Tirade

by Cambria Hebert

  “But first, I must have the name.”

  “I’m not giving you the name.”

  “So you do have it?” He lifted an eyebrow. “What will it take to get it from that pretty little head of yours?”

  He glared at me, a sadistic grin splitting his face. I braced for the blow, but it never came. Instead, he raised a hand and I heard a roar behind me. I turned to see Sam’s body, now a hellhound, suspended in the air. He didn’t appear hurt, but as he hung there Beelzebub pulled out a dagger and tossed it into the air. The dagger buried into the dark fur of Sam’s side.

  “No!” I screamed and threw myself at Beelzebub. I caught him off balance and we fell. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Sam fall to the ground and launch himself at us.

  Riley was there, knocking me out of the way and creating a clear path for Sam to pounce on Beelzebub. Hecate went after Cole, using her magic to send him flying backward into a rock. He got up instantly and charged at her, daggers appearing in both his hands.

  I didn’t know where to look. Sam and Riley were fighting Beelzebub and Cole was fighting Hecate. I saw Gemma take out her bow and take aim at Hecate so I launched myself into the fight with Sam.

  Beelzebub threw Riley back and away, then did the same to Sam. Instead of doing the same to me, he grabbed me by the throat. I kicked and fought as fiercely as I could, but he just stood there, holding me, laughing. Then he looked into my eyes and pain burst through my head. I tried to look away, but I was suspended by his stare. I couldn’t hear anything and my eyesight began to dim. I felt as though my head might fall off my shoulders.

  Sam knocked into him from the side with an enraged roar and took a huge chunk of flesh out of Beelzebub’s face. I fell back, stunned.

  Sam pinned him to the ground and tore into his flesh like he was an excited kid on Christmas opening a gift. Beelzebub screamed and fought, but Sam wouldn’t back down. Riley stood off to the side, pacing, waiting to pounce.

  “Heven, hurry!” Gemma called and I turned. She shot Hecate through both shoulders with two arrows, pinning her to a large rock. The witch closed her eyes and began chanting, my brother stood nearby, bleeding from his mouth.

  I dug the pouch out of my pocket and rushed forward, stopping just in front of the chanting witch. I hurried to pour the dust into my palm and then I held it up.

  She opened her eyes and paused in her chant. Her eyes focused on the golden dust I was poised to blow and she gasped. “No.”

  I blew the dust, emptying my lungs of air, and prayed it would do what we hoped. The dust floated out of my palm and danced around the witch. It looked like millions of golden lightning bugs playing on a warm summer night. She began to scream and cry as the dust clung to her clothing and skin. It shimmered around her and I imagined it was heating against her skin and causing some sort of burning sensation.

  “What have you done?” Hecate screamed, and I knew then it would work. Before my eyes she seemed to shrivel. She didn’t get smaller, but the air around her did. I wasn’t sure how old she was, but suddenly she looked far older than she had before, her skin becoming paper thin and taking on a translucent cast.

  Once she stopped screaming and had slouched against the rock, I knew her powers were bound and we were safe from her evil.

  I heard a cry behind me and I turned. Riley was lying unconscious a few feet from where Sam and Beelzebub were fighting. Sam had yet another dagger sticking out of his side and I could tell he was beginning to feel the pain. Beelzebub tossed him away and came toward me.

  “What would it do to your soul if I killed him?”

  Sam lunged, baring his teeth and sinking them into the flesh of Beelzebub’s shoulder. Sam fell back, making some sort of choking sound, and Beelzebub chortled. He looked vulgar and disgusting standing over Sam. He was bleeding from so many places I had no idea where he was injured. His arm hung from his body, barely attached, and his face was completely destroyed. Yet he was still standing. Sam made another gagging sound and blood poured from his mouth. Then something covered in gore fell out of his mouth and he collapsed.

  Beelzebub made a tsking sound. “You should have been paying attention.” He picked up the glob that fell from Sam’s throat and wiped it on his pants. “You never know where I might hide a razor blade.” He laughed. “I bet those really hurt going down.”

  Oh. My. God.

  Beelzebub tossed the blade onto the ground and stalked toward me.

  Run, Heven, Sam said.

  I wasn’t going to run. I’d had enough.

  Beelzebub looked at me and smiled. Then he pulled a dagger out of his bootleg and turned to face Sam. “Give me the name.”

  From out of nowhere, Logan launched himself at Beelzebub. He leaped onto his back and used a dagger that was in his hand to stab him in the shoulder. Beelzebub screamed in agony and rage. He reached around and grabbed Logan, slamming him down onto the unforgiving ground. Sam got up on wobbly legs, but fell back down, coughing up more blood. Beelzebub laughed and raised the dagger over Logan’s body and I threw myself at him. We rolled across the granite floor. Beelzebub landed on top. “The name!” he screamed, holding the dagger high.

  “Heven!” Logan cried fiercely and charged Beelzebub, who turned and buried the dagger into Logan’s chest.

  “No!” I screamed. “No!”

  Beelzebub twisted the dagger and laughed. “Give. Me. The. Name.”

  Logan looked at me with wide, unblinking eyes. Shock registered on his face.

  “Okay, I’ll tell you.”

  Beelzebub turned to me, still holding the dagger and Logan in the air. I closed my eyes, asking my memory to call up the picture of the Map. It came easily as Logan began to cough. Warm droplets of blood splattered my face. I began to cry.

  Then I saw it. The name.

  It was scrawled right next to the words Soul Reaper.

  I opened my eyes.

  “Let him go,” I demanded, proud of the even tone of my voice.

  Beelzebub viciously yanked the dagger out of Logan and dropped him onto the ground. He lay there, unmoving. I scrambled to his side and took his face in my hands.

  “Logan!” I said as his eyes fluttered open and he looked at me.

  “Are you all right?”

  A sob ripped from my throat. “Yes, thanks to you.”

  Beelzebub grabbed me from behind, but then an arrow shot into his back and a dagger buried itself in his side. I looked behind him to see my friends advancing.

  “Tell me the name or I will kill you all,” he said as Sam raised himself up to loom behind him. His eyes were wild.

  “It’s me,” I said, looking him straight in the eye. “I am the Soul Reaper.”

  And then Sam took him down. He did not get back up. Sam collapsed beside us and Gemma ran over and shoved her hand down his throat and grimaced. When she pulled it back out, she had two razor blades in her hand.

  Sam shifted and crawled over to where his brother lay gasping and took his shoulders in his hands. “Logan.”

  Logan smiled.

  “Gemma,” Sam said, hoarse. “Get over here!”

  “No,” Logan said. “Let me go, Sam.”

  “What? No!” Sam cried, his voice hoarse. “We will take you to Ana. The tea, it will heal you.”

  Logan was shaking his head. “No. There’s not enough time. And even if there was... I don’t want to live, Sam. That stuff would only help someone who truly wanted to heal.”

  “You do want to live! Don’t say that! I want you to live!” Sam looked up, his eyes were completely desperate. “Heven!”

  I crawled closer and yanked out the pouch that held the dried flower dust I used on Hecate. Maybe this would work like the tea, or at least buy us some time to get back to Ana. I dumped what was left of it onto my palm and prayed it would be enough. Logan was shaking his head when I lowered my hand and gently blew the dust over him.

  We all stood there silently waiting, watching to see if it would work.

  The dust glit
tered and danced over Logan, bringing life into the air and then it floated down onto his chest, making him sparkle.

  And then the sparkles faded and the dust turned gray.

  Sam made a sobbing sound and grabbed at his brother’s arm.

  “I told you. I’m too broken.” Logan smiled. “I was dying anyway. This is faster; it’s easier. You have to let me go.”

  “No, I won’t,” Sam said. A single tear fell from his eye, making a track through the ash and dirt on his face.

  “I made amends for everything I did. I was strong, like you.”

  I started to cry. He was such a good person, a strong person. He deserved better than this. Than death. I crouched down on his other side and took his hand in mine. “You’re the strongest of us all.”

  Logan coughed, but then he smiled. “I learned it all from Sam.”

  “Gemma,” Sam cried. “Please.”

  “Let me go,” Logan said softly. “It’s peaceful there. It doesn’t hurt. I can already see the light… It’s welcoming me.”

  Sam put his head down and began to cry. Logan grabbed his hand. “Don’t cry for me. I’m going to be just fine. I love you.”

  “I love you too, Logan,” Sam said, wiping his face with the back of his hand.

  And then all the light, the life, went out of Logan’s eyes. His body released the pain it held and his muscles relaxed.

  He died.

  We all cried. We all stood there looking down on the boy whose life was cut too short. We would never see him smile again, or watch his eyes light up at the sight of a new comic book. We would never again hear him laugh at his video game or find stashed candy wrappers all over the house.

  We would never be touched by his love again.

  Gemma was the first to move away. She went to Riley, who still lay gagging from the razors that Beelzebub stashed on his clothing and body. She must have healed him because he appeared, dressed and in his human form, beside us and looked down at Logan with sadness on his face.

  Sam was broken. He sat clutching his brother, not saying a word, not looking at anyone. He simply sat with silent tears dripping off his chin. It wasn’t the time for me to try to comfort him because there was no comfort I could give. Some pain just couldn’t be taken away.

  Behind us, Hecate made a sound and I looked up to see Beelzebub rise up off the ground where he had fallen.

  The sight of him ignited intense anger within me. It swelled up so strong that my body turned hot. Sweat broke out across my brow and I took a deep breath. Beelzebub looked at me and grinned.

  Heat rushed to the surface of my skin. I wanted him to suffer. I wanted him to know pain. I was so intent on destroying him that it took a moment to realize what was happening.

  His screams are what brought me out of my trance.

  His whole body was on fire. Flames engulfed him, angry white-hot fire melted the flesh off his bones, and he screamed once more. It was a scream I would never forget: blood curdling but angry at the same time.

  He collapsed in a fiery puddle as we all watched in horror as he burned to death.

  Slowly, everyone’s gazes shifted to me.

  I knew I was responsible. That I somehow lit our enemy on fire, but I had no explanation.

  You have been blessed with the power of the sun. It is awakened in you. Use it with care.

  Ana’s words clicked into place. I knew exactly what the power of the sun meant now. Drinking that tea had awakened a new ability within me. An affinity for fire. The power of the sun.

  Movement caught my eye and I looked up. The Devourer was positioned over Beelzebub’s smoking remains and I watched as Beelzebub’s immortal soul drifted up over his ruined body and into the air.

  It was the moment we had been waiting for.

  “Help us,” I asked the dragon. “Please. All you have to do is what you do best.”

  I swear he understood me because when The Devourer looked up I saw it in his eyes. I nodded then said, “You can do this.”

  The dragon opened his massive jaws and everything around us began to tug forward, the force of his pull was so strong I stumbled even as I dug my feet into the ground. Dust and ash whipped around us, my shirt and hair were yanked forward trying to follow The Devourer’s call. I pushed back the hair from my face and watched as Beelzebub’s soul began to waver. Even he with all his power was no match for a mighty dragon.

  Then, with great triumph swelled within me as the Prince of Demon’s soul was sucked into the dragon and disappeared from sight.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Sam

  Death. I don’t think dying hurts. My brother seemed to be at peace. Death is hardest for those the dying leave behind. The finality of death is what hurts, the absence that will be in your life until you die too. In my brother’s case, it’s also the horrible injustice of a life cut far too short. Of a boy who was so good, yet ended in such a terrible, tragic way.

  I tried to protect him. I tried to give him what he deserved.

  I failed.

  All I could do now was honor his life—his sacrifice—by not wasting the life I still had.

  But it hurt. The loss cut deep.

  “Sam,” Heven whispered, crouching down beside me. She didn’t try to touch me and I could sense her wariness. She didn’t know if I would be angry, if I would need to yell.

  I didn’t feel anything but sad.

  I looked up into her blue eyes and felt some comfort. “I know it’s hard, baby, but we have to go.”

  Our job wasn’t finished down here and I’d be damned if I let that old witch and that psycho Beelzebub get away with anything else. Heven was holding some clothes, and for the first time I realized I wasn’t wearing any. I looked down at the blood streaking my body. I had no idea whose it was.

  “Will you stay with him?” I asked. My throat felt raw.

  “Of course.”

  I lowered my brother’s body to the ground and went to change at the Jeep. I wanted to mourn, but mourning would have to wait.

  Once I was dressed, I had Riley pull the Jeep close to Logan’s body and everyone climbed in. I held my brother with great care as I settled in the passenger seat and Riley began to drive.

  “Go to the castle,” Heven said as she coaxed The Devourer into following us.

  “How do you know that oversized bird isn’t digesting Beelzebub right this second?” Riley said, tossing the words sarcastically over his shoulder as he drove.

  Heven turned her attention away from coaxing the “oversized bird” and hushed Riley. “You’ll hurt his feelings!” she said.

  He snorted.

  “Beelzebub is immortal remember? I’m guessing that makes him indigestible.”

  “Wouldn’t want that heart burn.” Riley cracked.

  No one else laughed. It might have been funny in a different situation but nothing about what was happening was funny to me. My baby brother was dead, we were in hell, and I just wanted this one plan to work. Heven went back to luring the dragon with candy bars and I went back to staring down at the body in my lap.

  We stopped at the drawbridge and I stared up at the castle. Heven leaned into the front. “I can handle this. You stay here, with Logan.”

  I shook my head. I needed to stay with her. My brother died helping to protect her and me and I wasn’t going to do anything to jeopardize her safety.

  Gemma and Cole stayed with Logan’s body in the Jeep while Heven, Riley and I climbed out. Riley went around to the back, where Hecate was basically half in, half out, and grabbed her lifeless frame.

  “What happened to her?” I asked.

  “I bound her powers, but when Riley tried to put her in the car she was struggling so he knocked her out.”

  “I think we should throw them in Kimber’s cell,” Heven announced.

  “Do you think that’ll work?” I asked.

  “It’s enchanted by Hecate herself to keep a soul in. Beelzebub is a soul. And Hecate is so weak and without power she won’t be abl
e to get out or break the spell that holds them.”

  “Let’s do this,” Riley said, walking toward the castle.

  I looked at The Devourer. “He won’t fit down in the dungeon. We need something to put his soul in until we get down there.”

  “Here,” Gemma called. She reached into the pouch at her side and pulled out the box that held the amulet. Riley and I both stiffened when she took the amulet out and stuffed it into her pocket. She tossed Heven the box.