by D L Greeley
“It’s not going to be that easy, Hell spawn, SEISHIN KASAI!” Extending my left hand, I emptied the full contents of the fire amulet into the gauntlet. Liquid blue-green fire erupted from my palm, engulfing the reclined demon. “NOW SHELLY!” She made a brake for it and I continued to pour out every calorie of heat I had available. Seth, thrashed and roared in pain, but I wasn’t letting up until he stopped moving. The Amulet drained and the heat in the air began to be absorbed. I could see my breath.
“Alex, stop! You’ll kill the both of you!”
“What?”
I ceased the fire when I turned to see Shelly huddled on the floor in a fetal position. She was trying to keep warm and there was a knot on her forehead. I knelt down beside her, throwing a look over my shoulder at Seth. The charred remains had stopped moving but the fire was still burning. The smoke rose and collected in a dome above us. Dome? That wasn’t right. I reached out with my Senses and what I saw almost took my breath away.
The circle was fully charged and a protective field was emanating from it. It was a mass of formulas and spells in hieroglyphics, quite beautiful in and of itself. I reached out to touch it. My hand was almost immediately hurled back at me. A Repulsor field and it was a thick one too, thicker than I had ever seen before. Shelly had smashed into it trying to escape. I had sprung the trap somehow, we were locked in.
“What in blue blazes happened?” Kolann and the rest of his team were at the edge of the circle gingerly testing the field with a finger. “What do we do?” I shook my head and held up my open hands. “I don’t know, Kol. Never been on the inside before.”
“We’re trapped, Alex. You don’t have enough power to break the spell and defeat Seth.”
Bastet started to laugh. “What’s so bloody funny? Answer me true, Bastet!”
“Gladly, foolish little kitten. You completed the ritual. My lord now rises.”
“Completed the ritual? That’s a load of crap!”
“Not at all, Mr. MacFade, all it needed was the blood of a 13th righteous man and you provided it. End of game, Mack, you lose.”
I smiled wanly, “Not that everyone hasn’t noticed, but I feel this bears pointing out, Bastet. I have all my blood and nobody has EVER accused me of being righteous.” Kolann cleared his throat and touched his right temple. “Eh hem. Mack?” What was he trying to say? “You’re bleeding.” I reached up and touched my right temple. It hadn’t been sweat running down my face. “So bloody what? It could only have been a few drops!” Bastet laughed again at some unrevealed joke.
That’s all that would have been needed, Mack. A few drops of your blood when you were supercharged, would easily contain enough energy to duplicate the amount of a normal human’s entire blood mass. We played right into their hands.”
“No matter, Seth isn’t going to be resurrecting anyone, any time soon.”
“Can you be so sure?” said a gravelly rasping voice. “Bloody hell! What now?” As I watched, to my horror, Seth started to get up. “Seishin Kasai!” I yelled willing the sword ablaze and directing it to take energy from, Seth. The sword set ablaze momentarily and snuffed out like a candle wick. I almost fainted. Shelly rose to keep me on my feet just in time. “What the bloody hell was that?” I croaked sounding disgusted with myself.
Seth started to pat out the flames on his charred skin. “Did you really think it was going to be so simple to kill a God? I must admit, you surprised me the first time. I wasn’t expecting you to use an amulet but as for the sword taking its energy from me, that won’t happen. My energy is at the core of my being and Bastet warned me of your little parlor tricks. The air in this dome is charged already with resurrection magic. This makes a poor conductor for a power drain trick.” Shit!
“Of course, as the sword pulls life force energy from him, it absorbs into the air instead of being conducted by it. The energy goes back into the circle which he’s recharging from. Alex, we’re screwed!”
“Thanks Mai, your words of encouragement lift me up on the wings of eagles—if you can’t be constructive, then pipe down. I need to think. There’s only one thing left. I’ve got to try to take him hand to hand.”
“Are you out of your mind? He’ll tear you apart!”
“No, he won’t. He wants me alive and pretty, remember?”
“Alright Seth, then we’ll do it the hard way. I’ll kick your arse until you scream like the little bitch you are.” Seth looked unconcerned and just a bit smug. “I am going to truly enjoy ravaging your soul but first I have a question I would like answered and you look like you need a respite. There is no reason for us not to conduct ourselves like gentlemen.” Gentlemen? Is this guy for real? He was just talking about putting Bastet into Shelly’s body. Now he wants to be a gentleman? “Fine, ask your question, so that I can get back to ripping you a new one.” He eyed me thoughtfully. “So much confidence, but is it warranted? You really believe you can defeat me, don’t you? You were willing to give up your life for a mere slip of a girl and you think you can beat the God of war?”
“Was that your question?” I asked impatiently. He smiled slightly at my impertinence. He was so confident in his present situation that everything I did amused him as the fruitless foundering of a hopelessly desperate man. “No, my question is this. What did you do to bind Bastet in such a powerful way? I have never encountered such magic.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“Liar!” screeched Bastet. “You did this to me! I don’t know how but when it wears off, I am going to rip your heart out!” Seth casually drew in the dust with a claw. “Temper, dear sister, remember, in a few short moments that heart will belong to me.” I sneered at Bastet. “You did that to yourself, stupid demon.” Now I had Seth’s full attention. “Really? How so?” I raised an eyebrow at him and pretended to be tallying something on my fingers. “Is that question number two? You only get one, remember?”
“Yes but you have never answered the first so this is the second part, really.”
As I glowered at him, patiently waiting for my response, I noticed that his skin was growing back at a rapid rate. I kind of expected that. What the Hell was I going to do? “Lost in thought, Mr. MacFade? Is the explanation that complex?” Seth idly straightened his elaborately decorated collar. “Not at all, Seth old man, the explanation is quiet simple” I played a strong hunch. “In point of fact, you witnessed her do it.”
“I did? When was this?”
“When you were getting your arse whacked in Kolann’s office!” I started laughing uproariously. Kolann’s eyes widened a little. I looked at him and we both shrugged. “We thought it was Reginald but now that I know it was you, that’s hilarious! An Egyptian God…” I did the air quotes. “…got his ass spanked by a lowly Nim,” I croaked, through wheezing gasps. I was trying to hyperventilate, get my blood oxygen level up, to attack. “You can’t make this stuff up!”
“Please, Mr. MacFade! Compose yourself and answer the question!”
I spoke in a winded voice. “Bastet gave herself away several times that night. Really sweetheart, intrigue is not your forte.” I directed my last remark at Bastet. She gave me another snarl. “You really should think before you speak KITTEN.” Even Kolann and his group started to snigger. “But I have to say, the funniest part is when you pledged your obedience to me. Honestly, Seth, do you really want to partner with this half-wit? She’s dumb as a bag of hammers. Seriously! She can’t be THAT good of a lay, to make any of this worth it.”
I sank to one knee as if overcome with hilarity. Bastet struggled against her binding. “You lie! That’s impossible, it was Svetlana who pledged obedience to you, not me!” Part of the problem was, if I died tonight that binding would dissolve. Kolann and his crew would need to make a hasty exit and run like the wind. “She does have a point, Mr. MacFade.” Seth polished his sword on his tunic. Even Svetlana looked curious.
“This guy is way too confident for my comfort level, Alex. He knows something.”
The power
was building in the diagram and the shield dome was keeping it all in. Something was going to happen soon. “Ah, but had you been paying attention, Bastet, you would have noticed I addressed you without using a name.” She froze, the realization dawning on her. “It may have been Svetlana’s body you were using but YOU were in control. YOU were saying the words. As I said before, you really suck at this.” She screeched in rage and frustration.
Seth stood up and gave me a standing ovation. “Very clever, Mr. MacFade, how long did you know? I am sorry to be such a bother, but I have been cooped up in the Otherworld for thousands of years and this is the most entertained I have been, in millennia. Bastet is loyal to a fault, but the Almighty did not gift her with intelligence.” Bastet screeched in frustration again.
“What are we doing? We don’t need to tell him all this!”
“He thinks he’s flattering me and charming. Can’t you feel him pushing against our mind?”
“Who did you think has been blocking it?”
“I’m not done sorting out our situation. We have to stall him.”
I returned my attention to Seth. “I first had my suspicions when we examined the wards outside the Rayner estate. I have you to thank for that, Seth.” He gave me a quizzical look. “Oh yes Seth, one of the biggest mistakes made in the execution of this whole comedy of cock-ups was yours.” Seth gave me an amused smile. “How so, Mr. MacFade?” I shook my head. “If you hadn’t bothered me in The Club, I wouldn’t have obtained half the information I did and you might have gotten away with it. Let me guess—you knew how the bikers were disposing of the bodies by turning their victims and staking them out in the dawn sun?” Seth nodded. “And you thought I was the one that got away, didn’t you? Seth shrugged. “It seemed the only logical explanation at the time.” I smiled to myself. “Be that as it may, Seth. It was your meddling that brought the Rayners to my attention, nice work mate.” Bastet looked smug and tossed her nose in the air when I looked at her. Seth considered what I had to say and dismissed it. “You were saying something about the wards at the Rayner Estate?”
“Of course, by all means Seth, let us gloss over YOUR cock-ups.” I continued. “The work had been hasty, but effective. Only someone whom had experienced my power directly could target something like that, so quickly. The energy signature felt familiar, but only left a nagging doubt in my mind.”
“I see. So every mistake she made after that, just pushed pieces of the puzzle together. What I am curious about is, why recruit an army of these inept things?” He indicated the bodies of the Sons of Purity. “They cannot fight and their intelligence is laughable. They spend most of their time railing against your society and making mind altering substances, which they use upon themselves. Any insights there, Mr. MacFade?” I gave him a derisive snort. “While you were walking around as a human, you really should have picked up a newspaper, cracked a book or even turned on a telly for cripes sake, Seth. What better recruits for senseless murders? They work cheap, Meth isn’t expensive to produce and sending them after a target is simple. These ratbag drongos kill people for the color of their skin and believe they’re making the world a better place. You of all people, should know that fanatics make the best front line pawns. If they were ever caught…they were white supremacists, doing what supremacists do. The overworked and underfunded police would chalk up every random killing to gang violence. If I haven’t missed my guess, I’d say most of the innocent blood used in this ritual was black. For the same reason, a black child goes missing, the investigation is short if at all and they are labeled a runaway or a victim of gang violence, end of story. Am I right, Bastet?”
“Yes.” She growled in a low voice. “Now, where Bastet really went wrong was her lack of supervision. Having been a so called goddess she was used to her orders being followed to the letter, by broken spirited slaves. These drones,” I indicated the numerous bodies strewn about, “had ambitions of their own. They couldn’t be satisfied with simply killing their victims. No, they had to make it more fun, more meaningful. They had brothers in the police force that were willing to sell out three of their own for the cause. I realized, after interrogating the reporter, that Chief Zawadski was used to keep the heat off. The killings as well as the numerous reports of this enormous meth lab, were his job to conceal. They didn’t count on police being a society unto themselves and taking matters into their own hands.” I paused for effect.
“Previtt was a whole other animal. He became bored with only killing his victims for the color of their skin. He had a profile and a pattern of going after blond adolescent girls. Arianna was irresistible to him. Her being the white child of a powerful man caused an investigation and a very public one at that. Both of these ENORMOUS mistakes caused me to become involved. Nice work Bastet.” I said dryly. Seth applauded me again. “Oh, that was wonderful, Mack. May I call you, Mack?”
“No.”
“You are very intelligent… what are you?”
“Half human, half Nim,” I growled through clenched teeth. Why not expose all my secrets? I’m going to die here tonight anyway. Seth nodded his understanding, “I could use a creature like you in my army. Why not serve me willingly so that I’ll not have to take your body by force. In point of fact, as a reward, I’ll take the body of someone else. That young man there looks promising,” he said pointing at Archie. Archie glared at him and bared his fangs. “Oh yes, plenty of spirit in that one. Why not live forever as the general of a vast army than a pariah hiding in the shadows?
“In other words live as a slave or die as a victim. I don’t know if anyone told you Sethy boy but my people kind of have a big problem with the whole slavery thing. I’d rather drag my balls through broken glass, thank you very much.”
“Many men have made the choice to serve me rather than die, Mr. MacFade. Devotion does have its rewards.”
“I’ll pass, I hear your retirement plan is absolute murder.” I turned my back on him, a gesture of contempt, and walked a few paces to place myself between Seth and Shelly. As I turned she tapped my shoulder. “Mack?”
“It’s alright, Shelly, we’re going to be OK, stay close.”
“Mack?” She tapped my shoulder again as I was visually squaring off with Seth. He looked totally relaxed but intent on his purpose. “Not now, Shell. I’ve got to concentrate.”
“MACK!”
“What?”
“The mirror isn’t casting a reflection anymore.”
“What?” I turned to her. “Look!” She pointed. The surface was completely black in a total absence of light, really bad sign. “Aw fucking Hell!” I swore. Shelly looked up at me. “What is it?”
“Trouble…EVERYONE GET OUT, THE PORTAL IS OPEN!”
Kolann stepped up to the edge of the field. “We aren’t going anywhere without the two of you.” I shook my head. “Kolann, I appreciate your loyalty and after only a short time of knowing each other, but you’ve got to go. Ra, is on his way.”
“No, we got you into this. We’ll get you out.” I rolled my eyes. Typical clan chief, taking responsibility for the actions of any of his clan members, Svetlana had done this, not him. “You have to promise me something, Kolann.” He nodded. “Name it, Mack, and it’s yours.”
“You have to make sure Shelly doesn’t see what happens next.” He looked even more pale than normal. “What?” I tried to look reassuring. “I’m going to try something. I don’t know if it’ll work. If it does, beauty! If it doesn’t, as soon as this shield drops you need to get Shelly to safety. She can’t see what happens after that.” A dull roar started coming from the surface of the mirror. I had to shout over it. “I’LL NOT ALLOW SETH TO TAKE MY BODY! I’LL END MY LIFE FIRST! PROMISE ME!”
“I PROMISE, MACK, BUT TRY NOT TO THINK LIKE THAT. THINK LIKE THE WARRIOR YOU ARE AND HAND HIM HIS ASS!”
It was all up to me. Seth was now kneeling prostrate in front of the mirror. I wasn’t even considered a threat any more. That was just plain rude. I turned to Shelly. “Whoa! Mack,
you OK? Your eyes are like…glowing way more than usual.”
“I’m a little pissed off right now, Shelly.” I spoke in an artificially calm voice. “Get as far back as you can without touching the shield. This is going to get exciting.” Turning my back to her, I issued a panther scream of challenge and charged. Seth leaped up to meet my attack. You should have seen the bewildered look on his face when I hit the floor just in front of him and slid under his swinging staff. I leaned to the side and channeled the last of my power into my sword. It charged up and I took a two handed swing at the mirror. “SEISHIN HAKAI-RYOKU!” The stand crumbled under the pure destructive force encasing my blade. With the crackle and flash of severed connections, it fell to the floor with a loud slap. Seth froze. I rolled to my knees and raised my sword.
“You wouldn’t dare!”
“You don’t know me very well, do you?” I brought the hilt of my sword down with everything I had left. There was a sound of shattering glass and a BIG explosion. Hurled almost straight up, I smacked into the ceiling of the dome and hurtled back to the floor. I rolled a few feet and crashed into Shelly, laying there for a second stunned. “Mack? Can you hear me?” She was patting my face and yelling at me. It seemed unnecessary to me for some reason. I could hear her just fine.
“I think I may have miscalculated something.”
“No kidding…”
“Quiet, you.”
Shelly was leaning protectively over me, adorable… “Is it over, Mack?”
“Is the shield still up?” She reached out and her finger was zapped, but not pushed back. The shield had weakened. “Still there.”
“Then it ain’t over yet. Help me up.” Seth was stirring and recovering his senses. I needed to press my advantage. “It’s over, Seth. Ra’s ticket to Earth has been cancelled, please exit to your right and have a nice night. Buh, bye.”
He was furious now. “You fool! Do you realize what you have done? I have waited thousands of years for Ra’s return only to be defeated by an incompetent partner and a mere boy with a magic sword? I’ll tear you apart and resurrect you so I can kill you again!”