“That I am,” she replied with a smile before backing up. “But I’m also your partner, even when you don’t like it.”
I was stuck on what to do. On the one hand, this proved she’d been plotting to kill Sheila all along, even after we’d spoken about it. It was a heinous abuse of my trust. The flip side, though, was she’d given me the means to end this and save Tom. Could I ignore such an opportunity?
No, I couldn’t. There would be a reckoning when this was over, but first I had to finish this, and now I had what I needed to do that.
♦ ♦ ♦
The cut on my side was taking longer to heal than it should have, possibly a side effect of taking a faith-imbued sword in the gut. Needless to say, it would be in my best interest to not let her carve me like a turkey again. I looked at the knife in my hand and swallowed hard. No. Now it was my turn to do the carving.
I plucked another rock from the ground, then strode over to where she was climbing back to her feet. Tom stepped in front of me before I could get to her. “Seriously, dude, you’re kinda being a dick about this.”
I effortlessly shoved him to the side. “Fine. I look forward to you bitching me out about it for years to come.”
“C’mon, man,” he called after me. “This is the chick you’ve been in love with for, like, forever.”
Maybe so, but whoever coined that phrase about only hurting the ones you loved turned out to be disturbingly apt. Who knows? Maybe it had been one of those blind cave weirdos making another prophecy. Stranger things had happened.
Sheila got to her feet and faced me, her aura strong around her. She saw the knife in my hand, looked me in the eye, then nodded once. Our die was cast; this was destiny.
Despite everything, we hadn’t been able to avoid it. What I could do, though, was make it quick. I’d stop her if I could, but if it came down to it, I wouldn’t let her suffer. I owed her that much.
The look on her face seemed to echo mine, and I had an eerie feeling she was thinking the same thing.
So be it.
When next we came together, it was with a resolve to finish this. Faith magic met raw physical force. My side hurt like a motherfucker and reintroducing it to her power didn’t help, but I soldiered on.
She swung at me, but I used my superior reflexes to dodge. I stepped in to do the same, but her skills allowed her to compensate and keep me from driving the point home.
My skin constantly burning and re-healing, we met again – speed versus skill, strength versus magical power.
I backed up, ready to attack again. I’d been planning on going low and daring her to try to go high to counter. Before I could make my play, though, Tom jumped on me piggyback-style, almost knocking me off balance. “You are seriously making me reconsider your position as godfather.”
“Yeah?” I snarled. “Well, here’s an offer you can’t refuse.” I slammed the back of my fist into his nose, sending him flying once again.
He landed behind me, cursing up a storm. I had to admit, knowing I couldn’t hurt him physically definitely eased my guilt over it.
However, he’d done what he’d set out to do, distract me so Sheila could act. Stealing my plan, she came in low, swinging her sword. I tried to leap out of the way, but was a hair too slow. Her blade took a sizzling chunk out of my calf muscle and I went down to one knee.
She stood over me and raised the sword over her head. “I’m so sorry.”
“Me too,” I replied, then threw the pulverized remains of the rock I’d grabbed into her face. Faith was good at keeping a killing blow at bay, but I’d been willing to bet it didn’t do shit for dust in one’s eyes.
Sheila cried out and backed up a step, allowing me to bring up the dagger. She was able to block me in time to prevent a killing blow, but I still managed to bury the blade deep in her upper arm. I felt her humerus shatter from the impact, which she apparently didn’t find particularly funny at all.
Before I could pull the weapon out and try again, though, the fucking brittle metal snapped, leaving me with little more than a useless hilt.
With a cry halfway between anguish and rage, she reared back with her good arm and drove her sword forward. She’d been aiming at my chest, but I managed to stand up and catch it in my gut instead – not as bad, but not exactly a walk in the park either.
She was injured and badly bleeding, with the blade of a cursed dagger nearly bisecting her arm. I, on the other hand, was stuck like a pig. White fire lit up my insides and I coughed out what felt like a gallon of blood as my innards tried to escape the torturous magic.
I shoved her away from me. It wasn’t nearly as powerful as it should have been, but it was enough. She went skidding back to the very edge of The Source, thankfully taking her sword with her. I tried to take a step, but then doubled over, hoping against hope that I had enough in me to come back from this wound.
Sadly, I wasn’t certain I did. I looked down at my bloodied hands and, sure enough, they seemed smaller than they’d been.
If Sheila was able to heal herself before I could, this fight would be over and Tom would die. I couldn’t let that happen. I needed to dig deep, find everything I had left and...
“ENOUGH!”
What the...?
Still holding my guts in, I turned to find Alex back on his feet. Bloodied and with his clothes in tatters, he held Gan aloft by the throat. She clawed at his hand, but to no avail. Despite her new powers and the advantage of surprise, she’d been no match for him in the long run.
“You dare think yourself my usurper?” he spat at her. “That your lineage is superior to mine ... MINE!? I am Alexander of Macedon, the once and future ruler of this world. None shall stand in my way, especially not a foolish girl with delusions of grandeur.”
He tossed her in the air like a sack of potatoes, then let loose with a monstrous punch – so hard that the crack of bones being pulverized echoed throughout the chamber. Gan’s limp form went sailing over the heads of vampire and Jahabich alike until she was lost to my sight. The implication was clear, though. There was no way she could have survived that. I didn’t hear an impact, which told me what had landed was little more than dust.
My heart wanted to go out to her. She’d been an ally. Hell, she’d adored me, followed me around like a lost puppy, and saved my ass more times than I really cared to admit. I was too tired to feel much of anything for her, though, aside from pity.
As horrible as it was for me to think, I couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps it was for the best. Despite her innocent-looking exterior, in the end, her aspirations were every bit as dark as Alex’s, maybe more so.
Suddenly, I felt tired, oh so tired. I looked down to find that my wound was indeed sealing itself, forcing out the white-hot energy, but it cost the last of my reserves. I could feel myself shrinking, the fab turning back to flab.
Alex stalked up next to where I kneeled on one knee. He spared me a quick glance, his expression unreadable, but it was safe to say I was probably no longer on his BFF list. Then, he turned his attention beyond me, toward The Source.
“And now, Icon, we finish this.”
This is How the World Ends
“Know that you have sentenced yourself, your friends, and everyone you have ever loved to die,” Alex said. “You have chosen to spit upon my mercy and, as such, shall be shown none.”
Sheila was just now getting back to her feet. Even in the glow of The Source, she appeared dreadfully pale and every bit as tired as I was. Her aura was still alight around her, but it seemed to be pulsing, almost as if it were an effort for her to keep it going.
Her eyes locked with mine and rather than hatred, fear, or even pity, I saw in them resolve. Then she actually smiled at me before turning her attention back to Alex. It was a sad smile, though, as if she’d known all along that we would eventually reach this place. The last defender of humanity ... the only one left to stand against the darkness, and she was about to be snuffed out forever.
Tom got back to his feet not too far away. For all the dumbass things he did and said, in the end he’d seen what I could not. He’d understood the implications of Alex winning. It was only now that I saw it too. Either way, his fate was sealed, but at Alex’s hands it would be an empty death. At Sheila’s, there would still be hope.
And that’s what I needed more than anything right then, far more than I needed Dr. Death’s rage to empower me.
I fought against the anger that had blinded me to reason – pushed it back, deep down inside where it truly belonged – and cried out, “Hey, asshole!”
Alex turned and stared down at me quizzically.
“Made you look.”
Okay, maybe fate had something more grandiose in mind than that, but it was time I put my money where my mouth was.
Speaking of which...
“What foolishness are you talking about now, Freewill?” Alex asked.
“Oh, just this.”
Thankfully, he was still within reach. It was nothing fancy on my part. No, that wouldn’t have done shit against him. I simply threw myself at his feet, wrapped my arms around his legs, and bit his ankle.
He’d proven I couldn’t stand toe to toe with him, but maybe it was a different story down on my hands and knees.
I crunched bone, getting only the barest amount of blood in my mouth before I was grabbed by the scruff of my neck and yanked away. I tried to swallow, but Alex wrapped a hand around my throat and squeezed so hard that my air was immediately cut off. Oh well, it hadn’t been enough for more than a short boost anyway.
Craning my head as much as I could, I looked and saw Tom making his way toward Sheila’s position. So I did what I do best: be a dick. Despite being certain my head was about to pop right off, I looked Alex straight in his furious eyes and smiled.
Oh, and I might have raised both hands in a one-fingered salute, too.
I definitely wanted his attention on me, at least for a few more seconds.
After that, it wouldn’t matter. Either Sheila and Tom’s plan would work, or it wouldn’t. Regardless, I wouldn’t be around to see what happened next.
Alex’s eyes turned black as night, finally matching each other, and I knew he wasn’t about to waste any more time with me.
But maybe he had time for someone else.
He stumbled a step as something plowed into him from behind.
His grasp on me momentarily loosened, albeit not enough for me to swallow. A collective gasp rose up from the crowd as Sally leapt up onto Alex’s back. Her claws were extended and she raked them across his eyes, leaving deep gouges, for the second or so it took for them to heal.
“What?” she asked, looking my way. “You didn’t think I was going to let you die alone, did you? Misery loves company.”
Indeed it did, and that’s what I was going to have. Sally was no match for Alex. Try as she might, she barely fazed him with her attacks.
He reached back with his free hand, grabbed her by the hair, and yanked her over his shoulder with seemingly no effort whatsoever. He held us both out before him, glanced between us for a moment, then smiled as he pulled his hands apart. “You two are truly quite the team. Therefore, it is only fitting your ashes be allowed to mingle.”
Uh oh. Sally and I were close, but I had a feeling that was about to be put to a ridiculous extreme.
I braced myself for the feeling of our skulls being crushed against one another, but instead something slammed against the side of Alex’s, a fist with a lot more behind it than I was capable of at the moment.
James!
Alex staggered and lost his grasp upon me. Even with the pressure gone, my throat still felt like a toilet paper tube that had been compressed into a ball of wet cardboard. Still, I swallowed anyway, hoping that even a single drop got through.
It did.
All at once, a fire erupted in my stomach and I could breathe again.
Before Alex could recover, I threw a punch into his gut with everything his stolen strength had given me. He doubled over and James drove an axe-handle blow down onto his back, sending him to his knees.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Committing career suicide, obviously.” He must have seen me looking over his shoulder, because he said, “Do not worry about the others. They will not interfere. This is ... beyond their capacity for bravery.”
“Wait, why are you interfering?”
“Because your duel with Alexander is over,” he replied, continuing to hammer his former boss. “Sad to say, but you lost.”
Sally kicked Alex in the face. It didn’t do a lot, but probably made her feel a helluva lot better. “Are you going to just stand there and gawk, dipshit?”
“She is correct, Freewill,” James said. “We will not be able to hold him for more than a few moments. Your destiny awaits at the shore of that strangest of tides. Go now and fulfill it ... in that unique way only you can.”
I flashed them a smile of gratitude, then turned and raced to where Sheila and Tom once again faced each other, the viscous waters of The Source lapping at their feet. One arm was hanging useless at Sheila’s side, but she was able to hold her sword up with the other. When she heard me approaching, she turned and pointed it toward me.
“Please,” she gasped, tears now streaming freely down her face.
I stopped and smiled. “Fine. Since you used the magic word, I hereby concede our battle.”
“What?”
“You heard me. You win.”
“Once a loser, always a loser?” Tom replied with a grin.
“Fuck you, buddy.” Then, I turned back to Sheila, who still looked confused. “Go on. Do what you need to do to bring about that light that’s supposed to happen when you win.”
“Or,” Tom added, “in the words of Optimus Prime...”
“Let me guess,” I said. “Light our dorkest hour?”
“Darkest.”
“Not when you say it.”
“Dick.”
“Around you, always.” I stepped forward and held out my hand to him. “Good luck, man.”
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. Just don’t dress me in any of those stupid Ken doll outfits.” Nevertheless, he took my hand and shook it before pulling me in for a hug.
I wanted it to last forever, but then I heard the sounds of battle behind us and I realized our time was up. I pulled away and stepped back.
Tom nodded at Sheila, but she still looked my way.
“It’s okay,” I told her.
She turned the sword back toward Tom’s chest, where he was still leaking energy.
Before she could strike, he said. “Tell Christy I love her.”
“I will.”
“Good,” he replied, looking past me, over my shoulder, “because we really should get a move on.”
Sheila hesitated, though. The resolve, the surety that her Icon powers gave her, suddenly melted away from her tear-stained face. “I don’t know if I can do this.”
“Sure you can,” I told her. “I have faith in you.”
That did it. She gave me a single sad nod, steeled herself, and then cried out, igniting her aura with everything she had left.
Just before she plunged the weapon into his chest, Tom said, “Oh, and let her know that Cheetara is an awesome name for a girl.”
The blade hit home. Sizzling, white-hot magic pierced his chest and the immense otherworldly energ
y within it.
“NO!” Alex shouted from nearly directly behind me.
But then his cry, along with everything else, was lost as both Sheila and Tom were engulfed in a blinding flash of power.
I closed my eyes against it, for all the good it did. So brilliant was it that I was certain it would melt my retinas even from behind my eyelids.
After what seemed an eternity, the light abated, seemed almost to pull back, and I opened my eyes in time to feel a torrent of wind at my back strong enough to almost shove me off my feet. Where my friends had stood was now a white sphere of energy. I watched as it collapsed in on itself, almost seeming to suck in air from all directions.
And then it exploded outward again, sending a shockwave that hit me like a giant fist.
The wind was knocked completely out of me and I landed on the rocky ground, hoping it was over.
Just when I thought it was, though, horrific wailing cries pierced the air.
♦ ♦ ♦
It came from all around me, rising in pitch until I was certain I would go mad. I lifted my arms and covered my ears, but to no avail. Whatever I was hearing was happening at least partially in my head ... a high-pitched keening as if a thousand voices were crying out at once.
Then, above it all, came one that was distinct.
No! What have you done?!
It was Calibra again, her voice echoing in my mind much as Harry Decker’s had back when he was a skull, but infinitely louder. Her outrage turned to fear, then to a roar of seemingly infinite pain, growing louder until I could feel my teeth vibrating from it.
Something popped in my head and I became dimly aware that blood was pouring out of my nose.
Much more of this and I was going to rip my own heart out just to make it stop.
I was mere moments away from seriously considering my threat of self-harm when the fevered pitch from all those voices began to grow distant – almost as if they were screaming from the other end of a tunnel. Then, as if it were a car radio that someone decided to turn down, it faded away until once again all was quiet.
When I finally opened my eyes, I saw nothing but stars. I blinked several times to clear my vision, then realized I wasn’t seeing things. It was some of those bioluminescent crystals shining down from the ceiling of the cavern. That was odd. I hadn’t noticed them before.
The Tome of Bill Series: Books 5-8 (Goddamned Freaky Monsters, Half A Prayer, The Wicked Dead, The Last Coven) Page 182