Destroyer Rising (13 page)

I ran my fingers over the book, my voice quiet.
“There has to be another way.”

He nodded slowly. “Perhaps, but if the Destroyer
possesses Vicky’s body, she’ll gain the ability to walk between the
planes. Prosperine is one of the last wanderers, much like
Gaia.

“The Destroyer will be able to come into our realm at
will?”

“Yes,” Mike said. “That is the way of these
things.”

“If she would be free to move between realms … I
understand why you said it could be our only chance, but what if
I’m wrong? What if coming here was wrong?”

Mike raised an eyebrow. “I am surprised to see such
doubt in you. It doesn’t suit you.”

“It’s Vicky, Mike. I
can’t
be wrong about
this.”

“I understand your concern, but what if you wait? If
now is not the time, when?”

I didn’t answer.

“One thing I can tell you that the centuries have
taught me: now is the only time we have, Damian. The world is set
to tear itself apart in upheaval, in a war no one can win. If Glenn
or Hern moves to strike humanity, commoners will face weapons
beyond their understanding. That scale of death alone could bring
forth the Destroyer.”

“She didn’t rise in Gettysburg,” I said quietly.

“No, but I cannot tell you why. Luck, perhaps? I
don’t have all the answers.” Mike stared at me for a moment before
looking away. “This is our chance, or when next you quest to help
the child, it will be to kill her.”

His words rang true, and they were like a blade in my
chest. What wouldn’t I do at this point? Everything that girl had
been through: the kidnapping, the murder, the possession. My
fingernails cut into my palms as my hands curled into fists.

The wolves surrounded us before settling onto the
stones that formed a rough bench to my right.

“The black sun will be gone soon,” Carter said.
“We’ll have to be quick if you mean to reach the tenth circle
before darkfall.”

Vicky seized up in my peripheral vision. She shivered
and trembled before she started to fall.

“Vicky!”

The panda sprang into motion, dropping me back
against the stone as he sprinted toward her falling form. We were
all too far away to prevent the crack of her head on the stone
floor, but Happy got a paw beneath her before violent seizures
wracked her body.

The girl released a stuttering scream, and tears
leaked from her eyes. Happy howled, shaking the cavern when Vicky’s
tears hit his fur. Smoke rose wherever the droplets struck. I
pushed the bear’s paw out of the way and cradled Vicky’s head.

Her skull slammed against my hands hard enough to
break bone. I didn’t move.

“Damian,” Carter hissed. “We don’t know what this is.
Get away.”

Vicky slammed her head into my palms again, and the
sharp sting told me something had cracked in my palm. Her tears
found my skin, and I ground my teeth as my flesh boiled and
smoked.

“You cannot save her, necromancer.” That awful, cold
laugh filled the cavern and I raised my right hand above Vicky’s
chest.

“
Excutio Daemonium!”

Golden light slammed her against the ground and the
bones in my left hand crumbled. I was past caring. If it took the
Demon’s Sacrifice to rid her of this beast, I’d pay it gladly.
Smoke rose from my already blistered skin.

Vicky’s eyes shot open, revealing a thicker covering
of the black flecks I’d seen in them before. Her gaze rolled up to
meet mine and held it. Tears rolled down her face as she curled up
into a ball. “You have to kill me.”

It was the single worst sentence I’d ever heard. I
didn’t fight the tears in the corners of my eyes. I gathered the
girl up in my arms and let her sob into my shoulder. I hadn’t felt
anything like the awful knot of hopelessness in my chest since I’d
watched Sam get her throat ripped out.

“You are not wrong about Vicky, Damian,” Mike said.
“This is the time, and we cannot fail.”

The laughter came first. Low and slow, just outside
the gate of fire. It sounded like someone laughing through gritted
teeth. The voice was deeper than the Old Man’s, and just as
gravelly.

“The allies of Camazotz are weaker than I
imagined.”

“Be gone,” Mike growled at the hunched shadow outside
the flame.

“Do you know what I am, little demon?”

“A messenger, soon to be dead.” Mike drew the hammer
from his belt, and it burst into fiery life. He held out his left
hand, and closed his fingers into a fist. The grid of flame
vanished, leaving an afterimage burned into my retinas.

“Brave,” the shadow said, “or foolish. Do you
treat?”

Mike hesitated. “I treat.”

I wondered if Mike thought he could glean some bit of
information from the shadowed figure, if that’s what had stayed his
hand.

The messenger stepped forward, and its gray skin
stretched in the light of the Smith’s Hammer. I almost flinched
when I realized the leathery mouth was smiling. Fangs as long as my
fingers curled out from the thing’s mouth.

“The word of the Fallen Smith. A powerful thing
indeed.”

“Do not attack it,” Mike said.

The form stood up straighter and cocked its head to
the side. “You would only break our treat. I would not be so
disappointed to devour your friends.”

Happy placed himself between the shadow and Vicky. I
lowered her to the ground and slowly stood up, taking the few steps
to stand beside Mike.

The creature turned to face me, and the mockery of
its almost-human face glowed in the hammer’s light. It smiled,
baring a row of sharp fangs, dwarfed only by the two curved teeth
that looked more like those of a saber-toothed tiger.

“Welcome, Anubis-son,” the thing said as it
straightened its posture. It towered over us, at least eight feet
tall, and fluttered the tattered cloak around its shoulder.
“Forgive my appearance. I have been here long.”

“What do you want?”

The thing’s face curled up in a brief smile. It
rolled its neck. “So direct. My, how the formalities change.”

“The only formality is deciding whether or not to
kill you,” I said as I crossed my arms. Vicky whimpered behind me,
and my rage mixed with hopelessness.

“You would kill your friend by betraying his word,”
the creature hissed. “Such a sad fate to befall the noble
Hephaestus.”

“Creatures from the Abyss are not bound by Mike’s
word,” I said. He wasn’t from their plane, but did that really give
him an out?

“It matters not. While you speak with me, my people
begin to consume your realm.”

“You speak for the dark-touched,” Mike said, his eyes
tracing every movement the thing made.

“I
am
the dark-touched.”

“Jasper,” I said flatly.

The innocuous ball of fluff exploded, filling the
cavern with his reptilian form until his head snaked out over our
guest.

The creature glanced up at the blazing eyes of the
dragon and bowed. “I stand corrected, Anubis-son.” It raised an
arm, and the tattered cloak fell away to reveal an emaciated gray
body. Thin straps of leather wrapped around its torso, holding
enough blades against its chest to arm an entire company.

“The dark-touched are mindless killing machines,”
Carter said, taking up a position on my left while Maggie and Jimmy
flanked Happy.

“Oh,” the thing said with a laugh as its sleek
forehead wrinkled. “And dead wolves stay dead.”

Jasper leapt out of the cave, soaring past the
creature and landing on the fiery plain with a thump.

The gray-skinned creature spread its arms, revealing
a thin membrane, laced with more bones than I could count. “Imagine
ten thousand of my kind, starved for millennia, unleashed on your
hapless realm. You will not find them so talkative.”

“Begone,” Mike said. “You have made your point.”

“I have not even begun to make my point, demon.” The
dark-touched vampire crouched down, curling into a hunched form
once more. “Too long we have spent locked behind the Seal of
Anubis, trapped in this fiery wasteland. We will take our vengeance
in blood.”

Bubbles growled, and the sound shook the earth.

“Not today, dog,” the creature said. “I take my
leave, in peace.” Its face curled up again, exposing those curved
fangs. It moved like a shadow, slithering and shifting around
Jasper before launching itself into the air. The thin wings on its
back expanded, catching the heat rising from the flames below and
propelling it forward. When they swept forward and flexed, the
vampire shot forward like a rocket through the night sky.

Jasper shrank and collapsed onto himself before
flowing across the earth and back into the dome.

“We should have killed it,” I said.

The dragon chittered his agreement as he took up his
position on my shoulder.

“No.” Mike let the hammer fade before raising the
gate of fire again. “Unless you wish to find the tenth circle
without me.”

The little necromancer faded into view. “A parlay
with a creature as old as the dark-touched is binding. Had Mike not
kept his word, it may well have killed him.”

“What?” I asked. “I know he’s bound to the hammer by
his oath, but how could an agreement like that hurt him?”

The little necromancer stared off at the black sun
before turning back to me. “Magic, as much as it is the same in our
realm, is different in the Burning Lands. I don’t know if it’s
because of the devils that live here, or if the devils came to live
here because of it, but agreements are binding to both parties,
regardless of the plane.”

“Shit,” I snapped. “It might have been good to know
that ahead of time.”

“I never dreamed we would encounter a speaking
dark-touched,” Mike said.

“That was really one of them?” I asked.

Mike nodded.

“And there’s an army of them now, somewhere in our
world?”

“Yes.”

“How many of them are as smart as that one?”

“Not many,” Carter said. “The ones we’ve fought have
been silent beasts that would sooner grunt and utter that terrible
screech than speak. Even fewer would take the time to treat. It is
concerning.”

“So what was this one, then?” I asked. “Was it a
leader of some sort?”

Mike shook his head and sat down beside Vicky. “They
don’t have leaders. They are more like a Pack without an
Alpha—chaotic, destructive, and hungry.”

I lowered myself to the ground near Vicky and picked
up the Book that Bleeds. I knew it wouldn’t sound good, but I said
it anyway. “We have bigger things to worry about than some
chatty-ass vampire.”

“For once we agree on something,” Jimmy said from
behind Maggie.

I spent the last hour of the black sun reading
through the Book that Bleeds. It wasn’t until Mike let the gate of
fire fade and the black disc above us turned crimson again that the
idea struck me. I turned the book over and ran my fingers around
the front cover.

Nothing.

It was perfectly smooth, outside of the ribs beneath
the binding. I flipped the cover open and studied the end papers.
There were faded runes at each corner—ehwaz and uruz—repeated and
alternated. They were the same runes used to summon Aeros at
Elephant Rocks. One corner had a tiny slit at the front of the
book. I’d almost missed it until the light caught.

I ran my fingernail over it and frowned. It was flush
with the cover. That seemed wrong. I could clearly see the cut in
the paper, but I couldn’t feel it. This book was as frustrating as
it was helpful. I jammed my fingers into the cover hard enough for
my nails to tear the paper. The slit bulged and started
bleeding.

I tried not to gag when ancient rotten blood oozed
out, stinking of decay. I peeled enough of the end paper back to
see inside. Fibers like striated muscles waited below and I barely
handled the smell. Etched inside of that gory thing was one simple
sentence.

The Book of Souls lies hidden in the history of the
Flame.

“Gee, that’s helpful.” I gingerly tucked the edges
back into place and closed the book.

“It is almost time to go,” Mike said. “What did you
find?”

“Just some cryptic note about a Book of Souls being
hidden in a flame or some shit. Nothing that would actually help
us.”

“The Demon’s Sacrifice could still accomplish the
task.”

He was right, of course, but that meant losing
friends, again. I ran my fingers through my hair and ground my
teeth. “There has to be another way.”

“If there is, I do not know of it.”

I glanced at Vicky, curled up at Happy’s side. “And
if it doesn’t free her? What then? Find more friends to strike her
down?”

“Yes.”

I slammed my fist onto the stone, and was surprised
when it shattered beneath the blow. I expected pain and blood
across my knuckles when I turned my hand over, but there was none.
Bits of stone floated around me for a moment before pattering onto
the earth.

“This place weirds me out,” I said, brushing the
crushed stone away from the divot I’d made. “Almost as much as this
damn book.” I slid the Book that Bleeds back into the pack and
threw it over my shoulder.

“We need to move faster,” Mike said. “You are slowing
us down too much, Damian.”

“What the hell? I’ve been moving just as fast as you.
Sometimes faster.”

“Yes,” Mike said, “well, let’s not do that again.
Ride on Jasper’s back. The wolves can run indefinitely, as can the
bear.”

“I’m sorry?” I said, raising my eyebrows. “You want
me to do what?”

Jasper’s tree-trunk like legs whumped into the earth
as his gray scaly body erupted all around me. Claws long enough to
impale Aeros scratched at the stone around us. His wings swept
back, adding a fleshy canopy above our heads.

Bubbles thought this was
fantastic.
She
chuffed and bounded up the dragon’s back, settling into the crook
of his neck. Her massive tongue waggled in the air before Jasper’s
chest.