by Lincoln Cole
“How’s your leg?” Dominick asked.
They had patched up her cut back in the woods before going to the car, but already, it had bled through. “Do you need to stay behind?”
“No, I’m fine.”
The sword looked a beautiful weapon, and Haatim could appreciate the quality of the blade without knowing much about such things. The metal itself held intricate carvings.
“The demon didn’t keep the sword?” he asked.
“It tried to,” Frieda said. “But, this thing still has some tricks up its sleeve. It hurt the demon just grabbing the hilt, and I hope that the sharp end does even better.”
“Do you think we stand a chance?”
“A small one,” she said. “Or, at least, we do if we find Abigail in there.”
“If we do, then we need to get her out.”
“That possibility has gone,” Frieda said, shaking her head in sadness. “But, she might give us an opening.”
“What do you mean?”
“If she can distract the demon, she might give us the opportunity to kill them both.”
“No.”
“It’s the only way we can end this.”
“I have a better idea. Let me talk to her.”
“Haatim.”
“I can reach her. I know I can, and I can help her like I helped Nida.”
“You said yourself that you’ve become too weak after saving Nida from the demon. Besides, I doubt you could do anything to this demon even if at your full strength.”
Though she didn’t mean it as offensive, the words stung anyway. However, she had it right, no matter how much he wished she hadn’t. Haatim had barely survived his last encounter with a demon, and in his weakened state, it would prove suicide to open up a link to Surgat.
But, he couldn’t just abandon Abigail. He had lost his sister to this demon and would be damned before he let it take Abigail without trying to get her back.
Nevertheless, he didn’t object further to Frieda’s plan because neither Dominick nor Frieda would side with him. They both believed saving Abigail had become a lost cause and, right now, the only thing that mattered was destroying Surgat.
Instead, he acquiesced, “Okay. You’re right.”
Frieda nodded. “No demons have come through yet, but the portal must be nearing completion. Once it is done, Surgat will bring through allies and slaves.”
“Like the demons we fought in the woods?”
“Not likely. Those have far more power and rarity than most of his army. However, whatever he does bring, he’ll have a lot of them.”
“That’s encouraging,” Dominick said.
“How do we stop Surgat from completing the portal?”
“We need to knock the energy off balance. Redirect it, somehow.”
“How do we do that?”
“I don’t know,” Frieda said. “Surgat won’t have full access to all of his abilities until he destroys Abigail completely, but he still makes for an incredibly formidable opponent. We must stay cautious.”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t underestimate the demon, and don’t believe anything Abigail says. She is helpless now, and the demon has control. It will try to use your relationship with her against you. You cannot trust it.”
“But, Abigail remains in there.” Haatim frowned. “You said so yourself. What if she needs our help?”
“She’s trapped and has no control.”
Haatim looked away. “Fine. Ready?”
“Haatim, promise me that no matter what the demon says, you won’t listen.”
He hesitated for a second. “Okay,” he said, finally. “I promise.”
Frieda didn’t look convinced. “Haatim.”
“We need to go.” He fussed with his weapon. “You said yourself that we need to hurry before he completes the portal.”
“Yeah. We don’t have time for this,” Dominick said. “I’m sorry, Haatim; I’m with Frieda on this. I’ve seen demons try to manipulate before and know their capabilities.”
“You both sound so sure, but still admit that you have no way to know. This is totally new territory. Nothing like this has ever happened to any of us. What if we’ve just condemned her to death?”
Dominick shook his head. “Haatim.”
“Fine. I promise I won’t listen to the demon. But, if Abigail is still in there, I’ll try and save her.” He didn’t wait for them to respond, just walked toward the red glow.
They’d neared to less than a hundred meters from it now, and he couldn’t shake that feeling that they moved further into some different world as they went closer. The laws of this universe no longer seemed to apply.
He hadn’t gotten it wrong when he’d called it new territory. This presented something entirely new.
It seemed as if they’d passed into some place between, not on Earth anymore, but also not in hell. Not quite, at least. The wind had stopped blowing, and the city had a surreal feel to it. Even the clouds barely moved anymore. It had stopped raining, but the storm looked far from over.
“Abandon all hope, ye who enter here,” he muttered under his breath.
“What?” Dominick asked.
“Nothing.”
“Shoot first,” Frieda said, though she didn’t seem to direct the statement at anyone in particular. Haatim felt fairly certain that she’d spoken more to herself as much as them. “Don’t try to figure out what it is or understand it. If you see something you can’t explain, just kill it.”
“Keep your wits about you,” Dominick said. “Whatever happens, don’t allow yourself to get tricked.”
This statement, Haatim knew, did get directed at him. He ignored them both, holding his shotgun and preparing himself for the fight to come.
He reached the edge of the storefront one street removed from the red glow. The thrumming came from here, and it caused the ground to shake violently with unsteady tremors.
It felt like the earth would rip apart at any second and swallow them; although, energy from the red glow seemed to hold it together. Energy filled the entire area, and it felt like a living creature.
A living evil creature.
“I’ll circle around and flank her,” Dominick said.
“Okay.” Haatim nodded.
Dominick slipped off, disappearing around the building and down a back alley. Haatim watched him go, and then glanced at Frieda.
They waited a few moments for Dominick to circle, and then Frieda nodded and hefted the sword. “It’s time.”
Haatim nodded. “All right. Here we go.”
He stepped around the corner, raised the shotgun, and headed toward the red glow.
***
Abigail stood in the center of the street, directly inside the red glow and facing toward them. Haatim thought to try and hide close to the building, and then changed his mind. The demon knew they’d come and waited for them, a wide smile on its face.
Streams of red energy swirled in the air, circling and flowing in arcs and leaving behind trails that emitted a soft light before fading away. These created the glow that surrounded her body.
It looked magical but had an ominous feel that caused Haatim’s heart to skip a beat. The energy streams felt unnatural and evil and meant that whatever the demon had initiated, it had almost finished. Before long, the portal would complete, and demons would come forth.
“I’m glad you all could make it,” the demon called out, clapping its hands. “You came just in time.”
Frieda and Haatim exchanged a glance, each one waiting for the other to engage the beast. They both looked for the other’s cue, and both felt afraid to initiate.
“We have only just begun,” the demon said. “And it is so nice to have an audience. After I finish flaying the flesh from your skin, the true fun will begin.”
The two moved closer to the thing in the road, fanning out to flank the enemy. They went slowly, struggling to keep their feet when the ground rolled and rocked. It looked like the de
mon stood at the epicenter, and the ground there didn’t shake at all.
Haatim raised his shotgun, but still stood too far away to feel confident he wouldn’t just waste shells. With only a few rounds, he didn’t want to fire without the certainty that he could hit the demon.
To their left stood the abandoned city hall building, and on the right, lay the storefronts of a couple of ransacked shops. Dominick would come from the right, but Haatim didn’t know his precise location. Instead, he focused on the demon, wanting to keep its attention so that it wouldn’t see Dominick coming.
“I banished your ally. The one that possessed my sister,” Haatim said.
The demon shrugged. “A temporary setback. She served her purpose. I might have destroyed her, anyway, if only to diminish her ego and keep her from conspiring against me. If anything, you did me a favor.”
Haatim glanced over at Frieda, taking his lead from her. She stood watching the beast, sword held ready and with a hesitant look on her face.
“Frieda?”
She glanced over at him. “Let’s do this.”
“Yes. Let’s,” the demon said.
Then movement came from behind the demon. Dominick stepped out of hiding. He came out, gun blazing, and fired several shots at its back.
The demon neither moved nor flinched. Maybe Dominick’s shots had missed. Then, soft thudding noises sounded when the bullets tumbled off the demon’s back and to the ground, bouncing across the uneven pavement.
Time seemed to stop, and Haatim saw the horrified expression on Dominick’s face. Slowly, the demon turned to face him.
The back of Abigail’s shirt showed several holes—little circles in her clothing. The bullets hadn’t missed but flattened against the demon’s skin.
“Uh-oh.” Dominick took a step back toward the alley. “So not good.”
He echoed Haatim’s thoughts.
Abigail smiled. “My turn.”
***
Dominick ducked into the alleyway just as something smashed into the ground where he’d stood. He glanced back. A car lay on its side in the mouth of the alley.
And another one flew through the air, arcing down at him. He dove to the side just as it landed and missed him by only a meter, and then he kept going.
He ran, heading deeper into the alley and trying to create distance between himself and the demon. His pistol useless, he felt sure his shotgun wouldn’t do much better, which meant that he didn’t have any other options to bring down Abigail/Surgat.
But, at least he could distract her and keep her busy while Frieda and Dominick tried to find a way to close the portal.
An enormous crashing sounded. The wall in front of him, to his left, collapsed. It came down like an avalanche, crumbling into huge stones.
Dominick dove forward into a roll, ducking behind an abandoned dumpster and narrowly avoiding the hail of rocks. A few clipped him, painfully, but then he got past it. The dumpster took the brunt of the impact.
From that vantage point, he glanced back. Calmly, Abigail walked down the alley. Her eyes glowed red, and she looked quite peaceful. The ground shook beneath her feet, but she remained steady while she walked.
“Almost a thousand years locked in that hell,” the demon called. “I will pay everyone responsible back in full.”
“Hate to tell you,” Dominick shouted back, and then fired his pistol at her face. Hopefully, this one would have better luck. The bullet hit her in the forehead, flattened, and then fell to the ground. She didn’t even flinch. Dominick let out a groan, and then said, “Everyone responsible for what happened to you died a long time since.”
“Then, you three will suffice, for now.”
Dominick turned and sprinted, heading away from the demon and deeper into the city. Then he circled back, not wanting to get too far from his friends, and watched out for the red glow, which he hoped and prayed would disappear because it would mean the demons wouldn’t come.
“Come on,” he said to himself. “Close that damn portal.”
***
“What do we do now?” Haatim asked after Abigail and Dominick had disappeared deeper into the city.
“I don’t know,” Frieda said. “I wish I did.”
“We need to close the portal, right?”
She hesitated, and then said, “Right. Yeah.”
“Any ideas?”
“Not yet.”
Abigail had chased Dominick down the alley and away from the glowing red swirling stuff, which meant that either Surgat had made a mistake, and they would have the chance to disable the portal, or that he had supreme confidence that they couldn’t close it.
Most likely, it came down to the latter reason.
Frieda edged toward the ritual spot, moving cautiously and examining it. Haatim walked with her, scanning over the area and trying to wrap his mind around it all.
“Is it just me, or did the ring just get bigger? It looks almost like it’s about to open.”
Frieda glanced at him, and then looked back at the rift. “Haatim.” Slowly, she backed up.
“What?”
“Run.”
Chapter 36
“The demon will find you in here,” the echo of Arthur said. He still stood in the doorway, but his expression had gradually shifted to worry, and he looked around. “Already, you can feel it clawing through your mind. It will find us.”
Abigail knew the specter spoke the truth. The walls had thinned and become transparent in the room she had created in her mind. It all felt less real, and she could sense Surgat searching for her. The demon seemed distracted, though, which she hoped meant that her friends remained alive.
Either way, she couldn’t hide forever.
“How long until it finds me?”
“Hard to tell. The demon can sense you, and it scans through your memories, looking for this last piece of you. Once you’ve gone, it will have full access to its abilities.”
“So, when it finds me, it will destroy me?”
“That depends,” Arthur said. “On whether or not you know its true name.”
“I don’t, though.”
“Names hold power. They give identity. This version of you right here makes your identity. It is how you associate your existence. If you remove this piece, then the body will still function, but it won’t be you any longer. Your wants and desires will disappear, leaving only need. For a demon like Surgat, it works much the same. Once you can pin down the demon and see it for what it is, at its most basic, then you will have power over it.”
“It controls me out there, doesn’t it? Surgat’s using me to hurt my friends.”
“Most probably. That’s the only reason it hasn’t found you yet and remains the only thing giving you this chance.”
She had prayed that, maybe, the demon didn’t have full control of her body. She had hoped that, maybe, it wouldn’t manage to control her until she had gone completely, but that hadn’t become the case. It had never seemed a reasonable hope. When she had forfeited control over herself in the church, the demon had taken hold of the reins.
“So, I do have a chance?”
“Yes.”
“How do I stop it, then?”
“You need the name. You have it locked away in that memory.”
“There has to be another way. That isn’t an option. What else can I do?”
There came a sudden rumbling sound, which shook the entire room. It came from the door as if a battering ram had just slammed it. Abigail froze in place. The walls phased in and out, and only blackness lay beyond the façade. Blackness and a form of raw hate that represented the demon.
It had found her.
“You’re out of time, Abi.”
“I don’t know the name!”
“You do.”
“It isn’t here. If the demon told me its name, I forgot it.”
“You didn’t forget; you just have to find it.”
“How?”
“You need to enter the memory.”
“Focus on that moment,” Arthur’s visage said. “You know the memory you need to go into. The table. The ritual. You have no other way.”
Still, Abigail hesitated. “You said that memory might prove too much for me. What happens if … what happens if I get lost in it?”
“While possible, you don’t have any alternatives.”
The demon crashed into the door once more. Then everything faded out for a second. One moment, she sat in the room, and the next, she floated in a void, just a thought in the nether. The sensation only lasted for a second, and then things went back to normal, but that second nearly crippled her.
That, and worse, waited for her if the demon made it into the memory.
“I know you’re in there!” a guttural voice called from outside. It sounded like her voice, only distorted and nasal and with a lot of extra bass. “Come out, come out, wherever you are!”
The echo of Arthur turned to her. “No more delays. Now or never.”
Abigail took a steadying breath and nodded. “All right.”
She thought back to that day, strapped down to the table. It had become the worst day of her life, but she would have to confront it if she wanted to defeat Surgat. Though scared, she brought the memory to life, conjuring and turning it into a reality.
With a steadying breath, Abigail stepped into the past.
***
“What was that?” Haatim tilted his head in confusion.
“What was what?” Frieda stood staring at the red glow, trying to figure out what they should do. She waved her hand forward through the eerie light, but it had no effect.
“That crashing noise,” Haatim said. “It sounded like …” He couldn’t explain it, and now, second-guessed whether he’d heard anything or not. Had it happened for real? Or only something in his head?
Frieda looked sideways at him. “What’re you talking about?”
“You didn’t hear it?”
She shook her head. “No.”
He hesitated. It had sounded like something heavy crashing into a wooden wall, but he didn’t know from what direction it had come. It sounded intense and vivid, as though it had happened right next to him, but no buildings stood close enough to justify such a noise.