Scorched Shadows (The Hellequin Chronicles Book 7)

by Steve McHugh

  Someone threw freezing water in my face, causing me to splutter and cough, but it made sure I was awake. My ribs ached, and I looked down, remembering where Deimos had stabbed me, but saw no wound. I knew I healed fast, but either I’d been out for the better part of a day, or someone had healed me.

  “You’re awake.”

  I turned my head to see Abaddon leaning against the nearby wall. She winked at me.

  “You expected me to be dead?” I asked. My feet hovered three feet above the concrete floor, and they weren’t shackled to anything. That was at least a little good news. I looked up at the shackles to get a more accurate impression of my predicament and found that the chain had been wrapped around a hook suspended from the ceiling. If I could get the hook, I might be able to climb it—it looked sturdy enough—releasing the chain and possibly getting down. I looked back at Abaddon. Although that wasn’t going to be possible with her there.

  There were three blood elves in the large room with me and Abaddon, and Ares stood in the corner by the sturdy metal door, his arms folded over his chest. Okay, so escape was going to have to wait. I glanced down and realized I wore only my jeans. Someone had taken my shoes.

  “Can I at least have a chair to stand on?” I asked. “I assume if you wanted to torture me, you’d have woken me up a while ago.”

  “Get him a chair,” Abaddon told Ares. “And tell Merlin he’s awake.”

  Ares huffed but did as he was told, slamming the door behind him as he left.

  “He really wants you dead,” Abaddon told me. “Deimos, too.”

  I looked over at Deimos, who was leaning against the far wall, and winked. “Hey, dipshit.” I turned back to Abaddon. “They both really should get in line. I think I’ll be busy with every other fucker for a while yet.”

  “I think it’ll be sooner than you’d like.”

  “If you can’t tell, I’m shrugging.”

  Abaddon laughed. “I’ve wanted to meet you for a long time. I’ve lived in this realm for thousands of years, never using my abilities, keeping under the radar, but I’ve heard about you. I thought you were just a nobody when we met in Tartarus, but I was wrong. You’re quite famous. Heard what you’re capable of. Merlin thinks you’d be a great asset in what we plan to do. I think you’re going to be killed before then.”

  “Both excellent options. Any chance I could have a drink of water? Not water thrown at me, but an actual drink?”

  Abaddon picked up a glass and jug from a table beside her and poured some of the water from the jug. She walked toward me, and paused as Ares opened the door, bringing in a metal folding chair. Abaddon took it from him, unfolded it, and placed it in front of me not close enough for me to stand on while she let me drink the cool water.

  “Thanks,” I said.

  Abaddon laughed. “Not exactly a word I was expecting to hear from you.”

  “Just because I want to tear your throat out isn’t exactly a reason to be rude.”

  Abaddon smiled and placed the chair under my feet, allowing me to take some of the strain off my arms. “See, being nice does have benefits.”

  “I’ll show you how nice I can be,” Deimos said from beside me. He punched me in the ribs hard enough for them to break, and I swung to the side, my feet slipping off the chair. It took a lot of effort to stand back on it, as the side of my torso burned with pain.

  “Enough,” Abaddon said. “Know your place, Deimos.”

  Deimos huffed again. “I’ll get you soon enough,” he told me before turning and leaving the room, almost walking into Gawain as they passed one another.

  “He really does not like you,” Gawain said, placing another chair close to me and taking a seat. “‘Hates’ you is probably a better word. And I don’t think you were friends before you stole his wife.”

  I stared at the man I once called a friend, and fought the urge to kick him in the face.

  “You really want to hurt me, don’t you?” Gawain said with a smug grin.

  “Yes,” I admitted. “That would make me very happy.”

  “But then you wouldn’t get to listen to my story.”

  “You’re an asshole. Merlin is behind everything. You all want to rule the world and all the realms, and you’re working with Hera and her clan of psychotic idiots. The thing I don’t get is, why not do this when Arthur was in a coma? Why wait?”

  Gawain laughed. “The last time we saw one another, Merlin really lost his temper, and he shouldn’t have. But you ruined some plans, and then, well, you just pissed him off so damn much. Or pissed me off, depending on how you look at it considering Merlin isn’t exactly in control of his own faculties these days.”

  It dawned on me. “You have mind magic. You’re controlling him? How long?”

  “Oh, we’ll get to the hows and whys soon enough. Actually I want to offer you a job. Head of the SOA. Ares is the head of the LOA. Did you know that? I promoted him after firing Olivia. I’ll track her down and her mutt of a husband and deal with them later. I don’t think they’re ever going to see my way of thinking.”

  “Good luck with that. I really don’t think you understand just how much hard work it’ll take to kill Olivia and Tommy. They’re not pushovers.”

  “Everyone has a weakness, Nate,” Gawain said. “Theirs is their daughter, Kasey. I know Tommy is hiding her, and a lot of her friends, too, but I’ll find them eventually. Kids are such good bargaining chips. It’s amazing that people in their line of work would ever have them, would ever allow themselves to create such a massive weakness that people like me could exploit.”

  There was little point in demanding that he leave them alone. I wasn’t really a credible threat. A thought came to me, and I turned back to Gawain. “You want to offer me a job?”

  “That’s the plan. I don’t think you’re just going to agree and come work with us, if that’s what you think. I think you’ll need some persuasion. I’ve thought that maybe I could use your friends to get you on my side. I’ll leave them alone if you agree to help me.”

  “Help you kill innocent people?”

  Gawain laughed. “Oh, I fear I should start from the beginning. My plan isn’t to kill innocent people—well, not long term. Short term, yes, some people will have to be eliminated, or sacrificed to the greater good, but long term, those who survive will be better off.”

  I stared at Gawain for several seconds. He looked like his younger brother, Mordred, but for the first time I saw the cruelty in his eyes. “What did you do with Asmodeus’s soul jar?”

  He laughed again. I was beginning to hate that laugh even more than I already hated him. “You think I cloned him?”

  “Thought had crossed my mind.”

  “I know of a few people who can clone themselves. They tend to be a bit broken in the head, though.”

  “Because you’re the very model of sanity.”

  Gawain’s eyes grew hard. “You really should watch that mouth of yours. It’ll get you into trouble. I’m trying to be nice. I’m trying to bring you into something wonderful. I’m trying to explain things. My brother is the broken one.” With each sentence his voice got louder, until he was on his feet shouting at me. He moved his hands toward me, and a torrent of magical air smashed into my body, knocking me back, causing me to gasp for my breath.

  He picked up the chair and placed me back on it. “Behave, Nate.” He raised his hand toward me, showing me a bracelet that looked a lot like the ones that Tommy used. “We copied Tommy’s security. You can only use your powers here if you’re wearing a bracelet. They’re not made for each person individually, though. I didn’t really see the point.”

  I looked over at Abaddon and saw the bracelet on her wrist. I hadn’t noticed it before, as I was too groggy. “Why are you doing this, Gawain? I once thought you were a good man. I thought you were my friend.”

  “Well, you were wrong on both counts,” Gawain said as he retook his seat. “Asmodeus was captured by the shadow elves and executed, but his blood and spir
it were kept in vessels. Vessels that Abaddon, at the time, obtained and stowed away with a few well-placed bribes.”

  I glanced over at Abaddon. “You used them on Arthur, didn’t you?”

  “I’m thirty years older than Mordred,” Gawain said. “That time was spent realizing that Merlin had a wildly bad view of how the world should work. And it allowed me to try and find a way to create the tools I needed to move forward. Arthur’s parents were inconsequential. They were humans who had no money, no status, and were frankly disposable. Abaddon found them in a village in northern England, living some pathetic life on a farm. They were offered a lot of money to have a baby.”

  “I waited for thousands of years,” Abaddon said. “I had to decipher the ritual, to find out every little detail. And then I discovered that they were going to re-create us. Again. Different groups tried several times over the centuries, always with little in the way of results, but the use of the dwarven runes was a game changer. No longer would there be unpredictable results, like Pandora, or even myself. I had to use Asmodeus’s blood and spirit to create the weapon we needed.

  “Hera was there, as were Baldr and a few others I selected for their allegiance to Asmodeus when he lived, but I killed the dwarves who helped, to keep their secrets. From conception to birth took less than an hour. The father and mother died shortly after they finished their job of fucking, and then the spirit of Asmodeus and his blood kept Arthur alive. Kept him powerful. When we were done, I took the baby to the one man I knew would take him, the one man I knew wanted a son to carry on his name more than anything.”

  “Uther Pendragon,” Gawain finished. “My lord and master at the time. Or the man who thought he was my lord and master.”

  “My birth and Mordred’s must have been great irritants,” I said.

  “It wasn’t something I was happy about,” Gawain said. “Mordred’s was . . . kept secret from me by my mother, much to my irritation. Arthur was already ten by the time you were both born, you and others like you. Seven in total. We killed one at birth, and his parents, but the others fled after that. Your mother hid you until such time as it was deemed necessary to hand you to Merlin for protection. He wasn’t under our control then. Arthur was strong but not strong enough when you arrived. After you survived . . . after your power manifested and saved you, it was decided you should live.”

  “Very kind of you,” I said.

  “I thought you’d make a better ally,” Gawain continued, ignoring me. “You and Mordred. Despite my early misgivings. The others who were created at the same time as you remained hidden. I did love Mordred, by the way. He was my brother, but unfortunately he was not the man I’d hoped he’d become. Even more unfortunately, killing either of you would have caused issues. So I had decreed that you were to be spared unless I deemed it necessary. That’s why Hera, and people like her, never tried to kill you again. At least, not before Arthur was placed in a coma. And by then I had complete control of the paladins. I wanted you by my side. I needed you by my side. You were powerful beyond what you knew, and frankly it took a lot of effort to keep Merlin in his place. To keep him feeding Arthur, and to keep Arthur’s mind from breaking during the process. Turns out, Mordred making him comatose made it that much easier for me to finally break Merlin’s mind.

  “Mordred unfortunately had to go. He was to be king, but he was beginning to look too closely into a venture I was involved in. I couldn’t risk it. My allies wanted to kill him, but then I decided to break him instead, send him back with a list of people to kill, including you. I figured having one of your best friends as a mortal enemy might push you toward Avalon, might make it easier to get you on our side when Arthur woke.

  “Unfortunately Mordred wasn’t as easily broken as I thought, although he still went after you, which was a nice touch. Went after Merlin, too, after I had Merlin banish him. It was another nice touch turning Merlin against his own son. I also wiped Mordred’s mind. Mordred probably doesn’t remember figuring out that I was one of the people who broke him time and time again while in the company of the blood elves.”

  “Wait, Merlin is Mordred’s dad?” I asked.

  “That’s it? That’s all you take from what I just told you?” Gawain asked.

  “I knew he was sent after me. Although he doesn’t remember you being a part of that. Remembers a lot of others who hurt him, though. I think maybe you created a monster you haven’t quite had to deal with yet. He’s going to kill a lot of your allies. That’s if I don’t get through them first.”

  “You killed Kay. I was especially fond of that man. He was loyal to a fault.”

  “I did. He murdered my wife.”

  “I know, that was my idea. Well, it was Nergal’s idea; I just approved it. Merlin kept sending you away. It was his only hope to save you. I think that’s why he banished Mordred. He couldn’t do anything else but send you as far from me as possible.” He chuckled to himself. “I was a bit annoyed about your wife. A human, that was unexpected. But I knew it would break you, that you would finally embrace everything I always knew was inside of you. Shame Tommy spoiled that party. I’ll have to remember to punish him for it. I have a list of people who won’t survive the coming years; he’s quite near the top. Honestly, all of your friends are near the top. That’s how you’ll prove your loyalty to me.”

  “I’m not going to help you,” I said. “You’re evil. You’re murdering innocent humans, slaughtering them for what? To make a point? And where’s Arthur—is he helping you do all of this?”

  “Arthur is a very helpful man. He’s played his part, and the best thing is, he doesn’t even know he’s playing a part. It’ll take a while before he’s the man I need him to be. I needed to make an enemy I can vanquish. You see, I couldn’t use Nate Garrett as my enemy. I want you on my side, and ruining your name would achieve nothing. But having you watch while Hellequin killed all those people . . . Well, that was always going to spur you on to find me. And then, when I have total control of Avalon, I can go to the humans and tell them that we defeated Hellequin and his allies. That they’re safe now. That we saved them. Then we pass some laws putting me in charge of the security for most countries, and I go from there. I’ll create a world peace force, a force that will only fight those people who wish to destroy humanity, who wish to enslave it. And when I’m done purging everyone who stands against me, I’ll have control of everyone. Merlin, Arthur, Abaddon, Hera, and you by my side. No one would ever dare cross us. And when I’ve saved them all, people will go into the streets and sing my name. Most places are already starting.”

  “You’re killing people so you can be their savior, and thus make it easier to control them.”

  “That’s exactly it. All of these people will bow before us, Nate. They’ll learn about Avalon, about the control we’ve had over the years, and about how when that control wavers awful things happen. They’ll welcome us. They need us. Humanity was never meant to rule itself; it can barely go a day without starting a war or screwing up so badly that part of the planet is forever changed. They don’t deserve to be in charge. They deserve to be mindless. They deserve to be food for those who need it, and playthings for those who desire it. They should be on their fucking knees worshipping us like the gods we are.

  “I spoke to Deimos about being a fake Hellequin, and he jumped at the chance. When Arthur asked you to go to Shadow Falls, you were meant to jump at the chance. He doesn’t know anything about what’s happening right here. He didn’t know about the kidnapping, or the attack. He didn’t know about us using Deimos as Hellequin. At this moment he believes that we can all live in harmony.”

  “You’re using him?”

  Gawain laughed and avoided the question. “Hellequin starts to pledge his allegiance to Shadow Falls, and what a surprise, Nate is already there. But you managed to find out about Tartarus before you were meant to, and that blew the plan all to hell. Deimos was annoyed about that. He wanted to play a cat-and-mouse game with you. He wanted to murder you
r friends, too, but I convinced him otherwise. We both know that your friends would have taken out Deimos, and probably those I sent with him, and the long-term plan was more important than killing them. Make humans afraid of us. And damned if it didn’t work like a charm.”

  “Yeah, it was a good plan. Glad you’ve thought this through and aren’t just being crazy or anything.”

  “I had to wait for a thousand years while Arthur was in a coma to put this plan together. Arthur has charisma; he has everything you could ever want in a leader. I am not easy to get along with, and people don’t always trust me. Yes, some things didn’t pan out, and you managed to delay it more than once, but then Arthur finally woke up. Do you know it took nearly two thousand innocent souls to feed him? I think we finally healed him.

  “When I first started to take control of Merlin’s mind, he had no idea how powerful I really was. I had Abaddon put me through the Harbinger trials at the age of ten. I spent a hundred and twenty years in them. I can’t begin to tell you how I wanted to try out all the awful things Abaddon had me do during my time in there. Merlin fought me at first; he didn’t realize what I was until it was too late, but once he was mine, it was a joy to behold. The paladins helped. They were able to amplify my power to drown out Merlin’s need to fight. They’ll be rewarded for that.”

  I sucked down the anger I felt. “Why Lee?”

  “Why not?” Gawain asked with a chuckle. “The man was an idiot. But he hated you. And he wasn’t hard to find. I offered him some blood—we told him it was Asmodeus’s, but it was just a vampire master’s we had killed—and sent him through the trials, too. I mostly just wanted to see what would happen. And when he was ready, we sent him off to cause havoc. We just needed someone to get into Shadow Falls, into the mountain, and copy down the elven runes on the dais. Once we had those, we could break in and remove Asmodeus’s body. He needed a proper burial. After that Lee’s entire job was to cause problems, piss off Galahad, and get to the ruins to wait to be captured. Then once you showed up—and we knew you would—he was to escape and get into the tunnels beneath the city. He was going to help destroy some of the tunnels so the blood elves could get up into the city.”