Cursed (Codex of Enchantment Book 1)
Page 19
The Archon didn’t usually have a corporeal form. Instead, it would appear as a cloud of swarming black specks in its special territories of Hell, heedless of the sensations and feelings of such lesser beings as mortal souls. But its long acquaintance with the Special Consul and Federal Bureau Agent Maximus had given it a whole new slew of feelings to explore. Feelings and sensations that it could capitalize on, that it thought could even aid it in its quest for eternal dominance. It understood what regret and failure was now, just as it understood what agony felt like. It had already devised a hundred new devastating ways to torture and to inflict fear on its citizens in Hell, should it ever return.
“Sister! Close that grimoire now! You’re going to summon every legion in Hell!” Darius fell to his feet, scrabbling on the rubble and mortar as he started to slide towards his sister. He had dropped his gun now that it was empty, but seeing the furious look on his face, Penelope didn’t think that he was going to need it.
“No, I’m not, Darius. Trust me—this will reverse the Portal!” Penelope was shouting, as the third volume reached over half way in the book, and then three quarters to the start. The Special Collections Librarian shifted on her knees to try and get a better grip on the second volume as her murderous brother drew closer.
“You know nothing!” Darius was screaming as he was drawn closer by fury and the eldritch whirlwind. “Only the Knights can control it!”
Behind both Harp siblings, from its place inside the ruined body of its former host, the Archon still burned in hate. But even more so then that—the creature didn’t want to return to Hell. The creature wanted to remain here, in the mundane world—the world where it was not just another Prince amongst many such Archons, but instead was the most powerful being on the planet.
The Archon wanted to remain alive, and it wanted to rule the world. Of all of the incursions into the realm of the living, it was this Archon that had inhabited the Special Consul Maximus who could truly destroy the hopes and dreams of humanity, with its in-depth knowledge of the workings of the human mind.
Thud! The third volume of the Luminaire had flipped itself entirely back to the start, and Penelope moved quickly, flipping the second volume over onto its back, and heaving the back cover open as if moving a great weight. The black magic of the portal went into overdrive and took over, almost wrenching the second volume out of her hands as the pages started to flip, in reverse, from the back of the book to the front. The first volume underneath Penelope’s knees started to shift and rattle and buck, and Penelope was certain that she could feel something like teeth or talons against her legs as she struggled to keep it still.
Darius reached the broken glass of the ruined Vault room, cuffing his own sister savagely around the head, but still, she wouldn’t move from her position. The whirlwind sang and swept around the Harp siblings, and the second, middle volume of the Luminaire crossed hallway, and now reached two thirds of the way through in the blink of an eye.
“Stop it!” Darius seized his sister, shaking her, but still, Penelope Harp didn’t move.
“No! This is the only way to close the Portal for good, to reverse the spell!” Penelope was shouting. “I don’t care what you do to me, Darius—I’m seeing this through to the end!” The second volume thumped to the beginning, leaving just one more to go.
The black swarm that was the true form of the Archon flooded out of the destroyed and fractured body of Maximus, and straight into the nearest human.
Darius Harp.
Darius roared in agony as the creature started to eat what was left of his soul, his grip falling away from his sister as he writhed on the floor, locked into a mortal battle for far more than his life.
Penelope screamed, frozen in indecision at what she should do. Only one thing I can do. She took a deep breath. What my parents would be proud of. She reached under her, seized the first volume of the Luminaire Minus Clavem, the grimoire that she had been carrying since all of this had started, and wrestled it over onto its back, and pushed the back cover open with a shout of anger. The book pitched and wriggled obscenely under her hands, seeking to resist the reversal of the spell that it had been originally designed for, but Penelope was insistent, her hands seizing the last page of the first book, tugging and pulling at it to try and desperately get it to move.
“Sister…” said a terrible, infernal voice that was not her brother’s. Darius Harp had opened his ruined, blackened eyes, and the Archon stared out of them. This body was much better than the one before. This body didn’t have quite so many bullet holes in it, and, what pleased the Archon immensely, was the fact that this one had access to one of the most powerful occult organizations in the mundane world. Plans of domination and torture swept through the creature’s brain in an instant. It could use all of the power and influence that this Darius Harp already had to conduct other possessions, assassinations, briberies, ransoms—and pretty soon every world government up here would be answerable to it alone, the Archon of the Luminaire. Perhaps then, and only then, the Archon would deign to open the portals to the underworld, when it could be secure in the knowledge that it did not need the Hell below, because it ruled the Hell on earth.
“No.” Penelope used both hands to pull the last page open, and watched as the portal spell reversed, and the pages started flickering backwards towards the beginning of the book, undoing every connection and eldritch incantation that was allowing the Portal to exist.
“You’ve lost. You and your kind.” Penelope collapsed backwards. She knew that it wouldn’t take long. It was like the normal whirlpool of the portal, but in reverse, sucking everything back into hell which it had spewed out.
The last third of the Luminaire had opened, and the Paris volume of the Luminaire suddenly fell into the first, vanishing with a gulp.
“Fool!” The Darius-Archon lurched forward to at least kill its sister, as the Luminaire flipped past the second third, and the second London volume fell into the first.
Penelope kicked out with a foot at her brother, causing the Archon to dodge just a little, but it was enough as the Luminaire reached its first page, and the Darius-Archon itself collapsed on top of the New York Volume, as it swallowed itself whole. There was a terrible ripping, squeezing, and tearing noise as Darius Harp and the Archon he contained vanished, and the New York volume of the Luminaire exploded into a shower of paper.
“Oh gods,” Penelope groaned, collapsing into the dust and wondering just what she had done. “I’ve killed my brother,” she murmured, her voice the only sound apart from the occasional creak and subsidence of rock and stone.
It was over. The spectral winds of the Portal had vanished, leaving in their wake devastation.
“You saved us,” coughed a voice, and Penelope raised her head to see that Verity Vorja was still alive, and crawling towards her.
“But…” Penelope saw the wreckage of the Luminaire all around them. “But I think I failed as a librarian.”
“Maybe.” Verity collapsed next to her, content to lie there and wait for the emergency services to get to them. How they were going to explain the ruined body of the FBI agent, she had no idea. “But being a good librarian isn’t always about preserving books. Sometimes it’s about preserving the world, as well.”
Penelope Harp wasn’t quite sure if that was totally true, but from where she lay, and after what she had been through, it was good enough for her.
About The Author
Briana Snow writes urban fantasy. Cursed is the first book in the Codex of Enchantment series. She is busy working on book two.
Feel free to sign up to her mailing list at BrianaSnow.com for author and new release announcements.
Hope you enjoyed reading this book!
More Books by Briana
Ice and Flame Series
Winter Magic
Winter Solace
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