by J. R. Rain
“Oh, you see them, too. Whew, I thought I was going a little crazy. I thought maybe this new body—and mind—was a dud. Your angels can only do so much, Samantha Moon. They know, and I know, that we are bound in this moment. This is not their fight. This is our fight.”
More flashing from high above, but that’s where the flashing stayed—high above.
“So much centers around you. You are, in fact, the key that could unlock untold destruction into this world. Through you, the dark masters can rise again. And yet, here you stand, with your new wings and your new sword, a brave little girl with her monstrous son nearby, and her freak of a daughter not too far away at all. Yes, I can hear her, Sam. And I can hear her listening in on your thoughts, too. By proxy, I can follow your own train of thoughts, Sam. Oh, you didn’t know that? Why else would I need your daughter, Sam Moon? Oh, I see that my words are getting to you. Good. They should. They would get to anyone with a conscience. Do yourself a favor and put down the sword. Better yet, give it to me. I’m really, really not sure what I was thinking by conceding to its creation. A rare lapse in judgment.”
I wasn’t sure what to say, or how to respond. Were his words getting to me? I tried to think they weren’t, but I knew there was truth to them.
He stepped closer, moving slowly, and I could see now the evil grin plastered on his face, wide as ever. The man, whoever he was, had been thoroughly and completely possessed. Even worse, he’d invited the devil in.
“Yes,” came the devil’s words, following my train of thought via my daughter. “He worshiped me for only a few months. Sadly, he thought it was all a joke. I rarely joke, Sam.”
I gripped the sword more tightly in my hand. Next to me, my giant of a son shifted on his own feet.
“Lay down the weapon, Sam, and let me rid the world of the scourge that is you. Consider it a favor. I’ll do what you didn’t have the guts to do, and the dark masters will have to wait for their next chosen one.”
The devil stepped closer, and now, I could see the fire in his pupils, even from here.
“Yes, Sam. Our paths have crossed. Of course, I had known this day was coming. I just hadn’t known with whom. Oh, how I was disappointed to discover it would be with a bored, confused, suburban housewife. A private eye, no less. And a vampire, of all things. Then again, I should have known it would be a filthy bloodsucker. Few could have found the sword. And, yes, there it is. And there are your wings. I suppose crossing paths with a vampire makes some sense. A shame I will have to kill you in front of your son, and with your daughter listening in, as well. Surely, they will be scarred for life.”
My son stepped forward. He’d apparently had enough. He raised his burning sword, which crackled and spit fire and looked for all the world like something straight out of a Mummy movie.
The devil paused, grinned even wider—while at the same time, I saw a brief flash of fear cross the man’s eyes. Now the man raised his silver dagger—and slashed it across his own throat. He dropped, choking and gagging and spitting up blood. Now kicking and flopping. The slash had been too deep to help the man, even if I had been inclined to do so. I hadn’t. And, as he flopped, a swirling, black, inky shadow rose up, a shadow that somehow also gleamed wetly. It spun and twisted and took shape.
The shadow continued to grow and morph. It turned and undulated in the air, taking on more depth and detail, and for the span of time it took for the flopping man to finally die, there stood before us the devil.
The real devil. As he appeared when not possessing mankind.
Azrael had prepared me for what to expect, but nothing—nothing—could prepare me for this. Nothing. Not ever.
***
The devil stood twenty feet or more, clearly taller than my son, himself a giant. Definitely taller than the demons he had created.
I briefly considered summoning Talos, just so that I could match the devil’s size, but I knew that even Talos did not possess the weaponry—or fortitude—to overcome or withstand what I was seeing before me.
The devil, I knew, had never been truly tested, until now.
Lucky me.
Except what I saw before me—a hulking, grotesque, burning nightmare—was enough to make me run for the nearby hills and never look back. The burning eyes, now as big as bonfires, could have been doorways into hell itself. The massive, twisted horns belonged on something prehistoric and terrible. Its many claws looked like real scythes, only bigger, and each was as black as night. Unlike his demons, the devil sported veins of glowing fire that crackled upon his black skin. Real skin, too, unlike his demons who had seemed more shadow than substance. More than anything, the thing before me seemed unstoppable. More so than the giant worm I had encountered. Or even the dragon from earlier in the week. The demons, although fierce and filled with hate, had appeared waif-like. The devil dog had been terrible to behold, but it had been a good deal smaller than this thing. Indeed, what I saw before me could destroy whole cities, whole nations, and never stop destroying until the Earth had been laid to waste.
I stood there, unable to move, barely able to think.
That is, until my son stepped between myself and the devil, and raised his sword.
***
The blur of the attack was mind-boggling. The devil came at my son with claws slashing, and my son met each claw with his flashing sword, a sword that moved in blurred arcs, as fast as a spinning top.
At one point, my son stepped back, raised his free hand, and summoned another flaming sword. The battle resumed anew, and the two entities fought in a seemingly choreographed ballet of death. Each swipe, each thrust, each slash were all blocked by both fighters, all done with a speedy damage that I could barely follow. For each move, there was a counter-move, for each step backward, there was a step forward. For each attack, there was a perfectly timed counterattack.
If my son was wearing out, I couldn’t tell. If he was slowing down, I didn’t see it. All done at such a high level of skill and precision and, oddly, in unison, that I was left immobile, speechless, and filled with untold fear. This was my son, after all, fighting the devil in his rawest, most hideous form. A devil unleashed.
There was a pause in action—and I immediately saw why. One of the devil’s long, curved, claws had found an opening. And that opening was through my son’s shoulder. Indeed, the curved devil tusk had punched through the fire, and out the other side.
My son drove his fist—and the pommel of his burning sword—into the devil’s hideous face, slid off the black claw and stumbled backward. Molten lava poured from the wound in his shoulder. The devil’s own blazing eyes widened with what could only be pleasure, and as he raised his clawed hand for what would surely be the end of my son, I dashed forward, spread my wings, and took flight.
***
A fireball appeared over my shoulder, and slammed into the devil, who staggered backward.
I turned back and saw Allison running from the house, arms raised. More fire erupted in her hands and she hurled it forward. The fireballs sailed past me in a blink and exploded in the devil’s face. The massive, hoofed creature staggered back and clawed at his burning face.
As another fireball just missed my outstretched wing and slammed into the devil’s shoulder, sending him spinning, I made a mental note to compliment Allison on her aim. That was, if I survived the night. I also briefly wondered if the surrounding angels had anything to do with Allison’s aim.
Those thoughts were fleeting and instant. For now, I raised my sword and flew as fast as I could, praying like hell that one of Allison’s projectiles didn’t hit me in the ass.
Suddenly, another demon appeared before me. It raked me across the face, and sent me tumbling to the grass below.
From the ground, I looked up—and watched as demon after demon popped into existence. Dozens of them. Hundreds, in fact.
The devil threw back his monstrous head and laughed.
***
Many of them formed a barrier around the devil, a black shi
eld of claws and burning, red eyes.
Across the yard, Kingsley had Allison, looking like a girl with her giant dog. Nearby, my son struggled to stand, and I suspected the poison from the devil’s claws was working its way through him. Above, demons gathered in a swirling swarm. They weren’t about to let their devil—their master—die without a fight.
“Block your thoughts, baby,” I whispered to my daughter, praying like hell she was still safe in the cell, and still listening to me. “Don’t let the devil know what Mommy is about to do next.”
It was time to end this. I gathered my strength and launched straight up into the night air, even as the demons oriented on me, flashing forward, claws raised. Through it all, a plan began to form in my mind.
A terrible plan, granted. But a plan, nonetheless.
***
A demon appeared before me and swiped with its claws. I parried, lost my balance, nearly plummeted, and righted myself.
Another demon, another clash. Its claw found my throat, and I felt the skin open up and blood pump out. Had I needed to breathe, I would have been dead.
The devil watched all of this from behind his swarm of red-eyed creations. His expression was unfathomable, but I sensed his unease. He should feel uneasy. After all, as the next demon swooped down, claws ready to strike, I summoned the single flame—and saw within it the only place on this Earth that could end this madness.
***
Within the flame, I felt myself rushing to this place, and just as something swiped where my head had been, I found myself in another location altogether.
A space just in front of the devil’s massive, heaving, black, molten chest. A space just inside his ring of protective demons.
The devil reared back at my sudden appearance—evidence that my daughter had kept the bastard in the dark. He roared and reached up as if to swat a mosquito away. Except this mosquito was armed to the teeth.
With all my might, I plunged the Devil Killer deep into its swirling black and fiery chest. All the way to the hilt.
His swatting, clawed hand paused in mid-swat, and he looked down with burning eyes at the sword handle protruding from his chest. He looked back at me, and almost appeared to smile, but what I did know? As the devil began to drop, he also began fading away. Except this time, no inky, oily black smoke rose up from him. Nothing rose up at all. The devil disappeared completely.
One by one, the demons, who looked on, winked out of existence. They were not dead, I knew. Their connection to their master was gone. Unbound, they, too, disappeared. I suspected I would meet them again someday. Each and every one of them.
I alighted on the grass, where I found the Devil Killer protruding like an arrow in a bullseye. I took it up, and re-sheathed it in my secret pouch. I summoned the single flame again, and within it, I watched my wings fold in on themselves. In the real world, they did exactly that, too. Somewhere on my back was the mother of all tramp stamps. Two of them.
There were dead Lichtenstein monsters everywhere, and before me, the Fire Warrior had taken a knee, holding his shoulder. A short while later, my son was in his place, kneeling similarly. He stood, momentarily confused, and touched where the wound had been, but it was gone, of course. Indeed, it was the Fire Warrior who had been gravely wounded.
My son spotted me and rushed over and threw his arms around me, weeping harder than I’d ever seen him weep. And soon, my own tears were flowing. Now here was Allison, wrapping her arms around both of us. I called out to Tammy, and soon heard her running across the gravel, accompanied by the Lichtenstein monster who had been guarding her. A still-injured Kingsley swooped her up in his massive arms and joined us.
All around us, beautiful angels dropped from the sky. They landed on bent knees, wings outstretched. Closest to me was Ishmael, who rose to his full height, nearly as tall as Azrael, but not quite. He caught my eye and nodded.
Somewhere, nearby, sirens blared.
The End
Samantha Moon returns in:
Vampire Sire
Vampire for Hire #15
Coming soon!
~~~~~
Also coming soon:
New Moon Rising
Samantha Moon Origins #1
Mother, housewife, federal agent... mortal.
by J.R. Rain and Matthew P. Cox
~~~~~
And look for:
Blood Moon
Samantha Moon Case Files #2
by J.R. Rain and Rod Kierkegaard
(Coming very, very soon!)
~~~~~
Also in the pipeline:
Silver Light
by J.R. Rain and Matthew P. Cox
She’s Seattle best private eye. She also happens to be a mermaid.
Welcome to the underwater world of Alexander Silver, P.I.
(Set in the world of Samantha Moon!)
~~~~~
And finally:
The Witch and the Wolfman
The Witches Series #4
by J.R. Rain and Rod Kierkegaard
Coming soon!
Need More Sam Moon?
Then check out:
The Witches Series
Starring her best friend, Allison!
Moon Bayou
Samantha Moon Case Files #1
Samantha Moon Short Stories
There’s ten of them!
Brotherhood of the Blade
Featuring Rand the vampire hunter from Moon Dance!
Chronicles of the Immortal Hunters
A fan-fiction Samantha Moon series available through Kindle Worlds.
The Jax Series
More fan-fiction available through Kindle Worlds.
Vampire Crimes Special Unit
Still more Sam Moon fan fiction!
Anthony Moon for Hire
Yes, Sam’s son has his own series! Written by my brother!
About the Author:
J.R. Rain is the international bestselling author of over seventy novels, including his popular Samantha Moon and Jim Knighthorse series. His books are published in five languages in twelve countries, and he has sold more than 3 million copies worldwide.
Please visit him at www.jrrain.com.
Add him on Twitter.
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Read his blog here.
~~~~~
Check out all of J.R. Rain’s ebooks here:
And his audio books here:
And his paperbacks here:
~~~~~
UK reader?
View all of J.R.’s ebooks here: