5.0 - Light Of The Stygian Orb

by Krista Walsh

  “Unfortunately, the book they now possess holds the answer to the puzzle they’ve been working on since the end of the war. The information is written in code, but that doesn’t mean they won’t break it.”

  “What kind of information?” Zach asked. Uneasiness grounded the heels of his feet into the cement floor, and the solidness felt as though it were creeping up his calves, melding him with the building itself.

  “The Collegiate first formed when the doorway to this dimension opened and species of the otherworld began to migrate through,” Chiron said. “Immediately, we began collecting information and storing it for the safety of our kind and to preserve the balance of the world. After a few centuries, we watched the foundation of that balance begin to tremble. There was no one to uphold it.”

  Sandar folded her hands in front of her. “To ensure peace was maintained, we used the information we had collected, along with the samples of DNA we had saved, to create a new race.”

  Zach’s heart stuttered against his ribs, a strange palpitation that sent tremors through his entire body. “You created the guardians.”

  “That is correct. We needed the Justicia to stand against anyone who threatened to reveal our presence in a world where the dominant species could not handle the truth of what we are. Any member of the otherworld who rose against their own kind or threatened our peace with the mundane were put down swiftly and without mercy. Immune to all abilities and able to fight back with their own strength, the Justicia were meant to be beyond harm. If the demons who stood against them hadn’t brought in help from outside dimensions, we never would have been defeated.”

  Dusty bit Zach’s thumb, and he realized he’d squeezed the kitten harder than intended in his shock. He set the animal down on his bed, and Dusty jumped off the blankets to root for food.

  “How are you any different than these monsters?” he asked. “Playing with life as though you were gods.”

  “Because we had no intention of forcing the Justicia to our will,” Noami said. “We were not looking to enslave anyone, but to help ensure the freedom of both worlds. And we succeeded for millennia.”

  “And now these bastards have your recipe to make new guardians?”

  “Yes. And your blood would be one more key that they can use against us. Now do you understand?”

  “Sure,” Zach said. “But I’m still not running.”

  Sandar’s eyes narrowed, but Zach was too busy looking at a dark shape that had just passed by his window. Had Molly come back already? He wasn’t sure he wanted the Collegiate to know about her. Although they claimed to be here on a mission of protecting the otherworld, he didn’t trust what they might do if they discovered that keeping a human girl safe was one of his reasons for risking it.

  “If I’m not mistaken, it seems your chance to decide is already slipping away,” Chiron said. “I believe five demons are closing in on the college as we speak and will soon be here to take you with them. You have no allies this time, Zachariel. If you choose not to run while you still have a few minutes, you should be prepared for annihilation. I’m sorry, but even with your corpse, they could destroy the world. We cannot let them take you.”

  The air tingled with unseen power and the three women moved forward. Zach didn’t give them a chance to carry out their threat. Not yet. Even if he refused to leave town, that didn’t mean he couldn’t make a tactical retreat.

  He darted around the women and tore across the room, leaping through the doorway into the boiler room. If they wanted to kill him, they could take the risk of going up against the demons themselves.

  But the Collegiate didn’t follow.

  Voices came to him from beyond the side door, blocking his exit. He could make a move for the front door, but there was no way he’d make it before they came in. Zach’s hand tightened around the railing. To go back downstairs would put him back in the reach of the Collegiate, and he didn’t trust what they would do to him any more than the demons coming after him.

  A sharp bark of a laugh cut around the side door, followed by a deep growl that told him his pal the Ghurgzic demon had returned.

  So if he couldn’t leave and he couldn’t go back, there was only one option left: he’d have to hope his defenses were good enough to keep him out of their hands…and be ready to fight if they failed.

  Zach climbed the rest of the stairs to the main floor and jogged down the hallway toward the classrooms. Up here, afternoon sunlight shone through the cracks of the boarded-up lower windows and the dirt-caked panes of the higher ones. The gray tile was chipped and scratched, grease-stained from years without polish. Zach’s boots padded silently across the surface.

  He knew this place. It had been his home for four months. He’d learned every room, every secret in the time he’d stayed here, spending his days exploring each empty classroom and laboratory. Unfortunately, that meant he knew most of the rooms had been stripped bare, leaving him nothing he could use as a weapon. The few supplies from the construction and renovation programs had all been put to use hiding his living space from the rest of the college and setting up his booby traps.

  He would have to rely on his own demon blood to see him through. If the Collegiate was right, he would also have to be ready to do whatever it took to make sure they didn’t get his corpse if everything went south. There would be no counting on Daphne to save him this time.

  At least he’d had the forethought to set up his traps. Whoever was coming for him had managed to skirt the ones outside, but as he hurried down the hallway, a rumble, a crash, and a scream echoed behind him as someone triggered the grease spill and the release of full paint cans from the beams in the ceiling. When the crash settled, Zach heard a low gurgle, as though something large and loud were taking its last breath.

  He didn’t know how many demons had been taken down, but more remained.

  Their voices grew closer, and Zach stepped into one of the classrooms with a window into the hall, peering around the edge of the pane to get a glimpse of his enemy before they spotted him. At first, they were just out of frame of the window, but as they came into view — only a few feet away — he was able to make out the four demons who had come for him.

  He’d been right. The Ghurgzic demon had returned, with only one Lingor demon this time. Apparently she hadn’t had the time or the strength to regenerate yet. Thank the universe for small favors. With them was a mountainous man who probably had an inch or two on Zach and at least fifty pounds. His face held deep twisted scars that suggested years of fighting. His red button-down shirt made the pink and white flesh stand out even more, especially where they continued past his collar down his chest.

  At his side crept a smaller beast that moved on all fours. Its green-gray flesh appeared to be made of scales, and it emitted a sour reek of salt and fish. It stopped and tilted its nose toward the sky. Its nostrils widened and narrowed in quick succession. Tasting the air.

  They’d brought a scent-dog with them. Zach’s lips curled back in a snarl and his heart beat faster. It wouldn’t be long before it pointed him out to the others. And even at his full demon strength, his chances of beating both the mountain and the Ghurgzic demon were slim.

  Regrets threatened to distract him — that he hadn’t been able to leave a message for Molly warning her away from the college, that he wouldn’t learn what Karl’s end game might be, that Dusty wouldn’t have anyone to take care of her anymore — but he cast them aside.

  There could be no room for anything but his determination to escape — or to take down as many of these bastards as he could before they crushed him. He wouldn’t leave Daphne and Molly with no clue about who they were after or the nightmare that was coming.

  The fish-dog released a sound that mixed a howl with a coughing hack and swiveled its head in Zach’s direction.

  The large man turned toward the classroom, and Zach darted away from the side of the window.

  “There’s no point trying to hide,” the man said, and the bass of
his voice rumbled through the empty hallway. Zach’s blood raced as he recognized the voice from the Mayzell factory — the demon who had thrashed the plant manager so impressively. If Zach had any doubts that his stalkers were unrelated to Project Oracle, they were now wiped away. “The maylin will find you. Agree to come with us, and you still have a chance to avoid the pain that’s coming for you.”

  Zach sucked in a deep breath. Hiding would only extend this waiting game. He had to do what he could to end this now. If what the Collegiate had told him was true, that Karl was preparing an army, taking a few soldiers down wouldn’t make much difference. But son of a bitch, would it feel damned good.

  Balling his hands, he stepped out of the classroom into the open corridor.

  The tall man turned on his heel toward him, and his scarred face twisted into a sadistic smile. Zach’s heart pounded loudly enough that he wouldn’t have been surprised if everyone in the hallway could hear it.

  “I understand you turned down Karl’s offer to help us out of a jam, and then thought you were entitled to go behind his back to snoop into his business,” the mountain said. “I came to ask if you liked what you saw. If you’re ready to be a part of what’s coming.”

  “I don’t think so,” Zach said. “You can take your offer and get out. Tell Karl he can save the trouble of sending any more of his goons after me. It doesn’t seem to end well for them.”

  It was just talk, and they both knew it.

  Zach worked his jaw to try to move some saliva over his tongue, his mouth too dry for comfort.

  “I think we both know that’s not how this will go, Zachariel,” the demon said. “This is your last chance.”

  “I’m surprised you’ve given me so many,” Zach growled. “I thought I made myself clear on Karl’s first visit.”

  “Shame. But if that’s the case, I see no point in standing around talking. It’s just wasting our time. Borl, get him.”

  He nodded at the Ghurgzic demon, who lumbered forward. Zach didn’t give him time to prepare his attack. He threw out his fist and caught the demon in the throat. The punch didn’t carry much kick, but it was enough to push the demon back a step.

  The Lingor demon moved behind him, but Zach swung himself out of her way as she leaped, sending her flying onto Borl’s chest, her claws impaling him where she landed. He roared, grabbed her by the shoulders, and flung her across the room. She slammed against the wall and sagged to the floor.

  Zach couldn’t have planned his first moves any better, and his confidence rose that he might actually get out of this mess intact. Borl’s chest bled from ten deep gouges, and by the black blood bubbling out of one of the holes closest to his center, Zach guessed his heart had been punctured.

  The maylin howled again, this time a piercing shriek that bounced off the walls and rebounded in Zach’s eardrums. He covered his ears, but the reaction cost him the second he would have needed to avoid the scarred demon’s fist slamming into the side of his head.

  Zach’s feet skidded across the cracked tiles, but he caught himself before he reached the wall. His head pulsed with the force of the blow. He tried to shake it off, but the movement only sent the room spinning around him. His legs wobbled, and he struggled to find his balance.

  Breathing deeply, he reached within him to find the source of his demon blood, unnerved that it hadn’t yet risen up to offer that extra burst of strength. But no matter how far into his core he searched, he couldn’t find it.

  He was still reeling with his horror when the tall demon struck him another blow across the face. This one sent him sliding across the floor on his back.

  Zach clenched his teeth and staggered to his feet. He had to try to fight back. He couldn’t just roll over and let them win.

  Borl came at him again, and Zach angled his shoulder, firming his feet against the ground. The demon barreled into him, but Zach had prepared well. He stood as a solid wall, his elbow pointed toward the demon’s chest, right into the holes the Lingor demon had gouged through Borl’s thick yellow flesh. Borl cried out and dropped to his knees.

  Panting, his lungs aching with the strain, Zach thrust his knee up under his jaw. The demon’s wide nose snapped and the long fangs protruding from his lower jaw impaled his cheekbones. The left fang punctured through the skin and drove into his eye. More black blood poured down his face as he stretched his arms wide and released a roar that set the boards trembling in the windows.

  Zach had been so focused on Borl that he hadn’t noticed the Lingor demon getting to her feet. Not until she drove her nails deep into Zach’s lower back. His flesh burned as the muscles tore within him. He bent back to try and escape her grip, but the shift only made it easier for her to press her fingernails further.

  Zach collapsed to his knees and fought the nausea that threatened to empty his stomach. Unable to reach her by swinging his arms, he toppled backward to crush her beneath him. She writhed to free herself from his weight, but he rolled back and forth, hearing her piercing shriek as the nails still lodged in his back snapped. As Borl approached, Zach rocked his hips off the ground, brought his knees to his chest, and launched them out so his feet slammed into the demon’s gut.

  Borl stepped on the maylin as he staggered backward. He lost his balance and fell, cracking the tile beneath his heavy frame. The maylin had darted out of the way to avoid being squashed and now approached Zach, its wide nostrils moving through the air to find the target it sought.

  Zach rolled to his side, leaving the Lingor demon on her back, still screaming as white fluid streamed down her hands from her broken fingernails.

  He wavered his way to his feet, the room spinning, dividing into a dozen different versions of the same scene.

  His early confidence had evaporated, leaving him with nothing but a looming certainty that there was no way in the seven hells he could win this. The Lingor demon’s nails had punctured something inside him, sending pain burning through his body. He retched over the floor. His ears were ringing from the tall man’s blows, muffling everything around him so he couldn’t pinpoint the source of the noises bouncing throughout the corridor.

  Without his demon blood, he was useless. Likely, they had already killed him, but he couldn’t rely on that to consider himself safe. The Collegiate had said it: even access to his corpse could get them what they needed. Black spots swam in front of his eyes, and he knew one more good blow would render him unconscious and leave him at their mercy.

  A large hand grabbed the back of Zach’s coat, and he didn’t have the balance to yank himself free. His left knee gave out, but the tall demon jerked him back up.

  “You may as well have saved yourself all that discomfort,” he rumbled into Zach’s ear, his tone bordering on smug. “What have you really gained with your pathetic display?” He tugged Zach’s collar, forcing his feet to follow the rest of his body toward the exit. “Come on, you two. We’re getting out of here. Someone’s likely to have heard all your whining.”

  Borl swore at him, but hobbled along ahead of them to Zach’s right. Zach doubted the demon would last long on his feet, and with his left eye now a ruined mash, that side of him was open. He sent up a silent thank-you when the Lingor demon fell into step on Borl’s right, her hands cradled against her chest. He was in both of their blind spots now.

  Zach’s opportunity to escape was quickly slipping away from him. He didn’t know if he could succeed even if all the stars aligned, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t make the effort. For Molly’s sake, and Daphne’s, and the sake of the entire otherworld that wanted nothing more than to be left alone, he had to try.

  The demon behind him thrust him forward, forcing him to walk alongside Borl and the Lingor demon. Zach shifted his weight to the left and allowed his knee to give out so he collapsed to the floor, giving his two guards time to move ahead without him.

  “Weak,” the tall demon said, and once more grabbed him by the coat.

  Blood smeared the floor where Zach had fallen. His mid
dle felt tight and heavy, and his back screamed with every small movement. His right eye had begun to swell shut, leaving that side of the corridor nothing more than a blur, but that was fine. None of that would work against him.

  The doors were up ahead. Being smart, the demons weren’t heading for the front entrance, but for the side door down the hallway from the one Zach usually used.

  His stomach heaved as another wave of pain ran through him, and he swallowed it down. He couldn’t miss his moment with the window so small.

  The escape he sought was only a few feet ahead. He just had to make it that far.

  His consciousness wavered, and this time he didn’t plan it when both legs gave out. His shoulders tugged in their sockets when the demon kept him on his feet by the collar of his coat, the seams of the arms straining. “Move,” he ordered. “If you pass out now and make me carry you to the car, you can’t imagine how pissed off I am going to be.”

  The Lingor demon reached the side door and pushed it open. Borl stumbled forward as more of his blood dripped down his legs.

  Zach took that as his opportunity. He dropped again. As the mountainous demon behind him hauled him up by his coat, Zach raised his legs to carry down his full weight. The collar tore and his coat slid free of the demon’s grip. Zach landed in a crouch, sprang off his toes, and threw himself toward the wall, where a rope looped around a bar sticking out beside the window. He grabbed hold of it and let it free, releasing the beams from the ceiling. Wood and plaster rained down, filling the air with dust. The weight of it cracked through the tile and rotting beams of the floor below. A chasm opened, and only quick reflexes prevented any of the demons from falling through. One beam cracked against the top of the tall demon’s head, and Zach used the distraction to race back the way they’d come.

  He moved on pure adrenaline, having no other energy to carry him forward. The tall demon had already recovered and was closing in on him, ready to snare him and haul him back. Borl attempted to twist toward him, but his injuries slowed him down.