Hellforged (48 page)

Authors: Nancy Holzner

Tags: #Fantasy, #Contemporary, #Fiction, #General, #Demonology

BOOK: Hellforged

10.82Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

“Enough,” Pryce said. Immediately, Cysgod stopped. Pryce’s shiny black shoes appeared and stood beside Cysgod’s scaly, taloned foot. Together, they kicked dirt onto the blade of my sword. Its glow went out. Dirt got into my eyes and mouth. It tasted like death.

“Cysgod,” Pryce said. “I have an idea. Let’s see if there’s anything left of my cousin’s suitors. If they’re still alive, we’ll bring them back here for you and Difethwr to occupy yourselves with while I finish releasing the Morfran.” His voice took on a tone of playful warning. “No squabbling, though, over who gets the werewolf and who gets the human.”

No!
I struggled to push myself up, but I couldn’t. I was merely a heap of burned and beaten flesh.

Pryce laughed, and the shoes moved away. Cysgod’s feet moved with them. As the shadow demon lifted its foot to step over the Sword of Saint Michael, I dug deep and summoned the strength to turn and position my blade. Cysgod’s foot came down on its edge. Black, stinking blood fountained up as the blade went in deep.

At the touch of demon flesh, the sword burst into full flame. Cysgod roared and tried to shake itself loose, but its foot was stuck, the flesh liquefying around the blade. Somehow, I got my knees under me. Clutching the sword grip with my left hand, I sliced upward. Yellow, sulfurous smoke billowed from the wound. Cysgod shrieked and kicked out, hard. The powerful kick, combined with the momentum of my stroke, cut the foot in two and sent the weapon arcing backward. I almost lost the sword but managed to hang on. The blade struck something behind me and sank in, then stopped from the resistance. Keeping my eye on Cysgod—the demon, half-obscured by the yellow smoke, howled and roared and hopped around on one foot—I jerked the sword forward.

It came out with such force that I fell, catching myself on my forearms.

The strength I thought I’d lost surged into me, and I jumped to my feet. I charged Cysgod, driving my sword into its gut and knocking the one-footed demon off balance. It crashed to the ground. I was right on top of it, slicing, stabbing, hacking. It swiped at me with its claws, but each time I landed a blow with the sacred sword, Cysgod weakened. The foul yellow smoke spread, stinging my eyes and clogging my lungs. It filled the cemetery. I squinted through the smoke, coughing, and kept striking. I drove the sword into the creature, over and over, until it felt like the blade was striking bare ground.

I stepped back, breathing hard. I waved at the smoke to clear it. The ground where Cysgod had fallen was empty, except for a fetid pool of thick, black blood.

One demon down.

I whirled around, my sword blazing, to face the Destroyer. Difethwr slumped on the ground, its head split in two. Gobs of black stuff and steaming liquid oozed from its skull.
How … ?
Cysgod’s kick—the Hellion must have been bending over me, and the force of the backward blow sliced open its skull. No wonder my strength had returned. Now, Difethwr’s blue skin looked dull and wan. Its eyes, no longer fiery, were black, empty sockets.

I couldn’t believe it was dead.

I poked its leg with my toe. No response. I drew back my foot and kicked it as hard as I could. It was like kicking a stone wall. I stretched and flexed my right hand—it felt whole and strong, no longer useless in the Destroyer’s presence. With my left hand, I tossed the Sword of Saint Michael into the air and caught it in my right. Its flames burned brighter, flaring to a conflagration as I struck the blow that severed the Hellion’s ruined head from its body.

Now to deal with Pryce.

He wasn’t far off. I spotted him immediately, slouched by a tombstone, the oak club dangling from his hand. I dashed toward him, sword raised, intent on preventing him from releasing any more of the Morfran. But he didn’t lift his arm to strike the slate. He didn’t move at all. There was something odd in the way he stood there, shoulders slumped, body slack.

Kane roared in out of nowhere and tackled Pryce. They tumbled across the grass. Kane sat up, pulling Pryce up with him by his lapels.
“WHERE IS SHE?”
he shouted. Pryce’s head lolled. Kane backhanded him; blood splattered a tombstone. “If you’ve hurt her,” he growled. “If you’ve touched one hair on her head, I’ll rip you apart.”

Kane was a nightmare vision, his features twisted with rage. Blood matted his hair and streaked his face. His torn shirt was drenched with even more blood. He backhanded Pryce again but got no response. Kane bellowed with fury and pounded Pryce into the ground.

“Kane!” I screamed, but he didn’t hear.

Someone else was yelling, too. Daniel. He ran to Kane, tried to pull him off Pryce. Kane swatted him away, but Daniel grabbed his arm and held on. “Stop!” he shouted. “Kane, listen, you’ve got to stop. The Goon Squad is here.”

Oh, God. The werewolf murder suspect beating the crap out of a human. Pryce wasn’t human, but the Goon Squad didn’t know that. They’d shoot him on sight.

“Stop! Please stop!” I pleaded.

Kane didn’t look at me, but he paused. A shudder went through him, and he shook off whatever he was feeling. Slowly, he climbed to his feet. Pryce flopped backward onto the ground. Daniel leaned over to check his pulse.

“Vicky,” Kane said, his voice thick. “Have you seen her?”

“No. We’ll find her. But for now you’d better move over there, away from this guy.”

Kane nodded.

“Are you okay?” Daniel asked. “I thought that thing killed you.”

“I don’t die that easily. And no, I’m
not
okay.” Kane stalked away from Pryce’s inert form. He paced by the fence.

I ran to him. Just before I caught up with him, he stopped and pressed his face into his hands. Then he looked up into the sky. “Vicky!” he howled.

“I’m here, Kane,” I said. “What happened to you?”

He gave no sign he’d heard me. Instead, he resumed pacing.

I ran ahead and planted myself in front of him. He walked right through me as though I were a ghost.

I might as well have been.

Kane didn’t know I was there. Because I
wasn’t
—not in his world. I was in Uffern. All around me, black fires burned, giving off the stench of sulfur and charred meat. Cries of pain and torment and cruel, mocking laughter clogged the air. None of this reached Kane in the Ordinary. He couldn’t see or hear me.

My heart thumped. What if I couldn’t get out? What if my bond to Difethwr kept me here, a prisoner in Hell? The Hellion was dead, but its essence was still inside me.

Never had I felt so filthy, so contaminated. Purity was a joke.

But if I wasn’t pure, then I wasn’t purely demon, either. This wasn’t my place. I’d found my way out of that weird, demon-induced sleep world by focusing on what was real. Maybe I could do the same thing now. I concentrated, willing myself into the Ordinary, bringing back the colors and sounds and scents I knew existed there. The frost-covered grass. The pearl-white, waning moon. Warm, yellow lights shining from buildings. Kane’s moonlight-and-pine scent. The heat of his skin, the suppleness of his muscles. Slowly, my senses shuttered themselves to the horrors of Uffern. Demonic shrieks and smells faded; light brightened.

Kane’s eyes brightened, too, when they saw me.

“Vicky.” Never has a single word held so much meaning.

We came together like waves crashing into the shore. I tasted his blood, his sweat, his skin. His closeness swept away any lingering horror. I couldn’t touch him enough. I ran my hands over his chest, through his hair, across his back. The back of his shirt was as torn and stiff with blood as the front. Hard lumps of scar tissue arose at regular intervals, to the right of his spine, four or five inches apart.

I pulled away and studied him. The rips in the front of his shirt were spaced the same way. I ran a hand down his chest. He had scars there, too. “What happened to you?”

“It’s nothing. When that … that demon threw me, I landed badly. On top of the fence.” Oh, God. He’d been impaled on the iron spikes. In four places, those wrought-iron spears had gone straight through him. “I’m fine, really.” He caught my hand, guided it to one of the wounds. Already the scar tissue was smoothing out. “It took some effort to free myself, but I managed.” His lips brushed my ear as he whispered, “I had to get to you.”

I laced my fingers behind his neck and pulled him to me. He moved his lips along my jaw and down my neck—nuzzling, kissing, tasting. Warmth spread through me. He drew back and held my head in his hands, his gray eyes roving over my face. “You’re all right,” he said. “You’re really all right.”

And I was. Instead of looking like a blood-soaked horror-movie heroine, I was mostly scuffed and dirty, with some cuts here and there. I’d left the wounds from Cysgod’s attack in Uffern.

Kane folded me into his arms, pulling me against his chest. I felt his heart beat beneath my cheek. But I wasn’t done here. As much as I hated to do it, I broke our embrace. “I have to see what’s happening with Pryce.”

He nodded and put his arm around me, firmly, like he was never going to let go again. Together we walked to where Pryce lay on the ground. Daniel was there, speaking to two uniformed cops. After a minute they nodded, and Daniel clapped one of them on the shoulder. He turned and saw us approaching.

“You found her!” He hurried to us as the cops stood guard over Pryce.

As Daniel got near, Kane growled softly and pulled me closer. Daniel stopped, an eyebrow raised. Then he grinned. Even at night, his blue eyes sparkled.

“You okay?” he asked me.

I nodded. “What’s the situation with Pryce?”

“Alive. His eyes are open, but he’s unresponsive. We’ll know more after we get him to the hospital.” An ambulance pulled up to the cemetery gate. He glanced at it over his shoulder. “I’ll ride with the ambulance. I need to get to Mass General to check on someone, anyway.”

“Let us know how Norden’s doing,” I said. The guy had been in bad shape before the Morfran slammed into him and knocked over his gurney. I hoped he’d make it. Norden would never be one of my favorite people, but I was rooting for him to pull through.

“Nord—Oh, yeah. Yes, of course I will.” Daniel twisted around to see the ambulance. “You two don’t need to hang around,” he said. “I vouched for you, said you’d stop by the station tomorrow to make your statements.” Daniel nodded at Kane, businesslike. He shifted his gaze to me. His blue eyes held mine. Something gleamed there, then it was gone. He nodded at me, too. Then he turned and went to the ambulance.

Kane squeezed my shoulder. “Let’s go home.”

“In a minute.” I slipped out of his grasp and went, alone, to the place where Difethwr had fallen. On the human plane, there was no visible trace of the dead Hellion, only a faint, unpleasant smell, like the wind blowing the wrong way over a garbage dump.

Hellforged lay on the ground, glowing faintly silver. I touched its blade. Its vibration thrummed, feeling almost like a welcome. I picked up the dagger and stuck it in my belt. After a moment’s hesitation, I cracked open my senses the tiniest bit to the demon plane. The stench of rotting Hellion made me stagger back, and I slammed my senses shut. The smell receded. Okay, good, I could dip my big toe into Uffern without getting stuck there. Holding my breath, I opened again, fully this time, and Difethwr appeared, lying motionless on the ground. The Hellion was decomposing. Its blue skin, pitted with ragged holes, had turned purple mottled with filthy green, and the body collapsed on itself, like a balloon with a slow leak.

The Destroyer, destroyed. My mind flashed to my father, writhing on the floor, tormented and killed by this demon’s flames.
It’s dead, Dad. After all these years, the Destroyer is dead.

I closed to the demon plane, and the Hellion disappeared. I drew Hellforged with my left hand and focused on a nearby slate gravestone. I couldn’t make out the name, but the date was 1704. Above the inscription was a carving, a simple line drawing of a winged skull. Flying death. Not exactly HOME SWEET HOME, but an appropriate residence for the Morfran.

As I traced wide circles above my head, there was very little drag on Hellforged. I circled and circled, mentally calling the Morfran to me, but the amount I sent into the gravestone was less than Pryce had released. I tried again, but this time nothing came. Some of the Morfran had escaped.

Well, there wasn’t anything I could do about it now. Mab said there was always some loose Morfran about, causing death and destruction. I’d never be able to catch all of it. Still, it bothered me that I’d let some get away. There was a little more violent, destructive hunger out there in the world now.

I sheathed Hellforged. Kane came over and stood beside me.

“Finally,” I said. “Let’s go.”

He held up his hand and sniffed the air. “Do you smell that?”

I could smell lots of things. Blood—my own and others’—ashes, the lingering stench of demons, the rot of Difethwr’s decay. “Smell what?”

“Like a grave. An old one.”

“We’re in a three-hundred-year-old cemetery, Kane.”

“Yes, but—” He broke into a run, toward the spot where the two cops guarded Pryce. I was right behind him. When we got there, I didn’t see anyone.