaps I had only displayed my misunderstanding of the situation. Either way, it had the desired effect. The demon moved a step closer to our cage.
“I would have expected the Shining One to have greater intuition about the workings of this world,” the demon said critically, shaking his head. “Oh, you have fallen so far. I fear you will never climb back to your previous heights.”
“Workings of this world? I found you, did I not? I have learned the operation of these—“ I pulled out my Desert Eagle “—weapons.” I pointed the gun at the demon’s face and pulled the trigger. The bullet obliterated itself against the magical barricade. “I have learned much, and yet I do not understand why I find a demon working among humans. There are no other elements of my previous world here. No elves, no dwarves, no faeries... why should there be a single, lone demon?”
“Why should there be an elf? Or a vampire?” the demon challenged, nodding at the women.
I frowned. “Pride came here with me. We have seen no other elves. And vampires, it would seem, are as common as mice on this world. But demons are of my world, and they were loyal to me. You should be serving me. Explain yourself and this prison, or banish it from existence!”
“I should be loyal to you?” The demon spat, showing anger for the first time since we had entered the room. He stalked forward until his yellowed nose was nearly pressing against the translucent barrier. “This is what the Shining One says? Do you know how long we waited? After all these years, after all the failed attempts at finding you and bringing you back. All the theories, all the spells, all the arguments and infighting—you caused it all when you left, and now you have the audacity to return, a pitiful remnant of yourself, and demand loyalty? Ha! You have fallen farther than I ever could have imagined. You are a mere relic of the past, and you understand nothing of what happened.”
My frown deepened and a wave of anxious energy washed through me. What was thi
s creature talking about? I paced back and forth within my prison, slamming a fist into the wall in frustration. I could not make sense of the information he had provided.
“What are you talking about?” I asked at last. “Why would you be waiting for me here, in this strange place? You should have been waiting on our homeworld. Unless... did you somehow know where the Enemy sent me?”
The demon only glared at me with his sickly eyes, for once choosing not to speak, laugh, or make any sound at all. There was hatred in those eyes, but I also thought I detected a hint of grudging respect. The creature had me imprisoned and at every disadvantage, but I refused to yield my strong stance.
“Release me,” I demanded again, more quietly this time, and I thought I saw a flicker of something changing in his face. “Release me,” I said. “You know the power I wield. I will make you the leader of all demons on this world and any other. You will serve at my side for eternity. You need only take down these walls.”
The demon hesitated, then raised his hands. And he laughed.
The cruel sound echoed throughout the chamber as he doubled over, holding his stomach, forked tongue lolling. I slammed an elbow into the barrier in frustration again.
“Did you really think that would work?” the demon chortled as he gained control of himself. “You really have been asleep a long time, eh, Rip Van Winkle?”
More words and names I did not know or comprehend. I shook my head and massaged my temples. There was an obvious way out of this, although I was not convinced of that course. But I waited for another reason, bearing the demon’s insults. His wagging, prideful tongue was still of use to me.
“You are a coward!” I roared. “From the moment I entered this room you fled from me, and now you ensnare me with your arcane wiles. If you will not release me, then join me in here and let us fight to the death! Pride will not intervene.”
“Hmmm, uh, no thanks,” the demon chuckled. “Why take that risk? I’m about to become wealthier and more powerful than I could possibly imagine. Bringing the Shining One to the Overseers... now that is what I call a feather in my cap.”
“You.” I let the word drip from my lips and scald the floor like corrosive acid. “I will flay you alive and make you watch as the dogs eat your flesh. I will pull out your entrails slowly and stuff them down your throat. I will pull out your eyeballs and roast them while you die, so you may hear the sizzle and pop before I devour them heartily. And then I will leave your corpse to the ants and the flies and whatever carrion this world offers to tear it to pieces.” My tone was quiet and more focused than trueforged steel. “You have sealed your fate today.”
I heard a sudden clank and turned to watch Pride triumphantly pulling the chains away from Alia. Pride helped extract the iron ball from Alia’s mouth, unleashing a gasp of pain followed by a string of unfamiliar curses at the demon. When she finished, Alia spit out blood from where the ball had rubbed her mouth raw. I smiled at my steady right hand.
“Well done, Pride,” I said as I returned to her side. “She is nearly free.”
“Nearly,” Pride agreed, “but there is little we can do about the stakes holding her into the ground. I fear extracting them might kill her. She is already suffering terribly.” There was real concern and pity in her voice. For all that Pride seemed to dislike the vampire and resent her, it seemed the two had built a kind of bond.
“Leave her be for now, then,” I replied. I looked up at a sudden sound and saw that a man had entered the room. I recognized him as one of the guards from the front of the house. He was still wearing his sunglasses despite the dim interior. He did not react to seeing his boss in his demonic form, nor did he appear to notice the magical prison or the people inside of it. He merely stopped in front of the demon and reported like an automated soldier. I did not catch every word, but the important parts reached my ears.
“Agents of the Overseers... at the outer gates... let them in?”
“Yes, of course,” the demon spat in response. “Bring them to me immediately.” The guard hastened to make himself scarce from the room.
The demon paced for a time, rubbing his hands together while mumbling to himself and chuckling at odd intervals. Eventually his path brought him back to the prison, and he stared in at us like one might examine a set of prized fish in an aquarium.
“I don’t like this,” Pride whispered to me, speaking softly enough that the demon could not hear, I hoped. It was difficult to say how sensitive those shredded ears were. “If we are still imprisoned when the agents of the Overseers arrive, we will be at a grave disadvantage. My lord, there is one option. We must consider it.”
“I know what you are thinking,” I whispered back. “And I am not sure it would be the right course.”
“It is our only course out of here,” she murmured. “You can turn Alia into a Viceguard, and all of this will be solved.”
I looked down at the beautifully destroyed vampire woman. She had proven herself loyal, courageous, resourceful, but still... “And if we meet stronger contenders later?” I whispered to Pride. “A place at my side is not so easily given. You know there is no turning back from this decision.”
I met Alia’s red gaze. She was desperate, her eyes pleading with me, but she was too proud to speak the words. That would have to change. I needed her to utter her assent in order for the bond to work. I looked to Pride again, who nodded and stepped back.
“Will I be like her?” Alia asked hoarsely, glancing at the tall, graceful elven woman.
Pride smirked and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
“No one can be like Pride,” I said, “but you will gain your own power.”
She gulped, took a deep breath, then nodded. “I am yours... my lord.”
I smiled and rubbed my hands together. The demon was still watching, but he had not reacted. He had not heard what was being said, or else he had not understood.
“Now I must choose,” I whispered into Alia’s ear, “between Lust and Sloth. Sloth offers greater protection. Lust, the power of unrelenting attack. Either would aid us in the coming battle.” I gazed into those red orbs, enjoying their obvious hunger, for me, for power, for freedom, and revenge. “Lust, it is,” I said.
“Yes, my lord.” Alia closed her eyes and relaxed. “Take me. My body is yours.”
“Body?” I chuckled. “I have little interest in this body. It is broken and near useless. What I am taking is your soul.”
I held a palm flat above her chest and conjured the red sinflame of Lust. I could feel its power radiating through my arm. Its warmth and passion renewed my confidence. I closed my hand around the flame and plunged my fist downward, straight into Alia’s chest. I found her cold, vampiric heart and instilled the ever-burning sinflame within it, granting the vampire new life and fresh vitality.
Alia gasped at first, but as the sensation seeped into her nerves, a full-bodied scream wracked her, loud enough to deafen me and echo off the chamber’s walls a thousand times. She writhed in agony, opening her vicious wounds further. I narrowed my eyes in determination, holding the sinflame in place until it had burrowed its tendrils completely into my new Viceguard.
The demon could not have missed my actions or the scream.
“What are you doing?” he asked, his previously smug voice suddenly panicked. “What are you—no! Stop that!” He raised his hands as if to bring the walls down, but hesitated and raced out of the room instead, yelling for his guards to summon the agents of the Overseers.
Alia screamed and screamed, staring at the gaping hole in her chest as I withdrew my arm. The sinflame licked up the edges of it and slowly consumed her body, turning her to ash which dispersed to nothingness as if on an unseen breeze. But the flame still burned. It burned crimson and true, and it grew into the upright shape of a woman and solidified, taking form, taking color, taking flesh.
It was Alia, and yet... not. Her dark hair was longer, and her bangs no longer fell across her face so easily. Her garb was
more revealing, more sensual, and her red eyes shone with a new light. She was looking at me with an expression that suited her namesake perfectly. Pure Lust.
“Pride, I require my helm,” I called to the first, but no longer the last, of my Viceguard. The long-legged elf smiled and curtsied before vanishing to take on the form of my helm. The weight on my head comforted me, like a lover’s embrace before a long battle. I turned and looked to my new third-in-command.
“Lust,” I spoke her name, and she met my eyes obediently. “To me. I require my blade.” Her red eyes widened in confusion, and she took a step towards me before smiling in realization. She closed her eyes and vanished.
A magnificent hand-and-a-half broadsword appeared in my grip. The Lustblade. Its long sharp edges glistened in the chamber’s low light. It had been far too long since I had felt its familiar heft. I brought it about and held it vertically in front of me in both hands, smiling at my reflection. With my Lustblade, I could once again pierce any wall or barrier, whether physical or magical.
I stepped forward and thrust the Lustblade’s tip through the magical barrier. The cage splintered from the point of impact, then shattered, vanishing as easily as it had appeared at the demon’s conjuration. My smile grew as I stepped toward the doorway, sword at the ready in both hands, helmeted head held high and proud. I had taken one more step to reclaiming my full power. Even without the full force of my Viceguard, Pride and Lust combined with my own innate abilities made me a fighting force this world had never seen.
“This way!” the demon’s voice echoed into the room from the hallway. “He’s still contained, but I don’t know how much longer the prison will hold them—“ The creature cut off as he entered the room and saw me, ready for battle and unshackled. “He’s all yours!” the demon screamed, turning and fleeing past the pair of familiar figures following in his wake.
