by ID Johnson
“Are they… demons?”
“Sort of,” Lyric replied.
“Can I blast them?”
“I think you’d better.”
Even though Ru didn’t want to harm the church, the Creepers were getting closer now from every direction, some of them even stepping foot onto the ground, crawling their way toward the Keepers. Ru called on her Keeper Light and sent a slow beam out of her palms, hoping it wouldn’t take much energy to get rid of these nasty little critters. She was mindful of Cutter’s words and didn’t want to deplete her power.
The Creepers screamed out as the heat from Ru’s light made contact with their flesh. They sounded like wounded puppies and made Ru want to cover her ears, but she knew it was working when they began to shrivel up and disappear.
“Here, save your strength,” Lyric said. Motioning with her hand, she created a small tornado that began to gather up the remaining Creepers, which seemed to be at least a hundred. Lyric sent them out one of the windows at the top of the building. They continued to shriek, and Ru was certain that had to be some sort of a warning to the other demons.
“Let’s go,” Lyric insisted, pressing forward, and Ru stepped ahead, but sounds of combat erupted outside, causing her to pause. “That doesn’t sound good,” Lyric muttered.
Immediately, Ru thought of Cutter and wondered if he was out there yet. She knew he was going to speak to Sky. Likely, some of the blue light she saw reflected on the back wall of the church was coming from him, which meant her friends were engaged. By the looks of things, she needed to find the portal. And fast.
Cutter was shocked when Sky told him she would actually be on the field herself. He couldn’t remember the last time she’d taken part in something like this, but once they reached Turkey, he was glad she was there. While he didn’t mind coordinating his small group, having twenty of her Keepers alongside his own team would make things more difficult if she wasn’t there to give instructions.
It was eerily quiet when he first arrived. However, the serenity didn’t last. A wave of Creepers crawled out of the nearby buildings, and he knew that would just be the advanced troops, the scouts, the expendable pawns. As soon as they’d handled them, which didn’t take much, there was a pregnant pause and then all Hell broke loose.
Kayakoy may have been abandoned for almost a hundred years, but thousands of structures still stood, and it seemed a Reaper or demon emerged from almost all of them. “Holy hell,” Cutter muttered, raising his eyebrows at Sky. In the darkness, it was difficult to see precisely what they were dealing with, but some of the demons took animal shapes, some were in human form, and others appeared as spirits. The Reapers, which had to number about a couple hundred easily, each carried a scythe.
“I’m gonna go ahead and call for some more back up,” she said, her eyes as wide as his were.
“Good idea,” Cutter replied. He looked down the street and saw Rider and Ivy, their backs to each other, their hands up. They looked just as surprised as he was, but prepared.
A demon in the shape of a large snake began to wind its way out of a building down the street headed for the church. Cutter didn’t wait for any orders. He sent a beam of light out of his palm in its direction. The beast, which had to be close to thirty feet long with dark scales, and now he could see, three faces, reared up all of its ugly heads and tried to fight against his blast, but it couldn’t escape, and Cutter spoke the incantation that would destroy it.
Before he could even relish in the small victory, another beast began an attack on the church, followed by two more, with three closing in on the other side. He could see Ivy’s vines spring out of her hands as the ground began to shake. Rider was also engaged, and Sky’s first line, the one that was supposed to be there as a perimeter, was forced to move in to hold them off.
Cutter chose a demon to concentrate on, one that was closest to the doorway of the church, but before he could do too much damage, he looked up to see four Reapers closing in, their scythes raised. Unlike any of the Reapers he’d ever pursued, these actually were made of bone, which was startling to him. It took him a moment to recover, and that split second was enough time for one of the Reapers to hit him with a wave of black energy. Cutter staggered backward and fought against it, managing to bring the light from his right hand around to cut through it. Two Keepers he didn’t know rushed in to help and within a few seconds, Cutter was winning and was able to blast the Reaper who had engaged him back at least twenty feet.
These Reapers seemed less powerful than the ones he spent most of his time chasing, and now that it was one-on-one, Cutter managed to get it in position so that he could say the words to destroy it. The Reaper disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Around him, Cutter saw Keepers of the Light flashing their power in streams of blue and white as masses of black charged in shapes and sizes he’d never encountered. The wind picked up as Keepers of the Wind created tornadoes and wind gusts to carry off screeching demons. Plants sprung up from otherwise dead and cracking ground, entangling Reapers as they closed in or tripping up the demons who sought to destroy them.
The reinforcements arrived quickly, and by the looks of it, Sky hadn’t pulled any stops. Hundreds of Keepers flooded the area behind him, and much to his surprise, Cutter saw the flicker of wings as well, their white feathers gleaming in the starlight. Sky was nearby engaged with a demon whose red scales covered all but the center of his face. He carried a pitchfork, and Cutter thought he must be a brown-noser wanting to impress his boss by looking as much like him as possible. “How’d you get the angels to show up?” Cutter shouted to her as he stepped in to fight off another Reaper.
“Ask and you shall receive,” Sky replied. The demon thrust his pitchfork at her, and Sky sidestepped, taking hold of the shaft and spinning it around until she had control of it. The demon held on, not wanting to lose his weapon, and she spun again, sliding her arms down the handle wide and wrapping them around him so that the shaft of the pitchfork was pressed against his neck. The demon strained to break free, his black eyes beginning to bulge. “Infernus et perdere faciam te in nomine Domini!” Sky shouted, and with a shriek the demon disappeared, leaving Sky swiping at air.
Cutter was able to dispatch his Reaper as well, but then, seeing that the enemy was managing to hold most of the Keepers away from the church while others attempted to sneak inside, he began to close the distance between himself and the building, hopeful that if anything managed to sneak inside, he would get to it before it could prevent Ru from doing her job. He knew Lyric was with her, but he’d feel better if he was there as well.
As he went, he fought off attacker after attacker, sometimes two at a time. A scythe came down hard on his shoulder at one point, but the blade didn’t catch him, and that Reaper was sent into the side of a nearby building, hitting hard enough to knock a hole in the plaster before Cutter sent him back to where he belonged. A gorilla-creature with horns and a spiky tail proved himself to be quite formidable, but Cutter finished him off with the help of Rider who was also headed toward the church door. While they could’ve leaped inside, it seemed more helpful to take out these demons the best they could on their way inside.
When Cutter reached the doorway, he checked to make sure no more demons or Reapers were closing in on their location and saw that most of them were still far enough away that the Keepers and angels would be able to hold them up, at least for a while. It seemed like the second one was destroyed, three more crawled out of the crevices. Even with the extra help, they’d need to hurry.
Rider stepped into the church first. Cutter backed in, assuming it was clear or Rider would’ve said so. “We good?” Cutter asked.
“Uh, yeah. Church is empty,” Rider answered.
“Good,” Cutter said, relieved they’d managed to keep all of the enemy out.
“No, I mean, it’s empty,” Rider said.
Cutter turned around to see that he was right. Not only were there no dark creatures scurrying about, Lyric an
d Ru were nowhere to be found.
Noises from the battle raged on as Ru made her way along in inky blackness, feeling with one hand along a wall, Lyric’s hand on her shoulder. It was pitch black down here, darker than anything Ru had ever experienced before, and her eyes ached they were searching so hard for the light and finding none. She wished she could ignite her hand, but she couldn’t risk letting the demons or Reapers know they’d found the cellar.
When she’d reached the wall near the front of the sanctuary upstairs, she’d felt compelled to go through it, and at Lyric’s urging, she had done so, finding a stairwell that twisted and turned, and Ru realized they were going back into the mountainside Kayakoy sat atop. The staircase had been walled off long ago, but Ru knew there had to be another opening somewhere since otherwise no Reapers would be able to physically use the portal, and her gut was telling her she was headed in the right direction and the portal was ahead of her somewhere. The further under the ground they went, the less they could hear the sounds of engagement from above, though every once in a while, the ground would shake as a Keeper of the Earth discharged, and little pieces of rock or dirt would tumble down on their heads.
“So long as no Keepers of the Water decide to flood us, we should be good,” Lyric mused, just above a whisper.
With each step, Ru felt that she was closer to their objective. She could almost envision the location of the portal. She knew it was at the end of this tunnel, but it was hard to tell how much further she’d have to walk, and at this rate, they weren’t covering the ground very quickly.
A noise caught her attention, and Ru froze. “Did you hear that?” she whispered. It sounded like a slithering noise.
“Yep,” Lyric replied.
Still too cautious to move, Ru listened intently and heard the sound again. Now, it sounded like a rattle, like something one heard in a documentary about diamondbacks. Then, another movie popped to her mind. “Holy Hell, it’s Medusa!”
Lyric giggled. “You watch too much TV. There’s no Medusa.”
The noise rang out through the tunnel again, closer this time. Realizing it didn’t do much good to keep themselves in the dark if they were discovered, Ru lit her hand. Standing about five feet in front of them in the narrow passage, her neck craned so that she’d fit beneath the eight-foot ceiling, her tail curled up beside her, and her hair reaching and slithering out in all directions, Ru saw a face that had haunted her dreams as a child. Gaunt and white, with blood red lips, a serpent’s tongue sliding out from between sharpened teeth, and scarlet eyes, she peered at them, ready to strike.
“Then what the Hell is that?” Ru asked, certain that there was no other way to describe the creature in front of them.
“Uh, that’s Medusa,” Lyric replied in a whisper. “Hit her!”
Ru was certain it couldn’t be the Medusa because she had definitely looked straight into the monster’s eyes and she hadn’t turned to stone. So, she raised her hand and blasted the monster with her blue lights as Lyric began to stir up the wind, blowing her back. The face snarled into a smile, letting out a roar, and Ru felt herself reeling backward, tumbling into Lyric and knocking her down. They both slid back across the sharp stones of the tunnel floor, Ru’s light sent askew, sending some larger rocks down from the ceiling. Unfortunately, they missed the monster, who was coming for them again.
“You hurt?” Lyric asked, leaping up.
“No,” but Ru didn’t have time to say more as she concentrated her forces and blasted them, once again, at the woman with the snakes for hair.
“I can’t do too much or I might cause a cave in,” Lyric explained.
“Okay!” Ru didn’t have time to talk as she saw Medusa raise her hands again, likely about to send more black energy her direction. This time, Ru was able to sidestep the bolt of charged black smoke that came her way.
“We need more Light,” Lyric said, as she picked up the fallen rocks and sent them careening into the monster’s head. The snakes hissed as they made contact and knocked the creature off balance. She stumbled, which only caused her to shriek, and a new rain of rocks hit Ru in the head, though none large enough to do any damage.
“Someone called?” Rider asked, materializing between the two girls. “Well, hello there, gorgeous.” He immediately sent two sharp bolts of lightning at his new girlfriend, knocking her backward, but Medusa was a feisty one, and it only took her a few seconds to recover.
Cutter’s voice sounded behind her. “Ru! We’ll keep her busy. If you think the portal is down there, you need to rematerialize close to the end of the tunnel.”
“Right,” Ru said, wishing she had thought of that before. She wished she had time to turn and look at him, but she didn’t, so, with a deep breath, she imagined herself further down the tunnel, and a few seconds later, she opened her eyes to hear shrieks from Medusa far behind her. Turning, she could see the tunnel curved somewhere between here and there, because once again, it was pitch black. Until she swiveled back to look in front of her. Against the stone wall before her there was a slight shimmer. She could see it even in the darkness. With a deep breath, she raised her hands, not wanting to give anyone or anything a chance to stop her.
Before she could speak, however, she felt a rumbling and knew that there was something trying to come through the portal. She remembered the bull and the other creature she’d caught trying to come out last time and knew it would be in everyone’s best interest if she closed this opening before anything could make it out. Resolving herself, she pulled upon all of her remaining strength, hoping it would be enough.
The light came out of her hand in a powerful punch, as it had last time she faced such an undertaking. It hit the portal opening and sent a wave of energy backward. Ru managed to stay on her feet this time, and as she spoke the words of the incantation, she expected to be knocked out again. Though the shuddering continued, the portal didn’t close.
“In nomine domini, ut claudere infernum est effi- cimur, omnium aeternum!” Ru shouted again, straining to gather as much energy as she possibly could. The portal opening appeared to be faltering, and on the other side, she saw what looked to be the head of a water buffalo. The form was dark and shadowy, and she couldn’t be sure that was what she was seeing, but as long as he was trying to get out, she didn’t see how she could muster enough strength to get the portal to close.
Still straining against the black energy, Ru sent out a message, hoping for anyone who could to show up and take care of the demon while she closed the portal. She didn’t know how much longer she could hold on by herself.
“Hey, you found it!” Ivy’s voice filled the void next to her. Before Ru could respond, Ivy raised her hands, and a dark green wave of power came out from them, unlike anything Ru’d ever seen before. They made contact with the head of the water buffalo, and Ivy said, “Infernus et perdere faciam te in nomine Domini!”
Instantly, the form disappeared, and Ru felt her previously divided power come back together. Knowing she had to be just about out of power, Ru scraped together every ounce she had, and with her eyes closed, she envisioned the portal closing as she repeated the words, “In nomine domini, ut claudere infernum est effi- cimur, omnium aeternum!”
A wave of power surged back at her through the portal, and Ru felt herself falling backward, just as she had last time, the heat from the decimated portal washing over her as her body hit the ground.
Chapter 11
Ru expected to awake back in her body, in her own bed, as Cutter had imagined they all would. But when her eyes opened, she was lying on an ancient, intricately designed motif floor, little pieces of green and maroon tiles covered in thick, white dirt. She sat up and looked around. The ringing in her ears was more than a little disturbing, and the colors were off again. She snapped her fingers, believing that would cause the sound to stop, and was relieved when it did.
The right side of her body ached, that is, the area that would’ve been her body if she were in it. A glance at her arm
revealed the first signs of what was sure to be some pretty serious bruising above her elbow. Her leg felt like it would be the same, particularly her hip.
She was still in Kayakoy, of that she was certain, and the design she’d taken to be a floor was actually a street. She was outside; a few cypress trees waved in the off-color sunlight, stirred by a light breeze. Standing, she saw the remains of a few smaller houses nearby, and off in the distance, she could see the church.
How she’d gotten here and for what purpose, she wasn’t sure, but she saw no reason to stick around. She was just about to send herself home when a noise behind her caught her attention. She spun to see a figure in the doorway of one of the houses.
It was a man, dressed all in black. She could see that from here, even though he was probably fifty yards away and slightly downhill from her. As he stepped out into full view, Ru’s breath caught. She recognized him instantly.
“Rune, is that you?”
Tears began to sting her eyes, though Ru knew she needed to be cautious. She had no idea how she’d gotten here, and for all she knew this was some sort of a trap, although she was certain the person she was looking at was genuine and not part of any tricks. She really was looking into the face of her father.
“Larkin?” she said, taking a few steps in his direction.
He had closed the distance now so he was only about twenty feet away. He stopped, his hands coming up to cover his face. She could see he looked much older, much more worn down than he had in the picture she’d stolen from her grandmother’s house. The backs of his hands were puckered with scars, some of the flesh still pink, indicating they were fresh. She wondered what else may lie beneath the black leather jacket he wore despite the nice weather and the dark jeans that disappeared into black leather boots. His hair was dark, as well, but his green eyes looked nothing but kind.
As Ru closed the distance, however, she peered more closely into them. While he approached her in kindness, there were certainly other emotions there. Happiness, on the surface; beyond that, sadness, pain, maybe regret.