by J. R. Rain
Below me, I could see the massive, serpentine creature moving over the lake floor, a dark silhouette moving against the brighter background that was the lake and its teeming life forms. I had him trapped here in the lake. Or he had me trapped. Either way, now was the time to take him out. Now was the time to end his plundering of the dead, his abominable creations, his God complex, his murdering of innocent children. Now was the time to end it all.
I knew the risks involved tonight. I knew there was a chance I might never return home. That I might never get a chance to save my daughter from the destruction that awaited her at midnight. And should I get Talos killed tonight, I knew that I might find myself trapped in an alien world, forever.
I knew all of this and more, but most important, I knew right from wrong. And what Lichtenstein was doing—and what he had been doing throughout the decades and centuries—was wrong on so many levels. Sure, he gave the world Franklin, and I might even someday be friends with the sourpuss butler. But Lichtenstein had also given the world much pain, too.
Too much, I thought. It ends tonight.
Apparently, Lichtenstein and his pet worm were thinking the same thing. It quit slithering along the lake bed and turned and faced me.
I paused, hovering, Talos’s giant wings undulating in the water. His vision was damn good, but not so much underwater, although still better than mine ever would be. Along the lake floor, thousands of tiny fish pulsated with an inner light, as did the swaying plant life. The giant serpent that was Lichtenstein didn’t emit any light.
And then it charged.
I wanted in on the fun, too, although I didn’t so much charge as I flapped Talos’s mighty wings, hard, surging through the water and straight for the massive, slithering creature.
Chapter Sixty-two
The force of the collision sent me spinning sideways through the water in a hail of bubbles. As I righted myself, it came at me again, and I swiped Talos’s clawed hand and raked it along its underbelly.
Blood poured free from its deep wounds, clouding the lake, and I briefly wondered what alien blood might do to Lake Elsinore’s fragile ecosystem—hell, to the whole world—that is, until its whip-like tail lashed out from seemingly nowhere. I hadn’t noticed the spikes before, but I sure noticed them now, especially as they dug deep into my right leg.
I felt pain, I think, for the first time ever in Talos’s body. God-awful, excruciating pain. The barbs in the tail, I was sure, were poisoned. Even more crazy, I could feel them digging in independently, like fingers.
Sweet Jesus...
Now, a thick, muscular coil wrapped around my upper torso, pinning both wings to me. As I struggled, more coils looped around and around, and now, out of the bubbles and nebula of blood, came the monstrous face with its circular rows of teeth, a face that attached to Talos’s shoulder. I screeched as the hundreds of teeth took hold.
We spun together deeper into the lake.
Deeper and deeper...
***
We settled on the lakebed, scattering silver, luminescent fish. Silt and blood exploded up and around us.
The coils constricted, even as the creature’s jagged maw dug deeper into my shoulder. It heaved and undulated and drank deeply from Talos in what I imagined were great, bloody, heaping gulps.
I struggled, but the coils might as well have been from steel cables of comparable size. Blackness encroached on my vision, and for the first time in a long, long time, I felt a strong need to breathe. Talos needed air. Worse, the poison was doing a number on the big guy. I suspected some of his internal organs might be shutting down or slowing down. Not to mention he was losing a lot of blood, thanks to the leech presently attached to his shoulder. I’d done a terrible job at keeping him alive.
Something broke inside of Talos. Perhaps his ribs. Perhaps his great spine, perhaps a wing. I didn’t know, but I felt it reverberate through me, and I nearly sucked in a great snoutful of water.
I had one option, and one option only—that is, if I didn’t want my magnificent friend to die—and if I didn’t want to trap myself in his world forever, wherever the hell that might be.
I summoned the single flame, and saw the lake’s nearby shoreline within it...
***
A shocking jolt later, and I was stumbling through weeds and coughing violently. As I coughed, great geysers of fire erupted and burned through the sporadic lake grass.
When I was done coughing, I sucked in a lot of air and winced. That is, if the great, hulking Talos could even wince. I doubted he had a very expressive face, but then again, what did I know? But, yeah, definitely a broken rib or two.
Or three, Sam.
I’m sorry, Talos. That was all my fault.
I’m not arguing. Okay, I’m ready.
Ready for what?
I think you know what.
But your ribs, the poison...
I’ll deal with all that later. Go get the bastard, Sam.
I wanted to grin, but we were in too much pain to do so. I sensed this had gotten personal for Talos, and I didn’t blame him. A heinous giant worm had tried to crush the life out of him, poison him, and feed from him, all in one felled swoop.
I stretched out Talos’s massive wings and leaped as high as I could, all too aware that the poisoned barbs had taken effect. We were clearly weaker than before. Not to mention, I had no idea just how much blood the giant sucker had drained from the old boy.
I dipped and dropped and sagged on my ascent, but soon righted myself and angled over the lake. There. A long, dark form streaking just under the lake’s surface, pushing a domed wall of water before it. It swam at a remarkable rate, more reminiscent of a torpedo than anything else. At this rate, it wouldn’t take long for Lichtenstein to reach the far end of the lake.
Check that. It wouldn’t take Lichtenstein long to reach the solitary rowboat bobbing a few dozen feet from shore. Or the man presently sitting in it, a man who had no idea what was bearing down on him.
I dipped my wing down, turned sharply, and dove like a bat out of hell, which I very well might be.
***
The guy in the boat seemed to spot the approaching wall of water for the first time. He stood on wobbly feet and gripped the starboard rail with both hands.
I had to redirect the creature, and the only way I could think of doing it was lowering my good shoulder, tucking in my wings, and slamming as hard as I could into the monstrosity that was Lichtenstein.
I wasn’t entirely prepared for the sheer force of the impact. An explosion of light filled my head, and I tumbled head over tail, until I finally sank below the surface. I could only hope that the collision had rocked Lichtenstein’s world just as much—or more so. Definitely more so.
I gathered my wits, shaking my head clear, and stood in the shallows of the lake—undoubtedly looking like Godzilla rising from the depths. As the world came back into focus, I saw two things: the first was a brief glimpse of the man in the boat, paddling furiously in the opposite direction. Smart move. The second was a black maw full of the sharpest damn teeth I’d ever seen bearing down on me. So much for rocking Lichtenstein’s world.
I didn’t dive down. I didn’t fly away.
Hell, I didn’t even think.
Instead, I waited.
A wall of roiling, black water preceded the approaching creature. Bubbling froth filled the space between its dagger-like teeth. A nightmare was approaching me, bearing down on me, ready to launch itself at me, and still, I stood my ground in the shallow water.
Standing my ground was dumb. Talos had been drained of blood, crushed and poisoned. By all rights, I should take to the air, and safely transition back to my vampire self, and release Talos to his own world where, I hoped, he could heal.
And here I stood, water dripping from my great, leathery wings, watching a watery landslide of teeth and hate approach, a creature that was clearly at an advantage in the water.
Ready, Talos?
As ready as I’ll eve
r be.
I’m not entirely sure I remember how—
You’ll remember, Sam.
I nodded, and steadied myself... and took as deep a breath as Talos’s damaged ribs would allow. And then, I took some more air. I nearly gasped, nearly lost the air. I steadied myself, calmed myself.
And when Lichtenstein’s worm launched itself out of the water and directly at me, I let loose with a magnificent blast of superheated fire that surprised even me. It vomited from my mouth in a continuous eruption. How my lips didn’t burn off, I didn’t know.
Turned out, I had a pretty damn good aim. The fire raced out and up, arcing slightly, and directly into the black, toothy cavern that was Lichtenstein’s face. The creature pulled up, screeching. A wave of water splashed over me, but the blasting fire sliced through the water, turning it into instant steam. In this case, fire trumped water. Especially when the fire was dragon fire.
The monstrous worm had caught fire from the inside and was now combusting from within. It writhed and splashed down in the water, and still, I blasted it with one continuous, vomitous conflagration of apocalyptic hellfire. I continued even as the creature began to glow from within. And still, I blasted it until it was finally entirely consumed in flames.
I shut my mouth and the fire winked out of existence. I half-expected my own lips to be on fire, or my tongue or inner cheeks... but nothing. Perhaps a little warmth, but nothing more.
Yeah, I thought. Magical.
I was, however, out of breath and still sick from the poison. As I sucked in some air, filling Talos’s massive lungs and alternately gasping from the pain in his ribs, I watched the last of the burning lamprey smolder on the lake surface, I wondered what science would make of the charred remains? And would the alien organic matter pose a threat to the lake? To humans? To our world at large?
Sirens wailed nearby. Further way, cars had stopped along the lake’s edge. The smell of cooked flesh filled the air. A not entirely unpleasant smell.
How are you feeling, Talos?
The poison is leaving my system.
I have a car accident to stop.
I know, Sam.
You up for one more jump?
I’m up for anything, Sam.
I smiled and hoped so. I didn’t know the time, but my guess was that it was too close to midnight for my liking. With flashing lights pulling up to the lake, I summoned the flame and within it, I saw the image of the intersection in my dreams—in particular, the air space above the intersection—and I promptly disappeared.
To hell with the burning alien remains.
Chapter Sixty-three
I appeared high enough in the sky to avoid telephone wires and trees and low-flying drones. I really didn’t want to think what could happen if I materialized on top of something. Or inside something. I suspected it wouldn’t be good.
You suspect correctly, Sam.
Figured as much. So, how you doing, big fella?
Stronger, but not out of the woods yet.
And here I am putting you through the wringer.
I’ve been put through worse.
There, down on the street corner below, next to the busy intersection, was the very same bank I had seen a dozen times in my dreams, the same bank that had, over the past few days, come into striking clarity. So much so that I had finally seen the time on its marquee, exactly midnight.
The exact same time it was displaying now.
I nearly dove down out of the sky—that is, until I noticed two things: one, my daughter’s car—that is, the one I had seen in my dreams—was nowhere to be seen; and, two, the time on the bank’s marquee was flashing: 12:00... 12:00... 12:00.
Broken, I thought. The damn clock was broken.
My heart sank and I nearly let out a squeal, or whatever the equivalent was coming from Talos’s lips. As I circled, feeling seriously sick to my stomach (or Talos’s stomach), I could also surmise that the intersection was clearly not the scene of a recent and horrific crash. There was no evidence of fresh gas and oil spilled over the roadway, or fresh skid marks—a concept I knew Anthony would giggle at (and maybe me, too, under different circumstances). Anyway, there was no evidence anywhere that four young high schoolers had recently lost their lives.
It hadn’t happened yet. I was sure of it.
Hope swelled in me.
I needed to land somewhere, to clear my head, to catch my breath, so to speak. Maybe the bank. Maybe that nearby Starbucks over there. Mostly, I needed this long, crazy-ass night to come to an end.
But not without my daughter, I thought. Not without her safely in my arms, preferably curled up on the couch, sharing some rocky road ice cream... and most likely, bawling our eyes out.
I chose a dimly lit Chick-fil-A, which appeared to be closed for the night. Now, I didn’t know the time, but I knew it had to be fairly close to midnight.
A helluva night, I thought. And it still wasn’t over.
I settled in, adjusting Talos’s massive claws at the edge of the tiled roof. Unlike New York, Vegas, and Hollywood, no one walked in Rancho Cucamonga at night. The city itself was vast and sprawling—one of the few places in Southern California that allowed drivers to legally drive 50-55 on their streets. Their long-ass streets. Rancho also sported one of the greatest views in Southern California: of the magnificent Mount Baldy, the highest point in Southern California at 10,000 feet. The city itself climbed as high up the mountain’s slope as it could before the roads petered out into restricted farmland and blocked government land. Additionally, Rancho Cucamonga and its sister-in-crime city, the nearby Ontario, boasted the most shopping centers of any city, in any state, in any country, on any continent, on any planet. Ever.
Perhaps I exaggerated.
Or not.
The two massive shopping malls—Ontario Mills and Victoria Gardens—spilled out into the surrounding streets like a college championship riot, expanding out into the city in ever-widening gyre. The malls themselves acted as hubs, and the many, many, many shopping centers were the spokes. So many restaurants, so many Lazy Dog and B.J.’s Cafes, so many Best Buys and Kohl’s. And Starbucks. My God, the sheer number of Starbucks.
And here, I perched on one of its busiest spokes. Victoria Gardens was behind me and a Chick-fil-A was beneath me. A Starbucks, a USBank, a local pizza place, three or four hotels, a Lowe’s, a Sonic, a sushi place, another pizza place... and about two dozen more shopping centers within eyesight. Granted, I sat high on a roof—and Talos could see all the way to China—but you get the point.
And there was the intersection itself, of course. As in, the intersection of my dreams, the crossroads where I’d been watching a big rig run a red light and kill my daughter dozens of times, over and over. Haven and Fourth Street.
I took in some air, and noted that Talos’s ribs didn’t quite hurt as much with the inhalation.
You’re healing, I thought.
You noticed. Sitting here is doing me some good.
That’s a relief. Not more than twenty minutes earlier I had been lying on a lake bed, with a giant alien monster wrapped tightly around me, doing its damnedest to squeeze the life out of me. Or out of Talos.
Had I really toasted alive the very man behind the Frankenstein mythos?
You did. And quite thoroughly too.
He was going to kill us.
Of that, I have no doubt.
Where was he now? I wondered. Stranded in some far away, forgotten world? I didn’t know, and I didn’t want to know. Depressingly, his fate could have easily been my fate tonight.
I shuddered and tucked in Talos’s wings a little tighter, and huddled there in the shadows, high upon the Chick-fil-A, as the minutes and hours rolled by...
***
I wasn’t asleep, but I was in a sort of suspended hibernation: aware of my surroundings, but also, deeply contained within myself. I knew Talos had spent the time healing, and I was happy he’d had these quiet moments. Truthfully, I was happy, too. I needed to shut my bra
in off from all the craziness. Enough already.
Additionally, it was nice to relax in someone else’s body, without slipping into my usually deep, dark, dead sleep. The experience was enlightening, and much appreciated—but something had awakened me out of it. As I blinked and turned my head this way and that, emerging back into Talos’s body, I saw what had alerted me:
The familiar big rig, chugging down Haven Avenue—and going far, far, far too fast. The bastard. I turned my head and saw the oh-so-familiar Honda Accord, going nearly as fast. The Accord had the green light. It also had my daughter.
And there she was, too, in the front seat. And there, much further down the road and speeding like a madwoman in the same direction, was Allison’s banged-up Camry. My daughter and her friends had somehow managed to lose my witchy friend. Now, Allison was doing all she could to shorten the distance. But she was going to be too late.
Of course, she would be too late, and of course, they had somehow ditched my friend. The accident was happening, as it happened, every night in my dreams for the past few weeks.
Like hell it is, I thought. You ready, Talos?
Oh, yeah.
I spread his giant wings—and leaped from the Chick-fil-A.
Chapter Sixty-four
The streets were mostly clear.
There was a single car waiting at the red light, in the outside lane. The big rig was coming up fast in the inside lane. Had this been business as usual, the big rig would be slowing down about now for the light. Except this wasn’t business as usual, and, as I came swooping down along the intersection, I could see the driver’s head lolled to one side. He was, I realized, either asleep or dead from, say, a heart attack.
Had I been particularly adept at jumping, perhaps I could have jumped into the cab of the speeding truck and wrested the steering wheel out of the passed-out driver’s hands. Except I didn’t know how to steer one of those damn things. And when I jumped as a giant dragon bat, I re-appeared as a giant dragon bat.