The Otherling
Page 22
In the instant before the Dark One was directly over her, Annaleah dropped to one knee, thrusting her sword upwards with all of her strength. The demon, instead off falling on her as it had intended, was effectively disemboweled by its own momentum. Blood spilled from the killing wound and splashed over Annaleah, marking her as a warrior. The demon fell to her left, on the ground, the light of life gone forever from its evil eyes.
As Annaleah sighed a breath of pure gratitude for her survival, a familiar chittering sound began to weave its way towards her through the sounds of chaos and war. A chill ran through her, and a sense of dread, knowing what it was that made the noise. Suddenly, the ground seemed as if it had come alive, swarming with innumerable hard black shiny bodies. Hundreds of spiders crawled up her robes so quickly that her heart rose to her throat, making it hard to scream or even breathe. She jumped to her feet, dropping her sword to brush the hateful insects off of her.
"Very impressive, Annaleah," said a patronizing voice.
As panic laced her blood with an icy grip, Annaleah knew the voice belonged to one of the vilest creatures she had ever come across. There before her stood Nephila, demon queen of the Jorogumo.
Chapter Thirty-Four
The War Rages On
Annaleah felt needles of despair pierce her heart as it became more difficult to brush the spiders off of her. Her arms were growing heavier and less flexible, her thoughts muddied and fuzzy. She realized with a profound despondency that she had once again been bitten by the poisonous children of the Jorogumo. She looked upon Nephlia, thinking to herself that she didn't even feel the bites.
The Jorogumo laughed, a high pitch screech of lunacy, her kohl lined eyes wide and maniacal. She held Annaleah's gaze with her own as she advanced slowly, in her half spider and half woman form.
"You wouldn't have felt my babies bite you this time, Annaleah," Nephila spoke, coming closer. "The only ones allowed to bite you are the smaller ones. Too bad for you the smaller of them are the most poisonous." She threw back her head and cackled, opening her arms as she did so. On the ends of her fingers were what looked like elongated, sharp metal claws.
"Do you like them?" the Jorogumo asked, once more appearing to have looked within Annaleah's mind. She held her hands out for her to see. "I had them specially made. These are no ordinary nail guards, dear. They are made to rip flesh and sever limbs. They are rather pretty aren't they?" Nephila paused for a moment to admire them, then looked Annaleah coldly in the eye. "They will look even prettier eviscerating you."
Annaleah looked for her dropped sword to defend herself, willing strength back into her poisoned body. Now she found she couldn't even lift her arms. Her breath was heavy in her lungs and took effort to draw in. A tiny spider ran across her face and disappeared into her long hair, sending waves of revulsion through her, but she could do nothing to remove it. Her eyes still cooperated, however, and she looked helplessly at the Jorogumo as she breached the final distance between them.
"Oh now, Annaleah, why such despair?" taunted the spider demoness. "Oh, I bet I know. You are about to die and there is no one here to help you. No Gabriel, no Marchosias, no Michael and no... what do you call him in his human form, Professor?"
Annaleah hadn't thought of that before, but now she did wonder where her friends were. She wanted to tell Nephila that this was a war after all, that had the spider queen not thrown such a low blow and poisoned her like this, she would have been able to fight her without having the help of her friends.
Nephila cocked her head, as if to hear what Annaleah was trying to say. "What's that, dear? Cat got your tongue?" More crazed laughter followed, further filling her soul with sorrow. Nephila was now right in front of her, smiling in victory. She ran the blunt end of one of the nail guards down Annaleah's cheek, wiping away a tear that she was unaware she had shed.
"Goodbye, Otherling. I can't say it's been nice knowing you." The Jorogumo raised her arm high over and behind her head in a blow meant to kill. Her fingers were spread wide, and Annaleah couldn't help but look at the gleaming metal nail guards which seconds from now would be tearing her flesh apart.
Annaleah, knowing she was about to die, thought of the Professor, and how she wished she could at least kiss his lips just once. In one final burst of hope, she tried once more to force her body to move, but was rewarded with only searing pain for her efforts.
"I'm sorry Sebastian," she said to him in her mind, the anguish of never seeing him again more raw than the fact that she was about to lose her life.
"Oh don't worry about Sebastian," the Jorogumo told her, hand paused in the air, "I plan to kill him too. You can reunite in the after world."
Her hand came down in an arc, and Annaleah, resigned to her fate, cried one last tear.
Suddenly, from the right, a large white creature leapt from the shadows and attached itself to the throat of the Jorogumo. Annaleah realized she had seen this beast before. The horrendous creature that Satanael had called Tantibus held Nephila's throat in its jaws. Blood poured out around its pale mouth as it shook her. The surprise and alarm in the dying demoness' eyes was almost enough to elicit pity from Annaleah. Almost.
As the nightmare creature worked its jaws to sever Nephila's head from her neck, it arched its scorpion like tail and stung her repeatedly. The huge, torn wings of the white, scaled beast opened and closed in the air, fighting for leverage. Finally, with a growl of determination, Tantibus shook his mighty jaws and severed the head of the demon spider queen. The empty eyes stared in horror at nothing now, the mouth frozen in a silent scream. The head spouted a dark scarlet liquid as it rolled over the war ravaged ground before being crushed under the giant cloven hoof of a demon engaged in battle. Tantibus, still in killing mode, fell upon the Jorogumo's body, attacking her where she had fallen.
Instantly, the spiders swarming over Annaleah turned to ash and began to blow away in the winds of the war.
"Crazy bitch," Annaleah heard a masculine voice say as her consciousness began to fade. "I told her to stay away from you."
Annaleah, blinking her eyes an attempt to remain conscious, struggled to turn her head to see who had spoken.
"Did you forget me so soon, Annaleah?" Into her field of sight stepped Satanael, his long red hair flowing out as if it were engaged in an aquatic dance.
Annaleah, her strength now gone, didn't even try to answer. She felt herself begin to fall as the poison overtook her body. Satanael moved quickly and caught her in his arms. He lifted her easily, and began to carry her off to the path that led to the clearing.
Through heavy eyes, Annaleah looked up into a face which looked handsome, even though she knew the creature which held her was the embodiment of evil itself.
"Well now, Annaleah, it isn't every day that one gets saved by the devil himself, now is it?"
As the last remnants of consciousness slipped from her, she heard him laughing.
Chapter Thirty-Five
The Battle in the Woods
Satanael carried Annaleah down the path, whispering words under his breath to undo the poison the Jorogumo's children had injected into her. His words were an incantation, leaving his lips as a dark mist and disappearing into Annaleah's pale skin. He entered her mind as he spoke, knowing that even if she had been trained against a thought attack, she would be helpless to evict him from her mind in her current state.
Satanael, now a safe distance from the site of the war, turned off of the path and moved into the woods. He carried Annaleah until he found an area large enough to lay her down, and gently placed her on the grass. He spread himself out over her, close but not touching her. He wanted enough of the venom to leave her system so that she was still incapacitated, but no longer in the throes of death. His dark incantation ended, the tail of the dark mist leaving his lips with the last syllable. He watched with amusement as it snaked its way through the air and disappeared into her skin. His great scarlet wings opened over her, as if he were attempting to shield her.
Satanael allowed himself to look upon her for a moment longer, enjoying the surge of lust and hedonistic want that came with indulging himself in her beauty. He watched the swell of her breasts as they rose and fell with each breath she took, his eyes now rimmed in yellow around the scarlet irises, changing as his mood did. He lowered his face to just above her chest and closed his eyes. His nostrils flared as he breathed her scent in, a low growl of appreciation rumbling in the back of his throat.
The heat of desire aflame in his veins, he whispered to her again. "There will be time to make you forget Sebastian. In time you will know and desire only me. You will rule by my side, as my queen, never knowing what it was you were born to do. You will have power beyond measure, and the light you breathe now will be the same one you fight to eradicate. I will teach you to love the darkness until it is the only thing you crave."
Satanael traced the curve from her ear down her jaw, over her throat to her jugular vein. He felt the pulse of life there, and bent his head to kiss her there.
A powerful voice rang from behind him. "Get your vile hands off of her!" Startled by the interruption, Satanael, baring his fangs in an effort to warn whoever had disturbed him, turned to see who had spoken.
Seraphael, shimmering in luminous arcs of dark blue and silver, stepped from the path which led to the sacred clearing. His long ebony hair flowed out behind him in the wind, making him look regal and righteous.
His enormous wings were folded tightly to his back, glowing a beautiful silver blue, as if they were made of moonlight and shimmering snow. In each hand he gripped a long and deadly sword.
Satanael closed his lips around his fangs and smiled, as if he were happy to see Seraphael. "Seraphael, brother, so good to see you," he purred. "It's been... Well, it's been too long, hasn't it?" His words were sickly sweet, dripping with poison.
"You are not my brother." Seraphael told him, his voice sharp and full of anger. "Step away from her now."
"We were brothers once, Seraphael. We sang glory to the Creator. We spun stars together through the Heavens, chased comets and danced before the Throne of the Goddess.” Satanael gestured to the sky, his eyes following his hand as it arced upwards. “We can be brothers again, Seraphael.” He said, lowering his hand and looking at the angelic form of the professor. “We can share her. Brothers share, don't they? I haven't hurt her. Look at her.” The Devil’s gaze fell to the unconscious form of Annaleah, who appeared to be sleeping peacefully. “I have even tried to help her. I spoke ancient words over her to help draw the poison out of her body. Come, look at her beauty and see it is unmarred. We could take her together, Seraphael. She would never know. You cannot tell me you don't desire her. No one but you and I will ever know."
Seraphael walked swiftly towards Satanael, raising his swords. "This is your final warning, Satanael, get away from her!"
Satanael rose slowly, his eyes locked on his enemy. Abandoning his charm, he let his hatred for anything that had any light within it overcome him. The red returned to his eyes and shone with the fire of intense fury. He took a small step away from Annaleah, spreading his wings out to their full span in an effort to distract Seraphael as he charged him.
Seraphael's swords began to glow, bathing his beautiful face in a soft light, as he got closer to Satanael. His silver eyes locked to his enemy, strength and will flooding through him.
Satanael began to change as he advanced, his handsome face contorting and morphing into something repulsive and monstrous. His skin darkened to a deep red, as if it had been burned and charred. Two great, shiny black horns, immense in their size, began to grow from his temples, curving upwards sharply. Black spines sprouted from his charred flesh in random places. His ears grew thin and pointed, stretching upwards. Thick black fur sprouted forth from his waist down, and his legs curved backwards at the knee. His feet, their color lost somewhere between dark red and black, became giant cloven hooves. From his tailbone emerged the tail of a great dragon, tipped with a scorpion's stinger. Only his wings, the leather skin and hard scales, remained unchanged, and unfolded in the night.
Seraphael gritted his teeth, adrenaline surging through his blood. Each of his swords glowed more deeply with a holy light, as if responding to his preparation to fight. For the first time since he fell, he could feel the light of the Goddess Herself surrounding him.
With a clash of teeth, claws, horns and swords, Seraphael met Satanael. He heard the hate filled war cry of his enemy through his own screams of battle. It was guttural and fueled with hatred. Within the guttural cry echoed the firmaments of Satanael’s dark soul; the glory he held for the evil that he had become and the hatred he held for the Light.
Satanael lunged forward and raked Seraphael's chest with his claws, opening four long wounds. Burning pain radiated across Seraphael’s chest. Shocked, Seraphael fell back, giving Satanael the advantage. Satanael used his weight to force Seraphael to the ground, falling onto his chest.
Looking up into the face of his enemy, Seraphael refused to let his spirits fall. He had faith in himself and in the Goddess, which he could still feel around him. Anger flooded through him. He struggled, a scream of frustration let loose from his lips as he knew he was pinned. He looked up into the grossly grinning maw of Satanael, a growl of rage forming deep in his throat.
"You should have shared her, Seraphael," the evil one taunted, spittle dripping from the corners of his mouth. As the spittle landed on Seraphael’s cheek, Satanael wedged his knee into his enemy’s chest, causing the pain to blossom in a burning fire across his body. "I thought greed was for my kind, but you have proven me wrong. Now, you will die, and I will have her all to myself. Over, and over." Satanael, his yellow teeth like daggers in his mouth, closed his eyes and laughed.
Seraphael, fueled by the obscenities Satanael spoke against Annaleah, used his rage as his strength. He shook with rage as he thought of the Devil defiling the woman he loved, the woman he would die to protect. Images flashed in his mind of Satanael pressed over her, and he shook his head, growling in an effort to dislodge the hateful images from his mind. He let the outrage sustain him, he let it light in his blood and start a fire, burning in his blood an energy of righteousness. This outrage was what he needed to fight off the fiend atop him, and he was thankful for it.
Still holding onto his swords, Seraphael fought to raise his arms, his hot anger now turned into a mighty surge of will and strength. It was a white hot boiling within him, blinding his senses to all that was around him, scouring away his pain and weakness until all that he knew was rage. Adrenaline coursed through him, and with a cry of fierce determination, he threw the weight of Satanael off balance, freeing his arms fully. As he arced his arms upwards, he dismembered each of Satanael's outstretched wings, sending them falling off to each side.
Satanael, his eyes wide protruding circles of shock, leapt off of Seraphael, and tried to flap his now severed wings. Satanael stumbled, cursing profusely, his expression empty, his eyes blank. He howled in agony and rage, blood spewing from the gaping wounds in his shoulders, dousing the trees around him with filth. The trees turned black and burned where the blood hit the bark. Before long, they would die of disease and rot.
Satanael screamed, and Seraphael knew that he must be enraged at the loss of his wings. The larger the wings, the more status you had in the ranks of the Dark Ones. Now that they were no longer there, Seraphael wondered how Satanael’s rank in Hell would be a
ffected.
"Tantibus!!!" Satanael screamed, trying to pick up his bloody, severed wings. Had Seraphael not been wounded himself, he would have stood and finished Satanael off once and for all. He looked at his chest and the blood pulsing freely there. He was in no shape to go chasing after the devil and his steed.
Tantibus came from the path, kicking up earth and knocking over small trees as he raced to his master. Seraphael watched as his enemy prepared for retreat.
"I will come back for you, traitor. You and your little bitch will pay dearly for what you have done. You are a fallen one, and you shall be destroyed as such!" Tantibus lowered himself and allowed his master to mount him, then raised himself once more, the master now atop his steed.
Tantibus, carrying Satanael away to be healed, burst out of the woods and onto the path, screaming his terrible cry into the night.
Seraphael brought his hand to his chest, and through teeth clenched in pain, whispered ancient words of light to stop the flow of blood. After a few moments, the blood stopped flowing so freely, and he felt some strength returning.
It was time to go to Annaleah.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Seraphael’s Sacrifice
Seraphael tried to sit up, but despite the healing incantation, he was still weak. Although knowing that a few more moments of reciting the ancient words would help restore his strength, it was time he did not want to waste away from Annaleah.
Satanael had said something about the Jorogumo's children having bitten her once again, and this seared his heart deeply with sorrow and fear. Time was of the essence now. He had almost lost her once before, and could not bear to lose her again.
With a mighty groan of pain and determination, he rolled from his back onto his stomach. He dropped his swords in the grass and crawled as quickly as he could towards Annaleah's side, grabbing handfuls of long grass and weeds to pull himself forward. He ignored the pain, his eyes locked on the unconscious woman who had now become the most important part of his life.