Tempest

by Karen Ann Hopkins

  Chapter 16

  He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.

  Revelation 20:2-3

  “These trees are more alive than you realize,” Insepth whispered. “Now go and let me handle this.”

  Sawyer stood, arms crossed, a short distance away. His gaze rarely left me, but he wouldn’t say much about his private excursion—only that it had been routine. I was still trying to figure out what routine meant to him while Insepth knelt down in the middle of the group and described his plan.

  It sounded insane to me, but my mentor had a certain amount of luck on his side that always seemed to work in his favor. When Horas and Eae nodded in unison, I wasn’t about to argue. I had my own job to do and left Insepth to his.

  “Twenty hours,” Horas said, pointing to his watch.

  I rose and dusted my knees off. “Ivan, you know what to do.”

  He changed into a wolf and charged through the trees, disappearing around a particularly large one. “Be careful,” I told Insepth.

  “It isn’t my day to die,” he replied with a grin. His confidence was grating sometimes, but it was good to have him on our side—or at least having the same goal at the moment. With Insepth you never knew exactly where he stood. I guessed that at his core, he was a good guy and wanted to do the right thing. But his idea of right didn’t always align with mine.

  His golden-brown eyes sparkled with excitement and it was difficult not to be drawn into his enthusiasm. Insepth was bright and hopeful, where Sawyer was gloomy and pessimistic. I stopped myself from comparing the two men any further. It made me uncomfortable to even think about Insepth in a romantic sense, but occasionally, in my dreams, I’d kiss him. I was sure it was just my Gaia on overdrive. Insepth was the king of earth, so how could I fault my own earthiness for being attracted to him? And for some reason, here lately, Sawyer had become more secretive than ever. Something about him had changed and I couldn’t put my finger on it.

  I shook the thoughts away to focus on the matter at hand. Remembering a line Insepth had used on me before, I said, “Just stay alive.”

  “Of course, milady,” he teased, but the spark in his eyes softened and I hastily turned away.

  Sawyer still gazed at me darkly. I wanted to walk up and smack him in the chest, scream at him to tell me what was on his mind, but I didn’t dare.

  Without any more idle words, I pivoted and began jogging in the direction Ivan had gone. Horas raced ahead of me and Eae controlled his speed to match mine. I glanced back to see Sawyer bringing up the rear. It stabbed my heart that he didn’t want to be closer to me, especially because I had no idea why. I would have expected Sawyer to be at my side and Eae to be watching our backs.

  We ran for a mile or more, until my lungs felt like they were about to burst. The stinging in my chest was a bleak reminder about how out of shape I was. When Horas finally stopped, I said a silent alleluia and doubled over, trying to catch my breath.

  Ivan materialized and patted my back.

  “There is a building not too far from here.” He leaned in closer.

  My heart stopped pounding and chills crawled all over me. I straightened and stared at him. “A building?”

  He swallowed and motioned for the others to come closer. A moment before I was desperately trying to breathe, and now I purposely held my breath.

  “It’s huge, square and made of smooth rock. There’s a doorway, but no windows.” He fidgeted, lifting his cap a fraction higher. “Music was playing inside the building.”

  “What kind of music?” Horas asked, echoing my first thought.

  “Heavy metal—fast and furious, booming stuff.” Ivan shifted on his feet. “There were all manner of creatures going in—Growlers, humans, Demons, even a few beasts I couldn’t name.”

  “Hell beasts,” Eae said. “Earth isn’t the only plane of existence where the barrier is crumbling. Holes are opening up in Purgatory, and some creatures are making their way through.”

  I found my voice. “Is it like a bar for bad guys?”

  We all looked at Eae. His lips thinned. “I’ve heard stories of a playground of sorts, hidden in this place, for the damned and demented.” His brow rose. “Angels patrol the outside of Purgatory, not the inside. Once souls are sent here, they are left alone to wander as aimlessly as they please until Azriel comes to collect those ready for judgment.”

  “I thought judgment happened at Armageddon when the end comes?” Horas said.

  “It does, but Purgatory can’t hold all the souls coming in. Some need to be culled from time to time to keep the numbers in check. With the breaches in the walls and unrest in Heaven among the Angels, creatures not meant to be here have come. It is unknown to me why they would want to though, or what they’re doing.”

  Horas tipped his head my way. “Perhaps you should search for Vorago there,” he suggested.

  “Yeah, I was thinking that,” I muttered.

  “It’s beginning,” Ivan exclaimed with wide eyes. “Listen!”

  There was a rumble, then a crashing noise that made the ground beneath my feet tremble. I glanced at Eae and he nodded. Horas took up position in front of me and Ivan pressed his back against mine. Sawyer offered me a faint smile before he left us to patrol. My heart clenched seeing him go, and I swallowed hard, forcing the knot down my throat.

  The ground shook again. I wasted no more time and opened myself up to my tempest. Fire and earth were there, but amazingly, they allowed water to surge ahead, filling me with a wave. My mind grasped its power and began searching—searching for beings made of its essence.

  I found a lake a few miles off and went directly there. Wooded hills rose up around it, creating a bowl effect. My mind splashed into its inky surface sending ripples outward. The coldness of the water shocked my mind, but I delved deeper, searching for the dolphin-man. I stopped and backed up. A slender creature, maybe eighty feet long, swam by me. Its long snout and flippers reminded me of dinosaurs I’d seen in a book as a kid. There were more of them swimming about, all enormous, with sharp teeth and black, lifeless eyes. I recoiled, jetting upward when teeth flashed and a mouth snapped at me. Vorago can’t be swimming in these waters, I decided.

  The ground shook harder and Horas’ hands clenched my arms to hold me upright. Ivan’s back was warm and solid, and the scent of wolf filled my nose. I worked to focus on my search, my mind leaving my companions to speed through the dark forest towards the building Ivan had discovered. I didn’t pass any other water source, but a sliver of something liquid caught my attention, and I surged toward it.

  “Ember, we have to go!” Horas shouted into my ear, severing my contact with the water and abruptly ending my search.

  I opened my eyes and screamed as a tree limb smashed down. One of its branches scratched my cheek. Horas jerked me to the side just in time to keep me from being flattened. Ivan jumped the other way and Eae battled another limb with his bare hands.

  “My God, he did it.” I grasped Horas’ hand and ran for my life.

  Luckily, not all the trees had come alive, but enough had to create a scene of complete chaos. Trees pulled their roots from the ground and stomped slowly around the forest, bumping into each other and waving their limbs around with unnatural elasticity.

  The trees trying to kill us weren’t part of Insepth’s plan. As I dodged another slashing limb, I opened to my Gaia.

  “Stop,” Insepth shouted.

  I pushed it back down and danced alongside Horas to avoid being smashed again by the pale branches of a crazed tree. I looked up and Ivan had reached Insepth, who was waving for us to join him.

>   “Let me carry you and I’ll make a run for it,” Horas said.

  I knew how fast Demons could run and Horas had once carried me to safety before he even knew me. I didn’t hesitate jumping into his arms. I squeezed my eyes tightly shut and jostled against his chest. Zigging and zagging through the forest, he dodged flailing tree limbs. It seemed like an eternity before he finally slid to a stop.

  “Nice work.” Insepth slapped Horas on the back. We stood beneath a stationary tree on a knoll overlooking the destruction.

  My heart quickened when my Gaia felt a stirring in the tree and I scrambled out of Horas’ arms and away from it.

  “No, it’s all right. This one isn’t awake,” Insepth urged with a softer tone. “I’m surprised you didn’t feel their life forces when we first arrived. My mother told me a story when I was a small child about how even the plants had living souls in the Garden of Eden. There was a great tree there that held the knowledge of the universe. When Adam and Eve sinned and were cast out of the Garden, the shattered paradise was sealed—the gate, guarded by Angels.

  “Before the sealing, seeds blew out of Eden on a strong wind. The Angels were directed to gather the saplings that sprouted on earth and replant them in Purgatory.” He spread his arms wide. “These are those legendary trees.”

  “It hadn’t occurred to me earlier. You never should have awakened them—they resent anything remotely humanoid because of man and woman’s original sin—a sin that cost them their freedom on earth,” Eae said, brushing leaves from his shoulder.

  Insepth snorted, rolling his eyes. “Look there, Angel. They’re already going back to sleep.”

  He was right. The trees were slowing and some were drilling their roots back into the ground.

  “But they just woke up,” Ivan said.

  Eae nodded, understanding. “For the same reason you will dwindle away to a lifeless corpse in this place, so have they. The energy of the sun, wind and stars is absent. Rain never falls here and the only body of water in Purgatory is poisoned—tainted so deeply from corruption, only Leviathan dwell there.”

  “Sea monsters,” I said.

  “Yes—you know of them?” Eae asked.

  “I met a few on my search for Vorago.”

  “Did you locate him?” Insepth asked.

  The forest was deathly still again and I peered out into the grayness, holding my breath and waiting for something bad to happen. “Where’s Sawyer?”

  Horas straightened and looked around. “I don’t know.”

  “Do you feel his presence?” Insepth took a few steps away from the group to search the hollow below us.

  Without touching any elemental power, I relied on my guardianship connection to Sawyer.

  When I turned to the others, I said, “Yes.”

  “Where is he?” Insepth spoke slowly.

  “In the bad guy bar.”

  Chapter 17

  And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads.

  Revelation 12:3

  The building had a gothic, biker bar quality to it. Like Ivan said, music boomed through the rock walls and when the door opened, colorful lights flashed, brightening the forest for a moment until the door closed. The giant slumbering trees were more numerous around here, pressed in tightly around three sides of the building, providing a natural barrier of sorts.

  “I don’t see any bouncers.” Insepth leaned over my head.

  “Not in the traditional sense.” Horas pointed to the edge of the clearing across from the doorway. “There. Someone approaches now.”

  I squinted into the darkness until a pale form emerged. The Demon was grotesquely thin, with a long face and black, greasy hair. He was dressed all in black, and the leather jacket with spikes along the arms added to the dangerous look of him. Behind him was a short, bearded man who was as nondescript as the Demon was noticeable.

  I wasn’t sure they were actually together as they weren’t conversing in any way. The Demon paused, flicking his finger in the air in front of him. I glanced at Eae, who shrugged and turned back to the scene.

  I held my breath as the Demon took a tentative step forward and then another one. A few more steps and he reached the door. It popped open and he slipped in. When it slammed shut, I jumped a little and shifted my gaze back to the man.

  He wasn’t as cautious as he walked forward. Horas touched my arm. “You might not want to watch.”

  His words caused me to stare harder.

  The man was almost to the door when the air chilled. He stopped and glanced around, then took a hesitant step forward. The ground buckled and a million beetle-like bugs erupted from the dirt, swarming the man until his entire body was concealed by the squirming creatures.

  I heard gurgling, then the man exploded in a gush of blood and small pieces of tissue. A wave of bugs moved over the man’s remains mere seconds before nothing at all was left. When the bugs burrowed back into the forest floor, disappearing completely again, I shivered. The scene in front of the building was the same as before—like the man had never been there.

  I softly cleared my throat. “How are we going to get in there?”

  “Horas shouldn’t have any problem entering, but I wouldn’t chance Ivan.” Insepth lifted his chin to where Ivan napped, curled against the tree. His ever-growing lack of energy worried me. Twenty-four hours in this dead place may be too much for him. He motioned at Eae. “The Angel will most certainly be bug bait.”

  “I don’t get it. How do you know the admission policy?” I tucked a section of loose hair behind my ears.

  “What does your gut feel like right now?” Insepth poked my belly.

  “Not good. The closer we get to that building, the sicker I feel.” I paused, thinking. “It’s because there’s a lot of evil beings in there—which means that’s who they let in.”

  “Precisely!” Insepth exclaimed in a hushed voice. “That last bloke probably wasn’t evil, so he couldn’t pass.” He looked over at Eae, who crouched beside me.

  “I sense much evil in that place. Your hypothesis is likely correct,” Eae replied.

  “Horas can’t go in there alone,” I protested.

  Eae inclined his head and asked quietly, “Have you killed with malice in your heart?”

  I opened my mouth to say no, then images of Kim, Donnelly and Maren popped into my mind. They’d all deserved to die—and I had been their judge, jury and executioner. There had been pure hatred coursing through my veins when I’d snuffed out their lives.

  I nodded slowly.

  “I’m sure in his hundreds of years—” he jutted his chin toward Insepth “—he’s killed with malice also. You both might be allowed to pass.”

  “They can’t take that risk,” Horas said. “I’ll go in, and see what’s going on. I’ve been in bars like this on my travels.” He forced a smile. “You don’t want to go in there, Ember. It’s no place for you.”

  “We have to stick together—it’s the only way. If you go in there alone, you might never come out.” I took a trembling breath. “Sawyer’s in there—he needs me. I can feel it.” Horas’ face scrunched in doubt and I quickly added, “If any bugs start crawling over me, all bets are off. I’ll draw so much of the power I’ll be able to handle anything that comes through that door.”

  Eae groaned. “Let us hope that it doesn’t come to that. I know your heart, and it isn’t pure.”

  I looked away, meeting Insepth’s wandering eyes. “What do you think?”

  “I have a feeling everything we’re looking for is inside those walls.” He turned to Horas. “How much time do we have?”

  “Sixteen hours.”

  “We can’t be trapped here—it will mean the death of us all.” Insepth chuckled darkly. “Drastic times call for drastic measures.”
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  “Shall we wake Ivan?” Horas asked.

  “No, let him sleep.” I stood and faced Eae. “If we don’t come out of there in time, I expect you to make sure Ivan gets to the rendezvous point to meet the dragons.”

  “You’re the one I promised to protect.”

  I leaned forward, heat fanning my cheeks as my fire awakened. “I thought you were here to help me?” Eae nodded and I continued, “Helping me is giving me some peace of mind. Can you do that for me—please?”

  “I make no assurances,” Eae said.

  Insepth grasped my shoulder. “He’s an Angel. He won’t allow Ivan to die if he can help it. Have a little faith that the Fates are on our side.”

  “The Fates?” Eae laughed and I glanced around, worried someone would hear. “They are unreliable at best.”

  “They’re real?” Horas’ eyebrows rose.

  “Unfortunately, but don’t even ask me to explain now. There isn’t enough time on an ordinary day to do so.”

  I took that as my cue, and after a quick look at Ivan’s sleeping form, I walked down the slope. Horas and Insepth were right behind me until we reached the cleared space in front of the building, where Horas raised his hand and took the lead. His steps were cautious, but not too much. He winked at us when the door opened.

  Insepth began forward, and I reached out and grasped his jacket, pulling him to a stop.

  “We should go together. I think it’s better for us to enter at the same time—just in case there’s an ambush.”

  The corners of Insepth’s mouth twitched, like he was fighting a smile. “Here we are again in a life or death situation, relying on each other for support. It’s becoming a pattern with us.”

  I wasn’t sure where Insepth was going with his line of thought, but the need for urgency to get the bug gauntlet over with and enter the building was greater than my curiosity.

  I took his hand and tugged him forward, holding my breath and willing my heart to slow down. With each step forward we took, butterflies multiplied in my belly. Was I really evil enough to get into the bar? I hoped it to be true, but I was also sickened by the thought.