by James Somers
Several caught fire and began screaming. Stealth ended there. Sadie leaped from the catwalk as arrows and darts and shurikens were sent after her in pursuit. But she was too quick for them.
Wings burst from her arms as she took the form of an eagle in flight, sent herself swooping up and sideways and then spun left. Flying projectiles attempted to take her down all along the way, but unsuccessfully. She pulled hard right then tumbled mid-air, becoming an agile lemur.
Catching a support pillar with her long arms, she spun round it and down to the floor. Another black arrow shaft slammed into the floor next to her foot, quivering in the wood. The lemur sprang toward the company who had, moments ago, been seated upon the floor being entertained.
Panic had since taken over after the gouts of flame high above them and the screams of dying men. The diplomats, perhaps already fearing assassination, scattered like roaches from light. Only Toshima remained. Everyone else was running for cover.
Malak-esh appeared in Sadie’s hand as she became human again. In her peripheral vision she saw the half dozen Ninjas who were still willing and able to come after her. They dropped from the catwalk to the ground floor below a bit unsteadily due to the height. But they were still standing and still coming at their master Toshima’s request.
More projectiles came after her as she ran toward Southresh in his human guise. He was staring sternly at her, waiting, willing her on. This was a trap. She knew it, but she still would not flee this place.
Sadie shielded herself against attacks coming hurriedly from the Ninja. Her defensive wards dealt easily with the projectiles. Instead of a bubble of energy to repel attacks as her father had learned from Oliver James long ago, she now employed a technique that Cole had picked up from Laish and then taught her.
Protective wards had been established previous to her coming here. These proximity triggered spells used certain amounts of power either at the time they protected her, or at the time when they were cast. Sadie had utilized both methods. She had placed several very draining wards three days ago when she felt no present danger would force her to fight. She had slept a lot since, trying to replenish her energies.
However, she had also employed spell wards that took energy right now. Those were meant to deal with magical attacks if Southresh should have any spell casters working for him as bodyguards. Unlikely, but it was best to be safe. Most likely these would not be necessary and would not cost her energy while fighting the angel.
The other wards—those which used up energy already given—worked now to destroy the Ninja’s arrows and darts and shuriken. These were nicely vaporized when they came within a meter of her person. However, the energy contained within these wards would dwindle to nothing as more attacks came. She was safe from these attacks temporarily, but only temporarily.
She decided that there was no use drawing out this fight. Sadie had no lectures to give, no witticisms to bandy around, and no threats or conveyances of her deep emotional turmoil over the loss of her mother at Southresh’s hands. She just wanted him dead, which meant his mortal host killed and Southresh banished back to Tartarus.
Southresh raised his hands as Sadie crossed the floor toward him. Green sparks of energy flowed along and between his fingers. What was he thinking? Did he not realize the weapon she held?
Sadie decided that she might be acting predictably. This was a terrible weakness when facing an intelligence like one of the Fallen. Angels were naturally more powerful and cunning than Descendants or humans.
If this had been a chess game, Southresh would be thinking ten or twenty moves ahead of her. She couldn’t do what came natural. He would always outwit her. He would always know what a logical course of action was for her. The only way to defeat that intelligence was to do something ludicrous.
Sadie charged the energies of Malak-esh with her mind. The mercurial blade reacted faithfully to her call, beginning to glow brightly with pent up power. She noted the position of everyone in the room at that moment and then attacked.
Malak-esh spun away from Sadie’s outstretched hand. Southresh, confused by the move, dodged quickly out of the way. Sadie vanished in that same instant, even as Southresh attempted to lash out with an attack of green lightning. Finding no Sadie, the lightning surged on into the Ninja which had been coming at her with his sword raised over his head to strike.
The charge hit the man’s sword first, conducted along the blade to his body and blasted him backward off of his feet in the opposite direction. Southresh looked miffed by this. He turned back to find that the sword had cut an arc through the air and struck another of his assassins. The blade then vanished as its victim dropped dead to the wooden floor.
Sadie and Malak-esh then appeared together near another one of the Ninjas in the room. Surprised by her sudden materialization, the black clad assassin whipped his blade from the scabbard strapped across his back and lunged at her. Angel Fire glowed brightly with power. Sadie cut through his blade and then the man himself, vanishing again before Southresh could mount another attack.
This was odd. She shouldn’t have abandoned her primary target. She had already proven that her protective wards could defend her from the Ninja’s projectile attacks. All she had to deal with was fighting the angel. Southresh didn’t understand why she wasn’t then doing just that.
Sadie then appeared where no Ninja was waiting. Exactly where Southresh had not been looking. Logically, since she intended to take down the assassins first, he had expected her to teleport to each and kill them. He had taken the fraction of a second necessary to then focus upon the three who were left only to be disappointed now.
However, Sadie hurled her blade with deadly position at Southresh again, the blade glowing white hot. He didn’t have time to hit the weapon with an energy attack. It wouldn’t have stopped Malak-esh anyway. All he could do was get out of the way.
But even as he dodged to safety again, he realized that the girl’s attack had shown a two-fold objective. Either to kill him, or take down another of his henchmen. He had saved himself, but another Ninja had been in the line of fire. This man was hit by the sword before it disappeared yet again.
Southresh was growing frustrated now, a feeling he did not enjoy in the least. He was the mad god. He was not outwitted by mortals—and yet. He decided to change the game himself.
His power erupted outward now like a tidal wave, a hurricane’s fury unleashed in one moment. Everything within the Kondo was instantly set ablaze. Then the shockwave of force coming off of Southresh’s mortal host pummeled the structure. The two story Kondo flew apart, splintered shards of burning wood flying in every direction away from the Japanese assassin standing in the midst of its charred parquet floor.
There were no Ninja left now. Southresh had killed the remaining two with his outburst. The wooden walls of the Kondo had been laid flat all around. The curved double roof and the open upper story had been scattered upward and outward across the entire temple complex. Even the Pagoda behind the Kondo had been set ablaze and its structure damaged by the blast. It was beginning to lean dangerously already as monks came from all directions to investigate the calamity the angel had wrought.
However, much to his chagrin, the girl was nowhere to be found. Even such a furious attack shouldn’t have killed her so easily. He might have expected her to be caught somewhere in the conflagration and be knocked unconscious or grievously wounded, but not incinerated.
She appeared suddenly before him, casting several fireballs from her fists as they beat the air furiously. Then she vanished, reappearing to his right, screaming and hurling more fireballs from that direction. She vanished again, appeared behind him and did the same again.
But Southresh deflected the power of these easily. After all, fire was his particular gift. He had to give her credit for using the ability carried down from her father. It was brazen, and he liked that, but foolish. He laughed.
The fireballs grew larger and larger as her vanishing, reappearing, and fi
reball attack continued. But he only grew more amused, deflecting these. It was like a child furiously hurling snowballs at its parent. The effort was inconsequential—a waste of energy. At least, until the last came.
Southresh had been so amused by her pitiful effort, that he hadn’t expected what was hidden inside her last fireball. The spinning form of Malak-esh had been hurled at him, surrounded by an envelope of fire to disguise it. Southresh scattered this fire like the others. But the blade came on through.
Toshima stood with Malak-esh buried to the hilt in his chest. His eyes lowered to the weapon, his expression the height of bewilderment. How could this have happened? How could she have outsmarted him?
Sadie walked around to face the angel, leaving the blade where she had driven it. He sank to his knees amid the burning wreckage of the Kondo building. Monks stood at a distance unsure whether they should risk approaching. They stayed away. The fire spreading at the five story Pagoda building quickly drew their attention away.
Southresh looked at her until his human host failed in strength and he could no longer stay upright. He fell forward, unable to brace for the impact, and hit the charred boards hard. Sadie did not flinch. She did not remove the sword.
Instead, she waited, watching Toshima’s body. She saw nothing to indicate that the angel had passed from his host. Saw nothing to indicate that he had been sucked away back into the angelic prison of Tartarus. Malak-esh continued to burn with power in the wound. Sadie simply stood there until Toshima’s entire body had burned to ash around the sword. When the breeze finally began to blow away what was left of him, she vanished. Angel Fire went with her.
Frustration
It was already well after midnight when Sadie woke with a start. She quickly assessed herself and the room. She had taken a room for the night at a small family run inn within the city of Wiesbaden in Germany, an old spa town known for its many hot springs. With Southresh gone, she meant to get back to the business of dealing with Adolf once and for all.
Sadie had not returned to the United States in many months. She told herself that her father was in good hands with Cole. She would only make matters worse by continually going back and leaving over and over.
This way she was sparing herself and Cole and her father the pain that came with goodbyes. At least, that was the excuse she used every time the nagging guilt clawed at her mind. Truth be told, she never really bought that excuse. But she always managed to push the doubt out of her mind. She wasn’t going to leave this matter undone. And now, with her greatest challenge already behind her, she assumed the rest would be easy by comparison.
The room around her was very dark. The curtain was open, but the moon was barely a sliver in the sky now and did nothing to lighten the room. However, being a Lycan, her eyes were well suited for the night. But the room beyond the end of the bed remained swathed in darkness despite her keen eyesight.
It was Malak-esh that had woke her. She could still feel the pulse emanating from the sword even though it was hidden away in the dimensional pocket just beyond sight. It had always surged with energy like this while in the presence of one of the Fallen, so she knew that she was not alone here.
As Sadie reached out her arm toward the impenetrable blackness beyond her bed, Malak-esh came to her hand. The light from the glowing mercurial blade invaded the darkness. She saw the figure of a man revealed as the darkness fled. Still, his features were indistinct. She could not tell the identity of the person.
“I felt the mad god pass from this world yesterday.”
Sadie shuddered, realizing that Lucifer was standing across the room. It had to be him. He was the only one of the Fallen left in the world now. Malak-esh had not lied about the presence of an angelic enemy.
She whipped the blanket aside and came to her feet beside the bed as quick as a flash. She did not want to become entangled within her bed covers when the angel attacked her. In her mind, she could think of no other reason why he would have come.
Lucifer remained where he was, standing as still as a statue before the door. He seemed unperturbed by her sudden posturing with the sword. He did not move at all.
“Are you here to kill me?” Sadie asked. It was all she could think of to say.
“I came to congratulate you on your hard won victory,” he replied politely. “Ridding the world of Southresh was a great accomplishment.”
“Congratulate me? I doubt it. More likely you mean to stop me from killing your precious Adolf.”
Lucifer grinned. “Now why would I be concerned about that? Perhaps you think that I could not stop you, that I fear that weapon you’re holding. Rubbish. Maybe you’re too stupid to see that Adolf’s time is already coming to an end, regardless of what you or I do. He is not the one.”
“The one?” she asked uncertainly.
“Child, when my time comes to rise, there will be nothing anyone can do to stop me,” Lucifer crowed. “It has been written and it will be done.”
Sadie straightened. “There have been a great many more things written on that subject than just your rising to power in the world.”
Lucifer sniffed indignantly at this and then vanished from the room without another word. The previous pervasive blackness in the room scattered with his departure. Sadie could see now as well as she ever had with nothing hidden in the dark. What she couldn’t see was the true reason for this visitation.
Malak-esh drew down its power. With the danger gone, it rested again. Lucifer had truly left her. She wasn’t sure if she could sleep now. Probably not. Regardless, her hunt for Adolf would take up again tomorrow.
A private car had been sent to the airport to receive Mengele. However, the drive all the way into the Bavarian Mountains had taken longer than Josef had expected. Hitler had summoned him and, though he did not like to leave his experiments at Auschwitz unattended, he had no choice but to go.
The winding drive was made more tolerable by handsome scenery passing through the mountains. It was far more enjoyable than walking through Berlin at the moment. Allied bombing had increased over the past few days, and much of the city was suffering with it.
Barracks passed by on either side as the car approached the private drive of Adolf’s home. Josef could see vigilant patrols marching the perimeter of the estate. The Fuhrer wasn’t taking any chances with his or Anna’s safety.
Mengele was one of the few people to know of Anna Parks, to know that she was not the woman Eva Braun. He was also one of the few people living to know that Adolf was not entirely human. Josef had guessed as much by the man’s blood sample.
Others had once been entrusted with the Fuhrer’s super human status, but they had since been eliminated. Josef realized that Adolf could not have kept the secret from him after submitting to testing in order to develop the now failed Berserker Strain. But he remained alive because Adolf needed Josef to produce the new Rage Virus. With this, Adolf hoped to spread it to the enemy masses and then watch as they destroyed themselves. If he was going to reclaim the world after that then Mengele would still be necessary.
They turned past the guards stationed near the home, pulling into the last length of the drive. The Berghof stood in the distance up ahead at the top of the hill. With all that was happening, this might be the last meeting like this they would be able to have.
Pulling up to the house, the driver got out and opened the door for Josef. The doctor climbed out, carrying a metal suitcase with him. A chain ran from the case to a single handcuff attached to his wrist.
A servant opened the door. Mengele did not pause, but walked on through. Heinz Linge, Hitler’s personal valet, appeared in the foyer.
“This way, sir,” Heinz said with a slight bow.
He led the way to the Great Hall. Inside, Hitler was waiting beside the red mantle. To Mengele’s surprise, Anna Parks was seated in the room also, speaking with Adolf as he walked inside.
He strode to his Fuhrer, offering his hand. They shook.
“That will be all,
Heinz,” Adolf said.
Heinz bowed with a respectful nod. “Very good, sir,” he said and then withdrew.
Josef nodded to Anna politely. “Fraulein,” he said, taking her hand and kissing the knuckle.
“Doctor Mengele,” she replied kindly.
“Anna, would you excuse us?” Adolf asked. “I need to discuss some important matters with Josef.”
She stood with slight difficulty. “Of course,” she said.
Josef noticed that her pregnancy was beginning to show now. Adolf had only mentioned the matter in passing before leaving Auschwitz. They waited as she quietly left the room. When the door closed behind her, Adolf began to speak.
“Is that it?” he asked, indicating the briefcase attached by the chain to Josef’s wrist.
“Yes, this case contains the Rage Virus.”
“Very good,” Adolf said, draining the last of the scotch from his glass. “You will not return to the camp.”
Josef began to protest gently. “But my experiments—”
“I know what you’re going to say, Josef, but the Allies are closing in around us. I’ve already made arrangements and sent my double to my Fuhrer bunker in Berlin. I feel fairly certain that we only have days before the end now. The Russians are advancing their line toward the capital. The others will not be far behind.”
Josef nodded with a deep exhale. He had wondered if this would separate him from his work at the camp. His intuition had not been wrong. Hitler was making preparations for the end of the war.
“We must keep the virus close now to protect it,” Adolf said. “What about the antidote? Do you have it also?”
“I have several doses in here,” Josef said.
Adolf left his glass setting upon the mantle as he began to pace the room. “Yes, but does it work? We must be sure.”
Josef removed his jacket, unbuttoned his cuff and rolled up the sleeve of his shirt. He turned his forearm toward his fuhrer. The flesh was macerated and inflamed.