Ascension

by A. S. Fenichel

“I know, Gabriel. I love you too.”

  “I am not happy about our next assignment.”

  She took a deep breath, which pressed her tighter to his chest, then released on a sigh. “I am not exactly overjoyed either, but I can see the benefit of getting someone on the inside.”

  “You will not do anything foolish.”

  She gave a short laugh. “That was not a question.”

  “No.”

  “I will only do what is necessary to succeed, and you will do the same.” Her final words tumbled out before she relaxed into sleep.

  * * * *

  Gabriel was glad to be leaving Scotland. His father-in-law’s surly demeanor kept everyone on edge, Belinda most of all. The morning after their wedding, they said their goodbyes to Belinda’s parents and climbed into Thor’s carriage.

  Tubbs rode up top with Thor, but Claire rode with them inside the box.

  He was formulating a plan that he could relay to Reece and Lilly, and he assumed his wife was doing the same.

  She watched out the window and spoke very little.

  Claire silently worked at a bit of sewing.

  The sun dipped into the west and twilight dimmed the interior of the carriage.

  Claire had put her work away.

  Belinda sat back against the cushion and tucked against his side.

  Thor yelled something that none of them understood. The carriage moved faster.

  Belinda lifted her skirts and pulled her sword free.

  Gabriel’s heart pounded as he too armed himself with sword and pistol. They each took to a window.

  Claire sank to the floor of the racing carriage. It was a smart move on the maid’s part. She could have unbalanced the vehicle at that speed, had she not gone to the lowest point.

  He saw the shadows of something coming from the woods both behind them and to the east.

  “I can see hundreds,” Belinda yelled.

  His gut clenched painfully. “Here too. We’re surrounded.”

  The carriage slowed, gunshots and screams followed. The stench of demons filled the air. Methodically, hundreds of demons closed in on the carriage.

  Gabriel grabbed a second pistol from a pocket under the bench and held it out to Claire. “Stay here, shoot anything that comes for you.”

  The maid’s eyes were wide, but she took the weapon and nodded.

  He and Belinda stepped down and closed the door. The demons were a swarm closing in on a central point.

  “I have never seen this many,” Belinda whispered.

  “We cannot win this, Bella.” He’d thought the knowledge of impending death would have made him sad, but fury overrode every other emotion.

  He roared and shot the closest demon in the head. The creature dropped to the rocky ground and never moved again. The other attackers stepped over and on their fallen comrade and continued forward.

  Gabriel let out a battle cry that hardly sounded human. Running toward the hordes of demons, he lifted his weapon in the charge. He worried, but he had learned that Belinda could take care of herself. They would likely both be killed anyway. This way at least they would take a few demons out before the inevitable.

  His sword cut through the midsection of a trebox demon, and he lopped off the bulbous head of a malleus demon. He dodged the weapons of several others and continued his killing spree. Black blood and fetid entrails splattered him with each swing of his weapon.

  The demons put up a good fight. After some time, which could have been minutes or hours, Gabriel had lost track, they turned and rushed away to the southeast. He watched them go in utter confusion.

  “My lord.”

  Gabriel turned toward the shouting voice of Thor.

  The blood-splattered driver held a double-edged sword, but leaned on it as if it was a cane.

  “Are you all right, Thor?”

  Thor pointed.

  Gabriel saw the pale yellow of Belinda’s dress before she disappeared with the demons as they crested the ridge. His heart broke. The pain in his chest was so severe that he was sure that he would die. “How?”

  Thor leaned again on his weapon. “I think they came for her, Gabriel. She was the reason they attacked. They sacrificed all of these troops in order to capture her ladyship.”

  Bodies of dead demons littered the ground, which ran black with their blood.

  Gabriel couldn’t breathe. He’d failed as a soldier and as a husband. The aches and pains of battle couldn’t compare to the agony in his heart.

  Blood ran down Thor’s leg from just below the knee.

  Gabriel knelt down, tore the trouser at the gash and used the fabric to stay the flow of blood. “Where are Tubbs and Claire?”

  “Here, my lord.” Tubbs was in a similar condition, battered and bloody, but whole and Claire peeked out from the carriage window.

  “Are either of you injured?”

  They both said they were not harmed.

  He finished the field bandage and stood up. “Thor, you will have to go to London and tell Reece what has happened, take Claire to safety and get yourself patched up properly. Can you do that?”

  “Of course, but what of you? You can’t be thinking of taking on that bunch all by yourself.”

  “Tubbs and I will follow. They went to a lot of trouble to capture her. They are not going to kill her at least not right away. I have got to go and see where they take her before the trail is lost in these damned Scottish hills. I will send Tubbs back with word as soon as we know something.”

  Thor limped forward and put his hand on Gabriel shoulder. “You should come back with us, make a plan. Going off half-cocked this way is dangerous.”

  He shook off the sympathetic hand. He couldn’t leave her. “Do as I say, Thor. Go now. Tubbs you are with me.”

  They may not have all agreed with his plan, but Thor climbed up and took the reins, Claire stayed in the carriage, and Tubbs followed Gabriel to the southeast.

  Chapter 15

  The army of demons had come for her. Belinda’s stomach rolled at the thought, but she could do little about it.

  Gabriel rushed into the fray and could not see that she was the goal. Her husband had created so much mayhem, it blinded him to the demons passing him and heading directly for her.

  She liked watching him fight. He was fluid and strong, moving with focus and purpose. Nothing stopped him as he charged through the demon ranks and sliced and stabbed dozens. He left a path of decimation in his wake, but it was not enough.

  The enemy had come prepared to leave casualties to get what they wanted. And they wanted her.

  More than twenty had suffered the cut of her blade, before one disarmed her. They swarmed her but when they grabbed hold, they were careful. She was bound with thick rope at the wrists and ankles. They moved swiftly away from her husband, within seconds of her sword hitting the dirt.

  Struggling did no good, so eventually she relaxed and paid attention to their direction and path.

  The demons moved with surprising speed for a group of that size. There must have been two hundred of them all lumbering across the rough Scottish terrain. They didn’t stop all night, not for food or water. They were the perfect marching army, as they had no personal needs. Whatever they had been ordered to do with her, they wouldn’t vary from that plan.

  Belinda fell into fitful sleep several times only to awaken from the jostling trek. Just as well, she needed to stay alert in case an opportunity to escape availed itself.

  It was nearly dawn when they topped a hill and she saw great, dark manor house. Belinda’s heart sank. It was a fortress. Once she was inside, how would she get out and how would Gabriel get to her? She had no idea what part of the country they were in.

  Most of the trees in the surrounding area had been cut, and no grass or crop grew, though the land around the house was flat. Fires burned all around a rocky embankment that protected the house. The mound looked recently constructed. Large roc
ks were stacked to create a seven-foot mountain all around the perimeter of the place. Death and burning flesh permeated the air.

  The building might have been attractive at some earlier date. Now its façade had been stained black and gray. The smoke from the fires might have been the cause. Large windows were dark. No smoke puffed from the many chimneys. All the fires were outside.

  She struggled in the arms of the large demon. She elbowed him in the midsection, but he didn’t even give a satisfying grunt.

  The malleus carried Belinda through a narrow tunnel that burrowed under the rock and ended in the courtyard. Hundreds of demons, some types she had never seen before, filled the yard. Fires burned haphazardly for purposes she couldn’t determine from her position. The demons had several humans they tortured.

  A woman was branded and her screams echoed though the putrid air. An old man hung by the wrists from a staked pole. Belinda prayed for death for these captives. A quick death would be preferable to the torture they endured. She closed her eyes, but there was no shielding herself from the terrible sounds of death and worse.

  Her heart pounded painfully as her fear escalated. The massive doors of the place loomed with carved letters above. From the demon’s arms she read FATUM and a chill ran through her. Above the old carving was crudely carved a snaked wrapped around a fleur-de-lis.

  The symbol of the master.

  Were they too late? Had the master already come?

  Once in the house, black drapery covered all the windows and the walls were covered in red painted symbols, most of which, she didn’t understand. The stench made her gag. Death bled out of every crevice of the tainted house. What torment would they have planned for her? The long night of bumping and her earlier struggle had loosened the rope around her ankles. Maybe it was enough to know where this place was. She could get away and alert the Company. Relaxing her body completely, the bindings slipped off her feet. She twisted, and the malleus holding her lost his grip. She slid to the floor.

  Immediately getting to her feet, she grabbed a lantern from the wall and swung it at the demon’s head. Even with her hands bound, she managed to catch him across the ear and cheek. The glass shattered. The oil caught his skin aflame.

  He patted out the flame emotionless. Black oozed from his cuts and burns, but he barely stumbled when he grabbed at her.

  She sidestepped and ran toward the door. Her legs were weak from lack of circulation.

  Four other Demons swarmed at her pinning her down.

  Her skirts tangled around her legs, making kicking impossible. Her heart sank. It had been a futile effort, but she’d had to try.

  She was trussed up as if she was a pig going to the spit and picked up by the malleus demon.

  The burned malleus carried her through the house.

  She was not beaten or harmed in any way.

  They continued as if nothing had happened. At a single door, the malleus moved forward holding Belinda in his arms while the rest remained behind. He trudged down a steep, narrow stairway.

  Her shoulder banged against the wall with every step and the rope bit into her skin.

  Finally, he stopped at a door, opened it and she was dumped on the hard floor.

  The creature reached for the bottom of her skirts. She tried to back away. Her heart leaped to her throat and her stomach heaved. With her hands and feet tied as they were, there was nothing she could do but try to kick her feet.

  The malleus stilled them with one hand.

  Sweat beaded on her skin.

  Still gripping her feet, he took three small throwing knives from her boots.

  She let her breath out.

  He cut her bindings.

  “Stay.” The demon choked out the human word and his mouth twisted with the attempt to get his lips around it.

  He turned his hulking body around, went through the door and locked it behind him.

  She gasped for breath, trying to regain some energy after her attempt at escape and terror that followed. A small lantern burned from a holder too high for her to reach. It left the small cell in shadows, but it was enough to make out the dusty, rock floor. With all the small pebbles and dust, the space had obviously been dug out under the house recently. She ran her fingers over fresh pick marks. Had the prison had been designed and built just for her?

  It was only about ten feet square and equally deep. She had not gotten a good look at the steps but she’d bet they were uneven, hand carved, out of the stone that lay beneath the manor.

  Why go to so much trouble? Any bedroom with a lock and barred window might have held her. What is it that these demons think I can do?

  The only air came through the small barred window in the thick oak door. She took a deep breath. It was enough air, but easy for them to close over and let her be buried alive if that was their plan. Hoped died in places like her prison. She was sure that Gabriel would come after her. What if he couldn’t follow the demon’s trail on the rocky terrain? What if he lay dead on the battlefield? There were too many variables and her last thought broke her heart.

  With no bed or furniture of any kind, Belinda sat on the ground and leaned against the craggy wall. All she could do was wait. She had no idea what she was waiting for, but something was bound to happen. Her stomach growled noisily and she wondered if her captors would starve her to death. The idea of dying in that painful way was more disturbing than being run through with a sword. A death in battle was what she expected. She couldn’t always win. One day she expected to meet an opponent who would be stronger or faster. But starving to death, she did not relish that outcome.

  She wrapped her arms around her legs and rested her head on her knees. Exhaustion won out over her alarming thoughts.

  The sound of heavy feet on the steps woke her.

  Her heart raced but she stayed where she was. She lifted her head as the lock turned and the door opened. A plate was pushed in quickly and the door and lock secured once again.

  They fear me.

  The smell of meat floated over to her and her stomach clenched violently. Belinda walked over and gave the food a good sniff, before taking a taste. Lamb. No seasoning, but edible. She finished the plate and hoped it wouldn’t be her last meal. Depressing thoughts continued to invade her mind. She’d need her strength for whatever was to come but also needed her mind alert. She couldn’t let fear cripple her.

  Hours passed before the sound of footsteps signaled someone on the steps again. A trebox entered.

  “You are to be presented.” The sound was more grating than voice.

  “To whom?”

  Large lips protruded from his scaly face and his mouth turned down. Black eyes stared at her. “Come. We must not keep him waiting.”

  The spark of fear flicked higher in Belinda’s chest. Whomever she was about to meet was important. Nothing had gone as planned. In fact, they hadn’t even made a plan when she was taken. Still, the idea had been for her to get inside the demon’s lair and she had done that. It was time to gather information.

  “What are all of these marks?” she asked. She pointed to the red painted symbols on the walls once they arrived at the top step.

  Three treboxes and two malleus escorted her through the house. The one who had come into her cell answered. “Powerful prayers to bring the master with less pain.”

  “Pain?”

  “Of course, being born is painful.”

  “And the master is about to be born?”

  “In a manner.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “No more questions.” He grabbed hold of her arm.

  Her instinct was to remove his filthy hand from her skin. She held back in spite of how vile his touch was. Her back stiffened.

  The trebox stared at her and his eyes widened when he realized she could kill him if she chose, and he released her.

  “In there.” He pointed to the double doors. He was afraid to enter the room.

 
; She saw fear on every demon face when the doors opened of their own accord. Whatever was inside had all the demons wide eyed and backing away.

  Belinda’s heart might pound its way out of her chest. She took a breath and stepped through. The doors closed behind her with a definitive bang. She wondered if she would ever see the other side of those doors again.

  It was a ballroom. At least, that’s what it had once been. The middle of the floor had a giant hole in it and a swirling pillar of black smoke filled it and stretched to the thirty-foot ceilings and beyond. The smoke gave no smell nor did she see where anything was burning. It was more of a distortion of her sight.

  The walls were all covered in black and looked as if they’d been charred. Even the windows blackened. No light would breach this space. The red marks continued here. Many of the symbols were from the zodiac. There was a five-pointed star and the head of a goat. The sign of the master marred the large space above the fireplace, but most of the signs she didn’t recognize.

  The only light came from large oil lamps placed on the floor around the room.

  The pillar swirled faster. “What think you of my birthplace, hunter?”

  She was not sure if the voice was in her head or actually in the room. The sound pounded painfully in her skull. “How do you know me?”

  “You are one of the hunters. I know all that there is and ever will be.”

  She had to hold her head against the pain his words caused.

  “Why have you brought me here?”

  “A hunter is required. I thought there would be a man, but you are the most dangerous hunter my minions have seen so far. And you are the daughter of my enemy. Your sire has been an affliction to me for many of your years.”

  Belinda fell to her knees holding her head. She tried to process what he was saying, but the pain inside her skull crippled her. “What do you need me for?”

  “I need a hunter to ease my way into your world. I could come through without, but it would damage me. The recovery would mean delay. With you here that will not be necessary.” His voice softened enough so that the pain eased.

  She returned to her feet again. “What does my father have to do with any of this?”