Purdue roared and leaped up the entire staircase in two enormous bounds thanks to the power coursing through him. Julian looked surprised by just how fast Purdue could move with the sword. He had no chance to even defend himself. Purdue swung the sword so that the blade sliced across Julian's left cheek, carving a long thin wound onto his face. Julian gasped out. but before he could even react to his injury, Purdue was already on him again.
Purdue shoved the blade through Julian's chest, impaling him.
Julian groaned and released a long exhale like his life was leaving his body—and it was. Purdue was a bit stunned by how sudden it had all been, but he did his best to relish the moment of triumph. He'd slain his greatest enemy and by extension, may have saved countless lives that could have been taken by the madman.
David Purdue had finally overcome Julian Corvus.
The two men stood there, Purdue still grasping the hilt of the sword that had skewered Julian. Julian had his head bowed, probably staring at the weapon that was still piercing his body.
Purdue had waited for this moment for so long. He had imagined so many scenarios where he was standing tall and victorious over the defeated Julian. He had dreamed about it almost every night since the night his world had burned around him. Now here they were, and his dreams had become a beautiful reality.
Julian tilted his head back up. Purdue expected to see him looking shocked, baffled by his own defeat, but instead, Julian was smiling.
The thin wound running along his cheek faded away like it had never been there at all. The flesh healed itself in seconds, and Julian's peculiar smile grew into a manic grin, despite the blade still lodged in his chest. He looked like he was on the verge of breaking out into hysterical laughter. He leaned in close and that demented smirk was in Purdue's face.
“I guess Sasha forgot to tell you...” Julian plopped a hand onto Purdue's shoulder. “Come to think of it...she may not have even known. She wasn't there...she wasn't there when I made this particular discovery. She was too busy putting together her treachery. But...the Spear of Destiny's power to revive me has lingered within me much longer than expected.” Julian's words came more naturally as his strength returned. “Your friend, Dr. Gould, had that same look when she put a bullet in my head. You should know...that I've found invulnerability. I'm immortal. Truly immortal, it seems.”
Immortal. The gravity of that word only just started to press down on Purdue. It didn't matter what he did—this hadn't been a victory at all. It was never going to be. The man he hated most couldn't die.
Julian's grip on Purdue's shoulder tightened, and he smashed his head against Purdue's. Their skulls clashed, and Purdue's vision went dark for a moment before returning in a blurred haze. He held onto the hilt, hoping he could pull the sword out and try to start taking off limbs, but Julian's head knocked into his again—and then again.
Purdue stumbled backward from the blows, inadvertently letting go of the sword's hilt. His hand slipped right through his wrist strap. and he tumbled down the stone stairs. He landed in a heap at the bottom step, looking up at Julian.
The sword was still sticking out of him but he didn't seem to mind it. He started walking down the stairs with the blade protruding from him like it wasn't even there at all. It might as well not have been. Its ability to kill had been rendered useless by whatever hellish power coursed through Julian's veins.
“It was a good try,” Julian said as he descended the steps. “While you may have faked your death, I actually came back from my own. Now it seems death will never come near me again. I wonder...if I take ownership of the Scarlet Sword, and lose it, will I die like everyone else? Let's find out, shall we?”
Julian took hold of the sword and yanked the blade out of his body. It slid out with ease and whatever damage it should have done to Julian's inside didn't last more than a second. He held the sword proudly, showcasing it like it was a trophy.
He flashed another wide smile, staring at Purdue with wicked curiosity. He let out a sharp laugh. “Oh, wait. How silly of me...if I have this sword and you don't...” Julian was cackling with giddiness as he mocked his enemy. “Oh no. My apologies, Mr. Purdue. That little curse slipped my mind.”
Purdue tried to crawl back to his feet. He remembered Victor holding his own chest after Purdue got the sword. Now, despite his best efforts, he had lost the sword too, which meant...
THUMP.
A pain tore through Purdue's torso. He held his hand over his heart and fell back to the floor. It was happening—and there was nothing he could do about it.
THUMP. THUMP. THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.
The curse had taken hold of him, just like it had so many people before him. He was just another of a long line of wielders that would fall victim to the blade's true bite. None of them had been able to get away from it, and he wouldn't be able to escape it either. There was no getting away from it now.
His panicked heartbeats reverberated through his bones, and he could just barely hear Julian's cackling over his pumping organ.
“Look at you. Not a good way to go, is it? But far too clean. Far too clean, Mr. Purdue. Far too clean. Especially for you.” Julian came down the last steps and raised the Scarlet Sword over Purdue. He wanted the kill for himself. That psycho wanted to see Purdue bleed.
THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.
Purdue could feel his heart giving out. He wouldn't be able to handle much more. Maybe Julian finishing him would be something of a mercy...then again, Julian would make sure it hurt. It wouldn't be quick enough.
Something flew over Purdue's head and planted itself into Julian's hand, knocking the sword out of his grasp. It was a knife—one of the knives those Black Sun goons tried to kill Purdue with minutes earlier.
Julian winced and looked down at the little blade stuck in his palm. Another knife whizzed past and hit Julian's shoulder. Purdue, breathing hard and in the worst pain he'd ever felt, took advantage of the distraction. He rolled onto his back to see what was happening and found Sasha sprinting toward them, throwing knives that she'd picked up near the downed subordinates on the floor. She chucked two more blades at Julian, who only barely reacted to the pain before his body kept him standing.
THUMP. THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.
Purdue grimaced from another tremor that punched through his body and saw that Sasha wasn't running toward them. She was going for the sword on the floor. Julian tore the knives out of his body and ran to intercept her with one knife in each hand. Sasha was too quick, though, and snatched the sword from where it lay.
“No!” Julian hissed.
THUMP.
He came to a sudden halt and released a grunt, leaning forward and clawing at his chest.
The Templar curse was bringing its power down on Julian as well—until it wasn't.
Julian was groaning for a few seconds, but that pain took a sudden shift into laughter, and he stood up straight, apparently no longer suffering from the same heart attacks that were killing Purdue. They had hit him, but only briefly, until his immortal body rectified the situation.
“I guess that answers my question,” Julian said, looking down at himself with utter satisfaction. “I'm untouchable.”
Sasha gripped the sword, knowing that its power might be the best and only way to defend herself. Though, if she didn't return it to its resting place, Purdue would die. She glanced down at him as he writhed on the floor and through his fading vision, he saw the conflict on her face. He wasn't much use to her dead, and she had already save his life once. Why die to help David Purdue?
THUMP.
Purdue understood. He couldn't blame her if she decided to use the sword to try and fend off Julian.
THUMP.
Sasha shook her head and surprisingly ran toward the stone knight and placed the blade in its waiting palms.
THU--
An unseen force swept through the ruins, and the pain punching into Purdue's chest eased before disappearing entirely. It was gone as quickly as it had made its pr
esence known.
The Scarlet Sword had been returned, and the curse was lifted.
The ruins around them started shaking like there was an earthquake beneath them. The stone started sinking into the earth as the ground cracked apart. The stone walls around them started crumbling.
Sasha smiled at the sight of Purdue getting up. He owed her for his life yet again.
Julian yelled in frustration, his face red with anger like his rage was the cause of this sudden quaking. He turned his attention to Purdue, looking ready to charge at him. The stone ruins continued to break apart, and the ceiling rained down on them.
Sasha grabbed hold of Julian before he could rush at Purdue.
“Go!” she yelled.
Purdue hesitated. He didn't want to just leave her behind; not after everything she'd done for him. He never liked her much, but she was the only reason he was still alive. Without her help, he would have been killed by that fire and then by that old curse. Sasha had gone from an enemy that he hated, that had tried to kill him multiple times, to someone that not only saved his life, but someone that he actually respected and even trusted.
He wanted to return the favor. He wanted to help her.
“Go!” she repeated, her arms wrapped tightly around Julian. Her yells were adamant. She'd made up her mind, and the message was clear enough: she was content with her choice.
The ceiling was collapsing even more. There was no more time before it completely fell apart on top of them. If he tried to help her, they would both die. They would either be crushed by the collapsing ruins or murdered by Julian. With his new immortality, Julian would no doubt live either way. Running was the only way to ensure one of them lived to fight another day.
Purdue nodded to Sasha. He spoke to her for the first time, not as a begrudging ally but as a colleague, and perhaps even a friend. “Thank you.”
Sasha smiled as she tried her best to hold Julian at bay. Purdue ran, finally free of that sword and its curse. And for the time being, he was even free of Julian Corvus.
Sasha was glad when Purdue was gone. She had risked and sacrificed far too much for Purdue to die now. Even after everything that had happened, she still believed that he was the best chance they had to get rid of Julian. Unless she could end this all here and now, but who knew if even this would be enough to stop her former boss for good.
Julian writhed, trying to break free from her bind. She'd been in plenty of scraps throughout her life and had fought far stronger opponents than Julian Corvus. Immortal or not, he wasn't any stronger than a regular man. So when it came to grappling, she could take him, especially since she already had him in a good position that restricted just about all of his movements.
“Are you insane? You'll die!” Julian hissed in front of her as he tried to pull away.“I know,” Sasha said, grinding her teeth. “And hopefully you will too.”
“I won't!” Julian snapped. “I won't! I can't! I can't die!”
For the first time since she'd joined the Order of the Black Sun, throughout all of that time taking on the dangerous missions with the Eclipsed, Sasha felt like she had real power over Julian Corvus. All of that authority and power that he had used to subjugate her was nothing now. She wasn't afraid of him anymore—she wasn't afraid of anything.
She spoke calmly, practically a whisper in his ear. “We'll find out together then.”
A stone wall beside them started tipping toward them. Sasha planted her feet firmly in the ground, not budging an inch. Julian tried breaking free, but it was useless. The two of them remained in their place as the enormous wall came crashing down on top of them.
As the stones reached her body, Sasha felt stronger than she ever had before.
Purdue didn't stop moving. He no longer had the extra stamina that the Scarlet Sword provided him, but it didn't matter. He had been filled with so much newfound relief and a desire to cherish his life now that it wasn't bound to an inanimate object. The entire way back to his boat, he kept a close eye on his surroundings, not wanting to get struck by one of the old traps now of all times. Sasha had saved his life multiple times and now gave her life to help him escape from Julian.
He wouldn't let her sacrifice be in vain. He couldn't.
Purdue ran through the bog, making sure not to slow down enough to let it get a good hold of him. He had already nearly been suffocated by that thick muck and really wasn't in the mood to have to fight with it again. He pulled himself free of it with relative ease. Somewhere in there, Vincent Moore and his broken katana were trapped for the rest of time. The morbid thought of his body decomposing in there for years to come crossed Purdue's mind, but he brushed it aside. He didn't want to think about something like that because then his mind drifted to Sasha's body, just as trapped beneath a pile of stone. If he made it back alive, he would make all efforts to come back to this place to recover her body and give her a proper funeral.
He ran past another body on the ground that Purdue recognized was Torsten. There was a hole in the center of his head; so that's how Sasha had taken him down...a bullet to the head. Sasha had been smart to bring a firearm to an arrow fight. Magic or not, an arrow didn't move as fast as a bullet. If Torsten's artifact had bullets that could track its target, that would have been impossible to defend against. There would have been no catching a bullet. It took everything Purdue had just to catch that arrow. That was another thing Purdue owed Sasha. Without her, he would have had to deal with Torsten as well as Vincent, and he doubted he could have beaten them both by himself.
Purdue looked up from the corpse and peered around the area. There was no way of knowing if there were any more members of the Order of the Black Sun nearby. For all he knew, Julian had an army of them surrounding the perimeter of the area, but thankfully his caution wasn't needed. He didn't see a soul during his entire run back to the boat.
When he finally reached the boat, he was exhausted from the journey back. Besides stopping to look at Torsten's corpse, he never went any slower than a jog. His freedom from the curse had given his morale exactly what it needed. Motivation ran through his brain; now that he had freedom, he had to use it as best he could.
Not everyone had it. Some people were trapped or stuck far worse than he had been with the Scarlet Sword. Nina, for instance, was still a prisoner. That needed to change. Everything he had been through just to free himself from a curse...now he needed to free her too.
Purdue pushed the rowboat out to sea and then nearly collapsed into it. He pulled out the pearl and thought about how much he wanted to get away from that shoreline. The ocean obeyed and dragged him out to the open water.
He spent the voyage thinking a lot about Sasha. When he first met her, she was a cold hearted Black Sun agent that tried to kill him. She'd trapped him and his friends inside of Christ's tomb in Jerusalem. She'd tried to kill them again on the island of Rhodes during their search for the Spear of Destiny. And yet again she tried to murder him in that cave when they actually found the spear. She was an enemy, and she had still seemed like one when she participated in burning down his home with him inside—how things had changed.
Purdue never thought he would grieve for Sasha, not in a million years. He barely knew her, really. He didn't even know her last name. Yet, he owed her everything, including his life. The time they spent together had been filled with snide remarks and disagreements, but he'd grown to respect her and actually like her.
As he lay in the boat in the middle of the sea, even though he wasn't positive Sasha was dead, he still mourned for a fallen friend.
15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN– THE BITTER TASTE OF DEFEAT
If it weren't for the power of rejuvenation that the Spear of Destiny granted him, Julian Corvus might have been crushed to death under that collapsing ruin. Instead, he just felt a little battered but was feeling better by the second. His recovery was already nearly complete, and he started rising out of the rubble. Some of the old stones were heavy, but he managed to push them off with some
effort.
He scanned the area for any sign of Purdue, but he was long gone. He could have fled in any direction. There was no way to be sure. Once again, David Purdue had gotten away from him, and this irritating feud between them would continue. Purdue refused to roll over and die like he should have. He may have been a gnat, but he was a particularly irritating one.
Or maybe Julian only had himself to blame. Perhaps he had been too self-assured, too confident that it would be an easy victory. He expected it to be quick, especially once he took control of the order—but it wasn't. He had underestimated just how stubborn of a man David Purdue really was, and that miscalculation was haunting him.
No.
No, this wasn't falling on him. He had outsmarted Purdue, taken everything from him and burned his home to the ground with him inside. He had stripped him of his allies, of his possessions, of his home, and almost his life. It had gone seamlessly. The Order of the Black Sun executed the plan to perfection. It should have worked—no—it would have worked if not for the woman buried in the rubble beside him.
Sasha was to blame.
That traitor saved Purdue from what would have been certain death. She plotted against Julian for the sake of her own ambition and her own vision of what the Order of the Black Sun should be. She had spoiled everything.
Purdue might have gotten away, but at least Julian still got Sasha. He would have to accept that small consolation prize. One less duplicitous traitor to worry about.
Sasha was almost exactly as she had been when they first met—trapped beneath rock, expecting him to come to her rescue as he stood nearby. But he wouldn't help her; not this time. She had to know that turning on the order was a mistake.
Julian crouched down close to where she was buried under all of the fallen rocks. She stared at him, and blood leaked from her nose and mouth. If not for the occasional blink, it would be easy to assume that she was already dead.
Order of the Black Sun Box Set 10 Page 33