Alessa released the statue. “In that case, we better make sure we escape and that we bring that with us.”
“Slate, I sure hope you know what you are doing,” Gabriel said.
“So do I.” I went to the door and pushed it open, only to be greeted by a hail of bullets. I slammed it shut again.
“Danielle.” Alessa pointed at the back wall. “Check if anyone is in the corridor in that direction.”
The seeing eye passed through the wall. “It’s clear,” Danielle said.
“This way, then.” Alessa lowered her shoulder and charged, crashing through the wall, creating a hole for the rest of us to follow. “Danielle, keep checking the walls ahead of us, find the way clear.”
The seeing eye passed through the next wall. “This one is good too,” Danielle said, and Alessa crashed through that.
Harps. I leaned down to pick him up, then started after Alessa. I stopped suddenly, realizing that the door was open and that Gabriel and the gemin demon had disappeared.
With the swirl key.
Chapter 27
I ran back to the door and looked outside. Two zombie mages lay on the ground. I sped past them, heading toward the atrium, then jerked to a halt when I saw Grimstar coming toward me. He looked very different from when I’d first seen him. His bowler hat was long gone, and his waistcoat was soaked with blood. He held a knife in his fist. The veneer of jolliness had been replaced by a grim leer.
He opened his hand and his knife rose into the air, hovered in front of him, then zipped toward me.
I fled, turning at the first corner I reached, glancing back in time to see the knife turn the corner and continue to give chase. It traveled much faster than a normal human could, but I was barely able to keep ahead of it, though it slowly gained. Harps clutched tight to my hair. Seeing the door to the back stairwell in front of me, decorated with a splatter of bullet holes, I hesitated momentarily, then charged through, hurling the door closed behind me.
The knife clattered against the closed door. I crouched down, trying to look in all directions at once, seeking the mages who’d fired the last time. When I wasn’t immediately shot at, I straightened out of my crouch and took a better look around. Two mages lay slumped over a balcony on the level below.
Running footsteps made me look up, and I spotted a shadow ascending between two of the higher levels. Hang on, I told Harps, and I began to sprint up the steps.
I don’t think I could let go even if I wanted to, Harps thought. Ever since the zombie knife began to chase us, my toes and fingers are clenched tighter than a baboon’s asshole.
Harps, tell me more about this baboon. Is there a secret you haven’t told me?
Yes. After tonight, I have decided to leave you for an ugly baboon.
An ugly one? We passed the twenty-fifth floor, then the twenty-sixth.
Not as ugly as you, Slate, of course.
Goes without saying. I was surprised that Harps was up for joking; I would have expected him to be stiff with fear.
“Slate, where are you?” Alessa asked through the earpiece. “What happened to you and Gabriel?”
“Just worry about yourself for now,” I said. “Mage team off.”
I was quickly gaining on the figure up ahead, though he reached the top level just ahead of me. A door clicked closed as I reached the landing. I slowed and took a breath, then I pushed open the door and stepped forward.
The thirty-fifth floor was badly lit and had an unfinished look, with bare concrete showing and wires trailing down walls and across the floor. The entire story was wide open with little in the way of walls, just pillars.
Hollow footsteps directed away from me. The blue aura told me that I was pursuing who I thought I had been. “Gabriel,” I said.
“Slate.” He hesitated, then turned around. “You have questions?”
The gemin demon stepped out of a pool of shadow to stand beside the dragongod. He still held the statue.
“You are the traitor, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” he said.
Chapter 28
I approached until I stood directly in front of him. “That doesn’t make any sense.” Even though I had just accused him, and he’d admitted it, I still couldn’t believe it. The aura couldn’t lie. He was a dragongod. How could he be the traitor?
“That’s how I figured it, at least, after you told me the story of what you saw in the cards,” Gabriel said. “From your point of view, I would be a traitor. Given what I had planned. Though I don’t understand what power caused you to gain the prophecy. That’s what fascinated me most.”
“You’ve been working with Grimstar this whole time?”
Gabriel nodded. “He knows me as Constance. I appear to him in the form you saw in the casino.”
“It doesn’t make any sense,” I repeated. “Why play both of us against each other?”
“In a way, the mage team and Grimstar were working together. Grimstar’s actions forced you to redouble your efforts to get the swirl key. And at the end, he trapped you into needing to destroy it. Or so I thought.” I finally understood why Gabriel had brought me in as part of the mage team, despite my being able to recognize his true nature. It was because the green power of the swirl channeled through me, and he needed all five powers to destroy the…
“It’s not a swirl key, is it? It’s…” I hesitated to say it, it sounded so ridiculous.
“Its power can be used to form a portal through the swirl as you saw with Grimstar. But I think you have figured out what it really is. It’s one of the four pillars of creation.”
“Aren’t they important? Why would you want to destroy that?”
“Their destruction will lead to the end of the two worlds.”
“End existence.”
“End your existence,” Gabriel said. “The dragongods came before the pillars and will remain after they are gone.”
“But you love our world more than anyone I know.” Gabriel found joy in every small detail. “Why would you want to end it? You find fascination in new sights, new smells, in everything.”
“Don’t take it personally. You are mortal, as is your world. Death is a natural event to all things mortal.”
“But tell me why. Please. What did humans do to deserve this?”
“It’s not about deserve,” Gabriel said. “You humans have created incredible things, but you are always building with little care for the consequences. Nuclear weapons, mankind-induced environmental disasters, maser guns, black hole research, an artificial intelligence singularity. I’ve no idea what will come first in creating a terminal catastrophe, but it’s only a matter of time until you destroy your own world.”
“Even if that is so, why not let that happen naturally? Why force the end by destroying these pillars?”
“By destroying these pillars, everything will unravel in a tidy way, and something new will be born. A new landscape for the dragongods to explore. A hard reset. It’s better this way.”
“And now? You hid what it is to fool us into destroying it. Now that we know the truth, how will you bring about an end to the pillar?”
“I’ll find someone else to do it.” Gabriel shrugged. “Time is on my side. For now, I’ll just let Grimstar have his underworld on Earth. Let that scenario play out.”
“You know I won’t let that happen.”
Gabriel backed against a wall. “Then you prevent it, and a different scenario plays out. I’ll adapt. It’s what I’ve always liked best, the schemes and maneuvering. Maybe you’ll win a battle or two, but just know that I’ll get my way eventually. Nothing mortal can escape death forever.” With that, Gabriel dissolved into smoke and faded against the wall.
I ran to the window to look outside. The white glimmer of Danielle’s wards surrounded the building, and beyond that were the lights of the city. The only sign of Gabriel leaving was a shadow passing across the moon.
Then he was gone.
Chapter 29
I backed away f
rom the window, still unable to believe what I’d just learned. One of the dragongods wanted to end creation. More than that, Gabriel, someone who I knew and liked, wanted to end every person in the world, and every person yet to come.
How did one even process that?
Slate, the demon, Harps thought.
I turned my attention to where the gemin demon, who held the swirl key, had started to sneak away. When it noticed it had been spotted, it gave a little shrug, put the swirl key on the ground, and slunk away.
I think the gemin is cuter than you, Harps, I thought. With its winks and little shrugs. I might have my replacement for when you go off with your baboon.
That leathery black creature with claws and teeth like razors? Harps thought. That you’d even suggest a thing makes me certain I’m doing the right thing in leaving you.
I bent down to pick the statue up off the ground. It felt heavy for its size, but not heavy enough to suggest it supported the foundations of creation.
“Is that for me?” a voice said. “Thanks, you shouldn’t have.”
I didn’t turn toward the voice, instead just sprinting in the opposite direction. I wasn’t sure how far he could extend his underworld reflection; I just knew I had to keep as far away from Grimstar as I could.
I ran out onto the balcony that overlooked the atrium. Small figures ran across the courtyard far below, but I couldn’t make out exactly what was going on. Closer, the dactyls swooped in lazy circles. I searched for the way down, but I couldn’t find one. I raced to the other side of the balcony, surveying it, trying to figure out how to get down.
I slowed. Scanning the layout on the other three sides of the atrium, I could see that the top three levels were designed differently to the others. No stairs linked the top levels to other balconies. Not only that, but the balconies were larger and extended further out into the atrium, meaning that climbing down would be difficult, if not impossible. I leaned over the railing as far as I dared, far enough that Harps had to scramble off my shoulder and down my back to keep himself safe, but I couldn’t see any good way to get down.
With a shriek, one of the dactyls saw me, flapped its wings, and began to ascend. Others joined it. Even if I had found a route to climb down, having dactyls pecking at me would make that escape impossible. I straightened, waited for Harps to readjust himself on my shoulder, then ran back into the thirty-fifth floor. I paused, scanning the darkness, seeking Grimstar. The area was wide; he couldn’t be everywhere at once, and he didn’t have my speed.
I didn’t spot him, so I just chose a direction far from where I’d last seen him, and sprinted, intending to loop around and get back to the stairwell. I only got quarter of the way across the room before I stepped on a pool of shadow that grabbed my leg and tripped me up. I crashed to the ground, Harps falling off my shoulder and rolling across the floor.
Run, Harps. Get out of here, I thought. I twisted around until I freed my foot, but by then my hands were sucked deep into sticky mud. After a brief struggle, I managed to free myself enough to stand.
Grimstar stood in front of me, a twisted smile on his face, black vines hovering around him, waiting for his commands.
“Grimstar, you don’t understand,” I shouted, holding the statue aloft. “This is not what you think it is. It’s a pillar of creation. Constance, who you thought was helping you, just wanted to use you to get to this. She wants to bring an end to creation.”
“What nonsense is this?” Grimstar stepped closer. “The swirl key created a portal just as Constance promised it would.”
I looked for Harps, but could see no sign of him. That was good. Without me, Harps was smart enough to stay out of trouble. If I was going to fail, at least Harps wouldn’t have to die with me. Though if Gabriel succeeded, nothing would survive, not me, not Harps, not the smallest flower or the largest mountain. I had to make Grimstar see sense. “Constance is a dragongod. He can change shape, and he came to us calling himself Gabriel, and he came to you as Constance, playing us against each other in order to give himself a chance to destroy this statue, one of the pillars of creation. He’s decided to end existence.”
“You think telling me a gypsy fairytale will save you?” Grimstar lifting his hands, and the black vines all around him rose higher, preparing to attack.
“It’s not a fairytale, the dragongod told me it himself. He’ll be ending the underworld as well as Earth. I’m sure demons want the two worlds to end as little as we do.” If Grimstar wouldn’t listen to reason, perhaps the demon who gave him his power would.
Grimstar looked around as if listening to something, and the vines froze in mid-air. Was something or someone making an intervention? Over the top of the trees, those two crimson eyes watched us.
“Enough,” Grimstar announced, gesturing the black vines onward. While the underworld was coming for me, though, something was creeping up behind Grimstar. A little familiar.
No, I thought. Harps, don’t.
He bounded up the back of Grimstar’s suit, and, before Grimstar had a chance to defend himself, Harps wrapped himself around Grimstar’s face.
Go, Harps thought. Get away.
The vines stilled, and the mud no longer clung to my feet as strongly. I staggered back and the further I got away, the easier it got until I was out of the underworld reflection and moving freely.
“Stop,” Grimstar shouted. I turned back to see him holding Harps by the scruff of the neck. He gave Harps a violent shake.
“You are going to flee and leave your loyal companion at my mercy?” Grimstar asked. “Truly, it’s become a farce to call any helsing a warrior. Are you going to need a vampire to save you again? You have no fight at all in you.”
“Don’t hurt him,” I said, preparing to attack once more. It didn’t matter how much he overpowered me, I couldn’t just flee. I was a helsing warrior. Whether I lost or won, the most important thing was that I went down fighting. I stuffed the pillar of creation into my inside pocket, and took out two knives.
Grimstar smiled a dark smile. “That’s more like it. You have trained all your life to sacrifice yourself in the fight against evil, isn’t that what you told me before? I’m feeling generous; I’ll allow you that honor.”
No, Slate, you have to go, Harps thought. You don’t know how hard it was to come out of hiding to attack.
I know how hard it was for you. Tears threatened to fall.
My job is to protect you, Harps thought, not the other way around, and I finally summoned the courage to help. Don’t let it mean nothing.
I am a helsing warrior. When all hope is lost, I stand alone against the forces of evil.
You aren’t alone, Harps thought. And hope isn’t lost.
If Gabriel was the traitor, it meant the rest of the mage team weren’t. I had done each of them wrong by suspecting them and by hiding what I knew from them. In other ways, too.
I backed away from Grimstar.
“Coward!” he screamed. He flung Harps against a pillar. Harps’s scream was cut short when his little body smacked against the concrete. He slid down to the floor.
“Harps!” I shouted.
Harps gave a little shuddering cough, spitting out blood. Go. The thought was like none I’d ever received from him before, tentative and full of pain.
Harps, tell me you are still okay! my mind screamed at him.
But Harps’s thoughts had gone blank.
Grimstar strode forward. My hands tightened on the knives. Everything inside me screamed at me to charge mindlessly at him, defend Harps whatever the cost. All my training, everything Dagger had taught me, told me to stay and fight.
I couldn’t let Harps’s sacrifice be in vain.
I turned and sprinted for the balcony. Dactyls circled near the top of the atrium. Harps had told me that I wasn’t alone, and I was about to find out if he was right. “Mage team on,” I said. “Alessa, Lionel, Danielle, Becca, I probably don’t deserve your help.” I dived off the balcony, straight down into a cl
uster of dactyls. “But I need it now. I’m falling through the central atrium,” I said.
The dactyls swooped in to attack, and I swiped left and right with my knives at them, but there were too many.
“Lionel?” I shouted in desperation, my flesh becoming bloodied by the claws and teeth of the dactyls which fell alongside me, striking from every angle at once. “Alessa? Anyone?”
Were the rest of them even alive?
Chapter 30
I spun as I fell, lashing out with my knives at the swarming dactyls. The cluster was like a single multi-headed, multi-taloned monster, and though my knife strikes were able to kill a few of them, it had little effect on the whole.
Pain was constant. My body jerked as several bites sunk deeply into my flesh, sending lances of agony deep within me. My arms flailed, my strikes lacking precision and force as energy drained from my body.
Not that it mattered. If the dactyls didn’t kill me, the courtyard paving stones would. Helsing warriors were tough, but I couldn’t survive this long of a fall. At least, not in any state to defend myself from further attacks.
Something heavy landed on my stomach, and I stabbed at the dactyl closest to my head so I could see the latest threat. When I saw a booted foot that shimmered red, I felt renewed hope. When had the red aura gone from meaning absolute evil to salvation?
“You waited until you were actually falling to your death before asking for help,” Alessa said, her sword darting in and out as she attacked the dactyls. “Typical.”
“I was looking to be helped off the ledge, not to be joined by a fellow jumper!” I shouted over the roaring wind. Cold air rushed through my hair, and the edges of my hunting coat whipped upward. Alessa’s leather jacket streamed above her, flapping noisily.
Between the two of us, we forced the dactyls away, giving us some distance.
“Lionel? You can slow us down, right?” Alessa asked, speaking fast. “Like you raised the magtroller?”
Magic After Dark: A Collection of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance Novels Page 84