More flares of power flashed from somewhere behind, reminding me that I had more than just Cynthia to worry about ... although hopefully Meg and Kelly had further dwindled our enemies’ ranks.
Gunshots sounded from close by, and I couldn’t help but involuntarily flinch. Crap! Were the enthralled police mounting another counterattack?
Sparks seemed to flare against Cynthia’s skin, but then another of the beasts stepped in to engage me. A quick parry later, and a splash of orange sludge sprayed out of the Jahabich, sizzling and evaporating as it touched my aura.
I took a moment to glance Cynthia’s way again just in time to see more bullets ricochet off her. It was then that I saw Bernadette. She led her contingent of Templar our way, converging from an angle so as to not hit us with friendly fire.
“Send these devils back to their masters!” she shouted, aiming her own weapon.
Cynthia didn’t even flinch under the assault. She just continued to stand where she was, glaring my way. The only indication she gave that she was even alive was the glow from her eyes and a slight cocking of her head as if she was contemplating something.
I was just about to shout out for Bernadette to help the others and clear out any remaining undead, when I realized I was mistaken.
Cynthia wasn’t contemplating, she was waiting.
“Now!” she commanded, and all of the remaining Jahabich in the area echoed her remark.
Now what?
I sensed movement behind me and spun to meet it. These creatures were thankfully not all that light on their feet. However, just as I brought up my sword to block its attack, a red hot glow of power surrounded it.
Way to go, witches!
I turned back toward Cynthia, ready to charge her.
It was a mistake.
The Jahabich slammed into my backside before it could be fused solid. My aura engulfed it, dampening the magic being poured into it. Before I could do anything to compensate, it was upon me ... an angry mass of red hot, nearly molten rock.
It grabbed me from behind. Its arms pinned mine to my sides, and it pressed its body painfully against my own before it stopped moving, finally fused into place.
I’d assumed the Jahabich to be little more than minions, fire ants fighting blindly for their master. Instead, I’d been the blind one. I’d underestimated them, a mistake that could very well prove to be my downfall.
CHAPTER 34
I was in agony. The creature’s skin was like a thousand red-hot teeth cutting into me from every direction.
Though my aura somewhat muted the damage, the creature’s semi-immunity to my power ensured that I wasn’t fully protected. The heat alone was unbearable. I cried out, my flesh sizzling at its touch.
I could smell my own hair burning where the monster’s granite teeth poked into the back of my neck. It was small comfort, but had the creature not fused into place when it had, it could have been worse.
It was still pretty bad, though. I was trapped fast, like a rat.
My sword was still in hand, but with the limited range of motion afforded my arms, pinned as they were, the most I could do was wave it around as far as my wrists would bend. Even with the power coursing through the blade, I would have been hard pressed to slice an apple, much less one of these things.
“Blessed One!”
“Sheila!”
My predicament had definitely been noticed. Unfortunately, the others couldn’t do much to help me without putting themselves at risk. Equally as important, Bill and his friends were counting on us. Jeopardizing their lives was not only unacceptable, it was also foolish. Vehron was the true target. Everything else was ancillary, even my life.
“Don’t worry about me!” I shouted defiantly. “Save the wounded and finish the mission!”
“Fuck that noise!” came the response from Kelly. Good thing she couldn’t see me rolling my eyes from her vantage point.
Cynthia apparently noticed it, though, because she raised her remaining arm and the rest of the Jahabich began to encircle me ... or I assumed they did. My view behind me was mostly blocked, and trying to shift around did little more than open new cuts on my already lacerated arms and back.
Upon surrounding me, they turned outward, no doubt to repel any attempts to rescue me. I prayed it didn’t come to that. Hopefully the Templar knew how much of a disadvantage they had. Though heavily armed, they didn’t possess anything of sufficient power to damage these creatures significantly.
The witches had the means, but there was no telling how much gas they had left in their engines. Unfortunately, my power also negated theirs. I could have reined in my aura, but I was just barely containing the screams of pain that wanted to escape my lips. Much more and I’d surely pass out. If that happened, we all might be as good as dead.
If there was a way out of this, it would have to be by my own hands.
Mine was the power to protect, to heal, but it was also the power to repel attacks. It worked wonders against vampires and apparently didn’t do a half bad job against armored cars either. Sadly, these monsters possessed some degree of immunity to me. Some wasn’t all, though. Maybe I just needed to ratchet up the power.
The problem was I didn’t know how much that would take, nor was I sure I had enough left in me to do so.
♦ ♦ ♦
Bernadette’s knights, closing in from the front, holstered their guns and attacked the Jahabich with their swords – the chance of a bad ricochet in close quarters too great. This new tactic was equally useless. Sparks appeared where metal struck stone, but the end result was more damage to their weapons than the creatures.
An explosion sounded from behind me, followed by a rain of pebbles and a cry of “Fuck yeah!”
The witches were having better luck, but their shots were coming fewer and farther between. A few moments later, one of the Templar yelled out, “Pull back!”
Damn me! I needed to try.
I took a calming breath and concentrated on my aura.
The glow began to intensify. The creature, still fused in place around me, sparked as if a live wire had been placed against its skin. However, it gave no sign of budging.
More! I needed more, but I wasn’t sure I had anymore to give.
I focused on the blade in my hands, mentally beseeching it to lend me some of the absorbed power within it. In response, it began to vibrate in my grasp.
Oh no! Please! Not now.
The two Jahabich immediately in front of me stepped to the side and Cynthia approached. One of Bernadette’s Templar raced up to her, weapon raised, seemingly heedless of the danger. I opened my mouth to scream for him to stop, but I was too late. Though she appeared to put as much effort into batting him aside as one might a fly, the knight’s chest caved in from the blow. Blood flew from his mouth and he fell.
He hit the ground, convulsed, and then lay still.
A true hero might have saved him, but I couldn’t seem to even be able to save myself.
The vibrations coming from my sword became stronger. It was like trying to hold onto something alive, almost wriggling out of my grasp.
The Cynthia thing stopped barely a foot away. Its orange eyes stared dispassionately at me for a long moment, and then it changed. Its features began to shift. Stone became skin, and its glowing eyes were replaced by brown irises, albeit the gaze coming from them didn’t seem to contain any more humanity than a few moments prior.
Cynthia’s arm was still missing below the elbow, but if it caused her any discomfort, she didn’t show it.
Once the transformation was complete, she smiled at me ... her teeth white and human looking, but we were beyond this game. I knew what she was.
“Your friends are going to die.”
“Let me guess,” I replied, struggling to maintain a calm demeanor. “Only I have the power to stop it.”
“You?” she asked, sounding genuinely surprised. “You are powerless here. No. Their lives are meaningless to us, less than nothing.”
/> “So let them go.”
“You misunderstand. Their lives are meaningless to us. I, on the other hand, am greatly annoyed at the trouble you have caused. They are going to die because I wish them to. Mother won’t mind. She has granted me my freedom in this choice.”
“Mother? I’d think Vehron would be more likely to go by Daddy, but I’m not one to judge.”
“I’m not talking about The Destroyer. The sun sets for him, even as it rises for Kala the White.”
Kala? I had no idea what she was talking about. It seemed little more than gibberish, perhaps her way of goading me on. The thing to pay attention to was that she meant to kill my friends. I let that sink in. Though I had no love of Bernadette’s dogma, she was a good woman. Vincent had been willing to sacrifice himself to save a girl whose very existence was contrary to his beliefs. Then there were the witches, Kelly in particular. Though they feared me as a harbinger of death, still they helped me, stood by me, even saved me.
A calmness began to settle within me as I realized they were all worth fighting for, to the end if need be.
The vibrations coming from the sword slowed and then ceased. The blade continued to hum, but it was with power, not in protest.
If Cynthia noticed, she didn’t let on. “Even now, the White Mother stands triumphant, ready to claim her rightful place in history. None shall stand in her way, be they Icon, witch, ... or Freewill.”
That caught my attention, and I refocused on her and her words. Bill? Had something happened to him? What about the others? She mentioned a witch. Was that Christy? The poor girl was pregnant, for Christ’s sake, yet she hadn’t hesitated to walk into the lion’s den to secure a better future for her child.
The calm inside of me ceased, replaced with something else ... something stronger. It was that same need I had felt when my power first burst to life, the need to fight, the need to purge this world of evil. I’d feared it then, feared what it would do to those I cared about.
I still did, but now I realized that perhaps fear wasn’t entirely a bad thing. I could be wary of my power while still embracing it. I could be afraid of something, but that didn’t mean I had to let it cripple me. Others had faced their fears and stood tall. I could ... no, would too.
Cynthia’s gaze hardened on mine and she backhanded me. My power softened the blow, but my head still snapped to the side and my lip split.
It didn’t matter. At the moment, I didn’t see her standing there anyway. Remington’s visage had replaced hers in my mind’s eye ... the barrel of his gun once again pointing directly at me.
Again she struck me, but I only saw Remington cocking back the hammer, preparing to fire.
This time, I fired first.
CHAPTER 35
The power surged forth from inside of me, unlike anything I’d felt before. My breath caught in my throat, and I was certain my heart skipped a beat as the wave of energy cascaded from me.
Had I been surrounded by vampires, the results would have been devastating. Not even their so-called First Coven would have been left standing. The Jahabich, however, possessed a measure of resistance to my aura.
The arms of the one that had been fused solid around me merely shattered, freeing me. Oh well, I’d take what I could get.
Cynthia’s eyes widened in surprise as the wave of pure Faith slammed into her and the other Jahabich surrounding me, knocking them all over like ten pins.
Still in her human guise, Cynthia recovered quickly, scrambling backward as fast as her three remaining appendages would allow. Her body sparked and her once smooth skin was now pockmarked with what appeared to be the equivalent of burns.
A small part of me felt pity – not for her so much as her father. Jacob had done whatever he could to save his daughter. Unbeknownst to him, though, she was already gone ... replaced by this doppelganger.
Sizzling heat rose up from behind me, and I glanced over my shoulder to find Meg and Kelly unleashing everything they had left into the creatures nearest them. Sweat poured off of their brows in rivulets and they both looked like they were about to drop, but still Kelly managed to give me a quick thumbs up. I paused long enough to return it.
That was a mistake, as it gave the Jahabich on the remaining three sides a chance to recover and resume their attack. However, the mistake was theirs.
I lashed out with my blade, sensing what felt almost like joy radiating from the weapon as it bisected their stony flesh. Two of the monsters fell dead, their heads neatly removed and their bodies leaking that orange substance they called blood.
My eyes met Bernadette’s off to the side and she quickly averted her gaze. Instead, she held up a hand and gave her men the signal to back off. This was my fight and she knew it.
There were still half a dozen of the creatures to contend with, not including Cynthia. At the moment, though, I didn’t care if there were a hundred. I’d cut through them all and then deal with her. I was certain that the woman she’d once been hadn’t asked for this fate. Who would? Though it would break her father’s heart, at least she would be at rest. This mockery of her existence would be over and there would be one less wolf striding these streets in sheep’s clothing.
I stepped forward and my power swirled around me, healing my wounds and flaring up as if it were eager to engage our foes.
Time seemed to slow as my focus intensified, but then I realized that wasn’t the case. The creatures themselves were the ones slowing down. Within seconds, their movement became erratic, uncertain, until finally they seized up, becoming still as statues. The power burning inside of me insisted it was fear, that it was their turn to feel its crushing uncertainty, but that didn’t seem right.
I wasn’t sure what their game was, but if they were hoping to parlay, to be shown mercy where they had given none, then they were in for a surprise.
Unfortunately, it seemed they weren’t the only ones. I took another step toward them and that’s when the ground began to shake again.
♦ ♦ ♦
For a moment, I thought more reinforcements were coming. Good, let them! I’d cut through as many as they could send my way. But then I realized it was different this time. The vibrations in the ground were more subtle.
Compared to the Jahabichs’ earlier arrival, this felt distant, more an aftershock than the epicenter. I glanced around, but though the street around us was in disarray, nothing else appeared to be in danger of collapse.
Whatever was happening, it didn’t appear to be my immediate concern. The Jahabich were, or they had been. All of them had stopped moving, as if someone had flipped a giant off switch. Even Cynthia wasn’t unaffected. She’d stopped mid-stride in backing up, her eyes rolled into the back of her head.
It had to be some sort of trick. The warrior inside of me laughed at their pathetic ruse. I stepped up to the nearest and struck – ramming the point of my sword into the creature’s mouth and out the top of its head.
Its eyes flickered for a moment and then went dark, but still it stayed where it was, seemingly rooted to the spot as if my killing blow hadn’t been enough to get its attention.
With some effort I pulled my sword free and looked around. Confused glances from Templar and witches alike met my eyes.
What the hell was going on?
I should have been rejoicing in the respite, but instead I was enraged. The berserker inside of me was finally free and lusting for the battle it had been denied for too long. Though my weaker half demanded I stand down, I would not be so easily sated.
My fervor for combat was rapidly working itself into a froth when finally the stalemate was broken. All at once, the Jahabich began to move again. I raised my blade and beckoned them on.
As one, the creatures threw their heads back and opened their mouths. “MOTHER.”
The cry came from all of them at once, even Cynthia.
As it subsided, I heard a brief retort of “What the fuck?” from Meg somewhere behind me, but I paid her no heed. It was time to send these crea
tures back to whatever Hell had spawned them.
Cynthia’s form shifted, becoming one of the rock-covered abominations again. The transformation complete, she turned on her heel and began to walk away ... heading toward the maw in the ground that had heralded the arrival of her reinforcements.
Without another sound, the rest turned to follow her.
What the?
No!
I was the Icon, the Shining One. I was born to battle, meant to destroy evil in its entirety, and yet these things were ignoring me.
This was intolerable. I strode after them, catching up to their lazy gait easily. With a swing of my blade, I took the legs out from beneath the first I came to. It fell face-first onto the broken asphalt with a dull thud. I expected it to roll over and fight, but instead it acted as if it hadn’t noticed me, crawling after its fleeing comrades as best it could.
I put the creature out of its misery, driving my sword through its skull with such fury that the creature’s head split in two.
“Blessed One...”
It took me a second to pry my sword from the asphalt where it had momentarily gotten stuck. In that time, the Jahabich continued along on their maddening retreat, the first of them beginning their descent into Boston’s underground.
I screamed my defiance at their backs, a war cry meant to catch their attention, drive fear into their cold hearts, and rally them into a defense – however futile it might be – against my attack.
Still, they ignored me.
The aura of power crackled around me, an almost palpable expression of the anger coursing through my veins. I heard footsteps from behind, but paid them no heed. Let the others clean up this mess. It would take them some time, but that was okay. I was perfectly capable of handling this myself.
A hand fell on my shoulder. “Hey, are you okay?”
Shining Fury: from the Tome of Bill Series Page 15