by Jack Crosby
“It does seem pretty fucking odd.” Roxanne got out of the car and I followed. I opened the back door and Astrid hopped out. Veronica and War were already walking over.
“Brother, what kind of trap has the vampire set for us?”
There wasn’t anything to give off a trap. “I don’t think this is a trap guys. I generally think we caught him by surprise. Let’s not waste this chance.”
With weapons in hand, we did what War suggested, stormed the house. He kicked the front door down and we were met with the smells of death. Bodies were shredded, pieces scattered all over the house. Blood smeared the walls, making the scene look like a butcher shop.
I looked over at War, “Someone’s beat us to the punch.”
“I don’t like it. We should spilt up and see what’s happened.”
Splitting up wasn’t the best plan, but a house of this size needed it. “Okay, War and Veronica you take the downstairs and we’ll take the upstairs.”
We headed up the wooden stairs; the only sounds the clicking of Roxanne’s heels on the wood. When we reached the top, Astrid hopped down. “There is a weird scent coming from the second room to the left.”
Roxanne and I followed Astrid, a scythe and a sword leading. I opened the door and it looked empty. Astrid went in and I followed. Immediately I knew something was wrong, as the room took a shade of red. “Damnit, we stepped into a Hell portal!”
Roxanne was on the outside, pounding on the invisible barrier. I could see her, but she couldn’t see us. “Derrick, Astrid! Fuck, you moved too quickly!” She stomped her foot down and tried her best to break the spell. Unfortunately, it was too strong, even for her. “Shit, stay there until I get the others.”
As she left, Astrid transformed. She was back in her jeans and hoodie combo, with a look of disdain directed towards the center of the room. “We aren’t alone.”
Another shape formed in the room. The tall, pale Pride demon himself was here. “Death, this was almost too easy. Your vendetta against the old Vampyre was easy to trace.” Blood stains covered his suit. “Do not worry; I completed the job you could not.”
I wasn’t pissed he killed Vlad, I was pissed at just him in general. “You son of a bitch! You got some big balls trapping us in here like this!”
He dusted off his pants, “Truth be told, I just wanted to capture the Nyx, but you entered before I could close off the portal.”
Gritting my teeth, “Why a Nyx? An animal spirit doesn’t have much to offer you.”
“Yeah you dumb fuck?!” She’d been spending too much time with Roxanne, that was obvious. “Why are you assholes after me?!” Astrid’s voice wasn’t pleasant anymore. You could hear her inner cat starting to boil over.
His eyes left me and drifted to her. “The pure royal blood of a Nyx is powerful. And to accomplish what we are out to do, we need powerful. When her blood spills,” he closed his eyes as if reveling in the thought, “the enchantment will be complete.”
Leviathan was already out and ready. “You sick son of a bitch, I’ve been looking forward to this.”
He pulled out two black daggers. “As have I.”
Unlike Darius who was more than happy to bring the fight to me, Kyrule circled like a shark. He stepped in close and gave a short sharp jab with one of the knives. It met only blade and I flung his attack away. I followed up with a long, swinging motion, designed to remove a head. Unnaturally, he bent all the way down, his head touching the floor to avoid the blow.
What he wasn’t expecting was Astrid’s foot meeting him in the face. He twisted in a weird way and fell down. She followed that up with a knee to the sternum. Not to be out done, I brought the full weight of Leviathan down towards him.
But we were in a Hell portal and as neither Astrid nor I were from the land Downstairs, Kyrule had the power. He melted into the floor. My scythe landed hard, splitting the wood where the Pride demon had just been.
“Let me in this instant!” War was here. If Roxanne couldn’t break the spell, he’d have no chance.
Looking all around, “Astrid, do you see him or sense him?”
The Nyx cart wheeled out of the way as Kyrule reappeared just behind her. She was too quick for him and he missed a chance to capture her. She finished her motion and landed on her feet right beside me. “You’ll have to be much faster demon.”
“You would do well to remember that your people came from Hell too!”
Hey yellow eyes began to glow. “My people left Hell in search of a better, more peaceful life. No, we are not the same you bastard!”
He put his daggers away. “You have a long way to go, both of you. I will have many more chances to grab you little Nyx. Once you are in my hands, the portal to Tartarus will be mine.”
I wasn’t about to let him get away and ran straight for the smug dickhead. As I brought Leviathan down, he gave me a cruel smile and blinked out. The redness of the room began to disappear and I knew he was gone.
Our friends stormed the room and luckily, Astrid was back to cat form. Veronica scooped her up and began swaddling the poor thing in her arms. Roxanne ran over and hugged me. “You are both okay!”
“Yeah it was that tool Kyrule. This was all a trap since he knew we’d be coming for Vlad.”
War slammed Ravager into the floor. “My vengeance was taken from me! I found the vampire’s body slaughtered in the basement along with many others!”
Vengeance was the last thing on my mind. “Kyrule is toying with us.” Pissed off, “Come on, there’s nothing left for us to do here.”
Chapter 23 – Iran Too Far
We made it to Kiev in one piece. We got a hotel room in one of the more tourist districts, because we were all running on fumes. Yep, even celestial beings need some rest here and there.
It was a rather cramped room with a foldout couch and a Murphy bed to go along with the queen sized one. All of us were ready to collapse and within minutes of entering, dropped wherever we could find a spot. I didn’t even remember falling asleep, but it was apparent when I startled awake, my head being pawed at.
Those yellow cat eyes were really close to my face. In a hushed whisper, “Can we go talk?”
Turns out I was on the floor. War had somehow gotten the bed, Roxanne was sprawled out on the Murphy bed and Veronica had taken over the couch. How did this happen? Anyways, “Huhh, well I’m awake. Let’s go.”
Astrid carefully walked to the door and I followed, slowly opening it. The others were out like lights, so they never even heard a sound. The two of us went up a few flights of stairs and out on to the rooftop. A kid who was smoking saw me walk out and he quickly put his cigarette out and ran back in. I guess he thought I was security or something.
As the cool breeze swept across, Astrid was back in her sexy human form. “The fresh air feels so much better than that stuffy room. Plus, you all snore really loud.”
I stretched out and my back popped. “Damn, I’m getting old.”
“You are old Master Death. I don’t say that as an insult, but I look at you and I see one who is weary with this world.”
Her words were spot on. Khloros and I had been talking about that before. This world was just getting too big for us; the secrets that made it great were no longer there due to the internet. People didn’t believe in anything, if they couldn’t see it, it mustn’t be real. And I’d no longer cared nearly as much as I used to. “You don’t know the half of it. Unfortunately I’m needed; my role is a constant reminder of that.”
She took a few steps closer to the edge, to get a good look at the city around us. “When your race is short lived as mine, everyday is a new adventure, one that should be cherished. I can only imagine that for you, each day is a burden.”
I joined her on the edge. “A burden is a strong word to use, but I’d be lying if it wasn’t spot on. I’m just tired of fighting, worrying about what the Downstairs is going to come up with next. In all my years, rarely does anyone ask what I would like.”
“Wh
at about Roxanne? She loves you tremendously.”
Hers and mine relationship was definitely a weird one. We were partners, each committed to the other but her life as a demon made her pretty set in her ways. “She loves the action and excitement this life brings. If I told her I wanted to retire to some little beachside shack in Mexico she’d be like ‘fuck no Derrick!’ It’s just who she is.”
Her eyes met mine and there was no mistaking the spark between two kindred souls. “Is that what you want to do? Retire to a beachside shack in Mexico?”
“They’d never let me.” The ambiguous they, that is. “So I keep doing what I’m doing in the hopes I either rekindle that fire or else we find out if Death truly can die.”
The city danced in front of us, the lights from the different buildings turning off and on along with the buzz from the streets below. It was weird feeling this peace and it not being in a dream. “Astrid, how did Mammon’s minions capture you? Is it really safe to return you home?”
Her face dropped. “It was my fault. As I said mother told me always to stay close and never leave the borders. My attention had been distracted and I left the safety of the fortress. Before I even knew what was happening, I was captured in a portal to Hell by a few of his demons.”
“What happened next?”
She turned around and leaned up against the wall. “Mammon was in a great hurry. He said the only other portal they could quickly use was the one Beelzebub left behind. When we went through it, the angel Veronica was there. Had it not been for her…”
I put my hand on hers. “I’m very sorry this has happened to you. You’re under my protection now from anyone who wishes you harm.”
Blushing, she morphed back into a cat. “It’s getting late and if we stay up here any longer, I’m going to do something I’ll regret.”
Yeah, I felt the pull towards her too, not just physically but emotionally. “Thank you.”
We were walking back to the doorway that led to the stairs. “For what?”
“Just listening to me. I don’t know what the future holds, but I know it has you returning home safely.”
We got back and everyone was still asleep. It didn’t take me long to get comfortable again on the floor, as I stole a few blankets off the bed from War and a pillow. I closed my eyes and as I fell to sleep, I could’ve swore I felt a set of lips pressing against mine.
The alarm clock woke up the entire room. War jumped off the bed and landed on me, which in turn filled the room with lots of shits, damns, bastard, and fucks. Once everyone calmed down, we got dressed and headed downstairs to get back on the road.
War and I went down the street and bought a few bags of pastries for all of us. Thank the Almighty for credit cards accepted all around the world. When we got back, it was decided Roxanne would take a turn on the motorcycle and Veronica would get a chance to ride in the car. My Lust demon was NOT happy about that.
She bitched and moaned for a few minutes, but I gave her a kiss and a chocolate croissant. “How sweet! You remembered my fondness for chocolate!”
War wasn’t even paying attention to us. “I hope you all slept well. We’ve got a long road ahead of us, close to forty hours to get to Tehran.”
He’d briefly gone over the plan last night and this was by far the craziest part of it. “Are you sure going through Russia and into Iran is the best course? I mean, it’s bad enough for the first half the trip we’ll be on the lookout for raiders, but Iran’s boarders are closed.”
He rolled up the map and put it in his travel bag. “Let’s get through Russia first. We’ll worry about Iran later on.” He gave me this half apologetic look. “Listen, to cross over the Black Sea would be even worse. We don’t want to give the Arch-Demons an easy target.”
I hated it when he was right, I really did. “We were lucky to survive one boating trip; I don’t want to take a chance with a second.”
The rest of the day was spent driving through Ukraine. This was going to be the smoothest part of the trip, as I doubted Kyrule would try anything so quickly after the fiasco at Vlad’s place. I was also worried about running into that Allen and his redhead partner. They seemed human, but it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out they were in cahoots (an underused and incredible word) with the demon general. Plus we also had Zartan somewhere out there. Dear lord, we had all of Hell on our tails.
Veronica was incredibly quiet, as I think she was still scared of me. Astrid also seemed unusually silent. “Hey, backseaters,” yep I was all alone up front, unless you count Khloros, “you both are awfully quiet.”
“We can both sense your worry. That frightens us.” Astrid shook her head in agreement.
I couldn’t have them doubting the mission. “I know there is some scary shit going down, but the five (plus two horses) of us together are strong. They know it, that’s why they are throwing everything but the kitchen sink at us.”
It seemed my pep talk cheered them up a little bit. That was good, as I didn’t need Veronica especially freaking out as we closed in on the Russian border. Chances were high we’d have to go through some check point and I needed everyone acting cool and calm.
War’s taillights pulled a little ways from us, pissing me off. “Khloros, why does he have to pull shit like that?”
“Derrick!” The urgency in his voice was really unusual. “We have to get a move…”
A truck slammed into the side of my horse buddy. The impact sent us rolling off the road, down into a ditch. As we landed my head went through the driver’s side window, knocking me out.
Chapter 24 – Broken
I could only open one eye. My other was swelled shut, making it impossible to even try. Standing over me was a grey horse, Khloros. When he saw I was coming to, “I am sorry Grimm, I did not relay the message fast enough.”
I tried to sit up, but my head started to spin. “It doesn’t matter old friend, are you okay?”
“Yes, maybe a few broken ribs, but they will heal quickly enough. The angel was not so lucky. She was taken by a Wrath demon.”
Shit, Veronica was captured. “What of Astrid? What of my brother and Roxanne?”
He brought his head down and I was able to pull myself up with his help. “The Nyx, I cannot say. As for War and Roxanne, they were captured not too far from here. I was powerless to help.”
The sun was peaking over the horizon. “I was out all night?”
“Yes, your injuries were severe. Worse than even the beating Beelzebub gave you.”
Physically I felt horrible, but even worse was my spirit. “I can’t believe we’ve failed.”
We heard rustling in the brush behind us. I tried to grab for Leviathan, but my arm was broken. We were screwed. “We haven’t failed yet.” Astrid came climbing out of the branches.
Khloros stepped in front of me. “Who are you and what business do you have here?”
I put my unbroken arm’s hand on his back. “Easy big guy, this is Astrid, in her human form.”
The horse looked at me and back again. “This is a surprise, as I had only ever seen the feline. So this is the true form of the Princess Astrid.”
She came over and helped balance me. “We can talk about this in greater detail once we are out of the open. I found a hunting cabin not too far from here that’s been deserted.”
Astrid led us on about a two mile hike deeper into the forest and sure enough, there was an abandoned cabin with a fire already going. Khloros couldn’t fit inside, so she took me the rest of the way and put me on the bed. My horse put his head through a window close by so he could still watch over me. I love this guy!
He’d stuck his head out to grab a mouthful of grass, but popped back in. In between chews, “How long do you think you will need to recover?”
I closed my eyes and let myself take stock in my condition. Besides the broken arm, I too had a few broken ribs. “Maybe a day or so. I can already feel my body repairing itself.”
Astrid pulled up a seat beside me.
“Physically you will heal, but mentally, that will take time.”
I didn’t even want to think about that right now. I closed my eyes and drifted back to sleep.
****
“Even in death I am tortured.”
The voice startled me. A campfire broke up the blackness that surrounded me and tending to the fire was none other than Vlad the Impaler. “Ahh damnit, I really did die.”
“No, of course you are still alive. I am the dead one, truly dead that is.” I don’t know where he got the wood from, but he put another log on the fire. “I’ve been waiting here for your arrival.”
I was standing, which I found to be odd. Lamenting, “My last dream visitor was George Washington. How things have gone downhill with you being here.”
Two seats appeared, like lawn chairs. Taking a seat, “Trust me, if I was in charge, I would be lighting your sorry ass on fire, but alas I’m just the puppet.”
I took a seat too. In the afterlife, his face was no longer as pale and gaunt as I remembered. “I don’t see you as the puppet type. Who’s pulling the strings Vladdy?”
“That is not the reason I am here, so don’t bother asking again.” He stretched out his long legs and folded his arms across his chest. “We have a common enemy and the one thing I can say about you and your idiot brother is you have honor. The demon that sent me to an earlier than expected grave did not.”
“What happened? I mean honestly we were getting ready to try and kill you too, so don’t think War and I are your friends.”
He gave me a half smirk. “I knew that day would come. I pissed off two Horsemen and lived to tell the tale, so do not think I’m a fool. As for how Kyrule killed me, well even I have weaknesses.”
Turns out old Vlad had a soft spot for the vampires he created. Much like he took advantage of us all those years ago with the lives of the villagers, Kyrule turned the tables on him. Unfortunately, unlike us, the demon was more than happy to slaughter all the vampires there after he got the information he needed, including a mourning Vlad.