Infernal Father of Mine (39 page)

In my desperate dash to escape death, I'd lost
sight of Elyssa. I finally saw her across the room. She ran up a
wall, flipped backward, and skewered an Exorcist with a thrown
knife. I'd rarely seen her use knives. She usually preferred
non-lethal methods unless left with no choice. Since these wackos
were trying to kill us, I didn't particularly mind. I saw a group
of Exorcists emerge from behind an angel across the room. One of
them pointed in my direction. I ducked behind a nearby column, but
knew it wouldn't cover me for long. Besides, I'd had
enough.

Time to bring out the big
guns.

I gritted my teeth, stepped from behind the
stone column, and flicked my hands open. A statue against the wall
to my right made a grating noise and slid to the side. Another
group of robed figures poured from it, their staffs glowing with
deadly light. One of them flung his hood back and regarded me with
a wicked leer.

"I remember you," he said. "The demon spawn
child."

At least half a dozen staffs pointed at me,
their glowing ends bathing hooded faces in light.

I suddenly recognized the Exorcist as one of
the men who'd guided me into the church while I was paralyzed. He
was the one who'd made me watch as Montjoy tried to exorcise my
father. I smiled. "I'm going to give you one chance to surrender
peacefully."

The man laughed. "Your Templar friends are
dying, boy. There's nobody here to help you."

I showed my teeth. "I don't need protecting." I
felt the window in my soul open wide as I connected with my inner
Seraphim. The palms of my hands blazed with heat. "I'm no ordinary
demon spawn, jackass. My mom is an angel."

The Exorcists' eyes went wide as spinner
hubcaps.

With a roar, I thrust my left hand forward.
Violet light coursed from my palm and splintered the staff of the
gloating Exorcist. With my right hand, I formed a blazing white
sword of light and slashed it across the other staffs, slicing off
their ends. The Exorcists shrieked like little girls.

One of them pulled a knife and slashed at me. I
kicked him in the chest. He crashed against the wall. Another
Exorcist drew a sword and hacked at my arm. I ducked. Grabbed his
wrist, and twisted. Bones cracked. His body flipped forward and
slammed into the floor. I heard several quick whirring sounds and
felt impacts explode all across my body. Iron shafts with smoking
packets at the end littered the floor. I turned in time to see the
man I recognized fire what looked like a crossbow with a rotating
auto-loader like revolver pistols used. Before I could move, the
shaft slammed into my head and exploded like a huge
firecracker.

The Nightingale armor stopped it from
penetrating my brain, but the impact knocked me silly. I staggered
back.

"Use the sacrificial knives," one of the
Exorcists shouted. "They'll go through the armor."

My vision blurred. I heard movement and felt
something slash against my shoulder. Pain seared my skin. I heard
crossbow bolts explode again. An impact against my chest knocked me
onto the floor.

Rage and bloodlust surged like fire through my
blood. The heat in my palms blazed as I felt my demon and Seraphim
sides connect.

They tried to kill us. They sent us
to the Gloom. Never again.

A guttural roar burst from my throat and the
world went red.

I rolled backwards and sprang to my feet. I saw
hazy shapes before me.

Enemies.

A white streak blazed across my field of vision
as I slashed my right arm at the nearest dark blur. I heard a
gurgle and the figure went down. Another explosion rocked me on my
feet. My left hand flew up on instinct. A shield of ultraviolet
sprang up and caught another exploding arrow. Two more indistinct
figures slashed at me. I felt their knives hit the
shield.

I blinked a few times, and the blurriness faded
to clarity. I saw a man jamming more shafts into the
crossbow.

Kill
.

The shield and sword vanished. Orbs of
malevolent energy filled my palms.

I saw the whites of my enemies' eyes as fear
replaced certainty. I hungered for their blood. A guttural laugh
emerged from my throat. "You are mine."

The Exorcists ran.

Before they were a dozen paces away, I clapped
my hands together and sent a shockwave racing down the aisle. The
energy blasted a column to rubble, burying two of my enemies. I
raced after the survivors, leapt high, and pounced one of
them.

"Die, puny mortal." Saliva drooled from my
mouth and onto the face of the terrified man beneath me.

"Please, no!" he screamed.

Before he could utter another word, I picked
him up by the neck and threw him high into the air. A beam of white
energy speared from my hand and burnt a hole through his chest
before his body hit the ground with a meaty smack. Movement caught
the corner of my eye. I saw the familiar man running for the door.
I sent a pinprick of Brilliance into his ankle, slashing his
Achilles tendon.

He screamed and tumbled forward. I raced toward
the downed figure. I smelled his burnt blood. Sensed his fear. His
pain. I swept him off the floor with one hand and held him aloft by
the neck. He squirmed in my grasp, his hands prying at mine. I
squeezed his throat slowly. Felt his windpipe collapse. Heard the
gurgle of his last breath as it wheezed through his constricted
throat. I felt a smile spread my lips.

Death. Destruction. The world is
ours now.

"Justin!" cried a familiar voice.

I turned in time to see a figure in black flip
off the back of a pew and nail me in the face with a foot. The dead
body fell from my grasp. Another kick to my chest sent me sprawling
across the floor. I saw the Exorcist ninja's foot a third time as
it slammed into my face.

The red in my vision cleared. I gasped, and
rolled to the side to avoid a fourth kick.

"Try to take me in a fair fight, bitch!" Elyssa
shouted as her body flashed before me in time to block another
attack from the ninja.

Their arms and feet blurred with speed as they
fought. My eyes locked onto the body of the man I'd just killed,
and horror swept through me.
What have I done
? True, I'd
really wanted to kick their asses, but I'd actually reveled in
killing them. I sensed pleasure emanating from my demonic side. It
had taken control after the bullets stunned me.

Swords clanged.

I sprang to my feet. Elyssa's sai blades caught
a vicious blow from the ninja. My girlfriend's foot swept at her
attacker's feet. The ninja flipped backward, avoiding the attack
with ease, and threw a shuriken from a belt at her waist. Elyssa
batted the projectile with a sword, sending it flashing right back
at the attacker. The ninja ducked. The throwing star embedded
itself into the stone wall behind her. Her masked head turned
toward the star and back to Elyssa.

I imagined Elyssa's fierce grin crossing her
face since I couldn't see it beneath the Nightingale armor mask.
The ninja flicked her sword in a circle and assumed a defensive
stance. Elyssa took a similar stance, and the two faced
off.

Something exploded near the front of the
church. I turned and saw Shelton and Adam exchanging fire with more
Exorcists.

"I've got to help the others," I
said.

"Go," Elyssa said. "I've got this."

I hesitated, unsure for an instant. The ninja
sprang toward me. Elyssa's sword stopped the blow from taking off
my nose.

"Go, Justin!" Elyssa growled. "You're only
distracting me."

I streaked toward Shelton. Anger filled me as I
thought about the Exorcist ninja. I had so much power but still
couldn't beat her.

We are powerful
, my demon side said.
Turn and kill her.

I stopped in my tracks, watching as the ninja
flipped through the air to avoid Elyssa's thrusts. I could use the
same trick I'd used on the other man. I could cut her tendon. I
could slice her in half. Anger built in me like a rising tide of
lava.

Kill her.

"Son of a biscuit eating buffalo!" Shelton
shouted. "We need help!"

I turned as another explosion sent chunks of
stone raining down on his and Adam's position. My head cleared and
the anger faded. I had to help Shelton.

Before I could take another step, two of the
attackers sent blasts of energy at the ledge behind my friends.
Chunks of heavy stone collapsed toward them.

"No!" I shouted. But I was too far away to stop
it.

The stone slammed into an invisible barrier
before it crushed my friends. I saw Mom straining, as if holding up
a heavy weight. Dad showed his teeth and made a punching motion
with his hand. The ground beneath the Exorcists trembled. A fiery
hand reached from within the earth and gripped two of them,
squeezing their bodies. Blood sizzled from their pores, and their
eyes boiled in their sockets. Their awful screams of agony cut off
within seconds.

The remaining attackers looked stunned. A
fleeting second passed, and the Exorcists turned tail and
ran.

I looked to the left and saw Mom make a swiping
motion with her hand. The debris above Shelton and Adam slid to the
side. A fierce smile came over Dad's face as he watched the
remnants of the Exorcists flee for their lives.

"Who are you?" Elyssa yelled.

I spun and saw her and the ninja facing off,
swords locked as each one tried to throw the other off
balance.

"I am the one who guards the light!" the other
woman cried out.

"Daelissa wants to rule the world," Elyssa said
in a strained voice. "Don't do this. Join us."

"Lies!" the woman cried. "Lies!"

"The Exorcists have fled. We have you
surrounded." Elyssa dodged back as the ninja aimed a kick at her
feet. Sparks flew from their blades as the two women disengaged and
leapt back from each other.

The woman shook her head. "I was abandoned by
the Templars long ago. Thomas Borathen, my own father, left me and
my brothers for dead when he could have saved us!"

Elyssa literally staggered beneath the weight
of those words. "Your father?"

"I will never join you," the other woman said.
With that, she threw something to the floor. Smoke
exploded.

I raced to Elyssa's side where she stood
staring at the dissipating smoke. The woman was gone.

Elyssa lowered her mask, revealing wide eyes
and a pale face. She looked at me. "It can't be true."

I remembered Thomas Borathen once mentioning
something about another family in one of his rare slips of the
tongue. "Are you okay?"

She bit her lip, staring blankly.

I took her by the shoulders. "Elyssa, are you
okay?"

Grim resolve melted the look of confusion.
"After this is over, I'm having a long talk with my parents." She
made a growling noise. "Can't think about it now. We need to
complete the mission."

"Hey, Montjoy, want to come out and play?" Dad
yelled.

There was no answer.

Elyssa's jaw tightened as she looked around the
room at the debris and bodies scattered across it. "Montjoy knew
we'd be coming back."

"He must have known who you are and assumed
you'd be back with reinforcements," I said, taking a
guess.

She slammed her swords into the sheaths across
her back. "I wonder if this means Serena knows we're
coming."

"We'll have to assume so," Dad said. Shelton,
Adam, and Mom walked by his side. "I also don't think this was the
last Exorcist attack."

"What do you mean?" Elyssa said.

Dad swept an arm around the church. "This isn't
just some place they use on an occasional basis to purge demons.
I'd bet it's their headquarters." He pointed at the ground.
"Churches like this have crypts and all sorts of secret passages.
We're probably standing right on top of an anthill."

I remembered Maximus's old hideout. It had once
been a church. I'd learned more about the crypt beneath the place
than I'd ever wanted to since the vampire had kidnapped Dad and
held him prisoner down there.

"If you're right, we have less time than I
thought," Elyssa said. "Montjoy might be on his way to warn Serena
about us."

"Either her or Daelissa," Dad said. "There
might even be an army of Synod Templars hiding below."

"This gets better and better," Shelton said,
his dour expression heaping more sarcasm onto his words. "Is the
mission a bust?"

"No." I shook my head. "It means we go into the
Gloom with the expectation that the only way out will be through
the Shadow Nexus."

"Can't you ever do things the easy way?"
Shelton said with a groan.

I gripped his shoulder. "You and Adam need to
leave. We'll take it from here."

"My spell cracker took down the barrier
blocking the Gloom arch," Adam said. "You're good to
go."