by T S Paul
The Zombies lunged forward as if in slow motion, their burning bodies dripping flame and goo onto the ground. Every motion they made splattered the walls with flame.
Hamilton took a step backward to avoid the flame and TJ jumped in. The martial arts expert drew out the eighteen-inch custom butterfly swords he always wore and started hacking at the attackers.
“Why won’t these things… stay… down!” He swung left then right, like chopping a tree.
“They aren’t really alive. The spell that animates them is external. Think more puppeteer than actual puppet. You’ll need to just chop them up,” Hamilton explained. The Mage pulled out his Roman Gladius and rejoined the battle.
<<<>>>
“We are losing! Why are we losing to simple humans?” Haboryrm roared at Carmox. The Demon Lord’s human shell was starting to crack as the stress of battle reached him.
Necromancers were rare in our world because so few survived the use of their powers long term. It took a great deal of personal energy to control the dead. True Magick wasn’t the same as video game or role-playing games. In those mediums, if a spell was cast it was fire and forget. There were set rules and set results. Real life was more of a challenge. Use too much energy and you risk burning out or worse, having your subjects turn on you. Far too many Necromancers were torn limb from limb by the ones they attempted to control.
“Their Mages and modern weapons are more powerful than I was told they would be. Can you raise our fallen brethren as well?” Carmox asked.
Camilla, or Haboryrm, as he was becoming more and more, shook his head violently. “No! This is why I had you take over in the first place. Must I do everything?”
Carmox looked down in fright at the seemingly human-looking woman that was his Lord. His eyes were now a bright almost neon green and fire flew from his human shell’s fingertips. “Majesty, I will fight them personally for you.”
“You should have been doing that already!” Haboryrm reached up and ripped the human shell from his own body. There was a flash of green light and the true Demon Lord stood before what was left of Carmilla, the host. “The time for disguise is over.”
<<<>>>
“I can honestly tell Grandmother that I didn’t kill Camilla myself,” I told my friends as the Demon emerged from her body. Haboryrm was immensely tall, with glowing red eyes and wings.
Beyond a few lone Demons, the way seemed clear. A large flag surrounded by four smaller ones stood in front of me. My Mage sight told me that this was the Portal.
“All I have to do is erase a single rune to shut it down. If you can keep them off my back I should be able to melt them off or something,” I told the cats.
Cat let out a roar and attacked the closest Demon.
Letting my friend and sister from another mother fight her own battles, I beelined straight for the flags. It was time to end this.
“Come to witness the end of humanity?” Haboryrm asked as I approached the flags.
“I swore an oath to protect them and I will die trying if I must,” I replied.
The Demon Lord’s wings looked to be more scales than feathers. He flapped them almost unconsciously. A cruel smile evolved on his face. “Killing you would have pleased my host and her friends. She tried many times to kill you and your cursed family.”
“Camilla?” I asked. If he was monologuing I might get some good information.
“Of course. Those stupid Strega Witches tried as well, but only family knows family best. Poor daddy, he died so young. Driving your mother insane was one of her greatest achievements. Too bad your grandmother stopped her from killing you as well,” the Demon boasted.
The Demon’s startling revelations about my family didn’t shock me. I didn’t put anything past Camilla and her hatred of me. Hurting her own sister was horrific, but power and influence was all she really wanted anyway. I witnessed it myself.
“Now I will finish the job for her. With you out of the way, the next step in the plan can come. We will rule this world forever,” Haboryrm continued.
“We?” I asked him.
“Enough talk, now you die!” Summoning an enormous dangpa, the Demon strode forward to attack me.
Almost immediately, my arms crossed in front of me in a classic female superhero move all by themselves. Defender and Pathfinder flashed into full power, deflecting the Demon’s strike in a flash of golden light!
“Guardian!” Haboryrm shouted. He brought the pitchfork weapon back around, aimed at my head this time. Once again, my arms came up to deflect.
“Your kind are supposed to be gone! I refuse to return to the time of starvation and isolation. Die!” He struck at me again and again. Each time my bracelets deflected the strike.
Concentrating, I began throwing both fire and ice at him in return. His wings functioned like shields. They stopped almost all my attacks. The one that did get through he grabbed out of thin air and smiled. “Fire against a Demon is a stupid move, girl.”
Just as another strike bounced off my hands I heard the faint voice of Fergus call, “Look out!”
The Demon that possessed Autumn attacked from my rear, pushing past my shields to stab me.
Coming in at an oblique angle, the cursed blade went through the edge of my vest and into my shoulder. “Arrgh!”
Stumbling, I just missed being impaled in the front by Haboryrm. The pain in my shoulder was the worst I’d ever felt in my entire life. Looking to my left I could see the other Demon closing in for the kill.
“Banzaii!” Fergus jumped from my pocket straight at the woman I used to call cousin. Flying at her face, his horn outstretched, he pierced her cheek, crying, “Taste horn, Demon!”
Autumn dropped her knife and brought both hands up to smash my friend, but he wasn’t there. He’d jumped again, and this time was driving his prickly projectile through another part of the Demon’s borrowed body.
“Now you die!” Haboryrm thrust his weapon at me and I froze him. It took everything I thought I had in me, but I managed to freeze his body inside the circle of power.
Battle still raged all around me. Cat and Chuck were fighting both Zombies and another large Demon. I could see Xavier’s team as they took on the mass of Cambions in the center of the fort. Each part of the plan was working as it should, but I still had to deal with the Portal.
The spell was beautiful to look at. Intricate like a finely laced dress, the portal looked very elegant. If you were willing pay the price in blood, it could save many lives. But slaughtering dozens of innocents just to cross the distance between worlds wasn’t worth the price. Grandmother had access if I truly wanted to visit Hell.
To completely destroy this thing I would have to melt the actual bones of the earth. I brought my hands down to the ground and sent as much Magick as I could channel into the bracelets. If I could melt the stone surrounding the flagpole I could shut the Portal down.
There was a surge in my Magick as the bracelets tapped into the local Ley lines. Power poured into me and down into the earth. Like looking through a peephole, I could see down past the fort and into the foundation. Rock. Endless layers of rock and dirt were used to build this thing. Concentrating, I attempted to melt granite.
Twenty-six-hundred degrees is what’s needed to make your own version of lava. That is almost double what is needed to melt steel! Even with the use of the ley lines it wasn’t going to be enough. I pushed harder, tapping into my reserves and even my life’s energy. I could feel my body failing when three more sources of power linked in with me.
Tasting each power signature, I spoke two words. “Thank you.”
Somehow the human Mages had managed to tap into my stream, linking their Magick to mine, but it still wasn’t enough. The metallic flagpole was already consumed but still the Portal remained.
“It opens! Surrender now and I’ll spare you,” Haboryrm spoke as my spell wore off. Too much of my personal energy was draining away to hold it in place.
“Gods be merciful! We nee
d more power!” I cried out, pleading for help.
The Portal in the sky began to open. Vast sheets of lightning not seen on earth in eons flashed through cracks in reality as Hell connected to Earth.
A faint connection formed. Power began to flow. Slow at first, but then it began to amplify. More and more the power grew. Channeling it, I increased the heat until finally the very rock we stood upon began to melt. Holding my hands out in front of me as if in prayer, I directed the last bit of Magick.
Crack! Boom!
Overhead, the clouds burned even as the runes did. The circle died and with it the Portal. An object the size of a small car dropped from the closed Portal and crashed down onto what remained of the Fort Sumter’s historical display.
My last thought before I passed out was that we weren’t responsible for that.
“Please don’t bill me,” I whispered.
I’ve always hated going to sleep. A character in one of my favorite movies called it the little death. Anastasia claimed it was just like real death. Not something I wanted, so waking up was very nice.
“Did we win?” I asked.
Cat, back in her human form, looked down at me and shook her head and answered sarcastically, “Nope. We all died.”
“I’m going back to sleep then. Call me when the reincarnation starts,” I smiled.
Cat squatted down next to me. “Agatha, you almost died! That was too much for even you.”
“Could you feel it? Right there at the end I think the Gods lent an actual hand! There just wasn’t enough of me to complete it,” I told her.
“Chuck and I could feel something through our link, but I don’t think it was the Gods. Xavier’s Mages helped you and so did Fergus. They’re all passed out over there.” Cat pointed past me away from where the flag once stood.
“Demons?” I asked.
“Gone or dead. The Zombies, too. When you broke the spell it was like a giant whirlpool of death. The ground gave way and actually melted. The Demon Lord was sucked down along with the body of the one Fergus took out,” Cat explained.
“At least we survived,” I commented.
Cat snorted. “The same can’t be said about this fort. I think the Parks Department is going to be really pissed. Half of it is either melted or carved up into little pieces. Power is coming back on over there in the city, so we might be rescued soon.”
“Did you check in with the Director yet?” I asked as I pulled myself to my feet.
“Yes and no. We spoke briefly on the phone, but she was super busy cleaning up an incident in California she said. Her exact words to you were ‘Thanks for stopping that one but now you’ve exposed a worse one.’ She actually passed the line to the Arcane commander and I had to explain about his people to him.” Cat shook her head. “For such a secret group, our Director seems to know them pretty well.”
I was puzzled. “Why worse? What did I do?”
“The Portal. When you closed it, there was something coming through it,” Cat explained.
“If it was more Demons, I’m not sorry. I’m done with them screwing with my family,” I answered.
“Not Demons. That over there fell from the sky. You cut his visit off rather short,” Cat pointed to a large lump down in the courtyard of the fort.
I took a step and looked closer. The claw was maybe twice as big as Sarkany’s had been in the Museum in California. I looked up at Cat and finally managed one more word.
“Dragons?”
Agatha, Fergus, and the entire team will return in book eight, Draft of Dragons!
Author Notes
Thank you for reading Child of Darkness. I hope you enjoyed it. This one was a long time coming. There’s been a long story arc since the very beginning centered on Camilla and why she hates Agatha so much. It has built up slowly across the main series and some of the short stories. You, the reader, were supposed to hate her. It was on purpose.
Camilla has problems. She was influenced early on by one of the Divine beings that pop up in the series from time to time. Someone caught a glimpse of the future and thought to take steps to rig it. Other beings tried to rig it from their end as well. Poor Camilla was caught in the middle. My book Cat’s Night Out the story Camilla’s Obsession begins it. Even at an early age she senses power and wants it all. Even plotting against her own sister! Her perfect life isn’t perfect, and she lets everyone know it.
Darkness revealed is something I wrote to explain Camilla. The book takes place between Witness Enchantment and Night of the Unicorn. It’s how she ended up with the Strega and it tells the story of their demise. How the Demon gets away.
When I write I tell a story. I do it like a storyteller would. Individual stories that make up the whole. This series is so much like that. I created the series Arcane Corps to explain the Demon War and humanities part in it. Book three is still under construction but will show the Demons point of view and what happened to the Arcane team after the end in Child of Darkness.
And the story must go on. Draft of Dragons is next for Agatha and the team. In it we will finally understand the Hammer of the Witches organization and what their goals are. This book begins the last arc of the series. Agatha will be troubled and forced to decide what it is she truly wants out of her life.
In the Universe as a whole there is a lot of things coming. The Mer Sisters are getting their own series soon as is Verity Blackmore. It will explain Agatha’s bracelets as will what happened to Bill Maxwell. Jack Dalton will still be chasing monsters across the US as well.
There are plans to allow Fergus to stomp across the world creating mayhem and stabbing people with his tiny horn. All in the name of Justice and Hay.
And that’s just a part of my world. I write Science Fiction as well. Thanks for your time.
See you next time
TS Paul
Other Books by TS Paul
I welcome comments and questions on my blog. Follow me on Facebook or visit my Amazon author page. I have an author page with BookBub too.
I’m excited, are you?
The Federal Witch
Born a Witch Drafted by the FBI! - Now Available in Audio!
Conjuring Quantico - Now Available in Audio!
Magical Probi - Now Available in Audio!
Special Agent in Charge - Now Available in Audio!
Witness Enchantment
Night of the Unicorn
Invisible Elder
Blood on the Moon
Child of Darkness
A Draft of Dragons - TBD
Cat’s Night Out, Tails from the Federal Witch - Audio Available
Serpent Con
Darkness Revealed
Unicorns Are Short
The Standard of Honor
Shade of Honor
Coven Codex
A Confluence of Covens -TBD
Conflict of Commitments -TBD
Standard of Honor -TBD
Familiar Magic
Familiar Shadows
Familiar Trials - Fledgling
Familiar Travels
The Wild Hunt
Witching Hour
The Wild Hunt
Furious Magic
The Mongo Files
The Case of the Jamaican Karma -TBD
The Case of the Lazy Magnolia - TBD
The Case of the Rugrat Exorcist -TBD
Monster Hunter
Jack Dalton Book 1
Jack Dalton Book 2
Jack Dalton Book 3
Jack Dalton Book 4
Jack Dalton Book 5
Jack Dalton Book 6
Magical Division Origins
Jack Dalton, Monster Hunter Box Set (1-3)
Jack Dalton, Monster Hunter Box Set (4-6)
Cookbooks From the Federal Witch Universe
Marcella’s Garden Cookbook
Fergus Favorites Cookbook
Marcella’s Summer Bounty Cookbook
Marcella’s Autumn Harvest
Eat and Read Cookbooks
> Badger Hole Bar Food Cookbook
Taking it on the Road
Athena Lee Chronicles
The Forgotten Engineer
Engineering Murder
Ghost Ships of Terra
Revolutionary
Insurrection
Imperial Subversion
The Martian Inheritance - Audio Now Available
Infiltration
Prelude to War
War to the Knife
Ghosts of Noodlemass Past
Athena Lee Universe
Shades of Learning
Space Cadets - Coming Soon Late 2017
Smuggle Life
Double Cross
Politics Equals Death
Cut and Run
A Grand Affair
Short Story Collections
Wilson’s War
A Colony of CATTs
Unicorns are Short
Borscht is Boring
Box Sets
The Federal Witch: The Collected Works, Book 1
Chronicles of Athena Lee Book 1-3
Chronicles of Athena Lee Book 4-6
Chronicles of Athena Lee Book 7-9 plus the prequel
Athena Lee Chronicles (10 Book Series)
Standalone or tie-ins
The Tide: The Multiverse Wave
The Lost Pilot
Uncommon Life
Dead in Space
Kutherian Gambit
Alpha Class. The Etheric Academy book 1
Alpha Class - Engineering. The Etheric Academy Book 2
The Etheric Academy (2 Book Series)
Holiday Tales
Watch Where You Dig
Night of the Living Turkeys
Reindeer Don’t Fly
Anthologies
Phoenix Galactic
Cupid’s Bow
Mysterious Hearts
Journal with a View: July - August - September
Haunted Hearts
Snapshots of Life I
Prime Peek I
Silent Thanks
Non-Fiction
Get that Sh@t off your Cover!: The so-called Miracle Man speaks out
Study Guide and Timeline: The Athena Lee Chronicles