Fall From Grace, page 16
part #9 of the Preternatural Chronicles Series
Pushing off the glass a little harder than she had meant to, Lily turned to face the boys and walked away from the windows.
“Of course you can,” Lily confidently answered for Ulric.
“Spoken like a true Queen of Hell,” Ulric almost purred victoriously while taking a sip of his angelic blood.
“I’m in!” Greg exclaimed, clapping his hands together in excitement, though Lily could hear the slight tremble in his voice. Looking toward her companion, she took note that his brow and the corners of his lips were quivering. Lily only hoped that Ulric—who no doubt noticed that Greg’s mask didn’t quite fit—would pay him no mind and assume he was only nervous at the task laid out before them.
Snatching her glass off the desk as she walked past, Lily sensuously glided to Ulric and held up her hand, a coy smile upon her beautiful face.
With a twinkle in her eyes at the nearly assured victory, Lily added a piece of flair to seal the deal.
“Long live the queen.”
24
MAGNI
Magni landed on a stone floor, the air shooting from his lungs like a reverse airbag while the front half of his body throbbed from the impact.
Oh no, Magni thought to himself as his eyes went wide with terror. Oh no, oh no, oh no…I think I broke something.
With trembling hands, Magni managed to push himself up while awkwardly swinging his legs around to maneuver into a sitting position. The throbbing pain was intense, like lying across the glowing red burners of an electric stove that was also attached to electrodes.
I can’t fight like this, Magni thought to himself as tears welled in his eyes, defeat looming above his head like a guillotine ready to drop.
Ludvig flashed in his mind, and Magni closed his gaping mouth and let his wide eyes narrow in concentration.
The throbbing dulled in an instant, like a post-op patient clicking the button that released morphine into their system.
“This…this isn’t my body.”
Getting to his feet with a confidence that felt fake, Magni convinced himself that he wasn’t actually injured in much the same way that a very hurt stunt devil would give a thumbs-up to the crowd after a failed attempt at a world record. Even though every bone of the performer’s body had been pulverized into dust, the simple action of telling the audience they were okay provided some semblance of relief.
As he inspected his ribs, sternum, and pelvis, the fake confidence turned more and more into the real thing.
A twinkling caught Magni’s eye, and he shifted his focus to the arena-sized platform he sat on.
The floor was comprised of huge slabs of black stone that had been shaped into perfect cubes. His hand rested on the dark ground, and Magni felt a chill run up his arm with how absolutely cold the material was.
Getting to his feet, Magni let his gaze roam until he reached the edge of the area, where nothing awaited him. The platform was in a darkness dense enough to trick Magni’s eyes into thinking he was inside a large dome or stadium.
He couldn’t explain why, but Magni knew there were supposed to be galaxies providing an artist’s pallet of blending colors floating in the sky and filling it with their incalculable numbers.
But nothing floated in this universe. Only an empty graveyard devoid of headstones that spanned forever in all directions.
A bright light caught Magni’s eye, and he looked up to see the glowing seed hovering several hundred feet above the onyx platform.
It had begun to take root, forming a circle of vines big enough to squeeze a person through. He understood then that he had fallen through the opening and landed in this alien universe.
Movement beyond the growing seed snatched at Magni’s focus, and he shifted his attention to a writhing mass nestled in the darkness.
Light from the seed cast a faint illumination on a creature that threatened to make Magni’s mind overload and die, like a bolt of lightning directly striking an unshielded computer, frying everything beyond repair in a single instant.
It was the same creature Magni had seen before the Ether had cast the innocent man into his own personal horror movie.
The sheer size of the thing was maddening, and Magni was thankful the light of the seed was as weak as it was.
“Oh my God…”
“Your God isn’t here, child,” the Ether said as it coalesced out of thin air. “But mine is.”
The tall silhouette had an observable form in this universe, and it made Magni even more uncomfortable than the expressionless shadow he had all but grown accustomed to.
A tall, balding man with neatly combed white hair that circled around from ear to ear stood scowling at Magni. A perfectly formfitting black suit and tie with a white button-up shirt made the too long proportions of the man seem all the creepier to gaze upon, not to mention the stabbing sensation Magni felt in his eyes as if from rapidly piercing, unseen needles.
Magni narrowed his gaze at the Tall Man, refusing to pull his eyes away, no matter how much it hurt to look upon him.
Twin crescent moons mirrored one another from either side of the elderly man’s nose and mouth, forming jowls that locked his expression in a perpetual frown. One eye scowled almost to the point of closing entirely while the other remained wide and full of determination and rage.
Magni took a step back, losing control over his fear like an owner trying to hold back a leashed Great Dane after a squirrel darted across its path.
The Tall Man did something that made Magni’s guts turn to ice—he smiled.
“You’re right to fear, boy, for you stand before the great Hastur. Gaze upon his vast appetite and drop to your knees in willing sacrifice. Become the appetizer of your doomed universe, like so many before it.”
Magni took another step back, eyes wide with more fear than his young mind was able to process as his gaping mouth spouted unintelligible vowels in a weak whisper.
The circle of vines that had sprouted from the seed began to buzz and glow even brighter, drawing with it the last of the light from the oval of energy.
Without warning, the portal that had pulled Magni into this empty universe plunged to the platform, slamming into it with a thud that almost made the young man fall on his ass.
The Tall Man’s hands began to waver with ugly energy that felt alien to Magni, as if he knew the power being used didn’t belong in his world.
A long rumble came from above—like snowcapped mountains crashing into one another, grinding stone on stone—making Magni’s vision shake with its intensity.
One of the writhing tentacles slowly separated from the rest, reaching for the portal that Magni could see was growing in diameter with each passing second.
As it expanded, an image came through, and Magni peered over the edge to see dark clouds that were beginning to move apart. After a few moments, the castle of the Seelie Court was revealed.
“Oh no…” Magni mouthed as his knees buckled and he dropped to all fours.
A noise that sounded like wet snakes sliding over one another caught Magni’s failing focus, and he looked up to see a smaller tentacle reaching out…toward him.
“Your sacrifice has been accepted, child,” the Tall Man said with pleasure as he focused on further widening the portal.
“Sac…rifice?” Magni asked while his head swam as if lost in a dream.
Pushing himself up to sit on his feet, Magni understood then that he had done exactly what the Tall Man had asked, and dropped to his knees.
The tentacle drew closer, clear slime oozing off of it as it reached for the appetizer of our universe.
25
JOHN
Beyond the hole in the sky was a writhing mass of serpentine-like…things that were denser than the pot of spaghetti you made after eyeballing the dry noodles and saying to yourself, this should be just enough for one plate, only to discover and ponder how you managed to make enough pasta to feed an entire cruise ship for a week.
Still using Mjolnir to provide me with the Sight of the Gods, I saw that each individual creature shared an aura with those surrounding it.
“It’s a hive mind,” I whispered, not able to focus enough and provide the strength needed to increase the volume of my words. “Or maybe it’s all one creature.”
“Good,” Depweg said, which blessedly caught my attention.
Shaking my head, I let the sight drop and turned to Depweg, who was extending a hand to where I was slumped on my knees.
Reaching out, I grabbed his forearm and stood straight up.
“Good? How so?”
“That means we only need to kill the leader, right?”
“But…” I exhaled, my face wanting to pull toward the ground with the weight of his words. “But that’s Magni.”
“John, I hate to break it to you, but the fate of the world rests on the actions we take today.”
With Depweg still holding my forearm, I yanked my hand away, looking the were up and down in disgust.
I instinctually felt bitter anger against him the second he suggested we kill Magni, and it took my brain a few moments to formulate why.
Perhaps it was the tone of his voice that suggested it would bring him delight to hurt me by killing Magni, just like I had hurt him by taking his family from him. Or maybe I was reading something that wasn’t there based on my own predisposed bias and trepidations after what happened with Jose; a form of projection, if you will, unconsciously seeking atonement by experiencing pain like Depweg had to even the scales.
Or maybe he was right, and it was poetic justice that I would have to lose someone whom I would grow to consider a son in order to save the world. Depweg had lost his family to do just that—why shouldn’t I?
“John!” Depweg barked, snapped his fingers in front of my face, and broke me from the dangerous thoughts that drifted in my mind like poisoned fog.
Coming back to the now, I stared into Depweg’s face, decreeing, “We do everything in our power to save Magni first. Got it?”
“No shit,” Depweg concurred, surprising me with his duh tone. “But you need to be prepared for all scenarios.”
“Do what must be done…” I mouthed with only the air from my lungs crossing over my lips to provide any volume.
Depweg looked at me quizzically, and I understood that he probably hadn’t heard my faint whisper over the winds that rose and fell like an apparition’s haunted wail.
Then something came over me, invigorating my disposition like a cool, damp rag over a fevered forehead.
The books of the prophecy said Magni would survive until just before the gates opened, judging by how close the events seemed to happen as I skimmed the pages in search of answers. That meant he wouldn’t die this day, and not for around another three years from now.
If the books could be an overwhelming, crushing weight against my heart, then so too could I use the information contained within the pages as a beacon for hope. Magni would not die this day.
“I don’t think Magni is the leader,” I thought out loud, drawing a look from Depweg before he followed my gaze up toward the hole in the sky.
“Hmph,” Depweg grunted in acknowledgment.
Something tugged at my thoughts, and I dared to allow the budding idea to form before my conscious mind. What about the time-stabilizing crystals Taylor had made?
Glancing over at Depweg, I could see something poking out from underneath his shirt between his navel and sternum, and I snuffed out the worry that had started to form, content we wouldn’t somehow lose two years of Earth time while in Faerie. My armor and Depweg’s crystal would see to that.
Then, another worrying thought reared its head: was Magni wearing his?
While we were at it, how did the crystals even work? If I was immune because of my angelic armor and Depweg because of his crystal—what would happen if Magni didn’t have his? I assumed he had been wearing it when he allowed the Ether to enter his heart and mind, becoming a dangerous sorcerer. But what if he wasn’t?
As if on cue, something hissed from around a pile of rubble where part of the wall had collapsed in on itself.
Depweg and I jumped at the sound. Well, I jumped; Depweg managed to swiftly turn his body toward the threat, his mind already prepped for combat.
Feeding off of Depweg’s confidence, I held up my straightened palm which was primed for a devastating karate strike, and grabbed my wrist with my free hand to add support for the deadliest weapon known to man.
“Hwaaaa,” I warned in a high pitch like any respectable karate master from the era of martial arts movies.
Something blurred from the corner of my vision, and I was tackled by an amorphous black mass the size of a refrigerator. And I didn’t mean one of those skinny European styles either. I meant the beefy, oversized American ones that could hold an entire month’s worth of groceries for an ever-expanding family that had never heard of prophylactics.
“Hwaaaaa!” I screamed in the same high pitch as before, but the reason was a tad different.
Hitting the ground with enough force to crack stone and bone, I went into full instinct mode and allowed my muscle memory to use my momentum to roll backward while kicking out with my feet.
The solid blob of black stuff flew off me, just as I had trained to do, and crashed into the castle itself.
Getting to my feet, I held my karate hand out, daring the creature to attack.
“I ain’t afraid of no blob!” I called out with a chuckle dripping with superiority.
The amorphous mass dropped toward the ground, rippling and contorting as it did.
What landed was not a blob any longer.
A creature taller than me stood on four long, bony limbs, almost like a crab. Its body resembled the thorax of a black spider with a head that masqueraded as human. It was as if a Homo sapien’s head had been loosely described to the creature, and it had done its best to replicate the idea.
There was a vaguely humanoid skull complete with eye sockets and a spot for the nose, but nothing except slits were there in the obsidian flesh. The mouth was nearly half the size of the entire head, with jaws that protruded through thin lips, and vicious teeth that jutted mostly forward, with the backmost aimed toward the throat.
The crab-spider skittered forward with powerful legs that cracked whatever stone it came across on the devastated courtyard grounds.
“JesusMaryandJoseph!” I cried out in one word, my mother tongue taking control in my surprise and reverting to an old Irish slang.
All I could do was recoil and prepare for the strike as the creature of nightmares moved faster than it should have been able to.
There was a monstrous bellow that made my breastbone reverberate, and I lowered my hands—which had somehow made it up to shield my face—to see a twelve-foot-tall wolf blurring through the air.
Depweg swung an obsidian sword that was longer than I was tall and cut the creature’s head off before the thing could even register it was being attacked.
The nightmare crab-spider tripped over its own legs and rolled to a stop just inches from where I cowered—I mean, stood in an ultra-manly position and not at all like someone who had to pee really, really badly.
The head plopped behind me and continued to roll, and I lowered my hands from my face and straightened my knees—which had not been bent toward one another like my legs were trying to form the letter X. I wasn’t afraid of the spider-crab, and you’ll never be able to convince a court of my peers otherwise.
Then again, a court of my peers would probably consist of just Ulric and Lily…never mind!
Straightening my coat and clearing my throat, I lifted my straightened hand and lightly karate chopped the corpse of the monster with an accompanying, “Hi-yah!” I might have whispered it, but that doesn’t matter.
The decapitated body exploded into a wave of clear ectoplasm, coating me from head to toe in the warm, gelatinous viscera. From somewhere nearby, a little girl screamed. She must have been a ventriloquist or something, because she was really good at throwing her voice and making it seem like it was me shrieking.
Rubbing the goo from my eyes and spitting intermittently to get the ectoplasm from my mouth, I became aware of the sound of hissing from all around.
That grabbed my attention faster than a cattle prod to the nuts.
Looking all around with wide eyes, my heart filled with dread as I saw different creatures slinking around in the shadows provided by the roiling clouds overhead. The light that flittered over them provided that extra level of creepiness that I seriously didn’t need right now.
Beside me, Depweg growled in warning at the approaching creatures, who had begun taking an assortment of forms directly from the imaginations of Clive Barker and H.R. Giger. I won’t bore you with the details; sufficed to say, it was clear to me that the Ether had taken countless forms of lore over the millennia.
Some creatures had eyes that came out from their skulls like each orb was a sentient snake. Others had the same number of eyes as they did appendages. A handful more didn’t have eyes at all.
Lilith, why was I fixated on eyes? Oh, probably because they were creepy as hell.
Panic began to fill my body, flooding in like water into a sinking ship.
Standing in place, I turned around in circles as more and more creatures sprouted from the shadows.
One sniffed the air and turned toward the city—and toward Meli, who was off trying to save the few remaining citizens of Faerie.
Several more close to the sniffing creature abruptly turned away from me and began stalking after the first in search of the werecat running loose in the city.
The panic inside me drained in an instant, and purpose filled every cell of my being.
I began lifting into the air as Mjolnir flew into my grip, electricity arcing out with intermittent pops.
“We need to distract them,” I called out to Depweg, who was standing at the ready, his giant sword itching to taste monster flesh.
