Demonheart Boxset 1: Book 1-3

by J. J. Egosi

  “I’ve forgotten about you.”

  Michael watched the jaws of the beast open wide as it approached. Since he was on dry land, he could spread his wings without any deterrence so he did and flew right over the monster. He then swooped and grabbed its tail.

  Meanwhile, the four girls hurriedly paddled their way into the water.

  “Alright, this should be good enough.”

  Alexa opened up her infinity bag. From it came her steamcraft, still covered in the dents brought upon by the merfolk.

  “Will it?” Julianna asked. “If I remember right, it can only repair itself if the engine is running.”

  “That’s right.” Alexa nodded. “The engine should still work since Michael was able to drive it all the way up here.”

  “There’s just one way to know for sure,” Ursula said.

  The girls nodded before piling their way in. Alexa jumped behind the wheel and turned the key. She was met only with sputtering in the engine and a series of clunking noises.

  “Bullshit. He used up all the gas and damaged the engine.” Alexa slammed her hand against the wheel.

  “What can we do?” Isabella said in a panicked tone.

  “Go and get the fuel reserves in the trunk. Hopefully, they’ll still be there.”

  “And as for the engine?” Julianna asked.

  Alexa gritted her teeth. She still didn’t have a solution. Hearing the sounds and sparks coming from Michel’s battle, she smiled.

  “You leave that to me.”

  The waters on Michael’s battleground sparked with coursing electricity. He was impervious to his own spells, but his foes weren’t so fortunate.

  “You’re a feisty one, aren’t you?” Michael panted with a smile. “Well, I think it’s time for a time out.”

  He lifted the monster out of the water and swung it around several times before hurling it into the chest of the larger beast. The impact was so immense it forged a ferocious tidal wave in the cave.

  The water rushed at Isabella as she struggled to maneuver the gas valve on the side of the vehicle.

  “Damn it, Michael,” Alexa exclaimed as she saw the waves rushing toward her through her window. “Get your shadow shields ready.”

  The girls manifested their collected shadows into a single barrier they hoped would be strong enough to withstand the tide.

  They could feel the pressure, even from within, as the waves tried to swallow them.

  “What is he thinking?” Julianna shouted. “That moron.”

  Alexa shook her head. She noticed Isabella still struggling to align the valve of the golden tank with the ship’s opening.

  “It’s not that damn hard. Just put it in the middle.”

  “It’s harder than it looks.”

  Isabella couldn’t stop shaking as she held it. The weight was immense and struggled to match the valve with the narrow entrance.

  “Let me try.”

  Ursula grabbed the tank by the other side.

  “Like hell, you can”—

  She pushed the valve toward the entrance with brute force, using Isabella’s assistance as momentum.

  Alexa’s eyes widened. “Alright, I stand corrected. Now, lift and let it pour in.”

  “Care to explain your plan concerning the engine?” Isabella asked.

  “Just hold on and you’ll see.”

  The rippling force of Michael’s attack began to dwindle. The waters calmed and in the place of bedlam, the two beasts hovered over the surface—defeated and unconscious.

  “That should do it.”

  “Michael. Over here!”

  He turned around at the sound of Alexa’s voice.

  “I’m all done over here. I didn’t get you, did I?”

  “Don’t worry about that.” Alexa rolled her eyes. “Just target your scepter toward the engine.

  His eyes widened at the request. “Wait, are you sure? Wouldn’t that”—

  “Trust me. I know what I’m doing.”

  The girls had frightened looks on their faces. They had no clue what she was striving for and neither did Michael. Her conviction, however, was undeniable. He took a deep breath and pointed his scepter forward.

  “If that’s what you want, then here I go.”

  He invited his lightning, once again, sending a stream toward the steamcraft’s engine. Everyone rushed into the ship with haste, screaming in panic. The only one smiling was Alexa as the gears began to return to normal.

  “There we go. The engine’s starting.”

  “For real?” Ursula asked.

  “All I needed was a little voltage to spark up the engine,” Alexa said.

  “Now, you’re telling us?” Isabella exclaimed.

  “Just shut up and fasten your seat belts.” She looked over at Michael. “And get in.”

  “Right.” Michael rushed into the steamcraft and took his seat beside Isabella. He finally caught his breath and smiled.

  “We made it.”

  He looked up and found sets of bewildered eyes staring back at him. No one spoke. The girls simply seemed lost for word.

  “Hey… did I do something wrong?”

  “That attack before. It was a bit much, don’t you think?” Isabella asked. “You nearly drowned us.”

  “I didn’t mean to.” Michael looked down with regret. “I just thought about what that woman did before; dragging me down like that and trying to take me away. I guess I was just a bit worked up.”

  The four of them rolled their eyes and broke into laughter.

  “Well, if that’s all it was then don’t worry.”

  “Still, I feel bad. Breaking my sobriety and falling under the guiles of another woman.”

  “We’ll help you sober up again soon. I promise,” Ursula said.

  “As for the woman, we’re not mad about that, either. So long as she wasn’t prettier than us.” Julianna winked.

  “She had a decent body to some degree.”

  “Did she now?” Alexa scowled as her hands tightened around the wheel.

  “But all those crab claws on her body weren’t to my taste.”

  “Crab claws?” Ursula wondered.

  “Yeah, what are you talking about? That mermaid didn’t have any crab claws,” Isabella said.

  “Of course it did. Four of them, actually. And two human arms. Well, sort of human, anyway.”

  The girls all looked at him, confused and concerned.

  “What’s the matter? I swear I wouldn’t go after her. Besides, she must have been at least thirty feet tall. Of course, I didn’t see her whole body, as the bottom half was submerged underwater. The tentacles in the hair also didn’t help.”

  That feeling I had before then? Ursula remembered the mermaid they scorched sinking into the water. If that wasn’t the mermaid that pulled him in, then who was?

  “Michael, are you sure she wasn’t really human-sized with a more human look?” she asked.

  “Yeah, I’m sure because she was like that even before she put me under all those drugs.”

  “That can’t be right. She was much smaller and looked far more tame than what you’re describing,” Ursula said, emphatically.

  “I don’t know what to tell you. If you saw it for yourself, you’d know that no amount of alcohol or drugs could make you forget.”

  “So, if what you’re saying is true, then that means…”

  Alexa took a deep breath as she heard the sound of moving water and crashing ships in the distance.

  “That means we’re in deep shit!”

  There was a tense silence only broken by sounds of a flood racing toward them and roaring against the stone walls.

  “Brace yourselves! She’s about to surface!”

  The cave began to overflow with water, seaweed, and debris from fallen ships. Human passengers flooded the entrance, either screaming from horror or already dead from what was on the other side.

  She approached the cave as the five of them looked outside their windows. It was the sea
monster of Michael’s worst underwater fantasy come to life, ready to reclaim her victim.

  Beyond the confines of their cave, in another dimension, in another plane of existence, he watched—the demon king Lucifer.

  He sat in his leather-bound seat with a glass of red wine in his hand, peering through the sight before him with a black miasma crystal ball.

  “What fascinating company you’ve attracted this time.”

  He chuckled with amusement.

  “Know this.” He placed his wine glass on the table beside him and leaned forward with a callous gaze. “You’ll suffer a thousandfold if you succumb to her a second time. It is I who will be there to destroy you for rebelling against me.”

  Chapter 9

  Eruption From The Surface

  M

  ichael and the girls looked on in utter terror as the waters writhed in her presence. The enormous sea woman peered through the now-foggy interior of the cave, grinning down at him with delight.

  “There, she is,” he said. “That’s the mermaid that captured me.”

  She approached him, bringing a slew of shipwrecks with her. With one of her humanoid hands, she picked up one of the sailing longships. The passengers aboard jumped off in a fit of screams before it was too late for them. In an instant, she chuckled as she crushed the boat like a toothpick, slaughtering any who failed to escape. She seductively looked over at Michael.

  “That’s no mermaid,” Julianna spoke in a tremble, “that’s a monster.”

  The sea woman’s smile glistened against the crashing waters as she sent one of her crab claws into the depths with her sights set on Michael.

  “Look out!” Ursula screamed.

  “Everyone, evacuate immediately!” Alexa screamed.

  The five of them piled out of the steamcraft with haste and frantic breathing. Just moments after, the claw snatched it out of the water and made a clean incision down the middle.

  “Our ship!” Isabella screamed.

  The five of them were left to their own devices now. They paddled through the water with the shore as their destination.

  Alexa began to cry at the sound of her cherished ship crumbling once more. Against her better judgment, she turned around with her infinity bag open.

  “Alexa, what are you doing?”

  “Getting my ship back!” she said before performing her vacuum spell again.

  “Can’t you just build another one later?” Julianna asked.

  “We need to get out of here!” Alexa shouted.

  The mermaid cackled in delight. She swayed her many crab limbs against the water and began swimming toward them.

  “That’s our only way back home. If we don’t take the pieces now, we’ll be fucking stuck in this hostile land. Do you understand?” Alexa screamed.

  “But”—

  “Besides,” Alexa spoke in a sullen tone before Michael could speak. “That ship is my baby.”

  Alexa’s mind wandered back to many years ago when she was a child. She was alone and worn from many hours of unforgiving labor. Her clothes were covered in grease stains from constructing steam vehicles and her hair was disheveled.

  “I don’t want to work anymore. It hurts.”

  She looked down at the bruises on her arms as the grey skies beat down on her skin. She shivered with each step she took.

  “I just want to have a mommy and a daddy I can finally play with. Please.”

  She wandered through open fields. The tall grass stalks blew through the autumnal air. There was nothing in sight until she came across what appeared to be an abandoned hangar.

  “Huh? What’s that?”

  She hurried toward it. A gleam of gold inside caught her attention. As she approached, she noticed dilapidated machines and parts inside—piles of fragments of land vehicles and various aircraft.

  “Toys?”

  She continued moving until she was at the foot of the hangar where she got a clearer view of the thousands of square feet covered in parts. It was purely a junkyard confined between four walls but a paradise to her.

  “It’s like the place I work, but I’m alone,” she said. “No grownups to make me work. I can do whatever I want.”

  A smile formed across her face as she moved deeper into the hangar, basking in the materials and her solitude.

  “And I can build whatever I want.”

  She glowed with total elation. Her eyes spun across the place as she began to skip across the hangar, grabbing on to whatever shined the brightest.

  “And I’ll build something amazing. Something that can do anything.”

  She gathered pieces that seemed least damaged from all different piles and tossed them at the center.

  “I’ll just need this and this and this.”

  She rummaged through the piles for tools to bring back to her workstation. Once she had what she needed, she was ready to construct.

  “This is going to be better than any of their dumb cars or planes. I swear it.”

  Her grin turned into a mischievous one as the pieces came together, one after the other, as the hours passed and the sun began to rise.

  She worked days in series with very little rest. She panted with determination, welding each piece she needed and turning the gears until she shut the hood and declared her project complete.

  She wiped the sweat off her forehead and stood before her creation: a golden ship that shined brighter than anything else.

  “There, it is. My own ship,” she said as tears of joy fell. “With it, I can finally get out of this pit. Even better, I’ll be able to go wherever I want and do as I please. No one will be able to stop me now. I swear it.”

  The vision of her childhood left her crying as the sound of that steamcraft snapping in two echoed in her mind.

  “We’ve been through far too much together. I refuse to give up on it now.”

  She tightened her grip around her bag, even as she struggled to stay afloat with just her legs as the mermaid approached.

  “Just go on. I’ll catch up later.”

  Michael could hear the sounds of the mermaid growing ever so loud. He feared he’d stolen once more, or worse, lose his friends.

  He gritted his teeth. “No way. I’m not leaving you behind.”

  “That’s right. We’re friends and we’re in this shit together. Got it?” Ursula said.

  “You guys?”

  She remembered the day she constructed her steamcraft. The vessel for her freedom. This time, she found herself standing beside her friends who were just as proud and excited for her.

  “In that case, cover me while I get the last of it in.”

  “You’ve got it!” Michael said.

  He and the girls swam in front of Alexa to give her the opening she needed. She turned to her right just a bit to get the second of the two pieces of her vehicle inside her bag, inch by painstaking inch.

  “Come on. You can do it,” she said. “We can get out of this pit together.”

  “Hurry, please,” Michael said.

  His strength began to dwindle while trying to stay afloat amongst the restless waters. The girls struggled to keep their heads out of the water, flailing their limbs against the tides.

  “I’m trying my best!” Alexa said in tears as she tried to pull the last foot and a half of her battered steamcraft inside.

  Michael took a deep breath with hopes of calming his nervousness. The mermaid had different plans. With a smug grin, she came down at him with another one of her crab claws.

  “Michael!” Isabella and Julianna shouted.

  Using his lightning from one hand as a defense, he shocked the mermaid away and she hissed.

  “Seems she wants me back. Too bad I only have a soft spot for demons.”

  “Great job, Michael.” Isabella smiled.

  “Keep using your lightning as a defense until Alexa’s done,” Julianna said.

  “What was that?”

  “I said keep using your”—

  Julianna stopped
mid-phrase. She noticed a vacancy in Michael’s eyes. It was as if his essence was being possessed.

  “Oh, no.”

  Ursula and Isabella took notice, too. They could hear the mermaid’s alluring call projecting over the waves. They realized in that instant he couldn’t hear them; he was under the mermaid’s spell again.

  “What a beautiful voice.”

  “Cover your ears!” Julianna shouted.

  “And ignore such a wonderful song. That would be so mean,” he said with a twisting smile. “No, thank you.”

  Her sultry and hypnotic tone pierced through his mind and filled him with enchantment.

  “I must be with her.”

  “Michael, don’t!” Ursula shouted. She and the others grabbed him by the arms as he attempted to follow her.

  “Let go of me. I have to be with her.”

  “Enough of this. She’s just trying to make you her food.”

  Behind them, Alexa pulled in the last of her broken steamcraft with a smile, too preoccupied to realize what was happening just inches away.

  “There we go.” She closed up her bag. “I’ll fix you up real soon.”

  The screams and thrashing behind her suddenly redirected her attention. She quickly turned around to find the girls struggling to keep Michael from flying off to the mermaid.

  “The hell is going on?”

  “It’s the mermaid. She’s trying to pull him in,” Ursula said.

  Alexa gasped. “Not on my watch.”

  She joined the others in trying to stop him. Still, his wings fluttered.

  “You don’t understand.” His voice was eerie as he spoke. “Her beauty. It calls out to me.”

  He broke through their grip in a bolt of lightning that sent them falling into the water and flew in pursuit of the mermaid.

  The woman smiled. Her trap had worked just as before. She reached out her hand toward him.

  Michael felt the hand wrapping tightly and smiled with relief as he stared into the depth of her mystifying eyes.

  “We can be together at last.”

  “You have to listen to us.” Isabella gritted her teeth. “If you don’t break free from her grip, she’ll keep you as her prisoner forever.”