I turned off the radio and killed the engines.

  We halted at about fifty thousand feet, looking up at the moon. I moved the control stick to flip the plane. We started falling straight onto Ubar.

  Chapter 13

  WE FELL toward Ubar. Weightless, Lillith was pressed against the cockpit’s back wall, screaming.

  I opened my straps in the pilot seat and floated out, grabbing Lillith. “Get in the seat.”

  She kept screaming. I grabbed her by the shoulder and moved her all the way to the seat. Ubar was coming closer, the dome surrounding it now visible. After putting her into the seat, I took the box with hazmat suits, opened it, and took out the two pairs of shackles and rope. I stuffed that in my pockets, closed the box, and put it on Lillith’s lap. And then I tied one strap over her.

  “When we get past the dome, I’ll eject you and you’ll fly to the bunker,” I said calmly. “Conserve your strength as much as you can.”

  She stopped screaming as she remembered she could fly. “Why would I save my strength?”

  “Because you will have to cast a spell.”

  “I can’t cast any spell. You taught me nothing!”

  A rocket swished past us and hit the dome where we would collide. An explosion thundered through the air, filling the air with glass shards. We passed through the dome, seeing Ubar.

  Through the city flowed literal rivers of blood. From each direction, blood poured on the main roads, all heading to the main square. I moved the control stick slightly to navigate the plane toward that square.

  To do the ritual faster, they apparently had to sacrifice millions. Lillith stared with wide eyes and my chest tightened.

  “Fly to the bunker.” I grabbed the emergency eject lever, held myself by the wall and pulled. The glass atop the cockpit shot off and Lillith flew out on the seat, screaming.

  Within a moment, she got from the seat and spread her wings of light. Each wing was now over a hundred feet long, and she flew toward the bunker.

  I hoped she would be smart and do as I instructed her. If she went anywhere else, like to check on her sister, she would most likely die. And I hated that thought.

  I tore my mind away from her and refocused on the quickly approaching square. When I was close enough, I took the nuclear bomb and leapt out of the cockpit. The plane, being heavier, fell faster, hitting houses with a thunderous impact. I landed on the square close to the center. Ground broke beneath my feet, the massive moon mosaic cracking.

  Pain shot through my body, but I withstood the landing. At the center square, Evelyn stood on an elevated podium, illuminated by moonlight and braziers burning at her sides. The rivers of blood converged under her, where they swirled with a red glow that was pouring into her. Sayf stood behind her, eyes shining silver, and his four elite guards surrounded them. No sign of Aisha, though there were hundreds of soldiers rimming the square, accompanied with tanks.

  The hundreds of men who stood by the square’s edge all grabbed their rifles, aiming at me as they recomposed from the plane’s impact. And one by one, the ten tanks on the square lowered their barrels at me.

  I waited for nothing and typed into the nuclear bomb #2252*725485262*42002700# and tossed it ahead.

  The device buzzed and stopped midair, frozen floating in space with the magical anchor field the code’s first part activated. The display flashed up, numbers shining emerald green, displaying the countdown that started at twenty-seven minutes.

  “What do you think you are doing?” Sayf asked, his strong voice filling the air.

  My heart jumped when I laid my eyes on Evelyn. She was unharmed, frozen in a trance as she was absorbing the power from the blood. Tomorrow, we would be home.

  I looked at Sayf, face cold. “This is a Satan III nuclear warhead. Unless the deactivation code is inserted within the next twenty-seven minutes, its hundred and five megaton nuclear charge will evaporate your city.” Given the bomb was seven million times stronger than the one dropped on Hiroshima, even the initial blast would kill everyone in Ubar. The radiation would then reach hundreds of miles away, killing everyone else.

  Sayf stared at me, eyes wide. He blinked a few times, shouted something in Arabic—apparently telling everyone to hold their fire—and asked, “What do you want?”

  “Evelyn. Hand her over, arrange a path to the city’s Eastern exit, and once I’m out of the city, I’ll text you the deactivation code.”

  He glowered at me. “What stops me from disabling the bomb?”

  “The anchor field that keeps the bomb afloat is unbreakable for the first thirty minutes.” I smirked. “Not even Gilgamesh himself would be able to move the bomb. Moreover, if you put a dent into the chassis or interfere with its protective mechanisms in any way, the bomb will instantly explode.” That wasn’t necessarily true but he had no way to confirm or deny anything I said.

  We kept glaring at each other. But his resistance was futile. He had no option but to give in to my demands. For thousands of years, he had built this city, gathering his followers here, arranging all supply systems necessary for life, being its king, its god.

  To him, the city represented his entire life’s work, and losing it was unthinkable.

  Sayf shouted something in Arabic and two men stepped to Evelyn, moving her down the steps. She blinked a few times and her eyes cleared.

  She glowered at me. “What the hell are you doing?”

  “I’m taking you home.”

  “This is my home.”

  That stung. But she was under a spell. She had to be. “Lucielle sees things differently, so you’re coming with me.”

  “Haven’t we been through this already?” she shouted. “The last time you caught me and brought me to the Fossil, she kicked me out in under a week. Look, Lucas, we are over. I left you and we’re not getting back together even if you bring every nuke in the world to force me.”

  That hurt. But she would return to normal after I removed the spell from her. “I don’t care.” I looked at Sayf. “Prepare the transport.”

  Sayf shouted something in Arabic. One of the tank’s trapdoors opened and men crawled out. He motioned to his four most elite guards. “Accompany Mr. Johnson to the eastern exit.” He glanced at me. “They will arrange our communication.”

  Evelyn rushed to Sayf. “You can’t let me go with that madman.”

  He grabbed her by the waist, pulled her closer, and kissed her.

  Oh, I was so going to kill him.

  Evelyn wrapped her hands around his neck for a long kiss.

  When they paused to breathe, Sayf said. “Worry not, my love. Eventually, he will realize he is unwanted, and we will be together.” They kissed again.

  After the kiss, Evelyn detached from him and reluctantly headed to the tank. The four elite guards moved with her and I also walked in that direction.

  Three Sayf’s men got into the tank to drive. Evelyn and I would ride on the top together with their fourth member.

  I exchanged one more glare with Sayf.

  “You will die for this, Lucas,” he said, calmly enough to make my spine turn cold.

  “I get that a lot.” I climbed onto the tank and offered Evelyn a hand to help her up.

  She dodged my arm and got up herself. I sat on the tank’s turret, Evelyn on its other side, and the fourth guard sat next to us, hand ready by his axes.

  Keeping my aether formed into the strongest combat pattern, I waited. The tank started moving and quickly got on the road. Blood splashed around as we rolled through the blood river.

  This night, the city wasn’t dark. Light shone from all windows. In the second house from the square, over twenty women hung from the roof. They were caught with ropes by their ankles and had their throats cut, bleeding on the street. The other houses were the same. So, these were sacrifices for the ritual.

  As a vampire, Sayf could manipulate blood, and through it flowed the people’s aether. In a twisted sense, this was an extremely efficient way to make a mass sacrifice. As we advanced through the road, the tank sped up despite the street having a two-foot-deep river of blood. And all the houses looked the same with more and more slaves, mostly women, tied down with their throats cut.

  They had to sacrifice millions.

  And this also suggested they weren’t planning on bowing before Lucielle. If they could do the Grand Shift, then they would still lose the war. But Lucielle probably wouldn’t go as crazy as she said with the nukes. Sure, she would evaporate a few cities, but then there would be a standard war. Gilgamesh would lose, but if he managed to change the climate, he would be the overall winner as Lucielle would soon have to stop due to her people starving and freezing to death.

  This ritual couldn’t come through. We spent almost twenty minutes getting through the city. The houses waned around us and I could see the familiar barley field.

  Time to make my move. With my strengthened hand, I jabbed the throat of the man next to me. His spine snapped and his body fell off the tank.

  Evelyn shouted something in Arabic and the tank stopped. Within a moment, the first of the guards leapt out of the tank, swinging a scimitar at my throat.

  With a smirk, I ignored the attack. He had to misdirect the cut since if he killed me, I couldn’t tell anyone the disarm code.

  As he withdrew the strike, I grabbed his thobe, pulled him closer and rammed my knee into his chest. His bones and organs shattered. I threw him aside.

  Evelyn stretched her hand toward me. “Tenebris lanceam.” [Darkness lance.] A spear of darkness shot from her hand.

  I evaded sideways, which allowed the other two guards to get out of the tank, one with a spear, the other with a scimitar.

  Not bothering to draw my sword, I bolted toward them. The spearman stabbed at my chest. I slipped by the strike, grabbed his hand, shattered his wrist by twisting my fingers and pulled him between me and the other man who started slashing his sword.

  The other man had to stop so as not to kill his friend. I caught the spearman’s neck, broke it with a jerk, and pushed him into the other man. The spearman instinctively caught his friend.

  I stepped in, grabbed the spear and pulled it out of the man’s grip.

  “Bothynus ico,’ [Meteor strike.] Evelyn shouted and a burning globe flew at me.

  With a smirk, I leapt back to dodge, turned the spear around in my hand and threw it at the last elite guard. The spear pierced the air with a boom and flew through the swordsman, tearing a hole through his body.

  Evelyn stared at me with wide eye. Yes, I had gotten stronger since we last met, incomparably so as I became accustomed to wielding Lucifer’s might. She threw her hands up in the air. “All right, fine, you can take me.”

  With a smile, I stepped to her. She leaned forward, moving as if she wanted me to kiss her. Nice try. I caught the hand that was slipping under her robes. I stretched that arm out, twisting her wrist so she would let go of the dagger she drew.

  The same trick wouldn’t work one me twice.

  “Let me go you sick bastard!” she screamed.

  I stepped to her, turning her arm to force her to bend down, and caught her wrist in the magic-disrupting shackle. She flicked her other hand toward me. “Fulgur!” [Lightning!]

  Bolts of electricity shot at me. My shield stopped most of them, but some of the energy pierced my defenses, burning me, making my hair stand on end.

  I caught that hand and locked it with the shackle. The lightning stopped. She turned to kick at my groin. I moved by her, caught the leg, and trapped the ankle with the second set of irons I had.

  As she spat one curse after another, I grabbed her second leg, and sealed the ankle into the second shackle, keeping her legs together. And then I took the rope I brought and tied her so she couldn’t move.

  “You perverted shit! Do you think you will get away with this?” she shouted, face red from all the screaming.

  I grabbed her by the ropes and lifted her up. “Yes.” I slid into the tank and put her on the seat next to me. By the clock, we had about six minutes until the bomb’s detonation. Enough time to get away.

  I pressed three buttons and the tank rolled forward. We crossed the barley field, got up the slope, and entered the cavern. Evelyn cursed for two full minutes before her throat got too sore to continue.

  Lillith stood in front of the bunker, the box by her feet. She wore the hazmat suit, which was horribly oversized for her. I parked the tank by her side, grabbed Evelyn, and got out through the trap door. Lillith looked at me, terrified under the suit’s visor.

  I walked to her. “Did you take the pills?”

  She nodded. “Did you see what they did in the city?”

  “Yeah.” I reached into the box, pulled out a pack of the anti-radiation pills, and swallowed a handful. I took another handful and moved the hand to Evelyn’s mouth.

  She spat, closed her mouth, and looked away. Shame I had no time to force her to eat them. I put the pills into her pocket, took off the diadem with a large ruby from her head and tossed that aside. Still carrying her, I stepped to the vault’s door, and turned the valve with one hand. The bunker still contained our former hideout.

  I motioned Lillith to get inside and she did, staring at Evelyn and me. This didn’t look like a rescue, I knew. Once I got in, I reached into Evelyn’s pockets to find her phone.

  Not bothering to ask her how to unlock the device, I moved the phone to her hand and forced her finger onto the fingerprint detector. The screen lit up. Since her phone was in English, I could navigate the phone with ease.

  I found the contact named Sultan Sayf al-Din and wrote a message. I put in #666# and sent. Immediately afterward, I closed the door behind us, sealing it with the valve.

  Lillith was already starting the diesel generator, so the low light of the light bulbs illuminated the room. I got to the box, pulled out a hazmat suit, and started forcing Evelyn into the suit.

  She stared at me, eyes wide, trembling slightly. She must have realized what I was doing.

  Due to her being tied up, I used the suit more like a bag on her rather than as a suit, but that had to suffice. I closed the zipper and headed to the bunker’s second room. “Come,” I told Lillith.

  She skittered behind me. “Evelyn doesn’t look like she’s happy being rescued.”

  “She’s under a spell.”

  “What if she’s not?”

  I sighed. “Then she will hate me for the rest of her life.” I put Evelyn down around the corner and motioned Lillith to come to me. “Let me check your suit.”

  Lillith walked to me and turned around to let me see if it was zipped properly. I straightened her and then suddenly slid my arm under her chin into a rear-naked choke.

  I tightened the grip and squeezed, pressing her arteries with my forearm and biceps. “Sorry,” I whispered.

  She struggled lightly but I soon choked her unconscious. Once, she indirectly saw my work, the four fires, and her innocence died that day. I was not going to let her see what happened now.

  Gingerly, I put her on the ground behind the second room’s other corner, took off my hat, and used it to cover Lillith’s face.

  The air quaked slightly, and an unstoppable magical force dispelled my shields. Sayf must have typed in the code I gave him. Satan III was a three-stage bomb, and this dispel was stage one.

  Evelyn huddled up and exploded into tears. “I’m… sorry.” She forced out of herself between sobs.

  “It’s all right.” I said with a smile, my eyes watering. The spell that controlled her was gone.

  She started crying harder and a second pulse burst through the air. All the light bulbs illuminating the room went dark. This was the EMP, stage two.

  I walked to the bunker’s first room.

  The entire vault shook as if hit by an earthquake. Stage three, a hundred and five megaton nuclear explosion. I had to hold myself up with the wall. This explosion was so massive it would be felt thousands of miles away. Even Lucielle, sitting on her throne in Rome, was going to feel the quake.

  Once the shaking stopped, I stood in front of the vault’s door, and drew my sword. The initial blast killed everyone in Ubar, disintegrating Sayf’s current body, evaporating all the blood.

  But he was bound to have a spare body, maintained to be instantly useable, most likely kept in a nuclear bunker similar to this one. If I were him, I would definitely have a spare like that, even though the body’s maintenance had to be costly and difficult.

  And now, since I destroyed his city, cancelled his Great Shift, killed everyone he cared about, and forever tarnished his legacy, he was going to come to kill me.

  I drew my sword.

  He was going to come quickly since the radiation unleashed by the explosion would eventually pierce his aether shields and destroy whatever body he took.

  The vault started shaking, thought this time there was a clear point of origin above the door. He was drilling into the bunker. With a smirk, I removed all limiters on my power. Lillith was unconscious, so she wasn’t going to see me. My eyes turned into pools of darkness, a crown of horns sprouted from my head and a tail slid out from my behind.

  I spread out my aether, passing the walls, stretching across the city. Millions of souls floated in the air, passing to the afterlife. Not caring whom I devoured, I spread my power like a thousand tentacles, which I used to catch and bring to me any souls they could grab.

  To fight Sayf, I needed every bit of strength I could get. Eating the souls and their aether made power swell in my veins. Into my left palm, I started gathering aether, condensing the power, making the force spin.

  Within a moment, a tiny black hole rotated above my palm, tearing the dirt from the floor. I remained concentrated, maintaining the spell, transferring all power I couldn’t keep in my body into the black hole.

  The wall above the door broke and a giant drill made of sand passed through into the bunker. I raised my arm toward the opening, absorbing the sand. The drill fell apart and I saw Sayf. He flew in the air in a body similar to the previous one, skin deathly pale, leathery wings stretched, moon shining right behind him.

  I released my spell. A world-shattering blast exploded from my palm. The bunker’s wall disintegrated, as did the rubble around the bunker, and so did Sayf. There was no magical shield strong enough to stop a blast like this.

 

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