by Sara Snow
For the first time in a while I felt completely, truly powerless.
Jacob
I ran every red light and broke every speed limit as I raced through the city, hoping like hell I would make it back to the warehouse in time to warn the others. The whole drive, I was fighting off worst-case scenarios and trying to keep calm, though I couldn’t stop myself from taking turns a bit too fast and being a bit more reckless than I should have. I knew panicking and getting into an accident wasn’t going to do anyone any good, but getting back to the warehouse too late wasn’t going to do any good either.
My hands were shaking around the steering wheel, knuckles white as I flew down the street, taking deep controlled breaths that hardly helped me stay cool. I checked the clock, surprised to see that it had only been six minutes since I’d gotten in the car and sped away from the factory—a new record, I was sure.
Suddenly, as I turned onto the more secluded street that led to the warehouse, I felt a strange rumble, swerving off to the side of the road and slamming on the brakes. I waited for a moment, holding still to see if it was my car acting up or if things were shaking for real. I hadn’t felt an earthquake here in years, but the rumble was unmistakable. I waited for it to pass, but when it only continued getting more intense until my car was squeaking on its axles, I started to worry.
I got out of my car to take better stock of the shaking, nearly falling over as the earth tried to toss me back and forth, doing my best to keep steady. The rumble continued to get more powerful and the sound of windows blowing out suddenly erupted in the air with several large, resounding crashes. My heart sank and I immediately jumped back into my car, taking off down the road, narrowly avoiding a powerline that was in the process of tipping into the street. It would have fried me if I’d been half a second slower. I came to a screeching halt in front of the warehouse, my heart sinking.
I spotted Georgia, Carter, Eli, Jose, and Olympia standing at the edge of the property, all watching as the warehouse crumbled before our very eyes. Time seemed to stand still, the weight of everything crashing down on me just as the warehouse had.
I was too late. And now it was all gone.
I could hardly breathe, and as the shaking subsided and I stumbled out of my car, I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the rubble that had been the warehouse. I could still picture it so clearly in my head where it had stood, the image in front of me feeling completely unreal. I couldn’t believe this was happening. It couldn’t be.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way.
I opened up the car door, hardly able to stand, my legs wobbling beneath me as I did my best to make my way over to the group. They didn’t seem to notice me as I approached from behind, unsure what to even say to them. They were clearly mourning their home and I didn’t think there was anything I could say that would be able to convey what I was feeling. Rather than say anything, I instead opted to lay a comforting hand on Georgia’s shoulder.
Her head snapped toward me, seeming surprised. The look on her face was brutal, her eyes wide, her mouth open in the remains of a small gasp. Her eyebrows drew together, those violet eyes darting around my face, which I was sure seemed surprised.
“Jacob?” she started.
I immediately felt Carter’s eyes on me as well and when I turned to him, his jaw clenched like he was holding back a million things that he wanted to say. I figured none of them would be good.
“Was this…? Who…?” I couldn’t even finish a cohesive question before Carter was wheeling on me.
He shoved me hard backward, catching me off guard. I staggered backward, holding my footing but just barely.
“What the fuck?” I demanded.
He lunged for me, but Georgia grabbed him tightly by the arm, holding him back with a scolding cry.
“Stop it! This isn’t going to help anything!” she shouted.
“What? Doesn’t he deserve a warm welcome back after what he’s put us through?” Carter shouted.
“What do you—” I started, only to be cut off as Carter continued his tirade.
“Don’t act clueless, Jacob! You wanted to be the leader so badly and then what, you just decide to up and leave us immediately after an important battle without so much as a note? Don’t tell me that doesn’t seem suspicious to you!”
“No, I—”
“You what? You went to make a deal with Paimon? You thought you could get ahead by making a deal with a demon just like every other human with something to prove?”
“Wait, WHAT?” I shouted.
“Or maybe you just stole an important weapon and magical potion because you thought it was funny! I don’t know! Maybe you thought you could take on the demon kings on your own to prove your worth or some bullshit! You wanted to be the leader of this group so badly and then you go and pull some shit like this? At worst, you’re a traitor and at best you’re an idiot, so which is it, Jacob?”
“Carter, that’s enough!” Georgia yelled, yanking him back more forcefully. “No one needs to hear this right now!”
“You really think I’d betray you guys?” I was hung up on this accusation. I couldn’t let it go. “After everything my dad did for this group, after all it meant to him, you think I’d sell you guys out? For what, Carter?”
Georgia squeezed his arm and Carter snapped his jaw shut. I couldn’t tell if he didn’t have an answer or if he just didn’t want to piss off Georgia further, but either way he kept quiet.
“Where did you go, Jacob? Why didn’t you say anything?” Georgia asked, her eyes glittering with tears.
“I went to the factory. I just wanted to help, I’m sorry. But we have to get out of here, and fast,” I said, finally remembering the reason I’d even had to race back here in the first place, which had been completely shocked out of me when I saw the state of the warehouse. “My car is just over there, we can get out of here before they catch up. If that earthquake was their doing, they’ll be along any second to finish us off.”
“Who is ‘they’? Was this really the kings’ doing?” Carter asked. “If you didn’t tell them where we were, how’d they even find us?”
I pulled out the piece of the telum from my bag and handed it to Olympia. “The blade. The telum, it works like a homing beacon. Olympia, you need to do something about it, a spell or something, fast. They tracked the—”
Before I could explain, the need was stripped away by the sight of a tall, imposing silhouette approaching through clouds of dust over the remains of the warehouse, its large horns sending a shiver down my spine. What was almost worse was what followed, seemingly dozens of figures marching beside him through the haze armed with swords and shields.
None of us needed to be able to see his face to know exactly who it was.
25
Georgia
It was too recently that I’d seen his horrific head up close since the banquet, but as he approached the group, a twisted grin becoming more and more clear on his face as the haze faded around him, Bebal seemed even more sinister than ever before. He seemed absolutely pleased by our suffering, his deep red eyes within the recesses of his skull-like head widened in delight. He seemed to enjoy every second of pain he was inflicting on us more than anything.
“What did you think of that?” he asked, his arms extended to gesture toward the rubble as he stepped indecorously over it, trampling the remains of the warehouse like some kind of warlord. “A nice little warm-up, hmm?”
The sound of his voice sent chills up my spine. It was so otherworldly, like it was coming from the pits of Hell themselves, and the sound of glass and wood and metal crunching beneath his boots only added to the intimidation factor as he walked over them so effortlessly. With every step, I could feel the ground shake just a bit, reminiscent of his already excessive show of power. His eyes were focused on me, narrowed, almost targeting.
“Well Georgia? You don’t have any more shrewd quips this time? That seems unlike you,” he taunted. “You were so eager to unleash your wi
t at the banquet, among other things. It’s fortunate that your wit can’t kill, otherwise we’d have been in trouble, not to mention all that fire.”
“What do you want?” I shouted at him.
I honestly didn’t really know what else to say and I didn’t know what I expected him to answer. The closer he and his little army got to us, the deeper the rumble of his footsteps felt, and I noticed that I was trembling, clutching the stake Eli had given me tightly. He stopped at what seemed to be the peak of the rubble, looking down on all of us from above.
“Don’t be naive, Georgia,” he said. “You took something important from us, and we want it back.”
I could see Jacob out of the corner of my eye absolutely seething. I could barely tear my eyes away from Bebal, but Jacob was trembling harder than I’d ever seen, heaving with heavy breath, his knuckles white around the stake in his hand. I shot my hand out, clasping his wrist when I saw him take a step forward.
“Jacob, don’t,” I warned.
“This bastard,” he growled in a voice that was almost unfamiliar to me, “killed my dad. He’s not getting out of here alive.”
I kept my voice low, hoping to keep Bebal from hearing. “We have to be smart here, Jacob. We’re in a bad spot. Don’t do anything stupid. Please.”
He looked at me, the anger unabating from his eyes, his mouth twitching into a near snarl, but he stayed put, relaxing his shoulders a bit, even though I could see the burning need to do something flowing through him.
I returned my attention to Bebal, whose head was cocked to the side, arms crossed. “You don’t want to let me play with your little angel friend? Too bad, I was looking forward to killing him just like I killed his father.”
I heard Jacob rumble, squeezing his wrist tightly again.
“He’s messing with you to piss you off, don’t give him what he wants,” Carter told him.
“Yeah, and it’s working pretty damn well,” Jacob snarled.
“Our best option here is to run,” Carter said, addressing everyone in the group as quietly as he could. “We should make a break for the car and get the hell out of here. We can’t fight them off.”
“Carter’s right. We have to go. Everyone get ready,” I whispered.
I could hear my voice shaking but I couldn’t do anything to stop it. I knew already that the odds of us making it out of this were slim, but there was nothing left for us to do but try. I took a deep breath, readying myself, summoning all of the strength in my body to the surface.
“Go!” I shouted as I turned to bolt with the others.
Almost immediately, we found ourselves stopping abruptly as a line of demons marched in between us and the street, effectively trapping us. Their swords were glistening in the sun, their shields nearly blinding. My heart sank as we were surrounded by meticulously organized troops, coming to a halt when they’d blocked our way to their satisfaction. We should have anticipated that, but we hadn’t had much time for forethought here.
“I came all this way to try to negotiate and you’re going to run away? Shame,” Bebal said with a smug sort of satisfaction.
I whirled around to face him. “And why would I negotiate with you?”
“Because I can make all of this go away,” he said simply.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I asked.
“Aren’t you tired of fighting? Isn’t this little endless back and forth between you and Paimon becoming exhausting? Wouldn’t you like to know that your friends are safe and sound and there’s no danger to them?” he asked.
That twisted grin crossed his face again and it made my stomach drop. He reached into his robe, pulling from it a jeweled knife with a blazing red gem in the middle of the blade. I recognized it immediately with a gasp. It was the Oathblade from the ceremony. The one I’d plunged into Paimon’s chest.
“You remember this, don’t you?” he asked, displaying it for us to see as if I could forget. “It’s still ablaze with the sworn blood of all the other lords of the Tenebris, Georgia. King Paimon is offering you one last chance. Give your blood to the Oathblade and say the pledge to complete the ceremony. You can come back with me, and I will leave your friends alive. We will never come for them again.”
“You think Paimon would trust me after I fried all your friends at the banquet, even if I swear your oath?” I shouted. “Are you stupid?”
“He doesn’t need to trust you as long as you swear it,” Bebal said, his voice growing more severe, low and threatening. “He made you a peace offering already, and you spat in his face. King Paimon has more effective ways to make you cooperate than simply being your doting father. You were lucky that option was ever offered to you at all, but things won’t be quite as nice this time, I can assure you of that. You will be bound to his rule and to the Tenebris, and you will do as he orders. It will not be up to you anymore.” He stopped himself, lightening his tone again. “But your friends will be safe.”
So a life in a cage as a fire machine for a demon king.
“And where is my doting father, then? Why isn’t he finishing this himself?” I demanded. “Why would I swear your dumb oath anyway?”
“He simply couldn’t bear to face his only child who so grievously betrayed him,” Bebal said sarcastically, almost mocking. “And because if you don’t swear the oath, I’ll kill all of your friends right here in front of you. Better yet, we’ll bring them back to the castle and I’ll kill them slowly over the next decade while they beg me to finish it already until you do swear it,” he spat.
His threat ordinarily wouldn’t have scared me quite as badly as it did at that moment considering how painfully outnumbered we were. I couldn’t help but wonder about his joke about Paimon, though. In lieu of a better explanation, I assumed that Paimon must have been hurt by my attack. Even if we couldn’t kill him without the pieces of the dagger, it was good to know that we could still hurt him enough to put him out of commission for at least a day. With how much of a bummer the rest of this was shaping up to be, that was good news at the very least. It gave me a bit of hope to know that even the leader of the demon kings wasn’t indestructible.
“Don’t you dare even think about it, Georgia,” Carter called to me. “We’ll get out of this, don’t you swear shit!”
I wouldn’t. I couldn’t. Carter was right. The stakes were too high to give in without a fight. I stood my ground without a word, waiting for Bebal to make a move.
Bebal studied me for a moment, lowering the dagger with a sigh. “You won’t take the oath, then?”
“What do you think?” I shouted at him.
He smiled, that sickening grin appearing again. “I was hoping we could do this the hard way.”
He gave a signal and an instant, his army was descending on us from atop the warehouse like warriors charging down a mountain with a deafening cry, the clanging of the metal under their feet almost explosive.
Running wasn’t an option anymore.
Eli tossed Jacob the longbow and quiver, handing the crossbow off to Jose. Olympia and the rest of us had to make do with our stakes. Everyone turned, moving into a circle formation, waiting for the demonic onslaught to reach us with our weapons tightly gripped in hand. There were so many of them and I didn’t even know where to start. I let my instincts take over, blasting a group of demons that were getting too close from the street, their shields unable to protect them from the sheer volume of flame that licked around them, incinerating them quickly.
“Careful, Georgia! There’ll be gas leaking from the warehouse after the earthquake; if you ignite the gas, it’ll destroy the pipeline for who knows how far and destroy everything in its path,” Carter called to me.
Shit, it was a good point that I hadn’t thought of. I’d have to refrain from using my fire for now. Luckily, I still had telekinesis on my side, tossing several attacking demons back from me, giving myself an opening to leap atop them, jamming my stake beneath their breastplates to puncture their hearts. I took them out one by one, eac
h dying with a hellish screech. I turned back just in time to see one of the bastards trying to grapple Olympia, throwing my stake with the backing of increased psychokinetic power, my mind guiding it right into his helmet with as much speed as I could muster.
He staggered backward, allowing Olympia to get in the killing blow. I summoned my stake back to me, catching it just in time to stop another demon in its oncoming attack. I saw one lunging toward her and made a move to defend her. I heard her quickly whispering something under her breath before a vibrant shield made of pink, glowing energy appeared before her, which she maneuvered between herself and the demon. I wanted to shout out how proud I was of her for that move, but I found myself narrowly dodging another attack of my own. I swiftly sidestepped the blade and plunged my stake into the demon from behind. It wasn’t until the demon had fallen out of my way that my line of sight was cleared, and I spotted Jacob charging toward Bebal with a demon’s sword in his hand.
“Jacob! Stop!” I shouted, shouldering off a demon before spinning to stake it.
He either couldn’t hear me or didn’t care, his path dead set on the demon who killed his father. Bebal looked completely unperturbed as Jacob began to climb the debris toward him. I tried to watch but was overtaken again by demons. I let out a carefully controlled short burst of fire toward the street to incinerate a few that were coming too close, quickly extinguishing it as soon as they were sufficiently scorched to ensure that errant flames wouldn’t cause any unnecessary destruction. I repeated it a few times, taking out a decent number of demons that way, but the possibility of igniting the gas line was too nerve wracking to let me do it for long.
Things were overwhelming. The army’s numbers were thinning as we skillfully fought through them, but I could tell that everyone was exhausted already, and there was enough blood on torn clothing to tell me that we didn’t have much longer. Jose was moving with a bit of a limp and even Eli seemed to be slowed by what looked like a pretty fierce cut to his leg.