Final Scream (26 page)

The Slayer’s steel-clad body pressed its full weight against Gabriella’s petite frame, and the unyielding pressure bowed her ribs and drove the air from her lungs. She gasped for air, but it never penetrated deeper than her throat. Shooting pains like knife wounds traveled her tightly compressed torso and exploded like merciless fireworks.

Gabriella had seconds to live.
Where had her spell gone wrong?
And where was Nick?
She loved him with all her heart, which was about to be greatly reduced in size. But it all centered on her wayward spell.
What went wrong?!
According to her calculations, it should have worked like a charm.

Suddenly, she grasped the problem—she skipped the final word that launched the spell! Stupid! A rookie mistake! Haste
did
make waste. Using the residual breath inside her throat and mouth, she barely chirped out the final word.
Was it her imagination, or did she actually
hear
the word?
She closed her eyes against the unbearable torture. She was still in the cage. She failed again. One final time.

Her life was over.

There wasn’t an ounce of breath left in her mouth and throat to repeat the spell’s launch word. Gabriella squeezed her eyelids shut as darkness shrouded her mind. Her thoughts. Her will to live. She quietly accepted her fate.

The hellacious pressure on her body abruptly ceased. Gabriella’s lungs stuttered twice before kick starting and sucking in lifesaving air. Her spine ached, but the pain was manageable. Pride welled within her.

She did it!

She was out!

And so was the Slayer. It sniffed its former prison, clumsily trotted into a tunnel at the end of the ledge, and disappeared into the blackness.

After composing herself, she glanced down at the alien village and fought the urge to explore the place. Meet the folks. Maybe pick up a postcard or two to send home to her Duneden friends.

Friends.
Gabriella’s celebratory mood flipped. She first had to rescue her captive companions,
but how? Was she already too late?
Her magic power was sharply curtailed since she entered the volcano, but she couldn’t put a finger on one particular reason.
Was it the sorceress or the Shabaccoes’ doing?

Gabriella’s temperament brightened. As she vividly recalled, her magic worked inside the prison cavern, so perhaps there was hope for saving her friends after all. She quickly cast a backtrack spell showing her the way back to the cavern, enabling her to accurately teleport there. With a curt twist of her wrist, a stream of glittering silver dust appeared and softly plinked. The thin strand traveled away from the tunnel and upward into a murky ceiling fissure she hadn’t noticed before. The sparkling radiance continued to the cavern prison area.

Gabriella hesitated. Once there, liberating her friends could be a major problem for her, but she reluctantly brushed it aside. She would worry about that snag when the time came.

After a series of deep inhales and exhales, Gabriella gathered her strength and teleported off the ledge, leaving the empty cage alone. The charmed, shimmering pathway paled and then vanished behind her.

Nick and the Lothran locked arms to avoid separation in the chilling darkness. There was no gravity in the crypt-like void, so they didn’t know if they were floating upside down, sideways, or right side up. Even the yellow glow from Nick’s alter ego’s eyes couldn’t penetrate the dense atmosphere canceling their ability to see.

Suddenly out of the blackness, a cacophony of human voices shouted, cursed, and threatened the two newcomers. Hostile chants of “death to the newbies” and “let ‘em rot in here like the rest of us” seemly flew at them from every direction. Nick and the Lothran became even more perplexed.
Who did the voices belong to? What was this place? A prison?

Nick rapid fired these unknowns to the Lothran, and it paused several moments before answering. “This has to be the Shabaccoes’ legendary prison dimension we’ve all heard about. I always considered it a tall tale, but my ancestors claimed whenever ocean ships passed too close to this island, the Shabaccoes would transfer the passengers and crew to this isolated place. That way, none of them could ever report what they saw and bring other humans here.”

“Well, I’ve had enough of this place.”

“But … but we just got here. Eternity will seem even longer.”

Countless glassy fisheyes resembling murderous star clusters on a clear night appeared all around them.

“I wonder why we can’t see each other’s eyes, but we can see theirs?” Nick posed.

One of the male prisoners spoke up before the Lothran could answer. “We’ve absorbed enough energy in this Godforsaken place to glow like a stadium lights.”

“What year is it back on Earth?” another demanded.

When the Lothran told him, grumbling displaced the shouts.

“Christ, mates, some of us have been here for over two thousand years!”

“Five hundred years!”

“Fifty-five years”, a female voice yelled with dismay.

And the shouts continued unabated, which annoyed Nick. “Lothran, we’ve got to escape before these guys drive me nuts.”

It squeezed Nick’s arm. “I would love to, but how? Magic?”

“Maybe. Let me chew on it a bit.”

The uproar finally faded, and the fish-eyed mob tightened their circle around Nick and the Lothran. Nick’s alter ego’s mind intuitively absorbed their not-so-subtle threats. The stir crazy prisoners weren’t seeking genial comradery; they planned to kill the newcomers for food. Nick’s supercharged brain understood it had far less time to hatch an escape plan than it originally thought.
Death
was not an option for breaking out of this abysmal dimension.

Nick’s number one defense was fire, but when he attempted to muster another kickass blast, the effort fizzled. Instead of the failure irritating or frightening him, it inspired a deep-seated fury. His vicious growl caused the other prisoners to back off.

So, he was left with a few scorpion tails to defend the Lothran and himself, which basically left them unprotected. He had to come up with a much more effective plan. Even though his two rock ‘em, sock ‘em fists would knock several prisoners to the sidelines for good, he innately understood fisticuffs wouldn’t get them out of this dreadful dimension.

After his anger cooled, logic seized control of his thinking once more. He remembered that his red-orange alter ego had the power to make images reality, like conjuring the Chris-Craft beside Gabriella’s dock.
Would that power work in this dimension?
He felt a sense of urgency to make it work, because his friends needed his help to elude death.

“Hey Lothran, paint a mental picture of that volcanic cavern where my friends are being held prisoner and telepathically send it me.”

“I … I can, sure, but I don’t see how that will…”

“Just do it, alligator beak!” Nick snapped.

The circle of eyes closed in on their private space again, but this time he actually felt a few of their bodies brush against his.

“Hurry up!” Nick barked.

The Lothran colorfully conveyed the cavern, and Nick’s mind quickly seized it and wished they were there.

Nothing happened.

The first punch was thrown and connected with the Lothran’s sinewy chest, but the burly creature barely felt it through his armor-plated skin. Nick knew the next punch would have his name on it, so he relaxed the best he could, envisaged the scene again, and demanded to be transported there.

This time, his magic worked!

Nick and the Lothran found themselves inside the prison area, and although the room’s sconce lighting was dim, it was a welcome alternative to the prison dimension’s absolute darkness. They both blinked and rubbed their eyes, and when they were able to focus clearly, they simultaneously spotted an assault team of soldiers with raised automatic rifles blocking the entrance way. Behind them was the shadowy outline of a woman. Nick let his guard down. All but two of the soldiers stood stationary and unblinking. The others lay in pools of blood face down on the floor.
What kind of magic was this?

As he directed his attention to the mysterious woman, her hand shot out and launched a purple lightning bolt. His supernatural quickness saved him as it sizzled by his ear, but the Lothran’s reactions weren’t as fast. The lethal energy struck the Lothran’s chest, and it crumpled to the ground. Its four hands clutched the smoldering hole in its ribcage as it glanced up at Nick with its dulled copper eyes and flashed him a fleeting farewell. The light in its orbs winked out.

Nick’s alter ego experienced an unexpected surge of grief, and he glared menacingly at the sinister female form as she hurled another fork of purple energy at him.

Could he avoid the witch’s second attempt on his life?

The energy spear’s dazzling purple light obliterated the cavern shadows during its flight toward Nick’s chest.

His enhanced intelligence swiftly deliberated his limited reaction options in a nanosecond. If he executed his
Mortal Eclipse
maneuver and allowed the bolt to pass through his ethereal form, it might strike one of the prisoners behind him. Even his alter ego’s calloused conscience couldn’t permit that to happen.

There was a sixty percent chance a magical deflection would initiate a wild ricochet off the rocky walls and cause the bolt to strike one of the innocent people. So he chose to take a direct hit and discover how resilient his green reptilian armor was under fire. He closed his scaly eyelids to protect his eyes from the magical explosion.

But the sorceress’ weapon never struck him.

When his eyes were shut, Gabriella materialized beside him, instantly evaluated the danger, and cast a protective shield around her eerie chrome-eyed fiancé. The witch’s purple energy punched the shield and was harmlessly dispersed.

Nick jerked his reptilian head around at Gabriella and nodded its thanks. But they weren’t out of the woods yet. Gabriella noticed the soldiers were still as stiff as statues—but she knew they could awaken and start spraying bullets if the responsible witch broke her spell over them. She also observed the military officer’s absence and speculated he must have ticked off the witch. He wasn’t likely to return—
ever
.

Gabriella removed her magical shield from Nick, so he was free to move and terminate the witch, but he surprised her by merely standing there and quietly thinking. Gabriella shrugged and cast a second barrier behind them that protected the prisoners from harm. She faced the sorceress.

“You’ve had your fun, lady! Now surrender or die!” Gabriella exclaimed.

Another purple lance shot out from the entrance and illuminated the witch’s face. Gabriella didn’t recognize her, but Nick did. Gabriella slowed the witch’s latest lightning bolt to slow motion.

“Natalie!” he called out.
What happened to her Wicker woman persona?
He figured she didn’t need it to distract him from the truth.
Was the gunman’s attempt on her life planned in advance?
He asked her but realized it was a foregone conclusion.

“Hell yes! And you fell hard for it. Donna’s lies even had you suspecting my adopted mother of being the
Superior
, when all along it was
me
. You’re so gullible, and you’re definitely not as shrewd as you think you are,
cousin
!” She backed away, ready to escape.

When the slow moving energy was within arm’s length of Gabriella, she teleported the puissant energy into Terror Island’s volcano. But as she did so, the room began trembling and loosening ceiling rock and choking volcanic dust on the people inside. The prisoners were trapped behind the barrier, so they merely covered their heads with their arms. Gabriella knew she wasn’t responsible for the tremors, and neither was the witch. There was another party to blame for the continuous quakes, and she had a sneaking suspicion the Shabaccoes were responsible. They were undoubtedly defending their territory.

“You’re not the
Superior
,” Gabriella shouted.

Natalie stopped and turned. “Yes, I
am
!”

“Really? Then convince me. Why did you freeze those soldiers right after you and the officer instructed them to kill the prisoners?”

Nick’s cousin didn’t have a response for her seemingly contradictory behavior.

“I figured as much,” Gabriella said. “Whoever decommissioned the soldiers is the real
Superior
!” But why the
Superior
would do that was a profound mystery.

Nick wasn’t the only one in the cavern who recognized the witch.

The tall, salt-and-pepper haired woman approached the invisible barrier. “Natalie, why are you doing this, and why did you kill all those people at the hospital and on Terror Island?”

Natalie remained silent.

“And most importantly, why do you want to kill
us
, your own family?”

Noah Wright stretched the kinks out of his six-foot-four inch frame and scowled at his sister. “What exactly
are
you, sis? A witch?”

“Not a damned witch. I’m a
Destroyer
and proud of it!” She sneered at her family members. “I’m no more your sister than Nick is your cousin. We’re your
step
-relatives, idiot! I was adopted, just like you, Erin, and Nick.”

Nick used their inimical conversation as a diversion to inch closer to his wayward
step
-cousin.

Sue Wright lashed out at Natalie. “Of course, it’s true you were adopted. I told all of you that when you were old enough to understand. So what’s the big deal? What does being adopted have to do with your bitterness?” When Natalie didn’t respond, she muttered, “I guess I should’ve checked your background more carefully.”

“You sure should have,
Mother
! My real mother was a
Destroyer
, too, and she hated people, especially the stinking
Purebloods
like Gabriella and her family,” Natalie snarled. “My real mother died trying to kill off you vermin!” She turned on Nick. “It was my brainstorm to send Noah to Terror Island. Donna Lake and I convinced my dear, naive adoptive mother to send him there, but she was too dumb to figure out Noah was merely bait for my trap to kill my big, brave cousin. Unfortunately, Nick, you took your sweet ass time getting to Terror Island, so I could spring my trap. So I went to plan B and captured your friends to draw you here to Riai Island.”

“Mind telling me why you want me dead?” Nick asked, puzzled by her hateful outburst.

“Because you murdered my
real
mother!”

Nick’s alter ego considered her claim, but he didn’t recall murdering her mother.

“Her name was Philippa,” Natalie said, attempting to jog his memory.

Then it hit him. “Your mother was Philippa Lazaro, and she was mentally deranged. She had these delusions of grandeur that she was the queen of the planet and it was her job to exterminate all the
Purebloods
and most of the humans. She planned to enslave what was left of mankind to do her bidding. So you see, you’ve got it all wrong, Natalie.
She
was the murderer, not me.
She
killed dozens of innocent people.”

“
Liar!
” Natalie yelled.

Nick ignored her outburst. “I was ordered to hunt for your mother and arrest her. If she resisted, I had the green light to kill her, but that was only as a last resort. When I caught up with her and she tried to kill me with her magic, I executed her,” Nick explained, defending his actions with no hint of regret.

“You’ll die for killing my mother!” She drew her hand back like a baseball pitcher about to throw a fastball over home plate, but she never completed the forward motion. A massive, four-legged silhouette charged through the tunnel from her left like a runaway bulldozer and rammed her petite frame. The savage collision shattered her bones and decapitated her.

“The Slayer,” Gabriella murmured to herself. It came to their defense like a noble beast.

The monster tossed Natalie’s rag doll corpse up against the tunnel ceiling twice before opening its wide maw and crushing the flaccid corpse with a solitary bite.

The room juddered more violently, and the spellbound soldiers collapsed to the floor in a camouflage heap like bowling pins. Neo, Crow and the others braved the fierce tremors and dodged the falling ceiling debris the best they could, but there was too much to sidestep. An avalanche of large and small black rocks pelted Crow’s vulnerable head and knocked him to the floor. Neo promptly scooped his dazed friend into his burly arms and cried out for Gabriella to remove the conjured barrier so they could run for the tunnel before the entire cavern collapsed. She complied and guided the former prisoners into the tunnel.

The entire cavern caved in just as Noah and Reese assisted Sue Wright over the tunnel threshold. The shocks grew more violent, forcing Gabriella and her companions to hold fast to the rough walls as they scrambled away from the cavern entrance. They didn’t go far—the Slayer’s immense girth blocked the tunnel.

It snorted, stamped all four of its clawed feet, and growled at the humans when they endeavored to squeeze by. The massive beast appeared hungry,
but what else was new?
Gabriella pushed past her friends and approached E.V.A.N. Her former cagemate snorted savagely but grudgingly yielded.
Was the Slayer afraid of her?
Gabriella wondered. Either way, she didn’t plan to give in. The stubborn creature blocked their only escape route.

Her gentle determination paid dividends. E.V.A.N. cautiously allowed her to scratch his multicolored snout. When she stopped, it lowered its head, looking for more scratches. Gabriella chuckled despite their perilous situation and scratched its snout one more time. She speculated that sharing a cage together on the ledge above the alien city had inadvertently formed a bond between them.
Were they fast friends?
Perhaps in some offbeat sense of the word.
Respectful foes?
For sure.

“Look, buddy, we’ve got to haul ass out of here before the volcano buries us, and that includes you, too. Now how about stepping aside so I can get everyone out of here? That means you, too, big fella.”

E.V.A.N. bobbed its head like it comprehended Gabriella’s message, and she imagined her new friend might have understood her on some rudimentary level. The Slayer shifted its mountainous body far enough to the right to make room for the people to slip by in single file. Before joining the others beyond E.V.A.N., she patted its familiar rough-skinned flank.
Thanks, buddy.

She conjured a powerful flashlight lantern and pointed its supernatural beam down the tunnel toward the spot where she and the Lothran first entered the volcanic tunnel. The trailing group, including the now alert Crow, lurched violently as they headed along the black passageway. The volcano’s intense quaking didn’t bother the massive E.V.A.N. as it lumbered slowly behind them. But its presence frightened Gabriella’s companions more than the threat of being buried alive in the tunnel, but Gabriella was the only one convinced the Slayer didn’t intend to hurt anyone.

When they were a stone’s throw from their destination, she paused and bathed the group with its brilliant radiance. Her eyes narrowed to suspicious slots. No Nick. No Neo. Missing, just as she thought. Her fiancé was so predictable.

What she didn’t know was what those two were up to.

Gabriella hoped Nick and Neo understood the Terror Island madness wasn’t over just because Natalie was dead and the island destroyed. There had to be other people like the
Superior
involved who were anxious to see them dead, as well as the Shabaccoes. The reclusive aliens would follow each of her friends to the ends of the Earth to guarantee their privacy. That was their modus operandi for thousands of years, and there was no plausible reason for them to modify their philosophy. No exceptions. No
Get Out of Jail Free
cards. No change of heart. Only death to trespassers.

Gabriella was one step from taking the lead again when she noticed there was another person MIA in their group. She stopped and tried to think of the young woman’s name. It was Morgan something. No, not Morgan. That wasn’t her first name. She snapped her fingers. Got it!
Reese
Morgan.
Now where had she gone?
The tunnel wasn’t
that
big to hide her, and the Slayer was the absolute straggler. Nobody could slip back behind it. It wasn’t Reese Morgan’s disappearance that worried her, but
how
the young woman managed to leave the group. Gabriella had a bad feeling about that.

Her father’s sagacious maxim came to mind.
Never trust a person with two first names.
Did her father’s saying apply to this circumstance?
Gabriella wasn’t sure, since she hadn’t actually met the woman. Reese Morgan seemed to buddy up with Nick’s cousin. Maybe their time alone together on Terror Island melded them into a couple. Or maybe not.
Should she stop and search for Reese Morgan?
The quaking increased, and she regained her balance before falling forward. That settled it. She wasn’t about to jeopardize everyone else’s lives for Reese Morgan.

“C’mon, Gabriella, let’s move it! We need to bust out of this place pronto,” Crow urged her.

The computer whiz was right. Gabriella wished she could teleport them all to safety, but her magic powers still were limited inside the volcano. The one or two she could take away from there would be saved, but the rest would die. That was unacceptable. She waved her arm and shepherded them toward the exit. It wasn’t far now.

Her chaotic thoughts strayed to the missing
Superior
. The idea of another witch running around loose inside the volcano and murdering people, including her tunnel charges, terrified Gabriella. For that reason, her keen senses were on high alert.

Her ragtag, black faced companions were dog tired, but to their credit they kept pace with her. Her fear of the tunnel collapsing didn’t outweigh her concern for Nick and Neo’s well-being.
Where did they go? To visit the Shabaccoes?
If that was the case, she hoped they succeeded in negotiating a truce with the purple aliens … or none of them would ever see the United States again.

But if the negotiations proved impossible, she fervently wished Nick and Neo would blast the horned devils out of existence.