Conrad Edison and The Living Curse (Overworld Arcanum Book 1)
Page 30
"Can we squash it?" I asked.
"I have a better suggestion." Tyler cupped his hands to his mouth and shouted, "Run!"
"Hold your ground!" Carswell commanded his people. "Prepare to engage with lancers."
The creature closed to within several yards of the Custodians.
Carswell swung forward his arm. "Fire!"
Silver darts whistled through the air and pinged off the crawler's armor.
"You can't kill that thing with darts and swords," Tyler said. "Its armor is too tough."
Sticks removed two short rods from within his suit and raced toward the monster. He leapt, brandished the rods in each hand, and flicked them. They extended to thick staffs, each one with a curving blade at the end. The crawler shrieked and pounced. Sticks whirled his staffs and somehow knocked the creature aside in mid-air.
The crawler's claws scraped across the concrete like nails on a chalkboard, drawing sparks and making the hairs on my head stand on end. Sticks was on the creature almost immediately, staffs blurring, chitin flying as he hacked away at the tough armor.
"He's not going to win," Tyler said.
"Is there anything we can do?" George asked.
Tyler bit his lip. "Crawlers have a soft spot we might be able to exploit, but it'll be tricky."
"Just tell me what to do," George said.
"No." Tyler shook his head. "Let me try." He stepped toward the battle.
I grabbed his arm. "Are you crazy? You don't even have a weapon."
"If this works, I won't need one." He patted my hand. "I'll be fine."
Before I could argue with him, he easily slipped out of my grasp and raced toward Sticks and the crawler.
Unable to simply sit back and watch, I followed.
George moved swiftly to block my path. "Miss Glass, perhaps you should remain here."
"Out of my way." I glared at him.
"Mr. Rock possesses superhuman reflexes, which may preserve his life." He raised an eyebrow. "What if you get in the way and cause him to hesitate at a critical moment?"
I hadn't thought about that. From the way the crawler leapt back and forth like a giant jumping spider, it was likely I would get pounced if I went anywhere near it. "Fine."
"Don't worry. I have Arcanes on the way to help."
"Those are the witches and wizards?" I asked.
He returned a grim smile. "Something like that."
Tyler yelled instructions to Sticks. "Let me lure it away. I'll let it think it has me. When it goes to feed, it'll open its armor and shoot a tube at me. That's when I need you to strike, okay?"
Sticks batted aside a needle-sharp crawler leg, spun, and sliced through the appendage where he'd weakened the chitin. Sweat trickled down his forehead. He glanced at Tyler and nodded.
Tyler shouted and waved at the crawler. Sensing easier prey, it leapt toward him. Rather than fight it, Tyler backed away slowly, like a cornered animal.
I could barely stand to watch. I felt powerless. Hopeless. The man I loved was about to be devoured by a creature of Hell and I had no way of helping him short of discovering a flamethrower.
Tyler tripped and fell backward. The crawler lunged. I screamed.
He rolled side-to-side as the crawler's barbed feet tried to pin him to the ground. The shape of a human face writhed beneath the creature's armor where a spider's head might be. The face stretched into a smile. The chitin split open and a glistening black tube the size of my arm shot toward Tyler's head.
His hands flashed out and caught the protuberance. A round mouth lined with teeth snapped in his face. Tyler squeezed. The face within the monster shrieked in pain. Its front legs stabbed at Tyler. He narrowly dodged the thrusts.
"Now would be a good time, Sticks!" he shouted. Tyler clenched his teeth and squeezed the tube.
The crawler shuddered and screamed in pain.
Sticks flipped over the monster. His eyes locked onto the tender spot and followed up with a lightning thrust. The blade on his staff plunged deep into the opening. The face beneath the crawler's chitin unleashed a deafening shriek. Sticks braced his feet and drove the staff even deeper into the demon.
"Twist it like a blender," Tyler yelled. "Churn its insides like a frozen margarita!"
Sticks moved the staff back and forth like a rower. The other Custodians came up behind the monster and began hacking at its legs. With a final shudder, the crawler collapsed. Tyler rolled free at the last minute, hopped to his feet, and brushed off his hands.
"Anyone have hand sanitizer?" he asked, his wolfish grin back in place.
Carswell took something from a pouch on his belt and sprayed it into my boyfriend's outstretched hands.
"Thanks, man." Tyler rubbed his hands together.
I launched myself at him and squeezed him in a fierce hug. "You crazy asshole!" I backed away and pounded his chest with my fists. "What were you thinking?"
He gripped my wrists and held me at bay. "Obviously, I was thinking about a nice cold drink with the margarita comment." Tyler pecked a kiss on my nose. "You're kind of cute when you're mad, Em."
I blew out a breath. "You're lucky I don't have superhuman strength, or I'd bend you over my knee this minute." I suddenly remembered we weren't alone and felt heat creeping up my face. Thankfully, most of the others were preoccupied looking at the dead crawler.
Sticks turned around and gave Tyler a nod.
"I agree, Mr. Sticks." George looked at the dead crawler and shook his head. "Mr. Rock is no ordinary demon." He tilted his head slightly. "How did you know about the creature's weakness?"
"One of my former acquaintances told me about it," Tyler replied.
"Another demon?"
"Yeah." Tyler's voice lost its excited edge. "There are some people who summon demons and make them fight. He was unfortunate enough to be one of their favorite summons."
"Demonic gladiator matches?" George looked mildly surprised. "I've never heard of such a thing."
"They're more popular than you might think." Tyler shrugged. "You just have to pray your name never ends up in a demonomicon."
"That brings me back to my original question about the demonicus," George said. "What purpose does it serve?"
"The demonomicon is a directory of all known demon names. I heard about it from my former acquaintances. Each demon name is associated with a pattern." Tyler pointed to the different patterns on the floor. "The smaller patterns are lesser demons." He wrinkled his nose. "If they knew my pattern, it would be about that size."
"I'm sure you have a very large pattern," I mumbled.
George cast me a questioning look, but said nothing.
Tyler flashed me a smile, and I abruptly remembered everyone here except me probably had supernatural hearing. My face went hot, but I kept my head up and pretended not to care.
Tyler returned to the patterns, this time pointing out the large one in the middle. "The bigger and more complex the pattern, the more powerful the demon." He sighed and shook his head. "I'm no expert, but the size and complexity of this pattern means someone summoned a demon of epic proportions." He pointed to the soulless bodies. "And it ate all their souls for breakfast."
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Books by John Corwin:
The Overworld Chronicles:
Sweet Blood of Mine
Dark Light of Mine
Fallen Angel of Mine
Dread Nemesis of Mine
Twisted Sister of Mine
Dearest Mother of Mine
Infernal Father of Mine
Sinister Seraphim of Mine
Wicked War of Mine
Dire Destiny of Ours
Overworld Continuum:
Aetherial Annihilation
Overworld Underground:
Possessed By You
Demonicus
Overworld Arcanum:
C
onrad Edison and the Living Curse
Stand Alone Novels:
No Darker Fate
The Next Thing I Knew
Outsourced
Seventh
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Chapter Meet the Author
John Corwin is the bestselling author of the Overworld Chronicles. He enjoys long walks on the beach and is a firm believer in puppies and kittens.
After years of getting into trouble thanks to his overactive imagination, John abandoned his male modeling career to write books.
He resides in Atlanta.
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Aetherial Annihilation Chapter 1
Aetherial Annihilation Chapter 2
Demonicus Chapter 1
Demonicus Chapter 2
Chapter Meet the Author