The Undoer (28 page)

Brecken

I kill mindlessly, without focusing on each demon I slay. If I stop to think, even for a moment, I might not be able to continue. The pull of the crater is so great that it almost overcomes me. I don’t want to go in there, and yet, I yearn to jump inside and revel in the energy emanating from
The Door
. I haven’t felt these passions in ages. Not since I left the Underworld.

For a demon, these feelings are normal and common. For someone trying to leave his demon side behind, they’re excruciating in their seduction. It’s power. It’s control. It’s supremacy. It’s evil dominion in its purest form.

And I love it.

I make my way forward, trying to get to Mictian. He isn’t even fighting yet, only watching from a distance, just beyond the ring of demons that surrounds us. They have no hope against me, and I wonder why he keeps sending them into the fight. He must be trying to wear us down. I happen to glance at Heidi, who fights on my left, my heart swelling when I see her. She’s amazing and strong, and then… I do a double take. What the hell is she fighting with?

Nephilim blades?

How is that even possible? Where did she get them? I’m frozen, trying to figure out the puzzle, when a demon—that
isn’t
a gray man—almost takes my head off with his sword. I swirl away, giving myself some distance, and then slash back at the demon’s ugly, crimson-colored head. It falls at my feet.

Mictian smiles from just a few feet away. “He’s mine!” he yells to his minions as he swings his broadsword in wide arcs. It’s much longer than my little dagger and he’ll be able to lunge at me much easier than the other way around. “It’s time to end this, my friend,” he says.

“That’s what I’m here for.” I wait for him to come to me. The other demons stay back, watching.

“It doesn’t seem fair. You’re ill prepared for a swordfight.” Saliva drips from his fangs, and he’s uglier than I remember.

“I’ll manage.”

He smiles and steps closer. “I hate for it to end.”

“I don’t.” This
must
end.
I
must end it, but fighting with Mictian, sword to dagger, won’t do it. It will only delay the inevitable and might possibly cause us to lose. One scratch from his sword and I’m done. I can’t afford to fight him or make any mistakes, but the desire to pit my strength against his is unbelievably irresistible. I can’t turn away.

I inch closer to him. He raises his sword, his lips pulled back into an
I’ve already won
kind of grin.

“You can’t close
The Door
,” he says, thrusting at me. “It isn’t possible. No one knows why it’s broken and no one knows how to fix it, not that we want to.”

I jump back barely in time, but when I look down, my T-shirt has a nice, even slice through the front. As I glance up, he smiles again. He can’t be telling the truth. There must be an answer, and I better figure it out quick.

“You can’t win,” he yells, slashing at me again. And even though he plods toward me like a slow steer, I know better. I know him well.

“The crater, Brecken!” Heidi calls.

I turn to see thousands more demons crawling out over the edge, and I know it’s already too late. I was given a mission, and I’ve failed a thousand times over. I have no solutions and no ideas…

Until I notice Heidi dashing for the edge. My heart falls to my feet. She can’t go in there. She wouldn’t survive for five seconds! Not only is there a constant burning flame in the crater, but deadly poisonous gases rising out of it.

“Heidi! Stop!” I scream, turning away from my foe.

But she doesn’t listen to me. She’s belting for the edge and she’s almost there. I give Mictian one last grimace before running for my stupid sister. I was always a faster runner than her, but in the last two days, she’s become something of a paradox.

It’s a race for the edge and it’s going to be close. I’ll barely make it before she hurls herself to her death. I push myself, pulling in huge breaths of air, forcing my legs to move faster, my stride to stretch farther.

“Heidi! No!” I scream again, but she either doesn’t hear me or doesn’t care. She’s determined to do something other than kill demons, but killing herself isn’t going to do a damn thing. She has no power to shut
The Door
. That’s my job…
my
job. Given to me by Raphael and Michael.

With one last burst of energy, we reach the edge at the same time. I throw myself in front of her, my hand slamming into her chest, shoving her back from the edge and into Jag’s arms—he’s chasing after her too—and in my momentum, I hurl over the edge.

Heidi

I know what I have to do. It seems completely crazy and I’m not even sure it will work, but I have to get Brecken to jump into that crater. It doesn’t look like he’s thought of it, so it’s up to me. I don’t know how I know this, but it’s clear in my mind, as if God himself explained it to me.

I finally understand. Brecken is something different—not completely human—but chosen.

I face my last demon, slicing through him easily, and then I run. Straight toward the crater. Brecken sees me and my heart leaps, because he better hurry. I don’t want to die.

He tears himself from his own duel and darts after me, screaming my name. I slow imperceptibly because I’m going to make it to the edge before he does. It’s going to be close. Jag shrieks for me to stop, but I’m way ahead of him. He won’t make it to me in time. No one can stop me.

The demon horde opens up, making a path for us, as if they know we’re about to end our own lives and they’re here for the show. Brecken’s look of terror almost stops me because I don’t want this to be the end. I’m filled with such love for him that I can barely contain it. My brother. My beautiful, bossy, perfect brother… he’s willing to die for me and I’m willing to die for him.

He barely reaches me in time.

His hand slams into my chest, throwing me backward into Jag’s arms. My breath explodes from my lungs and I gasp, flailing and trying to breathe as I watch Brecken—my best friend, who I don’t even get to hug goodbye—fly into the fiery depths of the crater. My heart rips as his dark head disappears over the edge.

I scream for him even though I know he can’t come back for me. Jag and I scramble to the edge and peer over. The demons that surround us clamber for the edge also, staring down into the flames. I’m not afraid of them. They can’t hurt me and they know it. They seem as amazed as I am at this turn of events.

When Brecken reaches the base of the pit, he slides right through instead of slamming down onto hard-packed ground, as though the fiery crust opened just for him. It closes over his head and then he’s gone. That’s it.

In a slow, measured motion, I turn and glance at Jag. Both Owen and Doug are beside us, searching the depths of the crater. They gape at me with questioning eyes. I can’t answer their questions. I have the same ones. Is it over?

A gray man in a human body gazes at me with a frown. “What does this mean?”

“I don’t know,” I answer before stabbing my dagger into his chest. He disappears in a puff of ash. The other demons who are close throw themselves over the edge to safety.

I glance at Jag, my lips stretching into a slow, provocative smile.

He grins back at me, pulls me into a one-armed embrace, and plants a kiss full on my mouth. “This is the most fun I’ve had in ages,” he says, drawing me closer.

I wrap my arms around his neck, never happier… or sadder. I lost my brother today, but I have my soulmate. Jag is like no one else. Strong, yet gentle. Fierce, yet loving. I love him so intensely that it makes my heart ache. Those very words slip from my mouth as I kiss him one more time, breathing him in.

He pulls back an inch or two and stares into my eyes, his hand cupping my cheek. “If you’re trying to scare me away, it’s not going to work.” He grins and then releases me, brandishing his Nephilim daggers. “Let’s clean house.”

Dean

I can’t believe Bret actually jumped over the edge. Surely, he’ll find a way to close
The Door
. My heart flames with happiness… until Jag takes Heidi in his arms and kisses her passionately… like he’s done it a hundred times… right in front of everybody. And she kisses him back just as ardently.

My heart—which was burning with happiness—plummets and is dashed on the rocks. I freeze, staring at the heart-wrenching sight. When did they become a
thing
? They can’t stand each other. I was the one who constantly brought them together. I helped them work out their differences.
I
love her.

What does this mean?

I have to look away and for a moment, I let myself collapse in the dirt, trying to figure it out. The whole time I was gone, they were together… doing what? It makes me sick to even imagine it, and I feel betrayed. I try to shake it off as the Cazadors go back to work, getting rid of the rest of the demons, but I can’t quite pull myself together. I’m shaken, more from that kiss and the expressions on their faces than the demons that surround us.

The battle isn’t over yet, and I still have work I can do, so I resolve to think about this later. I can’t dwell on it now. My friends are depending on me whether they know it or not. My gaze roams over the demons and lands on Coem. I vowed to make him my first official victim, and I intend to fulfill that promise. I slide the picture I already drew of him out of my backpack. With meticulous detail, I draw a dagger sticking out of his chest and make a few changes to his face to give him a look of horror.

Not ten seconds later, Doug launches himself at Coem, his dagger raised. Coem sees him coming and swirls out of the way at the last second. Narrowing my eyes, and with quick strokes, I draws roots growing out of the bottom of his feet, deep into the ground so he can’t move. The real Coem freezes immediately, his feet suddenly glued to the earth.

He looks up with a perplexed expression, and then he turns, searching for the cause. He finds me staring straight at him, my pencil poised, a look of vengeance in my eyes. A shiver of fear slithers over my shoulders and, for a split second, I’m afraid. His gaze narrows, boring into me, and I know he knows.
I
am the one ending his life.
I
am the one who will finish the great and powerful Coem.

I lift my hand, my pencil raised in salute. His demeanor registers defeat the moment Doug plunges a dagger into his chest.

In a poof, he’s gone. It’s too easy and almost anticlimactic. I’m left feeling deflated, like I missed something, like it should have lasted longer or been more exciting. Maybe I’m sitting too far away to feel it.

Jag works his way through the crowd, and I scramble closer to get a better view. Demon after demon falls by his hand, but then he comes up against one of those demons that isn’t a gray man and not as easily killed. The massive monstrosity sidesteps Jag’s thrusts and knocks one of Jag’s daggers from his grip. The demon carries a long broadsword, but he has yet to use it. My heart twists because I instinctively know this fiend will not be easily killed, even though Jag has been enhanced.

Jag steps back.

I’ve never seen him do that. Ever. He never retreats. He wins. Always. My heart races as I hurry to get this demon’s visage down on paper, but he’s moving too much, and it’s hard to be meticulous. I scratch down the black horns, the leathery, russet skin, fangs that glisten in the firelight, and then I try to sketch the details of his face.

He’s huge—well over seven feet tall—powerful and menacing. He swings at Jag with his fist, but why not use his sword? And then I understand. He’s prolonging his enjoyment. He knows he’s going to win. He knows he’s unbeatable, so I need to make him otherwise, but what will work on a demon of this sort? He doesn’t have a human body I can make sick, and something tells me that drawing a weakness for him won’t be as effective as it is with the others.

I try anyway.

I scratch out his eyes and then glance up to see if it has any effect. The beast keeps pushing Jag backward, out into the darkness, away from the crater. I turn his fingers into twisted, gnarled sausages, unable to form a fist or hold his sword. I glance up. They are farther away, and I can’t even see the demon’s hands let alone his fingers.

I pick up my stuff and run for them. “Heidi!” I scream as I dart past the vast crowd she whittles away at.

She glances up, her eyes wide with wonder. “Dean?” She stops fighting and her daggers hang limp from her fingers. Her jaw drops, dragging on the ground as she watches me dart past like a ghost.

I’m running as fast as my legs can carry me, faster than I’ve ever run before. So fast, my chest aches and my legs cramp. But Heidi catches up to me, stopping my forward momentum and pulling me into her arms.

“Oh, Dean! I can’t believe it! You’re here! You’re alive!” She searches me from head to toe and then pulls me in for another huge hug.

Nothing has ever felt more wonderful. Here she is, my dream come true, the girl I’ve loved for so long that it hurts to breathe when I gaze at her. But I can’t stop. I have to help Jag. I cut the moment short, pulling away. It feels like I’m ripping my heart out with my bare hands, but I manage to do it.

“Jag!” I gasp, pointing out into the darkness. I hear grunting and punches landing on skin and bones breaking. Someone cries out, and it isn’t the beast.

Heidi’s eyes widen in horror and she darts away from me, into the shadows. I follow in her wake, hoping to be able to help, but not having much faith in my ability since it hasn’t worked yet.

They materialize before us, the stench of blood wafting on the sulfuric breeze. The beast hears us coming and turns toward us. Heidi and I stop suddenly, as if we’re on the edge of a cliff. Jag hangs in the demon’s fist, those meaty fingers wrapped tightly around his neck. His head lolls to the side, but he’s not unconscious… yet. Blood seeps from his left ear and also his nose—which looks broken. His shoulder hangs crooked, like it’s dislocated, and his jaw is slack and maybe broken, but I can’t be sure in the dim light. Only a minute amount of light glows from the crater this far out.

“Jag!” Heidi screams in horror. “Let him go!” She screeches as though her brain is no longer functioning. She races forward, but the demon’s sword is longer than her daggers and she can’t get close. The realization that the Nephilim blade can kill us, even with a scratch, is all too real.

With a howl of fury, she darts past anyway. Figuring what? That she’s invincible? I can’t risk losing her, so I grab her long hair at the last second and yank her back. Not a very gentlemanly act, but I’m pretty sure I’ve saved her life. “No, Heidi.” I hold onto her, which takes a monumental amount of strength because she’s so dang strong now.

“He’ll kill him. Can’t you see that?” She falls to her knees and sobs.

“Yes, little butterfly. Listen to your friend,” the demon growls in a deep, gravelly voice. “You don’t want this poor boy to die. He’s put up such a good fight.”

“Who… who are you?” she whispers, trembling in my grip.

“I am your worst nightmare. Remember?” His laughter rumbles like distant thunder and she looks up, her eyes widening.

“I remember you.”

“And I remember you.” He speaks as if he’s conversing with an old friend, even as Jag dangles in his grip.

“You’re more powerful than the others,” she says, still on her knees with her daggers clutched in her fists.

“I am Mictian, and I am a god of immeasurable power.”

My stomach twists. There’s no way out of this. “Please let him go.” I place my pack on the ground and raise my hands in surrender, my pulse pounding and my heart racing so fast it feels like it will burst.

“And why should I do that? This filthy human came to destroy me. To destroy all of us.” He gestures to the whole area of demons, which have dwindled remarkably. Doug and Owen haven’t stopped slaughtering them even though the rest of us have. The vast remainder of demons are throwing themselves back into the pit, hoping to escape the Nephilim daggers that wait for them otherwise.

It’s pretty much just Mictian and us now. We stare at one another in the dark.

Mictian considers us, completely unafraid.

I hear the pounding of feet growing closer, glancing over my shoulder at Doug and Owen charging toward us, ready to continue the battle. Their daggers are mere extensions of their arms and their voices grow to berserker pitch.

“Wait! Stop!” I yell as they barrel past.

They either don’t hear me or aren’t listening. With one solid thrust of Mictian’s arm, they soar to the side like rag dolls. Owen lands hard and lies unmoving, but Doug moans and rolls to his side.

“Your friends don’t listen well,” Mictian says to me. “But I sense something wiser in you. Something powerful and… might I say… demonic? My, my. Why is that?”

Heidi glances at me, searching for whatever Mictian can see.

This is the moment where I can fix things. I can save Jag. I can save us all. “I have a gift. One that can benefit you if you let him go.” I point to Jag, unable to believe the words just left my mouth. I tremble in this demon’s presence, but I have to strike a bargain. It’s the only thing I can think of to save my friends.

“Yes,” he says. “It is a gift. A demonic gift. They tried to possess you, didn’t they? Perhaps more than once? That was very careless of them.” The deepness of his voice vibrates through me, leaving me shaken, but his words penetrate to my core. The demons did this to me. They gave me the power to hurt them… accidentally. And then it all makes sense.

“Yes,” I whisper, almost too horrified to say it out loud. “Please,” I beg, slowly lowering myself to my knees, submissive, powerless, and pleading.

“What is he talking about?” Heidi stares at me, her daggers raised. She won’t let him hurt me. I hope.

Mictian is no ordinary demon. My powers don’t affect him in any way, and if he can completely incapacitate
Jag
… He studies me, his eyes narrow and piercing. He looks me up and down as though with the ability to see right through me, to see through my lies. “Come,” he commands, his hand outstretched.

Before I move, my gaze flicks to Jag. His eyes are locked on Heidi. He doesn’t say anything. I don’t think he can, but I see something pass between them. Something I’ve never seen before, but it’s plain and obvious. She aches for him, her heart bared and bleeding for all of us to see. Jag’s eyes scream the same thing. They’re not just a thing. They’re in love.

But they hated each other. Jag couldn’t stand Heidi.

The way he looks at her now though, the longing in his eyes… One lone tears drips down his cheek and I’m frozen.

My hand reaches for Mictian’s and my heart skips a beat.

I’ve been gone for what feels like a year, but in reality, it’s only been a couple of weeks. Feeling like my own heart is ripping in two, I realize I’m too late. Can I live beside them, watching as their love grows? I’m not sure I can.

Mictian scrutinizes me, a knowing grin on his feral lips. His eyes dart between Heidi and Jag, who grows more lifeless as the seconds tick by. “Aw… young love. So precious, so tender, so… fleeting.”

My gaze rises to his, my agony evident in my devastated expression. But this changes nothing. I love them both. I’d give my life for Jag, my brother, and I’d also lay down my life for Heidi, who is still the love of my life.

I take Mictian’s hand. He wraps his fingers around my wrist and my hand disappears inside his grip. Jag’s tries to loosen the demon’s grip on his neck, but he isn’t getting away until Mictian is good and ready to let go.

“Please, let my friend go,” I plead. “Please.”

“And you would give your life for his?” the demon asks, amused.

“Yes! In a heartbeat, I would.” There’s not much more I can do but beg with my whole heart. Every cell in my body is beseeching him for Jag’s life. There’s nothing more I can give.

Mictian looks from me to Heidi, and then at Doug. He ignores Owen, who is still unconscious, and then his gaze comes back to me. “I don’t think so.” And with a flick of his powerful fingers, he snaps Jag’s neck. The sound cracks like thunder and the world around me stops turning, moving slower and slower as Heidi shrieks and darts past me to grab Jag’s limp, falling body.

I can’t think. I can’t feel. I’m under water where all sound is muted and dark. My heart stops beating in my chest, and the twist inside my gut pours icy poison through my veins. My mind can’t grasp what just happened. He didn’t really kill Jag right in front of us. It’s unthinkable.

And now he is dragging me behind him like a rag doll, the clomping of his hooves bringing sound back to me with slamming clarity. My friends are growing smaller and smaller in the distance, scrambling around Jag as I yearn to do. I try to get to my feet, but I stumble over and over as Mictian continues to tow me. We’re closing in on the crater, and it registers what he’s about to do.

I’ll kill myself before I let him drag me to hell as his puppet.

With my free hand, I reach for my pencil, which is still in my back pocket. It’s deadly sharp as I haven’t used this one yet. Holding it tight in my fist, I plunge that yellow number two into Mictian’s back, right where his kidney should be. I push it all the way through his skin with all the strength I have, screaming out my heartache for the abuse I’ve suffered and for the friend I’ve lost.