Cataclysm (48 page)

“What’s the matter, son? Not feeling quite like yourself?” Drake crouched down in front of him. “Look at it this way. I’m doing you a favor. You’ve got, what... ten, twelve hours of life left?” He shrugged. “Of course, you’ve asked for forgiveness, so you won’t be sentenced to an eternity in Hell, but you’ve got demon blood in you, so you won’t exactly be welcomed in Heaven either.” He chuckled. “I guess that means you’ll get to spend eternity stuck between planes. Boring? Yes. Maddening? Absolutely. But, hey, at least you don’t have to worry about getting ass-raped by a demon with a flaming cock. You’re welcome.”

Drake punched him in the center of his chest, intensifying the pain to an unbearable level. Dominic coughed, tasting the metallic flavor of blood as it pooled in his mouth and spewed from his lips.

That’s it. He was pissed.

Dominic kicked out his leg, catching the demon in the stomach with the thick sole of his boot and sending him sailing to the other side of the alley. It bought him just enough time to crawl to his feet. “Fuck you, pops!” He spat out the blood in his mouth as he stumbled forward. Each word was painful to utter, but he shouted them at the top of his barely working lungs anyway. “I don’t care what you do to me! I’m dying regardless, so bring it the fuck on!”

Drake chuckled. The kid had no hope of winning, so his determination was asinine, but he had to give him credit for trying. “Now we’re talking.” He straightened to his full height and pushed his shoulders back, and then ran at Dominic with his clawed hand raised. Dominic ducked and grabbed him around the waist, pushing him back like a linebacker hitting a tackling sled. When Drake’s back hit the wall, he smirked down at Dominic and then kneed him in the groin.

He laughed when his son took a step back and doubled over in pain. “Demons fight dirty, my boy. Never think you have the upper hand.” He drew his right fist down and back, and landed an uppercut to Dominic’s chin, sending him careening across the alley again. “Oh, that was pretty, wasn’t it?”

Dominic tried to get his bearings so that he could get back on his feet, but had just made it to his hands and knees when Drake’s foot collided with his side. He cried out as more ribs cracked like chicken bones being snapped in half. He rolled onto his side and squeezed his eyes shut, willing the pain to go away.

“Come on!” Drake yelled at him. “I thought you’d be more fun than this. Get up!”

He tried. He really, really tried, but his body refused to do what his brain told it to.

Frustrated, the demon crouched over Dominic and lifted his head by the roots of his hair. Seeing no fight left in him, Drake snarled, “You’re pathetic!”

Dominic parted his lips, a gurgled sound struggling to come out of his throat, but he managed to say, “Go... to Hell...”

The demon’s fist connected with his mouth, breaking two of his teeth. “Been there. Done that. Not too keen on going back anytime real soon, but thanks anyway.” He patted Dominic’s cheek. “Get up, sonny. I’m not done with you yet.”

Dominic spit his teeth out before he ended up choking on them. Then he looked Drake in the eye with a look of determination. Sheer willpower gave him the strength to pull his head free and head butt his dear old dad. The action sent pain ricocheting through his own head, but it was worth it to see the stunned expression on his father’s face.

Drake recuperated within a mere second and hit him in the mouth again, following it up with a crack to his jaw. Dominic’s head lolled to the side like a ragdoll. He could feel his face swelling and the throb of his heartbeat as the blood pooled to bruise the area. His vision blurred, and his consciousness threatened lights-out, but one vision of Kerrigan’s face was all that he needed to stay awake. He couldn’t leave her all alone, but if he didn’t figure out how to call her soon, that was exactly what would happen.

As if sensing his intention, the demon growled a guttural sound that would have frightened even the bravest of men. Drake pummeled Dominic’s face over and over again, showing no mercy. Numb past the point of being able to feel anything, Dominic tried to block the fierce beating out of his mind and concentrate on her—her smell, her touch, the sound of her voice.

Without warning, the demon picked Dominic up and slammed him back down. He writhed on the ground, the excruciating pain too much to ignore. Drake fisted his shirt and drew his fist back to deliver what they both knew would be the final blow of death.

Dominic’s voice was a strained whisper, but if he was going to die there in his nightmare, there was only one word adequate enough to be his last. “Kerrigan...”

A flash of bright white light illuminated and quickly engulfed the surroundings. Dominic shielded his eyes from its brilliance, but he couldn’t make himself look away. Slowly, the light receded, and a shadowed form took shape at its center. He blinked until he could see more clearly, and his heart rate went off the charts.

It was her. She was there in his dream. All it had taken was the last plea of her name to summon her into his nightmare.

She didn’t say a word, but her comforting smile, her knowing in her eyes, and the confidence in her posture said more than he could ever hope.

Hope. That’s what she offered.

Drake’s amused yet sinister laugh echoed through the dark and dismal alley. “I see you’ve learned a new trick, son. How very entertaining. And what, exactly, is it that you hoped to accomplish by this little magic trick? Summoning your little whore here to do the job you couldn’t... Honestly, Dominic, have you no balls to speak of, or is the little missus carrying them around in her purse?”

“Your serpent’s tongue shall speak no more!” The expression on Kerrigan’s angelic face was ever pure and free of the hatred she had every right to feel toward the man whose only purpose in life was to cause Dominic’s demise.

Her voice roared with determination, but she did not yell. She did not scream. She did not seethe. Her eyes pinned Drake in place, their glow tranquil yet focused on the task at hand. She got right down to business, not giving him an opportunity to regain the upper hand. “I bind you, Drake D’Mon, in the name of the Light. This gift that runs through my veins, it demands that you be banished to the pits of Hell where you belong.”

“Shut up!” Thick, gray saliva oozed from the corner of Drake’s mouth, and his face turned up in evil disgust. “You fucking bitch! Shut... your fucking... mouth!”

She raised her arm and turned her palm toward the demon. Like thunder rolling through the heavens, her voice reverberated with no beginning, and no end. “I bind you, Drake D’Mon, in the name of the Light. This gift that runs through my veins, it demands that you be banished to the pits of Hell where you belong.”

His eyes widened, incredulous of the power that forced him to release the hold he had on Dominic while ripping his shirt to shreds with his razor-sharp claws in the process. The demon cringed and doubled over in pain before bucking upright, screaming. His red skin turned a scorched black until white light cracked the charred shell on his face, neck, and arms. Gurgled sounds of agony clawed their way out of him when he tried to rebuke the awe of the Light.

His attempts were futile. He could do nothing to subdue the ultimate power of life.

“I bind you, Drake D’Mon, in the name of the Light. This gift that runs through my veins, it demands that you be banished to the pits of Hell where you belong.”

The ground shook beneath him as if preparing to swallow him whole. Foreseeing the inevitable, Dominic fought through his pain and made his way toward Kerrigan. Like a delicate vase crashing to a marble floor, Drake D’Mon shattered into a thousand pieces. Dominic threw himself onto Kerrigan, knocking her to the ground in his attempt to shield her from the shards that exploded and rained down around them. He could feel the sting as they nicked his back, but it was nothing compared to the pain he had already experienced.

Once the ground stilled and silence returned, he lifted himself up onto his elbows and looked down at her. “Querida, are you okay?” he asked, searching her face.

She smiled up at his battered face, caked in congealing blood. “I’m fine, but you might not want to rest all of your weight on my stomach. There’s a baby in there, you know.”

“Oh, God!” he said, scrambling off until his face was next to her rounded belly. “The baby! Is it okay?” His hands hovered just over her stomach, afraid that if he touched her he would make things worse.

Kerrigan laughed, shaking under him. “I’m fine, the baby’s fine, you’re fine, and now, we’re all fine. We did it!” She pushed her fingers through his sweat and blood-matted hair.

Lacking the strength to hold his head up any longer, he gently placed it on her stomach, thanking God that his baby and his girl were okay. He relaxed, and the second his right shoulder met her left hip, everything went dark. He called her name as he was sent free-falling into oblivion. It was like the pull he had felt the night of the attempted séance when his secret had almost been revealed to Kerrigan before he had been ready to tell her. He instinctively closed his eyes to avoid vertigo, having no control over the direction in which he was pulled. He was tossed up and down, side to side, like balls being bounced into the air by the tiny hands of children with nothing but a thin parachute to catch them.

They were too late. Binding Drake hadn’t worked. He was dead. He just knew it.

Then someone grab his hand, and everything went still. The pain from each devastating blow to his body was gone, replaced by a serene, weightless sensation that wrapped him up like a mother’s comforting hug. He heard the sound of birds chirping, smelled the fragrant aroma of flowers in bloom, and felt the warmth of the sun on his face.

“Dominic, open your eyes,” Kerrigan whispered into his ear.

He opened his eyes and looked into the face of an angel. His angel. Maybe he was in Heaven after all.

“No, Dominic. You’re
my
angel. My Guardian Angel, remember?” she said, reading his mind. “I must say, you certainly look a lot better than you did just a few seconds ago.”

He looked down to find his shirt intact, all traces of his blood and the grime of the filthy alley gone. He put his fingers to the back of his head—no cut, no blood, no ache. He inhaled a deep breath, feeling nothing but crisp, clean air filtering into his perfectly intact lungs. He traced his teeth with his tongue, finding each one in place. He was completely healed.

“What happened? Where are we?”

“We’re in my sanctuary,” she said with an air of giddiness. Her long lashes framed eyes so blue and radiant they gave off their own light. The rays of the sun caressed her long hair, and the color reminded him of copper silk. Her skin glowed like a million tiny diamonds glistening in the sun. How was it possible for her to be even more beautiful than she normally was? Definitely an angel.

“Am I dead?” It seemed like a reasonable question to ask.

Plump lips the shade of dusty rose lifted into a smile. “If you are, then so am I.”

She stood to the side so that he could see where he was. Though he missed looking at her, he was in awe when he took in the beauty of his surroundings. Every flower known to man, and some that had probably never been discovered, were present and in full bloom. The grass was greener than the rolling hills of southern Kentucky, the sky, bluer than anything he had ever seen. A warm breeze brushed across his cheek, and he smiled... like he had never smiled before.

Kerrigan swept her arm out before her like a game show model. “Welcome to my nirvana.”

“But, how is this possible? What happened?”

“After I came out of Drew’s sanctuary he had told me that nothing is kept secret to him there. So, I know this to be true.” She turned to face him again. “The key to bringing you here was in our marks. There’s a reason they’re identical. Several reasons, actually.

“They’re proof that we’ve been touched by the Light, but they match because we belong to each other. And when they join, something very magical happens. All of the boundaries that stand between us simply melt away. The key to our possibilities were imbedded in our bodies all along. When they’re engaged, we can ascend... together.” She leaned in and let her lips graze the shell of his ear as she spoke her next words. “Only when we are joined are you and I ever whole.”

A chill ran down his back, and goose bumps formed on his arms. She wrapped her arms around him and laid her head on his shoulder as he closed his eyes and breathed her in. His head spun, overwhelmed with the intensity of the moment, dizzy with the realization that their connection ran so much deeper than he could have ever imagined. His feet left the ground, and he was slowly lifted straight up into the air. This time, he was sure to hold tight to his reason for living.

They stopped, and Kerrigan gasped. He opened his eyes to find her sanctuary gone. Instead, they were surrounded by a foggy, white void. There was no color to their backdrop, not even in their own clothes. The only color that remained was that of their physical features.

“Okay, we’re definitely dead now,” Dominic said, confused.

Kerrigan took a step back and shook her head. “I don’t think so. I’ve never felt more alive. Besides, I’m pretty sure Grammy and Sarah would be here to meet us if that were the case. I think this is where we need to be to banish your curse. It just feels right. Do you feel it? Like there’s a secret we’re really, really close to finding out?”