God of Destruction

by Alyssa Adamson

  “Why not?” Alex snapped, crossing her arms to mirror his stubborn posture.

  “Your boyfriend told me not to.”

  Alex rolled her eyes. “Oh please, what do you care if we go out there? Last I checked, none of this concerns you!”

  “Trust me,” he muttered through clenched teeth, “you don’t wanna go out there with that thing.”

  “Like I said: Not. Your. Problem! If we wanna go out there and get killed, that’s our problem!”

  Kierlan said nothing, but his eyes flickered over to Claire on the couch. She was curled up so tightly into herself that she looked smaller than the petite girl standing up to him.

  Incapable of scheming?

  Though it was a foreign concept to Claire, being as innocent as she was, she would have done anything in that moment if it meant protecting her friends. For once, she wanted to be the hero, instead of the damsel in distress. Just once.

  Somewhere in the suite, three cell phones simultaneously shrieked.

  “Who the hell is calling me?” Alex snarled without tearing her eyes from Kierlan.

  Claire looked up to find Kierlan’s gaze centered on her. She gulped and averted her eyes. “M…Mine, too. Maybe it’s James?”

  “I don’t think he’d be calling me,” Russell mocked, gesturing with his chin to his singing pants pocket.

  Eyebrows knit, Alex reached into the front pocket of her jeans and glared down at the screen. Astonishment colored her face when she read the name: Natalia. Instantly, she accepted the Facetime request.

  “You bitch,” she gasped when the assassin’s face on her phone. “You bitch, where are you? What did you do to them?”

  “Alexandria, this is not a time for you to make demands,” the lilting voice replied, her face unaffected by the name calling.

  “What did you do to Hayden and Scottie?” Alex growled, narrowing her eyes.

  Natalia grinned, showing teeth. “Tell your friend to accept the call.”

  Alex pursed her lips but finally whispered, “Claire, answer the phone.”

  The blonde complied. She winced when Natalia’s face came into view. “Natalia, w…what do you wan—”

  “I am glad I have all of your attention,” Natalia laughed. James’s voice mumbled something in the background as his picture appeared in the corner of the frame. Taran scowled down at the screen over his shoulder.

  “What’s going o—”Claire began.

  “I am here to make a deal you cannot refuse,” she taunted, her entire face filling the frame. “I have a few people here that I am sure you are all missing.” The screen jerked away from her face, and spun to display the illuminated faces of Hayden, Scottie, and Janie.

  The three captives sat in a line of three chairs, their arms wound behind them. Janie sat forward, the ropes wrapped around her supporting her frail body. The latest kick to her face had swelled her cheek to epic proportions, forcing one of her eyes shut. Hayden’s makeup streaked from her glassy eyes and her lip quivered; her chair shook with the tremors of her body. Beside her, Scottie’s mouth was covered by duct tape, but his muffled shrieking was still audible to them. As they watched, a man appeared in the frame, striking Scottie’s temple with the butt of his gun. The girls standing in the hotel room gasped, Claire’s hand flying to her mouth. Blood trickled from Scottie’s face and his yelling abruptly cut off as he swayed precariously toward Hayden.

  “Scottie!” Hayden shrieked, erupting in tears.

  Janie said nothing; it was hard to believe she was even conscious.

  “Oh my God,” Taran murmured, yanking James’s phone away. “Janie?”

  The girl’s head jerked upward like she’d been slapped, her eyes darting every which way in search of something that wasn’t there. “Taran?” she mumbled under her breath. When she didn’t see him, and her eyes found Natalia instead, she winced and let her body fall slack against the ropes again.

  “D…Don’t hurt them!” Claire pleaded.

  “You know what we want, James,” Natalia snarled.

  “Anything!” Alex exclaimed, staring at her friends, wherever they were. Despite all her effort, her eyes couldn’t help but wander to the grotesque face of the girl she’d never seen before. Her heart twisted, wondering how old the girl was: fourteen…fifteen? Nausea roiled in her stomach, watching Taran’s face fall further and further into anguish. “What do you want?”

  Natalia’s teeth glimmered in the light. “Bring Claire and Alex to the River Seine in one hour, or we will kill your friends. One. By. One.”

  The line abruptly disconnected.

  Alex stood frozen with phone still in hand. “We have to go.”

  “Wait,” Claire whispered. “W…what if they find them? Maybe we should w…wait for James to come b…back?”

  Alex shoved uselessly at Kierlan’s chest. “And what if they don’t?! If we wait for them to come back, James will never let us go.”

  “I know that!” Claire said. “But we can’t just walk into a dangerous situation like this because they say they’ll let Scottie and Hayden go. What if they’re lying?”

  Alex’s hands pulled at her hair. “We don’t have a choice, Claire! They’ll kill them. And it’ll be all our fault!”

  Claire stood, hesitantly enveloping her friend in a hug. “Alex, James has powers, r…remember, if anyone can stop them—”

  “If he can find them,” she breathed. “And what if they’re waiting for him to try that? We can’t assume that they know less than we do, they brought a God back to life!”

  “Alex, listen—”

  “No. You listen,” Alex whimpered. “I’m going back to the catacombs whether you go or not. I’m not going to let Scottie, Hayden, or that girl die because we’re scared. I won’t make you go with me, Claire,” she continued, holding Claire at arm’s length, “but I want you to remember what’ll happen if you don’t go.”

  “I know what’ll happen,” Claire muttered. “I can’t go.”

  Alex retracted her hands like she’d been burned. “Claire!” she gasped, eyes widening. “For once in your life, try to be a little irrational.”

  The blonde’s eyes narrowed, but she said nothing.

  Irrational? Her mind was made up before she gave herself the chance to weigh the outcomes again. After all, she’d always wanted to be a hero, and now she finally had the chance to do right by her friends. Now was her chance to prove she wasn’t the baby in their group. Her eyes flashed to Kierlan, standing against the door with his scowl focused on Russell.

  She approached him slowly, looking up to meet his full height, until her chest nearly touched his. Confusion colored his face when he finally met her gaze. “Claire?”

  “Please, we need to leave,” she murmured begrudgingly.

  His eyebrows knit together and he chuckled darkly. “I told you, I’m not letting you through. You’re both safer here.”

  “Please,” she pleaded. “Our friends’ lives depend on it.”

  He cringed, guilt shining in his eyes. He leaned down to her height, ignoring her shiver when he placed his lips beside her ear. His breath tickled her neck. “Believe me, Claire. That woman isn’t going to let your friends go if you run to help them. Stay here. Stay safe.”

  He leaned away from her, crossing his arms and becoming cold once again. Claire bit her tongue, glancing from the door to his face and back again. Irrational? She didn’t want to weigh the possible consequences of her actions, especially when she wanted it so badly. And the door was just a step away.

  She didn’t think about it when she reached up, ignoring his startled protest when she pulled him down to her level by his neck, and slanted her lips over his, her free hand curling around the doorknob.

  Alex took the opportunity Claire presented and ran for the door.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Somewhere in Northern France; June 30th, 2012

  Janie swung back and forth over someone’s shoulder as they strode into the unknown.

  She didn’t k
now the answers to the major questions she’d asked herself since her incarceration, but the feeling of the breeze against her face was unmistakable, as was the sight of the sidewalk below. Tape covered her mouth and her arms were forced under her, bound tightly at the wrists. In her opinion, it was unnecessary, given the severity of the injuries around her body; it wasn’t as if she could fight them off.

  It wasn’t as if she could run away.

  The man carrying Hayden walked behind them, his captive’s blonde hair brushing against the ground while she helplessly swung, bound and gagged. Janie could only assume Scottie was being carried ahead of her while they were led away by Natalia. The sound of her signature heels clacking against the concrete sidewalk was the only sound in Janie’s ears, other than her own heartbeat as the blood rushed to her head.

  She wished that she could talk to Hayden and Scottie, to ask them what they knew and if they had any idea where they were going. Unfortunately, since they’d been placed side by side in the trunk of the car that brought them here, their mouths had been taped. Hayden had rested her head on her boyfriend’s shoulder, wondering which of them would die first while they waited for salvation.

  Janie had no one to turn to for comfort and now she was sure there’d be no help coming for them. Even if Taran did come back with help, there’d be no one back at the prison to save after tonight. Given the contents of the message they’d sent to Hayden and Scottie’s friends, she was sure that, by the day’s end, there wouldn’t be anything to save at all. She didn’t cry, didn’t try to resist, and swung back and forth, waiting for what they had planned for her.

  She could immediately tell that they’d stepped inside when the pleasant breeze on her face turned stale and the light of the streetlamps went dark. They stopped once they were fully immersed in the dark tunnels of catacombs, giving Natalia the chance to light a match. She pulled one of the torches from the wall and let it burst into light, illuminating the group.

  They continued through the tunnels seeing Natalia light the torches on the wall as they went deeper and deeper underground. The air grew cold as they went and the quiet drip of water echoing through the cavern warred with Natalia’s footsteps.

  “Where’s Russ?” the guy carrying Hayden asked, adjusting her so he wouldn’t step on her hair.

  Natalia didn’t turn to face him. “Russell knew what was at stake if he did not get here on time. We cannot postpone the sacrifice waiting for him anymore.”

  “What about Vilmore?”

  “I have no idea where Vilmore has gone.”

  “How much further?” the other demanded, grunting under the weight of his captive, Scottie.

  “Look for yourself, you idiot! I can see it from here.”

  Sure enough, brightness lit the rest of the tunnel as they neared their destination.

  A room lined with the torches was suddenly upon them, and Janie was dropped to the floor like a bag of trash. She let herself flop against the ground, completely relaxed. She didn’t curl up to nurse what hurt, which, at the moment, was everything. Her flat eyes glanced around the room, briefly finding the walls of human remains and realizing: this was it. This was the place where she would find her end, just like all the other unnamed people in the walls.

  Then her eyes landed on the center of the room.

  A stone slab was being slowly lowered to the floor by three men. They exhaled loudly as it landed with a crash, rubbing their hands together when the heavy rock was out of their hands. Her tied hands were pulled over head, her body dragged to the wall where she was forced to sit up against the skeletal remains. A cold shackle closed around her ankle, chaining her to the floor. Her hands fell into her lap.

  “Mortal!” a voice roared. A figure bedecked in tattered robes stood across the room, his face hidden from her as he scowled mercilessly at Natalia.

  “My lord,” she bowed deeply, placing her forehead to her knee.

  His hand sliced through the air, backhanding Natalia hard enough to send her falling to the floor. “You promised me Bomani!” he bellowed.

  She pulled herself up with some difficulty, chest heaving as she gasped for air. “My…” she swallowed, shaking her head. “My apologies, my Lord. He escaped yesterday. All efforts to recover him have, so far, been unsuccessful.”

  The man turned away from her, finally revealing his face. “You mortals are useless!”

  Janie pushed herself back into the wall with a bloodcurdling shriek, muffled by the tape over her mouth. She tried to flee but fell short when her ankle caught on the shackle. Her fingernails scratched against the floor as she tried to crawl away, succeeding only in painting the floor with blood she couldn’t spare. His eyes were burning through her, glowing red through the firelight. The flesh of his face was freely hanging from his jaw, the other parts completely bared bone or nothing at all, revealing the remnants of a decaying tongue. The same went for his abdomen, where a hole was blasted clean through him. His legs were more skeleton than living man.

  While Janie cowered on the floor, Natalia returned to bowing before Angra Mainyu, her face stinging like fire. “I apologize again, My Lord. I was not there to stop him. But you may take your pick of anyone else here…”

  “This will not be satisfactory! I cannot have Bomani walking around when I am so close to taking Ziba,” he snarled, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and skeletal index finger. “I should kill you for this, mortal scum.”

  Natalia closed her eyes tightly, still bent over her knee. “We can find him, My Lord. We will bring him to you if you would just remain here.”

  He scowled down at her. “No.”

  “But, My Lord, you are still weak—”

  “No. The angel has him now.”

  Natalia didn’t show fear. She said nothing. Mainyu watched her for another moment before his eyes fell on the other two captives slung carelessly over the other men’s shoulders.

  “Who are these humans?”

  Natalia jerked up, looking back at the others who may have turned out to be her saving grace, after all. “These are Ziba’s friends. We’re using them to lure her here.”

  A Cheshire cat grin slowly broke out on Mainyu’s face. “Excellent.”

  Hayden groaned into the tape as her back hit the floor beside Scottie. Her eyes fell on Janie across the room and knew exactly who was in the room with them. The look of terror on Janie’s face could tell that better than the unmistakable sound of Mainyu’s voice. When she finally tore her gaze from the older girl, her eyes fell on Scottie as he was hauled off the ground.

  “We will use him instead, then,” Mainyu ordered. “I think it is time I remind Ziba why she should come to me.”

  Natalia straightened up. “Yes, My Lord. What would you like us to do with them?”

  Mainyu pointed to Janie. “Leave her with that one. I am sure we will think of something to do with them. Him. Put him on the stone.”

  Hayden wanted to scream and curse in protest, but she couldn’t get anything past the gag. As she was pulled to the wall beside Janie and locked into a shackle at her ankle, she screamed into the tape, begging them to put her love back beside her, where he belonged. The only response she received was a swift kick to her beautiful face, and a gruff, “Shut up.”

  Otherwise, she was completely ignored, everyone’s complete attention focused on Scottie.

  They tore the tape from Scottie’s mouth.

  “Shit!” he yelled, his head jerking up as the tape came off. “Get the hell off me! Help!”

  “Do not waste your breath, Scott,” Natalia advised, kneeling on his one side and gesturing for one of the others to mirror her. “No one can hear you down here.”

  Scottie didn’t listen. “Help!” he shrieked, trying to roll off the slab. Natalia caught him by the shoulder, pinning him down while the man on the opposite side did the same to the other. Hayden watched, horrified, as Mainyu pulled a dagger from his robes and the flesh of his hand simultaneously slip off. Scottie had done the s
ame, and struggled to escape their grasp as the God of Destruction neared him. “Jesus Christ! Somebody help me!”

  Mainyu mumbled under his breath as he walked toward the stone slab, feeling the dagger grow hot with anticipation. “Grant me all the powers of my birth through this sacrifice, that I may smite those who resist me. With the taking of this mortal’s life, I will live again.” Slowly, he raised the dagger over his head, stepping closer to Scottie’s body.

  Scottie didn’t move, knowing it was useless to fight at this point. His head lolled to the side, waiting for Hayden to look at him. “Baby,” he almost squeaked, traitor tears trailing down his face. “Hayden, look at me. Please?”

  Hayden didn’t want to look at him. She didn’t want to see what grisly things they planned on doing to him. She couldn’t deny him this, though. Her eyes found his through the moisture obstructing her view. “What?” she whimpered.

  He smiled, despite the circumstances. “I love you,” he mouthed.

  Hayden sniffled, keeping her eyes fixed on his, even when she knew the knife had found its mark in his chest, and he never looked away, even when he felt the pain. “I love you, too, Scottie, always,” she vowed, just a short second before his head fell back, the life leaving him.

  She crumpled backwards, hugging Janie when she saw that the older girl had watched their final exchange. They felt the stifling wind as it blew from Mainyu’s body, rendering him fully intact like they had never seen him. A grayish glow lit him from within, his eyes completely black and a smile on his face.

  Hayden and Janie held onto each other, wishing that this nightmare would end.

  ***

  “Are you sure this is how you get there?” James asked, shoving through branches behind Taran as he ran through the brush.

  Taran stopped for a moment, finding a shred from his shirt stuck on a thorn. “Positive,” he snapped, throwing the cloth back at his companion.

  James fumbled to catch it, eyeing it closely, and then threw it to the ground. When he looked up, Taran had taken off running again. He struggled to catch up. “And what’s your plan when we get there?” he called.