Aftermath (16 page)

“I’m thinking you might need a maid, Father.”

He chuckled. “Then I’d never find anything.” He went over to a small cabinet and pulled out couple glasses and a bottle of something. “Care for a drink?”

“Does Jesus save?”

He raised an eyebrow and groaned, pouring the golden liquid into the two glasses, passing one to me without comment. A quick sniff told me it was brandy, not that it mattered. I downed it in one gulp and the Father refilled my glass before dropping into his own seat. I slid the papers across the desk to him. He took a sip of his brandy, and then snatched the images up, eyes narrowing. He stayed quiet for a while, finally setting the pages aside and downing his drink, setting the glass down with a sullen
thump
.

“Recognize them?” I asked.

He nodded and reached behind him, pulling an old tome off the dusty bookshelf and dropping it on the desk. He flipped it over with certainty and fluttered through the pages. The smell reminded me of Abraham’s office, the fragrant scent of old knowledge. I used to linger in the doorway every time I went to visit Abe, reveling in the smell of his book collection that permeated the air. It was a powerful scent, one I associated with my old friend. I felt the weight of his loss settle over me then. Fortunately Lance didn’t give me enough time to wallow.

He pecked at an image with his finger;
tap, tap, tap
. “This would appear to be him.” The Father leaned back in his chair after pushing the book my way. There was no way the look on his face could be described as pleased.

I glanced at the image, seeing the similarities that had led him to believe this was our guy, and scrolled up the page to the title. “Marduk, huh?” Outside of the black metal band with the same name I didn’t know Jack. “Tell me about him.”

Lance poured himself another drink first, sipping at it before speaking. “Whatever these people have in mind, it is bad. Marduk is the supreme deity of the Babylonian age and was one of God’s first conquests when He came to this universe. Though Marduk’s power and influence had faded somewhat by that time, other pantheons having risen in power with the rise of their followers, Marduk remained a grim and determined opponent. Were he to be compared to anyone within the Christian hierarchy of souls, he would rate above Lucifer in scale of mystical power, Metatron a distance behind both.”

“And these jackasses are trying to free this guy?” I sighed.

“It would appear so,” Lance said. “Marduk was not known as a cruel god, or overly violent, but I can’t imagine his being locked away for all the ages has improved his temperament.”

“And with God and Lucifer gone, and no one really powerful enough to stand toe to toe with him, how’s that gonna play out?”

“Not well I would imagine.” Lance took another sip and I mimicked him, letting the brandy warm my throat. I wanted whole bunch more. “Relegated to the interstice he will no doubt seek to return to his former glory.”

“It’s what gods do,” I said, killing the brandy.

Lance raised his cup to me and did the same. “It’s what gods do.”

Empty glass in hand, I stared into it, my brain whirling. “Is there any way to find out where inside the interstice God locked Marduk up at?”

He shook his head. “There are no records of any of that, and even if they did exist they would be somewhere in Heaven, far from our reach. I can’t imagine He would advertise such things.”

I thought about Scarlett for a second but there was no way she’d help me steal something from Heaven, even if it did exist and I could figure out where it had been hidden. That little piece of information was probably what was locked up inside the bouncy castle of Abaddon’s skull, something he’d found out on his own somehow. As soon as they dug it out the whole of humanity was gonna be under new management.

I opened my mouth to say something but Poe’s telepathic voice cut me off. “Mister Li has reached out. Return to Hell immediately!”

I leapt to my feet. “Shit! Looks like things have come to a head. The end of the world is looming. You in, Father?”

Lance stood and started for the door. “Just let me freshen up.” He returned a few moments later in his knight’s gear, sword dangling at his side. “Shall we?”

“We shall.” I ripped open a gate to Hell and waved him through first.

Can’t imagine taking him there earned me any points with the Father, but hopefully he’d forgive me.

It’s what they do, right?

Chapter Fourteen

Hell left behind, Rachelle landed us—Rala, Rahim, Lance, Poe, and myself—deep within the Black Forest of Germany.

“This is the location he gave you?”

Apparently Mike had been able to sneak out a telepathic message in transit between two locations where his powers were not blocked. He’d said very little, spewing coordinates in a rapid fire burst to Rahim and claiming the masked man had what he needed before going silent again, the connection lost to the ether.

“It is,” the wizard answered. “I only wish he’d the time to give us more information regarding the task ahead.”

“We should simply be grateful he is still alive,” Rachelle told him. Properly chastised, Rahim shut up and busied himself by looking about.

The canopy hung over us like a dark, undulating roof, the cool breeze setting it in motion. Even with the sun out there was very little light that seeped through the foliage to reach the ground. I could see well enough, as I was sure Rala could—we’d brought her along in expectation of opening a portal to the interstice—but Rahim, Rachelle, and Poe were probably having a hard time. Before it became an issue, I conjured a small ball of sparkling energy and let it drift into the air above us, its luminescence providing enough light for everyone to see by.

Rachelle turned in a tight circle and I could feel her power reaching out, probing the dimensional walls. Not more than a moment later she stop spinning.

“It’s here,” she said, running a hand along the invisible barrier between worlds. “Another weak spot.”

“Do we really want to do this?” I asked. While this had been the trail of breadcrumbs we’d been following, I sure as shit didn’t want to go diving into God’s prison again.

“If there’s a chance to foil the masked man’s plans, it’s in there,” Rahim answered. “Stripped of all magic our opponents are nothing more than mortals and they can be killed or contained.”

“As can we,” I countered. “It’s not like we’re packing an army of muscle here.” I gestured to the assembled group one at a time. “Not to sound callous but we’ve got three folks who qualify for senior citizen discounts, a kid who isn’t old enough to buy her own cigarettes, an errant knight, and then there’s me. Not the best of odds on the easiest of days. Not to mention they have a giant,” I added. “A giant, damn it.”

“He is right, Rahim,” Rachelle said, adding her wisdom to the debate and playing devil’s advocate. Rahim would listen to her even if he wouldn’t me.

“Time is short if what the Father here said is correct,” he argued, glancing at Lance.

Or not.

“We cannot stand around debating what to do all day.”

Lance nodded, the movement setting his cowl to jingling. “He’s right. If they slip free of the interstice we will never be able to stop them.”

Rahim, seeming satisfied that the new guy was on his side, turned to Rala, the little alien trying her best to be invisible. “If you would please, Rala.”

She sighed and gave him a shallow nod before plopping down to recite the spell. Resigned to our idiocy, she started in without hesitation. Her voice rang out clear in the gloomy forest, the sound slithering between the tress as if trying to escape. I was seriously contemplating going with it. Despite it all, I knew our best chance lay in our confronting the masked man and his cronies inside the prison where their magic would be neutralized. I’d brought along my guns, remembering that technology still worked within the realm, and the cipher Lucifer had given me with the book. We’d used one the demon had on him the last time we’d gone through the place but I wasn’t gonna leave that aspect up to chance. I wanted a key to the door home before we stepped one foot inside the prison.

A few moments later Rala ripped the wall between worlds open and we were once more facing down the interstice, my heart pounding in my chest. And again, to my surprise, nothing poked its slimy head out to keep us from peering inside.

“Cthulhu must be on vacation,” I said while creeping to edge of the portal. As much as I didn’t want to go near it I didn’t have much choice in the matter. It was now or never and no one was gonna let never be the option I chose.

From the edge of the gateway I surveilled the world on the other side. Once more I saw flames licking the sky and so much billowing blackness that would give Smoky the Bear a stroke.

“Only you can prevent interdimensional forest fires.”

My eyes scanned from the roiling darkness down, eyeballing the ground just the other side of the portal. There wasn’t much there, the smoke obscuring most everything, but I caught a glimpse of something I’d hoped to never see again.

A Soul Devourer.

An unconscious tremble rattled my spine, only settling when I realized the shifty creature was dead, lying on its side, the smoke tricking me into thinking it had moved, its once purple eyes now colorless, cold and empty. Its three mouths hung slack, a triangle of jutting teeth. “Good riddance,” I muttered, forcing myself to examine it closer. Dark splatters coated its torso as if it had broken out in bloody hives. I looked harder and realized they were bullet holes, each wound seeping with the creature’s life, staining the drooping flesh that had grown in the shape of robes. It was the quintessential image of Death, the Grim Reaper façade that humanity had come to fear. Even dead it looked frightening.

Of course that had a lot to do with the fact that I had been eaten by two of the little bastards the last time I’d been there. Those kind of memories don’t go away quietly. Some therapist was gonna make it rich off me one day.

I peeled my eyes off the devourer and focused harder, trying to piece the gloom of shifting gray and black. That was when I spotted something sitting alongside the soul devourer: a pale hand. It led to a long white arm, and then a jagged red edge where said arm had been forcibly removed from its owner without its consent.

“No means no,” I muttered and kept looking, my gaze finally coming to rest on the barrel of a rifle the unfortunate arm had probably brought to the battle alongside the rest of its body.

Seeing it gave me an idea.

“Hey, Poe. How about you send your boss a message for me,” I told him. “We can use some cannon fodder.”

#

“If you had told me what you intended, Trigg, I wouldn’t have come.” Shaw sneered at me, casting sideways glances at Poe for his part in dragging her to Germany. He’d passed on exactly what I’d told him to and nothing more, which meant he skipped the bit where we were going spelunking into the interstice in pursuit of a bunch of maniacs.

“This is your chance to be the hero, Shaw, all while evening out the playing field.” I gestured to the shimmering portal. “You know how the place works.”

“Which is why I refuse to enter it again.”

I glanced at the DSI goons milling about and smiled. “Did you know your boss was a chicken?
Bock, bock, bock.
” I added in some arm flapping for emphasis. Sticking my chin out.

“You do that good, Triggaltheron,” Thud said with a deep chuckle.

“You keep flapping your gums, boy, and I’m gonna put your mouth to use.”

The demon started forward but Grace grabbed his arm while glaring at me. “Can you two stop with the dick-waving contest for just one damn second?”

“You mean for as long as it takes Spud there to get off?”

“Apparently not,” Grace said, shaking her head.

“Your grade school antics aren’t going to convince me to go with you, Trigg.”

“Then perhaps reason will,” Rachelle said, stepping between the snarling demon and me. “Or something resembling it, at least. This is our best chance at ending this without major consequence to our world.”

“I doubt it.”

“Why do you think I had you bring all the hardware?” I asked.

Shaw sneered at me but she’d done exactly as I wanted her to. She’d collected a veritable armory full of
acquired
weapons and raid gear from her military employees, to include several of the high tech guns the Army had shoved in our faces in Chicago.

“I had hoped you’d finally stopped playing hard to get and decided it was time to surrender to the inevitable.”

Kit made a sound as though she were racking a shotgun.

“Something tells me you don’t need batteries to have a good time, sweetheart.”

“Enough.” Rahim growled and inserted himself in the middle of everyone. “These people have one of ours in there,” he pointed to the portal, “and I’ll be damned if I let them hurt him while you act like children.”

“Yeah.” I pointed at Kit. She stuck her pierced tongue out and me and wiggled it. The very last thing I was thinking about right then was children.

“These people intend to free a god whose power dwarfs all of ours,” he went on, not giving me the opportunity to explore that train of thought further. “Would you prefer to face down Marduk here in our world without the restraints afforded us by the prison realm? He is the first god amongst the Babylonian pantheon. He might as well be our God if he returns to Earth for all the chance we have against him.”

That sobered everyone up.

“Besides, that was the point behind the weaponry,” I said, trying not to break my arm by patting myself on the back. “We get to go in there like Rambo and tear their shit up.” The riff from At War’s “Eat Lead” ran through my head, accompanying the visual. “God or no god, ain’t no one standing against a barrage of bullest.”

“And how do we get out?”

“Same way as last time,” I told her, “only Daddy has lent me the keys.” I held up the cipher.

Shaw split her glare between the gem and me, saying nothing.

“What have you got to lose?”

“My life, for one,” she answered.