Cult of the Hexad (Afterlife saga Book 6) (43 page)

I screamed as fire burst through the shadows at the same time an almighty roaring purr rose up from the belly of a mighty beast before the crackling scorch of flames travelling through the air. I ran even faster to get away and as I looked over my shoulder its head materialised through the fire. It was trying to reach for me and stopped abruptly, bellowing its anger into the sky. I looked back to see Sigurd’s shadowed serpent had wrapped itself around its neck and for a false hopeful minute I thought Sigurd had him. But the Dragon, Níðhöggr was obviously a lot smarter than the giant snake Sigurd had defeated. Because he looked down and saw who the shadows were being controlled by and with one nasty wipe of his tail, Sigurd went flying into the side of one of the houses.

I froze in horror, too scared to move. I looked to Draven to see now he had his own monster to deal with, one that had a flaming sword and was bigger than Ragnar. I looked to everyone around to see they each had their own devastating force to try and control as even all of Jared’s crew were still battling it out against the monstrous wolf. But nobody was left to fight the biggest of them all! If only we had our own monster to fight him, because if something didn’t happen soon then all would be lost.

I don’t know why but my subconscious kicked in just at the right time as the next set of flames came at me. I took a deep breath as the seconds seemed to slow down and raised my hands up. Suddenly there was no fear and there was no doubt left in me. For I knew I could do this and for the first time I didn’t need anger to cast it out. I simply said,

“No.” And from me came a blinding flash of light that boomed from me and I could see it travelling along in the air like a shimmering curved wall. It hit the beast like a shockwave and it whipped its head around in what looked like agony, screaming this high pitched sound so great everything stopped for a moment.

I thought for a second I had been victorious but after what felt like using all of my power the creature recovered. Now instead of being a wild angry beast, I had just given it purpose and made it a wild, angry, vengeful beast!

“Oh shit!” I said once again trying to run only this time in the direction of someone that could aid me. Because as cool as what I did was, I knew I was now all out of juice. I ran and screamed just as one of Jared’s Hellbeastsrolled past me after being thrown off the back of the wolf
,
Fenrir. They were all going at it together and I could see little by little it was weakening from the constant attacks from all sides.

But instead of getting to safety by running this way I was only bringing more danger. I was just about to start running the other way when suddenly I was scooped from the ground and being flown backwards by Lucius.

“Stay here.” He ordered and then snapped open his phone. I couldn’t imagine who he was going to call at a time like this and would have asked if he hadn’t snapped, 

“Pip, get your ass here now!” Pip! What the Hell could Pip do?

“No I know what I said but that was before the fucking Dragon appeared, so yeah fuck it, I will take the chance of Hell breaking loose, because right now, I need a fucking Hell on my side!” I frowned having no clue what he was talking about but then my whole body tensed as it just sounded like thunder striking a volcano right behind us in the trees.

“Fuck that was quick!” Lucius said and before I could ask, Pip suddenly came racing through the trees with the whole forest shaking behind her. Even the ground started to vibrate until it felt like it would open up beneath us.

“Oh God, what now?”

“I would move your asses if I were you…my hunka train is coming through.” Pip said running past us and changing direction just before she ran straight into the Dragon.

“I think now would be the time to ignore my order.” Lucius said, picking me up and launching us up in the air over to where Pip had decided to stand…well out of the way. Just as we got close I looked over his shoulder to see the scariest, most terrifying beast so far! Actually he made all the others look like demonic pets you would buy at a pet store run by the Devil.

“What the fuck did you say to him to get him to change so quickly?” Lucius asked her as soon as we had landed. 

“Oh nothing much, just a little female persuasion.”

“Pipper!”
Lucius said her name in warning.

“Okay, okay…I simply told him that if he isn’t gonna turn all beasty and sex me up then I might have to just go over there and find myself a naughty little beasty to play with me…see no biggy.”

“Oh fuck!” Lucius shouted dragging both his hands through his hair. Meanwhile the battle still raged around us but with one big exception, now we had our own monster, and he was kick ass! He took one look at the Dragon standing in between him getting to Pip and went crazy! He ran into Níðhöggr at a dead run, charging at him with his head down and you could just see all the skulls of other demonic creatures embedded in his thick unearthly flesh.

“How the Hell are we going to get him to come back down now!?”

“Well you told me there was a freakin Dragon for foogle sake! What else was I supposed to do, Adam wouldn’t listen to me!”

“Where is Adam?” I asked looking around realising this was the first time I hadn’t seen the two of them together.

“Uh…durr Toots, he’s right there.” She said nodding to the new beast on the block.

“Wait a second…you’re telling me that’s…Adam?!” I said thinking this was the time I might actually pass out.

“Ooops, sorry, our bad! …Do you think a fruit basket will help?” Pip asked as her monster husband just back handed one of Jared’s crew into the forest.

“More like a free night out at a titty bar, he’s a fucking biker Squeak.” She shrugged her shoulders and said,

“I know a girl, she can do me a deal.” Were they serious right now! I looked to Draven and saw him still battling it out now with Vincent at his side as the enemy he fought had more than tripled in size.

“The last one is coming through.” Lucius said nodding towards the Fathers and he was right. But I was surprised as I thought they were getting bigger but the one that walked through now was…

“It’s just a woman.” I voiced this as I wanted to make sure my eyes weren’t deceiving me.

“That’s not just a woman sweetheart.”

“Oh Shit on a stick for breakfast.” Pip added causing a chill to ripple across my spine.

“Who is she?” I asked,

Lucius pulled his sword from his back, swung it round once as if testing its weight and then said,

“My next fight.” He took two steps towards her before Pip grabbed his arm.

“Be careful, Boss.” He pinched her chin and said,

“Aren’t I always?” Then he walked off leaving Pip shouting behind,

“Well no, the last time you were in Hell you lost your hand remember!” To which he turned and saluted her whilst holding up his middle finger. She gave him a smile that didn’t reach her eyes and it was the first time I had seen Pip not only serious but also worried.

“Who is she?”

“She’s the Devil.” She answered as simply as that and I gasped.

“What?!”

“It’s true. Her name is Hel and she is the ruler of Helheim, the Norse underworld, ruler of the dead. Her name means ‘Hidden’ and she is the most powerful of all that has walked through the pathway.” She said, not being able to take her eyes off Lucius as he might be walking to his death.

“How do we stop it, Pip? How do we stop all of this?” I asked her grabbing her by the tops of her arms and spinning her to face me.

“Hey Honey, your date just arrived.” Lucius said as he got into position to fight her.

“PIP!” I said dragging her away from the sight of Lucius. I needed her to focus now on how to stop this.

“We can’t, she won’t go back to where she came from until the pathway is about to close. She won’t risk it, not in this world. She draws her power from Helheim but if that closes then she is powerless and she will be forced back to the underworld.” Pip said telling me that at this level of crisis, she could lay it all on the line just like everyone else could.

“So we can stop it!” I said and she shook her head,

“Not with those four dickheads keeping the …oh, okay yeah we can stop it.” She said getting where I was going with this. I was just trying to think of a plan when suddenly the Dragon that was on its way down after finally being defeated by Adam let out one last burst of fire into the sky and then straight across the field towards the barn when its head hit the ground. The barn was set alight almost immediately and I knew my priorities had changed.

“Oh God, the people!” I shouted and started running but turned to see Pip wasn’t following.

“I have to save the others!”

“From what, the Dragon’s down?!” I shouted back and then she shocked me when she whipped off her top and shouted back,

“No, not from them, from my husband!” And then she was gone, sprinting towards Adam the monster, half naked. I watched for a second longer to see little Pip hopping around trying to get her pants off and at the same time waving her little arms around under the beast. The second he saw her he tried to grab her but as his big hand came towards her she smacked it away, put a hand to her hip and shook her finger at him. I could barely believe what I was seeing as it was a bit like watching the damsel in distress taming King Kong. The next second she sprinted for the trees and the chase was on. I was quickly left shaking my head and praying that she knew what she was doing with that one. 

I turned and raced towards the barn, knowing there were people inside! The whole back wall was covered in flames and I had to wonder how many burning buildings a person could see in their life before they knew they were gonna have fire issues?!

I got to the barn and flung open the door to see it was packed with people. Thankfully the smoke wasn’t too bad yet and the part that was burning was at the back where no one stood thanks to it being full with straw.

“EVERYONE OUT NOW!” I screamed at them and even though they all resembled zombies, they did as they were ordered. I recognised that most of the Colony was in there too but after a frantic search for Ari I knew she wasn’t with them. 

“That way!” I pointed to the furthest point away from here and after one started walking towards the corn fields they all followed like drugged sheep. It was heart-breaking seeing Lucy and Denis not recognising me and looking all mindless but then one look back at what anyone would think was the end of the world, and I thought it was for the best.

“Go! Go! Follow the others!” I commanded and it was only when Dex walked past me that I saw something I might be able to use. I stopped him and being a good mind controlled human he obeyed.

“I’m just gonna borrow this.” I said unsnapping his gun from the holster and taking it in my hand. I pointed it down not having a clue but knowing it might come in handy. Once everyone was out of the barn I closed the doors and stepped away as more and more of it became consumed. I turned to face the cause of all the chaos and death seeing that the Fathers were once more trying to bring something else through. I couldn’t let it happen!

I remembered Ragnar saying how he and Sigurd could stop it if they could take the power away from the four Fathers but no one could get close enough. Draven had tried a few times and Rue had been hit and lay on the floor unconscious. Takeshi did what he had pledged to do and was protecting her against the walking dead that Hel, the ruler of the underworld, had brought through with her.

It was only now that I could see she was only half the image of a beautiful naked woman and the other half was decaying death, with ripped grey flesh and withered bone showing through. Yet despite appearances of frailty, she was kicking Lucius’ ass and seeming to be enjoying herself whilst doing it…well if the evil grin and laughing was anything go by because she certainly wasn’t speaking English!

No there was only one person they weren’t expecting to stop them and that was a human girl they had helped terrorise for the last eight months that had felt more like a life time! So I crept up to the church just as I had done at the cabin and keeping close to the wall I edged my way round. The four robed figures all had their backs to me and thanks to concentrating on what they were doing they didn’t even see me.

Not until it was too late.

I pulled the gun from the waistband of my jeans and from watching probably too many cop shows from my other life I knew to flick the safety off. I then aimed and fired at the closest one. I heard a click and had been expecting a lot more than that!

“Oh come on!”
I whispered wondering why we couldn’t just get a freakin break here! I looked down at the gun wondering what I had done wrong but at least not playing the stupid blonde in this disaster movie by looking down the barrel. I looked back up to see I didn’t have much time as the next beast was making its way through and I don’t think even after finally bringing down the wolf that Jared and his men looked capable for another round.

No, it was up to me to try one last time because it was now or never. I raised my arm again and this time prayed for violence. Then I pulled the trigger and finally fired my first bullet. One of the Fathers dropped to the floor and the pathway disappeared. I didn’t stop there as I continued to fire all the bullets I had in the gun until all four were on the ground moaning in pain. I knew that if a blade in the head didn’t kill one then a couple of bullets wouldn’t but this was all Draven had needed!