by Amy Braun
It pained me to admit, but I’d always had a morbid fascination with Kade’s fighting skill. He lived up to the madness of his true name, never more in his element than when he was in control and destroying his enemies every ruthless way he knew how.
When some of the Soulless scrabbled over the wall, the human Vermilions scampered back, and Kade took their place. He used his war hammer to take out the first Soulless before he even landed on the ground, swinging the massive weapon into the falling man’s chest and pinning him to the wall. Blood burst around the edge of the hammer and the man slumped forward, every bone inside his chest crushed.
Kade took his hammer back, never missing a step as four other Soulless dropped behind the wall. They hesitated to take Kade on, but my brother didn’t have such reservations. He lunged forward and swung the hammer again, crashing it into the skull of the Soulless on his right. He pivoted again, sweeping low and catching the Soulless on his left in the knee. I watched the man’s kneecap bend out of its joint, sticking out horrifically from the other side of his leg.
The Soulless closest to the wall tried to lunge at my brother, but Kade saw him coming. He jabbed his elbow back, breaking the Soulless’ nose when the strike connected. The last standing Soulless tried to run, but Kade was faster. He swung the hammer around, using the crevice to grab his opponent’s neck. He pulled the Soulless man back, driving his knee into his victim’s spine. Kade bent the man at a terrible angle, until it was clear the Soulless’ back was broken. Kade released him and launched the hammer into the temple of the broken-nosed Soulless. As he stumbled to the side, Kade drew a huge knife from his belt and shoved it into the ear of the Soulless. He twisted it once, and let the Soulless fall dead.
Kade made short work of the Soulless lying on the ground. His hammer crashed into their fallen bodies, turning their heads into chunky red stains on the concrete. Kade didn’t check on his men. He marched over to the side of the bridge overlooking the empty canal below. He rested his hammer against the banister, lifted up both his hands, and pulled on the angry power residing inside of him.
Thick red smoke rose from his skin, wrapping around his hands and turning into jets of blood red fire. The flames rocketed out into the crowd of Plagued and Soulless near the wall, rising until it draped over them like a burning blanket. Aside from the screams of the Soulless, there wasn’t much to hear. Plagued didn’t respond to pain.
But the smell… Even I couldn’t remember the last time I’d smelled something that terrible. It was probably the same kind of smell Hell had when it hosted a barbecue with human meat.
With the amount of power and fire Kade was using, you’d think that he’d torch any demons trying to get in from the other side. Just as I was thinking Lady Luck might have winked at us for once, a huge tidal wave of black and red demonfire roared over the side of the wall and tumbled toward Kade.
My brother let go of his flames and rolled out of the way. He escaped unscathed, but the Vermilions behind him weren’t as fortunate. The demonfire consumed them in one heated blast, their screams cut short as they were turned to a pile of cinders.
Kade ignored them, got to his feet, and finally saw us.
I’d never really been terrified of Kade. Intimidated and a little scared, yes. But never completely fearing for my life. Kade was serious in War-mode, and he liked to play with his victims before he crushed them.
But looking into his eyes, darker than any depth of space, absolute fear was the only thing I could feel.
“You,” Kade hissed, stomping toward us, blood swinging off the end of his war hammer. “What the fuck did you do?!”
The closer he got to us, the more I could see his rage wasn’t directed at me or Simon or Logan, who he didn’t seem to notice yet.
He was furious with Maddy.
I stood in front of her, hoping to hide her smaller frame with my body. Kade came up short, red smoke seeping from his skin as his eyes pierced me.
“Get the fuck out of my way, Avery,” warned Kade. It was the kind of tone he only used once.
“She was with me,” I reasoned. “Whatever you think she did–”
“What she did was call the demons here!” Kade erupted. “Someone let them in, and my people don’t know how to do that, so don’t tell me it was someone else–”
His rant would have gone on, if the wall hadn’t exploded.
The rumbling crack and crunching squeals of stone and metal made us all forget about Kade’s temper. The manmade wall now had a huge fracture running down the middle like a fault line, black edged flames curling around the edges like a claws. Past the new halves of the wall was a swarming mass of hungry Plagued and Soulless, but I could spot a familiar hat in the crowd.
Even with hundreds of walking corpses and Soulless men and women around him, Vance wasn’t even nudged. He stood there with a huge grin on his face, and tipped his cowboy hat in our direction. Kade cursed and hurled a ball of red fire at the horde coming through the broken wall. It burned tall and fierce, but it was only a distraction. Kade shouted orders at the remaining Vermilions to move back into the hotel, knowing it was only a matter of time before the Plagued and Soulless got through.
The rest of us didn’t move.
“Avery.”
Maddy’s voice was quiet, so small under the racket ahead of us I almost didn’t hear her. I turned around and looked at the human girl. She seemed so small, unsure of where she should be. I put my hands on her shoulders.
“Get inside, Mads.”
She hesitated, like she wanted to stay and fight with me instead. It was sweet, but I knew she wouldn’t last long out here. Not with Vance, or Kade for that matter.
“Go find Josh,” I told her. “We’ve got this.”
Maddy’s surety came back slowly, but the fear didn’t leave her eyes. Maddy nodded once and backed away, turning and running for the hotel entrance with the rest of the humans. I didn’t have time to check and see if she made it, because the rest of the monsters finally broke down the wall.
They poured over the crumbling wreckage like blood from a wound, shoving each other aside to get to us. I couldn’t see Vance any more, but I knew he was there.
We reacted without needing to think or speak. It was like it had been during the Tribulation, when we were first brought up from the depths of the earth and left to our own devices. We knew what we had to do.
And we did it fucking well. Kade greeted the horde with a single, sweeping blast of fire. He held onto it while Logan rushed to his side, raising his hands to form an intricate web of pale smoke. It looked like a fisherman's net as Logan tossed it into the air, and it floated over and past Kade’s fire, and dropping onto the unsuspecting masses beyond.
As brutally effective as Kade and Logan were, it wasn’t enough. Smarter Soulless dodged the fire and death from my older brothers, and some of the Plagued stumbled off to the side of the fight, trudging forward with hunger in their eyes.
That was when Simon and I joined the fight.
He started off using his bow, firing arrows as he walked to the left, each shot finding a mark faster than the last. Soon the bow became impractical, and Simon tossed it on his back, going for hand-to-hand combat.
Sometimes I forgot Simon was a fighter as much as the rest of us. He played the weak one, letting one of the Soulless throw the first punch. Then he blocked the hit, filled his hand with white smoke, and plowed it into the Soulless’ gut. He gasped and tried to scream, but it came out as a hissing rasp. His face lost all shape as it dried out, Simon leeching all the life and strength from him. Once he subdued the Soulless in front of him, he whipped around and threw a devastating roundhouse at the one sneaking up behind him. When the monsters tried to surround him, Simon flexed his fingers, shooting out daggers of white smoke with perfect accuracy.
Fuck whatever Kade said. Simon was a ferocious opponent, not someone you’d want to brush off casually.
While this was going on, I charged to the other side of Kade, using my
machete like an extension of my arm to cut down any stragglers. I shoved the heavy blade into a Soulless man’s chest, severing his spinal column, then slashed it across the face of a Plagued woman lurching toward me. Black claws reached for my throat, but I leaned away, flipped the hold on my machete, and swung up. The Soulless man screamed as his hand became a stump, at least until I sliced open his neck.
More Soulless claws lunged for me while Plagued teeth gnashed eagerly. Not using my power was difficult. The temptation lingered under my skin, teasing and begging me. Promising to be good, even when I wasn’t. Reminding me I was becoming more human, and a human couldn’t beat these kinds of numbers.
So I was going to have to make do with my physical strength for now.
As I moved deeper into the crowd of Plagued and Soulless, my older brothers let go of their powers. By then, half the Plagued and Soulless were nothing more than charred, motionless heaps on the ground. Even more were being emaciated by Simon. Kade and Logan followed the same direct approach I was. Kade climbed over the blackened remains of the dead, swinging his hammer in unforgiving waves. Logan was across from him, gracefully moving from enemy to enemy, punching and kicking and instantly killing anyone he touched. The pile of bodies continued to grow as Simon sent out darts of smoke to starve his opponents. I was beginning to feel inferior amongst my brothers, watching them use their natural gifts while I played with a sharp blade like a good little near-human.
Whole lot of good that did me when a jet of demonfire careened my way.
I scrambled to get out of the way, my tired human body struggling to sync with my much faster, supernatural brain. Both parts of me finally synchronized at the last second, forcing me to dive, tuck, and roll when the blast slammed into the banister at my back. I came up with the machete gripped securely in my hand, but he was still too fast for me.
He must have been moving even as he threw the demonfire, because Vance was suddenly in front of me and kicking me in the chest.
I stumbled and almost fell on my ass, but stayed on my feet and swung the machete in a low arc, hoping to eviscerate him. No such luck, since the bastard jumped to my left and aimed at right hook at my head. I twisted and slashed at him again, but Vance gave up the hook and turned it into a low block, the crook of his elbow catching my arm and raising it up. He bent my trapped arm painfully, wrenching the machete from me with his free hand. He kept my arm pinned, bending my arm again and sending a piercing rush of pain through it. I winced and watched his free hand curve into a fist, ready to punch my arm the entirely wrong way so it would break.
No thanks, I thought quickly. I lashed out with my left foot, catching Vance in the ribs. He absorbed the hit and loosened his hold enough for me to get my arm free. I kicked out again, but Vance knocked my foot away then darted in close, plowing his elbow into my chest.
I felt the bruise form instantly, my body still reacting to this newest pain as Vance launched an uppercut into my chin. My teeth rattled and I tasted blood from where I bit into my tongue, but nothing I felt externally was as strong as the adrenaline-laced anger coursing through my veins.
When I brought my head down, Vance was smiling at me. His wide brimmed hat darkened his face, illuminating his burning coal eyes. He almost looked stoned from the excitement pumping through him. He could have finished me any time with his demonfire, but he wanted this to last. Vance enjoyed hurting anything and anyone. It got him off in ways I didn’t want to think about.
Vance was a sick, mad fuck, and needed to be put down.
“Avery, Avery, Avery,” taunted the demon, his eyes sparking like distantly exploding stars, “you’re making this too easy. Give me a challenge.”
I narrowed my eyes and balled my fists. “Okay.”
I didn’t wait for him to charge me. Vance let me come at him, easily blocking my punches and kicks with a conniving smile on his face. He didn’t try to fight back, just let me attack him like we were having a friendly spar. He wanted me to wear myself out so I wouldn’t be able to defend myself, much less move when he started really beating me to death.
It was nice of him to think I’d fight honorably. That I didn’t have it in me to cheat.
I spun a wide roundhouse kick at his head, knowing he would block it. The move exposed my back dangerously, but Vance was still playing with me. I took a risk, and drew out some venomous black smoke to coil around my fist. I kept my momentum going even after I finished the kick, and planted a solid right cross into Vance’s jaw.
Normally, it would have been nice just to punch the asshole. But I gave him a dose of catalepsy. The smoke that slipped into the demon’s skin immediately targeted his nerves, shocking them until Vance’s body went rigid. Keeping the flow of smoke coming from my body, I sent his muscles into spasms until he lost control over them. Vance scowled, and tried to move, but I didn’t give him the chance. Once the smoke moved his body through the basics of catalepsy, I tweaked my design. Instead of following the rules and letting the nervous disorder dull Vance’s pain sensory, I amplified it.
I wanted everything around him to be an agonizing shock. I wanted him to suffer like all those humans he captured and tortured had suffered. I wanted him to pay for the Vermilions he killed. I wanted him to see that the high and mighty often fell harder than those they stepped on.
Once I was sure the disorder had completely corrupted Vance’s nerves, I stepped back. He was struggling to stand, anger pulsing off him so heavily I could almost see it. I would have been amused at how I’d turned the tables, even though Logan had warned me not to use my powers. But it had been the only way I could beat Vance. He was physically stronger than me, and my powers wouldn’t shield me from demonfire.
As it was, I didn’t have time to reflect on my achievement. I just leaped and snapped a kick into his chin as hard as I could.
Vance collapsed, his body hitting the ground hard. If it weren’t for the disease I put into him, I don’t think he would have screamed as loud as he did. After what I did to him, a paper cut would feel like a knife wound.
Keeping Vance in my peripherals, I glanced at my brothers. The pile of bodies they’d created was incredible. There were hundreds of them, some of them heaped and charred like logs after a bonfire, some of them as thin as twigs, and the rest simply not moving. Some of the bodies were piled five feet high. A few of the remaining Soulless were writhing on the ground. I winced at their cries. These were the ones connected to Vance. They felt whatever he was feeling.
I didn’t feel too guilty about kicking their asses– it was them or me– but that didn’t mean I enjoyed listening to their pain.
My brothers heard Vance’s agonized howls and made their way over to me. Kade and Simon were their usual selves, furious and nervous respectively. Logan looked disappointed.
Kade shouldered past me, dropped to his knees and hoisted Vance up by the collar of his shirt. He started raining down blows with so much speed and force I backed out of his way, worried he’d lose control and hit me instead. I stood next to Simon, watching Kade pummel the demon. I winced at the sound of every cracking bone, shuddered as hard knuckles split skin, and had to look away when I saw a single white tooth tumble from the corner of Vance’s mouth.
There was no way to get used to seeing Kade beat on someone like that, but what made it even worse were the screams. Not just the ones coming from Vance, whose pain reception was amplified tenfold, making every punch feel like it was being delivered by a wrecking ball, but the voices of the Soulless who were feeling the same pain as the creature they’d given their souls to. I shouldn’t have cared, since both the demon and his minions would’ve torn my throat out with giddy enthusiasm, but they shouldn’t suffer the way their master was. They made their choice, to give up their souls and live longer lives, and it was a mistake they had to pay for, but not like this. They couldn’t be saved, but they could at least have a quick death.
Kade finally stopped pulverizing Vance, though not because he had the same moral issues I di
d.
“How the fuck did you pull this off?” my brother screamed in the demon’s face. “Tell me!”