by J. A. Giunta
Powers had raged in the sea of demons before the Super corpses joined the fray. Streams of fire scorched flesh, ice scoured it in shards and left behind brittle patches, while darkness erupted in dense clouds that blotted out all sight and sound. Sections of floor broke away into long daggers that pierced, tendrils that gripped or rectangles that struck and shoved. The steel whisper of blades rang out in the throng, accompanied by the tonal rise that ended in explosions.
Jim ran past the undead. “Kill Lee,” he told the others, “and these things die with him.” He stood before the shields and sent vibrations at the first layer. “Isn’t that right, buddy?”
Brody fell back against the wall, as if the assault on his shields had affected his body. Alexandra faltered as well. Her nose had started to bleed, and she wobbled on unsteady legs. Will hurried to catch her as she dropped to her knees.
Lee had regained some of his strength. He stood to face Jim, ignored the chaos in the background.
“Why?” he asked. “What do you get out of all this?”
The first layer broke apart, like flames dying in the wind. Brody cried out. He struggled to strengthen the others but looked on the verge of passing out.
“What do I get?” Jim laughed. “I get to kill you. First off, you’re still a dick. And second, I remember.”
Lee looked away.
“Yeah,” Jim said. “This is all on you, buddy. Big man with a gun.” He growled and shattered another layer of shield. “See, I owe you. If it wasn’t for you, none of this would have happened. There wouldn’t be a Bullet Squad. And Joselyn would still be alive.”
The animated corpses were strong, much stronger than they’d been alive, but they hadn’t been trained to fight in unison. They weren’t a team. Four of Jim’s were down, beaten and bloody, but five of the corpses had been torn apart.
No more demons joined the fight. Alexandra tried to open a portal beneath Samantha, to send her somewhere else, but ended up catching one of the corpses. It reappeared halfway in the ceiling, its legs no longer dangling.
“Shit,” she called out. “Sorry! My bad.”
“I’ll make you a deal,” Jim said congenially, though he kept at the shields. “Let me kill you, and I’ll leave. No one else has to die.”
“How about I make you a deal,” Lee said in a steely tone.
He recalled every cell. The corpses stopped fighting and collapsed as one. No matter the risk, whether his body would adapt, Lee saw no other choice. He sent the entire swarm into Frank.
“Never mind.” Lee looked over at Frank, watched the glow of his eyes open. “It’s too late. You lose.”
We all lose.
Jim followed his gaze. Frank climbed to his feet, and the remaining five rushed to face him.
“Either way,” Jim said and redoubled his effort against the shields, “you don’t get to walk away from this.”
“We’ll see about that,” Lee said, mirroring Jim from earlier.
Fire enveloped Frank, curled and blackened his skin, but he healed within seconds. He grinned when the fire no longer affected him. The same happened when ice struck and an explosion rocked his chest. Blades passed over him without leaving a trace.
Bruiser stepped up, tried to take him with skill and brawn. Frank doubled at the first punch, but subsequent hits had no effect. He lunged with unexpected speed and took hold of Bruiser’s wrist, pulled him into an extended bicep that knocked him out cold. Frank slammed his foot down on the exposed neck. The crackle of bones filled the room, and Lee felt Bruiser die.
The other four quickly followed.
Their powers were useless against him. There was nowhere to run, and he ignored their every plea. Frank even took time to kill the unconscious Supers, the ones who posed him no threat, before turning to face Jim.
The last shield had held. Jim vented his frustration and whirled, started walking toward Frank. He screamed with each attack, as if it bolstered his power. Vibrations rippled the air between them, warped and stretched the floor. The entire training room began to shake.
When they met, Frank grabbed him by the neck and threw Jim with such force that he struck a wall upside down. He crumpled to the floor but crawled to his feet. Again and again, he tried to no avail to shatter Frank, to tear his body apart piece by piece. He attacked the floor beneath Frank, but the corpse was more agile than when it’d been alive. Frank sidestepped the attacks and closed the distance, leveled a kick to Jim’s head that sent him sprawling.
Frank leapt and straddled Jim’s chest, began to pummel his head over and over. Two strikes, and Jim stopped moving. Another two, and his leg no longer twitched. Frank stood, fists and arms bloodied to the elbow. He looked up straight at Lee and walked toward them.
“It’s over,” Lee said and tried to recall all his cells. “You can stop now.”
Frank laughed, like when Lee had tried and failed to stab him in the middle.
“You never learn,” he said in that gravelly voice.
“Lee?” Will asked, eyes wide as Frank struck and broke through the final shield. “Lee!”
His fear had come to pass. Frank’s body had adapted to the cells, made them his own. Lee had made him stronger than ever and then lost all control.
Frank took a single step, raised his fist to end Lee, but Will pushed Lee aside. He took a glancing blow to the head and collapsed at Lee’s feet.
“Will!” Lee reached down to heal him.
He didn’t even have time to sense if Will was still alive when the world flared to white. Lee felt the rush of magic overwhelm his breath before he could see they were in the Nexus chamber. His mother and aunts, his sister and cousins, both covens in a circle were chanting into the turmoil.
They’d summoned him and Frank.
Ember grabbed Frank with both hands and looked in shock when he didn’t crumble. He slapped her with the back of his hand, sent her down to crash hard beside Lee.
The roar in Lee’s ears made it difficult to think. There were bodies outside the circle, blurry shapes he couldn’t make out through the noise of chanting and thrumming air. Pressure pushed at him from all sides, until his body felt like it was burning from within.
Frank snarled and swatted at the air, as if attacked on all sides by something he couldn’t see. He took a step and plunged his fist into one of the girls. It was Tara. Blood spilled from her mouth. She looked down at his wrist, looked him in the eye and took hold with both hands. Thick branches with thorns sprouted from her wound and wrapped around his arm. More rose up from the stone floor at her bare feet, through cracks that erupted with green flame. Her head fell forward, her life gone, but her body held fast. Frank tried to pull away but couldn’t break free.
Lee’s power burned inside, as if liquid fire coursed through his veins. It kept turning over, doubling, even though he fought against it. The world was brightening to white again, a storm in his mind and body that sought to blind him, to drown out all other sounds but the frantic beat of hearts and words.
He needed a way to be free of it, all the emotion and voices overwhelming his senses. Ember groaned, pushed herself up onto her hands.
Her power, Lee thought and reached out a hand.
The last thing he remembered hearing before darkness rose up to claim him was the outward rush of sound and pressure leaving his body…
And Ember screaming.
- Ember -
The Nexus chamber shimmered into existence. “Geez, Mom!” Ember shouted before the transport chanting even ceased. “I hope you’re happy. We didn’t get everything.” She held out her empty hand in frustration.
“In case you hadn’t noticed, we have a situation here,” Aunt Gwen growled.
Ember opened her mouth and closed it again, cutting off the smart-ass remark she’d readied for her aunt.
It wasn’t just the strained look on her mother’s fa
ce, but the surging vibrations that came and went in almost painful waves. Dark energy was being forced into the marble chamber, then sucked out again. It rose in layers like echoes, building and subsiding, trying to sync up, but instead falling just short each time. It was like listening to a symphony where the musicians were each playing just a little bit behind or ahead of all the others. It grated on her nerves. ”What’s happening?”
“Something is trying to get through, banging on the door like a battering ram. If it manages to break through...”
She didn’t have to finish. They all knew what would be coming through. They’d been fighting against this potentiality their entire lives. Demons and dark things slipping through the cracks was bad enough. If the Nexus was ripped open, it would be like blowing up the Hoover Dam. Only, instead of water, they’d be drowning in demons. And worse.
“Crap,” Tara held up the sack of magical items she had retrieved. “Is there anything in here that can help?”
“I’m not sure,” Ember’s mother said. “And we don’t have time to sort things out. The other coven has been holding the Nexus shut, but we need to help them now, and we wouldn’t...we couldn’t start without bringing you back first.”
Aunt Gwen had already taken up the chant, and now the rest of Ember’s extended family formed a crescent and joined in. The voices of the two covens rose and ebbed in a call and response pattern, a rising and falling point and counterpoint that pushed and pulled against the dark energy that was attempting to break through.
Smoke suddenly poured from the box in Ember’s hands. The fabric holding the metal pyramid blackened and turned to ash.
“Ember, set the box on the floor and back away.” Her mother’s voice was calm, but her face was pinched in fear.
The pyramid’s engravings glowed, sending off so much heat, the box in Ember’s hands had begun to burn.
“Put it down. Now.” Her mother’s control seemed forced.
Ember set the box down in the middle of the room and backed away. “What’s happening?”
“We didn’t lay claim in time.” Her mother gripped her by the wrist and pulled her to stand with the rest of their coven.
The dark energy pulsed and grew, pushing back against the covens’ magic. The pain in Ember’s head grew.
An elongated ghostly image slowly appeared, pulled through the wall as if it were being dragged against its will into the chamber. The ghost struggled, its mouth open in a silent scream of horror. It was drawn inexorably to the center of the room above the pyramid, then sucked downward, disappearing into the swirling vortex that formed over the glowing object.
One by one, other ghosts followed. Each had fear etched into its visage as it was pulled into the center of the room and added to the cone of power that was forming. More and more of the spirits were dragged through the walls and absorbed as if being vacuumed up; their horror so palpable it was nauseating.
“That doesn’t look good,” Tara said.
“It’s not,” Ember’s mother said. She grabbed the bag from Tara and sorted through it. “Tara, take this.” She handed Tara a silver bracelet blackened around the edges with age.
Tara slipped the bracelet onto her wrist, gasping as leafy vines extended from the cusp and wrapped about her forearm.
“Dammit!” Ember’s mother cursed, dumping the rest of the bag’s contents onto the floor. “It’s not here.”
Ember shook her head, surprised at her mother’s language. “I told you, we didn’t get everything before you pulled us out.”
“Did you get the ring?” her mother demanded.
“There’s one in the box.” Ember pointed to the center of the room.
Her mother’s face fell and she started for the box.
Aunt Gwen stopped chanting and dove across the space between them. “No,” she said. “You can’t go near it.”
“It’s all we have.” Ember’s mother waved her arm, gesturing around the room at the circle of witches. “Look around you. We don’t have a chance without a way to harness this power.”
The rest of the coven stared in fascination at the exchange taking place before them, but continued to chant. Years of training and discipline kept them from allowing the spell to fall apart even as their leaders argued. Only their faces showed the strain of fighting the dark energies that pushed and pulled against their magic.
Anguished spirits continued to appear, forced against their will into the growing cyclone.
Ember gulped back her sickness.
“It’s all we have.”
“No.” Aunt Gwen said again. “We have to—”
“It’s too late.” Ember’s mother tried to push past her sister, but Aunt Gwen shoved her aside.
“It’s not for you to do,” she said and lunged forward, reaching through the swirling energy and into the box. Screaming in pain, she pulled out the ring and shoved it onto her finger. Blue flames curled around her hands, blistering her skin.
“Gwen!” Ember’s mother reached out toward her sibling.
Gwen’s face twisted in torment. “It’s...too much...I can’t...”
“We need Lee,” Seanna shouted. “We need a conduit.”
“Hold on, Gwen.” Ember’s mother surveyed the room, her tense movements betraying the desperation she tried to hide. “Ember. Seanna. Tara.” She motioned to the girls. “I need you to form an inverse power trine around Gwen.”
“What?” Ember was aghast. “It’ll kill her!”
Ember’s mother angrily pushed her into position. “She’ll die if we don’t bring Lee here. Now. And, as you can see if you open your eyes, I can’t spare anyone who is helping to hold back the Nexus.”
Ember stared wildly around the room. Both covens were straining to maintain the balance of power as it was. If they let up now, the dark energy would win and the chamber would become an open portal. One through which a slew of demons could emerge and destroy them all. Fighting Supers was one thing, but fighting a hoard of demons? Ember shuddered.
Tara and Seanna were already in position, standing with their backs to Aunt Gwen, who had fallen to her knees. Her body was stiff, every muscle trying to contract at once. Her skin had turned sallow, sweat poured down her face, and her nose dripped crimson. The blue flames licked at her wrists and a fierce growl of pain emanated from her as she fought to control the power.
The two cousins held out their hands and Ember wrapped her fingers around their wrists as they gripped hers. They locked hands and pulled on the rampant power within the room. Ember’s mother stepped forward, corralled the gathered energy and shifted it outward. The wave of power rose over them, whipping their hair up and out in a great gale. Then, with an inward rush, the power slammed back into them and with it came Lee.
And Frank Culvers.
Ember’s mother cried out.
The air in the room grew dense.
Everything seemed to move in slow motion, as if they were all underwater. Culvers slammed Lee to the floor. Ember released her grip on Tara and Seanna and grabbed for Culvers, realizing too late that he was no longer susceptible to her drain.
He clubbed her with a meaty paw, dropping her to the floor beside Lee.
Then, he lunged for Seanna, but Tara leaped between them. He punched her so hard, his fist went through her chest with a sickening sound, but instead of crumpling, Tara grabbed his arm with both hands and, with her last breath, invoked the twining bracelet on her forearm. Powerful earth magic took form and grew from her and through her. Thick vines sprouted, twining around Culvers, trapping him as her body slumped forward, lifeless.
Aunt Gwen screamed at the sight of her only daughter hanging lifeless before her. With deadly ire glaring from her eyes, she rose from the floor and pointed at Culvers. “Sorefni da te metrom!” she screamed. Green flames rose up and engulfed both Tara and Culvers.
The Super tried t
o escape, screaming as his body tried to repair itself and become the fire at the same time. His huge hands burned away and reformed as he tried to extricate himself from the magical greenery that twisted around him as the fire slowly won out, burning away flesh and bone and blood, until there was nothing left of him to repair.
With Lee in the room, the balance of power shifted. The chanting of the witches grew more confident and harmonious, the energy it drew on lightened. Their words rose and fell, sounding more like the music of a choir. The pain and fear fell away from them and their faces grew rapturous.
The cyclone above the pyramid pulsed, then reversed direction, pulling Culver’s ashes out of the flames and into the swirling mass. With a thunderous clap, the cyclone was sucked into the pyramid.
The chanting of the combined covens rose to a crescendo while the Nexus portal shuddered.
Aunt Gwen collapsed in a heap. A visible arc of power leaped from her to Lee.
Lee writhed on the floor.
Ember got to her hands and knees and crawled toward him.
He reached for her, and she stretched forward to grasp his shaking hand, screaming as the magic shunted through her and slammed back into the Nexus below.
Sixteen
Mon, Nov 14, 12:13am
- Lee -
Lee stepped out onto the balcony to join Jen. Her room, as usual, was a mess.
“I still can’t see it,” she said, peering through a telescope mounted on a tripod.
He was exhausted. After two solid days spent healing others, all he’d wanted to do was sleep. It had been Will’s idea to pay Jen a short visit. The newly appointed Director of Supernal had insisted.
“I can.” Lee looked up at the midnight sky, where sparse clouds were edged in the brightness of a full moon. “It’s there,” he said and pointed, “just to the right.”
To Lee’s naked eye it was barely more than a blurry wave. Digital pictures from space showed it in much better detail. It had a clear blue core, within ripples of silver, and a gold nimbus around it like a thick lazy halo. It was a massive energy cloud roughly the same size as the moon and headed straight for it, as if intelligently guided.