Nephilim Rising: The Complete Series, page 103
part #0 of Nephilim Rising Series
68
As I drew closer to the Jaggermount, something started to happen on the roof. The sky above the building became a pitch black maelstrom, swallowing up the night sky around it. I hovered in the air, just as forks of bright red energy began to arc through the swirling vortex. "What the hell is happening?" I said.
"A portal is opening," Demon Leia said.
"To where?"
It was a redundant question, for I already knew the answer.
"Hell."
The fate I had been warned about was coming true. My brother was about to descend into Hell.
"No…" I said.
I flew at top speed toward the towering Jaggermount building, even though I had no idea what I was going to do when I got there. Even if I managed to stop what was happening, then what? Hug my brother and go home? I didn't think so.
When I got to within fifty yards of the building, I stopped again as I saw my brother standing in the center of the roof, staring up at the portal as it continued to rip and tear its way into existence, as though it was eating the very fabric of time and space. I was about to fly to him when a winged figure suddenly rose up of the roof: a massive demon with four thick arms; and rippling sinews with skin that looked slime green; and a face that I recognized straight away:
"Deacon…" I growled as our eyes met, his burning deep purple; mine yellow.
All the rage and frustration I had been feeling the last few days suddenly got released, rushing into my system, powering me up with anger and a burning need to rip the other demon apart, until there was nothing left of him. To destroy him so he ended up in the Body Shop in Hell, stripped of everything, including his physical form and whatever power he held. All gone. And then reincarnated as the lowest form of life in Hell, forced to spend an eternity trying to crawl out of whatever slime pit he ended up in.
I roared at the other demon, and he roared back. Then the two of us started flying toward each other at speed, me ready to put my fist right through him. As we clashed in the air, my fist missed the center mass target I was going for, and smashed into his face instead. A spur of sharp bone on his cheek speared my hand, but I hardly felt it. The impact of the punch sent Deacon skewing back through the air, though he stopped himself before he slammed into the huge panes of glass on the building behind him. He recovered quickly, flying back at me with terrific speed, grabbing me with two of his arms, while he hit me with his other two free hands. Deacon in full demon form was immensely strong, and I felt every one of his shots as he battered my body and head, his arms moving so fast they were just a blur. Then he spun me around suddenly and threw me through the air. Unlike him, I wasn't able to stop myself from smashing through the windows, and I ended up crash landing and skidding across the floor of the restaurant, sending tables and chairs flying everywhere, before I finally came to a stop.
"You underestimated him," Demon Leia said. "Did I teach you nothing in Hell?"
"Don't worry," I said, crouched now in the restaurant as the wind blew a gale through the broken window. "It won't happen again."
Deacon was hovering just outside the shattered window, two of his arms cockily folded as he sneered over at me with his strangely shimmering face. "I'm going to enjoy ripping you apart," he said in a voice so deep and distorted it was barely legible.
"I don't think so," I said, bolting forward suddenly, running across the restaurant floor. When I got to the window, I dived at Deacon, locking onto him with both hands, sinking my claws into his thick hide, driving him through the air so hard he wasn't able to stop me, despite trying to put the brakes on with his wings. I was so full of rage, and was moving so fast, that there was nothing he could do but stare right at me and growl as I directed him downward. A second later, I smashed his body into the roof of one of the surrounding buildings, embedding him into the smashed concrete by at least a foot. Then I started battering him like he did me, my fists moving like bullets and hitting like cannonballs, my knuckles breaking his bones, my claws puncturing his skin, drawing black blood that sprayed up around me like aerosol paint.
But despite the punishment I gave him, Deacon still managed to come back at me, erupting from the broken concrete that surrounded him, grabbing me by the throat and spinning me around, before slamming me down. As he choked me with two hands, he hit me with his other two, battering at my ribs, pounding down on my sternum so hard I felt sure he had shattered it.
Sister! Demon Leia shouted inside me.
There was nothing I could do. With his weight on me, his hands squeezed my throat relentlessly. I couldn't move. Then he stopped squeezing and started pulling on my head, his hands like vice grips. He roared with effort in his attempt to rip my head off my shoulders. Barely conscious, my neck stretching further by the second, some instinct in me took over. Not a demon instinct, but a Nephilim instinct. Seconds later, blinding white light exploded from out of my demon body, just for an instant, but long enough to burn Deacon's eyes, causing him to cry out and release his grip on my neck. I couldn't afford to wait until my lungs were filled with air again, even though I wanted to. Demon Leia was screaming inside me to immediately capitalize on Deacon's temporary blindness. I lifted my upper body off the ground and grabbed Deacon's head, pulling him down into me before he even knew what was happening. Then without even thinking about it, my thumbs found his eye sockets, and I forced my claws into the fleshy orbs. Deacon screamed as my thumbs sank in deeper. He flailed at me with his four arms, but I held on, gripping the back of his large head with my fingers. As I felt his eyeballs burst, I suddenly twisted his head up and around with every ounce of strength I had, satisfied to hear his neck snapping. Then I was on top of him, punching him until he stopped moving almost totally, and he could only lay there, sightless, his grotesque head a bloody mess. Across the way, on the roof of the Jaggermount building, the portal that was forming seemed to have gotten bigger and redder in color. If I didn't hurry, Josh would enter the portal, and that would be that.
"Let him," Demon Leia said. "Hell is where he belongs. You can't save him, Sister."
She may have been right, but that wasn't going to stop me from trying.
Deacon moved underneath me, beginning to recover from the pounding I had given him. Snarling at him, I placed my knee on his chest and grabbed his head with both hands. "I will do to you what you just tried to do to me," I growled at him. "Enjoy the Body Shop, motherfucker."
With all the strength I had, I yanked hard on his head. He screamed, and then there was a wet tearing sound as his head was detached from his shoulders. I held the head up in front of my face, the bloody stump dripping all over Deacon's now headless body. "Fuck you, Deacon."
Tossing the demon's head, I faced the Jaggermount Building.
Then I flew toward it.
Toward the unknown.
69
After Leia took on her demon form and flew off into the night, her demon boyfriend Lucas turned up, materializing by the side of Frank's car, his face passive and unconcerned, as though the city he chose to call home wasn't slowly sinking into Hell. The demon exchanged a few words with Frank and Eva, but Alice never heard what was said. She was too preoccupied with thinking about the spear hidden inside her coat. She could feel the latent power of the weapon as it sent waves of energy out that rippled through her body. The waves were so strong she worried that the others in the car might feel them as well, but neither Frank nor Eva passed comment.
She stepped out of the car, moving awkwardly to prevent the spear from falling out of her coat. All she wanted was to get to the city and do what she had to do. The burden of Samuel's orders (if indeed that’s what they were; it certainly felt like it) weighed heavy on her, alongside the sense that she was somehow betraying Leia by going behind her back. The sickening feelings that accompanied those thoughts of betrayal were becoming hard to bare. She knew it was guilt eating at her, but knowing that didn't lessen the intensity of the emotion. She didn't expect that killing Josh would lessen those feelings. More like increase them.
Soon, Alice found herself standing on the roof of a building in the city, alongside Frank and Eva. The demon, Lucas, stood there as well. All of them stared in astonishment at the vortex that seemed to be opening up in the fabric of the sky just above the roof. Josh was standing there with his back to them, staring up into the vortex as it raged open, appearing like a hole in the fabric of space itself.
"Unbelievable," Lucas said standing beside Alice. "It's a portal to Hell."
Eva drew her two swords, and Frank stood with his huge automatic rifle held against his shoulder. "So we let him use it. Good riddance."
"Agreed," Eva said. "If he wants to go to Hell, then let him."
If only they knew what they were saying. If only they knew that if Josh were allowed to enter that portal, it would mean the end of the world as they knew it.
"I'm sure you can handle things from here," Lucas said to Frank, his voice raised over the howling winds created by the portal. "I have a club to protect from the crazies down there."
"Are you kidding?" Frank nearly screamed. "We could use your help here, Lucas."
Alice looked at the demon, who was staring toward the ever-expanding portal. He looked disturbed by what he saw, maybe even fearful. "You have another demon to help you." He gestured to the edge of the roof at the tall, blue-colored demon who stood there—Leia. Her demon self was still as majestic and as fierce looking as ever, Alice thought.
"Josh!" Demon Leia shouted, her pitched voice commanding, somehow cutting through the almighty noise being produced by the portal.
Josh turned his head around and stared at his sister in her demon form. "Impressive!" he shouted back. "Truly. Come with me, Leia." He held out his hand toward her. "It's your destiny as much as mine."
"No!" Leia screamed back, jumping down onto the roof. "Never!"
Josh turned further around, and at that point, he noticed Alice and the rest standing not far behind him. "You're all going to die!" he roared at them, his face dark and twisted, as though the black energy in him was rising to the surface, changing his features; turning his physical self into the monster that grew within him.
Lucas had gone, Alice realized as she looked to her left. It was just her, Frank and Eva now. And Leia.
Frank wasted no time, and opened fire immediately, firing a burst from his automatic. No one was surprised to see the bullets stop in midair before they even got near Josh and drop harmlessly to the ground. He shook his head as if confronted by a bunch of naive kids.
Firing again, Frank used up an entire clip. Not a single bullet managed to penetrate whatever invisible shield Josh had around him.
"You can't stop me!" he shouted. "No one can!"
Eva took a step forward like she was about to go running at him, but Leia suddenly landed in front of her. "He'll kill you!" she growled. "Get out of here now!"
"Let him go into the portal," Frank shouted back as he pushed another clip into his rifle. "He belongs in Hell!"
"No!" Leia shouted.
"He's right, Leia," Eva said, her hair blowing wildly over her face. "You need to let him go!"
"No!" Leia said again.
"Yeah, Leia," Josh said, stepping forward toward them. "Let me go." He laughed menacingly, like the whole thing was a joke to him.
Alice still stood staring intensely at Josh.
She knew she had to move now before it was too late.
She went to reach inside her jacket to get the spear, but a bolt of black energy she never even seen coming hit her square in the chest, and she went flying back across the roof, along with Frank, Eva and Leia, who all appeared to have been hit by the same blast simultaneously. Alice could only groan as she lay on the roof with the others, hardly able to move as Josh advanced toward them, forks of dark energy crackling around his hands.
"I'm going to enjoy killing you all," he said. "And when I'm done, I'm taking all your souls to Hell with me."
Just in front of Alice, Leia sprang to her feet. "I don't think so, Josh," she said.
70
Josh stood glaring at me with a crooked grin on his face. I hardly recognized him as my brother. His eyes had turned almost pure black, and his once handsome face seemed to be twisting and forming into something altogether more monstrous; more demonic.
"That isn't your brother anymore," Demon Leia said.
I gazed upon the abomination my brother had become, shook my head sadly and said, "He will always be my brother."
Then I charged at him.
71
Josh stood grinning like a demon as I charged toward him. The black energy was still arcing around his hands, snaking up his arms. As I got near him, he raised his hands and blasted me with the energy, lifting me off my feet and sending me hurtling back until I landed on the hard roof.
"That one hurt," Demon Leia said.
It hurt all right. It was like getting hit with ten sledgehammers at once. My demon body could barely catch a breath. Before I could even move to get up again, though, Josh was standing over me, the portal still raging in the background, awaiting his entry.
"There is no point fighting me," he said. "You'll never win."
I took that as a challenge almost, springing to my feet, despite the pain in my chest and ribs. With a roar, I attacked him violently, throwing punches and kicks at him as fast as I was able. But it wasn't enough, for Josh was able to block, evade and counter every single one of my attacks, all with an amused smile on his face, as though he was fighting some stupid kid.
Then he put a stop to it by sliding forward suddenly, after blocking one of my kicks, grabbing me by the throat and lifting me clean off my feet, whereupon he slammed me down hard onto the roof. Before I could even recover, he had dropped his knee into my chest, pinning me to the roof. "You should know better than to fight me, Leia," he said. "Why would you want to? Even if you manage to kill me, I'll still get to where I need to go. I'd prefer to remain intact, though." He pressed down harder on my chest. "I'm sorry it has to end this way, Leia."
"No, you’re not," I said, barely managing to speak at all with the pressure on my chest.
Josh smiled with a mouth that seemed to have gotten wider, more wolfish. "You're right. I'm not. Neither should you be. We're just playing out our fates, Leia. It was always going to end this way. It's not too late. You can join me. We would be formidable together, don't you think?"
For one sick moment, I entertained the idea of going to Hell with Josh if it meant I wouldn't lose him. But then I thought of my mother, of how sad and sickened she would be to see her two children this way; how mad she would be at me for even considering going back to Hell, even it was with Josh.
"No…" I said, staring straight into the bottomless blackness of his eyes.
Josh stared back for another moment, then he nodded. "Fine. Die then."
Black lightning shot out of his hand; an immensely burning energy that was directed right into my chest, whereupon it raced around my demon body and steadily began to cook it from the inside out.
I screamed helplessly before the burning stopped a few seconds later. When I looked up, I saw it was because Josh had his head turned, his attention now elsewhere. My head fell to the side, and I saw Frank shooting bursts of automatic fire at him. Some of the bullets made it into Josh's body, though the bullet wounds appeared to annoy him more than hurt him. He directed his black lightning at Frank, bringing Frank to his knees, whereupon he immediately dropped the rifle and started screaming in pain; a sound that I will never forget.
Josh was off me now, on his feet as he pumped the black lightning into Frank. As I managed to sit up, I saw Eva charge at Josh with both her swords drawn, an elongated cry coming out of her mouth as she ran. A battle cry that was made up partly of her reaction to Frank's pain, partly of her determination to stop Josh from hurting him anymore. Eva was fast, catching Josh off guard, slicing him across the belly with one of her swords, causing him to double slightly, the black lightning no longer coming from his hand. He glared furiously at Eva, who was already coming at him again, but this time, Josh snatched the sword swinging toward him with his hand and snapped the blade in two. Eva attacked with her remaining sword, but Josh trapped her arm, snapping the bones there, causing Eva to scream. Then he punched her in the face half a dozen times until she was bloodied and unconscious, maybe even dead for all anyone knew. She was tossed to the side like a rag doll, landing near Frank.
"NO!" Frank shouted, immediately going to her.
I stared over at the unmoving Eva for long seconds. Then I looked at Josh. He was staring back at the portal, which was beginning to close. "Destiny awaits," he said to me. "You'll see me again. Don't worry. You all will." He laughed then, fully transformed into the monster he had been striving so hard to be. "Goodbye, Leia."
As I struggled to get up off the ground, I had no intention of going after him. There was no point. He couldn't be caged, and even if I managed to kill him—which was doubtful, given his massively increased power—he would still win.
On my knees, I watched him walk right up to the portal and outstretch his arms. Immediately he began to lift off the ground, as though invisible wires were raising him up, turning him in the air so that he ended up facing me, as he was slowly drawn into the swirling dark portal.
Without even realizing, I had transformed back into my normal self, the cold wind gusting around the roof a shock to my naked body. I never took my eyes off my brother (or rather the monster he had become) however, as he ascended further toward the portal. His eyes were on me as well, like he needed me to see; like he needed me to be a part of his glorious descension.
It was because of this shared experience, that neither of us saw the blur that was Alice go racing across the roof. But by then, it was too late to stop what happened next.
