Harley Merlin 6: Harley Merlin and the Cult of Eris

by Forrest, Bella

  “I don’t… understand.” He choked, a splatter of blood spitting across his chin. His lungs would already be filling up, his life close to its end.

  “Well, speaking of thorns in my side, you’ve been one from the very start,” she replied, stroking her bloodied fingertip across his cheek, smearing a streak of scarlet across his skin. “You’re beyond useless, really. And yet, I took pity on you. I gave you task after task, and you fumbled every single one. Even if you were standing in front of a target, you’d miss.” Her voice was eerily calm. The steady serenity of a total, dyed-in-the-wool psychopath.

  “Eris… I will… do better,” he wheezed, his fingertips groping helplessly at the hilt of the blade in his chest.

  “Do you need some help? Can you not even manage that by yourself?” She gripped the hilt and yanked it out of him, blood gushing everywhere. “At least I found one use for you. Otherwise, you’d have been dead a long time ago. You poor, stupid fool.” She laughed coldly.

  “I… don’t… understand.” He sagged against the altar, his hands slipping on the marble.

  “Only the blood of an evil child can kill a spirit, Kenneth. Didn’t your mother teach you anything?” She pushed him to one side, and his knees buckled as he collapsed to the ground. “Oh, that’s right… you don’t have one, do you?”

  What? Now it made sense. That was the reason Katherine had been keeping Kenneth close, all this time, despite all of his failures. The evil bastard had had no idea. He’d genuinely thought that being part of a ritual was a promotion, instead of a death sentence. I’d have felt sorry for him, if I didn’t hate him almost as much as Katherine.

  This is what you get for killing kids, Kenneth. Those actions had filled him with the evil energy that Katherine needed to make this work, and she’d groomed him to perfection. She’d encouraged every bad impulse in him, knowing it would give her what she wanted. This woman wasn’t just one step ahead of everyone—she was a million miles out in front, laughing at us the whole way.

  The funny thing was, even Naima seemed shocked. Nobody’s safe, you idiot. Not even you.

  Wielding the dripping blade, Katherine brought it down with all the force she possessed and thrust it deep into Tess’s spirit. For a moment, nothing happened, but Katherine’s confident expression never wavered. And then, an almighty explosion went off. The rush of fierce energy pummeled out of Tess’s spirit in violent waves. The forcefield splintered into a million pieces, and the altar imploded beneath Tess, leaving her soul hovering above the plinth. The blast powered out, smashing into all of us and taking out the endless rows of beasts that still lingered in the dark. It hit me right in the chest, pushing the air out of my lungs and sending me sprawling backward. Hot, fiery streams carrying tendrils of blue light in the center throbbed over the top of me.

  A gut-wrenching scream went up from Katherine, who was holding her ground through sheer willpower and strength as the explosion pounded through her, blow after blow after blow. Her own body turned transparent for a moment as the flow of the tornado shifted. It began to power down instead of up, thrumming right into her and filling her with every particle of that spiraling blue-and-white energy. Naima was on the ground at her feet, covering her head with her hands, her amber eyes staring at Kenneth’s limp, dead body.

  As the initial explosion ebbed, I saw that Tess’s spirit wasn’t glowing anymore. It had turned a dull gray, though it still hovered in the center of this circle of light. Katherine, panting heavily with her eyes glowing a terrifying shade of silver, approached the dulled spirit.

  “Et ex sanguine nati, et ad cinerem revertetur. Convertantur orationis humo munus ut consummare. Vos have been taken a puero sanguis mala. Nunc te mea,” Katherine murmured, her hands pressing into Tess’s altered spirit. Her ethereal figure fell apart, and what remained twisted into a spiral of dark gray mist. Katherine closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, drawing the particles of Tess’s being deep into her lungs, like smoke.

  I didn’t know how much longer I had to stop this, nor did I know what steps were left in the ritual. I just knew that I couldn’t let her finish this. There was only one option left, and I had to take it. I had to try the spell from my parents’ Grimoire again—the one that would summon Erebus himself.

  Everything comes at a price. But there was nothing else in this world that would stop Katherine. It was going to cost me a life, and I didn’t know whose it might be, but this was our only chance. Our one, final shot at victory.

  It hadn’t gone well the last two times I’d tried this, with Astrid getting knocked into the altar and almost losing her life, and Santana Purging a serpent after stopping me, but then I’d never managed to complete the spell before. Erebus was a master of destruction. If we weren’t completely desperate, I wouldn’t have even been contemplating it. But the fact was, we were desperate.

  Guilt and helplessness fought for the top spot in my head. Someone was going to die because of this, but there was the slightest chance that Erebus might ask for Katherine’s life in return for being summoned, and I’d be only too happy to give him that.

  We’d been backed into a corner. There really was no other way.

  Forgive me. Please, forgive me.

  Forty-Four

  Finch

  I staggered back as black smoke billowed around Harley. What the hell? It had come out of nowhere. Was Katherine doing this? I looked toward the altar, but Katherine was in full demon mode, bleeding what was left of Tess’s spirit dry.

  I looked back at Harley. Was one of us supposed to stop her? Nobody else seemed to be moving. Then again, nobody else seemed able to move. They were all transfixed by Harley, who was muttering a spell under her breath. With every word, she drew the black mist out of thin air. It swirled like a thunderstorm, getting darker by the second. What little light we had from the altar’s circle was soon in shade. Even the beasts looked like they wanted to get out of dodge real fast. They sensed something. Something bad.

  Behind me, Raffe had covered his ears and was twisting and turning like he’d been possessed. Which, in a way, was his natural state. This was different, though. His eyes were flashing wildly—the djinn was winning. But why?

  A deep rumble shot through the ground beneath us, and the last of the beasts went running. If they were scared, then something was coming. Something we probably didn’t want to be around for. I couldn’t even see Harley anymore—the black mist had shrouded her completely. But I could still hear her voice muttering in the eye of the storm.

  It hit me like a bullet to the head: this kind of Chaos magic was dark and ancient. I could feel the power of it prickling my arms into gooseflesh. Even Harley’s voice had changed. It was deeper, with an eerie echo that sent invisible ants racing up my spine. She was calling on something. No, not something… someone.

  Erebus…

  Yeah, one of us should really have been trying to stop her. And yet, it was like we were frozen to the ground. My legs had turned to logs. We were in his realm, and he was holding us prisoner. I knew the stakes when calling on Erebus. He’d want to have the biggest selection so he could handpick whose life he was going to take in return for being summoned. Sure, we were fresh out of options, but this was madness.

  Still, that didn’t make it any less impressive. So she can summon Children of Chaos, too? I’d had no idea. And I honestly had no clue how she was even doing this right now. Spells of this magnitude required a Grimoire at least. But she was flying solo, the words running out of her mouth as if they were an ingrained part of her. You’re starting to get annoying, Sis. There was so much more to this girl than met the eye, even after spending a whole damned week with her. I knew when to give up, but defeat didn’t seem to be in her vocabulary.

  I hope you know what you’re getting yourself into. It wasn’t like she could read my mind, but I tried to will my thoughts into her head. This was pure insanity. There was no other way to describe it. Even Katherine had paused in shock. It should’ve been satisfying to see horror
on her face, but her expression was mirrored on all our faces. And if Katherine thought it was mad, then it had to be beyond the realms of Whackville.

  Wade looked just as horrified. “This isn’t like the last time.”

  Santana shook her head. “She never got this far before.”

  “And you didn’t think to stop her?” I stared at them in disbelief.

  “How? Can you move?” Santana shot back.

  “No, but that’s not the point. Did you stop her before?”

  “Well… yeah.” Santana frowned.

  “So why didn’t you just do what you did last time?” I could hear the fear in my voice.

  “I couldn’t,” Santana whispered. It looked like her Orishas were a no-go here. Even they had the sense to keep away from Erebus’s freaking otherworld.

  Come on, you clever girl. I turned back to Harley, equal parts terrified and curious.

  I tried to push my foot forward, but it wouldn’t budge. The swirling vortex of black fog had begun to grow limbs. Harley had already gone too far with the summoning spell. It was too late to stop her.

  Erebus manifested from the depths of the stormy tornado, seeming to come from inside Harley herself. As he floated in midair, he sucked all the dark mist into himself, puffing himself up like one of those waggly men outside trashy car dealerships. He got bigger and bigger, until he was towering over us all in one massive, rippling shadow. Red eyes glowered out of a shapeless face like seething embers. Ah, so that’s why the djinn is freaking out. These dudes were tied together in some way. Erebus, the fearless wrangler of the world’s djinns. Spreading his disharmony across the globe, one demon at a time.

  “Erebus, I have summoned you to your realm.” Harley bowed her head, her body shining with sweat. I guessed summoning really took it out of a person, even a supercharged hero of a person. Her whole body was shaking, but her voice was strong, and it still carried that weird echo.

  “I noticed.” Erebus’s sarcastic voice boomed from all around him. How else was he going to talk when he didn’t have any visible lips? Still, the volume of it swept toward us in a wave of cold, powerful air.

  “I know there’s a price for performing this spell,” Harley went on, struggling against the might of his voice. “I’d like to offer Katherine Shipton’s life in exchange for summoning you.”

  Oh, you beauty! Now it made sense. She wasn’t risking one of our lives, she was offering Katherine up to him on a silver platter. And, being a Child of Chaos, he’d be all too eager to gobble up the opportunity. This was a win-win. If he had a legitimate excuse to end Katherine, that took them all off the hook. No contest. No challenge. None of them having to give up their spot to a jumped-up mortal.

  “Katherine Shipton?” Erebus’s voice bellowed.

  “Yes. Her life for summoning you,” Harley replied.

  It was so beautiful, I could’ve cried. And the look on Katherine’s face was priceless. I wished I had a camera so I could have captured it. It’d definitely have helped me through a lot of sleepless nights. Katherine looked like she was trying to get away from the altar, but the same thing freezing us was freezing her, too. Oh, this is just too freaking good!

  “You devious little—” Katherine started to speak, the sound silenced as a shiver of fiery light shot through Erebus’s shadowy center. A boom like a thundercrack ricocheted through the otherworld. From his misty form, a black tendril shot out like an octopus arm. And it was heading straight for Katherine.

  The shadowy end curved into a blade, the sharp, mystical point slashing right across Katherine’s chest.

  “A delicious specimen.” A chuckle echoed from Erebus’s throat. “I’ll savor this one.”

  Blood sprayed out like a crimson fountain. It doused Naima, who was still curled on the ground, and spurted out so far and so fast that it splattered across Harley’s startled face. The entire Rag Team flinched, myself included. In that moment, I felt some movement in my legs as Erebus’s focus turned solely on his prize. However, the freezing thing seemed to have stopped working on Katherine and Naima, too. Naima leapt upward to try and stop Erebus from boring down on Katherine again.

  Harley wiped the blood from her eyes and sprinted forward. She had her palms raised. I realized why, a second after she started running. Katherine had her palms raised, too. A surge of Telekinesis shot out of Katherine’s hands, gripping the last of Tess’s spirit and drawing it toward her like a chameleon snatching its prey. There was no way Harley could get there before Katherine swallowed her last bite. She was too late. We all were.

  “You’ll pay for that.” Katherine smirked. The last of Tess’s misted spirit entered her mouth. With her arms raised in triumph, she lit up like a lightbulb, from the inside out. The ragged gash across her chest disappeared, leaving smooth skin behind. Tess’s spirit had boosted her already-powerful healing abilities to superhuman levels.

  She’d done it. The bitch had done it. Even with Erebus slashing her chest, she’d done it.

  “Oh, that feels good,” she purred.

  Naima let out a howling roar as Erebus’s bladed tendril slashed across her back. She went sprawling to the ground, her claws gripping the shattered tiles around the altar.

  “Naima!” Katherine gasped. Her arms were still raised in victory.

  “I will not have my gift stolen!” Erebus, clearly annoyed now, sent out an infantry of tendrils. The misty fronds wrapped around Naima’s body, pulling tight. They were crushing her. Her eyes were already bulging out of her sockets, and her claws dug deeper in an attempt to hold on.

  Katherine immediately stopped her proverbial victory lap. As heartless as Katherine was, there was an unbreakable bond between Purge beasts and their creators. And it worked both ways. Right now, I could tell that Katherine was terrified for her lieutenant.

  “Naima? Naima, fight him!” she urged.

  But Erebus wasn’t letting up. He squeezed his tendrils tighter. I grimaced as I heard bones crack. Blood sputtered out of Naima’s mouth. He squeezed again, Naima’s chest collapsing in on itself. More blood splashed out onto the tiles, and Naima’s eyes stared vacantly forward. Katherine might have been glow central, but the light had gone out in Naima.

  “NO!” Katherine screamed. With her palms up, she sent out a lasso of Telekinesis, combined with a flurry of Fire, to chase away the shadowed tendrils that held her mangled lieutenant. Erebus’s fronds retreated for a second. It was long enough for Katherine to grip Naima and pull her to safety. Not that it mattered now. It didn’t seem likely that Naima would pull through. Purge beast or not.

  As Erebus rippled in the air, no doubt judging his next move, Katherine turned to look at me and Harley. Her eyes narrowed in brimming rage.

  “I will rain down hell on the pair of you, until you realize that you chose so very, very wrong,” Katherine spat. “As the death count rises, and you bury friend, after friend, after friend, you’ll realize that it’s all your fault. Look at them now, look at your friends, and remember their faces. Because you’re going to watch them all die, one after the other, until there’s only the two of you left.”

  “We’ll keep coming after you, Katherine.” Harley raised her palms, gathering a fireball between them. She unleashed hell, sending orb after orb of crackling flames, but Katherine swept the onslaught away. She was still glowing from Tess’s spirit, her energy at its peak. Despite that, however, it looked like my mother was actually struggling. The fireballs were getting closer and closer to her face with every blast, her hands moving frantically to try and push the fireballs away. Harley really is strong. I’d never seen anyone break through Katherine’s defenses before.

  “Don’t you get it? You can’t beat me,” Katherine replied, in between ducking Harley’s energy blows. “You’ve tried everything, and you keep falling at the last hurdle. I wish you’d get it into your thick skulls. I tell you what, why don’t I spell it out for you, nice and slow? I’m. Always. Going. To. Win.”

  “Throw everything you have at us,
and we’ll just keep coming. Why don’t I spell it out for you, nice and slow? You. Won’t. Win!” Harley roared back, firing a torrent of liquid Fire at Katherine. It narrowly missed her face, her eyes flying wide. She rallied, though, sending up a shield of bronzed energy.

  “If you were my daughter, I’d have had you smothered in your sleep when you were a baby. Who knows? Maybe there’s still time.” Katherine chuckled coldly, before closing her eyes. Foreign words tumbled out of her mouth, but it took a moment for me to realize what she was saying. Understanding bombarded my head, but there was one bit I’d missed.

  Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me! It was an Ancient Greek spell, older than any books. Katherine had told me about it once, after she’d torn it from the Librarian’s lips. It meant, more or less: “I bind myself to you and spare my life in the act. I cannot be your reward. In return, I will do your bidding. As you wish. But another must fall so that I may rise. I offer you the soul of so-and-so in my stead.”

  I’d missed the name of the life she’d offered in return, but I wasn’t taking any chances. It couldn’t have been Naima. Even though she’d been crushed, her claws were still raking at the tiles. The beast wasn’t dead yet.

  “Harley, get away from there!” I bellowed at the top of my lungs. Katherine had said she wanted Harley alive, but on impulse, she’d have Harley killed. She’d always been a “consequences later” sort of psychopath.

  “Not yet, Finch! Not until she’s dead!” she snapped back, sending another torrent of Fire at Katherine. This time, it was Katherine’s shield that wasn’t strong enough to deflect Harley’s power. The crackling blaze tore right through the forcefield, grazing Katherine’s shoulder and prompting her to feint out of the way. The Rag Team weren’t immobilized anymore and were joining in the fight. They sent wave after wave of their abilities at Katherine, with Tatyana and Santana hurling projectiles. Their spirits had abandoned them in this place, forcing them to turn to practical manpower. Well, womanpower. But it was hopeless. The idiots didn’t realize the danger they were in. Mother dearest had left me with no other choice.