I’d find out when she came looking for me, and she would come. She would also have every intention of killing me when she did, but I wasn’t about to let that happen.
She would come to kill me, and when she did, I would claim my Chosen.
Chapter Four
Bale
I ducked the punch a large, lower-level demon threw at me and plunged my sword through its prominent, red belly. Grasping my hilt with both hands, I propelled it backward and into a tree. The tip embedded in the tree before I yanked the weapon free. With fumbling hands, the demon was trying to hold its intestines inside as I severed its head from its body.
Spinning away from my kill, I turned to find the others all engaged in battle with lower-level demons. They’d hidden in wait and ambushed us when we came over the mountain and entered a small clearing. They outnumbered us two to one, but that advantage was dwindling as their bodies piled up.
Corson used his talons to sever the head from one while Wren eviscerated another. Wren’s talons were still shorter than Corson’s, but they were as lethal, and she’d become an expert at using them.
When a creature grabbed her, Aisling released a ball of fire into its face. The demon howled and fell back as its alligator-like face burned around the edges of its enormous snout. It snapped its pointy, misshapen teeth as it lurched at her, but Hawk used a battle axe to sever its head from its shoulders.
The screech of metal and shouts of death filled the air along with the stench of blood and the fiery aroma of these monstrous demons. When people imagined Hell creatures, these lower-levels were what most often came to mind. They were ugly, deadly, and incredibly stupid.
One with a huge crab-like claw and another with a tail that looked like it was ripped from a dinosaur ran at me. I spun to avoid a knockout blow from the claw and stuck my foot out to trip the creature running past me. Dirt and snow billowed up around him when he plowed into the ground.
Dinosaur Tail spun and tried to whip me off my feet with its lizard tail. I jumped up to avoid it, and when I came down on the other side, I swung my sword down and sliced into its tail. It was so thick and spiny the sword only cut through half of it.
The demon howled and yanked itself free of my blade, but the cut tail didn’t move as fast as before. Before the demon could get it away from me, I cut the rest of the way through the appendage. Blood spewed from its severed tail as it continued to flop on the ground like it was still alive and seeking to destroy me.
I kicked the flopping thing away as Caim swooped out of the sky and crashed into the claw-armed demon. He grasped it under its arms and propelled it twenty feet into the woods before smashing into a tree.
The resounding thud echoed through the mountains, and the impact caused the tree to crack. It was starting to lean precariously forward when Caim used one of his top spikes to sever the demon’s head and took to the sky again.
Green blood continued to spew from Dinosaur Tail as he whipped what remained of the stump through the air. Growling, it ran back at me with its pointy teeth bared.
They’re so stupid.
I didn’t bother to try avoiding his attack. Instead, when he was nearly on top of me, I knelt and drove my sword up. The tip of it pierced through his chin and straight into his head. I didn’t know if there was any brain to take out, but if there was, I impaled that too.
The demon’s arms flailed in the air; its feet, with nine-inch claws sticking out of its curved toes, kicked at the air as it sought to get at me. Lifting it off the ground, I held it in the air before yanking my blade from the creature. It staggered back, but before it got too far, I cut off its head.
Blood dripped from my sword as I searched for the next threat. Across the clearing, Raphael unleashed a blast of life into two of the lower-level demons. The angel’s power was so strong the demons erupted into ash. Raphael didn’t get out of the way in time to avoid some of the demon’s remains splattering him.
With their numbers dwindling, some tried to flee into the woods, but Lix, Shax, and three of the hellhounds intervened. The hounds pounced and tore the demons apart.
With things settling down and the enemy eradicated, I realized we lost a couple of humans during the battle. I did a count to discover only thirty of us remained. Most of those were demons. However, three of Wren’s Wilders remained with us—Dana, Darcy, and Wren’s close friend, Jolie.
I’d prefer to send them back to the wall; this was no place for a mortal. But Corson and I had both tried that before and failed. This was their home, they’d lived in these Wilds for years, and they would not leave them or the fight. In the end, it would cost them their lives, but that was their choice, and they were aware of the consequences.
We would have to send Raphael back to the wall soon for more reinforcements. However, considering we received a fresh crop not too long ago and lost a good chunk of them already, I wasn’t in a rush for more newbies who would get slaughtered in a couple of days or weeks. After the big battle at the wall with the horsemen and angels, Kobal didn’t have many troops to spare.
Over the past month, we’d encountered and slaughtered more lower-level demons than I cared to recall. And they’d taken out more than a few of us. I never thought I’d feel this way, but I was tired of all the fighting and death.
I was sick of it all, but we were making headway. Despite our numerous losses, the Wilds were getting safer. We used to battle craetons every day or every other day, but it had been a few days since we last encountered any of them.
However, while the horsemen remained alive, the war would continue. We destroyed the fallen angels at the wall, or at least we believed they were all destroyed. We hadn’t spotted any of them in a couple of months, and the demons we encountered hadn’t seen any either. One or two might still be alive, but if they were, they were hiding, and I didn’t consider cowards much of a threat.
When Raphael last returned from the wall with recruits, he brought word that the other palitons on the other side of the world had almost eradicated all the craetons there. Soon, they would be free of the war.
I wanted to be free too. Unfortunately, after learning what Wrath was to me, the only way I would find freedom was through death. But my friends could experience it, and I would make sure they did before I destroyed Wrath and myself.
Just because the other side of the world was almost clear of craetons didn’t mean the horsemen hadn’t figured out a way to get over there. Death floated on air currents and could probably make it to the other side, but the other three couldn’t. Wrath couldn’t.
Besides, I felt an incessant pull toward something that could only be him. And that pull was leading me unerringly onward and deeper into these mountains. I shuddered at the reminder of my Chosen, but I wasn’t sure if it was a shudder of dread or desire. Either way, I despised both emotions.
I rested the tip of my bloody sword on the ground and wiped away the blood splattering my face. Looking at my friends and fellow fighters, I saw the same weariness in their eyes that had to reside in mine. Every battle was one step closer to freedom, but this one had cost us more lives, and all those lives weighed heavily on our shoulders.
“Well, that was fun,” Lix muttered as he straightened his blood-splattered, blue tie with rainbows and unicorns on it.
He bent to pick up his baseball cap and smooshed it onto his skull. A red B was on the front of the hat. I didn’t know what it stood for, and I didn’t care.
Despite his words, Lix wasn’t as jovial as he usually was after a battle. There was a time when he and his fellow skelleins would charge happily into a fight with their swords raised, their teeth chattering eagerly, and their bones clacking as they ran. There was also a time when there were a lot more skelleins.
Now, Lix was all that remained of the skelleins in the Wilds. Four others lived at the wall, and there were more on the other side of the world, but he was alone out here with us. Although he would never admit it, I suspected the endless fighting had also robbed him of so
me of his joviality.
Lix planted the tip of his sword in the ground and leaned against it. He crossed his bony legs, uncapped his flask, and drank whatever alcohol was inside.
Shax ran a hand through his golden blond hair as he studied the carnage. “Let’s get our own buried.”
We didn’t speak as we worked to bury the humans. By now, it was so commonplace no one had to talk, and we finished in less than an hour.
“Now what?” Amalia asked.
“I say we find some more and kill them too,” Lix said as he took another swig of alcohol.
“I say we find someplace to clean up and rest,” Magnus said.
“Or we could do that,” Lix said. “I like that idea better.”
Chapter Five
Wrath
“The enemy is nearby,” Death said.
I didn’t bother to lift my head from my work on polishing the blade of Bale’s sword. “And?”
“There are a couple dozen of them,” Death replied.
“Do you think we could take them?”
“We are without War and Pride.”
“We are.”
I set aside Bale’s sword and lifted my head to look at my fellow horsemen. Death wore the black clothes and cape he discovered when we arrived on Earth. Behind the seals and in Hell, we didn’t wear clothes. On Earth, we adapted to the style of the humans who once ruled it.
I didn’t understand why we’d done this, considering none of us really gave much consideration to the humans. They were an afterthought, a mere nuisance on this plane whose life and death cycle was a vital part of my survival. I didn’t wish them dead or locked away somewhere; I simply wanted them to stay out of my way and continue with their lives so mine could continue too.
I’d never paused to think about why any of us started wearing their clothing once here, but we all had, except for Lust. At first, I refused to wear anything. Then I found some things I liked, and after a while, the others found somethings they liked too. I was naked about as often as I wore clothes, but I was gradually wearing them more.
“We do not require the others,” Death said. “The enemy has recently battled some lower-level demons; they are tired and battered. We will be able to destroy them.”
I lifted an eyebrow at this bold statement coming from the head cradled in the crook of his arm. Death was broad through his shoulders, and though he had white ligaments running over the top of his head, his skull and fingers were skinless. His thighs and torso were also full.
The white of his skull gleamed in the fire dancing across my fingertips as his greenish-blue eyes, the color of rotting flesh, stared at me. Over his shoulder, his pale horse also stared at me from the two red orbs in its bony head. Death lifted his head, and, gripping it in both hands, he brought it down on top of the spine sticking up from his neck. With a sharp crack, he twisted it into place.
“Were you spying on them?” I asked.
I kept my irritation over this revelation hidden. If he had told me he was going to spy on the palitons, I would have gone with him to see them—to see her.
“No,” Death said. “One of the beasts who attacked them escaped. I ran into him in the woods. By the time I found the battle site, the palitons were gone. We can track them.”
“I am all for going out to slaughter, probably more so than the rest of you,” I said. “But they have taken down seven of us; are you ready to face them when we are missing two of our brethren?”
“We have always been the strongest of us, and you know it.”
“Oh, I am certain of that, but what remains of the palitons is also the strongest of their fighters.”
“If I get close enough, I can sow death throughout their camp.”
Before, there were too many palitons for him to do that, and despite our time on Earth, we still weren’t at full strength. However, our power was increasing daily, and he could kill some of them without getting too close. But what if he chose Bale?
My hand clenched on the hilt of the sword she’d run through me. I planned to make her pay for that in the most delicious of ways, but I didn’t plan for her demise.
I couldn’t tell Death that. He wouldn’t care that she was my Chosen; it wouldn’t matter to him if destroying her meant destroying me. We didn’t work that way. We didn’t care for each other. I wouldn’t care if his Chosen was the enemy either; I’d gladly kill her, and him, if it meant getting to the varcolac.
We only remained together now because there was strength in numbers. If we’d separated after leaving Hell, they’d probably all be dead. Well, Death would probably still be alive. I wasn’t sure how to kill him, or if he could die, considering he could decapitate himself.
Rising, I rested the tip of my new blade on the rock while I studied my fellow horseman. “You could only kill so many of them that way, and once they realized what was happening, they would come for us.”
“I’d kill the strongest of them first. And let them come for me; they won’t survive a dance with Death.”
I despised when he talked about himself in such a way, but it was a habit of his. “Do you think you’re powerful enough to take down the golden angel?”
Death bared his teeth at me. “I do not fear the angel.”
“I didn’t say you feared him. I asked if you’re powerful enough to take him down.”
We both knew he wasn’t, but unlike Pride, who would never admit such a thing, Death was no fool. “No, I cannot take him down yet. But when I’m stronger, I will try.”
“While he lives, anything you kill, he could bring back to life.”
“He is an angel; he wouldn’t interfere in life and death matters in such a way.”
“Maybe, maybe not. They say he saved the varcolac’s Chosen, but even if that’s only a rumor and he doesn’t bring any of them back, he would go after you, and neither of us is strong enough to fight him off.”
Death glowered at me before stalking into the shadows of the main cavern. His bony feet clicked against the rocky floor as he walked. His horse started to follow him but stopped when Death came back toward me.
“They must be destroyed,” he hissed.
“And they will be.” Or at least most of them will. “But we must be smart about it. We can’t go and attack them just because they are nearby.”
Although, I would see her and find a way to get close. I’d known it was only a matter of time before she arrived in this area. The Chosen bond didn’t have much time to strengthen before she skewered me, but it had started to form with that kiss, and it would draw her here just as it had allowed me to enter her dreams.
“Where are Pride and War?” I asked.
“They went to feed.”
“It’s daytime.”
“They had some other needs to fulfill too and went to visit the tree nymphs.”
“The tree nymphs,” I murmured, not because I was interested in them but because they resided in the nearby calamut forest.
If the palitons learned of the forest, they would probably go there after a battle. They would seek the respite that being beneath the protective boughs of the calamuts would offer them. No one battled around the calamut trees. Not even the horsemen dared such a thing.
“That’s where they’ll go,” Death said. “They’ll go to the forest.”
No shit. I would never claim my fellow horsemen were brimming with intelligence.
“They will,” I agreed. “But there’s nothing we can do to them there. The calamuts will kill us if we try.”
“No, but they have to leave eventually, and I’m not about to let Pride and War have all the fun of killing them.”
I wasn’t either. Smiling, I slid the sword into the scabbard on my back. I imagined how Bale would react when she saw it. She would want it back; I did not doubt it.
“Then let’s go join the fun,” I said.
Bale
“What is this?” Amalia asked as she gazed at the large building sitting in the middle of a grove of calamut trees.
Other buildings spread throughout the woods too, but most of the structures sagged and had pieces missing from them due to years of neglect. However, the brick building remained in good shape, considering the calamuts had many of their limbs resting against the roof.
“It was a school,” Hawk said. “I’m guessing an elementary school by the size of it.”
The single-story brick building had two wings jutting out from the center of it. In the right wing, candles danced in some of the windows. Laughter and music floated from that side of the building as someone danced past one of the windows. In the left wing, an occasional candle would ignite before going out, and one remained burning.
A tree nymph darted around the side of the building. Laughter trailed her as a large, lumbering demon chased her inside.
“The nymphs have turned it into their base of operations,” Lix said.
“What are they doing in an old school?” Aisling asked. “I thought they preferred the trees.”
“Even in the shelter of calamuts, it’s cold. The tree nymphs must have decided to move inside,” Magnus said as he ran a hand through his pale blond hair.
Amalia wrapped her arm around his waist and rested her head on his chest. Her multicolored, reddish hair shimmered in the fire from the torch Hawk held. Other than the candles in the building, it was the only source of illumination as no moon or starlight pierced the thick canopy of calamut trees.
The towering trees were two to three times the size of the largest Earth trees. The flickering torchlight emphasized the evident ridges of their black bark. Their gnarled limbs twisted and bent as they vanished into the darkness overhead. The ripe prury fruit hanging from their limbs would fall soon.
Edge of the Darkness (Hell on Earth Book 4) Page 3
