by M. R. Forbes
“Landon?” Rebecca asked.
I didn’t want to kill them. I wish my reasons were more kind, but it was mostly because I didn’t want to upset Josette, or risk doing any more damage to the balance.
“Can you disable them without hurting them?”
She didn’t look pleased, but she nodded. Her clawed fingers retracted back into normal hands, and she reached into a pocket and removed a pair of gloves. She couldn’t cut them without the poison killing them. Then again, I was sure she had done this plenty of times before. It wouldn’t be very helpful to kill your prey before you could drain it of its blood.
Rebecca padded over to the corner and waited for the Touched to approach. I could sense them moving, and knew they were getting closer. I had just enough time to see half a head of long brown hair move past the edge of the HVAC when Rebecca reached out, grabbed the Touched, twisted her around and slipped a hand around her neck and mouth. I looked her right in her frightened eyes while Rebecca constricted her throat until she passed out.
“She has a dagger,” Rebecca said, finding the small thin blade beneath a black down jacket.
“If it’ll hurt a demon, we’ll take it. Come on,” I said, picking up the unconscious woman and taking us out from behind the air conditioner. When we got to the center of the rooftop I called out to her friends. “Hey,” I shouted.
The other Touched were still peeking over the edges of the building, searching for Yuli, but they turned to me when I spoke. There were two men and another woman, all wearing the same black down jacket. Seeing one of theirs in my arms, they stayed motionless while waiting to see what I wanted.
“She’s alive,” I told them. “You can all go home alive, and you can take her with you, but I need your weapons.”
“What does a demon need with a blessed dagger?” the woman asked. Her voice was a mixture of fear and anger.
“Look closer. I’m not a demon,” I said. “But I do need to go and kill one, and I’ll need your knives to do it. Please don’t make me take them by force.”
The woman stepped towards me. “If you hand me my sister, we’ll drop our weapons here and leave.”
I nodded, and started walking towards her with her sister cradled in my arms. When I had reached her, I saw she had tears running down her face. I had been so callous in my consideration of their mortal lives. What was I becoming? I put the woman down and held her so her sister could support her. She used her free hand to reach into her jacket and take out her blade, handing it to me hilt first.
“If you’re killing demons, I wish you good hunting,” she said to me. “Come on fellows,” she shouted to the two men. I could hear their daggers clatter onto the blacktop. A moment later the door groaned again, and they were gone.
“The Order of the Blessed Virgin,” Rebecca said after they had left. “They take a vow of celibacy when they’re Touched. They’re servants, not warriors, which means the angels must be getting desperate to send them out into the fray.”
“They have to be getting reports of the other attacks. We need to get to the Statue. Let’s grab the daggers and go.”
Chapter 28
Getting from the Waldorf to Battery Park before the last possible outgoing ferry made its departure proved to be a challenge of its own, even without any hiccups. After meeting back up with Josette and Obi, we decided on public transit, hopping a couple of subways and walking a bit to get down to dock with only a couple of minutes to spare. I had covered us all in a simple disguise as Japanese tourists, and the rainy weather was helpful to hide the two swords as umbrellas. We had also each claimed one of the Blessed Order’s daggers. There had been a moment of tension when Rebecca and I had returned from the roof with them, but Josette had been elated when I told her that nobody had been killed in their acquisition.
It was the middle of the afternoon when the ferry docked at the Island. I looked up at the Statue, and couldn’t help but think about the night Mr. Ross had dropped me off on the torch; cold, scared, and confused. It had only been a few days ago, but I felt like it had been an eternity. I had learned so much, experienced so much, changed so much in that short time.
I looked at Rebecca, remembering our first encounter. The way she had pummeled the closet I had been hiding in, toyed with me like a cat, and in the end let me go. She had been frightening in her raw, violent power. That fear had turned to admiration and affection. She wasn’t a mindless killing monster, but a beautiful, intelligent, thoughtful creature with her own free will, her own power to make her own decisions. She caught me looking at her and winked. It was like she could read my mind.
The rain had kept some of the visitors away, but the Island was still crowded with people. We disembarked from the ferry and headed up towards the Statue itself. I kept my senses focused on the area around us, staying alert to any Divine that might show up. I wasn’t picking up anything.
“Where are we supposed to meet?” Obi asked. He had spent the entire trip marveling at his newfound resistance to cold, and had removed his heavy wool pea coat in response.
“I don’t know,” I replied. “I just figured we’d know it when he showed up.”
“I know where he is,” Rebecca said. “Follow me.”
We made our way into the pedestal, back into the lobby, and then to my surprise back to the storage closet where I had spent my first night returned to the mortal world. Rebecca cast a sidelong glance in either direction to make sure we weren’t being watched, then slipped a key into the door and swung it open just wide enough for us to squeeze through. Once we were in, she slammed the door shut and locked it again.
The room was pitch black, but I was able to see without too much difficulty, my world illuminated in grayscale. “Here?” I asked.
“You’ll see,” Rebecca said. She motioned with her arm to move us even further together against the back wall, pressing us up against the shelf that had been knocked over when we had met. Judging by the way Josette and Obi were stumbling in the darkness, they weren’t as fortunate with their sight.
Rebecca knelt down and put her hand against the solid cement floor. Except it wasn’t solid, it had just looked that way until she pulled up a simple brass handle from beneath the glamour. A glamour I hadn’t even been able to see through.
“This passage was added in secret by a powerful demon named Silza,” Rebecca said. “His goal was to provide a refuge for those who were looking to make the most of the opportunity to subjugate this country, and in doing so bring them under his control. He was killed by Reyzl.” She pointed at a messy scrawl of runes on the underside of the door. “These runes hide this passageway from the eyes of any who don’t know the command to enter. They also protect those inside from being sensed. There are six beings in existence that know this place exists, and we are four of them. Even the Demon Queen could not find us down here, which is why Reyzl has chosen this place to meet us.”
It was also her nest. Her home. I tried not to let it bother me that Reyzl knew where she lived, especially after what she had said he wanted to do to her. There was someone else who knew. Who?
“I don’t have any lights,” she told me, holding the door open so we could climb down.
Why would she? She didn’t need them. I looked around the storage closet until I found a can of turpentine. All I needed was something to ignite. I opened it and focused, forcing the chemicals to combust, then pulled the flames out of the can and wound them into a dancing ball of light. Josette and Obi looked grateful to have their eyes back.
“Let’s go,” I said, leading them down into the darkness, holding the light over the back of my shoulder.
Rebecca closed the door behind us as we descended a ladder about thirty feet down through a small round tunnel. The entire length of the shaft was covered in the same scrawled runes, and I could feel a pressure against my head while I climbed downward.
“Angels cannot enter this place,” Josette said. “I have seen runes like this before, in a sewer below Paris. When I trie
d there was such pressure, I felt like I would drown.”
“I don’t feel anything,” Obi said.
My feet touched down on an old, thick rug whose center had been worn away by the many feet that had scraped against it on their way up or down over the years. The passageway continued through a circular stone archway that traveled another thirty feet before opening up into a larger space. I could just make out the vague shape of a bed resting near the back end of the area. I could also hear the faint sound of...singing?
The voice was a smooth baritone, the melody old and unrecognizable to my modern ears. Even from here I knew whose mouth was producing the sounds, whose breath was being expelled into the air in the shape of the rough, sad notes. Rebecca hopped off the ladder, cocked her head, and frowned.
“Looks like you were right,” I said to her.
She nodded, looking more fearful than I had believed she could look. I hadn’t expected her to be apprehensive about the archfiend after she had already put a dagger through his heart.
The room was large, with a high arched ceiling and a mosaic floor. Against the back wall was Rebecca’s bed, an intricately carved four-poster that in other circumstances I might have spent hours pondering, wondering how it had come to be in this location without anyone having seen it. Towards the southern wall a rack of blades of all shapes and sizes, thick blocks of wood with plenty of nicks taken out of them, and a mat to separate the training space. To the north a refrigerator whose contents needn’t be guessed, and an antique-looking desk with a laptop sitting on it. Did she really have Internet access down here?
Sectioned off near the center of the room was a small sitting area with a leather sofa, a couple of end tables, a rocking chair, and a large flat-screen television. Reyzl was sitting in the rocking chair, his eyes closed, his legs pushing him back and forth. He was wearing a simple pinstriped suit and a pair of wire rimmed glasses, and he didn’t even bother to open his eyes when we entered. Being able to examine him up close, I could see that his features were more akin to the Egyptian sculpture I had seen in the Museum than they were to any of the Indian’s I had come across around town.
“You’re late,” he said, his voice holding a hint of a British-English accent. During our first meeting he had seemed so powerful, so malevolent, so in control of everything. Now, he didn’t even register as being evil.
“That depends on your concept of time,” I replied. For someone who could wait forever, there was no such thing as late.
Reyzl opened his eyes and turned his head. I could only imagine the black orbs were focused on me, looking me over for a second time. “You are a resourceful one,” he said. “Your success against my angels was unforeseen, and most unfortunate.”
I glanced over my shoulder, surprised to find Rebecca hiding behind me. Not wanting to show them I was afraid, I walked over and sat down on the sofa, turning to face the demon.
“It was nothing personal,” I said.
Reyzl laughed. “Personal,” he repeated. “No, it wasn’t, was it? Just as Ulnyx wasn’t personal.” He smiled. “It is of no matter,” he said. “I will destroy you when it suits me. Or perhaps you will come to work for me, as your predecessor once did. Either way, you will fall under my dominion as all things are destined.”
He turned his head to look back at where Rebecca, Josette, and Obi were still standing, trying to keep as much distance between themselves and the demon as possible.
“Rebecca, will you not join us? And Josette? It is a pleasure to see you here. It tickles me that after all these years you will be helping instead of hindering. You have made excellent choices in friends, Landon.”
I suspected his words were intended to intimidate. Instead, I found myself amused by his self-importance. He was a powerful demon, but I had power too, and right now I refused to let him get the best of me.
“You do understand,” I said, trying to mimic his quiet bluster, “Time is important in consideration of our endeavor.”
Reyzl’s head whipped back to look at me, his blank expression showing signs of life as he reacted to my mocking tone. Just as soon as it had appeared, it was gone, replaced with his calm emptiness.
“Of course,” he said.
He rose to his feet and walked over to the exercise mat in the corner. He knelt down on it and started scratching out runes in the vinyl, his finger cutting through in precise, rigid lines. A minute later he had completed a circle with the runes, and with a guttural exultation they began to burn.
“This is a transport Rift,” he said. “It connects to an identical circle in the home of the Demon Queen. You will step into this circle, and step out of that circle. You will retrieve the Chalice and return. At that time, I will open a second Rift to Hell through which my legions can travel through the circle and launch the assault on the Demon Queen.”
I walked over to the circle and looked right into Reyzl’s eyes. “I’ve got it,” I said. I motioned to the others. “Let’s go.”
Reyzl’s hand was a lightning bolt, lashing out and attaching itself to my shoulder, his claws digging into my skin. “Just you,” he said, letting go before I could retaliate.
Just me? “We had a deal,” I said.
“A deal that you would get the Chalice from the Demon Queen. Your companions are my insurance that you will not sell me to her in exchange of your own life. This Rift connects both locations. Should she come through the circle, my soul would be forfeit.”
“What if she kills me and then comes through?”
“I will know if she kills you, and destroy my side before that can happen. If you die, your companions will be executed as well. Consider it an added incentive.” His head tilted downward towards my groin. “You must leave the weapon here,” he said. “You cannot pass through the Rift while you are carrying it.”
By myself, unarmed. This was getting better by the second. I should have known that making a deal with a demon wouldn’t be a straightforward thing. I looked over at Rebecca, her expression a mixture of anger, sadness, and fear. Josette and Obi seemed to be hiding their emotions better, though neither looked very comfortable with the situation.
“We had a deal,” Reyzl reminded me.
I could almost sense the hint of mirth in his voice. He had trapped me perfectly, leaving me between a three thousand year old Egyptian rock and an even harder place. Resigned, I nodded my understanding to the demon, slipped the dagger from my belt and dropped it to the floor. I took a deep breath and stepped into the Rift.
Traveling through the Rift was identical to what I had experienced in Purgatory when Mr. Ross had led me off of the beach. One moment I was one place, the next I was someplace else. There was no wormhole, no weird wavy lines, no churned stomach or headache. One step brought me into the Rift under the Statue of Liberty. The next step brought me onto a stone floor.
The first thing I noticed was that it was super bright. So bright that part of me felt like it was shriveling under the intense glow. The second thing I noticed was the Grail. It was sitting right in front of me, about forty feet away. It was resting on a simple stone pedestal, looking as though it were still in the Museum of Natural History, as though the entire thing had been a dream and I was back to my actual life.
That illusion didn’t stick long, because the third thing I noticed was that I wasn’t alone. To the right of the Chalice were two simple white metal folding chairs, the kind they use at outdoor weddings. She was sitting in one of them, smiling at me.
“Landon,” she said with a gentle voice not befitting the Queen of Demons. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
Chapter 29
So many images passed through my mind in that moment as I relived every second of my existence since the woman sitting so patiently in the chair across from me had killed me.
I should have been afraid, because the Demon Queen knew who I was, and was waiting for me, and was going to destroy me once she had finished with whatever conversation it seemed she wanted to have - there were two ch
airs after all.
I should have been angry, because she had caused such wanton chaos and destruction, had left such evil in her wake.
Instead, my mind was distracted by how beautiful she was sitting there, her lustrous long black hair falling over her right breast, her perfect white smile so inviting, her feline yellow eyes sexy and dangerous in a way that Rebecca could only dream of. A black collared coatdress with a deep neckline and low boots rounded out the vision. What the heck was I thinking?
I took a deep breath and swallowed, trying to get my stomach back down where it belonged before I made a mess of her clean stone floor. I could see the source of the light now, spotlights arranged around the perimeter of the room, casting so much brightness and heat that any demon not wearing an amulet would be hard-pressed to do much of anything caught in the trap. Yet there she was, sitting bathed in the light, oblivious to the damage it should be doing to her. I could see the plunge of her dress down into her cleavage. She wasn’t wearing an amulet.
“Waiting for me,” I stuttered, trying not to sound overwhelmed, and failing miserably.
“For longer than you know,” she replied. “We have a lot to talk about.”
I started walking towards her, my legs feeling shaky beneath me. Dante’s voice echoed in my mind, describing to me how this woman had slaughtered the Knight Templar who had defended the Chalice for over two thousand years, along with a whole contingent of seraphs. What could I have that she wanted?
“I need the Chalice,” I said, feeling stupid right after I said it.
No doubt she knew I needed the Chalice. She had been waiting for me. Did she take it not for the demons, but to draw me in? How could she, if I had still been a mortal then? Had she known what I would become when she killed me? That one was too much to wrap my mind around.
“Take it,” she said, motioning to where it sat on the pedestal. “On one condition.”
One condition. I should have known. No demon would give up anything without making a deal. “What condition?”