Empyreal

by Helsel, Spencer

  “You’re worried about my Trial? Seriously?”

  “The plan has not changed.” When he noticed her look of disbelief, he sighed heavily. “As soon as you slay one demon, I will signal Heman. He will arrive with reinforcements. We cannot take them alone.”

  She bit back an angry insult. “Fine. Let’s get this over with.” They hadn’t even started and already the plan went sideways.

  He stepped back from the ledge and then launched across to the next roof. Dani was right behind him.

  As they descended, the demon on the roof spotted them. He looked homeless. His skin was dark brown like hers, but the veil quickly pulled back, revealing the monster underneath. His face became sickly pale. His eyes turned puss-white. His teeth slid out daggers and he rose onto all fours, snarling.

  They landed. Mastema raised his sword. Dani drew hers. “Down foul beast.” Mastema warned.

  It snapped its jaws like a feral dog.

  “Now Daniella.”

  Dani steeled herself and approached, lowering her blade to the side and back. She was calm. Controlled.

  The wraith attacked.

  On all fours, it lumbered towards her, howling. Its nails scrapped the rooftop, spraying gravel and stone. She lined up her strike.

  The wraith lunged. She struck.

  Unfortunately, she didn’t judge right. As her sword came up, the demon jumped over her blade. Skin separated from her cheek as the demon clawed her under her eye.

  She fell and rolled, turning towards it. The demon landed on a vent and vaulted backwards, legs and hands extended, long claws protruding from its fingers.

  This time her sword found its mark.

  The radiant sword went point first through its chest, doubling them both backward. The moment the empyreal sunk through its chest, the creature dissolved with a scream. Dani dropped hard, a cloud of foul chalk billowing around her.

  Dani coughed, trying not to swallow. She shook herself off as she came to her feet. Resisting the urge to vomit demon-dust and her breakfast, she stood. She was bleeding, but alive.

  She won.

  Mastema approached. “You did well.”

  “Not well enough.” She touched her cheek. “Was that it?”

  “What did you expect?”

  “A real fight.” She grinned. She couldn’t help it. “You were tougher.”

  In his own version of cynicism, he said, “Truth is spoken. Come, before the others hear us.”

  Dani and Mastema turned to leave, but before they could, nearly a dozen wraiths crawled over the ledges; same sickly pale faces, same teeth, same white eyes. The demons hissed as they clambered onto the rooftop. At the lead was a big, vicious looking monster with rotten-colored skin around his mouth. His lips pulled back into a razor-filled smile.

  Dani and Mastema both drew their swords, standing back-to-back.

  “Oh look,” she murmured, swallowing her fear, “just what I wanted: a real fight.”

  Chapter Thirty-Eight Nine wraiths made a ring around Dani and Mastema. “We can fly.” She whispered.

  Mastema murmured back. “They will strike before we are able.” “Signal Heman?”

  “I have no fire to send up a flare.”

  “You didn’t bring a flare gun?”

  “Why would I bring a flare gun?”

  “You know, in case we get surrounded.” Facing down demons,

  surrounded, and she decided on humor. She’d make the funniest corpse. “We fight our way out together.” Mastema told her softly. “Get to the

  verge of the roof and fly to the horizon, not up.”

  “Why?”

  “Put distance between you and them.”

  Dani nodded. But then she remembered. “What about the girl?” “Consarn it!”

  The wraiths stalked closer, eager to start snacking. Their putrid,

  snapping jaws frothed. One, a female with greasy black hair, hissed

  teasingly. Her claws slid out like Edward Scissorhands hands, except less

  Tim Burton-y and more Nightmare on Elm Street. She clipped them

  together enticingly. Dani leveled her glowing blade at her.

  And then she got an idea.

  “You can use the veil, right? Go all Hollow Man?”

  “I do not understand.”

  Irritated, she asked, “Can you become invisible?” she was getting

  this man a TV if they survived this.

  Mastema turned his blade from one demon to another. “Yes.” “Good.” Dani drew her knife. “Get ready.”

  “For what?”

  “For an insane plan that might not work.”

  Fear. Dani had it in spades. But fear, as Mastema told her, was

  something to be channeled. She held out her empyreal-steel blades and

  channeled that fear into them. Let’s see how bright I can make these. Two mini suns flared to life. Even Dani looked away. The wraiths

  ducked from the sudden sunbursts. It was all the time Mastema needed. He disappeared from Dani’s back. A second later, he materialized in

  front of one and decapitated the creature. He spun and took down another. Dani took the offensive, too. The glow from her weapons created a

  nimbus effect, and Dani swung. The dark-haired demon didn’t have time to stop her. Both sword and knife dug in, dousing the glowing blades inside her. Light exploded out her throat, nose and eyes as she disintegrated. Dani

  pulled the blades apart, throwing demon dust in every direction. The surprise worked. A third of the monsters were gone.

  Unfortunately, two thirds still remained.

  A wraith attacked, hurtling through the air toward Dani. She

  summoned Aer and blasted it back. She turned, the next monster in front of

  her. She came to a knee and slashed out. It’s leg disappeared below the

  knee. Dani shoved her sword into his belly.

  Another landed on her back. Pain shot up her leg as the creature

  slashed its claws into her thigh. The Arachne-weave took most of the brunt,

  but she screamed and shoved her knife backward, dipping the moltenyellow blade into the top of its skull.

  Mastema slashed through the wraiths. Mastema: destruction and

  anger. He was aptly named. He separated one’s arm at the shoulder, then

  bisected the creature with a single blow. He stabbed one through the chest

  and pulled its heart free with the hook of his blade. Even as more climbed

  over the ledge, he held his ground.

  “Go!” he screamed. “Save the girl!”

  “No! Mastema—!”

  “I said go!”

  Dani was up. He lead the demons away and the roof access was in

  sight. She just had to be quick.

  She dashed across the roof, sheathing her knife and throwing open

  the door. Stairs. She jumped down the first flight, the sounds of battle

  fading behind her. Only her sword lit the way.

  The stairs led to a single doorway stripped off its hinges. Dani shot

  through onto a gangplank above the loading bay. Two or three trucks could

  fit inside, but it was empty. Instead, the demons nested here; something—

  or many somethings rather—created little sleeping areas out of disgusting

  refuge. And three waited inside.

  They surrounded the blonde girl in the middle of the dock area.

  They saw and snarled at Dani like dogs with a fresh kill. In front of them sat

  a small table with lit candles. What the hell was that? Mood lighting for

  Sunday dinner?

  “You want something to eat? Try something with teeth!” she raised

  her weapon.

  One of them vaulted from the ground onto the railing next to her.

  Dani slashed with her sword, but it ducked back, flipping onto the

  gangplank. It sprang at her, claws extended. Dani, instead of standing her ground, rolled f
orward with sword raised. Her blade sliced along his body from sternum to belly as he descended. By the time she reached anything he

  might need in the future, he was ash.

  She jumped the railing and levitated down to the floor. Her feet

  landed hard and she drew her knife, ready to take on the last two. “Now, now, boys,” her weapons flared a little brighter as she poured

  her anger and fear into them, “there’s plenty to go around. Come and get it.” The beasts shambled at her, howling for blood. She couldn’t fight

  them together, so she rolled between them. They slashed at her with their

  claws, but missed. She landed in front of the girl and the table with candles,

  coming up to put herself between the animals and their victim. “Okay, maybe we try this again.” Dani warned. “Leave now and you

  don’t die. The girl means nothing to you. Leave and you live.” The creatures sauntered forward, keeping low on hands and feet,

  jaws snapping.

  “What is with you guys? Is she worth dying for?”

  “Yes.” Hissed a voice behind her. “I am.”

  Something snapped around Dani’s throat, yanking her head back.

  Her wide eyes came face to face with the girl she came to save.

  Unfortunately, she wasn’t a girl.

  Her hair was a sallow, pale yellow, but her face was the truly

  horrible thing. The skin was rotten. Open, oozing wounds bled all kinds of

  foul fluid as her cracked lips peeled back in a twisted smile. She stank of

  rotten eggs, tightening a cord around Dani’s throat.

  “Yes, Numen, I am that important. I am their messenger; their

  prophet. I come with glad tidings. And I bring blood.”

  Then she opened her mouth and bit down on Dani’s neck. She

  screamed.

  She kept screaming. The demon, whatever it was, chewed into the

  flesh near the base of her neck. Blood spurted out. She could hear deep

  gulps as it slurped up her fresh blood. Dani’s whole right side went numb. She was going to die.

  And then, like a jolt, Dani snapped out of it. Everything Mastema

  taught her kicked in. The muscles in her shoulder tore on its teeth as she

  stabbed up and back, burying her knife into the creature’s neck. It wasn’t a

  killing blow, but the thing released her, lurching back and taking her dagger

  with it.

  “Kill her!” The wraiths surged forward. Dani staggered to her feet. She could

  barely move one arm, but she sure as hell was not going to die without a

  fight.

  She sliced the air in front of the first wraith, missing it. She turned,

  moving foot to foot, striking as the two monsters danced around her. She

  couldn’t land a blow. She was too slow. She lost too much blood. One slashed open her left thigh again. Dani staggered. Another slice

  of claws and her beautiful glowing sword dropped from her hand. Dani collapsed onto a disgusting trash heap. She was weaponless.

  The wraiths drooled hungrily as they closed in for the kill.

  “Kill her!” the blonde demon repeated, yanking the blade from her

  throat. Murky blood oozed from the wound. “Kill the little Numen wench!” As death closed in, Dani felt one last surge of power. She had no

  weapon. The fear of death rushed down her arms. As if guiding it, guiding

  her resolve to live, she willed it into her hands. They burned. And this time,

  Dani knew where to send it.

  Her hands exploded in light; pure, white. It shot from the palms of

  her hand in two brilliant beams. The light struck the wraiths. Their eyes

  widened and mouths opened in a scream. But they couldn’t. As the energy

  struck, their skin, flesh and bone crumbled and collapsed.

  The two demons writhed in pain. Dani screamed for them. It hurt so

  badly, but she poured that energy into them. The light burst through the

  creatures’ backs, burning a hole through them. As if burning them up from

  inside, the light reduced them to dust.

  Staggering to her feet, she closed her hands and the light dissipated.

  What remained of the two wraiths was a little more than smoking ember

  piles.

  She couldn’t believe what she’d just done. And she wasn’t the only

  one.

  “How…?” the blonde demon stared at her, dropping the empyrealsteel dagger to the floor. “That—that’s impossible!”

  Dani’s hands ached. Bleeding, fists clenched, she turned on the

  remaining demons as it backed away.

  “No!” She raised her putrid hands. “You—You—Don’t! Please!” Dani raised her hand. Whatever she did, she didn’t know if she

  could do it again. But the warmth returned. She bared her teeth. “Please!”

  Light erupted from Dani’s hand, lifting the thing off her feet and

  flailing into the opposite wall, where she exploded into ash and dust. The only remnant of the demon was a scorch mark on the wall.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine She hurt. Badly. Dani didn’t know what she did, but she retrieved her swords and unsteadily stumble-climbed the stairs. Her head spun. She felt sick. Was it blood loss? Was it whatever she did to the demons? She wasn’t sure. But Mastema was on the roof. She wouldn’t leave him to die.

  When she pushed through the door, he was on his back on the ground. She could smell the blood on him. His sword clattered away and a demon reared up over him.

  Dani threw out her hands and blasted the thing with light. She didn’t care what this was. Fueled by rage, she shattered the demon apart. The attack was so sudden that the other four leapt back in alarm.

  Dani cast out blasts of light like a goddamn superhero. Again and again, light after light tore through them. One tumbled over the side as her arm reduced to ash. Another lost his head. The remaining two tried to flee. Dani burnt them to ash as they fell over the edge of the building.

  She felt something at her back; a sixth wraith. Its jaws opened to strike. But before he could, something white whipped by and snatched it off his feet. Caesar shrieked, lifting the demon into the sky, turning and throwing it hard over the side into the darkness. Dani heard it wetly land on the pavement below.

  Caesar whipped around and soared back down, fluttering to a perch on the nearest power line. “I got ya back, honey!”

  Dani staggered, smiling. “Thanks Caesar.”

  “Is your Guardian okay?”

  “Mastema!” Dani slid down next to him. Bloody gashes crisscrossed his face, neck and arms. The wounds were deep. “Mastema!”

  She touched him and he groaned in pain. He was alive.

  “It’s okay!” Relief washed through her. “I’m here!”

  “Demons…” he moaned.

  “They’re dead.”

  “Need…panacea…”

  “I’ll get it.” She stood, but her vision swam. She lurched to one side.

  “Dani?”

  “Caesar…go get…help…” she held up her hands. The skin was raw and blackened, peeling away bloody in places. She nearly vomited. “Get…Alecto…”

  Then darkness rolled over her.

  ______________________

  The first thing she heard was Heman’s voice and the tone wasn’t kind. “It is impossible that the two of you alone destroyed a nest of this size.”

  Mastema’s voice was equally unkind. “And if you were not here, then who aided us?”

  “I will not believe that a single Novice and her Guardian completed such a task.”

  “You call me dishonest, Elder?”

  “I call the situation impossible. Two Numen could not accomplish such a feat.”

  Another voice: Alecto’s. “We found them nearly dead.”

  Silence. Dani’s eyes drifted open,
staring into the starless night sky. Standing over her, Mastema, Alecto and Heman argued with one another.

  “Yes,” Heman said, gripping his sheathed sword, “but with so many demons—”

  “Demons of which you failed to inform us.” Mastema interrupted harshly. She was surprised to hear him raising his voice. “We walked into an army and barely survived. I will not stand by while the one responsible questions our account of the events.”

  “How dare you!”

  “The truth is,” Alecto stepped in, “that there are many questions we cannot answer. The Trial cannot be declared a success,” Heman tensed and she consoled, “or a failure without the facts.”

  “What facts?” Dani murmured.

  Both Mastema and Alecto dropped to their knees and helped her sit up. He held a vial to her mouth and poured it in. Dani choked on the panacea. “Ugh!”

  “Drink.” He ordered.

  She did, finishing the vial. Warmth rushed through her body as the elixir did its work. It still tasted like the underside of someone’s shoe, though. “You really need to flavor that stuff.”

  “You are lucky to be alive.” Alecto said. “You fell unconscious.”

  “And I really wish this was the first time.” She grumbled. It happened a lot recently.

  A bandage covered the side of her neck where the demon bit her and two more covered her thigh and arm. But her hands were the worst. Bound in gauze-like bandages, she could feel the painful burns with each movement.

  “We must know how the two of you killed so many.” Heman told her. “Even a well-armed contingent of Powers would be hard-tasked to destroy this number.”

  Dani tried to think of a way to explain. She could shoot laser beams out of her hands. How do you even start that conversation?

  A hawk screech brought everyone’s attention skyward. Caesar swooped down to rest beside Dani. The bird nuzzled her.

  “Hey girl.” She said. “Sorry it took so long to get them here. I didn’t want to leave you.”

  Alecto nodded to the bird. “The caladrius came to me. It saved your life.”

  “It’s a she.” Dani told him. “And her name is Caesar.”

  “You know this bird?”

  “Novice Daniella can speak the avian tongue.” Mastema told her. He eyed Heman. “Do you still believe she is just a Novice?”

  Heman didn’t look impressed. “It still does not explain your success.”