Sinister Seraphim of Mine (Overworld Chronicles Book 8) (19 page)

"These are the worst bugs ever," I roared as anger heated my face. "I just want to crush them all." I felt my inner demon surge with battle lust.

"Don't lose it now, Justin." Elyssa gripped my arm. "Shelton's gonna open the portal any second now and we'll get out of here."

But as the minutes trickled past and the scorpions chipped away at the stone, no portal opened. I suddenly realized why. The musical sequence from Elyssa's phone had probably reactivated most of the portal-blocking statues. Throwing up the Murk barrier had saved us, but it had also dampened the volume and prevented the deactivation sequence from reaching the statues farthest away. I made sure the volume on her phone was at max and played the tune again, but the sound of chittering and scorp claws on stone combined with the Murk barrier were probably too much for it to overcome.

My hands clenched with knuckle-cracking force as hatred surged through me. "We can't deactivate all the statues." I explained the situation to Elyssa.

She bit her lower lip and stared blankly for a moment. "Can you keep filling the gaps in the barrier?"

I nodded. "But not forever."

"Can you reverse the dome and scoop up the scorps?"

"Not fast enough." I flicked a hand to seal another gap in the floor. "They seem to detect magic and move out of the way before I can kill them."

Elyssa's eyes grew worried. "Can you move the dome? Maybe we can walk with it around us."

"I might be able to do it with just a flat shield, but a dome like this"—I motioned at the barrier around us—"I just don't have the control to keep it intact while we're moving."

Her worry turned to alarm. "Can you magically increase the volume of the phone?"

A sigh deflated the last shred of hope in me. "I don't know how." Unless I could conjure a giant can of bug spray, these monsters were going to feast on dhampyr and incubus-flavored mush.

Chapter 17

The minutes ticked past and stone chipped away as the industrious demon scorpions ground away at the floor in their relentless efforts to score a full meal deal. Elyssa and I tossed ideas back and forth.

"Let's dig a tunnel," I said.

"How fast can you tunnel with magic? And can you keep a barrier up while you're doing it or would the scorps pour down the hole after us?"

"I could melt the floor into lava."

Her forehead scrunched. "And bake us alive?" She looked up. "Can you dislodge some of the statues on top of that shelf? You might be able to crush some of them."

"I'd have to lower the barrier."

Her jaw tensed. "How about blinking us out of here?"

I considered it for a moment. Blinking was a way of transporting instantly from one point to another, but I had to have direct line of sight. I looked at the far side of the room. Vision wasn't an issue, but my ability to function after a blink would be. "I've only blinked a couple of times, and it always made me so sick to my stomach, I couldn't function for a moment or two. Also, I don't know if I can blink you with me."

"Son of a—" Elyssa drew in a sharp breath. "I thought of one more thing but it's really awful."

"I can do awful," I said, "so long as it gets us out of here alive."

Her eyes grew large. "It would mean sacrificing lives to save us."

I felt my forehead scrunch. "Whose lives?"

"Hellhounds. You'd have to summon more of them and use them to draw off the scorps."

A tiny match-sized flicker of hope flared in my soul. "You don't understand. The hellhounds from earlier didn't die. When their physical shells are destroyed, the demons inside simply go back to the demon world."

A happy look flashed across her face. "So your hounds weren't brutally murdered?"

I snorted. "Nope. They're running free across the wild plains of Haedaemos, or whatever the hell they do for fun in that place."

Elyssa gripped my arm. "Let's do it."

It was a long shot, but it was our only shot. I knew from experience I could manifest a hellhound about twenty yards from our position, but it would take time and concentration. "I can tie off the dome and make it self-sustaining for a few minutes, but I won't be able to fill any gaps while I'm summoning a hound."

Elyssa looked at the shallow trench the scorps had dug so far. "I'll chop off their claws if they try to squeeze through. You do your thing."

After filling the gaps one more time, I tied the dome off with enough energy to sustain it for a few minutes—hopefully enough time to find a suitable hellhound soul. The moment I reached through into the demon plane, I felt a very familiar and very angry presence. It was the demon soul who'd been in the large hound.

It seemed to recognize my presence and sent me one terse word.
Vengeance.
The image of a monstrous flaming beast accompanied the word. The image caused me to recollect something my father had showed me. Something which might work a lot better than sending this poor dude to another untimely demise.

I felt the demon's fierce joy at my idea.

I opened my eyes and repressed a maniacal laugh as I punched a fist against the ground and shouted, "Infernus!"

A giant flaming hand burst from the floor in the midst of the swarming creatures and pounded a dozen of them to pulp before the little bastards even knew what was happening. They obviously couldn't detect this kind of demon magic.

Willing the hand to crush at will, I let the demon soul controlling it go ape-poo crazy. Guts splattered all over the floor, the Murk barrier, and everything else nearby. The few surviving bugs fled the carnage before the demon hand could finish them off. I looked around for lurkers, but saw none. The scorps were smart, vicious, and thankfully, not suicidal.

I withdrew my hand from the ground and released the demon. Before my senses left the demon world, I felt a great sense of satisfaction emanating from my accomplice.
If you ever need another job as a hellhound, let me know
, I thought to him.

It would be my pleasure, Cataclyst.

Surprise jolted me from my state of concentration, and my senses withdrew back to Eden.
How did that demon know who I was?
And what sort of demon was he? I knew I'd stumbled upon the kind of soul who was probably a few pay grades above being a hellhound.

"Lower the barrier, and let's get the hell out of here," Elyssa said.

I nodded and drained the power from the barrier. We stood on an island of rock with a foot-deep trench around it, thanks to the efforts of the scorps. Elyssa took her phone and played the deactivation tune. A few seconds later, the portal reopened.

"Thank god!" Bella said from the other side where she stood next to Shelton. Both of them looked pale and worried. "When Harry told me what happened, we feared the worst."

Elyssa and I scampered through the portal and deactivated it before the remaining scorps decided to take another stab at us.

I squeezed Elyssa in a tight hug. "You're a genius, baby."

She kissed me and pulled back. "I didn't suggest a giant flaming hand."

"Yeah, but your idea got me there." I grinned.

"Will you two stop with all the kissy-wissy crap and tell us what the hell happened?" Shelton growled.

"Oh, Harry, don't be rude." Bella gave us an understanding smile. "Now, tell us what happened immediately, or I'm going to burst."

Assuming my best story voice, I said, "We fought a horde of dorpions."

"Did you just say, 'derpians'?" Shelton asked. "I always imagined there was a derp monster out there somewhere, but not a horde of them."

Elyssa rolled her eyes. "He's talking about scorps." She relayed the incident.

Bella's lips peeled back in a grimace. "
Madre de dios
! I would rather face a crawler than those monsters."

"Ah, they're not that bad," Shelton said. "Just use a fire spell."

I frowned. "Every time I tried to blast them with magic, they seemed to sense it and dodged before my attacks could land."

"I charbroiled a whole ball of the bugs once." Shelton shrugged. "They didn't try to get out of the way until it was too late."

"Maybe they only detect Seraphim magic," Elyssa said.

"Yeah, I'll bet that's it." Shelton gave me an accusing look. "Ever since you hit angel puberty, you never cast normal spells anymore."

"Because I'm not that great at Arcane spells." I narrowed my eyes. "Don't go giving me guilt trips, brah. Sheeze, I'll start blowing things up with some good old-fashioned fireballs again if that'll make you happy."

He grinned. "You know, I think it would."

"Jack of all trades, master of none," I grumbled.

Bella regarded me with a sympathetic smile. "You've only been practicing various forms of magic for a few months."

"Almost a year," Shelton corrected her.

I threw up my hands in exasperation. "Whatevs."

"Harry, do you really want to damage the self-confidence of the one person who can stop Daelissa?" Bella directed an intense violet gaze at her boyfriend.

He smiled sheepishly. "Nah, I'm just giving him a hard time." Shelton slapped me on the back. "Use whatever spells you want, buddy." Almost under his breath, he followed it with, "But fireballs would've saved your asses today."

"We snagged a couple of statues," Elyssa said, pulling them from the small satchel at her waist.

"Awesome." Shelton took one. "Let's give one a test. I'll take it down to the gauntlet room and activate it. You try to open a portal there."

The gauntlet room could be quickly configured to offer practice sessions for magic, armed combat, or just about anything. Elyssa had upgraded it with a Templar CPM—Combat Practice Module—which could project solid three-dimensional illusions. Ever since getting my ass kicked by the Exorcist ninja who might possibly be Elyssa's sister, I planned to spend a lot of time honing my martial arts skills.

Shelton texted me.
Statue is active.

I tried to open a portal in the gauntlet room. The portal within the omniarch flickered open and just as quickly closed. Bella gave it a couple of tries but had no more luck than me. I sent Shelton a text, telling him the statue worked just fine.

He returned to the portal room with the statue. "Let's nail down the range on this sucker. We don't want to block our own omniarch portals if we use the statue to protect the mansion."

"I'll take it outside and activate it," I said. "We'll take pictures at measured intervals while you try to open a portal at each one."

"Sounds good to me," Shelton said.

Elyssa and I jogged upstairs and left the mansion via the front door. We took the long, winding driveway through the woods and emerged on Greek Row. I opened my cell phone and downloaded an app which projected a three-dimensional grid on the road with each line spaced about ten yards apart. I placed the statue at the zero yard line and activated it before texting Shelton and giving him the go ahead to test.

"It sure is quiet today," Elyssa said, looking at the seemingly abandoned houses nearby. The fraternities and sororities of Arcane University usually had parties and activities going at all times of day even during the holiday breaks.

I snapped a picture of the grid and sent it to Shelton. "Who knows? Maybe it's like the time someone spiked the alcohol with sleeping potion at that huge party and put most of the partiers to sleep for three days." I walked forward twenty yards and snapped another picture for Shelton's reference.

Elyssa made a thoughtful noise followed by a gasp. "Oh my god. Tomorrow is New Year's Eve."

I snapped my gaze to her. "That's not possible." I counted the days on my fingers. "We saved Mom just before Christmas, right?"

She nodded. "And you were in the Gloom with your father for a couple of days."

"I've been so busy rescuing family and starting an inter-dimensional war I completely lost track of time." Then again, it might be a miracle if we even saw the New Year with Daelissa breathing down our necks.

"Of course, that's just the nom New Year," Elyssa said. "The Overworld New Year is in a week."

My brain took a short recess from thought at this surprise. "Is it the same as the Chinese New Year?"

"No." She looked up, as if recalling something. "I'm so used to living in the nom world, I hardly bother tracking the Overworld Calendar, but you know how Arcane University is all about tradition."

"Maybe the frats are in New York for a big nom New Year's party."

Elyssa shrugged. "You could be right." She whipped out her phone. "Here it is. It's 2998 OCD—that stands for Overworld Calendar Date."

"Ooh, we're in the future."

She smiled. "Since the Chinese calendar claims the year is somewhere around four-thousand seven-hundred, we're actually living in the past."

"That's just depressing." I winked and continued to take pictures for Shelton until I was two-hundred yards from the statue. I was about to continue our time-based banter, when I saw a flying broom drifting down the road toward us with an occupant slumped over the stick. Once it drew closer, I realized it was actually a rolling floor sweeper, the kind used in nom restaurants. This one had obviously been liberated from a Denny's as evidenced by the logos emblazoned on the sides.

The rider, a male wearing only underwear and a white cape, had been used as a human canvas by someone with access to lipstick and a cruel sense of humor. I reached out a hand and stopped the drifting broomstick. The rider belched and mumbled something. Elyssa and I backed away from the noxious fumes, fanning the air with our hands.

"It's a good thing these flying brooms have spells to keep the riders from falling off," Elyssa said. She dug into her satchel and removed a small vial. "Hold his mouth open, please."

"Heaven help me if he burps again." I wrinkled my nose to underscore the point, but pulled the guy's mouth open for her.

She put a tiny drop of brown liquid on his tongue, pressed his mouth closed, and waited. The broom rider moaned. Sweat broke out on his forehead, his back, and soon drenched what little clothes he wore. I had to hold my nose at the alcoholic stench permeating the air.