Nephilim Rising: The Complete Series, page 74
part #0 of Nephilim Rising Series
"I take it you are not happy about all this?" Edward said as we walked quickly across the wasteland on the outskirts of the palace. I was looking for the dead tree that marked the hidden entrance.
“Is that supposed to be a joke?” I said without looking at him.
“Not really; maybe.” He paused for a second. “I wasn’t expecting to be in the thick of things. I’m not happy about it either.”
"I don't give a fuck if you are happy or not, Edward," I said. "I got better things to think about than your happiness."
“My, my…Hell really has got to you, hasn’t it?”
Past the moat of fire, black smoke emanated from the palace. Explosions of some kind could be heard. It sounded like a war was going on in the grounds. Obviously, Leonard's army was causing chaos. I doubted the seven demon mercenaries marching behind me would stand up too long to an entire army, as well as the King's forces. Not that it mattered. The mercenaries were only there to protect me inside the palace, until I could locate Seraphim, after which we would find Mordred, if he hadn’t already been disposed of by Eblis, that is.
“How do you plan on taking care of the Grand Duke?” Edward asked. “I doubt you and that demon of yours are a match for him.”
The mention of Demon Leia cut me like a knife, and I winced. “I don’t,” I said to Edward.
“What do you mean by that?” He was walking right beside me now, glancing nervously over his shoulder at the demons marching behind us. “If Leonard succeeds in bonding with the Adversary, it is all over.”
“I know.” I spotted the tree up ahead; just a dark shadow through the haze of smoke that had settled over the wasteland. I quickened my pace.
“I confess, you are confusing me.”
“Look,” I said. “There’s no way I can stop Leonard. That’s why I’m relying on Eblis stopping him instead.”
“Eblis? Can he?”
We were at the tree. The seven mercenaries all stopped as one, and waited. Edward was frowning down at me. I’d forgotten how tall he was. He towered over me. “We’ll see,” I said. “Right now, Eblis will be in the safest part of the palace, the room containing the dark energy of the Adversary. No one else can get in, though I know Leonard will, or he wouldn’t be here. After that, it’s up to Eblis.”
“And if he fails?”
“Then we’re all fucked. Step back.”
Edward took a few steps back, and I said the words Seraphim had used to open the hidden entrance in the dirt. I made sure I memorized them when I heard her say them, figuring I would probably need to open the doors myself at some point. Though, when I said the words, nothing happened. "What the fuck?"
“The words must be exact,” Edward said. “Try again.”
I said the words again, and still nothing. Rubbing my face, I did my best to keep my anger and frustration in check, which threatened to boil over at any second.
Edward spoke again in a calm voice. “The magic is in the words. Hear each word clearly in your head before you say it. Remember, they must be exactly pronounced.”
I took a deep breath, hearing Seraphim say the words in my head. Then I carefully repeated each one to myself before saying them aloud. When I did, the ground shifted, and the entrance opened up, the dry dirt falling down the steps inside.
“Good girl,” Edward said.
I flashed him a look, still not quite able to forgive him for his betrayal. “Let’s go.”
Just as another explosion went off that shook the very ground we stood on, I ran down the steps and into the underground passage, not caring about sealing the entrance back up. I didn’t intend to need it again.
My grace lit the way as I ran up the passageway, everyone else following behind at the same pace. When I reached the wall at the end, I used the magic words to open the door, half expecting Alice to be gone for the room, but there she was, huddled up in a corner, her knees drawn up to her chest, her tangles of hair covering most of her face. “Alice!” I said, so glad to see the little girl. I ran over and hugged her just as she was standing up. Her thin arms wrapped around my neck and didn’t let go. “I’m so glad you’re all right, Alice.”
“You come back,” Alice said into my shoulder.
“Of course. I said I would.”
“I thought you gone.”
“No, Alice,” I said shaking my head. “I’m getting us out of here. Out of Hell for good.”
Prizing her arms gently off me, I picked up Seraphim’s cloak and tore a part of it off, enough to cover Alice’s still naked body. I secured her new clothing with the belt I took from around my waist.
Edward and all the mercenaries were staring at me, the mercenaries with half puzzled, half disgusted looks on their faces. “I’m astonished,” Edward said. “The girl. You never said you had her.”
“I do, and I’m not letting her go this time.”
Edward nodded. “You don’t think her a liability at this time?”
Before I could answer, one of the mercenaries spoke up, a massive Lizard Demon with a scarred face, who also held the bigger gun out of his compatriots. His name was Litkus, and he was commanding officer of the mercenaries. “If we didn’t have orders,” he said. “We would just eat that sweet meat and move on.”
I gritted my teeth. Litkus was intimidating, but I knew he wouldn’t go against his orders, which is why I told him to shut the fuck up in the most authoritative voice I could muster. Litkus stared back at me and grunted. At least he didn’t tear my head off.
“Okay,” Edward said, stepping between Litkus and me. “What’s our next move here?”
"We find Seraphim," I said. "Then we find Mordred." My confidence wavered when I remembered that Mordred might not be around anymore, but I didn't let the slip show. I went to the wall and opened the door, and then addressed Litkus again. "Take your squad and clear the way. Keep two to our flank. This place will be crawling with hostiles right now."
“No shit, little girl,” Litkus said, his yellow eyes burning into me, before he barged past me and went through the door, stomping off up the hallway. I shook my head and called after him to head to the front of the palace.
Four of the other mercenaries joined their commander, and then me, Alice and Edward walked out behind them, while the other two mercenaries covered our rear.
Alice held my hand tight, as we moved quickly through the dimly lit corridors. The unnerving silence that usually existed in the palace hallways was gone now, replaced by the sound of gunfire, explosions and a constant chorus of shouting and battle cries.
Within a few moments of having left the secret room, we had to stop while the mercenaries up front took care of a group of hostiles who started firing upon us. I wasn't sure if the hostiles belonged to Eblis or Leonard, nor did I care. As far as I was concerned, any demon I came across from now on was a hostile, and this deserved to be put down if they tried to get in my way. Edward and I never fired a single shot. We crouched down while the mercenaries—who lucky for us were good at their job—put down the demons who were firing at us. When the fighting stopped, Litkus signaled for us to move out again.
“Do you know where your mother will be?” Edward asked as we continued to move cautiously through the hallways, the two demon mercenaries following closely behind us.
“I don’t know,” I said. “She was with Eblis in Damned Square last time I saw her. Knowing Seraphim, she’s probably fighting right now. And knowing Eblis, he probably insisted that she defend the palace.”
“Let’s hope she doesn’t shoot us first then.”
There were three other firefights and a couple of close quarter altercations with both Eblis' and Leonard's forces before we finally made it to the front of the palace. Or what was left of it anyway. Someone had seen fit to blow the front doors off their hinges, along with half the front wall. The doors lay mangled in the center of the foyer, along with rubble and the bodies of fallen demons. The fallen were still alive of course. It was just they were so badly mangled, they weren't exactly mobile anymore. That didn't stop some of the Hellwrathian guards pulling themselves along the rubble-strewn floor with one arm, or bouncing forward with no arms just so they could get to the soldiers who fought for the Grand Duke, who by the way, were also still chomping at the bit to get at the Hellwrathians. A few had come together and were busy fighting each other as best they could, which in some cases involved lots of biting, because that's about all they could do with no limbs to fight with.
Cowering in one corner of the foyer was one of the palace maids. She was covered in blood and dust as she looked fearfully around her. When she made eye contact with me, I realized it was the maid who first came to me after I was released from the Depths; the maid with only half a face. Still keeping hold of Alice’s hand, I ran over to the maid, who looked up at me like a frightened dog with her one dead eye. “Where is the Countess?” I asked her.
She started shaking her head, but didn't speak.
“The Countess!” I said again. “Have you seen her?”
“The King,” she mumbled, almost inaudibly with her half a mouth. “He...”
“He what?”
“I...aint never seen him...so mad...”
I shook my head. "Well, everything he holds dear is under attack at the moment, so that would be expected. Now, where is Seraphim? Do you even know?"
The maid nodded. “Eblis said—”
"I don't give a flying fuck what Eblis said!" I pointed my gun at her. "Tell me where she is, or I will blow the remaining part of your face off."
“Mordred...”
“Mordred?” I frowned. “What about Mordred?”
“Eblis locked her up...with Mordred.”
I froze in astonishment for a second. My first thought was: thank Christ Mordred was still around. My second thought was: what a sadistic motherfucker Eblis was to lock Seraphim up with Mordred of all demons. I dreaded to think what the monster was doing to her right this second. You would think after spending so much time in Hell, that I would be used to this kind of sadistic and brutal behavior; but no, I was still sickened by it, especially when it involved my mother. Goddamn, if anyone had paid for their sins by now, it was her. "Tell me where!" I demanded of the maid.
“The dungeons!” she said, turning away from me.
Edward had walked over at this point, two of the demon mercenaries with him. “Where are the dungeons?” he asked me.
Before I could answer, a band of Leonard’s soldiers came rushing into the foyer with all guns blazing. Instinctively, I shielded Alice by pulling her tight to me, and putting my back to the wall. Edward crouched down beside me and started firing at the soldiers. Mullin’s mercenaries were firing back as well, their heavy firepower cutting most of Leonard’s soldiers to shreds.
Alice squealed when a stray bolt of energy hit the wall beside us, showering us in dust and bits of stone that stung my face, almost taking out my eye. "Fuck!" I shouted, and returned fire on the last three remaining soldiers, all of whom looked exactly like the cloned Ice Demons Demon Leia and I had fought outside of Leonard's Keep.
When the last of Leonard's clones went down, Litkus ran forward and started stomping on the bodies, crushing heads under his massive boots, and blowing off limbs with his huge gun. When he had finished, he stood to stare in my direction, dead-eyed. Somebody’s got a chip on their damn shoulder, I thought. I didn’t care, though. The mercenary was only here to protect me until I could do what I had to do. He may have wanted to eat or kill me, but he was under orders, so tough shit for him.
“We need to go back the way we came,” I said Litkus. “To the dungeons. And quickly!”
Before we got to the dungeons, we encountered yet more resistance, first from a wayward hellhound without a master, which Edward shot in the head, as it came bounding out of a dark hallway unexpectedly, trying I think, to get its gaping maw around Alice. The great beast fell to the floor when Edward shot it, and I ran over and put another few shots into it, just to make sure, after which Alice kicked the beast in what was left of its head.
After that, we came upon a few stray Hellwrathians roaming the hallways. These were harder to put down, but with the help of the mercenaries, and after much shooting, we did.
Then finally we reached the dungeons, which were as dark and damp as you would expect. The dungeons were essentially a system of tunnels, not unlike the sewer tunnels to be found on Earth. It was so dark down there, both Edward and I had to use our grace to see where we were going. The mercenaries, being demons, didn't seem fazed by the lack of light. Obviously, they could see in the dark better than we could. If Demon Leia were still with me, I wouldn't have been fazed either, but she wasn't. Just one of the many things I missed about having her with me. I couldn’t even shift into the demon body anymore, or else I would have. I never took her seriously when she called me sister; but now that she was gone, it felt like I had lost a sister. In quieter moments, which were few and far between, I would search inside myself for signs of her, for even a tiny vestige of her consciousness. But there was nothing there. Not even my own soul.
"How are we supposed to find your mother down here?" Edward said as we continued through the tunnels. The jail cells were built into the sides of the walls, and sealed with heavy iron doors. It wouldn't have surprised me if each door had been magically sealed also, given the kinds of demons and creatures that were locked up down here. The tunnels were quiet, except for the sound of water dripping from the ceiling, and the claws of rats scraping on the hard stone. If we got near any of the rats—human-headed ones of course—they would hiss or curse us before running away. If they didn't, the mercenaries would crush them under foot, or else eat them, biting the heads off and discarding the rest. I stopped in the middle of one of the tunnels while Edward asked me again about how I planned to find my mother. Swallowing, I said, "We listen for the screams."
“The screams?” Edward said.
“Yes.”
He nodded and looked at me almost sympathetically, but said nothing.
I started walking again, still clutching Alice’s hand tight, as she did her best to keep up with me. As I walked, I listened carefully. Almost every prison cell that we passed emanated only silence. The occupants had probably been down there so long at this point, that they had all but given up in trying to protest. Evidently, they all now chose to sit in their cells silently as they rotted to pieces.
But I knew the cell Seraphim shared with Mordred wouldn’t be silent.
Not with their history.
The tunnels seemed to go on forever. Not only that, but it appeared the farther into the tunnels we got, the deeper underground we went as well. It was the like the entire tunnel system was built on a downward slope that could have gone on forever for all we new. After much walking and listening, I said, "This is hopeless. This place is too vast."
“Don’t,” Edward said.
“Don’t what?” I snapped back at him.
“Don’t give up.”
I shook my head wearily. “I’m not giving up. It’s just hard to be optimistic about anything when you’re in the fucking bowels of Hell.”
“You have made it this far, haven’t you?” He put a hand on my shoulder. “Against all the odds, you have made it this far. In fact, it is a bloody miracle you are even still here. Now, let’s get going.”
“Nice pep talk,” I said.
“And there is that tone I did not miss so much.”
“Shut up. Let’s go.”
No sooner had I said it, when an ear piercing scream echoed through the tunnels, seeming to go on forever, chilling every ounce of my blood. "Mom!"
Picking Alice up, I ran in the direction of the scream.
31
Another ear piercing scream enabled me to locate Seraphim's cell down one of the tunnels to the right. Edward and the mercenaries ran after me, stopping when they found me standing outside of the cell the screaming was coming from. They were not necessarily screams of pain. More like screams of frustration tinged with despair. I doubted Mordred had any power to speak of. If he did, he wouldn't be locked up in a cell. He would have used his power to teleport or blow the door off otherwise. Which meant he was all over Seraphim with his physical bulk, trying to do God knows what to her as he knocked her around. No doubt Seraphim was fighting back. It at least sounded like a fight was going on behind the door. I thought it best not to alert Mordred to our presence, lest he decided to break Seraphim's neck, which would be an inconvenience, considering what we still had to do.
Motioning for the others to be quiet, I signaled for Litkus and one of the other mercenaries to shoot the heavy iron down. After giving me a dirty look, Litkus adjusted something on his huge gun, and then aimed it at the top hinge of the door. The other mercenary took aim at the bottom hinge.
A moment later, Litkus fired. His subordinate fired almost at the same time, and the door blasted back into the dark cell.
Inside, Seraphim screamed in shock.
Mordred grunted loudly like a pig who had just been booted.
The two mercenaries rushed in, and immediately secured Mordred, taking the former King down to the floor and pinning him there. “What in the hell’s fuck is this?” Mordred cried.
I stepped into the cell and lit the darkness inside with my grace, just in time to see a very angry, and very messed up looking Seraphim start kicking at Mordred’s head with her heavy boots. Her usual leather clothing was in tatters, likely ripped by Mordred’s massive hands.
Mordred himself was a beast of a demon. Or more accurately, a fat fuck of a demon. The statues in the church in Pandemonium didn't do him justice. Which kind of shocked me. You would think after centuries of imprisonment, that the demon would be wasted away. But no. He still looked like he had been living the high life upstairs in the palace all this time.
I went to pull Seraphim away from Mordred, after she had kicked him multiple times in the skull, her boot bouncing off his massive block head. "We still need him, don't forget!" I said.
