Chosen (The Chosen Few Trilogy #1) (38 page)

“
Loki is the key,
”
I heard Eldritch say.
“The powerful one.
Slay him, and they
will
wither to nothing.
”

Ahead I saw Jade parted from Jondal, most likely hearing Eldritch’s words through elvish telepathy. And then Eliza rushed towards Loki too, as if she also had heard the elf
’
s words.

We were getting stretched. The demons were among us now. Biting. Hacking. Ripping. I refused to panic. I spent a second summoning my power, then aimed a portion of it at the demon nearest to me, thinking
punch
. My blast struck
like a fireball from that Street
F
ighter video game and sent
t
he demon
tumbling end over end until it
impacted with th
e trunk of a palm tree
so hard that its
arms
sheared
off.

I looked away. Tanya leapt into action beside me, her deadly ballet
dispatching
two demons with a minimum of effort. She was back in a few seconds,
dripping
stiletto
in her hand.

“
Any suggestions?
”
I shouted.

My voice was swept away by the overwhelming din of battle. Snarls and screams and the sound of gunfire assaulted my ears. Belind
a lunged and leapt
amongst the blackened palm trees and the bloodied sand, a bright light of hope surrounded by cackling black creatures from the abyss. Next to me Lucy sobbed and tried to hide her face in my side. I staggered back, suddenly beset with indecision.

I couldn
’
t do this.
I couldn
’
t.
My daughter came first, and to hell with the world. I had to get Lucy to safety. But how?
Where?

Safe inside his appalling circle Loki
’
s chanting continued,
“
O, Abominata, I call on you.
God of Loathing,
killer of Love. I summon you
!
And
Kahana! God of Lust and Depravity. God of Humiliation! I call you and so bind you now!
”

I hugged Lucy closer. Loki was calling on the lesser Gods that would be sacrificed to summon Gorgoroth.

I
’
d never imagined it would be like this.

Demons snarled and stomped all around. Tanya broke bones as if they were winter-worn twigs beside me. Belinda fought at her side, her efforts both wild and calculating, leaving demon after demon writhing or dead on the gore-soaked beach.  Elves fought just ahead in perfect unison, and in their wake the pile of mortally wounded demons grew and grew.

Lucy clutched at me and pointed, uttering a keening cry of terror. I followed her hand and my stomach dropped through a thousand floors of dread. Above Loki’s circle, above his upraised arms, above the tops of the palm trees, a
swirling
darkness had appeared. I craned my neck and saw the darkness writhe. Within its
formless maw
I thought I saw racks of glittering teeth and twisted, faceless flesh. A fetid, cloying stench like dead, rotting fish reached my nostrils.

The
n
something like a gigantic arm
came down from the sky. Horrendous, it
swayed back and forth. Thick slime dripped off its tapered end, hitting the surface of the ocean and fizzling. The arm was suddenly joined by another. I
realized
they were tentacles, belonging to some immense, squid-like God, and my stomach began to heave.

Thunder rocked the sky. Lightning struck at the sea beyond the horizon. A rolling, creaking boom struck the earth, sending quakes of shock across the beach. I saw the sand undulating and rippling
as if endless waves flowed
beneath it.

The
shockwave hit us. Lucy screamed, making my heart jackhammer. Demons ran amok. I threw a hand up to shield my face as a cloven hoof smashed down into the sand beside me. I sent a blast at its owner, obliterating him into the night.

I rolled over. Lucy was gone. My eyes, at ground level, searched across the sand and saw her not far away, but nearer the water.

Tanya Jordan was at her side.

But so was Ashka.

Tanya rolled towards the surf, flinging out her legs and striking Ashka in the shins. Most adversaries would have folded, or at least hopped about in agony, but Ashka only laughed, her scarlet, hell-born eyes gleaming with murder.

“
I will make you wish Leo had finished you in Hawaii,
”
Ashka spat at her.

Tanya danced forward, kicking and punching with economy of movem
ent
, but at the same time
conscious that she had to force Ashka away from Logan
’
s daughter. The knowledge blunted her edge.

“
Behind me,
”
she pushed Lu
cy into the foamy surf. She pulled her stiletto free and
pointed it at Ashka
’
s throat.

“
My husband killed my baby,
”
she hissed through consuming
pain that constricted her heart.
“
That
is evil, you pathetic whore! Do you really think you can scare me after all I’ve lived
through?
”

Tanya leapt, kicked at Ashka
’
s neck, then landed and dropped down into a crouch, swinging her legs around
and took Ashka
’
s legs away. The Destroyer landed heavily in the wet s
and, her body thudding down,
breath forced out of her.

Tanya was already on her feet. She aimed a heel at Ashka
’
s throat, which the woman rolled away from. Tanya
’s
mind cloud
ed
when Ashka
threw
a vision at her, but Devon’s healing net held and Tanya felt no more than mild discomfort.

As she stepped forward she saw the knot of sky that roiled abo
ve the beach suddenly split in
two. Now another tentacle dropped down, and still another grappled with the edge of the swirling, black hole as if trying to widen it.

At the
edges of her concentration she heard
Loki
’
s droning voice, now summoning the third and final lesser God.

The whole place was rapidly going to shit. Forked lightning marched across the horizon, coming closer with every passing minute. Thunder pealed and crashed constantly all around them. Demons hacked and slashed and died amongst the hundreds of vampires and werewolves.

For a moment
Tanya wished she was back in Honolulu. Just starting her morning jog on Waikiki Beach. But fate had called, and for a good reason. She was one of the Chosen.

She
let Ashka rise then kicked sand at her and struck with the stiletto. The blade sliced through Ashka
’
s flesh, giving Tanya grim satisfaction.

Then there was a shout, a terrified, desperate shout, from where they had left the cars.

“
Help! Help us!
”

Tanya couldn
’
t stop herself glancing that way. Fear dropped into the pit of her stomach like a tonne of shaved ice. Demons were among the marines they had left guarding Devon and Lysette. She saw Johnny
Trevochet
flung from his
wheelchair and sent sprawling to the ground. A demon landed on top of him.
Tanya saw
Devon duck as a demon struck at her, tearing strips of flesh from her arm. Devon wa
s allowed a moments respite a
s
the demon began
to
stuff t
he dripping flesh into its
mouth.

Tanya knew what it meant. She lo
oked at
her enemy.

Ashka
’
s grin sent daggers through Tanya
’
s heart.
“
At last.
”

A devastating men
tal assault sent Tanya lurching
. The attack on the rear guard had
destroyed
Devon
’s
net. Tanya buckled as a fist slammed into her neck. She fell to her knees.

She heard Lucy scream.

“
No,
”
Tanya struggled to raise her head. Ashka stood right before her. A
hateful
vision hit Tanya
’
s brain with such force that it caused her to black out for a second.

When she looked up again Ashka had an arm wrapped tightly around Lucy
’
s waist and was holding Tanya
’
s own stiletto at the
girl’s
throat. Ashka grinned
m
alevolen
tly
.

“
You ready for this?
”

Lucy screamed. Tanya
pushed with superhuman strength
and man
aged to gain her feet. She stumbl
ed forward, almost fell.

Ashka smiled
and drew the blade across Lucy
’
s throat. Tanya shrieked,
see
ing the scene in slow motion, watching the blood start to flow.

The world stopped. Miami, the beach, the boiling sky, it all receded. Tanya saw the death of another innocent, the death of a young girl, and she felt a deep-rooted, maternal anger like nothing she had ever felt before.

And suddenly her strength surged back, the terrible vision withered away, and she leapt forward from a crouched position, determined to save Lucy or die trying.

But then something hit her, flinging her haphazardly across the beach. It was a wall of water.
A wall of water had hit them!

What?

Baffled, Tanya spit out sand and looked up from the ground. The sight she beheld was awe-inspiring.

Lucy stood
before
Ashka, and she was staring right into the Destroyers hellfire eyes. Not a hint of fear showed in Lucy’s expression. A thin line of red sliced
across
her throat, but not a drop of blood flowed. As Tanya watched
a
small spark of fire leapt across the open wound,
cauterizing
its edges,
effectively closing it. Lucy emitted not a sound, not a grunt, not a whimper of pain.

But that wasn’t even the real wonder. What truly blew Tanya’s mind was that Ashka was also su
spended two feet off the ground,
struggling and
t
rapped in a solid cocoon of water. The Destroyer was being drowned before Tanya
’
s disbelieving eyes, in mid-air, and on land!

Tanya watched as Lucy
gesture
d
and water-jets started striking Ashka
’
s pain-filled eyes within the cocoon. Liquid forced its insipid way down her throat. With a last gurgling cry the Destroyers eyes went black, her face dropped towards her chest, and then she just hung in the air, supported only by Lucy
’
s will.

Tanya stared at Lucy in amazement.
“
You are one of the Eight!
”
She cried.
“The one we couldn’t find.
Lucy, you have been chosen too.
”

Lucy’s face
showed shock,
delight, then m
ortal fear. And finally absolut
e confusion. She slumped,
collapsing at Tany
a’s feet, the display of power
having drained her to the core.

Tanya caught her
, trying to make sense of this new twist. Kisami, originally thought to be one of the Eight, had been an impostor. And despite Ceriden and Myleene’s best
efforts they had never
found the eighth member of their little group. Lucy must not have shown up on the Witches search because she was very close to Logan at the time.
That
was how they had missed her.

And Lucy controlled at the very least water and fire.

She was Kisami
’
s alternate. She was an elemental!

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NEW BABYLON- THE BEACH