“How could you do it?” I muttered.
“What did you say?” Garski asked.
“How could you kill him? You knew him. You worked with him.”
“It’s a dog-eat-dog world, kid. That’s something you would have learned. Eventually.” He took his place next to Spurlock, grabbing her free hand and pressing it against his lips. “I’ve lived a long life, and it’s been mostly bad. I’m tired.”
“That’s your excuse?” I asked. I pointed to Pete. “He’s lived a long life. You don’t see him murdering people.”
Spurlock growled, exposing her fangs, and her grip on Andre Johnson’s arm tightened, but Garski pulled her free hand to his chest. “Kid, the last time that … thing got bored, he created vampires. You’re just so young, Sam. You’re just so…”
“So what?”
“So … little. I’m not trying to hurt your feelings, kid. Frankly, I don’t care what you think. I found the love of my life. She just happened to be a vampire. It wasn’t my fault, and it wasn’t hers, either. It really changed the way I see things.”
Andre Johnson was squirming, his eyes wide and tears running down his face.
“You murdered hundreds of young men,” I said. “More than hundreds. You killed … an entire town’s worth of people. Did you even think about that? Did you even care?”
“I’m growing older,” Garski said. “Even though time is slowing for me, I’m still growing older. Tessa isn’t. You know how that feels? She’ll stay forever young while I grow old and die. It’s a damned tragedy.”
“You’re doing all of this for her?”
“Kid, I tried to tell you. This life isn’t for you. You should have left the Sister.”
“You can’t trust them, Garski!”
“They’ve held up their end of the bargain so far. Now that I’ve given them the Sister, they’ve promised to give me the gift.”
“After all the vampires you killed, you’re going to let them turn you? You bastard!”
“Enough of this,” Chima said. “We are not here to answer your questions. We are here to make a deal.”
“A deal?” I asked. “What could I possibly give you.”
Enid guffawed. “Not with you, human.”
“With Haagenti?” I asked. “You’re going to summon Haagenti?”
Chima pointed at Pete. “Haagenti is on the verge of understanding how he summoned the primordial darkness and created us. We cannot allow that knowledge to spread.”
“Only because you want it for yourself,” Henry said.
Erlik yanked the silver chain, forcing the silver around Henry’s neck to bite and smoke where it touched skin. “You’ve been so reluctant to damage your pet human. We could have gathered this information much sooner, if not for you.”
“Maybe,” Henry said. “Maybe not. But I’ve learned one thing over all these years. Never back a Harlan into a corner.”
Chima threw back his head and howled with laughter. Everyone gaped at him, but he finally stopped as quickly as he’d started. “How dare you value this … this little creature. What is one human compared to us?”
“That human brought you to this point,” Henry said. “If not for Sam, we wouldn’t be here. You got lucky.”
“Lucky?” I asked.
“Tell him,” Henry said. “Tell him what you did. After all these years, he deserves to know the truth.”
“Why bother?” Chima asked, his voice rising in frustration. “How you’ve come to value these little playthings. You’ve forgotten yourself, Cicolluis. You’ve gone mad with your love for the humans.”
“Tell him!” Henry bellowed. “Or I swear, I will never follow you again.”
“Chima,” Enid said. “We don’t—”
Chima raised his hand. “Fine, my friend. You win. The little human needs to hear the truth? We are here because of me, not him. I was the one who traveled the countryside. This new nation was ripe for the picking. How could you not see that? When I passed by the farmhouse and saw the family, I was intrigued. They had a smell to them. A smell I remembered from before. Imagine my joy when I found the Harlan woman.”
As Chima spoke, my skin grew cold. “No.”
“I took the woman and gave her the gift,” Chima said. “I never expected the husband to survive. Neither him nor his children. What an unexpected pleasure when the mother gave the son the gift. Silas was his name.”
“That’s not true.”
“I met him a few years after. He didn’t know I was the one, of course. He told me how much he hated his father. The famous Jack Harlan.”
“That can’t be true!”
“But it is,” Chima said. He pointed at Tessa Spurlock. “Silas gave her the gift. In a way, she’s my family.” He smiled at Lottie and Desmond. “As are the Queen and King of Chicago.”
Desmond glared at him. “I’m gonna get out of this collar, and then I’m gonna kill you.”
“You jest,” Chima said. “I like that. You are nearly as powerless as the human. You will not raise a hand against me, because you recognize something in me. There is a lineage there. You cannot resist.”
“You…” I stopped and gasped for breath, unable to think straight. “You ruined my family. You ruined my life. You hurt everyone I’ve ever loved!”
“Stop!” Chima ordered.
I looked down and saw my hands were on the Ingram. I hadn’t even realized they had moved.
I can do it. I can cut the Ancients down. They’re standing together. Then I’ll take my chances with the rest. Pete can use magic. Surely he can slow them down.
The thoughts took a fraction of a second, but it was enough time for the Crone to appear before me as if by magic.
“Are you so eager to lose your friend?” she whispered in my ear.
I … didn’t even see her move.
I slowly removed my hands from the Ingram. The realization hit me hard. I was helpless. I was just a man, while they were the stuff of nightmares.
“You’re a terrible person,” I said to Chima. “All of you.”
Chima bowed his head. “It would appear that way to a human. After thousands of years, you learn that good and bad are limited concepts created by frail creatures that barely live long enough to accomplish anything. I bear you no ill will, Sam Harlan, nor your friend. I speak the truth. You are simply beneath us. Whether you survive this night is of no consequence. We will continue with our plan, even if we must destroy you.”
The Crone turned her head so that she could watch Chima from the corner of her eye. “Let us finish, Chima. No more waiting. You have promised much. I hope you can deliver. I grow weary of this place and wish to return home.”
Chima’s mouth quirked down, so subtly that it was barely noticeable. “We will soon have all the power we have ever wanted, power enough to reshape the world. You will thank me for this.”
“Do not forget who discovered this,” Erlik said. “If not for me—”
“Yes,” Chima said. “You are brilliant. Your work was essential. Now that we have all received our due, I believe Enid is correct. It is time.”
“Don’t do this,” Henry said. “You haven’t thought this through, Chima. You have to listen to me.”
Chima grabbed Henry’s arm. “The council has taken note of your concerns. Erlik, if you would do the honors.”
Erlik released Henry’s arm and strode around the stone table. Andre Johnson was frantically shaking his head and making small animal sounds.
“I know what you’re trying to do,” Pete said to Chima. “The Knight is right. You don’t want to do this. It ain’t going to go the way you think.”
Chima smiled. “Ah, the first man speaks. Your magic unleashed the darkness. It found Un, a simple wanderer. You created the Demon, and he gave me the gift. That makes you my grandfather. I would like to thank you, Grandfather, but your time is over. Go, Grandfather. Leave this place. We have no quarrel with you.”
/> Pete shook his head. “If you do this, you will all surely die.”
Enid turned her head and hissed at Pete. “You threaten us? You who created us?”
“I don’t have to threaten you,” Pete said. “You can’t make a deal with him. The Knight understands this.”
“After an eternity?” Chima asked. “We will use the darkness to offer him the one thing he has always wanted.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked. “Haagenti—”
“They’re not trying to summon Haagenti,” Pete said quietly.
Callie was grunting so loudly that I turned to look at her. Her eyes were wide, and she was pulling at the chains that held her to the table, growling something into the gag.
“If they’re not going to summon Haagenti,” I said to Pete, “then what is all this?”
Enid leaned in so close to me that I could smell her. She smelled of rain, and of blood, and of something primitive and earthy. “We’re going to summon the Prince of Darkness.”
The pieces clicked into place. My blood ran cold, like someone had poured ice in my veins, and I shivered. “You—”
“Yes,” Chima said. “We are going to summon the King of Hell. We are going to summon Lucifer, and finally claim our true power.”
Chapter Eighteen
Thunder crashed overhead as Erlik advanced on Andre Johnson, and I yelled, “Stop! Please! I’ll do anything!”
“You would take his place?” Chima asked.
Erlik reached the boy, grabbed him by his left arm, and hauled him to the tips of his toes.
“Anything,” I said. “I’d do anything to save him.”
The boy looked at me with hope in his eyes.
“What about your friend?” Enid asked. “You would sacrifice yourself and leave her all alone?”
“I don’t … I’m just a nobody. I can’t let him die if I can save him.”
Enid pointed to Callie, but she never took her eyes from mine. “Who knows what may befall the Sister? You would give your life so that the boy might live? You would leave her to us?”
“She won’t be alone,” Pete said. “I’ll make sure she survives this night.”
Erlik turned to Pete, still holding the young man up like a rag doll. “You may have magic, but you are still just a human.”
Pete shrugged. “I may be human, but I ain’t like them. You know that.”
Chima shook his head. “The point is moot. You cannot die, and our young hunter is … tainted. We need the fresh blood of a human death for this.”
“No,” I whispered. “This can’t be happening.”
Enid stroked my cheek with her cold palm. “But it is happening.”
“Mr. Garski,” Chima said. “If you don’t mind.”
Garski nodded. “What’s your name, son?”
Andre mumbled something, but he couldn’t be understood through the gag. Garski grabbed it and ripped it from the young man’s mouth. Andre screamed, but Garski slapped him, knocking him senseless.
“Your name, son. I won’t ask again.”
“A-Andre,” the man choked out through uncontrollable sobs. “My name is Andre. Please don’t kill me.”
“Are you scared?” Garski asked.
Andre nodded. “Yes.” He kept his eyes locked on mine, silently pleading with me for help. “You have to save me. Please!”
“Don’t worry,” I said. “I’m not going to let them—”
Before I could finish, Garski grabbed Andre’s head and twisted so that the young man was facing the sky. Andre struggled to escape, but Garski pulled a knife from his pocket, flipped the blade out, and sliced it across the young man’s neck.
Andre’s eyes rolled back and his mouth opened in a silent scream as a fine red line appeared on his neck, and then blood spurted out in rhythm to his last terrible heartbeats.
As Andre’s eyes went glassy, Garski murmured some words so softly that I couldn’t make them out, and then released his hold on Andre. The young man collapsed to the muddy earth and lay still.
Pressure built behind the back of my eyes and the crack of thunder became one long rumble that shook the ground like a mini earthquake. The sky became one solid sheet of light as bolts continuously arced across the sky, turning the night into day and filling the air with the smell of ozone.
Callie moaned loud enough to be heard over the thunder. I turned to her, but Enid grabbed my arms in a steely grip and said, “He comes for us.”
The script on Callie’s arms and legs, barely visible as faint scars in the daytime, erupted with light from within. She convulsed, bashing her head against the stone table, and then she arched up, her breasts pointing to the sky and her body rigid.
No!
Callie screamed in agony, audible even through the gag, and stayed in that incredibly awkward position as the seconds dragged on, and then there was a bell-like gong as if the earth itself had turned into one giant bell and been struck with an enormous hammer.
Callie collapsed, and the thunder went silent. The rain stopped as if someone had flipped a switch. Lighting still blazed above us, but then it stopped, and the world went dark.
When another blast of lightning ripped across the sky, Andre Johnson stood at the foot of the stone, the great gash across his neck leaking blood and coating his neck all the way down to the front of his shirt.
“Well, well, well,” he drawled, his eyes glowing ruby red. “Isn’t this interesting?”
* * *
“Welcome, Lucifer, King of Hell,” Chima said in the eerie silence. “We have summoned you so that we might offer you your freedom.”
The being now wearing Andre Johnson’s body glanced around the table, and the fiery light within his eyes dimmed. “Is that so?”
“We have much to—”
Lucifer turned to Pete. “It’s been a long time.”
Pete bowed his head. “Lucifer. You look…”
“If I fully materialized on this plane,” Lucifer said, “the earth would shatter. I have to make do with this dead vessel.” He looked up to the sky. “Sorry about that nonsense.”
With the lightning gone, I could barely make out the people around the table. I pointed in Chima’s direction and said, “They summoned you here to offer you some kind of deal, but you can’t trust them.”
Lucifer placed his hands on the stone table and looked down upon Callie. He smiled and then glanced up at me. “Well met, Sam Harlan. I’ve had my eye on you.”
I had felt fear before, but nothing like the all-encompassing terror that knotted my stomach. “You … what?”
“You bested Haagenti,” Lucifer said. “Others had tried and failed, but not you.”
“It was mostly Callie and Father Jameson.”
Lucifer’s face was blank. “Was it?”
“I’m a nobody—”
“Yes,” Chima said. “The hunter is a nobody. We are the ones that summoned you. We are the ones that breached the gates of Hell. You will deal with us!”
Lucifer smiled, and his voice was silky smooth. “Ah. There it is.”
For the first time, Chima appeared uncertain. “What?”
“I’ve had my eye on you, too, Chima. All these many centuries, so many that even you lost count.” He turned to Enid. “The Crone. The wise old woman. I watched as Chima gave you the gift. You were all alone in the mountains, your husband and sons long dead. The villagers nearby thought you were a witch. How else had you survived the sickness that claimed them?”
Enid drew back. “What kind of sorcery is this?”
A smile spread across Lucifer’s face, and it was made even eerier upon Andre Johnson’s dead body. “I was there. Not physically, but I watched as Un offered you the gift. Immortality. Power. The chance to matter again. The opportunity to strike back at the men in your village who viewed you as the old hag who should have died with your family.”
“Enough of this,” Erlik growled. “We summoned you
, and we can send you back. Don’t forget that.”
“How could I?” Lucifer asked, turning to face him. “I saw you, too, Erlik. You lived near the sea. You knew your son would soon push you out. The night that Un came to you, you begged him for the gift. You wanted everlasting power.”
“That … wasn’t the way it was,” Erlik muttered.
“Wasn’t it?” Lucifer asked. “And you, Chima. Your tribe had fought those to the east. They killed many of you, including your daughter, but you had your revenge. You killed so many of them. You raped their women and took the rest as slaves. But the tribe to the south was larger. The men were better fighters. The next conflict would have ended you. And if not that one, then the next. Sooner or later, you would die in battle, and your line would end.”
Chima licked his lips. “Perhaps … we should begin anew. We brought you here to make a bargain.”
“A bargain?” Lucifer asked. “Cicolluis knows all about bargains. It was a bargain made, wasn’t it, Cicolluis? A drought killed your livestock and drained your well. Your people starved. Un came and offered you the gift, the means to save your people, except it wasn’t what you expected, was it? You didn’t save your people. You slaughtered them. You thought you knew hunger, but nothing prepared you for what you felt after Un gave you the gift. How many, Knight? How many did you murder over the years before you finally changed?”
Henry stared at Lucifer, his gaze never wavering. “Too many. Far too many.”
“And your beloved Alma? She sleeps next to you at night, and presses her warm body against your cold flesh. Does she know what you’ve done?”
“I’ve told her,” Henry said. “Not all of it, but enough. I can’t change the past. I know that.” He glanced at Chima. “I prayed that my friends would change like I did, but maybe that’s not going to happen. Maybe it was never going to happen.”
Lucifer shook his head. “It’s all been so hard on you, hasn’t it? Befriending young Sam, lying about who and what you really are. Watching over him after Jack was … oh, that’s right. You killed Jack.”
“No,” I said, “I killed Jack.”
“Did you?” Lucifer turned to me, and the look on his face was one of great interest. “My dear boy, you know better than that. Jack had become something else. You were no match for him. Jack held back, allowing the Knight to trap him, which allowed you to stake him. If not for the Knight’s help, Jack would have killed you. You know that I speak the truth.”
Deal with the Devil Page 21