The Dark Storm

by Kris Greene

  “Wait a second; why are you guys sitting here arguing over me like I’m a lawn tool?” Gabriel looked from Asha to Rogue. “Nobody is gonna handle anything. All I wanna do is find my grandfather and be rid of this thing. Now, if you wanna help me, I’ll gladly take the help, but if not, let me off on the next corner and stay out of my way.”

  Rogue and Asha looked at each other knowingly. If Gabriel wanted to take the Nimrod and leave, there wasn’t much either of them would be able to do about it. “Okay, Gabe. We can go back to—”

  “Fuck!” Asha’s scream cut off Rogue’s statement. She was in the backseat clutching her head as if she was in great pain.

  “Are you okay?” Gabriel reached to touch her, but she moved away.

  “No, stay back. I don’t want to risk losing the vision.” She tried to focus on what Azuma was seeing. There was so much going on that she couldn’t make heads or tails of it, but there was blood and shouting coming from everywhere. She heard a loud explosion just before the connection was broken.

  “What did you see?” Rogue asked anxiously.

  “An army . . . blood . . . They’re all being slaughtered, the Great House is falling!” Asha’s words were clipped from the intensity of the vision.

  “I don’t understand.” Gabriel looked to Rogue, who obviously knew something from the worried expression on his face. He threw the car into a U-turn so unexpectedly that Asha and Gabriel were thrown to one side.

  “What the hell is with you, buddy?” Asha was shaking her head clear.

  “The Great House. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before; I’m so freaking stupid.” Rogue punched the steering wheel. He redlined the car up Flushing, praying that he would get there in time.

  “What is it, Rogue?” Gabriel asked.

  “I think I know where your grandfather is.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  “Where did this fog come from?” Morgan wondered aloud when he stepped out of the burning house. Both the Knights and the Inquisitors were on his heels. The entire block was covered in a fog so thick that he couldn’t see his hand in front of his face, but Jackson could see just fine and he didn’t like what he saw.

  “I think we’ve got bigger problems than the weather.” Jackson’s blades slid out. There were shapes moving throughout the fog. He didn’t know what they were, but he knew they weren’t human. He was about to say something when he spotted a shape darting from the fog. He intercepted Illini’s spear right before it made contact with Morgan’s skull. “My, but you’re an ugly son of a bitch,” Jackson taunted the goblin.

  “Die, human!” Illini pushed Jackson away and attacked. The goblin moved inhumanly fast, but Jackson matched him strike for strike. Illini tried to come at Jackson with an overhand strike, which Jackson dodged and countered by slicing him across the stomach. Before Jackson could follow up, a massive fist slammed into his jaw, knocking him to the ground. Before he could figure out which way was up he was snatched to his feet by what could only be described as a monster. The creature holding Jackson was a pale shade of green, with a head that was almost twice the size of a pumpkin. Oversized teeth sat back in his massive jaws while a bone jutted through his lower lip.

  “You don’t know who you’re fucking with.” Jackson rained blows on the creature’s massive head with his steel fists, which only seemed to amuse him.

  “You have spirit for a mortal, and I’m sure you’ll make a fine snack.” The goblin sneered.

  “You’ll find Jackson’s hide pretty tough to chew, especially with no teeth,” a voice called from behind the goblin. When he turned his head in the direction of the voice, Morgan smashed Illini’s face in with the hammer.

  “I owe you one,” Jackson said, picking himself up off the ground.

  “You owe me several, but we’ll settle up another time, old friend.” Morgan swung the hammer in an arc. “We’ve evil to banish.”

  Goblins and wayward Stalkers dashed through the fog cutting down anything in their paths with teeth and steel. In the center of the carnage stood the large goblin that had dragged the cannon through the portal. His massive arms laid down friend and foe, and he devoured those he was quick enough to catch. When Jackson saw the broad smile spread across Morgan’s lips he had a bad feeling.

  “Come on, Red,” Jackson pleaded, but Morgan was already moving towards the goblin.

  “Foul creature, from that which is unclean,” Morgan addressed the goblin. “In the name of my Lord and my family, I cast thee back!” Morgan hurled himself and the hammer at the goblin. The creature let out a mighty roar when Morgan’s hammer connected with his jaw. He staggered backward, falling on the cannon and setting himself and everything around him on fire. Morgan thought that would be the end of the creature, but he came back at him as if he hadn’t even noticed the flames.

  “Oh, damn,” Morgan blurted out as the creature swung for his head. Morgan dodged the blow and delivered a strike with his hammer to the creature’s ribs. He tried to land another blow, but the creature snatched Morgan off the ground, pinning his arm and the hammer at his side. The creature roared triumphantly as he clamped his teeth onto Morgan’s head. When the creature’s teeth shattered against Morgan’s skin he dropped him back to the ground.

  Morgan’s skin was now covered in a stone layer and his eyes ghostly white. “The Dark Order will have no more of my blood in this lifetime.” Morgan hefted the hammer and lunged. This time he put everything he had into the swing. The hammer landed square in the middle of the creature’s forehead, shattering his skull. The goblin huffed and fell over dead at Morgan’s feet. He thought that the worse was over but realized that he had been wrong when Orden stepped from the fog.

  “Usar was one of my most faithful,” Orden said, adjusting his grip on his blade.

  “And now he’s your most dead,” Morgan shot back.

  The two combatants circled each other.

  “You will learn that to slay one of my subjects is an offense that I don’t take lightly,” Orden warned him.

  “And you will learn that we don’t fight fair!” Jackson lunged through the mist with his blades drawn.

  Three fierce-looking goblins leapt from the fog and landed on the front steps of Sanctuary, where De Mona and the others were huddled trying to make sense of what was going on. Brother David tried to scramble back inside, only to be cut down by the goblin’s blade.

  “Brother David!” Julius drew his sword and attacked the goblins. Julius and the two goblins went flying off the steps and disappeared into the fog, leaving De Mona to deal with the other one.

  With a roar the goblin attacked with a spiked club, but De Mona was ready for him. With a slash of her claws she reduced the club to splinters. Before the creature could recover, De Mona opened him from his chest to his neck. The goblin fell down the stairs choking on his blood.

  “If it ain’t one thing it’s another.” De Mona took a defensive stance, alert for more attackers.

  “What’s going on?” Lydia asked, recognizing De Mona’s voice. Fin was at her side, trembling. Unlike the rest of them, he could see perfectly clear in the fog.

  “Goblins!” he belted out before bolting through the fog.

  “Fin,” Lydia called after him.

  “Leave him; we’ve gotta get outta this fog.” De Mona pulled Lydia along.

  “Pity, I thought it was rather romantic,” a familiar voice called from behind De Mona.

  She sighed, knowing who she would see when she turned around. “You can’t be serious.”

  “It will take more than the petty efforts of your ragtag bunch to defeat me.” Riel banged his blade to his chest. He looked like shit from the beating he’d taken earlier, but there was still plenty of fight left in him.

  “Friend of yours?” Lydia asked, backing up, holding her staff defensively.

  “More like a rash that won’t go away,” De Mona told her. “I kicked his ass once; I can do it again.” De Mona rushed Riel, claws bared. A brutish goblin stepped ou
t of the mist between De Mona and her prey and was rewarded by having half his face torn off. De Mona bounded over him in search of Riel, but the demon had disappeared back into the fog. Riel reappeared behind her and caught De Mona with a crushing right hook. De Mona spun and landed awkwardly, banging her head on the ground.

  Lydia honed in on the sound of battle and caught Riel in the jaw with her staff. The demon winced and looked at her as if she were a peon. “First a High Brother, and now a whore of the church, how many will the order have to lose before they realize they are undone?”

  “We will never surrender to the likes of you,” Lydia told him. She recognized the scent of his cursed blade from Angelo’s body. “For what you’ve done to the High Brother, I’ll be sure to make your death a miserable one.”

  “So you say, but how can you kill what you cannot see?” He stepped farther into the fog.

  To his surprise, Lydia followed and tore a nasty gash in his face with the tip of her staff. “I’m blind, asshole, so all I have to do is follow your stink to know where you are.”

  Lydia was as quick as lightning with her strikes, but the war demon was quicker. He effortlessly knocked aside her strikes and countered with a lazy one of his own, which Lydia blocked, but she fell victim to a leg sweep. Riel brought his blade around with all his might, and when it connected with Lydia’s staff there was a great explosion of light.

  Riel shrieked as the celestial light blinded him and singed his face. Swinging the blade wildly, he backed himself into a corner and tried to clear his vision. When his focus returned, his eyes widened at what he saw. Lydia stood calmly in the center of the mist of the fog, surrounded by a soft glow. The ivory shell that had been her walking stick began to fall away, exposing the double-pronged spear that had been hiding within. Next to the hammer and the trident itself, the Spear of Truth was one of the most famed of the anointed weapons.

  “Who are you?” the demon snarled.

  Moving off instinct, Lydia waved the spear in a series of complex designs, leaving glowing runes in the fog. “I am Lydia Osheda, descendant of Sinjin Osheda, known to your kind as the demon slayer. Now, come so I can spill your blood as my ancestor did!” Moving as if the spear were a part of her, Lydia tore into Riel.

  The war demon found himself flustered at the intensity with which Lydia attacked him. The spear was like a kaleidoscope of color, striking the demon over and over. For every blow Riel threw, Lydia countered with two. He came high and she went low, plunging the spear into his gut. For a moment she could see the demon within try to separate from the host body, but Riel was able to pull himself free of the spear before he completely lost hold of the body. His body had taken too much damage that night to continue, so he called in help.

  “Attend me!” he shouted. From out of the mist came the shambling Stalkers who had managed to survive the fight at the brownstone. Lydia tried her best to fight off both the Stalkers and the demon, but she was being overwhelmed. The Stalkers finally managed to wrestle Lydia to the ground and take the spear from her, which Riel picked up.

  Riel twirled the spear expertly with one hand and brought the point to rest against Lydia’s throat. “It may not be the Nimrod, but I think this will please my master.”

  “And this is gonna please me!” De Mona tackled Riel, jarring the spear loose. Riel tried to raise Poison, but she knocked it away from him. “Not this time. I’m gonna down you once and for all.” She raised her hand for the killing blow but was denied when a Stalker pulled her off Riel. She dispatched the corpse in less than ten seconds, but when she turned back to Riel he was gone. “I fucking hate it when he does that!” De Mona cursed before moving back into the fog to find another target.

  Redfeather crawled on his hands and knees, trying to stay as low as possible. Around him he could hear the screams of both friends and enemies mingled with the clashing of steel and gunfire. To his rear, the Great House of Sanctuary burned. Redfeather’s hand brushed against something smooth. He looked up and found a blond man dressed in mage’s robes standing over him.

  “I would’ve thought more of the descendant of the mighty Hunter.” Flag smirked. Two goblins appeared from the fog and snatched Redfeather to his feet. Flag examined him and frowned. “You are definitely one of the Hunter’s kin but not the wielder of the Nimrod. Where is he?”

  “Far away from the likes of you, and if you were smart you would let him be,” Redfeather said defiantly, and was rewarded with a slap across his face.

  “I’ve no time for your games, old man. Either you can give me the information I need or I can have my associates pry it out of you.” Flag motioned towards the salivating goblins.

  “Not if I have a say in it,” Lydia said defiantly. Her form was obscured by the fog, but the spear burned bright. Flag recognized the spear and wisely stepped back.

  “Get away, child,” Redfeather called to her.

  “There will be no more innocent blood spilled tonight.” Lydia ignored Redfeather and walked calmly towards Flag.

  “Of course not, because there won’t be that much left of you when I’m done.” Flag lashed out with a beam of energy from his hands, trying to incinerate the girl.

  Lydia leapt out of the way just before the beam scorched the ground. She got low and raced towards Flag with the spear folded against her body. Lydia moved more off the impulses of the spear than conscious thought as she dodged Flag’s attack. Like all the other weapons, it was adding to her natural abilities. She flung herself into the air above Flag, and with a whoosh of power she split the spear in half and zeroed in on Flag with the two blades. Flag didn’t even have time to think of a spell, so he did what came naturally and threw himself on the ground. Screaming for help and on all fours, he scrambled across the floor trying to escape Lydia’s wrath.

  “Don’t run, coward,” Lydia said, cleaving through Stalkers with the two blades as she moved after Flag. She managed to back him into a corner and laid the blades crossways over his throat. “If it were up to me I would kill you for what your people have done tonight,” she said with tears streaming down her face. “But it’s not for me to judge you, that is the work of the order. I’m no murderer.”

  “Well, it’s too bad that I am.” Flag laid his hands on her stomach and pushed out with his power. Lydia flapped around on the ground like a wounded fish as Flag tried to fry her.

  “No!” Redfeather cried as he charged Flag. The old man hit Flag in the jaw, causing him to break his connection to Lydia. Redfeather gave him two more good licks before he was knocked out by a goblin. The creature knelt over Redfeather and was about to take a bite of the old man when Flag stopped him.

  “No, we’ll need this one to find the boy. Take him back to the mountain while I retrieve the spear,” Flag ordered the goblin. The goblin grudgingingly did as he was told, leaving Lydia to Flag. “Foolish child.” Flag stood over Lydia, who was trying to get back to her feet. He was about to finish her when the sound of screeching tires drew his attention. He turned around just in time to see a pair of headlights barreling down on him.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  The fog was so thick that neither Gabriel nor Asha could see what was going on, but Rogue could. He’d heard stories about the goblin hordes but never thought he’d ever encounter them, especially topside. The Inquisitors and their allies fought valiantly, but they were no match for the ferocity of the goblins.

  “What do you see?” Gabriel asked. All he could make out in the fog was shadows and the screams of the dying.

  “It’s bad,” Rogue said, drawing his remaining revolver.

  Asha stopped using her physical eyes and let her magical senses roam. “Looks like the shit is getting thick,” Asha said, drawing her knife and smearing leftover blood on the blade.

  “Thick ain’t the word.” Rogue mowed down an unsuspecting goblin with the Viper.

  “What the hell was that?” Asha craned her neck to try to see what they had hit.

  “You don’t wanna know,” Rogue told h
er.

  “My grandfather is in there, isn’t he?” Gabriel was getting agitated.

  “Gabriel, just be calm,” Rogue tried to soothe him.

  “I’m tired of being calm; being calm has gotten me nothing but my ass kicked all night.” The Nimrod appeared in his hand. Gabriel reached for the door handle.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Rogue spared a glance over his shoulder.

  “Finally taking responsibility for the mess I created.” Gabriel pushed the door open and threw himself out of the speeding car. His body never made a sound when it hit the ground and disappeared into the fog.

  “Damn that kid!” Rogue swerved the Viper. He was so busy scanning the fog for Gabriel that he didn’t see the two bodies directly in front of him.

  “Rogue, look out!” Asha grabbed the wheel and yanked it to one side. The Viper fishtailed and slammed into a parked car.

  “Are you crazy? I should blow your head off for that.” Rogue aimed the gun at her.

  “If you shoot me, then I won’t be able to save you from him.” Asha pointed out the window. Rogue turned in time to avoid Illini’s spear that was crashing through the window. While Rogue and the goblin struggled for the spear, Asha climbed out the window and stood on the hood of the car. She raised her hands to the heavens and shouted, “Azuma, be my strength!” From the monkey’s hiding place on an adjacent rooftop he answered his mistress’s call, adding his power to her own as she rushed Illini.

  The goblin abandoned his spear and turned his attention to the hurling witch. He deflected her blade’s strike and placed his palm on her stomach. Pain shot through her body as he burned a print of his hand into her gut. Asha hit the ground and looked up at the goblin in shock. In all that she had learned about the warrior race, she’d never known them to have a hand of power.

  Illini flexed his smoldering hand and answered the question in Asha’s eyes: “It was a gift from one of the fire elementals. I took it as my own after I ate him. I wonder what I’ll be able to salvage from you when you’re reduced to bones.”