Eddie Lancaster Box Set 2, page 75
part #4 of Eddie Lancaster Series
‘I would’ve thought all this might have taught you not to blaspheme,’ Katelyn said playfully. That playfulness would vanish quickly enough when the fighting began.
‘You didn’t think we’d leave you on your own did you?’ Shirley asked. ‘That lot is a threat to us all. I’ve worked hard to fight off the government and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let a bunch of inbred monsters led by a delusional angel with a god complex ruin it for me.’
I looked out at the sorcerers again. There were hundreds of them. Three hundred, maybe four hundred. But I wasn’t sure if it would be enough. Malek was opening the gates of the Underworld and I had no idea how many were going to come marching through. Probably thousands. I shook my head sadly, knowing that I had to stop her from killing her people.
‘Shirley, you can’t fight. If you do then your people will be wiped out completely. There’ll be no sorcerers left in Kent.’
She snorted. ‘First of all, I didn’t ask your permission. Every one of my sorcerers would rather die than let that rabble run roughshod over us. And second, we didn’t come alone.’
I felt the air kick up a breeze to my side as someone shot past me with vampiric speed.
‘Hello again, Eddie,’ Howard said. He was leaning on the guardhouse, his arms folded, grinning at me as if he’d come to a party rather than a battle. His dark hair was tied behind his head where it wouldn’t fall into his eyes. ‘I’ve been itching for a fight.’
‘You only had one the other day,’ I said.
‘He gets restless easily,’ Amara said as she appeared at his side. More and more vampires appeared on the road, forming ranks with the sorcerers. A few hundred turned into many hundreds and it looked like our odds were improving. Especially with the fay who were circling around overhead, lighting the area. If only I had access to The Prevention Association’s technology.
‘How are you alive?’ Katelyn asked. ‘I watched you die.’
‘Lucifer sent me back to stop Malek. If I fail, I get an eternity of hell,’ I explained, trying to keep my tone light.
‘What do we do with him?’ she said, nodding at Gabe.
I turned and saw the blonde-haired vampire was up on his feet and staring with terror at the army that now stood before him.
‘Eddie…’ he said in a whisper.
Then came the thud of footsteps as Malek’s army approached. The buzzing of voices from the sorcerers and vampires fell into silence as the enemy approached. Each step the opposing force took sounded like a fresh wave of thunder growing ever closer. Finally, shapes emerged from the darkness as the ranks of zombies stepped into the light. I could see the purple glow of the necromancers in amongst their troops. When Malek had opened the gateway they must have returned to life. Anya was standing confidently at the front, leading the charge. When she saw me her lips started to curl into a smile that quickly vanished when she saw that I was not alone.
’Not what you were expecting?’ I asked her, stretching my arms wide to show off the army at my back.
She raised an eyebrow and then shrugged, jerking her thumb over her shoulder.
Then I saw the newcomers. Behind the row of zombies stood what I could only assume were demons. They stood a little taller than the average human. Their skin was a mottled green-grey colour and they were covered in yellow, pus-filled boils. They were just the ones on the left. To their right stood another class of demon. These ones looked more traditional. Dark purple skin that looked as hard as concrete and huge, pointed horns that twisted out of their heads.
‘Get ready!’ Howard shouted like a true military general. The vampires and sorcerers moved into position ready to fight.
Then we all heard movement in the sky above. Beings flew to the front of the enemy ranks. There were less than a hundred, which was a relief. They were angelic in their beauty. Vast wings stretched out from their bodies and those were not so beautiful, they were leathery and black like those of a bat. The exiled angels. The ones Lucifer had vowed to punish. They would be doubly exiled soon.
‘Without angelic power, we won’t be able to kill the angels,’ I told Katelyn, Shirley, Howard, and Amara. If we kill the necromancers the zombies will fall too. Then all we have to worry about are the demons.’
‘Thank you, Eddie, we know how necromancy works,’ Shirley said giving me a patronising pat on the shoulder.
‘The aim is the Ambrotos Dagger,’ Katelyn said. ‘We need to remove it from the ritual site.’
‘Why?’ I asked. The dagger had no value anymore.
‘The dagger is holding all the portals open. Remove the dagger and the ritual will break. The necromancers will all die again, except Anya. Most of the zombies will go with them. The angels will be rendered powerless, and… well, I’m not too sure about the demons but it will definitely weaken the army considerably. Without the gateway open we can be sure that anyone we kill will stay dead.’
‘You’ve got a smart granddaughter,’ I told Shirley.
‘I don’t breed idiots,’ Shirley said back. She looked at Katelyn fondly, perhaps for the last time.
‘You never know, Heaven might decide to intervene before things go too far,’ I said, although I didn’t believe they would. The silence I received from the others told me they didn’t hold hope for any divine intervention either.
‘Where is this Ambrotos Dagger?’ Howard asked.
‘Behind Malek’s army,’ I told him and watched his face fall.
‘Well, that will be easy enough to take.’
’Barely an inconvenience,’ I said in a lame attempt at sarcasm.
‘I must say I am pleased,’ Malek’s voice rang down on us loudly as if he were speaking through a megaphone, although none of us could see where he was in the sky. ‘You’ve all come to me here and now so I can kill you immediately. It will make decimating the rest of this cesspit of a place that much easier.’
Shirley looked up into the sky with utter disapproval. ‘I’m going to do what your mother should have done a long time ago,’ she told him.
‘Somebody bring me her skin,’ snarled Malek.
Anya raised her hand and pointed our way. The zombies began to lurch forward. Every sorcerer in the front line glowed as they conjured magical attacks into their hands. None of us needed to use them. Several furious growls rang out from the surrounding woods and packs of werewolves leaped out of the trees and pounced on the advancing undead. Teeth and claws chomped and slashed, dismembering the zombies before they could reach us.
‘KILL THEM!’ Screamed Malek and his whole army charged forwards with a bestial roar. Our own army screamed right back at them and we all ran forward to meet them.
I’ve been in a fair few fights in my time, hell you’ve seen most of them, but nothing could have prepared me for an open battle like this one. As soon as our two armies collided the blood flew wildly around us. Blood, bone, flesh, it all went in every which way and from both sides. The air was thick with magic. Spells flew about lighting up the area. I cast bursts of fire at the zombies surrounding me, burning them down before they could reach me. I couldn’t cast huge amounts of fire because I’d end up taking out my own comrades. Somebody to my left exploded and their eyeball hit me in the cheek. Getting hit in the face with an eye is enough to make any man want to sit out. But I didn’t. I fought on. I had a goal. We all did. We needed to break through Malek’s lines and reach the dagger. A task that looked worse than impossible.
‘I’ve got an idea,’ Shirley said. She and Katelyn arrived at my side, all three of us with hands full of magic. She never got to tell me her idea.
Something that looked like a giant red, hairless gorilla flung itself our way. We all dove away from one another just as it landed where we had been standing. It beat its massive fists into the ground and the concrete cracked in all directions. The creature tipped back its head and roared before delivering another smash into the ground. The cracks deepened and grew wider.
Shirley pulled herself up with more speed than a woman her age should’ve been able to and flung a flat disk of red light at it. The disk caught the gorilla-demon on the forehead and sliced right through, carving the top off like a pumpkin. The demon’s eyes slackened and it let out a sad little cry before falling face first to the floor. The impact of its body on the ground caused the whole earth to shudder.
‘Now then—’ Shirley said right before a tentacle shot out of the madness and carried her away into the battle. The last thing I saw was her hammering spells into the tentacle ferociously.
‘Shirley!’ I got to my feet and bolted after her but Katelyn stopped me.
‘Trust me, she’ll be fine. Our objective is the dagger,’ she said. It was a coldness I hadn’t expected but she was right. This was a battle and I couldn’t look after everyone. And Shirley was more than capable of holding her own in a fight. Even with a… well I didn’t know what that thing was.
A spell took Katelyn in the chest and flung her into the battle behind me. I went to go after her but one of the plague-ridden demons stepped into my path. It opened its mouth and thick, lumpy vomit spewed out, dripping to the floor heavily.
‘Oh, you are nasty,’ I told it.
It opened its mouth in a perfect O and then projectile vomited right at me. I threw myself to the side just in time and the stream of sick missed me by a hair’s breadth. A tiny fleck landed on my sleeve and the leather sizzled angrily as the spew burned a hole in it. I wiped the vile stuff off and then tossed a lethal ball of magic at the demon. It didn’t have time to defend itself. My spell hit it in the stomach and tore a hole right through. To my utter disgust a torrent of maggots fell out like a waterfall and the demon fell to its knees, gargling as it dropped. Then a whip of fire lashed through its neck and its infectious head went tumbling away. As its body collapsed into a puddle of pus, I saw one of the horned demons standing behind it.
‘Wow, killing each other now?’ I said, trying to keep my composure.
‘He was worthless,’ the demon growled. Its voice was like boiling water.
I tossed another lethal ball but the new demon batted it away with its fiery whip. Then it lashed the whip my way and it bounced off the shield that I just managed to erect in time.
‘Magic,’ he said with disgust. Then it dropped the whip and ran at me. Black claws flew out of its fingertips. The claws slashed through my shield and I ran backward away from the frenzied monster. I’d never seen anything cut through a shield with its claws before. I acted on instinct and brought both hands up, calling all the magic I could. A beam of pure purple power flew into the demon and it exploded into a ball of flames.
I fell panting to my knees. I’d survived two demons in quick succession. I needed a timeout.
‘Can I get you a Kit-Kat?’ Katelyn shouted as she strode out of the fighting and yanked me back to my feet. ‘You can sit down when we have the dagger.’
The two of us ran forwards. A werewolf charged in front of us, a severed arm in its jaws and then vanished into the fray. A horde of zombies came at us but then a fiery whip shot out of the sky and turned them to ash where they stood. Katelyn and I stopped as one of the angels lowered himself to the ground before us, black wings spread out to hold any attackers at bay.
‘So you’re the warlock that’s been causing all the stink as of late,’ he said ponderously, looking at me as though trying to figure out what was so special about me.
‘And you’re nobody of any consequence,’ I shot back with a sweet smile. Katelyn chuckled. The chuckle was a step too far. His eyes flashed her way dangerously.
‘No consequence?’ He raised his hand palm up and twisted his fingers into claws. The ground started to vibrate and a great rumbling grew beneath us. Then the concrete exploded and we were all tossed about fifty feet in either direction. A torrent of magma was shooting up from the hole in the earth, a massive tower of it stretching up into the sky. Great blobs of the boiling substance were flinging about, incinerating friend and foe without discrimination. Screams of burning agony filled the air. The magma stopped flowing and fell back into the earth but not before scorching a few more people to death.
I climbed back to my feet, one whole side of my body was aching already and the fight had only just started. Parts of the floor were still sizzling where the magma had landed. I ran forwards searching for Katelyn but I couldn’t see her anywhere. I hadn’t seen her die so I had to hope that she had survived the magma attack. I reached the edge of the crater and looked over. The hole ran down for what looked like thousands of miles and deep down below was the pool of magma that had just killed countless people.
‘Do you still consider me to be of little consequence?’ The angel said as he landed by my side. I turned to face him, still shaking after the attack.
‘What the fuck?’ was all I could say.
‘Your last words?’ he said with disappointment. He raised his hand, his fingers glowing with power.
I launched a bolt of purple lightning at him but it bounced harmlessly off his shield. He laughed as if I’d tried to tickle him. Then he lashed out with magic that burned hotter than any fire on Earth. I hit the ground hard, dirt flying up around me. The pain lashing through my chest pinned my back to the floor. I was unable to move.
‘You are the one of no consequence,’ he said. He raised his hands to deliver the killing blow which I was completely unable to defend against.
‘No!’ Gabe screamed. He charged out of the chaos that raged around us and whacked into the angel with his entire body. The angel stumbled to the side and before he could regain his balance he tumbled into the chasm which he had opened in the Earth. He screamed as he fell and then his magic released me and I knew that he was dead.
I climbed to my feet, my eyes never leaving Gabe. I wasn’t going to give him the chance to jump me again. He swallowed hard but at least he had the courage to look me in the eyes now. Some grotesque thing that was made of purple slime lunged at me and a blast of magic turned it to pulp. Some of these creatures weren’t even worthy of existence.
‘Explain yourself,’ I commanded, turning back to Gabe.
Gabe looked down in shame. He knew there was no explanation that could justify his actions. ‘Malek promised that if I helped him he would give me Marty back.’
‘Oh,’ I said. That was something I could understand. I’d been offered a similar deal. Only I hadn’t needed to betray anybody to fulfill my end.
‘I never wanted…’ He took a deep breath and then raised his eyes to meet mine. ‘It doesn’t matter what I wanted. All that matters is what I did. I betrayed you and I am sorry. I will take whatever punishment you decide I deserve.’
A zombie lunged Gabe’s way and he tossed it into the chasm without even glancing its way.
‘You really love that idiot, don’t you?’ I asked him. Here was yet another person who was experiencing love on a level that I never had and now never would. He nodded. ‘I’m not going to punish you, Gabe. You lost the love of your life. You’ve been through enough.’
His face crumbled and tears wove down his cheeks. ‘But I’m still so sorry for betraying you. Eddie, you have to know I love you. You mean so much to me. You’re family. Can you forgive me? Not now, but maybe one day?’ he asked. It tore me apart to see him like this and every bit of anger I’d felt for him was gone, like grey clouds being chased away by the sun.
‘Forgive you?’ I repeated incredulously. ‘Gabe you carried me through my darkest time and kept me going when no-one else could. If it hadn’t been for you I would never have survived losing Ashley. There’s nothing to forgive.’
‘Thank you,’ he said. He opened his arms for a hug which was entirely inappropriate on the battlefield but I found that I couldn’t refuse him. And I’m not even a hugger.
The body of a werewolf flew through the air and collided with Gabe before I could reach him. Werewolf and vampire bounded sideways and both flew into the pit.
‘No!’ I screamed and flung myself after my friend. My hand found his just in time and I managed to stop him from falling to his death. It was a shame I couldn’t save myself as I too slid over the edge. I groped about trying to get purchase on something, anything. Then another hand closed on mine and I looked up into Katelyn’s filthy, blood-stained face. Her teeth were bared as she struggled to hold us both.
The heat from below was unrivalled. It was like standing next to the sun. I could feel Gabe slipping through my sweaty fingers as we both dangled over the deadly magma that was eagerly waiting to devour us. I poured magic into my limbs and increased my strength as much as possible but it wasn’t enough. Katelyn screamed as she tried to haul us both up but she was not strong enough.
‘I can’t do it,’ she said. She shook her head. ‘I can’t lift you both.’
‘You have to,’ I said with a trembling voice.
‘I. Can’t,’ she enunciated each word for emphasis. ‘We need to stop Malek. You need to stop Malek. What’s more important?’ I knew what she was getting at but I was not going to do it. I would not sacrifice another’s life. Especially not the life of somebody who had been through more than any twenty-three-year-old should have to go through.
Her arms were starting to shake with the effort of holding us both. I closed my eyes and squeezed fresh tears out.
‘It’s okay,’ said Gabe softly. His words called up to me like a gentle song. The last lyrics in a tragic ballad.
‘Gabe,’ I said as I looked down at him. His pale blue eyes were shiny and wet. There were so many emotions in them and there wasn’t time to read them all.
‘I’ll find my way to Marty.’ He nodded his consent to me but that didn’t make it any better.
‘I can save you,’ I lied. I couldn’t even save myself.
‘You already did. I was nothing until I met you. I owe my life to you, Eddie. Let me pay that debt. You need to save the world.’
‘I’m sorry.’ My words carried down to him and he closed his eyes in acceptance. His fingers slackened in my hand. I was the only one holding on now. I opened my hand and watched him fall. He didn’t scream, he didn’t cry, he just fell. Dignified until his last. The magma below ate him up in seconds.
