bedeviled & beyond 03 - bedeviled & beleaguered

by Sam Cheever

  Torre nodded, “And your mating has wrought much good in my brother. He comes near to fulfilling prophecy as the Great Unifier, but the veil entices his dark side and smothers his light. It is harder for him. He stands second in line for the throne. The veil seeks him out and pours its bile into his soul.”

  “Holy shit!” It had never occurred to me that the veil would target Dialle. But it made perfect sense. “What can we do to help him?”

  Torre shook his head. “I do not know. If I had that answer I’d already have done it. My people are not ready to rule this Earth, Mx. Phelps. They are too deeply entrenched in the dark. When they learn to walk at least partially in the light they will be ready. The veil must be stopped.”

  Darma had tears in her beautiful eyes, “Isn’t he wonderful?”

  Torre looked down at her with adoring eyes.

  I looked at Flick and stuck my finger in my mouth in a gagging motion. Flick coughed to hide a smile. He needn’t have bothered, Darma and Torre were lost in each other’s eyes, oblivious to us.

  I dug deep for a way to sway my devil to our side. Dialle wasn’t thinking clearly. He needed my help to make the right choice. Then a sudden thought occurred. “Darma, do you remember what mother told Prince Nille? They’re gathering up the conduits. That now includes Dialle and Torre.”

  Darma blanched and clutched at Torre’s arm. “We have to hide him.”

  I nodded, “And Dialle needs to be warned.”

  Torre looked from Darma to me. “There is no place where I can hide from Danika if she wants to find me.”

  I thought about that for a beat and then smiled. “There is one place.”

  Darma’s gaze widened. “If you’re thinking what I’m thinking it’s the perfect solution. But do you think they’ll let him in?”

  I glanced at Flick.

  He sighed, looking like he’d eaten a worm. “I don’t know. Maybe he could stay with the Hopefuls.”

  Torre’s beautiful, black eyes widened as he realized what we were talking about. “Oh no.”

  Darma yanked his arm. “You must, Torre. It’s the only safe place.”

  All the pretty, golden color leeched from his lean and handsome face, “I cannot go up there.”

  “Why not?” I asked with a mischievous smile.

  His mouth flapped a few times and then he said, “Well, because...I...um...look bad in white?”

  Darma’s attractive face suddenly morphed into its mean stepsister turned ogre version, “You are going up to stay with the Hopefuls and that’s that, Prince Torre of the Royal Devil Court. We can’t let Danika get her nasty hands on you. If something was to happen to you I’d die.” Tears filled her eyes and Torre folded like yesterday’s laundry.

  “Of course I’ll go, my love. Please don’t cry.” He pulled her into an embrace and she winked at me over his shoulder. I gave her rock knuckles.

  Turning to Flick I said, “Can you take them up and help him get settled?

  “Where are you going?”

  “I need to pay a visit to the Court of Dialle the First.”

  “You need backup.” Flick’s brown gaze looked almost relieved at the possibility he might get out of escorting a Royal into Heaven.

  I grinned, “In your dreams, angel.”

  ~SC~

  Before any of us could leave the Phelps fortress my father popped in. His serene face was filthy and his robes were torn. He looked like he’d gone a few rounds with a gargoyle.

  When he saw us he closed his eyes in a short, silent prayer. “Astra, Darma, Flick, you’re needed. Come with me.”

  Before we knew what he was doing we were encased in some type of bubble and had entered the sphere where sound and movement ceased.

  We landed in the unplanned care unit. Around us the halls were empty and silent. I cast my gaze up to my father and he held a finger to his lips. They’ve all been gathered into the basement rooms. Two hundred and seven severely injured people and medi-care personnel, Astra. Being held prisoner by Danika and Nille.

  Why?

  To lure us here.

  Then why have we come? Darma interjected.

  I blinked and looked at Darma, realizing she’d been following the conversation in my head. Our father was apparently using a common path. Who knew?

  Father turned to Darma. Because if we hadn’t, over two hundred innocent lives would have been lost.

  I could tell by the look on Darma’s face that she was remembering what I was remembering. The conversation with our mother I’d had in the dungeon of the Phelps fortress. My mother’s voice echoed through my head as if she was standing beside me. He’ll come to us. One way or the other. I know his weaknesses like I know my own strengths.

  And apparently she did. I grabbed his arm. “We need to think and plan for this. We can’t just walk in there and confront her.”

  Darma nodded her head in agreement. “She’s right, father. Let’s go someplace and discuss it.”

  He shook his head. “There is no time. Even now she speaks to me of their deaths. I cannot just stand here and let them die.”

  Darma and I shared a look.

  “But it’s most surely a trap, sir.” Flick added.

  Father smiled sadly. “As have been all my moments with Danika, Guardian. Our life together has been naught but a mine field. And I have borne my share of scars from it. But I have never foresworn stepping one foot in front of the other to cross it. I cannot start now.”

  He started down the corridor. We fell into step beside him. “Okay, what are we up against here?”

  We turned a corner in the deserted corridor, “She has a line of gargoyles and their demon handlers, probably a dozen of them.”

  I shuffled my mental drawers. Emo, I need you.

  Comin’, boss.

  The air changed to the left and just behind my shoulder and Emo popped in.

  “They form the first barrier we must cross.”

  I nodded, “Okay, what else?”

  He sighed, “She has constrained a black dragon to guard the door into the basement rooms.” He glanced at me, a wry look on his face.

  “A black frunkin’ dragon?”

  He nodded, “Alas, yes.”

  Into the mental drawers again. Dialle, I know we’re fighting but I need you.

  A short silence met my summons.

  Dialle?

  Just behind you, my love. Warm breath touched my neck and I turned to smile at him. I held a hand back and he grasped it.

  We’ll talk later?

  I felt him nod in my head. Yes. There is much to discuss.

  We get to fight a black dragon.

  His black eyes widened. That is why I spend time with you, Astra. Every moment is an adventure.

  Every moment, Dialle?

  He laughed in my mind. Yes, Astra. Every moment.

  Totally unaware of events unfolding behind him, my father had been talking on. I suddenly heard the words “dark fairies” and turned to Dialle.

  Oh shit, Dialle, dark fairies.

  He nodded. I’ll call King Aelfric.

  How have the light fairies fared under the veil?

  Dialle grimaced. They struggle. They will not survive if it descends completely.

  But they’ve been your subjects for millennia. Can’t the Court protect them?

  It was a strange collaboration, the good fairies and the Royal Devil Court. But it had survived for thousands of years. The king of the light fairies had disagreed once with the celestial army. St. Peter had insisted that the fairies should not try to live among the human population. But the fairy king had set his mind on doing just that. The result was that he had cut their ties to the light army. But, though they had their own special powers to call forth, the fairies were small and their numbers reduced due to illness and madness, wrought, ironically, by centuries of living among humans. They could easily be overpowered by dark forces if they had no protection. So they’d made a deal with the Court to serve as the Devils’ subjects in turn for p
rotection, as long as the Court didn’t request evil of them.

  Somehow they’d made it work.

  The Court will do all that it can. But the destruction wrought on them is of the mental kind. We have no jurisdiction there. He shrugged.

  I shook my head. Poor fairies.

  My father stopped suddenly and Emo and Dialle each grabbed one of my shoulders to stop me from plowing into his back.

  He turned around, blinking in surprise when he saw both Dialle and Emo. “Welcome to the good side, gentlemen.”

  They both nodded in acknowledgement.

  His eyes moved past Darma and Flick to rest, for the first time, on Torre. One eyebrow lifted. “Is this one fighting for the divine goal?”

  Darma grabbed Torre’s hand. “He is.”

  Our father’s assessing gaze remained locked on Torre for a few beats more and then he looked at Darma and gave a small nod. “I will trust your judgment on this, daughter.”

  Darma’s expression tightened. “Thank you, Father.”

  The air beside my father hissed and Myra popped into view. She was grinning and looked much better than the last time I’d seen her.

  My father’s face clearly showed his surprise, “Sister!” He wrapped her in a hug, “How is it possible?”

  She shrugged, “Perhaps the virus is weakening.”

  Something danced at the edge of comprehension but I couldn’t quite grasp what it was. All I really knew was that I was happy to see Myra healthy and strong again.

  Father held her at arm’s length and gave her a thorough looking over. “Are you sure you’re up for this?’

  She nodded, throwing off his hands. “I’ve never been more ready. I’ve been lying on my back for days. I need to...as Astra so eloquently puts it...”

  “Kick some ass?”

  She turned to me and grinned, “Exactly.”

  “All right then,” father said, “Let’s do this thing.” He turned toward the door, which I assumed was all that separated us from lots of trouble.

  He reached for the handle of the metal door. We all stilled expectantly.

  Father shoved the door open.

  Torre moved in front of Darma. She shoved his arm and stepped up next to him. I pulled knives from my boots. A sword appeared in Dialle’s hand and power spit at Emo’s fingertips. Father and auntie Myra lifted their wings, growing in size as energy sizzled around them.

  Nothing happened. The room beyond was still. It appeared empty.

  We entered the room and moved into the center in a nervous wad, glancing around with wary eyes. It appeared to be a large, empty room with bays to the outside. Probably for emergency medi-vans. It smelled slightly of vehicle fuel and other mechanical things.

  Father turned to me and smiled, “It appears...”

  Something large, brown and leathery landed on his back with a spit-filled roar. He went down as several more gargoyles dropped from the rafters above our heads, landing with varying amounts of accuracy either on us or around us.

  I had a huge maw filled with razor sharp teeth attached to my shoulder before I could use my knives against the one currently chewing on my father. Dropping my knife, I lifted a hand and smacked the one on my shoulder between the eyes with a power-induced blow. The goyle’s head snapped back, taking a fair amount of my skin with it as the ’goyle slid to the ground. I finished it off with a power arrow between the eyes.

  Glancing around, I saw that the demon handlers had joined the fray. I reached for the one nearest me, who was hiding behind a gargoyle corpse in an effort to avoid Darma’s misaimed power jolts, and touched his black, leathery ear with my power. The thing screamed like a girl and leapt to its feet, right into the path of Darma’s power.

  As he burst into atmospheric gas something whipped past my head, tightening around my throat and cutting off my breath. I reached toward the thick chain just as the demon on the other end gave it a yank, jerking me off my feet and into his waiting arms.

  Hitting his rigid, scaly chest hard enough to knock all the air out of my lungs, I struggled to breathe as he twisted the chain to tighten it. Then he lifted me off my feet with the chain and turned me so that my face was mere inches from his.

  I was close enough to see the oil droplets emerging from the overlarge pores on his wide, leather face. He grinned meanly, showing several rows of sharp, crooked teeth and choking me under a wave of swamp breath. “Hello, Mx. Phelps.”

  I’d managed to get one hand partially under the chain, enough to give myself a smidgeon of air, and had propped my feet on the demon’s thick, treelike legs to take some of the pressure off my throat. But my eyes still felt like they were bulging from their sockets and I thought all the blood in my head was going to explode out of my ears from the pressure.

  The demon gave the chain a little shake and laughed. I hung there like a fish on a string, jerking wildly as I tried to loosen the chain around my neck. Power arrows zinged past us at an alarming rate and the demon held me up in front of its body so I would catch any that were on target.

  I needed to do something. Fast.

  Dropping my free hand from my neck, I slid it between the demon and me. I stretched as far as I could but still couldn’t quite reach the spot I was looking for. Bending my knees, I coughed as the chain tightened on my throat but, if I strained my short little arm to its maximum, I could just about reach...

  My fingers found their target.

  I sent my power into the soft, squishy spot between the demon’s thick legs and quickly found myself flying through the air again.

  I skidded across the floor, dodging feet and flying energy. Dragging the heavy chain from my neck, I launched myself to my feet and swung the chain, catching the demon I’d just zapped in the family crest around the throat. No easy task since he was still hopping around holding his jewels and screaming like a girl.

  The screaming stopped as the chain tightened around his throat and he turned to me with horror in his beady little eyes. I smiled. That was the type of balance I strove to achieve in my life. The demon was on the correct end of the leash.

  “Bye bye, demon,” I said and then I gave the chain a power-induced jerk and heard the resounding crack as the demon’s spine broke under the lash of the thick chain.

  “To Hades with you, fool. For God hath tired of you.”

  As my demon hit the floor I looked around. Everyone else was standing there looking at me. They’d all vanquished their demons already and were peering at me like I was some kind of screw up.

  “What?”

  Darma’s pretty face had just one drop of green, demon blood on it. Just above her left eye. “Stop screwing around, Astra. We need to get to the hostages.”

  I looked at Dialle and he grinned.

  Chuckling, Emo shook his head.

  I stood there with my mouth flapping indignantly and then gave a huff and stalked after my father, who was heading toward the next door and the next chapter of the hell that was my life.

  I pushed my father gently to the side as he reached for the door handle. He looked a question at me and I shook my head. “I’m not taking any chances this time.”

  I reached out and blasted the door to smithereens, sending it skittering into the next room with a loud screeching sound. Dense smoke and silence followed as the door skidded to a stop. I held my arm out to keep everyone from entering the smoke filled room beyond.

  Just when I started thinking I was being overly dramatic, something larger than a bug with wings shot through the door and headed right for my face.

  I got the impression of feral orange eyes in an angry face before it hit me, landing on my cheek as I instinctively jerked my head sideways to avoid it. I shrieked at what felt like hundreds of tiny little knives piercing the skin of my cheek and ripping.

  Warm moisture slid down my torn cheek.

  I was vaguely aware of the whirring sound of hundreds of tiny wings whizzing past me as I swung my head in a frantic attempt to keep the dark fairy from my eyes. I
tried to reach up to grab it. But my arms wouldn’t move. Bending my knees, I flung myself into the air, flipping feet over head before I realized that I couldn’t catch myself with the arms that, somehow, had gotten tied around my body with glittery but seemingly unbreakable fairy twine.

  I tucked hard before my head slammed into the ground and took the brunt of the impact between my shoulder blades. As I hit the ground the dark fairy flew off my face and travelled several feet before she was able to get her wings behind her again and stop the momentum.

  I had about two seconds to break the fairy twine before she was on me again. I sent power into it and it crumbled, only to be replaced immediately by a new batch just below my shoulders. There was a slight tug and the fairy was on my face again. She’d drawn herself in using the pretty but deadly twine.

  A heartbeat later, the fairy was off my face and dangling by her wings in front of me, her evil face a study in surprise. I broke the twine again, watching it crumble to my feet.

  Emo shot a killing jolt into the tiny terror. She crumbled away just like her twine.

  “Thanks, partner.”

  He didn’t move, didn’t reach for me but I had a sudden sensation of soft, warm lips on mine. My knees buckled at the sheer unexpected pleasure and my eyes widened as a spectral finger caressed down my torn cheek, sending healing warmth into the bleeding flesh and making it whole again.

  “There,” he said with a faint smile, “that’s better.”

  Tingling warmth had pooled at the juncture of my thighs and I squeezed my knees together on a sudden wave of lust. I opened my mouth to confront him about the spectral beguilement but he was gone.

  I found him on the other side of the room, holding another fairy away from Darma by the wings. His dark gaze met mine across the space and he smiled...a little smugly I thought.

  Shaking my head, I located my father and headed for him. With the exception of a couple which Torre and Darma still struggled with, the dark fairies were pretty much all fairy dust on the floor.

  Flick stood watching my sister and her prince in case they needed backup.

  Father was standing off to the side, talking quietly to Dialle, whose head was lowered as he listened quietly. I stalked up to them, still feeling angry at Emo for taking me by surprise. The last thing I needed was to be distracted by Emo’s apparent abilities as a phantom lover.