Hell Is Coming (The Watcher's Series Book 1) (32 page)

It recognized what was happening and it wanted a front row seat.

“Leia, let’s go.” Frank was already in the car, the engine started. I willed the demon power in me to back down and ran to the car, praying we weren’t too late to stop Abigor .

Chapter 26

Even though it was daytime, the whole city was shrouded in darkness. People were out on the streets looking up at the coal black sky, fearful and wondering what was going on. Traffic on the roads had slowed to a standstill, which made it difficult for us to drive the car to the cemetery where we knew Abigor and his minions would be. Frank was forced to mount the car on the pavement a few times, frantically sounding the horn to get pedestrians to move out of the way, a couple of times almost hitting people as we sped along the sidewalks in the Chevrolet, wrecking shop signs and whatever else stood in our way. Frank didn’t care. He drove like he too had demonic power in him. Our only objective was to get to that cemetery and stop Abigor. Frank had already called Eva and told her to meet us there.

About half a mile from the graveyard, we stopped the car and bailed out. Traffic had come to a complete standstill as people just abandoned their cars so they could get out and see what was happening above them. As Frank and I got out of the car, the dark maelstrom above us began to thunder. Forked lighting projected down from the sky, hitting cars and people all over the place. The entire city was in a panic, people running wildly everywhere. It was a scene from a disaster movie.

“This is chaos!” Frank said as we opened the trunk to get our weapons. I immediately grabbed the Demon Blade, which felt different in my hand, heavier, more powerful.
Alive
. “Let’s go!” Frank grabbed his own sword from the trunk. We ran as fast as we could through the crowds of people, knocking them out of our way as we raced through the streets towards the cemetery. After five minutes, we made it to the open cemetery gates. The darkness seemed to be greater there than anywhere else, as did the winds and sounds of crashing thunder. We couldn’t hear ourselves speak as we stood in the midst of the maelstrom.

“Okay,” said Frank as we ran through the gates and into the cemetery. “Kill whatever comes near us. I don’t care who or what they are. We can’t afford mercy.”

He didn’t have to tell me that; I already knew the stakes. Despite the fact that Abigor’s minions would be mostly his private army of Nephilim demons, we still had to kill them if they tried to kill us. It was collateral damage.

“And, Leia?” The strong winds were blowing Frank’s hair wildly, forcing him to half close his eyes.

“Yeah?”

“Kill that sonofabitch Abigor. End this, you hear me? End it!”

I nodded as Eva came running through the cemetery gates. She was dressed in her leather battle gear as she wielded her twin blades, one in each hand. “This is some party,” she said, her dark hair blowing around her face.

“Best ever,” Frank said and they smiled at each other like it was the last time they would ever fight together.

“Hate to break up your little moment,” I said. “But are we ready?”

“No,” Frank said. “But let’s go anyway.”

We advanced forward into the cemetery as the first of Abigor’s soldiers came running at us, just kids with their master’s demon blood in them, having no choice in what they were doing, but neither did we have a choice.

We cut them down with our swords.

The Demon Blade, glowing  bright crimson, felt attached to my hand, like it was a part of me. It made quick work of whatever demon came near me. With one swipe of the blade I was able to cut limbs off, decapitate bodies and in one case cut one of my attackers clean in half with one blow. The brutality of my actions, the carnage I left behind, would once have been unthinkable to me. Not anymore.

The demon power in me reacted to the bloodlust and violence.

It wanted to seize control and I let it.

My vision changed and I felt the awesome power within me grow.

I felt unstoppable as I forged on through the dark cemetery, slashing and hacking my way through Abigor’s minions like they were nothing, like I was swatting flies. At one point I sensed Frank beside me and I almost swiped my sword at him like he was just another demon to cut down. Luckily one of the Nephilim demons got in the way and took the blow, his head falling of his shoulders. When I looked again Frank had gone. I didn’t know where and I didn’t care.

My only instinct was to find Abigor and kill him.

After fighting my way through yet more Nephilim demons I finally found Abigor near the back of the cemetery.

He stood in front of what looked like a hole in the ground with two iron gates at either side. A fierce orange light came from within the hole, cutting through the darkness like a laser.

Abigor stood with his arms spread out as he spoke some sort of incantation to open the Hell Gate. He must have sensed me not far away for he stopped chanting and turned around to look at me.

His face dropped when he saw me with black demon eyes and the now glowing Demon Blade in my hand. The blade shone brighter the closer I got to him. Fear tried to rise up in me at the thoughts of fighting the ancient demon, but the power and energy in me left room for nothing else, certainly not fear.

Abigor glowered at me for a second, his eyes burning before he looked towards a tombstone to his left. I followed his gaze and saw Josh emerge from behind the tombstone, sword in hand, his eyes demon black.

My vision changed to normal for a moment, his presence stirring some latent emotion in me. “Josh!” I called, but he merely looked at me like I was his enemy and nothing more, someone he had to kill.

“Kill her!” Abigor commanded. Josh started running towards me, his sword raised. I didn’t move for a second as my brother advanced on me. I was frozen. It was only when I heard Frank shout from somewhere that I snapped out of it and raised my sword just in time to deflect the blow that Josh levelled without mercy at my skull.

I couldn’t help but feel shocked by his viciousness as he raised his sword again and rained down another blow at my head that I barely managed to block with the Demon Blade. “Josh! Please don’t. I don’t want to fight you.”

“Then you’re fucked, Sis, because I’m going to kill you!” He rushed at me again, his sword raised, ready to cut me down.

I sidestepped when he got near me and sliced the Demon Blade across his stomach. He howled in pain as he fell to one knee and looked at me with an ugly mixture of rage and cold murderous intent. I barely recognized him as my brother, so far gone was he.

“Stay down, Josh! Please don’t do this!”

He got up and came at me again. The steel of his sword flashed in front of me as he swung it at me in every direction, trying to get through. I blocked, dodged and parried all his swings but the last one I redirected and his sword came down on my left leg, slashing into my thigh. I cried out in pain as I fell down on one knee.

“You can’t beat me,” he said, smiling as he walked back and forth in front of me, swinging his sword.

“I don’t want to beat you, Josh.” I looked over at Abigor who was busy chanting the incantation to open the Hell Gate. I didn’t have much time.

Josh tried to take advantage of my diverted attention. I looked just in time as he came in with his sword raised high. Instinctively I swivelled around and thrust the Demon Blade out. It pierced his side and went right through, cutting through his ribs at the other side.

I looked on in horror for an elongated moment as my brother just stood there, having dropped his sword to the ground. His face registered a look of surprise, like he thought he would never die.

“Oh God,” I said, my voice breaking as I pulled the Demon Blade out of him. He staggered and then fell to the ground, holding his side.

I scrabbled over to where he lay holding his stomach as blood pumped from the wound in his side. “Josh, Josh…” His eyes had returned to normal as he looked up at me.

He smiled that  warm smile that I knew from before he became a demon. “Leia,” he said. “I’m sorry. I…”

“Don’t speak…” I cradled him in my arms as his eyes kept rolling back into their sockets, changing from black to brown and back again before finally staying their normal color.

“You saved me…” Blood ran from his mouth.

“No, Josh, I didn’t, I didn’t…”

He managed a weak smile. “You have to save Mom…” His eyes closed and I slapped his face. His eyes flew open again. “I didn’t want…to hurt you…couldn’t help it…I’m sorry…”

“I know,” I said and I wanted to tell him it was alright, that I knew it wasn’t his fault, that none of this was his fault, but it was too late. His eyes closed a final time and he went limp in my arms, his head falling to one side as the life finally drained from him.

That was it. He was gone.

The very person I was supposed to save died in my arms. By my hands.

I let out a scream that echoed through the whole cemetery.

I would have sat there, cradling my dead brother in my arms, if I hadn’t have heard Abigor’s voice from behind me.

He sounded like he was still reciting the incantation.

Whatever emotions were in me, I fought back and allowed the demonic power to take over. My vision changed to demon mode as I stood up. I grabbed the Demon Blade again, which instantly glowed bright crimson and seemed to meld itself to my hand.

“Abigor!” I shouted in a voice an octave lower than normal.

The demon stopped reciting the incantation and looked around. “You’re too late,” he said. “It’s done. The gate is open.” He raised his arms aloft like a demonic priest. “Hell is here!”

All around him demon spirits flew out of the piercing orange light and dispersed in every direction. Burning lava flowed from the hole, pooling out on to the ground, melting everything in its path.

Abigor laughed as the lava formed around his feet. He looked up at me, fixing me with his burning eyes. His body seemed to shift and I realized he was transforming into his true demon form. I stood back and watched as he grew in height to nearly seven-feet tall, three thick horns curving back over his head, making him seem even taller. Spurs of bone jutted out of his shoulders and elbows, and his hands formed into great claws. His skin became something like horse hide, taking on a muddy grey color, and large pointed teeth filled his mouth. Standing there, surrounded by burning lava, he looked fierce and unstoppable.

My hand gripped the Demon Blade tighter. I feared I wouldn’t be able stop the monster he had become.

“I didn’t think you’d do it,” he said, his voice guttural, monstrous. “Not only kill your own brother, but demonize yourself. You constantly surprise me. It’s not too late. Join me. Rule with me. It’s over now. There’s nothing you can do. Hell is already here!” He raised his arms as multiple streams of different colored-smoke—demon spirits—flew past, swirling around him before making off into the black sky.

“Never!” I ran towards him, the Demon Blade raised and ready to strike him down.

Abigor charged towards me at the same time, one massive arm raised and ready to strike as he ran out of the lava and on to the grass to meet me. I swung the Demon Blade as hard as I could towards his sinewy body and ducked under his arm. I could hear his thick skin tear as the blade sliced into him. He roared with pain and rage and we turned to face each other again.

“You think you can kill me?” he roared, black blood seeping from the wound I had inflicted on him. “No one can kill me!”

We’ll see about that.

Abigor charged again, swiping at me with his enormous clawed hands. I did my best to avoid his blows, but one of them caught me on the side of the head, knocking me off my feet and sending me flying through the air before crashing into a tombstone. The Demon Blade flew from my hand landing a few feet away from me. Before I could recover I felt a huge hand encircle my neck and Abigor picked me up and held me in front of his monstrous face, his hellish orange eyes blazing into me.

“Stupid girl,” he said. “I could have given you power, status. Now you’ll writhe in torment forever like every other pathetic soul in this world.”

I spat in his face. “Fuck you!”

The demon roared, his putrid breath gusting into my face. He held me at arm’s length and punched me in the chest, a blow that surely cracked my sternum in multiple places. Blood sprayed from my mouth as he hit me again in the stomach, cracking my ribs, bursting my insides. When he threw me to the ground  and stomped on me with a massive foot, I heard more bones break and every ounce of air I had was forced out my mouth along with a geyser of blood. “Fuck
you
!” he roared in my face and then laughed. “You lose, you little bitch!”

I was barely conscious as he walked away from me. My insides were like mush and every bone in my upper body was shattered along with my spirit and will to go on.

It was over.

I’d lost.

Chapter 27

I was broken and beaten beyond repair and there wasn’t a thing I could do about it. Josh was gone. I had killed my own brother. Frank and Eva were probably dead as well. There was no one left.

Sorry, Mom, but I failed. Not quite the daughter you were expecting, huh? Not the kick ass chip off the old block that was going to save the world…

I don’t know why I kept thinking about my mother, about how I’d let her down somehow. She had let me down in the worst of ways after all— yet the sense of failure, of shame, was stronger even than the crushing guilt I felt at killing Josh.

I closed my eyes and prepared to die.

But then something happened.

Something inside of me told me to open my eyes and when I did I saw Josh, but not just Josh,  my mother and father as well. The three of them stood looking down at me, smiling like everything was going to be alright. I stared back at my family and wondered why they weren’t angry at me. “Get up, Leia,” my father was saying gently. “Get up.”

Was I hallucinating this?

Was I dead already?

I didn’t know. I just knew my family was there with me, telling me to get up.